DISCLAIMER: I don't own Pokemon, okay? Don't sue me!
A/N: Okay, here we are with chapter 5, sorry if it took a while for it to go up, I've been in Wellington for the past 5 days. But I wrote it up there, so here it is now!
Misty woke up two hours later, after a fitful night tossing and turning in bed. She awoke to a sight she never wanted to see - Ash packing a suitcase.
"Please don't make me go" she whispered, tears flooding her eyes as she spoke. Ash heard her and paused. He was still angry at what Brock had suggested two hours eariler. Misty couldn't come with them, she was too easy a target.
"You have to" Ash said simply, stubborn as always but only for the good of his wife. He sighed and sat down beside her. "This is the only way I can protect you."
"You've said that several times now" Misty pointed out. "Look, I can help out, I can, um...I can..." She panicked, looking for an excuse to stay. Suddenly, it sprung to her. "Ash, I can help you find him! Please Ash, I could honestly help!" Misty was desperatly pleading and they both knew it.
"No" Ash immediatly replied, sending Misty's aqua eyes in a downcast of disappointment. He stood back up and resumed her packing. He checked his watch and gave her a wary smile. "14 hours to go. I've finalised the details with Violet and there is no way you can leave the house until midnight, Cinderella."
Misty gave a short laugh. She motivated herself to get out of bed and wrapped her arms around his neck as she came up behind him.
"My Prince Charming will come back for me, won't he?" she asked, leaning her head on his back.
Ash turned around and kissed her forehead. "As soon as I've done what I have to do. But for now we're just gonna have to play a game of paitence" he explained. They remained in the embrace for three minutes before Ash broke away. "Gotta finish your packing" he said quietly.
Misty shook her head. "Leave it" she whispered, and passionatly kissed him, not wanting to waste their last day together.
* * * * * * *
"Ash!" Delia Ketchum's voice rang through her house and her son somberly walked downstairs with Misty close behind.
"What is it, Mom?" Ash queried.
Delia held out an envelope. "This came in the mail for you. No return address though" she noted.
Ash stared at it in puzzlement. The address was hand written, but not in any hand he recognised. He shrugged and opened it anyway, but he immediatly wished he hadn't.
It was a single piece of paper, folded once with a message that sent chills down Ash's spine: "One M.K. down, one M.K. to go."
Ash hid the note from Misty and felt an angry sob clutch at his throat. He knew the initials were for Michael and Misty Ketchum, and he was now more determined than ever to find Giovanni.
"Who's it from, Ash?" Delia asked.
Ash shook his head. "It's...um...a Pokemon newsletter, nothing important" he lied. Misty had her own suspicions but kept them to herself, in front of Delia at least.
A moment later Brock walked through the front door, grocery bags in hand and surveyed the scene: Delia and Misty looking in confusion at Ash, who was holding a piece of paper.
"Hey, everything okay?" he asked. They were all glad for the ice-breaker and Misty turned to face him.
"Everything's fine, did you get the stuff for dinner?" she asked politly.
"But of course!" Brock said grandly, holding out the shopping bags that contained a week's full of groceries.
Dinner was quiet that evening. If there had been a thought interpreter, it would've been jammed, for there were many thoughts travelling through each individual mind.
Misty's was probably the busiest though. She was desperatly thinking of ways to stay without making Ash angry. Why had he gotten angry when she had first suggested it anyway? What was the deal? She didn't care if she had to wear an all-over bullet-proof suit and stay locked in the Ketchum house for however long this took - she knew she couldn't go back to Cerulean without him. It was too much bad deja vu for her.
As dinner ended, and Brock presented a colossal cheesecake that he had "whipped up" earlier that afternoon, Misty discreetly asked Ash if they could "talk." Ash knew the phrase well and inwardly cringed, not wanting to bear another serious discussion.
The two walked into Ash's room and Misty locked the door. Biting her lip, she walked over to Ash and folded her arms bravely, praying that she could stand up to his stubborness.
"Ash Ketchum, let's get one thing straight: you cannot force me on to that plane, and you're not going to either." It was a bold statement, and Ash was taken aback by Misty's tone. She hadn't used it since her mother had died.
"We talked about this Misty..."
"No, WE didn't talk about it, YOU talked about it and gave me no options!" Misty's voice was getting louder and Ash knew that one decibal higher could travel down to Brock and Delia's ears.
"Don't you see, Misty? There are no options! I hate to do this to you, but it's our only hope" Ash explained for what felt like the millionith time.
Misty stood her ground. "Okay, I've tried reasoning, explaining, begging...so now I'll try simplifying. I'm not going. Period."
"Yes you are" Ash replied.
Misty scowled. "No, I'm not! I may be your wife, Ash, but you can't control me."
"You're going, no question. Not unless you wanna get killed for something you hardly even understand" Ash retorted coldly.
"Well isn't that what you're doing anyway?!" Misty yelled, her anger reaching boiling point. She had never been this angry at Ash, except for maybe the gym incident two years ago.
The voices could clearly be heard from the kitchen downstairs, where Delia and Brock were worridly listening as they cleaned up the dinner dishes.
"Do you think I should go and talk to them?" Delia asked in concern for her son and daughter-in-law.
Brock shook his head. "Don't bother. They're adults, they can figure this out. They need to let off some steam, they've been through a lot in the past week or so" he explained.
Delia nodded, but couldn't help feeling a twang of panic inside of her as the voices upstairs got louder.
"Look Misty, I love you. You know that. Don't think I'm enjoying sending you away, because I'm not" Ash said calmly, trying to cool the hostility surrounding them.
"Well you won't have to suffer if I'm not going" Misty shrugged, trying to stay aloof through her anger.
"I'll suffer more knowing that you're here in more danger than you can imagine! I love you too much to..."
"IF YOU LOVED ME YOU'D LET ME DECIDE FOR MYSELF!" Misty screamed, losing all paitence with her husband. She stomped over to her packed bags and angrily opened them up.
"Misty...what are you doing?" Ash asked nervously. She didn't answer as she grabbed both bags and tipped the contents out onto the floor. "Oh my God, you're CRAZY! You have absolutly NO idea what you're getting yourself into!" Ash said worridly.
Misty stared at the tangled clothes as Ash spoke. She looked up at his horrified expression and stood up to face him.
"You never know, Ash. I might be of some use to you in this silly hunt you're going on about" she said quietly.
Ash smiled warily. "The operative word there being 'might.'" He sighed and shook his head. "I can't make you go back, I know. Maybe I have been a little selfish, mean..."
"Controlling" Misty supplied.
"Whatever. But you have to know it's for your own good. Your life" Ash pointed out.
"I know" Misty nodded. "But a life without you is no life at all for me."
Ash smiled, touched by the words, but suddenly overcome with fear. "You'll have to hide yourself most of the time. I can't take any chances if you're staying here."
"Yeah, I know, I'll stay inside all day while you big strong men go hunting for a lost cause" Misty rolled her eyes and grinned mischeviously.
"I honestly wish you would be serious about this" Ash groaned, not in the mood for humor.
Misty hugged him tightly. "I am serious. I'm serious about staying here with you and keeping watch over you and Brock, okay?"
Ash hugged her back, and suddenly remembered an important call he had to make. "I've gotta call someone" he said, pulling away and looking into her disappointed eyes.
"Who?" she asked suspiciously.
"Our old friends, Jessie and James...surely you remember them?" Ash teased, as they both thought back to the many run-ins with Team Rocket years ago.
"They're going to help you find their boss?" Misty looked stunned.
"Hopefully. I can't do this with just me and Brock alone. He's too powerful" Ash said, referring to Giovanni.
"Then call them. You'll want them here soon" Misty said soothingly. He gave her a grateful kiss and ran downstairs to use the phone.
After four impaitent rings someone finally answered with "Hello?"
Ash recognised the voice and smiled. "Hey James, it's Ash here."
"Ash, man, how are you doing?" James asked politly.
"Things are a bit better. I was calling to ask you a favour actually" Ash informed him.
"Okay, shoot."
"I need you guys to come to Pallet tomorrow. To make a long story short, I'm going to confront Giovanni" Ash explained, the resentment in his voice obvious.
James paused. "Why do you need us?"
"I can't do it alone" Ash grinned. "Are you in?"
"You can count on us, especially after that whole business...with Meowth..." James trailed off and Ash frowned in confusion.
"What about Meowth?" he asked.
James sighed. "After we left Team Rocket, Giovanni tracked us down, and...he..." There was a hesitation. "He fatally shot Meowth himself. Me and Jes were lucky enough to escape, but we've always wanted to get him back."
Ash was shocked. Giovanni had killed one of his own. "I never knew..." he whispered.
"Yeah. Don't worry, we'll be there tomorrow morning. We must avenge Meowth" James declared.
Ash smiled. "Thanks James. See you tomorrow." With that the phonecall ended and Ash got to thinking about how he was going to do this.
A/N: Alright, sorry about the wait, I am posting this right now, so hand over the reviews please! Stay tuned for more!
A/N: Okay, here we are with chapter 5, sorry if it took a while for it to go up, I've been in Wellington for the past 5 days. But I wrote it up there, so here it is now!
Misty woke up two hours later, after a fitful night tossing and turning in bed. She awoke to a sight she never wanted to see - Ash packing a suitcase.
"Please don't make me go" she whispered, tears flooding her eyes as she spoke. Ash heard her and paused. He was still angry at what Brock had suggested two hours eariler. Misty couldn't come with them, she was too easy a target.
"You have to" Ash said simply, stubborn as always but only for the good of his wife. He sighed and sat down beside her. "This is the only way I can protect you."
"You've said that several times now" Misty pointed out. "Look, I can help out, I can, um...I can..." She panicked, looking for an excuse to stay. Suddenly, it sprung to her. "Ash, I can help you find him! Please Ash, I could honestly help!" Misty was desperatly pleading and they both knew it.
"No" Ash immediatly replied, sending Misty's aqua eyes in a downcast of disappointment. He stood back up and resumed her packing. He checked his watch and gave her a wary smile. "14 hours to go. I've finalised the details with Violet and there is no way you can leave the house until midnight, Cinderella."
Misty gave a short laugh. She motivated herself to get out of bed and wrapped her arms around his neck as she came up behind him.
"My Prince Charming will come back for me, won't he?" she asked, leaning her head on his back.
Ash turned around and kissed her forehead. "As soon as I've done what I have to do. But for now we're just gonna have to play a game of paitence" he explained. They remained in the embrace for three minutes before Ash broke away. "Gotta finish your packing" he said quietly.
Misty shook her head. "Leave it" she whispered, and passionatly kissed him, not wanting to waste their last day together.
* * * * * * *
"Ash!" Delia Ketchum's voice rang through her house and her son somberly walked downstairs with Misty close behind.
"What is it, Mom?" Ash queried.
Delia held out an envelope. "This came in the mail for you. No return address though" she noted.
Ash stared at it in puzzlement. The address was hand written, but not in any hand he recognised. He shrugged and opened it anyway, but he immediatly wished he hadn't.
It was a single piece of paper, folded once with a message that sent chills down Ash's spine: "One M.K. down, one M.K. to go."
Ash hid the note from Misty and felt an angry sob clutch at his throat. He knew the initials were for Michael and Misty Ketchum, and he was now more determined than ever to find Giovanni.
"Who's it from, Ash?" Delia asked.
Ash shook his head. "It's...um...a Pokemon newsletter, nothing important" he lied. Misty had her own suspicions but kept them to herself, in front of Delia at least.
A moment later Brock walked through the front door, grocery bags in hand and surveyed the scene: Delia and Misty looking in confusion at Ash, who was holding a piece of paper.
"Hey, everything okay?" he asked. They were all glad for the ice-breaker and Misty turned to face him.
"Everything's fine, did you get the stuff for dinner?" she asked politly.
"But of course!" Brock said grandly, holding out the shopping bags that contained a week's full of groceries.
Dinner was quiet that evening. If there had been a thought interpreter, it would've been jammed, for there were many thoughts travelling through each individual mind.
Misty's was probably the busiest though. She was desperatly thinking of ways to stay without making Ash angry. Why had he gotten angry when she had first suggested it anyway? What was the deal? She didn't care if she had to wear an all-over bullet-proof suit and stay locked in the Ketchum house for however long this took - she knew she couldn't go back to Cerulean without him. It was too much bad deja vu for her.
As dinner ended, and Brock presented a colossal cheesecake that he had "whipped up" earlier that afternoon, Misty discreetly asked Ash if they could "talk." Ash knew the phrase well and inwardly cringed, not wanting to bear another serious discussion.
The two walked into Ash's room and Misty locked the door. Biting her lip, she walked over to Ash and folded her arms bravely, praying that she could stand up to his stubborness.
"Ash Ketchum, let's get one thing straight: you cannot force me on to that plane, and you're not going to either." It was a bold statement, and Ash was taken aback by Misty's tone. She hadn't used it since her mother had died.
"We talked about this Misty..."
"No, WE didn't talk about it, YOU talked about it and gave me no options!" Misty's voice was getting louder and Ash knew that one decibal higher could travel down to Brock and Delia's ears.
"Don't you see, Misty? There are no options! I hate to do this to you, but it's our only hope" Ash explained for what felt like the millionith time.
Misty stood her ground. "Okay, I've tried reasoning, explaining, begging...so now I'll try simplifying. I'm not going. Period."
"Yes you are" Ash replied.
Misty scowled. "No, I'm not! I may be your wife, Ash, but you can't control me."
"You're going, no question. Not unless you wanna get killed for something you hardly even understand" Ash retorted coldly.
"Well isn't that what you're doing anyway?!" Misty yelled, her anger reaching boiling point. She had never been this angry at Ash, except for maybe the gym incident two years ago.
The voices could clearly be heard from the kitchen downstairs, where Delia and Brock were worridly listening as they cleaned up the dinner dishes.
"Do you think I should go and talk to them?" Delia asked in concern for her son and daughter-in-law.
Brock shook his head. "Don't bother. They're adults, they can figure this out. They need to let off some steam, they've been through a lot in the past week or so" he explained.
Delia nodded, but couldn't help feeling a twang of panic inside of her as the voices upstairs got louder.
"Look Misty, I love you. You know that. Don't think I'm enjoying sending you away, because I'm not" Ash said calmly, trying to cool the hostility surrounding them.
"Well you won't have to suffer if I'm not going" Misty shrugged, trying to stay aloof through her anger.
"I'll suffer more knowing that you're here in more danger than you can imagine! I love you too much to..."
"IF YOU LOVED ME YOU'D LET ME DECIDE FOR MYSELF!" Misty screamed, losing all paitence with her husband. She stomped over to her packed bags and angrily opened them up.
"Misty...what are you doing?" Ash asked nervously. She didn't answer as she grabbed both bags and tipped the contents out onto the floor. "Oh my God, you're CRAZY! You have absolutly NO idea what you're getting yourself into!" Ash said worridly.
Misty stared at the tangled clothes as Ash spoke. She looked up at his horrified expression and stood up to face him.
"You never know, Ash. I might be of some use to you in this silly hunt you're going on about" she said quietly.
Ash smiled warily. "The operative word there being 'might.'" He sighed and shook his head. "I can't make you go back, I know. Maybe I have been a little selfish, mean..."
"Controlling" Misty supplied.
"Whatever. But you have to know it's for your own good. Your life" Ash pointed out.
"I know" Misty nodded. "But a life without you is no life at all for me."
Ash smiled, touched by the words, but suddenly overcome with fear. "You'll have to hide yourself most of the time. I can't take any chances if you're staying here."
"Yeah, I know, I'll stay inside all day while you big strong men go hunting for a lost cause" Misty rolled her eyes and grinned mischeviously.
"I honestly wish you would be serious about this" Ash groaned, not in the mood for humor.
Misty hugged him tightly. "I am serious. I'm serious about staying here with you and keeping watch over you and Brock, okay?"
Ash hugged her back, and suddenly remembered an important call he had to make. "I've gotta call someone" he said, pulling away and looking into her disappointed eyes.
"Who?" she asked suspiciously.
"Our old friends, Jessie and James...surely you remember them?" Ash teased, as they both thought back to the many run-ins with Team Rocket years ago.
"They're going to help you find their boss?" Misty looked stunned.
"Hopefully. I can't do this with just me and Brock alone. He's too powerful" Ash said, referring to Giovanni.
"Then call them. You'll want them here soon" Misty said soothingly. He gave her a grateful kiss and ran downstairs to use the phone.
After four impaitent rings someone finally answered with "Hello?"
Ash recognised the voice and smiled. "Hey James, it's Ash here."
"Ash, man, how are you doing?" James asked politly.
"Things are a bit better. I was calling to ask you a favour actually" Ash informed him.
"Okay, shoot."
"I need you guys to come to Pallet tomorrow. To make a long story short, I'm going to confront Giovanni" Ash explained, the resentment in his voice obvious.
James paused. "Why do you need us?"
"I can't do it alone" Ash grinned. "Are you in?"
"You can count on us, especially after that whole business...with Meowth..." James trailed off and Ash frowned in confusion.
"What about Meowth?" he asked.
James sighed. "After we left Team Rocket, Giovanni tracked us down, and...he..." There was a hesitation. "He fatally shot Meowth himself. Me and Jes were lucky enough to escape, but we've always wanted to get him back."
Ash was shocked. Giovanni had killed one of his own. "I never knew..." he whispered.
"Yeah. Don't worry, we'll be there tomorrow morning. We must avenge Meowth" James declared.
Ash smiled. "Thanks James. See you tomorrow." With that the phonecall ended and Ash got to thinking about how he was going to do this.
A/N: Alright, sorry about the wait, I am posting this right now, so hand over the reviews please! Stay tuned for more!