Miss Discovery!

By: Chibi-Suiko

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Ash: 15

Misty: 16

Brock: 19 (Who is, sadly, not as major a character as I was originally going for.)

Imuru: 17

Evette: 20

Mr. Gerou: 31

(A/N: One thing to say. I have found out, after close inspection and looking over, that my story will be spanning to 18 chapters. This part of the climax is kinda slow, like a mid-way point. Not much will be happening until the next chapter.)

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Last time on Miss Discovery!: The after-party. The last place either Ash or Misty wanted to be stuck at, after their last meeting which was... Less than profitable towards their friendship. But Misty was forced on obligation to join in the festivities and so, she found herself Imuru's partner as he introduced her to the many critics who took part in congratulating him for his work. Thinking about all that had gone wrong between her and Ash within the last few weeks, and how many times he'd ended up forgiving her, made her realize just how much she really meant to him... And vice-versa. After being given yet another chance with him, they are shocked to find themselves on the roof with an ever-helpful and concurred Imuru and an insane and extremely violent Gerou. Now held at gun point, what will our dear Ashy do? Especially now that the trigger has been pulled?!

***

***

...

It was a nightmare. No, not even. It was worse then a nightmare; it was Hell. Those were Ash's words as his terror ridden mind refused to pass the thought of movement to his numbing body. He couldn't be living this. He had to be having an extremely believable dream. And yet, shutting his eyes six thousand times and reopening them didn't help. Nor did his pinching himself on the leg continuously. That could only mean one thing...

He was going to die, believing that he hadn't really been here. He had never gotten a chance to say how he felt. How he truly felt, and to what extent he felt it... To Misty, who was staring just as horror stricken. He gulped, he could feel Death calling his name when...

"STARYU, AGILITY AND RAPID SPIN! RICHOCHETE THE BULLET!" Misty's voice rang out in terror and, yet courage at the same time. The next thing he knew, there was a giant block in front of his face and he was being thrown back a bit from the recoil of the Water Pokemons’ resistance from the armory.

It knocked the wind out of him. But it was worth it, knowing that he was alive, and that he was still able to breathe at all. The next moment, Misty was beside him, bending over him, torn between her worry for him and her precious Pokemon. He allowed her to inspect him and was relieved when he felt tears running down her face. Tears of relief. Not tears of grief and pain and knowledge of his death. He was going to be okay, then?

"You-You had me so worried Ash. Such a numbskull sometimes..!" She whispered ridiculingly, yet compassionately at the same time. He chose to take that as more of a compliment than anything else, until he remembered that they weren't that easily saved. And that they were still drowning in danger.

"You forget Miss Waterflower... I still have you in my hands. And if you do not move, I will have no choice but to force you." At this point he held up his own pokeball, "I cannot kill you. It is against my orders; however, injuries will heal and are, therefore, quite simple enough to inflict." His disgusting grin didn't leave his face.

Misty got up just as Imuru came around to sense and stepped between her and Gerou, "Listen here, Dazz. I don't know what's going on but I order you to drop the gun now. I will have one of the others call the authorities and if you follow my regulations, I... Will see about a lesser prison term. That is only applicable through agreement between us." Misty, for her part, couldn't believe her ears. After trying to kill Ash, he was trying to reason with the creep?!

But, with a look between them, she understood. He was trying to restrain his violent urges. Buy them enough time to get the cops on the scene. He was hoping that he could convince a desperate, criminalized bastard to relinquish his plan to... To... Do whatever he had had planned for them.

"Staryu! Spin tackle! Try and knock the gun from his hand!" She looked towards Imuru, who nodded before pulling out a pokeball of his own.

"Go... PIDGEOT!" He shouted and, a flash and crowing later, a tall bird stood gracefully between the teenagers and the manager, "Use a swooping Whirlwind! Try and get that pokeball!" He finished his command and his bird took flight, following it.

Ash was wishing vainly for his Pikachu right about now, as he got up and felt along his waistline for a Pokemon of his own. He gripped a pokeball and threw, not even knowing what it contained, "GO! POKEBALL!" And out popped Cyndiquill. Ash would have felt a little disappointed, if it weren't for the fact that flame was good for something at that point, "Cyndiquill, after the gun is knocked out of Gerou's hand, melt it with a Flamethrower!" He demanded of his friend, while Misty and Imuru concluded watch over and guided their own Pokemon.

Gerou, aware that he was being surrounded and overrun, produced his own battle creature: Sandslash. He smirked, knowing exactly what to do. He also knew what Misty could do with a water type, what she was capable of...

"STARYU, use a Water Gun!" And a sudden blast of H2O headed towards the landed creature. But it had no time to make contact as Gerou spoke his own command, fully prepared for the dim-witted move. He didn't come this far, just to fall out now!

"Use FISSURE!" He remarked snidely, grinning coyly at the dumbfounded teenagers as his Pokemon jumped high into the air, head facing up and evading the oncoming attack, and did a 360 degree turn so that its head was facing the ground below it. A small finger broke through the concrete roof, sending our heroes falling to the ground (the roof ground, don't get me wrong). They all hit hard, landing unconscious and unaware of how much trouble they were in...

... Or so it was deemed.

***

Brock jumped up from his sleep in a cold sweat. He had turned in early that night, overcome by a sudden burst of fatigue, and had been out cold for what seemed to be about four hours. Now fully awake, he came to notice that Evette had vanished from his bedside. No doubt in the bathroom, or the kitchen, obtaining a late-night snack... Or so he thought.

He got up and threw on a pair of pants, deciding that being half-dressed was good enough for travel around the manor. Had he stayed in bed any longer, he would have come to notice the blatant crack producing the newly falling rain through the ceiling.

He checked the bathroom first, thinking that maybe she had some... Womanly needs to tend to... But there was no one beyond the mahogany wooden door. So he left the room in hopes of finding her downstairs somewhere. In fact, he did; only she was not alone...

"Miss... Are you sure?" Came a hushed whisper that he immediately recognized as his hand.

"Positive. They're in trouble. Gerou's made his move and they were completely caught in the middle. God help them because this is far more serious, if he was so desperate as to try and mutilate the building." Came in unrecognizable tone. Though he supposed that it was worth listening to, "I just saw the damage from outside. And, unfortunately, he's all ready gone. I'm afraid he took them with him... Or, at least, ONE of them. The point is, we have to help them..! And... And I have to get to Imuru; I can't stand to see him hurt. Though I'm afraid it may all ready be too late..." There was a dry sob.

Brock chose this time to intervene and knocked on the dining room door, making them gasp and obviously getting their attention.

"Ladies..?" His eyes came to rest upon the familiar face of Evette, looking shock-ridden, yet breathing an immense breath of relief... But then his gaze turned to another young woman. And this one stood with Cerulean blue eyes, short red-hair clasped in a side ponytail, and smooth pale skin, "Misty?! What're you doing up this late? I mean, it's one a.m. Don't you think you should be asleep?!" He asked, but, when the two women’s eyes met once again, he knew he'd been wrong, "Y-you're not her, are you..?" He asked. When they both nodded their heads, he turned his and rubbed at his temple, raving something along the lines of, "GOD, I can't stand this so late at night... Or, er, early in the morning or... Whatever! The point is--" He broke off as he turned back to face the two females, "One, where are my friends? And two, what the Hell were you talking about two seconds ago?!"

"Mr... Mr. Slate, correct?" Rein asked, turning to Evette for confirmation, "You must understand, I warned him and I tried so hard to prevent this from happening but... Mr. Slate, I'm sorry. Your friends, Ash and Misty, along with... Imuru... Were just in a major life-threatening battle with Mr. Gerou. It may come as a shock... But they were beaten, and as a prize, we're afraid that he may have left with one--or all--of them in hand." Then she turned away in disdain, "Or should I say, in copter? The cowardly ass that he is..!"

Brock couldn't talk; couldn't speak for the life of him. It was a sick joke, right? Ash, for one, would never let himself be beaten, let alone, let Misty in a danger-range... And Imuru, well, he cared too much for her as well. And Misty could defend herself to a certain degree... Together, they seemed like an unbeatable team. Though, thinking about it, Ash and Imuru were never really a team to begin with but...

He shook his head, "You're not serious, are you? I mean, Ash and Misty, and even Imuru; they're okay. They're in bed, they have to be! I just saw them all not six hours ago!" He shouted angrily, disbelieving to his own obliviousness to his friends getting hurt, "And they were just fine then!"

But Rein's and Evette's expressions didn't lift; in fact, they turned even more downcast. And it was at that moment that Brock realized just how serious and deadly the situation had gotten.

"Dear God... Please say that... That there's some way to tell what their conditions are? I'm begging you!" Acting like the caring friend he was, his eyes stared pleadingly into the girls'. Rein chose that moment to, not only speak, but answer him.

"I'm afraid that there's only one way to find out. We'll have to check out the damage of the roof, close range, ourselves." She stated before stepping towards the main staircase, "Are you both coming? I think this will take all of us." She finished and continued climbing upwards. Brock wasted no time in following, Evette soon after, looking increasingly unsure with every step taken.

"Evette, darling... You knew about this. You knew and you didn't tell me... Is there any reason why? Scratch that, any worth-while reason?!" He shouted at her angrily, and she flinched at his tone, making him frown to himself, knowing that could have been just a bit harsh, "Please, tell me what you know, Evette..."

"Unfortunately, I know not much more than you or Miss Rein. But I can tell you one thing, surely..." She broke off and bit her tongue, "My name is not Evette." This caused his eyes to widen and he waited for her to complete her statement, "Unfortunately, the one known as Evette does not exist. My name is Jasmine; second in command at the FF of this town." She stated, removing a wig and producing a badge from underneath.

"Why did you hide your identity from me?"

"Without pulling a cover-up, I would have placed you in danger. You see, I was pulled on a case of fraud among other small felonies of a Mister Dazz Gerou by Miss Rein here. Though there was no obvious evidence towards the case, somehow I knew that she was not a liar. I could, however, believe that he was not all that he seemed." She sighed, "And so I took on the case, and stuck out being a mistress here at the temporary manor. But..." She broke off at the current point in time, "Things changed when you and your friends walked through those doors. If you hadn't met Sir Master-Imuru, and traveled beyond this town, the file could have been closed easily, within the next couple months. And nothing would have come out of it."

"Why is that?"

"Because, without both Imuru and Rein, the deal he'd been making during his crossfire deceit would have been pointless. And that's why Rein left. She was hoping to draw him away from the town so everything could get back to normal. It was a last defense between her and Master, and Gerou. Unfortunately, when he caught first sight of Misty, things were brought back on. And he began working harder than ever, thinking Rein wouldn't be back, and hoping to convince Misty to stay in her place. Then everything could go as planned--" The conversation was broken off as they stepped upon the roof, only to find it in ruins. It looked dark and bare, smoke billowing high in clouds, before Rein made a lively discovery.

"Oh, GOD! Imuru! IMURU!" She ran forward, seeing a hand protruding from underneath a large piece of rubble. She began scraping at the stones, hoping to get him out, praying that he was alive, "IMURU?! CAN YOU HEAR ME?! PLEASE, PLEASE WAKE UP! TELL ME..." She broke off into sniffles, "T-Tell me that you're okay... Please..!" She cried, grabbing at her hair and trying to contain the urge to scream to the heavens as the rain continued to fall.

There was a small click and Brock turned to see Jasmine speaking into a small communicator, "Yes; address, Northton, 611 Averill Blvd. Rooftop; we've got an injured person(s) here. Three, possible. Requesting emergency care and retrieval unit." She broke off and sighed, "Wait till this story hits the media. A conspiracy located right here, between two of the biggest actors of the decade!" She said distressedly.

There was a groan two feet from Imuru's supposedly (not to mention, hopefully) unconscious body, and a shove of two boulders. Then a tanned arm reached towards the sky and a voice cried out, "B-Brock?! Misty?! I need just a bit of help here!" He shouted to the three of them, not completely aware of who was standing before him.

Brock ran forward, tripping and stumbling a bit in order to reach him, and bent forward to try and retrieve him from underneath the mass of rock. His results were a half-conscious Ash, who awakened almost fully at the sight of the poorly visible roof and the vision of Rein (by now, he could tell the difference) bending over a large pile of stone. His eyes fell upon the hand and they widened, coming to a realization of what was probably laying underneath.

“But... Where’s Misty..?!” He raved to himself.

Without waiting, he stood up, looked around a moment before noticing two unconscious Pokemon heaps and placing Cindiquill back into his Pokeball. Pidgeot was missing. Staryu seemed okay, for the most part. Now he just had to find a way to help Imuru out of there. He couldn't find it in himself to leave him there, no matter how much crap he'd put them through the past month or so.

He walked over to Rein and placed a hand on her racking shoulder and her sobs ceased slightly at the sight of him. He knew what it felt to not know the where-abouts or conditions of a friend.

He was about ready to call upon Herracross when there was a flash from beneath the rubble and, next moment, the rocks were disintegrated by a newly revealed Machoke's Cross Chop technique. Imuru stood upon his shoulder's, grinning slightly and trying to hide a black eye and a bleeding thigh from Rein's sight. She was finally aware that he was all right, for the most part.

"Oh, GOD! I'm going to kill you for trying that crap on me!" She shouted but her attitude changed from joyous to concerned in two seconds. Imuru jumped down, staggered a bit, and recalled his Pokemon before coming to stand beside the others.

"I can't believe it..!" He shouted, clearly pissed off about all that had happened, "HOW COULD THAT ASS DO THIS?!" He cracked his knuckled in anger and began heading for the door, "C'mon, we have to go."

Ash and the others were all open-mouthed... Imuru had NEVER spoken like that. He had never looked so... So threatening before. Ash was uncomfortably aware, as they followed confusedly after him, that he was leaving a trail of blood and curse words behind him.

"You know, not that I want to intrude on your attitude or anything but, uh, don't you think you should at least get that wrapped up first?!" Ash asked him forcefully so as to get his attention.

"No time. No way. No, you probably don't understand." Imuru concluded, catching sight of his face.

"Revenge is great and all, believe me, I want it too... But even I would want to get that patched up a bit before I headed out to kill an armed man." Ash stated with sarcasm, nodding his head towards the wounded leg.

"No, you don't get it! Gerou's taken Misty HOSTAGE! The situation has just become personal, for the BOTH of us." He concluded towards Ash, "So we can't afford to wait. We have to act now, while I still know where he is."

"How do you know where he is?" Ash asked despairingly, before they all truly inspected the shape of Imuru's wound, "That looks an awful lot like... Like the graze of a bullet, if I'm not mistaken." He finished before catching Imuru's eye. They shared a moment and nodded solemnly.

"When the Sandslash created the fissure, my Pidgeot picked me up and flew me above the trouble. Gerou saw me and tried to shoot me down. As you can see, he got me. But, when I fell, my Pokemon used his abilities to slow my fall." He sighed, "I fell unconscious for ten minutes, I think. When I awoke again, Gerou was jumping into an air craft with Misty in his hands. I told Pidgeot to leave me and follow them to wherever he was going to take her and then come back when he found the destination." By now, all of them had reached the front doors to the manor.

There was a 'caw' from above and they all turned to see the broadened form of a Pidgeot flying towards them. Imuru grinned wryly at them all and then turned back to his monster friend.

"As you can figure, it worked." He turned back to Ash and the others, suddenly acting a general, "Ash and I are going to go ahead. Brock and Rein, you're back-up. You will make a move, ONLY if Ash and I are truly in deep trouble. And you--" He nodded towards Jasmine, "You will follow up with the police. We can't risk him escaping so get the area surrounded once we give you the signal."

"Well, what will the signal be..?" All eyes were on him as he fidgeted to get Ash on the bird and make enough room for himself.

"Hopefully..." He smiled grimly, before approaching Rein, "... Our survival."

The first time he'd acknowledged her since ‘coming back to life‘. The first smile he'd bothered to show her since then. She returned it and pulled him close. He held her there for only a moment before tearing away.

"You do realize that... Though everything's being found out, this might not change a thing between us? That I may still only think of you as a friend and Misty Waterflower, as the bearer of my heart..?" She stood on the spot, only to smile and look in Ash's direction.

"Just be sure to have her take good care of it. As I'm sure carrying two is a large responsibility." With that, Rein pulled Imuru in again and kissed him tenderly upon the forehead, stepping back and producing her own Pidgeot for her and Brock to climb upon.

Jasmine stood back and wished them farewell from the ground as they were lifted into the sky.

"I'll keep in contact!" Rein shouted, gripping a newly revealed communicator of her own, "And tell you where exactly this place is! Just be sure to do your part!" She finished. But the reply was not heard, as the wind carried them off to save their friend.

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A/N: I'll end it here. I'd like to take this moment to say that I might just be able to pull 18 chapters out of this if I can prolong the finish of the climax. But, in any case, be sure to review after having read this and tell me what you think and I'll be sure to continue... In about a month or two. And I'm not joking; I seriously have to think of how the rescue scene is going to work... But, anyway, try and make Chibi happy.

A/N: Well, that's all I have to say for now. I hope you all are okay with Brocks' advanced role in the story and, because this fic is coming to a close, look forward to my next one called 'Stopping Time'. It has an undermined end and a general outlook on Misty and Ash's relationship during the Jhoto series. It gives a closer outlook on her obvious crush for him and my version of how his vision of her could change over time... When time has come to a complete halt. Confusing? Well, don't worry! In chapter 19, which I've all ready said will feature my thanks column and a preview, you'll find out just enough to want to read it. Heh; in fact, I've all ready written 6 chapters! But, that's beside the point...

Kudos to all of you, thanks for reading!

Ciao! Ja ne! Later!

--Chibi ending transmission.