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Misty’s coming of age story started when she was barely eleven-years-old. She ran away from home, fished Ash Ketchum out of a river, had her bike stolen and destroyed (on accident of course), and the rest is history. She spent four years traveling Kanto, the Orange Islands, and Johto at his side, supporting him every step of the way with her pseudo older brother and fellow gym leader Brock. She learned so much on those journeys - about herself, about those other cities and regions, but even more about first loves. It was in those years of roaming the world she fell head over heels for the boy who could only focus on catching pokemon and winning battles.
When her sisters made the decision for her she needed to return to the Cerulean City Gym instead of continuing her travels, her story ended abruptly. For a very long time after returning home, Misty hadn’t really understood exactly why fate had forced her to step away from the ones she loved to take her place as gym leader. Lily, Violet, and Daisy made their minds up and that was unfortunately that. No skewing decisions, no swaying their opinions. They were leaving and she was trapped. She spent countless nights sitting above the pool pondering the reason for why it happened the way it did. Why did she have to leave? Why didn’t Ash fight for her? Why didn’t she fight to stay harder?
Everything happens for a reason.
After her stint during the first week facing the Invincible Pokemon Brothers and nearly dying to save Gyarados, she began to realize her calling in life was to be her own person, not be a side character in Ash’s story. Sure, she loved the role but it came with the price of giving up so much of herself for him. Ash not showing that he cared when she was called away from his side broke her into a thousand piece puzzle that couldn’t be put back together.
Now, all those years later, she had come to realize her story had not ended, but simply decided it was time for a new title with new characters.
In the following months after her infamous first week, she began visiting Delia Ketchum in Pallet Town regularly for lunch or dinner, depending on her schedule. She got to see long-time friend Tracey Sketchit, Professor Oak’s right hand man. It was an added bonus. Plus, she made an unsuspecting new friend in Gary Oak, the pompous, egotistical maniac himself.
When Gary came with Tracey to the gym one Tuesday afternoon, they had quite the reintroduction to one another. Misty’s Vaporeon, newly evolved from an Eevee, had decided to take Gary’s Umbreon into the water for a swim. At first, they were yelling at each other about whose fault it was for the unsupervised playdate but couldn’t help but feel silly. The two teens just started laughing. It was funny when they both took a step back and thought about it. By the end of the day, the 3 teenagers and their pokemon were happily floating in the gym’s pool, listening to pop radio, singing along loud and offkey. That was Misty’s first happy memory with Gary.
The next time Misty saw Gary, the gray skies around her had become the slightest bit brighter. The sun was trying to shine through despite the clouds that looked heavy with rain.
Misty was scared to admit to herself all those years before that she was in-love with Ash. She had a deeply-rooted fear of loving too strong and losing it in the same breath. She had lost her parents, her sisters constantly left her alone, and she had never had true friends stick around until meeting Ash and Brock. Losing Ash was not an option and her feelings might have made it a plausible circumstance. So, she did what any reasonable teenager would do - she hid her feelings. In fact, she hid them so well that when she only had one chance left to tell him in-person, she blew it and lost it all anyway. It was a gamble and she made the wrong bet.
Falling in love all over again terrified her and she didn’t want to make the same foolish mistake twice. However, the second time had so many differences. She didn’t feel like she needed to hide everything. With Ash, he was so hyper-fixated on winning gym badges and catching pokemon, girls were nowhere near the forefront of his mind.
Her romance with Gary started as two people who were reintroduced to one another with a strong bias from the words of others. As they took the time to get to know each other, she loved learning small things about him. She loved knowing he liked to drink his coffee black with a blueberry scone on the side, or that his favorite color was a deep purple, or that he absolutely hated all the attention he used to draw to himself unnecessarily. He knew the ins and outs of her, too; he knew she hated folding laundry, that her favorite flavor of ice cream was mint chocolate chip, and that she often felt lonely late into the night when she couldn’t sleep. Their mutual understanding for each other built a strong foundation for their romantic relationship. It all fell into place.
They were two years into their relationship now and Misty still had a lot of growing to do. She would often tell Gary that she wasn’t anywhere near being the picture-perfect girlfriend he deserved. She still felt that being happy wasn’t for her. It was never allowed before, so she had a difficult time grasping why it was all of a sudden okay now.
“I don’t think I’ll ever give you peace,” she would say, to which he would shrug and respond without skipping a beat.
“Then I never want it.”
Gary was the first person to ever match Misty step for step. Anyone who saw the two interact with one another could clearly see that they were consistently on the same page. It was as simple as both of them wanting takeout for dinner to both of them coming up with the same theory based on Gary’s countless hours of research. Nobody had seen either of the teens so in sync with someone else, and so happy to be. They completed each other the way Latios and Latias did.
To the public the couple was an odd mixture. Gary’s playboy attitude with his calm, cool, and collected mannerisms contrasted greatly from Misty, known for her beauty, charming wit, and fiery temper towards those who deserved it. The fact that Kanto’s heartthrob was settling for the tomboyish mermaid plastered magazine covers from Saffron City to Cinnabar Island.
When it was just the two of them with no flashing cameras or family members around, they both really let their walls down. Seeing someone else do it made Misty much more forthcoming about her own internal process. They’d spend countless hours talking about dreams and hopes and desires. It was through one of those conversations they realized their ideal hideaway was a small cottage on the Cerulean Cape, away from it all.
Misty regretted judging this book by its cover for so many years.
In their relationship, they had both found it so easy to be together. It was natural. They were both so dedicated and enamored with one another, they’d do anything to protect each other. Misty had once joked with Gary that she would fight off an army of Caterpies and Weedles from him if the occasion ever arose. In all seriousness, though, Misty wouldn’t need to think twice about putting herself between danger and Gary. When you were in love, that was just what you did (within reason, of course). If it meant she had to do something totally out of character to get a media frenzy off his back, she’d do it without a second thought. Even if it involved more bug pokemon.
Gary had seen Misty at her absolute worst. He spent countless nights staying at the gym with her so she didn’t have to be alone. The worst night was when Misty spilled out all of her feelings to him. In one of her ruts, she finally expressed to someone other than herself that she felt so useless and felt like all she was good for is being in this gym to beat new trainers and keep them from getting their second gym badge. All the brunette could do was hold her close while she cried, letting her process her thoughts with him. From that moment on, he swore he would do nothing but protect her from ever feeling that low again.
Misty, from that point on, never doubted if he loved her. She knew he did, just by his sweet actions and words. He didn’t say what he thought she wanted or needed to hear, he said things that came from the heart. It was through those words she stopped being scared of loving him and let herself fall into his open embrace. They shared so many amazing times together; shopping and smiles on walks through Cerulean’s Saturday farmers market, travels to different regions for conferences and vacations, jokes that made them laugh so hard their stomachs hurt. They brought each other the joy they desperately needed. They were each other’s sunshine.
Still, she would worry if her love and their good times would be enough to make him want to stay in her life.
“No matter who is there, clowns, robbers, Invincible Pokemon dorks, whatever, I am going to be by your side every step of the way.”
“Even if there’s some rain along the way?”
“I have a big umbrella.”
Gary had his fair share of trials and tribulations in life. He lost his parents at a young age, lived in the shadow of hometown hero Ash Ketchum, and started his career in research later than he planned due to various situations beyond his control. However, his biggest victory was that he won the heart of a certain redhead gym leader from Cerulean City. Getting to wake up next to her every morning and seeing her bright teal eyes, warm smile, and feeling her calming presence was good for his soul. It kept him balanced. Her unconditional love and support through thick and thin was everything he needed. She was a fire that he was fortunate enough to have at all times to keep his brittle heart warm. He didn’t know what he had done to deserve her.
He knew her self-doubts would subside one day but until then, it was his job to keep showing her the truth he knew to be a reality. His world was brighter because she was in it. Her constant compassion kept him humble.
People doubted them at first. The media said it was a publicity stunt to get his newest research article a reading boost and her revamped gym policies some news time. When Ash heard the news, he nearly died on the spot, accusing Gary of using Misty for his own personal gain. Anyone who hadn’t watched their love blossom thought the same. The small circle of trust knew the truth. Especially between the two, the conversations the couple had in private proved that they were dedicated to each other for the long haul.
Misty still struggled with knowing that she was enough for Gary, and Gary vowed to fight the battle everyday until she knew the truth in his words with no doubt in the back of her mind. He wouldn’t have it any other way. A life without her wasn’t a life at all.
“Would I be enough if I couldn’t ever give you peace?”
“If not having peace means I get to be with you everyday, then to hell with it.”