Things became a little hectic after they received Serena's... Files.
Ash had placed some distance between her and Misty, no doubt to put them at odds about what they had seen on the video she had sent.
When she had seen Ash... Him and Serena... It just wasn't right, it didn't make any sense! How would those two get into that sort of relationship? She understood now though his reasoning for telling Misty not to pull the trigger at the banquet, and why he released her.
They had been involved with each other, on a deeper level then any of them had suspected.
He knew and said nothing, showed no signs of emotion like he had done when he showed up at the house in Pallet Town oh so long ago.
How much of those feelings were still there? How much did he love Misty?
God the questions ate at her, and she hated it. She knew there was far more important things to worry about then her love life at the moment, but god damn she couldn't get her mind off of it.
She helped how she could, by sorting files and running tasks. She could ask Ash to teach her how to do what he did, but she knew that no matter what she did, he'd refuse and more likely state it would be impossible to build her from the ground up in less then a week.
And there was the thing about killing.
She couldn't do that, the thought of even holding a gun, pointing at someone and then pulling the trigger.
It made her feel uneasy, her stomach doing rolls and rising into her throat.
It was so strange, how Ash could... Could take someones life without batting an eye, or the resolve Misty had to kill Serena.
To hear the threat 'I'll kill you,' used seriously and then seeing it played out in truth.
It frightened her.
But in some sort of twisted way, it fascinated her. Comparing this Ash to the one she remembered before he left for the battle with Leon, you wouldn't even consider them to be the same person except for his appearance.
He'd gone to hell and then spit back up.
She knew this, but not all of it.
She wanted to know what had happened that changed him into what he was today. She knew his drive at the beginning had been to get revenge on the Rockets who picked on him at the Academy.
But even so Ash and revenge? The words had never been able to be used in the same sentence of until he came back into their world.
He'd been suicidal, something which she could never imagine. She saw him grinning like an idiot at the award ceremony where he looked like the happiest person on the planet, to just months later, weeks even for all she knew, where he wanted nothing more but to end his life.
Everything that had happened to him was awful, how he survived for so long was a miracle. But all in all, it fascinated her.
What drive does he have to keep going at that moment? Why not just run away and start a new life?
He could if he wanted to, he has no reason to stay with the G-Men except their resources for hunting down Giovanni.
The Team Rocket boss who was a psychopath, who had no remorse when kidnapping and torturing Ash to the brink of his heart stopping.
Dawn shook her head, waves of brown swishing with the motion, "Pay attention Mist," She muttered to herself as she walked alone towards the command center.
She had been given a task, one not by Ash, but Misty herself.
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"Dawn!" The Top Coordinator glanced over her shoulder to Misty, clad only in a white towel around her chest, and hair dripping down her shoulders, "I need your help,"
"With what?" she asked sticking her toothbrush into her mouth.
Misty wrung out her hair with both hands, "I need you to keep Ash busy for as long as you can today,"
"Huh?" Was the only response that seemed adequate at the time, as the toothbrush was working its way along her back molars.
"I want to check something, it's in his room, I don't want him knowing or coming back while I'm in there,"
Her eyes regarded the redhead curiously, "What is it you wanna check-" She cut off to spit into the sink in front of her and ran the toothbrush under the tap water, "are you going to look at the... The stuff?"
She emphasized stuff to get her point across, as there was only one thing she could possibly mean.
Misty shook her head, her blue eyes bright and lively, "No, I saw something in his room though that... Well I'd like some answers that he isn't going to give me, so I have to do it myself,"
"You're going to go through his stuff?"
"He's hiding things, I know what he's thinking at times, but others he goes off on tangents as if its the most natural thing in the world. I've asked things... Not regarding Serena, and he keeps it to himself, I need to know what he's thinking,"
Dawn regarded her with hesitance, "And if he finds out?" She drew out carefully, "you've seen what hes done when he gets upset-"
"He won't do a thing," Misty muttered, "He might yell, but that's it. He wouldn't... He'd never get violent,"
"Are you sure?" She pressed, "he's not the same as he used to-"
"Will you help or not?" Misty cut off, a bit of ice entering her voice, "I just need you to keep him busy for a couple of hours once he's finished his work for the day,"
Dawn flinched surprised, she had heard of Misty's anger before, and that being at the lodge at the Indigo League. Rivaled and surpassed her own, although she had become less of a fire cracker as she matured, and was not to be taken lightly.
"Alright Misty," She muttered shutting off the tap, the water coming to a halt, "I'll see what I can do,"
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She was damn curious about what the redhead was planning to look for, and would ask at a later time when the chance arose.
Misty had after all told her and Delia about things that she thought were best to keep to herself unless it involved them in some way. Like what had taken place on the roof at Indigo Stadium.
They couldn't hold it against her, as it wasn't her fault in the first place. She asked for Ash to find another way, but he refused on the belief that he could get his knife out faster then Serena could pull the trigger.
Even though now they realized if Serena had gone down, Ash would have as well do to the other shooters in the crowd.
So if what Misty found was important, she'd alert them.
She knew she would.
Dawn came to the door of the command center, brushed her bangs away from her eyes, and pushed open the door.
There were only a few people inside, all of whom were gathered around a large monitor that showed a live feed from looked like an aerial view.
"We'll want to drop the gear there," Ash's voice carried from the front of the members and they responded quietly, her unable to make out the words.
"Can you get an actual view of the installation? I have an idea of what to expect, but with the conditions of the mountains I'd like to be sure."
Dawn moved up silently behind the group, eyes on the monitor which showed a snow coated mountain side and rocky terrain. It looked as if whatever was taking the video rose over a peak of some kind before showing a monstrosity of a building.
Her mouth gaped open, and her eyes took in the snow coated, slate colored construction. It was a diamond shape, at least twice the size of Indigo Stadium, that had thick pillars jutting from the ground which seemed to keep it balanced in the horrid terrain of the mountain side.
"Take note of those supports," Ash said from upfront, "C-4 won't be strong enough unless we bring multiple bags per support. So we'll need thermite to burn through those,"
"Thermite?"
Ash grunted, "I'll need squads A through D to take out those supports on my signal,"
"What do you plan on doing,"
She saw Ash now, scratch the back of his head before saying, "I'll be eliminating all hostiles, setting loose the Pokemon which all of you will need to be careful of,"
"What about the ones that have been tested on?" Another asked from his left.
Ash didn't answer immediately, his eyes focused on the monitor which was showing the perimeter of the installation, "I'll most likely put down the ones that are incapable of being treated, you've all seen what those things will do. And if I set them loose they'll go for you, or should they make it to a city, civvies will be killed,"
"Are we going to be sending squads into the building?"
"No," Ash glanced right, "the Lieutenant and I have already discussed this, I'll be taking on the facility with just my partners. They will be tasked with breaking the systems and recovering whatever information she can, I'll be taking out the equipment they used to turn the Pokemon into Shadows, and liberating those in the cages,"
So he was going to bring Misty with him after all.
"When the supports are gone, what do you plan on doing?"
Ash looked left this time to someone out of her view, "Move the drone out to just over the rise," He pointed left on the screen, where the mountain rose to it's highest point, "Once the supports are gone, I'm going to rig the gas mains, and oil depots beneath the building to blow,"
"That'll destroy the mountainside," She reorganized the voice of Anderson, who seemed skeptical of Ash's words.
"A mountainside in exchange for giving us approximately six years time on Team Rocket, and the main priority of this operation remember is to locate where the orders of the supplies came from. If my assumptions are correct, Giovanni's location will be revealed from the shipping payments."
Andersons voice carried to her once more, "If they're not?"
"We've still set TR back six years, pissed the living hell out of Giovanni, and will give me the chance to hunt down Mewtwo before Gio locates him,"
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The meeting dispersed, and she waited as Ash spoke in low tones with Anderson, who seemed to be cooperating for once with the former Rocket.
He must have changed in someway either after the memory restoration, or since Ash spoke his mind down in the holding cell.
Anderson walked away a few moments later, gave her a polite nod as he passed her and left the room.
She took that as her cue, and went over to Ash who was packing some files into a briefcase, "How'd it go?" She asked curiously, "seemed like everything was moving smoothly enough,"
He glanced over his shoulder to her, "They'll cooperate, after all they can't have their reputation soiled by killing so that all falls on me. If they wanted to infiltrate the building with me, they would all have to take a few lives, none of these men are allowed to do that."
She grimaced, "You say it so easily," She said clasping her hands behind her back, "so what are you up to next?"
He did up the briefcase and gestured for her to follow as he started to the door, "I've got a week to prep for this thing, and a solid three quarters of that will be preparing Misty for this. The other quarter I want to get out of the way right now, and that's researching Viridian City,"
"Well uh, before you go and do that," She said lightly keeping her eyes focused anywhere but his, "could you have dinner with me?"
His shoulders sagged and she was a little insulted, "Dawn," He said slowly, "I don't have time for luxuries,"
She sputtered, "N-Not because of... Us," She laughed anxiously, "I, we haven't had any time, just us... Not since you've gotten your memories back,"
He looked skyward, thought about it and said, "Can't Dawn, I'm sorry. This isn't something that can be taken light-"
She shot out her fall back plan before he finished, "I-I-I want you to train me to!" She exclaimed loudly drawing attention from all around.
He stopped in the hall and placed a hand on his hip, "Dawn," He said empathetically, "what is it you want?"
He knows something's up! She shouted in her head, "I want to go in the field with you!" No, I really don't, but Misty needs time to do whatever she needs, "So please train me!"
He let out a long breath, and reached with his free hand to his hip where a knife was sheathed. He removed it, and held it up in front of her by the blade.
"Hold this," He said casually, holding the hilt out towards her.
She took it, and was startled by how heavy the knife must have been. The metal was heavy, and she wouldn't have been surprised if it could have been used as a substitute for a machete.
He then held out his arm towards her, "Cut me," Her eyes bulged in their sockets and she gaped, "cut me and I'll train you. Not a small nick, but deep enough that I require stitches,"
"Misty would not have cut you, right? If you do not hold Misty to the same standard, why should I be held to the same standard?" and Ash answered "She would cut me if I asked her to and yes, I have faced injuries from her. Now, let me see if you can do what I say."
Dawn said while going to cut "You love a woman who shot you, if you want women who are harmful to you, I am just going to cut you." and she pressed the knife on his arm while Ash realized that he now started to love Dawn a lot as she proved to love him such that she could cut if if that was his command.
Ash soon saw that he got a cut that needed stitches from Dawn and he said "You listened without hesitating or second guessing me, you are in. Alright, I can train you for the field."
"I want to know if you slept with Serena!"
What did she just say?
She got a reaction out of him, wasn't sure what to make of it, but she was stalling none the less.
"Jealous if I did?"
She squeaked and she was surprised at how casually he had answered, "Y-Y-You slept with her!"
His face was emotionless and he replied, "Did I?" She couldn't tell if he was saying he did or didn't. His tone never wavered, his face showed no sign of whether he had or not.
Hell he may just be teasing her for all she knew!
"Well this has been fun," He finished, "But I've got work to do," before she came to terms with what he had said, he was already around the corner and out of sight. Dawn smiled, she was able to delay Ash for Misty and in the process, she proved herself worthy for Ash's love.
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She picked his lock easily enough, and swung his door open once she saw him round the corner towards the command center.
He was meeting with Anderson and his strategists to plan the raid on the Shadow Compound located up in the Farwind Mountains.
That guaranteed her an hour tops, and then whatever time Dawn could buy her.
She stepped into his room, saw his Espeon and Pikachu on his bed, and smiled at them, "Afternoon you two," She said lightly going over and sitting down next to them, conveniently next to the stack of note books.
Pikachu waddled over to her and she stroked his fur, "Pikapi kachu Chupi?"
She knew more or less what Pikachu asked, "I came to check something out Pika," She said softly, "I'm worried about Ash, I don't want him knowing that I came here,"
She felt pressure against her back, and reached behind to stroke the magenta cats fur, "Can you keep it secret?"
Pikachu regarded her thoughtfully before nodding, "Pi Chupi," he said cheerfully, going back to curl up on the pillows.
"Thanks Pika, how about you Espeon?"
She got a purr in response, and she took that as a yes, "Thank you to miss,"
She then reached forward and took the top notebook, she licked her thumb like most teachers do before flipping open a book which they're reading to the class, and turned over the cover.
"May 20th," She read aloud, blue eyes skimming the big wall of text Ash had written days before, "I remember being late, but the anxiousness of..." She trailed off, eyes furrowing together as she read the next few words.
Her mouth fell open, and her breath hitched in her throat. She finished the page, and glanced up at the wall in front of her, a stricken look on her face.
Quickly she flipped rapidly through the rest of the pages, couldn't find what she was looking for and took the next in the stack.
She skimmed through it, bottom lip held gently between her teeth, and searched with an anxiousness she nerver knew was possible.
What she was looking for wasn't in that notebook so she took the next, and with the same result she moved to the fourth.
Her foot tapped rapidly on the floor, and she scanned quickly, until she came to the date she had been looking for. She read the multiple entries following it, and when she finished, closed the notebook and re-stacked them in the order she had found them.
She stood and looked to Pikachu, "I'm going Pika," She said in almost a whisper, "I-I've got what I need, I'll see you at dinner,"
He cooed to her and she gave him a small smile, before she left, closing the door gently behind her.
She returned to her room, laid down on her bed and closed her eyes suddenly feeling tired. Misty muttered to herself softly, "So he really is keeping things from me,"