Hello Readers: This is my first fan fiction and it will start centered around Misty after she leaves Ash and returns to the Cerulean Gym. This is going to be set a few years after they left each other. I haven't changed the past at all, but this story is starting at the end of Ash's adventures in Sinnoh. There will be PokeShipping in later chapters, but in the beginning it will follow Misty exclusively. Ash's point of view will eventually pop up from time to time once they are reunited. Anyway the story will explain itself eventually so I hope you enjoy it.

Clearly I don't own Pokemon in any way shape or form, otherwise Misty would still be in the show.

Chapter 1: Another Day in the Gym

Misty woke up with a groan, hating the sun for waking her up. Trying to ignore her body crying for more sleep she forced herself to get up and prepare for another day of work in her gym. Using all her determination she managed to drag her head away from her very comfortable pillow and pull herself out of bed. As much as she wanted to laze around she knew she had a gym to run and with that thought she shook off the thought of slipping back into oblivion.

It had certainly taken time, but with her return the Cerulean gym began to rise in prestige going from joke with her sisters in charge to a respectable gym. She was under no delusion that within a few years she suddenly became the strongest gym in Kanto, but she believed she was on the upper end of the mid level gyms and she was proud.

Misty put on a swimsuit and pulled on a sweatshirt and a pair of shorts over it to cover herself. After stopping in the kitchen to grab a quick breakfast she made her way down to the Pokemons' pool to go for her usual morning swim. She slid into the water quickly growing used to the temperature and pushed off the wall into the deep water. She had been swimming in the salt water long enough to get used to it and there was almost no discomfort in opening her eyes. Several of her Pokemon swam over to her happy to see her. The smaller one's circled her playfully and even Gyrados was happy to see her in his own wild way, sending waves crashing as he approached.

"Like, Misty you have a challenger," her sister Daisy yelled to her as she surfaced to breath. Although Misty admittedly would have preferred more time to herself, she was well aware of her responsibilities.

"Alright, I'm coming," Misty swam back to the edge and pulled herself out of the water shivering as her wet body made contact with the cool air. Although her relationship with her sisters improved greatly they still weren't very good at battling. At the very least they weren't on the level of someone who could represent the Cerulean gym. They had all become better since a few years ago and they didn't literally hand badges over when she let them battle, but anyone with more than one badge and a decent amount of training immediately became her issue.

She loved being a gym leader, but most of the work fell on her and it was draining at times. The paperwork and the battling became her responsibility while her 'sensational sisters' put on shows and went to photo shoots. She was slightly pleased to note that they thought she was starting to look 'sensational' and in another year when she turned sixteen she could join them. However, she couldn't imagine being a 'sensational sister' full time. She didn't have any plans to become a model, but she felt a little proud that they no longer thought of her as the runt.

Knowing she had a battle ahead of her she called a few of her more oft use Pokemon into their balls and headed to the pool which served as the arena. She grabbed her clothing without bothering to put them over her still wet swimsuit. The challenger was on the far end of the room studying the layout. She walked to greet him, "Hi, I'm Misty the leader of this Gym." Although most people who came to the gym were aware of who she was, it was still polite to introduce herself.

"I'm Greg I'm here to challenge you," he held his hand out to shake, but was blushing and looked slightly uncomfortable.

"What's wrong?" She asked and realized he was staring at her. Looking down she saw the problem, she was still in her swimsuit and apparently he noticed. Over the years she had grown into the swimsuits she wore and was filling them out better. She quickly pulled her sweatshirt back on covering herself trying to chase away her own blush. "So do you want to battle or what?" She asked her temper starting to rise. It wasn't that she was worried about her body or was afraid of wearing her swimsuit, but she didn't like when people were distracted from battling because of her clothing. That was the curse of spending most of her time in water and battling in an arena where getting splashed was a very likely to happen at some point.

"Y-yeah," his blush was replaced with a bit of fear at the anger she was displaying.

She forced herself to calm down not wanting to terrify the poor kid,"How about a three on three? First person to have all their Pokemon faint loses?" Although it was her gym she always had to ask because there were trainers who wanted a full six on six battle which she rarely indulged, but there were also trainers who only brought one or two Pokemon.

"Alright," a bit of fire came into his eyes showing that he was serious, which Misty appreciated.

"So how long have you been training for?" Misty asked before she went to her end of the pool.

"This is going to be my fourth gym battle. I've been on my journey for a while to become a Pokemon master," he said with an amount of seriousness that impressed Misty. It reminded her of Ash, who was off on his own journey. She almost never saw him in person and his phone calls were rather sparse as well, but it wasn't the time for reminiscing it was the time to battle.

They walked to opposite sides of the pool and platforms rose in the pool for Pokemon to stand on assuming they couldn't swim. "Go Jolteon," Greg called out throwing his Pokeball.

"Alright I call Corsola," Misty threw her own Pokeball letting Corsola land on the nearest platform.

"Corsola," it cheered happily staring at it's opponent.

"Quick attack," Greg called right of the bat and Jolteon leapt towards the platform faster than Corsola was going to be able to dodge.

"Corsola, use iron defense," Misty watched in satisfaction as Jolteon was knocked back by Corsola's hardened body, damaging it a bit. Jolteon moved back onto another platform awaiting his trainer's direction.

"Alright Jolteon use thunder," Greg seemed wary of using another physical attack, with good reason.

"Mirror coat, send it back at him," A shield of energy appeared around Corsola and soaked up the attack before flinging it back at Jolteon.

"Jump over it," Jolteon used it's speed to evade the returned attack.

"Corsola use spike cannon, while Jolteon is in the air," Corsola launched spikes from her body directly at Jolteon who couldn't dodge in the air.

"Jolteon use pinmissile,"Jolteon shot a similar attack at Corsola who couldn't dodge while attacking. The attacks collided dispersing some of each attack, but both Pokemon took a bit of damage, Jolteon more so that Corsola due to Corsola's high defense.

"Corsola tackle," Misty called watching Corsola jumping towards Jolteon, but she didn't expect the attack to actually hit.

"Jolteon use agility to dodge it," Greg yelled and Jolteon jumped out of Corsola's path easily dodging it.

"Corsola water gun," Misty watched as Jolteon moved out of the way avoiding the spray of water.

"Jolteon keep it up with agility," Jolteon moved around the arena dodging attacks without much difficulty.

"Alright then Corsola, move to the center platform and use bubblebeam in a circle. Corsola did as asked and bubbles spread out in all directions from the center of the arena.

"Jump over it, Jolteon," the only places to go were the air or the water and lacking the swimming skills of a water type obviously Jolteon had to go up. Which Misty had been planning on.

"Perfect while he's in the air use water gun," Misty commanded

Only moments after spoke Greg yelled, "pinmissile again, Jolteon," but it was just seconds too late. Jolteon was hit by the water gun and thrown off balance.

"Tackle before he can recover Corsola," Corsola complied ramming into Jolteon and sending him into the water and knocking him out.

"Jolteon, return. Good job buddy." Greg switched Pokeballs "OK it's your turn Ivysaur." Once again he had the type advantage, doubly so because Corsola was a dual water/rock type.

"Ivysaur, razor leaf," Greg wasted no time attacking.

"Corsola dive into the water," Corsola moved into the water just in time to allow the attack to harmlessly fly above her. Ivysaur and Greg both looked around to find where Corsola was hidden in the water to no avail.

"Come up and use bubblebeam again," Misty commanded and Corsola popped out of the water and bubbles smashed into Ivysaur.

"Quick use vine whip and throw Corsola away,"Greg yelled and faster than Misty expected Ivysaur's vines grabbed onto Corsola and launched her into the air.

"Now use Razor leaf," Greg tried to capitalize on Corsola's position.

"Mirror coat," Misty countered knowing any strong grass attack would be extremely dangerous to Corsola, thankfully the attack was repulsed by Corsola's mirror coat.

"Alright now charge up for solar beam," Ivysaur hunkered down and took in energy, the glass ceiling allowing sunlight to stream in.

"Spike cannon while Ivysaur is charging, follow up with bubblebeam," Misty hoped to do damage before Ivysaur had enough time to charge up. Unfortunately Ivysaur fired the attack off sooner than Misty had expected and she barely had time to tell Corsola to use mirrorcoat again. Due to Corsola's fatigue the mirrorcoat broke after blocking some of the energy knocking Corsola back to land unmoving on another platform.

"Perfect Ivysaur," Greg cheered as Misty's first Pokemon was declared unable to battle.

"Return Corsola," Misty returned Corsola to her Pokeball and quietly thanked her for a good battle.

"Not bad, but here's Starmie," Misty released Starmie onto the field. Starmie gave a light 'haah' as it came out.

"Starmie use psychic and then hydro pump," Misty called and watched as Ivysaur floated into the air and then was struck hard with a blast of water.

"Ivysaur get up and use razor leaf," Ivysaur struggled up.

"Saur," it said resolutely, Misty was privately impressed with it's resilience.

"Starmie block it with water gun and finish it off with swift." The leaves were blocked by the spout of water and Ivysaur was finally put down by swift when it struck.

"Alright Pidgeotto, go," Misty was hit by a wave of nostalgia when a Pidgeotto flew into the air. She was going to make sure things turned out differently from when she fought Ash. They were both much less experienced and Starmie was weaker, now she was going to finish this battle with a win.

"Use gust," Greg cried out and Misty watched as Pidgeotto started flapping it's wings.

"Rapid spin, cut right through the wind," Misty replied not allowing Starmie to get pushed by the wind being whipped up. "Perfect, Starmie use water gun to knock it back down," Starmie followed the command and started shooting blasts of water at the Pidgeotto who managed to dodge them all.

"Use whirlwind," this time Starmie was knocked back not having enough time to properly dodge or block the attack.

"Starmie go back underwater," Starmie went into the water disappearing from sight.

"When it comes back up use wing attack," Pidgeotto waited in the air its sharp eyes watching the water.

"Starmie jump up and use rapid spin again," Misty yelled and Starmie suddenly shot out of the water smashing into Pidgeotto's wing sending them both backwards.

"Starmie quick use thunderbolt," Misty called and Starmie continued its spinning before unleashed the attack straight into Pidgeotto who had gone in for a second wing attack. Pidgeotto fell out of the sky landing in the water unconscious.

"Alright we did it, Starmie," Misty cheered before returning it to its Pokeball.

"Good job Pidgeotto, you did your best," Greg said sighing slightly as the red light consumed Pidgeotto returning it to its ball.

Both Misty and Greg stepped away from their respective positions outside the pool. Misty walked over to the younger trainer, "You did a good job."

"I didn't even get past your second Pokemon," he said sounding depressed at his defeat, the expression on his face only confirmed he was upset at the loss.

Misty hated to get let people get discouraged so she told the truth, "You put up a good challenge, trust me compared to a lot of the trainers I face you're really talented. Besides I'm a gym leader I'm supposed to be tough and trust me if you were fighting one of my sisters you definitely would have beaten them." Misty laid a comforting hand on his shoulder, "You should be proud of yourself and your Pokemon."

"Can I fight one of your sisters next time?" He asked brightening up considerably and they both laughed.

"Train a bit more and come back I'd love to face you again," Misty smiled always happy to meet talented younger trainers.

"Alright thank you, Misty,"he returned her smile.

"Now go to the Pokemon center, your Pokemon need the rest,"Misty have him a slight push in the direction of the door.

"Wow Misty, you're like so good," Lily ran up to her, "You haven't lost in like forever."

"I lost last week remember, that girl with Dragonair the beat Politoad," Misty replied not allowing herself to act haughty. Still she was on something of a streak she rarely lost, but some of the more experienced trainers beat her. She was resolved to continue improving, but she was growing tired of her life as a gym leader. She was fifteen she wanted to enjoy life with a bit more freedom, she didn't consider that a crazy thought.

The day continued with her getting challenges from a couple more trainers most of which were rookies who shouldn't have been challenging gyms at all, yet. The one time she allowed one of her sisters to battle was when she was busy with paperwork. Within a few minutes Violet came running in apologizing for losing.

"Seriously, Violet I leave you alone for five minutes and you already gave away a badge. I'm happy to give badges to deserving trainers, but it reflects badly on us if everyone who walks in walks out with a badge in hand," Misty reigned her temped barely. She couldn't believe that her older sisters couldn't handle things on their own for once. Misty felt bad for getting upset with them, but they were supposed to be her older sisters and having to handle everything was weighing down on her.

"Well, like the only Pokemon that are really good at fighting are yours and they don't listen to me all the time. Remember when I tried to use Gyrados it just flipped out and starting thrashing around," Violet shivered remembering how Gyrados wrecked the place and made her start crying. Misty found herself smiling slightly at the memory, it wasn't funny at the time, but looking back she got just a hint of sadistic pleasure from it.

"If I remember correctly you actually won that time because Gyrados is strong enough to win fights even when its doing whatever it wants," Misty pointed out. She continued in a slightly more stern tone, "Seriously though you really need to train with the Pokemon. Even if my Pokemon did follow you, you don't know what you're doing. Daisy can use Dewgong to fight, but other than that you guys are pretty lame for gym leaders."

"Well, whatever," was Violet's retort. She left the office and Misty followed her out after stretching her sore body and putting down her pen. She stopped taking challengers and spent the rest of the night finishing all of the paperwork for the month, leaving her free of paperwork for at least a little while. Misty closed down the gym completely and stepped into the kitchen to get dinner, her sisters were all there eating salads and she was struck with an idea. "Daisy, Lily, Violet, I'm going away for a little while," she announced watching for their reactions.

They looked more than a little surprised, Lily almost choked. Since she returned from her time with Ash she had thrown herself into her work and never seriously mentioned leaving again unless it was for work. "What?" Daisy asked staring at her the confusion was written on her face and obvious in her words.

"Violet and I talked earlier and it made me realize something, you guys are pretty bad at battling, but you also don't have any good Pokemon to use. Most of the Pokemon who can battle belong to me and don't like to listen to you, the Pokemon you train are mainly used in your shows. I want to go out and stretch my legs a little bit and while I'm out I'll catch some Pokemon for you to use," Misty told them the basics of her plan, leaving out finer details because even she hadn't figured them out.

"But, Misty we can't run things alone," Lily told her looking anxious at the prospect of work.

"I finished all the paperwork for the month, I paid the bills, and I just had the tanks and filters cleaned," Misty went through the list of things she had already completed. "I did almost everything ahead of time and I've won more than enough matches to meet the standards for the league," Misty continued.

"Girls we can handle the gym on our own for a little while, let Misty go," Daisy stepped up to her defense. Misty felt a rush of gratefulness for her older sister. In reality her sisters really couldn't have stopped her, but if they made her feel guilty enough she might have stayed.

"I"ll leave you guys Starmie, Politoad, Seadra, Caserin, and my Seaking. Plus Azumarill, but don't let him fight. I'm going to take Gyrados who you can't use anyway, Psyduck who isn't useful to you, Corsola, and Staryu. If I catch any Pokemon I think you guys can use I'll send them to you as well. You can close the gym for a few days and train with my Pokemon. I'll talk to them before I leave," Misty laid out what she thought was a solid plan, even if it was a bit haphazard. Her sisters could use the experience and she needed to spread her wings a little bit. Her sisters left all the time to take trips and do shows for long periods of time, which was part of the reason she had to return anyway.

She went back to the tanks and called the Pokemon she wouldn't be taking with her out, "Hey guys I'm going to be gone for a little while and I need you to help my sisters if they fight. Please listen to them, but if they make any stupid decisions follow your own instincts. I've trained you enough so that you know what to do and what not to do," Misty spoke to them fondly laughing a bit at the thought of her sisters' tactics. She wished them all goodbye and promised to stop by in the morning before she left.

She headed off to get to sleep early, when she fell asleep it was with a smile on her face, hoping for an adventure to come to her.

I plan on having a little trivia section for things that people may not know that relate to the story and explain certain things so it explains why I'm taking certain liberties or mentioning things. These will be from the games, the anime, the manga, and various franchise sources. I hope this will be helpful, especially people who didn't watch early episodes. I'm sure some things will be obvious, but I'm still including them.

- Misty's sisters tried to give Ash a Cascade badge without battling because they ran out of Pokemon after losing to the three other Pallet town beginning trainers, (Gary and two unnamed trainers who didn't collect eight badges as far as we know.)

-Instead Ash faced Misty, his Butterfree lost to her Staryu, but the battle was interrupted by Team Rocket before the fight between his Pidgeotto and her Starmie could be finished. He was given the badge by Misty's sisters anyway for stopping Team Rocket. Misty's sisters also decided that if Pikachu had battled, Ash would have won so he deserved it anyway.

-Pikachu refused to fight against Misty because they were friends.

-In the games Starmie can learn thunderbolt by TM and in the anime Rudy (A gym leader in the Orange islands) used a Starmie which used thunderbolt on Ash's Squirtle.

-In the anime Misty is said to be 10, but in the manga "Electric Tales of Pikachu" it was said that she was twelve. So I decided to meet in the middle saying she was eleven when she and Ash started traveling together.

Author's Note

Thank you for reading and please leave a review, this is my first fanfiction and I want to know what I'm doing right and what's wrong. I'm not sure the speed I'll be updating, but I do plan on posting a second chapter one day after I post this. After that I'm not sure how quickly I'll post if people enjoy this I'll try to be as fast as possible.