Disclaimer: I don't claim to own any part of the Pokèmon franchise and give full credit for Pokèmon characters named in my fanfiction to Nintendo, Inc. and (until recently) 4Kids Entertainment.

Misty's 'Match' is Back!

Deep in the middle of the Orange Islands, a reflective Carol sat at the helm of her boat, but instead of the wonders that lay ahead in Trovita and Cerulean, she could only think of her sister, who was taking a nap in the cabin. She just couldn't understand what had happened; all of a sudden, Melody had gone from full of energy to completely downtrodden and exhausted. Their dad had assumed it was a result of Melody's injury right before a big trip, but Carol knew her sister better than that. She had, of course, kept her mouth shut so that he wouldn't insist upon traveling with them, but that didn't change the fact that nothing Carol had ever witnessed could tamp down Melody once she was wound up, and yet Melody had had a complete 180 change of emotions in a few minutes. This was in addition to the fact that, although Melody loved to steer the ship and did so on almost every boat ride, she had turned it down quietly when it was offered and headed straight for the cabin. Carol was going to get to the bottom of this, and soon, because she couldn't have any surprises ruin this trip for her. She had to do everything to keep her dad from visiting, and this seemed just the very thing that would stoke his interest in Cerulean City.

She was so lost in thought that she almost didn't see the big island that they were fast approaching, and had to severely cut back on the throttle at the last minute to avoid beaching the boat. She heard a crash from inside the cabin as the boat came to a hard stop and winced; hopefully nothing had been broken in her mental lapse. She heard the cabin door open below, and her sister came hobbling out without a crutch.

"What the hell Carol? What happened? I got thrown out of bed, and almost hit my bad leg against the table! Did we hit something?"

"No, sorry Mel, I just lost track of time and didn't see the island approaching." Carol grimaced as she said that, realizing how idiotic that sounded.

"How the hell do you not see an island??? I don't take the wheel once, and this is what happ..........oh my god. Rudy, Drake!!!"

Carol turned around to see who her sister was waving ferociously at, and saw two guys rushing down the hillside towards the dock. She didn't recognize either of them, but obviously Melody did.

The first of the guys reached the bottom of the hill. "Is everything okay here? We heard a crash and came running down to make sure no one was..." He paused as Melody had limped her way over and hugged him tightly. He smiled; she hadn't changed at all. Still, the limp worried him. "...hurt. What happened to your leg?"

"Is that any way to begin a conversation with someone you haven't seen in like 6 years, Rudy? But don't worry, it wasn't from the crash, though it certainly didn't HELP my leg, CAROL," Melody said as she glared at her sister.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" Carol looked exasperated from the crash. Then all of a sudden, Melody's statement began to connect in her head. "Wait...six years ago...THAT'S WHERE YOU KNOW HIM FROM? Melody, how could you play me like this?" Carol's face was red with anger, and Melody began to look terrified.

"I thought you knew! I wasn't trying to hide it from you! I promise!" Melody backed up against the boat rail, shaking, when the second boy stepped between the two sisters and began to speak.

"She knows us both from that time, but you can relax. I was one of the two originally going with Rudy, but the Orange Islands Pokèmon league set up a meeting without telling me until the last minute. Rudy's now the Trovita Gym Leader, and I'm Drake; I'm the final Leader of the Orange Islands. Neither of us have any connection to our old lives anymore, and we've both rebuilt our lives from the ground up. We don't have police records either, if you'd like to check. I know it seems bad that she knows us, but you can be assured that she's safe, especially in Rudy's acquaintance. I've never met a more protective guy, especially of women."

Melody began to snicker at the emphasis Drake put at the end, and Rudy rolled his eyes as he took his chance; "Drake's right; the only thing that will happen to her will be that she'll have a ton of fun and be able to hang out with a girl her own age for once. I can personally guarantee her safety for the entire length of the trip. Just think it over; the flight's not until tomorrow. and if you want, you can just head back to Shamouti, but I'd hope you could look through my past and see the guy I am now. We'll take your bags up to your rooms in the Gym, and get a wheelchair for Melody if she needs one to get up the hill."

"No I'm fine; I have my old crutches. I'll show you which bags are whose....are you ok?" Rudy looked like he was in shock, but quickly recovered. "Yeah, sorry, got lost in thought; let's get your stuff up to the gym, okay? We leave pretty early in the morning, so you'll want to get dinner and get to bed early for plenty of rest before Cerulean tomorrow...that is, if Carol is ok with us going."

"....Know that I'll keep a very close eye on you Rudy; but yes, we can go. I trust Misty and her sisters enough to protect my sister even if I don't trust you at the moment. If anything happens where she gets hurt again, however, I'm blaming it entirely on you." With that, Carol stormed off for the gym, wondering if she had made one of the worst or best decisions of her life.

Melody sighed. "Forget her Rudy; let's just get prepared for tomorrow...in CERULEAN!!!" And the three of them got to work on transporting the luggage the luggage to the gym, catching up along the way.

~~~Meanwhile, back in Pewter City...~~~

Brock couldn't believe it; reality was worse than his worst fears. He had expected trouble, but..."excuse me, are you Brock? You can see your father now." He looked up to see a nurse standing in front of him. He could only manage a whispered "thank you..." before rushing in to the now-open hospital room. He halted at the door, in shock at the sight he saw. He was glad he had asked Ash to go check on his family, because he didn't want Ash seeing his father like this. Flint looked like hell; his skin was discolored to a purple hue, he had tubes running all over his body, and he was barely moving. Brock rushed over to his father. "Dad, speak to me, please! PLEASE!"

"Bro...ck...they...took...it...; get...it...ba................." Flint slumped over as his blood pressure suddenly heavily dropped, setting off the hospital emergency call. Nurses flooded the room and dragged a crying Brock out of the room. Brock grabbed one of them, and began to yell.

"What happened to my dad??!! You have to tell me what happened to my dad!!"

"Look, Sir, I understand the pain you're feeling, but we can't help you; your dad's showing dead-on signs of a heavy case of Ariados poisoning, but our strongest antidotes haven't worked in the slightest, so we don't know what's wrong yet. Please don't interfere with our ability to help your father!" And the nurse shook herself off of Brock and slammed the room door in his face.

Brock stood there for a few minutes, wallowing in his tears and thinking over the words his father had said to him. Brock suddenly realized what his dad had been talking about; he had been so consumed in what had happened to his family that he had completely forgotten about it! Well, no matter what, he was going to perform his dad's hospital-bed wishes, no matter what it required. And he would figure out how to cure his dad while he was at it! Brock grabbed his backpack and rushed out of the hospital, determined to grab Ash and hurry on to Cerulean. He was going to make everything right again, no matter what it took.

~ DragoonKain