Pokemon Fan Fiction / Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ The next step ❯ The Next Step ( Chapter 1 )

Hello, all you wonderful people out there at fanfiction.net. Since this is my first Pokemon-fic, let me introduce myself to you (cough): I'm Schmendrick.

When you are looking for a little and (in my humble opinion) a bit romantic story with Misty and Ash as the main characters, feel free to read this story.

The characters, Pokemon (the tv-series, the movies, the games, the merchandise-articles etc.) do not belong to me (and that is probably for the best. They wouldn't be as successful as they are!). I'm not making any money with this story, it's just for fun (as long as there is someone out there actually enjoying it a bit)!

There are already lots and lots of stories about Misty and Ash out there at the internet and I do not know all of them. So there may be a story similar to this one. If this is so, I do not know about it. I did not copy this story (or even parts of it) from anyone else and similarities to other stories are not intended.

I'm from Germany and there may be some crude grammar or spelling mistakes here. I do not have even one beta-reader (sigh!). You have been warned, so don't sue me if your brain tries to flee out of your head because of my horrible writing.
If there is anyone out there who thinks that the story is worthy of being improved by correcting the mistakes, contact me at my email-address (bottom of the page). But don't expect me to pay you for that. I'm only a poor student (sniff!).

And now: I hope that some of you have fun with this story.





Taking The Next Step


"Oh Ash!"

With the amount of honey, which flowed at that moment in Misty's voice, she would have been elected 'Beedrill-queen' in at least a dozen Beedrill-hives immediately. Ash knew her for far too long to be fooled by that fact. She was obviously pissed. Heavily. Besides knowing her for seven years now, they've had far too many fights in the last time for him not to recognize her mood immediately.

"Please tell me again, exactly where we should be now. Because according to my map... we should have left this stupid jungle at least two hours ago!"

After the word map her voice had ged from 'honey-mode' to 'imminent-mallet-arrival-mode'. His secret love stood in front of him, her hands on her hips and he could nearly see thunderclouds over her head. Ash cringed and tried to increase the distance between himself and his companion as careful as possible. Her eyes promised instant apocalypse if he hadn't got a very good excuse.

"Misty, you know how these jungles are. It just... takes sometimes longer to come through them.."

Pikachu nodded heavily to emphasize his' trainer's point.

"It certainly nearly always takes longer whenever you claim to use one of your famous 'short-cuts'!"

"You cannot blame me for the map being wrong. It's not my fault that this way ended so suddenly in the middle of nowhere."

"Oh, I see! Now the map is wrong!"

Ash felt a tree in his back. There was no way to retreat any further. A sweatdrop was flowing very slowly down his nose, several others along his cheeks, his arms, his back and... to make it short, he was literally drenched. Kami-sama, it was much too hot today and the angry Mistay in front of him certainly did not help him to cool down.

"Misty, please. I know exactly where we are and in about just one hour we will arrive at..."

"You mean that you led me deliberately into a place which contains more bugs than... than... arrgh! I don't know what, but certainly more bugs than I ever wanted to see in at least five lifetimes?"

"Awww Misty-, come on, just one hour and then..."

"It will be dark in one hour. And don't try to '' me into a good mood!"

"Geez, you're always so impatient."

The moment those words had slipped through his lips, Ash knew that he had made a grave mistake. If there ever had been a mallet-time, then it surely was exactly now.
But the mallet never came.
Misty stood right in front of him. He could have touched her, if he had wanted (or dared) to. Suddenly her eyes softened and ged from heavy-thunderstorm grey to the blue colour he could get lost in again and again without ever getting tired of it. Not that he would have been able to admit this at least once in all those years. The ge of her eyes which accompagnied the ge of her mood amazed him every single time he saw it, too. Usually it was like this: thunderstorm - catharsis - happy Misty.
But this time, her expression got very, very sad.

"Ash, when we set up camp, we need to talk. Don't talk to me until then, please. Now, lead the way."

Seeing this look on her face nearly ripped his heart in two pieces but right now he could think of absolutely nothing proper to say. If only he had been able to tell her...
Ash turned around and went on into the direction he knew for sure to be the right one. He could hear Misty cooing and sweet-talking to her Togepi.
Oh how much he wished that he could tell her everything he wanted to so dearly. It would have made everything so much easier.

#####

Two hours later Ash left the last trees behind and stood at a beach. It was completely dark right now. There was absolutely no cloud in the sky and the full moon bathed the scenery in a slightly silvery light. The sight of the stars and the milky way against the pitchblack sky was breathtaking.

*Finally!* he thought. *I just hope that this is really the right place. Oh please, let this be the right one.*

The young Pokemon-Master walked a few steps into the direction of the ocean and inhaled deeply. He could understand why Misty loved the water and the ocean. Its smell and sounds made him feel better immediately. He heard some noises in his back and turned around to see Misty wordlessly set up the camp.
Ash had hoped that she would be delighted to arrive at the ocean, but her face was absolutely emotionless. He quickly helped her to set up the camp and began to build up a little fire with the loose wood which he had gathered during the last half hour.
While he began to cook and prepare food for the pokemon, Misty made her way into the ocean and stood in kneedeep water for several minutes. Pikachu cuddled into a blanket and immediately fell asleep. It had been a very long day.
Ash asked himself if he should release his other pokemon too. Considering Misty's mood, he waited until she came back into his direction to get them out of their pokeballs. He allowed them to have some fun in the water but reminded them, of course, to be careful since it was dark. He knew that pokemon of course knew much better than himself when to be careful when dealing with nature, but he couldn't help it.
After they ate, Ash sat down by the fire. Misty, just to make the point that she still was not in good mood, she sat down on the other side.

"Ash, exactly how long do you want to go on like that?"

"Like what?"

"We can't hike through the world like this forever, you know."

"We... we can't?"

"What do you think why Brock had left us last year? He was tired of being on the road. And so am I."

"But... but Misty..."

"Wait Ash, please let me say this first. Seven years ago you crashed into my life. I decided to join you for some time. And the time we had together was certainly great. I wouldn' t want to ge all the fights, the challenges, all the endless travelling, all the experiences we made on the road and even Team Rocket against anything in the world. But..."
Misty obviously had some difficulties saying the next part. But then she got a determined look and said what she wanted to say.
"...our time together comes to an end. At the next town we reach which is big enough to have a port or a train station, I will leave you and will go on with my own way."

Ash was absolutely dumbfounded. This was something he had not expected to hear from her.

"But... why... I... I mean... Misty..."

"I think I will be travelling across the Orange Islands again. I plan to at least enter the Orange League. Maybe I will even participate for the Orange Cup. I will travel for about half a year more from now on and then... I'll settle down. Maybe in Cerulean City, maybe somewhere else."

Ash looked at his pokemon for help but they were all sound asleep. He had let them sleep outside their pokeballs since it was such a nice weather and the sea air was considered to be healthy. Misty's pokemon were no help either since they too were asleep.
He looked up into the sky, but the moon and the stars seemed to be absolutely unimpressed by his emotions. And although they had witnessed scenes like that one since the beginning of time and space, they had no advice for him how to handle it.
This was absolutely not how he had planned this evening.

"But I still haven't bought you a new bike and..."

"Forget about the stupid bike. Do you think I really care about that bike after all this time?"

Although Misty smiled again, she still looked so devastatingly sad. Ash had no idea how to get out of this and his helplessness made him angry. He knew that he did or said stupid things when he was angry but he couldn't help it. And the first thing he could think of to say, was...

"You are not going to the Orange Islands to enter the league. You want to see Danny again. Or maybe Rudy. Or maybe you hope to meet Todd somewhere on the way."

This was a little bit too much for Misty. She had tried to tell him this quiet and calm. She had wanted to open and share a little bit of her heart with her friend. And all he could think of was... She quickly got her pokemon back into their pokeballs because she did not want to wake them and make them witness what she considered would get a nasty scene. Ash did likewise.

...

Back in the woods, James readied himself for a new attack. Jessie, who observed the teens, held him and Meowth back by holding them each at an ear.

"Do you both have no sensitivity at all? They're having a private conversation and have certainly other problems now."

"Their private conversation did not stop you from eavesdropping. And when has this ever stopped us before?"

She bopped him over the head.

"I said 'NO', James. The twerps have to be alone now. Period!"

...

"At least Rudy treats me like a lady. He knows how to make a woman feel special."

Ash felt his blood boiling. He didn't take the time to think of anything before he said it.

"Just because he gave you that little speech and all those flowery words along with those flowers he's probably giving every girl coming to his desolate island who's at least half as beautiful as you?"

"Would you listen to me? I want to win some of those badges too. If I can see Rudy or other nice guys again, it will be a nice bonus. At least he seems to care about more than just his pokemon."

"Then this may be news to you, but I DO care about you!"

"It's not as if you would have ever shown this in one way or another, 'Mr. Gentleman'!"

"And exactly why do you think that you could win those badges? Do you want to be all nice and girly and expect to get the badges as a reward for batting your eyelashes?"

"HEY, Big-pokemon-master, do you think you are the only person on the planet who can win a battle just because there are some stupid useless tincups with your name on them standing on a shelf at your home?"

"At least I have the title of 'Pokemon-Master' already. At least I travel around beause I want to be a better trainer. At least I'm not looking for other girls and disguise myself at being a wannabe-master."

"That you are not looking at girls as long as there is a pokemon around is absolutely no news to me. And why the hell do you think that I cannot be a good trainer too?"

"For heaven's sake, Misty, you haven't participated for even one cup in all those years. And what have you done in seven years to become the best water-pokemon-trainer? I do not need more than my two hands to count the times you battled in those seven years."

Misty's voice gott suddenly calm again.

"Oh, so you really need both your hands to be able to count my battles? I understand you so well. I have problems too with calculating numbers which are higher than five."

Ash flushed heavily.

"By the way, Ash, my dear, Rudy said that he knew no one else who could handle water-pokemon better than me."

"Of course he did. He certainly expected you to kiss him or maybe... do even more than that."

SLAP! SLAP!

Now Ash's cheeks were not only red because he had flushed. He fell back and saw the world turning upside down like in slow motion. He hit the ground and looked up at the stars without really seeing them. Somehow those slaps had hurted him more than any mallet-strike ever did.

*Did I really just say that? Oh kami-sama, what have I done?*

He tried to get up but somehow did not find even one ounce of strength inside his body. He heard Misty get into her sleepimg bag and the sound of the zippers being closed had a somewhat final sound. As if they or their owner would never ever open up again.

At least not for him.

This time he had screwed up big time.

#####

At around midnight Ash still couldn't sleep. Not that he had wanted to. He had planned this evening so thoroughly and it had turned into a catastrophe faster than... and here he had to smile a little bit... 'faster than the speed of light'.
He sat by the fire and had put new pieces of wood constantly into it to keep it big enough and warm.. He debatet with himself if he should wake Misty up or not. He had heard how she had cried herself into sleep.
He could hear and see some of them coming now.
He had brought her to this place just for this occassion and was determined not to let her miss this. He carefully touched her shoulder and tried to gently wake her up.

"Get away and let me sleep. I'm mad at you", she mumbled sleepily, turned around and tried to go to sleep again.

"Misty-, wake up, please. There is something you just have to see."

"Huh?"

She looked at him questioningly and tried to sit up and rub her eyes at the same time, which proved to be difficult since she was enclosed by her sleeping-bag. She was about to give Ash a very generous piece of her mind about waking her up in the middle of the night especially after the fight they had had, but he just said: "Shhhh! Look there!" and pointed towards the ocean.

And there they were. Clearly to be seen in the light of the full moon were about a dozen Lapras swimming in the ocean. Slowly others arrived too.

"Ash? What is this?"

"You remember the Bulbasaur, Ivysaur and Venusaur's big meeting?"

"Hm."

"Well, every year when the moon is full for the ninth time, the Lapras are said to meet here. I just thought... you... you... might... want to watch this."

Now Misty woke up fully. She freed herself from her sleeping bag. She paid attention to let Togepi sleep in her sleeping-bag, siince it was surrounded by its warmth and her smell there.

"But how..."

"Shhh... just sit and watch..."

During the next two hours the Lapras kept gathering. All in all there were not more than about two hundred of them. Misty was used to ride on one of them for some time and when they returned 'their' Lapras to its family she had seen about a dozen of them.
But she couldn't do anything but stare in wordless astonishment as she saw two hundred of the beautiful and elegant creatures glide through the water. And still her heart nearly broke as she noticed that those few were all the Lapras that still existed in the whole world.

Then each of them began to glow in an incredibly beautiful soft blue-white light and then... finally... they - for a lack of a better word - began to dance.

In a show of absolute grace, excitement and joy, they jumped up high into the air, obviously trying to outdo each other and having a load of mountains full of fun with it. They did salti and corkscrews and jumped in other ways one wouldn't have been thought to be possible.

...

"Jessie, did you see what I saw there too?"

"When you are talking about all those Lapras out there, I think I saw the same you saw, James."

"Do you two have any idea, what the boss will give us if we catch those pokemon? Not only are they powerful, but more important, they are... rare!", Meowth added.

Jessie and Lames got immediately starry eyed.

"Never ever hungry again!" James said.

"We will swin in a lake of gold like those Lapras swim in the sea!" Jessie said.

"Never ever sleeping under the free sky!" James shouted.

"We will be so rich that we can build our own organization!"

Jessie and James began to dance around. Meoth brought them back to reality effectively with his scratch attack. Then he pushed the button of his remote control and the platform with the big paralyze-gun rose up over the trees.

"Prepare for trouble", Jessie began once again.

"Make it double", James added.

"To protect the world from... from... deva... station?"

"To unite all peo... ples... Jessie... do you see that?"

"I can't believe it", she answered.

"But we still have to... to capture them, right?", Meowth asked as if being in a dreamlike state.

"Right", Jessie and James asked in unison, as they too sat down side by side beside their weapon, completely transfixed and captured by the Lapras' dance in the moonlight.

After some time, without even thinking about it, James put his arm around his partner, while she rested her head on his shoulder.

...

Both of the young trainers had, since they both thought that it would be safe now, released and woken up their pokemon to give them the opportunity to watch the Lapras' dance too

"Ash, why are you still travelling?", Misty asked without looking at him. She had her legs drawn against her chin, her arms rested on her knees and her chin on her arms.

"Because of my dream of course. You know why: to become the biggest and best pokemon-trainer ever and to capture pokemon and... all the other stuff."

"Ash, since when do you have those dreams?"

"I don't know. Since I was... maybe four... or five years old?"

"And are those still your dreams? I mean, do you still want to realize exactly those dreams? Honestly? I mean... really really honestly?"

"Well, of course... I guess..."

Without knowing why, Ash's cheeks had begun to get red. He was thankful for the darkness of the night and the firelight because he could always blame the heat of the fire in case Misty should see his blushing. She turned her head towards him.

"Ash, look at me."

He complied hesitantly.

"Honestly?", she asked again.

There was a pause. Ash knew the answer. He just didn't know how to tell it to her.

*Well that's easy, stupid boy. Do it... honestly!*

"No", he said and his voice sounded as if admitting defeat. "I mean... to think that you can make your life by just travelling around may be... the nice dream of... a little child, but I know... for some time now... that those dreams have to end sooner or later. You just can't be the best of the best just with travelling from town to town. Ever. Or maybe you can for a little time. But there will always be someone else who is better than you are.
If everything you do is to travel around, you never have the ce to make real friends. At some point, you are more or less completely on your own. You may have some friends who like you and who support you, but most of the time they are far away."

"Then why are going on with the travelling and challenging??"

"You said it yourself. The time with you and Brock, then with Tracey and then again with Brock... it was so wonderful. It was all and more I had ever dreamed of. And I simply do not want it to end. First there was Tracey who decided to settle down. Then, last year, Brock decided to do the same. And now... you do too. I feel like I'm losing all my friends. It's... kind of... scary."

Ash looked once again into the sand as if he wanted to stare a hole into it and then looked again at the dancing Lapras. There was a long pause. Misty looked at the Lapras again too.

"Is this why we 'got lost' so often during the last months? Because you wanted to prolong the journey?"

"Hm."

Tears began to roll down Ash's face and he quickly looked to his right side and saw that Misty was looking intently at the Lapras. It simply could not be that his wonderful and carefree days should be over. Again there was a long pause.

"Ash?"

"Hm?"

"You have achieved at least a part of your dreams. You are a Pokemon-Master. I want to do that too. I mean I want to pursue my dreams too. I still want to be at least a very good water-pokemon-trainer. I'm tired of being just your side-kick. And of travelling around without any real goal except throwing a chellenge against everyone who is willing to accept it. I want to learn how to be a good trainer. And I am going to take exactly the steps I need to achieve this. And you cannot stop me."

*Even if that means that our ways will be seperate from that day on. As much as I want to stay with you, I do not intend to be dependent from you, Ash. And I will not let you hold me back from following my dream.*

"But don't you see that this travelling is important for me?"

"And why, if I may ask so?"

*Because we are together then, Misty-.*

"I want to try to be the best. And I want to show..." *...you more than anyone else...* "...the world that I am the best."

"And pokemon fights are the only way to achieve that?"

"Well, I am... not... I mean... it's the only thing I'm good at. There simply is nothing else. And so... I'm doing the only thing I can. Although, to be honest, it is not even really me who's doing all the fighting. The pokemon do the fighting. I'm just supporting them. They could surely do it as well without me."

"Ash?"

"Hm?"

"Please... come to me and sit by my side."

"What? I? Why...."

"For heaven's sake, just do it!"

"Yes ma'am."

After putting some more wood into the fire and using this oppportunity to wipe his eyes, Ash sat down beside Misty. After some time they looked at each other and then they both began in unison:

"I'm sorry..."

"You go first..."

Misty put her index finger against Ash's lips.

"I'm sorry for insulting your skills and your cups. I know how much they mean to you. I think that you are the best trainer I know and your love, devotion and loyalty towards your pokemon is, in my eyes, unique. Don't get all depressive. It doesn't suit you. You are certainly a good trainer."

Misty took her finger away, looking at him espectantly and a little bit afraid.

"I'm sorry to have said that you are not a good trainer. You love your pokemon at least as much as I do. I can not count just how often you supported me and I can never ever thank you enough for that. For staying with me all the time. For waiting for so long to wait that I'm noticing that you have your own dreams to follow.
You are a very strong, passionate, loving and headstrong young woman and I think that you are very good trainer-material. I think that you can achieve anything you want."

"Well... it's not as if I haven't learned anything about pokemon during our journeys. Don't think that you really held me back from anything. But, apart from training my pokemon, I think those Orange League badges would look very good at my sleeve, don't you think that too? I really want some of those little beauties and - kami-sama be my witness - I want to beat you in a battle so much!!!"

"Well, you really need to do some real battling with your pokemon then. Your basic skills are good, but you really have to hone them."

"And while we're talking about 'basics', when was the last time you read a book about pokemon?"

And again they sat and watched the Lapras for some time.

"Misty?"

"Hm?"

"You said that you wanted to go on for about half a year?"

"More or less, yeah."

"Can I... can I... can I possibly... join you?"

Misty's heart suddenly beat much faster. But she managed to stay cool on the outside and looked skeptical at Ash. She was sure that there was a mischievous spark in her eye but that he would not be able to see it since she had the fire in her back.

"I don't know. That depends. When am I going to get the replacement for my bike?"

Ash was not really sure if the answer he wanted to give was the right one, but he decided to take the risk.

"As soon as you are as good a trainer as I am."

"And exactly where do you want to get a bike from at this place until tomorrow?"

"You must be one of the funniest persons on this planet, Misty."

"Thank you. I know that. That's why people like me so much."

"Are we... still friends?"

"I... I guess... of course... yes."

And as they hugged each other tight, they were both glad that at that moment the other one couldn't see that they were blushing heavily. After they had parted, Misty took Ash's chin in her hands and turned his head towards her to be able to look him straight into the eyes.

"Ash, your dreams do not have to end, but maybe you have to take another way to follow them. I think that it's time to take the next step, don't you think that too? I mean, what's so bad about settling down? I really would love to have a place I can call 'home'. Somewhere that I belong to. Somewhere with lots of good friends around. A safe place. Something I can say about: this place is mine. And besides, you can still try to become the greatest trainer ever even if you're not travelling around the world.
If you... just for example... would open your own gym... you would still have plenty of opportunities to fight with other trainers and gym leaders. And you would have more time to study about pokemon."

"I'm so scared of taking that next step. I'm afraid that we won't be friends anymore. That we'll settle down at different places. That we will phone and meet each other often in the beginning, then go on with just phoning from time to time, and that at some point we do not know what to say to each other any more. I do not want our friendship to die. And especially not in such a long and painful way. I'm terribly afraid of losing you, Misty."

"I... think, I know, how you feel. But still... I will find my safe place."

*With or without you, Ash*, she added in her thoughts.

Then again they just sat side by side and watched the Lapras. The moon had already vanished some time ago and the sky was not pitchblack any more and the stars were not as brilliant as the horizon slowly began to lighten up.

The Lapras' dance stopped as if someone had given a secret order, but their glow still remained. Ash and Misty thought that the meeting was over and that the Lapras would vanish now. But then, one of the Lapras began to sing. Another one joined, then another one, until all of them were singing together. It was a bit like hearing two hundred whales sing and yet it was completely different.
It was a nearly magical sound, an incredibly sad and beautiful tune. But it still expressed all the joy of the dance too, which had ended only moments ago. And as the rising sun slowly extinguished the stars while bathing first the horizon and then the sky in a fiery red light, the beauty and complexity of the song kept increasing the whole time.
They sang the end of the summer and the beginning of the autumn. They sang of multiple coloured leafs falling to the ground, of freshly fallen snow in the moonlight, of awakening nature and blossoming flowers and of the beaming sun at a cloudless sky on a hot summer day. They sang of all the experiences they had made during the past year and of all that had happened since they had met the last time.
Then, at last, the Lapras greeted the sun and sang a farewell to the moon and the stars.

And then, all to soon, it was over and the Lapras vanished as if being carried away by a mysterious sorcerer's spell.

"Misty?"

She couldn't answer. Tears were streaming down her face. Tears of joy for the beauty of the song. Tears of happiness because she had been granted the privilege to witness the Lapras' meeting. Tears of sadness because it was over. Ash smiled at her, glad that everything had turned out to be well in the end.

"Happy birthday."

Misty tried to say something. Then she stopped. She tried again and failed again. Too many informations tried to enter her brain at once. At last she said:

"You... how... why..."

And then Misty simply tried to squeeze every single bit of air out of Ash's lungs with a stormy embrace. After some minutes she was able of some clear and logic thoughts, leaned back a little to look Ash into the eyes and asked him: "How did you know?"

"Well, I remember those two times I forgot about your birthday very well and the second time I vowed to myself to never ever forget it again. OUCH!"

"You're so stupid sometimes", she scolded him in a playful voice. "I meant, how did you know of this place?"

Ash got very serious now.

"Every league has its own secrets. And if you're good enough to beat all the gym leaders and achieve a League Cup in the end, the gym leaders meet and discuss which of those secrets they think they can tell you. After I won one of my cups, the League's gym leaders decided to tell me of this place. And... they even allowed me to share it with one other person. But it had to be someone special, someone who I thought would be able to cherish this experience.and never ever spill this secret.
This year I chose a way which would lead us close enough to arrive hear right on time. I wanted to show it to you to your 18th birthday, but that it was actually exactly the day of your 18th birthday this year, is just a lucky coincidence."

Misty blushed.

"So you... you think that... that I'm someone... someone... special?"

"Well... err... you know... yes. Definitely."

"You know, this is the nicest and best birthday present I ever got until today."

"Yeah, I wanted to bring a cake as well, but it wouldn't have survived this weather."

Misty beamed at him.

"You are allowed to bye me a birthday cake as soon as we arrive at the next town."

Ash blushed again heavily. But this time he didn't care, as he said: In the meantime, I have yet something else for you."

"You ... you still have... something else... for me?"

"Well, if you don't want it, maybe I can give it to Pi..."

Misty got playfiully serious.

"Don't you even think of giving my birthday present to someone else, mister!"

Then she made puppy eyes and gave him her best knock-out-smile.

"Please Ash, give it to me. Please?"

"Well, okay. Here you go", he said and gave her a small box, wrapped in white paper which was covered with little chibi psyducks.

"Oh my..." was all Misty was able to say after unwrapping the box as she opened it to find a golden Lapras with little ruby eyes on a golden chain. On the back of the Lapras sat a little golden Togepi. She looked unbelievingly at the necklace, then at Ash, then again at the necklace.

"May I... put it around your neck, Misty-?"

She wordlessly handed him the necklace and he sat down behind her and carefully closed the chain behind her neck.

Misty added three shades of red to the one on her face.

"Aaawww, isn't this a sweet scene, James?", asked Jessie.

"Not sweet enough if you ask me and therefore..."

"Prepare for..."

"Not this time, Team Rocket", Ash called out, looking around and spotting Team Rocket on their platform over the treetops. "You are certainly not going to ruin this day. Misty, you want to battle, so go for it. Here's your ce to prove your skills."

Misty was still stunned from the last minute's events but at the moment she wanted to call her Starmie to attack with 'water gun', she was stopped by Pikachu, who stomped angrily towards Team Rocket with a very determined look on its face. It was furious that Team Rocket had chosen this moment to attack.

"They interrupted our favourite speech and think they can get away without getting punished. Meowth, show them what our new little Paralyzegun here is able to do. Fire! Take out Pikachu first!", Jessie ordered.

Meowth pushed the button, the gun hummed, emitted some electric sparks, a small green cloud of gas and then nothing more. Jessie turned around to scold Meowth and James once again for having bought the cheapest of all possible weapons, but stopped as she saw them staring behind her back with faces as pale as if they had seen a ghost and eyes as big as saucers. Not quite sure if she really wanted to know what it was that had provoked this reaction, she slowly turned around and saw Pikachu standing about 30 feet away and glaring up at them.
Only that this time, Pikachu was surrounded by a golden glow. It grew and the colour of its body got darker.

"James, tell me that I do not see what I see.", Jessie begged of him.

"This does not mean that Pikachu is...", James added with a scared voice.

"evolving into..." Meowth added.

"And considering how strong it was as a pikachu...", James said with a very unsteady voice.

The pokemon winked at them.

"Rai... CHU!"

And a mighty crashing Thundershock sent Team Rocket flying high into the air and out of this story.
The newly evolved Raichu turned around to look at his friend and trainer Ash. It looked as if it would like to flee any second to hide into a very deep hole. It was awfully scared that now where it had evolved, his trainer would not want it anymore.
Ash stood there in front of his former pikachu and said:

"Even you seem to think that it is time to grow up, eh? That it's time to take the next step?"

Then he knelt down and beamed at the pokemon which had been the first who had joined him on his long journey so many years ago.

"That was certainly one of the nicest Thundershocks I've ever seen. But I know somehow that you can do far better than that, right pal? I think Team Rocket will have to be a lot more careful from now on, when they try to get you away from me."

The implication of what Ash had said slowly sank into Raichu's brain. It looked up at his longtime trainer and jumped into his arms to receive a major hug.

"Oh that's so typical Ash. Show him a pokemon and he immediately forgets completely about the girl to whom he had said earlier that she is special and beautiful."

Misty stood behind the two and grinned down at them. Ash smiled back.

"Who had ever said that you are beautiful?", he asked in a mildly mocking voice.

"You said that Rudy would give flowers to every girl which is at least half as beautiful as me."

"WAAHHH! You heard that?"

"I actually consider going to him. I even consider to let him kiss me this time, since you are obviously not willing to do that."

"Sorry Raichu, but this is important", Ash said, sat his pokemon down and stood up. He turned around and stood right in front of Misty. He looked down at her with a stern face and said:

"You are certainly not kissing that guy."

"And why not, Mr. Pokemon-Master?"

"Very easy. Because those lips of you, along with anything else belong to me."

And after those words, without even trying to think what he was about to do, Ash embraced and kissed Misty with a passion that simply enough just took her breath away.

"Have I... made myself clear? Do you... have any... objections?", Ash asked, out of breath himself.

Misty looked up at him with a dreamy look in her eyes. She had her arms wrapped tightly around his neck since her legs mysteriously suddenly refused to support her all on their own.

"I think I didn't understand the last part of your argumentation very well. Try to convince me again and I might think it ovmmmmph...."

#####

The narrator of this story refuses to tell any more details of the following kissing scenes. The author tried to bribe him into telling more, but failed miserably. The narrator goes as far as to say that Ash and Misty really only kissed. As far as the word 'only' is appropriate in this case.
The narrator thinks that people would not be interested in boring kissing scenes. He also thinks that Ash and Misty like to have their privacy while sharing kisses for the first time.

Thanks for the attention.

#####

"Ah Misty, there is something else I have to tell you. Legend sais that if two people in love, may it be openly or secretly, who are watching the Lapras dance and hear them sing afterwards, well, they are in danger of... being tied together. Forever. As soulmates. Because the dance and the song are said to contain their own very special magic which may cause two souls to find their way towards each other.
But don't get this wrong. This magic is said to be able to provide only the basic components which are necessary to create this tie. But it is always and completely up to the lovers to build the tie, to care for it and to keep it up for as long as possible. But it is said too, that the magic has never failed before. Once it led two souls together, they always stayed, and therefore still stay, together forever. When the two souls are not good for one another, and the magic is supposed to fail, the two people are not able to hear the Lapras sing.
Or so it is said."

Misty instantly faked an angry mood.

"And you are telling me that now? That I'm probably tied to you for beyond eternity? Don't you think that it is a little bit late? Maybe I would have wanted to have a word in that too! Maybe I even would have decided against coming to this place."

Ash freaked out since he thought that his now not so secret love would be really angry.

"It is just a legend and maybe... I mean... if you didn't lo... I mean... if you weren't able to hear the son... there wouldn't have been any harm... and so..."

"No no no. Don't try to talk yourself out of this, Mr. Ketchum. For giving me this little bit of information too late, you'll have to... errr... help me to become a good trainer. You'll have to stay by my side and support me in any way possible for the next... errr... 9355 years. At least. Maybe I'll decide to increase this number to punish you even further. After that we'll see what comes next. Maybe I'll have to think of another way to punish you after that. Something like kissing me for the following 10.000 years. Or something similar."

"Yes ma'am!", Ash agreed happily.

#####
#####
#####

And then, after enjoying two very peaceful days at the beach, they were on their way along the coast to the next town, which was... oops, I nearly forgot.
It is a secret.
Sorry guys and girls. If you want to know where the annual Dance Of The Lapras takes place, I'm afraid that you'll have to find it out for yourselves.
Of course Misty and Ash planned to stay together to see where this new kind of relationship would lead them to. Although they both had the desire to say it as much as hear it, they both mentioned the little word 'love' not for another few months.
Of course it was not always sunshine and happiness on their way but, may it be magic or not, they still are together as a loving couple until today.

'But...', some of you you might ask, '...what was about Team Rocket? Were Jessie and James able to hear the Lapras sing?'

That, my dear auditorium, is a completely different story and may be to be told at another time. (^_^)


- THE END -




Author's notes:

Liked the story? Hated it? Was it boring? Not enough action? Underdeveloped plot? Too much speech? Lack of structure? Characters completely OOC? Give me feedback and criticism, if you want. Positve, negative, constructive, destructive, impressive, depressive, ...-ive, whatever you want! You can even even flame me or the story if you want. It is definitely much to cold here for a summer this year.

My email-adress is:

ThorstenSyring@web.de

Have a nice day.

Lots of love and many nice greetings from Germany to all of you everywhere around the world.

Bye!