Follow Misty!

You wait a few moments for the crowd to disperse, not wanting to draw any attention to yourself, before you start running after Misty. It takes you a little while to catch up to her; she's moving surprisingly fast for someone so short, and, as you'd already established at several points in your journey so far, physical fitness wasn't exactly your strongest attribute.

She's right at the east exit of the city as you catch up to her. "Misty!" you call out, panting a little. "Wait up!"

Misty turns around sharply and for a minute you're worried she's going to punch you; her face is a picture of fury, and her face is still almost as red as her hair. However, when she realises it's you, her expression instantly softens. "Amber...?" she asks, her voice a mixture of surprise and relief. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey," you say, giving her a slightly awkward wave. "I was on my way to Rock Tunnel and then I saw your, uh... domestic, with your sisters." You rub the back of your neck sheepishly. "Thanks for sticking up for me, by the way."

Misty looks down at the floor. "Oh. You saw that, huh? I'm guessing you... saw what they put on tv, too, right?"

You grimace. "Oh yeah. I saw it alright. They're fucking petty bitches, aren't they?"

You briefly regret your words, remembering that it's still Misty's family you're talking about, but her response reassures you that she was never going to take any offense. "Tell me about it," she says, clenching her fists. "I'm so sorry that happened, Amber. You didn't deserve it..." She looks back up at you as she says this, her eyes full of sincere guilt as they stare into yours.

"Hey, you don't need to be sorry," you say. You think of Daisy Oak back in Pallet Town and how nice she'd been to you, and how her brother was the complete opposite. "We're not responsible for our family's actions. That was all your sisters doing, not yours."

"Yeah, I guess..." Misty looks relieved, and breaks the eye contact, which you appreciate as it was kind of intense. You don't appreciate her blatantly staring at your tits instead quite so much, but you figure that's not worth confronting her on. She continues talking, her hands still balled up in fists of lingering anger. "I hate them all so much. That's why I had to get out of there. Daisy and her obsession with sex, Violet being so snooty and full of herself, and Lily... uuugh!" She stamps her feet, just like you'd seen back at the gym. "She teases me the most, and she's only like three years older! If I hadn't been born it'd be her getting all the bullying! It's not FAIRRRR!"

Her voice has reached that familiar whiny pitch now and you're concerned she'll descend into a full-on limb-flailing tantrum like she'd done when you'd defeated her in battle, so you decided you'd better move the subject away from her sisters. "So, uh, now you've left, what are you going to do next?" you ask, hurriedly.

Misty pauses in her raging and falls silent for a few moments, considering the question. "Um..." She looks embarrassed. "I... didn't really consider that, to be honest. I don't even really know where I'm headed... Leaving was, uh... kind of an impulse decision, to be honest with you..."

You? Impulsive? Surely not... You decide it's best not to say that out loud, and consider your options for a few moments. Do I really want to do this? There's a side to Misty you very much like; the sensitive, well-meaning girl who was just a victim of her sisters relentless bullying, the girl that showed herself after you'd stood up to her sisters on her behalf. And, of course, you'd enjoyed having sex with her; she was still the only kind-of-consensual partner you'd been with. But then there was the other side of Misty, which seemed to be pretty much her default setting, where she could be unbelievably smug and patronising, in-between crying and whining and throwing tantrums about how unfair the world was, despite clearly having no real idea of what it was like outside of her gym. You were sure she was trying to get better like you'd talked about, but it was going to take more than a couple of days. Then, again, now that she was outside of her sisters influence...

Oh, what the hell? It's not like I can just let a girl this naive go off on her own without even knowing where she's going. And travelling with someone might be nice... "Misty..." you hesitate one last time before asking the question. "Do you want to come with me on my journey? You're headed towards Rock Tunnel anyway, and it'd give you time to figure out what you want to do next..."

Misty looks at you, somewhere between your face and your boobs, and tears well up in her eyes again. "Oh... Amber... you really mean it? I... I don't know what to say..."

"You don't have to say anything," you say, giving her a smile that somehow makes her even more emotional. "Um..." God you're bad at this, and she's even worse. You extend your arm out to her. "Welcome aboard, I guess."

Misty completely ignores the handshake you had been offering and leaps on you, embracing you in a tight hug and squeezing her face, predictably, against your chest. "Oh, thank you thank you thank you!" she exclaims, and you feel wet tears make contact with your vest top. "I've never had a friend like you before!"

"I've... never had a friend like you, either..." you say hesitantly, putting your arms around the smaller girl. You mean it, of course, although probably not in the same way Misty does. Oh boy. This... could be interesting...