Pokewing Z: Dimension Rifters, Episode 36: Ghost Busted!
A Mega-Crossover Fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke.

(Title) Ghost Busted!
(Subtitle) Who ya gonna call?!
(Image) Ash is flying away in terror as a wickedly-grinning Valerie points her gun down at him, ready to fire.
(Jingle) Synthesizer
Special Guest: Brian Drummond as Ash's "Visitor"

After running for a much longer amount of time than he needed to, Riku finally decided to slow his pace to a brisk walk, and then from there, a steady stride, when he was absolutely sure that he had shaken the Spirit Detectives off of his trail.
"Shew." Riku half sighed, half spoke. "That was a close one." He looked down at the little pink box in his hands. He couldn't help but smile. "Success. Or so I hope." After a moment of letting his mind linger on the possibilities that the contents of this box, he raised his head, looking around. In all of his hustling, he'd not really been paying attention to where he was going. "A park...in Amity Park. Go figure." He had, in fact, stumbled upon a park, and a rather beautiful one at that. The mid afternoon sun glistened off the water of a small pond eloquently, and a slight breeze made the limbs on the trees sway majestically. "A perfect place to bask in a perfect moment!" Riku stated excitedly, plopping himself down on the ground at the edge of the water, gazing at his own reflection in the water. Again, he couldn't help but smile, something that he was doing a lot more as of late. "Man," he said aloud. "I'm proud of myself." He held his smile for a moment, but slowly, it began to shift into a frown, as Riku began to hear those all too familiar voices of doubt in his head.
"What if she says no?" The first voice questioned.
"Yeah. She's not going to say yes." There was no question in the second voice. Only a statement, and a firm one at that.
"Yeah." A third voice agreed with the second one. "She's not going to spend the rest of her life with a villain like you."
"A villain?" Riku repeated what the third voice had said aloud. "I'm no villain. I've changed."
"Once a villain always a villain." The third voice argued.
"Yeah man," a fourth voice chimed in. "You'll never change."
"You're crowding my head." Riku said, his voice raising as his hands reached up to rub his temples, hoping, to no avail, to ease the pain. "Get out." It was a passive command, not a yell.
"Why? Does the truth hurt?" That was voice number six.
"Think about it." Lucky number seven spoke up. "What have you ever done to deserve ANY woman? Let alone her." That was all Riku could take.
"GET OUT!" That time it was a yell, and a loud one at that. A scream of rage escaped his lips, echoing into the distance. A moment later, the man fell to his knees, staring with hatred into the water, angry at what he saw. A mirror image of him, but with one distinct difference. A pair of blood red eyes stared back at Riku.
"This is who you are, boy." The image of the young man's former evil self smirked, which caused the real Riku to rage.
"NOOO!" The latter screamed, thrusting one of his fists into the proverbial face of his mirror image. The evil Riku slowly faded away, rippling away into the water. A few moments later, drops of water began to drip into the pond, but it wasn't raining. The tears began to flow swiftly down Riku's face, as he began to think to himself. "Why?" The voices had departed from his conscious, but they had done their job. "Why do I even think I deserve someone as good as her?" As he wandered that, his mind began to drift, and the thoughts began to flow through his head, almost in a lyrical pattern...

"Help Me" – Alkaline Trio
*20 Second guitar intro plays*
Riku walked in total darkness, only a dim light lighting a circle around his feet. He could see nothing at first, looking around, wandering where he was. After about 10 seconds of looking around, different lights began to show up, appearing as large, illuminated squares suspended in the darkness. The young man shielded his eyes from the quick change in lighting at first, but when he lowered his guard, he saw that the lights had dimmed slightly, and that they were now displaying things. Images of his life. He affixed his gaze on the first one he saw.
'Here you'll find me in between, heaven and hell my dear, where nothing's what it seems.'
And image of good Riku flashed upon the screen, but quickly, faded from a smiling, bright, blue eyed man, to a red eyed, sneering, evil delinquent. Riku turned his head away quickly, not wanting to remember that part of his life. However, as quickly as he removed the first image from his sight, a second one was already in his face.
'It's just as well I fear I'm giving you the creeps, and a farewell kiss to go into the unknown.'
The next image showed the battle of Ash and Riku inside of Demon's Door Cave. Specifically, the end of the fight. When Riku was about to lay the finishing blow on Ash, but Ayumu's tears and accusations of the attackers monstrosity stopped him. He had scared her. She may have been putting up a strong front, but she was afraid of him. It was easy to tell. Riku had allowed Ash to live, and as he had exited Demon's Door Cave, he had very quickly glanced a thoughtful look back at this brave, and kinda cute, girl. As quickly as the look had happened, he had turned away, jumping off into the night, not sure exactly where he was headed.
The sight of Ayumu's tears did not please Riku, especially since he had been the one to cause them. He once again turned away, but, to no surprise, was faced with another image.
'Here I'll find you in between, heaven and hell again where nothings what it seems.'
This time, Ayumu was the focus of the image. It showed her running to a body that appeared to be Riku's. However, when the former got close enough to see the figure in its entirety, she saw nothing but a face and eyes of pure evil. When she stopped and cringed, the face looked confused, its eyes turning blue, and he just smiled at the young woman, not saying a word. After a moment, Ayumu looked relieved, and threw herself into the arms of her lover. The face smiled for a moment, before looking at the real Riku, the one that was watching, as it's face turned back into the evil one, smirking.
"No!" Riku yelled, or at least, he wanted to, but no sound came from his lips. He didn't even seem to notice, however, as he threw a fist as hard as he could at the illusionary face, although this did nothing but cause it to dissipate into nothingness. The momentum that Riku put into his punch merely pulled the rest of his body foreword, causing him to fall flat on his face.
*music fades to intro guitar loop for a moment*
Riku pulled himself up to his knees, and he began to sob, speaking aloud, though very quietly and softly.
"I don't want that to happen. I don't want to hurt her. I don't deserve her. I don't deserve anything. Everything I touch is destroyed. No!"
*music cuts back in*
'And they sing, help me help me won't you? Sing me sing me one last song. Help me help me, somebody help me, save me from myself.'
*the camera pans out, drawing further and further away from Riku, as he kneels there, motionless. When the camera reaches its furthest point, the last line of the song plays*
'Take me from this hell.'
*fade to black*

Riku finally came back into the real world, finding himself face down in the grass, the top of his head inches away from the pond, the tips of his long black hair actually floating on the surface of the water.
"Ugh. Another flashback." Riku propped himself up with his hands, eventually moving into an Indian-style sitting position. He sat silently for a moment, before an 'Oh shit' look became plastered on his face. Hastily he looked around for a few moments, before becoming thoughtful, then looking into his left hand. A sigh of relief emerged his lips as he lay eyes on that which he was afraid of losing; the ring. Content, Riku stood up, dusting himself off and stretching. "Gotta stay focused." He spoke confidently to himself. "Gotta stay sharp." The young man nodded, to nobody in particular, before using his might to create a rift, and jumping in, on his way back to the Central Dimension.

Later that night, our heroes were on the move once more, chasing the ever-annoying Box Ghost.
"If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, I'M SICK OF HEARING ABOUT YOUR DAMNED CARDBOARD!" Ash roared into the night sky.
"YOU DO NOT KNOW THE POWER OF A CARDBOARD BOX!" the Box Ghost shouted. "It will, shall we say, SEAL your DOOM!" he laughed at his own ridiculously stupid pun.
"You know what? One more bad pun like that and I'll ram that cardboard right up your ass! How's that?!" Ash decided that he'd had more than enough crap from the Box Ghost, and he showed this fact by doing a lightning fast charging tackle across the sky, pinning the Box Ghost against the nearest building in an instant. This turned out not to be a good idea, however, as he crashed into the window of Casper High's resident ghost hunter: Valerie Grey. The short, slightly chubby African-American teen girl turned around with a jolt.
"What the HELL?!" Valerie shouted, immediately noticing Ash's large, feathery wings.
"Oh shit..." Ash moaned, as he got up. "Not one of your better ideas, Ketchum..."
"You...I've seen you around Danny Fenton! Who are you, and why are you hanging around Danny?!" Valerie immediately whipped out her laser.
"Whoa, whoa. Put the gun...laser...thing...down. I can explain." Ash stammered. "I didn't mean to crash into your window. This asshole..." Ash held up the unconscious Box Ghost to visually represent said 'asshole', "...pissed me off, so I thought I'd beat the ever-loving crap out of him." At that moment, the Box Ghost regained consciousness, threw up his arms, and tried to shout "BEWARE!" before Ash, with an angry scowl on his face, and not even looking behind him, backhanded him back into unconsciousness.
"Take THAT. Totally NINJA'D your ass." Ash smirked. "Satisfied? Can I leave now without getting a hole blasted through me?"
"In this order: no, no, and it'd be more like SEVERAL holes blasted through you." Valerie answered, pointing her gun a little bit closer to Ash with each response. "I'm not the best ghost hunter in Amity Park for nothing, you know. I make my living off of wiping you scumbags out."
"I think what we have here is a misunderstanding...you see, I'm not a ghost." Ash said.
"Then why the hell are you able to fly?!"
"..." Ash looked a bit dumbfounded at Valerie's question. "They're called WINGS."
"Yes, they are. Humans don't HAVE wings." Valerie's gun edged ever closer to Ash's face.
"I'm not like most humans." Ash explained. "Besides...this is all just..." Ash looked around quickly before staring back at Valerie. "...A dream. Yep, a dream. I don't actually have these wings. So if you'll just let me go—"
"Yeah, let me get back to you on that after I shoot your goddamn face off." Valerie started to pull back the trigger, and as Ash saw the ecto gun light up, Ash let out a small "Eep!" of horror, and closed his eyes...just as he felt himself being dragged through the floor by a single hand yanking him by the ankle. As he quickly became tangible again, hitting the floor with a thud, he let out an "Oof!"
"You can thank me later." Danny suddenly spoke up, grabbing Ash by the hand and phasing him through the building itself, back into the limited safety of the outside world.
"Whew! And now to get as far away from here as possible!" Danny exclaimed.
"Uh...yeah. By the way, Danny? No mention of me doing the 'eep', okay? Ash Ketchum does not 'eep'." Ash said, causing Danny to narrow his eyes in boredom.
"Whatever dude." Danny sighed.
"Oh, and let's leave out the 'oof' as well."
"Yeah, yeah..." Danny muttered as they flew off together into the night sky. Unbeknownst to them, they were being watched by a shadowy figure. The familiar dark-haired, demon-possessed beauty immediately opened her wrist communicator and spoke into the tiny receiver.
"Motoko reporting, sir." she announced, and was greeted by the sinister voice of Wayne Williams on the other end, along with a visual of his evilly-grinning face.
"I've been expecting your call, Motoko. Have you managed to trail Ketchum?"
"Of course, sir. I never fail the missions you give me."
"Aside from finding the Spirit Stone, obviously. Let's do something about that, shall we? Like, I don't know...uh...FINDING IT. There's a thought."
"Sir, permission to speak freely...?" Motoko sighed.
"You have three seconds. Use them wisely. I might extend the period of your questioning my authority if the question IN question isn't COMPLETELY RETARDED."
"Sir, with all due respect, this search has been fruit—"
"Stop. Three seconds are up...nah, I'm just fucking with ya."
"Hilarious, sir."
"Go ahead. For the sake of your continued existence, I would hope you refrain from asking me to help you. Believe it or not, I'm actually DOING something sitting here."
"Of course, sir. The point is...I can't do this by myself. I would like to request a team of Nightmares to raid Fentonworks. We can then search the Ghost Zone for the Spirit Stone freely."
"The Nightmares won't raid. You know as well as I do that they're mindless creatures. They even ate the sofa last week. Besides..." Wayne's grin widened. "I have a better idea. We'll go over its details later, though. What did you have to report?"
"Ash Ketchum made contact with the local ghost hunter, Valerie Gray, as you planned, sir."
"Hmm hmm hmm...excellent." Wayne laughed an evil, ominous laugh that seemed to echo throughout the apartment he was currently situated in. "Excellent work, Motoko, you may return here now. I'll take care of the rest myself. This is going to be twisted and awesome!" he said as he ended the communication between him and Motoko.

The next morning, Valerie walked slowly to her locker, still mentally punishing herself for letting her "prey" get away from her. As she reached said locker, she noticed a teenage boy with red hair, a "Hard Rock Café" shirt, and long khaki pants leaning on the locker next to hers, looking like he was about to cry.
"What's wrong with you?" Valerie asked.
"Oh, it's crazy...you wouldn't believe me if I told you." the boy said.
"Wait, don't you have Algebra with Danny Fenton's sister?" Valerie examined him a bit closer. "You're that transfer student from Japan. Wayne, wasn't it?"
"Yes, that's right. I was followed here by a boy about your age. I needed to find you, because this boy seeks to kill me." Wayne said, putting on his best 'puppy dog eyes'.
"KILL you?! Why the hell would he want to do that?!" Valerie looked stunned. Wayne was struggling at this point not to grin evilly, as was his usual response to anything he considered a stupid question.
"This boy, he wants more than to simply destroy me. He's trying to destroy all humans. He hates humanity with a passion, only because he was born different than they were. He's only half human, you see." As Wayne finished saying that, Valerie's eyes widened enormously, as she remembered what Ash had said the night before...
"Not like most humans..." she repeated the words out loud, and for Wayne, another struggle ensued; this time, he kept himself from laughing. "I know who you're talking about. He crashed into my apartment last night!" Valerie shouted. "Do you know where he's staying?!"
"Right across the street from that crackpot laboratory...uh...Fentron...Fentonio..."
"Fentonworks!" Valerie exclaimed, not realizing that Wayne would be familiar with the name more than likely if he knew where Ash lived. "I'll do what I can to stop this bastard. Thanks for the info!" And with that, Valerie ran off as fast as her legs would take her. As she vanished from sight, Wayne suddenly grinned a wide, evil grin, saying "Excellent...the plan's coming along PERFECTLY."

Ash walked to his apartment alone that same evening, pretending not to notice a certain ghost hunter trailing him as silently as she could through the sky. As he neared his apartment, he suddenly walked further past it, continuing to walk until he got to the local landfill, where he suddenly said "You realize I can sense you following me, right?" to which Valerie just responded by holding still, giving Ash an evil glare when he turned his head casually to look at her. "Seriously, what the hell do you want?"
"You know why I'm following you." Valerie responded scornfully. Ash just sighed.
"Somehow, I don't think I would have asked why you were doing it if I knew why you were doing it."
"I'm here to send your mess up your evil plans." The Ghost Hunter responded, as though Ash hadn't even said anything. This caused the latter to arch a brow.
"MY Evil-" was all Ash had time to blurt out before he was forced to dodge a shot from Valerie's laser pistol thingy. He tried to say something a second time, but was once again forced to make a quick dodge roll to the side. Valerie showed no signs of slowing down in her assault either. Ash backed up as best he could, given the uneven terrain. He suddenly fired a Spirit Gun in Valerie's direction, though it contained next to none of Ash's usual power. It struck Valerie in the chest, and despite being so weak, it did manage to knock her slightly off-balance, though she quickly gained her bearings.
"Listen to me! I'm not the ene—" Ash was once again interrupted by a blast from Valerie's ecto gun.
"I don't really give a damn what you have to say! The guy you've been hunting this whole time has blown your cover, demon!" Valerie shouted.
"Oh god...Wayne, right?" Ash asked, slapping his forehead with his right hand.
"You made the mistake of letting him live long enough to warn the best ghost hunter in Amity Park about you!" Valerie pointed her gun right at Ash.
"Have you ever got it wrong. Wayne's the bad guy, not me." Ash stated flatly. "And I'm NOT trying to kill him! I'm trying to SAVE him!" Ash threw his arms up in frustration. "I mean...yeah, I've WANTED to in the past, but I couldn't live with myself if I willfully took a life." This actually got Valerie to lower her gun a tad.
"This is just one of your tricks..." Valerie said, looking away, before raising her gun again.
"If I'm lyin', I'm dyin'. I swear...my heart beats like yours does: for justice." Ash said. Will you at least give me a chance to prove that I'm not a bad guy?"
"..." Valerie stared on intently before silently squeezing the trigger on her ecto gun. As the blast fired, Ash easily dodged out of the way, but watched in horror as the blast was heading toward a couple of middle school kids who were playing about forty feet away. In a flash, Ash was in front of the kids. The blast connected with him, causing him to shout out in pain. Valerie instantly dropped her ecto gun and hovered down to Ash's level with a horrified expression on her face.
"Oh my God! Are you okay?!" Valerie asked, while simultaneously thinking 'This guy's fast...he could have taken me down at ANY TIME, but he didn't...is he telling the truth?'
"You guys okay...?" Ash asked the two kids, smiling. The first, a tall black-haired boy nodded, as did the shorter redheaded boy.
"You guys need to get out of here..." Ash told the two boys, who immediately nodded and ran off.
"Why did you...?!" Valerie asked, still in shock at what had just unveiled before her very eyes.
"I told ya...I'm not the bad guy...why don't ya go ask Wayne if he'd jump in front of two middle school kids?" Ash said indignantly.
"I..." Valerie cut herself off, lowering her head. "Start talking."
"Well, it's like this..." Ash started to explain, as a certain evil redhead listened in on their conversation, frowning.
"Damn...plan B it is, then." Wayne said. "Nothing will stop the murderocity of this fight between them." After a few seconds of silence, he pulled out a tape recorder, hitting the record button and speaking into the microphone. "Note to self: make murderocity a word when I kill all humans."

As classes let out for the day, Valerie immediately headed to her locker, and sure enough, Wayne was standing there.
"Hey there." Wayne greeted her. "Did you find that demon boy?"
"He's no killer, I found out that much by watching the guy after our fight." Valerie said coldly. "You lied to me."
"..." Wayne stood there feigning shock.
"I don't take kindly to liars, you son of a bitch. Tell me the truth, NOW." Valerie stated, her eyes narrowing to slits. As she finished, Wayne let out a monosyllabic chuckle.
"You couldn't handle the real truth. Most of what I said is true, anyway. Ash is half-human, that's the gods-honest truth, and he IS trying to kill me. But what I might have forgotten to tell you is..." Wayne cut off, his eyes appearing to take a reddish glow as he suddenly grinned wickedly. "I'm as bad as they come. I'M the one trying to destroy you pathetic humans. It took everything I had not to crack up when I told you that sob story yesterday."
"By real truth...are you talking about the other dimensions? Ash told me about it, so you can't shock me with that."
"I know, woman. I was there. I heard every word that little bastard told you. NOTHING escapes my knowledge, when it has to do with me anyway." It was Valerie's turn to stand there in shock, the only difference between her shock and Wayne's being that hers was real.
"So...what are you gonna do?" Wayne said, after a minute of staring up at the ceiling of silence. "You gonna shoot me with the gun in your backpack? Not a good idea."
"Give me one good reason why it isn't." Valerie finally spoke up.
"Because...if you reach for that gun, I'll order my servant to kill your father." Wayne's grin widened immensely.
"What did you...?!" Valerie near-stammered out, her eyes as wide as dinner plates.
"I didn't stutter like you did, my dear...how do you think I found out about you in the first place? My servant Motoko is most excellent at doing things without anyone's knowledge. It's how I know where that little fucker Ash lives in the first place. It's how I'm able to keep my eyes on Amity Park as a whole. And now..." Wayne trailed off, his grin widening. "It's how I've got you working for me to kill Ash Ketchum. You WILL do this one thing for me, won't you?"
"..." Valerie looked away for a few minutes.
"..." Wayne was silent as well, his grin slowly fading as he raised his left arm and pressed a button on his wrist communicator. "Yeah, Motoko? It's me."
"No, wait!" Valerie's head snapped back toward Wayne, panic in her eyes. "I...I'll do it. Just don't hurt my dad..."
"Good girl." Wayne quipped. "Sorry Motoko, false alarm. Continue to keep a close watch on Damon Gray, and I'll contact you if anything else comes up."
"Understood, master." Motoko nodded, and the communication went dead.
"Now that we know who's in charge..." Wayne smirked. "Here's what I want you to do..." As Wayne began to explain his evil plot to Valerie, he failed to notice a certain raven-haired, red-jacket clad Spirit Detective eavesdropping on his conversation.
"I see..." Yusuke whispered to himself. "So he wants to play it like that, eh?"

Ash, Danny, Sam, and Tucker all sat down outside of the Nasty Burger, not so much to eat as just hang out.
"So, did you guys actually get to see the new Dead Teacher?" Ash asked, a bored look on his face.
"Obligatory Space Chapter? Yeah. It blew." Tucker commented. "It was as bad as Jason X."
"Well, duh...it was in SPACE." Sam rolled her eyes. "Cardinal rule of horror movies: do NOT put your movie monster in outer space!"
"So if I ever make a horror movie...I'll remember that." Ash spoke slowly.
"Damn right you will." Sam smirked.
"By the way...what you said happened with Valerie last night...you think it'll happen again?" Danny asked.
"Nah. I told her the REAL truth...you know, that You-Know-Who's a bastard who probably still thinks I'm out to kill him."
"You mean Wayne?" Sam and Tucker chimed in simultaneously.
"Yeah..." Ash trailed off for a second, then his eyes widened and he said "Wait, what?!"
"We know, Ash." Sam said. "It wasn't hard to figure out based on the way you act when he's around."
"Fair enough." Ash said, looking away for a minute. "I guess I'd better fill you two in on the details, then." But as Ash got ready to explain, he looked up and saw Yusuke running toward the Nasty Burger. "Huh? Yusuke?"
"We got a problem, Ash...a fairly big one at that!" Yusuke said, then looked over at Sam and Tucker. "You guys mind going to order something while I talk to Ash about it?"
"They know, man. They know Wayne's the bad guy. I'd be surprised if Jazz doesn't already know as well." Danny explained.
"Okay, well that saves us a minute. Wayne's blackmailing Valerie Gray. He's threatening to kill her dad if she doesn't fight you to the death."
"Shit..." Ash mumbled. "Okay, we need a plan. Obviously, he sent Motoko to watch Mr. Gray."
"Wait, why would he want Valerie to fight you?" Sam asked. "It's not like she has superpowers."
"That's just it. I already know that. If I fight her, I'll more than likely end up killing her." Ash sighed. "And if I don't, she'll kill me and end up at a point of no return. Either way, Wayne wins. If only she realized he'd off her dad anyway..."
"..." The four friends sat (Or in Yusuke's case, stood) in thought for maybe a minute before Danny piped up.
"Isn't it obvious? We just keep Motoko from carrying out her mission."
"Yeah, but we need to keep constant watch out for Mr. Gray. Wayne won't just call off Motoko because we thwart his plan ONE time." Yusuke countered.
"Why not have Jenny watch him after today? We can make up an excuse for her to remain absent from school, and Valerie's apartment isn't TOO far away from our place." Ash explained.
"That could work, actually...we'll need to see if Jenny's up for it." Yusuke said.
"Of course..." Danny trailed off. "...That means we're going to have to explain things to Valerie's dad."
"That's true...otherwise he's gonna wonder what the hell a robot's doing outside of his apartment." Yusuke stated.
"True…" Ash trailed off, seeming to be lost in thought. "Well, I'm gonna head back home…"
"Why? It's only 5:45, man." Tucker protested.
"Because…I'm sensing something or someone nearby...it's best I get into a fight with whatever it is away from an area with a lot of people, know what I mean?" Ash explained.
"Ohhh…" Tucker realized why Ash had gotten silent when he saw Valerie peek her head solemnly around the corner. He noticed that she looked like her world was coming to an abrupt end.
'Poor Valerie…' Tucker thought. 'This Wayne guy needs a kick in the balls. I hope Ash takes him out ASAP.'
"See ya guys later…oh, and Yusuke?" Ash turned his head.
"Yeah? What is it, man?" Yusuke raised his head as he spoke.
"You might wanna forget what we said. Go take care of that thing." Ash eyes narrowed to slits. "Put the boots to it…maximum style."
"Ah, make it wish it never fucked with us, right?" Yusuke asked, then smirked. "I can do that. I can do that easily."
"Good. Make it so." Ash returned the smirk, as he jogged off toward Condo Ketchum.
"I'm off now too, guys. See ya in a bit." Yusuke cracked his knuckles and ran off as well.
"So…anyone wanna get some burgers? I mean, since we're here and all…" Danny trailed off.
"TUCK MAN WANT MEAT!" Tucker bellowed.
"Make mine a veggie burger. God have mercy on your pathetic soul if it isn't a veggie burger, Danny Fenton!" Sam threatened.

Ash suddenly came to a stop a couple of miles after he had jogged away from the Nasty Burger.
"You can stop trying to tail me." Ash said calmly. "I've known you were following me since we were at the Nasty Burger, Valerie."
"It's that obvious, huh…?" Valerie said, walking out from behind the fence that had separated her and Ash. "Look, I'm sorry about yesterday, but…"
"I know. You don't have a choice this time. Wayne's an idiot if he thought I wouldn't figure it out. He's using Motoko to hold your father's life at stake in case you wuss out of this fight. Am I close?"
"Forgive me…" Valerie said, pulling out her ecto gun.
"Wayne is gonna face justice very soon, Valerie." Ash said, once again perfectly calm, before jumping over the blast Valerie reluctantly fired at him. "Yusuke told me the whole thing; he overheard that braggart telling you about how he was holding your father hostage."
"Not like it matters anyway. There's not a thing you and your friends can do to stop him from doing that." Valerie shed a tear.
"She's right, you know!" chuckled the voice of Wayne, as he also stepped out from behind the fence. "There isn't a damn thing you guys can do about it. All I have to do is switch on my communicator, say 'Do it', and it's over."
"Like I'm going to let you do that!" Ash shouted, firing a Spirit Gun wordlessly at Wayne, which ended up knocking the redhead back. Wayne didn't have time to recover before Ash's left foot had been planted firmly in his jaw. He stumbled backward several feet before thudding up against a wall.
"Valerie…" he spoke up after a few seconds. "What are you pissing around for?! Start fighting Ketchum, you stupid bitch!"
"She doesn't have to fight me. You won't be alive long enough to give Motoko that order." Ash said coldly, his face partially hidden in shadow.
"What…?!" Wayne's eyes widened. He had been freaked out by the much colder tone in Ash's voice…in fact, he could swear that the voice that came from Ash's mouth was an entirely different person's voice…
"I said…" Ash started again, raising his eyes to the point where they were visible. Wayne's eyes widened even farther when he saw that Ash's eyes had now turned blue.
"Huh?! Who…who are you?!" Wayne shouted.
"Obviously not the person you were speaking to a second ago." Ash's "Visitor" spoke up, smirking. Valerie, who had stood by previously, was now wide-eyed and slack-jawed.
"What the hell's going on?!" Valerie questioned, her eyes refusing to return to their normal "height" for the time being.
"Now I understand…" Wayne grinned evilly. "Ash wasn't so much behind that power surge a couple of months back as you were. But if you're not technically Ash, then who are you?"
"Like I said once before, dead men do not have the privilege of hearing my name." the visitor spoke once more, his own grin forming as he planted Ash's right foot in Wayne's stomach, succeeding in knocking the wind out of him completely. Wayne didn't have time to recover just yet, however, as the visitor repeated this action…not once, not twice, but three times, each time more painful than the last.
"Compared to that fool from the future, you're nothing, boy. I almost feel remorse for what's going to happen here momentarily." The visitor let out a dry laugh.
"…Damn you, what makes you think you're better than me?!" Wayne spoke up after several seconds of silence from all three parties present in the area.
"Because I know who trained you, child. You don't even BEGIN to match him in power."
"You…how dare you…I'll show you that I'm every bit as able to defeat you as my master must have been!" Wayne suddenly vanished, reappearing behind the visitor and lunging at him with his elbow outstretched. The visitor simply sidestepped this, yawning.
"Think before you speak, boy." Seconds after saying this, the visitor had grounded Wayne once more, slamming his face brutally into the sidewalk. "Your master never defeated me. What made you think you could?"
"…" Wayne remained silent, tears starting to drip from his eyes.
"You can't fool me with those tears, boy. You might have fooled Ash into thinking that you wanted help, but you can't fool me."
"Don't…don't kill…" Wayne stammered.
"Oh PLEASE. Don't kill you?! Do you have ANY idea how many human lives you've taken?!" the visitor spoke up, a scowl on his face. "ANY idea at all?! They didn't deserve to die, but you killed them anyway! What honestly makes you think you deserve to live after the sins you've committed?!"
The air was thick with tension all around the three people who were present. After a few more tension-filled moments of silence, the visitor raised his hand and the Rift Sword materialized.
"No answer, I see…nothing you say would've convinced me anyway. Farewell." Before the visitor could swing the sword downward, however, Valerie's hand shot out and grabbed the sword.
"…Let go." The visitor said in a chilling tone.
"No. What gives you the right to decide who lives and who dies? I don't know who you are, but the responsibility of Wayne's death will fall on Ash once he comes to." Valerie spoke harshly toward the visitor, who stood there motionless for a minute, apparently taking in what Valerie had just said.
"Girl…this man tried to hold your father hostage, threatening to kill him if you didn't cooperate and try to kill Ash here…knowing this, you'd still let him walk away from this encounter?"
"Yes." Valerie answered.
"…He was wrong, then. The human race is definitely on the right track with people like you around. I'll do as this lady asks, Wayne…but if you continue to threaten her father, I WILL end you, you little worm. Do I make myself clear?" the visitor asked, allowing Wayne to get to his feet. Wayne simply nodded, in shock that he was being let go. There was another moment of silence as Wayne watched Ash's eyes revert to their original brown color.
"What the fuck just happened…?" Ash asked, as he blinked several times.
"I wish I knew." Valerie said, letting go of the sword finally as Ash's arm dropped. Ash's eyes began to widen as he realized what had just about happened.
"Oh good god…did I nearly kill Wayne…?!" Ash asked, in total shock.
"It's okay…he's still alive, as you can see…" Valerie explained.
Wayne stared down Ash in shock for a few seconds, before he shakily raised his wrist communicator to his lips and stammered out "D…do it…"
"NO!" Valerie shouted, but much to her surprise, Ash smirked.
"I was waiting for that, you idiot." Suddenly, a voice cut through from Wayne's communicator, but it wasn't Motoko.
"Yeah, Motoko can't come to the phone right now."
"Urameshi?!" Wayne growled.
"Of course. I overheard you in the hall earlier today, jackoff. So Ash and I decided to ruin your fun. I'd say Motoko's halfway to the local landfill by now."
"Good job, dude." Ash cheered.
"Thanks. It was pretty damn fun, I gotta say. Meet ya back at Condo Ketchum." Yusuke then went silent, as the feed had died due to Wayne shutting off the communicator, a vicious scowl on his face.
"You son of a bitch…I was perfectly content to watch you and Gray here maim and or murder each other, but you just had to go ruin my fun, didn't you?!" he shouted. "I'll get you for this, Ketchum. The next time we meet, you'll wish you'd never been fucking BORN!" as he finished speaking, wings sprouted from Wayne's back and he flew off angrily.
"And that takes care of that." Ash smirked.
"You sure showed him." Valerie commented, also smirking.

The next day at school, Ash was getting a brown lunch bag out of his locker, when Valerie walked up to him.
"Hey Val." Ash greeted.
"Look, I don't say this often, but…I was wrong about you, Ketchum. You're a good guy." Valerie smiled, holding out her hand for Ash to shake, which he gladly did.
"Thanks Valerie…sorry about all that yesterday. I just about lost my shit with that guy taking me over again."
"Who is that?"
"I don't know, but if what you told me last night was true, maybe he's not all bad…"
"Anyway…I just wanted to let you know, Ash…" Valerie trailed off, smiling once more. "I'm on your side, and I always will be."
"Thanks." Ash said, and as he finished saying it, his communicator went off. "Catch ya later!" He then ran down the hall. Seconds later, Valerie saw Ash fly by the school window and flash her a smirk and a thumbs up, which she returned happily. She then walked off in a lighter mood, a new friendship having been forged through the fires of "war"…