Hey Everybody! Well, I'm sorry for the delay. I was sick, I was taking tests (still am), I was fighting Martians, I was dating supermodels, and I also was sleeping at certain points…and basically, all of this got in the way of my writing. Ha,ha. Actually, I was sick and had a lot of tests, but even worse I was plagued with terrible writer's block. However you should be happy to hear that I've already started the next chapter and it's coming along swimmingly, so we should have the next chapter up in the regular two weeks allotted. There's not a lot to say today, but before I let you go, I should say that I'm pretty sure I've responded to everyone's reviews now, and I will do the same for this chapter because I really do appreciate all of your feedback, so please let me know what you think!
Yep…that's it for up here. Please, read and REVIEW!
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
The lights seemed to get hotter as Ash continued plowing through question after question. Though he felt as if he'd successfully won over the majority of the audience, he knew he was still in trouble unless he was able to get enough votes to override a veto by David Cornell, who continued to eye him skeptically from the corner of the room.
"Can you really justify transferring funds away from possible stock index dividends under the guise of unfounded moralistic behavior?" Another tactic Ash had discovered over the last hour. In order to throw him off, those opposed seemed to increase their vocabulary exponentially in a ruse to confuse him.
Unfortunately, this tactic was becoming increasingly effective.
"Um…could you maybe say the question a little less…hard?" He blushed as the woman guffawed.
Man do I wish Misty were here.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Why couldn't Ash be here?
The redhead was sweating heavily beneath the late summer sun. She was now into her third battle, and she had four more before the day came to an end. For some reason, perhaps overconfidence she supposed, she'd assumed that the first few battles would be rather easy, but already she had barely scraped by her last two opponents.
"Starmie, give 'im another Water Gun!"
The star-shaped Pokémon spouted off another strong surge of water at the Butterfree, who quickly dodged. The water spray continued until it hit the Light Screen/Barrier combo shield produced by two Alakazam. Because there were so many trainers trying out, the very large battlefield had been split horizontally into six smaller fields, each field being surrounded by psychic walls so the battles wouldn't spill over into each other.
Effectively dodging the water attack, Butterfree began flapping its wings rapidly.
"Heeyah!" Starmie was thrown backward by the powerful gust.
"Now we've got 'em Licorice!" declared her opponent happily. He appeared to be her age, but she was thrown by how much experience he had under his belt.
Especially to use a Butterfree so well.
"Poison Powder attack!"
Licorice continued pounding its wings, but now a purple-hued dust scattered across the battlefield, enveloping her water and psychic type.
"Rapid Spin quick!"
"Hyah!" The starfish Pokémon rolled onto one leg and began spinning wildly, dispersing the violet spores.
"Alright!" She pumped her fist in the air. "Now finish it with a Surf attack!"
The three top "tips" of the Pokémon's head began spouting large quantities of water, creating a miniature tidal wave.
"Get up high!" yelled the opposing trainer. Unfortunately for his bug and flying type, the command came too late as the Butterfree's body was quickly covered and floored by the water attack.
"Free-free!" It struggled under the weight of its wet wings, and it was clearly unable to raise itself.
Groaning, the brunette trainer reached for his pokéball. "Don't bother Licorice…return." He held the capsule up and in a moment the butterfly Pokémon disappeared from view.
"Great job Starmie!" Misty congratulated, running out to her battling partner. "I might need you for the next battle. Do you think you're up for it?" She was startled when, in response, the crystal in the middle of her water and psychic type began to blink slowly.
"I guess that battle really wore you out, huh?" She sighed and reached for her pokéball. Because of the seven battles per day required by the coach, she was one Pokémon short, and thus far not one of the Pokémon she'd battled with seemed capable of handling another fight.
Corsola, Starmie, and Politoed are already out for the day! She had been scolding herself since the first battle for not coming better prepared. She had simply not expected the other contenders to be so skilled, and the fact that she didn't have much diversity in her team regarding type or species was definitely putting her at a disadvantage.
"Looks like I shouldn't have gone so soft on you."
"What?" She looked up to see the young man holding out his hand for her to shake. She stood and grasped it firmly.
"Well, I thought everyone was saving their best Pokémon for the end, so I was using Butterfree in this one because I didn't want to wear my better guys out. Looks like I made a mistake."
That was one of his weak Pokémon?
"Oh, well, thanks. Yeah, Starmie's not my strongest, but she's pretty tough, so don't feel too bad."
"I won't. This gives me more time to train for next spring. I plan on making it all the way next time." He shot her a confident glare. "Who knows? Next time we meet, it could be for practice."
She smiled in return. The determination in his voice reminded her instantly of Ash. "I hope so. If that Butterfree is one of your weak team members, I can't imagine what your stronger Pokémon are like."
"Well, I've traveled through Hoenn and Kanto, so my group's pretty diverse."
"Excuse me," called one of the referees through the Barrier/Light Screen shield currently held up by a duo of Alakazam. "Is this battle complete?"
"Yeah, she won," answered the young trainer, pointing to the redhead.
"Alakazam, take it down," directed the referee. Instantly the mixed blue and golden translucent shields were dropped by the psychic Pokémon.
Walking out, the two were instantly replaced by two new young women. Each was clutching an enlarged pokéball as the shields went back up.
"What was your name?" the blue-shirted official asked, glancing at a clipboard with a pen.
"Misty Waterflower," she answered. She was almost surprised that he didn't recognize her from the media, but realized that spending all day in the sun battling had probably left her unrecognizable.
He looked the list over, flipped through one page, and then widened his eyes. "Here you are. Alright Ms. Waterflower, you can return to the bleachers and await your next assignment."
She nodded and gratefully jogged over to the side bleachers. Unfortunately there was no free space on the titanium seats, but she was so tired from standing that she held no reservations about sitting on the dusty clay floor of the battlefield. Around her dozens of referees shouted out battling partners and battlefield numbers, and team managers walked around offering quick shots of water from squeeze bottles.
"Can I have a drink?"
The green-haired manager walking by smiled. "Sure," she replied. She handed down a plastic water bottle and Misty happily shot the cool stream of hydration into her mouth. After a few hearty gulps, she wiped her mouth with her forearm and smiled up at the girl.
"Thank you. I really needed that."
The manager laughed as she took back the bottle and placed it in her cart. "You look like it…actually, everyone does. Being out in the heat this long gets exhausting."
"Tell me about it." The girl walked off, and suddenly Misty felt someone poke her in the arm.
"Excuse me." A blond trainer with green eyes was trying to get her attention.
"Yeah?"
"I was just wanting to ask you something. I know this sounds kinda ridiculous, but you look like someone famous."
She smiled. "Yeah, I'm Misty Waterflower."
"Ash Ketchum's girlfriend?"
She nodded. "Yep, that's me." She wiped the sweat from her brow. "I'm surprised you could tell though. I bet I'm really red after all of this battling."
"Well, I just thought you looked familiar." He paused as one of the managers handed him a bottle. After he was finished he looked back at her. "Boy, I hope I don't get into a match against you."
She squinted."Why not?"
"Are you kidding? A battle against the Sinnoh Champion's girlfriend? Who stands a chance against those kinds of Pokémon?"
"Well, just because I'm dating a champion doesn't mean my Pokémon are any stronger than they ever were."
He laughed. "I don't mean your Pokémon. I mean the ones you borrowed from Ketchum."
Her eyebrows shot up. "Trust me, I didn't borrow any of his Pokémon for this tournament."
Now it was his turn to look shocked. "You didn't? Why not?"
"I don't wanna owe him for getting into this school!" she answered indignantly. "I'm a good enough trainer on my own."
He shook his head. "Okay, but I gotta tell you, if it were me, I'd have no problem asking for help. In fact, I probably wouldn't use a single one of my own Pokémon."
"Misty Waterflower will be battling against Elizabeth Anthony at battlefield four after the current battle is over," shouted one of the officials. "Please make your ways over to the fields now in preparation for your fourth battle."
"That's a shame," the blond remarked after the announcement.
"What is?" She gave him a quizzical look.
"I was hoping to battle the famous champion's girlfriend. Now that I know you're not using his Pokémon, I might stand a chance."
"I don't think so," she answered jokingly with a wink. "But who knows? If you make it through this next round, we might still battle it out."
"I hope so." He gave her a nod as she walked towards the fourth battlefield. She could see that the two guys currently occupying the field were in mid-fight, so she took the opportunity to sit down once again. She knew she was ruining the silver short training shorts she was issued for the day, but now she honestly couldn't care less.
As she sat, mindlessly watching an Aggron and Rhyperior battle it out, her mind began to wander to the conversation she'd just held.
Maybe I should've borrowed some of Ash's Pokémon. Though the entire point of acquiring this scholarship was to prove her independence, she was beginning to realize that her Pokémon hadn't been seriously trained in quite some time. Though she had no one to blame but herself, she knew that the battles she'd barely won today shouldn't have been challenging for her team at all.
Almost losing to a Butterfree?
Gyarados spent most of his time out of his pokéball eating or sleeping, and the same went for her other, less powerful, fighting creatures as well. The only battling practice they got was normally with weak wild Pokémon she was searching for with Ash, and those battles were rarely tests of her Pokémon's true strength.
She grimaced at her own arrogance. I'm as bad as Ash.
What hurt even more was the thought that she'd just sentenced her sisters to a couple of weeks of hellish training, saying they needed the practice, and now receiving a fairly clear wake-up call that she too probably needed the work.
She knew that, just like humans, Pokémon needed to constantly work their muscles to stay in fighting condition, but she'd somehow managed to ignore this obvious rule the past few months. Ash even went out and trained almost every day after spending the mornings and afternoons looking for new species. He'd go out with at least one new Pokémon he'd captured to build trust and strength, and ninety percent of the time she'd decide to stay in and relax after a long day.
Though she often chastised Ash for his behavior, it was beginning to seem as if his child-like energy was something to be admired.
"Hi, I'm Elli." A short girl with brown hair stood above her, breaking her trance.
"Oh, hi. I'm Misty."
The girl smiled sweetly. "You know, I probably see your face a thousand times a week on the internet and in stores. It's so cool to meet you in person!"
Despite the already prominent redness on her cheeks, Misty blushed a little still. "Well thank you."
"It looks like we're almost up." She pointed to the battlefield, where Aggron was on his knees.
"Finish it with a Hammer Arm, buddy!"
His fist glowing, the rock and ground type brought down his arm with all his strength, pummeling the steel and rock Pokémon into the ground with a quake that Misty felt even outside the psychic barrier of the Alakazam.
"Looks like it," she agreed, standing up. Her legs felt weak and sore, but she was happy to see that the sun had finally set beneath the large stadium, meaning the giant fireball would no longer be gazing down upon her directly.
Once each trainer had taken their place, the reflective walls resurfaced, and the brunette gripped a pokéball.
"I was saving this one for the end, but I don't think I wanna go easy against a gym leader," she announced across the field.
Misty felt a little nervous at the announcement, but she quickly shook her head, dispelling the quelling uneasiness about her own Pokémon's abilities. "Smart move!" she half-joked in response.
"Let's go Dragonite!" In a flash, the large orange flying and dragon type appeared on the field. Stretching his arms, he let out a low bellow into the sky, and Misty had a brief flashback to Ash's Charizard. Lowering his gaze, the rare Pokémon stared intently at the water trainer, as if daring her to release an opponent.
Gulping quietly, she steeled her resolve and reached for Gyarados' pokéball. Though she too had been saving her strongest for the end, she knew he was the only one who could stand a chance against the pseudo-legendary creature.
"Pretty nice Pokémon," she complimented, trying to sound cool as she enlarged the capsule. "But check out mine!"
The red and white orb turned over mid-air a few times before popping open and suddenly revealing her trusted companion.
With a roar of his own, Gyarados looked down on Dragonite with wide eyes and jaw open. Unfortunately for the water and flying type, his Intimidate ability seemed to have no effect as the dragon simply huffed a flume of smoke through his nostrils and widened his wings in preparation for the fight.
"Nice! I've heard about your Gyarados! This should be a fun battle." Elli folded her arms. "So you want the first move or should I?"
"You can," Misty answered, disliking the idea, but wanting to appear calm all the same.
Taking a deep breath, the young trainer unfolded her arms and pointed at Misty's Pokémon. "Dragon Rush!"
Dragonite's wingspan expanded to a full eight feet as a light blue fire seemed to surround his body.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"Earlier you mentioned that the gym leaders can't be productive with damaged gyms. Why couldn't a simple small wage increase solve these problems?" asked a middle-aged balding man in glasses, holding the microphone. "If we create a special fund to only help repair gyms then we're basically telling the gym leaders to let all Hell run loose and not to worry about it."
"An increase in their wages won't help unless it's very large," Ash answered, relieved to finally have a question he fully understood again. He and Misty had practiced for this because Cynthia had warned about it several weeks before. "If leaders can't get by with their current salary, a slight increase won't do anything. And like I said earlier, the gym leaders respect Pokémon League property. Do you think they would simply destroy their gyms just because they could?"
The man shook his head. "Of course not, but I do believe that there's something to be said for subconscious thinking. If they know they'll have to pay for every repair, then they may be a little more careful in battle."
"That's not good for the Sinnoh Pokémon League reputation though," Ash reminded. "A study done after Kanto implemented this plan showed that after the Pokémon League began paying for repairs, gyms won seven percent more battles on average. What you're saying may be true, but being more careful actually makes our leaders less respected worldwide."
"Hm…"
"Also, the same study done by the Cerulean Institute showed that gym repairs only increased by two percent annually after the law was signed in. This means the gyms weren't taking much more damage than before, and the leaders did a lot better without having to worry about paying themselves."
The man gave the microphone back to an assistant walking up and down the aisles for the workers to voice their questions.
"I think that Champion Ketchum needs a break." The voice interrupting the murmurs after the answer belonged to none other than Cornell. He took the stage and lifted his wrist in the air, revealing a golden watch. "He's been up here for over two hours. Let's take a small break and then we can wrap this up and go on to the vote."
The hushed whispers suddenly exploded into general discussion at the announcement, and the President grabbed the Champion by the shoulder. "Come with me. We need to discuss something."
The two walked off stage, and through a wooden door Ash hadn't noticed off to the right. Inside was a small office which stood in stark contrast to the theater-like setting right outside its door. The carpeting was plush and maroon in color, and there was a grand wooden desk with a lone fountain pen atop it.
"Wow," Ash remarked, taking in the ten by twelve office in wonder. For such a small room, it was certainly well-equipped for comfort.
"Yes, when the League bought this floor of the building, we had this room installed for signing new propositions into law within the organization." He reached behind the desk and opened an unseen drawer. Pulling out a few sheets of paper, he placed it on top next to the pen. "This is your proposal, and this is the pen that has signed in laws for the last thirty years within the Sinnoh League."
"Um, that's nice," he noted, a little confused. "So are you saying you'll pass my bill?"
"No, Ash. We can't have this law signed in."
Ash frowned. He was tired of this pointless arguing, especially after having just spent the last two hours on stage taking questions. "Why are you so against this? The gym leaders work just as hard as anyone to make the Sinnoh League the best in the world!"
"I know, I know. We've all heard it out there." He rolled his eyes, as if aggravated that the Sinnoh Champion continued to bring up the welfare of his workers. "But there's more at stake here than what they know about out there. You see, the Sinnoh League looks like it's about to be bought out."
"What?"
"The Sinnoh League, along with the other regional leagues, is currently under the ownership of President Goodshow. However, recently there's been talk that a company is going to buy out the Sinnoh League from Goodshow in exchange for quite a lot of money."
Ash shook his head. "What does this have to do with why you don't want this law to be passed?"
"Listen…" David sighed and looked down. "The truth is that before I didn't want this law to be passed because I really don't trust the leaders. I know that's mean, and I know I can never say that to anyone outside of this office, but the truth is that there just isn't a lot of love between us in the corporate sector and you in the battling sector of the Sinnoh League, and it would not surprise me if the leaders simply destroyed their gyms on purpose as payback for all the fighting we've done in the past."
"Don't you see, though? This fighting won't stop until you start helping each other out!"
"I know. Honestly, if this company wasn't trying to buy our league right now, I wouldn't think of vetoing your measure…if for no other reason, then at least because you seem to have a large number of my voters out there on your side and I don't want to give up this office."
Ash frowned at the statement. It didn't sound like he'd gotten through yet to the President.
Ignoring the dark look from his counterpart, David Cornell continued. "But I received a message a couple of days ago from the corporation, and they said that any new rules passed before the deal is finalized would result in them dropping the agreement altogether."
"Why would they do that?"
David shook his head. "I guess they're afraid that we'll be spending too much. The message specifically said to keep all funds in place until the transaction was complete."
"What company is trying to buy us out, anyway?"
"I actually haven't heard much about it. It's called Goodwill Management."
The name took less than a second to register in Ash's brain.
"What?"
Frightened a little by the overreaction, David repeated what he said. "Why are you so freaked out?"
"I-I know who owns that company," he muttered, double-checking his memory to insure he was thinking correctly.
"Well so do I. I mean, it's there on the website. I believe his name is like Leonard, or Leo, or something."
Ash shook his head. "No. I mean, I know the real story behind that company."
"Real story?" The President eyed him skeptically. "What're you talking about?"
"That company's owned by Team Rocket!" He vividly remembered the corporation's black and white logo on Giovanni's screen as he explained his plot to Ash.
David laughed lightly at the answer. "Team Rocket? You mean the Pokémon thief organization? What are they doing owning an International Investment firm?"
"They're just using that as a cover-up. When Giovanni tried to get me to join him and the Rockets to help take over the League-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Interrupted the older man. "I'm sorry? What are you talking about Giovanni for? How did you ever meet?"
Ash blinked a couple of times, slowly realizing that David was obviously kept blissfully unaware of the goings-on of the Pokémon League Champions and the Pokémon G-Men. He'd always thought everyone high in the League knew about Team Rocket and their plans, but apparently not.
"Um, well a long time ago I was kidnapped by Giovanni and he tried to get me to join Team Rocket."
He folded his arms and shook his head. "I-I don't understand what you're talking about at all. You're saying that Giovanni, the world's largest mob boss, kidnapped you?"
"Yeah, right before me and Paul battled for the Championship. He told me that they could give me all the Pokémon I needed to become a Master, and then I could make him the President of the League."
"Is this some kind of joke or something?" David began to smile nervously, as if trying to play the entire speech off as a prank. "I mean, you're not serious about this, are you? You couldn't be."
The trainer looked him directly in the eye. "I'm being completely serious. As you know, the Master can make whoever they want the President of all the Leagues, and he wanted to take it over so he could move money into that company because he owned it."
"So…" The man rubbed his temples furiously while covering his eyes. The news seemed to be more than a little shocking. "So he was trying to steal the League's money?"
"Yeah, but it went deeper than that. He started talking about making an army of super-strong Pokémon. Mewtwo."
"Mewtwo? There's only one of those in existence and…and we've taken care of it. He can't seriously be considering doing something stupid like that again. His dad almost single-handedly destroyed the world the last time."
Ash paused for a moment, trying to understand. He remembered the Mewtwo he met in Johto that was almost destroyed by Giovanni. Was that the same one David was talking about? It didn't seem to match his description of being "taken care of". Shaking his head, he pressed on.
"Well, he said he's trying to master the process his dad made. Something about a Berserk Gene or something, and he said that the process to fix it costs a lot of money, which is why he wanted to take over the League. That's the same company that's trying to buy the Sinnoh League right now."
For a moment, David continued rubbing his head, appearing lost in deep thought. Finally though, he spoke in a whisper. "Do you have any proof that this is true?"
"The Pokémon G-Men have been fighting Giovanni for a while, and they were the ones I told first about Giovanni after this happened. I was actually trained by Cynthia, Steven, and a few other League members before my battle so I wouldn't lose."
"I can't believe this…"
"I know. It's a lot to hear all at once, but-"
"No," David interrupted, holding up a hand. "I mean, I can't believe I haven't heard about this until now! So you're telling me that the champions all knew about this, and yet no one thought to inform the Presidents of what was going on?"
"Well, they said we didn't have enough proof to convince others."
"So you don't have any proof that Team Rocket actually does own this company then?" His anger seemed to take a backseat to curiosity.
"Not much. I mean, I was bruised a little after they took me, but they brought me back to my room before anyone knew I was missing and I never heard from them again after I beat Paul."
"You mean Ikari? The guy who battled you for the Championship?"
"Yeah."
"Did he know about this?"
Ash nodded. "That's where he got those powerful Pokémon from…like that Entei, for example. They were trying to make him the Champion so he could run for the Master title."
For what seemed like the thousandth time within that short conversation, David seemed almost too stunned to speak. "I need to know more about this, but if what you're saying is true, then we need to let Mr. Goodshow know immediately. He can't be left out of the loop like this if he's considering selling our League to this company." He suddenly walked around the desk and towards the door. "You wait here. You said Cynthia knew about this, right?"
Ash nodded, and he was gone.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"Dragonite, stop it with a Flamethrower!"
Misty's Hydro Pump and the fire attack collided in mid-air, once again cancelling each other out.
The redhead groaned in frustration. Her Gyarados was taking hit after hit, and barely getting in any of his own. The dragon Pokémon seemed almost impossibly strong.
"Now give him another Dragon Rush!"
The flying Pokémon covered itself in the blue orb and pushed off against the ground so hard that he was almost invisible to the naked eye as he rammed, once again, into the water and flying Pokémon's chest.
Letting out a cry of pain, Gyarados fell backward. Misty looked into his eyes and knew he didn't have much energy left, and she looked across the field and saw Dragonite, who had barely a scratch on him, land calmly back to his starting position on the field.
His breathing labored, Gyarados began to try lifting his head to right his own position, and as he struggled to get up, Misty saw Elli preparing to call out another attack.
Sighing, she shook her head. "Don't do it, Elli! I forfeit!" Stepping onto the field she rushed out to her large Pokémon. He gave her a sorrowful and painful look. "You did your best Gyarados. This was my fault. Return."
She looked across and saw that the orange dragon was no longer there either. Instead, the brunette was on the field coming towards her.
She always hated this part. No matter how much older she got, having to walk across the battlefield after giving it your all was always a lesson in humility; a lesson she couldn't care less about. Even worse in this case, she realized, was the fact that despite giving it her all, she came nowhere close to winning, and perhaps just as badly, she was now out of the running for the scholarship.
What will Ash think of me after this?
Still, when she got there, Elli held out her hand and Misty gave the young girl a smile, reciprocating the gesture. "You did great in that battle. It looks like I need some serious training if I want to win this in the spring."
"Thanks." To Misty's surprise, the girl seemed a little sheepish at receiving the compliment. "I mean, I really appreciate it. I'm…I'm sorry it had to happen like this though."
"What are you talking about?"
The opposing trainer nervously put a strand of wavy hair behind her ear. "Well, you know, that I had to go so hard. I didn't-I mean, I know you're a strong trainer and all, and it just seems weird that I, well…"
"That you beat me so easy?"
"Well yeah. I mean, you have a reputation in Kanto, and it doesn't seem like this was a very hard battle, and I don't know if you were just trying to go easy on me or what, but I feel bad because I'm sure you really wanted this like I want it."
Though a little confused, Misty frowned. "I never go easy on an opponent. You beat my best Pokémon because you're so strong. The truth is that I haven't trained in quite a while, and I guess that's why Gyarados had such a hard time, but even if I'd trained for months before now, you're Dragonite is obviously really strong. You deserved the win, and you shouldn't feel bad. This is a competition, and we're all out to win it, just like in any other Pokémon tournament."
Elli smiled a little. "Yeah, I know it is, but it still feels bad. One guy I beat earlier actually cried."
"You just need to remember that they want to win just as bad as you. Don't worry about how they feel, just make sure you make it to the top." Despite the heaviness of her own heart, Misty tried to give the girl a look of reassurance. "If I have to lose, then I at least want the person who destroyed me to make it to the top so I have an excuse."
The brunette nodded and gave her own clearly-forced smile.
"I'll do my best," she answered as the walls fell around them.
A referee stepped up with another clipboard. Without looking up, he simply asked for the winner.
"Uh, me. Elizabeth Anthony?"
Scrolling through the names, he saw hers and marked it off. "Loser?"
Clenching her jaw at the title, though she knew it was well-deserved, Misty raised her hand.
"I need your name."
"Misty Waterflower," she responded, trying not to sound too bitter for the sake of her former opponent.
"Oh, here it is. Okay, Ms. Anthony you can take a seat back at the bleacher and we'll announce when it's time for your next battle, and Ms. Waterflower you can go through those doors-" he pointed to a pair of large steel doors at one end of the battlefield "-and shower. Please leave the training clothes in a basket by the exit on your way out."
"Thanks," she muttered, walking towards the doors. Closing her eyes, she tried to imagine how she would break the news that she didn't make it through her fourth battle in to her Pokémon Champion boyfriend.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"So you don't think we have a right to know?" screamed David. His face was red and he was breathing heavily, but he showed no signs of letting up on his verbal assault. "We're the ones who actually run this organization! We're the ones who sign your paycheck, but you don't think we should know that Team Rocket's trying to recreate Mewtwo?"
"Listen," Cynthia said, holding out her arms in a feeble attempt to calm the man down. "We didn't think it would help to tell you in the corporate side what was going on because there isn't enough proof, like Ash told you earlier. We know that this is happening, and that Giovanni is the mastermind behind this plan, but since there's no concrete evidence, we have to work within the system to stop them from taking over."
"How do you work within the system to stop a criminal syndicate from taking over?" he asked incredulously. "What we need is concrete evidence so we can turn them over to the police. If you have spies in Team Rocket, just get them to steal some documents or something."
"It's not that simple. Do you remember what happened when we tried to take down Team Rocket in court eleven years ago? They killed everyone who they thought were spies. Some weren't, but they got everyone we had planted, and since then it's been impossible to get our guys past the grunt level without putting them at full risk."
"Well we have to do something! If you're right, then we can't let this go on. I think we should go out there and tell the press."
"What would that do? We don't have any proof, and you'd instantly put all of our lives in danger for nothing. We need to work within the system."
He shook his head. "That's not gonna work. It doesn't make any sense."
"It worked when I beat Paul in the Championship," Ash noted, interrupting their dialogue. "I mean, we knew there was no way to stop the battle from happening, so we prepared for it the best we could. That's what we need to do now too."
"How can we stop it from happening now?" His voice was lowered, but he was still flushed from anger and confusion.
"By passing this law," Cynthia stated, pointing to the papers on the desk. "If you sign this into effect, then the deal is off, right?"
He shook his head. "I received specific instructions from President Goodshow himself to not pass anything without his express consent until the deal was completed."
"Then we'll need his consent. Let's just call him and explain what's happening," Ash said.
Cynthia seemed to consider the option for a moment. "I guess we don't have any other choice." She pressed an almost-invisible wood-stained button near the edge of the desk and a video monitor rose from the top of the table suddenly. "I'll explain this to him the best I can."
"Actually, I better do this," David volunteered, walking around the desk to face the monitor. "I'm still in shock myself, but it will probably make more sense for me to talk since I'm the one who needs to sign-off on it."
Ash and Cynthia nodded. "I guess we could go back out there. The break's gone on way longer than expected and I think they're getting anxious," Cynthia noted. "You up for taking more questions?"
"Yeah." He was about to pick up a sleeping Pikachu up from the plush carpeting. The Pokémon had been resting after remaining glued to his shoulder for over two hours, but Cynthia shook her head.
"Why don't you just leave him here? I think he needs a break from all the politics." She gave a small smile and Ash laughed a little, looking at the small mouse creature snoring lightly and mumbling his name.
"I think you're right."
The two walked back out and Ash took the stage.
"I'm sorry for the long delay, but there was some…business that we had to take care of and discuss. Are there any more questions for me about this bill?"
A dozen more hands shot up in the air, and Ash used all of his willpower to not groan directly into the podium's microphone.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Fully washed and re-dressed, Misty threw the shiny training clothes into a bin at the exit door and walked out the back and directly to her vehicle. Around her she saw a few other trainers, some with their parents, and they all seemed as somber as she did. The entire place was eerily quiet, and the only light now came from the fluorescent lighting of the street lamps.
Getting into her car, she turned the ignition and quickly backed out. Getting away from the lot, she sped down the highway towards her hotel for the night, complete silence ringing in her ears. Even her thoughts fell silent as she raced along. It felt as if this were almost a dream. Like she'd wake up any minute and find herself in bed the day before the actual tournament.
Pulling into the hotel garage, she parked and made a brisk pace towards her reserved room. Once inside, she shut the door, laid down, and stared at the ceiling for a few moments.
Then, she began to cry.
All the aggravation just seemed to unleash itself upon her fragile emotional state at once as she laid there. It all suddenly felt too real. She was supposed to be one of the best water trainers in the world, yet she couldn't pass the fourth battle? How could she have sent her sisters away to be trained when she was in this condition?
She suddenly felt a rush of feelings at once. Sadness, of course, at the loss, but also an array of other sentiments. She was embarrassed that she didn't last longer, she was ashamed at her arrogance for not thinking to train in preparation, and she was just angry; not at any particular person or thing, but just the world in general.
All of these emotions ran their course through her body, like a virus, and with every teardrop that cascaded down the sides of her face, she felt the pain grow more real. She couldn't remember the last time she'd cried after losing a battle, but it just seemed like so much had depended upon that loss. Now she was without a way to get into college, a way to make her name known, and most importantly, her pride.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"So we can set up a special board to monitor gym repair spending then?"
"Of course. It's actually already there in section six of the bill," Ash answered, pointing to his copy of the document. "Where it says that a commission can be appointed for overseeing expenditures."
"Excuse me." David suddenly emerged from the door, over an hour after Ash had retaken the stage. "I need to see Mr. Ketchum for a moment. Let's take one more break and then we can go ahead and bring this to a vote."
Again, a tidal wave of discussion followed the announcement of a break, and Ash walked back into the office. Pikachu was still resting near the desk, and the President was standing behind it.
"Well, I explained to Mr. Goodshow about what's happened and about what you and Cynthia explained to me…"
"And?" Ash asked anxiously.
"And he said that we need to pass this bill to discontinue the corporate takeover," he answered, looking down.
"That's great to hear!" Ash pumped his fist excitedly. "Now we're helping the gym leaders and we're stopping Team Rocket from taking over the Sinnoh League!"
Taking a deep breath, the President shook his head. "If I were you I wouldn't get too excited just yet. He also had quite a few concerns about you and the other champions keeping this information secret from us for so long…I've actually never seen him mad before, but he was pretty angry."
Cynthia suddenly walked through the door. "So what's the news?"
"He's said we can pass the bill," David answered.
"Yeah, but Mr. Cornell says he's mad at us for not telling him about this before now." Ash added.
Cynthia's eyebrows went up in surprise. "Really? I've never seen Goodshow mad before. What did he say to you?"
"He said he wants to speak with you two immediately at his office at Indigo Plateau, along with Steven and Lance." The Sinnoh League President looked at the two trainers with a serious gaze. "I'm not sure, but I think he's considering revoking your Champion statuses."
"What?" Ash cried, shocked. "What are you talking about? No one can just take away a Champion's status except for the Master, right?"
"Remember, the Master owns exactly half of the Pokémon League, and the President of the League owns the other half. Legally, they both have the same power. Of course, Cynthia doesn't need to worry about this, but you, Ash, should probably start preparing some kind of an apology."
"He can't do this!"
Cynthia placed a hand on Ash's shoulder in reassurance. "Don't worry, Ash. In the two hundred year history of the League, a President has never stripped a champion of their title. I doubt we'll start now. Besides, you weren't even aware that we didn't tell the corporate side about this." She looked at the President. "We made that decision a few years ago. It just seemed like telling your side had the risk of leaking information we had to the press. We don't need the syndicates knowing how much of their plans we understand and don't get."
"Well, whatever the reason, you'll need to appear in front of him tomorrow morning."
"Morning?" Ash looked at the clock on the wall. "It's already evening time."
"We've chartered a plane for you two." He pointed to the telephone monitor. "But before you leave, we need to bring this to a vote. It'll be close, since most of my assistants in the audience were told to vote against the measure no matter what, but I think you have enough leaders in the crowd to win, and I'll sign it."
With a much more sober attitude leaving than he had coming in, Ash took the stage one last time, with Cornell by his side.
"We will now begin the voting procedure."
"Finally!" shouted someone from the gym leaders' side. A few snickers arose from the response, but all fell silent as the President raised his hand.
"Now, under everyone's seat is a small voting device that has two buttons. Push the button that says 'yes' if you want to vote the measure proposed by Champion Ketchum into effect, and vote 'no' if you do not." He stood to the side and pushed the button on a small remote he had hidden in his pocket. Suddenly, the window behind the podium turned into a large screen with the words "yes" and "no" on it. "Your votes will be tallied up here, and we'll see if the measure passed voting procedure."
A few seconds passed, with hundreds of buttons being clicked, and then the President took the podium once again. "Alright, assuming everyone has voted we will now see if the measure has been passed or not." He pushed another button on the remote and numbers filled the screen. 103 appeared next to the "yes", and a 98 appeared next to the "no".
In reality, Ash was surprised that it was still so close, even with the President's assistants, but none the less he gave a small smile seeing that the majority had been won. Unfortunately for the leaders and the others in the audience unaware of the President's stance on the position, the vote meant little. Overriding a veto required three-fourths of the voters, and the numbers certainly didn't support that kind of overhaul, so the theater remained relatively quiet as everyone waited with bated breath to hear David's ruling on the matter.
"A couple of years ago," he began, "Cynthia, now the former Champion of SInnoh, came to us and proposed this same concept: the idea that gym leaders needed payment for gym repair. At the time, we mocked the concept. Such an idea had been unheard of up to that point, and the need for that plan seemed unnecessary. Now, however, we've seen this plan implemented in both Johto and Kanto where, as Champion Ketchum has shown, it has been met with resounding success. Gym leaders, as he's also pointed out, are a valuable part of this franchise, and without their constant devotion for their craft, the Pokémon League wouldn't exist as we know it. That is why I have decided that this bill should indeed be signed and made effective immediately at the beginning of the next business quarter."
"Woo-hoo!" Byron shouted immediately, holding up his sign with Ash's face painted upon it. Though it took a second for those around him, everyone who supported the bill soon began celebrating too. Seeing them all so happy also helped Ash, at least for the moment, forget about his own new problems and just feel glad to see he'd been able to do it. Pikachu ran out of the open office door and up the stage.
"It looks like we did it, buddy," he complimented. He shook the small Pokémon's paw, and laughed a little as the yellow mouse yawned in response. "I bet you're tired after all the help you were with this."
"Pika-pikachu," responded the Pokémon happily, climbing up his arm.
"You ready?" David approached the champion from behind.
Ash nodded, still smiling. "Let's go!"
As they closed the door behind them, Ash saw the papers of his proposal sitting on the desk. Again, he realized, without Misty none of this would have been possible. She had even helped him in writing the proposal, using exact language to insure avoidance of loopholes, and she made sure it sounded like an "official law", as she put it.
Reaching for the pen, the President flipped through the document to the last page, where two lines awaited his and the champion's signatures. Signing his name quickly, he flipped the packet around to Ash's side and gave him the pen. "Your turn."
Ash happily took the writing utensil and sketched his name across the bottom of the page, ending the "m" of his last name with a flourish that crossed the "t".
"It's official," David noted, putting out his hand and shaking Ash's. "Congratulations on getting your first bill proposed as Champion passed." He took the pen back and placed it in its special upright holder on the desk.
"You and Cynthia will have to leave immediately," he suddenly interjected, quickly reminding Ash of his new dilemma. A frown reemerged across the champion's face. "We have a helicopter waiting for you on the roof. It will take you to the airport south of the city and you'll take a chartered flight to Viridian from there."
"Do you think he could actually take away my Champion title?" Ash asked, completely serious.
"Pika?" This was the first Pikachu had heard of such a thing.
"I don't know, to be completely honest," answered the President. "He said he was considering it when we talked on the phone, but that may have just been his rare temper flaring up. If it's any consolation, I certainly hope he doesn't. While I'm no fan of this law, it's clear that your dedication to the League is real, and you obviously care about the people who work for you. I'd hate to lose that in my counterpart."
"Thanks," Ash said, still frowning as he began to consider life as an excommunicated champion. Not only would something like this soil his image forever, but it would devastate everyone he knew.
Especially Misty.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"Do ya think the Boss'll get suspicious when we don't call 'im?" Meowth inquired, floating around the pool in an inner tube.
"I'm sure he will," answered Jessie, bouncing a beach ball back and forth with James, "but that's why we're leaving as soon as we talk to the twerpette. After she knows she's in trouble, we can get out of here."
"I'm still a little worried about what will happen to us, Jess," James mentioned, punching the beach ball back towards her. "I mean, Giovanni is a pretty mean guy. Where do you think we should hide to get away from him?"
"Hm," she tapped her chin. "I haven't really thought of that yet. Wherever we go, we'll need to make sure we blend in so we can stay in hiding until this all blows over."
"That won't be easy to do with a talking Meowth," reminded James.
The cat-like Pokémon eyed him darkly. "Well it's not like da two of ya could make it without me. Besides I can just meow if someone's around to cover up my identity."
"Maybe we could go to the twerp's hometown," offered Jessie. "What's the name of that place again?"
James reflected for a moment. "You know, I don't remember. But maybe you're right. It's a really small place, and I bet Giovanni would never look there."
"Are you two nuts?" Meowth questioned. "A small town is where we'll stick out like sore t'umbs! We need to go to a big city like Celadon to stay away from da Boss."
"But Giovanni has bases in all of the big cities in Kanto," Jessie reminded. "We won't be able to stay long without someone recognizing us."
"Why don't we just leave Kanto altogether?" James asked. "I mean, Team Rocket's only strong in Kanto and Johto. We could move to Hoenn…I've always loved the beach after all."
"I like cold weatha'. Let's go to Sinnoh!" Meowth offered.
Jessie rolled her eyes. "How do you propose we do that without any money? We'll need to stay here at least a little while if we want enough to travel. And James is right, Hoenn's better."
Meowth gave a "hmph", and James smiled. "So the plan is to find a job, get enough money, and travel to Hoenn?"
"Yeah, but that still doesn't help with where we should hide out here," Jessie reminded. "I mean-"
"How about I help you out?" an eerily familiar voice asked from the doorway to the pool.
Looking over, all three were instantly shocked to silence as they watched Mallory step into the light of the battle arena. She held a gun at arm's length. "Could I suggest the bottom of the ocean?" She gave them a cold smile and cocked the pistol.
Author's Notes: So what did you think? People keep asking if Misty's going to die, and I keep telling them that I can't tell, but I will say this…something big is going to happen. This is definitely not going to be a clean break kind of story where all the good guys get out alive and well, and the bad guys are locked up so…yeah. Get ready for that.
Anyway, as many of you know, I keep my love for Pokémon a secret from everyone in the free world that doesn't read this story. However, sometimes I see something Pokémon-related and I want to talk about it. This is one of those times:
Pokémon Best Wishes has started in English now! I've watched the first two episodes online (I can't get up for cartoons on Saturdays anymore…I don't have the will like I did ten years ago), and I think they were actually pretty good. The truth is I didn't like Sinnoh much because it felt like the entire Pokémon anime was in a rut. I mean, we all knew the pattern. Ash left with Brock and Pikachu, picked up a girl (and her brother in May's case), went to the League and lost. However, now it looks like they're changing things up, and this really started in Sinnoh with the Sinnoh League. Ash made it all the way to the semi-finals this time! (Never done before) And not only did he make it that far, he also defeated TWO LEGENDARY Pokémon! It looks like the writers are intent on continuing this pace of change too, since in the new Best Wishes series, he's going without Brock for the first time.
Despite this change though, I read something that interests me even more. Some people are calling this series a "reboot" of the Pokémon anime (including the writers). This news has led some to claim that this means that Best Wishes is kind of an alternate universe for the anime. Basically, they're saying that after his Kanto (and maybe Orange Islands) adventure(s), in this universe he went to Unova instead of Johto with Brock and Misty. At first it didn't make sense to me, but actually the evidence is pretty compelling. First, as stated, is that the writers are calling this a reboot of the series, which implies a kind of restart. Also, in the first few episodes at least, only Ash's Kanto adventures and Pokémon have been mentioned. There's been no talk of his previous adventures or people he's met on those adventures. Also, this anime just follows the Kanto arc a lot in style and script. They use a lot of the older music in the background, and Ash seems pretty inexperienced (and not like a coach as he's been the last two regions). He actually had to be told to battle a Pokémon before capturing it again, and the writers have said that they're speeding up the episode progression to be "more like the Kanto series". It took only 72 episodes to get through Kanto, yet in Sinnoh it was almost that long a space between the time he got his seventh and eighth badge! And, of course, the most compelling evidence is the fact that for the first time since the first episode, his age was mentioned in BW's first scene, and the narrator mentions he is ten STILL. This would make sense if this is just after Kanto and the Orange Islands since it was mentioned it only took about a year for him to go through all of that, but anymore than those two arcs would make this impossible.
Of course, I know that this is an anime, and consistency isn't always a prime goal, but personally, as a devoted fan, I think I'll stick with this logic until it's fully disproven. I actually like the idea of just restarting Ash's adventures, and truthfully this helps a lot with the consistency of this story (since I only have to ignore the last few episodes of the Sinnoh arc instead of an ongoing series).
Well, that's about it. Sorry for rambling, but I wanted to just give my thoughts, and frankly, if you didn't want to read this you could have exited this page at any time (just saying).
Later Days!