Alright, readers, you're in for a treat. This is a reboot of a series originally posted on the Serebii Forums in August 2005. It started as a series of instant messaging role-plays between myself and a few friends, and eventually grew into a trilogy of stories. Basically, as my friends and I are Pokeshippers (Ash/Misty for the uneducated), we wrote ourselves in the anime-verse with the intent to getting Ash and Misty together.

This reboot will be six chapters long, and I am alternating chapters with the lovely MistyMix89: she is doing chapters one, three, and five, I am writing chapters two and six. Chapter 4 is going to be a joint effort between us.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS MAINLY A POKESHIPPING STORY. There will be other shippers featured, but they will remain unidentified, faceless, and not based on anyone whatsoever to avoid offending anyone who can't stand to have themselves mocked. This fiction is for the purpose of pure, clean fun (well... mostly).

CAST - Listed by Pen Name
CaptainBlue as Dylan/Blue
MistyMix89 as Kristell/Yellow
Experiment 282 as Stacee
LustingCloud as Stanley/Muffin/Shota-Man
Commander Cody as Cody

The Four Stalkers
by CaptainBlue & MistyMix89
Rating: T for Teen
Pairing(s): Ash/Misty, ?/?
Summary: Four friends are chosen for a special mission by the university's headmistress: get Ash and Misty together. Sounds easy, right? But between Ash and Misty's short tempers, rival shippers, and general mishaps, things prove to be more complicated that they'd hope...
Disclaimer: Pokemon is copyright its original owners. The only thing the authors own are the fictionalized representations of the cast and the plot.

Chapter One
It Begins! The Formation of the Legendary Matchmaking Group

There it was. Off in the distance, a school like no other stood under the clear blue sky on the Sevii Islands. This was not like most schools. This particular institution had a different atmosphere. Outside the brinks of One Island, the tall gates were quiet and serene to disclose the high volume of activity within. To a newcomer, it almost seemed like a medieval castle. Long, red banners from two tall towers fell to reach a particular distance from the smooth earth. There were matching crimson flags on top of each tower with the letters "PSA" standing for PokéShipping Academy. Between the two towers rested the main building where classes are held.

The school was built several years ago in favor of the relationship of Ash and Misty-or rather, the potential relationship. Students are chosen from all over the world to attend in order to claim loyalty for the unlikely pair. General studies were not ignored, but this school had classes where the students are taught about romance, philosophy, and all aspects related to Pokémon training. The minimum qualifications for one to be accepted are how a candidate must swear to loyalty and somehow prove how one is a Pokéshipper. Often, an essay or presentations were requested for further investigation. Heaven forbid an anti-shipper was accepted. In the simplest terms, a Pokéshipper is a person who believes in the love affair between Ash and Misty. It is someone who is a loyal supporter and will stay with their ship until the very end. A true shipper must know the relationship the two share and of course, all Pokéshippers wished their dream to come true.

Like most competitive schools, an interview is required for possible entry. The academy became a respected institution because of its' value of education and allowing all accepted students to dorm within the two towers. The left tower was originally built for male students as was the same for the right tower for females, but that had changed in the recent years. Students were becoming too competitive with genders until it was deemed right for dorms to be mixed. Each tower contained five gracious floors with a laundry room, meeting area, a private suite for one staff member, and four apartments with two suites for each. A total of one hundred and sixty students and ten staff members resided in the dorms. The remainder of the staff was a small group including the headmaster living in the main building.

It was not long until the bells of PokéShipping Academy began its' alerting morning melody from a smaller tower behind the school.

While most students rose from sleep while the bells continued the tune, two delicate hands reached over a set of ears and quietly stirred in bed. 'Those damned bells,' the student hissed in thought. Granted, it was too much to ask for a quieter or perhaps a more soothing sound. The student wondered whether the bell keeper enjoyed interrupting such gracious sleep. Attempting to fall asleep for a few more minutes, ears perked as a quick knock on the door burst the notion for further rest.

"Rise and shine," another half-awake student called.

A thick white comforter slowly lowered from the student's head. Dark brown eyes fluttered open and slightly winced from the rays of light entering. Another knock was heard from the door and out came the slurred reply, "Alright… I'm awake."

The other student nodded in approval, informing the stirring student she would meet her in the kitchen while trying not to giggle. The brunette walked away from the door, yawning until a thud echoed in the apartment. Her clear blue-green eyes grew wide, pausing as she heard a groan and slowly shook her head.

Another door opened with the youngest of the group, a blond male, walking over to the room next door to him. He greeted the brunette with a wave and shifted his focus to the door. "You alright in there?"

After hearing the floor creak from movement, the young blond haired man carefully rubbed his forehead and assumed his roommate inside was fine. He was already dressed in his school uniform, unusual for typical mornings. Stacee was usually the first to wake, followed by Muffin and Yellow, and Blue was normally the last. Silence was often the answer when attempting to speak to him. He shrugged and strolled to the kitchen after Stacee.

Delighted to inhale the scent of breakfast, he exclaimed, "Awesome, we're having pancakes!"

"No, I'm having pancakes," Stacee corrected with a smug as she swiftly took them out of the toaster and set them on her plate. As soon as she saw his face fall with disappointment, she told him there were plenty more in the freezer.

"There better be or else I'm going to flip a table," Muffin smirked as he walked to the refrigerator while Stacee rolled her eyes.

"I take it they're still asleep?" the brunette asked before taking out a glass from the cabinet above.

"As usual," the blond replied with a shrug, making his way to the toaster.

"Typical."

Not long after, an alarm clock disturbed the silence in the apartment inside one of the bedrooms. A long arm stretched towards the night table. Clenching a fist, a hand crashed into the machine and caused it to die.

"He must be awake after that," Stacee noted, already having a seat with her food and drink while Stan nodded.

A door swept open with a restless Yellow standing. She adjusted her black glasses that matched with her hair color. Muffin popped his head from the kitchen door and waved. "Yellow, you're awake!"

"How could I not be after that?" she answered with a half-smile, walking to the last door.

Muffin quickly retreated back into the kitchen with a perplexed Stacee raising an eyebrow. "She's in her bad mood again."

"No doubt he's gonna hear it," chuckled Stacee.

"Blue, open up!" Several knocks came.

The last of the group, Blue, stirred from his sleep and snapped his blue eyes open. He knew she was out there again and silently debated whether or not to open the door.

"If I hear you break another alarm clock-!" Yellow began with her frustrated tone voice.

He quickly rose from bed and rushed to the door to meet with narrowing dark eyes in contrast to his. "Yes, 'Mom'?"

"You have no idea how annoying it gets to hear that for the past month!" she hissed, not amused by his antics.

"If I don't use them, I won't be able to get up," he protested with an innocent grin.

Yellow walked past him into his room and glared at the broken pieces of the alarm clock. "What the hell? How many of these do you have?"

Standing next to her, he answered, "Plenty". He opened the dresser next to the night table to reveal tons of alarm clocks inside.

"You're crazy," came the disturbed response from her.

"Good morning to you, too," he smirked.

Yellow threw her arms up in agony and instantly left the room. Apartment twenty was always like this every morning. Most of the time anyway. Blue shrugged as he closed his door to get dressed.

"You're quite cheery," Stacee added once Yellow took a seat with her breakfast.

"Don't even start, Stacee."

"Why don't you try getting up earlier so you'd eat and wouldn't hear it?" Muffin suggested.

"I might as well steal one from him anyway," Yellow muttered as her eyes widened to face her friends. "He's got more than twenty in there!"

"I'm sure we can all benefit stealing one from him every day," the brunette said with an all knowing smile.

"I heard that," Blue called from the doorway of the kitchen as the three glanced at him. "So, what's for breakfast?"

"You'll have to make do without the pancakes," the dark haired young woman stated coolly. "If you were up earlier, you would have gotten a pancake. I took the last two."

Stan, or known as Muffin, being the youngest out of the four in apartment twenty, glanced at Blue with a helpless smile and offered one of his to share.

He was classified as a second year at PokeShipping Academy, Stacee and Blue were in their fourth year while Yellow was in her sixth year. Blue and Yellow were normally called by their nicknames in preference to Dylan and Kristell because of their favorite colors.

"Thanks Shota-man," Blue thanked as he playfully stuck out his tongue to an unsatisfied Yellow. She returned the gesture, half-smiling.

"You two should go out," commented Stacee while Blue poured milk into his glass, resulting for it to overflow.

Yellow watched in disbelief, narrowing her eyes to her roommate. "Don't even go there."

Suddenly, the bells interrupted the somewhat peaceful meal as the four students froze. They quickly scrambled out of their seats at the kitchen table. Blue gulped down his milk, Yellow stuffed her mouth with a pancake, Stan quickly wrapped up his breakfast, and Stacee had finished hers moments ago.

It was not long before each were equipped with their backpacks and dressed in proper uniform. For the girls, the uniform consisted of a short sleeved white blouse with a red ribbon and a dark blue blazer and skirt; the same colors applied to the boys except for having pants instead of skirts and black ties to replace the red ribbons. Both genders were expected to have black polished shoes, white socks, and the school's initials PSA on the blazer.

The four students parted ways after leaving their apartment and made the journey down the right tower. Stan had Math first (to his horror), Yellow had English (which she agonized over the boring teacher), Stacee had Art (to her excitement), and Blue had History (a class he'd rather snooze to).

While the four had different schedules, they were all relieved to stand next to each other for Physical Education. Out of the nine classes, they shared Physical Education, Pokémon Battle Techniques, and Lunch. The four were luckily assigned to the same team for Volleyball.

"Hey guys, did you hear the rumor?" Stacee asked as she served the ball towards the other team.

"What rumor?" Yellow piped, staring at the other team to keep watch on the ball.

"I heard there's supposed to be a mission for one apartment group for something," she gleamed with excitement.

"Do you think… we'd get it?" Muffin grunted, managing to bounce the ball back to the other side.

"Doubt it," Blue answered.

"Oh, come on. You have to have a little hope for our group," Yellow protested, hands on her hips.

"She's got a point, we could be chosen," Stacee agreed.

"Ack, guys! The ball!" Muffin cried, once again passing to the other team who stared at the four with questionable looks.

One of the boys from the other team hit the ball, making sure to score the first point… and easily succeeded.

"You guys are out of focus," he smirked as his teammates cheered.

"Oh, I'll give you focus," Yellow challenged.

"Give it to me, baby," the athletic student grinned as another male student hollered. His smile faded when she raised the middle finger at him. In response, he shot the volleyball across the court; Yellow quickly hit the ball back, frightening a female from the other side to tie the score.

The ball was passed to Muffin, knowing their previous conversation was over for the time being. He lifted the ball and hit it the opposing team as they responded well. As the ball bounced back, Blue was the next to hit it. He disliked playing this sport, but he knew Yellow was anxious to have the team win. That often proved a problem with the oldest of the four; once she got into something, it becomes difficult to finish it.

One of the other females from the other side punched the ball back resulting to another point. This became a vicious cycle with every turn ending with a point for each team until the score was 17-17.

Stacee wiped her forehead while Yellow adjusted her hair into a ponytail. Blue clenched his fists and Muffin glanced at the clock resting against the middle wall. Two minutes remained until it would be time to change attire. For this turn, it was Blue to serve as the game quickly resumed. With grunts from both teams, the poor ball was demanded back and forth. One minute remained. A girl from the other team barely managed to hit the ball, requiring the same male from before to support her. With a powerful blow, the ball rapidly headed for the other side as he smirked.

Aiming for Yellow, she took a few steps back to be ready to respond. Her dark eyes focused on the route of the ball and suddenly, a loud cheer was heard. The volleyball made its' final echoes vibrating from the shiny floor. Regaining feeling in her arm, her eyes flashed to where a bright red glowed on her skin. As she stared across the court, the other side was busy celebrating while her teammates rushed to her. It was then she realized the ball had hit her arm; her hands missed as the bell was heard.

"Are you okay?" Stacee shot her out of her trance as Yellow nodded.

"What assholes," Muffin muttered, staring at her arm.

Blue wasted no time to throw the ball at the other player's head, causing him to fall in his tracks. Slightly satisfied, he glanced at Yellow.

"Thanks for that," she chuckled with thanks.

"You sure you're alright?" Blue asked, wondering if she should visit the infirmary.

"I'm fine, really. It's not like I broke a bone," Yellow teased.

"If you say so."

Yellow apologized to the group as Stacee joked she should take on challenges on her own. The two girls laughed while the boys stared at them in question. Not long after, it was time to spread ways.

Hours later, Stacee was the last of the four to arrive to Pokémon Battle Techniques class. She silently cursed Economics class was so far away from this one, almost always being the last student of the entire class of twenty to appear. As she noticed the teacher's unhappy glare, the brunette quickly took a seat next to her friends.

While the teacher started to write on the chalkboard to further explain what the battle techniques for today would be, several students whispered to each other about the ongoing rumor. A third year student revealed, "There's supposed to be a seventh year student among the four!"

"Makes sense for the oldest ones to go," another student agreed.

"That's not what I've heard: a first year is among the four!"

"I bet it'll be me!"

Muffin rolled his eyes in annoyance, biting his tongue to tell them to shut the fuck up. For a rumor, this one was spreading like wildfire. Every class he's been in had students wondering. Even the staff was curious to know who the fantastic four would be. Furthermore, it was stranger how no one had seen the headmaster yet. The headmaster was always wandering around the hallways to greet and inspect the students. This left the second year student wondering if something had happened to the headmaster. Surely if something terrible occurred, everyone would have known right away.

The headmaster was made famous for several things: writing a well-known fan-fiction that had captured hearts, creating several of the world's best Pokéshipping essays known to date, and expressing leadership among thousands of Pokéshippers, especially within her famed group. She was kind yet firm. In previous times, she was known by her nickname Water Spirit but now simply called Tara.

A polite knock startled everyone in the room. As everyone glanced at the door as it opened, eyes widened in shock. It was her.

"G-good morning, Headmaster," the teacher stuttered, recalling the rumor and confirmed the four were from this set of students.

"Good morning," she cooed with a warm smile. "Is it alright if I-?"

"Not at all!" The back of the teacher rested against the chalkboard, not caring how powder was coming in contact.

Eager eyes stared at the headmaster whom only smiled in return. Step by step, she carefully inspected each student in the room. After staring into the eyes of every student, the headmaster's lips quietly stated, "You four. Please come with me."

All eyes went to the four students next to each other. The teacher and students all raised an eyebrow in disbelief. No one could believe a seventh year student wasn't chosen after all the rumors nearly confirming throughout the school. Several teachers believed one of the four would be the most popular student at PSA. It was certain the student's cheery attitude would be replaced by rage once she knew.

No one had moved. The headmaster quickly glanced at the four once more, this time her aquamarine eyes speaking with great urge to come with her. "That's an order."

It was then the four remembered to breathe. Stacee was the first to speak as she bowed. "Yes, Headmaster!" She jerked her arm to Blue who quickly mimicked the same motion. Muffin and Yellow followed with the chain of gesture.

The headmaster nodded in approval, walking towards the door. The four quietly followed as students whispered to each other. It was quiet enough for the teacher and headmaster not to hear, but surely loud enough for the four to listen.

"There's got to be some mistake."

"Those four?"

"Bloody hell."

"The seventh years are going to flip."

"Oh, they're so lucky!"

"Too lucky."

As the five left the classroom, the hallways had gone silent. Pokéshipping Academy was never this quiet. While walking past each classroom, the footsteps of students inside rushed to the doorway to peek at whom were the chosen ones. Glares of disbelief would follow. The four bit their tongues in order not to holler at the taunts, especially with the headmaster leading the way.

It was obvious word would spread even faster than before. Were they really chosen after all?

It seemed like forever until the five entered the headmaster's room. It was small yet highly organized with bookshelves surrounding the room filled with books, folders, and papers. Four chairs were arranged in front of the headmaster's desk. This particular room had a certain air, far different than the rest of the campus. It reeked of importance, history, and fame. Rarely had any student entered this room.

The headmaster took her seat at her desk, flashing a warm smile to soothe the alarmed students. "Please have a seat."

Within seconds, the four were seated; each one was scared yet very anxious to know what they were sent here for.

Clearing her throat, a serious expression imperialized the once sweet face. "As you know, I have called you four for something very important."

Silence was the only thing to respond.

"You four have been selected to make history."

Muffin opened his mouth to say something but there was no sound.

"Your mission is to pair Ash and Misty together."

Stacee froze at those words.

The headmaster was amused at the four who were too shocked to react. "Heavens, I had no idea you'd all be this shocked."

"I-it doesn't make sense," Blue replied with confusion.

"Out of all the students here… why us?" Yellow questioned with a bizarre expression.

"Because you four are the most suitable students and not to mention, your contributions to Pokéshipping in general," the headmaster answered. "I have been observing you four for quite a while. Out of all the teams I have arranged during all these years, none are matched to the personalities and interaction of yours. I will save the explanation for another time. Each of you possesses a quality required for such missions. Miss Kristell has determination, Miss Stacee with reason, Mr. Stanley with balance, and Mr. Dylan with sarcasm."

"Of all the qualities I have-," Blue began as Yellow nudged him.

"Any questions?"

The four shook their heads.

"Very well," she nodded, "You are to use any method possible. And be warned, you may have competition. Please be sure to bring your necessities as this process may take a while."

Glances were exchanged among the four.

"Oh, and this is my phone number in case of an emergency," the headmaster gave Stacee a paper containing the information as she stored it away in her bag. "Off you go, before the school starts roaring."

They nodded, bowing to express their thanks. "Thank you, Headmaster!" As the four rose from their seats, their faces had excitement written all over. Right before opening the door, rumbles of footsteps were heard running from the headmaster's room. As Muffin hesitated to open the door, it was surprisingly quiet as before.

This year was sure to be an exciting one.

To be continued...