Chapter 10

Divided

(Two Years Later)

"Misty!" I cried, my back flying off the base of my bed, startling Pikachu. Another nightmare…Realizing this, I held my head in my hands, wiping a trail of sweat from my forehead. The same nightmare…I've had it every night for the past week, and it was now starting to drive me mad. The nightmare of the day that I lost her and Ethan…

"Pi…ka?" Pikachu whimpered, coming onto my lap and laying a paw on my shoulder to comfort me.

"Relax. It was nothing, buddy…just another nightmare…" I said, patting his side before taking a bottle of whiskey that lay next to the LCD clock to my left and chugging a quarter of it down. I never drank prior to the day of the accident, but now…now was a different story. Pikachu had a sullen look on his face as he looked downwards – he missed Marill dearly.

"Pikachupi, ka?" he asked after a while.

"Yeah. Another one about her. I can't get her out of my mind, Pikachu!" I grunted, groping my hair. Two years had passed, and yet her memory was fresh in my mind, as if the disaster had happened barely yesterday.

I collapsed back into my bed, trying desperately to relieve the pain caused by the memory of her and Ethan's deaths, with happy memories from our past: the day Misty and I first met…the days when we were caught by others sitting or standing under the mistletoe…our first kiss, years after she had departed to go back to the Cerulean Gym…our wedding day…but nothing could distract me from the most prominent – and most painful – memory of them all: the sight of Misty's tears. Throughout our journeys together, I always felt happy whenever she smiled. Although I was too immature and young to recognize love back then, as the years passed, I realized that she had feelings for me all along – feelings, which I was too stupid and preoccupied with my training to see. But the very sight of Misty when she was either sad or shedding tears was enough to break my heart a thousand times over. I hated to see her cry, more than anything. I wished her to be happy all the time, but knew that I couldn't be there all the time by her side to ensure that. And now, after she disappeared from my life altogether, apart from my dreams, that reality was one which would never be true again.

"Pi…ka…pi?" Pikachu tugged at me again, bringing me back from my daydreaming.

"I'm sorry again, buddy…it's just that…Misty and Ethan's deaths are all too much for me to deal with, even now, after two years. Hell, how I wanna see them so much…but now I never will. Heh, unless I'm some kinda ghost or something, to see them again," I whispered, before coming to a realization.

That was it.

A ghost.

And the only way that could happen is…

Lavender Town…

Pokémon Tower.

I looked at the red LCD clock next to me. 2:36 A.M…

"Pikachu, I've got an idea. I don't think you're gonna like this, but..." I said to him.

"Pi?"

"We're going to Lavender Town."

"Pi? Pika pika pichu pikaka Pikachupi chu?" ("What? You're not serious you're thinking about going through 'that' again, just to see Misty?")

"I'm afraid so, buddy," I sighed, turning over to the other side of my pillow. "We leave in the morning. So get some rest."

I'm coming for you, Mist…we'll be together again…I promise…

(Later)

"Charizard, return!" I said, recalling him after he had flown us from our home in the Seafoam Islands, to the base of Pokémon Tower. With my arm drooping in sorrow after I placed his Pokéball back in its place in my belt, I began to trudge towards the door of the great building in front of me. As always, there was an eerie mist surrounding it, as well as in the mass graveyard in the distance, for Pokémon and people alike. Shrill and mysterious cries emanated from inside, as I smirked.

"Gengar…Ghastly…hehehe…always up to your tricks…"

Every single step I took made me feel as if a part of me was dying with it, as I treaded towards the front entrance. But then, as I placed my hand upon the wood of the door, I heard a twig snap. Sighing, I made a guess as to what would follow.

Prepare for trouble!

And make it double…

To protect the world from –

I turned around very slowly, looking at them with pure sorrow in my face, stopping them immediately in the middle of their recital. "Jessie…James…Meowth…please, I'm begging you…not today…" I said, almost lifelessly, before continuing on into the building.

"Huh? What's wrong with the twerp? Why's he acting like that?" I heard James wonder as I entered. It had been a full two years since our last encounter.

"Maybe some'din's up wit 'im?" Meowth said.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's follow him to find out!" Jessie declared.

"Eeee! But Jessie! Don't you remember the last time we were here, and those two horrible ghost Pokémon put us on that terrible merry-go-round for hours?" Jessie shrieked, before being pulled in by the ear by Jessie. "Eeee! I don't wanna go!"

I stopped by the staircase as I saw them all enter. "Hey, twerp! At least give us an explanation! Why are you acting this way?" Jessie bellowed.

I turned my head to them. "…have you ever lost a loved one? And I don't mean 'lost', as in you don't know where they are…have you ever 'lost' someone, who will never come back into your life?"

"Huh? What do you…mean?" Jessie's tone shrank dramatically.

"Misty…is dead," I let it out. "I intend to see her again, here…somehow…"

"Twerp, wait!" Jessie called out in a friendly way, running after me and stopping me by holding my hand. "Do you really mean that…the orange-haired twerpette…your wife…is dead?" she whimpered, receiving a nod from me. Although Jessie, James and Meowth were theoretically our enemy, they were indeed good people on the inside, driven to join Team Rocket purely due to circumstances beyond their control: Jessie, as she had nobody to turn to after the disappearance of her mother, James, due to him wanting out of his mansion to escape the overwhelming influence of his parents, and Meowth, as he had nowhere else to go. And all three of them knew the true value of having a family, and someone by your side.

"…yes," I repeated, looking into her eyes. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to keep on moving."

"Could we…could we maybe…tag along?" James requested, his voice shaking nervously. "None of us wanna stay here by ourselves, with all the ghost Pokémon around..."

"There's only two around here, now, James," I smirked bitterly, "And they're both my friends. What are you afraid of?"

"But…but…" his teeth chattered.

"Alright, then. Stay close, all of you, and just follow me," I chuckled.

"Hooo! 'Dank God for dat!" Meowth let out a sigh of relief, he and James seeming to be a bit more relieved as they followed. Jessie was the only one of them showing no sign of nervousness whatsoever – it must have been due to the fact that she may be thinking about her own mother.

After a few minutes of ascending some stairs, we finally came to the final room up high in the Tower, where cackling and mischievous laughter could be heard from inside. Gengar and Ghastly were sure having a blast inside…

"Well, this is it," I said, turning around to face the trio as I placed my hand on the handle. "Don't scream, guys."

"We-we…wewewewe…we won't!...I think," James shuddered.

"Y-yeah, sure! We'll just sit still, right 'ere! Right, Jess?" Meowth grinned fearfully up at Jessie.

"Keep it together, you two!" Jessie slapped them both on the back of their heads, causing them to rub the spots where they were struck.

I opened the door, and sure enough, Ghastly and Gengar were playing yet another one of their favorite games – making faces at each other. Surprisingly, they seemed to have expected me here today, with hardly a surprised look on their faces as they floated over to me. And to think that ghosts weren't psychic…

"Gengar, geng!"

"Ghaaaastly!" they both grinned at me, causing me to levitate slightly with their power and tickling me a little.

"Hey, hey, cut it out, guys," I smiled, gradually being lowered to the ground before looking over at James and Meowth, whose faces were frozen in fear and looked blue as they bravely attempted a smile.

"Pika!" Pikachu smiled, receiving a harmless lick from both of them. "Pika~aa!" he whined, wiping himself.

"Guys, judging from your not-so-surprised faces, I'm guessing that you knew I was coming. And if you knew that I was coming, then you must also know what I came for," I said as they both nodded. "So…can you do it for me? Can you turn me into a ghost again? Just temporarily."

I lied. In truth, I wanted to remain a ghost forever…to be with her again for all eternity…

Ghastly and Gengar looked at each other with eerie faces, before chuckling all of a sudden and disappearing towards a shadowy portion of the room.

"Hey! Where are you going?" I cried, "You know I don't like it when one of you guys do that! Haunter made me think that I was gonna be turned into a doll again during my rematch with Sabrina years ago!"

"Hello, Ash…" a female voice said from within the shadows. It sounded so familiar… "It's been awhile…"

"Who…who's there?" I asked, moving towards the voice. Pikachu, being wary, began to charge volts of electricity in his electrical sacs.

"It's me," the girl said again, footsteps drawing towards me as she emerged from the shadows. Thank God - It was Sabrina.

"Huh? Sabrina? What are you doing here?" I gasped.

"I received a vision in my sleep last week, that you were going to come here today. I tried calling you at your home several times, but you would never answer, and I got worried about you. I called Brock and even your Mom, but even they couldn't get across to you…Knowing how much you miss Misty, I could only guess that you wanted to come here to become a ghost, so that you could see her," she said.

"That…that's right," I admitted.

"You…you weren't intending on actually…remaining a ghost for all-time, were you?" she whispered, coming over to me and placing a hand gently on my arm while her eyes glimmered as she looked into mine.

"I…I…" I whimpered. She read me like a book. Although I was fairly adept with my powers of Aura from my exploits years ago, it was still nothing when compared to Sabrina's psychic power.

"It's alright. Let's not talk about that," she looked sideways, insinuating a change in subject.

"Haunter, Haunt!" Haunter came out from behind her to greet me.

"Hey, old buddy," I smiled. "Are you taking good care of Sabrina?"

"He sure is," Sabrina smiled. "Anyway, there's something very important we have to talk to you about…"

"…'we'?"

Just then, another figure emerged from the shadows. It was none other than Mewtwo.

"Hello again," he said to me, his voice reverberating throughout the room, as James and Meowth winced again in fear. Glancing at them, he turned his attention back to me. "Have you been well?"

"…I've been better," I mumbled. "Why are you here? I thought you were protecting the clone Pokémon beneath Mt. Quena?"

"Yes, I was. But they should be safe by themselves there, for now, as those who seek to enslave them no longer possess the necessary memory to track them."

"It was Mewtwo who gave me the vision of you coming here," Sabrina explained.

"I was contacted in my own dreams by Darkrai and Cresselia, agents to Arceus himself, warning me of the events which are to come. And in turn, to reach out to you, I communicated with Sabrina in her sleep," Mewtwo said.

"Darkrai and Cresselia? I thought there were a few of them throughout the world! In fact, I came across three Darkrai in my travels! How do you know this isn't just a trick by that Darkrai?" I questioned.

"Yes, you are right in saying that there are more than one Darkrai throughout the world. But this Darkrai…this agent of Arceus…he is the one you encountered, attempting to stop the conflict between Dialga and Palkia. You can rest assured, that this one's intentions are pure," Mewtwo stated.

"Alright, then," I said, before turning back to Sabrina, "So what is this important 'thing' you have to tell me about?"

What Sabrina said next shocked me utterly, sending shivers down every inch of my body.

"Misty…is alive…"

…there was still hope…

(End of Chapter 10)

A/N: That's Chapter 10. Sorry if it seems really short…it's mainly intended to be a filler in terms of time transition. The next chapter will be focused on Misty, involving flashbacks, and will be similarly modest in length.

I tihnk it's gonna be really difficult for me to keep Mewtwo in character over the next chapters - most of the stories I've read with him included, the authors constantly make Mewtwo refer to Ash by his name, which I don't think he ever does in either movie he was in. I guess I just have to imagine Dan Green speaking all of the lines I give Mewtwo, and I'll be alright. :S

Please leave your reviews! :)