Frozen Together

by IsolatedSystem

Misty wants to be out and about, adventuring with Ash and co, but pesky sisters have disappeared again. Misty decides to abandon the gym and go off on her own adventure, looking for Ash. One problem: he's in Snowpoint. It's going to be a long walk...

Frozen Together

Chapter 1

catch ya later… oh how could she have been so stupid as to say that, to give in and go back…how had she left him?!

Misty Waterflower was sitting on her bed in the Cerulean city Pokemon gym, legs tucked up to her chest and hair down for once, thinking hard about that day; the day she felt she had lost the best friend she ever had.

"Well it's not as though I had a choice…" she said quietly to herself, but then shook her head as soon as she had said it for of course she had had a choice…no, no she would have to find some other way of justifying it to herself.
Her thoughts were interrupted though by a quiet clinking sound from downstairs – the post.
Misty sighed, she supposed she would have to get it again, there was no way any of her three 'sensational' sisters would risk getting a speck of dust on an otherwise impeccable fingernail so…

"Post!" came Lily's voice

"I like, got it!" Violet called back.

"odd" Misty thought to herself, "when have they ever been so enthusiastic about the post?"
Standing up from her bed for the first time that morning, Misty left the room and tiptoed quietly of her room, bare feet making no sound on the carpet as she made her way silently down the stairs, pausing when she was within earshot of her three sisters who were gathered by the letter box.

"Has it like, come?" Violet asked

"I dunno yet there's like, loads of bills" Daisy replied, leafing through the letters

"Yea but it'll like, look like a bill though wont it?" Lily asked

Misty was sorely tempted to break cover at that moment and confront them as to the nature of these bills that she was inevitably going to have to pay for, but she was keen on discovering what all of the excitement was about too and so she staid silent, leaning forwards to hear more clearly

"well I…oooh this could be it!" Daisy exclaimed, being shushed by the other two as she dropped all of the letters save the one that she seemed to have been looking for.
peering through the gaps in the banister, Misty saw an envelope addressed to her, but what really caught her attention was the handwriting; the handwriting she most liked to read and yet rarely got the opportunity to do so.

"right let's like, go! we need to like, get all the stuff in that we'll need and like…yea"

"shouldn't someone like, tell Misty what's going on?" Violet asked

"don't worry I'll like, ask Tracy to stop by later. it'll be…" Daisy began, but stopped quickly as a crash sounded behind her. the three girls standing by the doorway turned quickly in surprise and alarm, and found a rather dishevelled looking Misty lying on the floor at the foot of the stairs, giving them an upside down glare.

"tell Misty what?!" she asked menacingly

"err like, nothing little sis, we're just going out for a bit" Lily said, her shifty eyes only serving to make the three look even more suspicious

"where?" Misty asked, not dropping her eyes even for a second – she was an expert now at putting people on the spot with this tactic

"err shopping" Violet answered

"you what?!"

"we're like, going shopping" Daisy said, recovering from the initial surprise enough to give Misty a cold look in return to the fiery one she was getting from her flame-haired little sister

"ok…" Misty said, composing herself, "ok then how are you going to pay for what ever it is you're going to buy?"

this put Daisy back on the spot again as she knew, as did the others, what Misty was getting at here

"with money" Lily answered

"who's money?"

"err…" all three of the sensational sisters said together, unable to think up a way of getting out of this until…

"new challenger approaching" came a crackly voice over a lopsided speaker on the wall next to them. this system was years old now, yet still managed to fulfil its purpose in informing the gym leader of a challenger waiting at the doors to the gym…just barely.
using the message and following bell toll as a distraction; Daisy, Lily and Violet slipped out of the door and down the road.

Misty turned back to the door and found her sisters gone, but she couldn't give chase now, there was a battle to be had. slamming the still slightly open door shut as she turned; Misty stamped her way through to the gym and emerged into the water arena.

the spotlights clicked on as soon as she stepped onto her platform, however as they did so at least two of the bulbs popped and died. the walls were flaking, several chairs in the stands had broken, cracked or even fallen off entirely and even as she watched, Misty saw a little more paint flake from the walls. she didn't sigh though, that would be too defeatist. instead her scowl became more pronounced as she faced the young boy standing on the opposite stand.

"My name's Misty, leader of the cascade badge, my policy is an all-out offensive with water-types blah blah blah, what's yours?" Misty asked despondently. she didn't really care as the sight of the young ten year old standing there with that determined expression, league cap on his head, reminded her so much of another…sure it was the newer league cap, and this boy had none of Ash's cocky self-confidence and, she suspected, none of his skill either.

"you don't seem too interested. perhaps my fire types will light you up a bit!" the young boy said forcefully, taking three pokeballs from his belt.

Misty sweat-dropped. this boy was, quite possibly, the most dense person she had ever laid eyes on. that thought stopped her in her tracks also though as she remembered saying something quite similar to Ash…Ash…Ash; he was all she could think about and then she remembered something else, the letter, the letter she had seen drop to the floor; it must still be there!

"hello?! Mrs Gym leader lady?! I am here you know!"

"yes I know!" Misty snapped back, knocking the boy off of his platform with the force of the reply. he picked himself up looking shocked. "sorry" Misty said, a little more quietly this time, "what type of Pokemon did you say you were using?"

"fire types" the boy replied, trying to re-establish some air of…well anything about his presence. Misty's reply to this effectively ruined his attempts however

"you what?!?!" she yelled, and the boy fell off of the platform again, "God damn it I need to have that platform extended!"

"chill out will you?!" the boy exclaimed, beginning to get irritated with the constant tumbling and his now ringing ears.

"sorry, but why have you come to my gym, MY gym, with fire types?" Misty asked, still not quite able to believe the stupidity behind the decision.

"well this gym's rated as being one of the easiest so I figure why not. I don't want to take on Flint at Pewter cos apparently he's tough, and lieutenant Surge in Viridian already beat me so I thought I'd come here cos it's supposed to be easy"

"well…" Misty said, loosening three pokeballs on her belt "that was before 'I' took over. this will be a three on three battle, no substitutions and in the event of an interruption say…by Team Rocket then I will NOT be GIVING you my badge. you have to win it" it felt right to say that somehow, she had never conceded defeat to Ash in those circumstances, even now, and rightly so in her opinion. "now then little kid…"

"the names Sam…"

"I don't care! anyway I accept your challenge."

The boy held a pokeball out towards a platform and in a beam of red light a Charmander appeared, small by anyone's standards. just as Brock has warned Ash on his debut gym match at Pewter; it was at its weakest stage.

"this is going to be easy" Misty said, her steely determination setting in as it always did when she was starting a battle. "go Staryu!"
her Pokemon appeared in red light and faced the Charmander on one of the many platforms dotted around the water arena. had this not been a gym match she would have ordered Staryu attack on release, but this boy was inexperienced, and there was no need to go all out on him.

"Charmander tackle attack!" the boy ordered, and his Pokemon began hopping quickly from platform to platform, making its way towards Staryu. it took some skill to hop the platforms like that Misty had to admit, but even so she had plenty of time, just to wait and to goad the boys ego until, at the last second…

"Staryu hydro pump!"…

Chapter 2.

well that match had finished as it had started, and Staryu hadn't even needed to move off of its platform as, under calm and controlled commands from Misty, it had swatted each of the boys three Pokemon out of the air with one attack; fainting Charmander, a Vulpix and a Slugma. incidentally; that win marked Misty's on going personal best of twenty seven matches won consecutively, and brought her closer to achieving the all time best of any Kanto gym leader.
at the present though she was in no state to think about that, she didn't want to, she had something else on her mind now; a heart deep tug that had never truly been silenced, but had now trebled as a result of reading the letter which had arrived in the morning, and which Misty had never really taken her mind off even through the battle. she had recognised the handwriting as being that of Ash Ketchum. this was the first letter he had written to her in a long time now and, if she was correct in her assumptions, then this would be the first letter she had received from him whilst he was adventuring in Sinnoh.
Misty hadn't noticed but, had she been observing Ash's writing more closely, she would have noticed how Ash seemed unsure of how to put certain things, how he had been conscious of dodging around certain words or phrases, only to include them anyway in most cases having been told to by a power ruling above that in his head – the first example being the scrawl at the beginning which went something along the lines of dear –crossed out, to – crossed out, dear – crossed out, hi – crossed out, dear...
the letter read:

dear Misty.
sorry I haven't written in a while, been really busy on the battle frontier and everything. thanks for the lure by the way (am I right in thinking it's a lure? thought it'd be impressive if I knew what it was actually called, that little doll thing on a hook that you sent me? I call it Mist and it's much more mild mannered than you are, doesn't complain or make a sound or anything ;-)) anyway yea I won the Frontier (if you hadn't already heard) and they offered me a place! turned it down though, couldn't face just sitting around waiting for another challenger. dunno how you manage it, it must get really boring; feel sorry for you really, you could do so much more. bet you've hardly lost any though am I right? anyways yea I've been in Sinnoh for a while now, heading up to the north with Brock, Pikachu (sends his love by the way) and Dawn. you wont know her I don't think; she's just this kid who's been tagging along with us for a while, a bit like May did (Pikachu has told me to tell you that he thinks Brock thought that I said that she was May's replacement, which isn't true, she's a nice kid, friendly like but anyway) and her parents work in professor Warren's lab. so yea like I said we're heading north towards Snowpoint and it's freezing! snow on the ground and everything, I'm surprised I haven't lost any toes yet to be honest. Brock's been dealing with it, I don't think he minds the cold much to be honest. Pikachu's taken to hiding inside my shirt which is ok but his fur tickles, and I'm worried if there's a storm he'll start sparking and…well…you can imagine. Dawn's been complaining since we left Floaroma (disgusting place, full of flowers and pink and perfume and yuck) and that's been annoying. not like you, I'm sure you'd either deal with it like Brock or at least have an interesting complaint; the pain in my ear would probably make me forget the cold anyways. actually Brock has just started complaining at the lack of pretty women up here. I suggested we come back and pick you up, said that should make him stop complaining cos it would me (good job this is paper, you can't see me blushing) and he just gave me this weird look. dunno what that was about but anyways I'm running out of room now so I guess I'd better wrap this up (Pikachu is complementing me on the pun? what's a pun?)so yea I hope you're not too bored and have some way of having fun back at the gym, and good luck with your battles and what ever you've got going on.

your intellectual friend and colleague
…missing you loads

Ash xx.

this one piece of paper, and the small photo that was attached with it, was becoming rapidly blotched as little droplets of water fell on it, the salty tears smudging the ink in places.
Misty read the letter over and over, perusing over it and taking in every detail. she had missed hearing from Ash so much, had worried for and about him, had thought about him every day since they last met and now, only now he had managed to write to her. she was touched though, touched that he would have taken the time out of his trip to think of her too, to take the time to write to her, and there had been little things in the writing itself – little complements and jokes that so matched Ash's personality from what she could remember, if a little more mature. he was still the same dense… thoughtful, kind, caring and loveable person she remembered, and it seemed as though he remembered her perfectly as well. too right she'd be complaining of the cold if she were there, too right would she make sure either Ash found it interesting or his ear would definitely be hurting. too right he should be blushing… wait a minute…blushing? what had he said again?
Misty read over those couple of little moments where Ash seemed to be being unusually nice to her yet again

lack of pretty women up here…
suggested we come back and pick you up, said that should make him stop complaining cos it would me…

could it be that Ash was feeling…she was unsure of how to describe the feeling herself now come to think of it, she had never really considered what it might mean, just that she missed him with a passion and felt her heart twang every time she heard, or thought she heard, even the sound of his name.

she was up in her room again by this point, having taken everything she could from the note itself, imprinting in on her mind; she was now gazing longingly at the little picture that had been attached to it. in the background there was, as Ash had said, snow on the ground. there was a big mountain too, and Misty knew enough geography to assume at least, that that was mount Coronet. closer in and there was a small campfire, with two figures around it. the first was Brock, frying pan in hand as always and cooking a meal which Misty could smell even from Cerulean, mouth watering even at the prospect of those sizzling sausages and bacon that she presumed must be the contents of the pan. the second figure was a girl, quite young too as Ash had said, and she looked as though she was shivering even in this still photo. Misty's eyes moved quickly around the picture, taking in every detail before, finally, resting on the figure in the centre.
Ash was there, smiling up at her, Pikachu on his head and wearing his cap, whilst Ash himself was smiling warmly, eyes twinkling in the fading light, holding the camera away from him with one hand it looked like whilst with the other he was holding up the little Misty-shaped lure.
it was a smile through tears from the Misty in Cerulean as she realised that someone, presumably Ash from the looks of the stitching (in that it was sub-standard) had knitted the little lure a purple-pink jumper of sorts and, though there were one or two threads loose and it was too long, the thought had been there and it was just this little gesture of the care Ash could show that made Misty well up and brim over, though the tears had already been falling.

"I miss you" Misty whispered, placing her hand fondly on the little picture of Ash and stroking his cheek, trying to picture what it would be like doing it for real, what it would feel like but for now this photo was all she had, yet she was glad of it all the same.

she stood up and looked through her window. the rain clouds which had hung low over Cerulean city for much of the day were still there, but far away, to the north; there was clear blue sky for as far as she could see.
she longed to be there now, to leave the gym and travel north…but of course she couldn't. she had to stay or the gym would face closure and her sisters would have no where to live. despite how little she saw of them anyway, how little they spoke and how often they rubbed each other up the wrong way; she couldn't do it to her sisters to leave them homeless…for all they spent all of her money and excluded her and treated her as a battling drone to be used when there was a challenger and to make money…
Misty was getting more and more angry now as these thoughts flashed through her head, the anger replacing the guilt she had initially felt at the idea of leaving.
she liked Daisy…most of the time, for she got on with Daisy better than with the other two but still…

the sounds of crunching gravel below caught Misty's attention and she saw Tracy walking up towards the gym. he saw her and waved, one which she returned before an idea struck her; just a sudden, snap, spur of the moment type thing but it just might work…

Misty stepped back from the window, feeling around her waist with one hand to make sure she had all of her Pokemon with her whilst rummaging through the mess that was her wardrobe until she found a coat, before running to the door and out. she skipped down the stairs three at a time, skidding in her socks on the wooden floor as she landed but not stopping, not hesitating, and grabbing her shoes from beside the door. she pulled them on just as the bell rang. she yanked the door open as she rose but did not stop to return Tracy's greeting as he stepped in, she had things to do.

"hey Misty, I've just come to pick up a few things for Daisy before they… Misty?"
Tracy stopped as he realised that the girl had been paying absolutely no attention to what he had been saying, as she ran about quickly shutting doors and windows, before proceeding to bang her way through sets of draws, apparently looking for something though making more of a mess than anything.

"Misty?" Tracy asked again

"yea?" came the muffled reply as Misty shoved her head into a draw, rooting around until finally emerging with a set of keys in her hands, and then walking quickly over to a picture on the wall.

"err what are you doing?" Tracy asked

"packing" Misty replied

"packing?"

"packing" Misty repeated, entering a combination into the lock of the safe very quickly and opening it. inside there were the winnings she had earned from her gym battles, and anything else she had happened to make doing various other jobs, though mostly Pokemon battling. this was the money that would take her to Sinnoh; this was the money that…there was nothing there.

"where is it?!" Misty asked the air, beginning to panic

"where's what?" Tracy asked curiously

"the money!!!"

"money? what money?" Tracy asked and, though Misty didn't notice, an expression of seriousness and worry had crossed his face

"the money I got from my battles!" Misty replied, practically climbing into the small safe to make sure she hadn't missed it

"how much was in there?" Tracy asked

"about two grand!" Misty wailed, dropping back down from the safe with tears of frustration in her eyes.

"oh God" Tracy said, putting his head in his hands, "they didn't tell you did they."

"who?" Misty sniffed, blinking back the tears, "who didn't tell me what?"

"your sisters they…oh I can't believe they didn't tell you!" Tracy replied, a hint of desperation about his tone

"didn't tell me what?" Misty asked suspiciously

"well…Daisy passed her driving test the other week and to celebrate she said she was going to buy a car and take me and the other two on a little vacation" Tracy said, sitting down heavily with his head in his hands

"w-what?" Misty asked again, not sure whether she had heard him right

"she worked it out…the car and the trip and all…she worked it out to come to…"

"two grand?" Misty said weakly.

it was unbelievable. after all she had done for her sisters, all she had been put through and sacrificed for them, they had betrayed her and done this. Daisy had done this, that was what hurt above all, the fact that her eldest sister and the one she felt she had become most attached to since she had been back, had done this to her now. there was one other thing though that hurt her more, hurt her far deeper down and that was that her plans for leaving to go to Sinnoh were ruined. there was no way now that she could afford the ferry there, not to mention food and supplies, a tent and the rest. her chance had gone, she would never catch up with Ash now for if she waited any longer then he would move on and she wouldn't know where to look.

"Misty I'm so sorry" Tracy said, getting up and putting a hand on Misty's shoulder, a hand which she shrugged off as she walked to the table and leant her elbows on it, head in her hands.
"tell you what, I'll go see them now and tell them to give back what they took" Tracy said suddenly, a look of resolve on his face as he walked to the door and out.

Misty half watched him out of the window as he walked down the road towards where a shiny blue…car was sitting, engine running and three rather gleeful looking figures inside (Misty was not much good with car makes, least ways you saw so few of them around that it didn't really matter, and she thought anyone who did drive a car was both rich and heartless, neither something she would particularly like to end up as, preferring the simple life)
she didn't try too hard to listen to what Tracy was saying at that moment, she was still too stunned by what had happened to notice, however she did look up as she heard wheels spin and then the car was off, tearing down the road leaving Tracy standing, defeated, in its wake.

"I tried…" Tracy said as he came back in through the door, "looks like I was wrong about Daisy then, I thought she was a nice gal but apparently… Misty I don't know where you were planning on going but I can guess, and if there's any way I can help then I will…but I don't have any money I'm afraid, looks like that went the same way as yours did"

"umm…there is something you can do for me" Misty said after sniffing and wiping the tears from her cheeks

"anything" Tracy said kindly, smiling.

Misty didn't speak in reply, not at first, but instead held out her hand in which she was holding the keys for the gym.

"can you…can you take care of the gym for me? just for a few weeks, please…"

"but where will you…" Tracy began but Misty continued and he stopped to listen

"I'll fill in an application for management take over as soon as I can, but if you haven't heard from anyone by…the end of next week, that should do, then just walk away. I'm never coming back here again…and I don't owe it to my sisters anymore to keep this place going" Misty said, not seeming to have heard Tracy's question as she made for the door.

"but where will you go?" Tracy called after her as she made her way down the drive

"Sinnoh, I'm going to find Ash" Misty called back

"but you don't have any money!"

"I'll surf!"

Tracy ran out of the gym and grabbed Misty by the arm, stopping her before on the road

"Misty are you sure you know what you're doing?" he asked, genuine concern on his face, "I mean, do you even know where in Sinnoh Ash is?"

"he's in Snowpoint" Misty replied, and for some reason she felt a little more cheerful now, more light hearted. perhaps it was because she had finally let go her ties to the gym, had finally set out on the road again and, above all, was out looking for Ash.

"Snowpoint?! that's the farthest north!"

"I know, so I'm gonna have to leave now before he moves on again" Misty said, setting off at a brisk walk down the road again. Tracy made no more attempts to follow her; he just watched her go with both fear and hope in his heart; fear for what would become of Misty and hope that she would find what…or who she was looking for…

"be careful Misty, you'll likely freeze before you even reach lake Acuity!" he called after her. Misty did not reply in words, she just raised a hand to him and gave a cheerful wave before turning and snapping a stick from a tree on the roadside, putting it to the floor and strolling on

"there's a girl who's very much in love" Tracy said to himself with a smile, "quite the stubborn little hiker but she's not got the padding for that, I hope she'll be ok"

he watched her out of sight before turning back to the gym. it was quite a foreboding place really, not bad looking but big, and being there alone…now he knew why Misty so resented having to stay there. a thought struck him at that moment, something that may help Misty reach her goal, and he hurried inside to get paper and pen, addressing the letter to the Pokemon centre in Snowpoint. if the nurse Joy there was as efficient as everywhere else then she'd be bound to pass it on to Ash…if it wasn't already too late…

Chapter 3

around two days later saw Ash, Pikachu, Brock and Dawn arrive in Snowpoint; cold, wet and windswept but alive and looking forward to a variety of things as the small town drew closer.

"hooray for civilisation" Ash cheered as the first of the twinkling lights came into view

"hooray for a warm shower" Dawn shivered

"(hooray for an end to Dawn's complaining)" Pikachu replied

"hmm…dunno what I should be cheering for" Brock said, thinking hard

"Brock…that red roof over there…" Ash began, pointing out the rooftop in question

"HOORAY FOR NURSE JOY!!!" Brock bellowed, running as fast as the knee deep snow would allow him to, tripping, but continuing on nevertheless.

getting to Snowpoint had been probably the most gruelling phase of their journey so far, the weather and the thick snow on the ground slowing them down, coupled with the intense cold and the frequent attacks by Abomasnow and the like; the small group were relieved that they had managed to reach Snowpoint at all, and it had taken up all of their considerable stores to do so namely potions and lots of warm clothing.

"ahh the warmth" Dawn said as they finally entered the Pokemon centre. it had taken a further half an hour to wade through the deep snow, despite how close the town had seemed. Snowpoint temple was now looming above them, a dark mass against the dark sky and it was scary in a way, but the small group were so relieved just to be out of the cold and the snow that they didn't really notice, and if they did then they didn't mind.

"hello you three…" Nurse Joy began

"(four)" Pikachu interrupted, but Ash shushed him

"will you be wanting a room for the night?" the nurse continued

"as long as your sweet, sweet nature will allow us to love of my life" Brock drooled

"which will be seconds if you keep acting like that" Dawn said irritably

"yea please Nurse Joy, warmest room you've got" Ash replied gratefully as the nurse pulled out a clipboard

"and I trust you will want your Pokemon healed up?" she asked

"again yea please" Ash said

"ok then, if you could just sign here Mr…?" the nurse asked, sliding the clipboard over and indicating the dotted line on which Ash was to sign

"Ketchum" Ash replied, answering the nurse's question

"Ash Ketchum?"

"yea that's right, heard of me then have you?" Ash asked smugly, his abnormally large ego (as it would have been called by a certain red-head currently walking in their direction) setting in as per usual

"well not until I received this letter with your name on it, no" the Nurse replied, unable to contain a smile at the boy with the rapidly deflating ego

"a letter for me?" he asked finally, once it had fully deflated

"yes, it arrived earlier today as it happens" Nurse Joy answered, and handed the letter to Ash.

To Ash (care of Snowpoint city Pokemon centre)
Misty is on her way to Snowpoint. big falling out with her sisters and they've gone off somewhere with all the money Misty earned from her winnings. I tried to persuade her not to go but she's insisting, but she's completely broke now and so am I so she's travelling to Snowpoint with nothing but her Pokemon and the clothes on her back. she left today (should be two days ago by the time you get this message) so you should probably expect her in around two weeks at best guess, and that's if she's as resourceful as we both take her for.
I've never been there but from what I've heard Snowpoint is one hell of a difficult place to get to, and if you get this message then you'll know what I mean, and will hopefully understand the danger she's putting herself in by trying to make it alone. she's got no supplies…so basically things don't look good.
anyway this is just a heads up; let's just hope she makes it to you.

wishing her luck as I'm sure you are
Tracy.

Ash had turned pale rapidly as he read the letter. The cold had flushed him and left him with cheeks and nose redder than Pikachu's, however by the end of the letter he was white as a ghost.

"you ok Ash?" Dawn asked, noticing the sudden change.

"Misty…" Ash said quietly to himself. He was deeply worried, more so than he could ever remember feeling before, however it wasn't just worry he was feeling. With the news that Misty was on her way to join them came a rush, a sudden and inexplicable rush of something equally inexplicable. Ash's heart had begun beating furiously and he wasn't too sure why… perhaps that he was hoping against hope that she would make it, and wishing with everything he had that they would see each other soon.

"huh?" Daw asked, confused

"Misty!" Ash yelled, leaving the letter and the clipboard in front of a surprised looking nurse Joy and tearing out of the pokemon centre and back into the cold night.
Brock took up the letter quickly and, after showing it to the others, followed Ash outside.

They could hear Ash still, but he had moved with such athleticism and energy that he was almost lost in the snow already. Brock had to try his hardest just to catch up, Pikachu scurrying light-footed over the snow in front of him but Dawn had to settle for following in Brock's wake, unable to power through the snow as the other two had done.

"Ash! Ash!" Brock said, finally catching up to the boy who was now standing on tiptoe, gazing out in all directions and hoping for just a sign that Misty would be there, that she would have reached them safe and sound.

"MISTY!!!" Ash bellowed, but his voice didn't travel far, he was tired and cold and the thick blanket of snow all around muffled his voice

"Ash she won't be here yet!" Brock tried to reason, but Ash didn't seem to have heard him, still surveying the land all around, eyes flitting frantically between featureless mass, and slightly more featureless mass.
"Ash!" Brock tried again, grasping Ash by the shoulder and shaking him, forcing him to look him in the eye "Ash she won't be here yet. The letter was sent two days ago, and even if Misty gets the fast ferry over here it'll still take her two weeks at the very least, not counting any delays she might have on the road. Now come on…it's freezing out here, just calm down and come back inside"

"but I…I…" Ash tried, turning again to look around in vain. there was no way Misty would be there so soon, Brock was right, but he so longed to see her…

"come on Ash, Brock's right, it's freezing you'll do yourself no good standing out here shouting" Dawn said, shivering already.

The temperature had dropped significantly; if they thought that it was cold on the way, then the quick walk on the way back caught them by surprise. It must have dropped by several degrees in the space of minutes, and Dawn had been right, Ash was already starting to feel the effects of his little escapade, having shunned his damp and snow covered coat as soon as he got into the pokemon centre he was now in his T-shirt alone, shivering uncontrollably. His vision was blurred too, he was being guided back. That was not an effect of the cold, though the others didn't know…he hoped.
The actual reason for his vision going blurry like that was that he was crying, actually crying. He hadn't done that in as long as he could remember, but there was something inside him now that was so hopeful and yet so worried, it was strong enough to make even him cry, and cry he did. The wind and the cold weren't helping much however, and it was difficult for the tears to actually leave his eyes; that was the reason.

The finally reached the pokemon centre and got inside to sighs of relief from Brock, Dawn and Pikachu. Ash however remained silent. He didn't trust himself to speak at that moment, and besides he didn't feel relieved as the others had, not being overly concerned about the cold, at least not for himself.

"are you ok?" Nurse Joy asked anxiously as the traipsed back through the door

"yea we're ok. Can we have the keys to that room now please Nurse Joy?" Dawn asked before Brock could do anything other than drawl again.

"errm ok…yes of course you can" Nurse Joy answered, finally taking her gaze away from the strange drawling man and the rather ill and subdued looking boy next to him, to hand May three sets of keys.

"three keys?" Dawn asked

"well I assumed you'd be wanting three rooms" Nurse Joy answered, "there are three…"

"(four)" Pikachu said again, but glanced at Ash with concern when the 'shush' failed to be uttered

"…of you so I thought it natural that you would want separate rooms for the night, and Mr. Ketchum has already signed for them now" the Nurse explained, glancing at Ash again who still hadn't moved or uttered a sound since they had come in.

"oh right well…thanks nurse Joy" Dawn said, taking the keys from Joy and handed one to Brock, before trying to give Ash his however he didn't seem to notice so Pikachu took it in his mouth instead.

"I'll say goodnight then" Dawn said with a yawn and a final shiver, looking to Brock for an explanation of Ash's behaviour as she began to walk away. Brock just shook his head and shrugged, so Dawn figured it would probably be best just to leave it.

"goodnight" Brock called after her

"(night)" Pikachu called

Ash shook his head and looked up at last, just in time to bid Dawn goodnight also. He wore a tired and rather strained smile as he did so, but at least he was speaking again now.

"right come on then, we might as well get an early night" Brock said, tearing his eyes away from Nurse Joy as he watched her stowing some paperwork back in a draw, "oh she's beautiful…"

"not for you Brock" Ash replied, pulling Brock away by the ear.
"if everything goes well then there will be someone far more professional to do that to you next time" Ash said, only letting Brock go once they were out in the corridor leading to the rooms.

"huh? Oh…" Brock said, finally realising what he was getting at, "you know Ash; if I didn't know you better I'd swear you like Misty…"

"of course I like her! She's my best friend and I'm worried about her too!" Ash said quickly, loudly too, and he had gone a little red.

"uh huh, oh I know you're worried about her Ash, so am I, but the way you've been recently…writing the letter, and I saw you making that lure a coat as well" Brock said with a knowing grin. He figured that, since it seemed to be impossible to get Ash back to himself any other way, he might as well do it like this. It might get him an answer or two as well…

"I don't know what you're talking about" Ash said defensively, blushing hard. Pikachu had moved from Ash's shoulder to Brock's, in order to better study the accused. "I made that because I was bored anyways"

"oh really" Brock said, already having identified a flaw with this argument just as Pikachu had done, "cos there was food ready by that point, I remember, because I thought it strange at the time that you didn't come running at the smell of bacon."

Ash blushed yet harder and mumbled something, the words of which Brock could not hear and he strongly suspected that there had been no words included anyway.

"(that's another thing!)" Pikachu said, "(how come you've still got that lure anyways? Misty sent it to you as a special gift and she knows her stuff, particularly where water pokemon are involved, and you could have caught some really great pokemon with that thing…where is it anyways?)"

"breast pocket" Brock replied quickly before Ash could formulate a lie. He was redder than a sunburnt Charizard by this stage; he knew what his friends were getting at…knew it to be true as well.

"I…yea it is" he said quietly.

"why do you keep it there then?" Dawn asked, emerging from the bathroom on their right.

"err hadn't you gone to bed?" Ash tried

"no I went to the bathroom first and couldn't help overhearing what's going on, and I found it interesting too so, why do you keep it there?"

Ash was shrinking rather rapidly under the concentrated gaze of his three friends, and was still desperately trying to think of something to say in response to this questioning.

"because I…don't have any other pockets…?" he said slowly

"wrong" the three chimed in together

"you've got loads of pockets, and there's always a bag" Dawn said, grinning a wicked grin

"errm I…cos I want to" Ash finally replied

"so tell me" Brock began, "all of this strange behaviour recently…no not recently even, since Misty left the last time…" he was interrupted by the tolling of a bell which signalled that the pokemon centre was going to be locked up for the night.
Ash had tried to get away at the same time, but Brock grabbed him by the shoulder

"I've started so I'll finish…" he began but was again interrupted, this time by Ash who had finally given in to the questioning.

"fine!" he said loudly, and the other three looked at him expectantly, "I…I like Misty" he said finally.

"wrong!" the three of them chimed again.

"wha?!" Ash exclaimed in surprise as the three of them grabbed him again to stop him from escaping, "what do you want me to say?!"

"(we want you to tell the truth!)" Pikachu said

"but I…"

"the whole truth!" Brock said

"and none of that 'like' stuff, we know that it must be more than that" Dawn said.

"but I…I…"

"say it!" the three of them commanded loudly and Ash sighed

"fine… fine then I'll say it. I really, really, really like Misty and I think she's funny and clever and beautiful and…and I miss her every day and I wanna see her again and I wanna be with her forever" Ash said, and the three interrogators were surprised when, by the end of his rather rushed answer, Ash had tears in his eyes.
"and I'm really worried about her cos she's out there all alone trying to come and find us and…and…and who knows what might happen"

"hey come on Ash it'll be alright" Brock said, as cheerfully as he could, putting a comforting hand on Ash's shoulder. This had not been the way he had hoped the conversation would end; he had hoped to cheer Ash up a bit not leave him more of a wreck than before.

"but how can it?!" Ash yelled, slamming his fist into the wall in frustration

"listen Ash…" Dawn said calmly, repeating Brock's actions, "look you've actually talked quite a lot about Misty…more than you realise I bet and, even though I've never met her, from the way you talk about her and the respect you have for her then I know that she must be a really tough trainer…she'll get through, you see"

"(and she travelled with you for years)" Pikachu said, "(you picked up a lot of stuff from her, but I'll bet she picked up more from you. She's tough, she'll be ok)"

"and it's isn't as though we have to go anywhere for a while" Brock said

"but…but Dawn's contests?" Ash asked, turning around to face his friends again. He hadn't been crying that hard, he wasn't that kind of person, but his eyes were watering as they looked at him

"don't worry, it'll wait" Dawn said kindly

"and we'll probably be here for a few weeks, so that would give you time to challenge the gym leader" Brock said, "and then we could just check out the area. There's Snowpoint temple after all"

"…thanks guys" Ash said, finally managing a warm smile, "you're right…she'll be ok. Anyway I think I'll go to bed, I'm knackered" he yawned even as he finished his sentence and the others nodded in agreement.

"see you tomorrow then" Dawn called as she and Brock made their way to their rooms, whilst Ash and Pikachu went to their own.

once inside it was a simple matter to just turn on the super-powered heater in his bedroom before Ash got out of his damp jeans and shirt and climbed into bed.
Pikachu was curled up and asleep quite quickly, the warmth cast from the heater coupled with the trying journey to get to Snowpoint had made him very tired, and in a matter of minutes he was asleep.
Ash however lay awake for a long time. he was still worried, deeply so but also going through his head now was what he had just admitted to Brock, Dawn and Pikachu. truth be told he hadn't really realised it himself until he had finally burst out like that but now there was no denying it. the things he had said, coupled with the growing feeling of emptiness in his heart was proof enough. the bed felt too big for him alone, and it wasn't just because he spent so much time in a sleeping bag. the soft mattress, the warm covers and squashy pillow it was…uncomfortable somehow, it just felt wrong but something told him that there was one person who would be able to change that, one person who would make it all ok.
Ash tossed and turned for what felt like hours, but he was unable to sleep, despite how tired he was. in the end he lay still, on his back and facing the ceiling; trying to picture what Misty might be doing at that moment…

Chapter 4

Misty had set off in a hurry, and had not seriously considered how long it would take nor the difficulties she was bound to face on the journey. now though, she was beginning to realise that, just perhaps, this might be a little more difficult that she had first thought. she carried on though, despite the fact that it had already rained heavily whilst she was on the road, and by the time she had found shelter she was completely soaked.

After leaving Cerulean city Misty had headed south-east, before branching east on the cross-roads that would take her towards Saffron. Sabrina had, kindly, leant her some spare clothes for she was still adorned in the damp garments that she had been wearing several days ago. on top of that, Sabrina had given Misty enough money to catch the express ferry to Sinnoh; news that left Misty overjoyed and only Sabrina's psychic powers had prevented Misty from hugging her there and then, however once Misty had showered and changed she managed it.

the feeling of relief that came after Sabrina had offered to pay for the trip was so deep that Misty was elated for a very long time. she had never actually considered giving up, yet it had been enough to stop her in her tracks when she thought about the weight of the task that she had set upon herself. now though she was entering Lavender town; the small and newly built port there would be the best place to catch a boat headed for the north, and it also meant that she would not have to spend as long as she would have done had she boarded from Vermillion. she had never really trusted the old classic SS. ships that were most commonly used in Vermillion anyway, not since the Saint Anne had sunk trapping her, Ash and Brock inside.
that last thought kept Misty occupied for a long time as she thought about all of the adventures she and Ash had been on, been together. they had been fun times; she had remembered them all and would never forget them.

she arrived in Lavender town in good time, not spending more than two days on the road between Saffron and her destination, and after a quick stop at the Pokemon centre to rest both herself and her Pokemon she headed for the port.
unlike Ash; Misty regarded the Pokemon centres as a relief; however that wasn't to say that she was no going through the same thing.
Whilst Pokemon centres provided a comfy bed and a place to sleep and rest; Misty had been unable since she started out to sleep on the road. once upon a time, with Ash and Brock…or ok it was much more Ash's company she missed, but the point was that now she felt so lonely on the road that sleep was scarce and far between. she needed company, she needed someone with her…she needed Ash with her. alone as she now was, she just couldn't drift off as she used to do. everything made her jump when she was alone at night, every chirrup of a bird to rustling leaf – all ambient noise seemed to keep her alert and on guard, and more than once she had released Staryu to go and survey the area, just to make sure…make sure of what she was unsure, but when her Pokemon returned (whoever it was she had sent out) she would rarely recall it, preferring to have the company and it was only then that she was able to finally drift off, though her dreams were always troubled.

a loud blast of a fog horn caught her attention, and as she came out of her thoughts Misty realised that she had, in fact, been walking much farther into Lavender town than she had originally anticipated.

ahead of her the landscape of the town had changed significantly since the last time she had been there, which had been on passing through with Ash and Brock. for one thing the town was much bigger, but also a large archway had been cut into the rock that had used to border the town, and through the arch Misty could see blue sky and, much more aesthetically pleasing in her opinion, the shimmering blue ocean.
it was also considerably busier than it used to have been, and most of this people traffic was focussed around the large archway, with many of the older buildings still maintaining their quiet and sombre impression.

Misty joined the throng of people walking through the arch and emerged into a large area of open space, open save for the masses of people going to and coming from the large port and dock yard that had been established.
'small port' as Misty had thought it to be, it turned out that the term was an understatement as what was now spread out in front of her would easily rival Vermillion from what she could see now, and there were at least ten large passenger liners either making there way to, or sailing away from the port.

"express to Sinnoh please" Misty asked politely to the rather tired and stressed looking man at the large ticket office

"luggage?" he asked, looking her up and down suspiciously

"err just me and my Pokemon" Misty answered

"passport?"

"yep just a sec" Misty said, rummaging through her small red bag and withdrawing the papers which had never left their abode at the bottom of the red draw-string bag, just in case she should have to travel at last minute, like this for example.

"hmm…it's a bit tatty" the man said, surveying the small booklet closely and peering hard both at Misty and what she assumed must be her passport photo.

"hope you're not talking about the picture" Misty answered; humour which failed to rub off on the man who just gave her a cold look

"this seems to be in order" he said finally, handing the passport back to her, "odd for a gym leader to be travelling as far as Sinnoh though I must say"

"well I've got…business to attend to" Misty replied, not thinking that her reasons for travelling should be any concern of this weedy little man

"mind if I ask what?" the man asked

"yes, as it happens, it's personal" Misty replied.

"uh huh, tell that to security" the man muttered, "money please" he held out a hand, but Misty did not oblige

"excuse me?!" she said, indignant; how dare he speak to her like that?!

"I said money please" the man replied flatly

"no, no you said something else too!" Misty said. she was attracting a lot of glances from people both in the lines either side of her, and the growing one behind her.
"I'm not a terrorist! and I don't deserve to be interrogated by a snotty little man like you. now either you take back what you said, or so help me, this cubicle will not protect you!"

"is there a problem?" came a deep voice. Misty wheeled around and came face to face with a rather large and mean looking security guard.

"well…" the man behind the counter began, a smug look on his face which Misty was dying to wipe off, however this security guard might make things difficult. she doubted he would be a match for her alone but who knows how many more of them there were…

"no problem" Misty cut across the man, voice radiating venom as she shot him a death look, "here's your money" she slammed the cash down on the mans desk, snatched her ticket from him and began to walk off

"have a nice day" the man called after, sarcasm evident

"I will once I've gotten your stench out of my nose" Misty called back, before quickly dodging in amongst a crowd of people to avoid being detained and lectured by the security man.

she looked at her ticket once she was safely away and began to make her way towards the security desks which led to her ship. it was only once she drew close, and could be one hundred percent sure which terminal she was headed for, that she caught sight of the name of the ship.

"oh you've got to be kidding me!" she exclaimed, stopping still in the middle of the moving crowd of people who had to move around her as she stood gazing up at the ship, the characteristic sweat-drop on her face. painted on the ship, bright red and gold letters revealed the vessels name; the 'Saint Anne 2'

Misty cautiously continued towards the security check-in, looking around her for any signs of trouble. she relaxed a little though as, surveying the crowds of people around her; she could see no signs of Jessie and James, or their giggly school-girl alter egos. besides she already had her ticket so the old Team Rocket scam that she, Ash and Brock had fallen for would no longer work. she checked around one last time, and found only a Magikarp salesman trying to flog his merchandise, and so decided it would be safe to continue.

upon reaching the security desk it was a simply matter of passing her red bag and pokeballs through the metal detector, being pulled aside along with twenty others in the crowd of at least a hundred as a sample test for shoe bombs (because as we all know; if twenty people don't have bombs in their shoes then of course the remaining five hundred or so would be equally free of explosive devices – Stanstead airport where would we be without your logic?) and then walking through the metal detector herself. things had become a little…uncomfortable at that point however, as the red light and subsequent beep had immediately awoken the hefty, smelly and balding security guard at the other end, and he seemed only too keen to run his hands up and down her searching for the offending item which turned out to be nothing more than the clasp on her belt.
Misty had a sneaky suspicion that the fat man had realised this too, even before he began running his hands down her waist and legs in a most un-gentlemanly fashion.

"found anything?" she asked, getting impatient

"erm well it would appear that your belt clasp set the alarm off miss, if I could just ask you to remove…"

"the belt, sure, but nothing else" Misty answered abruptly, removing the belt and giving it to the man who seemed even more red-faced than the first time she had laid eyes upon him, and he ran it through a separate detector before handing it back to Misty

"everything seems to be in order" he said, watching as Misty ran the belt back around her waist. this girl really was pretty; sleek and slender, fiery temper, completely unlike the last old hag that he had had to manually check…

"ah hem!" Misty cleared her throat loudly, snapping the man (who had been staring at her the whole time) back to reality, "my stuff please" she said forcefully

"yes of course, I hope you enjoy your trip" the man said, definitely blushing now and handing her the basket with her bag and pokeballs.

Misty clipped the red and white spheres back on her belt, picked up her red bag and stalked off towards the stairs leading up to the ships deck.

the ship itself was startlingly similar to the original Saint Anne, but strangely Misty did not feel any sense of foreboding as she walked through into the ships interior; the large and grand banqueting hall style lobby with the various people showing off their Pokemon and the salesmen and women having established their stalls around the edges of the room as they had done the last time. the Magikarp salesman was there again, having moved his stall and all of the Magikarp in an instant to set up even before Misty had managed to enter the room.
There was a complex web of emotion and thought now in Misty's head now though as she surveyed the scene. they had been her favourite years; travelling with Ash for, though it was only now she was starting to concede the fact to herself, it was Ash who had made her life so enjoyable where otherwise it had been so trying.

as Misty walked around the room, taking in the sights which fuelled her memories, she caught sight of a battle taking place on one of the central battle arenas, and pushed through the crowds to watch.
on the ring a boy was battling an old man. the boy must have been just a little over ten years old, and his Butterfree was fighting the old mans Ratticate.

Misty sighed, and a lone tear trickled down her cheek as she watched on. Pokemon trades and love, it was a strange comparison that Brock had made at the time but then…she had consoled Ash at the time about the trade, having noticed how worried he looked about it. Pokemon trades and love, well, perhaps that was the start of her love for him, for Ash; consoling him and trying to make him feel better. there was no doubting the feeling now, love was what it was and there was no hiding it but then…did she really want to?

"I say young man, your Butterfree was very impressive" she heard the old man say, and turned her attention back to the fight which the Butterfree had just won, using sleep powder to put the Ratticate to sleep

"thanks, your Ratticate wasn't bad either" the boy replied

"say, what do you say to a trade? your Butterfree for my Ratticate" the old man asked.

Misty found herself transfixed by this scene; it was just like watching all that time ago, the conflict in Ash's heart about trading away his Butterfree. odd it was now she looked back at it; she could see what was playing through his heart there and then.

"well I…yea I suppose…I dunno" the boy replied.

"hey Ted? Ted!" came another voice, and then a girl pushed through the crowd, her green hair tied up in a side pony-tail (on the right hand side)

Misty watched in fascination now, at just how similar all of this was, even this girl resembled her somewhat, if with different coloured eyes and hair.

"listen, trading can be really good, but if you don't feel right about it in your heart then you shouldn't do it. that's what my gramps told me, he traded a Ratticate for a Butterfree on the first Saint Anne, you know, the one that sunk" the girl said.

"errm…ok then yea, no I think I'll leave it thanks, I'm happy with my Butterfree" the boy replied, addressing the old man.

"oh well if that's how you feel about it, I'm not going to try and convince you otherwise. you make a good team" the old man replied and, with a tip of his hat, he was gone.

Misty could only stare. what was all of this? was this all some joke being played on her? fate having a good laugh at her expression now as all of this familiarity threatened to push her to tears. the girl, the girls grandfather, he must have been the old man with whom Ash had traded his Butterfree.

"hey lady, do you want to battle me?" said the boy. the small crowd of people gathered around the battlefield stepped aside, and Misty gave a start as she realised that the boy had been addressing her.

"huh? me?" she asked, surprised, she was not really prepared to be dragged out of her deep memories.

"yea…" the boy said, a challenge in his eyes but the girl stepped in front of him, peering at Misty

"hey wait a minute!" she said, excitedly, "you're Misty aren't you! my Gramps told me you were on the first Saint Anne with this kid who traded him a Butterfree. Ted, this is the gym leader for Cerulean city!"

"oh wow a gym leader!" the boy said, a new fire lighting in his eyes, "If I beat you does that mean I can get a gym badge of my own?!"

"well I…" Misty began but the girl interrupted

"yea it does, but be careful Ted, Misty uses water types and she's really good with them, I checked the league website, she's only ten matches away from getting the all time best record of Kanto gym leaders! Koga has it at the moment I think but Misty's only ten away" the girl said

"ok then, I challenge you to a gym match Misty!" the boy said, his Butterfree fluttering to his side with a determined expression.

"I…sorry I shouldn't, this isn't the gym so it wouldn't be official and besides…I've sort of run away" Misty admitted

"run…" the girl started but the boy interrupted

"aww please miss, I've never fought a gym leader before I'd really like to try" the boy pleaded

"come on miss, be a sport, give the lad a try" said the old man who had been battling earlier, and who had reappeared with the promise of an interesting match to watch. many other people had come to watch too, given that gym leaders were quite famous in their own rights, and always promised a good battle.

"well…yea ok…yea I can take you to school, you're on!" Misty said, the thought of Ash in her head inspiring her to adopt his enthusiasm whenever a battle was proposed.

"I'll referee" the old man said, standing in the centre of the ring, "this will be a three on three battle, no substitutions. combatants ready? then…begin!"

"go Butterfree! the boy said, and his Butterfree fluttered to the centre of the ring.
"don't go easy on me just cos I'm an amateur, I wanna see how I'd stand up in a real gym match" the boy called

"well, if you're sure…" Misty said, a smile appearing on her face as her eyes glinted, "in that case; Misty calls….Gyarados!"

in a beam of red light the giant sea serpent emerged, the roar uttered sounding all around the ship making heads turn, and even outside, the call arousing those in the sea and seven more Gyarados emerged, surrounding the ship, roaring in reply though theirs was feeble in comparison to Misty's. the sudden roar and subsequent emergence of seven more terrifying creatures startled the three figures who had been climbing up the side of the ship at that time, causing them to waver and then fall completely, with only the woman's quick reflexes saving them from dropping to the sea, whilst a small cat-like figure climbed up and over the other two, reaching the deck and safety. meanwhile, the native Gyarados provided a guard of honour as the Saint Anne 2 cruised quickly and quietly out of the port and off to the north, to Sinnoh and closer to Ash…

Chapter 5

The rest of the battle unfolded in much the same way as Misty's last gym battle had. admittedly the boy had skill, but he and his Pokemon had been no match for her Gyarados which defeated the boys three with relative ease.

Misty had spent much of the rest of the voyage in her room, feeling guilty for the rest of the first day for showing the boy up like that, particularly in front of the girl whom he was with, though that was largely due to her developing feelings towards Ash, and her growing consciousness about such things. she got over the guilt eventually however, turning her attention more on to what would happen when she got to Sinnoh and, eventually, what would happen when she met up with Ash.
she had become aware that she had not given an awful lot of thought to that problem as surely it wouldn't be as simple as just turning up out of the blue, saying 'hi Ash, I love you, can I stay with you forever' and that being it…

"hi Ash…hi…Ash…Ash I love you…I love you Ash…HOPELESS!!!" Misty wailed, collapsing down onto her bed and pummelling her pillow, "Misty – you – never – think – things – through!!!" she said to herself, yet no matter how often she chastised or insulted herself, it didn't change the fact that what she had said was, in essence, exactly how she felt in her heart. she was in love, she was unquestionably in love and her heart needed no other justification than that. she had begun this quest under the pull of her heart towards him, towards Ash, and her brain had had very little say in what had happened, and so it was to continue.

the voyage was scheduled to take about ten to eleven days, arriving in Canalave city. Misty spent much of this time walking around and around the deck, trying to keep her mind off of the growing problem of what would happen when she finally reached Snowpoint.
as the days drew on however, she began to notice a few little oddities, not easily noticeable, but they were there nevertheless. there were three things to be precise.
the first was that she had accidentally foiled an attempted pick-pocket. the strange little person had been following her all through the second day and, whilst she did not think much of it at first, she certainly did come dinner time of the same day.
she had been milling around the buffet again, trying to choose between many different platters, each more exquisite than the next. Misty had been searching in vain for a plate of chips, when she had accidentally upset a large bowl of hot soup. the bowl had fallen from the buffet table with a clatter and the contents had been tossed into the air, to land on the little figure whom had just managed to get a hand on one of her pokeballs. Misty had jumped away anyway, not because of the hand (which she had not felt at first in any case) but because some of the liquid had caught her on the leg. she had recovered however, just in time to see a little hairy creature with whiskers and a tail, sprinting away as fast as he could whilst 'Meowth'ing his complaints to the world – that had been the first incident.

the second incident had come shortly after Misty had discovered the wondrous heated pool and Jacuzzi. her venture to the Jacuzzi however had not gone unnoticed by some of the local youth however that is for later.
the second incident then, had been when she was on around her fiftieth length of the swimming pool. she had only just started really, as she often used swimming as a method of escaping the harsh realities of life, to drift away with the cool water.
on her fiftieth length Misty had looked up towards where she had left her bag, towel and clothes, and had discovered two strangely dressed people bending over the white plastic chair on which her things had been placed. quick as a flash Misty had leapt out of the pool to confront these goons, only to be confronted with two sets of clearly forged papers. clearly forged they may have been, however these two women…were they both women? one of them was suspect looking closely but still…

"hey what the hell are you doing?!" Misty had yelled, water flying in sheets as she shook her head rapidly to dislodge the droplets from her hair

"greetings miss, we are baggage authority" the lady with the purple-red hair had said. Misty had a funny feeling she had seen this woman before somewhere…some time ago

"baggage authority?" Misty asked, curiously, "but I don't have any baggage"

"is this bag yours?" the other…woman had said

"yea so hands off!" Misty exclaimed, snatching it back and then jumping back in surprise as a third figure appeared, jumping from inside the bag itself

"Meeeowth watch it, I was cat-napping in here!" the thing had said.

"hey I know that talking Meowth anywhere!" Misty said, looking at the three suspect figures hard and reaching into her bag, checking she still had everything before picking out a Pokeball

"but…we are baggage authority!" said the first again, each of the three now looking nervous

"rubbish" Misty replied

"but look, we have papers and everything" the second figure said, flashing the card again, just for a second, before hiding it again.

"look you're not baggage authority, there's no such thing…"

"well your baggage seems to be fine to me miss" the first figure said hurriedly, throwing the towel at Misty who had to react quickly to catch it

"so we'll be on our way" the second figure said

"got some more of da official baggage authority business to attend to, catch ya later" the talking Meowth finished, before the three sprinted off in the other direction.

"hmm…I bet" Misty said quietly, before leaving towards the changing room to dry.

after all of this, Misty made sure she kept her things on her at all times, not knowing when the three figures might surface again. she was sure the talking Meowth was the one who had tried to pinch her pokeballs the first time, but she was also sure that she recognised the three, even if they were disguised as she suspected. thinking about it though; why would Team Rocket suddenly be after her rather than Ash?
the third incident was not to happen until the end of the trip.

these mysterious goings on had meant that Misty had not thought at all about the actual journey to get to Snowpoint, for in her mind it would be as simple as getting off of the ferry and walking. the fact of the matter was however, that she would have to traverse not only Mount Coronet but also Eterna Forest, and the deep and treacherous snow fields on routes 216 and 217. the fact that she had spent all of the money Sabrina had given her on getting the ferry meant that she would have to forage for what food she could find on the way, and would have to utilise the four sets of clothes she now had to maximum effectiveness in order to get to Snowpoint. sure she would probably end up with no clean clothes left, but none of this had so far crossed her mind.

"I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you" Misty said to herself over and over again, getting used to the feel of the phrase. they would be docking in Canalave later that day, and the coast line had just appeared on the horizon.
"but will you love me too?"
Misty had been troubling herself with this for some time; ever since she had stopped troubling herself with what she would say, leaving it down to fate and fortune. now her attention had turned to this most obvious and potentially problematic of issues.

"ladies and gentleman, dinner is now served" came a voice over a loudspeaker

"food!!!" Misty exclaimed, she had only just realised how hungry she was.

her ticket had included meal prices for the voyage luckily and, since the meals most often consisted of a buffet, she had a plan which should hopefully set her up for the rest of the journey.
she bolted from the deck where she had been looking out over the sea, skipped down the stairs and skidded into the banqueting hall. once there she grabbed herself a plate but, instead of immediately filling it, she pretended to take a long time thinking about what to pick, whilst discreetly shovelling as much into her red bag as she could fit.
eventually when her bag could hold no more Misty began piling food onto her own plate, before choosing a seat in the corner, out of the way of that group of slightly younger boys who seemed to have been following her ever since she had been caught sunning herself on the deck-chairs.
apparently this sight was more appealing to others than she had thought, and once upon a time she wouldn't have minded the attention too much; however now her mentality had changed. it wasn't the usual teen self-consciousness that had plagued her already, but this time was more a desire to keep herself away from prying eyes (if subconsciously, not being vain) and safe for one particular person, in the desperate hope that he would see in her something more than these stalkers seemed to.

dinner was a lonely affair, sitting and pushing the noodles around her plate. Misty watched everyone else as she did so, everybody enjoying themselves yes but, and this was the fact that Misty picked up on, they were all enjoying themselves WITH another person. there were husbands with wives, mothers and fathers with children, boyfriends with girlfriends – each and every person aboard seemed to have a partner…everyone except her.
finally, after a loud and rather effectual complaint from her stomach, Misty gave in to the inevitable, and began shovelling down the food.
she went back for seconds and for thirds too; apparently alarming her stalkers who must have been worried that she would ruin her figure with obsessive eating, but Misty wasn't the sort of person to sit there and let the pounds pile. you would rarely find a more energetic sixteen year old than Misty Waterflower, who was rarely to be found doing nothing. as such; her figure was impressive to say the least, hence the increasing interest from people like the fat security man and her stalkers. she didn't want this attention though; she wanted someone in particular, that one person to notice and to care…

her thoughts were interrupted quite suddenly as the lights went out; the immediate effects of which were quite a lot of screaming.

suddenly though, two sets of spotlights were turned on, shining down on the raised platform at the end of the room. at first there didn't seem to be anything in particular these lights were shining on, just a lot of smoke.
Misty knew what they were shining on however, despite the years since she had last seen it, she would never forget the infamous Team Rocket Motto. her suspicions had been right then; those strange 'baggage authority' people and the small thief were most definitely…

"To protect the world from devastation…"

"to unite all peoples within out nation"

"to denounce the evils of truth and love

"to extend our reach to the stars above…"

the smoke had cleared by this point, to be replaced by pink and blue fireworks which began exploding at random intervals, casting light down on the two figures stood on the platform, one with a rose in his mouth.

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket blasts of at the speed of light…"

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight fight fight!"

"Meowth dat's right!"

"oh surely not" Misty thought to herself in distain. this was definitely a scheme worthy of Team Rocket, bursting on the scene with a few badly trained Pokemon and attempting to confront a lot of trainers both considerably outnumbering them, and with considerably better Pokemon with which to send the trio blasting off again.
Misty had been one of the first to recover from this sudden change of events, being seasoned now in dealing with Team Rocket, particularly these three. oddly though, in a way, she was actually quite glad to see them. Jessie, James and Meowth had become quite a large part of her life during her voyages with Ash and Brock, and they had been gone for a very long time, off chasing Ash and his Pikachu still most likely. as surprising as it was to see them here now, and despite the fact that she knew there would most likely be a battle to follow, Misty couldn't help feeling slightly relieved at the presence of the goons; it was soothing in a bizarre way.

"ladies and gentlemen, we are making ready to dock. if you wouldn't mind leaving your pokeballs with one of our associates on your way out, it would be very much appreciated" Jessie said sweetly

"forget it, we aren't giving up our Pokemon!" someone shouted back, presumably one of the more experienced trainers as there were still a lot of people sitting paralysed to the spot, not being sure what to do in these kind of situations.

Misty had joined the group of trainers already on their feet ready to confront Team Rocket, itching to send them blasting off. it felt right, it felt good it felt…familiar, good familiar and it reminded her of all the times she and Ash had teamed up against this trio. after all, she had been the one responsible for buying Ash enough time to escape with Pikachu at Viridian city hospital, and since then they had become quite efficient at seeing off the Rockets.

"oh but we insist" James said, politely yet with a slightly menacing air about his tone. no sooner had he finished speaking, then the doors all around the room were flung open, revealing yet more Team Rocket grunts waiting and barring exit, presumably so the trainers could carry out the instructions given to them by Jessie and James.

"what do we do? there's so many of them, we'll never be able to fight them all off" one of the trainers whispered

"oh for the love of…" Misty barged through the small crowd of trainers and confronted Team Rocket
"right listen up you three! either you get off this boat right now, or I'm gonna make you" she yelled

"oooh it's the prodigal twerp!" James exclaimed

"so why are you coming to Sinnoh then? going to be reunited with your long lost twerp boyfriend?" Jessie sneered

"his names Ash!" Misty yelled forcefully, catching the Rocket trio by surprise. they had clearly been expecting her to blush and deny; the tactic she had always used in the past, and it was clear from their expressions that they were somewhat disappointed with the way it had turned out.
Misty was surprised too, she hadn't been expecting to answer like that but something told her, some inexplicable force that overrode he brain, told her to answer with what she felt, and not try to cover it up. after all, what was the need to hide it anymore?

"so…you mean…" James spluttered, looking for some way to regain the upper hand, and failing.

"what are you doing here anyways?" Misty asked, "I thought you were still stalking Ash around everywhere; trying and failing to capture Pikachu"

"well yes we are" Jessie answered

"but ya see, da last time your boyfriend and his pals sent us packin, we got blasted straight into the ocean" Meowth explained

"then we drifted all the way back to the port in Lavender town" James said, pouting at the memory and his face took on that familiarly upset expression

"and arrived just in time to see you of all people, boarding this ferry boat" Jessie finished.

"so you thought you'd stalk me instead?! you're worse than that lot!" Misty exclaimed, gesturing to the group of boys, who blushed and immediately began busying themselves with other things.

"look that's beside the point" Jessie said irritably

"the point is we're here for your Pokemon" James said

"so hand em over!" Meowth finished.

"not without a fight!" Misty yelled back.

"but we cant, there's too many of them" a trainer whispered in his ear

"and they're about as smart and well trained as my Psyduck!" Misty snapped back, releasing her confused looking Pokemon just to prove a point, "they're no match for us; it'll be easy, you watch. Staryu, Starmie, Politoed, Gyarados; I choose you!"

"are you crazy?!" James exclaimed in surprise as Gyarados reared its mighty head high

"don't you remember what happened the last time?!" Jessie asked incredulously

"I do yea, but precedence is no guarantee for the future" Misty replied with a smug grin, resting her hand on her Gyarados, "and besides" she continued, "this is 'my' Gyarados. he'll only try and blow us all up with a dragon rage attack if 'I' ask him to, and besides, we're on a ship, not a raft"

"sure we're on the ship now, but what happens if the Saint Anne 2 goes the same way as her watery mummy?" James whimpered

"look who cares, let's just get deyr Pokemon!" Meowth yelled, grabbing the pokeballs from Jessie and James' belts and lobbing them down to the floor. in beams of red light Seviper, Cacnea and Dustox appeared.
all around them the Rocket grunts released Pokemon of their own, and it took encouragement from Misty to persuade the trainers around her to release their own to help.
they were outnumbered but better trained; and there was no way Misty would allow herself to lose to these goons, Ash never had, so neither would she.

"right lets go!!!"

Chapter 6.

nearly three weeks since they had arrived and received the letter; Ash, Brock and Dawn were still in Snowpoint.
they had already done pretty much everything there was to do in the small town; Ash had beaten the gym leader on his first attempt, that was during the first week. then Brock had suggested they look around Snowpoint temple on the second week, trying to keep everything spaced out to avoid boredom. they had arrived at Snowpoint temple, only to be turned back by a rather sinister looking man who claimed that; since none of them was a chosen one, they would not be allowed to enter.

Brock had been surprised at Ash's reaction to this, as normally Ash would be able to get anywhere and do anything, given that he nearly always ended up being the 'chosen one' in what ever prophecy they would become embroiled in. he had expected Ash to put up some complaint; as he, Dawn and Pikachu certainly had done, however Ash just remained silent, and when the man demanded that they leave Ash had just bowed his head respectfully and walked off back down the steps, leaving the other three dumbstruck.

truth be told; Ash had not been himself at all, not since they received the letter. he was much quieter than he would normally be, and spent a lot of time brooding. it hadn't been so bad in the first week, but as the days drew on Pikachu, Brock and even Dawn could see that Ash was becoming even more subdued, and he looked ill too. Ash would never tell them why, not since he had succumbed to their questioning so the three were left to guess, but Ash himself knew exactly what was wrong with him.

he had, in actual fact, been going through exactly the same worries and thought processes as Misty had aboard the Saint Anne 2. what would he say to her when she arrived? how should he react? how should be speak to her; should he come out and admit what he felt or continue the way he had done for years, hiding and denying.
the one worry Ash had that Misty had not was the prospect of what shape Misty might be in when…if…she managed to arrive…

Ash had been thinking these things over and over in his mind since the letter had arrived, but still had not come to any conclusion as to what he should do.

"hey Misty…Misty look I…recently I…more than recently, and now I'm talking to myself!" Ash said, dropping in the snow and making snow angels as he waited for the others to emerge from the Pokemon centre.

it was morning exactly three weeks since the arrival of the letter, yet still they had seen or heard nothing from Misty. Ash had been worrying so much it had been making him ill and it was a concern for the others too, both that Misty had gone unheard from for so long, but also the effect it was having on Ash. he wouldn't be consoled about it though, he just couldn't help feeling the way he did…
just then, a noise above him caught his attention and he looked up, jumping out of the way as three figures dropped from the sky, landing in the snow and leaving three people-shaped holes in the otherwise impeccable white blanket.

"what the?!"

the other three came running from the Pokemon centre as a result of Ash's yell of alarm, and Pikachu leapt to his shoulder already sparking as the three figures emerged from the holes; dizzy, dishevelled and disgruntled.

"to protect the world from…devastation ergh"

"to…to unite all peoples within our…nation"

"what are you three doing here?!" Ash asked, confronting the three before they had quite managed to find their bearings.

"we…we have been blasted off so many times in the last few days I've lost count!" Jessie exclaimed, shaking her head to knock some sense into herself, and clouting James and Meowth to the same effect.

"well that's nothing new" Dawn muttered

"for us it is" James wailed, "we're used to getting blasted off by you three now, not by her on her own, she's evil"

"who? who's evil? who keeps blasting you off?" Ash asked, an excitement growing in his chest now though he didn't dare hope for the answer…

"your girlfriend that's who! the red-head twerp!" Jessie yelled.

Brock and Dawn looked at Ash at this statement, the one word in particular that they were keen on seeing his reaction to

"you mean Misty? is she close by?!?!" Ash asked to the others surprise. this was good news most definitely, but they had been expecting him to react to the girlfriend insinuation at least, and so had Jessie and James but Ash was not about to be interrogated again. this was the first he had heard of Misty since the letter and, if Jessie and James had recently been beaten by her, then that could mean that she wasn't too far away.

"well…she sent us packing on the boat, in Eterna forest, then the road towards mount Coronet, then on Mount Coronet, and the last time was on the other side of the snow, route 216 or wherever it was" James answered

"(took us about three or four days to get here from 216)" Pikachu commented

"hmm…and it was the most difficult bit of the journey" Ash said worriedly

"don't worry Ash, she'll be ok" Dawn said, trying to be encouraging

"oh yea, with the way she uses her Pokemon, I don't think anything could go wrong" Jessie muttered

"she's good then yea?" Ash asked, suddenly turning back to the Rocket trio with an eager and enthusiastic expression on his face. it had been so long since he had last seen Misty, and he had hardly heard from her. when he did hear from her she didn't talk about herself much but now that was all Ash wanted to hear. he wanted to hear about her; not the gym, not her sisters, not Pokemon and not himself, he wanted to hear about her, everything, he wanted to remember anything and everything from her looks to her scent to her voice…

"(err Ash…Ash! you're staring, you're scaring them)" Pikachu whispered in his ear with a grin.

it was curious seeing Ash acting like this. after all, Ash and Pikachu had been together since the beginning, and had become the firmest of friends. what ever one of them experienced the other experienced too, either directly or from observing. this was a new experience and a new feeling for Ash, and thus it was new for Pikachu to observe.

"huh? oh right, sorry" Ash muttered, turning red and it wasn't because of the cold

"oh dat's ok, we understand" Meowth smirked

"we'll be more than happy to tell you anything you want to know about the bride to be" James said

"for a price" Jessie finished

"forget it we're not paying…" Brock began but stopped in surprise as Ash cut across him

"what do you want?" he asked eagerly

"well since you're offering, a warm room and a good meal wouldn't go amiss" James said, and the group walked back into the Pokemon centre, all plans for the day forgotten at this sudden change in Ash's attitude.

Brock, Dawn and Pikachu left Ash and the Rocket Trio together to talk, after Ash had given Brock his pokeballs naturally; you could never be sure when Jessie, James and Meowth might try and pull something.
Brock and the others staid out for much of that day, just popping back occasionally to get something to eat or to just warm up in general.

it was three hours at least though before anyone saw anything of Ash, Jessie, James and Meowth. it was remarkable really just how much information Ash seemed to be able to get from the three Rockets; but the fact was that he was dying to hear and get as much information about Misty as he possibly could. it was like a hunger really, yet Ash knew that, for all his questioning, this hunger would never be assuaged until he could see her with his own eyes, to be with and to touch…

"so…" Jessie said once they had all gathered in the waiting room of the Pokemon centre, "what are you going to say when she gets here?"

"well I…err…" Ash faltered, he still had not solved that problem himself

"you mean you haven't even thought of anything?!" Dawn exclaimed in surprise

"hey give him a break, it's hard the first time" Brock said

"(ha, can't imagine a first time for Brock, let me guess, Nurse Joy or Officer Jenny?)" Pikachu sneered

"Joy" Brock admitted, his turn to blush

"back on topic" Dawn said impatiently, "Ash I can't believe you still don't know what you're gonna say, she'll be here in two days!"

"alright take it easy I've never done this before! and I could probably do a lot better without you lot breathing down my neck!" Ash fought back

"well the way I see it" Jessie said with a knowing smile, "you have two beautiful ladies in the room with you right now; we'll be invaluable because we can tell you what we'd like to hear"

Ash looked nervously at James and Brock, both of whom nodded

"(makes sense I suppose)" Pikachu said

"well…alright..." Ash said doubtfully

"ok so, you should probably complement her on how she looks…" Dawn began, but Jessie interrupted

"oh yea? on the road for three weeks straight?! I hardly think appearance will have been high on her list of priorities, and you'd probably be better not to bring it up." Jessie said knowingly, "I think you'd be better to…to…" she faltered

"say how…" Dawn stopped too

"I think" Brock said, looking at Ash seriously, "I think Ash, that you should speak from your heart. don't try to think ahead, just wait for the moment, and it'll all come right"

"as good advice as any" James agreed

"better than anythin dese two will give ya" Meowth added

"(here here)" Pikachu said.

"right…ok then yea I'll do that" Ash said with a resolved smile.

two days, that was all it would take now; two days and she would be here, with him. he couldn't wait; it was like a physical pain in his chest now as he knew she was drawing closer, a pain resulting from his need to be with her then and there, to hold, to kiss… of course, she would have to make it over the miles of snow and ice before that could happen but Ash knew, somehow, that she would succeed, that she would make it through – that love would find a way…

Chapter 7

it was absolutely freezing; Misty had been trembling all over ever since she had left Mount Coronet. even that last brush with team Rocket on the road had been unable to cure the growing chill in her bones, the bitter cold striking in instantly.

it was a day into her journey along route 216 that she began to realise just how foolish she had been to leave unprepared. she was knee deep in snow, and the one pair of jeans she had were already soaked through, but she didn't really have anything else to wear; being that the rest all ended at knee length or above. sleep had been completely impossible, not having a tent or a mat or even a sleeping bag with her; Misty had been traipsing through the deep snow without resting for nearly two days and she was so tired, oh so tired…

"I would walk five hundred miles and I would walk five hundred more, just to be the girl who walked one thousand miles to fall down at your door"
Misty had been singing that song for some time now as the sun dropped below the horizon and the cold night set in. it seemed to give her hope somehow, just enough inspiration to keep travelling, to keep walking and not give up.
"fall down and die of hypothermia more like" of course, this last thought had somewhat defeated the purpose of the motivational song, but she carried on nevertheless, just looking for enough inspiration to keep her going…

the night dragged on and the temperature dropped yet further. to make things worse; it had begun snowing hard and a fierce wind was blowing the chill down from the north. all in all it was a very unpleasant experience and, though Misty was of course not aware of it herself, there was only so much further she would be able to push herself.

at long last the effects of the extreme cold were getting to her; she was becoming a little delirious and hypothermia was finally beginning to drive her down.
she felt light headed, the cold seemed to drift away on the wind, walking was easy…yet hard at the same time
she was tired now, so tired and she just wanted to put her head down and sleep, sleep and never wake up…that pillow over there looked comfy, but then…

an orange flicker of light in the sky brought her back to her senses, if only temporarily, and as she looked closely she could just about see, floating towards her in the distance, the Meowth-head balloon of Team Rocket…

Jessie, James and Meowth had set off from the Pokemon centre in Snowpoint earlier that night, but they weren't alone on board the balloon.
in fact it had been under fervent requests from Ash that they had eventually set off, for the last weather report had indicated that there was a storm coming. Ash couldn't wait, he couldn't sit still, he couldn't just sit there and hope she made it. Tracy had made it quite clear in his letter just how little preparations Misty had made, and thus he could not justify letting her undertake this most difficult stage of the journey alone. he, Dawn, Brock and Pikachu had just managed to make it all together, and that was without a storm and after considerable preparations had been made for the journey. waiting for Misty to do it alone and in her state was like giving up on her and leaving her to die out alone in the cold, and it was an image that Ash could not abide to see any longer.
therefore, despite the dangers of going out in the storm, he had managed to convince Jessie, James and Meowth to take him out in their balloon over the snow fields of route 217, keeping a look out for the lone figure as she fought her way through the storm. Dawn and Brock had stayed behind in Snowpoint, both to keep the balloon as light as possible but also to prepare for them should they find Misty in a bad way.

"can you see anyone?!" James called over the storm

"no!" Jessie called back

"Meowth what about you?"

"I'm jus seein white here"

"hey…hey look there she is!" Ash yelled in excitement. he had just managed to spot the lone figure as she made her way slowly through the snow. she seemed to have seen them, as she stopped and looked up, but Ash looked on in dismay then as she swayed and then fell, dropping into the snow and not moving.

"come on cant this thing move any faster?!" Ash asked in despair, pounding his fist on the side of the basket in the hopes that the balloon would move more quickly

"we're going as fast as we can!" Jessie called back, pulling hard on the burner.

"…it's not fast enough! I'm off, come on Pikachu! you three get ready to pick us up!" with a deep breath Ash built up all of his considerable courage, stepped up onto the rim of the basket and then off, falling towards the ground.

he met the snow sooner than he had expected, and it had hurt more than he had expected too, despite the thick snow on the ground. he lay where he was for a few seconds, dazed, until Pikachu administered him a quick shock which got him back on his feet in an instant.
he looked around wildly, but then realised with despair that what he had been able to see from high up in the sky was no longer visible from ground level. everything was white, he could see no sign of Misty anywhere, but he knew that he had to find her soon or it would be too late.

"Misty?! Misty?!" he yelled into the night, but met no reply. a shout from above him caught his attention though and he saw Jessie leaning over the basket, pointing frantically.
Ash set off in that direction as fast as he could go; the wind and the snow battering him but he pushed on nevertheless, he knew he had to. above him the balloon was making steady progress too, not as fast but it wasn't much slower and, should he reach Misty, the balloon would not be more than a minute or so behind.
it was hard though, very hard both to move and to see and he had no idea where Misty was as she lay in the snow

"Misty!!! Misty!!!"…

Misty awoke to find herself laying in a beautiful meadow; green grass spread out as far as the eye could see. the skies were blue and cloudless, and a shimmering stream ran alongside her as she lay with her back against a tree, basking in the warmth of the sun.
it was a strange place this; bits of it seemed unclear somehow, shimmering in and out of existence and every now and then there would be a strong gust of unimaginably cold wind, enough to make Misty curl herself up in a ball until they had passed.
it was in the intervals between these moments though that Misty looked around her and tried to remember what she had been doing, and how she had got here. everything seemed distant now though, nothing certain and she couldn't for the life of her remember how she had ended up in this place.

"hello?" she called out, or tried to call, but her voice seemed to have no substance here and no words came out.

there was a reply though, but Misty could not be sure she had heard anything at all to be honest; it was so quiet and seemed to waver in and out of existence.
if she had heard it right though, then she knew that voice, and that voice seemed to know her; calling her name…

"Misty?! Misty!!!" there it was again, louder this time, and…oh Misty knew that voice so well, it had been the voice she longed to hear, the voice she had missed for so long, the owner of which she had set out to find…

Misty snapped awake, and immediately the cold leapt to meet her again. she was frozen stiff, aching all over and little icicles hung from her eyelids, obscuring her vision. she brushed them away painfully and stood slowly up, every part of her aching from the cold. no sooner had she found her feet then she stumbled again, dizzy and trembling all over. she got to her feet though, determined, she had to carry on going she knew that much, and that light in the sky seemed to be drawing closer…

"Misty?! Misty?!" there was the voice again, definitely there and close too, and then Misty realised that it must mean that Ash was somewhere there, somewhere near, looking for her.

"A-Ash? Ash?!?!" she called back, stumbling forwards towards the source of the voice with one thought remaining in her head – find Ash. with Ash she would be ok, with Ash she would have accomplished what she first set out to do, and with Ash she would be safe

"Misty?!"

"Ash?!!!"
they met suddenly, a blur of snow and then he was there, she was there, they were together at last.

"Misty!" Ash cried out in surprise and delight as the form of his friend emerged from out of the field of white. she stumbled towards him and he ran forwards, reaching out both arms to her…
Misty collapsed into his arms and he knelt down with her, cradling her head as she looked up at him with a mixture of fondness and intense relief evident on the features of them both

"Ash…" Misty breathed.
this was like a dream, and even as she lay there in his arms, she was sinking further and further into dream world herself. the scenery around them became blurred and unclear, but one thing remained constant, remained clear, and that was the form of Ash as he looked over her, holding her close.

"you're so cold" Ash muttered, pulling Misty closer to him and wrapping his arms around her, trying to give what little body heat he had left to her, to warm her enough and keep her with him.

"I-I m-missed you s-so m-m-much" Misty shivered, resting her head against his warm chest and closing her eyes. so far as she was concerned she was alright now, she was safe, she was in Ash's arms and now the overwhelming urge was just to sleep, to sleep with him for the rest of her life…

"Misty come on, stay with me" Ash said, shaking her gently just until her eyes opened again. Ash looked up towards the sky, relief flooding over him as he saw the balloon directly above them, descending quickly to meet and to carry them off to safety.
Misty was shaking uncontrollably in his arms, she was so cold her lips were blue and she looked so pale, fading away into the snow even as he looked.

"come on Misty don't you give up on me" Ash said with a grim smile, holding her a little tighter.
Misty looked up into his eyes as he looked down into hers…and then they met, they were kissing, for the first time they had managed to do something that each of them had longed to do for so long.

"w-well that made me feel b-better" Misty said quietly, but it was true too, Ash had sent warmth flooding through her with just that one moment.

"oh? that's odd, I did it for me not you" Ash joked, but even before he had finished they had met again

Chapter 8.

the balloon was descending quickly now; Jessie, James and Meowth were all three jumping up and down to try and pound the Meowth balloon lower more quickly. the balloon was in danger of being blown off course with the increasing winds so it was important that they land as soon as possible, not least because Misty looked in a bad way.
finally and with a considerable crash the Meowth balloon set down, at which point all three of the occupants began beckoning frantically for Ash to climb aboard.

Ash didn't actually notice at first; the kiss was too perfect, too good to break now and he needed it, she needed it, they needed the contact with each other just to be sure that it was actually happening, and not an effect of the cold. it was this final point though that finally stopped them as a gust of freezing wind blew around them yet again, and Misty began shaking even worse than before. the cold was hurting now, she felt tight at the chest, hard to breathe and that, with the exception of her tingling lips, was all she could feel now that wasn't an ache.

"come on Misty, time to go" Ash said, getting to his feet and pulling Misty with him. no sooner were they standing though than she stumbled and would have fallen, had not Ash reacted quickly enough to catch her.

"couldn't…couldn't I just rest for a bit…" Misty said dreamily, swaying as Ash tried to support her

"not a chance" he replied, "if you rest here you'll die…but if you cant walk then I'll carry you, just don't go and sleep on me now" Ash continued, putting an arm around Misty's shoulder and another beneath her knees and lifting her from the floor. he was surprised at first, expecting to find her to be at least a little heavy, however she seemed so light in his arms he wondered how she ever put up such a stubborn fight whenever he had used to try to drag her somewhere.
he had to quickly snap his attention back to the task at hand though and began moving as quickly as he could back towards the grounded balloon where the three figures of Jessie, James and Meowth were still waving frantically at them, beckoning Ash to hurry up.
Ash put on an extra burst of speed but no sooner had he done so then he slipped and fell, twisting in the air to land on his back with Misty on top of him.

"y-you ok A-Ash?" Misty asked, getting groggily to her hands and knees before trying to get up herself, but she couldn't, she was too tired and too cold.
Ash meanwhile had jumped up and picked her up again, continuing towards the balloon and ignoring the cold, the stitch in his chest and the ache he had contracted from the fall.

it seemed to take hours but in fact he had only been walking for about a minute or so through the snow, but finally the balloon was drawing near.
Pikachu was hopping, light footed, ahead of him to make sure there were no pot holes or any other dangers lying beneath the snow, and Ash continued on towards the basket.
he was about to reach it when a change in Jessie, James and Meowth's waving patterns caught his attention.
Ash looked in the direction they were now waving and pointing in but saw nothing, however something seemed to have spooked Jessie and James and now Pikachu too was on the floor, ears standing upright and on all fours, cheeks sparking as he surveyed the area.

"what's up Pikachu?" Ash asked, slowing a little as he became aware that something was wrong

"(there's something near…)" Pikachu replied, "(could be an Abomasnow)"
Ash gulped. he had only faced a few Abomasnow before on his way to Snowpoint in the others but he remembered them all too clearly. they were strong fighters, and he had been caught unprepared the first time but luckily Brock had caught sight of the creature and Pikachu had dispatched it. still, they were a force to be reckoned with and very dangerous to be dealing with on your own, particularly if you happen to be carrying your injured friend…or more than just a friend, back with you.

"keep a look out" Ash said quietly, the tension building.
he made to carry on the last few yards to the basket but no sooner had he taken one step then a swirl of snow just next to him caught his attention and then the Abomasnow was there, charging them down.
Ash just about had time to get Misty out of the way, ensuring her safe landing in a soft snow drift, before the Abomasnow was on him. he threw up his arms to protect himself as the creature charged, so close as it wouldn't miss, there was no way it could. Pikachu had been caught by surprise also, and thus hadn't reacted fast enough to take the creature down in time and it crashed into Ash, smashing straight through him, sending him flying to land unconscious in the snow near Misty.

"take it down Pikachu!" Misty cried, the shock of the creatures sudden appearance and now her worry for Ash waking her up just enough to watch and hope, as Pikachu reacted to her command and fired a powerful thunderbolt at the Abomasnow as it charged straight towards the balloon, leaping high…

the thunderbolt struck but it was too late to save the balloon, as the creature flew straight through the fabric of the balloon and out the other side to land somewhere in the snow, invisible and unconscious.
as for the Team Rocket trio they could do nothing now, still being in the basket as the balloon whizzed off into the sky

"looks like Team Rocket's blastin off agaaaaiiiiin" the cried before disappearing into the dark sky with the all too familiar 'ping'

"Ash? Ash!" Misty called, crawling over to Ash though falling twice covering the few yards between them. when she reached him he was still laying as he had fallen, face pale and eyes shut.
Pikachu had been looking for the fallen Abomasnow but came back quickly to see to his two best friends

"(check his pulse?)" Pikachu offered

"don't be stupid he isn't dead" Misty said, trying her best to snap but failing, both too cold but now, and more so, too worried that Pikachu might be right

"(it's good to see you by the way)" was all Pikachu said in reply, giving Misty a curious look

"It's g-good to be back" Misty replied with as warm a smile as she could manage.
a groan from Ash snapped both Misty and Pikachu's attention back to him however and they looked back in time to see his eyes flutter open.

"ergh what happened?" he asked, sitting up groggily

"(you were hit by that Abomasnow, pretty hard too by the looks of things)" Pikachu replied

"Pikachu managed to take him out, b-but Team R-Rocket got b-blasted again" Misty continued

"(Misty was quick enough to react and give the command, otherwise I just followed that)" Pikachu said modestly

"r-rubbish, you'd have done it yourself, I just h-happened to shout it out" Misty argued.
Ash was watching this with interest; at least once the immediate grogginess had worn off.

"I can see you two ganging up on me at some stage, what's with the niceties?" he asked

"w-well we m-missed each other" Misty replied

"hey I thought you missed me too, and I bet I won't get the special treatment" Ash said, putting on a hurt expression as he stood up. the hurt expression was partly to hide the real pain he was feeling in his chest from when the Abomasnow had struck, but it was important for him to be strong now and so strong he would be.

"w-well when w-we get out of this then I'll g-g-give you so much special t-treatment you'll wonder h-how you ever did without me" Misty replied

"already do" Ash answered as he picked Misty up again

"(looks like we'll have to walk…I'll keep a look out for any more Abomasnow on the way)" Pikachu said. he caught Ash's eye as he did so and knew that they were both thinking the same thing.
it had been around an hours flying time to get to this point, and now they had no means of getting back other than walking. they were open to the elements, it was getting colder, the wind was getting stronger and the snow harder and deeper. both Ash and Pikachu knew now that the chances of them all getting back to the Pokemon centre alive were slim at best…the chances of them 'all' getting back, with Misty in the state she was in having been out in this far longer than the other two…

"right lets go then" Ash said, managing to sound enthusiastic as they all set off back in the direction they had come. he didn't want to think about the prospect of not getting back. he was not so worried about himself, but if Misty weren't to make it back then he didn't know what he would do; he might as well already be dead. they had found each other again at last; he couldn't lose her again now, not after all of this…

the three of them moved off into the night and the growing storm, Pikachu scouting out ahead whilst Ash carried Misty through the snow. she was weak now, worse than she had been when they had found her but Ash kept her with him, kept her awake and did his best to make her warm, sacrificing his own coat to try and insulate some heat for her though he knew it would serve little purpose other than to make him very cold; his T-shirt not anywhere near thick enough nor covering his arms and he would get very cold indeed before they got back but he didn't care, so long as he did his best to stop Misty from suffering any more.
they walked on then; walking north at a snails pace but making progress all the same, drawing ever nearer to the town and to safety…

around three hours had passed since Ash had departed with Team Rocket to look for Misty; and as Brock and Dawn sat in the Pokemon centre waiting with the wind howling outside, their anxiety grew.

"they should be back by now" Dawn said again, about the fifth time in as many minutes.

"I know…I know" Brock replied. he had given up on trying to be encouraging; he had none of it left himself.

"think I'll go check on the bath" Dawn said absentmindedly, getting up and making for the door at the back of the waiting room

"no need, Joy's already seeing to it" Brock said. he was so worried about his friends that he had even stopped madly flirting with the Nurse, which was a good thing; otherwise they would probably have been thrown out

"well I have to do something!" Dawn wailed, "I'm just sitting here doing nothing while Ash and the others are out in this weather! anything could have happened, they could be injured, they could even be dead and we wouldn't know because we didn't fight Ash's stubbornness hard enough for him to let us go…" Dawn stopped as the tears streamed from her eyes. Brock got up to try and comfort her but it was hard, not feeling very assured himself

"don't worry they'll be ok" he said, "come on, lets go see to that bath…though I'm sue it's probably as hot as it's safe to put it" he said, and began to lead Dawn back towards the back of the room again.
they had hardly taken three steps however before a noise from behind caught their attention. the noise of the wind suddenly swelled to a roar and a bitter wind struck in, accompanying a clicking noise…almost as though the front door had opened…

"guess…guess who's back" came a hoarse voice

Dawn and Brock wheeled around and saw, to their intense relief, an exhausted looking Ash just about managing to stand in the doorway. there was a tired looking Pikachu on the floor by his feet too and in Ash's arms, looking perhaps the worst of the three of them, Misty lay. she might have been asleep; her eyes were shut and her breathing was slow, or at least until Ash shook her lightly and she just about managed to open her eyes.

"Ash! Misty! Pikachu!" Brock exclaimed, rushing forwards to see to them closely followed by Dawn. they were pulled short however as Nurse Joy appeared in between them and their intended targets, looking at Ash and Misty in concern

"get them to that bath straight away" she said quickly before taking Pikachu up and putting him on the counter

"right" Brock and Dawn replied before moving forwards to help their two friends across the waiting room

"bath…never sounded so sweet before" Misty said weakly as they moved off. she was still trembling all over, just as cold as she had been outside and if she wasn't warmed up soon then she could be in even more trouble than she was already.

"oh you bet" Ash said, the relief evident on his face at the prospect of a final end to the strains the day had brought. he would like nothing more than a hot bath at that moment, to get off of his feet and to warm up. there was just one thing he would like more at that moment, and that would be to settle down in a warm bed and sleep…not alone though of course. the girl in his arms; they had not had time to catch up at all, as this had hardly been the dream reunion they had both imagined at some time or another…

Ash, with Misty in his arms, allowed himself to be led through the door at the back of the centre, the one that led to the rooms he, Brock and Dawn had stayed in. this time however they did not turn off into any of the rooms, instead continuing down to the bottom of the corridor and through a door saying private. this was the Nurse's own living quarters, however there was no bath in the public area of the centre and so the nurse had, given the situation, kindly offered her own.

Brock and Dawn opened the door for them and both Ash and Misty were treated to a sight that they had both, secretly, not expected to see again.
the room was slightly steamy given the hot water in the tub and it was warm, so warm. bubbles were frothing up and over the side of the tub and there were a couple of candles up by the head.

"my idea" Dawn admitted, blushing

"perfect" Ash replied with a warm smile, "but there's only one tub"

Brock and Dawn sweat-dropped however for once Misty did not join in. she hadn't caught on truth be told and even if she had she wouldn't have done as she was actually curious about the same thing, though even in her exhausted state she had begun to draw a conclusion…

"well yea there is" Brock replied, giving Ash a meaningful look which he hoped might make things clear. it didn't.

"oh well, Misty had better have it, I'm…I'm not that cold really" Ash said, managing to hide the disappointment quite well he thought.

"no" Dawn objected, "no Nurse Joy said you were both to warm up"

"but if there's only one tub…" Ash began but Misty interrupted him

"errm Ash…Ash I think they mean…" she said, but a yawn stopped her and the other two took the opportunity to vacate the scene

"well we'll leave you to it" Brock said, making for the door

"but…" Ash tried.
Dawn had finally had enough of Ash's thick-headedness and decided to answer Ash's plea simply for him

"Ash for goodness sake! look now I don't care if this embarrasses you but I'm going to come straight out and say this" she said, taking a deep breath so as to get this over with as quickly as possible. "right look. you like Misty, you admitted it. Misty, hi by the way, I'm Dawn, pleased to meet you and I hope we'll become good friends. anyways Misty I'm pretty sure you like Ash too so…two of you…one tub…work it out"
Dawn left quickly before Ash could ask the many questions that had arisen. he had been prevented from doing so at first however by his blushing, for he was now bright red. looking down quickly he caught Misty's eye. she was blushing deeply too, and as their eyes met they both looked away quickly. Ash had not put Misty down yet and, standing still as they were in their damp clothes, it was becoming uncomfortable. still though they didn't move, as this was a bizarre moment for each of them. sure they had already kissed, it was pretty much established that they were on the same wavelength and after all, it wasn't as though they had never pictured this scenario before, never fantasized…

"errm well…" Ash began, looking all around the room to try and find something interesting to stare at.

"right…" Misty replied, doing the same but a yawn and then a fresh surge of trembling caught Ash's attention, followed by a sniff and a cough.

"listen Misty…you have the tub, I'll leave if you want I really don't mind…" he said gently, moving to lower Misty towards the lid of the toilet on which she could sit and change. she didn't let go of him though as he made to set her down, staying in his arms

"Ash you're wet and you're freezing" she said. it was true, Ash had suffered a lot in the cold, particularly after he had given her his coat and his arms looked as though they might never be rid of the goose pimples but he was doing his best not to show it

"you're worse" he muttered in reply

"I feel rubbish yea but I know you Ash, for all I've been gone for ages and I know when you're feeling bad too and…" Misty stopped, blushing and absentmindedly covered her mouth with a hand

"and what?" Ash asked gently

"and…and to be honest I wouldn't mind…"

"well…neither would I…"

Ash sat Misty down on the toilet seat and tugged on her sodden trainers to help her get started. she was still numb all over and it would have been difficult for her to do it herself in any case.
with relief he began to pull off the rest of his sodden clothes, just enough to get rid of the wettest, which was pretty much everything anyway…not completely, he was still a little…uncomfortable with the situation and, by the look on her face, Misty was too.

"err Ash can I…let's not tell anyone else about this right?" Misty asked nervously

"err no lets not" Ash replied quickly, "I mean…well…can I be straight for you for a sec?"

"sure" Misty replied, shuffling over to give Ash room to sit down too. she was trying her hardest not to stare, not to look him all over but it was hard. she had not started getting changed herself but Ash had pretty much finished, and it was the first time Misty had really looked at him this way, from the attraction point of view.
Ash sat down next to her, close, the toilet lid was not the largest seat in the world after all, and looked her in the eye.

"Misty you know for a long time I've been feeling…this thing…for you...I'm not sure how to explain it really" he began, searching for the words that would not come

"I know what you mean" Misty replied.
they were both looking at their feet not, blushing again and wondering how best to explain it.

"that kiss out there in the snow" Ash began again, hoping that he had now found a way to explain "you know that wasn't just…well it wasn't just to try and get you warm or moving or anything…I really meant it"

"and so did I" Misty replied quietly

"then you…?"

"I do…"

"I love you" they both said together, and then they were in each others arms again, at least for a moment, before Misty's freezing clothes effected both of them pressing against her already cold skin, and pressing on Ash's too as he had just begun to feel a little warmer.

"ergh I've been looking forward to getting out of these for ages" Misty said grimly, trying to stand up but failing yet again. she was colder than she had realised truth be told, for she was numb all over and thus could not feel a thing. she did feel something though, inside, the pounding of her heart and then, when Ash closed the last few centimetres between then again and their lips met, she felt a warmth flood through her.
as they kissed Ash helped her move her hands down, and one by one the wet clothes came off until Misty was in the same state as Ash; dignity maintained still as neither of them had become used to this kind of thing, especially given their short time back together. in fact they both thought this was going a bit fast yet somehow something said that it was right, that it wouldn't matter…they were in love after all…

"finish the job?" Ash asked quietly, their lips parting for the first time since they had met again.

"well…yea I guess" Misty replied, and so they did.

less than a minute later and Ash had eased them both into the bath; the deep, warm water rising to meet them both as they lay together. such a sigh of relief they had both breathed as the felt the warmth flood over them again, the soothing and relaxing water washing away all aches and pains, the trauma of what had happened earlier. for Misty in particular who had not slept in over two days, this sudden relaxation was an immense relief and almost instantly her eyes were closing as she rested her head on Ash's chest in the water, and felt his gentle hands caress her skin.
her last actions before settling down were to turn around, the smooth and slight movement having little impact on the waters surface, until she was facing Ash; face to face, chest to chest…
"I love you" she whispered, giving Ash a quick and gentle kiss on the lips, before sliding down to rest her head on his chest again. almost at once her eyes shut as; at long last, she could give into the urge, and drift off in the sweet, warm embrace of the one she loved.

The End.