Really sorry that this chapter took so long…to be honest it was almost done by the posting of the last chapter.

I just didn't have the time to work as much as I wanted to. It's exams again and the marks really are important, so don't be alarmed if it takes a while for me to post the next chapter.

Thank you everyone for all the reviews last time. We've passed the 50 mark in more than one way…

Reviews for this story have gone up to 56 and the words are now just shy of 54 000!

I know that a lot of you guys feel that the first few chapters really do suck: No real plot or events. Believe me I read through them, but I think that everyone can agree that the writing has really improved from the latter chapters.

Anyway here's chapter 13, enjoy!

I do not own any characters or events related to Pokemon, this story is solely fan made.

Changing ways: Chapter 13: Regret:

He stared out in front of him at the water in the pool…and then he remembered something. "Hey I almost forgot!" he yelled as he rose to his feet again.

"Pika, Pikapi?" Pikachu inquired from where he was standing next to Ash on the ground.

"Just follow me buddy." was Ash's explanation as he made his way towards the pool located in the middle of the room. He removed two of the three pokeballs that were clipped to his belt and pushed the button in the center of each ball, causing it to enlarge. "Alright Totodile, Kingler; come on out!" he yelled as he threw the two pokeballs underarm at the same time.

The two pokeballs opened midway over the pool and released a bright flash of light down into the water below.

A giant crab-like pokemon appeared out of the bright light first. "Cookie Cookie," Kingler exclaimed as it clasped its pincers, with the left pincer considerably larger than the right one.

Kingler was followed by a smaller, reptilian-like pokemon that appeared out of the water next to it. "Toto-dile," Totodile exclaimed happily while it danced a few inches above the water for a moment.

"Hey you guys!" Ash greeted his two trusty water pokemon. "Kingler, it's great to see you again old buddy!" he said to Kingler as he crouched down on the edge of the pool.

"Cookie Cookie Cookie," Kingler replied happily as it waved its claws cheerfully in the air.

Both Kingler and Totodile then swam to the side of the pool and came to a halt before their master.

Pikachu also came closer and stood next to Ash. "Pika Pika," he greeted his two companions cheerfully as he waved at them with his paw.

Ash smiled warmly at his three pokemon. He didn't want to break up the happy reunion. "Alright guys, you can catch up all you want later, but listen up for now." He said as his expression turned a bit more serious as he addressed them.

"Toto…?"

"Cookie…?"

"Pika…?"

Totodile, Kingler and Pikachu looked on as they waited to hear what Ash had to say to them.

"Totodile was in a very hard battle yesterday," Ash started as his expression turned grim at the memory of what occurred the previous day. Of what those jerks did to his pokemon, of what they did to MISTY. The thought of Misty being hurt caused Ash to sub-consciously ball his fists in anger as his jaw clenched shut.

"Pikapi…?" Pikachu called unsurely.

Ash snapped out of his thoughts and directed his gaze towards Pikachu beside him, who had an unsure, worried look in his eyes. 'Pikachu…' Ash thought as a smile made its way onto his face. He turned his attention to the pool, where both Totodile and Kingler were looking at him with worried expressions. 'My friends…I guess they are worried about me…' he thought as his eyes started moistening slightly. 'I promise you all that I will never let anything happen to you guys…' he made a silent oath in his head as he glanced over towards the doorway through which Misty disappeared a while ago with a smile on his face.

"Pika, Pikapi?" Pikachu inquired worriedly as he tugged slightly on Ash's jean.

Ash looked over at Pikachu again. "Sorry about that…" he mumbled as he shook his head a couple times. "Don't worry guys, I'm just fine!" he said happily while a big smile plastered on his face.

Pikachu, Kingler and Totodile all looked at Ash with sincere eyes and nodded, satisfied that their master is, and will be, okay.

"Anyway, as I was saying…" Ash continued as he got back up from his crouching position. "We took Totodile to the Pokemon Center and Nurse Joy said that it's gonna be just fine." He added with a satisfied smile on his face.

"Pi, Pikachu!" Pikachu exclaimed as he cheerfully fist pumped the air.

"Cookie Cookie," Kingler exclaimed happily as it waved its huge left pincer around in the air.

"To-To-To-To-To-To, Toto-dile," Totodile proclaimed excitedly as it danced around in the air above the water for a few moments.

"Hold on a second!" Ash yelled as he held his hand open in front of him to order the three of them to settle down.

All three of the pokemon stopped their respective celebrations and then looked at their trainer, their eyes wide out of curiosity.

"Now I know that Nurse Joy said that Totodile would be fine," Ash started as he looked intently at his pokemon. "But she also said that you need to rest for a few days buddy." He continued as he addressed Totodile. "So I think it'll be better if we make this stay here at Misty's Gym a little vacation for now 'kay?" he concluded while he looked at the three of them again. "So…what do you guys say?" he asked them as he lifted his brow in anticipation.

"Pika,"

"Cookie,"

"Toto-dile,"

All three of the pokemon sounded their approval with a mighty paw-, claw- and pincer-pump respectively. A little vacation would do them all good. Not much time has gone by since Kingler's unfortunate exit from the Silver Conference's qualifying rounds and yesterday's dramatic events drained both Pikachu and Totodile of their last bit of energy and lust for battle at the moment.

"So it's settled then; we'll use the time we are going to spend here to chill out and relax for now, until Totodile's recovered. Then it'll be back to training!" Ash declared excitedly as he shoved his fist into the air.

"Pi-Pikachu," Pikachu exclaimed as mimicked Ash's excited demeanor while he jumped into the air, flashing a peace sign with his right paw.

"Toto-dile," Totodile exclaimed excitedly while doing a happy little dance on the spot.

"Cookie," Kingler cheered as it happily swung its huge left pincer in the air.

Ash was laughing light-heartedly at his pokemon's celebrations when he caught something out of the corner of his eye.

What Ash saw happened to be Misty, who had returned through the doorway through which she disappeared earlier and she was carrying a small, yellow box, which Ash presumed to be a first aid kit.

"Hey Misty," Ash greeted Misty friendly as he turned to face her. "So I guess you found a first aid kit then, hey Misty?" he asked her as he pointed to the yellow box in her hands.

"Yep…" Misty replied with a smile as she held the box up for Ash to see. "No go sit on the pavilion so I can clean those wounds!" she ordered as she herself started making her way over towards the pavilion.

"Well uh…okay?" Ash asked quizzically. "Alright you guys," he started as he addressed his pokemon. "The three of you can relax for a bit and when Misty and I are finished; we can have some fun in the pool!" he declared with another exciting fist pump.

All three of the pokemon nodded and went their own separate ways. Kingler decided to take a little dip underwater, while Totodile backstroked merrily through the water.

Pikachu scampered onto Ash's shoulder, deciding on following his master.

Ash and Pikachu then made their way over to where Misty was unpacking some medical items. Ash sat down next to her and stretched his arms out above him. "You know Misty, these cuts really aren't so bad…" he said as he looked on the small scrapes on his arms.

"Yeah, well better safe than sorry." Misty concluded as she held a cloth dipped in some herbal medicine. "Now just hold still…it's gonna sting a bit." She ordered as she brought the cloth closer to Ash's skin.

"Please Misty…I can handle anything." Ash stated hard-headedly, that is of course, until the cloth connected with some open wounds. Ash cringed and visibly clenched his teeth as Misty wiped over all the wounds on his arms.

"There…" Misty exclaimed as she stood back. "Now uhm…that cut on your shoulder…" she began with her cheeks starting to turn a bright pink color. "I think you can clean that by yourself…" she stated awkwardly.

"But you've already cleaned the rest so why not clean that one as well?" Ash puzzled as he frowned in confusion.

"JUST DO IT!" Misty yelled frantically into Ash's face, causing him to cower in fear.

"Alright…sjeesh…" Ash mumbled as he took the cloth from Misty. He got up and removed his jacket and put it next to Misty. Next he removed his hat and placed it ontop of his jacket. He finally removed his black t-shirt and threw it next to his jacket and hat. He then slowly started wiping over the cut on his shoulder, which wasn't really a very big or serious wound.

While all of this was happening; Misty had been staring at Ash the whole time, her cheeks burning up and her lips parted slightly. She quickly shook her head and closed her eyes for a moment. 'What am I doing? Did I just…ADMIRE Ash's body? Well he sure has grown up…and all that training with his pokemon really did wonders to his body…' she thought to herself as she stole a glance towards him again, but quickly looked the other way when her cheeks started burning again. 'What am I saying!?' she thought as she slapped her forehead with her palm.

"Wow…that sure stung…" Ash commented as he wiped over the cut one last time before he put the cloth next to the yellow box. "There…all done…" he proclaimed as he put his shirt back on followed by his hat.

Misty took a sideway glance and Ash and when she saw that he was dressed; she turned back to him. "Well it sure took you long enough…" she remarked sarcastically. She then saw something and moved closer to him with a skeptical look in her eyes.

Ash shifted his hat into the correct position on his head and frowned at Misty. "What're you doing Mis…ty…" he slowed down as Misty inched her face closer and closer to his.

"Hmmm…" Misty hummed as she took a closer look at Ash's face. She then noticed the cut on Ash's cheek, which she had forgotten to clean. "Oops…I forgot about this one…" she absentmindedly stated as she picked the medicine-dipped cloth up again.

"What do you mean you forg-"

"Shhhhh…" Misty interrupted Ash's nervous-sounding inquirement. "Now just stay still…" she ordered as she closed in on Ash's face.

Ash's eyes grew slightly wider as Misty gently took the brim of his hat and then turned it backwards on his head. "I uh…" he started, but stopped soon after, with his mouth slightly open. He held his breath as Misty's face was a few mere inches away from his, gently wiping over the cut on his now dark red colored cheek.

"There…" Misty whispered mostly to herself as she put the cloth back onto the yellow box. "All done…" she concluded as she backed off a bit to get a better look at the cut.

"I uh…thanks…" Ash mumbled out as he started breathing normally again and sighed out of relief.

"No problem Ash…" Misty said as she smiled sweetly at him. She then heard splashing coming from behind her in the pool and turned around to find Totodile and Kingler happily playing in the water.

"Uh…I hope you don't mind Misty," Ash started unsurely as he came up from behind her. "But I let those two out to relax a bit you see…" he added as he made his way next to her and watched his two pokemon play around.

"It's not a problem Ash…" Misty started as she stared at the two pokemon. "On the contrary, it's actually a good idea; I'm gonna let my pokemon out of their balls too so they can join in on the fun!" she exclaimed excitedly as she made her way towards the pokeball-holding rack in the corner of the room.

"That's a great idea Misty!" Ash said as he balled his fists in excitement.

Misty gathered all of her pokeballs into her arms and made her way back to the pool's edge. "Come on out everyone!" she yelled as she threw all of the pokeballs into the air.

There was a huge, bright light as the pokeballs opened in mid-air, from which all of Misty's pokemon, including those kept in the Gym on a permanent basis, appeared from into the water.

"Psy," Psyduck exclaimed in the water, before realizing that it cannot swim. "Psy-yai-yai-yai-yai-yai!" it screamed as it splashed around in the water, trying to stay above the surface.

It was saved however, as it was lifted out of the water by something it could not identify. It turned its head to get a glimpse of its savior, only to be met face-to-face with a huge, ferocious and mighty…Gyarados! "Psy-yai!" it exclaimed frantically as it thrashed around, trying to escape Gyarados' wrath.

Misty and Ash on the other hand, laughed at the duck's silly antics while Pikachu shook his head in exasperation. The rest of the pokemon in the pool look frightened at the sight of the giant atrocious pokemon swimming alongside them in the pool.

Misty noticed the pokemon in the pool's fearful expressions towards Gyarados and stepped forward. "Alright all of you listen up for a sec okay?" she called out at the pokemon in the pool.

The pokemon turned their attention away from Gyarados and towards Misty, all of them looking at her in anticipation, yet still with their guards kept up towards Gyarados.

"Now as you all have noticed; Gyarados is in the pool alongside you guys…" Misty started as she addressed the pokemon in the water.

The pokemon all nodded as they kept a close eye on Gyarados, who still had Psyduck thrashing around, hung on one of the fins on its head.

"Well the reason for that is, Gyarados is on our side now..." Misty started as she smiled sweetly in Gyarados' direction. "He saved my life yesterday after snapping out of his rage. It is our friend now, so don't be afraid 'kay you guys?" she smiled as she looked at all the pokemon in the pool.

"Yeah you guys," Ash started as he stepped forward. "Gyarados is our friend now, isn't that right Gyarados?" he innocently asked the giant sea serpent pokemon.

Gyarados however, looked down at Ash with its usual menacing and fear inducing gaze.

"Uh…" Ash mumbled as he took a few steps back. "Misty!" he called out as he jumped behind Misty, cowering behind her back.

"What is it Ash?" Misty asked innocently as she looked over her shoulder at Ash. "What's the matter?"

"Well, are you sure that everything is okay now with Gyarados?" Ash inquired as he looked over Misty's shoulder ar Gyarados. "It still looks kind of…angry…" he mumbled out as he kept a watchful eye on the atrocious pokemon.

"Hmmm…" Misty wondered as she frowned at Gyarados, deep in thought about the subject.

Gyarados on the other hand, bent down until it was right in front of Misty and Ash.

Psyduck quickly jumped off of Gyarados' head and scampered away fearfully.

"WHAAA…!" Ash fearfully exclaimed as Gyarados came closer and eventually stopped right in front of Ash's fear stricken face. It looked at Ash for a second, before it gave him a friendly smile, well the best looking smile a Gyarados can muster.

"Hey," Ash started as he slowly came out from behind Misty. "I think Gyarados is smiling." He concluded as he lifted his hand and slowly placed it on Gyarados' head, petting it gently.

Gyarados roared in pleasure and rubbed its head affectionately up against Ash's hand.

"Well I take it that everything is just fine…" Misty concluded as she stood with her hands on her hips, looking on as Ash petted her newly acquired Gyarados. She turned towards all the other pokemon in the pool. "Anyway, since all of you know now, Gyarados is our friend. So now we can all have some fun for the day!" she yelled excitedly as she pumped the air with her fist.

The pokemon all roared their approval as they splashed around in the water, lead by a dancing Totodile right in front.

"Alright Gyarados," Ash started as he pulled his hand back away from the sea serpent pokemon. "You can go and play with the pokemon too."

Gyarados nodded and made its way back to the middle of the pool where all the other pokemon were gathered.

"Pikapi," Pikachu exclaimed as he tugged on Ash's jean.

"Huh?" Ash mumbled as he looked down towards Pikachu. "Oh hey buddy, what's up?"

"Pika Pikachu," Pikachu exclaimed while executing some swimming motions.

"Oooh, you want to swim and play with all the pokemon in the pool too?" Ash asked his yellow friend as he crouched down next to him.

"Pikachu," Pikachu nodded intently.

"Well okay," Ash nodded with a smile. "Let me just go and get your swimming tube out of my bag 'kay?" he said as he walked towards the living room where his backpack stood against the couch he slept on the previous night. Along the way, a thought came to him and he stopped dead in his tracks. "Hey Misty?" he called out as he turned towards Misty.

"Huh?" Misty mumbled as she looked up to Ash. She was watching the pokemon play together in the pool. "Oh yeah Ash?" she inquired as she frowned at him.

"You wouldn't happen to have a big swimming tube lying around somewhere would you?" Ash asked Misty as he scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah over there in that cupboard Ash." Misty said as she pointed to a blue cupboard in the corner of the room. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh no just curious, you don't mind if I use one of them, do you?" Ash asked Misty with a friendly grin plastered on his face.

"Nope, go ahead." Misty said as she turned back to the pokemon in the pool. "I don't use them that much anyway since I'm a great swimmer you know." She added matter-of-factly.

"Thanks a lot Misty!" Ash yelled as he darted of towards the living room.

He reached the couch on which he slept the previous night, picked his backpack up and rummaged through it.

"Now where is it…?" he muttered while searching through his backpack. "Aha!" he exclaimed as he pulled a deflated little red swimming tube with four parallel stripes on it. "Here it is: Pikachu's tube." He said as he started making his way back towards the pool area.

When Ash got back to the pool; all the water pokemon were playing around in the pool. Psyduck was now also in the pool, wearing swimming wings seeing as it couldn't swim. But Misty was nowhere to be seen in the room.

"Hmmm…I wonder where Misty is…" Ash thought out loud as he looked around the room for any sign of Misty. Sadly he didn't see any trace of her, but he did lay his eyes on the blue cupboard in the corner of the room. "Oops I almost forgot!" he cried out as he made his way over to the cupboard. "Hmmm…" he mumbled as he opened the cupboard, revealing a wide collection of both black and green-blue tubes. He went through the collection of tubes until he found one he was satisfied with. "This one should do it…" he said as he closed the cupboard and made his way back towards the pool.

Pikachu was sitting on the edge of the pool, looking longingly at all of the pokemon playing in the pool. "Pika," he sighed miserably.

"Hey Pikachu come here buddy!" Ash yelled as he sat down on the ground with the two swimming tubes in his lap.

Pikachu turned towards Ash and as soon as he saw his little tube; he scampered hurriedly over to his master. "Pikapi!" he exclaimed as he came to a halt right before Ash.

"Alright buddy," Ash laughed as Pikachu crawled up onto his shoulder. "Now let's get this tube blown up!" he exclaimed excitedly and slowly started blowing Pikachu's swimming tube up.

"Pika Pika, Pikapi?" Pikachu inquired as he pointed to the green-blue tube situated on Ash's lap.

Ash stopped blowing air into the tube for a moment to answer Pikachu. "Oh, yeah right, would you start blowing that one up for me so long buddy?" he asked-ordered before resuming his task to blow Pikachu's tube up.

"Pika," Pikachu exclaimed and then started blowing the tube up, but the poor little mouse had a very, very long way to go. The tube was much bigger than his own and the fact that he had a much lower lung capacity than Ash didn't help the cause that much either…

"There…all done!" Ash exclaimed a while later as he stood and held the now blown up tube in his hands. "How are you coming along buddy?" he asked Pikachu as he looked down to check on his progress.

Pikachu sat on the ground, panting heavily and looked like he was completely drained of energy. You could see that Pikachu has given this task his all. "Pika," he exclaimed as he held up the tube, looking very proud of his feat.

The tube in Pikachu's possession still looked exactly the same: Airless. The yellow mouse's attempts proved ineffective as his task of blowing the tube full of air did almost the very least it could.

Ash sighed as he gazed at the airless tube. "Guess I'm still going to be blowing for a while then…" he mumbled aggravatedly.

"Pika," Pikachu claimed as he vigorously pointed to his own tube in Ash's hands.

"Oh right…" Ash said as he bent down onto his knees again. "Here you go…" Ash said as he put the tube over Pikachu's head and pulled it down onto his little body.

Once the tube was secured around his body, Pikachu placed the other tube on the floor. "Pika Pika," he exclaimed as he motioned towards the pool.

Ash sighed once more as he picked Pikachu up, made his way over towards the edge of the pool and gently laid him on the water. "There you go buddy." He said as he got back on his feet.

"Pika Pikachu," Pikachu happily exclaimed as he paddled his way over to where Totodile and Corsola were playing, intent on joining in on the fun.

Ash watched all the pokemon in the pool for a moment, before turning around. "Alright, back to blowing up that tube!" he said more to himself than anyone else as he made his way back over to where the almost airless tube was laying on the floor.

Continuing his seemingly endless task of blowing air into the swimming tubes; Ash couldn't help but wonder where Misty disappeared to. He looked over towards the doorway that leads to the living area of the Gym, hoping to spot Misty. Sadly, there wasn't any sign of her. 'Hmmm…she's probably taking a nap…' he concluded in his mind as he kept blowing air into the tube…

After quite a while, the tube was finally filled with are, but there still wasn't any sign of Misty.

Ash sat on the ground next to the blown up tube, depleted of breath. "Phew, I'm glad that's over with…" he sighed exasperatedly as he got back up onto his feet and unclipped a pokeball from his belt. "Alright Bayleef: I choose you!" he yelled as he threw the pokeball through the air.

The pokeball opened in the air and in a bright flash of light, a green quadrupedal pokemon with a giant leaf on its head and bulbs around its neck, revealed itself.

"Bay," Bayleef exclaimed as she looked around her. "Bay Bay!" she exclaimed excitedly when she spotted Ash behind her and immediately charged towards him.

"Wait, Bayleef hold o-"was all Ash could muster out before he was trampled backwards by a rampaging Bayleef.

"Bay Bay," Bayleef exclaimed as she happily nuzzled herself up against Ash.

"C-Cut it out Bayleef, that tickles!" Ash yelled out in between laughs as he tried to push Bayleef off of him.

"Bay," Bayleef nodded happily as obediently got off of Ash and stood before him.

"Alright Bayleef," Ash started as he got back up again. "Do you wanna play with all the other pokemon in the pool?" he asked Bayleef as he gently patted her on the head.

"Bay," Bayleef inquired as she looked behind her at the pool filled with all of the water pokemon and Pikachu. "Bay Bay Bay," she excitedly nodded as she turned back to Ash.

"Okay, but you're going to be swimming with the tube, just to be safe okay?" Ash stated as he picked the tube up and started making his way over towards the pool, with Bayleef in tow.

"Okay Bayleef, climb in!" Ash ordered Bayleef as he placed the tube on the water and held it in place so it didn't float away without its cargo.

"Bay," Bayleef obliged as she slowly and carefully put her legs through the inner hole of the tube.

"There you go Bayleef." Ash concluded satisfiedly as he took a few steps back.

"Bay," Bayleef happily thanked Ash and started paddling towards the group of pokemon consisting out of Staryu, Horsea, Totodile and Starmie, who were in conversation with one another.

Ash smiled at the sight in front of him. All of the pokemon were happily playing together. From a small Horsea to a giant Gyarados; all of them were friends in that pool, the way it should be all over the world. He made his way over to the pavilion and took a seat in the front row.

"Oooh, so that's what you needed the tube for." Ash heard an all too familiar voice echoing through his ears.

"Yep," Ash started as he turned his head towards the source of the voice, Misty. "Where did yo-"Ash stopped midway through with his mouth now hanging open.

In front of him stood Misty, wearing her infamous red two piece bikini and a Masterball-looking beach ball tucked under her right arm.

"I-I-I…" Ash stuttered out clumsily as he stared at Misty with wide eyes and a dull look in them. He reverted back to dreamfully staring at her with his mouth slightly agape when he could only mutter out a few syllables.

"Hey Ash," Misty started as she frowned at Ash and his weird, quiet behavior that occurred all of a sudden. "Ash!" she yelled out at him when he didn't respond the first time.

The last call did it and Ash immediately snapped out of his trance. In order to avoid a repetition of the staring that just occurred; Ash decided to direct his gaze towards the ground.

"Ash, are you okay?" Misty inquired with a skeptical frown as she tilted her head to the side towards Ash. "You seem a bit jittery…" she added as she lifted her brow at him.

"I'm fine!" Ash yelled out as he stubbornly crossed his arms. "By the way…where were you this whole time?" he asked Misty rather rudely as he looked at her out of the corner of his eye, finding it a bit too hard to look at her with too much intent.

"Well if you must know," Misty started as she glared at Ash, beginning to become irritated by his rude tone of voice towards her. "It looked like fun to play in the water with all of the pokemon, so I decided to join them. So I headed to my room to change into my bikini."

"Wait, that couldn't have taken you more than 10 minutes?" Ash inquired, seemingly snapped out of his uncomfortable predicament concerning Misty's choice of clothing.

"I wasn't done Ash…" Misty rudely replied as she glared at Ash with her arms crossed.

"Oh…oops…" Ash mumbled out.

"Now as I was saying," Misty started again. "I was on my way to my room when I heard a phone ringing, so I headed towards the phone." She explained.

"So who called?" Ash asked curiously, now intrigued by this short little story.

"Would you be quiet, I'm trying to tell you!" Misty yelled irritatedly at Ash because of his constant interference.

"Wha okay okay!" Ash fearfully yelled as he shook his hands defensively in front of him.

"Anyway," Misty started as she regrouped. "So I answered the phone and found Daisy's face on the other side!" she yelled in a high pitched voice, sounding abnormally excited about hearing from her sisters.

"How are they doing, and why are you so happy about it? Usually you hate hearing from them?" Ash quizzically asked Misty as he lifted his brow in astonishment.

"Hmmm…well, normally I don't!" Misty stated as she crossed her arms, deep in thought. "But that's only because they usually tease me or give me a lecture about 'beauty and style and grace'." She continued as she made funny gestures when she talked about the emphasized words. "But that wasn't what this phone call was about…" she lastly added as a big smile made its way onto her face.

"Well what did you guys talk about then?" Ash curiously asked as he tilted his head to the side.

"Well you know; the usual 'how are you', 'what's new', 'how's the Gym doing', blah blah blah…" Misty answered matter-of-factly.

"Oh…well that's ni-"Ash started responding.

"Wait wait," Misty interrupted. "You didn't hear the best part!" she continued excitedly.

"Uhm…okay…?" A very confused-looking Ash responded as motioned for Misty to continue.

"Well, we were talking about random things involving the Gym, when Daisy interrupted me…and told me that they were coming home in a few days!" Misty squealed ecstatically with her hands clasped in front of her in excitement.

"That's great ne-"Ash started, before he gave the predicament some thought. "Wait, how is that a good thing? I thought you couldn't stand being around your sisters?" he asked Misty with complete confusion evident in his eyes.

"Yeah, that's true…" Misty stated with her right hand placed on her chin, obviously giving it some thought. "But the good news is that we can head out and start traveling again!"

"That's aweso-"Ash started his celebration before something clicked in his mind. "Wait…what about the Gym?"

Misty face-palmed and then sighed exasperatedly. "That's why my sisters are here, to run the Gym! I'll admit that I'll miss the Gym and mall the pokemon staying here, but if I want to become the greatest water pokemon master in the world, I've gotta get out there and win!" she determinedly exclaimed as she confidently held her fist in the air.

"Well you sure are right about that." Ash agreed with a smile. "If I want to become a pokemon master, I'll have to improve my skills and beat the best!" he yelled with a determined fist pump.

"That's the spirit Ash." Misty said with a light giggle at Ash's show of determination. "But for now," she added as she turned her gaze towards the pokemon playing in the pool. "I think I'll have some fun and join the pokemon in the water." She continued as she started making her way over towards the pool.

"I think I'll join you guys too." Ash declared as he made his way after Misty, but came to a halt when he ran face first into Misty's waiting-palm.

"Oh no you're not, the medicine on those wounds have got to dry up first Ash Ketchum." Misty ordered as she started pushing Ash back towards the pavilion.

"But Misty-"Ash started his argument, only to be thrushed down back onto his seat.

Misty dusted her hands off, satisfied that Ash will not disobey her and then made her way back towards the pool.

Ash on the other hand, sat with his elbows on his legs and his head resting on his hands, moping about his predicament. "Wow…isn't this just great…" he mumbled.

[A little while later…]

Misty was happily playing with all of the pokemon in the pool, splashing about and having tons of fun. Ash on the other hand, was still sitting, albeit on a bench near the pool. He had changed into his black swimming trunks in the meantime though, and was now just staring at everything occurring in the pool.

"I wish I could just swim already." Ash moaned as he sat with his head resting on his hands. He caught sight of Misty and immediately found himself staring at her as a faint red color started coloring his cheeks. 'Wow…Misty is so…beautiful.' Ash thought to himself as his lips started parting slightly out of amazement.

Misty noticed Ash staring in her direction and decided to call his name, but there wasn't any reply. "Hmmm, I wonder what's with him this time…" she wondered out loud as she started making her way over to the side of the pool.

Ash was too deep in thought to even notice Misty getting out of the water. 'To think that she almost got killed…if I didn't get her out of there, she wouldn't be here right now…' he sub-consciously clenched his fists at the thought as Misty started making her way to Ash, unbeknownst to him. 'I promise Misty, that I will never let anything happen to you…ever.' He made a silent oath to himself, still in his own little world.

Meanwhile, Misty had made her way to right in front of Ash, but he still didn't seem to respond. Lifting her brow at him, she waved her hand in front of his face a few times.

The waving seemed to do the trick as Ash snapped out of it. "Huh…" he mumbled as he looked up, to find himself looking right at Misty's chest. His eyes grew wide in surprise and he tumbled backwards and fell head-first onto the floor.

"Uhm Ash?" Misty inquired as she stood over Ash, frowning down at him. "Are you okay?"

"Of course I'm okay!" Ash yelled as he got back up, trying to look anywhere but at Misty because of his pink cheeks.

'Well okay…" Misty figured. "Anyway, I think your cuts are nice and dry now, so you can join us in the pool if you want to." She informed Ash as she started making her way back towards the pool.

Ash just stood there, staring at Misty's figure which to his surprise, he hadn't noticed had gotten very, very appealing.

Misty looked back over her shoulder to see Ash standing still. "Well," she started as she turned back to him. "Are you coming or not?" she impatiently asked as she stood with her hands on her hips.

"Uh, right…I'm coming!" Ash yelled as he jogged after Misty.

The two of them jumped into the water and the fun then began as the two humans splashed around with the pokemon, using Gyarados as a giant slide and saving Psyduck from drowning, all in an afternoon's work. Dinner went by without much fuss as Misty put all the Gym's pokemon back into their respective pokeballs. Ash also recalled Kingler, Totodile and Bayleef to their pokeballs and the day came to a close as Ash once again passed out on the couch instead of a real bed, with Pikachu obediently sleeping next to his master and Misty in her own bed upstairs, sleep engulfing all of them after a day full of fun and relaxation…

A bit of realization in this chapter eh? Feelings are starting to surface in some way or another.

Thanks for reading and please review! I am begging here!

Until next time!