Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Don't Give Me Diamonds ❯ Chapter 10

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

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 39: Give me Peace

There was a balcony in a tower above the climbing rows of benches in the circular white stone structure of the Viridian Stadium. The balcony consisted of a square platform suspended on two tall columns, positioned in the north-west and south-east corners of it. It had a stone railing around it and four thinner columns, one on each corner, supporting a triangular roof over it.

Behind the balcony there was a little bridge that led to another tall structure. The structure was made of four roman style columns and walls covering the little tower completely, that was were the elevator was. If the Viridian Stadium was an ancient coliseum, the royals would sit at the balcony and watch the gladiators battle below. That was the VIP area from where the mayor, the gym leader and the surprise guest would watch the tournament.

As Giovanni gave his speech, playing the part of the noble gym leader admirably, Ash stared up at the balcony with open mouthed, wide eyed shock. Delia bit her lip and forced herself not to look away. She had allowed this to happen. Did Ash recognize Giovanni from the picture?

In truth, as Ash stared up, the gym leader was far from his mind. He was in fact staring at his mother, wondering what in the world she was doing up there.

For a split second during his speech, Giovanni looked directly at Ash. The young man must know Delia, since he was staring right at her. At that same moment, Ash glanced at the gym leader and felt as if the leader was looking right at him, examining his face closely. By then Ash had managed to close his mouth and compose himself, just in time for the end of Giovanni's speech. There was something familiar about the gym leader, but Ash couldn't quite put his finger on it.

It shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that the Viridian gym leader, Giovanni, looked familiar. Ash had never battled him, but he was a gym leader. It was possible his picture had been printed somewhere. A picture, that sounded right, but Ash couldn't remember where he saw Giovanni's picture. He assumed it must have been on TV, a magazine or a Pokemon League brochure. He didn't think too much of it beyond that.

The participants who had gathered in the center of the arena to listen to the speech were ushered back into the lobby to wait their turn to battle. Ash remembered to search for Misty in the crowd. He spotted her near the front looking uncomfortable by the limited space available to her on the full bench. She was looking between him and the balcony. Misty had definitely noticed Ash's mother up there and must also be wondering why she was there.

Brock was nowhere to be found and neither Ash, nor Misty, nor Delia knew where he was. They all assumed he was somewhere in the crowd. It would be impossible to reach him on his cell phone; he wouldn't hear it with the noise of the crowd cheering for the gym leader. In contrast, the mayor's speech seemed to put them to sleep before.

Mayor Rune Antilles had been reelected over and over for years. However, Rune was certain that Giovanni held the real political power and he was a mere subordinate to serve as a figurehead at city hall. Giovanni was far too busy to be gym leader and mayor at the same time. Rune was well aware of where he stood, though he still tried to win the voters' favor for himself. Yet he knew he would never gain the amount of support the gym leader had.

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Time passed and Ash sat impatiently at the lobby, waiting to be called out to battle. More trainers were eliminated with each round, but Ash had not been called out yet. He had a good view of the action from the lobby's glass windows. The battles were mostly not what he was used to. He attributed it to this being an unofficial tournament.

"Prepare for trouble!" Ash heard a familiar voice right behind him.

"Make it double!" He recognized the second voice as well.

He turned around to see Jessie and James, "are you two going to greet me with your motto every time?" They were not in Team Rocket anymore. Their mysterious boss, Ash had no clue who he was, had fired them a few years ago. Ash remembered the story his mother told him about when Jessie and James went to Pallet Town.

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With a plentiful criminal record, it became difficult for Jessie and James to get jobs. Without Team Rocket to take them in anymore, it was a challenge to survive. Delia found them one day in her kitchen along with their talking Meowth. They had lost track of Ash, whom they blamed for getting fired, and decided to go to Pallet Town. They planned to find Ash or at least steal Professor Oak's pokemon. In the end, the scent of Delia's food was more tempting than any other robbery. Sneaking into the kitchen was easy, but stealing was unsuccessful as they were attacked by a Mr. Mime.

The pokemon desisted when his trainer appeared, "it's okay Mimey, these people are my guests."

"Mr. Mime!" The pokemon nodded and cheerfully went about his duties of cleaning the house.

"Have a seat, I've made lots of food today, do you like curry?" Delia had asked with a smile.

Jessie, James and Meowth immediately obeyed, sitting down and nodding their heads, "yes, yes!"

"Okay, here you go," Delia served a dish of delicious curry for each of them and set them on the table. "How about some cold lemonade? It's extra sweet," she served the drinks as well, watching as the trio ate.

"Why is it that you're giving us food?" Jessie finally asked between bites.

"Because you looked hungry. Besides, I heard the whole story from Ash," Delia revealed, "he told me that you were fired and were following him around blaming him for it. I think this is your chance to start over. I'm sure there are many things you must want to do that you couldn't achieve in Team Rocket."

Meowth got teary eyed, "all I wanted was to be the boss' top cat! Now he's going to keep that Persian forever."

"Aw, it's okay," Delia tried to console him, gently petting Meowth, "I'm sure your boss has a special reason to care for his Persian so much," she gave no hint of knowing what that reason was. "Wouldn't you rather be with Jessie and James instead? I'm sure you would miss them."

"Yeah, I guess so," Meowth sadly admitted.

"But Team Rocket is all we ever knew and we can't even get jobs now," Jessie frowned. The cheer that the food had brought was melting away as the meal came to an end.

"There's always a way, don't give up!" Delia placed three slices of cake on the table for them. "I'll talk to Professor Oak; maybe he can find jobs for you, but you have to promise to behave."

That was how it all started thanks to Delia and her food. Jessie and James worked for Professor Oak for a while, helping take care of the pokemon. Meowth worked as a translator. Professor Oak was fascinated listening to Meowth's stories and Meowth couldn't be happier to go on and on about anything and everything.

After some time, Jessie and James decided they wanted to be more independent instead of counting on Professor Oak for everything. They eventually set off on a journey. Later, they established a pokemon day care center in Saffron City, which went surprisingly well. They still visited Pallet Town every now and then and Meowth stayed in contact with Professor Oak by phone. They would talk for hours whenever he called.

Jessiebelle found out James was living in Saffron City and went to kidnap him on occasion. Jessie would always joke about how James was such a princess, being constantly kidnapped and in need of rescue. The danger of being kidnapped by Jessiebelle ended when James effectively broke off his engagement in a way no one could ignore, he married Jessie.

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While battles took place in the arena, the atmosphere in the lobby was calm. "How have you been twerp? I haven't seen you in a while," Jessie voiced as she picked up Pikachu off Ash's shoulder and petted him. The pokemon wasn't worried at all anymore, "if only it had been this easy back then."

"Pikachu is only being nice because he knows you're not trying to steal him away," Ashe reasoned, then firmly added, "and don't call me twerp, I'm taller than you!"

Jessie returned Pikachu and laughed, "once a twerp, always a twerp!"

"You're here for the tournament aren't you?" It was James' brilliant deduction. "You can forget about winning because I'm going to win, right Growlie?" The Growlithe barked happily and wagged his tail.

"No way, Pikachu and I will win!" Ash's declaration was followed by Pikachu's support. Ash had not seen Jessie or James among the participants during the gym leader's speech. He assumed they must have just arrived and were accepted as late entries.

Jessie and James had been there since the beginning, but decided to keep a low profile for the time being. They had signed up for the tournament with fake names and intended to wear disguises for the battles to avoid being recognized by Giovanni. They were not part of Team Rocket anymore and they were under an oath of secrecy that would bring terrible consequences if broken. The oath had not been broken, but there was no need to attract too much attention.

"You're both wrong because I'll win!" Meowth proudly declared. "Then he'll know just what he's missing for not making me top cat."

"I thought you were over that," Jessie argued, clearly annoyed. She remembered how much Meowth complained when they were fired.

"I am over it!" Meowth pouted.

"Either way you're a pokemon," Jessie reminded. "You'll have to go out there and battle if you want a share of the prize. You can be on James' team; I'm all set to go with my lovely Flareon!" Jessie released the pokemon from her pokeball. Flareon's fur was well groomed and shiny, she had a pair of yellow bows on her ears.

"Don't forget she used to be my Flareon, but it looks like you're taking really good care of her." Ash petted the pokemon he took care of as an Eevee.

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Ash had been at Pallet Town when Eevee evolved. Jessie and James were still part of Team Rocket at the time. They arrived at Professor Oak's research laboratory to steal his pokemon. It was something they had tried on numerous occasions before and failed.

That time had started the same way as always, with Jessie, James and Meowth reciting their motto. They played their cards right for the most part and in the mist of the chaos, Pikachu found himself trapped by a robotic rubber covered claw. While Ash tried to rescue Pikachu, he lost track of Eevee, whom he had let out to play.

Eevee had been very shy at first and Pikachu had always encouraged her. It made her look up to him as a brother. Her big brother needed help, but Eevee knew she wouldn't be strong enough to help him in her current form.

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Earlier, Professor Oak had been showing Ash some evolution stones an offered to give him one for Eevee.

"Do you want to evolve?" Ash asked encouragingly, "what would you like to evolve into?"

"Eevee..." she shook her head, evolution frightened her.

"Not right now? It's alright, you don't have to evolve if you don't want to," Ash reassured her.

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Eevee ran inside to the laboratory where the evolution stones were kept. She wasn't afraid of evolving anymore. The stones were on the same table were they had been displayed before; Ash had picked her up so she could see them. Eevee didn't know what she wanted to evolve into; she just knew she wanted to be strong.

She pulled on the table cloth trying to make the stones fall on the floor where she could reach them. Maybe she could evolve into Jolteon and use electric attacks just like Pikachu. Or perhaps she could be Vaporeon; Misty seemed excited about that possibility so it had to be a powerful evolution too. As she pulled on the table cloth, it was the fire stone which fell on her head.

At first Eevee felt the pain of the stone falling on her head, then she was surrounded by warmth and light and the pain was gone. She had not planned on evolving into Flareon, but when her body had changed completely, she found that she liked it.

Flareon dashed outside with new found strength and let out a powerful fire attack that caused Team Rocket's equipment to overheat and malfunction. The rubber claw opened, releasing Pikachu, and with a combination attack of electricity and fire, the Team Rocket trio was sent to blast off again.

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The story of how Ash's Flareon became Jessie's Flareon took place after Jessie and James were fired from Team Rocket. For many years, James entrusted Growlie with the mission of taking care of his parents. After Jessie and James established their pokemon day care center, James decided to keep Growlie there. Growlie would be very helpful in case Butch and Cassidy showed up to steal the pokemon, as it had become their occasional habit. Jessie even admitted that it was kind of fun to send them blasting off.

One day, Jessie, James and their pokemon, including Meowth and Growlie, went to visit Pallet Town. Gary had previously been away on a research trip when Ash's Eevee evolved into Flareon and Flareon had been traveling with Ash the rest of the time.

It was on that day when Ash, James and Gary were at Professor Oak's house simultaneously, that their respective pokemon Flareon, Growlie and Umbreon met. Fate would have it that both Umbreon and Growlie would fall in love with the beautiful Flareon and fight over her. The pokemon had been let out to play, but the noise of battle alerted the trainers who rushed out to see what was happening. They found Umbreon and Growlie locked in a fierce fight.

Flareon became upset that they were fighting over her, but at the same time ignoring her in favor of focusing on their battle. Frustrated, she let out a powerful flame thrower at the two male pokemon. The attack certainly got their attention; she yelled at them and ran away.

Both Umbreon and Growlie called out after Flareon and followed her. The pokemon were chased by their trainers and friends. Ash, Misty, Brock, Gary, James, Jessie and Meowth rushed after the run away pokemon. They ran out of Professor Oak's property and into the streets of Pallet Town.

Mrs. Alderaan was an old lady who lived in a little house down the main street of Pallet Town. She had a female Bellsprout named Belle, whom she spoiled very much. Belle always had a big pink bow tied around her thin neck, pink lipstick on her round mouth and pink eye-shadow over her beady eyes.

The coquette Bellsprout often suffered from chronic hiccup attacks. Mrs. Alderaan would always worry about her and call Professor Oak, asking him to give Belle first aid before she choked. Belle's condition wasn't serious at all, Mrs. Alderaan just exaggerated. Plus she had a tendency to go on and on about her precious Belle and the cute things she did. Thus Mrs. Alderaan was known as a sweet and grandmotherly, yet annoying old lady.

There was a wild male Weepinbell who liked to hang out around Pallet Town because he had fallen in love with Belle. Mrs. Alderaan was convinced the wild pokemon just wanted to pick a fight with her sweet Belle. "Get away you beast! Get away!" Mrs. Alderaan would always chase the Weepinbell away with a broom. Lucky for the love-struck Weepinbell, Mrs. Alderaan often misplaced her glasses and she couldn't see well enough to actually hit him.

Flareon suddenly ran through Mrs. Alderaan's front yard at full speed. The passing blur of red and yellow startled the old lady and she began to swing her broom around randomly. She was convinced that the wild Weepinbell, who had already made his escape, was trying to attack her.

Umbreon and Growlie dodged the broom and ran past Mrs. Alderaan in Flareon's pursuit. Mrs. Alderaan's broom slipped out of her grasp and went flying as the trainers arrived, chasing after their pokemon. The broom hit Ash on the head, causing him to stumble backwards into Misty. Misty lost her footing and accidentally pushed Jessie, who took James down with her. That caused James to fall on Brock, who in turn collided with Gary. The end of the pile of living dominos was the unfortunate Meowth.

Mrs. Alderaan finally calmed down and looked at the pile of people in her yard. "Oh my, were you attacked by that wild Weepinbell too? He's such a beast! Just the other day he almost snuck into my house. I don't know what would have become of my little Belle if I hadn't stopped him."

The group of trainers and pokemon stumbled to their feet. One became free to get up only after those at the front of the domino row were on their feet. "Sorry, Mrs. Alderaan but we're in a hurry," Ash continued the pursuit, followed by Misty, Jessie, James, Brock, Gary and Meowth.

"Wait, I wanted to tell you about Belle!" Mrs. Alderaan called out, but the group was already gone. She huffed indignantly, "kids today, always in a rush." She didn't realize that Ash and the others were no longer children, but compared to her advanced age, they might as well be.

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By the time the group finally found Flareon and her admirers outside of Pallet Town, they had already solved their dispute. There was a multitude of fainted Spearow and Fearow all around, with a few Pidgey, Pidgeotto and a pair of Pidgeot near by.

Umbreon was heading back towards town, stomping his paws and pouting every step of the way. He walked up to Gary and expressed his desire to rest in his pokeball, "umbreon!"

"He says he wants to go in his pokeball," Meowth translated.

"Alright, it does look like there was a big battle here," Gary agreed, "get some rest, return!" With Umbreon back inside his pokeball, Gary turned towards Meowth for additional information. "Can you ask them what happened?"

"Sure, would you guys care to explain?" Meowth inquired to all the other pokemon in general. The male Pidgeot stepped forward and spoke in his language, which Meowth translated. "He's saying the Spearow and Fearow were picking a fight. He and his mate were defending the Pidgey and Pidgeotto when Flareon ran right into the war zone. Growlie and Umbreon tried to protect her, but she didn't need to be saved so they just got caught in her attacks. Then they teamed up with the Pidgeot and fought the Spearow and Fearow. Oh and he also says it's good to see you again, twerp."

"Stop calling me twerp!" Ash snapped at Meowth then walked over to his old friend Pidgeot. "I'm happy to see you too. I knew you would be happy here and you even found a pretty girl. I'm glad you're still taking care of the Pidgey and Pidgeotto."

"Oh yes, and thanks for helping knock out all these Fearow and Spearow," Jessie joyfully added as she readied her pokeballs.

"Thank you very much!" James agreed with the same happiness.

"Stop it you two, it's not fair to catch all these pokemon that you didn't even battle yourselves. Besides, it looks like they're getting ready to leave," Ash pointed at the Fearow who was the leader of the flock. He had woken up and was retreating with the Spearow.

"No, come back!" Jessie called after the fleeing pokemon, but of course, they didn't listen. Disappointed, she glared at Ash, "it's your fault they got away for distracting me!"

"Never mind that now, look at them!" James pointed at Flareon and Growlie with an adoring smile.

"Don't interrupt me!" Jessie growled, but stopped herself and gained a dreamy expression along with Misty. Both women chorused high a pitched "how cute!" Flareon and Growlie were cuddling together, looking quite loving.

"I see; Growlie must have proven how heroic he is when he tried to help Flareon, right?" James theorized, with great pride in his pokemon.

Flareon explained something, which made Growlie pause and stop wagging his tail with a soft whine. Albeit Flareon licked his cheek and reassured him, which cheered him up.

Meowth translated Flareon's explanation, "Flareon said that Growlie is so adorably helpless, she couldn't help it but to want to stay with him and protect him."

Gary laughed, realizing Umbreon had not completely lost. He couldn't be adorably helpless because he couldn't be helpless at all, he would tell Umbreon that if he was still upset later.

James looked shocked and stuttered for a moment before he finally let out a loud exclamation of "Growlie is strong!"

Ash smiled proudly of his pokemon, "Flareon is just stronger."

Brock was full of excitement and fascination watching the two pokemon. He was also a little jealous because he couldn't even get a date, let alone find true love. "I think we should let them be together." Everyone agreed.

Ash petted Flareon with a gentle smile, "Growlie needs to help protect the pokemon day care center in Saffron City. You could be a big help too. Do you want to go live with Jessie, James, Growlie and their pokemon?"

"Flareon, flare!" Flareon nodded excitedly. She jumped into Ash's arms and licked his face, thanking him for having taken care of her. She exchanged a few words and a hug with Pikachu, then returned to Growlie's side.

In a split second Jessie was next to the happy couple, "since James has Growlie, I'll be taking care of Flareon," Jessie immediately volunteered. She made it clear she wouldn't take no for an answer. "Besides, she's the perfect pokemon for me. I completely understand what she was saying before about adorably helpless men."

"What do you mean by that?" James pouted, making an upset, yet adorable face.

Jessie tried to look completely innocent, though she still had an amused grin, "nothing, nothing."

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Jessie and James had come far from the way things used to be when Ash's travels first began. Now they would be participating on the Viridian tournament as friends.

"We can't stay and chat, we need to get into our costumes before our names are called," Jessie reminded.

"Costumes?" Ash blinked in puzzlement, but assumed it was all just for show.

"We have our reasons," James didn't elaborate beyond that and left the lobby along with Jessie.

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One battle after another passed and trainers came and went from the waiting room. The winner would stay and the loser would be escorted out. Ash had never been too good at seeing past the disguises Jessie and James came up with, but he did recognize their pokemon. Thus he knew they had been called to battle and both had won their respective matches. Time went by and Ash was starting to worry that they had forgotten about him. "Excuse me," he addressed the waiter in the lime green suit, who came and went bringing snacks for the trainers.

"Yes, is there anything you need?" Comet asked politely.

"I was wondering when my turn is coming. I've seen some people go out to battle twice already and I haven't battled at all." This wasn't an official league tournament so maybe things were done differently. He didn't want to be forgotten and thus disqualified. Ash really needed to win and get Misty an amazing ring. Besides, after hearing the gym leader's speech, Ash was really looking forward to their match.

Giovanni seemed cool for some unknown reason. Ash still had a nagging feeling in the back of his head that told him he had seen the gym leader somewhere before. It wasn't something as simple as a brochure, magazine or TV, but he could think of no where else where he could have seen Giovanni.

"Don't worry about that," Comet smiled reassuringly, he knew what was going on. If the champion, who happened to be from outside of Viridian City, went out there and badly beat the multitude of local rookies, it wouldn't make the city look good. That would not work in the mayor's favor. "This is a different kind of tournament, names are chosen at random. The trainers who lose are eliminated from the list so they won't be called out again. I'm sure your name is there, you just haven't been chosen."

Ash had a thoughtful expression, "so do they just pull names out of a hat?"

"Yeah, something like that," Comet decided to play along. Ash, despite being an amazing pokemon trainer and a past Indigo League champion, appeared to be gullible enough. Though he certainly had a lot of energy and an air of absolute determination. The look in Ash's eyes was somewhat familiar, but Comet didn't know where he had seen it before.

"Oh, alright then, I understand. Thanks for explaining it," Ash smiled, relieved that he had not been forgotten. It was just his luck that he wasn't chosen to battle. As less trainers remained, his chances of being called out to battle should improve, so he would be ready.

"Sure, no problem. If you need anything just give me a call, I'll be around," Comet played his part and concluded that the job that had invaded his break wasn't so bad after all. At least he would get to see some interesting battles in the end. He was certain that good trainers were among the participants and it wouldn't be long before only they remained.

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Diamond 40: Give me Skill

Time continued to pass and the number of trainers left in the tournament was significantly smaller. Ash was sitting in the lobby, he didn't have the energy to stand by the window and watch the battles. He wanted to shout out advice as if he were part of the crowd, but that red haired waiter in the lime green suit told him he had to be quiet. The excuse was that he shouldn't distract the battling trainers. The truth was that people might complain if they thought the champion's advice decided the match instead of the battling trainers.

Just watching quietly made Ash grow more impatient for his name to be called. He was sitting with his head down in impatient frustration when someone asked, "why the long face, Ash?"

"I haven't been called out to battle, not even once." Ash looked up at the one who had spoken, instantly recognizing the other young man, "Ritchie! What are you doing here?"

"Rumors travel fast. I was at the Pewter City Pokemon Center when I heard you were here. I made a few calls and rushed over. They're letting me participate as a late entry." Ritchie happily announced. Normally, he would only be interested in official Pokemon League competitions, but being able to battle Ash within a tournament was worth the exception. It was more exciting than a private battle, as it felt different with the energetic atmosphere of battling in front of a crowd. It helped both trainers battle at their best.

Ash's mood took a sharp turn for the better, "this is great! We'll finally get to battle; I'm looking forward to it so much!"

Ritchie laughed, "you haven't really changed at all." While the two Indigo League champions talked, the battles continued. The champions were being saved for last.

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Out in the arena, another match was about to start. Fan girl squeals erupted through the crowd as the mysterious Rose Mask appeared again. He looked dashing in his black tuxedo, cape, mask and top hat. He held a single red rose, posing with it.

From the window of the lobby, Sailor Flame, who was Jessie in disguise, rolled her eyes and vowed to get a louder applause. She was wearing a white and red mini skirt sailor suit with a yellow bow. Her hair was in pigtails and she also had a mask similar to James'.

"For our next match we have Samurai versus Rose Mask, on a two on two battle. You may switch between your two chosen pokemon at any time, fight!" Jango announced the beginning of the match. The earlier rounds had been one on one to accommodate for the fact that some trainers only had one hastily caught or borrowed pokemon. They had already been eliminated so the number was increased to two for the next series of battles. The remaining trainers had no problem with that.

Samurai was from Viridian City, thus Mayor Antilles would be pleased if he won. It seemed most of the women in the crowd were cheering for Rose Mask, except for those who were Samurai's friends or relatives. Living up to his name, Samurai was dressed in classic armor with a helmet included and a katana at his waist. He threw out his first pokeball, which bounced back into his hand after releasing a red beam of light. The beam took the shape of a Butterfree. "My specialty are bug pokemon and they are all strong and noble!"

"They're also weak against fire types!" James reminded as he threw his own pokeball into the arena. His loyal friend Growlie emerged from the pokeball ready for battle. James looked back at Jessie, who was watching from the lobby's window. He wanted to see her reaction to his smart move, but she only glared at him. She was getting fed up with the constant high pitched squealing of the girls in the audience.

"You are very wrong if you think you can win judging only by types. I'll show you the true strength of an honorable warrior!" Samurai ordered the first move, "Butterfree, fly high up and use stun spore!"

"Don't let Butterfree get away, Growlie," James urged, "flame thrower!" Growlie began to shoot fire balls at James' command.

"Dodge it Butterfree!" The bug pokemon didn't even need to be told this, as she moved rapidly in the air out of the way of the flames immediately. At the same time, Butterfree released her stun spores. The potent yellow dust fell on Growlie, who immediately started feeling the effects.

"Don't give up Growlie! You just have to hit that Butterfree with your flame thrower, I'm sure it'll be super effective," James cheered for his pokemon, but Growlie was severely suffering from paralysis due to the effects of stun spore. He couldn't defend himself.

"Butterfree tackle!" The bug pokemon was small, but very strong. She swooped down at Growlie flying as fast as she could and collided with him pushing him back.

"C'mon Growlie, use flame thrower!" James watched as Butterfree tackled Growlie again and again. If that kept up, Growlie would faint. "Growlie, return for now." Since Growlie had not fainted, James still had the option to call him out again, but he was paralyzed and the use of healing items during the matches was prohibited. "Go Weezing!" Long ago, James had freed his Weezing at the same time Jessie freed her Arbok. During their journey years later, Jessie and James had ran into them again and the pokemon rejoined them. They had spent their time apart training their wild pokemon friends to defend themselves.

"Butterfree, tackle!" Samurai wasn't about to end the relentless attack.

"Weezing, smoke screen!" Hidden behind a curtain of smoke, Weezing was able to evade Butterfree's attack. "Good, now use a sludge bomb!" Weezing shot sludge at Butterfree. Some of it fell close to the referee, who jumped back in fright. Though Butterfree was lost in the smoke screen, she didn't stay still and it made her hard to hit.

"Use sleep powder Butterfree!" Samurai called out. He couldn't see what was happening behind the smoke. When it finally started to clear out a very sleepy Weezing was revealed. Butterfree kept flapping her wings with abundant blue dust coming from them.

Weezing flew lower by the second until he was on the ground fast asleep. "Weezing you have to wake up!" James called out to his pokemon as loud as he could, but Weezing wasn't moving.

"Alright Butterfree, finish him off with hyper beam!" Samurai was sure he would win. After Weezing was out of the picture, all that remained to be done was to finish the paralyzed Growlithe.

"Weezing!" James didn't know what to do, he couldn't substitute Weezing with Growlie. He was still paralyzed, so that wouldn't make the situation any better. For a moment he was sure he would lose, but even so, there were people in the audience still loudly cheering for Rose Mask. The cheers of the crowd gave James an idea that might be crazy enough to work. He held up his rose, made a pose, winked and blew kisses at the audience. Simultaneous loud squeals erupted from the crowd in such a massive high pitched volume that Weezing woke up. The poison pokemon was so startled that he used self destruct.

Butterfree and Weezing both lay on the arena unconscious, "Butterfree and Weezing are unable to battle!" Jango announced; "both trainers are down to one pokemon each!"

Samurai considered calling it cheating, but a warrior needs to be aware of his surroundings and how the field of battle can affect the outcome of the fight. He called his pokemon back into her pokeball, "Butterfree return, you fought excellently my friend."

"Time to rest, Weezing, you did great," James recalled Weezing into his pokeball and sent out Growlie again. "Don't give up Growlie, just try to recover and let's win this!" Growlie was struggling, trying to get his body to respond.

"There's no way you can win with a paralyzed pokemon," Samurai called out his second pokemon, "go Pinsir! If you refuse to give up, I have no choice but to end the battle myself."

"I'll never give up and I'll win!" James' supporters in the crowd continued to cheer for him.

"Pinsir, vice grip!" Samurai commanded and Pinsir easily captured Growlie between his horns.

The fire pokemon let out a pained howl and James seriously considered giving up until he heard Flareon calling out to Growlie. "Flareon, flareon flare!" Flareon yelled from the window of the lobby.

"Growlithe, growl!" Growlie looked frightened for a moment, then suddenly determined. He would not give up.

Seeing Growlie try so hard to force himself to move, James knew he couldn't give up either. "Growlie, fire blast!" Growlie continued to struggle against Pinsir's vice grip with Flareon's words ringing in his ears. Finally, Growlie took a deep breath and let out a fire blast at point blank, which knocked out Pinsir.

"Pinsir is unable to battle!" Jango announced, "the winner is Rose Mask!" The crowd cheered with many shouting flirty compliments at the mysterious Rose Mask.

"Return Pinsir, that was a valiant effort," Samurai called him back.

James took a vow for the crowd and made a few poses with his rose. Then he realized that Growlie was really having trouble staying on his feet because of all the damage received from Pinsir. Before the fire pokemon fainted, James called him back into his pokeball, "congratulations Growlie, I'm sure Flareon is very impressed."

"That was a very good battle, you've proven yourself to be a worthy adversary," Samurai congratulated honorably.

"Thank you Mr. Samurai, you're pretty good yourself!" After a few more poses, James returned to the waiting room and Samurai left.

Jessie received her husband with a deadly glare and hit him on the head, "show off!" She then stomped away and began to eat all the cookies the waiter in the green suit had recently brought and set on the table.

"Why are you mad at me?" James pouted, then sighed at Jessie's refusal to reply. "I have to get my pokemon healed, I'll be back soon." He looked at Meowth, "before I go, just out of curiosity, what was it that Flareon said before?"

Meowth made a scary face as he translated, with a menacing tone imitating Flareon, "if you lose this battle, you'll have to face my wrath!"

'Flareon really is the perfect pokemon for Jessie,' James thought as he went off to have his pokemon healed.

xoxox xox xoxox

The activity at the Viridian city hall had slowly decreased. As James entered, he bumped into Brock, who was running away in sadness. They both stumbled backwards, but soon recognized each other. James couldn't help it but to notice Brock's depressed expression, "did you get dumped again?"

"You have no tact!" Brock cried, "she said I made it too easy so it was no fun to be with me. What does that mean? Am I cursed to forever be lonely? The world is a cruel place!" Once again Brock ran away.

James watched him disappear among the people outside, "poor guy..." He went over to the blond nurse who had witnessed the drama and seemed to be amused. She was the cause of the drama herself. "Hi, I have a Growlithe and Weezing in need of healing."

"I'm sure it's nothing serious," at least not compared to the injuries Laiki was used to treating, "I'll make them feel better in no time." She examined Weezing first, giving him some medicine to help him recover, "there now, you're okay," she petted the poison pokemon and returned him to his pokeball. She gave the pokeball back to James and asked, "have I seen you somewhere?"

James froze, the last thing he needed was to be discovered by the resident Rocket gossip expert. Not that there was anything wrong with his participation in the tournament. It's not like he was disclosing any information about Team Rocket, therefore he wasn't breaking his oath of silence. He just felt like avoiding Team Rocket altogether, deep down, he missed it. "I'm the mysterious Rose Mask! Maybe you have seen me or maybe you haven't, you can never be sure." He made a pose and tried to look like some kind of super hero on TV.

Laiki shrugged, "maybe not," she examined Growlie, gently pressing her hands on his mid section. The fire pokemon complained in response. "It seems he got pretty hurt out there," it was still not as bad as many of the injuries Laiki treated, but it was enough to be the highlight of her dull day. "You'll have to keep him out of battle for a while."

"Oh no! Is Growlie hurt badly? My poor Growlie!" James hugged his pokemon, which only caused Growlie to howl in pain from being squeezed in an Ursaring hug.

"Stop it you're just making it worse!" Laiki scolded, "it's not that bad, just make sure you let him rest." The undercover Rocket nurse bandaged the fire pokemon and sent the mysterious trainer on his way.

xoxox xox xoxox

James returned to the waiting room with Growlie in his arms rather then putting him in a pokeball. He got there just on time to hear Jessie being called out to the battle field.

"Our next battle will be an encounter between the mysterious Sailor Flame and the famous AJ!" Jango announced. "This will be a two on two battle. You may switch pokemon at any time, fight!"

"I'll win this just like all the other battles, go Arbok!" Jessie sent out her pokemon, she knew this wouldn't be easy. AJ had been dominating each of his battles so far.

Many people had heard of AJ and his pokemon gym. His training methods were very strict, which earned him the admiration of some and the scorn of others. Some thought he was too harsh with his pokemon. "I won't go easy on you, I choose Beedrill!"

"Don't expect any mercy from me either!" Jessie retorted, "Arbok, poison fang!" Arbok attempted to poison Beedrill, but Beedrill flew and dodged the attack.

"Beedrill, poison jab!" AJ commanded.

"Be careful Arbok, dodge it and use acid!" Despite Arbok being a poison type, being stabbed by Beedrill would still hurt a lot. The bug pokemon's stingers looked very sharp. Arbok struggled to dodge the hits while spitting acid as fast as he could, but Beedrill moved too fast. Beedrill managed to stab Arbok repeatedly, while Arbok's acid only graced the tip of his stingers. Even so, Arbok would not fall so soon, he kept trying to reach Beedrill with his acid.

"Arbok, back away and stay still," Jessie's new command surprised AJ. He wondered what the mysterious Sailor Flame was up to.

"Attack Beedrill, poison jab!" AJ insisted and Beedrill obeyed, flying towards Arbok.

"Now Arbok, iron tail!" With a loud battle cry, Arbok whipped his tail towards Beedrill and came close to hitting him. However, Beedrill dodged at the last second. Seeing as that strategy wouldn't work, Jessie decided to switch pokemon, "Arbok return, rest for a while, I might need to call you out later. Go Flareon, avenge Arbok with flame thrower!"

"Flare, flare!" Flareon was protective of her fellow pokemon. It was something she learned back when she was a shy Eevee and her big brother Pikachu would protect her. She threw out her flames, though Beedrill kept dodging the fire.

"Use hyper beam, Beedrill!" AJ was still feeling confident.

"Dodge it Flareon and use fire blast, fill the arena with fire!" Jessie was determined to win no matter what. Flareon's fire blast cancelled out Beedrill's hyper beam.

"Time to finish this," AJ still had another strategy to try, "evasive maneuvers, get close and use hyper beam!" Beedrill flew in speedy zigzags towards Flareon preparing to shoot a hyper beam. At point blank Flareon couldn't counter it like before.

"Don't let Beedrill escape, fire blast!" When Beedrill was in range, Flareon suddenly bit into his leg, holding Beedrill down. Beedrill desperately stabbed Flareon. Before the bug pokemon could shoot the powerful hyper beam he had been preparing, Flareon let out a massive fire blast right into Beedrill, effectively ending his struggle.

"Beedrill!" AJ couldn't help it but to call out to his pokemon, who was not only unconscious, but also severely injured. "Return! You put up a great fight, don't worry, I'll get you to the Pokemon Center soon." The crowd loved the show. They were getting increasingly excited as the match became more heated.

"Hey Flareon, do you think you over did it?" Jessie watched as Flareon's breathing became labored, she was poisoned. "Take a break in your pokeball, Flareon return. Arbok, you're up again!" Jessie switched pokemon, giving Flareon some time to rest and sending out Arbok once more. Both her pokemon were in bad shape from that Beedrill. Yet she still had two pokemon, while AJ only had one. Jessie knew what to expect, he would surely send out that strong Sandslash he used in previous battles.

"I'll show you my strongest pokemon, go Sandslash!" Sandslash looked fierce and strong, much more intimidating than a Sandslash would normally look.

Jessie had a plan, Arbok would weaken Sandslash as much as possible to give Flareon time to rest. Then she would use their special secret strategy. For it to work, Flareon needed to recover first, she was a little too disheveled from the recent battle. "Arbok don't get too close, use acid!"

"Sandslash, defense curl!" Sandslash curled into a ball and though the acid hit its target, it had no effect. "Earthquake!" The entire Stadium shook with the force of Sandslash's attack.

"Endure it Arbok, you can do it!" Arbok struggled to stop himself from fainting. Years of fighting Pikachu and later training wild pokemon, had made him very resistant.

"Don't stop, keep using Earthquake!" AJ insisted.

Up in the VIP balcony, Mayor Antilles fell out of his chair, "this is terrible, they're going to tare the stadium apart right before the elections! If this place is reduced to rubble, where will I give my next campaign speech?"

"If it falls apart it's your own fault for using cheap materials," Giovanni countered, focused on the match. He didn't recognize Sailor Flame, nor had he recognized Rose Mask.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" The mayor was clearly not enjoying the constant shaking. He was especially worried about how the arena's floor had become cracked and fissures had started to climb up the walls.

"I like strong pokemon, why wouldn't I enjoy it?" Giovanni could have been thinking about sending agents out to steal those pokemon. He could have been thinking of what he would do if he were the one battling either trainer. He could have been thinking a lot of things. Yet the thought that occurred to him was how much he missed watching the Indigo League championships. Giovanni was usually too busy with Team Rocket. Battling amateurs who wanted badges made him forget what a real battle was supposed to feel like.

Suddenly, he found himself looking forward to seeing the Indigo League's past champion in action. He wanted to see how strong Ash was. Giovanni didn't know anything else about him, save for a few details. His name was Ash, his home town was Pallet and one of his pokemon was a Pikachu. He didn't know Ash's lastname, information concerning the rest of his pokemon or any other details. Remembering the conversation with Delia earlier made Giovanni look forward to seeing Ash battle even more.

In the battle arena, Arbok finally had all he could take. He had managed to buy Flareon a good amount of time. He lasted far longer than any other opponent had against Sandslash since he evolved. "Arbok return, you did very well. Don't worry, we'll get revenge for you, go Flareon!"

"I didn't expect your Arbok to last that long," AJ admitted, "but don't forget, Flareon is weak from the previous battle. Not that it would make a difference against Sandslash even if she was fully healed."

Flareon had groomed herself the best she could within the pokeball. She adjusted her ribbons tugging away the turn edges inside the folds of the bows. She licked her fur, much like an average Meowth would, to try to look as good as possible.

"Sandslash, giga impact!" Sandslash went on the attack at AJ's command. He dashed towards Flareon on the other side of the battle field.

"Use your secret weapon Flareon, just like we planned!" Jessie knew everything depended on this strategy. Using all the contest experience she had gained with Jessie to her favor, Flareon used attract. She looked absolutely adorable, cute and irresistible. For a moment Sandslash was captivated by her beauty and hesitated on his attack. "Overheat!" Flareon covered Sandslash with fire, struggling to keep her flaming breath going on for far longer than usual. She could sense that her opponent still had not fallen.

James was watching from the waiting room's window with Growlie in his arms. The pokemon was barking wildly in a fit of jealousy, yelling at Sandslash to keep his distance from Flareon. "Calm down Growlie!" James held on to him tightly.

Sandslash battled through the fire, trying to perform his own attack, heartbroken and angry. Flareon was at her last breath. When the fire ceased, another attack followed, "facade!" With one last brave effort, Flareon glowed as she launched herself at Sandslash like a lethal wild beast and finally defeated him. The crowd cheered loudly, with Jessie feeling very victorious at having obtained the biggest applause so far.

AJ stared at his unconscious pokemon in disbelief. Jango announced Sailor Flame as the winner. "Sandslash return, I guess we still have to train harder. That was an unexpected strategy, but none the less you won the match." AJ never thought his pokemon's lack of social life due to their constant training would create such a weakness towards the opposite gender.

"Nothing can beat the power of cuteness!" Jessie posed for the crowd that continued cheering.

Up in the VIP balcony, Giovanni was a bit disappointed with the trick, "of all the ways it could end..."

"You should never underestimate what a woman can do," Delia smiled.

"I know that already," Giovanni couldn't deny it but he still thought that Flareon used a cheap trick. Still, she was amazingly strong.

Mayor Antilles was shaking even after the earthquake ended. He kept shaking out of fear and worry, "I'm just glad it's over."

"It's not over yet, we still haven't seen the past Indigo League champion in a single battle. The real battles are about to start," Giovanni's reminder caused the mayor to faint.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 41: Give me Amusement

The trainers in the Viridian tournament continued to be eliminated until only four remained. It was clear that the champions would be called out to battle soon. Ash couldn't stay still, pacing around the waiting room. "I'm guessing you're more eager than nervous," Ritchie accurately theorized.

"Of course!" Ash happily exclaimed, "I'm so glad you're here. I was looking forward to my turn to battle before, but after I saw you, I just couldn't wait."

"It's ironic, when we were set to battle each other in the Indigo League years ago, you weren't too happy about it," Ritchie thought of the memories fondly.

"Yeah, but it's okay, because we can help each other improve and we'll both have fun," Ash smiled for a moment, then pouted impatiently again, "I just wish they would hurry up and call us or..."

Ritchie looked at Ash suspiciously, he had a sparkle of mischief in his eyes, "or?"

Ash grinned, "or we could have a practice match right here and now!"

Ritchie laughed, he should have expected such a crazy idea from Ash, he could have a wild side sometimes. "We'll get into trouble if we do that. Besides, I'm sure we'll get our chance soon."

Comet returned to the waiting room, replacing the empty tray of snacks with a new one. It was full of little triangle shaped mini-sandwiches with peanut butter and jelly in the middle. He handed a paper to Jango who had gone to the waiting room after the previous battle. It listed the lineup for the final four matches, not counting the bonus match that the winner would have against the Viridian City gym leader.

"Ritchie and Rose Mask," Jango read as he looked around the nearly empty waiting room for the two battlers.

"Here!" Jessie exclaimed as she pointed at James, who had his mouth full of mini-sandwiches. This caused Jango to jump in surprise; he didn't see Sailor Flame and Rose Mask make their way to the snack table. They could certainly eat.

"Looks like I'm up," Ritchie observed Ash's pouting face. Ash got there first but still hadn't been given a chance to battle. As mused that maybe his name was stuck on the bottom of whatever hat they were pulling the names out of. "C'mon, be a little more patient," Ritchie encouraged. "There are only four of us left, so you have to be in the next battle or the one after that at the latest."

"Alright, I'll wait a little longer," Ash agreed, though he still looked very impatient. He glanced at James who was stuffing his face, while he waited for Ritchie to lead the way into the arena. James, Jessie and Meowth loved free food. "Good luck to you both!" Ash spoke louder than needed, as if hinting he wanted the two combatants to go out and battle already. Ash expected Ritchie to win, but he also wanted to see James put up a good fight.

James choked on his last handful of mini-sandwiches. He was saved by Jessie, who patted him on the back harshly, but with good intentions. "In the words of Flareon, if you lose this battle, you'll have to face my wrath!"

James gulped, "Rose Mask will do his best!" Then he hurried after Ritchie. He left the bandaged Growlie on the table to eat the rest of the mini-sandwiches.

xoxox xox xoxox

"Out of all the trainers that had entered the tournament only four remain!" Jango announced as the crowd gathered in the Viridian Stadium cheered.

Many of the spectators were once again screaming in delight at the return of the handsome Rose Mask. Others, who recognized Ritchie as the Indigo League champion from last year, cheered for him. They were filled with joyous surprise to see him there.

"For this semi-final match we have the mysterious Rose Mask versus a surprise guest. Here's the champion from last year's Indigo League competition, Ritchie!" The crowd went wild at the announcement, cheering and clapping even louder.

Up in the VIP balcony, Mayor Antilles began to have a nervous breakdown. "Why? I thought the only Indigo League champion was Ash. Why are there two of them?" He feared for his precious stadium, it could be torn apart.

"He must have been a late entry," Giovanni reasoned. He was pleased with the situation. Two champions meant double the power. After they faced off against each other, he would battle the strongest one.

"This is... this is..." it was so terrible that Rune Antilles couldn't find any words to describe it.

"Perfect," Giovanni supplied, it was much better than watching the Indigo League championships on TV. He had both of the champions from the previous two years right in front of him. He would have a real battle after such a long time.

Delia smiled at the newly added twist. She knew Ash was looking forward to battling Ritchie and was happy that he could. He had not been called out yet and it was obvious that Giovanni still didn't know who he was. She had a worrisome thought as she remembered Ash's expression during Giovanni's speech. Delia had calmed down and convinced herself that everything was alright. But what if it wasn't? What if Ash had left in confusion? "I'll be right back. I just have to check on something really quick."

"Are you going off to find shelter?" Rune suddenly asked. "Maybe I should do the same. Oh, but how is that going to look? If I come out as a coward who hides when ferocious pokemon appear, I'll lose the elections!" He paused, examining Delia's face with his panicked expression suddenly changing to perplexity, "have I seen you before?"

"Probably in the crowds," Delia made her way out of the VIP balcony and down the stairs. Giovanni made no motion to stop her. He was focused on the battle. He noticed her leave, but he knew she would return just as she said.

The mayor rubbed his chin, "hmm..." he had seen many people in many crowds, he was the mayor after all. He was used to giving political speeches in front of large audiences. Even if the speeches were never written by him. The mysterious woman who came with Giovanni seemed to stand out in his mind from somewhere else.

Rune didn't remember that she was the same woman who had been at Giovanni's side when he first became gym leader. It was back when they started their secret negotiations with the help of the pokemon epidemic's antidote. Rune shrugged and decided to forget about it.

"Since these are the semi-finals, new rules have been added to make things more interesting," Jango had continued his explanation. "The pokemon limit per trainer has been increased to three and substitutions will count against the trainers. Ready? Fight!"

There was a moment of tension in which the audience grew eerily silent and Giovanni could hear an odd irregular sound. He looked at Rune who was pale and sweaty as he gripped the armrests of his chair. "Don't go into cardiac arrest so close to the elections," 'or any other kind of arrest,' he mentally added.

"Huh?" The mayor snapped out of his daze, "oh, yes, thanks for reminding me." Rune retrieved a small bottle from his pocket and swallowed a tiny pill, it was his heart medication. The sound of the mayor's heartbeats became more stable, though it was just as loud in the unfathomable silence.

The participation of Jessie and James, whom she recognized because of their pokemon, didn't come as too much of a surprise for Misty, but Ritchie's arrival was. As she sat in the audience, she almost expected a tumble weed to roll by as James and Ritchie engaged in a staring contest. It was reminiscent of Ash's contest with Samurai years ago when they waited for something to decide the battle between their Metapod. The most notable difference was that in the battle of Rose Mask versus Ritchie, neither had sent a pokemon out yet.

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, in the waiting room, Ash stood near the window impatiently. The undercover Jessie, the bandaged Growlie and the recovered Flareon devoured all the food Comet brought. The trio had been temporarily joined by Pikachu, who retreated after snatching a couple of cupcakes. He offered one to Ash. Only Meowth understood Pikachu's remark about cooties, but he was used to Flareon and Growlie getting all cuddly and flirty.

Ash had finished his cupcake, contemplating that it was nowhere near as good as his mother's. The thought brought back his curiosity about why his mother was sitting with the mayor and gym leader. He pressed his face against the glass window, angling himself to try to see the balcony. He found that his mother was no longer there.

Seconds later, Delia entered the waiting room following Comet. He had gone to deliver more food, a pizza. The food kept getting better as trainers were eliminated. It was part of mayor Antilles' plan to butter up the winner into putting in a good word for him.

Jessie and Meowth jumped on the pizza immediately. It caused Growlie to whimper, and Meowth to make room for him to grab a slice in his mouth. The slice was playfully stolen by Flareon, who also stole a kiss in the process. Meowth backed away; maybe he wasn't used to this after all. Jessie on the other hand was fascinated. She paused her eating in favor of staring at the cute couple of fire pokemon adoringly.

"Ash," Delia called softly, her voice ringing out clearly in the absolute silence.

Ash turned around to face her, "mom! I was wondering why you disappeared from the balcony. Why were you up there?" Ash's curiosity presented no worries, only puzzlement.

Delia knew right away Ash's surprise during Giovanni's speech must have been entirely due to seeing her and not due to recognizing Giovanni. "The gym leader and I are," she corrected, "were," she paused and rephrased her reply, "I met Giovanni a long time ago and we were catching up. We haven't seen each other in years."

"Oh, so that's it!" Ash concluded, then elaborated noting Delia's confusion, "I had this feeling that I've seen the gym leader somewhere before, even if I didn't battle him for an Earth badge. I thought it might have been on TV, on a magazine or something, but that didn't feel right. You said you haven't seen each other in a long time; did he visit when I was very young? I can't remember where I've seen him before, but I know I have."

"No, he never visited," there was a hint of bitterness in Delia's voice. She forced herself to smile to make up for it. "Maybe you remember him from somewhere else." Sometimes the answer could be right in front of a person, but they would not see it unless they looked straight at it. It seemed that the picture of the man Delia confessed had been her boyfriend was yet to surface in Ash's mind. "You shouldn't think about it now, just focus on your coming battle."

Ash nodded in agreement, full of excitement once more, "yeah!"

Delia smiled sincerely, seeing her son so cheerful. He was that way for every competition. She would forever share that same enthusiasm to watch him participate in one pokemon tournament after another. "I just wanted to wish you good luck. I really should be going back to my seat now."

"Thanks!" Ash cheered, "I'll try my best and I'll win," then he could get Misty a ring that would make her jump into his arms in absolute joy. He wanted it to amaze her.

xoxox xox xoxox

Delia returned to the VIP balcony and took her seat next to Giovanni, who was looking very impatient. Noticing her presence he commented, "they say that when the eyes of two pokemon trainers meet, a duel between them is destined to happen. I just wish they would get on with it."

"I'm sure one of them will have to blink eventually, try to be patient," the last four words were spoken with the same tone Delia would use for Ash. She remembered how Giovanni and Ash's eyes met when Giovanni was giving his speech. Perhaps their battle would be a true duel. Delia couldn't decide how she felt about that.

In the battle arena, Ritchie inevitably blinked, "ha!" James pointed at him with his rose. He finally shattered the silence that loomed over the stadium. "I saw that!" He declared in what he thought was a heroic tone, "you blinked, I won!"

"How did we get into a staring contest anyway?" Ritchie blinked again, this time repeatedly in confusion. "Either way, it's impossible to tell if you're blinking or not behind your mask. That doesn't matter; this is a pokemon battle, so let's battle!" Ritchie threw out a pokeball, "Sebastian, I choose you!" A strong looking Kingler came from the pokeball's red beam.

"I won the staring contest," James lied, he had been blinking behind the mask, "and I'll win this battle too!" He threw out a pokeball as well, "Rose Mask calls upon Weezing!" This would be a difficult match and James couldn't count on Growlie, who had been injured earlier. He tried to look and sound as cool as possible, hoping that it would somehow empower him and his pokemon.

"Sebastian," Ritchie called out to his Kingler, "use crab hammer!"

"Dodge it Weezing, go higher and use smoke screen!" James posed with his rose as he instructed his pokemon. Sebastian dashed forward with his pincers ready to smash into Weezing. The poison pokemon floated away hastily and covered the battle field in smoke.

"Blow away that smoke with blizzard!" Ritchie urged. His Kingler obeyed, unleashing a powerful blizzard upon the battle field. It chilled the air and blew away the smoke. "Good, now use crab hammer!"

"Get out of the way Weezing!" Weezing had lowered his floating, shielded by the smoke screen as he prepared to launch a sneak attack at James' command. The poison pokemon was quick to gain altitude once more. It was rather comical to watch Sebastian leap into the air trying to hit Weezing with his largest pincer. Weezing continued to float, unreachable above the jumping Kingler.

"Sebastian, get Weezing down with a bubble beam!" Ritchie's change in strategy worked. The bubbles hit their target, causing Weezing to have trouble floating due to the constant hits. The attack also left him in a half-fainted daze.

"No Weezing, don't go down, go up, up!" As much as Weezing wanted to do what he was told, he could not.

The poison pokemon helplessly landed exhausted on the cracked floor of the battle field. Ritchie was quick to take the opportunity, "let's finish this, Sebastian!"

As Sebastian dashed forward to smash Weezing with his pincers, James desperately called out, "self destruct!" At least Weezing would take that persistent Kingler down with him; that was what James had in mind.

Ritchie reacted quickly, "dig!" Weezing exploded and the arena was filled with light and toxic smoke. It was impossible to see if Sebastian had evaded the attack on time by hiding underground.

When the smoke finally cleared, Weezing lay unconscious in a crater on the floor. The sight made mayor Antilles whimper in pain, witnessing the additional damage to the stadium. Sebastian came into view seconds later, digging himself out from the ground. The mayor noticed that the powerful Kingler had used his strong pincers to break the cracked floor and dig a hole. He took another heart pill and tried to endure the distressing sight without fainting again.

"Weezing is unable to battle!" Jango exclaimed.

"Weezing!" James cried out, dramatically reaching out for his fallen comrade. He retrieved Weezing's pokeball from his belt and called him back, "return!" Then, tapping his red rose on the pokeball he declared, "I shall avenge you!" The crowd went wild, much to Jessie's annoyance in the waiting room lobby.

As he watched the so called battle, Giovanni complained, "first a staring contest and now a soap opera? I thought the battles were finally getting good, but it looks like things won't get serious until the two Indigo League champions face each other." The mayor gasped for air, his breathing becoming more labored by the second. The noise annoyed Giovanni, who had been put in a bad mood due to the silly turn the battle had taken. "Can't you have a heart attack quietly?" He snapped.

"Giovanni, that's mean!" Delia scolded Giovanni, then looked at the mayor with worry.

Rune's face continued to pale, but his breathing stabilized, at least temporarily. "I know who you are," he recognized Delia. "You were there, in all those events long ago, in the parties, you were there," he stuttered.

"Don't try to speak now, just focus on your breathing," Delia instructed in a motherly tone.

"It is you, right?" Mayor Antilles continued, "you were Giovanni's lover!"

"Rune," Giovanni growled, causing the mayor to jump in his chair and look at him, "shut up."

"Yes, sir!" Rune squeaked, then remained quiet after that. He kept fidgeting worriedly in his chair and twisting the ends of his large mustache. The mustache used to be black, even after his hair had turned white, but was now white to match it.

In the battle arena, James sent out his next pokemon, "go Victreebel! I mean, Rose Mask summons Victreebel, avenge our fallen comrade!" James had met many Victreebel over time. Some were his own and others were pokemon he took care of at the day care center he and Jessie had in Saffron City.

Something that never changed was that each Victreebel James had taken care of had a peculiar habit of trying to eat people or pokemon. Some tried to eat James, others tried to eat Jessie, several tried to eat Meowth and one had made the mistake of trying to eat Flareon. That last one became the only one to be cured of the habit, though he would only be able to eat soft pokemon food for the rest of his life.

The particular Victreebel that James called out to battle had the habit of trying to eat people at random. She let out a high pitch screech that made Jango, James, Ritchie and the first few rows of people in the audience cringe and cover their ears. It signaled the start of her chase. The grass pokemon hopped right out of the battling area and towards Jango, who was refereeing from the sidelines. "What are you doing?" Jango backed away.

"Run!" James urged hastily in alarm.

Jango wasted no more time and dashed away. He ran in circles around the battle arena. James hurried after them, trying to calm his berserk pokemon. "Stop Victreebel, the referee is not food!"

Watching the disaster play out from the window, Jessie grumbled, "you idiot."

Giovanni was angered by the ridiculous scene, "this is turning into a circus show," he criticized.

In contrast, Delia was having fun, "I know!" She laughed.

"Well," Rune let out a breath, "as long as they don't cause any more harm to the stadium, it's okay."

Unfortunately for Jango, he wasn't fast enough to evade Victreebel and soon found himself inside her mouth up to his waist, with his legs flailing in the air. "Oh no! Oh no!" James tried to pull Jango out and Ritchie rushed to help while the spectators' laughter echoed.

Between James and Ritchie, they managed to pull Jango out of Victreebel's mouth. The grass pokemon was quick to choose a new victim, attacking Ritchie instead. Ritchie was caught off guard and suffered the same fate as Jango before he could even try to run away. Trapped in Victreebel's mouth, Ritchie called out for help. Distressed over the peril of his trainer, Sebastian attempted to free Ritchie by sending a flood of bubbles their way. The action only made matters worse when not only Victreebel, but also the three men suffered from the attack.

Unable to pull Ritchie out of Victreebel's mouth, James had no choice but to call her back into her pokeball, before Ritchie suffocated. "Victreebel return!" In a beam of red light, Victreebel faded away into her pokeball, leaving Ritchie to fall face first on the floor. "Sorry about that, are you going to be alright?"

Still a little dizzy, Ritchie nodded, "I think so... It's okay, accidents happen," he struggled to stay on his feet and made his way to his side of the arena.

James returned to his own side of the battle field and Jango stood at the sidelines. "Since Victreebel was recalled, Rose Mask only has one pokemon left."

James sighed sadly and the audience that had previously been laughing, chorused an, "aw!"

"Rose Mask never gives up!" James held his rose up high in a sudden change of attitude from sad to determined. "I summon..." he looked towards the window where Jessie, Flareon, Growlie and Meowth were watching, "Meowth!"

"What?" The talking pokemon gasped. Before Meowth could further protest, Growlie escaped and ran into the battle field.

"Growlie?" James stared in surprise. "You can't, you're hurt!"

"If you call back your pokemon, you will be forfeiting the match," Jango reminded. He was in no mood to be lenient after his traumatic Victreebel experience.

"Growlithe, growl!" Growlie bravely declared.

Even if the fire pokemon didn't speak the human language, James understood that Growlie wanted to help him. "Growlie!" He emotionally exclaimed, "alright, let's do this, flame thrower!"

"Counter with bubble beam!" Ritchie quickly commanded. The two opposing powers collided. Surprisingly, the bubbles were extinguished into vapor by the flames that barely diminished. The attack was not very effective, but it still caused Sebastian pain due to all the strength and energy Growlie put into it.

"Bite him Growlie!" James cheered, watching his loyal pokemon dash forward.

"Crab hammer!" Ritchie called out, expecting the strategy to work. However, Growlie moved out of the way of Sebastian's pincers and jumped over him. He spun around quickly and bit one of Kingler's thin legs.

Growlie was fighting with an injury and the strain was too much for him, he released Sebastian and collapsed. Sebastian was left in a pained daze, swaying from side to side unable to find his balance. "Growlie!" James was distressed; he knew Growlie shouldn't be battling in his condition.

"Growlithe is unable to battle," Jango announced, "the victor is Ritchie!" He declared with satisfaction.

"Flareon!" Flareon screamed as she ran into the battle field, "flareon flare!" She raged at Sebastian and released a blast of fire that finished knocking him out, but her breath of fire didn't cease.

"Stop it, Sebastian can't defend himself anymore!" Ritchie quickly recalled his unconscious and burnt pokemon to the safety of his pokeball. The pokeball had a star sticker on it, as all of Ritchie's pokeballs did.

"Flareon, flare!" Flareon directed her anger at Ritchie, whom she blamed for the state Growlie was in.

"No, Flareon!" Jessie, still in her Sailor Flame disguise, rushed into the battle field along with Meowth to try to calm the turmoil. First Flareon threatened to beat up Growlie if he lost, then she got all cuddly and sweet. Next, she became protective and rushed out to attack Growlie's opponents, even threatening the trainer. Jessie knew something was going on with Flareon. She would be frying Ritchie if Jessie wasn't blocking the way.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon. Alderaan is a planet from Star Wars. One of Jessie's disguises, Jessadia (Pretty Musalin in Japanese), is a parody of Sailor Moon, here she has a modified version of that disguise. James parodies Tuxedo Mask to match Jessie and because of the rose he often had while reciting the Team Rocket motto in the first series. Samurai and AJ are minor characters who appear in the anime's first season. Ritchie's Kingler, Sebastian, is named after the crab from The Little Mermaid.