A Jewel in Water

Part 29

Dawn rose early the next day. She looked at her alarm clock which read 6:32am. It wasn't set to go off for at least another hour. Beating the alarm clock was a first for her. But technically she was cheating. There was an incessant beeping coming from somewhere else, causing her to wake up. She was too tired to move and tried to lessen the noise by pressing the pillow to her ears but after about 2 minutes it all became too much and she forced herself to move over to find the source of the noise. She felt her jacket and noticed an unidentified object in it. Taking it out the pocket she realised that it was a phone- Pauls phone. She must have put it in her pocket after getting the call from Misty. She looked at it and wondered. Surely Paul must be missing his phone? Strangely enough it didn't have a lock code. Well to be honest the main reason for that was because it was a brick, and could easily be unlocked with a long press of the hash key. Dawn looked at the phone, expected there to be an alarm snooze button on the phone, but instead saw an incoming call from an unknown caller. Maybe Paul was looking for it? Anyway, whoever was ringing would probably be able to help Paul relocate his phone, so she didn't feel like she was infringing on his privacy when she picked up the call.

"Hello?" she asked. In a matter of seconds there was a frustrated tut at the other end and the line went dead.

"Hello?" Dawn called again. But there was no answer. She took the phone away from her ear and looked at the screen. Who was that? She tried to call the number back but it claimed to be an invalid one. Dawn, now frustrated as well as sleepy, decided to scroll through the contacts to try and find anyone she recognised. But nothing. No numbers saved on this phone. She checked the outgoing calls. And nothing. The only thing she found, in the incoming call list, was 'Redirected Call' which coincided with Mistys call, and several Unknown callers. Dawn decided that at this point she had tried everything she could, and was too tired to continue at the moment. She put the phone down, collapsed onto the bed and drifted back into sleep.

Meanwhile Brock was sitting up in his bed, reading through the Professor Junipers latest paper on the rarity Pokemon gender anomalies, when his stomach started to rumble. There was only so much drinking water could do in sating the hunger pangs. Though it pained him, he put down the paper and rolled out of bed. The nightcap had given him the best nights sleep he had had in years, but the dry feeling in his mouth had reminded him why drinking before bed wasn't all that great. He hurriedly showered and got dressed so that he was presentable enough to walk around in public and look for some food. That's when he heard a knock on the door. He opened it to find a nervous Misty looking back at him.

"Oh, hi Misty, what brings you to my room?" Misty feigned a smile, the kind that people in the spotlight always had plastered over their face as a matter of necessity.

"I just wanted to see how you were getting along this morning!" she falsified, "Would you like me to call up some breakfast for you?"

:I appreciate the offer Misty but at the risk of turning you into the owner of a luxury Bed and Breakfast, I will spare you and go down to the kitchen myself." Misty laughed, her mind obviously preoccupied" Brock looked at her in silence for a few seconds, and when she showed no signs of noticing the awkwardness that was building between them, he decided to break it.

"Are you okay Misty?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes I'm fine! Are you okay?" she replied instantly.

"I think we covered that base." Brock sighed "Are you looking for someone by any chance?" Misty took a few seconds to tactfully answer that question. She was looking for someone in fact. She was looking for Ash. Throughout the morning she had been having recollections of one of her dreams last night. One of the strongest memories was of Ash grabbing her hand as they walked down a long Route to anywhere. For some reason this was causing Misty to gain more affection for Ash. Darned dream. She was also looking for Rudy. But for different aforementioned reasons.

"Of course, I was looking for you! Lets go down and have breakfast together!" Being with Brock made her feel secure, that's probably why she unconsciously went to his room, even though she was hoping to see Ash. Confused Brock shrugged to himself and agreed to join Misty for breakfast.

However, not even a few seconds later did May stagger down the second floor stairs to arrive in front of Misty and Brock.

"May?" asked Brock uncertainly "Are you okay?"

May looked at Brock and flushed, and then looked at Misty and flushed and before she could say a word, a triumphant whistle emanated from above her on the stairs, the source being Drew. Misty looked at May, then at Drew and came to probably the most likely conclusion. Something had happened here. She looked at Brock and saw a look on his face indicated he agreed too. When he looked down at Misty his smirk widened, as did her own. May saw the exchange of glances and looked up at Drew and instantaneously knew what they were thinking.

"No, you've got it wrong guys-" but before she could finish, Drew had reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Lovely day guys, don't you think?" He beamed at Misty and Brock, and winked at May. Without the makeup and several golden teeth, Drew was almost attractive to May, but then an image of Rudy flashed in her head and all Drews' attractiveness was overshadowed. This made her blush more. She had seen this sort of stuff before, since when did she become so innocent?

"You look awfully cheery this morning Elliot, almost like a new man" said Misty knowingly. Brock read between the lines and agreed.

"Yep, its almost like a huge weight has been lifted off! I wonder whats got you in such a happy mood."

"Well my friends, life seems to be finally going my way!" he told them. May took a few seconds to mentally slap herself and maintain a poker face, at the risk of causing any more embarrassment.

"So, wheres Ash?" she said gruffly whilst clearing her throat. All three looked at her but as if on cue the maid scurried in holding a piece of paper in her hand.

"For you, Princess," she said as she passed on the note. It took Misty a few seconds to register what was written down, but as soon as she did, she couldn't stop herself from exclaiming:

"What?! He's gone?"