14 Ch 14. Meeting Misty

A new day had started after Ares and his pokemon had finished their first try at a quest. The experience had been satisfying for the pokemon, but Ares kept an annoying aquaintance from it. Tim, the huge blabber mouth was sharing a room with Ares and had kept him awake all night. When daybreak arrived and Tim finally went to sleep, Ares had quickly fled the pokemon center to find a quiet spot for himself to get back some well needed rest.

Yet that did not seem to be easy as when he got to a decently deserted spot, he could see a orange headed girl running of to the forest, a big fishing rod in her hands. It didn't look like she had any pokeballs with her, don't even mention pokemon just at her side. She was around the same age as Ash, so she should have a bit experience in these things. Truly a bit rash.

Ares only took his eyes from her for a second and she was gone. No doubt having gone into the forest. Seeing three other girls, all with differently colored hair, looking around desperately, Ares knew the girl had brought trouble.

"What's wrong?"

Ares asked the girls, trying to find out if his guess was right. He recognised the three of them as the gym leader's daughters, but he could be wrong.

"Our little sister has gone missing. Have you seen her? She's about this tall with carrot colored hair and a little less pretty than us."

Ares sighed.

"She's gone into the forest. I saw her going in there with a big fishing rod. I don't know which way, as she was gone before I knew it."

The three right seemed about to cry once they heard what he had said.

"Oh no. Dad's going to kill us. Misty, that stupid brat. She is such a scatter brain. How could she forget to take her pokemon with her. Don't even mention the fact that we were supposed to go out with her right now."

"If mom finds out, it will be worse than death. We need to find her quickly."

"Hey. Can you help us pretty please. We'll give you something in return, but please help us. We don't want to die yet."

The blonde haired one begged, tears clear in her eyes.

"Fine. I'll help, if only because she's in danger. You should look after your siblings, instead of doing something else. Family is important after all."

Ares said, a bit of sadness evident in his voice.

He left the three sisters behind and went into the forest, calling out Eevee, Pidgeotto and Lucario for help. His other pokemon joined too, but more as to have a few extra pair of eyes. He didn't expect much from the young pokemon like Pichu and Clefairy. They didn't have a lot of knowledge about tracking yet, unlike the naturally inclined Eevee, Lucario and Pidgeotto.

"I've got ourselves into a bit of a situation."

His pokemon looked at him as if this was nothing new to them. Which it wasn't as Ares always poked his nose where he shouldn't. Not that he intended to. Things just happened when he least expected them to.

"So, we need to find a girl. She around this tall, has orange hair and has run somewhere into the woods. Think you can find her?"

They all nodded. Pidgeotto took to the sky, while Eevee and Lucario helped look through the woods with Ares. Ares kept Clefairy close to him, as she was prone to getting lost if she was left on her own. Pichu was perched on his shoulder, trying to help as well. She clutched his hair tightly as support while looking around intently.

"Let's go."

They all started to comb through the woods in search for the little Carrot head. The forest was big and their time was limited. Even the number who were searching for Misty was small, as the only one the sisters had called upon for help was Ares, as he had seen Misty leave into the forest. The sisters were so afraid to get scolded, they had refrained of speaking to anyone else about the missing girl. How foolish.

Ares continued his search, stumbling on many Pokemon that were less than friendly, which mainly consisted of Beedrill nests. Luckily he managed to evade them or let his pokemon spar against the furious bugs. Pichu gained a lot of experience through this as well, learning the moves Nasty Plot and Charm.

What was even more worrying was that the nests of Beedrill were many and Misty would most likely have encountered a few. It was impossible to move through the forest without meeting even one nest, so he reasoned as to where she might have run off to, which led him to a small river.

Not long after he arrived there, Pidgeotto came as well, notifying he had found Misty. Asking Pidgeotto to lead the way, Ares ended up a little down stream. There, sitting against a rock was Misty, clutching her ankle.

Ares rushed up to her and looked her over once for other injuries, he was relieved to see none.

Misty just looked baffled at his sudden action, yet remained still as was still being carefully observed for injuries, a medical box already in his hands to be used if necessary. He should know what he was doing then.

"You really worried your sisters, Misty."

Misty glanced sideways at the stranger, surprised she had been found but not responding at his words. Her sisters must have sent him to chase after her. They really were annoying.

"I don't need their worry or help. I am perfectly capable in taking care of myself."

She retorted, frowning in irritation. She tried to stand up and walk away from Ares, only to yelp in pain as she put her weight on her injured leg. Walking was not an option for her.

"Hold still."

Ares said sternly, pressing Misty down in her seated position again as he started to take off her shoe. What was revealed was a red and swollen ankle. Once glance was enough to know that she wouldn't be walking for the next couple of days.

"You really know how to play with your life. Don't you know that this forest is a nesting ground for Beedrill?! How did you even think of passing through it safely if you don't even have a pokemon to protect you! And don't make excuses, I heard you forgot your pokeballs. Treasure your life some more, for goodness sake..."

Misty teared up a bit, from the pain in her ankle and became a little angry from Ares's words. At home nobody seemed to care about her at all, as all they talked about were her sisters. She didn't even feel treasured, so how can she treasure herself?! Now here was a stranger standing in front of her, yelling at her she should treasure herself and be more careful. It really was sad to see a stranger care more about her than her parents.

Ares rubbed his head, feeling the start of a headache as he looked at a frowning and sniffling Misty. She looked more indignant than sorry about her current state.

"What were you even planning to do in the first place?"

"It is none of your concern why I came here, nor is it my sisters. But if you wanted to know so badly, I was trying to catch a new pokemon to train. I heard there was a slowpoke outbreak here and I wanted to catch one."

Misty replied disgruntled, secretly trying rubbed the tears away, sniffling all the while as she tried to stop them from flowing down. Of course she had to cry in front of a total stranger. Hell, it was always her bad side others saw.

"That still doesn't justify your actions. At least tell them where you are going so they don't worry when you end up out of their sight. And most important of all. Don't forget your pokemon, idiot! They are with you for a reason."

Ares gently prodded Misty's ankle, sighing in relief when he concluded the ankle was only sprained. He bandaged it after applying a healing creme on it and put her sock and shoe back on her little feet. It would have healed a lot faster if he had Medicinal Leak, but that unfortunately didn't grow in this time period. Too bad.

Misty had calmed down a lot and was now a lot calmer. She seemed to understand what Ares had been talking about as she looked with worry in the direction of her hometown.

"When you are ready, I'll take you back home."

Misty nodded once again, hugging her knees and thinking about something.

Ares let Eevee and Clefairy watch over Misty while he, Lucario and Pichu went towards the water.

Pidgeotto seemed to understand what he wanted to do and stuck close to him, in case he was ambushed by Beedrill or other pokemon. He, the mighty Pidgeotto, would deal with them if they dared to attack!

'If I remember correctly, Slowpoke rest on rocks where the water flow is rather slow. As there aren't any rocks big enough for that, they must be in the water.'

Ares looked around, confirming there weren't any big rocks nearby and searched for the best spot to find them.

"Let's draw some out."

Ares threw some pokemon food a bit upstream, waiting for a pokemon to jump up. Slowpoke was an easy to train pokemon, one that was calm and easy to get along with. Even if they were rather forgetful, they were a good partner to have. They also had two evolutionary paths currently known, Slowbro and Slowking. Both were solid options to train and have in a team.

Ares could see bubbles coming up to the surface.

"Lucario, get ready."

Lucario barked and readied himself.

The water broke as a pokemon came up, its head looking towards Ares's direction.

Ares smiled. It seems his plan worked.

.

.

.

Coming back from the forest with a sleeping Misty on his back, Ares could see a worried trio of sisters waiting desperately, though they were clearly a lot paler than before.

At their side stood a tall man with Cerulean colored hair and eyes, with at his side a woman with blonde hair looking angrily at the sister trio. They were clearly their parents, now in the know about Misty's disappearance. Even now the mother was berating the sister trio about their lack of awareness concerning their sister.

'I wonder how my birth mom would behave if she was still alive. Would she be kind or would she be as frightening as the woman who was in front of him.'

Ares's thoughts strayed the closer he came to the family.

"Misty! Thank god you are safe!"

The mother rushed towards them, taking Ares's mind back to the present. The mother gently took Misty from Ares's back, careful not to wake her.

"She has a sprained ankle, though it isn't too serious. I treated it, but she should still visit the doctor to be certain."

The mother thanked Ares multiple times as she quickly went back home, glaring at the sister trio who meekly followed after her. The father stayed behind, equally worried about Misty, yet he seemed relieved as well at seeing her safe return.

"Thank you very much for finding Misty."

The father handed Ares an envelope with inside it a few thousand poke dollars.

"This isn't necessary sir. I only did it because the situation was dire. It was an experience I have learned from."

"No no, you don't have to be so humble. Take it please. I won't be at ease if you don't. I even feel this is too little for finding Misty."

Ares took the money from his hands, as the man seemed like he wouldn't stop until he did.

"Then thank you, sir..."

"Ah, sorry about that. I am Noah, the current gym leader of the Cerulean gym."

Noah shook Ares's hand, once more thanking him.

"I am Ares. It was no problem at all. Anyone would have done it if they were in the same situation."

"Then I hope we can meet again. For now I should calm down my wife."

"Ah, one thing. This is for Misty. It's a Slowpoke. She wanted to catch a Slowpoke when she left. Apparently she heard somewhere there was currently an outbreak happening."

Noah took the pokeball in gratitude and quickly rushed after his wife, who was no doubt still yelling at their daughters.