*Sorry for the long delay! I have been occupied with college exams while working on the story. Hope everyone enjoys the newest chapter!*
By the time Ash and Brock came back from retrieving their needed supplies, it was already 3 o' clock in the afternoon. Brock was busy setting up barriers inside the two rooms, while Ash was going through and checking the supplies, making sure that they had everything that they needed. Misty was sitting on the bed, now dressed in her clothes, watching Ash place each of the items on the bed. She didn't say much at all, just watching as Ash would take an item out of the bag and place it on the bed, like a cat watching the little red light move around from one spot to another. Ash had unloaded boxes of crackers, canned fruits, sodas, beef jerky, a couple of water jugs, bandages, peroxide, and some medicinal wraps. He had organized each of these items on the bed and continued to unload the duffle bag.
"Now I didn't know what you might be experienced with," Ash spoke to Misty, pulling her attention away from the bed-side items, "But I think that this might do you quite some good." Ash pulled a silver pistol out of the duffle bag and placed it on the bed. Misty slightly panicked seeing the pistol on the bed, as her mind quickly flashed back to the scene.. the scene in which she had been holding the same pistol after shooting the infected Ash and Brock.. the blood had returned fresh in her mind.. she snapped back into reality and picked up the pistol, analyzing it. "That is a Mark XIX .50 Desert Eagle," Ash commented, "A quite upgraded version of the original pistol.. It holds 8 rounds per magazine and about 80 rounds total, so you should be able to hold 10 boxes of ammo. I think this pistol will be able to provide you with a lot of protection against whatever stands in front of you." Misty looked over at Ash, still defined with a look of confusion and hesitation.
"Um.. Ash?" she started off, slightly delayed. Ash placed the duffle bag down to his side and moved his chair closer to Misty.
"Yes Misty? Is there something wrong?" Ash asked, giving his similar look of concern planted on his face. Misty was hesitating.. she wanted to tell Ash about the messenger and what she had seen in the mirror... but she wasn't able to pluck up the courage to say it..
"Umm, I actually don't know how to fire one of these things!" Misty replied, rubbing the back of her head embarrassed. "Stupid Misty!" she cursed to herself, "You've gotta tell him what you saw.. before it's too late..."
Ash got out of his chair, smiling. "Well why didn't you say so!?" he commented back, "I can help you with that!"
"You.. You can?"
"Sure! It's quite simple!" Ash replied, sounding a lot like the teenager that he was, making Misty smile again.. something that had become a novelty that day.. "Here, stand up and I'll show you how to use it." he instructed. Misty got out of the bed and walked over to were Ash was standing. "Now put your right hand on the handle and in the trigger slot, and then you place you place your left hand on-top of your right to keep your gun steady." Misty attempted to try what Ash told her but she kept fumbling the pistol. Ash chuckled to himself, "Here let me help you." Ash stood behind Misty, taking his right hand and placing it over-top of Misty's right hand, lifting it into place, "You put your right hand right here on the gun," Ash stated, moving her hand onto the pistol, "And then the left one here." Ash continued, taking her other hand and moving it into place. "Then you finally raise the weapon up to proper eye level," he instructed, moving his arms up along with hers to an equal level, "You just then look down the sights, making sure that the cross-hairs line up with the object, and then you fire away! It's quite simple once you get the hang of it" he finished, moving his arms away from Misty. She slightly adjusted her hands but she was able to firmly grasp the pistol pretty well.
"And I just pull the trigger to fire it off?" Misty asked him, still pointing the pistol at the opposite wall.
"Yup, but make sure you have your safeties off. It's a small switch on the side that when activated makes it impossible to shoot the pistol. And definitely make sure that you aim down the sights in order to achieve a more accurate shot. We're going to need to make sure that we keep as much ammo on us as possible" Ash replied. Misty lowered her pistol and began to examine it cautiously. As she continued to look at the pistol, her imagination continued flashing back to the events with the messenger... the images in the mirror.. she shivered thinking about it. Ash took notice to this.. being that it was the second time that she had shivered seeing the pistol.
"Misty.. is there something up?" Ash asked, making Misty shift her attention back to Ash, "This is the second time you flinched seeing the pistol... what's on your mind?" Misty looked away for a second, trying to collect her thoughts. She didn't know if Ash was going to believe what she was about to tell him.. but he had to know..
"Ash.. what if I told you that it would be safer to go to Saffron City.." she started, catching Ash's attention even more, giving him a puzzling look, "What if.. What if I told you that it will not be safe here past mid-day tomorrow.. that you and Brock will.." Misty paused, trying to pluck up courage to mention the image..
"We'll what?.." Ash tried to continue to conversation. Misty paused, her glance piercing towards the carpeted floor. Then, taking a deep breath, she looked at Ash, straight into his hazelnut-coloured eyes.
"That if we did not leave by tomorrow night, that you and Brock would become infected.. and that I w-would.." Misty found that she couldn't continue without developing tears in her eyes, feeling the image seen in the mirror screw up her sanity. "That I would have to shoot you two... to save myself.." Misty felt herself tearing up.
"Misty... where on Earth did you learn about this from!?" Ash questioned her, feeling both dazzled and confused as what she was saying. Misty hesitated, trying to remember all of the details, but continued on explaining.
"When you and Brock left to obtain the supplies, during my nap, I was approached by some sort of... spiritual or mythical figure.. it told me that he came with a message, telling me of what I've just told you.. It was like it knew the future ahead.. that what we were currently going to do is going to lead to our downfall..."
"Do you think what he said was true?" Ash asked.
"I.. I don't know..," Misty replied, "But I feel that it might be a sign for us! I mean, this spiritual thing did come to only me and no one else that I know of... and besides.." Misty drifted off, looking back at the bed cover.
"Besides what?"
"..To prove that he was telling the truth, he displayed a futuristic 'screenshot' of what would happen to us if we had stayed here in the hotel... I was standing with a pistol, just like the one you gave me, in one hand, and a blade in my other hand... and you were... You were..." Misty felt that she couldn't continue on without visualizing the image that she had seen.. trying to hold back her rising fears and tears.. "That you were lying on the floor.. covered in blood.. with a bullet hole through your head from my direction..." Misty felt a small tear roll from her eye, painfully imagining the scene in her mind. "The spirit explained that our defenses would be compromised, some how, and that you and Brock would become infected..." Misty didn't want to look right at Ash; it was too painful to look at his face and his frozen expression. Ash sat there with a grim and pale look upon his face, thinking through what Misty was describing to him... the breakthrough, the infection.. the bullet.. Ash shuttered thinking about it. He shifted his attention back onto Misty.
"How did the spirit know that Saffron would be safe?"
"He told me that after a set period of time a telekinetic barrier will form around the perimeter of the city, thriving off any infected who want to come into the city.. which explains why the infected went here instead of Saffron City. Once inside the barrier, we'll be safe and sound.. Our pokemon will probably be in the PCs, which we could easily withdraw at any point.."
"Don't you think we should share this with everyone then? I mean it would be very important for the survival for a ton of people in-"
"No! No.. we can't.. the spirit said that if too many people are exposed of this secret, then a mob of people will want to enter Saffron City, in which, out of shook and safety, the officials of that city will close their borders.. preventing any one from entering in the city.."
"Darn.." Ash replied, crossing his arms in a state of thought. He felt that the decision that they had on hand was quite contradictory; on the one hand they had a valuable source of information for safety that could save a ton of lives, but on the other hand, however, if too many people fled to Saffron City then no one would be saved from the infection... "What do you think we should do, Misty?" he asked, still thinking about what to do.
"I feel it would be important to share the information but only to those people who we feel that we can trust to keep hold of it.. I don't know who else we could tell though..."
"Are there anyone of our friends who are in the area?"
"Not to my knowledge. We're the only ones who are in the Kanto right now.."
"Hmm.." Ash continued to ponder, thinking over the options that they faced. He continued to think down every obstacle that they could reach with telling about the information, but however each path lead to the same ending of the city's barriers being closed off. It was an impossible choice that he had to make. "Even if we told just one other person about this, there would be no guarantee that they would hold the information to themselves... we would need to trust them completely and make sure that they won't spread the word around... gosh, Misty, I don't know what to do..."
"Neither do I" she admitted, looking outside and noticing the clouds in the sky. Misty moved towards the window, taking a look at the outside world. It was a beautiful and clear October afternoon, with a few clouds in the sky and the hint that there was a gentle breeze flowing through the tress. The setting would have made it the perfect scenario for a wonderful day.. a day that Misty would have spent completely on with Ash and Brock by her side. She took in every colour and every detail of the luscious-looking outside world. It was so beautiful.. but even sadder to know that soon it might all be nothing but clouds of ash and smoke.. Misty started to cry, still looking outside of the window. "Ash.."
"Yeah, Misty?" Ash replied, looking over to where Misty was standing. There was a pause of silence between the two, as the words lingered in the air. Misty turned to face Ash, tears rolling down the side of her face.
"Will there.. will there be a day where we won't have to worry about anything? Worry about how our lives are hanging in the balance of so many strange and unknown factors?... Do you think we will see another day like today? Where the weather is beautiful and absolutely perfect? To walk and talk and play about, without having to worry at all? Tell me... will we?" she sobbed, tears continuing to stream down her check. Ash stood in his place for a second, taking in her words.. seeing her cry in such a miserable state.. he couldn't help but start to tear up as well. He walked over to where she stood and stood right in front of her, keeping his eyes locked onto hers.
"I do hope so... because if there is such a day like day, where we are filled again with happiness in the future, I want to have it spent with you" he replied, making Misty blush like mad. Ash smiled and pulled Misty into a big hug, to which Misty swung her arms around him.. holding him tightly.. Misty started weeping out of control into his shoulder.
"O-Oh Ash! I d-don't w-want to die! I d-don't want you t-to die!" she sobbed, her head completely tucked into his shoulder. Ash could feel Misty take in rapid gulps of air, trying to compensate for her sobbing, as her back would inflate and deflate quickly. Ash placed his head on her shoulder, feeling the tears on his face starting to run down his check as well..
"I don't want anyone to d-die.. I d-don't want you t-to d-die.." Ash started equally weeping into her shoulder. He felt as if every bit of strength that he had to contain his emotions, every barrier that holding everything back, was being released in a tidal wave of pain.. Ash was scared of losing Misty.. he became scared of losing Brock.. everything was becoming a sudden reality in his mind. "But don't worry.. we're going to be okay, Misty. We just need to keep ourselves calm and s-stay smart through all of this" Ash spoke, pulling away from Misty but still keeping his hands on her shoulders. They looked at each other, tear-stained eyes and the remains of their cried tears on their checks, seeing the pain in the other person. Ash, through his weakened mentality, was still able to pull a smile on his face, trying to make Misty feel better through his grin. "We'll be okay, Misty, I promise that I will protect you" he spoke, making Misty smile through his loving words.
"Thank you, Ash, and I promise to stand by your side, to see through this whole thing through" she replied, feeling a slight blush fall upon her face. Ash couldn't help but keep smiling at her words; he could now tell that his relationship with Misty was starting to really take off to a level that he couldn't have imagined before. If it weren't for the current infection attacks, he honestly would have considered dating Misty... but then again, it was because of these attacks that were causing Ash and Misty to come together. Nevertheless, both Ash and Misty were happy that they were able to come together through this. Maybe something will come out of the attacks that will unite them together even further..
Ash glanced out of the window once more to look at the beautiful weather outside. As he glimpsed out the window, something in particular caught his eye. Ash moved towards the window to try and get a better look at what he might have seen. "What in the world is that?" he questioned, looking off into the distance. From what he could tell, it looked like some sort of disfigured being, looking as if it was running at a fast pace, its arms flailing about. Suddenly, from the hill that this figure was running from, a whole mass of people were now exposed in his eye sight.. a whole group of infected that were running towards the city..
*Thanks for reading! Hope you all enjoyed! Please leave a review with your feedback! Your reviews help me to improve the quality of the story and for my future writings! :)*