Secrets Exposed
Part 1 : Retribution of Jealousy
By Freakachu

::Authors note: This fanfic mentions a person named Arti. Arti is the property of my friend, Arti Cuno. To get the full story of Arti and her gym, please read Arti Cuno's "Birds of a Feather" and "True colors of Prussian". Thank you. ::

Lilja stretched out on her sleeping bag and looked up at the starry sky. She could hear the crickets chirping in the tall grass nearby and the low hum of bugs. The girl sleeping a few meters away from her disliked bugs with a passion. Maybe she'd put a weedle in her backpack for laughs. Lilja didn't really hate the orange haired girl named Misty, but there seemed to be sparks of some kind between them. Misty seemed to dislike Lilja for some reason, and Lilja couldn't imagine why.

She turned on her side and glanced at the dark silhouette of the sleeping black haired boy who was her best friend in the entire world. Secretly, she liked him very much, lately more romantic feelings. She sighed and crawled into her sleeping bag. She wouldn't ever be able to tell him that. What would he say?

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It had been about 7 months since Ash, Misty, Lilja, and Brock had left Cinnabar Island where Ash had competed against Blaine for his Volcanoe Badge. Ash had met Lilja in the gym and they decided that she should go with them. Misty needed convincing. She didn't seem all too thrilled that Lilja was coming along.

The went to Viridian, where Ash battled to win his Earht badge, and then gone to Ash's friend Arti's place, who owned the Prussian Town gym. She was undefeated since it had opened, and no one had ever gotten her badge. Arti was only 12 then, yet she was pregnant when they had arrived. Later, while they were there, she had given birth to twin sons. Prussian Town was near Fuschia, so it took quite a while to get there.

Now, they were going back to Pallet so Ash could get to Indigo to compete in the Pokemon Leauge. Lilja hadn't competed in any league yet, and she thought that she'd give it a try. At the moment, they were along the shoreline on the side of the bike path closest to Pallet on the other side of the water. It was a great cold sea, with iceflows from the north. The frigid water was below them, a sheer 300 foot, straight down drop off the cliffs that they walked along.

"I guess we'll camp here tonight," Brock broke the ominous silence that had settled over the weary group.

"Uh huh." Muttered Misty who was occupied with her own thoughts. Her gaze wandered over to Lilja and noticed how she would steal glances at Ash every now and then when he wouldn't notice. Misty knew there was something going on with her. Lilja had a crush on him, plain and simple. Misty hoped he didn't like her for more than a friend, because she wanted him for her own very badly. It seemed he liked her. Misty would see him watch Lilja longingly. She also hoped that the shine she saw in his eyes when he regarded her was just from the sun.

All four of them looked around the field that Brock had chosen to stay for the night. It was a huge meadow with soft grasses and bursts of yellow flowers covered it. The whole scene looked ghostly in the moonlight. Ash and Brock collected medium sized rocks from the edge of the cliff which was just a couple hundred yards to their left. The edge of the cliff was hidden by thick foliage, dense enough so that neither Lilja or Misty could see the boys. Misty watched Lilja spread out her sleeping bag on the ground and sit on it, waiting for something. Glaring at her, she took her stuff out of her backpack and layed out her sleeping bag as well.

A little while later, the girls heard Ash and Brock returning with an armload of rocks each. They went about making a fireplace with the rocks and some sticks of wood nearby.

"Got a match, Ash?" Brock queried.

"Uh.. no, I don't." Ash replied after looking through his backpack with a flashlight and came up empty handed.

Freakachu walked over to the pile of sticks and sat on them, causing them to ignite.

Ash started laughing, and picked the Freakachu up out of the small inferno.

Lilja stretched her legs out, and yawned, while Ash watched her, fascinated. Misty glared in her direction. Even she agreed, although only to herself, that Lilja did look pretty good. No wonder Ash found her attractive. She had long dark reddish hair, isntead of the short orange hair that looked hacked at like Misty's did. Even her eyes were stunning. Unlike Misty's two tone aquaish eyes, hers were dark green which sparkled like mad whenever she was happy. Misty decided to set her straight.

"If she thinks she's going to get Ash, she's got another thing coming. She's going to have to get through me first." Misty thought with fire in her eyes. If Ash didn't want her, why would he even consider Lilja? Obviously Ash didn't know she liked him, and vice versa. "The perfect situation, once Lilja's out of the picture, maybe I'll stand a chance. He'll never know that she liked him and once I tell him how I feel, he's mine! " Misty thought about how she could get her to leave as soon as possible. Mayve tell her lies about Ash. That should get her upset enough to leave.

Misty jumped up from where she was sitting and cleared her throat.

"Uh, Lilja, I think I need to talk to you." She mumbled, walking toward the shrubbage, Lilja got up to follow her.

"I don't like the way they were looking at each other. If looks could kill, they'd both be goners by now." Brock remarked, as the two girls disappeared into the tall bushes.

"What do you mean, Brock?" Ash questioned. "They seem to be getting along to me."

Brock warmed his hands by the fire, Freakachu curled up by his feet.

"Just because they aren't yelling and arguing, doesn't mean they adore each other, Ash. There's alot of unsaid words and static between them."

There was a pause and all that could be heard was chirping of night crickets. Then they could faintly hear a noise on the other side of the bushes which was almost like a slapping sound. It was quiet for another second or so, then they heard a earshattering scream.

"What was that?!" Ash yelled, abandoning the log he was sitting on.

Brock shook his head.

"I haven't the slightest." He rose also to follow Ash who was running toward the spot where Misty and Lilja had gone.

The two boys burst through the dense growth to see Misty standing on the edge of the cliff, looking down. When she saw them, she straightened and stared at them, not saying a word. Her face void of emotion.

"I didn't mean to push her. She just pissed me off so much, I gave her a shove. I didn't mean it. She slapped me."

Ash looked around, a sick feeling in the bottom of his stomach.

"Where's Lilja?" He glanced at Misty hoping for an answer. Instead, she directed her gaze back over the side of the cliff.

"Ash, Lilja went over the side!" Brock choked, a worried look on his face. Ash rushed to the side of the cliff and looked down, almost falling off himself. Pebbles from under his sneakers dropped over the side and skittered down to the sharp rocks below.

"I'm going down!" He hollered.

"Ash! You can't!" Misty grabbed his arm. "You'll hit the rocks down there!"

Ash pulled away from her. He had already kicked his shoes and socks off, and was pulling his shirt up over his head.

"That water is freezing, Ash!" Shocked that his friend would think of jumping off a cliff, Brock stepped back our of Ash's way as he took a running start towards the edge of the cliff.