Shototsu Suru de Dekigoto

A fanfare consisted of French horns blew out and streamers were flown into the air, making a pattern of ribbons.

The sun’s rays gleamed through the ivy that was places over the wooden thatched halls and glittered onto the festivities at the bottom or top.

Young wind sprites playfully chased each other, flying upwards until reaching the holed roof. A round of tree sprites sat at the banquette table, including a few pet dragons, which acted like dogs, howling for food.

**

"Here you two go," said a water sprite, clasping on both of the Ash’s golden threaded capes. The two pikachu’s ran under the capes, automatically using it for their small games. "There. You’re half way to looking like full-fledge…"

The older Ash didn’t really pay attention to what hideous things were being put on him or what the plump water sprite was saying. He was too busy thinking to ever notice.

‘Why were those waves appearing when they shouldn’t have?’ he wondered. ‘It can’t happen again… I’m sure that the others were the last ones, the end of the circle, the more powerful souls, otherwise we couldn’t have beaten Neia, Kyle, Mary, and John. This definitely…’

*

‘…doesn’t feel right,’ thought the older Misty. ‘Although it may have to do with me never seeing Neia, Kyle, Mary, or John in their good forms during the evil times. I wonder if now is the point that time is starting to collide…’

"Okay," said a tree sprite. She set a water lily in the two Misty’s hair. "There, you both look great."

The words interrupted the older Misty’s thoughts and she winked out. "Hmm?" she felt the lily in her hair and found herself in a billowing blue dress.

"You okay?" asked her younger self, "You look spaced out."

Misty looked down at her. "Never better!"

"That’s good," said the tree sprite, "because it’s time for you to come on."

"Huh? But what do we do?" asked the older Misty.

"Just join up with one of the Ash’s, walk down the red carpet, and sit at the left top table. I told you that when you first got here," replied the tree sprite.

"Oh, I’m sorry. I guess I wasn’t paying attention."

The two girls walked out of the separate room made out of a giant tree, and saw the two Ash’s standing across from them. To their left/right was a large door and the doorkeeper went to the center, opening it in two halves. He gestured for them to stay put until cueing them.

A different fanfare broke out loudly by the trumpets and everybody quieted down, staring at the ground sprite in front of the partially opened door.

"We now present with greatest honor, the four Satoshi’s and Kasumi’s, who saved this whole island of evil and war!" the sprite shouted out and stepped sideways from the wooden door.

The four non-sprites walked in two lines, the two young Ash and Misty’s paired up and the two older Ash and Misty’s paired up, each slowly walking down the red carpet as the audience of sprites cheered out loud for them.

In front they saw Linda and Ella sitting at the staircase- table set, either at each end.

The younger of the four sat on the left or right part of the table, next to Ella or Linda; and the older Ash and Misty sat at a higher part of the table, in the center. Food was spread out in front of them for them to choose from and put on the plates before them. Seafood and fruit, and something called "Dragon’s Tear", which they noted to stay away from.

The old Ash’s stomach growled, him looking at the food splayed in front of him. Misty patted his back, saying "Not yet, Ashy-Boy."

A rock sprite, dressed like a priest walked up to a podium next to the staircase table. He cleared his throat and said, "We are gathered here today… because," he was then interrupted by a clump of the gooey "Dragon’s Tear" in his face. The man wiped it off with a napkin as people snickered a little.

"This isn’t a funeral!" a voice called from the crowd and there was another undercurrent of laughter.

The sprite cleared his throat again and continued. "Because of six, very strong, very clever, very smart," he looked at Linda, Misty, and Erika, "very attractive…"

Linda, being the closest one, slapped him across the face with a pout.

"*Ahem* Very good, people, who have saved many lives from the evil ways…"

The six then immediately got bored, along with the rest of the audience and they all simultaneously sighed or yawned, then rested their heads on their hands.

The rock sprite ignored this, and kept reading from the piece of paper.

Misty poked the red tablecloth and traced around the small thatches in them. She ran her finger against the edge, leading to Ash’s elbow. She looked up at the man, seeing his jet-black hair had been brushed, although still it puffed out with a stringy look to it, like it did ever since they landed on the island. She saw the golden cape on his shoulders and she gripped it playfully.

"Now I’ve got something to keep you with me," she said, pulling on it and laughed.

He looked down at her and chuckled along with her.

"If you keep clinging onto it, who’s got who?" he asked. She sat up straight and leaned over to him until her face was a centimeter away.

"I’m the one who’s got my hand on you, so I’m the one who has you… oh!" she squealed at the end, sensing something crawl onto her lap. She looked down and saw Togechick looking up at her, now with the voice it would have had if they had never landed on the island.

"Chiiiiikku!" it said in a squeaky voice.

Later, a low-voiced "Pika!" was heard and the old Pikachu hopped onto Ash’s shoulder.

"Hey, old buddy," said Ash, holding him up against the sunlight. "So where did you run off to?"

**

The young Misty sneaked out a small piece of the green fruit in front of her and gave it to Togepi.

"Toge- briiiiiiiii!" it said and munched on it.

Linda looked at Togepi for a moment and scooted over.

"Hi, there, cutie," she said and patted Togepi on the head. "Nice to meat you…"

"Hey, you seem familiar," said Misty suspiciously.

Linda flushed but tried not to. "I… I have a common face." She dusted off her new silvery blue dress and scooted her chair back.

Linda sighed and looked up at the sun, but used her hand to shield the light. "The sun seems like an old friend, although… this isn’t my native dimension," she said softly.

Misty continued to look at her suspiciously. "Not her native dimension?" she wondered and stared at her for a moment.

Her burgundy hair was tied in a loose ponytail where a crystal snowflake was at the top of the band. Her thin eyeglasses showed all of her blue eyes and the dress took form of her body.

Misty’s eyes widened and she made a short squeal with her hand slapping against her mouth to keep quiet, and she fell off the chair, dazed.

A few people in the audience stood up a little to see what the commotion was. The young Ash scooted back and leaned over to see what happened to Misty, along with Ella.

Misty blushed and got back up onto her chair, then tried to get her attention off of her fall and listen to the ground sprite moaning out his speech.

"… and so we present our heroes and heroines with this celebration."

The sprite ended. The place was deadly silent except for Togepi’s chirping and a cough from the audience.

"I’m finished," he said.

The sprites then immediately started clapping vigorously and cheered, "Yai! He’s done! He’s done! We’re alive!"

"You suck!" a voice called out from behind.

"Hey, what did that guy say?" asked the older Misty, pointing to the ground sprite walking down the carpet.

"Don’t know," replied Ash.

A tree sprite walked up to the podium afterwards. "Thank you, Bill… I think," he said. "Okay, well, without further adieu, I present Ash, Misty, Ash, Misty, Linda, and Ella these metals of honor," he held up six metals, each with a rose mixed with different colors, standing for each element. "And a proper burial will be set for Christine, who was accidentally killed at the end."

The six sprites walked down receiving a metal each and they placed it around their necks.

"Speaking of Christine, how come there aren’t many fire sprites around here?" asked the young Ash, looking around at the place and walking back to his table to eat.

"Oh, you know fire sprites. They all think they’re the best in the world and so they never associate with others," replied the older Misty.

"And they’re all against pokemon," added the older Ash.

"Well, maybe except that one," said the young Misty, and she pointed to a small girl with a red and orange dress on. Her brown hair was tied in braided pigtails on each side of her head, and her eyes were as purple as the island’s midnight.

"Chrissy!" a voice was heard and another fire sprite picked her up. "I told you that you couldn’t come here!"

"But, Mommy," whined the girl, trying to get free. "Sheryl and Nina are here!"

"I don’t want you hanging around with them, come along, now!" said the fire sprite and dragged her out.

The six looked at each other. "Naaahhh," they all said at the same time and sat down to eat.

"Sheryl! Sheryl!" a small boy, a tree sprite, called out. He held a yellow rose in one hand, looking around.

The boy found another tree sprite, just a little girl sitting at a table, slicing a large piece of fruit with a dagger.

"What is it, Jason?" she asked with her mouth full of the chopped food and turned to the boy.

"Here," said the boy and gave her the rose.

"What’s this for?"

"For you."

She touched one of the thorns with her index finger. "Thanks," she said, then handed it back to him.

"Hey, you’re supposed to keep it!"

"I don’t want it."

"Watcha guys doing?" asked another girl, a water sprite, who appeared out of nowhere along with two other thunder sprites.

The small fire sprite came back, then, and hurried over to the current group.

"Sorry, my mommy took me back home," she said.

"Hi, Chrissy!" said the water sprite.

"Hey, where’s Key?" asked one of the thunder sprites.

"He was grounded," replied the water sprite.

"I’m sure you framed him Nina," said Sheryl.

"I did not!"

**

"Don’t they look… kind of cute?" asked the older Misty.

"Yeah," said the older Ash, "kind of."

"I bet if we had kids they’d act like them."

"What? We’re planning to have kids?"

"No!" replied the older Misty and hit his shoulder. "We won’t live long enough to that since we need to get the two below us back to Viridian."

"Oh, right," he agreed.

"Hey, I thought there’d be a space for us," said a female voice.

The two looked down at Janelle and Jim behind her.

"There’s no more room," said Misty.

"No way, I don’t want to sit out of the party eating-" Jim started but Janelle cupped her hand over his mouth before he could continue.

"Quiet, Jim!" she said through gritted teeth. "Let’s go!" She dragged him off away from Ash and Misty as he tried to pry loose.

"They remind me of some people I once knew… what were their names again?" said Misty, and put her hand to her chin.

Ash also thought for a moment. "Yeah, they do sort of make me think of… of… somebody."

**

Linda tapped her fork on her plate for a while, not eating the food on it.

‘Hmmm…’ she thought, ‘Those time sprites… they were most likely just mind tricks coming from Neia and Kyle… but if the young Ash and Misty got here, in the present, does that mean there could be such a thing as a time sprite?’

Linda looked at the young Misty next to her, sharing her food with Togepi, and later Togechick who got tired of the older couple’s chattering.

‘Time isn’t really an element, or really even a type. It could be related to psychic, but then what’s the use of a weapon when you use your mind instead? On the other hand, they were most likely fake, so a real time sprite, if it existed, would not have one.

‘But back to the first point, ‘time’ isn’t really a type or element, so maybe it’s just that the theory that time is colliding again is really true. There was the time collision right before the end of the battle- I’ve never seen anything ever act that way. Energy reversing… if it wasn’t time reversing the energy, what could it be?

‘Hmm… although, on one other side, it could be that a time sprite controlled the time in the 7^th dimension, so it was the time sprites who made the time collision. And if they really do exist, I’d really like to know why they collide time at some points. And every 10 years or so at that,’ Linda finally popped in some of the food into her mouth.

**

Ella looked at the young Ash and Pikachu, both laughing happily, not hungry enough anymore to eat the mounds of food splayed in front of them.

Watching Pikachu, her hand moved to her waist, where several leather pouches were tied at her belt, but she quickly moved her hand from the pouches. No. What was she thinking? Too much trouble and excitement could happen. If they stayed long enough, she’d tell them so as not to overwhelm them with so many surprises.

Although she hadn’t "emptied" the pouches as she usually did every day. She felt very regretful now. Maybe she could sneak away to…the bathroom? There were no bathrooms to go into. This was like a primitive island cut off from civilization… like before medieval England.

Ella was still a sprite… she wasn’t completely human. Maybe… she could sneak off someplace? But she couldn’t release what was in her pouches inside a tree or anything.

Ella, though, didn’t realize that Linda and the others were feeling the same way, except Jim and Janelle, who were nowhere to be found at the moment.

Everybody was interrupted of whatever thoughts they had when hearing a strange noise like soft lighting and thunder, along with a grunt going "Hur! Hya!"

Everyone saw the young Misty holding a pokeball in one hand, and below her was her staryu. The place was deadly silent, and everybody was staring at her, their heads turned so the top view looked like a flower or pattern.

"Go on. Keep eating," she said. At this, the undercurrent of talking and the clinks of plates and silverware were heard.

"You can’t stay out for long, though, okay?" asked Misty and Staryu nodded its top limb. Misty placed down a small extra plate of some of her food down in front of Staryu. "You can eat this."

**

A giggle was heard a moment later, and the young Misty felt a splash of water on her leg. She saw the small fire sprite, Chrissy, next to the staryu, getting slightly dampened by water, but she didn’t seem to mind. Misty smiled a little, but this is when Chrissy noticed her looking, and she stopped.

"I’ve never seen this animal before. Can I have it?" asked the small girl and Misty chuckled.

"Ahh… heheh, no," she replied, "but you can probably find starfish at the beach."

"But starfishes doesn’t squirt out water," said Chrissy, hugging the pokemon.

Misty gently swept her hand on Chrissy’s arm to get some of the water off. "Doesn’t it hurt you?"

"I like water!" said Chrissy.

Misty cocked her head.

"Hmmm…" Misty said. ‘What if…?’

**quick flashback**

Christine sighed and looked over to Neia’s river. "I hate being a fire sprite. I wish I were a water sprite, or something."

**end quick flashback**

"Well, I need to go," said Chrissy and she teleported away.

Misty made a short gasp. "How did she…? Is she?"

**

As time passed, the sun was only an hour away from starting to set, and after that the night festivities would begin. The band of brass instruments struck a fanfare indicating some of the main events to begin, and the area looked like a medieval party.

A cave sprite climbed on top of a red artisan dragon, and a ground sprite got onto a green artisan dragon.

The six heroes sat in their own special seats, and watched, while the crowd cheered.

The two held onto the reigns on the dragons like a horse and kicked their shoulders and the dragons flew up sky high in the air.

"Mel monyonuu! Koikona hanashinaza!" shouted the cave sprite.

"What kind of language is that?" asked the young Ash.

Ella’s ears perked. "It’s the rock element’s own language. Each base element has its own language."

"Base elements?"

"There are many different types and elements, all derived from a few. Ground and cave both come from rock. Just like grass, tree, and pollen come from plant."

"You mean there’s a pollen?" asked Ash.

"Pollen is rare. You don’t see many of those sprites since they all like to keep to themselves. There are a lot of different sprites on this island since there are so many different climates. I’m surprised that the place hasn’t fallen apart."

"So are any in a league of its own?" asked the young Misty, getting into the conversation.

"Most likely thunder. I can’t think of anything related to them."

"What about fire? Is there any certain other type to it?"

"Very slim. There can be fire as in just plane base fire like most you have seen… wait you’ve only seen Christine. Christine is not really base fire… she was born at a volcano, so she’s actually part lava. Her mother was a base sprite, but her egg was laid as a lava seed."

"I didn’t know sprites lay eggs," said Ash.

"Well, some do lay eggs… some are mammals."

"Are you a mammal?" asked Misty.

Ella blushed and laughed sheepishly at the unusual question. "No. Plant sprites produce seeds. Electric sprites are mammals, and so are wind and sky. But, Misty, if you were still a sprite, and yet a full sprite, you’d lay an egg."

Misty suddenly pictured her older self as a sprite again and holding a large blue egg in a towel.

"Eeewww…"

**

The ground sprite and the rented green dragon tumbled down, lance an all.

"Cave sprite: win!" shouted the announcer, "Ground sprite: lose!"

The crowd clapped, along with the six. The cave sprite stood up proudly along with the red dragon and held his lance in triumph while the ground sprite shoved his way out with low spirits.

"Mistress Kasumi, Master Satoshi, Lady Linda and Ella?" a voice called below them.

They looked down at a wind sprite holding a large, stiff leaf with scroll paper attached to it like a clipboard and paper. In his other hand was a fine paintbrush.

"Hmmm?" said Ella. "What is it?"

"You were asked to join our dancing festival," said the wind sprite. He looked at the ivory colored scroll and looked up at the six. "And later there’s the play that would have been years ago, but I guess you could say it was… postponed."

The older Misty sweatdropped but smiled sheepishly. "We’re just… dying to see the play," she said. Everybody face faulted.

**

The orchestra of violins by the rock sprites, clarinets by the wind sprites, brass by the thunder sprites, and piccolos by the water sprites played quick, carefree tunes, and the crowd of sprites danced to the rhythm.

"Come on Ash, I’ve never danced with you for three years and the last time didn’t even have any music," said the older Misty, pulling on his cape and dragging him to the crowd.

The young Ash stood up. "Well as long as it’s a party, I’ll show you how to really- ack!"

The young Misty held his arms and torso tight, so as not to let his stupidity let out of him with more than just her seeing it. "Ahh… heheh… we don’t really need to know how to… ‘really party’, Ash."

"What was wrong with last time?"

"Everything."

**

Misty was twirled back into Ash’s arms and she looked up at him for the moment she got. "So, when do we get the two kids back to Viridian?" she asked.

"Tomorrow is my guess, unless we leave here early," he replied, and Misty was swung back again.

"I want to stay, just for today. It’s not every day that I get to see a green sky and planets again," she said, pivoting forwards and backwards twice.

"You’re off beat," she said after a moment. "Let me lead."

"You can’t dance anyway, why would it make a difference?"

"I’m a better dancer than you are."

"Everybody knows I’m the best dancer."

"Who’s everybody?"

"Umm… everybody back at Viridian…"

"Like who? Or do you forget everybody’s names?"

"I never forgot their names… like… Br- umm…. Brooke… Broke…. Brack…"

"Brock. Oh my god, Ash, you forgot Brock. You’re such a disrespectful friend. How could you forget his name?"

"I forgot him because of all 15 years of living on this island," he replied as Misty was twirled into his arms. "Come on Myst… you can’t think of him every single day if he’s just… you know… not here."

"Yes, but… it’s him. We’ve traveled with him for… what, two years? It’s hard to forget something like that, and especially if you know he’s still alive there, most likely sitting around in his Breeder’s Shop, selling fur shampoo for pokemon."

**

As the crowd began to slow down their pace, so did the music, and a slow, steady beat was produced, the song of the water sprite playing by the flutes and harps.

"A slow song," said Linda.

"I’m going to find a dance partner. I’m going to see if any pollen sprites are out of their hiding places," said Ella and jumped down from the cramped up little thrown.

"Well then I’m looking for a cave sprite to dance with. And I bet you you’ll never find a pollen sprite," said Linda.

"What’s your bet?"

"We won’t dance for the rest of the day."

"I agree!"

**

The older Misty’s head was laid on Ash’s shoulder, her dress slowly swaying along with her movement.

"Ash…" she said softly.

"Hmmm…?"

"I want to stop dancing…"

"But this is so easy," he said.

"I want to sit down."

"Kay," he said.

Misty grabbed Ash’s arm and pulled him away from the crowd and into the tall grass.

"You want to sit down and you still have enough strength to pull me into the field," said Ash.

"Well I still want to sit down," she said and pushed Ash down onto the soft, green grass.

She sat down next to him, still with her hands on his shoulders, and they were both cross-legged.

"You know, I still never did get to kiss you in a long time," she whispered, and brought her face to his, only a little ways apart.

"What are you trying to say?"

She moved her face forward until her nose was touching his, and smiled. "Think," was all she said, and before he could say anything else, she kissed him.

The two were leaned forward, their thighs stretched in order to stay cross-legged. The kiss seemed special, and maybe to be alone, not fighting their brains out, they felt like they should cherish the moment. But they couldn’t, since it was hard to keep their position, and they broke the kiss.

"Why have you changed so much…" said Misty, laying down, and she looked up at her favorite blue planet, which always seemed to stay there, night or day.

Ash’s shadow cascaded her, and blocking her view of the planet was his face. Still he had that cute, child’s curious face except his eyes had grown weary and his hair hung down instead of keeping up at the sides from wearing his hat too often.

"Where are our dragons?" he asked.

"They didn’t want to come. They’re some place in the forest. They said their job was done," she replied.

"They did protect us a lot of times," said Ash, and he lay down next to Misty.

The two smiled to each other through the blades of grass. They closed their eyes reliving their teen years.

**

Linda and Ella both backed away, still turning their heads to find their wanted dance partner. The two squealed when bumping into each other.

Linda sighed. "None of the cave sprites are willing to dance with me."

Ella sighed as well. "I could find a pollen sprite."

"Hey, where’s Ash and me?" asked the young Misty.

"Well," said Ella, looking down at her. "You’re right in front of me, and Ash is right behind you."

"No, I mean the other us."

"Oh… They’re… they’re…" Ella looked around frantically.

"They’re somewhere," said Linda.

"I thought they were dancing," said Ella.

"Is that them?" asked Ash, and he pointed to two small figures in the field.

**

The older Misty shifted her weight and made a small sighing noise.

"Comfy?" said a voice.

The two looked up at their younger selves, Linda and Ella.

"Very," said Ash as he plopped his head back on the grass and shutting his eyes.

"The play is going to start in a moment, and we were looking for you," said the young Misty.

"I don’t want to go," said the older Ash.

"Oh, come on, you," said Ella and dragged Ash by his arm. "We’re all going to watch that play or you’ll all end up with red X’s on your fac-mph!" Ella was cut off by Linda’s hand over her mouth.

"Shut up!" hissed Linda through gritted teeth.

"Red X’s?" wondered the young Ash.

**

By the time they got back to the crowd, the stage was already set up, and music was softly playing in the background. The six took their seats as the curtain opened, and the Ash’s and Misty’s set their pokemon on their laps.

"Should not this couple be special

If to keep from one’s belongings.

A story of two and a spark of light," said a ground sprite.

"Lily," said a young sky sprite to a wind sprite. "For our marriage to happen, it would cause forbidden love, but alas; I love you, Lily."

"Heynoet, my love for you is just as strong," said Lily, "But for you to be of higher grounds than I, I cannot marry you."

"And so, they had to part," said the ground sprite.

Ella yawned. "Oh Romeo, Romeo," she said, imitating the famous play, ‘Romeo and Juliet’ but bluntly, referring to the play in front of her. "Where for art thou is all the amusement?"

"It’s gone with the wind… sprites," said Linda and waved her hand to the two wind sprites at the stage.

Linda looked down at somebody’s long lavender hair, soft and silky. Linda thought for a moment. Maybe she shouldn’t ask, but what the heck.

"Hey," she whispered to the sprite below her. This made the other five turn their attention to her and whatever kind of sprite was below her.

The sprite looked up. Hazel eyes shining, and Linda got a clearer view of her dress. She had a pink and white mixture on her dress, along with a red flower in her hair, along with a red headband. Linda gasped shortly.

‘It’s a pollen sprite!’ she thought.

"Yes?" asked the pollen sprite.

"Do you know anything about… Time Sprites?" she asked.

The sprite looked a little taken back at this question. But she squinted at Linda, then saw the other five looking over her shoulder. She looked at the play, and back at them.

"Come with me," she said.

The six felt a tad reluctant of leaving the play so rudely, but they all wanted to know what Linda was trying to find out.

The pollen sprite walked quickly, and the six nearly had to run in order to keep up with her. Ella ran up a little, and saw the profile of her face; she was serious and strict looking.

"So…" said Ella. "You’re a pollen sprite… right?"

The sprite looked at her, her mouth in an upside-down v-shape and her eyes looking much grayer than before, and in a worried expression. She stopped, so Ella did too, and the others bumped into one another as a slow reaction.

"You okay?" asked Ella.

"I’m not a pollen sprite," she said and then continued.

The others stared for a moment, blinking a few times, but followed.

A few minutes afterwards, they came upon the thick forest in the center of the island. Not far, they could see their dragon’s heads, poked slightly out of the trees.

"It’s the dragons!" exclaimed Ella.

The six and their pokemon ran past the mysterious sprite and didn’t stop until ending at the clearing where their dragons were.

They two dragons looked down at them and both gave a look of rage.

"WH-WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? OUR WORK IS DONE," said the thunder dragon in her male/female dual voice.

"YOU SHOULDN’T BE HERE," said the water dragon in his dual voice.

"No it’s not!" said the young woman, and she walked around the six. "They still don’t know about the time sprites."

The young thunder dragon looked at the water dragon.

"YES… WE NEVER DID TELL ABOUT THEM," he said.

"I want to know if the ones I saw were real or not!" shouted out Linda to the two dragons, stepping forward, her kimono slightly bouncing back and forth.

"LINDA," said the water dragon. "IF YOU HAD SEEN ANY TIME SPRITES, I ASSURE YOU THEY WOULDN’T BE REAL."

"Then… what are time sprites?"

"TIME SPRITES ARE EVERYWHERE ON THIS PLANET. EVERY TIME ZONE HAS AT LEAST ONE THAT CONTROLS THE TIME THERE. ONCE IN A WHILE, ABOUT 10 YEARS, THE TIME SPRITES MUST STOP, ONE BY ONE, AND SO TIME WILL START TO SHIFT," said the thunder sprite.

"And…" said Linda, "the ones I saw were not real…"

The water dragon bent down his neck a little talk more softly to Linda.

"WHAT DID THEY DO? WHAT DID THEY SAY?"

"Well… they had killed Neia and Kyle, even though they looked and sounded very mechanical... and they were kind of evil since they said if I was sent back in time for Misty to kill them, I’d need to go on their side," she replied. "Were they real?"

The woman walked up to her, her body also starting to loose its color. "Time sprites aren’t good or evil, and they don’t to favors for anybody."

"Hey, just what does a time sprite look like? Maybe we’ve seen one," piped up the younger Ash.

"I’m… I’m…" stuttered the woman and her dress disappeared, only leaving the simple outline of her body (She’s not exactly naked if that’s what you’re thinking of. The key word is "simple!") She backed away a little, her hair turning gray as well. "I’m a time sprite…"

"Are you the one who caused the time warps?" asked Ella, stepping closer to her.

"Yes… It wasn’t supposed to happen, but before, I made a mistake. And another one a few days ago… in fact… I’ve been making a lot of mistakes for this island."

She sat on the ground and dug her head in her curled up legs.

"I’ve made too many mistakes… I can’t control time like the others can… I… I’ve made such a mess of things ever since my mother died…" and she began to cry a little.

She looked like a little rabbit that didn’t know what to do; abandoned and without shelter. Only the people around her, staring at her, looking at how pitiful she was, thinking of how useless she was…

"And you can’t fix… those mistakes?" asked Ella, kneeling in front of the curled up time sprite.

She shook her head. "No… I can’t undo what I’ve done to one part of time. I kept forgetting to bring people here, and taking them back… I’ve gotten the two young Ash’s and Misty’s right, that’s why you never sensed the time waves, but I forgot the good sprites. When I wanted to bring them, it was too late, but I still brought up the young sprites, and the only way it would seem normal was if they had their families and everybody’s minds were warped… "

"The good sprites… you mean like Christine and Neia and Kyle?" asked the older Misty.

"Since they’re so young they go by their nicknames… Chrissy, Nina, and Key. And Lily, Sheryl, and Jason."

"That’s why Chrissy seemed so familiar!" exclaimed the young Misty.

Her older self nodded. "We saw all of them and thought they looked familiar."

"They shouldn’t be here," said the time sprite, uncurling from her scrunched up body. "They were supposed to be here months ago and as teenagers, but I screwed things up!"

"Well…" started Ella, thinking of a way to ask her question as politely as she could. "is there… a certain reason you couldn’t handle all of this?"

The time sprite looked up at Ella, her clear eyes looking as if she were going to cry. Her body stiffened, and she collapsed on the ground.

Ella backed away a few steps. "Was it something I said?"

The water dragon put his head in between Ella and the time sprite.

"" the voice said in Ella’s mind.

Ella bit her lip, thinking of what she should do now. The water dragon reared his head and stood up straight again.

"And she can’t reverse what she’s done…" said Ella to herself.

Linda walked up a little closer, looking down at the transparent gray-toned sprite.

"You may have made mistakes lately. I’m sure it’s hard to control time for millions and millions of people, getting each part on time, and especially since it all happens so quickly. Although the way you can make things right is to forget what happened and try as hard as you can now. Don’t try and fix what you’ve done, but get on with life and be strong," said Linda.

"But a time sprite’s work is supposed to be perfect at all times. And what if I still mess up? It’ll go on and on and on… for all eternity."

"We are immortal…" added Ella.

"Now forget what your job is. You should have fun with your role in life. Don’t be so strict," said Linda, "You try to be like everybody else. Lighten up. Relax."

Linda sprayed out a little ice and it flew around the time sprite playfully.

"Have fun with what you can do! You don’t realize what you can do with life until you try it. And I think you may want to do that."

"But everybody else…"

"Don’t do what everybody else does. They’ll do what you do once they see what you can do."

"But they’re so…"

"They’re so much like the way you’re acting. Now, please. For everybody in this time zone."

Linda hugged the time sprite, but she stayed still, eyes wiggling distorted with tears. Although a smile gradually appeared on her lips, and she hugged back.

"So does this mean she’s not a pollen sprite?" asked the young Ash.

Misty sighed and picked him up, looking like his mother, more or less.

"H-hey! Put me down! Let go!" he cried out.

"Come on… we have to get back to the festival… see what’s left of the play…" she said, not letting go of the boy.

"Do you really think I can do it?" asked the time sprite to the two dragons.

"HONEY," said the thunder dragon, "I COULDN’T AGREE MORE WITH LINDA… DO WHAT YOU WANT TO DO WITH YOUR POWERS."

They all looked at the six and their pokemon, walking out of the clearing and into the forest. Walking in a happy looking group, except for the squirming, young, Ash in the older Misty’s arms.

"Hey, put me down, already! Stop it! I’m not a little baby! What are people going to think if they see me like this!"

The dragons and time sprite sweat dropped.

"WELL," said the thunder dragon, "WE CAN… ALWAYS COUNT ON LINDA AND ELLA…"

**

Misty looked out the window and sighed. The night festivals were over, and the moon showed 3:00 AM. While the four Misty’s and Ash’s were given a room each to sleep in for the night. Each one was shaped as a dome, painted with blue and silver, sitting out in the middle of a field. Linda was given her own, as well as Ella, the domes either painted silver or green.

Misty looked behind her for a moment. Her regular clothes hung up, as well as the dress she wore that day, and she had gotten in the pajamas they gave her. Ash was sleeping in the bed, his refusal for the pajamas led him to wearing his pants.

‘Well, he could at least put on a shirt,’ Misty thought to herself, then looked out the window again.

Ash cracked open an eye, seeing Misty, slightly shadowed with the moonlight only hitting the front of her. He smiled grabbing a pillow, silently and slowly getting out of bed, and whacking her with it.

Misty yelped in surprise and whipped around, seeing Ash sneering with the pillow in his hands.

"Why you…" she growled and grabbed her own pillow hitting him square in the face.

The dome was filled with laughter and giggles, feathers flying everywhere, along with sound of cotton against either of the bodies.

Misty pushed Ash onto the bed, hitting him with her pillow more. He tried rolling away and hitting her at the same time, but she used the pillow to keep his head down and sat right on his stomach.

"Take this!" she screamed and whacked him with her pillow. "And this, and that, and this, and that!"

There was a knock at the door, although the person didn’t need to since she, a sky sprite, came barging in anyway, slamming the door against the curved walls.

"Excuse me," she said, but her eyes widened at seeing Misty sitting on Ash, feathers all over the place, and… Misty sitting on Ash (-_-;). "Oh my goodness, I’m sorry!" The sky sprite shut her eyes, backing out of the doorway.

"What?" asked Misty, and she looked down all the feathers and at Ash. Then realized she was sitting on him…

"Ack!" she squealed and jumped off of him. "No wait! Hold on! Wait! It’s not what you think! I wasn’t-! He wasn’t-! We weren’t-!"

She grabbed the sky sprites arm, insisting she asked what she wanted to.

"No, no, no," she said, still keeping her eyes shut. "I’ll let you two alone- don’t let me stop you!"

She closed the door, leaving Ash confused.

"What was all that about?" he asked.

Misty grabbed his pillow and threw at him once more; calling it quits. "Remind me never to get near your waist line and below again."

"What?!" he yelped, shuffling into his covers frantically. "And when did you start trying to score with me?"

"Never! What I mean is that the sky sprite who just left thought of ‘some certain idea’ when seeing these feathers, and me sitting on your stomach!"

"It’s just my stomach. I almost threw up what I ate for dinner but I can survive it."

By then Misty was already in bed with him, facing the opposite direction but turned over.

"Just… just be grateful that you don’t know then, since you’re obviously too immature to know what I’m talking about."

"But I want to know what you’re talking about," he retorted, his eyes wide with curiosity.

Misty bit her lip and looked at his cute, little face.

"You’ve lived 20 years through my simple word ‘think’, and you have yet to do that," she said, kissed him on the cheek, and turned the opposite side to sleep.

Ash, then for a moment, thought deeply of what she was saying. Maybe… maybe he was dense at times… okay, so now he realized that. So what did she mean with the feathers and ‘some certain idea’?

"…Five, four, three, two…" Misty counted down.

"Ahh! And we aren’t even married!"

"One."

**

The young Ash and Misty looked hesitant. They stood on each side of the bed with one hand full of the pajamas given to them.

"You can just go behind a tree and change, and I’ll stay in here," said Misty.

"No, I’ll stay in here; you can go behind a tree," replied Ash.

"Well then, we’ll both shut our eyes."

"I can’t trust that!"

"Well if you seem ‘mature’ enough to be reliable in closing your eyes, you will be able to close your eyes while I change, and since I’ve seen you in your underwear before anyway, I guess I don’t have to."

"You’re just trying to trick me!"

"Hmph. Well, it’s better than you looking at me!"

"Who says I would!"

"Me!"

"Well, I wouldn’t!"

"How can I trust you on that!"

"Because… because I’d know better!"

"How can you, an immature 11-year old boy know better than to look at a girl in her underwear!?"

"Well maybe I’m more mature than you think," he said, crossing his arms.

"Then that means you’d grow into a pervert and try to look at me!"

"No, it means I grow into a person who… who wouldn’t!"

"Pikaaa…" sighed Pikachu as he had to go through the old and meaningless fights that Ash and Misty had before.

"Okay, look. If we can’t decide on who’s going to go out to change, we won’t get into the pajamas and sleep in our day clothes. That exactly what we did before we ever landed on this island and if it means a guy not looking at me with a face like Brock’s I’ll go through it," said Misty and she quickly got in the bed.

"Well… well, fine then," he replied and got under the covers along with her.

Both tried to fall asleep, facing the opposite directions. Ash had no trouble, him being himself, but Misty seemed to have trouble (obviously…)

She rolled over, seeing Ash had chosen to be in the middle of the bed instead of the edge like she expected.

"Stupid boy… kinda cute, though," she said to herself.

She slowly crept her arms around Ash, her head against his left shoulder, and her body was against his. She scooted him forward, then scooted back to her end, sighed, and fell asleep. ^_~

**

The young Misty woke up, finding Ash’s hand on her arm. Rollong over, she saw him as she expected to, sleeping soundly, and right in her face. He must have inched his way closer to her over night.

She poked him a little. "Hey, Ash! Wake up!" she whispered.

He twitched his mouth, but didn’t open his eyes.

"Ashy-boy… wake up…" she said, poking his shoulder again.

"M-m…" he mumbled out, "…Ashy-boy?"

Misty tried not to laugh, but she still snickered a little.

"Huh?" Ash opened his eyes, seeing Misty looking at him, but tears were starting to well up in her eyes from trying not to laugh so hard now.

Although Misty then burst out laughing, rolling off the bed and landing onto the floor.

"Umm… Misty?"

**

The older Misty woke up first, her first sight being the ceiling, and when she turned her head to her right, she saw Ash on his back, his mouth gawked open a little and she could see part of his two front teeth.

Misty kissed him, ruffling his hair a little. Ash woke up with a startle and bolted up straight, making Misty topple onto the floor.

"Myst? Misty?" wondered Ash, darting his head back and forth. He could have sworn she was there.

He felt a hand on his leg, looked down and saw Misty shaking her head dizzily.

"Oh, there you are. What a strange place for you to sleep, Misty. I thought you were going to sleep on the bed."

Misty gave a disgruntle face as she stood up.

"Ohhh… just be quiet," she said and went back to her side.

Ash shrugged. Misty slid down against the bed so only the back of her shoulders and head were visible. She quickly started to changed out of the night clothes and into her regular clothes, hoping Ash was too busy putting on his shirt to notice her.

And so he was, or at least he was searching for his shirt.

"Hey, Myst, have you seen my shirt?"

"You mean the black one?" she asked, putting on her skirt.

"Yeah."

Misty looked around, hoping it wasn’t near her. It wasn’t exactly the best time to look for Ash’s shirt with her own shirt still off.

"Umm… it’s…" she said, still looking around. She stuck her head under the bed and spotted it, slightly wrinkled from being shoved under it. Misty crawled under a little, her legs and half her skirt showing out and she grabbed the black article of clothing.

"Found it!" she said and threw it out behind her so it flew out from under the bed.

Ash picked it up, pulling it over his head.

"So, we should try and find a portal that leads back to Viridian now," he said.

"Yup," agreed Misty as she scooted out from under the bed. "But I still need to find my…" she had though Ash was turned away, but saw him looking down at her.

Both went wide-eyed. Misty hugged her arms around her upper torso, screaming, and shoved herself back under the bed.

Pikachu and Togechick sat on a stool, watching intently on the upcoming fight.

"Ash, you dense freak!" she yelled at him.

"Wait, Misty I didn’t mean-- I didn’t think…"

"You didn’t think, alright! Idiot! I should rip you into two halves and feed you to a dragon!"

**

Ella, Linda, the young Ash and Misty, along with two other sprites, which included the sky sprite that barged in last night, turned their direction to the dome where the older Ash and Misty had slept in.

"No wait, I’m sorry, Myst!"

"Sorry won’t do you any good, you pervert!"

"Owe!"

"Come back here!"

"But you don’t get it; I…"

"No, you don’t get it, Ash!"

"But it’s not what you think! Oh, well, here’s your blouse…"

"Rrrrrrrrr…"

"I- I’m sorry!"

"‘I’m sorry?’ ‘I’m sorry’ will do you no good!"

"But… But…"

"Definitely not!"

"Misty… but…"

"No! No, you… you… you, pervert! Never! Die now!"

"Ouch!"

There were a few sounds of breaking objects and yelps of pain before Togechick and Pikachu came out of the window to get away from the destruction in the dome.

Togechick flew on the sill of the window, along with Pikachu. Both looked down at the fight.

A few moments later, the door burst open wide, the wood banging against the dome walls. Misty with her blouse half on, was trying to beat Ash to a pulp while he tried dodging the punches and apoligizing at the same time.

It was a few seconds before they both saw the sprites and non-sprites watching them in confusion.

"Ahh… heheheh…" both laughed sheepishly and stood up, dusting off. Misty quickly buttoned up her blouse so her bra didn’t show as they walked up to the group.

"Have I come at a bad time again?" asked the sky sprite, her arms folded.

"No."

"Yes."

Ash and Misty narrowed their eyes at each other.

"Look, I didn’t even know you didn’t find your blouse yet!"

"Well it doesn’t mean you had to look!"

"It does take a while for a message to get into one’s brain!"

"And I suppose it takes three seconds for you?"

"No, but it did take a while for me to realize that wasn’t the shirt you usually wore!"

"I don’t wear tight, pinkish…"

"Ahem," the sky sprite said, getting them out of the fight.

Ash and Misty silenced their fight for the last time.

"So… ahh, what’s going on here?" asked the older Misty.

"Well, here on this island, we sprites have been thinking a while… and we’ve sorted out what’s happened to you, what you’ve gone through, all the trouble that the Evil Time Period has caused you," said the sky sprite, the grass sprite behind her, stood closely to her, nodding at every word. "Before we ask you a certain question, we’d like to explain… a few things that you don’t know before you answer…"

There were two shadowed figures behind the group before the sky sprite continued. They turned around, seeing Jim and Janelle.

"Umm… Miss…" Linda said, but she never learned the sky sprite’s name.

"Sophie. Sophie Larenks."

"Yes… Miss Larenks, I think Jim and Janelle should learn whatever this is… they haven’t really taken too much of a part in the battles, but they were never evil, and I think that’s good enough."

"Hey, wait a minute," said Jim, "We’re still-!"

Janelle clasped her hand over him. "Quiet, Jim… Let the lady talk to the twer-- I mean, the people in front of us."

Sophie shifted her weight a little before continuing. "Here on this island, all the inhabitants here try to live happy, good lives. There usually are no large storms, mostly fair weather and the place is a very nice place to live. We’re not sure of how it happened, the Evil Time Period, that is, but it happened quickly. It was a bright full moon, and some of the planets were glowing white. The full moon had come unexpectedly and many sprites paniced. Except Shaharazad, Christine Neia, Lila, Kinu, Kyle, Mary, John, and Jay… the very sprites you’ve met… or at least some of you have met.

"Now, I don’t think you meating them is really such a big deal, but the ones you’ve met were very special sprites. They are known to many, and that’s because they’ve saved a lot of lives. They also were the ones who found the first portals that sprang around here and the first ones to find the two pokemon trainers that landed here, both going by Jenny and Joy.

"Anyway, everybody except them panicked… a lot of people tried getting them into safety but they acted like nothing was happening… like they didn’t even see the full moon," Sophie continued. "Although we knew they did. They acted in a trance but they stared at the moon, or a planet. We were all scared, but we watched them closely, and then found out that watching was the worst thing we’ve ever done."

"What happened?" asked Ella.

"Well, I’m not so sure…"

"We know what happened…" said Janelle.

Everybody looked at her and Jim.

"We landed here as it happened. We were both surprised that nobody noticed us, but we sure noticed nine sprites glowing different colors. When the light faded everybody except us changed since I guess we were never there long enough to get effected by it," explained Jim.

"Yes, ahhh, now explain what happened to them," said Janelle.

"Well, they all started smiling and grinning— it was really strange. A bunch of colors started emmitting from them all and when they came together over the center nine it made this huge flash of white and everything was suddenly washed over with black… if it could get any darker than it already was."

"But worst of all…" said Janelle.

"We lost our third companion!" they both cried out at the same time and leaned on each other.

Everybody sweatdropped.

"You have a third person?" asked the older Ash.

"Well, he’s not exactly a- mmphhnn!"

Janelle had covered Jim’s mouth again.

"Yes, now we must be going!"

Janelle grabbed Jim’s arm and flung him into a tree and she followed after.

"They’re beginning to scare me," said the younger Misty.

"They’ve already scared me," added Ella.

"Yes, well…" said Sophie.

"Oh, there was a question you wanted to ask us," said the older Misty.

"Yes… well, now that you know what happened before, and even more, we were just sort of wondering… Since this island really is in a state of chaos since there’s no leader… maybe… you, Ash and Misty could be our new leaders…?

"I’m sure, the young ones can take after you, and Ella and Linda can do well for battle and protection when there’s a full moon. And, there really isn’t any other place to go besides some naboring islands, but they’re no different from here."

The older Misty stepped forward. "No, Miss Larenks, there really is a place that we have to go. These two young ones need to get back to Viridian City in the 3^rd dimension… that’s where they came from, and where they have to go."

"I see…" said Sophie.

"And once the two kids leave, Ash and I will be no more. We don’t need to exist. We’ve fought for you, but we were just doing that to make a living here as long as we were stuck for the moment. Don’t think we’re trying to uphold leadership, that’s not what we came here for.

"But Miss Larenks… I’m sure that there are two others that can help rule the island, and two more for military."

Everybody looked around. "I don’t see anybody," said Sophie.

"They’re right in front of you, Miss Larenks. Ella and Linda, and if they ever come back, maybe Jim and Janelle. Why, Ella and Linda can be leaders since they helped so much in our battles. If they hadn’t come to us, we would have lost. And Jim and Janelle are just perfect for ‘full moon emergencies.’ I say, you forget about the names Ash and Misty, or Satoshi and Kasumi and go with Ella Shetz, Linda Nasadga, Jim and Janelle."

Sophie looked at them for a moment, then smiled.

"It’s a deal."

**

"Okay, so where’s the portal?" asked the young Ash.

"How will we know where it is?" asked the young Misty.

"Well…" said her older self, "I remember that… when we came here, we were going to go back though a different portal, but it didn’t work. Maybe if we looked for the portal we came from."

"Well come on, here," said the older Ash, "We have no idea what so ever where that portal is! We’re miles, and miles, and miles away from the beach, and that’s for sure! We may as well be in the middle of the island, away from the beach, away from any point we’ve ever been through!"

Everybody sighed.

"Pika! Pika!"

"Pikachu!"

They looked at the two pikachu, who pointed east.

"What is it, Pikachu?" asked the young Ash.

"Pikapi pika cha!" his pikachu pointed east again.

"I think he’s saying the portal is over east," said the young Misty.

"Is that right, Pikachu?" asked Ash.

"Pika!" it nodded.

The older Pikachu sniffed the ground a little. "Pika!" it said in its low voice and scampered east with everybody else following.

**

The young Misty had Togepi on her right shoulder, and it teleported both of them from one branch to another, and they looked down at the two Ash’s.

**

The young Ash swung across the forest, gripping twigs and branches of trees that lay neer each other in a deeper section of the woods, Pikachu holding onto his hat.

The older Ash sprinted across, shoving himself through the tall grass and cutting through the vines, following his own pikachu.

**

The older Misty jumped from treetop to treetop, holding Togechick close to her, until letting it fly rapidly out of her arms and grow to a large enough size for her to ride on. She hopped on it and guided Togechick through the air.

**

"The beach! I see it!" cried out the older Misty on Togechick.

The young Ash grabbed the last vine, which pulled loose and he swung out. As the vine reached forward, Ash was bolted quickly into the sand, head first, his pikachu on his hat and shaking its head.

The older Ash gave a last leap onto the beach, his face reddened and sweaty from running so much.

The young Misty teleported between them, looking around as the two Ash’s around her groaned.

The older Misty landed and got of Togechick as it shrunk down to its normal size.

"Looks like you two took a beating," she said, smirking a little, but she eyed the older Ash.

The young Ash spit out a mouthful of sand. "Well Pikachu can’t teleport us or fly so what do you expect?"

The young Misty helped him up. "I don’t think she was talking about you directly, ‘King of the Jungle’…"

"So then you are?"

"Of course!"

**

"Please can you forgive me?" asked the older ash to the older Misty (older, younger, older, younger, older, older, younger, older, younger… bare with us, people!).

"Ash…" she said quietly as they walked along the coast.

"Really, I didn’t know you didn’t get your shirt on! How was I supposed to know? Half your torso was under the bed!" he continued.

"Ash…" she said again.

"Yes?"

"Just… just forget about it, okay? Alright, you didn’t know, fine. Chill."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you ever so much!" he cried out as if he were eleven again and leaped up in the air, Pikachu jumping up too as if it were a game.

Misty couldn’t help but smile a little. Ash almost felt like picking her up to hug her, but he knew she didn’t care for that.

**

The younger couple and their pokemon heard the screams, giggles, and voices from behind them as the older Ash and Misty were tumbling over each other while still trying to walk forward.

"We’re engaged, I want to get married now!" said the older Ash.

"We aren’t officially engaged and if we were, that engadgment is over since we’ll be ‘bye-bye’ when we get to that portal," replied the older Misty.

The young Misty turned around, walking backwards. "You know, we still don’t know exactly where the portal is. And it certainly isn’t on this island since last time didn’t work. Weren’t we washed up here from a different island?"

*quick flashback*

Ash cracked open his eyes. He felt damp and the cold dirt below him made a chill run down his spine as he first dug his fingers into the soil. The last thing he remembered was being hit by that giant title wave with Misty.

He propped himself up and looked around. He saw Pikachu and Togepi were already awake, but not looking to swell.

"Pikachu, Togepi, are you okay?" he asked Pikachu.

"Pi," Pikachu slowly nodded.

"Toke," Togepi nodded as well.

"Where’s Misty?"

"Pika," Pikachu pointed to her, still unconscious.

Her ponytail was wet and drooped over across the soil and she coughed out a little bit of water. The expression on her face made it look like she was about to pass away.

‘Misty! Don’t die out on me… literally,’ Ash thought to himself and darted over to her.

"Misty! Misty, wake up!" he pulled her upwards so that she sat up over his arms, hoping that would help the water in her throat go the right way.

*end quick flashback*

"Yeah, I remember that!" said the young Ash.

"I think I do, but I don’t remember," said the older Ash.

"Just where is the other island, then?" asked the older Misty.

"Now that’s a problem…" said the young Misty.

"Maybe we should try swimming around…"

"Or we could build a raft…"

"Or we can climb a mountain and look to see any nearby lands."

"Or we could just get hit by a tidal wave again."

"Maybe if we took Togechick?"

"It seems tired…"

"It can last."

"Okay then."

The two Misty’s looked at the two boys, who, by that time, were practically asleep.

The Ash’s could see the Misty’s with quite angry looks on their faces, and so they immidiately sprang up.

"We’re awake! Wide awake!" said the older Ash.

"Yup! No need to beet us to a pulp. Let’s ride Togechick now!"

"Toke! Chiiiiiiiikku!" squeaked Togechick.

"Okay, Togechick. We need you to let us fly you again, okay?"

"Tokie! Chiiiiiiikku!" it replied and started to grow.

The four and their remaining pokemon climbed on.

**

The top view shone down the island they just left, and they could see a thin strip of palm trees nearby.

"That might be it!" shouted the young Misty.

The older Misty guided Togechick slightly to the east, flying quickly in the sky.

"Hey, I was thinking of Jim and Janelle…" said the older Ash. "They seem so familiar… they look so familiar as well."

"You know what I think?" said the young Misty.

"What?"

"I think Linda is awefully familiar too. And did you ever notice how Ella’s voice sounds familiar as well?"

"I kind of noticed that too," said the young Ash.

"Well," said the young Misty, "over all of it, did you ever notice how the names are familiar as well?"

"Jim, Janelle, Ella, Linda… I don’t see what’s so familiar of them," said the older Ash. "Jim… let’s see. Jim… and Janelle… well, I know that Jim comes from James, and that name sounds familiar."

The young Ash and Misty looked at each other and nodded. "Team Rocket!"

The older Misty looked like her eyes were going to pop out and she turned around. "WHAT?! WHERE?! HOW THE HELL DID THEY EVER GET HERE?!"

"Jim and Janelle!" said the young Misty. "Jim is for James and Janelle is for Jessie!"

"Well how did they get here?"

"I don’t know!"

They looked at the older Ash, who had his hand to his chin. "I have an unusually strange sense that something pointy is in my pocket…" he said.

They all lifed an eyebrow.

"Then see what’s in your pocket," said the older Misty.

Ash pulled out eight gym badges. The badges had been poking his hip. When he looked down at each one he then realized something.

"Ella… Ellina? No. Ellena… Ethall… E… Er… Eric? Erica? Erika! Ella! She’s Erika!"

"You mean the gym leader, Erika?" asked the young Ash. "That same Erika from Celedon City? That same Erika who gave me the rainbow badge?"

"But how did she get here?" asked the older Misty.

They ignored her. The young Misty looked at her togepi.

"When I was talking to Linda, she said how the sun seemed like an old friend. Where have I heard that before?"

"‘The sun seems like an old friend?’ Umm…" the young Ash said. "That doesn’t seem normal."

"Have we ever met anybdoy abnormal?"

"Sure, a lot of people!"

Misty whacked him. "Not in that sense, buddy."

"Well, what does the name ‘Linda’ sound like?"

"Lily? Hmm… she’s not my sister. Lila. Lilian. Lina…"

"Li… Li…" Ash mumbled along with Misty.

"Try changing that ‘L’," said the older Ash.

"Cinda… Cindy? No. Linda… Minda, Sinda, Binda, Vinda, Pinda…" suggested the young Ash.

"Hey, you got something there," said the young Misty. "Pinda… Pinda… Pim… Pam.. no, Pim… something with those three letters. I just know I’m close! Pim… Peem, maybe, though. Preem… Preema? Prima! I say that Linda sounds and acts like Prima of the Elite Four!"

"You mean that lady who trains ice and water pokemon at the Indago League?"

"Yeah!"

"But how did they get here?" asked the older Misty, but they didn’t pay attention.

"That Alexander Jerninghang seemed kind of familiar too," said the young Ash.

"Well now, it is kind of obvious now that I think of it…"

"Who could he be?"

"Who his initials spell out. A.J. Ash, you battled him years ago."

"Yeah, with that whip, and the accent… it must be!"

"But how the hell did they all get here?!" screamed the older Misty, trying to guide Togechick at the same time.

By this time they were starting to land on the island’s beach.

"Maybe…" said the older Ash as they slid off Togechick. "…Maybe they fell through a portal too?"

"They could have been looking for us, you know. We were most likely identified as ‘missing’ after we first fell through the portal. Ash, reporters were swarming all around us! You’d think that maybe there could be a spread that a pokemon master just disappeared!" exclaimed the young Misty.

"They did all know us, and maybe that portal was left open for people to get a little curious about," added her older self.

They walked along the beach of the new island. Palm trees were at the edge and it eventually grew into pine.

"This place really does seem familiar," said the older Misty. "But, anyway… we really have GOT to find that portal."

"Yeah? And just where is it? I haven’t seen these palm trees for years," said the young Misty.

All of a sudden they heard a yelp and a cry of "Oh my god!" The two girls turned around and saw the backs of the two Ash’s along with both Pikachu’s.

"What? What is it?" they asked and ran up to them.

At first, the four weren’t sure if they saw what they thought they saw, but at this point of age, they were ready to believe anything.

A young boy wearing an ivory-colored blouse under a brown vest, and matching pants that ended right below his kneese was in front of them. There were two horns on his head and he was fluttering in the air with moth wings. He was a fairy.

"What’s wrong with all of you people? You weren’t here to see the queen were you?" he asked with a distinct English accent.

They were speechless.

"What’s wrong with you? Cat got your tongue? Were you sent here or not?"

"No," said the older Misty. "We… we just happened to be here."

The fairy’s wings stuttered a little and he pulled out a small dagger and pointed it at them. "This island is forbidden, you know! Nobody can be here without permission of the queen!"

The young Ash put his hands on his hips. "Well sorry! Should we all step into the water or levetate an inch of the ground so we aren’t stepping on your queen’s stupid royal sand? We’ve landed on this beach, been hit by a tidal wave the same day, got swept into another island that gets litterally fatal during a full moon, then we need to fight our heads off against people we never even wanted to meet in the first place, then we need to get through a portal back to our home. And just how are we treated after all that torture? ‘This island is forbidden!’ ‘Nobody can be here without permission of the queen!’ Leftover plates of dinner! Is that what we are? We get chewed up and spit out, only to be chewed up again? I don’t care about your stupid queen; all I care about is spending a moment of my life in a place where I actually want to be!"

By now the fairy had a look of outrage. His wings were thinned and flapped quicker.

"Y-y-you want your damn portal?! There! Over there!" he pointed at a ranbow hole in the sky. "Get off this island and never come back! This island is…"

"Peter Roaban!" a voice called out from behind him.

The fairy turned around and immediately bowed down low. "Your majesty…"

"Don’t you ‘your majesty’ me, Roaban!" a fairy with a yellow flower in her hair, and another yellow cloth worn around her. She had butterfly wings, and thus, was another fairy. "You’re nothing but a shrewish waterfly that still lives when Tiln’re ruled! If you make one more comment to a visitor like that I’ll lynch you!"

"Y-yes your majesty… I’m terribley sorry," he said, cowering as he flew off into the forest, rustling a few shrubs.

The fairy got out of her stern look and smiled at the four. "I’m sorry, Peter is always living in the past. This island is not ‘forbidden’ in any way. Are you four lost?"

They all shook their heads. "No."

"But we have been looking for a portal that leads back to our home. Is that really it?" asked the young Misty, pointing up at the hole in the sky that swirled with blues, greens, yellows, reds, and oranges.

The fairy looked up at it. "I’ve seen that portal before. About thirty-five years ago when two little girls landed here. They said they came back from… from…"

"Viridian City?" suggested the young Ash eigerly.

"Yes! That’s it! Viridian City! It leads there!"

"But how will we get all the way up there?" wondered the young Misty.

"You only have to stand under it. But it’ll shoot you up really fast so you have to wach out," said the fairy. "Food before you leave?"

"Ahh… no, that’s quite allright, miss… miss…?" said the older Ash.

"Suune. I take place of Queen Tiln’re," she said. "Visitors are always welcome here. Are you sure you don’t want anything?"

"No, it’s.. it’s really not necessary!" they all said with sweatdrops and backed away.

Suune gave a depressed look she would have given if she were seven. "Well, just a reminder that when you land back, the time is always random. You could land in the future, the past, anywhere."

The four gave a worried look. They couldn’t go if they had a possibility of landing in the future. People would rather call Ash and Misty the grandchildren of somebody.

Suune was already gone before they had a chance to ask her if there was a way to make sure they’d actually land in the past.

The young Ash made a determined frown. "We’ll just have to take a chance!"

They could see the ray of light that shone down from the portal more clearly as they got closer, and it seemed such a short time until they got there.

The two younger kids stepped forward, wondering if they really had to leave their older selves to just disappear off the face of all existence. Misty turned around in front of the beam of light, as well as Ash. Misty took in a deep breath to say something, but Ash jumped out.

"No, I… I can’t… I don’t want you to…" he said.

"Ohhh, no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no…" said the older Misty and walked up to him, putting her hands on his shoulders. "Now, I know you just can’t bare to see us go away, but we’re not different people that you’ll never see again. We’re you and you’ll see us once you get older. That beautiful girl standing behind you will come to grow up like me." She paused for a moment and looked at both of them. She sighed. "To think that it took me up until now to realize you two aren’t only 11 years old anymore…" she turned back to Ash. "You’ve matured Ash, you must have grown up a little from when you were eleven. Please go in the portal. You can wait a few years, I know it, and you’ll see the people standing before you."

She kissed him on the forehead and walked back.

"Come on, Ash," said the young Misty.

Ash nodded a little and walked up next to Misty, holding her hand tightly.

"Oh, and by the way," said the younger Ash.

The older Misty looked at him. Ash’s head twisted back and his eyes looked dead and colorless.

Misty gasped. "Goodbye," he said in a strange voice.

"What happened to…" she couldn’t finish her sentence.

The young Misty looked at her and blinked, and when she opened her eyes her eyes looked just as dead. She looked at the older Ash as he was the same.

"I might as well take off my clothes and wake up from this dream!"

The young Ash walked backwards, his head still in the awkward position. "Maybe you will."

"What?"

**

Misty shot up straight from her bead. Sweat covered over her body and her pajamas stuck to her. She breathed heavily, gasping for air and her eyes were vertically thinned.

Misty looked around her. What… happened?

She was back in the lent room before Ash would compete in the pokemon league competitions. The moonlight shone through the window, making four light squares on the floor. Togepi was curled up inside of its own egg, and Pikachu was sleeping by Ash’s feet on the other bunk. Brock was up in the bunk above her and Ash was lying across from her. It was just how it was when she went to sleep…

But what had she just forgotten? She could have sworn she had a dream but now it seemed so vague. She looked at the clock and it was 3:00 in the morning. Misty scooted into her covers a little and closed her eyes.

That dream… yes. It seemed so long but it was really so short. Her dreams jumped around like so many others. But what caused her to get that dream and… and what the conflict she and Ash had…

Misty’s eyes were still shot open at realizing this and a vein grew at the side. She blinked slowly and it faded. She stared at the crack between the door and the floor and the yellowish light shone through a little.

Misty got out of the covers, burying her face in her hands while letting the cooler air hit her body to cool off from her sweat.

"Ash…" she said softly. "You even seem to haunt my dreams…"

She looked up at him, sleeping soundly, looking as cute as he could. She slowly walked over to him and carefully folded back his covers. While trying not to wake him up, she reached into his own pocket, pulling out, as she had expected, his blue journal. She leaned against the side of his bed and flipped open the journal and shuffled through the pages until they were blanks. She then turned back to the last small page with writing on it.

She saw the picture he had taped in. It was in there, the journal entry and all the entries before it that stood as proof. He loved her…

Misty shut close the tiny journal and slipped it back in his pocket.

Misty slowly started to unfold the blanket, hoping he wouldn’t wake up. She lay her head on his chest, which moved up and down as he breathed. His lips were slightly open and he would sometimes give a small noise from his dreams.

She wish she knew how to tell him that she loved him, and she was even more anxious because she knew he loved her back. How had she done this in her dream? She couldn’t remember, but she had no time to think about that, because it was then that she noticed Ash’s eyes wide open and gazing at her, sometimes switching to her hand on his chest.

"Misty?" he said, more as an astonished statement than a question.

For a moment, she felt like they were both twenty like in her dream, but they weren’t. They weren’t younger, like they were in her dream. Ash was still twelve and Misty was still thirteen. Although Misty still tried to keep the dream fresh in her mind and not let it ware off.

They both stayed in the same position. Misty’s hand was still on Ash’s chest, and she didn’t want to take it off.

"What… are you… doing?" Ash mumbled out.

Misty’s hand moved up to his face and she leaned forward.

"Re-living a dream," she replied.

-end ^_^

Alexandria: Well, now you’ve gotten to the end of the fanfic.

Crystal Dragon: Emails may be flames, compliments, suggestion, or anything else, so don’t be shy or anything like that!

Alexandria: (whispers) Don’t email C.D… she’s…!!!!

Crystal Dragon: (covering Alex’s mouth) Alex, don’t you dare say it, it’s not true.