Chapter 2

It was now around 6:00 p.m., and our three heroes had decided to set up camp in a
clearing by a lake.

Brock was cooking dinner, Brock’s hearty mystery stew, and Misty was getting out the
bowls from Brock’s backpack while Togepi danced around her gleefully.  

And where was Ash you say? Why he was sitting by the lake with Pikachu. Sitting by the
lake and deep in thought. Frantic thought.

Pikachu stared at his trainer worriedly.

“I don’t understand it. I mean, it’s not possible.”

“Pikaaaa....”

Ash’s face was red all over as he thought about the events of the day. Ever since they left
the unveiling of that evil(evil in Ash’s mind at least) invention Ash had made it a mission
to stay as far away from his companion Misty as he could. He didn’t want to talk about
what happen, or what he saw.

‘What everybody saw,’ Ash thought.

It was humiliating, and ridiculous.

“Why would I say that to Misty? Why would I d-do that to Misty?” Ash spoke to himself
as Pikachu tried to figure out what his trainer was talking about.

Ash shook his head in stubbornness.

“I wouldn’t do any of that stuff. It had to be a mistake. The machine must have mistaken
me for somebody else.” Ash nodded in agreement with himself.

‘Yeah, that’s it. It was somebody else. Somebody else who lives in the same house as you
and has your name.....Damn.’

Ash knew it was him. There was no use denying it. And he knew that girl he proclaimed
his love to was Misty. His best friend Misty. The girl who is helping get dinner ready
right now.

“Why did she have to be there?” Ash asked himself dejectedly.

It was bad enough to Ash that he had already admitted to himself that he had a “liking”
for Misty, but now everybody knew about it.

“Stupid machine.”

For some reason Ash didn’t realize that Misty had reciprocated the feelings in his little
flash-forward. Or if he did he was too embarrassed to admit that he had a girlfriend, and
her name was Misty. What he was really worried about was what this meant now. Was he
expected to say something to her about it? Should he ask her out?

‘No, I’m too young for that.’

Does this mean they are boyfriend and girlfriend now?

“Oh God! Do I have to kiss her?!!!”

“Pika?!” Pikachu stared in confusion at his trainer’s outburst.

“I can’t handle this, Pikachu! This is too much for a 13 year old to deal with! I’m too
young for a relationship! What do you think I should do, Pikachu?” Ash asked the furry
rodent desperately.

“Pikachu, cha?” Pikachu was officially puzzled.

“You’re right! I’ll just act like nothing happened! Nothing has changed. You are a genius,
Pikachu!” Ash declared as he picked up his poke-pal and headed towards camp.

“Pika?”

However, Ash knew that this probably wouldn’t work. Sure playing dumb has seemed to
have worked for the bike thing, but this event was too recent. Of course, there was
something else on Ash’s mind. Brock and Misty have been acting....well, he wouldn’t say
weird but.....too normal. In fact, they have been acting like nothing happened at all. It was
very strange. Ash thought that perhaps Misty was just as embarrassed as he was about the
whole thing. That would explain her lack of discussion about the subject, but Brock? Ash
expected Brock to be talking their ears off about what he saw in his future. But he hadn’t
uttered a word about it. No bragging, no nothing. It was very strange indeed.

‘Hey, if they aren’t going to talk about it I’m sure not going to be the one to bring it up,’
Ash  decided as he entered the campsite.

“There you are, Ash! Just in time for dinner.”

“As usual. God forbid he miss a meal!” Misty added sarcastically.

Ash didn’t respond. Actually he didn’t even look Misty in the eye. He just grabbed a
bowl and waited for Brock to ladle the stew in.

Brock and Misty stared at Ash in shock.

“What’s with you?” Brock asked as he began to pour the stew in Ash’s bowl.

“What’s with me?” Ash repeated.

“No comeback? No arguing? Not in even a snide remark or insult? You just let it go?”
Brock asked in surprise about Ash’s lack of reaction.

“Yeah, it’s totally unlike you. Is something wrong? I mean, you have been acting a little
weird ever since we left Johto stadium,” Misty pointed out her observation.

Ash began to look nervous as his too companions questioned him.

‘Oh no! Here it comes! They are going to want to talk about what happened! I knew it!’

“I mean, I’m not complaining. I really don’t feel like breaking up a fight just before
dinner, but you have to admit that it isn’t normal behavior for you. Is there something
wrong?” Brock asked in a concerned tone.

‘Stick to the plan! Act dumb! Act dumb!’

“No! I mean, no. Nothing is wrong. What would be wrong? Everything is great! A-okay!
Just dandy! Really!!!!!” Ash reassured with a huge grin while his fingers made a v-for-
victory sign. He quickly took the stew filled bowl, sat down and began to devour the
contents in huge gulps.

Brock and Misty stared at each other as Misty shrugged in mystification.

Brock then turned away from Misty so he could put down some food for Pikachu, who
was pulling at his pant leg.

Pikachu had just begun to eat when Ash jumped up suddenly, surprising everyone, and
declared...

“WellI’mdone.Thatwasgreat,Brock,butI’mreallytiredsoithinkI’mgoingtogotobed.
Goodnight!” and with that garbled out, Ash quickly got into his sleeping bag and turned
in for the evening.

“B-but it’s not even 6:30 yet!” Brock pointed out, but Ash didn’t respond. Apparently he
was already asleep......Apparently.

Once again, clueless stares all around.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The next morning Ash woke up before everybody. But then again that was
understandable considering he had slept over 12 hours. Actually it was less than that
because he really didn’t get to sleep at the time he turned in. He had a lot on his mind and
he needed the quiet time to think things over. Now he was at the lake again, still thinking
while Brock and Misty had just begun to awake.

Misty shifted in her pink sleeping bag as Brock yawned loudly, reaching for his watch.

“What time is it?” Misty asked half asleep as she began to sit up lazily.

“8:30,” Brock answered.

Misty turned to look at Ash, but all she found was an empty spot with Pikachu using
Ash’s backpack as a pillow.

“I guess he’s up,” Brock determined.

“Yup,” Misty agreed.

They sat in silence for a minute until Misty began to speak up again.

“He really has been acting weird lately, hasn’t he Brock?”

“Yeah, ever since yesterday.”

“What do you think is wrong with him?”

“Got me.”

“Maybe it was the explosion! Yeah, maybe it affected his brain!”

“Misty...” Brock chuckled, “I don’t think his brain can get anymore damaged then what it
already is. It’s probably just hormones. He is going through puberty now, and he’s bound
to start acting a little strange. I know I did when I was his age.”

“Did?” Misty asked with a raised eyebrow and a cheeky grin on her face as Brock
pretended to throw his backpack at her.

Misty shielded herself with her hands, and then when she noticed that she was in no
danger of getting hit, stuck out her tongue in disobedience.

At this point Ash reentered the area.

“Hey Ash! We were just talking about you!” Brock said as he noticed the very dazed Ash
appear.

“Yeah! Where were you?” Misty inquired.

“Um, just by the lake.”

“Well good, because you can go back that way and get me some fresh firewood. I’m
planning on making us some bacon and scrambled eggs, and I can’t do it with what’s left
here.” Brock pointed to the ashes left from fire of the night before.

“Sure, okay,” Ash said , sounding a little more excited at the mention of a delicious
breakfast.

“And take Misty with you, I don’t want you to get lost again.”

Ash’s eyes widened in horror.

“I didn’t get lost, I was just thinking!”

“Well I’m not going to be sitting here starving while you’re off thinking either. If Misty
is with you I know you’ll be back quickly.”

Misty watched in silence as Ash went to protest.

“B-but...”

“No buts Ash, take Misty with you or else I’ll just whip up some of my famous cold bean
breakfast.” Brock threatened as Misty and Ash looked on in fright.
Misty was not going to stand for that as she grabbed Ash’s wrist and headed toward the
lake.

“No, that’s okay, Brock. We’ll be back in no time. Come on, Ash!”

“B-but Misty!!!!!”

Brock watched as Misty dragged away a very red Ash.

Brock shook his head in hopelessness as Pikachu began to awaken.

“Pika?”

“It was nothing, Pikachu, just the usual. Want to help me make breakfast?”

“Pika!”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Misty had now let go of Ash’s wrist, to Ash’s relief, and they were both walking past the
lake and heading toward the woods.

Misty was at least 15 feet in front of Ash as Ash lagged behind and stared at the ground.

Ash was just waiting for it. Any minute now he was sure she was going to...

“Ash?”

‘I knew it.’

“Yeah?” Ash asked back in a breathless whisper.

‘Here it comes.’

“You didn’t see any bugs around here did you?” Misty asked nervously as she looked
around.

Ash fell over anime style.

“What?!” Ash said as he got up.

“I heard that near this forest are a lot of bug Pokemon, and I just want to make sure,
that’s all.”

“Oh....well no, I didn’t see any bug Pokemon.”

Misty sighed in relief.

“Good. Hey! There’s a bunch of dried up sticks and branches over there!” Misty yelled as
she took off into the forest.

“Hey! Wait up!” Ash ran after her.

Misty reached the area and began to pick up some branches. She then handed them to

Ash who had caught up with her.

Ash just looked at her as he fidgeted uncomfortably.

‘Why hasn’t she said anything? We’ve been alone for 10 minutes now and she still hasn’t
even mentioned a word about what happened......Good! I don’t want her to! I don’t want
to talk about it! I won’t talk about it!..............Why hasn’t she mentioned it yet?! A whole
day has almost gone by since then!’

Misty handed the last dry branch to Ash when she noticed a very disturbed expression on
his face.

“Ash? Are you okay?”

“Huh?! Um....yeah! I’m fine! Why? Is something wrong with you? Is there something
you want to talk about?” Ash asked hopefully.

“No,  I’m just worried about you, that’s all. You look.....weird. Kinda paranoid, actually.”

“Heh.” Ash blushed furiously and then quickly looked away.

Misty decided to dismiss it. But that was mostly because she was really hungry and
wanted to get back as soon as possible.

They wandered a little further before they decided to head back to camp, They had plenty
of wood now. On the way back Ash continued to nervously stare at the ground. The
anticipation of when the subject would finally come up was killing him.

Misty then stopped suddenly in front of the lake, Ash almost crashing into her.

“Oh, how beautiful!”

Ash turned to look at what had caught Misty’s eye. There was a lovely rainbow that
radiated over the entire distance of the lake. It really was quite a site.

Ash watched as Misty was captivated by the rainbow. A good two-three minutes had
passed in silence as Misty watched the rainbow, and Ash watched Misty in fascination
and awe.

However, when Misty finally decided to look away she caught Ash staring at her with a
goofy, Brock-like grin on his face. Ash finally took notice of Misty noticing him and he
again blushed and looked at the ground.

Misty was a little shocked and pleasantly surprised as she also began to blush a little.

‘Hmmm, maybe Brock was right and his hormones have begun to kick in.’

Ash looked back up at Misty who was now smiling sweetly at him.

.......Something snapped.

“Are you playing around with me?!”

“Huh?!” Misty stopped blushing as Ash began to look at her angrily.

“Why haven’t you mentioned it yet?! I hope you don’t expect me to start talking about it!
If you think I was going to mention it first......well, I’m not! So you better say something
because this isn’t funny anymore. We both know what happened and-and we have to....I
don’t know what we have to do! I want to know what happens now! What .....”

Misty remained wide-eyed as Ash’s outburst tapered off.

“Uh....what are you talking about?” Misty asked genuinely confused, and a little scared.

‘Why is she playing dumb with me? Maybe she really doesn’t like me. Not yet, anyway.
Maybe, maybe she likes someone else now, and we don’t get together until a few years
from now....Which is good! Yeah! It’s good because I don’t like her now
either!.....Much....Well, I know I don’t love her yet!. Not like that anyway. She is still
looking at you. Say something.’

“Um..” *sigh* “...okay look. I know it’s going to drive me crazy if we don’t talk about it
now, and maybe you are okay with not talking about it, but I’m not. I thought I would be,
but I’m not. So, please can we talk about yesterday?”

“.....What about yesterday?”

Ash looked on in exasperation. “What about yesterday?! You know exactly what about
yesterday! Us, in my house...”

Misty just stared at Ash waiting to see where he was going with this.

“Fine! You want me to say it?! I will! I want to talk about us kissing yesterday!”

Misty couldn’t comprehend the words that just came out of Ash’s mouth. She blinked in
surprise and tried to mouth her response.

“Wha-wha-what?!!! I didn’t kiss you! I never kissed you! Are you crazy, Ash? Was I
correct when I said that the explosion affected your brain?” Misty was now also blushing
furiously, but it was hard to tell if it was out of outrage or embarrassment.

“What explosion? And no I am not crazy! I know what I saw! You and me kissing! In my
house! I saw it on the “Future Sight” machine, and so did you and everybody else. So
stop playing dumb!”

“The Future Sight machine? But that didn’t work! Prof. Oak said it malfunctioned and
exploded before anybody got a chance to use it!”

“No it didn’t! I used it, Brock used it, Duplica used-“

“Ash, we were all knocked out and when we woke up that is what Prof. Oak told us. Are
you calling Prof. Oak a liar?”

“No!”

“Ash, you were knocked out just like the rest of us, how can you-.....Oooooooh,” Misty
said knowingly as she grinned to herself.”

“What?”

“Maybe you did see us kissing,” Misty admitted, still grinning wildly.

“Of course I saw us kissing!” Ash said confidently, happy that he was finally getting
somewhere with Misty.

“Yeah, when you were knocked unconscious you dreamed about kissing me!” Misty  
announced triumphantly.

“What?! No!!!!! It wasn’t a dream, we were ten year older than we are now and I said I
love you, you said you love me, and then we kissed!”

Misty stared on in gleeful shock. “You-you love me too?! Oh Ash!!!”

“No!!! I don’t love you, I mean, I do, but not yet! I-you...” Ash looked like he was about
to cry.

Misty giggled happily.

“I can’t believe you have these kind of dreams about me, it’s so cute!” Misty teased.

“I have to tell Brock!” and with this Misty sped off in the direction of the campsite,
leaving a horrified and utterly embarrassed looking Ash behind holding the firewood.

“But.....it did happen. I know it did,” Ash said pathetically.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Back at Johto stadium.....

“Hmmm, I just realized that I never tried this out for myself,” Prof. Oak said as he
examined the “Future Sight” machine.

“...And I might not get another chance like this again. But then I won’t be any better then
Prof. Elm.” Prof. Oak only had to ponder this for a few minutes before he made his
decision.

“Ah, I’m already pretty old so what could it hurt?”

With that said he turned on the machine and began the process.

The red light focused on his eye and a image began to appear on the large screen.

“Oh yes, that’s the spot.”

A huge mansion, filled with Pokemon artifacts came into view. A hardly aged Prof. Oak
was seated in a big, comfy chair. In fact, Prof. Oak actually looked younger then he does
now!

“How does that feel, Sammy?” Delia said as she massaged his shoulders, while
whispering seductively into his ear.

“Incredible darling. Keep it up. Oh Cindy! Do bring us another bottle of champagne,”

“Yes sir!” said a scantily clad girl as she bounced(yes, bounced) off to get it.

The present day Prof. Oak was now completely red, as he quickly shut off the machine in
shock.

He sat in thought for a minute.

“Huh.”

To be continued.......


A/N: The next chapter will end this story. That’s when we will find out the truth about
the “Future Sight” Machine, and more teasing about Ash’s “future”.  Okay, now is the
time for reviewing, if you like this story. Pretty please! It really means a lot! Honest! ^^