Left Behind

"YEAH, it's me," said Ash, stunned.  "Hi Misty."

"Mm."  Without another word Misty stood up and brushed the dirt from herself.

"Pikachupi!"  Pikachu leapt happily toward her. Misty laughed as she caught him.

"Aw, hey Pika Pal!"  She grinned as she lightly pushed him onto her shoulders and extended a hand down to Ash who was too stunned to move.

"Here."  Ash took it.  Her hand was soft and firm all at once, probably hardened by all the time she presumably spent swimming.  She was also noticeably short, or maybe that was just because he had never processed their height changes the last time he saw her in Alola.

As he stood up, exhaustion seemed to have finally caught up with him as he felt disgusted upon realizing how sweaty he was.

"Sorry about running into you like that.  Are you hur— ow!" Ash winced as he felt pain in his shoulder.

Misty cricked her back and grunted.  "Yeah, no surprise there.  A fall like that would do something.  Besides, I think that fall got me in the knee."  She pointed toward a slight cut in her left kneecap.

"I'll call a hospital then."

Misty waved her hands.  "It's not that serious.  Probably just need a rest.  Come on, we can rest under that tree."

They dragged their bikes off the path and both hobbled wearily toward the tree before heaving sighs as their backs met its strong trunk.

As he caught his breath, Ash took the time to look at her.  Despite their ages, she still maintained a youthful look as if she never left her teenage years.  Ash bit his lip – he had thrown the odd thought about her here and there back when they were traveling together but now the word beautiful seemed to come to mind too easily.

Meanwhile Pikachu happily snuggled against Misty before hopping off and then climbed up the tree.  Misty watched him go before pulling out a Pokeball.  "Azurill!" smiled the Polka Dot Pokémon before it noticed Pikachu and happily scampered off to join him

Misty turned to Ash.  "Jeez, what was that crash about?  You were doing quite the mileage climbing up that slope."

"Er, yeah... I was just really trying to get up it."

"My fault for stopping in the middle of the road anyways."

"Don't blame yourself.  I wasn't really paying attention anyhow."

"Well, what happened, happened.  So, it's been a while since we last saw each other!  I didn't expect to find you here.  What were you even doing?"

Ash scratched the back of his neck wearily with his other arm before he decided on, "I just wanted to take a ride, get out of the house, y'know."

"Heh, I get that," smiled Misty.  "It's so boring to be couped up in doors."

"Not least when there's a whole world out here to explore."  Ash paused but decided against spilling his heard over his present concerns.  "It's more fun to be out and about.  Routines are dull frankly."

Misty didn't reply, so Ash continued.  "So what brought you this way?  You're quite a ways away from Cerulean."  He hadn't noticed before where they were.

"Ash, we're outside Cerulean City," said Misty blankly.

"..."

"We're near Rifure Village, it's near the city.  A district if you will."

"Oh, I see... Um, what are you doing here then?" said Ash.

"An elderly man here makes my Cascade Badges.  I needed a fresh supply."  She pulled out a case and revealed the blue teardrop items.  "See?"