Chapter 11: Water, Water Everywhere

Misty stood before the sink, her sleeves rolled up as her hands lost themselves in the still warm dirty water, obscured by the remaining bubbles from the homemade dish soap. Beneath the water she searched for the last few knives and forks that always seemed to remain stubbornly hidden within the now unpleasant mixture.

As she glanced up at the small window before her, the darkness outside was so complete, that it reflected her image with near perfect clarity, except for the glare of the ceiling lamp. It was in the pseudo-mirror that she caught the image of Miranda, who after quickly drying off her hands, stepped up behind Misty with an amused glint in her eye.

Without saying a word, Miranda put her arms around Misty from behind, holding her for a moment and resting her chin upon her lover's shoulder. "Feeling better, dear?" Misty inquired, meeting Miranda's gaze in their shared reflection.

"Yeah," Miranda replied with a slow nod, lifting her head to give Misty a gentle kiss upon the neck before savoring the warmth of her lover's skin upon her lips for just a moment, and breathing in her comforting scent, "I've just been on this emotional roller-coaster ride all day, and it's just getting to me, 'tis all."

Misty smiled, shivering slightly at the unexpected affection, but giggling at the thought of how it would look if someone were to walk in. "Well, as I said, I'm here to make sure you stay at the high end," she replied, glancing down as Miranda's hands slid up underneath the loose fitting fabric of the light sweater she'd thrown on before coming down stairs.

"Looking for something?" teased Misty, turning to accept a light kiss from Miranda as the courier's fingers slid lightly across her stomach and up towards her bosom.

"Just feeling playful," her lover mused, her fingers expertly lifting the front of Misty's bra and simply bringing it up instead of undoing it before her hands slid across Misty's breasts and held them almost protectively.

"Do you have a mysterious 'dishwashing' fetish that I should be aware of?" teased Misty, shivering at the pleasant sensation, her voice quavering in a pleasant manner as Miri's hands cradled her bosom the way one would a priceless artifact.

"No, not really," Miranda replied, savoring the feel of the small, firm, and very warm rises she'd cupped her hands over, gently fondling them as she moved to nibble Misty's earlobe and whisper, "It must be the helpless victim thing."

"Helpless?" teased Misty, her hands rising from the water full of knives and forks that dripped with soapy water.

"Oooh, even better," Miranda giggled, "you know, you're beautiful when you get worked up."

"What do you mean?" Misty inquired, blushing a little as she set the utensils in the dish rack.

"Any time you get angry, or determined, or get that adrenaline surge that comes from a really intense battle," explained Miranda, lowering her voice and suddenly sounding embarrassed, "It really, really... Well, let's just say that I like it. A lot."

Misty couldn't help but laugh, quickly leaning back to kiss Miranda reassuringly. "Sorry, dear, I shouldn't make fun of you," she replied apologetically, feeling Miranda's hands slip away, and leaving her with a bit of chill where once there was reassuring warmth, "But at least I know I'm not scaring you away."

"Not much chance of that," assured Miranda, glancing out into the hall as Bob staged back towards the living room, looking like he'd been shot in the stomach.

"Good," Misty replied, yanking at the plug and letting the sink drain before turning to Miranda, holding her dripping hands before her, "'Cause I'm just getting used to this being appreciated thing."

Miranda smiled sadly as she dropped a dishtowel over Misty's hands and began to dry them for her. "I know, dear," she said quietly, taking a small pleasure from spoiling her beloved so, "And if I have my way, one day you'll forget what it's like not to be."

Misty sighed contentedly, grabbing the towel away and tossing it over a near by chair before hugging Miranda tightly. "I love you," she said quietly, her voice quavering.

"Something wrong?" Miranda inquired, holding Misty protectively and feeling suddenly concerned.

"No," her lover replied, looking up at Miranda adoringly, "I'm just so happy that I'm sad, that's all. Sometimes you're just too much for me."

"Too much?" the courier asked; feeling suddenly worried even as Misty shook her head and laughed.

"No, no, Miri," she assured, "I mean that sometimes you show me so much love and affection that I wonder where I'll put it all. Does that make any sense?"

Miranda nodded. "Yeah, it does," she replied carefully, "I guess I'm just making up for lost time or something. Looking to erase both our bad memories... That and I just never want there to be any doubt in your mind as to how I feel about you."

"You haven't exactly been secretive about it," Misty chuckled, her hands moving up to hold Miranda's face as she moved closer, "trust me, my love. I'm not going anywhere without you, and I'm not going to think you suddenly hate me just because you have other things on your mind."

"Am I really that insecure?" said Miranda rhetorically, glancing away as Misty pulled her forward and gave her a reassuring kiss.

"Have I ever asked you to be an absolute pillar of strength?"

"No," laughed Miranda, looking into he depths of Misty's sea green eyes searchingly for a moment, "Infact you've never asked anything of me. You've been so completely unselfish that I almost feel guilty."

"Strange," Misty pondered, "I thought I'd been kind of demanding."

Miranda gave her a curious look. "Demanding? You?"

Misty nodded. "Dragging you from gym to gym, deriving self-esteem from your love, having you pay our way for the last nearly half a year!"

"As I recall, most of that was my idea," replied Miranda slyly, "I think I'm the demanding one here. I'm the one who's expecting you to be all my dreams made manifest, making you listen to all my silly romantic notions, to put up with my putting you upon a pillar so high that you're almost more of a legend than a real person-"

Misty covered Miranda's lips with her index finger as she tried not to laugh. "Enough, enough," she whispered, turning towards the sound of a low growling that became a loud bark as someone opened the door, "I think Laurna's back."

"What was your first clue?" chuckled Miranda as her aunt laughed at the growlithe's overreaction to her return.

"Gee, which one loves her more, Frank or Bow?" Misty pondered as they walked arm in arm out into the hallway.

"I'm glad Nezumi's not that bad," Miranda added smiling at the haunter that flew in over Laurna's shoulder and flew straight towards her.

"Wraaa!" exclaimed Wraith all too happily as Miranda held out her hand to her approaching haunter.

"And where have YOU been," she inquired in a mock accusing tone.

"He showed up when I was doing my 'lecture' as you put it," Laurna explained as she hung up her coat in time to happily accept Frank's suddenly almost desperate embrace, "Don't worry, though, he actually helped out a bit. And he didn't scare the children. Too much."

"Well that's good," Miranda replied, holding onto Wraith's hand and laughing as he spun her around in a poorly executed pirouette, "And it's good that you're back, Wraith. I need you for something."

"Haunt?" the ghost inquired, his ephemera seeming to ripple as he attempted to hold in all the energy he'd consumed that day.

"Hold on," his trainer explained, we need to get permission first.

The haunter nodded as Miranda leaned in through one of the entrances to the living room and caught sight of her mother. "Is it alright if we use the greenhouse for a little while?" she inquired, causing Vivian to glance up at her suspiciously, "Misty's crew need some practice if they're going up against Viper tomorrow."

"And Nox, and Shadow," added Laurna, happily sitting down upon the ancient couch with Frank as Bow immediately went into her 'I'm helpless and can't jump all the way up there routine' irregardless of the fact that she could jump down on her own just fine.

Miranda nodded, trying her best to look fearful as her mother calmly sipped her tea and thought about it for a moment. "Only if you promise not to burn down the rest of the house," Vivian said at last, covering her suddenly sad tone with a smile, "I'm afraid that your grandfather was the last person in this house with a 'green thumb', so I doubt we'll be needing it ever again anyway."

"Thanks mom!" called both Misty and Miranda as they both hurried off down the hall, causing Frank to chuckle at Vivian's reaction.

"You know," he commented, sliding his arm about Laurna's shoulders and petting Bow as she shot him a fiercely jealous look, "Even with her moodiness, I don't think I've seen Miri this happy in a long time."

Vivian nodded contemplatively. "We'll see, Franklin," the courier's mother replied, "We will see..."

At the opposite end of the Lilcamp residence was a spacious, two-story glass structure with a pointed roof that was easily accessed by the nondescript door that Miranda's paternal grandfather had installed. Though the greenhouse had seen better days, many of its windows cracked and broken by the elements, both natural and supernatural, and the quadruple row of tables that once supported hundreds of clay pots had since collapsed to the equally cracked and broken cement floor, life still flourished within its walls.

As Miranda hit the main switch, only half of the fluorescent bulbs that lit the structure came to life, and then after a full minute of waiting, most of them remained dim, with peculiar dark shapes floating about inside them as one of the empty light sockets sparked dangerously.

In response to the sudden, unexpected light, several small shapes shrieked and scurried into the dark safety of the thick underbrush created by decades of untended weeds allowed to spring up between the cracks in the floor and erode it further. At the same time, the sound of leathery wings was heard, as several zubats made a panicked escape from the sudden intrusion, causing both human intruders to jump and cover their heads as the blind pokemon flew out one of the still open ventilation windows at the top of the peaked roof.

"This used to be a really nice place," Miranda explained sadly, breathing in the sweet smell of decaying vegetable matter and the warm smell of the soil, freshly tilled by various decomposers, "but once my grandparents moved down to Maiden's Peak permanently, it only had my dad and his victreebel to look after it. And since my father had something of a 'brown thumb', he just sorta let it go. Treant lived here for a while, but after my Dad died, he took off into woods. He's probably gone to seed by now..."

"Well," suggested Misty, uncertain as to the safety of the structure, let alone its inhabitants, but unwilling to show fear of them, "They say that bulbasaurs make the flowers grow, so why not let Ivy loose in here from time to time. With Umi or Nezumi to look after her, of course."

Miranda nodded, a smile crossing her face. "She'd probably like it," she confessed, "Especially in the Summer. It's like a sauna in here then!"

"Uh, more like a greenhouse," chuckled Misty, taking a step back as Miranda sent her a sideways glance and smiled.

"Well, if that's the way you want to play," she replied with a wry grin, walking down the narrow path that remained and separated the two of the major weed infestations, "I guess I'll just have to quit playing fair."

"Well, just don't leave me here all alone," Misty replied, as Miranda turned to face her, standing at the opposite end of the greenhouse, "That's definitely against the League rules!"

"Oh, ha, ha," the courier teased, folding her arms across her chest and beckoning Misty a little closer with her index finger, "Now then, any ideas what pokes you're gonna use? Aunt Laurna has three, so she'll more than likely want to use them all. Which means you're not in for an easy battle."

Misty nodded. "Do you suppose she'd let me use Leviathan?" the trainer inquired skeptically, glancing nervously at the underbrush as she stepped closer, "I mean, how much room do you suppose she has at her gym."

"Oh, she'll have the room," assured Miranda, glancing about the greenhouse appraisingly, "That's one of those rules you have to abide by if you're going to have a League sanctioned gym. I'm afraid though, that he'd tear the place down."

Misty nodded and held up a pokeball. "Then I'll go with the old stand-by for now," she replied, squeezing the metal orb in just the right way, causing it to pop open, sending forth it's crimson glow, "You're up Shadow!"

The enormous star shaped pokemon materialized, and immediately stood proudly, facing Miranda with the round gem at his center gleaming dramatically in the poor lighting.

"I see," Miranda replied, quickly reviewing Misty's roster as she pulled out a black and gray pokeball, expanding it from its storage size as she spoke, "then Umberlee's probably your next best bet. It's harder to scare her and Shadow, but her weakness to ghost techniques could prove a problem. And Leviathan's not likely to realize he's supposed to feel fear. Which'll be a real advantage against a ghost specialist like my Aunt Laurna."

"Oh?" inquired Misty, suddenly regretting her hasty decision as she felt dozens of curious eyes upon her, watching from the shadows.

Miranda nodded, wishing her beloved all the courage in the world as she met Misty's gaze from across the room and said quietly, "Wraith, dear. It's time."

The surface of the colour-coded ball suddenly shimmered and was almost instantly covered by a thin, translucent green film that gave it a peculiar sheen.

"Wha- what is that?" Misty stammered as Shadow levitated slightly in anticipation.

"It's only ectoplasm," Miranda explained, feeling a little guilty at having to purposely scare her beloved, "But it might only be an illusion. Did you see me return Wraith before we came in here?"

Misty shook her head and Miranda nodded grimly.

"That's something you have to be careful of with ghosts," she explained as the green ooze bubbled at the seam in the ball, almost as though air were escaping through it. But a moment later, it became apparent that the closed opening was the source of the goo, "They can disappear and reappear at will. Their natural state is invisible after all. Also, the one thing you absolutely have to remember when battling ghosts; is not to be afraid."

Misty pried her eyes off the ectoplasm that had now collected in Miranda's hand, and was even now dripping in long sticky strands to the floor where it pooled at her feet. "Th-that's a little harder than it looks," she replied nervously, noting the way the green ooze sublimated loudly as it hit the concrete floor with unpleasantly wet sounding splatters.

Miranda nodded solemnly, seemingly unaware of the cold, sticky goo that was dripping off her hand and down her arm. "Yes," she agreed, "but it's important, my love. Because ghosts feed on fear. They can gain sustenance from any emotion, but fear is the sweetest. The best thing to do is not be the victim. Put the ghost in its place. Show it who's stronger of will and who's in charge. I had to do that with Wraith the first time we met, and now everything's fine. Remember, fear is the greatest weapon in a ghost's arsenal, take that away, and you've won half the battle."

Misty nodded, chastising herself for the involuntary shiver that passed through her as a dark shape began to rise from the pokeball in Miranda's hand. It began by flowing into air, a curling black smoke tinged with darkest purple that slowly formed a wide malevolent grin, and filled the air with an ethereal chuckling that sent unpleasant chills through Misty's body.

"But just remember, my love," Miranda added, her entire focus on Misty, "That you can loose or win a battle even before it begins. You have Leviathan; you'll have the same advantage as Aunt Laurna does tomorrow. He may not scare her ghosts, but he may make her think twice."

Misty smiled nervously, the thought of the gigantic sea serpent looming over the small forms of Laurna's ghosts and making the woman think twice, even for a moment sending a reassuring feeling through her.

"Very well then," she replied, bravely meeting Wraith's baleful gaze as he fully materialized and cackled menacingly, shall we begin?"

Miranda smiled, nodding slowly as Wraith's illusionary ectoplasm vanished. "You know," she commented offhandedly, making Misty smile, "Ghosts only exude ectoplasm when they pass through solid objects. Don't be fooled, my love."

"Got it!" called Misty, adrenaline suddenly surging through her the way it always did before a battle, "Alright, Shadow! Let's show 'Fang Face' over there what you're made of! Swiftness, now!"

Miranda stopped herself from commenting as the staryu's center gleamed and a hail of tiny five pointed stars spun out in a wide cone, like a hail of glowing golden shuriken as Wraith looked on, seemingly bored.

"Um, Misty-?" the courier began as Wraith made a show of yawning widely and stretching as Miranda scrambled out of the way and the cloud of hardened kinetic energy passed harmlessly through the haunter, and shattered their way through several windows behind him.

"Now, Shadow!" the trainer ordered, leaping off the ground and flinging her arms into the air in her excitement, "While he's distracted! Neptune's Might!"