Spitfire, Chapter 3: We'll always be friends.
After the gruesome task of cleaning herself and her apartment up, dressing herself, and peeling herself away from her pizza and warm couch; she was finally on her way to Cerulean City gym. Albeit, a little bit later than she had originally intended, Misty was just glad to be walking through the fresh air. After the night she had she was lucky she even stepped foot outside of her apartment—usually, she would have just given up, but today she felt would be a better day.
Unlike her usual attire, she was in a pair of black jeans, and a yellow tank top with a bikini tied under it. Her gym clothes were at home in her laundry hamper, waiting to be washed—so she had to make due with that she had. Her eyes were hidden behind a pair of dark glasses that gave her a mysterious appearance, and her hair was tied up in a loose pony tail. She looked like a gym leader that was going to take no shit—and she refused to.
When the gym doors were finally insight, and blew out all of her breath. As she suspected—there were already a few bright-eyed, bushy-tailed ten year old trainers waiting outside for her; tossing out complaints that they traveled all the way from x, only to be met with shut doors. Misty had to stone wall herself, or they would eat her alive—especially the older ones.
"I have arrived, I'm sorry for keeping you waiting. I had an emergency to attend to." She lied, stepping through the small group of trainers, and unlocking her doors. She tunneled in, and they followed.
"There's no way you're the gym leader, you're just a girl!"
"Yeah, you don't look like the gym leader!"
Of course, someone always had to say something, they couldn't just accept her challenge and let it be. She turned her head slowly at one of the young boys, her smile twitching and eyes glowing under her sunglasses with an intense rage.
"You're first, get on the platform or leave."
Terrified, the trainer almost shrunk away; alas, pressured by the other trainers behind him, he made his way slowly to the platform to face the water pokemon gym leader.
"That's right, brat, bite your tongue." She thought piercingly and took her place opposite him.
–
Three hours later, the rush of trainers ended, and when no one walked in for a total of five minutes, she gave herself time to relax. With her pants rolled up and feet dipped into her pool, she was laying on the ground, looking up at the ceiling. Her hands were neatly crossed over her stomach, and she drummed her fingers against her wrist. The silence in the gym was overpowering, her pokemon were swimming beneath the water, or sleeping; so it left her alone with her thoughts.
Since the Kalos league victory, more and more people were visiting the gym—it was the reason she was forced into a break in the first place. Before her three days off, she battled fifteen trainers in one day. Her eyes narrowed, and she scrunched up her nose; her pokemon couldn't take it anymore, and she was already on the verge of a mental break down. So, by order of her sisters, Misty was forced to take some time off.
Yet, she still felt guilty, as if she should have stuck it out anyways. In fact, she felt slightly humiliated by the idea that she could be so easily hurt over something—someone-that she hardly knew anymore. Moreover, she was surprised one event could make so many trainers start their journeys...
Her eyes narrowed as she watched the sky through her glass dome roof, and pursed her lips.
People were probably making the assumption that pokemon training equaled hot chicks.
That, or Ash was just insanely charming during his battle. Misty recalled parts of it, and snickered to herself, no, it was unquestionably the first option.
She let herself think of Ash for a moment, as a friend, and she once again, felt a sense of guilt that pierced her stomach—she wasn't mad at him, she told herself, she was a mixture of emotions, but mad wasn't one of them. Hopefully she would have time to clear her head before she saw him again.
Her gaze drifted down to the front door, and she shut her eyes sadly. Of course, she didn't know when the next time was going to be. It had already been four years with nothing more than the occasional phone call, so, she wasn't sure why she would feel anything for him in the first place, and the depression over realizing that she still liked him stumped every other feeling. She was depressed not because he found a girlfriend, but because she was too pathetic to move on.
She sighs, and then slaps herself on the head, sitting up.
"Think of something else, Misty!" She told herself while watching her reflection. Beneath the water, she could see gyarados swimming around with her horsea and dewgong, and she made a face.
"Like how I still want to be the best water pokemon trainer in the world." She grinned at herself, and started to count her pokemon.
On an adventure to get more cascade badge replacements, she had managed to catch a squirtle, which was now happily sleeping at the edge of the pool aside her meril. Beside them, was psyduck and politoed. Beneath the water, she had an assortment of goldeen playing with her staryu and starmi, as well as Corsola. No mater how much she battled with them, they always seemed to have more energy than the last time. She smiled at them with a sense of pride and joy.
They were amazing, and if she didn't have any other reason to wake up in the morning—seeing her pokemon would do the trick every time.
"It's not every pokemon trainer that would look so lovingly at their pokemon."
Misty jumped up, her pants getting a bit wet in the scuffle, and she quickly turned to the new trainer that entered her gym.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't even hear the door bell go off—are you-" She stopped mid-sentence and her face became elated "Brock?" She called happily and clapped her hands.
"Why are you here?" She cried happily, clasping him on the shoulder in excitement, Brock seemed genuinely pleased with her response and smiled.
"Whoa, Misty, take a few steps back, would ya? I can smell the alcohol from here." He was joking, but it was still enough for Misty's face to fall, her eyes to narrow, and her hand to drop limp from his shoulder.
"H-how could you..." She placed her index fingers together, as if ashamed of her actions, but Brock merely laughed out loud.
"Don't worry about it! Just next time make sure you call to share!" Misty gave him a look, and then grinned a bit.
"Follow me, we can talk over some coffee." She waved him over with a start to the kitchen, but he hesitated.
"Y—you know how to brew coffee, right?" He was genuinly concerned, and Misty turned on him.
"What is that supposed to mean!? Of course I can make coffee!" She screamed and then turned away with a huff. "Jeeze." She murmured stomping from the gym to the small kitchen where the pokemon food was usually prepared.
However, because she spent so many hours in the gym a day, she also had food and coffee stashed in the kitchen for a rainy day.
As she prepared the coffee, Brock took a seat at the table, and set his traveling pack down against the table leg. He eyed Misty suspiciously.
"Since when do you drink though?" He questioned quickly, hoping to not anger the red-head, but Misty wouldn't expect anything else from Brock, so as she carried their beverages over to the table, she sat down and pursed her lips.
"When it's absolutely necessary" she offered her response with a slight grin, and slowly took a sip of her coffee—strong enough to make her hairs stand on end; just the way she liked it. Brock also took a sip, and immediately started hacking.
"Don' you have any creamer?" He coughed, holding his throat; and Misty rolled her eyes. She got up, quickly pulled out a bottle of creamer from the refrigerator, and set down in front of him. He tossed her a quick thank you, adjusted his coffee and then exhaled in relief.
"So, don't take this the wrong way, but what are you doing here?" She sipped her coffee again, watching his reaction and Brock tapped his fingers on his mug.
"Well, I wouldn't have walked all this way if we could get a hold of you via telephone, but you never seem to answer" He grumbled, making a gesture with his hand. Misty grinned lightly.
"I've been off duty as of late. I just got back to the gym today."
"Off duty? How come?" He wiggled an eyebrow at Misty, and she quickly slurped her coffee to avoid his gaze.
"Okay okay, you don't want to talk about it." Brock said defensivly, knowing that Misty wasn't going to place her mug down until he let it slide. As suspected, she placed it down as soon as he did. His eye twitched.
"I can to invite you in person since we couldn't reach you by phone." Brock told her with a bit of a smile on his face. Misty watched him carefully, and leaned one elbow over the table, intrigued.
"Invite me to what?" Please don't say wedding, Misty thought.
"To Ash's celebration party in Pallet town. He invited all of his old traveling companions—but since you were the only one his mom couldn't get a hold of, she called me to see if I would go get you."
"Aww, shucks Brock. You'd do that for me?" She playfully stuck her tongue out at him, and he laughed.
"Of course! The party wouldn't be the same if you weren't there!" Misty was very good at hiding her emotions, even when Brock tried to read her, he found that he could not. He knew that she was upset over the Ash and Serena situation, but she wasn't letting on; in fact, she seemed almost stoic.
"Well, I'll have to see." And there it was, a hint of evasiveness in her eyes as she ran her index finger over the handle on her mug. "There's a lot to do at the gym since I've been gone."
Brock deadpanned. "What, are you afraid of Serena? Usually, you would jump all over an invitation like this."
Misty's face slowly crept into a blush, even though hse fought hard to keep it down. She whispered in her mind: "Dead puppies dead puppies" To avoid even thinking about Serena, or Ash, or them in the same sentence.
"No." She lied but Brock saw through it.
"Aww, is Misty still not over her little lovey crush on Ashhyyy?" He crooned, while wiggling in his seat for emphasis.
"I WILL MURDER YOU." She called, reaching over the table to grab his collar; his coffee nearly spilled over the table as she thrashed him. Brock stuck up his arms as if saying 'calm down' and laughed nervously.
"I'm just kidding, don't kill me." Misty released him, and then slapped herself in the head as she fell into her seat.
"I am so sorry for losing it like that." She mumbled quickly while crossing her legs; her propelling voice had forced some of her pokemon above water, and the ones sleeping were suddenly awake, staring into the Kitchen, alert. She waved them off.
"It's no problem. I get it." He spoke truthfully, and Misty's eyes snaked over at him.
"Oh, you do, do you?" She asked, a small mischievous grin pressing into her cheeks.
"Yeah." Brock said, obviously missing her point. Misty covered her mouth with her fingers, and this time, it was her turn to wiggle in her seat.
"So you have an unrequited crush on Ash as well?" She giggled, so proud of herself. Brock's face flushed, but only out of embarrassment from not catching her tease early.
"Not like that!" He slammed his palms on the table, defending his manliness, and Misty grabbed her stomach as she laughed out loud. He was steaming though, and grabbed his face in shame.
"All joking aside, I thought that maybe, since you have dealt with this feeling the longest you could..." He looked at her sideways. "Talk with... the other girls..." he scratched his cheek while asking, and suddenly, Misty's joy was stabbed, multiple times.
"you want me to what?" She stammered.
"Talk with the other girls, I don't know, check up on them? Make sure they're not depressed over Ash. I mean, I would, but you'd understand them better..." He, where was he even getting this stuff?
Misty lost it: "You want ME to SOOTH their feelings? Who do you think I am!?"
"Well, Delia, Ash and I tried to call, but when we thought of this idea—we thought it best to ask in person." He was cowering in fear of Misty's wrath and she waved her arm around.
"So wait, ASH wants me to sooth his rejections!? Tell him to man up and do it!" She called, wanting to pull he hair out. Brock stammered, and threw up his hands.
"No, that's not what I meant. Ash doesn't know, he just tried to call to invite you—this is Delia and I asking. We don't want them to do something reckless." He placed his hands together under the table, and Misty was up, pacing her kitchen.
"And you don't think that I would?!" Brock was about to defend her, call her more mature than the other girls, but Misty interrupted him.
"Do you know what I did for my 'break', Brock? I nearly drank myself into a catatonic state. A kid I met when I was a KID, who, by the way, I haven't talked to in months, nearly made me drink myself to death! And you want ME to talk with the OTHER girls that Ash MIGHT have hurt?" She was ranting now, straight livid, but Brock's resolve didn't waver, even after her news.
"But Misty, you know your feelings. You understand them. May, Dawn, and possibly Iris don't. They didn't, and haven't known Ash as long as you have—We just really want you there, you're like the mother hen of our group, no one wants to piss you off. And at the very least, if you're there; you can talk to the other girls."
"God, I feel like I'm in sister wives or something stupid like that." She grumbled while holding her head, and then she eyes him carefully.
"What's in it for me?" She questioned, and Brock shrugged.
"I'm not sure what to tell you, I mean, you would get to see Ash—even though I'm sure that's the last thing on your list of things to do right now."
"You're damn right." Misty added, but then immediately regretted it. "No... that's not true. I am happy for him, for winning; I'm just..." She pursed her lips carefully, as if indicating with her hand to the spacial relationship between the two of them.
"Disappointed?" She offered, finally speaking the words that mostly summed up her precarious situation. Brock nodded, and gave her a soft smile.
"I know; but It wouldn't be the same if you weren't there, especially for Ash, since you were with him the very first time he lost a championship—I'm sure it would"
"Mean a lot if I'm there to complete the set, blahblahblah, stop being so mushy. I'll go." Misty smiled at Brock, knowing that it wasn't easy for him to come and face Misty so bravely, but she appreciated it—none of her other friends would have ever been so willing to come so far just to invite her to a celebration party.
"Thanks, Misty. I'm glad you agreed...just, try not to make it worse, okay?"
She smiled at him warmly, but on the inside, she was bashing her head on an imaginative wall. All the alcohol in the world was not going to ease the tension she was already feeling between her and Ash, especially the tension she would feel with Serena.
"I'm not making any promises." She laughed nervously.