CHAPTER 1
Glowing embers pulsed below the campfire's flashing flames. The light was beginning to strain the new friends' tired eyes. "Ash, I think we should go to bed now," said Misty as she yawned. She glanced over at the boy she'd only recently met. He continued to stare into the fire, oblivious to her words. "Ash?" she tried again.
He jerked slightly, lifting his head. "Huh?" He looked at Misty, still in a bit of a daze. "What? I - I didn't catch that!" He gave an expression somewhere between an embarrassed wince and a sheepish grin. The redhead sighed, then raised her voice ever so slightly.
" I said, we should go to bed!" Then she relaxed a bit. "It's getting really late..." As if to emphasize her point, she tilted her head back, pinning the full moon in her gaze. He did the same, noting that it was very high in the sky. A chilly wind brushed across the two and they dropped their focus.
After looking back to the campfire once more, Ash nodded his head curtly. The kid knew he didn't want to argue with Misty at this late hour. He kicked some dirt on the fire until it was almost out, then spread his sleeping bag down. Pikachu bounced over to the sleeping bag as well, curling up near Ash's head. He smiled. "Goodnight, Pikachu," he said.
A quiet, muffled, "Kachu..." came in response. Ash glanced over at Misty, who had already been nestled in her sleeping bag comfortably, one last time before closing his eyes to go to sleep. That is, until her light voice cut through the air, startling him, and causing his eyes to fly open.
"What were you thinking about, Ash?" she asked. She never faltered, her eyes locked on the stars as she did so.
"Huh?"
"A moment ago. I saw the way you were looking at the fire," she explained. "You must have been thinking really hard about something."
"Oh, that," he replied. He turned away from her again and gave a weak smile as he backtracked his thoughts. "I was just thinking about Brock. You know, how his good-for-nothing father never came back, and how he has to take care of all those little brothers and sisters all day. I feel kinda bad for him..." He took a deep breath, reviving his confidence. "But at least he knows I'm gonna do my best to help him with his dream. He may not be able to become the world's best breeder, but I know I'll try to do that for him along my journey to being the world's best Pokemon master!"
Misty smiled to herself. Earlier that day he'd faced Brock and won his first badge, but he was thinking about how Brock felt, too. He seemed to be doing something right, finally. Or at least be thinking on the right track. Reassured, she closed her eyes and snuggled into her sleeping bag further, letting the dark warmth wash over her as she fell asleep.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Bleached sunlight filtered in through the woods, casting chalky-looking beams onto the Earth. Ash and Misty were just beginning to rouse. Pikachu stood groggily as he saw Misty starting to stretch. He shook himself off, waking his body up, then scampered up to Misty. He sniffed her gently and cocked his head. "Pika?"
"Pikachu..." Misty mumbled. She groaned as she stretched again, this time further, and opened her eyes. She had to blink a few times to get the sleep out, but once the world was in focus, she could see Pikachu perched on its hind legs standing right in front of her face. She moved into a sitting position, greeting him cross-legged.
"Good morning, Pikachu!" she offered with a bright smile. It seemed to make Pikachu happy, too.
"Pikachu!" he exclaimed, returning a smile.
Ash started waking up as he heard Misty and Pikachu's interaction. "Pikachu?" he said, wondering where it'd gone in his half-sleep. Rubbing his eyes until he could see, he looked around to find his friends smiling at each other. He smiled, too. "Hey, good morning!" he called out to the pair. They both turned, greeting him at the same time.
"Pi-"
"Good-"
"-ka-"
"-morning!"
"-chu!"
He giggled at the sound, working his way to standing. He lifted his arms, stretching his hands high up into the air. "Alright, Pikachu, you ready to get going today?" he asked.
"Pika!" he responded enthusiastically. The Pokemon then promptly took a running leap onto Ash's shoulder, and for a moment, they simply laughed at each other for no reason other than pure fun. Misty smiled, too. Watching the best friends interact always made her feel good inside.
Soon enough, the sleeping bags were packed. It had been hard with all the wind that morning. As the friends walked through the woods, they couldn't help noticing how windy it was that day. Though Ash was fine, Misty was starting to get cold.
"Ugh, it sure is windy, huh?" she complained, rubbing her bare arms.
Ash looked around, concentrating on the wind more for a minute. "Mhmm," he agreed. He honestly didn't care much, though. That is, until the wind knocked his hat right off his head!
He was paralyzed in horror for a second or two before he ran after it deep into the woods. Misty watched in surprise while he dashed away through the forest, but she couldn't lose him. "Ash!" she called frantically. She raced off after him, determination driving her forward, as she tried her best to stick close to his trail - which wasn't too hard, considering the destruction he was causing in his blind attempt to get back his prized possession.
Branches and vines whipped his face as he followed his hat desperately. "No!" he seethed under his breath as he ran. He couldn't let the wind take his hat away! The wind slowed for a moment, and he leaped forward with all the power he could muster. He caught it mid-flight and came crashing down onto the hard ground so hard a miniature dust cloud formed around him.
This made it quite easy for Misty to find him. She jogged up to him, concern flashing across her face. "Are you OK?" She examined Ash and Pikachu, who had fallen off his shoulder when Ash lunged for the hat.
He smiled. "Heh, yeah. I got my hat back," he bragged, putting it back on his head and standing triumphantly.
Memories of their first meeting began bubbling to the surface. She almost wanted to slap him again. "Are you ever going to learn?" she cried angrily. She pointed to Pikachu, still dizzily tottering as it tried to stand.
"Wah!" Ash flinched when he saw poor Pikachu. He scooped him up in his arms, looking into his eyes. "Sorry buddy," he said softly. "Are you OK?" Pikachu blinked, then nodded, giving a grateful smile. Relieved, Ash smiled back, then carefully placed him on his head. Pikachu was happy to ride there.
"OK then! So should we continue?" said Ash with a huge, dopey smile. He just about started marching off when Misty cut him off, forcing him to stop dead in his tracks.
"Ash!" A jolt went through him when he heard the girl's tone. He turned around to face her again, looking a bit less sure of himself this time. Sometimes Misty scared him. She glared at him disapprovingly. "So this is how you're going to treat your Pokemon? Like they're worth less than a hat?"
Ash frowned. He began arguing back, but against the wrong point. "It's not just any hat, it's my special, limited edition hat that I won in a postcard competition, and it just got almost blown away forever by the wind!" Misty was just about to make a retort that she hoped stung, but he continued. "Besides, I care a lot about Pikachu! And he knows it! I care about Pikachu more than anything in the world! Right, Pikachu?"
"Cha..." Pikachu lowered his head behind Ash's with a worried look on his face. He wasn't too eager to get involved. Especially between Ash and Misty in particular.
"See? Even Pikachu doesn't agree!" Misty pointed out.
"That's untrue!" Ash argued. "You're just scaring him! You're just so big and bossy and intimidating! You think you're always right, and that I'm always wrong! I care about my Pokemon way more than you could ever know, and all you do is nag me about being a terrible trainer!"
"Well someone has to tell you!"
A silence erupted. Ash stared blankly at Misty, who looked more certain in what she'd just said than he'd ever seen. He stood paralyzed by the venom in her words. A steely disdain entered his eyes. He turned away from her silently. As her words sank in, he lowered his head in shame. "It's not like I'm not trying," he managed under his breath.
Misty's stance broke. The realization of how much she'd just done to him flooded through her and she shrank back with guilt. "Ash, I'm sorry," she tried.
"Mhmm," he said, then began walking away. Misty followed behind him without a word.
As they continued, the silent awkwardness clung to them like a sticky mess, and it took almost the whole day before they could talk to one another again.
"So, you really love that hat," Misty was saying.
"Well, yeah, remember? I already told you, it was a limited-edition, special, one-of-a-kind hat that you could only get by winning a postcard contest!"
Misty hung her head, glancing at it jealously. "How many did you send in?"
Ash turned to her. "One," he stated simply. He was slightly puzzled. "Why?"
Misty frowned slightly. "I must have sent in over 200!" she wailed. Ash jumped in surprise, but then began laughing - a full, hearty laugh that shook his body and almost made him tear up. Misty sighed, trying to dismiss the thought. Let it go, she thought. He's really immature.
When he'd recovered, a mischievous grin plastered his face. Misty couldn't help raising an eyebrow. "Now I've got something to tease you about!" he taunted. Now that she knew what the smile was about, she gave her own confident smirk.
"I got over that a long time ago," she declared. "It's just a hat, you know." Then her look softened, the atmosphere about her turning more real. "And besides, you technically earned it." His smile broadened with the feeling that he'd won the argument. But it didn't last long, because instantly after, Misty's smirk came right back. This time, her eyes narrowed further.
"Kinda like how you technically earned your Boulderbadge yesterday, huh?" A giggle started escaping from her. Of course, Ash didn't really win based on skill; Pikachu's thundershock had simply hit the fire detector by accident, setting off the sprinklers. Ash hadn't even realized that water weakened Onix until Misty had told him. Without such a careless accident because of Pikachu getting scared, he would never have won.
Ash crossed his arms, complimenting the action with a scowl. "Hey, Brock gave me that badge because he thought I deserved it, and since he's a gymleader, it's official."
Misty continued prodding. "Maybe he felt sorry for you!"
That was the last straw. "No way! I'm gonna show you that I'm the best trainer there is!" With that, he took off again. He tore down the path, eyes alert for awesome wild Pokemon.
Meanwhile, Misty was stuck lagging behind. For the second time today, she ran closely behind him. Then without warning, she crashed into him, and almost fell as she stumbled. "Agh! Ash; if you're going to go running off like a crazy person, at least don't stop all of a sudden like that!" He didn't respond: He kept staring straight ahead. The flow of anger in Misty stopped as she turned to face what Ash was looking at so intensely. It was an odd carving on a massive stone wall. "Huh?..."
