Disclaimer: Pokémon and its characters are not mine, but this story is.

A/N: Thank you once again for your reviews. This chapter is more towards the fluffy side (I hope I do okay), and is slightly shorter than the others.

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"AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!"

Ash was clutching Togepi with his bad hand and frenziedly trying to grab hold of anything, but he was falling too fast and all he was getting was his fingers' skin scraped off.

"Togi!" Togepi suddenly exclaimed cheerfully, as if nothing was happening. Ash ignored it, but couldn't help noticing a pale blue light emanating from somewhere under his nose.

Then, Ash got the shock of his life when two pieces of rock suddenly protruded out of the cliff face and went right through his jacket, below his arms. His teeth rattled as he was jolted to a halt.

He held the little egg Pokémon up and looked at it in the face. "Hmm… I thought I saw a light just now. Was that you?" Togepi merely trilled in reply.

"Er… you're not Pikachu, I can't really understand you…" he sighed. "Okay, so now what? This isn't a very easy position to get out of…"

No reply. Togepi had decided to take a nap there and then. A deep, rumbling noise came from the sky, and the clouds decided to give him a shower.

"Oh, great!" Ash cried, annoyed. He stuck the snoozing egg in his shirt. "There, that should keep you warm."

After that, he slid one arm out of the jacket and held onto the protrusion, and proceeded to free his other arm. He pulled himself onto the twin jutting rocks and freed his jacket. Looking around, he found that it was too dark to see much and the rain severely hindered his vision.

Just then, the door of the Pokémon Centre appeared next to him. He was surprised but wasted no time pushing it open and clambering inside.

Ash looked around. The lobby was deserted and there was nobody behind Nurse Joy's desk. He was about to sit down to rest when he remembered something more important.

"Misty!" He raced to their room and banged on the door. "Misty? Brock? Anyone inside?" There was no response. He raced back to the lobby and shouted at the door.

"Bring me to where Misty is, NOW!!"

He opened the door. Upon ensuring that there was something to walk on, he dashed outside into the onslaught of the rain and started shouting Misty's name. Having no luck, he tried to find the place where he fell. After a while, he spotted a figure lying dangerously close to the ledge.

"Misty?" he turned the person over and was immediately flooded with relief, but still worried about the fact that her eyes were closed.

Misty opened her eyes slowly. She was still feeling weak and didn't care if she was sent plummeting towards her death as well by the angry Rhydon. But then, she saw a head with familiar spiky hair and immediately bolted upright.

"ASH!!!" They were immediately locked in a tight embrace. She sobbed into his shoulder, not caring what he thought of it.

Ash was slightly startled. Was she shivering from the cold, or was she actually sobbing? He held her tightly for a while longer, shielding her from the downpour, and then gently pried her arms from him.

"Here, I'm sure you're even more worried about this little critter," He took Togepi out of his shirt. It looked cranky, having been awakened rudely by getting soaked and then crushed, but brightened up as it saw the face of Mommy.

Misty hugged the little Pokémon tightly, crying some more and cooing at it despite the fact that the rain was roaring far louder than the thunder earlier.

"Come on, let's get out of this storm." Ash gently urged Misty. She nodded and tried to stand up, but she was shaking too badly.

Ash removed his jacket and wrapped it around her. After putting his arm around her and helping her up, they slowly walked towards the Pokémon Centre, which thankfully was still there. There was still nobody in the lobby, which was rather peculiar, Ash thought.

They reached their room and Misty leaned against the wall while Ash politely took the jacket off her and searched for the keys which were in the pocket. Misty noticed the two large holes in them.

"Um… what happened to your jacket?"

Ash laughed and swung open the door. "Long story. Tell you about it later, you really should change into something dry first."

They entered and Misty told Ash to go change first, for she needed to calm her still-shaking body and regain her strength. He did and she went in. When she came out of the bathroom dressed in her pyjamas, she found Ash sitting on the couch, staring into space.

She sat next to him. "How's your hand?"

He brought it up to his face and looked at it. "Well, the bleeding's stopped, at least."

"Next time, don't pick a fight with rocks," she said with a hint of playfulness. Ash smiled wryly and said nothing.

Misty looked around and saw Ash's wet clothes piled messily on the table. His jacket was on top.

"So, wanna tell me about it now?" she motioned her head towards Ash's jacket.

He told her about what he thought Togepi did. "So, Togepi was probably safer than I was. It could've teleported itself away just like it did on Pinkan Island, and easily avoid death."

Misty stiffened at the last word.

"Oh sorry, I shouldn't have said that. I didn't mean it…" Ash quickly apologized.

Tears started to stream down Misty's cheeks again. "Oh Ash, I thought the both you would've been gone for sure! If you had died, I—"

"Shhh…" Ash cut her off, putting a finger on her lips. "We're all fine, everyone's still alive. Don't think about something bad if it hasn't happened, okay?"

Misty gave a small smile and glanced at snoozing Togepi. It had fallen asleep a few minutes ago.

She felt frustrated. She had kept her feelings for Ash locked away for so long for she was too scared of showing it, and in confusion had subconsciously shoved those feelings aside. She was about to pour it all out, and he had just stopped her. That's what you get for falling for a dense moron, I guess… She thought to herself and put Togepi into her backpack, a bothered expression showed on her face.

"Feeling better now?" Ash asked gently and put his arm around her shoulders.

She smiled, nodding. She rather enjoyed having his arm around her; it made her feel secure.

An awkward silence passed between the two of them and Ash pretended to stare at the ceiling. He received a jolt when he felt something hit his shoulder. He turned his head and saw that Misty's eyes had closed and her breathing was heavy and regular. Fatigue must have overcome her.

Ash smiled and kissed her gently on her head. "Goodnight Misty…" he whispered softly.

A small smile crept onto her face and she snuggled closer, curling up her legs.

Ash felt his face grow warm and his heartbeat quickened. He gazed at the angel who was sleeping so peacefully, so beautiful… The girl he has a crush on — no, the girl he loves. He thought back to all the times they had together, both good and bad. She had been there for him all throughout his journey, giving him support. She liked to pick on the slightest things and bash him with her mallet often, but those were part of the things he loved about her.

He sighed, wishing that there was a way to tell her, but he couldn't think of a scenario where he would be able to without making her think it was a joke. After all, he liked to say stupid things often.

But she's sleeping so cosily in your arms; but then, she probably didn't know that she did that; but…

Ash finally nodded off, his muddled thoughts ceased and he drifted into dreamland.

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"Whew, made it!"

A drenched Brock and an equally wet Pikachu looked around the lobby wearily. Nurse Joy was behind her desk, working on something. A lone trainer was sleeping on a couch. He probably couldn't afford a room.

Without even talking to Nurse Joy, Brock trudged slowly towards their room, followed by Pikachu (after he had shaken most of the water out of his fur). Brock held a few soaked bags of groceries, and Pikachu had a half-empty bottle of ketchup.

Brock unlocked the door and stepped inside. He stopped short at the sight of his two friends sleeping so peacefully on the couch, Ash's arm around Misty and both wearing identical smiles on their faces.

Smiling knowingly, Brock just stood at the doorway, watching them. On that moment, watching the simple sign of affection and care the two of them had denied for so long, his wisdom was the dominant part of him. Even if the world's most attractive woman walked past him then, he wouldn't have flinched at all.

Heading into the mini-kitchen, Brock tried his best to dry the groceries and then hid them. He then crumpled up the bags and threw them into the bin.

After changing into a set of dry clothes, he hid his wet ones so that they wouldn't know he had been there. He saw Pikachu still watching the sleeping couple.

"Come on, I think we should give them some privacy, don't you? We can go sleep outside…" he said to Pikachu.

"Cha!" the electric rodent replied, smiling and flapping his ears. He turned around and headed for the lobby.

Brock shot one more glance at his friends and his fingers reached for the light switch. But then, he paused and a mischievous grin replaced his smile. He whipped out his camera, disabled the flash, and snapped a picture. Satisfied, he switched off the lights and walked outside.

"Goodnight, lovebirds…" he said softly, quietly swinging the door shut.

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A/N: Wasn't Ash stupid, stopping Misty from confessing? *evil grin* And in upcoming chapters, there will be a whole bunch of sanity-testing cliffhangers, mind-wrenching plot-twists and other unexpected horrors that will have readers screaming in fury and coming after me with scythes, pitch-forks and burning torches. Just kidding. Don't forget to review! ;-)

~Miss-Ashley~ Still hate the "Togepi thing"? :-)