Disclaimer: The characters of Pokemon do not belong to me. Nor do any other known characters that may appear in this fic. The story is mine, and it was made for entertainment purposes only.

oOoOo

Delia squeezed Ash's-

"Ack!" he yelped. He forcefully untangled himself from her grabby hands. "Mom! I'm old enough to-"

"Ashypooo," whined Mom.

His face burned red while he turned downward to hide his cheeks. "Psst. Misty Let's get ou-" He yelped again at the harsh pull. He peaked to see Misty cheekily return a smirk as she pulled again and daintily dragged him away from the chaos.

"Oh wait-!" exclaimed Delia; the mom's lips parted open in surprise as a strange fat, black Pokemon appeared to topple onto her. The round Pokemon and Delia comically crashed further away as Misty led Ash away from the park.

"Hey! Wh-What? Did Blissey just…?"

Misty snorted audibly but didn't answer. The teenage girl continued to pull the boy down the streets of Downtown Cinnabar Island. Ash grunted weakly, but he hid his enjoyment. The nostalgia made his body tingle. Misty's eyes glanced downward, and she humphed exasperatedly before she swung the lanky boy into a rigid, metal signpost.

Clank!

"Ahhhhh!" screamed Ash as he grabbed his wet pants. He squeezed his knees together as he glared at the smirking orange haired teenager. She somehow looked even more threatening with the dainty pink nurse cap tipped precariously on her head. Ash grimaced as he held his aching lower body.

"To be honest," Misty answered offhandly, "I think you deserved it. Just a woman's intuition," she tapped her dry lips.

"Liar," squeaked Ash.

Misty hummed politely and resumed dragging him by the foot. Ash flailed, but he resigned to his fate. The sidewalk which his face was dragged upon was surprisingly soft; the pavement had been developed with the softer clay from Cinnabar Island's volcanic residue. Ash faintly remembered a spa when the island's Gym Leader came to mind. He decided to use his good eye to glance to the clouds as they continued the journey. Ash carefully glanced to Misty's arms, and he wondered where she maintained so much body strength.

Ash yelped as Misty dropped him.

"Stand up," casually ordered Misty.

Ash slowly stood up, furiously patting away his dusty pants and shirt. Before he could speak, Misty interrupted. "I need to talk." She looked behind him. Ash looked also, and he noticed that they'd somehow lost the pedestrians and locals that were watching and following them. Misty placed her hands to her face and yelled; the sound was muffled. She breathed out and looked to Ash with a stern look. Her hardened face softened as Ash pathetically grimaced in his dirty clothes. "Um. I'm sorry," grimaced Misty. "I panicked, ya know?" She threw her hands into the air. "Why is everything so confusing!? I just needed a time to talk to you in private."

She took a deep breath.

"Now spill. What's with that evil Professor thing at the park?"

Ash blinked. "Wait. I have to explain? What about you! You said you felt lost or something. Then you said that other stuff about Team Magma capturing your step-dad?"

"My step-dad?" questioned Misty. "Huh? I don't have a step-dad. Oh! Talk about leaving me. Where did you and Brock go!? I wake up alone, and then my sister is all crazy and chasing me!? What's happening."

Ash scrunched his face into a befuddled and constipated expression. Misty's facial expressions dittoed his; however, she had bitten into her own quivering lip. They both look like they were about to burst.

After several long minutes of gagging and weird facial expressions, Ash was first to regain composure. "Uh. You should answer. My face still hurts."

Misty gave a fake, large smile. "Fine," she bit out. "I am lost because a doppelganger, lookalike Misty is running around pretending to be me. She must have screwed up the world or something, because my stupid older sister is now acting like some bigshot, crazy, powerful trainer." Misty's face almost lit up as she thought about Ash's second question. "So the other Misty-fake said Team Magma had her dad. She's probably working for Team Rocket. Hah!"

Ash's face soured as if he bit a lemon. "You're serious!? You're pretending it didn't happen now?" Ash played with the words that Misty had returned. "Do you not trust me? I believed in-"

Misty smacked him across the face.

"Hey! Hey!" she barked. "Stop it. Bad Ash. Bad Ash. I said my answers. Now talk, you!"

Ash bit his lip as he cradled his cheek. "Okay, fine." He thought back to how the Evil Professor was unmasked which revealed a crazy Professor Elm. "Uh. Someone I know… acting like someone else…" Ash groaned loudly, realizing how dumb he was. "Mewtwo brainwashed him." Ash's eyes begin to widen. "Team Magma had Mewtwo. He can mess with minds." He quickly reached for Misty. "Mewtwo is inside your mind too!"

"Oh. Shut up!"

"Misty. Let me inspect you. Feel any extra evilness lately?"

Ash easily dodged Misty's slap. With sudden dexterity and smoothness, he slipped under her arm and gently felt her head with the back side of his palm. "Normal temperature," he whispered.

Misty fumed silently before she whispered. "You didn't answer my other questions."

"Fine. Fine," murmured Ash. As he gently placed his fingers on her neck to check her pulse, he casually glided around another punch aimed for his abdomen. "I didn't leave you. You were teleported into the past. Remember? I ended up following you here. To this timeline. Brock should be fine in our original timeline. Unless he faded into nonexistence or something, which is sad, but here's probably safe."

Misty stopped trying to punch Ash. She looked through the boy. Ash got the distinct feeling that Misty thought he was the most stupid thing to ever exist in this very moment.

Slowly, she robotically turned around and marched away. "I give up." She spoke offhand while both her arms moved along in a sloppy wavelike gesture. "Your answers are stupid. Your stupid. All of this is stupid." Ash ran alongside her with a dumb grin.

"But it's so simple," smiled Ash in his dumb, dorky way. "Mewtwo is the bad guy." He poked his chin. "Find Mewtwo. We fix everything."

Misty gave Ash a deadpan stare.

oOoOo

Misty gave everyone a deadpan stare.

"Oh yes! So simple," announced Professor Oak.

"Mewtwo is bad, ah," smiled Delia Ketchum.

Officer Bruce Jenny nodded his head. "Such a simple, concise story. Stop this Mewtwo character. Then everything will be good."

Nurse Joy and a couple Officer Jenny's all nodded as if it's the most obvious answer ever.

"Pika-Pika," chirped Pikachu in agreement.

"Bliss-Bliss," agreed Blissey.

"Squirt-Squirt," squeaked the tiny miniature Squirtle with large innocent eyes. Misty 2 the Squirtle slowly crawled up Misty's leg. To Misty's annoyance, the Misty 2 eventually inched her way up to her shoulder, similar to a wiggling tiny stuffed animal, the tiny water-Pokemon gave Nurse Misty a miniature kiss on the cheek.

Misty groaned in defeat. "Where's Ash?"

"Ah yes," answered Professor Oak. He pointed out the window. "Ash is flying on that Charizard that took us here…. Yes, Ash is on the… Wait-Ash is on the Charizard!?"

Everyone except an exasperated Misty rushed to the windowsill.

Despite everyone's gobsmacked expressions, Misty surprisingly wasn't surprised to see Ash and Charizard flying in barrel rolls and somersaults in the sky above the small park. With a shuddering breath, she let herself stop frowning, and she allowed herself to tickle the miniature giggly Squirtle that snuggled against her chin.

Oblivious to all the attention, Ash laughed loudly as his Charizard danced with him into the sky and through the clouds.

oOoOo

"It sure if helpful of the Professor to make this doohickey," Ash exclaimed to himself. Misty had to return to her job at the Pokemon Center. Ash snickered at the absurdity before he looked back to the device Professor Oak had made. The small radar he held was an adapted prototype the Professor had long made, but it was now configurated to locate strong Psychic Energy residue. He wasn't surprised when the machine beeped loudly when waved near Misty. Ash shook his head, feeling a bit bad. Still… being with this Misty was a bit more upbeat. "Much less angsty?" he pondered. He shook his head to clear the cobwebs, and he returned to the device. It had led him to the Cinnabar Island Gym's doors to his surprise.

"What secrets are you withholding Blaine?" he muttered. He looked to Pikachu and to Squirtle. They nodded. He looked to his belt and his eyes glinted at the newly added Pokeball.

"Well… let's turn up the heat."

AN:

May you have a swell day.

*throws invisible Swords and Shields*