The next morning, Misty peeled her eyes open and dragged herself out of bed as the sunlight flashed on her face. Brock was opening the curtains "Great day isn't it? all the snow is clearing up outside" he chirped with a smile.
Misty rubbed her head "where's Ash?" she asked.
"Oh... he went outside on his own to train." lied Brock.
The truth was, Melody called to the hotel room for him to continue their unfinished battle about an hour ago and Brock didn't want her to start worrying again.
Misty lowered her head in disappointment "I see..."
Then it hit her "Wait! He's supposed to enter the competition with me! Is he coming back soon?"
Brock felt doubtful "He didn't tell me, but he should be back in no time, you know Ash. He doesn't last long outside without running back to get something to eat." he chuckled and hoped it would make Misty feel better, but she was too distracted.
She looked at her watch with a groan "and it starts in an hour! I'm going to have to find a partner" she jumped out of bed and slipped her shoes on.
Brock fixed the sheets on the beds "Well I'd like to help you out, Misty but I think its best that I stay here so that I can remind Ash to catch up with you when he gets back, I only carry rock pokemon so we wouldn't have much of a variety for our team, you'll have a better chance of winning if you go with Ash."
Misty grabbed her backpack and made a dash for the door "ok, thanks Brock!"
She rushed down the corridor, passing the ballroom again, when she heard a familiar obnoxious giggle. Misty thought she was just hearing things but she took a few steps back and peered in through the pane of glass on the ballroom door out of curiosity, only to confirm her paranoid suspicions as she saw two figures sitting next to each other on the stage. Mistys eyes widened in horror as she watched Melody laughing and playfully nudging Ash.
"I thought he was supposed to be outside training by himself..."
Ash nervously glanced at his shoes while Melody continued to flatter him. "Thanks for coming down here with me today to keep me company, it was so sweet of you."
"Oh it was nothing" Ash blushed
"Sorry I had to defeat you in our battle" she giggled. "But you put up a good fight, I admit."
"Well I underestimated you Melody, I thought you'd be a rookie" he laughed and jumped down from the stage, now turning his back to the door and Misty. People passing behind Misty in the corridor gave her strange looks and wondered why she was spying on two people in the ballroom but she didn't care who was around, she needed some of her questions answered.
At that moment Melody looked over Ash's head to see Misty peering in through the glass at them, giving her an idea. "Hey Ash..." she stood up and spread out her arms, ready to jump off the stage. He gazed up at Melody towering over him. Before he could move-
"Catch me!" she laughed and jumped off the stage with her arms wide open.
Misty tried to shield her eyes, but at the same time she couldn't look away, no matter how painful it was.
Ash stood frozen on the spot as he wasn't expecting her to do this and she crashed onto him, tumbling to the floor and landing on top of him.
"Ahh, that hurt..." winced Ash, rubbing his head.
"Well you were supposed to catch me." teased Melody
"A heads up would of been nice" He chuckled.
Misty was going to be late for her battle, but she couldn't bear to let this happen behind her back, she needed to know the truth.
Melody took a brief glance out of the corner of her eye to see Misty still standing there watching helplessly. Then she turned to face Ash, raising an eyebrow at him, who only noticed now that she was still lying on top of him. Beads of sweat dripped down the side of his forehead. "I can't move... and why is she getting so close to me?"
Misty started shaking with agitation "Why isn't he getting up?!?" She felt a tap on her shoulder, followed by a familiar voice. "Hey Misty shouldn't you be going to your battle now?" Brock blinked at her, wanting to know why she was just standing there looking through the window. But she didn't even turn to answer him because she was too caught up in her jealousy at this point, unable to focus on anything else. Brock looked through the window with her to see what all the fuss was about and he nearly leapt back in surprise.
Ash was pinned to the floor and Melody's face was inching closer to his. Misty gasped and slapped her hand to her mouth in shock to hold back her screams. Ash squirmed helplessly, his mind was blank now and a flash of heat shot through his face as he tried so hard not to blush.
"m-melody..."
Misty felt unable to stand still now from shaking so much, Melody's lips were only a centimetre away from Ash's and getting closer. She once saw Melody kiss him on the cheek before and that drove her crazy, but if she had to watch her kiss Ash on the lips this time it would kill her. She was powerless to do anything, if she ran into the room and interrupted them, Ash would know she cared about him, so she had no choice but to sit back and let Melody snatch him away.
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How long will I keep thinking of you?
My sigh makes the window glass fog up
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"I..." she hung her head "I CANT LOOK!" and with that she burst into tears and ran towards the lobby to get out of there.
"Hey-" Brock reached his hand out to stop her from running off, "No. Maybe it's best she doesn't see this" and shifted his attention to the ballroom, knowing that Melody would be kissing Ash right now.
He was wrong.
Ash abruptly rolled over and dodged Melody's kiss. She bolted back from his sudden movement.
"H-hey what are you doing?" His voice was shaking.
"I wanted to see what it was like" she grinned.
"Yeah? well... You should of warned me first." Now he was averting her gaze and looking at the floor nervously.
Brock sighed with relief and returned to the hotel room, to await Ash and confront him.
"Aww what's the harm?" asked Melody sweetly as she batted her eyelashes.
Ash was still in shock, but her brash behaviour made him snap out of it. He raised his head and met her eyes with a piercing glare. "It might not be harmful to you, but maybe I wasn't ready for that! Especially with someone I hardly know!" he snapped tactfully.
Melody shrugged her shoulders. "suit yourself..."
"Pikachu! we're leaving" they both sprinted to the door, Pikachu hopping closely behind
Melody rolled her eyes. "plenty more fish in the sea"
Brock stared at the door eagerly and heard footsteps outside. "here he comes..."
Ash twisted the door open, letting Pikachu pass in front of him and slammed it behind him before leaning against it with an exhausted "urgh"
Brock folded his arms "So, did you have fun Ash? Anything I should know?"
Ash frowned "Oh geez, you saw the whole thing?"
"Not only me. Misty saw too"
Ash held his stomach, he suddenly felt much worse and collapsed onto the floor. "oh no... how long was she there?"
"Why don't you ask her?" He grunted, starting to get annoyed with Ash "You were the one who was supposed to take her to the double battle today."
Ash slapped himself on the forehead "I completely forgot! She must be mad at me..."
"Then go after her!" scolded Brock.
"I'm the last person she'll want to see now. I was supposed to follow her back here last night and I never did." He hung his head in shame "I really let her down."
"Yes." agreed Brock bluntly "and if you don't go after her, she won't be able to compete. She needs a partner for it"
"Why couldn't you take her when I was late?"
Brock's face hardened "Are you trying to blame me for all this now?!?"
"NO!" protested Ash waving his hands. "I just… didn't want her to be alone"
Brock raised an eyebrow at him. "You care about her, don't you?"
Ash gave a silent nod.
"That's all I needed to know" grinned Brock. "The battles are starting in 5 minutes, you can still make it if you fly to her on your Mukkuru."
Ash raised his fist and his expression shifted to a warm glow "I'll do it!" as if he was accepting a challenge.
"Pikachu, we're going again!"
"pikaa!"
and they both jogged out the door, leaving Brock alone drinking tea "I hope I did the right thing by sending him after her this time" as he remembered what happened last time when he sent Misty to go after him.
Ash got outside the hotel and flung a pokeball. "Go, Mukkuru!"
He and Pikachu jumped on its back. "Mukkuru, we need you to get us to that gym on the other side of town"
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Misty bolted to the desk at the entrance room of the gym towards the receptionist, out of breath.
"Hey… I'm here for the double battle" she gasped as she leaned against the desk, tired from running .
The receptionist peered up at her through her rectangle glasses. Mistys hair had fallen down, her eyes were red and sore and she looked exhausted.
"Ok, your name?" She asked.
"Misty Waterflower, gym leader from Cerulean city" she breathed.
"Are you ok?" asked the receptionist "you sure you can battle?"
Misty forced a smile "Of course!"
"If you say so… alright where's your partner?"
Misty felt a wave of sorrow wash over her, consuming her shattered heart, almost about to cry again because all the sprinting she did to reach this place kept her mind off Ash and now thoughts of him were flooding back. She was in such a hurry to get out of the hotel and as far away from him as possible that she didn't even stop to think about getting a partner along the way
"oh. I…"
Two girls stood behind Misty and sniggered as they eavesdropped on her misfortune "How pathetic." commented one. "She doesn't even have a partner and she came to a doubles tournament!" Misty felt a lump forming in her throat as she struggled to keep the false smile on her face, but her watering eyes were becoming a dead giveaway. "What's the matter? Boyfriend couldn't make it?" Smirked the other.
The receptionist suddenly realised what was going on and felt pity for Misty. "Do you want me to get someone to fill in as you partner?" she asked gently with a smile.
Misty was desperate at this point. She really wanted to battle with only Ash as her partner and now those girls were fuelling her with rage, only making her want to battle more than ever. But at this point she didn't care who she was teamed up with now. Just as Misty was about to accept the receptionists offer to get her a partner-
"Her partner is right here!" Yelled a familiar voice firmly.
The familiar voice that cut through Misty like a knife whenever she would hear it unexpectedly. The only voice that could make her feel weak inside. Ash's voice.
The receptionist looked over Misty's shoulder in surprise at the trainer with ebony spiked hair poking out from under his cap and a Pikachu clinging to his back, looking just as exhausted as she was. The two girls who were taunting Misty turned around and glanced at him. "Oh I guess we were wrong." said one, grabbing the other by the arm and leading her into the gym "Come on lets leave these two love-dorks alone" she hissed.
The colour suddenly drained from Misty's face as she stood frozen at the reception desk, unable to turn around and look at him. The receptionist could tell from her expression that she didn't want to team up with Ash. Feeling awkward, she lowered her head to the desk, pretending to do some paper work while humming to herself.
Misty still had her back to him.
"Hey Mist." He chirped
She didn't respond.
Pikachu felt uneasy, he could sense that Misty was upset with Ash, without even looking at her face.
He gently placed his hand on her shoulder from behind "I'm really sorry, you know"
Misty had no choice and slowly turned around to face him, tears trickling from her eyes and splashing against the tiles. Ash's heart sank when he realised how much he hurt her.
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Now, a burning candle
Can't melt my shaking heart anymore?
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"Why are you here?" she sobbed. "shouldn't you be with Melody?"
He tried putting his arm around Misty to comfort her "I-"
"Don't!" she cried, flinching away from him.
The receptionist peered up "Hey I don't mean to interrupt, but the battles are starting now, do you need me to get someone for you?" she asked Misty.
Ash answered for her. "No, she's going with me, aren't ya, Mist?" He smiled proudly and coiled his arm around her.
Misty shivered and struggled to restrain more tears from pouring out, she felt pressured. There was a part of her that wanted to take the receptionists offer and go with another trainer, preferably a male, to spite Ash. Another part of her secretly wanted to battle together with Ash, against trainers from all over the region to show them what an unbeatable team they were but there was a big part of her that just wanted to run away from the receptionist and Ash to cry alone to herself. She concealed her tears with a glare and looked to Ash, eyes burning with resentment, then turned to the receptionist.
"Ok. Get me a partner" she demanded with a grin. Hoping that it hurt Ash deeply.
It did.
"Very well" said the receptionist leaving the room.
Misty folded her arms and smiled to herself, content with her decision. She was even more pleased with herself when she turned around to see the devastated look on Ash's face. His eyes were wide with disbelief, mouth slightly open, but no words could come out. He was confident she would choose him.
The receptionist walked over to them leading a tall teenage boy, possibly the same age as Brock, smartly dressed in a suit with his blonde hair combed to one side.
"This is my nephew Josh" smiled the receptionist. "He said he would love to team up with you, Misty"
Josh stepped forward and took hold of Misty's hand. "Anything for a beautiful young lady" he said, raising her hand and planting a kiss on it.
His overwhelming charm startled Misty and she suddenly felt reluctant to battle with Josh as her partner, but when she saw Ash glaring at him from the corner of her eye, she gave Josh a smile "Nice to meet you, Josh"
The receptionist nodded and walked back to her desk while Josh made his way to the entrance of the tournament and held the door open for her "After you, Misty"
She wasn't used to this kind of treatment "oh.. Thank you" she stammered nervously, walking inside, not even taking one last glance over her shoulder to see Ash looking upset. As much as she wanted to see it, she wanted him to think she didn't care about him a whole lot more.
And with that, the door slammed shut, sealing her decision and leaving Ash standing there in a daze clutching onto his Pikachu for comfort. "Lets go back to Brock" He mumbled to Pikachu. "We'll congratulate Misty when she gets home" He lowered his head and shuffled out the door.
Releasing Mukkuru from his pokeball again, he climbed on and soared into the sky. But this time he didn't feel any excitement or adrenaline rushing though him as they returned to the hotel like he felt when he raced towards the gym to catch up with Misty. Now he was just hollow and cold inside. Usually when he had an argument with Misty it was no big deal but this was something new. she rejected him and it hurt him more than any pain he ever felt in his life. He reached the hotel and called Mukkuru back into his pokeball. "oww..." He could feel a searing pain in his chest and put his hand to his heart. As if it was slowly splitting in half.