Hello ladies and gentlemen! I've got a brand new chapter here for you. And it's an exciting one if I do say so myself! It features the battle between Ash and Michelle...plus a special little surprise at the end ;) What will it be? You'll just have to keep reading and find out!

LAST TIME: Michelle entered the Jonquil Town Contest, and found herself a new rival in the form of Eryn, a girl from Sinnoh who is a big fan of Ash...and knows every aspect of his life. She even seems to be infatuated with a disturbed Aiden! After losing in the first round again, however, Michelle flees from the Contest Hall in embarrassment. The family tracks her down back at the Pokémon Center, where Ash challenges his daughter to a battle.

Chapter 32: Father versus Daughter! Ash's Grand Plan!

"Michelle Ketchum," Ash announced sternly, getting to his feet and glancing down at the bewildered girl as he stood up. "I challenge you to a battle."

"WHAT?!" Aiden shrieked from behind the fence, leading Misty to hurriedly slap a hand over his mouth. Fortunately for the both of them, Michelle was too shocked by her father's challenge to even realize that they were spying on the two.

"A…a battle?" Michelle stammered.

"Yes," Ash confirmed. "A battle."

"Why would you want to battle me?" Michelle questioned, slowly shaking her head. Her eyes were still wide, and her mouth was still hanging open.

"Because I need to restore your confidence," Ash replied with ease. "I'm the Pokémon Master, and it's my mission to help out young trainers. But, more importantly, I'm your father. And it's not only my mission, but also my job to make sure that you're as happy and confident as you can possibly be. When you're down on yourself like this, I'm down on myself, because I'm not doing my job. And I can't allow myself to fail. I won't."

"So…you battling with me will help you with that?" Michelle asked skeptically.

"It'll just be a friendly battle. Nothing too competitive. But…you have to trust me, Michelle," Ash warned. "I know what I'm doing. And I promise this will work. But…only if you trust me. So…do you?"

Michelle gathered Pichu into her arms and glanced off to the side, watching the water gently ripple in the pool. She could feel her father's eyes on her, patiently waiting for an answer to his question. Biting her lip, Michelle looked up with a half pained, half assured expression, one that both confused and bolstered Ash.

"Okay," Michelle murmured, her eyes shining. "I trust you. Let's battle."

XXX

"Ash Ketchum, what are you doing?!"

"Helping our daughter to regain her confidence."

Misty was staring at Ash as though he had just told her he wanted a divorce. The shock and practical revile that was portrayed on her face told the whole story. Ash was rather unaffected by it, however. He was busy sitting on the hotel bed and looking over all of his poke balls, trying to decide which creature to use in battle.

"By challenging her to a battle?!" Misty shrieked.

"Yep."

"Ash, for the love of Arceus, she's a ten year old girl!" Misty cried. "She's only been on her journey for four months! You really expect her to be able to beat you?"

"I don't expect her to beat me," Ash replied simply, placing each poke ball back on his belt. "That's not what this is about."

"If you destroy her, how is that supposed to help her regain her confidence?" Misty pressed.

"Misty, I'm not going to go out of my way to beat her," Ash groaned. "That would defeat the whole purpose! I'm not going to give her my absolute best. But I'm not going to give her my worst, either. It's going to be a fair battle."

"And that will help her to become confident again?" Misty sounded skeptical.

"You should trust me the way Michelle does," Ash piped up, dancing around Misty's original question. "I know what I'm doing."

"I do trust you," Misty whispered, wrapping her arms around Ash's midsection and gently kissing his chest. "You know that I trust you, Ash. I always do. I always will."

Ash sighed and placed his hand on the back of Misty's head, smoothing over her bright red hair. "Then why do you think I'm trying to hurt our daughter? You know me better than that!"

"I never said you were trying to hurt her," Misty quickly replied. "You love her too much to even think of such a thing. I'm just nervous about her reaction, I guess. What if it just ends up discouraging her more? I know you're confident in your plan, but…I'm just worried."

"You don't have to be worried," Ash promised, gently lifting Misty's head up by placing his fingers beneath her chin. "I will do everything in my power to get Michelle back to the way she was. I'm not playing around. This is very serious business to me. And I'm not going to do anything to mess it up."

"Okay," Misty murmured, slowly nodding her head. "Okay. Let's do this. Battle her."

Ash smirked and rested his chin atop Misty's head, squeezing her shoulder in his hand. "This will work. I promise. Everything will turn out just fine. Our little girl will be back to her old self before you know it."

Misty nodded once again and finally separated herself from Ash. He rubbed her arm up and down a few times before smiling sweetly at the woman and stepping towards the door of their room, opening it up and leading the quiet gym leader out into the hallway.

XXX

Outside, on the battle field that was situated behind the hotel building, Michelle was sitting down on one of the benches, studying her cluster of poke balls just as her father had been doing inside. Elizabeth was sitting on the older girl's lap, pointing a tiny finger at each sphere and asking which Pokémon resided in each one. Nearby, Aiden stood with a pout on his face, while Brandon curiously eyed the miserable boy.

"How come Michelle gets to battle Dad?" Aiden grumbled. "He never asked me to battle him!"

"I think your dad's got a plan," Brandon tried. "He must be trying to rile Michelle up. You don't need any more confidence, bud."

"Maybe not, but I still wanna battle him!" Aiden whined.

"I'm sure you will one day," Brandon chuckled. "Don't worry about it! For now, just try and cheer your sister on. We have to encourage her! After all, I don't like to see her so down."

"That's just because you have the hots for her," Aiden scoffed.

"No I don't!" Brandon shouted, his whole face turning red.

"Whatever you say, bud," Aiden teased with a snicker.

"Shelly, use that one!" Elizabeth cried, pointing at the poke ball on the far left.

"Elizabeth, do you even know which Pokémon is in that ball?" Michelle sighed through a giggle.

"Do you?" Elizabeth quipped, looking over her shoulder and raising an eyebrow.

Rolling her eyes, Michelle bounced the little girl up and down a few times in order to shut her up. It worked like a charm, just as it always did, and caused Elizabeth to start a giggle fit, completely forgetting the fact that her sarcastic question was never answered.

"I know which Pokémon I'm going to use against Dad," Michelle murmured, finally stopping Elizabeth's laughter.

"Pi!" Pichu cheered, holding a paw up in the air.

"I'm sorry, Pichu," Michelle murmured, smiling sweetly at the now stunned electric type. "But it's not your time to shine just yet!"

"Chu," Pichu spat, narrowing her black eyes.

"I owe it to one of my Pokémon to be in this battle," Michelle explained, Elizabeth blinking curiously as she prattled on. "So, that's what I'm going to do. Give him an opportunity to show his stuff!"

"Do you think you're gonna beat Daddy?" Elizabeth squeaked.

"I don't know," Michelle admitted, her emerald eyes narrowing slightly. "But I'm going to try my best."

XXX

"Ready to battle, Shelly?"

Michelle narrowed her eyes at her father, who was standing across the battlefield from her. He didn't look very determined or focused, but rather happy and content. He seemed pleased with the current situation. Michelle's mindset was much different, and that much was obvious on her face.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Michelle sighed.

Ash narrowed his eyes slightly. Not in aggravation or even confusion. Just…focus. He was going to watch Michelle very carefully. "I'll send out my Pokémon first, if you don't mind."

"No," Michelle muttered, shaking her head just once.

At this, Ash smirked. He was testing her, whether the girl realized it or not. He wanted to see how she was going to react under pressure. What if he chose a Pokémon she wasn't expecting? She'd have to change her game plan. Change was bad. It caused Michelle to get nervous. He wanted her to be able to handle that.

From behind him, Misty knew this was exactly what her husband was doing. The jerk. Okay…maybe he wasn't a jerk. He wasn't torturing Michelle, after all. Misty's overprotective tendencies were just flaring up. While Ash's grand plan was to battle it out with Michelle in order to restore her confidence, Misty's own tactic would have been to gather the girl in her arms and keep her safely tucked away until she felt better.

It didn't even sound effective. Misty just wished it could be.

As for Aiden? Well, he was just mad it was Michelle who was getting to battle their father and not him.

Smirking, Ash reached down towards his belt and plucked off a poke ball, throwing it in the air as he yelled, "Donphan, I choose you!"

The dual colored sphere popped open and revealed the elephant Pokémon, who snorted loudly open appearing. At this, Michelle furrowed her brow. She knew Donphan was a ground type. She also knew Donphan personally. She'd played with the armor Pokémon since she was just a little girl, after all. Donphan was a friendly, wonderful Pokémon who Michelle adored. But she still wanted to win this battle, which meant she'd have to defeat Donphan.

I know ground types are weak against ice, grass, and water types, Michelle thought to herself. But I don't have any of those types! Skitty knows ice beam, though…wait. No. I can't go back on my plan. Not again! I already decided which Pokémon to use, and I'm not going to push him aside again. We have to prove ourselves. We can do it. I can do it!

"Pick a Pokémon already!"

Michelle winced at this and glanced over towards the spectators. That shrill little cry had come from Elizabeth, who was standing by Misty's legs with her arms crossed over her chest and a pout plastered on her face.

"Elizabeth, shush!" Misty scolded, picking up the child. "Don't be a brat."

Sighing, Michelle pulled out the poke ball she had planned on using all along and tossed it into the air with a definitive cry of, "Eevee, curtain call!"

The evolution Pokémon appeared before his trainer, swishing his tail from side to side as he stared up happily at Donphan. As soon as Eevee realized the armor Pokémon was glaring at him, however, the little normal type yelped and took a timid step back.

"Don't be so nervous, Eevee," Michelle comforted the small creature. "You'll be fine, I promise! I believe in you!"

"Vee…" Eevee murmured.

"Are you both ready to go?" Brandon, who had volunteered to be the referee, called.

"Yes," Ash and Michelle chimed simultaneously.

"Alright, battle begin!" Brandon shouted.

"You can attack first, Michelle," Ash offered sweetly. This didn't earn any coos or smile from his daughter, however. If anything, it only darkened her expression and increased her determination.

Perfect.

"Eevee, quick attack!" Michelle ordered.

"Eiu!"

Eevee finally growled quietly at Donphan and dug his heels into the ground, charging towards the armor Pokémon so quickly that streaks of white appeared around his furry body.

"Dodge it, Donphan!" Ash called.

As Eevee got within the range of contact, Donphan slid out of the way and looked over his shoulder as Eevee skid to a halt, looking rather frustrated with the lack of a hit.

"Don't give up, Eevee!" Michelle shouted. "Keep using quick attack! Use it at close range!"

"Vee!"

Eevee began to run rapid circles around Donphan, effectively trapping the ground type in the middle. This brought a smirk to Michelle's face. She knew full well that Donphan was not a very fast Pokémon. It had a very heavy body, and couldn't rely on its speed. Eevee, however, was very small and lithe. He could run around very quickly, and if he could get Donphan stuck just like that, she knew it wouldn't be able to get out of the way fast enough.

"Now!" Michelle called, throwing her arm out in front of her body.

Eevee cut the circle short and ran on a diagonal into the middle of the circle, ramming his head right into Donphan's side and sending the large Pokémon down to the ground.

"Whoa," Ash breathed, obviously impressed with Michelle's strategy.

"That was pretty awesome," Aiden admitted, looking up at his mother.

"Michelle's got her brain working really hard," Misty hummed amusedly. "She knows she can't just full out attack your father. She knows she needs a strategy. So, that's what she's doing. It seems to be working out quite well. For now, anyway…"

"Donphan, rollout!" Ash demanded as the armor Pokémon got back to his feet.

"D-oh!" Donphan roared, running towards Eevee before tucking itself into a ball and rolling mercilessly towards the terrified normal type.

"Rollout is Donphan's signature move!" Aiden gasped.

"Ash, I thought you said you weren't going to beat Michelle into the ground!" Misty cried.

"I'm not!" Ash argued. "I'm allowed to use Donphan's attacks, ya' know…"

"Yeah, but rollout?!" Misty bit.

"I can't make a battle out of defense curl!" Ash growled.

"Eevee, jump on top of Donphan!"

Ash gasped and looked back towards the battlefield. Eevee, though he still looked nervously, was skillfully jumping atop of Donphan, keeping his balance and running on the elephant like it was a giant wheel.

"Where is she getting these ideas from?" Ash muttered.

"Now, use bite!" Michelle yelled.

Eevee opened his mouth and dug his sharp, tiny teeth into Donphan's rough skin. Almost as soon as the sharp edges dug in, Donphan jumped out of his rollout and shrieked from the pain, landing back on his feet and shaking his body violently to try and get Eevee off.

"That's it, Donphan!" Ash cheered. "Shake Eevee off!"

"Bite harder, Eevee!" Michelle countered. "Don't let Donphan get you off!"

Donphan complied to Ash's request and started shaking harder, while Eevee followed Michelle's orders and dug his teeth even further into Donphan's skin.

"Look at Eevee go!" Aiden chuckled.

"I'm afraid he doesn't have as much strength as Donphan, though," Misty murmured. "Something is going to have to give."

And it did.

Eevee's grip loosened just enough for Donphan to send him flying and colliding with the ground, leading Michelle to gasp out of horror.

"Eevee!" Michelle cried.

"Good," Ash breathed. "Donphan, quick, hyper beam!"

"Dig!" Michelle shouted as soon as Donphan began charging up.

Eevee nodded and burrowed beneath the ground just as Donphan's bright orange beam of energy shot towards him. As a result, the beam missed, and Eevee was safe. Unfortunately for Donphan, however, hyper beam took a lot of energy, and it now had to recharge before attacking again. This, Michelle knew, was her and Eevee's chance to strike.

"Do it!" Michelle commanded.

Eevee began to move through the underground rapidly before popping back up and tackling Donphan, who had no choice but to take the attack.

"Way to go, Michelle!" Misty cheered.

Ash looked over his shoulder and pouted at his exuberant wife. "Hey, whose side are you on?"

"My baby's, of course," Misty replied easily. "You have thousands of adoring fans, Ashy. You're not the one who needs me right now!"

"Silly Daddy," Elizabeth commented with a laugh as Ash sulked.

"Well, just because I don't have my wife's support doesn't mean I'm about to give up on this battle," Ash grumbled to himself. "Not one bit! Donphan, take down!"

The elephant shook out his head and began stomping towards Eevee, running as fast as possibly could. Which, Michelle of course knew, was nowhere near as fast as Eevee.

"Dodge it!" Michelle ordered.

Eevee quickly jumped out of the way, Donphan skidding to a halt in a similar fashion to what had happened in reverse order when Eevee had originally used quick attack at the beginning of the match.

"Eevee, you're so amazing!" Michelle giggled.

Eevee mewled happily and began jumping up and down out of excitement. As he was doing this, a small black and purple ball of energy emerged from his mouth, surprising Eevee and causing him to cease his celebration.

"What was that?" Michelle murmured.

"Shadow ball!" Brandon gasped, catching Michelle's attention. "Eevee just learned shadow ball, Michelle!"

"Whoa, really?" Michelle marveled, beaming at Eevee. "That's so amazing, Eevee!"

"Vee!" Eevee chirped.

"Use your brand new attack on Donphan!" Michelle ordered, pointing her finger out. "Shadow ball!"

Eevee opened his mouth, and this time unleashed the dark type move on purpose. Ash, however, was a very experienced battler, and he was not about to be taken off guard by something like a new move.

"Donphan, defense curl!" Ash called.

The ground type rolled itself up into a ball and allowed the shadow ball to hit directly. Michelle was excited and began to celebrate, but she stopped as soon as Donphan got up and was revealed to be fine.

"What?!" Michelle shrieked.

"Defense curl protects the Pokémon from receiving damage from the attack," Ash elucidated, folding his arms across his chest. "Pretty smart, huh?"

"Daddy is so smart!" Elizabeth crowed with a delightful giggle.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, sprinkle," Misty sighed.

"I love you, princess, but I'm not about to let you beat me," Ash teased. "Donphan, wrap this up with hyper beam!"

"Again?" Michelle muttered, furrowing her brow. "Eevee, counter it with shadow ball!"

While Donphan fired off his bright orange beam of energy, Eevee unleashed a series of darkly colored spheres. The hyper beam quickly overpowered the shadow ball attack, however, and went barreling full speed towards Eevee, knocking out the normal type with a single hit.

"Eevee is unable to battle," Brandon announced, holding his left arm up in the air. "So Donphan is the winner! The match goes to Ash!"

"D-oh," Donphan calmly muttered, turning around to face Ash and smile at him.

"Great job, Donphan," Ash commented, stepping forward to pat the ground type's head. "You were awesome!"

Michelle, on the other hand, walked over to Eevee and gathered the little normal type into her arms, smiling down at him when he mewled sadly.

"It's okay, Eevee," Michelle murmured. "You tried your best! And it was great. Plus, you learned a new move! I'm proud of you."

After Ash returned Donphan to its poke ball, he walked over to Michelle and smiled softly at the girl, who didn't necessarily look upset or disappointed. If anything, she looked…contemplative.

"You're a very smart girl, Shelly," Ash began.

"I am?" Michelle squeaked.

"Yep," Ash chuckled. "You think a lot! You have all of these strategies, and you're actually very good at outsmarting your opponent. It's great! But…I think that sometimes, that can backfire on you."

"What do you mean?" Michelle asked.

"You do think a lot…maybe too much sometimes," Ash explained. "When you overthink, you psych yourself out. You get nervous and begin to doubt yourself. And that's what's been happening the last few Contests."

At this, Michelle furrowed her brow and tilted her head. "Are you in my head or something?"

"No, I just know my daughter very well," Ash teased with a wink.

"I just get worried sometimes," Michelle muttered, looking down at the ground. "Like…what if I never win a Contest again? Or what if I look stupid on stage?"

"See, that's overthinking!" Ash crowed. "It's throwing you off your game. You're a great coordinator, Michelle. And you haven't been at this for very long. There's no reason to doubt yourself. Just focus on your goal, and everything will work out in the end."

Michelle blinked and looked back up at her father with sparkling eyes. "Do you really think so?"

Smirking, Ash patted his daughter's head before moving his hand beneath her chin, gently tilting her head up even higher. "I know so."

Michelle beamed at her father and wrapped her arms around his midsection, snuggling her head against his chest.

"Thank you, Daddy," Michelle murmured, so softly that only the two of them could hear it.

"Of course," Ash whispered, kissing Michelle atop the head. "I'll always be here for you, princess. No matter what."

"Daddy! Daddy!"

Ash blinked and looked up, knowing that voice was too high pitched and squeaky to be Michelle's. That left only one candidate, and based on the little girl standing next to him jumping up and down, it was, in fact, her.

"What's got you all excited, baby girl?" Ash chuckled. "Daddy's win?"

"No," Elizabeth replied easily, causing Ash to groan. "Your phone lighted up!"

"Huh?" Ash murmured.

"It's May!" Elizabeth trilled, holding up the blue and black poke gear.

"Elizabeth, don't play with Daddy's phone," Ash gently scolded, taking the device away from his little daughter as he frowned at her.

"I wasn't playing!" Elizabeth argued. "I was helping!"

"I'm sorry, pumpkin," Ash chuckled with a sigh. "Sometimes I just don't know with you! You're a sneaky little thing sometimes, huh?"

"Nuh uh," Elizabeth murmured, running back over to Misty and hugging the woman's legs. At this, Misty giggled and picked up the child once again to keep her out of more trouble.

"What's it say, Ash?" Misty asked.

"Apparently, that girl Eryn won the Contest," Ash hummed, scanning his eyes over the screen. "May said she was impressive."

"Well, if she's as good a coordinator as she is a creeper, then she must be pretty talented," Aiden remarked, earning a snicker from Brandon.

"I'll beat her one day."

Ash glanced down and saw the determined look on his older daughter's face. She too looked up at him and smiled, her expression full of determination and confidence.

"I know I can," Michelle continued. "I can do anything I put my mind to. And that includes winning my third ribbon!"

"That's my girl!" Ash cheered, ruffling the coordinator's hair. It was at that moment that his poke gear rang again, catching the man's attention. His eyes widened when he read the message, and Michelle, being the morbidly curious girl that she was, leaned over on her tippy toes to try and read the message herself. Ash, however, was keen to his daughter's actions and quickly held the device against his chest, earning a nervous giggle from the red headed coordinator. Misty could tell Ash was bothered by the message, and like her daughter, she was extremely curious.

She was also married to Ash, however, and had the right to know what the message said.

"Lizzie," Misty murmured, putting the little girl back down on the ground and brushing her hair behind her ears, "go play with the big kids, okay?"

"Why, Mommy?" Elizabeth squeaked.

"Because I said so," Misty sighed, standing back up to her full height.

Elizabeth scowled, but chose not to argue. She could always tell when something was bothering her mother. They had a very special bond. Plus, Misty was the one person in the world who never fell for Elizabeth's tricks, so it was no use trying to contend with her.

With Elizabeth preoccupied, though not by choice, Misty strode back over to Ash and gently pushed him away from the rest of the group by the shoulder. He looked a little surprised, but didn't even open his mouth to protest. He just seemed so…bewildered. It was strange.

"What's going on with you?" Misty whispered, staring her husband directly in the eyes.

"Uh…nothing?" Ash lamely replied.

"Don't lie to me," Misty hissed. "You couldn't have gone from some innocent text from May to some Earth shattering message. Not in that amount of time."

"Wanna bet?" Ash muttered.

Misty bit her lip and lowered her arms to her sides. "Who sent it to you?"

"Lance."

Misty's eyes widened at this. "Lance?"

Ash nodded slowly.

"But…it was just a friendly text, right?" Misty breathed. "You guys are friends, after all. He just wanted to check in, right?"

"No," Ash murmured. "Not right."

"Stop scaring me," Misty pleaded statically. "You're scaring me. What did he say? Why did he text you if it wasn't to be friendly?"

Ash sighed and looked down at his feet. He knew Misty knew…she just didn't want to hear it. She had never wanted to hear it. Not then, and certainly not now.

"He needs me," Ash exhaled, refusing to raise his eyes.

"For what?" Misty demanded with a shaky voice.

"A mission," Ash replied as though it were obvious. Which it was, of course. Ash was just dancing around the real question.

"I know it's a mission, Ash!" Misty cried, her tone gaining urgency. "What kind of a mission?"

"I couldn't exactly tell you that, even if I knew," Ash muttered. "It's sort of top secret. All he said was that I have valuable information related to the mission, and that they need me."

Misty furrowed her brow and squeezed her hands into tight fists. Ash reluctantly looked up and saw the obvious hurt and fear on his wife's face. It broke his heart, but he didn't know what else to do.

"Ash…" Misty croaked, her eyes beseeching.

Ash shook his head and lowered his shoulders. "I can't say no, Misty. Not again. I gave it up last time, for a reason. I don't have a valid reason now."

"Yes you do!" Misty argued. "You have me! More importantly, you have the kids! You can't do this!"

"It's urgent, Misty," Ash continued. "Lance has never sent me a text like this. Not even ten years ago. He said we need to meet first thing tomorrow morning. We have to go home. I have to get ready."

"I won't let you do this!" Misty wailed, her eyes filling with tears. "It's too dangerous, Ash! I-I can't…I won't…"

Ash's entire face fell as Misty started to cry, her head hanging and shoulders shaking as she sobbed. He reached out and pulled her into his body, and all this did was make Misty angry. She growled ferociously and began to punch Ash's chest with her fists, whimpering every time she hit him. Ash, of course, was strong and well built, meaning Misty's punches didn't exactly hurt him. Not physically, anyway. Emotionally? It was breaking his heart.

Eventually, Misty began to wear herself out. Her punches became slower and weaker, until she couldn't hit him anymore. She just rested her fists flat against his chest and let out another desolate wail, burying her face into Ash's chest.

"I hate you," Misty moaned into his shirt.

"No you don't," Ash whispered. "You love me. That's why you're upset. You don't want me to get hurt."

Misty chose not to respond, but rather just to snivel into her husband's shirt. Frowning, Ash wrapped an arm around her lower back and rested his head atop her own, closing his eyes as he felt her breathing slow down.

"I promise I'll be careful," Ash murmured. "No matter what this is, I won't put myself in danger. I'm not as reckless as I used to be. But I had this opportunity ten years ago, and I turned it down. I can't do it again, Misty. I need to do this. I need to help. Something is wrong…someone is doing something wrong…and I won't let it happen. I need this world to be safe for our children. I need to protect them, no matter what. I told you that before when I needed to help Michelle. It's all the same. I will do whatever it takes. I'll try my hardest. No one is going to get past me as long as I try. That's what I have to do."

Misty sucked in a deep breath and looked up at Ash with a tear stained face. "I do love you. More than life itself. But I hate that you're so brave."

Ash smiled sadly at his wife and gently rubbed her back with his fingertips. "I have to be brave, Misty. All G-Men are brave."

Remember waaaay back when Misty said both she AND Ash had to give something up ten years ago for the sake of their children, and for her it was to be a member of the Elite Four? Well, now it's Ash's turn. But, unlike Misty, he WANTS to do this, and he's going to take his second chance. What's the mission about? I wonder... ;)