Motives Forgotten
By Mana lugia

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon. I own this plot, and ... this plot. Repeat 
after me: M. Lugia does not own Pokemon. M. Lugia does not own Pokemon. M. 
Lugia does not own Pokemon.

==========
[Chapter 2]

The police came, as did the reporters. All kinds of questions were asked, 
and theories were formed. Ash and Misty were interviewed by the police, as 
were everyone who were staying in the Pokemon Centre that night. After their 
interviews, Ash walked around the crime scene, looking for the police chief 
in charge. Finding him wasn't too hard. No other policeman would look as if 
they weighed 300 pounds, wearing glasses that fit more on hippies, or super 
nerds. He was speaking to some of his subordinates as Ash approached. He 
turned towards Ash, and asked "What can I do for you, young man?"

Ash hesitated. "Well, sir... I was wondering if you have any idea who might 
have done this to... to Gary..."

The police chief stroked his chin, wondering if he should let on this 
information onto the innocent young man standing by his side. "I'm sorry, 
young man, but that is classified information."

"What do you mean that's classified, sir? It was MY friend who died there 
tonight, and I want to know who's responsible!" Ash yelled angrily. At this 
time, he was feeling somewhat like a Scyther floating in a tank of Ketchup.

The chief was unfazed. "I'm sorry, son. There's nothing I can do for you 
here. Now would you kindly leave?"

Ash tried his hardest to calm down. Nothing was ever accomplished during 
irrationality. "Thanks for your time. I hope we tax payers aren't paying 
only for your doughnuts," he said coldly as he prepared to walk away. But 
the chief put a hand on his shoulder. "Come with me," was all he said as he 
dragged Ash to an deserted corner.

"Since you're young, and that is your friend who died out there, I suppose I 
can tell you something about the crime. Firstly, we don't only eat 
doughnuts! The Police force also enjoys sometimes a meal of subs and fries. 
Doughnuts are just a myth. Anyways, we suspect there's only 1 person who 
would have done this," He whispered to Ash.

"Who?"

"We have been trying to track him down for a while now, but so far, we've 
had no luck. All we know so far is that his MO (Author's note: means his 
method of committing the crime) is to stun the opponent some way or another, 
most likely with a plant pokemon, and then killing them. We call him the 
Parassassin."

"..."

"The only thing is, he's been working extra fast these days. When he came 
into the picture about 15 years ago, he only did crimes occasionally. But 
he's been active. 2 crimes in a week."

"Who else?"

"The gym leader of Pewter City was murdered recently, and we think he did 
it."

Ash let out a gasp involuntarily. This was too much to take in. Both of his 
friends... killed by the same person? Unfortunately, his gasp attracted the 
attention of the media, and they rushed over, surrounding the police chief. 
Ash took this chance to leave, and went to find Misty. After relaying what 
the police chief said, Misty had the same reaction.

"A-Ash, would the police catch him?" She asked worriedly.

Ash put his arm around Misty. "Don't worry, Mist. They'll catch him." But 
under his breathe, he muttered, "I hope."

~*~*~

Gary's body was going to transported back to Pallet Town for a burial, which 
was taking place two weeks after Brock's funeral. Ash and Misty, and a very 
distressed Pikachu plotted their way, to Pewter first, then to Pallet via 
Viridian. They entered the Diglett's tunnel, on the east side of Vermillion. 
They slowly went down the ladder, to find themselves in a large dark tunnel. 
Getting out their flashlights, they slowly walked forward into the unknown.

~*~*~



"Ring ring!" The hooded man reached into his pocket, pulling out a cell 
phone. "Yes?" He said gruffly.

"When will psyducks use bite?" the person on the other end said. "Go ahead." 
The hooded man said.

"I have a job for you," The caller replied. They discussed a little further, 
and the man hung up.

'Great... Another mission.'

~*~*~

Ash and Misty, and a very frightened Pikachu walked along the path in the 
Diglett's tunnel. It had been almost a day since they started walking. Ever 
so often, a wild Rattata or Spinarak would pass by, launching Misty into 
screaming fits. It takes a long time to calm her down. As nightfall 
approaches, Ash's Pokex beeps, telling the group that it's about 9pm.

"Well, we'll have to set up camp here," Said Ash, as he stopped.

Misty looked around uneasily. "Um, are you sure that that's the best idea? 
It's dark, and wet... and there's BUGS!"

"Don't worry, Misty. Besides, we won't arrive for another day yet. I think 
there's a train station up ahead, where we can catch the train for the 
remainder of the way to Pewter," Ash said as he unrolled his sleeping bag. 
Misty did the same. The duo passed on into dreamland.

~*~*~

Ash awoke in the middle of nowhere. His sleeping bag wasn't there. Pikachu 
and Misty were nowhere to be seen. A mist swirled around, as Ash found 
himself in a parking lot.

"Huh? Where am I?" He thought out loud. There was no answer. He walked 
around the lot, but it was deserted.

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out, and a scream was heard. That sounded like 
Misty!

"Misty! I'm coming!" Ash yelled as he ran towards the source. In the back of 
the parking lot lay Misty, and a hooded stranger stood behind her, a gun in 
hand. "YOU MONSTER!" Ash yelled, as he charged at the stranger... and 
charged right into a double slap attack.

The stranger slapped Ash back and forth, while calling out his name. Ash 
could do nothing...

~*~*~


Ash awoke with a jolt, and found himself staring into Misty's face. "GAH!" 
He yelled as he scrambled backwards.

"Ash, are you ok? You were tossing and turning, and then yelling out 
something in your sleep, something like 'You monster!'" Misty asked.

A chill crept up Ash's spine. So it was all a dream... But it looked so 
real! Ash nodded, and stood up. "Let's keep going, Misty. We should get to 
the train station shortly if we walk quickly."

They packed the bags, and started walking again. It wasn't long before they 
entered the station for the train. As they walked along the platform, they 
heard some Pokemon trainers talking about the irrationality of putting a 
train station in the middle of the tunnel instead of at the beginning. Ash 
grinned at the comments.

The remainder of the trip was uneventful, with Ash thinking about the dream 
over and over on the train. Was that what people call a premonition? Or was 
that just a mix of his deepest thoughts and feelings? Either way, he 
wouldn't let Misty die.

The first thing they did when they got to Pewter was to visit Flint. Flint 
was fairly surprised to see them so soon, but welcomed them nevertheless. 
The funeral was not for a week, as more of Brock's relatives were expected 
to arrive, Flint informed them.


~*~*~

Ash and Misty later settled in at the Pokemon Centre, and went to bed, just 
as a hooded man stepped into Pewter City. He walked around the city, seeming 
to be searching for something, and stopped at the Pokemon Centre. Walking 
around the Pokemon Centre, he sent out a Golbat, and sent it an order. The 
bat pokemon screeched in agreement, and flew off. Moments later, it 
returned, and led its master to a certain window. Memorizing the location of 
the window, the hooded man took off.

~*~*~

That night, around midnight, a mysterious stranger stood at the front of the 
now closed Pokemon Centre. Getting out his Victreebel, he ordered it to pick 
the lock, which the Flytrap Pokemon did immediately. He entered through the 
door, smiling at how easy it was.

He walked along the dark corridor, counting the doors. He stopped at one of 
them, and was going to have Victreebel pick the lock again, when a voice 
behind him asked, "May I help you?"

He turned, to see a tired Nurse Joy standing behind him. Damn! Now he needs 
an excuse. "Why yes, Nurse. I need you to heal my 3 pokemon," He said.

Nurse Joy led him to the front again, but she didn't discover the picked 
lock. The man returned Victreebel, and gave her the 3 pokeballs he had 
around his waist. Nurse Joy headed into the rejuvenation room.

So close... He was furious. After getting his pokemon back, he exited the 
centre through the picked door. That was about when Nurse Joy found out the 
lock had been picked, and called the police.

The police had come quickly, and left after just a few dusting for prints 
and an interview with Nurse Joy. Ash was woken up by the commotion outside, 
and walked out of his room. Yawning, he asked Nurse Joy what the police were 
doing here.

Nurse Joy described a hooded man to have been here, and suspected of picking 
a lock. "Why?" Ash had asked. She shrugged.

"I don't know. He was standing at your door when I saw him, and he asked me 
to heal his Victreebel, along with 2 other pokemon," She told Ash.

Ash felt a tingle of alarm. A Victreebel? Don't they have the ability to 
stun spore? Nah, he thought. That would be such a large coincidence.

~*~*~

He stalked the Pokemon center for the next few days, following the movements 
of his targets carefully, never seeming to lay a mark. But fate was against 
him on this mission. Every time he would try a plan, something would happen, 
throwing his plan off balance. Fate must really be guarding his quarry...

He was not the kind of person to give up. His deadline was approaching 
rapidly, and he had not done his job. There was only 1 more thing to do: 
Change his plan.
~*~*~

Ash stepped out of the shower in his room in the Pokemon Centre, and found 
himself alone. Humming a merry tune, he walked to the dresser, where he 
found a note.

'Hey Ash, Pikachu and I are going out for a walk. We'll be back in a bit, k? 
Misty' was all the note read.

Oh well, if they're out, he'll get a chance to watch the Pokebattle Channel 
on TV! After he got dressed, he settled down in front of the TV, and turned 
it on. All that showed up was static. Is the TV broken? He changed the 
channels, but every channel was disrupted. Furious, he clicked the remote 
rapidly.

Static...Static...Static...Static...video...Static...Static... WHAT?

He quickly turned it back to the video channel. All it said was "Press play 
on the remote," and Ash complied. The hooded face of a man appeared on 
screen. Ash was about to yell, when the man spoke.

"Shut up and sit down, Ash Ketchum. I know who you are, and where you are. I 
have rigged this TV to play this Video, and then reprogram back to its 
original functions after it is played." He paused. Ash slowly settled back 
into the seat.

"Listen to me. I wish to meet you. That is an order. You will come to this 
address..." The TV suddenly went to mute, as an address showed on screen. 
The TV recovered quickly, and sound came back. "... at 11 o'clock at night, 
tonight. You will bring NO ONE, and no pokemon. You will come ALONE. No one 
must know about this visit, or I will see to it that your friends, the girl 
and the Pikasnot die a horrible and painful death." With that, it paused, 
and the address showed once more. Ash took this time to take down the 
address, as the TV flashed white, and the normal channels came back. Ash 
didn't know what to think. This was unreal, like a story, a novel, maybe 
even a fanfic!

At this moment, the door opened, and Ash quickly stuffed the address into 
his pants. A cheerful Misty and Pikachu entered. "Hey Ash! What have you 
been doing?"

"N-nothing, Mist! Just watching some good ol' TV here!" Ash stuttered.

Misty gave him a queer look. "Ash, you're watching the Women's channel's 
PokéSoap Opera."

Ash's face blushed crimson red. "Um, I knew that! I was just channel surfing 
as you entered!" He tried desperately to cover up.

"O...k, Ash, if you say so..." Misty was still not believing Ash.

~*~*~

Ash stepped off the bus. He had memorized the address, and begun his search. 
He traced the address to a Public School in the poorest district of Pewter. 
He found that the only place accessible to him was through the parking lot. 
This seems familiar... Picking up his courage, he stepped bravely into the 
parking lot, and began walking.

He was in the middle of the parking lot, when he heard footsteps behind him. 
Turning around quickly, he found only the dark mist of the night.

Click. He felt a cold circular thing pressed against the back of his neck. 
He gulped.

~*~*~

Misty couldn't sleep. Something about Ash's leaving was suspicious. Why 
would Ash, of all people, want to go out at 11 at night, just so he could 
buy a cup of low fat diet drinks? She always knew Ash was a terrible liar, 
but this is ridiculous. Ash was always the worst liar when he was anxious 
about something. She started to get up. This was when she noticed a piece of 
paper near the door. Ash must have dropped that when he was leaving in a 
rush.

She picked it up. All the paper said was an address, and a time, which was 
11 PM. Was this where Ash was going? But why wouldn't he tell her? Best 
friends always shared every secret between themselves. Ash was in trouble. 
She just knew it. She has a sixth sense about these things. She got dressed 
quickly, and set on the road to find Ash.

~*~*~

Ash turned around slowly, holding his hands in the air, and came face to 
face with a hooded face. He had a gun pointed at Ash.

"Ash, is it? A pleasure to meet you, I'm sure. Won't Victreebel want to say 
hi?" The hooded man spoke in a taunting voice, as he released Victreebel. 
"Wrap." Victreebel sent out its vines, and bounded Ash. Ash didn't move.

"Why aren't you resisting, Ash? It's so much nicer to torture my victims 
before I send them off to the other side, don't you think? Victreebel, Stun 
spore!" Victreebel let out a shriek, and scattered dust spores at Ash, 
causing his muscles to vibrate involuntarily. Luckily, Ash's face was 
unaffected.

"Damn. I really ought to perfect Victreebel's stun spore before I take 
another job. Anyways, Ash, any last words?" The hooded stranger asked.

"W-who are you?" Ash asked.

"Oh, no one in particular. I believe the Police call me the Parassassin. 
Catchy name though, I think I'll keep it," the stranger said carelessly,

"YOU! You killed my friends!" Ash shouted angrily, and struggled to move. 
But his body wasn't responding.

"Yes..." The stranger said, as he twirled one of his empty pokeballs around 
in his free hand. "That rock gym leader, I believe his name was Brock -" 
Before he could continue, the pokeball slipped and landed on his foot. 
"Drat," he said as he picked it up. "Anyways, yes, I did kill him. And that 
Gary kid too. Those were the fun ones."

"WHY? Why?" Ash asked again, fury filling up inside.

"Oh, Brock? Because I was hired to kill him, so as to find out your 
location."

"Who hired you? Why would they want to know my location?"

"Gary hired me."

"GARY? Why would he do something like that?"

"Oh, simple. If you remember, the indigo championships are coming up in a 
few weeks, and you and Gary are the best odds in this tournament. I guess he 
just wanted to get rid of a competition," Parassassin said as if it was 
obvious.

Ash gasped. Gary? His childhood friend? He would do all that just to win a 
championship? Had Ash been really that bad of a judge of character?

"Why Gary?" He asked.

"Oh, that's a detail I left out. I don't do more than 1 job for the same 
person. If they request another, I kill them. I tracked him, I stunned him, 
and I shot him. Easy. I call it the TSS method."

"B-but, if Gary's dead, you'd have no more reason to kill me, right?" Ash 
said, hoping desperately for a way out.

"That would be true, if not for a minor detail..."

"What's that?"

"You're too popular. Gary isn't the only one who wishes to kill you, Ash."

"Who else? I don't have any enemies..."

At this point, another figure stepped out from behind the mist. "Me, Ash," 
he said.

Ash could not believe his eyes. "TRACEY? Why would you? I thought we were 
friends!"

Tracey smirked. "Of course we were, Ash. But as you know, the indigo games 
are coming up, and if you didn't know, I'm a trainer now! I plan to compete 
and win, you know."

"A-All our years of friendship... Gone because of a pokemon championship?" 
Ash said, amazed.

"Well, of course, with you gone, I might even have a chance to score with 
Misty," Tracey grinned. "Anyways, Parassassin, finish him!"

Parassassin gave Tracey an evil look. "No one tells me what to do," was all 
he said before he pointed the gun at Tracey's head, and with expert aim, 
shot Tracey. Tracey died instantly, and fell to the ground.

"Y-you just killed Tracey!" Ash exclaimed.

"Well, I have no use for him. I've already collected my pay. Anyways, wasn't 
I about to kill you?" Parassassin said as he aimed the gun at Ash's head.

"Um, one more question! Why did you become an assassin?" Ash asked again, 
stalling for time. Boy, keeping secrets was too dangerous, that's for sure.

Parassassin paused, probably thinking. Ash pursued further. "What was your 
life like before you became an assassin?"

Parassassin did not speak. Memories were definitely rushing back at him. 
"I-I was a father... of 4 daughters, the youngest who was 2 at the time..."

Ash was silent, encouraging him to keep talking. "One day, I was taking my 
youngest daughter swimming in our pool, I didn't know how to swim, and she 
was... drowning! Water! Water everywhere! I-I couldn't handle it, so I ran 
off, letting her die... I went underground, and trained as an assassin... If 
I couldn't do much to help my daughter live, then no one else should live!" 
He yelled out the last part in blind rage. This was it. All the years of 
training and practicing, all the work he had done to forget. All ruined by 
this mere teen!

~*Flashback*~

Misty and Ash were sitting in a coffee shop while their Pokemon were being 
cured. "So, Mist, tell me about your family. You've never mentioned anything 
about your parents," Ash said.

Misty paused. Her face was in pain at the mention of her parents. "Well, I 
guess keeping it secret won't help it heal... Ash, my dad wasn't really a 
Waterflower. He was a plumber or something, when he married my mom. Mom ran 
the Cerulean gym. She had water Pokemon. Dad didn't. All he had were a 
Weepingbel, a Zubat, and a Ditto. Dad changed his last name to Mom's maiden 
name after they got married."

She took a sip of her coffee, and continued. "Dad didn't know how to swim... 
One day, he took me swimming, when I was 2. I couldn't stay afloat, and was 
drowning. He ran. He didn't save me. He ran away, Ash! That's when Lily's 
Staryu rescued me, just as it was coming for a swim... Mom died afterwards, 
lonely, heartbroken... She never knew why dad ran off though, so I guess 
that's a good thing..."

~*/Flashback*~

Ash jerked back into reality as Victreebel let go of its hold, and 
Parassassin snatched him up from the ground. "YOU. WILL. DIE. NOW." He said. 
Blind rage and regret had taken over Parassassin, and his collected mind is 
not there any more.

"P-Please, sir! Your daughter is alive!" Ash stuttered.

"YOU LIE! YOU WILL DIE! ALONG WITH EVERYONE ELSE!"

"No! It's true! Lily's Staryu rescued Misty before she drowned! I'm not 
lying!" Ash insisted quickly, as Parassassin pointed the gun to Ash's head. 
"Please, Sir! Remember! For your daughters' sake!"

"M-Misty? That's my daughter's name... So long ago, I remember..." 
Parassassin's hood fell off, revealing a middle aged man with white hair and 
sparkling blue eyes. He threw Ash onto the ground.

"S-Sir?"

"T-Thank you, Ash. If you do see Misty again, don't mention the truth to 
her. The honour of the family must not be smeared."

Click. Bang. Parassassin's lifeless body fell to the floor. Victreebel 
rushed to its fallen master, as Ash felt his muscles coming back to his 
command.

"ASH!" A feminine voice yelled out from beyond the mists. A worried Misty 
rushed from it, and ran over to Ash. "Ash! Are you all right?"

Ash patted his arms, as he attempted to stand up, with the support of Misty. 
"Y-yeah, I'm fine."

Misty gasped. "Tracey? H-he's dead! And that weird guy too!"

"That weird guy killed Gary, Brock and Tracey. But they have been avenged. 
Let's go, Misty."

Misty held on to Ash's arm tightly. "A-Ash, does that mean... that it's 
over?"

Ash put a comforting hand on Misty's shoulder. "Yeah, Mist. It's over."

~fin~
==================

What did you think? Reviews are appreciated, as are constructive criticisms. 
I know I don't write very well. You can also send comments to 
manalugia@yahoo.ca

M. Lugia