Author's Note: Pokémon is not mine; it is owned and created by Mr. Satoshi T. (I'm not sure of the surname, so I'm not putting it here. But you know who you are) and I do not know him personally. A lot of big companies have authorization and rights on Pokémon like 4Kids Entertainment, Kids WB (Warner Bros.) and Nintendo. This is only a fanfiction there is no need to sue because I am not making money out of this.

Pikachu became Ash's first pokémon when it was really young, so I don't think a few (really few!) years would make it old already. I mean, if you saw that episode with a surfing Pikachu, it was like, twenty-something years old! And it was not THAT old, although it is, a little.

CHAPTER ONE

"Ash, I don't think Dragonair likes it," Misty said helpfully, obviously looking very concerned on the Dragonair. Ash was trying to feed it with lemon-flavored vitamins Professor Oak gave him to make Dragonair's defense a little stronger. It helps a pokémon became healthier.

   "I don't think Dragonair agrees too," Ash said as he took away the bowl of vitamins. "Oh, well. I better ask Brock to make those PokéChow he's giving them for meals."

   Ash went back to the house to ask Brock to prepare some food for Dragonair. Misty stayed and sat on the banks of Celtic Pond. The Celtic Pond is an artificial pond beside the property of Professor Oak. Aside from the lake on the end of Pallet Town, there's an artificial pond there too.

   "Hey, Dragonair, do you think Ash likes me?" Misty asked the elegant-looking pokémon that swam around the pond.

   Dragonair didn't seem keen into having a conversation (like you can understand most of the things a Dragonair can say anyways!) so it shook its head and swam over to the end of the pond. Misty sighed, looking really discourage.

   Ha! How could Ash Ketchum like me anyway? Friends, only friends, Misty flicked the water lightly as she heaved a big inhale.

   Tracey, Professor Oak's overeager assistant, came by the pond to take some samples on the water to make sure how clean it was. Since Dragonairs are very sensitive to dirty water, Tracey needed to check on the bacterial rate that lived on the water. Ash once suggested getting a Quagsire and forcing it to live there. Since Quagsires only live on the cleanest waters, it can tell whether the water is too dirty. Professor Oak said that they really needed to be precise.

   "I didn't know you liked to spend time here, Misty. Dragonair is such a snob," Tracey said.

   "Well, Ash was here a while ago to feed it some vitamins. But it really didn't like it so Ash went to get some real food from Brock."

   "I have to collect these water droplets and examine it back in the lab." Tracey wiped a sweat drop from his temple. "It's really getting hot here, are you sure you'd like to soak under the sun and watching a snobby Dragonair?"

   "I'm sure, Tracey," Misty said, smiling serenely as Tracey started towards the lab. "I think I need some time to think about something."

~*~

"You never know if those twerps are going somewhere! If we don't grab that Pikachu we'll have to trail them again," Jessie said as she dropped the binoculars and let it dangle from her neck.

   "But Jessie, we've been at it a million times," James said, his stomach rumbling in pain. "Not to mention going hungry too."

   "I'm not a quitter!" Jessie screamed. The thin tree they chose to perch on shook on the decibels of Jessie's high-pitched scream.

   Meowth, who had been observing the Ketchum household, said, "Careful! You're going to shake us all down this tree! It's not a really short drop, ya know."

   Jessie tugged at James's arm. "Look! Postman! I think it's another opportunity!"

   They all climbed down from the tree, which swung back and nearly threw them off. Jessie crawled behind the bushes and jumped on the old postman. James and Meowth tied the poor man on the tree on his boxers and undershirt. Jessie grabbed the mailbag from the floor and placed it on James, now trying to make the pants of the uniform fit perfectly. But it kept sliding down due to the bulging belly of the postman.

   "I think a belt should do it," Jessie said, throwing the belt to James.

   James adjusted the glasses of the postman and pushed it back to the bridge of his nose. It made him walk a little wobbly since the grade of the glasses didn't suit his usually satirical eyeight. James failed to see a tiny rock and tripped, his head bumping slightly on the door of the Ketchums.

   "Ow!" James muttered as he rubbed his forehead. His fake mustache was out of place but he didn't notice it since he was too busy rubbing his forehead. Brock opened the door.

   "Ha! Good afternoon, I'm the mailman!"

   Brock looked at the dangling mustache. James noticed at Brock was staring at his lips, and fixed the mustache in place. "Sorry…must've been that nasty shave on my blade." James laughed airily. "Back to business. I am conducting a quick search of your house. Orders of the Post Office." James pushed his way inside. Jessie and Meowth was hiding behind the bushes, inflating the hot air balloon.

   "Who're you? And you're not the police! Why are you conducting a search here? You're only a postman," Brock said as he followed James' fast pacing.

   "That's none of your business, twerp," said James. "I mean, tenant."
   Ash came from the dining room with his Pikachu. "What's going on here?"

   "This guy said that the post office told him to conduct a search of the house," Brock said.

   "And the search is about to come to an end!" James said as he grabbed Pikachu. "Because I think I already found it. Thank you for your kind accommodation, see you in a million years!"

   James bolted towards the door and Ash ran after him. James took off the uniform and the balloon floated in the air. Jessie grabbed James and pulled him inside.

   "Prepare for trouble, we've succeeded at last!"

   "Make it double because we're twice as fast!"

   "To protect the world from devastation!"

   "To unite—" James paused as he chained the shockproof container they caged Pikachu in. "—all peoples within our nation!"

   "To denounce the evil, truth and love!"

   "To extend our reach to the stars above!"

   "Jessie!"

   "James!"

   "Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light!"

   "Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

   "Meowth, that's right!" Meowth jumped up. "Finally! We've outsmarted the twerps!"

   Ash ran towards the rising balloon. "Gimme back my Pikachu, Team Rocket!"

   "Those three are always asking for trouble," Brock said.

   "No way, twerp," Meowth said. "And now for some little action so we can create some distraction!" Meowth grabbed a remote control. "We'll leave you to Nidoqueen!" A huge robot Nidoqueen stomped out of nowhere. Misty was running down the path.

   "Not those three again!" Misty yelled. "Those three will stop at nothing!" She grabbed a pokéball. "Go, Poliwrath!"

   "Poliwrath, use Hydro Pump on the bucket of bolts!"

   Poliwrath blasted a good jet of water on the giant Nidoqueen. The Nidoqueen staggered and went out of balance.

   "Meowth! Control that Nidoqueen!" Jessie screamed as the balloon floated slowly. "The balloon doesn't have enough air to get us flying up."

   Meowth pushed numerous buttons simultaneously and the controls went haywire. Nidoqueen started to stomp backwards, eventually trampling Team Rocket and Pikachu went flying out of James' hands.

   "Bulbasaur! Vine whip and grab Pikachu!"

   "Bulba-saur!" the obedient pokémon said as it used its powerful whips to grab Pikachu. Ash got Pikachu back. "Are you okay, Pikachu?" Ash said as he hugged his best friend.

   "Thanks, Bulbasaur," Ash said. "Okay, Pikachu! Thunderbolt that Team Rocket!"

   "Pika-CHU!!!"

   "Aah!" Team Rocket screamed. "Looks like we're blasting off again!" They yelled as the explosion from Nidoqueen tossed them up in the sky.

~*~

   "Vegetable Crumble!" Brock announced as he laid the big bowl of mush on the table.

   Ash prodded the food with the serving fork. "Brock, are you sure this is edible?"

   "I'm sure, Ash," Brock said. He laid the pasta and sauce on the other side. "If you don't like it, you don't get to eat the pasta. Personally, I think my pasta goes with a delicious Vegetable Crumble."

   Ash sighed and forked tiny amounts of Vegetable Crumble on his plate. The cauliflower on it was barely visible. Misty sat down at the other end. "Let's see how Brock cooks Vegetable Crumble. Professor Oak said that Professor Ivy cooks delicious Vegetable Crumble when they met at a lecture two months ago."

   Brock shuddered in a corner. "That name!"

   *Ash, Misty and Pikachu: Sweat Drop* then, "Toge-pi!!!"

   "This scene is really getting on my nerves."

   "The writers will get this one cancelled soon," Ash said as he stuffed some Vegetable Crumble on his mouth.

   "Hey! The mailman's bag is here!" Brock said, spotting a dirty cream-colored bag. "Maybe we have mail before Team Rocket jumped on the original mailman."
   Brock rummaged through the bag, trying to find some letters for them. "Hey, Misty. You have a letter here."

   Misty looked puzzled. "I don't remember writing a letter to anyone. She took the mail from Brock. 

Misty,

            We were invited to do a performance at the Celadon City where they're holding a show. Actually, as a Cerulean City Gym sister, you're officially invited. (But you're not performing with us, so tough luck!) You need to bring your Poliwrath since this show is dedicated to the Poliwrath who saved the sister of Erika, Celadon City Gym leader. You can invite some people too, like your boyfriend ("Ash is not my boyfriend!" Misty yelled.) But they can't come until the later events.

                                                                                                                                                Daisy

                                               

   "Here's the schedule," Misty said as she took out a yellow sheet of paper with the events.

   "I guess you need to come alone first." Ash said as he sneaked some pasta when Brock turned around.

   "I guess."

   Later that night (Misty lives with the Ketchums & Brock during weekdays because she stays in Cerulean City on weekends. She sleeps in a guest bedroom beside Mrs. Ketchum's room. Ash's room is in the far end of the hallway, while Brock sleeps in the newly converted attic that he and Mimie cleaned and fixed. Mrs. Ketchum insisted that Misty stayed with them.) Misty couldn't sleep. She was still thinking about Ash. But little did she know…

   This headache keeps on coming back, Ash thought as he placed his palms on his face. He couldn't sleep. Misty reacted really badly on the mention of him being her boyfriend. Does that mean that she doesn't really like him? He couldn't tell. Misty was very hard to predict. Numerous times she had acted really nice too him, she even cried when he 'died' on Lavender Town when Gastly and Haunter played a little trick on him. But sometimes she yells at him.

   How will you know how she feels if you don't ask her? Someone whispered next to him. Ash sat up immediately and scanned around. Pikachu was asleep and nobody was there. Who could that be?

   Ash grabbed a pokéball from the shelf. "Noctowl!"

  "Noctowl, look around if you can see a ghost pokémon somewhere."

  Nowtowl shook its head. "Okay. Thanks Noctowl."

   "There's nobody here?"

   Suddenly a flash of white light appeared. An image of Ash's dad was there. "Hi, Ash. Think it was a ghost pokémon, did you?"

   "Dad?" Ash rubbed his eyes.

   "Dad indeed," said Mr. Ketchum's ghost. But he didn't look like a ghost. He looked solid.

   "You're supposed to be dead," Ash said tactlessly.

   Mr. Ketchum frowned. "I'm dead all right, but you don't have to rub it on me, Ash. I came here to help you."

   "Help me on what?"

   "That girl. You, know, that redhead that you're always with."

   "Misty? Yeah, she's a friend. Best friend," Ash said casually, looking down at the bed sheets.

   His dad nodded. "Yeah. Even if I'm not alive I can still watch over you. And good thing I do, because you're in some kind of problem."

   "What problem?"

   Mr. Ketchum stared at his son. Ash could be thick sometimes. "I watched you react when that Rudy tried to win Misty off you." (This one is a little from an episode "Misty meets her Match")

   "That creep thought he could just marry Misty!"

   "Yeah, but you did get jealous, right?"

   "What are you talking about? She's my friend!"

   Mr. Ketchum looked at him, obviously amused. Ash wasn't looking at him directly; he was looking at the sheets. "Look at me, Ash. I know you're blushing."

  Ash looked at him, his cheeks were red. "What can I do?"

   "The question is, 'what should you do'," Mr. Ketchum said.

   "What?"

   "One way: tell her how you feel."

   Ash looked at his dad as if he was out of his mind. "You're not making this easy! Whenever I'm alone with her my chest seems on fire."

   "Look Ash, if you don't tell her, you may regret it," Ash dad said.

   "What if she laughs in my face?"

   "Ash, you wouldn't be here if I didn't ask your mother to be my girlfriend!" Mr. Ketchum said. "And my wife!" Mr. Ketchum looked at his watch. "Whoops, time's up. I better go, Ash. But I'll always look after you."

   There was a flash of light, and Mr. Ketchum was gone.

   Ash fell back, stunned. Then he fell asleep.