Waking up hungry is never pleasant.
Ash groans as he rolls over, noting that something was missing from his bed. That something was misty who just happened to be across the small room rummaging through her pack.
"finally ready to join the land of the living?" She says with a massive smile. "I've already taken a shower, you should take one too I swear it worked wonders on me! Then.. We'll see about getting some actual food in us."
A grin fights it's way on to his groggy face, he doesn't think he's been this happy to wake up in a long time. "sure, that sounds perfect. Will you grab our pokémon from the desk while I'm cleaning up?"
Shuffling out of bed he heads to the little shower stall letting the water fall heavily on his back, the heat of it releasing tension and stress from his body. Finally feeling awake he gets to washing himself up.
Done and dry he moves back towards the beds and sees that misty has returned from gathering their pokéballs and has neatly laid his team on his bed ready for him to clip on his belt. As he gathers them misty stealthily slides up against his back cuddling ash from behind rubbing her hands across his chest.
"that soap always smells so nice, it's even nice on you.." she compliments him, as she buries her face between his shoulder blades.
Having finished securing his balls he gently lays his hands on top of hers, gripping them for a moment, enjoying the touch and smooth feel of her skin on his palms.
jokingly he replies "I'd be almost certain that if it weren't for these overnight rooms I couldn't say I'd smell better!" chuckling a little at his terrible joke misty grips him tighter a brief moment then releases him so he can finish gathering his gear. She's on cloud nine right now and she's pretty sure ash feels the same way.
They leave the center and walk towards a little downtown area, misty hanging off his right arm as they go. Turning a corner they enter a little market place which has a few lovely food stalls and cafés lining it's edges.
"oh my gosh ash those are so cute!" pointing at displays in a café window filled with delicious looking sweets and confections. "let's go here!" dragging him inside without ever letting him reply.
Staffed by some of the locals and some adorable pokémon in custom little outfits, the atmosphere inside is even more delightful than she had expected. It's walls a nice deep red brick with art and pictures nicely lining them in what seemed to be very ornate frames. A fireplace burns hot against the back wall giving the room a smell of coffee beans laced with wood smoke. A nice black haired waitress in a cute dress and apron guides the pair to a table so they can browse the menu. underneath the table pikachu curls happily next to ash's shoes.
Misty chooses a furret roasted tea latte and some combee waffles with honey while ash, who not typically willing to go places like this takes longer to settle on a dugtrio sandwich trio and an eevee latte.
After a little wait a cheerful ludicolo appears from behind the counter bearing a tray full of their goodies and deposits it energetically in front of them dancing its way back to the kitchen.
"This looks incredible!" misty squeals with delight, quickly testing both of her choices out face brimming with glee at each. "how are yours ash?"
She patiently observes as ash sips from his latte, she can see his face scrunch a little from the bitterness of the coffee, as if not wanting to disappoint her he takes another sip this time with a grin on his face. The sandwich however he devours in what seems like seconds, sitting back in his chair a content look on his face. Misty really likes that look on him, and tries to come up with ways to make sure she can continue to see it.
"that was soo good." obviously he means the sandwich specifically as the drink sits not even half gone. He knows that's not changing any time soon.
"It certainly looked like you enjoyed that sandwich, but maybe next time coffee's not for you.."
"you're not wrong" he laughs, "next time I'll get something a bit more fruity or sweet. I don't know what I was thinking."
"you want to go to other places like this?"
"of course! You see to like this kind of thing and honestly, I just love food! I'll go wherever you want to go if it's good as this!"
"better be careful making these kinds of promises mister" trying to sound serious but the thought of ash sitting in a fancier restaurant is hard to not laugh at, causing her to break and erupt in a fit of giggles.
Breakfast done they set upon getting back on track. The two of them came to sinnoh because ash wanted to revisit some of the gyms, and possibly reconnect with some people he's met while traveling here, without the threat of world ending disaster, while also hoping there'd be a chance to find some unique or unusual pokémon hiding somewhere along the way. Misty was fine with this as she had not been traveling with ash and brock at that time, so a chance to see somewhere new was happily accepted. Truth be told she'd have followed him just about anywhere.
She hadn't actively acted in the role of a gym leader for quite some time, leaving that job to her sisters back in cerulean city. She may miss some of the excitement of battling fresh trainers and helping shape their journey, but wandering around the world with ash and her other friends has brought quite an allure to just going wherever she pleases.
She'd come to the conclusion not too long after rejoining ash, that his constant upbeat attitude, high energy and high determination to just do his best made him easy to travel around with. Those qualities also attributing highly to her deep feelings for him that slowly grew over all this time and she's certainly not complaining about that, at least any more that it!
Ash looking at the map notes that they are to be heading north from here a small trek up a stretch of road to floroma town.
Paying their bill and also grabbing some pokémon treats the group leaves the café and make way towards route 204 at the edge of town.