DISCLAIMER: I do not own the characters in this story.

Notes: This is the first time I have ever written a fan fiction but after seeing other people's attempts I felt I should give it a go! As a lyricist I find creating plots a good way to write lyrics, however, I have never tried writing a full story. The key point I think people forget is that the story does not have to be the most original or well written but if you do it in your own voice you will create something honest and pure. I would like to thank you for taking the time to read his, and I hope you enjoy the story.

UPDATE: Thanks to Warlordess for such a constructive review of my story which prompted me to rewrite parts to try and address her points. In particular I added the part about the journey to Pallet Town, the Onix/Pikachu fight was my idea! At least I don't remember a part like it in the series! I hope not I was rather proud of that idea haha! I also tried to extend Ash and Gary's Battle, I tried to focus on strategy. Not convinced its format is the best but

Synopsis: Ash has made it to the Kalos league, Misty seeing him on TV sees this as her chance to find him and finally say how she feels. However, rarely do things go that smoothly!

Kalos: The Adventure Ends

"Hello and welcome to the Kalos league brought to you live from Shalour City!"

The Cerulean City Gym was quiet. A lonely red headed figure was sitting in the stands watching the large screen she had installed herself, engrossed by the TV show. The gym's sign simply read "Closed for 7 days". She had to close it to watch this. After all she had never stopped thinking about him and this was the closest she had gotten to him in a year. Yes, they had kept in touch via phone calls and e-mails but it was not the same. The problem with travelling is he often did not have a video phone meaning she rarely saw his face. However, she always had the photo of the two of them dancing at Maiden's peak.

"AND THE WINNER IS ASH KETCHUM OF PALLET TOWN! He advances onto the next round."

The sun slowly began to rise. The problem with the Kalos region was the time difference. It was night there and the battles aired in the early hours of the morning in Kanto. However, it was decided. She would travel to Pallet Town. It was rather lonesome watching the matches alone and she knew Delia would be watching them, cheering on her son. She grabbed her bike, the one Nurse Joy had fixed and cycled as fast as she could the whole way to Pallet Town. A little known fact about her bike was that when she got home she inscribed the letters "A K + M W" on the bikes chassis. After all that was the day she realised he felt the same way about her, just fate would not let it happen yet.

The rising sun was radiating a warm glow. A favourable sign, in Misty's opinion as she set off on her journey albeit a rather short one. She had travelled these roads so many times before but none of the previous were as important as this one. The wind had caught her sails as she glided towards Pallet Town. Around midday she had reached Viridian Forest she was making good time. However, passing through this time was different. She saw the bug type Pokémon all around her but she was not scared. In fact she stopped off at the point where Ash caught his Caterpie. Reminiscing she remembered how excited he was to catch his first Pokémon. She still felt that warm fuzzy feeling because of Ash's unparalleled love of Pokémon. After her longer than expected stop she set off on her way again, stopping off in Viridian City to have her dinner. She had not eaten all day, her excitement to see Delia Ketchum and watch Ash again was too great.

After her dinner she made her way onto Pallet Town where she arrived just before midnight. The sunny day had turned into pouring rain. Misty knocked on the door of the Ketchum residence, but there was no response. Maybe she was with Professor Oak? After all Ash was going to be on the TV soon. She surely was not in bed? So in the pouring rain she hopped back onto her bike and rode towards the laboratory which she could see from a distance had its lights on.

"I am sorry Misty but Delia is in Unova visiting family! But you are welcome to watch this round with me" the professor said regretfully as he could sense her disappointment. After all Delia Ketchum had been like a mother to Misty. The professor and Misty sat to watch the 2nd round with Tracey.

"Uh-oh it looks like Ash is in trouble. His last Pokémon is Pikachu but it is up against an Onix. How will he get out of this?"

Misty grinned "He will find a way." The Professor and Tracey looked at her as if she had gone crazy. Could he possibly overcome this type disadvantage? Where Pikachu's electric attacks were useless? She was right though. Ash Ketchum did have a trick. For you see this battlefield was the ice battlefield.

"Pikachu use iron tail on the ice!" The ground began to crack almost as if a small earthquake had taken place as the field was deformed. The crowd looked on with intrigue, and then it happened…

"ONIX IS STUCK. THE LARGE BLOCK OF ICE HAS COLLAPSED AND TRAPPED ONIX'S TAIL".

"PIKACHU USE IRON TAIL REPEATEDLY ON ONIX". In typical Ash style he had capitalised on Onix's low speed stats by using the field to render it completely immobile leaving it defenceless. The end was inevitable.

"Onix is unable to battle meaning that Paul is out of useable Pokémon so the winner is…. ASH FROM PALLET TOWN. ASH ADVANCES TO THE QUARTER FINALS."

"I have to go to Kalos" Misty whispered.

The Professor looked at her and understood. "You will miss his Semi Final battle you know?"

"I know" she replied. It was a chance she had to take. She believed Ash could do it, after all how many people could have a Pikachu defeat an Onix? It was unheard of.

Misty departed from the airport right on time. The flight seemed to take much longer than the 7 hours it was supposed to. Every minute she sat wondering whether Ash was winning or not.

"YES COME ON ASH". That voice sounded familiar, it came from first class. Misty was in the economy class, sadly the gym leadership job did not pay too well! She asked the flight attendant to ask who it was and say that it was Misty who asked. From behind the curtains to the first class section popped out a head. It was May, Max and Dawn!

"MISTY!" screamed May, much to the annoyance of the other passengers. "MISTY COME JOIN US! WE HAVE A SPARE SEAT ANYWAY THAT WE HAD BOUGHT!" Misty reluctantly wandered through feeling bad for accepting this seat without paying. She walked into first class and saw that they had TV's and were watching the match!

"What have I missed?" Misty said excitingly.

May replied "Ash has only used two Pokémon whereas his opponent has used four. Plus Ash has the type advantage here". The match appeared to be over in an instant. He had won, again! Misty was relieved.

The plane touched down right on time. Misty pulled May, Dawn and Max aside. She explained that she did not want them to let Ash know she was here just so there was no chance of him getting distracted by her. Rather puzzled, the group reluctantly agreed. They were picked up at the airport by Cynthia, the Sinnoh League Champion who drove them to the stadium. The two trainers had already made their way to the battlefield. Misty had rejected the option to sit with the others, for obvious reasons. If Ash spotted them, he would see her. She chose to sit at the back row. The view was terrible but at least she was there.

Ash's final battle was against his oldest rival, Gary. Gary had stopped pursuing the dream of being a champion but somehow he decided to enter this one. He had no reason to, it just felt like he had to. As he took his place opposite Ash he grinned realising that this was why. First out was Gary's Blastoise Vs Ash's Charizard.

The Battle

"Blastoise use hydro pump"

"Charizard dodge and use dragon tail!"

"That dragon tail was super effective!"

"That's great Charizard now use seismic toss!"

Charizard flew fast and caught hold of Blastoise carrying it into the air. Charizard was demonstrating its immense power, taking the crowd by surprise. It looked invincible. Gary's face had a worried look etched across it. As Charizard threw Blastoise towards the ground Gary had one last trick up his sleeve.

"Blastoise use Hydro Cannon."

It hit Charizard and knocked it out the sky. Both Pokémon were now plummeting towards the ground. As Blastoise hit the ground followed by Charizard, a large dust cloud raised up. As it slowly dispersed the spectators were greeted with the image of a fainted Blastoise and a significantly weaker looking Charizard. Next out for Gary was Golem.

"Golem use Bulldoze!"

"Quick Charizard fly up!"

However, Charizard was too poorly to fly and was hit by Bulldoze. It tried struggling to its feet but soon collapsed under its own self weight. Ash looked almost as if he expected that to happen. Ash wiped away the sweat from his brow.

"Greninja I choose you! Use Water Shuriken!"

"Golem dodge it!"

Golem was fast enough to dodge the first one, however Greninja was even faster and soon was pummelling it with Water Shuriken.

"Golem use Earthquake!"

"Greninja you know what to do" Ash was grinning.

Greninja waited until the instant before Golem began the earthquake and launched itself high into the sky. Gary looked up in shock as Golems earthquake had no effect. The move had backfired even more when Gary realised that Golems mobility came from it rolling, however the cracks in the battlefield now would make this much more difficult. Ash had clearly trained for this scenario.

"Greninja use Ice Beam"

Golem was frozen solid and the attack had resulted in a lot of damage.

"Greninja lets finish this use Hydro Pump!"

"Golem is unable to battle. Greninja wins!"

Arcanine was next out for Gary. Ash was surprised as Arcanine was at a distinct disadvantage.

"Use Hydro Pump Greninja!"

"Quick dodge it Arcanine!"

Alas, Arcanine was unable to dodge and took a large amount of damage.

"Arcanine use Perish Song!"

"Use Water Shuriken!"

Arcanine took even more damage despite its attempts to dodge and subsequently fainted. Ash then realised the move Arcanine had begun to use. He had never seen an Arcanine use Perish Song. The potential for a move like that had not even crossed his mind. Gary was clearly on top form for this battle. Greninja only had two more moves left.

"Let's go Umbreon! Use Psychic"

"Quick Greninja dodge and use Extrasensory!"

However, Umbreon's Psychic had caught it and Greninja's time was fast running out. The worst part for Ash though was Greninja was already looking weak. It pained him to see his Pokémon in trouble.

"Greninja use Hydro Pump!" However, Umbreon dodged it and Greninja fainted as Perish Song took effect.

Ash had a concerned look, he was still winning but not by much. It was time to use his best friend. "Go Pikachu!"

"Pikachu use iron tail!"

"Quick Umbreon dodge it!" It then dawned on Ash. The entire battlefield had a thin layer of water running across the top of it due to the amount of water type moves Greninja used.

"Pikachu jump and use thunderbolt on the ground!" Pikachu obliged and the spectators watched as the thunderbolt spread in all directions across the battlefield.

Umbreon tried to escape the puddle but it could not find a dry spot and was hit rendering it paralysed.

Ash had the advantage. "Pikachu use electro ball!" Umbreon unable to move was a sitting duck. Again the inevitable occurred.

"Umbreon is unable to battle! Pikachu wins! Who will Gary select next?"

"Go Electivire! Use Thunder!"

"Pikachu take the hit!" Gary was shocked what was Ash doing?

Ash rather smugly shouted "By Pikachu taking the hit it stored the electrical energy from Electivire's attack allowing me to use this… Pikachu, Electro Ball!"

"Pika pika pika…"

"Wow… look at the size of it..." Gary whispered.

As the electro ball hit Electivire there was little doubt of the outcome and sure enough as the battlefield settled Electivire lay on the ground unable to battle. Gary was quietly impressed.

"This is it, my last Pokémon. Go Nidoking!"

"Pikachu return! Go Glaceon!"

"Playing on type advantage Ash?"

"You bet! Glaceon use Blizzard!"

Nidoking was powerless to dodge it and was struggling.

"Glaceon use Ice Beam!"

Nidoking was now frozen. Ash smelt victory. In the old days he was always reluctant to change his Pokémon but that he felt was ultimately his downfall at some points. The time had come for him to fulfil his dream and become a league champion, even if that resorted to changing his preferred battling style. Gary gave a small grin he knew what was coming.

"Glaceon use ROCK SMASH!"

The Celebration!

He had done it! He could not believe it but he had done it! With only four Pokémon used. Gary walked towards him. Ash half expected some snide remark but he knew things were different from when they were just starting out. Part of him wished it would be a snide remark just to fulfil the nostalgia he felt during the battle. Alas, it was not to be. "Ketchum! Congratulations" Gary seemed very happy. "You proved that you are by far the better trainer and I must say, you are a Pokémon Master."

"Thanks Gary" Ash said with his trademark grin.

"This was the last tournament I am going to enter" explained Gary.

"WHAT?" Ash was shocked. He did not expect this!

"You see Ash, this was your dream. On my travels it stopped being mine. I entered this one because I felt something compelling me to, I felt that I would realise something. As I stepped up to face you I realised that I was destined to fight you, one last time on the grandest of stages. I hope you understand, and I hope you realise that even though we did not always get along, I enjoyed it."

"I understand" Ash said smiling. They shook hands and Gary departed.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the KALOS LEAGUE CHAMPION" Ash was beaming with pride. He thought back to all those who had supported him. Most recently, Clemont, Bonnie and Serena. But this victory was not just thanks to them but also thanks to Dawn, May, Max and Brock. But one person stood out above all else. One person who had helped him more than anyone ever could, both as a trainer and as a person. That person was Misty. He looked out into the crowd and could see everyone bar Brock and Misty. Brock had his exams to qualify as Pokémon Doctor, whilst Misty was probably back in Cerulean still running the Gym. He couldn't help but wish they were here. He could not be selfish though, in fact it was Ash who insisted to Brock that he did not come so he could study. Brock was fully set on going but Ash talked him out of it. This was something Misty had helped him with, he learnt to put others first sometimes. However, the person he wanted to be next to him most was Misty.

Bonnie, Clemont, Serena, Dawn, Max and May all ran through the guards and up to Ash who welcomed them all. As they ran towards him Ash was oblivious to this and looked out at the crowd. Just in the distance he could see a red headed girl, with hair just like Misty's… Was it her? The group made it to Ash and Serena grabbed him, hugged him and gave him a small kiss on the cheek to say well done. Ash looked up again, the red head was gone.

Ash's smile faded. This prompted Serena to ask what was wrong. For you see Serena's crush on Ash had, like his smile, also faded. She realised on their journey that she was holding onto this romantic idea she had formulated in her head based on when they were kids. It just was not real. Ash decided that with Serena being one of his closest friends he would tell her and in fact tell the whole group. As they walked, he told them about Misty, about their travels, about how 50% of the time they would be inseparable and the other 50% they would want to strangle each other and that most importantly of all, he would not have it any other way. Max seemed puzzled, he was still a little too young to understand why people would feel this way. Dawn and May though just looked at each other giggling, knowing that Misty was in town waiting for him. But after they left the stadium there was no sign of Misty.

Dawn and May decided to go look. Ash felt disheartened at the rather lame excuse of food poisoning when he had eaten what they had so he knew it wasn't food poisoning. After all he had just won the league and they were bailing? Oh well at least he had Clemont and Serena (Bonnie had gone to bed as she was too sleepy).

Dawn and May began wandering the streets, they walked through street after street, but no luck. Then it hit them. "May where would a water type expert go when they feel sad?" asked Dawn who sounded rather irritated due to them having missed the obvious.

May looked at her and squealed "The BEACH!" They sprinted towards the seashore and right enough, the red head was sitting in the sand on her own.

As they approached her they could hear her crying and muttering. Misty was really upset. But why they wondered? Approaching her, Misty turned round and shouted "GO AWAY".

Dawn asked "Why Misty what is wrong?"

To which Misty responded "I don't want to talk about it."

May grinned and said "You love Ash don't you?" Misty blushed. May shrieked "Oh my god you do! That is amazing! But why are you crying about it?"

Misty sighed and said "He has Serena… Why would he want me? She is so much more feminine, she can cook, clean, always looks so pretty, offers him support"

May grabbed Misty and shouted "HE ISNT INTERESTED IN HER. THEY ARE JUST GOOD FRIENDS! HE JUST TOLD US ALL THAT HE LOVED HOW INSEPARABLE YOU GUYS WERE AND PRETTY MUCH ADMITTED HE IS CRAZY ABOUT YOU"

"So it was you!" The group turned around and were surprised to see Max there who had followed them. Misty looked puzzled. Max explained "When I met Jirachi and was sad because I had only two more nights with her, Ash told me that there was a friend, his best friend who he thought about every day and night and missed so much and that he just wanted to see her again."

Misty's eyes lit up "Ash said that about me?" she whispered, grinning. Misty rose up from the ground wiping away tears from her eyes. "Let's go find him" she grinned.

The group sprinted back to the Pokémon Centre and walked through the door Ash said "Hey are you guys feeling better?" He sounded apologetic clearly sorry for his selfish thoughts earlier.

To which Dawn admitted "We were not actually feeling sick, we were going to get somebody, somebody very special to you" Ash looked with intrigue, was it his mother? Professor Oak? Brock? The one person he knew it would not be was Misty, she was so busy, they rarely saw each other and it saddened him. Or at least so he thought.

As the group separated and Ash looked up he saw the red head casually walk in. "Hello Ash, and congratulations!" Ash leapt to his feet and bear hugged her lifting her up. She screamed with laughter "Ashhhh put me down!" He followed the instruction as requested. She looked so happy! They rarely hugged, but they were just now. The pair grinned at each other just looking into each other's eyes. As much as Misty yearned to be alone with him they sat down at a table with the rest. Misty asked all about his travels in Kalos after being introduced to Bonnie, Clemont and Serena. They told tales many of which had Misty laughing as the group tried to embarrass him in front of her.

Ash who had turned scarlet from the blushing tried changing the subject "So Mist what have you been up to?" She loved it when he called her that.

"Oh you know, just running the gym and all. I watched all your matches Ash, I shut the gym when they were on due to the time difference, and I went to Pallet Town to find your mother but she was gone. Actually on that note where is she?"

Ash looked rather down hearted "She went to Unova to visit her cousin but the ferry was cancelled due to a storm."

Misty gave him a hug saying, "Well I know she is proud of you and that she will have seen it. After all you Ketchum's always pull through for the ones you love." Ash grinned, she was right after all. His mother was always rooting for him and always would be. Slowly, the others left to go to bed feeling the tiredness hit them until just Ash and Misty sat at the table.

They just sat in silence and stared into each other's eyes. Ash began to say "Misty… there's something I need to tell you, something that I have realised in our time apart…"

Misty halted him in his tracks. "Don't worry I know. I know how you feel, and I feel the same."

Ash grinned rather nervously and he enquired "Now what?"

Misty replied "Does it matter? Wherever you travel next or if you decide to go home and settle down, or whatever you do, all I know is I want to be there."

Ash reluctantly asked "What about the gym?"

Misty cheerfully responded "My sisters are finally back, and they can take it over again. After all there is three of them!" Misty held out her hand across the table and Ash took hold of it. They looked at each other and smiled.

"So Ash, the Pokémon Master, where are you going to take me for our first date?"