The best thing that ever could have happened to Misty has just happened: Ash has returned to Kanto. However, her happiness will not last long, because the best thing ever will be quickly followed by the worst. AAML! REVIEW!
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Well, I hope nobody minds, but I'm taking a little time off my latest fic, "The Only Rule", to create a brand new one! I've actually been planning to write a new story for awhile, but until now I hadn't really come up with an idea that I considered writeable.

But, now I'm finally here, on my Dad's computer, at 10:32 PM ready to start and maybe even finish the first chapter of this brand new story! But first, the ages.

Ash is 16

Misty is 17

Brock (not sure whether or not he'll actually end up in the story) is 21

P.S. If you guys don't mind, I'm just gonna kind of pretend Misty never visited Ash in Hoenn, as that would complicate things a bit (plus the dubbing in that one movie is so horrible, it should be wiped from existence completely)

Hobey ho, let's go! =D
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Chapter 1

Water. Lots of it.

That was basically all that Misty Waterflower could see around her. A normal person would not have been able to see even that, as they would have their eyes closed. However, Misty had spent so much time in her house's indoor pool that her eyes had grown immune to the usual sting of chlorine. Of course, her vision was still fairly blurry, and for all she knew there could be somebody else a few feet from her, and she would not have seen them.

Misty could easily hold her breath for two or three minutes, which allowed her to stay under the water for a fair amount of time (compared to most people). Misty was very thankful for this, as being underwater seemed to aid her mental health. When she jumped in the water, all stressful thoughts seemed to leave her, leaving her with the ability to think about whatever she wanted without distractions. She had begun to spend hours on end simply sitting at the bottom of the pool, swimming up to the surface to draw occasional, brief breaths of air.

However, try as she might, there was one thought that always stuck with her. No matter how hard she tried for how long, she simply could not get it out of her head. It was as if her mind had latched onto that one thought, and refused to let it go. It had been years now, and yet she still remembered it clear as day.

She had been eleven then. She had traveled down to a lake near Viridian City to do some fishing. While she was fishing, she somehow ended up catching a young boy (how this was possible, she still had not figured out) with a pikachu. The boy then stole her bike in order to get his pikachu to a pokémon center, yelling that he would "give it back someday". Technically he did hold true to that promise. Misty got her bike back. However, when she did, it looked as if it had been thrown into Mount Doom.

When the boy could not buy her a new bike, she began following him everywhere, saying that she would not stop until he bought her a new bike. However, this was mostly a simple excuse for following him. This boy fascinated Misty. Even though he was sort of stupid and arrogant, something about his love for pokémon and willingness to do anything for them interested her.

As Misty followed the boy across Kanto and Johto, the bond between the two of them grew, and sometime along the way, Misty's friendship with the boy became a huge crush. She had no idea when this had happened, whether it had been an overnight change or something more gradual. But in any case, she now loved that boy more than she ever would have thought possible.

But she did not know where he was. The last time she had seen him had been a little more than four years ago, when she departed to her gym, and he left towards Pallet town before heading off to Hoenn, a whole new region. She knew from her phone calls to him that he was now in Sinnoh, and that he had met traveled with two other girls since Misty: May and Dawn.

Misty did not dislike May or Dawn at all. In fact, from what she had heard from Ash, they seemed like two very likeable people. Still, she simply could not stand the thought of Ash traveling with other girls. She seemed to become nauseous every time she thought about it.

Four years. That was how long it had been since the two of them had last met in person. Even their occasional phone calls seemed to have gradually slowed and ceased. Misty did not know if the boy she loved even remembered her anymore. But she still loved him. That she could never deny.

This was the one thought that Misty could never forget.

As she looked up towards the surface of the pool, Misty saw the figure of a person leaning over the edge, looking down at her. She swam up to the surface to get a better look at who it was. After taking a quick breath, Misty brushed her orangey-red hair out of her eyes and looked up at her all-too-beautiful sister, Daisy. Daisy was smiling at Misty, with a look that told Misty she had some good news.

"What is it?" Misty asked, slightly agitated at this interruption.

"I have something that'll cheer you up," Daisy said gleefully.

"What makes you think I need cheering up?" Misty said defensively. The truth was, she did need cheering up very badly. Ever since Ash had left, she had been needing cheering up more and more with each passing day. The look on Daisy's face said that she knew this. However, Misty still did not want to show any of it.

"Everything," came Daisy's simple answer. Misty opened her mouth to argue that she was fine, but then realized that any argument of the sort was useless against a person as stubborn as Daisy. Instead, she let a long sigh exit from her mouth.

"I'm guess you know what it is that's bothering me?" She said. Daisy nodded in reply.

"Then you should know that there's only one thing that would ever permanently cheer me up, and unless-"

"You mean like if I were to tell you that Ash Ketchum is currently right outside the front door, waiting for you to open it?"

"I a-wait, what? What!" Misty literally could not believe what she was hearing. She figured this must be another one of her dreams, brought upon by her cruel mind and that inescapable thought.

"No, you are not dreaming," Daisy said, as if she were reading Misty's mind. "For real. He's here."

"Oh my-but-he's-ohmygod!" Misty had no idea what to say. She quickly climbed out of the pool and turned to Daisy.

"How do I look?" She asked. Daisy inspected her younger sister. Misty's bright orange hair was falling down her shoulders more than it was flowing, and it was sticking up in random areas. Her eyes were red from being exposed to pool water for so long, she was dripping water all of the place, and her body was covered with nothing but a bright red bikini. Daisy grinned.

"Like yourself," she said. When Misty asked whether or not this was a good thing, she shrugged and said, "Depends who you are, I guess."

Either Misty was satisfied with this answer, or she just did not want to change clothes, for she quickly walked through her house to the door, either forgetting or not bothering to dry herself off.

Misty had finally gotten to the door and was just about to turn the handle when she froze. She had no idea what to expect when she opened that door. She didn't know how much Ash had changed. Was he still the boy she had fallen in love with so many years ago? Misty took a deep breath, opened the door, and received an answer to her question.

No. He was even better.

Ash seemed to be in the middle of an argument with Pikachu when Misty opened the door. His head immediately turned towards her and a look of shock spread across his face, identical to the one on Misty's. Obviously, both were amazed on how much the appearance of the other had changed over four years.

Ash was not the same short, pre-pubescent boy that Misty fished out of that lake so long ago. He had grown into a handsome, fit, 6-foot-tall teenager. His skin was fairly tanned from being exposed to the sunlight so often, his jaw was more square, and his arms and chest were much broader. The only thing that hadn't changed was his impossibly messy hair and red-and-white hat.

The sight of these two aspects of Ash brought back many memories for Misty. She remembered all the times she had saved Ash's ass, and all the times he had saved hers. She remembered the day they blew up a Pokémon Center, yet somehow got away lawsuit-free. She remembered watching Ash battle in the Kanto and Johto Leagues. She remembered the day they first met, and the day they last met.

And at remembering all these magnificent memories, both the good and the bad, Misty could not help but smile. A few seconds later, a grin spread across Ash's face. The same boyish grin that he had always seemed to have on when in Kanto and Johto with Misty.

That, too, would never change.
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Well, unfortunately, I didn't get it all finished in one night, but I did manage to finish this first chapter up the next night (well, technically two days later) at 12:21 AM! That's all I've got for this chapter! I'm afraid the real story won't get going till the next. I didn't want to try to cram everything into this chapter and make it too long.

Anyway, review, live, eat a doughnut, and run around your neighborhood trying to sell people an empty cardboard box for $20. Who knows, you may actually find someone crazy/stupid/rich enough to buy it! But even if you don't, be sure to videotape it and post it on YouTube. Hey, if a sneezing Panda can get 100,000,000 views, I'm sure you can too.

Seriously, though, REVIEW! Reviews are my precious…I must have them…8P