Chapter 9
Delia walked up and down the aisles of flowers at the garden, picking up a few potted plants and plopping them into her basket. Samual was walking beside her, examining the GS ball closely, while Ash and Gary argued over something trivial.
"Ash," Samual said, turning to him, and promptly stopping the argument. "I'm going to need you to take this to a guy named Kurt. He lives in Azalea town. He makes pokeballs out of acorns, if anyone can figure this thing out, it's Kurt."
"Azalea Town?" Ash asked.
"It's in the Johto region, just west of here," Samual explained.
"Oh yea, there is supposed to be a league there," Gary said. "New Bark Town is where all the new trainers start. Professor Elm runs the Pokemon lab there."
"That's right," his grandfather nodded. "You should stop there and pay him a visit as well. There are tons of new Pokemon to discover in that region, too."
Suddenly, a shrill cry came from across the garden. Ash immediately rushed over. His mother was knelt down, propping Tracey's head up on her knee. His lip was swollen, his nose was bloody, a dark purple bruises formed on his neck.
"What happened to you, Honey?" Delia asked, pulling hair out from dried cracks of blood on his face.
"That bastard...Brock," he coughed. "Son of a bitch tried to kill me."
"Brock?" Delia asked, looking up at Samual. "Tracey, are you sure?"
"Yes," he said, sitting up. He hadn't had the strength to do that for almost two hours now. He noticed Gary glaring at him. He knew something.
"Why would Brock try to kill you?" Ash asked, confused.
"He's jealous of me, because Misty's loves me," Tracey responded, Ash and Samual helped him to his feet, and looked at Gary.
"Help us walk him home," Samual said to his grandson, but Gary shook his head and threw his jacket over his shoulder.
"No thanks, Gramps. I'm not feeling very charitable today," he walked ahead of them out of the flower garden and Samual shook his head.
"I tried to make him a good man," he said. "Alright, Tracey, let's get you home to rest."
...
Misty dozed in and out of sleep for an hour. She felt Brock kiss her back, and the nape of her neck, moving down to her shoulders, his hands exploring every delicious curve concealed by sheets. Her back was against his chest, and she tiredly turned around to face him. He captured her lips in a sweet tender kiss, playfully running his fingers over the firm swells of her breasts from underneath the sheets.
"You ready for round two?" He asked, smiling, pulling her on top of him in one swift motion. She squealed in surprise and leaned down to kiss him. They heard the front door open downstairs. Brock reached down for his pants, and Misty fumbled for her clothes. They heard voices downstairs. Delia, Samual, Gary...Tracey.
Misty froze and looked back at Brock.
"It's OK," he promised her, tugging on his t-shirt. "Nobody's going to hurt you as long as I'm here."
Once they were dressed, Brock opened the door and Misty follow him out. They looked over the loft balcony to see Tracey laying on the couch, his lip was swollen and purple. Delia brought him a drink of water in a cold bottle and he took it gratefully, soothing his swollen, hot lip on the cold plastic.
Samual looked up to see Misty and Brock standing at the balcony. Brock stood protectively in front of him, and his eyes met Samual's.
"Brock, we'd like you to come down here and have a talk with us," Samual said, looking over at Delia. "We can step outside on the back porch."
Misty followed him down the stairs and Delia smiled at her. "Just Brock, Dear. You stay inside, OK?"
"No, I don't want be away from him," She grabbed onto his arm and Delia smiled.
"Just a second, Honey," Delia said, sweetly.
Brock looked back at her and kissed her forehead. "Stay here. It will only be a second." He looked up at Gary. "Keep an eye on her. Don't let anything happen to her." He glared down at Tracey who lay weakly on the couch.
Ash walked up to Brock. "Why did you beat Tracey up, Brock? I don't get it. Why would you be jealous of him?"
"I'm not!" Brock said, rolling his eyes. "Look, I'll explain everything later. Just make sure Misty's safe, OK?" He walked outside to see Samual and Delia sitting at the dining table outside. He pulled out a seat and sat down, Delia and Samual exchanged glances.
"Brock," Samual said. "I know you love Misty. But you can't go beating other guys up over her. I'm pretty sure Misty doesn't want to be fought over like some piece of meat."
Brock shook his head. "You think this is because I'm jealous of Tracey?" He chuckled. "I'm sorry, but with all due respect sir, that isn't what happened in that garden shop."
"What did happen?" Delia asked. "I've known Lola for a long time, and I know that she didn't raise any of her boys to be violent for no reason, or for the affection of a girl. What happened?"
Brock sighed, and looked away. "Misty probably doesn't want anyone to know. She's frightened and she's scared of him."
"Why?" Samual asked. "He seems like a nice boy to me. You seem like a nice boy to me. You're smart, you're handsome, you're Flint Harrison's boy for God's sake! You weren't raised in a barn!"
"He tried to rape her, OK?" Brock stood up, and pushed in his chair harshly. Delia and Sam looked at him in surprise.
"He what?" Delia asked, tears coming to her eyes.
"He tried to rape her," Brock repeated. "He lured her out there and he asked her to marry him, and she told him no. And, he thought we were having sex, and so he felt the need to..."
Delia hugged him and started to cry. "I'm sorry if I ever doubted you. I should have known you had a reason to almost kill someone."
He hugged her back. "I'd do anything to protect Misty. Please, Mrs. Ketchum, you can't let Tracey around Misty. Not after this..."
Suddenly, a gun shot was heard from inside the house. Brock immediately ran back into the house. Tracey was standing up, Misty was held tightly against him.
"Misty!" Brock yelled out. Ash hid behind a chair, tears running down his face. Delia wanted to run to him, but he held a gun at her.
"Don't touch him!" Tracey yelled at her. "Nobody gets any closer or I'll put a bullet right in this little slut's head!"
Gary lay on the floor by the door and Samual rushed over to him.
"Gary!" He lifted his head up.
"Grandpa..." he struggled to say.
"Don't move, Gary." He pulled out his cell phone, but felt the cold end of the barrel of the gun against his forehead.
"Press one letter, Old man and I'll end everyone's life in this room," Tracey threatened, tightening his grip on Misty. She struggled to look at Brock, and yelped in pain when Tracey jerked her around.
"Stop looking at him! You fucking whore!" He pressed the gun to her temple and glared at Brock. "You wanna see her die, asshole?"
"I should have fucking killed you when I had the chance!" Brock said, contemplating on whether or not to take him to the ground. If he moved, he could kill Misty.
"You fucking broke her heart, and then came back, and now she's falling right back into your arms again!" Tracey yelled. "How the fuck do you do that? I treat her like a god damn princess, and she's still all over you! Why do girls do that, Huh?" He looked down at Misty.
"Why do girls always want the jackass and leave the good guy in the dust?" Tracey looked back up at Brock, who didn't seem to be intimidated by his gun. "Maybe I should kill you first, so she can see you die."
"No!" Misty struggled to get away from him.
"Shut up, Slut!" He hit her hard in the head with the handle of his gun, and knocked her to the ground.
"You son of a bitch!" Brock charged at him and threw him against the wall. Tracey was already weak, but he was angry enough where the aderenaline allowed him to fight back. Brock had the arm with his gun pressed so tightly against the wall that he was starting to lose feeling in it.
"I'll fucking shoot you!" Tracey said, struggling to pull the trigger in the gun.
"It's going to take a lot more than you shitty bullets to kill me!" Brock told him, squeezing his arm so tight that Tracey dropped his gun to the floor. Tracey kicked him in the kneecaps and sent Brock to the floor. He held him down by his weight and started to strangle him.
Brock tried to push him away, but he was becoing weaker and weaker. Tracey squeezed harder, his eyes becoming more and more bloodshot and angry as he squeezed the life from him with each passing second.
Brock couldn't breath anymore, his vision was going black. He tried to muster his last ounce of strength, he knew he had to save Misty, and keep her away from this crazed maniac, but he just physically couldn't fight him off.
Suddenly, a gun shot rang out, and the grip on his neck loosened. Tracey looked down at him, a look of surprise on his face. He fell over and Brock rolled over on his side. Through his hazy vision, he saw Misty, holding the gun Tracey had, a very surprised look on her face.
He struggled to sit up and she rushed over to his side.
"Are you OK?" She asked, wiping the blood away from his nose with the nearest dish rag.
"I'm fine, I'm fine..." he said, looking beside him. Tracey lay lifeless, blood pooling around his chest on the kitchen floor.
"I...I killed him..." Misty dropped the gun to the floor and threw herself into Brock's arms. "I killed him..."
"Hey, hey, it's OK," Brock sheilded her vision from the horrible sight and helped her stand up, stumbling a little from his own weakness.
Samual looked up at them, dialing his phone. "We need to Gary to a hospital. He's bleeding out."
...
The lights from the police cars lit up the night outside of Delia's house. They collected Tracey's body, filled out a police report and got Gary to the hospital. They were filing Tracey's death as a self defense case. Brock hadn't let go of Misty since she had shot Tracey, he just sat with her outside on the porch while police cleaned up inside.
Officer Jenny walked over to them, and looked down at Misty.
"Misty," she said, softly. "I just got word that Tracey Sketchit...he's a wanted serial rapist and killer."
"W-what?" She asked, turning to face her.
"He's responsible for 14 other deaths of young women in the Orange Islands, and 3 men," she pulled out a sketchpad. "He often draws out his fantasies of who he wants to kill, and how he wants to do it. The police have been looking for him all over the place. In Kanto, the islands, Johto...he covered his tracks very well."
"He threatened to kill all of us if I told anyone that he tried to rape me," Misty said, her entire body was shaking.
"He would killed you if you hadn't gotten away from him," Jenny told her. "And he would have killed you," she looked at Brock. "If she hadn't have shot him. Misty, you brought down one of the most wanted and elusive serial killers in the region. You're not in trouble. You had to do what you had to do. Everything's going to be OK."
She walked away, and Misty fell back into Brock's arms and cried.
"It's OK, Sweetheart," he said, soothingly. "Everything's OK."
...
Gary Oak opened his eyes to a consisent beep. He felt groggy, slightly nauseous, and dizzy. He stirred a bit, and he became aware of someone in the room, beside his bed. He looked over and saw Misty sitting beside his bed, holding his hand. She looked a bit tired, but perked up when she saw he was awake.
"Gary, you're awake!" She said, standing up, clumsily searching for the nurse button.
"Whoa! Hey, hey," Gary said, looking at her. "Calm down. Calm down. What happened?"
"You got shot," she told him. "You were trying to protect me and Tracey shot you."
He winced at the pain. "That's why my abdomen hurts so bad. How long have I been out for?"
"About 3 days," she said, hearing the nurses come down the hall, frantically.
"Oh jeez, this is going to be make me so late for the Johto League! I'm supposed to be at least to New Bark Town by now!" He said, watching the nurses file in his room.
"How long has he been awake?" One of them asked.
"About a minute," Misty said, watching as Sam, Delia, Ash and Brock filed in after the nurses.
Brock took Misty in his arms and kissed the top of her head. "I went across the street and got you some food, since I know you don't like hospital food."
She smiled up at him. "Thank you."
"Gary, how are you feeling?" Samual asked, sitting beside him as the nurses checked his vitals.
"Fine, actually. Just in a little bit of pain. I have to get out of here though and make my way to New Bark," He said.
"Not yet," Samual said, smiling. "You rest for a couple of days. You'll make it to New Bark Town. Right now, you just rest."
Brock walked over to him. "Gary, Ash told me what you did. You took a bullet for Misty. You saved her life."
Gary smiled and waved his hand at him. "It was nothing. Don't expect me to be nice all of the time."
"Thank you," he smiled at him and put his arm around Misty.
"Let's let Gary get some rest," Delia said, leading the rest of them out of the room. Samual stood out in the hallway and handed Ash the GS ball.
"Take this to Kurt in Azalea Town. Gary will be fine. There is no need for both of you to get a late start on entering the League," he said, then he smiled at Brock.
"And you, my boy, you take good care of Misty. She saved your life," he said.
"I'll protect her with my life," Brock promised.
"You're coming with us, Brock?" Ash asked, surprised.
"Ash," Brock said, chuckling. "I'm never leaving you guys again. It will be just like old times!"
"Minus all the flirting with other women part?" Misty asked, looking at him suspiciously.
"You'll just have to keep me in line," Brock told her, kissing her breifly on the lips.
Ash's eyes widened. "You just...you just kissed Misty!"
"Ash, are you that blind?" He asked, putting his arm around both of them. "I came back because I'm in love with Misty. I missed you too, I guess, but for completely different reasons."
"How come I didn't know about this?" Ash asked, as they walked down the hospital hallways.
"Because you're too dense to realized what is going on in other places besides that thick head of yours," Misty told him.
"So, that's why you were so jealous of professor Ivy, wasn't it Misty?" Ash asked, laughing.
She blushed and scrowled at him angrily. "I was not jealous!"
"Were too!"
"Was not!"
"Will you two cut it out?" Brock yelled out. "Ash, stop telling Misty she's jealous."
"Oh, you're going to take her side now?" Ash folded his arms over his chest. Misty just grinned at him.
Brock nudged her with his elbow. "Get used to it, Love."