"C'mon, Mist. Open up," May calls from the hallway, her fist banging against the door. Misty ignores her and continues to shove her clothing in a suitcase. Staryu and Azurill watch from the head of the bed, sensing their trainer's unease. "What are you doing here?" She hears May ask.

"I need to talk to her," Gary's voice responds. Her heart pounds in her chest while heat rises in her cheeks. "Give us a minute."

May scoffs. "What makes you think she wants to talk to you?"

Misty can just imagine Gary's annoyed glare. "Listen, kid, just give her some space and come back later."

There is a brief pause. "K-Kid?" May yells. "You give her some space!"

Before they continue to argue and cause a scene in the hallway, Misty opens the door. The two stare at her, almost surprised that she actually opened the door. "May, I'll find you later," she murmurs, eyes glaring holes into Gary's dumb face. He looks much more put together than their last encounter. May gives her an unsure look before nodding and walking to the elevator.

The two stare at each other, lips pressed into hard lines. "Can I come in?" Gary finally asks. Misty clenches her teeth before stepping aside, letting him walk inside. "So why are we done?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"Why don't we act mature and actually communicate as opposed to you throwing out passive aggressive comments?"

Misty laughs. "Oh, you want to act mature? Great let's be mature." The wild look in her eye makes Gary lose a bit of his nerve. "This whole time we've been here, you've let me tell you all my secrets and insecurities and whatever but not once have you ever opened up to me. Not once have you ever confided in me." Gary is about to interject but she continues. "And what about Leaf?" Just the mention of her name once more has him shrinking back, face draining of all color. "You can't even hear her name without having a literal full body reaction, yet you didn't even mention her to me."

"Shut up, Misty." Gary growls. "You have no idea what you're talking about."

"I know! Because you won't tell me anything!"

He takes a few steps closer to her. "Do you think maybe the reason I don't tell you anything is because you have never asked how I am, or how I'm feeling, or literally anything about me?"

Misty gets right in his face. "Bullshit! I have given you multiple opportunities to tell me things and I've asked but you always deflect!" The two stare at one another as aggravation radiates off their bodies. "You're not in this like I am," she finally says.

"Would you stop pushing me away?" Gary growls. "I am in this. I've made this abundantly clear to you, but if you are unable to trust me, I need you to tell me now."

"I would trust you if you wouldn't keep things from me! Tell me about Leaf."

Gary is silent. Misty raises an eyebrow. "I can now see why Ash left you." The comment takes Misty aback. "You push and push at the people who love you until they snap and then you blame them." His cheeks heat up, not meaning to add the 'love' part.

"Get out," she breathes, looking at him like she doesn't even know him. He takes a step towards her, her name about to fall from his lips, but he is silenced by her hand clapping against his cheek. It echoes in the room. "Get out now."

He says nothing before turning on his heel and slamming the door shut behind him.


"You never came to find me and I'm just finding out that you already went back home! They halted all travel after your boat took off because of the storm that came in. What if your boat had sunk? You were supposed to leave with me, Suzie, and Brock. Well, call me back when you get this, the three of us have to talk to you and who knows when we'll be able to leave Sunyshore. Call me back!" May's voice cuts off as the message ends.

"Misty, sweetheart," Misty's heart clenches at the recorded voice of Ms. Ketchum. "I'm so sorry about all that happened these past few days. I always knew Dawn wasn't the one for my boy, but that's not why I'm calling. I want to know how you're doing. I wish you were still on the island. I believe you and Gary were the only ones able to leave before they closed the port. "I don't know what happened between the two of you, but I hope you both can remedy it. Ash loves you, but I can't stand by the way he treated you. Listening to the way Gary would talk about you... that's the way you deserve to be portrayed and cared about. Anyway, sweetheart, I hope you're doing well."

The machine continues playing message after message. Daisy was the first to call when she had heard about what happened at the wedding. Misty just listened quietly with the phone pressed to her ear and a vodka bottle clutched in her hand.

It's been a few days since she left Sunyshore. She doesn't know if the others have made it home yet, and to be quite frank, she doesn't care right now. All she wants to do, from the moment she wakes up to the moment she passes out, is drink. She went to the Cerulean bar for a while, but the bartender started cutting her off. Now she buys as many bottles as she can carry from the store and just drinks at the gym. Luckily trainers have stayed away. Unfortunately, they're staying away because seemingly every person in Kanto knows what happened at the wedding, Dawn made sure of that. The orange-headed bimbo ruined her big day and caused a huge scene.

Misty paces around the large pool she uses for training, a half-empty tequila bottle nestled in her hand. All her Pokémon are put away in their poké balls besides Azurill, who is looking at Misty worriedly. She takes another long swig of the alcohol, sputtering once she's swallowed. "Zurill…" the Pokémon mews, trying to get the trainer's attention.

The soft noise halts Misty's movements. She looks out the large windows on the other side of the gym and sees red and orange streaks in the sky from the setting sun. Tears well in her eyes as she thinks about the many nights her and Gary spent watching the sun set. She lets them fall freely as she continues to down the whole handle. With only a few sips left, the bottle slips from her hand, shattering on the tile floor. Alcohol and glass scatter everywhere.

She unceremoniously drops to her knees, meaning to clean up the mess. "Ouch," she mumbles, falling to her bum and examining the glass shard now lodged into her shin. Azurill makes a move to run towards her, but Misty holds her hand out. "'s dangerous," she slurs out, keeping the Pokémon away. Misty rips the shard out, not caring about the blood gliding down her leg. She stands, legs wobbly and the room dipping and swaying. Her foot steps on glass, and when she puts weight on it, it slides from the wet tile. She loses her footing, her whole body falling forward.

The side of Misty's head smacks against the edge of the pool. She slips into the water, too dazed and drunk to move her limbs. The further down she sinks, the more okay with it she becomes. She doesn't fight it. She doesn't panic.

Azurill on the other hand runs to the side of the pool. He dives in and with all the strength he can muster, tries to lift Misty's limp body to the surface. But with no help from her, Azurill can't do it. He hops out of the massive pool and runs out of the gym into the streets of Cerulean City looking for anyone that can help.

Every second counts as he frantically searches the streets. "Azurill?" A familiar voice says curiously. "What are you doing out here without Misty?"


Y'all! They switched all my classes to online ones and now I have to pretty much teach myself German and ya girl is going to FAIL.