Rose signing on.

Ok. I know I haven’t added a part in a while, so sue me (no, not really). I’ve had a lot (and I mean a lot!) of trig. homework and I just can’t figure it out! But here it is! I finally perfected this part (after several tries on that stupid song bit) and it is ready for publication!

Now for the legal mumbo jumbo. I don’t own Pocket Monsters, any of it’s characters, or Misty’s Song (although I would LOVE to own that song). I do own Professor Rose Thorn, her Pocket Monsters’ nicknames, and her absolutely fabulous singing voice (modeled after my own I might add. Tee hee! No, I’m serious. Seriously).

I want everyone to note that this part is a whopping seven, count them, seven pages long! Mostly because of the song. I don’t plan on adding another song, so the rest will round to about two pages each (if you took the time to count). But anyways... I am please to report that although I have been typing and retyping (and retyping and retyping...) Part 11, I have Part 15 completed (but not proofed). So I hope that I can put parts 12 through 15 up soon. So be patient and you will be rewarded, and generously I might add. It’s kinda unfair that you get to read this for the first time and I already know what’s going on. I wish I could read it for the first time! But I’m rambling. Onward! To the mushy stuff! And don’t say that I didn’t warn ya!

A Brief Moment in Time

I had avoided conversation with Brock on the rest of the trip to Ecruteak City, but we made eye contact several times. His face wore concern every time.

“Um, Misty…?” She turns to me.

“Yea?”

Maybe I could talk to her. She’s a girl after all. And she might be able to help. “Misty? Um… I, I have a… a guy problem.”

She raises an eyebrow at my statement.

“I mean, you have a guy problems too, right? One in particular.” I give a half smile.

Her eyes grow wide.

“How did you-”

“I just can tell. It’s kinda obvious.”

“Yea, well…” she looks down at the ground in front of her.

I smile wide. I have the chance to set up the most well known love story of my time. “It’s not my fault that he’s just so… so thickheaded!” her face changes into a deep frown.

“It’s one of the things you like about him, isn’t it?”

“…yea…” she gives a small smile.

“Misty. Here is a piece of advice that it would be wise not to ignore.” I put a hand on her shoulder. “Be honest with him.” I take my hand back and pause in realization. I close my eyes. “Maybe I should follow my own advice too.”

I look back up at Misty and give her a sly smile. Since I know that she won’t do it on her own, I’ll give her a slight ‘push’.

@---}-----

“We’re finally here!” exclaims Ash.

“Finally, my feet are killing me.” adds Misty.

“Pika… chu.” “Toge toge piiii!”

“How can you do this everyday?!” moans James.

“It would be faster and easier if we weren’t stopped everyday by a certain trio.”

“We wouldn’t keep doing it if you would just give us Pikachu!” says Jesse.

“Okay! Knock it off! Just be glad that we’re here and we can rest.” I quickly end the argument. Everyone was cranky from traveling the entire day. I don’t blame them, my feet are killing me and we haven’t had dinner yet.

“Let’s just get to the Pokemon Center and rest up for the night.” says Brock. We enter the entrance of the Center.

“Hello, and welcome to Ecruteak City’s Pokemon Center.” says a Nurse Joy.

“Hi Nurse Joy, we need our Pokemon healed and we need a place to stay tonight.”

She smiles kindly. “Alright, I need the Pokemon and their Trainer’s ID please.”

Ash, Misty, and Brock place Pikachu, Togepi and their Pokeballs on the counter.

“Uh…” Jesse, James and I exchange glances. They were thinking the same thing I was. They couldn’t heal their Pokemon because they’re wanted by the Police AND Team Rocket. But me. I can’t heal mine because I don’t exists. I haven’t even been born yet.

“We’ll just… grab some Potions from the Mart. They’ll be fine.”

Jesse and James hastily agree and we back up several feet.

“Are you sure your Pokemon will be all right?” Nurse Joy asks.

“Yes, they’ll be fine.”

“Alright…” She turns with the tray full of Pokemon and exits into the back room.

I collapse on a long couch and sigh deeply.

That was close.

@---}-----

We had just finished eating dinner and decided to relax.

I was in the middle of petting Moonlight, who had her head on my leg, with one hand, and with the other I scratched my Pikachu’s ear, talking to Misty, when I see Ash quietly slip out of the Center.

Now where was he going?

I get up, much to Moonlight and Pikachu’s dismay, and go to the window.

He was going in the direction of the Tower. Why would he go there for?

“Misty, come here.” I call to her. She got up from her spot on the couch and to my side.

“Rose?” she asks uncertainly.

“Did you notice that Ash just left?”

“No, but where would he be going at this time of the night?”

“To the tower.”

“Why would he be going there for?” she gives me a questioning look.

“Don’t know, but we’re going to find out.” I turn around and recall Moonlight. Pikachu will have to stay. I trust that Jesse, James, and Meowth won’t steal him.

“What?!”

“We’re going to follow him.”

“But why?!”

“I want to know why he going there.” I go to the counter, where Brock was hitting (pretty hard too) on Nurse Joy. “Brock!”

He jumped at my voice then turned around to show a blushing face.

I wave a hand and shrug it away. “Come on lover boy, we have a mystery to solve.”

@---}-----

The small group had made their way to the tower without seeing Ash. Where would I go in a tower at night?

We enter the first floor, examining it as we walk through it. Ash wasn’t there. We continued to search each floor until we reached the second to the top floor. He was standing against the window seal, his hat in hand, looking out at who knows what. But what concerned me was the look of sadness he had on his face.

I look at Misty, but she didn’t notice my look. So I nudged her. When she finally gave me her attention I try, without words, to convince her to go and talk to Ash. After several tries she relentlessly agrees.

Why is she treating this as a punishment! I’m doing her a favor!

As she lightly steps to the window I grab Brock’s arm and motion up. We’ll be able to hear better there.

When we reach the rail Brock and I hear the start of their conversation.

“Ash?”

“Misty? What are you doing here? How did you find me?”

“I followed you.”

A brief silence.

“Why did you come here Ash?”

“Well... it’s...” a slight pause. “It’s kinda difficult to explain. Mostly I came here to think.”

“About what? Team Rocket?”

“...yea... and something else too...”

“What?”

“About how this suddenly happened right after we meet Rose. Somehow I think they’re connected, that Rose just told us part of the story.”

Another pause.

“I’m not sure if I can trust her.”

A silence feels the air.

“Do you trust me Ash?”

“What?”

“Do you trust me?”

“Of course I do Myst.”

“Then trust me when I say that you can trust in Rose. She’s--” she cuts herself off, then continues. “It’s like she knows about us. Even the things we knew no one else knew of.”

There was another long silence.

“Is that the only reason you came up here?”

“No. The view from here is the most beau-, no second most beautiful thing I’ve seen in my life. The stars twinkle like diamonds and the full moon shines it’s soft glow on everything.”

Wow! He’s deep! People way underestimate him and his thick-headedness!

Hmm... what if...

I smile wide. Brock catches it and gives me a questioning look.

What are you thinking about? he asks with his expression on his face.

Relax, I say mentally, I’m just going to ‘help’ a little. I see him quietly groan.

This’ll be fun! I close my eyes as I try to remember the melody.

@---}-----

“Out here in the quiet of the night,

Beneath the stars and the moon.”

“What’s that?” I hear a smack, but no yelling. I’m assuming Misty smacked herself in the face in realization of what I was doing.

“It’s Rose.”

“Rose? What’s she doing here?”

“She singing. Maybe she doesn’t know we’re here.”

“Oh. I guess this is the way she relaxes.”

“We both know we got something on our minds,

We won’t admit,

But it’s true.”

“Ash?”

“Yea?”

“What did you mean by the second most beautiful thing you’ve seen in your life? What’s the first?”

There was a silence.

“It’s Rose.”

“NO! I mean, no, she isn’t.”

“You look at me,

I look away.”

“Sorry I yelled Misty. It’s just that that suggestion surprised me.”

“It’s... okay.”

There was a silence once more. (aren’t you getting tired of these? tee hee!)

“So? What is it?”

There was a short pause. “... well, it’s... a... girl. I met her a long time ago.”

“I wanna tell you what I’m feeling but I don’t know how to start,

I wanna tell you but now I’m afraid that you might break my heart,

Oh why does anything so easy ever be so hard to do?

I wanna tell you what I’m feeling and to say that,

I love you.”

“You never stopped liking her?”

“Nah. Even if she is far away, she’s still close to my heart.”

“I practice all the thing that I could say,

line by line,

every word.”

“So who is she?”

“You wouldn’t know her.” Wanna bet?

“We’ve been in Pallet several time that I should know her by now. Tell me.”

“Nah.”

“Come on tell me. I can keep a secret.”

“I tell myself today could be the day,

But everytime,

I lose my nerve.

“That’s not why I don’t want to tell you.”

A slight pause. “Ash, if it made you feel better I like someone too.”

“You... you do?”

“...yea...”

“I look at you,

You look away.”

“He’s... he’s very special to me...”

“She means everything to me.”

What?! Are they completely ignoring each other?!

“I wanna tell you what I’m feeling but I don’t know how to start,

I wanna tell you but now I’m afraid that you might break my heart,

Oh why does anything so easy ever be so hard to do?

I wanna tell you what I’m feeling and to say that,

I love you.”

“We argue a lot, but only because I try to hide it that way. I... I even wrote a song for him. This one.”

“Even if we do fight, I don’t care. Because at least I know she’s there.”

“Why?

Why do you turn away?

It must be your afraid like me.”

“He means so much to me that I overlook his flaws and never see them.”

“I thought I was seeing an angel when I first saw her.”

“I try,

But I can’t pretend that I,

Don’t feel for you the way I do,

Can’t you see?”

“Ash. I want to tell you something...”

“I need to also Misty...”

“I wanna tell you what I’m feeling but I don’t know how to start,

I wanna tell you but now I’m afraid that you might break my heart,

Oh why does anything so easy ever be so hard to do?

I wanna tell you what I’m feeling and to say that,

I love you.”

“I love you Misty!” “I love you Ash!”

@---}-----

I decided then to let them have some privacy. Besides, it was getting late, and I was tired.

Brock grabs my arm gently before I make my way down the stairs back to the Center. “Wait, Rose?”

I turn to him. “Hmm?” I answer, a little sleepy.

“What song was that? I’ve never heard it before.”

“Oh, that was Misty’s Song.”

“What? Did she write that song? How come I’ve never heard it before?”

“No one has yet. She has never told anyone that song, at least, not now, but she will.”

He shakes his head then turns his attention back to me. “Rose?”

I lean against the rail. “Yes?”

“What am I like in the future?”

“To be honest Brock I don’t know you in the future.”

“I’m not a famous breeder?”

I bite my lip. Should I tell him? “Brock. No one has heard or seen you since Team Rocket took over. You just, disappeared.”

He’s silent for several minutes in wonderment of why he would do such a thing.

“Why hasn’t anyone stood up against Giovanni? Is he that powerful?”

I am silent for several minutes. Although I would like to shrug of the answer, I have to be honest to Brock. I promised myself I would.

“Brock, Giovanni is dead.”

“What?! Then who-”

“Brock please don’t ask. I don’t want you to do anything you will regret.” I pause. “But there has been people that have tried to stop Team Rocket. But, if-” I stop. No! I can’t tell him! It’ll break his heart if I did.

But if Ash couldn’t beat Team Rocket, who could have?

I turn my back to him and start sobbing softly. My shoulders moving with my sobs. I feel his hand come down on to my shoulder.

“Please. Don’t make me tell you anymore Brock. It, it just hurts too much.”

He moves to face me then wraps his strong arms around me.

“Okay, I won’t.”

I bury my head into his chest for more comfort.

“Rose, please, don’t leave me.”

I look up at him. “Leave you?”

“Don’t go back to you’re time.”

I give him a look.

“You’ve already told us how terrible it is there, stay here.”

“And what? Be your little girlfriend?” I shake my head. “It’s not my choice to make Brock. I didn’t come here by my own free will. Celebi brought me here, remember? She’s not mine to control.”

I step out of his arms.

Why can’t he understand what I’m going through? Why does he always have to think about himself?!

“Brock, we met because of chance, that all it is, chance. The odds of seeing Celebi only once in your lifetime is greater than you can comprehend. It was all luck.”

“Yes, I’m lucky to have met you.”

“Uuh!” That’s it! I am so out of here!

So? Whacha think? I know I know, you don’t have to say it, I’m a genius, I know it already. But please, E-mail me so you can tell me in person (sort of). Or you can still E-mail me and cuss me out for doing such a, ahem, bad job. Although I prefer not to get flamed, I’ll take them if it means getting E-mail! Either way, I hope you stay tuned ladies and germs, cause you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!

Rose signing off.