Nothing could make him angrier than this ridiculous argument. Any other person and he would have seen it for what it was, but this was different—this was her, and regardless of how unimportant and shamefully stupid the topic, he was ready to butt proverbial horns with his companion at every turn. There weren't any real explanations coming to mind right away, but even when they had talked their tongues swollen, it wasn't enough.

"Even if you HAPPEN to be right, we aren't going that way, so just give it up Misty!" He ground out through clenched teeth. Pikachu had long since disappeared with Brock, who had already known the right path to their next destination, but had no real opportunity to interject. There was a signpost off the road, slightly hidden by old overgrowth and both of them would probably notice sooner or later. Misty pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed tiredly.

"Ash Ketchum, you never really know where to go, so don't expect me to follow you down the same path. I'M GOING THIS WAY." And with that, she promptly turned on her heel and marched down the left fork in the road. Ash wrinkled his nose and snorted.

"F-Fine! Then I'm going this way!" No answer, as Ash watched her red ponytail bob with each stomping stride. "DON'T BOTHER CRYING TO ME WHEN YOU REALIZE YOU WERE WRONG. I WON'T BE STICKING AROUND!"

…But he did, and five minutes after she disappeared around a bend in the path, he ran after her in a panic. In the end, Misty had also turned around to follow him, and they ran into each other rather painfully. They both fell backwards from the impact.

"Ow—are you okay?" Misty asked, eyeing the new scratches on her bare arms. Ash grunted a reply, and before she could even stand on her own, he was there looking at her wounds.

"Jeez, Misty," He murmured absently, his hands cradling her arm gently. Her skin was hot and she pulled her arm back to herself.

"It's really not that bad! As long as I wash it out it should be fine." She exclaimed as she removed her backpack to dig around for some bandages. When she found them, she tried to put them on one-handed…Ash rolled his eyes.

"Just let me do it!" He grabbed the bandages away from her, earning a feisty glare that quickly faded as he took her arm again. This time, they were both silent as he applied each bandage with even more care than was needed. When Ash was finished, they both stood and dusted themselves off and without thinking, walked down the path Misty had taken again.

"Thank you…" She said. Her voice was shy but genuine, and she seemed to find the tall grass on the side of the road particularly interesting. Ash's heart seemed to hiccup in his chest, and he flushed from his neck to his hairline.

"It wasn't that big a deal." His response was quiet, and he kept his eyes glued to the path before him as they continued their silent trek. When he finally decided that his need to see the expression on Misty's face was too great, he looked.

Misty almost jumped out of her skin—had he noticed she was gazing at him? Or had she looked away just in time? In any case, he didn't have a whole lot to say, for the first time in forever… So neither did she.

After an hour or so walking down the dirt path, the pair reached a police way station only to find that Brock was allegedly "killing time" waiting for them by wooing the officer in charge. Pikachu looked pathetically bored with the overall situation, and was excited when Ash and Misty arrived at the scene. When they had finally gotten a good distance away, Brock asked, "So which one of you was right this time?"

The pair looked at each other, and a slow grin crept onto Misty's face. Ash's cheeks colored and he jammed his hands in the pockets of his jacket. She giggled and flashed a victory sign to Brock and Pikachu. All Ash could muster up was a quiet "Whatever."

He was still too happy about being able to care for Misty to even think of an argument.

THE END.

Exercise #1

By Francoise Brel

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Shucks!