Spelunking Through Dreams pt. 4

Hey, it's time for the IVth installment of my lovely little fanfic. In my opinion, this is the sappiest one yet! Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but oh well! There are one or two chapters still to come after this one, so check back soon! Special thanks to all who Reviewed.

I don't own Poke'mon.

Pick-up vine (reeally bad pun. lol.)

(Now it's Ash's POV! This starts out after Misty sat down by the river.)

I watched Misty walk to and sit down at the riverbank. Turning back to the food that Brock was setting out, I still couldn't stop thinking about her, even while eating! It had been that way all day, and over the course of the day I had become increasingly grateful for the fact that I was always at the front of the group. It meant that I didn't have to worry about hiding my face as much. At least now I could mostly keep my face normal, but my mind was still stuck on her and I couldn't figure out why! What was really strange was that I found I didn't mind thinking about Misty. It was actually kind of… 'Nice.' Sonofa...! Where did these thoughts keep coming from?

Brock had noticed my silence. "Something wrong, Ash?"

"Oh, uh, not really," I replied, hoping he'd buy it.

He didn't. "You sure? You seem worried."

"Well," I had to say something. Maybe he'd believe a bit of the truth "It's just, I'm kinda worried about Misty. She says that she's not hungry, but I can't help but think that she'll get hunger pains later. Maybe we should save her one of these sandwiches."

"That's probably a good idea," Brock said, taking one of the sandwiches and wrapping it in a cloth. "She's a strong girl, but everyone needs to eat." When he'd finished, he held the wrapped sandwich out to me.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"It was your idea, Ash. You should be the one to give it to her." What? With how my thoughts had been acting up today, I didn't think there was any way I could pull off giving something to Misty, face to face, even if it was just a sandwich. Of course, Brock didn't know anything about my thoughts, and a little voice in my head told me it would be better for all considered if it stayed that way.

"Okay," I said, managing to not stammer. I took the sandwich and slipped it into one of my jacket pockets. My mind went back to thinking about Misty (like they had all day), and I looked over at her. She looked so peaceful, sitting by the river. It looked like she was asleep, the way her head was nodding and her shoulders were relaxed. After a moment, I realized that I was staring. Quickly, turning back to lunch, I tried to rationalize: I wasn't staring; I was just… making sure she was okay. Yeah, that's it. Besides, even if I was staring, it's not like it was entirely my fault. I mean, she's the one who's sitting there, looking all cute like tha— What the…?! Dang it, it happened again! Just when I thought I was back in control, too…



My thoughts were interrupted by a scream and a splash. Brock and I simultaneously looked over to where Misty had been sitting. Her red bag was lying on the ground and I could see her arm sticking up out of the water, quickly washing downriver. Pikachu was the first one running, with me and Brock right behind him. Misty seemed to be having trouble keeping her head above water. Thinking quickly, I grabbed a poke'ball from my belt and hurled it as far down the riverbank as I could. When it was about even with where Misty was in the river, I called out my poke'mon "Bulbasaur!!" The poke'ball opened and Bulbasaur appeared. "Quick," I shouted to it, "Grab Misty with your vines!!" Seeing her predicament, Bulbasaur quickly shot out two vines, using one to grab Misty's un-submerged arm and reaching one underwater to grab her waist. Still, I could tell that Misty was too heavy for Bulbasaur to pull out alone. Despite his best efforts to pull Misty out, Bulbasaur started to slide towards the river. Somehow, I reached a whole new level of panic and, making a flying leap, I cleared the remaining distance, grabbing the vines and starting to help pull Misty out. About a second later, Pikachu and Brock caught up and started helping, too. Together, we easily got Misty out of the water. The moment I was sure she was out of the river, I was at her side. She must've inhaled some water- she was coughing pretty hard- so I patted her back to try and help her clear her lungs.

Once she stopped coughing, she just kind of… collapsed against me. Her hands were tightly grasping fistfuls of my shirt and she was resting her head against my chest, her breathing still hard and shaky. It was really painful, seeing her like that. A pain like I never imagined. I put one arm around her and took one of her grasping hands in mine, trying… no, needing to comfort her. Thankfully, it seemed to work. Her breathing slowed, and the grip she'd had on my shirt and hand slowly eased.

A small gust of wind hit us and I felt Misty shiver. I realized that, besides being soaking wet, she must be chilled to the bone from that river. Brock must have seen and deduced this as well because I heard him say "I'll get a blanket," and then he went back to our bags.

"C'mon, Misty," I said, "Let's go."

She looked up at me and nodded. I helped her up, but, for some reason, we never broke eye contact. We just stood there and kept staring into each other's eyes. It was just like this morning, right before we left. The same thoughts went through my head now as did then. Looking at her like that, I don't know, a part of me just didn't want to stop. After a few long moments I looked down because I felt my face heating up. She looked down, too. Looking down, I realized that I was still holding her hand. She must've noticed it, too, because we both hastily let go and turned away. After an exceptionally awkward moment, we both silently started back towards our bags.

Tune in next time for "Cave Dive"!