Disclaimer: I don't own 'em. If I did, then I wouldn't be wasting any time fantasizing, and would instead be putting my fantasies into action. I get absolutely no money from this. None of the characters are mine, nor will they ever be mine. This fanfic alone is mine, so don't take any credit for so-called 'writing it' when it was really I who wrote it! You can't steal it! At least not without my permission, but then it wouldn't be called stealing now, would it? Right, I've gone overboard, haven't I...?

Unwelcome Discovery

Midnight. The moon shone dimly through the clouds, and all was silent apart from the regular rustlings of the forest. A voice, however, pierced the air, disrupting the perfect calmness.

"Brock, be quiet! Don't wake up Ash!" A slim, feminine figure whispered impatiently, her words cutting crisply through the air.

"Sorry Misty." Responded a bulkier, taller mass. "Okay, let's go." The obviously male person took the female by the hand and pulled her towards the forest. Unbeknownst to the two, they were being watched. An eye, stationed quite close to the ground, stood out from its surroundings, the bright patch seemingly illuminating the area around it. And as soon as the two figures walking into the forest were out of sight, another eye was opened and a new figure silently arose.

****

Ash silently watched Brock and Misty venture out into the forest. How many times have they done this? He wondered. Ash had been asleep, a restless, light sleep, and Brock had stumbled a bit, waking up the youth. Ash had innocently tried going back to sleep, but was too stirred up to do so. He had simply lain there, pretending to be asleep, as Brock and Misty had left.

Now, however, he was standing up, still in his T-shirt and boxers, and wide-awake. He quickly opened his backpack and got out his clothes, not taking his time in pulling them on.

"Pi? Pikapi, kachu?" (Ash, what are you doing?) The aforementioned boy jumped, having forgotten about Pikachu, and turned around, his right glove halfway on, the left still in his partially opened backpack.

"Oh. Pikachu, it's just you. Um...Brock and Misty went out in the forest and I wanna see what they're doin'." Ash replied.

"Pika pikachu ka pi." (Well then I'm coming with you.) Ash simply shrugged and went on pulling on his gloves.


Five minutes later the two were jogging through the forest, and, halfway through, were met with the sounds of a battle, clearly far away judging by the faintness of the sounds. Ash slipped silently through the trees for a little while until finally reaching the clearing where the duel was taking place. Brock and Misty were currently in the middle of a match between Geodude and Staryu, and Staryu was quite obviously winning.

"Staryu, use Swift!" Misty shouted. The star-shaped pokemon easily obliged, and stars shot forth from the Staryu's ruby. Geodude tried to defend itself by crossing its arms over its body, but to no avail.

"Geodude." It moaned, defeated.

"Gah!" Brock shouted, a look of shock on his face. "How did you beat me so easily?" He asked.

"Well rock pokemon are weak against water, aren't they?" Misty smirked. Brock mumbled something that sounded slightly like, "Oh yeah, I forgot," but Ash seriously doubted he'd said that...Brock wasn't that stupid...was he? "And besides...I'm good enough that I could easily beat Ash and his pokemon...and Ash is better than you, so..." She trailed off.

What?! She's not better than me! Ash shouted in his mind. But he didn't reveal himself. After all, if he did that, then he would never find out exactly what they were doing.

"Speaking of Ash, how's he been doing on his battles?" Brock asked hurriedly, trying to change the subject. What?! They haven't been watching? Ash shouted, once again mentally.

"Mm, I think he's lost most of 'em." Misty replied carelessly. Lost? They haven't been watching! Ash thought. He'd actually been winning almost all of his recent battles. He had, after all, been studying recently, and had been trying to battle mostly with Bulbasaur and Chikorita. Chikorita had proved to be extremely strong and fast, while Bulbasaur was quite smart and powerful. But before Ash could get too wound up in his thoughts, his attention was drawn back to Brock and Misty. Misty had been giving Brock several emotion-filled looks, and something seemed to dawn suddenly on Brock. They seemed to be loosing all interest in their battle and were staring at each other with a look was made up purely of love.

"Misty..." Brock breathed. Misty smiled lovingly and took a step closer to Brock. "Misty!" He exclaimed, and ran up to her, scooping her up into a tender hug. "Misty...I love you so much..." By this time, Ash was frozen stiff, unable to move for fear of what would happen next, and when Brock whispered the words Ash had never gotten the guts to say to Misty himself, he started crying silently. Pikachu, who'd chosen to stay silent the whole time, moved from Ash's head to his shoulder and gently touched Ash's cheek.

"Pika pi..." The mouse-like pokemon whispered. Tears were streaming freely down the young boy's face, but he refused to move.

"Brock, I've been in love with you for...I don't know how long now. And you-you never seemed to notice...." Misty trailed off as they pulled apart; tears welling up in her own eyes now. Why would she be crying, Ash thought bitterly, nothing's happened to her. I just realized that not only have my best friends been ignoring my battles, but that they're also in love with each other. So much for my crush on Misty...

"Misty, I never did notice. I don't know how I never did...I never even thought about you in any other way than as a friend. And you're so beautiful..." Brock murmured, brushing back a strand of her hair. Their eyes locked and the couple leaned in for a kiss. Just as the kiss broke (which took a while), Ash let out a sob, no longer able to control his emotions. "What the -" Brock exclaimed, turning towards Ash. Ash took off running back for camp, and by the time Brock and Misty reached his sleeping bag, the young boy was in a fake deep sleep. Pikachu was curled up near Ash's face, and, though Brock and Misty couldn't see it, Ash was fully clothed and his face was red with tears.



"Hey Ash...Ash...wake up Ash! Brocky made breakfast!

"Urng...go away! Lea' me alone..." He moaned, but opened his eyes anyway. A big blob of orange came into view, and, after a couple of blinks, it became Misty's face. What she'd earlier said suddenly registered in his mind. "Brocky?" Memories of last night suddenly decided to spring up in his mind, while tears decided to spring up in his eyes.

"Ash...are you okay? Oh! Did I say 'Brocky'? I meant Brock...ah heh heh..." She had almost seemed concerned at first. "Hey, get up you bum! Food's ready!"

"I'm not hungry." Ash stated and sat up, turning his back to Misty. Pikachu quickly bounded up from his breakfast and leapt onto Ash's shoulder. Misty didn't seem to notice he was already dressed. "I'm going on a walk." He said shortly. Brock and Misty shot questioning looks at each other, but otherwise ignored the fact that he was gone, and were soon fully engrossed in flirting with each other.



Ash kicked at the ground as he walked along, a scowl on his face. "Hey Pikachu, would you mind if we just left Brock and Misty? I mean, they don't even pay attention to our battles anymore..." He trailed off and shot a glance at Pikachu.

"Pika...pikachu, kachu pika..." (Well...I have noticed they don't even seem to acknowledge the fact that we exist...) Ash chuckled wryly.

"Yeah. That's true..." But before he could go on, a loud voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Yo loser!" Ash turned around to see whom it was. It was Gary, and he was running right towards Ash.

"Oh hey Gary..." He said. Gary immediately stopped in his tracks. He'd never been answered without some comeback. Running up to Ash, he started walking at Ash's pace.

"What's wrong with you?" He asked, a snobbish edge to it that tried to disguise the concern in his voice. That failed. Ash immediately broke down and started crying into his shoulder. "Whoa whoa whoa! Take it easy! Hey, if you really want to tell me what's wrong...go ahead." And thus, Ash Ketchum started spilling out his story.



He he he he...I am EVIL! Okay, there will probably be a sequel to this. But ya know it could stop there.... I've got to tell you one itty bitty thing...the Gary I'm thinking of looks more like the one from the manga. So...you likee?