Disclaimer – I do not own Pokemon. I do however own the lovely French angel Emilie.

On Angels Wings – Awfully Sensational

Misty smiled as she walked down the road. She took a quick glimpse at her companions beside her. There were three of them now. Ash and Pikachu - of course - and the newest addition to the group, Brock Slate the Pewter gym leader.

Ash proudly flashed his newest accomplishment, the Pewter boulder badge he had recently won from Brock. Misty had helped a little of course; heck she'd even turned on the water sprinkles with a little help from the PTB. Not that she was gong to be telling any body any time soon.

After winning - undeserved she might (constantly) add - the boulder badge Ash was practically bouncing off the walls apart from the fact that there weren't any walls on the road. It was his first Pokemon League badge and they all hoped not his last. Not that Misty was going to be mentioning that either.

Brock had decided to join them hoping to get in some breeding skills and help Ash with his training. Misty wasn't complaining, he was the best cook around and that was all she needed to know.

They had had so many adventures already just between the Viridian Forest where she and Ash had met and the dusty road the four of them walked along.

Soon after they left the Pokemon centre in Viridian Ash had caught a Caterpie. Misty had insisted that he did it just to spite her because of her intense fear of bugs, especially Caterpies and Weedles. Caterpie tried to get Misty to like it, but when she refused Ash decided to try and go off without her. Too bad she couldn't let things stay that way.

'Too bad,' Misty thought. The PTB had rules and one of the top one was not letting the kid that you're supposed to be guarding out of your sight which isn't an easy task when you're half mortal and need at least four hours sleep. Plus he still owed her a bike so she wasn't letting him go anywhere.

Misty was pleased when Caterpie evolved into Metapod during a battle with the infamous team rocket and one with a Pidgeot that Ash had somehow managed to catch in spite of everything. She smiled at the memory of the three bumbling fools as they tried to catch Pikachu with their silly gadgets and robots. She knew they didn't have a chance, especially with her on his side. Did you ever wonder why Team Rocket got blasted so far from just one thunder shock?

She was even happier when Metapod evolved into a Butterfree during Ash's battle against the samurai. Butterfree was the only good sort of bug Pokemon if any; at least they were kind of pretty and half flying.

'That was one strange kid with no dress sense,' Misty reminisced of the samurai with a slight smile on her face.

She'd also got in trouble a few times with the PTB for fighting with Ash. Like when she tried to "lecture" Ash after he put Caterpie up against Pidgeotto. The words 'moron' and 'idiotic' came up a lot and it turned out that they wanted her to be nice to him. Good thing team rocket had shown up when they did or she probably would have said a lot worse.

"Where are we off to next, Brocko?" Ash asked.

Misty giggled to herself at the way Ash had taken it upon himself to give them all nicknames. There was Brocko, and Pik and . . .

"Myst?" Ash asked. "What's so funny?"

"Don't call me that," she scorned at him. It wasn't that she didn't like him calling her Myst; actually she thought it was kind of cute, but then she had to keep up an image. An image that proclaimed his doom if he so much as looked at her the wrong way, and let's face it, images have to be maintained. She certainly couldn't let him thing that she was nice, now where's the fun in that?

"Nothing that concerns you anyway," she continued turning her nose up and taking a long stride away from him and closer to Brock.

Brock barely noticed her, his head buried in a map he struggled to understand. It probably didn't help that it was practically upside-down but at least they weren't lost, and that's all that mattered.

Misty hated being lost, she had a fetish about being late and being lost always led to lateness. She didn't mention it knowing that the boys wouldn't understand, especially Ash, from what she understood he was late collecting his Pokemon, which is how he ended up with Pikachu.

"So where'd you say we were heading?" Misty asked Brock peering over his shoulder.

"He didn't say," Ash replied.

"Was I talking to you?" she asked shooting Ash a glare. She had to do everything in her power not to smile as he cowered back slightly. It was cute even if it was Ash.

'The Waterflower glare wins again,' she joked to herself almost cringing as she thought about the name that linked her to the "Sensational Sisters" of Cerulean City.

Brock took a look at the map hoping he was right. "My guess is as good as yours, but I'd say Cerulean."

"Cerulean City?" Misty asked hoping he meant anything else. She stopped suddenly and held her breath waiting for his answer.

"The one and only," Brock said not noticing her reluctance to let it be.

'Why do boys have to be so completely and utterly clueless?' Misty asked herself as she tried to convince herself that she could do this and that she could make it through Cerulean without having to see her sisters or anyone she knew.

"Something wrong Myst?" Ash asked actually noticing her sudden resistance to go on and the slight green colour coming to her unusually pale cheeks.

'Great, the one guy that isn't totally clueless and he just happens to be the kid I have to protect until the day one of us dies.'

"Nothing," she said quickly. "Just a little tired," she lied. "I think that I'm just going to go to the Pokemon centre and just sleep for like ever."

"Sleep after I win the cascade badge," Ash told her trying to sound like he wasn't worried sick about her right now.

Misty felt physically ill. She was scared and all that anxiety was getting to her. She had butterflies in her stomach, she could barely move and worst of all she had said 'like'. She'd sounded just as air headed as her sisters and that was not a good thing for her.

"Actually you know what," Misty said suddenly almost as an after thought. "Why don't you guys go ahead? I'll catch up later."

"Pikachu pika," Ash's Pokemon asked.

"I'll be fine," she said bending down and patting him lightly. Pikachu smiled and rubbed against her hand like a cat.

Ash sighed with relief as some of the colour came back to her cheeks. "We'll meet you at the gym after the battle," Ash suggested and shrugged his shoulder as he turned away acting like he didn't care.

Pikachu hung back a few seconds looking at Misty. He liked her and he knew Ash did too, and he knew Ash didn't really want to go off without her. Pikachu didn't want to either.

'Don't make him battle without you,' Pikachu begged her silently using his eyes to convey most of the message.

"Go with Ash," she told him. "I'll be fine, I promise." She drew a cross over her heart. "Ash needs you more than I do," she told Pikachu.

Pikachu rubbed itself against Misty's leg one last time before catching up to Ash.

"Good luck," she called after them.

Ash looked back and smiled at her before continuing to the gym.

She'd tried to convince him not to go to Cerulean. She'd even tried to divert them by using a bit of her celestial magic on the map they were following. Too bad Brock didn't know how to read a map and they ended up following the road to Cerulean anyway. Misty had tried to put them off telling Ash that the Cerulean gym leader was really mean and that they were the hardest leader to beat. She wasn't exactly lying seeing as many trainers had told her that, she was just being a little egotistical and embellishing the truth, which was totally different from lying. After all, celestial being don't lie.

She'd even tried reverse psychology but it seemed Ash didn't fall for that. It was annoying; the boy would fall over his feet if his laces weren't tied up the right way but not for a few mind games just so she wouldn't have to see her sisters.

Chances were that her sisters had shut it down anyway. That's what they had planned to do before she left and she couldn't see any of them changing their minds for her benefit. Stubbornness was a trait that seemed to be shared by all four girls and most of the time the eldest got her way followed by the others accordingly by age leaving Misty till last.

"Damn Water Shows," Misty muttered to herself. That was the reason why her sisters wanted to close down the gym that had been in their family since the League had been established. She loved the gym, it was a memory of her parents and she didn't want to let them go.

A small tear rolled down her face. She always cried when she thought about her parents. She loved them and they were gone. That's why she didn't want to love anyone ever again, because when she loved people they were taken away from her and vice versa. So she promised herself she wouldn't get close to anyone.

Misty sighed and started walking.

She could almost see the PTB glaring down at her angrily from the sky, and they probably would be if they were allowed to get angry. It was times like these she was thankful for emotion or at least their lack of it.

She knew exactly why they'd be angry, if they could.

"Rule number one," she muttered. "An angel is not allowed to leave her assignments side." Good thing she was only half angel, the human part made up for all her mistakes. Humans could make mistakes; humans could break rules because humans had freewill, emotions and hearts. Angels didn't, so angels had to follow the rules and mistakes were out of the question because mistakes usually cost lives for them.

Misty picked up her feet trying to look enthusiastic for her spectators above.

She knew Cerulean like the back of her hand, which made it easy to choose the fastest route to the gym, her gym. She was there before Ash would even have the chance to ask for directions. She crept into the room where the battles were usually held making sure her sisters didn't see her. She found a hiding place where she wouldn't be seen and got comfortable expecting a long wait.

The room was large. It had rows of bleachers on each side from where you could watch the matches, that's where Misty had hidden knowing from experience that it was the best hiding place. In the middle was an Olympic sized swimming pool with large floating platforms for the trainers to battle from and another in the middle for the Pokemon.

Misty loved this room. She presumed that it wasn't used for matches anymore. Her sisters wouldn't dare have a Pokemon battle; they might break a nail or something. God forbid. Their Pokemon weren't even suited to battling thanks to the years they had spent doing the prissy little water shows.

About half an hour later she heard one of her sisters voices.

"Come with me, ok?" she said. "I'll take you through to like the match room but I can't promise anything until I like talk to my sisters."

It was Violet, and Ash followed right behind her with Pikachu at his heals. Pikachu looked up to the bleachers as he sensed Misty's presence.

'Don't say a word,' she willed to the yellow mouse Pokemon. Pikachu nodded in response.

"Like Daisy, Lilly," Violet called. "Can you come in here?"

"Sure," two voices replied. A few seconds later Misty's two other sisters entered the room.

"We like have a challenger," Violet told them.

"Damn, that's like terrible," Lilly whined.

"I'm sorry," Daisy told him as she saw the way his face went down. "Our Pokemon were like wiped out by some kid a couple of days ago. You know I think he was from Pallet too."

"We only have like a Goldeen that's fit for battle and you see we can't exactly use her cause she's like not exactly ours," Violet told him apologetically.

"Oh," Ash said sadly.

"We could give you the Cascade badge anyway," Daisy suggested her eyes sparkling thanks to her brilliant idea.

Ash was taken aback. Misty had told them that these were the toughest gym leaders around, that they were meaner than mean, but they were giving away a gym badge so they wouldn't have to battle.

"I'm not sure," Ash said. "Wouldn't that be cheating?"

"Of course not," Lilly told him. "You see the gym leaders can give these out like to whoever they want. If we see someone who probably could have won but didn't we give them a badge and voila everyone's like happy."

Ash looked at her suspiciously.

'Boy is he going to be surprised when he finds out these are my sisters,' Misty chuckled to herself watching from above.

"Are you sure its alright," Ash said looking at the badge Daisy was holding out to him sceptically.

"Totally," one of Misty's sisters voiced. She wasn't quite sure which one but she had the feeling it was all three.

'That's it,' Misty thought to herself. 'They are not giving one of my gym badges out for no particular reason.'

Ash reached towards the badge battling his conscience, which kept telling him that this wasn't the right thing to do and that he should earn it. But then there was this little voice telling him that Gary was way ahead and that this would be the best way to catch up.

"Don't you dare take that badge Ash Ketchum," Misty said as she ran down the bleachers flipped over the bar and landed right in front of them not waiting for her deserved applause after such a display.

"What are you doing here Myst?" Ash asked.

"I'm the fourth Sensational Sister," Misty replied cringing at the name.

"Correction," Lilly said. "There are only three sensational sisters." She held up her three fingers for emphasis.

Misty took a deep breath and counted backwards from ten trying to control her temper.

"So little sis," Daisy said. "It's a surprise to see you back so soon."

"I'm not surprised," Violet said. "That little girl who said she wouldn't be back here until she was a great Water Pokemon Trainer, wasn't that you?"

"Maybe I did say something along those lines before I left," Misty shrugged trying to seem nonchalant about the whole situation.

"No wonder Misty was so dead-set about not coming here," Ash muttered to Pikachu. He was beginning to realize why Misty hadn't been too upset about being without her sisters and why being right seemed so important to her.

"Pika," the Pokemon agreed rather than telling his trainer that he knew all along.

"Misty you left pretending you wanted to be a Pokemon trainer because you couldn't compare to us," Lilly said haughtily. "It's obvious how jealous you are simply because we are so much more talented and like beautiful than you are."

"THAT WAS NOT THE REASON I LEFT AND YOU KNOW IT," Misty screamed. Ash backed away almost on instinct.

"Whatever Misty," Violet did.

"It wasn't my idea to come back here," Misty continued her glare alternating between Ash and her sisters. "I'm only here because he made me." She pointed at Ash then bent down to stroke Pikachu like she always did.

"Oh my gosh like how cute," Lilly exclaimed to her sisters.

"What?" Misty and Ash asked.

"He's your boyfriend," she cried.

"What?" Misty screamed louder this time. Ash froze as his face took on a look of complete shock as his face flushed about fifty different shades of scarlet in the span of thirty seconds.

"He is kind of cute for a kid," Violet said inspecting Ash from different angles. "He's like totally not someone I'd choose as a boyfriend but then you're no prize your self."

"He is not my boyfriend," Misty said angrily now focusing her glare solely on her sisters. "I'm only hanging out with him because he broke my bike."

Ash looked at Misty and had to mentally stop himself from backing away this time. She looked really angry and that was definitely the worst glare he'd ever seen Misty sport, it gave him chills just looking at her. He was glad for once that it wasn't focused at him.

"Sure Misty," Daisy replied smiling at how annoyed her sister was getting and rolling her eyes for impact. "That's why he already has a nickname for you."

Misty blushed and looked down. "He is not my boyfriend," she muttered.

"I'm sorry but am I missing something?" Ash asked looking from one sister to the other hoping that maybe he would be able to divert them from this idea of him and Misty being boyfriend and girlfriend. "I thought you said there were only three sensational sisters."

"There are," Lilly said. "Three Sensational Sisters and a RUNT."

Misty glared at them threateningly. She grabbed Ash by the wrist and pulled him towards the door. Pikachu chased after them.

"They like do make a cute couple even if she does say he's not her boyfriend," Daisy said.

"What about my badge?" Ash asked her as she dragged him away.

Misty stopped suddenly remembering the sole purpose of the visit back to her hometown. She didn't want to spend another second here with her sisters but she knew Ash would be disappointed if they left without a badge.

Misty began dragging him back in the direction they came from stopping right in front of her sisters.

"If they won't battle you then I will," she told Ash pronouncing 'they' distastefully. She shot one last glare at her loving sisters before showing Ash where to go and heading to her own platform. "And I'll prove to you that I'm just as good a trainer as you are," she added to her sisters.

"I have to warn you though," she told him as she organized her poke balls on her belt. "I'm practically undefeated."

"Good," Ash said smiling, "because I'm not going easy on you just because we're friends."

Misty smiled.

Ash usually got really serious before a battle; he usually turned into this completely different person that's only focus was winning and his Pokemon. But this time was different; he hadn't changed into battle mode. It seemed just like a game to both of them and the badge was probably the furthest thing on either of their minds.

"Oh how sw . . ." Daisy started to exclaim but was cut off by a glare from Misty. They all shared the glare, but it seemed Misty was the best at it making grown men quiver in their boots. "I'll be quiet," Daisy said quietly.

"Ok this is like a two on two battle, k?" Violet announced. "Begin."

"Go Pikachu. This one will be a piece of cake," Ash said looking out to the pool proudly.

He knew Misty didn't have a chance with Pikachu on his side. It only took him a few seconds to realize that Pikachu wasn't out there. He fell down anime style as he saw Pikachu still by his side.

"Pikachu what are you doing?" Ash asked in a confused tone.

Pikachu shook his head.

"You don't want to fight Misty," Ash sighed. Pikachu nodded. Misty stifled a giggle. Ash reached for one of his poke balls and let it go. "Go Butterfree."

"Go Staryu," Misty calls.

Ash pulls out his pokedex as he always did when Pokemon were about.

"Staryu. The core of this water Pokemon shines in a rainbow of seven colours. A core that is valued by some as a type of jewellery."

"Leave it to Misty to show off her jewellery," Ash muttered.

And the battle began.

Butterfree started with a whirlwind attack. Staryu reciprocated with a water gun, which Butterfree dodge easily. Butterfree tried a stun spore attack, which Staryu dodged by diving under the water.

"You know she is pretty good," Lilly whispered to her other sisters watching how skilfully the two battled together.

Both trainers called for tackle attacks and the rest of the battle continued much the same way until Butterfree was hit by Staryu's water gun and knocked straight into the water ending the round.

Misty smiled smugly as Ash went for his next Pokemon.

"Kachu," Pikachu said happily.

"You're supposed to be on my side," Ash sighed. "Go Pidgeotto," he called sending out his next Pokemon.

Misty returned Staryu knowing that Pidgeotto was at a higher level and sent out her Starmie, one of her favourite Pokemon.

This battle started much the same way with a gust attack from Pidgeotto. Starmie stood its ground and took aim with a swift attack.

Starmie was out classed by the bigger Pokemon and was close to faint as its gem began to blink.

Then suddenly there was a big crash and a giant vacuum crashed through the wall.

"Prepare for trouble."

"And make it double."

'Not again,' Misty thought to herself. She'd only heard it twice and already she was sick of the thing. 'You'd think at their age they'd be a little more creative, I mean they've got a talking cat. But then again you'd think at their age they'd have better things to do than chasing around three kids and a Pikachu.'

"To protect the world from devastation."

"To unite all people within our nation."

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To extend our reach to the stars above."

"Jesse."

"James."

"Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light."

"Surrender now and prepare to fight."

"Meowth that's right."

"You know most people tend to use the door," Misty glared at them. It was no surprise she was angry, this was her home they were ploughing through the walls of even if she wasn't currently living there.

"Excuse me," Lilly said suddenly. "I don't mean to ruin your act and all, I mean I like totally understand if you're upset or anything being fellow performers and all, but were kind of like busy now. Do you mind coming back later?"

Misty sighed exasperatedly and Ash stifled a laugh as all three members of team rocket fell down.

"What?" Lilly asked looking to her sisters who shrugged.

Team Rocket quickly composed them selves and stood in fighting stances.

"We're taking you're Pikachu kid," Jesse said.

"And all the Pokemon in the place," Meowth added.

Pikachu's cheeks sparked threateningly.

'Not yet,' she warned him. She knew that if Pikachu shocked them now the whole place would be affected and all the Pokemon injured. She needed to get them out somehow.

"That's what you think," Misty said pulling out her Staryu's poke ball. "Staryu, hydro pump."

Ash stared with surprise. He didn't realize that Misty's Pokemon knew such a powerful attack.

Misty used her powers to aid Staryu in pushing the tank out of the gym or at least far enough away so that Pikachu could use an electric attack.

"Your Pokemon have the advantage, but if we steal the water . . ." Jesse smiled.

"Then the Pokemon are ours for the taking," Meowth finished.

She got them almost out the gym when suddenly they pushed back and placed a hose in the pool and began to suck up all the water. Worn out, Misty and her Pokemon had stopped their attacks.

"Now suck 'em up," Meowth commanded turning on the vacuum

Ash smiled as the perfect plan came to him.

As the vacuum came closer to him Ash called out for an electric attack. Misty smiled and helped Pikachu giving Team Rocket an unnoticed extra push in the right direction, up.

"Were all washed up," they cried leaving with yet another bad pun.

"You like saved the gym," Daisy, Lilly and Violet told Ash happily.

"Here," Daisy said handing him the cascade badge. "You earned it. You too," she said as she bent down to stroke Pikachu.

Pikachu smiled slightly disappointed that her touch wasn't as soft as Misty's, though nobodies was.

Ash smiled and held it out proudly in his victory pose.

"What do you mean he earned it?!" Misty yelled stalking over to the other side of the pool. "I'm the one who did all the work. He could have blown the place up with that thunderbolt."

"Ash would have beat you anyway if he'd used Pikachu," Violet shrugged.

"But he didn't," Misty practically screamed. "I was winning."

"Do you want one too, Misty?" Daisy asked.

"No," Misty said. "It's not like I could do anything with it anyway. Gym leaders aren't allowed to collect their own badges."

Her sisters shrugged their shoulders. They suddenly took Misty in a huge hug. Ash had to hold his breath to suppress his laughter.

"We missed you like so much Misty," Violet smiled.

Misty smiled. "I missed you guys too," Misty whispered quietly so that Ash wouldn't hear her. She didn't want him to think she was soft. "I'm glad you kept the gym."

"We couldn't let it go after realizing how much it meant to you," Daisy said as she wiped tears from her eyes.

"Thanks," she whispered. She pushed away from her sisters and they all let out a laugh for no particular reason.

Ash sighed and shook his head. "Sometimes it seems like girls are from a whole other planet," Ash sighed.

"Pika."

"Here," Daisy said handing Misty a poke ball.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Someone you forgot last time," Daisy smiled.

Misty opened it to reveal a Goldeen. "Oh my gosh," Misty gasped. "It's gorgeous."

"We knew you'd like it," Violet said as each of them gave her another hug.

"Hey, uh, Myst . . . ty," he added remembering her sisters comment about the nickname.

"What?" she asked not bothering to turn around.

"I don't mean to break up anything," he started. "I . . . I mean we . . . I mean . . . if you still want to come with me . . . need to leave. It's getting late and . . . you know, Brock might worry."

Daisy lifted an eyebrow suggestively.

Misty smiled. "He's just the other guy we travel with," she said.

Misty was struggling to understand why she was smiling. She felt like she was being forced to choose between her sisters and Ash. She knew that this was a hard decision, but it had already been decided for her. No matter how much she loved her sisters, she had to go with Ash and that was that.

"I guess I have to go," she said with a slight sigh. Out of the corner of her eye she could see a smile find its way onto Ash's face.

"Oh," her sisters said a slight note of sadness in their voices. They tried to put on happy voices and smiles so as not to discourage her, but Misty knew better, because she was trying too.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you guys will be able to run this place fine without me," Misty told them. "Anyway," she added. "I told you I wasn't coming back before I earned my title and I think I'm a long way from my goal. Plus, he still owes me for a bike," Misty pointed over her shoulder nonchalantly. "If I don't go with him now chances are I'll never see him or my bike again."

"Well don't be too long," Violet said with a tear in the corner of her eye.

It almost made Misty feel like crying. Sure her sisters had been mean to her but they were the only family she had and leaving them behind was a lot harder this time around.

"I promise I'll visit as often as possible," she said. "But I can't promise much, neither of them know how to read a map."

'Speaking of which,' she thought undoing the magic on the map knowing that it probably wouldn't do them much good anyway.

"Bye guys," she said giving them a quick hug before returning her Pokemon.

She and Ash headed out the door. She took another glance back at her sisters who were all waving at them and crying. A tear rolled down her cheek as she waved goodbye to her sisters for who knows how long.

"What?" she asked noticing the look Ash was giving her. She certainly didn't like it and if he didn't stop it she was going to have to do some serious damage to him.

"So the tin girl does have a heart," Ash said as he looked at her with a slight smirk present in his voice and smile.

She quickly switched back to terminator mode. "Tell anyone about this and I'll kill you," she said through her teeth still smiling and waving at her sisters.

Ash gulped.

Pikachu shook his head and jumped into Misty's arms preparing to fall into a gentle slumber as Misty's gentle touch caressed his fur.

As they turned to walk away none of them noticed the faint silhouette of an angel that always followed close behind.

to be continued

A nice long one don't you think? Sorry about the battle scene, I've never been too good at them; give me a kiss any day and I'll write you two pages, give me a battle and you're lucky if you get two worthwhile lines.

Please Review, I'd really like some idea's on anything that anybody thinks I should include. I'm trying to do a mixture of original chapters and actual episodes but it's not easy to come up with new idea's especially when this is a little out of my genre.