"You coming then Gary?" Ash asked Gary while he was helping his grandfather, Professor Oak. 

"I will meet you there" Gary replied, before rushing into another room.

"Okay, see you there!" Ash rushed out of the lab, heading to the beach, where his friends were waiting.

"Stop it!" Iris squealed, jumping out of the water as Cilan began to splash her. May, Dawn and Miette were all messing around at the other side of the water, hitting a beach ball around and splashing each other, their raucous laughter heard by everyone. Brock was sitting on his towel, a book in hand, while Misty and Serena were both led down on sunbeds, with sunglasses on and umbrellas hanging at the corner, to keep their eyes shaded. Misty was talking to Brock while Serena stared at a magazine with eager interest.

"You ok?" Ash's voice made her jump, she scrambled up to keep her magazine in her hands, blushing. 

"Oh, hi Ash!" She recovered, lying back down on the sunbed. Ash sat down next to her, after laying his towel down. "Why don't you go join the others?" She gestured to Cilan and Iris splashing eachother, then to the girls. 

"I prefer sitting here, for the moment" Ash replied, tipping his cap down so the sun didn't block his eyesight as much. 

"Pika" Pikachu said in a relaxing voice, laying down next to Ash. 

"Hey guys" Clemont finally arrived, standing just next to Ash, with Bonnie by his side.

"Hey Clemont, Bonnie" Ash greeted them with a smile.

Bonnie walked around Serena and crouched down next to her, reading the magazine with her.

"Guess they will be doing that all day" Clemont laughed. "Wanna jump into the water?" 

"Sure, why not" Ash shrugged, jumping up. He looked at Pikachu, who was asleep due to relaxing too much. Ash decided to leave him and headed to the water. 

"So, what shall we-" Clemont was disrupted by Gary, who rushed behind Ash and lifted him up. Gary then dumped Ash into the water, head first. 

"Don't worry Ash, I am here!" He shouted out, laughing as Ash rose from the water, coughing heavily. 

Everyone turned to Gary and Ash and there was a moment of silence. 

"I am going to get you back for that!" Ash dived under and grabbed onto Gary's leg, tripping him up into the water. Gary landed face first, but he didn't fall underneath.

"Erm.." Clemont shifted around, watching as the two started to wrestle in the water, throwing each other in and dunking their heads under the water every few moments. 

"CAN YOU BOYS JUST SHUT UP AND CALM DOWN, FOR LIKE, TWO MINUTES?" Misty's shouting voice was heard and Ash froze, with Gary hanging onto his back in a half piggy back, trying not to fall in. Ash let go of him, Gary falling into the water. 

"Sorry!" Ash waved back. Misty frowned and then turned back to Brock, who had his eyes locked on a girl passing by. 

Misty punched Brock on the head, making him snap out of his day dream. "Not today!" 

"Such a kill joy, I think Misty needs teaching a lesson or two!" Gary grinned excitedly, while Ash frowned.

"What do you have planned?" He asked. Clemont mirrored his expression.

"Just follow my lead, both of you" Gary said, ushering them to follow him.

All three of them ended up right in front of Misty. She shifted her glasses down to get a better look.

"What is it?" She asked, still sounding annoyed.

"We just wanted to apologise for before" Gary replied, keeping calm and collected.

Ash and Clemont looked at each other like, 'what?'. 

It seemed Brock had caught onto Gary's plan because he suddenly had his hands on Misty, locking her hands together. Gary grabbed her legs as she began to struggle, kicking and screaming out. 

With big grins on their faces, Brock and Gary carried a screaming Misty to the water and then threw her in. 

Biggest.

Mistake.

Ever.

Misty rose from the water like the Kraken, her facial expression was devoid of happiness and annoyance, it was anger. She huffed and took two steps, immediately standing infront of Gary and Brock, whose faces had dropped. She grabbed their heads and banged them together, making them both fall onto the ground. She then walked around them and, with two flicks of her sandals, sent sand into their faces. 

She walked off without saying a word.

"So glad I didn't have to get involved" Clemont wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"You made a great leader there, Gary" Ash said with a smirk.

"Shut up Ash" A frowning Gary stood up, wiping the sand from his face. 

"O-" Ash began, but he turned around. 

It seemed that Miette, Dawn and May had decided to copy Gary, carrying Serena over to where they was messing around. They dropped her in the water and then grabbed the beach ball. Bonnie immediately followed, jumping into the water excitedly. Iris and Cilan swam over to join them. 

"Guess we better go and join too!" Brock said, running over.

"What was that about my leadership?" Gary asked with a grin, before following Brock.

Clemont headed over, but Ash waited for a moment.

"Coming, Misty?" He asked.

"Sure, give me a moment" Misty replied, not even looking away from the sun. 

"Wait, if you want to come, why did you get angry when they dropped you in the water?" Ash asked another question. "I thought you liked water?"

"I do, but no one forces me into it. I go in off my own accord" Misty folded her arms and then looked at Ash, her glasses back on. "Give me a moment, okay?"

"Sure thing" Ash looked at Pikachu, who continued to sleep and then headed over to everyone else.

"We should play volleyball, there is a net over there!" Dawn suggested. "I know the rules and stuff, so can we give it a go?" 

Everyone agreed, moving over to the net. Dawn got out a volleyball and held it up. 

"Bonnie, you can keep the scores since you are not tall enough to play" Clemont said to her.

"I know I am not tall enough, no need to point it out" She huffed in reply, standing in the middle of the net.

"Boys vs Girls?" Dawn asked.

"Thought you would never ask" Gary replied for the boys, with a grin. 

"Volleyball is better if it is six vs six...hmm" Dawn saw Misty heading over, but the boys still only had five members.

"We will be fine with five, right?" Gary asked, with confidence.

"Sure, sure" Dawn replied. Then, she explained the rules and how everything works. "And you guys can serve first, sound good?" 

"Ok, I will serve" Gary caught the ball from Dawn and then headed just outside of the court. He threw the ball up and then slapped it over the net, sending it to the back line. 

Iris crouched down and received the ball, hitting it with her arms extended, so it went up. 

"Nice hit!" Dawn commented, knowing what she was doing. She threw her arms into the air and pushed the ball forwards with her fingers. 

May came running up with perfect timing, raising her hand up and then slamming it down onto the ball, sending it down towards the empty space, but Gary appeared out of nowhere and hit it up just before it bounced. Cilan used his brains to copy Dawn's play and hit the ball up. Gary appeared again, leaping up and slamming the ball down for a point.

"Alright, one point!" Gary fist pumped, giving Cilan a hi-5.

The game continued for some time, some cheers and some small arguments, but for once, without realizing it, everyone was having a good time. 

They was all enjoying themselves without any trouble from Team Shadow, without any drama. Just the gang, having lots of fun and forgetting about everything else, for the time being.

Because, not too far away, near the Unova region, Zekrom was flying to the Kanto region, with Jake and Jeremy on his back. The time for action was close. 

But no one knew how close it was.

-----------------

Two chapters, as promised. Coming close to the pinnacle of the story and we are 38 chapters in, I feel like this will go on forever. 

I can't believe I have had a story going on for this long, thanks for the support. 

Two/three more chapters next week, stay tuned!