Dislaimer: I don't own Pokemon.

Edited: July 4, 2015

A Thinker's Thoughts

Pokeshipping

Ash isn't stupid.

Dense, stubborn, over enthusiastic, a bit of a spaz even, but not stupid. Never stupid. Yet, it seemed that the longer he traveled, the harder it became to convince others of this fact. Because the one thing Ash lacked was the thought process behind each action, and therein lay the problem.

And where she came into play.

Misty isn't stupid either. She is, in more ways than one, different from Ash. He grins, she groans. He runs, she chases. He is careless, she is not. If not for Misty, Ash would have fallen flat on his face in a pile of mud with nothing to do and nowhere to go. Because naturally, she is the thinker and he is the actor.

He's just reckless.

"Misty?" Ash waved a hand in front of her face a few times, walking backwards in an unbalanced and almost humorous way. If he had thought it through he might have considered walking at her side instead. Ash isn't as coordinated as he might like to believe, and Misty knows this. She knew he would fall, already suppressing a smirk when he stumbled. Hands already out to catch him. He laughed, scratching his head, moving his hat up and down as he did so. Pikachu clung on to it, eying the ground with the anxious face of a pokémon whose life has suddenly flashed before its eyes. "Thanks." He grinned, Misty just had to roll her eyes.

"Yeah."

He had the sense to walk forward after that, taking strides to match Misty's. Brock walked on ahead, flipping through the travel guide, determining where they might try for next. Misty and Ash were left to themselves in a rare silence. In all its truth, Misty also knew that that wouldn't last long either. In a sudden movement Ash was again making himself animated, he stepped a pace in front of her so that Brock would know that he was addressing the both of them, and then:

"I can't wait for the next gym!" he declared, grinning. Misty sighed.

"You don't even know what city we're going to." She stated.

Ash was unfazed by her words. "How can you train without knowing what you're up against?" If he'd bothered to think about it, it would have made sense. Going into a battle against an opponent you know nothing about is never a wise decision, something he should have learned after his battle with Sabrina. Though that never seemed to bother Ash before, why should it now? Misty knows.

"Don't sweat it Mist! Me and Pikachu have got it covered!" A grin lit up his face. Lit up everything about him. Misty smiled. They never had it covered, but the way he and Pikachu seemed to be anticipating it, with their identical looks of determination, and laughing, one might have thought otherwise.

"We'll see." She muttered, a small smile on her lips. His grin didn't leave. He put his hands behind his head, looking around, Misty's gaze following his.

"What's that?" He wondered allowed, pointing to a hole off to the side of the pathway. Misty looked at it for a moment, thinking it probably wouldn't be a wise idea to investigate the question. She turned to Ash.

"Just leave it alo-." He words fell on deaf ears. Ash was already at the hole. He and Pikachu, looked into it and around it. "Ash, stop being stupid!" She groaned.

She fumed when he didn't come back and stayed silent as he continued to poke at the hole. The shadow that had eerily been cast over her didn't even seem to reach her senses. The growl, however, did. She didn't have to turn around. She knew that it was an ursaring. Taking a deep breathe she did the one thing she could, she ran. Grabbing Ash in the process and then taking off at an incredible pace down the path. Rushing past Brock, screaming words better left unsaid and hitting Ash all the while. His face was a mixture of shock and amusement. She looked anything but.

When Misty finally stopped it was only because they had hit a creek. Misty glared at the water, fuming irritably. Now they would have to wait for Brock to find them and hope the ursaring wasn't behind him. Ash was laughing, which was the only thing that brought her glare from the water back to him. She looked at him for a moment before deciding it'd be a good time to hit him, which she did.

"How is this funny? Do you ever think?" She yelled, her arms thrown above her as if to prove a point that should have been obvious to anyone with half a brain. He wasn't laughing anymore but the smile remained. Misty's face soften and she let out a calming sigh. She couldn't be mad at him with that smile. It was just too much of an annoyance faking anger constantly. Really, he didn't anger her as much as she let on to believe.

"Come on Misty, we should have stayed! I could have battled it!" He smiled. Misty rolled her eyes.

"No Ash, the only reason it attacked us was to protect its teddiursa. The one probably hiding in that hole. Did you really want to attack a mother?"

As if it had clicked in his head Ash looked away, mumbling an 'oh' before turning back to her and smiling once more.

"Thanks for stopping me." He stated. Again he scratched his head. "You know I'm not good at …"

"—Thinking." Misty said, helpfully.

She laughed. Realizing his error, Ash raised his hands, waving them in front of his increasingly reddened face.

"Maybe!" He laughed. Misty smiled.

"I know."

Because she is the thinker and he is the actor.

7/4/15 - I'm going back and editing everything. Hope you enjoy!

1/24/10 –– As a challenge to myself this is my first one-shot, and my first pokeshipper. Sorry for lack of fluff. As I progress so too will my ability to write romance … hopefully. Anyway, if you wouldn't mind, any grammatical errors you catch will you notify me? As much as I try, I have never been able to catch them all. (budum tis)

Thanks to ThePhantomWolf for pointing out a few mistakes. :)