Hey all my dearly beloved readers! I am back! And I brought some fresh AAML with me :) After reading through Dinobot's EPIC alphabet challenge series, I decided to do one of my own! I'm fairly confident that I'll be able to get through all of these before the end of summer. Now that I don't have my macbook (my school took it back for the summer-*cry*) I can no longer be distracted by the wonders of the internet *_* Hurray! And since I don't have school anymore, I can spend my nights writing fanfiction!...or...wait...I mean I can spend my nights going out and having a life!

...Who am I kidding? Most nights I'm probably going to be writing fanfiction -_-; Ah well, such is life. To kick things off, I'm going to be posting TWO chapters! So I hope you enjoy them!

Also, THANK YOU SO MUCH TO MY LOVELY BETA READERS Elmo-kibafangirl11 and Eggplantdance. You both gave me such great feedback and advice! *throws you cookies*

Disclaimer: I do not in any way, shape, or form own pokemon. Santa obviously didn't read my christmas list thoroughly...

Archipelago

"Go bother someone else," Ash said in a false falsetto voice, trying to mimic his red haired friend. "I know you're on vacation, but I have work to do Mr. Pokemon Master! Sheesh..." Ash muttered, kicking off the floor so he spun around in the swivel chair. "And I thought she was bossy when she was twelve..."

Ash picked a pencil off of Misty's desk and twirled it with his fingers as he continued rotating. "This is boring!" he moaned. "When I said I wanted to visit her, I didn't think she'd be busy! I thought I'd be learning some cool gym leader secrets by now, not hangin' out in the office." Ash gripped the edge of the desk and gave himself another push. "Although," Ash grinned, starting to feel a bit dizzy, "this is rather fun."

Ash was interrupted in his whirling by a soft ding! from the computer. The teen almost fell of the chair in his haste to stop himself and look at the computer.

"Speaking of gym leader secrets!" Ash crowed. The subject line of the email was highlighted in red, and Ash knew that Misty coded all of her emails according to who sent them and how important they were. Red meant it was from a gym leader, and it might even contain top secret material!

Most people have common sense enough to respect other people's privacy and not read their mail, digital or otherwise. Ash, however, was inhibited by no such thing. Whatever punishment he may have to face later wasn't equal to the curiosity he had now that was telling him to read the new message. Misty would probably be pissed beyond belief that Ash had opened the confidential email, but he was so bored and the subject title: "It's a secret" was more tempting than he could handle.

"Hellloooo freedom from boredom!" Ash cooed at the computer. With a quick click of the mouse, the message opened. "And who are yoouuuu fro-RUDY?"

Hey Misty!

It's been a while since I heard from you; the whole gym leader job is really demanding huh? You're lucky that all of your sisters are older than you, between taking care of the gym and Marie, I have almost no time to myself! I'm glad I got the chance to read my email though. I was delighted when I saw that I had a message from you ;) Unfortunately, I cannot tell you my secret by email ^_~ It's something that I would have to tell you in person. You should come visit me at Trovita Island! I can tell you my secret, and you can have some time to relax. The archipelago is beautiful in the summer months, though even the sparkling sea and blooming flowers can't rival your natural loveliness :-* And I know I'm not the only one who misses you. Marie asks me at least once a week when you are going to return, and I confess that I am no less anxious to see you. Is it not unreasonable to ask your sisters to see to your gym for a week or two so you can come see us?

Eagerly awaiting your reply,

~:3 Rudy 3:~

"What the hell-lllloooo Misty!" Ash slurred as the swivel chair was abruptly yanked around to face a furious red head.

"Ash," Misty growled out from between clenched teeth. "Do you want to explain to me why you were reading my private email?"

Though momentarily cowed by the snarling girl that had trapped him in the chair, her hands curled around each of the armrests and nose almost brushing his, the mention of the email brought back some of Ash's indignation and courage. "And do you want to explain to me why Rudy is emailing you about some secret, romantic vacation?" He shot back at her.

Misty snorted and rolled her eyes. "Work on your reading skills Ash," she said, "Rudy didn't ask me out on some 'secret, romantic vacation.' I had emailed him to ask about how he was able to teach his starmie thunderbolt, which is apparently some secret he doesn't want to share over email." She shrugged.

"Well, he still asked you to visit Trovita for a vacation, and he put hearts by his name," Ash pointed out, pressing into the back of the chair as Misty shifted closer. "How is that not suspicious?"

Misty groaned and hung her head, muttering something that sounded like, "How can you be so preceptive and so dense at the same time?" before she straightened up saying, "Stop freaking out Ash, I'm not going anywhere. I'm way too busy with the gym."

"Like that's a surprise!" Ash threw himself out of the chair and followed his friend into the kitchen. "You're always busy! Why can't you take some time off or something?"

"So I can visit Rudy?" Misty asked impishly, grabbing the teapot and walking over to the sink to fill it up.

"No," Ash said forcefully, trailing the girl from the sink and back to the stove. "Like, why can't you take time off when I'm around? We never get to hang out anymore!"

"That's rich coming from the boy who's in far off regions for eleven and a half of the twelve months in the year," Misty drawled sarcastically, leaving the water to heat and going back into the front of the gym. She and Ash entered the pool room to chorus of yips, growls, and barks from the pokemon.

Misty rummaged about in the closet, taking out shallow buckets and pressing them into Ash's arms as he spoke.

"Well I'm here now," he complained, awkwardly juggling his cargo. Misty threw a bag of pokefood on top of his load before nudging Ash out of the closet.

"Put them down by the pool's edge," the gym leader instructed. "And I'm sorry I can't just drop everything and entertain you."

"I don't want you to entertain me," Ash frowned, following Misty's example and pouring the food into the dishes. "I just want to...you know...hang together. Do stuff together..."

Misty peeked at the boy from the corner of her eye and smiled at the serious expression that was usually only seen when he was battling. She opened another bag and tossed some food into the water, clucking her tongue twice to call the pokemon to their dinner. Weaving her way through the rush of water pokemon, she made her way to Ash and laid a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her, a bit startled by the sudden contact.

"Fine. If you promise to take a break from your travels and come visit me for a week or two, I promise I'll stop working and 'hang' with you. Deal?" She grinned at him.

Ash nodded, a grin to mirror hers appearing on his face. "Deal," he agreed, shaking her hand.

"Good!" Misty pinched his cheek and laughed as he tried to swat her away. "I miss hanging out with you too."

"My, my." Misty got up to greet the familiar boy who had entered the gym, catching pikachu as he sprang into her arms. "This is the third visit in six months." She giggled as the electric mouse's rough tongue tickled her chin. Misty scratched pikachu's head and turned to smile at his trainer. "I didn't say you had to visit me this frequently. Once or twice a year would have been fine."

"Do you not want me to come?" Ash frowned, folding his arms across his chest. "'Cause I'm paying quite the sum to catch the train back and forth between Kanto and Sinnoh all the time."

"Liar." Misty settled Pikachu on her shoulder so she could tweak Ash's nose. "You take staraptor, which doesn't cost you a cent. But I do enjoy having you here," she assured him.

"Good," Ash's face lit up.

"Mmm," Misty placed Pikachu in Ash's arms and walked back into the reception desk to leave a note for Daisy, "Except you better have something fun planned; I could be sun bathing on Trovita Island right now." She looked back at him over her shoulder, eyes sparkling playfully.

"Well," Ash said slowly, "it just so happens that the Marina Group is in Celadon right now, so I was thinking we could go there, see them, and maybe get some dinner afterwards."

"Really?" Misty's eyebrows rose in disbelief. "That would be amazing! I've always wanted to see them!" She gushed delightedly. The girl laughed and gave her friend a quick hug. "Jeez Ash, if I didn't know better I'd call this a date." Just saying the word brought a light blush to her cheeks.

"Um...well...do you want it to be?" He wasn't looking at her, but was instead staring down at Pikachu and playing with his ears.

"Yes," Misty said truthfully, fiddling with the pen that she still held. Click. Click. Click.

"Well then, it is."

"Well then." Misty moved around the desk and swiftly pecked Ash on the cheek, running up the stairs before he could see her face. "I'll go put on something nice."

Ash was unable to react for a moment, then unfroze enough to shout, "Hurry up then! The show starts in half an hour and we still have to get a taxi!"

"Don't rush me Ketchum!"

"Slowpoke!"

"Twerp!"

A few days later

Reply to: It's a Secret

Hey Rudy,

I'm sorry that I haven't been able to get back to you until now. You're right, being a gym leader is a really time consuming job! As for coming to visit, I don't think I'll be able to. Someone took the liberty of booking all my free time with trips to Sinnoh...