And here is Chapter 10! Enjoy
*cackles* I likes this chappie!
Chapter 10 - The Quiet Before a Storm
The day was drawing to a close as Ash and Misty set up camp, putting some original Brocko pancakes to warm on a flat stone over the fire.
"You know, I think I'm going to have to ration how much ketchup Pikachu gets...I think he's getting a little fat..." commented Ash as his pokemon gobbled a bottle, only pausing to glare at his trainer and let off a few warning sparks.
"I think you're right...either less ketchup or more training!" agreed Misty with a giggle, checking the pancakes so that they wouldn't burn. "It's nice that we can sleep out tonight. I've forgotten how great it is to sleep under the stars."
"Yeah, plus we don't have to set up the tents!" said Ash, pinching a pancake from the flat stone, burning his hands and mouth in the process.
"Serves you right!" laughed Misty, "If you were just a little more patient they'd be perfect without you burning yourself!"
"Yeah, yeah, you sound like my mother sometimes!" he replied, sucking his fingers.
"Oi!" Misty playfully shoved him over before handing him a plate, avoiding the ketchup fest that was Pikachu.
"Thanks. So what do you want to do when we get to Cerulean? Last time I remember going there, you were less than pleased to make it to the Gym."
"Well, I thought about that earlier and I think I'll come with you. Last time, it was me leaving them, this time it was them shoving me out the door. From that, I'm hoping they won't try to get me to stay!" she cut a little bit of pancake to feed to Azurill. "Hmm, I wonder if there will be any badges left though... If not, I'll just have to make you one, if you win that is of course!"
"Oh, I'll win easily!" he responded confidently, and then as an after though added, "You can make badges?"
"Oh yeah, I can do than you think! Had to do something with my time when I returned to the Gym between battles."
They ate the rest of their meal in silence, each contemplating their times spent away in the Cerulean Gym and Hoenn. Expecting a fight on who was going to do the washing up, Misty was pleasantly surprised when Ash stood up and asked for her plate and walking off in the direction of the stream. After such a pleasant, non argumentative evening, both decided to turn in early. However neither slept for a long time, staring at the stars and reminiscing on past times.
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'Ow...my neck!' was the first thought to cross Misty's mind the next morning before sniffing the air and detecting the aroma of breakfast. Sitting up she saw Ash chatting to Pikachu and Phanpy, who was nibbling and playing with a rice ball. Seeing Misty was awake, Ash told her that breakfast would soon be ready. Not wanting to eat before having a quick wash, she gathered her clothes and headed for the stream, releasing her pokemon to have a play as she did.
Fifteen minutes later, she returned and was pleased to see that the food was not burnt but pleasantly edible. "My turn to do the dishes now!" she took Ash's, Pikachu's, Phanpy's and Azurill's bowls and headed for the stream. Immersed in her own world, her head shot up when she heard her name called. Dropping the bowls, she raced back to their base camp, kicking herself for not having any of her pokemon with her. The scene at camp showed Team Rocket in a Donphan mecha, Pikachu and Phanpy were caught in a cage on the end of the Donphan's trunk. Ash and Azurill were trapped under a net that was pinned to the ground. Its mesh was so fine that he couldn't release a pokemon out of the net and any pokemon released under the net would be cut to ribbons as it tried to expand under the close confines of the net.
"Awww look James, the twerp brought the twerpette along with him!" laughed Jessie from within the mecha. "Too bad she can't hit back!"
Growling, Misty looked for her bag before James swung the red sac from within the mecha, "Oh were you looking for these?" he asked, holding up her pokeballs. "The boss will be pleased with this little catch!"
"You give back my pokemon!" she yelled, trying to glare down TR, only increasing their merriment. Running to the net, she struggled to remove the pins in the ground holding the net down. She managed to release one, and then two, giving Azurill room to get out. "Come on Azurill, water gun!"
"What could that puny little - Blea!" said Jessie, coming out of the mecha and getting blasted by the water gun attack. "Grr, you'll pay for that!" she hopped back in the mecha, closing the door and pressing the big red button on the control panel. The mecha rolled up and span forward in a rollout attack, cutting a pathway through the trees.
"Argh! Get back here!" Misty took off after the mecha, grabbing Azurill as she ran. Unable to get out from under the net, Ash released Cawphish through the gap. A quick vicegrip attack shredded the net and he took off after Misty.
Stupidly, Team Rocket forgot that when the mecha did a rollout, so did they and were thrown around inside. James dropped Misty's pokeballs, releasing Psyduck, Staryu and Gyarados. The rolling sensation soon sent Gyarados into a rage, firing off hyper beams and hydro pump attacks. The electrics soon fried and the mecha came out of its rollout position, smashing against some huge rocks.
"Alright, now I'll teach you to mess with me! Azurill, Staryu, water gun attack!" cried Misty as she arrived on the scene, followed closely by Ash.
"Seviper go, Poison Tail!"
"Cacnea, Needle Arm! Nooooo!" cried James as he released Cacnea and received a prickly hug. "Oh where did I go wrong! Attack them not me!" Cacnea left James in peace, her arms glowing as she came at Azurill and Staryu.
"Hey buddy, are you ok?" asked Ash when he found Pikachu and Phanpy. Pikachu was confused and dizzy from the ride in the mecha but, Phanpy, used to the rolling sensation was up for a battle. "Ok Phanpy, Rollout, go!"
Phanpy gave a little trumpet in reply before rolling up into a ball and colliding with Cacnea, knocking her out.
"Hey, that's not fair with three on two!" cried James as he saw his pokemon fall.
"So? Since when were you fair on us!" replied Misty, ordering a rapid spin from Staryu that knocked out Seviper, sending him smacking into Jessie. Another rollout from Phanpy sent Team Rocket flying off and out of sight. "Ahh, you know what, I've kinda missed fighting Team Rocket." said Misty, satisfied at the rather spectacular take off from Team Rocket before checking and returning her pokemon.
"But gets very repetitive after time!" commented Ash as they made their way back to the camp site before setting off for Cerulean City.
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Not stopping, except for a brief lunch, they reached Mt Moon just as dusk was beginning to draw in. Hoping to pass through the mountain before making camp, the group continued on through the dark tunnel.
"Oh, how cute, hello little one" said Misty as a tiny Cleffa trotted past them, followed by an exasperated looking Clefairy, who appeared to be its mother. Following the moon pokemon, they came out at a familiar cavern. Cleffa, Clefairy and Clefable danced around a huge moon stone as the moon could be seen rising over the top of the stone. The light shining through the stone caused the light to split and shine all around the cavern, glittering. "It's so beautiful" murmured Misty.
"Not as beautiful as you..." replied Ash under his breath, glancing at her.
Unsure of what he'd said, Misty faced him to ask "What was that?"
"Oh, nothing." whispered Ash, looking at the pokemon again to end the conversation. Deciding to rest the case, Misty watched in awe when a few Clefairy approached the base of the stone where fragments lay. Picking them up the Clefairy began to glow and their shape changed as they evolved into Clefable. Feeling that they had intruded enough, Ash motioned to Misty that they should leave. Reluctantly, she followed and they emerged on the other side of the mountain soon after. Too tired to set up tents or a fire, they chose some rice cakes for their evening meal before climbing into their sleeping bags.
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CRASH! BANG! THUNDER! Out of no where, a thunderstorm opened directly above Ash and Misty, waking them both into a raining, thundering darkness with sporadic flashing of light to illuminate the scene. Disorientated, they fumbled for their bags, checking Pikachu and Azurill who was returned to her ball to prevent her getting too scared.
"We have to get out of the open!" yelled Ash, struggling to be heard over the roar of the wind and rain.
"Very observant smart ***, anywhere you suggest!" replied Misty, beginning to shiver in the wet.
Blindly they ran for what they hoped to be a thick forest but turned out to be only a few dead trees with no leaves and no cover from the rain. "We'll just have to set the tents up, it's all we can do!" Together, they worked on the first tent, struggling to prevent it from flying off into the air. Finally, after successfully putting up the first of two one-man tents, they discovered a rip in the second tent, making it completely useless. Squeezing into the tent they contemplated what to do. Hoping it was near to dawn, they were dismayed to find it was 2:15 in the morning, still a long time before normal waking hours. Both too tired to think of an alternative arrangement they pulled out their wet sleeping bags and tried to fit comfortably.
It was a few hours later when Ash awoke and it took him a while to work out what the soft, inconsistent breeze was on his face. Opening his eyes a crack he found his face was only a few inches from Misty. His automatic movement was to pull away, but then he noticed she was shivering, her teeth chattering in her sleep. She was lying on her back and shifted her position in her sleep, subconsciously trying to find a source of warmth. Tentatively, Ash reached out an arm and wrapped it around her waist, pulling his sleeping bag over Misty. Gradually the shivering stopped and her
teeth ended their chattering protest to the cold. Not quite knowing what feeling it was that urged him to carry out his actions, he gradually closed his eyes and drifted into unconsciousness.
Pikachu was the first to awaken in the morning. He had been stuck at the top of the tent with less room that a Pichu would be happy with. Grumpy and stiff he flexed his muscles and noticed Ash and Misty were still asleep. Charging up for a thunderbolting wake up he noticed that the two teens were much closer that they had been the previous night. Smiling at the sight and pleased his little claws had been of some use last night when backs were turned, he bounded over those asleep
and out into the bight morning. The sun was shining with no clouds in the sky and you could never have guessed that a storm as ferocious as the one last night could have occurred in the last 24 hours. Peering into a small puddle of water he scrunched up his face when he spied how terrible he looked and sincerely hoped he wouldn't have to battle later that day.
Turning he could see the occupants of the tiny tent beginning to stir and peeked his head through the flaps as Ash and Misty uncomfortably got up, both embarrassed at the position they had awoken to. As Ash emerged first his first pokemon flashed him a cheeky grin before scampering off.
Glaring grumpily after his pokemon he observed their position, noting that the mountain was now further away, hopefully in the right direction. They had camped not far from the road and he could see the dark strip cutting through the landscape. Finding that most of their food was ruined by the rain, they continued onwards, stopping when fruit trees bordered the road, providing fresh food for their breakfast.
"Typical," stated Misty, looking up at the top of the tree. "Why is it that all the best fruit is at the top of the tree, well out of reach!"
"Who said it was out of reach?" cheekily responded Ash, dropping his pack and beginning to climb to the tree's summit.
"Be careful!" called Misty, obviously worried, something the ever observant Pikachu noted.
"I'll be fine!" said Ash, gathering a few apples that were big, red and ripe. Wanting to get more he pulled himself up to another branch and lent his weight on a bough that wasn't quite strong enough. The only warning he had was the ominous creaking as the wood snapped, sending Ash plunging back to earth.
"Ash! ASH!" screamed Misty, dropping her bag and grabbing him by the shoulders. "Ash are you ok? ASH!"
"I'm fine Misty! Now will you please let go...thank you...want an apple?" he asked, sitting up and taking a few out of his pocket.
BONK! "That is for being such a jerk!" the trusty mallet strikes again. She continued down the road munching an apple, not stopping for Ash to catch up.
"Pi pi pikapi" (Come on Ash) said Pikachu, lightly tapping his trainer's face to bring him back to alertness.
With a sigh Ash got to his feet murmuring "I only did it for her..." and walking off after his friend. Worried, Pikachu bounded forwards and hopped onto his trainer's shoulder, his presence to comfort in silence and stare blankly at the road ahead.
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