Well, here you are! Third Chapter and going strong! As far as chapter titles go, congratulations and thank you very much to Sparklewolf (again), J.C. the Wabbit (again), and Chibimatchmaker, who got Chapter Two's title right. The line "… oh, catch me if you can…" comes from the song Catch Me If You Can (big change from the lyric line, huh?) from the Pokémon: The First Movie CD. Thanks whole bunches! Also, thank you to everyone who's reviewed. Please, even if you reviewed before, review again! I like to know what you think about the story's progress.

CHAPTER 3: …Hand In Hand We Walk As One…

Togepi, finally succeeding in pulling a difficult, thick piece of grass out of the ground with one paw, giggled openly and Pikachu put his own free paw over the little egg's mouth. Pikachu toted Togepi back behind the rock that served as their hiding place. The rock only shielded them on one side, which was risky in the game of Brace Hide-And-Seek, but it was all that Pikachu had been able to come across to conceal behind. The electric mouse had found the forest to be frustrating for its lack of places to hide. He had considered hiding himself and Togepi back at the camp in Ash's sleeping bag, or even in the backpack that Ash had left behind, but reckoned that it might be against one of the rules to hide at the base.

To tell the truth, Pikachu liked games, and also the idea of Brace Hide-And-Seek. He liked the modification of the original activity for the same reason as Max; Pikachu was sometimes afraid of hiding alone. However, as Pikachu had watched Togepi's pursuit of weeding the woodland soil, he had wondered to himself why he hadn't picked his master, Ash, as a partner. At least Ash would have been quiet, still, and paid attention to the game. Well, Togepi was still a baby, thus her attention span was far shorter than it could have been, so Pikachu didn't really blame his little companion. Ash was too big to have hidden behind this rock anyway. Nevertheless, Pikachu wondered if Ash could have found a better hiding place than he had.

Pikachu took the quickest and speediest of glimpses around the side of the boulder. Nothing. No May and no Brock. Pikachu sighed gratefully and turned his attention back to Togepi. Gaining her friend's attention, Togepi squeaked gleefully. And loudly.

"Pika…" Pikachu shushed his partner gently. Pikachu was glad to have Togepi as a partner, regardless of the din she was undoubtedly making, if only so that Ash could have Misty as a partner. Pikachu wasn't aware, but both he and Brock had exactly the same thoughts about Ash and Misty. Pikachu was simply positive that Misty loved his master very much (Pokémon can smell emotion, especially strong ones like fervent love), and that was just fine with him. Pikachu adored and respected Misty quite a lot, and enjoyed her praise and attention as much as he did Ash's. Pikachu also thought that they were perfect for each other and looked cute together. For these reasons, he, like Brock, would willingly give his blessing to them any day. Pikachu was encouraged by the friendly interest that Ash had taken in Misty, and always let them be unaccompanied when they took to chatting, a recent change from constant bickering.

Pikachu stole another quick peek around their rock, decided it was safe, and settled down a bit. He sat down, still holding one of Togepi's paws, and inattentively watched her pulling up pieces of grass in captivation. He vaguely wondered if Ash and Misty had been able to find a place to hide. Togepi trilled when she managed to uproot a particularly thick stalk of grass, and Pikachu put his free paw to his lips to silence her. He figured that she had gotten the idea for her activity from watching Max pick a piece of grass to use as a bookmark. Ignoring his warning, Togepi gazed merrily up at her friend, trilled again, and motioned to a small pile of deracinated weeds. Pikachu grinned exasperatedly, but very fondly, at her tiny yet proud accomplishment.

Pikachu's ears twitched as he felt a slight vibration in the air current. The disruption was trivial, but the sensitive Pokémon noticed it just the same. Pikachu felt the presence of other organisms that were very near, and he could just tell, the way Ash could interpret the emotion in eyes, that the turbulence was of two humans. Dreading what he knew he would find, Pikachu slowly turned his head around and stared up to the peak of the rock. Staring back down at him was May, with a very roguish and boastful gleam in her eyes, and Brock, who gave Pikachu a slightly apologetic smile.

"CAUGHT 'YA!" May screamed out elatedly, throwing both fists into the air and yanking Brock's wrist in the process. Brock winced. "PIKCAHU! TOGEPI! I GOTCHA! YOU'RE OUT!"

"Pikaaa…" Pikachu's ears drooped and he sighed, but he nodded acceptingly, glad that the lengthy waiting was over. Pikachu was sure that Togepi would be better at searching than hiding. He looked down at his partner. She was unfazed by May's shouting, only pausing long enough to glance up cheerfully at Pikachu before resuming her weeding. Pikachu sweatdropped.

"Now we gotta go find Max and Poochyena, and Ash and Misty." May smirked. "It should be very easy, too." She started to drag Brock back the way they had come. Brock almost tripped and he winced again.

"Could we slow down a bit, maybe?" Brock asked hopefully, but got no response.

"Pipipi," Pikachu called his companion, tugging gently on her paw. Togepi abandoned her pile of grass without thought, chirped, and followed Pikachu. They had a hard time keeping up with May and Brock, for May was dragging Brock behind her expeditiously.

"Hey, Brock," May said slowly, as they continued their pace, "You know how Max said something about a two hundred foot radius?"

"Yeah."

"Uh, what's a 'radius'?"

Black. Everything was black.

Ash's mind slowly, so slowly, began to operate again. So slowly, in fact, that Ash wasn't aware that he was conscious. After the thought that he was awake drifted around in his head for a while, it finally settled in, bringing up the thought that if he was now conscious, then he had to have been unconscious before. After his brain established that he had been unconscious, he gradually began to wonder why he had become unconscious in the first place. Then, faster now, he remembered the hole in the ground and descending into it. He then established that he must have finally hit the bottom of the hole and the impact made him black out. Suddenly, a bit of panic set in as Ash became worried about why everything was black. He was apprehensive until he realized that his eyes were still closed. He opened his eyes. There couldn't have been a bigger contrast.

White. Everything was white.

His brain was stunned by the inverted color, and he snapped his eyes closed again. His senses shocked, he let the absence of color calm his strained eyes as he contemplated why everything was white. If I'm in the bottom of a hole, shouldn't everything be black? What's going on here? Ash slowly squinted his eyes. White. He opened them a bit wider as the intensity of the whiteness went away. His eyes were completely open, and still there was only white. That task completed, Ash focused on figuring out what he was doing. He felt that he was lying on his stomach, face down, in something soft and fluffy. The whiteness was the soft and fluffy he was on. Ash tried to move each of his arms and legs individually. They all worked without complaint. He flexed his fingers and balled them up into fists. As he did so, some of the whiteness compacted in his hands. He turned his face slightly to watch his left hand. He let go of the whiteness, and it fell out of his hand in a clump. The whiteness… as his whole mind and body had been paralyzed, it had just now occurred to him that the whiteness was cold. Cold and wet.

…Snow? Ash was now confused. Slowly, laboriously, Ash put his hands underneath him and pushed himself up. He slid his legs under himself and eventually got into a kneeling position. The whiteness was snow. Ash was in a snow bank. The cold snow was a great contrast to the environment that Ash had been in before he had fallen down in the hole, so Ash was bewildered to the point that it was hard to reason. The fairly cold temperature hit Ash and he trembled. Then, a split second later, the thought that had been nagging at him in the back of his mind came forward and he became desperately anxious.

"Misty?" Ash's voice was squeaky and hoarse. He jerked his head back and forth, wildly searching, until he glanced to his right. Only two feet away from him lay Misty. She looked unconscious and was face down in the snow, like he had been. He immediately crawled over to her side and carefully turned her onto her back. She didn't move. Ash put his right hand on her left shoulder and gave her a little shake to wake her up. She still didn't move. Ash sniffed and continued to shake her. His heart beat faster as he started to fret. She didn't respond, and Ash choked down a worried sob. Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime, Ash felt her muscles tense under his touch and he froze. Slowly, Misty stirred, giving a small grunt of exertion, and her eyes fluttered half-way open. Ash, trembling, smiled down at her and gave a small sigh of relief. She stirred again when her half-open eyes saw him, and he saw her try to mumble something. "What?" She tried to speak again, failed, and shakily reached out her hand to him instead. Ash realized that she was asking him to help her sit up. Ignoring her hand, he leaned down, slipped his right arm under her back, and tenderly pulled her up.

Misty's muddled and whirling mind became even more confused at Ash's concerned actions. She reached out with both hands as he pulled her up and clutched onto his black shirt to steady herself. She felt a tingly feeling where Ash's hand was on the back of her shirt. Misty looked up into his face. His eyebrows were knitted together in angst. As she got into an upright position, her brain became free of its haze and she pulled her knees up to her chest. She heard Ash let go of a strangled sob and suddenly, Misty found that he was hugging her tightly to him. She closed her eyes as a trillion thoughts and dreams of Ash that Misty had always imagined flooded her mind, fusing together with the fact that he was holding onto her.

Ash wasn't sure what made him snap, but he found that he needed to know for sure that she was really all right. He had almost feared the worst for her and he hadn't gotten over his scare yet. His right arm was already holding her up, so all he had to do was wrap his left arm around her. He did. He hung his head over her right shoulder so that she wouldn't see his watery eyes. Ah, Mist… I- I thought… I thought I'd almost lost you there for a second. As his heart rate slowed down, Ash found that, just like when he had been holding onto her when she peddled them to the Pokémon Center, he was becoming self-conscious. He was just considering letting go of her before she could choose to hit him, when he realized that the hands that were clutching his shirt had not pushed him away. Instead, they were gripping even tighter to his shirt and her head was lightly and timidly resting on his own right shoulder. Ash's heart jumped happily. She… she didn't… she didn't reject me!? Why not?…Was she scared about falling into the hole, too?

Between Ash's worry and Misty's reverie, the embrace lasted longer than it normally would have, if it even would have occurred at all. They didn't speak a word, but it wasn't precisely uncomfortable either. Misty slightly melted in his arms in her rather consistently re-occurring romantic mindset. As long as Misty was contented letting him hold her, Ash would continue to embrace her closely. This was his nature, having spent countless nights in the past holding a fatigued Pikachu after a particularly exigent battle.

Misty was truthfully astonished at how long they had been hugging. She wasn't sure if she could believe that he was intentionally holding her for a lingering time. She opened her eyes to see if something was the matter and was keeping Ash from letting go of her. Just like Ash had, when she glanced at her surroundings, all she saw was white.

"Snow? Where… where did the snow come from?" Ash loosened, then let go of his tight grip on her and leaned back so that he could see her dumbfounded face. She gazed back at him in question. Absentmindedly, Misty still clutched tight to his shirt, but neither one noticed.

"I- I don't know," Ash answered truthfully. He gave another glance around, soaking up the image of the snowy environment in his mind. Ash suddenly felt that his shins were somewhat damp, and he realized that his jeans were also literally soaking up some of the snow, but the wetness rather than the image. He went to stand up, so as to not cause any more damage to his pants. He only got half-way up before he was unintentionally prevented from doing so by Misty still hanging onto his shirt. She hadn't seen him start to get up, as she had been enthralled at the snow bank around them, but now she felt the small jerk of his shirt in her hands.

Immediately realizing what she was doing, and becoming relatively humiliated, Misty tried to let go, but her icy cold fingers had seemingly frozen in their position and couldn't move. Misty had the slightest inclination to believe that perhaps it was her heart, and not her fingers, that wouldn't let go of Ash, but it didn't matter to her at the moment because she was still in the embarrassing predicament. Her emotions were only allowed a brief two or three seconds to run wild, for Ash (oblivious to her awkwardness and having no awkwardness of his own) had already put a hand under her arm and was helping her stand up. With Ash's assistance, Misty struggled up, and stumbled backwards slightly before they both were able to plant their feet firmly on the ground. Auspiciously, she was able to pry her fingers away from his tee-shirt.

"…Thanks," she muttered quietly, and began to swipe specks of snow off of her shoulders and shorts. Ash did the same, trying to sweep the already soaked-in wetness off his jeans. When she realized that there was also some snow in her bangs and ponytail, Misty just shook her whole head and body, causing small flurries to drift down lazily to the snow covered ground. Ash watched the crystals cascading around Misty; the scene reminded him of a beautiful Christmas snow globe. When the flurries settled, Ash gradually looked away from Misty and began to gaze around at their location. He had been too busy with other matters to concern himself with anything around him besides the snow, but now he saw what was around him and he was awestruck.

"Wow." Misty looked up and gasped in wonder.

" 'Wow' is right!"

Ash and Misty discovered that they weren't in just any kind of hole; they were in a cave, a giant underground cavern. It was only around thirty feet across, but like a hallway, it stretched out a long way before and behind them. The walls were jagged marble-patterned stone, reaching straight up with a minimum amount of cliff edges. The stony walls were pale gray and white, almost silver, and the settled snow rolled up against the walls like waves in the tide. As if they had planned it, in one motion Ash and Misty turned their faces up to the ceiling. The top of the cavern was rounded like a cathedral, and the long tapering forms of dripping stalactites hung down in a rather threatening manner. Right above the two people, a dark round opening was framed by stalactites. As if it wanted to explain that it was the hole that Ash and Misty had fallen through, a few particles of dust wafted down through the air from the opening.

"That's… high," Ash observed.

"…Yeah," Misty replied. They continued to gaze up at the ceiling in rapture. "…We must have fallen a long way down, so we're obviously really, really far underground."

"Yeah." Ash gazed at Misty until she looked back at him, then added bluntly, "There's no way that we can get back up there. We don't have any items to help us. Remember, Brock said that we didn't have any Escape Ropes."

"We don't have our Pokémon with us either."

"I have mine. Wait! That could work! In fact-"

"No you don't."

"Huh?" Ash glanced down at his Pokéball belt, only to discover that it wasn't there around his waist. For a brief second, Ash took a glance at the snowy ground before realizing where his belt was. After finding his old vest, Ash had taken his belt off so that he could get out of his new vest and put on the old one. Ash was now sure that he never remembered putting his belt back on, so it had to be back at the campsite beside his backpack. No, no, no, no, no! Grrrr! I can't believe it! Of all the stupid things I've done, this has to be one of the stupidest! One of the most simple and basic rules of training is to have your Pokémon with you at all times! What am I going to do!?

Misty saw Ash's face screw up in anguish as he tried to make contact with his belt in vain. He looked despairingly at Misty, then looked away quickly, too ashamed to look her in the eye and too scared of seeing Misty enraged at his daft oversight. Misty had, in fact, started to become infuriated at his denseness, until she saw his complete and total misery. She suddenly remembered the concerned and fearful gaze that Ash had given her when she had first woken up. Then, strangely, she calmed down and forced herself to not react violently as she usually did. After a moment, it wasn't hard at all to suffocate her anger. How can I get so mad at him? I love him, for heaven's sake! Boy, I need to control myself and my stupid temper better. She had been telling herself that for the longest time, but so far nothing had worked. Now, however, she pledged silently that she would do anything possible to quit being so rough with Ash.

Ash had fallen deeper into anguish after realizing that not only did he not have his Pokémon with him (not even Pikachu), but he also didn't have his backpack or any supplies with him. Literally, all he had were the clothes on his back. And the hat on his head. And his Pokédex in his pocket, but other than that, nothing. Misty actually had less than himself. She didn't have her backpack with her either, and all of her Pokéballs she kept in her backpack. Ash was now downright depressed. He risked a slight glance at his best friend.

"Aw, it's okay," Misty muttered, looking back up at the hole in the ceiling, "We'll figure something out."

Ash gaped at her in disbelief. He was about to ask her if she could repeat that again, to make sure he had heard it right, but decided against risking her blowing up about so-called 'impudence'. He took his luck gratefully and kept his mouth shut, except to say, "Yeah, I guess."

"I mean, don't you think there is another way out of here? There has to be!"

"Yeah," Ash pondered vaguely on the chances of there being an alternate way to get back to the surface of the earth. He decided that the chances were just great enough that it was worth searching for a different way out. "Let's look around a bit… you know, I'm kinda curious about why there's snow in a place like this. Aren't you?"

Misty nodded. Ash looked down the cavern corridor in front of him. It was long. Very long. Ash found he had a feeling in his chest that he always got before something big or important or exciting happened. This made Ash a bit flighty. He took one ordinary step in the snow, leaving an imprint behind. Then he took another, and another, and soon he was keeping a steady, but leaping-over-the-snow, pace. Misty hurried to catch up with him. She stumbled a little bit, but caught herself in time and soon was bounding over the snow alongside Ash. Ash had to admit, the snow was kind of fun. He hadn't expected to see snow again until he got to the next mountain on his journey. Still, Ash was puzzled about the snow being there in this great underground grotto.

"Misty, how do you think this cave got filled with snow? I mean, there's snow everywhere! I haven't seen any uncovered ground yet!"

"Me neither. Well, what are some possibilities?"

"Uh… it could have fallen in through the hole during the winter time, maybe."

"Ash, remember, the hole was covered."

"Maybe it was uncovered in the winter?"

"Perhaps, but how could so much snow get into this place through such a tiny hole and then spread out all this long way? Besides, it probably would have melted by now."

"Oh. Yeah." Ash paused. "Sorry."

"…For what?"

"For the dumb idea."

Misty remembered her pledge, and somehow, it was easier to face this kind of situation a second time. "It wasn't dumb. It was an idea. Ideas can't be dumb because, well… they're ideas. Things that are possible, not always feasible."

"…Thanks." Ash wasn't sure what 'feasible' meant, but he let it go. He was still trying to get over his embarrassment about the whole 'radius' issue.

"Okay, so how else could the snow have gotten here?"

Ash was having a bit of difficulty keeping his sprinting pace. "…Your turn."

"Okay." Misty looked around as they ran along. Suddenly, a flash of yellow, orange, and brown whizzed passed the edge of Misty's vision. "Ash! Wait! There's something there!"

Ash stopped and turned quick enough to catch a glimpse of the cone-shaped thing before it disappeared in a crevice in the stone wall. "It's a Pokémon!" Ash immediately stuck his hand in his pocket to grab his Pokédex, but didn't pull it out. He had seen the Pokémon's picture before, and he gave a valiant effort to remember what it was without having to resort to looking it up. "It's… it's a… oh yeah! It's a Snorunt!"

"A Snorunt? What kind of Pokémon is that?"

"Uh… uh… it's… it's an Ice- type."

"Wow." Misty was impressed. Ash usually just whipped out his Pokédex every time he saw a Pokémon, no matter if he had seen it before or not. "How do you know? Have you seen a Snorunt before?"

"Well, no, but I've been studying my Pokédex a lot lately." Ash had become very upset when he found that Max, an eight year old, knew a lot more Pokémon than he, an experienced trainer and winner of the Orange League, did. Ash then looked through his Pokédex every night before bed, trying to at least put a name and type to every Pokémon he saw, for that was a start. He remembered Snorunt, for he had been studying it only a few days before.

"Wow, Ash, that's rather intelligent of you." Misty was overwhelmed with pride at Ash's initiative to learn about the new (for them at least) Hoenn Pokémon. Maybe that boy is finally getting some sense. Maturity, maybe? Wait, I'm talking about Ash. Not maturity, but sense at least. But if he has some sense, why hasn't he… why can't he…know how I feel about him?

Ash was pleased. A compliment… from Misty? Awesome! That's as rare as a Celebi! Suddenly, Ash had the feeling that there was something behind him and he turned around. He found himself face to face with the Ice- type Delibird. Wide-eyed, the boy and the bird stared at one another, then in a flash, the Delibird flew up into the maze of stalactites above and disappeared from sight. Ash stood there, a bit stunned for a moment. Then he turned back to Misty.

"Why didn't I try to catch that Delibird?"

Misty shrugged. "I don't- oh, wait, you don't have any Pokéballs with you anyway."

"Oh. Yeah."

"Well- ASH, BEHIND YOU!" He whirled around and saw another Pokémon, this time leaping around on one of the few small cliff edges. Ash had already seen this Ice- type Pokémon before, too.

"It's a Sneasel!" The Sneasel gave the two humans on the ground a quick glance, did a double take, then started hurdling back towards them. A great leap and it departed the cliff, landing before them. With a great battle cry, it swung its right paw at them, both sharp claws extended portentously. Ash and Misty cried out in fright and Misty latched herself onto Ash's back. After the attack failed to strike, all three stood still. The Sneasel stared up at their frightened faces, then suddenly, began to laugh. It doubled over in laughter and almost fell down. Ash and Misty exchanged puzzled glances. Still chuckling, it shook its head and waved the terrified pair away with its still-extended claws, then cantered off down the snowy path, the way Ash and Misty had come.

When the Sneasel had disappeared from sight, Misty commented, "And I thought YOU had a bad sense of humor, Ash!"

"Yeah." Ash nodded. He frowned. "Huh?"

"…Never mind. Let's keep going."

"Okay."

Ash and Misty began trudging through the snow again. Ash was thinking hard about the Pokémon they had just seen. Hmmm… hey, they were all Ice- types! That's- oh! "Misty! I just got an idea about where all of the snow could have come from!"

"Well, what is it?"

"You know how Snorunt, Delibird, and Sneasel are all Ice-types? Well, maybe they are the ones that brought the snow!"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, for instance, if you were a Water- type Pokémon, where would you want to live?"

"In the water, of course! Some Water Pokémon HAVE to live in the water!"

"I know. The same goes with other Pokémon types, too. Ground- types like Sandshrew like to live underground, and Fire- types like Magmar like to live in lava. Most Pokémon like to live in the elements that match their types, so Ice- types should want to live in snow, don't you think?"

"Yeah, but how did the snow get here for the Ice-types to live in it?"

"I was thinking about what you said about the snow not melting. What kind of snow doesn't melt fast?"

"What kind?"

"The Pokémon attacks that produce snow! You know, Powder Snow, Silver Wind, and Blizzard? So-"

"So the Ice Pokémon use the snow-making attacks they know to create all this snow to live in!" Misty exclaimed, catching on. "Because it's an attack, the snow doesn't melt fast, and there's no sun down in a cave to melt it anyway!"

"Exactly."

"So that's where the snow came from!"

"That's got to be it."

"Wow." Misty gazed around at the silvery cavern walls and the bright white attack snow. It was quite beautiful.

Ash grinned. "Pokémon never cease to amaze me."

Neither do you, Ash. Neither do you.

Though the rest of the forest scarcely had enough undergrowth to cover anyone, the area around the campsite was the exception, being surrounded by thick bushes. The bushes were not good for hiding in the game that was being played, because they were too close to the base.

The bushes were good for hiding if you weren't playing Brace Hide-And-Seek.

A golden charm sticking out of the top of a bush glinted in the setting sun's light. Slowly, the charm rose up, revealing black-rimmed ears. Then, in a risky move, Meowth stuck his whole head out of the top of the bush. He glanced around carefully at the set-up camp before making a noise.

"All clear, you's guys," he muttered. A second later, Jesse stuck her head up from the bushes to Meowth's right, and James appeared a moment later to his left. The three surveyed the empty campsite.

"It's empty," James stated wisely. Jesse rolled her eyes.

"When I's said 'all clear', I meant 'all clear'," Meowth retorted.

"Well…" James trailed off lamely, and sighed.

"It needs to be clear if we're going to go steal their stuff," Jesse said matter-of-factly. She got onto her knees, so that the whole top of her body was sticking out of the bush. James hastily copied her.

Meowth put his paws on the top of the bush and pushed up, to get a better view. " 'Wonder where the twerps went."

Jesse crossed her arms and grinned a wicked smile. "I don't care where they are as long as they don't come back anytime soon. I can't wait to see the looks on their faces when they see that their stuff's disappeared!"

James gave her a concerned look out of the corner of his emerald eyes. His shoulders slumped. "Jess, what about Pikachu?"

"What about him?" She answered, unperturbed, "We can't steal Pikachu if he's not here."

"Oh."

"Come on." Jesse clambered out of the foliage and walked into the twerps' camp, brushing dirt off of her short white skirt. James stood up to follow, but tripped on a tree root and fell face down to the ground. Meowth leapt out of the bushes and used the back of James' head as a landing pad. He walked off to follow Jesse without an apology, but James hadn't expected one. Such was the way of Team Rocket.

"Hmmm… interesting," Jesse commented with a critical eye to the camp. James finally got up and hurried to catch up with his partner. Meowth sat down, then curled up next to the warm embers in the campfire, fully content to take advantage of their rival's temporary home before robbing them. Such was also the way of Team Rocket.

"This is warm," Meowth purred. The two humans ignored him.

James sauntered over and plopped down on one of the log benches by the fire. He glanced over at the stack of bowls beside the log, and after a time, picked up the one on top, which was still half-full (it had been Misty's). He gingerly sniffed the soup it contained. It was still fairly warm. James' stomach growled and he winced. Like Ash, James was pretty much always hungry. It wasn't his or his group's fault that their boss didn't pay them enough to buy enough food. Like anyone else, they worked hard to get a promotion, even though they always failed. James had gotten used to failing, and he accepted it, knowing that the twerps' Pokémon were far stronger than theirs. He even figured that it might be shameful to actually get something bad right, thus ruining their perfect failing record. He didn't say this, though. Anytime he mentioned it to Jesse, the one person he felt he could talk to, she would yell at him for being pessimistic and whack him on the head with her fan. That was one thing that James admired about Jesse; she was always optimistic about catching Pikachu.

James picked up a spoon from the pile beside the dishes, and began to eat the rest of the soup in Misty's bowl. Jesse glanced over at him. She was hungry, too, and she saw that there was another bowl that was half-full, but she didn't go over and pick it up. She would do anything to keep from giving away that James had had a brilliant idea before she had. She knew that James wouldn't boast or tease or anything, but she didn't want to give satisfaction to Meowth. She glanced over at the Pokémon. Meowth was asleep. Jesse rolled her eyes again. What a team I'm in, she pondered, shaking her head. After a moment, she glanced back and forth between her two partners and thought, and I love it. I wouldn't change it for anything in the world. Her eyes settled on her best friend and she watched James eat for a little while, until he looked up and saw her watching him. She looked away. Both their faces tinged the slightest pink.

Ambling over to the sleeping bags all in a row, Jesse found their order to be interesting. She had memorized which twerp had which sleeping bag, so that they would be able to find which sleeping bag Pikachu slept in (Ash's) on night missions. She saw that the Main Twerp's sleeping bag was next to the Main Female Twerp's sleeping bag. She also noticed that the Second Female Twerp's sleeping bag wasn't next to the Main Twerp's anymore. Jesse smiled, and for once, not maliciously.

"Hey, James, come look at this," she called, but not loud enough to wake up Meowth. A moment later, he appeared at her side, the bowl of soup still in his hand.

"What?" First, she pulled a leaf out of James' hair from when they had been hiding in the bush. Then she gestured to the Main Twerp and the Main Female Twerp's sleeping bags, side by side. James knew who owned each bed, too. He perceived what she had intended for him to see, also noting the fact that those two particular sleeping bags were set closer together than any of the other ones. He smiled, too. They grinned at each other.

" 'Knew it," Jesse smirked.

"Yup."

"How long do you think it will take?"

"I don't know. It can't take too much longer, or Meowth will call off the bet."

"Meowth can't call off a bet," Jesse said irritably, "He accepted."

"I know, but you know he'd figure out a way."

"Yeah. James, what all exactly did Meowth gamble on? I forg- I don't think I heard everything."

"That the Main Twerp wouldn't love either of 'em, or the Second Female Twerp would tell him that she loves him, or the Main Twerp would say he loves the Second Female Twerp," James rambled off. "We bet that either the Main Twerp would tell the Main Female Twerp that he loves her or the Main Female Twerp would finally tell the Main Twerp that she loves him."

As Team Rocket had been on every stretch of Ash's journey, trying to Pokénap Pikachu, they knew the twerps about as well as they knew each other. Though they wouldn't admit it, Jesse, James, and Meowth were all pretty fond of them, using the 'twerp' nicknames to refer to them, even though they knew their real names and James insisted that their real names were easier to say. Being close to the twerps, they saw how close the twerps were to each other, and figured it was only a matter of time before the Main Twerp and the Main Female Twerp (a.k.a. the Main Twerp's Girlfriend) got together. When there became a Second Female Twerp, there were many controversies among Team Rocket as to if the first girl twerp would get the Main Twerp or not. James, positive about the two original twerps' bond, insisted that the Main Twerp would end up with the Main Female Twerp, while Meowth found the chances better with the Second Female Twerp, as she didn't threaten to beat up the Main Twerp daily. So they had made a bet, each gambling one hundred dollars on the outcome, and somehow, Jesse got dragged into it and ended up on James' side, even though the Main Female Twerp had called her some particularly nasty names in rage in the past.

"So Meowth has more chances."

"We have better odds."

"I hope you're right, James. I need the cash."

James took another bite of his soup. "Of course I'm right. When have I ever been wrong about something that involves our paychecks?"

"All right, I'm thinking of one word," Jesse began sarcastically. James knew what was coming and he looked away. "…Magikarp?" He flinched.

"O…kay. Um, have I ever been wrong about something involving… love?"

Jesse couldn't think of anything right off the bat. "I guess not."

"There. Don't worry. We'll win."

"Don't you all count'cha Torchic 'fore they hatches." Jesse and James heard a shuffling of paws and turned to see Meowth standing behind them, arms crossed and shaking his head.

James became indignant. Setting the bowl down, he clenched his fists heatedly. "We're not! I just know what I'm talking about!"

" 'Hope so, Jimmy."

"Speaking of Torchic…" Jesse glanced over at the Second Female Twerp's sleeping bag where her side pouch backpack was laying. She strolled over to it, knelt down at the bag, reached in, and pulled out two Pokéballs, Torchic and Beautifly. "They may not be hatching yet, but some are already ready for the taking."

"Yeah!" Meowth cried enthusiastically. He strode over to the Cooking Twerp's bag and reached around inside for his five Pokémon's Pokéballs.

"Hey! Over here, you all!" Jesse and Meowth looked up. James was kneeling over the Main Twerp's sleeping bag. Dropping their stolen cargo, the two rushed over to see James' find.

Jesse put a hand on his shoulder. "Let me see!"

"Look!" James held the item up. Jesse and Meowth gasped.

"It's-"

"The Main Twerp's Pokéball belt," Jesse finished. All four of the Pokéballs were there, indicating the only Pokémon that could even possibly be with the Main Twerp was Pikachu.

"Geesh," Meowth snorted, "I thought the kid never went anywhere withouts his faithful Pokémon."

"Isn't one of the most simple and basic rules of training is to have your Pokémon with you at all times?" James inquired.

"Maybe he's got issues," Jesse suggested impassively. Stuff like that didn't interest Jesse a lot. She walked away and sat down on one of the log benches. She made the mistake of sitting next to the not-empty soup bowls. Her stomach growled, but no one heard it but herself. She sighed. "Come on, let's split. I'm tired and I need my beauty sleep."

James gave her a concerned look out of the corner of his emerald eyes. His shoulders slumped. "Jess, what about stealing all of their stuff?"

"What about it?" She answered, unperturbed, "I only want to steal Pikachu. That's all that matters."

"Oh." James groaned slightly. Jesse's actions were about as predictable as an Eevee's evolution. Even after all of the years he had spent with her, even before they had joined Team Rocket, James had never quite figured out how she could change her mind so quickly.

"Yeah, let's head back to the balloon. We have to set up our own camp, 'fores it gets too dark to be seeing," Meowth added. He looked longingly at the twerps' campfire. "We gotta get some wood, 'cause I'm not sleeping without a fire for warmth and protection."

"Meowth, it's summertime."

"So what?"

"Come on, I said!" Jesse commanded with a little more force. She got up, and without a backwards glance, strolled out of the campsite. James and Meowth were soon right on her heels.

With a backwards glance at the Main Twerp's and the Main Female Twerp's sleeping bags, James whispered to Meowth, "We're going to win that bet!" A frustrated Jesse whipped around, grabbed James' hand, and proceeded to jerk him away from the campground. Meowth sneered.

"Not a chance."

"We are!"

"No 'ya not, Jimmy boy!"

"Ooof!" Ash disappeared into an enormous snow pile that he had been trying to jump over. Misty watched as he struggled to get into an upright position again. He scuffled with the maddening cold white powder. Gosh, he looks so helpless, Misty mused sadly. Taking pity on the boy she loved, she trudged over to the heap of snow in which he was stuck, shyly grabbed him under his arms, and hauled him out. Ash sat panting for a moment from the effort of the mêlée. "Thanks, Mist." Misty shivered happily at what she had come to hope was a term of endearment.

"You're welcome." Trying to act casual, though her heart was thumping madly, Misty silently offered Ash her hand to help him stand. Ash was fatigued, and appreciatively grabbed Misty's hand. She pulled him up, and he finally got his feet flat on the ground. With his right hand, he idly brushed snowflakes off of his vest. With his left hand, he still held Misty's right hand. Ash didn't notice. Misty did. It was the second instance in a short space of time that those two particular hands were clinging onto each other, and Misty couldn't help but suppose this might be a positive sign. Geesh, Ash, why don't you confuse me a little more, huh? What the heck is running through that mind of yours?

I can understand why the Ice Pokémon want snow, but why so much? How can they even walk? Ash looked up, and something ahead caught his interest. He immediately bolted off to investigate and Misty was yanked along by the hand, though she didn't mind in the very least. They got to Ash's target and Ash grinned.

"Cool! A stalactite!" He touched the tip of the sparkling cone sticking out of the ground cautiously.

Misty didn't want to correct him, but she couldn't help it. "It's not a stalactite. It's a stalagmite. Stalagmites are the ones that come out of the ground. Stalactites are those ones on the ceiling up there." Mimicking Ash, she timidly touched the tip of the stalagmite with her free hand.

"Oh." Ash studied his murky likeness in the glassy surface. "I always mix them up."

"Most people do. I do a lot."

"Hmmm…" Ash blinked as light reflected into his eyes from off of the stalagmite. Then an uncanny thought entered his mind. "… Uh, Misty, this is a cave, right?"

Misty sweatdropped. "Yeah, Ash. This is a cave."

"Well… then why is it light in here? I mean, where is the light coming from?"

Misty wondered if some of Ash's denseness had rubbed off on her because he was still holding onto her hand. Why didn't I think of that before? She gazed around at her shimmering environment. How is there light for us to see and for everything to sparkle in? The more she looked around, the more she noticed about the mysterious illumination. For one, the light was pretty much white, rather than the kind of slightly yellow-tinted light that came from the sun outside. It's like it's artificial… "That's it!"

"What?"

"This is artificial light!"

"Like from lamps?"

"No. Now Ash, you should know what kind of artificial light is used in caves! Flash!"

"Huh- oh! You mean Flash, the Pokémon attack?"

"That's the answer. Some of the Pokémon here must be able to use Flash!" Misty was excited that she had figured the answer out. "They use it a lot so that they can see where they are, too!"

"Wow!" Ash was awed at the Pokémon's intelligence, and Misty's cleverness, "The Pokémon here are so smart to build their own environment so well, with all the snow and light and all."

"AND," Misty added sneakily, "Flash doesn't melt snow!"

Ash giggled at Misty's absurdity. "Come on. We better get going." Misty nodded. He headed off down his snowy pathway, leading Misty along. He hadn't let go of her hand because he didn't want to fall into another snow bank and have to struggle with it again. Also, it was easier to keep up with one another. Suddenly, he felt the snow under his feet sag and his body automatically braced itself until the snow compacted enough to support his weight. However, it didn't compact; it just kept sagging.

Ash was about to tell Misty about how weird the snow was, when the snow vanished under his feet and he found, for a fourth of a split second, that he was standing in midair, just like before. With a yelp, Ash plummeted straight down, and Misty, caught one hundred percent off guard, was dragged through the hole, too. They fell, but only for a few seconds before they hit snow. Ash landed on his stomach again, and gave the briefest movement to push himself up, only to be struck down again an instant later by Misty falling on top of him. With a groan, she struggled to raise the front of her body up and look up above her. Ash raised his head, too, so that the top of his head was lightly touching Misty's chin. They stared up to the ceiling and defiantly stared at the hole through which they had just fallen and through which a shower of fine snowflakes were still falling. Ash sighed. Another cave? Even farther underground? He shook his head. It would be even harder to get out of the caves now.

"Oh, boy."

"Oh, boy."

Poochyena whined softly at his master's gloomy voice. The Dark Pokémon didn't like where he was and he dug his sharp claws faintly deeper into the back of Max's shirt. Max could feel the claws prick his skin and he winced. Max didn't like where he was either, but instead because it was too open. Brock and May could easily see him if they looked straight up.

Max wiggled a bit, trying to get to a more comfortable position where he was laying. His knees gripped the side of the tree limb tightly. Max took a quick peek around the side of the branch at the ground below. It wasn't too far down. He felt his glasses sneakily try to slip to the end of his nose, and he jerked his head back up sharply to get them repositioned right. Poochyena whimpered gently.

"It's okay, Poochyena," Max murmured soothingly. "We're safe. We're not going to fall." The tree, as if to express its personal great love of irony, gave a slight fracturing sound. Max froze, then gave a quick glance over his shoulder at the trunk. The bough he was clinging to had a slight fissure in the area where it branched off from the rest of the tree. "Please no." Max was considering whether or not to get to a securer branch, when he heard muffled voices coming his direction. He stayed still, praying that Poochyena would instinctively be still and silent, too.

"… They've got to be around here somewhere, Brock. Max can't stray from his little 'two hundred foot radius', even if he's the only one who knows what a radius is, and Ash and Misty are too big to really hide behind anything around here." Max could see May chatting and dragging Brock through the foliage, heading towards his tree. May had finally grabbed Brock's hand after Brock had explained to her that dragging someone by their wrist wasn't very humane. May glanced back and forth as she went, but thankfully not up. Max waited tensely. He finally saw Pikachu and Togepi tailing the two humans. If they catch us, at least we won't be the searchers next time. To Max's horror, May paused to let the Pokémon catch up… right in front of Max's tree.

Max heard a splintering sound. He didn't dare look backwards to see how deep the crevice in the limb was now. Max looked over the side of the branch at May. She didn't look up. A moment too late, Max noticed that his glasses were on the tip of his nose and were sliding off rapidly. He made a wild grab for them, but his glasses fell to the ground, into some thick grass. At the tiny sound of the impact, May and Brock glanced around blankly at the soil for the source. Almost straight above them, Max and Poochyena's branch bobbed up and down for a moment from Max's movements. Then, there was a resounding SNAP! "WHAHH-" THUMP! The whole branch, Max, and Poochyena ended up in a heap at Brock and May's feet. Max's head was spinning. He couldn't see without his glasses. Poochyena began to howl loudly in his ear.

Max vaguely heard a weird sound over his Pokémon's ruckus. Letting go of the broken branch, with Poochyena still on his back, Max dragged his hand through the grass. He luckily found his glasses and put them back on. They weren't broken. He glanced up at May and Brock. May was hysterical with laughter and was doubled over. Brock had a concerned look on his face, but his mouth kept twitching, as if it wanted to break into a grin. "You okay?" Max nodded and glared at his sister.

Through all of her hilarity, May managed to gasp out, "Max… I think… you need… contacts… instead of… glasses."

Max sighed. "Whatever. Let's find Ash and Misty. It shouldn't be too hard."

TO BE CONTINUED...

YAK! I finally got them into the mysterious cave! Mwahhhhhh- wait… I love Ash and Misty. Why did I trap them in a cave!? …Well, you know what they say, "You hurt the ones you love" (hysterical laughter on my part)! …Okay. ANYWAY… This was pretty fun to write, 'specially Team Rocket. Yes, I know, I kinda was biased on James, but he's a good guy, so there. Well, I hope this was AAML-ish enough to hold you until the next chapter. Once more, please, even if you reviewed before, review again, and I'll love you as much as Misty loves Ash…

NOTE: Every chapter title is a line from a song, and all of the songs are songs from one of the many Pokémon CD's. If you have identified the song that Chapter 3's title is from, review and let me know, and I'll post your name with the correct title on my next chapter. (HINT: This chapter's title is NOT from a Pokémon Movie CD, but still a Pokémon CD.)