Ash sat there and thought for a minute. The greatest master of them all. It was true. He did it. He made his dream come true. He promised himself he'd do so long before he even got his first pokemon. And its been twelve years since he started his journey, but he did it.
He wasn't just Ash Ketchum, he was Ash Ketchum, the greatest pokemon master.
And dude, how he loved hearing people say it. And here was his childhood best friend asking him how it felt.
"It's amazing." he replied. "I mean...you know how much I've wanted this. It took a while but man, it feels great!"
Misty gave him a warm smile. "It should feel great, you gave it your all, Ash, you deserve it. I'm proud of you."
"I couldn't have done it without you, though" Ash replied and returned the smile. "I know I've made a lot of friends throughout the years but, you and Brock were the first ones to cheer me on. I doubt I would've got that far without you guys."
"Where is Brock, anyway?" Misty asked, changing the subject likely due to the odd feeling Ash's smile gave her. It wasn't a bad feeling, it just kinda made her stomach tie in knots when he looked at her. Specifically the way he smiled and looked at her right now. The adoration in his eyes made her almost swoon.
"Oh, he's actually visiting family right now. He's going to come visit next week!" he said. "Will you stay till then?"
"Uh, yeah. Of course!" she replied. How could she say no to Ash? Besides she had missed Brock a whole lot too.
"Want to go for a walk?" Ash suggested since they were done with their food. Misty agreed and they walked out together. Ash told Pikachu to stay in the restaurant and that he'd see him and his mom later.
They walked together in silence for a few moments until Ash started up conversation again.
"So, you've made lots of friends too right?" he asked.
"Oh, yeah." she nodded. "I usually only see them a few days at a time though, because they travel. Like everyone else, I guess. I seem to be the only one who's stayed put." Ash noticed this situation had bothered her.
"You're a great gym leader." he told her. She rolled her eyes. "What I mean is, people know you too, Misty. There are people all over that plan to travel just to try to beat you!"
"Yeah, yeah."
"Why don't you ask your sisters to take responsibility for the gym for a while, like they used to?"
"What's the point of that? I don't do much, really." She wasn't antisocial or depressed or anything, its just her life now consisted of her training her pokemon and battling others at her gym. Friends came through every few weeks, her sisters were around again, but she rarely left her town.
"So we can travel again." he replied. They've reached the end of the road and on the right was a big tree that provided shade. Ash sat there and after a while, Misty sat beside him.
"Travel?" she asked, turning to look at him. He looked back to her and nodded. "Mhm."
"Where would we go?" she asked.
"Anywhere you'd like." he replied. Now Misty noticed their faces were very close to each other. Her cheeks reddened but she didn't drop her gaze from his.
"Anywhere?"
He nodded and his face shifted a little closer to hers. "Do you remember when we were younger?" he asked. "You said something once, it weirded me out at the time..but I don't know about now."
"W-what did I say?" she asked, her eyes started to slowly shut as she moved closer to his face too.
"You said," he continued, his lips an inch away from hers. "One day, you and I will be married too."
Misty's face turned the darkest shade of red imaginable and she moved her face from his and stood up.
"What? I never said that!" she exclaimed, knowing she was lying out of sheer embarrassment. He looked up at her from his seat on the ground.
"Uh, yeah you did!" he replied. "When that girl was all over Brock!" She turned away from him and crossed her arms across her chest. This reminded Ash of when they were younger, flustered and short tempered, she was.
He smiled and stood up, took a step over to her and gently turned her around to face him. "Do you remember when I told you, you looked great?"
She nodded.
"Well, I lied." Her jaw was about to drop in shock of the sudden change of Ash's attitude. First he was being all sweet, now this? But before she could open her mouth, he continued.
"The truth is, you look absolutely beautiful." he replied, then leaned in and kissed her.
