09/19/12

Disclaimer: I do not own POKEMON!

Chapter 1: It's Our Secret Beginning

"Misty, are you sure this is okay?" Leaf asked, skeptical at the idea to go boating without telling anyone. You know, just in case they are worried and know where to look for her if they were to be out for too long.

The ginger haired girl only rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I go all the time. Now where's May?"

"Over here!" a girl with brown hair in a red bandana popped up from behind Leaf, effectively scaring her.

"Please don't do that," Leaf said, a hand over her heart to feel the thumping slow down after the shock.

Her comment was ignored as May took a seat next to her and continued eating her hotdog which was almost done.

"Relax a little Leafy dear," May said.

Leaf just rolled her eyes and crossed her arms while laying back. "Just go."

"Aye aye," Misty grinned as she started the boat and drove it out of the ports. It started out with just around the port area. Then the ginger saw a close friend by the bridge. "Hey Ash!"

A black haired boy looked around to find the voice. His pikachu that was perched on his shoulder tapped him by the head and pointed down below. "Misty!" He waved energetically while with his mouth full.

"Don't talk with your mouth full!" Misty yelled.

Ash nodded and swallowed his food before speaking again. "What cha doing?"

"Boating," Misty said as she drove the boat nearing to the edge where Ash was.

"How's the number four hot dog Ash?" May butted in while still eating her hot dog.

"Great," He replied while still eating. "You should try it." Then he sniffed the air. "Is that the number six?"

"Yeah," May said while grinning. "You have got to try it."

With a bit more of small chat, the girls left a waving Ash behind.

"Hey, let's go to that island," May pointed towards land.

Leaf took a look and had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. "I don't think we should; it looks. . .mysterious."

"I don't think it's dangerous," May shrugged. "I think, it's rather adventurous." Then the brunette stood up. "Ooh! Ooh! Let's go! We have to go, I got that feeling in the pit of my stomach."

Misty and Leaf looked at May skeptically. May had joined their school about a week ago. She transferred here early so there weren't any problems with catching up.

"Oh please," May put on her teddiursa look.

Misty and Leaf rolled their eyes. They have been friends since the first day of school, and gladly accepted May into their duo group. But knowing May, she would beg them to go there.

"Fine," the two girls replied.

"Yahoo!" May cheered.

Misty changed the direction of the boat and headed towards the island that was quite far away from the mainland, but close enough to see it as big as a rubber ball elementary children uses. "Just hope there are no carvanhas, especially sharpedos and gyaradoses." Misty said worriedly, but she still looked pretty confident.

"Don't you have like a gyarados yourself?" Leaf asked while looking around the ocean. The atmosphere is very peaceful. Who knew being out in the ocean alone, or with friends, could be relaxing? Well, considering that no one else is out here, it should be calming as long as they don't see any fins above the water or under.

Misty was quiet for a moment before she answered. "Yes…but he's a bit…" she tried to come up with a word for her gyarados. "Rebellious?"

"Rebellious?" May questioned with an interested look. "How so?"

"Gyarados doesn't really follow orders sometimes, well, mostly from me." Misty tried to explain.

"Only 'cause you're the only one that works at the gym. You sisters are too busy being 'sensational,'" Leaf air quoted.

"They are the Sensational Sisters," May pointed out. "Do you think I can meet him?"

"Sure," Misty said unsure. "Gyarados kind of reminds me of Ash's charizard."

Leaf knew what Misty meant and nodded while May was confused.

"What do you mean?" the brunette clad in red asked.

"Ash's charizard used to not listen to his orders." Leaf explained. Although she and Misty hadn't talked until they met in school, they both knew Ash when he started out. "As a charmander, he listened to Ash like any pokemon with their trainer. But when charmander evolved, he didn't listen as much anymore, but his charmeleon days were short. Then Ash got his charizard when he was in trouble. So yeah, from then on, it took time, but charizard eventually listened to Ash again. Although, it did help that Ash left charizard at that place where they train charizards."

"Wow," May said in disbelief. There have only been a few cases where pokémon didn't listen to their trainers, and usually it is because of not acknowledging their new master, or some other reason.

Misty let out a huge sigh. "Putting the past behind us, we're coming onto land soon."

Both Leaf and May came up to Misty and looked over the ginger's shoulder to see sand coming into view along with the whole island.

"Wow, it's much bigger than I thought," May said in amazement as she hopped out of the boat and walked onto the island, not minding that her ankles are wet.

Leaf got out of the boat once Misty couldn't travel any farther due to the sand. "You couldn't wait?" Leaf raised a brow.

"Nope," May answered while popping the 'p'. "Take the stage, beautifly!" May tossed up a pokeball and out came a butterfly. "Well, don't you have some sort of flying type?" she pointed the question at Leaf.

Leaf looked hesitant and sheepish at the fact that she didn't have tropius on her as she reached for a pokeball. "Sorry, but the closest is my shiftry." Leaf let out her pokémon which scared May a bit at the dark look it gave her.

"Um, hi?" May said nervously.

Leaf shook her head while Misty let out a small laugh. "Shiftry, stop that." Immediately, shiftry's expression turned from a scowl to a grin. Now May was more relieved since Leaf's pokémon didn't look like it was out to get her. "Shiftry likes to scare people for the fun of it, but he can be scary."

"Let's go," Misty said while pointing to the direction of a volcano, or mountain, which ever it is.

Walking, or flying in beautifly's case, the group ventured into the forest. It looked undisturbed and very nature-y. Mankeys were swinging in the vines, a group of oddish and its evolutions were at a nearby flower field, deerlings and sawsbucks were grazing on grasses. It was like a small paradise for all sorts of pokémon.

Leaf inspected around, Misty was in a daze as she looked at the pokémon, and May was watching everything with interested eyes.

"Hmm, I wonder how they got on here," Leaf mused quietly to herself. There were all sorts of pokémon around, and from different regions too. The ones from Unova were especially surprising since they were only native to the Unova region, nowhere else.

"Let's stop here," May said as the group stopped right near the foot of the volcano/mountain. They were near a mini waterfall that sprouted out just down below.

"Do you see anything?" May asked her beautifly who had flew up high. Beautifly shook her head as she came back down to land on May's head.

Misty saw May was about to collapse. When the ginger saw what w s behind May, she tried to stop the falling brunette from sitting down. "Wait, May—" Misty was cut off as May fell down the hole that appeared to be like a small cave, except it went down, not straight.

They peered in and heard an 'oomph' with an 'ow.'

"You okay?" Leaf sweatdropped. How could the ditzy brunette not notice a cave hole that was right behind her?

"Yeah, just pecha— No!" May shouted in sarcasm. "Misty!" May whined from down below. Beautifly called out in worry. Before May fell completely in, the butterfly pokémon flew off May's head and floated in front of the entrance.

Misty shrugged, not that May could see. "I tried to warn you, but you were already sitting down. Plus, how can you not notice the hole?"

"Hmm, let me think." May said sarcastically. "My back was behind it!" She yelled up the hole. "Now get me out of here!"

Misty looked at Leaf. All of Misty's pokémon were practically water types, so no use there.

Leaf let out a sheepish laugh while twindling with her pointer fingers. "Well, I only brought shiftry, petilil, and sawsbuck with me. Heheh."

"Well?" May called from down below.

"Don't you have a pokémon of your own?" Misty yelled back.

May crossed her arms. "Besides beautifly, I only have ninetails and squirtle."

"Just great," Misty threw her hands up. "I'll be back. I'm gonna look for a vine or something. Can I borrow shiftry?"

"Sure." Leaf turned to her shiftry. "try not to run off, and do as Misty tells you, okay?" Shiftry nodded and left with Misty.

"I guess it's you and me."

"Wipe that grin off," Leaf scoffed at how May can be so calm and cheerful.

"Don't be so pessimistic," May lectured with a grin. "Beautifly!" While the girls were talking, beautifly flew down to be with its trainer.

"Too bad your string shot isn't strong enough to fight those edgy rocks." May referred to the cave hole. Jagged rocks were sticking out—not sharp enough to hurt exactly, but still sharp enough to cut through a string shot.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" Leaf asked, sitting by the entrance of the cave hole.

"I don't know," May said. "Do you have a boy you like?"

"No," Leaf said.

May only grinned, feeling playful like a glameow. "You answered a bit too quick Leafy dear. Is it possible that you do have someone in mind?" she asked slyly.

Leaf rolled her eyes and placed her head on the palm of her hand that was propped up on her leg. "No, May sweetie," Leaf mocked back. "I don't have anyone in mind."

"Oh come on Leaf, when I ask this question, people would usually have someone pop up in their mind the instant I ask that question."

"Then I am not one of those people," Leaf responded back with a hint of blush. Luckily for her, no one was around to see that. But true to May's words, the first person she thought of was a boy with spiky brunette hair who was known as a player.

"What's taking Misty so long?" May whined. It felt like hours since Misty left. "I bet it's night time already."

"May, Misty left a while ago. It hasn't been that long, but it is getting to sunset." Leaf mentioned and took a look at her watch. They had been boating for quite a while. Maybe the trip to this island was longer than she initially thought.

"See!" May shouted up the hole. Being down in this cave wasn't her ideal place. It wasn't exactly dark-dark, but she wasn't used to being alone like this. A couple of yards away from her, there was a small pool of water. May didn't how deep it was nor did she care to find out.

Leaf and May were talking about various things while waiting for Misty. They even released their pokémon for some air time.

"You know, I think it feels like hours now." May commented glumly.

Leaf looked up at the sky. The sun was already disappearing. Night time should hit pretty soon. "Well, it is going to be night time soon."

"Hah!" May said triumphantly. "I knew it. It has been hours. Where has Misty gone?"

Leaf shrugged while watching her pokémon play around. "Who knows. I can't leave you alone but I can't send my pokémon to look for her. And I don't really think you would enjoy my pokémons' company like you would with me."

"It's getting could down here," May said while shivering. Upon seeing its master shiver, ninetails curled around May to keep her warm. Beautifly also cuddled by ninetails's said for warmth. Squirtle didn't mind the cold very much, but stationed itself near May's side. "Never mind," May laughed. "I'm good."

Unfortunately, it couldn't be said the same for Leaf who was even more exposed to the cold air. Sawsbuck did help a lot as it curled around Leaf and petilil was snuggled on Leaf's lap, but the night air was still chilly. But thinking about it, she might be better than Misty who's warmth is only shiftry, but even Misty wouldn't just ask shiftry for warmth since it wasn't hers.

Leaf was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard yelling. "I'm back!"

To her side, she saw Misty holding a coiled vine from shiftry's back. Looks like Misty had no trouble with asking shiftry to carry her back.

"What took you so long?" Leaf asked, a bit annoyed at the time it took for her to get a vine.

Misty laughed nervously. "Many things happened. The first vine I tried to get fell onto a beedrill's nest. Then I ran for it with shiftry by my side, or rather above me up in the trees. You know how I am with bugs."

"I suppose," Leaf understood how terrified Misty must've reacted. "But what took so long to get them off your tail? Shiftry could've handled them easily with just a glare and a move."

Again, Misty laughed nervously while slipping the rope down the cave hole. "We kind of got lost, and I was too busy escaping their wrath to notice how far I left."

"And…?" Leaf waited for Misty to answer more. It couldn't have took her 'til nighttime to get another vine."

"Well, on our way back, I guess we took the wrong turn because we ended up at the beachside." Misty explained. But during there, she had seen a corsula swimming and went after it immediately. She was dying to catch one. And she did, after a while. But it's not like she'll tell Leaf that. "And then yeah, we got the vine and tried to make our way back."

"I see," Leaf agreed with Misty's story, but had a suspicion that her friend was not telling the complete truth. "Ready May?"

While Misty was explaining, she was lowering the rope. Leaf recalled her pokémon and held onto the end of the vine.

"Ready!" May yelled back, glad that she was getting out of there. Her pokemon were back in their pokeball except for beautifly.

So the two girls pulled up May, who was climbing out of the cave hole. It was kind of difficult since it was smoother than she remembered but there were some rocky parts that she used to help her climb up.

However, just as they could see her face, the vine began to snap and break apart. May panicked and began to climb faster. She reached out one of her arm just as the rope snapped. Misty made for a grab since she was closer, but the momentum of May falling back down was too great and she pulled Misty back down since the ginger still had a grip on the brunette.

Oomph! Thud.

"Oww." Leaf heard from down below. 'So close.' Leaf just wanted this nightmare to end just go home. "Are you guys alright?"

"Yeah, we're fine." Leaf heard Misty respond and then heard a grumble.

May pushed Misty off of her. "Speak for yourself." When they fell, May was first to land and landed face down onto the sandy floor. Then Misty came immediately right after on top of her. So no, May had to worser landing.

Misty got up from the floor when May had pushed her and saw the pool of water. "Hey, there's water down here."

"Yeah, so?" May said while rubbing her face and standing up.

"Well, duh. If there's water down here, there has to be a source from where it is coming from. I bet it leads to an outside lake or the ocean." Misty explained making her way to the small pool and scanning the waters.

"Misty," May called in worriment. "What if there's pokémon down there? Or worse, sharks and sharpedoes."

Misty rolled her eyes. Sharks were common, but she was more worried of sharpedoes than regular sharks. But sharks were more likely to attack. "I'll be fine." The orange haired girl turned back into the pool and released her starmie. She told her pokémon to scan if there was anything dangerous at the bottom. After a few minutes, starmie appeared back up and shook itself no.

Nodding, Misty lowered herself into the pool. It was cold, shown by her shivering. She took a deep breath and dived underwater with her starmie.

May fidgeted nervously, worried that Misty may be in trouble. She looked at the cave hole when Leaf asked what was going on.

The brunette explained that Misty was just looking for the way out through the small pool that was there.

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Leaf chided. May only crossed her arms and huffed that even Leaf knew about escaping through the water.

"Well sor-ry," May said. "I just thought I could get out of her dry-free."

Before Leaf could speak, May shushed her as she saw Misty come back up.

Misty took a deep breath of air and released it. "We can get into the ocean through down there. It's about a twenty second or so dive to get to the hole." Misty reached the edge and packed her shoes into her bad and stared at May. "Well? What are you waiting for, an invitation or something? Come on." She gestured to the spot next to her.

May was becoming all nervous again. It's not that she didn't want to escape going through the water per say, but it was just that she can't. . .May mumbled.

"What was that?" Misty put a hand around her ear.

May looked embarrassed and said in a low voice, "I can't swim."

"Then we better start now," Misty said, not at all bothered. "Come in here and I'll show you how to dive. Do you have a water pokémon with you?"

"But I can't, and yes, I have a squirtle." May replied, not even coming any closer to the pool.

"Come on," Misty stressed. "You squirtle can do all the diving for you. Just take a deep breath and hold onto your squirtle."

"No," May turned away. "Leaf, can you go get another vine?"

Angry, Misty got out of the water and marched towards the defiant brunette. "May, get in the water." Misty commanded and pointed at the water to make her point.

"No, you can't make me." May argued back. The two kept arguing back and forth. Misty even tried to pull her, but she wouldn't budge very much and also pulled back.

"Oh for the love of," Leaf sighed at her pokémon. She recalled them back and positioned herself to slide down, but before she did so, she called down "Make way!" Without waiting for a reply, she slid down the hole like it was some slide, not as smooth but still okay.

The brunette tumbled to ground with a soft thud that didn't hurt and dusted herself off when she stood. When she looked up, she saw May and Misty pulling at each other. May pulling back against the cave and Misty towards the pool.

Not wasting a moment, Leaf sent out her shiftry once more and told shiftry to throw the girls into the water, but May should be thrown near the edge. Nodding, shiftry pulled Misty away first and threw her into the water.

"Hey!" Misty yelled angrily with a raised fist. "How could you Leaf, and I thought we had something."

Leaf on grinned and looked at her shiftry. "Thanks."

Meanwhile, May was laughing at Misty and making fun of her. "Thanks Leaf."

"You're welcome," Leaf smiled with closed eyes and nodded her head. Without warning, shiftry picked May up and threw her into the water. Now it was time for Misty to laugh while May was struggling to get to the edge which wasn't far off.

She was coughing up water and gave her a glare. "I could've drowned!" May was about to pull herself, but Leaf interfered and appeared in front of her after calling back her shiftry.

"May, I honestly don't care. I want to go home, so don't even think about leaving the water." Leaf slowly sank into the water. To her surprise, there was a buildup so there was like a bench underwater made from the cave hole place.

May pouted, but Leaf could see the scare in her eyes from the event.

"Sorry," Leaf said genuinely but quickly changed her tone. "We need to go. Misty, can I borrow a pokémon?"

"Marill," the small blue mouse-ish water pokémon appeared into the water. The marill squealed happily and waded in the pool. Misty told her marill to help Leaf. The two girls turned around to see that May was holding onto the edge and didn't seem to want to let go anytime soon. Her squirtle was out and also wading in the pool happily.

Leaf and Misty swam over to May.

"May, you need to let go," Leaf said softly. Misty let her handled it because she was better at the parental thing.

"But," May whimpered, she was having a flashback when she almost drowned in the pool a couple years ago. She could swim, but was scared of what had happened to her. "I'm scared of, of drowning."

"It's going to be alright," Leaf coaxed. "Squirtle will swim and you just have to hold on tight to its shell." See?" Leaf demonstrated by holding onto the shell and having squirtle swim around. "But you will need to kick a bit so it will be easier."

"C'mon May," Misty called obnoxiously. "We need to go. It's night time and we have school tomorrow."

That seemed to do the trick since May was letting go slowly and held onto Leaf's hand. "Wait," May dunked her head down and opened her eyes. She had to see for herself that nothing was going to harm her. Surfacing again, she nodded and the two swam towards Misty who was in the middle where light shown down from the hole on top.

It was like they were really in a volcano since it was a long ways up and the rock formation narrowed as it goes higher until there's a small hole, big enough so that the moon can be seen fully and still see some of the night sky surrounding the large space rock.

"Are you ready?" Leaf asked May.

May nodded and was about to call her squirtle that was playing with Misty's marill and starmie when the water began to bubble. It mostly bubbled in the area where the moon light was shining down, which so happens to be where the three girls were floating.

This reaction caused them to look up at the moon. They didn't know why, but the moon seemed mesmerizing at the moment. It was a full moon and seemed to be at its peak, meaning that it was probably around midnight. They stared up and waded in the same spot. Their pokémon were looking at them with concern but made no move to approach them since nothing was happening. It wouldn't have mattered anyways since the girls' eyes were dazed and distant, eyes on the moon.

Soon, clouds were beginning to block the moon which ended the bubbling reaction. The girls eyes came back from the dazed look and they shook their heads.

"Um, what happened?" Misty asked, fidgeting a little.

"I…" Leaf was at a loss for words. She didn't know how long or what was happening. "I don't really know."

"We were looking at the moon, and then nothing." May said softly.

Leaf shook her head of what happened. Seeing as nothing had changed them, she went back to their priority. "Let's just go." The other nodded and called their pokémon over.

They all dived after taking a deep breath and swam down below. Like Misty said, it was a twenty second dive, but it was another twenty to go back up.

"Beautifly," May gasped as she released her pokémon into the air. "Which way to the boat?"

Beautifly flew up and looked around. May's bug pokémon had to fly a few feet towards direction before gesturing towards to their left.

While beautifly was still leading the way, the girls swam along with their pokémon back to the shore of where they came from. When they got up, it was freezing cold and May and Misty were shaking as they recalled their pokémon. Leaf was shaking too, but she got the engine started to make use of the time.

Misty took out a box and got out two emergency blankets that were luckily still there. Leaf told them that they could have it first since she was the only one in a long sleeved shirt. Around half way back, Misty took over and gave Leaf the blanket.

During all this time, May looked up at the covered moon and shining stars. She didn't know why, but her fear of water was almost gone. As the boat was leaving the island further away, she felt like her water phobia was leaving behind also.

When the girls got home, they were each tired from today's event and climbed into bed. The three lived together at the student housing. The school was no private, but it was a program where they mostly accepted abroad students. The school provides houses surrounding the school like any neighborhoods. Each house was big enough to fit up to eight people max. The houses had to be big so that it could fit many boarders from around the regions. This was one of some international schools.

At the moment, the girls were living at a house for four. There wasn't a fourth person which was fine by them.

This may seem familiar to some of you. ^-^ I hope you'll support. I give thanks to Fprmr1 for inspiring me to write this fic along with where I got the idea. XD