(Between Johto and Hoenn Anime's)
Ash's POV

"Whyyyyyyyyyy?" I pout. Mr.Oldy pants here wants me to go on a research trip.

"C'mon Ash," Professor Oak sighs. "Your 14-year old legs will work a lot better for this."

"Why not get Gary?" I groan. I come back from Johto and now I'm going to be getting sent right back where I came from.

"Because I didn't want him to come with me," A familiar voice giggles from behind me. "We both know how much of a creep he is."

"Leaf?" I turn around surprised.

"Long time no see," The brunette laughs and hugs me tightly.

"Can't breathe," I remind her and she loosens her grip. She's still as cute as when we took different routes in Kanto.

"Sorry, it's just that I missed you," Leaf smiles and her face goes red.

"Why?" I laugh.

"What do you mean why?" She frowns. "That Misty girl must've made you dumber."

"You know who Misty is?" I ask confused.

"Uh-hh lucky guess," Leaf shrugs. I don't think you can guess a random name like that.

"Anyways are you in Ash?" Oak interrupts our reunion.

"Please Ash," The brunette pouts. I couldn't resist, she has a puppy dog eyes power.

"Fine," I sigh.

"Great," He smiles. "Go get six Pokémon and then I'll tell you all the details."

I rushed outside and grabbed six Pokémon that would be good to go live in a forest for a week. Maybe I can catch some more while I'm there...

"I'm ready," I announce as I walk back in.

"Okay so first off you're going to Ilex forest in Johto," Professor Oak starts. "I want you guys to do a complete evaluation of the area and observe every species living there."

"Every single one?" I ask.

"If you can," Oak answers. "It's for an important paper and this information could prove equal harmony between a variety of Pokémon types."

"Equal- what?" I ask.

"I don't think it'll matter if we tell you," Leaf teases.

"Do you know what it is?" I smirk and she hesitates.

"You two better get going," Oak sighs. "Ash did you perhaps pick a flying type?"

"Yeah I got Pidgeot," I nod.

"Let's go then!" Leaf cheers and drags me outside.

I let out my first Pokémon capture and his brown and beige wings flapped powerfully. Leaf hopped on and winked, "I need a ride there too."

I climb on behind her and we take off towards our neighbouring region.

The grey hunk of rock called Mount Silver towered up into the sky. The snowy top hid in the clouds and a chilling effect could be felt merely by looking at it.

Huge gusts of wing pushed us back and forth as we grew closer to the region border. "Ahhh," Leaf squeals as her legs lost their grip on Pidgeot.

I reach out my hand quickly and I grab the back of her light blue shirt. I swiftly use my other arm to wrap around her and slowly pull her back up. My muscles were aching but I finally got her up on top of Pidgeot. "You good?" I ask over the rushing wind.

"Ye—ah," She stutters as we continue to bounce in the wind. I start to let go of her but she flinched when I did so I kept her secured. She leaned back onto me for support with her eyes shut tightly. Leaf was supposed to be the brave one...

"Pidgeot fly low as soon as we're by Mount Silver okay," I order. The honourable bird nodded and he began to descend. Leaf was shivering in my arms as we flew by the snowy and cold mountain. I held her as tight as I could but the heat being generated by our bodies was hopeless against the wind. I thought the cold busts of wind were going to freeze us alive.

The ride became less bumpy and cold the farther we got into Johto. The whole region seemed to be covered in clouds. "We may have a few days of bad weather," I mumble.

Ilex forest is on the western side of Johto so Pidgeot went in cruise control as we glided across the region. An odd gust of wind gave us a chill but nothing serious happened.

"There's Ilex forest," I point out the thick vegetation west of Azalea City.

The Kanto bird dove quickly towards the small village outside the forest. Leaf's eyes shot open and I quickly tried to calm here down. She looked up at me and smiled warmly...

Pidgeot landed and we must've caused a scene because the few people here were all staring at us. "Why are you here?" An elderly woman asked from above.

All the houses were made from wood and were suspended high up in the treetops. Long rope bridges connected the houses together giving increased mobility in the air. "Towa that wasn't very nice," A younger girl but older than us sighed. "I'm Diana, excuse my grandmother."

Towa had pale green hair that made it out of her white hood. The rest of here outfit looked traditional and nothing that you'd see anywhere else. Diana had bright green hair that was held into a weird shape. Two groups of hair sat on her shoulder while the rest was held up. Her bright pink shirt almost glowed in the darkness created by the trees.

"It's fine," Leaf laughs. "We're here on a research trip by the way."

"Professor Oak said it was very important and crucial for his next paper," I inform.

"That's great," Diana cheered. "The entrance is through there."

She pointed at an overgrown cave that led to more trees and other plants. "Let's go!" I cheer.

"Wait!" Towa warned. "If you hear the voice of the forest stay still or else."

"Wh-" I start but Leaf interrupted and started running towards the entrance to Ilex Forest.

"Thanks," The brunette beamed. "See you guys later!"

"What do you think the voice of the forest is?" I ask my childhood friend since she didn't let me ask the people who actually know.

"Probably nothing serious," She shrugs. "Hurry up, we need to find a good place to set up camp."

"It's starting to get darker so the sun must be going down," I state. "Meaning we should eat."

"Not until we find water," Leaf insists.

We follow the twist and turns of the dirt path. Exotic flowers could be seen as well as the odd Pokémon that wasn't with their friends eating. Eating...

"Ash can you calm down that stomach of yours?" Leaf giggles. "I'm trying to listen for water."

"Sorry," I rub the back of my head.

"Sshh," Leaf puts her hand over my mouth. She held my hand tightly and led us over and around bushes and trees. "Water!"

A huge lake stood before us and it looks like many wild Pokémon rely on it. Pokémon were drinking, playing and relaxing in the crystal clean water. The sun's rays were getting through even though some oak trees towered over the lake.

"This is perfect," Leaf awes while sticking her bare feet in the water. I took of my shoes and did the same. It was almost like the lake was giving me all the energy I lost from the journey here.

"It is," I agree. "But we should set up camp."

We decided to set up by a small indent that expanded the lake. Pokémon were close but we are in a generally quiet part of it. "We should let out our Pokémon," Leaf suggests.

Her Bulbasaur and Bellsprout came out. The two grass types quickly wandered off to mingle with the various kinds of Pokémon here.

Pidgeot and Pikachu were the first ones to move out along with my hyper Totodile. Bayleef decided to stay with us and help set up our tents and stuff. My Bulbasaur quickly caught up with Leaf's and Heracross buzzed off looking for a battle opponent.

"Dinner!" Leaf yells. I quickly make my way over as well as our Pokémon.

"You're an amazing cook," I compliment the blushing girl.

"Thanks," She winks. "I made lots so eat it up."

The rest of our night was pretty relaxing as we laid under the stars that could be seen between trees. "Ash I'm cold," Leaf says.

"The professor said it was going to be warm," I complain as I curl up in my sleeping bag to preserve ear.

"He was wrong," Leaf giggles. "Can I move over beside you?"

"Sure," I reply.

Her green sleeping bag rubbed against my blue one as she shifted into a comfortable condition. Leaf decided she was comfortable once she was able to rest her head right under mine. I can't say I minded...

Time Skip

"I think I'm going to try and catch a Pokémon while we're here," I state as we walk back into the forest. We decided to leave the lake Pokémon since we didn't want to make them mad by bothering them.

"I call dibs on grass types," Leaf sticks her tongue out.

"I think it should be whoever sees it first," I argue.

"Ash, come on," Leaf pouts using the same look from back at the lab.

"Fine," I sigh knowing that I lost before it started.

"Thanks Ashy," Leaf giggles.

"What?" I ask but no answer came.

"I hear Pokémon," The energetic girl states. Like before we wandered off the path and ended back up at the lake. Except on the opposite side.

"Nice," I laugh.

"Hey I did hear Pokémon," She puts her hands on her hips.

"You know how Oak asked for research on the forest Pokémon?" I ask.

"Yeah what about it?" Leaf asks confused.

"We could be exceptional helpers and research the water Pokémon," I finish.

"It is kind of hot," Leaf smiles.

We quickly ran around the lake and took turns changing in the tent we set up. I came out in my black swim suit while Leaf had a green(what a surprise) one piece on.

"I bought this a few days ago," Leaf twirls around.

"Looks good," I compliment while staring at her.

"Thanks," She blushes. "Let's go do some research."

Leaf stood over the edge, admiring the beauty of the water. I ran behind her and picked her up. She squealed as I ran towards the deeper part of the lake and jumped in, submerging us both.

"I hate you," Leaf says while giggling.

"Really?" I smirk and I picked her up again.

"Ash let me go," She flails with a bright smile on her face. I held her bridal style so she couldn't get away. "Okay then."

She kissed me on the cheek swiftly and my body wasn't responding to my brain. This gave Leaf a chance to get free and dunk me underwater.

"Haha," Leaf laughs uncontrollably.

I thought I heard something else but I continued to laugh with her. Then I looked around and noticed that there weren't any Pokémon around. "Hey Leaf?" I ask.

"Yeah?" She responds.

"Where's all the Pokémon go?" I question.

"Prob-" A loud thundering noise stopped Leaf's voice. A loud crackle followed.

Pidgeot hovered above the water and had a look of urgency on his face. We quickly climbed on and Pidgeot carries us above the water and back to the camp.

The rain that we felt when we were swimming wasn't just splashing. And the water droplets were becoming bigger and falling down faster and harder.

Luckily our Pokémon are actually smart and had a shelter made of fallen logs built. We returned our Pokémon just in case and I could tell the shelter was weakening by the amount of water falling. Leaf had her eyes closed so I was the only one looking around for a safer place.

The thunder roared and the lightening crackled and lit up the little sky that could be seen. My brunette crush was cringing after everyone and was currently tearing apart my arm in fear. I shook her so she would open her eyes and I pointed towards a hollow tree. No words were needed and no words could be heard over the wind and rain anyways.

We were instantly soaked as we ran across the forest floor. We were rewarded when we got to the tree though. It was a little quieter and the tree was wide enough that rain couldn't blow in easily. That didn't mean the weather was getting calmer though.

"Ash?" Leaf whimpers.

"Yeah?" I ask while holding her tightly.

"Thank you," She sighs and her lips connected for our first time. "Just incase this gets bad I wanted to make sure I wouldn't miss the chance to do that." Her face was so red I could see it in the darkness.

"Anytime," I brush the hair out of her face.

"Well," Leaf sighs. "You just made this research trip a lot better..."

Little did the two know... A bright blue light was pulling through the forest.

________________________

This turned out a lot better than I thought it was going to at the start.

And I definitely set this one up for at least a part 2 if wanted.

Anyways thanks for reading and keep the suggestions coming in!