Author's Note: This project grew from my desire to see Misty get a proper character arc; the Whirl Cup was of course one of the best things Johto did for her, so it made sense to bring her back there to test her skills. I so wanted to see her show off her knowledge of water pokémon, and how much she's grown, and to see her kick ass of course. It will be pokéshippy, however, and will become more action-y in later chapters as the battles grow in difficulty and become more important.
Red Rock Island. 9.31am.
A yellow mouse pokémon perched on top of a rather battered Official League Hat covering a head of messy black hair peered about the area excitedly. It occasionally sniffed the air curiously, nose twitching rapidly. Typically, while passing food vendors, the creature's sniffs increased in vigour, while the head he sat on turned in the direction of the roasted apricons and Moomoo Milk ice-cream.
"Chaaa," it said, peering down at the human boy carrying it. "Pika chu, Pikapi."
The boy grinned, eyes flicking about the food stalls. "I'm hungry too, Pikachu. But we gotta get this package delivered to Maya so that we can then head over to the Pokémon Centre to register and everything!"
The Pikachu sighed, flopping over the hat, but then brightened up with a "Pi Pi Pikachupi!"
The trainer fairly beamed in response, and he reached up to scratch the pokémon's ears. His pace sped up slightly as he made his way past a sign that read "Red Rock Island Town Centre," and past another that said "Red Rock Colosseum."
The same dark-haired trainer bounded into a well-kept garden, blue and white sneakers flying over the tiled gravel pathway. He was chasing a small pikachu that skidded to a neat halt before a rough wooden door and turned to look at the boy triumphantly.
"Whoaa!" said the trainer, nearly smacking his face into a wall of the small cottage. "Fine, you win this time, buddy!"
He was still laughing when he raised a hand to knock on the door to give it three short raps, and when he settled himself for long wait.
But it opened almost immediately to a purple-haired, dark-eyed woman with lively, intelligent features. This was Maya, the Sea Priestess of the Whirl Islands, as the name on the parcel in his backpack read.
"Hello ah…?" she said, a hand absently smoothing out her grey blouse.
The boy flashed a disarming, polite smile. "I'm Ash Ketchum, from Pallet Town, and this is my buddy Pikachu!" he declared. "Professor Oak sent me with a delivery for Maya the Sea Priestess!"
"Oh yes, Ash from Pallet. And Pikachu! Professor Oak told me you would be coming down, but this is a little earlier than I had expected." She reached out to offer both of them her hand. "Please, come in."
Two handshakes later, one between humans, and a solemn one with a delighted pikachu, Ash carefully removed his shoes, and Maya led Ash down the short hallway into her living room.
Maya seemed to live simply and traditionally, her walls lined with seashells and old fossils. It was an impression that her living room confirmed; a long, low stove sat on one side, a copper kettle and pot settled on it, a woven mat (with green cushions) spread out for guests, and a lovingly carved low table. One apparent extravagance was the small rock pool of water, where a vaporeon snoozed. It opened an eye when Ash entered, then closed it again, seemingly ignoring him.
As Ash knelt on the mat and awkwardly dug through his backpack to retrieve the small brown parcel, Pikachu settled on the cushion next to him. His companion chittered away at Maya, who laughed and chittered back cheerfully while she waited patiently for Ash.
Pawing through his pack took slightly longer than Ash had anticipated, as he had had to dig past compactly folded spare clothes, a couple of potions, and other miscellaneous items, so it was relief when he managed to find it (untangling it from some socks and a chocolate wrapper).
"Sorry, it was little uh, hidden." Ash rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "But here it is!"
"Thank you, Ash," said Maya. She graciously ignored the bit of chocolate on the brown wrapping string, and sliced it open with a flint knife (it had the Pewter symbol embossed on the handle), to reveal a couple of large, oddly shaped and discoloured stones.
"Those are…" muttered Ash, "Stones? Did Professor Oak really make me carry stones across the country?"
Maya gave a tinkling laugh. "These are water stones Ash! This is the 200th anniversary of the Whirl Cup, so the winner and runner-ups will receive water stones. They'll be carved into something special, after they get cleaned and polished."
"What!" Ash said excitedly. "I'll be participating this year! And so will some of my friends! So if we win, we could get water stones?"
"That's right." Maya affirmed. "But only the Top 4 will get one, and the Sea Hero will of course receive the Mystic Water Pendant as usual. This year's Whirl Cup still takes place over three days and nights, but there's an extra sudden death and preliminary round to narrow down the pool – so many trainers registered this year that the tournament is seven days long instead. It's the first time in over a century we've had to do that!"
"Wow," said Ash. "That's great! I bet the tournament will be really exciting with those as prizes! I can't wait!"
"The Whirl Cup does attract trainers from all over the country, and some from all over the world! There are some very dedicated water-trainers who travel the world to study and learn about water pokémon, and most hope to claim the Sea Hero title. I once did, before I realised that my calling was to be a sea priestess," Maya said. "Besides, the experiencing the ceremonies and connecting with water-types is very important to us water trainers."
"It was definitely worth seeing," agreed Ash. He could remember the awe he felt at the sheer spectacle of the Sea Spirit Union, and the glory of the colosseum itself when he and Misty had competed three years ago.
"Mmm hmm, " Maya hummed. She began carefully transferring the stones into a sleek wooden container that she had produced. Evolution stones were fairly tough (especially to have survived a journey in Ash's bag), but you never knew; they could occasionally crack or break up into smaller pieces.
Sensing the visit was over, Ash nervously drummed his fingers against the mat, then rocked back onto his heels abruptly.
"Uh, I should get going now," he said as Pikachu scrambled up his leg. "I've got to meet a friend and check in at the Centre. It was nice meeting you again. See ya at the ceremony Maya!"
"Pika!"
"Goodbye Ash and Pikachu," said the Sea Priestess. She eyed the boy trying to keep still thoughtfully. "Good luck for your battles here. This year will be tough."
Ash bounced on his heels as waited for Nurse Joy to process his Pokédex, shifting from his right leg to his left. On his blue-jacketed shoulder, Pikachu tried not to fall off.
He glanced around the large entrance hall hopefully, but the only shock of red he saw belonged to a woman's umbrella.
"You seem excited," observed Nurse Joy, as she waited for her computer. "Are you meeting your girlfriend?'
A barely discernible splash of colour rose to Ash's cheeks. "N-no! Not my girlfriend." he assured her hastily. "Just my best friend. I haven't seen her in over a year!"
Nurse Joy chuckled. She looked amused, and Ash wondered if teasing passing trainers was her form of boredom and stress relief. "No worries. Although they do say 'absence makes the heart grow fonder!' A year is a long time, after all, to be separated from your best friend. It's no wonder that you are so nervous."
Ash blushed. "It's not like that," he insisted. "I just miss Misty, and arguing over stupid stuff a little. You're allowed to be excited to see your best friend, aren't you?"
He was pretty sure you were allowed to. He had missed Brock after all, when the then-aspiring breeder had left him during his Orange Islands journey, and he had definitely missed Misty, when she had left to do her duty at the Cerulean Gym. Any form of contact - whether email, or phone calls, or better yet, visits, were things he desperately looked forward to. Unova had been very hard without either of them by his side, and Kalos itself had been an internal struggle...
Nurse Joy seemed as if she was about to reply, but a "ping!" noise from her desktop distracted her. She smiled kindly at him. "There you go! Here's you're the key-pass for your room; the little one here is for the locker. Now you can go find – Misty was it? I think someone by that name checked in a few days ago."
She handed him a neat white card-pass with 110-2 printed in large bold letters, and a smaller key fob. Pikachu reached down to pick them up for him.
"Thanks Nurse Joy! See you around!"
Ash accepted the keys and turned to Pikachu, a wide grin splitting his face. "Let's get settled so we can eat and find Misty!"
Ash tapped the key against the electronic scanner on the door of 110-2 and bounded into the room, Pikachu once again on his heels. The room was large, but had a few bunk beds with attached lockers - he would be sharing with a some other trainers and tourists looks for cheap lodgings.
He shoved his backpack into his designated locker, remembering to secure it, then sent Misty a message using his Pokénav. After a while, feeling bored and strangely antsy waiting for her response, Ash decided to explore the Centre.
It was a large place – but it had to be, to accommodate all the trainers that converged on the Whirl Islands to compete in various fishing and battle tournaments, and the Whirl Cup, or who came to relax and train. There were a couple of levels of sleeping quarters, bathing facilities, emergency rooms and clinics, a larger than normal number of Chansey assistants, various human nurse, and Nurse Joy, who was the Centre Head. There was also a very well stocked, very busy Cafeteria (Nurse Joy had assured him of that), which Ash and Pikachu headed towards automatically.
"Pi, Pikapi, kaaaa." Pikachu moaned dramatically, rubbing its tummy.
"I'll grab lots of extra ketchup packets for your lunch and more for snacks, don't worry Pikachu," Ash assured his partner. "I know you're sick of travel food too. I can't wait to get a real burger and real food!"
He was so busy trying to decide which burger to get (Volcano Chicken, or the Original? Or the Alohan?) that he ended up walking into another person. But from Pikachu's excited "Pikachupi!" he realised it was…
"Misty!" he half-shouted, strangely giddy. "You're here! Why didn't you respond to my message!"
She fairly beamed at him, her smile lighting up her whole face. She'd changed just a little since he'd last seen her, (before he had set off on his Unovan adventure); her short, fiery hair was still twisted up into a side ponytail, and her teal eyes laughed. But she stood taller in her open yellow jacket (of course it was yellow), and practical blue denim shorts (a pair of compression tights worn underneath), and her features seemed both sharper and softer at the same time.
"Ash!"
Maybe it was the way freckles were scattered over her cheeks, or the way she was smiling at him…
"Ash!" She repeated. "Are you okay?"
She was looking at him with concern, he realised suddenly. He shook his head a little to clear it after he realised that he had been smiling foolishly at her for a good half minute. He hoped his cheeks were not as red as they felt. "I'm fine, Mist," he said quickly. "What are you doing here? How are you?"
The girl raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you're fine Ash? You spaced out a little there. And I'm here because we arranged to meet? I knew you would head straight for the cafeteria too."
"I'm fine, maybe it because we've been on the road (and boat) a while," Ash deflected. "I'm starvin' for a good burger!"
Then something about her statement hit him. "And what do you mean 'straight for the cafeteria'!"
"Nothing." Misty was smirking a little. "Just that I know you – and your stomach – too well."
As if to prove her point, Ash's stomach let out an embarrassingly loud growl.
"I did want to find you first," he protested half-heartedly. "But you never replied 'bout where we should meet."
"We're meeting now." She scratched behind Pikachu's ears, in his favourite spot. "Let's go grab some food. Poor Pikachu looks famished," she added when the mouse pokémon cooed and looked pathetically at Misty. "What has your thick-headed trainer been feeding you?
Ash spluttered at that outrageousness. "Pikachu! You traitor! Quit suckin' up! I've been feeding you as well as I feed my-!"
His stomach promptly punctuated the end of the sentence with a desperate gurgle.
"Shush, Ketchum," Misty laughed. "Let's find a table, so we can find some food that can shut your stomach up."
After navigating through the crowds, the three of them managed to settle at a spot vacated by a couple of tourists. It was situated near a window, and the tourists had left behind some bread crumbs and smears of mustard, but it was empty, unlike most of the other tables. They left Pikachu to guard the precious space.
Ash headed straight to the burger stall, having finally decided on the Alohan, while Misty made a beeline for 'Local Delicacies.' She was determined to try more of the very fresh grilled seafood that Red Rock was famous for. Both trainers promised to request for extra ketchup and apples if possible.
Placing and receiving their orders took surprisingly little time, but to his annoyance, Misty managed to beat Ash back to the table as she slipped around a few young fishermen and ace trainers with her tray held stably over her head. She flashed him a triumphant grin as he finally managed to extricate himself from a group of golf-buddies and settled beside her.
To Misty's amusement, Ash moaned with pleasure as he bit into the burger. You would have thought he hadn't eaten for days the way he was going on.
"Pikachuu...!" the electric pokémon beside him agreed. It was slurping from a ketchup packet. An empty one sat next to it, and it ignored the small bowl of healthy pokémon food that Ash had requested for. The red apple Misty had gotten with her meal was receiving quite a lot of attention, however.
Ash glanced up at Misty when she giggled. She was expertly removing the flesh from a grilled mackerel and apricon dish with a fork and knife, making sure to avoid any splatters on her dark grey shirt from the sauce. "Whatcha luffin' at?" he said, mouth full of beef patty.
"You." Misty replied. There was a fond smile on her face, lips curled delicately. It made the strange feeling he had felt since the morning creep up on him again. "You really haven't changed that much."
"...Is that a bad thing?" he asked distractedly. "Don't you think I've...matured a little?"
The girl considered it for a moment, then refocused on her fish. "No, I don't think so."
"It isn't a bad thing? Or that I haven't matured at all?" Ash pouted a little. Misty not thinking he had matured bothered him for some reason.
"You weren't that bad of a guy when we last met, Ash," said Misty dryly. "You were a lot less of a jerk by then, and slightly less impulsive."
"You make it sound like I'm in desperate need of improvement," he grumbled. "Am I at least less jerkish now?"
"You were never that bad Ash. You were just reckless and a kid. All ten-year-olds are jerks. 'cept maybe for May, but she doesn't really count, 'cause she's an amazingly nice person. You always loved pokémon, and you were there when I-uh-we need you to be...I mean, you invited me and Brock into your home. But you're more considerate in general now, I guess. So yeah you've changed a little, but you're still you, y'know? Still the kid I fished out of a river, still funny, still confident and reckless, and still someone who really does love pokémon."
Misty took a breath. That had felt almost too much, especially with Ash looking at her, mouth agape.
"I-uh, thank you Mist." Ash felt strangely shy; they'd had a number of late night talks before, and had saved each others' lives a number of times, but she had never said all of that before. So this was...almost new...
The boy half-reached towards Misty's face and stopped suddenly, red lightly tinting his tanned cheeks. Curious, Misty raised an eyebrow and gave him a questioning glance.
"Your…hair," managed Ash lamely. "It was coming loose." It hadn't really been her hair, as soft and brazenly red as it looked. It was her freckles, scattered across her cheeks after weeks in the hot Kanto-Johto summer sun that had made him want to…brush her hair aside so that he could count them one-by-one. With his fingers. His flush deepened as he processed what he'd nearly done.
"Oh." Misty felt her face warm slightly. Maybe she could blame it on too much sun? She had been spending an awful lot of time training at the beach after all. Ash's hand hovered awkwardly, between her face and his, before he withdrew it, and tucked it into in pocket for good measure. Her traitorous thoughts wondered, briefly, how his fingertips would feel tucking her hair behind her ear. She quashed them hastily. Now wasn't the time for…distractions.
"I'll, uh, fix it." She cleared her throat and perhaps-too-quickly put the offending strand away. "Anyway should we clear our trays and get dessert? My treat." Chocolate ice-cream sounded very good at the moment. And cooling.
Ash stood up and nodded, gathering his, and her tray up. "Some vanilla ice would be the best," he hinted, grinning. The red had started to fade from his cheeks.
Misty laughed. At least she knew some things would never change: Ash would always go for vanilla, and she would always get chocolate.
"I'm gonna use Corphish, I think!" declared Ash. The two of them were holding their ice-cream while they strolled along the beach. Pikachu sat cuddled in Misty's left arm, occasionally leaning over to taste Ash or Misty's cones. "It's been awhile since we competed together, but we've been training on our way here, and he deserves it. What 'bout you?"
"That's for me to know, and you to find out," the redheaded girl taunted him. "Either way, I'll beat you if we do meet."
"Aw, c'mon Mist," Ash pleaded. He met her gaze with his very warm one. Misty wasn't sure if he was giving her seel eyes on purpose, but they did seem wider than usual, and she felt her own resolve to hold out a little longer weaken.
"Nah," she said, wavering.
"Misty..."
Why did his brown eyes look so softly at her? She really should tell him that he looked pathetic like that. She tried to hold on to that last bit of stubbornness, but felt it slip away.
"Fine," she said finally. (Ash broke into a grin at that, which confirmed her suspicions that those seel eyes had been on purpose). "Probably Politoed."
"That's a good choice," said Ash, "I remember that Politoed was really strong."
"Mmm," Misty said absently. Perhaps bubblebeam would be a good opening to test her opponent's defences without revealing her hand too soon…
The boy tried again. "I know I'm saving my other water-types for later rounds."
"Yeah, that's a good plan." On the other hand, water gun was the most common opening gambit in a water pokémon battle, so should she save bubble beam for later?
"I wonder who our first opponents are?"
"Hmm…" Or should she have Politoed dive into the water? That would have the added advantage of being able to avoid attacks and launching a surprise attack.
"Looks like my first opponent is Daisy."
"Yeah…wait. What?!" Misty's head snapped up suddenly at that. Daisy was competing? She seemed to be more interested in the gym now, but…wait. Her eyes narrowed at Ash, who was sniggering. "It's not that funny Ash Ketchum!"
"Yeah, it is," Ash slowed his chuckles down, then frowned. "But, seriously, Mist. You've been spaced out since we had lunch. Is…everything okay?"
Misty thought about lying and saying that she was tired for a moment, then sighed. "I'm just…a little worried I guess. I really, really want to do well for this tournament, y'know? It's one of the most important events for water trainers, after all, and winning the Cup would be the best way to raise the status of the Gym."
Ash's gaze on her was surprisingly…thoughtful. Then he smiled softly. "I get it," he assured her. "It's nerves and stress. But don't worry so much, Mist. I'm sure you'll blow 'em all away. You're really strong!"
"Pika, Pikachupi!"
She smiled at their confidence in her abilities. She knew she had grown stronger, but still…
"Thanks for that, Ash, Pikachu." She hoped that would be enough to satisfy him and changed the subject. "I'll try to remember that. Shall we go see who we'll facing, for real this time? After we finish these of course." She gestured to their ice-cream cones.
She felt relieved when that suggestion succeeded in getting Ash's attention, his eyes lighting up as he began speculating who their opponents would be. Something about the pool being so big for the anniversary. She nodded at the right points, and occasionally interjected as the chocolate melted pleasantly on her tongue and vanilla was smeared over his chin.
She didn't notice when he turned a concerned gaze on her as they strode back towards the Centre.
Their sudden death match-ups were not too bad, as it turned out; Ash found himself facing a very young trainer named Alice, who seemed to have more water pokémon than she knew what to do with. It showed when her stubborn Wartortle demanded to battle despite her initially attempting to call Wingull.
"Wartortle!" the girl groaned. When the turtle pokémon scowled, and turned to firmly face Ash and Corphish, she shook her head and called for a water-gun.
That was what Misty, standing in the special competitors' zone, had predicted the poor girl would end up using. Water-gun wasn't a bad move per se, but tended to get over-used, and not merely as an opening gambit. Many trainers tended to panic and use what was most familiar – in this case, water-gun. "That stubbornness sounds familiar," she told Pikachu, who paused in the middle of his cheer to nod in response.
She thought that she knew Ash's battling style relatively well, having caught many of his League matches on television, and having witnessed a few years of it herself. "What do you think?" she asked Pikachu, absently twirling a red lock of hair. "Do you think Ash will dodge and call for a bubble-beam, or get in close to finish it quickly with a crabhammer?"
The electric mouse looked thoughtful and then responded with a definitive "Pikapi pi pikachu."
"You're right," agreed Misty, "he'll probably want to end this with some quick power, knowing him. Anyway, an all-out offensive is usually a good way to go for water-types…"
Sure enough, both girl and pokémon grinned as they heard Ash shout "Get in close to hit it with a crabhammer Corphish!"
They watched as the crab pokémon fairly sprinted through the water to swing and land a hit from a glowing claw. The poor Wartortle and its trainer had no time to react as the referee declared Ash the winner.
"You did great for your first time here," Ash told the trainer, as they did the traditional handshake and were hurried from the arena. "I know what's it like to have a disobedient pokémon. It really makes things hard, huh."
"You had one? Really?" Alice's eyes seemed to widen slightly. "Ever since he evolved, he's become really stubborn! And he just wants to keep battling, even against electric types!"
"Yep," said Ash, "Charizard wouldn't listen to me for months, even though he was really strong. He'd cost me a match because he refused to battle, but he finally came around when I won his respect, and he realised that I cared about him. You could try rotating your pokémon so that he isn't always the go-to."
"Oh." Alice looked thoughtful, and smiled up at Ash, flushing a little. "I'll have to work on that! Thanks so much!"
Ash looked around for Misty, and found her staring at him, the strangest expression on her face. It looked familiar, but he wasn't sure how to place it, and he felt the strange, nervous feeling come over him again, something twisting in his stomach as he took in the way the noon sun lit a fiery halo on her.
"You've won yourself an admirer," Misty teased. She'd noticed him looking at her. "She looks like she has a little crush on you too."
"Not the one I want to have a crush on me," he mumbled.
"What was that?" she said, tilting her head to the side. In her arms, Pikachu smirked at him.
"Nothing. The battle was fun, but I really wanna see ya battle again!" he said brightly. "You'll be on in an hour won't you?"
"If the next few battles are as quick as yours," she said, shaking her head. "Some might, but Marcellus is facing one of my ex-students, Gale. They're both pretty good, so it might take a while."
"Mine was pretty quick," Ash puffed out his chest a little. "I'm pretty tough after all, huh."
"And with a big head," Misty snorted with amusement, and Pikachu laughed. "Naturally."
"Hey!" protested Ash. "I'm not that bad."
"Not all the time, maybe," she teased. "But you better be careful with that ego of yours, or you'll be in for a shock when I take you down in the finals!"
Ash smirked. "You should look out for when I beat you in six days. Maybe I have Lanturn who can take your Gyarados out in a few hits!"
She side-eyed him. "Do you have a Lanturn?"
"No," admitted Ash, scratching the back of his neck.
Misty and Pikachu groaned.
The matches proceeded as predicted; Misty was right when she said that Marcellus and Gale would provide a spectacle. Both fought very hard in a battle that lasted over fifteen minutes (eight was the norm for sudden-death rounds), Octillery and Floatzel refusing to back down. In the end, Marcellus managed to edge out Gale with a well placed octazooka. Ash felt a certain sense of relief for Marcellus - not moving past sudden-death rounds again would have been devastating, although Misty did go down to comfort her ex-student with a hug.
Watching that had brought out the antsy feeling again, but Gale was only thirteen, and her former student besides, so Ash made himself shove the feeling away. In any case, Misty would be battling next, which he was very much looking forward to. He was eager to see how much she had grown.
But as much as Ash had said he was looking forward to watching Misty battle, he didn't like this one much at all. For one, her opponent, Rem, reminded him unpleasantly of Ruby and his smooth, intelligent charm. He was also annoyingly good-looking.
"Your eyes shine in this sunlight!"
"Your Politoed is as regal and powerful as you are!"
And he flirted a lot, in between shouted commands.
With Misty.
In what was supposed to be a sudden death match for entry into the Whirl Cup.
It was irritating, although at least Misty seemed to be ignoring him.
"I hope she finishes him soon Pikachu," he said. "Why's he flirting in the middle of a battle anyway!"
Pikachu patted his shoulder comfortingly as he stared at the scene before him – Misty and Politoed facing Rem and a Milotic. "C'mon Misty! Finish him!"
"I hate to hurt such a beautiful pokémon!" said Misty, Politoed automatically dodging the water-gun coming at it. "But let's go Politoed! Surf and then into a double slap!"
"Politoed!" Before Rem could spout off more lines or retort, Politoed slammed straight into Milotic and hit the tender pokémon several times, until it was knocked backwards into a pillar.
While it struggled to show that it could still swim, her opponent pleaded with his pokémon, but in the end, the referee declared Misty and Politoed the winners.
"Milotic is unable to battle, so Politoed wins! This sudden death round goes to...Misty!"
Ash felt slightly bad for Rem, as he watched the boy apologise to his milotic. At least he seemed to care for his pokémon; he had been so trashed by Misty, even though he'd been a decent trainer. It really was just too bad for him that he'd faced off with a rising star of the water-pokémon training world in the sudden-death rounds.
His scowled returned momentarily as Misty and Rem shook hands, when Rem commented admiringly again on her "extraordinary" hair, and asked her for a date afterwards.
"No thank you," Misty said, giving him a slightly strained half-smile. "I really don't have time, and yeah..."
The richly-tanned boy smiled back in a relieved sort of way. "Sorry, I just had to get it off my chest! That was a really great match too. Thank you for that."
The dark-haired trainer let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding when they parted ways without further comment. As Misty began heading to the spectator stands where Ash and Pikachu waited, he stood up and called out to her. "Hey! Over here, Mist!"
When her sea-green eyes turned to him, he started slightly, then grinned at her. "Hey, Misty. Congrats on a great battle! Rem was a little...weird though."
She narrowed her eyes, even as she reached out to accept a congratulatory nuzzle from Pikachu. "He wasn't weird. Just a little flirty."
"'Least you set him straight," he said awkwardly, shifting first on one leg, then the other. The antsy feeling was back again, and a little heat had risen to his neck. "We really should get a bite to eat and send in the pokémon to rest up a bit. There's another match tomorrow, and we gotta be in tip top shape."
When Misty's suspicious stare faded into a smile that lit up her very sea-green eyes, Ash felt the heat rise from his collar to his cheeks. The Johto summer sun was making him feel awfully warm...
END CHAPTER 1
If anyone has any advice at all about writing a battle scene, please send help. Heh.
Do drop a review if you can! I need to figure out if there's way to much dialogue, or if my transitions are weird, or the segments are too short. I also really want to know what you all think!
Is the ending weird? Too sudden?
Edit: Thanks to Ameyuko on tumblr for her managing to spot my Johto spelling error. Apparently I have been spelling Johto wrong my whole life. Oops. And thanks to Nijibrush who helped me with ideas for transitions :)