Chapter 3: An Unwelcome Visit

"Excuse me, is Gary home?" a petite brunette asked Misty as she opened the front door. They had just gotten home from their day spent at her sister's water show, and Misty was clearly tuckered out from the day's events. The Sensational Sisters wouldn't even bother to look her in the eye, except Daisy, who smiled and waved to her during the performance.

Trying to push the thoughts away, she looked at the girl and replied, "Uh, yeah, do you—"

"Umiko! What are you doing here? I thought I told you not to…" Gary trailed off, not wanting Misty to become any more suspicious than she already was of him.

"Who's Umiko, Gary?" Misty asked, annoyed that he'd kept such a secret from her.

"Oh, uh, nobody. She's one of Grandpa's field researchers. Umiko, I'd like you to meet Misty, my uh, my fiancée," he replied, looking at Umiko as if telling her to follow along for now. She looked shocked at his words. He'd never mentioned even having a girlfriend, let alone a fiancée!

Well, might as well play along, she thought, looking at Misty sweetly. "Er, yeah, that's me! I've heard so much about you! It's nice to finally meet Gary's fiancée!"

"Um, thanks," Misty sighed, not totally believing the words the girl had spoken. Somehow, it's like she just knew something was off. "Now, to get back to the point, what did you want, exactly?"

"Oh, I wanted to—"

"Tell me something. Something important. About the lab, right, Umiko?" She nodded joyfully in agreement.

"Yeah, that's it! Could I borrow him, just for a sec?"

"I guess. If it's really so important," Misty relented, looking at Gary with a look that said "We'll talk about this later." He nodded, kissing her forehead and heading out the door.

"Don't worry, Misty. I'll be back sooner than you think." He shut the door behind himself, letting her know that whatever must have been so important was for his ears only. She sighed once more, realizing that sleep was the last thing on her mind. She had a strange urge to call Ash, but knew at this hour, he was undoubtedly already asleep anyways.

And why should she want to talk to someone who didn't even bother to pick up the phone himself? Besides, he probably wasn't even back home yet. So she rejected the thought, and headed to the guest room, lying down for a much needed rest.

"Umiko, you knew not to come here. So why did you do it anyways?" Gary asked as he looked straight into his girlfriend's pale blue eyes.

"Well, it's not like I thought you were hiding your pregnant fiancée in there or anything, right? Why would you keep this a secret from me? I thought we had something special!" Her voice was rising with every word, making him realize how upset she really was.

"We did, Umiko. We still do! Trust me, this isn't going to last much longer anyways. All I need is for that Ketchum boy to call, just once, and the whole thing's over."

"But, the Champion? Why would he call her? And just why would that have anything to do with your relationship?"

"Calm down, Umiko, calm down. Yes, the Champion. They used to travel together. And if I'm right, she still has feelings for the kid. That stupid kid! I mean, at first, it was okay. Perfectly understandable. But lately, she's been having these crazy nightmares, and I assume they all point back to him. At least if he'd call we'd have a reason to fight. She'd be the bad guy, get mad, leave even, and then things would go back to normal. Don't get me wrong, I really care about her, but she just has too much baggage."

"So you're telling me you're going to let your fiancée leave, just like that? All because you couldn't handle the fact that she thinks the Champion is cute? Honestly, even I think he is," Umiko answered, turning to walk away from the two-timer. He grabbed her by the arm, unwilling to let his beloved mistress leave him like this.

"Umiko, you're still not getting it. See, this is more than about how 'cute' the Champion is. She's in love with the Champion! I even found a newspaper on the coffee table this morning that she'd hidden from me about him! Can't you see that I'm only doing what's best for both of us? So that you and I can finally be together, for real?"

His words enticed the young lover, making it near impossible to refuse such a tempting offer. However, she found it in herself to walk away, saying, "I'm sorry, Gary. But I just can't picture us that way, like you can. Tell her the truth, lover boy, or you just might find out that someone else already has." She strutted away, leaving him depressed and alone in the chilly weather. What in the world have I just done?

It's freezing out here, thought Misty as she made her way through the busy streets. A typical day in a hectic city. The breeze nipped at her nose, papers were flying everywhere, cars and people were rushing past, and the sun couldn't be seen over the skyscrapers that towered above everything else in the metropolis. How she ended up in this strange city, she had no idea, but somehow she knew where she needed to go. Find the boy, a strange voice repeated in her head once again.

The boy? Just who was this boy? And why should she be the one to find him? She looked down at her feet, noticing a red and white hat lay crumpled on the ground. She picked it up, dusting it off as best she could, when she saw the little green mark that had once seemed so familiar many years ago.

Ash's hat? How did this get here? She wondered, sticking it on her head so she wouldn't lose it in the crowd. She kept walking, looking around for any sign of the raven-haired boy that the strange hat belonged to. "Found my hat, eh?"

She swerved to face Ash, who had grown impeccably tall over the years. She had to look up a bit to catch his eyes, and noticed how worried he looked. Is this the boy that stupid voice kept annoying me about? She began to hand him the hat, but he stopped her, saying, "No, Mist. Keep it. I have plenty of others where that came from. Thanks for finding it though. I just know you'll take great care of it."

She wanted to object, but knew there was no use. She put the hat back on, turning to walk away once more. "Wait, can't we spend some time together? I know you've got this busy schedule and all, but we haven't seen each other in so long! C'mon, this once, just for me? There's a coffee shop right around the corner. And I know how much you like coffee."

True enough, she considered, looking up at him affectionately. Snap out of it, Misty! You have to get back home, before—then everything went black, as it always did, except for the hat she was holding, and herself of course. She looked at it, noticing how worn-out and old it had become. Then she began to fall.

He just had to leave for work this early, didn't he? Misty wondered as she poured herself a cup of coffee. It figured that he would do something like that, not even bothering to explain why in the world that girl showed up at their doorstep last night. It wasn't even nine a.m. yet, and Gary normally didn't leave for work till ten on Saturdays. She sighed, dropping two cubes of sugar into the cup and taking a sip. Ah, that hit the spot.

She made her way over to the light brown couch, grabbing the remote and clicking on the TV. After flipping through nearly every channel, she shut it back off, not finding anything she wanted to see. Hm, I have an idea, she thought, going to throw the cup in the sink and rushing upstairs to get dressed. She decided on a light blue tee and sweatpants, pulling up her hair in her signature sideways ponytail, and walking out the door.