How many times do I have to say this? FINE!!! BE THAT WAY!!!. . .i don’t own pokemon. . .

Chapter 7

The Truth

Amber knew that this was were she and Ash parted ways. She was headed to Vermillion to get her next badge, and Ash was headed back to Pallet to prepare for Sinnoh.

Sinnoh. . .

Team Rocket didn't have a branch there. He would be safe. Wait, he would be traveling through Mt. Moon! He would be nabbed before he got even that far. No, she could just order the rockets there to ignore him. But what about their friendship? Ash wouldn't talk to her. He avoided her at every turn. What if he did find out about her? What if he- No. He would find out sooner or later either way.

Amber made her decision. Whether he knew about her or not, she would tell him who her father was, what they needed him for, and that she didn't blame him if he never spoke to her again for not telling him sooner. Their friendship meant more to her than anything in the world. More even than one hundred or even one thousand badges. She would tell him.

* * *

Ash glared at Amber as they stood, facing each other. Brock and himself on one side and Misty and Amber on the other. They would be parting ways. He would be going to Pallet town, Brock would be going back to Pewter City, Misty would be saying in Cerulean, and Amber. . . Amber would be going to Vermillion.

It would be better for him to get as far away from her as possible. She probably would eventually betray him anyway. He turned toward Mt. Moon.

"Ash?"

It was Amber. What did she want? Not that Ash cared. Who would care, except for those slimy rockets?

"What?" Ash asked irritably.

"Before you go, I need to talk to you privately," she said glancing at Misty and Brock. They took the hint, nodded, and walked out of earshot.

Ash didn't turn around.

"Ash?" Amber said. "Please, I can't talk to a back."

Ash reluctantly turned around. Pikachu was nervously shifting positions on his shoulder; Pidgey doing the same on Amber's shoulder. Charmeleon looked at both of the humans, wondering what was taking place. Amber cleared her throat.

"Ash?" she said. "I have a few things I would like to tell you."

"Like what?" Ash blurted out. "Like you being in one of the worst criminal organizations in the world? Like you being the daughter of the head of that same organization? Like you playing us for fools from the start? Like you. . ." Ash hesitated, and then spoke quietly. "Like you pretending to become friends with me just to get close to me? Just because you wanted something from me?"

This silenced Amber. For a few minutes, the two just stared at each other. Finally, Amber spoke.

"I would never do anything like that, Ash. I consider you a wonderful friend.”

“Yeah, and your really not the daughter of Giovanni,” Ash said sarcastically.

What I said is true, but. . . About me being the daughter of Giovanni. . . How'd you find out?"

"I heard you talking to that rocket in the alleyway last night."

For a moment there was silence.

"Let me tell you a story, Ash."

Ash looked at her expectantly. Amber sighed.

"Let me tell you a story about a girl who was pressured into an organization she never wanted to join,” Amber said angrily. “Pressured into a way of living she never wanted to be a part of. Pressured into this life by her father. A story about a girl who just wanted to have a good friend by her side who would never abandon her, even in the darkest hours.

“She eventually begged her father to allow her to start her own journey for a change. To follow her dreams. To start a new life, all her own. A life where no one had influence in it from her old life. He finally allowed her to go. She continued on her way, wondering what she would become, when she learned of the Pokemon League. She would become the opposite of what she was before. She would be a champ. She met a boy who was kind, and wonderful, and everything she wasn't. She followed him, in hopes that she could erase the remnants of her other life away completely. She grew to be friends with this boy; in fact, she grew to have a friend. Her very first friend, all her own. She cared for this boy so much, in fact, that she didn't want any harm to come to him. So naturally, when she found he was in danger, she used a piece of her old life to try to save him, not harm him. When the boy found out about her old life," she looked at him pointedly, "he didn't want to have anything to do with her. Who she thought was a friend had turned on her, because she was something she never wanted to be. But because she still cared about him, she decided to warn him of something.

"Ash, Giovanni has hatched a plan to take over the entire Kanto region . . . and the world. He needs the two people who have the power to summon legendary pokemon. Have you ever had an encounter with legendary pokemon, Ash?"

Ash thought. It didn't take him too long to remember the various legendary pokemon he'd encountered. On his first day as a pokemon trainer, he'd seen a Ho-oh. He had been the 'chosen one' in the Orange Islands where he had seen Lugia, Zapdos, Articuno, and Moltres. He had had an adventures with Entei and Unknown, Celebi and Suicune, Latios and Latias, Jirachi and Groudon, Kyogre and Manaphy, Diagla, Palkia, and Darkrai, even Mew! Maybe there was truth in what Amber was saying. . .

“I take your silence as a yes, Ketchum. I have had encounters with them as well. Many, in fact. He needs us to attract a special legendary pokemon. It can only be attracted when we are together, and even then we have to be in grave danger. My father knew that, I think; he just doesn’t know it’s us yet. But still. . .” Amber seemed to debate whether to tell him something or not. “Those rockets scanned you for a certain signal that I also seem to give off,” she finally said. “When we’re in danger, it attracts a legendary pokemon. We’re the only two who seem to have that signal. Giovanni knows I’m one of them, but until those rockets in Mt. Moon blab everything, you’re safe. Get to Sinnoh as soon as you can; there’s no branch of team rocket there. We have to stay away from each other, they need both of us. Just stay in touch, and don’t let them capture you, okay? Promise me that?”

Ash, who was stunned, just nodded. Amber smiled and held out her hand.

“Friends till the end, okay?”

Ash took the hand and nodded.

“Till the end.”

Ash and Amber shook hands and headed on their separate ways, Brock following Ash with a now relieved Pikachu hanging on his shoulder, Misty heading back to her gym, and Amber on the road to Vermillion City (cough cough), Charmeleon right at her heels and Pidgey perched on her shoulder. Suddenly Amber spun around.

“Oh, and Ash?” she said.

“Huh?” Ash looked at her across his shoulder.

Amber scribbled something on a piece of paper and handed it to him.

“If you have any problems with the rockets in Mt. Moon, give them this.”

Ash nodded, and with the paper clutched in his hand, he continued on the road that headed straight into where rockets were waiting for him for some unknown reason.

To answer a review, I am NOT going to ship Ash with Amber. Just to let any one who is reading out there know, I really don’t like ships very much, and I would NEVER write them, unless I got bored with everything else and did it to relieve my boredom. So while there is the possibility of me doing ships, and that is a really SMALL possibility, this will not be a ship. I LOVE reviews, so send them in!