Misty woke up that morning with a start, and who could blame her? "What?!" She exclaimed as she shot into a sitting position. "Morning Misty." Said a voice from outside. Misty froze-it was Ash. "M-morning." She said quickly and got herself ready to leave ASAP. She talked quickly as she ran out of her tent. "Morning everyone, just going for a walk, see ya!" She shouted as she ran out of the clearing. "What's wrong with her?" Brock asked from the fire where he was stirring something in a big pot. Tracey and Ash shrugged from the rock where they had studied the map the day before. "Don't know." Said Tracey. Ash got the same serious look as he had the night before when Misty had gone to bed early. "Weird, she didn't even take Togepi with her." He said. Brock frowned. "Yeah, normally she doesn't let it out of her sight unless she's asleep." He commented. It was then that Togepi decided to come out of Misty's tent. "Toge-pi?" It asked, while looking around for Misty. Ash stood up. "Maybe I'd better go find her." He said to the others and before they could reply he had disappeared into the foliage, with Pikachu following and Togepi in his arms.
Misty meanwhile was slowing down to a walk much further down the trail. She pushed some branches aside and gasped at the view. She was staring at a familiar shady beach, though not anywhere near as dark as it had been at night in her dreams. "I guess it was a real place." She mumbled as she headed for a familiar place, removing her shoes as she did so. Misty sat with the ocean lapping at her feet and gazed at the horizon. After about fifteen minutes, she heard the sound of someone coming. She turned her head and froze once more as she watched Ash put Togepi down.
"Hi Misty, I've been looking all over for you." He said and sat next to her. Misty began to shake but forced herself to stop. She looked up to the blue sky. "Uh, hi Ash." She said quickly. Something bubbled inside her but she kept calm-just. "You ok?" Ash asked and leaned slightly closer. That did it. Misty turned toward him and before he had a chance to react she placed her hand under his chin and kissed him viciously. A second later she had disappeared into the trees he had just come from, scooping Togepi up on the way. All Ash could do was blink for several minutes.
"Pi?" Asked Pikachu with wide eyes as it walked up to it's trainer. Ash finally found his voice-sort of. "She" He couldn't finish so he simply shook his head and stood up shakily and slowly headed back to camp.
When he reached the clearing, he found Brock and Tracey waiting. "Misty came back." Brock said. "She said to do whatever we were going to today without her, then she ran off again." Tracey added. Ash just blinked and sat/collapsed onto the grass. "What happened?" Brock asked. It took Ash a few moments before he could answer. "II found Misty, before she came back" Brock and Tracey sat down. "Yeah, then what?" Tracey prodded. It took Ash longer to continue. "II don't really know. I found her sitting on a beach, and she was acting kind of weird. I sat next to her" It took a lot more prodding by Tracey and Brock to get any more out of him, but finally he finished. "I asked her if she was ok, and she" He took a deep breath in and out. "Sheshe kissed me." This came as a great shock to the others and Ash saw it. "Just drop it ok. Have you decided what to do today?" Neither Tracey nor Brock could think of anything else to say so they just pushed the news aside and talked about the day ahead. "I think we should go back to Emerald Point today." Said Brock slowly. Ash nodded. "That's what we were going to do anyway." Tracey reached for his sketchpad. "Yeah, I'd like to do some more studying of those Pinsir." He said. With this decided, the three of them got ready to leave.
Meanwhile, Team Rocket was heading toward Emerald Point, but from much further away. They were deciding on their own day plans. "So we should go to this place. There are a lot of Bug types there." Finished Jessie. James frowned. "But what if it's a dead end, like last time?" He asked.
Jessie shook her head. "I already checked this place out. It's full of Pokémon." Meowth nodded and rubbed its paws together. "Those bugs won't get away from Team Rocket!"
Ash pushed the leaves away from the path into the point and walked inside. He stopped so short that Brock and Tracey almost ran into him. "What's the big deal-" Brock began, then saw what it was-or rather, what it wasn't. "What happened to them all?" Tracey said to no one in particular. In the same patch of wood that had been crammed with Pokémon the day before, the trainers now saw only the few Metapod and Kakuna that had been there the day before. "Something really strange is going on here." Said Brock worriedly. Ash looked around. "Maybe we should head into town tomorrow and see if there's a reason for this." He said. The other two nodded and turned to leave. "Pika!" said Pikachu and walked to a Metapod and began talking to it. After a few minutes, Pikachu walked back to the trainers looking downcast. "Do they know what happened to the others, Pikachu?" He asked. Pikachu shook its head and tried to tell the trainers what had been said. Finally, they got it. "The other Pokémon just left?" Ash asked. Pikachu nodded and pointed west-the same direction the footprints in Sapphire point were heading. "They went that way?" Tracey asked. Pikachu nodded. Brock looked thoughtful. "Maybe that means something." He said. Tracey looked at the map. "Maybe tomorrow we should go to Crystal City and see if anyone there knows why the Pokémon are leaving the points." Ash nodded. "It would be pretty far from here to the city. It could take the whole day for us to get there."
Tracey, Brock, Ash and Pikachu returned to camp a few hours later without a sign of Misty. When it started to get dark the trainers began to become worried. "Maybe one of us should go look for her." Said Tracey. Brock nodded. "Which one of us?" Ash asked. Brock and Tracey looked at him. "Me?" He looked almost scared. "I think you need to talk anyway." Brock commented. Ash frowned but agreed. "I guess I should probably go while it's still light out." He said. "Come on Pikachu." He said and the two of them left the clearing.