Two Days.
Part 2.

If a human can use Agility, it's Misty.

She rampages down the street with the speed of a rapidash, and honestly kind of looks like one with that hair of hers. I can't seem to keep up at all and neither can Pikachu who actually knows Agility. I stop yelling her name after my fiftieth attempt, at which point I begin to feel as angry as she looks. Which, you know, is crazy because I still don't know what this argument is even about, or why the girl who received a free trip to Kalos is currently running away from the guy who provided said trip.

I assume we've reached her hotel when she practically throws herself inside its revolving glass doors. She rushes to the elevator, turns around to face me once inside, but before she can shut Pikachu and I out, I've extended my arms to block the closing doors.

"What is going on?!" I try again, and she glares so hard I think she might zap me with some other pokemon techniques I'm not aware she has.

"Leave me alone," she growls and lunges at a button in the elevator that I assume forcibly closes the doors, but again my arms prevent it.

"This is crazy! You're acting insane!"

She may explode again by that look in her eyes, and I'm wondering if the hotel knows that having Misty here with them might be a fire hazard. Perhaps I should use the stairs?

"Leave me alone," she repeats and presses the button a second time, and the door slams hard against my hand. Although painful, I continue to hold it steady.

"Why in the world would I leave you alone when I invited you here?!" I shout, and she huffs, folding her arms. Usually that's a sign that I've made a good point, and I'm somewhat proud of myself.

"Because you're an idiot, Ash Ketchum," she answers, which still doesn't make sense. Her fingers dance back to the button beside her, and this time, instead of holding the doors, I jump inside the elevator with her. Her glowering falters; her eyes bulge.

"What are you doing?"

"If you're not gonna eat with me, I'll just have to hang out with you in your room." I shrug. Pikachu chirps in agreement.

"You're not coming into my room."

"I think I am."

"No. You're not."

I glance at the buttons, noticing the number "4" lit up in green. "I already know what floor you're on. Halfway to figuring it out anyway!"

She grits her teeth. "I said you're not coming to my room."

"Then come to dinner with me," I demand, and she pinks in surprise. Pikachu also voices his agreement with a loud, "Pika pika!" which I think is a nice touch since she's never been immune to his charm.

But this time, it's not enough.

"No."

It's then the elevator dings to signal we've stopped, but Misty makes no move to leave when the doors finally open. Taking a deep breath, I quip, "Your room it is!" and loop an arm through hers to drag her out. She turns red again, and as she buckles against me, her hair brushes my nose, and I catch a familiar scent of chlorine. I want to smile, but keep it to myself. No matter what Misty looks like, hair up or down, she always smells the same.

There are signs in front of us that direct us to particular hotel room numbers, and as I begin to examine them, Misty almost scrambles from my grasp. Almost.

"Ash! This is-what are you-"

"So which room is it? Probably gotta be a good one for you to skip out on dinner with me after all. Is it one of those fancy suites? Never stayed in one before. I've always wondered, though-do they have actual sweets? Like candy?"

She pauses from attempting to pry herself from my arm, and then she does the strangest thing yet and bursts out laughing. I'm so confused, but grateful for a change in her demeanor nonetheless and unhook our arms to look at her. That smile of hers is so contagious that I can't stop the one conquering my lips. I'm not even sure what's funny. She was going to kill me two seconds ago, right?

"Hotel suites don't mean sweets, Ash," she says, still grinning. "Seriously, is food all you think about? Still? After all this time?"

"You're the one making me skip dinner," I point out, and she rolls her eyes. "Which I still don't get why we're doing in the first place."

She seems to be thinking hard about what to say. I wonder if she even knows why she left the restaurant. Girls are such strange creatures. It's crazy they don't come with their own pokedex. It would be at least mildly useful to point my own at Misty right now and ask for guidance.

Her fingers are toying with a strand of her dress, and I raise an eyebrow because something clicks.

"Wait. Were you… embarrassed? Because I didn't dress up? Is that why you left?"

Her silence stings. I glance at my muddy shoes, the holes in my jeans, and compare them to her spotless outfit. Truth be told, I would have never guessed Misty to be wearing anything other than her normal tanktop and shorts, and maybe if she'd mentioned a dress, I could have… I don't know-combed my hair? Hers is at least down and wavy, nestling neatly around her face...

Too pretty to be seen with me, I think, and an odd lump forms in my throat as if I'm thirsty again. I mean, okay, yeah, Misty isn't ugly. I'm cool with thinking that. I've covered this in my brain many times since she's constantly reminding me that she thinks herself as an attractive person. Anytime I'd argue seemed pointless because I couldn't think of what I'd describe her as. But right now it seems I'm actually giving a name to the description. Pretty? No way, no how, would I ever call her-

She smiles gently, blinks in what feels like slow motion, and I am very, very, uncertain of how to describe her anymore because pretty doesn't seem to cut it.

"No," she says, shaking her head, but I'm not sure I believe it and find myself observing her eyes very closely. I need to know what I think of her now; the unknown has always beckoned to me after all. Whatever word I'm thinking of reminds me of discovering a new pokemon… or like, like, the mega evolution of a charizard… winning a gym badge? A pokemon league? No, no... somehow… more.

Her expression morphs to resemble the squiggly mouth of a mimikyu.

"Ash?"

I blink, wondering how much time has passed and why I am so concentrated on these weird thoughts about her. "Uh, sorry. Trying to figure out something."

"Okay," she sounds as if she doesn't believe me.

"I mean-like-I know how I look." I awkwardly pull at my jacket, which is stained with who knows what. "And you-you're… You look good." And then I want to die because my face flames. Somehow that word is worse than 'pretty.'

"Oh," she squeaks. "Thanks."

I'm so incredibly awkward right now, and I can't even explain why. I even momentarily forget Pikachu is riding on my shoulder until I hear him clear his little throat to bring me back to planet earth.

"Oh!" I say, clearing mine as well. "Well, if you want to go back to the restaurant, we can totally do that. Maybe I can clean myself up a little. And-and we can start over! And this time I won't do whatever it is that made you so upset."

She studies me. "Where are you staying?"

Odd question, but I answer anyways. "Uh, the Pokemon Center."

"The Pokemon Center doesn't have a shower. You need to bathe, Ash Ketchum," she snides. "No offense, but you stink." And then she half-smiles at me, and although she's being insulting, I kind of feel fired up in a good way somehow, and grin back at her.

"I'm sure there's a lake around here somewhere!"

"Oh no. You are not gonna smell like a lake either. I may love water, and half of the time I may even smell like a pool-"

You mean all of the time, my brain corrects.

"-but I do not like the smell of swamp people. Use the shower in my room. And then maybe we can get dinner."

"Oh wow, that would be great! Thank you so much, Misty!"

She's embarrassed again or something because there's even more pink tinting her cheeks, but she mutters a, "No problem," as we begin to descend down the hallway. When we enter the room, Pikachu launches himself onto the bed.

"Chaaaa!" he practically sings, and I feel a little bad that we haven't had a proper sleeping arrangement in awhile.

I'm about to offer him an apology when I notice the floor of the room.

There are what I can only assume to be a billion clothes just thrown about. I raise my eyebrows, but Misty doesn't seem to notice my apprehension and walks right on by me. "Shower's on the left," she says, sitting herself down next to Pikachu to offer him some ear scratches.

"Misty," I begin, still gazing at the mess around me. "I thought you were only staying for two days."

"What?" she asks, and then seems to jump to her feet. "Oh! I, um, I wasn't sure what… the weather would be like?" She seems to be guessing an answer to a gameshow. I look at her with a cocked head.

"This is a lot of outfits. I didn't even know you owned all of this."

I've made her uncomfortable again. She's stammering. "Okay, well, I, uh, maybe I didn't know what to wear?"

"That's never been an issue before-"

"Sometimes I want to look nice!"

"But you already look nice," I reply, and her frazzled-ness continues as she grips worriedly onto her dress again.

"I-I wanted-" she seems to be shaking, and I'm getting scared she might pass out. "I wanted to look nice."

"You already said that."

She takes a giant breath. "I wanted to look nice… for you."

I think I blink maybe ten thousand times at her statement. Her face practically matches her hair at this point.

"For me?" I repeat. "You know as well as I do that I don't care if-"

"UGH!" she practically throws her hands up in the air. "You are seriously the densest person on the planet!" she is angry and overheating again, and I also am beginning to wonder why she came here if she gets mad at me this much over things. She rushes to the bathroom and slams the door shut. "You're going to die alone, Ash Ketchum! You hear me? ALONE!"

I don't know why my inevitable one-day death is being brought up, but this is Misty. Then again, I think this is Misty. She is acting more bizarre around me than normal, dressed up for maybe the third time I've ever seen, and now she is trying to tell me that Pikachu won't be by my side when I die.

"I thought I was going to shower," I tell her, and she shrieks from the other side.

Soooo this is turning out longer than I thought, but I am really enjoying writing from Ash's POV as he figures out his feelings. I personally love stories that characterize him well, so I'm trying to replicate that as best as I can.

I hope to only have three or four parts at most, but I also have a lot of ideas suddenly… oops?