Mt

Mt. Silver

Pt. 4: the road to Mount Silver

Welcome back folks! Please don't hurt me! Um…yea…so…what was I saying? Oh yea! Ash and the gang are on their way to the pokemon reception gate so they can head up to Mt. silver. What pokemon will they find? Who will they encounter? And will they come out alive once they get to Mt. Silver? Read on to find out the answers to some of those questions lurking in you mind!

Misty introducing the title: the road to mount silver!

The receptionist at the gate in front of Mt. Silver pass nodded approval to ash and the gang and they walked trough. They gasped and there jaws dropped. The land just beyond the gate was very beautiful, and yet, somehow, it had a forbidding feeling to it. Misty clutched ash's hand, unknowingly, but quickly brought it back. Tall grasses weaved there way through trees that looked as if they'd been here for all time. Light reached only the treetops and the outskirts of the deep, dark forest. Three trees could be seen before it went to total darkness. Misty gulped as her gaze went upwards. Looming above the ancient forest was Mt. Silver. Shimmering and shining in all its glory, it showed silver against the golden sky. Deep crevices in the rock made it look as if it were frowning as it gazed at the unwelcome travelers.

Ash took a deep breath and bravely started into the forest. " What are you doing?! You don't know what's in that place! I'm going back!" Misty said. Brock narrowed his eyes (yes, even further.) and squinted into the darkness. "I'm going with ash. I wont let him do this alone." Brock said as he stepped into the forest. Unnoticed by brock, ash looked pleadingly at misty. With his eyes he was saying to misty 'please come! I don't want to leave you; I can't do this without you! Misty, I love you, but I've got to do this! Please…' misty saw ash's eyes and knew what he was saying. She bit her lip, and nodded her head. "Ok, I'll come. Besides, ashyboy here still owes me a bike and if he dies in this forest I'll never get it! Lets go!" she started into the forest.

Looking back misty said "Well, don't tell me your scared! Come on!" ash sighed and smiled. "Were coming! Don't let your hair fall out! Geez!" ash said sarcastically. Ash and misty had started to really enjoy play fighting for brock. It was fun now that they knew the other person didn't mean what they said. Misty stood on ash's left and brock on his right. In the darkness brock couldn't see ash and misty holding hands. Misty clutched ash's hand tightly and held it close to her. The forest scared her but she wasn't about to let brock know that. Ash was ok to let know these things but bock still saw her as Mrs. Tomboy-who-isn't-scared-of-anything.

She yearned to put her head on ash's shoulder and hold him, but restrained herself. * Brock's here misty. You can't let him know. Not now at least. Dang, look at me. I'm becoming dependent on a boy! * She sighed and ash glanced at her. She squeezed his hand to say 'its ok, I was just thinking.' He smiled at her and squeezed her hand in return. * Oh well, ash is worth it. * Misty thought. She smiled to herself and started to pay more attention to the dark woods around her. Desperately she fought away the feeling of fear that was overcoming her. She squeezed ash's hand tighter and walked a little closer to him.

Misty noticed she couldn't see brock so he must not see her. With this new knowledge, misty took a chance and kissed ash's cheek. She whispered in his ear, " I can't see brock so I don't think he sees me. I wont do it again. I'm just a little scared. I'm glad you're here to protect me. I feel as if something is watching us." She pulled away from him and he nodded slightly, indicating that he felt the same way. She knew that he was trying not to let brock know that they were talking, along with being afraid. She leaned closer to him to hear what he was saying. "Yea, me too. Either my imagination is going wild or I think I keep seeing eyes blinking at us for a split second. I'm glad you came." He whispered and squeezed her hand.

The forest got deeper and darker. Every sign that they came form a different place and had not been there all there life was gone. Total darkness, except for the little light pikachu was providing. Misty's breath quickened as she spotted a set of eyes blink on then off. Ash's expression didn't change. Neither did his pace or his breath, but somehow misty knew he was scared. There was a tension she felt around him, a tension that she felt herself. She rubbed his arm and squeezed his hand encouragingly. He smiled slightly and glanced gratefully at her.

They were all tired, so they figured they would settle down and try to sleep. Agreeing that a watch should be kept with all the pokemon, charizard started a fire on some old, dried up leaves with a stone circle around them. As time flowed by strange sounds arose in the time warp of a forest around them. Somehow brock had nodded of to sleep. Ash and misty were too scared to sleep. So they were on a double watch. With their backs to the fire they held each other and rocked back and forth. Hours passed. Nothing. "Ash…do you hear that…?" misty whispered when she heard a rustle of leaves close to her. They picked up the pokeballs and waited.

A hideous creature witch has never been heard of or seen before rushed out of the bushes at them. Ash and misty released all the pokemon. The creature was four feet tall. Its face (if you could call it that) was squashed and in an unnatural position. The teeth had grown out and its tongue hung loosely in between them. Its eyes were small and blood red, giving the creature a look of madness. Its tail was two feet long and looked hard and pointed, like a sword. Its fingers, witch were groping toward the pokemon slowly and dangerously, were the size of two fingers and were pointed.

All misty's senses went numb; she was petrified with fear. She could barely breathe, let alone call out order to the pokemon. Seeing this, ash called out orders to all the pokemon. The creature seemed to yawn as it dodged all their attacks with ease. It jumped high into the air and landed in front of misty. Seeing the creature in front of her, misty snapped back to reality. She did the first thing that came into her mind, she grabbed her mallet and hit the creature with a double-concussion-slam several times, after that she kicked it and hurled it across the camp.

Panting, misty fell on the ground. Tired and shocked, ash kneeled down next to her. The creature ran away, mumbling in its own language. "Misty, that was scary…how did you…why did you…what was that mallet thing about? I thought you were a goner when he jumped in front of you…I couldn't move. It was like I was under stun spoor or something. I'm glad you're stronger than that." Ash whispered; he had gone hoarse from all the screaming he did. Shaking a little, misty smiled a small smile and kissed ash's cheek. "I'm just glad your ok ash. I did the first thing that came to my mind, on instinct. After I was done I fell because I was scared and tired. I hope this makes you happy ashyboy, first night and were already attacked…it probably went to get its relatives. We'd better move don't you think?" ash nodded and they picked up their stuff.

Misty was more scared than she showed ash. She was shaking from head to toe, and her eyes were watering. She wanted to sit and hold ash, kissing him and hugging him, so she could feel better but stopped herself. She knew he needed the same comfort as she did, but it wasn't safe now. All this restraining her feelings was killing her; she did it a lot these days. The more she held them in the more intense they got. Her feelings were even stronger now then they had been before she told ash how she felt, and holding them in and hiding them from brock was really hard. She thought that ash might feel the same way, because she'd seen him looking at her, as if he was deciding something then taking a deep breath and looking away.

Misty bit her lip, closed her eyes tight, and tilted her head to one side. * Misty stop being selfish. You'd be submitting all three of you to death by stalling everyone for your own feelings and comfort. Just a little longer, once you're out of this mount silver mess you can pore your heart out all you want but wait…just a little longer. * Misty told herself. She took a deep breath and put the last of her things away. With a disgusted look on her face she kicked brocks arm. "Brock, you log, wake up! How could you sleep through that! Hurry and get your things together, its not safe here anymore. We'll tell you want happened along the way." Brock shot out of bed and got his things together quickly.

Once they got going, ash and misty told brock about the creature and how misty beat it up. Brock was horrified. (About witch? They creature or the idea of misty beating it up? Hmm…) they walked faster. Soon their walk became an all-out, break-neck run. They ran trough the woods; with all the pokemon that could make light flying, running, hopping or whatever they did in front on them and the strongest pokemon behind them. They ran and ran, only slowing down to help someone stand back up. Once they felt they were safe for a while they sat down and tried to catch their breath.

The pokemon were as tired as the humans were, but they still made a fire for their human friends before going into their pokeballs for rest. Even pikachu, who NEVER went in his pokeball, went into it for more reasons than one. No one slept anymore that night, or was it the day, they couldn't tell. They sat, back to back, watching the outside in fear. They heard a rustle in the bushes next to them. Quickly they released the pokemon. Everyone ready for a battle, they waited. Then they heard a voice, "don't hurt us!!!!!! Please!!!!" a whiney male voice said. "Yea, we wont steal your pikachu!!!!!!!!!!! Please don't hurt us!!!!" a woman's voice said. Team rocket popped out of the bushes. (Did ya miss em? I knew ya did!) "Pikachu, buddy, amigo, pal…" Meowth said. Jessie hit Meowth. "Will you stop acting stupid Meowth?! Were here for help not for pikachu!" Jessie turned to ash and co. " We've been running from a pack of horrible creatures! Can we travel with you guys until we get out of this forest? Our traveling Meowth balloon doesn't work in here!"

Ash thought a bit. His enemies coming to him asking for help on hands and knees. Believe or not? Help or let get eaten by those creatures? The thought of the creatures made up his mind for him " ok, but you have to do your part AND NOT STEAL POKEMON!!

OR I WILL PERSONALLY LURE THOSE CREATURES OVER HERE AND TELL THEM WE'VE GOT FREASH MEAT!! GOT THAT?!" team rocket cringed at the thought and agreed whole-heartedly. So all the pokemon went back into there pokeballs (Mumbling something about 'to bad it would have been fun to beat them up…') and team rocket joined the circle of scared people.

Many hours had past. They had dinner about four hours ago. Nothing came. Jessie, James, and Meowth had fallen asleep on top of each other. Their faces pale from lack of sleep and fright, ash, misty, and brock had the first watch. Misty's eyelids drooped, no mater how scared she was she was about to fall asleep. Ash rubbed her arm and whispered in her ear, "If you want some sleep me and brock can take watch. Don't worry, I'll protect you while you sleep." Misty smiled wearily and thanked him. She crawled over toward Jessie and James to be out of the way and fell asleep.

Jessie and James woke up with a start. Ash jumped back, he had poked them to tell them it was there turn for watch. They nodded and took their place by the fire. Ash crawled over to misty and laid down. With brock next to him, they fell asleep. James yawned and stretched. "'Bout time for breakfast don't ya think Jessie? I'll look for some roots or something familiar. Maybe berries?" James said. "Yea, I'll help. Meowth you look out for us." Jessie agreed. Pikachu popped out of his pokeball. "Pikachu!" it said and started to make himself glow. "You want to help us?! I thought you'd hate us…ok then lets go." Jessie said surprised. Pikachu ran to a spot and Jessie and James searched. Pulling a root out of the ground that they knew, they searched other places.

Once they were done they had quite a lot of 'food'. Didn't look like food to pikachu, but somehow he trusted them. He figured they probably knew more about this stuff than he did, considering they follow him around non-stop. James walked over to his stuff and pulled out a bottle of water and a pot. Walking over to the fire, they put all the roots in the pot with the water and held the pot over the fire. Adding another root they said was a spice; they swished the soup that was forming with a stick. "Piiiikkkkaaa…" pikachu said rubbing his belly. Jessie laughed, "Smells good? Great! We fix it all the time when were in a forest. It's the only place these roots grow. When it's done we always have some berries. The soup tastes good, but it leaves a horrible aftertaste."

James tested the soup and took it off the fire. "It's done!" grabbing some spoons (sure are prepared aren't they?) they started eating. "Pika!" pikachu said ran to the pot. "C'mon pikachu! Dares enough hea for ev'yone!" Meowth said. "Pikachu pikapi pi kapi. (Thanks! Save some for ash and misty! Oh, and brock too.)" Pikachu said. Meowth agreed and told Jessie and James to save some for 'da twerps'. Pikachu laid down, stuffed. And after eating some berries, with a wonderful taste in his mouth. Jessie and James put the pot aside and continued their watch.

A couple hours later Ash and everyone woke up. "Pikachu? What are you doing?" ash asked. "Pikapi chu pikachu! (Ash your awake! Jessie and James are ok! Your breakfast is by the fire; you might have to heat it up. Remember to eat some berries afterwards. Horrible aftertaste.)" Pikachu went back to his conversation with Meowth and ash walked over to the pot. After heating it up he took it over too misty and brock. They ate gratefully and had some berries afterwards. "Wow! Thanks team rocket! That was good!" misty said. Ash and brock agreed. " Oh, don't mention it. Anything for a friend of pikachu! He's a fun little guy you know?" James said. Ash smiled and they walked over to team rocket. "Guess we'd better get going, we've been here to long." Ash suggested. Everyone agreed and they picked up camp.

Walking calmly, they started through the woods. With a new strength (possibly from the soup?) they gained many miles along the ancient path they had mistakenly found. Something moved up ahead. Everyone stopped. Misty grabbed ash's hand as her breath quickened. A black spot moved up ahead. Then it stopped, and time seemed to stop with it. The little creature from before, and indeed it was little compared to its relatives, popped out of the shadow and murmured something to the rest of the shadows. The shadows came into focus. They were exactly like the first little creature except they were more muscular and each was eight feet tall. Misty bit her lip hard so she wouldn't scream. They waked up to misty. She craned her neck to see it. First it grabbed misty then another grabbed ash and soon all of them were on the slimy shoulders of these muscular mutants. Misty blacked out; she had fainted. Ash called her name but his voice was lost in the wind that was streaking past him. The wind pounded on his face. He kept his eyes closed and fought the blackness that was overcoming him. Squinting, he opened his eyes. Just then the mutant jumped down a giant hole and started running through some underground tunnels. Ash's head swam; he couldn't concentrate. Finally he let himself slip into the darkness and fainted.

Ash awoke with water being slashed on his face and human hands running over his neck to check his pulse. His eyes blinked open. "Stop, stop. *Cough* I'm awake." Brock backed up. Team rocket was in the corner nursing several cuts and bumps they had. " Ash? Your ok? Ash!" misty ran to him and held his head in her hands. " Hi mist. You ok?" ash whispered, so only she would hear. Misty nodded as her eyes filled up with tears. "I'm fine. Don't scare me like that!!! I thought you were…"she trailed off and backed up, realizing what she was doing.

Everyone in the room was staring at them. Ash smiled at her. " I didn't know you cared…" He said sarcastically to cover for her. "Um…I don't! I just don't want you die because you still haven't repaid me for that bike Mr. Pokemon master!!!" misty said, relieved to do something fun, namely play-fighting. Ash tried hard not to laugh but you could see it in his eyes. "So, how long have I been out?" ash asked. Brock swallowed, " An hour. At least as far as I know. We all blacked out when they first started running. I don't know what happened to you."

Ash blinked. * An hour? How long was I awake…. * he thought. "Um, the last thing I remember was those mutants jumping down a hole. I'd tried to stay awake but when he jumped down the hole I got dizzy and blacked out. It seemed like hours I was on his slimy shoulder." "Well twerp, er, ash, you sure are strong. The ride from the place we were at to the hole was about three hours. I asked." Jessie said. Ash looked around the room. * A cell?! * Indeed they were in an underground prison cell. Torches lit the dirt room. Ash shivered, but it wasn't because he was cold. The bars were made out of bones and were blood stained.

" You've noticed the deluxe prison cell I see. Hm, well get used to it. They come around once each week and the next time they come they're going to take us before the king to get dealt with." Jessie said. " How do you know these things?! Can they use psychic?" ash asked her. "No! The older ones can talk our language. I bullied someone else who was a prisoner here to tell me what goes on here! You wont believe some of the barbaric things they do!" Jessie said. Ash chuckled. Just like Jessie, bully someone who's six times taller than you.

Ash's stomach growled. He ignored it and rubbed a sore spot. When he pulled his hand away there was blood on it. "Great, I'm bleeding." He said. James threw some bandages over to him. "Use those. We had some with us for pikachu's thunder bolts." James said. Ash smiled and thanked him. After putting his bandages on he asked were the pokemon were. "Not here. They couldn't keep up. Not even little togepi is here. I'm sure pikachu will take care of all of them though. He's kinda like the leader." James answered. Ash sighed in worry and lay down. "Dang were screwed…"

Misty watched ash find out what happened, chewing on her tongue. She had been so worried about him and her emotions were going wild. The anger was gone, now there was worry, happiness, sadness, and other feelings she couldn't file out all mixing her up and she couldn't say anything to ash or everyone will find out and this is NOT the right time. Misty pretended she was listening and let tears inch there way, silently, down her face. Ash didn't even notice how worried she was; he was too worried about their predicament. She knew why and admired him for ignoring his feelings to help everyone.

She was worried about togepi more than their predicament. He was her baby and she's not there to help him. * But pikachu is there. He'll explain what happened and make the right choices. * She told herself. Sighing quietly, she laid down and faced the wall. Her mind knew that she couldn't do anything now, but her heart wanted to do something. Not just sit hear and wait for the guards to come and get them.

The room got quiet. Misty could hear Jessie whisper to James that they should get some rest. Brock was snoring. Then she heard footsteps coming to her. Misty sat up and turned around. Ash came and sat down next to her. " Are you sure your ok misty? You look sad or something." Ash asked as he rubbed her cheek with his hand. Finally misty couldn't stand it any more. "Oh ash, I was so worried about you. And I couldn't tell anyone how I felt and when you woke up I wanted to hold you then I wanted to smack you for making me worry then all my feeling got mixed up and I didn't know what I wanted to do," misty took a deep breath and continued.

"All this keeping my feelings inside is so hard for me. It used to be easy, but now that I know you love me too I just can't do it any more. I don't want to put any of us in danger by staling us, and I don't think this is the right time or way to let them know I love you. I feel like a knot that cant be undone… and you don't know how good this feels to tell you these things ash."

Ash nodded, "I do, because I feel the same way. Except I guess I have a lot to keep my mind off of it. Pokemon, the mutants, the forest, Mt. Silver. My mind is so filled with ways to solve our problems that I don't think about my feelings. But I've never even thought about how you must feel, with me taking care of all the problems you can only think about your feelings. I'm sorry for ignoring you." Misty wrapped her arms around ash as a fresh wave of tears came poring through. He held her, rubbed her back, and kissed her forehead.

Misty took a deep breath and looked into his eyes. " Your so wonderful ash. How did my heart get caught in those brown eyes? For that matter, how do you put up with me?" ash smiled and bent down. They kissed passionately. When they pulled apart they both smiled. "Well, I feel better now. Thank you for listening. I love you so much." Misty said gratefully. He smiled and rubbed her cheek.

"Bravo, bravo! Well-put Mrs. Twerp! Encore! * Sniff * that was so romantic!" Jessie smiled slyly and said, " if you're trying to hide it from brock over there, you might want to be a little quieter. He's starting to wake up. I didn't want to stop you, but I like a little love scandal now and then. I didn't want to ruin it. So, your welcome, and goodnight, er, day, er, whatever." Jessie turned over and just as ash got away from misty brock opened his eyes.

He looked around the room. "Misty, why is your face so red? Never mind, not sure I want to know. You guys should get some rest." With that he turned over and went back to sleep. Indeed, misty's face was red. It was redder than her hair. She was so embarrassed. Yet, she did thank Jessie for telling them. * Still, I would have appreciated it if she hadn't watched us the whole time! * Taking several deep breaths she settled down for some rest.

Days past and nothing happened. Some moldy garbage would come in from a hole in the dirt ceiling that was supposed to be food. They ate it but it would make them puke a little. Not Jessie and James though, obviously they were used to this kind of food in team rocket. It went this way for three days, or was it four? They had all lost count. Until one day when a guard came to the cell.

He looked at them with a frightening glare. "You prisoners come. King will see you. Want to talk with leader of your group personally. Back haired kid, you leader, right? You walk in front." The creature opened the cell and pushed ash in front. Misty wanted to yell at the creature to be nice to ash, but stopped knowing that it would be stupid to do so. She took a deep breath and took her place in line. The order the monster had put them in was ash, brock, misty, Jessie, and James. He said it was leader, second in command, mistress, advisor, and servants last. Jessie choked down a laugh when the monster called James a servant.

He paraded them down many corridors until finally they stopped. In front of them was a solid gold door with carvings on it to horrible to describe in this story. "Oh mighty king. Me got leader and group to see you. Request entrée." The doors swung open and the creature walked them in. As they took their places in the room the monster that had lead them there left. On top of the solid gold throne was the tallest and mightiest creature of them all. His speech was wonderful, compared to the rest of them. He was truly the king of all these underground creatures.

Ash stepped forward and bowed gracefully. " Oh mighty king, it is an honor to be in front of your court. What do want with poor creatures like us?" ash said. Misty blinked, since when did ash learn to talk like that?! She smiled slightly. * That's ash. Always full of surprises. * She thought. The king, obviously, was pleased with ash's statement. "I have called you here to judge your intentions, and to decide you friend or foe. We are the balakemers. Our race has been in these tunnels long before your race came here. Never before has one of our children come in contact with your race, and never before have they gotten hurt severely. He said that he had been attracted to your fire, since he is not allowed to touch it, and when he saw you he was attacked. He said the creatures you attacked with were weak. While he was easily dodging your attacks he saw someone that wasn't doing anything and wanted to ask her to stop the creatures. So he jumped in front of her. When he did so she attacked with a weapon, he was hurt badly and came directly to me. What have you to say on this matter?"

Ash thought a while. "Oh king, we are new to this area. Were we come from there is sunlight during the day and darkness during the night. We were alone and frightened by the total darkness around us. Later we set up camp and a watch, assuming something was going to attack us. Forgive me you majesty, but your race looks ugly and terrifying to us and we attacked assuming you were hostile and were going to attack and kill us. We knew nothing of your race, your culture, or what your race was called. We just knew that you were skilled and powerful. After your child ran we ran also. We were scared. What we did was out of total self-defense. If this is not enough for you, misty can tell you why she did what she did."

Ash moved aside and gracefully motioned for misty to step forward. Shaking, misty stepped beside ash. The king's stern eyes moved from ash to misty. "Speak. We will not hurt you. Do not be afraid." The king said to her. Misty curtsied awkwardly, and told her view of the incident. "Your majesty, when your child came I was so scared I could barely breath. I wasn't doing anything because I was petrified. When he jumped in front of me I didn't think. I acted on instinct and attacked, assuming that he was going to hurt me. After your child ran away I fell down, exhausted, terrified, and worried. I acted on instinct and in self-defense. If I had known your race was intelligent I would have acted different. But I didn't and I acted savagely. I ask your forgiveness for my ignorance, oh mighty king."

As the king considered their comments and remarks, he watched them. Ash glanced at misty and nodded, telling her good job. She smiled slightly, but she was still shaking. Unlike ash, she didn't work well under stress. "Give me time to consider this. While you wait I will ask my servants to feed you proper food and drink. We have not been acting civilized to people of a different race, witch we always try to do." Seeing the disgust on their faces, the king added, " Would you like fresh steak or chicken?" They all sighed. " Your majesty, we would take anything but the food we had in the cells. Our bodies were not made to digest that kind of stuff. Thank you for your hospitality. We would greatly appreciate some proper food." The king smiled, although he was tying to hide it, and told his servants to bring them food. They ate heartily, although sloppily, and were filled up soon.

After a couple minuets the king came out of his private chamber. James wiped his mouth with the back of his hand to clear the food. They all stood attentively, waiting to see if they would live or die. The king looked from one anxious face to the next anxious face. Then he smiled, witch looked rather threatening to us humans but was nice among the balakemers. "Relax friends. You have won my favor by your kind words, sensible story, and the clear, utter, fright of this young lady that proved your story true. Your race will be handled with care when coming here and we will never forget you, showing us that we are not the only intelligent race in this vast and strange world. For our gratitude, we have sent our best trackers to find your creature friends, and will escort you out of this forest. I hope you will forgive our rudeness and I welcome you to stay later. I think you will find our kingdom very interesting, rather than threatening, upon your next arrival. We will set out once you have gotten your creature friends and some rest for the journey ahead. You are dismissed." With that he sat down and they were escorted to some royal bedrooms to rest.

Ash awoke with something on his legs. He sat up and saw pikachu snoring peacefully on top of him. He smiled and quietly got out of bed. After getting dressed he sat down at a desk that was in the room. On top of the desk was some official paperwork he had to sign that he had put off the night before. Signing them he woke up pikachu. Pikachu jumped into his arms and licked his face. Ash smiled from ear to ear as he greeted all his pokemon. With there wonderful greeting over ash walked to misty's room.

He hesitated before he knocked. Hearing her up and about, he knocked. "Who's there?" she asked. "It's me! Got a minuet?" ash asked smiling. Misty opened the door. "I don't know…do I have a minuet? Get in here!" she grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him in the room. Closing the door behind them, misty pulled ash to her bed and made him sit down. "So…I take it you had a good night?" ash said, surprised by her cheeriness. "What do you think ashyboy? Yes! They treated me like royalty! When I asked them about it they said 'the wife of the great leader of the humans, ash, needs special care.' That was SO funny!" misty chuckled, and pulled ash down to lay on the bed with her.

"Then I woke up with togepi squealing in my ear 'mommy!!! Hi!!!!!' then it asked if we could see 'daddy' today. I said 'sure, he's right down the hall.' So togepi wants to see you daddy." "Daddy? When did I become daddy?" ash asked. Misty smiled. "You always have been. Remember when you saved me from that bug in varidian forest? Togepi didn't just say thank you, it said 'thank you daddy for saving mommy!' hehe, I couldn't just tell you exactly what it said back then now could I?"

Ash smiled as misty started tracing patterns on his chest. Her finger traveled up to his lips and rested there for a second. She smiled warmly and laid her hand on the bed in between them. Ash put his hand on top of hers and smiled back. Ash leaned in and they kissed. Behind them they heard some laughing. "Togepi togi pi togi!!! (Mommy and daddy finally kissed!!!) Misty went beet red. "What did he say?" ash asked. "Um…he said daddy and mommy finally kissed." Misty started laughing. Ash joined her and almost fell off the bed laughing.

Taking a few deep breaths, ash turned to togepi. "Hi togepi! How ya doing little guy?" togepi chuckled and shook its head yes, saying he was ok. "Good! Hey misty? Should I start calling him son?" misty laughed, "No, togepi is fine." Ash smiled and got up. "Well, I'd better go see what's being done about our transportation out of here." With that he gave her a kiss on the cheek and walked out.

Misty smiled as ash left the room. "He's the best. We sure are lucky togepi, to have a handsome man like that taking care of us. Huh, he's a good leader to. He did a great job in front of the king." She sat down on the edge of her bed and let togepi jump up and down on her lap. "Togepi togi (daddy is fun! You are to!)" It said. Misty laughed. Looking through her stuff she found her brush and brushed her hair. When ash knocked she had just finished a shower and gotten in some fresh washed clothes. It felt good to be clean. Sighing, misty got her stuff together and walked to Jessie's room.

Misty knocked on Jessie's door. "Hey Jessie?" misty said to let Jessie know it was her. The door opened. "Well hi Mrs. Twerp, er, misty. What do you want?" Jessie said in her cocky voice. "I wanted to talk to you about something. Is that ok Mrs. Annoying, er, Jessie?" Misty countered. Jessie smiled. "Ok, come on." Misty walked in Jessie's room. "So, what do you want?" Jessie said, crossing her legs. Misty took a deep breath. "It's about what you saw in the cell. You know, me and ash?" Jessie nodded. "Yea, so what?"

Misty chewed on her lip nervously. "This feels so weird, talking to you. Look, you can't tell anyone about what you saw. Were not sure how brock will react and, sorry but, I know that if you told James he would tell brock. We'll tell him when we feel it's the right time, but now is not a good time to talk about it. I've been nervous ever since you found out."

Jessie nodded her head. "Well, I guess your right. Don't worry; your secret is safe with me. Can I tell you a secret?" Misty was taken aback. Jessie tell HER a secret?! "Sure, anything." She said, politely. Jessie looked at the floor for a second and then back to misty. "James and I are going to quit team rocket so we can elope. We've been dating for years now, in secret. I'm kinda nervous. Do you think were doing the right thing?" misty blinked, Jessie and James?! Then she smiled, * they're perfect together. *

"Jessie, you don't know how perfect a couple you are. I think your doing the best thing you can do…if you love him." Misty said. "What do you mean by 'if you love him'?" Jessie asked surprised. "Do you love him?" misty asked. Jessie looked like she was about to fall out of her chair. * Well, that sure is a personal question! * Jessie thought. "Well, um, YES! OF COURSE I LOVE HIM!! Dang, he's so wonderful Misty. James is a perfect gentleman when he's not acting stupid! Huh, I love him so much!"

Jessie sighed then blinked. "Did I just say that? Did I just tell you the one thing I haven't admitted to anyone?!" Misty smiled. "Yes, Jessie, you just told your enemy for the last year the one thing you didn't even admit to yourself until lately. Congratulations!" Misty said. But surprisingly, Jessie smiled. "Thanks, I needed that. So, what happened between you and Ash? What is he like?" Now it was misty's turn to blink in surprise. "Oh, well, huh Jessie he's the best. I mean, he knows everything about me, he knows the exact things to say and do to make me feel better, and I swear Jessie, he knows everything. When I see him my heart races, and he's so romantic! When I'm around him everything just feels right! I love him so much; there are no words to describe how I feel when I'm around him! My heart races, I smile and laugh more since we admitted our feelings for each other than I have my whole life, my breath quickens, and I find my self saying and doing this that I would never have thought possible of me! Huh, isn't love weird that way?"

Jessie smiled. "Yep, you can say that again Misty. Love is weird that way. You know what? I think this is the start of a great friendship. Your ok, you know?" Misty smiled. "Yea, your not to bad yourself. Well thanks for talking with me. I'd better get back and see how Ash is doing with our transportation. Hopefully not another slimy shoulder." With that Misty waved to Jessie and walked to the throne room, hoping Ash would be there.

She got there just as Ash was walking out. "Hey, how'd it go? Are we riding on another slimy shoulder?" Misty said, as a smile crept across her face. Ash laughed. "No, were riding in a shoulder bed. A shoulder bed is a bed with bars on the bottom that's carried on the shoulders of four balakemers. I'm tired, we had a debate. The royal advisor wanted to put us on their shoulders like we did when we came over here, I said no to that and the king agreed. Then I suggested a seat that could be put on wheels. They don't have anything like that. We debated a few other things before we came to the conclusion of a shoulder bed. I'm going to take a shower and get changed into some clean clothes. See ya." Ash walked to the shower room and Misty walked back to hers to finish packing.

After their breakfast and some other preparing, the shoulder beds were being loaded. Ash and Misty were put in the front one, being believed to be the leader of the group and his 'wife'; next was brock, then it was Jessie and James. The balakemers were going to put them in separate shoulder beds but Jessie threatened them and they agreed quickly. The king walked up to Ash to say farewell. "Ash, your arrival will be greatly anticipated. To call us blow in this handcrafted balakemer-tooth whistle. This is an antique only given to royalty, but I think you deserve it. Farewell." With that he handed the whistle; witch was on a gold chain, to Ash and moved aside. Ash was blushing as he put it around his neck.

The band of people started through the pitch-dark forest. The balakemers ran swiftly and carefully through the woods on an ancient path they knew to the foot of Mt. Silver. Misty had chosen to go asleep so she wouldn't get to dizzy. Ash stayed awake for a while looking at the balakemer tooth whistle. But soon he got dizzy and fell asleep. In the back, Jessie was talking to the balakemers and trying to find out more about their culture. Brock had fallen asleep and so had James and all the pokemon.

Ash woke up with a bump. He drearily sat up and looked around him. Misty yawned and sat up to. Ash heard her scream and quickly asked her what's wrong. "Look up Ash, look up." She said pointing upwards. Ash looked up, and up, and up. Looming in front of them was mount silver. And, like the last time they saw it, it seemed to frown as it looked at them. Misty felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around and saw Jessie. She sighed. "So, I guess this is where we part ey? Thanks for everything. And good luck ok? Don't be afraid to show your feelings." Misty said. Jessie smiled. "Ok, I wont. Thanks to you too. I'll see you once you get back ok? Don't worry about finding me, you know we have a knack at finding you." Jessie winked and got into the Meowth balloon that had appeared behind her. Misty waved as it flew away.

"What was that about Misty?" Ash asked. Misty smiled. "Oh nothing. Just saying goodbye to a friend." The balakemers had already left, and for the first time in months it seemed like, they got to feel the suns warm rays. They looked into the mouth of the ancient mountain, and shivered. But this is why they came here. So Ash took a deep breath and with Misty on his left and brock on his right they started into the mountain.

(In a woman's voice) Well people this is it. Mount silver. What will they find? Is Ash and Misty's love strong enough to withstand the test that is before them? And will Misty make it out alive? All these questions to be answered in the conclusion of Mt. Silver! Till next time! Stay tuned for the next episode of POKEMON!

(Someone in the crowd asks "hey! Where's the announcer!")

Huh? My brother? Oh! He's in his psychologist appointment. He's got crowd-phobia.

To be concluded…