A/N: After some thinking, I decided to use Daisuke as a character in later chapters, which means that he won't be transforming into Dark, and Dark won't be transforming into him. 'cuz have their own separate bodies. They're also brothers, BTW. However, the Niwa curse is still intact. I tweaked with a few things, which will be explained in later chaps.

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Chapter 2

The Lazuli City train station was less packed than usual that day, so Misty had no problem spotting her friends, Ash, Brock, May, and Max, seated on a bench next to a pillar. A smile lit up Misty's face. Daisy and Lily stumbled behind her.

"Hey, there they are!" Daisy exclaimed.

Misty's smile faded as quickly as it appeared. She had almost forgotten about them. She would've felt a bit more thrilled about seeing her friends again if her two sisters hadn't decided to tag along.

"What!? Why do I have to go with her?" Lily whined.

"Because I want you two to stop all your incessant arguing! And what better way to do that than getting to know each other better- you know, a little sister bonding time. I'm totally sure you guys have at least one thing you have in common." Daisy replied. "And to make sure you do, I'll have to, like, come too."

Violet smiled. "Sweet. So, I get the gym to myself, then."

Misty resisted the urge to upchuck right then and there. 'Sister-bonding time?' It reminded Misty of several television shows she'd seen a while back where the doting, deluded parent would try to spend some 'quality time' with their lamenting children; except she had to do it with the uber-bitch. It was impossible, and obviously, her three sisters didn't get the idea that she wanted to spend time with her friends on her own.

"What makes you think Ash and the others would want all of us hanging around them, anyway?" Misty grumbled.

"Ash is a nice guy. I'm sure he'll let Lily and I come with. Besides, we'll only be sticking around for a week since we have gym duties, so it's not like we'll totally keep you away from spending the time you want with your friends." Daisy pointed out. Okay, so maybe Daisy knew.

Lily clapped her hands excitedly. "And we'll be staying at the gorgeous Lazuli City! It's bound to be full of malls, clubs, and hot guys!" Daisy and Lily sighed dreamily.

Misty sighed grudgingly. "Fine."

When she had given her friends the call, they were at Lazuli City. She expected them to continue traveling on the road once she and her sisters arrived, but they told her that they would be staying at the city for about 3 months. Misty wasn't sure why. Ash told her it was a surprise.

And she couldn't wait to find out just what that surprise was. She called out to them and started running over. "Ash! Brock!" She ignored her sisters' yells to slow down. The group looked up in Misty's direction. May was the first to stand. She beamed, waving both her arms in the air. "Hey, Misty!"

As Misty approached, May stepped forward and gave her a big bear-hug, nearly squeezing the life out of her. "I'm sooo glad to see you again, Misty!"

Misty laughed into May's red bandana and hugged her back. "Nice to see you too, May... now let go, you're killing me..."

May let go and Misty was able to gaze around at all her friends. They'd all changed so much. Brock, May, and Max had gotten taller since she last saw them. How old were they now? Brock- 18, May- 13, Max- 10, and Ash- 15... It was Ash that, to her, had changed the most. Like the rest, he had gotten taller. He was at her height now- give or take an inch or two. His shoulders had gotten broader and his face lost its childish tinge- causing his russet-brown eyes to stand out vividly. He wasn't as lanky as he was when she last saw him.

Admittedly, she kind of liked the new changes, but at the same time, her exalted feminine pride left her a bit peeved that soon, she would be the shortest out of the three (her, Ash, and Brock). Somehow, it made her feel like the weaker link...

She quickly damned her childish pride. These were her friends for god's sake! She couldn't feel down for something so trivial...

She snapped out of her muse when Ash said, "It's great that you could come with us, Misty!"

Brock nodded. "Yeah, it's been a while."

At that moment, Daisy and Lily popped up behind them, gasping and panting.

"Hey... guys...like...what's up?" Daisy managed.

Ash, Brock, May, and Max looked from the blonde, to the pink-haired girl, then to Misty, asking for an explanation.

Misty exhaled in slight annoyance. Somehow, her sisters always managed to ruin everything for her.

"Well, it wasn't my idea. Daisy here," she inclined her head toward the blonde, "felt that Lily and I argued way too much for our own good, and that we all needed to spend some 'sister-time...' you know, get to know each other. I'm sorry, is this okay? They'll only be with us for about a week."

May and Max exchanged sympathetic smiles with each other, knowing exactly what she felt with respect to sibling dilemmas.

Ash scratched the back of his head. "Sure, it's alright. I'm sure family matters are really important to you guys."

Misty blinked. She couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or just stupid. She prayed it was the former. Physical changes were nice, but they wouldn't compensate if Ash was still as clueless as he was back then.

Lily scoffed. "Hardly. I just want to hang around Lazuli City for a while."

"With the both of us, of course!" Daisy said over-enthusiastically.

The two slits that served as Brock's eyes transformed into hearts. "Oh, wow! This is wonderful! The beautiful and talented sensational sisters are staying with me for a week," he ran and stopped right in front of them, holding one of their hands in his, "ladies, I assure you, you'll have nothing to regret coming out all this way, for I Brock, will surely-"

WHAM!

Misty conked him hard on the head with her fist and Brock fell face-first in the concrete. "Brock, if there's one thing they'll regret about coming here, it'll be you!"

Daisy and Lily made a face at the recumbent Brock, and Ash, May, and Max laughed nervously.

At the moment, Misty remembered the question she was longing to ask Ash.

"Hey, Ash," she said turning to him, "what was that surprise you talked to me about on the phone the other day?"

A grin lit up Ash's face. "Welll..." he drawled on in his boyish tone, "you really want to know?"

Misty rolled her eyes and chuckled. "Yes, I really want to know. Now out with it, Ketchum!"

"You know I competed in the Sinnoh League, right? Well, after some intense training, ingenious strategies, and super-powerful attacks... I came out on top! I won the Sinnoh League championship!"

Misty's eyes widened. "Congratulations, Ash! That's awesome! You're hot-headed dedication finally paid off."

"And that's not all," Ash continued, maintaining that vivacious demeanor that sent Misty back to all their times together, "after checking my past records of pokémon gym battles, and battles in general, Lance and the rest of the Pokémon League Committee named me as the next Pokémon Master!"

Misty blinked, all his words sinking in. It was Daisy that acted first.

She squealed in delight and rushed forward, embracing Ash in a tight bear-hug.

"That's awesome, Ash! I knew you had it in you!"

"Nice job, Ketchum. Now if under the unlikely circumstances that Misty decides to get married, it'll be with someone rich." Lily remarked, smirking in Misty's direction.

Misty ignored her. "It's the best news I've ever heard in months, too!" Misty beamed proudly at him. "Congrats again, Ash. You deserve it."

Ash blushed and scratched the back of his head. "Aw, thanks."

Brock laughed. "You should've seen the look on Delia's face when she heard the news the morning we told her. She screamed loud enough for the entirety of Pallet Town to hear. They threw him a huge party."

"And speaking of parties, Lazuli City is the place where the whole Pokémon League Committee gathers for meetings and stuff like that," May added, "so they gave Ash and all of his friends- that's us," she gestured to all of them with her arms, "a three-month, all-expenses paid trip right here in Lazuli City!" May jumped up and down in delight. Misty, Daisy, and Lily just gaped at her. There really was not other way for them to express their shock at the news.

May wasn't finished yet. "We all get to stay at this huge mansion, too! And on the last week of the three-month period, we get to go to this formal party the league committee is throwing! All the Pokémon Masters, gym leaders in the Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Orange Islands will be there!"

This was a lot of good news to take in all at once for Misty. She would be spending 3 luxurious months in the city renowned for it's rich history and idyllic beauty. Misty could already feel that erstwhile tenseness from the day before fade from the corners of her mind. Plus, she would get to see all of the friends she had made, and maybe make some new ones. At this point, Daisy and Lily were much too awestruck to respond in any way.

"Hey, you guys wanna check out that mansion we're staying at?" Ash's voice seemed to echo from a different universe.

"Do you have to ask? Like, of course we do!" Daisy squealed.

Lily sighed in bliss. "This is awesome. We never got to stay at Lazuli City during our world trip. Hey, Daisy, can we extend our stay to maybe, like, one month?"

"Sure, but we'll have to tell Violet. Hm... if all the gym leaders are coming to that party, then we'll, like, get to see her again on that day."

Brock mumbled something vehemently off in the corner about seeing beautiful girls at the party.

And with that, the group departed the train station to see all the sights Lazuli had to offer.

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"Sir, I believe we've discovered something that requires your utmost attention," a nondescript male voice announced as he stumbled into the dark office.

The back of a big, black leather swivel chair spun around, revealing a teenager of about 18 with blond hair and stark, golden eyes.

The man stiffened. "K-Krad? I must speak to..."

"Mr. Hiwatari isn't here at the moment. He's at a meeting with the Leber Committee," Krad informed in a silky tone, quite uncommon for someone most people would have thought was at a much too young age.

"Just tell me whatever it is that is concerning you, and I'll relay it to him," Krad continued, leaning forward with his elbows perched on the desk- fingers laced.

The man gulped, knowing that it was best for Mr. Hiwatari to be informed first, but at the same time, fearing what Krad would do to him if he refused to give him the information. He decided to take a risk. "Well, you see, about 5 years, we discovered that intruders had intercepted our warehouse in Cerulean. How, you might ask? Through DNA samples of hair and clothes. Back then, we couldn't really put them to use since your family was short on money, but now with the successes of the Pokémon League Committee, we were able to obtain the necessary technological devices to apprehend the intruders' identities.

Krad leaned forward further. "And did you?"

The man nodded curtly. "And since you lived in Cerulean at that time, we were wondering if you could recognize them."

Krad stood up from his seat. "Show me."

The two men walked in silence to the laboratory. A man in a white lab coat looked up as the two walked in and stood from his seat.

"Anderson, show Mr. Hikari here the pictures of the intruders."

Mr. Anderson nodded and sat back down in his swivel chair. His fingers raced over the keyboard. The computer screen in front of him rolled down to reveal the faces of two very familiar elementary school kids- a female and male.

Krad's body stilled at the sight of the two. He gripped the back of the swivel chair.

"You know them?" The man asked, turning to Krad.

Krad nodded. "They went to the same elementary school as I did."

Mr. Anderson spoke up, "With the age progression feature, we can determine what they might look like presently; assuming they're still alive." Mr. Anderson typed a couple more things, and the screen rolled down to an age progression of the two after 6 years.

Krad memorized the faces and nodded. He stood up straight.

"Thank you, Anderson. Giles."

"Of course, this only tells us so much about two of the intruders," said the man (now identified as Giles), "there may be more intruders, or it could be that neither of these two are intruders, and that they were somehow framed. There are many possibilities. Besides, it is highly unlikely that these kids could have escaped that warehouse."

"If these two really were the intruders, then they probably could have." Krad said musingly.

"It will be very problematic if word of our plan leaks out to the higher authorities. I'm surprised it hasn't yet, if those kids really are alive. So what will we do now?"

Krad pointed at the screen. "I'll track him down and interrogate him," he regarded the male, "he, at least, I'll be able to find. And maybe through him, I can find out where she is."

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A/N: W00t! There's chappie 2! I'm kinda disappointed with the first half. I really feel as though I could've done better with it... I'm really looking forward to writing about Misty's past, BTW, but I feel that won't happen for some time.

If anyone... ANYONE at all is interested so far, then please review! It'll be a very big help. I'm easily encouraged by any little review (except flames). Constructive criticism will be appreciated! If anyone wants some background info on the story, just check my account page. Thank you to anyone who's taking the time to read!