Ok, I admittedly made a mistake with an upload, so this chapter has been rewritten. I hope I managed to recapture everything I did before, and if I didn't, I apologize. Well, here we go with Chapter 4.2.
_

Chapter 4

Normal POV

After speaking with Brock, Ash felt a little bit better since he managed to get the pain off his chest and even explain what was going on. But now a new thought was swirling in his mind. Brock had come right out and said that he was in love with Misty, and the normally dense Pokémon Trainer had actually been convinced that it was the truth. But now that he knew the truth, Ash thought that the pain would never go away until he saw Misty again.

As for Brock, the silence was positively unraveling for the breeder, not even Pikachu was making so much as a squeak. So Brock tried to lighten the atmosphere a little with some friendly conversation. Maybe even something about Misty, maybe he could see if Ash understood what he had said to him.

"So, what did Misty say the last time you talked to her?"

"Well, that was a few months ago...she said that she was starting to train Daisy in battling. Misty was getting tired of handling the entire workload by herself."

"That's understandable." Brock nodded. "With a gym as popular as Misty's, it'd be nice to get some help. So how was that going?"

"Well, I asked her that and she said that Daisy might actually be enjo-" Ash stopped in his tracks, and his eyes widened as a huge grin spread across his face. "Brock, that's it!"

The breeder was caught off guard by Ash's sudden outburst as he jumped back a little. "What? What's it?"

"I've got a great idea Brock! Where's the nearest Pokémon Center?!"

"It's a mile or two north from here...But we can't stay there for the night Ash! We already set up camp!"

"Don't worry Brock; the only one going is me." Ash handed the two small twigs he had managed to find to Brock. "Go ahead and head back to camp; I'll be back as soon as I can!" With that, Ash took off down the road, leaving the utterly bewildered breeder to try and figure out what had just happened.

Brock's POV

I watched Ash run down the road with Pikachu hanging on for dear life. "Ok, let me think, what could've brought that on?" I replayed the last few minutes in my head to try and figure out why Ash took off so suddenly. My brain wasn't able to process it in the moment because of the abrupt change of attitude he had, I thought he may have just gone crazy and we'd have to call the men in the white coats to go after him.

"Well, I asked her that and she said that Daisy might actually be enjo-Brock, that's it!"

That was where it started. Ash mentioned Misty and Daisy training with each other, but what was the "it" he mentioned?

"I've got a great idea Brock, where's the nearest Pokémon Center?"

"An idea huh? That'd be a step up for Ash. Now the big question is...what is the idea?" As I continued to walk back to camp, holding the two twigs that Ash had oh-so-graciously handed to me before he took off, I pondered what Ash's huge revelation could've been. "Maybe he's gonna go call Misty? Nah, that's too sensible for Ash. Maybe he'll find someone who looks like Misty and ask her to join us...uh uh, too crazy even for him. Meh, whatever it is, it's bound to be interesting."

I decided to give up on trying to figure the complex and yet not so complex mind of Ash Ketchum. It just took too much brain power to unravel the mysteries of his mind. The only ones who could ever read him that easily were Misty and his own mother. And so I finally reached the campsite where Dawn was still waiting after I got a little more firewood, but she looked kinda tired of being patient.

"Where've you been?!" Dawn asked with her hands on her hips. "I was getting worried."

I shrugged. "I couldn't find any berries out there."

"Hey, where's Ash? And why are you holding firewood?"

"Uh..." I was hesitant to explain. Ash had quite clearly explained that he did not want Dawn to know how he felt about Misty. And I could understand why. Dawn did have a tendency to meddle in things that were none of her business. "He went to go run an errand. He should be back in no time."

"Well I certainly hope so, I'm starving!" Dawn growled. "And I don't plan on waiting too long for him to do whatever he's doing!"

"Hurry up Ash! She may not compare to Misty, but an angry Dawn can be pretty scary too!"

Ash's POV

An incredible idea had popped into my brain, I was proud of myself for having it. I ran as fast as I could towards the Center, with Pikachu clinging desperately to my shoulder, trying not to fall off as I continued to speed towards the Center. "Pikapi! Pika pika chu?" (Ash, where are we going?) Pikachu squealed, his eyes squeezed shut to keep out the wind blowing in his eyes.

"To the Pokémon Center, Pikachu! We've gotta call an old friend!"

"Pikachupi?" (Misty?)

I chuckled at that, it made sense that Pikachu would think that was my big idea, and it did involve Misty, but not directly, at least not yet. "Nope, we're not calling Misty; we're calling an 'old' friend." I snickered. Pikachu gave an exasperated groan as he understood my pun. We finally reached the Center, and I burst in and looked at the clock, and saw that it was only 8:30 P.M. "Perfect, it's not too late!" I ran to the videophones and quickly dialed a number. I was going so fast that I figured I had to redial the number over eight times before I actually got it right.

Normal POV

*Ring ring ring, ring ring ring, phone call, phone call* Somewhere in the Kanto Region, a videophone was ringing wildly, calling to the recipient of the call to answer it.

"Now who could it be at this time at night?"

The phone was answered, and Ash soon appeared on the screen. "Hi Professor Oak!" he said cheerfully.

"Oh, hello Ash!" Prof. Oak smiled. "To what do I owe the honor?" Ash explained his situation to the wise man, making sure to leave out the parts about Misty of course. "I see, hold on just a moment Ash, I'll make the call."

Prof. Oak walked off the screen, leaving Ash and Pikachu waiting in anticipation. "Guess we'll know in a minute, eh Pikachu?" Ash petted the head of his Pokémon partner, who responded with an affectionate "cha!"

After a few minutes, the Professor came back onto the screen, and sat himself down with a smile on his face. "You're in luck Ash, he should be at your location tomorrow morning."

Ash punched the air with excitement. "Thanks a lot Professor, I really appreciate it!"

Just then, Ash's Muk came onto the screen and smothered the Professor. "I think Muk appreciates you for calling!" Prof. Oak said in slight distress.

"Ha ha! Hi Muk!" Muk waved his globby hand at his master, while the Professor tried to get out from underneath it. "Ok Professor, thanks for everything, talk to you later!" And with that, Ash hung up the videophone and got up to look at the clock. "Hmm, 8:45, well, I guess that's not so bad." Seeing that he had accomplished his goal sooner than expected, Ash decided to heal his team, seeing as Buizel in particular had taken a beating earlier. "Hey Nurse Joy, how about a recharge?"

"No problem young man," the nurse took Ash's Pokéballs and Pikachu. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

No alone in the lobby as he waited for Nurse Joy to return with his Pokémon, Ash looked up at the ceiling as his imagination conjured up an image of a certain redheaded Gym Leader. "I hope I'll see you soon Misty."

Meanwhile, Dawn was practically fuming at Ash. She hadn't gotten to eat yet and it was because Ash hadn't gotten any firewood and Brock was forced to do the job himself, which meant that he'd had to set up the actual cooking process, which delayed their dinner by a significant margin. "Where the heck is he?! I swear I'm gonna have to have a long talk with him when he gets back!"

"You're a little late Dawn; I already had one of those with him." Brock thought. "Relax, he'll be here soon, I know it." The breeder was trying to sound calm, but he definitely didn't want Dawn to get any angrier, she might start using him as a target to practice contest moves on. Just then, Ash was seen coming up the road, and Brock gave a sigh of relief.

However, Dawn was not satisfied with Ash just coming back; she wanted to get her two cents in, and maybe another dollar's worth of words. "Where have you been?!" Dawn screamed in the stunned trainer's face. "We haven't even eaten dinner yet thanks to you!"

Ash had to dodge the coordinator's hands as they were getting uncomfortably close to his face., and he put up his own hands in a placatory gesture."Sorry, but it was important."

"More important than dinner?! Ash, you've never missed a meal before, for any reason! What could possibly be so important that you miss out on food?!"

Now Brock thought this was amusing to watch. He was interested in seeing how Ash would slip his way out of telling the truth.

"I uh...had to..." Ash said a little too quickly. "Take Buizel to the nearby Pokémon Center!"

"Hmm, not a bad answer." Brock thought with a subtle approving nod.

"After all," Ash added cockily. "A trainer like me should always have his Pokémon in tip-top shape!"

"D'oh, so close. You shoulda just left it at that."

"Well whatever," Dawn huffed. "At least you're back so we can eat."

Ash tilted his head. "Why'd you guys wait for me anyway?"

"We weren't waiting," Dawn scowled and gave her mentor a side-eye look. "Since you bailed on getting the firewood, Brock had to do it for you, so he's only just finishing up now."

"Oh," Ash rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled nervously. "Sorry about that guys."

"Don't worry about it Ash," Brock waved a hand dismissively, much to the coordinator's shock. "I managed to find enough wood that I could heat up some leftover riceballs."

"I can't believe you're letting him off the hook." Dawn crossed her arms over her chest and puffed out her cheeks in anger.

It took a while for Ash and Brock to cool their coordinator friend off, but they were able to enjoy a relatively peaceful dinner before getting ready for bed, although Dawn did insist that Ash take care of the cleanup duty to make up for shirking his earlier responsibilities.

Given the circumstances, Ash had no trouble complying.

Ash's POV

We were just getting ready for bed, and I began to set out my sleeping bag, when all of a sudden, Misty popped into my head again. But for some reason, I didn't feel as much pain as I had before. "I sure hope my plan works, I want my Misty back..." I did a double take at that. "Did I just call her 'my' Misty?" I couldn't help but smile a little. "Wow, I must love her more than I thought..." I did another double take. "'Love'? Wow Brock, you sure did a number on me." I knew now that the feelings I had for Misty were pure and genuine, but I hadn't yet grown accustomed to thinking of her like that.

But one thing was for sure, I liked it.

As I crawled into my sleeping bag, Pikachu walked up and curled himself next to my head for a good night's sleep. I petted his head and just waited for morning to come, thinking about Misty the whole night through.

Normal POV

The next morning, Ash, Dawn, and Brock were once again on their way to Solaceon Town. But after a short while of traveling, the trio looked up into the sky as they heard a faint roar in the distance. "That's gotta be him!" Ash thought excitedly.

In the sky, they saw a small orange figure, which was slowly growing larger as it approached. Once it got close enough, Brock's eyes widened - as much as they could - in shock at the sight of what he was seeing. "Whoa, check that out Ash, it's a Charizard!"

Ash grinned. "That's not just any Charizard, Brocko."

Brock raised an eyebrow at that as he looked at his younger friend. Then he turned his head back towards the sky, and that was when his mind made the connection. "It's Ash's Charizard!"

"Charizard! Down here!" Ash waved his arms to get the dragon's attention, and moments later, Charizard swooped down to where they were and landed, causing the ground around them to rumble a little bit, announcing presence with his signature roar while spewing a Flamethrower.

"Aaah!" Dawn shrieked and hid behind the breeder's back as if he could hide her from the large fire/flying-type, and she pulled out her pink Pokédex shakily in order to scan the Pokémon.

"Charizard, the Flame Pokémon, and the evolved form of Charmeleon. Charizard's powerful flame can melt absolutely anything." her Pokédex chirped.

"Hey buddy, how ya been?" Ash patted his powerful Pokémon's side, and Charizard shrugged dismissively with a low grunt.

"How are you and Charla holding up?" Brock quickly regretted asking the question when Charizard looked away and growled angrily. "Oh…I see."

"Hey, don't worry about it Charizard," Ash patted the dragon's side again. "Remember you still have friends on your side, we'll always back you up whenever you need it." After a moment, Charizard grunted with a small smirk on his face, and motioned for Ash to hop onto his back. Ash did just that, positioning himself securely onto the dragon's back.

After seeing that, Brock had managed to put the pieces of the puzzle together, and he smiled and gave Ash a thumbs-up. "Good luck Ash."

Ash looked down and stared straight at Brock. "Thanks Brock…for everything." he replied. "I'll see you guys later, let's go Charizard!" Charizard unleashed a mighty roar, and took off into the skies, leaving Brock and a very confused Dawn behind.

Dawn's POV

Ok, had I missed something? First Ash goes into a depression, and then he starts hearing somebody I don't know about, he takes off to the Pokémon Center without telling us and leaves us waiting for like an hour, comes back happy, and now a giant dragon showed up out of nowhere and took him away. "What was that all about?!"

Brock took a quick glance at me. "Ash has an errand to run, he'll be back in a couple of days."

"A couple of days?! Where the heck is he going?!"

Brock apparently completely ignored my question and just started walking ahead of me. "We should probably get to Solaceon Town."

I was not about to let it go that easily. "Tell me where he's going Brock."

"Look, he'll be back, just leave it at that."

"No way! I wanna know what's going on!" I started running to try and tackle the breeder, and in turn Brock took off running as well. "I'm gonna get you Brock! I hate secrets being kept from me! I'll find out what's going on if it's the last thing I do!"

Brock's POV

"Make it fast Ash; I don't think I can put up with her for very long!"

Ash's POV

Thanks to Charizard, my plan was in motion. "Think you can make it all the way to Cerulean City, Charizard?" Charizard nodded and grunted. Thanks to that training in the Charicific Valley, Charizard was a mighty powerhouse that I could count on whenever I needed him, and this flight to Cerulean was more important than any battle I had ever done, at least in my mind it was.

"Pika pi pi chu pika pi Pikachupi." (So we are going to see Misty.)

I didn't bother to respond. Why repeat what Pikachu already knew? He knew how I felt about Misty, and he knew where we were going. "The plan's going great so far."

"Pi pika pika pi chu pika chu." (I'm still not sure what the plan is though.)

"Heh heh, you'll find out soon enough. But I will tell you this, if it works, it'll make everybody happier." I blushed a little bit as my mind added an extra thought. "Especially me."

"Pika pika chu." (If you say so.) Pikachu shrugged.

With Pikachu in my arms and Charizard carrying me there, I would soon be at my target location, where Misty Waterflower would hopefully be waiting for me. "Get ready Misty, here I come!"