A/N: Thanks to your votes, DRAGON is next.
Shipping: DragonFangShipping

One-Shot 4: ClairIfied

All that awaited Ash was the Johto League. He beat Clair to earn the last badge needed to enter the league. He received the Zephyr Badge from Falkner in Violet City, the Bug Badge from Bugsy in Azalea Town, the Plain Badge from Whitney in Goldenrod City, the Fog Badge from Morty in Ecruteak City, the Storm Badge from Chuck in Cianwood City, the Mineral Badge from Jasmine in Olivine City, the Glacier Badge from Pryce in Mahogany Town and last and far from least, the Rising Badge from Clair here in Blackthorn City. "I can't believe I got eight badges," he shuttered. Pikachu felt proud of Ash's accomplishments.

"You and your Pokémon certainly did it all," Brock applauded. Ash couldn't agree more.

"The Silver Conference will have some tough competition on hand," Misty informed. "Not to mention Gary being there as well." Normally, hearing the name of his neighbor and rival would rile Ash to an animated state, but he looked calm and collected.

"I want to take on Gary and prove who the better trainer from Pallet Town is," he revved himself. He may sound ready for the Silver Conference...

"Be careful what you wish for, Ash." The tease forced a smug face on Ash toward Misty.

"All you know, Gary could use Umbreon against you, as well as Nidoking and Arcanine," Brock warned. "Of course, he's got some more Pokémon that we don't know about." Ash nodded to the advice. Sometime ago, Ash watched Gary get bounced out of the Indigo League when his Nidoking lost to another trainer's Golem. Gary finished one win shy of the main tournament while Ash won his fourth field battle and advanced, only to lose in the qualifying round to Ritchie no thanks to a disobedient Charizard.

"If we do meet in the Silver Conference, I'll be ready to throw whatever Gary has," the confident Pallet Town trainer grinned. To Brock, it's nothing more than wishful thinking or motivation led by a previous event.

"He must still be feeding off that win from the Extreme Pokémon race that Bayleef beat his Arcanine." Togepi laughed, enjoying the show in front before a sliding sound made the Spike Ball Pokémon turn its head. Misty felt the twist and looked to her baby.

"Togepi, what is it?" she asked. Togepi pointed to the door. A piece of paper stuck out from under the door. Pikachu crawled down to get it and read what was on it, or try to at least. Being outside the confines of a PokéBall would make any trained/owned Pokémon think they can imitate humans. The Electric Mouse Pokémon handed the paper to Brock who read the name of the sender.

"It's from Clair... and it's for Ash." The named trainer took the letter from Brock and read the contents.

ASH,
MEET ME AT THE WATERFALL, THE SAME ONE MY DRAGONAIR FOUND TO DO THE PURIFICATION RITUAL. THE MATTER IS SOMETHING BETWEEN THE BOTH OF US.
-CLAIR.

"Why would Clair want me?" he wondered. It did seem off for Clair to just ask Ash to join her without Brock or Misty.

"I'm not sure," he shrugged. "Maybe something to help prepare you for the upcoming league?" If that's the case, Ash scoffed with a humored grunt.

"Like I need any extra help with preparing for a Pokémon League." Misty saw the brave face, remembering how well he did in the Indigo League.

"That's right, all fear Ash Ketchum and his disobedient Charizard," sarcastically teased Misty. "The boy who finished in the Top 16!" Ash didn't need this reminder.

"Charizard's behaving much better, Misty."

"Right, considering he still uses Flamethrower the moment he sees you." Ash could still wonder why she told him to come to the waterfall so suddenly. A few days ago, Dratini led Ash and the rest down a river on what was supposed to be its time of shedding its skin. Instead, Dratini evolved to Dragonair when it looked like it would've been taken by Team Rocket. After blowing Team Rocket away with a Twister, Dragonair led the group to the waterfall where Clair did the purification ritual on a Dragon Fang. Ash could easily ignore the note but it did sound urgent.

"Anyway, I think I'll go see Clair. I doubt she'd send the note and wait for who knows how long." Both friends understood the urgency.

"Gotcha..." Brock allowed. "We'll keep an eye on the Pokémon." Pikachu felt that Ash didn't want him for the trip to see Clair.

("Why can't I go, Ash?") it sadly whimpered. The trainers looked to the complaining Pokémon, Ash knowing that he couldn't just abandon his first Pokémon.

"I think Pikachu wants to go with you," Misty guessed. Even Ash had to know what Pikachu wants.

"She didn't say anything about Pokémon," he pointed out. "We may see Dragonair by the waterfall." The idea sprung Pikachu's wish and he hopped on Ash's shoulder. Togepi wanted to come along as well but Misty kept it close to her chest. Togepi sighed in disappointment. Ash and Pikachu left the Pokémon Center and walked down the path to the waterfall, the thought of a reason Clair wanted Ash to meet her there bugged him more than Misty and Bug Pokémon. About half-an-hour later, they found the waterfall. Dragonair and Gyarados were swimming in the pond below.

("Gyarados!") Pikachu squeaked. ("Dragonair!") The Dragon and Atrocious Pokémon turned to the human and mouse.

("He's here,") Dragonair noted. ("The mistress is over there.") Pikachu nodded before hopping off Ash's shoulder and ran to the base of the cliff, Ash following pursuit. Sure enough, they found Clair in her hiking gear, not the dress she wore when doing the ritual or the Gym Battle.

"Clair!" called Ash. Clair turned to the trainer she summoned.

"About time you got here," she teased. "What, did Misty not want you to come by?"

"Right, like Misty actually cares about what I do away from her." Both had a laugh before Ash wanted to ask the reason for the invite. "So does what you're asking have to do with the waterfall?" Clair didn't want to spoil any surprises to him.

"You'll see when we get up there. Ready to climb?" That's why Clair had the hiking gear on. Ash rubbed his hands on his jeans and turned the cap backwards before Pikachu climbed him.

"Let's go." Clair started off by latching on the rocks protruding from the face.

"Careful, some of these stones are loose." With a nod, Ash began the climb. The Pokémon in the pond watched nervously as the two scaled the cliff. No rope, no net, no spike, no hammer... if anything, Dragonair and Gyarados were swimming by. Halfway up, Clair paused to let Ash catch up.

"You sure now's the time to hang around?" Now wasn't the time to make a pun.

"Just making sure you didn't fall." The higher the two climbed, the more worried the two in the pond got. 15 minutes after starting the climb, Ash reached the top first and Pikachu to disembark from the head. Turning around, he hoisted the Gym Leader over the edge. However, the lift propelled Clair to tackle Ash and pin him. A few seconds later, a blushing teal-haired young woman got off Ash. "Sorry about that."

"No problem." Once on his feet, Ash and Pikachu reached the ledge and looked down, eying the view and whistling to the site. "If I wasn't traveling as much, I'd enjoy the scenery more." As awe-inspiring as seeing the land beneath a waterfall was, Clair had something else in mind.

"True enough, but that's not why I brought you up here." What else could there be? "It's over here." Ash and Pikachu glanced at each other with wonder before tailing Clair through a small forest with the trees blocking the moonlight.

"How long have you known this place?"

"Only after I did the purification. Dragonair flew up here so that I could see what the view was like. Anyway, I decided to look around and found a formation that got my attention. Like I said, you'll see what I mean." Ash couldn't wait. Finally, Clair stopped. "There it is." In front of the three, light seeping through trees. If that's the spot, only Clair knew what it had.

"That line of trees?" Instead of telling him, Clair led Ash through the bark. When Ash stepped through, he found out it was an opening to the sky above. "Whoa!" Looking up, he saw the moon starting to peak over the clearing.

"For some reason, clouds disperse when they reach this area, almost like this spot has a force field." An intriguing find.

"You're kidding!" All three looked up to the moon, admiring how beautiful it looked from below. "It looks like I could reach the moon from here." He stretched his arm out but all he could reach was the top of Clair's head if she stood by him.

"Seeing this spot, I'd want to look into it some more, understand why this invisible barrier exists." Perhaps a reason laid underground. Either case, the site was enough to make Ash tired.

"You do that. I'll head back down and back to the Pokémon Center." That's when Clair pulled out two sleeping bags.

"Why not here? I got a couple nap sacks here. Besides, you've been traveling with those other Gym Leaders. A little break from them won't hurt, right?" Ash looked back to the path they came from. Maybe a little break from Misty's nagging would help out.

"You win. Why not, Pikachu. One night away from Misty wouldn't be too much to ask." Pikachu wasn't too sure about being away from Misty's Togepi. It's only one night so Pikachu acknowledged the option. They soon snuggled in the bags and fell asleep under the shining moon. Clair woke up a couple of minutes later and nudged her bag to Ash, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. All three of them slept rather peacefully before the new morning rose. The next morning, Misty, Brock and Togepi stepped out of the Pokémon Center to look for Ash since he didn't return from his outing with Clair. Only one clue was the waterfall from the note. They looked around the pond beneath the waterfall.

"Where's Ash?" Brock wondered. Dragonair heard the breeder and turned to the humans.

"Dragonair, where did Ash go?" Misty asked. Dragonair turned to the side of the waterfall. This gave Brock a possible guess.

"He didn't climb that face, did he?" Ash appeared from the top with Pikachu and Clair.

"Hey!" shouted Ash. Those on the ground looked up the cliff side and found Ash and Clair waiving down.

"Yep, he did," Misty gulped.

"We'll be down in a minute!" Clair yelled down. "Dragonair, can you give us a lift?" Dragonair listened and flew up to meet the "stranded" mountain climbers. Clair hopped on before descending to the plain below. Once off, Clair allowed Dragonair to get Ash from the cliff. When it arrived, he jumped on and rode Clair's Pokémon down to the surface. Ash hopped off and Clair petted her Dragon Pokémon. "That's what we needed, Dragonair. Thank you." She brought out her Pokéball and recalled her creature to it. Seeing Ash and Clair together baffled Brock a little but Misty got an instant idea on what happened.

"Let me guess..." she started huffing. "You two couldn't get down from on top of the waterfall and spent the night together, AM I RIGHT?!" Ash, Pikachu and Clair were taken aback my her outburst.

"Calm down, Misty," Brock tried to diffuse the issue."At least Team Rocket didn't attack them." That's when he spotted something that crushed his heart. Sure, it wasn't the first time but this hurts. There was a faint imprint in the shape of lips on Ash's cheek. This told Brock one thing that even Misty would lose her mind on. "Y-Y-You two?! Making out?!" Ash rubbed the cheek his was kissed on while Clair blushed a little/

"I... may have... gotten a little too close when I wanted to whisper a lullaby," she stuttered with a little giggle. "But if you want him, I won't mind." This comeback got Misty blushing so red, she nearly fainted. Brock wasn't so quick to let the matter go.

"But how?! I'm the one in need of love and yet he's the one getting something from another-"

"Professor Ivy?" This shut Brock up and forced him to a corner where he balled himself in a fetal position looking depressed.

"That... name..." Clair watched on, befuddled by what just transpired.

"Did something happen between Brock and Prof-"

"Don't mention that name!" A warming sign about how bad that professor treated him.

"Once he recovers, we're on our way back to New Bark Town to get Ash registered," Misty plotted. Ash agreed to the idea before Misty reeled him in. "...And away from her!" Don't argue with Misty. Before long, all three and their Pokémon started their journey back to get Ash registered for the Silver Conference while Ash might need that landmark's protection, if to keep himself away from Misty's wrath.

END of DRAGON