Author’s Note: This story may be a bit disturbing to some people, so hopefully you’re used to it by now if you’ve read some of my angst-y stuff.

- Duplicate -

- By Brian -

It’s funny, you know? No matter how many subtle hints I gave out, he won’t even give me a second glance. All he does is laugh in my face, telling me I’m a silly girl for thinking about romance so much.

I glare as I nudge him in the ribs, realizing that I had seen that particular tree before.

In other words, we’re lost. Again. For the umpteenth time. And you know what? I’m sick of it!

“Ash…” I whisper, closing my eyes in anger, “you’ve gotten us lost again, haven’t you?”

He looks like he’s about to yell right back at me, and tell me how it’s not always his fault, but before he can say a thing in his defense he folds his arms and looks away. “I didn’t mean to, alright?”

May and Brock smile nervously, probably because they’re used to seeing me and Ash argue like this, but I can’t help it if that idiot doesn’t know the difference between escargot and Macargo! You should see him, I swear…he gets all freaked out whenever I try to convince him to try it…he’s so childish!

So immature!

So arrogant!

So brash!

So…cute…and dreamy and…wow…I just love him so much!

“Just…don’t do it again, okay Ashy?” I say softly, putting one hand on his shoulder as I use the other one to hoist up Di-I mean, Togepi.

He looks at me funny, as if I’m not allowed to say nice things to him.

“Uh, are you okay, Misty? One minute you’re yelling at me, and then the next-”

“I’m the sweetest person you’ve ever met? Why, Ashy, I’m flattered!” I finish, winking suggestively at him as I lead the way towards the next town.

* * *

“Hey Misty, what was all that about?” asks a voice, and for a second I think it’s Ash, but it’s only May.

You know, they sure do sound alike. It’s kind of creepy, but maybe that’s just me.

“What was all what about, May?” I reply nonchalantly, as I keep on walking, with Ash and Brock still behind us, oblivious to our conversation.

“First you nearly yell Ash’s head off, and then all the sudden you’re hitting on him, Misty. Are you okay?” she asks me, and for a second I feel like running away, far away, just so I don’t have to answer that question.

Instead I scoff at her and say, “I’m perfectly fine, May. Can’t a girl try to use her charms to her advantage, once in awhile?”

She opens her mouth to say something, but it looks like the words die in her throat. It’s good to know that I’m still able to intimidate someone like her.

“Um…okay. Just…don’t do anything that might hurt Ash or anything, alright?” she tries to say jokingly, an impish smile on her face as she does so.

I fake a smile and nod back at her. “No worries, May.”

I absently notice that she looks much cuter then I do, and…well… ‘better equipped’ then I am.

Looks like I’m going to have that fix that, won’t I?

* * *

I glance towards May as she commands Torchic to light the wood on fire, since Brock needs it to cook. That reminds me…I’m starving! I haven’t eaten all day and all this walking and getting lost and argh-

“Hey Ash!” May waves at me, motioning me to come over, “mind helping me with the fire?”

She gestures towards Torchic, who appears to be coughing up smoke instead of magnificent, golden fire. “Um…Torchic has a cold.”

I smile good-naturedly at her, before calling out Charmander to light up the small pile of wood. “Charmander, use Flamethrower!”

As the pile burns brightly, I grin all around, only to find May and Brock looking at me oddly, as if I had done something wrong.

What did I do wrong? I lit up the fire, didn’t I? Shouldn’t there be applause?

“Ash…” Brock says slowly, causing me to start panicking, “since when did you have a Charmander…?”

I fold my arms in bewilderment as I look at the both of them. “I’ve always had a Charmander!”

“You had a Charmander back in Kanto, Ash…which evolved into Charizard two years ago…which you left at Professor Oak’s laboratory a few months ago…” he finishes, his eyes narrowing at me suspiciously.

“I…I caught a new one, out…out in the forest, when you told me to go get the firewood earlier…” I shoot back, in the most confident voice that I can muster.

May looks at me funny. “Can you show me where you found it? I could always use another fire pokémon for contests…”

I nod my head slowly, realizing that I could use this situation to my advantage. “Sure May! While Brock finishes cooking up, I can show you where I caught my new Charmander!”

* * *

“Ash? Are you sure you know where you’re going?” she squeaks out, causing me to chuckle a little.

“Of course I do…don’t worry May…we’re almost there…” I tell her assuredly, which makes her sigh with relief as she walks right beside me.

She’s so trusting that I feel like laughing more, but I know doing that will blow my cover prematurely. I wouldn’t want her running off to Ash and Brock with what she knows…

“The nest where I found that Charmander is right over there…” I say to her, pointing towards a large oak tree, which has a hole at the bottom of its base, “Why don’t you go take a look?”

She suddenly grabs on to my sleeve, causing me to let out a shriek, much to my dismay. “Ahhh-!”

“Um, it’s kinda dark right now…I hope you don’t mind coming with me to check it out, would you Ash?” she asks sweetly, and I’m thankful that she hadn’t noticed my shrieking at all.

“Um…I guess not, May.” I respond sheepishly, causing her to blush slightly. God…she was hitting on me! I felt like gagging, realizing that she was no better then me-Misty…

We both proceed to walk towards the small, pokémon sized hole, with May holding on to my sleeve the whole time.

“Hey, look at that…” I announce breathlessly, as I point right at the hole, “It looks like another Charmander!”

She leans forward into the hole, and while she’s distracted I reach for a shovel that I had hidden under various twigs and leafs.

“Ash…all I can see is a yellow t-shirt and blue shots in here-” was all she could say before I bashed down on her head with the shovel, causing her to crumple onto the ground with a thud.

A small smile appeared on my lips, realizing that this was just like how Misty looked like before I killed her. They both never saw it coming…

I laugh heartily as I begin taking off May’s clothes, as well as pulling a brown wig and some colored contacts from the hole in the tree.

I hoped that Ash liked brunettes more then red-haired girls with flat chests…especially after all that trouble I went through to find just the right one.

* * *

“Hey guys!” I exclaimed, as I walked back to the campsite, where Ash and Brock were busy conversing, “Did you miss me?”

“Uh, hey May.” Ash muttered, causing me to narrow my eyes at him. What was his problem?

I looked over to Brock and he had that suspicious look in his eyes once more. “I thought you and Ash were out trying to find a Charmander…”

Before I could respond Ash cut in, saying, “You must be seeing things, Brock. Like I said, you told me to go get firewood…”

“Yeah, Brock,” I said, joining in, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. All I did was go out for a walk…”

He narrowed his eyes at me (not that I could tell, anyways) and it looked like he knew something that he shouldn’t know.

I made a mental note to deal with him…later. Right now I had more pressing matters to attend to.

* * *

Ash let out a small gasp as I woke him up gently, his eyes widening when he noticed that I was only wearing my nightgown.

“I’m sorry for waking you, Ash…but you looked like you were having a bad dream.” I whispered quietly to him, looking him right in the eyes as I did so.

His eyes were so innocent and pure, as if they had never seen anything but good things.

He smiles sheepishly at me, rubbing the back of his head as he yawned. “I’m just worried about Misty, that’s all. I haven’t seen her since I went to go get firewood…”

I try my best not to giggle, since he had no idea where Misty currently was right now-

“Hey Ash…” I whisper seductively, as I put a hand on his cheek, “don’t worry about her, I’m sure she’s a big girl…”

He blushes and pulls away from my hand, causing me to laugh slightly. I love how innocent he was…compared to me, anyways.

“I can’t help it May, she’s my best friend, you know-”

I silence him with a kiss, which catches him completely off-guard, but that’s okay.

This is what I wanted all along, after all. It’s what I wanted since the first day I met him, when he stopped by the Imite House four years ago. He was so surprised seeing me dress up as his best friend Misty, and if I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought that it kind of turned him on.

So I followed him. I even met him again, and at the time I was training my Mini-Dit. But I wanted more of him. I wanted him to look at me with those eyes that he used whenever he glanced towards Misty.

You have to understand, I come from a very lonely life. I inherited the Imite House after my parents died in a car crash, and I had to take care of it all alone, not daring to leave unless it was for supplies. To keep myself from going insane I made little plays to entertain myself, even though I played all the human parts (with my trusty Ditto doing the pokémon parts).

It was so amazing to dress up as someone and pretend to live their life, if only for a few moments…because in those few moments I wasn’t a lonely girl that no one loved…I was an Officer Jenny, or a Nurse Joy, or a Misty…

So that’s why I wanted to be Misty, and it’s why I’m now May. This way I’ll be able to live their amazing lives, with Ash by my side, loving me…at least, that what I hope he’ll do in the future, when he grows up a little and realize how much I-I mean, May loves him.

And if any girl ever catches his eye, then I’ll just have to pretend to be that girl, too.

Because Ash is mine, and no one…no one…is going to take him away from me.

“Ash…I will make you forget about Misty…” I whisper to him seductively, as I slip into his sleeping bag, despite his quiet, desperate protests for me to stop…

Oh Ashy Boy…don’t you know that I’ll never stop?

Never.

- End -

Oooh…that was fun to write. Don’t you just love those unhappy, creepy endings? I know I do!

When I first saw Duplica, I thought she must be a very lonely girl. Living all alone in Imite House, with no one to talk to except herself and her Ditto. Then Ash and company come along, and next thing you know she’s trying her very best to entertain them. She managed to be quite ‘friendly’ to Ash, if you know what I mean.

If you’re a bit confused about Duplica in this story, then let me enlighten you: She’s been following Ash around for quite awhile, enough to know all the little quirks and habits of Misty, May, Brock, and of course, Ash. She’s a predator, I tells you.

I can’t believe I’m actually putting out stories almost every day now. I feel so…tired, yet accomplished beyond belief. I’d like to say thanks to all the people who’ve reviewed my stories…it really means a lot to me to hear all those comments (and complaints), because it makes me a better writer.

Did I mention that I can’t wait to write Ascension? All I have to do is finish up the last stories for Season Two, then it’s off to my first multi-chaptered Pokémon story…

Next stories for Season Two:

Destiny - Being the Chosen One can be lonely…

Doom Desire - Wishing can be dangerous...especially when that wish is granted...

Deal - Misty and Gary make a deal that neither are comfortable with…especially not Ash.

Dad – Ash meets his father.

Dream - After losing Ash to Misty, May dreams of what could’ve been...

Dawn – Ash and Misty enjoy their first sunrise in a long, long time. - This story is going to be the first chapter of Ascension, instead of a stand alone -