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 forgotton
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 to 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 
pleasently suprised when Ash stood up and asked for her plate and walking off in the direction 
of the stream. After such a plesant, 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. It's 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 ribbions 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, comming 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 it's 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 recieved 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!"

Phanphy 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 it's 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" murmered 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 ass, anywhere you suggest!" replied Misty, beginning to shiver in the wet.

Blindly they ran for what they hoped to be a thick forrest 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, 
subconsiously trying to find a source of warmth. Tentitavely, 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 unconsiousness.

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 feroucious as the one last night could have occured 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 sincerily 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 stip cutting through the landscape. Finding that most of their food was ruined by the 
rain, they continued onwards, stopping when fruit trees boardered 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 sholders. "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 murmering "I only did it for her..." and walking off after his 
friend. Worried, Pikachu bounded forwards and hopped onto his trainer's sholder, his presence to
comfort in silence and stare blankly at the road ahead.

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