Hi, everyone, it's the day you've all been waiting for. THE LAST CHAPTER! (omg!) I'm actually confused. On my computer, it says that this is chapter 26, but here it's 25...? Did I miss a chapter? I hope not. If you think something didn't make sense (like there's a chapter missing!) please tell me and I'll try to fix it. But on the other hand, I coulda combined two chapters... i don't know. I don't even know if this is the longest chapter anymore because now i'm confused...

okay, today I especially want to thank Arisu Tsuranu for being the most supporting reviewer EVER. You're the reason i'm actually going to POST the sequel. (gives you big happy thank-you cake!)

a big thank you to everyone else who liked it

and thank you for those who read it, lol.

At the end of this chapter, I'll be talking about the sequel and some things you should know about it... and then you can decide if you want it or not. If not, well, okay then.

It's been almost two years since i started this story (I started it September 11th, 2005) and almost two years since i finshed it (November 21st, 2005) it's weird that i'm posting it now. (kinda)

I DON'T OWN POKEMON. And I don't get to see the new episodes because I don't have cable, therefore I don't get cartoon network. But I DID see a few episodes of Diamond and Pearl while I was on vacation. I was all like WTF? (when I saw that they had replaced May and Max with Dawn! I say they should have never gotten rid of Misty to begin with, don't you agree?)

Okay, read on.

"I'm sorry about that, Ash," Brock said sincerely. "I bet you would've won if—"

Ash threw an offhand motion. "It doesn't matter. I can always challenge them again later on." He stopped, wondering if this response was 'right' in his friends' book. "Uh…and next time I'll beat them!"

Brock nodded very slowly, seeming to accept this.

Misty frowned at them all. "And I guess I have to leave now."

Ash's fake smile instantly disappeared. "But…but, Misty…"

"Goodbye, May, Max." Misty went up and hugged Brock. "Goodbye, Brock. Don't over-flirt yourself."

"What? I don't flirt that much, Misty," Brock protested.

Max snorted loudly. "No, you don't. You only flirt with every Nurse Joy, Officer Jenny, and any other pretty girl we see."

Misty then turned to Ash, catching him in a moment where everything showed on his face. She regretted leaving. She didn't want to abandon him like this. He was obviously crushed. Once he noticed her looking at him, his face seemed to sweep blank. Misty went over to him and hugged him tightly.

"Goodbye, Ash. I'm—I'm sorry I have to leave."

Ash pulled away for a second, looking Misty in the eye. "It's not your fault. It's just you've got responsibilities as a Gym Leader…… I'm going to miss you like hell, though." And before thinking, he kissed her lightly on the cheek.

Misty put both hands to her face to try and hide her fiery hot blush, and Ash had to look down to hide his.

"Uh…uh…," Ash stuttered.

"It's okay," Misty said silently. "I'll meet up with you guys as soon as I can, okay? I'm really going to miss you all…"

And before Ash knew it, she was gone.

Brock smirked. "So, Ash, what was the kiss for?"

Ash glared for a split second. "Oh, stow it, Brock."

"Seems like Brock the Rock is right about yet another thing!" Brock exclaimed, pointing one finger to the sky heroically.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ash and Max asked in unison.

Brock laughed slightly. "Oh, nothing." He nodded to the pokémon center. "I'm guess we can stay there for the night?"

Max sighed. "Do we have to? I don't think I want to deal with you, Mr. Drool-Face."

"Come on, Max. Look at it. It's in the middle of no where. There's no civilization for miles." Brock sighed happily. "And add Nurse Joy… It's……perfect…"

May rolled her eyes. "Fine. C'mon, lover boy."

Brock eagerly went into the pokémon center, but to his surprise, there was no Nurse Joy at the desk. Instead, there was a woman about his age, with long, deep blue hair and cerulean-colored eyes. Brock's jaw dropped.

"Hello, and welcome to the pokémon center," the woman said.

"Um…," Max started.

The woman smiled. "I bet you were expecting Nurse Joy, right? She had to run an errand and won't be back until tomorrow. I'm just a civilian taking over for a little while. My name's Amelia."

Max looked over his shoulder to see Brock doing nothing. Strange, he really thought that Brock would jump to the counter and say something like, 'hey, beautiful, where have you been all my life?' But he just stood there.

"Yeah, we'd like to rest our pokémon, please." Ash handed over his pokéballs, and May and Brock followed soon after. "And maybe a room for the night?"

Amelia smiled. "But of course." She looked down to a clipboard, and then back up to them. "Ah, yes, I can put you all in Room 6. What names should I put it under?"

"I'm May, this is Ash, my little brother Max, and this is Brock," May introduced, indicating each of them in turn.

Amelia nodded. "Okay then, you're all set."

When Max closed their room door behind them, him, May, and Ash stared at Brock, completely confused.

Brock didn't notice though. "She's…she's lovely. Beautiful. The most beautiful girl I've ever seen!"

"If you think that, then why didn't you flirt with her like you always do?" Max asked, not bothering to mention that Brock seemed to refer to every girl as the most beautiful girl he's ever seen.

Brock sighed. "Max, Max, Max. Didn't you see her? She doesn't want to be messed around with. I don't deserve to flirt with her. At least, not in the goofy way I do in front of you guys." He flopped down on one of beds. "Wow, this is so weird. I've never felt this way before," he muttered.

May crawled up to the upper bunk bed that was over Brock. "Mm, whatever, Brock. All I know is I'm real"—she yawned loudly—"tired." She collapsed on the bed. She took of her sneakers and threw them over the side, ignoring Max's loud protests. Something about getting hit on the head and to watch where she was throwing those 'bombs'.

Max and Ash went into their beds as well, Ash feeling somewhat uneasy.

I know this uneasy feeling, Ash thought. It means nightmare. Bad nightmare. And sure enough………

Ash was seven again. Looking up at his mom, he said, "Pikachu's gone, Mom. Dad's gone. Everyone just keeps leaving and I can't do anything about it."

"Everyone leaves sometime, dear. I know you don't want to hear this, but one day I'll be gone too."

"But! No! I'm not going to let you leave me. No."

"There's nothing you can do to stop it. It's just the way of life. Old people die, new people are born. It's the cycle, dear."

"But some people didn't deserve to die. Dying of old age and murder are two different things, Mom. Pikachu got killed. Dad got killed. Who's next? I swear I—" He cut himself off once his mother disappeared right in front of his eyes. "Wha—?" Looking around, Ash saw that the room got suddenly dark. What was happening?

"Mom?" he called out warily. "Mom, don't leave me alone. I don't want to be alone…"

Silence.

"Please," Ash pleaded. "Don't—I don't want…"

"So selfish," whispered a voice. "I, I, I. Me, me, me. Don't you care about anything but yourself?"

"I care about my friends and my mom and my—"

"No you don't. You only care about what happens to you when they die. You only worry about the pain you'll feel. You shouldn't have friends. You don't deserve them."

"I—"

"There you go again! 'I'! I guess I'm going to have to prove my point. Watch."

There was a small light, and Ash could make out seven figures. He knew them. Brock, Misty, May, and Max. Pikachu, his mother, his father.

Suddenly, they began to scream this horrible scream, and blood poured from their ears and eyes, their nostrils and mouth.

"Wait! Wait, stop!" Ash shouted. "Don't—don't do that!" he tried turning away, not standing the sight of so much blood. But he couldn't.

"You only care for yourself. You don't deserve these peoples' love. You don't deserve anything or anyone or—"

Ash awoke with a start, panting heavily. Running a hand through his hair, he got up out of his bed and sneaked out of the room. He had fallen asleep in his clothes, so he didn't bother changing. He was only going outside for a little fresh air anyway.

After he sneaked outside, he looked up at the star-filled sky. Deciding that he would just take a little walk, he made his way away from the pokémon center. Walking a mile. Then two. Then four.

He was in the middle of no where when he heard a voice.

"No! I won't let you hurt him! Please don't hurt him!" a boy's voice shouted.

"We won't have to hurt him if he'd just come with us. But if he doesn't come with us, I swear I will kill your little pokémon!" snapped another voice.

Ash glared deeply and began to jog toward the voices. No pokémon were going to die on his watch. He eventually saw a boy, about ten years old, holding a Mudkip tightly in his arms and glaring at two adults. The two adults must have been in their late twenties. Dressed in black uniforms with red R's on their chests. The man had short jet-black hair and brown eyes, and the woman had dark brown hair with green eyes.

Team Rocket grunts, Ash thought disgustedly. But why would they want to steal a little Mudkip? I thought they liked stealing powerful pokémon… Realizing that he only had one pokémon on him, but deciding that didn't matter, Ash made his way and stood in front of the boy. "Hey, what do you two think you're doing?!"

The brunette woman stared at him. "We're Team Rocket, and I think we're stealing that Mudkip!" She unhooked a pokéball from her belt, and motioned her partner to do the same. "I guess we have to do this the hard way. Sceptile, go!"

"Let's go! Magcargo!"

Ash looked at the two pokémon that had just come out. He had seen a Magcargo before, but this was the first time he had seen a Sceptile. The final evolution stage of Treecko, the Sceptile looked like he was about to tear someone's head off. Ash briefly wondered if they had stolen these pokémon and turned them.

"Torkoal, come on out!" Ash threw his own pokéball, ignoring the irritated and confused expression of the ten year old behind him.

"What do you think you're doing? Just busting in like this?" the kid hissed, annoyed. "I don't need help from you."

Ash glared at the kid. "Well, kid, forgive me if I want to save your pokémon's life." He turned his gaze back on Torkoal. "Torkoal, use Flamethrower on Sceptile!"

"Torrr…koal!" Torkoal took a deep breath, and let loose a stream of fire from his mouth. A stream that hit Sceptile straight on. The Grass pokémon seemed to shrug the attack off, even though he got pretty damaged.

"Magcargo, use Rock Slide!"

"Use Leaf Blade Attack, Sceptile!"

Ash nodded to Torkoal. "Iron Defense."

Both attacks bounced off Torkoal's hard shell, and once Torkoal came out of his shell, Ash called, "Use Overheat on Sceptile!"

This attack worked to perfection, fainting Sceptile, and making the brunette look at Ash in wonder.

"Huh, good attack. Maybe we should catch that one too, Nico."

Nico nodded. "Sure, why not? The boss will love an addition to that Mudkip. And hey, if he doesn't like it, we can just kill it, eh?"

Ash clenched his fists. "I'm not letting you kill any pokémon. You damn Team Rockets could never really do any damage."

Nico laughed. "Hear that, Alondra? I think he's calling Team Rocket weak!" He smirked at Ash. "Little do you know, Team Rocket is getting a hell of a lot stronger. You should see the pokémon our boss has. Ah, newly acquired, still has that new pokémon smell."

Alondra wrinkled her nose. "Ack, that pokémon smelt…" She looked back to Ash. "Nico's right. Rocket's getting stronger than you think, kid. Oh, we'll be making small appearances. People will die, and soon enough, Team Rocket will rule…"

Ash folded his arms across his chest. "Oh, really? People will die? Team Rocket will rule? Ha. Not in this life. Not when I'm still alive."

Alondra and Nico laughed. "What?" Alondra asked. "You? How old are you, nine? You can't dream about stopping us!"

"You'll see," Ash stated seriously. "I'll kill every one of you if I have to."

The kid behind Ash rolled his eyes. "You three talk too much. I thought you were battling. Mudkip, faint Magcargo with Hydro Cannon!"

"Mud—KIIIIIP!" Mudkip let out the water equivalent of a Hyper Beam.

So that's why they wanted that kid's Mudkip, Ash mused. Hydro Cannon is a rare move.

Magcargo did faint, and the Hydro Cannon made Alondra and Nico blast-off, Jessie and James style.

"Sheesh. What's with you, hero-boy? If you're going to try and help, actually help." The red-haired kid snorted.

Ash spun around to stare at the kid. "What would you have done against that Sceptile? Grass beats Water. Maybe next time, I should just grab a seat and watch you do it yourself."

"I did it all the other times. Rockets have been around a lot lately. They want my Mudkip, they want my friend's Charmander, they want the Raikou that's been hanging around here." The kid shrugged. "And they won't stop blabbing about their boss's new pokémon. Several people have been injured, and the Nurse Joy from the pokémon center near here even had to go to our hospital and help out."

"Why are you telling me this?"

The kid shrugged again. "You seem to have some kind of hang-up with these dudes. I think you're pissed at them. Which is good, because people who are pissed do a good job at taking care of those who bother them."

Ash snorted. "Whatever. And you're welcome." And he strode away.

A minute or two passed before the kid yelled, "Wait up!" he ran next to Ash. "You are going to try and stop Team Rocket, right? They—they already hurt my parents and my best friend. I don't—I don't want them to kill my pokémon or my family or—"

Ash put a hand up. "You know, kid, a thought came to my mind a few minutes ago. A new plan. I don't want to lie to my friends forever. I've got a new mission I've got to complete, and I want you to keep your yap shut about it."

"How can I if I don't even know what it is? And will you stop calling me kid? My name is Andrew, not kid. Stop talking to me like I'm a baby!"

"Fine, Andrew. You'll know when to keep quiet. Don't tell anyone about me, and I'll do what I have to do."

Andrew shrugged. "Okay…"

Ash nodded and finally left, his train of thought running at the speed of light. Team Rocket was getting more powerful. Were killing people and pokémon? How did this happen?

Well, nothing's going to happen, because I'm not going to let Team Rocket do anything. They already took one friend from me, and I'm not about to give them a chance to take anyone else.

"Why in the world would you want to do that, Ash?" Professor Oak inquired from the other end of the phone.

"Don't worry about it, Professor. I just want them to have a good rest at the ranch until I get to the next city. Besides, I'm keeping Grovyle with me, so it won't be like I'm completely pokémon-less."

"But sending Swellow, Torkoal, and Corphish here?"

"C'mon, Professor, it's not like I'm going to meet a Gym Leader on the road. Just take them for a little while. Who knows, maybe when I ask for them back, I'll have more Hoenn pokémon for you to take care of." Ash gave the professor a halfhearted smile, and the professor finally accepted.

Ash sent over the three pokéballs, said goodbye to the professor, and hung up. He knew that carrying around one pokémon wasn't the smartest thing to do if you ran into Team Rocket, but right now, he didn't really have a choice.

"You've been acting a little quiet today, Ash," Brock commented, sitting next to Ash on the couch in their room. "What's up?"

"Uh, nothing much," Ash replied. "Just thinking of battle strategies." It wasn't a complete lie, but it covered it.

Brock frowned. "I don't know, Ash, it just seems like you've been making a lot of weird excuses for doing things that aren't 'you'. Are you sure you're not hiding anything from us? Are you still upset about…about Pikachu? Because if you are, I—"

Ash held up a hand, cutting Brock off. "Don't worry, Brock, I'm just fine. But you aren't making it much better by asking me questions like that all the time." He looked to Brock meaningfully. "You know, Brock, you're one of my best friends. I want to ask you a question."

"Okay…"

"If there was a major threat that was about to blow up at any moment, and there was a chance that I or your family or any of your other friends would die, would you try and get rid of that threat?"

Brock cocked his head to one side. "That's a very interesting question. Where'd you come up with it?"

Ash shrugged. "A dream I had. It was very weird," he lied.

Brock seemed to believe this and answered, "Yeah, I would probably go after the threat."

Ash nodded. "Okay, thanks."

"Why do you ask?"

"Uh, you know, it was just in that dream I had. I guess I just wanted to hear it from you before I started believing things that weren't true," Ash answered monotonously, trying to make his story sound real.

Brock nodded. "Okay…" And they sat in silence for a few more minutes before Brock turned on the TV.

"And we're here in Turnerville. Turnerville got hit by uniformed assailants last night. Several people got injured, three killed. Along with that, several pokémon also got killed, and several more are unaccounted for……" the newscaster went on with more information, but he didn't hold Ash's attention anymore.

"That's terrible," Brock muttered under his breath.

Ash clenched his fists. It has to be Team Rocket! I can't just sit around and let them do this! Agh, I swear I will hunt down each and every one of them and make them stop!

Midnight. The only sound was the steady breathing of May and Max and the snoring of Brock. Getting out of his bed and quickly getting dressed, Ash hoped that his friends wouldn't wake up. Grabbing his backpack and slinging it over one shoulder, Ash crept out of the room and into the main room of the pokémon center. Amelia wasn't at the desk, and Ash assumed that she was sleeping somewhere too.

He knew what he had to do. Throwing a mock salute in the direction of his friends' room, he silently wished them luck. He then turned to the door and took a few steps. He was right in front of the door, and it slid open. But before he stepped out, he heard a tired voice from behind him.

"Ash…? What…? Where are you going?" May asked from a few feet behind him.

Ash turned around, his eyes wide. "Uh… Go back to bed, I'm just a part of a bad dream…?"

May put her hands on her hips, now appearing very much awake. "I am not going back to bed. Tell me where you're going."

Ash scowled. "Fine. I'm leaving, I'm leaving and I'm not coming back."

"Why?"

"Why? Why? Because I have something I've got to do, May. I don't want anyone getting hurt, I don't want……… And I don't feel like keeping up a damn façade forever. I don't want to continue my journey. I don't want to win those last two badges."

May was quiet for a long time before asking, "What is this about, Ash? What do you have to do?"

"I have to protect you and the others from what's going to happen. I'm not going to sit around and do nothing while people get killed. Who knows who could be next? You? Brock? M-Misty? And pokémon are getting killed too. I'm not going to let them kill anyone! I'm not letting them do anything else!" Ash turned his back on her again, only saying, "Tell the others goodbye for me." before leaving.

Running as fast as he could in the dark, Ash didn't stop until he was a good five miles away from the pokémon center. Looking back, he thought, I'm never going to see them again. I've got to find a way to stop Team Rocket, and I'm not going to stop until they're no longer a threat. I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking this. I bet people are already getting ready to help. I'll just be the undercover guy…

Sighing, Ash looked to the sky. This is for you, Pikachu.

Well, there you have it. do you WANT the sequel or not?

Okay, first, info

Oh, before that, I got 'Brock the Rock' from one of the older pokemon episodes. (I fail to remember which one), and the song that always reminds me of this story is 'Adam's Song' by Blink 182 (I'm not sure why, I was probably listening to it a lot when I wrote this)

OKAY. sequel info.

It's called Echo, and it takes place (don't say anything) two and a half years later. This one kinda focuses more on problems with Team Rocket (they're on a freakin rampage or something, lol) and it focuses more on Ash's relationship with Misty. (it gradually moves on) There is, of course, Pikachu mention, and Ash is still sore about it... and uh, letssee, I hope you don't mind a little ooc for at least Ash because he's changed over time

UNFORTUNANTLY (i can't spell that by the way) it's not finished. I know, i started it FOREVER ago, but i've had a bit of a writer's block, and the beautiful angsty show Supernatural showed it's beautiful face (in the form of Jensen Ackles) and it begged me to write fan fiction for that. I'll try to keep writing it and maybe it'll be up soon if at least one of you guys wants it. If you have any questions about this chapter or the sequel, review (so I can PM you back) or if you don't have an account, leave your email address, and i'll answer questions or whatever.

I hope you liked this story, and I hope you cried sometime during it (sorry, but if you ever had someone cry over something you wrote, you'd know what I mean) lol.

please review

-Kaisa