Misty squinted at the ground. They’d gotten off the road again. Probably because Ash had actually listened to that Samurai brat after beating him. He’d given them the wrong directions as Misty knew he would! Sadly, Ash was adamant that they follow them. It had taken a few days to course correct when they ended up at Viridian and the same ‘Ash sucks’ message that Gary Oak had apparently written.

Ash would never admit it, but Gary had accidentally helped them with his messages by showing them they were going in the right direction.

Ash stumbled in front of her, and Misty blinked as she realised they’d finally exited the forest. Misty followed him, scowling into the early morning light.

Misty glanced at him. “Please tell me you’re not—” Ash let go of the branch that he’d been holding, causing it to flick back and smack into Misty’s face, in turn causing her to fall back, more in shock than actual pain.

Ash nodded, not realising how Misty was now glaring at him. She wanted to see red but then she remembered that she sort of owed him one by freaking out so much with all the bugs in the forest. She sighed and instead looked past him and found herself looking at Pewter city and the road right there past the treeline. If it wasn’t filthy, she’d probably kneel down and kiss it!

“Ohhhh, that Gary!” Ash suddenly exclaimed. Misty shook her head, ignoring his antics. You got used to Ash sometimes spouting things like that or making declarations. He was such a kid sometimes. Ash clenched his fist towards the City. “Pikachu, we’re going to win our first gym badge and overtake Gary!

“Pfft!” Misty snorted as she stood up and spat out some leaves. Overtake a guy that was driving a car and likely a week ahead of them now? Yeah, good luck with that!

“Pika Pi!” said Pikachu as the small yellow mouse leapt from Ash’s shoulders, the cute little mouse pokemon rose to his toes and his nose twitched as he inspected to see if Misty was alright. Misty felt her anger trickle away at that.

“Oh, Misty?” Ash said, turning to look at her with some worry. Misty tilted her head and felt something shift in her hair causing her to stiffen as it continued to move.

“What’s in my hair?” she said through clenched teeth.

Ash didn’t say anything, instead reaching for an empty pokeball. “Don't move!”

“Do not throw that pokeball at me!” she hissed.

“Don’t move!” he said sternly, drawing his arm back.

“You don’t need that—” Ash threw the ball, and whatever had been on her head responded by leaping out of the way and the pokeball to slammed into Misty’s face. She fell back into the bushes again and lay there for a while.

“Damn! It got away!” Ash said before walking over to her. “Sorry about that! It was a Spinarak!”

Misty whimpered before her eyes narrowed as Ash leaned over her. “Are you alrigh—”

Misty responded with a strong right fist to his face, sending him flying. She then rose to unleash a scathing attack on why you don’t throw pokeballs at people’s faces.

Ash stared at her once she was done. “Should I have had Pikachu shock it first?” Pikachu slapped his little paw into his face. Misty felt her brow titch and she scooped up the mouse and grumbled as she walked past Ash and towards warm showers, clean clothes, a nice bed, and best of all, no more bug pokemon!

Ash caught up and shot Pikachu a betrayed look before regaining his usual pep within a minute. “So! Today is the day I’ll fight Pewter’s gym leader! Brock!”

“Wooooh Brock!” shouted some locals that happened to be out picnicking on the hills overlooking the city. A cheer went up at this before the group of people laughed happily and returned to what they had been eating. Misty blushed, realising that she’d likely put on a bit of a show for the picnickers before she stoically marched on.

She glanced at Ash. “Ash we still have to make it to Pewter and there’s no guarantee that we’ll be able to get you in to challenge Brock before the end of the day.’

“That doesn’t matter! I can wait! Or… I’ll find him when—”

“That never works Ash. Have you been reading that silly comic about the ten-year-old that completed the entire circuit in a few months and then became Champion on their first circuit?”

Ash coughed and looked away. “I have the limited edition…” He trailed off in the face of Misty’s unimpressed gaze.

“Let’s get you to the gym. Then you can get a match, and if you do well enough, maybe, just maybe, you might be able to afford…” Misty frowned. Ash had to pay someone… he owed her something, what did he…

“Let’s go Pikachu! Last one there’s a rotten egg Misty!” Ash shouted all of a sudden, making Pikachu leap from her arms to give chase.

“Hey! Ash, no fair!” she said as Ash took off running. Misty ran after him shouting the entire way until they reached the outskirts of Pewter City. Ash leaned against a handy sign and heaved in the air.

“See Misty! We just needed to run, then we’d make it in one burst.” He sucked in another lungful of air. “Wh-where is the gym?” he said leaning back against the sign, blocking what was on it.

Misty scowled from her bent-over position. “H-how sh-should I know? There's usually some signs around though!” She jerked her head into the city. “I think I can see something up there.”

Ash straightened up to grab Misty. “Hey! Ash, didn’t your mother ever tell you not to drag a lady?”

Ash stared at her. “Yeah and?” Misty felt her eye twitch before she unleashed another straight right that Ash dodged this time.

“Urgh! You’re impossible sometimes!” She grabbed Pikachu up into her arms and snuggled up to the most tolerable part of hanging out with Ash.

“Cha!” said Pikachu as he nuzzled into her shoulder.

“That’s right Pikachu! Ash is a big dummy. Now let’s find the gym!”

Ash grumbled after her and Misty grinned to herself as she forced him to follow along like a well-trained Growlithe.

Eventually, they found a very old-looking sign.

“You’d think Brock would be able to afford better signs having won against Lance like he did,” Misty said. Her fist tapped on her chin in thought. The odd wagon symbol next to it. That meant something… what was it? “This can’t be right. Is that symbol a heritage symbol?”

“Misty, it’s a sign; people wouldn’t just leave signs up like this! Come on, let's go!” Ash said. This time, when he reached out to grab her, he received a glare that had him thinking better. Instead, he straightened up and walked forward at a much more controlled pace. Within a few minutes, they found themselves in front of a large derelict-looking building with tape over the front declaring it a hazard.

Ash rubbed his chin. “It doesn’t look like I thought it would?”

“Ash, I think this is the old gym that Brock abandoned. It doesn’t look like it's been well looked after…” Misty said while inching into a better position to see into the rather creepy darkness of the gym.

Ash shook his head. “Maybe it just looks this way?” He waved a hand up at the boulder that rested atop the gym. “I mean look at it! It’s a giant rock which is perfect for Brock as a Rock-type gym trainer!” He pulled a map out from his bag and raised it up. “It’s the right place according to the map.”

“Ash, I can’t see a gym trainer like Brock running his gym from this building. Also Ash, that map of yours is years out of date! Just buy a pokenav! They’re way better! No way this is the actual gym!” Instead of agreeing, Ash gained a mulish look in his eyes. Misty wanted to facepalm. She’d only been with Ash for a little over two weeks or so now, but she understood what that expression meant.

“She’s right you know young man,” said an intruding voice, cutting through Ash’s Tauros headedness in an instant.

Ash and Misty jumped on the spot; as one, they whirled around to find a very scruffy-looking man standing behind them. They both relaxed. It was just an old man. The man smiled genially at them.

“Did you come here looking to challenge the Pewter City gym Leader?” the man asked.

“Yeah, that's right!” Ash said, stepping up and clenching his fist to show how determined he was.

The man looked up at the old building with its tape that announced it as a hazard and an area to be avoided. “Well, Gym Leader Brock won’t come around here anymore. He took over a number of years ago and since then he has built a newer facility to face his challengers. He has a large building out of town.” The man pointed back the way they had come. “It’s off the main route into Pewter. There are signs and everything. I’m surprised you ended up here of all places.”

“Uhhhh! Really?” Ash glanced back at the building. “You’re sure?”

“Yes, in fact, I just came from there. If you’d like, I can walk you out to the gym?”

“Would you?” said Ash jubilantly.

Misty approached. “If you wouldn’t mind, kind sir, that would probably save us a lot of hassle.”

“Hmmm It’s not an issue at all. And please just call me Flint!” said the man as he turned and gestured for them to follow him to the actual Pewter City gym.

Misty glanced back at the old gym. It seemed sad to see it so neglected. She glanced at the entryway and noted a lot of footprints leading in and out of the door. It seemed someone was still coming here though. Misty swivelled her gaze around to the rather scruffily dressed man.

Ah! He had dirt the same colour all over his shoes like he’d been scuffing around the old gym.

Misty followed next to Ash and Flint, Ash kept up a running commentary of all that they’d run into over the last week.

When he reached a particularly untrue part Misty had to butt in however, “Ash, you didn’t take on those Beedrill all alone! Kid Samurai was also there to help out with his Pinsir and I had my Staryu!”

Ash waved her off, “Yeah, but it was my Butterfree that was able to take them all down!”

“That’s impressive, young man. Swarms of Beedrill can be very dangerous to handle. It was quite brave.” Ash leaned around Flint and pulled down his eyelid with his tongue sticking out. Misty raised her fist.

“What are you?! Nine? Grow up already!” She growled at his antics as she stuck her own tongue out.

Ash made a show of sniffing and sticking his nose up. Misty held in her anger. She didn’t want to seem too rough in front of a stranger. Flint merely watched their byplay with an amused expression.

“You’re much like my children in how they act with each other!”

Ash made a gagging nose. “Me and Misty, no way! She’s only sticking around cause…”

Misty blinked, why was she sticking around again? She narrowed her eyes. She’d forgotten something, what with how their trip had them running around. It had all been so quick even if it dragged on a little. “Hey! You owe me for my bike!” she said as she recalled how they had met because Ash had stolen her bike only to char grill it.

Ash clapped his hands together and bowed his head. “Sorry! Sorry! I’ll make it up to you, I swear!”

“Yeah, you better!” she said, stymied from hitting Ash again but pleased that he at least seemed to be holding onto his promise. Flint merely laughed once more.

When they reached the crest of the hill they all stopped and gaped as they viewed the Pewter gym.

“Woah!” Ash said, his eyes darting around. “There’s so many people and pokemon down there!”

“Yeah… that’s a lot of people but look at all the facilities! There’s at least eight battle courts! A range for pokemon of all sort! Oh my gosh, look people are allowed to let out their pokemon! Look at all the water types!”

“I’ve never seen some of those pokemon! Who’s that pokemon?” Ash whipped out his pokedex and began to scan the area as they walked down.

“Sharpedo, the brutal pokemon! Sharpedo are thought to roam the oceans in ‘packs’. Large enough packs cause disruption to shipping and in some areas, cut off access to entire continents.”

Misty glanced towards the pokemon in question and hummed. It was a rather well-known, if notorious, pokemon. Its rough skin made it very tough to train.

Misty coughed to get Flint’s attention. “What are those pillars of stone for?” she said, gesturing to numerous raised rocks that had writing all over them slightly off the main track. A number of younger trainers were reading them and taking notes.

“Those are survival guides. You can find all sorts of recommendations on them, such as how to navigate caves or more importantly get out of caves. There’s information on how to forage. How to set pokemon battle wagers so you can afford the wager and get a warm meal. Where to find shelter and the importance of respecting nature unless you’re looking to have certain Grass types pursue you.”

“Huh, wow!” Misty began to drift towards them, curious to read them.

There’d already been a number of times so far during their trips through Viridian that she wouldn’t have minded having a little more variety in their meals. She hadn’t known which mushrooms were safe. Not that it stopped Ash from gobbling most things down and not showing any ill effects. The guy had an iron stomach, that was sure for sure.

“Misty we don’t have time for that! I need to challenge Brock!” Ash said, grabbing her and Flint. A few trainers that were lingering around looked over only to snigger at them for some reason. Misty suspected she knew why.

Ash bristled. “What’re you laughing at!?”

“You,” one man said with a smirk. “It’s hilarious how you think you’re just gonna waltz in and challenge Brock. Ahhh baby trainers are so adorable!”

“Oh yeah! Who’s gonna stop me! You?”

“Ash you don’t need to—” Misty started to say.

“You know what I think I might!” said the other guy brandishing his own pokeball. “Follow me if you think you’re ‘Hard enough’!”

“I’m so hard, I’ll… I’ll!” Misty facepalmed as she followed Ash along. They were obviously hitting below the belt with that comment, but Ash was so innocent it may as well have been a swing and a miss. It still made him growl and splutter. Instead of walking into the gym proper, they marched around to the side and found themselves negotiating for access to a Battle court with a young blue-haired girl accompanied by a beautiful floating pokemon. Next to them, a brown-haired girl of similar age was playing the guitar. An older gentleman was standing next to her and pointing out where to place her fingers on the strings as they worked through a song.

“Lunatone, the meteorite pokemon. Lunatone is believed by some people to have come from outer space. It moves around actively during full moons, and its powerful red eyes instill fear in the hearts of the wicked,” chimed Ash’s pokedex.

Misty approached carefully. “Can I pet it?”

“You may pet her,” said the girl. “This is Selene. She’s mine.” The Lunatone trilled in a way that Misty interpreted as admonishing which drew a giggle out of her. She ran her hands over the smooth yet warm rock. Selene shut one eye and nuzzled into her.

“She’s beautiful,” Misty said, before stiffening. “For a rock type that is!” Selene retracted herself and turned away. Misty blanched realising she’d accidentally put her foot in her mouth. “No, I mean you’re pretty! Gorgeous even! It’s just that I like water types!”

Ash and his opponent snickered before pushing their way into the battle court. “Better luck next time Misty,” Ash said as he squared his shoulders. Pikachu hopped off his shoulder and performed some stretches. “You wanna fight buddy?”

Pikachu made a thoughtful face before nodding and running out in front. “Pika!”

“Huh, a Pikachu? Well alright let’s see how you go against my Kingo~” he drew out a pokeball with a web pattern that Misty recognised as a netball. “Go Kingo!” shouted the guy as a Beedril was revealed.

Misty stepped back quickly and shut the court to seal it off. No more bugs! Her mind screeched as he darted back to the blue-haired girl and her friend on the guitar. Then she relaxed. She then blushed when the blue-haired girl pointed out the barrier around the battle court. The girl and her musician friend stiffened when an explosion rang out and they suddenly had to run to that court with ‘Selene’ clearing a path for them both.

Misty slumped a little, she’d been hoping to talk with them a little.

Oh well, at least there was now a barrier between her and the bug. It was fine! Everything was fine! Then her traitorous eyes glanced upwards and noted that there was no roof and the Beedrill could just— She shook her head back and forth then put her hands to her mouth.

“You got this Ash! Pikachu’s strong against flying types!”

“Heh! I remember! Beedrills are nothing for me now!” Ash rubbed at his nose and puffed out his chest. Pikachu sparked his cheeks in agreement. A terminal between the two trainers chimed a tone.

“Trainers! Are you ready! Deploy pokemon now!”

Ash tilted his head. “Uhm we already have?”

The terminal continued without listening, but then again it wasn’t as if it was being operated by anyone that Misty could see.

“Ash it’s just a recording telling you the rules for the space. Lots of rookie trainers use areas like this and they aren’t always supervised! Just go over and select “Start Fight” and it will start a countdown for you both!”

“Oh right!” Ash said as he ran over and tapped on the screen. “Rules, training situations, pokemon agility training. Trainer fitness routines? Tennis? Oh! Here it is! Start Fight!”

“Thank you Trainer for choosing Pewter Gym battle court we will now count down from 10 seconds. If you require attention for any reason, call out ‘assistance’, and a Pewter Gym Trainer will be summoned! Ready!? Ten, nine—”

Misty hunkered down and got ready to watch the bug get zapped.

“Begin!” chimed the terminal with a smiley face that for some reason had a duck-like pokemon waddling across the screen beneath it. Misty ignored that oddity and instead watched as Ash and the other trainer swept their hands forward.

“Kingo! Use Quick attack!”

“Pikachu, use Thundershock!” Ash said in return.

Misty watched as the electric attack shot forward only to miss as the Beedrill blurred to the side and then straight into Pikachu as soon as the attack finished. “Uh! Pikachu! Thundershock again!”

“Now retreat!” ordered the other trainer. The Beedrill shot backwards.

Ash gritted his teeth and his eyes narrowed. “So you’re pokemon’s pretty fast huh? Well so’s Pikachu! Pikachu, use Tackle!”

“Tackle? Pfft! That’s a baby move for a baby pokemon. Avoid it and go for Poison Jab, Beedril!”

Once more Pikachu’s attack, this time seeing his body thrown at the opponent whiffed only for the Beedrill to stab forward.

“Pikachu! Dodge it!” Pikachu tucked his shoulder and rolled out of the way in time to avoid the stinger that lanced through the air. Ash released a sigh of relief. “Now use Thundershock while it’s over-extended!”

“Quick—” before the trainer could get his pokemon out of there Ash’s Pikachu latched onto the stinger with both hands and an evil-looking grin as his cheeks sparked.

“Chu!” shouted Pikachu as lightning surrounded them.

Beedrill twitched once and tried to step back only for it to spasm again and fall to the ground. “Urgh! Damnit he’s paralysed. I concede, kid. Damn it Kingo, looks like it wasn’t our day.” The Beedrill nodded sadly and buzzed over to its trainer who pulled out some potions and a yellow bottle of some sort.

“Ha! Yes! We did it, Pikachu!” Ash cried out happily.

“Pi! Pikachu!” shouted the very chatty Pikachu as it trotted up to Ash.

“Nice one Ash! Way to go Pikachu!” Misty cried out, happy that the bug was defeated.

“Your friend’s pokemon is rather quick on its feet.” Misty flinched before remembering that she had come here with another person. She hadn’t realised they’d stuck around.

“Yeah, he’s always been pretty strong.”

“I think his pokemon’s Thundershocks are more like Thunderbolts in truth,” said Flint as he rubbed his chin.

“What’s the difference?” Misty said as another trainer from the group that had been laughing at Ash marched onto the battle court.

“My turn, kid!” announced the trainer. Ash grinned and accepted.

Flint hummed. “Most of the difference is power and accuracy. Thundershock is a weaker move, but it has slightly better accuracy. Most consider it a good trade off for the stopping power though.”

Ash must have been listening in as the next fight saw him starting with “Thunderbolt Pikachu!”

When the opponent’s Rattata went down another trainer marched in. Ash laughed. “Hah! I don’t care how many you bring against me! I’ll beat you all!”

Misty sighed to herself. “He’s completely forgotten why we came here hasn’t he?”

She settled in and watched Ash fight with Pikachu. When he tired out Pidgeotto came out and then finally Butterfree after Ash’s fifth match. Ash staggered up to the gate with slightly slumped shoulders despite his attempts to stand tall.

“Heh! Knew I could do it!”

“Nice one Ash, you’ve won a lot of matches today. Were you still going to challenge the Gym Leader with your pokemon this tired?”

Flint watched on, his presence not being a constant as he’d instead chosen to drift around and watch other fights. At one time, when a trainer had called out an Explosion move he’d started running away only to come back a few minutes later with a frown. His hands had been very twitchy. He had waved it off but Misty could recognise when someone was struggling. Her own parents’ had explained their own hang-ups to her, so she could sympathise if he had to get some air after hearing that move.

Ash stood bolt upright. “Eh! Oh no!” He looked up into the sun. “It’s almost midday!”

Misty sighed. “Ash… how about we get you a watch so you don’t have to look into the sun to work out what time it is?”

“But I don’t need one?” he said while wiping his watering eyes.

Misty sighed. “I swear if I wasn’t around, you’d be twice as lost by now.”

“Oh?” Ash said with a smirk. “I seem to recall that you ran off screaming when you woke up with a Weedle in your bed one morning, that led to us wasting an entire day trying to find the way back.”

“We found a sign!” Misty looked to the side as they approached the Gym’s main doors. “Eventually…”

“Yeah… Oh that Gary!” Ash said to himself.

Misty shook her head. She had no idea why Ash was so fixated on his childhood friend like that. It was kind of cute how they kept encountering small signs teasing Ash along the route. It would drive Ash into fits to find them. Although they probably encountered one sign at least four times due to going in circles.

When the glass doors slid open Misty and Ash blinked in surprise when they ran into a large open area that was filled with trainers and the occasional pokemon.

“Urgh! What’re all these people here for?” Ash crept to the side to peer around them. A girl at the back shot her arm out.

“No cutting!”

“What’re you in the line for?” Ash asked.

“Duh! To sign up to challenge the Gym Leader.” She gestured to the front where a long desk with glass separated the people on the other side. The whole queue looked like it was actually being processed rather quickly with only twenty or so actually ahead of them but it still surprised Misty to see so many trainers here. Cerulean never got this much attention.

“Why’re there so many trainers here today?”

“Today?” The girl snorted. “Try for the last two weeks! Apparently, there’s way, way more trainers applying for the Kanto circuit this year! The conference is going to be nuts, but it’s making it tough if you want to challenge the good gym leaders! I’ve heard some other trainers aren’t willing to wait for Brock and they’ve moved on to the other gyms like Erika, Surge, the Cerulean sisters, or some of the lesser gyms.”

“Wait? How many people are there challenging this year?” Misty said, suddenly worried about how things were back home. Her sisters… she… lo… tolerated them, but they could be terrible at running the gym! She’d had the biggest fight with them when she’d learned they’d needed help from the other gyms to pass their audit. The fact that they’d tried to hide that they’d even been audited from her had been enough to make her see red.

The girl shrugged. “No idea, but there’s a ton. Everyone’s saying as much. It’s going to make it interesting though. Lots of places are supposedly putting on festivals or trying to get trainers to stick around.” She turned fully but kept her place in the line as it advanced. “I’m Heidi by the way!”

“Misty, and this is Ash.” Misty waved towards the boy next to her who was squinting towards the boards that hung over the receptionists’ desks.

“Gauntlet Challenge?” he said, reading the boards. “Oh wow, that’s a lot of money I can win!”

Misty snorted but looked up only to find that the prize money for winning was very lucrative. “Wow, they pay out well here, don’t they…” She looked over each challenge board, chewing her lip in thought. That was way more than Cerulean paid out... “They don’t offer as much for the Elite Challenge? Oh, wait, it’s marked as off-limits for now.”

“Supposedly you gain a special badge if you can do it on your first go but there is a small payout if you win. People only try it for the bragging rights,” Heidi said before waving her hands to a pair of doors off to the side. In front of the doors, a pair of Gravelers stood with large sunglasses on their faces. They looked like security guards and they seemed to enjoy playing up their little act as they flexed at each other and rejected anyone that approached with large stoney hands.

“Apparently there’s an Ace challenge going on right now,” Heidi said before sighing loudly. “I’d have loved to see it, but I only got in an hour ago and despite coming right here I doubt I’ll be going anywhere.” She waved around, indicating the number of people loitering and challenging others to matches outside. “Might even have to camp out tonight with how full-up the Pokemon centre is going to be.”

Misty grimaced. She didn’t need to sniff herself to know she was a little strong on the nose. She’d been camping for the last week at least and she had been looking forward to having a shower.

“Will this line hurry up!” Ash said as he bounced from foot to foot. Heidi watched him for a moment then shared a look with Misty. Misty knew he wasn’t going to like what he found when he got to the front of the line.

While they waited, they chatted with Heidi, or at least Misty did. Occasionally they would hear a loud noise like a pokemon move impacting something or the crowd next door cheering loudly. At one point a man had hurried up to the Graveler’s and produced a ticket which saw him pass. In that moment Misty had gotten to peer in and see the battlefield.

It looked like an ancient pokemon flying around against another but Misty couldn’t make out what it was. Ash had buzzed in place.

“That was an Aerodactyl!” He’d then busied himself flicking through his pokedex to find its entry.

“Aerodactyl, the fossil pokemon. Once considered extinct due to the number of fossils discovered of it. It has recently been discovered in extremely remote locations. However, their population is still not in the double digits and is thus considered Endangered. Research laboratories are investigating options to revive the pokemon through the genetic material found in fossils.”

Heidi had perked up at that. “Oh! You got yourself a pokedex too? Which professor is sponsoring you?”

She produced her own pokedex. “I got mine from Professor Elm along with my pokemon Bubbles!” From her hip a small crocodile pokemon appeared and waved shyly. Heidi picked the pokemon up which seemed to soothe it. Misty highly approved of this and began happily discussing the Johto starter pokemon Totodile.

Twenty minutes later saw them at the front desk. Ash was not pleased by this development for long however as he slammed his hands down on the bench between himself and the old receptionist. “What! What do you mean I have to wait two weeks until the next slot to challenge Brock?”

The old woman behind the desk blinked at him blearily. “Oh dear, are you hard of hearing as well? I’m sorry I thought it was only me!”

She made a show of adjusting her hearing aids before speaking louder, “You see young man! The gym can only take on so many challengers at once, and everyone wants to challenge Brock. So they have booked in times to challenge him. The next booking that is free is not for… Oh dear it’s now two and a half weeks, it looks like someone else booked in that slot while we were talking!”

Misty glanced aside and bit her fist to stop herself from giggling uncontrollably.

Ash stared in shock. “But! But! I want to fight him now!”

“Most do!” said the woman. “Would you like to book an appointment for a few week's time?”

Ash drooped as if all of his prior energy was suddenly spent. “Okay…” he said morosely.

“Could I have your trainer I.D please?” Ash handed over his pokedex and this was inserted into the computer. The woman adjusted her spectacles and tapped away at the computer. Eventually, she nodded her head. “Very well! We have you all booked in! Best of luck young man! Our Boulder badge is not one so easy to claim!”

“I guess. Thanks Granny.”

“Ash! Don’t call her Granny!” Misty said, mortified at the pre-teen’s forwardness. The woman merely laughed and waved them off.

Ash tilted his head. “What? Why?”

“Ash you shouldn’t call an old person a Granny or a Grampa just cause they're old, they might not be and it can be rude. You only say it to your own Granny and Grampa.”

“But, I don’t have one of my own? I just have Mum? We have a group of old ladies though, and growing up they used to let us call them Granny back in Pallet.”

Misty opened her mouth to ask before realising why Ash wouldn’t have a Granny or Grampa. Right. Some people didn’t have parents. Her own had been… She swallowed and nodded. “Right. Well, we need to find some accommodation for tonight. You need to get your pokemon seen to and then…” Misty tilted her head. “What are we going to do for three weeks until you can challenge the Gym Leader?”

Ash got a glint in his eyes as he exited the gym. “I’m going to fight him sooner if I can.” Misty really didn’t like the way he said that.

“Ash don’t do anything stupid!”

“I’m not!” Ash said with a look that made Misty just know that he’d locked onto an idea but his brain had not actually thought anything through.

Misty rubbed her forehead. “Let’s just get some food and find a place to sleep before you try whatever you’re going to try.”