Hey Everybody! Here's chapter 31 for you, out on time this week! I'm going to say in advance that I feel a lot better about this chapter. Several of my readers mentioned in their reviews that the last chapter, though entertaining, seemed a little choppy, and I completely agreed. Last chapter, as stated, was meant to be a kind of transitional chapter into the next arc of the story, but that doesn't excuse the mild skill I exemplified throughout the installment. Anyway, I just want to assure y'all that this chapter, by far, flows together better. However, I'd still love to hear your thoughts, be they good or bad, in a REVIEW after you finish reading!

Speaking of reviews, I have to apologize to my reviewers. I did not write any of you over the last two weeks to thank you for your input. While I'd like to think you know how important your thoughts are, I know that some generic thank you in the author's notes is not truly a sign of appreciation for your commitment to this story and its success. Please, if you're a new reviewer and didn't get a PM from me in return, give me one more chance and leave your thoughts following the reading of this installment, and if you're a regular reviewer, do the same. I assure all of you that I'll respond to each and every one of this chapter's reviews.

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: 22

Misty: 17

Dawn: 14

Delia: 40

Oak: 56

"You gotta hurry up!"

"Just give me another minute!"

"You said that half an hour ago!"

No response.

Giving a sigh, Ash fell backward against the redhead's door. Two weeks had passed, and within that time the young man and woman had successfully captured the rest of his Johto list. Though several Pokémon now needed to be trained and evolve so that his Pokédex would register them, both had decided that it was entirely possible to raise them as they continued their journey into Hoenn.

Suddenly, Ash felt the support disappear from behind. Flailing his arms, he landed hard on his back within Misty's doorway.

"Whoops! Sorry." Misty tried to cover her mouth as the hilarity of the situation threatened to break the sincerity of her apology. "I didn't know you were there."

"Yeah, yeah." Standing up, Ash quickly dusted himself off before walking out the door with his friend.

"Why is it that when we were younger, you used to get mad at me for never hurrying up, but now you take forever when we're about to go anywhere?" He grunted as he completed his inquiry, surprised by the weight of the suitcase Misty had drug to the door with her.

How could she carry this thing?

Misty frowned. "I never take forever. You just are always too nervous and want to leave immediately. We have plenty of time!"

"The ferry leaves in two hours!"

"So?"

"It's a three hour drive, Mist."

Placing her hands on her hips, Misty glared at the champion as he pushed the button to bring up the elevator. Glancing over at the object of his affections, Ash flinched.

"Don't act like I'm some dummy, Ash!"

"What're you talking about?"

"You're acting like I don't know how long it takes to get to the ferry!"

"Well, you don't."

"I do too!"

Now it was Ash's turn to glare. "Then why aren't you worried about us being an hour late?"

"Because I said that it'd take three hours with bad traffic! Do you think the traffic will be bad at five in the morning?"

Ash opted to leave the question unanswered as the elevator doors swung open at the perfect time. With another grunt, he lifted the suitcase and drug it into the small compartment. As the doors closed, Misty smirked.

"So I guess I win then, huh?"

"No you don't." It was too early for this.

"Yeah, I do."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Pikachu-pika!" warned the electric mouse from atop his friend's cap. Several sparks jumped from his small cheeks threateningly.

"I guess Pikachu didn't feel like waking up early this morning, huh?"

"Nope. He almost killed me when I pulled him out of bed by the tail."

"You deserve it for yanking on his poor tail." Misty pouted her lips as she stroked the small creature behind his ear. Pikachu cooed happily as he nestled back to sleep upon the young champion's head.

"No one likes a suck-up, Pikachu."

The doors opened once again, and the two hurriedly made their way through the lobby, their previous discussion coming back.

"With no traffic, we'll get there with time to spare."

Beginning to sweat from the weight of the luggage, Ash replied with an honest "I hope so."

After they loaded Misty's suitcase and Ash's backpack into the trunk, the two teenagers hopped into the front seat. Ash gingerly laid Pikachu onto the plush leather backseat as Misty started the ignition and practically raced out of the hotel parking lot.

Pulling onto the freeway, the two fell into a lapse of silence as the exhaustion and slight awkwardness between them settled in.

Over the last two weeks, though they still knew the other had strong feelings for each other, they'd been granted very little alone time to talk. Between dodging the paparazzi, which had resurfaced immediately following Ash's reclaiming of the Sinnoh Championship crown, and trying to catch the almost thirty different Pokémon he still needed, the two were barely able to mumble a few words goodnight every evening before setting off to their respective rooms for well-deserved rest. Though both had dwelled extensively within the recluses of their own minds on the advice of their loved ones during their off-time, neither had come to a viable solution.

I could battle her, and if I win she has to be my girlfriend.

I could just keep punching him in the arm until he finally agrees to start going out with me.

The various strategies and plans created by the two had the potential to fill a warehouse. However, despite the sheer volume of ideas, neither could find one which would make bringing up the subject any less uncomfortable.

I'll just have to wait for us to get a quiet moment alone, and then we'll talk about it. It'll be awkward, but we have to do it. Though she cringed at the idea of discussing a relationship with the dense teenage boy, Misty could think of no better option. She hoped that perhaps the ferry ride would provide them with some privacy to discuss the matter, in fact.

I just wish I could kiss her again. There was no doubt Ash's train of thought was shorter on the subject. Though he hadn't given up trying to find a way around direct confrontation with the redhead, he was beginning to grow desperate. Even discussing their "future" and "feelings" seemed like it was almost worth the pain if he could once again reclaim those lush, beautiful lips. They'd yet to kiss since before he went to battle Paul, and he couldn't help but begin to empathize with Brock's constant swooning. After tasting something so sweet, it was hard not to think about it on a consistent basis. While he, of course, wanted her to be his girlfriend for more reasons than just the physical, he couldn't deny that it was certainly a large reason for his determination.

As they each dwelled upon their separate goals and intentions, neither noticed how quickly the time flew by. After what felt like mere minutes, the sports car neared the looming ferry. As the large structure caught Ash's gaze, he quickly looked down at the clock to find that they'd barely made it in time.

"Told ya I wouldn't be late."

"We're not there yet," Ash reminded, pointing towards a giant door at the base of the ship which had a small bridge which connected it to the port. "You've still gotta park it in there."

"No problem." She sped quickly through the lines of parked cars and soon found herself face-to-face with one of the guards, who held a clipboard in one hand and a sandwich in the other.

Taking a bite, he gave them a brief welcoming to Johto Ferries before asking their names.

"Um, Misty Waterflower?"

Chewing on another piece, the slightly overweight man glanced over the paper on his clipboard before giving a small nod. "Just pull the car into there and find an empty space. Y'all shouldn't have too much trouble since this is an exclusive ferry ride."

"It is?"

The man nodded again before pointing her in the direction of the ship's hull. Rolling her window up, Misty drove slowly across the bridge and asked Ash what an "exclusive ride" entailed.

"I forgot to tell you about that. I saved us seats on this ferry because I thought we wouldn't want to deal with a bunch of people asking for autographs and stuff if they saw me on the ride. The lady said we could travel on this one after she found out who I was."

"You sure do think a lot of yourself to be worried about people wanting your autograph, don't you?" She gave a smirk, knowing that despite her teasing, his fears were actually quite legitimate. Even before his victory over Paul, he was stopped more often than not by many a random passerby for an autograph or picture. Still, she couldn't help but jab at his ego a little.

"Well, I am pretty famous, Mist."

Rolling her eyes, she sarcastically agreed.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"You're positive I should do this?"

"Pikachu!" The small rodent gave a thumbs-up at his buddy for reassurance. Though he wasn't quite sure what was happening, he could sense tension between the two teenagers and it seemed as if Ash had some plan as to how he could end it.

Ash gave his friend a bright grin. "You haven't failed me yet. I'm gonna do it!"

As he reached for the doorknob to leave his expansive ferry quarters, he suddenly paused as the fear of his decision washed over him.

"On the other hand," he said, turning back to face his loyal Pokémon, "a small snack would probably be the best thing to have before doing something so important. Don'tcha think so?"

Pikachu gave another enthusiastic nod and thumbs-up, instantly recognizing the word "snack". Jumping onto his master's shoulder, he emitted a small squeal of approval as the young champion headed towards the snack lounge.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Showtime," the redhead muttered under her breath. She rose from the twin-size bed provided to her in the small room and release a slow breath. Walking out the door, she made her way to where the Sinnoh Champion was almost guaranteed to be: the snack lounge.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Time to chow down, buddy!" Ash announced as he steadily balanced the plate of ribs in one hand and his soda in the other. "We're lucky! The chef said no one asks for ribs, so we got the only plate they had prepared!"

Setting the dish in front of his friend, Ash grabbed a stool from beneath the bar and quickly took a seat. Pikachu took his own spot next to the plate, eyeing the meat hungrily.

"Normally I wouldn't give you this kind of food, but I think you deserve this after all the help you've given the last two weeks with catching all those new Pokémon."

"Pika-pi!" He believed he did too.

"Well then, let's get started!" he cried happily, tearing off one rib for his friend, and preparing to devour the rest.

As Pikachu wrestled with the slab of meat, Ash greedily took several large bites off the nearest end, causing sauce to cascade down his chin. "Dewicious," he mumbled, reaching for the soda and downing half the glass in a single swig. "Mist should try this!"

"Pi-kachu."

"There you are Ash!"

Confused, the two broke their mealtime chatter. To Ash's general shock, Cynthia, Steven, and Lance had all appeared beside them without their noticing. "We've been looking all over for you," remarked the former Sinnoh Champion. "Though it seems you've been extra busy the last few minutes." She and the others laughed as she pointed to his face.

Ignoring their guffaws, he grabbed a napkin and greeted the trio. "Hey guys! What're you doing here?"

"We're glad we were finally able to track you down," Lance said with a smile. "You practically fled Sinnoh after that victory."

Scratching the back of his head, Ash gave a small laugh. "Yeah, I guess we did kinda leave in a hurry. I had a bunch of Pokémon to catch in Johto in a small amount of time, so I haven't had a lot of time to stop and talk to people."

"I understand," Cynthia replied, knowingly. "Your mother explained your 'deadline' to us when we tried to contact you at the League house the day after you won. It sounds like you've got quite a bit of work ahead of you."

"Yeah, I do. So did you guys come all the way here just to say hi to me?" He was impressed momentarily by his seeming importance to the three.

"Uh, well no, not really," Steven answered. "I mean, when we heard you were onboard, we were quick to come find you, but we actually have some G-Men stuff to take care of back in Hoenn."

"Wow, that sounds important."

"Well, not every mission is as important as the one we just finished with you, but the job definitely keeps you busy. When you're finally done with all of this Master stuff, would you consider becoming a member yourself?"

Ash's eyes reflected his surprise to the invitation. "The Master can become a G-Man?"

"Of course!"

"Is the Master a G-Man right now?" His voice grew quieter as he anticipated a top secret answer. To his surprise, though, all he received in return was a snort from Lance.

"Mr. Kanto becoming a G-Man? No way. He's too busy spending all his time in that mountain training to think about anything else."

"You shouldn't be so jealous," Steven advised, obviously trying to stifle a laugh.

Lance turned to him in a blink. "I'm not jealous of him!"

"Well, I mean, it's perfectly natural that you would be," Cynthia seemed to be in on Steven's joke as her voice gave a slight waver. "I mean, he did beat you when he was, what, ten? That couldn't have been a fun battle to lose."

"For your information, he was eleven," Lance replied. "And besides, that was years ago! I'm a much more experienced trainer now than I was then."

"So is he."

Lance gave a small "humph!" in return before turning his back to his two comrades. Both winked at the teenager, who'd watched on in quiet wonderment at the childishness of some of the greatest trainers in the world.

"We like to tease him about that…a lot." Steven gave a bigger grin as Lance stamped his foot on the ground.

Ash and simply gave an awkward smile back in return. He wasn't completely comfortable making fun of the powerful dragon trainer without understanding the joke. "Why did you call him 'Mr. Kanto', Lance?"

"Because that was his nickname after he beat Lance here like thirty years ago," Steven explained, grabbing the champion by the shoulder. "Everyone called him 'Mr. Kanto' because he was the youngest champion they'd ever had. No one does anymore though, except Lance, who seems to think it's some insult."

"Anyway," Lance interjected, shoving the hand off his shoulder, "if he was such a great trainer, he would've accepted our invitation."

"Invitation?"

"Yeah, when we'd decided to train you in Hoenn, we all sent him private messages asking if he'd be able to come and help," the Kanto Champion explained. "But as per usual, he never even wrote us back! We're constantly doing stuff and it's extremely rare that he ever helps out. If it'd been up to him, I guess we'd have a Team Rocket member as a champion right now."

Steven leaned in closer and spoke quietly to Lance. "Keep your voice down." He motioned with his head to several people who were passing by in the lounge and appeared at least somewhat interested in listening to the champion's rant.

"Well, I don't think he wanted me to fail or anything," Ash replied. "I mean, he did send me this." Reaching at his belt, he pulled out the Master Ball. "This has to be some kind of present for winning."

The three champions' eyes shot wide as he enlarged the capsule.

"I-Is that a Master Ball?"

"Yeah! The night I won, I went to my hotel room and found it on my pillow with a short note. He said that he hoped I used it correctly."

The champions gathered around Ash and silently admired the object for several seconds.

"Amazing." Cynthia was the first to find her voice. "I can't believe he'd give anything like this away."

"I know," Lance agreed. The wonderment which adorned his tone gave away his admiration for the gift. "This is one unbelievable present."

"So what're you gonna catch with it?" Steven asked, grazing his hand over the orb.

"I dunno." Ash gave a shrug. "I mean, whatever it is, it'll have to be really hard to capture. One of these doesn't come along very often."

"I'll say." Cynthia, despite her normally cool presence, seemed ready to drool at the sight of the rare pokéball.

Ash suddenly remembered a question he'd had. "Why did he have one of these if they're so rare? I mean, doesn't Silph make pokéballs? Isn't it their decision who gets these?"

"Almost always it is," Lance answered, straightening back up, though still holding his gaze on the object. "I mean, Silph is a private company. However, every once in a while they'll create a pokéball, like the Master Ball, which could have serious repercussions if it fell into the wrong hands. The Pokémon League owns a large portion of Silph's stock, so we have a pretty big say in what pokéballs should be released to the public, and which ones shouldn't. Most of the time, the one's that shouldn't are just destroyed and their designs are put in the archives, but the Master Ball was an exception. Though we couldn't release it to the public, we realized it definitely had some potential in helping to capture extremely dangerous Pokémon, so we agreed that one person, the Master, should have these accessible to him or her at all times."

"So now it's kind of the Master's job to protect the world from a dangerously powerful Pokémon when and if it begins to rampage," Cynthia clarified. "Before, the Masters would have to do this by beating the Pokémon, but now they just have to catch them."

"Does that happen very often?" It seemed to Ash that if this were the case, then he shouldn't have had to do all that work in trying to save the world from Arceus, the Unown, and the several other legendary Pokémon he'd come across during his journeys.

"More often than you'd think. We try to keep those types of operations quiet from the media."

"So then he has as many of these as he wants?" Ash looked at the pokéball admiringly.

"Yep, and you will too after this is over with."

"But wait!" he cried with a start. "You guys said that Silph isn't allowed to sell any dangerous pokéballs. How is a Master Ball dangerous? It doesn't do anything bad to the Pokémon, does it?"

"No, it's not that," Steven began. "The problem is that if we allowed all trainers the ability to catch as many Pokémon as they wanted, it could do serious population damage. Imagine a world where every trainer, no matter how inexperienced, could instantly catch every Pokémon they'd come across. That would have terrible consequences for certain ecosystems which are carefully balanced between Pokémon and other species of animals."

"Right now, things are perfect the way they are," Lance continued. "Pokéballs and their counterparts are effective capturing tools, but only if the Pokémon are weakened first. This ensures that not just any unskilled trainer can come and completely deplete a habitat of its Pokémon. By the time most trainers do have that ability, they're more mature and understand why they shouldn't anyway."

"If I were you, I'd save that for one of the rarest Pokémon you'll have to find that's on the list," Cynthia suggested. "Maybe a Lucario, for instance."

"Or a Dragonite."

"Or a Metagross."

After several more minutes passed, with each of the trainers taking turns at what rare, and possibly legendary, Pokémon Ash could capture with the expensive device, their conversation eventually returned to his victory over Paul.

"I definitely wanna say thanks again for helping me train. If it wasn't for you guys, I wouldn't have won that battle!"

"No problem," Steven answered. "Of course, next time a challenger comes along, you'll have to deal with them by yourself. Don't think this is a regular thing!"

Ash gave a small laugh at the light scolding. "I won't."

"And remember that we're due for a rematch soon!" Lance reminded, giving his counterpart a light punch on the shoulder. "I was going easy on you before, but next time you'll get a taste of my full power!"

Cynthia rolled her eyes. "You know you gave it everything you had. Maybe you should use more than just dragons all the time…you know, a little variety never hurt." Before he could respond, she turned to Ash. "And as for you, you're doing very well, Ash. Truthfully, when I left you that note, I was wondering whether or not you'd really follow through. The task of catching every Pokémon is pretty daunting to most people, and the fact that you're giving it your best, under a time limit no less, really speaks to your dedication. Steven's right, we won't always come to help you like we did this time, but know that if you're ever in trouble we'll be ready to help."

"Also, don't forget about our little invitation," Lance reminded, still giving Cynthia a murderous glare for her previous comment. "After this is all over, we'd love to add you to our team…whether or not you make it to Master status."

Giving another smile, Ash thanked them all once again before they walked out the lounge, arguing over the pros and cons of type specialization.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

There he is.

Sitting at the bar, Ash was leaning over the counter as he and Pikachu greedily devoured what appeared to be some kind of meat.

Giving a small chuckle, Misty walked over to the teenage boy and lightly tapped him on the shoulder.

Turning around, he jumped slightly upon seeing the redhead staring back at him with smiling eyes.

"Oh! Hey Misty! I was just gonna go look for you."

"Pikachu-pika!"

"Yeah, it looks like it." She was still smiling, but she gave him a knowing glance which spoke volumes.

"No, really," he insisted. "I was just having a small snack first." He grabbed one of the napkins next to his plate and wiped off his chin and mouth to the best of his ability. Misty didn't bother to tell him he still had a rather large slather of barbeque sauce on his right cheek when he finished his thorough scrubbing.

It looks like he bathed himself in it.

"Why were you gonna go looking for me?"

"Um, well…" He cleared his throat. "I was wanting to talk with you about something."

Blushing, Misty looked at the ground as she gave the carpet a small kick with her left sneaker. "Actually, I was wanting to talk to you about something too."

"Really? Why don't you tell me what you wanted to say first, and then I'll tell you?"

"Why should I go first?"

"Uh, because I think what I wanna talk about is gonna be important." Misty instantly turned sour at the comment, and Ash backpedaled quickly. "I mean, I know that what you're gonna say is important too, but I just think that what I wanna talk about is going to be more important."

Huffing, Misty assured him that whatever he wanted to discuss could not be nearly as vital as her topic. "It just seems smarter to get the small stuff out of the way first."

"But it's not small, Misty!"

"Well, it can't be as important as what I wanna say!"

Ash rolled his eyes. "Of course it couldn't be as important as what you want to say. Trust me, I think I know what I'm talking about."

"Okay, Ash. You can go second, but only if you tell me what it's about."

His cheeks became flushed at the challenge. "How about you tell me what you wanna talk about first? If I think it's more important, then you can go after me."

"Because I already asked you."

She had a point.

"Just tell me what the subject is, and then we can decide." She felt as if she were bargaining with a man about to jump off a building.

"Well…alright," he reluctantly agreed. Focusing on the ground, he gathered his nerve. "I-I wanted to talk about, uh, us."

No way.

Misty's eyebrows shot up. "Um, what about us?"

"Hey! You said that I only had to tell you what it was I wanted to talk about. Now do you see why it's more important than whatever it was you wanted to say?"

"It is not more important," she replied, angry that he'd think he had the better topic.

"Then what did you wanna talk about?"

Now it was Misty's turn to look down as Ash's inquisitive glare met her nervous eyes. Taking a deep breath, she quietly murmured "the same thing".

His entire body stiffened at her words.

"I guess we had equally important stuff to talk about, huh?" she joked, hoping to ease the tension of the renewed awkwardness. She was beginning to grow sick and tired of these silent lapses between the two of them.

What happened to when it was just fun to be around each other? Not always having to worry about saying the wrong thing?

Giving a half-hearted chuckle, Ash agreed. "Do you wanna talk about this here, or somewhere else?" He only asked after seeing that several more strangers seemed fixated on his and the redhead's conversation. Though the ship was exclusively carrying "V.I.P."s, it was clear that many of these people wanted to know what the champion was doing with a different girl than the one they'd seen him kiss recently. There was nothing juicier than celebrity gossip.

"We probably should. Do you wanna go to your room or mine?"

"Mine's closer."

"Then let's go."

They both stood up, Pikachu jumping atop Ash's shoulder once again, and made their way to his room in relative silence. Walking through corridor after corridor, both began to prepare for the long conversation that certainly awaited.

Just be calm, Ash. You've won championships, caught tons of awesome Pokémon, and even saved the world. This'll be a cinch. Despite the pep-talk, his stomach clenched tighter as each second passed by.

Misty grit her teeth in determination. You're strong and smart. Just remember that it's only Ash. This is the same guy who sent a Pikachu to battle an Onix for his first badge. He's not intimidating or scary…he's just Ash.

Before either knew it, they were standing in front of his door.

"Do you wanna unlock it?"

"Uh, oh yeah!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out the slide card for the door. With a small beep and a green flash, the lock unhinged itself, allowing the two entry.

Walking in, Misty didn't even take time to admire the lavishly decorated room he'd been provided, nor to scowl over the fact that he hadn't offered her the better quarters. Instead, she quickly made her way to the mini-fridge located next to his big-screen television and opened a bottle of mineral water. She was suddenly very hot.

"Could you get me one too?"

"Sure." She took another out and threw it to him, which he made clear he hadn't anticipated after fumbling with the plastic bottle in mid-air before allowing it to hit the soft carpet with a "thud".

"Whoops," he mumbled, bending down to grab the bottle. Unfortunately, he'd forgotten Pikachu was still on his shoulder, and the little mouse gave a squeal as he fell off of his trainer.

"Oh! Sorry about that Pikachu!"

"Pika-pika," the Pokémon forgave, wearily picking himself off the carpet and hopping atop the bed. He laid down and allowed his full stomach to process the half-rib he'd ingested downstairs as his master and friend began their conversation. Hopefully Ash knew what he was doing so things would go back to normal between the pair.

"He must be pretty full," she noted. "He's usually quick on his feet."

"He's just not used to Tauros meat, I guess. Pikachu usually just eat plants and stuff."

"I guess that makes sense." She was reaching for conversation here. "I mean, Pikachu are naturally forest-dwellers after all."

"Yep. Not many ribs in the forest I guess." Both gave some weak laughter to reinforce the poorly presented joke.

"So…"

"So…"

"Do you wanna start, or should I?"

"Well, I mean, how do we know what we wanna talk about? I mean, we know we want to talk about us, but what if it's about different things about, um, us?"

Misty blinked for a moment, trying to understand the question. "I-I guess we could just take turns saying what's on our minds?" It was amazing that she could be so headstrong ninety-nine percent of the time, and yet act so completely incompetent the other one percent. Where was her confidence?

"Alright. You start."

"No, you start."

We've been over this before.

"No way, I think that-"

"Fine! I'll go ahead and start the stupid conversation!" The sudden outburst forced Ash to jump a little. "Seriously, we're not thirteen year old girls! We're supposedly adults! Since you're obviously having trouble grasping that concept though, I'll begin our little talk."

"Alright, s-sounds good." He was a little shaken by the small rant, but at the same time felt himself relax at the return of the old Misty's tone.

Fired up, she felt a little braver as she began. "I don't think that what we've been doing is any good for us. I mean, it's been fun, uh, you know, doing that stuff and whatever, but I just don't think that, um, well, that we should, uh, keep…doing it?"

Lost steam pretty quick.

"You don't want us to travel anymore?" This was news to Ash.

"What? No, no. That's not what I'm saying at all," she answered, shaking her head. Giving another sigh, she tried again. "Look, what I'm trying to say is that it's no good for us to just be kissing and stuff."

"It's not?"

"No! I mean, sure, it's really fun and exciting, and um…"

What did I just say?

"Well, it's not like we've kissed recently or anything," Ash reminded.

Fifteen days to be exact.

"I know, but I, well, I know that you've been thinking about it."

He didn't respond, but instead gave the young woman a questioning stare.

"I mean, I'm sure you've thought about it at least as much as I have. After all, my sisters say that guys pretty much only think about girls, so, I mean, it's not really hard to believe you've been thinking about whether or not we were going to do it again."

"So you've been thinking about kissing too?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"And you thought it was fun?"

"Uh-huh."

"But you don't want us to do it anymore?"

"Um, no, I don't mean that."

"Then what are you talking about, Mist?" His voice was growing annoyed at the redhead's ambiguous replies.

"I guess what I'm saying…" Her voice died out as a small whimper escaped her throat in its stead. Why was this so difficult to bring up? "I guess I'm saying that I don't just wanna kiss and then act like nothing else is different."

"You want me to start acting different?"

"Kinda," she answered helpfully. "I mean, I don't want you to stop being who you are, but I think that our relationship should change."

He cringed at the word. She was thinking about the same thing. "Oh, so you want us to be more than friends?"

Snapping her fingers, she replied with a happy "exactly". At last they were on the same page.

"I mean, we both like each other, right?"

"Yeah! I mean, I like you, definitely."

"Good, because I like you too, a lot." She saw his face turn red at the obvious news. "And I don't think that we should just keep acting like friends when we could be more."

"Me neither," he agreed happily. "So what should we say we are?"

"Well, I guess we could say that we're, um, in a relationship?"

"You mean, like you're my girlfriend?" Ash almost wanted to laugh at the question. It was too absurd to think of Misty as anyone's girlfriend. Especially his.

"I think that's what we'd call it," she answered nervously. It was weird to hear Ash use the word to describe her. However, it certainly wasn't unpleasant.

In fact, it feels kinda nice.

Wiping his forehead with the back of his palm, Ash gave her a small smile for the first time since they'd entered the room. "So then you're my girlfriend, and I'm your boyfriend?" It still sounded far too weird to say aloud. He stifled another potential laugh.

"Yeah, you're my boyfriend." She needed to hear herself say it before she could believe it had happened. The two had actually just maintained a semi-mature discussion about their relationship, and Ash Ketchum, master of being oblivious to all things not related to Pokémon, had agreed to become her boyfriend. She couldn't help the huge grin which graced her features.

"Um, so now what?" he asked after the two had stood and stared at each other for a good several seconds.

"Now that you're my boyfriend, I guess the next thing for us to do is for you to take me on a date," she replied with a shrug. "I mean, that's what my sisters' boyfriends always did."

"A date?"

"Uh-huh .You can take me to the movies, or a quiet candlelit dinner, or maybe on a romantic picnic-"

"But we're on a boat to Hoenn."

"So? Hoenn has nice places to go on dates, I'm sure."

"We're not going there for dates and stuff, though. We're going there so I can catch more Pokémon, remember?" His mom had warned him she may expect something like dates, but he'd assumed she meant after they'd completed their journey…not right in the middle of it.

"Of course I remember. That doesn't mean we can't take a break to enjoy each others' company…no matter how unpleasant yours can be sometimes."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you can be a real jerk sometimes, Ketchum. We just decided that we're gonna be in a relationship, and all you can do is think about Pokémon training? The very least you can do is offer to take me somewhere nice to eat or something."

"But we go to eat all the time. Why does it have to be candlelit or a romantic picnic?"

She huffed in anger. "Because that's how it works, Ash. People who go on dates don't spend the whole time insulting each other over a plate of burgers and fries! You go to a nice, quiet, place and you say nice stuff to each other and have an expensive meal."

"I can't imagine you in a quiet place saying nice things for long." He grinned at the wittiness of his own insult.

"I can't imagine you using a fork, but if we're going on a date, then you better learn how!"

Dang it, I had her.

"Fine," he answered. "I'll go on a date with you…but I'm not gonna wear a suit or something dumb like that!"

"You'll wear nice clothes because we'll be going to a nice restaurant," she informed. "I don't wanna look like my boyfriend's a hobo."

"I never look like a hobo."

"Says you." She stuck her tongue out, invoking a similar response from her companion.

Author's Notes: The truth is that I realize this chapter's significantly shorter than the last few. While I'd like to apologize for that, I really can't because I couldn't make it any longer. For a while, I considered just putting in a bunch of filler to make it 7,000 words (it's only a little over 6,000 now), but I couldn't bring myself to do that. I'm writing this story for your enjoyment, and I can't imagine that the filler I had in this chapter, which was neither important to the plot nor even entertaining, would have helped you savor the chapter anymore. However, the next installment does promise to be a long one, so keep your eyes peeled as Ash and Misty change their Facebook accounts to "in a relationship" and travel through Hoenn (guess which one's a joke).

Also, before I let you go, I'd like to say that I received a couple of reviews over the last couple of weeks from various readers which put me a little on edge. As many of you know, Pokémon Black and White is coming out soon with the new Isshu region. Of course, when it does, this story will no longer be canon, and as three readers reminded me, that will mean I'll have to make this story AU. While I basically told all the readers that what makes a story good is its writing, not its perfect relevance, I realized that many of my readers may not feel the same. If you think I should continue on this story in spite of its impending "lack of canon-ness", please tell me so in the reviews, and if you think I should wait to re-write it with Isshu included (which I'll just go ahead and warn would be quite a lot of work), then please tell me that too. As I always say, I'm writing this for y'all, and I certainly don't intend to continue if you guys would prefer a different kind of story.

Anyway, that's about it. To all the Americans out there, have a great Fourth of July! Go tar and feather some British people if you know any! (That's what we do in Texas, at least) To everyone else…um, well, have a good day, I guess.