Yeah, yeah. It's been about a year since I've last updated, hasn't it?
Look, real life has just started dropping down all of a sudden. In between college and well, college, there really isn't that much free time left for me to write in. I've been trying, really I have. But when I try to get a few hours' worth of writing in after getting home in the evenings, I'm just so tired! I apologise and really do hope that all of you understand.
I do intend to finish this story though, but I'm cutting it off somewhere along the line and will be posting a sequel when I have some more time available.
I also tore my ACL recently, and had some reconstruction done. So I've been pretty bed-ridden these last few weeks. Mostly in pain though, so writing was yet again, hard.
I'll also be starting to reply to your reviews from now on by means of PM.
Anyway, enjoy.
I do not own any characters or events related to Pokemon, this story is solely fan made.
Changing Ways: Chapter 26: Arrangements and violent engagements:
"Hmm…" Misty groaned as she stirred within her sleeping bag, the light from outside shining in her eyes and disturbing her rest. "Hmm…" she groaned again as she tried burying her face into her bag, which acted as her makeshift pillow when camping out. But it was to no avail, as the light engulfed her entirety. "It's too early…" she groaned into her bag as she forced her eyes open, albeit half-lidded.
She was lying flat on her stomach with her arms holding her bag up to her face. She groaned once more before she turned her head to the left, where the source of her irritation was: The cave's entrance.
The storm that raged outside last night had fully dissipated and it its place the sun was shining in its full glory once more, a common occurrence in this tropical region. Added to this was a beautiful glowing hue that covered most of the islands. This was caused by the sun that shined down on the vegetation and just about everything else which was covered in a thin layer of mist that was left behind by last night's storm, further appealing these islands' beauty. Back to Misty, however…
"Stupid sun…" she grumbled before turning her head the other way and closing her eyes, deeply craving for an extra hour or so of sleep.
Before she fully succumbed to slumber again, her mind informed her that something seemed out of place before she closed her eyes.
She slowly forced her eyes open again and immediately found what was out of place, which caused her eyes to widen considerably…
There, right in front of her and only mere inches from her face, was Ash, who was still sleeping soundly, unaware of everything around him, or the fact that his face was almost touching the red-head's. Pikachu was sleeping on the other side of Ash, curled up against the back of his Master's head for some extra warmth he had needed during the night.
Misty's face slowly started reddening, up until the point where it was almost as bright as her hair, and she was just about to jump up, scream, and punt the side of Ash's face in with her heel, until a small voice interrupted her train of thought, that is. Images of leaving Rudy's mansion, searching for Ash and Pikachu in the illumination of the oncoming thunderstorm, finding them in this cave they were in now, their kiss, all started running through her mind, recapping her memories of last night. This allowed her to calm down exponentially and she proceeded to let go of the deep breath she was unconsciously held in.
Now that she was feeling a lot more calm and confident, she turned her attention back to the boy in front of her. His calm (and somewhat childish) expression caused a small smile to appear on her face, growing bigger and bigger with each passing second as she started to realise what last night actually meant to them. Biting her lower lip for just an instant, she then proceeded with her plan of action and slowly lifted her arm, guiding her hand towards Ash's face. She then carefully lowered her hand until it softly brushed against his cheek, before she very gently traced her fingernails along the length of his jaw, stopping at his chin, and ran her fingertips back up to his cheek again.
Misty's actions caused Ash to stir slightly, but nonetheless he didn't wake up. This was playing out perfectly in Misty's opinion, as she continued to gently run her fingernails over his face. After the third time she did this, Misty noticed that goose bumps had started appearing on Ash's arms, signifying that he was subconsciously enjoying her little game. This caused the red-head to chuckle quietly, before she ceased her game and instead opted to rest her palm on his jaw and lovingly rub his cheek with her thumb.
With the new weight resting on his face, Ash started stirring once more. But this time, he actually started waking up…
He slowly started opening his eyes, before he let out a long, dragged-out yawn, his eyes again closing in the process. Hearing soft giggling, he half-opened his eyes again, only to lock eyes with Misty's slightly-sparkling eyes and the serene smile playing on her lips. He also noticed that her face was very, VERY close to his. It was at that moment that he noticed something else as well. A slight warm pressure on his cheek: 'Misty's hand!' he inwardly thought as a small wave of panic formed inside of him.
A small blush appeared on his face, and started spreading at a rapid rate. 'Why is Misty so close to me? Why is she smiling at me like that? Why is her HAND ON MY FACE!?' were the questions that ran through his head while an expression of pure shock made its way onto his face as he continued staring at the red-head in front of him, his body twitching every-now-and-then, screaming at him to get away. 'Wait a minute…' he told himself mentally as he gave the situation some thought. Memories of last night started playing in his mind, which led to him understanding why this was happening.
Now that he was up to date, he noticed that this situation isn't half as bad as he made it out to be. On the contrary, he had to admit that he actually enjoyed Misty touching him. It felt…nice.
He stared at Misty a moment longer, before he had built up enough courage and slowly lifted his hand, gently and shakingly cupping the red-head's cheek. This caused Misty's smile to widen even more, making his stomach involuntary churn in reaction. He nervously smiled back at the red-head, his blush slowly fading away.
The two of them stayed like that for close to a minute, staring at each other, caressing each other's cheek and simply savouring and enjoying the moment.
"Good morning, Ash…" Misty whispered.
"Morning…" Ash whispered back, the two of them still staring at each other, trying not to spoil this little moment.
"Pikaaaaaaa!" Pikachu yawned as he suddenly came into view behind Ash's head, standing on his hind legs while stretching out. Moment ruined…
If they thought that it looked beautiful outside before, Ash, Misty and Pikachu were now certainly convinced that it looked even better from outside the cave. Everywhere they looked there was rocks, vegetation and even ground that shined from the sun's rays. It mirrored an enchanted paradise, with small rainbows forming here and there. In reality, they were actually just walking on the beach.
They were walking back to the Pokemon Center to get some breakfast there. Ash had to attend a meeting with the Gym Leaders of the Orange Islands later today, so Misty had suggested that they eat at the Pokemon Center, because the day could get long, and because neither of them could actually cook, thus it was an unchallenged decision.
It has been a silent walk down the beach so far, with neither Ash nor Misty said anything, while Pikachu also remained silent on his Master's left shoulder, enjoying the scenery. It wasn't that they were uncomfortable.It was just that they felt nothing needed to be said. They enjoyed being in the other's company.
'If the beach looks this beautiful, I wonder what the forests and meadows look like…' Ash wondered as he gazed around them, taking in the breathtaking scene. His thoughts were interrupted when he felt a hand softly grab his own. He looked down, before smiling at seeing Misty's hand now gently-but-firmly latched onto his.
He then slowly manoeuvred his hand in hers until he had slacked her grip a small portion, before he gently entwined his fingers with hers and gripped her hand slightly.
This caused Misty to turn her head towards Ash and give him a sweet smile-smirk, which he gladly returned with one of his own. They continued their walk to the Pokemon Center in silence again, but kept a firm grip on each other's hands for the rest of the way.
The familiar building appeared over a dune a while later and the three of them quickly entered it. The Center was completely empty for some reason, so it wasn't hard for them to get to Nurse Joy, who was sitting at the front desk.
"Morning, Nurse Joy." Both Ash and Misty simultaneously greeted as they stopped right in front the desk.
"Pika Pika." Pikachu added his greeting from Ash's shoulder accompanied by a wave of his paw.
"Good morning, you three." Nurse Joy greeted them with her inherited-usual-friendly smile. "Welcome to our Pokemon Center. What can I do for you?" she asked.
"We were wondering if we were still on time for breakfast." Misty asked hopefully.
"Of course you are. Breakfast is served until 10:30." Nurse Joy informed them before pointing to the clock hanging above her head on the wall, which read 09:37.
"Would you also mind to do a check-up on Pikachu here afterwards?" Ash added as he pointed to the yellow mouse situated on his shoulder.
"Yes, of course." Nurse Joy answered affirmatively.
"Thanks a lot, Nurse Joy!"
"Pika Pika!"
The three of them thanked Nurse Joy before they made their way over to the cafeteria section of the Pokemon Center.
Ash and Misty got themselves two plates and piled their respective choices on it, while Ash got Pikachu a bowl of Pokemon Food. They then got themselves a table on proceeded to take a seat, with Ash and Pikachu on one side, and Misty on the opposite side of Ash, who removed his hat, backpack and jacket and placed it in a neat heap on the other side of Pikachu.
Ash's plate was filled with two eggs, two pieces of toast and a stack of four pancakes, a relatively small meal compared to the pokemon Trainer's normal standards. Misty opted for a piece of toast, a stack of 4 pancakes and a bowl of cereal to top it off, while both of them had a glass of orange juice as well.
While Ash was known to be quite the passionate eater, he was strangely calm and quiet during this session, only taking small bites of his food. The reason for this? Maybe because he was more busy taking occasional glances at the girl sitting across him, than actually eating his meal.
The same could be said for that girl as well. While she normally didn't eat nearly as much as Ash did, Misty was barely touching her food in this sitting. She was all-too aware of Ash's eyes on her, which made her feel a bit more self-conscious. But, to be honest, it was barely making her feel uncomfortable. It was making her feel…special? She knew that Ash never looked at girls that way. He was just too thick-headed to even NOTICE girls in that way. So, for him to be looking at her like that, meant that she was obviously the first girl he's really ever given thought about. She was special to him.
Ash was also having his own thoughts on the subject. He was actually wishing that they had opened up to each other sooner! He was loving this new side of Misty. She was giving him a very different kind of attention than what he was used to from the red-head, and he absolutely loved it! He also loved giving that same kind of attention right back at her. While he normally didn't do all that mushy stuff, he was more than willing to experiment them with the red-headed Misty.
'Man, if someone had told me that this being-in-love-stuff would be so great, I would've kissed Misty a long, long time ago…' he mentally remarked as he drank some of his juice, before he continued eating his meal at a very sedate pace…
"Boy, I hope this is the right way…" Ash remarked as he looked into the distance in front of him.
"I'm sure it is, Ash." Misty answered from his left. "I mean, Nurse Joy did say that it's this way." She added.
They were currently walking down the beach once again, their hands bound by their entwined fingers. They were on their way to the hall where Ash was supposed to meet the Orange League Gym Leaders in an hour. It was a good thing that they decided to eat at the Pokemon Center this morning, because they didn't even know where this place was! Luckily Nurse Joy was present to come to their rescue, and gave them directions to get to the place. It turns out that this hall was actually just a bit further down the same path by the beach he walked yesterday before he found that cave.
"Yeah, you're probably right." Ash stated as he lifted their hands to face-level, causing a smile to form on Misty's lips.
The red-head gave his hand a gentle squeeze before they settled their hands back down at waist level again.
"My my, Ash." Misty started in a mischievous tone as she smirked at Ash while watching him out of the corner of her eye. "You sure have built up a lot of confidence, haven't you?" she stated as she pointed at their hands with her eyes.
Ash gave Misty a curious look, trying to figure out what she was talking about. Following her gaze, he found himself looking at their hands, as well as understanding what she meant. "Oh!" he clucked in realization. "Hehe, yeah. I guess you can say that…" he sheepishly said as he scratched the back of his head, only to pause in mid-scratch, his sheepish chuckle also ceasing.
Misty gave Ash a curious glance. "And now? What's wrong, Ash?" she asked as she watched his eyes grow wider with a lifted brow.
Ash then suddenly patted himself on the head, his eyes growing even wider after that, which only confused the red-head more. "Hey Pikachu, have you seen my-"he started as he looked over his right shoulder. "Pikachu?" he called out when he noticed a faint outline of Pikachu on his shoulder, where the yellow mouse would normally sit on his back…pack, which he now noticed was also missing in action, along with his…jacket!
"OH NOOOOOO!" he suddenly cried out in horror.
"GYAAAAH!" Misty yelled as she jumped away from Ash, releasing his hand in the process, and fell flat on her butt on the soft sand. "Ash!" she yelled as she glared at the boy. "What was that for!?" she angrily asked as she got up from the ground and rubbed her now-sore butt.
"I forgot my hat at the Pokemon Center!" he frantically informed the red-head as he put his hands in his hair and started pulling on it. "This is terrible!" he yelled out afterwards.
Now that Misty was informed of this little omittance, she gave Ash a quick and thorough look-over. His Pokemon League hat was indeed absent from his head, along with his jacket, his backpack, and PIKACHU. How can he remember that he forgot his hat, but not those latter three items, which included PIKACHU!
"It's just a hat, Ash. Sjeesh…" Misty informed Ash while giving him a sceptical look-over. "I mean, what about Pi-"
"JUST A HAT!?" Ash interrupted, almost screaming at the top of his lungs while gawking at the red-head in disbelief. "I'll have you know that it's WAY MORE than JUST a hat!" he yelled out. "Do I need to remind you how I got that hat in the first place?" he incredulously asked.
"No-no! That's fine! Really!" Misty quickly declined as she waved her hands in front of her, knowing that story all too well from earlier on in their journey together. "But what about Pikachu?" she quickly added.
Ash's scolding expression quickly vanished and was replaced by one of confusion. "What about him?" he confusedly asked.
"What do you mean 'What about him?'?" Misty incredulously asked as she looked at Ash in disbelief. "You forgot HIM too, you know!" she irritatedly informed the Pokemon Trainer. "How can you be more worried about your HAT, than you are of PIKACHU?" she asked as she stuck her face right in front of his.
Ash looked at Misty with wide eyes for a moment, absorbing the information, before a neutral look settled on his eyes. "But, Pikachu's fine." He stated.
"How do you know that?" Misty asked with a sceptical glare.
"Well, Pikachu's resourceful." Ash casually stated. "And he's a big pokemon by now, he can take care of himself in a situation like this." He explained further. "Plus, he's at the Pokemon Center, with Nurse Joy. He won't do anything reckless. He'll probably just wait there for us to come pick him up." He added, tilting the argument in his favour.
"But-"Misty started protesting, only to slowly close her mouth afterwards, giving the situation some thought. Ash did have a point, a very valid point. Pikachu could take care of himself. And he was at the Pokemon Center, so he was in very safe hands. Maybe she did overact a bit…
She blankly looked at Ash for a few seconds, before she blinked and suddenly leaned forward, softly pecking the tip of his nose. "Hmmm…" she hummed as she put her finger to her chin contemplatingly. "I guess you're right." She finally stated while shrugging her shoulders.
Ash, who was busy rubbing the tip of his nose while Misty was talking, looked back up at her and nodded affirmatively. "So, why don't you go ahead without me while I go get my stuff and Pikachu from the Pokemon Center." He proposed. "That way, you can just explain what happened if I'm gonna be late." He added, before placing a chaste peck on her cheek. "I'll see you there!" he yelled out as he ran away from the red-head, in the opposite direction of where they were initially heading together.
Misty watched Ash running for a few moments as his sprinting form disappeared in the distance, before she let out a dreamy, very un-Misty-like sigh. She then proceeded to turn back around before she started heading towards the hall again. 'Who would have thought that things would change so drastically between me and Ash after a simple old kiss.' She mentally remarked while watching the crystal-clear sky above her head. She stretched her arms out over her head, letting out a satisfied groan at the same time, before bringing her arms to a rest behind her head as she contently continued on her way towards the hall.
Her trek was prematurely stopped though, when she was forcefully-bordering on rather violently-yanked to a stop by something latching onto her right forearm from behind.
"What the-?" Misty exclaimed as she quickly glanced over her shoulder to see what had halted her movement. A irritated glare quickly made its way onto the red-head's face as she saw that it was not something that held her back, but rather someone, evidenced by the hand which was currently squeezed around her forearm. The hand belonging to, "Rudy?"
Misty's irritation-fuelled glare was quickly replaced by a look of confusion, as she gazed at Rudy, who was indeed holding onto her arm, halting her movement in the process.
While Misty's face showed annoyance, which was quickly replaced by confusion; Rudy's face showed neither one of those expressions. In fact, the Orange Crew member's face showed glimpses of annoyance, in between clearly-obvious traces of anger.
"Why did you grab me like that, Rudy?" she asked as a minute glare made its way onto her face again, demanding an answer.
"You were gone when I came back last night with dessert." Rudy stated, seemingly ignoring Misty's question and keeping his glare focused on her. "I was really worried. That wasn't nice of you to just up and disappear like that." He added as he tightened his grip slightly around the red-head's arm to show his disdain of her apparent disappearance the previous night.
"Yeah, but I was worried that Ash might've been caught in the storm because he never came back to the Pokemon Center, so I went out looking for him." Misty explained. "Sorry about that." She sarcastically apologised to Rudy. "Now let go!" she ordered as she yanked her arm in an attempt to shrug him off.
The red-head's actions proved futile, however, because Rudy's response was to tighten his grip and yank her closer by her arm.
"What do you think you're doing?" She angrily asked as her glare intensified drastically. "I said let me go!" she demanded, yanking her arm again in an attempt to break out of his grip.
"NO!" Rudy suddenly shouted, momentarily shocking Misty into keeping quiet and stare at him with wide eyes. "Back when you first travelled through the Orange Islands, I asked you to stay behind with me and my sister on Trovita Island. You decided to pass on my offer, and continued travelling with that BOY!" he spat. "I let you go, because I wanted you to be happy, and I could see that you made your choice, which I respected. I fell in love with you the very first time I laid eyes on you." He stated as he turned his attention to the breaking waves of the ocean next them, a faraway look in his eyes.
"But," he suddenly started, the faraway look in eyes instantly replaced with the same traces of anger from earlier, as he snapped his head back to face Misty. "I realise now that allowing you to leave was pretty stupid from me." He stated. "It was an idiotic thing to do, I'll admit that." He added. "I'm going to rectify that, though," He informed the red-head as his eyes narrowed slightly. "By making sure that I'm not letting you go this time!" he proclaimed as he pulled her closer to him, further tightening his grip on her arm. "Whether you like it or not!"
"Let me go!" Misty yelled out through gritted teeth as she tried yanking her arm out of Rudy's grip, resulting in the Orange Crew member tightening his grip even more. "You're hurting me!" she yelled out. "OUW!" she shrieked as she yanked again, which resulted in a sharp pain shooting up her imprisoned arm, and fell down onto her knees.
"I'm not letting go!" Rudy defiantly stated. "You won't get away aga-"
*SMACK!*
It was at that exact moment that a fist connected squarely with a yelling-Rudy's jaw. Hard. Very hard. So hard, in fact, that the impact of the punch caused Rudy to immediately release his threshold on Misty's arm out of shock, and he was sent flying through mid-air, eventually crashing into the forgiving soft sea sand a few feet away from where he stood just moments ago.
Misty, who was still down on her knees, slowly started getting back up onto her feet, and proceeded to carefully caress her now-sore right forearm. Looking up; she saw that Rudy was lying on his stomach a few feet away from her, busy lifting himself off of the ground with the support of his elbows. Directing her gaze a bit more to her left, she laid eyes on the owner of the fist that knocked Rudy down, and who she figured was her saviour: Ash!
She also noticed that he had successfully retrieved his jacket, backpack and much-famed hat, all three of which he was wearing again. She also noticed a yellow ball of fur, also known as Ash's Pikachu, standing next to said Trainer on the ground, the red patches on his cheeks sparkling with an overload of furious electricity.
The red-head let out a soft, unnoticeable sigh of relief. Boy was she glad that the two of them had shown up. Sure, she didn't take nonsense from anybody. But, she was still a girl. And Rudy was a boy, which meant that he had a considerable strength advantage over her. That was something she couldn't overcome. Things could have gotten real ugly…
"Hm?" She exclaimed as a groan snapped her out of her thoughts. She looked over to Rudy, who was emitting the groan as he shakily got back up onto his feet. Her eyes suddenly widened dramatically, though, as she stared in shock as Ash gave Rudy a right-hand uppercut right under the chin, sending the boy tumbling right back down onto the ground.
Ash then proceeded to bend down slightly over Rudy, fixing him with a menacing glare, before he grabbed him by his shirt's collar, and lifted him up to face-level. "If you ever, EVER, touch Misty like that again…" he venomously warned. "In fact, if you even so much as look at her the wrong way again…" he spat, cutting himself off before he pushed Rudy back down onto the ground again.
Feeling that he got the warning through into Rudy's head, Ash abruptly turned his back on the Orange Crew member, before he started walking back to where Misty was standing, Pikachu in tow.
Misty was gawking, still in shock of what had just happened. She had never seen Ash so angry, ever. She had never seen him use his fists as unremorseful as he did just now. There was no guilt or sorrow present. Just raw anger. Was he angry at her too? Or was he angry because of what had happened to her just now? Giving one small step backwards in slight fear, Misty softly squeaked out, "Ash?" as she subconsciously held her bruised arm.
Ash, on the other hand, merely kept walking towards the red-head, seemingly ignoring her when she called out to him. He walked right up to her, and, much to Misty's relief, his expression softened immediately after he stopped and his eyes settled on her, while Pikachu quietly stood next to his Master.
"Are you okay, Misty?" Ash asked, concern evident on his face, as he started giving Misty an once-over. "You're not hurt, are…you…?" he trailed off as his eyes stopped at the bruised arm she was holding.
And, as fast as the Pokemon Trainer's anger subsided moments earlier, it reappeared so quickly this time, that the previous subsiding seemed like a marathon in comparison. He glanced over his shoulder at the still-recovering Rudy, before he let out a Pokemon-like growl, and spun around on his heels, intent on giving Rudy a couple of more punches for hurting Misty.
Unfortunately for Ash, though, Misty had caught on to what he was planning, and had intercepted his path to Rudy by firmly latching onto the Pokemon Trainer's right arm, thus preventing him from moving any further.
"Come on, Ash." Misty said as she started pulling on Ash's arm. "You don't have to do that. I'm A-okay!" she quickly reassured him. "Besides, that jerk isn't even close to being worth getting into trouble over." She added, which seemed to come through to Ash, as he slowly started following her, Pikachu walking next to them on the ground. "Let's get to that hall. I bet we're almost late!" she joked while slowly entwining her fingers with Ash's, the three of them finally en route to the meeting hall once more.
The rest of their walk to the hall was completely silent, with none of them uttering a sound. The reason for this was that Misty thought that Ash was being so quiet because he was busy cooling down, and thus thought that it would be better to leave him be until he got his temper in check. Stealing a glance at said Pokemon Trainer over her shoulder, she saw that he still had a sour expression on his face, albeit much calmer than a couple of minutes ago, when he wanted to beat the life out of Rudy. That was good, he was at least starting to calm down, so she would have to leave him be a little longer. Still, that didn't stop her from firmly holding on to Ash's hand though, as she never once let it go on their walk to the hall, while Pikachu also knew that his Master needed some time to cool off, so he opted to silently continue his walk next to his Master on the ground.
The meeting hall soon appeared in the distance out in front of them. As soon as they got right in front of the building, Misty suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, which in turn caused Ash and Pikachu to stop as well.
The red-head then proceeded to turn around, and finally faced Ash. She had decided that Ash had more than enough alone time to cool off during their walk to the meeting hall, and now it was time to check if he was okay.
She cleared her throat off to the side, before facing Ash again and asking, "Are you alright, Ash?"
She gave his hand a soft squeeze, which caused the Pokemon Trainer to wince slightly. Misty frowned at this, and gave his hand another squeeze. This earned the red-head another wince from Ash, which she decided to follow up and looked down at his hand.
A gasp of shock escaped Misty's mouth as she laid eyes on Ash's hand. The said hand's fingers were all horribly swollen up inside the glove, while the glove was in no better shape, as it was shredded and revealed Ash's bloodied up knuckles.
"Ash!" Misty suddenly yelled out as she grabbed Ash's hand in both of hers. "Look at your hand! We've got to clean it up! It might get infected!" she yelled, before ripping Ash's torn glove off of his hand, earning a loud yelp of pain from the Pokemon Trainer.
She threw the now-bloodied glove down onto the ground, before she got down on her knees and put her string-bag down in front of her. She rummaged through it for the next few moments, before pulling out a small white box, which had an insignia of a red cross on top of it, also known as a first aid kit. She then proceeded to open the box, and remove some of its contents: Wadding, a bottle of disinfectant, and a roll of bandage.
"Now, hold still." she ordered as she firmly grasped his injured hand, bringing it closer to her. "This is gonna sting a bit." She warned as she dabbed some of the wadding with the liquid from the bottle of disinfectant, before carefully dabbing the wounds on his knuckles with the wadding.
If the disinfectant cleaning his wounds was at all painful, Ash did a pretty good job at not showing it. In fact, he didn't even move when the wadding connected with his open wounds. He simply stared out in front of him as the red-head cleaned his hand.
It was only after Misty had started wrapping his hand with bandages, that Ash said something, in the form of a sudden "I'm sorry, Misty."
Misty immediately stopped with what she was doing and looked up at Ash, a confused expression plastered on her face.
Feeling her eyes on him, asking for an elaboration, Ash turned his head sideways to look out over the ocean.
For a few moments, the only sound that could be heard was the waves crashing on the beach, before Ash let out a long sigh. "When I heard you yell out that he was hurting you, when I saw him holding you by your arm, against your will;" he started, still looking out over the vast ocean beside them, while Misty had slowly resumed bandaging his hand, but was still listening intently.
"I…I just lost it…" he confessed as he curled his free hand into a fist. "I got so angry, I couldn't control myself." He added. "I would have killed that guy!" he growled through clenched teeth, his arms now shaking with anger.
Misty, who had finished wrapping Ash's injured hand in the meantime, slowly got off of her knees and back up onto her feet, before softly grabbing hold of his shaking fist. She then slowly started tracing over the top of his hand with her fingertips, almost instantly calming the Pokemon Trainer down, before looking right into his eyes.
"Ash." She gently said as she gave his hand a soft squeeze. "If you didn't show up when you did, I don't know what would have happened." She admitted, her eyes falling downcast for a moment. "I think…I would have gotten hurt…" she stated.
"But," she quickly started as she looked up into his eyes again. "That didn't happen. I didn't get hurt-"she stopped as she followed Ash's eyes to her slightly-bruised arm. "Well, I didn't get hurt BADLY." She corrected herself with a slight chuckle. "The reason for that is because YOU showed up." She informed him.
"So, I wanted to thank you." She said as she slowly let go of his hand, and gently wrapped her arms around his waist. "Thank you, for saving me." She elaborated while slowly laying her head down on his shoulder.
For a moment no one moved, before Ash slowly wrapped his arms around Misty, and pulled her closer to him.
Pikachu decided that he gave his Master and Misty enough time to talk, and proceeded to jump onto Ash's other shoulder."Pikachu!" the yellow mouse exclaimed as he nuzzled up to the side of his Master's head.
Misty softly chuckled at Pikachu's antics from the other side of Ash's head. "And next time he tries something like that, all three of us will get a hit in, right, Pikachu?" she exclaimed as she brought her hand up and scratched the yellow mouse's back.
Pikachu leapt off of Ash's shoulder and landed on the ground next to the two humans. "Pika, Pikachu!" the yellow mouse excitedly cried out with a flexing of his little arms, signalling his agreement.
Ash also let out a small chuckle at Pikachu's actions, as he slowly let go of Misty, who did likewise. "Thank you, Misty." He said after a while, a smile slowly starting to make its way onto his face as he looked into the red-head's eyes.
Misty's smile grew even wider at seeing Ash finally starting to act like himself again. She inched as close as possible to the Pokemon Trainer, before gently resting her hands against his chest, and softly pressing her lips up against his.
It was a sweet, innocent kiss, seeing as neither of them really knew about the intimacies of kissing. Neither of them moved, except for Ash puckering his lips slightly to accept the kiss. They just stayed like that, lips pressed up against one another's, for what seemed like quite a while. Pikachu had respectfully turned his back on the intimate human moment, and opted to gaze out over the sea instead.
The most perfect moment…was abruptly ruined when the three of them heard the distinctive sound of a door handle clicking open nearby, more specifically the door to the meeting hall, since it was the only building for miles.
The opening of the door caused Ash and Misty to hastily stop kissing before they practically jumped away from each other and turned to face the now-fully-open door.
In the open doorway stood Cissy, the first Gym Leader of the Orange Crew, still wearing a black shoulder strap vest, a pink skirt that extended well down below her knees, and white, laceless shoes.
"Oh, Ash, Misty, there you are." Cissy stated as she gave them a once-over. "I thought I heard something out here, so I came out to investigate. Uh, is everything okay? You sure were talking a long time…" she asked as she raised an eyebrow in their direction.
"Yeah! Everything's fine!" Ash and Misty simultaneously answered in record speed, before snapping their heads toward each other and back, and then proceeded to nervously giggle while scratching the back of their respective heads, a red hue visible across both of their faces.
Cissy gazed at the two of them a little longer, before shrugging her shoulders. "Well, okay. Anyway, you guys should hurry up, everyone's waiting for you." She informed them as she turned around and walked back into the building, leaving the door open behind her.
Ash, Misty and Pikachu watched the Orange Crew member disappear into the building, before the two humans let out a sigh of relief. The three of them then proceeded to pack the red-head's first aid up again, before she put it back into her bag and slung it over her shoulder.
Ash gently put his glove on over his bandaged hand as Pikachu jumped onto his shoulder, before the three of them made their way into the meeting hall.
The inside of the building was four-sided, the walls covered with bamboo from top to bottom. The roof was painted a simple cream colour, and decorated with a single hanging light. The floor was mainly empty, save for a table full of refreshments in the far-left corner of the room, and of course, a large round table and eight matching chairs, of which four were currently occupied by various people.
Seated in a clockwise order from the far-end of the table, was Drake at the far-end (And presumably the head seat of the table too.), Luana in the next seat, followed by Danny, and finally Cissy. All of them were members of the Orange Crew, with Drake being the Head of the Crew and the final challenge to Trainers who wish to face the Orange League Champion. Strangely absent from the table though, was Rudy…
"Ah, Ash, Misty and Pikachu." Drake exclaimed as he stood up. "We're glad that you made it in time. Please, have a seat." He said while gesturing to the empty seats around the table.
Ash, Misty and Pikachu gladly obliged as the two humans removed their respective bags and each of the three sat down on a chair, with Ash sitting next to Cissy, Misty next to Ash, and finally Pikachu sat next to Misty.
"Hey, everybody!" Ash and Misty simultaneously greeted after taking their respective seats.
"Pika!" Pikachu followed his two human travelling companions' lead with a wave of his paw.
"Right, first of all, I would to apologise on behalf of Rudy for being in attendance for this meeting." Drake exclaimed. "I have no idea where he could be, seeing as all of us received a message saying that it is essential that we be here today. I will find out what the situation is and it will be rectified." He stated, irritation evident on his face.
"Hehe, it's no problem at all!" Misty quickly responded with a nervous chuckle and a scratch of the back of her head, trying to change the subject as quickly as humanly possible before Ash said something that he would regret afterwards.
"Now that is out of the way," Drake started as he sat down again. "Let's get down to business." He stated. "First of all, you've probably figured that it will be a full Pokemon battle." Drake notified the Pokemon Trainer. "This means that it will be a six-on-six battle, with both Trainers allowed to substitute Pokemon at any given time." He elaborated, to which Ash nodded in understanding.
"There will also be a five minute break after three of any Trainer's Pokemon are knocked out, as well as a random field change. But, you know all of this by now, seeing as you were previously involved in one such match, right Ash?" he further clarified.
"Yeah, I got it." Ash replied accompanied by a nod of his head.
"And finally: The date and location." Drake announced. "The battle will be held in The Pummelo Stadium on Pummelo Island, in four weeks time from today." He informed Ash, Misty and Pikachu accompanied by a show of four of his fingers to signify that the battle will occur in one month's time. "So you will have more than enough time to pick your six Pokemon for the battle, as well as training them." He added.
"So, do you have any queries or questions?" he asked, to which Ash replied with quick, 'No, I know everything I need to, thanks.'. "Alright, then I guess we're done here." Drake concluded as he got up onto his feet. "Please feel free to join us for a light snack." He said, gesturing to the table stacked with refreshments in the corner to his right.
"Thanks, that'll be great!" Ash answered as he, Misty, Pikachu and the rest of the seated Orange Crew members stood up, before they all started making their way towards the said table.
Most of the small lunch consisted of small conversations between the various Gym Leaders and the travelling Trainers. The Orange Crew members rarely had the opportunity to converse with each other, seeing as each one had their respective Gyms to operate and look after. This was one of the very few chances they had to catch up with each other, while also hearing about Ash's journey through the Johto region.
The gathering eventually came to an end, and the three respective Gym Leaders bid Ash, Misty, Pikachu and Drake farewell, as they had a boat to catch back to their respective Islands, while Drake opted to accompany the travelling trio back to the Pokemon Center. He didn't have to catch a boat back to Pummelo Island, because well, he had a Dragonite.
They eventually arrived at the Pokemon Center, where they were currently saying their goodbyes to Drake.
"Well, Ash, I guess I'll see you in four weeks then." Drake said as he stood in front of the travelling trio.
"You can count on it!" Ash energetically replied with a pumping of his fist, a confident smirk on his face.
"That's the spirit." Drake laughed. "And you're gonna need that spirit, Ash." He exclaimed. "You had better train as hard as you can too. Because your challenger, well, let's just say that tough doesn't quite describe him." He informed the three of them. "He has excellent battle instincts, and he has the Pokemon to back that up tenfold." He explained.
"Well," Ash started. "I've got some pretty tough Pokemon too," he said as he glanced down at Pikachu, who was standing next to him on the ground. "And you can be sure that we're gonna be training as hard as we can in the next four weeks!" he determinedly exclaimed.
"You'd better!" Drake exclaimed with a laugh. "I wouldn't expect any less than an extraordinary match from you!" he added, to which the four of them shared a laugh. "Well, goodbye then." He bid farewell while pulling off the pokeball that was clipped to the necklace around his neck, before expanding it and finally threw it into the air.
The pokeball opened in mid-air and out of it formed Drake's ultimate pokemon: His Dragonite. The majestic dragon let out a roar as it landed next to its Master.
Drake jumped on Dragonite's back, before it lifted itself off the ground. "Good luck, you guys!" he yelled out as he gave a small wave, before Dragonite shot up into the air.
Ash, Misty and Pikachu waved until Drake and Dragonite disappeared in the horizon, after which they walked into the Pokemon Center…
[A little while later…]
'So our training starts tomorrow…' Ash thought as he turned his head to look at Pikachu, who was sleeping soundly next to his head on the pillow.
The three of them had rented a room at the Pokemon Center for the night, and had decided to head out the next day to start Ash's preparation for the battle. He and Pikachu had already taken a shower, and Misty was still busy with her own, so the two of them were lying on Ash's bed. While Pikachu had decided to hit the sack, Ash opted for lying on his back with his arms behind his head, and staring up at the ceiling above him.
He smiled to himself as he watched the yellow mouse sleep for a while, before returning his attention back to the ceiling, thinking about his team and strategies for his upcoming battle.
"Ash…" he heard someone whisper his name.
"Hm?" Ash exclaimed as he turned his head to his right, and laid eyes on Misty.
The red-head was standing in front of his bed, her hair down and a towel folded under her arm. He presumed that she had just finished her shower, evidenced by her slightly wet-looking hair.
"Misty?" he exclaimed as he gently sat up on his bed, conscious of the sleeping Pikachu next to him, holding himself up with his arms.
"Sorry, I was just checking if you're awake, because I wanted to say night…" she informed Ash. "I-if that's okay with you, of course…" she quickly added in a hushed tone.
"Well, sure." Ash said with a small smile, not really understanding why Misty sounded so nervous about something as trivial as that.
He soon found out why though, as Misty slowly sat down next to him on the edge of the bed. She then proceeded to gently wrap her arms around him, before softly planting her lips against his.
Ash kissed her back as best he could, but, as he tried folding his arms around the red-head; he forgot one crucial factor: His arms were keeping him up. So, consequently, he fell back down onto his back, with Misty, who still had her arms wrapped around him, fell down onto him.
The fall caused them to separate their lips from one another's, and, as they looked at each other with wide eyes, they started snickering together.
"Well, that wasn't what I had in mind…" Misty whispered as she made herself more comfortable by laying her head down on Ash's chest.
Her comment earned her a soft snicker from Ash, who slowly wrapped his arms around her.
They lied like that for quite a while, with neither one making a sound. Misty was content with listening to Ash's breathing and the rhythm that his heart was beating in.
"Alright…" Misty whispered as she slowly started getting up, having decided that they had to get some sleep.
"No…" a half-asleep Ash mumbled out as he pulled Misty, his current source of warmth, down against him once more. "Just stay here…You're nice and warm…" he sleepily continued, nuzzling his head into her hair.
"Ash, I don't think-"the red-head started protesting, but was cut off when Ash pulled her just a bit closer.
"Please…" Ash mumbled out again, looking at her with barely-open eyes.
Misty stared at him for a moment, before sighing in defeat. "Fine…" she mumbled. "But, no funny stuff!" she whispered as her head shot back up to glare at the boy.
"Yeah yeah…" Ash exclaimed while letting out a big yawn.
"Hmph." Misty exclaimed as she laid her head back down again, satisfied with his response, before contently sighing through her nose as her eyes drooped shut.
"Night, Ash…"
"G'night, Misty…"
Please remember to review! Please!
I'll try to get the next chapter out as soon as possible, it's still probably only about half-way.
Anyway, merry belated Christmas, and also enjoy the New Year! I'll probably see you guys again in 2015.
Take care.