Ash and Misty looked at one another blankly. How could this happen? When did they even get to the caves that they weren't supposed to go to?
"Ugh!" Misty exclaimed loudly. "Just my luck! How did we get stuck in this cave? How was there an avalanche?"
"Sydney," Ash replied. "I heard her voice just before the snow fell."
"Looking back, there was something pretty suspicious about those bells being all lined up, weren't there?" Misty thought.
Ash sat on the ground and started taking off his snowboard. He wouldn't be needing it for a while. They were completed blocked in, the snow covering the entire entrance. Far above them there was a small opening letting in some light, just enough to see one another, but far too high to consider climbing. If only they had their pokemon with them to help they might be able to get out on their own.
"Better make ourselves comfortable," he said. "We'll probably be here for a while."
Misty harrumphed and obstinately removed her skis, setting them to the side. The cave was large enough for both to comfortably stand in, and just wide enough for them to manoeuvre in their skis.
Ash rubbed his hands over his arms. Maybe it was all in his head, but he swore it felt colder already.
"So we what, just sit and wait?" Misty asked. "There must be something better we can do."
Ash growled "Well too bad you spent more time making out with Scott than getting survival tips from him."
Misty glared at him. "Excuse me?"
"I saw you in the hallway earlier," Ash said. "You seemed pretty cosy. Thought I'd leave before I accidentally interrupted, it looked like you wanted to be alone."
"How dare you?" she yelled. The sound of more snow plummeting to the ground outside caused her to lower her voice to an angry whisper.
"How dare you?" she tried again. "So what if I kissed him? What does it matter to you who I kiss?"
"I don't CARE who you kiss!" Ash yelled back. "I just thought you had better sense than to make out with someone you literally just met."
"I can make out with whoever I please!"
Both teens crossed their arms and faced the opposite direction from one another, scowling. It was the first time either had been this mad at the other since the whole Sydney and Gary thing months ago, and Misty thought it was a little ironic that both situations were because of a kiss spotted by accidental snooping.
Several minutes passed where neither said a word. Misty started thinking about her reaction. She didn't really like Scott. The kiss was an accident, she was just swept up in the moment with his hair and his eyes and her dreams. As soon as his lips touched hers it felt wrong - they were chapped and uninviting and nothing like she'd imagined.
It was her first kiss. At the time she was so overwhelmed, and then stressed about being paired with Ash on this trip when she was feeling so guilty. But now that she had a moment to think about it without distractions, she realized that her first kiss had been taken from her by a boy she barely knew. And now the boy she really liked was mad at her for it.
She sniffled quietly, a few tears starting down her cheeks. It was so unfair. Especially now, with the anniversary of her parents death so close. She didn't have a great handle on her emotions at the best of times, and now was even worse.
She'd managed to keep quiet for a few more minutes but eventually her sniffling got louder and she was sure Ash could hear her. Dammit, she had nowhere to go, what did he expect her to do?
"I'm sorry," she heard him say behind her. That was normally her line.
He'd turned around to face her but was looking at the ground. "I'm sorry. That was a little… out of line. You're right. I shouldn't care who you decide to kiss. That should be your choice."
Mistry felt her tears increase with his words. As much as Ash was trying to be a good friend and apologize for overstepping, all her heart wanted was to hear him say-
"But I do care."
What? Did I imagine that? Her sniffles slowed, but her face was still wet with tears.
"Wh-what do you mean? What do you care about?"
He clenched his fists and looked up at her. The brown of his eyes was strong even in the darkness of the cave.
"I care about who you kiss. I care about who you hang out with. I care about how people treat you." He stammered. "I… I care about you."
Misty gasped, barely believing what she was hearing. He cared about her? When did this happen? How did this happen? Was she dreaming?
"You… you care about me." She repeated dumbly.
"Um… yeah. I.. I do."
Both were quiet. Ash was breathing so hard he felt his chest heaving, waiting for her to say something.
"As a friend?" she asked. She had to make sure she wasn't misunderstanding what he was saying.
Ash took another breath. This was his chance to backtrack. To tell her that he did mean it as just a friend and that he'd just hot headed and he would have reacted the same way if it were anyone else. But he remembered the tightness in his chest when he saw them. Remembered the feeling of heartbreak when he thought about Misty sharing her first kiss, first dance, first romance with anyone other than himself. He owed it to both of them to give them the chance to see if this would go anywhere.
"As more than a friend" he clarified, maintaining eye contact no matter how much he wanted to look away in embarrassment. Her blue eyes held his and he focused on them, trying to draw strength from them where he could.
Misty wiped her eyes, the trails of tears slowly drying on her cheeks.
"I care about you too, Ash Ketchum."
Both broke out into large grins in contrast to their dim and dreary surroundings.
"So, um, are we ok?" Ash asked. He didn't really know what to do from here. He'd had a couple of girlfriends in the past, but he'd never cared about any of them like this, and certainly never admitted his feelings to them in such a way.
Misty laughed. "Yes, we're ok. Thanks for talking to me about it."
Feeling emotionally wrung out after the day's events, Misty sat down on the cold floor and leaned back against the wall of the cave. Ash sat beside her, leaving a respectable distance between them, as much as the cave would allow.
Misty yawned, covering her mouth with her hand.
"Tired? Ash asked.
"Yeah," she said. "It's… been a long day."
"Sure has," he agreed. Both didn't mention that they didn't know how to get out of here, and how long it might take someone to find them.
Misty closed her eyes and tilted her head back to rest on the cave. Her breathing slowly evened and she felt herself starting to fall asleep, the darkness of the cave helping convince her that it was night time.
Ash cleared his throat, keeping his head facing forwards but darting his eyes towards her from his peripheral. "You can, um, use my shoulder. If you want to."
She blushed, but scooted closer to him and leaned her head on his shoulder stiffly. After a few minutes the tension in her body released and she felt herself beginning to nod off.
"What do you mean, tell someone where they are? That'll get us in trouble!"
Sydney was arguing with Gary as they were making their way back to the chalet.
"We can't just leave them there! I was fine with leading them to the caves, and fine with giving them a spook. There, they're spooked, we're all done."
"But if someone finds out we did it, we'll get in loads of trouble. We might not even be able to go to the dance or finish off the rest of the week skiing!"
"Is that what you care about?" Gary yelled. "I get it, it's Ash and Misty, not exactly our favourite people. But they're still people. We can't just leave them there to what - starve?"
Gary kept heading towards the chalet, starting to leave Sydney behind. The bells they'd collected still rattled in her bag.
"We don't have to tell them it was us. We can tell them we heard shouting and went to investigate when we saw the avalanche and saw them run into a cave."
"I won't." Sydney said, stopping suddenly. "I won't have any part in it. Someone will notice they're missing, someone will go find them, and no one will be asking us suspicious questions."
Gary turned around and glared. "Do what you want. I don't care." He continued toward the chalet, leaving her behind.
When he got there, he immediately went to find Mike or Scott. When he found Scott first, he stopped him and told him he saw Ash and Misty get stuck in a cave.
"Misty?" Scott asked, and Gary nodded. "Let's go."
There was a flurry of activity as Scott collected a couple other staff and a first aid kit, asking Gary questions about where exactly they were. Gary marked a spot on a map and handed it to Scott. He rushed off, leaving Gary behind to wonder whether Scott would be able to find them.
Ash looked at Misty's face as she slept on his shoulder, and he thought about the conversation they had before he fell asleep.
He couldn't believe he admitted to her that he cared about her. As more than a friend. What was he thinking? He'd gone from being so angry with her for being with Scott to spilling his guts about his feelings to her in the span of an hour. He knew he didn't like to see her cry, but that was more than he expected for sure.
And she hadn't whipped him with her mallet. She hadn't yelled at him or told him to go away (not that he really could). She'd actually looked… happy? Pleased?
What did she mean when she said she cared about him? He'd specified he meant as more than a friend, but did she?
Ugh, why was this all so confusing? She said they were ok, did that mean they were ok as friends? Did that mean she wanted to try being something more?
Ash banged his head against the wall in frustration.
Suddenly, he heard a loud noise coming from outside the cave. It was a voice, he couldn't quite recognize it over the muffling of the snow.
He shook Misty awake gently. "Hey, Myst - I think I hear some voices outside."
She blinked her eyes, which Ash thought looked adorable, and lifted her head from his shoulder. "Someone's outside? You mean somebody found us?"
Ash nodded. "I can't hear what they're saying just yet, but I'm pretty sure they're here for us."
He stood up and walked right up to the snow, took a deep breath, and yelled "HELLO? CAN YOU HEAR ME?"
A voice faintly carried through the snow from the outside.
"Hello? Misty?"
Ash glowered at the snow. He could recognize the voice now and he wasn't happy about it.
"Scott!" Misty yelled from beside him. "Scott, is that you?"
Ash felt he could hear the relief in Scott's voice even though it was still muffled. "Misty! We're going to get you out of there as soon as we can. Are you alright?"
"Yeah, we're fine!" Misty yelled. Nice to finally be included, Ash thought. Even though he and Misty cleared the air a little regarding Scott, he still didn't really like him.
Scott let them know it would be a while before they could clear enough snow to get to them.
"I'm so glad someone is here to help us," Misty exclaimed to Ash.
"Yeah," he said, keeping his voice low enough to not be heard from outside.
"What's wrong?"
"It just has to be him."
Misty huffed. "You can't still be mad about that, can you? I already told you that I liked you more!"
Ash paused, letting the sentence settle over him. Then he grinned. "No you didn't. You said you cared about me, but you never said you liked me more." He stuck his tongue out at her playfully. "But now you did! And no taking it back!"
She rolled her eyes at his antics. "So mature."
Her tone softened a little before she said the next part. "Besides, I'm the one of us who should be mad. It's not exactly how I'd planned my first kiss to go."
"That was your first kiss?" Ash asked, surprised. He guessed it made sense based on the other things he'd learned about her in the months since they'd met, but he'd never really thought about it before.
"Yeah," she blushed. "It was."
"Oh." He shuffled his feet a bit. "I hope your next one is better."
She blushed harder.
"Me too."
A crack of bright light broke through the snow bank in front of them, and they could hear Scott's voice call "We're here!" Ash and Misty helped move some of the snow with their hands where they could see the light. In a few minutes, there was a hole large enough for them to crawl through. Mistry went first, and Ash tried not to glare when he saw Scott's hand helping her balance. He pushed their skis and snowboard out through the hole and crawled out right after her.
"I'm so glad you're alright!" Scott gushed. He was obviously speaking only to Misty, wrapping his arms around her in a hug. She flinched slightly.
"Yeah we were real touch and go for a minute there," Ash said, glowering again. "Thanks for coming to find us." He emphasized the word us.
Misty moved out of Scott's arms and closer to Ash. "Yeah, I'm really glad you made it! How did you find us, anyway?"
"Someone told us they saw you out this way and we came right away."
The other guys who came with Scott were folding up shovels and packing up the first aid kit they brought, now that they saw it wasn't needed.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Scott asked Misty again. "Are you going to be able to ski your way back to the chalet? I can help you if you need it."
"No, um, that's ok, I'm-" Misty began, before Ash interrupted "We're fine. We can get back on our own." He stood a little in front of Misty, between her and Scott.
"Alright, chill chill," Scott said, putting his hands up in a sign of backing off. "No need to get upset, I was just checking if the lady needed any help."
Misty was a little put out. She was a strong and capable young woman. She didn't need any man standing up for her, let alone two arguing about which one was able to help her more.
"Obviously you don't know her very well," Ash stated. "If she needs help, she's more than capable of asking for it. And until then I'm going to assume she's capable of handling herself."
Misty's heart melted at Ash's vocalization of her thoughts. It was the perfect blend of respecting her capabilities and also letting her know he would be there for her. She much preferred Ash's approach than Scott's.
It was starting to get dark, so everyone started back for the chalet as soon as Scott was convinced that yes , Misty was ok and didn't need any assistance. Everyone got set up in their gear and headed back.
As soon as they came into view of the patrons of the chalet, there was a huge uproar as Brock, Tracey, Michelle, Roxy, Alyssa and Claire all ran towards them, surrounding them with hugs and a thousand questions.
"Oh my god, what happened?"
"Are you guys ok?"
"Where have you been?"
"We were so worried!"
Ash and Misty sweatdropped. "Uh, guys - I'm really happy you missed us and all, but do you think we could get inside and warm up first?"
Their friends relented enough to let them inside, and Ash and Misty immediately both grabbed hot choclates and got out of their jackets and snow pants.
"So what happened?" Brock asked once they were seated. Six pairs of eyes looked up at them as Ash and Misty began retelling the story.
"And then we heard a yell" - Ash interrupted "it sounded like Sydney" - "and suddenly Ash pushes me into this cave, and I see a giant pile of snow on the ground right where we were standing!" Misty's arms were wide as she was miming being pushed over, and showing the size of the snow pile that almost fell on them.
"Wait, you think Sydney did this?" Alyssa asked.
Michelle frowned at her. "Why, do you think that's weird? I mean she's had it our for Misty ever since the beginning."
Alyssa nodded. "Yeah, not beyond Sydney. But I'd be surprised if Gary wasn't with her as they were partners on the scavenger hunt. Just surprising since Gary was the one who came rushing back to tell Scott where you were."
Ash looked contemplative. "Gary was the one who sent people looking for us?"
Misty, however, just looked upset. "Oh no, the scavenger hunt! We didn't end up getting any because of the avalanche. And I was looking forward to getting some of the prizes!"
It was well into the night now, and most people had gone to bed long ago. The dorms for the boys and girls were both quiet, and only a handful of people were still up around the fireplace.
Ash, Misty, Alyssa, Brock, and Michelle were all still up, with the rest of their group tired from the day's activities and heading to bed early.
"I still can't believe that happened to you guys. We were wondering where you were, but honestly we just thought you were both lagging because you're so slow on your skis!" Michelle laughed as she said it.
"Hey," Ash protested. "I'm not bad with the snowboard!"
"I'll take the jab, though. I'm terrible." Misty didn't really care - she was learning to have fun, and didn't have the competetive streak that Ash did (at least, not when it came to snow sports. Water sports, on the other hand…)
"Are you still planning on competing against Gary at the end of the week?" Brock asked Ash.
"Of course I am. I can't let him get away with thinking he's the best. I'm sure I can beat him. Besides," he realized, "I only have to get to the end faster than him. No one said anything about being able to stop at the bottom!"\
The others laughed at that. Leave it to Ash to only think about what it took to win, and deal with the rest later.
Alyssa yawned. "Well lovebirds, time for me to head to bed. We don't all have the youthful energy young love provides," she spoke to Brock and Michelle. "Or pure adrenaline." Now she turned to Ash and Misty.
"I think I'm going to turn in too," Michelle said. "Have to get my beauty sleep, you know!"
Brock immediately grasped her hands and waxed poetic about how she's so beautiful she could not sleep for weeks and still be the most gorgeous girl on this trip. Michelle rolled her eyes, but secretly shared a wink with Misty and Alyssa showing how much she enjoyed his attention.
"You guys coming too?" Alyssa asked.
Ash and Misty looked at each other questioningly. Were they?
"Nah, you guys go ahead. We're still a little antsy from the whole event today, gotta burn off some more energy before we head in for the night." Ash supplied the fabrication quickly and easily.
"Alright then," Brock said. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"
The three girls laughed all at once. "And what would that be?" Michelle asked, pushing her boyfriend towards the two sets of stairs and telling him it was definitely past his bedtime.
Alyssa spied Misty and Ash's cheeks before the turned to leave, noting the blush on both their faces when Brock jokingly made his comment. Hmm, interesting, she thought before following Michelle up to the girls dorms.
Ash and Misty were alone again for the first time since Scott saved them from the cave. Their conversation from earlier still weighed heavily on their minds, but neither really knew how to bring it up.
"So, I-"
"Do you-"
They both spoke at once. Ash laughed and said "you first."
Misty took in a deep breath before saying "I guess I don't really know what to say. Which is a silly way to start things off."
Ash nodded, then realizing how that looked quickly shook his head 'no'. "No, no, it's not silly."
"I just, um, know that I care about you. Which I already said. God , this is not going well."
Sensing her frustration, Ash tried jumping in. "I don't think you need to worry about telling me that too much," he joked.
"I know you've been through all this before, and you already know what this conversation is supposed to sound like, but I haven't and I have no idea what to do. It's all so new to me."
Ash thought for a moment before he spoke. "It's new to me, too. I know you think I've been through this all before, but the other girls I dated - it was nothing like this. This is different for me too. The other conversations… well, they weren't really conversations at all."
Misty blushed even harder at his insinuation.
"No, no! I mean that we never really talked about how we felt. It was more just of a "hey want to go out" and "sure", and that was it. There was no talking about…. caring."
There was a silence while both of them reflected on what happened earlier today and right here in front of the fireplace.
"So, should we…" Misty began.
"I was thinking maybe…" Ash continued.
"Let's just keep this to ourselves for a bit? Just to be a little less…. overwhelming?" They both thought to earlier in the day and their friend's reaction to them being stuck in a cave for a few hours. Certainly they wouldn't have any space to breathe if they shared the news now.
Besides, what even were they? They were… friends who cared about each other? As more than friends? What was that?
"So, I'll, um" Ash stuttered. He cleared his throat. "I'll refer to you as my girlfriend, then? In my head, of course," he clarified. He looked at Misty hopefully, aware that this was the first time either of them were putting a label on anything.
Misty beamed up at him. "Yeah. I'd like that."
Ash smiled as well, and his body language shifted to something more upright and proud. "Good."
Both were exhausted after their day, and ready to leave any more emotional discussions for another day. This would be enough, for now. The pair said goodnight and proceeded up the stairs to their rooms, thankful to find all their friends already asleep by the time they got there.
They were going to enjoy keeping this little secret for a while before sharing it with the world.