Chapter One.
Destiny. Open or Closed?

“Wake up Ashy-boy. It’s a new day. Time to get up. You still have your Soul
to win,” Misty said smiling from ear to ear. She wasn’t in her normal
clothing, but wearing a sweatshirt with a green shirt under it, and jeans,
looking as if she might go hiking.
“What?” Ash said, waking up in an instant.
“Soul badge that is! You’re so gullible!”
“I believe you. What time is it, and why are you being so, so, joyful? I
thought you weren’t a morning person?” Ash Ketchum asked, wiping the sleep
from his eyes and stretching.
“It’s amazing what one can accomplish when they wake up early. It’s
approximately ten forty-five to the second. Hurry up. You’ve got a long day
ahead of you,” Misty said, helping him up. If Ash had been fully awake he
would have noticed the emphasis Misty put on long.
After Ash had gone a distance from the campsite, a rustling was heard from
the bushes.
“Well, nice to know I can still tell when my sister’s close by. Come on out
if you want anything to eat.” Misty said, taking a seat on a log.
Team Rocket stepped out, with leaves and twigs in their hair. They were all
holding their stomachs and you could hear them grumbling.
“Coffee and scrambled eggs please,” James said, bleary eyed and about ready
to collapse right there.
“Same, with hash browns,” Jessie said, looking worse than James did.
“Eggs, sunny side up, tuna, and a croissant.” Meowth said, falling back and
going to sleep.
They were wearing every day clothing, since it was so early. Plus it was
their day off. They got Saturdays and Sundays, as well as holidays, off. And
it was Sunday, February 13, the day before Brock’s birthday.
“Why are you guys so tired? Long night?” Brock asked, cooking the eggs. He
was wearing a regular maroon T-shirt, with blue jeans, instead of khaki’s,
and there was a jacket near him.
“You could say that. We had a job and let’s just say we got into a bit of
trouble.”
“Having to resort to magic, eh?” Misty said, warming her hands with her cup
of cocoa.
“Just because we’re related, doesn’t mean I can’t backhand you.”
“And just because we’re related doesn’t mean I can’t bite you.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“I would.”
“Aye, how any can stand you for two-thousand years is beyond me.”
“I wouldn’t be talking. You’ve been around for two-thousand and five
years.”
“Yes, but that’s different, isn’t it James? James?” Jessie said, looking
for her teammate. She found him lying on the ground sleeping, with Meowth
lying on his stomach.
“Why anyone can stand him for two-thousand years is beyond me,” Jessie said
shaking her head.
“You did.”
“Yes, but he’s a friend.”
“I’m sure you like him more than that,” Misty accused, a small grin
reaching her face.
“No I…Your just…Okay, so maybe a little crush,” Jessie admitted, apparently
flustered. “But you have to promise not to tell.”
“Of course. You are the one who knows about all those poke’mon I stole. You
never told anyone. How’s this different.”
“You’ve stolen poke’mon?” Brock said, voice going up and octave with his
hands reaching instinctively to his belt where he kept his poke’mon.
“Yes, but that was when I was in Team Rocket. I became a legend. I was top
notch. And then, crash, here it came.”
“What?” Brock probed, momentarily forgetting the food.
“I forgot the password to get into headquarters!” Misty said, starting to
become a fountain of tears.
“Only my sister.”
“You almost did.”
“But that was also different.”
“Only because you had to have a partner that remembered it.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Food’s ready.”
At that the whole conversation ended.

From the shadows two voices where heard, both high in pitch, but varying
radically.
“You think they’ve figured out?”
“Most likely not. But you’ll interrupt the tests and prove to them you’re
the one they’re looking for.”
“But what if I don’t wanna?”
“You will.”
“And if I don’t?
“I’ll force you too.”
“Who needs a mother when they have you?”
“I heard that.”

“Ash is coming back,” Misty said looking up from her cocoa.
“And how would you know that?” Meowth contradicted, not hearing anything.
“For your information, cat, I am a telepath. So I know what you’re thinking
right now. And you better stop looking at my sister like that,” Misty said,
while Meowth blushed and looked the other way, preparing for a blow to the
head. Luckily, Jessie was braiding part of James’ hair, wanting to see what
he looked like with a Jamaican hairstyle.
“I also have better hearing than you do. So you’d better get going before
he’s here.” She continued, holding in her temper before she hurt the cat and
he went to complaining to the Humane Society and they got her into trouble
that she really didn’t need.
“All right, we’re going. But we’re taking the food with us.” Meowth said,
picking up the plates and cups.
“Put them down Meowth. We’ll stop by somewhere before we meet a Koga’s.
Buh-bye,” Jessie said giggling, as she grabbed James and Meowth and
disappeared into the bushes.
James woke up before they completely disappeared. A scream was promptly
heard.
“Why does that cat have to always do that?” Misty asked as she sighed about
her half-sister’s choice of friends.
“It’s probably because you two aren’t compatible,” Brock answered.
“You and compatibility. The Zodiac, tarot cards, astrology, why do you
believe in all that?”
“It’s a hobby. My mother always believed in that stuff and, I guess it’s
the only way I can remember her.”
“Brock, I have a question. Your dad’s not like you is he?” Misty asked.
Brock shook his head no, so she continued, “And neither are you brothers or
sisters, right?” When Brock confirmed this, she continued, “So how did you
become, well, how you are?”
“My mother, she, well, to put it bluntly, she had an affair. She had just
walked out of the house after my father had gone out to train. She didn’t
like that she was second to his poke’mon. So she went to a bar were she had
first met my father. I guess she had too many drinks, and that’s all I know.
My father was the one who told me that, so I guess I’ll never really met my
real father.” Brock said, looking as if something that was once his had been
taken from him.
“Oh Brock, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything.”
“No. Don’t worry. I guess it’s not that bad. It could have been worse. My
father could have been a Ditto or a Golbat or a Gengar, or some other,
‘creature of the night’. Or worse. My father could have been a Meowth.”
Brock said, cheering up immediately.
Misty just cracked up at this, and fell off of the tree stump she was
sitting on.
“What’s so funny you guys?” Ash said walking up, pulling a comb through his
hair.
“Nothing. Misty just laughing at a really corny joke I said. The one you
told me that was actually a series of questions,” Brock explained, frying a
second batch of eggs. (If you want to know the series of questions, E-mail
me and I’ll give them to you.)
“C’mon Misty it wasn’t that funny.”
“Actually, it was,” she said after she recovered, wiping the tears from her
eyes after laughing so much. She crawled back onto the log, reaching for an
apple from the overhanging apple tree. “So what took you so long, champ? I
thought you were set on getting your Soul Badge. By the time we get to the
gym, adding the time that we spent getting lost, it would have already
gotten dark,” Misty said, tossing up the apple a couple of times before
biting into it.
Ash gulped, knowing what would come next.
Misty leaned over and right in his ear said, “So don’t blame me when we’re
late. If you do, I’ll do more than hurt you. And you’ll regret even trying
to blame me.”
With that, she sat back down and, still eating the apple, crossed her legs,
put her other arm so that it was resting on the one holding the apple, and
leaned back.
Ash just sat and gazed forward, looking like a Tauros in the headlights of
an oncoming car, and gulped.
“Misty, stop doing that to him. He woke up late last night too. So get off
his case?” Brock informed her while pouring the eggs onto a plate and
handing it to Ash.
“Oh, really? And what was it about?” she said leaning forward, even more
curious than a meowth or persian.
Ash noticed how much she did look like a cat then.
“I can’t remember most of it. All I know is that it was something, either
the past, present, or future, and you guys and Team Rocket were there, and
something about Jessie doing something like tele-porting, and saving James,
while you and Brock,” Ash paused here, and said something barely audible.
“What is it, Ash? You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want,” she said,
seeming to feel his pain.
“No, I’d better. You guys were destroyed and, it was as if you were turned
into ashes. It was just so weird. It was as if, as if it really happened.
But it was just a dream right?” Ash said looking up and smiling. “Now about
those eggs. Are they instant or did you have to find a pidgey’s nest again?”
That threw Misty into another fit of giggles.

“C’mon Ash. By the time we get there all the badges will be gone.” Misty
said, trying to get him moving. And it worked. Ash bolted off running like a
sprinter with a mad rapidash at his heels. Poor pikachu had to hang on for
dear life.
“Hey, Ash, wait up,” Brock yelled uselessly, as he ran after him.
“Oh, come on Ash. I thought you could run faster than that,” Misty said,
giggling as she ran ahead of him.
“What the hell does she think she’s doing, using her powers like that?”
Brock muttered before his form melded into that of an alakazam. He used its
psychic abilities to get her to slow down before he teleported over to her.
“Hah! Look who’s slow now!” Ash said as he ran by, not noticing that Misty
hadn’t slowed by her own will.
“I’ll catch up again, slowpoke!”
“What do you think you’re doing Kilder? Do you want to get us killed?”
Brock screamed when he caught up to her.
“You know for a fact that I was at the top of the track team, so what
difference does it make? I should be the one yelling, not you! Be lucky
there aren’t any people here in this cold,” Misty said angrily before she
ran to catch up to Ash.

“Koga, I’m here to challenge you for the Soul Badge,” Ash yelled. He looked
back at Misty and Brock for encouragement. They nodded they’re heads and
went on talking. Ash gulped. This wasn’t like them.
They usually cheered him on, or gave him tips. But now, they kept talking
low so he couldn’t hear them. He had a vague feeling that they were talking
about him but he shook it off, knowing that he was just paranoid about the
battle.
“Don’t do this to me guys. Get over it Ash, this is how it’s going to be at
the league tournaments, so get it over with,” he said to himself.
“Fine. I’m surprised you made it. Of course, rodents have been trained to
go through mazes before, so I’m sure it’s no different. If you want to
battle me, you must first defeat my Trainers and find me once more.” And
with that, Koga, threw down a smoke bomb.
“Pidgeotto, whirlwind,” Ash instructed as he threw a poke’ball out.
Once the smoke was cleared away, Koga was no where to be seen, having
disappeared in thin air. (There was actually a trap door that was under him
^_^)
“Come back you coward!” Ash, apparently mad at what had happened, yelled.
“Ash, before you go after Koga, we need to talk.” Misty said, coming
towards him.
Brock just threw up his hands in defeat.
“You were never one to be patient.” Jessie said, coming out of the shadows.
“And you’d know her best,” James added, coming from the other side of the
room, with Meowth trailing at his heels.