A/N: Good day, everyone, and welcome back to another chapter! Thank you all for your support, as always :D It's truly encouraging to read your reviews. Thank you! And for now, I hope you enjoy this one!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or the picture used as cover (though I did edit it).

To Guest: Thanks for taking the time to review! I agree that Drew is not acting very responsible, indeed.

Days

The day with no training

Misty

Tuesday, December 17th

"Yes, I'll be there... Yes, see you soon," Misty said, before ending the call. She stared at the phone for a moment, before quickly standing up.

"Sorry, Psyduck, looks like your training is going to have to wait," Misty told the Pokémon, who looked at her with his usual expression of incomprehension.

She patted his head and then strode out of the Gym and into the Pokémon area of the house. When she entered, her Pokémon looked at her in excitement, before immediately sloughing again when they saw the expression on her face.

"Sorry, guys, no training today, we've got a League meeting, Leaf just called," she explained. Starmie beeped in what she interpreted as disappointment.

"Hey, nothing of that, now," Misty said, putting her hands on her hips. "We've got a job and we'll train later, don't worry."

She ignored the stab of guilt at having to call off training again, and instead started to select which Pokémon she was going to take with her. The past few days she had tried to find time for training, but it was either League business, or a new challenger, or preparations for the upcoming holidays, and yesterday, it had been a doctor's visit…

Misty's hands slowed, before she shook her head and grabbed the Poké Ball containing her League-borrowed Pidgeot, specifically given to get her to urgent meetings like these quickly.

Her excitement started to grow as she clipped the Poké Ball to her belt. While she wasn't expecting that she would see any action today, because Leaf would've said something about it, she wouldn't be against a bit of adventure in the near future. Fighting crime like the League was supposed to – as a Gym Leader she had played that role a few times, mostly as Ash's companion but also during a flood some years ago when she and her Pokémon had been indispensable during the evacuation.

And if the self-defense training Leaf had assigned to her was any indication, there should be enough adventures in her career. Misty had had aching muscles after her first day of training, and also a renewed respect for Agatha's ability to hold her position at her advanced age.

"Alright, guys, I'll see you later." Misty waved at her remaining Pokémon and then went to the kitchen to quickly grab something to eat. She scribbled a note for Ash (who was out training) and after dressing warmly, she hurried outside.

While it was still cold outside, the snow on the roads had mostly melted and the sky was a clear blue. Misty mounted Pidgeot and she held on tight as she took to the skies.

Air whipped past her face and she enjoyed the feeling for a moment, knowing that soon her face would feel frozen and she would curse that same wind. Now, she could only grin, feeling as if she was truly on her way to an adventure.

It was a dream come true. Becoming a member of the Elite Four, becoming a Water Pokémon Master, had always been a goal for her. But the past years she had gotten so used to running the Gym, had been happy with it, that she hadn't been thinking much about her original goal anymore.

But damn, was it awesome. She felt giddy thinking about it and let out a laugh.

Suddenly she realized what she was doing and shook her head. "Crazy. Absolutely crazy. Must be the hormones," she muttered to herself, although she could only hear the wind around her.

And it was kind of crazy. If someone had told eleven years old Misty that at twenty-five she would be a Water Pokémon Master, pregnant and married to Ash, she… probably would've punched them in the face, but secretly she would have been very happy.

Although it had been unexpected, Ash and she had taken the pregnancy surprisingly well, in Misty's opinion. It helped that there wasn't an insta-baby, but they still had months (until somewhere around July 27th, according to the doctor) to prepare.

Ash had been very excited about the pregnancy since the beginning, but she could admit that she had been unsure. The doctor's visit yesterday had been very helpful, though, they had been given a lot of information, and then they had seen the ultrasound-

Misty grinned again, despite the numbness of her face. To be honest, there hadn't been much to see yet, but they could see the heartbeat of the baby.

Misty tightened her hold on Pidgeot unconsciously, before realizing she was doing so and relaxing her grip again. It would be fine. They would be fine.

Mount Silver loomed in the distance and Pidgeot started to slowly descend. The Indigo Plateau was coming into view, and it was a good thing Pidgeot was trained so well, because with how little attention she had been paying to this journey, they never would have gotten here.

They landed in front of the building and Misty thanked Pidgeot before awkwardly climbing off and recalling her to her Poké Ball. She felt stiff and numb all over and she hurried inside towards the warmth. She allowed herself a moment of defrosting before quickly hurrying on to the meeting room.

As she had already suspected, she was the last one to arrive, and she was met by the solemn faces of her colleagues. Her heart picked up and she quickly sat down.

"Thank you all for coming so quickly," Leaf started, and then jumped right in. "We've got a new lead on Agatha's case. Lance, if you would..."

She gestured to her old mentor and he immediately passed some papers around. Misty curiously looked at what seemed to be two police files, consisting of just a few papers each.

"Lance and I did some research into other deaths these previous months. We found…"

"We found these two cases," Lance continued, gesturing to the papers in front of them. Leaf frowned minimally. "These are the cases of miss Aya Sogard, born June 21, died November 17 at age 49, and mister Masen Matsui, born October 24, died October 14 at age 78."

Misty opened the files, leafing through the pages as Lance continued, "These cases were researched by the local police, and they closed them with the conclusion of natural deaths. However, I found that they were in the same position as we are now: no signs pointing to an unnatural death, but also no signs pointing to a natural cause.

"One story is even almost similar to Agatha's case," Lance said. Misty felt her stomach turn leaden as she scanned the files, while Lance's deep voice filled the room. "According to mister Matsui's son, they were calling each other when his father walked away momentarily because he had heard something, and he never returned.

"In the case of miss Sogard was it her partner who found her dead. According to him, he went to another room, heard a sound that he described as something heavy falling, and then found miss Sogard dead."

Lance then fell silent, letting everyone mull over the new information. Misty swallowed heavily, staring at the smiling pictures of an elderly man and a middle-aged woman.

"A connection..." Bruno breathed, and Lorelei nodded.

"Yes," Leaf said just as Lance opened his mouth. "I think we are all in agreement that these situations are too similar to be a simple coincidence."

"Indeed," Lance said, "These people were healthy, yet there were no signs of an unnatural death. Even if we disregard mister Matsui because of his older age, that still leaves miss Sogard's case."

Leaf nodded, and then looked pointedly though not unkindly at Misty. "And what do you think, Misty?"

She straightened and she felt all eyes looking at her. "It's too much of a coincidence, I agree. We should look at those cases again, make sure that there really isn't another explanation, talk to the witnesses again…" She trailed off, trying to think of something more. Bruno flashed her a quick grin.

"I agree with Misty," he said, "Something is off here."

"And although I'm sure Lance already did a lot of digging," Lorelei said with a perfectly blank expression, "I think we should look at other cases as well to find more similar ones. It is very well possible some more slipped through our fingers."

Leaf nodded thoughtfully, looking at each of them in turn.

"I agree with all of you," she said. "Lorelei, you'll be looking through all the deaths of the past three months in Johto and Kanto. Misty, you'll help her."

Lorelei nodded and looked at Misty with an almost predatory smile. Misty narrowed her eyes and grinned right back.

"Bruno, Lance, you'll do more research on the cases of mister Matsui and miss Sogard."

The two men nodded, though Misty thought Bruno did so with less enthusiasm than usual.

"Very well. Any questions? No? Good, then the meeting is hereby over."

A/N: Thank you for reading! I had a bit of difficulty with this chapter, but now I'm somewhat satisfied with it. Please tell me what you thought about it!

Thank you!

Recommendation:

Harry Potter: Lord Voldemort's Christmas Carol by Sophiax. FFN. Yeah, this is exactly what it looks like. A slightly cracky, but still very amusing short multi-chaptered story about, well, Christmas and Lord Voldemort.

If you have a story you want me to recommend, whether it's your own or someone else's, let me know!