Ash groaned. Stupid birds. Woke me up. Ash thought to himself as he got dressed. It was way too early in the morning to wake up. (In all reality it was only 7:00, but Ash wanted to sleep in. Oh well. Maybe if I go jump in the river I can fully wake up. So Ash got into his swimming trunks, softly whistled to call Pikachu over and headed down to the river.
**So Ash, where are we going?**
"Down to the river little buddy. Not so loud though. I really don't want to wake up Misty and May. They're a little easier to deal with when they're sleeping." Ash whispered.
**Oh, sorry. I think I know how you feel. Give a Snorlax a crop and he takes a whole city...** Pikachu replied, using an old Pokemon proverb.
"Um...I don't get what you're nessicarily saying, but I'll probably have to agree with you little buddy." They finally got to the river. "Well Pikachu, we can do this in one of two ways: We can jump in the cold river and get the shock over with, but we might wake up the two devils. We could go into the river slowly, but the shock will probably be a little prolonged...What do you think?"
**Do as I do.** Pikachu backed up, and ran foward. Then he jumped and straigtend out his body so he landed with little more than a tiny 'Sploosh'
Ash grinned. He did the same thing and he actually pulled it off with finess. Little more than a medium 'Sploosh' sounded. "How'd you learn to do that?"
Eh, It's kinda natural. We Pikachu's are naturally smart in the ways of avoiding women.
"Eh, not all women are bad. I mean, May is really cheerful and Misty can be the sweetest girl in the world when she wants to be. Which, sadly is not very often." Ash swam back to the bank and sat down into the waist deep water. "You know, if this water was warm, this'd be a perfect spot to relax. I'll just stay here until the rest of the gang wakes up."
**Good idea. I'll join you on that.** Pikachu jumped next to Ash, a little onto the smaller part of the sand bank.
Ash sat there and almost began to snooze off when suddenly a yell of "WHOO HOO!" sounded. Ash was jolted out of his revery and looked around to find where the yell came from Not seven feet from Ash, a grinning Misty floated. "I had to wake you up somehow!" she replied. Ash rolled his eyes. "So what are you guy's doing up so early?"
"Trying to awaken. We cant get fully back to sleep because of those infernal birds. I think they're conspiracing against me." Joked Ash. Misty swam up to him and Pikachu swam out to her.
"Well I went out for my daily swim. Like all good mermaids, I have to immerse myself in water to keep going for the day."
"Yeah, but aren't mermaids beautiful?" Ash asked, a large grin spreading across his face. Misty swam at him full speed, but Ash got back up onto the sand bank and ran away to a higher spot. Misty shook her fist at him.
"You get back down here and take that back!" Misty seemed a little upset.
"Allright, hold on..." Ash replied mischeviously. Then he jumped and yelled, "GERANIMO!!" When he landed, the wake of his splash drenched Misty and Pikachu. Ash began to laugh, but stopped when Misty swam very suddenly up to Ash and twisted his arm behind his back.
"Now I want you to say, 'Misty is the sweetest, most beautiful girl in the entire world and I'm honored beyond all compare to have her as a traviling compainon.'" Misty pulled Ash's arm a little to show she was serious.
"Well...I could say that...or..." Ash suddenly went under the water, spun around in a circle and without warning, kissed Misty on the cheek. Misty was stunned. Her hold went limp and Ash swam away laughing his head off.
"And that Pikachu, is how you deal with situations like that! Quick thinking and a good swallowing of pride! Let us flee for our lives!" Ash replied.
**Did you really mean that kiss?** asked Pikachu curiously.
"Wha-? Of course not! It was to get away! I told you, a good swallowing of pride!"
Of course, Misty didn't hear the last part. She felt as if she were floating. Smiling she began to backstroke. Ha! Take that May! First day of the war and he already kissed me! though Misty.
**Camp**
"And so with some quick thinking and a little pride swallowing, I managed to get out of another situation that might have cost me my life. And I lost less pride than if I had to say that stupid comment." Ash explained as he and Brock ate. Misty and May were off near the river with their Pokemon.
"I wonder if May will be jelous...?" Brock mused. Ash shook his head.
"Naw, it's all fun and games. And why should she be jelous?"
"Well, as with my theory with Misty, I think that May also likes you alot. You are just too stupid to figure it out."
Ash laughed softly, causing Brock to drop his fork. "W-Wait! You mean..."
"Oh, I know. But...I dont know. Part of me likes May because she is usually sweet most of the time...but...The other half loves Misty...Get the two together and, I get confused. So I just feign ignorance. It works great. They never suspect a thing."
"Holy crap Ash Ketchum, you are one wily fox. A confused wily fox, but a wily fox at that." Brock laughed. "Well if you want my opinion, I suggest you go with Misty. I can tell you'll do some irreparible damage to that poor girls heart if you choose May. But your choice is your choice. And eventually you'll be stuck in a situation where you can't feign ignorance. Then what will you do?"
"I-I...I dont know..."
**River**
"He kissed me!" Misty exclaimed to May. May giggled.
"I don't know...Ash seems the type that'll use that tactic to get out of the situation. Just because he kissed you, doesn't mean that you won. I've not yet begun to fight!" Misty and May both laughed.
"All right. We need terms of ending. You know, a point where we know Ash chooses one of us." Misty suggested. May nodded.
"A full kiss and a proclimation of love...how's that?" May asked.
"Perfect! That way we'll know if he's serious or not!" Misty and May shook a second time. This time though, Misty had an idea. They didn't agree on not having any help...
Later on, Misty and May came back to camp and everyone packed up. Ash loaded everything into the trunk and got into the car. "All right, since Brock and Misty got to ride up front already, it's your turn May. I'm just trying to make things fair here." May nodded and jumped up front with Ash.
"Awesome! I get to ride shotgun!" May exclaimed. Everyone buckled up and Ash began to drive towards the Silver Ferry. In the back, Misty was writing something down to Brock on a slip of paper.
Hey, Brock, I need your help!
With what?
Me and May are in a friendly war of who can get Ash to admit that he likes one of us first. A full kiss and a proclimation of love is the ending point of the little "War."
Well I do support you and Ash together, so I'll help out. First though, you're going to have to admit to yourself that you love him. Do you?
Yes. I do.
Good. Now, the way you've been towards Ash is good. Keep it up. Being nice is going to really tip the scales in your favor. For now, I'll try to keep Ash balanced so May can't tip the scales in her favor. We need to wait for the right moment to strike.
Wow, you're good at this! Why don't you have a girlfriend? With this type of talk, you sound like you could get any girl!
Well, I'm actually looking for the right one...
Thanks so much Brock. You have no idea how much you're helping me.
Well, I just think you and Ash belong together. And I'll do everything in my power to make that happen, no offence to May.
Yeah. I'll be on the look out also. For anything that I can use to my advantage I mean.
Good. Hopefully once we're traviling around Johto, we should be able to find the perfect chance. In fact, I'm already formulating a plan in my head...
