Ash watched her bring the french fries to her mouth and chew. Her hair was up in a ponytail on the back of her head, and her bare neck felt attractive in a way. She had changed clothes, wearing a white-and-blue striped chemise and shorts. When she leaned with one arm against the table and her cleavage showed a little, Ash wondered if she had always been a woman.

He had just asked her where her sisters were, but she hadn't answered it yet. Her eyes seemed like they were tempted to look out the window, which he guessed meant she was wondering what to answer. His casual question perhaps wasn't so casual. He had a meal in front of himself too, hamburger, but had barely touched it yet.

"They never came home from the vacation." She muttered, picking up another french fry. The reason Misty had to leave from the start was that her sisters were going on a world-around-tour, and she had to take care of the gym. Ash had taken for granted it would last for a few months, but still? Something wasn't quiet right. He soon got an explanation.

"They found boyfriends somewhere and decided to stay." She said, dipping in the ketchup. Ash used to eat eight of those, she thought, looking at his food. And when he noticed she did, he did his best to pick it up and eat. There was something bitter in her tone, but he couldn't quiet put it in a folder. She should be happy for them, right? But...

She had been alone all these years.

Ash felt nothing less than guilty, even if he was sure he knew exactly what she would say if he told her. Misty always did her best to act tough. Twelwe years here, swimming, training and chitchatting with the trainers. With no one to talk to, no one to hold onto. Only her and her thoughts. He opened his mouth to say something, but stopped. Nothing he could ever say would take away tvelwe years of pain. There was no use.

"So how long did they chase your tail?" She asked him, and he snapped out of his thinking. Blinking once in confusion, he tried to recall if she had given him some kind of hint, but he was sure it had been completely quiet. "Who?" He asked, and she smiled when looking down the food. "Prepare for trouble... dubble trouble..." She whispered, looking up and showed the upper row of fine, white teeth in a teasing smile. He felt himself smiling at the memory, even if it during that time was nothing but despair. They had been complete losers, after all, no matter how much they tried to act otherwise.

"I defeated their leader in fair battle, and in the shadows somewhere that caused the organization to distband." He confessed. During that time he had no idea their battle would make such a big change, and even if he was happy the scum of pokémon thieves were gone, he wondered what had happened to them. The woman who thought she was beautiful, the man who liked to dress up like a girl and the only talking pokémon in the world. The weirdest trio he had ever encountered, and encountered so many times.

Misty pointed at him with one of the fries, showing that she had a point to say, he just had to wait until she had swallowed. "How about old man Brock? How is he?"

Ash chuckled at the memory of their older friend, leaned backwards in the chair and felt that he could relax a little. Their conversation turned more and more comfortable. More like he had expected it to be.

"We traveled together through some more regions and years. Somehow we always managed to meet again, but when I traveled to the Unova region that stopped. And then..." He grinned, scratching his neck because he barely couldn't believe this himself. "Five years ago, I heard that he's married and with a kid. A little girl called Brinley. The gym is runned by the oldest out of the rest of the siblings, and Brock himself isn't only breeder, but also chef."

Misty felt warm when she heard about it. Oh how many times she had to pull him in the ear to get him away from all those girls. She had no hope in him on that front at all. But somehow she could see it, how all his dreams came true. But the warm feeling was also sticky and unpleasant with a shadow of jealousy. She wondered if he even remember her today.

Ash realized she wouldn't continue the conversation, so he did it himself. Even if he started at a point where none of them wanted to start, only waited in tension for.

"Are you seeing anyone?"

Yes, the female's smile was bitter. It curled upwards, but her lips turned more into small, pink lines, and her eyes was distant. Ash hated to see her doing that. He already knew she wouldn't look at him when she turned that way. It was like she blamed everything around her. He pitied her, and he hated doing so. The Misty he knew would hit him if he would ever feel sorry for her. Now her eyes were there, almost begging him to do so.

"No." She said, stating the obvious. "I've met a few, but it just didn't work out. How about you?"

Misty had nothing more to say. Nothing about how she had wanted her boyfriend to take her away, make her free, unchain her. Travel the world. Ash had already managed to finish his burger now, and cleaned his hands on the tissue just for the sake of being around a lady. Misty had never even seen him touch a tissue before. He barely got ridd of the snot when he was sick. One time she had to do it for him.

"Same story over here." He said, even if he doubted her relationship had lasted longer than the ones he tried out. Though thinking of anyther guy being into Misty felt strange. Almost impossible, even. So why did he feel so angry thinking about another male holding her hand and kissing her lips? Would anyone ever want that?

Of course. Of course they would. Ash couldn't disagree if anyone told him Misty had grown beautifully. She still had a little boyish way of speaking and clothing, but something about her lit up the room when she truthfully smiled. Had it always been like that? If it was like that, he had closed his eyes every time.

He couldn't deny he had wondered over the years what Misty had thought about him either. The way she reacted when he didn't turn sad because she had to leave had came to him more and more. The more he thought about her and caught fish with the fish-bait she had done for him. He still had it in his bag, laying in the motel room.

"What were you expecting, when you came in here?"

Ash looked up and faced Misty. She was actually turned right at him, looking with those sparkling like the water surface. It was still something begging in them, though. Something he couldn't point his finger at. It was like that sparkling surface did like the sea, hiding a deep, mysterious, heavy ocean underneath the beauty he could see.

"Errh... I don't really know. To see you again, of course." He said and cursed himself on the inside for sounding so lame. "What do you mean?"

She lited her head in such a cute way. Ash felt his heart being touched even when his mind was confused.

"I mean what you want to do. I've offered you some food, but I've been here so long I've forgotten what there is to do in this town." She said, and he chuckled. "Well..." He started. "I was thinking we could talk. Have a nice time. Take a walk. Wait for the evening and take a drink, perhaps?"

A smile spread across her face. Her skin looked so soft in the sunlight from the windows he just wanted to touch it. He imaginated it like silk of an angel's dress.

"How about a battle, then?" She asked, rising up. "I challenge you!"