>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-Bullet Train



TR Remote Frequency 1.776

Voice 1: “We only have a window of 180 seconds before MASTERS can pick this channel up, so I’ll make this fast. The target is currently heading southbound on Route 22. You two are to intercept it at 15:30 hours. Exterminate any sheeps that get into your way, but bring him to me...”

Voice 2:  “Aye. Squish all da bugs. But why can’t I squish da Baby too? His Pikachu, hurt me little buddy.”

Voice 1: “Hold up....Tell me when did I start to give a damn about you and your pathetic rodent! You get the job done, or I’ll get some guys to hurt your ‘little buddy’ with a staplegun.....And I’m not talking about your damn Pokemon either.”

Voice 2: “......”

Voice 3: “Well alrighty now Boss. I understands bout Lil ol’ Ashura, but what bout that lil missy of  his. I reckon, me and her could get quite cozy in dat dere locomotiv’.”

Voice 1: “Her....I could care less. Pass her around...Screw her sideways. I don’t care. She’s not useful anymore. JUST BRING ME ASHURA!!!”

Voice 2: “Aye, but Boss. Me and my crew usually do things alone. We don’t work well with outside help.”

Voice 3: “Right Boss. This cowpoke rides solo.....’Less  I snag a little Philly alongs the way.”

Voice 1: “..........LISTEN!!! I DON’T GIVE TWO FLYIN F*static*

(The transmission was canceled....)

*****

Aboard the No. 5 Rapidash Engine a tall lean figure, migrated through the halls of the train cars. The body lurked through the pathway of the cabins, till he finally found his compartment. Opening the door, he stared through the mesh of black hair that dangled in front of his dark colored eyes to view his accommodations.

The room was pretty basic for being deluxe first class. A TV/VCR combination, a medium size bed, with a mini-fridge. Although normally he would have already raided the fridge to appease the bottomless pit, he called a stomach. Today he decided to rest.

“God...I need some sleep...” The young man groaned, as he slouched into one of the booths. His black attired mending into the folds of the couch. He turned his head to the side and gazed out the cabin’s window.

There wasn’t much to the scenery, just a lot of open dusty plains under a clear blue sky. He did notice that after 4.6 seconds, a telephone pole would pass by the window. But besides that nothing. Just a bare landscape.

After five minutes of that ‘stimulating’ activity. The young man’s gaze went up to the ceiling as he closed his eyes. While in the moment, he allowed his thoughts to drift around a bit. Some were concentrating on his true purpose. Some were reflecting on his feelings for a certain Pokemon Doctor, but then those feelings would bring up remembrances of the day before.....

***

Ash sighed, as he journeyed further into the crevices of the couch. Yesterday had been a very LONG day...  After the whole ‘Shower incident,’ Misty wouldn’t stay in the same room with him for five minutes... Of course that was unless she was yelling at him.

To his credit, Ash didn’t remember seeing anything really. Just soap...A lot of soap. But when he tried to relay that to Misty, apparently the girl took it the wrong way. Calming that he was saying she didn’t have anything worth seeing.

So in the end, Ash decided to do the next best thing...Shut up. He would take his lumps like a man and pray that a Team Rocket sniper would end his misery. Unfortunately that didn’t occur, but Misty did take his lead about remaining silent.

For the rest of the day, all the way up to when they arrived to the Train Station this morning, she didn’t say a word to him. Which, on any normal circumstances would have been a blessing. But a silent Waterflower...the thought was slightly disturbing.

Not only did he have problems with Misty, but he also had to deal with an accident that happened with Pikachu. The little rodent complained about having migraines all yesterday as well.

So not only did Ash have to deal with a feuding Water Trainer, he also had to take care of his sick partner. Which in turn, meant that he didn’t get much sleep at all last night. So he took this train ride as a chance to maybe catch up on some well deserved rest.

Although he was assigned to protect Misty, he wasn’t her sole line of defense. There were a few local Police Officers that were delegated by the Officer Jennys to help out as well.

Granted, if Team Rocket did attack the train, the only thing they would really be good for would be a human shield or a nice moving target. But at the moment none of that mattered. All that mattered was he had his own cabin. Pikachu was down the hall with Misty.... Probably stuffing his suit cases, full of their complimentary Ketchup like he usually did on these trips.

But in any case Misty was in good hands, so that meant he had a few hours to relax a little bit and to think.

There was so much that was going on now and so many things that had gone wrong. This was not the way he planned on reuniting with Misty. She was suppose to miss him, just like how badly he missed her. They were suppose to make-up and maybe even start over. It was funny, he was even ready to walk down the isle with her. But that option seemed like it was  FAR from coming true.

But he wouldn’t give up. Oh no... What happened before the ‘shower’ incident gave him hope now. The fact that they almost kissed and the soft appealing look in her eyes when she spoke to him...He still savored how soft she felt. But anyway, that was more than enough to prove there was something there.

Only problem was, right when he believed he was possibly making progress with her, something would happen to put him back to square one. He didn’t know if it was all him, or maybe issues that she’s having. Or maybe the work of some sick bastard. (hehe..) Whatever the case, he wanted to wait this thing out to see what happen.

The young man sighed. “Man, Ash your pathetic. Even when your trying to relax your still thinking about her.” Realizing that he wouldn’t get any sleep while the petite Pokemon Doctor was constantly on his mind, Ashura decided to check on her.

But not before taking a few seconds to slip on his trademark sunglasses. Hey...just because he was lovesick, didn’t mean he couldn’t look good while being it...

*****

The door to cabin number 37 opened as the MASTERS agent exited the room. The man dressed in all black, seemed to look more like a living shadow then a human. A ghostly apparition, then flesh and blood. The way the darkness seemed to draped over his dark eyes, as they shifted right and left through the corridor, did further to enhance his cryptic manner.

His movements still filled with the grace of eagle. But yet were firm and steady like an titan. Still an embodiment of the perfect warrior...

*****

As Ashura moved, several eyes of the stationed Officers followed him. Each of them taking in his seemingly drab appearance. In they’re own eyes, he looked like every other punk that walked the streets where they patrolled. His long shoulder length hair: black jacket, black leather Tims, and those damn sunglasses he decided to wear, didn’t really help to enforce his superiority.

The Officers lounged lazily in the booths that outlined the railway car. Ashura’s brown eyes grazed through the mob. It seemed his presence was gaining all of their attention. But this fact didn’t concern him. It wasn’t the first time that he worked with Officers that didn’t think his company was required. Ashura was well aware that relations between the Police and MASTERS weren’t too smooth.

Regular beat cops believed that MASTERS wasn’t anything but a government funded vigilante squad. A squad chuck full of no talent kids, that often ended up blowing more crap up then they are tried to save. And due to Ash’s arrival, that claim hasn’t really been challenged much.

And granted Ashura did lead the Agency, in the destruction of public property costs. But the agent’s saving grace was: his continual record of recovery, his constant victories over Team Rocket, not to mention his maintenance of professionalism. These things always stacked highly in MASTERS favor and always gave them a good appearance to the public eye.

But that still didn’t satisfy the opinions of the Police...

***

Ashura stood in front of the door to Miss. Water’s cabin. His dark eyes flashed as they focused on the officer that was guarding the entrance. “Is she in?” He asked in a gruff voice. His slightly tanned skin, glinted off some of the stray beams of sunlight.

The Officer grunted something that could be considered a response. Then he rose up from his chair to let the MASTERS agent through. Ashura nodding and opened the cabin door. He could see Misty staring out one of the windows, while Pikachu was raiding the fridge. The Agent smiled for a second as he started to enter the room. The scene brought back memories of when they were on the road traveling.

The young man started to move inside, but found his shoulder shoved back but the guarding officer’s elbow. Instantly Ash’s fierce brown eyes glared at the Officer. A thousand-and-one instant kill motions, flashed through Ashura’s memory. It would less than simple to end the Officer’s link to the living world. He probably would have too..if he didn’t feel a slight tug by his pant leg.

Ashura looked down into the chestnut colored eyes of his partner. Pikachu looked up at Ash and shook his head. “Pika, chu...Pika-Pi...” Ash agreed. It wasn’t worth it. So Ash eyed the Officer one more time, committing the bastard’s face to memory. Then he continued into Misty’s cabin.

***

The door to Misty’s car finally closed. She looked up to look get a look at the new visitor. And as almost instantly as she did, a frown formed on her beautiful face. ‘It’s only Ash...’ She mentally complained. Then she returned to gazing at the moving scenery.

Taking notice of her actions, Ash sighed. ‘Christ she’s stubborn,’ His mind stated, as he walked over to her. “Still not talking to me?” He asked, hoping the girl would finally get over the whole ‘shower thing.’

Misty didn’t even turn to face him when he spoke. She just merely. “Hmph!”  And crossed her arms.

Ashura rolled his eyes at her immature nature. He would have commented, but he didn’t really feel up to it. So instead he just sighed silently, as he walked past her seat. “At least something’s haven’t changed....” He muttered, while slouching down in a neighboring booth.

For the next ten minutes, silence rang throughout the room. Ash was fidgeting with a small switch blade that a Tracey gave him a while back. Pikachu was still on his search for the ultimate score of ketchup. And Misty continued to gaze out of the window of the train car.

Specks of land, dirt, and Sun were the only things in the dusty backdrop that Misty was gazing at. To be honest she didn’t even know why she was watching the scene so intently. There wasn’t anything of interest there. And she wasn’t really in the mood to zoning out at the moment, there were too many things on her mind. The only plus she found from the pointless activity was, it helped make sure she wasn’t gawking at a certain dense MASTERS agent.

Misty frowned her face at the realization. Christ, she had to be really pathetic to still be interested in such a pervert. I mean the nerve of him, trying to sneak a peak at her while she was bathing. The guy was suppose to be protecting her, but all he ends up doing is being a ‘Peeping Tom.’

Granted there was a small part of her, that was flattered that he wanted to see her body. But the large part of her..called ‘common sense,’ stamped out that tiny voice of  her ego.

Misty’s soft blue eyes darted to the side, taking a small glance at Ash. ‘God he’s pathetic.’ She thought. Her cerulean colored orbs were taking in Ash’s wardrobe. ‘I mean who’s he trying to fool with all that black crap.’ Misty chuckled at her own thoughts. Ash just eyed the girl weirdly.

‘Is he suppose to be tough or something? A real macho man..I mean even his old Training clothes were better then this.’ Misty thoughts dwelled on that notion. She made some mental comparisons of the two attires. His training clothes were so bright and colorful. But his clothes now were so dark and bland.

Misty frowned as she looked at Ash’s total portrait. She never really paid attention to it before, but she noticed there were a lot of differences in Ash. And they didn’t all pertain to  his physical appearance.

His face was different. Although she could tell he did grow up to be kinda cute. A fact she accepted a long time ago. But his facial movements were different. He didn’t smile as much as he used to. Although he always smiled whenever he talked to her. Something she still couldn’t figure out why. But besides that he didn’t smile to anyone else.

The girl recalled he used to be a grinning idiot in his youth. It would have to take hellavah whole lot to put a frown on that boy’s face. But now that seemed like a common thing. The way he talked, even the way he moved were different.

Granted, now both areas were more precise and accurate. But she always remembered Ash had a certain vitality to his words and his actions. A lot of which brought forth his clumsiness. She remembered he would get so excited about something like battling, that he would trip over his own feet. She used to think it was so cute. He was like a little spark of dynamite. She loved that about him.

But now. it seemed all that life has drifted away for some reason... His whole mannerism was different. It was almost devoid of his former vivaciousness.

‘Maybe it’s because he got older,’ She pondered. It’s true that age did bring change in people. But for some reason, she always thought that no matter how old he got, Ash would always be Ash...

“What?” Ash’s voice said, while gazing into the eyes of Misty Waterflower. Apparently all this time she was deliberating about Ash’s changing behavior, she was blatantly staring at the guy.

Misty was stuck for words. She didn’t want to tell Ash what she was really thinking about. She didn’t want him to know that she was thinking about him that intently. So she instead said the first thing that came to her head. “What’s with the glasses?”

To this, Ash blushed. “Well umm...I got the idea from Squirtle actually.” Misty raised an eyebrow to his statement. The agent continued. “Well he was saying that they would look good on me.” His statement still brought no comment from the Pokemon Doctor. “Besides my eyes look too trusting, you know...” Misty just continue to eye him like he was retarded.

He sighed. “Here look.” Ash then got up and walked over to her. He descended to her eye level and removed his glasses. His deep brown eyes were staring into her sapphire blue eyes.

Misty could swear she could see her own reflection in his eyes. She felt her heart melt. She always loved looking into Ash’s eyes. The girl thought they were so beautiful...

She then grimaced at her inner thoughts. ‘Down girl...Stay focused.’ She said to herself. The young woman turned away from him. “I suppose so...” She uttered, while secretly she was gasping for air. Satisfied that she agreed, Ash returned to his seat.

Gradually, Misty’s blue eyes found their way back to the MASTERS Agent. It still infuriated her that she still had feelings for him, despite all that he’s done. And she despised the fact that he unknowingly could invoke such strong emotions in her. She had to get him back before she would totally lose it.

“What’s with the clothes?” She taunted, remembering her thoughts from earlier. “What are you suppose to be, Neo from the Matrix or something?” She then grinned. “You are the One...” She taunted, remembering one of the lines from the movie. Misty laughed to herself.

Ash sighed again. ‘This is going to be one long trip’ He thought. Then he turned to his red- headed menace. “Look if we’re going to comment on wardrobes. Lets talk about yours for a minute...”

“WHAT?!!? What’s wrong with my clothes?” She thundered while raising to her feet. Giving Ash another view of her trademark yellow cutoff shirt and short shorts jeans with the red suspenders. She couldn’t believe he could say that about her outfit. It was always her favorite. She wore it almost all the time when they were younger..

Meanwhile... Ash couldn’t believe she didn’t see anything wrong with what she was wearing. From the yellow T-shirt, that cut-off a few inches below her ample bosom. Which also left her smooth, softly toned stomach totally exposed. And lets no forget about her short shorts.

GOD...Her shorts....

Ash wasn’t sure if shorts, were legally allowed to be made that short. The legs of the material barely extended a full inch down her thigh. Sometimes when she walked it would bunch up in the back. Which gave a some what pleasant view of the bottom of her rear, much to Ash’s delight.

Then again most of what she dressed was to his delight. Hmmm...now that he thought about it. He really didn’t mind the way Misty dressed anymore.

Ash grinned. “Oh..nothing...” He stated, finally answering her previous question. “Nothing at all...” He decided to take another quick peek.

Misty was slightly puzzled by Ketchum’s reaction. She looked down at what she was wearing, totally puzzled. Then...probably for the first time in her life, Misty released how much skin she was actually showing.

Misty blushed and ran over smacked Ash in the back of the head. “Hentai...” The girl muttered to him. Ignoring the loud “Owww!!” that Ashura cried, Misty stomped back over to her  booth and plopped down in the seat. The girl then shot up and went to her things and retrieved a red hoody to cover-up some of herself. Then she returned to her seat. Glaring daggers back into the eyes of her so-called protector.

It was funny, although the girl did put on a big act from his statement. It was all a ploy... No really it was...

Misty actually liked the fact that Ash thought she was sexy... Granted the guy was a pervert and all. But that wasn’t something the Waterflower couldn’t stamp out with a little patience and a large assortment of disposable weapons.

“So you still have Squirtle?” Misty asked, while trying to change the subject.

Ash didn’t hear what she said at first, he was trying to get rid of the deafening ringing, that was in his ear. But after she repeated the question, he answered. “Yeah...He’s with the rest of my Pokemon in MASTERS. They have a facility were I keep all my Pokemon. I always make sure I go and see them from time to time.” He explained.

“So what don’t you use them like you use Pikachu?” The Pokemon Doctor asked.

“Well...I really didn’t want any of my Pokemon involved honestly. There are too many risks involved with my job. I didn’t want anything to happen to them.” Ash stated truthfully. “Pikachu was the only one that really refused.” He looked to his partner. “He didn’t want to be out of my sight....I guess. So that’s how he became my partner...” Pikachu gave Ash a ‘thumbs up.’ Ash laughed and mimicked his partner’s action.

Misty watched the exchanged and smiled for second. The red head then looked to Ash. “I really couldn’t blame him.” Misty droned on in a matter-of-factly manner. “He probably thought that you wouldn’t last five minutes without him.” A smirk arose from her pout full red lips. “Hell, you never could succeed in anything without anyone else’s help.” She closed her eyes and grinned. “I guess something’s never changed.” She finished with a rueful sigh.

Misty opened her eyes, totally expecting to see a slightly peeved Ash Ketchum. But when her eyes fell on Ashura, she wasn’t even sure if he was breathing. For a long time both him and Pikachu just looked at her. They stared at her like she was some foreign agent. Neither one of the two saying anything.

Finally...someone dared to speak. “Umm...I’m going to check in with MASTERS.” Ashura said softly. Quietly he left. But before he did, Ash gave one last remorse full gaze at the Waterflower, then wearily he went into the next car.

Pikachu watched as his hurt partner left. He then turned to Misty with a scowl on it’s little face. His dark onyx colored eyes piercing at her. Misty return his gaze with one of bewilderment. “What did I say?”

The yellow rodent just shook his head and scurried out of the room. Muttering something in Pikakinese. Although she didn’t know what he was saying, Misty was sure she didn’t want to know either.

She sighed as she looked around the empty car. “Alone again.” Misty said to herself. Although through the years she been used to being alone a lot, but right now she really wanted some company. And the Pokemon Doctor, wasn’t really comfortable with the cops that were assigned to protect her. Most of them were too busy ogling her body. So instead she decided to pursue her MASTERS agent.

It amused Misty that she still considered Ash her’s, specially after what she’s put him through. But she did have her reasons and all. ‘Maybe I should go easier on him...’ She pondered. She soon realized that the situation was far worst that. If she pushed him any farther, she could lose him for good.

‘He needs to know...’ She finally realized. If she was ever going to settle things with Ash, she would have to tell him everything. About everything that was going on with her now...

Misty got up to take the long trek into the next car. She would go in, swallow her ever growing pride and apologize to Ash. She owed him that much. Then... then they would have to have a long talk. A VERY long talk.

The girl then went into her purse and brought out an old yellowed piece of paper. That small  article of paper was the sole reason why everything in her life changed so drastically so many years ago. They would surely have to talk about it. Maybe in their talk, he could find a way to forgive her. And she could finally find way to forgive him.

Then maybe he could figure out something to help her. Misty knew she wasn’t ready before. Her fear prevented her from really acting on her emotions. But now she had love to give her a new strength.

Misty neared the door. She was ready. Ready to tell him everything. Ash, the man she loved.   She never had been so ready in her life. And probably never been more scared either.

‘Everything is going to be ok...’ Misty she told her self as she approached the door. But as she touched the handle to open it, the frame was impacted from something thrown on the other side. She crept closer to the door trying to find out what was going on...

***

“AAAAAAAARGGGGHH!!! I CAN’T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!!!” Ashura screamed while tossing a desklamp toward one of the cabin’s walls. The item immediately shattered on contact. Ash’s dark boots crunched on the shard pieces as he paced around the room. “WHAT THE HELL IS HER DAMN PROBLEM!?!!! WHAT THE HELL DID I DO TO HER?!!?” He punched out one of the glass mirrors in the bathroom.

“PIKA-PI, PIKA KA KIKA CHU!! PIKA!!!” Pikachu shouted while trying to calm his friend.

“I DON’T CARE...I DON’T CARE ABOUT THE DAMN MISSION ANYMORE!!!” He declared. “GOD, NO MISSION IS WORTH THIS!!!” He slammed his fist against the wall again.

“PIKA-PIKA..CHU?” The electric mouse asked.

Ash was silent. “I don’t know... I don’t know if SHE is really worth it either..” He slumped down into one of the booth chairs. Pikachu hopped into the seat next to him. “Man....this is worst then when we were younger...” Ash started to say. “At least then, if I got fed up I could just leave...”

Pikachu was silent for a while. Then whispered. “Pika, Ka ka chu, Pi....Pika-Pi...”

Ash smiled as he gazed back at his best friend. “Yeah, your right...I never could have left her.” Pikachu stared at Ashura, patiently waiting for him to comment on his other statement. Ash glared at his rodent friend. Pikachu knew him too well.

“Yeah...” He sighed. “I know she’s worth it too...” Ash added, while ruffling the area around Pikachu’s ears. The Pokemon always loved that. “She probably could do anything to me and it wouldn’t stop how I feel...” He admitted.

Pikachu didn’t comment cause he knew Ash was right. He was hopeless in love with that girl. The Pokemon sighed. He wished Ash took more of his example. ‘Love’em and leave’em...’ That’s what Pikachu always did. He would never find himself hooked on any female. But the Mouse Pokemon realized, that wasn’t for his friend. He and Misty were meant to be together. This was just another hurtle Ash would have to jump before that could happen.

The yellow mouse patted Ash on is head, then he asked. “Pika-Pi, Pika piKa, chu..Chu..Pika Pi?” The rodent waited patiently for his friend’s answered.

Ashura thought for a while and brought out his knife to examine it. “I know, I should just tell her...” The young man stated. “But it’s hard...” Hard was an understatement. It would probably close to impossible when it came to that girl. “It’s like everytime I see her, I always just want to...”

*Knock! Knock! Knock!*

“Ash...” The familiar female voice said, following the knocks. After a few seconds of silence, the young woman entered the cabin.

****

Misty couldn’t bear listening in on their conversation anymore. She politely knocked on the door, but she received no reply. ‘God I hope he doesn’t hate me now.’ Her thoughts pondered as she eased the door open.

As soon as Misty entered the cabin she took notice of the two. Pikachu looked like he was peacefully sleeping in one of the lounge chairs. Misty smirked. She didn’t believe for one second that the Pikachu’ed voice she heard just moments ago, was just her imagination.

Misty withdrew her attention away from the Pokemon and focused on her protector. Ash was sitting quietly by a window seat. His focus was drawn to a small pocket knife that he was twirling in his fingers.

As she approached him, he stopped his action, and put his knife away. The blade was returned to the small sheath placed behind his back. Wordless, he continued to stare out the window. Resuming his previous action of watching the country-side and keeping count of  all the wondering telephone poles.

Misty sighed. She knew the old ‘silent treatment’ when she saw it. It was just amazing that it was coming from Ash. But that didn’t matter now. She had to say this now or she would surely lose her mind.

“Ash I’m sorry...” Misty’s voice said, piercing the ears of the MASTERS Agent. He didn’t respond or even turn her way to acknowledge her. He just continued to stare off into space.
Misty looked down as she continued. “I mean, I’m really sorry. I’ve been a total jerk to you this whole time...”

Misty noticed his chocolate colored eyes looked toward the table. Still refusing to acknowledge her existence. “And all you’ve try to be was a good friend to me.” She said continuing. “I’m sorry for acting that way. I have been...” She stopped, suddenly it became really hard to talk.

“Ash...” She softly said. “God, there are so many things I have to tell you.” Her voice seemed to echo some of the worry and grief she had been experiencing. “But I’m so afraid what will happen. But...But I guess... I’m more afraid of what could happen if I make you walk away from me this time...” She was putting everything in her heart into her words. But he seemed to shrug them off like they were nothing. Like her fears...her worrying...her sadness was nothing....

“Will you say something to me!?!” She shouted, while turning him around to face her. She wanted her voice to be filled with anger. But it came out with more weakness, than she ever wanted to admit.

And in response...Ashura didn’t even look up. He didn’t even listen to the heart felt confession she just poured to him. Cause Ash was still pissed. Very pissed over what she said about him. He couldn’t believe she could still be so heartless, when all he wanted to do was protect her. Ash wasn’t sure if he would ever forgive her.

He sighed. He decided at least he should look at her, to tell her to leave him alone. He at least owed her that...

Slowly Ash looked up to the Pokemon Doctor. His soul determination was bent on telling Misty off once and for all. With anger in check and ready to fire. He had a few choice words he was holding back, just in case there was a situation like this.

Then his brown eyes met her slightly damp with tears, blue ones and...

He fell in love again.

***

“Je vous pardonne,” {I forgive you} Ash said softly to her. His face now forming, his familiar smile.

Misty looked at him and cocked her head to the side. “What did you just say?” She asked him, while wiping her eyes. She could have sworn she heard something uttered from his mouth that was from a foreign dialect. She knew what language..but she didn’t know why the hell Ash would be speaking it.

Ash grinned and repeated the phrase. “Je vous pardonne...” He stared back at the red headed Waterflower. “It means... ‘I forgive you’ in French...”

Misty raised an eyebrow. “You know French?” The agent nodded. “HOW!!!!” Misty bellowed. Misty herself always wanted to learn, but she was always too busy to really spend the time to learn. But Ash? Ash was able to learn...(and from the way he sounded) was pretty confident with the language.

“I learned, when I had an assignment in Paris.” The dark haired man said nonchalantly.

Misty’s eyes went wide. “You went to Paris?” She asked Ashura, like the place was some foreign realm that no one could ever enter. And the MASTERS agent nodded like the destination was an everyday occurrence.

Misty was mystified by the realization. “Why? How? When..did you go?” She overflowed Ash with dozens of other questions. She also didn’t notice that she was viciously shaking the Agent with every new inquiry.

But Ashura was able to take everything in stride. “Well...” He started. “the assignment in Paris was my first job after...Toshiro,” Ash paused for minute. Mentioning the place’s name still was hard for him. And for her part Misty understood. That was a lot for anyone to go through and even though she desperately wanted to know about the place she only visited in her dreams... Misty just this once remained silent...

“I was there to protect, Madam Adéle.” A Cheshire like grin developed on Ash’s face as he recalled the woman’s name. Misty glared at him.

Ash looked at her innocently. “What?” He asked. “It’s not like anything happen. In all honesty she reminded me of you.” He commented. “Very strong. Very outgoing. Very... ‘souhaitable’...” {sexy} Ash managed to slide in.

Misty’s blue eyes beamed down on Ash. She didn’t know what he just said right now. But from his tone she knew, she didn’t like the way it sounded. So in turn she had to retaliate, with a swift blow to Ash’s chest.

“Ow..Hey...It means....” He paused. He didn’t really want to say, the real meaning but... “beautiful...” He said, hoping he could get away with the small lie.

Misty blushed. She didn’t believe that’s what the word meant. But Ash was basically complimenting her so she decided to let it slide...for now. “So tell me...How was Paris like?”

Ash blinked a few times, as he started to recall some of the sights of his earlier journey. Misty took the seat across from him, so when he finally was ready to devulge his tale, he found he was looking into her eyes.

The young man smiled, when he saw the eager expression on her face. She looked very cute, with a half serious, half curious appearance. Her eyes appeared so deep and soulful at the moment. She looked like anything that was uttered from his throat, would be forever locked in her memory.

Which meant Ash had to make this good. With good descriptions and meaningful words. Answers that were thought-provoking and left her mind in wonderment.

“It was cool...” He replied blandly.

Misty’s right eyebrow twitched slightly. “Could you go into a little more depth...PLEASE!?!” The crimson haired girl asked/THREATENED.

Ashura chuckled lightly to himself. “Well... Paris was great actually. The foods...The music...The sights... It was all kinda magical. I know why it’s call the city of lights. Cause at night if you look out onto the city. You can see thousands, upon of thousands of lights blanketing the city.” He smiled slightly as he gave tranquil gaze toward the horizon.

Misty closed her eyes briefly, as she let the weight of Ash’s words take her. It was almost as if she was there right with him, seeing the things he saw. And experiencing the things he did. Oh how she greatly wanted to go there. At least before she died...

“I’ll take you there someday if you like...” Ash said gradually. Almost if he could read her thoughts.

The azure eyed woman looked toward the Agent and smiled. “I think....I think I would like that...” She said softly.

In returned Ash smiled and continued to look out of the window. Misty quietly sat in the seats that were closer to the doors. Almost a half the room away from him. There was a silence between the two. One of those uncomfortable silences.

“Would you say something else?”

Ashura looked to the girl. “Huh?”

Misty bit her lip and blushed. She didn’t realize her voice would carry that far. She took another silent breath and said. “Would you say something else?...In French I mean.” She looked over to him.

Ash smiled for a brief second. Another grin appeared on his face as he uttered another series of words in the foreign language. “Je pense votre la créature la plus belle, Dieu pourrais avoir jamais pour avoir créé. Et je suis dans l'amour avec vous.” He finished with another smug expression.

Misty was in awed by the pleasant sound of his voice while he spoke. His tone was elegant and somewhat mysterious. Just like the exotic dialect he was speaking. “And what did that mean?” The Pokemon Doctor asked, after he was finished.

“Well....” Ash started to say. Then he paused and looked to the girl. “Well..I’ll tell you, but you have to come closer...” Ash teased, with a small grin. Misty rolled her eyes toward him
and slowly walked over to his seat.

“A little bit closer,” Misty glared at him, as she allowed him to pull her closer to him. “I said...” Ash whispered while looking into her eyes. “I think your the most beautiful creature, God could ever have created..” He paused after his first confession. He took a final breath then continued. “And...I'm in lo...”

“HEY MASTERS!!!” A new voice shouted, while interrupting the two.

“MERDE!!!” Ashura swore as once again he was interrupted. Misty giggled to herself. She didn’t know a lot of French...but she did happened to know some of their swear words.

The two turned around to see one of the assigned Officers rushing towards them. Ash recalled it was the very same one that was giving him a hard time before. “Me and the guys were watchin’ the tube,” The officer started. “...I think you outta check this out,”

Ash and Misty glared at the officer. But Pikachu, ever quick with a remote control, turned
on the TV. “I repeat! I repeat!” Shouted the agitated News anchor. “The Celadon National
Bank has been completely destroyed. Sources say Team Rocket was responsible for the
bombing. They gave no warning for the assault. Police are now searching for leads on the...”
*Click*

The young Officer looked over to Ashura. For a moment he sighed. He hated the fact that his
superior was a young punk, but at the moment that wasn't the task at hand. “Sir...What do
you suggest?”

Ashura looked from side-to-side. He couldn't believe Celadon Nation Bank was taken out.
Team Rocket must have known they were coming. But who could have told them? And how could they have already acted this swiftly? His mind raced with other questions as he looked to Misty. Her appearance seemed grim. Like there was something greatly troubling her. He wanted to ask her what was wrong. But he had to deal with this situation first.

“Ummm...” ‘Great....pearls of wisdom. Ash,’ Ketchum thought to himself. Then something
caught his eye outside. All the telephone poles were coming faster and faster. He narrowed
his eyes. Before he remembered a new telephone beam came every 4.6 seconds. Now they
were coming at 4...No...3...No...2 a second.

“CRAP!” The agent shouted. “We're moving faster!” He looked toward the Officer. “Tell
your men to guard Miss. Waters. I'm going to see what's going on with the Engineer!” He
shouted while he started to move toward the Engine car. Pikachu hoped down from the couch and ran along side Ash.

“Yes, sir..” The Officer said. “Come with me, Miss. Waters.” The Cop asked her, while
gentle leading her toward the Officer's car. Misty pulled the red hood of her sweat shirt over her head as she followed the officer.

Ashura turned his back on them for a mere second. “ASH!!!” He heard from behind him. Then he heard a gun shot followed by a scream. His only thoughts were of Misty. So help anyone that hurt her! Ash turned around just in time to see the Officer's body hit the floor.

The murderer...One of the Officers from the other room. The Officer grinned toward the Agent as other officers started to point their weapons at him. Then in the next 5 seconds... Things aboard the Rapadash Express took a 180 degree turn...

***

Instantly Ash recognized the fraud officers to be Team Rocket operatives. And he only knew one way to deal with Team Rocket. “Misty get down!!!” Ashura shouted while drawing for his sidearm. The silver plated weapon gleamed in the small array of sunlight.

Almost automatically the girl ducked under one of the booths. Shots soared by, just barley missing her delicate frame. But the items that were on the table above them, weren’t so lucky.  The candy dish, the plates...Hell even the TV remote was blown away by the rogue gunfire.

Totally terrified, all Misty could do was huddled underneath the table. She brought her knees to her chest and silently prayed to any God that was listening that she would get out of there alive.

Meanwhile... Ash wasn’t well off either. Currently he was pinned in the corner beside the refrigerator and one of the booths. Plus the only thing keeping a bullet out of his butt, was the wall that the refrigerator was up against.

“Great...Just great.” Ash complained, while putting a few slugs into a soon to be ‘late’ Team Rocket member. “I swear..It just doesn’t let up..” He fired a few more times. One shot impaled itself in a blue uniformed Rocket’s leg. While the other made it’s home in his chest. “I finally get the opportunity to tell her how I feel, in a really cool way. And these jerk-offs have to ruin it.”

Ash dove back, up against the corner of the refrigerator’s door. Taking a few seconds to reload his clip. His brown eyes spotted the adjacent train car door, that was behind him. If he could somehow fend off the Rockets long enough to get Misty and go through that door. They might have a chance of surviving this.

Ashura...now armed with a goal to aim for, let the chamber to the baretta slide back. As he finished loading the weapon. He took a couple of deep breaths. Then glanced around the corner. As soon as a strand of his dark hair was seen, a tiny lead flying object soared across the air, instantly clipping the hair.

Immediately he ducked back to avoid his head getting blown off. “Jeez...You would think, these guys were trying to kill me or something.” Ashura muttered to himself, as he prepared another try at it. But then something else drew his attention.

The train car door...The train car door, that was going to be Ash and Misty’s form of escaped, started to open.  Ashura knew the train wasn’t equipped with automated doors. So that was out of the question..But if that was true..Who...?

Then he found his answer. Within minutes, more Rockets started to peer from the opening. More Rockets..which meant more guns....

“Oh...Come on!!!” Ashura thundered, while drawing for his other firearm. Both weapons were now was discharging in both directions. Both making their assaulters think twice about taking the MASTERS Agent likely. But although Ashura knew he was good, even he couldn't keep this up for long.

Ash ducked to the other side of the refrigerator to avoid the crossfire of bullets. His brown eyes then fell upon his Pikachu. Who at the moment was cowering under the table. Ash narrowed his eyes at the cowardly Pocket Monster. “HEY! A little help here!” Ash hinted, while nudging the Mon, with his elbow.

The Pikachu ear’s perked up as he turned around to look at his partner. The mouse sheepishly grinned at the Agent who unfortunately, didn't see anything funny at the moment. Pikachu let out a deep sigh. Then ran out into the middle of the car. His little paws, skidding past bullets as they followed his trail. Pikachu then leaped to the side as another hail of bullets nearly claimed his life.
The Pokemon frowned. This wasn’t the nice calm ride, his Pika-Pi spoke of. They hadn’t been even half way to their location before the Rocket’s (or Moving Targets, what he usually thought of them as) came. In anyway...he didn’t really need to be here. Cause for one thing, humans were Pika-Pi department. If there were any Pokemon in the fray, that would be something different. But these are just humans...Regular stupid humans.

Yup..Pikachu had enough. This was Pika-Pi problem, so he had to deal with it. All Pikachu was going to do was, grab his bottle of Ketchup and take a little snooze. And speaking of which....

The Pokemon looked around the room, absent mindedly dodging bullets that happened to come his way. Besides they didn’t matter. Pikachu was a Mon on a mission. A mission to find his Ketchup bottle... His Ketchup bottle... Hmmmm... Pikachu paws just walked across something that was sticky on the floor.

For a moment he just thought it was some poor bastard’s blood. But when he inspected it more. Then he thought...the substance had a little bit more texture then blood. In fact...it was almost pasty.

Then Pikachu was frozen in place. Suddenly a small white wrapper skidding in front of his eyes, conforming his greatest horror. In those few moments the world around Pikachu didn’t exist anymore. All he could see were the small printed letters the label.

‘Heinz 57’.

***

From out behind the corner, Ash spotted Pikachu. For a few moment’s he was puzzled to why the Pokemon stopped in the middle of the room. In fact it looked like the little mouse was entranced by something. Ash’s brown eyes scanned the room trying to find what was causing his partner so much dismay.

Then after a few second he caught onto his partner’s discovery. He then looked over to the Team Rocket members in pity.

“I feel sorry for you guys....”

***

Misty was not in the best of moods. This was the third time during this week she was involved with a full blown shoot out. Christ, she would rather take a midnight stroll in Central Park then to be cramped in this damn train car booth, praying for her dear life.

But no...Thanks to her EX-best friend, she was now in another gun battle.

‘I swear Ash Ketchum and heavy gun fire, must come hand in hand.’ The red head finally resolved. She scrunched under the table trying to get as much cover as possible. If you looked from the distance, you could just see legs, covered over by a huge red cape..that was her hoody.

Just then another bullet soared above Misty’s head. The lead projectile streamed through the air, shattering a mustard jar. And guess where the majority of the substance went....

Misty desperately wiped herself free of the yellow condiment. She looked down at her red sweat shirt and sighed. ‘Why do things like this happening to me?’ She asked herself. Just then a bullet whizzed by, splintering the pine wood surface that was once the booth’s table. She clutched her hands to her head, as if the motion could mute all action and destruction taken place in the room.

“WHY ISN’T ASH TAKING CARE OF THESE GUYS!!!” Misty violently shouted. Then the Doctor’s eyes caught something peculiar going on in the middle of the room. ‘And what the hell is Pikachu doing?’ She wondered, as she continued to gaze at the mouse Pokemon.

Then in a instant the girl’s eyes widen in disbelief. And even to this day, she refused to believe that what happened in that train car was actually reality.

***

It started with a dull murmur, that magnified into a thunderous roar...

Then waves of sonic force, seemed to pulsated from the saffron colored Pokemon, the Pokemon who’s eyes were the stained color of blood. Rings of multi-colored light started to surround Pikachu. Then the units of light started to lengthen and expand as they orbited his body turning into a spherical globes of raw destructive energy.

All the windows of the cabin shattered from the expel of such tremendous power. The oxygen in the room started to thin, as well as the temperature started to climb. Sending the whole room into a chaotic fury.

The last thing anyone could remember was the light...

***

“Misty..Misty...” A deep voice echoed to the Water Pokemon trainer.

Suddenly Misty’s eyes fluttered open. Her blue eyes wandered over, to the form that was in front of her. Misty gazed into the brown eyes that were totally focused on her. “Ash?” She whispered. The young man nodded and let out a breath of relief.

“Here let me help you...” Ash said as he leaned forward and took the frail young woman into his arms and gently placed her on the ground. For a minute Ash could have sworn he saw Misty redden slightly. ‘Hmmm...I wonder what that meant.’

For the next couple of moments Misty was unsteadying on her feet. Whatever the hell that happen took a lot out of her. Standing... at the moment was even a chore. Despite herself, she leaned up against Ash for support.

“Ash...” She weakly whispered. “What happen?” She covered her eyes after the statement. The sun was brightly beating down into her eyes. “And why is it so bright in here? Did you open a window in here or something?”

“Uh..Misty I think you should open your eyes..” The agent suggested.

“What..?” An odd request. But oh well. Misty slowly opened her eyes as she broke away from Ash’s embrace. Her shimmering blue eyes started to focus again. She then looked around the room.

She didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. Some tables were turned over. And the Sun beating down on them was kinda annoying. Then she paused. That shouldn’t be right...Why would the sun be so bright if they were inside. It was kinda weird. But then Misty looked toward the ceiling. The girl paused for a minute and tugged on Ash’s shoulder.

“WHERE THE HELL IS THE DAMN ROOF??” The Water Trainer asked. For she had good reason. It looked like the ceiling of the whole entire train car, was ripped clean off.

Ash meekly pointed to his small yellow partner. Who currently was in the corner weeping heavily. A torn..and slightly singed wrapper of some kind, was in it’s little paws.

“Dammit Ash,” Misty cursed in disbelief. “Exactly how strong is Pikachu?”

Ashura shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know....” For a second he gave the question more thought. Only problem was, there wasn’t a real direct answer to her question. “Ummmm...All I can say is.” He paused for a minute, then answered. “Remember the black out that hit Celadon, Cerulean, and Pallet town, a few years back?”

The girl nodded. “Yeah I had to stock up on candles for like the whole week.”

“Yeah I know...” Ash agreed with the her. If he wasn’t on duty in MASTERS that whole week, he probably would have to have done the same thing. “At first MASTERS was hit hard, by the blackout. We were changing our Global Surveillance Systems, when it hit. All of our computers files were totally lost. Not to mention many sections of MASTERS was disabled.” He sighed, as he remembered the horror of being trapped for 5 hours in one of  the  elevators. “MASTERS only saving grace was Pikachu.”

Misty raised an eyebrow. “How so?”

“Well we just hooked him out to one of the generators.” He grinned. “And Man, did he keep us running till the crisis was over.” Ash grinned. It was his idea to use Pikachu to power the facility.

“For the whole week?” The girl asked.

Ashura nodded. “Yeah...We were even able to reinstall most of our lost data.” Misty stood back in amazement.  It was astonishing to think Pikachu was able to continuously power that huge place. Specially since all of MASTERS was an agency that covered three square miles...underground.

It’s amazing what Pokemon were capable of doing. But then Misty realized that Pikachu was no ordinary Pokemon.

***

Pikachu clung to the destroyed Ketchup wrapper like it was a lost child. The Pokemon wept seas of tears, over it’s lost treasure.

Ashura sighed as he looked over at his partner. It totally amazed Ash, how a Pokemon that could annihilate whole armies of Team Rocket Pokemon and be drenched in his victim’s blood without even flinching. But as soon as someone destroys the condiment. The little mouse would be reduced to a weeping mess.

Ash sighed. “Pikachu, I think we need to get you into therapy after this...” He said to himself in a low voice, as he walked over to his partner. “Hey Pikachu, buddy. Hey no tears now...” The Trainer said. “Come on, we still have a job to do. No use in getting upset over it. It’s only Ketchup...”

To that response, Pikachu turned and glared at his owner. His eyes started to brightly flash red once again. Almost if it was ready for another attack. But Ashura was sure Pikachu wouldn’t turn on him... Well pretty sure...

Then again Ash didn’t want to take that chance. “Ok..Ok..” Ash responded quickly. “I’ll get you a brand new case. Next time we’re at the store, that is...”

“Pika-pi, Ka Pika Cuu. Pika?” The little Pokemon’s ears started to perk up again.

Ash sighed heavily. “Yes I promise..”

“Well now that, that is over,” Misty said interrupted the two. She turned to her ‘protector,’ “Ash...What the hell was that? What did Pikachu do anyway? I’ve never seen any technique like that before in my life.”

Ash chuckled. “Yeah, well that’s the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Pikachu.” he grinned. Misty just continued to look at him strangely. “Anyway to answer your question..that technique was....was..” He paused for a minute. “Umm...what was that anyway..?” He asked himself. Misty just continued to look at him. The girl could feel the sweatdrop forming over her head.

“Lets see was that...Umm...Final Storm? No... Was it Dark Cloud.. Ha no..” Ash laughed to himself again. “If Pikachu did that technique, we all would be been dead.” Misty paled as she stared at Ash. Then she stared at Pikachu.  Ash whispered to himself. ‘I don’t even want to see him do that again....’

After a few minutes Ash gave up. He looked over to his furry pal. “Hey Pikachu..what was that technique again?”

“PIKA-Chu..KA CHU!!!” The moody electric Pokemon bitterly replied. Pikachu was still a little upset. Even though Pika-Pi, did promise more Ketchup to him. Wasted Ketchup..was still wasted Ketchup.

At that Ash snapped his fingers. “Yeah..that’s it. ‘True Judgment..’”

The girl just raised an eyebrow to the Pokemon Master. “Ok...So where do we go now?”

‘Yeah that’s right. We’re still not out of this.’ Ash thought to himself. Best course of action they could do was try to get to the engineer. Maybe they could get this train turned around. Or stopped at a nearby station or something. That is going on the premise that, the Engineer is still alive and all. Oh well only one way to find out.

Ash turned to Misty. “Well I think we should try to....” That’s when they both started to hear the sound. The rhythmic pattering of propeller blades. The ever brilliant light of the Sun was blanketed by the shadow of AH-64 Apache attack helicopter.

The Apache circled once. Then arched itself, to it was almost like it was looking directly at Ash and Misty. Ash didn’t need to be a psychic to know what was going to happen next. “Oh Crap! JUST RUN!!!!!” As soon as he uttered the words the first wave of machine propelled bullets were sent their way.

Luckily the attack was in vain, Ash and Misty managed to get to into the next cabin before they were hit. But the race was close. Each of the lead propellants were inches away from the  couple’s heels all the way till they reached the door.

All this took place while Pikachu reminded firm. His brown eyes stared up at the aircraft. The mouse gritted his tiny fangs, then instantly his brown eyes went to red again. He was a Pikachu. He never ran...

****

The Waterflower and the Agent ran side-by-side through the train car doors. Hundreds of bullets on their heels. One false move of the two, could ended in the one being caring in a body bag.

Misty fumbled while trying to stay with Ash’s pace. She knew she was in good shape. But for some reason Ash was always five steps ahead of her. The Pokemon Doctor paused for a second. Someone was missing. Misty’s eyes widen. “Ash wait!!”

Ash halted and turned to her. “What is it?” He asked. His lungs pumping in and out oxygen, as he chest expanded in and out. A light glaze of sweat was forming on his body.

“Pikachu...” She stated. “We left Pikachu!”

Then from the other room the two heard. “PIKACHU!!! ...PIKACHUUUU!!!” Followed by a series of thunderbolts and sporadic eruptions.

Ash smirked. “Believe me, he can take care of himself...” He said while smiling at her.

Misty thought about it for a minute. After all she’d seen in the last couple of days, she was sure there wasn’t anything that Pokemon couldn’t handle. She returned Ash’s smile. “Yeah I guess your right.”

Ash grinned. Well...he had two reasons to be happy. One, was Misty didn’t argue with him about the subject. And secondly, because she admitted he was right. That alone would have made his day. But now wasn’t the time for that.

Ash looked to her and added. “And trust me Misty...No matter what happens. Even if we get separated...I’ll always come for you and make sure your always safe.”

Misty nodded. “I know..it’s your job to.” The girl stated, while shifted her weight to her other leg.

“No....” He said while shaking his head “It’s cause I want to...”

“Oh...” The red bangs of Misty’s hair fell down, as she cast her gaze down. A few sobs escaped her lips. Ash went to see what was wrong. But Misty just took his hand and brought it to her lips. “Ash...when all of this is over, I have to talk to you...about something...”

Ash cocked his head to the side. “What is it?”

Misty looked away. “I can’t say right now...But I will tell you everything..later.”

Ash nodded. That was good enough for now. Then his best friend slowly took his hand into her own. Ash looked down at their interlocking hands and smiled. He looked up to Misty who equally was smiling brightly. “Ok..Mist, lets go...”

***

The two passed through the next couple of cars with no resistance. Misty commented that maybe they broke through all of their forces, but Ashura knew better. Team Rocket wouldn’t have made such a half hearted attempt. If anything, their were just going further into their trap. But Ash had no choice. As long as he was on this train with Misty, they were still vulnerable.

The choppy rhythmic, echoing of a Apache helicopter started to sound again. Ash momentarily paused. “Oh crap...”

Then suddenly the windows were crashed in as sub-machine gun wielding Team Rocket soldiers, broke in. Everyone of the soldiers, were dressed in black camo, with black ski-masks and goggles covering their faces. Each with one goal and will, to appease their leader.

“Stay here...” Ash said as he walked ahead of Misty.

Normally, the girl would have said something. But the look Ash gave her was something she never seen in his eyes before. ‘Be careful...’ She mentally called after him.

Ash brown eyes flared at his opponents. “If you want her...You have to get through me!” Ash thundered. Then his dark cloaked frame speeded toward the group and leaped onto one of the tables. With a mild flick of his leg he sent a thrust a kick into the lead Rocket’s chest. The solider was floored instantly. Ash then spun on his heels releasing a staggering roundhouse kick to another of his opponents. He then twisted in mid-flight performing a slight airial and graciously sent a  haymaker to the remaining Rocket’s jaw.

All three Rockets were breathing..but weren’t enjoying it much.

The MASTERS agent then sank to his feet to grab their M-16 machine gun rifles. The instant he did, more Rockets started to pour from the train way corridors. Ashura ran head first into the mob, M-16s blazing in each of his hands. Blood ripped through the Rocket’s chests, stomachs, and even temples as Ashura discharged all of the ammunition in the machine guns.

After thirty seconds both weapons were empty of all their shells. But that didn’t mean they were useless...

The raven haired agent, then just clutched both of the weapons and made two motions. One resulting in collision with a Team Rocket member’s skull, the other fracturing another poor Rocket’s knee cap.

But in his wake, Ashura’s madness didn’t cease. He flew towards the nearest camouflaged assailant. With a quick fanning of his hands, Ash deflecting the Rocket’s gun upward. He then lunged his wrists forward striking the Rocket, three times in the chest. Ashura then spun around transferring a sickly hook kick to the leading Commando, sending him to the floor. Ashura twisted his ankle snapping the bastard’s neck in seconds. Then with a mad rush, slung his rifle to his other hand.

Ashura turned to the frail red head and screamed. “Misty duck!!!” Misty dropped to her knees immediately. And as soon as she did,  the Agent unleased several slugs into a Rocket that was creeping up behind her.

****

Misty stared at the body of the dead Team Rocket member, for probably seconds. In that time though, so many thoughts swirled through her mind about the individual. Who he was? Who his family might have been? Why he choose this life style?

Apart of her wondered what aspiring things the young man could have accomplished if his path wasn’t so clouded. Another part of her wondered about her own path as well. Was her path also clouded...? Would it also lead her to the same fate...? Or would she somehow survive this...?

The crimsons bangs of her hair swayed as she shook her head. Misty knew she would survive. Ash was with her...He would protect her, despite...

Misty continued to look onto the body till she felt strong hands patting her shoulder. Without even looking she knew it was Ash. And without even looking she knew things were safe. She looked up to the Agent, whose expression was very serious. But also seemed very calm.

And slowly Misty rose to her feet...

****

Misty and Ash ran hand-in-hand down the train corridors.  They finally were in sight of their destination, the Engine car. Ash looked around the train car. The two seemed to have gotten through the remainder of the train with little or no problem. Although they did have a few encounters along the way, but it wasn’t something the MASTERS agent couldn’t handle.

And here was the end of their journey. Ash was expecting either the Engineers were Rocket agents or probably just dead. Which would mean he would have to stop the train, so the two could get off.

Funny thing was he didn’t know a damn thing about driving a train or anything. He chuckled. “This will be an Adventure in itself...” Ashura said to himself.

“What?” Misty asked while turning to him. The girl had remained silent for the last twenty or so minutes. All she did was follow Ashura’s strict instructions. Misty trusted Ash’s decisions totally. Granted she knew she could handle herself. But she allowed Ash, his moment for right now.

“Nothing...” The dark haired man commented. His voice was suddenly muted as the roar of a helicopter thundered over-top of them. The same Apache, had been tailing them for the last five cars. It hadn’t attacked though, it just seemed to follow them whenever they moved.

Ash assumed they had a trace on one of them or something. That was how they were able to follow their actions. He didn’t have a problem with it. The only problem he did have was the fact copper didn’t make it’s move. It didn’t attack or anything. Which worried Ash greatly. It was waiting for something... And Ashura was sure it wasn’t in his or Misty’s best interest.

“Ah finally we’re finally here!” Misty cheered. Her slender body, taking a small break, to take a good stretch. The flex her back muscles, to relieve some of the stress on her spine.

Ketchum frowned while looking at her and shook his head. “Don’t start popping the champagne bottles, just yet.” He mocked. “We’re still on this train,” He informed her.

Misty sighed. “Oh come on Ash. Even if they do, do something.” She said almost merrily. “I know you can handle it.” The red head then turned to him and smiled. “I believe in you...” She whispered truthfully. There was a small glint in her sea blue eyes that was almost hypnotic.

Bright red. Bright tomato red. That was the color of Ash’s cheeks, after Misty’s statement. Ash nervously looked down and scratched the back of his head. Suddenly he felt things were just like when he was a kid. Still nervous and hopelessly embarrassed when she ever said something truly nice about him.

“So anyway...” Ash said while finally getting his nerves under control and also trying to change the subject. “This is the last stop. We stop the train. Get the hell off. Then contact MASTERS to let them know the situation here.” Ashura concluded.

“Then...” Ash was about to say, but then stopped. His hearing picked up something. The sound then repeated, the soft clicking of foot steps against metal. His eyes then scanned the area. After about a half second, he realized the source was the room they just came out of.

The Pokemon Doctor cocked her head to the side. She wondered why her friend stop. She turned around to face him. “What is it Ash?” Misty asked honestly.

“Shhh....” He told her softly. “They’re coming.” The dark haired Agent wasn’t sure of the numbers. But he knew it was more then five coming their way.

Instantly Ashura then drew into his coat and retrieved one of his Berattas. In his other hand, he brought out an Ingram M11, which he picked up from one of the Rockets. He figured it would come in handy, sooner or later. He was just hoping it would have been a hellavah lot later.

Ashura’s brown eyes refocused on the area where the approaching menace was coming from. “Misty...” Ash said while not taking his eyes off the door. “I want you to go inside the Engineer’s car and tell him what’s going on. If no one is in there or if they are all dead, just wait for me.” He informed her. “I’ll come for you shortly....”

Misty was about to protest. She didn’t want to leave Ash specially, in this dangerous situation. But she also knew that right now, she was kind of a liability to him. She sighed, for now she would listen to what he said. Misty lowered her head and looked toward the door. She then looked toward Ash, who back was facing her at the moment. His attention was still on Rockets that were bound to be coming.

Misty was about to go into the Engineer car. But she couldn’t, not before she did one thing. The girl rushed behind Ashura and placed her slender arms around his strong body. “Don’t you go dying on me, Ash...” She said into his ear.

For a few seconds, she could feel Ash’s body tense. Then all at once, it relaxed greatly. His hands brushed against hers and he returned her exchanged. He smiled. “I won’t....” He said gingerly. “Your not the only one that has a confession, to make.”

A small smirked formed on Misty face. For a brief second, Ash almost sounded like the old him again. She buried her face farther in Ash’s back. She was happy. Even in the situation they were in she was still content to be able to be with Ash again.

“Now go Misty...” Ash softly ordered, while he proceeded towards the approaching Rocket.

The young red-head nodded and made her way toward the Engineer car. She slid the lock outward and unlatched the door. Slowly but surely the door started to open. Misty then started to make her way inside...till she was confronted by a tower of  muscle.

The girl didn’t even have a chance to cry for help...

****

Meanwhile Ashura was totally oblivious to Misty’s plight. The Agent was currently busy at the moment. And their were several Rockets that were not appreciating his stern attention.

Rounds continuously seemed to fly out of his submachine gun, while he used his knuckle to send another Rocket to the nice HARD floor. The next trip that Rocket would be taking, would be the morgue.

Ashura sent another volley of shots through the air as he ducked under one of the tables to reload. One Rocket used the opportunity to get the upper hand. He dashed over to Ashura’s area, bent on blitzing the Agent and taking him out.

But as soon as he completed three steps toward the MASTERS direction, the Team Rocket member was lit up with dual beratta barrage. Ashura rose up to his feet, flipping the table over in his motion. He sent wave after wave of hailing gunfire towards the black commando squad Rockets.

In another few seconds there would be no survivors...

Then a voice rumbled above all others in the room. “ASHURA!!! PUT YOUR WEAPONS DOWN!”

Instantly the dark haired Agent turned his attention, (and his guns) toward the sound of the voice. But as soon as he did, he nearly dropped the weapons in his hands. Ash’s brown eyes widen as he saw the helplessly captured Misty, suspended in the air. She was held by the beefy strong arms of  Lt. Surge.
***

Lieutenant Surge the six foot eight tall gym trainer from Vermilion City. Formerly discharge from MASTERS ranking after five convicted accounts of manslaughter during a Pokemon Match. And one account of rape to a former student.

After his jail time the former Lieutenant, shortly worked as a Mercenary for hire. Turning his back on all of MASTERS teachings and ideas, just to make a quick profit. His recent employer....Richard Giovanni.

***

The muscle-bound solider glared down at Ashura. Surge was a good foot taller then the Agent as well as a more then 100lbs. heavier. Ash had no doubt the soldier could easily snap Misty’s neck with one move.

Regretfully, Ashura knew he was defeated. Slowly his smoking berattas fell to the floor. As soon as he was unarmed, a group of Team Rockets members surrounded him. One Rocket butted his gun in Ashura’s chest. Instantly the wind was knocked out of him as he fell to the ground.

“ASH!!!” Misty cried, as she tried to squirm out of Surge’s grasp. But the Lieutenant was just too strong. He tighten his grip on her thin neck. Now all Misty could concentrate on was breathing.

The girl looked on as Ash was dragged before Lt. Surge. Nine semi-automatic assault rifles, were slammed against Ashura’s back. Advising that if he moved, several rounds of ammunition would be his sender to the next world. In the midst of all this confusion, one Rocket grinned...

The soldier cocked his head to the side, as he looked at the helpless predicament Ashura was in. The indestructible agent was finally contained. Ashura had been a thorn in Team Rocket’s side for a long time now. He had sent many a Rocket to the hospital or the lucky ones...the cemetery.

But now..NOW. He was stopped. And this Rocket decided to take full advantage of the situation. He didn’t care about the called order to cease-fire. Ashura was a menace. One that was only good dead. So what if he would be chewed out later. The satisfaction of knowing Ashura was dead, would be well worth it.

****

The rocket slowly made his way through, moving past his brothers. Brothers...yeah. Team Rocket was the only family he had. He had been living on his own before he joined. The streets...The streets were hard on kids. He had to do so many things to survive back then. Things he wouldn’t admit to anyone.

But now...HE was in control. And he was planing on killing anyone or anything that would ruin his happiness and his family. So killing Ashura wasn’t an act of vengeance alone. He was protecting family. Protecting HIS family.

The Rocket raised his Desert Eagle .50, to the back of Ashura’s skull. The chamber to the weapon was then slowly cocked back. Saying a small prayer for his fallen family. His finger neared the trigger...

*BLAM!!*

Then a body fell to the ground...

***

The other members of Team Rocket looked on, as another one of their ranks was murdered. The room was still drenched in the putrid odor of gun power and blood. Everyone’s gaze then turned to the smoking barrel of a Colt single action revolver. The silver metallic pistol glinted through the air as the owner twirled the weapon from his palm to it’s side holster.

“I believes’...Richie wanted him livin,” The new voice comment, as he looked past the deceased comrade. The vocal inflection of the man’s voice had a very apparent western accent. The crowd of Rockets gave way as an additional man dress in all black made his appearance.

Violet strands of hair fell down from the stranger’s black 10 gallon Cattleman hat. He appeared to be young, probably a few years older then Ashura. And he was equally dressed in black. From the pointed black Cowboy boots that he wore, to the black jacket that covered his frame. The only omitting factor to the dark tint was the two gleaming silver .40 caliber Peacemaker revolvers, that were place in the stranger’s side holsters. The sound of spurs *clinking* was heard everytime he moved.

(Why he wore spurs while they were on a train, was beyond Ashura.)

The more Ash looked on at the gunslinger, the more he was reminded of  the costume Will Smith wore in the movie “Wild, Wild, West..” Ketchum sighed as he watched at the Desperado.

“Well, well, that ‘twas sum mighty fine shootin, dere Ashura. But it seems we found ya’s weakness,” The westerner commented as he looked towards Misty.

The dark haired Agent glared at him. It took Ashura a few minutes, but he finally recognized the Cowboy. “Dairo....” Ash said in a cold voice. The westerner grinned and nodded. “Look, I don’t care what you do to me. Just leave her alone. This is between me and Richie.”

Dario chuckled as he looked at Ashura. “Oh don’t worry...” His body then turned around to face the girl. He cocked his head to the side taking in the girl’s looks. Granted she was on the thin side, but she still was a beaut. Dairo licked his lips. “I’ll take real good care of her.” The cowboy finished his sentence by slowly running his hand down Misty’s thigh. An act which sent all the hairs on Ash’s neck standing on end.

Misty’s eyes widen in shock and in disgust. “HEY!!” The red-head flashed an glare towards the Westerner. Suddenly a sneaker-ed foot thrashed out and impacted on the cowboy’s most sensitive area.

“Owww....” The desperado squealed in a small voice. His hands clutched his injured privates as he fell to the side.

“Leave her Alone!!!” Ashura shouted, taking a step forward. But as soon as he moved, he heard the cocking and clicking of several weapons reminding him of his predicament.

“Leave her alone?!?” Dario said finally addressed him. Now that he could regain the strength to carry a conversation. Of course the highly pitched southern flow to his speech could have passed for Pikachu’s. “Da’ philly kicks like a mule!!!”

The Lieutenant sighed. He had enough of the comedy. “Dario, stop playing around.” Surge ordered as he tossed Misty to another Rocket. The girl was then cuffed and brought next to Ashura. The girl looked very out of it. A mixture of fear and confusion was painted on her face.

Ashura turned to her. “You ok?” He asked her. Misty didn’t make a sound, but nodded. The Agent turned and whispered into her ear. “Don’t worry...I have everything under control.” Ashura calmly stated. “I’ll keep my word to you...”

Misty’s tension seemed to lessen. “Ok...” She turned to him. “I’ll be waiting...”

“AWWwww...isn’t that cute. The couple are giving each other parting words.” A Team Rocked member jested as he looked toward Ash and Misty. This rocked looked like he held a little bit of Rank over the other grunts. The fact he wasn’t dressed in the black camouflage like the others was a hint. That and the ridiculous looking army captain’s hat he was wearing was a clue too. Yes, Team Rocket was a strange lot.

“Heh, heh, heh...” The ‘Captain’ chuckled. “Hey Ashura we even got your little punk mouse captured too.” He taunted while holding up a black Pokeball in this hand.

Ash’s eyes widen as he looked at the contraction. The dark haired Agent tensed. “You...You didn’t put Pikachu in a Pokeball did you?” He nervously asked the Team Rocket member.

The Rocket merely shrugged. “Yeah...So?”

The MASTERS agent grimaced. God, they didn’t know. “Ooooh man..” Ash sighed while shaking his head. “He HATES Pokeballs.” The Agent sighed again. “Man your are soo.. dead, when he gets out of there.”

‘Captain’ Rocket looked at Ashura strangely. “This is the new Team Rocket edition Master Pokeball.” He informed him. “There is no way a Pokemon could break out of this..” Just as he said that phrase, the Pokeball in question started to shake violently. The vibrations was so strong, the Rocket nearly dropped the ball to the floor.

“Uh..huh...” Ashura chuckled while looking over to the guy. The unusually pleasant grin on Ashura’s face was starting to make him uneasy. “Sure..they are..” He said slyly.

“Anyway enough chitchat...” Surge thundered. Dario found his way to his feet and brushed himself off. “Boys take the girl away. Me, Dario and Ashura have some business to take care of,” The group of soldiers nodded to the order.

“Oh yeah...” The cowboy interjected. “Don’t do anything to her. I get first crack at her....” The violet haired Westerner said with a grin. Unfortunately the all other guys just frowned. Then they preceded to with they’re orders.

Misty frantically looked from side to side. She was trapped. Surrounded by at least ten dressed in black Team Rocket commandos. One second they were a good three feet away from her. Then suddenly they all swarmed her. Hands and limps trying to grab a hold of every inch of her body. “ASH!!! ASH!!! HELP!!!!” The girl pleaded, as she kicked and fought with her pursuers.

“MISTY!!!!!!” Ash shouted as he tried to charge after her. But once again, the wind was knocked out of him, as the staggeringly strong Lt. Surge gave the Agent a gut wrenching punch.

“Knock it off!!” The lightening Gymleader grumbled. He then picked Ashura up and slammed him into a chair. Rockets then tied the MASTERS agent into the chair, bounding his arms and his legs.

Ash gasped for air. It was like the whole room was spinning. But shortly he regained his senses. Just as another one of Misty’s tear-filled screams echoed in the room, and Ash Kecthum was powerless to spot it. All he could do was watch as they dragged Misty away, kicking and screaming his name. He know if they ever got out of this, that would be a scene that would be played in his nightmares for the rest of his life.

****

“I swear....when I get out of here...I’m gonna.. OFPH!!!” Ashura didn’t even get to finish his sentence. Every word he uttered, would result in additional crushing blow from Surge.

“QUIET!” The Soldier finished while cracking his knuckles. Despite the air he was portraying, Surge was really enjoying himself at the moment. He always wanted a shot at Ashura since his defeat, long ago. Now this was the perfect opportunity.

Surge then turned away from Ashura. He was holding a small remote in his hand. “Now look, you have someone that wants to have a few words with you...” The Lieutenant then pressed a button on the controller, as a small snow filled TV screen lowered from the ceiling.

After a few seconds the distortion cleared and an image appeared on the tube. The screen held the image of a figured shrouded in darkness. Actually it looked more like a figure sitting behind a desk, that was shrouded in darkness. Either way...someone needed to turn the lights on.

“Hello Ashura...”  As soon as Ash heard that voice he scowled. “How’s the trip going?” The shadowy figured inquired. Suddenly the figured was illuminated by one of the stage lights. And Richard Giovanni was in plain view. “I hope my boys didn’t rough you up too much...”

Ashura just remained silent.

Richie frowned, but his displeasure didn’t last long. “What’s the matter Ashy-boy? No snappy comebacks? No clever remarks?” Giovanni taunted. “Come on...What happen to all the whitty rapparte?”

The dark haired Agent glared at him. Then his hateful gaze turned into a slight grin. “I’m deciding on how I should kill you.” He stated with an amused smirk. “So far I have a tie between, incineration or dismemberment. OWWFF!!” His sentence was ended with another painful rib punch, compliments to Lt. Surge.

Richie held his chin as he was in deep meditation. “Hmmm...Being burned alive or loosing the old noggin,” The villain actually was weighing the plus and minuses of both acts. He returned to Ashura. “Hmmm...that is a tough choice. Hey tell me when you finally decide. I’m sure I would be very intrigued...”

A few droplets of blood fell from Ashura’s mouth. He coughed a few times as he recovered from Surge’s last attack. “Don’t worry...” He choked out in a weak voice. “You’ll be the first one to know...”

Giovanni nodded. “Your too kind...” The camera started to follow Richie as he rose up from behind the desk and started to pace around the studio room. “In the meantime, enjoy the trip. Ask Surge or Dario if you have any problems....” Richie paused as he just remembered something. “Oh yeah...then again Dario will probably occupied at the time.” Richie smirked.

Ashura could hear Dario chuckling somewhere behind him, while Richie continued. “It appears that cowpoke has a thing for your lady Ashura. Who knows maybe he’ll show her a good time before, she dies...” Richie chuckled as a another amusing idea came to him. “Then again...I might keep her for myself...She is quite appealing.” He held his chin again as he propped one foot onto his desk.  “I wonder if she’s a screamer....” He continued on, almost if he was thinking out loud. He then came out his deliberation and grinned. “Then again after I’m done with her she will be screaming either way...”

“DON’T YOU TOUCH HER, YOU BASTARD!!!!!” Ash threaten. He desperately tried to rise up from his seat. But once again Surge slammed the Agent back down to the ground. Ashura glared at the muscle bound solider. He then shifted his eyes back to Richie. “Richie...remember what I said back at the ‘Highlight.’?” Ash’s voice was now course and harsh. It was almost like if he wielded it to, it could cut steel.

The Team Rocket leader pondered back a bit. There was so much going on at the ‘Highlight,’ that it was hard to remember too many things. Then it again, the fact he took some of those pills before he went out could have been a factor too. You know he never did find out what those did anyway. Oh well... He gazed back to Ashura, with a bored expression. “Yeah...something about killing me I think...”

Slowly the corners of Ashura’s mouth, turned upward. His fierce brown eyes were blazing as he looked toward his sworn enemy. “I meant it...”

The brown haired Rocket raised an eyebrow and sighed. “Rrrrrright....Anyway..see you soon guy. And I promise, to take good care of your lady...” Then the TV monitor went to black.

Ashura then directed his eyes toward Surge. He still had a thing or two to ask before anything else happened. But before he could even ponder a question, the blonde buzz-cut Soldier threw another crushing blow to the bounded Agent. This time directly to Ash’s sternum. Knocking him out, almost instantly.

“That was for my little buddy....” Was the last thing Ashura heard, before everything faded to black.

***

It’s a funny thing about being Knocked out. You know besides the blackouts and the loss of consciousness. But it’s like your never really too far gone, but yet your not really there either. It’s like for a brief few moments, you take a step out of the play called life and allow everything else to continue.

Well at least that’s what Ash believed. A small part of him could feel everything aboard the train continuing on without him, but he just couldn’t participate in the events. That is till he started to come around...

***

Blackness.

It always started out with blackness with him.

Blackness, then slowly he could hear murmuring sounds. Murmuring sounds that were actually voices. Three...No. Four voices. He didn’t know the owners. Probably some of his captors.

Captors?....Dammit that’s right, he was captured. By Surge and Dario. Faces from the past he hoped he would never have to see again.

Then Ashura’s mind froze. ‘They still have her,’ His mind was in momentary shock. But he quickly regain his senses. He couldn’t save Misty, if he was panicky. He had to assess his situation first. Actually figure-out how deep in it, he was.

Slowly Ash started to use his whole body, to feel out his surroundings. A trick which heavily relied on his sense of touch. But he had to be careful not to alert his guards. Getting caught would really put a damper on things. Ashura was very fortunate that his captors were so involved with their own conversation to pay attention to his actions.

Anyway, Ashura continued to uses his senses to get a good picture of his situation. Hmm...his legs weren’t bound this time, but his hands were still tied behind his back with some kinda rope. Then carefully Ash’s fingers, traced along the sides of the chair he was tied in. They must have moved him. The chair he was in before was cool...meaning it was metallic. But this one was a lot warmer. Probably wood. Which was good. Real good.

Ash continued to feel around his area. Till he released something. When he wrinkled his nose, he didn’t feel the distinct weight of his sunglasses. Actually when he thought about it. He was a lot cooler too. Plus his hands were bare. So that meant one thing....

‘DAMN BASTARDS STOLE MY STUFF!!!! SON-OF-A-B%@%*#*^ %#^(&# *@#$%$#$&*’ Oh pay back wasn’t an option anymore. It was a MUST.

He sighed as he continued his sensing. Now he was looking for something in particular. Something that probably would have been over looked when they searched him, because of the hiding place. Something that would be used as his instrument of escape. And oh yeah...he found it.

‘Bingo.’ He mentally cheered. ‘I’LL GET YOU BASTARDS!!!!!’

****

There was a strong groan that echoed throughout the train car. The four rocket members hastily looked from side-to-side trying desperately to find the source. But then they looked toward their prisoner and eased...a bit.

“Oh...the MASTERS is up.” Rob nonchalantly stated, while he began to re-shuffle the deck. He lost a lot in the last hand and he was planning on winning all his money back. Of course since he just learned how to play poker a few minutes ago, he still didn’t know exactly how he would do it. But regardless it would happen. The Rocket then gingerly reached into his pocket and popped another cherry jawbreaker into his mouth. He just couldn’t get enough of the things.

The magenta haired, Will smirked as he removed his goggles. He squinted as he was trying to get a better look at the dark haired captor. “Heh, heh... So your the great Ashura huh?” Will was hard pressed to find out what was the big damn deal. Then again he was apart of the crew that was just brought-in to replace the others. So he and the rest of his crew wasn’t there when the battle to contain Ashura was being fought.

Tony, who was busy polishing his Desert Eagle, decided to take a look at him. To say he wasn’t impressed was an understatement. “Heh..He don’t look like much...” Then he returned to getting that last kink out of the gun’s chamber.

The fourth Rocket member named Jimmy, chuckled as he picked up his cards. “Yeah he looks like any other ordinary punk....” He looked down at his hand and grinned. Full house. Seems he would win this hand too. Lady luck was on his side. Jimmy placed his cards down as the others were dealt their cards.

“I don’t see why the Boss is so ape over this guy.” Jimmy continued as Rob took to more cards from the deck. “I mean it didn’t take much to get him captured...From what I heard, Surge did it with one punch.” He shook his head. Hell he could have done that. Then everyone was serenaded by slurping sound, provided by Rob. It reminding almost everyone that he was still nursing that jawbreaker.

Tony looked up from his cleaning ritual and glared at Rob. “Hey! Can you cut that crap out it’s annoying, Pencil dick!!”

“OH bite me ya bastard!!!” Rob countered. That was till he heard the cocking of Tony’s friend, Desert Eagle .50.

“Care to repeat that Robbie?” Tony asked while pointed the weapon at his comrade. Without comment, Rob went back to the poker game. Jimmy and Will snickering all the way.

Ash gazed around the room at his (would-be) abductors. His dark strands started to sway back and forth, as he saw just how little Team Rocket thought of him. It was almost comical. In fact it was funny. Damn funny. So funny that he had to laugh. And he laughed hard. So hard that it drew all the card player’s attention.

Rob, the guy who Ashura assumed was the squad leader, raised an eyebrow. “What’s so funny?” He said while suspiciously eyeing the agent.

Ash looked towards the guy. He paused for a minute as he opened his mouth like he was going to say something. But then all-at-once he stopped and shook his head. “Oh nothing...” Ash said, brushing the Rocket’s inquiry to the side. “You guys wouldn’t be interested anyway....”

Actually after saying something like that, it made the others even more intrigued. Rob looked to the others, who were slightly perplexed by the predicament. He then looked back to Ashura. “Aw...Come on,” He whined. “Try us....” The others nodded in agreement.

The MASTERS pondered it again, then sighed. “Ok..Ok...you twisted my arm..” Receiving the signal, the Team Rocket members crept closer to Ash to hear the gag.

“Well it’s just...” he halted his speech for a second and noticed that all the Rockets where held on his whim. It was like he was a school teacher and it was storytime or something. It was slightly amusing.

Ash then looked in front of him and stared into the eyes of  Rob. After taking a breath, he decided to start. “Well anyway..I was thinking that in less than 5 minutes. Your going to start choking, then go flying into that guy..” Ash said glancing towards Tony. “Then this guy...” The Rocket that was know as Will. “...is going to suffer from a small concussion to the head. And finally this lucky bastard,” Nudging towards Jimmy. “...is going to fall off the train to his death, while I safely escape....” The Agent finished with a proud smile.

The young members of Team Rocket looked to each in silence for a long time. Then all of a sudden Rob started smirking. Then it went to Tony then Will. Next thing you knew Jimmy was lightly chuckling to himself as well. Pretty soon, all the members of  the 87th Squad were nearly on the floor laughing.

“DAMN! That IS funny...” Rob shouted while wiping a tear.

“Yeah...” Ash responded.

“Yeah..even if you did manage to get pass us, ‘Security’ is in the next car. And hell, no one beats ‘Security.” Rob commented, while the others were nodding.

“We’ll see...” Ashura interjected.

“Yeah...” Rob gingerly stated, while he turned to his hand. He then narrowed his eyebrows. “Huh? We’ll see???” He got up to his feet and started to move back over to the Agent.

Ash grinned at him for a few seconds. Then all at once the Agent sprang to his feet. Rob GASPED from fright as he saw Ashura move. Then a few seconds later he really wished he didn’t do that, because now he was choking....On his jawbreaker.

The Agent smirked as he saw the development. But his rejoicing was short lived. Tony was on his feet and coming his away, Desert Eagle enroute. Ash wasn’t worried though, he still had that wheezing, jawbreaker choking Rocket to use.

Ash swiftly thrust kicked the gasping Rob’s legs and sent him flying into the approaching Rocket. Tony’s gun discharged while he was bombarded with the flurrying motion. The lead slug drew blood...His own.

Now there were only two remaining Rockets left. Will sprinted over to Ash, at a (foolishly) attempt to rush the Agent. Ash almost had to laugh. He just reached behind himself and grabbed the wooden chair he was just sitting in. With one flash and a bone cracking sound later. Will, was out cold on the floor. Pieces of the now demolished chair were right beside him.

Jimmy froze in his place as he just witness the total annihilation of his whole squad. Then his eyes and the MASTERS’ eyes met. Ashura smirked as he realized there was only one opponent left.

With the grace of a panther, he carefully crept over to where the agent was standing. Ash was sure the guy just urinated on himself, but he decided not to comment. His mind was only on one thing.

“WHERE IS SHE!!??!!” Ashura’s voice echoed with total superiority.

The Rocket couldn’t even utter a word, he was so scared. He just merely pointed to the room behind Ashura. Nodding Ash sprang back from the Rocket and turned his back to him. The Rocket let out a breath of relief, believing that his life was spared.

Then in mere seconds, Ashura twisted his body with all the fluid and grace he could muster. His movements almost appeared to have been in slow motion as he performed a perfect spinning split kick, that would have made Donnie Yen proud. The Rocket’s body crashed against the window he was behind, then fell off the train to a most painful death.

(Yes, your body falling and getting sucked under a train moving over 80mph would do that.)

Ash landed on his feet with a slight pose. He then stood up and moved to the door. The Agent was just lucky when they searched him they didn’t spot the switchblade that was tucked away in his belt sheath. If not...none of this would have been possible.

“It’s a good thing I always keep you with me...” He grinned to the blade and vainly blew it a kiss.

Ash then slowly approached the train door, as he did he could hear some strange sounds coming from the other side of the door. It was loud music, accompanied with other voices cheering and hollering over something in the background. Ash took a breath, he knew Misty was in this direction and there was no telling what the bastards where doing to her. So no matter what happen, he would save her.

The Agent unlatched the door and walked through. When he did he found himself in a new cabin. This room was pretty wide open with a lot of room, well except for the three guys that were in the corner.

Two of them were highly involved with the X-Station:Cube game they were playing. “Street Battler Z,” he believed the game was. The duo was cheering each other on, as they just defeated another enemy. All while the third was wrapped in his headphones, listening to God knows what.

As soon as Ashura closed the door behind him. The three turned their attention to him. The duo playing the video game whispered to each other, then shut the game off. While the one listening to the music shut the CD off. In a few seconds, the three were assembled in front of him.

Ash squinted his eyes as he took in each of their appearances. They seemed very familiar for some reason. Specially the fact each of them was donned in a certain color: Red, Yellow, and Blue. Even their hair styles coordinated with their attire. It was funny Ash knew he knew these guys from somewhere but he couldn’t place where.

Anyway, the tallest of the three was dressed in a all red outfit with a crimson sleeveless vest. He had large well-toned forearms and biceps. He took a step forward, then started a shadow boxing demonstration. He threw a few dozen lightening fast punches and jabs. His technique looked as if he practiced more on hand combinations and motions, then anything else.

Then the one dressed in all yellow stepped forward. The canary yellow Rocket, stretched his legs out a bit. As he was pivoting on the ball of his foot, Ash noticed the loose flexibility of his joints. The Rocket then flailed a flurry of kicks to the air. Combinations of five or six kicks flurried through the wind. At times it was hard to even spot his foot, till it landed on the ground. Then the Rocket brought the ball of his foot to a perfect 180 degree angle over his head, performing a perfect standing split.

Finally, the Rocket wearing Blue lounged forward. His stance was very sloppy, almost to the point where it looked like he would have had problems standing. Then his whole body would tense up, and he went into a series of motions. His limps seemed to burst with an unforeseen power as he continued his display. His movements, unlike the two previous were more fluid. Actually all of his actions was based on fluidity. The blue Rocket’s form was almost water-like. At one moment soft and delicate like a calm shower. Then all at once his movements would be hard, like a crashing wave against a shore.

Ashura took all these notes in mind, then sighed. “Let me guess...‘Security,’ right?” He asked while pointing to the trio. The Red Rocket nodded, then regained his boxing form.

‘Just great....” Ashura groaned to himself.

Ash took a step back as he began his own stretching exercise. Automatically he knew these guys weren’t like the typical Team Rocket bunch. So he really had to be on his guard for this fight. Granted he wasn’t going to use his true style and all. I mean, the guys looked good, but they didn’t look that good.

After a few more seconds, Ash turned back to the trio. Fist raised, he was ready to make his approach, but then something caught his eye. He raised an eyebrow as he noticed something else. Something that struck a deep cord within him. Each of the three brothers...Yeah they looked so much alike, they had to have been brothers. But that’s besides the point. Each of the three were currently wearing some items..that didn’t belong to them.

The one in Red, was wearing Ash’s fingerless gloves over his fists. The Yellow kicker, had Ash’s sunglasses wrapped around his head. While the third was wearing Ash’s black leather coat around his waist.

Ashura squinted his eyes. He squinted his brown lens, almost to the point where you could have mistaken him for a certain Rock Trainer. Then the Agent scowled. ‘Now it’s personal...’

****

The train made a wicked right turn, which shook Mistae Waters into consciousness. Her mind was still foggy to what was going on, but slowly things started to come back to her. That and the ruckus going on in the next room, which drew her attention. She tried to get up to see what it was, but found she was handcuffed to the bed she was on.

The red-head paused. ‘Bed? Uhhh...That doesn’t sound too good.’ That little fact, plus she finally realized what was going in that other room. The remaining members of Team Rocket were currently playing a round of  “Paper, Scissors, Rock...” And the winner, she guessed would be the one to get first shot at her goods.

Misty knew exactly what kinda crew Team Rocket was. And frankly she didn’t want any part of they’re games. She had held out her virginity for too freaking long to have it all end like this.

Frantically, she wracked her mind for any kind of idea. Glancing around the room, she only came up with squat. “Oh come on...” She groaned to herself. Honestly she had been in plenty of situations like this when she was younger... Why is it now, she can’t think of anything?

Misty continued to ponder her seemingly hopeless situation. But the more she thought about it, the more distressed she was. “Ash..Where are you when I need you?” She pleaded.

Meanwhile...

Ash twisted left as the Red Flame boxer threw a wild punch to his mid-section. Ash blocked the barrage of jabs and straight punches. He gritted his teeth after each attack. The Red boy’s blows, were like getting hit with mini blocks of cement.

Ash dug-in deep with his stance, he had enough of the Red bastard. Ashura now was ready to counter the boxer with a his own stream of attacks, but then an impaling kick from behind sent him to the floor.

His mouth steadily filled with blood as he spat the unwanted substance out. “DAMMIT!!” He screamed as he sprang to his feet. He dashed toward the two brothers sending a monstrous double kick to their chests. Ash rested his foot for only a second after he landed, then he was airborne again following the Yellow kicker with another crescent kick.

The yellow Battler fell, just as the Crimson Boxer crept up behind Ash. He thought the Agent was distracted and didn’t see his approach. How wrong was he? Just as soon as he made another step, a gut-wrenching uppercut took the Ruby fighter off his feet.

Ash only had a few seconds to admire his work, because the soon after he was grappled from behind. A series of escapes, throws and feigns followed as Ash and the Blue Rocket tried to assume dominance over the other.

Ash was having an even harder time. Grabbing the Rocket was like trying to grab water with a fish net. Eventually the Rocket one-upped him. He sent the Agent’s arms over-top of his head, then followed his charge with a double forearm thrust. Ash skidded off his feet for mere seconds, but that’s all the time needed for the three brothers to follow-up with a team attack.

The Red and Blue brothers joined hands as Yellow jumped ontop of the joint limbs. The two brother then tossed their brother into the air. The blonde Rocket then arched his body while in mid-flight, he then extended his left leg to complete their “Ultimate Flying Dragonite” technique.

The Rocket soared into the air like a falcon as he neared his target. Ashura’s eyes glinted for a mere second, then spun around completing a perfect roundhouse kick. This blow not only countered the “Ultimate Flying Dragonite..” maneuver..but it conquer it. Sending the yellow Rocket barreling to the floor. He twitched slightly after the ground’s impact.

The two remaining Rockets went to their brother’s side to check on his health. As they did Ash wearily rose to his feet. The venom...The fire...The rage in his eyes was unmatched.

“DON’T UNDERESTIMATE ME!!!!!!”

****

Slowly the door to the Waterflower girl’s cabin creaked open. Mondo was happy. It had been months since he had been with a girl. Yeah, ever since Sandy dumped him and started seeing Laura. Mondo was still seeing the Team Rocket shrink about that one. But in the meantime, this little development would be very beneficial.

Granted the flamed haired girl was a little on the slim side, but she did have nice legs. Not to mention a good rack. And he had to admit, he did have a thing for Red-heads... ‘Oh Jessie, if only you had given me a chance!!!’ He mentally signed, at the departure of his first love. But at any case this red head would do for now.

He slowly approached the sleeping girl. Taking in her peaceful demeanor, Mondo noticed that even though she was no Jessie, she did have her own level of beauty. Her hair was in a low cut, coming just a few inches below her ears. She had a nice youthful face, totally flawless with nice soft looking lips. Long well toned legs, a nice narrow waist. Hips...and she had to have been wearing a C-cup.... With Mondo’s lack of experience, it was hard to tell. Either way he knew she was...endowed.

“I was wondering which one of you guys would have the guts to come in here...” The girl’s silky voice said, as she slowly opened her eyes and looked at him.

Her fierce blue eyes were piercing, seeming almost hypnotic. For a moment Mondo almost forget she was the captive. “Ummm...Yeah...” Mondo finally responded. “Looks like I was first...hehehe..” He nervously added.

The Waterflower girl smiled as she looked over the Rocket. “MMm...I get a cute one too...” She commented, while licking her lips. “Here how about you undo my handcuffs and we can really start to party...”

Mondo nodded his head vigorously then bolted over to the girl. He brought out the handcuff key...then stopped. “No...I better not.” He stated while taking a step back.

The girl pouted her lips. “Oh please...” She whined. “These things really hurt...And besides what can little ol’ me do against big strong, you?” She stated while running her leg up the side of the Rocket’s thigh. Mondo trembled all over.

“OK! OK! YOU GOT IT!!!” He anxiously replied. He brought out the keys again and slowly undid the handcuffs that were binding the girl to either side of the bedpost.

The red-headed girl sat up and flexed her petite arms. She smiled eagerly as she got up from the bed. Mondo’s leering eyes was following her every action. “So your ready babe...?” He asked her, he then puckered-up his lips for a kiss.

I think Mondo was expecting a nice sensual kiss to be place on his lips. But what he got was a nice numbing cross punch to sternum. Which was then followed by a right hook. The red haired girl smirked. “IN YOUR DREAMS!!!” She exclaimed. The girl then sent a volley of two kicks towards Mondo. One was a thrust kick to his stomach, then the second lifted up slightly at an arch then impaled the heel into his chest. She grinned. “Charlie’s Angels eat your heart out.”

Mondo weakly crawled over the ground. He didn’t know how..but someway the pain returned. He glared a look towards the Waterflower girl. “You Bitc...!!!”

“WHAT!!!!!!” The girl flared.

***

It had been a good ten minutes since Mondo went into the cabin to have his turn with the girl and all the remaining member of his squad could do was wait. Granted they didn’t hear any screams or anything, aside form the few loud thumps and stuff. So they just decided to pass the time by playing some pool, which was provided by the trainway company. They relished the fact that MASTERS liked to go in first class all the time.

But honestly they could have cared-less about all the luxury they were in. All they could think about was getting laid.

“I really hope Mondo doesn’t take all day here...” One member stated.

“Yeah...specially since we were suppose to wait for Dario and all..” Said another.

Well they didn’t have to wait long for Mondo to comeback, cause their squad leader did return seconds later. Well the fact he was in mid-flight, should be dually noted. His body exited the previous room, with a highly irritated red-head following after him.

Mondo’s body landed with a hard thump. The poor gentlemen surely lost consciousness moments ago, but that didn’t stop Misty from landing a few last punches to his already KO-ed body.

After a few more punches, Misty rose up from his body. Proud of her accomplishment, the girl started to walk away, but that was before she realized that was in a room full of Team Rocket men.

But did the girl freak out? OH NO! In fact she had enough of every single guy she came across thinking they automatically was going to get some from her.

So instead she just stomped over to one of the pool cues. Snatched the long stick from the post. The girl then twirled the cue around her body like a propeller. Misty spun it over her head, then rested the stick behind her back in a ready position.

The flame haired girl then glared at them all. “Come get some...” She threaten, while waving any challengers on.

****

Ashura grunted as he rose to his feet. His ribs where killing him. His arms felt like they weighed a ton. Not to mention his legs were slightly tender too. But as he gazed at his opponents, he could tell they were in just as bad shape.

That last punch Red threw was very slow. The kicks Yellow had to coming to his head, Ash saw that coming a mile away. And that.....Well what ever Blue was trying, he clocked that move too.

So that meant they were starting to get as tired as he was. WAS, was the accurate word, cause Ashura just caught his second wind. And in since he had to hurry, he decided not to fool around anymore.

The dark haired Agent stretched out his long arms and formed tightly clenched fist. He then twirled his limbs in a circle, crossing his front with his forearms. He then relaxed his palms and smoothly performed a few series of hand motions. Each form represented a different attribute: Flexibility, Strength, Skill, and Speed. The Agent then finished his form by bringing his arms in front of him, into a modified southpaw-stance. His true style was completed.

The three brother just looked at each other. They didn’t know what the hell, the Agent just performed, but they didn’t care. They had the skill, they had him out-numbered, and they had him outclassed. This was going to be their greatest victory off all.

The three decided to make another run. Red started the assault, dashing towards the Agent. His brothers were following pursuit, each flanking his left and right side. Step after step, the trio was in distance of their opponent.

The Boxer dashed forward, his fist flew through the air as he aimed a punch to Ashura’s side. The blue fighter was then going to come after his brother with a sideward body check, followed by a double-knuckled barrage. The Yellowed attacker who was trailing behind, was going to cover all bets with his patented, triple flailing kick technique.

The dark skillful eyes of Ashura, processed all this information and set his own counter-offensive.

The instant the Crimson Brother’s fist was in reaching distance, Ashura grappled the limb and closed the distance between the two fighters. Ash then flexed underneath the boxer, adjusted his weight and sent him flying into his Cerulean counterpart. Ashura then threw his hand to the ground, grabbing the metallic floor. He then spun his legs to the side delivering a one-handed cartwheel kick to the approaching Yellow.

Ash sprang back to his feet and resumed his stance. His eyes shifting between the three. Blue and Yellow were down for the moment, but Red was getting back to his feet. And from the looks of things, he wasn’t happy.

The Red fighter ran over to Ketchum, his dueling fists bent on delivering a bloody revenge. Ash observed his actions, but instead of returning his opponents hard style, he countered with a soft method.

The furring fists of Red where aimed at any part that might have cause Ashura bodily harm. But none of his blows ever connected. Ash just guiding away all the attacks, while  exchanging with well timed strikes. One blow was to his opponent’s abdomen. Another blow was directed underneath, his arm pit. One blow, was timed right at Red’s shoulder blade, making it nearly impossible for him to throw any more punches. Then finally the last blow, struck at the boxer’s esophagus. Making him gag from lost of air.

Ashura grinned till he noticed, the boxer was still wearing his trademark, black fingerless gloves. With a smooth motion, Ash slid the gloves off the Scarlet fighters wrists, then gave in  exchanged, a full powered front kick.

Ash probably clocked about 7 seconds before the Red guy’s body finally hit the floor. After seeing the brutal display of they’re brother, the two remaining brothers gave Ashura the menacing looks. You know, the type of look that says, “I’m going to enjoy wiping you off the street.” One of those kinda looks. But Ash didn’t care. He finally got his gloves back and in a few minutes, he would get the rest of his stuff too.

He returned the two brother’s glare as he spotted his articles. From what he could tell, now that the muscle (Red) was gone. His Yellow brother will take the lead, with Blue following him.

And Ash wasn’t mistaken, cause he saw Yellow combator coming his way with a flying kick. Ash ducked underneath of it, totally clearing the attack. But the Saffron colored kicker wasn’t stopping with that. He then blazed with another set of flurrying kicks. The fighter didn’t even rest his foot down for a second in between his bursts. Which proved to be his downfall.

The dressed in black warrior, simply sweep the unprotected leg out from under him. There were a few seconds in time, where the Yellow rocket was in just helpless caught in mid-air. It was just a seconds after Ashura stole his balance and a few seconds before he would hit the ground. You see in that amount of time, the one known as Ashura delivered at least five blows before gravity, continued it’s job.

It would be hours before Yellow would wake up again....

Ash stood over the unconscious Rocket and slowly reached down to take his glasses. He flipped the specs over for a second to inspect them. ‘Not a scratch on ‘em.’ He was pleased. Then he slowly put them into place. The Agent then regarded the remaining brother through the dark lens.

The blue fluid fighter was momentarily taken back. He couldn’t believe his brothers could have fallen so easily by the MASTERS Agent. Specially since they all were cleaning his clock just moments ago. Steadily the Blue wonder went to his feet. He wouldn’t let it end here. Security, was well known for being one of the best in Team Rocket. Even if he had to do it with his own bare hands, he would stop Ashura.

Slowly he walked past his brothers. The smooth manner of his stride masked the boiling hatred that was filled in his steps. He then dropped to his knees and tumbled forward. While in his spin, he sprang up from his hands and delivering a strong leading drop kick.

Ashura countered his hard style with soft. He simply continued with the Rocket’s motion sending the guy flying into wall behind him. But Ashura then switched to hard style, cause he followed Rocket with a driving foot to his spine. The combined impact of hitting the wall and taking a skewering kick to his back was enough to render the Rocket unconscious.

Seeing the Rocket could no longer continue, Ash simply walked over to the Blue brawler and retrieved his black leather jacket. Finally in full dress, Ashura was ready to take on the rest of what Team Rocket had in store for him.

The dark Agent started to make his way to the door, but he was called back by a voice. “Wait!!” The red haired fighter called after him. The red bruiser knew he fighting a losing battle with consciousness. But he had to find out one thing first. “What....What fist was that? What did you use?” He finally uttered with his last remaining elements of strength.

Ashura grinned as he lowered his sunglasses to regard him. For a brief moment, he remembered the long hard years it took him to master the technique. It wasn’t easy at first and sometimes even Lance thought he wouldn’t have made it. But once he conquered the style a whole new world seemed to open up for the young Agent.

Ashura withdrew from his thoughts. He looked towards the Rocket and gave him a smirk. “Huo-fist...” He cockily replied.

The Scarlet fighter raised a brow. “Who..?” It was obvious he didn’t understand. Well it didn’t matter anyway. The guy was out cold.

Ashura smirked. “Exactly...” The Agent said proudly, then he exited the room.

****

Ashura entered the next cabin. His world was consumed with worry. All he could think about was what was happening to Misty. That last fight took too long. She’s had too much time apart from him. Who knows what was being done to her. Team Rocket was full of animals, he cringed at the images they probably were in-acting.

All he could think of was hurrying. He moved from cabin to cabin. All of them were practically empty. For a brief minute, he prayed that was all Team Rocket had for him and he would just have to save her. But then when he entered the next cabin he sighed as he glanced to the other end of the room.

‘Goddamit!...It just never lets up!’ He mentally cursed as he looked at Dario lounging in the room.

The Cowboy noticed Ashura’s entrance immediately, but decided not to comment. His dark eyes just focused on Ashura’s movements. Then his gaze drifted to the item that was placed on the desk neighboring him. Dario picked up the gleaming weapon, that was one of Ashura’s Berattas. But instead of using it against the Agent, he just merely examined the object.

Ashura didn’t know what was going on. But from what he could tell, Dario had the gun, so the Western Desperado was in control...for the moment.

There was a deathly silence between the two as Dario keep regarding the weapon. Ash’s patience was wearing thin. He was about to protest, but then the Cowboy finally spoke...

“Hmmm...A semi-automatic Berattas 92 FS. Fires 16, 9mm rounds, with a muzzled velocity of 390mps. Silver plated with a reinforced grip,” Dario grinned as he placed the weapon down. “Notta bad piece of hardware...” He commented while walking across the room.

Ashura’s brown eyes trailing the cowboy’s every move. “Thanks...” He said gingerly. “I like working with the best...”

The cowboy tipped his hat up and grinned. “I see...That girlie included.” The southerner retorted. Instantly Ashura’s calm persona turned to a vile of slowly bubbling rage. Dario chuckled to himself. “Don’t worry nun’.. I haven’t touched the little missy yet,”

Dario leaned back, making the rim of his cap cast a shadow over his eyes. Even Ashura couldn’t stare into them. “Unlik’ rest of these yellow dogs, I do go for a certain’ amount of honor. I wazn’t gonna touch her till I kill’t ya myself...”

The agent narrowed his eyes. “Why how noble of you...”

“I do what I can...” The Cowboy replied. “Anyway...I know you’se in a hurry to save your lady and all. But da only way ya gonna do that, is if ya get past me.” Ashura grinned. “And the only way your gonna do that is if ya beat me....” Ashura then frowned, but Dario continued. “An’ none of that fancy martial stuff...We fight like real men. Like how we handled it back in the ol’West... In a draw... We don’t stop till one of us drops...To coin a phrase..” Ashura chuckled. “You in?”

Ashura raised an eyebrow. This was a first for the MASTERS Agent. But oh well if he wanted to do it that way. Ash turned to him and nodded. “Sure...Your funeral,”

“Hmph...We’ll see.” Dario dismissed. He slid the baretta over to Ashura. “It has one shell already in the chamber.” He directed him. The Agent nodded and smoothly slid the weapon to his slide holster. It always felt at home there.

“We both get one shot.” Dario continued. “You miss...that’s your tail,” The Gunslinger advised as he slung off his jacket. As he did, his sliver colt .45 peacemaker gleamed in the scattered sunlight.

The beams of light danced around the room as he moved twelve paces away from Ashura. The Southerner turned to the side and flexed his fingers. Stretching out each digit. He then brought his hands to a small sliver star that was attached to his necklace. He brought the tin star to his lips and gently kissed the metal.

The Gunslinger finally ready, turned to Ashura. “We start on the count of ten.” He relayed to his opponent.

Ashura stared back into the dark cold eyes of Dario. He nodded slowly, as he eyed-up his opponent. Granted Ash could have just killed Dario right there on the spot. But he did admire him on his tactic. That’s the reason why he honored his request.

“1...2...” Dario began. Ash flexed his thumb. He then balled up his fist to loosen the knuckles there. Ash could see Dario performing similar actions. Ashura’s fingers gently grazed along the handle of his baretta. But he made sure he wasn’t too hasty. A error like that could prove very fatal.

“3....4...5...” Ash tried to clear his mind as he began to focus. He didn’t even hear all of the numbers that the Cowboy spoke. He was just focused on his body. He could tell when the final number was called. The tensing of Dario’s body would prove that. Then all he had to do was beat his draw. ‘Piece of cake....’

“6....” Dario was in his own little world. He didn’t even hear himself counting out the numbers. Well he did, but it was more like he was just hearing a voice... He didn’t even place a face with the voice. It was just words being spoken to him.

He really had his sights cast outside his body. He was more in-tuned to his surroundings. Feeling the shifting weight of the train cars. Hearing the deep sound of Ashura’s breathing.

And although in reality he knew his body was standing inside the Rapadash engine’s sixteenth car. But in his mind he was else where. A part of himself, always had the mental vision of being in Cinnabar Island, surrounded by dozens of foxy ladies.

That’s what he always pictured, every time he drew fire. So if there was a time when he misfired and lost. He knew when the light hit him, he would already had his vision of heaven picked out for him.

“7...”

“8...”

“9...”

“10...DRAW!!!!!”

****

In the sixteenth train car of the Rapadash Engine, a fierce gunbattle was just fought. Both parties involved, knew there could have been only one winner.

At the summoning of the word ‘Draw.’ Both parties in a flash, were armed with guns raised to their opponent. The guns fired. The sound couldn’t even be considered two explosions, cause of the near simultaneous firing of both the weapons.

But their outcome didn’t result in the same.

Slowly a body fell to the floor as the other slowly exited the room. A trail of blood lining his steps as he walked. He managed to pry the train car open as he moved to the next cabin. A proud smirk outline his lips as he walked past the window.

He had a right to be proud. He was the survivor.

****

Ash grunted as he managed to bandage his shoulder. It had been a long time since the last time he was shot. He had forgotten the mind splitting pain, that usually ensued with the wound.

It was funny, Ashura had many close calls, in the field of battle. But none of those prior moments, was he close to the brink of death like he was just moments ago.

The poise and reaction time of Dario was incredible. He had never seen a more proficient gun totting assassin in his life. It was a shame they had to meet as opposing foes. He would have made one hellavah agent.

Ash froze on the stop. His mind reminding him of something dire. “MISTY!!!”

*****

Ashura rushed down the train cars. From his count, he only had about five or so cars left. Misty had to be in this direction, so all he could do was continue on. “Misty please hold on!!!”

As moved-in on one door. For some reason this door seemed different. He could hear things on the other side of it. It sounded like....It sounded like there was some kind of struggle. “Misty!...Misty?!” Ash burst through the door without haste.

As he did, his ears was flooded with the tunes of some R&B song. He gazed around the room. The place seemed like a disco, with all the lights going around the room and the jukebox playing in the corner.

He glared at it again as he took a step. As he did he felt his foot hit something soft. He looked down at the object and noticed that it was a Team Rocket member. His face was badly bruise and there were scrapes all over his face. Not to mention a big Nike shoe print on his temple.

Ash looked up totally puzzled, then he noticed the room was full of them. Nearly two dozen Team Rocket men, all terribly battered up and bruised. All knocked the F*** Out. Then his eyes caught sight of a figure. A slender figure that was moving..No actually dancing. They were dancing to the music. Like they didn’t have care in the world.

Then Ash’s ears tuned into the song. “Shake it fast...” by Mystical. Ash sighed, he didn’t particularly care for the mix. But it seemed someone did. At first he didn’t recognize the form. He was still too far away. But then as he approached it, the flaring streams of her red hair tipped him off. Then all Ash could do was stare at her stupefied. “Oh my God...MISTY???” He questioned.

At the mention of her name, the girl turned to him. She pivoted in his direction with her fists raised, but then as recognition took in, she lowered her guard and ran over to him. Of course she was mindful not to step on any of the unconscious bodies though.

“ASH! GOD I didn’t think I was going to see you again.” She cheered as she flung her arms around him. She gave him a tight squeeze then let go. As she did, she noticed that Ash didn’t say anything. But his eyes just stared at her with total shock and amazement.

Misty cocked her head to the side. “What?” She asked innocently. She didn’t know what was wrong. A fact that threw Ash off even more. His eyes went from her to all the fallen out bodies that were stretched out onto the floor.

Then he looked towards her again. “What...” She inquired again, while shrugging her shoulders. “you think a girl is gonna wait all day for you to save me?” She questioned, him while putting her hand on her hips.

Ash blinked two times, for some reason he laughed. All this time he was so worried about her, but she was fine all along. His eyes met her’s again, she showed a little devious smiled then giggled to herself.

Ashura just shook his head. “Ok...Ok..Let’s go..We have to find away off this train.” He ordered.

Misty was right by his side and nodded. “Alright...lead the way...” She stated while allowing him to go first. He was her protection and all. Plus he always leaded when they were younger.

Ash smirked and shook his head. “Oh no...after you Mrs. Croft.” He jested, while bowing to her.

“Hey it’s Miss Croft.” She corrected him. “I’m not married remember.” The girl reminded Ash, then walked past him to the next train door.

“Well we have to do something about that...” He said to himself as he followed after her.

****

At first Misty was cool with leading for a while. But after a few moments of second thought, she decided to wait for Ash to catch up. Although she was sure she could handle anything herself, she did kinda did want him there with her. ‘I know no matter what happens, me and Ash can take it on together...’ She said to herself as he stood beside her.

Ash approached Misty and stood next to her. For reason he felt her eyes were on him. So he turned to her direction. When he did the man was almost startled at the sight...Misty was regarding him with such a deep look of admiration, it almost made him blush.

“What?” He nervously asked. ‘I really hope my voice didn’t crack when I said that.’

If it did, Misty didn’t notice. “Nothing...” She answered him softly. Her blue gaze now falling to the floor. She didn’t know what just came over her in that couple of seconds. It was just weird. Like for a minute, it was like all the repressed feelings she had for him, just resurfaced for a brief moment. All her emotions, her desires, her love for him just came out. And for the first time, she didn’t care.

She loved Ash. She was proud she was in love with him. And honestly she would have told him already, if she wasn’t sure she was destined for rejection. Misty then snuck another look at him. God, he was annoyingly cute. His hair falling gently over his eyes. That gently chin and even gentler smile.

‘Maybe...I guess it wouldn’t hurt.’ Misty pondered while toying with the idea. She turned to Ash one last time. As they’re eyes met, he quickly delivered a smile. Her heart fluttered. ‘If...If he hates me then at least I know how he feels...’ She finally decided, her mind sent.

“Ash I...” Misty began.

He turned to her. Suddenly it seemed like all the intensity of his stare was focused on her. It was slightly intimidating. “Yes...?” He mildly responded.

“Ash..I...” God why was one little sentence so hard to say. But none the less she tried to continued. Well....that was until the cabin door in front of them opened up and before them stood the tower of raw muscle, Lieutenant Surge.

‘Dammit!’ Misty said to herself.

Buzzcut solider scowled as he looked down at the two. Instinctively, Ash took a step in front of Misty. He put a protective arm around her, in an attempt to safeguard her from danger.

The Agent was so preoccupied with Surge, that he didn’t notice the fact that the girl blushed momentary from his previous actions. No, Ashura was more concerned with the over 6ft tall giant that was standing in the way of they’re exit.

But Surge did...

He observed the disgusting display of affection from the two. It almost made him sick. Here nearly all of his man were out of commission and these two were playing Love Connection. “Ashura...Your really starting to piss me off...” the militant giant thundered.

Ashura turned to the towering Soldier. His eyes flared at the beast. “Funny, I’m already there.” He ruefully shot back, while glaring back at him.

Misty grumbled to herself, not only did this muscled jerk have extremely bad timing. (Specially since she didn’t think she could ever get the strength to say those three words again) But the display of extra testosterone/male ego crap from the two, was really annoying.

She turned to the dark haired MASTERS Agent. “Christ Ash, can we cut the macho crap and just kick his butt!” Misty spat, while pushing past him.

That was a mistake that would later prove very fatal for Misty. Cause as soon as the two were parted. Surge retrieved a small handheld device. He pointed the object in the direction Misty was in and press the red button in the center.

The object flared as a thin metallic object shot from the device. The metallic surface soar through the air like a metal coil and tightly wrapped itself around the girl’s neck. There was a slight clicking sound, then a red sensor lighted up on the collar.

“MISTY!!” Ash ran over to her. His fingers was seconds away from prying the metal collar way from her neck.

“I wouldn’t do that Ashura!!!” Surge cautioned. “If you look carefully you could tell there is enough Syntax on her to blow her pretty little head clean off, not to mention give this room a new paint job.”

Ash paused for a second then looked down at the device. He saw the network of metal cables that wormed around the device. He also saw the timer, 00:19:30secs left. And it helped cause after every second, the thing would beep. “YOU BASTARD!!! GET THIS THING OFF OF HER!!!” Ashura roared.

“No...” The Lieutenant taunted. He was enjoying seeing Ash squirm. “I challenge you Ashura. If you win, you can be a hero to that girl and save her life. If you lose...Well you die.” He plainly stated.

“Yo what is it with everyone challenging me today??? I mean I swear it’s like some ploy in a pointless plot or something!!!!” He shouted. Then instantly Misty covered his mouth.

Everyone’s eyes went big as the remainder of Ash’s words echoed in the room. The party looked around in fright as they were waiting for something major to occur.

After a few minutes of nothing happening, Ash continued. “So be it....” He answered, while accepting Surge’s challenge. He moved over to Misty, who at the moment was a total wreck.

The girl was trembling terribly ever since she discovered what she was wearing. She hardly moved, for fear of setting something off. When Ash approached her, she stared at him with troubled eyes.

“Misty...” He whispered to her. At the hearing of his words, tears fell from her eyes. Instantly he took her into his arms and pressed his lips to her forehead. Seconds later the girl seemed to ease a little, though she still looked greatly worried.

“Everything will be ok...” He said while assuring her. She nodded to his words and took a step back away from the two.

Ashura turned away from Misty. Although he knew the girl still wanted his comfort, if he waited too long, it would be disastrous. Ash narrowed his eyes at the blonde haired soldier.

Although most people wouldn’t believe it, Ash was a pretty easy going guy. I mean even thought he fought against many opponents and killed a lot of people. He never really had any grudge against any of them. (Richie was an exception..but that’s besides the point) For the most part, Ash was very forgiving. He realized that the guys from Team Rocket were only following orders and granted they were stupid, he didn’t really take it farther then that.

But this...But this one cowardly, pathetic, gutless, wretched act....This act alone was unforgivable. He glared at Surge. Once again he summoned all the venom his voice could muster. “For doing this to her...I’ll make you suffer.” This was a fact, he diffidently intended to follow through with.

The solider chuckled to himself, at hearing Ashura’s words. Just as he did...Ashura dashed forward with a hard straight punch. To Ash, seeing any expression but pain on Surge’s face wasn’t permitted.

The blow flew through the air, but was caught in mid-flight. Ash stared back at Surge in shock. The soldier grinned. “I’ve watched 6300 hours of Team Rocket footage on you. I know all your tricks and seen all your moves.” He smirked. “I even know about your little ‘Huo-Fist.’ There is nothing I don’t know....”

Ash’s dark eyes glared at him. “Watching tapes is one thing....lets see how you do against the real deal.” He then twisted, slipping underneath the huge man and slammed him to the floor.

The Agent then kicked off the huge back of Surge and back-hand-sprinted, away from him. While in the air, he twisted into his ready stance. “GET UP!” He ordered. “GET UP YOU BASTARD!!!!”

Surge rolled to his feet. He shook his head to the side as he was regaining his senses. For some reason, he didn’t see that move coming. He should have predicted that attack. Well, Ashura didn’t give him a moment’s peace to continued to ponder the notion. As soon as the man was on his feet, Ash dove at him with a crossing elbow. He then whipped his wrist smacking the giant across his temple.

Surge took the blows then entangled his huge arms around Ash’s limbs. He was hoping to prevent him from anymore attacks. From his research, he knew that Ash was good at close range hand-to-hand combat. But if a person simply disabled his use of his arms, the agent would be helpless.

That was the theory. Too bad in practice, it failed miserably...

Ashura struggled to break Surge’s hold. But after 5 seconds he realized the man was too strong. So he had to use other means. Suddenly he shot the ball of his foot against, Surge’s shin. The towering man bellowed out a yelp of agony, as the coursing pain moved through his leg. The pain was so great he lost hold of Ashura.

The MASTERS Agent, no longer bound, sent a tidal wave of thunderous punches to the Lieutenant’s mid section. No area was left unscathed after Ashura’s onslaught. Bruises over-top-of bruises already started to appear on Surge’s body.

The blonde soldier tried to heave a punch toward Ashura, but it only resulted in more pain for himself. The agent just grappled the limp, he first chopped the upper part of his biceps’s. Then delivered an upper-ward knife-edged thrust that was aimed to the joint of Surge’s arm.

For the rest of his life, Lt. Surge would never be able to use that arm again....

Ash then swung the dead limp over his head and succeeded in smacking Surge with his own useless appendage. Then Ashura ignited into the air, like a madman in flight. His body tensed and coiled as he performed a devastating dragon kick.

The Soldier’s body twisted and turned as he fell to the floor. Surge blinked a few times as his numerous levels of pain started to set in. He didn’t understand. In the simulations, he would have been standing over Ashura’s lifeless body by now. He didn’t understand any of this.

He knew he had the strength to over power Ashura. And he believe he had the skill too. But things didn’t add up...

Then something occurred to him. Well it was more like a haunting image. Ashura’s eyes. Something wasn’t right in his eyes. Now he had fire, he had ferocity, he had hatred. In all those tapes, those elements wasn’t present. He was always calm. He was always cool. But now, it was almost like he was fighting with a purpose. It wasn’t a game to him anymore. He actually was fighting for something.

Surge gazed over to the skinny red-head. Her eyes, although stained with tears, was looking proudly after Ashura. Then it hit him. ‘He’s fighting for her...’ The realization, hit Surge like a 2 ton truck. ‘If he was calm, like before, I would had been able to predict his movements. But now...He’s not predictable anymore.’ Surge grinned as he realized his fatal error. He was destined to lose from the start of the battle.

But it was too late to make up for it. If Ashura was taking him out, then he was glad to know that his little slut would be joining him shortly.

***

Ashura rushed over to Surge’s slumping body. He gripped the Soldier by the faded collar of his fatigued shirt. “TELL ME!” Ash shouted. “TELL ME HOW TO SAVE HER!!! What’s the code to disarm it!!!!”

A grin appeared on Surge’s face as he spat out mouthful of blood. “Heh, there is no code.” he chuckled. “Hehehehe...I lied. That whore is as good as dead!” he ended as his laughs continued to echo in the cabin car.

“AAAAAARRGHH!!!!” Ash screamed as his mind went into a field of anguish. He swung his fists at the already terminally wounded soldier. His fist flew as it sought more and more blood. After a few moments Surge laid there motionless. His breath was silent, the life in his body...gone.

Ash stepped back as he finally realized what just happen. He stared at the blood on his hands that was not his own. Immediately he whipped away all trances of the substance. Then he ran back to Misty.

The agent examined the metal collar that was on the girl’s throat. Misty trembled slightly, but as she felt Ash’s touch, she calmed down a bit. The Agent looked at the counter on the collar. ‘00:03:45seconds left.’ He said to himself. He took at look at the explosive set-up on the device.

After a few seconds, Ash shook his head. ‘God I don’t even know where to begin, to disarm this.’ The Syntax set-up was an new advance network system. It had so many newly produced inter-locking circuits that even he wasn’t familiar with the technology.

Ash didn’t utter a word of any of this, but Misty could tell by the look in his face, that he couldn’t do anything. The girl looked away as she felt more tears coming. “Ash leave me here...” She whispered to him.

“What? Misty are you crazy?” He asked her.

“There is no point in both of us dying!” She returned, her tear-filled, crystal blue eyes pleading with him.

“I’m not leaving you, Misty!!!” He shouted while holding her tight. The beeping of her explosive collar still signaling off in the background.

“ASH STOP BEING SO STUBBORN!!!” The girl shouted into his chest. She moved back and looked into his eyes. “This is the way it has to be. This...is the only way.” She whispered.

“NO!!! I’ve waited too long to find you again. I’m not letting anything separate us!!!” He declared, his voice venting through the room. “Not even this...”

“Ash...please...” The girl didn’t have the strength to repeat the sentence again. She had already given up to her fate. Her only wish was for him to live.

“I’m not losing you again...” He proclaimed. “I...I’m going to think of something.” Though he didn’t have any ideas, no plan...anything.

“No matter what happens, we both are going to make it through this together.” He knew this because, they’ve been through so much. And even after this he knew there wasn’t anything on earth that was going to separate them...ever.

Misty looked toward Ash. Her friend. Her best friend. Her first and only love. She blinked back tears as she pressed her lips to his. She didn’t know how much longer she had. But she just wanted to do this at least once before, before...

Misty’s lips fumble against Ash’s, just as his lips fumbled against hers. The act seemed so foreign to the two, but for some reason...felt so right. The seconds rolled by and for a tiny instant it seemed like nothing else in the world matter. Not MASTERS...Not Team Rocket...Not Richie...Not even...

“Ash....” Her breath whispered as she parted from him. He looked at her with a wild expression. He held a face full of total confusion. He had so many question, but Misty had to stop him if they were going to have any chance to survive. “Don’t say anything...” She asked him, while looking away from him. “Just please hurry...”

***

A thousands and one thoughts cycled through Ash’s head. The kiss... Misty’s touch...What did it mean? Team Rocket.... MASTERS... The bomb...EVERYTHING.

Instantly he tried to recall everything Ol’ Olga, told him about bombs and explosives. Only problem was, none of it applied to this situation. The technology used with this explosive was totally foreign to him.

He had to admit, when this was all over he would take a refresher course to catch up on anything that was newly produced. But in the meantime he had to deal with this dilemma.

Ash analyzed the device’s circuits. The wires connecting to the ignite switch, was so heavily guarded with precautionary triggers, it would take him hours to disarm this thing.

Only thing was he didn’t have hours. He only had...CHRIST! 00:01:45secs.

‘COME ON ASH THINK!!’ He shouted to himself. These situations was always so easier before, when he didn’t care too much about the outcome. But now he had everything that meant dear to him, at stake.

He looked over to Misty one last time. He had to do this for her...

Then Ash was struck with a new pit of inspiration. He looked to the collar setup searching to see if his theory was true. After a few seconds, he rejoiced.

***

“I GOT IT!!!” The man shouted as he cheered. He searched his person for his mini-bomb removal kit. He didn’t have long to wait. 00:01:09secs. ‘Dammit!’

“Misty please don’t move...” Ash whispered to her, while he began his procedure. Honestly he didn’t have to tell the girl. She was already scared to death as it was. She was only holding on, because Ash was with her.

Seconds ticked away slowly, as Ash wearily pulled out the pliers and brought them over to the collar’s constricting module. The bomb was heavily guarded around the detonator, but the creator of the device didn’t also place an equal amount of triggers on the collar’s actual restraining device. There were only a few wires detonating triggers around the area.

So all he would have to do was severe the correct cable and the device would release Misty. Granted, it wouldn’t stop the explosives in it or anything, but if done fast enough they may have made it to safety before it blew.

That was the theory....Lets hope the practice works...

****

Sweat poured down from Ash’s brow as he focused on making the right incision. He neared the metallic tools into the inner-sanctum of the explosive. There was two main red-stripped wires that were in placed.

Ash took a glance at the clock. 00:00:43secs. “Don’t pay attention to that Ash.” Misty warned him. “Just focus...”

The man nodded. He looked again at the two wires. He didn’t have an idea which one to cut. So in the end he just left it up to fate. He moved toward the nearest wire and spoke a pray. Then he made the cut....

****

Seconds later...Nothing happened.

Ash blinked as the collar started to fall off of the thin girl’s throat. Swiftly Ashura moved his hands so it wouldn’t hit the floor. (That would be very bad.) The instant he caught it, he realized.... “YOUR HOLDING A HIGHLY EXPLOSIVE OBJECT, WHICH IS ABOUT TO EXPLODE IN....15 SECONDS!!!”

Misty let out a scream as Ash hurled the object out of a nearby window. He then threw his body overtop of the girl, trying to provide any protection he could, cause he knew that seconds later...

*KAABOOOMMM!!!*

The train cars aboard the Rapadash Engine violently shook to the side, as it was bombarded by the recoil from the blast. The wheels screeched and cried as they scraped against the metallic railway. Then the rectangular box cars totally parted from the tracks. Some flipped over several times and went flying into the neighboring forest. Some trailed almost parallel to each other before they collided, then tore in two from the brute force of the collision.

From the sky one would think the cars looked like coiling serpents that just fell from battling. Neither one having a victor...

Fires started to burn all over from the wreckage. The chaos...The amount of mass destruction was unheard of since the likes of Toshiro. But in the midst of all the carnage a cry sounded out. The soft weeping of a young girl, who just barely survived the experience. Then seconds later a strong arm wrapped themselves overtop of her, shielding her from the worrying.

His words soothing her. Letting her know everything was going to be ok. His presence greatly appreciated... His affection wanted....

***

Meanwhile several miles away....

A Team Rocket marked helicopter, soared through the skies. The vehicle feinted through the high peeks as they moved through the rugged terrain.

There was only two members of this group, but they had a very important mission. They were to deliver a very dangerous piece of cargo to the Team Rocket laboratories. It was said that the specimen, was a long time quarry of Team Rocket. One that eluded them for several years.

Team Rocket was fortunate enough to be able to subdue the subject this time. They seemed to have perfected their Master Pokeball technology, to the point where it was possibly to contained it.

Now it was the group’s top priority to return to ‘Haven’ quickly before anything else happen. And although they were told, how dangerous the specimen was, they didn’t really take it too seriously.

I mean honestly, what was the big deal about some little runt Pokemon that was already captured...

***

Cold...Lonely...And Dark...

Pikachu always....HATED...Pokeballs. The tightness...The cramp quarters. They were often uncomfortable and always unbearable. That had been why he never wanted to remain trapped inside of one. It was inhuman. And granted he was not, but that was besides the point. He hated the damn things.

Pika-Pi never questioned him on that fact before, which he was entirely grateful. So the Pokemon never really had too many experiences with the blasted contraption. But now...

Now the jerkoffs from, Team Rocket had to spoil it...

The Bastards....

****

Roger looked at the Master Pokeball that was laying beside him. He noticed the thing vibrate from side-to-side, then suddenly stop. “Hey it’s doing it again!!!” He frantically shouted to the pilot of the helicopter.

Roger never seen such a thing before. It had been, nearly three hours since the beast was captured and it was still fighting the unbeatable Master Pokeball. It was almost like the creature inside believed it was going to get out.

“What do you want me to do about it?” The Pilot shouted back. “I’m kinda busy at the moment. You do something...” The Pilot continued while turning forward. It was a good thing he did, he almost didn’t see that mountain top he was going to send them both flying into.

The Helicopter yanked to the side, just meters away from colliding into the mound of rock. The body of the vehicle barreled to the side, sending all the items inside, crashing to the floor. Radios...Binoculars...Maps...Weapons...all cluttered around the deck.

“HEY KEEP IT STEADY!!! WILL YA!!” Roger yelled to the front.

The Pilot grinned. “Yeah..roger, Roger..” He joked. Of course that was like the 26th time he made that joke, but come on..Something like that could never get old. And the grumbling that followed, now that was priceless.

Roger HATED the pilot’s sense of humor. If it wasn’t for the fact, he was the only one that could fly the copter, he would have put two slugs in him a long time ago.

Then he sighed, he didn’t have time to worry about that now. He had to watch that Pokeball. For some reason he didn’t trust the captive. It was too strange...A Pokemon to fight that long even after being contained for that long.

Which was even stranger...the fact he couldn’t find the little black and silver device. He scurried around, throwing items to the side as he continued to search for it. The crashing of the objects reverberated through the small compartment.

The Pilot heard all the ruckus from behind and turned around. “He what are you doing back there? Quit trashin’ my baby!!!” He bellowed.

“HEY I DON’T GIVE TWO CRAPS ABOUT YOUR BABY! If we don’t find that Pokeball, Richie will have our heads!” Roger shouted back, while continuing his search.

The Pilot was about to repeat his early joke, but something drew his attention. Something below him. He was curious to see what it was, so he put the helicopter into hover-mode and decided to investigate.

He reached down below the seat. His fingers traced against, a smooth surface. He tried to grab the object but for some reason it moved to the side. The guy frowned his eyebrows. He would not be defeated.

He then gave another attempt and sent his whole arm underneath, this time retrieving the item. Well part of it. The ball...The pokeball...well it wasn’t a ball, persay anymore. Actually it was kinda in half. Parted perfectly down the center.

The Pilot’s eyes widened. Then he turned around to a frightful sight...

****

“Eh..Roger!” The frail sounding Pilot voiced.

The Rocket once again heard his name being called by the Pilot.“WHAT!!!” He had enough of the fun and jokes. Next joke out of his month, Roger was going to make it his last. Besides, he always wanted to learn how to fly a helicopter anyway...prefect opportunity.

“I think I found it...” The Pilot answered.

Roger paused. Hey..maybe the guy’s good for something after all. “Good, then give it back to me.” He ordered, while brushing himself off a bit.

“Eh...I would..but...”

Roger frowned. “But what?!?”

“Pika...” A new voice stated.

“Huh?...Pika? What do you mean Pika?” Roger then froze. He slowly turned around and saw the same frightening sight that the pilot earlier witnessed.

A small smile appeared on the tiny Pokemon’s mouth as it’s eyes started to flash a very nice hue of crimson red. “Pi..Pi..Pi..” The mouse cackled to himself. He was really going to enjoy this one.

*****

In a the forest not too far away. A small family was enjoying a nice spring vacation, well most of them were...

Andrew hated his family’s yearly camping trip. I mean really hated it. The bugs...the sleeping on the hard ground, while he had a perfectly nice bed at home. The smell of the gruel or whatever it was his mom was cooking. The incessant ranting of his little sister, who continued to play with Napka; the Snorlax that no one could see but her.

Basically the whole thing blew.

All he wanted to do was sit at home for the week and continue to play his X-Station:Cube. But no...Dad, has to keep the yearly tradition. Blah..Blah..blah.

He had to continuously to hear the yammering through the whole trip up there. He was just  glad that now he could have sometime to himself, away from all of them. A chance...to enjoy the scenery...I guess.

When he actually thought about it, it wasn’t so bad being outside and all. But the only problem was, nothing ever happened. There wasn’t any girls...There wasn’t any arcades or movies...There wasn’t even anyone close to his age for the next 3 miles. So it was just boring. Incredibly..Incredibly boring....

He sighed as he leaned against a tree. Taking a breath, he watched the white puffy clouds sail in the blue sky. He then noticed there was a black helicopter that was flying through the air. He blinked a few times at the flying vehicle that seemed to flash a bright blinding light. The light next was followed by a cataclysmic explosion.

Andrew clasped his hands over his ears as the detonation roared through the sky. He then looked at the Helicopter and noticed it was only a few burning pieces left of it that was crashing to the ground below.

For a second he was glad that his family was camped in the opposite direction. Granted they could be annoying at times, but even his family didn’t deserved to be caught up in something like that.

Andrew glanced up to the sky again. His violet eyes squinted at something that was in the air. Well it was more like a round yellow object that was hurtling his way. At first it seemed big, but as it approached him. He could tell it was an object no bigger then his chest.

Anyway, the descending yellow object, impacted a few meters away from Andrew. But inside of making a huge impact crater like a nice normal object would. This thing continued to roll down the slight sloop in the region, coming a few feet before the boy.

Andrew witness the whole trip too. And he noticed that along the way the object started to change as it moved. When it began it was just a regular round ball type figure. But as it rolled, soon little feet started to sprout from the side. Following the feet were arms, as well as a zigzag type tail. At the end of the trail, a head finally appeared. So in all in all, Andrew had a woozily standing Pikachu standing before him.

The rodent shook his head from side-to-side as it regained it’s barring. It cocked his head to the side as it took notice of Andrew’s presence. “Eh..Hi...” The boy waved to the Pokemon.

The Pikachu just gave one nod, then scurried off into the woods. For a moment the boy thought about capturing it. But a few moments of common sense, told him to leave it be.

Andrew started to walk away as his mind was processing all of what just happened. Five minutes of deliberation, he concluded one thing. “Ok...Maybe it’s not so boring after all...” He resolved to himself.

Then the boy took off towards his family’s campsite. “HEY NIKKI, IF YOU THINK NAPKA IS COOL, WAIT TILL YOU HEAR THIS!!!” His voice trailed off as he ventured over the hill.

****

Hours later...

Brock stepped out of his silver Ford Expedition as he parked at the ‘Rapadash Train’ crash site. He had ordered Nanami hours ago, to inform Agent Ashura of the new situation at MASTERS. But when she didn’t report in, Brock decided to go to the area himself.

Brock’s eyes widen...(well as much as possible) as he observed the wreckage of the train being cleared away. The over-turned train cars. The fires. The gagging scent of smoke that lingered the air. It was like looking at the ending factors of a small battlefield. A battle that he knew Ashura was the center of.

The rock trainer sighed. He knew when he got back, this event would be another hour-long rant that Blaine would start-up on. He cringed at the thought of trying to explaining this. But at second thought, Brock didn’t care about any of that. All he wanted was results. And that’s what was all that Ashura seemed to provided. Brock didn’t mind the destructive nature that seemed to follow his friend. As long as Ash could continual provide successful missions, Brock was satisfied.

The bronzed skin man watched on as the MASTERS’ Restoration Crew set-in. The gleaming white rubber-suit wearing squad were hard at work, clearing away torn pieces of metal. He glanced to the side as he noticed an Office Jenny was directing the firefighters to extinguish some of the remaining flames.

He narrowed his eyes at the female. ‘Hmm..The Celadon City Jenny.’ He observed. ‘Got to remember to get her number...’ He stored away the mental note. But in the meantime...had business to attend to.

He gazed around the field, trying to spot his Agent. But in the midst of all the confusion..it was hard to get an idea where anything was. And frankly he didn’t have the time to wander all over the place looking for him so instead...

The trainer grabbed one of the white suit Restoration Team subordinates. “Where’s Agent Ashura?” He sternly asked the older man. The dusky, shaggy beard fellow pointed towards the far-east side of the site. As Brock focused his eyes he noticed an interesting pair that were gazing up at the sunset. The two were currently sharing a blanket together for warmth.

He sighed as he continued to look a the pair. Then his dark eyes noticed a person watching them from a distance. Nanami. For a moment he thought she was about to interrupt them and finish what she was assigned to do. But after a few minutes of seeing her just stand there gazing at them. Brock realized that she was just watching him. Ash.

The rock trainer, turned MASTERS Commander groaned. “Never leave a man’s job, to a woman...” He grumbled to himself as he made his way over to her.

***

Nanami breathed a sigh as looked at the couple. The carmine haired girl simply rested her head ontop of Ashura’s shoulder. His arms encasing her in a relaxed embraced. The two didn’t hardly say anything to each other for nearly two hours, from what Nanami saw. But they never moved anywhere unless the other was with them.

The brown haired woman sighed. It was funny, in all honestly she should feel extremely jealous about what she was seeing. Specially since how she felt for Ashura and all. But whenever she looked at the two, she couldn’t help but smile. She was glad that Ashura finally found some kind of happiness.

She wasn’t naive like Brock was. She knew that Ashura wasn’t happy with MASTERS. But she didn’t know what to do. Her job required her to go to any extremes to make sure, certain people stay with MASTERS. She just wished one of those people wasn’t Ashura. He didn’t deserve that kinda life..specially after what MASTERS pulled to get him enlisted.

In any case..she was happy, that he was happy. Truly the two did seem like they were meant for each other. She just hoped after all this was over, they would have a chance.

***

Periodically all of Nanami’s romantic thoughts drifted away. She felt Brock approaching behind her. The tall dark suit wearing man walked up beside her. For a moment there wasn’t any words spoken from the two. They just continued to stare at the couple that was a bit of a distance in front of them.

“I’m guessing that you didn’t inform him about what happened at MASTERS.” Brock stated while breaking the silence.

“No....” She responded without taking her green eyes off the couple. “I was just expecting to take a few minutes to brief him on the situation. But then I found them like that.” She motioned to the couple. “I...I didn’t have the heart to spoil their moment.”

Brock frowned his brow and sighed. “Nanami....”

A breeze blew by that made everyone close by shutter. Nanami wiped her flowing brown hair to the side as she turned to Brock. “Back at Indigo....Do you think we did the right thing?” She asked her colleague. “I mean..it’s so obvious that they should have been together. Even...Even I know that...but....” She painfully admitted.

“Nanami your forgetting, it had to be done. It was what was best for Indigo. All the trivial things such as puppy love, doesn’t matter.” The Rock Trainer coarsely answered. He really didn’t have time for this.

“But look at him!” Nanami shouted while pointing at Ash. “Look at them..” Another strong wind blew and result only made Ash and Misty hold onto each other tighter. “Does that look like mere puppy love!”

The Rock trainer didn’t turn. For a second, Nanami realized that, not only Brock’s Pokemon were stone-cold. “Look what was done in the past, was done in the past...” He answered her. “We can’t change that now...”

“It’s not right though...”

“Hey keep in mind, what happened at Indigo was your idea.” He reminded her.

Nanami shuttered as images of her past evils started to return. Everyday afterward, when she would see his face. To actually look at the doubtful, troubled, gazes his expressions would hold sometimes. She knew she made a great error so long ago. “I know...” She admitted. “And God I wish I didn’t...”

“It’s too late for that...” Brock coldly commented. He started to move away from her, going toward Ash and Misty. “We both have a job to do...”

“Brock...” Nanami’s voiced called after him. He slowly turned and gave her, his attention. “Ending Team Rocket, isn’t going to bring your mom back.” She shouted after him.

The words seemed to pierce the stoic expression on Brock’s face. He seemed temporally stunned from the comment. But as fast as the expression came, so did it went. “If your not going to inform Ashura then I will.” He exclaimed while continuing.

Nanami just continued to stare after the man. She didn’t know what to do about her colleague. Granted it really wasn’t any of her business, but she realized sooner or later..something was going to give..in MASTERS.

Then after a few more seconds of pondering...the woman slowly followed after him.

****

The sun never seemed to look so beautiful, Misty thought as the last trances of the glowing sphere trailed along the horizon. She pressed her head back against the warm chest that she had been using as pillow for the last couple of hours. She then turned to the side, breathing in the intoxicating fragrance of his scent.

Misty didn’t know how things between her and Ash transpired so greatly. Cause the girl really wanted to know who to thank for it. She didn’t know how but, in some matter Ash seemed to break down all her defenses. She knew she shouldn’t be holding him like this, being with him, feeling his body this close to her own. But she couldn’t help it. It had been something she needed for so long.

“You saved my life again today....” Misty whispered softly, breaking the two hour long  silent serenity they were sharing.

“It’s not a big thing...” Ash simply replied, while brushing his hand through her thick crimson hair.

Misty let out a distressed groan as she pushed out of his grasps and turned to him. “Will you stop it!!!” She shouted at him. “It IS a big deal Ash...I’ve been so cruel to you...But all you ever do is return my hatred with kindness. You never think twice about sacrificing yourself to help me...” Her voice fell silent as she looked to the ground. Her blue eyes then slowly returned to look at him. “Thank you...”

Ashura’s smile brighten as he looked off into the sunset. “I should be thanking you...” The girl looked up to him. “For a long time, you have been what’s been keeping me going Misty. I probably would have died a long time ago, if I didn’t keep you in my thoughts...And in my heart...”

Misty’s eyes widen. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing from him. “What do you mean Ash?”

Ash took a breath. “Misty..I...”

“ASHURA!!!” Brock’s voice thundered as he steadily approached the couple.

The dressed in black Agent sighed. ‘CHRIST I JUST CAN’T GET ANY PRIVACY OVER HERE, CAN I!?!?!!!’ He mentally screamed, his brown eyes looked glossed over as he stared at Brock. “Yes..Brock..?” The young man hissed. He was having a real hard time restraining himself from crippling his old friend.

“I need to talk to you now...” Brock answered. He leaned into Ash and whispered. “It’s important...”

The Agent nonchalantly nodded, as he put his arm around Misty. “Go ahead...”

The Board member frowned. “I need to talk to you in private...” He tactfully established. “It’s an official MASTERS Affairs...” He added, while his eyes directed to the only foreign member. Misty.

It was actually funny, the girl thought. He could talk about her like she wasn’t there..but he wasn’t going to even speak to her directly.

Ashura raised an eyebrow as he noticed the new development. “Look Brock, anything you have to say to me. You can say in front of Misty. She’s in this as deep as I am...” He retorted.

“No..Ashura your wrong.” Brock refuted. “As if this time, she is no longer of use to MASTERS. She no longer has the cure, therefore she is no longer needed. And after what happen to us today, MASTERS needs to be rid of all obsolete factors.”

The dark stranded Agent peered towards the stone trainer. “Why..what happened today?”

“I cannot discuss it with...members that are not MASTERS personnel.” Brock reminded him.

And the fact he did, only thoroughly pissed Ashura off. “What the hell are you talking about?” he straight-out inquired. “Aren’t you in charge? Just bend the damn rules!!!!” He exclaimed. “...I mean...” He tried to continued on, but he felt a soft hand caress his face. He looked down, to the bright eyed angel that was smiling up into his eyes.

“It’s ok..Ash.” She stated while cutting him off. She gently pressed her forehead against his chest. “It’s ok...I know since I can’t help you guys anymore, you really don’t have any use for me,”

“Misty no!” Ash fumble tried to recover. “I do!! It’s just...!”

The girl return his statement with smile. “Ash you worry too much.” She confirmed. “I know...” She said softly. “And I know it’s apart of your job. So do what you have to. And don’t worry...” She paused while kissing him on the forehead. “I’ll be here when your finished...I’m not going anywhere...”

Brock couldn’t help but noticed the insane about of red flush that ran through Ashura’s cheeks. “Umm..I..Ok.” Ash said while turning away from the girl. He then flared his eyes at the rock Trainer. “MAKE IT FAST!”

The Gymleader acknowledged the request, whether or not he was going to fulfill it was another story. He swiftly lead Ashura to a place where they could talk. As they moved, a Policemen pushed past them, heading in the direction Misty was standing at.

While in stride, Ashura paused looked after the man’s journey. The Officer did in fact meet with Misty. The two seemed to have started a conversation of some kind. Ash didn’t know if he should have felt jealous or what. But for some reason..he didn’t have a good feeling about that cop.

“Ashura come on...” Brock shouted back to him, after he noticed the Agent hesitating.

Ketchum gave the two conversationalists another look before continuing with Brock. It was too early in the game for Ash to be that jealous.

****

As Ash came out into the clearing, he noticed the attractive brown haired woman walking beside him and Brock. He frowned. He didn’t even realize that Nanami was there standing with Brock the whole time.

The stone trainer, after seeing the they were in a clear area, was about to speak. That is if his cell phone didn’t cut off his speech. He turned to Nanami and Ash. “I’ll be right back...” He said while wiping the cell phone out and walking way.

Ash And Nanami nodded as he made his exit. His voice trailing off in the background. As he left, there was a strange feeling of indifference emanating from the remaining two.

Finally Ash decided to talk. “Umm...Sorry I didn’t say anything to you before.” He apologized. “I didn’t even notice that you were there.” After he uttered that statement, he just realized that sounded even worst.

But Nanami only smiled gently towards him. “It’s ok...” She beamed. “It looked like you were kinda busy anyway...” She chided.

“Oh..Yeah..hehehe...” Ash blushed, while looking away.

“So...How long have you two been together..?” She pried, trying to start a conversation.

Ash Frowned. “Umm..we’re not. Actually...”

The brown hair woman flashed a tiny smirk. “You could have fooled me.” She jested. “You two been up on that hill for nearly 2 hours...”

Ash was about to comment, but then he paused and stared at her strangely. “Didn’t you just come with Brock?” He questioned. “How long have you been here anyway...?”

Nanami cast look in Misty’s direction. In that instant, she wished the girl all the luck in the world. She then turned back to Ash. “I’ve been here since the crews arrived. I was suppose to inform you about what happen today in MASTERS.”

“Oh? Why didn’t you...?”

“Well...” ‘God...why did he have to ask that,’ She wondered, while the her cheeks started to flush. But none the less, she answered. “I thought you wanted some privacy. I know if...I was in her position, I would want someone to do the same for me.”  She said softly. She hoped he understood her hidden statement meaning.. “Plus I know how much she means to you...”

The man pondered her words for a long time. He then looked down into Nanami’s eyes. “Thank you....” He sincerely expressed.

Nanami tilted her head to the side. “Oh? For what?” She asked.

“For putting someone else’s feelings before, what MASTERS says...” He answered. “It’s harder and harder to find people like that on the Board.” The dark man commented truthfully. “I’m glad your apart of them.” he added with a smiled.

The young woman gaze went towards the floor as she continued to smile. “You know...I think that’s the first time I’ve seen you smile, while talking to me..” Her smiled then turned to a slight grin. “Jessie’s right. It is cute...”

Ashura rolled his eyes. “Oh please...” He groaned.

Nanami gracefully placed her hand in front of her mouth as she laughed. After a few minutes she ended with a smile. “I know that over the years..we haven’t been on the best of terms...” She initiated. “But Ashura...I mean Ash..I would really like to be friends...”

The Agent pondered the thought for a minute, then nodded his head. “Ok...I can do that.” He confirmed. “A guy could always use another friend.”

“Good...” Nanami cheered. Her wondering eyes then drifted back over to Misty. The girl seemed very lonely over there without him. The cop taking his leave some time ago. Ash joined her gaze and slowly came to the same conclusion. “Have you told her yet how you feel?” The woman asked, bringing him out of his thoughts.

“Am I that transparent...?” Ash questioned himself. He sighed. “No...It just seems like everytime I try to...Something seems to happen.”

“I see...” The woman responded. She then gave the girl another look. “A word of advice Ash.” He turned and listened. “Tell her the first moment you got, please!” She strongly advised.

“I really wished it was that easy...” He remarked.

“I didn’t look that hard a moment ago...” She returned.

“You also don’t have a 6ft tall breeder standing behind your back, every five seconds.” Ash added while narrowing his eyebrows. He narrowed them almost to the point where it was mimicking his Rock Trainer friend of mention.

Nanami took into the display and laughed. “I see...” She advised, a few minutes later when her laughter stopped.

“What’s this about a me breathing down your back Ash?” Brock inquired, while returning to the two.

Ash glinted his eyes at his friend return, then grinned. “I was just saying if you were, to use a Tic Tac, first.”

That brought a whole new fit of laughter to Nanami. Ash thought it was cool seeing the usually stand-offish woman so lighthearted. He guessed that maybe he was wrong about her all this time.

Anyway Brock didn’t enjoy the merriment of his joke. “Very funny...” he returned with a scowl.

“It was...” Nanami interjected, with a slight giggle.

The rock Trainer tried to flash an intimidating glare at her. But soon forgot that didn’t usually work on Nanami when she was in this state. So in the end he sighed. “Enough jokes....” He retorted, trying to bring the seriousness of their discussion back. “We had a serious crisis occur today at MASTERS.”

“Yeah, you keep saying...” Ashura commented. He really wanted to get this thing over with so he could get back to being with Misty. So he decided to hurry things along. “What exactly happen?”

The two board members looked to each other. After a few seconds, it was decided that Nanami would go first. “We know that the details of your mission was totally blown, but it seems twelve other agents that had assignments was discovered too.” She raked her hand through her long hair as it fell over her eyes. “We were lucky that we didn’t have any casualties.”

Brock nodded then continued. “We don’t know how, but someone was leaking our information, to Team Rocket.” He paused as his pager went off. He regarded the item for a few seconds then proceeded. “We had our I.T. teams scout throughout our systems. They found some kind of virus, that was transmitting information to an unknown source.”

“I.T., was able to eliminate the virus. But we don’t have any ideas who uploaded the virus into our system.” Nanami finished.

“No ideas what so ever?” Ash repeated. His statement brought silence from the two. Ash automatically knew there was something they weren’t telling him.

“I have one....” Brock commented while looking towards, a slender red head that was draped in the brown refugee blanket that was given to her and Ash a while ago.

Ash raised an eyebrow. “What? You don’t think it’s Misty do you?”

“We’re not accusing anyone, Ashura.” Nanami commented. “It’s just...very cooquicidental that all this happen 72 hours after she was allowed entry to MASTERS.”

Ash paused as all this was starting to sink-in. “So what do you plan on doing?”

Nanami hesitated on this question. She didn’t really like the option. But that didn’t stop Brock from stepping forward. “We want to hold her for 48hours, till we find out what was going on here.”

Ashura narrowed his eyes. “You mean, you want to take her as a prisoner.” His response, received no answer. “The HELL YOU WILL” The Agent thundered. In the past he let MASTERS take a lot of things away from him. But this, this was something he wasn’t standing for.

“Ashura please listen to us.” The girl pleaded with him.

“NO LISTEN TO ME!” Ash shouted back. “I know Misty and I know she wouldn’t be involved in something like that. I mean Jesus, a hour ago she was fighting side by side with me against them. How could she be one of them?”

“I don’t know...” Brock unsurely answered. “But we can’t just simply let her walk. For all we know she could be in league with them.”

“No..that’s not acceptable.” He shouted while pushing past the two. He had enough of this.

“Ashura!” Nanami called after him.

The dark strands of Ash’s hair swayed for a minute as he thought. “Ok..look what if I detain her in my place.” He inquired, trying to bring another option. “It is like a fortress. No one can get in or out unless I say so.” A fact which was true. After Ashura attained his position in MASTERS, he went to great lengths to make sure where he lived was always secured. There was no telling what antics Team Rocket would try to get to him.

“No..that’s out of the question.” Brock shook his head in disapproval.

“Why not? It’s not like she’s safe in any of our safe houses. I’ve been to one of those places, it doesn’t take much for someone to get in. Specially if someone like Richie is coming after her.” Ashura advised him.

“Richie isn’t the one I’m worried about.” The Rock trainer/Board member returned.

“What are you talking about Brock. She’s our friend. How can you desert her like that?” Today just seemed to be full of surprises. Nanami proved that she was human. And Brock proving he could be a prick.

“Ash, unlike you, I don’t let my feelings get in the way of my better judgment.”

Ash glared at him. “Oh yeah I forgot. You did away with that thing a long time ago, you bastard!”

“Enough you two!!” Nanami shouted coming in between the two males. She then turned to the younger one. “Ash please I know this isn’t easy for any of us, but a lot is at stake here. You can’t let your emotions get in the way.” She then turned to Brock. “And you shouldn’t let your personal vendetta get in the way either.”

This had been a real long day for Ash. All he wanted to do was go home really. He sent a weary hand through his dark hair. “Look...just allow me this, I mean after all that I’ve done for MASTERS...Can you just allow me this one favor?” He proudly asked while gazing at the two. His shiny dark eyes still radiant in the deluding sunlight.

Nanami saw the piercing gaze he was giving them and she gasped. ‘Dammit he’s doing that puppy eye thing Jessie keeps talking about.’ The technique had a weakening affect on a lot of women. The girl sighed. She really didn’t want to do this, but she didn’t have any choice, the stare was getting to her.

She then turned to her colleague. “Brock....” For some reason, she thought she sounded like a mom, trying to persuade her husband to allow her child do something, that was earlier forbidden.

The Rock trainer raised an eyebrow, as he understood the tone she was using. “Oh don’t tell me he’s gotten to you too.” Nanami didn’t say a word. She just stares at him. After a moment he sighed. Women...the only weakness that he still hadn’t been able to get over.

“Fine..” The tanned man dismissed. “Do what you want...” He thundered as he went off to his car. He could already feel that headache coming on.

Ashura chuckled to himself, while looking after Brock’s display. Then he turned to Nanami and voiced an honest spoken. “Thank you...”

“Hey, what are friends for?” The girl responded with a bright smile. She then took a look at her watch. She blinked a few times, at seeing how late it was getting. “Ok..I think I better get back to MASTERS,” She paused while looking towards him. “Ummm..you two going to be long?”

“Hmm...” Ash said while pondering the question. “I’ll check in, then we’ll both head over to my place.” At the end of that sentence, Nanami gave him a slightly nervous looked. He sighed. “And Nanami...I’ll be the perfect gentleman, so don’t worry.” He informed her. Then he smoothly mad his way back to where Misty was.

Nanami pouted as he left. “HOW DOES HE KEEP DOING THAT!?!”

****

Deep in the bowels of Team Rocket’s headquarters, (HAVEN) dwelled some of the World’s most insidious criminals. Throughout the years the location, attracted many of the world’s foulest minds. Psychos...Thieves...Killers...Assassins...Rapists etc.

It seemed like the fortress was the only sanctuary for the criminal world. It was a place where they could mingle with their own. Combine their talents and addictions, to focus on one common goal. Total and utter chaos.

That was how ‘Haven’ received it’s name; it was a haven for the scumbags of the world. The place was a home to some. A place of refugee from the hazards of outside society to others. It was a place to relax and not be

But do not be fooled. Not everyone that resigned at ‘Haven’ welcomed the atmosphere. For many it was a deadly prison. And not even to the half living captives that were held deep in under the foundation.

To many of the personal, that lived there ‘Haven,’ was a place worst then hell. The gratification living in a world of Criminals was also it’s curse. But none of the thugs, mobsters, or murderers could even compare to their Leader. The acts Richie caused, throughout Indigo seemed barbaric. No could even come close to the heinous at that one person alone caused. And no one dared to oppose him. They all just complied to his every whim. Everyone especially, the one he held close. Cassidy.

No one remembered when he actually began his relationship with the girl. Some seemed to recall, he just called her up to his room one night, years ago. A few carnal screams ensued an hour later. Then after that night, his room was where she stayed from then on.

Many of the woman that stayed at ‘Haven’ were always envious of Cassidy’s relationship to Richie. To them, Richie was a god. Good looking, charming...And he had a certain way with words that drove a lot of them crazy.

Yeah, to those women Cassidy had the perfect guy. Strong...intelligent, although he could be a little off at times..But they often over looked that.

When Cassidy would hear their constant ignorant cries, she would laugh. She laughed at how naive and stupid those women were to fall for the facade Richie portrayed. Those words, those gestures nothing like the real Richie. Then later when she was alone, she would also cry....Her tears would fall cause, they didn’t know the real nightmare her life was...

****

She could still feel him inside her. Despite the fact that although it had been a good hour since he fallen asleep and she crawled out of his bed. She could still feel him inside her. Knowing that a part of him lingered in her body, she suddenly felt fear.

What if he contaminated her. What if his seed, started to bring life insider her. The thought of baring a son for him, frighten her. The thought that another monster like him could be born, nearly stolen her ability to walk. But she then remembered. She had secretly been taking birth control against Richie’s wishes.

She knew he wanted an heir for Team Rocket. But she couldn’t stand the thought of sharing something as precious as a new life with Richie. And she couldn’t bare the thought of it growing up just like she did.

******

It was 3:00 in the morning and Butch still couldn’t sleep. How could he though. How could any man sleep knowing that the girl he loved was in the arms of another man. He remembered from earlier today, that Richie was disappointed for the failure to eliminate Ashura. And usually when Richie was disappointed, he would call for Cassidy to make him feel better. He used her to vent out some of his frustrations.

So at the moment the two were probably involved in the “act.” Butch couldn’t bare the thought. Cassidy with him. The things he was doing to her. Butch also knew of some of Richie bedroom activities.

Sometimes Cassidy would leave having new cuts or bruises. She would never tell Butch what they did. Probably because she was too ashamed. But to be honest, Butch wanted to remain ignorant too. Granted, that still didn’t stop his mind from wondering. Which was the result of his sleepless nights. All he could do is wait for morning and hope that tomorrow will bring something better.

He closed his eyes. Praying for a minute that, maybe he could trick the gods into letting him have at least a few hours of sleep. His mind was starting to drift. It was working. He could feel the peaceful presence of slumber approaching him.

*DONK! DONK! DONK!*

“What the hell?” Butch complained. Rising from his bed, he walked through his room. Every now-and-then stepping or tripping on some item hidden by the darkness of his room. Cursing he continued to the door. Swearing that whoever it was better have anything short of a AK-47. Cause he was about to re-arrange their internal organs.

Spitting one last curse to himself, Butch finally took the latch off and opened the door. What awaited him behind that door, was two large purple eyes staring back at him. Butch blinked a few more times. “Cass..?” Butch asked questionably to the blonde girl. “What are you doing here?”

The girl made no response. Her eyes just wandered to the floor.

“Cass?” Butch said again, his voice filled with a bit more concern. His mind wondering, what did horrors did Richie perform to cause the girl to be in such a state? ‘Richie...I’ll make you pay for whatever you did to her...’ He mentally vowed.

Butch was going to make another attempt to find out what happen. But finally Cassidy found words to speak. A soft voice finally crept from Cassidy’s body, though she never took her gaze away from the ground.

“Don’t...” The girl began. “Don’t send me back to him.” She gasped a few times. For some reason breathing was a chore right now. “At least for right now....” She added. “Please...” She finished while looking up into Butch’s eyes. Streams of tears flowed from her eyes as she continued to look at him. She then took a small step forward and buried herself into his chest, seeking his security.  Her soft cries were slightly muffled, by his strong frame.

Butch gingerly put his arms around her. For a few seconds, he prayed he could just freeze this moment in time. All he ever wanted to do, was just hold her. But after a few seconds, reality kicked in.

Butch looked around to see if anyone was watching. Seeing the coast was clear, Butch then brought the girl into his room. He held her hand as he searched for the light switch. His fingers was about to flick it on, but then a soft hand stopped him.

“No...”Cassidy said. “Don’t turn them on. I don’t want you to see me like this.” The girl just continued to stay in Butch’s arms, in the moonlight lit room.

“Ok....,” He said, reassuringly. He just simply held her in the darkness.

“Would it be ok if I stayed a while?.....Richie won’t be up for a few hours.” Cassidy asked in a faint voice. For a few seconds, it amazed Butch how soft and almost lifeless her voice sounded. It was almost like she was fighting to live after every word.

Wordless, he nodded. As soon as he answered, she slowly pressed her head against his chest. Taking in the seemingly hypnotic scent of his body. He ran his hands through her now, loosened blonde hair. Then he lightly caressed the sides of her face. Cassidy winced as he touched some areas. Unable to bare causing her anymore pain, he withdrew his hand. Butch knew the pain she felt was another example of Richie’s “loving.”

“You must think I’m disgusting....” She said finally.

“No...” His coarse voice said. He gently kissed her forehead. “No....I could never think that..”

“I’ve have done so many things...Things you wouldn’t have imagined. I’m dirty Butchie. But no matter how many times I wash, I can’t become clean. All I can see is the blood. My blood...The many people I’ve murder’s blood....” She buried her head into his chest. “It never stops. The images, the faces. Why can’t they all just go away. I don’t want to live like this anymore. I don’t want to kill anymore. I just want...I just want...” She looked into his brown eyes. They were so gentle and loving. “I just want to be with you...” She kissed him softly. “I love you, Butchie...”

“I love you too...” He replied without pause. The two continued to sit holding each other. Both thinking about other and their past. Some many things have changed. There were so many things they both regretted.

“We should have just left when Jessie and James did.” She stated. “Maybe..maybe we could have survived...”

“What do you mean? Do you want to go straight.” Butch exclaimed. “I mean we’re making it aren’t we?”

“MAKING IT!! MAKING IT!!!” She shouted. “Butch, I’m Richie’s personal WHORE!!! And you....” Her voice grew softer. “I swear to God everytime he looks at you...he looks like he wants to....”

She broke into tears again. “He knows Butch...He knows how we feel about each other. I don’t know how, but he does. That’s why he holds me tighter when ever your around. And why he’s so vicious when he...when he...” She couldn’t continue the sentence. Her sobbing grew more.

“I’m sorry...”

“You know...” She continued. “I couldn’t sleep for the longest time.” Butch shook his head. “Cause I was always worried about what he would do, if he ever found out. Not to mention what he would do to you.”

“Now it’s even worst. Since he knows and hasn’t said anything. It’s almost like a it’s a game to him. To see which one of us, will crack first.” She balled up her fist. “I hate him! I hate him Butchie! I hate him..and...I hate myself!”

“Cass?” The blonde turned away from him.

“I hate myself...I hate what I’ve become. I used to be so strong when I was younger. But now I’m so weak. I’m so pathetic....”

“Stop.”

“I’m so worthless...”

“STOP.”

“I don’t want to live anymore...”

“STOP IT CASSIDY!!” He hugged her close to him. Hoping to shield out all the bad thoughts.

From inside his chest where her face was buried she continued speaking. “Butch...” She looked up to him. “Please kill me..” She continued before he could cut her off. “The thought of dying by the hand of some jerk like Ashura or Richie, is unbearable. But to die from you, the man I love...maybe.. Maybe that can be the only way to set me free. The only way I can be finally clean. The only damn way I can regain my sanity....” She grieved, while shoving a small Ruger 38mm into his hands.

Butch regarded the weapon for only a second. His face held a disgusted look, before throwing the object towards the ground. “No!” He forcefully stated.

“Butch Please!” She begged.

“NO, I CAN’T. I NEED YOU!!” He screamed.

“Why, I’m just weak, You always seem so strong. You don’t need me.” She looked down. “Nobody needs me...”

“DAMMIT DON’T YOU SEE!!” He shouted while holding her by the shoulders. “I’m only strong because of you. My strength comes from you Cassidy. If you weren’t around. I would surely fall.”

He smiled, as he ran his hands through her hair. “But since your still alive. I can hope and I can dream. And I can believe that we will make it out of this together. So we can finally start those dreams we talked about long ago.”

Cassidy laughed. “Like the white picket fence..”

Butch’s horse voice chimed in too with laughter. “Yeah and the PTA meetings and cookouts...”

The blonde smiled. “It’s hard to imagine our life could be like that.” She turned to him. “Do you really think it could be like that for us?”

“It’s what’s been keeping me alive so far.” He said with a smile.

Cassidy smiled as well, as the thoughts of so many possibilities started to open for her. The thought that life might bring something good to her, was a thought she needed.

“Butch...could we forget about Team Rocket for a while. And just pretend that I’m just like the woman in the vision. Just forget about all the crimes and sins. And just..make love to me. Make me feel like how a woman should feel...”

Wordlessly, the man embraced her for another kiss.

****

Richie watched through the monitor screen, as Butch took Cassidy into his arms and carried her into his bed room. The camera slowly followed after their movements. Richie was intrigued with the sight. Seeing his girl in the arms with another. For a second, he felt a twitch of jealousy...But that ended quickly as he popped another set of those pills into his mouth.

He would have to think of a nice pay back for Butch after this little account. Actually he did know about their relationship for a while now. He just liked seeing the pathetic expression on Butch’s face when he would drag Cassidy away from him.

But anyway their punishments would have to wait. The euphoric of the pills were taking over. He really had to figure out what they did... If he didn’t watch out...he could have been addicted. Hehehehe....

****

Mission To be Continued....


*BE ADVISED*

Do to the late entry of this article, Chapters 7 and 8 will be produced at the same time due to the interests of time.

*Stay Tuned for further updates*