Velocity
Chapter 4: The Odd Couple
"How does a Gym Leader become one of Kanto's top street racers? I mean, you'd think that the Pokemon League would take a huge amount of time to take care of." Ash said as he grabbed his car keys. "Well, so sorry to see you go, but you have a Gym to run. What's the fastest way there?" Misty rolled her eyes and laid herself out on the couch.
"Actually, I'm done for this year," she replied with a smirk. "I run the Gym with my other three sisters. Since there are four of us, we each run the Gym for three months at a time. Today was the last day of my term, which is why I went out to celebrate." She narrowed her eyes at Ash menacingly. "At least, that was my plan until you decided to ruin it by destroying my precious motorcycle. I loved that bike too..."
Ash groaned and leaned on the counter of his breakfast bar. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, for the umpteenth freakin' time, I'm sorry!" They both had been sitting in the living room of his apartment for the past twenty minutes; Ash trying to find a way for her to leave, and Misty always countering with a legitimate reason for staying; not to mention she kept throwing the threat of reporting him as backing out on a bet in his face every chance she got. Pikachu sat on a small chair, happily slurping the ketchup that he had brought up from the car.
"This is a nice place you got here, Ashy. I won't mind staying here at all," she said, sweeping her eyes over his apartment. She was right; living off of the earnest salary of a criminal lawyer did have its perks. His apartment was pretty big, a kitchen with a small opening over the faucet that looked out into the living room. On the other side of the opening was a bar that he used quite a bit when Tracy had decided to throw him a surprised birthday party last year.
The living room was quite large, housing a big screen television accompanied by a lavish entertainment center complete with surround sound. Three huge racks of CDs sat next to the entertainment center, holding at least a minimum of 70 CDs. On the floor next to the TV was mass of wires that belonged to his various video game consoles that he played whenever he had a chance. In the back of the living room lay a huge glass window that delivered a breathtaking view of the Cerulean cityscape.
"So where am I sleeping, Ashy?" she chimed in as hopped up from the sofa and strolled over to the large window. Ash chuckled and tossed his car keys onto the bar.
"You just jumped up from it. And my name is Ash." She looked at him unbelievingly and scoffed.
"You're gonna make me sleep on the sofa? Whatever happened to being a gentleman?"
Ash yawned and headed for his room. "That went out the window after you forced me into letting you stay here. Well, good night." He turned to walk into his room before a blur whizzed past him and the door slammed shut in his face.
"What the-? Damn it, Misty! Open this door right now!" he yelled as he pounded on the bedroom door with his fist.
"Please let me sleep in here just for tonight? Besides, I need to take a shower, and I don't see any other bathroom in here." Ash growled and pounded on the door again.
"Absolutely not! I said I'd let you stay here, not take over my house!" he yelled through the door.
"Just for tonight, I won't ask you again. I promise!" she pleaded. Ash growled and cursed under his breath.
"One night, understand! After tonight, you will not be sleeping in my bedroom anymore, got it!" He heard her muffled reply through the door and turned to the couch before knocking on the door again.
Misty yanked the door open and stuck her head out, the sounds of the bathtub in his bathroom drifting out from his room. "What is it? I'm getting ready for my bath!" she asked irritably.
"I need some clothes to sleep in. And leave this door unlocked."
"What, so you can come and spy on me while I'm in the bathtub? No way!" Ash rolled his eyes.
"Nobody would want to spy on your scrawny ass, Misty. I need it unlocked so I can get dressed for work tomorrow. Unlike you, some of us have to work every day instead of three months."
He was answered by a t-shirt to the face as Misty stuck her head out again. "There. Now good night," she said before slamming the door shut in his face. He growled and quickly changed, throwing his dirty clothes onto a nearby chair as he grabbed an extra blanket out from a nearby closet and stretched out on the couch.
"Well, good night buddy," he said to Pikachu, who still sat there, slurping on his ketchup. Pikachu waved his paw, never taking his eyes off his bottle for a second.
"Pika."
"Mr. Sergio Giovanni, do you have any last statements before I hand out your sentence..."
Ash stared blankly at the wall as Tracy shook him roughly. "Yo, Ash, it's time to go. Court's out of session." Ash snapped back to reality, shaking his head in an effort to clear out the cobwebs in his mind. For some reason, he hadn't been able to concentrate ever since he walked into the courthouse that morning.
"Uhh, yeah sure, Tracy. How'd it go?" Tracy stared at him in disbelief.
"Ash, what's up with you? Of course we won. The judge just sentenced him ten minutes ago. He'll be in prison for life. All that evidence we dug up made this an open and shut case." Tracy looked at him with concern. "Ash, are you sure you're okay? For the past week or so, you've been zoning out, looking exhausted. You're not sick, are you?"
Ash shook his head. "Nah, it's just the case, that's all. It's taken a lot out of me. I didn't expect for this guy's operations to branch out as far as they did. It's amazing."
Tracy placed a hand on Ash's back as he led them out of the courtroom and into the crowded lobby. "Yeah, this guy had his hand's in everything; Pokemon poaching, smuggling, robbery. It's crazy." His face lit up as he spotted a face amongst the mass of reporters and police officers throughout the lobby. "You wanna meet the guy who brought this guy in?"
Ash shrugged. "Sure, why not?" he answered as Tracy yelled across the lobby and waved his hands wildly. Ash ran his eyes over the lobby, just glancing at the random faces in the crowd before stopping in his tracks. It was him.
Ash was staring into an almost mirror image of himself, and he had to catch himself from staring too hard. It was the cop from last night. There was no mistake about it. Quickly, Ash turned around, trying to obscure his face from him. Hopefully, the man didn't catch a real good glimpse of him.
"Ash? Hey, Ash. Turn around; I want you to meet this guy." Slowly, Ash turned around, and his heart nearly leapt into his throat. The cop was standing right in front of him, smiling brightly. His eyes suddenly narrowed as he examined Ash's face, obviously recognizing it.
"Ash, this is Officer Richard Jenkins. He's the head of the special MASTERS wing of the Cerulean Police Department. This is the cop who brought the defendant in." Ritchie smirked slyly and held his hand out.
"Tracy, you know not to use all that formal B.S. Just call me Ritchie. And you are...?" Ash forced a smile onto his face and shook his hand. Ritchie knew exactly what he was doing.
"I'm Ash. Ash Ketchum. I've heard a lot about your MASTERS squad, Ritchie. They say it's extremely elite; one of the best in Kanto." Ritchie chuckled softly.
"Well, we do what we can. Actually, we just created a new unit dedicated to stopping all of the rampant street racing that's been going on throughout the city. We just had a successful raid on the scene at the Cerulean Piers last night. Have you heard anything about it, Ash?"
Ash chuckled weakly and shoved his hands into his pockets. "No, I haven't heard a thing about it. What makes you think I would know?"
"Well, street racers come from all walks of life. You'd be surprised at who I've busted for illegal street racing," he said as he gave a sly glance at Ash. "But, I'm taking up too much of your time. You guys need to relish in your huge victory. Congratulations. I hope to see you again real soon." He glanced at Ash and Tracy before waving goodbye and walking off into the crowd.
Tracy slapped Ash on the back and laughed loudly. "Eccentric, isn't he? He used to come to the Orange Islands every summer and we'd always hang out. Hey, I just realized: you guys look alot alike. You wouldn't happen to be related, would you?"
"Not that I know of."
"Well, how's about we go celebrate our big victory, huh?"
"Sorry, Tracy. I really wish I could, but I have some real urgent things to take care of. I'll catch you later, man."
"Alright. Well, me and the others are going out for drinks at the Wyvern, so if you change your mind, come on and swing by, alright?" Ash nodded, and turned to leave before being stopped by Tracy again. "Oh, and Hayes said we can take the next couple of weeks off for pulling off this win, so we don't have to come in for a while. See ya round," he yelled behind him as he entered the crowd and disappeared.
"Yeah, see ya round..."
The drive back home was a cautious one; Ash kept looking back at every red light, half expecting the whole MASTERS squad to come screaming from the corner behind him, ready to arrest him. Finally he made it to his apartment complex and entered the elevator with a sigh of relief. As he stepped out of the contraption, he could hear music drifting down the empty hallway of the building.
As he grew closer to his apartment, the music became louder and louder. He rounded the corner and stopped in front of his apartment door, growling. The music was blaring from inside his apartment; he could only guess what she was doing in there. For all he knew, she could have invited every racer in Cerulean to his house for some wild party.
He opened the door, only to be bombarded by Lil Jon's "Get Low" blaring from his speakers. He stormed inside, intent on kicking her out right then, bet or no bet, before stopping to halt. Misty stood on his couch, dancing to the music wearing only one of his dress shirts that came down mid-thigh, her blazing red hair swirling about from her movements. Pikachu was on the floor, spinning around in an attempt to dance to the beat with Misty.
He had to stop himself from staring at her; she was completely oblivious to his presence. Ash's senses came back to him as he took a deep breath and opened his mouth wide.
"MISTY, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!" he yelled over the blaring rap music, startling her. She nearly fell from the couch as she whirled around and stared at him with a shocked look.
Quickly, she dashed from the couch and clicked the music off before smoothing her hair and clearing her throat. "A...Ash, what are you doing home so early? I thought you didn't get home until 5 like everyone else. It's only noon..." she asked nervously,
"Court let out early. But I've got a question. What the hell are you doing blaring my music this loud, this early! Or better yet, who gave you permission to touch my CDs in the first place!" he exclaimed as he tossed his keys and his briefcase onto the bar.
"Look, I didn't know, ok? You need to stop being so uptight all the time and just relax. You're wound up way too tight, you know?" Ash rolled his eyes and headed into his bedroom, before stopping at the door.
"Do you have any other clothes to wear?" He turned to see her shake her head. "You live at the Gym, right?" Misty nodded as she took the CD out from the entertainment center and placed it back into its case. Ash sighed and yanked off his tie. "Hang on. Let me change and I'll take you to get your stuff."
Quickly, Ash changed out of his suit and slipped on a pair of jeans with a black t-shirt. He grabbed his black jacket out from the closet and pulled it on. He looked himself over in the mirror, before smirking and grabbing his blue hat, placing it on his head backwards. He grabbed his black Adidas sneakers from his closet and walked into the living room, sitting on the couch and putting them on. Finally, he finished the ensemble with a pair of sunglasses, leaving a few bangs of hair hanging over his face.
"You have a key, right?" Misty yelled from inside the kitchen before re-emerging in the shorts and tank top she had worn the night before.
"Yeah, I have a key. You're pretty jazzed up to just go to the Gym." she said, grabbing her racing outfit and slinging it over her shoulder. Ash ignored her and grabbed his car keys, leaving the apartment with her, Pikachu following close behind.
Soon, they were pulling out from the garage and into the busy streets of Cerulean City, heading towards the Pokemon Gym. Both of them, including Pikachu, were silent during the drive.
"Look, I'm sorry for screwing with your music without your permission." she apologized, finally breaking the silence. Ash sighed and clicked his turn signals on.
"It's okay. It wasn't that big of a deal. I'm just kinda stressed over what happened to me today at the courthouse."
"What happened?"
"Remember that cop from last night?" Misty nodded as he turned the car onto another street. "I met him at the courthouse today." Misty chuckled.
"So? We were going so fast he never caught a look at you." Ash sighed and turned the car again.
"We both got a look at each other. He knew who I was when he saw me today. According to him, MASTERS is creating an anti-racing squad, and he's leading it. He's probably gonna arrest me anytime now," he said sadly.
Misty looked at him for a moment and burst out laughing. "What's so funny? You think me getting arrested is funny? Something like that could ruin my career forever!"
Misty's laughing died down as she smacked his chest. "You know, you're a crappy lawyer, you know that? The only way he can arrest you is if he catches while racing. You got a record; unpaid parking tickets, anything like that?"
Ash shook his head. "Then you're in the clear, Matlock. The only way he can arrest you is if he has undeniable proof that you were street racing, which is next to impossible to give out evidence that's incriminating. The only other way is if he catches you while street racing. Calm down, kiddo. You're in the clear."
The car fell silent as they continued the journey to the Gym. "I didn't know you listened to rap music, Ashy." Ash rolled his eyes and slowed down in front of the huge building.
"I listen to rap, rock and techno. Maybe a little hiptronica every now and then too." Misty looked at him with a confused expression as they climbed out of the car.
"Hiptronica?"
"Yeah, it's the kind of music scratch DJ's make." Misty shrugged and headed up to the Gym, Pikachu and Ash following close behind.
"Haven't been to a Gym in a long time, have we buddy?" Ash said as Misty unlocked the doors and motioned for them to come in. Pikachu nodded and scrambled up to his shoulder as they entered the massive Gym.
A huge pool dominated the center of the Gym, obviously the battle arena. The water was littered with dozens of slabs, obviously places for Pokemon to battle on. Huge rows of stands lined the pool; he had heard of the Gym's popularity because of their Gym Leaders and the shows that they performed, although he himself had never attended one.
Now, though, the entire building was empty, save for Ash and the others. "Kinda dead in here, isn't it?" he yelled across the pool to Misty who was walking up a flight of stairs.
"Well, it's one o'clock. My sisters always close down the Gym to shopping at this time," she yelled back.
"Your sisters shut down a Gym to go shopping?" He chuckled to himself. "I didn't know women loved to shop that much."
"Hilarious, Ash. Listen; just hang around the pool while I get all my stuff. I shouldn't be long." Ash nodded and took a seat in the bleachers, Pikachu settling in beside him. The wait seemed to take forever as Ash groaned and walked up to the pool, staring into the depths below.
Suddenly, there was a loud splash on Ash's left. Slowly, he took off his sunglasses and bent down, peering into the glassy surface. He stared, searching for whatever was under the water. Soon, he shrugged and rose, chalking it up to his imagination.
The water thrashed as a large body leapt from the water and crashed onto Ash as he fell to the ground with a yell. "Get him!" a voice yelled from behind, and soon he was being bombarded by bodies all around him, screaming and yelling, as Ash struggled to rise to his feet.
"No, wait, leave him alone!" Misty's voice cried out, as all of the commotion began to cease. With a grunt, Ash shoved whatever was on top of him off as he rose to his feet. A large yellow body flailed about, crying hysterically as it crashed to the floor.
"Damn it, Psyduck! Why the hell are you in the pool? Everyone else is always in their pokeball except for you! I swear, one more time, and I'll dump you back into the wild!"
"Geez, Misty, like calm down. Psyduck just thought this guy was a robber r something, that's all." Ash whirled around to find three young women, arms full of shopping bags staring at him, puzzled.
"Like, who is this guy anyway, Misty?" one of them asked as she approached him with a smile. "He's cute." Misty growled as she picked up the huge duck-like pokemon and hurled him into the water, much to the surprise of Ash. She was a lot stronger than her frame would suggest.
"Back off, Daisy!" she yelled as she picked up her bags and tossed them to the doors. Daisy raised her arms and backed away slowly.
"Sorry, Misty. I didn't know you two were like, an item or whatever." Ash and Misty stared at each other for a moment before turning back to her sisters.
"We are not an item!" they yelled at the same time at her siblings. Daisy and the others started giggling as they placed their bags on the bleachers.
"Well, sorry, like, my bad. Oh, what a cute little Pikachu!" one of the other sisters said, holding her arms out for the little rodent to jump into. Ash chuckled nervously.
"Uh, that might not be the brightest-," he said before Pikachu amazingly leapt into her arms. Ash stared with his jaw to floor, amazed at his yellow companion. "You little traitor! Why couldn't you be nice to me like that the first time we met, huh!" he exclaimed.
"Oh, don't be hard on him. Right, Pikachu?" she cooed as she scratched between his ears. Pikachu chirped happily and snuggled into her, much to Ash's chagrin.
"Pikachu, if you don't get over here, no more ketchup for a month." Pikachu's ears perked up as it scrambled out of the young woman's grip and scampered over to Ash.
"So Misty, what are like, all the bags for?" Misty slung her two bags over shoulder and walked up to Ash.
"I'm going to be staying with him for a little while, that's all." Daisy's eyes brightened up at her statement as a small smirk grew over her face.
"Oh really?"
"It's not like that, Daisy!" Daisy rolled her eyes and shooed the duo to the door.
"Sure it's not, Misty. Well, hurry up, we need to re-open the Gym in ten minutes," she said as she opened the doors and shoved them out. "Oh and Misty, do me a favor. Wrap it up, will ya?"
Misty stared at her sister, puzzled. "What do you mean, wrap it up?" Slowly the meaning of the comment dawned on her. "It's not like that you little bit-," her comment was cut off as Daisy slammed the door in her face, leaving an incredibly confused Ash and an extremely pissed-off Misty.
"Your sisters are really weird, Misty," Ash commented. Misty growled as she stomped angrily to the car, Ash and Pikachu wisely keeping a safe distance from her. Ash opened the trunk and Misty slammed her bags into the car angrily as her cell phone went off.
Quickly, she snatched the phone out of the pocket of her shorts. "What!" she exclaimed angrily. Soon, Misty calmed down and nodded as she conversed on the phone before hanging up.
"Come on, Ash. Brock wants to meet us at the Cerulean Cafe," she said as she climbed into the car. Ash and Pikachu stood there, amazed at how quickly she had calmed down. Soon, he chuckled and glanced at Pikachu.
"I'll never understand women, Pikachu."
Pikachu nodded as they both climbed into the car and took towards the cafe. The drive was short, and they soon arrived, spotting their friend sitting outside. As they approached him, Brock looked at them with a surprised look on his face.
"I was only expecting Misty; what are you doing here, Ash?" Brock paused as he looked them both and grinned. "You two aren't uh..." Misty glared at him and cracked her knuckles.
"Brock, I only have three words for you; Lost to Ivy." Brock's expression immediately changed, as he cleared his throat and motioned for them to sit down.
"Well, let's get down to business. Snap and the other guys say they've found a new place for us to meet. They haven't finalized it yet cause they're sending word to all the racers. We'll know where within a few hours." Brock's eyes drifted over to Ash's bright yellow Silph Dodrio and chuckled. "Ash, are you still driving that stock nightmare?"
"What's wrong with my car?" Ash said defensively. Brock chuckled again.
"You still got your winnings from the other night?" Ash nodded as Brock grinned.
"Good. We're going to the Lab."