Yes bashers of every loyalty and sub group, the single story you hate most
of all is back for another chapter!
I've decided for story cannon to keep with Kimi since the name May is IMHO is a rip off of the name of Gary's sister in the magna.
Hats off to 'To Chance Your Death' for Ash's nightmare of M+G. Also hats off to Gargoyles and Gundam 8TH MS Team.
By the way, someone DID e-mail me a picture like what you're about to read! Some people are just sick! Thank you to ALL my reviewers for giving me the inspiration to continue this.
I know, I know, I still can't spell jack or pokemon names properly, so sue me.
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The way between Viridian and Pallet wasn't THAT far, but it was enough that without any wheeled transportation the foursome had to set-up camp half way through.
Misty had bought the latest version of the Poke Gear during the time she had waited for Ash to heal. It had a horde of new features. Not the least of which was wire-less e-mail service. One she was using right now as Kimi looked over her shoulder.
"What're you doing?"
"I'm writing Satoshi Tajiri an e-mail." She explained referring to the Pokemon game's designer. "Since I make an appearance in the Gold/Silver/Crystal games, I figure I can convince them to have me show up in the second season of Pokemon Advanced."
"If we make it that far. Yugioh is pretty much kicking our butts."
"Simpsons 'lost the magic' of being the latest thing years ago and they're still going strong."
"Point taken."
'Ruby' went back to star gazing as Ash concentrated as always on eating. As soon as Misty had finished sending the e-mail, she got a new message. It wasn't from anyone she knew, but her curiosity got the better of her caution when she read the subject.
-See how much the people like you-
She clicked on the e-mail. Misty covered her mouth and pushed the bile back down her throat. It was a drawing of her: naked, being gutted and dismembered by a bear sized pikachu. She deleted the e-mail and cleared her catch before Ash had a chance to see it. He would go on the warpath if he saw that. She had promised herself that she wouldn't let the sickos get to her anymore. And she aimed to keep it. But she knew Ash. He couldn't stand to watch innocents be wronged. That included in particular his friends and family.
Turning the gadget off she silently joined Kimi in stargazing. She thought about why so many people ranted about how stupid Ash was or how the writers rewrote things just to have him win. But no one ever said a single pep about other characters in other animes would were a lot like him but never got bashed.
"Gourry from Slayers is such an idiot. He always has to ask questions about everything!"
"If HE didn't ask questions about what was going on, then the audience would be left in the dark!"
"You know it funny. You know how often they've bent the rules in Yugioh to have Yami win? He beat Rare Hunter by forcing his opponent to play an Exsoida piece and used the trap card 'Chain Destruction'. But it's against game rules to HAVE more than one piece of each of Exsodia in your deck. Then he fought Pandora, Arcana, whatever, he summoned Dark Magician Girl with the Dark Curtin his opponent put onto the field, but in the real game, only the duelist who put Dark Curtin into play can use it. And never once have I heard anyone complain about HIM not being as good as others hype."
How did that line in the Jethro Tull song go? I might make you feel, but I can't make you think . . . Misty now realized the full truth of that statement. No matter what Ash said or did, those who thought he was retarded, weak, evil, all the negatives, would keep thinking that, and react violently to anyone who tried to contradict them.
Less than a mile away but getting closer, following Ash and friends the way a tail follows a Raichu, Team Rocket 'white' were running for their lives away from the far more skilled and able Team Rocket 'black'. The confrontation had started normally enough. But it had quickly turned worse than ugly.
"You losers have disgraced Team Rocket long enough." Cassidy had said right to their faces. (Right after the standard Rocketeer introduction of course.) "The Boss gave us orders to terminate you. He's sick of the black hole you three have made in Team Rocket's checkbook! All those giant robots don't come cheap you know!"
"We didn't use that many!"
Cassity rolled her eyes, and started counting off in her fingers. "The mecha Magicarp, the mecha Gayrados, the robot Wobbafett marks one and two, the Meowth power suit, the super Meowth battle robot, the robo-pincher, the giant steel Ryhorn, the fake Kangastar, the jumbo sized bug catcher." She had to start over. "The metal Stantler, those three digging robots, the Medapod tank, the Arbo-Tank, the robot Mercrow, the super Noctowl, PLUS all the weapons you barrowed and over the last four years you haven't managed to bring one useful pokemon back to Team Rocket HQ!"
"We caught plenty!"
"Then where are they . . . ?"
"Well, uh, . . . those cheating twerps took them all back!"
"Yea they always cheat! They use stronger pokemon than we got or always think of smart ways to use weak ones to beat us! It's not fair! They think just because we steal everything that we should give it all back! It's just wrong I tell ya!"
"So in other words . . . they're better than you."
"That's not true! We've just never been to beat them in a face to face conflict!"
Cassidy groaned. "How did you moron even make it into Team Rocket? At least it won't matter in ten seconds."
"Huh?"
"Radacate. Hyper Beam!"
Luckily for Jessie, James and Meowth, they had gotten plenty of practice running from all the angry mobs that always came after them whenever the rockets pulled one of their money making cons. Thus the Hyper Beam only scorched the heels of Jessie and James boots, but Butch and Cassidy were not ones to ever give up easy. Plus, squashing bugs was something Cassidy had always enjoyed as a child, and she saw this assignment in the same light.
The blond grinned. "Now this is the fun part."
The masked man said nothing. He only used the flamethrower on the rocket trio. Ash would have done anything just so he didn't have to hear those screams. Even more so not to have see the ghastly imagine being forced through his eyes. He tried to close them but they refused, he tried to cover them but his arms were limb at his sides ignoring him. Even as the rocket's flesh was still melting from their bones, the masked man turned the weapon on Ash and his companions.
It was amazing Ash didn't scream when he woke up. Instead he was just covered in sweat, breathing haggardly. What a nightmare. He didn't think his nightmares could get that horrible. It was almost as bad as that time he dreamed of Misty kissing Gary. Where the heck had that mental image come from anyway? While he did hate Team Rocket's guts he had never wanted them to die! Someone else might have contributed it to Ash having pigged out just before going to bed. But as a boy who spent most of his life dreaming, Ash had learned to recognize the significance of dreams. So what was the point?
Ash thought about how close to death he had come back in Viridian at the hands of Rocketeers, and Kimi's own brush with death with a follow of the other extreme. The dream might have had something to do with Misty's words from the day before and the revelation with Kimi's attack. The people who slandered his mother just after he left the hospital weren't after him. Not really. They weren't even after pokemon. They were 'after' period. Those had just been looking for someone, someTHING, to bash, to deface, to provoke. And Ash, being the headstrong kid that he was would have played right into their hands if Misty hadn't been there to help him see straight. Misty. She helped him out more times than he could count when he started on his adventure. Just about as often she put him down. And yet she stood by him through thick and thin. Funny, his relationship with Pikachu had been about the same way, first aggression, then necessarily, then friendship. What was the next step?
What was that faint whine? Though Ash had never heard one, the only real comparison would be the sound of a mosquito as it closed in on its target. Pikachu's ears perked and the little electric mouse rose from sleep hearing the same sound. It was getting loader, as it did, Ash could pick up different tones in it, they sounded familiar. After twenty three seconds of the noise rising in power Kimi and Misty woke up.
Misty off course was the first to complain. "What the heck is that?" Getting up Kimi looked around, trying to zero in on the noise. "I don't know." She put one hand on her hip and pointed in a direction. "But it's coming from that way." As you can guess, the source of the sound chose that moment to blast right behind Kimi's back, the drag wind causing the girl to turn her head to get a good look at the back side of tree very familiar pokemon thieves.
The sound was a constant, unwavering, triple sourced terror filled scream of cowardice whose makers raced right past Ash and crew without so much as a glance. It was doubtful the screamers even saw the trainers; they were blazing a trail right through the woods at a speed that would put the pioneers to shame as the huge dust cloud behind them laid testament to. Misty breathed out looking bored. "I wonder who caught them selling fake whatever this time."
Ash yawned hoping his dreams would be more peaceful this time around as he leaned back onto his sleeping bag. "Probably some imitation TMs or something like that. Unless it's a lynch mob be sure to give their chasers the right direction okay?"
Kimi and Misty sweat dropped as Ash went back to sleep. Ash had just entered dreamland when the roar of a jeep engine struck him back awake. He knew it was jeep engine because in half the intro time Jessie and James took with their yell, a black off road jeep with a red 'R' painted on it's hood came into the scene. The land rover was being driven by Butch, with Cassidy in shotgun.
Butch yelled to his partner clearly enjoying himself. "And you said I was stupid for bringing this along!"
Leaving deep tracks in the dirt the more experienced rockets drove off not even looking in the kids' direction.
Kimi wondered what that had all been about but decided to sleep on it, Ash got up again followed by Misty getting out of their night cloths and into their
normal attire as fast as possible. "What are you guys up to?" Kimi asked confused.
"We're going after them. Whenever Butch and Cassidy are around, it only means trouble. And it always of a worse kind than anything Jessie and James could come up with."
Kimi took this all in. "Butch and, you mean those Rockets who just went by us?"
Misty answered. "You got it."
"But I don't get it. They're all Rockets. Why are they fighting among themselves?"
"Butch and Cassidy seem to be favorites with Team Rocket, Jessie and James just the opposite. I think it's a sibling rivalry taken to it's extreme. I'll be honest: I DON'T know what makes them tick. But whenever those idiots are going up against Butch and Cassidy, it's never failed to pay off to help them."
"But they're the enemy!" Kimi exclaimed.
Ash looked her in the eye. "That doesn't mean we have to be as bad as they are." Uncharacteristically he remembered what had happened to her back in Viridian and pieces came together. Ash did what he always did, and what he could never figure out why it was so hard for other to do. He spoke from the heart. "Kimi. I know it hurts. I know you don't want to. That it would be easier to just let things play out so the people who hurt you were hurt back. But that's not right. And besides, life isn't meant to be easy."
Kimi sighed. Ash was right. It was funny how Ash could be so sense dense in the head, yet so soft in the head. Maybe that was what made him who he was. And Kimi had to admit, she wouldn't have him any other way. Looking down the trail the rockets had made she realized something else as well. "How are we ever going to catch up to them? We'll never run fast enough to meet up with them."
Ash flashed that crazy smile he got when he knew something an opponent didn't. "Who said we were going to run?"
Maybe he had gone crazy. "Huh?"
Ash just kept on smiling. "It pays to have friends everywhere."
While rocket white was giving Butch and Cassidy a run for their money, the simple fact remained that running through a dense forest in a straight line would sooner or later lead you straight into a "Dead end!" The ghoulish trio shouted as one. Indeed, their running had led them to a solid rock cliff. James, of course, tried a couple times to climb but it was no use, the rocks crumbled underneath his gloves, his couldn't get a grip, in any sense of the word, he was falling apart at the seems.
Death came on four spring-coiled tires their executioners exiting their vehicle.
"So." Said Butch in his frog voice. "Ready to die and raise the planet's average IQ a few points?"
James squeaked his adapt lying skills forsaking him at this time. "I-I-I I'm not s-scared of you Botch!"
The green haired man blinked and ranted so close to James' cowering face the lesser rocket could smell Butch's dinner. "It's Butch! Dammit! How many times do I need to tell you before it gets through that thick empty head of yours it's Butch! Butch! B-U-T-C-H!!"
"Calm down." Said Cassidy. "It's not like it going to matter in a few seconds anyway."
"That's what you said before they took off running last time."
"Oh shut up!" Cassidy was NOT going to fall under the same idiotic weakness of Team Rocket white and end up fighting with her partner in crime.
"I just want to enjoy the moment."
"Enjoy it AFTER the job's done! Now Radicate! They have nowhere to run this time. Ready! Aim! Fire!"
"Quick Attack!" A feathered hit the rat square in the jaw causing it fall over backwards its Hyper Beam hitting the jeep dead center. Butch and Cassidy looked at the flaming wreckage in disbelief for one second before looking at the cause of the giant cut that was going to be in their pay check that month.
Ash had like his friends first thought this was just the normal rocket in- fighting. But hearing Butch's words put this on a whole new level. This was no gang cockfight; it was going to be murder.
"Don't you dare take a step closer towards them." Ordered Ash and friends stepping off Pigeot. It had been a gamble that his friend would hear him. But he had had faith in her.
Cassidy couldn't believe it. Was this brat magnetically attracted to them or something? "Out of the way kid. This isn't any of your concern." Ash didn't move an inch. "You don't have the right to do this!"
"This is Rocket business!"
"How can you be so soulless?"
No one talked back to her! "Oh and you are so perfect, the incarnation of God on Earth fit to judge all who pass before you."
"I never said I was perfect, I never said I was God. I'm just doing what I have to do, save others."
"Trying to be a hero huh?!"
"You CAN'T make yourself a hero! Only other people can do that!"
"Then what are you doing?"
"Like I already said! Saving lives! From the likes of you!" Cassidy kept on sneering. "Oh the righteous and pure one whose the personification of the law!"
"I told you I never said I was pure! I get caught up in the moment. I don't think ahead as often I should. BUT I'M MORE PURE THAN YOU COLD BLOODED BASTARDS!"
"You little! Radicate! Change of targets! Hyber Beam the short little punk!"
"Pikachu! Thunder Storm!"
"Thunder Storm?" Indeed, three separate Thunder attacks all came down on the black rockets with more to follow, they didn't stop until Team Rocket Black with their pokemon were in a heap on the ground twitching.
"That . . ." Cassidy hissed. "That attack isn't approved by the Pokemon League!"
"I hope you can appreciate the irony of what you just said." Ash spat. "This wasn't a pokemon match! You were using your pokemon with the intent to murder someone!"
"I won't be talked down to by a little. . . ." Cassidy fainted.
The moment she did Ash got to his hands and knees and breathed in deep and out again, gathering himself. "Being a good person. Doesn't mean you have to be afraid to fight for what's right."
Misty put her hand on Ash's shoulder. "Ash it's okay." Misty didn't understand why Ash was like this. That fight had been over in a flash.
"It's just, everything she said to me . . . "
"Forget about her Ash. The corrupt always want to see the pure hearted in worst possible light. It's their way of telling themselves they're not all that bad."
Ash looked up in Misty's eyes. "Pure hearted? Me? But-"
Misty put a finger to his lips. "You make mistakes. You're human. You're not perfect. But you know what's right and what's wrong, and you do what's right. Or at least, that's what I believe."
Misty used her Poke Gear to call the local officer Jenny to pick up Rocket Black. The water type trainer didn't know why she and Kimi had just stood there when Ash faced off against Cassidy. She felt like it would have been intruding somehow. She didn't know, besides they had other things to deal with.
The rocket trio looked at the kids unbelieving. They had watched the entire event as if in a dream. But weren't dreams supposed to end? "You . . . saved us? Why? . . . "
Kimi spoke up since Ash didn't seem up to it. "If you have to ask . . . then you'll never understand."
"But . .. but . . but you try to kill us every time we meet! That's why you always have your electric mouse attack us!"
Misty was very proud of herself for not punching James' nose in. "Then why are you dummies still alive?"
The trio looked at each other stupidly. "Uh . . . can we get back to you on that . . . ?"
When the police officer and her team arrived they shipped the black rockets into the van on stretchers. Pikachu's attack had done a number on them.
"They attacked us first . . . " Butch mumbled as he was put in. Jenny rolled her eyes and thought. And Ho-Oh is a water type. She looked at Misty. "Seem like an open and shut case of self defense. I don't think you have anything to worry about. However I'll confess that this isn't the first time I've put these punks in a jail cell. They might be out in a few days if the normal cycle go through with them getting right to bail."
The white rockets all spoke as one. "We'll testify! We have dirt that'll put make sure they'll stay put!"
The human ones at least. "What are you doing!?!" Meowth screamed. "We can't tell them anything or the Boss will have our heads!"
"Shut up!" The rockets pushed their pokemon partner down. "The Boss has abandoned us! At least this way we'll be somewhere safe!"
"Bring them along." Said Jenny to her male officers.
After declining a ride from Jenny the three pokemon trainers and two pokemon found themselves alone again. Ash just keep looking at the ground from a close view. Ash was just sick of it. He was sick of taking beatings. And yet he was also sick of fighting back. Why couldn't any of them just leave him alone? He just wanted to live his life. Was that so wrong? So sick, so tired, if only he didn't need to fight. Misty looked into Ash's eyes. "Ash, are you okay?"
Ash sounded just like a child who had been lost all alone in the deep dark bad forest for too long. "I wanna go home." He pleaded.
"Don't worry Ash. We're also there. You're mom is there waiting for you you'll see. Now come on, let's keep going okay?"
Ash whispered. "Okay."
After giving Pigeot a farewell hug the crew began marching again upon restriving their camping supplies; they knew they weren't getting back to sleep tonight.
Kimi spoke up. "I still don't get something. You know Jessie and James are going to be back to trying to steal Pikachu before the week is out." Ash said without hesitation. "Yea."
"And they won't be any nicer to any of the people they con when they get out."
Ash repeated himself. "Yea."
"So what was the point of helping them like that?" Ash looked at Kimi in surprise. "Kimi." He started to say more but closed his mouth and looked on at the road ahead.
Kimi's own words came back to haunt her. [I] If you have to ask you'll never understand. [/I] Kimi was really glade she didn't have to look in a mirror any time soon as a single tear went down her face, unseen by the others since she was in the back of the pack. I won't cry anymore. I won't break anymore. One day at a time. That's all I can do. And I won't become what I hate.
Ash meanwhile now realized there would always be people like that, ones eager to believe the worst of others to make themselves feel better. Sickos who would rub other people's noses in the sickos' filth and call it justice. Those who would draw monsters on the mirror, and flash it in people's faces.
Ash looked at his own two hands. But as long as I have faith in myself, and those who care for me. I won't let their horrors worm into my soul and devour me from the inside out until I'm something as ugly and obscene as they are. I trust Misty. I trust my mother. They say I am good. I put my faith in them. I'll put my faith in those I love.
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Flames, rants, comments, reactions, reviews: good or bad, praise, denouement, suggestions (very welcome) and occasional constructive criticism all welcome.
But leave the four letter words at home: they make you look stupid, not me.
Please don't just write, 'MORE!' those reviews leave me kinda empty.
If you have an axe to grind with a review I wrote you, USE MY E-MAIL, I leave it open for a reason!
I've decided for story cannon to keep with Kimi since the name May is IMHO is a rip off of the name of Gary's sister in the magna.
Hats off to 'To Chance Your Death' for Ash's nightmare of M+G. Also hats off to Gargoyles and Gundam 8TH MS Team.
By the way, someone DID e-mail me a picture like what you're about to read! Some people are just sick! Thank you to ALL my reviewers for giving me the inspiration to continue this.
I know, I know, I still can't spell jack or pokemon names properly, so sue me.
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The way between Viridian and Pallet wasn't THAT far, but it was enough that without any wheeled transportation the foursome had to set-up camp half way through.
Misty had bought the latest version of the Poke Gear during the time she had waited for Ash to heal. It had a horde of new features. Not the least of which was wire-less e-mail service. One she was using right now as Kimi looked over her shoulder.
"What're you doing?"
"I'm writing Satoshi Tajiri an e-mail." She explained referring to the Pokemon game's designer. "Since I make an appearance in the Gold/Silver/Crystal games, I figure I can convince them to have me show up in the second season of Pokemon Advanced."
"If we make it that far. Yugioh is pretty much kicking our butts."
"Simpsons 'lost the magic' of being the latest thing years ago and they're still going strong."
"Point taken."
'Ruby' went back to star gazing as Ash concentrated as always on eating. As soon as Misty had finished sending the e-mail, she got a new message. It wasn't from anyone she knew, but her curiosity got the better of her caution when she read the subject.
-See how much the people like you-
She clicked on the e-mail. Misty covered her mouth and pushed the bile back down her throat. It was a drawing of her: naked, being gutted and dismembered by a bear sized pikachu. She deleted the e-mail and cleared her catch before Ash had a chance to see it. He would go on the warpath if he saw that. She had promised herself that she wouldn't let the sickos get to her anymore. And she aimed to keep it. But she knew Ash. He couldn't stand to watch innocents be wronged. That included in particular his friends and family.
Turning the gadget off she silently joined Kimi in stargazing. She thought about why so many people ranted about how stupid Ash was or how the writers rewrote things just to have him win. But no one ever said a single pep about other characters in other animes would were a lot like him but never got bashed.
"Gourry from Slayers is such an idiot. He always has to ask questions about everything!"
"If HE didn't ask questions about what was going on, then the audience would be left in the dark!"
"You know it funny. You know how often they've bent the rules in Yugioh to have Yami win? He beat Rare Hunter by forcing his opponent to play an Exsoida piece and used the trap card 'Chain Destruction'. But it's against game rules to HAVE more than one piece of each of Exsodia in your deck. Then he fought Pandora, Arcana, whatever, he summoned Dark Magician Girl with the Dark Curtin his opponent put onto the field, but in the real game, only the duelist who put Dark Curtin into play can use it. And never once have I heard anyone complain about HIM not being as good as others hype."
How did that line in the Jethro Tull song go? I might make you feel, but I can't make you think . . . Misty now realized the full truth of that statement. No matter what Ash said or did, those who thought he was retarded, weak, evil, all the negatives, would keep thinking that, and react violently to anyone who tried to contradict them.
Less than a mile away but getting closer, following Ash and friends the way a tail follows a Raichu, Team Rocket 'white' were running for their lives away from the far more skilled and able Team Rocket 'black'. The confrontation had started normally enough. But it had quickly turned worse than ugly.
"You losers have disgraced Team Rocket long enough." Cassidy had said right to their faces. (Right after the standard Rocketeer introduction of course.) "The Boss gave us orders to terminate you. He's sick of the black hole you three have made in Team Rocket's checkbook! All those giant robots don't come cheap you know!"
"We didn't use that many!"
Cassity rolled her eyes, and started counting off in her fingers. "The mecha Magicarp, the mecha Gayrados, the robot Wobbafett marks one and two, the Meowth power suit, the super Meowth battle robot, the robo-pincher, the giant steel Ryhorn, the fake Kangastar, the jumbo sized bug catcher." She had to start over. "The metal Stantler, those three digging robots, the Medapod tank, the Arbo-Tank, the robot Mercrow, the super Noctowl, PLUS all the weapons you barrowed and over the last four years you haven't managed to bring one useful pokemon back to Team Rocket HQ!"
"We caught plenty!"
"Then where are they . . . ?"
"Well, uh, . . . those cheating twerps took them all back!"
"Yea they always cheat! They use stronger pokemon than we got or always think of smart ways to use weak ones to beat us! It's not fair! They think just because we steal everything that we should give it all back! It's just wrong I tell ya!"
"So in other words . . . they're better than you."
"That's not true! We've just never been to beat them in a face to face conflict!"
Cassidy groaned. "How did you moron even make it into Team Rocket? At least it won't matter in ten seconds."
"Huh?"
"Radacate. Hyper Beam!"
Luckily for Jessie, James and Meowth, they had gotten plenty of practice running from all the angry mobs that always came after them whenever the rockets pulled one of their money making cons. Thus the Hyper Beam only scorched the heels of Jessie and James boots, but Butch and Cassidy were not ones to ever give up easy. Plus, squashing bugs was something Cassidy had always enjoyed as a child, and she saw this assignment in the same light.
The blond grinned. "Now this is the fun part."
The masked man said nothing. He only used the flamethrower on the rocket trio. Ash would have done anything just so he didn't have to hear those screams. Even more so not to have see the ghastly imagine being forced through his eyes. He tried to close them but they refused, he tried to cover them but his arms were limb at his sides ignoring him. Even as the rocket's flesh was still melting from their bones, the masked man turned the weapon on Ash and his companions.
It was amazing Ash didn't scream when he woke up. Instead he was just covered in sweat, breathing haggardly. What a nightmare. He didn't think his nightmares could get that horrible. It was almost as bad as that time he dreamed of Misty kissing Gary. Where the heck had that mental image come from anyway? While he did hate Team Rocket's guts he had never wanted them to die! Someone else might have contributed it to Ash having pigged out just before going to bed. But as a boy who spent most of his life dreaming, Ash had learned to recognize the significance of dreams. So what was the point?
Ash thought about how close to death he had come back in Viridian at the hands of Rocketeers, and Kimi's own brush with death with a follow of the other extreme. The dream might have had something to do with Misty's words from the day before and the revelation with Kimi's attack. The people who slandered his mother just after he left the hospital weren't after him. Not really. They weren't even after pokemon. They were 'after' period. Those had just been looking for someone, someTHING, to bash, to deface, to provoke. And Ash, being the headstrong kid that he was would have played right into their hands if Misty hadn't been there to help him see straight. Misty. She helped him out more times than he could count when he started on his adventure. Just about as often she put him down. And yet she stood by him through thick and thin. Funny, his relationship with Pikachu had been about the same way, first aggression, then necessarily, then friendship. What was the next step?
What was that faint whine? Though Ash had never heard one, the only real comparison would be the sound of a mosquito as it closed in on its target. Pikachu's ears perked and the little electric mouse rose from sleep hearing the same sound. It was getting loader, as it did, Ash could pick up different tones in it, they sounded familiar. After twenty three seconds of the noise rising in power Kimi and Misty woke up.
Misty off course was the first to complain. "What the heck is that?" Getting up Kimi looked around, trying to zero in on the noise. "I don't know." She put one hand on her hip and pointed in a direction. "But it's coming from that way." As you can guess, the source of the sound chose that moment to blast right behind Kimi's back, the drag wind causing the girl to turn her head to get a good look at the back side of tree very familiar pokemon thieves.
The sound was a constant, unwavering, triple sourced terror filled scream of cowardice whose makers raced right past Ash and crew without so much as a glance. It was doubtful the screamers even saw the trainers; they were blazing a trail right through the woods at a speed that would put the pioneers to shame as the huge dust cloud behind them laid testament to. Misty breathed out looking bored. "I wonder who caught them selling fake whatever this time."
Ash yawned hoping his dreams would be more peaceful this time around as he leaned back onto his sleeping bag. "Probably some imitation TMs or something like that. Unless it's a lynch mob be sure to give their chasers the right direction okay?"
Kimi and Misty sweat dropped as Ash went back to sleep. Ash had just entered dreamland when the roar of a jeep engine struck him back awake. He knew it was jeep engine because in half the intro time Jessie and James took with their yell, a black off road jeep with a red 'R' painted on it's hood came into the scene. The land rover was being driven by Butch, with Cassidy in shotgun.
Butch yelled to his partner clearly enjoying himself. "And you said I was stupid for bringing this along!"
Leaving deep tracks in the dirt the more experienced rockets drove off not even looking in the kids' direction.
Kimi wondered what that had all been about but decided to sleep on it, Ash got up again followed by Misty getting out of their night cloths and into their
normal attire as fast as possible. "What are you guys up to?" Kimi asked confused.
"We're going after them. Whenever Butch and Cassidy are around, it only means trouble. And it always of a worse kind than anything Jessie and James could come up with."
Kimi took this all in. "Butch and, you mean those Rockets who just went by us?"
Misty answered. "You got it."
"But I don't get it. They're all Rockets. Why are they fighting among themselves?"
"Butch and Cassidy seem to be favorites with Team Rocket, Jessie and James just the opposite. I think it's a sibling rivalry taken to it's extreme. I'll be honest: I DON'T know what makes them tick. But whenever those idiots are going up against Butch and Cassidy, it's never failed to pay off to help them."
"But they're the enemy!" Kimi exclaimed.
Ash looked her in the eye. "That doesn't mean we have to be as bad as they are." Uncharacteristically he remembered what had happened to her back in Viridian and pieces came together. Ash did what he always did, and what he could never figure out why it was so hard for other to do. He spoke from the heart. "Kimi. I know it hurts. I know you don't want to. That it would be easier to just let things play out so the people who hurt you were hurt back. But that's not right. And besides, life isn't meant to be easy."
Kimi sighed. Ash was right. It was funny how Ash could be so sense dense in the head, yet so soft in the head. Maybe that was what made him who he was. And Kimi had to admit, she wouldn't have him any other way. Looking down the trail the rockets had made she realized something else as well. "How are we ever going to catch up to them? We'll never run fast enough to meet up with them."
Ash flashed that crazy smile he got when he knew something an opponent didn't. "Who said we were going to run?"
Maybe he had gone crazy. "Huh?"
Ash just kept on smiling. "It pays to have friends everywhere."
While rocket white was giving Butch and Cassidy a run for their money, the simple fact remained that running through a dense forest in a straight line would sooner or later lead you straight into a "Dead end!" The ghoulish trio shouted as one. Indeed, their running had led them to a solid rock cliff. James, of course, tried a couple times to climb but it was no use, the rocks crumbled underneath his gloves, his couldn't get a grip, in any sense of the word, he was falling apart at the seems.
Death came on four spring-coiled tires their executioners exiting their vehicle.
"So." Said Butch in his frog voice. "Ready to die and raise the planet's average IQ a few points?"
James squeaked his adapt lying skills forsaking him at this time. "I-I-I I'm not s-scared of you Botch!"
The green haired man blinked and ranted so close to James' cowering face the lesser rocket could smell Butch's dinner. "It's Butch! Dammit! How many times do I need to tell you before it gets through that thick empty head of yours it's Butch! Butch! B-U-T-C-H!!"
"Calm down." Said Cassidy. "It's not like it going to matter in a few seconds anyway."
"That's what you said before they took off running last time."
"Oh shut up!" Cassidy was NOT going to fall under the same idiotic weakness of Team Rocket white and end up fighting with her partner in crime.
"I just want to enjoy the moment."
"Enjoy it AFTER the job's done! Now Radicate! They have nowhere to run this time. Ready! Aim! Fire!"
"Quick Attack!" A feathered hit the rat square in the jaw causing it fall over backwards its Hyper Beam hitting the jeep dead center. Butch and Cassidy looked at the flaming wreckage in disbelief for one second before looking at the cause of the giant cut that was going to be in their pay check that month.
Ash had like his friends first thought this was just the normal rocket in- fighting. But hearing Butch's words put this on a whole new level. This was no gang cockfight; it was going to be murder.
"Don't you dare take a step closer towards them." Ordered Ash and friends stepping off Pigeot. It had been a gamble that his friend would hear him. But he had had faith in her.
Cassidy couldn't believe it. Was this brat magnetically attracted to them or something? "Out of the way kid. This isn't any of your concern." Ash didn't move an inch. "You don't have the right to do this!"
"This is Rocket business!"
"How can you be so soulless?"
No one talked back to her! "Oh and you are so perfect, the incarnation of God on Earth fit to judge all who pass before you."
"I never said I was perfect, I never said I was God. I'm just doing what I have to do, save others."
"Trying to be a hero huh?!"
"You CAN'T make yourself a hero! Only other people can do that!"
"Then what are you doing?"
"Like I already said! Saving lives! From the likes of you!" Cassidy kept on sneering. "Oh the righteous and pure one whose the personification of the law!"
"I told you I never said I was pure! I get caught up in the moment. I don't think ahead as often I should. BUT I'M MORE PURE THAN YOU COLD BLOODED BASTARDS!"
"You little! Radicate! Change of targets! Hyber Beam the short little punk!"
"Pikachu! Thunder Storm!"
"Thunder Storm?" Indeed, three separate Thunder attacks all came down on the black rockets with more to follow, they didn't stop until Team Rocket Black with their pokemon were in a heap on the ground twitching.
"That . . ." Cassidy hissed. "That attack isn't approved by the Pokemon League!"
"I hope you can appreciate the irony of what you just said." Ash spat. "This wasn't a pokemon match! You were using your pokemon with the intent to murder someone!"
"I won't be talked down to by a little. . . ." Cassidy fainted.
The moment she did Ash got to his hands and knees and breathed in deep and out again, gathering himself. "Being a good person. Doesn't mean you have to be afraid to fight for what's right."
Misty put her hand on Ash's shoulder. "Ash it's okay." Misty didn't understand why Ash was like this. That fight had been over in a flash.
"It's just, everything she said to me . . . "
"Forget about her Ash. The corrupt always want to see the pure hearted in worst possible light. It's their way of telling themselves they're not all that bad."
Ash looked up in Misty's eyes. "Pure hearted? Me? But-"
Misty put a finger to his lips. "You make mistakes. You're human. You're not perfect. But you know what's right and what's wrong, and you do what's right. Or at least, that's what I believe."
Misty used her Poke Gear to call the local officer Jenny to pick up Rocket Black. The water type trainer didn't know why she and Kimi had just stood there when Ash faced off against Cassidy. She felt like it would have been intruding somehow. She didn't know, besides they had other things to deal with.
The rocket trio looked at the kids unbelieving. They had watched the entire event as if in a dream. But weren't dreams supposed to end? "You . . . saved us? Why? . . . "
Kimi spoke up since Ash didn't seem up to it. "If you have to ask . . . then you'll never understand."
"But . .. but . . but you try to kill us every time we meet! That's why you always have your electric mouse attack us!"
Misty was very proud of herself for not punching James' nose in. "Then why are you dummies still alive?"
The trio looked at each other stupidly. "Uh . . . can we get back to you on that . . . ?"
When the police officer and her team arrived they shipped the black rockets into the van on stretchers. Pikachu's attack had done a number on them.
"They attacked us first . . . " Butch mumbled as he was put in. Jenny rolled her eyes and thought. And Ho-Oh is a water type. She looked at Misty. "Seem like an open and shut case of self defense. I don't think you have anything to worry about. However I'll confess that this isn't the first time I've put these punks in a jail cell. They might be out in a few days if the normal cycle go through with them getting right to bail."
The white rockets all spoke as one. "We'll testify! We have dirt that'll put make sure they'll stay put!"
The human ones at least. "What are you doing!?!" Meowth screamed. "We can't tell them anything or the Boss will have our heads!"
"Shut up!" The rockets pushed their pokemon partner down. "The Boss has abandoned us! At least this way we'll be somewhere safe!"
"Bring them along." Said Jenny to her male officers.
After declining a ride from Jenny the three pokemon trainers and two pokemon found themselves alone again. Ash just keep looking at the ground from a close view. Ash was just sick of it. He was sick of taking beatings. And yet he was also sick of fighting back. Why couldn't any of them just leave him alone? He just wanted to live his life. Was that so wrong? So sick, so tired, if only he didn't need to fight. Misty looked into Ash's eyes. "Ash, are you okay?"
Ash sounded just like a child who had been lost all alone in the deep dark bad forest for too long. "I wanna go home." He pleaded.
"Don't worry Ash. We're also there. You're mom is there waiting for you you'll see. Now come on, let's keep going okay?"
Ash whispered. "Okay."
After giving Pigeot a farewell hug the crew began marching again upon restriving their camping supplies; they knew they weren't getting back to sleep tonight.
Kimi spoke up. "I still don't get something. You know Jessie and James are going to be back to trying to steal Pikachu before the week is out." Ash said without hesitation. "Yea."
"And they won't be any nicer to any of the people they con when they get out."
Ash repeated himself. "Yea."
"So what was the point of helping them like that?" Ash looked at Kimi in surprise. "Kimi." He started to say more but closed his mouth and looked on at the road ahead.
Kimi's own words came back to haunt her. [I] If you have to ask you'll never understand. [/I] Kimi was really glade she didn't have to look in a mirror any time soon as a single tear went down her face, unseen by the others since she was in the back of the pack. I won't cry anymore. I won't break anymore. One day at a time. That's all I can do. And I won't become what I hate.
Ash meanwhile now realized there would always be people like that, ones eager to believe the worst of others to make themselves feel better. Sickos who would rub other people's noses in the sickos' filth and call it justice. Those who would draw monsters on the mirror, and flash it in people's faces.
Ash looked at his own two hands. But as long as I have faith in myself, and those who care for me. I won't let their horrors worm into my soul and devour me from the inside out until I'm something as ugly and obscene as they are. I trust Misty. I trust my mother. They say I am good. I put my faith in them. I'll put my faith in those I love.
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