Liquid Dreams
by Misty



Disclaimer: Nope, pokemon's not mine. 
A/N: Hey! I'm back! Thank you to everyone who read Haunted Heart and I really hope you like this fanfic too!! Also, thank you sooo much to everyone who voted for me for the Best In Category Award, thanks to you Pokemon Master Chronicles has that title now!!! 
Luv,
~Misty~   




Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. Phone call. Phone call.
Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. Phone call. Phone call.

Ash was awoken by the rhythmic ringing of the phone outside his door, in the Pokemon Center's lobby. He groaned, it was two in the morning. 'Why don't people call during normal hours?' he thought irritably and rolled over onto his other side so that he was facing the wall. Outside, the ringing stopped and Nurse Joy quietly answered it. Then he heard soft footsteps down the hall and the door to their room was pulled slightly ajar.
"Ash?" it was Nurse Joy.
"Yeah?" he said sleepily rolling over to face her. 
"There's someone named Daisy on the phone for you"
"Me? Are you sure?"
'Why would Misty's sister be calling me?' he wondered.
"Yes" she answered and motioned for him to hurry up. He sat up quickly hitting his head on the top bunk of the bed. He groaned and on the upper bunk Brock stirred and mumbled something about Nurse Joy. Ash put his shoes on and getting up carefully this time, followed Nurse Joy to the phone.
Once he sat down he saw Misty's blond sister in front of him, and she didn't look too happy to say the least.
"Like, what took you so long?!" she complained. "I had to wait for, like, 10 minutes!"
"Sorry" he said raising both of his hands up in the air as if surrendering "I was sleeping you know"
"Whatever" she said rolling her eyes "Anyway, the reason I'm calling is because Misty's birthday is like, tomorrow-"
"WHAT?! And you're telling me NOW?!" he screamed interrupting her.
"Shhh! There are a lot of sick pokemon and people resting!" Nurse Joy scolded him.
"Sorry" he whispered sheepishly.
"Like I was saying! We're throwing her like, a birthday party, but-"
"A birthday party?! She'll be so excited once I tell her!" Ash yelled jumping to his feet but sinking right back into the chair once he received another disapproving look from Nurse Joy.
"Will you listen to me?!" Daisy yelled getting mad "You can't tell her because it's like, a surprise!!"
"Oh…" was all he said.
"So, what we like, need you to do, is bring Misty back to Cerulean City without like, telling her why" 
"And how do you suppose I do that?"
"Oh that's like, up to you" she said and hung up.
"WHAT?! WAIT!" he yelled but it was too late. She already hung up the phone.
He replaced the receiver and turned around to see Nurse Joy towering over him.
"Go right back to bed young man! And you better hope you hadn't disturbed any sick pokemon!" she scolded.
Ash walked quickly back to their room and closed the door quietly. Thankfully Misty was still asleep in the bed across from him and from the way he talked in his sleep, Ash  figured, Brock was asleep too. He sat down on his bed once again hitting his head on the upper bunk.
"Ouch!" he cried.
Then after swiftly removing his shoes, he lied down on the bed extra carefully.
'How on earth am I going to get Misty to Cerulean City by tomorrow and without her knowing?' he thought.

                                  *     *     *

"Ash! Ash come on wake up!"
Ash groaned recognizing Misty's voice. He had spent most of the night thinking and pretty much had a plan in mind. That was the good part, the bad part was that he barely got any sleep at all.
"Aw, what time is it?" he said putting a hand over his eyes to protect them from the sunlight that was streaming through the window.
"One in the afternoon!" she said, clearly getting annoyed.
Ash sat straight up hitting his head on the upper bunk once again. 'One in the afternoon!' he panicked, barely feeling the pain. That left hardly any time!
Jumping out of bed he searched quickly for his shoes, gloves, hat and jacket. After successfully finding everything and putting it on, he grabbed his backpack, put the still groggy Pikachu onto his head and ran out the door.
"Hey, Ash! Wait up!" Misty yelled running after him, surprised by his sudden quickness.
When they ran out into the lobby, they immediately saw Brock flirting with Nurse Joy over the counter. A look of relief was on Nurse Joy's face as she saw Ash and Misty run in. 'Thank God' she thought.
"Thanks for letting us stay here Nurse Joy. Bye!" Ash yelled as he ran to the door. Misty ran after him dragging Brock behind her, ignoring his protests.
"You're welcome. Have a nice trip!" Nurse Joy called after them.

                *     *     * 

They had stopped running and were walking now, but still swiftly. They had walked into a forest and Brock was studying the map when Ash grabbed it from him.
"Well, it looks like we should go this way" he said deliberately pointing in the wrong direction.
"Ash, are you sure?" Misty asked suspiciously, reaching for the map.
"Yeah! Positive!" he said hiding the map from her.
"Well, if you're positive…." she said, still looking uncertain.
    He had managed to fool them like that for the next couple of hours, slowly leading them toward Cerulean City. Just when he was sure everything would go smoothly, a gust of strong wind ripped the map out of his hand. It flew zigzagging high into the air and behind the trees, out of sight. Misty looked at Ash accusingly and was just about to start yelling at him when thunder interrupted her. Then a bolt of lightning hit a tree somewhere in the forest bathing everything in bright yellowish light. The three gasped and looked up to the sky. It has darkened greatly, changing from light blues and whites to scary dark, purples and blacks. Dark clouds rolled over the sky and looked like they would erupt with rain any second.
Brock whistled softly.
"This isn't good. It looks like a storm is coming and we don't know where to go"
Misty gasped.
"But, it's dangerous to be in a forest during a storm!" she shrieked.
Brock nodded silently.
"This is all your fault!" Misty cried turning on Ash.
"Uh, Mist, come down. Why don't we………why don't we ride your Onix Brock?" he said his face brightening.
"I suppose we could do that" Brock said thoughtfully.
"Go Onix!" he cried. The large rock pokemon appeared out of its pokeball in a flash of white light and roared. In the background another bolt of lightning flashed.
"Onix, we need to ride you to the nearest town" Brock yelled straining to be heard over the thunder. Onix nodded and lied down on the ground so the three trainers could climb on. Once they did it rose and looked around, Just then they all spotted bright lights to their right.
"That must be a city!" Misty cried happily.
"Take us there Onix" Brock commanded "and hurry!"
Onix swiftly made his was to the city which, once they were close enough, turned out to be none other than Cerulean City.
"Well look at that" Ash said smiling "Cerulean City."
Misty nodded slowly. Ash had been acting weird the whole day and now they ended up here? 'Something isn't right' she thought 'something's going on here'.
Just then, it started raining, weakly at first but then with growing strength. Onix let out a cry of pain and weakened by the water collapsed. Brock called him back in a hurry and followed Ash and Misty who were already running in the direction of Cerulean Gym.
As they ran closer they realized that the windows of the Gym were dark. Even though she hadn't been home in a while Misty still remembered where the spare key was. Scrambling in the rain she pulled out one of the stones in the porch and pulled out the key. Dropping the stone back in its place she strained to get the key into the lock, in a couple of tries she got it and ran inside. Pikachu jumped off Ash's head and dried its fur while bathing them in more water. Suddenly the lights went on. 
  "SURPRISE!"
Squinting in the sudden brightness Misty recognized Daisy, Lily and Violet. They were all dressed up and wearing birthday hats. The living room had been decorated with balloons and ribbons. A giant sign that read "HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISTY!!!" hung on the wall. Misty's eyes began to water.
"Aww thanks guys" she cried then turned back to Ash "You knew about this didn't you?"
"Yeah. Daisy told me" he said grinning.  
"How come you didn't tell us?" asked Brock who still seemed shocked.
"I uh, well, I wasn't used to a big celebration. And besides, we barely have enough money as it is, I didn't want to put any pressure on you guys" she said looking down at the floor and blushing slightly.
"Like, lets celebrate already!" cried Lily turning on the stereo as Violet placed a birthday hat on everyone, even Pikachu.
    The party had been great. There was a lot of food and Brock flirted with all three of her sisters at the same time, which was hilarious. At the end Daisy brought out a big, chocolate, birthday cake with candles on it. Lily turned off the lights so that the only light in the room came from the candles.
"Like, make a wish" she said to Misty smiling as they all sang to her.
Misty stood in thought for a moment then smiled and blew out all the candles. Everyone clapped and cheered. Then as they were eating the cake her sisters convinced her to open all the presents.
First was the present from Daisy, she had gotten her a large make up kit. Misty smiled. After all, she did like make up.  Then she opened Lily's present, which was a bottle of her favorite perfume. Ash made a face and everyone laughed, they all knew how he felt about perfume.
Violet's present turned out to be a beautiful dress. Misty thanked her, but she honestly didn't know where she'd wear it. Brock gave her one of his books about pokemon which she specifically liked. And Pikachu handed her a bouquet of flowers he had just picked in the garden.
Then as Daisy, Violet and Lily chased Pikachu around the room for picking flowers from their garden and Brock tried helping them in hopes it would impress them, Misty saw a tiny box on the table. As she opened it she realized Ash has disappeared somewhere. Inside was a piece of paper which said 'Meet me outside.' And that's it. 
Surely Misty had slipped out unnoticed since her sisters and Brock were all busy still chasing Pikachu who seemed to be having a good time.
She looked around and saw Ash standing under a tree, his hair and clothes soaking wet. She ran across the street and looked at him quizzically. He looked back at her and hugged her. Surprised she hugged him back.
"I love you, Mist" he whispered, his lips slightly brushing her ear.
Her eyes widened.
"…I love you too, Ash"   
They separated just enough to look at each other and then kissed softly under the rain.