PDM: Okay, now that that's over with, welcome back to
my story! Thank you for reading this far, and please keep on doing so!
Uh-oh... Not again... Last time we left, Chris and co.
were just leaving Viridian Forest. What will happen next? What will they do at
Pewter? And lastly, WHEN WILL I MAKE THIS MORE OF A ROMANCE?
M: I'm back!
PDM: Where'd you put them?
M: The next room over.
PDM: O_O That's
my sister's room! She'll kill me! *pounding at the door is heard* Quick, Mew,
hold the door closed!
M: On it! *floats off*
PDM: Well, before I go repulse my sister's assault, I
have two more things to say to you...
Send all feedback, comments, etc. over here! Send as
much food as you can, too! Looks like I'll be in here for a while! And second,
GO FORTH, READERS!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Then, finally, we reached Pewter City. Like the sign said when we went in, it was a "stone-gray city." Even so, it looked like heaven to us all, because we were too tired of sleeping outside and eating Brock's cooking. I decided to treat the others to lunch before we found a hotel and I went to my gym competition. "Hey, guys, do you want to go get lunch? My treat!"
"Sure!" was the unanimous response, and we headed for a small place they told me about called the "Hungry Snorlax." There we got a table and a few menus. I was sitting next to Brock on the outside to keep him from hitting on the waitress, and Ash and Misty were on the other side. Once again, I noticed that Misty kept edging toward and then away from Ash. That was still a puzzle to me, and one that I had to figure out. But not now, because I had a badge to win!
"Guys, I'm going to head for the gym now! There's a badge with my name on it waiting!" I said, doing one of those poses that Ash patented.
"Chris, shouldn't we find a hotel first?" Misty asked.
I did one of those anime falls. "Oh, right..."
"Kadabra ra kad!"
"Quiet, you! I am not absentminded!" I retorted. "Anyway, let's find a hotel, then I'll drop off my film, and THEN I'll go try for the Boulderbadge." I pulled my specialized Town Map out of my pack as we left, Pikachu and Kadabra still licking ketchup off their paws. I found a pretty good hotel on the map that was close to the gym and the Pokemon museum. (Pewter is famous for its museum that has a great collection of Pokemon fossils.) It was called the Cobalt Resort. We headed for the hotel.
When we got there, I went to check us in. We had decided to pool our money beforehand, so there were no problems with dividing up the cost. But the only problem was that, apparently, there was a big festival going on now, and all the rooms in all the hotels were booked up except for two rooms here. I immediately paid up for the rental, because I didn't like the looks some of the tourists in line behind me were giving me. Taking the room keys, I went back to tell the others that we only had two rooms instead of three. They had several varying reactions.
"What?" shouted Ash.
"It's going to be awfully crowded if the three of us share a room." Brock noted.
"It's just bad timing, guys." I said.
"And it's perfectly fine with me!" Misty said.
"Yeah, easy for you to say! You get a room all to yourself and we have to jam together in one room!" Ash retorted.
"That's not my fault!" she shouted back. It was starting to look like they might be going to get into a big fight, and I figured it might be wise to stop it.
"Guys, calm down. Relax! You've had to camp out in worse conditions than this! So what's the big deal?"
"I guess you're right, Chris. Sorry, Misty." Ash apologized, sticking out his hand to shake.
"I'm sorry, too, Ash." Misty said, then shaking Ash's hand lightly.
"Good. Now that that's over with, it's getting a little late, so I think I'll have to postpone my gym challenge until tomorrow. Sorry, Kadabra!" I said.
"Kadabra kadab!"
"Why don't you guys go get settled in upstairs while I go drop off my film at the concierge desk? I'll join you upstairs in a sec."
"Fine, Chris. See you in a few." Brock said, then they headed upstairs. I dropped off my film, got assurances that it would be finished by tomorrow, and went upstairs.
When I got to our rooms, I found that they were connected by two doors. They had a minibar, a shower, and all that stuff. But the only problem was that it was SMALL! There was no way that three people could fit in there with all their stuff. It would be all we could do to squeeze in two. After listening to Ash and Brock gripe for a few minutes, I decided to drop in on Misty and see how her room looked.
When I went through the doors, I got a shock. Her room was quite a bit bigger than ours. It was still too small for three, but two people could fit in quite comfortably. She was already unpacked and reading a book about water pokemon while Togepi snoozed on a pillow near her.
"Hello, Misty. Are you all set for the night?" I asked.
"Yes." she said, looking up from her book. I had left the doors open, so the sounds of Ash and Brock's complaining were drifting through. "Are you guys having a problem with getting three people to fit in there?" she asked.
"Yeah, sorta..." I replied. But then a brilliant idea occurred to me. "Misty, give me one second. I have to go do something." I said.
"Okay..." she replied, but I was already gone.
I ran back into the second room, shutting the doors behind me. "Guys, be quiet for a minute!" I shouted above the noise.
"What?" they both inquired in a rather annoyed way.
"I have a brilliant idea to make this night easier for all of us." I then proceeded to tell them my plan.
"You call that brilliant?" Ash asked.
"It's better than three in a room." I replied. "Now, Brock, will you go get the stuff we need? Be back here in a quarter hour."
"Fine, Chris. Having you around is pretty nice. Before, we would have just jammed in and tolerated it. But now..." he commented as he left. Ash and I then proceeded to get ourselves ready while Pikachu and Kadabra looked on with interest.
Fifteen minutes later...
Brock returned with a few bags in his hands. "Are you guys ready?" he asked.
"Yep. Did you get what we needed?" I asked.
"Uh-huh. I got the flowers."
"Perfect. Now let's get started." I said.
We all trooped into Misty's room. She looked up in slight surprise to see us all in here with Brock clutching a bouquet of flowers.
"Misty, we came to ask you a big favor." Brock said while handing her the flowers. As she looked on in slight amusement and puzzlement, we fell onto our knees and said in unison just like we had rehearsed, "Please have pity on us! Please let one of us share your room!"
"Fine." she said. "You know, these flowers are great and all, and it's sweet that you went to all this trouble, but you could have just asked."
"OH!" we all shouted, doing a nasty anime fall.
Picking myself up and dusting myself off, I asked the BIG question, "Which one of us will you let stay in here?"
"Well, Ash snores, and Brock invariably talks in his sleep about his fantasy girls..."
"I do not!" they both shouted.
"Yes, you do. Anyway, as I was saying, Chris doesn't snore or talk in his sleep that I know of, so I'll just let him stay in here. Anyway, I'm pretty sure that he was the one who thought up this entire thing. Am I right?"
"Yes, Misty." I replied over Ash and Brock grumbling about how some people had all the luck. "Thank you!"
After that, I got all my stuff moved into her room and got my sleeping bag unrolled on the floor. There was only one bed in each room, and she was using it, of course. Ash and Brock had played rock-paper-scissors for the bed, with Brock using rock every time and winning. So both Ash and me were on the floor for tonight. Then we ordered room service for dinner. Afterwards, I asked Misty something I had wanted to do for a little while.
"Misty, I don't want to offend or embarrass you or anything, but I wanted to know if I could get a few pictures of you. Not to mean anything weird, and I have a girlfriend back home, (I just said that to help) but you are the perfect model for any amateur photographer. Your clothes, hair, and temperament all combine to do that." (In case you, the reader, are wondering, no, I did not have a crush on her. I only wanted to take pictures for those reasons.)
"What a great compliment, Chris! I'd be glad to pose for any pictures you want."
So for most of that evening, I took a bunch of shots of her and her Pokemon, and a few shots of just her, because what neither Ash nor Brock had noticed was that they had a serious babe right under their noses. I was slightly surprised that Brock hadn't started chasing her, so I asked her about it.
"Well, Chris, think about it. Two Gym Leaders? I don't think that'd be possible."
"But why hasn't Ash noticed, either?"
"Well, I really don't know if he has or has not. He doesn't talk to me about that stuff, although I'm pretty sure that he talks about it to Brock." She looked a little weird again when she said this. It was nothing major except for a slight shift in her tone when she mentioned Ash. That still puzzled me, although now I had another clue- I could try talking to Brock.
Much later that night, we all changed into our pajamas, said goodnight to each other, and went to bed. Kadabra dropped off right away, but I lay awake for quite a while. I was thinking about many conflicting things in my mind. First, I was a little nervous about the fact that I was not homesick at all. I was worried that I would not go home if I ever got the chance. Then I wondered about who had made that screensaver, and if whoever it was would ever give me the chance to go home. But the one thing I thought about the most was what was happening with Misty about Ash. It seemed kind of weird what her reaction was to Ash most of the time compared to the few times I had caught her off guard. I had not been watching Ash as closely, but I could ask Brock about that tomorrow. But suddenly, I heard someone talking.
It was Misty. I prided myself on my good hearing, so I was able to make out some of what she was saying.
"Ash... my love... Ash... together forever... Ash... my love..." Then she started singing something under her breath that I couldn't make out, but my suspicions were confirmed. She loved Ash, but she was too afraid to tell him because she wouldn't be able to take it if he rejected her. I resolved to have a long talk with Brock the next morning. Then I finally fell asleep, accompanied by Misty's melodious voice singing.
The next morning, Misty woke me up. When I looked over at the clock, I groaned. "Misty, what's--" I broke off abruptly as I saw her face. Her eyes were red from what appeared to be tears and she looked very sad, yet determined.
"Chris, I never thanked you for helping with the fight yesterday. That meant a lot to me."
"You're welcome--" Once again, I broke off as she continued, mostly to herself.
"I don't know what I'd do if Ash got so mad he paid me back for that bike. Then I wouldn't be able to use that excuse anymore... I couldn't live without him..."
I thought for a minute and then decided on my course of action. "You really have it bad for him, don't you?" I asked.
For a second, she looked like her old self, with fire in her eyes as she reached for the dreaded mallet. I had not felt its bite yet, but it seemed like I was about to. She swung the thing toward me and I winced, imagining the pain. But the mallet stopped an inch from my nose, and when I looked up at her, she was looking at nothing in particular and looking sad again. Emboldened by my reprieve, I decided to push on. "I heard you last night." I explained. "But even before that, I was able to see a few small signs. I doubt anyone else noticed, though."
Misty seemed to be fighting a fierce internal battle with herself. Finally, one side seemed to prevail. She turned to me, the sadness, depression, and red-rimmed eyes seemingly thrown off. I figured this was how she had managed to hide the other times this had happened. "Chris, are you the kind of person that can keep a secret?"
"Definitely. You can trust me with anything less than murder."
"All right. I guess I needed to tell someone eventually, and Brock's not the best person with his less-than-perfect charms. The truth is, what you've been noticing and what you guessed is all true. I... I can't even say it!"
"Don't worry about it, Misty. I understand what you mean."
"But I have to say it to someone! I've only had myself to talk to about this, and I almost drove myself crazy! So..." She then began to concentrate really hard, because she was apparently making a supreme effort to finally say this. "I... like... Ash... There. Don't make me do that again."
"But I didn't..."
"I know. But now that you know, will you please promise not to tell Ash?"
"I promise completely, Misty. Thank you for trusting me so much. Now, not to be rude, but it's way too early to wake up, so do you think we could both go back to sleep?"
"Yeah, I guess so. You probably know my sleep was not the most restful anyway."
So we both went back to sleep, both feeling considerably more relaxed. The next morning, I woke up to smell some sort of muffin toasting. When I got out of my bag, I saw that everyone else was up and having breakfast. When I walked into the other room, everyone said good morning.
"We didn't want to wake you up. You looked so tired we decided to let you sleep in a little." Brock said.
"Thanks. Can you pass a muffin? I'm starving!" I asked.
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PDM: So I finally managed to get rid of my sister, make
this into a romance, and have some food! Thanks to all of you readers who sent
food, although I'm not sure how you managed to do it...
PDM: That's very nice. Thanks.
