Chapter 3

A Nice Hotel

Ketchums stirred, softly rubbing his head against the leg of the dining chair. His eyes cracked ajar just long enough to notice that the room was naturally brighter than he previously remembered. His brain finally added two plus two, he had fallen asleep.

He drags his left arm to his face to lazily count up by five, he then figures out that it was roughly 9:45 in the morning. Mustering up all his might Ketchums drags his ass back unto his feet. The last thing he needed was a hangover, unfortunately when one consumes enough alcohol to kill an elephant one doesn't have a say in the matter. Ketchums guesses that hindsight really is twenty-twenty. With what feels like tar smudging against his brain he drags towards the location he assumed to be the toilet. (This isn't the first time Ketchums has been at Joey's house, but with enough alcohol in your system your own house would be foreign to you.)

After stumbling upon the toilet he enjoys a long and drawn out piss.

Returning to the living room Ketchums does a head count. Brock passed out on the couch, Yugi and Joey nowhere to be found. Ketchums knew about the tournament and figured they must have left to compete. (This is also not the first time he has passed out at Joey's place and Ketchums had to lock up after he would awake the next morning or night.) Ketchums walked to the dining table and found a sticky note with just two words written on it: Lock up. Given their history he already knew what to do. He fishes out his key ring to check if he had the spare. He did.

He shakes Brock's knee to pull him out of his dreams, or drunken coma if you prefer. Brock slightly shakes his head to kick out of the alcohol's grip. When his vision clears he mutters out in a drunken slur.

"I gotta meet with Asuka. Want me to walk or are you good to drive?"

It took Brock a minute to decipher the sentence.

"Nah man I'm good just give me-just give a minute to wake up."

As Brock slumbered for a minute longer Ketchums checked all the locks and waited for his friend to recover. He pulls out his phone and noticed the green alert light blinking. A new voice mail. Misty must have called when everyone was sleeping off the beer. Brock must have told her the reason for the hit being called off because she practically ordered the two to pick her up. After not seeing her "sister" for so long Misty was eager to see Asuka again.

Ketchums yelled out "Hey Brock!"

Brock stumbles to his feet to answer "What!?"

"We gotta pick up Misty along the way."

"Why's that?"

"She wants to see Asuka."

"Pssh" Brock sneered "Bitch can drive herself to the hotel."

With the tumbler in place at the turn of the key Ketchums scurries to Brock's car. The snow had let up but any tracks left a few hours ago has long been buried by a fresh layer. While the engine warms the two mindlessly wipe away the condensation from the windows to peer outside. After a few minutes Brock looks at his friend.

"Gotta pick up Misty?"

Ash slowly nods; any fast movement with his head and his brain would scream at him in pain. Brock grabs on to both the steering wheel and the gear stick behind it. Counting a few seconds he shifts into Drive and slowly pulls into the empty road.


Spotting Misty in the cold near the curve Brock pulls alongside the freezing girl; Misty doesn't wait and swings open the door and orders Ketchums to sit in the back. Ketchums, still recovering from last night, didn't start the usual banter and got out to push in the passenger seat to crawl in the back. Misty quickly returns the seat to its original position and slammed the door shut. Brock and Ketchums groaned as their heads pulsated at the load noise of metal clanging against itself. Misty noticed this and examined Brock's face and Ketchums' face. They looked like shit.

"Why do you two look like shit?" Misty giggled

When Brock coped he lazily shifted the gear and pulled back into the road. Misty then realized that a hungover Brock is driving.

"Are you ok to drive?" Misty no longer giggling at her friends in pain.

"Yeah I've driven hung over before, don't you remember?"

Something in Misty's gut told her that Brock wasn't telling a white lie so he wouldn't be expelled from the driver seat. She knew the three of them never did well in school so a lot of hooky and off campus fun were to be had. Drunken runs with the weekly hung over drive from god knows where they passed out to home base. Still, they're not old, just not as young as they used to be to pull shit like this anymore. Misty almost convinced herself to tell Brock to relinquish the wheel but the car had just cruised to a halt. Brock swiftly parallel parks and locks in the steering wheel. Misty saw that they had parked in front of a bank (Luckily its Sunday so no foot traffic and no heavy crackdown on meter violations); across the street was the hotel.

Asuka takes a sip of water to wash down the bite of omelet, all the while looking back at her bed to read through her notes for the meeting today. The meeting taking place here in America was one of the last of her international trip across the globe. The Cybernetic/Augmentation Field was heating up, and with NERV's history dealing in such similar manners, Asuka knew this would be the correct direction to turn NERV legit. After America, she would have to travel to Brazil, South Africa, and finally Germany. Misato claimed that if we had a more personal touch while talking business, the cybernetic companies rooted in these nations would side with NERV when the inevitable Second Technological Revolution would occur. The one thing NERV was able to retain after the fall of Gendo was the backing of the Japanese government. Regardless of the previous boss' actions, NERV was still a technological marvel.

Before Asuka could cut another piece of the omelet the room phone chirped away. She wiped her mouth and took another quick sip before retrieving the phone. On the other line was the front desk informing her that a gentlemen and his friends were asking if she was in. When she learned that it was Ash she told the front desk attendant that it was alright to bring them up to the president's suite. After the phone call Asuka quickly got a few more bites in before pushing the rolling table away from her bed and re-arrange her notes. She had just finished placing all her notes back in her satchel when there was a knock on the door. Asuka quickly tidies up her dress suit and hair before coming to the door. When open she was greeted by a very happy Misty, the girls squeal in excitement and exchange kisses on each cheek.

"God girl you look good!" Misty exclaimed.

"Girl I know." Asuka said with a cocky grin on her face. The two giggle and Asuka invites them in.

The trio pile their coats on one end of the lavishing sofa and took a trip around the suite. It was practically the size of a large one bedroom apartment. Top of the line furniture, pristine appliances, roomy bath/shower with a jacuzzi hot tub not far away, even a swanky chandelier in the dining room. Misty returns to the living room where Asuka was relishing the fact that the three were bewildered by all the shiny objects in the room.

Misty motions around the room and teased Asuka, "Must be nice!" she said.

"Work hard play hard." Asuka said throwing her hands behind her head and sinking into the sofa.

"How are you gonna come back after so long and rent a nice place like this and not invite your own sister?!" Misty said while getting comfortable next to Asuka.

"You kidding me? I'm trying to enjoy myself before having to fly again. My last three days have been nothing but fly to a country, do a meeting, fly to another country, repeat. When I get home I'm seriously putting that idiot Shinji to work."

"Ohhhh, I bet."

A mischievous grin spreads across Asuka's face, if only Misty could read thoughts.

"Oi!" Ash called out when entering the living room. "You gonna finish that omelet?"

"God now I'm hungry!" Misty complained.

Asuka suggested calling room service, besides it wasn't like she was paying for the room anyways. Without giving a second thought Ketchums snatched up the phone mounted in the living room and started placing orders; Misty and Brock relayed their orders as well.

While waiting for food Asuka and Misty got lost in chatter, catching up on events, current shows, gossip, the topics went on; Brock and Ash browsed the channels. Ketchums had a mission coming here, but he knew it's been exhausting for both him and Asuka. To see Asuka smile and laugh with her best friend, he couldn't ruin the mood by bringing up such a subject. He's been out of touch with Rei for nearly a year, what's another hour going to do?

Time had passed and the four were interrupted by another knock on the door. Misty bounced off the sofa to let the food in. Two privet dinning servers rolled in three tables; pulling out the food they go over the order while Asuka looked over the bill. When everything was accurate Asuka signed for it and gave a very generous tip. When they left Ash and Brock arranged the tables as Asuka fetched her half eaten omelet from her room. Brock and Ash shared one table, Misty and Asuka shared another. They enjoyed themselves. The food was great, the mood was high, even Ash and Brock's hang over was mostly gone. After a relaxing meal everybody settled down to allow the food to sink. While mindlessly watching TV Asuka felt it was time to bring up the elephant in the room. She clears her throat; this caught everybody's attention and Brock cutting off the TV.

"Well…" Asuka started, looking at Ash.

"Well…" Ash answered back.

"Gave a call to Misato last night. Talked with her, see if she knew much about her friend's whereabouts. This morning she called me back, telling me that Dr. Akagi was alive and well. In fact Misato was shocked that I brought up Akagi because apparently she called Misato out of the blue last night. Just when I finished talking with her. You were right Ketchums, Rei has been seeing Dr. Akagi for the past year. She didn't know why, the whole Doctor-Patient Confidentiality bullshit, but she can confirm that Rei is still in Japan."

A lot to intake but easy to swallow. Rei was fine which made Ash happy. Still, where does one go from here? Maybe Asuka would know.

Ash started. "So where do we go from here?"

This was indeed a queer question for Asuka, she thought it was obvious to go straight to Japan and get answers. Then again, she never felt the pain of a break up. The first man she gave a serious interest in was surprisingly the right one. Guess it wouldn't be easy to just walk up to the one who broke your heart with no obvious reason and just ask why after so long.

"I don't know what to tell you Ketchums. That's up to you."

This wasn't the answer Ash had hoped for. Asuka was always gung-ho, he expected Asuka to just tell him to go to her. It wouldn't be that easy, but just the notion of Asuka backing you on such a tough expedition would have given him the will to move forward faster than he was willing to. She was right on one thing, he had to be ready to take that step. You don't rush something like this. Maybe…. Maybe he needed a change of scenery.

"Still got an empty house on that lot of yours?"

Asuka smiled. "Always do."

Ketchums nodded silently. Brock patted him on the back and gave him a friendly shake.

"Hey we'll hold the fort down till you get your girl back." Brock said proudly.

Misty chimed in. "Yeah don't worry him. We'll keep tabs on him."

Him? Asuka was still wondering why Ketchums would go silent for a year. She knew the heart break was a factor but she didn't think it was just that. Something had kept his attention for quite a while, something he was ashamed to admit. This conversation would have to wait though. Glancing at the clock nearby Asuka's meeting was to start within an hour.

"Well I need to go." Asuka said while standing up and tidying up her dress suit once again.

She continued. "If you three want to stay that's fine just don't trash the place. And Ketchums, I'm not heading straight back to Germany, I need to make a few stops along the way. But if you want to come along, it'll take about three or four more days to reach home."

Ketchums nodded. "Yeah-yeah that sounds fine."

"Ok, get what you need and meet me back here. I gotta tell front desk to give you a spare key."

Asuka retrieved her satchel and everyone said their good byes.