A True Christmas Present Part 6 By zapdos1alpha Zapdos1alpha@hotmail.com AAMRN ~ ~ ~ ~ Ash and company have arrived in Las Vegas. They retrieved a package from the Stratosphere tower and ash nearly was killed. ~ ~ ~ ~ Journal entry December 21, 2012 Begin Recording Well the battling is to commence. We are to face three different gym leaders today. I look forward to the battles but do not know what to expect. Because of that I have called upon my heavy hitters team. It includes pikachu, squirtle, articuno, moltres, raikou, entei, and lugia. The battles will be easy. I only hope that when this is all over, including the battle with misty, she will still love me. I do not know what I'll do without her. I almost left her yesterday. I had to remove the safety line to begin my decent from the spire. Damn wind if it hadn't of burst like that I would have been fine. Instead it flung me off the tower. Thank god for charizard. He saved my life. It's nearly time to go. Have to wake misty for our battles. Will report again later. End Recording Journal Entry #156678492 December 21, 2012 Ash finished his journal entry and sat back down next to misty. She always looked so peaceful and beautiful when she was asleep. Like an angel sent to earth for ashes comfort. He leaned over to her and softly kissed her awake. Seeing his loving face made some of the horror of yesterday come flooding back. The shocked look on her face said it all. "Yes misty. I'm alive and yes I did fall from the tower and charizard saved me." He said softly. "I will never leave you." "Oh ash. I had thought it was a dream and it wasn't." she hugged him close and began to sob lightly. "I don't know what I'd do if I lost you again." With that ash smiled to himself for he just finished putting that it line in his journal. He held her and then began kissing her. It was possibly the deepest most passionate kiss he had given her and she was returning it just a hard. They didn't hear the knock at the door. Brock was wondering what was going on. Deciding they were still asleep he let them have a few more minutes and returned to his room. Brock started to become concerned. It had been almost an hour and a half since he went down to get ash and misty. During that time he had not heard anything from them. If they were there and didn't hear the knock they would hear the phone. He dialed their room number. Ring, ring, ring Ring, ring, ring Ring, ring, ring Ash finally found the phone on the nightstand. Out of breath he answered "Hello" he said. "Ash are you okay? You sound like you have ran a marathon." Brock asked. "Hmmm. What are you talking about brock?" Ash replied. "I'm fine. In fact never been better. And before you ask misty is fine too. She's in the shower getting ready." "Ash you honestly sound out of breathe. You sure your okay?" he asked again "I'm fine brock. Meet us at the tournament table in thirty minutes." Ash replied. "Okay ash." Brock said. "See you then." Hanging up the phone ash rolled over and looked at the ceiling. He was out of breath but he sure wasn't going to tell brock what just happened. That was a special thing between him and misty. "Ash, baby, I'm done." She called from the bathroom. Smiling to himself he went in and kissed the woman he loved and got in the shower. True to their word they met brock in thirty minutes. He didn't have to ask, the glow coming from misty and the flushed look on her cheeks said it all. Misty didn't notice the wink brock gave ash. All ash could think is he knows. Shaking his head they all headed for the main registration table for the tournament. "Welcome to the Western Pokemon Tournament may I have all of your pokedexes please." Said the receptionist. Handing over the pokedexes to her she began to scan them. "Yes I see your all special entrants. Hosted by, oh my, by our league champion." "Yes ma'am. We only need to challenge the three gym leaders that are here for the tournament." Misty said evenly. "I see. You can find them in the theme park area." She said and pointed them down a hall that lead outside. "You may challenge all or one." "Thank you ma'am" Ash, Misty, and Brock said as they departed for the battlefields. "Misty, Brock. You two battle first. You have been there supporting me for so long its time I supported you for a change." Ash said unselfishly. "Thank you ash." Brock replied and looked at misty. "You go first. "Thank you brock, and you to ash." Misty replied as they headed outside. Once there it was a short walk and they found the doors to the first gym. It was the Utah gym. Entering it was like walking into another world. They were surrounded by breath taking red cliffs and lush green shrubbery. It was a desert oasis. "Welcome to the Utah gym." The voice sounded like it was coming from every direction but they knew it was ahead of them from the figure that appeared. "I am Justin, assistant gym leader. My brother Irving and rightful gym leader had to return home for a short time. I can take any and all challengers." "Go for it misty. I know you can do it." Ash said to her softly. Because of the acoustics of the gym Justin heard every word. Nodding her head she advanced on the young man. Once she got close enough she could see that he was slightly older than she was. Heavyset but handsome she was caught off guard. Regaining her composure she offered up her challenge. "My name is misty waterflower of Cerulean City. I'm the gym leader there and am also the pokemon leagues water master. I challenge you for your badge." She replied firmly with the skill born of a master and gym leader. "Ah Miss Waterflower. It is a pleasure to make you acquaintance." Justin replied bowing to her. "You gentleman must be Ash Ketchum and Brock Slate. We were told of your arrival. I welcome you to the states. With pleasantries aside let us begin. Miss Waterflower I the Utah gym leader accept your challenge. This will be a three round match. One of those rounds will be a team match. We begin now. Go pantra." "What is that?" Ash said and pulled out his pokedex. "Pantra. The cougar pokemon. Its cat like movements allows it to have lightning reflexes and agility. It is impervious to water attacks and is semi electric based." His pokedex finished. Misty hearing this pulled out her backup pokemon. "Houndoom I choose you!" she yelled and the battle commenced. Houndoom flamethrower now." "Pantra. Use agility to dodge and then use the gym to your advantage." Justin ordered. The flamethrower attack missed by only inches. In the commotion pantra disappeared. "Houndoom begin hunting. Its not gone it's hiding." Misty said and houndoom began to search for the pokemon. "When you find it use flamethrower on it." Ash watched misty battle she had become very determined over the past year and the change was amazing. "That is an excellent tactic Miss Waterflower. But your houndoom is already lost on this battle" Justin said ruthlessly. "Pantra fury swipes followed by psychic" In the brush of the field houndoom yelped as the attack hit then the entire gym was washed in an strange shimmer that could only be a psychic attack. "Hound" the pokemon said as it stumbled out of the brush. "Doom" it collapsed at Misty's feet. Hanging her head she smiled. "You did a good job houndoom. You've earned a long rest. Return." She said. Pantra had returned to its trainer's side. "Well let's fight fire with fire." She said. "Togetic I choose you." The small pokemon came out. It was a strange bird type pokemon but one that ash and brock knew as very powerful. "Pantra can you go another round?" Justin asked concerned for his pokemon. Ash realized this is a respectable gym leader like misty and brock. "Pan pan pantra." It replied and bounded back to the middle of the field. "Pantra skull bash." Justin commanded and pantra began a wild charge to togetic. "Togetic, psychic toss." Misty commanded. The small pokemon picked up pantra in a psychic bubble and threw the pokemon into the wall hard. This resulted in a one hit victory for misty. "Pantra no." Justin exclaimed. "Are you okay buddy?" "Pan, tra pan." It replied weakly and nodding its head yes. "Good. Once done we'll get you fixed up. Pantra return." He replied back to the pokemon. Looking to misty with malice he extracted the second pokeball. "Okay Miss Waterflower. It's one to one. Time for round two. Arabus, Sparkle go." In a flash of light an Omastar and Raichu appeared before them. Knowing this was the team battle she recalled togetic and called her team out. "Anonoa, Lailiani I choose you." She stated and they appeared. "Ice-fire attack now." "Guys Electric water." Justin replied. The two attacks met in the center and smoke filled the area. Anonoa and Lailiani were tough when together. For their attack bust through and knocked Justin's team out cold. Smiling Misty thanked her team and recalled them. Justin in shock recalled his team thanking them for a job well done. "Well it has come down to the final pokemon. I already know that you will be calling out togetic. I'll have to call my secret weapon." He said to misty. Touching the pokeball to his forehead and mouthing some words he called for his pokemon. "Go Spike." The pokemon was nothing like they had ever seen before. It was tall, green, and very, spiky. It was the shape of a saguaro cactus. Togetic was already out and waiting "Togetic psy beam now." Togetic charged and fired a well-placed psy beam on the cactus pokemon. "Spike use needle dance." Justin said and the cactus began to do a Mexican hat dance around togetic firing off spikes at it. The cactus was not phased by the psychic attack. Thinking quickly ash offered up some advice. "Misty psychic won't work. It's a plant pokemon. They hate two types of attacks. Houndoom is already out of the match. What other move does togetic already know that plant pokemon hate?" He yelled to her. With a look of understanding she called out to togetic. "Hold on and wait for an opening. When you see it use Ice Beam." She yelled. "Toge" it replied. The battle raged. Finally togetic saw its chance and fired a very powerful and large ice beam at the cactus pokemon. The instant it hit it began to slow down seeing this misty urged her pokemon on. "That's it togetic keep it up." It continued to fire the ice beam soon the cactus pokemon was frozen solid and togetic stopped the ice beam. Recalling his prized plant pokemon Justin walked to the center of the field where misty was congratulating togetic on a job well done. Ash was smiling because she had won the badge on her own, well with a small help from the side. Misty by this time had stood and was looking Justin in the face. Kneeling he spoke. "Miss Waterflower. Job well done congratulations. On behalf of the American Pokemon League and Western division I confer to you the Utah badge." He got to his feet, shook her hand, and presented to her the badge. "Before I can accept any more challengers I must heal my pokemon. Please return in thirty minutes for another match." He said and walked off the field. Ash, Misty and Brock headed to the next gym stopping off and healing their pokemon. It was the Idaho gym and the gym leader introduced herself to be Melissa. The battle wasn't nearly as rough as the last. Misty won without any damage to her pokemon. The third and final gym was the Washington Gym. This was an all out water pokemon against water pokemon battle and being the current water master misty won again without problems. Ash had no problem against the last trainer. He used pikachu as a single and team pokemon. When it was over the third leader, Franklin came over to congratulate him. "Well done Ash. I have always wanted to battle a master. It has been an on honor and privilege to battle you. I confer to you the Washington badge. Also you are to receive this envelope. I don't know what is in it. I only know it was to be given to you." With that he shook ashes hand and left to heal his pokemon. Taped to the note inside was another holochip. But one word was written on the paper. It said simply, Final. Lets go up to the rooms and change. "We'll head for someplace special tonight for dinner" Misty said to brock and ash. "Actually misty, thanks for the offer but no thanks." Brock said. "I want to relax and call Melanie. You and ash enjoy the evening. When you get back call me and we'll all watch the chip together. If it's too late we'll watch it in the morning." "Okay Brock." Ash said. "Misty. It looks like brock needs to talk in private for a minute. I'll catch up to you upstairs. Okay. "Okay ash see you in a few minutes." She replied and bounced off to the room. "What's up ash?" Brock asked. "I don't want her going tomorrow. I know it's going to be the last stop on this journey, and possibly the most dangerous. I don't want her hurt. I love her so much that it hurts sometimes." Ash said quietly "I know you do. Hell I saw the glow coming from her this morning and the flush of her cheeks. I was wondering what had happened to you two and now I know. If you are late in the morning again I won't worry. I also know that you don't want her hurt. I don't want to see her hurt either. She is like a little sister to me. She loves you with all of her heart and soul. Where you go she goes." Brock replied "I know. Forever." He said back. "I just wish I knew where this was going." "I do too." Brock replied quietly as they headed to the rooms. Ash and misty enjoyed their night out. Ash even decided to let Gladius pay for it all and used the card he gave him. They enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Emeril Lagasse's New Orleans Fish House. The food and service was extraordinary and Ash made sure to leave a sufficient tip. They made their way down and watched the show EFX. Misty oo'ed and ah'ed a lot and enjoyed herself. Of course anytime spent with ash was enjoyable. She had found her soul mate. It was late when the show got out and they decided to watch the chip in the morning and turned in for the night. Misty woke early the next morning. This was strange for her. She decided to let ash sleep for a while and showered. She got dressed and made her entries into her diary. Turning and seeing ash was still asleep she walked over to him and gently hugged him the caressed his face. His eyes fluttered open at the touch of her hand to his face. He smiled up to her and gently kissed her. Breaking the kiss she spoke to him. "Good morning lover." "Good morning angel. How did you sleep?" he replied. "In your arms, the best I ever have. I woke up before you did." She said laughing. Seeing her still damp hair he laughed with her. He got up and telephoned brock letting him know they were both awake. He let ash know he would be down shortly. It gave time for ash to clean up and get ready. Brock arrived just as ash finished dressing and misty let him in. They gathered around and listened to the last chip. "Congratulations to you all. You are ready to face me at last. I cannot tell you how happy this makes me. Your next match will be in New York tomorrow. I do hope you arrive early tomorrow so we can take care of our business. Until tomorrow I bid you farewell." The chip did not turn off like the others and kept running. "Before I leave and forget there will be a vehicle for you at the John F. Kennedy International Airport. It will take you to your Hotel and anywhere else you would like to go. Thank you again for putting up with all of this ash. It will be worth your time. I promise." With that the holoprojector shut down. "To New York." Ash said. They left as ash called the pilots telling them to book a plan for the JFK in New York. Once in the air the time was passed in silence. Ash made his most recent journal entry and then called his mom and professor oak. "Hey mom it me." He said softly. "Hello darling." His mom replied a bit nervous and he picked up on it right away. "Mom is there anything wrong you seem nervous." He replied "Nothing is wrong dear." She said. "Did you find out what you needed to know from the recordings?" he asked She was dreading this question and now had to lie to her son. Something she had never done. Samuel took her hand off frame to show his support. "I didn't ash. It wasn't what I thought it was." She stated and this struck ash as being odd. Before he could say anything she continued. "Ash your stepfather would like to talk." "Okay." He said and was replaced by his stepfather. "Hello ash. I heard of your victories. Good job." He said "Thank you. I really only needed pikachu but the others were good. I need you to send me back my original team." He replied. "Okay ash. I'm ready to receive here." Sam said back. One by one each of his pokeballs were sent back until he was left with pikachu's and squirtle's pokeballs. Ash set his pokegear to receive and his original team was sent over in the same slow process. "Great I have them all. Thank you." Ash replied. "Where are you off to ash?" Sam asked "We are heading to New York City. It's our final stop" he replied. "I'm a bit scared as to what we will find. I'm worried about misty's safety." "I think she is more worried about you. She called us the other night and let us know what had happened in Las Vegas." He replied. That's how he knew of them winning the matches. "Are you alright?" "I'm fine. Charizard saved me." Ash said. "Please let mom know that I'll be home soon. We all will be. I love you both. Goodbye." Nodding professor oak said his goodbyes and hung up. It was this time misty found her way back to ash. "Ash I'm sorry I called your mom. I needed someone to talk to after that happened." She said "Misty it's okay they would have found out anyway." He replied and patted the seat next to him. She sat down and wrapped her arms around him. "Why didn't you talk to me about it?" "Well when I tried you made it clear that you didn't want to." She replied, "So I didn't push the subject." "I see." He said. "Misty you make me whole. I need you to tell me when I'm doing something wrong. Lord knows I'm not perfect. So here is the plan for now. We are going to talk about what happened and how it made each of us feel. We'll take turns. You can start and I'll listen. Then I'll talk and you can listen." "How about we all talk about it like ash suggested" Brock said as he came back. "I think we all need to." Nodding Misty began. She cried openly in front of her lover and best friend. They each offered advice and encouragement. Ash spoke his feelings too. Brock smiled during his retelling knowing just how much he loved misty. Brock knew these two would end up getting married. When it came time for him to talk he relayed his feelings. Brock cried. At that moment ash knew exactly how misty and brock felt about him. Brock thought of him not only as a friend, but also as a little brother. One brock could relate to and talk to. Misty was a little sister to him he had said so. They spent the rest of the time reminiscing about their pokemon journey. The flight was enjoyable and a lot of worry and pressure was released. They were soon descending into the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. When they got off the plane a car was waiting for them. "Madam, Gentleman. My name is Anthony. I'll be your driver. I'll take you to your hotel here are your room keys." Anthony replied. "Thank you Anthony. Can you tell us who set this all up?" Ash asked as they got into the car. "I can't sir. I was instructed to drive you to your hotel and to the League Headquarters in the morning, nothing else." He replied "Well where are we staying?" Brock asked "You'll be staying at the Swissotel New York." He replied. "Sounds expensive." Misty stated "Madame it is. Your suite, which I believe, is a four-bedroom luxury suite is $1300 per night." He replied after getting into the car. Brock could not believe his ears. "How much did you say per night?" he asked again. "$1300 sir." The driver replied and left the airport. The trio were in shock. Whoever this person was is obviously rich. Ashes mind drifted back to Gladius. Could he have put this together? They soon arrived to the hotel. It was fabulous. They were shown to the room and it was like a four bedroom, single level home. Done in roman styling it was truly a fantastic room. "There are robes for each of you in the closets. Also the wet bar and mini refrigerator is fully stocked for you convince. If you are hungry we have a twenty-four hour room service available. It can be paid for at the time of delivery or placed onto the room bill. Will there be anything I can get you? Turn down the beds for you?" The bellhop finished. "No thank you. Here you go." Ash said handing the young man a hundred. Ash may not be rich but he was classy and knew about the luxury hotels. The bellhop thanked him and left. "Well we had better get some sleep it looks like tomorrow will be a big day." Misty said retiring to on of the rooms. Brock took one across the room and said his good nights. It wasn't long before misty was asleep. Ash could not sleep and went back out to the living area. He turned a lamp on low and grabbed his computer. He hooked it up and remotely accessed the Pokemon Leagues central mainframe. He searched for his father's trainer records. He found them without much difficulty. Thinking like his mother he found an old voice file of his dad. He set the mainframe to analyze the recording once it did he set that as the base line for his comparisons. He then recorded each of the holochip voice files into the system and asked it to compare the base reading with the new ones. They all matched except for the one from the luau. They system said it was altered but 75% accurate. Ash sat back dumfounded. He could not believe that this was happening, he didn't want to believe it. He just sat there and stared at the screen and the results. He lost track of time and didn't hear misty come out to see where he had gone. She saw him sitting there with a very shocked look on his face. She sat down next to him and put her arm around his shoulder. When he didn't respond she looked at the screen. What she saw shocked her as well and she went to get brock. She explained the situation to him and he decided to take ash out to the balcony. He told misty to get one of her water pokemon to water gun ash out of it. It worked and he came to with a slight yell of surprise. Taking ash back inside brock sat him down next to misty and the interrogation was on. "What did you find that put you into a state of total shock?" Brock asked. "I know who is doing this. I know, but I don't believe it. It can't be." Ash rambled. "Ash, baby. Look at me." Misty said noticing ash slipping back into a state of shock. Gently turning his head he looked into her eyes and snapped out of it. "Just start at the beginning." Taking a deep breath he began. Staring into Misty's eyes the entire time for strength. "Okay. I couldn't sleep. The way my mom sounded so nervous the last call I made to her. Professor Oak sounded a bit nervous too. If something got him nervous then it had to be important. Anyways my mind drifted back to the call where mom wanted me to send her the voice files from the holochips. I figured she had a good idea because she was a lot like brock when she was younger. She was great at solving puzzles. So I linked up to the Pokemon Leagues mainframe and searched for my real fathers old trainer records. There was a voice file stored on the system one of his journal entries. Now trainers have to state their names when they get the pokedex. It voice prints to them and its stored in the central mainframe as an identification tool. I had the system analyze the recording there and used it as a base print. I uploaded each of the voice files and all of them matched except for the one from the luau. My father, real father is alive." Misty and brock sat in silence for a moment. Brocks mind was racing then he spoke. "Ash some one could have altered their voice to sound like your dads." "No the system looks for any type of electronic manipulation. Even if it is professionally done it will see it." Ash replied. "That's why the recording from the luau was only accurate to 75%" "Well if it's true ash, then you'll finally see your father again tomorrow after twenty-two long years." Misty said cradling ash to her and comforting him. "You need to sleep love. I'm here for you." She nodded to brock and he saved the information and closed out the connections and shut down the computer. He turned back in himself. Thinking as he walked off to bed, tomorrow has definitely gotten a lot harder. Misty made sure ash was in bed then crawled into it herself. The second she did ash had a hold of her and was holding her close. She scooted up in his arms and gently rested her head against his and wrapped her arms protectively around him. At this moment ash needed her, needed her strength, her courage, just needed her. And she willingly gave him everything he needed right down to her soul. Feeling him relax he was soon asleep. Resting soundly she to fell asleep waiting for tomorrow and what it would bring. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Well that's it for part 6. I hope your enjoying the story. The next part will be the last. If you're reading the fic thank you. Please send your review to zapdos1alpha@hotmail.com Any flamers please be kind it's my first fan fic. Not my first story but first fic.