A Jewel in Water

Part 30

A/N: Two words. Writers Block

Misty looked down at the piece of paper in her hand. Reading it she resisted the urge to crumple it up and throw it away. The letters 'BRB' were written crudely across the sheet. The expression on Mistys' face made her mood evident.

"He's gone?!" she exclaimed. The maid looked nervously towards her and replied.

"Yes, I'm told that he left late last night, and we were told to give this to you." Brock smiled in exasperation. This was Ash's bright idea? Looks like his 'Trick Misty' plan was going to be a no go, which was a shame. He would have really liked to see it in action! Ash was being as confusing as ever. Maybe the Pokemon Master had to substitute some sanity for his nerves of steel. Drew was too chipper, stealing glances at May to focus on the situation, whilst May sighed. She was kinda relieved that Ash had gone AWOL. That would be one awkward conversation postponed for a while.

So by now, Misty was quite aware of her feelings. She knew she was crushing on Ash, just a little. That was the only way to explain the fact that anger was smeared across her face and seeping out of her pores. She was angry for many reasons. Angry because Ash had run away without a word, even though he said he'd be leaving that evening. Angry because he couldn't even grace her with a proper goodbye note. And angry because she seemed to be pining for a guy who could care less, and the pining didn't seem to be reducing! So, she did the only thing a Princess could do in this situation. She grinned and bared it.

"Thank you for getting this to me so promptly," she smiled broadly, "I hope he will return soon." The others were none the wiser, although Brock suspected the Misty was faking, just a little. But all these thoughts were brushed from the tepid air as Misty reminded them of breakfast and lead them to the dining hall. When they arrived, to their surprise, Rudy was sitting and eating at the table. Misty paused in the door, as did May. Brock and Drew went to take their seats on the other side of Rudy. Leaving only two seats on either side of Rudy.

After swallowing the most recent food entry in his mouth, Rudy looked up to greet Misty. He saw her apprehensive face and smiled. This only proved to make her expression more severe, but just for a split second. If you were there you wouldn't have noticed the nervous tremble of Mistys' heart. But Rudy could feel it. And that's all that really mattered. His eyes then wandered to the lady next to Misty. This girl was also temporarily motionless. His eyes met hers and she did all she could to avert her eyes naturally, which was inevitably hopeless. Brock looked at the two girls eying Rudy and came to a conclusion. He muttered in Drews' ear, to which Drew replied with a pout and a "But I want to sit here!" whilst glancing at May. Brock irritably pushed him out his chair and dragged him to the other side of the room to sit on either side of Rudy. This brought the girls back to reality. And oh, what an awkward reality it was. Brocks chivalrous act would prove to be the beginnings of a very uncomfortable breakfast.

Paul sat up abruptly. Crap. He had overslept. Why hadn't he got the call today? He looked around frantically searching. It was gone. The phone was gone. Where was it? It was the last thing on Earth that he needed to lose right now. He tipped the chair over and flipped the pillows onto the floor. Ripped the duvet from the bed and then got to his knees, searching through the endless sea of cotton to see if the phone would appear. It was not here. He leant back against the bed. Looked at his wrist, the monitor showed his heartbeat rising. 100. 120. 140. His heart felt like it was going to rip out of his chest. Why had he The only thing that he couldn't do was lose this phone. And guess what he had just gone and done?

Touch down in Saffron city, Cilan exited the plane and yawned. Flying overnight was never fun, especially when you couldn't get a wink of sleep. Standing in passport control with his suitcase Cilan wondered if he could lie to Ash about being in first class and get some extra money for his troubles. But that had a unethical flavour so he decided against it. The queue was moving slowly. First time flyers were holding up the queue at the front. How was there only one person at the desk? All of a sudden two children ran into him, causing him to drop his stroller. A middle aged man approached him and helped to pick it back up for him.

"Sorry about that!" he chuckled. "Kids got a bit overexcited"

"Its no problem sir! That's the zesty flavour of youth!"

"Ha, I'm glad someone is in a cheerful mood despite the overnight flight. A lot of the people here look like they are ready to kill."

"Are you on holiday here, sir?" Cilan asked to avoid the evil stares of people eavesdropping on the conversation.

"Why yes I am, and yourself?"

"Oh, I am here to visit a friend. I actually owe him a bit of a favour,"

"First time in Kanto?"

"No actually, I have a few clients over here. I'm on holiday myself at the moment…" after a few minutes of casual conversation Cilan found himself at the front of the queue, and after bidding goodbye to his casual acquaintance, he set off to the Indigo plateau.

"And the victor is the Pokemon Master, Ash!" the referee called as the opponents Staraptor thudded to the ground. Ash straightened up from this offensive stance and wiped the sweat from his forehead. That was a close one. He needed a break.

"Good match!" said the opponent slightly dejectedly after returning his Pokemon.

"It was a close one." Ash smiled and walked over to shake his hand. "Gave me a run for my money!"

"Well, I wouldn't be so sure. I know that you've been at it all night. If I took you on when you are fresh I wouldn't have had such a good chance. Makes me kinda annoyed at myself for not taking advantage of it! If the next guy in gets your title I'll never forgive myself for helping tire you out." Ash laughed and patted him on the back as he walked out. After the challenger left he walked back in and fell onto the floor. Pikachu ran across the battle field to sit on his back.

"How many has it been?" Ash asked the referee.

"That was the fifteenth one today. You currently have 24 more challengers waiting to battle. You should really consider taking a break. The last challenger was correct, you are making too many slip ups. Take a few hours off." Ash contemplated for a few seconds. Ref was right. He wanted to get back to the castle as soon as possible but couldn't do it at the cost of his title. He knew that the challenges had piled up, but he didn't know it was to this extent. After this battle season he'd be able to take some time off. He smiled as he remembered the trainers who were camping outside his battle field when he arrived that night. All eager young kids, who reminded him of himself. How could he deny them the chance of battle as soon as they locked eyes, even if it was at such an ungodly hour? They were the unspoken rules of battling, after all. But defeating these kids, who seemed to be reincarnations of Ash in terms of spirit, made it harder to comfort them. Battling had become a chore. He needed to get their same drive back into his life. He had been isolated for so long that he forgot the joys he used to share with all his friends, and he felt that now was the time to recreate them.