I remember watching the Pokemon anime when I was a kid, and I was absolutely obsessed with Ash, Brock, Misty, and Pikachu. I remember when Brock left, and then there was Tracy, and then Brock came back. After a while, I stopped watching, but then resumed a few years later, to see that both Brock and Misty were gone, and they were replaced with May and Max (I think this is correct).
I must have missed what happened to Misty and Brock during my brief absence from the Pokemon franchise. I'll leave Brock for another question (or maybe bonus points if you know about what happened to him too), but what happened to Misty? What was her reason for leaving the original team? Separate from that reason, what was the executive reason for deleting Misty? For example, when the writing staff got rid of Brock the first time, they said it was due to his flirtatious manner, and were worried he would not be well received. Was there any reason similar to this for Misty's disappearance? Could she ever return, like Brock did?
