I don't own pokémon! Nintendo, Kids WB, Game Freak, and Creatures Inc, do. All I own here is the plot for my fics and the characters for Lupusa, Casey, and Michelle, though, how can you own people? Oh, well…they're mine here.
Chapter two is here! It's not disappointing, I hope…
Diving In! …To What?
By Ark9
Chapter Two
Seafoam Islands; A Pit Stop
Misty held on tight to Ash's waist to keep from falling off. She rested her chin on his back and let her breath cascade off of his neck.
Ash laughed as he felt goosebumps raise themselves along his neck, arms, and face. "Stop it, Misty! That tickles!" he said.
She moved her chin onto his left shoulder since Pikachu was still sitting on his right one. "Better, Ash?" she giggled.
He turned his head and ruffled her hair. "Yep! Thanks."
"Hey!" she shouted, pushing his hand off of her head.
He laughed and then saw a small mountainous island below. "I think that we should take a break. It's almost sunset. Besides, Charizard needs a break."
"Hey, isn't this the entrance to the Seafoam Islands?" Misty asked.
"Yeah, now that you brought it up. This league, I started it before. The next gym is water, so I thought that I could help Pikachu train here so that it can just wipe out their pokémon."
"Pretty confident, aren't you?" Misty asked slyly.
Charizard landed on one of the rocks and crouched down to let them off. Ash jumped off and Pikachu ran around, stretching out its legs. Ash turned around and lifted Misty off Charizard's back.
"It's a progressive league like the Pokémon League. No way am I going to loose to the second gym. Especially not a water gym," he said.
Misty slapped him for the last comment. "That's for insulting my gym," she said hotly and glared at him.
"Owww…" Ash moaned, rubbing his head. "I wasn't talking about your gym. The second badge is the Lagoon Badge. It is from their water gym. Sheesh!"
"Oh, sorry," Misty said in embarrassment. "Here, let me kiss it and make it all better," she suggested, chasing after him.
"It's perfectly all right!" he yelled over his should as he dashed over the rocky landscape.
"Baaaaazzzzzzzoooooorrrrrrrr…!" Charizard bellowed, firespinning them both so that they stopped running.
"Pikachu!" Thank you! Pikachu shouted to Charizard, as it was about ready to shock them itself. Charizard gave him a thumbs-up as Ash and Misty walked back with charred skin.
"Yeah, thanks a lot, Charizard," Ash said, dejectedly, causing Charizard's eyebrows to wrinkle before he lit a fire to make up for it.
"Cha!" Yea! Pikachu chirped excitedly, holding out its paws out to the fire.
Ash crawled over to the fire and smiled. He sat against Charizard, who was now laying down in a semi-curled position.
Charizard opened an eye and looked at Ash. Then he closed it again. Ash had his respect. He would allow it.
"Chu…" Pikachu cooed. It jumped into Ash's lap and put its paws against his chest. "Pikachu?" What about me? it asked sadly. "Pikachupi?" Aren't I your friend anymore?
Ash frowned and Charizard woke to full-consciousness. Misty didn't quite understand the question, but know that it had to be a meaningful one, especially because Charizard even bothered to listen.
"Of course you are, Pikachu," Ash half-smiled to see if it was joking and then rubbed its head between its ears.
"Cha!" it cried happily.
Then he lowered his voice to a whisper so that Charizard couldn't hear. "You'll always be my best pokémon. Who else sticks around with me, even when they don't want to?"
"Pika?" Really? it asked with sparkling eyes. Glistening with hope.
"Yeah. Besides, someone need to shock some sense into me every once in a while, huh?" he added.
Pikachu rolled his eyes at Ash's joke and then nodded with a happy, "Pi-ka-chu!"
Pikachu turned around and Ash cuddled it against himself, both laughing in happiness.
Misty was confused about the secretism, but by the look Ash gave Charizard before he started to whisper, it was meant for Charizard, not for her.
She walked over to where the others were on the opposite side of the fire. She pretended to frown. "I'm jealous, Ash," she said stubbornly.
Ash smiled to Pikachu and then back to Misty. "Oh? Better come over here, then," he laughed and held out his arm.
Misty snuggled up by Ash's side against Charizard and petted Pikachu's ear. Ash put his arm around her.
"Honestly! Pikachu was jealous of you!" Ash laughed.
"Is that so?" Misty asked and tickled Pikachu.
"Cha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Pikachu giggled.
Charizard opened an eye to look at the happy, laughing creatures, fed up with the noise.
"Zzzzzzaaaaaaarrrrrrr!" Charizard roared, embering them to a dry black color.
Pikachu glared at Charizard, who smirked and closed his eyes, laying his head back on his paws. Ash grabbed Pikachu, stopping it from using its electricity on Charizard. Misty blinked and then tried to hide behind Ash in case it tried to burn them again.
Annoyed, Pikachu curled up in Ash's lap. Ash smiled at Pikachu and Misty. Misty cautiously sat back up and leaned against Ash, looking up to see if he expected Charizard to burn them once more, but found him smiling down at her, instead.
He squeezed her against himself gently and kissed her forehead. "I love you, Misty," he whispered, and rested his head on top of hers.
"I love you, too," she whispered with a slight trace of a giggle.
They rested there, watching the fire start to die down, unaware of the drowsiness that was inevitably starting to come over them.
*************
Ash rubbed his eyes and squinted into the early morning light that had woken him up. He sat up and looked around.
*Where's Misty?* he wondered before picking up Pikachu and putting it on Charizard's back in between its wings so that it would stay warm and not fall off of Charizard's smooth back.
Then he ran around the entrance to the cave to see if Misty was there before he went wondering around in the dark.
He walked, or rather climbed, around the cave, jumping from one rock to another, watching to make sure the rocks that he was using were stable.
"One, two, three. Looks fine to me," he repeated over and over to himself as he tried to convince himself that this wasn't attempting suicide to trust the rocks. Once, he jumped and the rock he was jumping from slid, causing him to loose his balance.
"Aaaaaaahhhhhhh!!" he screamed as he rolled sideways down the rocks, finally ripping apart his gloves as he gripped a sturdy rock to stop his descent.
"Ppppssssskkk!" A few water-drops fell on him. He pulled himself up into a sitting position on the rocks, heart pounding, and turned around to see what was at the base of this cave.
He smirked as he saw the pool of water behind him. Well, the Seafoam Islands were islands, weren't they? The water was dark, obviously deep, and unsettled. No pokemon were there, but a few seconds later, he saw and few bubbles surface. Then Misty came up and swam to the edge in front of him. She grabbed his wrists and pulled him over to the water.
"Come on!" she pleaded excitedly.
"Nah," he pulled away and held up his palms to her. "It'll hurt," he whined.
She looked at the scratched and stuck out her lip mockingly. "Poor thing," she sneered and pulled his hands under the water.
"Yyyeeeeeeoooowwwwww!!" he shouted, desperately biting his lip, trying to hold in tears from his stinging hands. "What was that for?"
"It'll help them heal faster," she replied and pulled them out of the water, examining the cuts with sympathy returning to her voice. "At least it won't hurt now if you want to swim," she said. "Please?"
He scowled at her and whipped his hands away, shaking them to try to stop the burning feeling. "No way!" he squealed. "Gosh, why'd you have to do that?"
"'Cause I love ya!" she sparked and pulled him by his shoulders so that she could whisper in his ear, "and I care whether you get infected or not."
Ash was puzzled as to how to reply to that. He finally understood and was glad to find that his hands were not stinging as bad and the skin was starting to feel tight.
Misty smiled at his confused face and took the opportunity to bring him to the top of the cave, where it overlooked the small pool of water.
"Dive off!" Misty encouraged.
"Dive? I can't dive!" he exclaimed with wide eyes.
"Sure you can!" Misty yelled and pushed him off as he looked over the egde of the ledge.
"I'll gggggeeeeettttttt yyyyooooooouuuu ffffoooooorrrrrrr tttthhhhhhiiiissssss!" he wailed as he watched the water coming closer. Suddenly, he realized that he was going to belly-flop if he didn't do something. Frantically, he curled his feet together in front of him and pulled his arms to his feet, ducking his head under his arms and closing his eyes tight.
"Wwhhhoooooosshh!" He flipped around forward, surprised to find that only his hands hurt from the impact. He opened his eyes and swam to the top. Once there, he gasped for a breath and looked in front of him. A small splash made him realize that Misty had dove in after him.
She surfaced and swam over to Ash. "Maybe I should teach you how to dive, then," she smirked.
"No, no! That's okay! I've done enough damage to my hands today!" He waved his hands in front of his face. Now only his wrists were covered by the sliced and dripping cloth.
"Fine, then. Pikachu and Charizard are probably awake and wondering where we are, anyway." She climbed out of the water and sighed at her dripping clothes.
Ash scrambled onto a nearby rock. "Is there any other way to get back?" he asked woriedly.
"Other than rocks? No, this whole island is made of rocks and water. However, there is an easier way than how you came," she replied, leading him up to the ledge again, jumping from rock to rock.
"Not again! I'm not going off again!" he screamed.
"You are such a big baby!" she taunted. "We aren't jumping off of it. We are just going to walk along the top and climb down the other side because the rocks over there aren't loose," she explained.
"Oh!" he smiled.
They walked the rest of the way up the cliff and to the opposite edge without saying anything.
"Isn't it beautiful?" Misty asked suddenly.
"What are you talking about?" Ash asked curiously.
"The ocean!" Misty said quickly. Isn't it just so…romantic?" He eyes sparkled at the sight.
Ash laughed quietly. "If you say so, Misty," he replied.
Misty sighed. "You'll never understand, will you?"
"Guess not," he frowned. "It's just water."
She looked at the water with the sun turning it different colors and making it glitter everywhere. How could he not see that?
Misty walked down the side with Ash following behind her. Ash still puzzling over what there was in the water that he didn't understand.
Ash's face brightened when he saw Pikachu and Charizard, cheeks pressed against each other—Pikachu's sparking—obviously arguing about something. "Hey guys! I'm back!"
"Pika!" Pikachu ran towards Ash, letting Charizard fall on his face.
"Hey, buddy!" Ash shouted as Pikachu jumped up into his arms. "Ready to get a badge?"
"Chu!" it yelled excitedly.
"Aw…I like this place," Misty complained.
"Well, the sooner we leave, the sooner we can get back," Ash smirked.
"I suppose," she answered, looking back longingly.