Narrator voice: The Digi-Destined and Misty continue their quest to defeat the Dark Masters and save the world. But what about Ash? In our last episode the groups had tried a distraction to battle only one of the Dark Masters. It failed though. Ash got away and heard Misty insult him.
(FLASHBACK)

T.K.: How long is the battle going on? Maybe we should have gone with Ash!

MISTY:(thinking) I have to act tough now. Insult Ash! That's a good way to make it look like I'm not worried. (outloud) Why bother? He won't win! He talks big but he never does anything he says.

Unbeknownst to Misty and the others, Ash and Pikachu are listening in on the conversation.

MISTY: Ash is a pathetic excuse for a Pokémon trainer! I mean his Charizard, wouldn't even OBEY him for a long time!

GATOMON: Yeah, but still cut Ash some slack. He may be...

SORA: We know that he's alive Gatomon. That much we know.

PATAMON: Yeah, so Misty cut him some slack!

MISTY: Yeah right, especially since he can't do anything. I bet that's why he's been gone this long. He just didn't want to fess up to the truth that he couldn't win!
(END FLASHBACK)

As a result he ran away. Ash is gone now... but will he be gone forever?

KARI INTRODUING TITLE: The First One!

The Digi-Destined and Misty stop by at a spring in the forest as they continue on their journey. They stop for a rest and have a drink of the water. Izzy skims the map to make sure they're going in the right direction.

IZZY: If we take continue west, we could be out of this forest in no time!

MISTY: You've been saying that the whole morning. I haven't even SEEN anything yet. What if we're lost?

Izzy has a sweat drop and knows they've been lost the whole way but doesn't say anything.

BIYOMON: Don't worry, we'll be coming up on it soon enough. That is if we keep moving!

T.K.: Well that's good.We should get rolling then.

MISTY: Yeah we might as well get going. (laughs) If Ash were here, he'd probably get mad at ME for going the wrong direction.

The Digi-Destined and Digimon don't say anything. They continue walking. They're still mad at Misty for chasing Ash off.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to all of them, Ash IS following them. He's above them on a cliff just following them, making sure they don't see him. Pikahu wakes up and starts talking.

PIKACHU: Pika?Pi pikachu pika chu pi?

ASH: (whispers) Shh shh shh! Pikachu, you have to be quiet!

PIKACHU: (more silently now) Pika...chu!

ASH: (thinking) Stupid Izzy, can't believe he got them lost again. (looks over at Misty) Come on Pikachu, looks like their moving on.

******

GABUMON: I hope we get to rest soon. I'm a little worn out.

MATT: We'll go on for another hour and call it a day.

GOMAMON: Biyomon, why don't you go look around for a clearing or something for us to camp out in.

BIYOMON:(flying off) No problem. Be back in a minute.

SORA: Well, what are we going to do about the Dark Masters? They're turning out to be tougher then we thought. And now that Ash is gone...

MISTY:(angrily) Shut up Sora! Just because Ash is gone, doesn't mean we can't win!

TAI: Misty's right. We still got Agumon and Gabumon and they can go to the Mega level like the Dark Masters.

MATT: And alot of good thats done us!

AGUMON and GABUMON:(angrily) HEY!

MATT: No offense meant you guys, but we got four Megas. The odds are against you as we've seen before. I didn't mean anything bad.

GATOMON:And then theres us who can go Ultimate.

MISTY: And I still got my Pokemon!

GOMAMON: Yeah, but lets face it. It was Ash's Pokemon who have been the biggest help.

Everyone was silent for a minute thinking.

T.K.: So what are we going to do?

KARI: I think we should go with the plan of taking them down one by one. Its the best of the ideas.

PALMON: She's right. If we can get one Dark Master alone, then I'm sure it'll be easy to win.

MIMI: We tried that remember? And Lisamon got killed as a result.

AGUMON: We have no choice. If we don't beat them, more innocent Digimon will die!

MIMI:(crying) This isn't fair! We're just kids! We shouldn't have to deal with this!

MISTY: Well, we do! (whacks Mimi with her mallet) So quit your whining and let's think of a plan!

JOE:(angrily) That wasn't needed Misty!

Misty glared at Joe and whaked him over the head with the mallet to. She then looked at the others.

MISTY: (annoyed and angry) Anyone else want to argue? No? Good. Now lets quit fighting and come up with a plan to win!

Suddenly Psyduck came out of its Pokeball.

PSYDUCK: Psy... duck?

MISTY: (annoyed and angry) YOU DIMWITTED DUCK! (whacks Psyduck with her fist) HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU, DON'T COME OUT OF YOUR POKEBALL UNLESS I CHOOSE YOU!!!

PSYDUCK: (running in circles) Psy yai yai yai yai yai!

Eveveryone stares at Psyduck for a minute with big anime sweatdrops. Misty pulls out Psyduck's Pokeball.

MISTY: Psyduck return!

A red beam shoots out and hits Psyduck. Psyduck is called back into its Pokeball.

MISTY: (sighing annoyed) Stupid duck.

SORA: Misty you realize what a bitch you are?

MISTY: (looking up very pissed) What.... what did you just all me?

SORA: You heard me.

Misty leapt forward and punched Sora in the face. The others and the Digimon grabbed the two hoping to avoid the fight, but Misty and Sora easily got free and continued exchanging blows.

Sora grabbed Misty and threw her into a tree. Misty's head bounced off of it, but Sora hit her in the back with a high kick and her head was slammed into the tree again. Misty fell to the ground as blood started to dribble down her face.

Misty grabbed a log and slammed it into Soa's helmet, knocking her to the ground.

PALMON: Poision Ivy!

Palmon wrapped the two in vines so they couldn't continue killing each other. Biyomon noticed a little blood going down Sora's face and removed her helmet. Sora had a good sized cut on the top of her head. Because everyone was distracted by the fight, nobody noticed Gatomon, T.K., patamon, and Kari slip off into the bushes.

PATAMON: This is getting bad. Our morale has never been this low!

T.K.: I know.

KARI: I can't figure out why its like this though.

T.K.: Me neither.

GATOMON: Your both to young to understand.

T.K. and KARI: HEY!

PATAMON: I think Gatomon means that you two wouldn't understand anything about love.

T.K.: Yes we do! Gatomon tell us.

GATOMON: Oh all right. One of the Digi-Destineds problem is relationships. Matt and Tai like Misty, but she likes Ash. But so does Sora. Unfortunutly for her Ash likes Misty, but can't admit it. You understand all this?

Patamon, T.K., and Kari nodded.
: But then why is Misty always insulting on Ash?

GATOMON: She doesn't want to get to close, but she does. Misty doesn't want to ruin her friendship with Ash and she's afraid that Ash doesn't like her. SO if she told him and he didn't feel like that, which he does, then it would ruin the friendship.

T.K.: Oh! I get it. So why are things going bad now?

GATOMON: When Misty said those things that chased off Ash, she was just trying to act tough. Unfortunutly he heard. Now Sora is mad at Misty for that. Tai and Matt now can focus the rivalry for Misty between themselves.

PATAMON: And the only way to fix it all is to get Ash back.

Gatomon nodded.

GATOMON: He's the balance that we need. With him, Sora and Misty will still be at battle, just not all out brawl. Matt and Tai will have to focus at each other and Ash so that would reduce the tension there.

KARI: What about Izzy and Joe?

Gatomon: They're idiots. They don't like any of the girls like that.

KARI: (with a smile) Ash must be kinda dense not to see that Misty and Sora like him.

T.K.: Yeah. How come we haven't got into a fight though Gatomon?

GATOMON: I don't know.

TAI: (calling) T.K.! Kari! Where are you?

KARI: I guess we got to go back.

The four headed back to the others, but Patamon and Gatomon fell back a little.

PATAMON:(whispering) You do know why those two haven't fought don't you?

GATOMON: (whispering) I'm not sure, but I have a feeling. you sense it to don't you?

PATAMON: (whispering) Yeah. I can't quite put my finger... err hoof on it though.

Gatomon didn't say anything but smiled. She knew what it would be one day. Not today, or anytime soon..... but one day...

The two humans and Digimon walked out of the bushes. misty and Sora had been released from Poision Ivy, and seemed to have calmed down a bit.

TAI: Where'd you two go?

KARI: We didn't want to watch you guys fight, and the blood scared me.

TENTOMON: Well, it's over now. Everything's okay.

JOE: Misty, maybe you should use your Horsea to cheer Kari and T.K. up.

MISTY: Huh? Oh yeah. Horsea go!

Misty tossed a Pokeball and the small blue Pokemon came out. It quickly leapt into Kari's arms.

MISTY: Horsea, Bubble Attack.

HORSEA: Horsea...... SEA!

Horsea shot out hundreds of shiny bubbles from its... umm.... that tube thing on its head. Kari and T.K. started laughing and chased after the bubbles. Matt shook his head amused.

MATT: (laughing) Oh, to be so easily pleased.

IZZY: Ummm.... you may want to look again.

Matt looked back at the two and laughed even more. Mimi and Tai were over there playing with the bubbles to. Then Sora and Izzy went over. A few seonds later Joe and an amused Matt were playing. Misty stood off to the side with Horsea.

MISTY: (quietly) All so immature. Not like Ash..... Time to fix this, (pulls out mallet) the old fashion way.

Misty calmly walked over and proceeded to whack everyone in the head with her mallet, including the Digimon. The only ones spared were Kari, Gatomon, T.K., and Patamon. Misty grabbed everyone else and hauled them away from the bubbles.

MISTY: Now that you all are done playing, let's form a..... huh? Why's the ground shaking?

AGUMON: I don't know, but you better call back Horsea and T.K. and Kari better get over here.

MISTY:(holdig up Pokeball) Right. Horsea Return!

Everyone looked at each other nervously as the shaking got worse and worse. Suddenly a lard claw shout of the ground a few feet away. Misty and the Digi-Destined stepped back as Machinedramon rose from the ground.

MACHINEDRAMON: here you are. Time for you all to die.

TAI: I don't think so! DIGIVOLVE!

AGUMON: Agumon Warp Digivolve to.... Wargreymon!

GABUMON: Gabumon Warp Digivolve to..... Metalgarurumon!

GOMAMON: Gomamon digivolve to.... Ikakumon!

IKAKUMON: Ikakumon digivolve to.... Zudomon!

GATOMON: Gatomon digivolve to.... Angewoman!

PATAMON: Patamon digivolve to.... Angemon!

PALMON: Palmon digivolve to.... Togemon!

TOGEMON: Togemon digivolve to.... Lillymon!
: Biyomon digivolve to..... Birdramon!

BIRDRAMON: Birdramon digivolve to..... Garudamon!

TENTOMON: Tentomon digivolve to.... Kabuterimon!

KABUTERIMON: Kabuterimon digivolve to..... Megakabuterimon!

MISTY: Staryu! Starmie! Poliwhirl! I choose you!

The Digmon and Pokemon charged at Machinedraamon. It laughed and launched a Giga Cannon blast into the ground. The explosion sprayed hot dirt and rocks onto the Digigmon. Staryu and Starmie used water gun on the flaming rocks and put some out, but not enough.

LILLYMON: Flower Cannon!

The blast shot for Machinedramon, but he slashed it with a claw and destroyed it. He then charged and smashed Lillymon with a claw. She was thrown back into a tree and De-digivolved back into Palmon.

MISTY: Staryu! Starmie! Hydro Pump!

ZUDOMON: Vulcans Hammer!

Four powerful jets of water and one beam of enrgy shot at Machinedramon. He stepped out of the way thugh. The Hydro Pumps hit Angemon and forced him back to Patamon. Th Vulcans Hammer just hit a tree.

MACHINEDRAMON: Giga Cannon

Two red beams shot out and hit the area next to Staryu and Starmie. Both were knocked out and recalled by Misty.

ANGEWOMON: CELSTRIAL ARROW!

METALGARURUMON: Metal Wolf Claw!

MEGAKABUTERIMON: Horn Buster!

MACHINEDRAMON: Inferno Heat.

Fire shot out of Machinedramons mouth and hit the approaching attacks. They collided and formed a large pulsing ball of energy. Machinedramon slowly pushed it back until the ball exploded infront of Angewoman, Magekabuterimon and metalGarurumon. All de-digivolved to Rookie.

MISTY: Poliwhirl! Body Slam!

GARUDAMON: WInG BLADE!:

Poliwhirl body Slammed Machinedramon and knocked it back. The Wing Blade hit next and sent Machinedramon flying. It got up and kicked Poliwhirl, knocking the Pokemon out. It then slashed Garudamon with its claws. 4 large, deep, blood cuts went from Garudamons left shoulder to its right hip. It fell to the ground bleeding and dedigivolved to Biyomon.

WARGREYMON: GRAND CLAWS!

He shot forwards with his claws, but Machinedramon blocked with its own claws and threw him into a large boulder. It then picked up Wargreymon and slammed it down to the Earth. Wargreymon tried to get back up but Machinedramon stomped on his back and knocked him back down.

Machinedramon laughed after seeing the terror on Tai's face. Wargreymon atacked then, but was blocked and thrown into the side of a cliff.. Machinedramon then launched a Giga Cannon that caught Wargreymon dead in the chest. It then put one foot down and aimed a cannon at Wargreymons head.

MACHINEDRAMON: IT ENDS NOW.

A VOICE: Your right Machinedramon. It does.

Everyone looked up. On the cliff was Ash and Pikachu.

MACHINEDRAMON: Oh .....

Ash: Pikachu! Thunder attack now!

PIKAHU: Pika...PIKACHU!

Pikachu leapt into the air and launched a thunder attack, and Machinedramon yelled in pain as it hit him. Pikachu landed on the ground still launching electricity.

MACHINEDRAMON: Giga Cannon!

ASH: Pikachu...agility attack now!

Pikachu, although slightly worn from Thuunder, got up and dodged Machinedramon's Giga Cannon attack.

ASH: Pikachu thunder wave now!

Pikachu launched thunder wave and it paralyzed Machinedramon.

ASH: Good job Pikachu. Ready to try out that new attack?

PIKACHU: PIKA!

ASH: All right then. THUNDER BEAM ATTACK!

Pikahu leapt high into the air and smiled. Suuddenly a bolt of lightning hit him, but didn't seem to have any effet Pikachu started to glow a bright yellow as large balls of energy formed infront of his cheek pouches.

PIKACHU: Pika pika pika pika pika............................ PIKACHUUUUUUUUUU!

Pikachu then released the Thunder Beam attack and Machinedramon screeched in pain. It landed on the ground with a thunderous thud. Pikachu continued with the electricity. It didn't seem to be causing to much damage, but it was.

Machinedramon's molecules were being assaulted by trillions of electrons, from Pikachu. As a result, they soon started to repel each other. The molecules got further and further apart. Machinedramon let out one last scream as it exploded into nothingness. Pikachu then ran back to Ash.

Everyone else saw Ash. They grabbed the Digimon and started to head for Ash to thank him. Ash backed away and made a break for it. He ran through the woods and heard the others behind him. Ash reached down for a Pokeball.

ASH: Noctowl, I choose you.

Noctowl popped out of his Pokeball and looked at Ash.

ASH: Noctowl, use your Hypnosis attack on the others so I can get away. You know what to do....

Noctowl nodded and looked at the others. Misty saw what was coming and started to closed her eyes, but it was to late. Notowl launched out Hypnosis rays and caught everyone. They all saw Ash standing there and ran up to it. Misty was the only one who didn't goto it. She knew it was just a rock and the real Ash was probably already running.

MISTY: (quietly and sadly) Oh Ash...

After twenty minuted Noctowl's Hypnosis wore off and everyone saw it was a rock. They all looked around dissapointed, but knew Ash was no where around. Sora kicked a tree stump as they walked awaty. A few minutes after they were out of sight some strange thingsbegan happening.

TREE STUMP:OW! Sora packs a mean kick. Pikachu! Noctowl, you can stop with the Hypnosis.

The tree stump started to flicker out. A few seconds later it was Ash, Noctowl, and Pikachu all hudled up. They each stood up and stretched.

ASH:(rubbing sore leg) Good job Noctowl. No one guesed I was there.

NOCTOWL: Noc!

ASH: Noctowl, return.

Noctowl was called bak into his Pokeball. Ash looked down at Pikachu.

ASH: Ready to go Pikachu?

PIKACHU: Pika pi pikachu pi Pikachu chu pi pika? (TRANSLATION: Ash, why don't we just go join the others?)

though Ash didnt understand the Pokemon language, he knew from Pikachu's tone what it asked.

ASH: (nervously) You wouldn't understan Pikachu.

PIKACHU: Pikachu. (TRANSLATION: Try me.)

ASH:(shaking head) Its a human problem.

PIKACHU: Pi pika chu pi chu pika. (TRANSLATION: Its about what Misty said isn't it?)

Ash nodded, again guessing what Pikachu said.

ASH: I don't get it. Why did she say that? And why do I care? She's said it before. So why does it hurt so much this time?

Pikachu sighed and hopped on his trainers shoulders. It then patted him on the back. Ash wiped his hand on his face, and was surprised it came back wet.

ASH: Ready to go?

PIKACHU: Pi.

The two then quietly walked the same way the others went

NARATOR: One Dark Master has been defeated thanks to Ash and Pikachu and through Noctowl's disception, they stayed hidden.But for how muh longer can they keep the charade up?