Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Awakening ❯ Part 1 ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Ash and Misty's daughter, Jessie and James' son, a cast of peculiar characters and a whole new adventure about friends, life, Team Rocket, and learning to face the complexity of reality... Sequel to Don't Give Me Diamonds. Can be read as a stand alone.

Awakening

Prologue: A New Hope

The announcement came suddenly and without warning. One second Jonathan was watching TV with his loyal Eevee curled on his lap and his uncle Meowth beside him, and the next his mother was scooping him into her arms muttering excitedly about something or other and carrying him to his room. She went through the closet in a rush while calling out to his father to remember to bring the gifts. "Mommy?" The four year old looked at his mother with inquisitive eyes while she insisted in rushing him to wear a little suit that he did not remember wearing before.

"We need to hurry, honey," Jessie prompted, straitening her young son's tie. "The princess is on her way and we can't miss this event!" She took a step back and looked at her son, nodding in approval. "Go tell your dad not to forget to bring the gifts," she sent him on his way and went to change herself.

Jonathan took a moment to watch his uncle Meowth fussing for a while, then went to find his father. James was packing several gift wrapped boxes into the car, while Meowth fussed some more. "Mommy said not to forget the presents..."

"Don't worry, I already put them all in the car," James assured.

"You haven't changed yet?" Jessie came out of the house, looking as if she was attending a grand gala. She finished putting on a new pair of earrings and pulled out a lipstick from the small purse on her arm. "James, we're going to be late!"

"I was loading the presents into the car." He motioned to the trunk and back seat full of pink wrapped boxes.

"That's no excuse, go change, hurry!" Jessie pushed her husband towards the house hastily. "Meowth, did you set up the closed sign? Did you transfer all the Pokemon to Gary's lab temporarily? It won't do that the pokemon we're taking care of go hungry because we're not here to tend to them. The day care center would be ruined, we'll lose our cover here at Saffron, and the boss will fire us!"

"I already did all that." Between fussing and fussing some more, Meowth had accomplished his duties as planned.

"I'm ready," James hurried out of the house, still in the process of properly putting on his tie. It was Jessie's idea that they should dress up.

"Not yet," Jessie pulled his tie into place, almost choking him with the motion. "There, now let's go, I'm a faster driver, so I'm driving. We don't have much time to get to Viridian!"

James paled and, with a stream of incoherent babbles that could have been prayers of mercy, he deposited his sun into the backseat of the car and made sure to tightly fasten the seatbelt.

xoxox xox xoxox

During the course of the speedy drive, where in Jessie drove like a maniac, ignoring the Jennies that tried to make her stop, Jonathan had remembered when they got the pink boxes. They were girly gifts, all of them, nothing that particularly interested him, thus he was not tempted to try to unwrap any of them. They had dolls, bows, dresses and such things and there was a lot of pink.

The little boy also remembered something else. His parents had mentioned that the gifts were for a princess. At first Jonathan imagined a lady with a dress and tiara like the princesses in the story books. Then he learned that the princess was younger, and though he wasn't sure how young, he imagined a girl, in the same dress and tiara that characterized Clefairy tale princesses. "Daddy..."

"Yes," James was gripping the sides of his seat for dear life as he saw the scenery rapidly fly by and tried to ignore the police sirens.

"Are we really going to meet a princess?" Jonathan asked with curiosity. Normally, girls had cooties, but this girl was a princess. Surely her royalty would render her immune and make her pleasant company.

"Oh yes we are, she's your princess too, our families have always been close, for generations." It was only one generation in James' case and Johnny would be the second one, but in Jessie's case, her mother had been a Rocket before her, since the early years of the organization.

"Like knights?" Jonathan asked curiously. If his parents were knights, then did that make him one too? That sounded fun.

"Yeah, just like royal knights," James smiled despite the fear that crept over every inch of his body because of his wife's reckless driving.

Satisfied with his father's reply, Jonathan was quiet for a while, occupying himself in petting Eevee. The pokemon had been meant for him even before the boy was born, as the egg had hatched when Jessie was still expecting. The Eevee was the child of a Flareon that was initially trained by Ash, then given to Jessie after she had fallen in love with James' Growlithe.

"Uncle Meowth?" Jonathan finally spoke again.

Meowth ceased his mutterings of hope and nervousness and looked at the little boy. The child had his father's hair and his mother's eyes. "Yes, Johnny?"

"Do you think the princess will play with me?"

"Of course she will, later," Meowth replied with a smile.

'Later?' Jonathan mused. Did she have royal duties to tend to or something? Well of course, she was young, but she was still a princess.

xoxox xox xoxox

After the wild drive was over, Jessie finally parked at the Viridian City hospital. She had a parade of officer Jennies after her, but she didn't care. "I'm on official business for the Viridian City gym!" The redhead announced before one of the Jennies could even begin to express her disapproving accusations.

The officer glared. The Rocket mafia had grown stronger in the past few years and there was little the police could do without risking a terrible retaliation, especially in the heart of their territory.

Ignoring the Jennies, Jessie and James grabbed the multitude of boxes and, with Meowth and Johnny following, they headed inside the hospital. After showing some ID they were allowed into the top floor where right there in the hall way a Rocket executive meeting was taking place. They had to pause and stare.

"And that's why we should sell these fine products!" Petrel finished, holding up a t-shirt with a picture of the Viridian Gym's badge.

"I'll consider it," Giovanni voiced. Delia, who was next to him, had a death grip on his arm, as if he would run off the second she let go of him. He paused to look at her, "you're cutting my circulation."

Delia only held on tighter in response, "deal with it," she smiled sweetly. "I want to be here and I want you to be here with me. The baby could be born any second!"

"That's what you've been saying for the past hour," Giovanni reminded.

Yet Delia didn't want him to leave, she wouldn't let go of him. "Well it's still true."

"What's our next topic?" Giovanni prompted, giving up on reasoning with Delia when she was in such a state.

"The new pokeballs under development," Ariana flipped through her agenda, while Archer looked at something on his laptop and Proton took a moment to stretch and yawn.

Before the conversation could continue, Ash, who had been staring at the sound proof door behind which Misty was, gasped as if the mere action of yelping in pain was too much to manage. With his face contorted in pure agony, he promptly fainted. Delia finally released her grip on Giovanni's arm to catch Ash's head before it hit the floor. "Ash!"

Giovanni flexed his arm in relief, good to see that it still worked despite the numbness. "I may not be an expert in aura, but I told him it was a bad idea to focus his senses so much on the energy of a woman in labor."

"Oh, he was just worried and wanted to check on Misty's life force," Delia insisted. "Ash, honey? He's out cold."

"Pikapi!" Pikachu volunteered to remedy the situation with a jolt of electricity to his trainer, the sparks of which reached all those present, though none nearly as harshly as Ash.

"Is it over?" Ash asked in a daze when he awoke.

"Not yet..." Delia smiled gently.

"But it's been hours..." Ash frowned.

"Some births take more time than others, I'm sure everything is fine," Delia assured. It wasn't long after that when the news came that the little girl had been born.

xoxox xox xoxox

Naturally, Misty was exhausted, but very relieved as she held the little pink bundle in her arms. She had red hair like her mother and eyes that were a mirror image of her father's with a fiery determination on them already visible from the start. People crowded around the baby, talking to the parents, cooing at the child and giving out their congratulations. There were many pokemon there as well, including a baby Meowth, the child of Giovanni's Persian, who was, as always, by his side, and a newborn Pichu, the child of Ash's Pikachu.

Through the array of people and pokemon, that continued to arrive, Jonathan curiously peeked up to see what the fuss was about. That was the princess? She was still a baby! No wonder Meowth said she would play with him later, she couldn't really walk, or even talk at the moment, very much less have a pokemon battle. But she still had her own pokemon, just as he remembered having Eevee for his whole life.

Misty extended one hand to the little boy beckoning him to sit on the bed next to her, cradling the child on her other arm and simultaneously holding a conversation with all of her sisters at the same time, while miraculously not being rendered terribly dizzy by the multitude of voices around her. The bed was a little crowded now with children and pokemon and there were people all around her, squealing with joy and congratulating the new parents, but Misty seemed to be protected by a force field of joy that made it so that not even the continuous high pitched squeals of her sisters could bother her at the moment.

Jonathan stared at the baby's face with curiosity and a barely audible, "princess?"

She giggled and reached out to him.

Though his hand was small, the tiny newborn could barely grasp his finger on her little hand. "Nice to meet you, princess. I'll be your knight, so just tell me if you need anything, okay?"

Though she probably had no idea what he was talking about, she smiled and held his hand a little tighter.

To be Continued

xoxox xox xoxox

Chapter 1: A Good Start?

"You know, if you had just waited, maybe professor Oak would have given you a pokemon." The innocent suggestion was met with a glare, to which the fifteen year old boy at the wheel replied with a quick defense of: "just saying." He referred to the younger Oak, who had taken over his retired grandfather's job several years ago.

The passenger next to him let out a breath. "Like my father, I was born in May, and pokemon journeys officially start in April first. I was born on the first of May rather than the tenth, so my frustration was nine days greater. I had to wait a whole year to play by the rules and now that I'm a month away from eleven I'm finally on my journey. After all that, do you want me to wait more? Of all the days to oversleep, uncle Gary had to pick today, well he can keep his pokemon, I already have one!" She pointed at the Pichu resting on her lap. Though Gary wasn't her biological uncle, he was her father's childhood friend, which made him kind of like an uncle.

After the girl finished her rant, silence reigned over the blue convertible. The boy considered saying that if she had to wait almost a year, waiting a few hours shouldn't matter, but instead he pointed out something else. "Since when do you care about the rules? What about Rocket pride?"

"I'm a Rocket," the girl assured. She ran her fingers through her red hair, brown eyes focused ahead. They were almost to Viridian City. "But just this once I want to do this alone."

Alone meant without help rather than completely alone, the boy assumed. He grinned, the wind going through his blue-purple hair. He knew she was about to continue.

"As the daughter of a champion pokemon master," Ash, "and a respected gym leader," Misty, "granddaughter of another respected gym leader, who is not so secretly the leader of Team Rocket," Giovanni, "there are many expectations from me. Not only that, but also advantages, if I allow it, but this is different. I know dad and grandpa have their differences about Team Rocket, their disagreements, but what I do is something I'll have to decide for myself. Besides, I think I can be both a Rocket and a pokemon master, I'll figure out the balance as I go along. For now I'll take the test and I'll become a pokemon master fair and square! I am a Rocket, but I won't have any advantages because of that while on this journey!"

"It won't be that hard," Jonathan grinned. His blue eyes focused on her for a second, taking in her expression before looking back at the road. "Everyone in the upper ranks of Team Rocket knows you, but the grunts and the general public not so much. They're not going to pull any punches if you become their target. And I don't think they'll give me any special consideration either, even if they recognize me."

"But Johnny, you're not just a grunt," Ashimi reminded.

"That's the point, Ashy," Jonathan pointed out. "I'm a rival." Ashy was something that only he called her.

Her real name was Ashley, her father had not been happy with it. Unknown to the young aspiring pokemon master, it was the alias Ash took when various circumstances forced him to cross-dress, it didn't bring good memories. Yet Misty had become inexplicably fond of the name during a visit to Jessie and James during her pregnancy. It all started with some innocent joking about the anecdotes of their past, and before Ash knew what was happening, Misty was rubbing her belly and calling the baby Ashley. Misty had guessed from the start that it was a girl. Ash didn't mind either way, but at that moment he started wishing for a boy. Then he realized that Ashley was seen as a unisex name in some regions and his hopes of his child escaping it faded away. Because of her red hair and big brown eyes, her resemblance to her parents was obvious, along with her love for pokemon. Misty's sisters nicknamed her Ashimi, a combination of her parents' names. The name stuck to the point where few people even remembered that her official name was Ashley.

"We're here..." Jonathan announced as they drove closer to Viridian City.

The officer on duty, whose name, like her mother's and grandmother's, was Jenny, stopped them at the main street's entrance. Surely she knew Team Rocket controlled the city, the rumors had, over the years, evolved from hidden whispers to silent common knowledge. Nonetheless, she could at least try to do her job. She eyed the driver's youthful face suspiciously. "License," she spat sharply.

With a confident grin, Jonathan handed over his fake ID. It wasn't much of a significant difference, but it did make him a year older, sixteen, old enough to drive, though the car was suspiciously expensive looking. It was from Giovanni, when he found out Jonathan was to be Ashimi's driver. Maybe it was his way to say 'get the journey over with and join the family business,' though Ash never truly had. Of course, Jonathan still had his duties as a Rocket, but Ashimi had not really factored that in. She had simply accepted his offer to drive her because she'd probably have a hard time pretending to be sixteen, and she was anxious to quickly get to wherever her pokemon battles would be.

Finding no excuse to detain them any longer, Jenny allowed the young trainers passage. "Shall we head to the gym?" Jonathan inquired unsure.

"No way!" Ashimi immediately refused. "I can't face grandpa until I'm strong enough to face him in battle!" She drew in a breath after the outburst and continued, "just drive through to Pewter."

Jonathan considered questioning what was the point of starting at Pallet if she was too impatient to wait for Gary to hand out the starter pokemon and rode in a car the whole way instead of catching pokemon at the Viridian Forest and the surrounding areas. Yet he wisely decided not to ask and instead continued driving quietly.

"Stop!" If the driver had been anyone other than someone who knew Ashimi very well, he might have slammed on the breaks in a startle, but he didn't. It was a good thing too, because otherwise the car behind them would have left a screeching line of tire tracks that ended on the convertible's bumper, marring the perfect shiny indigo blue beauty.

Jonathan would have been angry, not that it was his car, it was technically Ashimi's but Giovanni didn't want her to drive it, not yet anyway. By the time she was sixteen, he hoped that she could somewhat control her need for speed, enough not to kill herself at least. "Restaurant?"

"Yes!" Ashimi exclaimed. "Sitting in a car makes me hungrier than I thought."

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, Giovanni was busily conducting secret Rocket business at his office in the Viridian City gym, until his focus was interrupted by a tail tickling his nose. He removed the daring Meowth that climbed on his head and set him on the floor. "Ashimi can't get here soon enough..." He grumbled. He had no intentions of letting her win, of course. He wanted her to get that journey done quickly, but even if she was his own granddaughter, his pride prevented him from doing anything other than winning. She would have to earn her earth badge.

Giovanni's long time companion, his loyal Persian, yawned and shifted on the couch. He looked at the female of his kind who was pacing the office. Her time as a Meowth had left her with many battle scars, but they disappeared after her evolution, all except for the oddity of the ruby on her forehead. The red gem protruded like a horn, a hideous deformity by the standards of most Persian, but a beautiful wonder in the eyes of a human. Giovanni's Persian had been with him long enough to acquire his taste for jewels, lucky for her. She was a rarity, like him. knowing about her crush on the boss's pokemon, her previous trainer, a Rocket hacker known as Pixel, gave her to him.

Purry, whom Giovanni lazily, yet with an almost fatherly affection simply referred to as 'girl' thus shared a life with the pokemon of her dreams. It wasn't long before Giovanni found an egg one morning nestled between his priced felines. The child didn't have the peculiar rare coloration of the father, but he certainly had the mischief of his younger days and he probably had it from both sides. Giovanni wasn't in the mood to put up with training the little pokemon and resolved to give him to Ashimi. With such strong parents, he had to become a very useful addition to her team.

xoxox xox xoxox

After a good meal, Ashimi and Jonathan continued out of Viridian City and towards Pewter City. With a sudden revelation, Ashimi looked at the Pichu on her lap. The pokemon was softly squeezing a bottle of ketchup and licking the red drops as they came out. "You're my only pokemon... I can't take on a gym with just one pokemon, what if they say two on two? I'm sure my Pichu can take them both on, but still. That's it, we're going to Mount Moon, step on it!"

"Gotcha," Jonathan smirked and sped up.

xoxox xox xoxox

After another stop at Pewter City they later arrived at Mount Moon. Jonathan parked the car near the entrance and brought up the roof. Ashimi's Pichu hopped on her head as usual. "Johnny..." She made an overly dramatic pause of determination. "I have to do this on my own."

"I understand, I have some stuff to do too. Maybe I can track down some moon stones to send to the boss," Jonathan mused. He knew he couldn't lower his guard with his Rocket duties or Giovanni would have something to say about it.

"Alright! I'll give you a call when I'm ready to head back to Pewter City." Thus the pair went their separate ways, taking opposite directions at a fork in the cave.

Soon, Ashimi could no longer hear Jonathan's fading footsteps. A soft screeching reached her ears and a Zubat perched on her shoulder. "Shoo!" She waved it away. "I want a Clefairy!" She didn't like Zubat, the creatures weren't exactly nice to her when she explored Mount Moon with her father a couple of years ago. She used her cellphone to light her way until the dim brightness of another source came into view. The light became brighter as she approached it, until she no longer needed her cellphone to see where she was going. Up ahead she spotted three Clefairy sitting around a fire. "I got you now... Ready Pichu? Lets get the jump on them, Thunderbolt!"

Pichu jumped off Ashimi's head and attacked the three Clefairy. The pink pokemon scrambled, tripping over each other and making matters worse for them. Pichu didn't even pause, he shot another burst of electric energy at the Clefairy, rendering the three young pokemon unconscious.

"Alright, well done, Pichu!" Ashimi paused in the motion of throwing a pokeball and gave it another thought. "They're too weak..."

"Clefable!" An angry voice called out. "Clefable!" another voice joined in. Those two where notably older than the three Clefairy and they looked a lot stronger, probably the parents. Soon, more voices joined in a chorus of "Clefairy!" and "Clefable!"

"Oh-oh..." Ashimi looked around with concern, but she refused to back down. "Thunderbolt!"

"Pi... chuuuuu!" Pichu attacked once more, again and again none stop. A flurry of echoed voices, double slaps and even hyper beams rained upon them. Pichu struggled to keep up, but he was severely outnumbered. A large Clefable jumped at Ashimi on the attack. Pichu jumped in front of her in a wild charge and took down the Clefable that tried to attack her.

The sound of an incoming text message on her cell phone woke Ashimi from her surprise at having become a target. She reacted by throwing a pokeball at the Clefable before it could fully recover. The ball absorbed the pink pokemon, shook, and with a red bean of light released the Clefable. Wasting no time, Ashimi delivered a swift kick to the pokemon as payback for the earlier attack, "you wanted a fight? You got it!" As the already weakened Clefable was knocked down again, she tried the pokeball once more. The ball shook, but successfully sealed the pokemon inside that time. Ashimi picked up the red and white capsule and turned her attention towards the Pichu. Despite his strength, he was far too outnumbered and couldn't go on any longer. "Pichu!" She dove into the fight to recover her companion and considered retreating, but the Clefairy and Clefable had her surrounded.

The same Zubat from earlier flew overhead, screeching loudly. He let out a series of super sonic waves, causing the Clefairy and Clefable to become confused. Several of the pink pokemon attacked each other in their confusion, creating an opening for Ashimi to escape with Pichu in her arms and Clefable in a pokeball. She ran through the dark tunnels of Mount Moon, instinctually following a light in the distance.

As Ashimi approached the light, she realized that its brightness didn't signify the exit of the cave, it was a blazing fire! In the middle of it she spotted a boy and a Flareon, both recognizable to her. "Johnny! What happened?"

"Ashy!" Jonathan looked at the fire around them and sheepishly place his hand behind his head. "I was collecting moon stones for the boss when a bunch of Clefairy and Clefable attacked. I know it's pillage, then burn, and I wasn't done pillaging, but I had to defend my moon stones, I mean the boss' moon stones. Although I think I might have overdone it with the fire."

"Nah, you think?" Ashimi replied sarcastically. Fortunately, there wasn't a whole lot of flammable material there and the Clefairy and Clefable managed to put the fire out with blizzard and ice beam attacks. Naturally, the pink pokemon were not happy with the human invaders and their pokemon companions. As soon as the fire was out, their attention turned towards them. To make matters worse, the group that had attacked Ashimi before caught up to her as well.

"Maybe we should call a retreat?" Jonathan suggested.

Though usually stubborn, Ashimi had already obtained what she came for and had no problems with the plan. She noticed the same Zubat had followed her and called out to him. "Zubat, use super sonic again!" As the Clefairy and Clafable were overtaken with confusion, Ashimi and Jonathan escaped along with their pokemon.

Once they were outside of Mount Moon, they noticed the sun had set. "I didn't get all the moon stones I wanted, but I did manage to get a few I can send to the boss. Overall, I think that went pretty well."

"Yeah, I did get a new pokemon. I caught a Clafable." Zubat landed on her shoulder wanting to follow her. "And a Zubat," she added. She held up a pokeball, easily catching the pokemon officially. "It's a bit late and I could use a meal. I'll head over to the Pewter City gym tomorrow. I'm sure you and Fluffy are tired too."

"Foxtrot!" He corrected. "You know it's Foxtrot!" Jonathan had heard the name being used as a call sign in a space ship battle movie years ago. He imagined it was based on some sort of super cool space ship battle move and decided to use it as a nickname for his pokemon. It had been a necessity at the time, when Foxtrot was still an Eevee with two other Eevee siblings. The oldest of Flare and Growly's children had been the one to officially become Jonathan's pokemon since the first day of his life, having been hatched months prior to his birth.

"Right, right," Ashimi laughed, as the pair got into the car.

"Should we check into a hotel?" Jonathan inquired, changing the subject.

"No, this will be a proper pokemon journey, so we'll stay at pokemon centers instead," Ashimi decided.

xoxox xox xoxox

Jonathan and Ashimi arrived at Pewter City. Johnny dropped off the moon stones at the local Rocket base and sent in a report about it by email. Then they headed to the pokemon center. They handed their pokemon over to nurse Joy, daughter of the previous nurse Joy who worked there, and settled into a guest room. Soon, their pokemon were returned refreshed and the group was ready to eat.

"Okay, time to have our first meal together with our new friends!" Ashimi released Zubat and Clefable from their pokeballs. Pichu was usually out and Jonathan had called out his Flareon as well. Zubat was well behaved and already making friends with the other pokemon, but Clefable was looking grumpy. This particular Clefable was rather young, probably recently evolved. "C'mon Clefable, don't be such a grouch!"

Clefable fixed her trainer with a deadly glared and quickly slapped her. "Fable..." She growled.

That was it, Ashimi's temper was officially overloaded, "how dare you! You ungrateful little..." A fight broke loose between the pokemon and the trainer. Pichu tried to intervene with a burst of electricity that filled the entire room with a thunderbolt attack. This caused the combatants and spectators to fall to the floor twitching. Pichu wasn't spared, as Zubat fell on his head when he was knocked out of the air. They got little rest that night.

To be Continued

xoxox xox xoxox

Awakening

Chapter 2: Strength vs. Speed

The next day, Ashimi and Jonathan headed to the Pewter City gym so she could battle for a boulder badge. "I could really use a water type right now, but that's okay, I'm sure I can still win." She confidently strode in.

The Pewter City gym was filled with unusual sounds that were rather chaotic in nature. Ashimi was greeted by her aunt Lilly, who rushed towards her in a panic. "Ashimi, you like have to help us!" She exclaimed, hyperventilation settling in. "Please, like talk to your grandfather, whatever we did to like make him this mad, we're totally sorry! Just please get him to call back that beast like before the entire gym is destroyed!"

Brock arrived at the arena area as well, looking scratched all over. "I'm sorry, I couldn't catch it!"

Ashimi stared at her aunt and uncle in confusion. She looked at Jonathan in question, but he could only shake his head to indicate he didn't know what was going on. "Now that I think about it, I kind of remember getting a text message, but I was busy at the time and didn't see what it was. Maybe it's from grandpa."

She checked her cellphone and did indeed find a text from Giovanni. 'I heard you were seen heading towards Pewter City. Leaving the Viridian gym for last? A wise choice. I sent the early birthday gift I was going to give you to the Pewter gym, you can pick it up there.'

"Grandpa had a birthday present for me early? Now I wish I had stopped at the Viridian gym, even if it wasn't to battle. I wonder what the present is!" Ashimi exclaimed in excitement.

"Present?" Lilly blinked in confusion.

"The only thing we received from Giovanni was..." Brock's explanation was cut off by a Meowth rushing over.

"Furball!" Ashimi extended her arms and the Meowth jumped into them. His nickname had come from Giovanni, who referred to his Persian's child as 'that annoying little furball.' "You're my present? This is awesome!"

"You'll like take that beast away?" Lilly hoped, "that would be like a big relief!"

"Where did he go? I almost had him!" A boy with squinty eyes like Brock and pink hair like Lilly, ran over to them. "Ashimi? That pokemon is yours?"

"That's right, and I'm here to battle for a badge," she replied proudly.

"As long as the beast is like gone, you can have the badge," Lilly decided. "That creature tried to like eat the rare Goldeen Brock bred for me! It's a really cute Goldeen too, like white and yellow instead of white and orange."

Brand's eyes went wide and he protested. "But mom, we should battle trainers!"

"Right... Battle..." Brock was visibly dizzy with exhaustion and his scratches looked like they stung.

"Your father can like barely stand and it wouldn't like fit to give away a boulder badge in a water pokemon battle," Lilly explained.

Brand frowned, then got an idea that made his face light up. "I can battle!" He volunteered.

"Alright, you're on!" Ashimi agreed. "This will be easy," she didn't even try to hide her overflowing confidence. They had battled before and Pichu had won with ease.

"I'll give you a real challenge, you won't beat me this time, Ashimi!" Brand assured. "Two on two, you must have already caught another pokemon, right?"

"Of course I caught another pokemon and not just one!" Ashimi proudly declared.

'Two is more than one, but didn't Zubat follow her willingly and let himself be caught? Plus Clefable is more likely to attack her trainer than her opponent...' Albeit such thoughts crossed Jonathan's mind, he wisely kept them to himself.

The two trainers took their positions on opposite sides of the rocky gym arena. "This is an official pokemon battle for a boulder badge," Brock tiredly refereed. "Each trainer can use two pokemon, no time limit!"

"I think I'll get things started with Furball, that should give him a good welcome to the team." The Meowth jumped into the arena, ready for battle.

"Go Geodude!" A small Geodude emerged from Brand's pokeball.

Ashimi had a pokedex app on her phone, but she had already scanned that pokemon into her list of seen pokemon before, in fact, she had seen most of Kanto and Johto's pokemon during her travels with her parents. Without giving her cousin time to react, she directed Furball to go on the attack, "water pulse!"

The attack was super effective, knocking out the young Geodude before he could make a single move. "He knows water attacks?" Brand gaped as he recalled his knocked out Geodude.

"I happen to know his mom's a bit battle obsessed, I figured she would know a variety of attacks from her days as a rowdy street pokemon and she would probably teach her son." Ashimi grinned proudly. With Furball and Pichu by her side, she felt unstoppable. "Tell you what, I'll call Furball back for now, c'mon little friend, hop into your new pokeball."

Brock seemed to wake from his sore drowsiness long enough to declare that the round went to Ashimi, not that they couldn't tell.

"Meowth!" The energetic feline jumped into the pokeball Ashimi held out.

"You hadn't even officially caught him, does that count?" Brand wondered aloud, a questioning look in his eyes that was almost hopeful.

"Of course it counts, he's my pokemon!" Ashimi defended. "Now stop being a sore loser and call out your next pokemon."

"Fine... Next I'll choose..." While the pink haired boy considered the matter, his opponent became even more confident.

'The last time we battled Brand only had a Geodude and a Goldeen. If this is supposed to be a rock type battle, I wonder what pokemon he'll use,' Ashimi curiously thought. "Get ready Pichu," she whispered to the yellow pokemon that was still on her head like a living cap.

"I choose Steelix!" Brand called out triumphantly.

"Steelix? That's uncle Brock's Steelix!" Ashimi explained in surprise.

Brock's jaw dropped at the sidelines. He let his son borrow the pokemon for training, but he wasn't expecting for the metal giant to actually be called out to battle. He wasn't even sure how to call this.

Stubborn as she was, Ashimi wasn't going to back down. "Fine, I accept your challenge. This is a gym battle, so I should be going up against a gym leader's pokemon!"

"Wow..." Lilly let out a breath. She gave her husband a pointed look and cleared her throat. "I wonder if it's like okay for young children to battle with pokemon that are like so fierce," she pouted.

"It's okay, honey," Brock assured. "Steelix is gentler than your Gyarados and you let Brand play with her all the time."

Lilly placed her hands on her hips in indignation. "No comparison," she exclaimed. With a starry eyed expression she continued. "My sweet Andraia is like such a gentle creature, the darling is just a big baby." Lilly had raised the pokemon since she was a Magikarp and never really stopped viewing her as such.

While the couple's exchange went on, so did the battle. Ashimi had tried to call Pichu to the fight, but the summoning didn't go as expected. "I choose..." Zubat popped out of his pokeball uncalled. "Zubat?"

"Do you really expect to beat Steelix with a Zubat? No way!" Brand exclaimed.

"I wasn't... I didn't..." Ashimi stumbled over her words, unsure of how to fix this mess.

"C'mon princess, you can do it!" Jonathan cheered.

"That's right, I'm a Rocket princess and I can win any battle!" Ashimi roared. 'I may be taking on this journey without assistance from Team Rocket, I'll just think of Furball as a gift from grandpa rather than the Rocket boss. But I'm still both a Rocket and a future pokemon master, I can do this...'

"Steelix, tackle!" Brand commanded. The massive metal serpent started smashing everything, trying to hit the swift Zubat.

"Keep dodging, Zubat!" Ashimi looked at the battle intensely, trying to come up with a strategy. 'I can't sent Zubat out in a physical attack on that armored giant, he'll probably end up getting hurt instead of Steelix.' "Use super sonic and don't stop moving!"

"Your Zubat can't beat Steelix!" Brand was feeling confident about winning the battle to defend his family's gym. Yet that Zubat was so slippery. "Keep going, Steelix, I'm sure he'll be knocked out right away if you just hit him once!"

Ashimi grinned as she guided her Zubat to dodge the incoming attacks. "Left, right, up, dive! That's it, you're doing great Zubat! Keep using super sonic!" Steelix was confused and trashing all over the place.

"Oh no! The gym!" Lilly shrieked, clinging to Brock as the building shook and choking him in the process.

Jonathan perceived what was going on and smiled, "you got this..."

Ashimi saw a good opportunity for a grand finale and took it. "Now Zubat, fly straight up!"

Zubat swiftly obeyed as Steelix stretched out to follow. The metal serpent crashed into the ceiling hard enough to make a hole in it, Zubat dodging out of the way at the last minute. With a dizzy twitch, Steelix hung from the ceiling, his head outside and the rest of his long body at the arena. He got loose and fell down to the rocky terrain of the Pewter City gym arena, portions of the damage ceiling falling on his head for good measure.

"It's over..." Lilly nearly sobbed, releasing the frightened chokehold she had on Brock.

Brock took in a big breath and grimaced at the state of his gym. "Zubat wins this round," he sighed. "The winner is Ashimi..."

"I won!" Ashimi cheered. Her exhausted Zubat flew down into her arms to be squeezed in a bone crushing hug. "Well done Zubat, take a rest in your pokeball." She headed to the sidelines where she was congratulated and received her boulder badge.

"That was a pretty amazing battle," Brand admitted. "I really thought I was going to win, but you know what? When I beat you, I think I want it to be with my own pokemon."

Ashimi laughed in good humor. "Keep dreaming, kid." She ruffled her cousin's hair.

"You better watch out! In three years I'll go on my own journey, win lots of badges and give you a real fight at the Indigo Plateau!" Brand declared.

"You better be ready, because in three years I will have won the championship three times!" The cousins shared a laugh, promising to battle again sometime soon.

"How about you, Johnny? Want to give it a shot? My Goldeen versus your Flareon." Brand challenged the older boy. He had the type advantage, though Jonathan obviously had more experience.

Before the blue-violet haired teen could reply, Lilly interrupted. "Oh no! There will be like no battling around here until this gym is like fully presentable. Look at this mess, it's like terrible! What will the challengers think when they like see this? The Pewter City gym is officially like closed for repairs and you two are like on clean up duty!"

The father and son stood up straight with a start and saluted. "Yes ma'am!"

"Having some extra help like wouldn't hurt..." Lilly eyed Ashimi and Jonathan purposefully.

The traveling pair backed away. "It was nice seeing you all, I'll email from time to time, but I really got to go now. You know what they say, rare pokemon wait for no one!"

"See you later everyone, if Ashimi's leaving, I need to go too, since I'm her driver and all," Jonathan added.

With a chorus of "bye!" Ashimi and Jonathan made their escape and left Pewter City.

To be Continued

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Awakening

Chapter 3: Rocket Rival

Driving past Mount Moon, Ashimi and Jonathan made it to Cerulean City. Ashimi knew she would be facing her mother at the gym for a cascade badge eventually. They had battled for training before, but she knew this battle would be different and she really wanted her mother to give it her all. "The cascade badge will be the second to last before the earth badge."

"To Saffron City then, or do you want to stop at Cerulean even if you don't battle yet?" Jonathan asked.

"There was that upcoming cake shop, maybe it's open by now. Dad and I found it, but it wasn't ready for the public yet. I want to try the cakes are if it's open," Ashimi decided.

Jonathan liked the idea and it was clear to see on his face. "Which way is it?"

"A little out of the way," Ashimi admitted. "Take the backstreets behind the gym and make a... right, I think." They drove past the gym and towards the more solitary streets behind it. "Let's see... I think I recognize this, turn right again in the next one..." They drove a bit further until Ashimi pointed, "over there, make a left!"

The warning came late and Jonathan nearly missed the turn, but managed to make it at the last minute. "Where is it?"

"There!" Ashimi pointed at a tiny shop tugged away in an alley between two apartment buildings. It wasn't the fanciest part of town, but despite its shadowy surroundings, the shop had an inviting look to it.

"I wonder if they get any customers, you can barely see that little shop in the alley." Jonathan observed as they got out of the car and headed into the shop.

An old lady came from the back of the shop and stood behind the counter. Her white hair framed her face, covering a portion of it and her large round glasses obscured another portion. The woman stood silent, staring at the pair as if she'd seen a ghost.

Ashimi was already focused on the treats displayed behind glass, but Jonathan noticed something peculiar about the woman. The way her green eyes sparkled and how what little of her face wasn't covered looked surprisingly smooth, made him wonder if the woman was truly as old as her hair and attire portrayed her to be.

"That one!" Ashimi's sudden voice got them both out of their daze as she pointed at a chocolate cake with rainbow sprinkles.

The lady from the shop placed the cake in a box swiped Ashimi's card through the register and handed it back along with the box. "C'mon, let's go bug mom about making us burgers. I'm not going to battle her officially yet, but this cake deserves a good picnic to go with it!" She gave the quiet teenage next to her a nudge with her elbow. "Hey Johnny, what's gotten into you all of a sudden? We have an awesome cake and you're not even excited!"

"Oh, right, the cake!" Johnny threw the uncertainty to the back of his mind and smiled.

As they were getting back into the car, a girl came down the street waiving. "Johnny!" The girl caught up to the car and leaned over the driver's window, her nose almost touching Johnny's face.

"Dorme?" He wasn't sure what she was doing in the backstreets of Cerulean City.

The fourteen year old girl grinned. Her violet eyes sparkled with a challenge as she twirled a strand of her wavy pale blond hair on her finger. Unlike Johnny, who was in civilian clothes to blend in, she was still in her black Team Rocket uniform. "I'm so glad I ran into you. I was thinking I should try on a new bikini I just bought at the Cerulean City public pool. Why don't you come with me?" She batted her eye lashes in a flirty fashion.

Before Johnny could make himself reply, Ashimi pointedly interrupted. "We were going to get burgers from my mom."

"Oh right, the burgers," Jonathan recalled. "I'm sure the pool at the Cerulean gym is better anyway, and less crowded, maybe we can go for a swim there," he grinned somewhat sheepishly.

Dorme would prefer if they could go for a swim wherever Ashimi wasn't going to be, but she smiled and nodded anyway. "That's a great idea."

"I don't feel like swimming," Ashimi growled. She hated how Dorme was constantly trying to get rid of her.

"You don't?" Jonathan gave Ashimi an incredulous look and touched her forehead. "You don't have a fever, are you feeling sick?"

"I'm not sick, I just don't feel like being in a pool right now!" That was a lie, she loved swimming. "Never mind," Ashimi pouted, "lets just go to Saffron City."

"But what about the burgers?" Jonathan complained.

"They're not for her," Ashimi growled.

"Aw c'mon, I'm not going to steal your food. In fact, I'm sure I eat a lot less than you, Ashimi. I'm a lady, not a glutton." Dorme laughed obnoxiously.

"Are you calling me a glutton?" Ashimi yelled, exiting the car and walking over to stand in front of Dorme.

"Oh goodness no," Dorme feigned innocence. "I'm just pointing out that I'm not."

"Um, girls..." Jonathan tried to stop the upcoming war, but he was completely ignored.

"That's it!" Ashimi pointed at Dorme with an accusing and challenging tone. "I challenge you to a pokemon battle!"

"You're on!" Dorme accepted without hesitation. "Go Oddish!"

"Oddish! Oddish!" The little pokemon seemed rather energetic. She wore a golden circlet around her leaves, making the combination look like a crown. Yet oddly, the centerpiece of the circlet looked like a poor imitation rhinestone, which contrasted with the pretty circlet.

"This will be easy," Ashimi was itching to use a pokemon she had not battled with before and that affected her choice for the worse. "Clefable, I choose you!" Calling out the pink pokemon turned out to be a big mistake, as it only earned Ashimi a slap on the face.

"Ah! Ha ha ho ha ha!" Dorme laughed loudly while Johnny quietly cringed. "Looks like your pokemon doesn't like you very much!"

"Shut up!" Ashimi quickly recalled Clefable into her pokeball. "I'll deal with you later," she grumbled at the red and white capsule. Dorme wasn't done laughing and the sound was getting on Ashimi's nerves. "Pichu... Annihilate them! Thunder!"

Pichu jumped off Ashimi's head and went on the attack. "Chu!" The rush of electricity was massive!

"Watch it, Ashy, you're battling too close to the car!" Jonathan urged, but his pleas fell upon deaf ears. Without another second to waste, he quickly moved the car to the opposite side of the street and thought it best to witness the battle from there.

"Dodge it, Oddish, and use giga drain!" Dorme was unfazed by the electric attack and had a strategy of her own.

Pichu continued to attack while the slippery Oddish danced around him. Out of breath, the electric pokemon had to stop, swaying from side to side in a dizzy daze. "Pichu!"

The Oddish on the other hand was full of energy, still speedily jumping around with confidence. "You might as well give up now," Dorme gloated. "My pokemon is clearly stronger than yours!"

Ashimi glared in frustration. That Oddish was fast and the potency of her giga drain was something else. Though the electricity that did manage to reach Oddish wasn't enough to cause her any real pain, it did scratch the rhinestone on her circlet to reveal that it was a gray stone underneath. Why would anyone use that as the center piece of an otherwise well made circlet? Unless... "That's an everstone!"

"It is," Dorme grinned, "not that you figuring that out makes a difference for the battle!"

Dorme was clearly about to go on the attack, but Ashimi quickly interrupted before the blond could issue a command. "That circlet looks really tacky!"

"What?" Dorme growled. "It's useful! Besides, I plan to repaint the everstone with glitters and glue new rhinestones to it. When I'm done it will be beautiful!"

"Yeah well, you didn't do a very good job the first time!" Ashimi retorted. 'That's right, Dorme, get angry and keep arguing, that should give Pichu some time to catch his breath.'

"I don't see you trying to make any jewelry! Oh, that's right," Dorme mocked, "grandpa gives you all the jewelry you want. In fact, your family does everything for you because you're a sheltered spoiled brat who can't do anything for herself!"

"That's not true!" Ashimi felt her blood boil. She took a step forward and Dorme defiantly mirrored the action. The angry remarks and venomous retorts continued to be exchanged until the two girls were a mere foot away from each other.

"Girls! Girls!" Johnny rushed over across the street and tried to defuse the situation. "This is a pokemon battle, not a boxing match!" He tried to remind them.

"Mind your own business!" The two girls shouted in unison as they shoved him aside, causing him to fall down on the street.

"I'll show you!" Ashimi growled threateningly, "but first, I'll finish off your pokemon! You think you can trick people into lowering their guard with that everstone trick? It doesn't matter how much you've secretly trained that Oddish, my Pichu is special and has skills few pokemon have!"

"It certainly doesn't look it!" Dorme exclaimed.

"You'll see... Pichu, time to use your secret move!" Ashimi commanded. Pichu visibly stiffened and let out a whimper. "It's okay, you can do it. At this stage it should be just enough to knock him out." The electric pokemon nodded and got ready, focusing as much as he could.

"Whatever it is your going to do, it won't work. My Oddish will drain away all your Pichu's energy!" It looked like Dorme's confidence was unshakable. "Giga drain!"

"Hold back your energy, Pichu, don't let her take it, concentrate!" Ashimi guided. "Try to feel it, sense the flow of energy and let that be the path you follow, build up your power, make it as strong as you can!"

Dorme frowned as Pichu began to glow bright yellow. "Try harder, Oddish!" Judging by the sparks around Pichu, a physical attack would only result in electrocution, and projectiles could be deflected with that same electricity. Dorme concluded that her only choice was to drain away that little lightbulb of a Pichu and have all that power strengthen her Oddish. "Finish this, Oddish, giga drain with everything you have!"

The Oddish focused hard and Ashimi saw an opportunity. The pathway of energy, like a signal flowing through a wire, was clear to Pichu. "Now!" At his trainer's command, Pichu released all his energy at once.

It was too much for Oddish and she was badly electrocuted. The ends of her leaves dried up and broke off, leaving the remaining part burnt and shriveled, her whole body singed and twitching painfully. "Oddish!" Dorme's eyes went wide in disbelief. "No way... I had this battle, from the start, I had it!"

Pichu was breathing heavily but looking accomplished. "You did it, Pichu, I knew you could!" Ashimi cheered.

Dorme clenched her teeth and recalled Oddish into her pokeball. "I'll beat you next time, Ashimi!" Embarrassed by her loss, she gave up on any plans of showing off for Johnny in her bikini, and simply ran away.

"I can beat you any day!" Ashimi called after her retreating rival. She held Pichu in her arms and smiled.

"Good strategy, using Oddish's giga drain against her," Jonathan congratulated. "It's too bad Dorme had to leave though..."

"Forget about her," Ashimi was in too much of a good mood with her victory to complain about Johnny actually wanting Dorme to stay. "Let's just head to the Cerulean gym and get some burgers, then we can eat the chocolate cake for dessert!"

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After a quick stop at the pokemon center, Ashimi and Jonathan arrived at the Cerulean City gym, where they found Misty. "Hi mom, can you make us some burgers to eat and some for the road?" Ashimi immediately inquired.

Misty shook her head hopelessly and laughed. "What, no how have you been, I've missed you so much?"

"Aw, but it's only been a few days and I have been emailing... But I did miss you, now about those burgers..." Ashimi smiled sweetly.

"I think you've missed my food more than me," Misty laughed. "C'mon you two, lets get cooking and you can tell me all about your journey so far since your last email. I hope you've been keeping her out of trouble, Johnny."

"As best as I can," Jonathan laughed. He was a Rocket, as were his parents, but Jessie and James had become long time good friends of Ash and Misty and they had seen their little boy grow up, so they trusted him.

"Is dad home?" Ashimi asked.

"No, he went to take care of some business with the Pokemon League." Misty didn't specify what the business was, but having become focused on the food she was making, Ashimi and Johnny didn't ask. "You wanted him to watch your cascade badge battle, didn't you?" The Cerulean City gym leader smiled.

"Actually, I'm not here to battle, we only came to eat," Ashimi admitted before amending. "And to see you! Anyway, I want a battle that pushes us both to the limit, not like the training battles you do for other people who want badges. I've already have plenty of training battles and I want to win my cascade badge in a special way. I'll be back for it, then the earth badge will be my final stop. I already have a boulder badge, like I said in my email. I plan to go to Saffron City next."

"I see," Misty always knew her daughter had Ash's competitive spirit. "In that case, I better not neglect my training. I wouldn't want to disappoint you as a gym leader."

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Ashimi and Jonathan ended up spending the night at Cerulean City. She noticed her room was tidier than she remembered and her collection of gijinka dolls had been neatly arranged. Ash had not returned from his business with the Pokemon League, but the young trainers had a good time swimming at the Cerulean gym's pool.

After packing a picnic basket brimming with food for the road, they were on their way once again. They stopped at the bakery, but it was closed, much to their disappointment. They wondered if it was going out of business already, which would have been a pity because the cake was really good, though not as good as Delia's. Thus without further ado, Ashimi and Jonathan made their way to Saffron City.

To be Continued

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Notes

Shout outs to Rocketlord6485, Nafa-tali and Destinie for keeping my interest in Pokemon alive. Rocketlord6485, Nafa-tali are also fanfic writers who have created some amazing stories that I highly recommend.

Chapter 1: Johnny's pillage then burn quote is... do I even have to say it? It's a standard procedure for all criminal organizations that originated in the era of pirates, established by the famed Jack Sparrow. Obviously I don't own the quote from Pirates of the Caribbean or Pokemon itself. If I did, there would be a game where you could play as a Rocket. And because no one likes to read disclaimers over and over, let's just say it belongs to Nintendo and that goes for all the upcoming chapters.

Chapter 2: Following the pattern from Don't Give Me Diamonds, I borrowed some character names from Star Wars. Brand is one such case, yes, Brand, not Brad, that's the character's name and also I thought it was funny, because Lilly and her older sisters are probably the kind of girls who love brand name items. You can check out a list of Star Wars characters at Wikipedia, though I only borrowed the names, the characters themselves are definitely not the same. I also use Bulbapedia as a reference for pokemon attacks and other details. Lilly's Gyarados is named after AndrAIa from Reboot. Though most of my name references are still going to be Star Wars based, there are a few occasional exceptions.

Chapter 3: Dorme is also another name from Star Wars. Her annoying laugh is based on Naga from Slayers. Gijinka is a name commonly given by fans to human pokemon. As you can imagine, Ashimi's gijinka doll collection is super cute!

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Characters

Ashley Ketchum: The daughter of Ash and Misty, granddaughter of Delia and Giovanni. Most people know her as Ashimi, a nickname from her aunts, and few actually remember her name is Ashley. She has brown eyes and red hair. Her first pokemon, Pichu, is often seen riding on her head like a living hat. She is a month away from her birthday at the start of the story and 11 years old for most of it.

Jonathan Jancen Kojiro: More often known as Johnny, he is the 15 year old son of Jessie and James. A loyal Rocket, he is Ashimi's best friend and traveling companion. He's good at driving various vehicles and does stuff for Giovanni on the side while traveling with Ashimi. He calls her Ashy or princess (as in Rocket princess). (Yeah, I kind of borrowed James' Japanese name as his surname to give the two main characters full names, his middle name is based on Star Wars.)

Brand: Brock and Lilly's 7 year old son, Ash and Misty's nephew and Ashimi's cousin. He has tan skin and squinty eyes like his father, and pink hair like his mother. He aspires to go on his own pokemon journey and participate in the Indigo League. He holds a friendly rivalry with Ashimi, but actually looks up to her a lot.