Ash, Brock, Misty and Pikachu had been travelling for a long time, and finnally Ash had made it to the Johto leauge, were Ash hoped to recieve the title of Pokémon Master. There Ash battled many powerful trainers, until he was in the finals against his rival, Gary.

Gary started with Umbreon, losing to Ash's Phanpy. After that Phanpy lost to Gary's Dodrio and Ash sent out Totodile. After Dodrio had lost, Totodile was deafeated by Jolteon, who later lost to Bayleef. Bayleef was deafeated by Arcanine and Ash desided to go with Noctowl, who deafeated the fire Pokémon. Noctowl fainted in the next match when he, along with Gary's Alakazam, both used a Confusion on each other. Now Gary was down to Blastiose and Ash choose Pikachu.

Pikachu started with a Thunderbolt, but Blastoise withdrew and used Hydro Pump, knocking Pikachu back. Pikachu shot off a fury of electric attacks, but the electricity wasn't able to be fully affected and with another tackle, Pikachu was out.

Ash then only had one Pokémon left, Cyndaquil. He sent out the fire Pokémon, who confidently faced it's giant opponint.

Cyndaquil was hit by many attacks, but still stood strong. He shot forward a Fire Blast, which hit the water Pokémons shell. The heat of the attack was too much for the weakened Blastoise, and it fainted.

So now Ash had taken the title as Pokémon Master, he now wished to return home to Pallet Town.

Unfortunately, on their way back, they had to pass through Cerulean, and there Misty learned there was a Gym Leader meeting that would take place to speak about Gym improvments, and her sisters had to go, leaving her to take care of the Gym for a few weeks.

After Ash and Brock had separated from Misty, they headed back to Pallet, Ash's spirits at an all time low.

It had been about four weeks since Ash had returned home to Pallet with Brock, and he still felt as depressed as ever. He really wish Misty didn't have to stay back at the Gym, he missed her.

Brock had tried cheering him up.

"Hey Ash, wanna go train the Pokémon?"

"No thanks"

"Theres a carnaval in town, wanna check it out?"

"You go, I'll stay here"

And so on and so forth. Nothing would raise Ash's spirits.

Ash came down stairs one morning and looked around. His Pokémon were getting pretty bored. They couldn't battle and Ash hadn't trained them at all. He sighed and walked into the kitchen for something to eat.

Today he was going to actually do something usful. It had been about a month and he hadn't heard from Misty, but there was no point in upseting the Pokémon. "Morning guys" He said as the Pokémon walked into the kitchen a few minutes later. "Who wants to do a little training in the forest today?"

The Pokémon were surprised but happy that their trainer wasn't so upset anymore. They all smiled and nodded.

"Great" Ash said. "We'll leave straight after breakfast"

"Bayleef, Razor leaf!"

"Bay!"

Bayleef released a Razor Leaf on a nearby tree, cutting right through it.

"Wow, that was great Bayleef" Ash comented. Pikachu, who was sitting on his shoulder, nodded in agreement.

Suddenly, Pikachu twitched his ears and looked behind him. "Pika?"

"Whats the matter Pikachu?" Ash looked back, but couldn't see anything.

Pikachu jumped off Ash's shoulder and ran off farther into the forest.

"Pikachu!" Ash ran after Pikachu, his other Pokémon following.

Soon the group came to a clearing and saw a fermiliar balloon in the sky not to far above them. "Pi pikachu!" [Team Rocket!]

"Oh look, it's the twerp" Jessie said. "well you better leave before we decide to take your Pikachu along with the Pokémon we just captured"

Ash looked down from the balloon and noticed a net hanging off it. Inside was a red, black, yellow and purple spider-like Pokémon and Ash recognised it as an Ariados. It was badly beaten and Ash knew that Team Rocket hadn't used Pokémon to catch it. They never caught Pokémon properly, so Ash decided to help the Ariados. "Bayleef, Razor Leaf!"

Bayleef swung her leaf forward, releasing three razor sharp leaves at the net. The net sliced easily and Baleef caught the Ariados with her Vine Whip.

"Hey, that's our Ariados!" James yelled.

"Pikachu, send them flying with a Thunderbolt attack!" Ash commanded.

"Pika...CHU!" Pikachu released a Thunderbolt, which engulfed the balloon and sent Team Rocket 'blasting off again'.

Ash turned to the Ariados and Bayleef. It was badly beaten up and had a cuts all over. Ash walked forward and knelt down next to it. "Hey, are you ok?"

Ariados instintly thought Ash was a memeber of Team Rocket and lunged forward, biting hard onto Ash's wrist.

Ash cringed, but thought it was better to take the hit than to fight back. He noticed the Ariados had biten right into his vein, and it stung like hell. "Ariados, we're trying to help you" He said through gritted teeth.

Ariados looked up at him and slowly released Ash from it's grip.

Ash rubbed his hand and smiled. "Now just take it easy, we'll take care of you"

"Were could he be?" Mrs. Ketchum asked Mr. Mime. She knew Ash had left around 10am, and it was now 6pm.

Brock was in the kitchen making dinner, but he was also wondering were Ash could have disappeared for eight hours.

At 6:25, the door opened and Pikachu walked in, followed by Ash.

"Ash Ketchum where were you?" Mrs. Ketchum said walking in front of him with her arms folded.

Ash turned to her. "Just in the forest with..."

"Oh my goodness what happened to your hand?" Mrs. Ketchum butted in.

"Huh?" Ash looked at his hand were Ariados had bitten him. There were two bite marks and the skin around it had gone very red. "Ariados bite"

"What? Arn't those Pokémon poisonous?" Mrs. Ketchum said sounding worried.

"Mom, I'm not stupid I used an Antidote" Ash said in an annoyed tone. "Anyway the Ariados was pretty beat up so I brought it around the back garden, just until it's feeling better"

Mrs. Ketchum looked horrified. "You mean theres a giant bug in my garden?"

"Pretty much, what's for dinner Brock?" Ash asked walking past him mother and into the kitchen.

The next day the phone rang, and since all the humans were busy, Pikachu answered it. "Pika pikachu, Pikachu pika" [Ketchum residence, Pikachu speaking]

"Hey Pikachu!"

Pikachu opened his eyes and looked at the screen of the videophone. "Pikachupi!" [Misty!]

Misty smiled. "It's great to see you. Look, I'm just giving you a quick call to tell you I'm heading over to Pallet right now, don't tell Ash, it'll be a surprise. I should be there in a half hour of so"

Pikachu nodded and they chatted for a little while before hanging up.

Pikachu trotted around the house happily, glad he knew something the others didn't.

Ash on the other hand wasn't feeling to well at all. He had gone straight out to the garden because he felt a little warm inside, but when he got outside and he was still to warm, he realised he wasn't feeling well. He felt feverish and dizzy, but he tried not to show it, thinking it would go away after a while.

But Ariados, who had started to like this human, became worried. He kept giving Ash nervous glances, as if he was going to collapes at any second. He could tell Ash wasn't well, mainly because of the way he acted.

Half an hour later there came a knock on the door. Pikachu ran excitedly over and opened it. "Pikachupi!" Pikachu jumped into Misty arms.

"Hey Pikachu" She hugged the Pokémon.

After she had greated Brock and Mrs. Ketchum, she turned to Pikachu. "Were's Ash?"

Pikachu pointed to the door leading to the garden, smiling happily.

Misty walked over to the door and looked out. She saw Ash standing not to far away and smiled, walking out. She was about to call him when he stumbled over and collapesed on the ground. "A-Ash?!" She ran to his side and knelt beside him, placing her hand on his forehead. He was burning up with fever and had passed out. "Mrs. Ketchum!" Misty called.

Ash groaned and opened his eyes. His blurry vision came into focus and he noticed he was in his room. Last thing he remebered was feeling really dizzy and then nothing. He looked at the clock and realised it was 9 o' clock in the morning and he felt...fine.

He sat up and looked around. He didn't feel sick at all. In facted, he felt full of energy. He looked out his window and nearly jumped with what he saw in the garden.

What was Misty doing here? When did she get here? Why wasn't he told?

Ash ran down the stairs, jumping the last seven steps, which were half way up the stairs and he couldn't see how he had accomplised jumping that far without hurting himself, and reached the back door a lot faster than he'd expected. He pulled the door open and looked around. Misty was sittin in the garden talking to Pikachu. "Hey, when did you get here?" Ash called over to her.

Misty jumped and looked back. "Ash?" She stood up. "Last night if you must know, and what are you doing out here?"

"Huh? It's my garden, I can come out here if I want" Ash said crossing his arms.

"Not that, you should be in bed, your sick" Misty said walkng over to him.

"No I'm not" Ash said.

"Yes you are" Misty argued.

"No I'm not" Ash repeated.

"Prove it" Misty said as she pushed Ash into the kitchen.

Ash grabbed her hand and placed it on his forehead. "Do I seem feverish to you?!"

Misty was a little shocked at Ash's reactions but shook her head. "Alright alright, I believe you. Though I wouldn't be surprised if you'd killed yourself"

Ash frowned dropped her hand. "I'm gonna go check on Ariados" He walked pasted her and out to the garden.

Misty frozed for a second and turned sharply around. "A-Ariados?!"

"Hey kids" Mrs. Ketchum said as she laid out the groups dinner. "I need some help in the garden, would you mind helping me out?"

"Uh..." Ash was about to tell her they had to go to the forest for some training because he knew how much his mom would make them work. But...

"Sure, we've got nothing better to do" Misty butted in.

Ash grumbled as the group made their way out to the garden after dinner. He had thought right, his mom sent them all to collect twelve bags of compost from the large shed around back.

As they headed across the lawn towards the shed, Misty screamed and ran behind Ash. "What is it? Whats wrong?" Ash asked as Misty hid behind Ash. He looked forward and noticed Ariados not to far away. "Hey Ariados, wanna help us out?"

Ariados nodded and followed the group to the shed.

Misty and Brock didn't mind getting the bags, until they found out how heavy they were. Brock tried to lift two bags at once, but quickly switched to one as they were both to heavy.

"What's in these bags? Compost or bricks?" Misty moaned as she dragged one out of the shed.

Ariados shook his head and used his Spider Web attack to make a net that caught three of the bags and dragged them out with little effort. He grinned when he saw Pikachu and Togetec pulling on one of the bags, which wasn't moving at all.

Misty groaned as she lifted the bag up and stumbled a little.

"Can't you even lift one?"

Misty looked up at Ash. "Hey, their heavy, and I bet you can't..." She stopped mid-sentance when she noticed Ash was carrying not one, but four bags. "How....how are you doing that?"

Ash shrugged. "They're not that heavy" He said walking of after Ariados.

Within five minutes, the group were finished collecting the bags and left Mrs. Ketchum along with Mr. Mime to do the gardening.

Misty looked over at Ash, who was talking to Pikachu and Ariados, and thought. "How'd he do that?"

"I bet I could"

"Pi pika chu" [Bet you couldn't]

"Bet I could"

[Bet you couldn't]

"Fine, lets race!" Ash said to Pikachu, standing up and readying himself. "First one to the other side of the garden without using agility" He added and Pikachu frowned. "Wins, ready...set...GO!"

Pikachu and Ash took off at high speed. Usually, Pikachu would have been able to beat Ash no problem, but Ash was running much faster than usual, and by the time they reached the other side Ash had actually passed Pikachu out.

Unable to stop straight away, Ash slammed into the fence face first. He feel back and groaned while Pikachu stood, shocked that Ash had won.

Ash looked over and grinned. "Told ya I could beat ya at a race" He said laughing and stood up. "I'm gonna go for a walk in the woods, wanna come?" When he got no responce he shrugged. "Fine then" He walked to the gate and opened it, but suddenly had the feeling something was behind him. He turned and saw Ariados walking towards him. "You wanna come too?" He asked and Ariados nodded. "'k, lets go"

Ariados swung from tree to tree, using his string shot. He looked down at Ash, who was walking along the path.

Ash remembered what Misty had said earlier. "I wouldn't be surprised if you'd killed yourself" He groaned. "She thinks I can't take care of myself, well I'll show her!" He said punching the air and clenching his hand in a fist. Then he felt something on his wrist and looked up at it. "Ariados, don't use your string shot on me!" He said trying to pull the sticky wed off his wrist.

Ariados appeared a bit farther up the path. [I've been down here] He said walking down towards him.

"You were?" Ash said looking at his wrist, then he relised that the web was acctually coming out of his wrist. He paniced for a second and pulled his hand away, the web falling off straight away. "Wh-whats going on?" He asked Ariados.

Ariados looked just as confused as Ash as he looked at the web and then back at Ash.

Ash looked at his wrist, but it looked perfectly normal, apart from the Ariados bit that had left a scar. Wait a second...the Ariados bite! That's what must have caused it. Now everything was coming together, the extra strength, the extra speed, being able to sence something was behind him...he had some of Ariados' powers!

After Ash had gone through the whole thing with Ariados, there was no doubt about it. When Ariados had biten him, the posion had been injected right into his vien, but because he used the antidote so quick, the poison didn't affect him. But, that still didn't destroy the poison, so insteed, it became a part of him.

Ash had also discovered that he was able to climb up walls, like an Ariados, and his balence had improved too. "You know, being part Ariados could have it's advantages" Ash said to Ariados as he sat in a tree looking up at the sky.

[And disadvantages] Ariados said. [Now you'll be hurt more by things like fire]

Ash looked at Ariados. "Guess it's a good thing Charizard ain't around huh?" He asked laughing slightly. "We better head back, it's getting late" He said jumping out of the tree and landing on the ground. He sighed and began to walk back home.

Now that he knew about these powers, he'd have to find a use for them. "Wonder if I should tell the others...No, I can't. They'll think I'm some sort of freak" He thought sadly. "This is my secret, mine and Ariados'"

Ash and Ariados had been sneeking off every now and again so that Ash could practise his powers. He still found it weird, but he was having great fun learning about them.

Now he could travel around using webs just like Ariados. He had a few bruises from crashing into trees and rocks, but he covered them up.

Now that he could use them, what was he going to use them for?

Misty walked into the kitchen the next morning and shivered when she saw Ariados at the door that led ino the garden. Ash was sitting in the doorway and talking to him, both of them eating their breakfast. Mrs. Ketchum refused to let Ariados into the house, and that suited Misty just fine. She sat down at the table and began eating her breakfast, reading the newspaper.

Ash looked over an noticed something at the bottom on the front page. "Hey Misty, whats that about?" He asked pointing to it. Misty took off the front page and handed it to him. He looked at it and noticed it was a graph, showing the rate of crimes in Johto. It turned out that robberys were doubling every few months in Goldenrod City and so were murders and attacks. Ash looked over at Ariados, and relised he had also been looking at it. Ariados looked at him and they nodded, as if they were thinking the same thing.

The next morning Misty woke up at around nine am because of the heavy rain and thunder outside. She sat up and stretched. She was staying in one guest room while Brock was stating in another. She pushed herself out of bed and noticed something sitting on the dresser. She walked over sleepily and picked it up. It was a note, and it was addressed to her. He tore it open and began to read it.

To Misty,

Sorry I couldn't tell you in person, but I thought if I did I'd change my mind. I think it's time we went our separate ways, I have my own path and you have yours. Please don't take this personally. Tell Brock that it's been great travelling around with you guys and I don't think I could have made it to my title without you guys. I'll miss you both and I hope we meet again.

Ash

P.S. Pikachu says Bye.

Misty stood, frozen to the spot as she read the note. "He didn't..." She said running out of her room and across to Ash's room. She pushed the door open and looked around. Nothing had changed, except Ash's bag and a few other items were gone.

Misty sat down on his bed and stared at the ground. "I can't believe it"

After Ash had left, Misty had returned to Cerulean City and Brock had gone with her. Misty was spending most of her time training Togetec and her other Pokémon, while Brock stuck to perfecting his Pokémon Breeding abilities and studying the water Pokémon at the Gym.

The news had been a little more interesting over the last few weeks. There was a new person in Goldenrod City, though no one knew who he was. He just travelled around the town, stopping robberys and other crimes. The strangest thing was the way he traveled. He seemed to travel on webs, and had a Pokémon partner, an Ariados, which is why people called him Ariadosman. Some people thought the name was a little weird, but it seemed to stick after it was published in the "Goldenrod Times", Goldenrods main newspaper. No one could see who he really was, he was always wearing a mask of some sort, and he never said his name.

Brock looked over at Misty as she returned her Seadra after a hard days training. "Hey Misty, I don't know about you, but I'm ready to get back on the road"

Misty looked back at him and sighed. "I guess there's no point in staying here. I'll never become a Water Pokémon Master by staying at home"

Brock nodded. "I hear theres a Pokémon Talent Show on in Goldenrod, wanna check it out?"

Misty considered it for a moment, then smiled and nodded. "Sure, why not?"