Misty perked up as Cerulean City came into view, she had been a little down since last night, after what happened. Ash had been very angry and handling his claustrophobia and at the same time trying to keep his aura under control and not lash out. He had been unable to cheer them up like normal with his aura, a neat little trick he had learned, not like she could blame him for it. Team Rocket can upset and ruin anyone's day after all, the good thing is he didn't lash out nor freak out and had spent the day meditating.
Misty, "Home sweet home!"
Ash stretched himself, "Man sitting on a bus seat for the whole day is not my thing."
Brock, "You okay Ash."
Ash nodded, "I think so, meditating helped a lot."
Jessilina looked him up and down, "Well you don't look sick or pale like you did back on Nautilus, so I'll take your word for it."
Ash twitched, "You noticed that?"
Jameson, "Hard not to when you always avoided the crowd and went to sleep with your older brother. His room is bigger than the standard one for trainers."
Ash sighed, "Yeah, trying to get over my phobia is more difficult then I had thought."
Misty gave him a one armed hug, "It's okay Ash, believe me I understand, most bug Pokemon still terrify me, Butterfree, your Beedrill and Dewpider are the only exception."
Ash smiled softly, "Thanks Misty."
Brock, "Hey, what's with the poster?"
Ash blinked, "The Little Mermaid? Oh! Do your sisters have a new actress?"
Misty, "Don't know, I never saw her before."
Jessilina, "Well one way to find out, let's go and meet them."
Misty nodded and led the way through the city that was bathed in the evening light making the canal, ponds, fountains and river flowing through it glow up in bright orange. Ash commented on how beautiful Cerulean City looks in the evening getting a beaming smile from Misty. Brock nodded in agreement and complimented the builders for their work on the design of the place, they had outdone themselves. Soon they reached the gym where they were welcomed by Misty's sisters a tad too enthusiasticly.
Misty looked at them suspiciously, "What are you hiding?"
Daisy, "Nothing nothing at all! Why don't I help you all settle in first. Oh! It's great to finally meet you Dewpider and is that a real living Omanyte? He is so adorable."
Misty, "Fine, I will not push for now."
Ash, "Yeah! He is cute isn't he?"
Omanyte was busy looking around at the aquariums and pools that were filled with water Pokemon and normal looking fishes, Ash figured were raised as food for the Pokemon. It always fascinated him to see creatures from his previous world in this one, he had figured it would only be filled with Pokemon but turns out there were normal creature farms too. He was not complaining though, it would have been kind of disturbing to eat meat of a creature that had the same level of rational thought as humans or to actually watch Pokemon eating other Pokemon.
Lily, "Ash! I read your book, it was pretty amazing."
Ash snapped out of his thoughts, "Oh! Thanks Lily, I'm glad you enjoyed it."
Violet grinned, "Sabrina's been gushing about it even before the actual release date during our gym meet. So I can tell you most gym leaders are very interested."
Ash looked embarassed, "They have been talking about me."
Brock, "I'm not surprised, fictional horror writers are very rare actually, most writers write romance or comedy or action, horror is a little rare."
Jameson nodded, "I agree, in fact according to my father your book became a high seller for the year."
Jessilina, "No wonder he approved of us being friends with you. He was snooping around again."
Tomo, "Big brother is really cool."
Ash, "I... I don't know what to say, I wrote that to vent."
Misty, "We understand Ash but sometimes life can surprise us."
Omanyte nibbles on Ash's hand, "Yte yte."
Lucario, -Just accept it as a compensation from fate for what happened with Team Rocket.-
Phantump, "Phaaaaaa."
Chimchar nuzzled him, "Chim char."
Ash mused, "I suppose I could do that."
Violet, "Well, why don't you all join us for dinner and then, get some rest. We cleared out the three guest rooms for you to sleep in."
Jessilina, "Thank you we appreciate it."
Dinner consisted of steamed lobsters and crabs with fried salmon and tuna, although they had different names here. Ash could not help but compare them with his previous world, he used to enjoy seafood a lot he remembers especially lobsters and prawns with butter. They had the dishes with sweet bread and rice, Ash mostly went for the rice Misty and the others noticed and pushed the rice bowl towards him. Phantump, Chimchar and Omanyte wanted to eat what Ash was eating and stayed on his lap the whole dinner time. Lucario sweatdropped seeing them act childish but didn't comment, he was pretty much as guilty of indulging them like Ash was. The next day when they woke up Misty's sisters announced a new play they were gonna showcase and announced Misty was the main character.
Misty got a tick mark, "I'm not a performer, what were you thinking?"
Daisy, "No, you are not, but we are giving you a chance to be one."
Misty huffed, "I'm not interested, how many times do I have to tell you three?"
Violet, "Come on Misty, like, you will be able to show the world how talented you are."
Lily, "Like yeah, baby sis! It'll look good on your resume too."
Misty, "It would but then people would expect me to perform, something I'm not at all interested in."
Ash, "Misty, relax, just because you are a performer or you have one act on your resume does not mean people can demand it from you."
Jessilina nodded, "Yes, he is right, it is up to you as a performer, if you want to perform."
Misty calmed down a bit, "Still a heads up would have been nice."
Violet, "We are like sorry about that, we forgot to mention it on our weekly calls."
Misty sighed, "Fine, what do I have to do?"
Daisy brightened and started to explain the plot of the Little Mermaid and how Misty would be the little Mermaid. Misty grunted unladylike and accepted the role and dressed up in a mermaid's costume and started to perform. Ash meanwhile called all their friends and told them about Misty's performance much to her embarrassment and started to live record for the group. Serena, Duplica and Chloe were gushing over how beautiful Misty looked and sent hearts on the video. While Ritchie, Gary, Gou and Horace congratulated her on her first performance and Todd requested a photoshoot. Paul and Drew simply complimented her on her performance and a job well done and they looked forward to more performances.
Misty, 'Not anytime soon though.'
Ash, "See you were great."
Jessilina, "You have talent for this Misty, don't doubt yourself."
Misty, "I don't doubt myself, I'm just not interested in this much."
Jameson, "We understand, Misty, we are just saying you have a good opportunity here if you ever want it to grow."
Brock nodded, "It's always good to have a plan to fall back on."
Misty conceded with the point and nodded, "I guess so, you are right about that."
Violet, "Great, now is there any Pokemon you want to leave behind? I know Clamperl here wants to go with you. By the way, she has produced ten pearls while she was here and the money sold from those pearls has been added to your account."
Misty perked up, "Oh that explains the extra amount in my account. Thanks Vi."
Violet smiled, "No problem baby sis."
Daisy, "Will you be going on foot to Viridian City?"
Jameson, "That's the plan yes!"
Lily, "Let's get you ready then, are you dropping in to Pewter or going direct to Viridian?"
Brock, "I am, yes, I want to check on my family and the gym."
Ash, "We are taking the highway route this time so we'll reach their by the end of the day if we leave tomorrow morning."
The three sisters nodded and Misty left her Poliwrath, Staryu, Cloyster, Goldeen and Tentacruel at the gym while catching Psyduck and taking Clamperl, Poliwhirl and Horsea with her. She still had Starmie and Oddish in her and planned on catching more water Pokemon on the road and adding them to her group of water Pokemon. She also hoped to evolve Oddish and Horsea soon but Horsea needed a dragon scale, maybe she could get one from Gary in Pallet for a good price.
They dropped by Mt Moon on the way and Ash was happy to note it was more well guarded and had rangers who put up a board on what type of evolution stones could be found. It kept most people from searching for the Cleffa, Clefairy and Cleffable colony as they were now under the protection of the rangers. If a trainer could befriend them, then they were allowed to take them, if not then tough luck. Seymour happily greeted them gushing about Misty's performance as a mermaid before turning to Ash and telling him he had watched his performance too. Misty and Ash just smiled softly at their scientist friend as he told them about what he had been doing with the rangers. Seymour blushed a little seeing the indulgent smiles and half wondered if this warm feeling inside him was what it meant to be friends.
Seymour, "Here Ash, Misty."
Ash, "These are.. "
Misty, "King's Rock! How?"
Seymour, "It's two of the only five we found, if we find more, we may add it to the list of stuff people can find."
Jessilina, "My those are rare."
Jameson nodded, "You two are lucky."
Ash put his inside the capsule, "That should hold it."
Misty called Poliwhirl, "Hey there pretty girl, our friend Seymour gave us a gift."
Poliwhirl cooed seeing the King's Rock and Misty continued, "Whenever you are ready to evolve my beautiful girl."
Poliwhirl took the King's Rock and nodded, "Li li poliwhirl."
They left Mt Moon and headed to Pewter City, to Ash the journey back just seemed shorter than the journey leaving. They were enthusiasticly greeted by Brock's siblings who told Brock their mother had returned home and was doing something to the gym. That got their attention and they decided to go check on the gym to see what was going on there. To say the gym was a mess would be an understatement and Ash saw Brock furious for the first time.
Ash, "Wait Brock calm down."
Misty nodded, "Getting angry will not help, calm down first, okay."
Brock took a deep breath and nodded, "Thank you."
Jessilina, "Let's go see what is going on."
A woman's voice came, "Brock is that you?"
Brock, "Who are you?"
The woman winced, "It's me, Lola Slate your mother."
Brock was not happy, "Why are you here and what in Mew's name have you done to the gym?"
Lola smiled, "I battled your dad to become a gym leader and to get inspiration for art and we agreed on making this a water and rock type gym."
Misty, "Excuse me! Kanto already has a water type gym."
Lola, "This is a dual gym."
Misty, "Prove it!"
Lola, "What?"
Misty, "I said prove it, show me the papers that allow you to become a water type gym."
Lola looked flabbergasted before turning to Flint, "Dear?"
Flint sighed, "They rejected it Lola, there can only be one water gym per region."
Lola, "What?"
Misty, "Remove those water elements, what you are doing is dangerous for the water Pokemon and against the rules."
Lola, "But my art, as an artist art is very important to me."
Ash interrupted her sharply, "Being an artist does not give you the right to break the law and put others in danger. Doing so makes you no different from Team Rocket."
Lola gasped and paled, she had run into Team Rocket and had barely escaped, "Do you really think I'm as bad as those criminals?"
Jessilina, "If you break the rules and put Pokemon in harms way, yes, yes you are."
Lola winced and Flint stepped forward, "Aren't you guys being too harsh?"
Jameson, "Do you love your wife?"
Flint straightened, "Of course I do!"
Ash, "Then why are you allowing her to act like Team Rocket?"
Flint was speechless and Lola sighed, she knew it was actually her fault for pressuring Flint and doing this. This was on her really, and approached her Pokemon who were listening to the bickering quietly. Lola hugged them apologized to them for forcing them into this situation and for not bothering to check if they were alright. Brock sighed and offered to check on them, and aside from having cramps from the lack of space to move around they were fine. Lola winced at the mention of cramps, she really needed to separate her work from her personal life, like her sister had told her before she had kicked her out. Misty looked at Ash before nodding and inviting her to the Cerulean water gym saying her sisters would be happy to have her input in designing the new aquarium. Ash nodded and complimented on some of the art around the gym walls that actually added a little colour to the place making Lola smile. She agreed to visit and offer her services there before inviting them to dinner and apologizing once more for mixing her work with her personal life.
[A. N.: I'll be honest I didn't like Lola's character at all. She really irritated me a lot, being an artist does not mean you force your art and view on others.
To be an artist is to show your art and talent so people can see what you can do. So people can understand the world from a different perspective.
Forcing people to like art just makes the art look cheap in my opinion!]