Chapter 2

"Okay… let's see. So she flew in from Cerulean City, and she should land in about 10… delayed!?!? TWO HOURS!?!?!?. . . Ok, Pikachu, let's go take a nap or something…"

"Pika…" replied Pikachu, hopping off Ash's shoulder and running to some empty seats and curling up in a little ball, already napping, facing away from Ash on purpose. He was mad because security had made him stay in a pokeball for the entire flight, and he was now shunning Ash.

About two hours later, Ash had a rather… shocking awakening (LOL! I know… it's a horrible pun… shame on me!).

"OW! Pikachu! You could've just nudged me or something gentler! Don't tell me you're still mad about the pokeball thing…"

"Pika, pi pika, chu pikachu…" muttered Pikachu, saying 'I tried nudging you but you wouldn't wake up. And yes, I am still mad.' Ash, of course had no way of knowing what Pikachu said, but got the gist.

"Shame… if you're mad at me you might not get the special treats Brock sent us the other day… really is a pity." And with that, everything was happy again. Pikachu sat on Ash's shoulder, nibbling on a little cookie, as they waited for Misty to get off her plain.

"PIKA!" shouted Pikachu, gleefully, as Misty's red hair came into view. He leapt off Ash's shoulder and ran to Misty, who looked surprised, but gave him a big hug and let him ride on her shoulder.

"Ash!" she yelled happily, waving as she ran to him. She gave him a big hug and Pikachu took that opportunity to switch shoulders again.

They separated and looked at each other. In the year since the best friends had seen each other in person, they had changed a lot. Sure, they had seen each other on the video phone, but it was strange in person. Ash had finally passed Misty in height, and was tanner. Misty had grown out her hair, so it was neatly braided and was about five inches longer.

"It's great to see you, Misty! I can't believe that it's been a year!" said ash, taking one of Misty's bags. "Wow. You can go on a journey for years and only need one little back-pack, but for a two week vacation you bring all this?" asked Ash, as he slung the duffle over his shoulder. They laughed and headed out.

They were disappointed to see that it was already dark, because they had been hoping for a glimpse of the beautiful town. Instead they stepped out into semi-darkness, only to be attacked with hugs the moment they emerged.

"ASH! MISTY! HIIII!!!!" exclaimed Molly, throwing her arms around them in a fierce hug. "It's been soooo long! Pikachu!" she yelled happily, as Pikachu leapt into her open arms. She was grinning broadly as she led them to a big limo, still snuggling Pikachu.

"Wow, Molly. You've gotten so tall," commented Ash.

"Yeah, I guess. Well of course you're surprised. Last time I saw you in person I was, like, eight years old! I think I'm only a few inches shorter than Misty now."

"Not quite," said Misty, laughing. "You still have a ways to go. So how have you been? I guess we haven't talked much, but I know you and Ash E-mail all the time."

"Yeah, it helps to make my journey less lonely since I didn't have any friends to travel with."

"Didn't?"

She smiled gleefully. "I ran into this girl a few weeks ago and she was sorta lonely too so we decided to start traveling together (A/N the strange thing, in pokemon they do stuff like that a lot… like "hi random person :) you heading this way? Yes? Great! Let's be life-long friends!!!" . . . it happens.) She's arriving tomorrow morning. I guess she wanted to stop by home on her way here. She isn't exactly a trainer… she does have a few cool pokemon, though, and I think you guys'll love her." All the time she didn't stop smiling. The two marveled at how much she had changed. She was actually very pretty, relatively tall for her age, skinny and her hair was down to her mid-back. Her clothes were all brightly colored and she had a pretty, pink bow in her hair. Altogether, she was a very pretty, happy, fun girl to be around, rather unlike last time they had met.

They took time in the long limo ride to catch up a bit. Ash had told them all about the last league he had been to, and about how sad he had been ever since Dawns unfortunate (cough cough…) car crash. For the past few months, he and Brock had been traveling alone together for the first time. He had also just come in first in the championships for the first time in his life.

Misty told them how exciting it was to be a gym leader. Since her sisters had started picking up the slack a bit, she had also gotten some free time. Several weeks ago, she had visited Ash's mom for a day, just to say hi. Her only complaint was that there really hadn't been any real challenges for ages. She had creamed the last six guys and before that… well they had at least put up a fight. The last time somebody had won the cerulean gym badge was four months ago, and Misty was getting really depressed at the falling standards of Trainers these days. The only good coming out of it was she got to train some of her newer pokemon on weak trainers.

Molly had fun explaining all about how she had beaten the first two Hoenn Gym Leaders alongside her beloved Teddyursa. She gave a blow-by-blow of every attack, recalling every detail flawlessly. She went on about how May's family had been awesome and how nice May was and how totally awesome Drew was. As it turned out, she was quite a big fan of theirs. She told them that she had seen Ash on TV when she watched the Grand Festival for partner coordinators, which May and Drew had won as a team, completely outshining all the other groups. Then Ash told them all about how the two of them had gotten together right after the contest. The girls sighed dreamily… how romantic… Ash just sighed in exasperation.

Finally, they stepped out of the limo. Ash and Misty gasped in awe, having forgotten just how gorgeous Molly's house really was. They walked up to the big double doors, looking around as they did so. Molly stepped in front of them, opening the door happily. They walked around for a while, Molly giving the others a tour of the first story. When they passed the living room, they found the door slightly ajar.

"That's strange…" muttered Molly. "Mama and Papa are out tonight, so I wonder why the doors open… and the lights are on too…" She cautiously pushed open the door, stepping in slowly, followed shortly by her friends. They all looked around, in wonder. This glorious room was furnished with a beautiful crimson color mostly, and in it, a large fire was crackling cheerfully. A dark figure was in an armchair facing away from them, silhouetted by the fire. Suddenly, it turned around, long hair whipping past to reveal a grinning face.

"SURPRISE!" she yelled, jumping out of her chair.

"MELODY!?" the three exclaimed. "YOU KNOW MELODY!?" they shouted, Molly pointing at Ash and Misty and vice versa.

The long-haired brunette just laughed, and ran over to give them hugs, while the others just looked bewildered.

(A/N so yeah… :) I'll probably have an update by tomorrow since it'll be a snow day. In case u forgot: Melody=girl from "Pokemon 2000" who flirted with ash and teased Misty. They were all good friends… kind of… PLEASE REVIEW AND I SHALL LOVE YOU FOREVER! Pearlshipping must die. That is all.)