A/N: Thanks a lot for your support! And thanks to ruggler354 for putting up with my babbling about the story (for so long already :P) and for the idea about the chapter titles :)

Anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter, it's about the Pokémon hero himself :P

To Guest: Thanks! Feel free to leave a few of your own :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or the picture used as cover, though I did edit it.

Days

The day at the beach

Ash

Monday, November 11th

The sand was cold, but Ash let out a content sigh and leaned back on his hands anyway. The sun shone on his face and was pleasantly warm, and he let out another satisfied sigh as he stretched his legs. Even for the Orange Islands' warmer climate the temperature was higher than the islands were used to at this time of the year, and Ash decided that it must be because they deserved it. Planning a wedding had been much more work than anticipated, and dealing with a short-tempered (even more than usual) Misty was no party either.

Next to him, he heard Pikachu call for attention and Ash pulled himself from his thoughts. He was just in time to see Misty dive into the sea water, and Ash couldn't suppress a shudder for her sake. No matter how nice the sun felt, it was still November and the sea water couldn't be very warm.

But Misty had insisted, and thus here they were, on the beach of Golden Island. At first, Ash had found the idea of going on a honeymoon a bit overdone (mostly because Misty didn't take the added stress of having to plan a holiday well). Plus, they had already traveled so much and the Orange Islands, while nice, weren't exactly that exciting. He wouldn't have minded to wait until things had calmed down again, but Misty had been set on the idea.

And after all the stress of the wedding, Ash now found he was very happy with how things had turned out. Perhaps Brock's joking advice at their wedding ("The woman is always right.") hadn't been a joke at all.

"Come join me, Ash!" Misty called out from the water, a wide grin on her face. He grinned back but he wasn't crazy, and Ash shook his head fervently.

"No way!"

"But it'll be fu-hu-n!" she tried, batting her eyelashes in an exaggerated way. Ash let out a laugh, Pikachu chuckling at his side, and Misty pouted, before sticking out her tongue and then diving back into the water.

She had to be absolutely crazy, but Misty had claimed that this was very probably her last chance to swim in open water until spring. And he couldn't really blame her – if he could only train outside three months a year, he knew he would take every chance he got. And while admittedly travelling in the colder months was more challenging than in summer, it was still possible, while swimming in open water in winter was just asking for pneumonia.

But with Misty's love of swimming and both of them wanting to travel, the Orange Islands had been an ideal choice for the two of them. Most of their Pokémon had been left at Professor Oak's or the Gym, but the Pokémon they had taken with them loved the islands as well.

Ash pulled himself out of his reverie and saw Misty dive under water, resurfacing a few seconds later, her wet hair sticking to her face. She turned, catching his eye, and grinned cheekily. "Hey Ash, if you're just going to ogle me, you might as well make yourself useful!"

"I wasn't ogling you!" he yelled back, more out of habit than anything else.

Misty ignored his false denial. "Grab my Pokémon so I can swim with them!"

Ash grinned, shook his head, but then pushed himself up from the still cold sand anyway. Rummaging through Misty's bag, he had soon located her Pokéballs and he took a short run to the shore, Pikachu excitedly running along. Ash stayed some distance from the water, though, knowing that his wife (she was actually his wife) would take every chance to get him into the water and he was prepared for a surprise attack of water splashing.

With the exception of Psyduck, all Misty's Pokémon were released into the water, and Ash added his own Totodile to the group as well. He released Psyduck on the shore next to him, and the Pokémon looked at him in confusion.

"Thanks." Misty beamed at him, and Ash felt himself grinning back. Misty's happy expression fell when her eyes locked on Psyduck, and a frown appeared on her face. "Useless thing..." She shook her head and then dove into the water again.

"Psy?" The Duck Pokémon cocked its head to the other side, and Ash felt bad for it. He wasn't sure how much the Pokémon could understand, since it didn't seem too bright, but still, surely it could be trained someway... Even if it couldn't be trained as a real battle Pokémon, since its headache would forever be its handicap, the very least they could try was to make a real Water Pokémon out of it.

Convinced by the genius of his idea, Ash called for Misty's attention again. "Ey, Misty, I got an idea!"

She swam closer and looked somewhat suspicious, which made Ash frown in offence. "Not all my ideas are bad," he defended before she could complain, and she grinned in response.

"I didn't even say anything." Misty let out a laugh, holding her hands up in innocence, and Ash felt just the slightest bit ridiculous.

"You were thinking it," he threw back with a grin, before launching into explaining his idea. He was put out when Misty disregarded it almost immediately with a laugh.

"C'mon, Ash, don't you think I haven't tried? It's useless! Psyduck is just too..." she trailed off, and gestured to the yellow Pokémon, who was staring off into the distance with a blank look. Pikachu patted the Water type comfortingly, but Psyduck didn't seem to notice.

Ash pouted at having his idea blown off so quickly, before a smirk made its way on his face. He was not going down so easily.

"Maybe you didn't try hard enough," he teased, crossing his arms and leisurely walking closer to Misty, who had narrowed her eyes dangerously. "I thought you were supposedly the best Water Pokémon Trainer in the world."

Misty gritted her teeth, her eyes ablaze with fury. "I am!"

"Who can't even train her own Pokémon..." he threw back in a sing-song voice. Misty clenched her fists and made her way closer to the shore until she was almost lying on her stomach in the shallow water, but Ash didn't see the danger coming.

"I totally can, just you wait, mister so-called future Pokémon Master," she threw back, but it was a weak comeback and they both knew it (which should have made him suspicious, but Ash was too busy gloating).

"Prodigal future Indigo Champion, miss Gym Leader," he corrected her, repeating the name Pokémon Monthly had given him based on his results last year and his ambitions to participate in the Indigo League again this season. Last season, he had managed to defeat Bruno before Agatha had stopped him, and this season he was sure that he would be able to defeat Champion Leaf.

Misty pressed her lips together in frustration and for a moment Ash thought he had won. He grinned, Pikachu called out in warning, but it was already too late.

Misty lunged at him and pulled him forward. Ash felt his feet lose their grip, and with a splash he landed on his hands and knees in the shallow, cold water.

Misty quickly darted and then swam out of his reach, her laugh echoing through the air, while Ash got up, now sufficiently wet.

"No fair!" he complained, but Misty only laughed. He shivered when a wind blew by, before quickly making a decision. Ash swiftly stripped off most of his clothes, shivering even more, and Pikachu let out a questioning sound.

"Yeah, I know, I must be mad," Ash said, grinning wryly, and then dove into the water, to pursue a still laughing Misty.

A/N: Thanks a lot for reading! Enjoy some fluff while you can ;) Please leave me a review! I'll try to update as soon as possible :)

Thank you!

Recommendations:

Pokémon: Beach Day by Snoaz. FFN. Thanks to inklaced for recommending this to me. This is a nice one-shot about the Johto and Kanto Dex Holders going to the beach, leading to some funny moments, and there's Oldrival and MangaquestShipping.

Pokémon: Ash or Satoshi? by Alyss Ashworth. FFN. PokeshipperByHeart recommended this to me, thanks! This is a very fluffy two-shot, in which a stranger who looks very familiar, but who claims he's not Ash, wants to battle Misty… Hmm… XD PokeShipping :)

Harry Potter: Old Habits Die Slowly by saxwarrior. FFN. A dark one-shot in which Arthur tries to make Molly see her flaws in parenting. Surprisingly serious, and it pulls attention to things which have gone pretty much unnoticed in the books.

Recommendations are very welcome!