Amourshipping : Love, Loss & Loyalty

Contemplation

"...So you're telling me, Paul's just gone."

"Yes."

"Without a trace."

"Yes."

"And without saying a word to anyone."

"Yes!"

"...Yeah, that sounds like him." Ash informed Miette with a bemused grin at her concern for his location. "He would just straight up leave in the middle of the night. He left places without a word pretty much every time I saw him. Apparently that hasn't changed."

Miette looked a weird combination of depressed and amused at the same time. One thing was certain in that display, however. She was actually somewhat hurt. She thought they were friends at the very least.

"Hey, don't be upset." Ash tried to cheer her up, although he wasn't totally sure what to say. "He'll show up again, I promise. I seem to keep running into the guy, even if I don't want to."

Miette smiled weakly at Ash, although it was clear it hadn't helped her much. But then, really, what could Ash say to help her feel better? There wasn't much he could say to help her. Nothing he could really say that would cheer her up.

It was like when he had to leave Kalos for the first time, and he had had to tell Serena.

"Come on." He said to the blue haired baker, patting her on the shoulder. "We gotta get moving."

"Yeah... Yeah, I'll just be a moment." Miette said, turning back to her room to acquire her bag, her belongings, and any other essentials that were needed. She quickly ducked into her room. She shut the door behind her, needing a few moments to just process the information. She wasn't on the verge of tears, but she looked like she needed to get her head straight.

Ash decided it best to leave her to it. He could wait for her in the lobby with Serena. It was beat to give Miette a little space given the series of events, he decided. He made his way to the lobby alone, where he knew Serena was waiting. The plan was for him and Serena to pick up their partner Pokemon respectively, and carry on down the road. From there, they were going to head to a location known as Lilac Lake, given its self - explanatory name due to the high number of lilacs that sprouted in the summer months, thanks to the rays of heat from the sun. And it was especially hot this summer. Ash couldn't help but think a visit to a lake of all places might be a nice, cool, refreshing break. While he hadn't paid direct attention to it, he had it noted that this summer was one of the hottest he'd ever been in. So a visit to a lake, with cool, open air hitting him in the face, and a cold lake sounded like absolute heaven right now.

He wiped a bead of sweat from his brow. It was already early, not long past 10Am, and it was already blistering warm. The thermometer read it at about 32 Celsius (roughly 86F), easily a scorching day in his native region. They definitely had a long walk ahead of them today, of that there could be absolutely no question. It was then that Ash thanked God for his cap. At least that would provide some shade for him. He'd take what little he could get today. Any was good in place of this days sun.

He made his way into the main reception, where a few trainers were still coming and going. Some were sat down, talking, discussing the tournament that had just gone down. Others were just arriving, using the place as a stop off point on their own various journeys. Some came in groups, while some came in alone. All of them seemed to be energised in some way, in spite of the heat, like they refused to give the heat the satisfaction of a victory. That, or they were climatized to this searing heat. Being born in a relatively cold region, Ash had to question, how anyone could acclimatize to this heat...

Indeed, it did look like Serena was relatively cool, compared to Ash. She noticed this and raised an eyebrow of concern. "Ash, are you okay?"

"Just a bit warm." He replied, sitting down heavily, and sighing. "I'm red hot."