Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokemon or associated characters.

Fantasy Generation: Chapter Four

"Wow," they both gasped. The world was like a huge underwater aquarium. Small schools of fish swam by happily. Misty, being the huge water fan she was, gazed at it all with bubbling, starry eyes.

"Wow, this is so amazing!" she said, clasping her hands together and putting them up to her cheek as she tilted her head. She blushed slightly, as if she was in a daydream. "I've always wanted to live in a place like this!"

"You want to live underwater?" Ash cocked his head to the side, as he glanced at her as if she was crazy. Misty just nodded, still in her daydream.

"You don't seem like a fish, but I guess you could pass as one 'cause of your looks..." Ash teased quietly with a sweat drop.

Misty snapped out of her daydream and glared at Ash. "What was that?" she asked him threateningly, grabbing onto his ear and pulling on it.

"Nothing, nothing!" Ash said helplessly, wincing from the pain.

Ash enjoyed teasing Misty, and Misty enjoyed teasing Ash. They always got on each others' nerves. Some people teased them by saying they were flirting with each other, but they didn't consider it 'flirting'. It was just harmless teasing between two good friends.

Ash squirmed under Misty's arm as she pulled him into a headlock.

"What was that you said about my looks?" she demanded with a furious blush.

He smirked slyly. "Nothing, Misty!"

"Ash Ketchum! What did you say?" she demanded again.

Ash squirmed under her, before saying, "Trust me, Misty. I would never say anything about your looks. You're too pretty to make a sour comment about," he said swiftly.

"Huh?" Misty blushed slightly but for a different reason. She released him from her grip, and just stared at him.

"Oh, Ash," she said with a shy smile as she eyed the ground with a blush. "That's so sweet of you!"

Ash felt his cheeks grow warm as she did that. For some reason, she always made him blush when she did that. Ash felt uncomfortable, so he quickly spilled.

"By the way, Mist," he started as she looked up at him, her blush and smile fading. "That was all a lie."

"What?" Misty eyed him suspiciously.

"It's amazing how far flattery will go," he snickered. She blushed furiously, and lunged at him before a girl around their age approached them.

"Hello," she said as she approached them shyly. In Ash's view, she was a beautiful. She had short (shorter than shoulder length), blond hair, big light green-bluish eyes, and she was wearing a light blue dress with dark blue shoes. "Excuse me?" she addressed Ash, as he stared at her.

"Huh?" Ash snapped out of his trance. Misty noticed him and glared at the girl as a result, with a jealous blush (almost the same expression as when Melody kissed Ash in Pkmn 2000).

"Excuse me, but are you two Ash and Misty?" the girl asked them curiously.

Ash nodded, and Misty crossed her arms over her chest with an angry 'hmph', with her eyes closed!

"Wow!" the girl was obviously excited at their presence. "My name is Maria."

Misty simply opened one of her eyes and left the other one closed.

Ash just blinked. "How do you know us?"

"Well," Maria started, "I don't know exactly. I had a dream last night about two teenagers approaching my world, with the names of 'Ash' and 'Misty.'"

"Are you some sorta psychic or something?" Ash asked her curiously.

Maria shook her head no with a smile. "No, but I have been having strange dreams lately that have been coming true."

Suddenly a male voice called from somewhere behind Maria. "Maria!"

"I'm over here, Shadow," Maria turned to see 'Shadow', a teenage boy who was dressed in black attire, who looked like some sort of warrior.

Ash stepped back slightly at his appearance. "Whaaa!"

Misty blushed slightly at him, at Ash frowned jealously at her.

"Hey Misty, try not to get too attached," he whispered to her jealously. Misty's eyes widened.

Misty blushed at him, covering up his mouth and then whispering back, "I'm not attached!" before adding jealously, "And it looks like Maria is interested in him, not you."

Ash blushed and frowned at her. "Why would I care? I'm not interested in her!" he whispered back.

Misty smiled slyly at him, just to annoy him. "Yeah, right Ash," she whispered.

Ash frowned. "Cut it out, Misty! What do you know, anyway?!" he whispered back loudly.

Maria and Shadow just watched them argue.

"Um..." Shadow watched them. "Guys?"

They both blushed deeply and looked at Maria and Shadow. "Sorry," they said simultaneously. "But he/she started it!" they said again at the same time, pointing at each other accusingly with frowns.

Maria rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Back to my dream...?"

Ash and Misty both sweat dropped. "Right...sorry."

Maria cleared her throat before continuing. "Anyway I met you guys in my dream, and you said you were looking for your friend named..." she paused, and Ash and Misty held their breaths without noticing, "Brock, or something?" she finished.

Ash nodded. "Yeah! That's his name -- you're amazing!"

Maria laughed. "Thanks, Ash!" Misty frowned jealously at this, and crossed her arms over her chest as she closed her eyes, tilting her head slightly upward. No one took notice to her.

"Anyway, you guys had to ride our huge water slide to get to the ending of this stage, dodging all sorts of stuff, and--" Maria was interrupted.

"Water slide?" Ash questioned with a grin. "Cool!" he said outstretching his arm and then pulling it back in towards himself happily. "Sounds like an awesome challenge," he turned to Misty, "huh, Misty?"

Misty lazily opened one of her eyes half way. "Whatever," she said dryly. Ash frowned at her suspiciously, and then focused back on Maria. "So if you're dreams come true, we better get on this water slide! Brock's waiting, after all..."

Maria smiled. "Yes, but first you must put on the two gadgets that look like water bubbles."

By now, Misty's eyes were both open attentively. "Alright..." she said slowly, taking out two bubble gadgets and tossing one to Ash, still slightly angry about his interest in Maria.

Ash just caught it barely. "Hey watch it, Misty!" he frowned at her.

"It's not my fault you're a bad catcher, Ash," Misty squinted at him animely.

"Bad catcher?" Ash challenged her.

"You heard me," Misty said simply, before bending over and flicking his nose.

"Ow!" Ash winced clutching his nose tenderly, before shaking his head angrily at her. He raised his fist. "Why I oughta-" his fist lunged towards Misty's face and she simply stared at it boredly.

Maria placed her hand firmly over Ash's fist. "Break it up, you two!" she scowlded.

Ash put his hand back to his side gultily as he glanced nervously at Maria. "Now apologize--both of you!" Maria demanded.

"Why would I want to apologize to a scrawny red-head?" Ash spat at Misty, and Misty glared at him.

"Why would I want to apologize to a Pokemon Master wannabe?" Misty said in a bratty tone. Ash glared at her.

"Come on you two," Shadow spoke up which surprised Ash and Misty. "Apologize now so you can go look for your friend, Brooke or whatever!"

"Brock," Misty corrected.

Ash frowned at Misty. "We don't have all day! Apologize!"

Misty coughed a fake laugh. "Not in a million years! Come on Ash, you started it. You apologize. It's not that hard!"

"You started it! Remember?!" Ash countered angrily.

"Ash, we both know it was you, so apologize!" Misty's voice was raising slowly.

"Before this gets any further, we'll stop you here," Shadow said with a frown. "You two are ridiculous! It's so obvious you like each other, that you might as well get married now!"

"What?" Ash and Misty spat in unison, looking at Shadow with wide eyes. "I don't like him/her!" they added in unison with blushes and angry expressions.

"Yeah, sure," Maria said disbelieving them both. "Denial," she sighed. "Such strong denial can only mean stronger feelings..." This comment made Shadow snicker to himself.

Misty glared at her threateningly. "Take that back!" she yelled with a blush.

"So," Ash swiftly changed the subject. "About that waterslide...?"

"First you must push the red button on those bubble gadgets," Maria instructed. "Then we can move onto the waterslide."

Ash and Misty did so without speaking. Blue ribbons engulfed them both, which soon became translucent.

"These make you able to breath underwater for unlimited time, always," Maria explained.

"Awesome!" Misty smiled.

"Now onto the waterslide. Follow me," Maria said, entering the water part of the world. Ash and Misty followed.

"Good luck guys!" Shadow waved as they swam away.

"Bye!" Misty waved to him.

"I'll be back in five, Shad," Maria said, and Shadow nodded with a smile.

"Here's our water slide," Maria said after a while, pointing to a huge roller coaster-type looking water slide.

Ash and Misty gaped at it. "That thing?" Misty pointed.

"Yep," Maria nodded proudly, swimming up to the top of it. "One person has to go in front of the other," Maria said simply.

Ash and Misty turned to each other. "I'll go in front," they said in unison. They frowned at each other.

"Why should you go first?" Misty asked him angrily. "Haven't you ever heard of 'ladies first'?"

"Yeah," Ash frowned, "but you're not a lady so that term doesn't apply to you!"

Misty frowned, outraged. "How dare you, Ash!"

"Guys," Maria interrupted impatiently. "There's only one way to settle this. Rock paper scissors."

Ash and Misty exchanged glances before both placing their fists forward.

"Are you ready, Ash?" Misty asked him with a determined expression.

"I was born ready," Ash replied confidently.

"Rock, paper scissors!" they both exclaimed. They both had their fists out, which indicated 'rock'.

Maria frowned. "Alright...try it again."

They tried again, this time both with their hands out flatly, which indicated 'paper'.

"One more time," Maria said.

They tried again only to both pick scissors. They tried many more times. Again - rock. Again - paper. Again - paper. Again- scissors.

Maria rolled her eyes. "One more time," she said impatiently. "If it's a tie, I will decide."

Ash and Misty both cried "Rock, paper, scissors!" in unison before revealing their choices. Ash picked paper, and Misty picked rock.

"Ha!" Ash laughed at her haughtily. "Paper goes on top of rock!" he yelled happily.

"Since when?" Misty growled.

"Since always!" Ash smirked.

"Rock crushes things, though! Paper is easy to crush, so I won!" Misty countered.

"Nuh-uh!" Ash teased. "Paper goes on top of rock!"

"Oh yeah? Why!?" Misty challenged.

"I dunno, it just does!" Ash declared. Misty sweat dropped.

"Sorry, Misty," Maria spoke up. "But Ash did win, so he goes in front."

Misty gaped at him, and Ash grinned. "Yesss!"

Misty frowned. "This is sooo unfair!" she whined. "There should be rules against that. Rock should always win!" she added.

"Whatever," Maria shrugged. "Anyway Ash, you go in first. Misty has to go in behind you."

"How do we stick together?" Ash asked, stepping into the slide and then sitting down.

"Misty has to hold onto you," Maria explained with a small smirk.

"What?" Misty cried. "I'll just wait until he goes...I'll go after him."

"It's dangerous. You have to stick together," Maria warned, pushing Misty into the slide.

Misty reluctantly put her arms around Ash's waist. "Do I have to do this?" she winced.

Ash looked at Maria. "Yeah, does she have to?"

"Yep," Maria smiled. "Good luck!" she said as she pushed them down the slide.

"Ah!" Misty shut her eyes closed quickly from the huge drop they experienced, and tightly gripped Ash.

"Wow, this is awesome!" Ash grinned. "Hey Misty, open your eyes!" he told her, and she slowly opened them hesitantly.

"Wow," she said breathlessly. "Everything looks so beautiful!" Fish swam by calmly, and the water rippled here and there. Seaweed and other plants on the bottom of the water swayed back and forth gently.

To be continued…