I'm really sorry that I haven't updated for so long! In short, I had a downturn in my love life so was really depressed for ages, I had an interview with my first choice university so had focus on that and finally I had another seizure -_- But here it is! This will be my last chapter for this story. I will write future fanfics but got my exams coming up and my parents will be buying me a new laptop so will start fanart again so you guys won't be hearing from me until possibly July!

Warning! This has a lot of speech in it. I needed to tie up loose ends...

Anyway, on with the story. I need to put in a disclaimer, don't I? ... Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon but if Nintendo still exists once I'm mega-rich, I'm buying it and I'll make sure Misty returns unless she has already.

"Mr Ketchum, we were expecting you over an hour ago. In case if you have forgotten, we have a tight schedule. I would rather if you co-operated because I simply find sanctioning quite tedious if you don't mind," a posh, over-confident voice sniffed behind Misty.

Misty twirled around, to find the owner of the voice, to be met with a well-dressed, balding old man looking down at her long-time crush with an expression of disapproval.

Failing to get a response from Ash other than an insolent scowl, he turned his attention to Misty, "And who are you?"

"That's none of your business." Ash stated sharply, suddenly standing up. He gave a silent challenge to the man to dare interrupt them any further. Ash's distaste for this person was very evident to Misty.

"As your employer, I have every right to demand the reason why my employees fail to appear on time to work especially when I find them frolicking with the locals," he sneered back.

"Employer, my ar– " Ash growled taking a step forward whilst clenching a fist around a Pokéball from his belt. Misty quickly laid a hand on his shoulder to cut him off from making the situation worse. She looked the man in the eye, barely controlling her own rage at the way he was treating them.

"For your information, I am Misty Waterflower, the acclaimed Gym Leader of Cerulean City of the Kanto region," she proudly informed him.

The man immediately blanched at her words, his eyes wide in disbelief. He stuttered some unintelligible half-formed words before abruptly turning on his well-polished heel and hurriedly marched off.

"Misty, that wasn't a good idea at all. Not at all," Ash muttered.

Misty looked at him; his features were clouded with a worried frown.

"Why?" Misty asked, genuinely puzzled.

"That was someone from the company I mentioned earlier. The person you've just met… well, that was the director of Nintendo TV."

Misty stared at Ash, not understanding the grave look he was giving her.

"So?" she finally asked.

"What d'you mean, so? There's a lot at stake here, Misty. Nintendo TV may seem like the nice guys who provide us with entertainment and so on but they're cunning bastards. They only look for their own interests; they separated us because they didn't like us together; they used blackmail to stop me seeing you and they have taken everything from my identity. They control everything about me! Do you even know how hard it is to pretend to be the dopey Slowbro constantly? It's eating me up inside!" Ash cried out, his eyes filling up with raw hurt.

Misty gaped at his outburst, surprised at how emotional Ash could be.

"You don't understand, Mist. You really don't." Ash finally whispered with his eyes downcast, the previous aggravation all but evaporated.

Misty, knowing that words would not satisfy, reached out and hugged him, making soothing 'Shhhing' sounds as she did so.

"I'm sorry, Misty and Pikachu," Ash gulped.

"Chuuu," Pikachu comforted, tightly clutching Ash's leg.

"Don't be. You have every right to feel resentment against them," Misty softly agreed against his shoulder.

"We're back together and that's what matters," she added, raising her head to give him a tentative smile.

The three long-time friends remained in their embrace for a few minutes until Ash broke the silence.

"Misty, um, there's something I want to tell you. Something I should have said to you a long time ago," he gently murmured in her ear.

"And what was that?" Misty asked, trying to sound nonchalant despite the fluttering of Butterfrees in her stomach.

"Misty… Despite… despite what other people may think or say…" Ash started off slowly.

However before Ash was able to continue what he was about to say, a male voice cleared his throat announcing his arrival.

Ash grimaced in frustration and turned around to face the cause of the interruption.

"What is it?" Ash snarled at his director.

"Ahem! Since you are currently distracted by this recent development, where its continuity shall be discussed in the near future, I have taken the liberty of introducing you to your new temporary colleague." The director's eye twitched at the mention of development but as far as Ash and Misty were concerned, he seemed to have regained his old arrogant composure.

"I would like you to meet Serena, your new female companion."

A blonde, blue-eyed girl, previously unnoticed, around their age stepped forward shyly.

"Another pretend co-ordinator or trainer, I presume?" Ash sighed tiredly. "This is really getting old."

"Trainer yes, but there's a slight twist." The director gave a cold smile at the Misty and Ash's confused glances at the possible implications of what he had just said.

"And what sort of twist are we talking about here?" Misty asked cautiously.

"Serena is to have a supposed infatuation with young Ash here."

"You've gotta be kidding me," Ash snorted. "There's no way I'm doing that."

"Oh, Mr Ketchum, you certainly will," he smirked, his voice brimming with confidence.

"There's nothing you can do now," Ash challenged. "Misty's back and we can go back whenever we want."

However to their surprise, Ash's superior simply sniffed indifferently as if he was not bothered by Ash's threat.

"You forget, Mr Ketchum, of the capabilities of my corporation. It would not take much to persuade the immigration bureau to claim Miss Waterflower came here to Kalos illegally…"

He left his comment hang darkly in the air, confident he had the upper hand again.

"Well then," Ash retorted, "we'll go now and ride back to Kanto on our respective water Pokémon then."

The two men glared at each other, one in defiance and the other in anger, whilst Misty and Pikachu flicked their eyes to and fro, nervously waiting for the latter to back down.

"Excuse me, sirs," a timid voice suddenly squeaked.

All four sets of eyes turned in surprise to Serena, astonished that she would dare intervene.

The poor girl trembled at the intensive attention she was receiving and swallowed nervously before continuing, "What if Ash's friend here were to travel with us but stay out of the cameras? Would that be okay?"

Ash and his director stared at her, trying to absorb what she had just said.

"Well, I think that seems fair, don't you think?" Ash drawled at his boss.

Ash's director pondered over the new proposal for a few moments before mumbling that he would discuss Serena's suggestion with his superiors.

As he trudged back towards the tower, Misty gave Serena a warm smile, seriously impressed with her bravery and her diplomacy in a foreign matter.

"Hi, I haven't properly introduced myself to you. I'm Misty!" Misty grinned whilst enthusiastically shaking Serena's hand.

Serena blushed and gave a small hesitant smile in return.

"But if you go any further with a pretend crush, you'll have to face mine and my Pokémon's wrath with or without the cameras rolling. Got it?" Misty playfully warned.

Serena nodded vigorously with a hint of fear in her eyes.

"Serena! You don't have to be afraid!" Misty smirked.

"Yes, you do," Ash countered.

"Hey!" Misty bellowed at her crush giving him, at the same time, a forceful whack on the back of the head.

"See?" Ash choked out though he didn't mind at all. In his own weird way, he loved the banter between him and Misty regardless of the countless times she had lost her temper with him during those arguments. To him, it made their relationship more vibrant, exciting even.

Misty rolled her eyes in defeat.

"Hey Serena, I don't want to seem rude or anything but I was hoping to have a bit of alone time with Ashy. Is that ok?" Misty gently asked.

Serena wordlessly hurried off after a quick bob of the head.

Along the way she wondered if signing up to the television show had been worth it if she had to be with the world's weirdest couple for a whole year. Her only real reason she had was to be with the famous Clemont of Lumiose City!

Misty stepped forwards to hold Ash's hands and grinned.

"So, Ashy-Boy, where were we?"

"Ah, yes." Ash smiled back whilst scratching the back of his neck.

"So?" Misty teased back.

"Well you see Misty," Ash started off seriously, "I never wanted you to leave. Sure, when you were asked to replace your sisters back in Cerulean, I thought you were happy to have the responsibility of having the position of Gym Leader and then one day potentially become one of the Elite Four so you would fulfil your dream of becoming a Water Pokémon Master. So, in brief, I acted happy for ya but when I saw that you were also upset about leaving, I realised that you really did want to be with us and, um, er, specifically me. So when, um, when you had to leave… um…"

Ash trailed off, looking very self-conscious.

"Go on," Misty softly prompted.

"When y-you had to leave, I desperately wanted to tell you to stay but I was scared. I was young back then. I didn't know what to do; I didn't know what the future held for all of us; I didn't understand my feelings for you and I don't think you did either at the time too. You're my best friend Misty and I'm sorry that I was a coward. I let Nintendo run my life and I've been lost the past several years because of that…"

Ash looked down at the ground and gulped before continuing, "Misty, I don't want to force you but I don't want you to leave my side ever again until my contract has expired."

"Well Ash, you don't have to worry about that," Misty beamed.

Ash relaxed and hugged her.

"Oh, Misty," he exhaled, burying his face into her neck. "And one last thing, Misty, can you promise we'll stay friends, no matter what?" Ash softly asked.

Misty cupped her hand around his cheek to look into his handsome brown eyes. She paused, thinking hard about her answer. Eventually she relented and leant in to kiss him gently on the lips.

"I promise."

Well, that's that! I've finished! :D

You're probably wondering, why the bashing on Nintendo and not Serena? Well I don't blame Serena. I hate Nintendo for making a perfect couple and an awesome character ( a.k.a Misty) and throwing her away aside as if she was nothing and then corrupt everything that made the Pokémon animé vibrant and dynamic. Misty was Nintendo's greatest creation. Not Pikachu, nor Ash. She was the unique character and she deserves to live happily ever after with her boy of her dreams, Ash (though I still fail to understand why she would want to go out with an idiot...)

POKÉSHIPPERS LIVE ON! We'll show Nintendo that we will never waver in our quest to see Misty again rightfully at Ash's side (Pikachu and Brock on the other side of course). We waited 20 years for Pokéshipping to become canon. We'll wait for another 20 if we must. We will fight and we will win this war of willpower. They need to understand the sheer power of loyalty.