Chapter 2: A Storm of Feelings and Confusion

Ash found himself feeling very awkward in his current position. He remembered that when he had fallen asleep, he and Misty had been a few feet apart from one another. But now, here he was, with the young girl sleeping on his chest. He wanted to yell out in surprise and wake her up immediately, but there was another, not-often-listened-to part of him that just wanted to lie there and enjoy the warm feeling she was giving him. Moving his eyes downward, he looked at her face. She had the peaceful look on her closed eyes that comes with sleep, but on her mouth there was a small but quite happy looking smile. Seeing her in such a pleasant state filled Ash with happiness... and he wasn't sure why. After thinking the situation over for a few minutes, Ash decided that he just couldn't leave her there forever. What'll she say when she wakes up? She'll be mad! ::gulp:: Maybe I should just gently move her... Slowly, Ash moved his hands up to Misty's back in an attempt to get her off. He felt his face heat up when his hands touched her. Very gently, he tried lifting Misty up. It was much harder than he thought it would be. Ash knew that if he made one wrong move, Misty would be awake and furious. He gulped again, and kept trying to move her off him. Before he could get very far, Ash started to feel Misty stir. He froze and looked in terror at her face, but saw that her eyes were still closed. Much to Ash's surprise, Misty let out a sigh and snuggled closer to him than she had been before, putting her forehead near his cheek. Now Ash was even more nervous, but at the same time, felt a great amount of comfort and pleasure in her actions. He wouldn't admit it to himself, but he was loving the feeling of her closeness to him. Still, he had to get her off, before she woke up. But now it would be even harder to move her. Hands still on her back, Ash shook her lightly. No response. Ash decided to go for the next option. He carefully turned his head and whispered Misty's name into her ear. She responded to his voice by smiling even further, leaning her head upward, and planting a small kiss on his cheek. Ash's face was practically glowing bright red as a shocked and confused look appeared on it. Wha?! Huh?! What was that? Did she just... Arg! This is too weird! Why would Misty wanna kiss me? Hey, that sorta rhymes. I mean... she just... and I.... kinda liked that... ew! Kissing is gross. Yeah. She must be dreaming and doesn't know it's me. Yup. Kissing is nice. I mean gross! Gross! Bleach! Why won't she get off me? If I'm too rough, I'll wake her up and she'll kill me! And she looks so happy... and peaceful, and cute... I mean gross.... Maybe I'll let her stay there for a couple more minutes.

So Ash continued to let the redhead use him for a pillow. He blushed further when he saw that his hands were still placed on her back. He was about to move them, but decided against it. Though it was awkward and "gross", Ash liked the feeling of having her in his arms. The strange feeling that had entered him when he and Misty had been shoved together by Togepi was now telling him what to do, and Ash decided to listen. He slowly and nervously moved his hands down to the area of her back that wasn't covered by her shirt. He loved the feeling of her soft warm skin under his fingers. Completely giving in to the feeling, Ash started moving his hands along her back, gently caressing her skin. She sighed and broadened the smile on her face. Ash smiled too, loving the feel of her warmth and softness. He leaned slightly so that he could nuzzle her hair, taking in her sweet scent... Wait a minute.... what am I DOING? Ash immediately stopped, inwardly smacking himself in the face to snap out of it. Not really thinking about her waking up anymore, Ash lifted her off of him as gently as he could and placed her back on her own sleeping bag. Misty started stirring again, this time her eyes opened. Ash decided to pretend that he was still asleep, and that the whole earlier incident had not occurred. She probably didn't even know about it, since she was sleeping. Eyes still closed, Ash listened to Misty awaken.

Misty stretched and yawned. Hmm.... what a nice dream that was. Ash... wonder if he's awake. She looked in Ash's direction and saw that his eyes were still shut. Guess not. Misty noticed that Ash's breathing was rather fast, not the usual even breathing that a sleeping person would have. She wondered if he was alright and decided to try and wake him up. She gently placed her hand on his shoulder. Misty thought that she felt him shudder at her touch, but didn't think too much of it. She shook him lightly, calling his name in a soft voice.

"Ash? Wake up." Ash decided that he'd better wake up or she might get impatient. He slowly opened his eyes, doing his best "I just woke up" impression. He tried to look normal, but couldn't hide the blush that still remained on his face or the nervous tone in his voice.

"Morning Misty." He gave her a hopefully convincing smile. Misty didn't look convinced.

"Ash, are you ok? Your face looks a little flushed, and your voice is kind of shaky." She asked him.

"I'm fine." He answered, almost a little too quickly. "Nothing's wrong. Everything's fine." Misty cocked an eyebrow.

"You sure?" She persisted.

"Positive." Ash confirmed.

Misty decided not to pry any further. She just shrugged and walked out of the hut, leaving Ash by himself. Ash was totally confused by what had just happened. It seemed that she didn't have any knowledge of what she had done earlier, and that was a good thing, because he definitely didn't want to explain anything to her. Ash was still having trouble understanding everything that had happened himself. He had enjoyed a feeling that for a long time he thought he would hate, with someone he thought he could never feel that way about... or could he? Ash remembered times like the Summer's end festival at Maiden's Peak. She had looked very pretty then, and he had felt very attracted to her. He'd thought the same way when she had competed in the Princess festival, and performed in her sister's underwater play. But after that, things would always go back to normal and he would bury those strange feelings away. But now they had resurfaced, and were refusing to go away this time. Maybe it was because there was so little around to distract him, or they weren't traveling around, or maybe it was because they were alone together... he decided to ignore the feelings and try to return things to normal, as he always did.

Ash emerged from the tent to find that Misty and the pokemon had already started eating the fruit they had gathered the previous day for breakfast. He joined in, gladly eating his fill. (which was more than all the others combined) After everyone had finished eating, they noticed that the food supply was dwindling, and decided to go find some more to last them through the rest of that day and the next. Ash thought that they should all go as a group, but Misty said that they'd be more efficient if they split up. Bulbasaur and Squirtle teamed up and headed off in one direction, while Ash and Misty headed in the other. Togepi had stayed up way past it's bedtime the previous night, and was currently taking a much needed nap. Pikachu stayed behind to baby-sit, assuring Pikapi and Pikachupi (that's Misty for all you who don't know) that they would both be fine.

While hunting for something to eat, Ash found it hard to make conversation with Misty. He was still feeling strange about what had happened that morning. Without being fully aware of it, he kept turning his head in her direction, stealing glances while she wasn't looking, and admiring her. Misty was wondering why Ash was being so quiet. He usually was full of energy, and always had something to say. She tried thinking of something to say to him, but couldn't come up with a great topic to get him talking again.

"It's hot, isn't it?" She finally managed to speak.

"Yeah." Was all he replied. She decided to keep trying.

"It's funny how it's so warm out now, but last night it was kind of chilly." She looked at him. "Right Ash?"

"Right." Ash answered. "But somehow, we managed to keep warm." Misty looked confused. It sounded like he was hinting at something when he said that, but she had no idea what. She shrugged it off and turned her gaze back to the path ahead. Ash took the opportunity to take another glance at her, but didn't notice the tree directly in his path.

"OW!" He cried as he walked directly into it. Misty knelt down in front of him.

"Ash, are you ok?" She asked. He looked at her caring face and again felt that feeling sneaking up on him...

"Yeah I'm fine." He said, averting his gaze from her and fixing it on the top of the offending tree. His eyes widened as he made a discovery. "Hey!" He said excitedly. "Look up at the top of the tree, Misty! Coconuts!" Misty looked up to the spot where Ash was pointing.

"Oh yeah, I see them!" She exclaimed.

"This is great." Ash said. "They can give us somethin' to eat and drink." He suddenly looked uncertain. "Um, it does look like they'll be hard to get down, though."

"Don't worry about it, Ash." Misty reassured him. "I'm pretty good at climbing trees. I had a lot of experience when I was younger." (I don't want to go into one of those "misty" flashbacks, so just use your imagination, peeps.) She looked up at the tree. "It is kinda tall though..." Suddenly, she felt a pair of hands on her waist. She immediately became beet red.

"I'll give ya a boost, Misty." Ash said, a little bit of red on his face too. He carefully lifted her up as high as he could so she could grab onto the tree and keep climbing.

"O-okay." She said nervously, trying desperately to hide her blush. Misty was too busy covering up her own blush to notice that Ash was blushing too. She slowly but steadily started climbing the tree, not stopping until she reached the top. Once there, she shouted down to Ash. "Okay Ash, I'm going to drop them down to you! Be ready!"

"Right Misty!" He shouted back to her. She picked as many as she could, and dropped them all as easily as she could so Ash could catch them. As expected, a few hit him on the head, but he was okay. Misty said it was his thick skull protecting him. Ash glared at her and she giggled. After they had enough, Misty carefully climbed down the tree, and Ash lifted her back down to the ground. This time both of them were in better control of their blushing. They walked back, each with and armful of coconuts. Bulbasaur and Squirtle joined them at their site, and everyone sat down to eat again.

"Grr... I can't get this thing open!" Ash said in frustration as he tried to open a coconut. Misty laughed again.

"Maybe you should try using your head." She smirked.

"Hey! Stop makin' fun of my head!" Ash defended.

"Oh, it's not so bad to have a hard head, Ash. It protects you from falling objects, helps if you fall on it... The only bad thing is that it slows down your thought process." She said with another giggle.

"Oh yeah? I'll make you regret that!" He said, and chucked a peice of one of the bananas his pokemon had brought at her.

"Hey!" She shouted, and retaliated with her own piece of food. In a few minutes they were both having a food fight, mostly throwing banana peels at one another, and laughing the whole time. After the battle, there were pieces of banana and peel all over the camp, and Ash and Misty were out of breath, but laughing hard. "You know Ash," Misty said with a laugh. "I never thought that you would actually enjoy wasting food."

"It was fun, Misty! That makes it worth it to me!" He laughed back. Misty smiled at his carefree nature and gave him a playful shove on his shoulder.

"It was fun, especially since I totally creamed you!" She said, declaring herself the winner.

"What? I had you totally beaten!" Ash protested. Misty was about to argue further when she noticed all of the pokemon staring at them, covered in the food they'd been throwing, and looking very annoyed. She and Ash both chuckled.

"Oops." Misty said.

"Heh heh... Sorry." Ash apologized. The pokemon just grumbled.

A little while later, the pokemon had all been washed off by either Squirtle or Staryu. Ash had washed his jacket and was hanging it to dry, leaving him wearing his black shirt. Misty had gone off on her own to wash off her shirt and herself, taking only Psyduck to accompany her. She made Ash stay behind for obvious reasons. For a minute Ash had considered following her, but immediately shook that thought from his head, shocked that it had even come to him.

Alone on the beach, Misty was busy bathing herself and washing off her shirt. Psyduck was trying to learn how to swim, but it was too afraid to go past the shallow water. Eventually it gave up and decided to wander along the shore. "Don't go too far, Psyduck!" Misty called out to her pokemon. It answered her by saying "Psy yi!". Misty couldn't understand what it said, but assumed that it had heard her. Once she had finished, Misty squeezed the excess water out of her clean shirt and put on her extra one. Getting a forboding feeling, Misty looked up to the sky. Dark clouds were starting to form, and she knew that a storm would soon start. It was pretty common for places with humid climates like this one. She gathered her belongings and headed back to where Ash and the others were, forgetting about Psyduck, who had wandered off....

Back at camp, Ash had taken the rest of his free time to train his pokemon. It wasn't very tough training, just practicing aim and attack power. All of Ash's pokemon were noticing that for once, his mind wasn't completely on his training. He seemed to be thinking of something else, and wasn't giving his full attention to them. At one point, all three of them just stopped and looked at him. He didn't even notice. Squirtle decided to take matters into his own hands and sprayed Ash in the face with a water gun. "WAH!" Ash yelled out in surprise. He looked at his pokemon, who were all standing there, giving him a "look". "Hehe, sorry guys. Guess I wasn't payin' attention. Let's get back to practicing your attacks, ok?"

"Pika."

"Bulba."

"Squirtle squirt."

For a few minutes, Ash was back in the action, backing them up, shouting commands and tips. But after a while, his mind started to wander again. The pokemon all stopped and stared at him again, getting kind of annoyed.

"Hey Ash, I'm back. How's the training going?" At the sound of Misty's voice, Ash immediately perked up, an excited smile on his face. Squirtle rolled his eyes.

"Hi Misty! Did you have a good... Um... Bath?" He asked happily.

"Yeah," She said. "But I had to head back when I saw those clouds up there." She pointed to the sky. "I think there's gonna be a storm." Ash looked up at the clouds she was talking about. He hadn't even noticed that they were there, his mind was so focused on thinking about her and his new feelings toward her.

"We'd better get inside." He said. Ash turned to his pokemon. You guys better get inside your hut... That is, if you'll let me in yours again Misty?" He had said it in such a cute, hopeful voice that there was no way Misty could refuse. She smiled at him.

"Sure Ash."

Once the two of them were inside, it started to rain. Ash and Misty had piled extra leaves on both huts to further prevent the rain from getting in. They were both sitting inside, not really speaking, when Misty suddenly gasped.

"What's wrong Misty?" Ash asked with concern.

"Psyduck!" She cried. "I completely forgot about Psyduck! He must have wandered off while I was at the beach... And now he's out there, all alone in that storm!" Misty could feel panick start to creep up on her. She pushed it away. Now was the time to be strong. She got up from where she was sitting and headed to the door of the hut.

"Misty, what are ya doing? It's dangerous out there!" Ash shouted at her. Misty was surprised by the concern he showed, but looked at him with a determined face. It was a face similar to one that Ash often used.

"I can't leave Psyduck out there alone Ash. I have to go out there and find it. Please understand!" Ash looked doubtful at first, but then nodded his head in agreement. He knew exactly how she felt, and that he would do the same thing in her situation.

"Okay. But I'm going with you!" Now Misty looked uncertain.

"Ash, Psyduck is my pokemon. I don't want you going out there and risking anything because of me." Ash stood.

"You're my friend Misty. You...mean a lot to me. What kind of person would I be if I just let you go out there on your own? If something happened to you while I was sitting in here safe I'd never forgive myself." Ash exhaled. That took a lot out of him. Misty blushed after hearing his words.

"Ash, you don't have to..."

"I know. But I want to."

And the two of them ran off into the storm to search for the lost pokemon.

The rain poured down on both trainers as they continued looking for Psyduck The storm was raging, and showing no mercy to either of them. A flash of lightning was followed by a horrible crack of thunder, terrifying Ash and Misty, but neither would back down. They continued through the pouring rain, calling out Psyduck's name until their voices were sore. The winds howled at a powerful volume, drowning out most of their cries. It became darker, and soon Ash and Misty were having trouble seeing one another. Ash kept going while Misty was starting to get worn out. For some reason he wanted so badly to make her happy. Suddenly, through all the noise caused by the storm, Ash thought he heard something. He smiled. This could be it!

"Misty!" He called to her. "I think I hear something! I'm gonna check it out!"

"Ash, wait! Don't go without me! You could get lost!" She called back. Too late. Ash had already run ahead, completely out of sight and earshot. "Aaaash!" Misty cried desperately. No answer. She stopped running and crouched down, breathing heavily and shivering. He was lost.

To be continued.

I wasn't sure if I should go ahead and write out their thoughts again. I really don't want to repeat myself. Hope they were okay. Anyways, it took me a long time to come up with what was going to happen in this chapter, and that's why it took a couple of days. I had no idea that everyone would like this so much. Thanks for all the compliments I got. Chapter three will be done soon, and hopefully that will be the last. Bye for now!