Chapter 14
Chapter 14
The group was continuing on their way to Nimbassa City.
"It's much better traveling with you guys!" Misty sighed. "The whole time I had been in Unova I was either traveling alone- with the exception of my Pokemon of course- or with those idiots." She glanced at Meowth. "No offense."
"None taken." He grunted. "By 'da way, aren't ya' gonna' take off 'dat tracking watch?"
"Oh yeah!" Misty glanced at her wrist. "I almost forgot that I had it on."
"Yeah, that way they won't always know where we are." Iris agreed.
"Actually…" Misty glanced at Ash. "Whether I break this watch or not, they'll still know where we are…"
"Huh? How so?" Ash asked.
Meowth snickered.
"You see Ash," she looked at him sympathetically, "while with Team Rocket I learned that they sneak a tracking device in your food basically every month. So that's how they can always find you no matter where you are."
Ash's face turned ghost white. "I… have a tracking device inside of me?" He glanced down at his stomach.
"Yep! And I was 'da one who designed it!" Meowth grinned widely with a laugh.
"I think I'm gonna be sick…" Ash groaned.
"Just curious," Misty glanced at Meowth, "why didn't you stick it in Pikachu's food since it's PIKACHU that you're trying to capture and not ASH?"
"Da twiy'p's food was just so much easier to sneak it in. In Pokemon food it'd stick out like a sore thump. Pikachu is always wit' 'da twiy'p anyways." Meowth explained.
"ARGH!!!" Ash yelled, clenching his stomach and glaring at Meowth. "WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!"
Meowth looked at him slyly. "If you would have just given us Pikachu before 'dat, we wouldn't have had to take drastic measures."
"Ugh. Don't even say 'drastic measures'…" Misty groaned, face-palming. "You guys are getting TOO desperate to get Pikachu…"
"Hey, don't include ME in 'dat!" Meowth said defensively. "It wasn't MY idea to trade you for Pikachu! 'Dey planned 'dat AFTER ditching me!" He looked at the group. "I'm cool wit' you twiy'ps since you all have been so kind to me." He smiled at them and then looked at Misty. "So, about 'dat watch…"
"Oh yeah." Misty took it off, set it on the ground and crushed it with her boots, receiving a sharp gasp from Meowth. "What?"
Meowth frowned. "Not'in… 'dat was just an expensive watch and all…"
Misty scoffed. "What did you expect me to do? Return it to Team Rocket? After all they put me through; I should at least get to have THAT revenge on them."
Meowth groaned softly but didn't say anymore. He then smiled brightly at the group as they continued on the road. "So, you're going to Nimbassa City to battle 'da gym, ain't 'ya twiy'p- I mean Ash?"
"Yeah, I am." Ash smiled.
"There's no doubt 'dat you'll win. After all, you're such a great trainer." Meowth complimented.
"Hey, thanks." Ash grinned.
"Piiiiiiiiika…" (Imagine the unhappy Pikachu on Pokemon Channel here. xD) Pikachu glared suspiciously at Meowth.
Misty shared Pikachu's feeling of suspicion. Even if Meowth wasn't with Team Rocket anymore, it was still strange for him to compliment the trainer he and his teammates have been trying to steal from for years.
He moved on. "And t'anks for letting me have some of your leftover grub from breakfast. Your cooking is top notch carrothead twiy'p- I mean Cilan."
Cilan laughed heartily. "Why thank you!"
"And I can't forget 'dis lovely lady and her Axew!" He gestured to Iris.
"Lovely lady?" She echoed in confusion.
Pikachu glared at Meowth all through his complimenting.
"And of course I gotta give kudos to our cunning trickster here. You were better at your disguise than Team Rocket!" He laughed.
"Uh… Thanks?" Misty raised a brow.
'Okay, either Meowth is trying to be nice so we won't distrust him or he's up to something… or maybe even a little of both.' She looked over at Ash. "Hey Ash?"
Ash looked back at her. "Yeah, Mist?"
"Where's Brock? I noticed that he wasn't swooning over Professor Juniper when she called you so I assumed he wasn't there."
"Whoa, you were the reason that the professor randomly called me?" Ash asked and she nodded. He suddenly pointed at her in realization. "So YOU were the noisy, laughing Pidove!"
"Yep, that's me… a noisy, laughing Pidove…" Misty grumbled sarcastically. "Answer my question, Ash."
"Oh, Brock? I thought he would have called you and told you by now…"
Misty shook her head. "No, I haven't heard from him since sometime in the… uh… Sinnoh region, I think it was." She looked at Ash curiously. "So what didn't he tell me?"
"Well, he left because he decided to become a Pokemon Doctor instead of a Breeder and so he had to go home to study."
Misty was shocked to hear this. "A Pokemon Doctor?! But he wanted to be a Breeder for so long! Why would he just change his mind after all that time?!"
"Well, everyone changes their mind or dreams sometimes when they find their true calling." Cilan explained. "Maybe this Brock guy found HIS true calling."
Misty narrowed her eyes. "Either that or he wanted to be near Nurse Joy."
"Actually, that's not why… Surprisingly." Ash said. "You see, we ran into this conflict back in Sinnoh where a bunch of Pokemon were poisoned and Brock helped Nurse Joy heal them."
"Hey! I t'ink I remember 'dat!" Meowth piped up. "It was when 'dose Tentecruel chased us."
Ash gave him a look. "You should remember it since it was you guys' fault."
"TENTECRUEL?!" Misty's eyes became bubbly. "I would have loved to see Tentecruel." She sighed dreamily.
"But the point is that they poisoned all the Pokemon-" Ash began again but was cut off.
"-Then that must have been Team Rocket's fault because Tentecruel wouldn't do that without being provoked." Misty glared at Meowth, making him sweat drop.
"…It WAS their fault. But anyways, what happened was-"
"Ah, Tentecruel. So dreamy and beautiful…"
"Misty-"
"I want a Tentecrue-"
"MISTY!" Ash yelled.
"Huh?" She snapped out of her trance.
"Let me finish the story, will ya'?" He asked in exasperation.
"Oh right, sorry." She sweat dropped and giggled sheepishly.
"So Brock helped Nurse Joy take care of all the poisoned Pokemon and because of that, decided to become a doctor. That whole time that he was around girls, he didn't go into girl-crazy Brock mode." Ash explained, making Misty's eyes widen in shock.
"Really?! That's a first!" Misty gasped.
"Yeah," he rolled his eyes. "But then, DAWN had to ruin it for him by pointing out that he could be with Nurse Joy if he becomes a doctor. THAT activated his girl-crazy mode. The poor guy didn't deserve the Poison Jab that Croagunk gave him that time. That was Dawn's fault." He shook his head.
"Who's Croagunk?" She asked.
'And more importantly…' "Who's Dawn?"
"Oh, Croagunk is Brock's Pokemon. He took over for Max and Max had taken over for you with the role of getting Brock away from the girls." He laughed. "And Dawn traveled with me and Brock through the Sinnoh region."
"Oh, well- WAIT WHAT?! CROAGUNK POISON JABBED HIM?!" She gasped.
"Yeah…?" Ash blinked.
"That's HORRIBLE!!! That could really damage him!"
Ash snickered. "…Says the one who pulled his ear."
"But I didn't pour POISON in his ear!"
Ash shrugged. "Maybe this'll make him stop then…"
"Yeah… I think I'll call him at the next Pokemon Center." Misty sweat dropped. "Make sure that Croagunk hasn't killed the poor guy…"
Iris and Cilan just listened in silence, confused.
"And Dawn…"
'Another replacement apparently…' "I think that May told me about Dawn. She said that she was girly."
Ash laughed. "Yeah, Dawn's girly alright. She's basically the opposite of you."
Misty stuck her nose up. "Hmph! Well May also said that she was pretty so I bet that that's opposite of me too, huh?" She asked resentfully.
"Huh? No, I didn't say that. I said that she's BASICALLY opposite." Ash waved his hands in front of himself.
She turned back to him. "So… does that mean that you think I AM pretty?" She blushed as the words left her mouth.
He turned red. "Well, I… uh…"
Iris snickered.
All of a sudden something shiny fell into the middle of the path and Axew ran toward it.
"Huh? Axew, where are you going?" Iris asked and the group followed after it.
Before they could reach Axew, the shiny thing- that really happened to be on a string and used as bait- disappeared and a hooded Pokemon grabbed Axew.
"Axew!" Iris cried.
The Pokemon glared at them.
"Toge! Togeticu toge toge…" Togetic clenched onto Misty's hat and hid behind it as it saw the Pokemon.
"Togetic says 'dat 'dats 'da Pokemon 'dat knocked it unconscious." Meowth translated.
"What IS it?" Ash asked and whipped out his Pokedex. <Insert Pokedex entry here> "Whoa, a Scrafty?"
The hooded Scrafty ran off while still holding Axew and the group ran after it. They followed it to a shed where it growled something before slamming the door. Meowth ran in front of the group with his claws out. "Hold on a minute twiy'ps! That Scrafty said not to go in 'dere or it'd huy't Axew."
"But we gotta' save it!" Ash insisted and tried to go closer.
"Dis t'ing is serious!" Meowth spat and kept trying to block them.
Pikachu leaped down beside Meowth and nodded to Ash. "Pikapi, pi pi pichu!" It agreed with Meowth.
"What can we do to save Axew then?" Iris asked, obviously frustrated.
From inside the hut, a Dragon Rage shot through the roof but the little dragon wasn't seen running out afterwards so it was presumed to have failed.
"Perhaps we should wait out here until things calm down." Cilan suggested.
"But who knows how long Scrafty will hold Axew there if we just WAIT." Misty pointed out.
"I'll take it from here!" Meowth said with a grin. "When it comes to negotiatin', I'm just 'da cat for 'da job."
Meowth slowly made his way to the hut and called for Scrafty to come out.
Scrafty cracked the door open and looked out at Meowth.
"Hey chump, I'm 'da negotiator. Now why are ya' doing 'dis?" Meowth asked.
"Scraf scraf scrafty. Scrafty scraf scraf." It grunted.
"Mmhmm. I see." Meowth answered.
Meanwhile, Ash snuck around the back carefully and quietly, refusing Misty's request to let Ducklett check it out- much to her annoyance. She just hoped that Ash wouldn't get caught, resulting in Axew getting hurt.
Meowth returned to the group, shortly followed by Ash.
"Scrafty says 'dat it'll release Axew if it gets a Pokemon to help it in a fight." Meowth explained.
"A fight?" Iris echoed.
"And I found a window that we could get Axew out of. Meowth," Ash looked at the Pokemon, "you should talk to Scrafty more while I rescue Axew."
"Well Scrafty is 'da evolved form of Scraggy so you should have it come wit' me to distract it." Meowth suggested.
"Okay." He let out Scraggy. "Go with Meowth, okay Scraggy?"
"Scraggy!" It complied, pulling up its loose skin before running with Meowth.
Ash let out Snivy and she started attacking Meowth with Vine Whip before he could get too far. "Wait, Snivy! Meowth's our friend now!" He explained.
She looked confused but shrugged it off and put her nose in the air with a snide 'vii!'
Meowth left with Scraggy back to the hut and Ash snuck around back again with Snivy.
The rest of the group watched nervously.
Meowth called Scrafty out again and introduced Scraggy to it. He requested that Scrafty teach it some good moves. Scrafty accepted and started teaching Scraggy how to use High Jump Kick. While Scrafty was distracted, Ash had Snivy use Vine Whip to pull Axew up through the window and to safety.
Meowth alerted Scrafty that Axew was missing. It spun around and Meowth grabbed Scraggy and took this opportunity to run as Pikachu took their place and used Thunderbolt on Scrafty, running as well.
Ash joined up with the group and they made their way away from the hut.
"Oh Axew!" Iris cried and hugged her Pokemon. "I'm so glad you're alright!"
"Ax axew!" It cried in reply.
"Scraggy…" Scraggy murmured.
"Huh? What's up Scraggy?" Ash asked.
"It's worried about Scrafty." Meowth explained.
"Huh?!" Iris gasped. "Why would it be WORRIED about it?"
Before her question could be answered, Scrafty appeared and was apparently challenging them.
"Alright, if it's a challenge you want, it's a challenge you'll get." Ash said and held up a Pokeball.
"Hold on Ash," Misty stepped forward, "I wanna help."
"No way, Misty; I've got this one." Ash shook his head.
"Why are you so stubborn?! Just let me help out!" Misty spat.
"Will someone just throw a Pokeball already?!" Iris yelled.
Before Misty could react, Ash released his Tepig. "Fine." She pouted.
Tepig won the battle easily. Meowth and Cilan tried to see why Scrafty was doing all of those things and got the answer out of it that its nest was taken over and it needs help but no one would help it.
"Why did you attack Togetic then?" Misty spat and Togetic hid behind its mom once again.
Scrafty looked up at Togetic with an apologetic expression. "Scraf scraf scrafty scraf scra scrafty…"
"It says 'dat it's sorry and was just frustrated 'dat no one would help and he was in no mood to help anyone else." Meowth translated.
"Scrafty scra scraf scraft." It continued.
"It just pushed it but didn't mean to push it so hard. 'Dats when we came along and found it." Meowth explained what Scrafty said.
"Well I think that we should help Scrafty!" Ash said.
"I agree." Misty stated. "If we don't then no one else may help it."
The other three agreed and so Scrafty led them to its nest. There atop it sat a Vulture looking Pokemon with a bone on its head. Ash scanned it with his Pokedex to reveal that it was a Mandibuzz.
Scrafty tried attacking it but was easily knocked out by her Shadow Ball attack.
Scraggy decided to help and knocked her out using its newly learned High Jump Kick technique.
The gang found that Mandibuzz had stolen Scrafty's nest because she was kicked out of her flock due to eating all the food.
Misty smirked at Ash. "You're lucky that WE don't kick YOU out of the group for eating so much food." She joked.
"Oh come on, you know that you'd miss me too much, Mist." He poked her side playfully.
She turned away to hide her blush. "Watch out, if your head gets too big, it might explode." She replied teasingly.
"Hey, why don't we pick up some food for Mandibuzz to take back to her flock?" Meowth suggested.
"Great idea." Cilan agreed.
They had Mandibuzz lead them back to her flock, picking up food on the way. After seeing the food as the peace-offering, Mandibuzz was allowed back into the flock.
"Wow Meowth," Iris said, "your negotiation skills are amazing!"
The group nodded in agreement. It was strange having Meowth with them in the group but he really helped them that day.
"You'd be a perfect addition to my team!" Iris stated and pulled out a Pokeball, throwing it at Meowth.
Ash and Misty gasped in shock.
Before the ball stopped shaking, it broke open and Meowth appeared from it, gasping in horror. "I belong to no one!" He yelled and glared at Iris. "Look, I'll keep traveling wit' you twiy'ps if you stop trying to catch me, got it?"
"Alright…" Iris agreed, disappointed.
"It's getting late. We should find a place to camp out for the night." Cilan stated as he watched the sun set behind the mountains; painting the sky a beautiful purple, orange and peach.
"Well, this seems like an okay place." Misty said as she looked at their surroundings. There was a sparkling pond next to the clearing that they stood at with trees all around them.
"Yeah, I guess you're right Misty. I'll start preparing dinner. Iris-" By the time he turned to her, she was already up a tree and clenching a vine.
"I'm on it, Cilan." She said and swung on the vine. "I'll bring back some tasty berries for us!"
"Wait!" Cilan called but she was already out of earshot. He groaned softly in disappointment. "She didn't give me the chance to tell her which berries to get for what I wanted to prepare. Oh well, I suppose that I'll make due with what she gives me."
"Anything that you cook up will be great, Cilan." Ash encouraged.
"Thanks Ash." Cilan smiled and began to set up his cooking materials, sending Ash to go get firewood.
Misty sat at the table where Cilan was waiting for Iris to return with the ingredients and Meowth was relaxing under a tree.
Misty looked up at the darkening sky. "It looks like a clear night." She mused.
"Yes, I don't see a single cloud in the sky." Cilan agreed.
"I think I'll send out my Pokemon to enjoy it." She released all of her Pokemon into the pond, briefly forgetting that Psyduck couldn't swim. It splashed around in a panic before Misty scooped it out with a sigh. "Oh Psyduck, what am I going to do with you?" She took off her jacket and searched her bag for the item she was seeking. It just so happened that she packed Psyduck's arm floats. She stuck them on it and Psyduck happily leaped in the water.
Ducklett and Togetic flew off of their perches and joined the other Pokemon.
Misty smiled fondly at her Pokemon and put her jacket back on, walking back over to Cilan- who had just received berries from Iris and started cooking.
Iris and Cilan let out all of their Pokemon to enjoy the beautiful night as well and Iris disappeared back up a tree to swing around more.
Misty sat back down at the table and inhaled the scent of the food Cilan was preparing. "Mmm! It smells great already." She took off her hat and let the breeze run through her hair.
"Thank you Misty." Cilan smiled. "It's like Iris knew the perfect ingredients to get. It's amazing." He stared off in the direction that she had disappeared with a sort of dreamy look.
Misty knew that look. "Hey, Cilan?"
He turned back to her, snapped out of his trance. "Yeah, Misty?"
"Do you like Iris?"
Cilan blushed. "O-of course I do. She's my friend after all."
"No, I mean do you like, like her? Do you fancy her?" Misty explained.
"Uh, well…" He hesitated, his blush growing darker. "She is a very admirable girl and I love her wild playfulness and determination but… I…" He started twiddling his fingers nervously.
"It's alright…" She smiled at him. "You don't have to tell me, I understand. I won't tell Iris about anything you said either."
He sighed. "Thank you Misty."
Just then, a grunting sound was heard and Misty turned to see Ash returning with a load of firewood in his arms. She blushed. He had grown quite some muscle mass over the years. No matter how much Iris said that Ash was a kid in his actions; he was still mature physically.
Cilan chuckled softly. "I can see WHY you understand, Misty."
"Huh?" She turned back to face Cilan, missing the 'jaw dropping' look that Ash had given Misty from seeing her with her hat off and hair down before preparing the fire.
Cilan noticed it and grinned at Misty. "Do you like Ash?"
"Wh-what?" She stuttered. "He's my best friend if that's what you're talking about." She blushed.
"No, I mean do you fancy him?" He threw her question right back at her.
"N-no! I-" She blushed deeper.
"It's alright, you don't have to tell me either." Cilan smiled. "But I should say that I think Ash has eyes for you."
"Wh-why do you say that?"
"Oh, I've seen the signs." He sighed dreamily. "Ah, the flowers of romance bloom; the spark of two friends admitting their love to each other after years of secrecy…"
Misty's eyebrow twitched. "Maybe for you and Iris but not me and Ash…"
Before he could respond, Ash started screaming in a panic. They looked toward him to see that the fire had gone out of control and was filling the clearing.
"Never trust Ash with fire…" Misty sighed and got up to call to one of her water types for help. Before she could, a flash of light appeared from Ash's belt and Oshawott popped out.
"Oshawott! Put out the flames outside of the firewood!" Ash ordered hastily.
Oshawott complied, leaving a blackened clearing.
Ash sighed in relief.
"Ash! You're such a kid!" Iris yelled from the tree nearest the clearing, poking her head out to reveal her and Axew snacking on Oran Berries. "Don't you know that you're supposed to put the fire in a place AWAY from grass? Geez!"
Before Ash could retort, Misty beat him to it. "STOP IT WITH THE 'KID' INSULT ALREADY!!!" She screamed and shook her fist at Iris like a cranky old man.
Cilan laughed. "What an enjoyable group we have."
The group sat around the campfire, getting ready to eat Cilan's delicious-yet-nutritious soup while the Pokemon ate their food in the clearing.
Everyone but Ash dug into the soup.
"Mmm! This is delicious Cilan!" Iris complimented.
"Thank you Iris. I'm glad that you enjoy it." Misty could have sworn she saw Cilan blush but that could have been just the glow of the fire on his face.
"I agree with Iris." Misty piped up.
"Yep, 'dis is much better 'den 'da grub I ate wit' Jessie and James." Meowth added.
"Heh, great to hear." Cilan grinned sheepishly at all the compliments.
Misty turned to Ash when she noticed that he wasn't eating. "What's wrong Ash?!" She asked in horror. "If YOU'RE not eating then that must mean that something is seriously wrong!"
"There is…" Ash muttered and looked at Meowth in desperation. "You didn't sneak another tracking device in my food did you?!"
"Oh, don't worry about me doin' 'dat." Meowth waved his paw. "But I don't know about Jessie and James…"
Ash groaned and looked down at his food.
"Aw man. I'm sorry Ash! I never should have told you about the tracking device." Misty apologized.
Ash sighed. "It's alright… I guess I'm just destined to have Team Rocket stalking me until I'm an old man…"
"And maybe even after that." Misty snorted.
"Well, I'm not gonna let that stop me from eating!" Ash declared and took a huge spoonful of the soup. "Mmm! Delicious as always Cilan!" He started gobbling the soup down.
Cilan laughed. "It's nutritious as well."
Ash looked up at him in shock. "Really? You're amazing! You can make nutritious stuff taste good." He continued to wolf down the food.
Misty continued to eat her soup but more courteously, savoring every bite.
Iris sighed. "Ash, you're such a-"
Before she could finish, Misty sent her a death glare.
"What?" Iris asked, blinking in confusion.
"Don't say 'kid'." Misty growled. "That insult is getting REALLY annoying."
"But he IS a kid." Iris shrugged.
"That's besides point. You can't just call everyone a kid or its effect starts to degrade. You have to use fresh, new insults according to the situation and sarcasm is the key." Misty started coaching her.
But Iris didn't look like she was listening. "Look, I'm sorry that I call your boyfriend a kid but the fact is that he is one." She waved her hand for emphasis.
"BOYFRIEND!?" Ash and Misty spat at the same time, both standing up abruptly and glaring down at her.
"Yeah," she said, unfazed by their intimidation. "At least you two SHOULD be together. I don't know about you," she gestured to Misty, "but Ash sure seems to like you."
"She's my best friend!" Ash insisted.
"Oh really?" Iris raised a brow. "You two blush like crazy around each other like when you caught 'Anne'." She used air quotes for 'Anne' and looked at Misty. "You were blushing so much that it looked like you were gonna catch on fire."
Misty pouted. "I just didn't expect to be caught by Ash… It surprised me."
Iris rolled her eyes playfully. "Riiiiight." She turned to Ash. "And I didn't forget the time when you woke up in the middle of the night and screamed out her name."
"I had a nightmare!" Ash quickly defended himself.
Misty looked at him curiously. "What was the nightmare about?"
Ash looked away slightly. "I lost you… to the Litwik."
"Huh? What's a Litwik?" She asked in confusion.
"Litwik were ghost Pokemon that lead people and Pokemon to the spirit world." Cilan explained.
"AH! 'Dos t'ings?!" Meowth gasped, his eyes widening in horror. "'dat was a horrifyin' experience…"
"So…" Misty looked at Ash. "In your nightmare did they drag me into the spirit world or something?"
He nodded sadly. "Yeah… pretty much. That was when I started thinking that you were 'Anne'."
Misty nodded in understanding and turned back to Iris. "Ash had a nightmare. That doesn't prove anything."
Iris grinned. "Maybe not but just wait till you hear what happened earlier today before you and Team Rocket appeared."
From the corner of her eye, Misty saw Ash's eyes grow huge and color rush to his face. This made Misty curious. "Go on." She urged Iris.
Iris giggled. "Just to see his reaction, I kinda lied and said that I saw you kissing Tripp. You should have seen the look on his face!" She laughed.
Misty grew a disgusted look on her face. "WHAT?! WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD I KISS TRIPP?! GROSS!" She stuck her tongue out in disgust.
"As I said, I just said it to get a reaction out of Ash. He looked like he wanted to go murder Tripp after that." Iris giggled again.
Ash angrily grumbled incoherent words under his breath.
"Oh really?" Misty smirked at Ash.
"As I said, you two should totally be together." Iris pulled an apple out of her hair, making Misty raise an eyebrow. "It's totally obvious that you two are in love." She said through a full mouth of fruit.
"WE ARE NOT!!!" Ash and Misty practically screamed at her, both with scarlet blushes on their faces.
"Geez, you BOTH deny like kids." Iris scoffed.
Dead silence followed as Misty's eyebrow twitched in irritation. Ash took a huge step back with his hands up in front of him defensively. "Oh boy… You've done it now, Iris…"
"Huh? What'd I do?" She asked.
All of a sudden Misty leaped OVER the fire to land in front of Iris, making her cower down in shock. Everyone waited for Misty to make a move.
"Three things, Iris!" Misty yelled, thrusting three fingers in the scared dragon trainer's face. "One," she put two fingers down but left her index finger up. "Ash. Is. Not. A. Kid!" She crossed her arms over her chest. "Ash may act like one a lot but he deserves that because he's done more than anyone I know. He's saved the world NUMEROUS times and risked his life to save other people and Pokemon even more times. How often have YOU saved the world?"
"Uh, well-" Misty didn't let Iris respond and instead kept on with her speech.
"Plus this is the fifth- sixth if you count the Orange Islands- region that he's been through and he has gotten all the badges of the previous regions, competed in all their leagues and placed high in several of them. So what if he acts like a child sometimes. If he didn't, he wouldn't be Ash." Misty continued her rant.
Ash blinked in surprise at the fact that Misty was actually DEFENDING him. "Misty…"
"Besides," Misty added, "only I get to pick on him." She smirked playfully.
Ash fell over anime style, making Misty giggle before turning back to Iris with a serious face again.
"Two," she stuck two fingers in Iris's face. "I think that you and I could be great friends, Iris." She smiled as she said this but her expression then became serious again. "But you just need to know where I draw the line. And if you ever call me a kid again, you will have to face my mallet instead of just me yelling. Consider this a warning. Understand?"
Iris nodded rapidly with her eyes still budging.
"And three," she put up three fingers and then dropped down to sit in front of Iris. "You NEED to learn new insults and stop with the same old 'kid' one. And I'll help teach you some. You ready?" She smiled a friendly smile at Iris but the dragon trainer still looked cautious since she had just gotten screamed at a second ago.
"Uh… sure?" Iris squeaked.
"Sorry, I have a bit of a temper and that needed to be said." Misty scratched the back of her neck sheepishly.
"A 'bit' of a temper?" Ash snickered.
Misty gave him a glare from the corner of her eye. "Don't push it Ashy-Boy." She growled.
He groaned. "Don't call me that!"
Misty just grinned and turned back to Iris, who seemed to be recovering slightly from the yelling. "Ready?"
"Sure." Iris shrugged.
"Okay, so first…" Misty started lecturing Iris.
"Oh great!" Ash groaned. "Now I'm gonna have two people insulting me!" He buried his face in his hands.
Cilan chuckled. "Would you rather have Iris call you a kid?"
"No, but… I don't know… They're both just as bad." Ash mumbled.
"Well Iris calling people kids is just part of who she is. I wonder what Misty's tutoring will do for her and how their two different flavors will blend with friendship." Cilan mused.
"I can't wait…" Ash muttered sarcastically.
"Good night everyone!" Ash said as he got into his sleeping bag with Pikachu cuddling up at his head.
After returning all of their Pokemon besides the ones that stay out of the ball, everyone started getting ready for bed.
Misty positioned her red sleeping bag with blue bubbles near Ash's sleeping bag, ignoring the sly looks from Iris.
Cilan positioned his sleeping bag on the other side of Ash and Iris climbed into a tree near the clearing to sleep with Axew. Meowth lay down in the grass on the other side of Cilan.
"Good night." Cilan yawned as he lay down.
"Night." Iris called.
"Night twiy'ps!" Meowth said in an overly cheerful tone.
"Good night." Misty said, cuddling up with Ducklett and Togetic. "Sweet dreams…" She muttered sleepily before smiling at Togetic. "I'm really glad that you're with me again Togetic…"
"Toge togeticu." It chirped and cuddled up to her more. Smiling, Misty fell asleep.
Misty was fast asleep when all of a sudden the swift movements of Ducklett and Togetic fluttering away woke her up. But before she even had the chance to open her eyes, a weight was suddenly on top of her. '
What in the world?!'
She opened her eyes slowly but they snapped open at what was right in her face.
There, lying ON TOP of her was Ash, still in his sleeping bag and fast asleep. His forehead was propped against hers, thus resulting in their faces being inches apart.
Misty blushed more than seemed humanly possible as she stared at the sleeping Ash with huge eyes.
'Did he… roll on me in his sleep?!' She started gently trying to push him off.
'I can't let anyone see this and I can't wake him up or it'll be more awkward than it is now.'
She started working on pushing him off and was relieved to see some progress. But before he could be rolled off, his arm fell down from inside the sleeping bag and landed on the opposite side that Misty was pushing; making it very difficult to continue.
She glared at him and made sure that he was still asleep.
'Fine, I'll roll you to the other side then.' She started rolling him- with more difficulty- to the side that his arm slung down on. His other arm then fell down on Misty's other side, basically trapping her.
She looked up at him suspiciously.
'Is he doing this on purpose? If so, he's gonna get a nice big kick in the gut.' But he still looked like he was in the middle of a deep sleep. Sighing, Misty just watched him sleep for a moment, wondering what to do next.
He looked like he was about to wake up all of a sudden. Misty froze, her heart leaping into her throat. She closed her eyes and tried to pretend that she was sleeping, hoping that her blush wasn't visible.
'There's no way that I'm gonna let him know that I'm awake and make matters worse!' She waited with a hammering heart.
She felt Ash stiffen, his breathing becoming swifter. There was no movement for a few seconds but then he slowly but clumsily got off of her and went back to where he was laying. Misty still didn't dare to open her eyes since he could be looking at her to make sure that she was still asleep. Before Misty could wait too long, she drifted to sleep.