Misty's POV

I watched as May and Leaf disappeared from my sight as Dawn forcefully dragged me through the crowd in attempt to make me enjoy myself.

"Dawn!" I whined at her and she just shook her head before taking me to the food table.

"I'm going to stay here by your side until you either find someone to talk to, or pretend to enjoy yourself." Dawn told me sternly and I winced as she gripped onto my arm so I couldn't move. This girl sure had an iron grip, and her hand was going to leave a hand print if she didn't let go soon.

"Dawn, I'll find a way to enjoy myself. Can you please let go of me? You're going to stop my blood circulation." I said and squirmed under her grip while she loosened her hand a bit but didn't let go.

"Someone's coming this way!" Dawn murmured in my ear before letting go of my arm leaving me to rub where she had squeezed. "I'm leaving you two to it. You better enjoy yourself or else I'll make you sleep on the couch." She threatened before she hopped away into the crowd of dancing people.

As I watched her go, I hadn't realised someone was approaching me. Well not so much myself, but what was behind me.

"Excuse me." A male voice said cheerfully and reached a hand passed my face to grab some food from behind me. I looked at the owner of the voice and immediately knew who it was. I faced the raven haired boy, Alf or should I say Ash, expectantly in hopes that he'd recognise me but with no luck as he stared straight through me and at the food instead.

He continued to serve himself delicious treats from the table and completely ignored my presence, unless he was just oblivious to the fact that I was standing right in front of him. I gaped at his bowl of food which was filled to the brim and looked almost like a food tower. I suddenly imagined this as a young May back when she used to live in her own kingdom with all the food laid out in front of her to eat. Meals and meals of food just for her alone, while her family would look at her in amusement. That's what it looked like for Ash right now.

"I'm sorry but can you please pass me the soy sauce?" He questioned me politely, not bothering to look at my face. His attention was completely focused on the sauce on the table which he needed for the dumplings he'd just served himself.

"Uh sure." I said and quickly grabbed the bottle of soy sauce and handed it over to him. Then I realised something.

"It's you! Alf or should I call you prince Ash!" I exclaimed with fury as I watched him pour the soy sauce onto his dumplings. Finally he diverted his gaze from his food and in my direction and he looked at me in shock.

"It's you!" He repeated what I'd said, and gasped while almost dropping his overfilled bowl of food only to quickly regain his balance and keep it all in place. "You're the girl from the forest!"

"Yeah yeah that's me. Now why did you lie about being called Alf, and being a prince?" I whisper-yelled at him so it wouldn't bring any unwanted attention to us.

"I didn't want some strangers to know who we were, just in case we were recognised." He explained and I raised an eyebrow.

"If we knew who you were, we would've recognised you anyway since you didn't disguise your features." I said with a hand on my hip and he thought for a moment.

"That's true..." He pondered then spoke again. "Well another reason would be that I didn't want you to run away just because we were royalty since we can be quite intimidating when mentioned."

If I had water with me, I would've done a spit take. That had to be a joke right?

"You're kidding right?" I questioned and held in my laughter.

"Why would I be? I know some people who've run away just from telling them we were royals. They were afraid that we would sue them or tell our guards or something." He explained reasonably and I composed myself once more before nodding in understanding.

"You being intimidating would just be a joke, but when you mention telling your guards, that's when someone will run away." I said thoughtfully. "But other than that, you are the least intimidating person to exist on this planet."

And at that, I couldn't contain my laughter anymore and I just laughed at the poor boy in front of me who was still holding his bowl of food in his hands and looking at me in confusion.

"I don't understand what's so funny..." He trailed off as he questioned my laughing state.

"Oh no it's nothing." I said in the least convincing tone as possible.

And somehow, he believed me and just shrugged it off.

"I don't know about you, but I'm starving!" He exclaimed and put his bowl down so he could sit and eat.

"I'll stay with you for now because I've completely lost all my friends right now." I sighed and sat down beside the boy.

After awhile, I felt a tap on my shoulder and I looked up to see a young man staring at me with admiration. I noticed Ash had stopped eating beside me and he was staring at the situation in front of him.

"May I ask your name?" He asked politely and I smiled sweetly at him in feigned interest.

"My name's Misty." I told him and he grinned at me.

"Misty. I like it." He said and held out his hand to me. "Could I have this dance, m'lady?"

I accepted it reluctantly and took his hand where he dragged me to the dance floor. I glanced back at Ash whose jaw dropped as he watched me and guy who's name I didn't know, dancing together. I felt bad for the prince as he looked at us with sorrowful eyes.

"So what's your name?" I asked the guy who held onto me as we danced smoothly.

"My name's Rudy." He announced proudly as he twirled me around.

Ash's POV

I hadn't realised that she was going to actually accept that Rudy's request to dance and I was fuming on the inside. I shouldn't have focused on eating. I should be the one dancing with Misty, not that excuse of a gentleman.

Rudy has always been my childhood enemy. He was always getting all the girls, always the better student when we attended classes together. In fact, the only reason why he was here today was because he needed a wife to look after him. And he had plenty of maids of his own already. He was a rich kid who had everything. And no way was he going to steal Misty away from me! What am I saying? I don't even know the girl.

But still I felt a tinge of jealousy within me and it slowly built up as I watched him lean closer to Misty every few seconds. I looked at my food then back at Misty and I sighed as I made my decision. I placed the food bowl back on the table and approached the dance floor. This better be worth it, I literally gave up my food for this. I tapped on the red head's shoulder carefully to grab her attention and I glared at Rudy who was already glaring at me.

"Mist, can I borrow you for a moment?" I asked her and her name felt odd to say on my tongue as I hadn't ever said it before.

"Of course your highness." She said before dipping her head to Rudy who was fuming causing me to silently cheer in victory.

"Want to dance?" I asked her hopefully and she just smiled at me.

"I accept your offer." She said formally then sighed as I dragged her to the dance floor. "Thanks for saving me from that Rudy guy. I don't like the way he was looking at me." She whispered as we danced together.

"It's no problem. Rudy is trouble." I whispered back and she raised an eyebrow in question.

"What do you mean trouble?" She questioned in curiosity.

"He's a player for one, and he clearly wants you as his future wife." I told her and she still looked at me questioningly.

"Future wife!?" She whisper-yelled.

"That's the whole point of him being here. He needed one so he was given an invite to the ball all the way from his hometown." I explained.

"Wait, so he's not royalty?" She asked and I shook my head. "He's dressed up like one."

"Hey Ash!" The voice of Gary interrupted us.

We both stopped dancing and looked at him. He was beside a familiar looking brunette.

"Leaf! You were dancing with him?" Misty asked her friend in surprise while Leaf blushed.

"Yes." She responded quietly.

I looked at my own friend who just motioned to Misty and winked at me.

—-

YES I KNOW, THIS IS ALREADY THE END OF THE CHAPTER. I DIDN'T HAVE MUCH TO WRITE IN ALL HONESTY AND WHY AM I WRITING IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS!?!?

ANYWAYS, THANKS FOR READING THIS EXTREMELY SHORT CHAPTER!!!

THIS WAS MORE OF POKESHIPPING FOR YOU SO I HOPE YOU ENJOYED IT!!!

GOODBYEEE!!!!!!!

-APRIL

20TH FEB, 2018