Chapter 3 Ash was taking a nap in the guest room of the Cerulean Gym when he was woken by a rather loud giggling and talking coming from down the hall. Ash was curious as to what all the commotion was about and decided to find out. He was just about to ask Pikachu if he wanted to come when he noticed that the electric rodent was still in a deep sleep. 'Well the only thing that will wake pikachu is the smell of ketchup or the sound of Misty's mallet' Ash thought. Since Ash didn't have either he decided to let Pikachu sleep. Ash put on his shoes and walked out of the room slamming the door behind him by accident. This caused a small clock to fall off the wall and land on Pikachu. Pikachu immediately started to stir from the uncomfortable new weight but in a second it was gone, fried to a crisp, courtesy of pikachus thunder bolt attack. After the weight was removed he continued to snore loudly as he rolled over allowing the ashes of the clock to fall to the floor.(Good thing Ash didn't try to wake him huh?) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ash was observing how big the Cerulean gym really was and how even the slightest sound created an echo.Ash walked down the hall towards the noise thinking 'Maybe there's a battle going on. I hope that’s what it is. It's been a while since I've seen a pokemon battle with out actually being in it myself. If there is a battle going on maybe I can challenge the winner.' Ash thought excitedly. ( typical Ash) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile in the kitchen Misty and her sisters were trying to rewrite the script to fit all the things Misty wanted to add. "Look Misty I know you really love Ash and everything but I don't think people will believe that" Lilly reading from what Misty wrote in the script " even though you never met Jake, he just shows up at your house and you two immediately start making out" Lilly said to Misty in a voice of aggravation after another one of Misty's ludicrous suggestions. " Ssshh, keep your voice down someone might here you" Misty said embarrassed at the thought. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ash had just passed the Gyms battling area and discovered that there was no battle going on and was now a little depressed as he walked on toward the kitchen where he realized the noise was actually coming from. "Okay we all agree that there will be three of them but they will all be really passionate because there really is no place else to fit them into the story" Daisy said in a questioning tone of voice. " Yes three great kiss scenes" Violet said triumphantly. Ash having heard the end of this conversation had turned bright red "KISS SCENES" he mouthed to himself not being able to get the words out. "But..." Misty about to argue for one more kissing scene when she was interrupted by Ash storming in through the kitchen door with his face bright red. "You tell them Misty, you tell them that there won't be any kissing scenes whatsoever!" Ash said in a exasperated tone while starring at Misty waiting for her to object to the suggestion of them kissing each other. Misty wasn't expecting to see Ash. She turned bright red herself and began to stare down at the table thinking' Jeez, where did he come from, I thought he was sleeping. Now what am I suppose to do. If I agree with my sisters and say to keep the kissing scenes in he will find out I love him, but if I agree with him then my sisters will be forced to take the kissing scenes out. What do I do?’ Misty looked up at her sisters in need of help and they obviously got why she hadn't said anything and came to the rescue. " I'm sorry Ash but Misty already tried to argue with us about the kissing scenes and we decided that they were too important to the play and must remain in," Daisy said. "Yeah and our word is final because this is our play," Lilly stated. " Yeah so you and Misty better get used to the idea of kissing each other," Violet added while giving a wink to Misty. Misty was relieved that she didn't have to deal with that and also relieved that the wink went unnoticed by Ash. Ash looked like he was going to explode, he didn't want to kiss Misty, 'At least not in front of all those people ' Ash thought. 'No I don't want to kiss Misty at all, kissing is disgusting, especially kissing Misty.' Now that he felt his thought were back in order he decided to give one last plea. "But if neither of us really wants to kiss wont it look kind of forced and fake, I mean that could ruin your play and then the gym would get a bad rep. and know one will come see your shows anymore and the gym will go bankrupt and you will lose your home and you will have to live on the streets begging people for money until your old and..."Ash looked at the Cerulean sisters as they all had a look of confusion on their face followed by disgust and annoyance. Ash decided to stop after realizing he was fighting a losing battle. "Here" Daisy said as she handed Ash a copy of the script" Learn your lines," she finished as she left the kitchen. "Oh and rehearsal starts bright and early tomorrow morning," Lilly said as she followed her sister out of the kitchen. "Sweet dreams lover boy," Violet playfully gave Ash a wink as she also exited the kitchen leaving Ash staring at Misty. Misty gave a shrug as her response and also decided to leave the room but with a big smile on her face as she thought about tomorrow. Ash dejectedly sat down in a chair as he noticed Pikachu walk in and jump on the table. "Hey, how long have you been up?" Ash asked Pikachu. Pikachu couldn't sleep well after that clock had disturbed him and decided to go see where Ash had gone, following the noise as Ash had done earlier. "Pika, pi pikachu" Pikachu said as it handed Ash something. "Chapstick?!" Ash asked in surprise as Pikachu started puckering his lips and making kissing noises at Ash. Ash threw the chapstick on the table in annoyance and lay his head down as he started to sulk. Pikachu was in hysterics. At this moment Gary walked in. "Hey Ketchum,"Gary greeted as he noticed the chapstick and picked it up "Oh good chapstick, I just came from outside and the wind really made my lips dry, do you mind?" "Shut up Gary!" Ash hissed as he started to now bang his head against the table in frustration. " Hey what did I do?" Gary asked, confused. "Pika Pika" Pikachu had fallen off the table from all his laughter and rolling around but it didn't stop him as he continued to giggle at his masters actions while Gary was wondering what he missed while he was gone. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next morning Misty was in a great mood, she had slept surprisingly well and had had incredible dreams( wonder what she was dreaming of ! ^_~)She went over her lines in her head, which she had memorized the night before, while she whistled her way into the battling area of the gym. When she got there she was surprised to see Ash, Gary and her sisters all ready rehearsing the play. Gary as David "Listen Jake if you even come within 50 feet of my beloved sister I am not responsible for what will happen," Gary said in a dangerous voice. Ash as Jake "Please, what will you do, sick your guards on me? You're so pathetic, I can out fight them all and defeat you with one hand tied behind my back if I had to," Ash said with a superior attitude, much like the one Gary usually uses. Gary as David " Is that so? Well why don't we see who can defeat who right now?" "And right here you would draw your sword and arrange yourself in a fighting position like this," Daisy showed him what she means by standing with her feet apart and her arm that would hold the sword outstretched. Gary followed her example and they were about to continue when "Misty your up, great, come join us," Violet shouted at Misty from the other side of the gym. Misty was amazed to see that they had begun rehearsal so early considering it was 8:10 in the morning, what was even more surprising was that Ash was awake too and actually looked happy to see her. She walked towards them. "Hey Misty," Ash said as he ran up to her smiling Misty's heart skipped a beat 'I can't believe how happy he is, maybe he wants to kiss me just as much as I want to kiss him after all' she thought as she also began to smile. "Misty guess what, I talked to your sisters and they agreed that we don't have to kiss during rehearsals. We can just pretend we're kissing. Of course we have to kiss during the actually play but that will only be three times compared to before where we would have had to do it over and over again. Isn't that great?" Ash asked excitedly. "............." "Misty, I said isn't that great?" Ash repeated himself. "........Yeah......I guess so....." Misty finally answered back in a sad tone of voice after hearing this news. "Come on Ketchum we have to finish rehearsing the scene," Gary called to Ash. "Coming,” Ash answered while leaving Misty's side to continue rehearsing. Misty slowly walked over to her sisters where they were watching the boys rehearse. "What happened, why did you guys do that for? I thought we agreed that if we kiss then he will admit his feelings for me," Misty whispered to her sisters not knowing what to think anymore. "Misty, we're sorry, but don't worry, you guys still get to kiss you'll just have to wait till Saturday to do it," Daisy said trying to stop Misty's worry. "Yeah but I thought the rehearsing was the most important part of the plan because you said during a play we might get nervous and the kiss won't seem as special as it would when we are alone rehearsing together," Misty did not understand her sister's sudden change of mind. "Look Misty, Ash kept bugging us last night after Gary came back. He was pleading with us because he did not want to do the kiss scenes. He kept saying how he didn't want to kiss you because it would be uncomfortable and weird. We kept telling him no until it was after midnight and he said he was tired and that he'd talk with us in the morning," Lilly explained. "We thought he had given up but he came knocking on my bedroom door at six o'clock in the morning starting the whole argument all over again about how he really doesn't want to do those scenes," Violet continued. " He said he was going to quit if we don't change our minds and we couldn't let him do that. Because one, where were we going to find another villain at such short notice and two, if he quit then you wouldn't be able to kiss him at all. But we eventually came to a compromise, he doesn't have to kiss you in the rehearsals but he does have to on Saturday when we perform the play for the audience," Daisy concluded. "Great!" Misty said getting a little angry. While this was going on Gary was watching Misty's reaction to the change in some "plan". He couldn't really here what was going on because Ash was rehearsing his lines to loudly even though Ash was doing it on purpose because Gary wasn't paying attention to the rehearsing they were suppose to be doing. "I said, I am in love with her and I don't think breaking every bone in her brother's body is a way of getting on her good side," Ash said in a really loud voice hurting Pikachu's ears enough for him to cover them with his paws. Gary got the message and continued to rehearse but still kept most of his attention on Misty and her sisters. " All right Misty we realize you are upset but you really should be happy because he didn't want to kiss you at all and we managed to keep him in the play while convincing him that the play wouldn't do well and people wouldn't like it if those scenes weren't in there," Daisy was now getting a little frustrated with Misty's attitude even after all they have tried to do for her but she quickly realized that was the wrong thing to say. "Wow, your right I should be happy that my three older sisters first forced and then tricked Ash into kissing their poor pathetic little sister," Misty said sarcastically." If he despised the idea of kissing me so much then you should have just taken the scenes out, saving him from the disgust and me from the humiliation," Misty ran out of the gym now in tears. Lilly was about to run after her when Daisy stopped her. "Leave her alone, I don't think there is anything we could say to make her feel better right now," Daisy said to her sisters. Gary finally understood what was going on and felt sympathy towards Misty's problem. He tried to think of a way he might be able to help but his thoughts were interrupted by Ash who was totally oblivious to the scene that had just gone on behind him. "It's your line Gary," Ash shouted once again finally getting Gary's attention. Gary annoyed with Ash over this whole situation was about to say something when Daisy called to them ."Okay guys you can take a break while we discuss the costumes you will be wearing." Ash sat down next to Pikachu and began to scratch him behind the ears while Pikachu chued in delight. Gary now had a plan, he new just what he was going to do to get Ash to notice what is going on between him and Misty.' He is too dense to figure it out himself so I am just going to trick him into it' Gary thought as he formulated the rest of the master plan in his head. "This is going to be fun" Gary said slyly as he looked at Ash.