"Alright... We'll try it again, you seem to be getting the hang of this"

Gary stood by watching on the sidelines as Ash and Misty stood a good thirty feet away from each other, standing on opposite banks of a deep stream which ran near the south of Pallet Town, towards the ocean which separated it from Cinnabar Island. In front of Ash stood his Charizard, proudly puffing out its chest and letting wisps of smoke slowly drift out of its nostrils whilst Misty's Gyarados looked even more enraged than normal. Concentrating on her Gyarados, Misty reached for the strange orb on her wristband. As she closed her eyes and gently placed her fingers against it, Gyarados let out a howl and started to glow a brilliant white. Slowly it's form began to change but it couldn't keep it stable enough and in the end, it sunk underneath the water before angrily rising, firing a hydro pump at Charizard which simply boiled the blast away with a fire blast.

Misty: "I'm doing it exactly like you told me... Gyarados and me have a great bond, he knows he's my powerhouse... He's been itching to fight Charizard..."

Ash looked at Charizard and nodded. Gary, seeing this gulped a little and called out his Blastoise.

Gary: "Blastoise... You might be needed to step in here if things get a little too wild... Ash and Charizard have that look in their eye..."

Blastoise nodded as Gary reached for his bracelet and with a brilliant flash of light, Blastoise had mega-evolved. With its cannons carefully aimed at Gyarados and Charizard, it let out a low rumbling roar which prompted the Charizard to shoot a fireball towards it which whisped out just short of Blastoise's face.

Ash: "Charizard... Focus on Gyarados... If it doesn't want to mega evolve for Misty, make it..."

Misty's eyes widened as Charizard let out a loud primal roar. Beating its wings, it took to the sky, flying vertically, well out of range of Gyarados' projectile attacks before circling round, keeping its eye keenly trained on the dragon-like Pokémon which oddly enough, wasn't dragon typed at all.

Misty: "...Ash?"

Ash: "Misty... It seems Gyarados needs some encouragement... Gary has got Mega-Blastoise on standby incase this gets too out of hand... I promise I will hold back... But you know Charizard..."

Misty: "...Gyarados, Dragon Dance!"

Hearing it's trainer give the first command, the serpentine Pokémon roared and started to weave around in a circular motion. Charizard, still in its holding flight pattern saw the mystical ability enhancing dance and replied in kind, performing spiralling parabolic arcs in the air. Seeing Charizard reply with a dance of its own, Misty looked to Ash with confusion on her face.

Misty: "Aren't you going to command Charizard?"

Ash shook his head.

Ash: "Charizard wants to fight the way it wants, that's why Gary is on standby..."

Misty swore under her breath. This was not the training session she expected, especially given how powerful Charizard was. Knowing she was facing a Pokémon who had complete faith in its abilities and relished fighting strong opponents, she kept her eye on it whilst looking at Gyarados.

Misty: "Gyarados... Let's make this interesting... Dive under water"

Gyarados leapt from the surface of the water before crashing down underneath it. Fully submerged and out of the airborne fire-type's eyesight, the serpentine Pokémon started to coil up, almost like it were a spring under tension. Charizard, noticing Gyarados had vanished let out a huge roar and dropped down. Flying at full speed, it skimmed across the surface of the water, it's wings glowing white as it flew and smashing them into the surface, trying to lure its opponent out. All the while, Gary Oak simply stood and watched.

"So Charizard is using Steel Wing to try and bait Gyarados into action... That lizard isn't as dumb as it acts sometimes... It's building its defenses up whilst trying to disorientate the submerged Pokémon..."

Misty: "Now... Aqua Tail!"

Gyarados roared under the water and swung its tail up. The huge Pokémon rose out of the depths and went airborne before spinning round, extending its tail out to its full length and narrowly missing Charizard who just about ducked under its swing. Charizard quickly put the brakes on in the air, flapping it's wings backwards to slow it down before it circled round and unleashed a massive blast of fire at the Gyarados.

Misty: "SURF!"

Gyarados summoned up the water from the stream and charged forwards at Charizard which didn't bother to move. As the tidal wave of water built up and looked to smother it, the fire pokemon let out a roar and beat it's wings before it shot a sharp blast of air at the wave, cutting it in two with a tremendously powerful Air Cutter. Seeing the water simply part in the middle, Misty knew she couldn't lose the momentum.

Misty: "Don't hold back Gyarados, Dive at it and drag it under water with you!"

Gyarados shot forwards as the wave beneath it disapated and as it went lunging at Charizard in a reclkess head on rush, the fire type flew up to meet it, swinging its massive tail round and smashing it across Gyrados, knocking it backwards and into the water.

"...Dammit Ash... You knew Charizard when left to it's own devices would try to infuriate Gyrados and Misty just so they could trigger it's mega evolution... You really are a genius when it comes to Pokémon... Just a shame you're stupid with everything else!"

Gary was impressed. Charizard's Dragon Tail attack had pissed off Gyarados and Misty as the giant water dragon started to battle without it's trainer's commands. Launching blasts of blue fire at Charizard, trying to nail it with Dragon Rage, Gyarados really upped the intensity as it let out a terrifying howl which caused the skies above to grow darker.

Ash: "...Rain Dance... Charizard.. I know you have this... Just... Watch out... Remember what this thing can do!"

Charizard snorted in response to Ash's warning as the heaven's opened and a massively fierce storm from seemingly out of nowhere started to hammer down. Unfazed by the rain, Charizard simply continued, picking away at the Gyarados but not actually trying to harm it. Going in close, it glowed red and went into a horizontal spiral, executing a Flame Wheel which made it move faster.

Misty: "Thunderbolt Gyarados! Clip it's wings!"

Yellow crackles exploded out of the black clouds and from the horn on it's head as multiple bursts of lightning shot across the surface of the stream. Weaving between them, Charizard managed to get a few glancing shocks, but nothing too serious as it got right up on the Gyarados and unleashed a Shadow Claw on it. Roaring in pain, Gyarados sank down under the surface of the stream to protect itself whilst Misty called out to it, unknowingly grabbing hold of the orb on her bracelet.

"Yes! She's got it!"

Gary and Ash both shared a glance as there was a brilliant white light from beneath the surface and suddenly an explosion of water as the newly Mega-Evolved Gyarados shot out from under the surface. Looking even more menacing and with more power behind it's roar, the giant water dragon unleashed a powerful blast of Water at Charizard, managing to nail it perfectly on the left wing, causing it's near flawless flight to be disrupted for the first time in the battle. Going down and almost into the water, Charizard recovered as it spun itself round and without warning, cloaked itself in fire and flew right at the beast it battled, looking for a Flare Blitz.

Misty: "Gyarados... Ice Fang!"

Even though the ice type move wouldn't be totally effective against the fire type, the fact it was still part flying gave her the opening to at least do some damage. As ice formed on the fangs of the terrifying Mega-Evolution, Gyarados lunged forwards and was about to sink it's fangs into Charizard when the unthinkable happened - Blastoise stood on the sidelines had aimed all three cannons on the two Pokémon and blasted them away from each other with a huge water gun barrage.

Misty: "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?"

Ash: "Gary could see where this was going... Charizard... You did great, return!"

Drawing the giant lizard back into its Pokéball, Ash shrank it back down and clipped it to his belt. Looking over to Misty, he saw the redhead standing there in awe at her Mega-Evolved Pokémon. Reaching out, she rubbed her hand along its face.

Gary: "Blastoise, create an ice-beam bridge for Ash so he can get across then return!"

Blastoise nodded and shot a single white beam of freezing energy across the surface of the stream, allowing Ash to cross over it. Running over, Ash came to a stop just by Gary and Misty who all looked at the Mega-Pokémon.

Misty: "Ash... How did you know Charizard would make Gyarados finally Mega-Evolve?"

Ash: "Simple... You're like Gyarados... I had to find something in Pokémon form which would annoy your Pokémon as much as I annoy you!"

Misty threatened Ash with a punch, but instead of lashing out, she simply gave him a thumbs up.

Misty: "Ash... Why didn't you use your Mega-Evolution?"

Ash looked at his bracelet and then back to Misty.

Ash: "Charizard wanted to... But I didn't have the Charizardite with me... I've left that in Johto which is partly why I am going back there..."

Gary made a coughing noise which covered something up as he said it but Misty didn't get onto that, or the look Ash cast Gary.

Gary: "Well, Smell Ya later folks... I gotta head back home... If you guys need any more time training, call me, we can refine your control over the evolution process a bit better now you finally pulled it off Misty!"

Misty: "Will do Gary... See you soon!"

As Gary walked off, leaving Ash and Misty standing there, Misty looked to Ash with a curious expression on her face.

Misty: "Ash... When you said you had unfinished business here in Kanto... What did you mean?"

Ash turned his back on Misty and glanced across the stream and looked in the direction of the Ocean.

Ash: "I had to see a few things, put my mind at ease... Also had to catch up with some old friends... You know... Squirtle, Pidgeot, Bulbasaur..."

Misty knew how much Ash cherished his original team and even though they did come to him whenever he needed them, it was always hard on him not seeing them for long periods of time.

Misty: "See some things?"

Ash: "Just being sentimental I guess... No matter how many times I go away from here, I just can't help but miss Kanto... Even though it would mean just settling down to do nothing if I stayed... And I ain't giving up the journey that easy"

Misty: "...Oh, ok... Well... We leave in 8 days remember... If you have a few more places to go or people to see, I'd get it done in the next few days because we've got our tickets for the S.S. Ann, Vermillion to Olivine!"

Ash: "You do realise we could make it to Johto in the same amount of time if we just left by foot or got the train?"

Misty: "True... But if we take the S.S. Ann I can get some final training in against trainers who are going to compete in Johto's Silver conference... And humor me Ash... I haven't been on the S.S Ann for 2-3 years... I miss the fun of a cruise!"

Ash sighed. He knew this was Misty's journey and he was only there as back up and support, much like she was for him so ultimately, despite being the more experienced traveler, he was going to have to take a back seat at least for the time being.

Ash: "You're the boss Misty, whatever you have planned, we'll do it!"

Misty nodded and took her Gyarados back into its Pokéball before she turned and cast a glance at Ash who was stood there looking out at the ocean still. It was almost like he was looking for someone or something but she couldn't quite tell what it was.

Misty: "Ash, C'mon... It's nearly time for dinner!"

Ash felt his stomach grumble at the mention of food and quickly snapped to his senses. Seeing Misty already ahead of him, he gave chase as they ran back towards Pallet Town.