Hey Everybody! Five weeks…I'm sorry it took that long to finally get an update. Between my first (but unfortunately not last) round of college finals, getting report cards, and going back home, the last month has almost inexplicably flown by. Truth be told, I still feel like last week I started school, and already my first semester of college is over and I get a month off. However, that last part should make y'all happy, because I don't start classes again until the 18th of January, and I'm doing my best to insure that I get my next two updates out on their regularly scheduled time.
Anyway, there are a few good pieces of news. First off, I finally got back to my reviewers, so all of you should know personally how much I appreciate your feedback and thoughts. Also, after last chapter we, as a group, broke two major records for this story. First, this fic is now over 300,000 words long! While the length isn't nearly as important as the substance (a lot like hot dogs), I still feel so proud of myself for working so hard on this story, and I also feel so proud and thankful for you guys who continue to inspire me with your critiques and compliments. Y'all are the fuel that keeps this fic going. Also, we broke the 900 review mark! The most reviews I've ever seen for a Pokémon fic was 1,100 reviews, so I know I'm not the biggest author on this site…yet, haha, but I really, really, am happy to see that I have such a great and committed fanbase. I can only hope my small hiatus hasn't turned any of you away or let you down.
This is a long author's note, but it's been a while, so I also need to mention that Mistyrious Charades and iluvpokemon101 both contributed more artwork to my fanart collection which can be accessed through the link on my profile page. Please visit and appreciate their great work! I am always flattered when people take time to draw scenes from my story, and for their devotion, I personally recommend this chapter to the two of them (sorry, but I can't pay you…I'm poor, haha).
Well, that's all I can say. Please enjoy this chapter. It's very…different, than the last few, and the story in general's taking a pretty dark turn, so I'm interested to gauge your reaction. Of course, I can only do this if you REVIEW PLEASE!
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.
Characters' Ages:
Ash: 17
Brock: 22
Misty: 18
Delia: 41
Oak: 56
"Ung."
"That's all you have to say?"
Slowly, Misty opened her eyes. The sunlight beaming in through her open window forced her to squint. "Ash? How'd you get in my room?" She squinted a little harder. "And why are you holding a calendar in front of my face?"
"Can't you see, sleepyhead?" he asked in a teasing voice. "We're three days ahead of schedule!"
"What are you talking about?" she yawned, rolling away from the champion in the hope that he would leave her be for a few more minutes. She had been having the nicest slumber she'd enjoyed in a while after several weeks of camping in search of new Pokémon.
"Pikachu!"
"He's right, Mist. This is the first day off we've had in over a month! We can do whatever we want!"
"I vote for sleeping," she mumbled, lazily lifting her sagging hand in the air before allowing it to plop back down upon the mattress.
"Sleeping? We can't waste a day off like this on sleeping Mist! We haven't gotten to do anything fun in forever together!"
She groaned a little as she turned back to face her boyfriend. Despite herself, she smiled a little at the tiny realization which seemed to make itself reappear every morning that she had this annoying, dense, yet unbelievably upbeat and excitable boyfriend to herself. His smiling face was enough to diminish any desire to sleep in and miss out on a day doing nothing together.
"So what did you have in mind?"
His smile grew even larger. "I was thinking a picnic!"
"Figures you would think of something like that." She rolled onto her side, supporting her head with her bent arm and glanced at the alarm clock. "Well, I guess you could go to the store while I get ready. I could make sandwiches...or maybe even soup!"
The smile instantly vanished from the raven-haired teen's face, as did his Pokémon's. "Uh, no, I think sandwiches'll be fine, actually."
"What's the matter?" She frowned as her gaze went back and forth between the Pokémon and his master. "Is this about that time I cooked for you?"
"Well…"
"We were kids! I didn't know how to cook then!"
"Oh I believe you!" He instinctively took a step backward in self-defense. "It's just that you're stuck in this little room with only a microwave." He pointed to the small appliance in the opposite corner of the room. "You couldn't make soup if you wanted to."
She gave him a suspicious look before sighing. "Fine…but when we go to your house for Christmas where there's a real kitchen, I'm cooking!"
"Sounds good to me."
Let's hope she doesn't have a good memory.
"I guess I better get out of bed if we're gonna leave in time to have a lunch picnic, then," she stated, slowly slipping the covers off of her. However, she was stopped mid-pull down as a squeak emanated from her boyfriend's throat.
"What is-oh! Oops!" She quickly pulled back up the covers, realizing that she'd not worn any pajama bottoms before going to sleep the night before. "Uh, um, h-how did you even get in my room?" she suddenly demanded again, trying to refocus Ash's attention as his gaze remained glued to where the covers now laid.
"Uhhh," he croaked, the calendar slipping from his hand, and Pikachu appearing confused by the sudden awkwardness permeating the room. "I, um, you see…w-what?"
"I said how did you get in here in the first place? The door was locked."
"Oh, uh, I just asked Nurse Joy for a key," he answered, a blush now coming to fruition, a little later than his girlfriend's. "Sorry, I didn't know, that, um."
"What? That I sleep in my underwear exactly like you? You think I stay fully-dressed twenty-four seven?"
"Uh, I'm really sorry, then." He looked downright embarrassed to the young woman, and she suddenly felt a small twinge of guilt for going off on him like that. She was just as sheepish about this as he was, and she knew the only reason she was acting so mad was so he couldn't tell.
She gave him a reassuring smile. "Well, I don't see why it's really a big deal. You've seen me in bikini bottoms before."
"Oh, uh, yeah…except I wasn't staring at that."
She looked confused. "You weren't? What were you looking at then? The embroidery?"
He blushed even more as he shook his head. "Um, n-never mind. I'm just gonna go now." He began to head for the door before the sharp insistence of her tone pulled him back over.
"Ash, tell me what you were looking at!"
Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he slowly walked back to her bed. "I was…noticing that you're wearing the same shirt you used to wear when we were kids."
The perplexed expression on her face remained for a second before she finally understood. She was indeed wearing one of her older shirts from early adolescence.
"You, um, seem to have really grown into it," he mentioned, chuckling slightly as the pink tint returned to her face.
Gripping the pillow behind her, she gave him a narrow gaze. "Get outta here!" With perfect aiming, the pillow knocked the champion directly in the head as he ran out with Pikachu clinging tightly to his shoulder.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"Come on out Alakazam!" Ash released the psychic type next to the large tree, under which he and Misty planned to enjoy their meal.
Taking a knee beside the formidable Pokémon, Ash handed him a bologna sandwich before making his request. "Me and Misty really wanna have a private picnic with no one knowing we're here. Do you think you can-"
"Zam!" responded the Pokémon with a nod before disappearing.
"Ah!" The trainer fell backward from fright. That Alakazam always freaked him out a little with how it could read his thoughts before he could speak them. That was part of the reason he was reluctant to use him in battle.
Misty giggled as Ash crawled back over to her. The gentle breeze and the cover provided by the thick foliage made this the perfect spot for their picnic.
"You really think Alakazam can keep people from walking through here? What's he gonna do? Blast them with a Psybeam?"
Ash snorted. "No, I think I'd get in trouble for that. He's just going to use Teleport without them noticing so they'll walk straight by here without seeing us."
"I don't think he'll need to do that much…this place seems really far away." Indeed, it had taken over thirty minutes of walking through the thick forest of Route 119 to find a spot Ash deemed "good enough". However, Misty had been reluctant to disagree with the long trek considering her same desire to avoid the public eye during their outing.
"Of course, all that walking might not have been necessary. Have you noticed how the media's stopped following us everywhere?" she asked, pulling out a sandwich and handing it to Ash. He eagerly opened the baggie and started chewing away.
"Yeah, it's been pretty quiet. I think people are distracted with Sabrina and Koga getting married."
Misty laughed. "I wonder how he proposed? Maybe he used Stun Spore and put the ring on when she couldn't move."
Ash laughed a little too. "Actually, Sabrina seems more dangerous than Koga."
Misty shivered a little, remembering both their near-death experiences with the gym leaders. "Well, we were almost killed going to both their gyms, so I guess it's a good match." She began chewing, but realized something which made her groan.
"What is it?" Ash looked over at her.
She swallowed. "I just realized. Koga's like fifty, isn't he? Seems a little old to be marrying a twenty-five year old woman if you ask me."
Shrugging, Ash thought over the statement. "Well, I guess if they're really in love or something. I think it's kinda weird too, though…maybe it's because they're both gym leaders or something."
"I don't think that just because you're a gym leader, you automatically wanna marry another leader," she noted. "I mean, I never thought about dating Lieutenant Surge, and all the other girl leaders thought that he was sexy."
Ash almost coughed as he began laughing. "Th-they thought he was sexy? He was gigantic! I thought he was more scary than anything else!"
Misty laughed along and nodded. "Same here. Erika told me at a conference when I was about fifteen that she had been dying waiting for him to ask her out though. Apparently those huge muscles really got to her."
Ash chuckled again at the thought of the rather timid and kind gym leader dating the heavy metal-loving, workoutaholic electric gym leader.
After their small discourse, for a few minutes at least, the two simply sat and ate their sandwiches as the leaves swayed in time with the breeze. The sound of their Pokémon playing and eating filled the forest with enough noise to leave them content. However, as the last of the lunch-time foods were mowed through, their discussion picked back up.
"So we leave Hoenn in a week, right?"
"Yeah," Ash replied with a nod. "Now I kinda wish I'd bought the plane tickets for a few days early since we're so far ahead. We could already be there."
She smiled and grabbed his gloved hand. "Yeah, but I'm kinda happy just being here with you today."
The action instantly gave Ash reason to grin. "Now that you mention it, I like this too. We deserve a few days off after all we've been doing."
"We ought to come back to this spot tomorrow. It's so peaceful here." Misty took the sunhat off her head and leaned back against the smooth bark.
"It really is," he agreed, not taking his eyes off the young woman. She seemed almost asleep as she slowly inhaled and released the late-summer air. The striking beauty of the scene forced him, almost against his will, to lean in and tenderly peck her soft cheek.
Opening her left eye, she smiled for what felt like the thousandth time that day. "Is that it?"
"Huh?"
Before he could continue, she grabbed him by the back of the head and drew him in quickly for a long, drawn out kiss. The teen boy didn't think to resist, but instead inched himself closer so he could comfortably cradle the back of her head within his grasp, feeling her silky red hair and tasting the cherry flavored lip gloss as his tongue began to dance around hers.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"I'll see you in a little while," Ash assured as they approached his room. "I'm gonna go lay down and rest after all that walking and eating."
Misty nodded. "Good idea. I'll go rest up too and then maybe we could do something."
"Like a movie?"
"Sounds good!" She pecked him on the cheek before merrily walking to her room. Today had been so great, and it wasn't even five yet. Having the day to themselves seemed like the perfect gift after so many months of hard work.
Humming to herself as she unlocked her door, she was slightly surprised to find the light atop her cell phone blinking. Picking it up, she tapped the screen and saw that her sisters had called while she'd been out.
"What could they want?"
Quickly pressing the "reply" button, she held the thin phone to her ear. After two rings, Daisy picked up.
"Like, hello?"
"Daisy, is that you? It's Misty."
"Hey Misty!" cried Daisy happily. "It feels like forever since we last talked! I have some big news for you!"
Misty furrowed her brow. She couldn't think of anything that would prompt a surprise call from her sisters. "What is it?"
"Well, I was, like, checking the mail this morning, and I saw you had a letter from some college or something? I didn't know you were even applying!"
"From Vermillion University?" Her heart began pounding. "What did it say? Am I in?"
"Well, actually, there were, like, two letters from there. One says 'admission'. You want me to open that one first?"
"Yeah! Hurry!" The phone began to tremble in her hand as she awaited her sister's response. She could hear the envelope tearing over the phone.
"Oh man!" moaned her sister.
"What?" Misty screamed, panicking.
"I, like, broke a nail! I just got these done yesterday!"
For an instant, Misty wished she was there in person to slap her sister. "Forget about the nail! Tell me what the letter says!"
"Geez, okay, okay. Hold on." The sound of paper unfolding followed the statement, and Misty heard Daisy quickly murmuring through the first few sentences. "Like, looks like you're in, little sis! It says 'congratulations' on it!"
Pumping her fist in the air, Misty began to celebrate. "Yes! I can't believe I got in!"
"Well, I'm not really surprised. You always got, like, much better grades than I did, even when you were on your journeys…and I was actually going to school!"
After a second, Misty quit her celebration, remembering what Daisy had said earlier. "Wait, didn't you say that there were two letters? What was in the other one?"
"Oh yeah. I totally forgot about that one!" The sound of more paper ripping came across the receiver before the blond continued. "'Ms. Waterflower, in light of your recent acceptance to our institution of higher learning, we have promptly evaluated your request for a Pokémon Battling Team scholarship. As you are most certainly aware, our school takes great pride in the Battling Program, and our recent national championships have only propelled that pride. However, along with the spike of interest in our team, has come a spike in expectation. Unfortunately, your gym, which we discovered after running your name through the system, has appeared to be of too low a tier to apply to our recent 'Gym Leader Initiative (GLI)' program through which gym leaders are automatically accepted onto the team with full scholarships. Despite your failure to meet these requirements, you are still a candidate for one of our twenty open slot scholarships which are open for the public to compete for. The fall competition which determines who wins one of the current ten scholarships takes place the third week of the September before expected entry into our program. Because you applied for next fall semester, we advise you participate in the fall competition as insurance in the unfortunate case you do not currently meet our standards. This will still allow you the chance to partake in the spring application competition and still give you a chance for the full scholarship before school starts. If you decide to attend the September competition, please look on our website for further detail of dates and location. Thank you for your expressed interest in our program and we hope to hear from you soon. Respectfully, Sydney Jenkins'…uh, what'd that, like, mean? Were you applying for some scholarship thing?"
Misty blinked, trying to process everything that had been read to her. She wished she could have received the letter herself. Why didn't they just send a virtual message like everyone else? "Uh, yeah," she finally answered, recognizing the question. "I'd applied for a battling team scholarship. I didn't even know they had a special program for gym leaders, though."
"Well, I guess that's, like, a good thing, since you're apparently not good enough for it," her sister noted matter-of-factly. "It says so right here."
The redhead's cheeks darkened at the words. "Excuse me? The gym was one of the highest-rated when I was in charge. It's obviously dropped since I left you three to take care of it, though. That's the only reason they think I'm not good enough for that program."
"Well we've been getting better. I'm winning a lot more battles than Violet or Lily, at least."
You're obviously not winning enough, Misty mentally retorted. Though she hadn't known of the GLI, she was quickly coming to grips with how much easier it would have made her life if it had been applied to her situation. Now I'm gonna have to go all the way to Vermillion City in two…weeks.
"Uh-oh."
"Like, what? You realized how mean you were being?"
"Um, no," Misty answered instinctively. She had just remembered something significantly more important than her current conversation. "I-I've gotta go Dais. I'll talk to you later."
The conversation was cut as she turned off her cell. Daisy just shrugged as she hung back up the phone. "What a weird woman."
Meanwhile, Misty ran to the small desk provided her in her room. She flipped her laptop open and headed directly for the website of the Vermillion University Battle Team. After a few moments of scrolling, she groaned in aggravation.
"Of course!"
Why, of all the dates in the entire year, she wondered, did the competition have to take place the same week as Ash's speech?
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"You ready to go out Mist?"
Feeling as deflated as an old balloon, she opened the door for her boyfriend. Her uneasiness instantly revealed itself the second he saw her face.
"Is something wrong?"
She looked up in surprise. He was beginning to scare her with how quickly he could read her emotions now. "Um, no. I'm ready to go. You wanted to do a movie, right?" She did her best to put on a smile, but her tone was still flat and Ash leered at her.
"What's going on? Do you not wanna go out?"
"Of course not."
"'Cause, we could stay in, you know. Pikachu's with Nurse Joy, so we could just hang out here and talk or something." The worry in his tone caused Misty's heart to sink. She'd planned on keeping this a secret, but that was already ruled out as an impossible task. Ash just cared too much to leave this alone, and for an instant that thought caused her to really smile.
"Well, I wanna go, but there's something we need to talk about first. Is it okay if we miss the first few minutes?"
"Sure!" he replied enthusiastically as he made his way into her room. "I didn't feel like watching the previews anyway."
Taking a seat on her bed, he bid her to do the same. "So why do you seem sad all of a sudden?"
Taking a deep breath, Misty grabbed his hand and explained the phone call with her sister. First she explained the acceptance letter, which was met with a flurry of confusion. The first question which came to his mind, though, was why he hadn't heard she'd even applied.
"When was this even going on?"
"When we were still with May and Drew."
"That was three months ago!" he exclaimed. "Did they know you were applying?"
"Only May, and that's only because she caught me working on my essay. I didn't want anyone to know I was doing this, which is why Daisy didn't understand when the letter came in the mail." She was a little concerned by the hurt tone in her boyfriend's voice.
"Why wouldn't you have told me you were making such a big step? I haven't even started my application yet, but you were here sending off letters to colleges. Why didn't you want me to find out?"
She bit her lip for a moment. She hated to admit to the truth, but it was clear nothing less would calm his nerves, and she knew he deserved it. "To tell the truth, I was afraid of letting everyone down."
"Letting us down? About what?"
"If I didn't get accepted, then everyone would just feel sorry for me." Her mood darkened. "And if there's one thing I hate, it's feeling pathetic."
Slowly, Ash removed his hand from her grasp and put it around her shoulders, pulling her closer. "But Mist, if you're doing something big like this, I should know. You know about me trying to become a Master. I didn't just hide my plans because I was afraid of what would happen if I failed. You need to tell the people who like you, so they can cheer you on and help you out, you know? Even if you hadn't gotten in, I woulda been here to make you feel better…not pathetic."
She smiled sheepishly in return. "I know. I wanted to tell you several times, but we just got so busy, and after a while it almost looked like I was never going to get an answer, so I decided against it. You're right though, I know about your big dreams, so I should let you know about mine too."
"So is that the big news then? I'd think you'd be happy about this."
Swallowing hard, she continued. "Well, that brings me to the second part. I also applied for the Vermillion University Pokémon Battling Team."
"You did?" He sounded excited at the prospect. "That's so cool! Ma says I can't join because I'm a Champion, but I grew up watching them battle! Did they accept you?"
"Um, not exactly."
Ash looked puzzled, and this prompted a longer response.
"You see, I applied and wrote down my main team along with all of the competition's I'd won, and, of course, that I was a gym leader. They wrote me back and said that the Cerulean Gym wasn't powerful enough for me to earn some scholarship they automatically hand out to gym leaders who agree to go, but that actually didn't bother me because I didn't know about it in the first place. Then they told me that I would need to actually compete in a battle interview thing they do in a few weeks where they decide who gets one of twenty scholarships they hand out every year."
"That's so cool!" Ash cried. "I've heard about those too! Maybe it's a good thing you didn't win that gym leader thing, since now I can go with you and watch you blast away all of the competition!" He gave her a confident look, and she hated that she had to keep going.
"Actually, Ash, you can't come with me to the one in September."
The perplexed look returned. "Why not?"
"It's in a couple of weeks…just like your speech."
For a moment, Ash was quiet. "Oh. I didn't think about that."
Misty lifted her head and looked up at him. "But don't worry, I already decided that I'm not going. I have to be here with you to help you get ready for your big speech!"
"You're not going? Then how are you gonna get the scholarship?"
"It's alright! There's another competition in April, and I can try out then!" She mirrored his previous confident smile. "There's no way I could lose, right? I actually wasn't even going to tell you about this because I'd already decided to just go in April."
Her boyfriend, despite her exuberance, still seemed concerned, though. "But this still doesn't explain why you weren't happy when you opened the door. If you were accepted, and can try out in April, then why did you seem sad?"
For a second Misty tried to come up with a plausible lie, but ultimately figured it would be tactfully ignorant to do so given her boyfriend's almost bizarre ability to seemingly read her mind.
"Well…the letter from the coach said that it would be a better idea for me to come to this one, because they only hand out ten per competition, so if I didn't win the first time, I could come back. If I just go in April that only gives me one shot."
"I see…" Ash seemed to dwell on this a moment. "Why couldn't I just pay for you to go to college with me?"
"Huh?" It seemed irrelevant to their conversation.
"I mean, I've got more than enough for us both to go. You're already accepted, anyway, so why is this dumb scholarship such a big deal?"
Misty rolled her eyes and separated from her boyfriend. "Because."
"But why?"
She huffed. "Because I don't wanna be some just some girlfriend to a famous trainer. I might never be as strong as you are with Pokémon, but I wanna be my own person, Ash. If you pay for college, then it just looks like I'm your pet or something who wouldn't be able to make it without you."
"But that's not true!"
"Of course it's not," she replied simply. "I mean, I'm your coach, after all."
"Uh, what?"
"And I'm also the water Pokémon expert of our little team, but the rest of the world just sees me as your girlfriend right now, which I love being, but I don't want that to be the only thing I am. If I make it onto the team, I not only prove I can pay for college myself, but also that I'm a strong trainer. A lot of those college battles are on T.V. You said you watched them when you were younger, right? This is my chance to become a world-famous trainer too!"
Ash smiled, and for a minute the redhead thought the reaction was rather ambiguous. "Are you wanting to laugh at me?"
"No! I'm just thinking that you haven't changed much. I forgot how independent you were when we were kids. It makes sense that you'd be afraid of people thinking you weren't."
"I guess that's kinda true…"
"Well anyway, I think that if it's really this important for you to get this scholarship, then you should go ahead and miss my speech." Ash stated it so matter-of-factly, with no sadness or depression, that it took Misty a second to even register what he'd decided.
A concerned look crossed her face. "But what about my help? I'm the one who did most of the research and listened to and edited your speech as you worked on it. You might need me!"
"I'll definitely need you, Misty, but you need this opportunity more." He gave her a smirk. "Besides, maybe it's time I show people that I'm not just the boyfriend of some water gym leader. How will people ever take me seriously if you're always there?"
"Very funny," she replied sarcastically. "You'll be sorry when you're in front of everyone and forget what to say."
"That's what I wrote it down for."
She snorted. "It only helps to write it down if your handwriting is legible."
"You can read my handwriting! It's actually pretty good!"
"For what? A second grader?" She raised her eyebrow. "Face it. Without me, you're in big trouble!"
He laughed, causing her to cave in as well. "I guess we'll find out who needs who more in a couple of weeks, huh?"
Nodding, she agreed. "If I needed you more, I'll owe you ten dollars for being wrong." Laughing again, Ash shook her hand on the bet.
"So do you still wanna catch that movie? It's getting dark, so I don't think we'll have to worry about people bothering us too much."
"Sounds good," she agreed, standing. Grabbing him by the hand, the redhead strode out confidently, suddenly sure that they could both handle their respective upcoming challenges.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"Sir, the two agents you requested are here," announced a young male voice over Giovanni's intercom.
"Very well. Send them in." He scratched the top of his Persian's head as he awaited the two to enter.
Presumably with that annoying talking Meowth of theirs.
Several seconds later, Jessie, James, and Meowth all fell through the door awkwardly, apparently having been fighting over who should enter first.
"I told ya that I shoulda been the first to stride in!" Meowth bellowed.
"And I said that I command the most respect, so I should," Jessie retorted heatedly.
"I just didn't want to get trampled on…ow," remarked James, rubbing his head.
However, all bickering came to an instant end when Giovanni cleared his throat. "Are you three done arguing like idiots?" he hissed, forcing all three to gulp in unison. It was rare for them to see their leader, and the last thing they needed was to appear foolish in front of him when they did.
"No sir!" all three replied, standing and giving a salute.
"Uh, we mean 'yes' sir," Jessie mentioned after a second of thought.
"Well then, let's get down to why you're here." He motioned for them to take a seat in one of the three leather chairs placed before his desk. "This is going to take a while," he explained.
Nervously, the three sat. They'd never been offered a chance to sit down with their boss before. He obviously had something on his mind.
"You three, though completely incompetent, have proven worthy in at least one aspect. You managed to capture quite a lot of face time with the current Sinnoh Champion, Ash Ketchum, correct?"
"You mean da twerp?"
"Yes. This young man." A television behind the mastermind flickered on and revealed a picture of the advanced trainer. "If I'm not mistaken, it was you three I demoted after he became the champion after you failed, after all the years of chasing him, to actually acquire one of his powerful Pokémon."
Sadly, they nodded in agreement.
"That was definitely us," James affirmed.
"I guess today is your lucky day, then," he announced, causing the three to look up again. "Because I have decided that I need you for an important mission regarding this young man."
Jessie leaned forward in rapt attention. "What is it, sir?"
James and Meowth followed suit, their eyes wide at the prospect of making their boss proud once again. "Yes, what do you need us to do? Capture that Pikachu?"
He shook his head. "No. You provided plenty of photographic evidence proving that you're incapable of such an act. However, the job I have for you is more important than any you did while chasing him around the four western regions."
He turned and pushed another button on the remote, causing the picture of Ash to disappear and be replaced with a picture of Paul.
"This, as you may know after your travels with Mr. Ketchum, is Paul Ikari. We relied heavily on him six months ago in the Sinnoh Championship match against Ketchum. The plan was to use Paul as a puppet. He was a talented trainer on his own, and with our vast resources we equipped him with the best Pokémon money could buy. If everything had gone according to plan, he would have become Sinnoh Champion and then Pokémon Master…unfortunately, that was not the case."
"Wait," James interrupted. "You mean the match between the twerp and the purple-hair twerp had been fixed? Is that why he had an Entei?" Indeed, the trio had been confounded throughout the battle as to how Paul had managed to capture so many new, powerful Pokémon within a year's time in order to battle Ash.
"That is correct," Giovanni confirmed. "And if I do say so myself, it was quite the ingenious plan, but was stopped by that nuisance of a trainer, Ketchum. Because he defeated Paul, any chance Team Rocket had of taking over the Pokémon League from the inside was destroyed for the time being, and now Mr. Ketchum is happily spending his days with his new girlfriend catching Pokémon." Another button push, and the cover of a recent magazine with the two holding hands and smiling broadly for the camera appeared.
"As if dat surprised anyone," Meowth whispered to Jessie.
"I did always think they looked good together," James noted.
A sharp glare from the boss quickly ended their short remarks. "It's too bad for Mr. Ketchum that this isn't a fairy tale world, where after winning he goes on to live happily ever after. He has to pay for the damage he's done to this organization."
Jessie frowned at her boss's words. "Um, sir, what are you talking about if you don't want us to steal his Pokémon?"
"Let me tell you a small story." Giovanni stood and turned around, gazing out at the lights of Celadon twinkling in the dusk. "When I was a boy, my father left this organization in ruins. For no reason beyond simply losing a Pokémon battle, he decided that he no longer wished for Team Rocket to exist, and thus left, supposedly disbanding our group forever."
The three gave each other small shrugs as they continued to listen, unsure of where this was going.
"A few years later, some smalltime thugs, such as yourselves, tried to bring about the resurrection of the organization. While noble, I suppose, what they didn't understand is what you don't understand now; Team Rocket is more than a syndicate. It's a monarch, meant to be passed down through the generations, and only those divinely appointed through birth can properly maintain and govern it. So, like any inappropriately run government, their attempt failed quickly."
"Whaddya think he's talkin' about?" Meowth whispered to James, who simply shrugged again in return.
"Maybe he just felt like sharing some family history?"
"Fortunately, like a mighty phoenix, my mother rose from the ashes of the once great Team Rocket and brought it back to its former glory. However, before she began rebuilding, she had one piece of unfinished business to take care of in place of my missing father…revenge. She had to exact so much revenge on the boy, now a man, who initially brought about our temporary end, that he would never think to interfere again."
"Yes sir, but-"
"Don't interrupt me!" barked the leader, turning on his heel and almost causing the three to jump out of their skin in fear. "Once more and my Sharpedo will have an after-dinner snack to enjoy."
The three nodded, and after a stiff moment, Giovanni turned back to look out the window. "Originally, the idea was to simply kill him. After all, it would make sense to simply do off with the person who committed such an atrocity. Despite this seemingly obvious solution, though, my mother was far too intelligent to think in such short terms. He had now become the Pokémon Master, and killing him would have only caused another to step into his role and try to take us down once again. No, Mother would never do something so foolish. Instead, she decided to scare him so that he would know that if he ever again stepped out of line, she would completely ruin him."
A few moments of silence ensued, and Jessie began to silently wonder if that had been the end of a very long, seemingly pointless rant. However, just as she was about to risk opening her mouth and asking, he started again.
"I'm sure you three dunderheads are wondering how you scare someone without ruining them. Well, it was quite simple, really…she killed his wife."
The three gasped in shock, and Giovanni turned and flashed them a malevolent smirk. "Why the wife? Because it was deep enough to tear him apart, but it was only one person. He had a mother and kids who he tried to keep secret, but we knew about. We warned him that night, as his wife lay on the ground bleeding, if he ever interfered again we would finish what we started. Never again did he mess with Team Rocket, nor did he leave that blasted mountain he trains in to this day."
Jessie couldn't contain herself anymore as the secrets swirled through her head. "You mean, your mother killed-"
"The wife of Pokémon Master Red, yes."
"B-but what does this have to do with m-my question?"
He smiled again, sparking fear in each heart. "We're going to see if the same model created by Mother will work in this situation as well." He gave them a knowing glance. "We're going to kill this one." Another picture appeared above his head.
"Misty Waterflower."
"B-b-but, why, uh, why us?" James managed to mutter.
"Because you're the perfect agents for the mission. You'll simply be there to lull her into a false sense of security. I know how often you failed to defeat her in battle, so she won't expect a struggle, and when her guard is down, we'll capture her."
"Wait, what?"
"I don't want to simply kill her. That wouldn't be enough." He gripped the shoulder of his chair with a vice-like strength. "I need to see Ketchum as he watches her die…just like I saw Red when he watched his wife perish. He needs to be punished, and I need to see it happen. So you three will only be needed in lowering her guard and helping to catch her."
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"I thought it was a pretty good movie, actually," Misty noted over her chocolate sundae.
Ash shook his head, taking another bite of his cone. "It was terrible! Why did everyone have to die like that? There's no way all four women could get cancer at the exact same time."
"But it had a sweet message!" she insisted.
"What? That if you have cancer, everything will be alright with enough love? I don't think she went to a doctor the entire movie!"
"I just think you're mad because there wasn't any violence or other stupid guy stuff that boys drool over for some reason. It was an intellectual film, which is why I was able to enjoy it and you didn't understand it."
"I think you just like it because it makes you feel smarter than me. If I'd liked it, you woulda hated it."
"I don't need the movie to feel smarter than you, Ash. I can just talk with you to do that."
He rolled his eyes. "Oh, ha, ha Misty. You're such a genius."
"Excuse me, but could I have your autograph?"
"Me too!"
Surprised, Ash looked up to find what appeared to be three ten or eleven year olds, all holding out badge cases in one hand and ice cream in the other.
"Uh, sure," he answered, taking a marker from his jeans pocket.
"Sorry to interrupt, but when we saw you were here, we had to get your autograph," explained one of the two blond girls of the group.
"Yeah," agreed the only boy, a redhead, as he handed the champion his case. "We've all just started our journeys from Mossdeep together, and we thought it's a good sign to see a Pokémon Champion this early in our travels."
Ash nodded as he signed the boy's and handed it back. He held his hand out for the other girl's. "Do you want me to sign yours too?"
"Um, actually," she bit her lip, appearing pensive, "I was wondering if Misty Waterflower wouldn't mind signing my case?"
She looked over to the redhead with admiration. "I know we have our own water gyms here in Hoenn, but I've been one of your biggest fans for years, Misty. Some people just started knowing about you because you're dating Ash Ketchum, of course, but my brother battled you back when we lived in Kanto years ago, and he said you were the prettiest and most difficult leader he'd ever faced…and you were his seventh gym badge!"
"Aw, really?" Misty was flattered and surprised. "That's so sweet! I'd be happy to sign your case." She took Ash's marker and scribbled her name across the top.
"I wanna be a water trainer just like you!" squeaked the blond excitedly as she received back her case. "I even started with a Mudkip, and I already caught a Feebas and a Magikarp…though I'm not really winning many battles."
Misty gave the smaller child a warm smile. "Don't give up! Those two seem like the weakest water Pokémon around, which is why most trainers give up on them quickly, but if you love them enough and raise them right they'll turn into some of the strongest and most loyal you'll ever have."
"I know." She smiled back. "I caught the Magikarp on purpose since Gyarados is your strongest, and I've always wanted a Milotic…I guess I just gotta wait."
"Keep up the good work! There aren't enough water trainers, in my opinion, so every one of us is important in making people realize how special and cool water Pokémon are."
The girl smiled confidently back. "I will! And maybe someday I'll go to Kanto and visit your gym!"
"I'd love to see you. Just make sure my sisters aren't there when you do."
The young girl smiled again and agreed before the three trainers ran out of the building exclaiming their excitement at meeting the powerful couple.
"You think they're staying in our Pokécenter?" Misty asked, scooping up more ice cream.
Ash shook his head. "If they are, I haven't seen them around, and they don't really seem very quiet. I guess they're camping out in the woods around here."
"Can you believe we were just like them once?" Misty asked, looking out the window and watching the kids continue to gesticulate wildly as they walked down the street. "Camping out-"
"We still do that."
"Yeah, but camping out because we were going to the next big city with another gym. Me and you would fight and Brock would cook and then we'd all sit around the campfire talking and eating and joking until we were too tired." For a moment, a glimmer of sadness glinted in Misty's eyes. "I mean, it's just not the same anymore."
Ash grew worried at the sound of her voice. "Are you talking about…us?"
"What?"
"Are you saying it's not the same between us anymore because…you know." He motioned to their hands which had rejoined each other on top of the table after the kids left.
Misty's eyes grew wide. "No, no! Nothing like that! I just meant that when we were travelling and kids it just seemed so innocent. We didn't really have a goal other than getting you to the next Pokémon League competition. Now, I mean, Jessie and James and Meowth aren't even following us anymore."
"I'm kinda happy about that. They always got in the way."
"Well, yeah, but don't you kinda miss having them around to 'blast off' every few days? Life was so simple and predictable back then. Now we're in the woods for weeks, but it's not fun. We're constantly looking for new Pokémon and worrying about your speech, or catching a certain Pokémon in time, or having a Pokémon evolve, or now getting scholarships and getting into college."
Ash reflected upon her words for a moment. "That's true. It was kinda nice not having all of this stress constantly. We never really worried about being anywhere on time, or about anything at all except having fun and going to the next gym." Thinking back, he suddenly realized how much he missed it. "You know what we should do?"
"What?"
"Before school starts, and after all of this is over, we should get all of our friends together for a big reunion! We could have it there in Pallet and just make it a big party!"
Misty's expression brightened at the suggestion. "That does sound like fun! And it would be even more fun because we wouldn't be worried about getting scholarships or battling the Pokémon Master, or anything like that."
"Nope. We could just relax and have a good time."
Misty squeezed his hand a little tighter. "You're the best." She gave him another luminescent smile, and he felt completely thrown by the compliment.
"Um, so-so are you."
He'd been given many nice compliments by his girlfriend over the past several months, but she'd never said something like that before…at least not without throwing in some kind of sarcastic remark to somewhat offset the seriousness of the moment.
A mischievous gleam suddenly sparkled in her eye. "You wanna go back to the Pokémon Center?" She lightly tapped her foot against his ankle, and her raised eyebrow gave him plenty of evidence as to her thoughts.
"Sure!" He grabbed his wallet and threw a hundred dollar bill on the table before practically dragging the redhead out the door with him. The look she gave him made him know he was in for a treat this evening.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Several hours later, Misty found herself suddenly awoken in a cold sweat by a dream…that dream. The same one which had permeated her peaceful sleeps for years, and the one which never seemed to diminish as the span of time widened. She'd hoped that, this many years later, at least some of the dread the memories brought up would have dissipated, but it had become painfully obvious that time, unfortunately, did not really heal all wounds.
She tried closing her eyes, but the second she did she heard the terrible, terrible noises, instantly causing her eyes to flutter open again.
Sitting up, she realized she was in for another long, sleepless night.
Unless…
Quickly throwing on a pair of pajama bottoms, she stepped out of her room and walked to Ash's. The Center was dark, and the dream caused an instant fear to blossom in her stomach. Hurriedly rapping upon the young champion's door, she called out for him to answer.
"Are you in there, Ash? Ash, are you there?"
After what felt like forever, she heard the trainer unlock and open the door. It was so dark, she could barely make out his features. Though he was clearly disoriented, she didn't care. She threw her arms around him, and in a muffled and tired voice he asked what was wrong.
"I-I had a…bad dream." She felt the tears begin to trickle down her cheeks, and felt instantly ashamed of how infantile her whining sounded.
"A bad dream?"
"Uh, yeah…" She wondered what could have possessed her to look to Ash for comfort. She'd dealt with these dream almost her whole life. There was no reason she couldn't handle this on her own. "Actually, I'm okay. I'm sorry for waking you up." She wiped the tears off her cheeks and let go of the champion. However, he took a hold of her arm and refused to let go.
"What was the dream about?" Even in the dark, she felt his concerned gaze upon her.
"I-it's nothing…I don't wanna talk about it, if it's okay."
He nodded. "That's fine, but why did you come here if you didn't wanna tell me about it?"
"I…I dunno. I'm sorry for bugging you." She again made to leave, but his grip simply tightened.
"You don't need to be sorry." The words hung in the air like an echo for a moment. However, after a second, he took a deep breath and continued. "Misty, um, would you like to spend the night in my bed?"
"W-what?"
"I mean, just so you don't have to feel alone or anything," he replied defensively. "You don't have to if you don't wanna."
For a moment, she silently mulled the thought over. Truthfully, though, the answer seemed obvious the second the question escaped his lips. "I'd like that."
Though neither could see the other, the smiles they presented were quite obvious. He took her by the hand and, carefully in the dark, led her to his small bed. He laid down, and then invited her to do the same.
Carefully, she slid beneath the sheets, the young champion behind her, and pulled the blankets over their forms. Unsure of what to do, he slowly draped his arm over her torso, and she showed her approval by inching closer backward to him.
The feeling of his warm breath upon the back of her neck felt like a drug that directly induced a feeling of security and drowsiness, and the feeling of her warm body next to his provided the same magic. However, as both drifted away again, Ash fought the urge and managed a few final words. Words that, for some reason, seemed incapable of waiting until the morning.
"I love you."
He didn't know if he'd said them loud enough, or if she was even awake to hear them, but for the moment he was just happy to hear himself admit it. As he lazily wafted back into sleep, he realized he could easily spend the rest of his life sleeping like this.
Author's Notes: A little whimsy, then a little serious romantic development, then a suicidal-depressing side story, and then a little more romance with an air of mystery. That was pretty much the equation for this chapter. I brought you up to speed (hopefully) on where Ash and Misty now are in their relationship, and I am introducing you to what will be, basically, the climactic apex of the Team Rocket sub-plot which has plagued and confused many of you throughout the long history of this fic. PLEASE, IF YOU LIKED OR HATED IT, TELL ME! I NEED TO KNOW SO I CAN IMPROVE AS IS NECESSARY!
It's almost two in the morning here, so I better go, but again I'd like to apologize for my tardiness, and ask that you please have some faith in me yet that I can return to a regular update schedule. Well, until next time, have a Merry Christmas! (Also, listen to the Pokémon Christmas Bash on iPod or YouTube depending on how cheap you are…they're some of the corniest songs ever, but they're AAML and they're awesome. Ha,ha)