Disclaimer: I do not own pokémon! They are copyrighted to Nintendo, Creatures Inc., Game Freak, WB for Kids, and whoever else I left out, please accept my apologies. I am just writing for fun not for profit like everyone else so don't sue me! Lupusa and Casey are mine, I guess, and so is the plot for this fic.
Author's note: See? I got my big disclaimer back! I'm just going to copy and paste it from now on…okay, I don't have anything to say here…(can you tell?)
Friends to the End
By Ark9
Chapter Thirteen
After the League
Crunch, crunch, crunch. Sticks and leaves snap with every step. These woods were becoming a little too familiar. He had switched Tauros for a kakuna back at the center, planning to train it once he got far enough away. However, it evolved as soon as he let it out of its pokéball.
"I can't believe that I won, Pikachu! You were awesome! I think that is a record, an electric-type beating a ground-type at this level."
"Pika?"
"Since a ground-type has such a big elemental advantage."
"Pika!"
"Now it is time to celebrate! I choose everybody!"
All of Ash's pokémon are let out of their pokéballs as they reached the river that Misty had camped at for a few days.
"Squirt! Squirtletle!" Hey! There is a river here! Squirtle goes and jumps in the water.
"Bulbasaur!" and the sun is shining bright! Bulbasaur lays out to sun bathe.
"Chikachika!" I'm right behind you, Bulbasaur! Chikorita goes and lays beside Bulbasaur.
"Drill drill drill, Beedrill!" I've evolved and now I want to fly! With that, Ash's new Beedrill flies in circles above their heads.
"Char! Charizardchar." Yeah, I won't have any problem keeping my flame lit. Charizard goes and stands on a rock and falls asleep.
"Snor, Snorlax." Good idea, Charizard! Snorlax plops down on the ground and makes everyone else fly up and land hard on the ground.
"BAAZZZORRRR!" Charizard yells and fries Snorlax.
However, Snorlax was already in a deep sleep. Satisfied, Charizard falls asleep, too.
"Pikachu!" shew! Pikachu says and sighs that a little cloud-thing.
"Wait for me!" Ash yells excitedly as he jumps into the river, having changed into a swimsuit.
"Pika pika!" I'm coming too! With that, Pikachu jumped in with an inner-tube. Don't ask me where he got it.
"Wooo hoooo!!!" Ash jells while swimming down the river, racing ahead of Squirtle.
"Squirtle squirt!" The chase in on! With that Squirtle rushes ahead of Ash.
"Hey. Wait up!"
"Squirtle?!" Whoa! As it yells, it falls off a waterfall.
"Huh, what happ— Ahhh!!!!" Ash yells as he falls off right after it.
"Pikapi!" Ash! it shouts but is powerless over the fact that Ash just fell of the waterfall. Luckily, it was far enough behind to swim to shore. Pika pikachu! come on, everybody!
At this, Bulbasaur and Chikorita race down the hill behind Pikachu. Charizard wakes up and blasts the closest thing to him in anger. That happens to be Snorlax, and this time it wakes him up to full consciousness. It, however, doesn't know why it woke up and just recalls itself into his pokéball downstream on Ash. Charizard realizes that everyone is gone and decides to follow them in the air.
*oh, no!* Squirtle thinks and then hits the water. Ash lands close by. *Ash! I've got to get him on land!* With that, Squirtle pulls Ash up on his back and starts swimming to shore.
"Pika Pikachu!" There's Squirtle!
"Bulbasaur!" I'll get him! Bulbasaur Vine-grabs Squirtle (who has lost his cargo) out of the water.
"Chika chika!!!" There's Ash! (Chikorita yells as she pulls up Ash, like Bulbasaur pulled Squirtle.)
Both grass pokémon set down who they are holding. Squirtle immediately shakes himself off and yells at Bulbasaur for whipping him when he was a water pokémon because it hurt! Pikachu runs over to Ash and stops Bulbasaur and Squirtle from fighting by thundershocking them, which also hurts Squirtle quite a bit. Bulbasaur, being a grass type, is hardly affected. Squirtle, exhausted from the river and the following attacks, recalls itself into its pokéball to rest. Chikorita also runs over to Ash, having always been attached to him like Pikachu. Beedrill notices Ash, and thinking (much like Pikachu) that an attack might wake him up, uses his twin needle attack.
Beedrill's Mistake and the Grass-o-lution
"Pika! Pikachu pikakaka! Pikachu!" No! Don't attack with poison! He's probably poisoned now!
"Drill drill! Beedrill!" I didn't know! Sorry!
"Pika chu Pikapi!" You hurt Ash!
"Chika chikarri!" Now you'll pay!
Chikorita razor-leafs its wings, which doesn't do much since it is a grass attack and Beedrill is a bug-type. Then, Pikachu does its Thunderbolt, which fries it because of its flying-type.
"Drill!" it cries in pain as it is automatically returned to its pokéball from fainting.
"Bulbabulbasaur, saursaur!" I wanted to help too, Chikorita! Bulbasaur yells, somewhat angry.
"Chika chikorita, chika." I can do everything for you so just go away.
"Pikapika! Pikachu pika pikachu? Pikachu pika chu chu pika pikachu!" Don't fight now! Why don't you solve it by seeing who can make an antidote first? The loser has to return to their pokéball and the winner can continue to help.
"Chika/Bulba!!!" Okay!!! they yell at the same time.
With that the two pokémon worked hard to get an antidote and were making record time, which was good because Ash was getting worse by the second. Charizard, not ever really liking humans much, had come to like Ash and respect him but realized that the fun was over for now and recalled itself into its pokéball. Finally Bulbasaur had as much as his bulb could hold. Chikorita hadn't quite finished filling her leaf.
"Bulbasaur!" I win! it yells excitedly.
"Chika…" No way… it said sadly and then returned to its pokéball as it said it would before.
"Pika! Pikachu!" Hurry! Get Ash to drink it!
"Bulbasaur!" I will! it said and ran over to Ash. Then it sent a leaf out and caught it with its vines. Pikachu held it and used it as a funnel for Bulbasaur.
Soon they got Ash to take the antidote and could only wait. Pikachu noticed that the sun was almost setting.
*Oh, no! He's not going to wake up in time! What should I do…she'll be worried…* Pikachu wondered. "Pika pika?" What should we do?
"Bulba bulbasaur. Bulbasaursaur." We'll have to tell her that he isn't coming. You stay here and watch out for him. Bulbasaur turned around and started to leave.
Success At Last!
Ash slowly blinked his eyes a few times and then the world came into focus.
"Hey, Pikachu!" he said quietly.
"Pikachu! Pikachu pikapika!" You're awake! Bulbasaur come back! it said in a tone that showed its relief and excitement.
"Bulba?…Bulbasaur!" What?…That's great! Bulbasaur quickly came bounding back.
"Thanks, Bulbasaur!" Ash cried happily.
"Bulbasaur." You're welcome. Bulbasaur said, smiling. Then it fell down. It was tired from making the antidote so quickly and only had managed to stay conscious to help Ash.
"Bulbasaur! You deserve a rest, buddy. Bulbasaur return!" Ash said excitedly.
*If I don't get him away, soon, it'll be too late!* Pikachu thought. "Pikachu!" Follow me! Pikachu said, and then stole Ash's hat and started to run away.
"Hey! Give me back my hat!" Ash said, quickly jumping to his feet.
Ash then got that determined look on his face and began to chase Pikachu. It was little and he could hardly see it. It also didn't help that it kept going under sticks and zigzagging all over the place. Finally he reached a place that looked somewhat familiar, though at this time, it just looked big and dark. Suddenly, the area lit up, though, Ash didn't know how since there didn't seem to be any pokémon around. (In reality, it was Lupusa's Espeon that lit it up with a faint blue light. Her Umbreon, then used its ability to seem to disappear in the shadows to make Espeon, Pikachu, and itself disappear from sight.)
"Huh?" Ash asked looking around.
Then he saw someone standing in front of him. They wore a tight black suit and a matching black hood that covered everything but their eyes. Whoever-it-was obviously was a girl; and by her eyes, he knew that he should know who she was. But that didn't matter. At the moment, all he cared about was the fact that she was wearing his hat!
*Where'd Pikachu go?* Ash wondered for a moment before yelling at the girl. "…Hey! Give me back my hat!"
Ash rushed forward to get his hat, but she was quick! She dodged around the clearing for a while before Ash finally whipped it off her head. Ash quickly put it on, but as a surprise from actually being caught, she squeaked and grabbed his arm. What she didn't realize until now was that in pulling off the hat, her hood had also fallen down around her neck, revealing her bright orange hair.
" …M-Misty?" he asked, surprised.
"Yeah, it's me," she said, cautiously looking up.
"…um…" *What should I say? Quick, Ash, think! Aw, how cute. Maybe she does like me after all.* He smiles at the thought.
*Now I've made a fool of myself. Why does this happen to me? Get a hold of yourself Misty!* She starts to pull away but then notices him smiling at her and can only smile back. *What is this? Could it be that he actually likes me? …After everything that I've done to him?*
*This is great!* Pikachu thought, munching on its bowl of popcorn. (Where does it get these things?)
*You said it! Lupusa will be so happy when she finds out that we were able to get them to follow through.* Espeon replied in its head. (It can read Pikachu's and Umbreon's thoughts and send readable thoughts back to them cause it's psychic)
*Yeah!* Umbreon thought.
*I suppose that we are being a little rude to be still watching. We need to get back home. I'll keep the place lit. Pikachu, you should go back to your room and get some sleep. We don't want Lupusa worrying about us, either. I'll teleport us, okay?* Espeon thought.
*You're right.* Umbreon agreed sadly.
*But I want to see this! He's my trainer!* Pikachu argued.
*Yea, but he wouldn't appreciate it if he knew that you were spying on him, do you think?* Espeon shot at him.
*I guess not. Alright, I'll go back.* Pikachu finally gave in.
*Teleportation!* Espeon focused on the thought.
Suddenly all three pokémon felt a whirling feeling as they were teleported to their correct area. Espeon kept concentrating and the blue light stayed there, unflickering.
Meanwhile, Ash and Misty are still in the middle of the clearing.
Ash thought from before, then smiled his old smile "…what made you come out here, Misty?"
Misty immediately forgot her old excuse she had planned. She blushed and sweat-dropped in embarrassment. "Well, I just thought that…" *shoot! What was I supposed to say? I forget!* "…um…Pikachu brought me here. He said you wanted to see me. I figured you must know!" *That was close!*
*So this is what Pikachu was up to this whole time! That dirty rat! Maybe Pikachu isn't the only reason…I hope.* "Oh, I didn't know…Pikachu never told me, he just stole my hat and took off!"
Misty laughed nervously, "Heh, heh…that's funny…" *He must know, now. No, Ash was always too dense to notice anything.*
*Well, I guess there is one way to find out if Pikachu was the only reason…but what if she doesn't like me... I guess I will have to find out some time and this is the best time I'm ever going to get…* He slipped his arm out from her grip and wrapped it around her. "Oh, well. I'll ask Pikachu later."
"Huh?" Misty asked, momentarily confused.
*Uh, oh. She's gonna explode!…I knew it…* Ash thought she was building up to hit him or something.
Misty started crying those funny wavy tears, smiling, and threw her arms around his neck. *It's too good to be true.* "Oh, Ash! I was so worried about you! I just couldn't leave you even after I screwed up. Can you forgive me?"
*Shew! …maybe. Just maybe, Pikachu was right all along and has done me a favor. I really owe that pokémon a lot.* Ash felt relieved and answered, "Forgive you? Hey, I was the one that ran off! I'm…well…I'm sorry too."
"Yeah, you're right," Misty said slyly.
"Hey!" Ash glared in mock-agitation.
"But it's okay," Misty said in her normal tone.
"Thanks, Misty," Ash said, his eyes clouding over.
"Ash?" Misty asked.
"What?" Ash asked, clearing his eyes.
" Just don't leave again," she said and kissed him on his cheek.
"I…won't," Ash said afterwards and blushed.
"Good," Misty smiled.
They both leaned closer and closed their eyes, knowing what was coming, until they kissed. They pulled apart after a few seconds.
"I…" Ash started as things finally started to click in his head.
"Well…I love you, Ash. No matter what I said before." Misty said, giggling at the look on Ash's face.
"But I thought that you just wanted your—" Ash started until his thoughts cut him off. *I still haven't done that, have I?*
"Bike? You believed that?! No…I just wanted someone to be with at first. Then I saw how much you loved your pokémon and just wondered if eventually you would care about…me," Misty said, still feeling a little bashful.
"Really?" Ash asked.
"Yeah."
"Well then I guess even you couldn't be the romantic of your own life…or else you would have known that…I love you, too," Ash smiled.
"You're not serious, are you?" Misty still couldn't believe her ears.
"As serious as I could be. I…just thought that you hated me and only stuck around for the bike."
"You believed me?" Misty exclaimed.
"Why wouldn't I?" Ash asked, a little embarrassed because he didn't notice before.
Misty smiled, "You are so dense sometimes."
Ash sweat-dropped, "I try not to be."
*It's getting late, isn't it. Espeon is probably getting tired. I should get back to the hotel with Ash…but I don't want to go…* Misty thought and then said, "We should be getting back to the hotel. You wouldn't want to be late to the awards ceremony, tomorrow, would you?"
"No," Ash said reluctantly.
Misty held out her hand and smiled cheerfully, "Come on! 'Walk me back?"
"Sure!" Ash answered bashfully.
Espeon smiles as it watches them walk away and dims the light into darkness from miles away.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Yea! They're finally back together! Woo-hoo! *Sweat-drops as she realizes how stupid she is acting* Sorry about that…just a little carried away… One more part to go! Then I just might do a sequel…
Everything depends on the reviews, doesn't it? Please do! I appreciate it!