Part LXXXVIII: The Fifth Rival
"Few that was a lot more than I expected." Misty said with a sigh as they sat down at the outdoor café in Santalune City's main square and looked over the menus the waiter had left for them. "You probably don't need all of that stuff to make Poffins."
"It's not all for Poffins or general Pokémon care." Serena said already knowing what she was having after a quick glance at the menu. "Here in Kalos we have something called Poké Puffs that are designed for showcase Pokémon. May said they work like Pokeblock and Poffins though I only know about the former."
"Huh interesting." Misty said filing that away for later. "Well, I need a moment to decide what I am going to get as most of this is new to me."
Serena just nodded as Misty perused the menu. It was the day after Ash's victory at the Santalune Gym where he'd earned his first Kalos gym badge in a thrilling match with Viola that saw Ash deploy typical Ash tactics and use the first battle's remnants to gain an advantage and win the second one to earn the Bug Badge. Today was a resupply day in the city before they headed to the next stop on their adventure and that was what Misty and Serena had been doing all morning.
That next stop was the first Contest of the season and first ever to be held in Kalos. It was in a small town between Santalune and Lumiose City, one Serena knew well from her time watching her mother race Rhyhorns as it had a racetrack so today was about getting her ready for it. That was why Misty had taken her shopping for the ingredients to make Poffins for her Pokémon. However, that was not the only reason why it was just the two of them out today.
Misty needed an excuse to talk to Serena alone, woman to woman and this was the best time for that. May had agreed and decided to help train with Ash and his Pokémon for their next gym battle so that Misty could have this moment. Serena clearly knew that there was more to this and there had been a low level of awkwardness between the girls all morning as they shopped and not because it was the first time they'd truly been alone together.
"So, do you want to talk about it now." Serena said once the waiter had given them their water, taken their orders and left them alone again. "Or would after we eat be better for you?"
"Talk about what?" Misty asked feigning ignorance as she took a sip of water, a small smile on her lips. "Do we have something specific to talk about?"
"Why you insisted on it being just us this morning." Serena responded simply. "And don't give me the excuse of girl time or getting to know each other. We've spent almost 2 weeks together, so we already know each other fine."
"True we do but we've never spent any time just us." Misty pointed out. "Well, we had that talk about the layouts of our home regions the day we arrived in Santalune, but Ash was around, so we weren't alone like this."
"That is true but May said you would want something like this." Serena said. "And I know you're a smart woman Misty, there's more to this and I have a feeling I know what it is. I just want you to confirm it without any games so we can get this over with."
"Of course, there is." Misty said taking another sip of water before putting her glass down and locking gazes with Serena across the table. "I wanted to talk to you about your crush on my boyfriend and I wanted to do it alone. I'm sure May prepared you for this."
"That's what I thought, May did prepare me for this." Serena said with a sigh. "I take it there's no point in denying it. In claiming I don't have feelings for Ash."
"None at all." Misty said shaking her head. "May was good at hiding them and I was blinded by our friendship to notice, you aren't subtle, and we weren't friends before I started dating Ash so there was no prior history to blind me. I could tell that Ash was special to you the moment I met you at the Grand Reception and that sweet story of how Ash has always been the way he is further showed it. Even Dawn wasn't as obvious as you though I have a feeling your crush started before any of ours as you actually met Ash before he was a trainer."
"Yeah, pretty much from the moment he helped me when I was a scared little girl who had been sent to Kanto against her wishes." Serena said knowing that she couldn't deny it and that the feelings she had for Ash weren't going anywhere. "Seeing him again in Kanto, especially after hearing all of May's stories about him, they all came flooding back in that moment on the Plateau. I knew he was with you, May warned me about it beforehand but I couldn't help it. I'm sorry Misty. I know it is wrong to crush on another woman's man, but I, I can't help it."
"It's ok Serena." Misty said quietly with a warm smile as she reached across the table and took Serena's hand and squeezed it briefly surprising the Kalos girl as tears swam in her eyes. "You aren't the first of us, well technically speaking you might be but that's semantics, and you won't be the last one I find."
"I figured I wasn't the first you had to deal with." Serena said with a smile as she gripped Misty's hand surprising both herself and Misty with that action given what they were talking about, but she did it anyway. "May admitted to me that she loves Ash and told me about everything that went down in Hoenn when she went back for the Wallace Cup last year. Both her talks with you and Ash and how that final was more than it seemed to everyone watching."
"Yeah, May was the third I encountered." Misty said recalling that conversation well. "Ash, he's special in ways that words can't even begin to describe. There is just something about him, about how he sees the world and treats people that makes it hard to not fall for him, especially when he shows how kind and caring he is. As of right now I know of 7 people who have fallen for him and I doubt that's all the people out there."
"7?" Serena asked surprised. "That's more than I expected."
"You, me, May." Misty began. "Dawn, who was Ash's first traveling companion and is as deep in love with him as I am. Then there's Angie, she's a friend of ours from Sinnoh who Ash saved the life of by risking his own, which is a common trait in those who fell for Ash. Most recently there is Anabel, she's the Salon Maiden of the Kanto Battle Tower. There is some girl I can't recall the name of who I noticed at his party before we went on our Kanto adventure. The last one is the only one I've not had a chat with though I feel like with her it will be all battle and no talk."
"So, I'm the 5th then." Serena said quickly counting. "That you've chatted with about her feelings."
"Yup and the 4th who've I've managed to chat with in a civil manner without any devolution into violence withing minutes of meeting." Misty said with a chuckle. "I am certainly glad that we didn't have that."
"Huh?" Serena asked confused. "What do you mean?"
"My first rival was Dawn." Misty said finally letting go of Serena's hand now that it was sorted, and it was going to start looking like something else to any passersby if they saw the two girls holding hands at an outdoor café. "It was shortly after Ash and I started dating so I hadn't really thought about the idea of others falling for Ash seeing as my own fall was a little different from the others. I was also a little love high at my success in landing Ash. Dawn put an end to that concept quickly."
"I have heard of Dawn and her feelings for Ash from May, but I don't know what happened?" Serena said. "Also how did you fall for Ash? May's never told me how that happened only how it happened for her."
"I'll get to that in a bit as it is a multileveled story." Misty said. "You wanted to know about Dawn and mine's first meeting and I'll tell you about it. I won't lie, I'm not proud of it as it wasn't my finest moment."
"Really?" Serena asked. "I find that hard to believe."
"Believe it but in hindsight it was something I needed as it brought me crashing down to earth regarding how Ash makes others feel and that I would have to defend my claim from some of the more aggressive girls out there." Misty said with a sigh. "Dawn and I met because on the way back from Johto, where Ash and I had finally admitted our feelings to each other after he came to support me in the Grand Festival there and confronted me after my loss, we had to go through Cerulean City. That is the city where Dawn is the gym leader."
"Oh, I see and as she is a friend of Ash's he would have wanted to see her while you were there." Serena said. "And let me guess, he had no idea she was into him."
"Ash? Absolutely no clue." Misty said with a laugh. "I love him, but he is the densest man you will ever meet when it comes to romantic feelings. The only reason why he realized he liked me was because our friend Iris actually told him bluntly that he did and even then, it apparently took a few hours to fully sink in."
"Sounds about right given what I've seen of Ash." Serena said ignoring her slightly irrational thought of slapping this Iris chick for helping Misty and not her. "Go on then, I am intrigued by this meeting."
"Yes, well Ash didn't realize that Dawn was head over heels in love with him." Misty said. "So, he took me to meet her. We met her by her running into us. Literally. She ran out of the gym and into us."
"Not a great start." Serena said.
"Nope and it didn't help that when I came to my sense I was still on the ground and I looked up to dee how close she was hugging Ash I knew that she had feelings for him." Misty said. "Not the greatest first sighting of someone. I recovered though, interrupted them, and had Ash help me up. Then I tried to be civil and she did as well. However, before then she saw Piplup and fawned over him."
"Piplup." Piplup said helpfully from his place on her head where he was staying for the meal. "Pip, Piplup."
"Yeah, she fed his ego which is never a good thing given how large it is." Misty said with a sigh. "And well between that and the way she'd acted with Ash I, er, decided to make it clear who I was when we finally introduced ourselves."
"She didn't take it well I take it." Serena said with a wince, that was not a first introduction she'd want out of the blue.
"That is the understatement of the century." Misty replied. "Dawn exploded. She has a short fuse and her feelings for Ash and the jealousy she has towards any girl also into him are always an accelerant. She lost it and I didn't like it, so I rose to her level."
"What did you do?" Serena asked a little shocked that someone as mild mannered as Misty would react to something like that in a similar fashion.
"I challenged her to a gym battle." Misty said simply. "Right then and there. It was the easiest way to get her to shut up."
"But you're a coordinator." Serena said. "You don't challenge gyms as far as I am aware."
"I know but I let my emotions dictate my actions back then." Misty said. "I wanted to show Dawn that I was the dominant female and that was how I decided to do it because I knew that if I could beat her then I would prove myself to her."
"And did you?" Serena asked curious at what happened.
In response Misty just grinned and reached up to her locket that was always on prominent display. Pressing the button on the side she opened it to reveal her Cascade Badge that she always kept there.
Serena's eyes went wide both at the fact that the pendant Misty wore was actually a locket and what she kept in it as it wasn't what she expected. She didn't know what it was called but it was clearly a gym badge of some sort.
"This is my Cascade Badge, and it is probably one of my most precious possessions hence why I keep it in the locket Ash gave me." Misty said closing her locket carefully. "The badge is given to successful challengers of the Cerulean Gym. It was a tough, violent, property damaging battle, but I won in the end."
"Piplup." Piplup squawked indignantly pecking her head painfully. "Pip, Piplup, pip."
"And Piplup was put several inches into a concrete wall by Dawn's Gyarados's Hyper Beam." Misty said as if it was nothing. "Took him a while to forgive me for that one."
"What?" Serena asked with a gasp of surprise. "That sounds painful."
"Piplup." Piplup said with a nod of agreement, it was painful. "Pip, Piplup."
"I got cocky in the match and given everything going on Dawn was going to use her best against me as her last Pokémon to really test my worth." Misty said simply. "And Piplup got the worst of it. I got my revenge though with Togekiss who was my last Pokémon."
"What did you do?" Serena asked.
"Threw her Gyarados into the glass ceiling of the gym." Misty said nonchalantly. "After Togekiss had shrugged off a dragon type attack as if it were nothing so that was the nature of the battle that began the research that led to the discovery of fairy types. Yeah, that battle had everything in it."
"Come again." Serena said still trying to process what Misty was saying though it did explain how she ended up in a battle with a Gyarados. "How? I can't even picture that."
"It's something you have to see to truly believe." Misty said as a way of explaining it. "And let me tell you, the sight of a 20-foot-long sea serpent that is the personification of rage falling 30 feet into a pool of water is a sight that you will never forget. It took a few powerful attacks at full speed in the same spot to manage but it happened."
"I bet." Serena said. "But you won."
"I did and I got the badge." Misty said. "I look at it every day to remind myself of that first meeting with Dawn and how far I've come since then. Especially because that wasn't the end of it."
"It wasn't?" Serena asked.
"No, it wasn't." Misty said. "Dawn accepted my dominance and all that, but she decided to be a petty bitch to me for a while and I responded to it with some bitchiness of my own. It happened almost every time we met after the battle until after the Wallace Cup in Hoenn when we finally had a proper chat like this. Dawn fully apologized for her actions, explained what was going on with her which I won't get into, and we finally mended our relationship. It was needed and now I consider her a good friend who I know I can rely on, something I didn't think possible at first."
"That's good." Serena said dabbing her eyes and Misty noticed that she was crying.
"What's the matter Serena?" Misty asked confused, worry in her voice. "Are you ok?"
"Sorry it's not you, I'm just relieved that you aren't upset at me for my feelings." Serena said with a smile surprised at her own reaction, she hadn't intended to cry in front of Misty. "I want to be friends with you Misty, but I was worried how you would feel when you found out I liked Ash. May speaks so highly of you and you were so nice in Kanto when we met that I was looking forward to traveling Kalos with you but, well, this was always worrying me. I know you've felt the awkwardness that has been building between us, especially today."
"I know Serena and I want to be friends with you as well." Misty said smiling back at her. "We just needed to have this chat to put it all on the table early so that it doesn't affect us going forward. I knew that traveling together could be a little awkward, and I won't lie and say it won't be anymore, but I promise that I will be as respectful as possible to avoid it getting bad."
"I agree though as you are honest with me, I will be honest with you." Serena said. "I will be still be jealous, and it will hurt so I thank you for trying to be respectful of that. I will as well and if it gets bad or if you and Ash want some private time, May and I will do our own thing to give you space."
"Thank you for that, I appreciate it as I do want to enjoy some romantic times with Ash." Misty said grateful that Serena and May would give her that. "And if I were in your position, I would feel the same way regarding jealousy and pain. I will never know why I am the one who got lucky and landed Ash, but I thank Arceus that I was because I doubt that I could be as mature as you or May about this."
"From what I've seen I'm sure you could be Misty." Serena said shaking her head in disagreement. "And I have May here, we can comfort each other together when it gets bad. She's been bracing me for something like this since our day together in Lumiose City so I think we can get through it."
"That is good though you should also talk to Ash at some point." Misty said surprising Serena with her suggestion. "It will help to let him know."
"I will but I am nowhere near ready for that." Serena said and she knew it was the truth, she wasn't ready to confess to Ash. "When I am though, I'll ask your permission to do so. I don't want to come across as trying to steal your man or anything, that's not me."
"Good to know, take the time you need." Misty said glad to hear that Serena wouldn't try to steal Ash because if she did then Misty would unleash a rage that would put Dawn to shame. "Course there is still one more thing to deal with that May may or may not have prepared you for, terrible puns not intended."
"Her name does lend to that doesn't it." Serena said with a chuckle at the bad puns. "Yours can as well though not as much. However, she didn't really prepare me for more than a private talk with you about Ash."
"Ah she was keep that part a surprise." Misty said with a grin. "Good, that's just the way I like it though I think you already know as we've discussed it in the past."
"I do?" Serena asked confused as she had no idea what Misty was getting at.
"Of course." Misty said still grinning. "We are going to have a battle."
"But you don't need to prove anything to me like you did with Dawn." Serena pointed out. "I don't need to be put in my place. I already acknowledge you have won and are the alpha female here when it comes to Ash so there is no point in dominating me."
"No, I don't, in fact I only needed to do that with Dawn though I am sure there will be others like her out there." Misty said. "And I will crush them as well just as Ash will do whenever he faces the one remaining rival that he knows he has. However, I have battled the 4 others after talking to them or in Dawn's case getting into a pissing contest with her, so it is tradition at this point. Plus, we can use this as a training for you."
"Training?" Serena asked before it hit her, and she realized that Misty had already mentioned this. "The Contest battle you want to have with me. That is your way of having a traditional battle with me like you have had with the others."
"Correct." Misty said with a nod. "This way it is training, and I uphold tradition. It's perfect because it serves multiple purposes."
"You know you will win." Serena said bluntly. "You know how Contest battles work, and I've seen you in action, you are damn good at them. There's no way I can compare to you."
"Perhaps but I know that victory is never guaranteed just because one trainer is technically better." Misty said as she patted her right arm. "Do you know what this is?"
"No actually and I have been meaning to ask you about it." Serena said looking at the odd leather holder and chip thing set into it that Misty always had on her arm but had yet to ask the Sinnoh girl about. "What is it?"
"It is an Ability Symbol." Misty said, something that Serena blinked at so Misty further explained what it was. "It is given to those who beat Anabel in an official battle in the Battle Tower on the Kanto Battle Frontier. When we had our chat, I knew I wanted to battle her for tradition, but I also knew that I would likely lose to her. She's an exceptional trainer with a unique ability to talk to Pokémon empathetically making her difficult to face."
"What?" Serena asked confused.
"On a base level Anabel can give orders to her Pokémon without speaking." Misty said. "So her opponents have no idea what is coming until her Pokémon attack."
"Oh." Serena said her eyes widening as she understood what Misty was getting at.
"Yeah, it makes her a formidable opponent." Misty said. "And she's a pure battler and the toughest of all Kanto Frontier Brains, well second toughest but the toughest retired a few years back hence why she'd now the toughest."
"I see and she has a crush on Ash as well." Serena said. "So you had to battle her."
"Correct." Misty confirmed. "And she was the one who brought up battling, not that I wasn't going to anyway, but she beat me to the punch on that. To make it more interesting she decided to make it an official battle as Scott, the owner of the Battle Frontier, was in town and this way if I won, I got an Ability Symbol."
"Wait if you have the symbol then that means that you beat her." Serena said her eyes wide.
"I did, my best victory to date." Misty said with a grin. "Even my win in the Kanto Grand Festival final doesn't compare to my win over Anabel. I knew I could crush Kenny; I didn't think I had a chance against Anabel."
"How?" Serena asked amazed.
"Honestly, it was a mixture of perfect planning, having the right Pokémon, Anabel's own mistakes, and luck." Misty said with a shrug. "We both have Espeons so our first matchup with them as we knew the other had one, so it was a fitting start. After that I was going to use my two ghost types, Banette and Spiritomb, against her. Banette was a Shuppet back then and knows a move called Destiny Bond. I needed to beat Anabel's Espeon with my Espeon or Shuppet, to employ it."
"And you did that." Serena said realizing. "You managed to get to where you needed to get."
"It was with Shuppet." Misty said. "And he evolved after beating Espeon. I then used Destiny Bond on Anabel's Metagross and took it with me when Banette lost to it and fainted. After that, well I was guaranteed victory and I didn't even know it."
"You were?" Serena asked confused.
"Spiritomb is a ghost and dark type which means that his only type weakness is fairy." Misty said. "And this was before that type was confirmed to exist. Add in that he is immune to normal, fighting, and psychic type attacks and he's a tough Pokémon to face."
"I bet and it sounds like Anabel is a psychic specialist." Serena said as she started to understand how Misty pulled off her win.
"She is but even that would have beaten me." Misty admitted. "I am no match for Anabel under normal circumstances. I needed luck and I got it in her last Pokémon, an Alakazam that only knew psychic and fighting moves."
"Oh yeah that would do it." Serena said realizing the truth now. "It couldn't actually battle your Spiritomb, so you won by default."
"Technically it was by forfeit as Anabel knew it was pointless and gave up without using a move." Misty said. "So that is why I know that I can't take a battle with you lightly."
"You can't?" Serena asked surprised that Misty was so serious about Serena's chances against her. "Even though this is my first real attempt at a Contest battle."
"Yes, because if I can beat Anabel and if Ash can beat me and Zoey in a Contest battle, another Top Coordinator and my best friend out in Sinnoh who I've never beaten, then you can beat me." Misty said simply. "Now I don't expect it and I won't hold back against you, but I know it can happen."
"I don't want you to hold back, that would negate the point of this." Serena said seriously. "I want this as real as possible so I can truly learn, and you see me as a rival for Ash so treat me as such. Show me your dominance Misty. This is what you want so I will do my best to force you to prove it. I also take it you still want it to be my Sylveon against your Espeon. That is the matchup you've been wanting."
"Ideal yes I want that matchup." Misty said glad that Serena was taking this seriously and fully intending to give the Kalos girl her wish. "They are both evolutions of Eevee and neither has a type advantage in this battle. It will be the best for training as well as you can see how Espeon battles. Her and Sylveon have a similar body type so you will get a feel for what training Sylveon might need."
"I accept then." Serena said holding out her right hand to Misty. "I will face you tomorrow in a Contest battle that will serve as both training for me and your fifth battle with a rival."
"It will be my pleasure." Misty said shaking Serena's hand. "To beat you."
"Bring it." Serena said with a grin. "Like you I am more than just a pretty face."
"Though unlike me you can't produce a Spiritomb to surprise people." Misty said as she let go of Serena's hand. "And show them that you can use one of the most intimidating Pokémon and look hot doing it."
"True." Serena said with a laugh. "I can't do that, yet but I may consider getting a less typical showcase Pokémon in the future who knows. However, if you have faced rivals, I take it Ash has as well. I saw how Kenny acted in Kanto, so I know he has one at least and you did mention he had one remaining. I presume that's Kenny."
"Ash has at least 3 that I know of." Misty said. "And yes, he hasn't faced Kenny yet, but he's faced the other 2."
"Who?" Serena asked. "I'm curious as to who Ash has had to prove he was the alpha male to. Not that I doubt he failed in that endeavor."
"Well one was this creepy guy from Sinnoh called Conway." Misty said with a slight shudder at how Conway was around her. "He always snuck up on me whenever we were in the same area and clearly was into me. Ash and Conway were drawn against each other in the last 16 of the Indigo Conference so that served as their battle of dominance. Naturally, Ash beat Conway in a full battle and did so comfortably seeing as he only lost 2 of his Pokémon. It wasn't as heated as any battle with Kenny will be, but it was good, and Conway seemed to accept it."
"I see that must have been something to watch." Serena said. "A full battle with a rival like that could get pretty intense."
"It was, especially as I've never seen anyone use a Blissey in battle." Misty said though Serena wasn't sure what that Pokémon was, so she'd have to check it later but based on Misty's tone it wasn't an expected Pokémon. "But Conway always had a way of using unconventional Pokémon in battle, an oddity given his analytical approach to battling. Ash's Gabite evolved to beat it and almost lost in the process. Ash may have won 6 to 2 but it was effectively 6 to 3 as Garchomp couldn't take more than one more hit I think."
"Well, I will have to watch a replay of the Indigo Conference to see all of Ash's battles as we didn't see the early ones." Serena mused. "And the other guy? Who was that?"
"Well, that's the thing." Misty said a little nervously as she wasn't sure how Serena would react to who it was. "It, er, wasn't a guy."
"Come again?" Serena asked confused before it hit her, and her eyes went wide. "I didn't know that you were bisexual Misty?"
"What? No, I'm straight though I have kissed a girl before." Misty said causing Serena to blink in both surprise and confusion as she was completely lost at this point. "Well, she kissed me and that's all I will say on the matter. No, my friend Zoey, she's gay and, er, fell for me."
"Oh, I see." Serena said as she tried to digest what Misty was saying. "That must have been a shock when you found out."
"Given the fact that I didn't know she was gay until she told me shortly before confessing that she had a crush on me right before her match with Ash in the Wallace Cup yeah it was." Misty said remembering her shock at both of Zoey's confessions in Hoenn. "We're still best friends and I would never judge Zoey for who she loves, in fact I know her girlfriend and she's a great if intense ice type specialist with a hatred of dragon types, so I'm thrilled she's found someone but yeah I didn't see her as she saw me."
"Did she understand?" Serena asked. "That you couldn't see her as she saw you?"
"Oh totally." Misty said. "She knew that I was straight from the moment we met and was more pissed at herself for falling for her straight best friend but thankfully she was able to move on and start dating Georgia. Zoey confessed when she was about to face Ash in a Contest battle so that he knew there was more to it, even if she had to be very blunt with him about it. He beat her, which was a huge upset, but he played everything perfectly in that match, so I wasn't surprised."
"That sounds like Ash." Serena said with a laugh. "He is a good battler from what I've heard and yesterday showed me a little of it."
"Oh yes Ash is good at that though he has never gotten the hang of Contest battles." Misty said. "He beat Zoey because he didn't treat it as a Contest battle but a normal battle and controlled the entire battle from start to finish. Anyway, those are the times Ash has faced a rival. I am sure Kenny will pop up again when we least expect him to, but Ash will crush him in any type of battle they have."
"I bet." Serena said as a thought came to her mind. "Misty, if you're going to be teaching me Contest techniques, as is May, would you be opposed if I taught you some performer tricks as well. I think you would be good at it and I want to repay you for all your help."
"I guess it could be interesting to learn the style." Misty said a little hesitantly but willing to give it a try. "Though I would like to see a Showcase first to really understand it. They're unique to Kalos so I want to understand them more."
"Of course, that makes sense." Serena said with a nod understanding Misty's hesitation. "We can see one when we have time, and you can learn more about them then. The best way to experience one is to watch it. It's also super girly so right up your alley."
"I do like to dress up, it's something I always found odd about Contests outside of Sinnoh as we dress up there." Misty said with a smile. "Hell, I'm still getting used to wearing shorts and not a skirt that's how comfortable I am in dresses or skirts."
"Oh, I agree, pants just aren't my thing." Serena said. "I don't get how May can stand them. Skirts just feel better.
"Totally but it's a new region and job so a new look for me." Misty said. "But we can discuss this later as it would be fun to shop with another girly girl sometime. First we should focus on your Contest."
"True." Serena said as the waiter came with their food at last and both their stomachs growled at the smell. "But we should eat now. This has been needed Misty. Thank you, for everything."
"It was needed for me as well." Misty said smiling at Serena. "I'm just glad we haven't destroyed anything yet."
"Piplup." Piplup huffed.
"Or hurt Piplup." Misty said. "He tends to be in the wrong place at the wrong time in my battles with specific rivals."
"Not yet but our battle tomorrow might change that." Serena said as she began to eat. "In the meantime, as painful as this is, can you tell me how you fell for Ash and how you managed to succeed were so many others have failed. I do want to know the story of the girl who beat us all in landing Ash Ketchum."
"It's a wild tale full of legendary Pokémon and denial but it all began in a place in Sinnoh called Alamos Town…" Misty began as she told Serena her fall for Ash over lunch.
It was a long tale taking up all of lunch, but it was needed for Serena to get some closure on the matter. When they were done and heading back to the Pokémon Center both girls were happy and for the first time there was no awkwardness between them as they talked about Pokémon grooming tips and what to expect from Serena's first Poffin making attempt.
The meal and chat had been civil, mature, and needed for both of them. All that was left was the now customary battle, one Misty had no intention of losing. After all, she had beaten her 4 previous rivals, including one she probably would never beat again, it was time to add Serena's name to that list. At least she'd be the only one that Misty had to face in Kalos, or so she thought.
