Misty ran, though she didn't know where to, she just knew she had to get away from the stupid town that was having their stupid festival and a certain, extremely, stupid boy.

How could he just tell me to go? Doesn't he care about me at all? Misty thought as she ran, barely seeing through the tears sliding down her face, until she slammed straight into a tree.

The fiery red head landed on her ass with a thump, tears stopping abruptly. Looking around she noticed she hadn't any idea where she was but saw a small secluded lake a little ways in front of her in a clearing, surrounded by tall trees.

"MISTY!" she heard someone call from behind her. Shit, she thought, it's him. Why did he follow me?

"Misty," the voice said getting closer. "Are you OK?"

"I'm fine Ash, what do you want?"

"I wanted to make sure you were OK." Ash replied.

"Why do you care?" Misty snapped back.

"What do you mean 'why do I care'? You are my best friend Mist, and you really worried me by running out of the Pokémon Center like that."

When Ash said me instead of us, something inside Misty shifted and she just couldn't be mad anymore, so she stood up and turned around to face him.

"What's wrong Misty? Why are you crying?" Ash asked brushing away her tears with his fingers, resting his palm against her cheek; he seemed to realize what he was doing a moment later and quickly pulled his arm away, blushing furiously.

For a minute neither said anything; Ash, staring at his feet in embarrassment and Misty, staring at him in confusion, until a look of realization settled upon her face and she spoke up.

"Nothing's wrong. I'm fine now."

"Oh, OK." Ash said in a small voice.

Another pause

"Well, Ash, I guess this is good-bye. I'll probably be gone before you get up. I want to get a head start to Cerulean City you know." And with that Misty reached out her hand.

Ash started at it for a couple of seconds before quickly thrusting out his own. The two of them stood there, with their hands outstretched holding each other's firmly. Then just like that the puzzle pieces fell into place, all of their mixed up emotions finally sorted them out. Ash and Misty looked up at each other with surprised looks on their faces. They couldn't believe it the thing they had both been struggling with for years just now, on the night where they might never see one another again, clicked.

Ash pulled Misty into a tight hug which she returned and a few minutes passed in silence between the two, though they could each hear the distant sounds of the festival music, until Ash pulled back to look at Misty.

Their eyes found each other.

"Wanna dance, Mist?" he asked her, his voice low.

"I would love to." Misty replied.

Ash wrapped his arms around Misty's waist and she wrapped hers around his neck and laid her head on his shoulder slowly shuffling their feet. Ash closed his eyes and took a moment to remember all the things the two had done together, thinking about how he wouldn't be hit with her mallet for not getting up early enough every morning or yelled at for getting the trio lost again or just bickering with Misty over the stupidest things because he could be far too tense and overconfident sometimes.

Ash didn't want their journey to be over, he didn't want to leave her, but he knew they both had things to do, places to go and dreams to fulfill. Her return to Cerulean City would put her one step closer to her dream of becoming a Water Pokémon Master and his continuous travels would help him be the best trainer he could be.

Ash knew deep down this wasn't their last meeting, he would see her again, this knowledge only helped a little though. Ash didn't know how to say goodbye nor did he want to. It hurt him not to tell her how he felt, to not try to make her stay, but he couldn't. He couldn't do that to her, or himself. It would make things more complicated and painful when she did have to leave.

The music ended in the town and Misty and Ash pulled away slowly, almost reluctantly. Ash placed a small kiss on her forehead and said;

"This isn't goodbye, it's an... 'I'll see you later', OK Mist?" With that he let her go, turned around and started to walk towards the Poké Center. Just before he was out of the clearing, Ash looked back one last time and gave a small salute.

"See you later Ash." Misty whispered in reply with a small smile playing on her lips, her voice seemingly carried in the slight wind to reach his ears before he disappeared into the trees.