Mwahaha, just the types of reactions I was looking for. And so, the story continues. And only I know how the series ends and whether or not all of these events get wrapped up! But we'll never get to the end if I keep rambling on, so let's get started!
P.S. Please don't kill me for what happens in this chapter.
-Kouji Tamino
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Previously, the former members of Team Rocket and Ash prepared for an infiltration of the Aqua hideout. Unfortunately, their plan failed due to some accidental sneezing on Ash's part. He was quickly captured, and put into a hospital for injuries sustained during the mission. Misty, who had joined Team Aqua, and Ash had a quick talk. The two friends now had differing ideals, however, and they soon found that they were now enemies. Under the command of Aqua leader Kaine, Misty let Ash go but she betrayed him, breaking both of their hearts. Wounded and lonely, Ash turned to May, while a crushed Misty was comforted by Kaine…
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A Series of Events
Episode 8: A Moment of Refrain
Ash stared at the floor as he stood in the shower, the warm water running over his body. It had been a week since the incident. Everyone was hanging out on Kin Island to train their Pokemon and try and figure out what to do next. They had failed their mission, but that was no reason to give up. His hair had grown a bit and the bangs draped over his forehead. "Misty… He muttered under his breath." He still could not get over what she had done to him. And then she had the nerve to say that she loved him afterwards. But she had also said that 'they would have killed him otherwise…' Perhaps… He shook his head. Why couldn't she have faked it, then? He was jogged from his thoughts by a pair of slender female arms wrapping around his waist, the owner of the arms pressing her body against his back.
"Ash…" May said softly, resting her head on his shoulder, just as naked as him. "You should just forget about her… She made her choice… She's with Team Aqua now…"
Turning to here, Ash sighed sadly. "I know… But still… I just can't believe it…"
She ran her hand over the scar on his face. It would be there for quite a while, if not forever. His cute face was ruined forever. She shook her head. It didn't matter to her. She was in love with him, not his face. Putting her head on his chest, she closed her eyes. "Well I'm there for you and that's all that matters…"
"Yeah…" Ash said, wrapping his arms around her. "Thank you, May…"
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As they came out of the shower, dressed in towels, Brendan stared angrily at them, gritting his teeth in anger. Clenching his fists together so hard that his fingernails drew blood, he thought about what he was witnessing now and what he saw the other night. After checking up on Ash, he caught the man kissing the girl that he loved. It took all of his will power to keep himself from attacking the older trainer. Besides, he had had a really rough couple of days, which including being betrayed by his own love. He could deal with it. But not now. Not that the man had gone as far as to shower with her after only about a week of even having a relationship!
"Oh hey there, Brendan!" the girl greeted, waving cheerfully. She noticed that his arms were shaking, then looked to notice blood running through his fingers. "Oh, Brendan! Your hands!" She took a step closer, a look of concern on her face. "Need some help?"
"Stay away from me!" he screamed, running downstairs and out of the Pokemon Center, running past the house, through the grass, across a bridge, and into Berry Forest. He screamed out in anguish, not caring about the signs that warned him to be quiet. He punched the trees angrily, his emotions keeping him from caring about the pain. Over and over again he struck them, his knuckles becoming bloodier and bloodier. Eventfully he stopped, staring at his torn up hands in horror. He fell to his knees, crying out in both physical and emotional pain.
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Brendan hissed in pain as Lostelle applied some anti-bacterial fluids to his hands to prevent infection. "Ow, ow, ow…"
"Well that's what you get for punching trees, you big idiot…" the pink haired girl scolded, starting to wrap his hands in bandages. "Just what were you thinking, dummy?"
Brendan winced as he was put down by the younger girl. He gave her an annoyed look, rolling his eyes. "Eh, it's nothing that a little kid like you would understand…"
"I'm only about a year younger than you, so don't get cocky…" Lostelle muttered, smacking him on his right hand as she finished bandaging it up.
"Ow! That hurt, damn it!" he sighed. "So, why did you never go off on your Pokemon journey?"
"I didn't feel like it…" she began with a frown. She smiled, continuing as she bandaged up the other hand. "I like the islands! I wouldn't leave for anything!"
Brendan nodded in agreement. "I can understand that… You're pretty cute, you know that?"
Lostelle blushed, her face turning the same color as her hair. "Are you… are you flirting with me, Brendan?"
"I don't know, maybe I am…" he said with a smirk. He frowned as she began to giggle. "Hey, what's so funny?"
The girl stopped laughing long enough for her to reply. "May was right… You are a dork." She smiled as she saw his discouraged face. "But a cute dork…" she leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "There. All done!" she motioned to his wrapped up hands.
Brendan turned a bright red. "Th-thanks… Um, I've got to go now."
"Awww…" Lostelle frowned, pouting her lip. "But won't you stay for lunch?"
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Kaine sat up from his bed and looked at his alarm clock. Was it really that late in the morning? Quickly getting out of bed, he quickly put on his clothes. He looked to his lover and smiled. "Time to wake up, my little fireball…"
Misty woke up groggily, yawning loudly and sitting up as she held up her sheets to cover her nude body. "What time is it? Can't I sleep a little longer?"
"'Fraid not… We've already overslept. It's 8:46."
"THAT LATE? Why didn't anyone wake us up?" Misty screamed, jumping out of bed and frantically clothing herself. She growled as Kaine began to laugh at her. "Not funny!"
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"So, what's on the agenda today?" Misty asked, walking down the hallway side by side with her leader.
"We continue work on the device… It should be done by next week, and then we can activate it." Kaine said confidently, looking straight ahead. "I want you to go to the room where they are keeping the Sapphire plate and give it to the people in charge of installing it as soon as they call for it." He smiled, looking to her. "You're the only one I trust with it, Misty…"
"Kaine, that's…" Misty turned away, blushing. "Thank you… I won't fail you, sir."
"I know you won't…" Kaine said with a grin, putting a hand on her head gently.
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"…Anybody know where Brendan went off too?" May asked sadly as she walked into the Pokemon Center lobby, fully dressed.
Brock raised an eyebrow as he looked up from a newspaper. "No, why do you ask?"
May sighed as she continued. "He got really upset for some reason and ran off screaming this morning. He hasn't come back since." She was getting worried for her friend. She really hoped that he was all right.
"Maybe he got lost in Berry Forest again…" Gary joked, earning him an elbowing from Omi.
"Hush…" she said with a glare. Her expression softened as she looked to May. "I'm sure he's all right… Don't worry…"
"I sure hope you're right…" May said with a whine, holding back tears. "I don't know what I'd do if anything terrible happened to my best friend!"
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The person in question was currently stuffing his face with food. "Wow, this is great!"
Lostelle smiled, putting her hands on her cheeks adorably. "Wow, do you really mean it?"
Brendan nodded. "Lostelle, I wouldn't lie to you… It's amazing what you're capable of creating with just normal berries!" Brendan smiled at her. 'Wow, Lostelle is cute, nice, and a wonderful cook!' He thought to himself. 'Maybe I should just… forget about May… Maybe once this whole mess is over with, I'll ask Lostelle out and live here on the islands…' A thought came over him. "Hey, Lostelle… Thanks again… If you hadn't happened to come upon me in the forest, I don't know what I would have done."
She gave him a look of concern. He obviously had some problems that he was keeping to himself. "…Why did you punch the tree in the first place? And why were your palms cut up as well?"
"Well, you see…" Brendan sighed as she gave him a cutely concerned look with those pink eyes of hers. He couldn't lie to her. "The truth is, I've been in love with May for years. But I've always been too cowardly to tell her how I feel… And now she is going out with Ash. I saw them come out of the shower together and kind of lost it."
Lostelle's face became flushed at the thought. "Oh, that must have been horrible for you!"
"Tell me about it…" Brendan muttered. "Anyway, it was pretty stupid of me to react like that, huh?"
"Not really…" The girl muttered quietly. She most likely would have reacted similarly.
"Huh?" Brendan raised an eyebrow. Sweet Lostelle? Having a violent reaction? Well, she did kind of smack his wounded hand, but he kind of deserved it… "What do you mean?"
"N-nothing!" the island born girl shouted nervously, waving her hands. "Hey, shouldn't you be getting back to the Pokemon Center or at least give the others a call? They must be getting worried about you by now…"
"Oh, you're right!" Getting up from his seat, Brendan started walking towards the door. He quickly turned around and waved at his new friend, smiling. "Bye, Lostelle! And thanks again for your kind hospitality!"
"Don't mention it!" she said cheerfully, waving back from her seat. "Just don't go punching anymore trees!" she teased, giggling playfully.
Brendan sweat dropped as he opened the front door. "Yeah, yeah…"
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"Hey guys, I'm back…" Brendan announced as he walked into the Pokemon Center. "Sorry for going crazy on you like that…" He screamed as May suddenly ran up and began inspecting him. "…Um, May?"
"Are you all right, Brendan?" May asked worriedly. "Oh, look at your hands! What happened back there earlier? Why'd you run off like that? Don't you know that you're my best friend in the world? I worry about you sometimes!" She hugged him, crying out as tears ran freely. "I could never forgive myself if I let something happen to you!"
"May… I'm all right, please don't cry." A look of guilt came across his face. He didn't mean for all of this to happen. "I'm sorry for worrying you."
"Sorry to intrude…" James began, walking into the building, quickly followed by Jessie and Meowth.
Jessie smirked cockily, crossing her arms. "But we have something that may interest you all…"
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"…What is it?" Ash asked as he looked at a several stapled papers with gibberish on them, his hair back in it's old style.
"We swiped it offa dose Aqua's befoh we left!" Meowth replied proudly.
"We don't know what it is because it's in code, but it must be important since it was in a locked… file that we… broke into…" James gulped nervously as Ash glared at him.
"Once a thief, always a thief…" Ash said under his breath. His glare quickly turned into a smile. "But thanks. This could really help us out." He handed it over to Gary. "Do you think that you can crack the code?"
"Hmm…" the young professor rubbed his chin as he looked at it. "It seems kind of familiar…" He began to walk off with it. "I'll see what I can do with it."
"We'd better figure out what to do next fast!" Brock said urgently, furrowing his eyebrows. "Who knows what Teams Aqua and Magma are up to?"
"I know…" Taylor chimed in. "I feel so helpless right now…"
"And now, one of our own is our enemy…" Ash joined in. "We have to stop them and soon! Or the world might be doomed…"
To Be Continued… The events settle down a tad...
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Mwahahaha… I'm sooo evil. Commence reader havoc.
-Kouji Tamino