Weeks after Ash sent the letter, Misty walked up to her mailbox like any other day. "Bills, bills bills, catalogs for Daisy, Lilly, and Violet, bills bills, letter from Professor Oak, spam mail, and…a letter from Sinnoh?" Misty said out loud.

She quickly set down all the mail except the two letters most important, Professor Oak's and the very strange letter she did not know of. She opened Professor Oak's first, to make sure nothing was wrong in good old Pallet Town.

Dear Misty,

Greetings here from Professor Oak! It was good seeing you again in Pallet Town last week, dear. I have some new water Pokémon food that hopefully the gym Pokémon will love. Send me a letter back and Tracey will gladly drop it off when he comes and picks up Daisy for their annual date night.

Hope to see you soon!

Sincerely,

Professor Oak

Misty smiled. She always loved to hear from Professor Oak and Delia Ketchum once in a while. Usually, Misty would go over to Pallet Town to visit them whenever she had a few days off. Sometimes, Delia would give her cooking lessons, or Professor Oak would ask her to help him with the Pokémon when Tracey would be out with Daisy.

She couldn't believe that Tracey was going out with her eldest sister, Daisy Waterflower. She loved the fact that Tracey came to visit them a lot, but she had to get used to the fact that Tracey really liked to visit JUST Daisy. She always laughed when she saw them together, but was happy that the fact that her sister actually liked Tracey for himself, not because he was rich or superbly handsome.

She wanted to reply to Professor Oak's letter before she opened the Sinnoh letter.

Dear Professor Oak,


I am very glad to hear from you. Thank you and Delia for letting me stay with you both at the lab and at her home. I would be honored to try your new water Pokémon food. Psyduck loved your last sample. I will be expecting Tracey's arrival. I hope to visit Pallet again very soon. Talk to you soon!

Yours Truly,

Misty

The Cerulean City gym leader put the letter in the envelope and stamped and labeled it. Then, she put the letter in her mailbox and put the red flag upwards. She then went back inside to check the other mail.

"Hm… a letter from Sinnoh, I wonder who it's from." Misty thought.

She opened the letter carefully, to make sure that she didn't rip off the return address. Slowly, she opened the letter, and then she realized it was two pages. Whoever wrote her a letter; he or she wanted to let Misty know practically everything.

Misty then finally recognized the handwriting. It was her best friend, Ash Ketchum. She smiled and then started to cry. After all this length of time, he wrote to her. After reading the letter over and over again for hours, she felt like the bills and spam mail didn't matter. All that mattered was that Ash was thinking of her.

Violet found Misty reading the letter for the umpteenth time of the afternoon.

"Like geeze Misty! Maybe you should write your like boyfriend back!" she said.

"I will Vi… I just have to think of what to write to him, that's all." Misty replied.

"Well, at least get to the bills first, I mean like, we don't want the gym out of business do we?" Violet smiled, she knew her baby sister really did love Ash, but wanted Misty to take care of the gym because Misty loved Pokémon probably the most out of the four sisters.

After a few hours of taking care of the bills, throwing out the spam mail, and setting each catalog out in front of each of the elder sisters' doors, Misty FINALLY replied to Ash's letter.

Dear Ash,

Wow! It's been a long time since we've heard from one another! Everything here at home is fine. The gym is doing excellent and challengers now know that the Cerulean gym is one of the toughest Kanto gyms to beat. Tracey and I are teaching Psyduck to swim and he is slowly progressing. I'm very proud of that little yellow duck.

I've also been visiting your mom and Professor Oak pretty recently. Your mom is giving me cooking lessons while Professor Oak lets me work in the lab with him while Tracey is out on his date night with MY SISTER DAISY! Yeah…it's a little weird, but I'm glad that Daisy is happy and Tracey is such a great person.

But enough about me, I'm glad you are having a great time in Sinnoh. I wish I could see it with you boys (and Pikachu of course). Gary has sent my sisters and I a few postcards, saying that he had met up with you a few times on his researching journeys. And from the pictures he has sent me, Sinnoh looks amazing!

Dawn seems like a very nice girl, just like May. But what is it with you and coordinators? Am I your only traveling girl that WASN'T a coordinator? Don't tell me Ash, you wrecked her bike too. When will you ever learn? Just kidding!

Wow! YOU competed in the Wallace Cup? And made the top EIGHT?! Wow! I'm really proud of you! I hear you have to REALLY dress up for those. What did May and Dawn make you wear, huh? Haha! Ash Ketchum, you make me smile. Give May and Dawn my congrats on their achievements. I'm very happy for you and them.

All of your party sound really interesting. Gligar? Wow… maybe you WILL be Gligar Man! Haha! But your others in the party sound really neat too, especially Buizel! Even if he did try to steal mini Misty. I can't wait to meet all of them.

Paul sounds like a jerk, but you are doing the right thing and taking in his Chimchar. Don't worry, if Paul doesn't succeed, it isn't your fault. Different trainers have different ways of training their Pokémon, yours is just to be their best friend.

I'm also very glad that you keep on doing your best and still get your gym badges. I can't wait until you compete in the Sinnoh league! I'll be watching from the gym and cheering you on.

Tell Brocko and Pikapal that I miss them very much also. But don't worry, I still miss you too. And thank you for being so sweet and thinking of me. Make sure you write back to me and call the gym whenever you can!

Miss you lots and lots too!

Love,

Mist

Misty smiled and put the letter in an envelope, sealed, stamped, and wrote the address. She didn't know how the letter would get to Ash if he was on the road all the time. So she wrote on the envelope to forward it to the next Pokémon center in the next town if Ash was not there.

The gym leader, again, went outside and stuck the letter in her mailbox, making sure the mail carrier would pick up her letter to Ash and Professor Oak by tomorrow.