Hey guys! I should note that you should REALLY reread chapter two as that has had to be edited. Anyways, sorry for taking so long to update this story, to sum up what happened, College happened, and this story just has a real annoying story behind, one of just rewrite after rewrite, this one was redo three, because the first draft went completely off track with the direction of the story. Then the second edited draft forgot that Misty was suppose to be CONFLICTED so it lead to rewriting chapter two which resulted in some changes here. And yeah... Let's just get going with this.
The Engines That'll Start It
"Errrrrruuuuuggghhhhh…!" Misty groaned, exasperated. "Where did those two go off?" She pondered impatiently. It was not long after Ash disappeared during after he finished his own dinner that Tracey then decided to leave her behind, saying something along the lines of having to have an 'important discussion' of sorts with Ash. And so there she was, all by her lonesome self in the center's lobby.
"Pri, togeprri?" Togepi chirped, wondering what was going on.
Misty sighed. "I'm just wondering what's taking them so long. Unless… Team Rocket's about and I didn't hear it?!" she panicked. "No… That can't be it. Ugh! I hate not knowing where Ash is sometimes! Or what he's doing, yeah… all right, that's it! We're going to go find them! Training shouldn't take him that long…"
Misty didn't have to look far, just after she walked out the back door of the Pokémon Center she was expecting to hear Ash shouting at the top of his lungs at some random opponent of his, or the sounds of one of Team Rocket's machines causing some sort of terror, but the battlefields were bare empty, and the night air was peaceful. As she looked, she saw off to the sides at the bottom of the Poke center's property line the very benches where she recognized a blue jacket and a teal shirt. "Oh, so there you two are, I was-… HUH?!"
There was Ash – the boy she found herself of all people liking. That dense idiot who fought a bird with a bug, and pinned an electric rat against a giant rock snake Pokémon – was talking with, another girl, and oh no, she was pretty, and way more girly than what Misty knew she could match up to… In other words, she definitely looked like competition. As if trying to get Ash's attention wasn't hard enough for her already.
"Oh. Hiya Misty!" Ash called, standing up in respect for her. He motioned to the brunette who was sitting next to him. "Misty, this is Leaf, a trainer from… I'm sorry, where did you say you were from?"
Leaf giggled, it sent a chill down Misty's spine – she was never good at controlling her jealousy. "Oh Ash, you're such a ditz," Leaf snickered, "I'm from Celadon City. I just recently came here to expand my horizons after hearing about these regional variant Pokémon that are said to live out here."
"Um…" Misty began, "It's a pleasure, Leaf." "Oh come on Misty, get yourself together," she inwardly scolded herself, "You barely know her. This Leaf seems nice enough. I guess…" It was then Ash invited her to sit down, and whilst admittedly there was far more room next to Tracey who was sitting across from Ash and Leaf, Misty quickly walked around the table to join Ash on his right side.
Leaf found herself curious by this choice of seating, but chose not to acknowledge it since Ash and Tracey weren't saying anything about it themselves.
Ash awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck before turning to Misty, a slight blush on the bridge of his nose. "So, guess you got bored waiting on us, huh?"
"What do you think?" she snapped moodily, glaring at both Ash and Tracey. "Leaving me behind without any explanation? I was starting to worry you know?!" With that last remark she stared coldly at Ash, annoyed, and also feeling a mixture of hurt at feeling forgotten about.
"Sorry," Ash then murmured, "Guess me and Tracey got so caught up in talking to Leaf we…" But another cold glare from Misty told Ash he was better off not continuing that sentence. "L-listen," he muttered, "Do NOT get the idea that we were beginning to like Leaf more than we like you. We care about you a lot too y'know? It's just… We got caught up in having someone new to talk to for the first time in a while."
"Tch," Misty huffed, still feeling hurt, "You would need to vary up who you talk Ash. You're world is so small, having someone new to talk to must be a cause for a celebration, considering just how few and far your interactions with others have been lately."
"Hey!" Ash snapped back. "That's mean, Mist!" Misty felt a chill go up her spine at the use of her nickname, the one that only Ash was allowed to use...
"And besides," Ash grilled on. "Like you can talk, following me as long as you have. I've probably talked to just as many people as you have on this journey."
"Hey! At least my introduction to someone isn't by stealing and frying girls' bikes!"
"Will you knock it off about your bike?! And it was just you that that happened to!"
"You still owe me!" "I don't mean that Ash, please don't take that seriously… It's just an excuse to be with you. But no person should be as dense as you can be… I guess I'm just not sure, even after what Tracey said…" Misty quickly thought.
"At least I don't grill every single trainer who shows some dislike for water types as much as you do!"
"You're a kid with a Charizard who refuses to listen to him!"
"And you have a Psyduck who can't even swim! And you call yourself a water type expert…" "Eh, no… You're… You're pretty cool actually Misty…And that's well… Why I…Nevermind actually, we're arguing at the moment anyways."
"… So says Mr. Pokémon Master who only has just a few Pokémon to his name!"
"Oh, like you can talk! You…"
Tracey was so busy staring at the two 'friends' bickering against each other, he didn't notice Leaf's huge smile as she watched the two grilling each other.
"Say," she said loudly, standing up and getting between the two trainers, placed her hands on their shoulders, and gently pushed them away from each other, the two stop their rabble and turned their attention on Leaf.
"Ash… Didn't you promise me we were going to battle?" she continued sweetly, she smirked inwardly when out of the corner of her eye, she saw a scowl form on Misty's complexion.
"Huh? Oh yeah! Of course, how many Pokémon do you want to battle with?"
"One-on-one is fine with me. Besides, I'm not exactly much of a trainer to be truthful, c-compared to you that is… What with you taking the challenge and all to compete in the Orange League."
Misty lowly growled at that. "That little… Watch Tracey, she's only luring Ash into a trap, I bet she's just waiting to blow the socks off of him…"
Tracey sweat dropped at that. "I-if you say so, Misty…"
Meanwhile the two trainers got onto either side of the battlefield. Misty and Tracey watched from the sides. "Ladies first!" Ash called.
"Aw thanks Ash," Leaf said with a flirty wink, Misty's eyebrow twitched malignantly at that. "All right, go, Jigglypuff!"
Ash had been prepared in case she had brought out her Ivysaur, but this time she brought out a Pokémon he didn't know she had. Perfect, he thought. He had been meaning to give this guy some more training in a while.
"Bulbasaur, I choose you!" Ash grunted, giving a usual passionate throw of his ball.
"You can do it Ash…" Misty muttered under her breath as the two trainers prepared to start the battle.
"Jigglypuff, start off with your DoubleSlap attack!" Leaf called out. Her Jigglypuff ran towards Bulbasaur at a fast speed, its hands ready to launch the attack.
"Bulbasaur, use Razor Leaf!" Ash countered. Bulbasaur tried to dodge, but grunted as it took one of the DoubleSlap's, but fired back with its equally quick Razor Leaf attack, Jigglypuff cried out as it took the brunt of the attack.
Leaf grimaced as she watched her Pokémon take the damage. "Okay then… Try a Double-Edge!"
"Puff!" the balloon Pokémon cried in confirmation and leaped forward.
"Catch it with Vine Whip!" Ash yelled, Bulbasuar did exactly that, Jigglypuff just barely making contact with Bulbasaur's head in the process. "Okay, now throw Jigglypuff!"
"Bulba… SAUR!" Bulbasaur grunted as it performed the task.
"Use Razor Leaf!" was Ash's follow up command. Bulbasaur launching the attack flawlessly.
Leaf smirked, her chance was now! "Jigglypuff! Ice Beam!"
Jigglypuff quickly opened her mouth, and charged up the bright blue ball and fired the Ice Beam, but not before taking the Razor Leaf attack. Ash panicked as Bulbasaur took the Ice Beam, which he quickly shook off.
"Wow," Leaf muttered to herself, "Bulbasaur hung in… No surprise there I guess."
"I knew it!" Misty groaned. "She did have a tactic going into this battle."
But Ash was far from done. "So… It has Ice Beam huh, we'll just have to be careful then Bulbasaur… Leech Seed, Bulbasaur!"
" 'Saur!" And before Leaf knew it, Jigglypuff got tangled in some roots and began to suck the energy from Jigglypuff.
"Oh no!" she gasped. "Disable!" Jigglypuff's eyes glowed, stopping Bulbasaur from using Leech Seed from then on – Ash, Misty, and Tracey all knew she just made a mistake. "Now use DoubleSlap"
"Dodge, and use Razor Leaf!"
This time Bulbasaur fully dodged the DoubleSlap, and quickly hit Jigglypuff with its Razor Leaf attack. Leaf herself was starting to realize just how outmatched her and Jigglypuff were in the battle… "It's now or never for even a chance with this battle," she grimaced, "Jigglypuff, Ice Beam!"
Ash remained calm and collected as he ordered his next attack as Jigglypuff prepared Ice Beam. "Dodge it and knock it down with Vine Whip!"
Bulbasaur quickly shot its vines out of its back and dropped to the battlefield as the Ice Beam barely hit it. The Ice Beam however had to be grimly dodged by Ash and Pikachu as they jumped out of the way of it. Jigglypuff got sent flying into the air after Vine Whip made contact with her.
"Now Bulbasaur, finish this with Razor Leaf!" Ash called.
Bulbasaur once again performed the move, and Jigglypuff with nowhere to hide got hit and fell to the field, bounced a bit before lying before Leaf on her back with swirls in her eyes, signifying she couldn't battle anymore. Leaf sighed. "Well, that's that I guess. Thank you Jigglypuff, you were great."
Ash too thanked his longtime friend and he too recalled it back to its Pokéball. He then walked over to meet Leaf and stuck his hand out. "Great battle Leaf," he smiled.
"Thanks Ash," Leaf said shaking his hand, "Although… I really didn't stand a chance against you honestly. The rumors of your skills really do live up to expectations."
"Jeez," another female voice said, it was Misty's voice as she and Tracey walked up towards Ash. "Don't go and praise him too much Leaf, otherwise you'll never hear the end of it, and then you'll end up seeing just how much of a loser he can be."
"Misty," Ash whined, "I'm not that incompetent y'know…?"
"I know," Misty replied, giving Ash a meaningful look, "Just don't think you can take every challenger on and win."
"I'm still stronger than you think I am though…" he responded, the hurt evident in his voice.
Misty's expression softened at that as she looked down to look him in the eyes. "You're not that bad, just remember that not every battle will ever be easy as the last."
"Fair enough…" Ash murmured, giving a content smile up at her. Misty just smiled at that, and Ash turned humbly away, a slight blush on his face. All the while Leaf watched the interaction with interest.
Ever since she met Misty just a few minutes ago, Leaf couldn't help but… Sense something between Ash and her, and as bad as their little squabble had been from a few minutes ago, undeniably, there was something about the way they bickered that definitely didn't strike it as malicious.
On top of that, Ash paid her a lot of attention, referred to her multiple times like he was worried he might say something stupid, or the way this Misty reacted in his presence… "I wonder," Leaf thought carefully, "I mean… It's almost fairly obvious. This Misty is totally into Ash, oh my gosh! It's practically the perfect romance! She blushes in front of him and got really defensive when I tried to talk to him, it's so obvious…But does Ash not notice her or, but he does look in her direction a lot…"
"Leaf?"
"Huh, o-oh what?" Leaf stammered, she looked into up to see Misty staring at her.
"Are you okay?" the older girl politely asked. "You were spacing out just now. Is something the matter?"
Leaf shifted awkwardly a bit, hoping that she hadn't been too obvious with her inner romantic side, she was often told that her nowhere gaze gave it away by her parents, and often by her other friends, but was Misty able to see that…? Leaf then looked up at Misty – Jeez, she thought, this Misty sure is tall, especially compared to her nearly eleven year old self, Misty was even taller than Ash by some three inches – and saw how genuinely worried she was – relieved that her thoughts weren't obvious, Leaf just smiled innocently.
"I'm fine," Leaf said, "Just… Thinking, that's all."
"That's okay," Misty beamed, "Anyways, it's getting late. C'mon Ash, it's time we got to bed. Same applies to you, Tracey."
"Coming," the two males responded, before they both realized...
"Leaf?" Tracey asked. "Do you have a room to stay in tonight? When we checked in, Nurse Joy said that soon she won't be able to check in more trainers, the place was almost fully booked for the night."
Leaf was about to reply that she did, but then realized, she hadn't actually asked for a room! "Oh no!" she shrieked. "I completely forgot to get one this afternoon!"
The others sweat dropped at that. "Well…" Tracey awkwardly said, "If it's any help, our room does have a spare bed…"
"Yeah," Ash offered, "You could stay with us for the night. What d'you think, Mist?"
"T-that's fine," Misty murmured, her words getting slightly caught in her throat as she had spoken. But no one seemed to have noticed it. "Yeah, sure, you can stay in our room tonight Leaf, we'll be heading out tomorrow anyways."
"Thank you so much!" Leaf squeaked. "And…" she thought gleefully, "It gives me the opportunity to see just exactly what is up with you two…"
OoOoO
Leaf quickly dropped her stuff off in Ash, Misty, and Tracey's room and thanked them once more for their hospitality and quickly went to go scrape some dinner from the cafeteria – apparently she had be fueling herself since the afternoon on just snacks alone since she had gotten lost looking for Ash. Tracey meanwhile wanted to go observe some of the other trainers' Pokémon some more from the lobby, leaving Ash and Misty alone in the room.
They were just standing around at first, feeling awkward, but soon were just leaning on the window sill, busy stargazing together as was their usual custom, to enhance the experience they elected to turn the rooms lights out to make it easier to watch the sky.
"Hey… Those stars when put together kinda form a Butterfree, don't you think, Ash?" Misty commented, pointing to a patch of stars.
"Yeah, they do when you think about it," Ash laughed, looking at where Misty was pointing to.
"Yeah…" Misty went on, trailing off since she wasn't sure what to say next. She looked at Ash and was left to think upon her earlier conversation with Tracey that evening. What if he did indeed like her the same way she did for him? It was a pleasant thought yes, but… She was left to wonder though if Ash even fully understood what he might feel for her, but she couldn't deny how he had been incredibly jealous back with Danny and Rudy, Misty wouldn't admit it out loud, but she did feel rather silly for her brief infatuation with Danny, then again, it wasn't every day that someone complimented her because of her name…
And as for Rudy… He liked her, and based on all of the actions Rudy had taken to show her that attention he so greatly wanted to show her, Rudy managed to pile on a lot of things for Misty to feel attached to. But in the end, she still went with Ash, because that's what her heart had told her to do.
And when that Leaf girl had gone and showed up into the picture… Now Misty really wasn't sure what to feel, she hated Leaf. Not because of the girl personally, but the very fact that Ash had been seen sitting next to her and laughing with her, it just made Misty's blood boil, she had a feeling she now knew what Ash felt like back with the two male gym leaders…
"Is something the matter, Misty?" his voice cut through her thoughts and she quickly looked up. Ash had gotten much closer to her face than he was a few moments ago; a concerned look etched across his features, Misty couldn't help but take notice. His brown eyes reflected the moonlight and it awed her with how pretty it made him look, she always did like his brown eyes in a way.
She didn't know it, but even though it wasn't exactly on his conscious, but Ash too was also being entranced by the way her eyes were looking in the moonlight's glow.
"… You were, um," Ash muttered, "Looking lost I guess you could say, in thought." All the while Ash was getting even closer to her.
"No, I'm fine Ash…" Misty said thoughtlessly, placing a hand of her on his arm slowly, Ash didn't even flinch.
They just stared for a bit at each other, not saying anything. The silence looked painful, but to them it almost seemed too loud, Ash then broke it, but still spoke whilst entranced. "Y'know, Tracey mentioned something funny to me earlier today," he muttered, his gaze failing to break.
"Yeah… Tracey told me something weird today as well…" she replied, looking at him as she leaned down to close the gap between their heads inch by inch before continuing. "Tracey told me…" Just then they heard the door creak open and the lights of the room turned on, causing the both of them to jump in surprise!
"Ash, Misty? Can I...? Uh, what's going on here?" The two trainers looked over, there standing in front of the doors entrance was Leaf, her hand still on the light switch, her facial features clearly telling that she had no idea what she walked in on. "Were you two about to…?"
"DON'T SCARE US LIKE THAT!" Misty then shouted at her. "You could've at least knocked you know!" Misty could feel her blood heating up, she was close, so close to finally saying something, it was their moment, and the setting couldn't have been more romantic in her view if she had tried. But then she sighed, realizing that maybe Leaf's interruption could've been completely innocent, "But then what was that last comment about?" She thought.
"Well… It looked like you two were about to kiss…" Leaf said awkwardly.
"WHAT!" both and Ash and Misty cried at the same time. "N-n-no way!" Misty stammered. "You got it all wrong, we were stargazing together!"
"If you say so…" Leaf muttered to herself, blushing the whole while, she felt so stupid for accidently ruining what looked like their moment. "Um anyways," Leaf quickly said, remembering what she needed, "Do either of you have some tooth floss I can use?"
"Yeah…" Misty grumbled, "Lemme get it for you…" she made her way over to her bag, glancing at Ash out of the corner of her eyes with a grimace. "So much for an opportunity," she thought, "At least if I had stayed with Rudy we wouldn't get interrupted randomly. If I even liked him to begin with… But… What if… What if I did tell Ash I liked him… Would we have not gotten interrupted? Or was Ash even thinking the same thing I was in the first place…?" As Misty thought this, she failed to notice how disappointed Ash was looking himself…
Meanwhile, out on the road, Team Rocket was slowly trudging along, exhausted.
"Darn twerps," James grumbled, "Every time you want to find them, nowhere to be found."
"You's got dat right Jimmy," Meowth agreed. "Jus' how long has it been since we lost track o' dem?"
James pondered. But Jessie interrupted him. "We've lost sight of the twerps ever since this morning, dummies."
"So… We've been going this entire time not knowing where they're going?" James asked incredulously.
"Not since someone accidently destroyed our balloon because he picked a fight with the nearby wild Pokémon!" Jessie snapped, glaring at Meowth.
The feline was about retort, when James' voice cut him off. "Look chums!" he cried. "A nearby town and Pokémon center over yonder!"
"You's wanna bet dat da twerps are o'er in dere?" Meowth muttered, eying the center.
"Where else would they be?" James retorted.
"Doesn't matter…" Jessie then said, causing the two males to look at her in surprise.
"How do you mean Jess?" James wondered.
"That's a Pokémon center, the only one so far in miles. Meaning we have a high chance that lots of travelling trainers will be resting there tonight, meaning," Jessie said, an evil, mischievous glint coming into her eyes. "That we have the perfect prime opportunity to steal every one of those trainers' Pokémon from right under them for the boss!"
"Yeah!" Meowth cheered. "Who cares if the twerps are still dere or not…"
"Highly trained Pokémon we could steal on the fly would put money in our pockets all the same!" James concluded.
"Time ta put our plan together then, ready for some 'clingy' action…" Meowth sniggered.
To be continued…