Chapter three, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you enjoy and I'll see you at the end. Sorry for the delay but this was a tough one to write.

Note: The following chapter is mostly plot exposition/filler to set up where the story will mostly take place so bare with me on this.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

On with the story:

Chapter 3: New Digs

[Indigo Plateau: 3 Days later]

"Ash! Over here!"

Ash turned as he got out of his car, Pikachu on his shoulder, and saw an older man roughly in his mid-forties, jogging towards him.

The man had carmine colored short hair that was spiked, brown-yellow eyes, he wore what looked like a dark blue jumpsuit with three orange lines going down the middle of it, a black belt around his waist, black boots with two orange stripes that went around the top of the boots to make a ring and a black cape with a dark red color on the inside of it.

"Hey, Lance." Ash greeted.

"Pika." Pikachu greeted.

The Indigo and Johto champion stopped in front of Ash and shook the young master's hand.

"It's good to see you again. You too, Pikachu. Sorry I couldn't be at the ceremony." Lance said as he pulled his hand out of the shake and led Ash out of the car park.

"No worries Lance. You did miss a hell of a party, though. It was awesome." As Ash said this, a tiny gleam appeared in his eyes.

Lance saw this and grew curious.

"Did anything happen at the party that might be of interest?" Lance asked with a knowing smirk.

Ash looked confusedly at the champion.

"What do you mean, Lance?"

Lance just gave a hearty laugh before answering the confused master.

"You've got a little gleam in your eyes that, usually, I've only ever seen when someone has a little love in their life." Lance said, putting emphasis on the word love.

Ash started to blush intensely and Lance let out another hearty laugh as he gave Ash a friendly pat on the back.

"Well, well. Looks like the clueless master's finally got himself a girl." Lance laughed as he continued leading Ash out of the car park.

"Yeah I guess I d-" He suddenly realised what Lance had said. "HEY! I am not clueless!"

"Admit it Ash. You are a little clueless sometimes."

Ash didn't respond. He just crossed his arms over his chest, turned his head, and looked up with a 'hmph'. As they exited the car park, Lance lead Ash down towards a path made of what looked like cobblestone. As they kept walking they eventually entered what appeared to be a medium sized garden.

Ash and Pikachu looked on at the garden with amazed expressions. The garden was filled with various trees, flowers, and other forms of plant life. at the center of the garden was a fountain with a gold statue of Ho-Oh and a silver statue of Lugia flying around each other in a circle. In between them was the League Symbol. What surprised the two the most however, was the huge building that was a few meters behind the fountain.

The building stood at 819 meters tall. The front curved in slightly and after the first two-hundred floors, large balconies could be seen going up the next hundred. The back of the building was like an arrow with a curved tip going half way up and began to slant as it reached the top. The top of the building curved and had a large circular hole going through it. In the center of the hole was a glass, egg shaped dome being held by three thick metal holdings, kind of like a propeller on an airplane. A few feet from the ground, on the left and right side of the building, was the league symbol.

"Welcome to the Indigo Tower, guys." Lance said as he smiled at the expression's on Ash's and Pikachu's faces.

"This... Is incredible!" Ash said in awe, his eyes still on the mighty tower.

Lance laughed. "It should be. We got the best builders and engineers from LaRousse City to work on it. This tower is now the official Headquarters for the Indigo and Johto Pokémon league. Everything is organised and monitored right here. There are currently four more towers, like this one, currently under construction in Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova and Kalos. All with the same purpose as this one."

"...Wow..." Was all Ash could say.

Lance chuckled. "C'mon, I'll show you 'round the new digs."

Lance walked towards the front doors of the tower with Ash following close behind.

The inside of the tower was equally as impressive as the outside. Maybe more so. The lobby was quite large with a black carpet spreading around the entire floor, white walls with a Pokéball made of glass on each one, three glass elevators at the back of the room, lights coming up from the floor, a white ceiling with a glass dome on top allowing the sunlight to come through, a few videophones on the right wall of the room, and a circular reception desk in the center of the room with a hologram of the league symbol spinning above it.

"How long did this take to build?" Ash asked, admiring the interior of the building.

"Construction took three years. They only finished two weeks ago." Lance explained.

"Only three years? But this place his huge." Ash said incredulously.

Lance just shrugged. "LaRousse builders, best in the world." He said as he made his way to the back of the room.

Ash and Pikachu continued to look around the large room until they heard Lance calling from the other side.

"Guys, this way."

Ash and Pikachu looked towards the elevators and saw Lance holding open the doors to one of them. Ash ran up to the elevator with Pikachu on his shoulder and got in. Once the doors closed, Lance pressed a button at the very top of the elevator panel. Ash nearly lost his balance once the elevator started moving. Lance chuckled.

"Express elevators. Due to the height of the building we had the LaRousse engineers design an elevator that goes as fast as a bullet train. You get use to it after awhile." He explained.

"How many floors are there?" Ash asked.

"Over five-hundred. the first two-hundred being offices, cafeterias and so on. The one-hundred floors after that are arenas for training and sparring with their own Pokemon centers, and the last two-hundred floors are living quarters for guests from the other regions or for me, you or any of the Kanto gym leaders to stay if we have work to do that requires us to stay in indigo for a period of time. the five-hundredth floor, where we're heading now, is the place where the champions from each region or the gym leaders of Kanto and the master have private meetings. It also doubles as the G-men command center." Lance explained.

"I can't wait to see it!" Ash exclaimed excitedly.

"Pika!" Pikachu said with the same level of excitement as his trainer.

After another three minutes the elevator finally came to a stop. The doors opened and the occupants stepped into the egg shaped glass dome. The interior of the dome was metal and had a working staff of seven. Each at their own computers typing away. In the center of the dome was a medium sized, square table with a holographic map of Kanto and Johto on it. Sunlight was shining in from the large glass ceiling giving extra light to the room.

Ash and Pikachu stood in awe at everything in front of them and it wasn't until Lance cleared his throat that the two were pulled back to reality.

"Everyone!" Lance called.

The seven staff members all looked up from what they were doing and directed their attention to Lance.

"I'd like to introduce you to the Pokémon master. This is Ash Ketchum." As Lance said this, he stepped aside so everyone could get a better look at Ash. The staff members instantly stood up and greeted the young master with a bow.

"Hello, Master Ketchum." They said in unison.

Ash smiled sheepishly and put his hand behind his head.

"Uh... Hey everyone... You can just call me Ash. Whatever makes you guys comfortable." He said.

The staff members were a little surprised at that. The last master was more of the professional type and always said to be referred to as 'sir' or 'Master', so it was a little surprising to see that the new master was more of the casual type. And also appeared to be more polite than his predecessor too.

Lance just gave a small smile. 'Knew he'd say that.'

At that moment one of the staff, a young man with short, unkempt brown hair, dark-green eyes, and glasses, approached the champion and master.

"It's an honor to meet you Mr. Ketchum... I mean, Ash. I've been a fan of yours for a long time." The young man greeted, holding out his hand for Ash to shake.

"Ash Ketchum, Arthur White." Lance introduced.

Ash smiled, took the offered hand and shook it.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Arthur." Ash said.

"Please, call me Arty. Everyone else does." Arty said, taking his hand out of the shake.

"Arty, here was the lead engineer for the tower. He designed the entire thing. Very well I might add." Lance explained.

Arty waved a dismissive hand. "Ah, it was nothing. A challenge, yes. But nothing I couldn't handle. Plus if it means the end result is this beauty." He gestured his hands around the entire room. "Then it was hard work fully worth it."

Ash nodded in agreement. "It's an incredible building, Arty. You must be very proud." He said.

Arty nodded in confirmation, a pleased smile on his face.

"Indeed I am, sir. This tower is my baby. And, just as with any parent, I make it my duty to keep it in perfect condition. It takes a lot of energy to power everything in the building and if the energy levels aren't kept in check, then the generators can go into overload and cause significant damage should they go critical."

"Wait, what kinda damage are we talking here?" Ash asked slightly worried.

"Well, if the generators should go critical the resulting explosion could be strong enough to destroy maybe... 239 floors. But that would be enough to cause severe damage to the super structure of the tower."

Ash was staring blankly at Arty, not fully understanding what that meant. Upon seeing this look, Arty decided to put it bluntly.

"In other words, the entire building would collapse." He said.

Upon hearing this, both Ash's and Pikachu's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

"But the chances of that are 998,872 to 1. So long as they're continuously monitored." Arty quickly reassured, seeing the wide-eyed expressions on Ash's and Pikachu's faces.

Ash relaxed slightly after hearing that but was still a little worried over it.

"Jeez, Arty. What're you trying to do, scare the poor guy?" Lance said as he gave a reassuring pat on Ash's shoulder.

Arty smiled apologetically at Ash.

"Heh, sorry." He said.

Ash just shrugged with a smile.

"Don't worry about it. As long as you and everyone else here are the ones keeping everything in check I'll feel at ease." Ash said honestly.

"So you should be." Arty said proudly.

Ash chuckled at that.

"Right, if you'll excuse us Arty, I need to show Ash around the rest of the place." Lance said.

Arty gave an understanding nod.

"alright, I better get back to work anyway. It was a pleasure meeting you at last, Ash."

"Like wise." Ash said as he once again shook Arty's hand.

Arty went back to his station and continued with his previous work.

"Now then, Ash." Lance addressed the young master. Ash turned to face the champion.

"Follow me and I'll show you the meeting room for you, me, the gym leaders, and the rest of the champions."

Lance proceeded to walk towards the front of the room, towards a metal wall with two metal doors. Lance pressed a green button to the right of the doors and they slid open, revealing what was on the other side.

The conference room was located at the front tip of the dome. The large glass windows allowed the sun to light the entire room, a large round table was in the center of the room with fourteen chairs set around it. The view from the large windows was, for lack of a better word, incredible. Due to the height of the tower you could easily see most of Kanto. Ash could just manage to make out Pallet Town in the distance.

"This is incredible, Lance. Just when I think I've seen everything." Ash said, in awe once again.

"I see the new Master's impressed by the new tower." Came a female voice from somewhere in the room. It was then that Ash noticed that one of the chairs, the one with its back facing him, was occupied. The occupant of the chair then stood up and faced Ash with a smile on her face.

The woman had very long, blond hair that reached her knees and had grey eyes. She was wearing a long, black coat with a black t-shirt underneath, black trousers and black high heels. Ash's eyes widened at who stood before him.

"Cynthia?" He said in slight shock.

"Hey, Ash, Pikachu. It's been a while." Cynthia said cheerfully.

"Yeah, how have you been?" Ash asked in the same cheery tone.

Cynthia walked up to Ash and brought him into a friendly hug which the young master returned happily.

"I've been good. I was recently at a research dig at the caves near Solaceon town before having to come down here to help Lance out with getting things organised here." Cynthia replied after pulling out of the hug.

"That's great to hear." Ash said.

"So what's new with you? You know, aside from the obvious." Cynthia said as she sat back down in the chair she was already occupying.

Ash took the chair next to her and Pikachu hopped off of Ash's shoulder and on to the table. Lance took a seat across from them.

"Well, nothing much really. Me and Pikachu have been thinking up new battle strategies for when we compete in any tournaments or challenges, I recently moved into a new apartment in Viridian-"

"You got a girlfriend." Lance cut in with a smile.

Ash started to blush slightly, and Pikachu couldn't help but giggle at his trainer's flustered expression. Cynthia's eyes grew wide with shock.

"You have a girlfriend?!" She said in a disbelieving tone.

"Yeah, I do." Ash said happily. The blush slowly reseeding and a smile appearing on his face.

"Who?" Cynthia asked, still slightly shocked.

Ash's smile grew wider as the name went through his head.

"Misty." He finally answered.

Cynthia's and Lance's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when Ash said that. Ash watched their reactions with an amused expression and let off a small chuckle.

"When did this happen?" Came Lance's voice. Still a little shocked.

"During the ceremony last week." Ash answered. A goofy grin plastered on his face.

"Well, I can't say I didn't see it coming." Cynthia said happily. "You guys have been through a lot together. I'm amazed you didn't get together after the events on Mt. Coronet." She continued.

Ash looked at her for a moment then thought about what she just said. Remembering the events of that day as is they were yesterday.

When Ash was still traveling in Sinnoh with friends, Brock and Dawn, they had come face to face with an organization known as Team Galactic. Their leader, Cyrus, was insane. He had hoped to use the powers of both Dialga and Palkia to destroy this world and create a new one for him to rule over. Believing this world to be imperfect. When he was close to succeeding on Mt. Coronet, it had taken Ash with the help of Brock, Dawn, Cynthia, Misty, and the Sinnoh elite four to put an end to his psychotic dream.

During that time, Ash and Misty had been inseparable, constantly watching each others backs. And when it was over, and Cyrus had disappeared and the remaining members of Galactic disbanded, the group of friends, the champion, and the elite four had celebrated their victory.

A small party followed that night with the nine trainers laughing and having fun. After a while, Ash and Misty had slipped away from the others and had sat on a small hill top watching the stars above. They sat there for hours just enjoying the others company, neither one wanting to brake the silence. Ash had planned to tell her his feelings then and their, but for some reason he chose not to and continued to watch the stars. After another hour or two, they had fallen asleep. Not realizing that in their sleep they had grabbed hold of the other's hand. his left in her right. The next day Misty left for Cerulean City while Ash and the others continued on their journey.

Ash smiled at the memory, then turned his attention back to Cynthia.

"I had planned to tell her then, but I couldn't. I was still travelling on my journey and she had, and still has, her duties as the Cerulean gym leader. It just didn't seem like the right time." He said.

Both Lance and Cynthia gave a look of understanding. All of a sudden, a beeping noise was heard coming from Lance. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small phone. When he saw the number a smile came to his face.

"Yeah?" He said once he answered.

"Sir, we're ready when you are." The voice on the other end of the call said.

"Excellent. We'll be down now." And with that, Lance hung up. He then turned his attention to Ash.

"Come with me." He said as he got up from his chair and headed for the exit. Ash, with Pikachu, followed along with Cynthia. They followed Lance towards the elevator and, once the doors opened, they got in. Lance then pressed the button labeled 299.

"Where're we headed, Lance?" Ash inquired. Confusion and curiosity written all over his face.

Lance simply smiled at the young master.

"You'll see." He said.

The elevator finally came to a stop on it's designated floor and the four occupants stepped out. They stepped into what looked like a large Pokémon Center. It was a large, cream and orange colored room with various chairs and tables for trainers to wait while their Pokémon are being healed. There was a desk to the left side of the room with a Nurse Joy typing away on a computer and a large PC was written in red tiles on the floor in the center of the room.

Ash, Pikachu, and even Cynthia looked amazed at the sight before them. Lance walked passed them and towards a large double-door, green in color, with a Pokéball painted in the center of it. He turned back to look at the others and motioned for them to follow him. They complied and headed towards the door as well. Once there, Lance turned back and pressed a green button to the right of the door. With a 'swish' sound, the door opened to reveal yet another large room. Lance walked into the room followed by Cynthia, Ash, and Pikachu. The two humans and Pokémon gasped at what they walked into.

The entire room was one big field, full of trees, flowers, and grass, and the ceiling made it look like they were outside as it looked like clear blue skies. Lance turned his attention to the Sinnoh champion, young master and his Pikachu and laughed at their wide eyed expressions.

"Welcome to battle floor one-hundred." He said with a smile.

"Wow..." Was all that came out of Ash's mouth.

Lance chuckled. "This is why we need most of the generators for the tower." He explained. "The ninety-nine battle floors below us each have different terrain to better train both the Pokémon and the trainers in how to battle in those environments and even on how to use the terrain to their advantage."

"This is incredible." Cynthia said in awe.

Lance chuckled and walked towards one end of the large field. He stopped and turned back to face the others.

"Well, how 'bout it, Ash?" He called.

Ash gave him a quizzical look.

"How about what?" He called back.

"You and me. One-on-one. Think you can handle it?"

Ash grew a determined smile on his face and pumped his fist into the air.

"Alright, Lance. You're on!" He said determinedly.

"Pi pikachu!" Pikachu said as he too pumped his fist in the air.

Ash walked over to the other side of the field and stared down his opponent.

"You ready, Pikachu?" He asked his yellow companion.

"Pika!" Pikachu gave a determined nod and jumped off of Ash's shoulder and on to the battlefield.

Lance gave a smirk towards the young master.

"Don't think I'll go easy on you, Master Ketchum." He said.

"Wasn't expecting you to, Champion Lance." Ash said with the same smirk.

Lance gave a hearty laugh and reached for one of his Pokéballs. Before he could throw however, Cynthia stepped onto the field.

"Wait a second!" She called out. "Why should you guys have all the fun? Let's make this more interesting."

"What do you have in mind Cynthia?" Ash inquired. An eyebrow raised in curiosity.

Cynthia smirked.

"A double battle. Me and Lance against you. We each choose one of our strongest Pokémon and you choose two of yours." She explained. "Sound good?"

Ash thought on this for a moment before smiling and nodding in conformation.

"Alright. You're on." He said, pumping his fist in excitement.

Cynthia smiled and walked over to Lance's side of the field. Both champions then took a Pokéball from each of their belts and threw them in the air.

"Let's go, Dragonite!"

"Come on out, Lucario"

In a flash of white light, both the dragon type and the steel/fighting type were on the field in battle ready stances. Ash eyed his opponents in deep thought. He started moving his right hand over his belt, thinking very carefully about who else he should send out. His hand then came over the last Pokéball on his belt and a smile appeared on his face. Making his decision, Ash removed the Pokéball and threw it into the air.

"I choose you, Charizard!" Ash called out.

In the same flash of white light, the large fire-type appeared with a mighty roar next to Pikachu. The three trainers and four Pokémon stared each other down for a few moments. Waiting for someone to make the first move.

"Dragonite, Hyper beam on Charizard!" Lance called.

"Lucario, Aura Sphere on Pikachu!" Cynthia ordered.

Without hesitation, both Pokémon moved in to attack their respective targets. Dragonite charging up its Hyper Beam, and Lucario preparing an Aura Sphere. Once both attacks were fully charged, they were launched towards their two opponents.

"Pikachu, Dodge and use Quick Attack on Lucario! Charizard, take to the sky and use Flamethrower on Dragonite!" Ash countered.

The two Pokemon complied and made their moves. With a flap of his mighty wings, Charizard flew into the air and did a barrel role to dodge the attack from Dragonite. He then instantly shot a Flamethrower at the dragon-type. Dragonite took to the sky and barely managed to dodge the Flamethrower as it grazed it's stomach causing it to wince in slight pain.

Pikachu barely managed to dodge Lucario's Aura Sphere as it came flying towards him. He managed to jump out of the way and proceeded to charge at the Aura Pokémon with incredible speed. Lucario attempted to dodge the attack by jumping in the air but Pikachu expected this and jumped in the air as well. His forward momentum mixed with the Quick Attack caused him to go slightly faster than before and managed to get a direct hit to Lucario's chest, causing it to gasp for air.

"You good, Lucario?" Asked Cynthia.

Lucario shook it off and went back into a battle ready stance.

"Lu!" It cried in determination.

Cynthia smiled. "Alright, Close Combat!" She called out.

Lucario complied and charged towards Pikachu.

Meanwhile, Charizard had entered a dog fight with Dragonite. Both Pokémon firing attacks and missing each time.

"Dragonite, use wing attack!" Lance called.

The dragon type complied and flapped it's wings with great force towards Charizard.

"Dodge and counter with steel wing! Pikachu, Dodge with agility!" Ash called his counters.

Charizard's wings began to glow as he dodged the dragon-type's attack and made a dive-bomb towards it. Before Lance could react, Charizard struck the dragon-type with his wings causing Dragonite to falter slightly in flight.

Meanwhile, Pikachu continued to dodge Lucario's attempts at landing it's attack on him. Unfortunately for Pikachu, he somehow managed to trip giving Lucario a chance to land his attack. The force of the Close Combat attack caused Pikachu to fly backwards at incredible speed.

"Pikachu!" Ash cried out.

Seeing this, Charizard easily flew ahead of the now flying Pikachu and caught the electric mouse before he could sustain more damage. The fire-type placed Pikachu on the ground and the electric type nodded in thanks to which Charizard gave a puff of smoke as his way of saying 'Don't mention it.'

"You okay, Pikachu?" Ash asked.

"Pika!" Pikachu nodded determinedly, not taking his eyes off the aura Pokémon. Charizard was doing the same with Dragonite who was now back on the ground and standing next to Lucario. All four Pokémon looking quite tired.

"Pikachu, Volt Tackle! Charizard, Flamethrower!" Ash called out.

Pikachu began to run at incredible speed towards Lucario, while Charizard charged up for a powerful Flamethrower.

"Lucario Do-" Before Cynthia could finish her sentence, Pikachu rammed into Lucario with a powerful Volt Tackle. The force sent Lucario flying through the air.

"LUCARIO!" Cynthia cried out.

"Dragonite, catch him!" Lance called out.

The dragon-type nodded and flew at a fast speed towards the aura Pokemon. It caught Lucario with ease and landed back on the ground.

'Now I've got you.' Ash thought triumphantly. "Charizard, Flamethrower!"

Not wasting another second, Charizard released a fully charged Flamethrower at both Dragonite and Lucario. Unable to react in time, both Pokemon took the full force of the attack. Once the flames had stopped the smoke cleared to reveal Lucario in Dragonite's arms with swirls in it's eyes, and Dragonite struggling to stay standing.

Seeing that she had been beaten, Cynthia took out Lucario's Pokéball and returned it.

"Take a long rest Lucario, you did great." She said to the sphere in her hand. The Pokéball shook slightly in her hand then she placed it back on her belt.

Lance's Dragonite still stood, weakened but still able to battle. Charizard and Pikachu stared down their opponent with determination in their eyes. Ash was the same.

"Shall we?" Lance called out.

Ash smiled. "Let's." He said.

Charizard and Dragonite stared each other down while Pikachu hurried off the battle field and towards Ash.

"Dragonite, Hyper Beam!" Lance ordered.

Dragonite complied and shot out the powerful beam of energy.

"Dodge and use Steel Wing!" Ash countered.

Complying, Charizard dodged the attack by taking to the sky. His wings then began to glow and proceeded to charge towards Dragonite.

"Counter with Wing Attack!" Lance countered.

The mighty dragon-type flapped it's wings with such ferocity that Charizard barely had enough time to react. The attack hit dead on, causing Charizard to fall to the ground with a loud and very painful sounding 'thud', causing dust and smoke to rise.

"Charizard!" Ash called in concern.

When the smoke finally cleared, Charizard was seen struggling to get back up.

"C'mon, Charizard! You can do it, don't give up!" Ash called out.

Charizard used all his strength to stand back up and, albeit very slowly, took a battle ready stance. He stared down Dragonite and gave a 'huff', smoke coming out of his nose as he did.

"You good, Charizard?" Ash asked.

Charizard gave a thumbs up, not taking his gaze off of Dragonite. Lance gave a hearty chuckle.

"I gotta give you credit, Ash. Your Charizard's definitely not the giving up type." Lance said, thoughtfully.

Ash smirked. "Thank you." He said.

"But now it's time to end this. Dragonite, one last Hyper Beam!" Lance commanded.

Dragonite complied and instantly shot the powerful beam of energy out of it's mouth and towards Charizard. Acting fast, Ash called out his last hope.

"Blast Burn!" Ash cried.

Smiling, Charizard opened his mouth and an explosion of fire the equivalent of one-hundred Flamethrowers came out, blasting right through the Hyper Beam and hitting Dragonite directly.

"Dragonite!" Lance called out in shock.

After a few seconds, Charizard ceased the attack and waited for the result of the attack. When the remaining flames and smoke cleared, Dragonite could be seen lying on the ground with swirls in it's eyes. It had fainted.

"Alright, Charizard! Awesome work!" Ash congratulated the fire-type.

"Pi pikachu!" Pikachu cried in victory.

"You were awesome too, Pikachu." Ash said.

"Pika!" Pikachu jumped onto Ash's shoulder and nuzzled his cheek, causing the young man to laugh.

Lance, after returning his fainted Dragonite, and Cynthia approached Ash with smiles.

"Well, it's nice to see that the new master certainly lives up to the title. Well done, Ash." Cynthia said as she shook Ash's hand.

"Yeah, you did good, kid." Lance said as he gave Ash a friendly pat on the back.

"Heh, thanks. You guys were great." Ash said.

Ash removed a Pokéball from his belt and pointed it at Charizard. "You did great, Charizard. Return."

In a flash of red, Charizard was sucked back into the small sphere and Ash placed it back on his belt. Ash then checked the time on his watch and his eyes nearly popped out of his sockets. 2:19 AM.

"Crap! I'm late!" He exclaimed as he started back towards the Pokémon Center.

Lance and Cynthia watched on in confusion at the young master's actions as he sped walked into the Center and entered the elevator.

"What was that about?" Lance asked, turning to Cynthia. The Sinnoh champion just shrugged.

Once the elevator hit the ground floor, Ash darted out of it and exited the tower, Pikachu clinging to his shoulder for deer life. As they exited the garden outside the tower, Ash turned right and headed towards the Indigo Pokémon Center. He checked his watch again as he ran.

2:24 AM.

'She's gonna kill me.'

As he continued running through the streets of the small town, the Pokémon Center eventually came into sight. And standing outside of it was a familiar looking red-head. Ash started smiling at the sight of her and called out to her.

"Misty!"

The Cerulean gym leader turned at the sound of her name and smiled when she saw the source of the voice. When Ash finally reached the Pokémon Center he took Misty into a hug which she immediately reciprocated. They both pulled out half way and, while still in each others arms, kissed. Pikachu, who had hopped off of Ash's shoulder upon arrival, covered his eyes and turned away. After a minute, they finally pulled out for air.

"Sorry I'm late." Ash apologised as they both let go of each other.

"It's fine, I just got here." Misty said as she took Ash's hand in hers.

"You ready for our date?" Ash asked.

Misty gave Ash a peck on the cheek and rested her head on his shoulder. "Lead the way, Mr Pokémon Master." She said with a smile.

And with that, they were off to enjoy their date.

I'm not a fan of writing filler. Exposition I can handle. Any who, that was chapter three, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you enjoyed, and as always, please leave a review letting me know what you thought and what you think could've been done better.

Also, just to let you guys know, the next update will take a while. I've got a lot of college stuff that needs to be done and on top of that I'm working on a Christmas one-shot so, yeah. But it shall be out when it's complete! Have no doubts about that. And it'll most likely be action and suspense filled.

Until then, live long and prosper and may the force be with you.