Chapter 26: Diglett’s Sandstorm

It was blazing. They stripped down as far as they could & still weren’t cool enough. They hurryingly set their tents up & started changing into something a lot cooler- i.e.: Misty from long pants to shorts, and the same obviously went for Ash. He also took his jacket off, too.

After 1 day of traveling in the desert, it’s nighttime. Ash & Misty were going to sleep together while sharing blankets & not using a tent. "Ash, there’s something I need to talk to you about."

"NO!" Ash screamed in his mind, "Please, Misty, don’t tell me you don’t love me anymore." "What is it?" Ash said, his voice fading.

She put her hands on his shoulders & kissed him. "It’s got nothing to do with our love, Ash. It’s got to do with our water. We’ve got none."

He relaxed. He also thought that Misty would be a little brighter than this, but he didn’t show it. "That’s easy. We use our Water Pokémon to fill our bottles."

"Ash!". She wrapped her arms around him in glee. "I should have thought of that!"

"I thought you’d figure that out yourself." Ash said, softly. "I’m gonna start sleeping. See you later, Misty.". Ash started to get groggy.

"I love you, Ash. May we always be together…" and she hurried it up by bringing her Jigglypuff’s Poké Ball out & making it bigger. She fell asleep while she put a hand on Ash’s chest. This made Misty smile.

Late that night, Team Rocket was sneaking up on Ash & Misty’s campsite. "Well, looks like it’s time to get all the Diglett to obey us." Jessie smirked. "Kadabra!"

"Ka dab abra <What, Jessie?>" (Author’s note: Jessie is going on this mission alone because James & Meowth are sleeping right now.)

"Use your psychic powers to summon 3 Diglett & a Dugtrio." The Kadabra started to concentrate on its psychic powers. The Kadabra was a thing she had bought from Team Rocket’s armory. Once the Pokémon had appeared, she told Kadabra to force them to use Sand Attack to where Ash & Misty were camped out. "Ash, wake up! Something’s coming!" Misty squealed.

"It’s Diglett & Dugtrio’s Sand Attack! Come on, <Ash takes her arm> get under!". They stayed under during this sandstorm. Ash noticed Misty’s face was getting red. She was holding her breath when she didn’t have any green needles, or (even stupider) needed to! "Misty, you can still breathe. It’s not like the sand is going to seep under the blankets."

She exhaled hurriedly & as quietly as she could. "Why did I do that?" she asked to herself.

Ash pulled her in close in the dark. He could feel her breathing- her face was close to his neck. She then hugged him without realizing it until Ash spoke, "It’s okay, Misty. It’s probably your instincts kicking in that came from your training in Cerulean City. Just keep breathing." He put his hand on her stomach. "Good.", and with that, removed his hand, but kept her close to himself, just in case. Once the Diglett & Dugtrio had fainted from all the effort, Jessie sold the Kadabra back to the armory.

"Misty," Ash smiled, "we survived."

"Thank you, Ash. I love you…" Misty hugged him again. Ash hugged her, then even kissed her. She blushed, and Ash felt the heat. Misty got a hand free & managed to get her Jigglypuff’s Poké Ball enlarged so Ash fell asleep. He had her hugged so tight she could barely suck in a breath. She gasped, breaking Ash out of his sleepy trance. "Misty, you okay?"

"You were hugging me so tight I couldn’t breathe. <chuckle> It’s okay, though." She fell asleep again. So did Ash.

Chapter 27: Misty’s Memories

Once they had awoken & ate some breakfast, Misty spotted something in the distance. "Hey Ash, <long pause> follow me." They both had sandals on instead of shoes, the sand was getting into everything. They couldn’t wear long pants- it was too hot, and the sand. Misty started running, but at the right speed so Ash could keep up with her. "Misty, what’s the rush? What’s so special about a set of tire tracks in the sand?"

"I recognize this place- and those tracks!". Misty started running as fast as she could, and Ash had trouble just keeping her within eyeshot. "MISTY!" Ash screamed. He had lost her. "No use trying to keep up with her on land. Pidgeot!". Ash jumped on, and immediately saw her. "MMMiiissstttyyy!"

"Ash!"

"Grab me!" Ash held out his arms as they did a fly-by of her. "Gotcha!". They were smiling at each other, and Ash groaned as he pulled Misty onto Pidgeot. "Forgive me for running on you like that?" Misty asked, a little bit of sorrow in her voice.

"I love you, Misty- of course I do.". Ash had that ‘I forgive you’ face on for a second (for Misty to look) and then got serious. "Now, where were those tracks you wanted to see?"

"We’re flying right towards them. Look."

Once they had landed, Ash & Misty started walking alongside them. "Ash, I think it’s time I told you a story about when I was young. A long time ago, I got a birthday present- an ATV. I didn’t know why my mom gave me it, but once I had ridden it once I became obsessed with it. These tracks were laid by me <long pause> when I was 7. Eh, here’s a picture of me when I was riding it through here."

Ash was perplexed. Misty (in the picture) was wearing a strange swimsuit. It was a pale yellow, and you could see her belly button. "Who took it?", Ash asked, not having the nerve to ask ‘Where’d you get that weird swimsuit?’.

"My Starmie. Back then, you could own a Pokémon when you were 7, and become a trainer at 8. Next year, both of those figures changed to 10 years old." she sighed, and appeared to Ash to be a little disgusted.

"Uh, would you mind if I asked a personal question about this picture?"

"Shoot.", but Misty said that with a little bit of a ‘tensed-up’ tone in her voice.

"Where’d you get that swimsuit? Of all the times I’ve seen you in the water, I have never seen you wear that one."

She gave a ^_^ face, & tilted her head pleasantly. "Oh, that was one of my old favorites when I was young. All of my sisters had one. They’ve been discontinued since then, and since I’ve grown I can’t find one like that that fits." she sighed again. Ash knew she’d like a new one of those, and he thought she looked great in that, too. "You look great in that. It would have been great to actually have seen you in person with that on…" he daydreamed. "Ash, behind you!" Misty screamed.

"What is that?" Ash asked. They both pulled out their Pokédexes. They got more info from Misty’s, so Ash put his away & looked over at hers. "Articuno, the Legendary Pokémon of the Ice & Flying types. Its main Flying move is Peck, while Ice move is Ice Beam." The rest of the info was displayed as text on the Pokédex’s screen. "Which also reminds me…" Misty gasped, "an Articuno was the reason you crashed a bike instead of an ATV!" It attacked the sand with an Ice Beam, which spread over the whole desert. Ash & Misty jumped so they didn’t get frozen.

Chapter 28: Dragonair’s Lake

Ash’s watch read 7:30, so (with the help of Charmander & Misty’s Vulpix) got a tent set up that wouldn’t slide around. They started to get some shut-eye & relax a little. "Why is this happening? Why are the temperatures fluctuating so much?" Misty wondered, and then decided she needed to talk, even if Ash was sleeping- this was important. "Ash, why do you think the weather’s so weird? It’s not like it to have a sheet of ice over a whole desert." Ash was faking his sleep. "Ash?"

"It’s okay, you caught me faking. I guess it was that Articuno." he wondered. After that, his eyes closed, and he really did fall asleep. Misty let him fall asleep & doze off, but right after that she left. She knew she had a mission. To catch a Dragonair.

She left the tent they were sleeping in, unnoticed. Misty got bundled up, and started to head out of this place. This place they were in was a sandy depression that had been iced over by an Articuno. She wanted a Dragonair to help get rid of the ice. She also knew that she’d have to do some latenight swimming to get one- and even at that, Dragonair were very rare. "She also had the strange feeling that someone was following her. She quickly turned around, and saw who it was. Ash. He was breathing deeply, and that was plain to see considering the condensed water from his breath. "Misty, what are you doing?" Ash gasped, not knowing whether he’d get a pleasant response.

"I have a Pokémon I need to catch. Dragonair. Don’t come with me. I need to do this alone."

Ash’s face sank. "Well, I’ll miss you. Remember me, and you’re certain to come back. Good luck."

Misty’s eyes were shimmering. "I will. I’ll see you later." and with those words, she left, not knowing whether she’d see Ash again. After she knew Ash couldn’t see her, she started running up a grassy hill. This was where the ice sheet ended. Once she had made it to the top, she saw a lake, and saw something that had just surfaced dive back in. "There it is!" she gasped to nobody in particular.

She started to run towards to a lake that seemed to be as big as about 10 Cerulean Gym pools, probably many many more. Once she had gotten to the drenched dirt of the lakeshore, Misty took out a flashlight & shined it into the lake. It was very clear lake, as if something was controlling its blue glassy look. She limply put one of her hands in, and she knew she’d need to take some clothes off to swim here. It felt like a hot spring.

Little did Misty know that she was being watched. Ash was looking over her, but always kept quiet & had a quick way to get back to his tent.

Chapter 29: A Dream of Misty’s

Ash kept an eye on Misty with a pair of binoculars he had. "I can’t leave her alone. She might need me." he thought to himself, and if she found him there he’d just use that as an excuse. Then he nearly gasped out loud when Ash peered through the binoculars & see Misty dive in.

Meanwhile…

Misty looked in awe at what she could see in the water. It was beautiful- better than anyplace she had swam in her life, the only exception being the seven seas. She then began to focus on what she was swimming for: a Dragonair or Dratini, but she’d much rather get a Dragonair than Dratini. She knew that it takes forever to get either of those 2 to evolve. She was swimming in one of the clearest lakes she’d ever seen.

Misty would have loved to have been able to swim here to only enjoy herself (and especially Ash), but she couldn’t afford to daydream now. She found an area where she saw there was an air pocket- she could get a breath! You couldn’t call it a ‘cave’ though, it was just a piece of land that had extended out over the water. She noticed something was already there, that looked like what she was looking for. A Dragonair.

She silently sent out her Starmie, and pointed. It used Water Gun, getting its attention. Once she saw it was going to attack her, she gave herself a green needle. She felt it begin to wrap itself around her, and Misty knew it was time to send out Lapras. Misty had given it a short ‘briefing’ on what to do when (and if) it was sent out. Use Ice Beam. She also knew it needed to be accurate, so she had given all her Pokémon an X Accuracy beforehand. It was a hit, (and Misty knew Dragon Pokémon were weak against Ice attack) she expected to be able to swim like she normally did.

But instead, the Dragonair was frozen solid around her. She had to capture it, but she couldn’t- the thing she wanted most (that was weak) was preventing Misty from getting it. She motioned for Starmie to come over & read her mind. "Starmie. You’ve got to go get Ash & tell him I need him!" she thought, and she saw Starmie jump out of the water, then come back in after she heard an "Ow!". She would have cocked her head at an angle to give a skeptical look.

Then Starmie jumped back out of the water & gave a psychic show for Ash. He saw an image in the water of Misty, being wrapped up in the water by that frozen Dragonair. Then he realized she only had seconds left before Misty was finished. He jumped in & they were reunited. Ash got a pair of underwater communicator (from Daisy) as pay for acting as a member of the Stage Crew for that show. He clipped one on each of their ears, and, in Misty’s case, flipped the switch for her. Her eyes started shimmering from the moment she saw Ash dive in. "Misty, you okay?" Ash asked.

"Well, I’m fine considering I’m not drowning in this predicament. But, uh, it should be obvious that I’m not gonna be able to get out of here by myself. <chuckles>"

"Yeah. Need air?" Ash asked with a smile.

"No. Come over here & get a Poké Ball from me & throw it." Misty said coolly. Ash swam over & kissed her to try and comfort Misty a little more. She blushed, and would have hugged him. Ash threw the ball, and Dragonair was Misty’s. She sent it home to Cerulean, and finally did what she had been longing to do all along- hold Ash and ask, "Forgive me?". After that, she actually said that to him.

His response was, "For what? I understand why you didn’t want me to come with you."

"Well," she sighed, "you already know why. Thanks.", and with that, they embraced each other. "I finally did it. I got a Dragonair. I longed so hard to catch one, and I did it. My biggest dream- done."

"Your biggest dream?" Ash asked.

Misty grimaced. She had forgotten to turn her communicator off! "Sorry, just daydreaming."