New Beginnings
By: Misty101803
Part: 16
Category: AAMRN

Disclaimer: "Pi chu ka pika chu pi chu," which means, "Misty101803 doesn't own Pokémon," in Pikachu language. Well now I have six, count 'em six, created characters. They are (in order of creation): Natalie, Sean, Scott, Captain Skyler, Andrew and Venessa, not counting any of the other characters I created in my other stories. And they're all mine. *Takes a pose and does an evil laugh*. Well here goes something. This story was written in April 2004.

Currenty, Ash, Misty and Pikachu are still in their room 183 about to head down to the Pokémon Center so Ash and Misty can pick up their Pokémon that they left there yesterday. Ash and Misty were almost ready to go when Ash looked at the bed-side clock. It read 10:44. They had already ordered room service and had already eaten their breakfast at this time.

Knock knock knock Ash and Misty heard someone knocking on the other side of the door.

"You in there, Ash?" Natalie asked in the hallway right outside room 183. "I'm coming in." She then turned the doorknob and entered the room to see Ash first and then Misty.

"Natalie, why do you always show up at the worst times?" Misty asked.

"What, this is a bad time?" Natalie asked.

"Everytime you show up is a bad time, Natalie," Misty said.

"Okay, that's enough. Don't start fighting now," Ash said. "Lets just get going down to the Pokémon Center." Ash and Pikachu then headed for the door to the cabin and started to leave. Misty and Natalie were close behind. Naturely, before Ash left, he locked the door and then they all headed down the hallway to the elevators.

A few minutes later, they all arrived at the Pokémon Center. Ash and Misty qucikly went over to Nurse Joy, with Natalie and Pikachu in tow.

"Nurse Joy, are our Pokémon ready for us to pick up?" Ash asked.

"Yes, they are. Just let me get them for you two," Nurse Joy said and then headed into the back to retrieve their Pokéballs. Less than a minute later, she returned with a Pokéball in each hand.

"Here you two go. And good luck in the Kojho today, Ash," Nurse Joy said handing them their two Pokéballs.

"Thanks Nurse Joy. I know I'm gonna beat them all," Ash said.

"Ash, you do know that all of them is only three other trainers, don't you?" Natalie asked.

"You mean that I've already made it to the top four?" Ash questioned.

"Yeah, you made it this far. But can you go any furthur?" Misty asked.

"Of course I can. I got top four in the Hoenn League. I think that I can beat the rest of these guys."

"You do know what the prizes are, right?" Natalie asked.

"Uh, well, I remember that the first place winner gets a lot of money and a Master ball, but it's not like I need to know any other prize since I'm gonna win the whole thing."

"Well here are the others. The second place winner gets a life time supply of Pokéballs. And the two others get a free dinner for two in the restaurant of their choice on this ship. Personally, I think that all of the prizes are pretty cool."

"Yeah, I wish I was still in the Kojho," Misty said.

'Cause then I would get the top four spot and win that dinner for me and Ash,' Misty thought.

"Well I guess we should get going. It's already 10:55 and we don't have a long time until the Kojho starts," Ash stated.

"Okay, lets go," Misty said and then Ash, Misty, Natalie and of course Pikachu left the Pokémon Center and headed for the main deck.

On the way there, Misty and Natalie started to fight again, but Ash was too preoccupied to worry about them for the moment. Ash was thinking,

'What should I do? If I lose my next battle I'll get to take Misty out to dinner in a fancy restaurant. But if I do lose, what about Natalie? I don't want to hurt her feelings, because I know how much she likes me, but I don't like her that much. I love Misty, not Natalie. Also, if I was to lose my next battle, I would be missing out on possibly winning the whole thing and getting all that money and that Master ball. I guess I have to ask myself one thing. What's more important, winning or my love with Misty?'

By now, the whole gang have made it to where the Captain was, along with a whole crowd of spectators. Misty and Natalie were still fighting up until the point when the Captian started talking at 11:00.

"Congratulations to the top four trainers that are still in this tournament! They are: Ash Ketchum, Beyonka, Stephen and Scott. In the first battle today, Ash Ketchum will be facing off against Scott, the owner of Ohnee Cusine, on field one. And that means that Beyonka and Stephen will be facing off on field two. Will the trainers please head to their respective fields now and get ready for the next battle of the Kojho!"

"I can't believe that I have to battle Scott," Ash said while walking over to field one.

"Don't worry, Ash. You'll beat him," Natalie said.

"And just remember that if you don't beat him he'll close down The Pokémon Tower, so no pressure," Misty said.

"Yeah, no pressure," Ash said climbing into his boat.

"Ash, it's no problem. Even if you don't win, I'm sure that Scott will lose to either Beyonka or Stephen," Natalie said.

"Well, I promise to not let you down, Natalie. This is for The Pokémon Tower," Ash said and then he started to get lowered into the ocean. On his way down he thought,

'Oh great! Now if I don't win, The Pokémon Tower could get closed down, if Scott wins first place. But the good thing is that if I lose, I get to take out Misty to dinner. But then Natalie would get her feelings hurt. I don't know what to do. Win, and save The Pokémon Tower and lose my chance to tell Misty I love her. Or lose, and risk The Pokémon Tower being closed down, but then I would get the chance to tell Misty that I love her once and for all. What should I do?'

By now Ash, Scott and the referee were in place and the selector on the megascreen high above the field started to alternate from green to red. Ash was the green trainer and Scott was the red one. Meanwhile, Misty and Natalie were watching the battle up on deck with a whole crowd of people around them doing the exact same thing. The selector started to slow down until it finally stopped on green.

"Well, here I go. "Kingler, I choose you!" Ash yelled as he threw a Pokéball into the field. Kingler came out in a bright flash of white light as its Pokéball returned to Ash's right hand.

"So he's starting with a Kingler. This should be interesting. I choose you, Crawdaunt!" Scott yelled as he threw a Pokéball into the field. Crawdaunt appeared and the battle was almost ready to begin, but Ash brought out his Pokédex and quickly scanned Crawdaunt. The Pokédex said,

"Crawdaunt, the Rouge Pokémon. Crawdaunt has an extremely violent nature that compels it to challenge other living things to battle. Other life-forms refuse to live in ponds inhabited by this Pokémon, making them desolate places."

"Let the battle begin!" the referee yelled out while raising both the red and green flags in his hands.

"Crawdaunt, use Water Pulse!" Scott yelled. Crawdaunt then shot a huge blast of water at Kingler.

"Kingler, use Bubblebeam to try to stop it!" Kingler did as it was told and shot the Bubblebeam at the Water Pulse but it didn't stop it at all. The Water Pulse shot past the Bubblebeam and was about to hit Kingler when Ash yelled,

"Now use Harden!" Kingler lit up a white color as it used Harden, which raised its Defense, but since Water Pulse is a special attack, the Harden attack didn't work at all. Kingler was shot back towards Ash's boat until it hit the front of the boat at a high speed.

"Kingler, don't give up!" Ash yelled to it.

"Crawdaunt, use Crabhammer!" Crawdaunt started to swim up swiftly to Kingler but just as it's claw lit up a white glow, Ash yelled,

"Kingler, use Protect!" Just as the white claw came down onto Kingler, Kingler lit up white again, and the Crabhammer had no effect.

"Great, now that it's close, use your Crabhammer!" Kingler's claw lit up white, just as Crawdaunt's did before, and Kingler's Crabhammer hit dead on Crawdaunt's head. This severe attack threw back Crawdaunt a few feet.

"Now use Bubblebeam!" Kingler shot out a powerful jet of light-blue bubbles at Crawdaunt which hit and threw back Crawdaunt even furthur until Crawdaunt hit Scott's boat with a big thud.

"You're better than I thought Ash, but not as good a me!" Scott yelled to him. "Crawdaunt use Rain Dance!" When Scott yelled this, Crawdaunt started to yell out to the sky while it started to dance in the water. A few seconds later, gray clouds started coming in and then it started to rain really hard down onto not only Scott and Ash, but the entire ship was engulfed in this storm. It was so dark, windy and it was raining so hard that Ash couldn't see Crawdaunt anymore.

"This battle is over! Crawdaunt, use Hyper Beam!" Crawdaunt understood what to do. The middle of Crawdaunt's right claw lit up an orange-yellow glow. A few seconds later, the beam of energy shot out of Crawdaunt's claw and it hit Kingler dead center. Kingler was tired, but this battle wasn't over yet.

The clouds then started to go away and the rain receded. After a few seconds, the sun was out again.

"Kingler, use your Hyber Beam now!" Kingler then shot out a powerful Hyper Beam attack, but then Scott yelled out,

"Use Double Team!" Crawdaunt then sped up and now it appeared that there were about a dozon Crawdaunts that were circling Kingler.

"Kingler, use Bubble Beam to mow 'em all down!" Kinlger did the Bubble Beam and soon the attack hit the real Crawdaunt who fell back from the attack.

"Crawdaunt, don't take that! Use Hyper Beam!" As Crawdaunt was charging up for the attack, a memory popped in Ash's head.

"And the two others get a free dinner for two in the restaurant of their choice on this ship." It was said in Natalie's voice.

"Kingler, use, uh, Harden!" Kingler did as it was told as it lit up white right before the Hyper Beam hit Kingler and shot it back about 10 feet. But Kingler couldn't face two Hyper Beams so it fainted.

"Kingler is unable to battle. The victory goes to Scott and his Crawdaunt!" the referee yelled out. The crowd started to cheer while Misty and Natalie were confused. Once Ash recalled Kingler and got back up on deck, the first people he met were Misty and Natalie.

"Ash, why did you do that?" Misty asked him.

"Uh, what do you mean?" Ash asked playing dumb.

"She means, why did you use Harden instead of Protect. If you had used Protect, this battle would still be going on," Natalie said.

"But it's not, and I won," Scott said behind them. They all turned around and saw a smiling Scott. "Now that that's over, I just wanted to remind you that after I win the whole thing, I'm gonna buy out The Pokémon Tower and turn it into another Ohnee Cuisine!"

"You haven't won yet!" Natalie yelled. "You still need to beat whoever wins Beyonka's and Stephen's battle." Just then, on the other side of the ship, the crowd watching Beyonka's and Stephen's battle cheered in excitement, which more than likely meant that the battle was over. Ash, Misty, Natalie and Pikachu all ran to the other side of the ship to see who won the battle. They quickly ran to the railing on the edge of the ship and looked down to see a cheering girl nearest to them in a boat with a Blastoise near her.

"Hey, Beyonka won. She's really good. I'm sure that she'll beat Scott tomorrow," Ash said trying to comfort her. Now that Ash lost, this meant if Scott was to beat Beyonka tomorrow in the final battle of the Kojho, Scott would buy out The Pokémon Tower restaurant, which is owned by Natalie's brother Sean, and turn it into another one of his restaurants, Ohnee Cuisine.

"Yeah, you're probably right," Natalie said a little depressed.

"Will Ash Ketchum and Stephen, who just lost thier battles in the Kojho, come to the main announing deck to recieve their prizes!" they heard someone say over the loud speaker.

"Where's the main announcing deck?" Ash asked.

"It's were my dad announces who's gonna battle who in the Kojho," Natalie said.

"Oh, that, well, lets go!" Ash said excited. He started to head straight to where he had to go with Pikachu, Misty and Natalie not far behind.

Once there, the gang discovered that there was a whole gang of people around the captain's podeum.

Ash walked up to the podeum, which was a few feet off the main deck so the people could see the captain better. On his way up, he saw that there was another kid, about Ash's age, coming from the other direction; no doubt Stephen. When Ash and Stephen were standing right beside Captain Skyler, he spoke again.

"Ash," Skyler said looking to Ash. "Stephen," Skyler said now turning to Stephen. "And fans of the Kojho!" Skyler said loudly looking out into the crowd, which cheered at what the captain said. "I present to you two trainers that got so close to the ultimate prize but it slipped from thier grasp. But, there are other prizes to give away, which, how you think of it, may be better than the ultimate prize. These two trainers beside me will each recieve a free dinner, for two, at the restaurant of thier choice on this ship, and they can redeem that at any time." The captain then got out two pieces of paper from the podeum and gave one to each Ash and Stephen. Ash looked at the piece of paper. It stated:

For proving yourself, Ash Ketchum, in the Kojho and getting to be one of the two top four, this certificate can be redemed for a dinner for two at any restaurant on this ship, the St. Marie.

"Thanks captain!" Ash said with a lot of energy. You know the way he does it.

"Yeah, thanks," Stephen said unthusiatically.

"Hey, at least we're getting something," Ash said.

"Yeah, but I wanted to win the whole thing, or at least get all of those Pokéballs."

"I wanted to win the whole thing too, but this is still okay."

"Yeah, whatever you say," Stephen said.

"Don't forget that there is still one more battle in the Kojho that will take place tomorrow. It will be against Scott, the owner of Ohnee Cuisine and Beyonka a great Pokémon trainer. It's sure to be one of the best matches you've ever seen!" the captain yelled out to the crowd. There was a microphone on the podeum so it just sounded louder when he talked. Meanwhile, everyone in the crowd in front of him cheered at the captain's words.

"Thank you all, and good day!" the captain said to the crowd. After this, the crowd started to disapate. Soon, there wasn't anyone left in the crowd except for Misty and Natalie who quickly went up to Ash. Ash and Captain Skyler went off the stage on one side, while Stephen went off on the other side. When Ash and the captain met up with Misty and Natalie, off the podeum, Natalie said,

"So I'm sure that you're gonna take me out to dinner, right?"

"Whoa, hold on!" Misty said loudly. "Ash, I would love to go out to a fancy resaurant."

"Well so would I, Ash. Come on, pick me," Natalie said.

"No, I'm going with him!" Misty yelled getting mad at Natalie, again.

"He's gonna pick me!" Natalie yelled louder.

"I'm going with him!"

"Girls, it's okay," Skyler said.

"No it's not okay, dad. I want to go with Ash, and Misty doesn't deserve him!"

"I don't deserve him?!"

"Is there an echo in here?" Natalie asked no one.

"You've only known him for the past couple of days! Ash owes me for everything I've done with him over the years!"

"Girls, stop fighting or I'm not taking either of you!" Ash yelled to both Misty and Natalie.

"Ash, you can't do that!" Natalie exclaimed.

"Yeah, stop joking around," Misty said.

"I'm not joking! I've had it up to here with you two always fighting," Ash said holding a hand, level to the ground, up to a little above his eye level. "Now I know how Brock used to feel like when we used to fight all the time!"

"Then how are we gonna settle this, Ash?" Natalie asked.

"Easy, you and Misty and gonna have a battle. Whoever wins this battle will get to go out to the dinner with me."

"That's a great idea, Ash," Misty said. "Finally, once and for all, I'll not only be able to prove to Natalie who is the better trainer, but I'll also be able to go with you to that restaurant."

"I can't wait to beat you, Misty. How about we do this right now," Natalie suggested. "Can we dad? All of the Kojho battles for today are over and this will solve our problem?"

"Of course you can. Lets go over to field one to begin the battle," Skyler said. Then Ash, Misty, Natalie, Skyler and Pikachu all headed towards field one where the final battle between Misty and Natalie will occur.

Thankfully, it didn't take me that long to create this part. I've been having some problems in the past but at least this one is up. I'm so close yet so far from finally completing this story. Do you know how hard it is to write one story for over four months? It is very difficult. If I don't end it soon, I think my head will eventually explode. And then I wouldn't be able to write more great stories about Ash and Misty, and no one wants that, right? Please review now or later. I don't care when you do it, just please, at least once, review this story. Gotta Catch Ya Later! Misty101803 signing off.