¤~A Thousand Miles~¤

by Scrat with a G

Chapter Five

The next morning, at precisely 7:00 am, Riley turned on the intercom. The entire camp was woken up to odd music that made you want to dance, thus preventing anyone from falling back asleep.

Wanna rock you steady baby, come on now let's go crazy, you know the time is right so let's get funky tonite, everybody's letting go now, it's time to start the show now, get ready, hold on tight and let's get funky tonite…

Ash groggily arose from his uncomfortable bunk. The white cotton sheets were damp with sweat. He had been dreaming about Misty again. He couldn't remember the dream, but Misty had definitely been in it. Ash had been have a lot of those dreams lately – where he would dream about her, then wake up sweating and unable to remember anything about it.

After Ash and Brock got dressed, they noticed Jesse and Chris refused to awaken and had buried their heads under their pillows and tucked the corners of their thin blankets underneath their bodies, despite the volume of their alarm. They were easily awakened with a jolt of electricity at Ash's command.

Ash and Brock dragged themselves to breakfast, leaving Jesse and Chris to fend for themselves. Misty was already munching on her oatmeal at the table they had eaten dinner at the night before when they got there.

The two boys had just finished their meals when they found Riley at the podium once again. Her red hair was tousled a little, as if she'd been up all night and was just too lazy to comb it. She was wearing jeans and a plain bright yellow sleeveless shirt.

Brock fell out of his seat, staring up at her as if she were an angel sent from heaven, as she commanded everyone's attention. Once everyone was listening, she gazed around the room.

"I'm glad to see everyone is here – except… oh dear… where is the rest of cabin five?" She looked over at Ash. "They'll miss the first lesson." She looked at Ash with a tiny smile on her face, as if to ask him where they were.

"Don't know, don't care."

"…Ah. Of course," she continued. "As I was saying." Her voice lost its friendly touch. "Yesterday was just a warm-up. Today begins the real training."

Ash gulped. He didn't like the way she said that…

"Not only will your Pokémon be trained for battle, but you will be as well. Physically, mentally, emotionally. When I'm finished with you, you're gonna feel like you could join the Elite Four," she told them. "Also," she added. "At the end of our three weeks together, I will select the one who has progressed the most to battle me for the championship."

Battle? Championship? Things were definitely starting to perk Ash's interest up. He thanked whoever it was that had blessed him with selective hearing.

"My friend Kyree is passing around the sheet that lists all the assignments for today. You will spend the equivalent of one week in each of the categories. You will rotate each day. I am the instructor for the Physical course, Kyree Emotional, and Ara is Mental." She paused, realizing how odd that sounded. A few people laughed.

At the mention of their names, Kyree and Ara looked up and gave the room a tiny wave from where they were standing. Kyree had already handed a copy of the assignment sheet to each of the tables and was standing next to the girl who must have been Ara. Kyree looked about Riley's age, except she was two or three inches taller, with blondish hair with a red tint, and the same green eyes as Riley. Ara must have been a year or two younger than Riley and Kyree, about Ash's age. She had light brown hair that reached her shoulders and hazel eyes.

It was then that Misty passed Ash the assignment sheet. He glanced down to the section that listed the arrangements for cabin five. A bold letter P meant Physical, M for Mental and E stood for Emotional.

Ketchum, Ash – E

McCartney, Jesse – M

Slate, Brock – P

Trousdale, Christopher – M

That meant that none of Ash's classes would be with his cabinmates. He didn't know whether to celebrate or be sad. He didn't need to guess whether or not Brock would be happy – Riley would be teaching his first lesson.

At the bottom of the page, it noted the order that everyone would rotate in – Physical to Mental to Emotional and back to Physical.

Ash sighed to himself. He looked at the listings for Misty, under cabin two. He felt his heart skip a beat when he saw the red letter E next to her name. He tried not to seem to excited as he passed the sheet to Brock.

One hour later, Ash found himself sitting in a circle in the middle of the grass, with Misty next to him.

This is going to be so lame… Ash thought skeptically. Why do we have to train our emotions?

"Because, Mr. Ketchum," Kyree replied as she stepped in between two middle-aged women and stood in the center of the circle. "Your emotions play a big part in battling."

I hate it when people read my thoughts… he grumbled in his mind. Pikachu giggled.

"Get used to it." She turned to face the rest of the group. "Now, can anyone tell me why we need to control our emotions?"

A girl of about nineteen raised her hand. Kyree pointed at her briefly, allowing her hand to fall back to her thigh.

"Because," the girl began. "Say you're battling with this really cute guy that you have a crush on. If you really like him, you might go soft on him and lose the battle, thus hurting your Pokémon."

"Also for the exact opposite reason," Kyree told them. "If you're battling an enemy, you may fight too hard and further injure your Pokémon." She glanced around with a wise air to her tone. "Pokémon are not tools of war," she reminded them.

Ash sighed. He'd heard this lecture a million times before.

"All we are going to be doing for today," Kyree continued, "is meditating while I read your thoughts and tell you what you need to concentrate on while you're here."

Grand.

"We'll start with you." Kyree pointed at a girl of about eleven. "The rest of you can mill about over there, and I'll call you over one by one."

Ash rolled his eyes. Misty stood up and offered a hand to Ash to help him up. His fingertips tingled as their hands met. The two walked over to the area that Kyree had pointed out. Pikachu followed. Misty began gushing about how positively wonderful it was here, how much she was going to learn, how many friends she had made, yadda yadda yadda, but Ash wasn't listening. He was still pondering why this was worth any of his time.

Before he knew it, Kyree was calling him over. Like a robot, his feet obeyed her command and he staggered over.

"Sit on the ground," she instructed. He complied. "Now," came her kind voice, "close your eyes. Free your mind. Let yourself become caught in the wind."

Ash rolled his eyes to himself, but did as he was told. A moment later, he was flying above the mountains, like a graceful Pidgeot, soaring in between the clouds. Misty was next to him.

"Hi, Ash!" she giggled. Her voice seemed echo-y and far away, but he took no notice. She flew closer. They both landed on a mountainside. He embraced her and leaned in to kiss her—

"Very interesting."

Kyree's voice interrupted his thoughts. And he had been having such a good dream too! He had been flying, and then… what had happened? Ash sighed. Once again, he couldn't remember. He shook his head.

"What's interesting?"

"Oh, nothing really. You're free to go now." She smiled.

"I thought you were going to tell us what we needed to work on?" Ash reminded her.

"Yes, but I think you'll be able to work this one out on your own," she replied. "Now get out of here before I sic Riley on you."

Ash's eyes widened and he quickly scampered away.

"Misty Waterflower!"

"Wish me luck!" she chirped to Ash as she made her way over to Kyree. He watched her sit down, place her hands on her knees, and close her eyes, just as he had. Kyree muttered something to her, and she drifted off silently, with a content look on her face. She looked so peaceful, like she was having a dream, yet she was still conscious.

Before he knew it, Misty had bounded back over.

"How'd it go?" Ash asked, trying to sound casual.

"Oh, great," Misty replied. "She told me what I needed to work on, and she gave me some advice."

There was a silence as they looked at each other for a moment, until they both blushed at the same time and looked away.

"Hey, let's go see how Brock's doing!" Misty suggested. Before Ash could say anything, she grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him into the woods, which, on the other side, led to Riley's area. She plunked him down in the brush on the edge of the forest. "Sit. Stay."

"Uh… okay…"

She sat next to him. Pikachu caught up a few seconds later, breathing heavily. Ash allowed the small Pokémon to take refuge in his lap as he and Misty watched Riley shout commands at her class, who were all suited up in military fatigues and were doing jumping jacks. Brock was trying to impress her by doing his jumping jacks double-speed, which only made Riley yell at him for throwing everyone else off. Brock, of course, wasn't fazed a bit.

When they were finished with their jumping jacks, Riley told them that they were going to run around the entire camp, with one of their Pokémon, to conclude their warm-ups. Ash laughed as Brock tried to run faster than the rest of them, but tripped and fell on his face. Before long, the last of the trainers had disappeared, leaving only a cloud of dust behind.

Ash and Misty sat in the foliage for a few minutes in silence. Pikachu was fast asleep in Ash's lap. Ash was staring off into space with a dreamy look on his face as he daydreamed about Misty. Suddenly, he was shaken out of his fantasy as he felt something pressing on his lips. He blinked a few times to shake himself back into reality, only to find Misty kissing him lightly.

a/n: Gaah! I'm so bad at fluff… Forgive me…