Hi all faithful readers, I hope you all have, having, had, a great
Thanksgiving. And without further ado, I'm proud to present to you,
without further interruptions, the final chapter of "Trapped Souls".
The funeral had come to an end. Everyone was saying what a lovely service it was. Brock headed over to Professor Oak through the lingering crowd, Misty close by his side. "Professor?" Brock asked when he finally made it to him, "Can I talk to you for a moment."
"Certainly Brock." The Professor responded.
Brock looked over at Mrs. Ketchum, who wasn't looking much better. He leaned up and whispered, "I don't want to upset her, could we talk over there for a minute?"
Professor Oak gave him a quizzical look, but then said to the grieving mother, "Could you excuse me for just one moment, I'll be right back."
Mrs. Ketchum nodded and sat down on one of the pews. When Brock thought that they were out of listening range, he said to the Professor, "This is going to sound crazy sir. But I think something's wrong with Ash."
Professor Oak's features darkened slightly, "Son. Is that supposed to be funny? Personally I don't think its in good taste at all. Of COURSE something is wrong with him, he's dead."
Brock shook his head, "No, I don't mean it like that. Listen, Misty gave Ash a kiss before, and she thought he felt warm."
Brock received a strange look, but Oak didn't interrupt him. "I know what you're thinking, It's the grief, I did too, but I did feel Ash's hand. It DID feel warm. And his skin hasn't dried at all."
"Brock." The Professor said gently, "Is that all? The heating lamps could have."
Brock interrupted, "No. I don't think so. I can feel it in my gut, something's not right, and I'm not going to let him be taken away until he gets re-examined right here, right now."
"That's crazy!" Oak reprimanded, "You can't possibly think."
Brock interrupted again, "I don't know what to think, but Professor, with all due respect, you're not going to talk me out of it, and I didn't tell you because I wanted you to. I told you so you could take Mrs. Ketchum away, I don't think she needs to see this."
"I know you miss your friend, I miss him too." Oak tried again.
"I do. But that's not the point." Brock interrupted for the third time, "I feel that there's something wrong, and someone is going to check Ash out again before he gets his autopsy."
Professor Oak studied Brock for a moment. "Ok.," He finally said, "If its that important to you, I'm sure we can find a doctor here to check Ash one last time."
A man in from the back of the church came up to Brock. He was wearing a dark trenchcoat and long brimmed hat. He kept the hat covering his face and said in a thick Russian accent, "Perhaps I could be helping you? After all, I am being a physician."
Ash soared over Pallet Town. He'd been pulled out of his body one other time, and the feeling of flying is simply indescribable. From up here he could see the entire town of Pallet. "Hey, I can see my house from up here. and over there is Professor Oak's laboratory. And there's. there's. a giant Meowth balloon. I can't believe that they'd try to steal Pikachu at my own wake!!!" Ash shook his head in disbelief, "That's a whole new low. But never mind them now, there's something more important to take care of now."
Ash flew over the town till he spied the church. Ash let out a deep sigh of relief when he saw that the parking lot was filled. "YES!" He cheered, "I'm not too late!" He flew downwards and right through the church's roof. And he was really shocked at what he saw.
Brock stood there in front of the coffin in a loud argument with a man in a dark trenchcoat.
"That outfit looks familiar" Ash thought. That guy was Geoff! He was wearing a fake chin, and a fake nose. Plus his eyes were a different color now, and his hair was graying, but Ash didn't have any doubts that it was Geoff in disguise. After someone tortures you for a day, you find it hard to forget what they look like.
Ash flew upwards and tried to stay out of sight, Ash knew no one could see him in his ghostly form, except for Geoff, thanks to his enhanced psychic powers. "That son of a bitch came to my funeral." Ash thought to himself. Ash didn't want to rush down into his body. Ash wasn't sure how long it would take for him to wake up. When this happened back in that ghost tower a few years ago, I woke immediately, but then, I was only out for 30 minutes or so. Who knows how long it will take now that it's been over 2 days. And if Geoff saw him re-enter his body, who knows what he'd do. He might dissect me with that blade of his. Ash shuddered at the thought. Being cut up alive, but not able to move to do anything about it. And even worse, what would happen if his friends tried to stop him! It was a chance he couldn't take. So Ash floated near the ceiling, hiding behind a beam, waiting his moment.
Back down on the floor, Brock was arguing with the man Ash knew to be Geoff. "Look, Doctor" Brock argued, "He feels warm to me, you can't tell me you don't feel it."
Geoff frowned more, he was getting nervous, and he wasn't confident how long he could keep Ash trapped in his basement. The boy proved his resourcefulness more then once. He had to get the body out of here and disposed of. "You need to be listening to me young man." Geoff explained in his fake accent, "I am telling you, the body isn't warm. I am a professional, I can be telling this thing better then you can be. It's only heat that's collected on his skin from the heating of the lamps above him. Inside, he's ice cold."
From up above Ash let out a slight groan, "Oh Brock, you've got to be kidding me. you cant tell that his accent is fake? Heck, I'm dead and I can tell!"
Brock refused to budge, "You're telling me Ash's is cold as ice inside? How could you tell? Do you have a meat thermometer?"
"I just can be telling such a thing, It is coming with years of experience." Geoff tried to explain, "Be taking a good look at him. No pulse. No heartbeat. No breathing. You pleased to be telling me how he could be alive?"
Brock couldn't help but realize that the man made perfect sense. But deep inside Brock his guts were screaming at him that something was really wrong here. "I've got a question for you," Brock said taking a step towards the man, "Who are you? You don't look much like a family member, and I know I've never met you before, But, you look very familiar."
Geoff started to sweat, he put up his hands in defense, "Me? Familiar? Maybe you are seeing me at the wake yesterday, or maybe you are seeing me at local hospital where I am working?"
Misty stepped up next to Brock, she had kept silent through all of this, but like Brock she couldn't shake the feeling that something was very wrong. She now posed a question, "Then why are you here?"
"This is getting dangerous," Geoff thought to himself, then said out loud, "Because I am reading of this tragedy in the papers, and I wanted to be paying my respects," Geoff then turned more forceful, hoping that they will back down to authority, "But now I see this young boy's memory being disgraced. You two are just hurting everyone that is here's feelings and I won't let you drag this out any longer, the body is coming with me to the morgue. If you say one more word, I shall call be calling the police."
Geoff took a step to the body but Brock pulled out a pokeball and held it towards Geoff. "You take one more step towards him and you'll be standing face to face with my Onix." Misty then shouted, "And you won't even have to worry about a pokemon from me, you lay a finger on Ash and I'll kick your balls so far up your throat you'll be able to enter the Pallet Town Choir."
Geoff took a step back, sweat trickled down his face. He wasn't sure which threat scared him more. "This is ridiculous." He thought, "I haven't come this far in my plan to be thwarted by two kids."
"I am going to be giving you one more opportunity to be backing away." Geoff declared, "I will call the police on you have you two arrested for preventing a doctor from aiding a patient." He was making up the charge and he hoped it sounded official enough. Misty and Brock exchanged a meaningful glance, then looked back at Geoff. Neither one budged an inch.
Ash could have shed a tear, if his eyes weren't 20 feet below him still in his eye sockets. "I can't believe how much my friends care about me! Risking a serious charge like that!" Ash was starting to get impatient, Geoff was still staring at his body. "I wish Misty or Brock would follow through on their threats," Ash thought, "Either one would keep him distracted enough for me to easily jump back in."
Then a voice behind Geoff yelled out, "When you call the police, make sure you tell him its THREE people that's preventing a doctor from aiding a patient. And be sure to tell them that the patient you refer to is dead already."
Geoff turned around sharply to see whom the insolent tone belonged to. "Then you can be joining your friends in jail! This body must be brought to the morgue as quickly as possible or we won't be finding out what was killing him."
"Oh thank you Gary!" Ash cheered, when he saw Geoff turn to face Gary. Ash didn't waste a second zipping downward straight into his body. "I really hope this works, or I am SO screwed!" Ash thought seconds before making contact.
If you were to ask Ash what it felt like to slip back into his body, he probably couldn't tell you, mainly because it didn't feel like anything. One-minute Ash felt like he was floating above himself, the next he felt like he was laying on his back in the coffin. A rush of relief flooded Ash, as he realized he must be back in his own body. The relief faded when he realized he couldn't move.
Ash tried not to panic. "It's probably a side effect of being out of my skin for so long." He tried to reason. Ash could hear the argument heating up between his friends and Geoff. But he couldn't see anything, he couldn't get his eyes open. He could feel his heart beating in his chest. His heart was beating, that's a plus. Ash then tried to take a deep breath. The relief that faded before came flooded back as he managed to fill his lungs with air.
Ash tried to open his eyes again. This time he succeeded. He winced slightly, his eyes were closed for so long it took them a little while to adjust to the light. Everything slowly went from blurry, then to fuzzy, then finally to clear. "Now, I just gotta sit up." Ash heard Geoff's tone become increasingly angrier, and he knew he had to sit up quickly or someone was going to get hurt.
"CHILDREN!" Geoff said, starting to lose his phony accent, "Please REMOVE yourselves, or you WILL be joining your friend in the coffin!"
Misty gasped and covered her mouth with her hand, then exclaimed, "Your no doctor, who are you???" Geoff looked at the young girl with a smirk, "You stupid little bitch... you really don't know do you?" He let out an evil laugh, "You're ALL pretty stupid, aren't you?"
Brock shook his head, his mind was racing, 'this is crazy,' the thought, 'what's going on here, who is this guy?' Brock took a step towards the guy and demanded, "Who are you? Why did you come to this funeral?"
"Well who I am, is obvious" And Geoff removed his hat, and his fake beard and mustache, "Do I look familiar now?"
Everyone gasped, but the surprises weren't done yet!
"*cough* *cough*" The noise came from behind Brock and Misty who spun around to see their friend sitting up, Ash weakly said, "Apparently he's come here to see his handy work, isn't that right Geoff?"
This was one of those moments where everything froze. Everyone had a look of shock on their face, even Ash's friends who would normally be overjoyed to see their friend alive was frozen with shock. But none looked as shocked as Geoff did. The moment ended, and things seemed to start moving again, but no one seemed to know what to do. Even Geoff stood there and scowled.
The first to snap out of it was Mrs. Ketchum. "MY BABY!!!" She cried out, "Your alive!!!" She wept hard as she moved in and hugged her son, still sitting in the casket. Misty and Brock quickly joined her. Pikachu jumped up onto his shoulder and hugged his head. "But.. but how??" Brock asked, what everyone was thinking, but he was the only one that still had his voice.
Ash looked at Geoff who was backing away. "Sorry Brock, no time for that now" Ash shrugged off his mother and Misty and got to his feet and pointed at Geoff, "STOP HIM!!! Don't let him leave!"
Geoff turned and tried to leave, but ran into Gary. "Look," the young trainer said, "I don't know what's going on, but your not going anywhere!" Gary reached into his pocket to pull out a pokeball, but Geoff was much faster. All Ash could see was a quick swipe of light and a spurt of red. Then it registered.
Geoff had pulled out a knife and slashed Gary's arm. Gary grabbed him arm, and Geoff shoved the kid to the side into a pew. With no one to stop him, the villain took off out the door and yelled as he left, "Don't worry boy, this isn't goodbye, its just see you later... unless I see one of your friends first!"
Ash saw red, and this time he knew he was flesh enough to do something about it. Ash grabbed his pokeball belt out of the coffin and took off down the isle of the church and out the door, Pikachu holding on tight. He passed by Gary, who was sitting and bleeding, Ash ordered as he passed, "SOMEONE GET HELP HERE!!! I'll be back shortly!!!" He burst through the door, just in time to see Geoff take off down the street in his blue compact car. "PIKACHU!!! Thunderbolt!!!"
Pikachu launched the attack quickly but Geoff drove out of range just in time. Ash punched his fist into the palm of his hand. "Damnit!" he thought, "I can't let him get away."
Ash paced around looking for a way to catch up with Geoff. Ash scowled, "I have to go after Geoff... ... ... and I just thought of how I could!!!" And started down the road to his house. He only got a few steps before he heard, "Wait up Ash!"
Ash heard it, and knew the voice without turning around it. It was Brock, and Misty was probably with him. He didn't turn around though because he wanted them to think he didn't hear them. He ran harder, glad he's faster then they were. "I cant risk their lives Pikachu" Ash said to his loyal pokemon, although he was talking to himself just as much as he was to Pikachu. "This is my fight, Geoff threatened to kill Misty, and I'd rather forfeit my life if it means stopping him and keeping my friends safe! I'd rather not risk your life either Pikachu, but I need your help, and the help of all my pokemon!"
Meanwhile, Jessie, James, and Meowth were looking quite depressed. Jessie sighed, "Alright, so maybe coming up with a plan to find this guy maybe harder then we thought." Suddenly Jessie started to cry, "I can't believe our little twerp is gone. Its not really like he was such a bad kid." James sniffed into his hankie, "It's just so sudden... Its almost like I can still hear him..."
As if on cue... Ash burst through some bushes right in front of them, "GREAT!" He yelled, "I found it!"
James screams loudly and leaps into Jessie arms, and Meowth leaps into James's arms. "A GHOST!!!" James screeches. "We tormented him through life, so he's going ta haunt us now that he's dead!!!" Meowth wails.
Ash paid no attention them, he was too focused. The young trainer leaps into Team Rocket's hot air balloon. "So how do we move this thing?" Ash asked, "Any ideas Pikachu?"
Pikachu hopped around a bit and pointed to a rope, Ash looked and it and gave it a tug. The fire started to burn and the balloon took off. "Alright! We're moving!" Ash said, "Next stop... Geoff!!!"
Team Rocket watched this with opened mouths. "That ghost!!!" Jessie yelled, "He's stealing our transportation!"
Meowth scratched his chin, "You know what I think... I don't think that twerp was really dead..."
"Well dead or alive, he's not getting away with stealing our balloon!" James yelled and took a flying leap for the balloon, missing it by a good 4 or 5 feet and landing on his face. "Ouch..." he muttered into the ground.
"James!" Meowth scowled, "Get up! We gotta go after him!"
Jessie points over, "We can take those bikes over there..."
Ash floated high over the town of Pallet, and soon he was over the outskirts. "Where is he?" Ash said to himself, "I was in such a hurry when I left, I'm not totally sure how far away Geoff's place is!"
Ash leaned over the side a little bit and glanced around in all directions. Finally, Ash caught a glance of the house where he was kept hostage. "There Pikachu. We have to go down..." Pikachu hopped around the rim of the basket. Ash tugged on a few cords. The balloon swayed but refused to go down.
"Damnit, we have to get down there!" Ash complained. Pikachu, worried about his master, because the poor pokemon had never seen his master this riled up, pointed to the correct rope. "Thanks," Ash said and tugged on the rope. The balloon dropped down slowly and landed softly just a few meters from Geoff's front door. Ash eyes narrowed glaring at the house. "There it is Pikachu. Are you ready old buddy?"
Pikachu, who wanted revenge just as much, nodded, "Pika!" and released small static shocks from its cheeks. "Alright..." Ash said, "Let's do this!"
Ash heart was racing as he walked up to the front door. He tried the doorknob, and to his surprise, the door was open. Ash crept into the building quietly, the place looked run down before, but now it looked like it had been ransacked. Drawers were pulled apart, shelves were torn down, and even the carpet was torn up.
Geoff came out of a back room muttering to himself, holding a large briefcase, "I've got to get out here, that little bastard will have the cops here any moment now."
Ash sweatdropped, "Police... probably should have had someone call them..." he thought to himself, "too late now I guess..." Then out loud he said, "Going somewhere?"
Geoff's head snapped up shocked, "You!" he snarled. Then oddly a change came over Geoff's face. "You came back... not very bright are you. And here I thought I'd have to wait months before I got a chance to kill you, and here you come walking into my house alone."
Ash tried to act brave, "What makes you think I'm alone?" he bluffed.
The villain put his briefcase down and took a few steps to the right, nearing the kitchen. "You don't have to be a psychic to know your alone, boy..." Geoff said smirking, "You wouldn't be standing there by yourself if you brought someone else with you. You really are stupid, aren't you? Getting your life back only to throw it away by coming here." Geoff reached into his pocket and pulled out a pokeball, "Scyther... you didn't get to play with our guest before... here's your chance."
Scyther came out of its ball and held its blade like arms up menacingly. Ash took a step back and said, "It's a little different this time Geoff," Ash said boldly, "This time I have my pokemon with me, and as we saw at our little match back at the Indigo League, my pokemon can kick your pokemon's asses, any time." With that Ash took a pokeball off his belt, "Bayleaf, I need you now!" And Ash threw his pokeball...
...which landed on the floor and opened up, completely empty. Ash stared at it for a second. Then frowned. He pulled two other pokeballs off his belt. "Cyndaquil? Totodile?" Again, both pokeballs were empty. "Gee..." Ash said sarcastically with a hint of worry and panic in his voice, "Would have been nice to know that they were empty BEFORE I came into this psycho's house..."
Geoff threw his head back and laughed out loud. He continued laughing as he pointed to Ash, a sign to his Scyther to attack. Scyther moved forward with lightning fast speed swinging its large blade-like arm at Ash's head. The young trainer quickly dove out of the way, just in time. Not missing a beat, the large bug turned on its heels and dove at Ash.
Ash, now on his side, rolled out of the way, and watched as Scyther's blade tore right through the carpet and threw up splinters of wood from the floor. Geoff who'd stopped laughing ordered, "Scyther, quick, use your false swipe!"
Ash who was stumbling onto his feet, threw himself out of the way again, this time the attack was a little too close and sliced off the tie he was wearing. Ash gulped realize how close he just came to losing his head. Scyther put too much into this attack though.
Not being slowed by Ash's body like it thought it would, Scyther's attack slashed right through the door and its frame. Unfortunately for the attacking pokemon, its blade became embedded in the rotted wood. Ash rolled to his back to face Scyther and pointed at it, "Pikachu, quickly! THUNDERBOLT ATTACK!!!"
Pikachu leaped up and unleashed a powerful electric attack, putting all its frustrations and pain of the last few days into it. The blast of energy slammed into the stuck Scyther and blew it right through the door, tearing down half of the front wall with it. Pikachu landed gently to its feet, poised for another attack.
Which wasn't necessary, Scyther, trapped under the broken wood that was once the front wall, was out cold. Ash slowly got up looking at Scyther making sure it was down. However, Ash shouldn't have been looking in that direction. From behind he heard a loud bang, and next thing Ash knew was that he was laying on his stomach, with a sharp pain near his temple. "Oh shit...," he thought panicking, "I've been shot!"
Ash put his hand to where the pain was, and felt the warmth of blood. He could feel his heart racing, "I've been shot, I've been shot," is all Ash could think of for a moment. After a second though, reality set in and Ash realized that he'd only been grazed.
Its really amazing how fast your mind can cope when it really as too. Ash rolled to his side and brought himself up to his knees. Fortunately, when Ash fell, he had the good grace of mind to throw himself behind the couch, out of firing range. Ash peeked around corner of the couch, and found himself staring into the eyes of Alakazam.
"Wahh!" Ash cried out, crawling backwards away from the pokemon. Geoff laughed again, obviously enjoying himself. He held the gun in his left hand and said, "You know, I think killing you is actually more fun this way." he took aim again.
But before he could squeeze the trigger, Pikachu blasted the villain with a thunderbolt, driving the man backwards. Pikachu leapt onto Geoff's chest and start biting him, all the while releasing electricity into him. Geoff swore loudly in pain screamed, "ALAKAZAM! Get this thing OFF ME!!!"
Pikachu didn't have time to react because Alakazam teleported right to Geoff's side and slammed Pikachu with a powerful Psi-beam. Pikachu was driven off its enemy's chest and up into the air. "Augh! Pikachu!" Ash called out diving to catch his airborne pokemon.
In a move that would make Jerry Rice proud, Ash caught Pikachu in mid air, and landed on his back protecting his pokemon. Geoff snorted, "Nice catch, but playtime is over. Alakazam, please use psychic power to keep Ash pinned down. Gangar, please use soul steal again. Once you're out of your body... I'll be able to really take my time and make your death wonderfully painful."
Ash found himself stuck to the floor, he struggled but couldn't get up. Pikachu, laying on his chest, was obviously having the same problem. "Damn you!" Ash said, squirming trying to break free of the psychic pokemon's mental grip. He could see Gangar drawing in close, getting ready for the same attack that "killed" him last time.
Ash couldn't take his eyes off the large Gangar, staring into its burning eyes. "Nooooooooo!" Ash cried out as Gangar released its attack, at first all Ash could see was the pure white light, then his whole world went... blue???
"Wobbuffet! Counter Attack NOW!!!" Ash heard a female voice cry out. "Weezing, smoke screen!" A male's voice called out.
Two things happened in that moment. First, Weezing's smoke covered Alakazam, disturbing it enough to release Ash. Ash took this moment to get to his feet to see what's going on. Ash quickly realized the blue thing in front of him was wobbuffet, and that Jessie, James and Meowth, of Team Rocket!
The other thing that happened was Jessie's Wobbuffet countered the attack Gangar unleashed. The white light u-turned from the blue pokemon and slammed into Gangar. The attack had a devastating effect on the ghost pokemon, being only soul, no body. Gangar moaned and collapsed to the floor, no will to fight remaining.
Pikachu was free also, who wasted no time to blast Alakazam with a powerful thunder attack. This might not have been enough to stop the extremely powerful psychic-type, but Pikachu wasn't the only one attack. "Arbok, Poison Sting!" Jessie ordered her giant snake pokemon. The combined attacks were enough to drive the pokemon into unconsciousness.
While this was happening, Geoff was irate, "who were these interlopers?" he thought to himself. Ash knew who these two were, but he couldn't figure out WHY they were helping him, but right now, he really didn't care. Something caught Ash's eyes on the floor. Taking advantage of the chaos, Ash drove across the room and grabbed the gun Geoff dropped, back when Pikachu attacked him.
Geoff saw what Ash was doing but was just a second too late. Ash scooped the gun up, spun around on his back and aimed the gun at Geoff's face. "DON'T MOVE!" Ash growled at him. Geoff's face fell as he stared down the barrel of his own gun.
Jessie, James, Meowth and Pikachu also froze. Ash slowly got up to his feet, not taking his eyes off Geoff. "You ok Pikachu?" Ash asked. Pikachu cried out "Pika!!" and leapt onto its owner's shoulders. Ash smiled. "Good, close call there, huh?"
Ash took a few steps back, keeping the gun trained on Geoff who stood there with his hands up, and a very sour expression on his face. James wailed, "Oh, its so sweet, the twerp is still alive, and he's got his Pikachu..."
Jessie grinned evilly, "...till now... the way I see it, he's a little busy right now with that scum over there... So twerp, I don't think you have much choice then to hand over that Pikachu!"
Ash's face fell, "You have GOT to be kidding me..."
Meowth laughed out loud, "Hey, we got standards, we couldn't steal a pokemon who's just lost his master... but now that we know your alive, what better chance is there?"
Ash turned his head slightly to glare at them. "You ARE joking right..."
Team Rocket were surprised at the subtle power in the kid's voice. Ash continued, "I was attacked and had my soul ripped from my body, and brought here for what I'm guessing to be at least 48 hours, during which I was tortured painfully. Pikachu has spent this time mourning my death. Now I'm back in my body. And after being tortured, I'm in a very bad mood. So is Pikachu. So what you have here is, me, Ash Ketchum, holding a semi- automatic weapon, extremely pissed off and just LOOKING for a way to vent. And you've got Pikachu, a walking powerpack, in a very grumpy mood, also just itching to vent. Now since you saved my life I'll give you a chance... do you REALLY think you want to go after Pikachu today?"
Ash narrowed his eyes as he finished, and glared at Team Rocket, who began to sweat. Jessie, turning a slight pale color, stammered, "You know what... maybe this is a bad time..."
"You think?" Ash growled
James took a step to the giant hole in the wall, "You know... we'll just be going..."
"Good ta see yer alive kid!" Meowth said, following its Teammates lead.
"Yeah... good thinking," Ash said. Ash saw the balloon take off. "PIKAPI!!!" Pikachu cried out. Ash turned around just in time to see Geoff charging him swinging something at his head. Just in time to see it, but not to dodge it. It was actually a lamp that Geoff smashed into Ash's skull, the entire glass base shattering as it crashed into the boy's skull. Ash dropped to his knees, then onto his back, his world started to grow fuzzy. He noticed Pikachu laying next to him, it looked like it was out cold. Ash also realized he dropped the gun, but couldn't tell where it was.
Geoff dropped down to his knees, and wrapped his hands around Ash's throat. Ash's eyes went wide and struggled against the larger man. Ash couldn't take his eyes off Geoff's snarling face. Ash could feel his world grow dim... "after all this, Geoff was going to kill me anyway" Ash thought, "And there's no one else to make a last minute rescue this time."
Ash squirmed against Geoff's grip, but he couldn't break free. Ash could see his loved one's faces pass before his eyes. His mother, her sweet face. Brock, and his stern knowing gaze. Pikachu, and all his pokemon, in all their powerful glory. Finally the last face to appear in front of him was Misty's her eyes sparkling. "I never got to tell her how I felt" Ash lamented, the world growing dimmer. But despite that his world was dimming, Misty's eyes were still shining... no... not shining... glinting? Glinting? Ash thought. Ash fought his brain to work, the hallucination of Misty's face went away, but the glinting was still there.
Ash quickly realized that the glinting was the light reflecting off the blade of Geoff's knife, hidden just inside the breast pocket of his jacket. Ash in one last desperate act, reached up and grabbed the knife. Before Geoff even noticed, Ash plunged the blade deep into Geoff's shoulder.
Geoff let out a wail of pain, and let go of his grip on Ash's throat. Ash gasped loudly drawing in air and clutching his throat. Without even consciously realizing it, Ash rolled on top Geoff and wrapped his hands around his throat.
Anger overwhelmed Ash, he was beyond feeling pain. He knew he was bleeding from his temple, where the bullet grazed him. He only knew this because of the blood dripping onto Geoff's face. No pain, only anger. He knew his head must have a solid lump from that shot Geoff gave him. No pain, only anger. He knew his throat must be swollen after nearly being choked to death. But again, no pain, only fierce rage.
Ash had never felt so angry in his life. Rage poured from every fiber of his being. He squeezed his hands tighter around Geoff's neck, the man was starting to turn blue. Ash could taste blood in his mouth, he was biting his lip. Ash grinned slightly as Geoff's eyes glazed over... "Its almost over", Ash thought. Blood was pouring down the side of his face from his wound.
Ash then became aware of something tugging on his jacket's sleeve. Ash turned his head slightly to see his Pikachu, haven woken up from being hit before. Tears in its eyes, it softly said, "Pikapi..." Ash looked into his pokemon's large caring eyes. Then he looked back at Geoff, who looked a few seconds from death. Ash gasped, "Oh my god... what am I doing???"
Ash let go of his enemy's throat and stood up quickly. Geoff rolled over to his stomach coughing and wheezing. Ash backed away a few steps. "Oh my god..." he repeated, the looked at Pikachu, who looked almost fearful of its trainer. "Pikachu..." Ash said softly, "I'm... I'm sorry. I can't believe I was almost willing to kill."
Ash knelt down and opened his arms for Pikachu. "Thank you..." Ash said softly, as Pikachu rushed up and leaped into the boy's arms. "Thank you Pikachu, if you didn't stop me... I would have done something that I would have regretted my whole life." He gave his pokemon a hug, which returned it with a tiny loving charge of static electricity.
The mood was broken as Ash heard Geoff scramble off the floor and onto his feet, stumbling out the recently made exit. "DAMNIT!" Ash cursed, realizing he made the same mistake as before, he took his eyes off Geoff, "I'm not going to kill you, but I'll be DAMNED IF I LET YOU GET AWAY!!!"
Ash took off after Geoff but stumbled slightly. The pain had finally caught up with Ash. Ash tried to fight against the pain and got back to his feet and moved as quick as he could after Geoff.
What didn't realize is, Geoff got about 5 meters from his house before he ran straight into a very fierce kick to his groin. Misty and Brock had made it to Geoff's house, just in time to see Geoff run out. Misty ran up to meet him and threw her foot into his balls.
Geoff screamed and collapsed to the ground in agony. Misty screamed at him "I WARNED you what would happen if you laid a hand on my Ash!" Brock, his face contorted with rage, picked Geoff up from the ground by his color. "WHERE'S ASH???" Brock bellowed into Geoff's face.
Ash managed to get outside, he tried to yell to Brock, but his throat hurt too much to yell. "PIKACHU PIKA!" Pikachu yelled out to them. Brock saw Ash standing there and felt relief flood into him. He threw Geoff to the ground, the villain still reeling from Misty's devastating low blow, and called out his rock-snake pokemon, "ONIX!" Brock ordered, "Keep an eye on this guy... if he moves an INCH, squash him!"
Misty had took off into a sprint the second she saw Ash. She made it to Ash in what seemed like no time. "Easy Ash," she said, putting an arm around, "Are you alright?"
Ash smiled slightly, and croaked hoarsely, "I'm fine Misty." Misty just glared at his bloody face, Ash shook his head, "It's just a cut, really, I'm fine."
Brock ran up to his friend and joined Misty in helping Ash stay on his feet. "That's a nasty cut you got there," Brock said immediately.
Ash shook his head again, "Really, thank you, but I'm ok."
Misty started to cry slightly, mostly out of relief. "Ash, your neck..."
Ash grimaced as Misty touched it, "Sorry" she said. Ash shrugged slightly, "It's ok, Misty, it probably looks worse then it really is."
Misty made a slight face, her tears slowing down, "Now your just trying to act brave." Ash, feeling better now that his friends were here asked, "I'm glad you guys are here... but... HOW? How did you know...?"
Brock answered him, "We didn't really know where you were. We ran after you as best we could, but we didn't really know where you were. But then we saw Team Rocket's balloon rise up from here just about 10 minutes ago. So we thought here's as good as place as any to find you!"
Misty looked around, "Where's Team Rocket though? Did they have something do with this?"
Ash swallowed hard, his throat really hurt, "Yeah, they saved my life."
"What?" Brock and Misty asked surprised. "I'll tell you about it later... first I think we should call the police or something..." Ash said
Brock helped Ash sit down on the grass. "Your right, Ash." Brock agreed, "Misty, there's got to be a phone inside. You take care of Ash, and I'll be right back. And Onix... remember what I said!"
Onix cried out, "Onix!" and nodded.
Brock walked over to the giant hole in the front wall, "Ash... what the hell did you do here?" Brock thought to himself.
"HEY BROCK!" Misty yelled to him, "I don't think you need to go in there."
Brock turned around, "Why not?" Then he saw why. About 3 police cars were racing this way from just beyond the horizon.
Ten minutes later, the area was swarming with cops, and Ash was being treated by professionals. "Here." An elderly worker said, "Keep this ice pack on your neck, it will help with the swelling."
Ash thanked him, and asked, "How did you guys get here?"
The man scratched his said and said, "Its the darnedest thing, this big hot air balloon shaped like a meowth's head floated right over the precinct, and started shouting that there was a hurt child over here."
"They called me a child?" Ash said raising an eyebrow. "Well... actually if you want to get exact, they called you a twerp." The man said and then walked away.
THAT made Ash laugh a little bit, till he found it hurt his throat. He sat there with Brock and Misty and watched as Officer Jenny handcuffed Geoff. "Your under arrest for the attempted murder of Ash Ketchum..." She said forcefully shoving the villain towards her squad car, "You have the right to remain silent..."
Geoff spit on the ground, "I know my rights... "
The other officers around were laying out police tape. Another group were recalling Geoff's pokemon into escape-proof pokeballs, use specifically for dangerous pokemon. Ash turned his gaze over to watch an Officer named Ed recall Alakazam into one such pokeball. "There's something very therapeutic about that." Ash thought to himself.
Ash readjusted his ice pack silently and shifted his gaze back to Geoff. Officer Jenny was pushing Geoff into the back seat of her squad car. Ash locked eyes with his enemy. Ash could see more hatred in his eyes then he had 24 hours ago. The squad car pulled away, but Ash continued to stare for a few more minutes until he heard Misty say, "Ash?"
"Hmm?" Ash broke his gaze to look at the red head.
"You ok? You looked like you were starting to space out." She asked. Brock looked concerned at Ash, "They said you didn't have a concussion, but if your starting to space out Ash..."
Ash put his hand to stop his friend. "Don't worry, I wasn't spacing out. I was thinking."
Misty leaned into her friend gently, and asked gently, "What about?"
Ash opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a car speeding to a stop. "MY BABY!" Ash heard his mother cry out as she burst out of the car.
His mother wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. Ash grimaced slightly as his mom hugged his neck, but he didn't say anything, he just hugged her back just as tightly. He could feel her crying. "Don't cry mom," He said softly, "I'm ok now."
"I'm just so happy..." she said between sobs, and hugged even tighter. Misty and Brock watched this and smiled. "That's so beautiful" Misty said her eyes getting watery. Misty caught Brock wiping his eyes.
After a minute Ash was let go by his mother, and she gave him a disapproving face. "Just LOOK what you did to your nice suit!" She scolded, the tone of voice made it clear she was trying to make her son smile.
It did what it was suppose to, "Mom," Ash replied, "After I was nearly buried in this suit... do you think I'd EVER wear this again?"
His mom felt laughter bubble up in her, so she let it out, why not? She certainly hadn't done any of that in the last few days. Her laughter turned to tears of joy again and she hugged her son again.
Just as him Mom let go of her son, Ash made a funny face. "Ash?" Misty asked, "What's wrong?"
Suddenly Ash's stomach let out a very loud gurgle. Ash blushed, and said sheepishly, "I just realized that I haven't eaten in over two days! I'm hungry!"
Everyone, not just his mom, laughed at this. Ash's mom looked at him and smiled and said, "Everyone was going to come back to our house from the funeral, so there's enough food there to feed a snorlax!"
Ash leapt up and croaked out, "come on! What are we waiting for?"
Brock stood up and said, "Ash. We can't go away until the officers let us go."
Ash groaned and sat back down. "Don't worry Ash." Brock said, "I'll go have a word with the lovely Officer Jenny and see if I can speed things up."
"Didn't Officer Jenny leave already?" Misty asked.
"Yeah," Ash agreed, "With Geoff."
"Oh, that was the Pallet town Officer Jenny," Brock explained, "The Pewter City Officer Jenny is still here!" And Brock quickly headed off to flirt with. I mean, to talk with the officer.
Misty stood up, "Oh no." she complained, "If he starts up with Officer Jenny, we'll be lucky if we EVER get out of here. I'd better go keep an eye on him."
Misty gave Ash a glance, reluctant to leave. Ash smiled, and whispered, "Relax Misty, it's over now, I'll be fine."
Misty waited a second and Ash's Mom hugged him again, "Go on Misty" she said, "I'll make sure he'll be fine" And smiled.
Misty nodded and ran off after Brock, who was already begging the officer for her phone number, "BROCK!" Misty bellowed, "Your going to get yourself arrested. AGAIN!"
ABOUT TWO HOURS LATER
Misty, Brock, Ash, and his mom finally make it back home. "I can't wait to change out of this suit," Ash said, "I think I'll do that before I even eat!"
Misty nodded, "Yeah, its kinda creepy seeing you in it."
The quartet walked through the door and was met with a blast of excitement. "HURRAY!!!" "Welcome back!" "I'm so happy." "We love you!" were just some of the phrases that were all yelled at once. Ash looked shocked into the room, it looked like everyone was there! Duplica, Richie, Gary, Tracey, Todd, Casey, Professor Oak, his relatives, and all his pokemon.
It was another hour before Ash could make it upstairs, what with everyone wanting to shake hands with him, or hug him, or talk with him. One highlight was between Ash and Gary. "How's your arm?" Ash asked.
"Meh," Gary shrugged, "It'll be fine. Lucky break for you, its my pokeball throwing arm, otherwise I'd have to embarrass you with a match right here."
Ash grinned, "Yep, lucky me."
Gary then asked, "But seriously, how's that throat of yours? It looks pretty bad."
Ash rubbed his neck gently and said, "It hurts but it looks worse then it really is. Lucky for you though."
"How so?" Gary asked.
"Because if my throat felt better, I'd feel well enough to have a comeback for your lame-ass challenge." Ash said with a large grin. Gary's jaw dropped, surprised at Ash's unusually quick wit. Gary thought of a good comeback, but held it back. "I'll let him win this one," Gary thought, "He's earned it."
Another highlight was when Ash's mom brought out a platter of sandwiches, Ash asked, "Mom, is there another platter in there?"
Ash's mom was puzzled but said, "Sure hunny, there's still 3 or 4 more platters, plus salads and some cake. But you couldn't possibly be hungry enough to eat a whole platter."
Ash grinned and said, "Oh. it's not for me."
Ash ran into the kitchen leaving his mom standing there confused.
Finally, after an hour of being stuck downstairs in his suit, Misty stepped in. ".and that was in 1965 the first time someone tried to take my life. You didn't see me have a party over surviving it though. No sir! I didn't even get a card, mainly because there was a paper shortage that year." Ash's Great Uncle Charlie droned on, The next time it happened was 3 years later." Ash sighed knowing he was stuck for a long one.
Misty interrupted, "I'm sorry sir." And took Ash by the arm, "I just need to borrow him for just one moment, its very important."
"Alright then." Great Uncle Charlie said reluctantly, "But you need to come back later Ashy so you can hear about when the Illuminati tried to abduct me for their experiments."
Ash faked a grin and hurried off with Misty. "Thanks." Ash whispered gratefully, "Uncle Charlie. he's not quite right."
Misty nodded, "I noticed," She then pointed to the stairs, "Now march." She ordered, pushing Ash up the stairs from behind.
Brock caught this out of the corner of his eye, and smiled, then turned his attention back to Gary's sister, May.
Upstairs, Misty waited in Ash's bedroom as Ash got changed in the bathroom. She waited silently until Ash came out, wearing his usual jeans and black T-shirt. Misty winced as she saw Ash. His head was wrapped in white gauze, his left eye was bruised, but his neck was the worst. Against the black shirt, Ash's red swollen bruised neck really stood out. Ash caught Misty's face and said, "I know, I know. I don't look my best right now."
Ash walked over to his bed and picked his hat up off it and put it on. It covered a lot of the gauze. "Better?" He asked.
"Almost." Misty said and walked over to Ash's dresser. She rummaged around as Ash looked at her puzzled. "Here." She said handing him a deep blue turtleneck sweater, "That'll cover up your neck so no one will stare tonight, and I bet you the soft wool will feel good against it." Misty smiled at him.
Ash returned the smile and put the sweater on over his T-shirt. "How's that?" Ash asked.
"Looks good to me!" Misty said happily and blushed. Ash blushed slightly back.
"Ash." Misty said, "Before we go back downstairs. there's two things I want to do, but only if you're feeling ok."
Ash puzzled, said, "Don't worry Misty, I'm more ok then I look."
"Ok." Misty said, and walked to her friend, "Well first." She then smacked her friend HARD upside his head.
Ash yelped, "OUCH!!"
"WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU GO OFF ALONE???" Misty reprimanded angrily, "Do you have any idea how upset I was when I thought you were dead, then you come back to life, and you run off to your death again?"
Ash rubbed the back of his head, "Misty I."
Misty continued, "Ash, why would you run away from us? We're your friends, we'd have helped you!"
Ash looked at Misty. He knew he would have been angry for that hit, if it wasn't for one thing. she was absolutely right. "I'm sorry Misty" Ash said, "I wasn't in the best frame of mind then. Geoff threatened my family. and you. I had to stop him, and I didn't want anyone I cared about to get hurt!"
Misty's iron gaze softened. "Alright, its ok. What's done is done, just use your brain more in the future, ok?" Ash nodded. Misty continued, "I'm sorry I hit you so hard. are you ok?"
Ash grinned, "Oh I have a thick skull, you know that" Ash said, and his faced turned a bit apprehensive, "but I'm not sure I want to know what the second thing you wanted to do was."
Misty grinned, shrugged, and said, "Too bad." She then tackled her friend in a huge hug, both teens landing on the bed. "Oh Ash." she said, "I thought I'd lost you!"
"I'm sorry Misty" Ash said hugging her back, "I thought I was going to lose you too."
"Well you have me now." Misty said looking into Ash's eyes.
"I do." Ash replied.
The two teens stared at each other for a minute. Leaned in. And kissed.
At about that time outside three shadowy figures crept up the house. "Alright then" Jessie said, "Now that we know the twerp is alive and well, now's the perfect chance to kidnap that Pikachu."
James agreed, "He'll be so busy celebrating he'll never see us coming."
Meowth laughed, "I bet he couldn't have guessed that we'd show up here tonight!" The three crept around back and sneaked up to the door. "Hey." Meowth asked, "What's that?"
On the backdoor step there was something large and covered in aluminum foil. On the foil was an envelope marked, "To Team Rocket"
The trio looked at each other, and James took off the envelope and opened it. Inside was a letter, which James read out loud. "Team Rocket, Thank you for your help against Geoff. If you hadn't showed up when you did I know I'd probably be dead. again. I'm sorry I waved a gun at you, I was a little mad at the time. I'd invite you into the party but I doubt you'd accept, so please accept this as a token of my thanks."
Jessie removed the foil to reveal a mound of sandwiches, a bowl of salad, and an entire cake. All three got misty eyed over this. "Oh. how sweet" Jessie said. "With twerps like him, who needs friend?" Meowth agreed.
James picked up the tray and said, "Maybe we should leave him alone for the night?"
Jessie nodded, "Yeah I think he's earned the night off!"
Team Rocket tip toed off the property and whispered, "Looks like Team Rocket's NOT blasting off this time!"
Four hours later, the party showed no signs of dying. But if a friend coming back from the dead isn't cause for a huge celebration, then I don't know what is! Everyone was still going strong, except for Mrs. Ketchum, who fell asleep an hour ago. Everyone just let her sleep because they knew she needed the rest.
Outside Ash stood on the steps looking up at the stars. He held a twig in his hands, broke it half, and tossed it aside. He was lost in thought. Misty came outside, "There you are" She said, seeing her breath in the air, "Come on back in, you'll catch cold!"
Ash pulled on his sweater's neck to show it to her, "I have a sweater on, I'm warm enough."
Misty sat down next to Ash, and took his hand. "You want to talk about it?"
"About what?" Ash asked, still lost in thought.
"Whatever it is that is eating your brain right now." Misty replied.
Behind them, a voice said, "I could tell you what's bothering him."
Ash and Misty turned around to see Professor Oak standing there. Oak looked down at the two teens on the steps and noticed that they were holding hands. Professor Oak smiled but didn't make a big deal about it, no sense in embarrassing them.
Ash asked, "Oh hi Professor, how do you know what's bothering me?"
Professor Oak smiled and said, "Because, I've known you a long time. And from what I've heard about your adventure, I'd say it shattered some of your ideals."
Misty looked at Professor Oak, then at Ash who was wincing slightly. "What does he mean Ash?" Misty asked softly.
"Do you want to tell her?" The wizened elder asked.
Ash shook his head no. "I honestly don't really understand it myself." Ash admitted, "Maybe you could tell me."
"Its really simple Ash." Professor Oak explained, "You see, your whole life you've loved pokemon, and you have strong ideals about them. You've always looked at pokemon as honest, trustworthy, loving creatures. If a pokemon does something bad, its not IT'S fault. it's the trainer. But now." Oak trailed off.
Ash picked up, "Now I know I was naïve. Not all pokemon are good. Alakazam and Gangar were doing more then just following orders. they WANTED to hurt me. They were enjoying it."
Misty saw the pain in Ash's face, and leaned into him, hugging him slightly.
"I know it upsets you Ash," Professor Oak explained, "But you shouldn't be upset by it."
Ash looked up at his mentor.
"You see," The professor went on, "Just like in humans, pokemon have both good and evil tendencies. Take your pokemon for example. All of them have their likes and dislikes, their loves and their hates. But because you've been such a good trainer and friend to them, they've grown into noble, kindhearted pokemon. But when pokemon are raised by someone with hatred in their hearts, they can become as evil, as filled with hate, as their trainer. THAT is why we must treat pokemon and humans how we'd want to be treated ourselves."
Ash and Misty looked at each other and smiled. Then they looked back up at Professor Oak. Misty a little misty-eyed smiled and said, "That's so beautiful."
Ash nodded agreeing, "And it makes a lot of sense. Thank you, I feel better now."
Professor Oak smiled back. "I'm glad I could help." The teens looked back at each other staring into each other eyes. Oak smiled and knowing that the two wanted to be alone, said, "Well, I best be getting inside."
Ash and Misty stayed outside for a while longer, keeping each other warm, both in both body and spirit.
The party continued WELL into the night. I could write another story just on this party, but that's something for another day. One of the highlights was Brock declaring that this is no longer a Funeral Party, this was a "Lazarus Party!" Something Ash didn't quite understand. Misty sighed, she loved him but boy could be dim at times. Tracey got some great sketches of the wild party, and Todd took some great photos, you'll have to ask Ash to show them to you sometime, especially the one where Ash and Misty got caught kissing. Todd's camera almost didn't survive that. But the sweetest part of the night was Ash and Misty falling asleep cuddled into each other on the couch. (If you want, I believe Todd has a picture of that too! But don't tell Ash or Misty. Todd's would never survive if they had that knowledge!)
The End
Thanks for reading, .. but wait... we're not through yet.... the story definately is over... but there I have bonus chapter 5 up... if your curious what that could be about, i suggest you go check it out, you wont be sorry! If your NOT curious... well still check it out, dont be a pain in the ass! hehe.
The funeral had come to an end. Everyone was saying what a lovely service it was. Brock headed over to Professor Oak through the lingering crowd, Misty close by his side. "Professor?" Brock asked when he finally made it to him, "Can I talk to you for a moment."
"Certainly Brock." The Professor responded.
Brock looked over at Mrs. Ketchum, who wasn't looking much better. He leaned up and whispered, "I don't want to upset her, could we talk over there for a minute?"
Professor Oak gave him a quizzical look, but then said to the grieving mother, "Could you excuse me for just one moment, I'll be right back."
Mrs. Ketchum nodded and sat down on one of the pews. When Brock thought that they were out of listening range, he said to the Professor, "This is going to sound crazy sir. But I think something's wrong with Ash."
Professor Oak's features darkened slightly, "Son. Is that supposed to be funny? Personally I don't think its in good taste at all. Of COURSE something is wrong with him, he's dead."
Brock shook his head, "No, I don't mean it like that. Listen, Misty gave Ash a kiss before, and she thought he felt warm."
Brock received a strange look, but Oak didn't interrupt him. "I know what you're thinking, It's the grief, I did too, but I did feel Ash's hand. It DID feel warm. And his skin hasn't dried at all."
"Brock." The Professor said gently, "Is that all? The heating lamps could have."
Brock interrupted, "No. I don't think so. I can feel it in my gut, something's not right, and I'm not going to let him be taken away until he gets re-examined right here, right now."
"That's crazy!" Oak reprimanded, "You can't possibly think."
Brock interrupted again, "I don't know what to think, but Professor, with all due respect, you're not going to talk me out of it, and I didn't tell you because I wanted you to. I told you so you could take Mrs. Ketchum away, I don't think she needs to see this."
"I know you miss your friend, I miss him too." Oak tried again.
"I do. But that's not the point." Brock interrupted for the third time, "I feel that there's something wrong, and someone is going to check Ash out again before he gets his autopsy."
Professor Oak studied Brock for a moment. "Ok.," He finally said, "If its that important to you, I'm sure we can find a doctor here to check Ash one last time."
A man in from the back of the church came up to Brock. He was wearing a dark trenchcoat and long brimmed hat. He kept the hat covering his face and said in a thick Russian accent, "Perhaps I could be helping you? After all, I am being a physician."
Ash soared over Pallet Town. He'd been pulled out of his body one other time, and the feeling of flying is simply indescribable. From up here he could see the entire town of Pallet. "Hey, I can see my house from up here. and over there is Professor Oak's laboratory. And there's. there's. a giant Meowth balloon. I can't believe that they'd try to steal Pikachu at my own wake!!!" Ash shook his head in disbelief, "That's a whole new low. But never mind them now, there's something more important to take care of now."
Ash flew over the town till he spied the church. Ash let out a deep sigh of relief when he saw that the parking lot was filled. "YES!" He cheered, "I'm not too late!" He flew downwards and right through the church's roof. And he was really shocked at what he saw.
Brock stood there in front of the coffin in a loud argument with a man in a dark trenchcoat.
"That outfit looks familiar" Ash thought. That guy was Geoff! He was wearing a fake chin, and a fake nose. Plus his eyes were a different color now, and his hair was graying, but Ash didn't have any doubts that it was Geoff in disguise. After someone tortures you for a day, you find it hard to forget what they look like.
Ash flew upwards and tried to stay out of sight, Ash knew no one could see him in his ghostly form, except for Geoff, thanks to his enhanced psychic powers. "That son of a bitch came to my funeral." Ash thought to himself. Ash didn't want to rush down into his body. Ash wasn't sure how long it would take for him to wake up. When this happened back in that ghost tower a few years ago, I woke immediately, but then, I was only out for 30 minutes or so. Who knows how long it will take now that it's been over 2 days. And if Geoff saw him re-enter his body, who knows what he'd do. He might dissect me with that blade of his. Ash shuddered at the thought. Being cut up alive, but not able to move to do anything about it. And even worse, what would happen if his friends tried to stop him! It was a chance he couldn't take. So Ash floated near the ceiling, hiding behind a beam, waiting his moment.
Back down on the floor, Brock was arguing with the man Ash knew to be Geoff. "Look, Doctor" Brock argued, "He feels warm to me, you can't tell me you don't feel it."
Geoff frowned more, he was getting nervous, and he wasn't confident how long he could keep Ash trapped in his basement. The boy proved his resourcefulness more then once. He had to get the body out of here and disposed of. "You need to be listening to me young man." Geoff explained in his fake accent, "I am telling you, the body isn't warm. I am a professional, I can be telling this thing better then you can be. It's only heat that's collected on his skin from the heating of the lamps above him. Inside, he's ice cold."
From up above Ash let out a slight groan, "Oh Brock, you've got to be kidding me. you cant tell that his accent is fake? Heck, I'm dead and I can tell!"
Brock refused to budge, "You're telling me Ash's is cold as ice inside? How could you tell? Do you have a meat thermometer?"
"I just can be telling such a thing, It is coming with years of experience." Geoff tried to explain, "Be taking a good look at him. No pulse. No heartbeat. No breathing. You pleased to be telling me how he could be alive?"
Brock couldn't help but realize that the man made perfect sense. But deep inside Brock his guts were screaming at him that something was really wrong here. "I've got a question for you," Brock said taking a step towards the man, "Who are you? You don't look much like a family member, and I know I've never met you before, But, you look very familiar."
Geoff started to sweat, he put up his hands in defense, "Me? Familiar? Maybe you are seeing me at the wake yesterday, or maybe you are seeing me at local hospital where I am working?"
Misty stepped up next to Brock, she had kept silent through all of this, but like Brock she couldn't shake the feeling that something was very wrong. She now posed a question, "Then why are you here?"
"This is getting dangerous," Geoff thought to himself, then said out loud, "Because I am reading of this tragedy in the papers, and I wanted to be paying my respects," Geoff then turned more forceful, hoping that they will back down to authority, "But now I see this young boy's memory being disgraced. You two are just hurting everyone that is here's feelings and I won't let you drag this out any longer, the body is coming with me to the morgue. If you say one more word, I shall call be calling the police."
Geoff took a step to the body but Brock pulled out a pokeball and held it towards Geoff. "You take one more step towards him and you'll be standing face to face with my Onix." Misty then shouted, "And you won't even have to worry about a pokemon from me, you lay a finger on Ash and I'll kick your balls so far up your throat you'll be able to enter the Pallet Town Choir."
Geoff took a step back, sweat trickled down his face. He wasn't sure which threat scared him more. "This is ridiculous." He thought, "I haven't come this far in my plan to be thwarted by two kids."
"I am going to be giving you one more opportunity to be backing away." Geoff declared, "I will call the police on you have you two arrested for preventing a doctor from aiding a patient." He was making up the charge and he hoped it sounded official enough. Misty and Brock exchanged a meaningful glance, then looked back at Geoff. Neither one budged an inch.
Ash could have shed a tear, if his eyes weren't 20 feet below him still in his eye sockets. "I can't believe how much my friends care about me! Risking a serious charge like that!" Ash was starting to get impatient, Geoff was still staring at his body. "I wish Misty or Brock would follow through on their threats," Ash thought, "Either one would keep him distracted enough for me to easily jump back in."
Then a voice behind Geoff yelled out, "When you call the police, make sure you tell him its THREE people that's preventing a doctor from aiding a patient. And be sure to tell them that the patient you refer to is dead already."
Geoff turned around sharply to see whom the insolent tone belonged to. "Then you can be joining your friends in jail! This body must be brought to the morgue as quickly as possible or we won't be finding out what was killing him."
"Oh thank you Gary!" Ash cheered, when he saw Geoff turn to face Gary. Ash didn't waste a second zipping downward straight into his body. "I really hope this works, or I am SO screwed!" Ash thought seconds before making contact.
If you were to ask Ash what it felt like to slip back into his body, he probably couldn't tell you, mainly because it didn't feel like anything. One-minute Ash felt like he was floating above himself, the next he felt like he was laying on his back in the coffin. A rush of relief flooded Ash, as he realized he must be back in his own body. The relief faded when he realized he couldn't move.
Ash tried not to panic. "It's probably a side effect of being out of my skin for so long." He tried to reason. Ash could hear the argument heating up between his friends and Geoff. But he couldn't see anything, he couldn't get his eyes open. He could feel his heart beating in his chest. His heart was beating, that's a plus. Ash then tried to take a deep breath. The relief that faded before came flooded back as he managed to fill his lungs with air.
Ash tried to open his eyes again. This time he succeeded. He winced slightly, his eyes were closed for so long it took them a little while to adjust to the light. Everything slowly went from blurry, then to fuzzy, then finally to clear. "Now, I just gotta sit up." Ash heard Geoff's tone become increasingly angrier, and he knew he had to sit up quickly or someone was going to get hurt.
"CHILDREN!" Geoff said, starting to lose his phony accent, "Please REMOVE yourselves, or you WILL be joining your friend in the coffin!"
Misty gasped and covered her mouth with her hand, then exclaimed, "Your no doctor, who are you???" Geoff looked at the young girl with a smirk, "You stupid little bitch... you really don't know do you?" He let out an evil laugh, "You're ALL pretty stupid, aren't you?"
Brock shook his head, his mind was racing, 'this is crazy,' the thought, 'what's going on here, who is this guy?' Brock took a step towards the guy and demanded, "Who are you? Why did you come to this funeral?"
"Well who I am, is obvious" And Geoff removed his hat, and his fake beard and mustache, "Do I look familiar now?"
Everyone gasped, but the surprises weren't done yet!
"*cough* *cough*" The noise came from behind Brock and Misty who spun around to see their friend sitting up, Ash weakly said, "Apparently he's come here to see his handy work, isn't that right Geoff?"
This was one of those moments where everything froze. Everyone had a look of shock on their face, even Ash's friends who would normally be overjoyed to see their friend alive was frozen with shock. But none looked as shocked as Geoff did. The moment ended, and things seemed to start moving again, but no one seemed to know what to do. Even Geoff stood there and scowled.
The first to snap out of it was Mrs. Ketchum. "MY BABY!!!" She cried out, "Your alive!!!" She wept hard as she moved in and hugged her son, still sitting in the casket. Misty and Brock quickly joined her. Pikachu jumped up onto his shoulder and hugged his head. "But.. but how??" Brock asked, what everyone was thinking, but he was the only one that still had his voice.
Ash looked at Geoff who was backing away. "Sorry Brock, no time for that now" Ash shrugged off his mother and Misty and got to his feet and pointed at Geoff, "STOP HIM!!! Don't let him leave!"
Geoff turned and tried to leave, but ran into Gary. "Look," the young trainer said, "I don't know what's going on, but your not going anywhere!" Gary reached into his pocket to pull out a pokeball, but Geoff was much faster. All Ash could see was a quick swipe of light and a spurt of red. Then it registered.
Geoff had pulled out a knife and slashed Gary's arm. Gary grabbed him arm, and Geoff shoved the kid to the side into a pew. With no one to stop him, the villain took off out the door and yelled as he left, "Don't worry boy, this isn't goodbye, its just see you later... unless I see one of your friends first!"
Ash saw red, and this time he knew he was flesh enough to do something about it. Ash grabbed his pokeball belt out of the coffin and took off down the isle of the church and out the door, Pikachu holding on tight. He passed by Gary, who was sitting and bleeding, Ash ordered as he passed, "SOMEONE GET HELP HERE!!! I'll be back shortly!!!" He burst through the door, just in time to see Geoff take off down the street in his blue compact car. "PIKACHU!!! Thunderbolt!!!"
Pikachu launched the attack quickly but Geoff drove out of range just in time. Ash punched his fist into the palm of his hand. "Damnit!" he thought, "I can't let him get away."
Ash paced around looking for a way to catch up with Geoff. Ash scowled, "I have to go after Geoff... ... ... and I just thought of how I could!!!" And started down the road to his house. He only got a few steps before he heard, "Wait up Ash!"
Ash heard it, and knew the voice without turning around it. It was Brock, and Misty was probably with him. He didn't turn around though because he wanted them to think he didn't hear them. He ran harder, glad he's faster then they were. "I cant risk their lives Pikachu" Ash said to his loyal pokemon, although he was talking to himself just as much as he was to Pikachu. "This is my fight, Geoff threatened to kill Misty, and I'd rather forfeit my life if it means stopping him and keeping my friends safe! I'd rather not risk your life either Pikachu, but I need your help, and the help of all my pokemon!"
Meanwhile, Jessie, James, and Meowth were looking quite depressed. Jessie sighed, "Alright, so maybe coming up with a plan to find this guy maybe harder then we thought." Suddenly Jessie started to cry, "I can't believe our little twerp is gone. Its not really like he was such a bad kid." James sniffed into his hankie, "It's just so sudden... Its almost like I can still hear him..."
As if on cue... Ash burst through some bushes right in front of them, "GREAT!" He yelled, "I found it!"
James screams loudly and leaps into Jessie arms, and Meowth leaps into James's arms. "A GHOST!!!" James screeches. "We tormented him through life, so he's going ta haunt us now that he's dead!!!" Meowth wails.
Ash paid no attention them, he was too focused. The young trainer leaps into Team Rocket's hot air balloon. "So how do we move this thing?" Ash asked, "Any ideas Pikachu?"
Pikachu hopped around a bit and pointed to a rope, Ash looked and it and gave it a tug. The fire started to burn and the balloon took off. "Alright! We're moving!" Ash said, "Next stop... Geoff!!!"
Team Rocket watched this with opened mouths. "That ghost!!!" Jessie yelled, "He's stealing our transportation!"
Meowth scratched his chin, "You know what I think... I don't think that twerp was really dead..."
"Well dead or alive, he's not getting away with stealing our balloon!" James yelled and took a flying leap for the balloon, missing it by a good 4 or 5 feet and landing on his face. "Ouch..." he muttered into the ground.
"James!" Meowth scowled, "Get up! We gotta go after him!"
Jessie points over, "We can take those bikes over there..."
Ash floated high over the town of Pallet, and soon he was over the outskirts. "Where is he?" Ash said to himself, "I was in such a hurry when I left, I'm not totally sure how far away Geoff's place is!"
Ash leaned over the side a little bit and glanced around in all directions. Finally, Ash caught a glance of the house where he was kept hostage. "There Pikachu. We have to go down..." Pikachu hopped around the rim of the basket. Ash tugged on a few cords. The balloon swayed but refused to go down.
"Damnit, we have to get down there!" Ash complained. Pikachu, worried about his master, because the poor pokemon had never seen his master this riled up, pointed to the correct rope. "Thanks," Ash said and tugged on the rope. The balloon dropped down slowly and landed softly just a few meters from Geoff's front door. Ash eyes narrowed glaring at the house. "There it is Pikachu. Are you ready old buddy?"
Pikachu, who wanted revenge just as much, nodded, "Pika!" and released small static shocks from its cheeks. "Alright..." Ash said, "Let's do this!"
Ash heart was racing as he walked up to the front door. He tried the doorknob, and to his surprise, the door was open. Ash crept into the building quietly, the place looked run down before, but now it looked like it had been ransacked. Drawers were pulled apart, shelves were torn down, and even the carpet was torn up.
Geoff came out of a back room muttering to himself, holding a large briefcase, "I've got to get out here, that little bastard will have the cops here any moment now."
Ash sweatdropped, "Police... probably should have had someone call them..." he thought to himself, "too late now I guess..." Then out loud he said, "Going somewhere?"
Geoff's head snapped up shocked, "You!" he snarled. Then oddly a change came over Geoff's face. "You came back... not very bright are you. And here I thought I'd have to wait months before I got a chance to kill you, and here you come walking into my house alone."
Ash tried to act brave, "What makes you think I'm alone?" he bluffed.
The villain put his briefcase down and took a few steps to the right, nearing the kitchen. "You don't have to be a psychic to know your alone, boy..." Geoff said smirking, "You wouldn't be standing there by yourself if you brought someone else with you. You really are stupid, aren't you? Getting your life back only to throw it away by coming here." Geoff reached into his pocket and pulled out a pokeball, "Scyther... you didn't get to play with our guest before... here's your chance."
Scyther came out of its ball and held its blade like arms up menacingly. Ash took a step back and said, "It's a little different this time Geoff," Ash said boldly, "This time I have my pokemon with me, and as we saw at our little match back at the Indigo League, my pokemon can kick your pokemon's asses, any time." With that Ash took a pokeball off his belt, "Bayleaf, I need you now!" And Ash threw his pokeball...
...which landed on the floor and opened up, completely empty. Ash stared at it for a second. Then frowned. He pulled two other pokeballs off his belt. "Cyndaquil? Totodile?" Again, both pokeballs were empty. "Gee..." Ash said sarcastically with a hint of worry and panic in his voice, "Would have been nice to know that they were empty BEFORE I came into this psycho's house..."
Geoff threw his head back and laughed out loud. He continued laughing as he pointed to Ash, a sign to his Scyther to attack. Scyther moved forward with lightning fast speed swinging its large blade-like arm at Ash's head. The young trainer quickly dove out of the way, just in time. Not missing a beat, the large bug turned on its heels and dove at Ash.
Ash, now on his side, rolled out of the way, and watched as Scyther's blade tore right through the carpet and threw up splinters of wood from the floor. Geoff who'd stopped laughing ordered, "Scyther, quick, use your false swipe!"
Ash who was stumbling onto his feet, threw himself out of the way again, this time the attack was a little too close and sliced off the tie he was wearing. Ash gulped realize how close he just came to losing his head. Scyther put too much into this attack though.
Not being slowed by Ash's body like it thought it would, Scyther's attack slashed right through the door and its frame. Unfortunately for the attacking pokemon, its blade became embedded in the rotted wood. Ash rolled to his back to face Scyther and pointed at it, "Pikachu, quickly! THUNDERBOLT ATTACK!!!"
Pikachu leaped up and unleashed a powerful electric attack, putting all its frustrations and pain of the last few days into it. The blast of energy slammed into the stuck Scyther and blew it right through the door, tearing down half of the front wall with it. Pikachu landed gently to its feet, poised for another attack.
Which wasn't necessary, Scyther, trapped under the broken wood that was once the front wall, was out cold. Ash slowly got up looking at Scyther making sure it was down. However, Ash shouldn't have been looking in that direction. From behind he heard a loud bang, and next thing Ash knew was that he was laying on his stomach, with a sharp pain near his temple. "Oh shit...," he thought panicking, "I've been shot!"
Ash put his hand to where the pain was, and felt the warmth of blood. He could feel his heart racing, "I've been shot, I've been shot," is all Ash could think of for a moment. After a second though, reality set in and Ash realized that he'd only been grazed.
Its really amazing how fast your mind can cope when it really as too. Ash rolled to his side and brought himself up to his knees. Fortunately, when Ash fell, he had the good grace of mind to throw himself behind the couch, out of firing range. Ash peeked around corner of the couch, and found himself staring into the eyes of Alakazam.
"Wahh!" Ash cried out, crawling backwards away from the pokemon. Geoff laughed again, obviously enjoying himself. He held the gun in his left hand and said, "You know, I think killing you is actually more fun this way." he took aim again.
But before he could squeeze the trigger, Pikachu blasted the villain with a thunderbolt, driving the man backwards. Pikachu leapt onto Geoff's chest and start biting him, all the while releasing electricity into him. Geoff swore loudly in pain screamed, "ALAKAZAM! Get this thing OFF ME!!!"
Pikachu didn't have time to react because Alakazam teleported right to Geoff's side and slammed Pikachu with a powerful Psi-beam. Pikachu was driven off its enemy's chest and up into the air. "Augh! Pikachu!" Ash called out diving to catch his airborne pokemon.
In a move that would make Jerry Rice proud, Ash caught Pikachu in mid air, and landed on his back protecting his pokemon. Geoff snorted, "Nice catch, but playtime is over. Alakazam, please use psychic power to keep Ash pinned down. Gangar, please use soul steal again. Once you're out of your body... I'll be able to really take my time and make your death wonderfully painful."
Ash found himself stuck to the floor, he struggled but couldn't get up. Pikachu, laying on his chest, was obviously having the same problem. "Damn you!" Ash said, squirming trying to break free of the psychic pokemon's mental grip. He could see Gangar drawing in close, getting ready for the same attack that "killed" him last time.
Ash couldn't take his eyes off the large Gangar, staring into its burning eyes. "Nooooooooo!" Ash cried out as Gangar released its attack, at first all Ash could see was the pure white light, then his whole world went... blue???
"Wobbuffet! Counter Attack NOW!!!" Ash heard a female voice cry out. "Weezing, smoke screen!" A male's voice called out.
Two things happened in that moment. First, Weezing's smoke covered Alakazam, disturbing it enough to release Ash. Ash took this moment to get to his feet to see what's going on. Ash quickly realized the blue thing in front of him was wobbuffet, and that Jessie, James and Meowth, of Team Rocket!
The other thing that happened was Jessie's Wobbuffet countered the attack Gangar unleashed. The white light u-turned from the blue pokemon and slammed into Gangar. The attack had a devastating effect on the ghost pokemon, being only soul, no body. Gangar moaned and collapsed to the floor, no will to fight remaining.
Pikachu was free also, who wasted no time to blast Alakazam with a powerful thunder attack. This might not have been enough to stop the extremely powerful psychic-type, but Pikachu wasn't the only one attack. "Arbok, Poison Sting!" Jessie ordered her giant snake pokemon. The combined attacks were enough to drive the pokemon into unconsciousness.
While this was happening, Geoff was irate, "who were these interlopers?" he thought to himself. Ash knew who these two were, but he couldn't figure out WHY they were helping him, but right now, he really didn't care. Something caught Ash's eyes on the floor. Taking advantage of the chaos, Ash drove across the room and grabbed the gun Geoff dropped, back when Pikachu attacked him.
Geoff saw what Ash was doing but was just a second too late. Ash scooped the gun up, spun around on his back and aimed the gun at Geoff's face. "DON'T MOVE!" Ash growled at him. Geoff's face fell as he stared down the barrel of his own gun.
Jessie, James, Meowth and Pikachu also froze. Ash slowly got up to his feet, not taking his eyes off Geoff. "You ok Pikachu?" Ash asked. Pikachu cried out "Pika!!" and leapt onto its owner's shoulders. Ash smiled. "Good, close call there, huh?"
Ash took a few steps back, keeping the gun trained on Geoff who stood there with his hands up, and a very sour expression on his face. James wailed, "Oh, its so sweet, the twerp is still alive, and he's got his Pikachu..."
Jessie grinned evilly, "...till now... the way I see it, he's a little busy right now with that scum over there... So twerp, I don't think you have much choice then to hand over that Pikachu!"
Ash's face fell, "You have GOT to be kidding me..."
Meowth laughed out loud, "Hey, we got standards, we couldn't steal a pokemon who's just lost his master... but now that we know your alive, what better chance is there?"
Ash turned his head slightly to glare at them. "You ARE joking right..."
Team Rocket were surprised at the subtle power in the kid's voice. Ash continued, "I was attacked and had my soul ripped from my body, and brought here for what I'm guessing to be at least 48 hours, during which I was tortured painfully. Pikachu has spent this time mourning my death. Now I'm back in my body. And after being tortured, I'm in a very bad mood. So is Pikachu. So what you have here is, me, Ash Ketchum, holding a semi- automatic weapon, extremely pissed off and just LOOKING for a way to vent. And you've got Pikachu, a walking powerpack, in a very grumpy mood, also just itching to vent. Now since you saved my life I'll give you a chance... do you REALLY think you want to go after Pikachu today?"
Ash narrowed his eyes as he finished, and glared at Team Rocket, who began to sweat. Jessie, turning a slight pale color, stammered, "You know what... maybe this is a bad time..."
"You think?" Ash growled
James took a step to the giant hole in the wall, "You know... we'll just be going..."
"Good ta see yer alive kid!" Meowth said, following its Teammates lead.
"Yeah... good thinking," Ash said. Ash saw the balloon take off. "PIKAPI!!!" Pikachu cried out. Ash turned around just in time to see Geoff charging him swinging something at his head. Just in time to see it, but not to dodge it. It was actually a lamp that Geoff smashed into Ash's skull, the entire glass base shattering as it crashed into the boy's skull. Ash dropped to his knees, then onto his back, his world started to grow fuzzy. He noticed Pikachu laying next to him, it looked like it was out cold. Ash also realized he dropped the gun, but couldn't tell where it was.
Geoff dropped down to his knees, and wrapped his hands around Ash's throat. Ash's eyes went wide and struggled against the larger man. Ash couldn't take his eyes off Geoff's snarling face. Ash could feel his world grow dim... "after all this, Geoff was going to kill me anyway" Ash thought, "And there's no one else to make a last minute rescue this time."
Ash squirmed against Geoff's grip, but he couldn't break free. Ash could see his loved one's faces pass before his eyes. His mother, her sweet face. Brock, and his stern knowing gaze. Pikachu, and all his pokemon, in all their powerful glory. Finally the last face to appear in front of him was Misty's her eyes sparkling. "I never got to tell her how I felt" Ash lamented, the world growing dimmer. But despite that his world was dimming, Misty's eyes were still shining... no... not shining... glinting? Glinting? Ash thought. Ash fought his brain to work, the hallucination of Misty's face went away, but the glinting was still there.
Ash quickly realized that the glinting was the light reflecting off the blade of Geoff's knife, hidden just inside the breast pocket of his jacket. Ash in one last desperate act, reached up and grabbed the knife. Before Geoff even noticed, Ash plunged the blade deep into Geoff's shoulder.
Geoff let out a wail of pain, and let go of his grip on Ash's throat. Ash gasped loudly drawing in air and clutching his throat. Without even consciously realizing it, Ash rolled on top Geoff and wrapped his hands around his throat.
Anger overwhelmed Ash, he was beyond feeling pain. He knew he was bleeding from his temple, where the bullet grazed him. He only knew this because of the blood dripping onto Geoff's face. No pain, only anger. He knew his head must have a solid lump from that shot Geoff gave him. No pain, only anger. He knew his throat must be swollen after nearly being choked to death. But again, no pain, only fierce rage.
Ash had never felt so angry in his life. Rage poured from every fiber of his being. He squeezed his hands tighter around Geoff's neck, the man was starting to turn blue. Ash could taste blood in his mouth, he was biting his lip. Ash grinned slightly as Geoff's eyes glazed over... "Its almost over", Ash thought. Blood was pouring down the side of his face from his wound.
Ash then became aware of something tugging on his jacket's sleeve. Ash turned his head slightly to see his Pikachu, haven woken up from being hit before. Tears in its eyes, it softly said, "Pikapi..." Ash looked into his pokemon's large caring eyes. Then he looked back at Geoff, who looked a few seconds from death. Ash gasped, "Oh my god... what am I doing???"
Ash let go of his enemy's throat and stood up quickly. Geoff rolled over to his stomach coughing and wheezing. Ash backed away a few steps. "Oh my god..." he repeated, the looked at Pikachu, who looked almost fearful of its trainer. "Pikachu..." Ash said softly, "I'm... I'm sorry. I can't believe I was almost willing to kill."
Ash knelt down and opened his arms for Pikachu. "Thank you..." Ash said softly, as Pikachu rushed up and leaped into the boy's arms. "Thank you Pikachu, if you didn't stop me... I would have done something that I would have regretted my whole life." He gave his pokemon a hug, which returned it with a tiny loving charge of static electricity.
The mood was broken as Ash heard Geoff scramble off the floor and onto his feet, stumbling out the recently made exit. "DAMNIT!" Ash cursed, realizing he made the same mistake as before, he took his eyes off Geoff, "I'm not going to kill you, but I'll be DAMNED IF I LET YOU GET AWAY!!!"
Ash took off after Geoff but stumbled slightly. The pain had finally caught up with Ash. Ash tried to fight against the pain and got back to his feet and moved as quick as he could after Geoff.
What didn't realize is, Geoff got about 5 meters from his house before he ran straight into a very fierce kick to his groin. Misty and Brock had made it to Geoff's house, just in time to see Geoff run out. Misty ran up to meet him and threw her foot into his balls.
Geoff screamed and collapsed to the ground in agony. Misty screamed at him "I WARNED you what would happen if you laid a hand on my Ash!" Brock, his face contorted with rage, picked Geoff up from the ground by his color. "WHERE'S ASH???" Brock bellowed into Geoff's face.
Ash managed to get outside, he tried to yell to Brock, but his throat hurt too much to yell. "PIKACHU PIKA!" Pikachu yelled out to them. Brock saw Ash standing there and felt relief flood into him. He threw Geoff to the ground, the villain still reeling from Misty's devastating low blow, and called out his rock-snake pokemon, "ONIX!" Brock ordered, "Keep an eye on this guy... if he moves an INCH, squash him!"
Misty had took off into a sprint the second she saw Ash. She made it to Ash in what seemed like no time. "Easy Ash," she said, putting an arm around, "Are you alright?"
Ash smiled slightly, and croaked hoarsely, "I'm fine Misty." Misty just glared at his bloody face, Ash shook his head, "It's just a cut, really, I'm fine."
Brock ran up to his friend and joined Misty in helping Ash stay on his feet. "That's a nasty cut you got there," Brock said immediately.
Ash shook his head again, "Really, thank you, but I'm ok."
Misty started to cry slightly, mostly out of relief. "Ash, your neck..."
Ash grimaced as Misty touched it, "Sorry" she said. Ash shrugged slightly, "It's ok, Misty, it probably looks worse then it really is."
Misty made a slight face, her tears slowing down, "Now your just trying to act brave." Ash, feeling better now that his friends were here asked, "I'm glad you guys are here... but... HOW? How did you know...?"
Brock answered him, "We didn't really know where you were. We ran after you as best we could, but we didn't really know where you were. But then we saw Team Rocket's balloon rise up from here just about 10 minutes ago. So we thought here's as good as place as any to find you!"
Misty looked around, "Where's Team Rocket though? Did they have something do with this?"
Ash swallowed hard, his throat really hurt, "Yeah, they saved my life."
"What?" Brock and Misty asked surprised. "I'll tell you about it later... first I think we should call the police or something..." Ash said
Brock helped Ash sit down on the grass. "Your right, Ash." Brock agreed, "Misty, there's got to be a phone inside. You take care of Ash, and I'll be right back. And Onix... remember what I said!"
Onix cried out, "Onix!" and nodded.
Brock walked over to the giant hole in the front wall, "Ash... what the hell did you do here?" Brock thought to himself.
"HEY BROCK!" Misty yelled to him, "I don't think you need to go in there."
Brock turned around, "Why not?" Then he saw why. About 3 police cars were racing this way from just beyond the horizon.
Ten minutes later, the area was swarming with cops, and Ash was being treated by professionals. "Here." An elderly worker said, "Keep this ice pack on your neck, it will help with the swelling."
Ash thanked him, and asked, "How did you guys get here?"
The man scratched his said and said, "Its the darnedest thing, this big hot air balloon shaped like a meowth's head floated right over the precinct, and started shouting that there was a hurt child over here."
"They called me a child?" Ash said raising an eyebrow. "Well... actually if you want to get exact, they called you a twerp." The man said and then walked away.
THAT made Ash laugh a little bit, till he found it hurt his throat. He sat there with Brock and Misty and watched as Officer Jenny handcuffed Geoff. "Your under arrest for the attempted murder of Ash Ketchum..." She said forcefully shoving the villain towards her squad car, "You have the right to remain silent..."
Geoff spit on the ground, "I know my rights... "
The other officers around were laying out police tape. Another group were recalling Geoff's pokemon into escape-proof pokeballs, use specifically for dangerous pokemon. Ash turned his gaze over to watch an Officer named Ed recall Alakazam into one such pokeball. "There's something very therapeutic about that." Ash thought to himself.
Ash readjusted his ice pack silently and shifted his gaze back to Geoff. Officer Jenny was pushing Geoff into the back seat of her squad car. Ash locked eyes with his enemy. Ash could see more hatred in his eyes then he had 24 hours ago. The squad car pulled away, but Ash continued to stare for a few more minutes until he heard Misty say, "Ash?"
"Hmm?" Ash broke his gaze to look at the red head.
"You ok? You looked like you were starting to space out." She asked. Brock looked concerned at Ash, "They said you didn't have a concussion, but if your starting to space out Ash..."
Ash put his hand to stop his friend. "Don't worry, I wasn't spacing out. I was thinking."
Misty leaned into her friend gently, and asked gently, "What about?"
Ash opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a car speeding to a stop. "MY BABY!" Ash heard his mother cry out as she burst out of the car.
His mother wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. Ash grimaced slightly as his mom hugged his neck, but he didn't say anything, he just hugged her back just as tightly. He could feel her crying. "Don't cry mom," He said softly, "I'm ok now."
"I'm just so happy..." she said between sobs, and hugged even tighter. Misty and Brock watched this and smiled. "That's so beautiful" Misty said her eyes getting watery. Misty caught Brock wiping his eyes.
After a minute Ash was let go by his mother, and she gave him a disapproving face. "Just LOOK what you did to your nice suit!" She scolded, the tone of voice made it clear she was trying to make her son smile.
It did what it was suppose to, "Mom," Ash replied, "After I was nearly buried in this suit... do you think I'd EVER wear this again?"
His mom felt laughter bubble up in her, so she let it out, why not? She certainly hadn't done any of that in the last few days. Her laughter turned to tears of joy again and she hugged her son again.
Just as him Mom let go of her son, Ash made a funny face. "Ash?" Misty asked, "What's wrong?"
Suddenly Ash's stomach let out a very loud gurgle. Ash blushed, and said sheepishly, "I just realized that I haven't eaten in over two days! I'm hungry!"
Everyone, not just his mom, laughed at this. Ash's mom looked at him and smiled and said, "Everyone was going to come back to our house from the funeral, so there's enough food there to feed a snorlax!"
Ash leapt up and croaked out, "come on! What are we waiting for?"
Brock stood up and said, "Ash. We can't go away until the officers let us go."
Ash groaned and sat back down. "Don't worry Ash." Brock said, "I'll go have a word with the lovely Officer Jenny and see if I can speed things up."
"Didn't Officer Jenny leave already?" Misty asked.
"Yeah," Ash agreed, "With Geoff."
"Oh, that was the Pallet town Officer Jenny," Brock explained, "The Pewter City Officer Jenny is still here!" And Brock quickly headed off to flirt with. I mean, to talk with the officer.
Misty stood up, "Oh no." she complained, "If he starts up with Officer Jenny, we'll be lucky if we EVER get out of here. I'd better go keep an eye on him."
Misty gave Ash a glance, reluctant to leave. Ash smiled, and whispered, "Relax Misty, it's over now, I'll be fine."
Misty waited a second and Ash's Mom hugged him again, "Go on Misty" she said, "I'll make sure he'll be fine" And smiled.
Misty nodded and ran off after Brock, who was already begging the officer for her phone number, "BROCK!" Misty bellowed, "Your going to get yourself arrested. AGAIN!"
ABOUT TWO HOURS LATER
Misty, Brock, Ash, and his mom finally make it back home. "I can't wait to change out of this suit," Ash said, "I think I'll do that before I even eat!"
Misty nodded, "Yeah, its kinda creepy seeing you in it."
The quartet walked through the door and was met with a blast of excitement. "HURRAY!!!" "Welcome back!" "I'm so happy." "We love you!" were just some of the phrases that were all yelled at once. Ash looked shocked into the room, it looked like everyone was there! Duplica, Richie, Gary, Tracey, Todd, Casey, Professor Oak, his relatives, and all his pokemon.
It was another hour before Ash could make it upstairs, what with everyone wanting to shake hands with him, or hug him, or talk with him. One highlight was between Ash and Gary. "How's your arm?" Ash asked.
"Meh," Gary shrugged, "It'll be fine. Lucky break for you, its my pokeball throwing arm, otherwise I'd have to embarrass you with a match right here."
Ash grinned, "Yep, lucky me."
Gary then asked, "But seriously, how's that throat of yours? It looks pretty bad."
Ash rubbed his neck gently and said, "It hurts but it looks worse then it really is. Lucky for you though."
"How so?" Gary asked.
"Because if my throat felt better, I'd feel well enough to have a comeback for your lame-ass challenge." Ash said with a large grin. Gary's jaw dropped, surprised at Ash's unusually quick wit. Gary thought of a good comeback, but held it back. "I'll let him win this one," Gary thought, "He's earned it."
Another highlight was when Ash's mom brought out a platter of sandwiches, Ash asked, "Mom, is there another platter in there?"
Ash's mom was puzzled but said, "Sure hunny, there's still 3 or 4 more platters, plus salads and some cake. But you couldn't possibly be hungry enough to eat a whole platter."
Ash grinned and said, "Oh. it's not for me."
Ash ran into the kitchen leaving his mom standing there confused.
Finally, after an hour of being stuck downstairs in his suit, Misty stepped in. ".and that was in 1965 the first time someone tried to take my life. You didn't see me have a party over surviving it though. No sir! I didn't even get a card, mainly because there was a paper shortage that year." Ash's Great Uncle Charlie droned on, The next time it happened was 3 years later." Ash sighed knowing he was stuck for a long one.
Misty interrupted, "I'm sorry sir." And took Ash by the arm, "I just need to borrow him for just one moment, its very important."
"Alright then." Great Uncle Charlie said reluctantly, "But you need to come back later Ashy so you can hear about when the Illuminati tried to abduct me for their experiments."
Ash faked a grin and hurried off with Misty. "Thanks." Ash whispered gratefully, "Uncle Charlie. he's not quite right."
Misty nodded, "I noticed," She then pointed to the stairs, "Now march." She ordered, pushing Ash up the stairs from behind.
Brock caught this out of the corner of his eye, and smiled, then turned his attention back to Gary's sister, May.
Upstairs, Misty waited in Ash's bedroom as Ash got changed in the bathroom. She waited silently until Ash came out, wearing his usual jeans and black T-shirt. Misty winced as she saw Ash. His head was wrapped in white gauze, his left eye was bruised, but his neck was the worst. Against the black shirt, Ash's red swollen bruised neck really stood out. Ash caught Misty's face and said, "I know, I know. I don't look my best right now."
Ash walked over to his bed and picked his hat up off it and put it on. It covered a lot of the gauze. "Better?" He asked.
"Almost." Misty said and walked over to Ash's dresser. She rummaged around as Ash looked at her puzzled. "Here." She said handing him a deep blue turtleneck sweater, "That'll cover up your neck so no one will stare tonight, and I bet you the soft wool will feel good against it." Misty smiled at him.
Ash returned the smile and put the sweater on over his T-shirt. "How's that?" Ash asked.
"Looks good to me!" Misty said happily and blushed. Ash blushed slightly back.
"Ash." Misty said, "Before we go back downstairs. there's two things I want to do, but only if you're feeling ok."
Ash puzzled, said, "Don't worry Misty, I'm more ok then I look."
"Ok." Misty said, and walked to her friend, "Well first." She then smacked her friend HARD upside his head.
Ash yelped, "OUCH!!"
"WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU GO OFF ALONE???" Misty reprimanded angrily, "Do you have any idea how upset I was when I thought you were dead, then you come back to life, and you run off to your death again?"
Ash rubbed the back of his head, "Misty I."
Misty continued, "Ash, why would you run away from us? We're your friends, we'd have helped you!"
Ash looked at Misty. He knew he would have been angry for that hit, if it wasn't for one thing. she was absolutely right. "I'm sorry Misty" Ash said, "I wasn't in the best frame of mind then. Geoff threatened my family. and you. I had to stop him, and I didn't want anyone I cared about to get hurt!"
Misty's iron gaze softened. "Alright, its ok. What's done is done, just use your brain more in the future, ok?" Ash nodded. Misty continued, "I'm sorry I hit you so hard. are you ok?"
Ash grinned, "Oh I have a thick skull, you know that" Ash said, and his faced turned a bit apprehensive, "but I'm not sure I want to know what the second thing you wanted to do was."
Misty grinned, shrugged, and said, "Too bad." She then tackled her friend in a huge hug, both teens landing on the bed. "Oh Ash." she said, "I thought I'd lost you!"
"I'm sorry Misty" Ash said hugging her back, "I thought I was going to lose you too."
"Well you have me now." Misty said looking into Ash's eyes.
"I do." Ash replied.
The two teens stared at each other for a minute. Leaned in. And kissed.
At about that time outside three shadowy figures crept up the house. "Alright then" Jessie said, "Now that we know the twerp is alive and well, now's the perfect chance to kidnap that Pikachu."
James agreed, "He'll be so busy celebrating he'll never see us coming."
Meowth laughed, "I bet he couldn't have guessed that we'd show up here tonight!" The three crept around back and sneaked up to the door. "Hey." Meowth asked, "What's that?"
On the backdoor step there was something large and covered in aluminum foil. On the foil was an envelope marked, "To Team Rocket"
The trio looked at each other, and James took off the envelope and opened it. Inside was a letter, which James read out loud. "Team Rocket, Thank you for your help against Geoff. If you hadn't showed up when you did I know I'd probably be dead. again. I'm sorry I waved a gun at you, I was a little mad at the time. I'd invite you into the party but I doubt you'd accept, so please accept this as a token of my thanks."
Jessie removed the foil to reveal a mound of sandwiches, a bowl of salad, and an entire cake. All three got misty eyed over this. "Oh. how sweet" Jessie said. "With twerps like him, who needs friend?" Meowth agreed.
James picked up the tray and said, "Maybe we should leave him alone for the night?"
Jessie nodded, "Yeah I think he's earned the night off!"
Team Rocket tip toed off the property and whispered, "Looks like Team Rocket's NOT blasting off this time!"
Four hours later, the party showed no signs of dying. But if a friend coming back from the dead isn't cause for a huge celebration, then I don't know what is! Everyone was still going strong, except for Mrs. Ketchum, who fell asleep an hour ago. Everyone just let her sleep because they knew she needed the rest.
Outside Ash stood on the steps looking up at the stars. He held a twig in his hands, broke it half, and tossed it aside. He was lost in thought. Misty came outside, "There you are" She said, seeing her breath in the air, "Come on back in, you'll catch cold!"
Ash pulled on his sweater's neck to show it to her, "I have a sweater on, I'm warm enough."
Misty sat down next to Ash, and took his hand. "You want to talk about it?"
"About what?" Ash asked, still lost in thought.
"Whatever it is that is eating your brain right now." Misty replied.
Behind them, a voice said, "I could tell you what's bothering him."
Ash and Misty turned around to see Professor Oak standing there. Oak looked down at the two teens on the steps and noticed that they were holding hands. Professor Oak smiled but didn't make a big deal about it, no sense in embarrassing them.
Ash asked, "Oh hi Professor, how do you know what's bothering me?"
Professor Oak smiled and said, "Because, I've known you a long time. And from what I've heard about your adventure, I'd say it shattered some of your ideals."
Misty looked at Professor Oak, then at Ash who was wincing slightly. "What does he mean Ash?" Misty asked softly.
"Do you want to tell her?" The wizened elder asked.
Ash shook his head no. "I honestly don't really understand it myself." Ash admitted, "Maybe you could tell me."
"Its really simple Ash." Professor Oak explained, "You see, your whole life you've loved pokemon, and you have strong ideals about them. You've always looked at pokemon as honest, trustworthy, loving creatures. If a pokemon does something bad, its not IT'S fault. it's the trainer. But now." Oak trailed off.
Ash picked up, "Now I know I was naïve. Not all pokemon are good. Alakazam and Gangar were doing more then just following orders. they WANTED to hurt me. They were enjoying it."
Misty saw the pain in Ash's face, and leaned into him, hugging him slightly.
"I know it upsets you Ash," Professor Oak explained, "But you shouldn't be upset by it."
Ash looked up at his mentor.
"You see," The professor went on, "Just like in humans, pokemon have both good and evil tendencies. Take your pokemon for example. All of them have their likes and dislikes, their loves and their hates. But because you've been such a good trainer and friend to them, they've grown into noble, kindhearted pokemon. But when pokemon are raised by someone with hatred in their hearts, they can become as evil, as filled with hate, as their trainer. THAT is why we must treat pokemon and humans how we'd want to be treated ourselves."
Ash and Misty looked at each other and smiled. Then they looked back up at Professor Oak. Misty a little misty-eyed smiled and said, "That's so beautiful."
Ash nodded agreeing, "And it makes a lot of sense. Thank you, I feel better now."
Professor Oak smiled back. "I'm glad I could help." The teens looked back at each other staring into each other eyes. Oak smiled and knowing that the two wanted to be alone, said, "Well, I best be getting inside."
Ash and Misty stayed outside for a while longer, keeping each other warm, both in both body and spirit.
The party continued WELL into the night. I could write another story just on this party, but that's something for another day. One of the highlights was Brock declaring that this is no longer a Funeral Party, this was a "Lazarus Party!" Something Ash didn't quite understand. Misty sighed, she loved him but boy could be dim at times. Tracey got some great sketches of the wild party, and Todd took some great photos, you'll have to ask Ash to show them to you sometime, especially the one where Ash and Misty got caught kissing. Todd's camera almost didn't survive that. But the sweetest part of the night was Ash and Misty falling asleep cuddled into each other on the couch. (If you want, I believe Todd has a picture of that too! But don't tell Ash or Misty. Todd's would never survive if they had that knowledge!)
The End
Thanks for reading, .. but wait... we're not through yet.... the story definately is over... but there I have bonus chapter 5 up... if your curious what that could be about, i suggest you go check it out, you wont be sorry! If your NOT curious... well still check it out, dont be a pain in the ass! hehe.