Thanks to everyone who loved and commented on this story so far. It has been a long time since I have been able to update, but personal lives get the best of everyone. Flavors of Cafemocha is a project I have enjoyed making. The concept was born out of the idea of Cafemocha referencing both the pairing and the bitter sweet nature of this story. In it is the the protagonist couple Ash and Dent and the Antagonist couple Meowth and Pikachu. Both the sweetness of the original stories setting and the bitterness of the characters lives was a dynamic that was particularly thrilling for me, and I hope others appreciated it as well. These next few chapters are going to come to the conclusion, so if your interested, then I will be posting these chapters hopefully within the next few weeks.

Dent:

When we went to Nacrene city, there was a few things I was expecting would happen. I wanted Ash and I to go sight seeing and look at all the art they had to offer, we were going to go to the museum and I was going to show off there by knowing everything and in my minds eye Ash was going to swoon and say how wonderful and smart I was, course Ash wasn't really like that on most days, but sometimes I liked to embellish just how cute he was. We were going to have a romantic day, take his mind off of Pikachu for a little while, he had been stressing about it so much lately it was giving the poor guy nightmares, I had to hold him a few nights from these fits of screaming he was having, yelling Pikachu's name out into the woods. I figured he would have a hard time at night without him, but not knowing what was happening to his pokemon was turning him inside out. It may of been selfish of me, but I wanted today to just be about us, not about Pikachu...I feel cold hearted even just thinking that.

However whatever plans I had were ruined when we were met on the road down to Nacrene by a blockade of cop vehicles and officer Jenny. That hum we were hearing coming out of the woods was News choppers, apparently something had happened over in there. I thought we were going to be turned around, however a cop looked at a photo and pointed at ash, all the cops at once moved in and pulled their firearms, Ash and I both threw are hands up with dumbfounded expressions

"PLEASE PUT YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD AND GET ON YOUR KNEES, YOU ARE UNDER ARREST"

"What why? What did I do?" Ash yelled out from his position. The cops quickly came in and took our pokeballs and put us in handcuffs, Jenny moved in and lifted Ash up.
"We want to talk with you at the station about a string of crimes, last one being here at our museum"
Ash's eyes widened "I had nothing to do with whatever this is, what are you talking about"
Jenny dryly laughed "we'll see about that"
I could hardly believe what was going on, I had never been arrested in my life, but I had the strangest feeling I knew exactly what this was about...Pikachu

Ash:

I was sitting in a cold room with nothing but a table and two chairs, a swaying lamp on the ceiling was the only light I had. It was an interrogation room, just like in the movies. If i was not scared out of my mind I would of thought this was cool. I had done manythings over my journeys, but this was a new experience for me, in fact this whole journey had been the darkest scariest ride I had ever encountered...everything else seemed to be so bright and sunny before.

Jenny walked in with a burly cop and sat down in front of me with a large Menella folder.

"Ash Ketchum, fourteen, a pokemon trainer from Kanto, Pallet town"

"Yes That is right, what is this about?" I said, trying to keep my voice level.

"You know something Ash" Jenny said looking up at me, she looked eerie in this lighting, but just like any one of her siblings "I talked with my cousins and sisters, and a fair majority of them seem to know who you are, did you know that?"
I nodded, a little dumbstruck that they had all remembered me

the folder opened up, pictures came out...all of them photos of me and team rocket battling it out, there had to of been hundreds of them there, they could take up several of these tables. and these were not all of the times either, just the ones that happened in public, seeing them all like that made me realize how much apart of my life the were the past four years

"Care to explain to me why each and every one of them that knew you also said they also had an incident with team rocket...and that you seemed to 'magically' be there to 'save' the day, every time? Were talking Kanto, Jhoto, Islands, Cruises..." each thing she listed she stacked dozens of photos and police reports, you could of daigramed my entire journey with the amount of evidence they had

'uh..." This was not good

"Also..." she went on, stopping me in my tracks "Could you tell me why its always these two? It cant be a coincidence that the three of you frequented all the same locations in almost four years"

"What are you getting at, are you accusing me of something?"

"We have had terrorist activity in this region for some time now, and the perpetrators happen to be the same ones who followed you around, now I have one of them dead in my Museum and I want to know why"

My eyes couldn't of opened wider if I tried "What? Who was it? Was it Jesse or James?" I knew that did not help me

"On a first name basis with them hmm?" she said with a raised eyebrow "You look awfully concerned about terrorists All the departments claimed you 'fought'" she flicked the folder at me. It took a moment to open it, cause I did not believe what she had just said. One of team rocket was dead? Jesse and James had been a part of my life so long that the idea of them being dead was something I couldn't accept it. The folder shook as I opened it, and the pallid face of James came into view. He looked more peaceful than the last time I had seen him, but there were burned holes in his chest. each photo revealed his body, the autopsy, notes, I was laughing and tearing up at the same time, I didn't know how to react.
"Uh...this cant be real...your just...making this up to get me to talk..." my body was shaking as I cracked a smile, the salty taste of tears came into my mouth as it flowed freely "you...you cant kill them...they just blast off...over and over again..." everything was wrong...

"Make this easier on yourself Ash, I can tell your not a bad kid" the man said, leaning in to the light so I could see him "Did these people make you work with them in all these places, maybe distract the athorities with a big show while the real heist went on?"

I shook my head violently and slammed the envelope on the table "Its nothing like that I swear, they followed me around, they wanted my Pikachu"

Jenny lifted up another photo "This Pikachu?"

I swiped the photo, it was a little fussy, but it was pikachu in some custom team rocket uniform, blood on its face and claws standing next to meowth, they looked like they were running away. My mind was getting foggy now, my vision blurred in and out at the sight of my buddy covered in blood and black cloth, my eyes were starting to dilate

"Wha..." I could feel something coming, a frothing rageing storm of emotion, it was all I could do to keep it in

"Don't tell me you didn't know, we informed your traveling partner awhile back about your pikachu being sighted by our crew, It fried a score of cop cars and killed a dozen of our men with electricity, not to mention all the..."

I got up from my chair "Wait, you told Dent? When?" They looked at each other and gave a little nod, i knew I must look like a sniveling kid, but I didn't care "WHAT IS GOING ON! SOMEONE ANSWER ME NOW!" I was screaming hoarsely, my eyes must of been little pinpoints by now

"Please sit down" the man said, pushing me down gently "it was when you were in the hospital... why were they after your Pikachu Ash?"

I tried to gain my composure, this was a rather obvious good cop bad cop rutine, but I had to remain calm, though anger welled up in me towards dent, how could he not tell me something this important.

"He's special..." I said quietly, looking down at the photo, choking out the syllables, I missed him so much, and I missed what we had, I missed the happy times, the gym battles, the days before I came to this aweful place

"You mean a national security threat" Jenny said "That thing is far stronger than what is typical for one of those kinds, did they give you some experiment to test out on Giant robots before you do a feild test on our boys in blue" I flashed my attention to her, my lips pulling back in a feral growl as I gripped the table, my shoulders bunching as the man tried to keep me under control

"NO! I GOT PIKACHU FROM PROFESSOR OAK!"

Jenny and the man looked at each other "I know the standard pokemon from that region, Charmander, Squirttle and Bulbasaur, there is no super powered pikachu in that rauster, especially not for a starter pokemon"

"Oak gave him to me cause he didn't have starter pokemon there"

everything was wrong

"You expect me to believe that" Jenny said

I wanted Pikachu back

"You must understand Ash, This is all sounding vary suspicious, especially since you have had so much contact with Team rocket during your travels.'

"CALL HIM, CALL PROFESSOR OAK, HE'LL TELL YOU, ALL I WANT IS MY DAM PIKACHU BACK, WHERE IS HE! TELL ME!"

I had lost it, the two of them were grabbing me and holding me down, I didn't care about anything anymore, knowing that Pikachu was with Team rocket and James is dead, not to mention Dent keeping things from me, it was all too much for me to think clearly, before they could detain me I Had swung a fist at the mans face, hearing his nose crunch before they tackled me to the ground, all I could yell after that was Pikachu's name, over and over again, other officers came in to keep me down

I needed to get out of here

needed to find Pikachu

**The Night before**

Pikachu:
At first, I hated Meowth. I thought he was pure evil, wanting to split me up from Ash and kill everyone. But as I got to know him these past few weeks, going on missions, following orders, and our times at night when we were all alone, I realized something.

He was terribly lonely, and I `was all he had left. A day didn't go buy when he didn't call himself a freak, and the clothes he was using to cover himself up was working less and less. I was beginning to suspect that he did not have six months like he was telling me, and perhaps he was a lot closer to deaths door than even he knew.

I wasn't on the mission with him this time, I was sitting with James. I saw him on the monitor, Jesse and Meowth moved in unison as they shifted through the Museum. James had been reprogrammed, some kind of super computer now who knew how to go through the motions of hacking mainframes. I was sad for Meowth, his only friends were shells of who they were. With Ash I was growing distant with him, but Meowth, he had them around him all the time, but they might as well of been dead bodies. They did not even have their pokemon with them, nothing to connect them with their previous life, just the next mission kept them going.

"I have complete control of the security system, I can give you twenty seconds to get to the meteorite and retreive it" Said James into his mike. His voice had none of the camp, none of the flamboyancy that he had before, his face did not crack any kind of expression. It gave me the chills just thinking what they could of done to Jesse and James to cause them to loose everything. It made my nights with Meowth seem like a Cakewalk.

"We only need ten" Meowth said on the monitor, though he tried to hide it I knew the pain in his voice. I was the only one he could talk to now, the only one who he could vent his pent up emotions. I knew it was not good to keep everything inside, I had done that with Ash and I ended up hurting him...I was being so selfish when I was with him...I should of been happy for him, supportive, I let my blind hate for Dent and my own pathetic inferriority get in the way of our relationship. Despite what meowth thought, it was all my fault in the end.

James hit a series of keys, and then the duo in the Museum made there move. Jesse moved with mechanical grace she never had when she was normal, flipping effortlessly and simultaneously taking the Meteorite and placing the decoy right where it lay before alighting back onto her feet and down the hall. Meowth had removed the case and pulled a simular feat, but with his decaying body he did not waist his movements on frilly tricks.

The mission was complete, I couldn't help but feel pride for them, for that moment I was part of their little gang, even if it was only a shadow of them, I even did a little paw pump in the air and exclaimed, but James took no notice. He was to occupied with something.
"I am picking up some kind of psychic disturbance in the Museum Jesse, get the meteorite to safety"

Jesse nodded, however suits of armor came out of nowhere, and a scream issued from another place in the museum. I got close to the monitor, the museum seemed to come alive as if it was possessed, haunted. If this was regular team rocket, I could see them squealing and running in terror, but Jesse pivoted and kicked the haunted suits of armor, weaving through them with true martial artists grace. Meowth was doing likewise, using an ax one dropped and the guns they had on hand to shoot them, though both seemed to do little.
"James, explain" Jesse said, ramming her knee into the brest plate of one and snapping up to kick its head off "It appears to be emanating from a singular source...probable cause; a pokemon of psychic or ghost origin, there is another presence in the building, if he spots you nutralize him, otherwise get out of there immediatly' there was no urgency in his voice, just mearly stating facts like the computer he was working on.
"Meowth..." I whispered, wringing my hands at the sight, hoping he didnt get hurt...I know he had done terrible things, I know I should probably hate him...but when I knew what really happened, when I knew why Meowth was the way he was, it took away anything bad I could of felt for him.
Someone in a tie and button up shirt barreled down the hall as Jesse made for the exit, she didnt even look at him when she pulled the trigger, knocking him back as Meowth and she made her escape.
James was working on something, as I looked I had a hunch he was trying to find the source of the disturbance "Its here" he said, promptly getting out of his seat and pulling out his gun A mask was there, outside of the car, floating of its own free will "can you fight?" he asked me I shook my head, not unless Meowth let me, at the moment I was weak and held back he went outside and shot at it point blank, Jesse and james were heading for the car "Get into the van, the priority is the Meteorite, I'll rendezvous with you later"
she nodded, but before she could the cracked mask fastened itself onto James.

"JAMES!" Meowth yelled, Jesse looked at him coldly as he walked towards them, possessed by some unearthly power "Agent James has been compromised" She said simply before raising her gun and pulling the trigger, shooting him in the chest four times, each one ripping out of James back, spattering blood onto me as I watched in horror. I was in shock as he fell down, the mask flew off him and revealed itself to be a Yamask before flying off in fright. Jessy calmly walked past him and got into the driver seat with the meteorite

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

I had never heard such an anguished yell in my life, Meowth rushed at James and flipped him over, shaking his head

"DAMMIT, DAMMIT, DAMMIT! WAKE UP YOU BASTARD!"
James was still holding on by a hair, I walked over and stood behind Meowth, still covered in his blood as the van started up

"M...Meowth?" James rasped, the first sign of recognition in his voice that entire time Meowth's eyes dilated and flooded as he realised his friend had come back

"where...where are we...why do I feel cold..."

"Just...just shut up you idiot..." Meowth hugged his friends head, not being able to hear his friends real voice in so long, and now only hearing it in his last dying breaths, I couldn't begin to imagine what that was doing to him, I had nothing to relate with him on...it was like he saw his friend die twice "Meowth, the mission is complete.."
"F*CK YOU! GET OUT OF HERE, GO DO YOUR DAM MISSION"
She nodded impassively and drove off

"Meowth...she loves you...we both do...never forget it"

Meowth shook his head and covered his face with his paw, he was snapping mentally, he wasn't exactly stable to begin with.

James died there...

the man Jesse had shot had snapped a photo of us just before we left, but I had no idea where we were going, what Meowth had planned anymore

...I just knew that he wanted me with him

...to what ever end it may be.