Chapter 21: Team Rocket’s First Appearance

They kept falling. Time seemed to stand still while they fell. They felt their feet hit the ground. "We’re alive?" Misty asked out loud.

"Yeah, I <Bulbasaur lands on their heads> think so.". That did it. Ash blacked out. Misty fell right on top of him, & then lingered for a while, but the pain was too much for her after 5 minutes. She knew she should have used a Revive on Ash, but the pain was so much she couldn’t move. Misty didn’t know whether she’d wake up to see Ash again, or whether she’d wake up to find him dead. On the other hand, maybe that last one would come out the other way- Ash waking up to find Misty dead. Her last thought was, "I love you, Ash."

Meanwhile, Jessie & James looked upon them with a sense of satisfaction in their minds. "While those clueless little twerps are knocked out, we can get Pikachu!" Jessie cheered.

Misty slowly woke up (from Team Rocket’s cheering), & took in a deep breath. She checked herself for broken bones, and found nothing, so she (without reluctance) got on her knees to do the same for Ash. He was still laying there, not moving, except for his breathing. She put her hands over his stomach, & then knew he was breathing, which meant he was still alive. "Fool!" James yelled, "you’ve woken her up!"

"Arrgghh. Smooth move, Jessie.". Meowth scratched her.

"Team Rocket! Thanks, Misty." She had given him a Revive. Ash smiled at her, and (he didn’t notice this) blushed a little. He then sat up & looked at Team Rocket argue above them. "Pidgeot, blow them all away with your Whirlwind!". Ash threw his Poké Ball. "Jessie, I think we need to think of some better sneak attacks!" James moaned.

"Well, looks like Team Rocket’s blasting off again!" they all screamed. "Ash, I think Pidgeot’s really helping us get rid of Team Rocket easier."

"Yeah, but we need to keep on our guard. I won’t surprised if they try to steal Pidgeot < Ash calls Pidgeot back > before they try to get Pikachu."

Chapter 22: Brock’s Revelation

Ash & Misty started to walk up toward the snowier parts of the mountains. "Ash, do ya really think Team Rocket will try to get your Pidgeot before Pikachu?"

Ash stopped. "Well, James did say they’d try to think of some new sneak attacks…"

"I guess you’re right." Misty said, with a troubled look on her face. They kept moving, but all they got was tired. Once they were starting to get some sleep in the same tent together (cold temperature) Ash heard something. Misty was undoing her hair bun. "Misty," he whispered fearfully, "did you hear something?"

"I did, but what is it?". She huddled up alongside Ash.

"Hi, guys."

"Brock?" they both gasped. "Hey, Ash, who is that girl with you?"

"Brock, don’t you recognize me? I’m Misty.".

"You are? Ash, didn’t she have a hair bun that pointed off to the left?"

"She just took it off a minute ago."

"I’ll prove it.". Misty held out her blue Pokédex, then opened it. I’m Dexter, a Pokédex program by Professor Oak for Misty Waterflower of the city of Cerulean. If I am lost or stolen, I cannot be replaced. "Now am I who I claim to be?" Misty said with a grin on her face.

"No, Misty never had a Pokédex, either!" he defied.

"Misty just got one a few months ago!" Ash screamed.

"Break it up. We’ll have a race tomorrow & see who gets to come with me.". Misty knew she’d make it so only Ash could win it. She’d do a simple running race. She knew there was a speed that only Ash could keep up with, but Brock would be left in the dust. Brock camped out near Misty’s tent, and Ash was sleeping with Misty.

The next day, all 3 of them ate some breakfast, then they started the race. Ash won it, but only had a slight hint that Misty had rigged it. Yet.

Chapter 23: Blizzards

Ash & Misty found nothing during the rest of that day. "Hey, Misty, how do you think I beat Brock so easily?"

"I’ll tell you only if you promise not to get angry with me about this."

"Sure." Ash didn’t care- and he had been reading Misty’s diary, which said nothing about Misty loving Brock.

"Well, I know I can run faster than both of you.". Ash sweatdropped from embarrassment. "I also knew that you could outrun Brock, so I ran so that only you could keep up."

Ash’s face brightened. "Wow. Thanks.". They kept walking, and found a fork in the trail. "Ash, got any idea which way we should go?" Misty gasped in horror.

"We need to go that way!" Ash said, with quite a bit of confidence in his voice.

"Are ya sure?"

"I am." They started walking along a trail that was a dirt path, with a few rocks noticeable. After a few hours of traveling, the temperature started to drop severely. "Ash, the weather’s getting worse!" Misty cried.

"I know, Misty!" he yelled. The wind started howling & it snowed. Misty fell to her hands & knees. "Hey, Misty, are you okay?" Ash gasped, extremely concerned for her.

"The winds are too bad! I can’t go on, much less see!"

Ash knelt down next to Misty & put a hand on her back. Her eyes were shut, but Ash knew she was still awake. "Don’t give up, Misty. It’s okay- I couldn’t probably get through this even if I wanted to.". Ash tried to soothe her.

"I know." Misty opened her eyes.

Ash sighed & set his tent up swiftly. Misty suddenly blacked out. "Misty!" Ash screamed. No response. "NO!" Ash screamed in his mind. "Why did I do this!??!?!!?! I just know she’ll never forgive me!" Ash grunted & carried her into his tent. Ash took Misty’s backpack off her. "She’s got blankets in here, I know!"

"Ash?". She woke up!

"Misty!" Ash threw his arms around her. "If you could-" he never finished.

"I forgive you. But, it doesn’t matter. It wasn’t your fault."

"Th-thank you, Misty.". Ash started to cry. "Come on Ash, snap out of it.". Misty let go of Ash as if she didn’t love him, but that didn’t matter, because he knew she loved him. Ash knew something was bothering her. "What is it?" he asked, still with a soft touch in his voice.

"It’s this freezing temperature. Now where’s- never mind, there it is.". Misty found her backpack, and swiftly got a pillow out, along with some blankets. So did Ash. He felt the bad temperature, too. Despite that, he still took his blue & white jacket off. Ash also emptied his pockets & took his Poké Balls off his belt. Then he got his pillow out. "Misty, don’t you have Jigglypuff with you? These howling winds are giving me the creeps."

"Yeah." Misty had emptied her pockets out & her Poké Balls were in the space between her pillow & the edge of the tent. "Now which one…" she wondered, putting each one to her ear to listen. Almost all of her Poké Balls were filled with water, except for her Vulpix & Jigglypuff. "Ash, <her eyes drooped> this one’s it."

Ash had his Awakening bottle out. He sprayed it into her face to wake her up. "Sorry." he apologized.

"It’s okay. You had to." Misty put her hand on the ball with Jigglypuff & placed it between their pillows to listen. She put a skeptical look on her face, and Ash nodded. She pushed the button on the Poké Ball, and gazed into Ash’s eyes with a smile. So did Ash. He stuck a hand out to touch her back (as in your backbone, not the one where you reply to something), & she did the same for him. Ash’s last thought was, "If Brock was here, he’d be envious of us." Misty just remembered exiting the St. Anne by roasting a hole in the hull.

Chapter 24: Goofing Off

Ash & Misty were still sleeping in Ash’s tent that night. Misty’s Jigglypuff’s Poké Ball was sitting between their heads. The wind was still howling, and by the time Jigglypuff was finished singing Ash & Misty snapped awake. Their faces were facing ( J ) each other’s face (man, this get worse & worse…) so when they woke up, Ash could see the bad look (whew…) on Misty’s (no, not) face. (author groans in disbelief, not knowing why he’s use the word face so much…) "Ash, I’m scared!" Misty squealed, and then embraced Ash.

"It’s okay.". He hugged her back. Misty kept listening to those sounds & couldn’t stand it. She kept hugging Ash tighter & tighter, but didn’t do it so Ash had difficulty taking in a breath. "It’s okay." he repeated, and with that, Ash saw her eyes shut. He let go of her, and tried to his rest against the wind noise. Fortunately for him, Jigglypuff started singing.

Ash woke up to find himself freezing, and when he touched all sides of the tent, he felt it was cold on all sides. Then it hit him. They were snowed over! Ash wasn’t as concerned as he normally would be. Fresh air could still get in through between the (snow)flakes. He checked his watch- it read 5:30 AM, so there wasn’t any hurry in waking Misty up. "And besides," Ash thought, "that’d only annoy her."

It was pitch-black in there, reminding him again that it was dark out. He climbed out of the blankets again & felt the edges, then put a hand on Misty’s cheek to check on her. She was fine, and Ash avoided waking her up by not putting his finger on a place for more than a second, but sort of ‘drew’ a circle with his finger on her face. After about 15 minutes of sitting there thinking about his love with Misty, he got too cold & gingerly got under the blankets. He didn’t know it, but he had awoken Misty. She would have been staring right at him, but as soon as she saw Ash, she closed her eyes.

Misty peeked, and once she saw Ash with his eyes closed, she thought of something. "I know of something. I’ll hug him- but he’ll think I’m a zombie or something! <giggles in her head>" She got up to hug him, but kept her eyes closed. Once Ash felt a small puff of air, he opened his eyes, and screamed. "Surprise!" Misty exclaimed, & after that, opened her eyes up.

"You fooled me!" Ash said. He chuckled, and then pant in a breath when he saw Misty unhurriedly (and maybe secretly) descend on him. Once they were pushing on each other, Ash wrapped his arms around her. He laughed a little again. Misty knew she couldn’t do that back to him, so she guessed a quick kiss on the forehead would be enough. After that, she felt him smiling. They both thought it was fun just laying there, holding each other & just thinking about things- usually their love, but occasionally they thought about where they would be going next. That second thing was definitely on both their minds. They only cradled each other to keep from getting too scared (in Misty’s case), or to just wonder whether the snow was shallow enough they could use a fire Pokémon to burn their way out. Ash let go of her, and (because the winds were gone) they both fell to sleep, both thinking about each other.

Chapter 25: Snow

Ash woke up, and checked his watch. It read 10:32, and he knew that he had to wake Misty up. "Misty, Misty wake up."

"Ash, what time is it?". Misty hugged him, because they could actually see each other now it was daytime.

"10:33 in the morning. We should get moving." he motioned to the zipper entrance/exit.

"I guess so.". Misty got up & redid her hair bun. They both grabbed their packs & Poké Balls. Ash opened the zipper entrance, and nodded to Misty. "Vulpix, Charmander!" they both cried loudly, "Flamethrower!" "It’s no use!" Misty exclaimed, "I think we’re 50 feet under the snow!" Ash just told his Charmander to keep using his Flamethrower to see if they could burn their way out. He finally managed to see the blue sky above. A draft was already coming in, but they had already bundled up to where this didn’t matter. They could only crawl through this tunnel they had burned out. "Ash, I can’t see in front of you."

"I have an idea. Just grab one of my feet & I can just drag you out.". she decided to let him do what he wanted her to do- she couldn’t think of anything else… Once they got out, Ash told Misty to hold on to his backpack for a second. Ash slid back down to the bottom, and said: "Misty, push my backpack down here! I need it!"

She was perplexed. Ash’s voice sounded as if he was calling for her from inside a dark tunnel. But, she had an inkling of what he wanted- his backpack. She slid it down towards him, and he got of the way of it- Misty had pushed it towards him too fast! Once the backpack had gotten (next) to where Ash was, it slipped past him & banged into the backside of his tent. "Charmander!"

"Charr. <What?>"

"Get rid of the snow on the upper sides of the tent with your Ember attack."

Once Ash had his tent in his backpack, he called back his Charmander & rolled his Bulbasaur’s Poké Ball up to Misty, who looked on with worry. It opened. "Bulbasaur, pull me outta here!". Ash smiled to Misty as Bulbasaur pulled him out of that hollowed-out place. "Did ya miss me, Misty?" Ash asked with a sweet tone in his voice.

Ash called Bulbasaur back. "I-i,", she stammered, "I did." He only smiled & blushed a little. They moved on, but Ash felt like being a little mischievous…

He let her walk over a snowdrift, and he let her walk absent-mindedly ahead of him. When a gust blew, he got flat on his stomach, knowing that Misty wouldn’t hear the snow crunch. "Ash, you okay?" Misty asked to air, "Ash?" she gasped, not knowing what was about to hit her in the face. She saw some snow coming toward the side of her head, and caught it with her arm, then threw it back in the approximate vicinity of where it came from.

Ash felt a snowball hit his back. "How’d she figure out this is where I am?" He stood up, and said, "You got me.". He smiled. She jumped into his open arms & laughed. Ash started laughing. They then backed off from each other but still kept a hold on each other. Then Ash buried the top of his head into Misty’s chest. "I’m sorry."