Pokemon: Secrets of the Stars

By Mystical Star

A Kitty-Chan Production

Disclaimer: Mystic does not own Pokemon, to make things simple. She does, however, own the Maplewood Gym and City (with kudos to her sister for the name "Maplewood"), Misao, Amaya, Severina. Midori, Seiya, Sayori, Rex, Gaven, Mari and Marie, Aurora, Ray, Hiroko and her rendition of Ash's father. Please ask if you plan to use them.

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Part V-The Power Within

From Chapter Four...

"Stop this, Giovanni!" Domino screamed, finally seeing no choice. The Team Rocket executive lifted his foot from Ash's hand and looked up at his right hand woman.

"009, is this insubordination?" He gasped, a bit surprised. Domino gulped hard before answering. "Yes" She declared.

"Well then, it looks like this boy won't be alone...in death," Giovanni began to cackle evilly, as if he'd gone mad.

"He's lost it..." James observed.

Giovanni stepped away from Ash, still laughing. Then, observing the lineup of Pokemon that had assembled in front of him, he made a decision and pointed to one of the Dragonites.

"Hyper beam!" He commanded. To everyone's dismay, the dragon Pokemon opened its mouth where a large multi-colored light was forming. Ash looked up just in time to see the beam heading straight for him and to hear Giovanni cackling insanely.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!"

On with the story...

Ash closed his eyes, waiting for his demise, when he felt something grab him around the waist and pull him away. The young trainer opened his eyes to see himself looking down on a very confused Giovanni, looking about for his victim, who seemed to be missing. Ash looked up to see who was holding him. It was Misao.

"Misao?" Ash asked, a little confused himself.

"Misao! Is he alright?" A voice came from behind them. Misao turned herself and Ash around to see Misty standing there. The psychic Pokemon trainer handed Ash off to Misty.

"I'm fine, but what's going on?" Ash lied. "It's the power of Pokemon, we're using it to defeat Team Rocket," Misty explained.

"You watch Ash, we'll take care of the rest!" Misao waved as she disappeared, appearing to use a Pokemon's Teleport move. Misty smiled and began to set Ash down on the ground, the young Pikachu trainer wincing in pain.

"You liar," The redhead chuckled. Ash raised an eyebrow.

"Huh?"

"You said that you were fine," Misty said, setting Ash down on the Temple's top step. "I meant, I was uh...finally.... safe?" Ash blurted. The water trainer giggled.

"Ash Ketchum you are a strange one."

On the ground

Jessie, James, and Domino stood speechless as their Boss as he went off into a mad rage. "WHERE DID THAT BRAT GO? I MUST TAKE REVENGE ON MAKOTO!" Giovanni boomed.

"Who's Makoto?" James asked.

"Revenge for what?" Jessie added.

"Why on this boy!" Domino shouted back at her former boss*. Giovanni whirled around and glared at Domino.

"You.... What did you do with him?" Giovanni demanded.

"ME?!" 009 shrieked, wondering how the Team Rocket founder had come up with such a radical assumption. "Yes, you! What did you do with him?!" He demanded.

"She didn't do anything, it was me!" Came another voice from behind 009. Domino whirled around to see a small red haired girl standing behind her.

"Who are you?" Giovanni asked.

"You're worst nightmare, we are here to destroy you once and for all, just like Makoto tried to do," She replied. Suddenly, Giovanni recognized the girl from that fateful night ten years ago.

"You! That girl with the Mew!" He declared. The girl smirked. "Yes, that girl who Makoto helped save, that girl who is filled with the drive for vengeance for what you did to his family, that girl named Misao!" The girl cried as her body began to glow with a strange light.

"Uh, Jessie, what's she doing?" James asked, pointing timidly at Misao.

"I don't know, but I don't think she's very happy, she does look quite tough though..." Jessie replied.

"And like they always say, when da goin' gets tough," Meowth began.

"The tough get going! Team Rocket's running off again!" The three cried in unison as they raced away. Domino sighed and her forehead sported a sweat drop.

"Give that boy back to me!" Giovanni demanded. "And just how do you plan on doing that?" Misao asked, smirking.

"Little do you know that in this city, all of Team Rocket has concealed itself in places unknown to anyone. At any moment they're ready to strike with the greatest of precision-"

"And little do you know that we've located those places and captured all of the Team Rocket operatives at each one!" Misao interjected.

"WHAT?!" Giovanni boomed. Misao chuckled as she pulled out a walkie-talkie from her pocket and held it up in the air for all to hear.

"Scorpio here, all Team Rocket Ops. at the gym are under control!" Came Seiya's voice. Giovanni gritted his teeth for a moment and then a thought struck him.

"But I still have all of my comrades here-" He reasoned. But as he turned around he noticed that his Operatives behind him were a bit tied up. There stood pink-haired girl about the age of Misao with two ponytails and lavender eyes. In front of her was a whirlwind with each of Giovanni's companions twisting and turning in it, and the girl seemed to be controlling it.

"Great job, Amaya!" Misao winked at her friend.

Giovanni thought himself stuck. His brain raced with ways that he could escape AND get Ash at the same time. Then he remembered something.

"Well, you seem to have gotten me, but I will give you some wisdom that I gave to Makoto before he died," Giovanni sneered. Misao raised an eyebrow.

"Never underestimate your opponent, Victribell, Vinewhip!" Giovanni commanded the standing Victribell. Luckily for him, the Operatives had not recalled their Pokemon.

Before Misao had a chance to move, Giovanni also chucked a restraining device at Misao that he had been keeping with him just in case. Misao yelped in surprise as the device wrapped around her and the grass Pokemon began to whip at her.

Giovanni laughed as he ran up the stairs of the Temple of Mew and drew something out of his pocket. Misao, out of the corner of her eye, could see the danger that was to come.

"NO! Ash, lookout!" She cried, struggling to concentrate on teleportation as she was whipped.

Atop the Temple

Misty and Ash sat together, waiting for help to arrive. The plan was that after Amaya had taken care of the Team Rocket Operatives that she would call out her Pidgeot and they would ride to the hospital to treat Ash's wounds. Suddenly, a cry from down below pierced their ears.

"NO! Ash, lookout!"

Before either could react, Giovanni leapt from the last few stairs of the Temple and laughed in mid air, then threw a sharp object from his hand at Ash. It was only too late that Misty realized what it was, a dagger.

The blade hit Ash in his lower chest, below the lungs and heart. Just as the blade hit him, Misao appeared in midair, her clothes ragged from being beaten. "NO!" She screamed.

"ASH!" Misty screamed along with Misao, her heart filling with zillions of emotions at once, anger, worry, sorrow, and then a new emotion.

Misty stood, every part of her body shaking with fury. Misao teleported over to Ash and pulled the weapon out of his gut. "We need to get him to a hospital!" She said.

"You won't be taking him anywhere," Giovanni sneered.

"And you won't either!" Misty cried in rage, wind raging about her. Suddenly, Misty's body began to glow and she put her hands together. "What is this?" Giovanni asked.

Misty took her hands apart to reveal a small ball of water that grew as she stared at her nemesis. Giovanni only stared as the orb grew larger and began to swirl, turning itself into a water tornado that was facing him. Misty, after a minute of forming the tornado, shot it at the Team Rocket founder, who tried to run.

Unfortunately for him, Giovanni was a tad to slow and was caught in the twister which launched off the Temple and through the air, straight into a tree at the beginning of the forest about a hundred yards away. Giovanni was knocked out by the impact of hitting the tree and fell to the ground. Sirens filled the air as Misty came out of her rage and turned to Misao and Ash, who had passed out from blood loss.

"Aurora must've freed the Police Station, officer Jenny will take care of that creep." Misao stated.

"Oh, Ash," Misty began to sob again.

"Misao, what the heck-?" Amaya's voice came from below them. A second later the pink-haired gym leader appeared at the top of the Temple and gasped.

"Oh no," She whispered. Coming to her senses, Amaya tossed a Pokeball from her waist. "Pidgeot!" She called. Misao put Ash's arm over her shoulder and hoisted him up.

Amaya commanded her Pidgeot to land on the Temple top so that they could transport Ash to the hospital. Misty helped Misao get Ash on the flying Pokemon and then climbed on herself to hold the love of her life on the Pidgeot. Amaya and Misao climbed on after Misty, and they left just as Officer Jenny arrived with a squad of officers behind her.

As Misty held Ash, she looked down at his face. Despite the pain he must have been in, his face looked so serene, as if he was sleeping. She checked his pulse to make sure he was still living. It's small, but it's there, She thought to herself.

Misty leaned over and kissed Ash on the cheek, something she had wanted to do since way in the beginning, when she found him in the Pokemon Center at Viridian when his Pikachu had been beaten up by a bunch of Spearows**. The water trainer smiled to herself remembering the fond times that she and Ash had shared as tears began to flow from her eyes again.

Maplewood Gym-Same time

Hiroko sat in front of the television in her office as she watched the news about the revolt against Team Rocket. Everything seemed to be going well. The elderly lady smiled as reports flooded in from the Temple of Mew that a Team Rocket executive, suspected to be Giovanni, and twenty Team Rocket Operatives were defeated by some strange phenomenon and left for the police to find.

"Pika?" Ash's Pikachu, which had been sitting in Hiroko's lap this whole time, asked.

"This means that Misao and Amaya got Ash out without any problems, along with Misty," Hiroko explained to the small electric Pokemon. "Pikachu!" It exclaimed, happy with the promise of reunion with Ash. The elderly lady picked up Pikachu and stood. "Let's greet them, shall we?" She asked. Pikachu nodded in agreement. Hiroko and Pikachu were just about to leave, but a buzz of static from the walkie-talkie on Hiroko's desk that was used to communicate with the gym leaders stopped them dead in their tracks.

"Aquarius and Pisces here, we're taking Ash to the hospital--"Static blurred some of the message in between. "--copy?" Amaya's voice asked. Hiroko grabbed the communication device, her heart racing.

"No, I didn't copy, repeat!" She blurted.

"----Stab wound! Meet us at the hospital, over!" The first half of Amaya's message was blurred again, but Hiroko didn't need any more explanation.

"Oh, God," She gasped.

"Pikachu!!" Ash's Pokemon cried, understanding the urgency in the situation.

Maplewood Hospital-10:00 PM

(A/N: If you can, I suggest listening to "If My Tears Could Bring You Back" from the first Pokemon movie soundtrack, it adds quite an effect, except, you may need to put it on repeat!)

Misty sat motionlessly in a hospital room filled with beeping noises due to the great amount of medical machines. She sat next to a bed, praying for the safety of the one who was sleeping in it--Ash.

It had been almost five hours since Ash had been kidnapped, beaten, nearly murdered, and rescued. Fortunately, his stab wounds were not mortal, as once suspected, but he had been in a state of unconsciousness since he was brought into the emergency room. The doctors had told Misty, Misao, and Amaya that they had gotten Ash to the hospital just in the nick of time--five more minutes and he would have had lost too much blood to save him.

Now, Misty sat in Ash's room in the intensive care unit alone, well, not completely, Pikachu slept on Ash's bed, curled up next to it's master's neck. Misty glanced between Ash and the window in his room. She could see the moon just over the horizon of the forest surrounding Maplewood and the stars that dotted the atmosphere. It was something she wished she could share with Ash.

 The young girl sighed and looked back down at her love. His face still looked as serene as when they were first on their way to the hospital. Misty began to cry again. To stop herself from sobbing and wasting more energy, she walked over to the window and stared out onto the beautiful panorama, but she only sobbed more. Togepi, who was sitting on the table next to Ash's bed, looked at it's owner sorrowfully. "Prii?"

Misty quickly wiped her eyes. "I'm fine, Togepi," She lied as she looked from the window. The redheaded trainer sighed again and leaned up against the window, contemplating her situation.

"Maybe I should go find Brock, it'd be better than sitting here and letting myself go mad," She suggested to herself. Togepi looked at its mother and tilted its head. "Togey?" It asked. Misty chuckled a little at her Pokemon's cuteness.

"Yeah, I think I need some air anyway," She decided, picking up Togepi as she began to leave. Misty felt herself perk up again with the promise of getting out of her depressed state. But the second she got her hand on the door handle, something startled her.

"M...Misty?"

The young girl stopped dead in her tracks and turned around slowly and wide-eyed. She saw Ash, his eyes still closed. Pikachu had been startled awake and twitched its ears, wondering if it really heard what it thought it had heard.

"Pika?"

Misty shook the cobwebs from her head, convincing herself that she'd been hearing things and set her hand on the door again.

"...Don't....go!"

This time, Misty nearly jumped out of her skin with surprise and hope. She turned around to see Ash, awake and trying to lift himself up, extending a hand as if to call Misty back.

"Pi! Pikachu!" Ash's Pokemon cried with happiness as it glomped onto it's master. "Hey, Pikachu!" The trainer greeted as if nothing was wrong.

Misty stood there for a moment, her brain registering what was going on. Her blue-green eyes brimmed with tears of happiness and she whimpered a bit.

"Oh no, Misty, what'd I do to make you cry?!" Ash worried upon seeing his friend's tears.

"Ash!" Was all Misty could manage as she lunged to give Ash a hug. "Misty?"

"Ash Ketchum, you never leave me again, you got it?" The young woman sobbed onto the love of her life's shoulder. Ash smiled and tried as carefully as he could to comfort Misty without hurting himself.

"I promise, Misty, I won't leave. Hey, don't cry, c'mon, Misty,"

Suddenly, Brock and a nurse burst into the room, looking worried. Ash and Misty didn't look up or seem to notice, Ash was too busy comforting Misty.

"Who hit the call button?" The nurse asked. Brock pointed to Misty, who in her blur of joy, must have hit the small button to call the nurse that was installed on the side of the bed next to where she was standing. The nurse sighed in relief and happiness and leaned against the door, watching the heartfelt scene between the two young lovers. Brock crossed his arms and smiled happily looking on the reunion of his two best friends.

"This is the way things should be," He said to himself as he felt a feeling of pure joy well up in his eyes and spill over his cheeks.

Next Time: Now that we know that Ash survived, what's in store for our heroes now? Will Ash challenge the Maplewood Gym again? And what happened to Jessie, James, Meowth and Domino? Find out in the sixth and final chapter: The Promise Of Tomorrow

Notes

*I say former because if Domino admitted to insubordination, she wouldn't really be working for Giovanni, now would she?

**I realize that this was Ash and Misty's second meeting. This is, however the first time that Misty showed concern for Ash (or his Pokemon) and the first time she really talked to him.