A Jewel in Water

Part 32

Misty took another bite of the toast. She was keeping her mouth full so that she didn't have to talk. Across from her Brock and Elliot were talking animatedly about something she wasn't really paying attention to. The Brock looked up at her, and suddenly everyone was looking at her. What happened? She looked around, consciously avoiding eye contact with Rudy. Rudy chuckled and repeated:

"Did you have a pleasant sleep, Princess?"

"Oh! Ah, yes of course! I slept very well, thank you Rudy. How was your sleep?" she replied.

"Mine was not as good I'm afraid Princess. I couldn't sleep a wink."

"Were you stressed?" asked Elliot sarcastically, whilst taking a spoonful of porridge.

"Not so much stressed as distracted. It was quite an eventful evening." He retorted. Misty was just taking another bite of her toast when she suddenly choked. Small shards of toast went flying, landing across her into Brocks tea. Looking disdainfully down at his mug, Brock swapped it for a glass of orange juice.

"Are you okay Misty?" He asked. He had no idea what happened after Misty had dragged Rudy out last night, but by the sounds of it, it was something steamy. However Brock had an overactive imagination and might have been getting a bit carried away as to what happened last night. He watched them both as Rudy patted Misty on the back and handed her a glass of water. The smug look on his face made Brock want to laugh and roll his eyes but he refrained. Where was Ash? He came to wingman, but if Ash took much longer then Rudy would snatch Misty away.

Drew stared blankly at Misty and Rudy, and then turned to May. She was 100% focused on eating her eggs at the moment, with her body turned slightly away from the rest of the table. Drew slipped down his chair trying to hit her with his foot and get her attention but ended up slipping too far and only the floor. Brock looked at him and sighed, lifting him back onto the chair. Unfortunately, as well as Misty and Rudy, May also didn't notice the spectacle. Brock suddenly got an idea and nudged Elliot. Elliot looked at him in confusion and then looked to where Brock was pointing with his eyes. Elliot still didn't understand and mimed puking at Misty and Rudys love scene. Brock laughed and went on to say "So Misty, when do you think your father will be back?". Everything clicked for Elliot then, and he started to play along.

"Yes, I think we both need to inform him about out decision as soon as possible, I don't want sort everything out as soon as possible." He smiled. Misty looked at him and smiled back.

"Well I should think that he would be back later tonight. We can both go and inform him tonight, and make the required arrangements." Of course the arrangements that Misty was talking about was about helping Elliot escape from his oppressive parents anger if the marriage didn't go through. The previous afternoon, after Misty had gotten over the 'hurt' of being rejected in a roundabout way, she understood Elliots issue.

"No need to shout Elliot. I was just trying to get you to tell me why you are rejecting me, and why you are too scared to just say it to me directly." Elliot swallowed and sighed.

"I'm sorry Princess. I just cant get married right now. If I get married then that means that I will be immediately indentured into this life. I hate this life. So please forgive me when I ask you to postpone my inevitable misery a while longer." Misty frowned. She knew how she felt. Obviously not as strongly but she knew what it was like to be dragged into Royalty. All she wanted to do was run the gym, go on adventures, and live a responsibility free life. But her father was too soft. As soon his elder brother passed away, he took no time at all to fill the throne, and save the kingdom from the turmoil it was falling into. It came at the cost of sacrificing his daughters to build up allies and restart the economy. Daisy, Lily and Violet never had second thoughts about it, but for Misty it was too big a change, and one she didn't want. But she settled into the lifestyle, and felt that just as her father had given up everything, she had to sacrifice to support him.

"I understand. So I feel like you rejecting the match would in no way be a good excuse to leave the race, for your parents?"

"Hit the nail on the head Princess." He smiled pathetically.

"Then there is no problem. I will tell my father that we cannot be a match and hopefully he can relay the message to them." Elliot got onto his knees and slumped over.

"Thank you Princess. Thank you so much"

Back at breakfast, Rudy's mood had turned sour.

"Princess!" he exclaimed. "Are you still doing this?" Misty sighed and tried to calmly talk to him, as his screeching went on. May had finally been brought out of her stupor and was staring intently at Elliot. Noticing him once again without his makeup, his hobby aside, she couldn't help but feel a surge of jealousy flare up inside her. She couldn't stop herself from glaring at him, and when Elliot caught her eye, the smile was wiped off his face. Only to appear again a few seconds later! The nerve of him! Her face then bore a full on scowl and she stood up suddenly.

"Excuse me!" she said, and stormed out the room. This only temporarily induced a silence in the room, and after a few seconds Rudy was back to screeching.

Out of frustration, Misty stood up and excused herself as well. But Rudy was hot on her tail. Trying to make sense of the situation was causing Brock to go crazy, so he tried to make light of it instead.

"Oh, I didn't see Paul this morning, do you think he left last night?" Asked Brock. Drew looked at him dejectedly and sighed.

"Yeah…"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah…" He replied and slowly trudged out the room. Brock watched him go and once he had left put his head on his hand.

"Well this is boring…"

Ash opened his eyes with a start. What time was it? He picked up his phone and saw that it read 10:33pm. Ah, nothing was worse than a nap. It never failed to make you feel like you were having a lifetimes worth of hangovers in one go. He went over to the sink in his bathroom and splashed his face. Well, time for the next 24 battles. He looked at his phone again. There was an update from the Referee. 17 more competitors had been put in the queue over the past four hours. Ah great, that meant he would have to skip lunch.