Ash drove carefully down the dark street. Next to him in the passenger seat sat Misty. They were both dressed in black from head to toe and felt oddly somewhere between James Bond and Team Rocket. Except for the occasional squeal of the tires when Ash made a sharp turn, there was silence, the two hadn't said a word to each other. Ash had picked up Misty from her house at exactly 10 pm. Rochell went out to make some last minute wedding arrangements and wasn't due back until after eleven, so this was the perfect time to sneak out and brake into her house. Break into. Once he thought about it like that, reality came crashing back at him. What they were doing was a crime. They could be arrested for it and then both of their Pokemon Master titles would be taken away. Ash swallowed hard. This was a big risk, which he was willing to take, but he wondered if Misty fully understood what they were doing. * * * Ash turned onto Rochell's street which was almost pitch black. A streetlight on the corner shone some light, but all the others were dark. He squinted in the darkness trying to make out the numbers on the houses. On top of all that half of the houses didn't even have numbers on them. This wasn't exactly what you call a rich neighborhood. It was on the far side of the city, the poorer, not so cared for, side. Lots of the windows in the houses were broken, there was graffiti all over most of the walls and trash on the sidewalk. Not a cheery place. Finally he spotted the right house and parked a few houses down the street from it. He then turned toward Misty who was busy unbuckling her seatbelt. "Mist" he said his voice not quite steady. She looked up at him quizzically. "Yeah?" He cleared his throat. "Um, Mist, what we're doing is a crime. We'll be arrested if we get caught" he said, somewhat nervously. "But we wont" she answered simply, still struggling with the seatbelt. He reached over and unbuckled it for her, to have her full attention. "But if we do, both of our careers will be ruined. Are you sure you want to do this? You don't have to." "But I want to. Now come on" she said pushing open the car door and getting out. Ash sat still for a moment staring straight ahead. After all these years she still cared. Cared enough to risk everything for him. * * * Misty jogged around the house and found a cracked window on the first floor. She quietly motioned for Ash to lift her up, and once he did kicked the glass out. He then carefully lowered her through the window, holding onto her just a tiny bit longer than necessary. Once she was inside, he grabbed the windowsill and boosted himself up. In the darkness he couldn't see much, so he ended up cutting his palm on the piece of glass that was still in the frame. Sharp pain ran up his entire arm and cursing he crashed onto the floor. Misty who was examining the room, gasped and turned around startled. She quickly rushed to Ash and bent down on one knee next to him. Grabbing a flashlight from her belt she turned it on and shone it onto Ash's hand. A fairly big piece of glass was sticking half way out of his palm and blood ran around it and dripped onto the floor. Ash looked at it and winced. It looked bad. "Ash, I'll have to pull it out. Or your hand will get infected" Misty said quietly, looking at him. He nodded. "Yeah. Go ahead" he said turning away. Misty carefully took the glass and with one swift motion pulled it out. She saw Ash bite down hard on his lip and winced. She hated hurting him. Even if it wasn't really her fault. Quickly she pulled out a handkerchief and wrapped it around his hurt hand. "There. You're set" she said getting to her feet. * * * For the last hour they had been looking through every single room in Rochell's house but found nothing. The last stop was Rochell's room. Ash walked inside followed by Misty. It wasn't a big room, but it was comfortable. There was a bed near the window, a dresser and a desk. Ash started by opening the drawers in the dresser and Misty walked over to the desk. She noticed a framed picture on it and picked it up. Once she wiped the dust off of the glass she could see a man, woman and a girl about the age of ten standing in between them in the picture. The girl held a teddy bear and smiled brightly at Misty. She recognized the straight brown hair and big green eyes. It was Rochell. But somehow, she looked different. Even thought she seemed cheerful now, in the picture she looked truly happy. Misty put the picture back down on the desk and pulled open one of the two drawers the desk had. One was empty, but in the other she found a folder with a bunch of newspaper clippings in it. She pulled one out. The date was September 22, 1995. Six years ago. The headline read "Thirty Five Year Old Woman Killed". Curious Misty read the article. "Yesterday thirty five year old Tara Ly was stabbed to death. According to the witness, Tara was walking home from a grocery store when she was approached by a man asking for money, when she refused he pulled out a knife and stabbed her. Then taking the food she bought he ran leaving her bleeding on the street. Somebody called the ambulance, but when the paramedics arrived Tara was already dead. The man that had killed her was identified as twenty four year old Terry Walter, who is now facing charges for first class murder. The hearing is scheduled for September 25." Misty stared at the article blankly. It had a black and white picture of the victim. She looked exactly like the woman in the picture on Rochell's desk. Tara Ly. Rochell's mother had been murdered. Then her eyes fell on another article, and she picked it up. "Terry Walter had been freed today due to the lack of evidence. The only witness had been an elderly woman who wasn't even wearing her glasses when the murder took place. Walter's lawyer had argued that she must have mistaken him for someone else and since there was no other evidence against Walter the judge had agreed and Walter had been cleared of all charges. Tara's husband James Ly and their daughter Rochell had been present in the courtroom. When Walter was pronounced not guilty, James had had a heart attack and was rushed to the hospital. He is said to be released in a few weeks, but due to the damage he was forced to give up his job as an officer of the Cerulean City Police Department." She gasped. Rochell's mother's killer was found not guilty. It must have been so hard for her, to lose her mother and have her father unemployed in the same week. She couldn't help feeling sorry for Rochell. After all, she knew what it was like to grow up without a mother. Or a father for that matter. But the difference was, she never knew her parents and neither of them had been murdered. * * * Ash and Misty were back in Ash's car, they hadn't found the tape anywhere in the house or the backyard. Ash sighed then turned slowly toward Misty. "Mist, I have to tell" She gasped. "But Ash, you're title, you're whole career-" He held up his hand to silence her. "It's the only way out. I cant marry Rochell" She nodded sadly. "I guess it is then"