This is my ... well not my first pokemon fanfiction, but it is my first to be posted on HellsAngel22, I used to be the author, PikaDarkness. I had quit to spend time working on creating stories to be published, and I wanted to get myself a new account, as it gave me a clean slate. And if you have read my stories on that site, you'll be amazed at how much I have grown as a writer. I left PikaDarkness site about ... gosh, two years ago now. I'm happy to be back.

Okay, so Dead Until Dawn came to me when I was watching Titanic, and I thought it was a lovely idea. But its not going to be about the sinking of a ship, and it won't be melodramatic fluff, this does have a plotline, and a rather huge one at that. I do hope that you will stick with me through it.

Warning; Do not read if your under fourteen years of age, this deals with strong matters that might not be suitable for anyone under that age limit. Deals with abuse (physical and emotional), bits and pieces of incest, sex, violence (gore to a certain extent) and matters that--if one has been through any of the things on the list, would find upsetting.

Dead Until Dawn

Chapter One

The Ark pulled out of the dock, steam billowing into the air. The Ark ... a poor taste in name choicing, Misty figured, but she didn't say anything about it. She had been raised to be polite, and had heard the 'women should be seen, and not heard' line too many times in her seventeen years of life. She was supposed to be a proper lady, and Misty still had to figure out what a proper lady meant.

Pulling out of Cerulean City, they were heading for the Johto region. Misty's mother, Clarice Waterflower, had still yet to tell them where the ship would end up, saying that it was more of a family surprise. Family, that word was laughable when describing the Waterflower's, at least to Misty's ears it did.

The Waterflower family were high in the rankings out of all of the regions in the Pokemon world, they were diplomatic, wise and above all; important. John Waterflower, Misty's father, was more of a business man than an actual father, that alone had them climbing the corporate ladder in under a year, a feat that had the family name becoming a common interest in gossip. John Waterflower was a banker, worked for the Royal family (and had an income of about a million dollars per year). Clarice used to be an actress, her movie roles always earning her a high income. But once meeting her husband, she became a housewife, a mother, and overall one of the most respectable women in society today. Daisy, Lily and Violet were as narrow minded as their parents. They, and Misty, went to the elite 'bitch school', as Misty referred to it. It was actually somewhat of a boarding school for girls, learning how to cook, clean and most importantly; honour their future husbands. And, it even came with the old fashioned book-on-the-head-when-walking-downstairs. The guarranteed way to look like a complete idiot, while 'cleaning up your posture'. Misty found it funny that an all-girl school unisex teachers. The triplets loved going to that school, Misty, however, didn't.

Misty stood on the boat deck, watching the ocean with an expressionless face. Her hunched posture would have earned her a lecture, and a rough hand to pull her up into the straight-backed posture that all women had to have. In all her life, Misty never experienced freedom. Everything she did was always for someone else. It was why she had the ring on her finger, the engagement ring ... at only seventeen years old.

Her fiancee was at least twenty-two, very rich, very well known. And in Clarice's eyes, there was no finer man around for her youngest daughter. Jack Lovegood was travelling with them, and despite being engaged to Misty, he wasn't truly in love with her. It was arranged by her parents, Misty had no say in the matter whatsoever.

Jack had allowed her some time to herself, as he didn't like to be around her much, only in the public eye where he thought that it truly mattered. Daisy, Lily and Violet were all married off, and they were almost ready to graduate from the boarding school that November, and they were lucky. Their husbands loved them, the way they treated the triplets ... it was more affection than Jack would ever show Misty.

Misty was trapped, unable to do anything without putting shame on the Waterflower name, unable to make her own choices because she was an upperclass, highly looked after young woman. People who weren't as high up didn't have to worry about this kind of thing; women were treated with as much respect and responsibility as the men were. All Misty wanted was to find someone who loved her--truly. Someone who wasn't just putting it on for the public eye.

"Straighten up, Misty," Clarice warned, joining her youngest daughter. "I don't know how many times I have had to tell you about that. You must remain--"

"Respectable," MIsty broke in knowingly. She had heard it too many times before. "I know, mother. I'm sorry. It won't happen again." Yes it would. It always did.

Clarice watched the ship break through the calm waters. "I don't understand why you just can't accept this life, any woman would choose to be as higher up in the rankings. To have whatever they wished. Jack is--"

"Not what I want," Misty broke in, she and Clarice had had this argument too many times before. "And I'm not like all those girls, I want something more."

"This is all that there is," Clarice replied sternly, she had been trying to rub that in since Misty was young, but her youngest had some kind of fire beneath her, and she refused to believe it. "This is all there ever will be for you."

"I'm not like you mother, I won't let this be my life."

Casting a glance around the boat deck, Clarice was noticeably worried that someone would hear them arguing trivial matters, like they were some mangy lower class mutts. Those women in their disgusting clothes, in their disgusting cars and homes.

"You've got no choice," she told her daughter in an angry, hushed whisper, leaning in so it wouldn't be as loud. "You will do as you are told, end of discussion."

With that, Clarice pushed herself away from her daughter and made her way back to their cabin. Misty looked down, a lone tear rolling down her cheek, her hands running down the dress she was wearing, the form-fitting, midnight blue dress. Once that tear dropped, along came another one. She knew it would be unwise to stay on the crowded boat deck if she were going to cry, it would arouse unwanted questions, and could get her family into a lot of trouble.

Taking a deep, shuddering gulp of air, Misty regained her composure, and decided it was time to return to her cabin. Jack was about as sympathetic and understanding as Clarice, and did not greet Misty with a hello or a smile. He just looked up from his reports, saw her come in, and then looked back down as if she had never noticed she had come in.

"How is it coming along?" she asked, unable to stand the silence betweent them.

Still not looking up, Jack replied, "Slow."

Misty sat down beside him, smoothing out her dress. In fact, it wasn't coming along slow, Jack was nearly done. "Anything I can do to help?"

"No thank you, not with this. You can go unpack. The bags are over by the corner."

Typical, the man works to create a living, the woman works to make the man happy and rested. Biting down on her lip, Misty nodded and rose to her feet, going to get the backs and start on the unpacking. It would take at least a week to arrive at their destination. And they would not be spending it like some poor person, their stuff locked away as if there were no room for their clothes and belongings.

By the time Misty was finished packing everything away, Jack had completed his reports for the government of Kanto, and placed them in a plastic sleeve so they would be protected until they arrived back in Cerulean city to deliver them. He didn't trust the other postal services very much. Cerulean city was the 'high cities', the only poor people passing through were Pokemon trainers, looking to earn the Water Badge. In fact Cerulean City was the highest ranking rich city in Kanto, Fuchasia City and Lavender Town coming just behind. Pallet Town was the poorest by far.

"You finished?" Jack asked, and Misty nodded. "Good. I'm going out for a walk, join me." It was not a question.

"I can't, I'm not feeling very well," Misty lied, the truth was that she didn't want people to see her, not like this. Not with Jack, they would call them lovebirds, wish they had a husband like Jack, wish that they were Misty. She couldn't have that, she couldn't bear to see that, when it felt like her whole life was controlled by her family and her fiancee. "Maybe ... I can join you later?"

Jack did not like the sound of that, it was almost like he knew Misty was lying to him.

"Fine," he relented, though he didn't sound like he really mattered at all, it was a window into their supposed love. "I will see you when I get back." Because men didn't have to set time limits like women did, men didn't have to come back like women did.

Once the door shut, Misty slumped, her back muscles were getting tired of always staying straight, her feet hurt from the high heels she had to wear. Her heart was hurting from having to put up with all this each and every day of her young life. Things surely had to get better, right?

* * *

Pulling into the docks at Indigo Plateau, Misty was quick to get off, not having to worry about her bags was a blessing in disguise; it meant that she could get away from everything much more quickly. Misty knew better than to wander off, though, it would get her into a lot of trouble, so she just stood in the shadow of the ship.

"Quick attack, Pikachu!"

Standing just ten feet away from Misty, was an exuberant sixteen year old boy, two of his own Pokemon battling against each other. A Pikachu and a Sceptile. Both seemed pretty high level. The boy had jet black, fly-away hair. Wore a black t-shirt and long denim jeans. Misty watched as he shouted dodge to his sceptile, and she realised he wasn't trying to hurt either one of his pokemon, he was making them spar against each other so they got better at attacking and defending.

As if the boy could sense her watching him, he turned his upper body around to face her. Misty froze in place, ignoring everyone else who was getting off the ship around her. She thought the boy would have been upset at seeing her spying on him, but a broad grin pulled on the features of his face, and he raised a hand at her to wave. Hesitantly, she waved back, he looked at her as though they were great friends. And then he turned back to his waiting Pokemon.

"Agility, Pikachu! Bullet seed Sceptile," the boy shouted even more lively than before.

Misty watched in amazement. The way those pokemon just obeyed him, and not because they had to, but because they wanted to. And when Pikachu took a few too many bullet seeds than it could handle, both the trainer and Sceptile rushed in to see if Pikachu was okay. They were friends.

The Pikachu was back on it's feet, and seemed to have recognised an unknown onlooker that was Misty. Instead of getting angry or upset, the little mouse pokemon scampered off, much to the surprise of its trainer.

"Hey! Pikachu where are you going?"

Pulling out the pokeball, he recalled Sceptile and gave chase to Pikachu, who scaled Misty like a tree and started licking the giggling woman's face. The boy was laughing himself as he jogged to a stop.

"I'm sorry about this, Pikachu really likes people," he apologised, holding out his arm to Pikachu, who jumped on, maneuvering itself so it was standing on the boy's shoulder. "Oh, and my name is Ash Ketchum."

Uh, oh. He must have realised how rich and important she and her family was, and started being a little too overpolite.

"I'm Misty Waterflower, nice to meet you. You're an awesome trainer, you know?" Misty said, trying to sound as carefree and informal as she possibly could. It was tough for someone who had been raised to care and be formal, but then again, she had never put in the actual effort of learning such qualities. "How do you get them to just obey you like that? Does it take a lot of work?"

Ash smiled, looking so free that Misty envied him. "No, we're just really great friends. We all work on trust, right buddy?" He winked at Pikachu, who chirped a happy response to that statement. "What about you? Do you train pokemon?" And then he looked down at her apparel, and then decided no, she did not.

"Unfortunately, no. Wait ... you're Ash Ketchum, the Ash Ketchum from all those league competitions? Your the one who won the Orange Islands trophy a few years back, right?" Misty asked, getting over excited about meeting someone from t.v that she had been rooting for since he first appeared. "Oh, my gosh."

Ash laughed again, the laugh suited him perfectly. "Yeah, that's me all right--"

"Misty!" Great, it had to be at that moment when Jack arrived, curling his hand into Misty's, who looked away, ashamed. "Thank God I found you darling, I thought you just ran off on me."

Oh, if only ... If only.

Looking over at Ash, Misty gave him a sad smile. Ash was looking back at her, as though he could see right through the walls she was hurriedly building, right into the pain and lonliness she felt. And then he looked over at Jack, who was showing the fake affection because there was company around. Company who was not worthy of being in their presence, but he would not make a scene with so many witnesses. Jack would not put a black spot on the family name.

"I should ... get back to training," Ash muttered, turning away.

"Yes, go back to training that ugly rodent," Jack muttered, though it was loud enough for Ash to hear, who paused momentarily looking like he wanted to deck Jack real badly, but thought better of it and walked away. Not without Pikachu's cheeks crackling in warning to Jack.

Man, just when Misty met a guy who was actually really nice to her, and wasn't hot and cold like Jack was, someone had to come along and ruin it for her. She could have nothing that she really wanted, she never came first anymore.

"What were you thinking?" Jack demanded, being none too gentle in pulling her off, his grip on her arm hurting. "Talking to someone like ... to someone like him."

"Face it," Misty sneered, her usual snark coming back to her in an instant. "You know that poor guys are way better gentlemen than you, and your jealous of them. Doesn't really help that they have bigger and better dick's than you do."

Taking her in the privacy of a nearby tree, Jack backhanded her across the face, her red hair flying as the impact snapped her head to the side. "You will not talk to me like that, do you hear me? I won't take it."

And with one last distasteful glare in her direction, Jack pushed Misty from him and walking away, smiling and nodding his head to Madam Lucille.
To Be Continued . . .

If this bothered you, you should have read the warning. This isn't a children's story. This deals with issue's that can be quite disturbing and upsetting, and no doubt you'll have your opinions about what I'm writing. But I will continue it. Oh, and not for the faint hearted either. Don't read if you throw up easy. Please review.

And I hope my warnings don't put potiential faithful readers off reading this ... you can make up your own minds. :)