Okay, so I decided last minute to post both chapters at the same time. I was practically done with both, and since I haven't updated in a while, I figured what the hey? Anyway, enjoy, R&R! ^^

Ties to Family

Ch 6- The Truth Comes Out?

Ash stirred in his sleep. He was having a very strange dream...

He was chasing Ho-oh, and stretched his arm upward.

No...! Wait, I want to meet you!

But Ho-oh just kept flying on ahead. It seemed to be leading him somewhere... He followed the great fiery bird pokemon, feeling both excited and scared.

Where are you taking me?

Ho-oh didn't answer, and soon stopped and perched itself high atop a tree. Ash paused to catch his breath. He had never done so much running in his life. Then he saw a man before him. It was his father... but he looked kinda different. His eyes were different, and his face was a little different too. He smiled when he saw Ash, and opened his mouth to speak. But as soon as sound began to come form him, Ash felt something tugging at him....

"Wha...?" said a groggy Ash, waking from his dream.

"Pika..." said Pikachu, who had been tugging at his side for what seemed like ten minutes.

"Oh, need to go outside Pikachu?" said Ash, still sleepy, and thoughts teeming of his latest dream.

"Chu..." said Pikachu, nodding.

"Well, you shouldn't have drunk all that water before bed... I told you that you'd need to go..." finished Ash, now getting up.

He left the room with Pikachu on his shoulder quietly, and quickly, so as not to wake anybody up. Especially Misty. He remembered all to well the last time he had woken her up in the middle of the night without warning... She had almost killed him with her yelling. After that, Brock made him promise not to wake Misty up unless it was an emergency. He had agreed, but not after getting in his own yelling at Misty. He smiled to himself; the three of them had shared a lot of times together... Misty and Brock, those two were like family...

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Misty was beyond words. Jessie and James held her tightly, but not too tightly. They weren't used to kidnapping people, and doing this to the 'Twerp Girl' made them a bit uneasy. Wobbuffet held Togepi, and would toss it in the air once in while to keep it happy. Giovanni was cursing under his breath, obviously trying to think his way out of this situation.

Misty found her voice, and directed it to Giovanni.

"So you're not really Ash's father?" she said angrily.

Giovanni turned to face her, smiling. "Yes, that's correct. I'm not. But I certainly do pull it off well, don't I? You know, there's a reason for that... but, you'll have to discover that on your own..."

Ignoring the last part of what Giovanni had said, Misty glared at him, disgusted, "How could you do that to Ash? What kind of a person are you?!"

Giovanni laughed, "I'm the leader of Team Rocket; that's the kind of person I am."

Misty suddenly felt scared. She had heard stories and rumors about the leader of Team Rocket. None of them ended up good either. But she wouldn't give him the pleasure of knowing she was scared.

"So what? You don't scare me. I could probably beat you in a battle, and if anything happened to me, Ash and Brock would come looking for me, and they would find you!" she said, feeling that it had been well-said.

"Hmm, I don't doubt it, you do mean a lot to both of them. But that doesn't matter. Because I have a plan to make it seem like you are in the wrong."

He looked at Jessie and James. "You two idiots! Keep her here for a half hour. By then I should be back at the Pokemon Center to establish my alibi. Then let her go," he said, leaving Jessie and James confused.

"But Boss, just let her go?" repeated James, making sure he hadn't misunderstood.

"Yes, let her go; are you deaf and an imbecile James?! Do as I say, but make sure you wait at least a half hour."

"Yes sir!" both Jessie and James in unison.

With that, Giovanni smiled to Misty, and turned to leave. After a few seconds, he had completely disappeared into the forest.

Jessie turned to James. "This has really been a weird week... And it's all your fault!"

James glared at her, "Oh yeah, who's idea was it to come back in the first place?!"

"I remember!" said Meowth, "It was Jessie's!!"

"Why you little fools!" shouted Jessie, now glaring at the both of them.

Misty said nothing. She was still slightly shocked about the revealing of Giovanni, but she knew she had to get back to Ash right away, so she waited patiently, hoping that Team Rocket would get into a fight, and let her go.

"Oh yeah! Take dis!!" yelled Meowth, scratching at Jessie's face.

Jessie screamed. "Oooh! You're gonna get it!"

She let go of Misty, and hurled herself at Meowth. James was left with Misty.

"Jessie! What about the Twerp Girl?" he whimpered, looking a bit apprehensive.

Wobbuffet, seeing Jessie getting hurt by Meowth, felt a surge of loyalty, and dropped Togepi to join in the fray. "Wobbaaa!" he yelled, charging into the mess.

"Wobbuffet?!!" yelled James, now the only one left to watch Misty and Togepi.

Togepi waddled up to James.

"Togi tog togepi!" it said, pointing to Misty.

James shook his head. "No way! I'm not letting the Boss down this time!" he said, holding onto Misty tightly.

Misty struggled a bit, but knew she was no match for James. He was older, taller, and much stronger.

Togepi looked at the ground for a second, thinking to itself. Then it smiled, and raised its little hands, rocking them back and forth while saying, "Togi!"

James trembled. "Aaahh! What are you doing?!" he said, looking more worried by the minute.

Togepi just continued, and then stopped. With a final, "Togi!" James was gone in a flash.

Misty looked impressed. "You Teleported him, Togepi?" she asked.

Togepi just giggled, jumping up into Misty's arms.

Jessie yelled loudly, "Hold it!!!" She looked around. "Where's James?" she asked, a worried look flashing on her face.

"Oh, Togepi just psychically transported him somewhere. I hope you can find him! I'm going to go back to Ash now!" Misty said happily, and turned to leave.

Jessie began to get up to catch Misty, but realized that she could have been bluffing about James. So she called out for a moment, "James? James! Where'd you go?"

When she turned around, Misty was already gone.

"Oh great!" yelled Meowth, "I guess that means no nice office next to the Boss at Team Rocket Headquarters..."

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Ash was getting a bit impatient, and the air was getting a bit chilly. Luckily, he had brought his hat with him to keep his head warm. "Pikachu? Are you done yet? It's getting cold out, and I'm tired..."

Pikachu re-emerged, looking tired as well. Ash paused, then figured out what took so long.

"You fell asleep, didn't you?" he said to Pikachu, smiling a bit.

Pikachu nodded, rubbing his eyes.

"Come on," said Ash, walking slowly back to the center.

As he got to the room door, someone came out from the shadows.

Ash looked quickly, "Oh, it's just you! You scared me Dad..."

"Sorry," a smiling Mr. Ketchum said, "I had to use the restroom... took me a while, but after asking Nurse Joy, I was able to find it."

Ash nodded, then opened the door to let them in. Pikachu looked at Adam suspiciously. Going to the bathroom? That sounded normal enough, but Pikachu could tell he was up to something.

Ash walked over to his bed, and as he laid down, glanced at Misty's. He always did this when laying down, just to make sure she was still there. It wasn't like she had been missing before, but for some reason it made Ash feel as if he were watching over her in some way.

But this time, there was no Misty in her bed...

"Huh? Hey Brock, where's Misty?" asked Ash.

Brock turned in his bed, "Oh Nurse Joy....."

Ash sighed.

Adam placed his hand on Ash's shoulder, "I'm sure she's alright... perhaps she's gone to the bathroom?"

Ash nodded, he didn't want to make it seem as if he was over-reacting.

Soon after Ash calmed down a bit, a panting Misty came racing into their room.

"Misty! Where have you been?" asked Ash, looking at her quizzically.

Misty glanced quickly at Adam, then looked sadly at Ash.

"Ash, there's something I've got to tell you..." she said, her voice wavering a bit.

Ash looked taken aback; Misty had never spoken to him like this before.

"Uh, yeah?" he said, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

She gulped, this was taking a lot of courage, and all the while Adam was just expressionless, which was making her nervous...

"Ash..." she said, pointing to Adam, "He's n.. not your dad!"

Ash laughed, "Heh, great joke Misty, but I..."

He stopped, seeing the expression on her face. She was serious. He looked at his father, then back at Misty.

"What do you mean he's 'not my dad'?" said Ash, staring to look more serious.

Misty looked a bit scared. "Well, I mean he isn't. He's just been tricking you to get at Pikachu! He's really the leader of Team Rocket!"

Ash looked a bit angry now.

"Stop it Misty, the joke's not funny anymore! Can we just go back to sleep?" he said, looking frustrated.

Tears were now rolling down Misty's cheeks. "I'm not.. joking Ash..." she said, trying to hold back tears.

Ash was very angry and confused. He wanted to believe Misty, but he didn't want to believe. He then turned to his father. "You are my father, right?" he asked, wanting the answer to be 'yes' more than anything in the world.

"Of course I am," said Adam, smirking at Misty as Ash turned away. Brock raised an eyebrow.

"You must have been mistaken Misty," said Ash, feeling a bit better.

"No... I'm not mistaken... I followed him to where he was talking to Jessie and James... he told them to grab me... and then--"

"But you can't have seen him! It was dark out, and he was here going to the bathroom!" said Ash, his anger coming back.

"Don't be so hard on her Ash," said Adam, smiling, "After all, you must expect the strongest of individuals to be jealous sometimes..."

Misty's eyes narrowed. So that was his 'plan'. To make it seem like she was jealous. Well, Ash would believe her over him... wouldn't he?

"Ash, I'm not lying, nor am I jealous, I'm telling the truth!!" she yelled, trying to redeem herself.

Ash wasn't truly sure who to believe. He wanted to believe Misty, but what she was saying was so impossible... and it did sound a lot like jealousy...

Misty cut into Ash's silence. "Pikachu was right not to trust him! Remember, Pikachu didn't like him; well, well, that was probably why!"

Pikachu was torn. He knew Misty was right, but he didn't want Ash to be sad. But Pikachu was not about to sacrifice truth for Ash's happiness, especially in this situation. He jumped down off of Ash's shoulder, and stood next to Misty.

"Pika! Pikachupi pika pika!" he said, looking not angry at Ash, but at the man standing next to him.

"Pikachu..." started Ash, but he couldn't believe them... he just couldn't... there's no way they could be right... it was just some kind of mistake... he could never have been fooled that easily... and he looks just like his dad...

Ash looked downward at the floor, "You're wrong..."

Misty and Pikachu both stared at each other.

"You have to be wrong..." said Ash, still hiding his eyes behind the visor of his red and white hat.

"Ash..." said Misty, feeling a lump in her throat.

"I don't believe you!" yelled Ash, glaring at Misty.

Misty couldn't take it anymore, she suddenly felt angry. He didn't believe her? Both she and Pikachu, two of his best friends, were telling him the same thing, and he didn't believe them?

"Fine then! Go on and have Pikachu stolen; but I won't be a part of it!" yelled Misty turning on her heel and leaving the room before Ash could say another word.

Pikachu looked up at Ash in shock. He thought for sure Ash would believe him... He jumped angrily on Misty's bed, away from Ash, and pretended to go to sleep.

Adam sighed. "I'm so sorry... this is all my fault..."

Ash shook his head. "No, it's Misty and Pikachu's faults... not yours..."

Brock, still leaning over the side of his bed, shook his head too. He had been watching 'Adam' very close the past couple of days. The way he talked, the way he would act toward Misty when Ash wasn't looking, the way he would watch hungrily as Pikachu would demonstrate his power. He knew that Misty and Pikachu were right; but now was not the time to tell Ash this. He needed to wait for Ash to brood on what had just happened, and think with a clear head on what Misty and Pikachu had said. He was going to wait till the morning to tell Ash exactly what he thought about his so-called father.

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The sun was starting to make the sky lighten up, signaling the morning. Misty walked slowly outside the Pokemon Center. She had no idea where she was going... She had been stupid enough to forget her backpack at the center, and knew that she couldn't go far without her things. So she was just wandering in the nearby forest. It was light enough so that she wouldn't be in any danger.

"What are we going to do Togepi?" she said, feeling worse than she had in the Pokemon Center.

Togepi looked sadly up at its trainer, wishing there were some way to make her feel better. That's when it heard it. A noise in the bushes ahead. Togepi called Misty's attention, then pointed with its small hand in the direction.

"What is it Togepi?" asked Misty, hoping it wasn't Team Rocket again.

Which it wasn't, as she soon found out, when Jigglypuff hopped out from behind the bush.

"Jiggly!" it said, looking happy to see Misty.

Misty was a bit confused. Jigglypuff had acted so strangely the other day... now it was popping out of bushes as the sun was coming up? But her question was soon answered, as a man came out from the other side of the wall of bushes, apparently following Jigglypuff to Misty.

A/N: Who is the mysterious man with Misty?? Oh, you can probably guess Anyway, I'll have the next chappie done soon, so, like I said at the top, read and review please!