Hey sorry about the delay.
Ok the some of characters are mine, well one who I made up myself is but the rest belong to Nintendo
This story is mine so don't steal it.
If you want to get in contact with me my email address is
Doddlebabe@hotmail.com
Please read and review.
I hope you enjoy this chapter, I know nothing happens but patience is a virtue so hold tight for a bit.
Ash raised his body slowly of the ground beside his bed and pressed his foot as lightly as he could against the carpeted floor.
He continued this, moving stealthily towards the door.
He held back a laugh and settled for a smirk that had sprawled itself on his face.
His friends thought that he couldn't be cunning but here he was, outsmarting Misty and Richie who were completely clueless.
It was going perfectly except for one small detail.
"What are you doing?" Richie asked curiously.
Ash looked to his left and nearly fell over with the shock.
Misty shook her head and sighed.
"You've got to sneak BEHIND people, not in FRONT of" she said using the kind of voice you'd expect to hear from a mother who was telling her son something that she told him many, many times before.
This tone led Richie to his next question.
"This has happened before, hasn't it?" Richie asked them, amused.
His question was answered by the way Misty rolled her eyes and the way Ash scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
Misty then turned to Ash with a questioning expression.
"Why were you sneaking around?" she asked.
"Yeah what's up with that?" Richie asked as well.
Ash was beginning to sweat and Richie noticed him edging closer to that bootleg c.d. he had.
Ash had been acting strangely around that c.d. for some reason.
"I wanted to pee and I didn't want you to know" he answered.
"Ash I know you pee, I know too well" Misty argued
This comment caused Richie to look at Misty somewhat disgusted and curious at the same time.
Misty caught his glance and looked at him with an all too solemn expression.
"Its really something that was unpleasant for everyone involved and quite frankly, its too painful to talk about" she said softly and then shuddered.
Ash blushed and then faked a yawn.
"You know, I'm tired," he said quickly, changing the subject.
"It is pretty late" Richie agreed.
Misty stood up stretching and yawned.
"Be a gentlemen and escort me home," she said to Richie, swaying slightly from being tired.
"Um depends on whether you're heading the same direction as me" Richie joked.
Misty shot him a glare and Ash shook his head, amused.
Pikachu stood up on her hind legs and waved at Misty and Richie as they left the room.
Ash collapsed onto the bed and closed his eyes smiling wistfully.
"She really is something else, isn't she?" he asked Pikachu.
"Yeah I know, I'm not the idiot who won't tell her how I feel about her" Pikachu remarked in Pika language.
"That's a little unfair" Ash objected and as Pikachu was about to debate this, Ash stood and left to show his friends out.
He froze at the door of the stairs when he saw his Mom brushing Mistys' fringe away from her eyes and tucked the stray strands of fiery hair behind Mistys' ears.
Delia smoothed the fiery and scruffy red hair and then licked her thumb and began scrubbing Richies' cheek.
Only out of respect did Misty and Richie stay there and endure this.
"Mom!" Ash cried, causing the others to look up.
"What sweetie?" she asked, as she was beginning to pull out a tissue.
Richie saw this and opened the door hurriedly.
"Thanks for having us Mrs Ketchum, we have to go, bye" he said in one breath as he propelled Misty out the door.
Ash and Delia heard Mistys' "Thanks you" being called as she was being pushed down the footpath and in the direction of her home.
Ash shook his head and walked down to stairs and fell into the sofa.
Delia came to sit next to him.
"Did you have a good time, sweetie?" she asked, apparently forgetting that she was supposed to be mad at Ash for getting in trouble at school.
"Yeah I had a great time" Ash told her, with as much enthusiasm as he could muster with the amount of energy he had.
"That's good, you're still doing twice the chores you do around here"
"Yeah" Ash mumbled.
"And an allowance cut"
"Yeah yeah yeah"
Ash closed his eyes until he snapped his eyes back open upon the fell of wet cloth rubbing off his face.
"Mom" he snapped as Delia withdrew the hanky hastily.
"Sweetie, you've got a little...."
She scrubbed the tissue off his face again and Ash tried to swat it away.
Delia only pulled the tissue away when she felt his face was sufficiently clean.
She smiled when she saw the sulky expression Ash had.
She pinched his cheeks affectionately and giggled when Ashs' sulky face grew ever sulkier.
She wrapped her arm around his shoulders and gave him a quick hug.
Misty and Richie arrived back at their respective homes. They were dismayed to find that both houses and the lights on inside.
"Guess they were waiting up" Misty murmured.
"I better go" Richie said, his tone showed betraying his fear of the impending doom that was about to befall him.
When Misty came home, it was very different.
Misty found her sisters in the small dance studio that they had set up, along with Violet and Lily.
"No, it should be, we wiggle the hips side-step, push hears hands out and draw them back over out chests " Daisy said, doing each action as she spoke them.
"Sure if we wanna go back in time and do the Macarana" Violet snorted.
"We should go straight to the ground for the legs part after the hip wiggle"
"I like the leg part" a male voice piped up.
Misty who was leaning back on her left leg and had her arms folded turned to her right and looked down.
Her gaze fell upon a male, her sisters' age sitting down on the floor, arms resting on his legs.
He was gorgeous with his scruffy auburn hair and his big bright green eyes with a killer smile.
His fine masculine physique that showed no matter what he wore
Today it definitely did.
He was wearing a white sleeveless tee shirt and an old pair of jeans.
"Ugh, who asked you, Dave?" Lily demanded.
Dave clamped his mouth shut.
Dave had become enamoured with Mistys' sisters when they were at school and since then he had all but insisted that he become the hired help.
He was a great musician and always encouraged Misty with her singing though she rarely did.
When he heard her though, he was amazed.
His wages weren't good and he had to put up with Mistys' sisters,
Though he still cared for them deeply, he had learned certain things about them.
He had learned how difficult they were and how self centred they could be, he'd still jump at the chance to date one but he was happy as well being their friends.
"Misty whattya think?" Daisy asked and Misty found three intense stares burning through her.
"I Um..well.. I think none of them are without their charms" she began hoping to bluff her way through them.
"She needs to see them again to make up her mind" Dave filled in.
Her sisters exchanged looks and sighed.
"Fine Misty go sit next to Dave and after you watch us, tell us what you think" Lily ordered.
Misty nodded and scurried over to the spot on the floor next to Dave.
Once she made herself comfortable, as comfortable as one can be sitting on the wooden floor of a dancing studio she nudged Dave.
"Thank you. I felt like I was being fed to the piranhas " she said, a small smirk playing across her pretty face.
"Anytime"
When Dave had found out that Mistys' sisters weren't what he thought they were, he had been upset but he had also discovered that their little sister wasn't what he expected either and he found himself liking the young redhead.
He had discovered a fast friend in Misty and the two joked and talked and generally enjoyed spending time together.
They also had someone else to stick up for them of just to sympathise when Daisy or Lily or Violet was yelling at either of them.
Dave was kind of like an honorary brother and he saw Misty was his own little sister.
Misty was that kind of person, you'd instantly take to her like she were a member of your family
All her friends found her to be like a sister, it was just who she was.
They got on far better with each other than either did with Violet, Lily or Daisy.
"How long have you been here?" Misty asked.
"Four hours" Dave said biting his lip and nodding his head.
Misty gasped and threw a glance towards her sisters who were in the middle of a fancy move.
"Ouch. Your butt must be .... how long ago was it that you lost feeling in your butt?" she asked.
"I'll show you," he said as he pushed himself up off the ground.
"Ohh dude, I never signed up for you wagging your butt in my face" Misty objected.
"I don't want you to look at my butt, I want you to touch it" he answered but paused.
He turned around slowly and saw the look Misty gave him, eyebrow raised and wearing a dubious expression.
"That didn't really come out right" he began but Misty had begun to smirk.
"Oh I think it did"
"You know, it was one those things that sounded so much better in my head"
"How could that ever sound good, even in your head?"
" I reserve the right to remain silent"
"Misty!" Daisy shrill voice rang out.
Mistys' head jerked up and she resembled a rabbit caught in the headlights of a lorry.
She stood up a little cautiously
"Yes?" she asked meekly.
"Were you paying attention?" Lily demanded.
"As long as there are no follow on questions.. yes, yes I was" Misty replied.
Violet grabbed her wrist and whipped her towards them.
Misty stumbled a little and smiled nervously at her sisters.
"C'mon try this routine with us" Violet ordered and then she spun Misty around.
When Misty did stop spinning she held her head for a second when Daisy grabbed her again and tried a more complex move.
Dave shut his eyes and waited for the crash.
When he did dare to open one eye, he found Misty lying face flat on the ground, her rear sticking up the air and a dazed expression on her face.
Daisy gasped and Lily bit her lip.
"Yeah we never did teach her swing dancing," Violet remarked, biting a nail.
Misty turned her head and glared at her sisters while Dave struggled to keep a straight face.
"C'mon you two, we have to work on this" Lily barked.
"Misty and Dave both looked at them shocked.
"Us TWO?"
Monday Morning
Giselle walked into school outwardly looking perfect but inwardly upset.
She had a fight with Andrea and her dad didn't notice her at all.
Her long chestnut hair was held back in a loose plait with free strands escaping onto her face.
Her face was perfectly made up, pink lip-gloss and grey eye shadow and she was wearing one her favourite tops, a white sleeveless butterfly top with the butterfree in gold glitter with a black pleated skirt.
She was dressed in her favourite clothes and she knew that every female in the vicinity was jealous of her and were trying to be her friend and she knew every male thought she was the prettiest girl in school but none of them understood her.
She knew it was a cliché, the poor little rich girl who had problems because her daddy doesn't pay her any attention what they didn't know that her Aunt Andrea was her step Mom.
Her dad being the great guy he was married his wife's sister after her mom left. Giselle hated it and she hated going home.
She walked on, a bright smile spread across her face but from the corner of her eye she saw a group of that she envied but would never admit it..
Misty was sitting on a windowsill with a magazine and Duplica was leaning against the window looking at the magazine.
She saw Ash and Richie approaching them and she watched as they began to discuss whatever he saw next in the magazine.
"Damnit, Martians are invading and they're been infiltrating the human race by use of pancakes" Ash read from the magazine.
"Knew it!" Duplica remarked with a grin.
"Misty where did you find this magazine?" Richie asked as he read another title.
"I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you"
Misty replied as she flicked through some more pages.
"Woman attacked by a vampire Meowth statue... hmm I can understand why that might be a problem" she murmured.
"Hey check it out, they're looking for free lance photographers," Ash said pointing at a notice at the bottom of the page.
"Hey Snap, maybe you should apply" Duplica joked as Snap stopped beside them.
"Hey my uncle works for magazines like these. Show some respect" Ash snapped them.
The group went quiet except for Misty who shot Ash an exasperated look.
"You don't HAVE an uncle" she objected.
"True but..."
He was cut off when Misty hopped off the windowsill and gave him a friendly shove.
"C'mon lets get to class." she said smiling at him.
As they walked down to class, Richie, Snap, Duplica and Giselle could hear them.
"Are you sure I don't have an uncle?"
"Uh huh and remember Ash, I'm Misty, You're Ash, those people back there are our friends and that lady who lives at your house is your mother. Everything you need to know is sewn into your underwear" she taunted as she walked down the hall.
Ash looked thoughtful and grabbed Misty in a headlock.
"Nuggie" he cried as delivered the promised nuggie.
He let go of Misty who looked at him shocked and then tore after him, messing up her already scruffied up hair further.
Giselle heard the other three burst out laughing and couldn't resist a giggle.
She herself had never got a nuggie but then she never had as close a friend as Ash or Misty.
Giselle tossed her head back and walked on, noticing how none of them took any notice of her.
They never did, they might have when they were all younger but since then, they had learned to block out what she did or said.
She couldn't really blame them, if someone ignored your very existence, you'd learn to block them out as well.
Still though it felt weird.
She never really noticed how they were the only ones who never watched her as she walked by or looked up when they heard her speak or generally praise her as the queen of the school. But then they were the only people who might actually know her pain and might be able to help her instead of cooing over what she was wearing.
She didn't need crowds of people telling her how great she was; she needed friends who would take the good with bad
She didn't now too much about the small group of friends.
But she did know were good friends.
She shook her head and continued walking.
She paused at a poster, an after school activity was what she need and she knew which one
She bumped into a boy who was looking quite worried.
Brock paused when he realised who had just bumped into.
Giselle the most popular, pretty, talented, amazing girl in school.
"Hi" he said his voice going dreamy.
Giselle knew this guy, they had been in the same class for ages and she knew that he had something weird going on with his family but she had never stopped to ask.
"How's your family?' she asked, decide to give it a try.
Brock looked at her surprised and his dreamy expression changed to a serious expression. She guessed that maybe this subject was a solemn one.
"Their at school right now but when they get home I'll have to go home and check on Jodies' temperature, make sure its nothing that I would have to bring the kid to the doctor over" he told her.
Giselle let out a laugh.
"Jeez Brock, what kind of parents leave their eldest son take care of all the kids?" she asked.
Brocks' face clouded over and he walked off.
"Nice going princess" Misty remarked sarcastically as she passed by Giselle into the class.
Giselle was genuinely puzzled as to what she had said.
Ash stood next to her and whispered to her.
"His dad ...disappeared and his Mom died a short while afterwards because she couldn't cope minding the twenty kids" Ash told her as he followed Misty.
Misty gave Giselle a look that made her feel so small.
Giselle tried to shake it off but no one ever made her feel small.
She hated the way Misty saw through her, she didn't know the reason being was that Mistys' sisters were a lot like Giselle so Misty really wasn't impressed by Giselle and if you're not being impressed by her, you're just seeing through her.
Giselle was all a front, if you saw past her front, you saw every fault and insecurity.
Giselle saw Brock sitting down and she moved down the class, people all cleared the way like she was a princess.
Brock looked up and she smiled at him.
"Mind if I sit next to you, Brock?" she asked politely and flashed him a bright friendly smile.
Brock was too dazed by her smile to reply so she sat down and flipped open her book. She looked at Brock.
"You were going to keep me waiting was too long" she asked, tauntingly.
She smiled and began to talk to him.
"That was an actually nice thing of Giselle to do, weird" Ash remarked.
"Please there's probably some hidden reason" Misty answered, sceptically.
"Hey you know, its been a long time since YOU'VE done something nice for someone" he remarked.
"Hey I do something nice for someone everyday" she told him looking over the book open on her desk.
"Oh yeah?" he asked.
"Sure" she said and looked at him with a serious expression. " I stop myself killing you everyday" she replied.
Ash looked at her surprised then began to chuckle.
Misty couldn't keep her face straight any longer and she a smile spread across it and she began to laugh herself a little.
He smiled remembering the first time he realised that he liked her as more of a friend.
It had happened on a really long journey.
Delia was going to see some flower show up the country and she was taking Ash with her.
Professor Oak was coming as well to investigate a plant that was supposed to have some healing properties.
Delia had told Ash that he could invite a friend and Misty had been first pick.
Ash remembered standing in the boring train station for about a half an hour, his Mom always had to be early when he heard a female voice.
He had become increasingly more happy just hearing the voice and his whole face lit up when he saw Misty running towards them, her backpack bouncing as she moved.
Back then she was tomboy but still looked like a pretty nine-year-old girl.
She was wearing a long sleeved white tee shirt underneath a yellow tee shirt and she wore a pair of jeans.
Her fiery red hair bounced around in the two plaits she wore and while there was still another twenty minutes before their train arrived the two kids ran around exploring hyperactively.
They were probably about the liveliest thing in the station as they were bright and bubbly and everyone else was tired.
It was five in the morning.
They weren't a lot of people there but most of whom were, smiled amused at Ash and Misty as they raced around.
Some even envied the woman who called out to them and who had the pleasure of their happy go lucky joy for however long their journey would be.
Others pitied the woman for having to take care of two hyperactive nine-year-olds for that long.
Delia and Professor Sam Oak watched as the kids scrambled onto the train evidently not caring about the duration of the journey, just delighted at the idea of being in each others company for that long.
A few hours later
The two nine yr. olds had been playing cards for quite some time and showed no sign of any loss of energy
They had fascinated Delia, they had been on a train for three hours and they had been up since five and they were still as hyper as when they had met each other at the train station.
"Excuse me, sorry, pardon us" two voices apologised as two teens, about seventeen or eighteen made their way up the crowded train, hoping to find some empty seats.
"Hey you can sit next to us" a young boy's voice suggested.
The male teen looked down and saw small boy with brown eyes looking up at him with a friendly grin.
A small redheaded girl looked up at them more curiously but with a friendly smile as well.
Their table was piled up with junk food, cards and some games and some books, typical kids' stuff.
The female teen turned to the woman and man sitting in the two seater behind the two kids, guessing they were responsible for the kids.
"Would it be ok, ma'am?" she asked politely knowing that some parents would be worried about this.
"Please go ahead" the woman insisted with a bright smile similar to Ash's smile.
The girl saw this and made the link between Delia and Ash but the small redhead resembled neither the brown haired woman nor the white haired man.
The guy sat down and looked at both kids a little nervously.
He wasn't sure how you'd talk to kids.
"That's Ash and that's Ash's Mom and that's professor Oak" Misty explained pointing at each person corresponding to their names.
"And what's your name?" the girl asked settling down into the seat opposite the teenaged boy she was with.
Misty and Ash sat opposite each other and so the two teens did the same.
The boy sat next to Misty and the girl sat next to Ash.
"My name is of no consequence" Misty replied with a wink.
"Her name is Misty" Ash filled in shaking his head at Misty mockingly.
"Thats a pretty name" the girl said smiling at Misty who shrugged,evidently her name didn't mean that much to her.
"You guys wanna play cards?" Misty offered, pointing at the hand of cards they each had.
"Sure" the boy said with a grin.
It seemed that these two kids were like him and Reese.
Reese, he glanced at his girlfriend and his best friend with long chestnut locks of hair alive with the blue strands of hair streaking down her hair and her sweet baby blue eyes.
"Sure, hey we can teach a game we know" Reese said with a wink.
She had taken an instant liking to the two young children.
She exchanged a knowing smile with hey boyfriend Oz, the kids acted like she and Oz did.
They'd probably end up like her and Oz as well.
It also made her realise that she and Oz acted like a couple of nine-yr. olds and yet the thought didn't bother her.
It amused her.
After a half an hour Ash was casting suspicious looks at Misty.
"They're making this is up" he told her.
Reese laughed.
"Everyone says that when they play this game" she remarked.
"Hmm wonder why" Misty joked.
"I put down the seven of spades"
"Hey cheat" Ash cried at Reese.
"No I'm not"
"Do you have the seven of spades?" Misty asked.
Ash looked a bit sheepish as he shook his head.
"And you have to take all the cards put down" Oz told him.
Ash grumbled but he grabbed all the cards piled up on the table.
They continued playing when Ash turned on Oz.
"Two of clubs"
"You're cheating"
"Nope, sorry dude "
Ash grumbled again but took the cards.
"Great you're making his paranoia worse with this game" Misty remarked sarcastically.
"Its you, you've been cheating all along," Ash cried pointing at Misty.
"I didn't even put a card down yet!" Misty objected.
"Yeah but you're cheating! I can see it "
Misty shook her head and pushed the pile of cards towards Ash.
Ash took them and at this stage had most of the deck of cards.
"That's a lotta cards you got there, slugger" Oz remarked with a grin.
"He wants all the cards for himself so he can play his own game of card" Misty replied.
Oz and Reese laughed at the pair of kids as this carry on continued for another hour when the train came to stop at the next station when Oz and Reese stood up.
"Well kids, it's been fun," Oz said.
"Keep practising, the game you two. You'll get good at it
"Uh huh" Misty and Ash said at the same time with doubtful expressions.
"They're great kids" Reese told Delia with a smile.
"Tell me that again in another few hours" Delia said with a weak tired smile.
Misty and Ash waved at them both until the train pulled out of the station when Misty yawned and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.
Ash noticed and looked at her curiously.
"You tired?"
"A little" she lied, yawning again.
She stood up a little shakily and walked over to the empty seat next to Ash.
She nestled down into, tucking her legs up on resting her head on Ash's shoulder.
Ash felt a strange tingling; he felt her warmth mixing with his own creating warm glowing warmth but he felt all snugly.
He looked down at Misty who was drifted off into a deep slumber.
Did she know she was kinda pretty sometimes?
Or did she know that her hair was nice?
These sorts of questions ran through the young boys' mind and he found himself liking the red head in a different.
Too young to really understand it, he thought maybe he had gone to the next level of friendship.
Maybe their friendship evolves like a Pokemon would. Either way he liked it. He closed his eyes and rested his own head on the mop of bright red hair.
"Ash?" Misty asked, waving her hands in front of his face.
Ash blinks and looked at Misty surprised and dazed.
"What are you thinking of now?" she asked with a sigh.
"Us" Ash answered sounding so genuine and innocent about it, Misty cocked her head at him and gave him a lopsided smile.
"What about us?" she asked.
"You know stuff" he answered beginning to tune out of the conversation.
(I wonder, Ash. Do you think the same things I do?} Misty thought looking at Ash bemused.
Mistys' thoughts were interrupted by the untimely arrival of their teacher.
To be continued
Ok sorry about the delay and the next chapter will be about the auditions so please be patient.
Please read and review.
I hope you enjoyed it.
Lots of Love
Nibbs
Ok the some of characters are mine, well one who I made up myself is but the rest belong to Nintendo
This story is mine so don't steal it.
If you want to get in contact with me my email address is
Doddlebabe@hotmail.com
Please read and review.
I hope you enjoy this chapter, I know nothing happens but patience is a virtue so hold tight for a bit.
Ash raised his body slowly of the ground beside his bed and pressed his foot as lightly as he could against the carpeted floor.
He continued this, moving stealthily towards the door.
He held back a laugh and settled for a smirk that had sprawled itself on his face.
His friends thought that he couldn't be cunning but here he was, outsmarting Misty and Richie who were completely clueless.
It was going perfectly except for one small detail.
"What are you doing?" Richie asked curiously.
Ash looked to his left and nearly fell over with the shock.
Misty shook her head and sighed.
"You've got to sneak BEHIND people, not in FRONT of" she said using the kind of voice you'd expect to hear from a mother who was telling her son something that she told him many, many times before.
This tone led Richie to his next question.
"This has happened before, hasn't it?" Richie asked them, amused.
His question was answered by the way Misty rolled her eyes and the way Ash scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
Misty then turned to Ash with a questioning expression.
"Why were you sneaking around?" she asked.
"Yeah what's up with that?" Richie asked as well.
Ash was beginning to sweat and Richie noticed him edging closer to that bootleg c.d. he had.
Ash had been acting strangely around that c.d. for some reason.
"I wanted to pee and I didn't want you to know" he answered.
"Ash I know you pee, I know too well" Misty argued
This comment caused Richie to look at Misty somewhat disgusted and curious at the same time.
Misty caught his glance and looked at him with an all too solemn expression.
"Its really something that was unpleasant for everyone involved and quite frankly, its too painful to talk about" she said softly and then shuddered.
Ash blushed and then faked a yawn.
"You know, I'm tired," he said quickly, changing the subject.
"It is pretty late" Richie agreed.
Misty stood up stretching and yawned.
"Be a gentlemen and escort me home," she said to Richie, swaying slightly from being tired.
"Um depends on whether you're heading the same direction as me" Richie joked.
Misty shot him a glare and Ash shook his head, amused.
Pikachu stood up on her hind legs and waved at Misty and Richie as they left the room.
Ash collapsed onto the bed and closed his eyes smiling wistfully.
"She really is something else, isn't she?" he asked Pikachu.
"Yeah I know, I'm not the idiot who won't tell her how I feel about her" Pikachu remarked in Pika language.
"That's a little unfair" Ash objected and as Pikachu was about to debate this, Ash stood and left to show his friends out.
He froze at the door of the stairs when he saw his Mom brushing Mistys' fringe away from her eyes and tucked the stray strands of fiery hair behind Mistys' ears.
Delia smoothed the fiery and scruffy red hair and then licked her thumb and began scrubbing Richies' cheek.
Only out of respect did Misty and Richie stay there and endure this.
"Mom!" Ash cried, causing the others to look up.
"What sweetie?" she asked, as she was beginning to pull out a tissue.
Richie saw this and opened the door hurriedly.
"Thanks for having us Mrs Ketchum, we have to go, bye" he said in one breath as he propelled Misty out the door.
Ash and Delia heard Mistys' "Thanks you" being called as she was being pushed down the footpath and in the direction of her home.
Ash shook his head and walked down to stairs and fell into the sofa.
Delia came to sit next to him.
"Did you have a good time, sweetie?" she asked, apparently forgetting that she was supposed to be mad at Ash for getting in trouble at school.
"Yeah I had a great time" Ash told her, with as much enthusiasm as he could muster with the amount of energy he had.
"That's good, you're still doing twice the chores you do around here"
"Yeah" Ash mumbled.
"And an allowance cut"
"Yeah yeah yeah"
Ash closed his eyes until he snapped his eyes back open upon the fell of wet cloth rubbing off his face.
"Mom" he snapped as Delia withdrew the hanky hastily.
"Sweetie, you've got a little...."
She scrubbed the tissue off his face again and Ash tried to swat it away.
Delia only pulled the tissue away when she felt his face was sufficiently clean.
She smiled when she saw the sulky expression Ash had.
She pinched his cheeks affectionately and giggled when Ashs' sulky face grew ever sulkier.
She wrapped her arm around his shoulders and gave him a quick hug.
Misty and Richie arrived back at their respective homes. They were dismayed to find that both houses and the lights on inside.
"Guess they were waiting up" Misty murmured.
"I better go" Richie said, his tone showed betraying his fear of the impending doom that was about to befall him.
When Misty came home, it was very different.
Misty found her sisters in the small dance studio that they had set up, along with Violet and Lily.
"No, it should be, we wiggle the hips side-step, push hears hands out and draw them back over out chests " Daisy said, doing each action as she spoke them.
"Sure if we wanna go back in time and do the Macarana" Violet snorted.
"We should go straight to the ground for the legs part after the hip wiggle"
"I like the leg part" a male voice piped up.
Misty who was leaning back on her left leg and had her arms folded turned to her right and looked down.
Her gaze fell upon a male, her sisters' age sitting down on the floor, arms resting on his legs.
He was gorgeous with his scruffy auburn hair and his big bright green eyes with a killer smile.
His fine masculine physique that showed no matter what he wore
Today it definitely did.
He was wearing a white sleeveless tee shirt and an old pair of jeans.
"Ugh, who asked you, Dave?" Lily demanded.
Dave clamped his mouth shut.
Dave had become enamoured with Mistys' sisters when they were at school and since then he had all but insisted that he become the hired help.
He was a great musician and always encouraged Misty with her singing though she rarely did.
When he heard her though, he was amazed.
His wages weren't good and he had to put up with Mistys' sisters,
Though he still cared for them deeply, he had learned certain things about them.
He had learned how difficult they were and how self centred they could be, he'd still jump at the chance to date one but he was happy as well being their friends.
"Misty whattya think?" Daisy asked and Misty found three intense stares burning through her.
"I Um..well.. I think none of them are without their charms" she began hoping to bluff her way through them.
"She needs to see them again to make up her mind" Dave filled in.
Her sisters exchanged looks and sighed.
"Fine Misty go sit next to Dave and after you watch us, tell us what you think" Lily ordered.
Misty nodded and scurried over to the spot on the floor next to Dave.
Once she made herself comfortable, as comfortable as one can be sitting on the wooden floor of a dancing studio she nudged Dave.
"Thank you. I felt like I was being fed to the piranhas " she said, a small smirk playing across her pretty face.
"Anytime"
When Dave had found out that Mistys' sisters weren't what he thought they were, he had been upset but he had also discovered that their little sister wasn't what he expected either and he found himself liking the young redhead.
He had discovered a fast friend in Misty and the two joked and talked and generally enjoyed spending time together.
They also had someone else to stick up for them of just to sympathise when Daisy or Lily or Violet was yelling at either of them.
Dave was kind of like an honorary brother and he saw Misty was his own little sister.
Misty was that kind of person, you'd instantly take to her like she were a member of your family
All her friends found her to be like a sister, it was just who she was.
They got on far better with each other than either did with Violet, Lily or Daisy.
"How long have you been here?" Misty asked.
"Four hours" Dave said biting his lip and nodding his head.
Misty gasped and threw a glance towards her sisters who were in the middle of a fancy move.
"Ouch. Your butt must be .... how long ago was it that you lost feeling in your butt?" she asked.
"I'll show you," he said as he pushed himself up off the ground.
"Ohh dude, I never signed up for you wagging your butt in my face" Misty objected.
"I don't want you to look at my butt, I want you to touch it" he answered but paused.
He turned around slowly and saw the look Misty gave him, eyebrow raised and wearing a dubious expression.
"That didn't really come out right" he began but Misty had begun to smirk.
"Oh I think it did"
"You know, it was one those things that sounded so much better in my head"
"How could that ever sound good, even in your head?"
" I reserve the right to remain silent"
"Misty!" Daisy shrill voice rang out.
Mistys' head jerked up and she resembled a rabbit caught in the headlights of a lorry.
She stood up a little cautiously
"Yes?" she asked meekly.
"Were you paying attention?" Lily demanded.
"As long as there are no follow on questions.. yes, yes I was" Misty replied.
Violet grabbed her wrist and whipped her towards them.
Misty stumbled a little and smiled nervously at her sisters.
"C'mon try this routine with us" Violet ordered and then she spun Misty around.
When Misty did stop spinning she held her head for a second when Daisy grabbed her again and tried a more complex move.
Dave shut his eyes and waited for the crash.
When he did dare to open one eye, he found Misty lying face flat on the ground, her rear sticking up the air and a dazed expression on her face.
Daisy gasped and Lily bit her lip.
"Yeah we never did teach her swing dancing," Violet remarked, biting a nail.
Misty turned her head and glared at her sisters while Dave struggled to keep a straight face.
"C'mon you two, we have to work on this" Lily barked.
"Misty and Dave both looked at them shocked.
"Us TWO?"
Monday Morning
Giselle walked into school outwardly looking perfect but inwardly upset.
She had a fight with Andrea and her dad didn't notice her at all.
Her long chestnut hair was held back in a loose plait with free strands escaping onto her face.
Her face was perfectly made up, pink lip-gloss and grey eye shadow and she was wearing one her favourite tops, a white sleeveless butterfly top with the butterfree in gold glitter with a black pleated skirt.
She was dressed in her favourite clothes and she knew that every female in the vicinity was jealous of her and were trying to be her friend and she knew every male thought she was the prettiest girl in school but none of them understood her.
She knew it was a cliché, the poor little rich girl who had problems because her daddy doesn't pay her any attention what they didn't know that her Aunt Andrea was her step Mom.
Her dad being the great guy he was married his wife's sister after her mom left. Giselle hated it and she hated going home.
She walked on, a bright smile spread across her face but from the corner of her eye she saw a group of that she envied but would never admit it..
Misty was sitting on a windowsill with a magazine and Duplica was leaning against the window looking at the magazine.
She saw Ash and Richie approaching them and she watched as they began to discuss whatever he saw next in the magazine.
"Damnit, Martians are invading and they're been infiltrating the human race by use of pancakes" Ash read from the magazine.
"Knew it!" Duplica remarked with a grin.
"Misty where did you find this magazine?" Richie asked as he read another title.
"I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you"
Misty replied as she flicked through some more pages.
"Woman attacked by a vampire Meowth statue... hmm I can understand why that might be a problem" she murmured.
"Hey check it out, they're looking for free lance photographers," Ash said pointing at a notice at the bottom of the page.
"Hey Snap, maybe you should apply" Duplica joked as Snap stopped beside them.
"Hey my uncle works for magazines like these. Show some respect" Ash snapped them.
The group went quiet except for Misty who shot Ash an exasperated look.
"You don't HAVE an uncle" she objected.
"True but..."
He was cut off when Misty hopped off the windowsill and gave him a friendly shove.
"C'mon lets get to class." she said smiling at him.
As they walked down to class, Richie, Snap, Duplica and Giselle could hear them.
"Are you sure I don't have an uncle?"
"Uh huh and remember Ash, I'm Misty, You're Ash, those people back there are our friends and that lady who lives at your house is your mother. Everything you need to know is sewn into your underwear" she taunted as she walked down the hall.
Ash looked thoughtful and grabbed Misty in a headlock.
"Nuggie" he cried as delivered the promised nuggie.
He let go of Misty who looked at him shocked and then tore after him, messing up her already scruffied up hair further.
Giselle heard the other three burst out laughing and couldn't resist a giggle.
She herself had never got a nuggie but then she never had as close a friend as Ash or Misty.
Giselle tossed her head back and walked on, noticing how none of them took any notice of her.
They never did, they might have when they were all younger but since then, they had learned to block out what she did or said.
She couldn't really blame them, if someone ignored your very existence, you'd learn to block them out as well.
Still though it felt weird.
She never really noticed how they were the only ones who never watched her as she walked by or looked up when they heard her speak or generally praise her as the queen of the school. But then they were the only people who might actually know her pain and might be able to help her instead of cooing over what she was wearing.
She didn't need crowds of people telling her how great she was; she needed friends who would take the good with bad
She didn't now too much about the small group of friends.
But she did know were good friends.
She shook her head and continued walking.
She paused at a poster, an after school activity was what she need and she knew which one
She bumped into a boy who was looking quite worried.
Brock paused when he realised who had just bumped into.
Giselle the most popular, pretty, talented, amazing girl in school.
"Hi" he said his voice going dreamy.
Giselle knew this guy, they had been in the same class for ages and she knew that he had something weird going on with his family but she had never stopped to ask.
"How's your family?' she asked, decide to give it a try.
Brock looked at her surprised and his dreamy expression changed to a serious expression. She guessed that maybe this subject was a solemn one.
"Their at school right now but when they get home I'll have to go home and check on Jodies' temperature, make sure its nothing that I would have to bring the kid to the doctor over" he told her.
Giselle let out a laugh.
"Jeez Brock, what kind of parents leave their eldest son take care of all the kids?" she asked.
Brocks' face clouded over and he walked off.
"Nice going princess" Misty remarked sarcastically as she passed by Giselle into the class.
Giselle was genuinely puzzled as to what she had said.
Ash stood next to her and whispered to her.
"His dad ...disappeared and his Mom died a short while afterwards because she couldn't cope minding the twenty kids" Ash told her as he followed Misty.
Misty gave Giselle a look that made her feel so small.
Giselle tried to shake it off but no one ever made her feel small.
She hated the way Misty saw through her, she didn't know the reason being was that Mistys' sisters were a lot like Giselle so Misty really wasn't impressed by Giselle and if you're not being impressed by her, you're just seeing through her.
Giselle was all a front, if you saw past her front, you saw every fault and insecurity.
Giselle saw Brock sitting down and she moved down the class, people all cleared the way like she was a princess.
Brock looked up and she smiled at him.
"Mind if I sit next to you, Brock?" she asked politely and flashed him a bright friendly smile.
Brock was too dazed by her smile to reply so she sat down and flipped open her book. She looked at Brock.
"You were going to keep me waiting was too long" she asked, tauntingly.
She smiled and began to talk to him.
"That was an actually nice thing of Giselle to do, weird" Ash remarked.
"Please there's probably some hidden reason" Misty answered, sceptically.
"Hey you know, its been a long time since YOU'VE done something nice for someone" he remarked.
"Hey I do something nice for someone everyday" she told him looking over the book open on her desk.
"Oh yeah?" he asked.
"Sure" she said and looked at him with a serious expression. " I stop myself killing you everyday" she replied.
Ash looked at her surprised then began to chuckle.
Misty couldn't keep her face straight any longer and she a smile spread across it and she began to laugh herself a little.
He smiled remembering the first time he realised that he liked her as more of a friend.
It had happened on a really long journey.
Delia was going to see some flower show up the country and she was taking Ash with her.
Professor Oak was coming as well to investigate a plant that was supposed to have some healing properties.
Delia had told Ash that he could invite a friend and Misty had been first pick.
Ash remembered standing in the boring train station for about a half an hour, his Mom always had to be early when he heard a female voice.
He had become increasingly more happy just hearing the voice and his whole face lit up when he saw Misty running towards them, her backpack bouncing as she moved.
Back then she was tomboy but still looked like a pretty nine-year-old girl.
She was wearing a long sleeved white tee shirt underneath a yellow tee shirt and she wore a pair of jeans.
Her fiery red hair bounced around in the two plaits she wore and while there was still another twenty minutes before their train arrived the two kids ran around exploring hyperactively.
They were probably about the liveliest thing in the station as they were bright and bubbly and everyone else was tired.
It was five in the morning.
They weren't a lot of people there but most of whom were, smiled amused at Ash and Misty as they raced around.
Some even envied the woman who called out to them and who had the pleasure of their happy go lucky joy for however long their journey would be.
Others pitied the woman for having to take care of two hyperactive nine-year-olds for that long.
Delia and Professor Sam Oak watched as the kids scrambled onto the train evidently not caring about the duration of the journey, just delighted at the idea of being in each others company for that long.
A few hours later
The two nine yr. olds had been playing cards for quite some time and showed no sign of any loss of energy
They had fascinated Delia, they had been on a train for three hours and they had been up since five and they were still as hyper as when they had met each other at the train station.
"Excuse me, sorry, pardon us" two voices apologised as two teens, about seventeen or eighteen made their way up the crowded train, hoping to find some empty seats.
"Hey you can sit next to us" a young boy's voice suggested.
The male teen looked down and saw small boy with brown eyes looking up at him with a friendly grin.
A small redheaded girl looked up at them more curiously but with a friendly smile as well.
Their table was piled up with junk food, cards and some games and some books, typical kids' stuff.
The female teen turned to the woman and man sitting in the two seater behind the two kids, guessing they were responsible for the kids.
"Would it be ok, ma'am?" she asked politely knowing that some parents would be worried about this.
"Please go ahead" the woman insisted with a bright smile similar to Ash's smile.
The girl saw this and made the link between Delia and Ash but the small redhead resembled neither the brown haired woman nor the white haired man.
The guy sat down and looked at both kids a little nervously.
He wasn't sure how you'd talk to kids.
"That's Ash and that's Ash's Mom and that's professor Oak" Misty explained pointing at each person corresponding to their names.
"And what's your name?" the girl asked settling down into the seat opposite the teenaged boy she was with.
Misty and Ash sat opposite each other and so the two teens did the same.
The boy sat next to Misty and the girl sat next to Ash.
"My name is of no consequence" Misty replied with a wink.
"Her name is Misty" Ash filled in shaking his head at Misty mockingly.
"Thats a pretty name" the girl said smiling at Misty who shrugged,evidently her name didn't mean that much to her.
"You guys wanna play cards?" Misty offered, pointing at the hand of cards they each had.
"Sure" the boy said with a grin.
It seemed that these two kids were like him and Reese.
Reese, he glanced at his girlfriend and his best friend with long chestnut locks of hair alive with the blue strands of hair streaking down her hair and her sweet baby blue eyes.
"Sure, hey we can teach a game we know" Reese said with a wink.
She had taken an instant liking to the two young children.
She exchanged a knowing smile with hey boyfriend Oz, the kids acted like she and Oz did.
They'd probably end up like her and Oz as well.
It also made her realise that she and Oz acted like a couple of nine-yr. olds and yet the thought didn't bother her.
It amused her.
After a half an hour Ash was casting suspicious looks at Misty.
"They're making this is up" he told her.
Reese laughed.
"Everyone says that when they play this game" she remarked.
"Hmm wonder why" Misty joked.
"I put down the seven of spades"
"Hey cheat" Ash cried at Reese.
"No I'm not"
"Do you have the seven of spades?" Misty asked.
Ash looked a bit sheepish as he shook his head.
"And you have to take all the cards put down" Oz told him.
Ash grumbled but he grabbed all the cards piled up on the table.
They continued playing when Ash turned on Oz.
"Two of clubs"
"You're cheating"
"Nope, sorry dude "
Ash grumbled again but took the cards.
"Great you're making his paranoia worse with this game" Misty remarked sarcastically.
"Its you, you've been cheating all along," Ash cried pointing at Misty.
"I didn't even put a card down yet!" Misty objected.
"Yeah but you're cheating! I can see it "
Misty shook her head and pushed the pile of cards towards Ash.
Ash took them and at this stage had most of the deck of cards.
"That's a lotta cards you got there, slugger" Oz remarked with a grin.
"He wants all the cards for himself so he can play his own game of card" Misty replied.
Oz and Reese laughed at the pair of kids as this carry on continued for another hour when the train came to stop at the next station when Oz and Reese stood up.
"Well kids, it's been fun," Oz said.
"Keep practising, the game you two. You'll get good at it
"Uh huh" Misty and Ash said at the same time with doubtful expressions.
"They're great kids" Reese told Delia with a smile.
"Tell me that again in another few hours" Delia said with a weak tired smile.
Misty and Ash waved at them both until the train pulled out of the station when Misty yawned and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.
Ash noticed and looked at her curiously.
"You tired?"
"A little" she lied, yawning again.
She stood up a little shakily and walked over to the empty seat next to Ash.
She nestled down into, tucking her legs up on resting her head on Ash's shoulder.
Ash felt a strange tingling; he felt her warmth mixing with his own creating warm glowing warmth but he felt all snugly.
He looked down at Misty who was drifted off into a deep slumber.
Did she know she was kinda pretty sometimes?
Or did she know that her hair was nice?
These sorts of questions ran through the young boys' mind and he found himself liking the red head in a different.
Too young to really understand it, he thought maybe he had gone to the next level of friendship.
Maybe their friendship evolves like a Pokemon would. Either way he liked it. He closed his eyes and rested his own head on the mop of bright red hair.
"Ash?" Misty asked, waving her hands in front of his face.
Ash blinks and looked at Misty surprised and dazed.
"What are you thinking of now?" she asked with a sigh.
"Us" Ash answered sounding so genuine and innocent about it, Misty cocked her head at him and gave him a lopsided smile.
"What about us?" she asked.
"You know stuff" he answered beginning to tune out of the conversation.
(I wonder, Ash. Do you think the same things I do?} Misty thought looking at Ash bemused.
Mistys' thoughts were interrupted by the untimely arrival of their teacher.
To be continued
Ok sorry about the delay and the next chapter will be about the auditions so please be patient.
Please read and review.
I hope you enjoyed it.
Lots of Love
Nibbs