The icy seawater assaulted his senses. Ash jolted awake from unconsciousness and found himself sprawled atop a shattered plank, rising and falling with the waves. He immediately scanned his surroundings, his heart sinking—Brock was nowhere to be seen. In the distance, only the final whirlpool marking the sinking of the S.S. Anne remained.
"Brock! Pikachu!" he shouted anxiously. The only reply was the cry of seagulls and the roar of the sea.
"Ash…" a weak voice came from nearby.
Ash turned his head and saw Misty clinging to a piece of driftwood as well, her face pale, her short orange hair plastered wetly to her cheeks, making her look especially fragile.
"Misty! Are you okay?" Ash paddled over with effort, asking with concern.
"I'm fine… just a little exhausted," Misty said, her voice tinged with lingering fear. "Brock and the Pokémon…"
"They'll be fine. They were probably picked up by other lifeboats," Ash said, suppressing his own worry and comforting her with the firmest tone he could muster. "Right now, the most important thing is finding land!"
His aura could only sense a limited range across the vast ocean, but it still offered a faint sense of direction. He told Misty to hold onto his clothes, then struck out with all his strength toward the nearest trace of life he could feel.
He didn't know how much time passed. Just as both of them were about to run out of strength, the outline of an island covered in dense vegetation finally appeared ahead. With their last reserves of energy, they were pushed by the waves onto a stretch of soft sand.
Lying on the warm beach, the two of them gulped down air, overwhelmed by the relief of surviving the ordeal.
"We're… saved," Misty said, still shaken.
"Yeah." Ash sat up and looked around the unfamiliar island. "Looks like we drifted onto a deserted island. We'll have to survive for now and find a way to send out a distress signal."
He tried using the Pokédex to contact the outside world, but there was no signal at all. Their Poké Balls were temporarily unusable after being soaked in seawater (aside from Pikachu's, which he always kept close to him, though even that needed to be checked). With Pikachu, Bulbasaur, and the others not by their side, their situation was even tougher.
"Let's find a place to shelter from the wind and rain and start a fire first," Ash said, displaying a calm far beyond his years.
Drawing on his experience in Viridian Forest and his travels in the wild, he quickly found a dry cave beneath a rocky outcrop near the shore.
Gathering firewood, starting a fire by friction (a grueling process that only succeeded after the two of them took turns), searching for fresh water and edible berries…
Throughout it all, Ash and Misty had no choice but to work closely together.
Ash handled the heavy labor and navigation (relying on his aura), while Misty used her attentiveness to identify edible plants and collect fresh water with the broad leaves she found.
As night fell, the campfire crackled inside the cave, driving away the darkness and the chill.
The two of them sat around the fire, sharing the few berries they had gathered.
"I never thought something like this would happen…" Misty hugged her knees and stared at the dancing flames, speaking softly. "If you hadn't pulled me along, I probably would've sunk." She recalled how, when she'd been completely drained in the sea, Ash had gripped her hand with all his strength and refused to let go.
"Don't say something so stupid," Ash said, biting into a sour berry. "We're a team. There's no way I'd ever leave you behind."
His words were natural and unforced, yet they made Misty's heart skip a beat. She stole a glance at him—the firelight illuminated his focused profile, and those eyes that were always brimming with fighting spirit now looked especially warm and dependable.
She thought back on everything they'd been through together—from their first meeting in Viridian Forest, to fighting Team Rocket side by side, to everything he'd done for her and her sisters at the Cerulean Gym… This guy who seemed so reckless on the surface was actually more considerate and gentle than anyone.
"Um… Ash," Misty's voice trembled ever so slightly. "Thank you… for everything… all this time…"
"Huh?" Ash turned to her, looking a little confused by her sudden gratitude.
"It's nothing!" Misty quickly lowered her head, her cheeks growing warm—thankfully, the firelight hid it.
The deserted island at night was far from peaceful. In the distance came the cries of unknown Pokémon, and the wind rustled through the trees with a soft hiss.
Without realizing it, Misty edged a little closer to Ash.
"Scared?" Ash noticed the small movement.
"N-no! Not at all! I'm the Gym Leader of Cerulean City!" Misty retorted stubbornly, though her body honestly shrank back just a bit.
Ash smiled and didn't call her out on it. He added another piece of firewood to the campfire, making the flames burn a little brighter. "Don't worry, I'm here. My aura tells me there aren't any large hostile Pokémon nearby. Once it gets light tomorrow, we'll head to higher ground and see if we can find a way off the island—or wait for our other partners to come looking for us."
There was a reassuring strength in his voice. Watching him speak so earnestly, that familiar flutter in Misty's chest returned.
She suddenly realized that she didn't seem to dislike… being alone with him like this. In fact… a small part of her even hoped the night could last a little longer.
"Ash," she asked softly, "if… if we can't ever find our way back, what then?"
Ash paused for a moment at her question, then scratched his head and broke into his trademark bright grin. "Then we'll build our own raft and paddle back! Or we'll just explore the whole island—who knows, maybe we'll even find some treasure! Anyway, there's always a way, don't forget! I'm going to collect all the Gym Badges and compete in the Pokémon League! And you—well, you're going to stay with me the whole way!"
"Stay… with you…" Ash's blunt words left Misty's mind reeling for a moment.
She shook her head and looked at him—still the same optimistic, energetic Ash, sometimes like a total idiot.
And yet, it was exactly this Ash who made her smile without realizing it, the unease in her heart fading away.
"Yeah! You're right!" Misty nodded firmly.
Just then, a heated argument suddenly erupted from the other side of the island, shattering the quiet of the night.
"It's all your fault, you idiot! You just had to buy that useless Magikarp and spend all our money!" (Jessie's shrill voice)
"How was I supposed to know it only knows Splash?! That shopkeeper cheated me!" (James's aggrieved voice)
"Alright, nyah, stop fighting! Let's think about how to get out of this awful place, nyah!" (Meowth trying to mediate)
"Team Rocket! They drifted to the island too!" Ash and Misty immediately went on alert and quietly moved closer to the source of the noise.
Under the moonlight on another stretch of beach, the Team Rocket trio were arguing furiously around a lively Magikarp that could only go "splash, splash" as it jumped about.
"I can't take it anymore! This useless fish!" Under Jessie's scolding and Meowth's complaints, the anger and frustration James had been bottling up finally exploded. He lifted his foot and viciously kicked the Magikarp as it jumped again. "Do something already!!"
The Magikarp was sent flying high into the air by that kick, packed with all of James's pent-up resentment, tracing a perfect arc through the sky!
And at that very moment, something unexpected happened. The Magikarp's entire body suddenly burst into an incomparably dazzling evolutionary light! Its form rapidly changed and expanded within the glow!
"N-no way?!" Jessie was stunned.
"It's evolving, nyah?!" Meowth's jaw dropped.
James froze in his kicking pose, staring in disbelief.
As the light faded, a massive, ferocious Gyarados crashed down into the sea, sending up towering waves! Its blood-red eyes locked onto the petrified Team Rocket trio as it let out a deafening roar of rage!
"ROAAAR—!!!"
"Waaahhh! Save us!"
"This is so not good—!!!"
A powerful Hydro Pump blasted out, and Team Rocket—along with their despairing screams—were once again sent blasting off, becoming stars on the horizon.
From a distance, having witnessed the entire scene, Ash and Misty looked at each other, momentarily at a loss for words.
"…Can evolution really work like that?" Misty murmured.
"Team Rocket… really does manage to create 'miracles' every time," Ash couldn't help but comment.
After that little episode, the two of them returned to the cave, the atmosphere noticeably lighter.
It grew late, and they took turns keeping watch.
When Misty rested first, she leaned against the rock wall and watched Ash's back as he kept vigilant by the fire. An unprecedented sense of security, mixed with a faint, fluttering emotion, intertwined in her heart.
Perhaps this unexpected drifting adventure wasn't entirely a bad thing after all.
A famous scene was kept in, mainly to push the relationship forward.