Chapter 3: Lovingly Clear
Psyduck could just peacefully go into his Poké Ball and
fall into a nice state of deep slumber, but Misty wasn't
so lucky and was very angry with her situation. The
problem wasn't so much that she couldn't really move. It
was more that it was just so boring sitting there waiting
for Ash to save her.
She was kind of like a princess waiting for her hero to save her. She stopped herself suddenly. Had she just thought of Ash as her hero? She just figured out she hadn't even considered that somebody besides Ash might help her. Maybe Brock would. Maybe she didn't want Ash to save her. It wouldn't seem right to not hug him for helping her out, but if she did, she might blush and Ash might notice.
Then he might ask her if she liked him. And if she told him she did, then what if he asked her why she hadn't admitted it before? She wouldn't have a good answer to that question. Of course, he was too thickheaded to think of a question like that. But still…
Maybe she did want Ash to save her. She could kiss him and if he liked it, then he'd probably say something about it. And if he didn't like it, then she could simply say she felt like she had to kiss him as thanks. Knowing him, in that case, he'd probably say something like, "That was supposed to be thanks? Do me a favor and don't thank me ever again!" She kind of liked the way that he teased her and she teased him. She wondered if he felt the same way. TV shows always showed married people who playfully teased each other. She wondered if Ash and she would make a cute couple. She wondered what people would say if they were a couple. Did she really care? After all, as long as there was love, nothing else really… Wait! Had she just thought about love and Ash at the same time?
Loud noises coming from outside interrupted her thoughts pretty effectively. It was amazing how much thinking you could get done when you couldn't do anything else. There was one window in the roof, and she saw a pink figure walking across the glass. She couldn't tell what it was, but it would probably help her out. She tried to cry into her gag loudly enough for it to hear. Surely enough, it looked down at her (although it was only because of the creature's curious nature, not because it had heard her). It was Jigglypuff!
Misty smiled to herself. She jerked her head upward toward Jigglypuff, since she couldn't move much else.
Jigglypuff said, "Jigglypuff." She ran off.
Misty hoped she was going to get help.
Ash stared down at the ground. "Misty's gone, Pikachu's gone, Brock's gone… there's nothing left for me, really. Team Rocket got rid of all my friends."
"Jigglypuff!" called a distant voice.
Ash looked up. "Jigglypuff's helped me a lot before," thought Ash excitedly. "Maybe she'll help me again." He got up.
Jigglypuff appeared from behind the surrounding trees and he followed her. She brought him to a cabin.
"Oh boy!" said Ash. "Team Rocket said Misty was being held in a cabin deep in the woods! She can definitely help me out!"
Jigglypuff noted the destruction she had caused before. The loose brick she had picked up and dropped had knocked over the curiously placed steel barrels that had allowed her to get up on the roof. She wouldn't be able to get back there again. Jigglypuff showed him the entrance. She couldn't have opened it herself, not being tall enough. Ash desperately struggled with the door. It was locked!
"No, no, no," cried Ash, pounding against the door. "I can't be beaten now! I have to find a way to get back at Team Rocket. Misty still has Pokémon left. They didn't take her Psyduck and Horsea, I noticed. Maybe others too… I have to get in!" He lowered his fists and looked at Jigglypuff. "Why won't Misty just unlock the door?"
Jigglypuff, acting like Pikachu, sighed. "Such a great knack for understanding," she thought to herself sarcastically.
Ash brightened. "I'll just break a window and you can go in and tell Misty it's me and that it's okay to unlock the door and then she'll be okay and we can fight Team Rocket!" he managed to get out in one breath.
Jigglypuff rolled her eyes, but had to admire his idea. "I guess he can't think to save his life, but can to save his girlfriend's," she thought. She followed him as he desperately ran around the cabin only to find no windows.
"No," cried Ash again. "This can't be happening! No windows… I'll never get back at Team Rocket now!" He felt Jigglypuff tugging at his pants and looked down at her. She was pointing at the roof.
"A window up on the roof?" he asked.
Jigglypuff nodded. He had actually understood something easily! It looked like she would have to actually work with him, though. She led him to the barrels.
"I get it," said Ash. "I set up the barrels, you climb up on the roof, I throw you a rock, you break the window, unlock the door…" Jigglypuff inflated herself. "Okay, you get the idea too," Ash said quickly.
Jigglypuff shrank back to normal size as he set the barrels upright. While Jigglypuff was climbing up, Ash found a nicely sized rock and threw it up to her. He hadn't realized that she was only getting up there. Fortunately, she turned around in time and caught it. Luckily for him, too, because she probably would have Body Slammed him if it had hit her. Misty looked up to see Jigglypuff with a rock. She smashed the window, making sure the glass shards wouldn't hurt either of them, and jumped down.
"Jiggly!" the cute Pokémon said ecstatically. She tried to untie Misty, but her hands were too short to use more than one at a time and it was impossible. It wasn't that way with the lock, though. Jigglypuff rushed to the door and unlocked it.
Ash came through.
The first thing he said was, "Misty, why didn't…" His voice dropped
off when he saw her tied up. "Oh," he said, feeling like a jerk for
assuming that she was simply annoying him.
Misty looked happily at him. It was Ash, her hero. He untied her gag and she felt very relieved. He went to work on her wrists. Without even thinking about what she would do as she had been thinking only a few minutes ago, she blindly and unknowingly went on instinct and said, "Ash, I can't thank you enough."
Ash smiled at the back of her head and finished untying her wrists. "It's nothing!" he said exuberantly. "Now we can get back at Team Rocket with your Pokémon and I can get my Krabby and Muk and… We'll get them! I know it!"
"Is that all he ever thinks about?" is what Misty would have thought to herself if she was thinking clearly. But she was following love, and was certainly not thinking clearly. "Yeah, we will," she agreed, not even knowing what she was agreeing to.
As soon as her ankles were free, she turned around. She threw her arms around Ash. "Thank you! I really mean it…" She suddenly realized what she was doing. "I don't know what to say," she said honestly, letting go. She glanced down at the ground, then looked back up at him.
"Does this mean I don't have to buy you a new bike?" he asked hopefully.
Thinking straight again, she said, "Oh, Ash!" in a strange cross between a that's-what-I-love-about-you voice and a can't-you-think-about-me-for-once voice. She looked at him in the eyes. Before Ash could ask whether that was a yes or no, she kissed him on the lips and held him there for five minutes.
