Summary of previous chapter: Gary remembers the night he fell in love with Misty three years ago. Gary and Misty argue about their situation, leaving them worse than before. A trainer named Jake Dragon battles Misty and in a futile attempt to win the battle he takes out a Pikachu and orders it to use thunderbolt while still inside the pool.

Last chapter…

Chapter 12 - Ashes

The halls of the Cerulean Gym that had once hosted only people were now home for hundreds of flowers and postcards. The moment the doors had been locked, the windows had been closed and the lights went out, a broken Gary Oak fell to his knees on the floor of the battle arena. The sun was setting in the horizon and the weekend life was beginning to crowd the city as it always did every Friday night, but inside the Gym life was gone and darkness had taken over the young trainer within the closed doors.

He had received a call from the hospital regarding Misty's condition right before the last battle he had taken care of today, and had not been able to let his feelings out until now. He was completely alone in a room that had witnessed many battles and the growth of an unbelievable woman who did everything in her power to save what she held most dearly in life. The silence that surrounded him sent shivers down his spine, and the only dim lights that lit the corners of the place belonged to the prayer candles that citizens of Cerulean had left in Misty's name.

He was down on all fours on the floor, sobbing and crying like a little boy. He felt his body slowly shutting down and his mind racing with bits and pieces of the events of last week. Never in his life had he experienced so much pain in such a short amount of time. Never in his life had he battled for someone else's life. Never in his life had he lost before.

"Why is this happening to us?"

He stared down at the floor that had been covered by oceans of water a week ago. There were no water marks or stains anywhere on the floor to prove the incident had actually occurred. The League had sent an emergency crew to repair any damage done to the Gym as well as to provide medical attention to the people who had been present during the incident in order for the Gym to be open for business on its last probationary week, hoping lawsuits would not follow. Gary had been appointed to finish his job as an interim Gym Leader on the basis that the League was not to show weakness or lack of preparation in case of an emergency response. Today was Gary's last battling day.

As he angrily pressed his knuckles against the wooden floor, his skin still felt the pain provided by the coldness of the waters that surrounded him as they overwhelmed the battle arena once before. He closed his eyes to stop the tears of desperation the memories brought to him, but instead of calming his fears he saw Misty's face as Jake's Pikachu was released to the stage. She was afraid, so very afraid. He was terrified, utterly terrified.

The pain in her scream as the electric attack infested every inch of her body as a deadly disease had been chilling to the bone. She had broken a couple of nails as she had dug them on the glass wall, in an attempt to find a way to escape from the pain. Jake had passed out from the pain as well, and there had been no one to force the yellow rodent to put an end his attack.

Gary stared at the palm of his right hand and focused on his newly acquired scar as he recalled how it had been made.

He ran to the machine that controlled the pool, pressing all the buttons and pulling every knob he saw, trying to either put it back down so he could jump after her, or get it drained somehow. He was not able to do either one. The machine begun smoking and shocked him to the point of burning his hand. He pulled out his handkerchief and wrapped around his bleeding hand.

The doctors had told him the scar would disappear over time, as well as the bruises on his hands and knuckles. He would not mind if the bruises or the scar remained for the rest of his life if he could trade in the horrible memories and make them disappear instead. He stroked his knuckles with his left hand only to remember that his left arm had been hurt as well. The gauzes made it difficult to dress and move around freely.

The attack was so great that the security alarm was set off. In a matter of seconds the building was secured and in lockdown status, not allowing anyone to enter or leave the place as the alarm and red lights around the building went on and off. Gary saw dozens of civilians trying to run away from danger as the electric attack cracked the glass wall and the pool began leaking. He began punching and kicking the pool as he realized Misty's scream was nowhere to be heard. Her body had become a victim of the waters and floated limply in the middle of the wet arena.

Gary got on this knees and opened his eyes as he stared at the battle arena. The dimensions of the arena were huge, but that night everyone trapped inside it had felt there was not enough room. Innocent people had frantically ran around the room looking for an exit. Parents had carried their children, and helpless but scared elders had remained sitting as they feared for their life.

Gary had not feared for his life once.

He had, however, feared for hers when his eyes locked on the object floating in front of him inside the pool.

It was Misty's underwater breather.

His eyes widened as he saw the single piece of life Misty needed to survive floating away from her. He could not take it anymore.

And neither did the pool.

Pikachu's attack finally stopped when the water finally placed enough pressure on the glass walls to break through them. In a matter of seconds, a sea of water and thick glass took over the gym. Bystanders began climbing to the upper stands as they desperately tried to run away from the rising sea. The water pumps had been activated by the attack and the level of water steadily and threateningly rose.

Chaos took over the gym. Cries for help echoed in the room only to be muffled by the concrete walls. People begged for help as they were carried by the whirlpool to the middle of the room or were slowly bleeding to death by the act of a piece of thick glass.

Gary stood up, trying not to think about what happened next. He dried his tears with his sleeves as he approached the exit of the battle arena to head to Misty's room. He opened the door and headed straight to her closet to pick the prettiest outfit he could find. He found matching shoes and underwear before grabbing a bag of clothes and carefully placing them inside. He did not want to wrinkle her clothes. Misty hated wrinkled clothes.

He left the room and eventually the gym and headed for the hospital. He had told the doctors he would be there as soon as he could, and that had been three hours ago.

He kept his head down as he knew people in the streets would look at him condescendingly. He had grown tired of the stares but knew he could not turn around and tell them off. The eyes of the world were on him and the League. The accident at the gym had made world news, and he knew Ash knew about it but had not bothered to call. He continued to walk towards the hospital as the continuation of his now daily nightmares made way to his head again.

Gary began swimming desperately to try and find her. He did not know how long had she been without air or unconscious, but he needed to find her as soon as possible. He reached for his cell phone to call for help but water was pouring out of it. He began screaming for help.

"Someone call for help! I need to find Misty. Please, anyone, call for help!"

He did not know if anyone had heard him over the commotion taking place in the Gym. Even though he hoped someone did, he knew he did not have time to stop and make sure someone was dialing the emergency number. The only task in mind was to find the redhead before it was too late. He continued to swim against the current until he found Jake's Pikachu trying to keep his master afloat.

The Pokemon was obviously losing hope as the weight he was attempting to carry was too much for him. Gary watched him as both Pokemon and master began drowning in spite of the strive of the Pokemon to survive.

Something deep within the researcher wanted to let the both of them die. They had dared to step into the gym, battle Misty, and destroy the months of hard work they had both done to the gym. And worst of all, they had put the life of innocent people in danger for the sake of a badge. In the back of his mind, Jake and his Pokemon deserved to die a painful and slow death.

However, Gary was not vengeful and no fool. He knew that if someone was to punish Jake for what he did was someone else and was certainly not him. Jake had done an awful thing but he was not going to let his anger and desperation blind his human side. He knew divine intervention would take care of Jake, and his human side screamed to him to save the stupid boy.

Gary began swimming towards where he had seen the fallen trainer but he and his Pokemon were out of sight. Gary did the next best thing: he took a deep breath and began swimming towards the bottom of the gym. He opened his eyes but closed them rather quickly when he was reminded that he was surrounded by water and glass. Some smaller pieces had already made their way through his skin and he felt the salty water sting the wounds. He swam back up hoping to see Jake or Misty afloat but they were nowhere to be seen. He had no other option but to risk his sight to find them both.

He took an even deeper breath before sinking and opening his eyes underwater to search the place. His heart was beating a thousand times per second.

He stopped in front of the bus station that would take him to the hospital. He looked around and the bus was nowhere to be seen. He walked to the bus schedule posted on one of the walls of the bus stop and learned that he had just missed the bus by only a couple of minutes. He sighed and sat down on the bench to wait for the next bus to arrive.

The winter had begun to make its way into the city, and he regretted not bringing a jacket. He had never been bothered by cold weather, but given the current circumstances, the coldness forced him to return to his memory trail.

He finally saw movement of someone underwater. Whoever it was, it was moving fast towards him. Gary stopped and allowed the other person to come closer, hoping it was Misty. He squinted his eyes trying to make out who it was but it was not until it was close to him he realized it was not really a him or a her, but an it.

Jake's Pikachu grabbed Gary's hand and tried to pull him down. At first Gary took this as a sign of an attack, but quickly realized the Pokemon was asking for help to save his master. Jake had hit the bottom of the room.

Gary followed the Pokemon and struggled as he tried to grab Jake by his underarms. He was running out of air as the force he was using to save Jake was tiring him and making him use more air than if he was swimming alone. He finally got a hold of Jake and used his feet to push himself up. He took a deep breath as soon as he made it to the surface and quickly began swimming towards the stands. Two men saw him trying to reach the stands and jumped to help him out. In a matter of seconds, Gary and Jake were resting on the stands.

Gary took deep breaths as the other two men checked up on Jake. One of them yelled Jake was not breathing and called another woman behind him to revive him. "Hurry, he's been unconscious for too long!"

The man's words hit Gary like a rock. There was another person who had been unconscious for too long as well, and he did not know where to begin looking for her. He needed to find Misty as soon as possible or she would surely drown.

"Have you seen Misty?" He asked the people trying to revive Jake.

"No, but I see the Pikachu over there," one man said as he pointed behind Gary.

Gary looked back and saw the rodent pulling on his pants again. Gary grabbed him by the tail and placed him on the stands before standing up and looking around trying to find Misty.

Pikachu ran to him again and pulled his pants even harder this time. Gary was beginning to get annoyed by it. "I saved your master, what else do you want?"

Pikachu pulled on his pants even harder before jumping back into the water. Gary bent down to try and get him back on the stands again, but Pikachu sunk. "Fucking rat!"

Gary jumped after him but Pikachu increased his speed when he saw Gary following him. Gary knew he could not be dealing with this right now, but he also knew that the Pokemon only did what he was asked to do, and it seemed that he knew he had caused harm to others and wanted to make up for it. He knew there was not such thing as an evil Pokemon, only evil trainers.

Gary swam faster to reach Pikachu's tail. He knew he run the risk of being electrocuted but he had to get the Pokemon back to the surface as soon as possible. He fixed his eyes on him until the rodent stopped and turned back to face Gary. Gary slowed down as he approached him closer and closer. "Tired of running around?" He thought.

And then he saw her.

The bus' brakes brought Gary back to present time as he quickly gathered his belongings and got on the bus. He walked to the back of the bus and sat on the very last seat on the corner of the back wall. He then turned around and stared outside the window, recalling the last time he had traveled this same road last week, unconscious, in a police car.

She was completely lifeless and still on the ground.

"Lifeless."

Gary lost his mind.

He began swimming as fast as he could and grabbed her by her waist, pushing himself with his legs and feet as hard as he could until both of them had reached the top. He rested Misty's head on his right arm and used his left hand to check her pulse.

There was none.

He repeatedly slapped her cheek and shook her head from her chin with his hand, but she was as cold as the waters around him. "Fuck, Misty. You can't do this!"

He grabbed her even tighter in his arm and began swimming to the stands were people watched in shock as Gary carried a very pale-looking Misty. Jake was one of them.

The two same men who had revived Jake jumped to the water and helped Gary reach the "shore" faster. As soon as they were both out of the water, he lay Misty on the stand and began giving her first aid.

"One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand…"

He breathed air into her, but she did not respond.

"Misty, wake the fuck up!"

He repeated the motion once, twice…

Nothing.

He tried again even though the people around him tried to pull him off her. He pushed them away.

"Misty, God, please…don't take her away from me…"

Gary's body began shaking at the exhaustion of swimming and his futile attempts at trying to revive her. The people surrounding them began sobbing at the scene. Misty Waterflower was dead.

"No, Misty. Don't…please…I lo-"

Gary's face almost hit the seat in front of him courtesy of the stopping bus and his lack of attention at the road. He had arrived at his destination faster than he had thought. He stood up and left the bus that had stopped right in front of the entrance to the hospital. He walked inside and asked for a pass to visit the ICU. No one was allowed in that area without a pass slip from the lady in the front. Relatives of the patients were the only ones allowed in the ICU area. Misty did not have anyone else. To the hospital, and maybe even the city, Gary Oak was the only family she had. Her sisters would not be seen until Sunday night, as the League had not allowed them to leave before, and that was two days away from today.

"Hi, Mr. Oak! Was the last day a good day?"

Gary forced a smile and nodded. "The Cerulean Gym remains undefeated."

She crossed her fingers and wiggled her hand to him. "And here's hoping it stays that way." The status of the Gym had brought plenty of tourism to the city. Everyone was benefiting from the new source of income, and some new citizens or Cerulean relied on its status quo for a job.

"How is she doing?"

"She is stable now. I'm sure she can't wait to see you and go back home."

Gary faked another smile. He had not talked to Misty since their argument before the battle with Jake and their conversation could not be considered nothing more than a fight; a fight he wished they had never had. "Can she go home today, then?"

"Yes, she can! Hurry up! She was very annoyed to be here. She misses her home."

"I don't blame her. Thank you, ma'am."

Gary walked to the elevator and in a matter of minutes arrived to Misty's door. He had walked these halls every single day for a week now, and had spent every night there until the wee hours of the morning, watching over her. He knocked on her door before entering and seeing her standing in front of the window, the moonlight lit her face.

He walked inside and closed the door behind him as he placed the backpack on the bed. She did not need to face him. She knew it was him. "I brought you clean clothes. I want to be back soon. I have paperwork to do."

Misty did not turn around to face him but frowned at his comment. She did not know what to expect from him but she most certainly did not expect him to be so cold. She had just woken up this morning after a week of being unconscious, but had not been allowed to move around until a couple of hours ago. After the doctors had checked up on her, she was told she could leave today as soon as Gary stopped by to pick her up. She did not remember much after Pikachu's attack and had no idea how she had ended in the hospital again the first place.

Gary slowly stared at her up and down, absorbing every inch of her. He could not help to see her laying on the stand, her body limp in his arms. Everything that happened after that had been in slow motion to him. The fire department had broken in and had begun evacuating everyone in the building. The next thing he knew, the paramedics were trying to pull Misty off him but he would not let her go until he was shot by one of the paramedics and passed out. He had woken up later on that day in the hospital and after being assured that Misty was alive but in a delicate condition, he had been forced to return home. He had visited her every night to check up on her, hoping she had woken up but she had not. The doctors called him today to tell her she was awake and after spending an entire week fearing the possibility that he would never see her alive again had finally broken him inside.

He began walking to her but stopped a couple of feet away from her. He wanted nothing more than to pull her into his arms and kiss her. He had to reassure himself that she was truly there, standing in front of him, alive, breathing, and ready to tell him off. He had to tell her how he felt before he moved on without her. He had to tell her how much she truly meant to him and how nothing else came before her.

"But I can't. I won't."

Seeing her in the verge of death had made something inside of him snap. He had argued against himself on whether or not he should let his feelings for her known, but at the end he decided it was too risky. She still loved Ash even if he was going to be a father soon, and after everything that had been said and done, he could not see them ending up together. He strongly believed their friendship was effectively ruined, and no amount of apologies would ever restore what they once had. She would continue her life without knowing, and he was just happy she could still breathe.

"I was worried about you," Misty said. "Doctors said you saved Jake and me. How's the gym?"

Gary shrugged. "The League fixed it up over the weekend. It's ready for your sisters."

"Have my sisters arrived yet?"

"No. They won't be here until Sunday night."

Misty sighed. She wanted to return this cursed gym to her sisters and leave. Now that the probationary period was over, she had no reason to stay. After six months of intense training and mishaps, she was finally free to do as she pleased.

"But I don't know what I want to do."

Misty turned around and looked at Gary up and down. He looked exhausted and his face was filled with concern. He had small cuts all over his arms, and gauzes on his left arm. The doctors had told her the paramedics had to sedate him to get him off her.

Gary looked down as he pointed to the backpack. "That's your clothes. I'll wait for you outside."

Without allowing her to say another word, he left the room and waited for her until she was ready before taking the bus back home.


Gary had woken up late after spending the entire previous day catching up on the battle claims that had to be sent before the deadline tonight. He had locked Misty inside her room and had made a big deal when she had tried to help him finish faster. He had told her off and forced her to go back to bed. Misty was growing desperate. She needed to talk to him before he left forever.

Misty's sisters would be catching a plane tonight that would take them from Indigo Plateau to Cerulean City. Gary did not want to be here when they arrived. He knew they were oblivious to the tainted relationship that now existed between them both, and had no need for them to try and fix them up. Their friendship was broken beyond repair. All he wanted was to grab his belongings and leave.

He finished the last battle claim and began inputting them in the database. He had avoided filling out Jake Dragon's claim because the memories still came back to him, even though he now knew Misty would live long enough to see her grandchildren run around in her own backyard. Yet, as he had filled out Jake's profile, he had been shaken by the references he had provided. One of them was his sister, Emily Dragon, and the second one was the one and only Dawn Hall.

He knew who Dawn Hall was, but he had no idea how he related to her other than the provided "friend." The other name had also rung a bell and after searching up the name he found that a trainer with that name had attempted to defeat the gym a few days after Daisy had given him the badge. He wondered why her face stood up so much to him, and swore he had seen her before but could not recall exactly where he had met her before. He remembered seeing her face on the Wall of Fame downstairs in the gym, but he knew he had seen her once before that. Her face seemed way too familiar to him to claim he had not met her before in his life. "Fucked up people share lives."

He finally input the last claim and smiled. He owned nothing more to this gym or the League. He was free to go tonight.

The door of the office was opened. Gary knew it was Misty and growled. Misty did not budge this time around and locked the door as soon as she came inside. "Gary, we need to talk."

He knew what she wanted to talk about, but if he let his guard down and allowed her to speak freely, he would forget everything and stay with her. He had already decided he was not going to cause her more harm. No matter what she said, he would not surrender to her.

"What's it now, Misty? Are you hungry? Thirsty? In pain? Because if it isn't any of those, you don't need me for hell."

"Gary, please don't talk to me like that. I don't want this to end like this."

"I don't know what you're talking about. Go away."

"Gary, I don't want you to leave just yet; not like this. Please, please stay one more week."

"I'm not supposed to stay here anymore. Good luck to you. I've got to go."

"Gary will you please do something you are not suppose to do?"

"I won't anymore."

"Why? Why not? What else have you ever done that you weren't supposed to do?"

Gary angrily huffed as he walked to his bag. He unzipped it and after digging inside of it, he took out a box. He walked back to Misty and handed it to her. She hesitated for a second but grabbed it anyway.

She stared at it for a split second, realizing it was a shoe box. She opened it up and was shocked to see the contents of it.

They were the shoes she had used when Ash broke up with her, only that they were perfectly clean.

"Gary, where you there when…?"

Gary nodded.

"I thought you looked pretty that night. I kept them just in case you wanted to use them again someday."

"You…you didn't have to do this. You were not supposed to know about that night…"

Gary shrugged as he closed his bag again and zipped it shut. He picked it up and walked pass her without even glancing at her. Misty turned around and began walking to him as he tried to unlock the door as fast as he could.

"Gary, please wait! I'm begging you to stay just one more week. Will you please do something you aren't supposed to do? How hard can it be? You've done it before."

Gary took a deep breath, placing his right hand on the door for support. He was about to have a breakdown. He could not stay. He had to leave before it was too late for them.

"Gary, we weren't supposed to end up hating each other over this."

"And I was not supposed to fall in love with you after it either."

She froze. A quick flashback of the kiss he stole from her back in Pallet Town three years ago appeared in her mind. Here she was again; having a similar conversation with the same person only that this time the feelings were real.

He loved her…

And she had nothing to say.

Gary hit the door with his fist before finally opening the door and slamming it shut. Misty did not move until it was too late. She could not walk too fast or make quick movements. By the time she had managed to reach the door Gary Oak was nowhere to be seen. He was gone.

Misty went back inside, knowing she could not do anything at the moment. She decided to wait for her sisters to arrive and then she would make sure she was not left behind by Gary Oak.

"I'm going to find you, Gary. I don't care where you go, I'll find you." She told herself as she began making her own bags. As soon as her sisters arrived, she would begin her search for the playboy.

Outside the gym, a tired, annoyed and heartbroken Gary walked the streets of downtown Cerulean. Truth was that he had not planned for this and had nowhere to go or a place to stay. His heart had secretly hoped that everything worked out with Misty, and that by the time they had to leave the gym, he had no need to work for the League anymore. Yet, here he was, alone, hurt and lost.

"I should've never met her. Fuck the day I met her! Fuck her!"

He pretended to hate her and everything about her, but he knew he needed her. He had saved her life countless times until now, and would save her again in a heartbeat if she needed him. However, in all the years she and Ash had traveled together battling other trainers and defeating Team Rocket, she had never been placed in so much danger as she had been placed by being around him. Every time something serious happened to her he blamed himself. He felt responsible for her unlucky fate. He was to blame for all the badness that had happened to her.

"If I hadn't gotten that badge for free…if I hadn't accepted the job with the League…"

He mentally kicked himself for being the cause of all her pain. He had wanted to be the one who healed her wounds, when in fact he had been the one who had caused him. It did not matter how he looked at it, he always found a trace leading back to him as the culprit. Whether he wanted to or not, he was the cause of her pain. He was the cause of her hurt; and he could have been the cause of her death.

The feelings of guilt grew bigger with every step he took. He felt his weight become greater and greater to the point that he could not move freely anymore. He was cold, hungry, and in the verge of losing it once and for all. He had to stop. He had to eat. He had to let it all loose.

He stopped on his tracks as the smell of recently brewed coffee made way into his lungs. He closed his eyes as he took an even deeper breath, inhaling the wonderful smell as much as he could. He turned around and began walking inside the coffee shop in front of him. The place could not hold one more soul.

"This is my luck."

Gary sighed as he waited outside for anyone to leave the place before he attempted to walk inside. He stood there for quite some time until someone finally came out.

Gary picked up his bag, ready to run inside until he crossed paths with the leaving customer. He had blue spiked hair, an earring in his left ear, deep green eyes, and a smile that widened the instant he saw Gary standing in front of him.

"Hey, you survived. Did the redhead survive too?"

Gary clenched his jaw as he nodded. "We did just fine. What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Probably the same fucking thing you were about to do. Grab some coffee," he said as he lifted the cup of coffee and took a sip. "It's good. You'll like it."

Gary growled.

"Well, I've got shit to do. See ya, Oak!"

Gary's blood boiled at the thought of seeing him acting so detached after what he had done. The police had taken him into custody but the League had not pressed charges, so he was let go. He had not understood why the League had forgiven such an act from an amateur trainer but he was not going to stand there and watch him leave. He took a few steps towards his direction before Jake stopped and turned around.

"You know, I bet the redhead tastes good, if you know what I mean. I might go taste her one of these nights. Her sisters don't look half bad either…"

Gary lost all self-control. He dropped his bags as he ran to Jake, grabbed him by his neck and pressed him against the glass wall of the coffee shop. He grinded his teeth a he spoke to him in a low tone of voice, making sure his fingers dug deep into Jake's skin.

"I'm gonna kill you, you son of a bitch. Do you know what you did to Misty? She could've been killed."

Jake smiled trying to show Gary he was not afraid of him, but the reality could not be farther from the truth. Jake's gesture only made Gary press even harder on his neck. He did not care if people called the police. He was determined to kill him before the officers arrived.

"I don't know what the fuck you were thinking, but I'm gonna make sure you get nowhere near her."

Jake took his hands to his neck, trying to remove Gary's hands from him. Gary did not flinch and pressed even harder. Jake began to choke.

"I bet this isn't fun, ain't it? Not being able to breathe mustn't be fun. Feel this? This is what she felt."

Jake began turning purple as he desperately tried to push Gary away from him, but he did not let lose until Jake scratched his already hurt arm. Gary growled in pain as he released some of the strength he was placing on Jake. Jake used this opportunity to talk.

"It….it wasn't my idea, I swear! I didn't think the bolt…was gonna do that to her!"

Gary pushed him against the glass wall again, this time allowing enough air to flow for him to speak again.

"What do you mean it wasn't your idea? Who sent you?"

Jake did not respond.

Gary heard sirens approaching and he hoped the police had not arrived yet. He needed more time to straightened things out before he was sent to jail. He looked back and saw it was not the police but the fire department. He felt relieved. He could now return to his task.

"Who the fuck sent you?! Tell me or your balls won't see another day. I swear I'll kill you if you don't."

Jake remained quiet. Gary was beginning to lose his patience.

"Look, Jake, after what you did, no one likes you in this city. I can kill you now and no one would even bother to call for help. Either you tell me now, or you will return home with only one ball."

Jake flinched.

"Fine, ok. I'll tell you," Jake said and continued when Gary did not respond. "This lady sent me. Her name is Emily Dragon. She told me she would give me a lot of money if the Waterflower sister had a freak accident!"

"What? Your sister?"

"She is not really my sister. I couldn't care less what happens to her. She said she would make sure no one did anything to me. But I didn't finish the job so she didn't pay me."

"Well, boo-fucking-hoo. You didn't almost lose your life. That should be payment enough."

"Dude, my Pikachu went blind while swimming. I could've used the money to fix him."

"You owed him that much. He saved your sorry ass."

"I had to kill him. You didn't lose anything. I lost my Pokemon."

Gary punched Jake in his stomach. Jake bent over, gagging and coughing. Gary allowed him a couple of seconds to recover before grabbing his neck again.

"Where is she?"

"Who?"

Jake opened his mouth to speak but stopped when he saw an ambulance and police cars drive by. Gary did not dare to look back and thought they had come for him when Jake followed them with his eyes, hoping they would stop. Jake cursed when he saw them continue to drive down the street.

Gary took a deep breath, knowing his time was about to expire. He closed his fist and placed it on Jake's upper stomach. He pressed on it as he spoke again. "That Emily person. Where is she?"

"I don't know!"

"Bullshit!"

"Seriously, man. I don't fucking know!"

Gary growled. "That's it, say goodbye to your nuts."

"NO! I swear I don't know…but…"

"But what?"

Jake did not immediately respond and Gary pressed on his solar plexus, making it harder for him to breathe. "But. What?"

Jake nodded, showing he was willing to cooperate. It was too late now, and he did not care what happened to Emily at this point. Anyway he looked at it, he was screwed up.

"But dude, by the sound of it, I wouldn't worry too much about where she is right now."

"Why the fuck not?"

"Because you should be worrying about keeping an eye on your girlfriend; she won't make it out of this one alive."

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Look."

Gary turned around to look at what Jake was pointing at. He released his grip from Jake as he stared in shock to the scene unfolding in front of him. He could not believe his ears. He could not believe his eyes.

He could not force his body to move.

The Cerulean Pokemon Gym was on fire.

The End

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A/N:Don't kill me! This is just the end of this story, but not the end of the entire story. I will be MIA for probably a month or so but I will come back with a sequel that you guys will enjoy, whether you are an ego or a pokeshipper. Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you guys again here :)

3 MS