Hey Everybody! Before I say anything else, I want to congratulate all of my reviewers...I officially have 299 reviews as of the time I am typing this! That many reviews, while certainly a compliment to me, is also a tesament to the input of my loyal readers and fans. Without you guys reviewing my story, I know I wouldn't still be writing this...so congratulations everyone! Also, as a little prize for sticking with this story for so long, I have decided to hold a contest. Whoever can give me my 300th review will have the next chapter dedicated to them! Isn't that an awesome prize? No? Well, deal with it! Ha,ha. But seriously, thanks again to everyone who has made this possible. Let's see how quickly we can get to review number 400!
Anyway, as for this chapter...it was hard. This is the first chapter of Dawn and Ash's travels together, and since I haven't watched any of the Diamond and Pearl episodes, I literally spent hours going over information for her on Bulbapedia. However, after a lot of reading (and watching a couple of episode shots on YouTube), I think I got the basic idea of her character down. It surprised me to find that she's a lot like Ash when he was younger in the series. As per usual, I won't say much more because I don't want to give anything away, but I will take this time to also mention that a few old characters will be returning in this chapter to answer the questions of several of my loyal readers who didn't understand their absence.
By the way, I just want to quote licoricejellybean's last chapter really quick. "he [me] deserves sainthood for that…oh wait, I hate you TL, remember??? :)". Seriously???!!! This kid's basically the worst archenemy ever. She can't even remember she's supposed to hate me half the time (and granting me SAINThood???). Whatever. You know what LJB? I'll act flippant about our hatred from now on too. Oh, wait, I hate you, right? I don't remember cause you're SO unimportant.
(She barely even edited this chapter)
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.
Characters' Ages:
Ash: 17
Brock: 21
Misty: 17
Dawn: 14
Delia: 40
Oak: 55
Gary: 16
"You're mine Ariados!" Ash cried as he hurtled yet another pokeball in the cold forest of Route 30. In a flash of light, the spider Pokémon was sealed within the capsule. As the ball ceased shaking, Ash pumped his fist in the air victoriously, his loyal Totodile imitating the action. "Yahoo!"
"Did you catch another one?" Dawn asked as she appeared from a thicket of bushes behind the trainer.
"Yeah! I just caught an Ariados! Where were you?"
"Uh, I was a little creeped out by it," Dawn replied, embarrassed. She did not hate bug Pokémon, but naturally averted Ariados after having been attacked by the species on multiple occasions. "Me and Piplup aren't big fans."
"Pip!" squeaked the small penguin Pokémon snared between her arms and chest.
"I forgot about that," Ash replied, remembering Dawn's recantation of her encounter with the bug Pokémon on the first day of her journey. While they had travelled together, the red spider Pokémon had assaulted them two more times as well.
"It's okay," Dawn assured Ash. "It's been so long since we travelled together."
"That's true," he agreed, withdrawing Totodile, who was still celebrating.
"We should probably get back to the Pokémon Center," Dawn told Ash, shivering slightly. She was wearing her red winter coat and white scarf, but still felt the chill of the late January evening surrounding her. "We're gonna freeze if we don't get warm soon."
"I guess you're right," Ash agreed, though hesitantly. He had caught five new Pokémon today, and was hoping that he could catch one more before heading back to Violet City. However, even he was starting to feel the effects of the low temperature beneath his thick blue winter coat. "Let's go back to the Pokémon Center."
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"That's much better," Dawn said cozily as she sipped on a cup of hot chocolate in the small café. Sitting across from her, Ash took a generous sip from his cup as well.
"That is really good hot chocolate," he agreed. "But do they have any food here?"
"We'll get food in a second, silly," Dawn replied cheerily. "I wanted to get something warm to drink after being out in that freezing forest all day!"
"Do you think we should bring the Pokémon back some of this?" Ash asked, realizing that his faithful battling companions had been out in the cold all day as well. "They really earned it."
"I think you're right," Dawn agreed. "Before we leave, we'll get them some and bring it to the Center with us."
"Can we leave now?" Ash asked, hunger gripping his stomach. "I saw a taco restaurant just a few blocks away!"
"Just wait a sec," Dawn chastised playfully. "I wanted to talk with you a minute."
"Talk about what?" Ash asked, curious.
"About what happened between you and Misty," Dawn replied.
"Why do you wanna know about that?" Ash replied, immediately suspicious. He knew that Dawn corresponded with his mom regularly, and believed she may be behind Dawn's sudden curiosity.
"I was just wondering," Dawn replied carefully. "You haven't acted like yourself since we started this journey a few weeks ago, and I think it has something to do with Misty."
"No it doesn't!" Ash retorted, a little too loudly for the quiet café. Bringing his voice down, he continued.
"I'm the same as always!" he insisted.
"Can I just know what happened?" Dawn asked, sounding even more interested than before.
Ash hesitated, and Dawn began to pout. "Fine," he relented exasperatedly.
What's the worst that could happen? he mused. She could tell Mom, but why would that matter at all?
"It all started when we stopped at Cerulean City…"
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"Like, Misty, take a break already!" Violet told her sister who, despite the clock having just struck midnight, was still swimming laps with her water Pokémon during a "late night training session".
"I can't take a break!" Misty replied indignantly, stopping mid-lap momentarily to converse with her sibling. "I've lost three matches in the three weeks I've been here! I obviously need to train more."
"Misty, you've battled like a hundred people," Daisy reasoned, standing next to her sister. "Three losses is, like, really good."
"Maybe to you it is," Misty sniffed, "but to me it means I'm still three battles away from perfection."
With that, Misty turned and swam the rest of the way to the end of the pool, where her loyal Pokémon tiredly waited for her to catch up. They had been training for four hours, and all hoped their master would soon come to her senses and end the training period.
"Okay guys," Misty announced to the six Pokémon lined against the pool wall. "We've got a lot more work to get done tonight, so let's pick up the pace! This time I want everyone to-"
"Misty, stop!" Daisy cried out, startling the young water trainer.
"What is it now?" Misty asked, irritated. "I told you, I'm fine."
"It's not about you," Daisy replied. "Look at your Pokémon for a second. They're, like, completely wiped out. You can't keep training them in this condition."
Misty looked over at her Pokémon and realized with a jolt that her sister was right. All of her Pokémon were staring at her with pleading eyes. Suddenly, Misty felt very guilty for training them so hard.
"I'm sorry guys," Misty apologized after a moment. She hated apologies, but realized that her Pokémon were being worked far too hard for their own good.
As she climbed out of the pool she continued. "I was being very selfish. You can take the rest of the night off."
Breathing a general sigh of relief, all of the Pokémon chirruped their forgiveness and immediately dipped underwater.
Misty walked over to her sisters, who were waiting with a towel, and quickly dried off. They lingered nearby as she ran the towel over her hair, exchanging pointed glances, and Misty turned to them, frowning.
"What's the matter guys?" she asked. Clearly they were worried about her, but she wasn't sure why.
Violet poked Daisy hard in the side and the eldest Sensational Sister spoke up, scowling at her purple haired sibling. "Er, Misty, we still would like to know what happened between you and Ash," Daisy explained hurriedly.
She had not brought up the young man in conversation for over two weeks, after Misty made it clear in no uncertain terms that she didn't want to talk about what had passed between the two. However, the sisters all felt it to be in their youngest sibling's best interest to tell them what had happened. This feeling was only reinforced after witnessing Misty's evolution from a depressed teenage girl to a workaholic. It was clear to all that something was not right, and she was obviously trying to forget about something.
"I thought we already discussed this," Misty replied, her jaw instantly locking at the sound of the dark-haired boy's name. She had been very thorough in explaining to her sisters what would happen if they annoyed her one more time about her and Ash's fight.
"I know," Lily interjected, standing next to Daisy, "but we're worried. You barely sleep or eat and are constantly training or doing some other work. You went from spending all day in your room to being in action, like, all the time. We just think you might be doing all this to, you know, forget about Ash or something."
For a moment, Misty simply stared at her sisters. She was astounded at their sudden ability to understand the emotional distress of someone else. However, she was still hesitant to discuss the sensitive issue with them.
"I'm not covering anything up," Misty replied stubbornly. "I just want to train all these new water Pokémon that I caught."
"Misty, please," Violet said kindly. "We really want to, like, help you, but we can't if we don't know what's happened. What are you so afraid of telling us, anyway?"
Despite herself, Misty reflected on Violet's comment for a moment and realized that her sister made a valid argument. Why did she care if they knew? They had all known stupid guys before, even dated some, so maybe they could help her figure out what Ash's problem was.
"Fine," she relented. "I'll tell you what happen, but only if you promise to listen and not be jerks." As she gave the conditions for her story, she glared at them with a great deal of intensity to put force behind her statement. She would not tolerate being teased by her sisters.
"Okay," all three sisters agreed in unison.
"I'll get a shower and then talk to you in the kitchen," Misty told them, before turning around and walking out of the pool room.
"Our little sister's pretty intimidating, huh?" Daisy asked as she watched the young redhead walk away.
"You can say that again," Lily agreed.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"So we went outside to talk," Ash explained to Dawn. She sat on the opposite side of the small café table, completely entranced by the tale. Ash had told her everything that had happened between him and Misty following his purchase of the car, and though everything to that point had seemed good, she could tell he was about to reach the climactic conflict. "And while we're out there, she suddenly starts telling me she doesn't like me and stuff, for no reason."
"Seriously?" Dawn asked, puzzled. It didn't sound like Misty, at least from the few times she had met the redhead in Sinnoh, to be so irrational. "Why would she leave the Christmas party just to tell you that?"
"I dunno," Ash replied. "All I know is that after she said that, I calmly told her that I just liked her as a friend, and then she went crazy asking me why I had been so quiet earlier and that I must like her, or something. Then the next day, there was a note on her bed explaining that she didn't feel welcome anymore and had decided to leave."
"You've got to be kidding me," Dawn said as Ash finished his summary of events.
"I wish I were," he replied.
"But Misty seemed so nice when I met her," Dawn continued. "This doesn't sound like her. I mean, when your mom told me she had left you without giving a reason, I thought she was just being mean, but maybe she's having some personal trouble or something if she was acting crazy before she left."
"That's true," Ash commented, thinking over Dawn's opinion. "I mean, she was acting pretty nuts. Maybe she just needed to go clear her head or something. I dunno. I'm actually kind of glad she left though."
Dawn's heart skipped a beat and she felt her face heat up.
"W-what do you mean by that?" she asked as calmly as she could, studying the brown eyed Champion intently.
"Well, can you imagine how awkward it would have been if she had stayed for Christmas?" Ash continued, oblivious. "I wouldn't have been able to enjoy the holidays!"
"Oh yeah," Dawn replied with a disappointed sigh. It was not the response she had been hoping for.
"I'm really hungry," Ash told her after a second of silence. Dawn seemed a little unsettled, upset even, but Ash figured it wasn't anything a burrito couldn't cure. "How about we get something to eat?"
"Sounds good to me!" Dawn replied brightly, recovering her cheerful persona as quickly as she had lost it. "We can go to that taco place you were talking about."
"Yum!" Ash replied. "We can come back here after we eat and grab the Pokémon some hot chocolate."
As Dawn watched the young man get up and put on his coat, she noted that he suddenly seemed happier than he had since they met earlier in the month. Talking about what happened certainly appeared to have helped him. Silently standing and wrapping her short red coat around her body, she realized with a pang how much more attractive her "friend" was when he smiled.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"Well, after we left here," Misty began, the gaze of her three sisters focused directly on her, "we began to drive to Pallet. I noticed that the whole ride Ash was really quiet, which was weird because he usually never shuts up." The girls nodded intently, obviously anxious for their sister to proceed with the story.
"Anyway, I realized that he was probably acting so weird because of what happened here." At this point, Misty paused to glare, almost viciously, at Lily.
"Like, what's the matter Mist?" Daisy asked, wondering why the teenage girl seemed so mad suddenly.
"Because Lily stuck her nose into my business, and she's the reason the fight happened," Misty replied.
Daisy and Violet already knew that their pink-haired sister had asked Ash about his feelings for their youngest sibling. However, the expression on their faces showed Misty that they were confused as to how this instigated the conflict two days later.
"I thought that maybe he was upset because he thought I had asked Lily to ask him if he liked me or something," at this point Misty stuck her tongue out. "So I was worried about that the next two days. He didn't help my suspicions either by being so quiet the whole time."
"After we got to the party and everything, he kind of went off to eat and I talked to Tracey for a while." At this point Daisy blushed a little, though no one seemed to notice.
"However, as it got later in the night, I started to get more and more upset about Ash because he still wasn't talking to me much, and I didn't want to spend Christmas the next day with him mad or confused with me, so I asked him if we could talk outside for a minute."
"Did he agree?" Violet asked, now enthralled in the tale her little sister was weaving.
"Yeah, but he was acting like a jerk about it," Misty explained, scowling at the memory.
"Like how?" Daisy asked, equally mesmerized by the story and waiting for the inevitable fight to be explained.
"Well, he complained about it being cold, and he was just being a big baby and everything," Misty replied. She felt guilty for stretching the truth a little, but wanted to ensure her sisters understood the story from her unbiased perspective.
"Anyway, after we went outside, I just nicely told him that it was my dumb sister who wanted to know if he like me, and not me," Misty continued. "But when I mentioned Lily's question, he kind of went berserk for no reason."
"You don't know why he went crazy like that?" Violet inquired.
"No idea," Misty replied with a shrug. "He's not very smart, so maybe he was just too immature to talk about what happened without freaking out."
"Oh," Violet replied with a disappointed murmur. This story had been significantly less interesting than she had originally anticipated.
"So what did you do after he freaked out?" Daisy questioned.
"Well, being the calm person that I am," she continued, ignoring the roll of her sisters' eyes, "I simply pointed out that he was behaving irrationally, and then he told me he couldn't stand me and didn't want me to go to Johto with him!"
"No way!" Daisy and Violet gasped in unison.
"Yeah," Misty replied, looking down at the table. "I don't know what his problem was, but he said it."
"That was so mean!" Violet told her sister, coming around the table to give the depressed girl a hug. "He's an idiot."
"Yeah," Daisy agreed as she and Lily got up to hug their sister as well. "That was totally unnecessary!"
"Thanks guys," Misty said as her sisters surrounded her. At least they understood how mean Ash had been, though she could do without the overly-sympathetic display of love.
"Do you wanna watch T.V. or do something to stop thinking about him?" Daisy asked after a moment of silence.
"Nah," Misty replied, yawning and stretching her arms. "I think I'm going to bed. It's really late, and I've been training all day."
"Okay," Daisy responded. "See ya in the morning!"
"'Kay," Misty said, walking out the kitchen and heading up the flight of stairs to her bedroom.
"Hey Mist," a voice softly called behind her as she reached the plateau. Turning around, Misty found Lily standing sheepishly on the first floor, looking up.
"Yeah?" Misty asked.
"I just wanted to say I'm sorry for starting this whole mess," her sister explained quietly. "I didn't mean to get you two in a fight. It's just…"
"It's just what?" Misty asked, curious.
"Well, it's just that you and Ash seemed like such a cute couple growing up, and I thought that if I asked him, then maybe that'd, like, cause a spark to appear or something. Also…well, you know."
"Know what?" Misty asked, feeling her temper begin to rise at the ambiguity of her sister's last two statements.
"Well, that you seemed to really like him too," Lily squeaked, knowing that saying this normally resulted in a release of Misty's fury.
For a second Misty just stood there.
"You're right,' she replied despondently. "I do like him."
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"Ugh," Ash groaned as he lay on his bed in the Pokémon Center. Though he and Dawn were staying in a decent motel for the evening, he had decided to rent a room temporarily.
"You're not feeling any better?" Dawn asked the young man as she came back into his room and placed a wet washcloth on his forehead. Nurse Joy had checked on him a few minutes earlier and had diagnosed that he had simply eaten too much.
"No way," Ash cried as his stomach gurgled.
"I told you not to eat so many tacos!" she told him in a tone not reflective of anger, but rather concern. "Is that washcloth too cold?"
"Heh, no, it's fine," he replied with a weary smile to Dawn. She certainly took better care of him than Misty ever would.
If Misty were here right now, he mused, she'd just call me a big baby and make fun of me.
"Do you need anything else?" Dawn asked sweetly, heartened at his kind smile.
"No, that's okay," he replied tiredly. "I'll just lay here-"
"Mr. Ketchum, please come help!" Nurse Joy suddenly cried out as she appeared at the door of the rented room. Pikachu jumped from her shoulder and landed on Ash's stomach, causing him to wince in pain.
"What's going on?" Ash asked, catching his breath.
"Team Rocket's trying to rob us!" Nurse Joy replied, throwing all Ash's pokeballs at him at once. She appeared quite nervous. "You have to fight them off until the police get here!"
"Team Rocket?" Ash and Dawn cried at the same time.
"It must be that Mallory girl," Dawn told Ash grimly as she remembered the operative whom she had read hurt her friend.
"Yep," Ash replied, a determined look on his face. Seemingly forgetting the stomach ache which had plagued him moments earlier, Ash stood and picked up his pokeballs. Pikachu jumped on his shoulder as he prepared to leave. "Stay here Dawn."
However, as he walked out the door towards the main lobby, he heard Dawn following him.
"Dawn, I told you to stay in the room!" he said exasperatedly.
"I can't just let you face her alone!" Dawn replied emotionally. "I've gotta help."
"You'll be helping me if you can keep Nurse Joy calm," Ash explained hurriedly. He needed to get to Mallory before she stole all of the Pokémon. "Besides, you don't have any Pokémon with you."
"Okay," Dawn replied unwillingly, knowing she shouldn't slow Ash from saving the Pokémon Center. "But if you need me, just call!"
"Right," Ash replied turning back around and running to the lobby.
He was surprisingly nervous as he came to the corner where he was sure Mallory waited for him. Gulping he looked at the loyal yellow Pokémon on his shoulder, who reciprocated his gaze.
"You ready, Pikachu?" he asked as confidently as he could.
"Pika, pikachu!" Pikachu responded, nodding in reply. To Ash's amazement, he almost sounded happy in his tone.
Facing forward again, Ash quickly took a few successive steps before gaping at the scene before him. What he saw helped him realize why Pikachu had not sounded nervous or scared.
"Hand us your Chikorita, Twerp," a low female voice demanded of a young trainer. "You don't have any more Pokémon to fight with."
"Jessie?" Ash asked, still gaping at the sight of the two thieves before him.
"Oh, no!" James suddenly cried aloud. "We were so close this time!"
"Don't worry about dat kid!" Meowth shouted from between the two Rocket members. "Just grab the Chikorita and scram!"
However, before any of them could reach the child, Ash threw open two pokeballs, containing his Squirtle and Bayleef. Pikachu stepped forward as well, and the three gave an impressive appearance of power.
"Leave the Chikorita alone!" Ash ordered. "Or else."
Sighing, the three Rocket members bowed their heads in forfeiture of the challenge. They were not prepared to meet their old nemesis, and had nothing more than their Pokémon to help defeat him.
"That's it?" Ash asked, smirking. "You guys used to never give up!"
"Well, that's before you became Champion," Jessie snapped back. "You're not our problem anymore."
"What do you mean?"
"We'd love to talk," James interrupted, "but the police are on their way!"
With that, the trio began to run out the door, but Ash's curiosity refused him from simply allowing them to leave.
"Grab 'em Bayleef!" Ash commanded.
"Bay!" cried his grass Pokémon as she wrapped her vines around the fleeing bandits and lifted them high in the air. The three struggled to break free, but their efforts brought no results.
"Ugh, let us go kid!" Meowth cried. "Da cops are comin'!"
Ash knew that he should hand the three to the police, but could not allow them to go without understanding what Jessie had meant. As much as he hated to admit it, he was very interested in why their pursuit of him ended when he became Champion.
Looking around, he quickly decided where to hide the three.
"Bayleef, put them behind the counter," he ordered calmly as he heard the blare of police lights outside of the Pokémon Center. Looking to the small trainer whose Pokémon remained in a daze on the floor, Ash realized he was confused as to what was happening.
"You, return your Chikorita and give it to Nurse Joy when she comes out. And don't mention where those guys are!" As he said this, he could tell the boy was very confused, but fortunately followed orders and withdrew his Chikorita.
"What's going on in here?" yelled Officer Jenny as she stormed through the front door of the hospital with a pistol in hand. She had received a call warning of a Team Rocket attack upon the local Center, and decided to take the precautionary step of already having the weapon at the ready.
"Nothing, Officer Jenny," Ash said as convincingly as he could. "What's the matter?" As he asked, he tried to appear casual by leaning back on the front counter, but misjudged his position and accidentally fell over.
"Uh, are you Ash Ketchum?" the officer asked the young man, who was struggling back to his feet. She lowered her pistol as she examined the Center.
"Yeah, that's me!" he replied cheerily, hoping to diffuse any suspicions he may have aroused by his odd behavior.
"Um, well I received a dispatch about a Team Rocket attack on this building," the policewoman explained, "so I drove over here as quickly as I could."
"Well no one's here except me and this kid," Ash responded, nodding to his young companion. "I think someone was playing a joke on you."
"Maybe," Jenny answered. She had an odd feeling about the situation, but was confident that the Pokémon Champion knew what he was talking about. Not wanting to act doubtful of his word, the officer decided to leave.
"I guess I'll get going then," Jenny continued. "It was really nice to meet you in person Mr. Ketchum. My niece is a big fan of yours."
"Thank you," Ash replied, again very cheerily. He knew she was almost gone.
"See you later," the officer said, bidding farewell as she stepped out of the building. Through the glass entrance, Ash saw the woman mount her blue motorcycle and almost instantly speed down the road.
"Okay," Ash said, fomenting his plan to sneak Team Rocket out of the building without anyone's awareness.
"I need you to go get Nurse Joy and a girl with blue-dyed hair," the champion said to the child staring at him. "They're in the rental room in the back. And remember, don't mention Team Rocket at all!"
"Uh, right!" The young boy responded with a nod. He ran down the hallway to get the nurse and his friend.
"Guys, meet me in the back of the Pokémon Center in a couple of minutes," Ash told the rising trio.
"Why would we do that?" Jessie asked angrily as the three got out from behind the counter and began to walk towards the exit. "You already saved us, remember?"
"If you don't wait for me, then I'll just come after you with Charizard," Ash warned. In reality he didn't have the fire Pokémon with him, but hoped that the threat would be enough to entice the criminals to listen to him.
"Well…" the three began in unison. While they did not want to wait around, they knew Charizard would easily catch up to their small hot air balloon if they attempted an escape.
"Hurry!" Ash urged as he heard Nurse Joy's voice down the hallway.
Without a reply, the three ran out of the Center the moment Nurse Joy and Dawn appeared with the boy trainer. All three of them quickly scanned the area for Rocket members or police officers, but they found nothing in the main lobby except the young champion.
"Where's Team Rocket?" Nurse Joy asked, puzzled.
"I dunno," Ash explained, shrugging. "As soon as I came in here, they ran out the door."
"I bet they were intimidated with a Champion standing in front of them," Dawn reasoned proudly as Nurse Joy continued to appear perplexed by the unexpected quiet of the lobby.
"Maybe," Ash agreed, eyeing the little kid who still held his Chikorita's pokeball in his hands. "Do you want Nurse Joy to take care of your Pokémon?"
"Uh, yeah, please," the kid replied, facing Nurse Joy. He held his only Pokémon out to her, and she took it with a smile.
"No problem little boy," the kind nurse said as she walked over to the counter, behind which was a small medical room where she placed pokeballs to heal the Pokémon within. "Your brave Chikorita will be better in no time!"
"Uh, Nurse Joy?" Dawn asked the woman as she neared the medical room.
"Yes?"
"Why weren't any Chansey here to help you against Team Rocket?"
"Actually, we have a Blissey here, but she didn't fare well in a battle against those two," Joy answered, a sour look crossing her face. "They used three Pokémon against her at once…though I recall the Meowth they used did nothing but talk the entire battle."
"A talking Meowth?" Dawn asked. Her eyebrows rose in surprise. "I know who must have attacked the Center!"
"Really?" Nurse Joy responded, surprised. "Who is it?"
"Their names are Jessie and James, and they're part of Team Rocket!"
"Do you know anything else about them?" the nurse asked, sounding excited.
"Well, no," Dawn admitted. "I mean, I know what they look like, of course, but I have no clue as to where they might be hiding or anything. I didn't even know they have come all the way over here from Sinnoh."
"Oh," Joy said, the hope deflated from her expression and voice. "Oh well, then."
With that she proceeded to the back room, the young trainer at her heels, appearing impatient.
"Can you believe those three followed us over here?" Dawn asked Ash as the other two left the room. "I mean, they must have great sneaking abilities to have been spying on us this whole time without our knowing it!"
"Actually," Ash replied, "I don't think they even knew we were here! I mean, they seemed surprised when they saw me. I told them to wait for me outside so we could talk."
"Wait," Dawn began, appearing dazed by the last statement. "You told them to wait for us? How come you didn't hand them over to the police?"
"Because of this Mallory girl," Ash explained. "You know, the girl who got me in trouble last summer? I think that they know something about her, and why she said she wants to help me. I couldn't just hand them over to the police if they have all that information!"
"I guess you're right," Dawn agreed. "Still, it feels a little weird helping the bad guys, huh?"
"Yeah," Ash agreed, not really paying attention to his friend. His mind was elsewhere as questions began to pervade more of his thoughts. "Let's get on our coats and see if they waited like they said they would."
As the Champion and his coordinator friend rushed out of the large hospital, they immediately made a track to the back of the building where, surprisingly, the three villains awaited their arrival in the basket of their inflated hot air balloon. Peering inside, Ash saw the trio sitting with their knees to their chests, looking miserable.
"Hey guys!" he greeted, startling the Team Rocket members.
"So why do you wanna talk to us?" Jessie asked hotly as she glared at her former prey. "We would have thought you'd be looking for that special operative."
"Special operative?" Dawn asked as she looked inside the basket next to Ash.
"Yeah, dat new girl with the stupid name!" Meowth retorted. "What was it? Meghan?"
"No, no, it was Molly," James replied, rolling his eyes.
"You mean Mallory?" Ash asked.
"That's it!" Jessie answered with a snap of her fingers. "That new girl's name was Mallory. I knew that!"
"So she was new?" Ash asked the three, hoping to quickly get the information he desired.
"Well, no," James answered. "She was just new to Kanto. She came from our Johto headquarters in Goldenrod."
"At least that's what they told us when we were fired from our original job," Jessie added with anger in her voice.
"You guys were fired?" Dawn asked. "But you're still wearing the Rocket uniforms!"
"Do we have to explain everything?" Jessie asked. As she looked up at the two confused teenage faces, she sighed. "I guess we do. When you became Champion, the boss called us back to Viridian for a meeting. He told us how angry he was that we had let a kid who was our number one priority become a Regional Champion without stealing any of his powerful Pokémon."
"It didn't help dat we'd been followin' ya for six years," Meowth added.
"The worst part was that the boss said he didn't trust us anymore with such a powerful trainer, and that he was handing our job to that new girl," James concluded.
"So now we're in Johto, and we were assigned to find and steal as many rare Pokémon as possible," Jessie continued. "And that stupid boy's Chikorita would have been the perfect gift."
"Do you want me to apologize for saving a young trainer's first Pokémon?" Ash asked incredulously.
"Of course not, Mr. Goody-two-shoes," Jessie snarled back. "Just don't make us waste anymore time with you."
"I won't, but I have one more question," Ash said, as he saw James rise up and put his hand on the lever of the balloon's flame controller.
"What is it, kid?" Meowth asked.
"What's her job supposed to be?"
"What do you mean, 'what's her job'?" Jessie asked.
"I mean, is her job to steal my Pokémon like you guys, or does she have some other purpose?" Ash elaborated.
"Sorry twerp," Jessie answered, standing next to her companion, who was releasing hot air into the balloon. The vehicle slowly began to ascend. "That's confidential Team Rocket information."
"Oh no you don't," Ash muttered in frustration as the balloon rose about a foot off the ground. He sent out his Bayleef and ordered it to use Vine Whip.
"Hey, let go of us!" James cried as he recognized the hindrance to their escape. "We have to make our getaway!"
"Not until you tell me her job," Ash replied calmly, folding his arms.
"We already told you that that's confidential Team Rocket information!" Jessie snapped back at the Champion. "We aren't gonna tell you anything!"
"Fine then," Ash relented. "I think I hear Officer Jenny coming by. You can explain what happened at the Pokémon Center to her."
Panicking, all three Rocket members looked at each other for a quiet moment before simultaneously bowing their heads in defeat.
"We don't know," Jessie mumbled under her breath.
"What?" Ash asked densely.
"I said we don't know, Twerp!" Jessie yelled.
"What do you mean you don't know?" Dawn asked in place of Ash. "You're part of Team Rocket, aren't you?"
"Of course," James replied. "It's just, well, uh-"
"It's just dat da boss didn't tell us anyting!" Meowth completed in frustration.
"What?"
"Giovanni said that he didn't even remember who we were when we went into his office a few months ago," James conceded. "The whole time we were following you, we were sure that he was waiting for us to come back with Pikachu, but when we told him what we'd been doing, he just shouted at us for wasting all of Team Rocket's money on foiled attempts to capture a stupid forest Pokémon."
"Pika," Pikachu growled in offense, its cheeks sparking.
"After that, he gave us this assignment, and cut off all our funds, so now we can't even purchase one little machine to help steal Pokémon," Jessie complained, more to herself than to Ash.
"It's a real bummer," Meowth concluded, as the three sighed in unison.
"Oh," Ash replied, unsure of what else he could say. For some reason, he had always considered Jessie, James, and Meowth to be the "face" of Team Rocket, but now he realized they were just grunts. They had appeared to him to be prominent members because they were normally the only ones he ever met. However, Mallory was probably much more important, and she was trying to get his attention because he too was now much more important.
"Bayleef, let go of 'em," he ordered his grass type a moment later. He knew that he would receive no more information from the group.
"Thanks, twerp," Jessie muttered as their balloon floated upward. She, James, and Meowth would never admit it aloud, but they would miss following the trainer from Pallet.
"You're welcome!" Ash cried back with a grin. He would never say so aloud either, but he missed, and would continue to miss, the antics of the Rocket members.
"So they're really not following us anymore?" Dawn asked as she watched the balloon gain speed and head off into the night. "Weird."
"I know, right?" Ash asked with a grin.
"Hey!" Dawn cried suddenly, startling the content Ash next to her. "We forgot to get the Pokémon their hot chocolate!"
"Oh yeah!" Ash said excitedly, immediately losing interest in reminiscing over Team Rocket. "I hope it's not too late!"
Running back around the Pokémon Center, the two friends sprinted to the café.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"You're finally admitting it?" Daisy asked, shocked by the news she had just received. The late-night meeting had been called back to order after Misty had made her quiet announcement on the stairs. Lily, a natural gossip, immediately squealed the news to her two sisters, and as they sat around the kitchen table once more the redhead affirmed her excited sibling's announcement.
"Yes, I do like him," Misty conceded grumpily. "Happy?"
"Not really," Daisy replied. All three of her sisters turned their attention to her. "I mean, you realize this after you have, like, a huge fallout with him? Not very smart if you ask me."
"You know what?" Misty asked, her temper flaring. "I can't control how I feel, or when I feel that way, I just know how I feel right now! Don't tell me my emotions are dumb!"
"Uh, sorry, sorry," Daisy responded appealingly. Over the last few weeks, her sister's temper had lain fairly dormant. However, the sudden outburst was more than enough to remind her of it.
"So what're you gonna do now?" Violet asked. "Are you gonna fly to Johto and meet up with him in the rain? That's what happens in all the movies…except it's usually the guys who meet the girl."
"Of course not!" Misty replied. "Even if we were friends, I wouldn't risk telling him this, but now that he hates me, I'll never tell him!"
"But you, like, have to!" Lily asserted. "Otherwise, your life will never be a movie!"
"Life isn't like movies, Lily," Misty replied in a condescending tone. "Sometimes these things just don't work out."
"So what are you gonna do?" Daisy asked, curious to here Misty's plan.
"Simple," she answered happily. "I'm just gonna work here again. This gym needs a successful leader anyway." At that, she stuck her tongue out at her sisters jokingly.
"No, I mean about Ash," Daisy said. "I know you don't wanna tell him, but are you gonna at least forgive him?"
"Nope," Misty replied folding her arms and sticking up her nose. "I'm just gonna forget him."
Author's Notes: So...what did you think? Again, I ask that you kindly type your reaction into the comment box rather than scream at your computer screen...since many of you had trouble with that last time (ha,ha). Seriously though, I hope y'all enjoyed the chapter and that it will keep you satisfied until the next one comes out (hopefully within three weeks this time! Dream big). I actually am no longer suffering from writer's block, which means I am writing the next chapter a lot quicker than I wrote this one, but it may still be a couple of weeks because of school stuff (we all know what that's like, huh?). I'll say that while this was not my favorite chapter, I do think it does pretty well because of the plot advancement and character developement (mainly for Misty, but also a little for Ash). However, as always, if you disagree then please REVIEW and tell me so!
Okay, as George Washington commanded in the Constitution…here are this week's recommendations:
"Pallet Party Picnic" by Princess Tiger – This is a hilarious short chaptered fic. It has all kinds of shipping in it for just about anyone, and the author has said she plans to make a sequel...next December (see, I'm not the only lazy one, ha,ha). In all honesty though, this is a really fun fic if you want something of decent length, but not containing much drama or seriousness.
"Confessions of Teens In Denial" by Tinybit92bck – Despite its title, I found that this fic wasn't sappy or angsty at all (except at the end). As a matter of fact, I'd go so far as to say this guy keeps the people in his fic more in character than I do. Read this if you want a fairly serious, but great, pokeshipping one-shot.
"The Strangest Kind of Love" by Warlordess - I was SO excited to see that she had updated this fic (although she did so in November). Warlordess was the first author I read on this site, and I've been a big fan of all of her stories since I started reading them last January (wow! it's been about a full year since I got back into Pokemon). Basically, this story takes place after Ash and Misty have quit their journies (Ash having been unsuccessful at becoming a Master), and it's the tale of them trying to assimilate to adult life. It's pretty funny, and I certainly want everyone to give it a shot.
Alright, well, that's about all I have to say. Again, thank you to all my reviewers for helping me reach this 300 benchmark...but remember! We can only reach 400 if you READ and REVIEW!