Hi again, you guys. Well, first off, I woulda updated sooner, but poor me got soooo sad because of the season finale of one of my favorite shows in the whole world. (Supernatural) and i was just so shocked, I... okay, fine, i probably could have updated, but i didn't... but i'm here now, aren't i?

Answers to the reviews i can't reply to. (tear)

Triple QM! (aka Triple Question Mark, aka ?) thanks again for the review, and the question that i was going to ask at the end of the last chapter was. "Will you please review?" Everyone asks that, so I thought i'd mix it up. XP

Everyone else, thank you, thank you. (cookies for one and all!)

Read on

Ash opened his eyes once again and glanced at the clock for what seemed like the millionth time.

One o'clock in the morning. Perfect, Ash thought, taking a minute to make sure the others were completely asleep. He had been waiting up all night for this one moment.

Quietly getting out of his sleeping bag, Ash picked up his backpack. Luckily, the backpack was all ready to go so he didn't have to waste time trying to pack it. He grabbed his pokéballs and put them in his backpack and slung the bag over his shoulder.

Suddenly remembering something, Ash took out a piece of paper and scribbled a note. Not that he wouldn't just love leaving the others high and dry without one idea as to where he went and why, but he had decided that this was best.

After that, he snuck outside and began to walk stealthily away from the tent.

Better get moving. If the others decide they want to come after me, I wouldn't want them to catch me now would I? Nope. I don't want to waste their time. This is my mission and mine alone, Ash thought.

"Wake up, wake up!" Max said, first shaking Brock senseless, and then moving onto May. "Wake up!" Going back to Brock, he began to shake him even more.

Brock groaned loudly. "Maxxxxxx…," he hissed. "Let me get back to sleep…"

"Yeah, come on. Go back to sleep," May mumbled, her arm swinging wildly, so if Max was near her, he'd surely get whacked.

"You don't understand!" Max shouted. He held up a piece of paper in one hand. "I found this and—"

"I don't care what you found. I only care about sleep right now," May grumbled.

"Yeah, me too," Brock agreed.

"But it's a note from—" Max tried again, waving the paper.

"We'll read your note later, Max," Brock said, and he began to drift off again.

"But Ash is—"

"—probably still sleeping," May cut in, her face still buried in her pillow. "So since everyone is sleeping, you should go to sleep too."

"Brock! May! Listen to me!" Max commanded. "This is important. As in really important!" He thrust the piece of paper toward Brock.

Brock groaned again and looked over the piece of paper. Oh…, Brock thought silently, after reading the note. There was not a tired cell in his body now. He knew something like this was going to happen.

"You see?" Max asked, knowing that Brock finally understood.

"Yeah, I understand," Brock said monotonously.

May shot up, knowing that something bad happened just by the tone of Brock's voice. She snatched the 'oh-so-important' sheet of paper from Brock and read it over herself.

Brock, Max, and May,

I've decided to leave. I know you guys probably wouldn't understand, but I've got to get Pikachu back. I can't just sit around while my best friend is probably— I don't even want to think about it.

This is all my fault you know. When Team Rocket's machine blew up, and we all went flying… Pikachu… I was so close to grabbing him. But…he slipped through my fingers.

Funny. If I could have just done one thing right for once… If I had actually caught Pikachu, none of this would have happened. I've just got to set this whole thing right. I'm going to go and find Pikachu, because I'm not coming back without him. I'll meet up with you guys later…

But you guys go on. Go to another one of May's contests…

Brock: I know that Mom would have your neck if you told her you 'lost' me. So don't tell her, okay? She doesn't need to know about any of this.

Max: You know what to do when Brock sees Nurse Joy or Officer Jenny or some other girl.

May: Win all those contests while I'm gone. Get into the Grand Festival and then kick Drew's ass, okay?

See you guys later…

-Ash

PS – Don't you dare even think about coming after me.

May let the paper slide out of her hands before breathing, "Ash is gone…"

"Torkoal, Swellow, Grovyle, Corphish!" Ash threw his pokéballs into the air, letting out his four pokémon. When they came out, he said, "Breakfast time."

"Phish?" Corphish asked.

"Yeah, I left without the others. It's time to start our mission," Ash replied evenly. "We're going to Team Rocket's closest base first, which, I think, is the one right outside Lilycove…" Yeah…but Team Rocket blew up the base because the hot air balloon was in it, remember? Well, I'm sure they rebuilt it. They need somewhere to stay…, Ash thought.

He sat down on the grass and ran a hand through his raven-colored hair. He really didn't hope that the others wouldn't worry too much.

Ash inwardly snorted. You're making yourself sound more valuable than you actually are. They aren't worried. They don't give a crap that I'm gone. Besides, I'll be back sooner or later.

Ash was digging in his backpack, just looking for his own breakfast when he found something else.

What! Ash thought loudly, holding up another pokéball—that had a pokémon inside. Wait, I don't have another pokémon with me! I must have picked up this one by mistake! Oh, shit…

Just then, the pokéball popped open and out came…

"Nahh!" Skitty exclaimed, drawing stares from the other pokémon.

"Wah! Skitty! Oh, May's gonna kill me……," Ash groaned. He then shot up. "I've got it! I'll just send it to May when we get to the next pokémon center." He sighed in relief.

Skitty scratched his ear with his back leg and stared up at Ash curiously. He understood the problem, but… Skitty yawned, curled up, and fell asleep.

Ash sighed again, but this time in exasperation. He quickly ate his own breakfast and returned the pokémon to their pokéballs. All of them except for Skitty, who refused to listen to Ash and just kept popping out of the pokéball.

"You're making this very difficult," Ash stated. "I'm really sorry that you had to come along, and I know you would have liked it better with May, but it was a mistake. I'm just going to save Pikachu. You can cooperate or not."

"Nah? Niih, nah…," Skitty said, scurrying beside Ash as he walked.

It had been a few hours of just plain walking when Ash heard something from beside him.

"Hello," greeted a soft voice.

It was a young girl sitting in the long grass, a Skitty cuddled in her arms.

"Hi," Ash greeted back.

"My name is Mary… And this might sound a little weird, but can I let my Skitty battle your Skitty? I'm trying to help her gain some battle experience, but it's not going too well…" Mary stood up and looked at Ash hopefully.

Ash shrugged. "Yeah, sure. I just have to warn you, I'm not used to battling with this Skitty. He's my friend's."

Mary smiled softly. "That's okay. We're not too good at battles yet."

When they had taken their respective places so they could battle, Ash had added, "By the way, my name's Ash."

Mary smiled again. "You ready, Natalie?" she asked, and her Skitty jumped forward, ready to battle.

Ash looked to May's Skitty in front of him. "Okay, Skitty, this may be a little weird, but do you want to battle with me?"

"Nah!" Skitty said happily—it was apparently a yes.

"Okay then! Let's go!" Ash exclaimed.

"Natalie, use Tackle!" Mary ordered, and the female Skitty went into action, throwing her whole body at May's Skitty.

"Dodge that," Ash said, and Skitty jumped out of the way just in time.

"That's okay, Natalie. Use Blizzard!"

Natalie drew in a huge breath, and then let it all out in a freezing wind that caught Skitty head-on.

"Don't worry, you can take that!" Ash encouraged. When the Blizzard attack was over, he said, "Okay, use Assist, now!"

A glowing white sphere engulfed Skitty's right paw, and out came…Bubblebeam?

Oh, I guess because Assist chooses randomly from one of Skitty's teammates, and since Skitty isn't with May's other pokémon, I guess he got his attack from one of my pokémon…, Ash thought, seeing the Bubblebeam hit Natalie dead-on, blowing the little Skitty back.

"Now you use Assist!" Mary cried out, and her own Skitty let out an attack. It was…Thunderbolt.

"Nahhhhhh!" Skitty cried out when the Thunderbolt hit him, and Ash could really relate to that. It hurts… Ash looked down to the collapsed form of Skitty. He knew the little pokémon didn't have much energy left… And Skitty wasn't used to battling…

"Come on, Skitty, get up! Just think, if you win, we can tell May about it, and she'll be so proud of you!" Ash shouted to Skitty.

Skitty made no move.

"Skitty, please. I know I'm not your trainer, but if you get hurt, I'll never be able to forgive myself. If you get back up, I can help you win this!" Ash tried again.

Skitty struggled up and looked back to Ash, waiting for an order.

"That's the way! Now let's finish this up with Assist!"

"Use Iron Tail, Natalie!" And Natalie's tail glowed white as she rushed towards Skitty.

Skitty jumped up and used Assist just in time. Now the Assist turned into Bullet Seed, and it successfully stopped Natalie in her tracks and the female Skitty fainted.

Mary sighed deeply and returned Natalie to her pokéball. "I guess we still need practice."

Ash smiled slightly. "You and your pokémon always learn from your losses." He looked to Skitty. "You were great, pal."

"Nah!" Skitty cried happily.

"Oh my God, where's Skitty!" May asked fearfully. She had just left her pokéballs next to Brock's and Ash's just the last night, but now Skitty's pokéball was gone.

"What's wrong?" Max queried, hearing May's voice.

"Skitty's missing! First Ash and now Skitty! What's next!" May fell down and closed her eyes. "Where's Skitty…?"

"Whoa, settle down. I'm sure we'll find Skitty…… Maybe Ash took him by accident," Brock said.

May's eyes shot open and flashed. "Well, if he did take Skitty… Oh, when I see Mr. Ash Ketchum, I'm so gonna kick his a—"

"May, don't say that when Max is here," Brock advised. "And I'm sure Ash didn't mean it…"

"Maybe so, but I'm still going to kick his a—"—Brock shot her a look—"butt. Kick his butt." May lowered her voice, so no one heard her say, "Ass…kick his ass…"

Brock sighed and said, "I'm sure Ash probably already sent Skitty to the Lilycove pokémon center, so why don't we go there?"

"Then what are we waiting for!" And May sprang up and began to trot to the pokémon center.

"Ni, ni, ni ni ni…," Skitty murmured happily the next day, playfully zigzagging in front of Ash. He looked up at Ash with a big smile. "Nahhh!" He ran around to the back of Ash and climbed up to Ash's shoulder, taking Pikachu's respective spot.

Ash didn't say anything. He was nearing the pokémon center now… He really didn't need to stop, but since Skitty was there with them… Ash sighed, and although it felt better when there was a little familiar weight on his shoulder, it still wasn't Pikachu.

Skitty seemed to sense his dismay, and asked, "Nahni? Ni nah?"

Ash looked down. "Skitty, when you go back to the others… Just make sure they don't find me, okay?" He now walked inside the pokémon center, half wondering how stupid he looked with a pink kitten pokémon on his shoulder. He made his way over to the phone and took out Skitty's pokéball.

"It's time now, Skitty," he said, punching in the phone number for the Lilycove pokémon center.

"Nahni…," Skitty replied softly. The baby pokémon snuggled his head into Ash's sadly.

"Lilycove pokémon center, this is Nurse Joy speaking. How may I help you?" asked Nurse Joy over the phone, her cheery-looking face filling the screen.

"Hi," Ash began. "Is there a girl named May over there? I need to speak with her."

Nurse Joy smiled. "I'll go check…" And she left the screen.

Thinking quick, Ash switched off the video part of the phone. He didn't know why he did that, but he just had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach…

"You're going to have to wish my luck on my mission, Skitty, because I have a feeling that it's not going to be easy," Ash finally said after a minute.

"Nah ni nah," Skitty said.

"Ash, is that you?" inquired a soft feminine voice from the phone speaker. Ash knew it was May.

"Yeah, it's me."

"ASH KETCHUM, YOU ASS!" May shouted, making Ash cringe. "Where's Skitty, Ash! I wake up and he's gone?! I wake up, and he's not there?! Do you know how that feels!"

"May, it was an accident. And yes, I do know how it feels, so don't give me a lecture. Why do you think I'm calling now? I'm returning Skitty. He's right here, safe and sound," Ash replied calmly.

"Well, give him back, NOW!"

Ash sighed. He knew May loved Skitty to pieces. Who wouldn't? Skitty are extremely cute… He returned Skitty to his pokéball and set the pokéball on the transporter. Finally, he pressed the send button.

Ash heard an audible sigh in relief from the other end of the line, and also heard Skitty cry, "Nahni, Nahni, Nahni! Ni nah, Nahni! Nah nih Nahninah!"

"It's okay, Skitty, you're back with me now," May soothed happily, and Ash could just picture them snuggling.

Ash scratched the back of his head. Why had he thought that his friends would be worried about him? They obviously didn't care. "Well, now that you have Skitty back, I guess this is goodbye… So…goodbye." And with that, he hung up.

The End

I'm kidding of course. We're not even close to the end.