Hello People, thank you for everyone who is reading/has been reading it means a lot. Now here is the seventh chapter and it is finally going to set up for Ash and Misty getting to spend a good amount of time together.

Please Enjoy,

Chapter 7

Misty threw herself into her work and trained as hard as possible without hurting her Pokemon or herself. Luckily her Pokemon were all happy to train except Psyduck, but she was still doing her best to teach him to swim, it wasn't going well.

She'd been battling like her life depended on it and among the dozens of challengers she only lost twice. Both of them had been extremely talented and were getting their seventh and eight badges respectively so she handed the badges over without complaint. They were quite nice so she was hoping to see them in the Indigo Conference if she made it.

There was only a week until the gym was going to be assessed and she was making progress, but Misty didn't know if it was enough. She was exhausted, but made sure not to overwork her Pokemon and focused on only certain ones at a time so they were still feelings fresh. Taylor had come back a few times to learn from her and Misty felt it was a welcome break and it felt nice to mentor her. She promised to take her fishing soon, but not until she'd dealt with the Gym assessment and found out her ranking. She kept in contact with her friends over the video phone, but rarely left the gym. It was nice to finally be able to talk to Ash now that he was staying in the same area rather than running around the world.

She had just finished up a decent match against a boy who was visiting family, but heard about the Gym and wanted to face the Leader. She was unexpectedly proud when he mentioned she was too tough to be a three star gym.

She was closing everything when she saw Slowpoke fishing in the main pool again and it wasn't too surprising that he caught something, there was once golden that liked to bite him. However she was surprised when Slowpoke had a Shellder on his tail and he was standing bipedal. She watched Shellder mutate and suddenly she was staring at a Slowbro.

"You evolved," She wrapped the Pokemon in a hug making sure not to prick herself on the mutated Shellder.

"Slow," Slowbro seemed to be taking a moment to realize it had indeed evolved. "Slow," he nodded although Misty wasn't sure what exactly he was actually nodding for. She let him go back outside to sleep, happy that she had another powerful Pokemon. Slowpoke wasn't much of a fighter by no real fault of his own, but if she managed to train Slowbro he had a good amount of potential.

As she walked to her bedroom she realized she had a lot of Pokemon that could use psychic moves: Starmie, Slowbro, Psyduck if it was hit hard enough, and Staryu to a lesser degree than Starmie.

She woke up and went outside to make sure she didn't dream about Slowbro, but he was there having a staring contest with Psyduck. "Misty another challenger," Violet called from inside.

"Coming," she yelled back. "And you are coming with me," she turned and returned Slowbro to its Pokeball.

It was a boy a little bit older than her, "My name is Sam and I'm here to challenge you." He was being a bit formal which Misty thought might mean he hadn't had much experience.

"I accept, how many badges do you have so far?" Misty asked gauging how tough he would be. She wanted to try Slowbro out, but if he was a strong trainer she knew she would have to be more careful.

"Three," he revealed his three badges one of which was from a one star gym, one was from a two star gym, and the third was from a three star gym.

She debated what Pokemon to use in her head, "Is a three on three OK for you?"

"Sure," Sam replied already looking down at his belt.

If it was three on three she could try Slowbro out first and if things didn't go well she could use two of her strongest Pokemon to make up for the damage. This guy wasn't going to be a push over, but she was hoping he wouldn't be too tough.

They walked to opposite ends of the pool and the battle began. "Slowbro, let's do it," Misty released Slowbro onto the closest platform.

At the same time he called out, "Floatzel let's show her what we've got." She watched surprised at the Sinnoh Pokemon appeared on the other end of the pool. It wasn't very uncommon for trainers to use Pokemon from different regions, but generally she faced Kanto Pokemon. Still she wasn't about to let him knock her off balance over something like that.

"Floatzel use water gun," Floatzel quickly shot out a burst of water. Misty decided to put Slowbro's power to the test.

"Slowbro use water gun as well," Slowbro was slower, but at the last second managed to counter. Slowbro's attack seemed to be a bit weaker, but both Pokemon stopped before either was completely overpowered. "Slowbro use confusion," Slowbro complied sending the telekinetic attack at Floatzel who was knocked into the water.

"That's fine hide under water," Floatzel sunk out of sight.

"Slowbro, don't move just wait until I tell you too," Misty commanded and Slowbro seemed happy to comply. Misty closed her eyes listening as closely as she could, after spending so much time by the pool she could hear any noises out of place.

"Floatzel take down," Sam said to the hidden Pokemon.

Misty waited until she heard the noise of Floatzel moving, "Slowbro turn to your right," Misty called out.

Slowbro slowly turned and Misty was secretly happy it could tell left from right, unlike Psyduck who sometimes got confused. Floatzel shot out of the water quickly, which was its undoing it didn't have time to redirect itself before crashing into the spikes on Slowbro's tail. "Quickly Slowbro mega punch," Misty yelled and Slowbro punched just before Floatzel could recover and get back into the water. While Floatzel was in the air Misty commanded, "Hit it with psychic, Slowbro."

Floatzel ended up in the water across the arena, "Get up, Floatzel we're not done yet," Misty watched the Pokemon pull itself onto a platform without too much trouble. "Hop back into the water and use agility to swim in a circle around the platform Slowbro is on." Within a few seconds Floatzel was just a blur basically kicking up a whirlpool around Slowbro and despite a few attempts with confusion and water gun Slowbro couldn't hit it.

"Just wait him out Slowbro and be ready to react when I say so," Misty tried to follow Floatzel, but the water it had kicked up made seeing it difficult which Misty assumed the plan was.

"Use crunch," Misty heard the other trainer call out. Crunch was a dark move which was going to be super effective on Slowbro so she couldn't let it connect.

"Use disable," Misty watched as Floatzel shot out of the water thankfully directly in front of Slowbro. Suddenly it was surrounded in a grey light for a few moments and it lost control of its attack. Its momentum didn't stop and it continued to head towards Slowbro. "Now use mega kick," Misty ordered just as Floatzel flew into range. Slowbro's foot connected sending launching Floatzel away. Although it was very similar to her previous combo it was still effective.

Floatzel sailed across the arena landing hard on the platform closest to the other trainer. "Nice try Floatzel you did your best," the trainer slipped the pokeball back into its place. "Wow that's a pretty nice Slowbro," the boy looked at Slowbro who blankly stared back.

Misty looked fondly at the hermit crab Pokemon, "Yeah he only evolved recently, but I love him as much as all my other Pokemon."

"I guess I shouldn't have tried using a water Pokemon against a water Pokemon trainer," he grabbed another pokeball.

"Well it's my home ground and water is my specialty so I guess there's always a risk trying to use my type against me here, but still I liked your Floatzel, a good friend of mine actually has a Buizel."

"Thanks, but now it's back to the battle, let's do this Machoke," the boy held out a pokeball and a Machoke appeared quickly getting into a battle stance.

"Hmm, Slowbro we've got the type advantage let's keep him at a distance," Misty looked at the Machoke carefully.

"Machoke we need to get in close, starting running," the boy pointed across the room at Slowbro and immediately Machoke started jumping from platform to platform.

"Use confusion," Misty said to Slowbro who did as she asked and after a few failed attempts managed to send Machoke sprawling into the water. Although it fell into the water the damage done was pretty low.

"Just swim there," apparently the Machoke knew how to swim because with its powerful arms it started flying through the water.

"Mega Punch," the boy and Misty called as Machoke jumped out of the water. Both Pokemon pulled their arms back and punched the other. Machoke was knocked back a few steps and was hurt, but not finished. Slowbro fell into the water and looked dazed, more than usual.

"Use thunderpunch before it gets out of the water," the boy yelled and Machoke complied punching at Slowbro who was struggling to get out of the water. The attack connected sending waves of electric energy coursing through its body enhanced by the water it was in.

"Use Psychic," Misty called out hoping to get Machoke away from Slowbro and moments later Machoke was flying through the air. Misty knew Slowbro was a Pokemon that could take a lot of damage, but she figured there wasn't much point allowing it to get hurt further in its first battle when she was confident could finish this with another Pokemon.

"Alright Slowbro, return," Misty held her Pokeball out and Slowbro disappeared. "Great job, your first fight in your evolved form and you took out his first Pokemon and damaged his second."

"Starmie," Misty called Starmie out and it appeared with a gentle 'haah'. She figured she should capitalize on the type advantage and use another Psychic Pokemon, "Let's get some distance swim to the farthest platform."

"Machoke follow it," Machoke shook off the damage it took and jumped into the water chasing after Starmie, who was much faster.

"Starmie use swift to slow it down," Stars flew smashing into Machoke as it tried to swim to Starmie.

"Just power through," Sam commanded and Machoke managed to push through the attack.

"Fine use confusion and follow it up with hydro pump," Misty watched as Machoke was hit with yet another psychic attack and then smashed with a powerful water attack. Sam was forced to withdraw the unconscious Pokemon, but Misty noted that both his Pokemon so far seemed to be able to take a lot of damage.

"Alright I can't use a close range fighter, so how about someone who can give me some distance. Fearow let's take her out," Sam tossed his third Pokeball into the air and a Fearow appeared flying overhead.

Misty eyed it for a moment before deciding to test how fast it was, she knew if she got it into the water she would win, "Starmie use water gun."

"Fearow dodge it and use gust," The Fearow easily slid around the attack and with a few flaps of its wings it stirred up a gust of wind which was sent directly at Starmie.

"Starmie into the water quick," Misty didn't want Starmie to get caught.

The gust caught Starmie as it was already half way into the pool so it didn't go flying, but it skipped across the surface of the pool before it made it under doing a bit of damage. Misty waited a few moments before yelling, "Starmie come out of the water and use swift." Starmie popped out of the water before letting loose a flurry of stars.

"Use whirlwind," once again some strong flaps of Fearow's wings kicked up wind which knocked away the swift attack.

After trading a few attacks back and forth very little damage had been done, almost everything had been blocked or dodged by one Pokemon or the other. Sam apparently started becoming a bit impatient which was dangerous in a trainer, "Use quick attack and hit Starmie."

Starmie tried using water gun, but Fearow dodged everything and when it was only a few feet away Misty yelled, "Use Psychic now that it's too close to dodge."

Misty waited just a second too long and Starmie was hit, but its attack still connected. They both went flying Fearow hitting the ceiling and Starmie crashing into the wall.

"Shake it off Fearow," Sam said to the bird Pokemon who looked a bit worse for the wear.

Starmie's gem was blinking signifying that it was injured, "Use recover," Misty quickly decided.

"Use drill peck before it can recover," Fearow once again was flying at Starmie.

Starmie was against the wall and by the time it finished recovering, trying to get to the water would just put it closer. However since it was away from the water Misty gained one advantage.

"Starmie now that there isn't any water to conduct electricity use thunderbolt," Misty smiled.

The attack hit Fearow just as it collided with Starmie sending Starmie against the wall knocked out and Fearow twitching on the ground passed out as well.

The judge on the sidelines declared Misty the winner considering she still had one Pokemon left. After talking to her opponent for a minute and wishing him good luck in the future she was ready to head to the pools to take a morning swim.

"Wow Misty you really would have beaten me if our fight continued," a familiar voice called from somewhere by the bleachers.

Misty tried not to show her surprise despite wanting to jump and tried to sound casual, "Ash I didn't know you were there," Misty walked over to him recalling Starmie and promising it a good rest. Pikachu appeared on Ash's shoulder and quickly jumped to Misty who caught the little Pokemon. "Hello to you too Pikachu," she greeted the mouse petting it.

"Pika," replied in what Misty assumed was was a greeting.

"I didn't want to distract you while you were battling," Ash shrugged, "I didn't know Starmie knew thunderbolt, but I'm glad it did, I never really liked Fearows and of course I wanted you to win. If you had done that little bit at the end against me, you probably would have won. So I guess I really didn't earn that Cascade badge," Ash didn't sound remotely upset, but Misty still felt the need to comfort him slightly.

"Starmie didn't know thunderbolt back then so it would have been anyone's game," Misty placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Still you really did get lucky a lot," Misty teased him slightly. She refrained from telling him that she taught Starmie thunderbolt specifically because of their battle. She didn't want Ash to get a big head, well a bigger head anyway.

"Whatever," he sighed before asking, "Is it just me or this place bigger?" Ash asked looking around carefully, Pikachu followed his gaze around the room.

"No, it's not just you we've been doing some updates the arena was expanded a bit and our tanks are much bigger." Misty looked in the direction of the tanks.

"Really?" Ash asked continuing to look around the room where they once fought.

"Yeah, come with me I'll show you around," Misty had a moment where she wanted to grab his hand, but the thought passed and she led the way without touching him. Pikachu rested comfortably on her shoulder and Ash trailed behind her closely.

After showing Ash around and enjoying watching his excitement at every new thing he saw, Misty finally brought him back to the living area to sit down. "So are you planning on staying here for a little while or were you just visiting for the day?" Misty asked trying not to sound too eager to have him stay longer.

"I can stay over?" He asked Pikachu jumped back over to Ash and shot Misty what she could only assume were pleading eyes.

"My sisters won't mind," Misty remembered their new plan for her to marry Ash, "plus we have tons of rooms and I'd love to have someone to train with and hang out with. I'm going to be stuck in here for the next week until the gym is finally assessed.

"OK then how about we stay until the assessment is over?" Ash looked at her carefully as if he expected her to say 'no'.

"That would be great," Misty didn't bother to hide her excitement and Ash met her smile with a bright grin of his own.

"I'll just ask my mom, but I think she should be fine with it. She really likes you," Ash said already getting out of his seat.

Ash P.O.V

Ash walked over to the videophone near the kitchen and dialed his home, within seconds his mother's face popped up with Mimey sweeping behind her.

"Hi, mom," Ash greeted her.

"Did you make it to the gym safely?" She asked trying to look behind him to see where he was.

"Yeah, I'm calling you from the gym," Ash explained.

"Oh, good," she noticeably relaxed. It didn't matter that he wasn't a ten year old anymore she still worried about him.

"I was wondering if I could stay over for about a week. The Pokemon League is sending some people to assess the gym and I wanted to stay with Misty. She can't really leave so I was planning on keeping her company.

"Of course," Delia replied without asking any questions, which surprised Ash. Usually she would want to bombard him with questions about where he was going to be.

"Really? That's great," Ash smiled. His next thought was interrupted by a knocking on the door at his home.

Delia glanced at the door before turning back to Ash, "Sorry, sweetie I have to go I have company coming over. Good luck with Misty."

"What does good luck mean?" Ash asked himself quietly before running to tell Misty the good news.

Misty POV

Her sisters gave it a stamp of approval and Lily offered to make plans to force them to be together. Misty quickly declined, she knew she still had a small lingering crush on Ash, but she figured she'd be able to sort out her feelings without any help. Beyond that Ash's feelings were still a mystery to her and she wasn't sure he was interested in dating anyone, let alone her. The boy was probably too focused on Pokemon to even notice girls yet. She wasn't ready to throw their friendship into disarray based on some distant hope that he could like her.

By the time Ash returned she had finished up her next match, it had been a one on one with an inexperienced trainer. "Aww I wanted to see another battle," he complained only looking half serious.

"You'll get your chance tomorrow, it's rare that I don't get at least a few battles each day, normally it's much more," Misty assured him and she was actually happy that he'd get to watch her, rather than nervous.

"Great I want to see you in action some more after all this time," Ash flashed her another one of his huge grins that always made her smile along with him.

"I'll have you know I've improved greatly," Misty informed him twirling the Pokeball in her hand.

"So have I," Ash jumped onto the defensive.

"I don't doubt that," Misty gave him a soft smile and Ash relaxed immediately," I'm going to switch Pokemon, Slowbro and Starmie are tired. I'll be back in a minute."

Ash POV

Ash was really impressed with Misty, how she was able to run an entire Gym amazed him. He knew he wouldn't be able to do it, but he was still confident he could beat her in a full battle. She was really skilled with Water Pokemon, but she was too used to fighting in her Gym and she didn't have enough variety.

If he took her on somewhere else without water she would have to change her fighting style, he didn't think she'd be able to adapt as well as he could to a new area. He thought about her Goldeen, now a Seaking, and how useless it was on land.

Of course he admitted he could be wrong, this was her element, but maybe she'd be fine elsewhere, she'd always managed when they were younger. He wanted to find out, but for now he was happy to spend time with her. Plus she did put on some exciting matches and it was good to train with her sometimes, he didn't fight too many water trainers during his travels.

If she went out and got more Pokemon she could probably overcome those weaknesses, but for the time being she was under house arrest in a way. He was going to use that to his advantage to spend as much time with her as possible. Seeing her at the party and finally having her in front of him somehow made him realize he missed her even more.

Pokemon in Gym

-Politoad

-Staryu

-Starmie

-Seadra

-Psyduck

-Corsola

-Seaking

-Gyrados

-Tentacool

-Slowpoke à Slowbro

-Krabby

-Cloyster

-Caserin

-Azumarill

-Dewgong

-Various Pokemon mainly used for shows

Trivia

-When Ash and Misty fought Pidgeotto knocked Starmie into the wall and left its core jewel blinking, meaning it was hurt.

-In the games Slowpoke evolves into Slowbro at level 37, but everywhere else it evolves when a Shellder bites on its tail so I decided to go along with that. Shellder mutates and continuously poisons Slowbro taking away its ability to feel pain.

-Misty's Goldeen was always useless when it got sent out on land, mainly because it couldn't walk, which isn't a shocker.

-I'm pretty sure I already mentioned it, but Starmie can learn Thunderbolt by TM

-If a Pokemon can learn a move by tutoring/TM or breeding it may show up. I won't just start giving random moves out to Pokemon, but if a Pokemon can learn a move I may have them know the move.

-I'm sure everyone knows this, but in the very beginning of the anime Pikachu wouldn't listen to Ash at all. So in his attempt to capture a Pidgey by himself he throws a rock at a Spearow thinking it was a Pidgey. An entire flock of Spearow attack them. (If I try to keep explaining this trivia will become too long.)

-That was how he met Misty when she fished him out of the water when he was running from the Spearow and Pikachu was injured.

-Although to counter that in the Electric Tales of Pikachu, Ash actually owns a Fearow who he uses regularly. Since this follows the anime, Ash does not own a Fearow.

A/N

Thank you everyone for reading the story so far and I hope you continue to do so. Please let me known in the comments what you think so far and what you think I should do going forward. Also while Ash and Misty are together I think I may add a small section of what Pokemon are with Ash like I do for Misty, let me know what you think (I won't include an entire section on which Pokemon are with Professor Oak because that would be too much.) Also this story will spend the majority of time in Misty's point of view, but I do plan on switching to other characters for short periods of time like I did for Ash.