"I hate walking!" Misty moaned in despair. It seemed as they had been walking for days to Petalburg. She knew the journey from Kanto to Hoenn wouldn't be fun, but this was the very opposite of that, in the least.
The ultimate goal would be to meet up with May, Max, and Dawn, who had already flown herself to Hoenn the week before. Misty envied her.
"You'd think you'd be used to it after travelling for fifty years, Misty," Ash told her while rolling his eyes.
"Fine, I hate excessive walking," Misty corrected testily with a glare.
"Don't worry, Misty," Brock said, offering a reassuring smile while walking beside her. "We should be there soon."
"Toge, toge, priii!" Her egg pokemon cheered her on.
She sighed sadly and kept walking, vowing to never put her legs through this kind of torture ever again.
"Guys! Guys, I see it!" In a second, Ash sped to the top of the cliff overlooking Petalburg City. It would have been a pretty sight if he had stopped jumping around so much to look.
"Oh, finally!" Misty released a sigh of relief and slumped to the ground, taking Togepi down with her.
Ash turned around and stared at Misty, jaw ajar like he couldn't believe her. "Don't rest, Misty! We've got places to go, people to meet!" And then he took both of his friends' hands and begin running into the town, a puff of dust left in his wake.
"Sometimes I wish he had a brain," Misty commented idly whilst being dragged across the sidewalk.
"I know how you feel," Brock replied, nodding his head as well as he could while it was scraping against the gravel of the roads.
"Ash! Misty!"
Ash finally let go of them (much to their relief) at the familiar voice. Misty sat up, squinting to see who it was. It was none other than the very three they were hoping to meet: May, Max, and Dawn!
"Finally, you're here!" May skidded to a halt in front of them, hands resting on her knees while she panted. "It's so great to see you! I've been wanting to forever!"
And once May begin talking, it seemed no one else could talk. A thrum of voices synchronized as everyone begin retelling stories of their journeys: contests, battles, the people, and the pokemon.
"Oh, I totally forgot!" Dawn snapped her fingers, then smiled at them with a gleam in her eyes. "I need to take you guys somewhere. It's the coolest place I've ever seen!"
"Huh?" Everyone, including May and Max turned to Dawn in apparent confusion. They hadn't hear anything of this previously from the blunette.
"I'll show you," she said merrily. "Just follow me!"
And off they went, their trek eventually leading them out of the city and into the forest. It was a very familiar environment for the six of them, that much could be assumed by how at ease they were.
"Just like the old days, huh?" May asked, unable to restrain a smile.
"Definitely." Dawn grinned back. "Oh, here it is!"
Dawn presented the sight in front of them with a dramatic flourish of the arms. The group's reactions, unfortunately, were very lacking. Of course, that was because no one was really sure what they were supposed to be looking at.
"But, Dawn... that's just a cave," Max pointed out.
"Yeah, but look inside!" she squealed. She was the first one to step inside of the cave, with the others hesitantly following her. Once they were inside, however, they understood Dawn's excitement.
"Oh my god," May breathed, obviously in awe.
The cave seemed utterly normal excluding one fact: the rooms. There were several, and each one's inner walls were coated in a different color of crystal.
"Blue! Blue, the color of water..." Misty dreamily floated to the blue room, eyes sparkling.
"Wow," Ash simply said.
"It's pretty cool," Brock added as his own two cents. He then rolled his eyes to see Max experimenting and investigating around in there rather than sightseeing like all of the others were.
And just like that, the atmosphere was broken.
"Excuse me?"
Everyone turned around at the sound of a man's voice.
"Huh?" Most of them blinked.
The man crossed his arms at their oblivion. "Why are you in my home?"
And since the simultaneous group reactions seemed to be on a row, they went ahead and sweatdropped at the question together.
"...Good question," Dawn finally said, breaking the silence. "Why don't ya tell him, Misty?"
"Wha! I - I don't..." Misty stuttered at the spotlight on her. "Um, yeah May... why are we in here?"
"Oh, um... ask Brock!"
"Don't look at me," Brock said flatly. "Ash probably knows."
"Hey!" Ash planted his hands on his hips and glared at Brock. When he shrugged, Ash floundered to think of an excuse. Everyone in the room had already been used. Wait. Almost everyone... "Uh... Pikachu led us here!" he said.
"Pika!?" Pikachu flinched and looked to Ash. When his trainer shrugged, he frowned and sparks emitted from his cheeks. "Chuuuuuu!" A thunderbolt shocked everyone in the room.
"Let's never blame Pikachu for anything again," Misty said weakly. Everyone nodded before falling to the ground; fried.
"I don't know why you guys are afraid," the old man mused with a bemused smile. "I was going to let you stay for lunch."
"Lunch?" Ash shot straight up.
-x-
"Oh, I see. Then it's understandable why people don't come by here too often," Brock said. He nodded understandingly, sympathizing with the old man.
After a few misunderstandings cleared and a brief lunch, they had come to understand his situation and had even established a friendly acquaintanceship with him.
"So," May begin, finger on her chin, "Is it lonely here living all by yourself?"
"Oh, no," the old man answered modestly. "It's really quite entertaining in this forest. Every now and then travelers will leave behind all sorts of trinkets and gadgets."
"Oh, cool!" Dawn's interested was piqued at 'trinkets.' "Would... you mind if we took a look?"
"No problem."
The group all stood in front of the glass display of lost trinkets, inspecting them with a careful, childish curiosity. Max seemed particularly excitable.
"Cool collection!" he commented, somewhat jealously.
"Hey, I didn't know you had pokemon." Ash pointed to the pokeballs that lined the top shelf.
The man chuckled. "I do, but those aren't mine. Some travelers dropped them while going by, so I keep it here so they will be able to find it when they come searching," he explained dutifully.
"I sure do hope they find them," Ash said. He frowned at the thought of losing his pokemon. It wasn't a very pleasant one. "But... can we see what pokemon they are?"
The old man couldn't resist the boy's hopeful tone. "Why not," he said. He sent them out, and in a flash of white appeared before them a roselia and a honchcrow.
May's eyes widened and she pointed at the plant pokemon furiously. "W-Wait a second! I'd know that roserade anywhere! It's Drew's!"
"And that honchcrow! It's definitely Paul's!" Dawn pointed as well, surprise evident in her actions and expression.
"We better get these back to them then," Brock said. While everyone rolled their eyes at his motherly responsibility, they came to a group consensus that it was probably the best way to deal with the situation.
The old man suddenly begin chuckling again.
"What?" asked Misty, frowning slightly. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing at all," he told her assuringly. "But if you are going to find them, make sure you take this with you!" He pushed a glass bottle of pink powder into Ash's hands and then begin ushering all of the kids out before shutting a door they didn't even know existed.
Silence.
"Awkward," Misty said, glancing around at everyone dubiously.
"No kidding." Dawn blinked at the quiet. "What was that all about?"
Before she could be answered, another voice begin shouting in the distance, "Hey! Give my roserade back!" A green-haired boy came into view.
"What are you doing with my honchcrow?" came a deeper voice from behind him. There emerged a head of purple.
At the sight of these two, Ash smirked. "Wow you guys, right on time! You should take better care of your pokemon, you know..." he teased.
"Shut up," the both muttered somehow simultaneously, as several characters in this fic did.
"Now give us our pokemon," Drew said while stepping forward, holding out a demanding palm.
"Hmm..." Ash held the pokeball out of reach and made a thoughtful face. "First... say you're the worst pokemon trainers!"
"I don't have time for this," Paul growled coldly. He hastily reached for his pokeball, and Drew joined in with the fight.
"Hey guys, stop it! You're gonna - " Ash's sentence was cut off when both trainers were suddenly flung off of him. The glass bottle in Ash's hands was launched into the air. With a spurt of quick thinking, Ash reached for the pokeball on his belt and released his pokemon.
"Pidgeot, grab that bottle!" he commanded dramatically.
"Pi-jooooo!" The bird pokemon swooped in and caught it in mid-air before it could even begin to fall towards the ground. Before everyone could sigh in relief, however, the cap promptly fell off and everyone was doused head to toe in pink, glittery powder.
"Well that was a rip-off."
At the highly disappointing sequence of events, everyone grumbled and nodded on the ground. While they recovered and tried to stand, realizations zipped like lightening throughout the kids.
"Uh, Misty," Ash waved a hand in her face and pointed to his hand. "Why is your hand on mine?"
"Ah!" Misty blushed and tried her best to pry it off, but it was stuck. "I - I can't! We're stuck!" she screamed in horror.
"Ha," Drew laughed, shaking his head. "Serves right for a fool like you." He stood up before his face froze in terror, realizing that his hand was connected to someone else's. (Hint: she was brunette.)
"What the?" Paul stood, only to find himself grasping the hand of Dawn.
"OF ALL PEOPLE, MY HAND HAS TO GET STUCK TO HIS/HERS!"