Ash burst through the front door, nearly falling in the process.

"Ash!" Misty snapped behind him, "You shouldn't just burst into places like this!"

"It's me Mist, they won't mind."

The sound of Ash using the nick name that only he called her by made Misty shiver on the inside. She turned her face away so Ash couldn't see her blush.

"Professor! Tracey!" Ash called, walking further. Misty walked closely behind, practically using Ash as a shield. Ash stopped walking and turned his head around to look at Misty.

"What?" She asked with a trace of annoyance.

"What are you doing?"

"Hiding behind you. If they kill us for sneaking in here, you're going first so I can get out of here."

Ash raised an eyebrow at this, "Really?"

"Ash? Is that you?" a familiar voice called out.

"Yeah!"

"We're upstairs!"

"Okay." As Ash began to walk again, Misty pushed him out of the way, trying to suppress her laughter. "What now?" Ash hissed.

Misty stood at the front of the stairs and stated simply, "ladies first," before rushing up the stairs. Ash rolled his eyes, vowing to get revenge on her later.

"Tracey!" Misty called, reaching the top of the stairs and running up to Professor Oak's assistant, "look! Azurill evolved into Marill yesterday!"

"Oh wow!" Tracey beamed as he looked at the round little Pokémon, "you look wonderful Marill!"

"Marill mar!" Why thank you!

Ash finally reached the top of the stairs and walked over to Tracey and Misty. "Hey Tracey," Ash greeted, pushing Misty out the way.

"Hi Ash," Tracey replied, blinking wildly at Ash's act, "long time no see."

"Eh, who needs him?" Misty asked, grabbing Ash by his shoulder and moving him away. Ash growled and tried to jump Misty from behind, but she moved out of the way, causing Ash to land face first on the ground.

"It's nice to see that you two have gotten reacquainted," Tracey nervously rubbed the back of his head.

Ash got up slowly, groaning again. He turned and glared at Misty before turning back to Tracey, "Hey Trace, I was wondering if I could go see all my Pokémon."

"No problem," Tracey nodded and began down the stairs, "follow me." Ash and Misty followed Tracey, who was eighteen but at this point not too much taller than Ash.

"So Ash," Tracey looked at the boy as they got downstairs, "are you heading off on a new journey?"

"Yeah, but not right away. I figured I'd spend some time around here first. I need to rest up a little bit."

"And by rest up, he means cleans out the refrigerator at his house," Misty added. Ash turned around to give a comeback, but for some reason, he couldn't give one. He got lost in her eyes, which, he noticed at that moment, looked like two emeralds placed in the sunlight. So instead, he just ended up staring at her. "Weirdo," Misty rolled her eyes, and shoved Ash on the shoulder.

The three friends finally reached the back door of the lab, which Tracey opened so they could all go outside. Misty walked in front of Ash, and he noticed her hair was glowing. It looked soft and so…clean? He couldn't really think of the right word, but it sure was pretty. As Tracey called for Ash's Pokémon, a soft buzzing noise pierced the air. Ash looked at Tracey and Tracey at Ash, but it wasn't coming from either of them. Then they saw Misty holding a phone in her hand.

"Sorry," she smiled sweetly, "its Daisy. I guess I should answer it." And with that, she walked away to talk to her sister.

Ash scoffed, and Tracey gave him a strange look.

"She's been a total pain since I met up with her," Ash crossed his arms, "or…ran into her."

"Misty's been a little…aggravated," Tracey sighed.

"Why though? What's she got to be aggravated about?"

"Her sisters have been driving her crazy…" Tracey began.

"That's nothing new," Ash interrupted.

"But it's been a lot worse lately. Of course they rely on her to run the gym, but they want to put on water shows. She doesn't want them to, because she needs to train, but they won't listen to her. And now their realizing that the people of Cerulean City love Misty much more than them, probably because she is the gym leader. So they want to include her in their water shows now, basically make her one of them. But she doesn't want it. I think the reason she's so upset is that at this point she doesn't really feel like she can trust anyone."

Ash just nodded. It all made sense now, why she was being so touchy. But…what kind of people in Cerulean City loved her? Guys? Ones that wanted to…date her? Ash felt his face heat up a little at the thought, for some reason. He shook his head like a crazy person, trying to make it stop. When he lifted his head, he saw all of his Pokémon stampeding towards him.

"Hey guys!" Ash grinned, waving to them. Before he knew it, Ash was trampled, on the ground and being swarmed by all his Pokémon, "hey guys, come on, get off," Ash laughed and tried to get up.

"UGH."

A loud, angry huff made Ash jump up to see what the matter was. It was Misty of course, arms crossed. She was glaring at the ground.

"What's up Misty?" Ash tilted his head a bit. He was trying to look innocent, in case Misty decided to take her frustration out on him.

"My sisters are leaving on some stupid trip for a week," Misty growled, "and their leaving me alone. Which I guess I should be grateful for."

Ash and Tracey looked at each other. Then, Ash suggested something he was probably going to regret.

"Hey Misty, I'll stay with you for the week."

"Don't force yourself," Misty shook her head, "I know you want to go out on a new adventure."

"No, really, I'm not forcing myself," Ash was trying to show Misty he was telling the truth, "I don't want you to be all alone. I can stay with you."

"Come on Misty," Tracey cut in, his tone warm and caring, "I think it's a good idea."

"Yeah," Ash smiled at the red head, "What could possibly go wrong?"