There's No Peace of Mind!

Ash had to seriously question how he had gotten himself roped into battling her, he thought as he stood before the gym's new battle arena as he looked over at Misty on the other side of the field.

Their referee was Violet, who stood in the middle off to the side. Because Misty was occupied yelling at her sister, Ash took the moment to survey his surroundings more closely, when Lily had shown him around, the lights were out in the battling field, and at the time he hadn't taken the time to properly take in the layout.

The field consisted of a rock oval surrounding a massive water arena – a stark contrast to the old rectangular one from before which had used large floating mats to allow non-water-type Pokémon to battle. As Misty was preoccupied with her sisters, Ash look absently around the new battling room, and noted that the new layout wasn't quite as friendly with all Pokémon types as Juan of Sootopolis' Gym field had been, or the one Pike Queen Lucy had, but Misty's was still feasible enough to allow there to be a fair advantage for both water and non-water types.

He was also left to wonder whether or not Tracey had had any input on the new design…

Ash was so lost in thought he never noticed when the water had stopped and that it was ready for their battle. "All right," called Violet, the sudden reality of his impending battle spurred Ash up from his reverie, "this'll be a three-on-three full battle between the Gym Leader, Misty, and Unova League's champion, Ash. The battle will be over when all three of either side's Pokémon are unable to battle – furthermore, only the challenger will be allowed to substitute their Pokémon, the Gym Leader may not."

Misty narrowed her eyes, to her Ash may be a champion now, but she still had her pride as a Gym Leader on the line and she refused to be beaten so easily. Ash meanwhile at the sound of Violet's standard referee speech immediately hardened up, his eyes became focused and his mind drifted to just battling, nothing but battling and analyzing. In recent years Ash had found Pokémon battling to be a wonderful escape from everything, once he got going, everything else was a blur.

"Right then," said Misty to herself before looking towards her opponent. She quickly fumbled into her pocket for her first choice. "I choose you, Corsola!" she flung her ball into the air and Corsola popped out onto the rock face in front of Misty, the Coral Pokémon gave an enthusiastic cry.

Normally to battle water-types Ash's first choice would be Pikachu, but Ash had chosen not to give himself the advantage. At one point not long ago after he defeated Crasher Wake, Ash had realized that in all of his prior battles against Misty, he won because he had used Pokémon with a type advantage against her solely because he had the match up, but in the onetime where he had battled her using his own water-types during the Whirl Cup, and he had lost – badly too, it was a huge embarrassment to him to lose to her Psyduck the way he had. For the present match, he wouldn't use type advantage, grass or electric-types weren't an option for this one. He was going to take her on with pure strength just to show her how much better he had become, Ash wasn't sure where the desire stemmed from, but something about it seemed wrong to him, he had to prove he could train water-types.

"Corsola huh?" Ash muttered when he saw her choice. "A water/rock-type…" He quickly reached behind him for a ball. "Oshawott, I choose you!" he hollered. He flung his ball with a lot more show than Misty did, and his Sea Otter Pokémon materialized onto the rocks.

"Osha, Oshawott!" the Sea Otter chirped. Ash gritted his teeth, I can't lose this, he thought.

Pikachu, who was watching from the stands, looked on worriedly at his trainer, ever since Misty's less than kind words from those years ago, Pikachu had noticed that Ash had never been the same – any thought or reminder he had gotten of her had deeply affected him and Pikachu could remember every night when the nightmares Ash had of her were at their worst, his trainer spent many quiet hours psychologically tortured – and things like the lure, the mermaid show, and being home had made them worse or even affected his health. Pikachu dearly hoped that Ash wouldn't have a break down during the match, it had been bad enough when Ash had turned that sadness into cold training, but now the catalyst was the very one he had to fight, literally.

"This battle may now start," called Violet.

"Oshawott, use Water Gun!" Ash yelled.

"Wott!" the Otter called as he shot a thin, concentrated jet of water from his mouth. It hurdled across the field and towards Corsola. It was fast, and even though Misty gave a cry to dodge it, Oshawott was too fast and it struck Corsola, who shook it off.

"Corsola, use Spike Cannon!" Misty ordered.

Corsola cried out and made his body glow white, and then fired a barrage of spikes from his horns. "Look out, Oshawott," warned Ash. The Otter Pokémon braced himself by holding his scalchop out and took the attack, pushing him back a few inches. "Use Water Gun again!" Ash ordered.

Oshawott did so and fired hard, Misty's eyes twinkled and she smirked as the attack hurdled towards Corsola. "Now use Mirror Coat!"

"La, Cors Corsola!" Corsola grunted as he glowed, took the Water Gun and mirrored it back towards Oshawott at double the power. The Otter flinched, and held his right arm across him in front in fright. But Ash's countenance was neutral, he wasn't scared.

"Now, Oshawott," he said calmly as his brow lowered, "use your counter-shield."

For a moment Oshawott looked back, confused. But as he stared into Ash's eyes the order suddenly made sense. Oshawott quickly flopped onto his back and spun round as he used Water Gun. Oshawott's deflected move came nearer and nearer, it hit the strange vortex, swirling and convulsing against Oshawott's vortex, before chunks of the reflected attack headed towards Corsola.

Misty told Corsola to dodge the projectiles, but they were unpredictable, and a few of them hit Corsola in the side and directly to the face, once that was done Oshawott stopped and stood up. Misty growled, frustrated by Ash's clever maneuver. "That was good…" she conceded in a whisper to herself as she frowned before she became more determined. "But I can do better!"

"That was great Oshawott, keep it up."

"Now Corsola, use Power Gem!" Misty hollered. Corsola did so and fired a series of orbs that were pink with blue sparkles towards Oshawott.

"Counter that with Water Gun!" Oshawott cried in confirmation and fired the attack, but his spout missed, it still hit Corsola, but only just as the Coral Pokémon had tried to dodge it, the Power Gem hit Oshawott, but like Corsola he too had been trying to dodge the incoming attack that had been heading his way, but like Corsola still got struck on the side.

Smoke flew everywhere from the impact of their exchange, blocking everyone's view of the field and the Pokémon. Misty was quick to take advantage of the confusion. "Quick Corsola, get in close to Oshawott!"

"Be careful Oshawott," Ash called, peering into the smoke, "Corsola could show up or attack at any moment."

Oshawott heeded the advice but he couldn't make out his surroundings. Misty smirked as she had her opponent's Pokémon right where she wanted it.

"Now Corsola, Power Gem!" Corsola's cry startled Oshawott and suddenly he found himself perilously hoping out of the way of several pink and blue orbs. But just as the smoke began to lift all the way, one of the orbs smacked him in the front and Oshawott went flying before landing on his back just as Corsola became visible.

Ash grimaced when he heard Oshawott's cries during the temporary smoke blockage, and frowned as he watched the Otter fall down. But his water-type proved persistent as he begrudgingly stood back up. "That's the way," Ash said to it. "Still," he muttered to himself, "that was pretty clever using the smoke to attack up close..."

Misty wasn't finished with her onslaught of attacks, however. "Let's use Spike Cannon, now!" she yelled, a strange exhilarating feeling coming over her.

The white spikes flew out in a contained line towards his opponent. "Charge, Oshawott" Ash commanded, throwing his right arm to side. Oshawott took off at a quick pace and swerved out of the Spike Cannon's line of fire. "Now use Razor Shell!"

Misty never saw a Razor Shell before and watched nervously as the Otter Pokémon quickly reached for his scalchop, pulled it off as it began to glow and formed a razor. Oshawott then jumped and looked as it was about slash Corsola. "Dodge that, Corsola!" she yelled.

Corsola barely jumped out of the way as Oshawott slammed into the rocks. "Use Spike Cannon, again!" Corsola cried and fired again at the Otter Pokémon who was helpless to the attack, but he stood strong as he endured the attack.

"Razor Shell!" Ash yelled once the attack stopped. Oshawott went running, Corsola tried to dodge it, jumping out of the way once more, the Otter Pokémon slashed the rocks, causing a blast of rock which caused Corsola to hurdle into the air.

"Corsola!" Corsola cried, as if taunting Oshawott how he'd never land a hit against him as he began to descend a few feet away.

"Wott!" Oshawott yelled defiantly, he ran towards the Coral Pokémon and once he was within range took a swing at Corsola's stomach. His Razor Shell made contact, Corsola stopped cold, but Oshawott wasn't done yet, and with a hard effort he finished the attack by chucking Corsola into the water. Corsola yelped in surprise as he was sent spinning into the water and hit the surface with a hard landing.

"Corsola!" Misty cried, shocked at how strong Oshawott seemed as she watched Corsola take the fall.

"Great job!" Ash called. "Now let's take this battle to the water!" he said, pointing towards the water. Oshawott yelled in affirmation and dove into the water.

Corsola felt terribly shaken, the force of the Razor Shell had taken its toll on top of being flung by the same attack. He shook his head, trying to collect himself after being forcefully submerged into the water. Another splash could be heard as Oshawott joined him in the water. The Coral Pokémon grimaced and began to swim away.

"Corsola, keep your distance, use Power Gem," Misty ordered.

"Dodge that," Ash countered. Oshawott managed to quickly swim out of the rock moves way and soon began to swim off.

"Quick, Corsola, chase after Oshawott!" Misty called. "Corsola has to keep close to Oshawott, if we try to attack from afar Oshawott can just easily dodge or counter it…" she added quietly to herself.

Corsola did as told and began to tail Oshawott as both swam about. The Otter Pokémon grimaced when he noticed the Coral Pokémon was following him. Then without warning Corsola suddenly charged towards him. Frantically he picked up speed – then from the waves he heard Ash giving him a command.

"Use Aqua Jet!" Quickly Oshawott swerved and slowed down. Corsola, caught unawares, sped right past him, Oshawott took advantage and charged forward. Corsola turned around just in time to get hit head on by Oshawott's water boosted Aqua Jet. The Coral Pokémon gave a cry as he was overpowered.

Ash and Misty both stared at the frothing water when suddenly the two Pokémon emerged with Corsola being pushed off by the Aqua Jet and into the air above the field. "Ah! Corsola!" Misty cried as her Pokémon landed upside down in front of her. Meanwhile Oshawott landed landed perfectly in front of Ash, but was panting heavily from exhaustion.

Oshawott's starting to run out of steam, we've gotta wrap this up quick…

"Corsola," said Misty, "use Recover."

"Corso…" Quickly the Coral Pokémon glowed white as he began to recover some stamina.

"Oh no…" Ash grimaced. He and Oshawott watched until the glowing stopped

"Time for a counter attack," declared Misty. Corsola hummed in agreement.

Suddenly Ash's stance changed, his legs were apart as he brought his left side in and stepped his right side out as he angrily held out his right hand. "Oshawott, use Hydro Pump now!" he yelled.

"Osha!" Oshawott quickly opened his mouth and fired the Hydro Pump which jetted across the field. But before Misty could say anything, Corsola got struck by Oshawott's move which sent him flying back and into the wall.

"Corsola!" Misty cried. The dust from the collision cleared, and lying on the floor with swirling eyes was Corsola, utterly defeated. "Knocked out, even after a Recover…" she breathed quietly.

Violet quickly raised her left hand, signifying Ash's side of the field. "Corsola is unable to battle. Oshawott's the winner."

"Wow, Ash sure ended that quickly," Lily commented from where she was behind Violet.

"Corsola, return," Misty said as she sadly recalled the Coral Pokémon into his ball. She then turned the ball's button towards her and looked sympathetically at it. "Thanks for your hard work," she added before pocketing it.

Oshawott meanwhile was flexing his little arms with a smug grin on his face. "Not bad, Ash," Misty called out; Ash didn't respond. "But that's only one win, just you wait." Ash still didn't say anything – instead he reached for a Pokéball and recalled Oshawott into it.

"Swapping already…?" Misty quietly questioned. "Well, whatever," she said out loud as she reached for her next choice. She smirked as she gently played with it in her hand. "I choose you…Pysduck!" With a quick throw of her hand she released her Psyduck onto the battle field.

"Psy?" the Duck Pokémon said lamely as it appeared onto the rocks. Misty looked up to see Ash's reaction, but instead was greeted with a stony look in the raven-haired trainer's face.

Ash grimaced, there was no way Misty would've chosen Psyduck so easily, it only served to remind him of how he had lost back at the Whirl Cup…he refused to allow Psyduck to defeat him again. Water-type that can use psychic-type moves, I've got to be careful. He reached behind him and grabbed a ball. "I'm counting on you," he said gravely to it. "Unfezant, I choose you!" he yelled, throwing the ball into the air above the water.

"Unfez!" she exclaimed as she flapped her wings.

"Quick," Misty began, before eagerly throwing an arm out, "Psyduck, use Water Gun!"

"Psy?"

"Um…"

Ash raised an eyebrow, but decided to still play cautiously. "Unfezant, use Aerial Ace!"

"Fez!" The Proud Pokémon charged and veered to the right before hitting Psyduck in the ribs. Psyduck cried out in pain before suddenly firing a Water Gun. But Unfezant quickly swerved out of the way.

"Use Air Cutter!" Unfezant circled around and from her wings fired a series of x-blades towards Psyduck, the Duck Pokémon panicked hysterically as it tried to dodge all of them, but various bangs from beneath the rocks as the Air Cutters hit the surface and imploded on contact caused him to keep falling over or be damaged.

"Psy…" he moaned as his head kept getting banged over and over.

"Hang in there…" Misty pleaded quietly as she watched Psyduck squirming and writhing..

"All right," Ash said after Unfezant had stopped the attack, "use Aerial Ace!" The Proud Pokémon charged once more and hit Psyduck straight on the head. His eyes went wide. "Oh no…" he breathed.

Suddenly Psyduck's eyes began to glow. Misty smirked triumphantly. "Now, use Psychic!" Psyduck's eyes glowed further and grabbed hold of Unfezant who sweated nervously as she was about to be thrown to the wall.

"Hang in there!" Ash shouted. "Flap your wings!" Surprisingly Unfezant actually achieved in doing as Ash commanded of her. She flapped desperately as she hit the steel wall. In her wake was a crater as Unfezant grimaced and flew off.

"Not bad," Misty said quietly, smirking at how much damage Psyduck had managed to inflict. "Now then, Psyduck," Misty went on, "use Water Gun!" Psyduck did so and quickly shot the move from his beak towards Unfezant.

"Double Team, go!" Ash yelled determinedly. Unfezant quickly duplicated herself and the Water Gun hit a duplicate where the real Unfezant had been. "Now use Air Cutter," Ash continued as he did his best to maintain composure despite how high his nerves were.

"Unn! Fez, fez, fez!" Unfezant yelled as she and the duplicates shot the Air Cutters, some hit Psyduck but the rest went all over. But even as the barrage went on, Psyduck didn't seem to flinch.

"Hahaha," Misty laughed heartily, "nice try, Ash! But that won't work on Psyduck. Now," she continued, a little more fiercely, "blow them back – use Psychic!"

"Psy!" And much to Ash's surprise – and déjà vu – Psyduck surrounded himself in a pink aura of psychic energy before he blasted it all around him, blowing the clones back and hitting the real Unfezant hard.

"Ugh," Ash grunted as he watched Unfezant reeling from the pain. "Bloody hell," he muttered under his breath as he gritted his teeth, "I knew I had to take care to not give Psyduck a headache but... damn it…" he paused to consider his next move. "All right," he called out. "Use Aerial Ace and aim for the belly!"

Unfezant did as told and hit Psyduck in the stomach, sending the Duck back a few feet. Unfezant backed off, but not before Misty gave an attack order for Psyduck to use Psychic to push Unfezant back in the wall.

"Fez!" Unfezant yelled as she was pushed back.

A glint came to Ash's eyes. Just as I thought, he thought as a small smirk came to him. "Unfezant, behind you, use Air Cutter!"

"What is he…?" Misty trailed off, unsure what to think as Ash's Unfezant began to fire the Air Cutters. Then it happened…

Unfezant wasn't sure what her trainer was up to, but she still obliged and quickly shot her the attack behind her. The x-blades pelted the wall and as she hit it, she realized what Ash had meant.

Ash grimaced as a loud thud of concrete being pushed in was heard – the area where Unfezant was thrown against was smoking from impact. Misty smirked, closed her eyes and chuckled. "And that's that…"

"Not yet it's not."

Misty's eyes snapped open and then looked towards the spot Unfezant was thrown to and saw – to her horror – as the dust cleared, that Unfezant was fine. The bird flapped her wings, gave a stubborn cry and swooped towards the battlefield.

"B-but how?!" Misty shrieked, stepping back, completely taken aback. "Ash…h-how…?"

Ash smirked, delighted that his plan had worked. Despite his feelings for his opponent, as long as they were battling he could push those feelings aside – he had already learned how to turn his mixed emotions of love and pain into battling strength. As long as the topic remained about Pokémon, he could talk normally to her without any sudden bursts of emotion.

"Easy," Ash scoffed. "It's an old trick, not that I guess you would remember…it happened at the Johto League; I figured using the tactic would work the same for Unfezant," said Ash, finishing his explanation. Misty's eyebrows furrowed as she tried to recall the memory, but to no avail. The raven-haired trainer decided not to wait for her. "Now, use Air Cutter!"

"Throw them back, Psychic!" Misty cried out, Psyduck quickly repelled all the Air Cutters back towards their sender.

"Dodge those!" Unfezant was quick to respond, Misty tensed in frustration at how fast the Proud Pokémon was, even after all the damage she had taken. "And use Double Team!" Quickly Unfezant made doubles of herself.

Misty frowned. "Blow them back, Psychic!"

"Go in and use Aerial Ace!" Unfezant dove quickly and struck Psyduck, the Duck Pokémon swayed a little, the force of the move causing him to lose his footing and he misfired, hitting some of the fakes, but missing a majority of the clones. "Now use Air Cutter!" Quickly once more, Unfezant pelted Psyduck with x-blades. Misty grimaced, Ash had taken the control of the battle away from her. She understood what Ash was doing, breaking Psyduck's concentration, preventing her Pokémon from being able to launch moves comfortably whilst his Pokémon got in damage, a few more hits, and Psyduck would be done in.

"We won't stand for this!" she then yelled. "Water Gun, now!" Psyduck's face hardened and fired his Water Gun. It hit the real Unfezant, causing the doubles to disappear.

"Air Cutter!" Ash countered. Unfezant fired once more, hitting Psyduck hard, the Duck writhed and squirmed as dust blew everywhere. "Now use Double Team!"

"What is he up to?! Damnit…!" Misty cried, frustrated. Quickly she ordered for Confusion, but Ash only ordered more Double Teams. Psyduck then was ordered to use Psychic, but with all of the clones, he was wasting time blowing the fakes away.

Ash smiled. "Unfezant, use Aerial Ace!"

"Un…FEZANT!" The Unfezants flapped their wings to back up, then went in and struck Psyduck, the Duck Pokémon tried to hit the real Unfezant, but once more only hit the fakes.

"Now, use Quick Attack!" The real Unfezant cried out, she flapped her wings passionately, and zoomed towards Psyduck – all of her doubles were gone, but now wasn't the time to play around.

"Ah! Use Water Gun!" cried Misty.

"Psy!" Psyduck fired, but Unfezant dodged it and struck him in the head. Psyduck was pushed onto his back and skidded along the rocks till he stopped in front of Misty.

"Ps-Psyduck…?" Misty asked, but as the dust cleared, Psyduck, still holding his head with his flippers, had swirls in his eyes.

Violet and Lily stared. "Psy…Psyduck is unable to battle," Violet uneasily announced, "Unfezant is the winner."

Misty blinked, shocked, she quickly ran to her Pokémon and held him in her arms. Luckily the Psyduck only began to moan from the pain of his headache as it finally began to register, Misty couldn't help but smile a little bit at how things had never changed with Psyduck, however the fact that Psyduck had finally been defeated in battle startled her – not that she really used Psyduck much at all in battle. But for a long time the Duck Pokémon had had a spotless record of never officially losing.

"Thanks for your hard work," Misty said to him before pulling out the Duck's Pokéball and recalling him into it.

Unfezant meanwhile was panting hard; she landed in front of Ash and tucked her wings in whilst trying to recover her stamina. Ash grimaced and wasn't in the mood to take a risk. "All right, time for a rest, Unfezant. Return. Thanks for your hard work." He then pocketed the ball and once more he grimly faced his opponent.

Misty wasn't sure what to say, she hadn't been expecting to lose twice in a row, and Ash still had all three of his Pokémon at the ready – not even Psyduck had been able to take one of Ash's options out. However Misty was far from someone who was willing to be underestimated. "Not bad, Ash," she began, trying to hide her nerves. Ash, for what it was worth, was unsure of her tone, but chose to ignore what Misty may have been feeling. "Not bad at all…" she continued, "but, you've yet to take on my strongest Pokémon yet. Come to think of it," she added, "you've never battled it before. Gyarados, I choose you!"

Ash's teeth gritted further as he watched the sea serpent materialize onto the battlefield. Gyarados gave a fierce battle cry and growled as it looked at Ash. It had heard of its master's former friend from both Misty herself, and the other Pokémon at the gym, the reputation Gyarados had heard had been a mixed bag.

Pikachu's eyes widened at the sight of Gyarados, he looked worriedly over at Ash, wondering if his trainer was going to break his vow to not go in with type advantage and use him to battle. But Ash wasn't one to purposefully break a promise, Pikachu thought, but he was left wondering who Ash would pick to battle the water/flying type. Ash looked at the Atrocious Pokémon. I'll need someone with just as much tenacity as that Gyarados, but who to pick…? He took just a moment to think his decision over – at last a partner came to his mind and he quickly grabbed the Pokéball.

"I'm counting on you," he said to it. "Krookodile, I choose you!" Krookodile let out a mighty roar as he materialized onto the rocks. But when he saw the field he was on, his sweat dropped as he took in the water.

"Listen," Ash began, "I know it isn't an ideal field for you to battle on, but I really need you to pull through. You're fierce aren't you? This shouldn't be a problem at all for you, right?" he went on, pumping a fist, Ash's expression was determined and Krookodile couldn't help but smirk confidently and gave Ash a claw up.

"Ugh, what type is it?" Misty grumbled to herself, but she quickly shook the uncertainty that she felt off and immediately decided that it would make little difference. She knew Gyarados is a powerful Pokémon, and had won a number of times – even against electric-types. "Use Hydro Pump!"

Gyarados gave a fierce roar and fired the attack. However Ash stood strong. "Stone Edge!"

With his own roar Krookodile launched the rock-type attack, which collided with the Hydro Pump, cancelling it out. "Okay Gyarados, into the water!" Without fail Gyarados disappeared into the water. Ash grimaced.

"There's no telling where Gyarados might appear next," Ash murmured as his eyes darted left and right, with Krookodile doing the same.

"Use Hydro Pump!" Misty called.

"Uh oh! It'll show up right in front of you!" Ash yelled to Krookodile as a warning, before the mighty water-type burst out in front of him. It roared mightily before breathing in.

"All right," yelled Ash, "use your Dragon Claw!" So with speed that caught both Gyarados and its trainer off guard, Krookodile launched and struck the Atrocious Pokémon by its stomach with its claw. The water-type was clearly unamused by the attack, and quickly fired the Hydro Pump. It hit Krookodile in his lower torso, the Intimidation Pokémon cried out in pain.

"Don't give up," Ash called. "Try a Stone Edge!"

"Krooko!" he roared, and fired the pointed stones.

"Deflect those, use Hurricane!" Misty ordered. The Hurricane attack fired off, it blasted through the stones, causing some of them to dissipate or land in the water, and before Krookodile could dodge, he got swept up by the strong winds.

Krookodile was being tossed about in the crosswinds, as his body was being spun round and round. Suddenly, Ash had an idea. "Krookodile, ride the wind and use Aerial Ace!"

The Intimidation Pokémon wasn't in an ideal position, but quickly he sprawled his arms out and rode the wind towards Gyarados. "Now grab it!" Misty ordered. And before Krookodile could react, Gyarados flung out its tail – Krookodile was still feeling dazed was unable to dodge as the water-type took an iron grip of him with its tail. "Right," added Misty, "now use Crunch!"

Gyarados roared and was closing in on Krookodile with its jaw ready to attack.

Ash grimaced, but then he noticed something. "Use Crunch on Gyarados' tail!" he yelled. Krookodile opened his jaw, and took a huge bite of his opponent's tail to his left, which was left exposed to an attack.

Gyarados yelled in pain as it felt the Intimidation Pokémon's powerful jaw dig into its body, it quickly backed off; reeling from the significant damage it took. But Ash wasn't finished. "Follow with Dragon Claw."

And before Gyarados could get out of Krookodile's range, it was struck – in the face – by the dragon-type move.

"Gyarados, use Iron Tail!" ordered Misty. The Atrocious Pokémon tried to swing, but it was still clearly in pain as it hesitated, before it swung again. Krookodile easily dodged it, and under an order from Ash, launched a Stone Edge. "Another Hurricane!" was Misty's response.

The attack swept up the stones as well as Krookodile. "Ride the Hurricane, and use Aerial Ace!" shouted Ash.

That again? Thought Misty. But instead, Krookodile easily turned in the wind, and got behind Gyarados. "Catch that!" shouted Misty, but before Gyarados could focus on its opponent, Krookodile successfully hit it straight on. "Hurricane, again!"

Without missing a beat, once more Gyarados once more breathed in, and expelled out a huge wind storm, which blew Krookodile away. The Intimidation Pokémon hit the rocks hard, letting out a cry of pain as it did so. Ash growled as Krookodile stood up wearily, panting. He can't keep this up, we're going to have to finish this and fast…

Misty meanwhile was thinking the same thing. "Time to end this…Gyarados, use Hydro Pump!"

"Use Stone Edge!" thundered Ash. Both Pokémon roared fiercely and fired, Krookodile fired the stones, and Gyarados its water. They were both hit by the attack, when the attacks settled, it was clear both were very beaten up, but still standing.

The two Pokémon stared at each other, and smiled, and both fell forward – it was Gyarados however that fell all the way. Krookodile barely held on by his arms.

Violet bit her lip and raised a flag. "Gyarados is unable to battle, Krookodile is the winner! Which means the victor is the Unova Champion, Ash!"

Misty felt an odd feeling of despair go through her and she fell to her knees and put her hands down on the concrete. "I…lost," she whispered, trying to hold back tears. "A three to zero at that…" She braced herself for Ash's cheering, she was sure he'd want to celebrate his victory. Either that or he'd taunt her, call her weak. But she heard nothing.

She looked up to see a reaction, and was immediately unsettled. Ash's eyes were hidden under his can, and his lips contorted in a frown. She wondered if he was disappointed in her.

Ash continued to say nothing, he opened his eyes and he stared distantly at the water. "I won…" he said quietly to himself. "…but I don't feel satisfied or fulfilled at all…" Instead, he felt empty.

"Pika! Pikapi, pika Pikachu!" called his main partner, who ran towards him and patted him on his jeans.

"Thanks buddy," said Ash dryly. He turned to where Krookodile was. "And thanks to you too, you've earned a good long rest as the Pokémon Centre." And with that he recalled the Intimidation Pokémon, he had given both Pokémon a smile, but both – especially Pikachu – could tell it was forced. When the Krookodile was in his ball, Ash allowed his face to fall.

"Congrats on winning," Violet began to Ash, as she and Lily approached.

"Yeah, like, a total sweep was not what I was expecting. That was really cool to see," added Lily. Ash didn't answer, his expression was hardened, he only stared blankly at them before the sound of Misty recalling her Gyarados caught his attention – before Misty could say a word, Ash looked down at the water, unable to look her in the eyes. Something about his victory just felt cheap.

"Well," began Misty uneasily, as she stood up. "C-congratulations, Ash, you beat me. Pretty good at that…looks like you really have sharpened up." She tried to be happy, but deep down Misty felt thoroughly embarrassed, she lost, badly. In addition she was already acting sorry for herself over Tracey, Ash had every reason to be spiteful, she thought.

He didn't do any of what she thought he'd do however. She heard the sounds of his feet walking heavily back to the main floor. Misty looked up, and saw his eyes, they were devoid of all happiness, her own eyes widened as she took in the somber look he had.

"I'll be going to the Pokémon Centre to heal my Pokémon up, feel free to join, if you want…" He turned and walked away. Something in Misty clicked as she watched him go.

"Wait," she called out. He stopped, but he didn't turn around, he kept his eyelids down halfway as he stared distantly at the wet concrete. "I'll go with you," Misty said, more quietly. Ash felt a tug in his chest as she said that, he stuffed his hands into his pockets as he heaved a heavy breath to control himself from getting any ideas of Misty feeling sympathetic – there was zero chance of that for a jerk like him.

"Well, better to knock two birds with one stone," he replied, and returned to walking.

OoOoO

The crowded streets of Cerulean City were cause for Ash to begin weaving his way through the crowd, but with his impatience to get to where he needed to go, he made long strides, and with his height he easily covered block after block, but Misty with her shorter legs had to run to keep up.

She panted as she pushed herself to the side to avoid hitting a small child heading in the opposite direction. "Sorry," she muttered to him, before bringing her attention back to Ash. "Wait up, idiot! Geez, what is this, a race? You could stand to be more patient," she scolded.

Ash abruptly halted and turned to look at her. Misty glared up at him, hands on her hips. "Well?" she asked. "Or are you waiting for me to say thank you for tiring me out with your light jogging?" The boy casted his gaze down to the bricks, he could see how mad he had made her, and his chest tightened as her glare burned into his mind. Pikachu cooed sadly, guessing at what his trainer was thinking.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly.

Misty blinked, she had been expecting Ash to retaliate, say something in fury or make fun of her for being so short and slow, but instead, he apologized, and his offence wasn't even significant. "What are you sorry for?" But before he could answer she continued on. "It's not as if I was being serious, so it's all right," Misty said, she looked up to be greeted by Ash's still melancholic, but also partly perplexed expression. "So I don't mind you hurrying, I'm not mad."

"Oh," murmured Ash, feeling slightly relieved, but he still felt down in the dumps. Misty didn't say a word and gave him a push from behind to get him moving.

"For a guy who just beat me three to nothing, you sure could use a confidence boost," she joked. Ash didn't respond and kept his rather depressed state up – it wasn't that he couldn't appreciate the humor, but the one saying it did little to improve his mood. He himself couldn't get why she was humoring him. In his eyes, he was to her a jerk, a dense fool who couldn't outwardly admit he had a clue, an obsessed love driven freak that couldn't get over a childhood crush after he saw her with her boyfriend…

Misty frowned when she realized Ash never responded, unaware of his internal beating. She pushed him into the Pokémon Centre and walked up to his pockets and dug his Pokeballs out for him whilst ignoring his rather quiet protests, before handing them over to Nurse Joy.

"Okay you," she said, pushing him down to sit on a bench in the lobby. She then joined him on his left. "I don't know what your problem is, but we both know how stubborn you can be so I won't push it." Misty kept it to herself that she didn't want to have another argument with him; their earlier spats had been quite emotionally draining for her. "After all, you've got problems, I've got problems…" She trailed off as she quietly dug the toes of a foot of hers into the carpet before facing Ash again.

"…But there is something I want to ask of you."

Ash raised his eyes to meet hers. "Yeah…?"

Misty gulped, and twiddled her thumbs. "After today…well you saw…and well…y-you…" She dipped head into a bow. "Please train me to become a better Pokémon trainer like you are!"

OoOoO

Author's Note: Hello people! After leaving this project on the backburner for a bit, it has returned (COUGHS though I still need to get the harem story going again but man the motivation is sadly not there)!

After taking a long break from it on account of real life, I'll be real, it was difficult to return to this after I left off writing it after I started the Krookodile vs Gyarados fight, so going for that really depressing tone was tough after a while. But anyways, when this'll next be updated down the line I'd be nearly done with the writing.