" Misty, we need to get out of here." Ash said as he grabbed her wrist.

" But the Tentacruel...."

" We need to save ourselves first! Come on!" He ran, and Wisty yelped as she turned and ran with him.

" La ta to, la to daaaaa." Wisty hummed as she threw flower petals everywhere.

Ash blew one off his face. " What's this about?" He mumbled as he rubbed his eye.

Misty yawned. " Yeah, what happened?"

Wisty grinned at them. " This is the day you two met each other a year ago!"

Ash raised a brow. " What does that have to do with anything?"

Wisty smirked. " Look at your hands."

They looked.... And gasped.

Ash was holding Misty's hand, their fingers intervened.

They both yelped and pulled away from one another.

Wisty rolled her eyes. " Stop acting like you don't like one another."

They both froze. " Wha- What makes you say that?" Ash asked nervously.

Wisty smirked. " Oh, let's see..... Holding hands, making sure the others safe, arguing you don't like one another, blushing.... It adds up."

Misty's eyes widened. " T- that's not true!"

Wisty threw her a photo album. " Consider it your gift for your one year Anniversary. Congratulations, Ash."

With that, she walked out the front door, Eevee trailing behind.

Ash and Misty causiously opened the journal with stickers on the cover, and peered at the first page.

Misty and Ash holding hands for the first time.

It was that day when the Tentacruel attacked. Misty wanted to stay to reason with the sea creature, but Ash pulled her away

Under it were the captions, " Ash and Misty holding hands."

Ash blushed. " When did she take this?"

Misty pointed to a picture of Ash being reeled in from Misty the day they met. Under were the captions, " love at first sight."

They turned the page.

Ash and Misty sat in stunned silence, staring at the album as they turned the pages. Each one seemed to reveal a moment they hadn't thought much about at the time, but now, under Wisty's teasing scrutiny, they started to see everything differently.

The next photo showed them asleep against a tree after a long day of traveling. Ash was sitting up, his head tilted down while Misty leaned against his shoulder, her head resting against his. Pikachu was curled up on Ash's lap, but it was the subtle way Ash's arm was wrapped around Misty that made them both blush.

"W-Well, that was just because we were tired," Misty stammered, her face turning pink as she tried to defend the innocent moment.

"Yeah!" Ash agreed quickly, nodding. "We've had a lot of long journeys. Sometimes you just... fall asleep."

But even as he said it, he could feel his heart beating a little faster.

They flipped the page and saw another photo of them, this time from a night when they had been caught in a thunderstorm. They had found shelter in a cave, and there was a picture of Ash draping his jacket over Misty's shoulders as they sat close to one another. The caption under the photo read, "Ash protects Misty from the storm."

Misty swallowed hard. "That was just... I was cold. And you were being nice."

"Yeah," Ash said, his voice a bit quieter. "I didn't want you to get sick or anything."

But the warmth from the memory made his cheeks redden. He remembered how worried he had been about Misty that night, more than he cared to admit at the time.

They continued flipping through the album. There was another picture of them holding hands again, this time in the foggy forest they'd been lost in once. The fog had been so thick, they had to stick close together so they wouldn't lose each other, and apparently, Wisty had snapped a picture of them then, too. The caption beneath read, "Staying together through the thick and thin."

Ash bit his lip, glancing at Misty. She was staring at the photo with wide eyes, her face almost as red as her hair.

"Wisty... She's really observant, isn't she?" Ash muttered, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

Misty nodded slowly. "She is... but I didn't realize we... uh..."

"I didn't either," Ash admitted. "It's not like we... meant to..."

They turned another page, and there was a picture of them at a festival, both wearing traditional Yukatas. They had just defeated Ghastly, and they looked so happy.

"That was a fun day," Misty said softly, breaking the silence.

Ash smiled a little. "Yeah. We had defeated a Pokemon we didn't even know existed."

Misty chuckled, still feeling the heat on her cheeks. "It was a rare one. You... you did a good job that day."

They continued to flip through the pages, each one making them more and more aware of how much time they had spent together, and how many little moments had built up over their journey. The photos captured them laughing, helping each other, and yes-more holding hands. There were pictures of them sitting together by campfires, standing close during battles, and even one where Ash had wrapped Misty in a hug after they had narrowly escaped a dangerous situation.

"Wow," Ash whispered as they reached the final page. "I didn't realize there were so many moments like this."

Misty didn't say anything at first. She was staring at the last photo, which showed Ash gently holding her hand as she lay on the ground after spraining her ankle during a battle. He had been helping her walk, and Wisty had somehow captured the moment where their eyes had met, just before Ash had smiled at her and reassured her that everything would be okay.

"I didn't either," Misty finally said, her voice quiet.

They sat in silence for a long moment, the album still open in front of them. The air between them felt different now, heavy with the realization of everything they had shared without even knowing it. Ash swallowed, feeling a lump in his throat. He looked over at Misty, her face still red, but there was something soft in her eyes.

"Misty," he said hesitantly, "do you think... Wisty's right?"

Misty blinked and turned to him. "Right about what?"

"You know... about us."

Misty stared at him, her heart pounding. For a moment, she didn't know what to say. But then she saw the way Ash was looking at her-earnest, nervous, but also... hopeful.

She took a deep breath, her voice soft. "Maybe... maybe she is."

Ash's eyes widened. "Really?"

Misty nodded slowly, her blush deepening. "Yeah... maybe all this time, we've just been too stubborn to admit it."

Ash felt his heart skip a beat. He didn't know what to say, so instead, he did something he had never really thought about before-he reached over and gently took Misty's hand in his. This time, there was no awkward yelp, no pulling away. They just sat there, their fingers intertwined, as they both smiled shyly at each other.

"Maybe," Ash whispered, "this isn't such a bad thing."

Misty smiled back, her heart racing. "Maybe not."

And as they sat there together, hand in hand, they realized that Wisty had known all along what they hadn't been brave enough to admit to themselves.

This wasn't just the beginning of another adventure-it was the start of something much more important.