~.Sadistic Angel.~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I don't own pokemon.
I know I haven't posted in a while, but here's the next chapter. BTW, I lost track of what chapter it is. Feedback welcome, though I don't have an e-mail address at the moment.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ash walked into the air-conditioned lobby. He walked up to the desk and handed a hundred dollar bill to the clerk.
" I'm looking for a guest. Her name is Amita, she just checked in last night, I think."
" I don't think we have anyone here by that name." the clerk answered smiling. She took the bill handed it back to Ash.
" Please, this is very important. Can you tell her Ash needs to talk to her?"
The clerk sighed, and handed Ash a piece of paper.
" She said to give this to you. I'm sorry, she said not to tell anyone she was staying here unless it was you."
" No problem." Ash muttered walking outside. The clerk's eyes narrowed, and her shape changed until she looked like herself again. Amita looked down in disgust at the floor behind the desk. Laying there, was the real clerk. She kicked the body in disgust, and removed a small gold ring with a strange insignia from the dead person's hand. She put it in her pocket, and walked out of the hotel lobby.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ash paced from one end of the alley to the other. He sighed in exasperation, and took a cell phone out of his pocket.
" I've never known a dead person with a cell phone." A voice called out from the other end of the alley.
Ash spun around quickly. "Amita?" he called out anxiously.
Misty approached him quickly. He groaned inwardly when he recognized her.
" Ash, what the hell is wrong with you?"
" According to you, everything."
Misty felt a pang go through her as he said those words, and found herself without a proper response. Ash noticed her silence and spoke.
" You are supposed to be on leave. If they catch you going after a case..."
" This isn't an official assignment. I can write it off as a personal investigation. Ash...."
" Misty, this has nothing to do with you. This is about MY father..."
" That's where you are wrong, Ash. We both have things to find out. I won't meddle in your search, but I need a favor. I need the key to your father's place in the Orange Islands and the summer house in the World Islands."
Ash loked stumped. " What? Why?"
" Those are the two houses your father used to spend most of his time in, aren't they?"
Ash nodded. " So why do you need the keys?"
" Look, I'll explain it to you when I know more. Please, Ash."
Ash remembered he was supposed to meet Amita here, and was suddenly overcome with the urge to get Misty out of there.
" Sure, whatever. Pick them up at my mom's house. The caretaker should recognize you from the last time we went."
Misty nodded, and walked away quickly. Ash looked at her as she walked away. He had missed her. He had imagined maybe one day she would come back, but he hadn't imagined anything like this.
" Glad she's gone." A voice muttered from somewhere on the roof. Amita jumped down, and landed a few feet from Ash.
" So, Ash. What do you want? A rematch?"
" I want to know more. I need you to tell me everything about my father. His involvement with the immortals, and his death."
" His death?" Amita laughed bitterly. " Scum like him never dies. The bastard is probably hiding somewhere. The idiot betrayed everyone, and now nobody trusts him. He's probably working small things now. He was so ambitious, but he didn't get anywhere. Never knew where his loyalties lay himself. Damn good leader, though. If it wasn't because he tried to betray the immortals, they would have won. We would all be dead now. Poor ash, you've been blind to everything. Did you know that the battle between the immortals and the humans has been going on since your father's time? Think of all the people who have no idea about all the things that are going on. They could all be killed tomorrow, but they don't know that. IS bliss, I guess."
" What about my sister? Is she alive?"
Amita's face darkened. " She...I don't know. We both want to find her, Ash. That's the one thing we have in common. Your sister was my only friend for a while. She was everything to me. We became almost like sisters. Until she disappeared."
Ash looked at amita, startled.
"When did she disappear?"
" About a year after we found her. We had just..." Amita was interrupted by a shrill ringing. Ash sighed, and answered the phone. A cheery voice on the other side of the line greeted him.
" What do you want, Duplica?"
" Hey, Ashy. The people over at A*D*O called. They said they went to look for the girl that beat the crap out of you."
Ash grinned. " She didn't..."
" It doesn't matter, Ash. Getting your butt kicked by a girl is nothing to be ashamed of. Anyway, they checked one of the hotels they thought the girl might have checked into, and they found the clerk dead. Can't really tell how she died. Sabrina thinks it was a mental attack. She should know, she's a pro at that stuff. Anyway, they couldn't find you, so they called to see if you were over here. They asked me to tell you not to look for that girl if I saw you. Seeing as how you are currently alive, I guess it's safe to say you haven't encountered her."
" No, I haven't," Ash lied, " I just needed to get out of there. Secret organization headquarters are always so stuffy." Ash tried to keep the humor in his voice.
" So... I guess things with Misty aren't going too well, huh."
" They're... fine. She's talking to me. She said she needed to check something out. She asked me to the keys to my dad's place."
" You didn't give them to her, did you?" Duplica asked, worried.
" Yeah. I told her to go ahead."
" Do you know what she was going after?"
" No... I didn't ask." Ash answered sheepishly.
" You're still as stupid as you were when I first met you. I'll see if I can get in touch with her. See ya, Ashy." without waiting for him to answer, she hung up. Ash stared at his phone for a minute.
" You know, your little fountain of information is getting tired of waiting." Amita said impatiently.
" Why did you kill her?" he asked simply.
" I guess you heard," she took the ring she had taken from the woman's dead hands out of her pocket, " Have you ever seen this symbol before, Ash?" she asked, pointing to the insignia on the gold ring.
" Yeah... I found a couple of papers with this stamp belonging to my father. I've seen people with tattoes... Maybe a couple of other places. Why do you ask?"
" That is the symbol of the immortals. Documents are stamped with it, some people get tattoes. The more conservative supporters simply wear these rings. The rebels haven't really figured it out yet. She was one of them, and since all the immortals are currently looking for me, I had to kill her. She recognized me." she shrugged.
" WHO are you exactly? You're that little girl from the village, aren't you? What happened?"
" Yes, that was me. I am the leader of the only group of humans left in Denk. The immortals have been looking for me for a long time. The village hid me with spells. I was to remain a child, and act like a commoner. A girl from the village was born on the same day as I was, and she took my place as princess. When we were born, she was taken from her family. Whenever we held formal ceremonies where the immortals might have been watching, she was taken out instead. Everyone in the village knows, but we have kept it from all the immortals. I still make all decisions, but she makes the public appearances."
" So why are you... older now?"
" Ash, we are both on opposite sides. You are supposed to be the one that will lead the immortals to victory. I'm the one that will lead the humans to victory. It was time for me to start. Do you know why Misty asked you for the keys to your father's houses?"
Ash's head snapped. He looked at her bewildered. " You know?" he asked stupified.
" You and Misty knew each other when you were young."
" Yeah. We found out while looking through some pictures. We found some pictures of us playing as kids."
" You knew each other through your parents. Your father betrayed her parents. He was the reason they died. Your father killed her parents."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AN: Sorry about the cliffhanger. I'm really in a hurry right now. I'll try to post next week. Don't worry, I won't leave you hanging for too long.