Pokemon Fan Fiction / Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Codename:ASHURA ❯ Toshiro ( Chapter 5 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

>WARNING: Due to the violent content of this story parental discretion is advised.

Disclaimer: Pokemon and all their characters are the sole property of Game Freak, the WB, and it's creator's.

ENJOY

For Your Eyes Only

Any information that is disclosed is for your own personal knowledge. If you choose to reveal said information, your termination will be applied. And if you are caught, we at MASTERS have the right to deny any of our prior relationships.


Codename: ASHURA-Toshiro

"Ashura must be stopped!" There was a loud crash, as the old man slammed an enormous pile of papers and files onto the desk. He whipped around to look at the other people in the darkened room, all of them seated in the darkness, patiently waiting. "Look at this..." He pointed to the stack of documents.

"These are the damage reports just in from the 'Highlight," the old man stated. He opened one of the files and looked over some of the figures. "Look, we have fire damages, tile and marble damages," he took a breath then looked at a huge figure. "WE HAVE TO PAY FOR THE TOTAL REPLACEMENT OF A WHOLE FLOOR!"

He turned away from all the numbers and looked at the other members. It seemed that none of them were giving him the least bit of concern. Ivy was going over some of the results from one of her latest experiments. Nanami was signing the documents for the approval to add another wing to the Pokemon training facility.

Bill was going over the sports page. The only attentive figure, Brock, had a stern look of displeasure. He glared towards the old man, during his rant. "It will cost us $500,000 alone to repair the floor tiles."

Then Brock spoke. "Did he save the girl?"

The old man ignored the rock gym-leader's response and continued. "The windows and doors from five different offices were totally demolished. They are going to cost $75,000 to replace..."

Brock interrupted the old man again. "Did he save the girl, Blaine?" he repeated.

The old man glared at him through his sunglasses. He was Blaine, the flame gym leader of Cinnibar Island and the fourth member of the MASTERS Board. "That is not the point, Brock!" Blaine returned. "Ashura is a menace. Not only does he show a totally lack of regard to all the regulations we have here at MASTERS but also..."

"NO REGARD!!!" Brock thundered, while slamming his fist against the desk. "He has always followed the Prime Directives of MASTERS," he narrowed his slanted eyes. "Has he not?"

Blaze re-adjusted his sunglasses and stood back to regain his composure. He also managed to grab a glimpse of the engravings of the Prime Directives in the background, embroidered in big golden letters.

Prime Directives Of MASTERS

1. The innocent shall always be shielded.
2. The lawless shall always be vanquished.
3. A MASTER shall never raise an arm to another MASTER.

Since the first day an Agent was initiated he or she knew the Prime Directives by heart. These words were the law and the foundation of MASTERS. Anyone that defied any of the Prime Directives would be hunted down by every available MASTER and sentenced to death. But throughout MASTERS' history, no one has ever betrayed MASTERS. Although, since Ashura's arrival there have been many close calls.

Blaine took off his glasses. "Look Brock, I know he's your friend and all, But..."

Brock, stood up from his desk. "My friendship to Ashura isn't the case. He has been the best agent to come to MASTERS since 'The Four,' started MASTERS twenty years ago!"

"Ashura maybe good, but...." Blaine sentence came to a screeching halt as the door to the Boardroom was opened.

The light seemed to banish all the darkness held in the room. The two visitors entered. One of the newcomers was a man: early twenties, with shoulder length dark hair. There was a prideful manner in his stride, a step that contained both confidence and poise. He took one glance at the previously quarreling duo and smirked.

"I see my deeds haven't gone unnoticed," Ashura said proudly.

He continued into the room. Behind him, the slender figure of a woman appeared. She seemed to be around his age, in her early twenties. She batted away a strand of flame red hair, as she stood firmly next to Ashura.

All the members of the Board, (especially the men) noticed her state of dress (or undress). The girl was wearing what looked like the remains of a once very expensive dress. But now, the material was worn and tattered. The color was slightly off and dulled. It was a miracle that the dress still held together on the thin frame of the young woman.

Brock and Blaine both took notice of Ashura's arrival. Deciding this wasn't the best time to decide Ashura's fate, the two silently agreed to discuss the matter at another time.

"Welcome Ashura," Blaine greeted. "And might I say, congratulations on another successful mission," Blaine said with smile. A glare was Ashura's only response.

Blaine narrowed his eyes toward the young agent. Misty glanced at the two. She could tell there was a silent battle being fought by the two of them. But in the end Ashura seemed to have been the victor. Blaine muttered something to Brock then took to his seat.

Then the girl's eyes set themselves on Brock. He was much taller now, coming to at least six foot two. He still kept his brown hair short, although he looked like he was in the process of growing a beard.

'He probably hasn't shaved in a while,' she reasoned. His face still had that bold chin, and sharp slanted eyes. But it looked like he traded in his trademark green vest and orange shirt, for a nice pressed Armani suit. To be honest she thought he grew up to be a very handsome man.

'Not as cute as ...' she stopped herself from continuing that thought and groaned. This was not the time for such thoughts.

"Hello Misty..." The former Rock Gym leader greeted in an almost monotone fashion, as he walked over and gave a mild hug to his long lost friend. Misty was momentarily shocked as she heard his words. She suddenly felt a cold chill go down her spine, as he hugged her.

"Hello Brock..." she finally said. Memories from the past started to cloud her mind. Memories that she wished she could forget.

He smiled. "So how have you been?"

It took Misty a few moments to respond. "Fine..." She then quickly added,
"Considering the rough treatment I got from this blockhead," Misty ruefully commented, while jerking her thumb toward Ash.

Ashura glared at her. "Fine, maybe you would like to have been a Team Rocket target dummy," he snapped back while crossing his arms. "Oh yeah, they probably would not have been able to hit you anyway, I guess being paper thin does have its advances after all!"

Misty glared. "I have you know, that I have a very fine figure!" Secretly Ash was in total agreement. "Plus that was what got you drooling all over me at the Highlight!" She taunted.

Those words nearly caused Ashura to fall from his feet. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN? I WASN'T DROOLING OVER YOU AT THE PARTY!" He shouted back at her, even though Brock noticed his cheeks were slightly red. Ashura then calmed down a little and grinned. "If anything, you were taken in by my charming personality. I had you wrapped around my little finger," he chuckled.

"WHAT!!" Misty returned. "YOU WISH!!" She hated seeing that annoying grin on his face. She was about to really let him have it when...

"If you two are finished?" a female's voice asked. "We are trying to have a meeting here Miss. Waters." The woman stated while frowning at the young woman. Misty looked up and saw face of a person she faintly remembered. The woman had long brown hair and beautiful green eyes. She really couldn't put her finger on it but she knew she met her before. Misty then blushed at realizing how immature she was acting.

Ash was about to comment about her getting yelling at, when... "And Mr. Ketchum,
I would hope this assignment wasn't TOO much for you. If you cannot cooperate with your client, I will find another agent that will."

Ash was suddenly alarmed at the proposal. "No, Nanami...I..." he sighed then looked toward Misty. ”I apologize for my behavior," he then scowled toward the chestnut color haired woman. Nanami frowned slightly then looked away.

Misty was very amazed. She had never known Ash to make a apology like that. Then she remembered. 'Ash said her name was Nanami.' Why did that name sound familiar to her?'

A deep voice broke Misty out of her contemplation. "Man, even after all these years, you two still haven't changed." Brock said while smirking a little. He then coughed and drew his attention to the center of the room.

"Miss. Waters..." a violet hair woman addressed her. Misty recognized the woman instantly. She was the woman that Brock spent a year with, while she and Ash were adventuring through the Orange Islands: Professor Ivy. It's funny, she never did find out why Brock left Ivy in the first place.

"I hope your ordeal wasn't too stressing. I know Ashura here has still a lot to learn about adequate tact. But I think he did manage to complete his assignment."

Misty nodded in acknowledgment, but remained silent.

Ivy continued. "If you would like...we can assign another agent to you, if you think Mr. Ketchum, isn't qualified to protect you."

Misty thought for a minute then looked at Ash. He was staring right at her. A mix of emotions was on his face. She could tell he wanted to protect her and secretly she wanted him too also. She looked forward.

"No...That’s Ok. I guess old habits die hard," she said with a small laugh.

Ivy smiled. "Very well then…"

"Now that is settled...." The man in the purple suit, stated. "Miss. Waters, You have called for the assistance of MASTERS because you earlier stated that you came across the cure to the AVS virus..." Bill paused for her response.

"That is correct. I had a confidante enter the Team Rocket facility and retrieve it." She looked down. "He was able to recover the information for the cure, but it was at the cost of his life." A few tears fell from her eyes. In a voice that was hardly a whisper. "I'm sorry Rudy..." She silently sobbed.

All the members gave Miss. Waters a few minutes of silence. Ash was going out of his mind. He was wrenched in one direction for the need to comfort her, but another part of him said that wasn't the brightest of ideas.

This time, reason won.

After a few minutes, Misty recomposed herself. Nanami continued.

"Miss. Waters we are very sorry for your loss, but we must know the location of the information that you've received. That is the only way we can hopefully bring the cure public."

"I understand..." Misty said, while recovering the lost strength in her voice. "For safety measures, I placed all the documents of the AVS Anti-virus in a safety deposit box in the Celadon National Bank."

Ashura grinned to himself. Celadon National, was probably one of the most highly secured Banks in all of Indigo. Nothing, save for a terrorist bombing could even scratch that place. He himself would have a very hard time retrieving anything from it. He smiled again. Misty was still as sharp as ever.

The seated Boulder Gym-leader leaned forward, his face coming from the seemingly menacing darkness. "That was wise choice for holding it," he stroked his unshaven beard. "So now that we know the location. All there is to do now, is to retrieve it."

"I see..." Old man Blaine said, absorbing the information. "Well then, these two should be put on the first flight to Celadon, immediately."

Ivy nodded her head. "Agreed."

The word 'flight' sent off thousands of alarms in Misty's head. They didn't mention anything about flying. SHE HATED TO FLY.

Noticing a new attitude change in Misty, Ash frowned a little bit. After a few moments of thought, he silently chuckled to himself. Then he spoke.

"I disagree...."

Suddenly all eyes in the room was on Ashura. Whether or not he noticed or cared, he continued without missing a stride. "I'm sure you would all know that Team Rocket would surely be checking all flights. And as we've seen in the last couple of days, clearing out a whole airport of life to complete an agenda isn't beneath them."

Nanami frowned. "So what would you suggest, Agent Ashura?"

Ash smiled. "I say we use the Rapidash Engine that takes Route 22, 3, and 16. That will give us a direct route to Celadon, plus it's a very unexpected method of travel. And..." he then grinned. "With me protecting her, no one is sure to lay a hand on her."

Nanami and Misty both rolled their eyes. Then Ivy spoke.

"So you want to go by train?" Ashura nodded. "Hmmmmm, very unusual..." the heads of the Board silently drew into a mild discussion over the matter. Meanwhile, Misty glanced over in Ash's direction. He was smiling pretty brightly. He was obviously very proud of his suggestion. It was the first time she seem him smile like that since they reunited. It almost reminded her of when he was younger.

He slowly glanced over to her and their eyes met. She was about to make a remark about him gawking at her. Then she just remembered what he did for her. So instead she just mouthed "Thank you..." and looked directly forward. The Board members finally came out of their deliberation. Ash acknowledged her gesture and looked forward also. But it was evident a new brighter smile was on his face.

Blaine spoke. "Ok, Ketchum. We agree to your suggestion. It will take about 48 hours for the preparations to take place. Return here in that time and be ready to depart," he said while crossing his arms. A mild sign of disappointment was clearly on his elderly face.

Ashura smirked. "Very well, we'll be here..." Ash was about to turn to leave but, someone wasn't clear on something.

"Ummm...Excuse me." Misty said impatiently. "What about me? Where am I to go?" Then she frowned. "AND WHEN CAN I CHANGE OUT OF THIS THING?!!?" she exclaimed while motioning to her mangled gown.

All of the members of the Board looked at each other. "Well..." Nanami was about to say, but Ashura beat her to speaking.

"Don't worry. You can stay with me," he stated to her. Misty was about to make a comment when, Ashura continued. "I had some people go to your apartment, to get your things. You can change and then come with me. I have a small errand to run. Then I'll be going back to my place."

Nanami and Misty blushed at that statement. Nanami was about to comment, when...

"And Nanami, You don't have to worry. We are both adults here and I have a job to do. I've have dedicated my life to make sure that Miss. Waters will be taken care of. My involvement with her, shall remain at a professional one," Ash finished firmly.

Everyone in the room remained silent after Ashura's speech. All eyes were on Ash, especially the indigo eyes of the young Pokemon Doctor, after a few more seconds Brock faked-coughed, to break the silence.

"Umm...Is that ok with you Misty...eh...Miss. Waters?" he asked.

Misty eyes were burning bluish holes into Ashura. Whether he didn't know or care, his face remained unchanged. Still eyeing him, she slowly broke away to face Brock. "Yeah..." she shakily said.”Yeah, that's fine...."

Ivy nodded. "Good then all is agreed." The two were about to leave the chamber.

"Oh Ashura..." Ivy called to him, to which he promptly turned around. He motioned to Misty to go ahead, as he waited for Ivy's last minute counsel. "I want to wish you good luck. Miss. Waters is very important to the lives of countless people. So do whatever you have to do, to protect her."

Ashura smiled a little and replied. "It's nothing.... protecting her is something I vowed to always do, a long time ago." He then turned and exited the 'Board' room.

Nanami frowned slightly at his words. The door to the Board Chamber slowly closed. Nanami looked down her paper work trying anything to occupy her mind and allow Ashura's words to fade.

She knew he didn't love her and probably never would. But knowing that didn't stop her feelings. Somewhere she always had hope. And right now...hope was what she really was going to need.

******

"Ash, Can you hold up!!!" Misty shouted down the hallway. Running around barefoot was hard enough. Running and trying to catch-up to the idiot was simply unbearable. "AND WHEN CAN I FINALLY CHANGE!!!"

"Right here..." he stated, while pointing to a room marked, 'Woman's Locker room.' He turned to her, and threw some keys. "Here your stuff is in locker #
2079. I'll be out here if you need me," he said while leaning against the wall.

Misty glared at him. "You sure you don't to come in and I'm sure you want to make sure I'm 'safe'?" she said sarcastically.

Ashura rolled his eyes. "Look, you don't have anything I want to see anyway. I prefer women with curves. Not an ironing board," he replied bluntly.

There were flames burning in Misty's eyes. "IRONING BOARD!!! IRONING BOARD!!!" she repeated. "I'LL SHOW YOU, AN IRONING BOARD!!!" she shouted, as she started to reach for the hem of her dress.

Ash's eyes widened, as his cheeks started to fluster. He nearly tackled the woman, trying to stop her. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!?!" he shouted, while pinning her to the ground. "We're in public!"

She shrugged him off. "Well, you insisted on..." Misty started while returning to her feet.

"I'm sorry..."

"What?!?"

Ash frowned. "I said I'm sorry..." he sighed. "Look, I know you hate me and all, but we are going to be working together for a while. Can we at LEAST be civil to one another?" he smirked a little. "Besides, I've already seen you naked before anyway..."

Misty blushed furiously and grabbed him close to her by his collar. "ASH!!! That was like eight years ago," she then smiled. "Besides, a lot has changed since then..." she gave him a very seductive look.

Ashura raised an eyebrow. "I see." He thought for a minute then smirked again. "Willing to allow another viewing?"

She released him and took a step back. "As if..." She turned around and took a step towards the locker room door. As soon as she did, the door hissed and slid open. She looked over her shoulder. "Anyway...I doubt you would be able to handle it this time." With that she walked inside.

"You could be right..." Ash said out loud, to no one in particular. He leaned against the wall and patiently waited for her exit, hoping her ability to take long amounts of time to get dressed had improved over the years.

*****

Misty wandered around the large empty room. It was dark when she first got in there, after searching for a few minutes. She found a light switch. The lights flickered for a few minutes, and then gradually illuminated the room.



Thousands and thousands of lockers surrounded Misty. There were 5 sections of lockers. Each section held a different color. Gazing over the several numbers and different colors, Misty was wondering around what looked like a maze of multi-colored hell.

She sighed, as she was looking for her bin. 'What am I doing here?' She wondered. 'Is this thing really that important to bring Ash into it?' she wondered. 'He's changed, I've changed, even Brock...' Her mind was hit with a sudden flash.

Indigo...
Brock...
The letter...
The tears she shed...

The images ceased, but her tears did not. She didn't want to remember the past. It was too painful for her. Memories...how she hated them, all they did was bring pain. It was a constant reminder of what she didn't have and how alone she truly was.

Wandering around a bit more, she finally found the locker. 'My locker,' she guessed. Retrieving the keys Ash gave her, Misty opened the door. A few duffel bags were in the locker, as well as a few other items.

Opening one of the duffel bags, she took out her gray sweat pants and her red Aerospatiale shirt. Searching through another bag she found some tennis shoes she could wear also. With that squared away, she lazily threw together the ensemble.

It wouldn't be her first choice of dress. But she didn't have much time to go through the rest of her stuff.

*****

"Another day, another dollar," a voice said, entering the woman's locker room from another entrance, there stood another fine figured redhead.

Jessie stretched out a bit. It had been a long day. She was about to go to her locker to grab her stuff, when she noticed the young Pokemon doctor in the progress of changing. And Jessie, never missing a chance to spread her joyous personality, decided to 'chat' with the skinny, flamed haired woman. "Hello Misses Twerp!" she said cheerfully, while walking over to the younger woman.

Misty rolled her eyes and grumbled something intangible. She glared at the older woman. Jessie noticed all this and laughed. "Hey don't be mad. I was just kidding." A cold glance was Misty's response. "No wonder Ash looked totally depressed out there. You’re just horrible." Jessie pouted.

"Ash?!?" Misty turned to her intently.

This was an interesting development. One minute the skinny runt won't have given Jessie the time of day. With a mention of the 'A' word, however, she was all ears. Jessie's usual smile contorted to the upper right side of her mouth, forming a devilish grin.

"Yeah, Ash..." Jessie reassured her. "But enough of that...." Jessie sat down next to the younger woman. "Look, I wanted to come by and apologize about what I said before," she smiled brightly, because she knew the next thing she was going to say...was going to be very hard.

"I...want...us...to be...friends," she said finally. Every word looked like it was sucking the life out of her after every syllable was uttered.

Misty glared at her. "Right..." she narrowed her eyes.”So what brought on this new want for friendship?" she asked sarcastically.

"Well, we both have a lot in common." Misty was listening with some interest. "We both are very beautiful and intelligent woman. We both could probably get any guy we wanted..." She paused to see if anything she was saying was having any effect. It looked like it was.

Misty thought for a minute. "Granted, those are true. But it just seems very out of the blue," she eyed a now nervous Jessie. "Besides...let's be honest. Jessie you hardly do anything unless you have some other motive."

Jessie sighed. "Well you got me," she leaned against one of the lockers. "To be honest, I only wanted to be friends because of Ash."

Misty raised an eyebrow. "Ash?"

"Yeah..." Jessie nodded. "Yeah, I figured if we became friends that would earn me some points with him." She grinned.

Misty narrowed her eyes. "I thought you had James..."

"Well why can't I have both of them?" Jessie said honestly.

Misty was at loss right now. She was fighting with the decision of straight-out killing Jessie right there, or just cramming her into one of the lockers and prayed that no one would find her for a good week.

But...before Misty could come to a final decision, Jessie continued speaking.

"But to be honest, I don't have a chance with him." she looked into Misty's direction. "His heart belongs to another...."

Misty looked away. She didn't want to think about things like Ash and love at the same time. "So.... you're married to James right?" she said trying to change the subject.

Jessie sighed. 'She wants to deny what is so obvious.' She shook her head. 'And people say I was stubborn.' Coming out of her thoughts she answered. "Yeah, the poor guy finally broke me down and got me to marry him." She smiled. "It's a good thing too. He needed me in his life. He could barely function before anyway."

Misty smiled. "That must be nice. He must really love and rely on you," her sentence ended with a sigh. "I wish there was someone like that for me..." she stated, not necessarily to Jessie.

Jessie cocked her head to the side. "Hey, what about Ash?"

Misty gasped. In five seconds the color of her cheeks turned from a pleasant pink color to a deep beet red. "What?!? Ash?? We're just friends. Actually I wouldn't even say that..." she corrected himself. "He's just a jerk anyway..."

Jessie brought her hands behind her head and closed her eyes. "Too bad..." she started to say.”Too bad, cause it's obvious he has it bad for you..."

"WAAA! WHAT?"

Jessie shrugged. "It's nothing. Actually to be honest I'm really jealous of you." Jessie went over to her locker, which was amazingly right next to Misty's.
She opened her locker. Wrestling through her things, she continued to talk. "You missy.... You get to have him all to yourself for some 'close contact' protection." She stuck her head out of the locker to look at the bewildered girl next to her. "Do you know how many women would kill to be in your place?"

Misty looked at her. "Why do you say that?"

Jessie thought for minute. Some devilish fantasies danced in her head. "Ummmm...Never mind," she sighed. "Misty, I know we are not the best of friends...." Jessie thought again. 'Hell we ain't friends’ period.' She shook it off. "And I know you probably won't believe me, but Ash is in love with you."

Misty looked straight ahead, giving the impression that none of Jessie words had any effect. But she continued on. "He's always been in love with you." Misty still remained wordless. "I know you probably don't believe me. But if you look into your heart, I think you know my words are true."

There was a long pause between the two women. Jessie was going to comment on something else but Misty beat her to speaking. "You know...A long time ago, knowing that would have made my day," she paused and concentrated on her words. "But now...Now I'm older and I know the truth."

She got up to gather her bags from the locker. Then she turned to Jessie. "You told me I should look into my heart for the answers. I did that along time ago. And my efforts were just rewarded with heartbreak..."

With that she left a speechless Jessie alone in the locker room.

Once again there was silence in the room. Jessie turned to one of the lockers and kicked it. "Those two are so perfect for each other..." She said. "They're both idiots...."

******

It had been a good half and hour since Misty entered the women's locker room. Ash was bored. The one thing that he still had a problem with was patience. But in his waiting, he had time to recollect on the person he was waiting for.

Granted she was still hard to get along with at times, but he did see signs of her weakening. Sometimes it showed she was slightly interested. In fact he remembered she blushed a few times when he made comments on her flowering figure. It really wasn't too hard though. She was always beautiful and age hadn't taken that away in the slightest.

So he believed he still had a chance with her. As long as he watched what he said and tried to keep his ego out of the picture. That and a little bit of luck, maybe this thing will have a happy ending after all.

The sound of the women's locker room sliding opening snapped Ashura from his thoughts. He turned to the opening as the lovely young women he was just envisioning exited the room.

Ash prepared his best smile and was ready to greet her. But then he noticed a change in her aura. She seemed agitated, like something was really troubling her.

He was about to ask what was wrong but she turned and glared at him. The glare she gave drove chills down Ash's spine. She almost looked like a different person. Then she spoke, and when she did, every word seemed as though they were encased with venom.

"You know I hate you, don't you..." It was a statement. Not meant to be questioned, just accepted. Ashura managed a nod. Not really paying attention to her words. He was more taken aback by her manner.

"And you know that I wished you never existed, so I wouldn't have had to met you..." she said with the fires still burning in her eyes.”You are annoying, egotistical…A total moron and I can't wait for this whole thing to be over so I will never have to see you ever again."

This time her words set in, every phrase, every cut-down. It was like they were all targeted for Ashura's soul. Her words hurt. They hurt so much he almost lost his bearing. After awhile there wasn't any more pain, there was only numbness.

"Understood...Miss. Waters," he said without any emotion. He drifted back into his agent mode, the only frame of mind that allowed him to deal with any situation. Good or bad. It didn't matter. This manner of thinking allowed him to function, without the worry of his feelings getting into the way. His feelings were often his weakness anyway. This moment proved that to be true. But now he was safe, safe from harm and safe from being harmed. Her words no longer had any effect on him. He was Ashura, agent of MASTERS. He was assigned to protect her and he would, because he was ordered to. He could no longer care what happened to her afterwards. He kept repeating to that to himself. But it could be noticed that his fist were clenched more tightly then normal.

Misty smiled warily. "Good...Now I think you had somewhere to go...." she inquired, while turning away from him. For some reason she didn't want to look at his eyes. Because when she did, all she could see was her own reflection, something she didn't care to see at the moment.

He nodded. "Yes...Just follow me. It won't take long. I just want to visit someone, and then we will leave," he said. He then looked away, and walked down the hallway, heading toward the parking garage. Soon he was out of sight.

Misty waited for him leave. Watching his departure, she leaned against one of the walls and released a long sigh. Her vision was starting to blur. Her lips trembled as her cheeks were matted with tears. She slid down the side of the wall she was leaning up against. Red bangs poured down her field of vision. Her sobs starting to get louder, she balled up and cried into her knees.

"I'm sorry Ash...."

*********

11:00AM...

'Another long and boring morning,' Veronica thought as she glanced at her monitor. She typed a few keys then the screen cleared again. She sighed, while playing with a lock of her violet hair, the only thing she could think of too pass the time.

Sure she had a good job, being a receptionist of the Viridian City Hospital. The money was good and the work wasn't too hard. But it often got really boring.

"I shouldn't be wasting my good years like this..." She stated. "I'm almost 34 and I still ain't got a man." She didn't really mind being her own woman and all. But years of seeing all the girlfriends she grew up with start to settle down with husbands started to get to her after a while. Especially if they seemed to always make you the designated bridesmaid.

Veronica sighed. She was the only one out of the bunch that kept her figure over the years, but she still always managed to find the wrong guy. Or was it the wrong guy always managed to find her? She could never figure out which of the two.

Deciding that twiddling with her hair had reached the height of its amusement, she looked around her desk to find something else to occupy her time. She glanced at her calendar. Margarette's bridal shower was coming up soon. She sighed again, which also meant another wedding to attend. And another day she would have to be someone else's bridesmaid.

Her hazel eyes traced over the paper to look at today. Instantly she perked up. It was Wednesday, which meant 'he' would show up. This realization started to make her whole day brighten.

She didn't really remember when she first started taking paying attention to his presence. It was probably the around the third or fourth time he came by that she took notice. The young man always came to visit the patient in room 151. His mom, she believed.

It was really sad though, his mother. She was suffering from AVS virus, A disease that accelerates the deterioration of muscle tissue. The victim's muscles start to breakdown faster. Victims of AVS appear as though they are aging faster, since the condition of the muscles also affects the appearance of wrinkles or other signs of age.

So a person that was in his mid-twenties that was affected by the virus could appear sixty or seventy. The rate of the muscle deterioration always varied on each subject. And since there was no known cure for the virus, there was no proper way to treat it. All hospitals could really do was try to make everyone comfortable. They run what tests they could, but in the end the person was always on burrowed time.

Still despite the odds, the young gentleman always visited every Wednesday. And for some unknown reason, Veronica thought that was real sweet. There weren’t a lot of guys around like him anymore. He was kind of quiet most of the time, but was very kind. And cute...If he were a few years older, she would consider pursuing him....

She paused on that thought. 'I wonder if he goes for older women?' She had to admit the thought was quite tempting.

*****

Entering the Hospital, Ash and Misty was instantly overwhelmed by the fumes of disinfectant that was pumped into every inch of the building. The two walked in complete silence of each other, a silence that had been lasting the whole sixty minute car ride they had coming to the Hospital.

Ash walked the all so familiar hallway, to the all so familiar desk that the violet haired receptionist occupied. She frowned slightly, and then greeted him with a smile as he came to the desk.

Assembling something that could be considered a smile, Ash tried to return the woman's cheerful attitude. "Hello Miss. Veronica, how is my mom doing?"

Veronica smiled. "Well she's been doing ok. Gary and May are here today too. You should join them," she looked pass Ashura and noticed the slender red-head standing behind him. "So who's your friend?"

Ash looked over his shoulder. "This is an acquaintance of mine," he stepped aside to let Misty come into full view. "Miss. Veronica, this is Miss. Mistae Waters."

Misty was starting to hate her stage name. She stepped forward and extended her hand to the older woman. "It's nice to meet you. And you can just call me Misty," she added.

Veronica smiled. "Oh she is so charming. You two make such a cute couple." Even though she hated to admit it, it was true, the two standing together they did look like a good match. And from the way they both were blushing it was probably something said often.

"Umm...Miss. Veronica…" Ash said, finally finding his voice. "Believe me it's not like that."

Veronica shook her head slightly. "Whatever kids..." Sighing, the two left Veronica's desk and continued down the hallway.

Veronica glanced at her monitor again. "I wonder if that new Doctor in pediatrics is single?"

******

Ash and Misty continued down the hallway to Mrs. Ketchum's room. Besides the small conversation with the receptionist, the two still hadn't spoken.

Concentrating, there was something on Ash's mind that he knew he had to tell
Misty before they met Gary and May. It was something important, but after all of today's events he just plain forgot.

'Maybe I am as dense as she says?' Ash pondered, while looking to the crimson haired girl. The dull pain in his heart increased the more he looked at her. She had finally told him, her feelings. After all this time and after all his heartache, he found that in the end it was all for nothing. She didn't care about him at all.

A part of him said he should have been glad. Even though he did care for her a lot, she was often moody and annoying. Hell, sometimes she could be unbearable. But another part of him, his heart, his true emotions, still loved her and he knew he would love her till the day he died.

Ash reflected on the idea. 'Death...' For the longest time he always tried to avoid death. For him, death was always like a counterpart of his life. Since he joined MASTERS, its presence always seemed near, just lying in wait. In the past, he always tried to stay alive, hoping for the one day he would be able to see her again and love her, possibly to start his life over with her.

But now his reason to live was no more, she hated him. That was something he accepted. He knew he never had a chance with her in the first place. It was just the fact that he always hoped. And hope could be a strong thing for a person that dealt with fate like he did. But hope failed him now. And death was looking like a plausible option.

Maybe in his next encounter with death, he might finally concede and let his fate be decided....

******

The two stood in front of the door to Mrs. Ketchum's room. Ash went to turn the knob then stopped. As if he was remembering something but couldn't quite put his finger on it. He turned the knob and opened the door part way.

"Hey May, I wonder when ol' Ashy boy will show up..." escaped from the crack.

Ash's eyes widened. He looked over his shoulder at Misty. Who...at the moment looked really impatient. He was about to say something...but the words couldn't form.

Five minutes waiting in the hallway, was enough to push any Waterflower to the edge and since the slow dim-witted guy wasn't making a move to proceed. Misty had to take the situation into her own hands.

"Step aside Hatboy, I'm tired of waiting," she ordered, while pushing past the man, to open the door.

Finally finding his voice Ash shouted. "Misty, wait!"

Misty turned around to look at him. "What is your problem Ash...?" she looked forward. "You said...we were...."

Misty stopped in her sentence as she took in the whole scene. Mrs. Ketchum was lying down in the hospital bed, possibly asleep. The girl looked to the older woman. She momentarily was frozen in place. Mrs. Ketchum, cheeks were sunken in and lost a lot of her natural color.

It pained Misty to see her like this. Mrs. Ketchum was almost like a mom to her. She was the closest thing to a mom she really ever had. To see her in such a weaken state was such a shock to Misty.

She turned to the other visitors in the room. A brown haired girl stood over Mrs. Ketchum. She turned as Misty entered. 'May' Misty subconsciously noted. Misty scowled at her. Misty remembered the role the girl played in the dismantling of all of her affections. She could never forgive May Oak. And the fact that the girl was grinning at her like a moron, wasn't improving Misty opinion of her.

Then her sapphire eyes glance to the remaining figure in the room. Misty blinked twice to make sure what she was seeing was real. Ash moved behind her. She turned and looked at him. He could read what she wanted to say although she dared not utter a phrase. All he could do is give her a reassuring face and prayed that everything would go ok.

"Misty??" A voice said. "Hey, long time no see!" Gary cheered as he turned to the girl. He reached down and grabbed the sides of his chair, releasing the brake, as he wheeled himself over to the girl.

Looking down at her old time friend, Misty reacted more like the man was a total stranger. She shrieked back slightly only to be pushed forward by the powerful arms of the MASTERS agent.

Gary cocked his eye up. "Hey, you act like you haven't seen a guy that was part car before?" he jested while running his hand through his brown hair. He smiled again.

Feeling slightly embarrassed and disappointed in herself, Misty bent over to give a hug to the man. "Sorry Gary...I just didn't know...."

Gary laughed. "It's ok, Misty. Bro..." His eyes went to Ash. "Probably forgot to inform you."

"Is this 'the' Misty?" A highly pitched voice asked. Everyone turned to the once quiet May Oak. The girl, in a flash, rounded the bed and embraced the Pokemon doctor. Well a simple embrace would have been nice. This was more like being in steel clamp. The girl was clearly almost crushing Misty's ribs.

"I heard so much about you..." she said, while facing the girl in her embrace.”But Ashy never told me you were so.... cute," she smiled. There was a sudden flash in her green eyes.

Misty was going out of her mind. Here she was the one person that was the cause of so much pain for her. And the whore had a nerve to be hugging her.

Eventually May loosened her grip on Misty. "Me and you should hang out sometimes...It might be fun." She said with a big smile and gently gave the girl a small kiss on the cheek. May then turned to Ash.

"ASHY!!!" she shouted while nearly tackling the grown man. She sat on top of him and pounded her fist into his chest. "You are so bad. You hardly ever come by to visit us anymore Ashy...I miss you," she whined.

Ash blushed and looked up at Misty. Apparently she didn't enjoy May's show of affection. He sighed and pushed the grown woman off of him. "How are you doing May?" he asked while they both rose to her feet. "And how are things going with you and Freddie?"

She smiled when he mentioned her lover. "Things are going so great. Pretty soon, we'll move out of Mrs. K's home and have our own place. We tried to get Gary to come with us. But he's just as stubborn as you." Ash grinned.

"Hey, I'm just not able to keep up with you two anyway. Besides, I like to sleep at night. And hearing you two all night doesn't exactly help," Gary voiced.

Misty looked slightly confused. "Did she say that, you were living at Ash's Mom's house?" She asked.

Gary nodded. "Well when Gramps passed away...." Gary paused for a moment of silence. "Well he was our only family. So when Mrs. Ketchum heard, she adopted us both," Gary smirked. "It's funny before I would have never thought I would ever be related to a jerk like Ashy boy."

Ashura grunted to Gary's comment. The brown hair man laughed. "But it's been real cool..." he seriously added.

"Well not with Ashy always at his car dealer place," May chimed in.

Misty eyes narrowed. "Car dealer?"

Ash coughed. "Umm...yeah…I sell cars," he stated trying to be nonchalant about the whole thing.

"Yeah not only does he sell cars but he must make a fortune!!!" May cheered with a volt of excitement. "Him and Gary both started out owning a whole lot. But after Gary had a driving accident, which caused him to loose the ability of his legs, Ash took over and we haven't had any problems since."

Misty looked at Ash. 'Is this girl for real?' was the question she mentally was asking him. Ash shrugged.

"Ummm...May, we both need to talk to Misty for a little bit. You think you could stay with Mrs. K for a while?" Gary asked. The bubbly brunette shook her head in agreement. "Thanks, Sis..." Gary said while wheeling himself toward the door.

Misty felt so out of place. She thought she should say or do something. "Ummm...you need any help Gary?" she offered.

He shook his head. "Nah...I'm cool. Besides I always get sympathy from the chicks anyway..."he grinned.

Misty rolled her eyes. 'I wondered if it would be ok to slap a guy in a wheelchair...' she pondered while exiting the room.

******

The three moved to the hospital's courtyard, the only place they were certain that no one could overhear their conversation.

Misty turned to the two. "So can someone tell me what's going on?" she turned to the man in the wheelchair. "Gary what happened to you?"

"Well..." Gary started, but heard Ash clearing his throat, signaling not to talk about it. Misty glared at Gary. Between Ash and Misty...Gary decided he just wanted to keep his life. "Well it's obvious that the car dealership is a scam.
We just tell that to Mrs. K and May so they wouldn't worry," he looked down at his lifeless appendages. "And the reason why I'm in this thing is...."

"It's my fault..." Ash voiced in.

Gary frowned. "Ash it's not your fault! Me getting paralyzed and what happened...is not your fault!"

"Yes it is!!!" Ash shouted, bringing silence to the whole space. "I was supposed to watch your back! And those people...God...All those people." He hit his fist against the tree he was leaning against. "I failed them all..."

Misty was really starting to get frustrated here. "CAN SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT THE
HELL IS GOING ON!?!" She turned to Gary. "What are you talking about?" Then she whipped around to Ash. "And what people?"

"You ever hear about the incident at Toshiro Towers?" Gary asked.

A cold chill went through Misty's spine. She gasped at the mentioning of the event. "You?" she turned to Gary. He nodded. "And you?" She turned to Ash.
Eventually he nodded too.

Misty sank to her knees. The weight of all this information was too great for her. The faces of the ones she lost in Toshiro raced in her head. She looked up at Ash. Her cerulean eyes looked vacant, like she didn't even recognize who he was. Clear streams of tears rolled down her eyes, as she looked at him.

"Ash... How could you have a part of that?" She whispered. "Those people..." She rose to her feet and gripped the front of his clothes. "Tell me Ash! Tell me he's lying!" She desperately shouted. "Tell me you didn't have a part of it...PLEASE!!!"

A wave of black hair fell across Ashura's face. He turned away from Misty. Her tearful gaze was more than he could handle. "Misty...I..."

The girl sank to the ground as more of her tears fell. Ash bent down and held her. For a brief moment she allowed his comfort. Prior memories of when he used to comfort her flew threw her mind as she sobbed into his chest. Then she tensed up, and drew back from his embrace.

"Gary, tell me what happened that day..." She ordered.

For a second Gray looked at Ash. He nodded, giving his approval. Gary then sighed and took a breath.

"Well MASTERS was alerted of a bomb threat that was called in at the newly opened Toshiro Towers. At first, MASTERS wasn't concerned. A bomb threat was something the police usually dealt with." Gary stopped and looked up at Misty. The girl was eyeing him intently. Sighing he continued. "But when it was learned that the terrorist held 100 hostages, the condition of the hostages weren't confirmed, so MASTERS was immediately sent in to handle the situation."

"This was where me and Ash fit into the picture. This was our first big assignment. Everything we had before was a walk in the park compared to the urgency and stakes involved with Toshiro. And when the identity of the ringleader was finally known, things got even more urgent."

"The Ringleader?" Misty asked.

"Richard Giovanni..." Ash said. His back was toward the pair, his eyes looking across the horizon as he spoke. "…the newly appointed leader of Team Rocket. Before MASTERS didn't consider Team Rocket much of a threat. They did commit thefts here and there, but more or less, they were considered harmless."

He turned to face Misty and Gary. A flash of hatred glinted in his eyes. "But with the arrival of Richie, things changed drastically in Team Rocket. Now instead of outfitting his men with Pokemon, he gives them Magnums and Uzis. And their Pokemon were taught to kill and torment. I've heard that he has raised some that develop a taste for human flesh."

Misty's stomach churned at the thought. She looked down trying to get the morbid thoughts of Pokemon being used that way out of her head.

Ash face softened. "I'm sorry..." He apologized.

She shook her head. "No...I'm ok..."

Nodding Ashura continued. "With Richie leading Team Rocket, the cities in Indigo were hit with a crime wave like no one has seen in like the last hundred years. Robberies, rape, homicides...the percentage for all of these crimes increased drastically. And now Richie was ready for terrorism. He had to be stopped and MASTERS entrusted us to do it."

"So what happened really?" Misty innocently asked Ash.

He turned to the side. There was a gentle breeze that flew through his raven black hair. "We had two major priorities in the mission; one to find and hopefully aid, the hostages and two to find and neutralize the bomb. We knew Richie was going to be there and we had orders to also bring him in, but the hostages and the bomb came first."

Ashura sighed. "Since there were two main objectives were the bomb and the hostages, me and Gary split up and searched through the building. Gary was searching for the location of the bomb. While I was looking for the holding place of the hostages..."

"...brainless here got himself kidnapped..." Gary interrupted. Ashura glared at him. And of course, Gary ignored his scowl. "He was lucky he was wearing a transmitter or I wouldn't have been to late..."

******

Gary was running through the halls of Toshiro. Ash had got himself in trouble, and as usual it was up to Gary to get him out.

"Look Jessie and James may have their flaws...but they are still good people..."


The sound of Ashura's voice echoed in Gary's ear transceiver. It appeared that
Ash and Richie were together. 'Good.' Gary thought. He could rescue Ash and take out Richie. Kill two birds with one stone.

Gary stopped in front of a wall. Ashura and Richie were less then 50 feet away behind the barrier. Gary knew the perfect way to remedy that problem.

He slung his bag to the floor and reached inside. Searching through some of the items, he finally found the purpose of his hunt. The newly produced FU-HPs, a new type of explosive that enables different settings for the size of their burst, not only did it have varying levels of blasts, but the small size of the
FU-HPs helped a too. It resembled a slightly larger hockey puck with a gauge on the face.


"I think 3 should do just right..." Gary said while adjusting the explosive. It was funny the FU-HPs were the new inventions of those two new members to
MASTERS Research and Development ward, Jessie and James. How ironic former members of Team Rocket were now developing weapons to fight Team Rocket.

'Oh well that's how the world works. I guess...' Gary thought while placing the disk on the wall, the explosive set. Gary took a few steps back and raised his semi-automatic AU4 Shotgun. He then pulled the trigger.

Ash closed his eyes and patiently waited for the round from Richie's gun to fire; an action that would never take place. There was a deafening explosion that shook the whole room. The sounds of falling debris and rubble could be heard echoing through the walls.

"Hey if it isn't the loser from Pallet…"

Ash's eyes opened when he heard the voice. He grinned. 'Gary always did like the flashy intros,' He noted. Through the smoke and flames, his rifle wielding partner entered the room. Ash looked forward to Richie, ready to make a comment.
But all he did was catch the back of the villain, fleeing the room.

Taking note of his leave Gary cursed. Sighing he drew out a switchblade and cut the robes that bided Ashura to the chair. "It seems I can't leave you alone for a second, can I Ketchum?" He grinned. "I guess you always need someone watching your back..."

Ashura was about to respond when he noticed a shadow moving behind Gary. Knowing that alerting his partner would take too long, Ashura dove for Gary's sidearm.
Gripping the Desert Eagle, Ash swung around behind Gary and discharged the weapon into the hidden foe. All his actions were completed in mere seconds. By the time Gary turned around, the body had already hit the floor.

Ashura got up to his feet and cracked his neck. "Looks like I'm not the only one that needs their back watched." He smirked then handed the weapon back to Gary.

Gary curled his lip upward. "Shut up, Ketchum." Then he retrieved his pistol.

Ash grinned even more. "You do know...legally you are a Ketchum too, now," he laughed heartily.

"Yeah, Yeah...." Gary said warding off Ashura's taunts. "So you find the location of the hostages?" he asked, trying to bring the seriousness of their purpose back...and also changing the subject.

Ashura shook his head. "I've been through the building up and down. I checked every room and all the areas. I don't see any trace of there being any hostages."

Gary stroked his chin. "So that means that the hostages claim was just a bluff." He smirked. "Good makes our job easier. All we have to do is deactivate the bomb, put a few slugs into Richie, and call it a day."

A worried expression graced Ashura's face. "I don't know Gary. It seems too simple." He walked a little bit, pacing in the room. "I mean why call a hostage scare with no hostages? And why have all the man power if it is only a bomb?"

Gary thought for a minute. "Well maybe this was Richie's plan to lure us here.
You know he has it in for you, ever since you beat him to get to the final round. He could have been a Pokemon Master, if you didn't crush his team with Pikachu."

Ashura thought for a minute. "Well I guess your right." Ash sighed and reached into Gary's duffel bag. He was glad Gary always brought extra guns and ammunition. The dark haired youth brought out a pair of nickel plated Berettas.
Loading both pistols, he turned to Gary. "Where's the location of the bomb?"

Taking Ashura's lead, Gary was also in the process of reloading his rifle. "It's in the penthouse. There's a few patrols running around the building..." He glanced over the monitor. The screen showed 1:19:56sec. He sighed. "And we have less then 2 hours to get to it and deactivate the bomb."

Ashura grinned. "Then we can take all the time we want, kicking Richie's butt."

Gary laughed, while slinging his duffel bag onto his shoulder. "Let's go..." He decreed. Ashura nodded. The two left the room.

Carefully exiting the room, the duo ran down the hallway. "The fastest way to get to the penthouse is going through the banquet hall and taking the service elevator." Gary mentioned, as the two ran side-by-side down the corridors.

The Team Rocket member that was exiting one of Toshiro's Suites didn't notice the approaching duo. Yawning, probably after a good nap, the Rocket stepped outside.

Ashura spotted the mercenary. "Rocket up head."

"Got it," Gary informed him. He then slung the duffel bag he was holding, into his hand then flung it at the unsuspecting Rocket.

While in the process of rubbing the sleep out his eyes, the Team Rocket looked to the side. He could have sworn he was seeing something blurry coming right at him. Probably still half-sleep he took a look at the large duffel bag he just caught in his hands. Hearing footsteps he looked up, only to see the twisted form of Agent Ashura in the process of delivering a devastating leaping Crescent
Kick.

The Rocket would have naturally fallen backward by the blow, but the impaling backward spinning elbow delivered from Gary Oak, rocketed the Rocket forward.
His body fell to the ground, bound for another long nap, then seeing that the job was done, the two continued down the hall.

Soon after they reached an area where the path divided, Ashura glanced over to Gary. "So which way?" he asked.

Gary thought for a minute. He looked over to Ashura and smiled. "Well both paths lead to the banquet hall." He answered. "And most likely, both paths are going to be filled with Rockets, so how about a little competition?" Ashura raised an eyebrow. "Let's see who can get to the banquet hall first... that is if you keep yourself from being captured." Gary added, suppressing a smirk.

"SHUT UP ABOUT THAT!" Ashura shouted. "And...You’re on..." He confirmed. Then he took off, full speed down the right side of the hallway.



Gary sighed and walked down the left side of the hallway, strolling like he had all the time in the world. He knew his way was the shortcut, so why should he overexert himself?

******

"HEY! YOU NEVER TOLD ME, THAT BEFORE!!!!"

"SHUT UP KETCHUM! I'm in the middle of telling a story here..."

******

Running down the hallways of Toshiro Towers, MASTERS agent Ashura Ketchum was desperately trying to beat the clock, as well as his partner to the banquet hall.

'He couldn't beat me at Indigo. And I'm not letting him beat me now,' were his thoughts as he rounded another corner. Ashura put on the brakes as he stalled and backed off, hoping that the Rockets that flocked in the hall preceding him, didn't spot him.

Peering over the side of the bend, he took a quick glance. He sighed in relief.
The Rockets still remained in their current position. Taking another look, Ash counted, one…two...four Rockets. He was outnumbered, but he did have the element of surprise.

Ash leaned against the wall and took a couple of quick breaths. This was going
to take a lot of his skills to pull off.

"Ok guys, let’s check this floor again then head to the kitchen. I'm hungry."
The Rocket ordered. The other members agreed. They started to head further down the hall.

One of the Rockets swung around, as if he heard something. He looked and all he could see was an empty hallway. Turning around he followed his crew.

CRUNCH

He knew he heard something that time. He turned around again, all he saw was a lot of black...Or something dressed in black coming right at him.

Ashura ran at the Rocket at full speed. The member was totally off guard. Reason would tell anyone that they should have fought back or something, but he was totally speechless, a fact Ashura used to his advantage.

In a flash Ash jabbed the ball of his foot into the right into the chest of the Rocket. Maintaining his momentum, he pushed all his weight onto his foot. Using his other leg, he planted it onto the Rocket's shoulder, leaping off the Rocket totally, sending the Rocket to the ground and Ashura into the air.

At the climax of his hurdle, he reached behind and brought out the two Berettas and fired them at the Rockets on either side of him. In his descent towards the ground, he brought the two guns forward and fired again into the leading Rocket.
Then he spun his body in mid-air and fired into the Rocket he leaped off of, as he landed on his back.

Ashura was lying onto his back, his weapons still aimed in the direction of the last Rocket. He took one quick glance around to make sure no one was there, and then Ashura rolled backward to his feet. Pleased with the results of his stunt, he continued on to the banquet hall.

******

Gary had already been waiting a good five minutes by the banquet hall. He lazily looked at his watch. "Ketchum is getting slow. No wonder they caught him before," he sighed. "If he gets captured again.... He's on his own."

"DAMMIT!!" Gary smiled. He knew that groan from anywhere. He turned around to face his partner. "How did you get here so fast?" The jaded Ketchum asked.

Gary grinned. "I told you Ketchum...I'm naturally skilled." He laughed to himself and kicked off the banquet hall doors.

"Yeah...whatever..." Ash wailed. "Anyway let’s get in and head to the penthouse, so we can get this over with." Ketchum suggested while reaching for the doorknob.

"WAIT!" Gary warned. Ashura was looking slightly impatient. "Hey I have a hunch about something...." He encouraged. He slowly crept over to the door. Instead of swinging it wipe open, he decided to take a small peep inside. As he did, he got a good view of the room’s occupants.

Rockets...

A good couple of dozen, or so Team Rocket members, all armed and looking like they were waiting for someone, Gary was just glad that no one spotted them yet.
He left the door, as Ash took a quick look. The dark haired Agent was just as enthusiastic as Gary was.

"Dammit I knew it..." Gary shouted. He turned to Ash. "Ketchum...You always notice when the secret agents open the doors, it always leads to a room filed with ninjas or something...."

Ashura nodded his head. "Yeah I know..."

Gary sighed. "Just once I would like to open to a room full of strippers or something. Maybe topless Nurse Joys...."

Ash raised an eyebrow to his partner. "You been hanging out with Brock again haven't you?"

Gary shrugged. "Hey the Breeder has a point. The Nurse Joys and Officer Jennys are kinda fine."

Ash rolled his eyes. "Anyway..." he said, again changing the subject.”So what do you suggest, to be our best course of action, Mr. Oak?"

"Well Mr. Ketchum..." Gary answered while rummaging through his little bag of tricks. "Well, we do have a few more of those handy, dandy FU-HPs."

Ash grinned. "Hey I think those will do just nicely." He picked one of the disks up. "So what do you suggest, three or four?" He asked, referring to the blast level that the device could cause.

Gary thought for a minute. "Well seeing as though, level 4 would probably kill us too. I would suggest level three again. Actually two level 3s should do the job just nicely."

Agreeing Ash handed him the explosives. Then he drew one of his Berettas.
"Ok...so on three then...right?" Gary nodded and took a position by the door, holding the FU-HPs in one hand and the door knob in the other.

"Three!!!" Ash shouted.

As soon as he did, Gary swung open the door and threw the FU-HPs into the air.
The disks floated through the room, while Ashura was taking aim. He squinted then pulled the trigger. The bullet ran through the air hitting its mark. As soon as it did, there was a brief flash. But the light died down, as Gary slammed the door shut.

There was a deafening explosion that rang from the room. The explosion was so severe the door nearly flew off into hallway, the ground quaking during the destruction. Then all was silent...

Ashura dared to peek inside the room once again. There was a new grin painted on his face.

"So how is it?" Gary asked. He was greeted with a patented Ashura smile. Instead of answering Gary's question, Ashura thought it was best to just show him. So he swung the door open, to give Gary a view.

The grandson of Professor Oak was held in awe. The room was totally in disarray...

No. Disarray would have been welcome compared to the condition the room was in.
Small fires where scattered around the premises. Bodies upon dead bodies were everywhere. Parts of the floor above them could be seen. Ash and Gary even had a good view of the bathroom in the room below them.

"Nice Towels...." They both commented.

Ash looked up and turned to Gary. "Umm...you think we may have over done it?"

Gary panned the room. He noticed a florescent light falling from its fixture. It shattered hitting the surface. He also noted there were a few sparks dancing here and there. He looked back to Ashura. "Naaaaah..."

Shrugging the two exited the room, both being mindful to watch their steps and their walk. Then they both entered the service elevator.

******

Ding! Ding! Ding!

There was a sound of a heavy door sliding open. Two shadows raced from inside the elevator and emptied into the darkened penthouse room. One crept behind a wall while the other positioned itself by a pillar in the room. The silhouettes emitted no sound and hardly left any trace of their presence as they moved. They made sure their tracks were always left clear. These were the skills they were taught and these were the skills that were expected.

Ashura took post by the wall. From his position, he could see the outline of the bomb that was supposed to ignite in twenty minutes. Since he had the higher percentage of disarmed simulated bombs, it was his job to handle this one. Gary was lurking close by to cover him.

Peering once again at the explosive, Ashura made his move and drew closer to the bomb, the counter still slowly running out. Ketchum crouched down by the device and produced a small tool kit. Glancing through all the items, he drew out a small screwdriver.

He was about to unscrew the counter screen, when there was a small humming that resonated in the room. Then, the room's 24-inch computer screen flickered on.
Gary and Ash both scowled when they saw who was on the screen...Richie Giovanni.

"Hello guys!" The monitor cheered. "You know, you just killed fifty of my best men. I spent three mouths training them to be nothing but cold blooded killers..." He smiled and shrugged. "Oh well...I hadn't paid them yet anyway... No loss..." He laughed a little to himself.

Ashura narrowed his eyes. "Look Richie, you might as well give up. I'm going to disarm this thing with 5 minutes to spare. Then Gary and me are going to take turns kicking the ever-living crap out of you. Take a five minute break, and go another round."

Gary snickered from the corner. Ash could still talk some trash if he wanted to.
His eyes wandered around the room, trying to figure out where the monitor's signal was coming from.

Through the screen Ash could see Richie grimace to his remark. The brown haired criminal then laughed maniacally. "Hmmm...So you’re going to disarm the bomb with five minutes to spare..." Richie chuckled. "Well what if I speed the clock up to three minutes left..." As soon as he uttered the phrase, Ash looked over to the clock.

As if on command, the time left accelerated to only three minutes remaining.
Richie laughter was all that consumed the background. Totally ignoring the
Rocket's presence, Ashura hastily went through his procedures to disarm the bomb.

Gary was totally oblivious to the change in the stakes. He was still trying to find how Richie was sending the signal. Then a small red light reflected through one of the skylights. He tried to find the source of it, but it was probably coming from the building across the street.

He would have paid the light no mind if it wasn't moving. The light traced over the penthouse walls and rested a few spaces behind his partner. Gary didn't need a second thought to know what was going on.

"ASH!!"

Gary raced out of the room. Only thing that was on his mind was saving his partner...No, saving his friend.



*****

Ashura was making good time. Of course he was going to cut it close, but close was better then being dead. All he needed was a little bit more time and concentration. Then he would be able to disarm this thing and finally end this nightmare. Only thing was, time was a luxury that he didn't have. But as long as he had a clear head, things should turn out ok...

"You know...it's too bad about those hostages," Richie taunted. "Having their lives cut short, just because a few MASTERS agents had hotheads."

Scratch that about concentration... "What?" Ash's eyes widened. "There are no hostages...I looked in every room in this place. There were no other people but Rockets!!!!"

Richie grinned. "Yeah...that's true. There weren't any hostages in rooms...But think about it Ash. This is a big place. You think only a room can house bodies..."

All of Ash's worst fears were starting to come to light. He never considered that they might be in another place. "NO! YOU'RE LYING!!! YOU BASTARD, YOU'RE LYING!!!"

Richie smirked. "Sure I am..." then the screen went black.

Ash tried to push those thoughts out of his mind. All he had to do was disarm this thing. Then everything would be all right. He had a minute left, he could do this. He had too...

"ASH GET DOWN!!!" Gary shouted, while hurling his body over top of Ash. There was a sound of splitting glass. A shot was fired. Gary cried out in pain as he felt the bullet enter his back and shoot through his chest. Then everything went black.

Ash rose to his feet. "GARY!!!" he shouted as he saw the condition of his friend. Blood was pouring out of his chest and back. Then a spark of remembrance hit Ashura.

"THE BOMB!"

00:00:10secs...

"DAMMIT NO!" Ash cried out. He didn't have enough time. He failed. Those people, all those lives. He was ready to accept his fate. He failed so he should join them.

Then a hoarse sound jolted his senses. Ash looked down and saw an unconscious Gary coughing up spurts of blood. "Gary!" His mind registered. He couldn't save those people, but he could at least save Gary.

Ketchum gathered up the seemingly lifeless form of Gary and threw him over his shoulder, then Ashura dash to the nearest window. Using his free hand, he fired a few shots shattering the glass. Ketchum then ran straight toward the window.

Pieces of glass parted as he leapt through the window. There was a flash in the background, as the penthouse room ignited. The force of the blast carried Ashura and Gary into the neighboring building.

Both bodies crashing against the panel glass, and then landed roughly into the room. Ash ignored his broken ribs, scrapes and cuts. He looked with horror at the blazing building of chaos that was once known as Toshiro.

Blackness entered his vision as he finally collapsed.

******

Misty was totally silent as she heard the remainder of Ash's words. She hadn't formed an opinion yet, on whether or not Ash was truly at fault. But whatever her resolve was, it didn't matter. After listening to Ashura's tale...after hearing and seeing the pain and hurt on his eyes, she couldn't punish him anymore. He was doing that to himself.

There was a silence between the three. No one really wanted to speak. Misty looked at Ash. She wasn't sure, but she thought she saw a few tears wet his face.

He spoke again. "When I finally came too, I was laid out in a stretcher. They cramped an oxygen mask on me, but I removed it and shot up in the bed." He looked over at the two then continued talking.

"Brock greeted me on the bed. I remember asking him over and over, if there were any hostages..." Ash made a fist and slammed it against the tree he was leaning against. "He told me he didn't know. Then I heard a forensic guy shouting to others about finding a body...A three year old girl's body."

Ashura looked at the two, at first gazing at Gary's eyes. His former partner's eyes were showing forgiveness. Ashura looked away, he didn't deserve forgiveness. He then looked into the blue eyes of Misty. Her eyes showed pity. He looked away again. He didn't want her pity. He just wanted to forget. But fate kept finding a way for him to remember. In the end he resolved to just look at the ground...

Ash continued. "Shortly after, more and more bodies were found." Ashura swallowed hard. He knew his next sentence was going to be hard. "Richie was right. None of the hostages were in rooms. The sick bastard stuffed them in the ventilation system."

Misty gasped at the news. 'How could anyone be so cruel?' She didn't know Team Rocket was involved with Toshiro. She knew that MASTERS played a hand in it. Then she tensed. If Richie was capable of doing that, then what could he do to...?

"But I thought..." Misty paused. "On the news they said Toshiro just caught on fire."

Gary shook his head. "The press was fed that line, so MASTERS could cover their mistakes..."

"You mean *my* mistake, don't you, Gary..." Ash murmured.

Gary was about to comment. But this time Misty beat him to it. "Ash it's not your fault." She said softly, drawing both of there attentions. "You did everything you could...I think...I think you've suffered enough," She said while placing her hand on his shoulders.

He turned and looked at her. He then turned away. "You know nothing of my suffering..." He said bitterly, while removing her hand from his shoulder.

Misty drew her hand back. A quiver of pain was showing on her face. Ash softened a little. "Misty I'm sorry..." She scowled at him.

This was the time when Gary decided to intervene. "Ok, kiddies, now that we got some sun and did sharing time, I think it's time to go back. Besides I'm worried about leaving May alone for too long. She gets tempted easily."

Ash and Misty both agreed and the trio went back inside.

The door to room 151 opened and the three entered the room. A dark mood hung over the trio as they walked in. Ash looked up and noticed his mom was starting to wake up and May was missing.

Mrs. Ketchum opened her weary blue eyes and set them on her son. Suddenly the light in the blue started to sparkle. "Oh, hi, Ash honey!" She cheered as her son came by and gave her a big hug.

"Hi, Mom," he answered back. "How are you doing?" He asked her as he drew a seat next to her bed. Misty slowly walked over besides him.

Instead of answering his question, Mrs. Ketchum noticed the new face in her room. She squinted a little, noting her eyes weren't as good as they used to be.

But she knew that face anywhere.

She bowled over her son. "Is this little angel Misty?" She asked in delight.

Misty blushed at her comment and went to hug the older woman. "Hi Mrs. Ketchum..."

Gary wheeled over to Ash and stated he was going to look for May. Ash considered it a good idea. May had a tendency to trouble all the Nurse Joys in the hospital. Paying his respects to Mrs. Ketchum, Gary excused himself.

Mrs. Ketchum eyes then looked at Misty. There was something about the girl that interested her. Then Mrs. Ketchum looked back at Ash. Her blue eyes traveled again to Misty and drifted back to Ash. A bright smiled gleamed on her wrinkled face. "Ash honey, so you finally found her? That's so great!" She smiled. "You know he was so depressed when you left Misty..."

"MOM!" Ash shouted, not really wanting to get into the subject.

Mrs. Ketchum ignored her son. "I kept telling him you would come back to him, but he still wasn't sure. Now you're back and the two of you are together. I couldn't be happier."

"MOM!" Ash shouted again. "It's not like that, Mom, really..."

"Ash, don't raise your voice to me. I'm talking to Misty here. Besides, honey, I'm glad for you. You've been alone for too long. I'm glad you finally found someone to settle down with..."

"Mom...really you don't" Ash was pleading. He didn't want her to get the wrong idea. He already knew how Misty felt about him. But he also hated to disappoint his mom.

"Ash you know you shouldn't be arguing with your mother..." Misty frowned at him. Ash's mouth dropped. Misty then turned to Mrs. Ketchum. "Yeah, I'm glad I found him again, Mrs. Ketchum. But don't worry I'll straighten him out in no time."

Mrs. Ketchum smiled. "Misty honey, I would love it if you call me Mom."

"Ok...Mom," Misty giggled after saying the word. It was weird for her, but for some reason it felt nice. She looked over at Ash who still had a look of total befuddlement. She smiled then turned back to 'Mom.'

"So Misty honey...What have you been up to all this time?" Mrs. Ketchum asked the girl, trying to catch up with old times. The two talked for a few hours. All Ash did was watch. Sometimes he answered some questions, but mostly he just was listening in.

He smiled as was gazing at the two women. His gaze went to his mom. This was the first time in months she'd actually been really happy and excited. Her illness had been taking a lot out of her lately, but talking to Misty seemed to have done her a world of good.

His gaze then turned to the redhead in question. She seemed like a totally different person now. Well, not really different, but it was a change from how she'd been acting in the last couple of days. It reminded him of how she was when they were younger. The spark in her eyes, the liveliness of her voice, it was really the first time he saw the old Misty. This was also the first time she actually looked happy too.

*******

After a few hours of conversation, the two left Mrs. Ketchum so she could get her rest. As soon as they left the room, the newly acquired energy that the elderly woman brought soon left them as walked down the halls.

Orange and gold lights reflected off the hospital walls. The two turned to a window and watched the sun set. The scene was truly beautiful. The skies filled with different hues of colors, and a slight breeze was going through the trees. Everything seemed so peaceful.

"It's been a long time since we've watched a sunset together..." Ash said, while facing Misty. The girl just nodded, not wanting to ruin the moment with words.

Ash smiled. He just had one of the best visits with his Mom. Usually, she didn't say much, and they would just watch TV or he would tell her about the some of his travels when he was younger and still training. But this time she talked and laughed. It was so good to see her that way again.

"Misty..." He said quietly. "Thanks for what you did for my Mom."

The girl didn't respond, she just continued to gaze out of the window. After a few minutes she turned to Ashura.

"Miss. Waters, if you please..." She uttered, reinstating her proper title to him. She then turned around and headed for the garage.

"As you wish, Miss. Waters," Ash replied tightly. He clenched and unclenched his fist. Then after a few minutes, he followed her to the garage.

******

On the outskirts of Viridian City, a navy blue BMW Z8 pulled into an abandoned building. The bumper skids to stopped inches in front of the closed garage door.

A small red light flashed from behind the tinted windshield.

The passenger side window of the vehicle opened.

A flock of red hair flooded from the opening, as a young woman peered out of the vehicle.

"Jeez..." The women said while looking at the building, her sapphire blue eyes taking in the building's course and rugged appearance.

The structure looked as though it was four or five levels tall. There was something like a sign or label on the side of the building that said "LCLF Tech." All of the levels of the building had dark tinted glass surrounding each floor. In the first few levels, every now and then, some of the windows were either cracked or missing.

Misty drew her head back into the vehicle. "This is where you live Ash?" she asked, while turning to the driver.

He made no comment.

Sighing, she fell back into the comfortable folds of the seat. There was a slight pull forward as the car drifted inside the building.

The two got out of the vehicle. Misty looked to either side of her. As far as her large blue eyes could see, it appeared that they were in the remains of an old factory. Scant traces of machinery were lying in the back, all of them covered in a cloth, but some of their parts could be seen from the distance she was at. All the equipment was pushed far to the side of the floor. 'Probably they were hoping to be lost and forgotten.' Misty wondered.

She looked in front of her. Through the cracked glass, she could see the violet colors of the sky and the small twinkling of the stars. Night had fallen.

Misty continued to stare outside the shattered shards of glass, when the sound of a large scraping sound drew her attention. She looked back in the direction Ash had gone to. She saw him lift up a flap to a metal door for the service elevator.

Ash gripped his hands in the slightly opened grove in the center of the door and lifted it up. A clanking sound echoed as the door started to part. Ashura then stepped in and looked to the girl.

She looked at him like he lost his mind. "OH NO! I am NOT going on that thing!" she protested.

Ashura shrugged. "Fine...sleep in the garage." He was about to slide the door down, when he stopped. "Oh... It would be fair to warn you that a Venomoth that I take care of from time to time likes to come by at night. So if you see him, please be considerate? Bye..." The door slammed shut.

Ashura waited for like ten seconds. He knew there wasn't any Venomoths that came around his place. He was just hoping that he could trick her into getting in. After a few moments, he sighed. 'I'll just sneak her upstairs when she's asleep, I guess.' His hand slowly drifted to press the button for the next floor...

"ASH WAIT!" he smiled.

The elevator door slowly opened and they young man's head popped out. "Yes..." Ash asked with a bold smile.

"Do you have any Black flag?" She asked. "Maybe DDT?"

Ash's mouth dropped. "Misty will you stop being such a baby and come on!?!" He shouted, not knowing why the cruel God of Fate had to have made this woman be the one person he loved.

"Ok, Ok...I'm coming." She finally said. Not really being thrilled about sleeping in a garage anyway, she also didn't believe a word of what Ash was saying about the Venomoth. He never was a good liar anyway. She could always tell when he was.

Ash slid the doors open so the girl could get in. As soon as she was, Ash slammed the door down and pulled down the secondary cage. He then looked into the corner of the elevator. There was a small surveillance camera mounted in the position. "It's us Pikachu...send us up..."

A loud "Ka..." was produced from a small speaker.

The whole elevator shook, and then started to ascend up the levels.

After they went up two floors, the elevator came to a halt. Ashura slid the doors of the elevators opened and stepped out. Soon after, Misty followed him, her head gliding back and forth looking at all the items in Ash's apartment.

"Wait here, I'm going to get where you'll be sleeping prepared," he told her.
Misty nodded and continued to look around his place.

Misty had to admit she was kind of amazed. Ash had a pretty decent apartment.
She ran the palm of her hand over the soft texture of his black leather couch. She glazed over at a big screen TV set. And next to it, she saw what looked like to be an entertainment center, with a DVD player, stereo system, VCR and even several game systems.

Misty was about to investigate more of the system when she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. She turned around and came face to face with Ash. The gentleman was holding some blankets in his hands. Misty assumed it was for her.

"Here, since there is only one bed, you can use my room. Pikachu and I will stay out here." As if on cue, the little rodent that was mentioned scurried out from around the corner. It was dragging a blanket and a pillow in its hands. A slight look of annoyance was welded onto its face, probably disliking the fact it had to leave its room, so she could use it.

"Umm...It's Ok Ash. I'm the visitor, so I can use the couch," Misty said. She was feeling a bit guilty that she was becoming a burden.

Ashura shook his head. "It makes no difference. I don't sleep in there much anyway. So you might as well take it," he stated. "And I'm sure Pikachu doesn't mind, right Pikachu?" He said to his Pokemon Partner/Roommate.

Pikachu was already plopped down in one of reclining chairs in the room. The Pokemon was nestling into the pillow that was about the size of its body, with the covers surrounding it. When addressed, the Pokemon didn't even turn around. He just waved its paw and said, "Pika...Pika…" not caring where who slept anymore.

Misty shrugged. "If you say so..." Ash nodded his head. Sighing, she gathered up her things and started to carry them into Ash's room.

"Umm...Miss. Waters..." The girl turned around. "Good night..." Ash said with a warm smile.

She returned his gesture. "Good night, Ash..." She then entered the room.

******

A gleam of light shined into the bedroom as the door was opened, Misty's hand scaled across the sides of the wall, desperately searching for the light switch.
Flicking on the lights, the room was instantly lit. A whistle escaped Misty's lips as she looked into the bedroom. It was directed more to the large king sized bed that dominated the center of the room.

"That is the biggest bed I've ever seen," Misty admitted. She was fighting every urge to do a running swan dive onto the mattress. She walked over to the bed, her small soft hands tracing the across the dark fabric. She sat down on the bed to test the softness. To her, it was like sitting on a cloud. She tossed her body back onto the mattress and stretched out. Misty suddenly realized how tired she actually was.

She glanced over to Ash's nightstand. The time on the clock radio was 9:15pm. It was still early in a sense, but she was beat. She looked at the other items on Ash's nightstand: a gold watch, some lose change. Misty eyebrows rose when she noticed his vid-phone and answering machine.

The red light was blinking on and off; signally that someone had left a message.

Actually from the number on the dial, quite a few people called him, which was to be expected, he did have an important job, so MASTERS probably had him on a short leash.

She rolled to the other side and looked at the items on the neighboring nightstand. Some stray bullets were in a tray, as well as a few pictures. Those, Misty took interest in.

She looked into all of the different photos. One photo was of Ash and Gary in front of the Ketchum home. They looked a few years younger then they do now, and in this photo Gary was standing.

'This must be before Toshiro,' Misty thought, as she put the photo down. She didn't want to remember anymore of the topics she was told about today, so instead she looked at a few more photos.

It had been a good five minutes and Misty was looking over all of Ash's pictures. It was funny; the guy had quite a few. After she finished looking over the photos on the nightstand, she went over to the pictures on his dresser. After she went through them, she looked through his drawers to find some more.

There was a reason why the girl was making such a frantic search. After a few minutes, she realized that she couldn't find a single picture of her in the room. In fact she couldn't find anything that could tell she left an impression on him.

Granted she shouldn't have been so troubled with that fact. It still bothered her though, almost like he didn't think about her the whole time she was gone, like he totally forgot about her.

'It wasn't like I really meant anything to the jerk.' She reasoned. 'So I shouldn't get upset,' she told herself, as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

Deciding to end her search, Misty thought it was time to get ready for bed. She really wasn't that tired, but she couldn't think of anything to do to kill time. And she didn't want to talk to Ash. She had had enough of him for the night.

She went through her bags to find her sleeping clothes. It wasn't anything special, just an oversized T-shirt and some sweat pants. So she stripped out of her clothes and started to get dressed. Halfway through, she noticed the door to the room starting to open.

Without having anytime to think, she ducked into what appeared to be a closet.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT? I'M CHANGING IN HERE! GET OUT!!!!" she screamed through the door.

"Pika, Pika-chu PI KA!!!!!" an angry Pikachu shouted then exited the room.

From outside she could hear. "Told ya Pikachu, it's best to leave her alone," Ash voiced. His statement was properly rewarded with a heavy serving of electricity, followed by a Pikachu commentary.

After a few minutes, the voices of the two couldn't be heard anymore. Misty sighed, and finished getting dressed in the closet. Realizing that she was in the same building with two idiotic perverts, getting dressed in the closet was probably the best idea.

Finally putting the last article of clothing on, Misty was about to leave the room when she started to realize that the closet she was in wasn't really a closet. She flicked on the light in this room and stared at the items that were draped around the room. Trophies, awards, prizes, and several medals covered all four corners of the room.

Misty was amazed at all the honors Ash had received. She assumed that he was a good trainer when she left him, but she didn't think even he could do this well.

Her eyes glanced over to one of the corners of the room. There she found a picture frame that held close to twenty different gym badges; Bolder badge, Soul Badge. Even the four Sea Shell badges from the Orange Islands, were there. All expect the badge Misty was really looking for. The blue teardrop shaped badge of Cerulean City. The badge Ash got after the first time they battled each other. Of course the only reason why he got it was pure luck, but she was always secretly proud of him for receiving it.

No her badge wasn't with the others. It was missing, like it didn't belong. She shouldn't have expected it also. It did make sense if the guy didn't keep any pictures of her around, why would he keep her badge either?

A little crestfallen, Misty slowly started to leave the room. As she left, her eyes wandered to another part of the room where she didn't inspect. In that corner she could see a shinny object encased in a glass frame, much like all the rest of Ash's badges. Only thing was, this one was by itself.

She wondered over to the frame to survey the object. Instantly her eyes started to water. There was her badge, her Cascade Badge, ever present, encased in a singular frame. There were letters on the bottom of the casing that read, "My hardest battle ever."

Misty read those words over and over again. She felt as though her heart skipped a beat. All she wanted to do now was to go into the next room and hold the man she loved with all her might. She didn't care that whether or not he loved her, she just wanted to be with him.

She wanted too. God knew she really did. But she knew she couldn't. Things were too complicated now, and if she left things like her feelings get into the way, Misty shuttered at the thought of what the results might bring.

Misty eyes glanced away from the Cascade badge and then set themselves on a large book that was placed on a table directly below it. Having the nasty bug called curiosity; Misty decided to flip through the pages.

Her sky blue eyes widened as she looked at a matching pair of blue eyes in a photo. It was a picture of her and Ash, way back when they first started journeying together. She still remembered the cute kimono that Ash was wearing.

She flipped through to the next page. There, she saw a picture of her from the "Mermaid Princess". Ash was right beside her wearing his Captain costume. Misty smiled at the small memory.

She then flipped through more of the pages. There she found many more pictures of her. In fact it was probably every picture of her they ever took was in the book. Misty didn't know what it meant. Why would Ash isolate all her photographs from all the others? Misty's mind continued to wonder as she flipped through more pages.

The young red headed doctor continued to look through the photos till the late hours of the night.

*******

The cheerful chirping of a neighboring Pidgey sounded throughout the morning air. Many that heard the pleasant cry would gladly welcome the new day...well, all except a very groggy Waterflower.

Misty had the right mind to throw the pillow she was laying on right at the annoying Pokemon. She thrust her head into the pillow, trying to block out the noise. Then a thought occurred to her. When did she get back from the trophy room and into the bed?

The last thing she could accurately remember was her looking at a photo of herself prying Brock away from a very grateful Nurse Joy. Things after that got hazy.

She sighed and curled into the comforter. The bed was soft and she was still tired. The facts of how she got into the bed didn't matter. Only more SLEEP. She allowed her still weary eyes to droop a little bit, feeling sleep recalling her for another session. Misty was soon fast asleep. Or she would have been, if the smell of something really good didn't yank her up from sleep again.

She scanned the room from either side, and then noticed a small tray with a sliver lid on it. She sighed.

'Why did he have to choose now to be sweet?' She groaned. But her complaints didn't last long, for a smile was on her face almost instantly. She never had any guy give her breakfast in bed before.

Forgetting her once needful venture for sleep, she reasoned that food was the more important factor now, especially since she didn't get any dinner last night. Pulling back her loose sleeve from her XXXL T-shirt, Misty reached for the lid to uncover her meal.

On the tray was a very modest breakfast: eggs, toast, a few pancakes and some syrup. But the one thing that caught her eye was a small note that was onto of the meal. She flipped the card over and looked at the message.

"Sleeping on the floor isn't real good for your health, Miss. Waters.
-Ash"

"That jerk..." She said, and soon after, a small smile formed on her lips. Even after all that they have gone through yesterday, he was still looking out for her. She admitted he was a very special person, she just wished she could get out of her situation so she could find out really...

After about an hour of feasting on the surprisingly delicious breakfast Ash had made for her, Misty once again settled herself in the very comfortable setting of his bed. She was really enjoying this and she was really enjoying this bed. It seemed like it was made just for her.



A thought came to her head. She wondered after this whole ordeal was over could she somehow swing it so she could get custody of the bed. Granted it would probably be the largest piece of furniture in her single bedroom apartment, but she decided she would manage it somehow.

Putting away her irregular intentions to Ashura's bed, Misty relaxed and fell onto the mattress. Knowing that she had another day before she was to go on that trip to the Celadon National Bank, the Pokemon Doctor decided to use this day to relax. She was also planning on abusing Ash's hospitality a little.

This day was going to be for her. She wasn't planning on doing anything, just relax and try to take it easy. She didn't know when she would have this opportunity again. Usually she was on duty at her Hospital or had to run the Cerulean Gym. But she put in a few weeks vacation, at the Hospital and she notified her Assistant at the Gym to handle any challengers for the time being. So in a sense she was free...

Now only if that damn phone would stop ringing...

Misty frowned her eyebrows as she was slowly losing her lethargic state. It had been a good half a dozen rings and Ash hadn't' picked up. The more the phone rang the more she lost her will to return to sleep. After a while, she just got up from the bed. Sighing, she decided to get dressed and maybe get in a shower if she could find it in this huge place.

After a few more minutes of hesitation, Misty finally wrenched herself out of bed and started to get dressed. At this point of the morning she didn't care about what she wore. The only person she'd probably see the whole day would be Ash and since she was so used to living with him from before, she didn't see the need to do anything special.

She managed to finally find something she could wear, so Misty was ready to venture out into the apartment. The still present sounds of the vid-phone still rang. Finally the answering machine picked it up.

"Hello you've reached the residence of Ashura Ketchum. Please leave your name and a short message and I will get back to you as soon as I can."

"PIKA!" was heard in the background.

"Oh and if you would like to talk to Pikachu, Press 2"

Misty laughed to herself as she heard the additional sentence. The beep from the machine sounded. "HI ASHY!!!" Misty cringed. The ever so bubbly and high pitched sound of May Oak's voice piped through the machine. "THIS IS MAY! CALL ME CUTIE WHEN YOU GET THIS MESSAGE. IT WAS SO NICE SEEING YOU YESTERDAY WITH THAT LITTLE GIRL OF YOURS. SHE'S KINDA CUTE! BUT NOT AS CUTE AS YOU ASHY! BYE CUTIE!"

Misty groaned. She had half a mind to just erase the message... Hell, why not? Misty rushed over to the side of the answering machine. "What Ash doesn't know won't hurt him?" Misty reasoned.

She went to press the 'erase' button, then she noticed his unviewed Messages rounded to thirty. Slightly curious to know why thirty people called Ash, she went to listen to a few messages.

"HI ASHY! I'M HERE WITH FREDDIE! YOU'RE WELCOME TO COME OVER AND HAVE FUN WITH US..." Misty cut off the message and went to the next one.

"HI ASHY! THIS IS MAY! WHY DON'T YOU COME OVER, I'M LONELY TONIGHT!"

Click Next message...

"HI ASHY..."

Click

"HI ASHY..."

Misty was frantic, message after message was filled with that totally annoying bubbly, high-pitched slut May. She hated her. She hated how she called Ash, "ASHY." She hated how desperate she sounded when she called and how she almost had no self-respect with her advances to Ash. Especially since May had a man already. Ash was her's and she wasn't going to let some ditzy airhead take him away.

The phone rang again. This time without hesitation Misty picked up the receiver.

She was going to lay that little Miss Oak straight. She might have stolen him away from her before but things were different. She was going to tell her as long was she was around, there wasn't anyone that was going to call her man, unless it was her.

"LOOK BITC-" Misty shouted through the receiver.

"Hoold up! Who's this? And where's Ash?" Misty concentrated. The voice didn't sound like some clueless, moron. But it sounded more like an obnoxious woman.

"Um...This is Misty. Who's this?" Misty answered.

"Jessie, Miss. Twerp! AND WHO WERE YOU CALLING A BIT..."

"Sorry, Sorry," Misty cut her off. "I thought you were someone else." She sighed.

"Uh...huh. You better be. I was calling for Ash, but this appears to be more interesting," Jessie answered.

Misty groaned. She knew she couldn't live this down for a long time. And what was going through her head? She shouldn't get so worked up over Ash. Please. He made his decision long ago.

"I see you're answering his phone now..." Jessie began.

"Yeah so?" Misty could tell Jessie was smirking even though the phone wasn't on video.

"My how personal of you..." She teased the young doctor. "I wouldn't have thought you two would have moved to that stage already..."

"It's not what you think Jessie..." Misty replied. She cranked her neck to the side. She could have sworn she heard something, something that sounded like pounding. She juggled the phone to her other shoulder, and walked outside of Ash's bedroom.

"Oh really..." The Jessie responded. "So how was he?" She inquired.

Misty eyes widened. "How was who? What the HELL... are you ...talking...about?!" Misty shouted as she walked down the hallway. The pounding sound was getting closer. She walked down a flight of stairs and opened a door.

She heard Jessie sigh over the phone. "DUH!!" She couldn't believe how dense this girl was. "Misty you spent the night with probably the most desirable Agent of MASTERS..."

Misty rolled her eyes as she walked through the door. She was closing in on source of all the noise. The sounds that started off as just a loud repeated thumping, was converted to mild yells and grunts. "You can't be talking about
Ash..." Misty spoke to the woman on the other line.

"What do you mean? Ash grew up to be quite fine I must say."

Misty was walking down a hallway and turned a corner. "Please Ash is still nothing but the skinny, scraggly kid...from....from..." Misty's eyes widened as she finally found what was causing so much racket.

******

Ashura's triceps contracted as he let his clenched fist glide forward. A bead of sweat flew from his forearm as he completed the motion. He had been working out for nearly two hours already. He wasn't even close to feeling fatigued.

He raised his sword arm to guard his face with the blade. Then he made a downwards vertical slash with sword. He then held the blade at a 45 degree angle, then turned the edge upwards, and made a raising upper slash with the sword.

Ashura landed in a parted stance. The sword glided across the air. With a flick of his wrist, he rested the blunt of the edge against his arm. Then he performed a three-kick combination that ended with a spinning heel kick.

******

Misty was watching all those actions from out in the hall. All the graceful movements, all the powerful techniques...these weren't things she was concerned about. What interested her weren't the forms that Ashura was doing, but the form Ash had.

'When did he get so ripped?' She asked herself.

How could she not have noticed it before, but the sight of the man, clad in only some sweat pants and a small tank top, she was totally able to see the whole package Ashura had. His physical frame wasn't a mass of oversized muscles, like in the Mr. Universe contest. He had the more of the thinner, well-defined look. A look she felt was very attractive...and she had to admit he looked kinda good.

The way he moved, the sight of seeing his body and muscles exert themselves. The way the light glinted off of his slightly perspiring frame. All this things were doing a number on Misty's hormones.

She was glad that Ash practiced with a blindfold on, 'cause he would clearly see her gawking at him. She kind of smiled at seeing a little ponytail he had clearing some of his long hair out of his face. She thought it kind of made him look...cute.

"So how long are you going to stare at me?" Ashura's voice called out, breaking the relative silence. He had already finished the form and was making his way across the room to sheath the sword in the rooms weapons rack. He hadn't taken off the blind fold though, which puzzled her.

"WAA...ummm...Uh..." Misty was nervous. She'd been found out. Now not only did she feel slightly guilty, but also quiet embarrassed. So she said the first thing that came to her mind. "Nice moves..." she said with an uneasy smile...very uneasy.

Ashura smiled and took off his blindfold. "Oh...so that's what was interesting to you." He smiled again and focused his dark brown eyes on her, suddenly Misty felt like a mouse caught by a Meowth.

He turned away. "You hear that Pikachu? She likes our stuff...," he said in corner of on the dojo/exercise room.

Misty felt even more embarrassed. She was so fascinated with Ash she didn't even notice her surroundings. Now that she was paying more attention, she looked around at the room where there were working out at. The back of the room had a large assortment of different martial arts weapons; ranging from katanas, to plum flower staffs, to even twin butterfly swords.

Another corner consisted of a multi-armed Wing Chun dummy and a large punching bag. Misty realized the large banging sounds she heard earlier probably came from that. Throughout the room were different weight machines, a weight bench and a few dumbbells. Ashura had a very well stocked exercise facility.

Then a small yellow figure that was sitting by itself gathered the young woman's attention. Misty raised one eyebrow and blinked twice to make sure what she was seeing was real. Here Pikachu was, sitting in meditative position, levitating a hundred pound weight over his head. The only means for the weight to maintain its height was the constant streams of electricity that poured from the Pokemon.

Ash walked up behind her and rested his elbow on her shoulder. The act alone nearly sent the poor girl to the roof with fright. Ash laughed a little. "Neat trick huh?" he asked, referring to Pikachu's training feat.

Misty pushed his elbow off of her. "Yeah, it's ok...You're ok, too." She admitted. "But you could still use some more practice." She finished with a small grin.

Ash chuckled to himself. "Right...You know in the last 3 MASTERS Martial Arts tournaments I've been the undefeated Champion." he boasted.

Misty rolled her eyes. "Yeah... that's only because I wasn't competing."

At this Ash laughed hard. He nearly doubled over from laughter. "Oh please…you’re saying you could take me?"

Misty curled her upper lip. "That's what I'm saying, hatboy..." she challenged.

Ash grinned. He wanted to call her bluff. He had seen her moves from before. She was pretty good for someone that trained from a self-defense school. But he knew he had the best teachers in all of Indigo. "Well, well...I guess we'll have to see one of these days..." He said while grabbing a towel and drying off some of his sweat.

Misty was quite furious. Not only was he not taking her seriously, but she was mad at herself for still wanting this guy. "Why wait...I'm ready now." She said, while tying up her hair back in a scrunchie.

Ash laughed again. "Sure, sure...You want to fight me now?" After a few seconds, he realized she wasn't joking. "Umm... Misty I was just kidding. I don't want to fight you..."

Misty glared at him. "Why, you scared you're going to lose?" She shot back.

Ash shook his head. "No it's not that I.... I just don't want to fight you."

Misty grinned. "And here I thought you were the big stuff, the big man at MASTERS. And you’re afraid to fight little ol' me...." She teased, while removing her bagging shirt revealing the small black tank top underneath.

"No it's not...that..." Ash started. Then he noticed that she took off her baggy sweat pants, now only be wearing some small short shorts underneath. The shorts showed off her nice shapely legs.

"Ummm...Ok, let's go!" He finally agreed, giving in to another part of his anatomy.

********

The two stood about six feet away from each other in the dojo. The redhead raised her hands, to get into her fighting stance. One arm was partially extended to her opponent while the other hand guarded her rib cage and side. Her stance was wide, but allowed equal movement on both legs.

Ashura took a similar stance only he raised one hand to his opponent. He saw no need to put up a guard.

"Lets begin!" Misty said as she raced across the room planning on ending this quick with her famous 3-punch combination. As she approached, she noticed that her opponent only held a bold stare towards her.

'He's trying to sike me out,' she affirmed. Then she was ready to let her fist swing.

"WAIT!" He cautioned her. The outburst was so sudden from her opponent that she simply complied. Misty rested back on her edge of the mat, waiting for Ashura's response.

"If you not going to go all out, then you're not going to beat me," he warned.

Misty frowned. To be honest she was trying to be serious. Deep down inside, she guessed she didn't want to hurt him. But since he was asking for it...

Misty regained her fighting stance. Only this time, she re-adjusted the weight on her legs, allowing her rear leg to have less weight on it. Now, Misty was ready. She just hoped that things didn't get too out of hand. She didn't even remember why they even were sparring in the first place.

'Must have been something that Ash did,' she thought.

*******

Here the two were again, in the dojo. Their only audience was a tiny yellow
Pikachu that was hard at work on his own techniques.

The two patiently waited this time. Neither was going to be foolish enough to jump the gun. A flaw that early could bring forth your own defeat from the start. Each knew that sometimes, waiting for the perfect opportunity was just as hard as the actual battle itself.

A Pidgey that landed on a branch of a nearby tree outside Ashura's building was busy chirping, signaling its plight. The Pidgey was exhausted. All morning it was searching for food for its young. The Pokemon ran into a flock of Spearows at which it had to run from and even two trainers that was trying to capture it.

A rarity it was, but it had been around for a long time, so it knew how to handle itself. There wasn't a trainer alive that could capture this Pokemon unless he had a death wish. A Momma Pidgey was something to be reckoned with.

It stretched its neck out again and was ready to take flight. It flapped its wings as it took to the air. As it did, the Pokemon could have sworn it heard the sounds of some kind of human battle taking place in a nearby building.
Whatever the case, it didn't concern this Pokemon. It had fledglings to worry about.

*******

Misty assaulted Ashura with a thunderous roundhouse kick. The speed and the force of the blow would have sent any unprepared opponent to the floor. Luckily, Ashura saw the attack coming; side stepped then put a double block for her kick.

The failed attack didn't stop his opponent in the slightest. Misty followed up her attack with a five hit combo. She made sure that each of her blows was targeted to his vital points.

Ashura fanned his hands, blocking all of her blows then countered with his own crescent kick to the girl's abdomen. Misty used a double block to counter the blow also, but the force behind the action caused her to loose balance. That's what Ashura was counting on...

Seeing her disturbed stance, Ashura took the initiative. He came at her with a flurry of cross punches and jabs. Misty couldn't meet his speed so all she could do was try to block all his blows...only problem was she missed one.

Ash fist glided past Misty's defenses. The girl winced, waiting for the blow to land. She felt the wind from the moving fist, but no impact. Misty looked up and saw Ash's clenched fist, a few centimeters from her face.

She looked past the hand, and at its owner. Ashura had very calm look to him. Then he smiled and retracted his fist. "Hey you’re pretty good," he admitted. "We should do this again. This was kinda fun."

This pissed Misty off. Now he was trying to make her sound like a joke. "Oh we're not finished here!" She challenged.

"Huh?!?" Ash questioned.

"I said *we’re* not finished!" Misty advanced onto Ashura again.

"Uh... Misty. Can't we talk about this?" He said while ducking a wide haymaker punch.

"NO!" She shouted while throwing an uppercut. The blow landed, sending Ashura to the floor.

He rubbed his chin. "Fine if that's the way you want it." He threw out his leg sweeping the girl to the ground also. Misty rolled to her feet, while Ashura flipped to his.

"Show off!" Misty cried as her leg shot out, trying to deliver a quick front kick to Ashura's chest. Ashura's checked the blow, blocking her leg from even extending, then threw a double kick to her head.

Misty blocked the attack then kicked his thigh so she could get herself untangled from him. Her actions caused him to be temporarily unbalanced this time. She saw her opportunity and took advantage of it.

Misty delivered an explosive ax kick. She was sure the attack would bring an end to all this nonsense. Ashura's eyes glinted slightly as he perceived the attempt. He then brought both of his hands over top of him to guard the attack. Misty was kind at disadvantage now. She was now at a very vulnerable position, cursing the fact that her earlier attack didn't work.

Ash threw her leg off of him and spun her around. He was about to trip her slightly, with just enough force that she would go to the mat and so he could finish this. But remember that's what he WAS going to do. And that would have happened if he didn't trip onto his own baggy sweat pants.

(Lance always scolded him for not wearing something smaller and more manageable, but he never listened.)

His body was falling backwards. On instant Ashura grabbed whatever he could to keep himself from falling.....And somehow he did. He managed to grab something...Something soft...incredibly soft...

Misty looked down at where his hands were. She couldn't believe him!
"PERVERT!!!" she spun around in his arms and clocked him right upside the head.
That plus the fact Ashura was about to fall anyway, the sent the two to the floor.

Misty fell just inches above Ash…And her lips where just centimeters above his.

She never meant to be this close to him. He looked up at her with his soft brown eyes. Even though he was a hentai, Misty found she wasn't angry at him anymore. Her eyes wondered down to his mouth. His lips would be just within reach of her's if she only moved down a little... then....

Ash's eyes closed, he patiently waited for her decision. Seeing his actions, Misty lips quivered...She wanted to...

"You know your a pervert right?" Misty said. Ash's eyes shot open.

He sighed. "It was just an accident..."

Misty didn't say anything. The two remained silent for a long time, both just looking at each other, not really knowing what to say.

"How can you be so perverted?" Misty asked him.

Ash rolled his eyes. "Years of practice..." He answered. ”Now will you get off of me? You’re kinda heavy."

"What?!?" Misty kneed him in the groin. Ash grunted in displeasure. "Just for that I'm sticking around!" She said, trying to aggravate him. But apparently, Ashura didn't mind. And the two were silent again.

After a while, Misty got tired of holding herself up. So she gently rested her head on Ashura chest. He, in turn, wrapped his arms around her. The two once again were silent both kind of scared of the situation. But both were kind of excited.

"It's been a long time since we've been this close to each other," the girl said. Her voice was hardly over a whisper, but the gentleness of her tone was soothing.

"We used to be this close all the time..." He answered.

"I know...I kind of miss it...."

"I do too..." Ash answered truthfully.

Misty rose off of Ashura and sat back onto the mat. Ash followed her actions, though part of him was slightly disappointed that she moved.

She looked at him for a long time. Her hand graced the sides of his cheek, gently touching the soft flesh. She looked into his eyes. The dark chocolate orbs, were focused on her intently. She could see so many emotions in his eyes. She just didn't know if she saw love there.

"Ash..." She finally said.

"Yeah..."

"Do you want to try being friends again? I know if you don't want too, I would understand. I've been really horrible to you... and..." She was stopped when his finger was pressed against her lips.

"Yes..." he said softly.

Misty looked at him again. In this moment she didn't see just a friend anymore. She only saw the person she loved. She didn't care about what happened in the past, she just wanted to be with him now.

She leaned forward, totally ready to embrace her flesh with his, she wanted him. She wanted to be with him. She loved him. She drew closer to him. Her lips were approaching his. He didn't appear to back off or try to avoid her. Could it mean he wanted the same thing? Misty was about to find out...

That is... if the phone didn't start ringing. Misty forgot she didn't put the phone back. She tried to regain the emotions that she was having before. But each ever-persistent ring was killing any mood that was previously held.

'DAMN.' They both mentally thought.

"I'll get that..." Ashura said. Misty heard grumbling coming from Ash along his way to the phone.

Misty shrugged, 'Maybe another time.' Misty got up from the floor and took a whiff of herself. She was really in dire need of a shower. She got up and told
Ash, while he was on the phone. Then she cheerfully made her way to take a nice long shower.

******

Ashura took a long sigh when he picked up the phone. The sounds of “HI ASHY!” made Ash want to crawl into a closet somewhere and hide.

Granted, he loved his adopted sister, but sometimes she was too much for even him and Gary to handle. As soon he answered the phone, he was bombarded by thousands of questions and comments by the 100 mph tongue that May had. There were times when Ash wondered when the girl breathed when he talked to her.

He was glad she was seeing someone, because before she was always in his hair, always wanting to spend the night over his place. She would always drag him to when she went shopping... even lingerie shopping...He shuddered at that memory.

May was a cute girl and all, but he considered her family, like she was his real older sister. So it was really embarrassing when she tried to get his opinion on her undergarments.

While on the phone, he kinda heard Misty say something, but he wasn't clear. May was yelling at him to make sure he was listening. And before Ash could ask Misty what it was, she was already gone.

After a few minutes, Ash managed to settle the nerves of May Oak. He placed the phone down, totally exhausted. Talking to May could be very draining. He looked around the room and noticed that Misty wasn't back.

Shrugging Ash turned his attention to his pint-size partner, Pikachu, who was still quietly concentrating on levitating the now five hundred pound weight above his head, his electricity still on a constant flow.

"I'm going to take a shower now, Pikachu," Ashura said while slinging a towel over his shoulders.

The Pokemon "Pika..." In response then Ashura left the room.

*******

Pikachu was hard at work concentrating on his mediation. Hell, he knew he could do a whole ton if needed, but today he decided to go light. Try to work out the kinks in some of his electricity currents.

Then a thought occurred to him. PikaPi said he was going to take a shower and the Misty girl said she was going to take one also. Only problem was...This building only had one working shower...

A small cute smile curled up on the Pokemon’s lips.

"AAAAAAAHHH ASH YOUR PERVERT!!!!!" echoed through the floor. The clanging of a lot of objects in flight followed the sound.

Pikachu laughed hard. PikaPi was so clueless. How could anyone be so foolish?

The Pokemon continued to laugh at his moronic partner. That is, till he remembered he no longer had control over the very large 500 pound weight that was hurtling to his head.

Mission to be Continued...