I am not dead, despite not posting anything in nearly a month and I'm sorry I'm posting this so late. A lot has happened on multiple fronts, there are graduations, familial issues, and medical news aplenty. I'm not sure how this chapter turned out so feel free to let me know,

Please Enjoy,

When the trees starting thinning out and the first rays of sunlight hit Misty she was overjoyed at finally getting out of the forest. Luckily it really was much smaller than most of the forests they traversed in their previous travels so it only took a day. If they had gone the way they were supposed to, around the forest it would have been shorter. According to the map going straight through the forest was shorter in distance, but it was much harder to hike through a forest than to walk along the path even if it wasn't a straight line. They easily could have shaved hours off their trip, but Misty didn't call Ash out on it.

"Misty we need to make a detour," Ash grabbed her arm lightly, stopping her in her tracks.

Misty was more than slightly annoyed and went back on her decision not to point out Ash's bad choice in travelling, "We went through your detour in the forest rather than the traditional path because you said it was a short cut. It wasn't Ash, that was not a shortcut and we are literally a straight shot to Pewter City what detour could there possibly be?"

"There's something we need to do, we absolutely need to," the determination in his eyes gave Misty pause. The serious tone and lack of a childish comeback surprised her enough to chase away her annoyance.

"Is this really important to you Ash?" Misty allowed her voice to become serious as well. When Ash became determined there was little anyone could do to stop him, but she wanted to agree with him rather than have him run off on his own.

"I made a promise and I always keep my promises. I have to do this and we can take a bus this time, there should be a stop once we make it to the main road over there," Misty followed Ash's pointed finger and saw in the distance there was a bus stop.

"Alright Ash, let's go fulfill your promise," she sighed slightly, but turned to walk to the bus stop. She reasoned that at least they wouldn't be walking back though the forest again. Jigglypuff seemed to agree with the sentiment having puffed up at the suggestion of them going back. Misty had informed Jigglypuff of where they both came from. Obviously the Pokemon didn't know the names of the towns so Misty just told her which end of the forest they were located near and apparently Jigglypuff had been glad to leave.

"Thanks Misty," he sounded grateful, but Misty knew she would have given in no matter what there wasn't anything to thank.

The walk was nearly silent Ash seemed lost in his thoughts and Misty decided not to question it. They waited on the bus stop until a bus to Pallet finally came. Misty wondered if they why they were visiting Pallet, it hadn't been long since Ash was there. Misty's curiosity grew during the ride, but she waited patiently instead choosing to watch Jigglypuff react to the bus ride and the few others on the bus.

Once the bus rolled to a stop and the two teens got out Misty expected them to head to Pallet town, but Ash walked in a different direction and all Misty could do was follow him.

"You know we're getting pretty close," Ash said looking around not letting his eyes rest on any one thing.

"Isn't this the area where you released Pidgeot?" Misty asked remembering the area because of the emotional time. Suddenly it hit her that they were going to see Pidgeot and that Ash was going to make good on his promise to come back for Pidgeot. She wondered if she should have realized earlier, but Ash hadn't said a word about it so she assumed it was something to do with his mother, Professor Oak, or his Pokemon.

"Yeah, I was trying to come back here to find Pidgeot and see if it wanted to join me again," Ash said looking around still distracted.

"So was there a point in walking through the forest to get to Pewter at all?" Misty asked managing to sound upset to tease Ash.

"Um, experience?" Ash shrugged.

"Well I met Jigglypuff so it's alright and it's good that we came back here," Misty let it go easily. She was excited to see Pidgeot as well, of course she was sure her excitement couldn't compare to Ash's.

"Yeah, I haven't seen Pidgeot in a long time," Ash sounded almost wistful, which didn't suit him.

"I just hope that after all this time Pidgeot will still want to join you," Misty thought out loud not considering her words before she spoke.

"What do you mean?" Ash had clearly been too excited at the prospect of seeing his old friend that he hadn't thought about the possibility that everything wouldn't just fall into place.

"I'm not saying this to discourage or upset you, but it has been literally years and I'm not sure Pidgeot will be ready to drop everything and run with you, so to speak," Misty hated being the voice of reason in a case like this, but Ash had to see the reality of the situation.

He hadn't been gone for a few weeks or even months, it had been a long time, years. "Regardless it will be nice to visit and I'm sure Pidgeot misses you," Misty quickly tried to reassure him resting a hand on his shoulder as they continued walking.

"Ash, I have a question. Why did you suddenly decide to come get Pidgeot?" Misty didn't mention how long he went without thinking of coming back, but she knew Ash knew the unsaid part of the question.

"Knowing I was going to be Kanto for a while made me realize I had to follow through on things I promised, which is why Primeape is with me and being in the forest with you reminded me I had to come back for Pidgeot. Whether Pidgeot chooses to come with me or not I still have to do this," Ash explained coming to a stop in the center of a clearing.

Misty was silently impressed and was happy that Ash was being mature about the situation, it was moments like this that made her look at him in a different light.

P.O.V Ash

Ash breathed in trying to gather air in his lungs before yelling, "Pidgeot." Pikachu tried his best to help throwing in his own 'Pika'. Nothing happened and Ash wondered if he hadn't been heard because he doubted he had been completely ignored. After a few more yells without a response he was starting to get worried, Pidgeot and the rest of its flock may already have moved on.

"Ash," Misty's voice cut through his thoughts, "do you have any Pokemon that could help find Pidgeot with you?"

"Actually I do have one," Ash smiled at the idea. "Go Charizard," he threw the Pokeball up releasing the dragon who landed next to him and looked down waiting for a command.

"I'm trying to find Pidgeot, but I'm not sure if I'm loud enough can you try calling to it for me," Ash asked the large Pokemon and wasn't disappointed. Charizard released an almost deafening roar and shot a gout of flames into the air, thankfully not burning anything. If Pidgeot was anywhere nearby it had to have heard the noise with its superior hearing. Ash thanked Charizard quietly and prepared to wait.

After only a few moments a speck appeared on the horizon, within seconds the speck grew and soon Ash was able to see a dark shape twisting through the air gracefully. The shape which was undoubtable a bird slowly descended and Ash could see a Pidgeot, no his Pidgeot resting on the ground only a few feet away. Ash approached the large bird and greeted his Pokemon with a large smile as if no time had passed, "Hey Pidgeot I told you I'd come back."

Though Ash could act like no time had passed, it had and that couldn't be changed. His Pokemon approached him slowly looking him over with the sharp eyes that came with being a powerful predator. Ash felt no fear he knew that Pidgeot wouldn't hurt him, they had a bond that couldn't be broken by time.

In a flash Pidgeot's entire demeanor seemed to soften and it butted its head against Ash's chest as it had liked to do when it was just a Pidgeotto. Ash wrapped his arms around Pidgeot's neck hugging his Pokemon burrowing his face into Pidgeot's downy feathers. Pidgeot managed to wrap its wings around Ash in a hug of its own. Ash was reminded of the time he was in a small cave trying to wait out a snowstorm and his Pokemon wanted to stay with him rather than in their Pokeballs. "I'm really sorry I didn't come back sooner," Ash apologized and Pidgeot chirped in response. Ash took that as Pidgeot forgiving him. Pikachu made its precense known by hopping onto the large bird's

"It's good to see you again, Pidgeot," Misty walked up to the trainer and his Pokemon once they separated. Pidgeot nipped at her affectionately and she ran a hand along Pidgeot's plume.

"Pidgeot would you like to come back with me?" Ash realized he was probably asking a lot. Rather than respond verbally Pidgeot lowered itself a bit giving Ash room to climb on its back. "Do you want to take me somewhere?" Ash asked looking at his Pokemon, Pidgeot nodded in affirmation.

"Sorry Misty I don't know if Pidgeot can carry us both so you'll probably have to wait here," Ash apologized.

Apparently Misty wasn't one to get left behind because she quickly replied, "Charizard can just take me, if it's alright with everyone."

"Are you sure you want to try flying with Charizard?" Ash asked dubiously, it took a while for Charizard to even listen to him. Pidgeot's body was built in a way that made it easy to ride, it required complete faith to ride Charizard hoping you wouldn't fall and that if you did Charizard would catch you.

"If Charizard doesn't mind, I'm not worried. I've trained my Gyrados, I'm not particularly intimidated by most Pokemon. Obviously I still have to ask for Charizard's permission," Misty said to Ash before turning to Charizard, "Do you mind giving me a lift?"

Ash was expecting the worst and was ready to tell Charizard not to burn her, but he was surprised to see Charizard shrug and hunker down a bit so Misty could wrap her hands around its neck. "Do you mind us coming along Pidgeot?" Misty asked knowing she couldn't just follow the Bird Pokemon. Pidgeot chirped granting permission to Misty and Charizard.

Pidgeot took to the sky carrying Ash and was presumably followed by Misty and Charizard who Ash couldn't see behind him. Ash was enjoying the feeling of the wind whipping in his face when the short flight came to an end. They landed on the top of a crag overlooking the area the flock had taken up residence. A grassy plain was surrounded by trees where the smaller birds nested and above that were various outcroppings of rocks from a mountain where the largest of the birds nested. Ash noted that every bird seemed focused on him, Pidgeot, Misty, and Charizard who landed directly after them. Ash climbed off Pidgeot allowing it to spread its wide wings and address the birds gathering.

Ash couldn't understand the conversation, but he could see the difference in the flock from when he had last seen them to now. It was larger and there were more Pidgeotto in the crowd with quite a few new Pidgeots flapping above them. They looked stronger and Ash wondered if they needed Pidgeot to keep them safe anymore.

The birds continued to converse and eventually Pidgeot rose into the air and with a few large flaps the rest of the birds inclined their heads to the apparent leader of the flock. Pidgeot landed again and turned to face Ash and butted its head against his chest. "Are you coming with me?" Ash asked the large Pokemon who chirped and moved to give room for Ash to climb on again.

Ash complied and Pidgeot took to the sky with him holding on with a long glance back Pidgeot flapped its large wings and took off to the area Ash had called to it from. A chorus of cries from the other bird Pokemon followed them.

Ash took some time to introduce Pidgeot to his newer Pokemon and reacquaint itself with the one's Pidgeot already knew. Eventually the sun started to sink and Ash knew they should try to reach a town or go back to his house soon.

"Do you think we should just head back to my home or try to make some progress on getting back to Pewter?" Ash asked Misty who trying to force Psyduck back into its Pokeball after it jumped out on its own.

"We should go back to your house so you can stop by professor Oak's house tomorrow and switch Pokemon. Right now you have two bird Pokemon with you, plus Pidgeot can see more of its friends," Misty pointed out knowing they could delay seeing Brock for another day. As sad as it was his situation wasn't going to have any major changes over the course of the day.

"You're probably right," Ash conceded. "Hey, Pidgeot can you fly me home?" Ash asked the bird Pokemon. He was about to return it, but he enjoyed flying and wanted to spend more time with Pidgeot even if it was just a short flight. "I'll let Charizard out to see if he'll fly you again," Ash pulled out Charizards Pokeball and again let Charizard out.

"Charizard is a sweetheart Ash, I can't believe you had so much trouble with it," Misty joked, but everyone was aware of how volatile Charizard was. It was unwaveringly loyal to Ash, but its temper wasn't something to ignore.

"Whatever, Charizard probably just likes pretty girls," Ash shot back defending himself and why Charizard wouldn't obey him.

"So I'm pretty now," Misty smirked.

However she looked surprised and slightly embarrassed when Ash replied honestly, "Yeah, you're really pretty Mist, you always have been." He coughed lightly at his admission not able to look directly at her scared at what he would find on her face.

"Well you're not so ugly yourself, Ketchum," Misty fell back on using his last name and quickly turned away to Ash's relief.

"Let's go," Ash hopped on Pidgeot and wanted to fly away from his embarrassment. Sure he thought Misty was pretty, but he wasn't planning on saying it out loud. After another exhilarating, but short flight Ash returned both of his Pokeballs and knocked on his door.

"Honey, I didn't expect you to be back and you brought Misty," Delia was better dressed than Ash had been expecting.

"Then why are you dressed like that?" Ash asked looking at the nice shirt and skirt his mother was wearing and the bit of make-up on her face.

"I had an old friend over, he's actually coming back to visit again in a few days, but I expect you won't be staying that long to meet him," she said beckoning both teenagers in. Ash couldn't tell if she was happy or disappointed that he wouldn't be around to meet her friend.

"Was it a date?" Misty asked curiously and Ash spluttered at the idea.

"You can't date," he said to his mom before she had a chance to answer.

"Why?" She looked interested in her son's reasoning for her not being able to date.

"You're you, you're a mom, you're my mom," Ash explained what he thought was a good point.

"I'm still a woman so yes if I want to I can date, but no it was not a date," Delia put her son's fears to rest. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, but I thought you were leaving for a while, so why did you come back so soon and with Misty? Not that I'm not happy to see you as well, dear," Delia spoke while walking into the kitchen with Ash and Misty in tow.

Ash relayed an abridged version of the story as to why they ended up back at Ash's home and his mother accepted it easily. He knew she'd heard plenty of stories from him many of them were crazy so this was simple by comparison. "So are you two staying the night?" Delia asked. Misty and Ash nodded in the affirmative. "Alright I'll make dinner for all of us," Delia looked happy at the prospect of cooking for more than herself and Mimey.

"You don't need to trouble yourself," Misty said at the same time that Ash cheered. Ash looked over at her and shrugged, his mother was a great cook he wasn't going to ignore an opportunity for his mother's home cooking.

"It's not trouble at all now get out of my kitchen while I cook," Delia shooed them out with a spatula.

After eating more than was probably healthy Ash decided he would turn in for an early night's sleep. He was filled to the brim with food and feeling lethargic.

P.O.V Misty

"Are you going to stay up Misty?" Delia asked Misty who was still lounging on the couch.

"Probably for just a bit longer, so tell me Delia who was the mystery man that visited you," Misty asked in a low voice.

"Well, you seem very interested. Fine I wasn't lying when I said he was an old friend I've known him since I was a teenager and no we aren't dating, but we did at one point a long time ago," Delia explained sounding nonchalant, but Misty swore she saw something in her eyes that disappeared as quickly as it came.

"Wow," Misty thought about Delia dating some suave man who would sweep her off her feet and she didn't feel as repulsed as she thought she might. Maybe it was because Delia seemed so young or because Delia wasn't her mother, but she supported Delia dating. Still she wanted to ask about Ash's dad, which was a topic she was interested in. She could be acting horribly inappropriate if Delia was married and she was making these suggestions, but she hadn't heard about him at all in all the time she knew Ash and Delia.

Before she could say anything else Delia spoke again, "Now, if you continue to push about my possible relationships I may do the same to you and ask about Ash." Delia gave Misty a sly smile and got up from her seat.

"W-What do you mean by that," Misty laughed nervously, immediately giving up on her line of questioning.

"I'm a mother I know everything, now I'm going to go to bed. The guest room is set up so you can head up whenever you like," Delia gave Misty one last smile before disappearing up the staircase. After shaking her head a few times Misty followed and slipped into the guest room. She didn't want to confront any feelings she might have for Ash, it was so much easier when she was younger and simultaneously harder. At least back then she knew she had a crush on Ash and he was too oblivious to notice or recognize his own feelings if he had any. If she had said anything he probably would have brushed it off and things might have continued normally, but they were older now and it was a much more difficult subject to broach.

She didn't know if he had feelings for her, how he would react if she admitted she had feelings, or even what her own feelings were. She knew she felt something, but was it the remnants of a childish crush that would melt away or something that would continue to grow and expand? For now she would allow things to move naturally and if in the process she figured out how either of them felt she would deal with it accordingly. So she could admit she felt something and thought he might feel something for her, but everything beyond that got very confusing. Sometimes she hated being a teenager and she hadn't even turned sixteen.

Misty willed herself to go to sleep she and Ash needed to stop by Professor Oak's lab and then they needed to get over to Pewter City and from there they could figure it out. Misty realized their planning skills were pretty limited, originally she wanted things to be about her improving and once again she got caught up with Ash. However she couldn't say she minded it too much and that thought was a bit scary in it of itself.

Authors Notes

I know I already said it above, I'm sorry I completely went against my once a week updating plan, but you know life happens. To make a lot of long stories short, things have happened and I may be getting brain surgery, but its not anything to worry about, yet.

I had a chapter finished weeks ago, but I had to tear it apart for a few reasons one being that I had basically taken a character and put them somewhere they didn't belong to add something, I brought in Pokemon that I liked, but weren't necessary. The whole thing was decently written, but 1/3 didn't belong so I might use that later. 1/3 was a bit too much of me writing something I liked more than it made sense so there is a small chance it might make it in later if I do a bit of fixing. The last third didn't fit with the other 2/3 I had to rewrite so I scrapped that as well. I do like my title though.

So to the actual story, this chapter may seem a bit fillerish, but I swear it has meaning. First getting Pidgeot back which I feel has been a long time coming, I'm still annoyed Ash didn't follow through in the series. I did take a few liberties with their relationship, but Pidgeotto had less character development than most of his early Pokemon and it left right after it evolved. So I hope I did an alright job with their reunion.

Secondly there was a bit more development on the Ash and Misty front which I know is going slowly, but based on their characters I can't imagine this being a quick process and Delia's gentleman friend will eventually play a role. Still I felt like this chapter didn't do as much as I wanted, so please tell me if you thought it was alright in a review to renew my faith in my writing. Sorry, I'm not fishing for reviews don't feel obligated, but I would be happy.

Also despite Misty's closing thoughts this entire story will not be based around her following Ash, I don't like the idea of her becoming too dependent on being with him.

Also in apology for not updating I'm going to be putting out the first chapter in a little pet project I wrote up. It's also about Misty and Ash, but it isn't about adventuring or anything like that. It won't take up as my primary story, but if you want something a bit fluffier than this, check it out tomorrow. Sorry for the long note.

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

-Charizard

-Empty - Pidgeot

Trivia

-As clearly stated in the story Ash did leave Pidgeot behind and promised to come back for it (Which he failed to do so far).

-Pidgeotto evolved to protect a flock of Pidgey and Ash told it to stay because they needed Pidgeot to protect them more than he did.

-In one episode during a snow storm Ash and his Pokemon hide in a cave despite Ash returning them to their Pokeballs they came back out to be with him, Pidgeotto wrapped its wings around him.

-A quote by Ash is, "You win. Guess we'll be cold... all together. That's right... We'll be cold all together." It was pretty touching when I was a kid.

-In the same episode it is revealed Jessie loves snow and used to eat is because her family was poor, one food was "snow rolls". (The food is just snow in the shape of food, it helps keep her figure)

-Charizard has a girlfriend, Charla, in Charicific Valley.

-Delia's gentleman caller will be based somewhat in canon, but I don't want to tell you anything else yet. I promise it will be explainable.

-Ash's father is mentioned briefly in the second episode as is his grandfather. They haven't been featured, there may have been a picture in his house, but it's all guess work really.

-His grandfather was a great trainer and apparently his father followed in his footsteps leaving his son at a young age possibly before he was born, but obviously after he was conceived.

-The father thing depends on who you ask and since I'm not expert I'll leave that piece of trivia there.