Chapter Eleven: A Misty Witness
May and Trucy found themselves in a deserted house in Pallet Town. It was once the home of Delia Ketchum, and her son, Ash. The house was now nothing but a former shadow of itself with ornaments and glass cabinets shrouded with dust. Wallpaper peeled off as mould gathered round the ceiling. It had been a very long time since May entered Ash's Ketchum's house and the pleasant memories of visiting the house still haunted her.
It was going to be the trial of the century. Ash's siblings, his father, among others were going to be called in as potential witnesses. May knew she was expected to do at least ten cross-examinations and that it was going to take more than a day to get through them all. She didn't know how she was going to do it all, but the day that she had worked five years for was finally coming.
"This time tomorrow Ash will be a free man," May said as she got her ribbon out of her pocket. She walked past the cold and empty walls. "This nightmare will finally be over." May rubbed the ribbon against her chest, cradled it for a while, and then placed it back in her pocket. "Ash and I will be able to go back to our Pokémon journey again."
"Huh?" Trucy gasped. "Does that mean you'll leave the agency?"
May gulped. "Eventually. Maybe I'll quit being a lawyer too. I only became one for Ash anyway. I'd miss everyone in the agency though..."
"Oh..." Trucy whispered. She lowered her head.
"What's wrong, Trucy?"
Trucy removed her hat and dropped her chin against her chest. "This place is just so sad to look at."
May nodded. "Mrs. Ketchum used to make this place spotless."
"I read in her records that she used to own a Pokémon called Mr. Mime," Trucy admitted to May. "Where did he go?"
"I'm not really sure," May replied as she savaged through old photograph frames in the cabinets. "I assumed that Professor Oak took care of him, but I think he works in one of Davis' resturants." Savaging though old photos of Ash, she finds a picture of Ash and his siblings; Red, Leaf and Silver. "This can't be the only picture with all four of them together."
"This locket is really cute," Trucy exclaimed as she picked up a silver locket in one of the draws next to May. Trucy opened up the locket and and the middle popped out. "There's four pictures in here."
May turned her head and stared at the locket. One the left was a picture of a boy with red hair wearing dark clothes. He had a serious look on his face as if to say he was about to cause trouble. He was Silver, Delia's second youngest son. On the right was a picture of Ash and Pikachu. In the middle were the twins; Red and Leaf, both were brunettes with Delia's eyes.
"This locket seems really important," May said as she put the locket in her pocket. "I wonder why it's still in the house?"
"Maybe she wasn't wearing it at the time she was murdered," Trucy suggested. "Or maybe she left it to her daughter?"
"Leaving it to Leaf would explain why it's still here," May said. "But I don't think anybody has taken one foot into this house since Mrs. Ketchum's murder."
Gary Oak barged into the room with a group of men in white cloaks. "I'm glad you're both here," he said. "I got some good news."
"What's that?" May asked Gary.
"Lance got released without charge," Gary told them both.
"Really?" Trucy said covering her mouth. "That's great, isn't it?"
"I guess," Gary groaned, "turns out neither Iris nor Lance could be convicted for De Killer's death."
May leaned over towards Gary. "What do you mean?"
"They're both Pokémon league champions," Gary explained. "We can't convict them even if they were guilty."
"You mean their trainer class protects them?"
Gary nodded.
"That's just... STUPID!" May yelled with her fists clenched together. "Why did Lance ever need to protect Iris in the first place?"
"Most likely to do with the fact she's a prosecutor," Gary replied.
"She's a prosecutor?" Trucy asked. "I should have known."
"I don't like it either," Gary admitted. "But I think he was trying to preserve her reputation."
"IT'S NOT FAIR!" May yelled out. "Ash is in prison for something he didn't do." May envisioned an image of Ash curling himself in a ball and leaning against the bars feeling scared and lonely. "And Iris gets to wonder around the streets."
"There's a rumour going round that Iris' mother was serial killer: Dahlia Hawthorne."
"WHAT!" May shrieked. "That woman..."
"Her father got custody of her as soon as she was born," Gary explained to May and Trucy with a pipe in his mouth. "They left the country, and he event went as far as changing his gender to keep Iris away from her mother. Don't count on me for it, it's just a rumour that I heard."
"Wow," May hissed. "If the rumour is true, then her father has gone has gone a really long way to protect her."
"He must have really loved Iris," Trucy thought.
"But to change your gender... something else had to be going on."
"So Gary, I found out recently that Ash has two older brothers and a sister," May announced to him. She presented the photograph with all four of them sitting on a shiny red coach. "Davis doesn't hold a very high opinion of them."
"It doesn't surprise me," Gary moaned with his arms folded. "Martha Motomiya and Delia Ketchum hated each other, even though they were sisters."
"So Gary," May said, as she and Trucy sat down on the couch together. "Who do you think murdered Delia Ketchum?"
"Kai Hiwatari!" Gary spoke without hesitation.
"Um...who?" May asked. She raised her eyebrow and rubbed her chin. "I've never heard of him before."
"YOU MEAN THE KAI HIWATARI?" Trucy shouted at the top of her voice. Her chords creaked as she buried her lips with her fingers. "As in the famous beyblader?"
"He's that famous beyblader alright," he hissed, lighting a cigarette. "He's a nasty piece of work."
"Why do you think he killed Delia Ketchum?" Trucy asked. "No offence, but it sounds like a totally random statement."
"It's obvious," Gary replied as he puffed large smoke into May's face. "My grandpa's will. He asked his estate to be split to three people; Delia Ketchum, Ash Ketchum and Kai Hiwatari."
"But not you?" May asked. "That's really strange. You are his grandson."
"Sadly so is Kai Hiwatari, that swine," Gary barked. "He's doesn't even care about Pokémon. He has no right to my grandpa's estate."
May lowered her head as her hands rested on the photograph. Her index finger pointing where Ash was standing in the picture. "With Delia dead and Ash in prison, that makes Kai the sole heir to Professor Oak's estate."
"Grandpa was very fond of Ash and his mother," Gary explained. "Kai's never even met my grandpa. None of my siblings are included in the estate either."
"How come Kai never met his grandfather?" Trucy asked. "And what about Professor Oak's own children?"
"Grandpa only had two children; my dad and Aunt Daisy," Gary replied as he flattened the tip of the cigarette with his shoes. "My parents died when I was young. Aunt Daisy married Susumu Hiwatari and moved to Russia to help with his father's business. I've never met Aunt Daisy; she left the country before I was born. I heard she died a while ago. Dad was must close to her; he named my sister after her."
"I heard in the newspapers that Kai had a bitter falling out with Voltaire Hiwatari, the founder of Hiwatari Enterprises." Trucy admitted.
Gary slammed his fist against the edge of the coach and his arms shook violently. "All that money Kai had, all the travelling he did, and not once did he bother to come and see Grandpa."
May peeped her head towards the windows behind Gary. She saw a man outside with a small boy. The man had two shades of blue in his hair: turquoise spikes at the front and a navy ponytail at the back. He wore a long black coat with a scarf hugging his neck. The scarf waved around him. The man turned around and May could see two dark blue stripes on his cheek. The little boy mirrored his look and even had stripes himself.
May leaned over to the window to have a closer look at the mysterious man and the child. "Who's that strange looking man outside?" May wondered. "Is that the witness they were talking about?"
Gary jumped to his feet and had a look. "That's Kai!" Gary snarled. He marched outside.
"We better follow him," Trucy suggested. "I have a feeling there's going to be a fight."
"HEY!" Gary screamed at Kai. "YOU'VE GOT NO RIGHT TO BE HERE!"
"Oh yeah!" Kai glared at Gary. "Who says?"
Gary grabbed his badge from out of his pocket and rammed it in Kai's face. "Detective Gary Oak, we're investigating a murder that happened five years ago. And you're the prime suspect. You've also got a lot of nerve coming to Pallet Town, and not even bother with your family."
"Is that how you talk to people?" Kai roared with his arms folded. "I've seen you on TV, enough times. You think just because your grandpa's famous that you can talk down to people. You even humiliated your best friend and called him a loser. You never grew up. It's no wonder Grandpa cut you all out of the will." Kai looked down on the little boy and held his hand. "Come on, Gou. Let's go and meet your great-grandfather."
"No wonder Grandpa cut you all out of the will?" May repeated Kai's words slowly. She looked up at Gary. "What does he mean by cut you all out?"
"My older, Blue is pretty cocky," Gary admitted. "He was a Pokémon league champion... for ten minutes. Grandpa scolded him after he lost to Red. He's a gym leader in Viridian City now. My sister, Daisy is a shopaholic, but that's not a reason to cut her out of the will."
"Is there any chance that your grandfather could have been blackmailed?" May asked. "I can understand why Delia and Ash are in the will, but a grandson that he's never met in the will, but the rest of them not. Something must happened. Something that Professor Oak was deeply upset about."
"I really don't know," Gary said as he shrugged his shoulders.
"You're hiding something from me," May confirmed as she watched four psyche locks gather round his heart. "But it's not important now. In the meantime, why don't you tell me who this witness is."
"Misty Waterflower," Gary answered. "The former leader of Cerulean City Gym."
"I know her!" May gasped quickly. "She's a good friend of Ash. Why has it taken her so long to come forward?"
"Around the same time Ash was arrested," Gary Oak gulped after he spoke, "Misty Waterflower was put in a coma." He lowered his head and got another cigarette out.
May steered backwards as her arms froze. "How did she fall into a coma?"
"Misty Waterflower was having a coffee with her friends; Iris Den, Dawn Berlitz and Serena Yvonne. All three of them were searched, but we couldn't find anything on them. In the end, the restaurant owner was arrested and his business perished. They found traces of poison in all the sugar bowls. The same one in her drink."
"You mean she was poisoned?" Trucy asked. "And where this restaurant used to be, any chance it was the old French restaurant that's now the popular noodle bar?"
"That's right. She had a nasty dose," Gary explained. "The French Restaurant was called Trés Bien and owned by Jean Armstrong. It's been a crime scene several times. That was where Misty, Dawn, Iris and Serena were before Misty was poisoned. The doctors believed that she would never wake up. "
"Have you spoken to Misty since she's been discharged?" May asked Gary. "Do you know where she is?" She squeezed Gary's shoulders. "I need to talk to her."
A female voice appeared from May. "I'm right behind you!"
"Misty?" May looked around and saw a slender woman with short orange hair march towards her. Her white swimsuit was visible underneath her blue dress that went up to her knees. The front half of her face was covered with a blue visor with three aqua stripes. "I'm glad I saw you. I really needed to speak to you."
"In regards to what?" Misty muttered, folding her arms. Her lips became tightly pursed.
"The trial of Ash Ketchum."
"That was five years ago," Misty hissed. Her arms fell by her sides. "While I was sleeping. He was covering up for somebody."
"Do you know who it was?" Trucy asked.
Misty grabbed the end of her hair with both hands and clenched her teeth together. Her visor started to flash faster. "Don't get too close to me," she whispered, crouched on the floor. "I can't cope with it. The one that poisoned me must have been the same person that betrayed Ash."
May, Trucy and Gary took six steps back between them. Misty sighed and stood herself back up again. May looked over to Gary and patted his back. "Gary... I highly doubt Kai Hiwatari murdered Delia Ketchum after hearing this."
"Misty!" Trucy tiptoed towards Misty. "Do you know the name of the exact person who poisoned you?"
"I can't say," Misty said sadly. "It hurt Ash too much." She glared at May, clenching her fists together. "But I'll say this: if I had Ash, none of this would have happened."
"Hey!" Trucy attempted to charge up to Misty, but May pulled her arm back. "How can you say that?" May's eyes widened tenfold. She had never seen Trucy so mad before. "You don't want to reveal the killer because it will hurt Ash? That's just absurd."
Misty's lips squinted. "Why is that absurd?"
"Ash has been wrongly imprisoned for killing his mother," Trucy roared at her. "That's enough to destroy anyone's soul."
"Nincompoops like you would never understand." Misty's voice trembled as if she was about to cry. May felt a tingle ran down her spine as five black psyche locks surrounded Misty with a generous supply of chains. Misty knew more about the murder than she wanted to reveal. Misty's stubbornness was enough to make her a suspect.
"Either way Misty," May said, clutching onto the ribbon in her pocket. Inside, she was hurt, but she wasn't going to show that to Misty. " You better show up in court tomorrow. We'll settle everything in court tomorrow... Once and for all."