Main characters: Ash: 18 Misty: 18 Brock: 23 Sandy: 15 Duplica: 18 May: 15 Max: 10 Dawn: 13 ½ I wish to inform you that I now own Pokemon, the planet Venus, and your soul…100 years before the mast…at least, that’s what I like to pretend…in my head…where the voices talk to me…Hehehe I don’t own cripe but I AM super happy-like. You see I’ve seen Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, and its AWESOME!!! GO THE MALESTROM! Ooh yeah! anyway, on with the story (which IS mine! Oh, and so is Sandy, but Pokemon and everything else is owned by the big people) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Misty led the way back down the familiar path leading to the Pewter City Gym, where she and Brock hoped to jog Ash’s lost memory of them both. Having gotten him to recognize Pikachu, they felt confident that somehow he would remember more now, but they were about to find out otherwise. “Brock, stop. Ash, do you recognize these rocks here?” He looked at her. “Uhm, why would these specific rocks matter?” “Because, when we first got here, you sat on one and a man named Flint told us about Brock, do you remember any of that?” He just stared. She went on. “You know, Flint? The weird guy? He was going to charge us for resting on a rock??” Ash shook his head, smiling at her. “Seems like a bit of a nut to me!” Brock groaned. “Well, he was a nut alright…let’s just move on to the city itself. Come on, Ash…this is where we first met…” --Elsewhere-- “Prepare for trouble!”…“Make it double!” “Now don’t that sound nicer than that cripe you made up in Sinnoh?” “Yes it certainly is good to be back to Classic Rocket again!” Jessie laughed as they turned their attention to the young trainer before them. “Hand over your Pokemon, or else kid!” she said to him. “Not a chance!” he shouted back. “Alright then, we’ll just take them! Carnivine, go!” “Dustox, attack!” The trainer pulled out a single pokeball. “Fearow, I choose you!” “Dustox, Sleep Powder attack!” “Whirlwind now Fearow!” The powder was swept up in the whirlwind and blown back, decending all over Carnivine and Dustox. “Oh no!” “Alright, fine! Seviper, GO!” “You too Cacnea!” “Fearow, Quick Attack!” Fearow slammed Cacnea backwards into all the other Pokemon. “That sure was quick,” moaned Jessie and James. Suddenly there was a maniacal laugh from above. A pokeball dropped from a tree and out came a Blaziken. “Blaziken Fire Blast!” Fearow was burned up and retreated to its pokeball. Blaziken tackled the boy and a Bulbasaur grabbed his remaining pokeballs with Vinewhip as he was blasted into the nearby stream and washed away downriver. “Wow…what was that?” asked James. A small figure wearing a black cape with a red R on it dropped from the tree and scooped the pokeballs into a bag. She turned to Team Rocket and they gasped. “It’s the second Twerpette!” they exclaimed together. May smiled evilly at them, misunderstanding the reason they were shocked. “Yes that’s right, I escaped the police! May, the Rocket Elite!” Team Rocket just stared at her. Meowth jumped up. “Rockets, group huddle!” The three of them gathered around Meowth. “She’s finally gone bonkers!” “You goiys, I tink that she tinks she’s really a Team Rocket member! Maybe we should let her stick around for a little whiles, waddaya say?” They nodded and turned back to face her. Jessie smiled. “Ok, so you’re an Elite, so let’s work on this area. Now there’s a boy around here who owns a very rare Pokemon. Its species is commonly found but this one has enormous power…” --Elsewhere, um, again…-- “Ok, Ash…this is the Pewter City Pokemon Gym, see? You battled Brock here once to gain your first badge, a Boulderbadge…do you remember that?” He shook his head, then turned to Brock enthusiastically. “I don’t remember, but what’s a Boulderbadge???” Brock sighed. “Ok, let’s show him around Pewter a little bit, maybe something he saw here he noticed and will pick up on.” “Ok Brock. Come on,” said Misty taking his left arm, the one that wasn’t in a sling, and leading him along. He hummed happily, totally unaware of what was going on. “So did you lose to me the first time? Did I get the, uh, Boulderbadge?” Misty turned to him. “No, Ash, Pikachu lost because his electric attacks were too weak…say! I have an idea! Why don’t we take him to the water mill! That’s where Brock’s father hooked up your Pikachu to supercharge it for his second battle with Brock!” “Ok sure, anything is worth a try!” said Brock. They walked down to the old mill, hoping Ash would get some kind of memory boost, but no luck. He just stood there grinning stupidly, still not really understanding anything. Misty sighed, wishing she could help him. But it was starting to get late, so they headed for the gym where Brock’s house was. They would stay there tonight and try again in the morning. Misty tucked Ash in, since he had tried miserably to do it with his broken right arm and was already asleep but half lying out of the bed. She sighed and brushed a few stray hairs from his face. ‘Ash…please remember me.’ She gave him a light kiss on the cheek and walked to her own bed, curling up and hoping tomorrow he would remember her and they could finally be happy together. --Nighttime at the Pewter hospital-- Duplica tossed and turned. All she could think about was Ash. She couldn’t understand it, but every moment she wasn’t with him she felt cold and found it hard to breathe. She needed Ash. Inexplicably, maybe, but she still needed him. She sat up, ripping through the restraints the doctors had been forced to put on her bed. “AAAASSSSSHHHHH!!!!” she cried, and tore all the covers off her bed, throwing off her hospital robes and grabbing her clothes in her hands. She burst through the door and ran out of the hospital nude, flashing nurses and surprised people as she dashed off into the night to find him. --The next morning-- Misty woke up from a beautiful dream. It was of Ash and her kissing, just before the fireworks knocked over by Team Rocket went off. She remembered it all; the fireworks blowing up the tree Duplica was in, the explosion sending May careening down amongst the rocks, those damn Rocket Grunts throwing poor Sandy over the edge of the waterfall, and Ash…Ash pushing her into the stream to protect her from the flames. She cringed at how wrong things had gone, especially after they were FINALLY going to be a couple. She looked over to see his beautiful sleeping form only to find his bed empty. Misty panicked, racing around the house until she found him in the gym, sitting on the floor with Pikachu, holding all of his pokeballs. As she approached, he looked up at her questioningly. “Are all of these mine?” he said. She nodded, sitting next to him. He smiled and held one out. “Go pokeball!” A Heracross came out and started nuzzling him. “Uhh…now what?” Misty gaped at him. “Well you tell it an attack silly!” “Oh…OK! Uh, Heracross…um, tackle!” Heracross ran at a rock in the arena and smashed it as he charged through. “Wow cool! Ok, go pokeball!” This time he got his Staravia. “Ummm…Whirlwind?” Staravia threw up a violent storm of wind that threw Heracross around. “Cool! Go pokeball!” Out came his massive Charizard. “Flamethrower!” Charizard attacked Staravia with a blast of fire, which missed. So it tried again, missed again. Charizard got angry and sent fire everywhere. This set off the fire alarm and the sprinklers came on. Charizard was hardly affected by the water and just continued. “Ahh, Ash it’s stuck using Rage attack! Its fire is everywhere! Stop it! Withdraw it or something!” Misty yelled. Uhh, yeah…Pikachu, Thundershock to bring him out of his rage!” Misty was horrified. “Ash, NO!” “PIIKAACHUUU!” Pikachu’s Thundershock went everywhere the water from the sprinklers went. It zapped Heracross and Staravia and Ash watched as the water on Charizard conducted the electric attack and it was electrocuted… ‘…the same way Brock’s Onix was…hey! Brock! I remember BROCK!’ He leapt up. “Hey, you…uhh…girl! I REMEMBER BROCK!!!” He jumped in the air as Brock came in to see what all the ruckus was about. “Hey, what’s going on…OOF!” he gasped as Ash tackled him to the ground. “Brock! Brock! I remember you!” “ASH! That’s great but how did that happen?!?” he faced Misty who just shrugged, feeling so lost and sad. ‘Girl? Hey girl?? He doesn’t even know my name!!! Oh Ash, I want you back!!!’ She ran from the room crying… …to almost run into Duplica outside! “Duplica!” she gasped, shocked at her appearance. Duplica had a mad look in her eyes, like someone who wanted to fight for anything. Her clothes were ripped and she only had half of them to begin with, wearing just a plain old t-shirt and loose shorts that hung off her body. Her hair had leaves all through it and as she stared at Misty, she grasped the front of her suspenders and pulled her close. “Where is he? Where is my love??” she said. “Where are you hiding, dearest Ash?” Misty groaned and realized things weren’t getting better at all…now Duplica in her crazy-for- Ash state had arrived, and most unfortunately she had spotted Ash and Brock inside. “AAAAAAAAAASSHHH!!!” she cried, throwing herself on him. He fell to the ground as she tried to plant kisses all over his face. “Brock, help me!” he yelled as he held her back, trying not to hurt his broken arm or put his hands on her developed chest region, protected only by the thin t-shirt. Brock grabbed her from behind and hauled her to her feet, letting Ash get away with only minor bruises and a few wild pashes. “Why are you holding me back, devil?!? I WANT MY ASH!!!” she screamed, and Brock found it hard to control her. He turned to Misty, sadly watching from the sidelines. “Misty get Ash out of her sight and into a locked room will you!” he shouted over Duplica’s noise. Misty nodded and took Ash’s good arm and took him through to the guest bedroom, locking the door behind them. She turned around to check him for damage. He seemed ok, although he had lipstick all over his mouth and cheeks. He even seemed happy. “Are you alright, Ash?” she asked. “Yeah…actually I feel great!” he replied. “So, she’s my girlfriend or something? Cos that kind of…action…could take some getting used to.” he said, grinning widely. Misty grumbled and took him into the small bathroom to wash his face. Ash didn’t quite understand what was going on. This red headed girl was really angry for some reason. ‘Maybe it had to do with that girl who couldn’t stop frenching me,’ he thought. He didn’t recognize her either. The only people he knew were Brock and Pikachu. The woman who signed him out of hospital, this red head, and his somewhat horny girlfriend – if that’s what she was – still meant absolutely nothing to him. He wondered when things would work out, and if he was going to be able to eat soon. He thought maybe he could ask. “Say, uhh…I don’t know your name, but do you know when…” he was interrupted by the feeling of a washcloth slapping across his mouth. “My name is MISTY,” she said. “You should know that by now.” He was a little startled, but recovered. “Ok, Misty do you know when breakfast is? I’m a little hungry.” She twisted the washcloth as she attempted to control her anger. ‘How can he possibly be so thick, damnit.’ “Breakfast will be soon, now that Brock is up.” “Oh, yeah…I hope he does his brilliant waffles! I love them!” he said eagerly. Misty threw the washcloth at his face, not bothering with the rest of the lipstick. “Oh you remember Brock’s food but not me??” she screamed at him. “You can’t even be bothered to remember my name!” She knew it wasn’t his fault that his memory was so messed up, but she was so upset that this had happened that she didn’t care. She turned away from him and sat on the edge of the bathtub. Ash sat down next to her, facing the other way. “Misty…I wish I did remember. I honestly don’t even feel like I’ve forgotten anything, you know?” He reached out to touch her shoulder. Misty felt his hand and bowed her head, tears threatening to burst forward again. “I know that doesn’t make much sense, but when I think about it…I’m sure I would remember a beautiful face like yours,” he said sadly. She looked up at him and found herself staring into his brown eyes. “You think I’m beautiful?” she whispered. He nodded. “Yeah…and I don’t even know If I should be saying this! If that girl is my girlfriend it’s not right to say that, but I have no clue if she is or isn’t!” he shouted, starting to break down as well. She moved so that they were facing the same way and took his left hand. “Ash, she isn’t. She was involved in the same accident you were, and now she is crazy over you…Brock and I both know she wasn’t seriously interested in you before the accident, but now she is for some reason.” She squeezed his hand. “Don’t worry, we’ll fix her too, and then we can go back…to being friends,” she said dejectedly. She wondered if he would remember his feelings for her, or that they had confessed their love to each other. She desperately wanted this, but it seemed so far away. “Listen, Misty,” he said. “Since she isn’t my girlfriend, maybe while we wait for me to remember things…we could, you know, go out sometime, just us.” He said, blushing slightly. Misty suddenly had an idea. A good idea. A good brilliant amazingly awesome idea that was absolutely PERFECT!!! “Uh, yeah sure, Ash…I’d like that.” She said, smiling at him. They heard a shout. “BREAKFAST! COME AND GET IT!” called Brock from downstairs. Ash jumped up and ran for the door. “Alright, food!” he said. Misty smiled, thinking about her plan. ‘It doesn’t matter now, if Ash remembers everything about our love or not…I’ll just get him to fall in love with me all over again!’ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ha ha HAAA!!! Misty has a plan! Isn’t it great? Don’t you think so?? Well tell me then! Or tell me it sucks, I don’t care just don’t hold me responsible if Misty’s mallet finds your head, fellow citizens! Ok seriously, though, please review, cos I’m wondering if I should keep writing or not. I don’t know if people are reading my story and just not reviewing or aren’t reading it at all, so please let me know and not only will I reply to all, I‘ll even give you a tribute at the start of the next fic if you do, or maybe…something else!! Review to me then wait and see!