Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Don't Give Me Diamonds ❯ Chapter 2

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

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 06: Give me Comfort

When morning came at the little inn in Pewter City, things looked better for Giovanni than they had the night before. That anti-burn cream Delia got him was super effective and he appeared to be fully healed. He took the bottle and examined it closely. He had put it on as promised, she was certainly right about being able to tell if he used it, the difference was as noticeable as day and night. However, his satisfaction was short lived, "this stuff is made for pokemon!"

He found himself pushing back his temper once more, Delia was only trying to help and the cream did result in a little miracle for him. Deciding not to mention his discovery, Giovanni concluded that he wasn't all that curious to know if Delia was aware of the fact the lotion was for pokemon or not. After the morning activities were completed, the pair met out in the hall, coming out of their rooms simultaneously.

"You look good today," Delia suddenly complimented, albeit Giovanni's ego didn't have time to grow before she added, "I told you that anti-burn cream would work, see what happens when you listen to people's well intended advice like a good boy?"

Motherly was a term that described Delia well, she was often motherly towards the other Team Rocket members and specially towards the pokemon, but that was not the mood he wanted her in. Yet he could think of nothing to say before she started down the stairs.

"Giovanni, hurry up or we'll be late!" Giovanni rushed down the stairs to meet Delia, they checked out of the inn and returned to the car.

"It's still early, we could go out for breakfast in a nice restaurant," Giovanni suggested.

"Time is of the essence, but you're right in that we should remember to take care of ourselves. Let's just go to a place that has food ready quickly so we can get on the road again. Pallet Town is still a long way from here; we need to pass through Viridian City first."

"Don't worry, we're making great progress," with Delia in a rush to deliver the samples, there was little time left to take advantage of their deal.

They stopped in front of a fancy restaurant, which Delia declined, "they'll take too long to bring the food. These places are for people who have time to sit and talk while they wait and we don't."

In the end they settled for the breakfast menu of a fast food place and were on the road again soon after.

xoxox xox xoxox

Time passed and they made it to the Viridian Forest fairly quickly. That was the slowest part of the trip since the forest was so thick and no one bothered to take good care of the road. Viridian was the closest major city to Pallet Town, though clear of the abundant trees of the forest, Giovanni knew the road would not be good past the city, no one had much of a reason to go that way anyway.

They were slowly but surely making their way through the forest when the car suddenly jerked violently, causing Giovanni to stomp on the breaks and Delia to close her eyes, clutching the pokemon egg protectively. The car came to a full stop feeling unbalanced. "Great... it looks like a flat tire."

"Did you bring a spare?" Delia certainly hoped he did.

"No, that was the spare; I changed it a few days ago," and forgot to replace it. Things were not looking good for Giovanni.

Even so, Delia didn't lose her optimistic mood. "Viridian City isn't far; we'll get another tire and replace it."

"Right, I'll go get it, wait here," Giovanni got out of the car, silently cursing his luck.

"I'll come too and you should get a spare while you're at it," Delia got out of the car as well.

Their conversation was interrupted by an approaching pokemon loudly calling out, "machoke!" while pointing at them.

"What is it Machoke?" A woman was fast approaching and for a moment Delia feared she was a police officer that somehow knew the leader of Team Rocket would be heading that way, though how she obtained that information would be inexplicable.

The police usually used Growlithe as their main pokemon, but exceptions were not unheard of. "Giovanni, the police!" Delia couldn't be caught like this. For a fleeting moment she considered claiming she had been taken hostage by Giovanni. She had good friends who could vouch for her character and it wasn't an unlikely possibility. Yet she couldn't bring herself to abandon Giovanni. She reached for her pokeballs, adding a plan B hastily in. "Giovanni, take the pokemon and battle the police, if they win, take me hostage and escape." It was wrong to pretend to be a hostage, but she would much rather turn Giovanni into a righteous vigilante than see him imprisoned.

Giovanni shook his head, "Delia, relax, put those pokeballs away. No one knows who we are."

Embarrassed by her sudden panic because of the Machoke's alarm, Delia nodded hurriedly and quickly put the pokeballs away, thankful that that pokemon couldn't talk, thus the Machoke would not be a dangerous witness.

"Oh my, you got a flat tire!" The woman was not wearing a police uniform, nor did she have anything that identified her as an officer.

Delia then understood that the Machoke was only trying to alert his trainer that there were people there who appeared to be in need of assistance. It then sunk in that she had subconsciously gotten into a somewhat criminal mind frame worrying about being caught. She remained lost in thought while Giovanni casually made up a story to tell the woman.

They learned that Machoke's trainer, Amethyst, was the leader of the Viridian City gym, which she had inherited from her father. She was known in the city as a cheerful young woman, with a vast willingness to help others and a bit of a shy side at times. She was also very beautiful with violet eyes and brilliant golden hair.

With some help from Amethyst's Machoke, the flat tire problem was solved swiftly. None the less, one distraction led to another and the group had lunch in Viridian City. Delia didn't want to rush out too quickly, albeit she could come up with a believable normal sounding excuse to be in a hurry, she was still jumpy from her earlier scare and wanted to avoid unnecessary suspicion.

It was when Delia called out Cloyster and Krabby for lunch, apologizing for having woken them up so early for breakfast before, that Giovanni realized she had been taking care of feeding the pokemon all along. She must have gone out to buy pokemon food when she got the anti-burn cream for him and given them dinner later that night. Then they must have had breakfast before Delia exited her room that morning.

Giovanni had all but forgotten about his Ivysaur, which had only been fed once early on the previous day. He considered hiding the pokemon, though if she was too weak to battle that would defeat the purpose of having brought her along for emergencies. Besides, Delia didn't need to know he forgot. He called out Ivysaur who was used to being forgotten and didn't make a fuss about being hungry, though she was certainly happy to have some lunch with the other pokemon.

Delia gave Giovanni a discreet glance, noticing his hand caught in the cookie jar expression, which he found impossible to hide completely. Fortunately, albeit the looks were easy to catch for those who expected them, the silent exchange went unnoticed by Amethyst.

After lunch, the act of friendly travelers was finalized with an expression of gratitude to Amethyst and her Machoke, and Giovanni and Delia were finally on the road to Pallet town once again.

As expected, when they left Viridian City behind, Delia brought up the topic of Ivysaur, but was not too energetic in scolding Giovanni, "please don't let Ivysaur go hungry again."

"Are you alright?"

"Huh?"

"You sound tired, ever since we ran into Amethyst you've been uncomfortable," he paused and allowed his mind to come up with a pleasant theory, though he was smart enough not to voice that he thought, or at least hoped, it was all due to jealousy caused by the false friendly act he put up with Amethyst.

"I panicked back there and it made me realize what it's like to be on the run," Delia confessed.

"We're not on the run; we can go out in the open anywhere. I don't think you know the difference between a mafia organization and a gang of common thieves. Granted that's how we started, but it's not so simple anymore, it stopped being simple since before you joined. We'll be a powerful force, right now we're unknown and by the time they learn who we are, the police won't come after us, they'll know better than to start a war."

His words did the opposite of reassuring Delia, "you're aiming high and in the wrong direction," the second day, today was the second day, she would count yesterday as a full day even if Giovanni didn't like it. In another five days their deal would be off and she would no longer have a criminal boyfriend.

"Delia..." She automatically looked at him, suppressing the need to tell him he should be paying attention to the road instead of her. The path was straight and there was nothing to crash into anyway. "I'll protect you."

She blinked, blushed, then laughed, the last reaction understandably surprising Giovanni. She shook her head and composed herself, "a spy movie, you sounded just like the protagonist of a spy movie." She would never admit that she was laughing herself out of a dreamy daze in which she wanted to believe she was safe.

She just had to keep reminding herself that real life bad boys were not like movie bad boys, and yet, she still held on to the hope of someday making him change his ways. Perhaps she knew he was inevitably destined for power and wanted to make sure that power was used well.

Giovanni wasn't sure if he should be angry or glad. At least Delia was taking things better than he thought, or maybe she was running away from the facts. He concluded that it was useless to go around in circles trying to figure her out, she really was an enigma. "I like spy movies," he tried to guide the conversation into a casual topic.

Delia was all too happy to distract herself from her worries and played along. Soon they relaxed and carried out a normal conversation about movies, music and the like.

xoxox xox xoxox

When they entered Pallet Town, Delia was surprised. She knew it wasn't a very long way from Viridian to Pallet in a car, though pokemon trainers sometimes took up to three days to travel on foot, it was quite possible to make it in one, the delay was probably due to multiple stops along the way to pursue wild pokemon. Still, the remainder of the trip had gone by very quickly.

"Right down the street, there on that little hill," she directed him towards Professor Oak's research lab. Giovanni stopped in front of the stairs leading to the house; the gates had been left open. Delia exited the car, carrying the pokemon egg in one arm and a box full of samples on the other, which she had retrieved from the back of the car. She was half way up the stairs when she stopped and called back at Giovanni, "aren't you coming? You'll get bored waiting in the car for so long."

Giovanni didn't like the sound of this. "You mean you're not just going to drop off the samples?" He knew the answer would be a negative and wasted no time waiting for it before starting up the stairs. Then again, this might be for the best, he would know a little more about the resources and contacts Delia had and how he could use them in the future, this trip had stopped being only a vacation a long time ago.

"I want to take a look at the samples too, hear Professor Oak's opinion and say hi to the pokemon. This place is bigger than it looks; I stayed here for a long time as a student. I'm sure that Professor Oak will have a couple of spare rooms and invite us to stay," Delia explained.

"Fine, have it your way then," he took the box and placed his other arm around her waist, they did have a deal. He was her boyfriend for a week, not her secret boyfriend.

"If you're going to play the boyfriend card, you'll have to be nice to Professor Oak and help out. We'll be busy with the samples so you'll have to help with the pokemon and you need to treat them well."

For all his work, Giovanni felt he wouldn't receive any rewards right away, but having a look around the lab would be good. "Alright, I'll play nice, but try not to extend the visit too much. We should leave tomorrow at the latest." Sometimes he wondered why he was so tolerant with her. Either way; it wouldn't take him long to asset the situation and know what cards he held for later so there was no need to stay for more than a day.

"I'll try; believe me I'm in a hurry to see if we can learn anything from these samples so we will be working as fast as possible."

Delia rang the door bell and noted Professor Oak's solemn expression as he opened the door, which he tried to brighten when he realized who it was. "Delia, welcome back, and you've brought a guest, come in, come in."

Delia was quick to cut to the chase, "you look sad, did something happen? How are the pokemon? Has the epidemic reached here? We collected some samples from the beach east of Cerulean City where a healthy Shellder was found, although there was also a sick Gyarados, but I don't think she was originally from that area. I have water, sand and even scales from the Gyarados. The Shellder is now a Cloyster and I have him with me, as well as a healthy Krabby caught in the same beach. I would also like to conduct a more detailed examination on this pokemon egg, it came from a Persian, she..." Delia sniffled, "passed away..." and started crying, unable to hold back any longer.

Professor Oak feared his expression had been far too easy to read and didn't know what to say. Giovanni resolved to hug Delia quietly until she calmed down, though he was as confused as ever with her outburst. However, neither needed to wait for Oak to tell them the epidemic had reached his lab, it was written all over his face even if he tried to hide it.

Several minutes passed before Delia let out her bottled up stress and became focused again. Professor Oak first examined the egg, confirming that as Delia previously determined, the virus had not been passed from mother to child. Oak then got to work on studying the samples, though Delia's studies had concentrated more on the pokemon directly than on analyzing their environment.

She took Oak's gentle suggestion to take a break and go for a walk in the spacious yard. She didn't want to get in the way and knew he would work faster if he didn't have to explain what he was doing as he went along, this was no time for an academic lecture; he needed to concentrate in his research.

Between the rush, the sadness and the overall drama, Giovanni was eventually introduced, with Delia feeling the obligation to point out he was her boyfriend. Albeit the casual pleasantries were cut short, due to the call of duty to focus on research, for which Giovanni was secretly thankful.

Delia restlessly made her way through the yard, which looked sadly empty with so few healthy pokemon left in the area. "I wish I was an expert in pokemon but my training is far from over, I would just slow him down if I go in there to help Professor Oak." The egg had been left inside the lab along with Cloyster and Krabby for further examinations.

"You've done a lot already, for all we know, this could be the key to solving the mystery of the epidemic," Giovanni consoled her, though it had little effect.

"You may be right, I am naive, but not this much, nothing in life is that easy." For a moment it looked like Delia would suffer a nervous break down and Giovanni could only think of hugging her, though she unexpectedly looked up at him with confidence. "I won't give up, no matter what." Taking a deep breath, she focused on her other mission, trying to turn Giovanni good. Perhaps if she opened her heart to him just a little, she would find him easier to understand and easier to guide towards the right path. "It's a bit empty now, but this place is very beautiful, I enjoyed taking walks here as a student."

Giovanni was surprised by the sudden shift in Delia's mood when she took his hand and started hurrying towards the other side of the grassy fields where there was a little pond. Concluding he would never understand women, he went along with the nicer mood and took the opportunity to relax and take a break from the stress that dominated the majority of their time lately.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 07: Give me Understanding

"Poor pokemon..." As Delia had predicted, Professor Oak did invite them to spend the night over, though he confessed that most of the rooms in the house were occupied by pokemon that were too sick to go into their pokeballs, leaving Delia and Giovanni to share the only available guest room.

Delia had been cheered up a little, spending time relaxing outside, though Giovanni's attempt to charm her with sweet nothings failed miserably, since his nothings were too spicy to be sweet. It only caused Delia to scold him, making use of the Charmander nickname again; which she had decided fit him well. He didn't like it, but that only made it better.

Upon being harshly thrown back into reality, Delia only nodded in a daze, not questioning Oak's assumption until she and Giovanni were inside the room, at which time she rushed out. "Professor Oak! Are you sure you don't have another room?"

Oak laughed lightly, finding renewed hope in the refreshing atmosphere of youth. "Calm down you're an adult, no one is judging you. Besides, I already heard from a colleague who was staying at Pewter City last night. You should have heard him dramatizing over the phone. I told him times change and-"

"No!" Delia snapped; someone had seen her after all. "I mean, I don't, I didn't-"

"Delia honey, calm down, you don't need to worry, it's obvious Professor Oak is a very understanding and open-minded person, an admirable quality, especially for a brilliant researcher," Giovanni grinned victoriously.

"Thank you," Oak was flattered, but Delia knew Giovanni was only complimenting him to encourage his wrong conclusions.

Delia found herself caught in a corner and decided not to allow Giovanni's victory to go to his head. "Thank you for being so understanding," she smiled sugary sweet at Oak, with murder flashing in her eyes and went back into the guest room.

Professor Oak gave Giovanni a look of sympathy, which the younger man caught but did not understand. The researcher left, off to his own room to turn in for the night and Giovanni entered the guest room, hearing the sound of the shower behind the closed door of the annexed bathroom.

He assumed that Delia would be locked in the bathroom for a long time, but she finished fairly quickly and emerged in her pink pajamas, which did not show any skin in a way she would deem unnecessary. She nonchalantly retrieved a brush from the luggage that had been moved inside a little earlier, and began to brush her hair.

Without a word, Giovanni went to take a shower, almost expecting to find some kind of trap somewhere, but found nothing out of place. When he came out, wearing a pair of pajama pants, since he was not stupid enough to come out in a towel given Delia's threat from last time, she found her sitting on the bed reading a book about pokemon, which he assumed she must have borrowed from Professor Oak's personal library.

"Are we going to sleep now?" He had to break the silence. Delia only shook her head. "Are you going to read all night?" She nodded at that.

Judging by her position sitting on the bed and her stubborn resolve, her plan must be to stay up all night and force him to do the same, preventing him from crawling under the covers to block out the light.

"Fine," if it wasn't one thing, it was another, the situation was hopeless at the moment, but tomorrow was another day and Giovanni liked challenges. "Have a nice night of reading; I'll be sleeping on the couch."

xoxox xox xoxox

Giovanni shifted and turned, then sat up in frustration. Professor Oak desperately needed to buy a new couch because the one he had was as hard as an Onix. He caught a glimpse of a shadow approaching in the darkness, illuminated only by the faint light seeping in through the windows from outside. "Delia?"

"You were awake..." it was a statement, rather than a question. She gave him a pillow and blanket, revealing the delivery to be the purpose of her visit. "I know Professor Oak's couch is as hard as an Onix so I felt bad about you sleeping on it. Also, it's not entirely your fault that we ended up sharing, even if we haven't been seen at Pewter City, all the guest rooms are still full."

"It's not so bad, and I'm not tired anyway..."

"You should be, the last few days have been long, but it was nice this afternoon, to forget about my worries for a little while. I just hope a cure can be found soon."

"You really care about pokemon."

"I do..." Almost without realizing it, Delia sat down on the rock hard couch beside Giovanni. "I've always found them to be so cute and charming, but..."

A moment of silence passed, "go on," he encouraged with genuine curiosity, though her tone implied that the next part wouldn't be cheerful.

"You only see them as a source of power," her voice was filled with so much agony that it surprised Giovanni. Why did she care so much? It made no sense to him. "I think they're our friends. What was your first pokemon like?"

"I've forgotten."

"Lies," she didn't believe he would forget his first pokemon, no one could forget something like that.

"It was a Squirtle."

"What happened to it? The truth please."

"I don't have it anymore; I don't know what happened to it."

"It's dead," she concluded.

"How do you know that?" Delia had suddenly become an even bigger enigma to Giovanni.

"You just said you didn't have it, you didn't say you traded it or why you don't have it, so I guessed the worse and you confirmed it," Delia explained, her voice unexpectedly even.

"Alright, I fell for it and now you're going to ask for the full story, aren't you?" Surprisingly, Delia shook her head and it was Giovanni who insisted. "If I don't tell you, you'll assume the worse. I didn't kill it and it didn't die of starvation or exhaustion, even if I did push it a lot. It died in a battle. Gang pokemon battles can get far more violent than any official or casual battle. A lot of the pokemon are drugged to become more powerful for a short time, but in the long run it kills them. That wasn't the case with Blastoise; Squirtle had already evolved at the time. I was confident Blastoise was strong enough to win and sent it out to battle against a Nidoking, it was two on two and Blastoise had already defeated a Primeape. Nidoking was too strong and Blastoise was killed. I sent out a Bulbasaur then, I didn't seriously think I could win, but I wasn't going to give up. Nidoking was overdosed and his strength didn't last much longer, so Bulbasaur won, it's the same Ivysaur I have now."

There was a long silence.

"Delia?"

Tears were silently running down her face, "I feel sorry for Blastoise and even more so for Nidoking. I fear to think of the fate of Primeape, maybe it was the same as Nidoking. Giovanni, please don't do that, if you must see pokemon as power, see their natural power, don't experiment with them; that only hurts them. You faced your opponent with pokemon without illegal enhancements, that much was good, even if you shouldn't have put your pokemon in that situation in the first place."

"You're not angry at me? You're sad about the pokemon, but I thought you would be furious at me."

"Even so, you told me the truth, thank you for that, please feel free to tell me anything, you can trust me, I'll help," she tried to be quiet, she didn't want to disturb the sleeping pokemon or wake Professor Oak.

He hugged her and caressed her hair.

"You're right to say I'm naive, maybe the worse part is that I'm like that by choice. Maybe the truth is that the police can't handle things like that, there's too much going on in the shadows. Maybe that's why I hold on to Team Rocket, because I can't stand to throw away the opportunity to save the pokemon. After the epidemic is resolved, as I have to believe it will be, let's establish Team Rocket firmly and make it good, it doesn't even have to be legal if the law slows it down. It can even be feared; maybe it should be, but let it be feared by the villains, not by the innocent."

"We gather strong Pokemon and gain power and riches, that's all there really is to it."

"Let me believe there's more."

He said nothing more after that, he only held her tightly. She was set in believing what she wanted to believe. Could she really fully adapt to the life style of Team Rocket? She had been struggling, yet thinking she could change their organization, she remained loyal.

She drifted off to sleep without realizing it and he carried her back to the guest room where they slept for the rest of the night.

xoxox xox xoxox

Delia was dreaming about something she had not dreamed of in a while. It was the carefree dream of a little girl waiting for her prince. But she was no longer a little girl in her dream and her prince was instead an aspiring mafia lord. However, the rest of the dream played out in the same fashion it had many times before.

She was wearing a pretty dress, surrounded by elegance in a palace. The color and style of her dress varied every time she had the dream, it had been pink, cyan, various shades of blue and even yellow. Yet this was the first time it had appeared in white, it was a strapless dress, decorated with diamonds, with a long flowing skirt, the fabric extending infinitely. She wore a diamond necklace with matching earrings, bracelets and a tiara that sparkled beautifully.

Her prince in a formal black tuxedo; kneeled before her and took her hand, placing a ring on her finger with the most brilliant diamond of all. "My princess, will you marry me?"

She smiled with pure radiant joy, "I will!"

The dream changed instantly, the palace background was gone and instead they were in a church crowded with people. "I now pronounce you husband and wife," the priest announced.

Delia looked at her husband beside her, but she had to look down because he was a little Charmander. Much to her horror, Delia discovered that she was not only getting married to a Charmander, but she was doing so in her pajamas. Despite the lack of formal elegance of her outfit, she still somehow kept all her diamond jewelry, which made her pajamas look even more plain in comparison.

"Char! Char!" Her little husband called out to her and it was the last image Delia saw in her dream before she woke up.

xoxox xox xoxox

"Ah!" Startled, Delia rolled off the bed and fell on the floor.

"Delia!" Giovanni was immediately woken by her sudden yell, but was unable to stop her from falling on time. "Are you alright? Don't be so dramatic, I didn't do anything; I just slept next to you, that's all. If we had stayed on that couch we would be sore all day," he explained as he helped her up.

She nodded; the odd dream still vivid in her mind. "I believe you," she finally assured after a moment. Taking a deep breath, she couldn't help it but to confess the latter portion of her dream, intentionally leaving out the first part. "I had a really strange dream. I was getting married to a Charmander in my pajamas! Can you believe it, getting married in my pajamas?"

"You were marrying a pokemon and you were worried about what you were wearing?" Giovanni couldn't help it but to be amused.

"Of course I was worried about that too!" Delia pouted in embarrassment; then laughed at the sheer silliness of the dream. It was a new day full of hope.

xoxox xox xoxox

The early morning flowed relatively uneventful. Professor Oak returned Cloyster and Krabby after taking blood samples from both. The pokemon, including Ivysaur, were fed and the humans had their breakfast as well.

Delia discussed a few things with Professor Oak concerning the epidemic research; he was especially fascinated by the examination of the Gyarados' scales through the microscope, finding some small differences from the data previously collected from other sick Gyarados and made public to the scientific community.

After they were done talking, Delia got the pokemon egg and said her final goodbyes while Giovanni loaded their luggage back in the car. He pushed himself to put up one final nice boyfriend act and politely say goodbye to Professor Oak, then they were gone.

xoxox xox xoxox

"Back to HQ?" Delia inquired as the car advanced through the rural roads on its way out of Pallet Town.

"There are some things I need to do first."

"Excuses," Delia shook her head. She might be naive, optimistic and trusting, but she was not dumb.

Before Giovanni could reply, his phone rang; he had specifically instructed Aayla when he left her in charge of the hideout not to call unless it was an extreme emergency. "What happened?"

"Dude Giovanni, it's like totally terrible, you know?"

"Luke?"

"Aayla told me to call; she's with the others, like" a gasp for breath, "battling! The Tempest Gang is like totally invading us, man!"

"I'm on my way, hold them off, don't let them get to the warehouse and don't let them take over the hideout!" Giovanni hung up and looked at Delia intently; "hold on, we'll be moving fast."

Delia securely wrapped her arms around the pokemon egg which sat on her lap and Giovanni stepped on the gas until the pedal couldn't go any further. The car roared loudly and sped away recklessly.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 08: Give me Adventure

Giovanni cursed loudly as the side mirror was knocked off his car after brushing against a tree. People's screams as they rushed to get out of the way in Viridian City still echoes in Delia's head. They were pursued by the police for their reckless driving through the city, though fortunately they didn't hit anything or anyone before making it to the forest.

Giovanni knew he couldn't lead the police to the hideout, thus far from slowing down to navigate the forest, he sped up even more. "Are they still after us?"

Delia looked back, trying to perceive any trace of the police through the tick forest, too focused on the rush of the moment to care if they had already seen her face. "I don't see them, but they could catch up."

The empty warning light was bright on the dashboard, Giovanni knew he should have refueled when he had the chance, he intended to stop at Viridian City on the way back from Pallet Town, but he rushed through in his haste and didn't refuel.

Having consumed the last drop of gas, the car finally came to a full stop. "Damn it! Why now?" He punched the steering wheel hard, fortunately missing the horn.

"Because you didn't refuel!" Delia yelled back. A million thoughts ran through her head, about her life as a criminal, because that's what she felt like, about how she could have avoided this, and most of all, about what was happening at the hideout. "The others are in danger, one of the bad gangs is there; our comrades need us!" She wasn't sure where that came from, but she didn't want to picture her friends from Team Rocket or their pokemon getting hurt.

"Growlithe! Growl! Growlithe!" The barking of a pack of Growlithe echoed loudly, fast approaching.

"We have to run," Giovanni dug out a backpack from the back of the car for Delia to put the pokemon egg in it and they both ran through the thick forest.

There was nothing particularly incriminating in the car other than the Team Rocket uniforms, but that didn't matter, Team Rocket was a gang of pokemon thieves, a few driving tickets to their name were nothing.

The barking of the Growlithe became closer and came from multiple directions. "They must have alerted the Pewter City police!" Giovanni concluded; they were trapped from both sides. Maybe they could hide in the thick forest surrounding Viridian until they lost the police, but that would slow them down too much.

"What do we do? I don't want to fight the police," the seriousness of the situation sunk in like a Golem in a pool for Delia and her fighting spirit which came out when they were previously found by Machoke was gone. However, she still didn't want to give up, she didn't want her friends and their pokemon to get hurt; she wanted to help them, even if they were criminals.

"We're too outnumbered anyway, I'll have to take you hostage after all," He took out a knife, "just play along, don't be scared... actually, yes, try to look scared."

"I won't have to put up much of an act for that," Delia stayed perfectly still, allowing Giovanni to hold her hands behind her back and the knife at her throat.

"Stop!" A woman with blue hair wearing a police uniform emerged from beyond the dense flora followed by three men also in police uniforms.

"Don't come any closer or the girl dies!" Giovanni threatened.

Delia gave the officer, whose name happened to be Jenny, an absolutely terrified look, which matched her situation perfectly. Jenny would never guess the source of Delia's fear were the officers, rather than the man holding her hostage.

"Don't do anything rash now," the police was obviously under a lot of tension. Several other officers had caught up, including another blue haired woman identical to the first, who came from the opposite direction. "Just let her go." The Viridian City Jenny kept her voice gentle, hoping not to startle the criminal into slicing the hostage's throat.

Giovanni glanced back for a second, he should have slowed down in the city, but he could only think of the battle that waited against the rival gang and his hasty mistake came at a high price. There were officers and Growlithe all around them, having come from both Viridian and Pewter City. "Stay back, I'm serious!"

Dragging Delia along threateningly, Giovanni made his way out of the circle of officers and through the forest. He knew the officers were following them from a distance, but the hostage situation only allowed them to walk at a slow pace.

When they were far enough not to be seen, though the Growlithe could surely follow their scent with ease, Giovanni released Delia and they ran deep into the forest until they reached a stream.

"Can you swim?" Giovanni hastily asked.

"Yes..." Delia gasped in fright. "Oh, I think I understand; it's to make the trail harder to follow for the Growlithe... Good idea, let's go." Her heart was pounding and she couldn't catch her breath.

"Delia, pull yourself together, you'll drown if you don't calm down," Giovanni urged.

Delia nodded, she didn't know what she was doing anymore and even if Giovanni wasn't really forcing her to follow him, she felt very much like his real hostage. "I'm alright, I can do this."

They jumped into the stream, making use of the current to move faster. They came out down stream and continued their run, exhausted, wet and cold, but with no intentions of stopping.

"Pewter City is up ahead, we'll go around it quietly steal a transport and hurry to the hideout," Giovanni decided.

"We can't steal anything; it's wrong! I found a way to justify taking the pokemon thinking they would be treated better but... oh, what am I doing here anyway?" Delia felt it was too late to question the motives she should have questioned from the start.

"When you see something you think is wrong, you can't leave it alone. You want to carry the weight of the world by yourself, that's why you won't stop following me," Giovanni had been holding her hand since they left the stream, making sure she didn't fall behind or run off on her own, but finally, he let her go. "Stay here if you want, you're just an innocent hostage after all. I trust you won't reveal the location of the hideout; it would cause a lot of trouble for everyone. Go back to Pallet Town; I'll find you when things calm down."

Delia watched Giovanni run towards the outskirts of Pewter City and take cover. She really shouldn't have followed him, every logical and sane brain cell she had was screaming at her not to follow him. Yet he was right about one thing, she couldn't leave this wrong alone, because she knew she could make it right. Thus she followed him, sneaking around, dangerously close to the police station, ready to allow him to take her hostage again if it came to that. "What are you doing?" She whispered.

"They're distracted; I'll steal a motorcycle and get out of here. They sent most of their officers to the forest and left the station almost empty." The opportunity was one of the kind and Giovanni knew it might be his only chance to get away fast. "I guess this is where we go our separate ways."

Giovanni quietly made his way to the motorcycle parking lot outside the station. Someone had conveniently left the keys on the ignition of one of the motorcycles. He slashed the tires of the other vehicles in the parking lot; that should slow them down considerably. He took the donut carelessly left on the seat and threw it away, imagining the face of the officer finding that the donut was there on the ground, but the motorcycle had disappeared.

Delia rushed after Giovanni and sat behind him, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist, which took him by surprise. "What are you doing?"

"Chill out Charmander, I just don't want to fall off. You're right, I can't leave things as they are and I'm not letting you get away. Sorry, you're stuck with me; now let's get moving before they see us!" Delia urged. She had decided to follow her instincts and dream she could take on the world.

"Hold on," Giovanni started the engine and the noise caught the attention of the few officers that were left behind at the station, but it was too late, they were already making their get away.

Out of Pewter City and into the mountains they went recklessly fast. They knew they were being followed, but most of the officers were probably still looking for them at the Viridian forest when they made their get away from Pewter City and those at Pewter were left to pursue them on foot without the help of pokemon to trail them.

When the terrain became too rough, they abandoned the motorcycle and continued on foot until they saw smoke. "It's on fire... the hideout is on fire!" Delia yelled.

"Tempest will pay for this!" Giovanni rushed down the mountain towards the area next to the flames, where a pokemon battle was still raging.

The opposing pokemon looked furious, but at the same time lost. What shocked Delia most was that they were wounded but didn't seem to notice and continued to push themselves being ripped apart. "What have they done to those poor pokemon?"

Team Rocket looked like they were in trouble, though Aayla kept insisting that they had to stay strong, "keep battling everyone, the boss will be here soon!"

"I'm already here," Giovanni ran towards the fight. A chorus of his name was heard among the members of Team Rocket as they found renewed strength.

"Sorry boss, the warehouse and the hideout are both up in flames," Aayla apologized. "They outnumber us three to one humans and five to one pokemon."

The odds were clearly against them, but Team Rocket somehow still looked strong after Giovanni had arrived. Some of the members even had the courage to threaten their enemies from the Tempest Gang, certain that their leader's arrival would assure their victory. Delia was both puzzled and amazed, how could they have so much faith in Giovanni?

"We can still win, we won't let them get away with this, Team Rocket doesn't retreat!" Cheers came from Team Rocket as they stood beside Giovanni with confidence, ready to continue the fight.

A man stepped forward from the Tempest Gang; he had cyan hair and eerie yet enthralling red eyes. His body was perfectly proportioned and his face quite handsome. He possessed a unique commanding aura. "Good to see you again Aayla," he mocked.

"Venom," Aayla growled in response, "The Boss is here now; Team Rocket is taking you out!"

"It doesn't look like it," Venom laughed evilly, "you Rocket trash don't know what you're up against. You should be running for your lives!"

Before Giovanni could step forward to answer to the rival gang leader, Delia's voice echoed with the command of "aurora beam!" and Venom was knocked to the ground by Cloyster's attack. "The way you people treat pokemon is terrible, I won't let you get away with it! Krabby use bubble!"

The atmosphere was covered in bubbles and Giovanni make good use of the distraction as well as Delia's strategy, calling out Ivysaur to join the other pokemon. "Everyone attack! Knock out all the trainers!"

"Alright dudes, all's fair in love and war, you know? Let's like throw the rule book out the window, man!" Luke sent his pokemon, Poliwhirl and Tentacool on the offensive.

"This is a bold move Giovanni, it will have repercussions. I take it Delia doesn't know the agreement, that the pokemon fight and the humans can't be attacked until all their pokemon are defeated," Binks complained, while holding his unconscious Rattata protectively.

"We'll do what we have to do to win," Giovanni insisted.

"If this is the choice that has been made, so be it..." Leah quietly accepted it, "Butterfree, use sleep powder on the enemy trainers!"

"It's about time we gave them what they deserve!" Aayla was pleased with the turn the battle had taken, "Ghastly, confuse ray on the trainers!"

"This is an outrage! How dare you?" Venom yelled in anger. "Rhyhorn!" He called his pokemon out of its pokeball. However, before he could command the pokemon to take revenge on Delia, Giovanni made his way through the multitude of confused and groggy Tempest Gant members and delivered a solid punch, effectively knocking a couple of Venom's teeth out. He quickly snatched Rhyhorn's pokeball and called the pokemon back, he would train it as his own later, but it was too soon to expect it to effectively obey right away.

Venom crawled away, shocked and frightened; he was used to relying on his strong chemically enhanced pokemon and had no fighting power of his own. Now his perfect face was ruined. "Retreat!" He started to run away, followed by his gang members.

"You're not going anywhere until you hand over your pokemon!" Delia chased after them, leading Cloyster and Krabby's fierce attack, which brought Krabby to evolve into Kingler during the fight. This was her mission, to save the pokemon from the bad gangs. However, her mission was interrupted by the sound of helicopters...

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 09: Give Me Inspiration

"The police are coming!" Giovanni alerted, "escape plan C!" The Team Rocket members called back their pokemon and scrambled in separate directions to throw off the police, as previously discussed in plan C.

Delia had not been present when the escape plan was explained and she didn't know what to do, but she knew this was trouble. She was trying to save pokemon from an evil gang that the police didn't or couldn't stop, this time Team Rocket were the good guys from her point of view. Besides, those terrible people had set fire to their hideout and warehouse, sacrificing so many pokemon and risking humans. Delia could not forgive them, but with the arrival of the police, she remembered that vigilantes are also outlaws.

"Delia, call them back!" Giovanni urged.

"Cloyster, Kingler, return!" Delia recalled her pokemon and stood unsure until Giovanni took her hand and led her away in a rush; they ventured into the wilderness and disappeared from the view of the police.

They ran like they never ran before for many hours. Night fell and they continued running non-stop. Delia's confusion slowly melted away, she wasn't a criminal, just a vigilante, an outlaw, but not an evil one. She couldn't live in doubt so she forced herself to make up her mind, this was the only option for her now so she embraced it; she couldn't leave her work unfinished.

xoxox xox xoxox

Exhausted, Giovanni and Delia had hastily bought some food and supplies at Celadon City, then promptly left, walking the rest of the way to the meeting point in the coast of the peninsula south of the city. It would be terribly unsafe to stay in the city; it was enough of a risk to enter it, even if it was only to approach a small kiosk in its outskirts, their disheveled state made them look too suspicious.

They had avoided all the main routes, venturing through the wilderness, the shallow scratches all over their bodies and the thorn fabric of their clothes bared witness to the harsh terrain they crossed. No one said the life of a vigilante or a thief was glamorous, at least not now.

Giovanni knew one day he would have minions to do his dirty work while he lounged in a luxurious yacht somewhere near Cinnabar Island. Somehow Delia appeared in the mental picture as well, vacationing with him. She was even braver than he thought; she had been surprising him ever since the incident at the beach east of Cerulean. She was clearly set on turning Team Rocket into a team of vigilantes to protect pokemon, but that aside, she could be cunning and reckless when she wanted to be and he liked that.

"Where is the meeting place? Is it this beach?" It was certainly a desolated region, the rocks near the shore made it impossible to surf or swim, thus the area was rejected by tourists and locals alike. Even so, Delia was expecting a place that was more covered.

"We're almost there, it's just ahead," though Giovanni said that, Delia saw nothing but rocks ahead. "Here's the entrance." Behind a rock formation there was a cave, the rocks kept the tide from invading it, though it would surely flood if the tide rose too much.

"Is it safe?" Delia felt silly asking that question. Of all the things they had been doing lately this had to be the safest.

"It's a big cave, even if it doesn't look it from the entrance. There are some high places inside; if the tide goes up we'll have to go deeper and wait it out, but I don't think that will be necessary in this season," Giovanni assured.

They entered the cave, walked to the higher sub-terrain area and sat down. "I didn't realize how tired I was until I finally sat down. I don't think I'll be able to get up for a while."

"We can rest here, the others should join us soon, our paths are different to throw off pursuers," Giovanni explained.

"I hope they make it here alright. Our poor pokemon must be so hungry and restless. For how long did we run? I lost track of time. Poor pokemon, they must be famished," she paused as if remembering something, "and so must we."

"We must be," he agreed, "it's odd how you forget about those things sometimes."

"You're the one who told me not to let myself get sick," Delia called out her pokemon, reminding Giovanni to let his out as well.

While the pokemon ate from the supplies purchased at Celadon, the pair of humans ate as well, devouring the food as if it were the best they've ever tasted, though they would have thought differently if they weren't so hungry.

"This is a relaxing place," Delia observed after her hunger and thirst had been satisfied. "Sitting here with the sound of the ocean," she closed her eyes, savoring the moment and focusing only on the present. Giovanni placed his arm around her shoulders, pleased that she naturally leaned on him. "How did you find this place?"

"Luke told us about it," Giovanni remembered, "we were talking about were we should meet if for whatever reason we had to escape in an emergency. We decided on moving separately to make it easier to lose anyone after us. Luke suggested this place because he said it was one of his favorite, I chouse it because it's so well hidden."

"What about everyone's escape route? Is it very different?" Delia inquired.

"Yes, but the longest doesn't take more than a day in comparison to the others. We were actually not supposed to be the first to get here judging by distance, but I'm sure everything is fine, we just ran the fastest."

"I hope it's only that. Are you calm because you trust them or because you'd leave them behind?"

"Which do you think?"

"I'll make sure you never abandon a comrade," Delia decided. "You know them well and they look up to you a lot."

"I only know the basic stuff I need to know to put them into a strategy."

"Tell me about them, about our comrades."

Giovanni wasn't sure about the source of Delia's interest, but he told her anyway. "Let's see, Luke is a good pokemon trainer but not a very good strategist. Things that require planning are more Leah's field; she's a big strategist and good at sneaking around, but it's easy to forget she's even there, those two work very well in a team complimenting each other. Binks is kind of clumsy, but he's very loyal and has some good scientific knowledge. Aayla is respected among the team so she's good to relay orders when I'm away, she used to be with Tempest but now she hates them, I don't know the specifics but it looks like a personal grudge against Venom. Either way, the point is she won't betray Team Rocket, that's what really matters."

"Venom is terrible, leading his gang to kill all those defenseless sick pokemon in the warehouse and they're just as bad for following him. The world needs heroes!"

"You need a reality check."

"Believe in yourself just like your team does!" Delia encouraged, with an inexplicable determination.

"You lost me," he wondered where she got all that optimism.

"You are lost, but I found you and I'll show you the way!" Delia insisted. "I know the life of a vigilante won't be easy, but I know you can do it. It's clear the team will follow you and it's your responsibility to lead them well. I'll help in any way I can!"

She had wondered why despite being the leader, he didn't carry many pokemon. There was a shortage of healthy pokemon and he didn't want any of the little sub teams the gang was divided into to go without them. It would not be effective to keep them all to himself during the shortage, it was a good strategy.

He had rushed back to the hideout blowing their cover, a hasty bad move, but it was for a good reason, more casualties might have occurred if they haven't arrived when they did. He might be aiming to be a rich crime lord, but the fact still stood he had the skills and intellect to do something great. She just had to show him how to care, guide him to the light. She would remain by his side and do so.

"I don't know about that, but you did really well back there. You were fearless, also reckless, but we won in the end."

Despite all the negative things that happened, even if there were tragedies that couldn't be forgotten, Delia smiled proudly. She wasn't a weak sheltered girl with nothing but dreams; she was living her life and reaching out for her goals, noble goals of justice for pokemon.

It gave her a certain satisfaction to be recognized. She rested her head on his shoulder, not minding the closeness, she was comfortable and that's all that mattered. Her breathing was even and calm and she drifted off to sleep.

xoxox xox xoxox

Delia slowly woke up, she was comfortable and she didn't want to move, but her pillow wasn't a pillow, because pillows don't have a heartbeat. "Hmm..." She finally opened her eyes, Giovanni was still sleeping, his arms tightly wrapped around her.

It must be uncomfortable for him to sleep on the hard cave floor, but he was sleeping soundly none the less, his deep slumber fueled by over-exhaustion. Feeling a bit guilty about using him as a pillow, Delia set her head down again and relaxed, drifting off to sleep once more.

When she woke up again, there was a small fire burning a few feet away with the pokemon sitting around it, but Giovanni was still playing the part of her pillow so he couldn't have started it. Upon closer inspection, she found that he was awake this time, "sorry about that," she got off.

"I don't mind, you can sleep on me whenever you want."

"Chill out Charmander, we have company, who is it?" She curiously inquired, knowing it had to be someone from the team.

"Leah, it shouldn't be long before they keep on arriving. We've been asleep for about twelve hours, though I can't be sure," He sat up and stretched, feeling stiff as an effect of sleeping on the cave floor.

"Well at least I feel refreshed. A warm bubble bath is too much to ask for, but a shower would be nice."

"We are at a beach and I never got to see you in a bikini last time," he reminded.

"I told you to stay cool Charmander," she giggled, no longer feeling the annoyance she did before when he tried to flirt with her.

"By any chance is the Charmander in your dream related to that nickname?" Giovanni inquired with a tone of innocence that hid mischief.

"I'm sure it's just a coincidence," Delia was quick to reply, hiding her blush. "Besides, the dream was blurry, it could have been a Parasect for all I know or maybe it was a Vulpix or a Flareon. Anyway, thanks for making my nap more comfortable. I could give you a massage if you think that will make you feel better. Don't get any ideas I just thought I owed you at least that much."

"How's the party going dudes?" Luke's voice echoed from outside, followed by his cheerful entrance to the cave. "I'm like totally tired, you know? That was a wild fight, man!" Giovanni glared at the interruption, causing the still miraculously energetic Luke to let out a little yelp and rush to another section of the cave as he apologized. "Sorry dudes, I didn't mean to like kill the atmosphere, you know?"

"What atmosphere?" Delia called after Luke, following him to the adjacent section of the cave were Leah was.

"The one he just murdered," Giovanni muttered as he followed Delia, who had seemingly forgotten about her offer to give him a massage.

xoxox xox xoxox

The other members of the team eventually arrived, telling stories of their aching feet and sore bodies. "Like seriously dudes, what are we, old?"

"Shut it Luke," Aayla growled, "anyone would be sore after all that running, but we made it here, we were strong enough, that's what counts."

"Touchy," Luke teased.

Aayla consequently picked up a small stone and threw it at him. The small rock flew over his shoulder like a bullet and shattered upon impact on the cave wall behind him. "The next one won't miss," after Aayla's warning, Luke wisely decided to remain quiet.

"We are homeless," Leah grimaced, though no one really heard her.

Even Aayla who spoke to Leah seconds later missed her comment about their lack of place of residence. "Hey Leah, could you go to Celadon and get a few things," the rest of Aayla's request was a very quiet whisper.

Leah looked like she was about to point out that this was not the time for that, but nodded anyway and snuck out of the cave unnoticed. The team needed to keep up their morale after all.

Tempest was a powerful gang and to see their leader humiliated was a big triumph, one that made them temporarily forget about the possibility of future consequences while they were caught up in the celebration.

Everyone congratulated each other on some special move that had stood out during the chaos. Delia received a lot of praise for her courage in facing Venom; she had been called an inspiration. Predictably, Giovanni got most of the credit for everything despite his late arrival; he gave the team a feeling of security just by being there. Delia understood that better now and regardless of what the future might hold, she knew she had found inspiration in Team Rocket and she would follow it.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 10: Give me Fun

"We're still homeless," Leah pointed out softly while Aayla examined the merchandise she had brought from Celadon City.

Aayla was too caught up looking through the clothes to hear her, she was pleased. "Very nice, oh, I want this one!" She held up the lavender bikini over her thorn clothes confirming it was the right size. "It's perfect, you should try the yellow one, it would match your eyes. Where are the other girls? Call them over."

Team Rocket had gone out of their cave hideout after waiting some time and were mostly sitting outside at the lonely beach, with the exception of Aayla who had called Leah to go inside as soon as she returned from Celadon, so that she may be the first to go over the clothes and bathing suits, having the first choice of what she liked.

"This top... these jeans, oh yes, perfect... I'll take the sandals too; okay that's it for me. Let the girls know these are off limits, I'm going to change and hit the beach, the change room will be, this section here," she pointed towards a small tunnel that led to a dead end and disappeared into its darkness.

"I suppose being homeless isn't bad if we have fun..." Leah picked her clothes, a sunflower sundress and decided to follow Aayla's advice on swimwear. Then she called the other female Team Rocket members to examine the merchandise.

xoxox xox xoxox

In another section of the cave, Luke was looking over a few bags, examining their contents. "This, this or maybe this..." He was thankful that Team Rocket had uniforms when he joined, because he could never make up his mind about what to wear. All the more reason why he would rather spend his days at the beach, there wasn't much to wear there and he didn't have to worry about matching when only one article was involved.

"What are you doing back there Luke?" Just when Giovanni was hoping to get Delia away from the group for a while, Leah had called her, her little voice barely audible, but Delia noticed it anyway.

Giovanni had followed, though Leah shyly pointed out, "guys that way, girls this way," and led Delia away towards the left side of the cave.

Giovanni ventured into the right side of the cave, wondering what this was about and there he found Luke, who looked up from his task with an expression of distress. "Dude, Giovanni, I can't pick, man! It's like totally hard, you know? I'll just take this and think of the rest later." Luke took a pair of bright red swim trunks with yellow flowers out of one of the bags then headed off to the designated change room area.

Giovanni examined the contents of the bag with curiosity. "What is this, a beach party? Who came up with this?" It didn't matter, relaxing at the beach for a while did sound pleasant and it would give him time to think of what to do about their lack of a formal hideout.

xoxox xox xoxox

"Stop giving me that grin, Charmander," Delia pouted and smacked him upside the head. "I'm only putting sun block on you because I don't want you to suffer with sun burn again. Don't get any ideas."

"Whatever you say Delia, I'll be happy to return the favor."

"I mean it!" She half scolded and half laughed.

The scenes around them were cheerful. Luke kept complaining about how he couldn't surf in that area, but even so he didn't stop professing his adoration for the location, his favorite place. "The ocean waves crashing, dudes, it's poetic. The bright sun shining, this like totally relaxes me. Feel that ocean breeze, it's awesome, you know? Even without surfing, I love this place, man!" The blindingly brightly colored lime green frisbee hit him right in the nose, causing him to flail chaotically and trip over his own feet, falling flat on his back on the sand.

"Pay attention Luke!" Aayla called out, while Leah giggled quietly and Binks was relieved that it wasn't him in Luke's place, as it usually was.

"In coming!" Luke jumped to his feet and tossed the frisbee, which collided with Binks' forehead, knocking him down.

"You did that on purpose!" Binks growled as he got up.

"Oh, quit being a baby and throw it!" Aayla scolded.

"You'll pay for that!" Binks started his battle charge towards Luke, but somehow slipped on the sand and fell face first, causing the rest of Team Rocket to erupt in laughter.

"Sorry dude, but that last one, totally not my fault, you know?" Luke joined the laughter as well.

A few additional trips to Celadon had provided the group with more supplies, such as the food currently being cooked in a rustic fire by a newbie member whose name everyone kept forgetting.

Delia couldn't help it but to smile, she was having fun and had forgotten her worries, at least for now. The pokemon played around at the beach, some even making sand castles which many researches would find fascinating to watch, though for now, Delia just thought it was adorable.

"It's your turn..."

"Huh?" She shook her head realizing what Giovanni meant, "I already put on enough sun block, thank you."

"I just wanted to return the favor."

"How kind of you," her voice carried sarcasm but also amusement, though her smile faded when she saw the police car stop at the beach side. She quickly turned her face away, hiding her nervous and worried expression from the blue haired woman who was exiting the car and walking towards them. "Giovanni, the police..."

"Relax," he assured quietly.

Delia observed the scenes around her and the way the rest of Team Rocket acted. Binks had stopped cold, which brought Luke to loudly call out, "you can't catch me!" and snap him out of his daze.

"I'll get you for that!" Binks continued chasing after Luke.

Aayla tossed the frisbee at another member, "heads up, here it comes!" who snapped into attention on time to catch it and see her discreet signal to throw it to someone else.

"Guys, help me out here, they're done and need to be moved away from the fire before they burn!" The designated cook called a few others to form a circle around the fire, taking the meat on a stick barbecue snacks and putting them on plastic plates to cool.

"We should make smores too," someone suggested, "has anyone seen the chocolate?"

"I'll find it," another replied searching through their food supplies, "I saw it around here..."

Someone fell victim to stress, but another member was quick to say, "come sit over here and have some juice, I'm sure that will make your stomachache go away."

They were putting up a good act, appearing as innocent civilians and those who were distracted or alarmed were quickly saved by the others. Delia knew she had to act too. She pretended she was spending the day with her friends at the beach and nothing more, she pretended they had never done anything illegal and she pushed away all worries. She was like an invincible heroine behind a mask; no one could recognize her.

"May I have your attention please?" The officer from Celadon City, who was probably named Jenny and had a look alike daughter named after her, loudly called out. "Attention!"

It took a moment for everyone to look at her; some continued their activities for a few more seconds until she called out the next time. Others were apparently called to attention by their companions and some even looked surprised to see the police woman, as if wondering where she came from and how long she had been standing there. In truth they had all noticed her right away, but it would be odd for people who were supposed to be relaxing at the beach to be so alert.

"Listen up everyone, you can stay here if you want, it's a public beach, but I need to warn you not to attempt cliff diving or surfing. Stay close to the shore and keep an eye on each other. The currents around here can get strong suddenly and you'll get dragged to the rocks, if you crash into them you can be knocked out and drown. Is everyone clear on this?"

A few murmurs were heard before people started answering, "yeah!" "no problem," "relax, we're not kids," "we know that," "don't worry," "thanks for the warning," and other such replies were among them.

When the officer left, muttering something about troublesome college kids, Delia breathed in relief. "That was... it wasn't really a close call after all. She had no idea." The police's communication was slow to none and they weren't followed that far. Getting away like that gave Delia a rush of power. She really did feel like a masked heroine unrecognizable as a civilian; it made her feel invincible.

xoxox xox xoxox

The day at the beach was fun. Aayla had started it out of wanting a holiday and Giovanni allowed it without complaint because he knew it would hold the team together despite the loss of their hideout and merchandise. The night was spent around a bonfire and they slept under the stars.

The next day came and everyone was crowded in the cave for breakfast, most of them possibly because of the unconscious need to feel some sort of roof over their heads after a while. Others joined them following their friends or simply because the majority of the team was gathered there.

They wore their uniforms, though not the same from before. In preparation for the need to use this escape plan imperishable supplies such as equipment, first aid materials and clothes were buried at the beach long ago in a pirate style treasure chest, the location of which was forgotten, but through trial and error it was found. Seeing each other like that, in a sea of flawless black fabric with red R's, seemed to lift their morale, maybe even more than the day at the beach.

Then suddenly, "Nidoking!" "Nidoqueen!" "Roar!" The battle cries echoed as the enemy pokemon rushed to the cave.

"You'll pay for what you've done to me; you'll pay with your lives!" It looked like Venom had no intentions of laying low to recover from the recent battle. The Tempest Gang had tracked down Team Rocket much better than the police ever could and was ready for another fight. "Nidoking, Nidoqueen, attack! Onix bring this place down!"

The large rock pokemon slammed against the crowded cave walls, causing the entire place to shake with great force, its eyes glowing threateningly. The pokemon had been clearly overdosed with chemicals to make it stronger.

"The ground is shaking... it's shaking..." Leah whispered in fright, it was as if she didn't notice anything going on around her, only focusing on the earthquake-like vibrations. "I'm sorry Han, it was my fault..."

"Leah, be careful!" Luke pulled her out of harm's way, saving her from being crushed by the Onix.

Giovanni was shouting orders to pokemon and humans alike, trying to retaliate against Tempest's surprise attack. He knew Tempest would return stronger than before, they had a base to go back to and more pokemon to send out, that's why he tried to avoid another confrontation so soon.

Tempest never ventured into the southern region looking for a fight, this was far from their usual western territory. The north belonged to Team Rocket, the south was no gang's land and the east was controlled by several smaller gangs constantly fighting for power.

With another massive earthquake caused by the rampaging Onix, the cave started coming down and in the chaos, Giovanni and Delia ended up behind a wall of rocks, separated from their pokemon and the rest of the team. From the other side, Luke could be heard, shouting orders to the pokemon, trying to make them regroup after that last attack. Aayla had taken direction of the humans while Leah was still in a panic.

"Boss! Boss!" Binks called desperately.

"My pokemon egg," Delia cried, she couldn't get to it on time during the chaos. "It was in my backpack, what happened to it?"

"Egg..." Binks spotted the aforementioned backpack, which had been miraculously missed by the falling rocks. He as well as the others had gained respect for Delia, despite the events that occurred in their first meeting, thus were more likely to listen to her concerns. "I found it! It looks like it's fine!" Binks called from the other side of the wall.

"Please take care of it!" Delia requested; she then looked at Giovanni, hoping that he had an idea as to how to deal with the situation.

"Everyone needs to get out of this cave!" Tempest was outside, trying to trap them in and make the cave collapse completely. "Break through their forces, attack together, Team Rocket will not be defeated!"

"You heard the boss, and if you didn't he said we have to trash them, let's do this! Rattata, on the attack!" Binks was easily excited, but his Rattata had already been knocked out. "Rattata!" He called her back into her pokeball and recklessly charged forward to fight the enemy with his own hands.

"Giovanni, Delia, we're making an opening and getting out of here!" Aayla called out.

"We'll meet everyone outside!" Giovanni replied, then ventured further into the pitch-black cave along with Delia in hopes of finding another exit.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon.