Chapter 33
"Dad!" Jace runs over to his father who is the closest parent to him.
Gary looks down at the boy. "What's up, Jace?"
"We need help!" Jace points in the distance where Lauren is fending off Pokemon using Arcanine and Scizor.
Gary narrows his eyes at the three grunts surrounding his daughter. Jace and Lauren were battling together until the grunts came out of nowhere and managed to separate them. "Go to your mother!" Gary tells his son before running towards Lauren. He whistles, and jumps in the air to be caught by Aerodactyl who lands him in the circle next to his daughter.
Lauren hurriedly grabs him. She was trying her best to look fearless in front of these grunts, but now that her father is here, she can be the little girl she is. "My dad's gonna make you regret that!" Lauren confidently shouts at the grunts.
Gary rests a hand on his daughter, keeping her by his side. "Should've listened to her while you could." Throwing out his final pokemon, he says, "Discharge!" Electivire emerges to powerfully shock the opponents. Gary was saving his strong pokemon as a last resort, but this is for his daughter.
"Thanks, dad." Lauren squeezes his leg she's hugging.
Gary smiles down at her. "Any time, Lauren."
The battle is now starting to look good on Ariel's side. Her family and friends have pushed back a lot of the Rockets where the battle is looking more fair now. If they keep up this momentum, Ariel's side will soon win. They even see the red and blue lights of police cars quickly approaching in the distance since the lab is in the far part of town.
"Iron tail!" Ash commands Pikachu who knocks out Kleon's last Pokemon. Before the Rocket can run for more Pokemon, Ash is quickly on him, and pinning him against a jeep. Pikachu's cheeks spark threateningly at the man. "You're going away for a long time."
Kleon smirks at Ash, which makes Ash more furious. "It doesn't matter how many of us you defeat, Mr. Champion. There will always be someone out to get you, and they'll use your daughter."
Ash punches Kleon's face, and Misty notices. Passing Ariel off to Politoed and Buizel, the woman says, "Watch Ariel!" She then sprints over to Ash and holds back his arm from hitting Kleon again. "Stop it!"
"He's threatening our daughter!" Ash angrily yells as he struggles to free his arm.
"Ariel's watching! Do you want her to see you hurting others like they hurt her?" Misty's cerulean eyes challenge his furious brown ones. With the two focused on each other, they don't notice Kleon moves his hands.
Ash lets out a reluctant breath because he knows she's right. Relaxing his arm makes Misty release him. "Fi-" Ash falls to the ground in pain, and Pikachu thunderbolts the fleeing man while Misty attends to her ex.
"Dad!" Ariel worriedly yells, but the Pokemon won't let her go.
"Stay there, champ!" Ash gives her a painful smile and it aches his heart seeing her tears.
When Misty presses down on his bleeding side, Ash grunts out in pain. "You need to relax." She tells him.
"If you didn't stop me, I wouldn't have been stabbed!" Ash seethes. She's always holding him back.
He tries to sit up and get back to the battle, but Misty shoves him back to the ground. "Ariel needs her father. Stop doing stupid things."
"Yeah, and Ariel needs to travel safely next year!" Ash shoves Misty's arm away, but due to years of swimming, her hold remains strong.
"I know. I'm gonna finish this." her determined blue eyes lock with his discouraged brown ones. Looking over at Ariel with Politoed and Buizel, Misty motions for them to come over. "Don't let him get up. No matter what." She narrows her eyes at Ash as a warning. Patting Ariel's back, Misty says, "Protect your father."
The woman then turns in the direction she saw Pikachu and Bayleef sprint after Kleon. A warm hand grabs hers, making her turn to see her daughter's matching eyes. "Wait, mom!" Ariel takes off her cap. Tip toeing, she places it on top of Misty's head. "For good luck. It makes me brave." Misty knows this cap, and she wants nothing to do with it because it once made her brave when she'd wear it on their travels. However, she doesn't have time to argue or make Ariel upset right now.
Kissing her daughter's forehead, Misty whispers, "I know."
"Noctowl!" Ash winces from his shout. The loyal flying type hovers above them. Noctowl just finished fighting some Rocket bug pokemon. "Take Misty to Pikachu!"
Noctowl obediently nods, and Misty is grateful for the ride. This way, she can dodge all the battles in the way of her and the fleeing Kleon. "Watch your father, Ariel!"
Politoed is not amused that he's also on Ash-watching duty. Ash feels the water type's glare on him, but Buizel is here too. Ariel kneels beside her wincing father. "Where's it hurt dad?"
Ash smiles at her while peeking one eye out. "I'll be fine. We should help your mother."
He tries to sit up, but Ariel holds his shoulders down. "Mom said you can't move."
"She also said fighting Team Rocket is useless, but she ran off to fight Team Rocket." Ash knowingly remarks.
Ariel raises a curious eyebrow at him. "Are you and mom getting along?"
Ash blushes and closes his eyes again. "No." He lies. Ariel grins at Buizel who gives her a thumbs up. Politoed isn't happy with this, though he will always listen to Misty and Ariel.
Across the field, Noctowl drops Misty off in front of Kleon, trapping him between her and Pikachu and Bayleef behind them. "It's over, Kleon!" Misty glares at him.
Chuckling, the man whistles. "I'm not going anywhere with you, Ms. Misty." Diving from the sky, a Salamence knocks Noctowl to the ground.
"Noctowl!" Misty worriedly calls to the pokemon. It flies back up in the air, though slowly. Noctowl is badly injured. By now, Pikachu and Bayleef have caught up. "Pikachu, thunderbolt!" Misty doesn't want Kleon getting away on Salamence, so Pikachu sends a thunderbolt attack at the dragon. This makes Salamence fly away from Kleon.
"Dragon pulse!" Kleon commands his pokemon.
With a powerful roar, Salamence's dragon pulse attack knocks out Noctowl. It pushes back Pikachu and Bayleef, injuring them heavily. Pikachu won't give up though. This man hurt his trainer and Ariel. "Pika!" Pikachu's cheeks spark. A roar gets his attention, so Pikachu looks up to see Charizard quickly approaching. Pikachu nods at Bayleef who uses her vines to throw him into the air where Charizard catches him. The two fight Salamence in the sky.
Seeing the retreating grunts, Misty approaches Kleon. All of her pokemon are battling by Ash and Ariel. At least Misty still has Bayleef nearby since Pikachu and Charizard are busy. "It's over." seethes the woman.
Kleon reaches for his gun, but Bayleef knocks it out of his hand with a razorleaf attack. Now, Misty grabs the man by the collar to pin against a tree. With Bayleef carefully watching his hands in case he tries the same thing he did on Ash, Misty tells him, "You're going away for a long time."
Kleon chuckles. "Like I told your ex-husband, it doesn't matter what you do to me. There will always be someone after your daughter."
Misty's hold tightens. She hates his confidence, especially since he's lost. "We're gonna make sure scumbags like you never come back." With some of the Rocket grunts arrested by the police outside of the gate, Misty notices the battle is almost over. Charizard delivers the finishing blow on Salamence, causing the dragon type to crash to the ground. Misty's glare returns to the smirking man in front of her.
"As long as her father is still the champion, she will always be in danger."
"As long as her father and I are around, we will always keep her safe!" Misty growls.
"Where were you two that day in the backroads?" chuckles the admin, which adds to Misty's anger. "She'll be 10 soon, right? Her pokemon journey won't be safe."
"Don't threaten my daughter!" the redhead hates how he's getting in her head. No wonder why Ash kept beating him. "She will always be safe wherever she goes. I'm gonna make sure of it, and it starts with putting you behind bars."
Officer Jenny is now beside her where Misty releases the man in her custody. The whole time Kleon is escorted to the police cruiser, he gives Misty a creepy smirk. Mew, Misty wishes he would grovel. She wishes that this would confirm the end of her fearing for Ariel. However, it just adds more anxiety on Misty who is now thinking about all the dangerous people that awaits her daughter next year. Ash is right. What can they do to protect their little girl?
Running back to where she left her daughter, Misty doesn't see them. She looks to the street and spots an ambulance. Once at the ambulance, she sees everyone is checking on Ash. "Your mom is not gonna like this." Gary snickers.
"Of course Ash Ketchum has to be the one getting hurt." Leaf rolls her eyes, though she's glad he's okay.
"I'm not surprised either." Brock says with Ariel in front of him.
Charizard and Pikachu land nearby as Ash sheepishly rubs the back of his head. "It's not like I wanted to get stabbed." Pikachu jumps on the bed to nuzzle Ash's cheek. He's glad his trainer is okay.
Misty walks up to them, and Ash notices her defeated eyes. Officer Mark already told them that Kleon was arrested. Why does Misty look so down? They should be celebrating. "Misty?" Brock curiously looks at the woman who Ariel now runs to to hug.
"Yeah?" Misty snaps her surprised attention at them. She's still deep in thought about what Kleon said.
Brock smirks when he notices the cap she's wearing. He claps her on the back. "Good job out there!"
Misty smiles at them all. "Thank you for protecting Ariel."
"It was easy!" Lauren boasts, making them laugh.
"Yeah! We'll always protect Ariel!" Jace nods.
"I'm glad." Misty gives the Oak parents a grateful nod.
"Alright. We're gonna go to the clinic now." the medic tells them.
Ariel rushes to her father's side. "I'm coming too!"
"We need an adult with her." the medic looks around at the adults while handing Pikachu to Brock. No Pokemon are allowed at the clinic. There are certain exceptions, but this isn't one of those. Pikachu watches his trainer and Ariel get in the back of the ambulance, and it makes him sad to be left behind like when Ariel was in the hospital for a month without him seeing her.
All the adults look around at each other. Any one of them could go, but Brock is the most fitting person. The Oaks need to take their children home, and Misty doesn't like Ash. However, Ash weakly speaks from the back of the ambulance. "Ariel should be with Misty."
"Brock is her godfather." Misty tells the man, but she finds herself climbing into the back of the ambulance with them, leaving the rest of the adults confused. Gary and Leaf already had a lot of questions when they found out Ash and Misty have been alone on this mission the past few days. Now, even Brock is confused, but they're all glad the two are getting along again.
In the back of the ambulance, Ash closes his eyes due to his fatigue and pain. This worries Ariel. "Dad!" She sniffles.
Ash grins at her. "I'm fine. Just tired."
"That's what they say in the movies, and then they close their eyes and die!"
"He won't die." the medic reassures her. They have the bleeding under control, and they don't think the knife hit anything major.
"That's good." Misty mutters. She doesn't want Ariel feeling guilty or anything about her father's injury. Taking the cap off of her head, Misty places it on Ariel's. It looks better on the girl. "This will make you brave." Misty repeats what Ariel had told her earlier when giving her the hat.
Ariel knows her mother is correct. Wiping her eyes, the girl shows a strong face to match the newfound courage she has. "Did you feel brave?"
Misty sighs, but she needs to say this for Ariel. "Yes."
This comment makes Ash open his eyes to curiously meet his ex's distracted ones. He doesn't want to talk about that painful hat, so instead he says, "Thanks for getting him, Misty." Ash lets out a ragged breath. "And for stopping me."
"You're welcome." Misty holds Ariel's hand tightly. The girl is glad her parents are speaking nicely to each other, but she's more worried about her father right now.
Hours Later
Ariel, Delia, and Misty are in Ash's room at the clinic. He got a couple of stitches, but should be out of the hospital by tomorrow. The man wants to leave now, though Delia won't let him. Melody was called, and she's on her way. The only reason Misty is in the room is because she was here with Ariel. Now that Delia is here, Misty can leave since Delia can watch Ariel. Nevertheless, the woman doesn't want to let her daughter out of her sight. Not after Kleon's words. Ash is too weak to protect her right now, and Delia is older. Misty has to stay by Ariel's side.
Like everyone expected, Delia has been crying over her grown son. Even Ariel is slightly concerned for her father having to deal with her hysteric grandmother. Looking at Misty, Ariel whispers, "What do we do?"
"Your dad can handle her." Misty quietly replies. She knows better than to intervene on Delia's motherly doting.
"Mom, I'm fine! They say I can leave tomorrow!" Ash reassures his mother again. Unfortunately for him, Delia continues to bawl herself to sleep.
That night, Delia is sleeping by Ash's side, and Ariel is asleep on the small couch. The last person awake, Misty, is sitting by the window to look out in case someone decides to storm the clinic for Ariel. The woman finds it hard to sleep now that she's experienced the threat on her daughter's life first hand. She understands why Ash struggles with sleeping.
Thus, when she hears him muttering, she quickly walks over to wake him. Bringing her hand up to his shoulder, she shakes it, but this just causes Ash to lift his free hand to her. He grabs her hand so that it stops bothering him. Misty wants to pull her arm away, but she can't. It's not like his hold is tight or anything. No. His hold is perfect. She sits on the chair by his bed. Gently brushing his hand with her thumb, Misty nostalgically smiles at it.
She feels less anxious about the attacks today. It's been so long that Misty forgot how at ease this man can make her. She's hated him for years, so does this mean she doesn't hate him anymore? The woman quickly shakes her head. She hates him. Just because he's been a little nice, and they've had to fight together for Ariel, it doesn't mean they like each other again. They just had a common enemy. Now, they can go back to hating one another.
Flashback
"Sorry, Mist." The nervous boy mutters.
Misty sighs. "Ash, just think of this as us hanging out. No need to be so nervous."
Ash shakes his head. "No! This isn't a hang out! It's a date!" Their first date too. Misty confessed to Ash the other day, which made him happy to know she feels the same way. He confessed back, and the two have been an official couple.
Misty feels nervous too, but nothing changed between them besides them adding another title. They're still best friends and now they're boyfriend and girlfriend. They can still behave normally around each other. Therefore, Misty is just trying to think of this as a hangout where she will finally be allowed to kiss and hold hands.
The redhead blushes. She and Ash have kissed a couple of times since their confession. This is all so new between them, which makes things awkward, but she doesn't hate it. She's wanted this for years now. Ash had stopped holding her hand because his got too sweaty for his liking. He didn't want to make her hold a sweaty hand. Misty doesn't mind. Holding Ash's hand makes her feel less anxious.
Grabbing his hand again, Misty intertwines their fingers. This is how she likes it, and it'll also help her keep Ash from removing his hand again. "Mist!" Whines the boy.
"I like holding your hand."
"It's really sweaty."
"It's still your hand." Her cerulean blue eyes warmly gaze into his worried brown ones. "I'll always hold your hand."
Ash gives her that small goofy smile of his that always makes her heart swoon. "Thanks, Mist. I love holding your hand too." It's small and smooth while his is large and rough. Misty's hand fits perfectly in his. While their first kiss had been clumsy, their first time holding hands was very natural. She can easily slip her hand in his, and he can feel every part of her hand too. Ash always loved her hands. They've picked him up many times as well as saved him. Now, he gets to hold them whenever he wants without fear of her rejecting his feelings.
Flashback Over
Ash slowly opens his eyes. This is the best sleep he's had in a long time. The drugs the clinic gave him for his pain really put him to some blissful sleep. He remembers having a nightmare, but it quickly disappeared, and it didn't come back. Those drugs must've kicked in to help him.
Glancing to his left, he sees his mother hasn't moved from her seat. Her hand is still in his. The man has an itch on his face, so he brings his right hand up since it's his free hand. However, he feels a weight keeping his hand down. Looking over to his right, he stiffens up at the familiar orange hair he hates. Why is she holding his hand? What's going on?
The door swinging open, makes Ash shake with a start and he lets go of both women's hands. Groaning as he grabs at his wound, Ash looks at the new arrival, who is none other than his girlfriend. Misty also awoke from the loud bang of the door. Ariel, being a heavier sleeper, is still blissfully on the couch, but Delia also looks over at Melody.
The brunette rushes to her boyfriend's side where she tearfully gushes over him. "Babe, are you okay?"
Ash isn't tired. On the contrary, he's feeling the most energized he's felt in a while. He doesn't need to be on edge around Misty anymore. Ariel is out of danger. And Ash got a good night's rest. This is the best he's felt in years since before he was the champion. After the divorce, he thought he needed someone new to keep him company. He was searching for someone to start a new family with.
However, he already struggled enough having time for Ariel, so he quit trying to have another family. Melody was that nice comfort for him, and a part of him knows he was using her to make it seem like he's doing better than his ex. Nevertheless, Ash doesn't feel like he needs to show off anymore. He just wants to be happy, and he wants Ariel to be happy.
Meeting the tearful eyes of the woman holding his arm too tightly, Ash tells her, "Let's break up."
Honestly, I really wanted to break up Ash and Melody for a while now. I realized how many chapters I have right now, and I don't wanna make this story any longer by unnecessarily adding Melody drama. It's not like the Melody drama would be anything new though. It'd just be her saying things to Misty and Ariel, and I don't want to repeat scenes. I also didn't have any other ideas for Operation: Bye Bye Melody. It's fine. I want her gone. I have other things to focus on in this story. Get ready for lots more pokeshipping!
UPDATE: I didn't realize I leaked part of the next chapter haha. I just updated the document and replaced the previous chapter 33 with this one, so there's no more chapter 34 sneak peek. I haven't finished it, so those 80 of you who got to read the unplanned sneak peek got lucky. Anyway, stay tuned for when I finish the next chapter.