'Together again,' thought Mia. It was dark outside where she lay. Looking behind her was the tent occupied by Misty. Next to it was Ash and Brock in their sleeping bags, Keya under a tree nearby. Gary had gone off somewhere, his sleeping bag lying beside her own. There had been little conversation at lunchtime. Misty just sat, face down and not speaking a word. Brock was also rather distant tonight and in her brother's mind, it was obvious he was trying to figure out how to win Misty back. Even Keya was quiet, obviously not quite as interested at Ash anymore. Gary hadn't said a word either and she didn't have the strength to break the tension.

She sighed, shaking her head as if to clear it of the fog which had aroused inside it. Was it really for the better they had followed? She couldn't quite decide. They were together and yet not together. They were together, physically, but emotionally, everyone was still separated. It would take a while to change all that.

She felt a hand ruffling up her hair and looked up, shocked. It was Gary. He'd returned from goodness knows where. She'd tried asking once, but that was a long time ago. She knew he wouldn't budge, his stubbornness surpassed her own. She pouted at him, pretending to be annoyed. He laughed quietly at her and slipped into his sleeping bag. Mia settled and yawned slightly before dozing off as well.

In the morning, Misty woke up feeling slightly better. The first thing she did was check if Brock was awake. To her surprise, he was but it wasn't he who'd made breakfast. Ash looked at her and smiled. "Here," he said, offering her a plate of sausages. She stared at them, stunned, but quietly took her plate and sat against the furthest rock to eat. Unfortunately for her, that meant that she sat besides Keya, but that was fine, as long as she didn't attempt to talk to her in any way, including sneering, smirking, remarking, etc. Sitting next to her was better than Ash, at least.

Keya stared at Misty in surprise when she sat beside her. Then she acknowledged that Ash was right across and mentally nodded to herself. She didn't care though, as long as Misty didn't piss her off, she wouldn't piss Misty off.

"Morning Brock! Morning Ash! Morning Misty!... " Mia hesitated, then smiled, "Morning Keya!" she said cheerily. Only Ash and Brock replied, Misty gave her a small smile and Keya, stunned into silence, awkwardly nodded her head. 'She hesitated, Keya! She hesitated!' she kept thinking continuously. Gary strolled in after her. "You know, you could have just gone and said 'Good morning everyone,' like a normal person. Saves time and you breath," he drawled in boredom. Mia glared at him and stepped on his foot, leaving him hopping like mad, swearing and cursing. She laughed, "You'll get over it!" she said before hopping besides Misty and getting her breakfast. Everyone laughed; Misty giggled and even Keya couldn't hold back a chortle.

When Gary finally finished, he sat down besides Mia and took his breakfast from his archenemy. Finally Brock and Ash joined, Ash sitting next to Keya and Gary, Brock on his other side. They formed a small ring and chatted lightly about random things, Misty and Keya joining in at intervals. 'Maybe this is what true friendship is...' thought Keya randomly. As if it had just occurred to her what she'd thought, she pushed it away in horror but remained rather happy all through breakfast.

However, the thought kept nagging at her. What had her friends been like? They'd hung around together, called each other friends, helped each other to get a certain guy if they had a crush on him, smoked and went out together. They even shared their love lives with each other. Yet, if something came up, they'd never try to defend each other, or attempt to take the blame, nor help each other out through a crisis. If someone fell down the popularity chart they'd be kicked out for fear of dragging the others along with her. And yet, these people seemed so willing to help each other, to defend, to trust, to comfort and to stay together no matter what. So what is the definition of friendship? She'd thought she'd known once. Now she wasn't too sure.

Misty felt herself lighten up. It was a slow progress, but she managed. She still couldn't bare to see Ash but she didn't mind being with everyone, even Keya, laughing and joking like the past. She felt herself laugh, but she could feel herself slipping away into thoughts. If Ash hadn't gone back to help his sister, would they have been fine? They wouldn't have known Keya, they might have gotten together and stayed together, Ash might even have reached his goal to become the world's greatest pokemon master. Was destroying this all worth it, and just to help his sister? Her own sisters had never attempted to help her, they'd always mocked her about something or other. But then again...

Flashback

"Come on, Misty! Hurry up, you're so slow, you know that?" they'd teased. Her eyes filled to the brim with unshed tears and she ran off, leaving her sisters looking stricken. She'd run off the track and into the forest, panting and crying, blindly and foolishly making her way through the trees, deeper and deeper into the forest. When she'd finally stopped, she'd gotten lost. Her panic rose and she screamed. Screamed and shrilled out of fear. Her sisters had searched most of the forest by then but, draw to her cries, they ran forward, struggling to reach the voice before it faded away.

When they'd reached her, she was still crying and screaming, sniffing and sobbing as they all surrounded her, giving her hugs and comfort, not once flinching at the sound of her cries. Slowly, eventually, she stopped and snuggled up against her sisters, finally content. Her sisters didn't dare wake her up for fear she'd start crying again, but when she did, they made her promise never to run off like that ever again. They told her stories about the forest, warning her never to come back in case she'd get eaten.

End Flashback

Misty smiled faintly at the memory. She understood now. Her sisters had told her those stories to keep her from the forest and make sure she never ran away again, not that she'd wanted to try after that horrifying ordeal. Floating back from her misty (excuse the pun) state, she reentered the conversation which had taken a slight turn. They were talking about when to get to the next town. Her eyes began to fill with her old fun self, even if it was just a little. "Come on, let's get ready then!" she said, startling everyone into silence. No one had realise she could speak up. "Well, hurry up!" she said rather impatiently, making everyone smile. Well, Misty would always be Misty. Even in depression.

((Yes, I know. Another story about someone getting lost in the forest. Well I could hardly say she fell into the water, screaming for help. I mean, that would just mean she'd be scared still of water for the rest of her life or she'd swum back to shore. Counts up votes Well, I believe Keya has won, which is perfectly fine with me. That means I don't need to rethink my plot

Let me think... what else was there? Oh, that comment about it not being very much about Misty and Ash? Well, I suppose it isn't... I just couldn't find a better title in the beginning and now I rather like it so yeah It's been Misty's Hope for 21 (now 22) chapters and that's how it'll stay! Don't worry, There'll be more about Ash and Misty coming up and no, Misty hasn't fully recovered and she's not going to let Ash back into her life so easily. Yes, Keya does have a heart. She's just one of those people who've been living a bad life and, influenced by them, acts this way. I might straighten her out... I might not. What happens in the next few chapters might make her attitude permament... it might not ;) Go on, take a guess. I'd love to hear what you think. You never know, I might add your assumptions to my main story plot

Oh yeah, sorry for not updating until now. I've been having trouble with my computer ;;))