"yes misty?"

"well I... kinda wanted to tell you something... but I could never get you since you were always away when I visited pallet..."

"oh yeah... so what did you want to say? I'm here now"

"well it's that... on that day.. after you left johto, when we parted ways... I.. I never wanted to leave you, ash.."

"you... didn't?.."

misty shakes her head.

"I wanted to stay with you. if you had said you wanted me to keep traveling with me I would have done so... but since my sister at the gym needed me and you didn't stop me, I went home. then I got to see you again in the hoenn region, I was so excited.. I thought maybe you would ask me to travel with you then... but you had that may girl and her brother travel with you and brock... admittedly I was a bit envious of her... and I went home again. after that I didn't see you at all, every time you returned after a journey I just miss running into you and seeing you again.. I wanted to tell you these things for years.."

"I-I see... if I knew this I would have at least visited you in cerulean.. uh sorry.."

"it's fine... cause ash... even though I left you back then.. my feelings for you haven't. you see ash I still...I...I..."

just then loud fireworks go off in the distance as misty talks. ash sees her mouth move but cannot hear what she's saying, yet somehow he seemingly understood her.

"misty..." says ash looking into her eyes

then without really knowing it the two move closer and closer to another on the bench. just as it seems they are going to make contact a group of people close to them start to cheer loudly stopping them. the two look in the direction of the cheering breaking their gaze on each other. ash, realizing how close they got, blushes a bit and stands up quickly.

"uh misty, were you planning on going by my house?" says ash

"huh? yeah, I was gonna visit there" says misty

"oh well uh, I kinda have to do something now so I'll see you at the house later. ok bye" says ash then quickly walks off

"wha? ash!.." says misty

she just watches as ash walking fast disappears into the distance. afterwards she sighs a bit and stands up.

"how silly of me, telling him in such a crowded place. well, I have plenty of time.. heh heh" she says to herself

meanwhile, still walking kinda fast, ash continues going through the town thinking to himself about what just happened.

"that was close... I was about to... just what feelings did she have for me that she held all this time? it couldn't be that, could it?..."

he then stops and leans against a tree to catch his breath a bit.

"I like misty but... I'm with serena now and I like serena. of course... I forgot serena back there... if she were to find out about..."

he then takes a moment to gather his thoughts. inhales and exhales deeply then stretches.

"I can worry about that later, for now time to check out the festival more hehe" he says to himself then starts walking again

meanwhile in another part of town the boy and girl from earlier, clemont and bonnie, are seen walking down another similarly crowded pathway.

"clemont c'mon! geez you are so slow!" says bonnie looking at clemont who is several feet behind her tiredly walking

"bonnie slow down a bit... I didn't think this town's paths would be so long..." says clemont

"huh? no way, this town isn't nearly at big as lumiose. pick up the pace brother" says bonnie

she then starts to walk a little faster while looking around at the stands and festival decorations. without knowing it she crosses paths with someone and the two bump into each other falling down. bonnie who landed on her backside rubs her forehead after the colision.

"owwie... eh?" she says then looks at the person she bumped into

he is a young boy around bonnie's age with blue hair, a green shirt, and black jeans also wearing glasses. he happens to be may's younger brother max. he holds the back of his head then looks at bonnie.

"argh... hey, watch where you're going kid" says max

"agh, you watch where you're going kid!" says bonnie

"what'd you say?!" says max

"you heard me!" says bonnie

the two stand up and get in each other's faces.

"what, you got a problem? let's battle then, bigmouth!" says max

"I'll be glad to, four-eyes!" says bonnie

the two glare at each other growling before clemont walks up to stop them.

"now now you two, settle down. bonnie come on now, this is no place for fighting" says clemont

"but clemont!..." says bonnie

max shrugs and says "eh, he's right. I got better things to do with my time anyways. later little girl"

max nonchalantly walks away down the path. bonnie glares at him as he walks away then pouts.

"lets go, clemont" says bonnie blankly then walks down a different stretch of path

"huh? hey wait up" says clemont following

a little later ash is walking down a wide path where many stands and performers line the sides of the path. he stops and looks around.

"wow pallet town has never been this busy before" he says

"ash ketchum!"