It was late afternoon and Ash, Misty, Brock, Dawn, Pikachu and Togepi were traveling along Route 37 heading north towards Ecruteak City. They were only going there as it was the most direct route to Olivine City and only intended to stop there briefly to resupply. The group had recently passed a fork in the road which lead to Violet City, southeast of Ecruteak City, so they knew it would not be long before they were there. Brock had estimated that, at the rate they were walking, they would reach Ecruteak City before lunch the next day. They were currently traveling through a woodland landscape, their view filled with countless different families of plants and trees. The progressively setting sun's light poured in between the leaves that grew high above them from the trees, making them glow a yellowish green hue. In the same trees, a variety of wild Pokémon could be seen nesting, from the common Pidgey to the rarer, sleeping Hoothoot, sheltering from the rays of the sun in the hollows of the trees that they had dug out as their nests. The area was teaming with life, none of which seemed bothered by their presence. Ash and Dawn watched as a group of Growlithe play-fought at the base of a tree as a mother Arcanine watched over them from a low sitting, stone platform she had claimed as her own. Pikachu was eager to join in with them but Ash held him back, thinking it was best that none of them interfered with any of the wild Pokémon and left them to their own devices so they could pass through and camp without any trouble. They especially did not want to upset the mother Arcanine! Misty walked with Togepi in her arms, pointing out all the interesting things she could see to him. She gestured towards one of the smaller trees near them to draw his attention towards a mother Spearow feeding her young. Togepi watched intently as the mother fed each of her three chicks, he then smiled and clapped as he watched as each of them cheep with delight.
Brock had scouted ahead of the rest of the group in search of a suitable camp sight amongst vibrant wildlife, somewhere where they would not disturb anything, or anyone. When the rest of the group had caught up, they found him sitting against the base of as tree with his Happiny in his arms whilst Sudowoodo and Croagunk played peak-a-boo with her. Brock had been searching for somewhere to camp for a while now as everybody was getting very tired. The last few days of traveling had been quite intense, with early mornings and late evenings, only stopping for lunch and the occasional ten minute break. Brock had taken over leading the group after Ash had gotten everyone lost, again. He knew he was being a hard task master but they had to get to Olivine City soon otherwise Dawn would miss out on her chance at her next contest ribbon. It did help though that Jasmine was waiting for him there also, it didn't matter to him why she had called him, he was just happy that she wanted to see him. 'Maybe she wants to express her feelings for me, then we can be together forever!' He thought. But Brock couldn't linger on this daydream as long as he had wanted thanks to a certain high pitched voice that always seemed to be there to repress him whenever he so much as thought about girls.
"Oi Brock. Stop thinking about Jasmine already!" Misty shouted from across the clearing.
"Wait. How did you know I was thinking about her?" Brock asked once they had all made their way over to him.
"Well, you've kinda got a bit of drool hanging about here." Ash said cautiously, pointing to just below the right hand corner of his lip, trying not to embarrass his friend too much.
"Yeah." Misty added. "Plus you're always thinking about girls, I just guessed it would be Jasmine this time as you're marching us to Olivine City like some kind of military operation."
Brock looked down sheepishly, putting Happiny down on the floor so she could go and play with Sudowoodo and Croagunk in the clearing.
"Well, we've got to get to Olivine soon for Dawn as well." Brock replied, hoping that might be able to save some of his pride.
"Yeah, I'm sure that's your top priority." Misty said rolling her eyes, her sarcasm making Brock feel even more sheepish.
"Well, I appreciate you trying to get me there in time for the contest Brock." Said Dawn in an attempt to quell the argument. "But I am so tired." This was followed by a massive yawn and stretch to emphasise just how tired she really was, after all she was younger than everybody else and therefore tired much quicker.
"Yeah." Nodded Ash in agreement, falling to the ground and lying flat on his back. "I don't care what anybody says, I'm camping here tonight."
"Alright, alright we'll camp here. I guess we could all do with stopping now." Brock concluded.
"Thank god." Ash mumbled under his breath.
Ash, Misty and Dawn decided that since Brock had already released his Pokémon it would be a nice idea if they let theres out for a bit. They figured it would be good for them to all play with each other. With that, the remaining three in the group released the rest of their friends: Ash's Torterra, Infernape, Buizel, Staraptor and Gible. Misty's Politoed, Corsola, Staryu and Psyduck. Finally Dawn's Piplup, Glaceon, Mamoswine, Cindaquil, Togekiss and Buneary. Misty had not sent out Gyarados as she thought that a camp site would not be the best place for a Pokémon of his size!
Ash, Misty, Brock and Dawn decided to start putting up their tents whilst all the Pokémon continued to play on the other side of the camp site.
"This was a good find Brock." Said Misty, pitching in her guide ropes.
"Thanks." Brock replied. "It's not bad is it." Brock was right, this was one of the better camp sites they'd found. With all the wild Pokémon around them, none of them could help but feel very one with nature: The chorus of chirruping birds, the sight of their own Pokémon interacting with one another. It was a very picturesque scene.
Ash watched them all whilst he struggled with his own tent. He saw Infernape, Staraptor and Togekiss in the treetops above his head. Staraptor and Togekiss were beginning to roost, getting ready for the evening, much like their trainers, whilst Infernape was having much more fun. He was swinging from branch to branch around them, blowing off some steam. Ash directed his view back to the floor of the forest. He saw that Torterra and Mamoswine were resting under the base of same tree that Staraptor and Togekiss were roosting. They were clearly not in the mood to be active yet and were quite content with relaxing by themselves. The other Pokémon, including Pikachu and Togepi, running around manically, chasing after one another, playing their own little game, enjoying the wide open space. It had been a while since they had been allowed out of their Pokéballs and so were making the most of this opportunity. Slightly away from the everyone Ash noticed Misty's Pokémon were playing by themselves. He thought this was a little bit strange at first, but then he realised why they were that far from everyone. Misty's Staryu was using it's Water Gun and shooting it straight up into the air to create a fountain effect for Poiltoed and Corsola to play in since there was no water in the immediate area for them to use. The three Pokémon each rotated the role of 'fountain' so that they each had a chance play in the water and get cooled off. Psyduck had originally been with them but, at the first sight of water, Ash had noticed him bolting in the opposite direction, screaming at the top of his lungs! He ran over to a large oak which was the furthest point he could get to from the water without leaving the camp site and started running in circles around it in his panic and confusion. Perhaps it made sense in his mind, the more he ran around the tree, the further from the water he got, but Ash couldn't understand Psyduck's logic, if there was indeed any implemented in this action!
Once all the tents were up everybody gathered in the center of the area they had put the tents up in. The tents had be positioned facing inwards on each other around a patch of ground where the grass hadn't grown, that way the tents would all stay dry. There were three tents in total. Ash and Pikachu slept in the one that looked out to the northwest, Misty and Dawn shared the one that faced south and Brock slept with the rest of their traveling equipment (food, cooking utensils, etc.) in the tent that faced northeast. In the center of the bald ground there were the remains of what seemed to be a fire, bits of burnt timber and a rough circle of small rocks.
"Well, this is a poor excuse for a fire." Said Brock disappointingly looking down on the tattered remains.
"You said it." Replied Dawn, looking equally disheartened. "Looks like we'll be building another."
"Yeah, me and Ash will go now to look for fresh firewood." Continued Brock.
"Wait what?" Ash complained. "Can't I just stay here and look after the Pokémon?"
"Ha, nice try. The girls can do that, you can help me." Brock laughed.
Ash shrugged his shoulders in defeat and followed Brock into the undergrowth. As they left, Misty and Dawn could both hear him complain quietly, obviously not wanting to be heard as being lazy to them. It didn't work!
Misty and Dawn turned to each other, now realising that they were alone. Misty automatically went into the mindset of getting ready to ask her about Ash, but before she did she bit her tongue. If all she ever talked to Dawn about was Ash, she'd undoubtedly discover her secret and she couldn't be sure that she wouldn't, unintentionally, ruin things between her and Ash by telling him how she felt. So after much deliberation Misty decided that she would use this time do build a bond of trust and friendship with Dawn. If they were both friends with Ash, it was very likely that they were going to spend a lot of time together. Of course she still had the urge to bombard Dawn with questions to find out what Ash had told her, if Ash had told her how he felt about her, but she knew that she couldn't. If she built up the trust between them first, then maybe she stood a better chance at finding out.
"Right then." Said Dawn, breaking the silence. "While the boys are out what can we get done?"
Misty took this as an opportunity to do something to get her mind off of Ash, even if it was only a temporary solution. This came to no surprise to Misty, ever since Ash had been a part of her life there had never been a permanent solution to getting him off her mind.
"Mmm, I think I might do some washing since we have some time." Replied Misty, now having returned from her wandering mind.
"Okay, in that case I'm gonna feed the Pokémon. They're gonna be hungry soon after all this running about." She turned her head to glance over towards the large oak to see Psyduck still running around it. "Especially that one." She added.
Misty could only offer and embarrassed smile back. "Heh. Yeah." She said looking shyly at the floor and walking swiftly over to their tent.
Misty went inside her tent and fished out her pajamas from her backpack, a celadon green tank top and a pair of light navy, three-quarter length jogging bottoms. She zipped up the tent door as so not to be seen by Dawn or the Pokémon and quickly got changed. Misty never did feel comfortable getting undressed in the tent, even though it was enclosed, she felt too exposed still being outside and so always attempted to change as fast as humanly possible.
She emerged from the tent with clothes in hand, slipping on a pair a sandals that she had with her that she wore when she was wandering around in the evening. They were light yellow with a thin, blue band that joined either side of her foot and between her big toe and second toe and had a design of a Psyduck's face on the heels. She walked over to the oak which her Psyduck had been running around just a second ago. By this point Dawn had already been into Brock's tent where all the Pokémon food was being stored and was now distributing it out to all the Pokémon according to each of their specific requirements. Psyduck was now eating with the rest of the Pokémon contently now that there was no more water, although knowing him, he'd probably completely forgotten about that already! Misty walked over to a clean, low hanging branch that she could reach that was protruding from the main trunk of the tree and hung her clothes over it ready to be washed. Once Staryu, Corsola and Politoed had finished with the food Dawn had given them, Misty called them over to her. Seeing as she was their trainer they were more than happy to help with whatever she wanted. When they reached her, Misty commanded them to each used Water Gun on the branch, and as a result the clothes she had hung there. Once she had made sure that her Pokémon had finished, she took them over to the tent and draped them over its roof to air dry. Normally, when she had traveled with Ash, she would have one of his flying type Pokémon dry them as well using a Gust attack, or something similar. But as they were in no rush for once, she didn't feel it necessary to bother Staraptor or Togekiss.
By the time Misty had finished hanging up her clothes and Dawn had put away the last bag of Pokémon food, Ash and Brock had made their way through the dense forestry that surrounded them. Each of them were carrying a large pile of firewood, obviously their little expedition had been successful. Although Ash was still complaining to Brock, this time about the weight of the logs he had been made to carry. Misty and Dawn both looked at each other and smiled, both thinking that it was impressive that Brock could be this patient with him. It was to no surprise however that when Brock placed his logs down on the floor that he looked relieved to be back. Ash followed up behind quickly, dumping his logs next to Brock's as soon as he was close enough.
"Thank god that's over." Ash said with a sigh of relief, rubbing his arms which were now slightly red due to the friction created by the coarse wood on his skin.
"Oh it wasn't that bad." Repiled Brock.
"Yeah, well...It's easier for you...You're older." Said Ash in an attempt to preserve his manhood.
"Yes Ash. Well done, I'm older. But lets be honest, Togepi could have done a better job than you." Countered Brock.
"Yeah right." Scoffed an unconvinced Ash.
"Well, he wouldn't have complained as much as you." Chuckled Brock, feeling a sense of victory. Ash just shrugged his shoulders, he knew Brock was right but he didn't intend to agree with him about something like that.
The two girls laughed from the sidelines and decided to intervene before it got out of hand.
"Alright, alright calm down you two." Giggled Dawn, stepping in between them hoping that would stop them from biting each other's heads off any more.
"Yeah, that's enough. At least we can make a fire now." Added Misty pushing Ash away from Brock to stop him retaliating again.
"Exactly, so be nice to each other." Continued Dawn.
Brock laughed with Dawn. "Oh alright then. I'm sorry Ash for suggesting you're weak."
"Now it's your turn." Misty said to a pouting Ash, poking him playfully in the shoulder.
Ash crossed his arms, turned his head away from Brock. "I'm sorry I complained so much." He said through gritted teeth.
"Oh be nice." Said Misty, but Ash didn't move, he still looked miserable, so she decided to take matters into her own hands. Whilst Ash was still looking away, she reached under his crossed arm in search of his armpits and upon finding them, tickled him mercilessly. She knew how ticklish he was and so was not surprised when he jumped in surprise and start to flail around uncontrollably trying to get away from Misty's mischievous fingers. Brock and Dawn watched in fits of laughter that rivaled those coming from Ash. This went on for about half a minute before Ash couldn't take any more.
"OKAY, OKAY. I SURRENDER! LET ME GO!" Screamed Ash, still in fits of laughter of his own.
"Say please." Said Misty, enjoying what she was doing to her helpless friend.
"PPPLLLEEEAAASSSEEE!" Screamed Ash even louder, still laughing.
"Okay." Said Misty calmly immediately letting go of Ash. But Ash's body was still convulsing thanks to her and, in his confusion, he fell over on the ground, pulling Misty down on top of him by accident.
Ash and Misty lay there on the floor laughing still over what had just happened. Misty rolled over onto the ground next to Ash, she thought if she stayed there she'd crush him! Brock and Dawn were still laughing just as much whilst they looked down on them, they both offered their hands to them to help them up. Ash and Misty took their hands and stood up, trying to calm themselves down and wiping the tears from their eyes.
"Okay, okay. Can we stop arguing now and get something to eat?" Asked Dawn, still slightly laughing.
"Ha ha, yeah alright. I'm hungry now anyway." Said Ash as soon has he had caught his breath.
"Okay, I'll start making the fire. You lot can go and get changed if you want." Said Misty, wiping away the last tear from her eye.
"Alright, I'll come back and help you in a second." Replied Brock.
Everybody nodded in agreement and walked off to their respective tents. As they walked away, Misty saw Ash walk up to Brock and pat him on the back. Brock recognised this as Ash's real apology and turned his head and smiled at him before they went their separate ways. Watching this made Misty smile, it was nice to see them act civil towards each other. It was good to see Ash had matured on his travels whilst she had been absent. This added to Misty's, ever growing, list of Ash's endearing qualities.
Five minutes later, when Misty had finished laying out the stone ring that would contain the fire and had started to pile the sticks and logs inside it, Ash, Brock and Dawn returned from their tents. Ash was wearing a navy blue T-shirt with a pair of camouflage green jogging bottoms. Brock was now in an army green T-shirt and a pair of black shorts. Dawn emerged from her's and Misty's tent wearing a carnation pink top with matching pajama bottoms. The top had a design of a Piplup on the chest and the bottoms were covered in smaller versions of the same Piplup design. Personally, Misty would not want to be seen wearing them, they were slightly too childish for her taste, but Dawn was a few years younger than her so it was okay, they looked fine on her. Beside they were kinda cute, in a way.
Ash and Dawn sat down next to the fire and leant against the trunk of a tree, which had probably been moved there by the last group who had camped there to be used as a bench, whilst Brock helped put the finishing touches to it with Misty and lit it with the matches he had gotten from his tent. The roaring fire immediately sent a wave of warm air around the camp site that everyone, including the Pokémon could feel. Misty and Brock took their seat around the camp fire with Ash and Dawn. Misty sat down next to Ash, on the opposite side to Dawn, and leant against the tree trunk with them, while Brock was content to sit opposite them, cross-legged on the ground, so that the could talk across the fire.
"Hey, I've got an idea." Said Dawn.
"Yeah, what is it?" Asked Ash curiously.
"I know you'll definitely like it." Dawn replied pointing at Ash. Ash was a little taken aback as he didn't know what to expect.
"Everyone close you're eyes." Ordered Dawn, giggling with anticipation. Ash, Misty and Brock looked at each other, none of them now really knew what to expect. Misty was feeling particularly alert towards this. The way she had said, 'I know you'll definitely like it,' to Ash made her feel uneasy. What did she have planned for him? She had not felt like she had known Dawn long enough to tell her how she felt about Ash yet, especially as hardly anyone knew. The only people she had told were her sisters. She had always been afraid that if she told too many people that eventually it would get back to Ash, and she didn't want him to find out that way. If Dawn didn't know how she felt then maybe she was planning to make a move on him herself. She realised that was an outlandish statement to make but she couldn't help it, if everyone had their eyes closed, Dawn could very easily steal a quick kiss off of him for example. Misty only based this on her own feelings towards him though. She knew if she was in Dawn's position, embracing Ash's lips with her own would be almost too tempting. Misty knew though that this wasn't a situation where it would be socially acceptable to flat out refuse to close her eyes for Dawn without raising a few questions. Questions she did not want to answer now and in front of everyone. So Misty forced herself to close her eyes with the rest of her friends whilst Dawn did what she planned to do, but she couldn't help but sneak a peak to she what she was doing. To her relief she was nowhere to be seen, which meant she was not kissing Ash! But where had she gone? Suddenly she heard footsteps coming back from her tent, obviously being Dawns. Misty quickly shut her eyes tight so that Dawn didn't see she was peaking, providing the chance for more questions to be asked of her.
"Okay, you can open your eyes now." Said Dawn.
Ash, Misty and Brock all looked up at Dawn who was standing in front of them smiling, holding a large bag of marshmallows in one hand and a large handful of twigs in the other. Straight away Misty noticed Ash's eyes light up. 'So that's why she'd said he'd like it.' Thought Misty now feeling quite relieved. 'I really have to control my imagination.' She told herself. She knew she had to stop jumping to ridiculous conclusions when it came to Ash and other girls, but she couldn't help herself. She was very protective over him because she knew that no girl could ever love him and care for him more than she would.
"Fantastic!" Exclaimed Brock ecstatically.
"Dawn, you rock!" Added Ash, now starting to drool slightly at the prospect of roasted marshmallows.
"Pika pika-pi!"
"Toge togepi!"
The gang turned around to look behind Dawn to see Pikachu and Togepi running as fast as they could towards the camp fire. Once they were close enough, they jumped into the laps of their respective trainers with big grins on their faces.
"Ha ha, I think they might want some." Laughed Ash looking at Misty.
Misty smiled back at him. "I think you might be right."
"Well, it's a good thing we have a lot then." Added Dawn.
"Pikachu!" Cried Pikachu, now happy knowing he was going to get some marshmallows.
Ash, Misty, Brock, Dawn, Pikachu and Togepi sat around the camp fire, skewering Dawn's marshmallows on the twigs she had gotten for everyone and holding them over the fire till they were golden brown. They all soon realised that there was a certain skill involved with this as many of the marshmallows they attempted to roast either fell off the twig in a gloopy mess or got to that golden brown stage but were then still on fire when they were pulled out of the flames and continued to burn till they were black before the fire was blown out. They all had fun trying to steal each other's marshmallows whilst they were still in the fire too by trying to skewer another marshmallow and then rip it off who's ever twig it was on. Many perfectly good marshmallows got wasted this way as most of the time the marshmallow ended up falling into the fire and turn into a gloopy mess. But nobody minded, there were lots of marshmallows and everybody was enjoying themselves.
This went on through the night for at least a couple of hours until there were only a handful of marshmallows left, but they were all quite full by this point. Brock and Dawn had eaten more than their fair share having been quite successful at stealing Ash and Misty's marshmallows compared to their pitiful efforts! By this point all of the Pokémon had settled down for the night, falling asleep either in or at the base of one of the trees surrounding them. The only Pokémon left still awake were Pikachu and Togepi who were only still up so they could keep eating!
"Ahhhhhhh." Dawn yawned loudly. "I'm quite tired now. What's the time?"
Brock mimicked Dawn's massive yawn with one of his own. "It's about half twelve." He said checking his watch. "I'm actually quite tired as well. I think I might turn in for the night."
"I think I might as well." Added Dawn.
"Oh, okay then." Said Ash, disappointed that the evening was starting to draw to a close.
"Goodnight all." Said Dawn, as she stood and started heading to her tent.
"You two going to bed yet?" Brock asked Ash and Misty.
"Not just yet." Replied Misty. "I'm gonna let Togepi finish off and then set him down first."
"Yeah, I'm gonna do the same with Pikachu, besides, there's still a couple of marshmallows left and I intend to eat them as you stole all of mine!"
Brock laughed. "Well, you should guard them better! Don't be up too late, early start tomorrow."
"We won't." Said Misty.
"Night." Ash called to Brock as he entered his tent.
"Goodnight." He called back before zipping up the door.
Ash and Misty were left alone by the camp fire with Pikachu and Togepi in front of them feeding each other the remainder of the marshmallows. As the evening had drawn on, it had been getting colder and colder. The warmth from the fire could no longer sustain Misty's body temperature and she was starting to shiver. Truth be told she was also quite tired and could have done with going to bed with Brock and Dawn, but she, like Ash, did not want the evening to end just yet. Especially now that it was just the two of them next to the camp fire, definitely worth getting a little cold for.
Ash looked over towards Misty and noticed how much she was shivering.
"My god Misty, you're freezing." He said with a worried expression on his face.
"Don't worry, I'm fine" She replied, holding her arms in an attempt to keep herself warm.
"Yeah right. Come here." Said Ash holding out his left arm to invite Misty into his embrace to help keep her warm.
"Emm, okay." Said Misty, cautious shifting closer to Ash's outstretched arm. When she was close enough, Ash wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close. Misty shivered even more when she felt Ash's skin against her own, not because he was cold, but because she had never been that close to him before, particularly not in that kind of setting: the camp fire, the shining stars, the fact that they were alone aside from their Pokémon.
When Misty had gotten over the initial shock of being that close Ash and he had pulled her as close as he could to himself, she felt much warmer. But it wasn't only that, she also felt protected and safe within his grasp. She felt like, while she was with him, nothing could happen to her, that Ash would protect her. This was a comforting feeling.
Misty kicked off her sandals and pushed them away from her so she didn't keep standing on them. She also took her hair out of its side ponytail which Ash noticed almost immediately.
"Hey you have your hair down." He said looking at the place where the ponytail used to be.
"Emm, yeah." Misty replied shyly. Not many people saw her with her hair down. The only other people would be people who saw her perform the water ballet with the hair extensions, but other than them seeing Misty with her hair down was a rarity.
"It looks nice." Ash said smiling. "You should wear it down more often."
Misty shied away from him upon hearing that. She loved it when Ash paid her compliments, although she would never tell him that.
When Ash saw Misty turn her head to shy away from him when he told her he liked her hair down, he smiled and began to run his fingers through it, playing with its silky smoothness. Misty literally melted when she felt him doing this, it felt so relaxing. So much so that she sunk into his shoulder, providing him with a better angle at which to continue playing with it. She lay there and didn't say a word, she just let Ash's fingers do all the work, it made her feel so calm and at peace.
After a while of having this done to her, Misty let out a small sigh of contentment. Ash heard this but did not pick up that it meant she was happy.
"Is everything okay?" Ash asked.
"Everything's fine, it's just that that feels really nice." Misty replied sleepily, not moving an inch so as not to distract Ash from what he was doing. She just lay there on his shoulder and closed her eyes.
"Oh, okay." Ash said sounding a little surprised. He thought that he was just been having a bit of fun. He hadn't realised that Misty had been enjoying it so much. This made him blush slightly, normally he would have expected that, if Misty had thought he was doing anything like that for any other reason than to tease her, she would have attacked him, and even if he was just teasing her, it was still unlikely that he would still get away unharmed. She especially would not have told him that she liked it. 'What did this mean?' He asked himself, he had to find out.
"Hey Misty." Said Ash.
There was no response.
"Misty?" Ash asked looking down at her.
Misty had fallen asleep on Ash's shoulder. She had been more tired than she had let on to Ash. He stopped playing with her hair and put is arm down by his side and blushed even redder than before, now that she was sleeping he didn't know how to act towards her. He couldn't stroke the hair of a sleeping girl, could he? He knew he couldn't move because that would wake her up and he didn't want to do that. But did that mean he had to sleep outside with her? He wasn't sure what to do. He sat there for a bit trying to work out how he could get to his tent and get Misty to hers without waking her. Perhaps Pikachu or Togepi could help, they were still eating marshmallows at this point, but Ash couldn't think of any way they could. Then an idea clicked, he could get one of his other Pokémon to help, someone that was larger than Pikachu or Togepi and that wasn't addicted to spongy confectionary! He started to reach for his Pokéball belt but then remembered that he obviously wasn't wearing it, plus all the Pokémon were sleeping outside tonight! 'Well, that was stupid of me.' He thought. He was stuck for ideas and didn't know what to do. At the point were Ash was at his most frustrated and was starting to think about just waking her up and dealing with the consequences, Misty stirred, only ever so slightly, just readjusting her head's position on his shoulder and sighing lightly. When Ash looked down at her when she did this, his feelings about his current situation completely changed, he realised how beautiful she looked when she was sleeping. It was the way the moonlight reflected off her hair making it shine orange like the sun, the way her skin felt against his arm, it's smoothness lightly tickling the hairs on his arm, everything about her. Soon Ash realised that he didn't actually want to move. Seeing her like this, he now felt compelled to stay with her, to make sure she stayed safe during the night if the case was she was sleeping outside. He didn't want to leave her. He wasn't going to leave her.
"Pikachu, maybe you should take Togepi and go to bed now. You can both use my tent tonight." Said Ash looking towards the two Pokémon in front of him.
Pikachu looked up at him, originally with a look that said, 'I don't want to yet.' But when he saw Misty laying on him the way she was, the mouse understood that his trainer wanted to be alone and so left with Togepi to Ash's tent to sleep for the night. Togepi was more reluctant to leave than Pikachu had been, but when Pikachu explained to him what was happening, the small Pokémon willingly left with him, quickly grabbing a couple more marshmallows for the road.
When the two Pokémon were safely in his tent and had settled down, Ash took one final look at Misty and stroked her soft hair for the last time that night before resting his head on top of hers carefully and falling asleep himself.
The next morning Misty was the first to wake up, the early morning sun beaming down on the camp site. The fire had since gone out and was now nothing left but smoldering remains, much like the fire that was there originally. As she lay there, still on Ash's shoulder, she thought about the night before and remembered how Ash had sent her to sleep. Granted it had probably been unintentional but she had still liked it.
'If only he had still been doing it when I woke up.' She thought. 'That would have been something.' She raised her head off of Ash's shoulder regrettably knowing that she had to get the day started, but she had not realised that Ash was sleeping on top of her. As she moved, she caused Ash to stir and inevitably wake up.
"Oh, morning Ash." Said Misty, now realising that her getting up had woken him. "Sorry to disturb you."
Ash stretched out his right arm, his left arm trapped between the tree trunk and Misty's body. "Ahhh, morning Misty." Yawned Ash. "Did you sleep well?"
"I did thanks." She replied smiling. "But the way I falling asleep was even nicer." She added, nestling back into his shoulder.
"Really?" Asked Ash slightly taken aback, he had not been expecting Misty to have liked him playing with her hair that much.
"Mhmm." Misty answered, nuzzling into his shoulder as if to nod her head.
"Oh."
Ash raised his right hand to the side of her face and ran his fingers though her hair once again, this made Misty's body tingle all over just like it had the night before. She looked up at him from his shoulder, he looked back at her whilst still stroking her. Ash wasn't sure what was going on, he had never had a moment like this with Misty before. He looked into Misty's eyes and felt himself get lost in those turquoise pools. He saw her looking right back at him with the same intensity. 'What did this mean?' Ash wondered. He stopped stroking her hair and cupped her face lightly with his right hand, he wasn't sure what he was doing, but it felt so natural, so right. Misty smiled up at him as she shifted her weight from his shoulder to his hands grasp, giving him full control of her face. She knew what she wanted him to do next. Ash didn't break his gaze with her eyes. He felt the new control he had over Misty and he knew what to do next. Very slowly and delicately, Ash raised her chin till it was level with his own. Misty realised that what she had wanted for so long now was finally going to happen. She began to move closer to him and started to close her eyes, very slowly so she could see that he wasn't going to back away, she was very anxious herself but still felt ready. Ash saw Misty move closer and close her eyes, he moved his gaze down to her lips. 'They look so soft.' He thought and found himself drawn to them with his own. He bit his bottom in anxiety, he was nervous about what was about to happen but he knew he wanted it. Ash moved his head in closer until their lips were no more than a few inch from each others.
"Not interrupting are we?"
Ash and Misty instantly broke apart to stare at whoever had just stolen their moment. In front of them, standing on the other side on the remains of the camp fire were Brock and Dawn. Brock was standing with a look of shock and amusement on his face. Dawn on the other hand was standing there, mouth agape, starring intently at the two of them with a look on her face that said, 'Oh my god! Amazing!' Regardless of the way they were looking at them Ash and Misty shuffled away from each other not knowing what to say. They were both in complete shock.
"Well, you can either sit there all day, or you can help me put the tents down." Said Brock looking at Ash, tossing his tent bag to him.
"I...Err…" Ash still didn't know what to say, let alone manage to string together a coherent sentence.
"I thought as much. I've done your pegs." Continued Brock. He then turned towards his Misty's and Dawn's tent. "Come on Dawn, I'll help you with the poles." He said taking Dawn by the arm to make her stop staring at the two of them.
Once they had left Ash and Misty were alone again, but it was obvious that the moment had passed. Misty instantly stood up and took the hair band from her wrist and put her hair back up. This signified to Ash, who was still on the floor covered by the tent bag, that the moment was definitely gone. He attempted to stand up also whilst wrestling with the bag that was covering him. When he got to Misty's level, who by this point had finished tying up her hair, they both stood there and looked at each other, neither one of them saying anything. Misty was the first to try to break the silence.
"I guess I'll go help Dawn put down the tent." She said disheartened.
"Emm, yeah. I'll go wake up Pikachu and Togepi and, you know, do my tent. I have the bag." Replied Ash equally disheartened, rubbing the back of his neck, but attempting to make Misty smile, even if it was just a little bit. All she did was nod in acknowledgment of his joke, she was not in the mood to laugh at the moment. It was nothing against Ash at all, on the contrary, he had made her very happy until Brock and Dawn had come along.
They parted ways to go to the respective tents to get packed so they could leave. As Ash walked over to his tent, he paused a moment to look at Misty as she walked over to Dawn. He raised his hand and opened his mouth as if to say something to stop her, but he didn't, he had no idea of what he would say. So he closed his mouth, put his hands in his pockets and continued walking over to his tent.
That morning nobody really talked. Everyone got dressed and packed up the tents, Ash went over and woke the Pokémon and, after feeding them, they went back inside their Pokéballs. There was a definite chill in the atmosphere as they left the camp site. It was as if the natural balance of the group had been upset, if that was the case everyone could guess as to why. When they had left the camp site, Ash and Misty made a point to walk as with as big a distance between them as possible, this was made easier with Brock and Dawn walking in between them. It was obvious that nobody was happy with the way things were, they all knew something had to change, it couldn't stay like it was.
As they continued walking towards Ecruteak City Ash noticed that one of his shoelaces had come undone. He stopped on the side of the path to bend down and retie it.
"You guys go on, I'll catch up in a sec." He said.
Misty and Dawn walked off and Ash continued to tie his shoelace, but Brock stayed behind with him unknowing to Ash and was standing above him waiting.
"Oh, hi Brock I didn't see you there." Said Ash as he stood up.
Brock looked at him with a serious expression on his face.
"What's up?" Ash asked, sensing that something was wrong.
"I think we need to have a talk." Replied Brock in an equally serious tone of voice to the look on his face.
"Am I in trouble?" Asked Ash now starting to feel worried.
"No don't worry." Answered Brock. "But once we've gotten the supplies you and me are going to have a little chat."
"Okay." Said Ash still feeling slightly nervous. "What about?"
Brock turned around and started to walk to catch up with Misty and Dawn. "I think you know what." He said to Ash who stood frozen to the ground when he heard that.
'Terrific.' Thought Ash.
...
A/N: Ahhhhhhh! I know, you all hate me, but what's a story without a couple of twists :P
I know this chapter was ridiculously long compared to my others and, if I'm honest, I'm not really sure how that happened, I just got really into it I guess. I still like it though lol.
If you've managed to read my entire story up to this point I just want to say thank you, you guys are the reason I started writing this :)
I've got a one-shot in mind at the moment so I might start writing it soon, don't worry it won't be this long! So yeah, look out for that in the near future.
I love you all and thank you for reading up to here, I promise I'll update as soon as I can.
In the mean time, please Review, Review, Review.
:)
...
01.09.10
Ive started work on the next two chapters so dont worry if you've been waiting a while for them, they'll be done as soon as possible :) Thanks for being patient.
If you're bored waiting for me I finished the one-shot I mentioned before so you can go to my profile and find it there if you're interested. I'm really proud of it and I hope you like it.
Thanks :)
