Author's Note: I'd like to thank ultima-owner and Miss Starfire for their reviews of the last chapter. This is hardly my first time doing a story with steamy scenes like that, but I'm always a little afraid that I might've gone a little too overboard or something. Especially with this story since the last chapter was so full of those scenes. So I'm glad it turned out well.
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.
Chapter 5: The Missing Agents
Cynthia had returned to the study to resume her work on the manuscript. Unfortunately, she wasn't getting very far. That bottle of wine she drank the night before was getting its revenge. Her head felt like it was in a vice. It was becoming clear to Cynthia that translating any more of the manuscript that morning was a long shot. Plus she needed Diane's help anyway. And as far as Cynthia knew, she was still asleep.
Miranda entered the room carrying a cup and saucer. "Here's the cup of coffee you requested Ms. Cynthia."
"Thanks Miranda, just set it on the table." Cynthia replied.
"It's a lovely morning out ma'am." Miranda informed her as she set the cup on the corner of the desk. "Your work might go a little faster if you let the sun in here."
With that, Miranda opened up the curtains behind the desk that Cynthia had purposely left closed. The blinding light of the morning sun aggravated Cynthia's hangover.
"There. Isn't that so much better than the light of that little old desk lamp?" Miranda cheerfully asked. Cynthia wanted to strangle that air headed maid.
"Excuse me, Ms. Miranda." A voice interrupted. Both Cynthia and Miranda looked to see Diane standing in the doorway with her arms crossed.
"Oh, is there something I can help you with Ms. Diane?" Miranda asked.
"You can help by leaving." Diane told her. "Cynthia and I have work to do."
"Very well." Miranda nodded and waked out of the room Diane.
Diane sighed and went over to close the curtains. "I'm sure she meant well, but honestly! You'd think it'd be obvious to anyone that you aren't feeling well."
"Don't worry about." Cynthia told her.
"You know you shouldn't push yourself if you're not feeling well." Diane pointed out. "Your body needs a little time to recover from all the alcohol you put into your system."
"I suppose the translation can wait until later." Cynthia relented.
"…Uh, Cynthia?" Diane nervously began. "About last night…"
"I don't have any regrets." Cynthia assured her. "Why, do you?"
"No! Of course not." Diane answered. "Last night was a very… power experience. If I had that night to do over again, I wouldn't change a thing. It's just… I feel like I took advantage of you."
At this, Cynthia chuckled. "I may have been a little drunk Diane, but I feel like I was the one who took advantage of you. Asking about whether or not you were single may have been my way of coming onto you. You're a very attractive young woman, you know."
"I'm actually surprised that you find me attractive." Diane admitted. "Even though my sister Dawn and I have the same face, people usually consider her to be the prettier one."
Cynthia suddenly pulled Diane onto her lap, causing the younger woman to cry out in surprise. "Now why do I find that hard to believe?"
Diane and Cynthia starred deeply into one another's eyes. In mere moments they became locked in a passionate kiss.
Sabrina suddenly walked into the room. "Excuse me."
Startled from their kiss, Cynthia turned her head to glare at the psychic gym leader. "Do you mind?"
"The door was open. I assumed that the two of you would not mind my intrusion." Sabrina replied with a raised eyebrow. "Am I to take it that I was wrong?"
"Very." Cynthia sighed. "Now what do you want?"
"There is a somewhat urgent matter that we all need to discuss." Sabrina explained. "When the two of you have a moment, the rest of us will be waiting down in the dining room."
"Fine, now will you please excuse us?" Cynthia requested.
Sabrina looked at the two quizzically for a moment before finally turning and leaving the room, shutting the door behind her. As soon as she was gone, Diane breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
"You okay?" Cynthia asked.
"Yeah. I just didn't expect anyone to walk in on us." Diane replied. "I guess I should've locked the door."
"Don't worry about." Cynthia chuckled.
"Well… I suppose we should meet up with the others if they wish to discuss something urgent." Diane decided.
"Oh, I think we can let them wait for a little while." Cynthia grinned.
Suddenly Cynthia began to kiss and suck on Diane's neck, causing the girl to moan with pleasure. It seemed that Ash and the others were going to be waiting for quite a few minutes.
Dawn stood out on the balcony looking out across the landscape. There was very much on her mind that morning. Not only was there the discovery of the secret room with the Team Rocket uniform, there was also the fact that Carter had been cheating on her. The two of them had been seeing each other for quite some time, and Dawn thought that they had something special. But it looked as though it was all a lie. Dawn had never felt more betrayed.
Carter suddenly walked onto the balcony. "Morning babe. I've been looking all over for you."
Dawn turned to face Carter with a furious glare. "Don't call me babe!"
"Whoa! Take it easy Dawn. What's the matter?" Carter asked.
"I saw you last night screwing that tramp of a maid, Miranda!" Dawn revealed. "Carter… how could you?"
"Oh… that." Carter responded. "Look Dawn, that was nothing."
"You call that nothing?" an outraged Dawn asked as tears came to her eyes.
"Miranda and I… we used to have a thing, okay?" Carter continued. "She wasn't ready for it to be over, so I threw her a bone last night. It didn't mean anything."
"How dumb do you think I am?" Dawn shouted.
"C'mon Dawn, surly we can come to an understanding." Carter assumed.
"Like hell!" Dawn told him. "I can't believe you'd do this!"
"Well maybe if you'd put out more!" Carter fired back.
With that, Dawn slapped Carter hard in the face. "We're through Carter! I'll be out of here by this afternoon. I never want to see you again!"
Dawn stormed off being very careful not let Carter see her tears. It was clear to her that Carter was not the man she thought he was. It seemed all that charm was just Carter's way of attracting women. For all Dawn knew, Miranda probably wasn't the only other woman Carter had been screwing around with. There were probably several more, and Dawn was not about to become part of his harem.
Ash waited in the dining room with Misty and Morty for the others to show up. Piplup was there as well with Pikachu and Lucario. Dawn had asked them to look after the little penguin Pokemon while she took care of something.
After a few minutes of waiting, Sabrina entered the room. "It may be a few minutes before Cynthia and Diane arrive."
"Why? What's up?" Ash asked.
"When I found Cynthia and Diane in Julius Baron's study, it looked as though they were making out." Sabrina revealed. "It seemed as though they were about to have a sexual encounter."
"Wait, what?" a surprised Misty exclaimed as she stood up from her chair.
"Seriously?" an equally surprised Ash asked.
"Uh, Sabrina. I don't think that was any of our business." Morty told her.
"Oh… no, I suppose not." Sabrina realized. "If you like, I can wipe the memory of what I just said from your minds with my powers."
"No thanks!" Ash, Misty, and Morty frantically said together.
"Very well." Sabrina replied.
Dawn walked into the room. "Hey guys. Sorry to keep you waiting."
"Everything okay Dawn?" a concerned Misty asked.
"Not really, but I don't wanna talk about it right now." Dawn replied. "I've got something more important to tell you guys anyway. Last night I found a secret room in the mansion that had a mannequin wearing a Team Rocket uniform."
"I knew it!" Ash exclaimed as he banged his fist on the table. "Baron was one of the men responsible for killing that Marowak!"
"Does this have something to do with Dusk?" Dawn asked.
"Yeah… we think so." Ash answered as he calmed down a bit. "Dawn, why don't you take us to where you found this uniform?"
"No problem." Dawn replied. "I remember exactly where that room is."
"You guys go on ahead. Sabrina and I will wait here for Cynthia and Diane." Morty decided.
With that, Ash, Misty, and Dawn headed for the secret room. Pikachu, Lucario, and Piplup followed close behind. Within a few minutes, the group had arrived at the dead end hallway where Dawn found the passageway. It took Dawn a moment to remember the precise spot in the wall that opened the door. Once it opened up, Ash went in first with the three Pokemon. Misty and Dawn hung back a little bit to talk.
"So… care to tell me what's going on?" Misty asked.
"…Carter and I broke up." Dawn answered after a moment.
"Dawn, I'm so sorry." A very sympathetic Misty replied. "What happened?"
"Last night I caught him doing it with the maid, Miranda." Dawn revealed. "I just… I never thought he'd do anything like that. And this morning he tried coming up with some lame excuse. That was when I broke it off."
"Wow… I really don't know what to say." Misty responded.
"I really fell hard for the guy." Dawn admitted. "He was so charming and caring. Not to mention a real good Coordinator. I thought I had found the perfect guy, but it was all an act. With me, he was just after one thing. And there's no way in hell he's getting that."
"So what're you going to do now?" Misty asked.
"Well as soon as this whole thing with Dusk is over, I'm getting as far away from this town as I can." Dawn answered. "I may go back home for awhile to clear my head."
"I'm sure it'll get better after a little time." Misty said encouragingly.
"Yeah, you're probably right." Dawn agreed. "You know, you're really lucky Misty to have a guy like Ash. I'm sure he'd never to anything like what Carter did."
"No, I know Ash would never betray me like that." Misty agreed. "Though he is a little too friendly with this one Coordinator I know."
"What?" Dawn asked.
"Oh, never mind." Misty innocently replied.
At last the group reached the main chamber at the end of the long dark corridor. But when the spotlight shined down on the center of the room, there was nothing there.
"What the…? I swear that mannequin was right there!" Dawn insisted.
"Baron must know we're onto him." Ash assumed. "C'mon! We better get back to the others!"
Morty starred out the dining room window at the Tower of Memories as he and Sabrina waited for the others to return. His years of training to heighten his awareness told him that there was something very wrong at that tower. It was something that he should've picked up on the moment he and the others arrived in Lavender Town. If he had, then perhaps he and the others could've prevented at least one death. Morty was distracted from his thoughts when Sabrina nearly fell out of her chair.
"Are you okay?" a very concerned Morty asked as he came over.
"I'm fine." Sabrina assured him. "I just overexerted myself a bit."
"What were you trying to do?" Morty asked.
"I was calling for some help." She explained. "If things with the Berlitz sisters get too out of hand, we'll need backup."
"So you tried contacting him." Morty realized. "Were you able to get a hold of him?"
"I managed to locate him at Mt. Silver." Sabrina confirmed. "He told me he'd be here in an hour or so."
At that moment, Ash returned with the others. "The Team Rocket uniform is gone. Baron must be onto us."
"So what now?" Morty wondered.
"Maybe we should go tell Officer Jenny." Misty suggested.
"And tell her what, that an angry Pokemon ghost is trying to kill Mr. Baron because he might've been in Team Rocket?" Dawn pointed out. "She'd probably throw us out of her office."
Before the discussion could go further, Cynthia finally arrived with Diane. "Sorry to keep everyone waiting. Now what's so important?"
"Long story short, Baron was one of the Team Rocket members that killed that mother Marowak twenty years ago, and now her ghost is out for revenge." Ash explained.
"You'll forgive me if I find the part about the ghost a little hard to believe." Diane remarked.
"Oh for god's sake Diane! Would it kill you to take a leap just once?" Dawn asked. "Dusk is involved in all this because she can talk to ghosts you know!"
"I will admit that it's possible for Dusk to communicate with Ghost-type Pokemon, but I'm still quite skeptical that actual ghosts exist." Diane responded.
"Okay, cool it you two." Ash interrupted. "You two can debate that later, right now I think Misty's right. We should tell Officer Jenny."
"Dawn does have a point, however." Sabrina interjected. "We currently have no proof that Mr. Baron was even in Team Rocket. And we don't even know for sure that the Marowak's spirit is behind all this."
"I might know someone who can help with that." Ash told them. "C'mon, let's get going."
Ash and the others left the mansion to head into town. Within a few minutes of walking they had reached the Lavender Town Police Station. Ben was waiting for the right in front of the building.
"Looks like we all had the same idea." Ben greeted.
"Norris, what the hell are you doing here?" Diane demanded.
"Relax Diane, Ben isn't the guy you think he is." Ash told her. "Turns out he knows Dusk."
"You know our sister?" a surprised Dawn asked.
"We met years ago at Maiden's Peak." Ben confirmed. "You wouldn't believe that little adventure we went on."
"I'm a little more open to that stuff now actually." Dawn admitted. "Not sure if I can say the same for Diane though."
"Dusk pretty much changed my life." Ben admitted. "I've spent years trying to track her down just to see her again. I can't believe she's capable of killing those two men, but… I have to find out for sure."
"Then let's figure out what's going on." Ash told him. "What'd you find out about Baron and the others?"
"It's what I didn't find that was interesting." Ben answered. "There's barely any record of Baron, Gates, or Braxton before they came to Lavender Town. It could be that they took new identities when they left Team Rocket. But there's no way to tell for sure. You dig up anything on your end?"
"Dawn found Baron's old Team Rocket uniform last night in some secret room at the mansion." Ash revealed. "It was gone when she tried to show it to us this morning though."
"That figures." Ben scowled. "With all that's going on, Baron's probably pretty jumpy. Now he's trying to get rid of any evidence that could tie him to what happened. So what do we do now?"
"We go ahead and tell Officer Jenny what we know." Morty replied. "After that, we'll see what happens."
With that, the group went inside the police station. They found Shannon at the front desk talking to Clint. Both of them had very disappointed expressions on their faces.
"Officer Jenny? We have something important to tell you." Ash informed Shannon, getting her and Clint's attention.
"What, did one of you remember something about the day Edger Gates' body was found?" Shannon asked.
"Not exactly." Misty replied.
"Officer Jenny, I'm Ben Norris with Pokemon World News." Ben introduced. "We believe that Julius Baron, Edger Gates, and John Braxton were the ones who murdered that Marowak and her children twenty years ago. And we're sure that it has something to do with what's going on now."
"Holy shit!" a stunned Clint exclaimed.
"Are you all absolutely sure about that?" an equally shocked Shannon asked.
"I found an old Team Rocket uniform at the Baron mansion last night." Dawn informed her.
"Well, this would explain why Edger and John were killed." Clint admitted.
"My aunt was in charge here when the Cubone massacre happened twenty years ago." Shannon revealed. "She even almost caught the three who killed that poor Marowak and her children. Of course they got away before she could get a good look at their faces. But what my aunt saw that day made her sick to her stomach. She transferred to Celadon PD after that incident."
"So what, some angry Pokemon activist found out those three were the killers and went after Edger and John?" Clint theorized.
"That is one possibility." Sabrina admitted. "The other possibility might be harder for you to believe."
"Oh yeah? Try us." Shannon dared.
"We think the ghost of the murdered Marowak killed those two men out of revenge." Morty informed them.
Shannon looked at Ash and the others as if they had just told her the sky was green. "…You have got to be kidding."
"There is one way to find out for sure." Morty continued. "I've been thinking that if we go to the Tower of Memories where the murder took place, we might be able to uncover something."
"As strange as this sounds Shannon, this ghost thing might be the only thing that explains how Edger and John died." Clint admitted. "We both know what the lab just told us. The tox screen found no trace of poison in their blood."
"…Oh fine." Shannon relented as she got up from their chair. "This is the only damn lead on this case that makes sense. The murder happened on the top floor of the tower. I'll take you guys there." With that, the entire group left the police station.
Mayor Fuji stood out across the street from the police station as Ash and the others left and headed for the Tower of Memories. The old man sighed as he looked up at the old tower looming in the distance.
"I think the time has finally come to put this dark matter to rest." Mayor Fuji remarked. "Wouldn't you agree Ms. Dusk?"
Dusk walked up from behind with Helen to stand next to the old man. "You're right Mr. Mayor. This whole thing has gone on for too long. I just wish Ash and the others hadn't gotten involved."
"I'd think you'd be more welcome to their help." Mayor Fuji assumed. "Why would you not want them involved?"
"Well my sisters don't get me at all." Dusk explained. "And Ash, well… I think this would be pretty hard on him."
"Yes, from the way his Pikachu and Lucario have been taken care of I could tell that the young man cares about Pokemon a great deal." Mayor Fuji agreed. "Digging into this matter will be very difficult for him. But then he is an Aura Guardian. Bringing peace and justice to the world is in his nature, just as it is in your nature to help those who have passed on."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Dusk sighed.
"Mask yamask ya." Helen spoke to Dusk.
"You're right Helen. We should get going too." Dusk agreed. "One way or another, this is going to end."
Author's Note: Originally it was going to be either Ash or Misty who walked in on Cynthia and Diane when they started making out. But the more I thought about, I decided that Sabrina would be a better choice. For one thing, it gave me a chance to do more with her character. I feel like I haven't done enough with Sabrina in this AU so far, which is a real shame since she's one of my favorite Kanto gym leaders (the others being Misty and Giovanni). I should do a story that focuses on her sometime in the future.
Anyway, we're nearing the climax of this story. I feel I should warn everyone that the next chapter is going to be pretty dark. Probably one of the darkest scenes I've done for a story yet. There might also be a slight delay in getting it up, but it should be done by the end of this weekend at the very latest. So stay tuned.
Please review and let me know what you think.