Disclaimer – I don't own Pokemon. Never have, never will so lets just get on with the story.
Now before we begin, I just want to say a quick sorry of how long it has taken me to update this thing. I had written almost the entire story and was just waiting for inspiration on how to write the last page – basically from Team Rocket onwards, which as many know, battles and the like are not my strong suit. But anyways, don't let this author waffle put you off and read on.
On Angels Wings - Isn't It Ironic
"Shh Myst," Ash said calmly as he gently rubbed his hand up and down her back in a comforting manner. "It'll be alright now."
"How can you say that?" she asked him looking up with teary eyes. "Brock's dead and it's all my fault."
"How can you say that?" Ash countered with a slight chuckle. "Brock is not dead Misty, and even if he was I assure you it's not your fault," he insisted.
"But Ash . . ." she began but he cut her off, gently placing his index finger against her lips.
He didn't say a word after that as he slowly got up and offered his hand for her to take.
For a few moments all she could do was look at him. Something about him seemed different. She couldn't seem to figure out what it was, but she got the feeling that something had changed about him; that he wasn't the same boy as before.
She reached up and grasped his hand as he pulled her to her feet, once again brushing off the feeling that seemed to rush through her body.
"If there's any luck then Brock would have washed up somewhere, so if we follow the stream we should be able to find him," Ash spoke with an uncanny intelligence which always seemed to appear when it was needed the most.
"Pika," Pikachu agreed as it walked along the ground at his masters heals.
"But what if we don't find him?" Misty asked worriedly as she looked to the sky above for some sort of answer.
Brock was like an older brother to her. He couldn't die; it just wouldn't be fair. She had already lost far too many people in her few years of life, she couldn't handle another one, she didn't want to.
And what about his family? Brock had fourteen brothers and sisters that looked up to him, who he had been both father and mother to for a large portion of his life. What would they do if Brock were lost forever?
"Well then it only means one thing," Ash replied in a sombre tone, interrupting Misty's trail of thought, "that Brock has been washed out to sea where he was picked up by a bunch of pirates, and Johnny Depp, who decides to help him in his search for the black pearl.
"I'm sure wherever he is, he's happy," Ash told her in a mock serious tone as he stopped and put his hands on her shoulders. "I mean he gets to make out with that girl he liked from 'Bend It Like Beckham'."
Misty couldn't help but let out a giggle as she swatted away his hands. "I think you've got him confused with Orlando Bloom, dufus," she responded.
Ash just looked at her and smiled as he began to walk away. He had succeeded and that was all that mattered.
If acting like an idiot caused even the faintest hint of a smile to grace her beautiful face, then he would forever be an idiot in her presence.
Misty stood still for a few seconds.
She sighed. Just when she finally thought she understood Ash Ketchum, he did something like this to thoroughly confuse her once again. She didn't think she'd ever truly be able to understand him. She just hoped when she finally does come to her enlightened stage she won't be drinking anything, the hilarity of such a discovery would surely cause milk, or whatever beverage she was sipping on, to squirt out of her nose.
"Hey Ash, wait up!" she called as she realised just how long she had been standing thinking about him.
He turned around and laughed heartily at her as he walked backwards so he could watch her.
"Really Misty," he sighed smiling bravely at her. "Why can't you just admit that you can't keep up with the boys?"
"Ash Ketchum, why can't you just admit that I can?" she retorted glaring dangerously.
"Because that would be lying Myst," he called over his shoulder as he began to run away from her.
"Why I oughta . . ." she trailed off as he disappeared out of her view rather suddenly, almost as if he'd simply disappeared into thin air. "Where on earth are you Ketchum?" she asked more to herself than anyone as she searched her surroundings for him.
"Down here," a familiar voice replied.
Misty looked down, surprised to find a huge gaping hole in the ground in front of her feet, and even more surprised to find a grubbier than usual Ash Ketchum looking up at her, smiling coyly in her general direction.
"A little help please?" he offered looking at her pleadingly and reaching his grubby little hand towards her.
Misty scoffed and pushed her copper hair away from her face.
"Yeah right Ketchum," she replied glaring at him. "I've got a right mind to just leave you stranded there for the rest of eternity."
"Awww, c'mon Myst," he whined looking up at her pitifully, "you know I was only kidding."
"Why should I help you anyways?" she asked expecting some kind of lame-brained thoughtless excuse.
"Cos I'm your best friend?" he offered knowing straight off that it wouldn't work from the unchanging look in her eyes.
He was silent for a few seconds as he thought of the perfect reason though it brought up something, which was strictly taboo in all of their conversations. He guessed it was worth the risk.
"Because if you don't help me out of this hole I can honestly assure you that you will NEVER get your bike back," he told her crossing his arms across his chest and smiling smugly.
Misty looked unimpressed. "And whose to say the same can't be applied to me actually helping you out of this hole?" she asked waiting for the answer.
"Well, I guess when you put it that way," he said smiling sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head, "but at least this way the chances of you getting it back are slightly improved and . . ."
"Kasumi," a voice called distracting her from what Ash was saying. "If Ash Ketchum isn't out of that hole within the hour then we may be forced to take drastic measures of our own," the voice warned causing Misty to gulp.
"Fine, fine, fine," she sighed, cutting off Ash's explanation. "Just let me find something to help you up with," she told both the boy below and the heavenly beings above as she searched her surroundings for a rope or a vine or some kind of thingy-ma-jig she could use to help him out of the hole.
After a careful search, she discovered there was nothing even close to either of the two items she had hoped to fine anywhere near them. The only thing she could think of was to go back to the bridge and steal it's ropes, but after the happenings there not only had she sworn never to go anywhere near a bridge ever again, but she just didn't trust that bridge with her life or Ash's for that matter.
Misty looked down into the hole hoping that maybe it could answer her questions.
'Obviously not a Team Rocket hole,' Misty thought to herself with a smile after careful inspection.
For starters, the hole was very well camouflaged; there had been very little difference between it and the actual ground surrounding it. Secondly, the hole was very deep. It was at least twice the height of Ash, which despite Ash's lack of a growth spurt was still pretty deep. Team Rocket holes were characteristically idiotically shallow and they were usually able to climb out within seconds.
This was a different story. Even if Ash had been even the tiniest bit taller she wouldn't have been able to reach him so she was going to have to find another way around this problem.
"Only forty-nine minutes and twenty eight seconds," a celestial voice in her head reminded her as if answering some unasked question.
Misty's eyes narrowed dangerously. Damn, sometimes the Powers That Be could be real pretentious asses. Why did they have to always act so god damn faultless? I mean, aside from the fact that they were a whole other class of being that actually was perfect.
"Hey Misty," Ash called knocking her back to reality. "Could you quit glaring at random objects and help me out of this hole?" he suggested looking at her pleadingly and reaching both his arms up towards her like a small child.
"What kind of moron gets himself stuck in a trap anyway?" she muttered as she developed some sort of plan in her head which would be worthy of a little help from her spectators.
Misty sighed exasperatedly as she pulled her two prized pokeball's from her belt. She let out the two starfish and quickly explained to them exactly what she needed to happen.
Ash watched expectantly waiting for Misty to make her move. He was never sure what to expect from her, it was exhilarating just to be around her trying to guess her strategies and manoeuvres.
"Staryu, Starmie," Misty called happily looking to her Pokemon, "tackle attack."
"Misty I'm sorry," Ash pleaded as the two stars began to fly towards him at an incomprehensible speed. "I promise I'll get you your bike, just please don't kill me."
He covered his eyes praying to every god known to man that there really was a heart somewhere under Misty's harsh exterior; his life was depending on it.
A rush of air swept past him, tugging at his clothes and he was completely still for a few moments waiting for the pain to come.
'I must be dead,' he thought to himself as he slowly removed his hands from across his eyes. 'And this must be heaven,' he added as he looked up to see Misty's angelic face smiling back at him bathed in what could only be described as a heavenly glow.
"Wimp," she muttered as her smile contorted into a smirk and she tossed her hair over her shoulder dramatically.
Now he was sure it wasn't heaven. The smirk was just too real to be anything but the real Misty, the self-reputed spawn of Satan or something very much similar.
Pikachu laughed from its position above him still remembering that look of complete awe and adoration that had shrouded Ash's face only moments earlier. Now this was the sort of story he would have to tell their grandchildren.
If Ash had kept his eyes open for a few moments longer, perhaps he would have noticed the fact that Staryu and Starmie weren't actually aiming for him. Then he would have understood the rush of wind as the two went past, but of course he had expected death with Misty around.
Ash looked behind him where the two water-loving creatures balanced firmly embedded into the earth, one at two feet from the ground and the other at four feet. With them in place Ash was able to crawl up to a level where Misty was able to help him back up to somewhere above sea level.
"Um . . . thanks Myst," he said blushing as he took her hand in his so she could help him out of the hole.
He couldn't help but find it . . . well . . . ironic almost that they had found themselves so quickly in a position almost the exact opposite of their previous one.
"You're welcome," Misty replied, she too blushing but not yet willing to admit that fact.
"So . . . um," she continued lamely as her blushes turned to those of embarrassment. "Let's find Brock," she finished over-eagerly as she went off not daring to look back at Ash just in case he saw something in her that she didn't yet understand.
'Dammit,' Misty thought to herself as she walked ahead, cursing despite her celestial mind frame, 'why do I always end up acting like such a complete dork around him?'
It was a pretty fair question to ask, one we are sure to come across again in later chapters of this story. Heck, we may even find a way to answer it soon enough.
'Do you want me to tell you?' the mischievous voice of a fellow angel replied after tapping into her thoughts.
'Emilie, get out of my head right this instant or I will seriously kill you,' Misty replied in a voice that proved she was in fact telling the truth and had nothing against murder of the first degree.
'That's ok,' Emilie answered, totally unfazed despite Misty's threats, 'I'm already dead.'
'Arrghhh!' Misty cried out mentally in her anguish. 'You should just be glad I'm an angel, perhaps if I wasn't I'd be willing to overlook that fact. You'd be so . . .'
Misty was cut off mid-sentence. She would have been quite happy to continue her insane ramblings and plot her revenge upon Ash's heavenly counterpart but, to her surprise and horror, she was quite literally swept off her feet.
"Ash," she yelled calling on her only means of defence to get her out of another of these undeniably sticky situations she tended to find herself in, sometimes even without his help. It seemed that for once in all the time she had known him; he wasn't actually the reason for her to be hanging five feet above the ground.
"What Mis . . ." he began but trailed off once he saw the position she had gotten herself into.
"Remind me again Misty, what was that you were saying before about morons and traps?" he asked smiling smugly at her from his position on the ground and kindly resisting the urge to chuckle loudly.
"Just shut up and help me," she whined pitifully tugging slightly on the ropes, which only caused this ordeal to become more uncomfortable.
'This is your fault, isn't it?' she asked the angel in her head angrily. 'Just because I didn't help him out of the hole straight away you all decide to avenge the boy. In what twisted world are you living in where this is somebody's idea of a clever little joke? Have none of you ever heard of the term 'cruel and unusual punishment'? Because I think this pretty much falls into that category.'
"Give me one good reason why I should help you?" Ash replied repeating her tactics.
Obviously he was enjoying this. It was just so fun to taunt Misty some times, I mean especially when you knew that she couldn't hit you back.
"Because I'm your best friend," she replied sarcastically as she glared at him waiting for his response.
"Now ask nicely."
"Oh great Master Ash, will you please help me, a lowly servant of your brilliance, out of these ropes that restrain me?" she asked dramatically resisting the urge to barf all over him.
"Now we're talking," he said as he took a step forward unknowingly knocking another trick wire and ending up with himself and Pikachu in the exact same position as Misty.
Misty got straight into business. She carefully swung her net to one side, then back in the other direction so her feet hit Ash squarely in the back.
"That was for taunting me," she said as she pushed herself back again and repeated the process again. "And that was for screwing things up."
"Aw, c'mon Myst," Ash whined playfully smiling ever so sweetly, "how was I to know there was a second trick wire?" he asked.
"Pfft," she replied haughtily crossing her arms tightly across her chest and turning her nose in the air. She was not in the mood for arguing with Ash, especially seeing as she didn't have a comeback.
"Kasumi," the annoying little holy voice in her head warned once again, "do you want this situation to be more uncomfortable than it already is?"
'Pfft,' Misty called out once again, although this time in her head. "What could be worse than this?"
She wasn't scared of a few puny celestial beings with their flowing white robes and fluffy white wings. I mean really, what could they do to her from all the way up in heaven? Angels were peace-loving creatures who barely understood the meaning of cruelty.
Boy did she wish she had heeded their warning. Especially when her and Ash's nets seemed to some how moosh together so that they were both sitting in the same net.
How this had happened, she wasn't quite sure, but she would bet every penny she had that she at least knew who was behind it.
"Ok, you win," she sighed resignedly. "I admit it, this is worse; so are you gonna un-moosh our nets so that we can get out of here."
"As much as we would all like to help you out," a monotonous voice replied obviously mocking her through her awful predicament. "We're sorry Kasumi, but it's against our rules. I guess you guys are just going to have to get out on your own."
"What do you mean it's against heaven rules! What about that little stunt you just played with the net mooshing! Are you trying to tell me that was completely permissible and this isn't?"
"What 'net mooshing'?" the PTB replied. "We really have no idea what you are talking about, Kasumi."
"Fine then, have it your way," she muttered to them, obvious more than a little peeved, "but how exactly is it that we get out of this mess that is so totally not my fault?"
"I suggest you jiggle."
"Jiggle?" Misty muttered disdainfully aloud.
"What Misty?" Ash asked looking at her inquisitively.
"Oh I," she began to explain, "I was just thinking that maybe if we jiggled around a bit we could loosen the knots or something and get out."
"Jiggle?" he asked in a tone very similar to her own when she first found out about the suggestion. "Well I guess if there's nothing else we can do," he sighed tiredly.
And so Ash Ketchum and Misty Waterflower jiggled like they had never jiggled before doing everything they could to get out of their situation.
"Oww, that's my leg you dimwit!" Misty cried out in pain as Ash somehow managed to jiggle his foot into her shin.
"Sorry," he replied sheepishly, stopping mid-jiggle and scratching the back of his head – an obvious sign of his embarrassment.
"Ouch!" Ash cried out a few minutes later as Misty 'accidentally' jiggled her elbow into his stomach.
Actually, all things consider, I guess it really was some what of an accident. I mean, she hadn't actually meant to get his stomach if you catch my drift.
So as you can probably guess, things pretty much carried on like this getting funnier and funnier by the minute.
Perhaps that was why instead of straight away going to help his two friends out of their predicament, a not so dead Brock decided simply to stand slightly out of their line of vision chuckling silently to him self. However, after a few minutes, he did take pity on the two and let out a subtle cough, which caused the two to freeze mid-jiggle once again.
The two pre-teens eyes widened with surprise and recognition causing them to fall into stunned stupor. At least until –
"Ahhhhh! Ghost!" Misty screamed as she latched onto Ash and buried her face in his shoulder.
"He's not a ghost Misty," Ash reasoned shrewdly. "Ghosts are transparent and wear bed sheets with holes in them for eyes."
Brock rolled his 'eyes' at Ash's logic but agreed all the same. "I'm not a ghost Misty," he told her. "I know that for a fact."
"But how?" she asked as she moved as far away from Ash as she could get within the confines of the net. "You fell."
"I know, and Melanie saved me," he told her and within an instant her mind was flooded with images of Brocks ordeal.
Misty smiled as the familiar glint returned to her aquamarine eyes. "Who's Melanie?" she asked curiously smiling ever so innocently.
Brock immediately turned about ten different shades of red and turned his backs on them to work on the ropes in the hopes that they wouldn't notice. "She's the one who set the trap that you two idiots seemed to have managed to get yourselves caught in," he told them trying to act as normal as physically possible for Brock.
Misty just continued to smile smugly, at least until she and Ash dropped abruptly to the ground in a tangled heap of arms, legs and tail.
"Sorry," Brock offered shamefacedly despite the fact that he was glad to have that smug look wiped of Misty's face.
Pikachu growled, he wasn't happy about being stuck at the bottom of this heap of humans and Pokemon, and so without warning he let out a quick burst of electricity making the two trainers cry out in pain.
"I guess we should go see Melanie," Brock suggested trying his hardest not to laugh at his two friends. "She might be able to do something for those burns," he added as an afterthought.
"Thanks Brock," Ash strained before falling to the ground once again in a dead faint.
Later, in a delightful cottage in a small clearing not too far from the trap they had ended up in, our hero's sat around an old wooden table with a pretty burnet telling stories to one another about how they got here.
"So you're kind of like a nurse," Misty suggested after listening to the interesting tale that was being explained to them. "And this is kind of like a Pokemon centre."
"Well, unofficially," Melanie, the pretty burnet, replied thoughtfully, "but I guess that's really the best way to describe it. If the Pokemon are hurt or abandoned they can come here to heal without worrying about battles or trainers."
"But what about the traps?" Ash asked with boyish curiosity. "What's with all the precautions?"
"It's to keep away poachers and people who want to try and capture these Pokemon while they're still recuperating," she told him. "The Pokemon are too weak to defend them selves properly and some weak trainers try to take advantage of that."
"That's awful," Brock butted in dramatically. "And I can assure you Melanie that none of us would ever do something so utterly immoral."
"Um . . . thanks Brock," she replied. She wasn't quite sure what to say, and so to resolve her unease she quickly changed the subject. "Do you guys want a quick tour of the place?"
"Yeah, sure," Ash replied excitedly before anybody else had the chance to reply.
Melanie smiled at the young boys enthusiasm and then quickly got up and led them all outside to her Pokemon hideaway. Pokemon of all different types carried on together as if they were one family.
"Ash, look. A butterfree," Misty observed pointing the creature out to him.
"Wow, cool," Ash exclaimed just like a little boy. "Hey, maybe I should let my butterfree out to meet it?" he suggested as he pulled out the butterfly like creatures red and white Pokeball.
Ash held the ball poised in his hand ready to be thrown so he could call out the bug/flying type, but before he could even get the words 'Pokeball go' out of his mouth a green vine seemed to shoot our from nowhere knocking the ball out of his hand and onto the floor.
Another vine shot out in an instant pushing Ash backwards and while he was regaining his balance a score of razor sharp leaves came out of nowhere heading right for him.
Misty acted instantly. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes as if she was in deep thought. Within the darkness she reached towards a part of her mind that only her kind could employ and willed all harm to cease.
Ash tried desperately to move, but it was as if his mind and his body were two different things. His body had gone into shock and he was paralysed with fear and a sense of deadly familiar de ja vu.
Those razor sharp leaves continued to head towards him until suddenly they stopped and fell to the ground.
"Bad Bulbasaur," Melanie scolded, knocking Ash out of his trance. "Ash was just trying to let out his Pokemon."
"Bulba bul ba," the dinosaur type Pokemon replied as it turned it's back on the humans and began to sulk.
"Don't mind him," Melanie told them as she watched Bulbasaur from the corner of her eye. "He's just a little over-protective of the other Pokemon here. This is Bulbasaur; he feels it's his job to protect them. Sometimes I worry that maybe he does too good a job of it."
"What do you mean?" Misty asked seeing as the other two members of her group couldn't reply. Ash was still stunned from his second . . . no third – I've lost count – near death experience that day and Brock was too caught up in drooling over Melanie to pay any attention to what she was saying.
"It's safe here," Melanie replied with a sigh, "so safe in fact that the other Pokemon don't want to leave."
Ash nodded with understanding and shook himself out of his trance. He walked past Melanie to where Bulbasaur was still sulking (also known as eavesdropping giggle I ain't been dropping no eaves). He knelt down next to Bulbasaur and reached into his backpack for a peace offering – some of Brock's super-deluxe poke-chow.
"Please Bulbasaur," Misty spoke as she reached out to the Pokemon with her mind. "You can trust us. You can trust him."
But no matter how hard she tried to reach him, it really seemed futile. Bulbasaur had put up wall and Misty's words were rejected, though not unheard.
Bulbasaur glared at the new trio, each of them seemingly more despicable than the other. He didn't trust humans – aside from Melanie who had proven herself beyond words – and he hardly trusted other Pokemon, especially trained and loved ones like Pikachu who he couldn't help but envy.
But most of all – more than all those others combined – he didn't trust God. God had dealt him a foul hand, and as his representative, Misty had a lot of explaining to do.
These thoughts were sent to her via a tiny little Oddish nearby who wished to help Bulbasaur and save him from himself. She was sent all sorts of horrible, painful images of abandonment and abuse of the absolute worst kind. She had to physically restrain herself from shuddering as she assured the creature that she would do her best.
"I'm sorry you got the wrong idea Bulba," Ash told him affectionately. "I promise you I wasn't trying to catch Butterfree and I wouldn't ever try to catch any of the Pokemon here in the Valley. You have my word."
Bulbasaur seemed almost at a standoff with the tasty treat before him. He eventually conceded and offered Ash a sort of smile to show he understood and took the poke-chow from Ash's hand without another word.
"Wow Ash," Misty smiled teasingly, "looks like you've made a new friend. At this rate, he might stop glaring at you in a few years."
Ash just looked at her and replied smugly, "Just wait. I won you over didn't I?" to which Misty could only glare in response. God she hated it when Emilie was right.
The group walked blissfully around Melanie's little refuge. Melanie spoke of the torment the Pokemon had been through and her dreams to be a Pokemon Nurse as the others (especially Brock) listened dutifully and awed at the range of beautiful Pokemon around them.
In other words, it was time for Team Rocket to come into the equation and destroy all previous serenity.
The gruesome twosome appeared on the scene with the usual motto followed by the Meowth ready to put his two cents in. As usual the audience was nearly bored to tears, but that meant nothing to the team of troublemakers.
"Now give us all the Pokemons or we'll have to take them by force," Meowth demanded with an outstretched paw. "And that mean's Pikachu too, twerp!"
Ash was unfazed by their demands and quickly too his fighting stances. "Pikachu, thunder shock!"
"Oh no, you're not going to get away that easily," James muttered theatrically as he pressed the mythical red button.
"Meet robo-meowth," Jesse giggled as the three of them strapped themselves into the contraption. "State of the art, idiot proof German machinery. And, most importantly, resistant to electricity. Give us your best shot twerp."
Jesse smiled cruelly as she saw Ash's face dropped. Pikachu's electric based attacks had always been his answer to the rocket problem, but if things were as Jesse said they were, there was nothing Pikachu could do.
"Aw, just look at them," Jesse sighed gleefully. "It'll almost be a shame not to be around to see the look on their pitiful little faces when they realise that we've won."
Her comrades chuckled along with her as they watched the group's faces turn to sad determination. She loved it when they put up a good fight.
"Time to give these suckers a taste of their own medicine," Meowth growled as he pressed the other red button. The machine instantly converted itself into a super sucking vacuum cleaner (no surprise there) and set to work sucking everything around it as Pokemon and man alike stood their ground
'Geez,' Misty thought exasperatedly as she glared at the machine and its three dastardly passengers, 'why does it always have to be a red button? Why can't it be purple or blue or something nice that would inspire a sense of calm and serenity?'
Before anybody even had a chance to think about what was happening, Ash was already in action catching flightless Pokemon in mid-flight and landing them safely out of harms reach. Ash was in control, ushering humans and Pokemon to safety, issuing orders until almost everyone was safe inside the cabin.
All but one . . .
"Where's Bulbasaur?" Melanie asked desperately searching their safe house for the steadfast Pokemon.
Misty spotted him first, but then again, she had the advantage of knowing where to look. A wave of determination led her to where the plant Pokemon stood bravely and determinedly facing off Team Rockets' machine. He was clearly tiring, as though he'd used every attack within him in the desperate and futile attempts to save his companions.
"Bulbasaur!" Ash called as he ran out to meet him. "Come on, you've got to get out of there."
The small dinosaur looked to Ash, briefly regarding him and his motives before deciding on a look of mild annoyance. He continued to fight off the machine with he had, in spite of barely having the strength to ground himself.
"Please Bulbasaur," Misty begged the creature, silently praying for both their live, "let him help you. You don't have to face the world alone."
"Look what we have," Jesse smiled, scheming as she watched the scene unfold. "The twerp and his mouse have come out to play. I say we make matters interesting boys."
"Aye, aye cap'n."
"Suction to maximum power"
What happened next seemed to occur almost in slow motion. With the suction increased Pikachu was pulled into the air and on instinct alone, Bulbasaur's vines shot into the air to catch Pikachu. It was without thinking, for in doing so, he began losing his secure grip on the world and was dragged into the air.
Misty hardened her jaw. She was fully prepared to do everything in her power to save the two Pokemon stranded in mid-air, but as she attempted to move them out of harms way her powers were seemingly blocked and thus rendered useless.
"Cease Kasumi," the monotonous voice of the powers that be commanded sternly. "This is not your fight."
"But how am I supposed to help him?" she asked desperately as she gazed towards Ash who stood crying out instructions to the Pokemon above him. He held onto a nearby tree with one hand while the other stopped his hat - his most prized possession - from flying away.
"He must fight this battle alone, Kasumi," they replied vaguely. "He must be tested, and you must not interfere."
Misty sighed dejectedly. She felt so utterly helpless knowing that he was in need and there was so little she could do for him.
"Bulbasaur," Ash called to the bulbous Pokemon. "I need you to let me help you. You have to trust me."
The Pokemon's only reply was a steadfast glare. He refused to let anyone help him, he refused to trust another human. Years of torture and pain had taught him well; humans could not be trusted, they did not deserve to be trusted, they would not be trusted.
Ash locked eyes with Bulbasaur, attempting to confer information through whatever means available to him. His look of unfaltering determination matched that of the tiny dinosaur as he finalised the details of his plan in his head.
"Bulbasaur, I need you to let go," Ash explained, to which he received a look that was a mixture of confusion and stubborn refusal. Ash sighed and look to his own Pokemon who nodded his head in understanding. "I need you to let go of Pikachu," he added reluctantly, "and I need you to trust me."
Bulbasaur examined the boy in front of him for a few moments and awaited an explanation. There was something very sincere in his eyes and in his voice that almost made him want to believe in mankind. Was this mere boy truly about to sacrifice his own Pokemon for the life another?
And so, very slowly, Bulbasaur began to loosen his grip on the tree and on Pikachu, wrapped securely in his vines. There was no turning back.
Ash reacted quickly, calling for a thunderbolt attack as he released two empty pokeballs into the air. One collected Bulbasaur, safely securing him from harm; the other was for Pikachu who released his attack into the inner workings of the machine where it would do untold damage before he two was encased in that reproachable pokeball.
Misty smiled as Ash's precious hat flew into the air. 'At least there's one thing I can do,' she thought stubbornly to herself as she saved the hat from almost certain obliteration and Team Rocket were blasted off into the distant.
Once again, Ash had saved the day with only a little of Misty's celestial help.
With the danger overcome, Ash immediately let the two Pokemon out of the pokeballs that had encased them. Pikachu glared at Ash for a moment as he was set free of his poke prison, but was soon sharing high fives with his friend and master. Bulbasaur seemed uncertain as he was set free and curiously watched the scene play out between Ash and Pikachu.
Misty walked slowly over to the small group carrying her spoils of war; she had saved the cap, even if she hadn't been allowed to save Ash himself. Oddish trailed happily behind her, apparently taking a fancy to the celestial being.
She smiled as she placed the hat atop his head. He got up slowly from his crouched position and looked her with a curious smile.
"You did good, Ketchum," she explained almost ruefully, flicking his cap into place.
"Is that a compliment, Misty?" he asked as a broad smile spread to his lips.
"Maybe," Misty replied with a shrug, "but you better not let it go to your head."
Bulbasaur watched this too, with curious interest. He thought about everything that had just occurred, and couldn't help but be just a little bit awed by Ash's actions. The boy didn't have to save him; he could have left him to his own defences and simply saved his own Pokemon. It made him wonder if maybe he had been a little too hasty in his judgement of the human race.
But it also made him sad, and as those thoughts began to take hold, he quietly slipped away from the joyous celebrations of victory around.
"Bulbasaur, wait," Ash called as he ran to the creature's side and crouched down beside him. He smiled as he looked towards Melanie and Brock who each nodded their head in approval.
"I was wondering if you would like to come with us," he said gesturing broadly to his friends.
"Bulba," he replied.
"On one condition," Melanie explained for him. "You have to do it properly."
Ash nodded his head in determination. "I wouldn't have it any other way."
to be continued
An after thought: Oddish let out a startled cry as the group attempted to leave Melanie's plantation.
"I don't think she wants you to leave," Melanie explained to the group with a sympathetic smile.
Misty shared Melanie's sympathetic smile as she crouched down beside the tiny Oddish and stroked her leafy appendages. "Don't worry," Misty cooed kindly. "I know you're going to miss Bulbasaur, but you'll be fine without him."
"I think she meant you Myst," Ash laughed seeing this strange maternal side of Misty. "Not Bulbasaur."
Misty looked confused as she turned to Melanie for an explanation. "I think Oddish has taken quite a shine to you Misty," Melanie explained happily. "I mean, if you don't mind . . ." she began though trailed off without explanation.
Misty smiled as she took the Oddish in her arms. "Welcome to the family."
to be continued . . . specifically in the next chapter
Just kind of wanted to give Misty Oddish and therefore threw that unnecessary little closer in there at the end. I swear I had it written better in my head, I just didn't write it down for about 12 hours so now it's a bit cheesy.
Anyway, I've already started on the next chapter – in fact I've been writing this and the following chapter simultaneously. It's the Lavender Town one with the ghosts, which I'm sure will be very interesting with a little bit celestial interference thrown in there. So if you want to see that, review and I'll do my best.
Also, I apologise for making Misty a bit weepy and OOC. The simple fact of the matter is that if she cries Ash must comfort her and it makes a very cute scene and if you've read Reasons of the Heart, then you know I just can't get enough of that kind of scene.