.

Wet and Burned

"Twist like fell ghosts that fear the light."

–Lewis Morris

"I just don't know why that match was such a total shutout," Molly moaned. "I tried really hard to change my strategy and do what you told me."

Misty nodded along as the pair walked south along the path to Pallet Town. After the match, Misty had approached Giovanni and Molly, the latter of whom had been very excited to see her, showing a bounce back after her defeat that she was no longer exemplifying. Giovanni had turned pointedly to Misty and asked if she had anything else to say. Molly had cocked her head in confusion, but neither party looked at her.

Her answer had been "no" for two reasons. One, as predicted, she hadn't thought of any more questions during the match. She had been distracted both by the Battle and by Ash and Pikachu. Two, what was she supposed to say while Molly was there?

Molly had surprised her when, after leaving Giovanni's intimidating gaze, she'd asked to travel along with Misty. It hardly seemed reasonable to Misty; Misty was traveling to Pallet and there wasn't a Gym there. Plus, Pewter was in the opposite direction, and Pewter provided for Molly a Gym with a type disadvantage and—as Misty knew—a brand-spanking new Gym Leader. Forrest was good, but he was young and had very little experience. Misty knew—as she'd been in the same position just a few years ago—that he was bound to suffer more losses than wins.

But Molly had insisted. She had said the Gyms could wait and when was the next time she'd have an opportunity to travel and learn from a real Gym Leader?

And, well, how could Misty say no to that?

"You can't expect a new strategy to work immediately," Misty explained as she pulled her pink sweater closer around her body. "You have to hone it until it becomes your strategy and not just a strategy."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"You did show improvement, though," Misty added when she noticed Molly's downtrodden expression.

"Thanks," Molly mumbled, either in bashfulness or reluctance to agree. Either way, Misty didn't know what more to say, so she left it there.

It was strange to have a human traveling companion. A new—dare she say it—friend to learn about and converse with. Ash, who Misty had not seen since that morning, had been a new traveling companion—human, albeit dead—and a new experience, but he was still in the niche of characters with whom she found herself most communicating: ghosts.

But Molly was something else. She was bold and playful and very much alive. In every sense of the word. She had few inhibitions around people and was in no way withdrawn the way Misty was. It was a breath of fresh air, but also kind of intimidating.

Fortunately, Misty felt that Molly had no sense of her unease. They'd already been walking for a couple of hours—in addition to the time that had been spent collecting their things from the Pokémon Center. And yet, in all that time, Noir had been nowhere to be found. Clearly she was irked that another human had inserted herself into Misty's life.

"Hey, you know, I think there's a big lake up ahead and to the east," Molly said. "Maybe we can go and hang out there…Maybe train a little so that I can, you know, adopt your wisdom before trying to challenge my next Gym?"

Misty brightened. A lake! That sounded amazing. Her Pokémon hadn't gotten any real exercise since she had left the Gym; she would bet that Gyarados was a scary kind of angry right now because of that.

"Sure!" Misty chirped, already turning her feet towards the east. "I'm not in any hurry."

The lake was beautiful. Misty had always gone to beaches when she was younger, but she'd rarely experienced the majesty of a sparkling lake. She had the one in Cerulean Cave, but that was a whole different experience. This wasn't spooky or dangerous; it was just nature at its best. It didn't seem actually to be a lake, though. This was just the calm, rocky edge of what appeared to be a river or a stream.

Misty couldn't resist. As soon as they got within spitting distance of the lake, she tossed her three PokéBalls in the air. All three Pokémon materialized in the water, Frillish and Gyarados immediately diving underneath its depths as Staryu bobbed along the surface.

"Wow, the water must be really deep," Misty mused, noting that there wasn't so much as a ripple in the direction in which Gyarados had swum into the water. She couldn't see deeper than that because the bright light of day was casting its smooth reflection upon the entire breadth of the water.

"Oh yeah," Molly agreed. "This is only the edge of the lake because of this rocky stuff. Not because it's, like, tapering off or anything."

Misty kicked off her shoes without a thought, ripped off her socks, and moved to sit along a flat piece of rock to dangle her feet in the water.

"What are you doing?" Molly asked, stopping Misty in her tracks. "This water has got to be freezing. People won't be swimming in this lake for months, trust me."

"Trust me," Misty said as she thrust her toes in the water. "I can take any kind of water."

Molly was right, the water was cold. Freezing cold. Winter had only just begun to take its breath out of the spring air—which still was enough to keep Misty pulling her sweater tight—so of course the water was like an ice bath. Fortunately, Misty had taken many an ice bath for her legs in her day, so the water felt nice and relaxing, making time seem to slow down the way her blood did.

"Okay, training," Misty began as she laid her back along the hard rock. "There's so many ways to go about it, so many different aspects to training. There's moveset, endurance, speed, level, evolution, efficiency, yada, yada, yada."

Misty tilted her head, peeking an eye at Molly, who had sat down next to Misty, though her legs were folded in a butterfly position far from the water. Her legs were nearly flat against the ground, showing how flexible her hips were without even trying; obviously Misty had been right in guessing that she was a dancer.

"Well, where do you think I need to start?"

"Hmm." Misty thought back to the Battles of the past couple of days. She was trying to develop an analytical eye, observe what the moments were that made all the difference in a Battle. "I think it's your Pokémon's moves that need the work. They just don't have that elemental edge behind them."

"What do you mean?"

Misty put her forearms on the ground, using them to push up and look around. She spotted a medium-sized rock sticking out of the ground, tall enough for an adult to perch on if they so desired.

"I want one of your Pokémon to destroy that," Misty stated, pointing to the rock. "That rock isn't a Pokémon, so it doesn't have the same elemental energy that a Rock Type would, but it still has some of the element intrinsically in it, just like this water," Misty forced her numb leg to give a little kick to the water's surface, "manifests some of the Water Typing. So Fighting won't be super effective against that rock, per se, but it should shatter if the strength behind a Fighting Attack has enough energy."

"Kind of like channeling a move's STAB?"

Same Type Attack Bonus; Misty was a little surprised but impressed that Molly knew what that was. "Yes. STAB doesn't just happen. It is a force that you need to strengthen like anything else."

Molly looked toward the rock. "Well, what'll happen if it doesn't work?"

Misty grinned cheekily. "Then the rock wins."

Molly frowned, the lines on her face and the dark eyeshadow on her eyelids making her look tough and strong. "We'll see about that."

She then jumped up, sticking her hands into her bulky black sweatshirt pocket and enlarging a 'Ball. Her Hitmonchan materialized not two feet away from the rock.

Hitmonchan seemed to be Molly's key player. Misty had to assume that they carried some kind of bond; that should help with this.

"We could eat this rock for breakfast. Right, Hitmonchan?"

"Just get Hitmonchan started with some warming up, okay, Molly?" Misty called out, closing her eyes and returning back to a fully supine position. The water had numbed her legs with the cold, but the dark rock was warm by the sun. It was a pleasant contrast and Misty let out a contented sigh.

Misty began to hear little grunts from both Hitmonchan and Molly as they began warming up. Practice sparring from the sounds of it. That was good; maybe it would help to channel the Fighting energy.

Typing was mysterious to Misty. Terribly interesting. The fact that leaves from a tree could land on this lake and disrupt it only with a few ripples, but that a strong Razor Leaf Attack could cut right through the water. But a weak Razor Leaf would fall somewhere in the middle, hitting the water, maybe even cutting through it a bit, but soon the leaves would fall impotent, rising to the surface like the completely un-elemental leaves from a tree. Maybe she could ask Ash more about it. She'd observed moves like those day in and day out, but it was hard to understand exactly what the elemental component of a move or a Pokémon itself was.

Like why a ghost was so different from a Ghost.

Eventually, Misty lost track of time, and not wanting to leave her legs in the cold water for more than fifteen minutes, she pulled them out, shaking them a bit and bouncing them at the knee on the ground to restart the blood flow. Molly had moved on to commanding Hitmonchan to throw various punch Attacks into the air.

Turning back to the water, Misty spotted a Goldeen soaring through the air, the water droplets on its tail falling off and sparkling like bits of the daylight itself. It cut right back into the water, horn first.

"Whoa, that was a big one," Misty commented. Before she even realized she was doing it, she was reaching for an empty PokéBall on her 'Belt, fingers itching to throw it.

She was going to catch this Pokémon.

"Staryu!" Misty called. Dutifully, Staryu floated over to Misty's shoulder. "Did you see that Goldeen?" Staryu nodded its top spine. "Well, I want to catch it! Can you go look for it?"

Instead of nodding again, Staryu let its action speak for itself as it dove into the water, right by the spot where the Goldeen had disappeared. In a moment, Misty was on her feet, thinking about Battle strategies. She hadn't caught a new Pokémon since…Frillish. And that had been years ago.

Okay, so she was rusty. But Misty was still confident. This was just a Goldeen and, little did it know, but it was technically surrounded by her Pokémon.

Before long, Misty saw Staryu break the surface a little ways out in the lake. She moved along the rocky edge, trying to get as close as she could. Shortly thereafter, Misty spotted a horn, making its way for Staryu. "Watch out, Staryu!"

But Staryu was way ahead of her, already out of the water and hovering right above the Goldeen.

"Use Swift!"

Misty knew she'd have to be thoughtful about what moves she chose. Any Water move was likely to dissolve completely into the water with just a simple dive from that Goldeen. Fortunately, the sharp stars from the Swift Attack cut straight through the water and hit the Goldeen head on.

The Goldeen smacked its tail angrily against the water before loosing what appeared to be a Water Gun.

"Use Water Gun to even it out, Staryu!"

The two Attacks collided in the air, pushing into each other for a few moments before both Attacks broke, scattering water into the air like a miniature storm. Suddenly, the Goldeen dove under the water, far from where Misty or Staryu could see it.

"Watch out, it's going to use its horn!"

Misty may never have caught a Goldeen out in the wild, but she had used a few at the Gym. Most of the Gym's Pokémon were bred rather than captured, after all. But that left Misty with a great familiarity with the Pokémon, even if it was wild. And any time that a Goldeen was trying to get some distance on you, it was rearing back for a Peck or Horn Attack or worse.

Even with the warning, though, the sun was reflecting too strongly on the lake to be able to see even an inch beneath the depths. So before long, the Goldeen burst out of the water, horn first and brushed Staryu before it managed to dodge to the side.

Misty grit her teeth. "Okay, Rapid Spin!"

Staryu followed the Goldeen in its descent back into the water and began striking it with each of its spines as it began spinning faster and faster, kicking up an ongoing spout of water as it did so. Every hit smacked Goldeen until it too was spinning uncomfortably in the water, looking dizzy as well as damaged.

"Hit it now with one good Tackle!"

Staryu used its momentum to move back for a second before hitting a well-aimed Tackle at close range, skipping the Goldeen like a flat stone only feet away from Misty.

"Perfect!" Misty exclaimed. "PokéBall, go!"

The PokéBall landed on the surface of the water, bouncing with buoyancy as the red light flashed off and on. Misty clenched her fists eagerly, more hopeful than she had thought she would be when finally the light stopped flashing with a satisfying hum.

"Yes!" Misty cried, throwing a victorious fist into the air. "Staryu, can you bring that over here?"

Awkwardly, Staryu kicked the ball through the water until it was within reach of Misty, who pulled it out of the water and shook it off a bit before drying it against her shorts. A grin split on her face as she held the freezing 'Ball in her hand. She had forgotten how good it felt to catch a new Pokémon, to have the opportunity to train a new Pokémon.

"Goldeen, come out here!"

Goldeen materialized back in the water, right by Misty's feet. She quickly fished a Potion out of her bag and applied it to it—her? Him? Judging by the size of that horn, definitely a him—to which he looked very grateful.

Misty looked over to Molly, who was now working on demonstrating gestures that seemed to be actual moves instead of dance steps. Good for her.

Well, if Molly was going to train, then Misty wanted to as well. She felt raring to go right now anyway, and now they had a new teammate to whip into shape. Besides, her last training session had been interrupted by that strange note—which Misty remained absolutely clueless about. This was the longest she'd gone in years without an intense training.

It was a bummer that Misty wouldn't be able to use Noir. But Molly being right there would have made it impossible, even if Noir had been anywhere around. But that would probably throw off her new Goldeen anyway. Sticking with Water Types would be a great place to start.

"Staryu! Can you get the others? It's time to get back into shape!"

Most people wouldn't be able to tell, but Misty knew that Staryu was excited at the prospect. She could read it on its body. And she was excited too. A lot had been going on lately and training would provide the perfect return to normalcy.

Misty watched the glow of the dying embers from the fire she and Molly had made earlier that night. They weren't too far from the lake, but they had taken cover in the sparse forest rather than staying out in the open. There were a lot more trees here than there had been just heading out of Viridian and for that, Misty was grateful. At this point she was comfortable sleeping outside, but she wasn't sure if she'd be able to sleep in a field with nothing but tall grass giving her shelter.

Molly had stopped turning a few minutes ago and her breathing had evened out, so Misty had to assume that she was asleep. The last thing Misty had to do before going to sleep was to stomp out the coals that once were their campfire, but right now she was content just to watch them burn, the bright coral color staining her eyes against the dark of night.

They had spent the whole day training. Molly hadn't been able to get her Hitmonchan to shatter the rock, but it was getting close. There were spider web cracks beginning to weave fault lines through the stone. Misty had gotten the chance to work a lot with Gyarados. The lake was huge, bigger than any of the aquariums or pools in the Gym, even the one that her sisters used for shows. So it had provided the perfect opportunity to really work on Gyarados's physicality.

Needless to say, she and Molly had gotten completely soaked by Gyarados's splashing. Misty was lucky that Molly had a sunny disposition, because most people would be grumpy at the very least at getting splashed in the cold of early spring, but they made it through with laughs and hard work to warm them back up.

It had been a good day. A productive day. Finally more like what Misty had imagined a journey would be like, complete with no ghosts.

She wouldn't share that part with Noir when they caught up, though.

Ash and Pikachu hadn't shown up again either. She figured the tongue lashing she'd given them the night before had scared them off from trying to talk to her while another human was around.

It was okay, though. Molly was a welcome change of pace. First of all—she was alive. Secondly, Misty liked being able to impart wisdom on her. Or if not wisdom, at least she got to share what she knew about battling. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that she'd been trying to channel Ash and the way he'd shared his thoughts on Molly and Giovanni's Gym Battle. Misty shook her head and bit back a chuckle. That boy really knew about Pokémon.

The wind picked up a little bit and Misty tugged at the sleeves of her sweater. In the flickering light of the coals, her bruises looked even more mottled than they had earlier that day. Even her hands were bruised, which she wasn't sure had ever happened to her before. Judging from past encounters, they probably had a week before they were fully faded, and then all she'd have to worry about was her lingering concussion.

Molly had asked about the bruises when Misty had made the mistake of rolling her sleeves up to the elbow while they were training. This was before getting supremely doused by Gyarados, of course. Molly had asked about them, but unlike Nurse Joy, her eyes had sparkled with more curiosity than concern.

Misty had simply replied that journeying was harder than she had expected. A total truth all around without giving any specifics as to how she'd gotten the bruises.

To Misty's surprise, Molly had nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it's totally harder than I thought." And then she'd turned to Misty with that eager face. "But of course it's hard for me! How is it hard for you? You're a Gym Leader!"

It was hard not to scoff at that again, just at the memory of it. Everyone—random people like Molly, interviewers like DJ Mary, even Ash—seemed to think that they knew something about her because of the titles that she held. Misty was willing to bet that her journey—short though it was—was harder than Molly's, despite whatever supposed experience she carried.

Molly had raw dedication and passion. And from the wannabes she'd seen passing through her Gym, she knew that those two things would be more than enough to drive her for time to come.

The one thing that comforted Misty was that she knew that she had that spirit too. Regardless of anything she'd been through with her sisters and the Gym for the past many years, she knew that Pokémon training was it for her. Nothing could get in the way of that.

Out of nowhere, the wind began to pick up. Stray strands of hair from Misty's lazy ponytail began to whip her eyes, striking tears out of them. She brushed her bangs back with both hands and blinked back the tears, trying to get her vision to focus on the night. She'd been staring at the fire entirely too long and it had branded her eyes so all she could see were dancing spots.

And then the landscape shifted.

Orange flames burst out on the grass by the fire pit Misty and Molly had crudely fashioned, and began licking at the trees surrounding their campsite. A scream bled past Misty's lips as she saw the fire spreading, the blustering air only pushing the fire further around the campsite.

Wasn't it catching too fast? Misty couldn't help but be stuck for a moment in confusion. The grass wasn't that dry, and in some spots there was more dirt than grass to begin with. How was it spreading like this? What was she supposed to do?

"Wha? What's going—Aah!"

Molly's scream, like Misty's, was carried off by the wind, overtaken by the hungry lapping of the flames, now nearly encircling their campsite. Hearing Molly's scream was finally enough to push Misty to action. Misty grabbed for her backpack and pulled out her four PokéBalls. She could feel her hand sweating around them as she stared at them, lost. Her hand tingled as she felt her heart begin to pound in her chest, in her throat.

Gyarados certainly wouldn't fit in the clearing without some of his body falling into the fire. And there were too many trees around for him to fit anywhere else. Both he and her new Goldeen were all but useless out of water anyway. Misty made a quick decision, shoving those two 'Balls in her pocket and tossing the remaining ones into the air.

"Misty calls Staryu and Frillish!"

Both Pokémon appeared in front of her, Frillish hovering right by her shoulder. They immediately recoiled at the sight of the bright, burning campsite. Misty could just imagine Frillish's skin becoming puckered like a days old balloon, the moisture being sucked out of him by the spreading fire.

"Use Water Gun! Or Hydro Pump! Whatever you've got!"

Abruptly, the Water Pokémon faced opposite directions and began dousing the flames with everything they had. Their streams were strong, but Misty was instantly regretting their rigorous training from earlier that day. Her Pokémon were tired. Even at full strength it would be difficult for two unEvolved Pokémon to rein in a forest fire.

A fire that was spreading quickly. The sudden wind was blowing almost like a tornado, spreading the fire in every direction so that it was closing in on their campsite from all angles. The trees were being blown every which way and Misty worried it was only a matter of time before the flames began climbing the bare branches, out of reach of any of her Pokémon.

She had to think quickly. She was a trainer, dammit. She could think under pressure. Misty squeezed her eyes shut and forced herself not to focus on the fire.

The only way out was to chance the flames or to defeat the fire from the inside, and Misty was hellbent on doing the latter. She crushed her teeth together, trying to steel herself against the mounting wind of hot, acrid breath around her.

She had to take a chance.

"Staryu, blast your Water Gun into the ground," Misty commanded, pointing to the dirt patch in front of her. "There."

She knew she was crazy to take any of her limited waterpower away from the fire for even a moment, but this was the best idea she was going to have against this thing, she knew. So she had to bet that whatever ground she was losing in these precious moments, she would regain shortly. She refused to let herself consider any other outcome.

Staryu turned away from the fire for the briefest of moments and shot its Water Gun at the ground, full force, sending dirt shrapnel up at Misty's legs. She ignored the sharp pricks of pain—surely a few more bruises for her—as she enlarged one of her two remaining PokéBalls.

"Go back to the fire!" Misty shouted frantically as she moved on to part two of her plan. At her feet, there was now a small hole, about two feet in diameter, and filled with muddy water. "Misty calls Goldeen!"

The fiery scene became even brighter as Misty's new Goldeen emerged in a blast of white energy, right in the tiny pool.

"Water Gun, Goldeen!"

Misty hopped out of the way as Goldeen began spraying water with all his might at another section of the flames. A sigh of the tiniest relief escaped Misty as she wiped her sweaty bangs away from her brows. At least Goldeen was obeying her. She didn't have a ton of experience with training wild Pokémon, and one training session certainly wasn't enough to guarantee respect from one. Goldeen probably just had the sense to know that now wasn't the time to disobey.

As Misty chanced a terrifying look at the hellish campsite, she couldn't tell if the fire was diminishing or if it was merely being held at bay; she could only see crackling orange and white sparkling in her vision. She spotted Molly doing what she could to gather the hard, clay-like dirt of their campsite into her hands and chuck it at the fire, attempting to smother it that way. Hardly about to think up a better idea, Misty quickly bent down and began to do the same.

Then it became mechanical. Misty detached herself from the flames, the campsite, even her Pokémon, and focused on hurling dirt at the fire, hardly even looking at what she was doing. She only lived as far as her body, focusing on the feeling of her shirt clinging with sweat to her back, the rocking motion of her torso as she dove for the dirt and flung it forward. She began to feel seasick, but she just took a deep breath to settle her stomach and continued at it.

Misty almost didn't notice the flames beginning to recede. Before she knew it, she had to throw farther to hit the flames, her right shoulder burning in protest as she continued to pitch with all her might. Then there was no fire at all; not even the coals from the campfire burned any longer and the ground was wet from the Water Attacks. All that remained was the ghostly silver trail of steam dispelling into the sky.

It was over. They had survived. A quick survey of their campsite showed that none of their belongings had been burnt, which was nothing short of miraculous. Misty had to blink the lights and the sweat out of her eyes just to make sure that she wasn't imagining it, but it was true. She looked to Molly, who had dirt smeared on her forehead, but a dopey smile of relief below it.

"We did it," she breathed.

Misty nodded, too breathless to respond with anything else.

Of course, it hadn't just been them. She looked at her Pokémon, who all looked exhausted. She didn't have to touch Frillish to know that his skin was thirsting for water, and Staryu's gem was beeping dully at a slow pulse. Goldeen's little puddle was more mud than water and his mouth was gaping, like he wasn't able to get enough oxygen.

Misty returned them wordlessly, promising a rest.

Another look down at her sleeping bag, totally untarnished from the night's events, reminded her that she needed a rest too.

If she'd ever be able to fall asleep.

"Are you comfortable sleeping here, Molly?" Misty scratched out, her throat so parched that it choked off some of her sounds.

"Um…" Molly was still smiling, but it was obviously just a brave front. "Sure, if you are?"

Misty gave one nod; of course they weren't going to stay.

"It'll probably be safer to go back to the water," she said. "We don't want to be breathing in smoke or anything. Besides, my Pokémon would probably do well to sleep in the lake."

Molly didn't even try to mask her relief. "Okay. Let's go."

As Misty bent down to place her 'Balls back in her bag, she saw Molly simply hoist up her sleeping bag, draping it over both her arms.

"It's not far," Molly explained. "I'm too exhausted to roll it up."

Misty suddenly felt her exhaustion press down on her and silently agreed, swinging her pack over her shoulder and then picking up the sleeping bag like she was a human forklift.

"Let's go."

A/N: Well, let's all thank C'sMelody for reminding me that fire is scary and it should be written as such. On three: Thanks, C'sMelody!

Okay, yeah, I've been gone for a while. Last semester was...a lot. And this one is bound to be as well, given that it's my last one maybe ever (unless my dad's wishes of grad school come true).

Hey, wait! It's been a year today since I published this story! How cool is that? (Would be cooler if I were further along with the story...) A lot of things have changed in it in this past year. Hah, if only you guys knew...