The New Normal – 7-4 – Interlude – Misty

Yesterday was so cool, Misty decided as she skipped around the Gym. All of the performances, both from her sisters and the others, were just so awesome to watch! She knew Water types were cool, but she never knew that all the other types had such potential to fire off so many bright colours as well!

Of course, her sisters were the coolest. She never realized it before, but they really did work hard. Their Pokémon had never looked so amazing until yesterday, and Misty realized that she wanted to be like them too.

No, she wanted to be better than them. Her sisters were good performers, but she knew they were average trainers who needed help getting better. She wanted to be better than that. She wanted to be both an excellent trainer and performer.

Though she would never admit it to her sisters, naturally. They still fussed over too much and never let her have any candy, even though they ate more themselves. Even Lily, who was only a few years older than her, was able to have more candy.

She was seriously mad about that. She was almost 10 years old! She was old enough to have as much candy as she wanted!

And it was not only the candy, but they always tried to stop Misty from doing anything cool. She knew that her sisters had a Gyarados that they were trying, and failing, to train. But when she asked to try it out, they all said no and pushed her away from their Gyarados.

She was so angry at them! She didn't get why THEY were allowed to play around with the Gyarados when she wasn't allowed to. She wanted to ride on Gyarados' back too!

Her sisters were cool, but annoying.

So, even though a part of her wanted to ask her sisters for help training up her water types, her pride pushed her away from them. Instead, she found herself outside the office of Petrel, about to knock on his door.

She paused though as she heard voices coming from within.

"…And he said nothing else?" She could tell that was Petrel.

"No, but I'm fairly certain that he's enjoying spending time with his family." This voice was a little harder to make out through the door, but she recognized it as being from their Head Gym Trainer, Archer.

"…Is he now? I haven't read through his reports in some time." Petrel replied, and Misty could hear the happiness in his voice.

"Honestly, with him and Ariana together again, I don't think he has time to submit any." Archer chuckled, "But it's nice to see the boss so happy again. But this does mean I'll be staying here longer than expected."

The boss? Who was that? What were they talking about? Unable to hold back her curiosity, Misty swung the door open and stepped into the room.

"What are you two talking about?" She asked, accidentally startling the two occupants of the room.

"Misty! I didn't realize you were here, my apologies." Petrel said with an exaggerated deep bow. Misty giggled at him; he always did these kinds of things to make her laugh. She liked it when he did that.

Oh whoops, she was letting him distract her.

"So what were you talking about? Who was the boss?" She asked again, this time putting her fists on her hips to emphasize how serious she was.

For some reason, instead of scaring them, Archer broke out into a smile. "The boss is Gym Leader Giovanni." He explained kindly as he patted her on the head, "Before the two of us worked here, we used to work for him. That's why we call him the boss. It's a sign of respect."

"Oh cool!" Her mind immediately jumped to the next logical question, "So do I get a nickname too!? I want one!"

That broke Archer as he quickly descended into a fit of laughter. Before Misty could pout at him, Petrel quickly spoke up, his voice sounding very serious. "And what do you want to be called, Misty?"

Oh no, she hadn't thought of anything yet! Her mind quickly flicked through the available options in order to find a cool nickname, but all that came out of her mouth was a pathetic "Uh…I don't know?"

She had expected Petrel to laugh at her, but he didn't. Instead, he nodded and replied, "If you do think of one, please let me know as soon as possible. I would be happy to address you as appropriate." Misty nodded her head excitedly; she was going to think of the COOLEST name ever!

But before she could run off and do just that, Petrel continued, "Now, was there something else you wanted from me? It looked like you were searching for me."

Oops! She nearly forgot why she came here! She kicked herself mentally for almost forgetting.

"I wanted you to train me." She told him, "I want to get stronger too. I'm nearly ten years old, so I deserve to be as strong as my sisters as well!"

Petrel raised an eyebrow at her request, "Really? And are you not satisfied with what you have now? You're already training yourself while you help out in the Gym, after all."

She shook her head, "That's too slow! I want to get stronger NOW! I want to catch up to my sisters, because they never let me play with them when they're training. I want to join them!"

"You know that it's not going to be easy, right?" Archer added from the side, "You're already doing well, but if you want to push yourself even harder, it's going to be tough for you. Are you willing to put in that effort?"

She took a moment to think, but then she remembered just how cool the performance was yesterday, and how she wanted to replicate it and make it better.

Her head bobbed up and down rapidly, "I am."

Archer gave her a scrutinising look for a moment as he leaned forwards, towering over her. It was a really uncomfortable position, and Misty instinctively took a step back as she suddenly felt his eyes boring into hers. But just before Misty was about to open her mouth, Archer leaned back.

"I'll train you." He announced, causing Misty to break out into a wide smile. "Don't bother Petrel about something like this; he's already busy enough. I'll be the one to train you instead while I'm here."

Misty was about to thank him, but Archer cut her off with the palm of his hand. "Don't get too excited. It's not going to be easy. And I expect you to follow order and work hard. Do I make myself clear?"

Archer's voice changed into something scary at that last part, but Misty held in her fear and gave him a shaky nod.

He nodded, "Good. Then I'll see you before sunrise tomorrow. Hope you sleep well."

Misty cheered and thanked him before immediately dashing out the room in excitement. But it was only then, when she got back into her room, did she realize with dawning horror what he just said.

SHE DIDN'T WANT TO WAKE UP THAT EARLY IN THE MORNING! Oh Arceus, she was regretting this already.

A.N. I felt now was a good time to finally give Misty her own POV for once. I hope my portrayal of her gives her canon personality justice. And just to clarify, she will STILL be a Water-type specialist, but with all the changes around her life, her team and strength will be different from canon.

This chapter has been BETAed by Allute! Cheers! And to anyone who wants to support me, please check out my p atreon at CartecTNN where you can read 8 advanced chapters! Thanks to those who have supported me already!