Hello, I do not own Pokemon or Misty would already be back on the show however I do own the ideas in my story, which I hope you enjoy.

"Hey Misty."

"Yes, Ash?"

"Do you want to walk to Pewter City like old times?

"Actually that sounds fun,"

POV (Ash)

Ash saw Misty shiver again as she almost stepped on a Weedle and listened to her shriek when a Kakuna dropped right in front of her. "Still afraid of bugs, Misty?" Ash laughed looking at her. He paled when he saw her temper rising, it really was like old times and he wouldn't have it any other way.

"Do you want me to get my mallet, Ash?" Misty asked in a deceptively quiet voice. Ash just shook his head 'no' mutely. "Then don't make fun of my dislike of gross bug Pokemon."

He felt his fear disappear when she yelped as a Beedrill flew overhead and grabbed onto his arm. She held herself against him tightly and he found he didn't mind her close proximity, but he still had to hold back his laughter.

POV (Misty)

Misty was slowly getting used to being in the forest again, in a sense she missed being out in the wild and if there weren't any bugs she would have enjoyed it more. Before she had time to contemplate it more she saw a group of Beedrills surrounding a small Pokemon.

All she saw was a flash of pink and without considering her options she threw a Pokeball, "Starmie, use water gun get rid of those Beedrill," Misty called out to Starmie who complied sending water at the Beedrill. They scattered allowing Misty to see a Jigglypuff standing in the middle of where the group had been. Misty's relief was extremely short lived, only moments after she walked towards the Jigglypuff a larger swarm of Beedrill appeared.

Misty went based on instinct and grabbed the Jigglypuff and started running away with the little thing in her arms. Ash followed complaining and yelling, but she ignored him until Pikachu jumped into the air and electrocuted them. Instead of having the intended effect, more angry Beedrill appeared out of the trees. The sky was almost completely blocked out by the yellow and black bodies and Misty could barely hear over the buzzing.

Before Misty could make a plan a voice started singing, looking down Misty realized it was the Jigglypuff. One by one the Beedrill started falling asleep and falling from the sky. Pikachu ended up napping on Ash's head, but Misty and Ash weren't affected. When the song was done and the Beedrill were down Ash asked, "Why didn't we fall asleep?"

"Jigglypuff generally have the ability to sing different tunes which effect Pokemon differently than one's that effect people," Misty looked down at the little pink Pokemon who stared back at her with large eyes.

"Jiggly," it responded snuggling into her arms, quickly taking to Misty.

"It's so cute, I just want to keep it forever," Misty almost squealed and hugged it close. Jigglypuff seemed to relish the attention and smiled. "Hey Jigglypuff do you want to come with me?" Misty asked the small Pokemon who she hadn't released from her arms.

"What are you doing?" Ash asked looking at the two who already seemed to have bonded.

"You got a lot of your Pokemon without really fighting them in the wild. Is it so crazy that I could get a Pokemon like that? I mean I saved its life," Misty replied making a dig at Ash without looking at him.

"It's more like it saved our lives," Ash pointed out looking at the sleeping Beedrill choosing not to rise to Misty's joke.

"Either way, do you want to come with me?" Misty held Jigglypuff at arm's length and it nodded in the affirmative. Misty threw a Pokeball straight in the air and Jigglypuff happily hopped in. After the ball clicked to a close it Misty did her signature pose, which she stole from Ash. Just after she did that Jigglypuff popped right back out.

"Did-did you change your mind?" Misty asked extremely confused looking at the Jigglypuff who escaped the ball. She was really excited about catching the Pokemon and was a bit depressed at the thought that it was going to leave her so quickly.

"Puff," Jigglypuff replied shaking its head, which was basically its entire body, and jumped back into Misty's arms. Jigglypuff made itself comfortable and after a few moments Misty came to a conclusion.

"You don't like being in a Pokeball is that it?" Misty watched for a reaction hoping she was right.

"Jiggly," It replied nodding bringing a bit of relief to Misty.

"That's fine, I don't mind carrying you around. Besides Pikachu doesn't like it either so it's not that odd considering our company," Misty shifted her arms so Jigglypuff was easier to manage. It was actually quite small even among Jigglypuff and light enough for her to carry comfortably.

"What ever happened to your favorite type being water Pokemon?" Ash joked, but carefully watched Misty snuggling Jigglypuff close for any signs of anger.

"Just because I love water Pokemon doesn't mean I can't like other types of Pokemon besides I've always wanted to catch a Jigglypuff. Remember when we met that first one remember?" Misty thought about the Jigglypuff she gave singing lessons to.

"That was one scary Jigglypuff. It beat up all those Clefairy and put us to sleep every time," Ash still remembered having that Jigglypuff drawing all over their faces.

"Yeah and I wanted to catch a Clefairy too, but I'm very happy to meet this little Pokemon," Misty smiled down at her new Jigglypuff.

"Puff," it agreed.

"Besides I took care of Togepi as well," Misty reminded him thinking about the little Pokemon she used to carry around much like the Jigglypuff in her arms. There was a slight pang of longing to see Togetic, but she pushed it down and thought about the good times.

"Yeah because you thought it was cute too," Ash laughed.

"It was because I have great maternal instincts," Misty shot him a warning look thinking about how having Togepi did change her personality a bit as she got older, but Ash still seemed able to drag out the angry eleven year old in her.

"Whatever you say," Ash rolled his eyes, "It was only because Togepi saw you first."

"I was the best choice anyway," Misty started walking in the direction that had originally been going.

"Because of your great maternal instincts?" Ash joked jogging to catch up with her.

"Yes because I'm so kind Jigglypuff will be happy with me," Misty hugged her new little partner who responded with a happy, "Jiggly."

"Yeah really nice except to me," Ash huffed under his breath.

"What did you say?" Misty and her Jigglypuff sent Ash identical glares

"Nothing," Ash held his hands up looking back and forth between the two. "Now I see why you belong together," Ash frowned at the matching satisfied smiles on their faces.

Despite Jigglypuff being a bit angry at Ash when they first met, the little Pokemon was easy to travel with as long as she remained happy in Misty's arms. Misty in return was perfectly happy to tote Jigglypuff around.

The rest of the day passed without much happening except a few small arguments breaking out between Ash and Misty most of which were more for the sake of fighting than any real issues because they enjoyed arguing more than either would admit.

Misty was laying in her sleeping bag staring at the moon and once again she was reminded of all the times she was in the same position with Ash and Brock lying a few feet away. "Hey, Ash."

"What, Misty?" He asked in a hushed voice.

"I'm really glad we came out here together," she whispered to him the nearly silent forest allowed her quiet voice to carry. It was in moments like this where everything was silent and she could hear the sounds of their breathing that she was most calm. She really did miss this, but more than the traveling she missed her friends especially Ash. Of course she wasn't about to admit that aloud.

"Me too Misty, me too," with that Misty allowed herself to go to sleep with her new partner, Jigglypuff next to her.

P.O.V (Ash)

Ash felt he shouldn't really have noticed a huge difference between traveling with Misty and traveling without her, but somehow having her near him made things better in a way he didn't know how to describe. His other friends were wonderful companions and he enjoyed being with them, but being back with Misty felt right.

Morning came around and the light filtering through the trees woke Ash up. He blinked the sleep out of his eyes, sat up and looked at his surroundings. Misty was still asleep which surprised him, usually she woke before him, but with the stress that had been plaguing her he figured it was good that she rest.

He stared at her and took the time to commit every detail to memory. Her red hair had grown and now rested below her shoulder blades, it was fanned beneath her sleeping form. Her face was relaxed showing her petite features and slightly parted lips. The only sound was her rhythmic breathing and the sound of the leaves rustling in the gentle wind. When she moved slightly in her sleep Ash was knocked out of his trance and a blush quickly found its way to his face as he realized he had been watching her sleep. He thought that it was something only stalkers did, but he enjoyed looking at her which in his opinion seemed creepy.

He jumped away when she rolled over and ended up slipping over his sleeping bag ending up in a still blushing heap.

POV Misty

"Ash?" Misty murmured getting up and through still blurry eyes saw him on the ground caught in his sleeping bag. His face turned red when she looked at him sprawled on the ground. "Ash, are you that embarrassed?" She laughed a bit, "I've seen you worse off than jumbled on the ground, but it is still funny."

Ash managed to right himself and say, "Whatever," before busying himself looking in his backpack. The commotion woke Pikachu and Jigglypuff up both of whom jumped to their trainers. After a few minutes things went back to normal and the small camp was packed up.

After walking for a few minutes Misty stated resolutely, "Starting now I'm going to make an effort to be less grossed out by bug Pokemon." She managed to fight down the urge to jump when a Caterpie crawled past her.

"Do you mean less afraid?" Ash asked and without looking Misty knew he was smiling.

"Ash," she said in a warning tone, not liking to admit her weaknesses.

"Oh come on admit it you're afraid of bug Pokemon," Ash mocked her lightly.

"Fine, but I'm going to overcome my dislike for bugs," Misty made sure to emphasize the word 'dislike'.

"It's probably a good thing that you're going to try to overcome your fear," Ash placed heavy emphasis on 'fear'.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence with the sounds of the forest playing in the background Ash broke the undisturbed calm. "So, you're doing well at the Cerulean gym," Ash said and Misty smiled, but he continued, "How's the Pewter gym doing?

Misty's smile fell, "I forgot, you haven't been around, so you don't know anything," Misty didn't say it in an aggressive or antagonistic way, but Ash still looked a bit upset as he was yet again reminded of his absence, "You know that Brock gave some of his Pokemon to his brother Forrest, so he could lead right?"

"Yeah," Ash nodded.

"Did he tell you anything about the circumstances?" Misty asked wondering how much Ash actually knew about what was going on.

"Not really, he just told me he was giving the leadership to Forrest," Ash shrugged.

"Leave it to Brock to not want to bother anyone with problems. So what happened was that Brock's mom came back-,

Ash interrupted, "I thought she was dead?" Ash phrased it as a question.

"No," Misty shook her head indicating that Brock's mom was indeed alive. "She popped up one day and changed the gym into a water type gym. I was actually a bit annoyed," Misty frowned, "Two water type gyms so close together seems like a bad choice, but that wasn't the issue."

"How did it turn into a water type gym and what was the issue?" Ash asked.

"I'm getting to that, Brock's mother Lola came home, she's a water type specialist like myself. She wanted to change Pewter city gym into a water type gym. Apparently Flint has no ability to say no to her so she got her way and filled the place up with water and gaudy decorations," Misty started her explanation.

"Sounds pretty bad," Ash crossed his arms and frowned at the picture Misty was painting.

"It was, and for a time she ran things, until Brock came home and he wasn't pleased in the least," Misty looked up as if she was trying to remember the details, "He made Flint battle Lola for control of the gym and she won, but then Brock challenged her and managed to beat her."

"So that's good right?" Ash asked hesitantly.

"Yes, for a time that was good, but there was another problem or rather there were two," Misty looked back down at Ash.

"What was the first problem?"

"The first one they managed to take care of, it was a problem with paperwork. Brock and Flint were registered as gym leaders, but Forrest wasn't. So technically he wasn't allowed to be fighting as the gym leader, it was actually illegal. A nurse Joy came to shut them down, but it was somehow decided that if Forrest won a match against her he could be the gym leader. I don't know all the details," Misty explained the basics.

"Did she fight with a Chansey," Ash half joked.

"You'd be surprised how tough a Chansey can be, but no she sent out a Latias," Misty recalled for Ash.

"What, you're kidding" Ash's jaw literally dropped.

"No, she sent out a Latias to battle Forrest," Misty confirmed.

"Little Forrest managed to beat a Latias?" Ash asked in complete disbelief.

"No, he lost, but apparently the nurse Joy was impressed and allowed him to run the gym," Misty finished.

"Ok so what was the other problem?" Ash asked another question.

"This is the more important one and it stems from the changing of the gym type," Misty said in a slightly more grave tone.

"Was it something else with the Pokemon league? I'm starting to get a bit tired of hearing about those guys," Ash frowned again.

"No, not this time. You see, gyms always run the risk of being damaged considering all the battles that happen so upkeep is very important and often expensive. Gyms that feature rock or ground type Pokemon are obviously at a large risk considering the type of fighting that occurs. The Pewter gym was torn up to make it into a lake, then it was dug into to drain the water, and there is constant fighting from Pokemon that regularly use attacks like earthquake and rock throw. It was hard to see at the time, but there was major structural damage occurring and with everything going on nobody was making repairs. Soon after it was given the green light by the Pokemon league, the Pewter Gym collapsed," Misty finished sadly. It really was a tragedy that after all their work that the gym fell apart. It was the fear of something happening to her gym, which made her extremely careful in maintaining the gym.

"That's horrible," Ash almost shouted clearly upset for his friend.

"Don't worry about the family, the gym was insured plus the Pokemon league bylaws dictate that they must give money to any gym that is destroyed by no fault of the Leader outside of private insurance. To be honest there was some discord about whether they were to blame or not because all of the changes they made. In the end they did get money from the League and from the insurance separately, so financially they are fine for the time being," Misty assured Ash. "They didn't want to tell Brock anything until he returned so they didn't upset him and they waited to take any action before rebuilding the gym until Brock came back as well," Misty revealed why Brock hadn't found out while he was with Ash.

"So right now Brock's probably dealing with this," Ash said his voice dropping as he imagined the problem his friend was facing.

"Most likely and I checked the amount of money they've received, it's just enough to rebuild the gym's main areas and the living area for themselves. But it's going to take time to rebuild and longer to get the gym reinstated, it takes a lot of paperwork and the Pokemon League takes it's time with things," Misty almost growled the last part, but continued her explanation, "Meaning until the time it is rebuilt they have no place to live and no income. The money will allow them to rent a house to stay in, but everything is going to be very barebones. They literally have to take care of ten kids with just the money they aren't putting towards rebuilding or renting wherever they're going to be keeping their Pokemon."

"Wow, I never realized how much was going on behind the scenes, being a gym leader and I can't believe Brock had no idea. I'm also surprised that Brock's mom is a water type gym leader, instead of rock type like the rest of her family," Ash scratched his head processing all of the information.

Misty froze, "Talking about this gave me a great idea."

"What?" Ash clearly had no idea what Misty thought up.

"I need to figure things out, but I may have come up with a plan," a brilliant smile bloomed on her face.

"When did we decide we were coming up with a plan? I just found out about this seconds ago," Ash continued to look confused.

"Well I came up with a plan in those couple of seconds," Misty replied already starting to focus on her plan rather than Ash.

Ash rolled his eyes, "Fine, all hail the wonderful Misty. So what's the plan?"

"I'll tell you after I talk to Brock I want to see if this makes sense," Misty continued to fade into planning mode, growing more and more excited as she figured things out.

"Don't tell me you have a plan if you won't tell me what the plan was, now this is going to bother me all day," Ash moaned following Misty who had already started walking ahead.

A/N

Thank you for reading.

I had actually planned to have Misty catch a Jigglypuff since the beginning, but I asked if anyone minded her catching other types of Pokemon to make sure nobody was vehemently against Misty straying from her favored type.

Anyway bringing up Misty trying to overcome her fear, Brock's gym and his parents, and Misty's plan will all be important going forward. And what's this are we seeing the beginnings of Ash coming to realize his feelings for Misty? Only time will tell so please keep reading.

Sorry for posting this so late, I was busy all day. I also apologize for any mistakes I made, I've been distracted.

Misty Pokemon on Hand

-Politoad

-Starmie

-Psyduck

-Corsola

-Slowbro

-Gyrados

Pokemon in Gym

-Staryu

-Seadra

-Seaking

-Tentacool

-Kingler

-Cloyster

-Caserin

-Azumarill

-Dewgong

-Various Pokemon mainly used for shows

Ash's Pokemon on hand

-Pikachu

-Totodile

-Swellow

-Primeape

-?

-?

Trivia

-It was a fact that Misty was terrified or bug Pokemon, certain Pokemon she could handle like Ash's Butterfree, but while it was a Caterpie she couldn't be near it.

-A recurring character in the series was a Jigglypuff that Ash, Misty and Brock found who couldn't sing. They tried teaching it how and gave it a fruit to help sore throats, however whenever it sang people fell asleep. The Jigglypuff got mad every time and drew on everyone's faces and slapped them. Misty originally wanted the Jigglypuff, but decided not to catch it.

-In one episode the Jigglypuff beat up a bunch of Clefairy for stealing its microphone/marker (One of my favorite moments in Pokemon).

-I did make up the bit about Jigglypuff singing different tunes, but I figured if it was an attack used in the game somehow the trainers had to be unaffected.

-The group found an egg which later hatched containing a Togepi, it saw Misty when it first hatched and thought it was his/her mother.

-Misty carried Togepi around in her arms

-They made in error in the English dub with Flint stating Brock's mother was dead.

-Lola doesn't have squinted eyes and apparently can make Flint do whatever she wants.

-Lola left her children just like Flint did (Brock's parents aren't very good) and they like to go on vacations.