"So who are you?" Hanna asked for the ninth time, narrowing her eyes.

"My name's Misty Waterflower," Misty said, finally finding her tongue, staring at the girl.

"And I'm Brock!" Brock cried, racing up the stairs, already having forgotten 'Jessie James'.

"Shut up, weirdo," Hanna snapped. "This doesn't concern you."

Brock slunk back down the stairs. Ash followed him, clearly hoping he would buy him another ice cream sundae.

"So you're Misty," Hanna said. "Nice name," she added, her lip curling in distaste.

"Hanna," Misty countered. "Sounds like... erm... ham."

Hanna laughed. She had a light, girly laugh but her eyes flashed and she glared at Misty.

"We're identical," she said slowly, walking around Misty.

"Apart from the hair," Misty pointed out, because Hanna's was longer and straight down her back. It was exactly the same shade of red as Misty's, though.

"Shut up," Hanna said, "we're identical. Face it."

"How...?" Misty asked.

"I don't know, do I? Stupid little squirt," Hanna said rudely, and shoved past her to storm down the stairs.

"Sisters," said an old lady who had poked her head around her door, kindly. "Never mind, dear, she'll come back."

"We're not sisters," Misty said, bemused. The old lady looked shocked.

"But you're identical!" she said.

"Well, duh," Misty said softly, still staring after the retreating figure of Hanna.

The old lady withdrew inside her room with a mutter of "kids!" and Misty set off after Hanna. She was determined to know more about her.

"Oh, no, here's the limpet," Hanna sneered, when Misty caught up with her in the cafe.

"I just wanted to know what you do," Misty said, breathlessly. She had run down three flights of stairs to catch up with Hanna and there was no way she was going to accept no answers.

"What the hell do you mean, squirt?"

"I'm a gym leader," Misty said. "What do you do?"

"I work in a Pokemon Mart, OK?" Hanna rolled her eyes. "Look, Misty-" her face wrinkled up like she didn't want to say Misty's name, "I don't care about this. This whole lookalike thing. OK? You're just a little kid. Go on, scram."

Misty sighed.

"Piss off!" Hanna shouted, earning herself a reproachful look from the waitress. "GO ON!"

Misty ran off, slightly alarmed.

"Ash, Brock," she panted a little while later, after running up and down the stairs looking for them. "I know you've just broken up with Jessie, Brock... And I know you've... uh..." she tried to think of a way to mention Melody without upsetting Brock when he realised Ash had dated one of his dream girls. "And you've not got a girlfriend right now," she finished, with a meaningful look at Ash.

"Uhuh," Brock said, his eyes lighting up as he sensed the upcoming mission had something to do with girls.

"So... will one of you go ask her out or something? Find out more about her?" Misty asked, smiling hopefully.

"YES!" Brock shrieked. "I will! YOU CAN COUNT ON ME!!"

"I know I can," Misty said doubtfully. "But really... I was thinking more like Ash could go. He's got more... um... experience in those matters."

"Ha!" Brock scoffed. "He's never even had sex, Misty. Face it."

"Oh, and you have?" Ash snapped.

"...No," Brock admitted. "But neither have you!"

"I have too!" Ash shouted. "It was amazing!"

"Because you did it to yourself!" Brock countered.

"I did not!"

"Did too!"

Misty sighed. "Shut up, you two," she said, grabbing hold of one of their ears in each hand and twisting. Hard. "Look, Brock, Ash has done it. You haven't, but that's OK. You're only seventeen after all."

"Ash is fifteen," Brock sniffed. "Who was she, Ash?"

"Melo-"

"No-one," Misty said quickly. "A girl he met on the street, that's all."

"Ew," Brock wrinkled his nose. "On the street?"

"Not exactly," Ash snapped. "OK, Misty, I'm going after Hanna."