Chapter 5
Togepi squirmed out of Brock's grasp and made a beeline for Misty. When it reached her it cooed and pleaded to be picked up. Misty picked it up and Togepi giggled and chirped out its name in delight.
"Wow that's the first time I've seen Togepi do that since Misty went missing" Brock remarked in amazement.
"Togepi, I have missed you so much, I bet you've been a brave boy for Pikachu and Ash and Brock and Tracey, haven't you?"
"Misty your back" the guys yelled. Misty placed Togepi on the ground and stood there with her arms behind her back.
"Yep" she said, smiling, on the brink of laughter. Pikachu ran over and leapt into her arms. Ash ran over and hugged her tightly, he thought he'd never get to see Misty again and now he had the chance to embrace her. This was one step closer to telling her but he thought that Cee cee couldn't have been more wrong about them being in love. They had a cute little crush on each other but you couldn't really call that love
"I thought I'd never see any of you again," she cried. She pulled away and looked at Ash. They looked at each other properly for the first time in four years
"Whoa you're hot" they both exclaimed at the same time.
Ash scratched the back of his head nervously and Misty blushed deep red.
"What I meant to say is that you look warm and I thought that you might be warm as it's a very hot day" Ash explained quickly, trying to cover up.
"Oh you did not, you told her she was hot as in beautiful, stunning, sexy, gorgeous. Cute and so forth and I would have to agree with you on all accounts" Brock stated.
"I meant you were hot as in you are a treat Pokemon trainer, so great that you're on fire thus your really hot" Misty said, nodding, her hair bounced.
"Chh like it's no totally obvious, you are so into him because he's a great Pokemon trainer and he's strong and he's all muscles and every girl's dream" Jack snapped.
Misty whirled around to face him and placed her hands on her hips. Her eyes were blazing with fury and her scowl indicated that Jack was in major trouble
"Jack what are you babbling about?" Misty demanded.
"I just think it's a pity to see that you've just gone with the crowd. I always figured that you followed your own heart whether it led you away from the pack" Jack answered.
"Listen you psychopathic, wussy who won't ever take one itty bitty chance because he doesn't think his Pokemon can do anything. I liked that guy, every girl's dream guy before he was strong or had muscles or was famous or rich or anything like that." Misty snapped back at him.
"Do I have the word moron tattooed across my face?" Jack asked, angrily
"Believe me it wouldn't make a difference, I wouldn't see you any differently. I liked him since we were eleven and within the three days that I met I had a crush on him. I liked him when he was cute and remarkably dense but I liked him because he always tried and he cared for his Pokemon and he had determination and he doesn't kidnap people for four years" Misty exclaimed, forgetting the other four who were standing a few feet behind them.
"Hey you admitted yourself that after a while, you chose to stick around" Jack protested
"Only because I don't have any flying Pokemon and I got attached to your Pokemon. They're surprisingly good for such a poor trainer" Misty remarked.
"You thought that I was cute?" Ash asked, pleased that she liked him, confused as to why they were arguing and slightly relieved to see that Misty wasn't going out with Jack and angry that Jack had kidnapped one of his best friends for four years.
"Butt out" Jack yelled at him.
"Hey don't yell at the guy I like a whole lot and your hero. It was because you were such a fan that got us into this great big gigantic mess in the first place" Misty barked at Jack.
"Sorry to interrupt" a female voice said from no where.
Smoke began circling around their feet and rose blanketing the part of the forest that they were at in a heavy fog. They looked around confused and Togepi cried. Two figures stood in front of them but they couldn't make out who it was. The people were standing in the shadows.
To protect the world from devastation
To unite all peoples within our nations
To denounce the evils of truth and love
To extend our reach to starts above
Jessie
James
Team rocket blasts off at the speed of light
Surrender now or prepare
Meowth That's right

When the fog cleared Misty was still arguing with Jack.
"You never give me a break 345 days a year" Jack exclaimed
"365" Misty answered flatly
"What?"
"There are 365 days a year, 52 weeks in a year, 7 days in a week, 24 hours in a day, 60 minutes in an hour, 60 seconds in a minute and then there's micro seconds. Anything else you didn't know?" Misty cried, impatiently.
"How big of a mistake I made four years ago " he replied
"No argument here" Misty said, folding her arms and blowing up a wisp of her fringe with her lower lip.
Jessie, James and Meowth were getting annoyed with this lack of attention. They still wanted Pikachu and when they pounce they find two new members of the group arguing intensely and the other three watching them, with Pikachu.
But there was lot of good Pokemon here. A Gyrados, a Dewgong, a Rapidash not to mention the Pikachu and the other Pokemon the original group had.
"Don't you know who we are?" James cried.
Jack looked at him blankly and Misty placed her hand up to her forehead and shook it.
"He knows little. I'd be surprised if he knew that there are two humans and a Meowth standing before us" Misty answered, casually.
"Do you think you could choose a slightly better time to have this discussion?" Tracey asked.
"Well we don't mind, as long as these two pip-squeaks fight, the longer you'll be distracted and the more time we have to put our master plan into action" Jessie said, flicking her hair.
At the mention of their Pokemon being stolen the whole group tensed up. Each trainer ran to his/her Pokemon's side. Ash's Pokemon crowded around him. These included Pikachu, Bulbasaur an actually obedient Charizard, a Squirtle, a Pidgeot and a Snorlax.
"Ok guys be on your look out, Team Rocket plays dirty so just be careful "Ash told his Pokemon.
Misty ran over to where Gyrados, Tentacool and Dewgong bobbed in the water. She stood in front of them, even though a huge Gyrados didn't need protection, the 16 yr. old still stood there protectively.
Jigglypuff stood next to her, blown up like a balloon. Togepi, Psyduck, Goldeen and Staryu ran after her, Goldeen bounced after her.
"Staryu, Psyduck, Goldeen, Togepi. You stay with the Tentacool, Gyrados, and Dewgong. Stay back, they could be dangerous. Tentacool grab Jigglypuff and Togepi" Misty instructed them.
Tentacool swam over and using his tentacles, he wrapped one around and Jigglypuff and the other around Togepi. He swam away dropping Jigglypuff and Togepi onto Dewgong's back.
Brock stood in front of Onix, Golem, Ninetails, Golbat,
Tracey stood in front of his Scyther, Venonat, Marril "Jack was standing in front of his Pokemon anyway. His team consisted of Growlithe, Rapidash, Rhyhorn, Fearow, and Sandshrew.
"Whew, the boss would be delighted if we brought back all these Pokemon to him" Jessie remarked.
"Who are the other two twerps?" Meowth asked.
"That Meowth can talk?" Jack asked in wonder.
"It really surprise's everyone at first" Misty told him.
"Hey your that red headed twerp, the one who used to hang out with the other twerps" James cried.
"What gave it away ? The red hair" Misty asked sarcastically.
"Still headstrong, interesting to see how Butch and Cassidy screwed up " Jessie crowed.
"Jessie, they did a better job kidnapping her though" James remarked..
"WILL YOU TWO QUIT YOUR YAPPING AND GET ON WITH STEALING THE POKEMON" Meowth yelled at them.
James pulled out a remote control and held his thumb above the large red button.
"When I push this button a cleverly disguised vacuum will begins sucking up your Pokemon" he boasted
Ash gritted his teeth and glared and Misty gasped but held her arms out in front of the Pokemon. James pushed the red button but instead of sucking the Pokemon backwards a huge wind was created. The humans had to grab hold of a tree to keep themselves from getting blown away,
Misty who was standing right next to the river was blown into the river. She stood up spluttering when she saw the effect of huge wind on rivers. A incredible wave had formed and was crashing towards her and her Pokemon. She tried to fight the force of the wave and swim over to a Pokemon,but the wave swallowed them. The group stood in terror as they watched the trainer and her Pokemon disappear beneath the wave which was sweeping down the river.
Misty was holding her breath as long as she could and felt like she was going to explode when she felt something pushing her to the top. Dewgong with the last of her energy was propelling Misty to the surface. She only had enough time to scream a desperate plea for help, grab a lungful of air before the sheer force of the wave dragged her down again.
Ash couldn't bear to watch the girl that he had been falling for,drown. He had always liked her and watching her now,he felt something new in him. A strange sense of determination,not even considering the possibility of failure. It was like how he felt before a major battle, but far more powerful. He felt like his life was to be with this girl, the first time anything ever was so clear but he knew that if he didn't save her now that his life would be empty. He let go off the tree and was whipped into the watre, the wave was crashing towards a waterfall.
The water stung his eyes but he opened and them and looked around. He saw something limp in the water. It looked like a blur of a few different colours, bright red, yellow blue and skin colour. Using all his might, he kicked his legs ferociously but it felt like he wasn't getting anywhere what seemed like an eternity of pain he reached the blur, wrapped one warm it and with the other tried to pull them to the top. The rest of what happened faded away

Ash groaned as he awoke, he didn't want to open his eyes .It hurt too much when he heard sobbing and his mind flashed back to the smiling red head he had dreamt about so much. He bolted up ignoring the pain, he felt and looked around. He saw Misty sitting one leg stretched out, the other tucked in, her hands her holding her up and her face was cast downwards.
He stood up shakily and stumbled towards her. She looked up a shimmering tear trailed down her angelic face, not the first. It looked like she had been crying for years. Her eyes suddenly filled with hope.
" Oh my god, you're alive" she said in shock
Her hand flew up to her mouth and she gazed at him. She shook her head in disbelief.
" When I saw you lying there all still, I thought you had ...." she cried , tears streaming down her face again.
Ash sat down next to her instantly.
"Misty, it's ok, I'm alive and your alive"
"I have waited for four years to hear you call me Mist
and when I saw you I thought you'd died trying to protect me and I couldn't bear the thought of not having you in my life. Now even having you in my dreams. Ash I felt like someone had just snatched my soul from me and told me I was just an empty shell of a person when I saw you lying there and I tried to move but I just couldn't and I couldn't search for my Pokemon. It was the scariest moment of my life and all I could was cry" Misty sobbed.
Ash put his arm around her shoulder and held her protectively. He never wanted to see any harm come to her. She was freezing cold but he felt a tingling warmth for touching her too.
"Misty, it's ok. We'll find your Pokemon and we'll find the others and we'll never have to separated for that long again. I sure that it was you in the cinema and then when your friend Jack came up to me. He confirmed my suspicions." Ash told her.
Misty rested her shoulder on his head.
"Jack makes a lot of mistakes but he's not so bad when you get to know him"
"Why did you do it Ash?" Misty asked. Ash looked at her puzzled and she looked back at him with watery eyes.
"Why did you risk your life for me?" she asked.
"I um because you, are you ok?' he asked changing the subject. Misty looked down at her outstretched leg.
"My leg hurts. I can't move" she answered.
Ash stood up and walked down to examine it. he inspected it, it was bruised and possibly broken. He clicked his tongue and held his chin in his hand.
"What's wrong with it?' Misty asked.
"We're going to have to amputate it" he answered severely
"What?" Misty cried in alarm. He grinned at her.
"Psyche" he yelled at her.
"Ash, that wasn't funny" Misty cried, laughing slightly.
"Sure it was" he teased.
He stood up left for a few minutes and returned with a large stick.
"Glad to see you didn't go anywhere" he teased her,
"Don't mock the afflicted"
Ash grabbed her around the stomach and lifted her up . He handed her the stick and she propped herself with the stick. she had to limp and it was difficult.
"This is kind of awkward" she said, trying to maintain her balance.
"That's why I'm going to help" he told her. He held an arm around her waist, not too tight that it would stop from doing anything but falling over. Ash felt tingly, feeling her breathing and her soft skin.
Misty looked at him and smiled.
"Well Ash, if I didn't know you any better I'd swear your just using any excuse to touch me" she joked.
Ash blushed beet red and turned away
"What, never" he cried.
"Great move Ash" he thought angrily.
"Great move Misty" Misty thought at the same time.