Part II

 

 

It was about midmorning on the S.S. Pidgeot, and everybody was down below deck, 
in the galley, discussing what would today’s tasks would be.  Ash was speaking 
in front, with Pikachu on his shoulder, to everybody’s gaze. Misty was sitting 
down right next to Ash, and Max and Brock were right in front of them.

 

The galley was their place of sanctuary.  Not only was it used for eating, but 
it was used for meetings, such as this one, and it was even used for just plain 
relaxation, when one person wanted to have time to his/her self, or if the whole 
group just wanted to get together and chat.

 

They handled meetings very formally and just, when they were occurring.  They 
believed that to avoid conflict, the captain should grant the right to speak and 
take action, but they didn’t think about those rules anymore.  They have been 
together so long that they have become very couth with each other, and naturally 
developed those habits with out initial thought.

 

“Guys,” Ash said, “Today is going to be a hectic day.  We are going to stop in 
Slateport City.”  Ash nodded at Brock, cueing him to come up to speak.

 

“I have gone over our lists of supplies and the quantity of them all, and here 
is what we need from Slateport.”  Brock said formally.  “We need fresh water, 
rope, potions and antidotes, and Pokemon food.  I have assigned the tasks to 
each of you as follows:  Ash, Misty, and Pikachu will go and retrieve potions 
and antidotes and fresh water.  Max and I will go and retrieve the rest of the 
items.”  Brock gave sign that he was finished talking and sat down.  Ash got up 
and started to speak again.

 

“Are we all clear?”

 

“Aye aye! Caption!” Everybody shouted.

 

“In addition to your tasks…”  Ash paused for a moment to the thought of Team 
Rocket that might still exist.  He came back to his senses and said, “In 
addition, be on the look out for information on Team Rocket.  If you find out 
anything, even the slightest bit of information that points out that 
possibility, come back to me as soon as you can.”

 

Everybody nodded solemnly, knowing that even the slightest mention of Team 
Rocket bothered Ash frightfully.

 

“Max, are you avast to our docking time?” asked, Ash.

 

“Aye, we should be arriving in one hour.”

 

“Good.  Now, are we all clear on everything that was mentioned in this meeting?”

 

“Aye aye, caption!”

 

“Now, let’s move out and get ready.  Brock, could you make us a quick snack, so 
that we won’t get hungry during our task?”

 

“Will do sir.”  Brock said with a smile on his face.

 

Ash nodded to everybody, and they went to get ready, except Misty.

 

“Hey.”  She said with a smile as she came up to Ash.

 

“Hey.”  He said with a smile too.

 

There was a small pause of silence, Ash and Misty not knowing what to say.  But, 
not too much longer, it was broken.

 

“You gave a good briefing.  You were born to be caption,” Said, Misty.

 

“Thanks.  You would have been just as good.”

 

“Well, I don’t know about that.”

 

“Yes you would.  You are perfect.  You are smart, good in front of crowds, and 
very pretty.”

 

Misty blushed at this comment.  Ash realizing what he said blushed too.

 

There was a long pause of silence again, filled with the tension of the moment, 
but then Ash spoke up.

 

“…You better go get ready.  We’re going to be arriving in Slateport soon.”

 

“…Yeah.  We don’t want to delay…”

 

There was a bit more silence before Misty turned around and headed up towards 
the dock.

 

“Misty.”  Ash said before she left the room.

 

Misty turned around and looked at Ash.

 

“I really meant what I said…all of those things.”

 

Misty smiled.  They looked at each other for a little while longer, then Misty 
exited the galley and up to the deck.

 

 

 

Max was up on the lookout, looking for Slateport City, while Ash had control of 
the wheel.  Max had been up there about thirty minutes before his estimated 
time, and about thirty minutes later he found his prediction to be right.

 

“Land Ho!  Avast ye Caption!  Slateport City lies Straight ahead!”

 

“Aye, Max!  Good job on the look out.  You can come down now and take a break.”  
Ash said with a smile on his face.  Pikachu was on his shoulder, but it had a 
solemn look on its face.  Ash noticed this expression, when he looked back from 
Max.

 

“What’s the matter buddy?”

 

“[I have a funny feeling about today, like something unusual it going to 
happen.]”

 

Pikachu jumped down from Ash’s shoulders and went to the bowsprit of the ship.  
It looked towards the approaching Slateport with the same solemn expression.  
Ash then turned towards Max.

 

“Hey Max, could you take control of the ship for a little while?”

 

Max was surprised at this request, since this was the job of a caption, but he 
responded right away.

 

“Aye, Sir!”

 

Ash turned back and walked towards Pikachu, worried about his friend and what 
could possibly happen today that could be unusual.  He approached Pikachu 
slowly, looking out towards Slateport.

 

“Pikachu…what do you think is going to happen?”

 

“[……]”

 

Ash now looked down towards Pikachu, wondering why it didn’t respond.

 

“Pikachu?...”

 

There was a little more silence before Pikachu turned around towards Ash with 
the same look.

 

“[Ash……I think Team Rocket may still exist.]”

 

Ash was kind of surprised by this statement.

 

“Are you sure?!!  How can you tell?!”

 

“[…I can feel it…  I don’t know how to explain it…but I can feel it…]”

 

Ash got really worried about this.  He hung his head low, but started to murmur 
something.

 

“…You’re wrong…”  He said but then got gradually louder and faster.  “…You’re 
wrong…Your wrong!  You’re wrong!!!!  YOU’RE WRONG!!!!”

 

Ash turned around and ran off down into his quarters, furiously.

 

Pikachu frowned, realizing what he had done.  He should have known better to 
mention that Team Rocket might still exist.  Ash was very sensitive about them.  
All the terror the organization has caused would make almost anybody scared, but 
it hit Ash with more impact than most people.

 

Ash wanted peace in the world.  He wanted every balance of the world to be in 
order and out of chaos.  When he first set out at sea his number one goal was to 
prevail in this task.  He tried his hardest and always seemed to pull every 
quest off.  He was a noble fellow, but he had his faults.  When he first heard 
about Team Rocket, he had the same ambition to stop them in their evil deeds, 
but this is where he had his first defeat.

 

A few years ago, he came face to face with the team.  There were many battles 
between them, but there was one war, which has been known as the Great War.  Ash 
had won many of the battles in the war, but one day he came face to face with 
the team’s leader, Giovanni.  They had a fierce battle.  It was considered one 
of the greatest battles in the history of the world, two master trainers facing 
against each other with really well trained Pokemon.  Blow after blow, hit after 
hit.  Both sides were taking in incredible damage, and it was augmenting ever 
second!  The battle lasted for two whole days…but in the end Giovanni ended up 
winning…  Ash just couldn’t bear to see his own Pokemon go through any more 
pain……  Ever since that day Ash has had the battle foreboding his mind, knocking 
down his pride ever time he thought about it.  Then there was question of the 
existence of Team Rocket.

 

A little while after the Great War, Team Rocket was still terrorizing many ships 
out at sea, plundering them of their treasure.  Their plunder kept building up 
and up until it became two much for them to handle.  Some of the pirates wanted 
to dump the treasure, since there was so much, but some of them wanted to keep 
it on board, due to their greedy nature.  Then a feud came abroad to the team.  
They had a huge, fierce battle, not just a regular battle, but a battle using 
Pokemon against each other!  They kept fighting until everybody fell to their 
demise…or so that’s how the legend goes.

 

Some people think that some of the Team Rocket members survived the battle, yet 
others don’t agree.  On the case of Ash, this is another reason why even the 
slightest mention of them perturbs him.

 

*[I better go see if he’s alright…]* Pikachu Thought.  He then turned around 
towards Max.  “[Max, take in the ship, port in at Slateport.  I have to go calm 
Ash down.”

 

Max nodded solemnly, understanding what was going on.  Pikachu turned around and 
rushed down towards Ash’s quarters as fast as it could.

 

 

Misty was in her quarters getting ready for arrival at Slateport.  She had a lot 
on her mind at them moment from the experience she had with Ash down in the 
galley.  She sat on her bed, putting up her hair.

 

*Did Ash really mean what he said…was it all real…?  Or was it all just in my 
head…?  And, if it was just all in my head…does that mean I really like Ash?*

 

Misty finished tying her hair up and went to go look in the mirror.  After she 
observed her hair, she looked straight at her self, into her eyes.  She tried to 
look for any signs that might help her solve this mystery, but after a few 
minutes she saw there was no avail.  She then murmured something very softly.

 

“…I have to find out…I know I will find out…I can feel it….”

 

All of a sudden, Misty heard a door slam.  After a few seconds of reasoning, she 
knew it was Ash’s door.  She slowly went out her door and crept up to Ash’s to 
see what the cause of the noise was.  She put her ear on the door and held her 
breath to hear what was going on.

 

She could hear Ash crying.  It was very emotional…the most emotion Ash had 
displayed in a long time.  She opened the door a crack and peered in.  Ash was 
on the bed, his face in his pillow still sobbing away.  He was crying so much 
that you could see his back go up and down slightly due to the intensity of it.

 

Misty stood there for a long time, confused at what to do.  She had never seen 
Ash this distraught before over anything.  She felt terrible that she couldn’t 
help Ash, because she didn’t know what he was crying about.  I would seem like 
that she would just go in and ask what was wrong, but something was holding her 
back…some emotion that she couldn’t identify.  She wanted to move her legs.  She 
urged her mind to move them, but she felt like they were paralyzed and unable to 
move.

 

She then heard someone coming down the hall.  She turned her head around and saw 
that it was Pikachu.  Pikachu was going very fast, and a few seconds later, it 
went right past Misty, into Ash’s room.  Pikachu then slowed down and jumped 
onto Ash’s bed.  It was talking to Ash in its usual dialect; therefore Misty 
couldn’t comprehend to the conversation.

 

Pikachu tapped on Ash’s shoulder, and Ash looked up.  Pikachu talked some more, 
and after a little pause Ash gave Pikachu a hug, with a smile on his face.  
Misty felt extremely bad and remorseful now.  She didn’t even do anything bad, 
but she felt a load of remorse piling on her shoulders every second.  Soon she 
just couldn’t take anymore and all that remorse made her fall…  It made her fall 
into a fierce emotion…an emotion that was so strong, that she broke into a state 
of crying.

 

She ran up the stairs to the deck.  She couldn’t take one more second of that 
scene.  She now stood at the bow of the ship, holding on to the wheel which 
guided the ship, looking out to sea towards Slateport.  Then a new heart 
pounding emotion came onto her.

 

Ash was feeling better now…  So why wasn’t she happy for him…?  Why was she 
still crying…?  Was she a monster?  Didn’t she care about Ash’s feelings?

 

“That can’t be… I don’t want it to be…”  She murmured out.  She then thought, 
*Ash is my best friend…  How could I want him to feel bad?  We’ve been best 
friends for over seven years now.  Hating him would be impossible…*

 

She stood there for a few more minutes then whispered, “Then what is this 
feeling…………?”

 

She slowly turned around towards the wheel of the ship.  She stared at it for a 
little while, thinking about all these questions she had.  A few minutes later, 
she dried her eyes and tried to pull herself together.  Everybody was about to 
meet for the docking at Slateport.  She walked down the stairs into the mizzen 
of the ship, unaware of Max’s presence, who had just come out of the bilge of 
the ship, preparing the anchor for landing.  Max had heard and saw everything 
Misty had just went through, by the wheel.  Max only heard a few things of what 
she said, but he knew something was wrong with her.  He shook it off; knowing 
that he had to guide the ship into the port of Slateport, but every word Misty 
said aloud was playing over and over again in his mind:

 

*‘This can’t be….I don’t want it to be...’  ‘Then what is this feeling…?’*

 

Max, after a few more minutes, shook the scene out of his mind, focused on the 
direction of the ship.

 

That’s the end of Part II.  I really hope you like it.  Please review!