Chapter 17: Dreaming Of You

James smiled as he looked up at the starry sky from the depths of the crater he and his companions made upon impact. They'd been blasted off again by the twerps, so obviously, they'd seen better days. But that was not why James was happy.

He was happy because things worked out in such a way that they were now (at least temporarily) rid of their overbearing rivals. On top of that, James finally had a chance to be alone with Jessie. For the first time in several long days, they were alone with each other and nobody else.

A wind blew over the top of the crater. James turned his head to see his sleeping companions. Meowth's fur kept him warm at night, but Jessie didn't have any such way of insulation. James cringed at the sight of Jessie shivering.

Acting on impulse, he crawled over to where she lay and laid beside her. He wrapped his arms around her, and as he did so, Jessie seemed to relax. He then got an urge to kiss her on the cheek, so he did, blushing afterwards.

"G'night, Jess."

"G'night, James…" she sleepily replied.

All was quiet inside the Viridian Pokémon center. Ash slept contentedly, glad his night was being spent here and not in the hands of the criminal masterminds.

He looked to see the time. 3:57 AM. There was still plenty of time to sleep. Yawning, Ash fell back once more into a tranquil state of sleep. He began dreaming.

Ash was standing in a wooded area. He guessed this to be Viridian forest. He even noticed that the ground he stood upon was the same one he and his friends had been on hours earlier. Except, he was alone now, and the sun was shining brightly through the canopy.

Pikachu was not standing on his shoulder, but the backpack he had on felt heavier than ususal. He was about to take off the pack and look through it when he heard a scream from the nearby area.

He ran off the path into the trees. After a few moments, he came upon a clearing in the forest. There, he saw a Rocket, a Magma, an Aqua, and a Galactic standing on all sides of a young woman. She had a black sack over her head, so Ash could not immediately identify who the victim was. Regardless, she needed his help.

As Ash came crashing into the clearing, the four criminals stopped their harassment of their captive and turned to face the intruder. They each took out a pokéball. These opened, and Ash now stood against four adversaries.

Suddenly, his pack zipped open, and Pikachu came jumping out. With all the power he could muster, he unleashed a mighty thunder attack against the assailants and their masters, sending them flying into the sky and disappearing from sight.

Now Ash walked over to the hooded figure and took off the hood. He gasped, seeing that it was May. She only smiled.

"Thank you for saving me, Ash!" she said, and gave him a kiss on the lips. It was a savory display of affection, and Ash lived in the moment as best he could. Moments later, May broke the embrace.

"Well…I guess we should be heading back, then," Ash said. May nodded and followed him.

A few short steps on, he heard Max's voice calling to him. It sounded like it came from behind.

"Ash, it's time to wake up. Ash? Ash, can you hear me?"

Turning around, Ash saw only May. His face became one of shock as May spoke with Max's voice.

"Guess I gotta do this, then…" she said, taking a glass of water that was inexplicably stored in her pack, and threw cold water on Ash's face.

Ash quickly opened his eyes and sat up, water dripping from his face. He turned to face Max, who was holding an empty drinking glass.

"Max?" he said, blinking his eyes to be sure he wasn't still dreaming.

"I FINALLY got you up! I can't believe I actually resorted to splashing cold water on your face! Well, now that you're up, we've all been waiting for you and May so we can eat breakfast!"

"Okay. I'll, uh, be there soon."

As Max left the room, Ash got out of bed, took a quick shower, and dressed. He felt a little upset at the young trainer for bringing his dream to a hasty ending. Nonetheless, he'd be seeing May in person soon enough.

The conversation over breakfast was filled with discussion. Everybody wanted to do their own thing, but with the criminal forces out and about, it would be unsafe to go without the whole group. Finally, they decided they'd do each thing for an allotted amount of time before moving on to the next activity.

As the seven wandered about the city, they found it filled with ordinary people. This gave a sense of an uneasy peace, as only the heroes knew what dangers were lurking beneath the seemingly tranquil surface. The sun was out today, and although there were a few clouds in the sky, the temperature was getting warm.

May and Drew walked brought up the rear behind everyone else. In her mind, May knew she was due to talk with Drew shortly. She meant to tell him yesterday, but the circumstances made it impossible. If anything were to happen today, she had to let him know before it did. It was a short and sweet conversation, and May hugged Drew both to show her sincerity and to indicate "no hard feelings." Ever after, they would remain close friends and nothing more.

Ash and Dawn, who led the group, also were content to remain as friends. This was easier than in the case of May and Drew, however, because they had their previous friendship to fall back on. Nonetheless, nobody bore any ill feelings towards anybody. It was a positive feeling that energized them as they marched on.

A few moments later, a joyous surprise occurred. Ash had spotted a familiar redheaded young woman heading their way. She kept her hair in a ponytail to the side of her head, and she wore a modest yellow outfit.

"Misty!" Ash shouted as he broke into a run.

"Ash! Ohmigosh, how are you?" Misty greeted her old friend.

"I'm pretty good, though we've seen better days."

"What's up now, Ashy?" Misty asked. Ash winced. "Ashy" was her favorite nickname for him. "Girls…" he muttered under his breath.

Everyone else came forth to trade greetings and, in the case of Dawn and Drew, introductions.

The look on Misty's face was one of horror as she listened to the others describe the happenings of late. She could not believe what she was hearing. Although, she had to admit to herself, there was definitely wisdom in summoning her. After all, Brock had called her a few days ago saying there was trouble in Viridian city. She wanted to ask when they'd begin, and she was told they'd go just as soon as one more person arrived.

With Misty now part of the group (bringing their total strength to eight trainers), only Paul was left to be seen. Dawn had been successful at contacting him, but getting him to come at all had been a doozy. In fact, he only promised to come when Dawn, in her frustration, told him he'd get a chance to pwn serious villain butt. The group estimated he'd arrive in the next day or so.

The rest of the day was fairly quiet. Misty got a chance to catch up with her old friends and make a few new ones. Even if the local peace was tenuous, it was peace nonetheless. There was nobody unfriendly anywhere, though they were probably just biding their time and waiting for the perfect moment to strike at the unsuspecting world.

Giovanni could not recall having a worse way to start the day. He was greeted in his office shortly after arriving by Butch and Cassidy, who somehow managed to lose track of Jessie, James, and Meowth. If that wasn't bad enough, Pikachu was gone (one of the grunts found the destroyed cage in the lobby on the first floor) and his cache of stolen Pokémon was missing.

When he reviewed the security tapes to see what had happened, he saw a young female, dressed as one of his grunts, enter his office, take Pikachu off the desk and set it near the chest. Moments later, the chest was opened. The girl took out the contents of the chest and, taking Pikachu in her arm, exited out of the office. His worst fears were confirmed when a first floor recording revealed the same individual casually removing the uniform to unveil her true identity. Gasping, Giovanni realized this was one of his prisoners from the other day! In discouragement, he left before he could see how Pikachu was freed.

He took the elevator down to the basement, hoping he at least still had his captives. Of course, his luck continued to work against his desires. Shortly after stepping out into the prison hallway, he came upon the cell once inhabited by the deceitful Ash. The door's locking system was completely decommissioned, and Harley was trapped inside.

Harley looked up, his face turning crimson with embarrassment.

"M-M-Master! Uh…This is not what it seems! It was those punkwads! I was fighting them, and then the one douche tackled me and threw me in here! Then he and that damn girlfriend of his sealed me in here! Oh, woe is me!"

Giovanni slowly shook his head, then smacked his flat palm into his forehead, dragging it forcefully down his face. "You can say that again…" he muttered. He took out his pager to begin the steps needed to cut Harley out and update the whole cell door mechanism. Again.

A few hours after dinner, Drew challenged Dawn to a practice contest battle in the forest before bed. They were alone – nighttime was the only time it was safe to be out and about without everyone else present. Everyone else was at the Pokémon center.

For a good while, Dawn's Ambipom fought valiantly against Drew's Masquerain. The two Pokémon worked on flashy techniques and clever maneuvers, as well as practicing varying combinations of defensive and offensive moves.

As it was getting late, they decided to call it quits with the training and head back. Drew, who felt somehow attracted to Dawn, decided he'd strike up a conversation with her.

"That was a great battle, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it was. I still can't believe I'm not the only coordinator here! Now there are three of us!" Dawn excitedly replied.

"What are the contests in Sinnoh like?"

"Oh, pretty much the same as elsewhere. You know how it is – you start with an appeal, then if it goes well, it's on to the battle round."

"I figured as much. I just wondered if there were any differences between Sinnoh contests and Johto contests. Then again, why would there be?"

Dawn giggled. "You're right! But you had every right to ask. I'd have wondered that myself. So…you're from the Hoenn region, right?"

"Yep. LaRousse City is my hometown. In fact, it was through being a coordinator that I met May, who was then traveling around with Ash, Brock, and her brother, Max. Yeah, we had good times."

"You good at contests?"

"I guess I'm alright. My first contest ever, I lost to this coordinator name Solidad. That woman's tough! She even beat May in the Grand Festival!"

"Wow…sounds like you go way back."

Drew smiled. "So anyways, after competing in Hoenn and Kanto, we both decided to try our luck in Johto. Me and May weren't together at first – we travelled alone. It was after I beat her in Azalea Town that I, being the gentleman that I am, offered to accompany her, at least through Ilex forest till we got to Goldenrod City. Of course, it was after that that the trouble started. Next thing we knew, here we are in Viridian. Me and May both wish to go back and finish up there after we get this mess cleared up. Although…"

"Although…?" Dawn prodded.

Drew gulped. His eyes started becoming wet.

"Although, not as a couple. I'm assuming that, since you spent the whole day with May yesterday, you might know this. She's a nice girl, just…she has a way of pushing my buttons in ways I don't like. I mean, she did nothing but complain about conditions when the Rockets were flying us here. So, last night, I thought it would be best for the both of us if we took our separate ways. Sometimes, I even look at her and see how much she is like Ash on the inside."

Dawn knew this already, but she didn't want Drew to know that she knew. Instead, she'd try to comfort him with her own similarities.

"Drew, don't feel bad. I myself just ended a relationship I was having with Ash. It started off feeling really good. However, I found myself questioning our bond as lovers when we were first taken hostage by those fiends. He was very hostile with the guards, and while I didn't care for their presence either, I still thought his temperament was one not to underestimate. I just can't see myself with someone who has a short fuse. We've fought before, even before all this, but it just felt different this time. Sorta like I was waking up from a dream."

As Dawn was explaining this, tears started leaking out of her azure eyes.

"Hey, Dawn…" Drew said softly, placing an arm on her shoulder.

No sooner did he do this, then he felt like a fool. What if she rejected this advance? But Dawn simply took his hand in hers. And, holding each other, they walked back to the Pokémon center.