"Magnet Train now arriving at Goldenrod City, please continue to keep your electric Pokémon in there Pokéballs to avoid any crashes which would result in a flaming wreakage, thank you"

Misty looked up at the speaker which the announcers overhappy voice had come from. "Very comforting" She said sarcasticly.

The train pulled up at Goldenrod Magnet Train Station and stopped, letting the passengers, most of who were a little nervous after the announcment, and their Pokémon off. Misty and Brock instintly ran out of the train station, knowing that the Talent Show was going to start in a matter of minutes. Luckily, the Gym was only a short distance away from the Train Station and by the time they got there that show had only just started.

There were many different performaces, from juggling Wartortle to singing Sunkern, from Bellossom ballet to Ditto transformations.

"Wow, look at all the Pokémon" Misty exclained looking at a pair of Bellossom dance around. "Cuties!"

Brock nodded. "If you have a Pokémon that can perform, your allowed set it up"

"Really?" Misty asked and Brock nodded. "Shame I didn't know, I would have been able to plan in advance" She sighed and turned to a male and female Nidoran, who were acting out Romeo and Juliette.

Suddenly Misty heard a fermillier song begin.

Everybody wants to be a Master,
Everybody wants to show their skills,
Everybody wants to get there faster,
Make their way to the top of the hill.

Misty had been listening to that song since it came out two weeks ago, it was her favorite. Curious to what was going on, she headed towards were the music was coming from. She eventually found it, but it was surrounded by a huge crowd.

After a short time, she was able to push herself to the front of the crowd and was finnally able to see what was going on.

A Totodile and a Pikachu were dancing around happily to the music, doing backflips, spins and other tricks. There was something fermilier about them, but Misty couldn't put her finger on it.

The Totodile and Pikachu ended the dance with a double backflip, landing and striking the victory pose. There was a sudden outburst of applause from the surronding audience. The Pikachu scratched the back on it's head embarrassed, while the Totodile jumped around hyperly.

As the crowd began to clear Misty saw someone walkover to the pokémon and talk to them, but she couldn't see the person because of the huge crowd in front of them. The Pikachu and Totodile jumped onto either of the persons shoulders and they head off. As they did, Misty saw the persons face and gasped. She stood frozen for a second before running after them. "Ash! Ash wait up!"

Ash froze as he heard the fermilier voice. Was he hearing things? He turned and saw Misty running towards him. "M-Misty?" He stuttered at the sight of the girl he hadn't seen in almost a month, finding it hard to believe that she was there.

Misty stopped in front of him. "Ash I can't believe your here"

"Looks like she was thinking the same thing" Ash thought. "Right back at ya, what are you doing here in Goldenrod?"

Misty smiled. "Brock and I came to see the talent show, you?"

Ash looks at Pikachu and Totodile, who had jumped off his shoulders and were now standing beside him, and then back at Misty. "Well I kindda...sorta...live, around here now" He said scratching the back of his head.

"What?" Misty was confused. Ash had said himself he had his own path to follow, then why was he staying in Goldenrod?

"Ya I, uh, thought that now that I'm a Pokémon Master, thers no reason to go around to the Gyms and stuff" Ash said, trying desparatly to come up with an excuse. "And the Pokémon and I decided we'd come to Goldenrod"

Misty frowned. "Then why didn't you tell us?" She asked, sounding hurt. Did he leave to get away from her?

Ash was begining to feel bad now. "Well I...I..." He searched his mind for something to say. "I...wanted to be on my own for a little while"

Pikachu and Totodile sighed, reliefed he had come up with something that seemed believable.

Misty smiled. "Oh, well I can understand that" It was silent for a little while before she spoke again. "So were're you staying?"

"Uh..theres a house about half a mile out of town" Ash said. "It's sorta rented so we can't mess it up in any way, unless we wanna pay for repairs"

Misty nodded and thought for a minute. "Any spare rooms?"

Ash was a little surprized at this question. "Ya, three. Why?"

"Great, that means me and Brock can stay too" Misty said smiling brightly. "That is...if you don't mind"

"Uh..." Ash froze. What was he to say? He didn't think it was a good idea for them to stay in Goldenrod, it was too dangerous. Then again, he couldn't turn them away, they were his best friends. "S-sure, why not?"

"Great! I'll go tell Brock, meet you outside" Misty said before turning and running off to find Brock.

Pikachu and Totodile watched Misty leave and turned sharply to look at Ash. "Pikapi!" Pikachu said in a loud whisper.

"Well what was a supposed to say!" Ash argued back as he headed towards the exit.

[Does this mean your goin' to tell them?] Totodile asked.

"No way!" Ash almost yelled as he came outside. "They'd freak, and Misty wouldn't be able to stand Ariados anyway" He sighed and looked at them. "We'll just have to keep this Ariadosman thing a secret, 'k?"

"Wow Ash, not a bad place you got here" Misty said as she walked into the house thirty minutes later.

Ash sighed as he walked into the house, looking around the fermiliiar surroundings in which he had spent the last few weeks. As they entered the house, the stairs were set directly in front of the door, leeding up stairs were when you turned left, you faced a long hall with five doors, two on the left and three on the right. Ash's room was at the end of the hall to the left. Beside that room was a spare room and two others on the right hand side. The room closest the stairs was a bathroom. Downstairs, the kitchen was to the right of the front door, and the sitting room to the left. There was a back door which led out to the garden in the kitchen.

Ash had to admit, he was glad to see his old friends, but he was worried for their safety. Goldenrod was still almost as dangerous as it had been when he first came, which meant they could be in trouble almost anywere they went.

"Well guys, just make yourselves..."

"I pick this room!" Misty called from upstairs.

"And I pick this one" Brock said almost instintly after Misty.

"...at home" Ash finished.

Misty yawned as she awoke the next morning. She turned to her clock and saw that it was 09:30. "Wonder if the others are up yet" She thought, when the fermillier smell of Brocks cooking swept into the room. She sat up and streched, looking around the room. Togetec was gone, he must have gone downstairs already.

Ten minutes later, after Misty had gotton dressed, she walked downstairs and into the kitchen. Pikachu and Togetec were sitting on the table, both eating sliced up apples. "Morning guys" Misty said as she sat down at the table, helping herself to a slice of toast. She looked around and noticed something. "Hey, weres Ash? When food's on the table he's usually not far away"

Brock sat down at the table across from her. "I dunno, I woke up this morning and he wasn't here"

"He wasn't? Were do you think he is?" Misty asked, taking another bite of toast.

Brock shook his head. "No idea. Pikachu?"

Pikachu's tail seemed to stick up as he froze for a second before turning around slowly. "P-pi?" [Y-ya?]

"Any idea were Ash is?" Misty asked.

[Uh...he...] Pikachu looked up at the ceiling nervously as he spoke. [Well...he....goes all over, never know were he is]

"But doesn't he get lost around Goldenrod?" Misty said taking a drink of orange juice.

[Nah, he knows the place like a spider knows it's web] Pikachu said.

[You sure that was a good idea?] Ariados asked Ash. The larger-then-average Ariados and Ash were sitting on the roof of the Goldenrod Galleria and were talking about Misty and Brock moving in.

"No" Ash said gloomly. "But I couldn't turn them away, that would make them hate me" He sighed and stood up. "Well, we better get moving. It's a big city and there's plenty of looney's tryin' to steel stuff from one bank or another" He raised his hand and pointed aimed for a building nearby. He pressed his index finger and his middle finger to the centre of his palm and a string of web shot out of the centre of his wrist and hit the wall of the building.

Ariados nodded and shot a String Shot near were Ash's web had hit. He looked over at Ash and smiled before they both jumped off the building and swung forward, using the webs to direct themselves around the buildings and through the city.

"Why did I let Totodile talk me into bringing him to the Talent Show?" Ash thought as he passed the Magnet Train station.