***Serena's POV

"What?" May and I yell in unison, crowding over Misty.

Misty makes a face.

"Why are you guys so concerned with Ash?"

"Because..." I say, trying to find a good way to word this.

"He disappeared, and he's-" May begins to explain, but she's interrupted by Jason.

"Girls, I know you want to know what happened, but let Misty get up and get a towel. She's soaked.

"I would really appreciate it," Misty says, as Jason pushes us away and helps her up.

...

Misty leads us to a back room, where it's designed like a powder room where movie stars do their makeup and prep themselves for a show.

"My sisters are performers that use water pokemon. They're currently on world tour," Misty explains, noticing our curiosity.

Misty grabs a towel, wraps it around herself and sits on a chair. Jason catches himself from flopping on the floor. His red stain is very noticeable.

"Jason, let me fix you up again," I sigh, walking over to him.

Jason nods weakly, forcing himself into a chair, and taking off his shirt.

"Whoa, what happened?" Misty gasps, eyeing the bloody bandages on his shoulder. I see her eyes quickly move along his entire torso.

"May, can you explain everything to her?" Jason asks, watching as I get the supplies out.

And May tells her everything. How Jason appeared in front of her, explained how Ash disappeared, and May joined to find him. She explained how Jason brought me, even though she doesn't exactly what happened. She told her about Pengen, about the masked man, but didn't tell her about Brock.

Misty brings her hand to her chin.

"Well, I didn't see the masked man that you talked about. But I did see Ash, like I said before."

"Really? What happened?" I ask, getting closer to Misty, leaving Jason's wound half covered.

"Uh, could you stop being nosy and finish what you started?"

"Nope," I say with a smile as I stand.

Who does he think he is, bossing me around?

"I, uh," Jason mumbles, at loss of words.

"Besides, what you really need is a trip to the hospital. That freaking hole isn't gonna heal unless you get stitches."

Jason starts at me blankly, then shakes his head.

"I don't know what you want me to do then, because we're just going to keep wasting bandages at this rate," I turn and walk away.

Jason sighs.

I hear Jason groan as he gets up. I would be lying if I said I didn't feel a bit guilty.

"I'll be back," he says, as he walks out of the room, closing the door.

"Whoa." Misty comments.

"Whoa indeed," I say sitting next to May. She gives me a supportive smile.

"I've never seen Jason like that before," Misty says.

"You know Jason?" May asks.

"Yeah. I saw him challenge this gym years ago. He was really something. We never saw anything close to Jason's skill until Ash came around," Misty explains. She then snorts.

"Heh. Ash and skill at that time reall shouldn't belong in the same sentence."

Interesting.

"That's good to know, but what did Ash say or do?" I ask, swerving us back on topic.

***FLASHBACK***

***Misty's POV

"Come on Seel, it's ok. Starmie and Staryu won't hurt you."

My newly hatched Seel is laying near my legs, refusing to go in the water where Starmie and Staryu are waiting for him. Seel wimpers and pats my legs with his flippers.

I sigh.

At least I got him near the pool, unlike yesterday.

"It's ok, this is enough progress for today," I say, patting him on the head.

"Time for dinner!"

All my Pokemon line up next to their bowl, which are in a straight line. I then go down the line, one by one, giving each of them their unique food. Seel is sitting next to Psyduck, who is staring up at the ceiling.

Once I was done, I allowed everyone to start eating. Even Psyduck was munching happily away. I have to thank Brock once again for the recipes he sent me.

"Seel!"

I turn, and I see Psyduck pushed Seel out of the way, and start eating his food.

"Psyduck, if you don't stop I'm going to throw you across the pool!"

Psyduck quickly drops the food and runs away towards the back room.

"Psy psy psy!"

I sigh.

Suddenly, someone starts clapping.

"That's the Misty I know."

I know that voice. I turn around, and behind me is a taller version of a boy I once traveled with. His messy raven colored hair sticking out everywhere, a big smile on his face. He's wearing a different blue jacket, but still has a  black undershirt and jeans.

It's him.

"Ash!"

I run up to him, engulfing him in a hug. He reluctantly hugs me back.

I feel something hug my leg. I let go of Ash and look down. Pikachu is tightly squeezing my leg.

"Hi Pikachu!"

I pick him up and squeeze him so hard I wouldn't be surprised if his eyes popped out of his body. Pikachu squeals happily.

"I haven't seen you guys in forever!" I say, gently putting Pikachu back on the ground.

"I know, it has been a while hasn't it."

I heard a loud growl, and I see Ash's face turn red.

I grin.

"Would you like to catch up while we have dinner?"

"You bet!"

...

"So Ash, what brings you here?" I ask, bringing a bite of food into my mouth.

"Well, I just came back from the Kalos region, and I decided to travel through Kanto to say hi to some of my old friends," Ash says, taking a sip of water.

Huh. He hasn't touched his food yet. Weird.

''How did you like Kalos?" I ask.

"It was great! There were so many great people and Pokemon! I made a lot of great friends. I traveled with Clemont, and his little sister Bonnie. Also, a girl named Serena came along as well."

Another girl? Geesh.

"Tell me Ash, is Serena pretty?"

"Well, I, I think, uh, yes." Ash's face turns a deep shade of Red.

"Aww! Did you two go on any dates?'

"Well, no, but something did happen."

"What did?"

"When we said goodbye, since she was going to Hoenn, she kinda ran up to me, and uh, kissed me."

"Ack!"

I start choking.

She did what?

"Misty? Are you ok?"

Luckily, everything is fixed with a couple slips of water.

"Yea, just, where did she kiss you?"

"My uh, lips."

Whoa.

"So she's your first kiss?"

"Yeah," Ash says, scratching the back of his head.

Weird. He's not wearing his hat.

"That's cute! When am I going to meet your little girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend! And maybe you'll meet her soon, I don't know," Ash says, sitting up.

My heart beating faster.

"Ash, is everything ok? You haven't eaten at all, and you don't have your hat. You don't go anywhere without your hat."

Ash stares at me, not answering me. I gulp.

"Look, I'm sorry for teasing you, I didn't mean-"

A flashing light beams out, and once it clears, a Snorlax appears in front of me.

"Snorlax, Yawn."

***PRESENT DAY***

***Serena's POV

"And the next thing I know, I'm chained up on the side of the pool, he kisses my cheek goodbye, and him and Pikachu leave with the Pengen. I stayed up all night, shocked with what just happened, and the water slowly rising," Misty says, looking at the ground.

May pats her back.

"It's ok Misty. Serena and I will find Ash and knock some sense into him!"

Misty looks up, directly at me.

"You're Serena?"

Her eyes are wide open, and she's slowly creeping closer to me.

I slowly nod my head.

She stops a few inches away from me.

"Ash is right. You are pretty," Misty says with a smile. I can't help but smile. Not only does Ash think I'm pretty, but even his closest friends agree with him!

Misty backs away and stretches a bit.

"Well, I have to contact all the gym leaders. If the Pengen ends up somewhere it shouldn't be, it's going to be bad new. I think I'll start with the Pewter City's Gym, they're the closest."

Uh oh.

"Don't."

Misty stops and turns to look at May. I stay silent.

"Why?"

"Because, the gym is destroyed. When we stopped at Pewter City, we visited the gym. It was broken into and badly damaged. Inside, we found two bodies. One belonged to the gym leader, Flint, and the other..." May voice begins to crack as she's trying to hold back tears.

"... was Brock."

Misty doesn't react.

"Don't be-"

Her voice trails off as she finally begins to process the information. Misty falls back on her chair.

"W-who could've done that? What evil human being could do that?"

Tears are falling down her cheeks.

"According to Maximum, the masked man who attacked us, Ash," May says shaking.

"No! That can't be true! Ash, I know what he did to me was wrong, but he would never hurt a friend. Never!"

I silently walk over and reach in my back. I quickly find what I'm looking for, and pull out it.

"We also found this," I say, showing Misty Ash's red hat.

"No." Misty grabs my arm, as all the emotions consume her. Her tears are waterfall, and her body not responding to any other command.

May comes to try to comfort Misty, crying with her.

We stay like this for a minute, until the whole room starts to shake.

"What's going on?" I ask. Suddenly the door is knocked down by a Pokemon. The Pokemon lands on its side in front of us.

"Gastrodon," he whimpers, before passing out.

"Jason!" I yell.

No response.

Oh no.

What in the world is going on now?