Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or any of its characters.

3. Reunion

The various white paper shopping bags lay behind Daisy's seat, flowing over to behind Misty. The three adults sat around their table, the umbrella shading them from the sun. They had spent the morning shopping for the wedding. Last minute shoes for Daisy, something blue for Misty—that sort of thing. Around noon, they had lost Mahri. She had a date with a boy from school, which was taking place at a restaurant further down the boardwalk. Misty had teased her about it, but reassured her after that she wouldn't tell Rudy. He was still overly protective of his sister. It was understandable. Their parents had died when she was only two, leaving him to care for her as a teenager.

The three caught up as they dined out on the balmy summer day. Most of the catching up with was done by Misty and Brock, for the most time apart had transpired between them. Misty frequently called Daisy these days, especially with all of the wedding plans, though it hadn't done much to improve their relationship.

Brock told Misty about his training as a Pokemon doctor, his family, and all of the women whom had rejected him recently—it was quite a lot—women, rather, not information. Misty listened intently, not even giving him a hard time about all of the girls for once. She danced around the subject of Ash, hoping that Brock would mention him first.

She was disappointed, however. Why was she so stuck on him all of a sudden? As hard as she attempted to put him back in the drawer, it kept falling open, causing him to spill out again. It was frustrating. She had made her choice years ago. Besides, she loved Rudy, and Ash was, well, Ash.

The conversation turned into giving Brock advice about women. Daisy was doing most of the talking, giving him pointers on what to say, how to woo them, Misty added her input—that women preferred not to be harassed. Brock made a retort, but Misty didn't hear it. It was during that moment that she saw him.

Ash had found a nice little café a bit farther down the boardwalk, about a twenty minute walk from his hotel. The inside was small, but they had additional seating outside. It was on the corner in a break in the line of businesses. The table and chairs wrapped around the corner of the building.

Ash found himself on the side facing the sea, his chair turned towards it, the top touching the black metal fence. The place was busy for a seaside cafe. It took several minutes to even get his order placed by an airy-looking waitress with bleach blonde hair wearing only a bikini bottom and cropped t-shirt. Pikachu sat contently on the table, next to him. He had a small bottle of ketchup—something that Ash had to use his clout as Champion to get.

The weather was nice. The breeze coming off the shore made Ash breathe easy. He was glad to be out. He was excited that he was out living his dream of being a Pokemon Master, though at times he thought he might wake up and it all had been a dream. Yet, even with all of this going on, something felt missing. He couldn't quite figure out what it was. Maybe it was the travelling. It had been a while since he had gone to a new region or caught some new Pokemon. It had been even longer since he went around with friends at his side. All of the people he had met over the years had left to do their own things. Funny how it was that he tended to focus so heavily on training every moment of the day when he was on his own. It might have been partly to cope with the loneliness. Whatever the reason, he became good enough to be the next Champion.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu shouted, tugging on Ash's shirt.

"What is it, Pikachu?" He looked up from his mostly eaten sandwich and saw Pikachu pointing at a group of people sitting at a table on the corner opposite to his. It was hard to tell with the other people in between them, but as far as he could see, there were a couple of girls and one guy.

The guy was dark-skinned with even darker spiked hair. He was wearing a short-sleeved shirt with a colorful pattern. Ash tried to get a better look at his face, which was proving to be a bit difficult. The guy was turned toward the two girls, engrossed in their conversation. It took a moment for Ash to make out his squinty eyes.

"Pi pikachu! Chu pi!"

"You're right, Pikachu. It does look like Brock!"

If that really was Brock, then who were the other two girls? If it only had been one of them, Ash would say that he had finally gotten a date. However, it was too unbelievable that two girls would go out with him, especially at the same time.

He looked more closely at the two women, one a blonde and the other—a red-head. The blonde wore her hair down, the waves of yellow hair cascading down past her shoulders. There was some sort of familiarity to this woman. He couldn't shake the feeling that they had met before. He diverted his attention to the red-head. It was then that he noticed that she was also looking at him.

Misty had been staring at him for a long moment before she realized that he had looked back. She averted her gaze immediately, hoping that he didn't catch her. It had to be him. He looked just the same as he had in that newspaper photograph. She saw that Pikachu was with him, perched on the table. What was he doing here? He had to show up now, a week before her wedding, ready to disrupt her life. She didn't dare look again, knowing that Ash might realize who she was.

The red-head had looked at him. It was in a way that said "I think I know you." He hadn't met anyone with red hair like hers for some time—it was a brilliant flaming red. That type of hair didn't come around that often. Who was she?

She wanted to glance at him again. How much she had missed that dopey smile. He was still looking her way. She could sense his eyes scorching her skin. Against her better judgment, she gazed back in his direction.

"Pikachupi!" Pikachu exclaimed, and Ash peeled his eyes away from the woman to look at Pikachu. It was trying to wave to her.

Ash lifted his head back in her direction. Their eyes locked and realization crashed on him like a tsunami. Pikachu needn't say it again. He gazed into those aqua-blue eyes and knew who she was in an instant. Misty.

So she must have still been living on Trovita. The blonde with her was probably her eldest sister—Daisy, he concluded, finally putting it all together. What were they all doing here on this island? It had been so long since he had last talked to her. How was she doing? Should he go say hi?

He was hesitant. It had been so long. That had been his fault. He should have called many times—should have fought harder for her. How would she have ever called him? It's not like she knew where he was while he was off on another journey. He had been the one who let their friendship fall apart.

He never really understood what stopped him from calling her. It just got harder to hear her talk about Rudy for some strange reason. All he could remember was hanging up the phone one day with his hands shaking, and then immediately going to do some intense training to forget about her.

Ash stood up, the chair scraping noisily. He strode over to them, his heart hammering. What was wrong with him? It was only Misty! Pikachu jumped on his shoulder.

Oh no! He was walking toward them. Was he leaving? Was he coming over to talk to them? Misty's breath caught in her throat, her pulse quickening. She glanced to her left. It was no good. She would have had to climb over all the shopping bags and plow over Daisy to make her escape.

Once he reached her table, he could see her face more clearly. She was more feminine that Ash remembered. She had grown her hair out. It now fell past her shoulders, reminding him of when she starred in that water ballet that her sisters had put on years ago. She was no longer the tomboy that he once knew. No wonder he had a hard time recognizing her.

He was even better-looking up close and in person. He had grown up a lot. His black hair was still messy and stuck out all over the place, but it appeared better maintained somehow. He had stubble along his jaw line. And were those abs she saw faintly outlined under his tight shirt? Why was she thinking about this? What was wrong with her?

"Hey Brocko!" He exclaimed, coming up to Brock, clapping his hand on his shoulder.

His voice was deeper than the last time they had spoken. No more did the higher pitched voice of a boy escape his lips. He really had grown up. His new voice was warm, rich, and velvety. It had a debilitating effect on Misty.

"Ash!" Brock said, standing up to give him a hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I'm here to speak at this conference tomorrow on the island."

"That's great! Have a seat."

He sat down, but kept his focus on Brock. His feet did a little dance of their own under the table. Pikachu hopped from his shoulder onto the table. It gave a slight shudder when he landed.

"So, I guess congrats are in order."

"Thanks Brock," Ash said sheepishly. "But I do owe a lot to Pikachu."

"Wait," the blonde said, causing the two men to turn their heads in her direction. "Ash—as in Ash Ketchum?"

"Uh yeah…" He rolled his eyes, Was she really this dumb?

"Like oh my gosh. I haven't seen you since you were a like a kid. Do you like remember me?"

"Daisy…right?"

"You do remember me!" Daisy said. She gave a side-glance at her sister. "Of course you must remember Misty."

Ash and Misty stared at each other for a long moment. His heart hammered in his ears. She looked stunned. He swallowed. His cheeks felt hot. Misty brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. She averted her gaze, focusing on the table. Time stood still between them.

"It's been a long time," she finally said.

"Yeah…" he trailed off. "How-how have you been?"

"I'm good, you?"

"Fantastic! In fact, I'm—"

"The new Kanto Champion."

"How did you know?"

"It was in the paper."

"All the way over here?" Ash asked incredulously. "I'm surprised that the press hasn't been following me around since I got here then…Not that I'm complaining or anything."

"Is it really that bad?" Misty asked.

Daisy and Brock looked at each other. The other two Brock whispered something in her ear. She eyed Misty suspiciously. She faltered for a second. What did he say to her?

"Well I'm hoping it'll die down soon once it's not fresh any more. Although Lance told me that it wasn't as bad as when he became Champion."

"I didn't know that it was that bad."

"Me either. I just wanted to be the best at Pokemon!" His eyes flashed, causing a weak smile to erupt on her face. The smile he gave in return made hers pale in comparison.

The conversation dropped suddenly. Ash shifted in his seat uncomfortably. He didn't know how to continue. Should he tell her about his adventures? Or the friends that he made? So much that he wanted to say.

"Well," Daisy said, standing. "Misty, we should be like getting going. We've got a lot to do still."

"But—"

"Misty, we're already behind schedule. And besides, Mahri's probably waiting for us at the marina."

"Fine," she grumbled.

The three of them started collecting all of the paper shopping bags behind them. Ash panicked. What if he never saw her again? He didn't want their story to finish like this.

"Mist, wait," he blurted out.

The utterance of her old nickname caused her to stop cold. He had been the only one to ever call her that. Why did he have to say it now?

"Hmm?"

"Are you free tonight then?" He asked, the lump in his throat not going away. "I was wondering if we could get a bite to eat."

"Oh I don't know Ash—"

"Please," he pleaded. "For old time's sake. It would be nice to catch up with you. It's been too long since we've talked."

'Who's fault was that?' She wanted to say, but held her tongue. She thought about his proposition. Rudy wouldn't like that at all. He really could be the jealous type. Not to mention, she was extremely busy with the wedding. She opened her mouth her mouth to gently decline. However, she made the mistake of looking into those warm chocolate brown eyes. She couldn't say no to him. After all this time, he still had some pull on her.

"I guess I can spare a couple of hours," she said, defeated.

"Great," he said, grinning. "I'll meet you in my hotel lobby at around seven okay?"

"Uh sure," Misty said, already regretting agreeing to this.

"The Sleeping Shellder. It's the big one at the end of the boardwalk—"

"I know which one it is."

"Well I'll see you then."

"Can't wait…"