"Triple Trouble"

Author: Robert Brown

Disclaimer: This story uses characters created and copyrighted by Nintendo, Game Freak, and/or 4 Kids Inc. (except where noted, in which case they were created and copyrighted by me or by another and I have permission to use them). The author hereby gives permission for this story to be downloaded and/or printed at 1 copy per user as long as (1) no changes to the story are made without my express written(not e-mailed) permission and (2) no attempt is made to profit from this story. If either or both rules are violated, it will be considered a violation of copyright law.

#10

Part 5: "Day 4 - Final Proof"

As the final day dawned, Ash was already waiting at the door for his girlfriends to show up. The bet was over, he had passed every single test that the three sisters had thrown at him. Despite still being a little sore that he had to prove himself at all, he was proud of himself to have actually done it. But even so, he was eager to get back to Viridian City and focus on getting his eighth and final badge.

"Hey Ash."

Ash turned around in surprise to see the three sisters standing there looking at him. They looked much as they had over the past three days, but each one had a sad smile on their lips. It reminded him of the look that he'd seen on Daisy the night before, and it both worried him and tugged at his heart. "Umm, hey ladies," he said, looking at them one by one. "Is...there something I can do for you?"

Violet shook her head slowly, that smile firmly on her lips. "No Ash," she said as they stepped toward him. "We actually have something we need to say to you."

"We thought that once we had a clear shot at you, we'd show you just how wrong you were," Lily piped in, her exuberance noticably dimmed. "After all, who could resist the three of us at our best?"

"But you did," Daisy said, her arms folded loosely across her stomach. "And you showed us how wrong we were instead. We've never met a guy like you Ash, and it's likely we never will again."

"So with that in mind," Violet added as they all held out their hands toward him, "we hope that you have no hard feelings toward us or can forgive us if you do."

Ash looked at each of the outstretched hands in turn, but then stepped past them to give them each a hug that told his feelings better than any words he might be able to come up with. Yeah, he was a little sore over it still, but he really felt that they'd only had Misty's best interests at heart this whole time. They had a weird way of showing it, but they did care a lot about her. Maybe they weren't so bad after all!

A few hours later Ash was absolutely sure of it. They weren't so bad after all; they were worse! Of all their games, all their tricks, all their ploys, they had saved the worst of them for last. And unlike everything he'd had to deal with over the past three days, there was nothing that he could do about it.

Even after winning the bet, even after jumping through every hoop they had thrown at him, they still were not going to allow Misty to continue with him on his journey. In all their negotiations, Misty and Penny had detailed what could and could not happen over the last three days as well as what would happen if Ash lost. But nowhere had the sisters agreed to let Misty continue on with him if he won. And that was their final loophole which Ash could feel closing tight on his neck. "So much for no hard feelings," he grumbled, angry at himself for letting his guard down when it mattered the most.

"Don't be like that Ash," Daisy said, her green eyes pleading with him to understand. She had chosen to break the news to them in the pool area, hoping that the place that all of them felt the most comfortable would let it be accepted easier. That wasn't happening. "We're doing this for your own good. All of you."

"How can you say that?" Penny demanded, trying to console Misty as the redhead's body was wracked with rage-filled sobs. Penny's long brown hair was starting to get frizzy, like she was somehow building up an electric charge even in her human form. If not for the girl that she was holding, she would have transformed and shocked each one of those three sisters until they couldn't even look at water without being zapped. "You're trying to tear us apart and you say it's for our own good? I don't believe you!"

"Don't get us wrong," Violet said, appearing the calmest out of everyone there, but inside she was also the closest to throwing up from the stress. "We believe Ash loves both of you and won't be unfaithful now, but that's the whole problem. He can't have both of you forever; he'll have to make a choice that no one will like."

"And we worry he'll make the wrong choice," Lily admitted, her dark blue eyes glancing right at Penny. Penny glared right back, and for a second Lily swore she saw electricity dancing in her brown eyes. "Look, we're just trying to save you all from heartache down the road."

"But it's my life!" Misty cried, torn between breaking down and tearing every single strand of hair out of all three of her sisters' heads. "I know what could happen and it doesn't change anything for me! I'd rather take my chances with Ash than give up on him just because he might not pick me."

"You might think that way now," Daisy said, holding up her hand to keep Misty from talking until she was finished, "but what about a month from now? Or three? Or a year? When you're so wrapped up in him that if he doesn't choose you then your heart will shatter beyond repair? And if you dare tell me that it's already too late for that, then I'll call Officer Jenny and have both him and Penny thrown out of the gym right now."

Ash had never actually hated anyone. Not Gary, not Team Rocket, not even that evil boss of Team Rocket; though the members of the Red Squad did push his limits. But at this particular moment, he was as close to hating these three sisters as he had ever been. "You just try it," he said, disengaging himself from his girlfriends and standing up, despite their best efforts to keep him seated. "I'm not leaving without Misty."

They would never admit it, but all three of the sisters were impressed again by Ash's adamance. Not that it mattered; not a single one of them were wavering in their own beliefs. Ash had won a test of wills against each one of them individually, but there was no way he was going to stand against all three of them together. It might be a fight, but Daisy was convinced that she and her sisters would win this one.

And then the wall exploded inward with enough force to knock everyone down onto the tile floor. For a moment nobody moved, far too stunned by the concussive blast. Taking advantage of that, two robotic arms snaked through the hole and grabbed Misty and Penny, locking them each inside a separate glass cage attached to the end of each arm. "Ash!" they both yelled as they were forcefully dragged back through the hole.

Ash scrambled to his feet and ran outside after them, trying to grab onto the nearest cage, but both it and the girl inside were yanked cruelly out of his reach. He didn't even have to ask what was going on; he knew the only trio who would dare to attack in such a way.

His suspicions were confirmed by three loud cackles that came from the large tangela-shaped robot to which the cages were attached. "Seems like you got a little complacent there Twerp," Meowth called from the robot's control area where the eyes would be on an actual tangela, though the glass was tinted red for some reason. "And now we got your girlfriends!"

"Why are you doing this?" Ash demanded, reaching for the pokéballs he normally kept at his waist. But his fingers closed around nothing but air; the girls had not brought any pokémon with them expecting it to have been a quick visit. He was vaguely aware of Daisy, Violet, and Lily climbing out of the hole behind him, but he kept his attention focused on his current foes.

"Do we really need a reason?" Jessie asked, flipping her hair back with a tilt of her head. "Whenever we're around, you should always prepare for trouble!"

"And make it double!" James added, striking a pose in his seat.

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all peoples within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket! Blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth, that's right!"

"Don't worry about us Ash," Penny said, the glow of her transformation starting to surround her. "I'll thunderbolt this thing and get us out of here!"

James wagged his finger at her with almost a playful grin. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," he singsonged. "You see, your cage is wired directly to the other twerpette's cage without going through anything important! If you use any of your attacks, its power will be transferred directly to her!"

Both Misty and Penny blanched at that news; even if James were lying, Penny didn't want to take the chance and end up hurting Misty. Misty slammed her hands against the glass in frustration. If only she had brought her pokémon with her instead of leaving them with Brock! But wishing for that wasn't going to get them free. True, trying to pound her way free wasn't helping either, but at least it made her feel better.

"Time to blastoff!" Meowth said, pressing a large red button in front of him. "T minus sixty seconds!"

"Sixty seconds?" Jessie asked incredulously. "What happened to getting the ones that started immediately?"

"Hey, you know the budget I have to work with," Meowth groused. "Of course, if the twerp gets one of them out, then we'll have the power to take off immediately!"

Ash froze in his tracks, having already taken a step toward Penny's cage to try and free her. With Penny free and transformed into Pikachu, one Thunder Bomb would get Misty out of her cage and then Team Rocket would be done. But if they were telling the truth, doing that would leave Misty to be taken from him. He didn't go through all this with the sisters to lose one of them now!

"Forty-five seconds kid," James taunted as his victreebel waved her vines behind him.

Ash clenched his fists in anger, feeling the now familiar electricity flowing through him as his powers responded to his emotion. He glanced down at his hands, glowing with yellow light, and suddenly he understood. There was only one choice he could make in this instance and he was prepared to give it all he had.

"Thirty seconds!" Jessie exclaimed, but she wasn't taunting him. She just seemed to be sitting there, waiting. "Time to make your choice!"

Ash charged forward, still running toward Penny. He heard cries of shock and dismay from the sisters behind him, but he paid it absolutely no mind. He did risk a glance at the cockpit in which Team Rocket sat and was surprised to see them looking almost...disappointed? Well, they wouldn't have that look for long.

With fifteen seconds left, he reached Penny's cage and then ran past it, aiming straight for the main body of the tangelabot. "I choose them both!" he yelled, leaping up higher than he remembered ever doing and crashing his fist into the glass. "ThunderPunch!"

The force of Ash's punch shattered the glass, electricity discharging directly into the cockpit. The cages may have been wired to only each other, but that actually worked in his favor this time as that insulated them from his attack.

Team Rocket wasn't so lucky, Ash's anger making the attack just that much more potent. The control panel shorted out, carrying the electricity to the rockets on the robot's back and the fuel tanks that powered them. Ash had a victorious smirk on his face, knowing it was just a matter of time. But surprisingly, so did Team Rocket, though it was most noticable on Jessie's blue-painted lips. "Good job Ash," she whispered, winking his way.

For just a second there was the smell of smoke; that was all the warning before the fuel tanks exploded. The vines that held the cages were blown away from the main body, sending the cages rolling off to either side. Ash was knocked unconscious in the explosion, his limp body shot back through the hole in the gym's wall. Team Rocket, used to situations like this, simply went flying up into the air while holding onto each other. "Team Rocket's blasting off again!" they yelled, but to anyone listening they almost seemed...happy about it?

Lily and Violet each hurried to a cage, helping Misty and Penny out of their enclosures. "Are you two all right?" Lily asked, checking her sister over for any injuries sustained in the tumble.

"I think I'm all right," Misty said, moving slowly just in case there was some unexpected pain just waiting for her to find it. "How are you doing Penny?"

"Where's Ash?" was the only thing that Penny asked, unconcerned about her own well-being. Four pairs of eyes turned immediately to the hole in the wall of the gym and four pairs of legs ran toward it just as quickly.

The trajectory of Ash's flight had launched him into the main pool of the gym, but even the cool water was unable to wake him. Had it not been for Daisy recognizing the danger and diving into the pool after him, it might have been too late for him.

As it was, by the time she was able to drag him out of the water, he was no longer breathing, water trickling from his mouth and nose. "Don't you dare die," she hissed at him as the other girls appeared in the broken wall. He still had a pulse, so his body had not given up just yet. And she wasn't about to give up on him either.

She set him carefully down on his back and began giving him mouth-to- mouth resuscitation, forcing air into his lungs. Misty and Penny clung to each other for support, and even Lily and Violet shared an embrace as they watched Daisy work. All of them, except for Penny, were trained in artificial respiration and were ready to take over for Daisy if she got tired.

But it didn't come to that; within a minute Ash suddenly sat up, coughing water violently. His girlfriends were on him in an instant, hugging him between them and crying. Daisy had the grace to withdraw from what was clearly a very personal moment between the three, going instead to talk things over with Lily and Violet. Once more, Ash had surprised them all, only this time the message had finally gotten through.

"Hey," Lily said as the sisters approached, flinching as she saw the wariness and anger in the eyes of the two girls before her. "Relax you two," she said, draping a large towel around the three of them. "We're not blind, we saw what happened today."

"It would've been so easy for Ash to take the chance and free one of you to see if Team Rocket was bluffing," Violet added, helping Ash up to his feet as Misty and Penny stood as well. "And he's beaten them so many times that it would have been an acceptable risk."

"But he put his own life on the line, literally, to save you both," Daisy said, wringing her blonde hair out with a towel. "Yeah, we still don't think it's a great idea, but he's proven himself to us over and over again. We won't force you to stay Misty, but be careful, ok?"

Misty looked at her sisters for a moment, one at a time, her aqua eyes narrowed just a bit. "This isn't a trick? You mean it this time?" she asked, to which all three of them nodded. "Well, it's not like you could've kept me here anyway," she said with a bravado that made everyone laugh. "I don't know where my destiny leads, but I know that it's right alongside Ash's every step of the way."

"Just like mine is," Penny agreed, hugging Ash again from the side and holding him close.

Ash had no words like Misty did to describe how happy he was, so he just hugged each of the sisters in turn - though Lily did playfully complain about getting wet. That broke all of the remaining tension between the six of them and things finally felt right for him, like they hadn't been since this bet was first made. Without his approval. That reminded him-

"Oh hey Ash," Lily said, making Ash realize that he was still hugging her and dropping his arms away. "You take care of my sister, you hear me?" she said, leaning in to place a quick but heartfelt kiss on his lips, much to the shock of Ash, Misty, and Penny.

"Because we will be using our connections to keep our eyes on you the whole time," Violet warned, turning Ash to face her so that she could kiss him as well, a second longer than Lily had with much the same results.

"And if anything does happen to her," Daisy said, grabbing Ash's shoulders and bending down to be eye level with him. "You'll wish you never met any of us." Then she smothered Ash's protest with a kiss of her own, holding it until Misty actually walked up and pulled him away.

Misty marched a dazed Ash right out of the gym, growling angrily at her smug sisters the whole time. "The nerve of those three!" she yelled, not stopping until they were at least half a block away. "You stay here Ash," she said, letting him lean against the wall as she turned back the way they had come. "I'm going to-"

"Chuuuuuu!" Misty was stopped by a bright yellow flash that came from the hole in the gym, accompanied by three high-pitched screams. Penny walked out a moment later, adjust the strap of her tank top with a satisfied grin. "That'll teach them to kiss our boyfriend," she all but snarled, feeling the need to go back in there and make sure.

"Forget them," Misty said, snapping her fingers in front of Ash's face until he came to. "Hey, you'd better not be thinking of them," she warned him, shoving her fist right up under his nose.

"O-Of course not!" he insisted, ignoring the sweat he felt on the back of his neck. "I was just thinking about getting back to Viridian City and getting my eighth badge! Come on! The faster we get back to the Pokémon Center, the faster we can get there and I can be Pokémon Master!"

Penny and Misty shared a disbeliving glance, but just rolled their eyes and each hooked an arm into one of Ash's, walking with him back to the Pokémon Center. Maybe now that this situation was over it would all finally calm down and go smoothly for a change.

How wrong they were.