EPILOGUE

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[1 Hour, 22 minutes, 13 seconds after Shooting]

A siren blared as rain pelted the windows of the speeding Ambulance. "How much further?" The paramedic called to the driver.

"One minute, doctors are preparing the ER for when he arrives!"

"Please be alright, please God be alright!" Misty whispered as she watched the paramedic administer a sedative into Ashs arm.

Misty, Alyssa, Delia, and Pikachu were riding in the back of the Ambulance as it sped towards the Indigo General Hospital. The four were in shock at the recent event at the League and felt as if everything happening was a dream.

"He-He's going to be alright… Don't think otherwise…" Alyssa whispered to herself as she clenched her hands together. Ash had been through worse, he's been shot before and made it through, and he could do it again.

The ambulance lurched, and the back doors were torn open, the paramedic hopped out of the Ambulance, and pulled the stretcher Ash was on towards the back. The driver came around back and together they both lifted the stretcher out of the ambulance and placed it onto the ground and began to rush Ash through the rain and to the twin glass doors of the hospital.

The three females and Pikachu hurried after the departing stretcher and into the hospital. Frantically they looked down both hallways and sprinted to the left as they saw the paramedics take Ash around a corner.

Running down the quiet hallway they turned the corner and saw Ash pass through a pair of swinging blue doors, that had a red sign that read 'Emergency Room' above them.

Delia ran to the door and was about to push through when a man stopped her, "Mam you must wait here, there is a surgery in progress," he stated calmly as he held the desperate mom away from seeing her son.

"Bu-bu-but I need to see my baby!" She cried, as she tried to push through him. Misty and Alyssa came up and gently took Delia by the arms.

"C-Come on Mrs. Ketchum, Ash will be fine in a couple minutes… Let's sit down…" Misty whispered as she and Alyssa led the distressed mother to find a seat.

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"Out of the way!" The doctor shouted as they wheeled Ash through the doors of the ER and over to the operating table.

"Hook him up to life support, and get those IV bags hooked in ASAP!" He ordered as he put on a face mask, and a pair of white plastic gloves.

The nurses and doctors in the room lifted the unconscious Ash off the stretcher and onto the operating table and hooked him up to life support.

"Knock him out and get that wound clamped and the bullet removed, if she did it right then the bullet shouldn't have fragmented." The doctor stated as he took a pair of tweezers and a white cloth. A nurse came up to Ash and put a clear mask over his mouth and nose, supplying his air and knocking him unconsciousness with anesthesia.

The doctor moved over to Ash and took a bottle of rubbing alcohol and drenched the cloth in it. Running the damp cloth over the wound, he removed the dried blood and took his tweezers and pushed them into the wound.

After a few seconds he felt resistance, "Get ready to sew him up, and prepare the Tetrodotoxin, low dosage, and then get his room ready."

The doctor squeezed the tweezers down on the bullet and yanked it out, sending a fresh wave of blood flowing from the wound. He was instantly replaced by a blond and a brunette nurse who began to sterilize and repair the damage caused by the low caliber round.

A few minutes later, the nurses were done and the doctor came to examine their work. He fingered the patch on Ashs stomach, "Good Phase Two is complete, prepare the room and move him in. Then initiate Phase 3 and prep the decoy,"

"Yes sir!" The nurses saluted and took off their gloves and left the operating room. Heading down the hallway, they took a left and entered a small square room with a bed and a heart rate monitor.

"Rig the monitor, I got the drug." The blond nurse stated as she reached underneath the bed and produced a bottle of clear liquid and two syringes.

"Alright, should just take a moment…" The brunette trailed off as she broke off the back of the heart rate monitor and severed two wires. Reaching into her pocket she removed a small black chip and a short green wire.

Rigging the chip into the motherboard of the monitor, she attached the green wire to the chip, and then to a severed blue wire.

"Monitors set," The brunette informed as she replaced the back of the monitor and looked to the blond.

The blond had a half filled syringe laying on the bed, as she was carefully sucked in a careful amount of the clear liquid so that it was a quarter inch from being full.

"Tetrodotoxin is ready, bring in the boy." The blond said into her wrist watch.

After a moment of silence, a voice came through her watch, "Boy's on his way, and the decoy has been prepared. Administer the low dosage and then we wait."

"Yes sir."

A minute later a nurse wheeled Ash into the room and roughly moved him onto the bed, and left the room. The blond took the half full syringe and took Ashs wrist and stuck the needle into the largest vain she could see. Slowly she injected the drug into his system and looked to the brunette.

"Alright let's get out of here and leave the rest up to the others," The blond nodded and the two left Ash and returned to the ER.

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[3 Hours Later]

"HELP!"

"He's incapacitated, move in and check his vitals." The doctor whispered to the two nurses beside him. The nurses ran around the corner and up to a panicking Delia.

They quickly entered the room and past the two frightened girls and checked the boys pulse, 'Perfect, slowing as we speak…'

"His pulse is growing weaker; we need you to step out now!" The brunette nurse ordered, quickly handing Pikachu over to the red head.

Seeing that they hadn't left the room she inwardly cursed them, "Out of the room now!" She ordered as she reached for a defibrillator. The three females quickly left the room, and she quickly shut the door behind them.

The brunette reached into their pocket and took out a walkie talkie, "The boy is ready to be moved, get the decoy and we can get this over with."

It was two minutes later before someone answered, "The girls are still outside the room, we need them to move so we can get in there."

The nurse scowled, "Wait them out, if we don't come out for a few minutes they'll go find somewhere to wait."

"Roger."

Five minutes later the door to the room opened and in walked the doctor who was pushing a gurney with a full body bag on top.

"Get the decoy underneath the bed and conceal it. We have five hours before we need to give him his next dosage or else he wakes up." The blond informed as she flipped the body bag off the bed and onto the ground, quickly sliding it far underneath the bed then covering it with a sheet.

"Get the girls, keep the visit short and let's get the package out of here," The doctor stated jerking his thumb at Ash.

Quickly the brunette nurse left the room, and headed for the lobby, where the three girls waited for the announcement.

Forty minutes after the three girls and Pikachu spent with Ash, the nurses forced them out of the room so they could transport 'The Body' to storage to prevent decay.

Shutting the door behind them they moved Ash onto the gurney in the room and removed the body bag from underneath the bed. Lifting up the body bag, they placed it where Ash had previously been and the brunette nurse wheeled it out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

"Give it ten minutes, and then get him out of here." With that the doctor left the room and left the blond alone with Ash.

A couple minutes past and the nurse sighed, "Must've been ten minutes…" The nurse pushed the gurney out the door and headed for the nearest elevator. Pushing the open button, she was relieved to see that the elevator was empty.

Pushing the unconscious Ash into the elevator, she pushed the button that read, 'Parking.' A ding later the nurse wheeled Ash out of the elevator and through the concrete underground parking lot and over to an ambulance. Going around back, she knocked twice on the back door and a second later it was opened by the doctor from before.

The doctor hopped out and lifted Ash off of the gurney and roughly shoved him into the ambulance, quickly followed by him, and the nurse.

"Let's roll out, and get the boss on the line." The doctor stated as he took off his blue shirt and revealed a black shirt with a red R on the front.

"Right away," The driver said as he started the engine and pulled out of the parking space.

The driver hit a switch on the dashboard and waited until a voice came through the radio, "Is the package secure?" A fuzzy voice spoke.

"Package secure, decoy is in place. ETA twenty minutes for transport," The driver said as he took a left and headed down onto the highway.

"Excellent, switching you over to the Boss."

"Roger."

A minute passed in silence except for the occasional honk from the outside. The radio went fuzzy before a voice came through, "The boy is alive?"

"Yes sir, unconscious and there was no muscle damage where the bullet entered." The Rocket doctor called from the back.

There was a pause, "Good, get to the extraction zone and you'll be taken to headquarters. We need him unconscious for when we start his augmentations." Giovanni's voice came in gruffly.

"Yes sir, ETA to extraction 10 minutes."

"Excellent, don't keep me waiting." The radio shut off leaving the Rockets in silence.

"You heard the boss, so get this piece of junk moving!" The blond Grunt growled.

"Yes mam!" The driver shifted into 2nd and accelerated out of the indigo Plateau and into the distance. A couple of minutes passed and they drove off the road and onto a dirt path that was in thick shrubbery and dense foliage.

The ambulance came to an abrupt stop and the back doors opened revealing a large black helicopter, and a squad of Grunts in a clearing. The Rockets in the ambulance hopped out and walked over to the helicopter, as the Grunts removed Ash from the back and carried him over to the chopper and brought him onboard.

The doctor and the blond went around to the back of the chopper and up the back hatch. The blond sat down on one of the empty seats while the doctor went to the cockpit to talk to the pilot.

The doctor pushed open a door and came face to face with a man who wore a Rocket uniform and a flight helmet.

"The boy is on board, we're ready for transport." The doctor stated as he sat down in the co-pilot seat.

The pilot nodded, "Very good," The pilot flicked up two switches that were on the dash board and the back hatch begun to close. After the pressure was sealed off, he slowly pushed a lever forward and the propellers came to life.

The helicopter kicked up a whirlwind of dust as it slowly lifted off the ground and into the air. 100ft off the ground, the chopper pitched forward and began to fly off into the horizon, and to the Team Rocket Head Quarters.

The pilot flicked a switch and pressed a green button. A few seconds later a voice came through his helmet, "I take it you're on your way?" Giovanni asked patiently.

"Yes sir, ETA one hour seventeen minutes."

There was a pause, "Very good, I'll make sure to reward you and the others handsomely for your mission." Giovanni informed coolly, before cutting off transmission.

The pilot grinned, "Thank you sir…" He trailed off before shouting over the PA system, "Looks like we got ourselves some pretty penny comin in boys!"

There was a chorus of cheers and howling coming from behind the cockpit as the Grunts got the message. The pilot turned to the doctor, "So what's the boss want with the kid anyway? I heard something about him bein a run away, and sabotaging our warehouses?"

The doctor shrugged, "Beats the hell out of me. All I know is the kid is having some… Sort of Experimental work done on him. Then their sending him off for training. Don't know why Giovanni bothers tho, he's got plenty of elites that are more than suitable for dangerous missions."

"I heard that they were going to lock him up. And that was it… Keep him locked up until he goes insane, and starts to forget. But what you heard sounds a lot more likely." The pilot stated as he increased elevation and rose another fifty feet.

The doctor turned to the pilot, "All I know is, whatever they do to the kid it ain't gonna be pretty. Gonna be some tough shit for him that's for sure."

The pilot nodded in agreement. They sat in silence for a few minutes until a grin broke out on his face, "Almost forgot!" He reached underneath the dashboard and pulled out to bottles of beer, "Celebratory drinks for a successful mission!" He chuckled as he passed one over to the doc.

The doctor used the dashboard to pop the cap off the bottle and took a swift drink, before letting out a content sigh, "Not often we get a well-payin mission, but when we do, and we do it right? There's nothin better than a cold one…" He trailed off as he took another swig.

The pilot chuckled and took a draft of his, "Damn straight, gotta enjoy the little things," He held his beer out to the doc, "Here's to the little things… And a full paycheck!"

The doc smirked and clinked his bottle to the pilots, "To the little things, and a pretty damn full paycheck!" The pilot laughed in agreement, and the two to another draft of their drinks before the doc spoke.

"How bout we enjoy what's left of the ride by you turnin on the radio?" He proposed.

"Sounds good, but none of that DJ Mary crap, put on some decent music!" The doc laughed and began tuning the radio, until reception was made. Turning up the volume, he switched on the PA so the Grunts in the back could here.

"Yeah that's what I'm talking bout!" The pilot exclaimed as a rock song began.

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The black helicopter flew like a wraith silently over a dense green forest and over to a 30 story building in the distance. The chopper flew over to the building over on top of the roof where a landing pad waited for them.

The chopper hovered above the landing pad, before slowly descending and touching down on the pad. The back hatch opened, and the Rockets disembarked the chopper with the doctor coming out with a limp Ash over his shoulder.

The Grunts stood at attention as a man in an orange suit walked over to the doctor, "You're squad will be rested and paid fully once the boy is secured." Giovanni stated as he looked at the limp Ash.

"Yes sir," The doctor nodded, unable to snap a salute due to the figure on his shoulder.

Giovanni began to walk towards the roofs elevator, before looking back and saying,

"Come with me doctor, we have work to do."

END

In my mind I played the Pirates of the Caribbean song right after the last line. It cut to black then the tune started up… Anyways!

Now that is how it really ends. I'm happy and unhappy with how this final chapter went. I'm happy with how it ended; I gave subtle hints to what COULD happen in the sequel, there are still unanswered questions, such as:

What about Ashs letters?

What was the decoy?

Why did you kill Ash off? That was a major low blow!-(That wasn't a question, but it was the main response I got from last chapter.)

Okay but now, Ash is indeed alive. I know that most of you thought last chapter was indeed a low blow, but like some of you pointed out, how could I have a sequel without the main character?

Well I thought well ahead and kept him alive. How? : Tetrodotoxin is a drug that comes from puffer fish that slows your heart beat to pretty much undetectable, paralyzes the body, and turns you basically into a living zombie. People will think your dead. Google it.

So I'm not a doctor, so I kind of made up my own rules for how long the drug takes to go into effect. So I made it a couple hours, that's why Ash got KO'd last chapter and they all thought he was dead.

Now this is staying an Ash and Misty story! I have a way to deal with this in the second story, but I am not saying anything about that.

As for next story however… I've got a lot mapped out in my head, but don't expect it anytime soon! I have about how the first… 3 chapters are going to start, but after that I've only got the ending in my mind. So basically I need to think of… Well I need to think of the plot!

But during the time I plan out the sequel, I'm going to start writing a new story. The thing I talked about last chapter, and maybe a one-shot that takes place during this story. Probably about how Ash captured Growlithe and met Toby, and John from Orre.

And anyways. I want to thank you all so much. It's been one hell of a ride, and honestly I o-owh-owe, you guys so much. You all kept me writing this story, you have all been fantastic reviewers and readers and honestly I wouldn't have made it this far without you all. So thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, for all your support and feedback during the last few months, it really means so much to me!

Please Review this one last chapter with any comments, questions, feedback or anything! Thanks again, and for the last time this story…

ThatOneDwarf…Signing off!