A pretty redheaded woman walked onto the stage, teeth gleaming in a sunny smile, her aqua blue eyes shining like twin stars. Ash was also on the stage, in his hands he held the silver cloak he had worn so proudly earlier that day. Now it was time for the old league master to hand down his position to the new one, in this case, it was Misty.

However, despite the importance of the ceremony Ash was only paying half a mind to it. Mostly he, (and his stomach), were thinking about the party Whitney had hinted at earlier. It was still only 6, and the ceremony would at the most last another hour. He would hand Misty the cloak, she would put it on, give a little speech, people would cheer, and then everyone would leave.

Such were his thoughts when Misty glided up to him. Smiling a bit too wide, Ash straightened and held out the bright garment, the light twisting and twirling off its bright folds, slowly Misty took it from him and donned it. Unfortunately, Ash was not the best audience at such occasions, especially a tired and hungry Ash. As a result, he only heard: :

“ ………..Thank you all……..…..Special occasion……………………….Would really like to thank………………Tracey, sisters, Gary……….. And of course Ash………………………………...................kind of you………………………Good night.”

Then it was over. Rushing headlong into the crowd, Ash managed to find Pikachu, who was with Brock and May, and get out of the auditorium in what must’ve been a record of 3 minutes. However halfway to his suite he was stopped,

“So Ash, you’ve been beaten by a girl now, huh?” It was a familiar drawl, biting and annoying. Ash knew that voice, Gary, of course.

“Shut up Gary, I didn’t see you trying to gain back the championship. As a matter of fact, I’ve only seen you once since you fled to Viridian after I beat you, your tail between your legs.”

“Ouch, that stung. C’mon Ash where’s that mindless enthusiasm you had when we were kids, when you would’ve said, ’Oh yeah! Well I’ll beat her next year! And I’m gonna be the best pokemon master ever!!’ Then I say something about how pathetic you are and drive off in my convertible full of beautiful women. It’s the natural order of things.” Gary replied.

For a moment Ash was going to say something that would’ve ended hurting the both of them, but he waved off the comment, besides he had Misty to think about. Why had she decided to become champ all of the sudden?

Seeing his companion sink into moody silence, Gary imitated him and in silence the two young men walked together to Ash’s rooms.

When Ash came to the door he nodded good bye to Gary. Opening the door, he switched on the lights and was surprised when over 20 people jumped out screaming at the top of their lungs, “SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!”

For a moment all Ash could do was gape like a fish. All the gym leaders from Kanto, Johto, and the Orange Islands were there, as well as some of the old ones, Misty, May, Brock, Tracey, his mom, Prof. Oak, the Elite 4, and other assorted friends and family also made up part of the mob. Gary and Pikachu were grinning ear from ear, both had been in on the secret.

Dancing her way through, a woman with a blonde bob and green eyes made her way to Ash. Wrapping her arms around his waist she looked into his eyes and purred, “Like my party, Ashy-boy? Even though you didn’t win, you’re still a champion in my heart. You see, I invited all your friends. Please say you like it.” So finished the young woman, her lips curved in a pout.

Smiling down at the pretty young women, he smiled and said, “I love it Petunia. It was err.. Thoughtful…” Ash trailed off. Something wasn’t right. Had he just seen Misty walk off with Gary. Once again he smiled to his girlfriend again, and excused himself.

What was Misty’s problem? First she challenged and beat him for the title of League Champ, and now, she was with Gary? That couldn’t be right!

Before he could find the source of his queries, his mom attacked. “Oh ASH!!! How are you!! Are you feeling okay!!” Stunned, it was all Ash could do to breathe. After several minutes of wriggling, he managed to get free. Looking rather blue in the face, he hurried away to find Misty. But the tantalizing smell of fresh cookies, muffins, fried chicken, and other goodies stopped him in his tracks.

It was a half hour later. Ash was gorged and at peace with the world. Smiling complacently he decided to dance. Stepping into the whirling mass of couples, he soon found a partner; Sabrina, oddly enough. After Sabrina he danced with Koga’s sister; Aya, then Violet, Whitney, Lorelei,etc, even Agatha. Suddenly, he was face to face with Misty, and he remembered his quest.

Swallowing hard, Misty normally didn’t take well to this kind of evaluation, he opened his mouth to speak, but was cut short. “You’re not upset with me Ash, are you?” asked Misty, her voice nervous.

Ash was a little surprised, he hadn’t expected this. For a moment he was silent, “No, no, I don’t think so. I mea it was a little upsetting at first, being beaten and all. But then I realized I was kind of happy. You see, I don’t know, I guess I’m just not happy without a challenge. There was always the getting to be Champion, training, winning badges, Team Rocket, the Pokedex, and even you.,” he finished, sounding unsure, as if he wasn’t positive that was right.

Misty nodded, understanding dawning on her face, but she looked troubled again, and slyly she said, “What do you mean by even me?” She gave Ash such a look, that he knew that he was going to have to step carefully here, or risk a very violent, agonizing death.

“Well, um…, you know, we were always arguing and stuff, so it was, umm, kind of like a challenge to beat you in an argument, or umm…. Compromise…” his voice had become very small and weak towards the end, and Misty didn’t look very happy. So in an effort to save his skin he blurted out, “What are you and Gary doing together?!”

Misty was the surprised one now, “Well,” she replied, “we’re going out.”

“You mean you’re a couple!”

“Yeah, so.. We’ve been a couple for a year now, we hooked up at Brock’s wedding.”

“Well., it’s just that, it’s just that,” Ash spluttered.

“What?”

“Well, it’s GARY! For God’s sake.. Gary?”

“So, I thought you two made up years ago! And besided you have a girlfriend too! That prissy Professor Petunia!” Misty’s voice was beginning to rise, her face turned red. People were beginning to stare.

Ash burst out laughing. People really began to stare then.

“What?!” hissed Misty. Ash could practically see smoke rising from her head.

Calming himself down, he wiped a tear from his eye and said, “This is exactly what I was talking about! We always argue, and it’s a challenge. Besides, I haven’t argued like that in a long while. It feels good in an odd way. Oh, yeah, I’m sorry about that. I guess you can go out with Gary. I’m just not used to it.”

Misty sniffed once, in a rather conceited fashion, and haughtily replied, “Apology accepted.” Grinning, she added, “You can go out with Professor Petunia, too. Besides you need me to argue with, otherwise you would be hopelessly lost in a paper bag.”

“Would not.”

“Would too.”

At this time Petunia decided the two had spent enough time together and with an “Oh, Ashy-washy would you please come over and dance with me,” split the couple up.

Waving good bye to Ash, Misty left the party. Annoyed, Ash turned to Petunia to ask her what her problem was, and found her in tears. Dumbfounded, he didn’t say anything for a moment. “What’s the matter?” he finally managed to croak.

“You don’t like me!” she wailed, her green eyes brimming with tears.

“I do to! If I didn’t, I wouldn’t go out with you!”

Petunia started hiccupping, and her more tears spilled down her cheeks. Her mascara streaming down, making her look like a clown. “But you haven’t danced with me all night!”

For a second Ash just stared, his mental reasoning exhausted, “B-but,” he stuttered, “I didn’t know you wanted to dance.”

“Of course, sniff, I wanted to, snuffle, dance, silly.”
“Well, can we dance now?” asked Ash, even more confused than before.

Instantaneously, Petunia was bright and cheery again, her smile was fixed back in place and the only sign she had been crying was the blotches of mascara on her cheeks.

For the rest of the party, Ash was subjected to Petunia’s chattering and mood swings. Around 11, exhaustion hit him like a sledge hammer. His last coherent thought was that he needed to rethink his relationship, before he passed out in a dead faint.

Misty’s eyes flew open, hair streaming around her. Outside somewhere a clock was chiming 3’o clock. What had awoken her? She looked around the room for any disturbances, Gary’s snoring and Togepi’s quiet murmurs were the only noises in the room. Sighing, she tried to get back to sleep, but couldn’t.

Standing up, she dug out a pair of slippers from beneath her bed, and quietly made her way into the empty hallway. As she walked through the corridor, she remembered that she hadn’t been able to tell Ash what she wanted. Reversing her direction, she quickly navigated down to Ash’s rooms.

She raised her hand to knock on the door, when the full impact of the time hit her. Stupid, she told herself, you don’t go making house calls at 3 A.M! Angry at herself she wheeled around and stormed to her rooms. Calling herself every kind of idiot along the way. She was almost to her room when someone grabbed her arm. Spinning around, she found her capture to be none other than Sabrina.

About to shout at the psychic master for scaring her like that, she was rudely interrupted with a, “Quiet! I sensed a disturbance, and went to check it out. I guess it was only you, though.”

Giving Sabrina her Glare of Death, Misty once again opened her mouth to scream retribution, but she was interrupted again by a low mutter coming from around the corner.

The two women glanced at each other, and at the same time hurried down to see what the problem was. Outside of Misty’s room were 4 men trying to break in.

“Are you sure this is where the new champ is sleeping,” asked one.

“Of course it is! Are maps are the best money can buy!” growled another in return.

“There’s supposed to be one of the former champs in here too.” the third man put in.

The first man who had spoken asked the only man who hadn’t talked yet, “Are there other agents at the other rooms?”

“Yes,” he whispered back, “everyone who can be used are being taken. That was pretty smart of ’Petunia’ to drug the food at the party like that. It makes our job easier.”

Both of the women had grown white in the face. “Team Rocket.” Sabrina breathed, her voice actually showing emotion; disdain and more than a touch of fear.”

“No,” Misty whispered back, “someone else.” And sure enough, the men were missing the red Rocket R on their shirts, and wore a only a blue dragon patch on their sleeves instead.

One of the men suddenly spun around and pulled out a revolver. “Who’s there!” he called.

Terrified, Misty whimpered. The man fired, next to her, Sabrina dropped like a stone. Blood pooling beneath her.

A/N Duhdadudda!!! So what do you think? Keep in mind this is my first fic, so don’t be too harsh with the reviews. Oh yeah, in case you’re wondering the title won’t make sense until the end, yes I have thought that far ahead. I was originally going to write this last part in part 3, but decided I needed more excitement and a bit of a cliffhanger. Also, Petunia annoyed me enough that I had to let it be known she was evil, like you hadn’t already guessed. I know it’s tad gory at the end, but DEAL WITH IT! However, I’m not going to make it a habit for people to get shot, so don’t worry ye of weak stomach. One more thing, what is it that Misty has to tell Ash, and what does Ash’s dream mean? Oooooooooooooooooooo And what is this mysterious organizations evil plan, and do they have any connection to Lance with the dragon patch they’re wearing. Find out later. MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!