Well, here it is. The fifth and final chapter of Becoming a Woman. Thanks for all the support and reviews you all have given me. It's made my first experience as an author on Fan Fiction.Net a very pleasant and rewarding one. When I first posted this story I had no idea people would like it so much! Anyway, I'll get on with it. This definitely won't be my only story. I write fan fics for Pokemon, Dragonball Z, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Neon Genesis Evangelion and anything else that inspires me. So keep a look out for me, okay? Right then, let's hop to it!

Becoming A Woman.

Chapter Five: And so life goes on…

"Please turn it off!" Ash begged.

"What for?" Brock pretended not to notice Ash's sheer desperation.

"Do I have to explain why? Come on, Brock! Haven't you seen enough?"

Brock shook his head. "No. No, I don't think so. I heard Jessie mention something earlier about whipped cream. I wanna see what that's all about."

Ash moaned in what seemed to be genuine agony and clutched his lower abdomen. He'd vomited three times already because of what he had witnessed of Jessie and James' love life, and the words whipped cream now brought about a fresh wave of nausea. That wasn't the only thing he had grown to suddenly despise in the last hour. His 'Things to avoid' list had gained some new entries, namely chocolate syrup, honey, bananas and elves.

He gulped. "I'm gonna hurl again…"

Brock waved him away. " Yeah well, go somewhere else this time. I think that other bush has just about had it."

Ash opened his mouth to say something, then abruptly made a ghmmpph sound and vanished off into the trees. Pikachu made a funny squeaking noise that sounded suspiciously like laughter while Meowth chuckled to himself. Brock merely sighed in exasperation. "What kind of a man will he be if he can't even watch home-made porn?" The kid was nearly fifteen for god's sake. Surely he has some kind of sexual tendencies. Perhaps Misty was right. Perhaps all he would ever think about is Pokemon. He could kiss goodbye to any would-be sex life if that was going to be the case.

A tinny groan from the camera's small speaker recaptured his attention, and he couldn't help the spontaneous grin that spread over his face. "Wow. They just keep getting more and more creative."  The smile never left his face as his leaned back against the tree he had been using for support, making himself more comfortable. "Yeah, shake it baby…"

"Hello everyone!" Misty's cheery voice announced as she strode rather happily into camp. Quite unusual for someone who, less than half an hour ago, had seemed on the verge of killing one of her closet friends.

Pikachu made a happy 'pika' noise while Brock searched frantically for the off button, or at least something that would turn down the volume. Jessie was starting to get rather vocal.

"Hello Pikachu!" Misty caught him as he jumped up to her, and giggled as he licked her face. Brock silently thanked God for giving him the few extra seconds of leeway, and felt his breathing quite noticeably slow down when he found the volume control. Now if only he could turn the damn thing off…

She had noticed him now, and was walking in his direction, a pleased grin on her face. Brock began to sweat. "Where's the fucking off-switch?!" Misty continued towards him, completely oblivious.

"Ah, damn to all to hell. She's gonna gut me when she…wait…there it is…"

The very instant the images vanished from the screen Misty literally fell on top of him, wrapping her small, slender arms around him in an affectionate embace.

"Hiya, Brock!" she sang happily, eyes aglitter with radiant joy.

"Hey Misty." Brock tried his best to seem as unflustered as possible, a  hard façade to put on  with a boner the size of the Eiffel Tower in his pants. It was a good thing he was wearing his baggy khakis today.

Her innocent smile grew wider, and Brock felt a comforting wave of relief wash over him. "Thank God for that. She hasn't noticed."

She eyed the camcorder in his hands, and behind her Pikachu and Meowth guffawed to themselves in little Pokemon noises. Humans were so funny sometimes.

"Whatcha doing?"

"Nothing." Brock answered quickly. He tossed the camcorder over to Meowth, who caught it in his paws. He seemed disappointed. It would have been interesting to see how Misty reacted to the video. It would have been even better watching her rend Brock to bits afterwards.

Brock quickly changed the subject before she could ask him any more questions about his morning activities. "So, how are you feeling?"

She beamed at him. "Much better, thank you. Jessie and James…"

He gawked. "James?"

"Uh-huh. They both explained it to me really well, and they showed me how to use those pad things."

"They…they showed you?"

She gave him a light punch on the arm. "Not like that, silly. Geez, you have a dirty mind."

"You don't know da half of it, sista!" Meowth piped up from behind her.

Brock hissed at him to be quiet, but Misty continued on anyway.

"Well anyway, Jessie got James to take off his underwear and then she…"

"He took off his underwear?!" Brock could scarcely believe what he was hearing. What had they done to the poor girl?

Misty huffed in irritation. "It's not like I saw his privates or anything, Brock. Jessie just used his undies to show me how to properly put a pad on."

He just stared at her in shock, and she sighed.

"Never mind. Let's just say that I know how to deal with it now." She stood up and calmly brushed herself off, suddenly realizing that someone was missing.

"Hey. Where's Ash?"

Meowth barged in before Brock even had a chance to open his mouth. "Da little twerp had ta run off ta be sick cause he can't handle por-…"

"Because he's got some kind of stomach bug. Something he ate, I think." If looks could burn the scratch-cat would have been reduced to embers by the glare Brock fixed on him, but the Pokemon merely smiled evilly.

"Oh really? Poor Ash. Maybe I should go and check on him."

"No!" Brock snapped suddenly. It would be disastrous if she did that. Undoubtedly Ash would be stupid enough to tell her the real reason he was so ill, that he and Brock had both been watching Jessie and James ride each other like Ponytas.

"He'll be back in a minute. He didn't go far."

"Oh. Alright then." She settled herself down gracefully onto the grass next to him, her expression laced with worry. "I just hope he's okay."

Brock half-smiled at her. "He'll be fine.

As if on cue, Ash emerged from the dank forest. Sickly faced and reeking of vomit, but otherwise none the worse for wear.

"Ash!" Misty jumped up and flew towards him; arms open wide in an expression of warm welcome. At the sight of her, Ash balked and flinched away, expecting another clobbering. Needless to say, he was almost overwhelmed with shock when she hugged him rather than slapped him.

"It's good to see you, Ash." She squeezed him tightly, while Ash just stared at Brock confoundedly. Brock smirked.

She pulled away slightly, and caught a whiff of his last retching session. She waved a petite hand in front of her face.

"Phew! You stink, Ash! Did you just have a sickie?"

 "Uhh…" his eyes flickered over to Brock, silently pleading for help. "Yeah. I did. I…eh…."

"It was that burrito, I'd say." Brock slid in besides Misty and cast Ash a look of 'Let me handle this.' Ash obediently kept his mouth shut.

Misty tsk-tsked. "I told you it didn't look sanitary, didn't I?"

He nodded. "Uh-huh."

She patted his cheek. "It's alright. Let's just go back to camp so you can rest, okay?"

"Yes, yes. Good idea, Misty." Brock pushed past them and began to gather their things, eager to get going. "Let's say goodbye to Meowth and be on our way."

"Shouldn't we wait for Jessie and James to get back?" Ash asked.

Misty suddenly looked rather troubled. "Umm, no. Let's just go now. If we wait we'll be here for quite some time, I think."

"Why?" Meowth demanded. His tone of voice suggested he already knew the reason why.

"Because…" she faltered for a moment. "because they're playing a game."

The cat Pokemon shivered involuntary. "Let Meowth guess. Two words and dey both begin with 'F'?"

She nodded.

His fuzzy little face screwed up in disgust. "Not again. Meowth hate dat one. Of all da games dey play dey gotta play dat one da most." He gave the kids a pleading look. "Diss is gonna sound strange but…can Meowth spend da day wit youse guys? Meowth promise ta be good an' stuff. Please?"

Misty smiled empathically. She knew perfectly well why he was so desperate to go with them. She turned to the others. "Well, I don't mind if he comes along. What about you guys?"

Brock shrugged. "Makes no difference to me." Ash just groaned weakly.

Misty grinned at the cat. "Okay then."

Meowth jumped for joy. "Tanks!" he scampered happily after them as they turned to leave, with Pikachu following close behind. He was overjoyed at the fact that he would not have to spend the rest of the day listening to Jessie and James trying to out scream one another. "Ya know what. Youse kids are all right."

Misty giggled. "You're not so bad yourself, Meowth. And as for Jessie and James…well…I don't think I'll ever look at them the same way again."

Behind her, Brock snorted humorously. "Yeah. You're not the only one."

3

Several hours later, after much 'game playing', Jessie and James had somehow managed to roll their way back into camp. Disheveled, sweaty and out of breath, they lay there panting for a few moments, until James sat up and took in their surroundings.

"Hey Jess. We're back in camp."

"Mmmm hmmm." Jessie mumbled from beside him. He poked him in the ribs. "Lie back down, stupid."

"Oh." James leaned back and snuggled against her, his expression blissful. " I feel so good about myself now, Jessie."

"Yeah. Me too." She brushed a fingertip up and down his chest, giving him a syrupy smile.

"No. Not about that." He rebuked her softly. "I mean about what we did for Misty this afternoon. Don't you see? We helped her on the path to womanhood, to becoming a stable and well-adjusted individual. Fitting into the strict guidelines of society will be just that little bit easier for her now, because of our help."

The redheaded woman blinked in surprise. "Wow, James. That's really deep." She had never expected him to think of it that way. "And it does make me feel good." She inched closer. "But not as good as playing that game did."

He beamed proudly, then frowned as his eyes scanned the otherwise deserted camp area. "Hey Jessie. Where's Meowth?"

"Huh?" She leaned up on her elbows and looked around. She gave a one-shouldered shrug. "Guess he probably went with those kids cause he found out we were playing games." 

James snorted contemptuously. "What a pussy."

She smiled sweetly. "Why, thank you James."

FIN.

Waaahhhh! It's over! But did you like it? I hope so. Thanks for reading and reviewing. I'll be back sooner or later with another fresh fan-fic. As to whether or not it'll be a Pokemon fic I haven't decided yet. But keep on the look out for me in any case! Well, keep it real and keep reading!

See ya soon!

Seveninchsprockets (SiS)