AN: …..sorry...

Earlier that day...

MISTY

The gym was empty and quiet, unexpected in the wake of all that had happened in the last few days for the group. It was a nice return to normalcy, in Misty's opinion. A little alone time to process her thoughts, and catch up on some housework that had been neglected since the surprise of Ash and gang wandering into her home. It was time to do some cleaning. The kitchen needed a scrubbing, dusting and vacuuming needed to be done, as well as a change of linens for all of the beds. Now seemed like a fine time to do it. But where to start...

Misty meandered towards the guest area, deciding to change the sheets for everyones beds. It had only been a couple of nights of sleeping on them, but it had been a while before they had been used, so the sheets on the bed weren't exactly fresh out of the dryer. Stopping in the linen closet, Misty grabbed a set of sheets and set off into Dawn's room. She opened the door, and an odd decoration caught her eye. It was three chess boards, set up on the dresser. Misty had never been very good at chess, no matter how hard her grandfather had tried to teach her, but she understood enough to know that a board wasn't set up like that, with the corners of the boards touching like that. Whatever. Whoever was playing on the brown set wasn't doing very well.

There was clothes strewn around the room, which Misty picked up and set next to Dawn's bag, and changed the sheets. Leaving the room, Misty took one last look at the chess boards, shook her head, and closed the door behind her. Dawn was a strange character, that was certain. Back at the linen closet, she dropped the dirty sheets on the ground to pick up later, and picked up another clean set to Mays' room. And then Brocks. Neither of them had unpacked very much, and had kept their rooms tidy, which Misty was grateful for. Neither of them saw fit to live like a slob in another person's home, as a certain someone else had. She was about to do Ash's room, when a bell sounded through the house. It was the doorbell. That's strange, thought Misty. I wonder who it is.

Leaving the linens where they were, Misty went to the door. She looked out of the peephole and groaned as she opened the door. She stood inside the doorway, one hand on the door, the other on her hip. "What do you want, Derrick?" she asked in a hostile tone of voice. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, come on," Derrick said pleadingly. "You're mad at me too? I thought you liked me."

"I used to."

"Why?! What did I do?!"

"Oh, if you're going to come over here and pretend like you don't know what's going on, you're a bigger idiot than I thought you were earlier."

"But I DON'T know what's going on!"

"Yeah right. Try again later, when you're ready to apologize. Or, better yet, don't try again at all."

"What did I -"

Misty slammed the door in Derrick's face, and locked it as she walked away. That little prick. Thinking he could come back here pretending like he hadn't broken up with her sister. THROUGH A TEXT. Arrogant immature little...

She took a deep breath, letting the anger seep out of her as she went back to her chores. Now, where was she. Oh, right. Ash's room.

Returning to May's room, she retrieved the linens and proceeded to the next room. Ash was pretty tidy as well, which didn't come as any surprise to Misty. She HAD traveled with him for a long time, after all. You get to know a person after that much time together. Learn what they're like, how they behave, and the kind of person they are. Ash was driven. Driven, but with the proper priorities. After all, he did rush to Cerulean city awfully fast when he thought something was wrong with her. It had been such a sweet gesture. Concerning that something like that had happened, but sweet nonetheless.

As she went about picking up the small things that were around the room, she let her mind wander about that. Why would Adam go so far for this? Yeah, he liked her. And she was almost positive that he could do all those things. But...Something that the other girls said was niggling the back of her mind. Why go through all this trouble? It didn't seem very thought out. Not very well planned. Why bring everyone together. Why Brock, Dawn, and May? Why…

She lost her train of thought as something that she picked up distracted her. It looked like a...a bandana.

Misty just looked at it for a while. Was this one of May's bandanas? How did it get into Ash's room? She was stunned. Either May had gone into the room and left it there, or Ash had it to begin with. Is that what Ash did? Keep little souvenirs from other people? Was this bandana like the fishing lure she had given him? Misty tried to calm down, but couldn't quite. She pocketed the bandana and changed the linens angrily, not even bothering to tuck everything in. She would definitely have a talk with SOMEONE later. She just needed to decide who.

Misty needed to try and calm down though. The only thing that could really do that right now was a swim with her pokemon. She went to her room and changed, and then went to the pool. Her pokemon were lounging around in the water, playing little games with each other. They looked so happy together. That always put a smile on her face, no matter how she was feeling. She dove into the water, diving down to hug her Starmie. She'd been through a lot with Starmie, and hugging the big purple pokemon reminded her of all those good times. She tried to let go and have fun, just being with her friends and companions. But something still bothered her. What had she been thinking about before the...thing? Was It Derrick? It might have been.

I'll have to warn my sister about him if he keeps being so...persistant Misty thought to herself. He just can't seem to let go. It's a little strange really. I did kind of like him. I wonder why he became such a dillweed all of a sudden. Actually, now that she thought of it, why had he done that? Derrick and Daisy had been so happy together. Maybe she should reconsider talking to Derrick again. Something wasn't quite adding up. And she didn't like it.

Getting out of the pool, Misty dried off. Maybe she'd call Derrick and agree to talk him. Without letting Daisy know, of course. As she was hanging up the towel, the door bell rang again. Another visitor? Misty thought to herself. That was strange. Maybe it was Derrick again, being persistant.

Misty walked to the door and opened it. It was a woman she had never seen before.

"Can I help you?" Misty asked.

"Yes," said the woman. "My car broke down, and my phone is dead. Would I by chance be able to use yours? It'd be a real big help."

"Yeah, sure," Misty said, opening the door a little wider and stepping back and gesturing inside. "Come on in."

"Thanks. I'll only be a second." The woman stepped inside and walked down the corridor, Misty just behind her. "This is a pretty big place," the woman said, making conversation. "It must get lonely being here all by yourself."

"Oh, I don't live here alone," Misty responded. "I have three siblings who live here with me."

"Really? Where are they?"

Misty became suspicious of the intentions of this woman. "They just went out. They'll be back in a few minutes," Misty lied. "The phone is right over here," she said, leading her the rest of the way to the phone.

"Thanks again for your help," the woman said.

Misty walked a little ways away, to give the woman a little privacy, but stayed within eyeshot of her. She saw that she was calling a man, but that was all she knew of the conversation. It only lasted a minute or so, and then the woman hung up. Misty walked back over and started leading the woman back to the door.

"I hope he's able to come help you," Misty said.

"Oh, he will. He's calling a tow, and will be at my car in a little bit. Thanks again for your help."

"Not a problem." They were at the door now. Misty opened it for the woman. "Have a good day, and good luck with your car."

"You too," the woman responded cheerily, and then made her way back away from the gym.

What a strange woman. Misty closed the door and locked it. She checked that everything was secure, for good measure, and then left the entryway. Retrieving her Azurril, she sat down in front of the tv. She turned it on, but didn't really watch it. She was thinking. About Ash and the bandana. About the woman. About Derrick. About a lot of things. All the strange things happening recently were all connected. Misty was sure of it. She just wasn't sure how.

"Did we get it planted?" Patrick asked over the phone.

"Yeah, we did." Jane had called him not long after she had left Misty's house. "It should wirelessly transmit to nearby Pokedex's the next time the terminal is used, and then delete the contactor configurations. That terminal will be a toaster, and so will all others that the pokedex's are in proximity to."

"Hopefully that gives us enough time."

"I'm sure it will."

End Chapter