CHAPTER 1 The Calm Before the Storm

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It was a normal summer day like any other we had before. Brock sat holding a magazine which he "claimed" to be Breeders Weekly, but if Misty or I asked to see the inside pages he'd flip out and hold it to his chest like a prized possession. Misty lay tanning several feet away from us explaining that she could not have her sun blocked. And I sat buried in my usual pondering on the only person that ever came across my mind.

"Ugh!"

I was knocked out of my train of thought suddenly. I looked up to see a fuming Misty, her hair color matching her temper. I cast my head downward trying to hide the blush forming on my cheeks as I saw her there in her skimpy bikini, not that I was complaining, however. She angrily threw down a bottle of sun tan lotion and ripped off the sunglasses she had on. I arched an eyebrow at her and asked the obvious question; "Something wrong?"

"Two hours I lie baking in the sun practically drenched in ulta-sensitive- ultra-protecting-ulta-whatever sun block, thinking that maybe I could get the slightest bit of a tan, and what do I get? Burnt!"

She forced me to look at the slight reddening on her shoulders. Her overdramatic explanation was finished by a loud, annoyed sigh as she crossed her arms, pouted, and seated herself next to me. Typical Misty, making a big deal over something as little as getting a tan. Then again, it was the little things like her tendency to overreact, that made her who she was, and made me love her even more.

"Sorry," I flatly apologized showing an unemotional sense of sympathy to her "problem".

"Sorry isn't going to make me un-pale, Ash!" She was mad now, I could tell. The fire in her eyes, the snappy comment as a response from my unenthusiastic one, it was all something I had been very well accustomed with. I sighed, ringing out my t-shirt in some attempt to get cool.

Brock snickered from his position near us. He always laughed when she was yelled at me; I guess he found things like this amusing for some odd reason. Secretly, I think he had an idea of what I felt for her, and I suppose watching us fight was a bit ironic do to the opposite feelings I had for her.

"It's not fair," Misty dragged her words out, whining. "Brock's tan, I wanna be tan too."

"Well, I wanna be at a photo shoot for this magazine, but we can't always get everything we want can we?" Brock spoke up for the first time.

I looked at my male friend suspiciously. "Dude, I thought that was Breeder's Weekly."

He bit his lip, obviously busted. "Uhh..."

Misty, being the ever so confident one strode over to Brock. He held the magazine to his chest but gave in when she pried it from his fingers... "Nah, it's porn," she informed me, thrusting the magazine back in his face after glancing at it.

"I'm not surprised," I smirked.

"Oh, shut up," he muttered at me. Misty laughed and I soon joined in. It was always fun teasing him, and it was even more enjoyable knowing that it was something Misty and I had fun doing together. I did feel bad for him at times though, it wasn't his fault that he was perverted and girl obsessed. Well, maybe it was but that's beside the point.

"Yo, when are we leaving for today?" Misty inquired suddenly while reaching into her bag and getting out a t-shirt and shorts. I was somewhat relieved when she pulled them over her body, if my heart beat any faster from the sight of her in a bikini I was going to drop dead. She laced up her sneakers, getting ready for the usual walk ahead. She ran a hand through her hair and rolled the waistline of her shorts up, apparently they 'weren't short enough.'

I shrugged my shoulders emotionlessly at her question; I was caught up in one of my moments. One of the moments when her beauty simply baffled me and being anywhere near her made me nervous as hell.



"You guys pack up we'll leave soon, I'm just going to, um..." I began to stutter once again losing my grip on reality. Oh, why did she have to stare at me with those eyes? ".. I'm going to go sit by the water for a little while."



I noticed the impending glances exchanged between the two of them. "Have fun," Misty told me, somewhat confusedly.

I nodded and began to walk off in the other direction. I sighed, this really was lame. No, not lame more like utterly pathetic. Here I was, Ash Ketchum, the person who had been able to achieve the title of Pokemon Master at 16 years old and I was not even able to be within 10 feet of my best friend without breaking into a sweat. I didn't know why she made me so nervous, maybe because it was the fact that I held such passion for her and yet she had no idea and just went about her everyday routine. I didn't seem fair that she could be so calm when my thoughts consisted of nothing put her. It honestly was sad... but it was love.

I plopped a seat down on the grass, overlooking the edge of the island. The summer ocean swayed back and forth in waves, it was nice to be back on an island again. Over the six months my life consisted of nothing but work. Who knew becoming a master would become such a big responsibility? Our journey was not over though, there were still many wild Pokemon for me to discover and gather information about. It was what I liked to do and I didn't want that to end because I had finally accomplished my dream. I was more than thrilled when I was asked to start my traveling again with none other than Misty and Brock accompanying me.



The whole atmosphere reminded me of the times about 4 years ago I spent with Misty and Tracey on the Orange Islands. Tracey. I did miss him at times like this. It had been nice to spend so much time with all 3 of my best friends for so long; I never really spent that much time with the 4 of us all together. When it came down to it all, though, I had to admit I was closer with Brock and I did feel more comfortable with him accompanying me than Tracey.



Sometimes I wondered why I was closer with Brock. Maybe it was because I had known him longer and spent more time with him... but then there existed more real of a reason. He knew. He knew about me and Misty. He knew about my unrequited love for her and how hard it was for me to keep it all bottled inside. And the funny thing was... that I had never mentioned a word of it to him. They say some people have certain understandings with one another and I guess that's what Brock and I or like. He could tell what how I felt just from witnessing me look at her to know. He never directly confronted me about it and I was grateful for that. There were the occasional teasing he gave me but I was used to them by now. Whenever anyone suggested anything between me and Misty or that I had feelings for her I did the only thing I could... I denied it.



As much as it hurt and how hard it was to speak the complete opposite of my emotions... it was the only thing I knew how to do. I had been lying about my feelings for Misty for so long that when someone ever questioned us... denying it came as an instinct. Sure, it pained me to lie... but it would pain me even more to lose her completely. I had come to the conclusion that I would rather have her as a friend, than not have her as all.

A refreshing sea breeze passed through the air causing the grass I was sitting on to sway slightly. I sighed, leaning back on my elbows... why did love have to be so complicated? I could sit for hours at a time, compensating and weighing out the possibilities of Misty liking me back. I was never able to draw a conclusion though; she was just so confusing at times that I had no idea what she felt for me.

I was knocked out of my train of thought all of a sudden. A high pitched scream filled the air and I literally felt the color draining from my face. The scream had come from Misty without a doubt, and my breath was becoming shorter as panic began to run through my body. I was about to prop myself to my feet when I sensed that another person was near. An essence of someone not so familiar dawned over me. I was in the process of turning to see who it was when an immense crushing pain came smashing down on the back of my head. That was the last thing I remembered before my world went black.

TBC

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A/N: Well, do you like it so far? I know that they may seem a little OOC but it all ties in with the story. I had a reason for making Ash sound more even-tempered and mellow while Misty was the perky and upbeat one. I know that it might seem that Ash is a tad obsessive and Misty is kind of oblivious and superficial, but that is mostly only in this chapter. So please don't write them off as being OOC because remember, this does take place in the future. Review and you are my new best friend =)

Oh, and btw, please help with the codes for italics and other formatting! =)