Camping Confessions

Hello people of the internet! :)

A one shot for pokeshipping!

It's actually a side story for my multi-chapter story, Inspiration. You don't have to read it, but feel free if you want to. :) Anyways, please enjoy! :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon

"Have fun on your trip!"

Misty pulled along her small bag, containing some of her basic necessities. Her large backpack carried the rest. She looked up at her friends. Even though it was really early in the morning, they managed to make it to her send off where she would board the bus and spend the next week in the wilderness. Seven days and six nights.

"We're going to miss you!" Dawn cried, throwing her arms the orange haired girl. "What are we going to do without you?"

"School work?" Misty asked jokingly.

May laughed, carefully balanced on her crutches. "You'll have to do it to, after."

"I'll be there to help you when you get back," Vi smiled. "You have everything right?"

The orange hair girl nodded, looking at her bag.

"No need to worry, okay?" Dawn grinned.

"No need to worry," Misty repeated, beaming at her friends.

As they continued their early morning chatter, other people stood around with their family or friends as well, waiting for the bus to arrive. Although most Friday mornings were calm and quiet, the trip made this morning more exciting.

May looked around, searching for the other two members of their friends group. "Looks like Ash and Jack are still getting breakfast."

"What do you mean? We're right here." Jack exclaimed, appearing behind the group. His sudden appearance with Ash had startled the girls and caused Vi to let out surprised squeak.

"Did you guys get me a muffin?" May asked, looking at the guys.

Ash pointed over to Jack, since he was busy eating his own breakfast sandwich. Jack pulled out a muffin, which May cheerfully accepted and starts to eat, managing to stay standing.

"You and you're food," Misty scowled, looking at Ash. "You're lucky..." She paused, digging around her backpack. Smiling she pulled out a blow up plastic mallet. Her school friend version of her mallet of doom. She held it up in the air, ready to swing.

Ash looked panic-stricken, and started to back away protesting. "I can't help it! I'm still hungry from eating breakfast at home this morning! Please don't hit me...!"

"Stop!" Vi injected, stepping in between the two. She looked at Misty. "Usually, I don't mind if you use the mallet on Ash—"

"Hey!" Ash said, mouth half full of food.

"Close your mouth, please," Dawn scolded, looking disgusted.

"—but starting a camping trip with bruises isn't fun," Vi finished after a pause from the interruption.

Misty lowered her mallet, considering this option. She slowly nodded but then quickly hit the raven hair guy in the head anyways, before putting it away.

"Ow!" Ash cried, rubbing his head.

Jack chuckled, finishing his own bagel. The usual scene of bickering happened between Ash and Misty. Leaning towards May and Dawn, he whispered, "Out of curiosity, do you guys see those two dating?"

"Yes!" Dawn cheered. May nodded in agreement.

Vi threw a Jack a questioning glance, only to get pulled aside and get the question repeated.

"Are you guys talking about us?" Misty asked, looking at her four friends.

"Maybe they were talking about food," Ash suggested.

Misty hit his arm and looked up to see the bus arrive. "Looks like we'll be going now..."

Instantly, Dawn threw herself at Misty and pulled her into a bone crushing hug. May and Vi looked at each other but joined in with the group hug as well.

"Can't... breathe...!" Misty gasped, struggling for an escape. "Dawn! Too... tight...!"

"Hehe, sorry," Dawn giggled, releasing her. "Have a great time, okay?"

May nodded, stepping back as well. "Don't worry about us!"

"Safe travels," Vi smiled, looking at both her and Ash. "Can't wait to hear about your adventures when you're back."

Jack pat Ash's back. "Good luck staying alive."

"Alive?" the raven haired teen asked, clueless about what he meant.

Everyone laughed, just as the teacher instructor started to let people board the bus.

"Well, see you guys!" Misty grinned, grabbing her bag and went to join the line to get on the bus.

Shoving the rest of his food into his mouth, Ash waved and followed her with his own bags. As they waited in line for their turn, a girl with reddish brown hair walked over to Ash was a huge smile.

"Ash!" she exclaimed, glaring daggers at Misty, who returned them eagerly. "Want to sit next to me during the ride?"

"Hey, Melody," Ash greeted. "Actually, I have plans."

"Oh," Melody sadly nodded.

Ash turned to look at Misty. "Is it okay if I sit next you?"

"What?" Misty asked, snapping out her annoyed glare off. Pausing for a moment to let what he had said sink in, she just shrugged. "If you want, I guess..."

After getting on the bus, Misty claimed the window seat and Ash sat down next to her happily talking about what might happen on the trip. A few short hours of driving later, they arrived in the Petalburg Woods. Other than two or three cabins, everything was lush with plants, no signs of civilization.

"Whoa!" Ash exclaimed, looking around and dropping his bags to the ground. "There's so many trees!"

Misty rolled her eyes. "We're in a forest."

"Yeah, that's why there's so many trees," Ash nodded.

Shaking her head, Misty carried her bags closer to where their teacher stood. Considering it was February, it was surprisingly only chilly. Frost covered the tips of the grass that crunched under everyone's feet. Pulling her sweater closer to her, Misty grinned. This trip was one of those rare occurrences that allowed her to just get away from school, work and her sisters to enjoy nature at its best. Nothing was going to ruin her mood.

"Alright everyone, gather round," their teacher, Professor Birch, called out. Despite being their teacher, he was also principal of their school who loved nature. "Since we just got here, we're going make sure we all get settled in before going on wild adventures! Follow me!"

Picking up their bags, everyone followed their enthusiastic teacher into the cabin.

"What do think he means by 'wild adventures'?" Ash asked, walking beside Misty. "Maybe it includes food."

"I doubt it," Misty shrugged, entering the cabin. Listening to Professor Birch's explanation, she looked around the room. From the outside, one would expect it to look much smaller. Inside was a spacious large room, a fireplace placed against the back wall next to two doors. Most likely the bathrooms.

Ash had dropped his stuff down, claiming a spot on the right side of the room. Carefully putting her stuff next to his, Misty started to pull out her sleeping bag so she wouldn't have to worry about it later.

"Everyone ready?" Professor Birch asked. After hearing a collective amount of responses, he smiled, clapping his hands together. "Good. We'll be heading out to explore these woods in two minutes then."

"Ready?" Ash asked, watching Misty rummaging her bag.

The orange haired girl nodded confidently. "Let's do this!"

...

A week after many activities, Misty stretched. She was sitting on her sleeping bag as everyone sat around chatting. It was that moment of free time for everyone to just talk, but she was happy just to sit and relax. For some reason, over the course of that week, she had started to feel a little more awkward around Ash.

It started off small, when their hands touched while grabbing the same rope for rock climbing, her catching him staring at her various times during the hike or even making eye contact was now apart of this list. Puzzled, Misty was starting to feel more confused about this situation than ever. In fact, she the air around them felt so uncomfortable, she didn't even hit him like usual.

Melody had taken this to her advantage and talked—or flirted, depending on how you read the situation—to Ash more often. As much as she wanted it to prevent that from happen, she merely looked away every time it happened.

"Ash Ketchum, what are you trying to do?" she grumbled under her breath.

Shaking off the extra thoughts, she was about to climb into her sleeping bag get to sleep when someone tapped her shoulder. Turning around, she looked anywhere but at the raven haired guy's eyes.

"Ash?"

"Hey, Mist," Ash smiled, rubbing the back of his neck before sitting down on his sleeping bag. "Can we talk?"

Misty paused, thinking about how the situation might turn out. Sitting down crossed legged, she nodded.

"Well, um, I was wondering... How do you confess to someone?" Ash asked, watching Misty's unchanging expression.

"Confess...?" she repeated, stunned. Did she miss something? Maybe he realized his feelings for someone. Could that someone be her...? No. It couldn't be. No one asks their crush for confession advice. Maybe it was Melody. If it was, Misty decided that she would have to end their friendship immediately.

"Misty?" Ash waved his hand in front of her face.

"Ah, sorry," she pulled on a fake smile. "How to confess to someone, right?" Ash nodded. "Just tell them how you feel about them. Any girl would accept afterwards."

"Okay!" Ash nodded enthusiastically. He paused for a moment. "I'm not sure it'll work though. She's not like any girl, she's different."

"I see," Misty bitterly responded. She felt her anger start to boil inside of her. She liked Ash, she just wasn't sure to what extent. Friends, close friends, more than friends? It didn't seem to matter now. "Just find the right timing. I'm no love expert, just ask Dawn when we get back."

"I think I got it," Ash grinned, complete oblivious to Misty's angry aura. "Thanks, Mist. Good night!"

Climbing into her sleeping bag, Misty turned so she didn't have to face Ash. Her anger slowly turned into sadness, causing warm tears to fall. The feeling of losing a friend.

"Good night."

...

"Okay everyone," Professor Birch shouted, as everyone slowly recovered from sleep. "We'll be going on another hike today. So I need you all to partner up."

Misty looked around, averting Ash's eyes. Maybe she could avoid him. Maybe she could find another partner. Maybe—

"Partners?"

She turned around meeting his all too familiar eyes. Everyone else seemed to already have a partner.

"Okay." she nodded.

Ash grinned.

After listening to most of the explanation for the hike, each pair was given a map and a compass, all leading to the same destination. Grabbing any necessary materials and food, everyone started to head out.

"Ready?" Misty asked, watching Ash grab another sandwich and shoving it into his backpack.

"Yup," Ash nodded, looking satisfied with the amount of sandwiches he grabbed. "Let's go."

As the two followed the trail, a silence hung over them like a large cloud of fog. Other than talking about where to go, the silence seemed to follow them along.

"We turn left here," Misty pointed out, checking the map as she walked.

"Wait, wasn't it turn right?" Ash asked, looking at the map confused.

As she turned back to point out where they were, Misty stumbled over a tree root. Just as she was about to fall, an arm caught her. Turning around, Ash was much closer to her than expected.

"A-Ash?" she whispered, blushing at their closeness.

"I think now is a good time," Ash mumbled, his eyes anywhere but on the person in front of him. His voice dropped, so quiet that even Misty couldn't hear him. "How should I confess now?"

"Good time...? For what?" Misty asked, puzzled.

"Lunch!" Ash exclaimed, trying to cover up his uncertainty. "It's a good time for lunch."

As the two sat down on large roots growing out of the ground, they pulled out their lunches and started to eat. Misty paused to look at Ash suspiciously when he blankly stared at his sandwich.

Something was wrong.

Ash, besides May, was usually very happy about eating. It was almost like he inhaled his food. Seeing him not eat with food in front of him was a rare sight.

"Ash? Are you okay?" Misty asked.

For a moment, everything remained silent. Then Ash looked up at Misty with a serious expression and shook his head.

"I'm not okay," Ash admitted, running his hand through his hair. "I can't seem to find the right words... Everything you told me sounded simple. It's harder than it is."

"Huh?" she looked at him puzzled. Was he talking about last night's conversation?

"Why is it so hard to tell you I like you?" Ash asked, looking frustrated. He turned to look into her eyes. "I like you. I don't know when I fell for you but I did."

"Ash..." Misty whispered, stunned.

The raven haired teen mustered up his courage, then asked, "Will you be my girlfriend, Misty?"

Everything seemed too perfect, Misty thought, feeling her doubt fading away. "No..."

Her response was quiet, but Ash had heard it. Dropping his head, Ash looked at the ground. A hand rested on his shoulder, causing him to look back up.

"... way I would refuse, I like you, too," Misty finished, her cheeks flushed red. His sudden smile reappearance caused her to roll her eyes. "Didn't you have enough faith in your confession? Or did you not know my feelings towards you?"

"Uh... both?" Ash asked, unsure. He reached over to take her hand. "I'm just glad were together."

"Jeez, I think I can hear Dawn squealing already," Misty mumbled, pulling on a smile.

"It won't be that bad," Ash shrugged, completely unknowing .

Finishing up their lunch, they stood up and walked off holding hands, off looking in search for the place where their hike would end.

...

A week later...

"Why are you looking at us like that?" Ash asked, looking at Vi.

Everyone was sitting in Dawn's room, chatting like usual when Ash had noticed Vi staring at him with a puzzled expression. The talking had stopped and everyone watched to see what would happen.

"Is something wrong?" Misty added, blinking.

Vi shook her head. "Something doesn't seem right..."

May nodded, "That's right! You two seem closer than usual!"

The two went red in embarrassment, causing me to realize what was happening.

"OMG! Are you two dating now?!" Dawn squealed, staring at them excitedly.

Misty looked down, while Ash reached over to take one of her hands. Dawn looked like she was on the verge of squealing again.

"I asked her to be my girlfriend while we were at camp," Ash confessed.

"You two are so cute!" Dawn cooed, watched them happily.

"Told you," Misty muttered to Ash. She looked up and raised her voice. "Can we go somewhere else and stop talking about me and Ash?"

"Not happening," May teased, giggling.

Ash gave her hand a squeeze and whispered back, "It'll be fine. As long as we're together."

Hehe, once again, I don't know if Ash's and Misty's personality turned out well, but I hope you enjoyed! :)

I added on the last scene from Inspiration, it was a little altered, but still the same. I would be like Dawn though. *fangirls*

LOL. Anyways, things worked out in the end. Yay! :D

Thanks for reading and have a fantastic day!

~Skitty13