Summary: There are some things worth fighting for, worth dying for, worth laying it all on the line at the risk of losing everything.  Concert tickets, however, not one of those things and when our two favourite Rockets begin plotting 'against' our hero's Misty is about to learn her lesson too well; too late.  AAMR

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or of it's plots or characters.  I do not own Westlife or any of their music.  I don't anything and it's starting to really get to me.  Please all excuse me while I go cry in the corner.

Ok, with that said.  I'm going through a sort of 'writers block' with 'On Angels Wings' so to kind of take the pressure off (that sometimes help) and give myself something else to focus on (which also sometimes helps) I've decided to start up on this fic.  Now this is another of those was supposed to be a one-shot but I got carried away sort of fics (there are three of them now) so it was originally written as one whole story but me being my anal-retentive, must organise everything self thought that it was so long (almost 12,000 words thank you very much) that I could drag it out into a few chapters.  So I hope you all enjoy this, and for those of you who aren't Westlife fans just insert your own favourite band in place of Westlife to help understand Misty's dilemma but whatever you do, do not tell me or I will be forced to hunt you down and kill you.

And on a lighter note, have fun reading.

Pretend to be nice – Innocent Eyes

"C'mon Misty," Jesse insisted, "it's just a dare.  I mean it's not like I'm making you kiss the twe . . . I mean Ash or something."

"Well part of me wishes you would," Misty replied vehemently.

"Ouch that hurts," Jesse replied.  "I know you want the tickets Misty, I mean it's really the only option you've got."

Misty scowled.

She had been a bit shocked when Jesse had offered her two VIP tickets to the upcoming Westlife concert.  It had been sold out for months now and she had basically given up all hope of getting even one ticket. 

She had tried everything to get one, calling up radio stations, advertising on-line that she wanted a ticket, standing in the blistering cold for five hours straight, but nothing seemed to work then suddenly out of the blue Jesse calls practically giving them away.

But then I did say practically.

"James' company just gave them to us," Jesse had explained.  "I mean what am I going to do with them anyway?  I was never really a fan and James here is still mourning the thievery of Will Young."  (A/N: Aren't we all?)

"So you're just going to give them to me?" Misty had asked her voice beginning to fill with excitement.

"When did I say that?"

Even though her days as a member of the infamous Team Rocket had been long since forgotten since her marriage to her 'partner in crime', James, Jesse was still a Rocket through and through and she always seemed to have something up her sleeve for the great ex-rocket was never short of an ulterior motive.

Misty knew she shouldn't have trusted Jesse's intentions so easily but she herself had always been a little naïve even now at eighteen.

"Do I even want to ask?" Misty had replied worriedly her excitement fading away.

"I just have a little challenge for you to prove you deserve them," Jesse sad innocently.  "I mean these are VIP tickets including a private box seat, backstage passes and entrance to the after party.  You wouldn't want me just giving them to anybody would you?"

Misty sighed.

"What is it?"

"Next time you go into a Pokemon Centre I want you to stop Brock from flirting with Nurse Joy but you're not allowed to hurt him physically," Jesse had replied her eyes glowing happily.

Which just about brings us to where I started.

"And exactly how am I supposed to do this anyway?" Misty asked angrily her mind still considering Jesse's challenge.

"Oh you'll figure it out," Jesse replied cryptically before hanging up the phone.

"Jesse, why did you give away my Westlife tickets?" James whined at his wife.

"Don't worry, I'm doing a good deed," Jesse replied proudly.  "Just giving the twerps a little push in the right direction."

"Then why didn't you just have her kiss Ash?" James asked.  "Why'd you practically set her up with the older twerp?"

"Because you said that she was in love with him," she replied.

"No," James said shaking his head for emphasis.  "I said she was in love with the tall one."

"I thought the older twerp was the tall one," Jesse shrugged.

"When they were younger but now the leader twerp is about six foot something," he explained to her.

"Oh," Jesse replied worriedly.  "You never know, maybe things will work out for the best."

"I hope so."

"So why'd Jesse call?" Ash asked when Misty returned downtrodden from her phone call with Jesse.

He almost brought a smile to her face as she looked into his concerned chocolate brown eyes, but then again it wasn't quite enough right now because she may have just figured out how to complete the challenge.

"She offered me two VIP tickets to Westlife," Misty replied forcing a smile to her face and voice.

"That's great Misty, you've been trying to get those things for ages, so why do you seem so sad about it?" Ash asked.

"Because first I have to prove myself to her that I deserve them and I don't want to do it," Misty sighed.  "On the one hand I get the chance to see my favourite band, maybe even party with them and meet them after the show, but on the other I have to do something I don't want to do and may hurt other people."

"What does your heart say?" Ash asked her hoping it would help her.

"It's not my heart I'm worried about," Misty sighed again.  "That part of me, for once in my life, is making complete sense.  It says no and most of me agrees with it.  It's my mind that's the problem.  It's pulling me both ways.

"I want those tickets so bad," Misty breathed sadly.  "But I don't know if I want them that bad."

It was Ash's turn to sigh.  He had even tried to get those tickets for her, hoping that maybe he would be able to pull a few strings in the right departments with all his master's connections, but it seemed futile.  He wanted her to go; he knew how much she was willing to do to get these tickets.  She had actually told him that if she got these tickets she would never resort to violence ever again.

"I think you should do it," he told her.  "I mean how often are you going to get a chance like this.  Whatever it is can't be that bad.  Knowing Jesse, it's probably just a small part of some master plan she's been cooking up for years."

"Are you sure?" she asked cautiously.

"Have I ever steered you wrong?" he replied confidently.

"Do you really want me to answer that question?"

"Never mind," he sighed knowing he didn't want her too.  She'd probably bring up the whole bike thing all over again which by the way, he still hadn't returned after eight long years of friendship.

"Fine Ash," sighed looking over him with trusting eyes, "I believe you."

He smiled back at her and her heart almost stopped beating.  She couldn't believe how lucky she was just to be a part of his life and she hoped she always would be.

But most of all she hoped that Jesse's fun little challenge wouldn't partake in ruining their perfectly good friendship, something she feared more than anything else at all.

For she knew better than anyone else that there was only one way that this particular task could be done.  They had all seen it and she could remember all the fun she'd had that week, just her and Ash not having to worry about any antics Brock was up to.

It was the first girl to ever take Brock up on his offer and for a whole week he only flirted with her.  Sure it turned out she was only using Brock to get her ex-boyfriend jealous and that once the week was over he came back with his flirting full force, but it was a week to be remembered.

She sighed again as she lay her head in Ash's lap as they both sat on the couch within the Pokemon Centre's lounge.

God, she wanted those tickets.  It really was the chance of the lifetime.  She was given the chance to be in a seat so close she could almost touch them, in a massive arena just like the ones that Ash's Masters battles were held in.  She was given the chance to go backstage, to see what they saw every day and maybe even meet them if they walked her way.  And better still she was given the chance to go to a party, to actually party with the band and have the time of her life.

Damn it, why was life so unfair?

She couldn't believe she had really expected Jesse to hand her the mother of all concert tickets/backstage passes/party invites to the mother of all concerts for nothing.  I suppose deep down she knew that Jesse would have some twisted set-up for her but deep down she really hoped it had meant kissing Ash.

She looked up at him and smiled slightly as his hand ran gently through her copper hair almost subconsciously as if he wasn't even aware he was doing so.

It made her tingle all over with excitement just to be in his arms the way she was.  It seemed to make things just that much more bearable and made her consider that maybe she could do this.

'God he's beautiful,' Misty thought to herself as she studied the perfect form before her.

She knew that there was no fear of him catching her staring, it's not like that would stop her anyway; it hadn't before.  His eyes were staring blankly ahead but she could tell there was something on his mind that he was going over carefully in his head by the ways his brows were furrowed in a thoughtful expression.

She almost didn't want to ask him what was on his mind in the risk that it might ruin the perfection she was admiring and she was perfectly content on doing so.  But then again, this was her best friend; she couldn't just lie there as if she didn't care about what was on his mind without at least asking what was wrong.

So she did.

"What's wrong Ash?" she asked gently almost as if she was afraid talking too loud would break him.

"Huh?" he asked at first before realizing that he had been completely lost in thought.  "Oh don't worry about me Misty, it's nothing."

Misty sighed slightly. 

Of course she was worried about him, he was the only thing she ever did worry about.  She didn't worry about passing her entrance exams or winning battles or even getting tickets to see her favourite band in concert, she always seemed to be more worried about him doing all these things instead.

But what do you expect.  She was in love with him for god sakes and had been at least since she was eleven, though probably longer.

Sometimes she wondered if that was her sole purpose in life.   As if she were just born to be there standing on the sidelines totally and utterly in love with the boy hoping that one-day he would love her back.

And between you and me, he did.

He was just about as in love with her as she was with him and for some unknown reason everyone but them could see that.  It was almost as if they had willingly convinced themselves to disregard all the signs which others read so easily and to deny all the obvious conclusions.

I guess it was just a way of protecting themselves from rejection and heartache but in truth they were only hurting themselves and one another, dying on the inside as they tried to forget what they really felt.

But now is not the time to go into that.

Misty just didn't know how she was going to be able to do this.  I mean, sure after she was given Ash's approval she did feel a little better about the task but when she thought over the consequences she almost felt sick to her stomach.  She was just so afraid of losing him that she couldn't even begin to imagine how she would go on without him.

She knew what she had to do; it was pulling it all off that worried her.

It wasn't that she didn't think she could do it; she'd done it a thousand times before.  This wouldn't be the first or last time that she'd done basically the exact same thing, only for different reasons.  She flirted with guys with whom she had no interest all the time just to try and get a little extra attention from Ash and make him jealous, even if he wouldn't admit that he was, Brock really wouldn't be any different from them.

Heck, she'd practically perfected the art of flirting.  According to her three loving sisters she had been flirting with Ash from the moment she met him.  She wasn't entirely sure how calling him a moron and letting her annoyance and disappointment show when she realized he wasn't some stupid little magic carp constituted as flirting but her sisters always had been a little, shall we say . . . eccentric?

So in fact it seemed she had the know how to pull it off and the idea's to get her there, but she didn't think she had the will.

Or a plan for that matter.

All she knew was that before they got to the Pokemon Centre she would have to seriously get Brock's attention, even if that meant changing her whole image.

Even if it meant betraying her self and everything she stood for.

That was one thing she had promised she would never do.  She had decided once long ago that she would never pretend to be someone else just to impress a guy like her sisters had.  It was her belief that if a guy didn't like her for who she was then he just wasn't worth her time.

She promised she would never change for anyone or anything and now she was breaking that promise for five Irish seraphim (A/N: highest choir of angels) and some really catchy love ballads.

'It's only pretend,' Misty reasoned to herself.  'After I'm done I'll be back to the person I've always been and we can all act like all this never happened.  It's only a for a few days, nothing could possible go wrong.'

If only that were true . . .

~ to be continued ~

Well I hope you all enjoyed that, please review and tell me what you think.  I really do love your feedback and I'll try my best to respond.