Midnight Festival

MIDNIGHT FESTIVAL
By Random Phantom

Ungh… man, my head feels so weird… like I jumped headfirst onto something and it hit me hard enough to break it. Wonder what’s happened… and where am I, anyway? My eyes still can’t see fairly well… come on, open up…

Ah, finally. Thank goodness the light isn’t that bright, too… would have hated to opened my eyes only to see a shining burst of something horrible. But I still wonder where I am… this looks like a plain, and I’m in a tent somewhere. The sky I can see from the opening is blue, meaning it’s daytime. But…why is nobody around? I never traveled alone; I always had a few companions with me at all times… and yet, not even Pikachu is with me right now.

This is so weird… Where am I, anyway?

*sniff* *sniff*

This smell… it’s really good. It smells like Brock’s food… only Brock surely never tried to make whatever I’m smelling! I wonder what it is… Slowly, I’m getting up, walking towards the exit of the tent. I didn’t expect it to be this large…

Outside, I saw a campfire set up, with a small pan raised over it, holding the food inside. It was burbling and smelled just as good as the rest of it, which was good… but nobody else was around. How weird… where am I? This place is so weird… I think I’m at Johto, that much I remember, but… wasn’t I at home, too? Or at least, some place else? I haven’t visited Johto ever since the Silver Tournament!

*shff* *shffff* *shfffff*

Huh?! Bushes are ruffling to my side! I turn around, my hands moving to my belt, to pick up-

What?! My Pokéballs! They’re gone!

…okay, calm down. No need to panic… I probably left them inside that tent; from all I know, I was just waking up from a dream where I had stopped at home, back when I came back from my last journey, and that’s why I’m so confused… and that’s probably nothing. Those bushes were probably just moved by the wind or something like that…

“Ash?” a voice called, from that direction. It sounded somewhat familiar, but also… different. It was certainly female, though; I’ve heard more than enough girls say my name that way to not know it!

The bearer of the voice approached me, coming from the dark shadows of the trees, to where I could see her. She was a rather tall woman, probably just somewhat shorter than me, likely exiting her teens as well. Her hazel hair looked well-cared for, hidden underneath a white bonnet, while the green shirt and white skirt she wore seemed to hide her body more than show it. But… despite that, she looked extremely familiar; there were two edges to her hair that reminded me of something… but what was it?

“Ash?” she repeated, rather nervously. “Is that… is that really you?”

I nodded. “Yes… I’m Ash. But-” I was interrupted, as she suddenly ran towards me, and hugged me tightly, too fast for me to stop her.

“It’s you! It’s really, really you! I can’t believe it… I spent so long, searching for you again!”

I didn’t understand. This woman… she had been looking for me? But… who was she? Why did she look familiar, but I couldn’t even remember her name, much less anything else about her?

“I… I’m sorry, but…” I apologized, as I managed to pull her arms away from me. “I… I don’t know who you are.”

This seemed to make the woman feel hurt, as she put one hand on her chest. “You… you don’t remember me, Ash?” she asked, and I shook my head.

“I… I know I know you, but… other than that, it’s all a blur. I… don’t even remember what happened to me,” I explained, rubbing the back of my head. Ow! It still hurt!

This seemed to appease the woman, somewhat. “Ah, Ash… I think I know. When I found you, yesterday… you were fallen on the ground, on what seemed to be a daze. I guess you have amnesia or something… but it seems to be more related to your short-term memory than anything. I think all we can do is wait…” She paused, before continuing. “Ash, my name is Bianca. We met in Altomare, four years ago, when you were passing through my city. During the various celebrations, you helped my grandfather and stopped two Team Rocket agents from destroying the city, as well as taking over the world. When you departed… I gave you a goodbye kiss, and left before you could react, because… I was too nervous; I didn’t really know what to do, I was just a young girl…”

After that, she took one deep breath, and I thought I could see some tears in her eyes. “Ash… it took me two years to realize this, but then… I realized that I wanted to see you again. I didn’t care if it was too dangerous to visit you, or if you were with a girlfriend, after so long… just seeing you, again, would be enough for me. So… please, will you let me stay with you, at least for now?” she finished, her face red.

I couldn’t help but begin thinking, after that; I’ve been doing this a lot, recently… I didn’t know she liked me like that, although as she spoke, I did remember those things. It was back when I was travelling with Brock and Misty, all the way in Johto… I was still naïve, back then, and wanted to just get to the Silver Tournament, where I’d be able to try and become a Pokémon Master, still at the start of my career. Not that I didn’t do good there… eighth place isn’t that bad, but still.

In that city, Altomare… that was where we had met, wasn’t it? I do remember that, now that she mentioned it… but it felt like she hadn’t said everything. I don’t get it… why can’t I remember these things?! My mind feels so blank…

“Are… are you okay, Ash?” Bianca asked, nervously. This helped me stop distracting myself; I nodded, and gave her a smile.

“Yeah… I am, Bianca. And don’t worry… you can travel with me if you want to, and if that isn’t a problem. In fact, I…” I stopped; the headache was growing bigger, and I fell down to my knees. “What… what is… what…”

I managed to see Bianca look at me, completely scared, before the headache grew too strong…

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

…

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

With this scream, the covers were flung away, as Ash woke up, completely surprised. He sat down on his bed, putting one hand on his forehead. He was sweating.

“I’m… sweating… and shivering…” he whispered, before lying his hand on the bed. “But… what was I dreaming about? I… I know I dreamt about meeting… someone… someone I knew from the past…”

However, as hard as he tried, he couldn’t remember it; in fact, the dream seemed to be escaping him every passing second, faster and faster.

The only thing he could remember was the smile…

…

Meanwhile, in another city, far away, a young girl cried in her sleep.