Chapter 12 - Reflections and Risky Rendezvous 

"Misty!"

"Ash where have you been! I've been looking all over for you!" screamed the red head from the gutter.

"Just walking around." he replied, getting to his feet and offering his hand, pulling her to her 
feet. "I...er...lost my bearings when it began to rain"

"Well come on, let's get back to the centre. I've got us a room til tomorrow. It's too late to get
going now and I am NOT leaving til I have had a bath!" Misty pulled him forwards, dragging him along.

"Misty, where's the point in running? We're wet enough." yelled Ash, tired.

"You might be, but I'm not" she retorted, glancing either way before running across the road. 

"Misty! Look out!" Ash saw the car that Misty had missed, it's lights turned off making it's silver
grey bulk invisable in the rain. Darting forward with speed developed over years of pokemon battling
and dangerous adventuring, Ash ran forwards after her, catching her around the waist and flinging 
them both forwards to the other side of the road. Landing first with Misty on top Ash felt the air
rush from his lungs and pain surge through his head and sholder where it had hit the ground first. 
Beeping his horn the driver sped past, glaring at them as he passed and shooting off into the 
distance, turning right at the end. "OOf...are you ok?" 

"Um...yeah, yeah" said Misty, in a state of shock. "Oh my god! Are you ok?" she stared into Ash's 
face, concerned.

"Yeah I'll live, but I think we should go a little slower now, right?" he chuckled, stopping when the
vibrations from his chest sent pain through his back, sholder and head. "Just get off me!"

Leaping up Misty helped him to his feet and they made their way to the pokemon centre and a more, 
sedate pace.

Ten minutes later they entered through the doors of the centre, Misty's arm protectivly around his 
waist, his arm over her sholder for balacing. "My goodness! What happened?" exclaimed Nurse Joy, 
looking up from some paper work behind the desk and rushing towards them.

"Not much other than Misty's brush with death" joked Ash, gently sitting in a chair, wincing as 
Pikachu jumped onto his lap.

Misty related the event of meeting and avoiding the car while Ash rested in a chair, trying to
convince Pikachu it was nothing more serious than normal. 

"Well I'm glad you're staying here tonight. I think Misty should stay in the room, but I'd like to
check your head and back. Falling on such a hard surface may have caused some serious damage."

"I doubt that, his head is much too dense!" snorted Misty.

"Hey!" said Ash, looking up from petting Pikachu with a hurt look on his face.

"I was only kidding, come on." replied Misty with a small smile as she ruffled his hair and helped
him to his feet.

Sucumbering to Misty, Nurse Joy and Pikachu's requests, Ash headed for the human hospital area of
the centre. Leaving him alone to change into some pyjamas, Misty and Nurse Joy returned to the main
desk to fill in some paper work.

"Right Misty, can you give me his full name and hometown?" she asked, a pen in hand over the relevant
paperwork.

"Yeah, it's Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town." Pausing, the nurse looked up.

"THE Ash Ketchum? Champion of the Hoenn League?" she asked excitedly.

"Yeah..." she replied, still not quite sure of her best friend's status.

"My goodness, I can't believe I didn't reconise him!" Joy stared into space. "Of course you went to 
Hoenn a few weeks ago to meet him. I take it you haven't told him." she looked sternly at the young
girl before her. Being one of the few people Misty had become close to over the years as the Gym 
leader, naturally Nurse Joy knew of her feelings for this particular boy. 

"No...not yet...I'm waiting for the um, right time." she said, scratching her arm, looking everywhere
but the Nurse's face. "Can we just fill in the rest of the forms and check him over? I think he 
landed pretty hard on his head both times he fell today, just now and out of an apple tree. And when 
I hit him on the head with my mallet...he's not had a very good day acctually..." she mused.

"Of course, now do you know his date of birth...?"

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"Pi pikachu pika chu pika pi pikachu!" (I should never have left you alone!) stated Pikachu, glaring
at his trainer as he gingerly got into the bed. 

"Oh shut up." grumbled Ash, silencing his over protective pokemon with a glare that was returned with
euqal pissed offness. Continuing with this glaring competition it only ended when Nurse Joy and Misty
entered the room.

"Right, let me take a look at your head..."

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"Thank you Nurse Joy. See you soon." said Ash as he and Misty were leaving the centre the next 
morning after spending the night at the centre. The sun was shining brightly and made the roads and
buildings sparkle, the only evidence of the intense rain storm in the glistening puddles.

"Of course Ash. Good luck in the Indigo League." waved Nurse Joy before she returned to her desk.

"Come on then," said Ash, Pikachu on his sholder. "Vermillion City is up next." 

"Right, and do you know the way?" asked Misty, Azurill in her arms. 

"Of course! When don't I know the way?"

"Hmm, I think I can count that on one hand." she replied as they walked beneath the gates to the city
and on towards Vermillion City for the Thunder Badge.

Breaking for lunch they stopped by a river to feed and let out all their pokemon. 

"Go Staryu, Gyarados, Psyduck and Politoed!"

"Go Phanpy, Cawphish, Grovyle and Swellow!" throwing a multitude of balls into the air, they released
their pokemon and set about filling each bowl with the right food for each pokemon. Once that job
was done and all the pokemon were happily muching Ash and Misty were able to prepare a light lunch
of riceballs and crackers for themselves. 

"So Misty, what do you miss most when travelling around?" asked Ash, his back against a tree while
facing the pokemon who by this stage had finished their meal and were playing about in the water or
on the bank. Except Psyduck who just held his head. 

"Well, I know it's not my sisters. Most of my favourite pokemon" 'and person' she thought to herself
"are travelling around with me. I suppose it's not being in one place for a long period of time. 
Always on the move, leaving friends behind, a different place to sleep every night...what about 
you?"

"Well, I've never really thought about it too much. I do miss some of my pokemon and I might try to 
swap them round a little more...especially Bayleaf, I recon if I don't she'll kill me the next time
I go round the lab!" he joked, letting out a small laugh. 

"Ahahahahaha!! Prepare for trouble!"

"But I wish we didn't have these guys around...they would be something I would [i]never[/i] miss!"

"And make it double!"

With a sigh, Misty looked at Ash and mentioned, "Should we let them take the pokemon then get them
back again or just thunderbolt them off?"

"To protect the world for devistation!"

"I dunno, what do you think Pikachu?"

"To unite all people within our nation!"

"PIKACHUUUUUUUUUUUU!" 

"Waaa We didn't even get to finish our motto!" wailed Jessie

"Nor did we ever have a chance to grab Pikachu!" screamed James

"And I have nothing important to say at all!" complained Meowth

"WABBAFFET!"

"Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!" DING

"That was the most interesting thing that's happened all day...nevermind, shall we get going?" said 
Misty, brushing off the crumbs from her lap and getting to her feet.

"Yeah, may as well...how far is it to Vermillion City?" asked Ash, returning all his pokemon bar
Phanpy who came over for some attention and grabbed the last riceball from the plate before
scampering off to share it with Azurill.

"About two or three days I think..." Misty checked her Pokenav once her own pokemon had been returned
to the safety of their balls, amid protests that they were enjoying themselves in the water.

Breaking camp they made their way down the road that ran between an avenue of trees. "Alright Phanpy,
let's train on the move! Show me your best rollout attack on that log!"

With a small noise of agreement, the baby blue and red pokemon curled her body into a spherical 
shape and rolled towards a log on the side of the road, colliding with it and spinning around to
rest at a halt and standing up at Ash's feet. "That was awsome buddy. I should have used you more 
often." Ash prasied, inspecting the fragments of wood now littered along one side of the road.

"Well done Phanpy. She's gotton really strong. So strong I'm suprised you can still handle her...well
she is still quite little!" She giggled and bent down to rub her on the head.

"Hey, none of my pokemon are too strong for me!" he retorted.

"Oh, so basically they're all weak!" 

"What! I-" snorting he tried to supress his laughter "that...ha ha...that'll teach you not to call
Pikachu or any of the others weak again!" he sank into a helpless heap of merimment while Misty just
stood there, smoking from the thunderbolt attack delivered by Pikachu after her last comment.

Growling, she glared at Ash, "Well that just shows YOU can't control your pokemon!" and with that she
marched off down the road, leaving Ash behind.

Controlling his laughter he got to his feet and offered his sholder to Pikachu who hopped up while
Phanpy explored the surroundings, thrilled to be going somewhere new. "Thanks for that Pikachu. But 
I don't think it helped us as far as getting along is concerned..."

"Pi pika pi chu pi pika. Pichu pika pi pika" (I didn't do that for you. She called me weak!) 
protested the pokemon, exclaiming with his paws before jumping down to walk with Phanpy. With a sigh
Ash walked behind them, watching the ground, deep in thought.

Later in the afternoon the road twisted and the trees fell away to display a fantastic mansion, mist 
swirling around the base in a sinister fashion. 

"What is that place...it looks oddly farmiliar" said Misty, hugging Azurill tightly and shivering
slightly as a cold, wet breeze blew past them.

"I know what you mean..." replied Ash, moving to the right where a large sign displayed some 
imformation. "Hey, it's the poketech. The one where you work through the grades to enter the Indigo
League rather than just gather the badges."

"Oh yeah." said Misty, joining Ash to read the sign. "Hey look, that girl Giselle with the Cubone 
that we met last time is now the head girl."

"Wanna go and have a look or keep going?" asked Ash, straitening up to gaze upon the mysterious
mansion again.

"Nah, might as well keep moving, this fog is beginning to give me the creeps." replied Misty, 
moving off along the road again.

They continued on, the group keeping close together in the thick fog. The hairs on the back 
of their necks began to prickle as the suggestion of noise rustled around them, echoing in the 
fog and woodland.

"FREEZE!" From out of nowhere, nets covered Ash, Misty, Azurill and Pikachu while Phanpy had been
missed due to her small size being hidden in the fog.

"Phanpy, rollout around the bushes!" cried Ash, struggling to see through the mire and nets encasing
him. Rolling into a tight ball Phanpy headed toward the nearest bush where a figure could be seen.

"Marowak Bone Club!" Phanpy screamed as she was thrown powerfully across the clearing to crash into 
a tree, snapping it in half while Phanpy lay at the bottom, not moving.

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