Misty receives a some cards and gifts from her "secret admirer"…who isn't Ash. But could these cards and gifts mean more than they seem? AAML! REVIEW! Be sure to tell me what you think!
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Hey guys! I got the idea for this story about a week ago, but it's slowly changed to something that I figured I might as well write a story about. Thanks to AshXMisty, too! Her story "Built This Way" gave me the final nudge to write this story. When I first came up with the idea, it was pretty crappy, but now I think it might actually work!

The summary tells all. Be prepared for dead people, and an ending you'll never see coming…at least, I hope I'm that good of a writer.

Anyway, on to the story. Ash is 17, and Misty is 18. And just in case you guys didn't notice, this isn't a humor fic, unlike most of my stories. This one is dead serious.
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Chapter 1

It was not a normal day for a murder.

The sky was a bright, shining blue, the warm sun floating in it, casting a warmth, but not too hot of one, over the lands. It was spring, and all the flowers has just sprouted, the leaves green leave shad just grown back on the trees, and the grass was a perfect color, as if it had just been cared for by a professional lawn service.

Nobody ever would have expected that that day, Ash Ketchum would get a call from Officer Jenny, telling him to return to his home town of Pallet. And yet, he did. She hadn't told him why. She had just told him to come. Her voice had been grave but not too emotional. As a police officer, Jenny saw many depressing things, and she had learned to keep her emotions intact.

As Ash walked in looked out over his town, his trusty pikachu on his shoulder, with the same expression on its face as Ash, he knew why. But he didn't want too.

But before we talk about that, we're going to go back. Back to only a little less than a week ago, when Ash was still traveling with Dawn and Brock in Sinnoh…
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Misty was visiting. Actually, she was traveling with them. Brock had ran into her in the woods while looking for firewood. Normally, Ash would have been ecstatic. But today, she was being a particularly big pain in the ass. She seemed to be in the mood for a lot of nagging, because she wouldn't shut up.

The sky was stormy, with bolts of thunder all over the place, a lot like Ash's mood. Ash was wet. It was cold. He wished he was back home in Pallet, in a warm, comfy bed, inside a nice house with a roof.

But he wasn't. Instead he was stuck out here, in the rain, having no idea where they were, and being blamed for it by Misty.

"I can't believe you had the map upside-down the entire time!!!" She was yelling at him.

"How was I supposed to tell!?!" Ash yelled back. "It's not like there's any writing on it or anything!"

"It's your fault we're lost out here in this storm! We could die out here!"

"You didn't have to travel with us, you know! We were doing fine until you came along!"

"Hold on a minute! Are you telling me that this is my fault? Who was holding the map!?!"

"Misty, did your sisters ever tell you how big of a pain in the ass you are?"

"Did your mother ever tell you how annoying you are!?!"

"Guys, guys!" Brock said, attempting to break up this fight before it got ugly.

"WHAT!?!" Ash and Misty both snapped at him. Though he was taller than both of them, and definitely older, Brock backed away in fear.

"Listen," he said, "fighting won't solve any of this!"

"Brock is right!" Dawn said. "We need to find somewhere to stay!"

"Fine!" Misty said. "Ash, since you're so smart, why don't you find a place for us to go!"

"How about you-"

"About about I take that?" Brock said, snatching up the map. He turned looked it over.

"Looks like there's a town pretty close by! Come on!"

Thirty minutes later, Ash was in a bedroom in a hotel, changing his wet clothes.

"Sleeping in a puddle all night, wet, burnt pancakes for breakfast…walking for hours through a storm…stupid Misty nagging at me the whole time…man, I can't believe my life is like this! Nobody knows what it's like to be me! This is horrible! No-one understands…"

Ash sat down on his bed and took out his Iphone, going onto twitter.

"Man, my life sucks," he typed. "Nobody understands just how horrible it is to be me."

He continued making posts like this pretty much the entire week. He wasn't sure why. It just felt sort of good to let people know how miserable he was, even if he didn't know them.
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Four days later, Ash was staying at Misty's house. He had gotten the call a day after they had gotten to the town. Dawn was staying in Sinnoh, and Brock had gotten a call from his family yesterday to go home. Now it was just Ash and Misty.

Misty was letting Ash stay at her place. She seemed to have forgotten about what had happened before-or at least she was acting like it. Ash was only staying there for the night, and Misty was letting him use the guest bedroom.

It was sunny the next morning, and although it was spring, a small hint of dew has still managed to creep its way onto the grass overnight. Ash was eating a bowl of cereal when Misty came walking down the stairs, still in her nightgown.

"'Morning," she said.

"'Morning," Ash replied. The doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," Misty said, walking over to the door. She opened it and a man UPS man was standing there.

"Package for a Misty Waterflower," the man said.

"That's me," said Misty, taking the package and signing for it. She closed the door and walked over, setting the package down on the table.

"Who's it from?" Ash asked curiously.

"I don't know," Misty said. "There's no return address."

"Well, there's a note attached to it," Ash said, pointing at a pink, folded piece of paper taped to the top of the package. Misty picked it up and opened it.

"Dear Misty," she read aloud, "I don't mean to be a bother, but my feelings for you run deep and I'm too shy to tell you in person. Please accept this gift as a symbol of how beautiful I think you are.

-Your secret admirer

Misty smiled, blushing, and looked suspiciously at Ash.

"Hey, don't look at me!" he said. He felt a strange sort of jealousy building inside him, though he wasn't quite sure why. "I may be from Pallet Town, but I am not that cheesy!"

Misty didn't speak. Still smiling, she slowly opened up the package.

"Oh!" Misty said, looking at the contents of the box.

"What?" Ash asked eagerly. "What's in it?"

"Flowers!" Misty said, taking out a bouquet of roses. "They're the most beautiful roses I've ever seen!" Sure enough, the roses looked as if they had just been picked from the garden of Eden. They were incredibly fresh and bright and vibrant, and very beautiful. Somehow, this made Ash's jealousy grow, though he wasn't sure why. There was just some sort of anger twisting at his heart that he couldn't understand.

"I think I'll put these in that vase over on the counter!" Misty said. "We haven't used that in a while." She walked over, filled a tall, glass vase with water, and placed the roses in it. Ash stood at the table, frowning over the note.

"Hmph!" He said. "If you ask me, you don't really love someone if you won't even tell them!"

"Oh, be quiet, Ash!" Misty said. "You're just jealous!"

"Jealous?" Ash said, though he could feel himself go red in the face. "Why the hell would I be jealous of this guy?"

Misty didn't answer. Instead she gave a sort of girlish giggle, which was very rare in a tomboy like Misty. She seemed more vibrant for some reason, more alive, and she was smiling at the roses while Ash crumpled up the note and threw it in the trash.

"Well, I'd better get going," Ash said. He was already dressed and packed. Pikachu suddenly hopped up on his shoulder out of nowhere.

"Pika!"

"Yup, it's time we got going, buddy."

"Okay," Misty said, "goodbye, Ash! Visit soon!"

"I will!" Ash said.

"Tell me what Officer Jenny wanted!" Misty called after Ash as he walked out the door.
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Ash could not believe what he was seeing.

His house was surrounded by yellow boundaries, there were police cars around it, and Officer Jenny was standing on the porch.

"Oh no…" Ash said, slowly walking towards his house, eyes wide with disbelief. Then he broke into a run. "No, no, no, no, no!" He ran up onto the porch.

"What's going on Officer Jenny?" Ash asked desperately. "Did my mom do something illegal or something?"

"No," Officer Jenny said grimly. "I'll leave it to you to decide whether what happened is worse."

"What happened?" Ash said. He already knew the answer, but he didn't want to believe it. He couldn't believe it. He wouldn't.

"Ash," Jenny said slowly, and although she tried to hide her emotions, Ash could swear he saw some sadness in her eyes as she answered his question, "your mother is dead."
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End of chapter! I hope you guys like it! Review and tell me what you think! Seriously! REVIEW! I MEAN IT!