Too Late [amourshipping - Ash/Serena] [onesided pokeshipping - Ash/Misty]

She first met him on the path to Viridian City.

She had been casually fishing in the river for more water-type pokemon when she suddenly noticed a large yellow flash and a powerful thunderbolt attack. Knowing that an attack of that power meant that something was happening, she hurriedly packed up her equipment and rushed to scene.

Whatever she had expected, an injured, near-unconscious Pikachu and a battered and bruised boy had not been it.

Misty Waterflower usually wasn't an overly compassionate person, but the state of the Pikachu (she honestly couldn't care less about the boy, it was his blunders that got his pokemon injured anyway) made her want to shove them both onto her bike and pedal furiously to Viridian City.

But boy was she furious when the boy uttered a swift "Thank you!", swung himself onto her bike and pedal to Viridian City.

So, in the pouring rain, she stomped to Viridian City, seething. And her anger reached insurmountable heights when she discovered that her poor, poor bike had been struck by lightning and promptly burst into flames.

But when she and the boy (Ash, as she later found out) double-teamed two idiotic Team Rocket grunts in the PokeCenter, she came to a decision.

She would chase this boy (this dense, dense boy) to the ends of the earth, because he was the reason that her poor, poor bike was charred and smoking and ruined.

But when she got to know Ash, she found him lacking in knowledge, but what he didn't have in brains he made up for humour and his carefree attitude. He was loyal and caring and (though Misty would never admit it to his face) quite talented in battle - when he wasn't being a dense imbecile.

So as they journeyed on, Misty began to grow attached to Ash. So naturally she was devastated when she discovered that she would have to return to Cerulean City to care for the gym after they completed their adventure through Johto. But they vowed to keep in contact, so she left for her home city with a heavy heart as Ash left for Hoenn.

Her heart clenched when she found Ash happily frolicking with Brock, a little boy called Max and a female companion (her replacement) called May, who had styled brown hair and soft brown eyes. Then he went to Sinnoh, and from Brock she heard that Ash had found yet another girl that he joined for his journey through Sinnoh - a beautiful blunette called Dawn with an adorable Piplup and naturally happy attitude. Then she personally encountered Iris, Ash's purple-haired female companion for Unova.

As Ash continued on his adventures, Misty found herself growing feelings for the black-haired boy with the thunder-happy Pikachu - real, honest-to-Arceus romantic feelings for the boy who was painfully oblivious to any signs of romance.

So Misty Waterflower promised to herself that, when Ash returned from Kalos, she would tell him.

Then Ash came back, fresh from a victory in the League and preparing for the Elite 4 Challenge, gushing about his old childhood friend, a pretty brown-haired girl called Serena.

And she knew it was already too late.