Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Don't Give Me Diamonds ❯ Chapter 11

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

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 42: Give me Emotion

"Growlie?" The orange pokemon whimpered softly, "you're okay, right? Please tell Flareon you're okay." James pleaded.

"Flare!" Flareon rushed to Growlie's side, crying abundantly and licked his face gently. "Flare, flareon, flare!"

"Now she's crying?" Jessie watched in shock while Meowth went through one of the few occasions in his life in which he was speechless. No one could make heads or tails of Flareon's extreme mood swings. Wait, mood swings... "Flareon, sweetie," Jessie knelt down beside the pokemon, "you're going to lay an egg, aren't you?" Flareon nodded her head, her tears ceasing. "It's alright, we can go home now. You and Growlie should rest; there will be other chances to battle. I have a good guess who our opponent would have been," it had to be Ash, since he had not been called out to battle yet, "we can battle him any time. Let's go home, do it for the baby's sake," Jessie voiced gently.

Flareon nodded in agreement, she wanted to stay and continue battling, but Jessie convinced her to go home for her child's sake. Jessie understood Flareon had been pushing herself and endured a harsh battle despite her condition. Now she had the accumulated fatigue from the previous fight and her subsequent recovery from poisoning. The effect on her body of having to spare energy to feed the egg within her and her worries about her injured mate all piled up. Jessie didn't want Flareon to have to battle while dealing with all that.

Jessie knew the other pokemon would understand if they returned home before the tournament ended. She was looking forward to playing nurse and helping take care of the baby when it hatched. She glanced at Ritchie who seemed to understand. Then she looked at the stunned Jango and informed him, "I'm leaving the tournament to take care of our pokemon. Continue without me."

At first, Jango could do nothing except nod dumbly. Then, as Sailor Flame, Rose Mask and their pokemon left the arena, he woke from the daze he was left in after the commotion. The referee spoke into the little microphone that extended from his earpiece over his mouth, "Sailor Flame has forfeited the tournament. This means that only two participants remain: Ritchie, the winner of the Indigo League championship from last year, and the challenger, who is also a champion. He won the Indigo League tournament two years ago... Ash! Many thought they would have to wait until this year's Indigo League to see the two champions face each other. The wait is over, it will happen today, right here in the Viridian Stadium!"

Ash ran out of the lobby and into the arena when he was called. The crowd cheered wildly, looking forward to the battle of champions. Jango continued with his announcements and explanations, "it's a three on three match with no substitutions. Additionally, if a pokemon leaves the battle area, that pokemon will be disqualified and must be recalled into the pokeball immediately," it was a hastily added rule, but Jango didn't care if he got into trouble for it. He didn't want to relive his Victreebel experience. "Ready? Fight!"

"Charmander, I choose you!" Ash was the first to eagerly throw out a pokeball.

The red beam from the ball took shape as the basic Kanto starter pokemon of fire. He looked very eager to battle, "char! Char!" Far from looking menacing, he looked cute.

Ritchie studied Ash's choice in pokemon. The Charmander was clearly very young. He was still smaller than an average one, with big innocent blue eyes. "I know appearances can be deceiving and I intend to try my best!" Ritchie took note of the flame on Charmander's tail and realized it was too big for such a tiny pokemon. No doubt about it, the little Charmander had to be strong. He sent out his first pokemon, determined to seriously try to win. Vaporeon was just the pokemon to help him accomplish that. "Aqua, I choose you!"

"I'll try my best too," Ash didn't look at all worried about the type disadvantage. He knew Charmander, albeit very young, was amazingly strong.

From the balcony, Giovanni watched the battle arena below. The presence of Charmander surprised him. He expected to see nothing but fully evolved pokemon on a champion's team. For a moment he wondered if the Indigo League was just over-rated, but he decided to keep an open mind. If there truly was something special about Ash, he would soon find out. It might turn into an interesting battle after all. He had Delia to thank for rediscovering his love for challenging pokemon battles. Giovanni didn't plan to watch the tournament. He originally intended to make an appearance in the beginning to give a speech, sneak off to work on his world domination plans, then return on time for the bonus round in which he would participate.

The mayor swallowed another heart pill. He didn't want to overdose, but he didn't want his heart to burst from the stress. "I'm too old for this," he complained pitifully.

"None sense, all that matters is being young at heart," Delia tried to encourage him, she felt truly sorry for Rune, seeing his worried expression.

"That's the problem," Rune whimpered, "my heart isn't young."

"Stop complaining," Giovanni interrupted; Rune had always been a wimp in his opinion.

Mayor Antilles pouted indignantly, "you know, my heart only started failing me after that time you almost killed me," he reminded in a low raspy voice.

Delia gasped in angry shock, "Giovanni!" She scolded upset, though she didn't know what else to say or do, except to glare.

"It was many years ago," Giovanni calmly stated with indifference.

"What happened?" Delia insisted on knowing.

Giovanni brushed off the inquiry and it was the mayor who replied, "it was indeed a long time ago, but I never fully recovered. I was having second thoughts about a business deal and was kindly expressing my concerns."

"Whining," Giovanni corrected with annoyance.

Mayor Antilles cleared his throat and continued, "as I was saying, I was expressing my concerns about a business deal. I guess it must have been a bad day for Giovanni. He seemed to be angry at the entire world on that day, except his Meowth." Rune glanced at Persian, who had been quietly purring next to Giovanni during the entire tournament, as his trainer petted him. "The point is that when I cautioned him about his business practices, Giovanni lost his temper and punched me really hard. He broke my ribs and nearly caused a piece to be stabbed internally into my heart. Fortunately, I was taken to the hospital on time and they removed the rib fragment that had come off. I was saved, but the fragment managed to scratch my heart a little. I've had a weak heart since then, albeit my worries generally decreased after that."

"You poor man," Delia frowned in pity, but there was something she didn't quite understand, "why were your worries less after that? Did the near death experience make you reevaluate your life?" She inquired with puzzlement, then caught herself in an old habit, 'no, don't do that again,' Delia mentally scolded herself. Even after so many years apart from him, Delia felt like she was falling into her old habit of twisting things around to justify Giovanni.

"Well, not exactly," Rune confessed, "I just realized that Giovanni was scary enough to deal with any troublesome people that might complain. I concluded there was nothing to worry about after all." After a short moment of reflection, the mayor added, "now that I think about it, the last time I saw you with Giovanni was before that happened."

"Rune," Giovanni growled, causing mayor Antilles to give him a worried look, "shut up," he ordered once more.

"Yes, sir," Rune once again complied and remained silent for some time.

Delia thought about what the mayor had revealed. The time he referred to might have been an event that happened right after she left. Was that the reason Giovanni was in such a bad mood that day. "Gio... When you punched the mayor back then, the reason you were angry, was it because..."

"Is there a point to this conversation?" Giovanni found it to be useless and irritating, but Delia looked insistent. He knew she wouldn't back down until he answered her question. He did, though not directly, "it seems you haven't dropped your habit of blaming yourself for everything."

Delia stared at Giovanni for a moment, then smiled, which caught him off guard. Studying his puzzled expression, she clarified, "I'm only glad you're not indifferent," angry seemed to be a little better than completely uncaring, even if it was unfortunate for mayor Antilles. "It was still wrong, what you did to the mayor," Delia added, "but you're right, it happened many years ago." Even so, Delia wanted to sit down for hours and catch up on everything. Yet she seriously doubted Giovanni would ever do that.

Rune opened his mouth to speak, lifting his index finger as if indicating he was about to make an important point. Then he wisely decided to keep his questions and comments to himself and remained silent. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair and gripped the armrests in tension. Both Giovanni and Delia turned their attention back to the battle.

Jango had implemented a new rule that stated that pokemon would be disqualified if they left the battling area. The rules before that had been rather lenient to keep the contestants as happy as possible. However, there was nothing Jango could say about the pokemon's attacks remaining within the designated area.

The Viridian Stadium clearly wasn't built for strong pokemon battles. Average battles were fine, but the field wasn't big enough for true power. Many of the people in the first, second and even third rows in the audience had to dodge stray fire balls and beams of water. When the water hit them it was at least refreshing, though still annoying and often painful. The lethal fire would be another story.

The people in the first few rows didn't know when a fireball would fly their way, how far it would go and how strong it would be. Some got on their feet, ready to move away any minute, while others tried to retreat, pushing back the people behind them. With those in the front rows standing up, the people in the rows behind them had to stand up as well. Soon the entire attendance of the stadium, save for those in the balcony, were on their feet.

Charmander was agile and avoided Vaporeon's water gun, even if the water pokemon was also fast and many members of the audience were soaked. "Flame thrower!" Ash commanded with a glow in his eyes that hinted he had a plan.

"Water gun!" Ritchie countered. The two attacks collided and it looked like Vaporeon was winning. Ritchie noticed that Charmander's tail flame was growing, "watch out Aqua, don't lower your guard. Make the water gun stronger, give it everything you have!" It was best not to give the little Charmander the chance to prepare his attack.

The water gun intensified, but so did the flame thrower. The opposing forces produced a curtain of steam that swallowed the whole stadium. "Overheat!" Ash called out and the fire coming from the small Charmander intensified further.

Ritchie couldn't see the battle behind the thick veil of steam, but he could hear Aqua's water gun becoming weaker. "Aqua, push that fire back with everything you have, then get out of the way!" The Vaporeon trusted in his trainer and followed the commands perfectly, managing to dodge the fire. Ritchie saw a bright light and jumped out of the way. The fire that Charmander had been pushing against Aqua's water gun blasted through the steam. It went past Ritchie and into the wall behind him. Sparks and rubble flew all around on impact. The spectators in that area screamed and panicked, hastily stumbling to get away, pushing the people around them.

Misty was feeling very uncomfortable in the audience. She could only compare the experience to a time when she went to an outdoor concert with Ash and Brock. The singer's name was Akira, a woman rumored to be involved with Team Rocket. Brock insisted on going and not surprisingly, he fell in love with Akira. She was admired by many, who claimed she had the elegance of a Ninetails along with its imposing presence. Brock claimed Akira was the image of perfection. From her sweet voice to her sky colored hair, emerald eyes, pearl smile and flawless snow skin. He was nearly crushed to death as he helplessly tried to reach the stage during the concert.

On top of worrying that Brock might do something crazy and end up with a few broken bones, Misty also had Pikachu to worry about. The powerful yellow pokemon had shocked the people around him, Ash and Misty included, several times when he felt suffocated. Displeased remarks and foul words followed the electric shocks. It made Ash lose his temper and yell back, even if he knew he was walking right into a fight.

While all of that had been happening, Misty was thrown around in the mush pit of fans, shoved, elbowed and kicked by the multitude. She was driven over the edge and joined Ash in releasing her pokemon to fight off the overwhelming crowd. It got worse when Akira's back up dancers revealed themselves to be Team Rocket agents. They took advantage of the mayhem to try to steal from the crowd. The theft was a failure; the situation was far too out of control for the Rockets to make their way through the chaos.

In the end, Team Rocket fled, many people where injured and abundant bones were broken. That included Brock's right arm and left leg. Somehow, the pokemon breeder was satisfied with the experience. He almost made it onto the stage before Akira herself violently sent him away with a kick to the face and a broken nose. He was delirious with a stupid smile for a while, chanting, "she touched me," even if it was with the bottom of her boot.

Misty escaped the commotion with many bruises and cuts, but her most serious injury was a sprained ankle. By some miracle, Misty and Ash survived without broken bones, albeit Ash had to get stitches for a cut he got on his right arm.

Even if Akira was revealed as a member of Team Rocket, she still had concerts, which were troublesome. It was still better than dealing with a riot of her fans if the police took direct action against her. The casualties would be far more numerous then.

xoxox xox xoxox

As the battle raged on, Charmander became cocky, despite his opponent being a powerful Vaporeon. The small fire pokemon refused to listen to Ash, instead running around the arena, wagging his flaming tail and making faces at Aqua.

The display caused the audience to go from astonishment and fright to amusement and laughter. Giovanni recognized the power of the tiny Charmander, but he could certainly use more training.

"What have you figured out so far?" Delia inquired with curiosity. She theorized that Giovanni didn't know too much yet.

"What do you mean?" Giovanni looked away from the battle for a moment. They weren't really battling like before; Charmander was just running around making fun of his opponent.

"You have that analytical look in your eyes. I can tell you're trying to gather as much information as you can from watching the battle and the trainers." Delia found that she could still read Giovanni after all. She just needed to spend a little time with him to remember how it was done. "You're looking for information, have you found anything yet?"

Giovanni gave his observations some thought and began to construct a profile. "Charmander is young and needs more training, but he's very strong. Ash is a good trainer and has powerful pokemon."

"His pokemon are strong, that is true, but they grew with Ash's guidance," Delia elaborated, "what I mean is, simply having strong pokemon isn't enough. It doesn't just happen; they have to be raised to be strong."

Giovanni didn't comment on the lecture. He was still puzzled as to what role that young man could possibly play that made Delia return to Viridian City. "I would say he's a risk taker," anyone who would send out a pokemon that was not properly trained couldn't have a problem with taking risks. "He's stubborn, I can just tell."

Delia couldn't help it but to laugh, "you're absolutely right about that, Ash is very stubborn, just like you. He really likes pokemon and sometimes his winning streaks go to his head. Even if he has a mischievous side, he's a very caring person."

Giovanni didn't catch the true meaning behind Delia's comment about stubbornness and instead pointed out, "you're pretty stubborn yourself." He didn't wish to wait any longer, "whatever it is you wanted to tell me about him, I don't think I can figure it out just by watching the battle after all. Besides, this is turning into a circus show again," Giovanni complained impatiently.

Delia sighed, "so impatient," she kept her expression neutral as she spoke, "like father, like son."

"What do you mean?" Giovanni had no suspicions about Ash, he didn't show any hints of surprise.

Delia looked towards the battle arena, "he's a lot like his father. He's a bit more playful, but he's stubborn, strong and can get a little cocky unless someone is there to keep his feet on the ground. Most of all, he's determined, cunning and has a deep desire to be the very best." Delia paused and looked at Giovanni again, his puzzlement surfacing with a hint of curiosity. With a secretive tone she voiced, "Charmander."

Giovanni turned his attention to the battle once more, "I still say he needs more training." Giovanni observed Ash and his subconscious seemed to realize something he couldn't quite fully grasp. Ash reminded him of someone.

After a lot of running around, Charmander was finally getting tired from too much showing off. "Aqua, use hydro pump!" Ritchie called out, it was time to finish the battle.

Charmander stood his ground, despite Ash's expression becoming alarmed in realization, "no, don't do that!" It was too late, Charmander jumped backwards and sliced through the hydro pump's blast of water with iron tail. The end of his flaming tail collided harshly with the exhausted Vaporeon's head and finally knocked him out. "Charmander, why? Aqua was tired; you could have finished him off with an attack that didn't leave you so exposed to damage!"

"Charmander char!" Charmander dizzily argued as if trying to say he would do whatever he wanted. "Char..." he fainted as well.

"Vaporeon and Charmander are unable to battle! So far the match is a tie; both trainers each have two pokemon remaining!" Jango announced, he was just glad the chaos of fire and water was over. He hoped the next pokemon they sent out were not so dangerously destructive.

Ash called Charmander back into his pokeball, at the same time as Ritchie recalled his Vaporeon. Ritchie looked across the battle field at Ash, "tell me something Ash," he curiously inquired, "is that Charmander related to your Charizard from our first Indigo League competition?"

"You noticed," Ash laughed sheepishly, "you're right, Charmander is Charizard's son. I guess I still need to train him more. Speaking of Charizard, he listens to me now and he's my next pokemon, "Charizard, I choose you!"

"This will be an interesting battle," Ritchie anticipated, "I choose Zippo!" Another Charizard emerged from Ritchie's pokeball.

Ash's Charizard blew smoke rings as he smirked confidently. Zippo frowned at the arrogant attitude and waited for Ritchie's command. Both trainers called out in unison, "heat wave!" The pokemon sprang into action immediately, blasting each other with fire. More flames escaped the battling area when the two beams of fire collided and sparks flew in every direction.

"It's getting more destructive!" Mayor Antilles couldn't hold his silence any longer, not that anyone was listening to him, anyway. Giovanni, Delia and even Persian had their eyes glued to the battle field. "At least we're safe up here," the mayor thought aloud. He was soon proven wrong when the trainers instructed their pokemon to use aerial ace and fire blitz. That took the battle to the air with flames being ignited all over the place.

The abundant harsh fire attacks caused the stadium to catch aflame. The fire didn't dissolve after leaving an indentation in the walls, it was too strong and it spread and grew. People screamed in a panic and scrambled to get away from it. The security system activated and the sprinklers began to throw water all over the stadium, some spraying on the combating pokemon. They were too strong to be weakened that easily, thus the water only gave them discomfort and made them cranky. That caused their battle to turn more violent.

Giovanni glared at Rune in absolute fury, "you idiot! Whose idea was it to install this many sprinklers!" He was getting all wet along with everyone else. Persian had taken shelter under his chair to stay as dry as possible.

"I'm sorry!" Rune cried in fear and stress.

The massive battle continued, causing pandemonium in the stadium. The two trainers were focused on the fight, as if locked in a trance. "Fire blast," Ritchie called out.

At the same time Ash guided his Charizard with a different attack, "blast burn!" The flames collided with each other, with Ash's Charizard prevailing over Zippo.

Zippo was not going down without a fight and tried to blast back as much fire as he could, which Charizard returned. It resulted in a giant blast of fire, with flames raining upon the stadium. Mayhem ensued as people pushed and shoved others aside to abandon the blazing stadium.

Zippo fought to stay conscious while Ash told his Charizard to use "seismic toss!" Zippo and Charizard exchanged additional blasts of fire during the entire process. Finally, Charizard sent Zippo crashing to the ground. The impact not only caused Zippo to faint, but also shook the entire stadium. It further expanded the already severe damage the structure had sustained.

Ritchie called Zippo back to his pokeball with words of gratitude. The two trainers snapped out of their trance and noticed the destruction around them. "We messed up, didn't we?" Ritchie acknowledged.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 43: Give me Priorities

Ash couldn't see Misty in the wild crowd of fleeing people, only a few stayed at the stadium. Even without seeing her, Ash knew Misty would be upset. He looked towards the balcony to find his mother glaring with disapproval. Ash also saw that the gym leader was smirking, as if he was amused by the chaos. Well, at least someone was happily enjoying the show.

The sprinklers did their job and finally put out the flames. After the threat had passed, people began to settle back into their seats, many sporting new bruises. A considerable number of people had left, so at least the audience wasn't suffocating any more. Ash finally spotted Misty, she was scowling.

Taking a deep breath, Ash decided to try to be optimistic, "maybe if we put on a good show they'll forgive us. At least the gym leader looks happy; he understands what battling is like." Ash smiled up at Giovanni and gave a thumbs up. The gym leader seemed to be the only one who wasn't upset by the destruction.

Giovanni found the gesture to be puzzling. Yet he knew that the possible destruction of the stadium was not what Delia came to tell him about Ash.

"Do you really think they'll let us continue?" Ritchie's question took Ash's attention from Giovanni back to the battle field.

For a split second, Ash had been close to recognizing Giovanni when his expression had changed. He was certain he had seen that confident smirk somewhere before and he had seen it recently. Ash once again let it go for the time being. He examined the damage around them, trying to come up with some kind of justification for it, "it is a battle so-"

"I'm disqualifying him," Jango trembled as he pointed at Ash's Charizard, interrupting the trainer's excuse.

"Why?" Ash argued, refusing to accept the referee's choice.

"Too destructive!" Jango flailed his arms around as he backed away. The day had been too much for him and he was losing his head.

"No one got hurt... seriously." Ash tried to make the situation sound as positive as possible, though it was difficult. Charizard nodded his head eagerly at Ash's argument; he didn't want to be disqualified.

"Too dangerous!" Jango pointed at Charizard, still shaking in fear.

Comet stepped out to the arena, "you may leave," he told Jango, who wasted no time in dashing away. "I will referee the final battle of this match, but I'm afraid Charizard will still be disqualified." Comet calmly pointed towards where Charizard stood, specifically at his tail.

Charizard looked at his own tail, Ash and Ritchie examined its position as well. "Oh, your tail is outside the lines," Ash admitted, "well, I guess those are the rules, you can't step out of the battling area." Charizard's jaw dropped as he pointed an accusing clawed finger at Ash. He growled and roared as if blaming his trainer for not properly warning him about that. "I'm sorry!" Ash hastily apologized to Charizard, "it's okay, you were a great help! Let Pikachu do the rest, alright?" After exchanging a few words in their own language, Charizard returned to his pokeball and Pikachu went out to the battle field.

"The battle of Ash versus Ritchie will continue," Comet announced, "for his final pokemon, Ash has chosen Pikachu, who will battle against," he paused dramatically, allowing Ritchie to finish.

"Sparky!" Ritchie's own Pikachu was sent to the battle field. It was the battle that would decide the tournament.

Giovanni continued observing everything; he thought it was odd that Ash apologized to his pokemon. He couldn't picture anyone doing so, except maybe Delia, but she was a special case. She cared about pokemon very much, that was how they met, that was how many things happened.

The two Pikachu stared at each other from across the arena, with sparks already flying from their hot red cheeks. Soon the stadium was filled with electricity and the fact that the sprinklers had only recently been turned off didn't make it any safer. The many fissures, indentations and holes in the stadium were filled with water and puddles were scattered all around. The members of the audience who were brave enough to stay and watch the battle to the end were soaked.

The Indigo Plateau was extremely big, allowing for plenty of empty space between the audience and the battle field. Not stepping out of the battle field was a standard rule. The Viridian Stadium was much smaller. The structure was not safe for true pokemon battles. It lacked the enforced architecture, seismic proof strength and high tech energy absorption machinery that the Viridian Gym possessed.

The Viridian Gym would have proven to be a much safer place to have an all out pokemon battle, but it was not a place where a large crowd could witness it. It only made matters worse that the stadium's structure was indeed poorly built with cheap low quality materials. The foundations of the building were fragile and if there was another earthquake, it might cause the building to crumble.

The two electric pokemon continued their battle. Their electric attacks sometimes reached the audience, despite it having become small enough to be able to back away to the final rows. "Thunder!" "Thunderbolt!" "Thundershock!" The attack names were called out constantly, and there wasn't a single moment in which the stadium wasn't lit up by the abundant electricity.

Mayor Antilles watched the match in a trance, "I just got an idea," he muttered, short of breath, "a grand idea!" He pushed himself to raise the volume of his voice enough to be heard. "We could use pokemon to provide the city with electrical power, it would be much cheaper!"

"We're already doing that," Giovanni reminded, without looking away from the fight. He didn't even blink at the bright lights.

"Really?" Rune gasped, "but then, why is it that we need to buy so much fuel and supplies. What about the workers of the power plant?" Mayor Antilles insisted in confusion.

"Rune," Giovanni once again scolded him sternly, "shut up."

"Yes, sir," the mayor realized he was treading into a topic he shouldn't be talking about. Maybe Giovanni had his own uses for the power plant. If that was the case, Rune thought it was in his best interest to remain as ignorant as possible about it.

"I hope those pokemon are being treated well," Delia intervened with a serious expression.

"They're fine," Giovanni assured with indifference, "you can see them if you want. The real facilities that supply power to the whole city are open to public tours. None of the pokemon used there are hidden. People think that the pokemon power plant only produces enough electricity for part of the city. They think it wouldn't be cost effective to try to get enough pokemon, food and health care for them, to power the entire city."

"I see, so that's why they think the conventional power plant is still needed. It would look suspicious if the truth got out." Delia remembered Ash telling her a story about the Pikachu powered electric generator that they used in the Viridian City Pokemon Center if the main power supply failed. "It sounds like your organization has come across quite a few technological advancements. But you're only sharing them when and as much as it is convenient."

"It wouldn't be the first time," Giovanni looked away from the battle field. He finally felt the need to rest his eyes after staring at the bright electric attacks for too long.

"I know," Delia sounded displeased. Team Rocket's way to deliver the antidote for the pokemon epidemic many years ago was more effective than waiting for it to be officially approved and mass produced. Nevertheless, Giovanni still used it to his convenience and could have done a lot more good if he tried. Regardless, Team Rocket's influence had been highly beneficial to the population of pokemon so what happened wasn't all bad. It brought the end of the epidemic after all.

With those internal arguments and memories, Delia found herself realizing the cause for all the circles she had gone in for such a long time in the past. The world was not black and white and sometimes from a certain perspective, the shades of gray were light enough to be worth the trouble. When it came to Giovanni, she always tried to look on the bright side. She realized that the gray was closer to black than to white when the situation became really dark.

"Excuse me," Mayor Antilles shyly voiced, "should you really be, I mean, not to meddle," he mumbled unsure, "is she, are you?" He couldn't find a way to construct a coherent sentence.

"She won't tell anyone, and you better keep quiet as well," Giovanni warned. A spark of lightning collided with the edge of the balcony, breaking off a small piece. They were high enough not to be heard in their little royal tower, but they were not completely out of range from the attacks.

Delia sighed hopelessly, "maybe that's my biggest flaw, I could never say anything against you," she admitted bitterly. "Regardless of what you do, my first instinct is to justify you and I could never stay mad at you for long."

"You seemed perfectly capable of that before," Giovanni accused, ignoring the fact that mayor Antilles was listening, he didn't matter anyway.

"If I ever stayed angry at you for more than a few hours, it was because you kept giving me a new reason to be angry," Delia retorted. She realized that her argument fell short if she considered the fact that she had been away for many years. "Just so you know," she confessed sadly, "I would have come back if you asked me. It's not like you didn't know where to find me." It was something that filled her with both hopes and worries for years when Ash was little. "I just couldn't come back, because, because of a good reason."

Delia wanted to raise Ash peacefully, yet she knew her resolve would crumble if Giovanni had ever showed up at her door. Then she would have told herself that the situation wasn't so bad. She would think that regardless of what Team Rocket did, by some miracle Ash would turn out alright. During those first few years in Pallet Town, Delia both hoped that Giovanni would come and feared that seeing him would throw her into that kind of reasoning. It would ruin the chance of the peaceful childhood she wanted for Ash.

Tired of the guessing games of the past, Giovanni kept a neutral face and spoke with complete indifference. He knew it would bother Delia much more than any angry remark could. "It doesn't matter, it happened many years ago. I knew where you went and I didn't go find you. I had more important things to do and you were holding me back. Besides, if you had bothered to come back, I would have sent you away."

Delia didn't breathe a word; instead she got up and left. She guessed that whatever amount of surprise, puzzlement and curiosity that kept Giovanni from sending her away sooner, had worn off. He didn't want her there anymore. She had promised Ash some answers, she had promised to reveal the identity of his father and she knew Ash could handle the truth. There was no reason for Giovanni to know.

Mayor Antilles watched as Delia went away and looked at Giovanni in shock. The mayor's mouth was slightly opening and closing like a Magikarp. "You, she..." he tried to voice something but realized he had temporarily forgotten the majority of his vocabulary.

"Rune," Giovanni warned menacingly, he was indeed surprised by Delia's visit and tried to be patient with her. In the end, his patience could only stretch so far. "Shut up," he ordered, not in the mood to deal with idiots.

"No, sir," Rune surprisingly refused, "I can't help it but to feel that I've been caught in the middle of some kind of lover's spat. It's like the soap opera dramas on TV and it is my duty to tell you to go after her." The mayor paused, taking a deep breath, then dramatically insisted, "go after her!"

"Is that all you wanted to say?" Giovanni inquired, with an intimidating expression. Rune paled and nodded hurriedly. "Then shut up."

"Yes, sir," the mayor sighed in both sadness for what he had witnessed and relief that he didn't have any broken bones as a result of his reaction. It was a pity that Giovanni had refused to dramatically run after his lady. Mayor Antilles would need something to occupy the headlines and take attention away from the broken state in which the Viridian Stadium was left in. What could be better than a touching reunion with a lost love?

Rune knew Giovanni had more fame than him. People would rather read about the gym leader's secretive personal life, than fuss about the poorly built stadium. Besides, if Giovanni came out looking all nice and romantic, he would be even better received by the city. His support for mayor Antilles' political campaign would be that much more valuable.

xoxox xox xoxox

The Viridian Stadium shook with the force of the two colliding electric pokemon. It was already weak to begin with and terribly damaged. The electricity crashed into one of the balcony's columns causing it to shake unsteadily and begin to fall apart.

The balcony tilted when the column fell, but it didn't crumble. It was barely supported by the column on the opposite side. It looked artistic to have two columns diagonally opposite to each other in the propounding structure of the balcony. The stadium was undoubtedly built more for show than anything else. It was not safe to stay in the weakened balcony. Giovanni and Persian quickly left, "are you coming?" Giovanni looked back at the mayor who sat nervously.

Mayor Antilles was breathing heavily; he had gone from ghostly pale to bright red, as if all his blood suddenly accumulated in his head. He got up from his chair, stumbled and fell flat on his face, than pushed himself up and rubbed his nose. "Ow," the blood that had accumulated in his head began to be drained again until he was once more ghostly pale. Seeing as Giovanni had no intentions of giving him a hand or waiting for him, the mayor struggled to his feet by himself and followed the gym leader to safety.

xoxox xox xoxox

"Boss!" Wendy called in alarm as she spotted Giovanni in the waiting room with Persian and the mayor. They were watching the battle from there, since the balcony was no longer safe. "All this electricity and commotion has the police's attention. Sio and the others are holding them off, making up excuses to reassure the officers that everything is okay. The police was saying the tournament should be suspended immediately before the stadium collapses."

"Preposterous!" Mayor Antilles exclaimed, "imagine the headlines when it becomes known that the tournament had to be canceled because my stadium didn't hold up. We must let the tournament conclude! I just wish they were gentler; it's also going to be bad if this place does come down. In that case it might really be best to call it off," the mayor thought about it. "How about we make them forfeit, or maybe..." he couldn't think of any good plans, it felt like he was trapped in a lose-lose situation.

"Shut up, Rune," Giovanni reprimanded the worrying mayor for what felt like the millionth time that day. "This is the last tournament battle. After they finish, I can battle the winner at the gym. Wendy, keep the police out until this battle is over, I don't want any interruptions."

"Yes sir!" Wendy ran back outside to join the other undercover Rockets protecting the stadium from the police's interference.

In the battle field, Pikachu and Sparky had discharged a massive amount of electricity. Even if Ash and Ritchie were once again in their battle trance, when one of the columns of the balcony tower fell, the noise was loud enough to make them look. Ash didn't see his mother, but he saw the gym leader leaving. He didn't see the mayor on the floor from his angle. Assuming that his mother left along with the others, Ash was relieved and focused on the battle once more. Thus when the balcony finally crumbled, Ash and Ritchie knew it was empty.

The collapse of the balcony tower caused rubble to rain upon the battle area and part of the audience area. People scrambled not to be hit by the rocks. Some were reached by the debris, but those were only small pieces that didn't cause any serious injuries. Those in the battle arena were in the most danger: Ash, Ritchie and Comet, who remained watching from the sidelines. Fortunately, they managed to dodge the falling stones only being scratched by a few small ones. The two Pikachu also avoided damage and were quick to be ready to continue the encounter.

When the dust finally settled down, both Ash and Ritchie called out in unison, "volt tackle!" The two Pikachu dashed towards each other and collided in the center of the battle arena in a huge explosion of electricity. The force made the weak structure of the stadium give in further and begin to collapse in several areas. When the light faded away and the new cloud of dust settled, it was revealed that Sparky had fainted. Ash's Pikachu still stood.

"Sparky is unable to battle!" Comet announced, shouting over the panicked screams of the alarmed spectators. "Ash's Pikachu is the winner. The tournament has ended, Ash is the ultimate champion!"

Ash jumped with joy and ran to the battle field to hug Pikachu and congratulate him. Ritchie approached and shook hands with Ash. The two young trainers once again got lost in their own little world, complimenting each other and their pokemon. This went on until mayor Antilles approached Ash with a trophy. "This is for you. However, given the damage caused to the stadium, I won't be able to pay you the prize money." Besides, Ash wasn't from Viridian City; there was no vote to buy. Now it was up to Giovanni to defeat him and avenge the city's honor at the Viridian Gym. Then hopefully the ruined stadium wouldn't be reduced to a pile of dust.

"That's not fair!" Ash pouted, he wanted to buy Misty a nice ring and he wouldn't be able to afford it without the prize money.

"We did make a mess," Ritchie pointed out, though in his frustration, Ash didn't hear him. Ritchie continued, placing his hand on Ash's shoulder to get the other young man's attention, "at least we had a fun battle, isn't that worth more?"

"Of course!" Ash assured, "I had a lot of fun. I'm really glad we got to battle, it was a true challenge. It's just that I was planning to..." he trailed off into silence, then scanned the surrounding area hoping to see Misty and his mother.

Delia had not left the stadium facilities after she stormed away from Giovanni, angry and hurt. There was quite the commotion going on outside with the police surrounding the stadium, claiming that it wasn't safe for anyone to remain inside. An array of people in matching green suits were trying to talk Jenny and the other officers into believing that everything was fine. Knowing of the danger of the stadium collapsing, instead of leaving, Delia felt the need to stay and wait for Ash and Misty. She rushed to the arena when she heard the balcony tower fall apart and got lost in the group of panicked people in the audience. After a lot of pushing and shoving, she was finally able to make her way towards Misty. The redhead was determined to stay and watch Ash's battle to the end.

Delia stayed with Misty until the battle ended and watched as mayor Antilles and Giovanni emerged from the waiting room lobby. The two women made their way out of the audience area and into the arena, lost among the people who rushed to congratulate the winner. Ash spotted them in the crowd and was relieved. His frustration with not receiving his due prize still remained and both Misty and his mother had heard his complaints.

Misty frowned in disapproval, making sure that Ash saw her displeased expression before she turned away to leave. Delia looked right at Ash among the crowd, she was still unseen by Giovanni. She gave him a look of urgency and disappeared among the other people in the same way Misty had. She was encouraging him to go after her. Ritchie witnessed this as well and whispered, "go."

Ash nodded, which mayor Antilles interpreted as an acceptance of his excuses as to why he couldn't be given the prize money. The truth was that Ash had not heard a single word the mayor spoke. He did hear the gym leader giving him a formal congratulation and inviting him to the gym for the promised bonus battle. Giovanni even offered to give Ash double the prize money if he won.

Ash got a closer look at Giovanni and was more certain than ever that he had seen him before. Nonetheless, there was a more urgent matter to tend to at the time. With so much in his mind, Ash couldn't think of anything other than going after Misty. As tempting as it was to accept the gym leader's offer of a double prize, what good would a diamond ring do if Misty was too upset to say I do? "Sorry, but I have to go."

"What about the battle?" Giovanni insisted, "you can switch pokemon if you want," he was feeling impatient and in a bad mood, despite hiding it well. He needed to let out his troubles in a true challenge. He pressured Ash, while still keeping a nice tone, "if you leave, you would be forfeiting." Giovanni was sure that would convince Ash to agree.

Ash took a deep breath and realized he needed to get his priorities straight. There would be other tournaments and other prizes, but Misty was clearly upset and needed him right away. "I forfeit," Ash's voice was hardly above a whisper. He never would have thought he would give up in a pokemon battle without even trying. "I'm sorry; I really want to battle you. I was looking forward to it when I heard you would battle the winner of the tournament, but I can't. There's something more important I need to do, maybe we can battle some other time." Ash disappeared among the crowd, leaving a stunned Giovanni behind.

"Hmm..." Mayor Antilles mused, "this could work," with the tournament winner forfeiting the match against the gym leader it would be easy to say that the young man from Pallet Town knew there was no way he could win. The gym leader would then be considered to have been recognized as better than the champion, by the champion himself, and thus he would become the hero that avenged Viridian City's honor.

The mayor nodded to himself, if the press painted the picture correctly, and they knew better than to mess up, everything would work out. Giovanni's unconditional support in the mayor's campaign would still be enough to make him win the elections. If he ever lost, he was sure Giovanni could arrange that to change. However, Rune still had a little bit of pride left and wanted to win with real votes.

The publicity tournament wouldn't be a total loss after all, though the damage to the stadium was still a catastrophe. Rune would think of a way to cover that up. Maybe he could say that the stadium was built so that certain parts would collapse on purpose. He would claim it was part of the show and that the real goal was to model the place as closely as possible to an ancient stadium. It did have a special likeliness to real ruins being collapsed on one side and damaged all over.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 44: Give me Forgiveness

The Viridian City park was very large and full of abundant plants and trees. It was not ideal for playing volleyball or tossing a frisbee due to the many obstacles. Yet it was perfect for young couples to sneak around without having to go to the forest's border in the outskirts of the city to find privacy. The park was located at the very center of the city, not too far away from the Viridian gym and the ruined stadium. Other than serving as a hiding place for couples, it was also the most obvious place where one would go to be alone. Brock's lonely grieving was interrupted by Ash, who had lost track of Misty. "Brock, have you seen Misty around here?"

Brock looked up from his position sitting under a tree hugging his knees to his chest, face buried in his arms. "She ran past me a few minutes ago. I called out to her, but she said she needed to be alone for a while. She said that if you came after her I should tell you that she's not in the very middle of the park, sitting by the little pond."

Ash frowned, "where is she then?"

Brock paused, observing Ash's perplexed expression, "in the very middle of the park, sitting by the little pond," he recited.

"Didn't you just say..." Ash understood as Pikachu jumped off his shoulders and encouraged his trainer. "Oh, I get it, I'll see you later."

xoxox xox xoxox

The pond was quite small but beautiful, with crystalline waters that shone as the summer sun hit them. Misty was sitting at the pond's edge in a similar posture to Brock's. She heard the approaching footsteps on the lush green grass and looked up to see Ash. He wordlessly sat down beside her.

They sat in silence for a few seconds until Ash finally asked, "why are you mad at me?"

Misty was used to needing to be direct. She had not completely grown out of the habit of dropping hints about how she felt and letting Ash attempt to figure it out, but she knew the limitations of that. Most of the time, he didn't understand unless she was direct. She loved him dearly, but she knew she had to spell things out to him sometimes. "I'm not mad," she moved closer, resting her head on his shoulder.

Ash responded by putting his arm around Misty's shoulders, tilting his head to rest on hers. "I know you're upset about something. Is it because of the mess we made at the stadium?"

"No, I don't blame you for that." Misty could have an explosive temper at times, but sometimes she just didn't feel like blowing up about the issue at hand. That only meant it really bothered her, she wasn't angry, she was worried. "Ash, I'm upset because of... well..." she searched for the right way to phrase it, shifting to meet his eyes. "I feel like you've been hiding something from me. You've been busy going from one tournament to another, which is normal, but you seemed more focus on the prizes than ever before and that worries me."

Misty continued, "usually you're in it for the challenge. I've just been seeing another side of you. It's fine to want a reward, but I don't want you to change. I want you to be the same carefree Ash who just wants to have fun and be the best. It doesn't matter if you're stubborn and dense, just don't get greedy. Don't put your pokemon or your friends in second place next to the glory, fame and riches. You didn't change when you became champion. You went on and on about it twenty-four seven for a week and drove everyone insane. But after that, you were back to your old self, ready to tackle life's next challenges."

Misty took a deep breath; she looked into Ash's brown eyes. Her cerulean eyes were full of adoration with a remaining hint of worry. "I really don't want you to change. I want you to be the Ash I fell in love with forever. I want to spend the rest of my life with you." Misty didn't know where the outburst came from, she just felt like speaking out her emotions.

Ash looked at Misty as if it was the first time he was seeing her in a long time. "Misty," the ring and the place didn't matter anymore. She didn't need to be impressed to say yes. Ash knew that from the start, he just wanted to do something big for her. He understood what his mother was trying to tell him before; Misty didn't want riches or power. She just wanted Ash to stay the same and be there for her. "That was my line." Ash took the silver sapphire ring from his pocket and placed it on Misty's finger, "will you marry me?"

Misty felt her breath catch in her throat and her heart beats speed up as tears of happiness began to fall from her eyes. She smiled, trying to find her voice, the image of Ash's hopeful and loving face forever engraved in her mind.

A sudden explosion came unexpectedly and the near by plants caught on fire. The abundant flora's proximity to each other only made it easier for the fire to spread. The explosion, originated underground, blasting through the land behind Ash and Misty. It left the couple frozen in shock in a tight embrace. They were between the pond and a hole on the ground. "Was that some kind of missile?" Ash stammered, trying to recover from the shock.

The missile had exploded on the ground as it broke through. Its effect was mostly thrown at the tunnel from where it was shot. But its force was enough for sparks to fly out of the hole along with pieces of scrap metal. As soon as Misty recovered from the shock, she sent out her Gyarados and a pair of Starmie, "water gun, everyone put out all the flames before they spread!" Psyduck popped out of his pokeball uncalled and ran around in a panic until Misty recalled him.

The yellow water pokemon would never evolve and Misty had come to terms with that. She discovered it one day when she took Psyduck to the Pokemon Center for a detailed examination. She hoped she could find out why he wouldn't evolve, even if she had been training him for years. After a series of tests, including an x-ray, nurse Joy discovered that Psyduck had swallowed an everstone. It resided inside his stomach for years.

Psyduck had apparently adapted to having the small everstone stuck in a corner of his stomach and out of the way for his digestive system to function normally. Joy had offered to operate Psyduck and take the everstone out. But seeing poor Psyduck so frightened about the surgery made Misty decide to leave him as he was.

Ash released his Blastoise from his pokeball, he had been with Ash since he was a Squirtle and remained as one for many years. "Help put the fire out!" Squirtle evolved into Warturtle when he began to travel with Ash again. He later evolved into Blastoise to put out a fire at the Pewter City Pokemon Center, where Ash and his friends were trapped. The fire had been started by a malfunction in Jessie and James' equipment, causing them to become trapped as well, though they were all saved in the end. Despite Blastoise having evolved, Bulbasaur still remained the same, determined to stay that way.

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, Delia had gone to the park to think. "I thought you would still be around here," she turned around at the familiar voice. She was surprised at just how familiar it felt. She had only heard it for a short time after an absence of many years.

She needed to compose herself and figure out what she was going to tell Ash about his father. She intended to delay the confession until after he sorted things out with Misty. She told herself that the procrastination was necessary and that she wasn't just escaping from the truth again, but she wasn't sure. "I didn't think you would come looking for me." Delia honestly didn't expect it. She assumed Giovanni would just disregard their meeting and forget about it. He made it clear he had more important things to do.

"You never told me what you came here to say," Giovanni reminded with a casual tone, as if their recent argument had never happened. He knew he purposely upset her, though it seemed to have hurt her more than he expected.

Frowning, Delia took a deep breath and tried to find the words that would allow her to make Giovanni forget about his curiosity. Maybe this was something he didn't need to know after all. "It's nothing vital to Team Rocket. In fact, you would probably say that it doesn't make a difference, especially not now. I don't know why I even bothered to come to you. Please forget about it, I didn't mean to make you waste your time," she didn't realize it, but she was crying.

"I don't understand," Giovanni admitted. "this is, important to you," he stated, still completely in the dark about what the secret Delia held could be. "Is this really about when you left? Delia, it's been so many years. You can't expect me to believe that's all there is to it. If it was something like that, something related to us, you would have forgotten about it by now." He felt as if she was using their past relationship to hide the real information that she came to reveal. He didn't understand that she would never simply forget about the past that was so precious to her.

Giovanni reflected on his own words. When Delia left, he felt betrayed and stubbornly refused to go after her. He restructured Team Rocket and focused on his work. He was in a foul mood for days, but during those first few days he would have welcomed Delia back if she returned. He knew she was in Pallet Town, it was easy to guess. Thanks to her letter, he knew she left of her own free will; no one kidnapped her or forced her to leave. He never understood her allusions to having a good reason to leave. He never found any justification in it, thinking it was something related to foolish ideals of justice.

When the days turned to weeks, Giovanni regarded Delia as a traitor. He was determined not to welcome her if she returned, but she never did. Even so, he somehow knew that she would not speak against him. He assumed she simply had enough of his criminal ways and left, thinking it was for the best. He was bitter that she had apparently chosen justice over him. He was selfish in that sense, wanting all her devotion to himself, knowing that for some time he had it.

Many years had passed, Giovanni reminded himself of that again. Why would Delia still care about him as she did before? The information she possessed about Team Rocket was mostly outdated. Save for a few details that hadn't changed, such as their main base of operations being hidden in the Viridian Gym, she didn't know anything important. They also had many other bases in several regions and the Viridian base wasn't a total secret from the police.

Was Delia trying to gather more information? Could the traitor he was seeking in an internal investigation have contacted her and put her up to this? He couldn't imagine her doing something like that. None the less, it had been many years and Delia had no reason to pledge her loyalty to him anymore. If this was a trick, Giovanni wouldn't fall for it. He wouldn't waste the opportunity to use Delia's possible situation of being a spy to his favor.

That was the only explanation Giovanni could think of. Delia was working with the enemy and Ash must be with them two. She must have been conflicted about it. Seeing him again must have pushed her into trying to confess her mission, though she was still unsure about doing so. Ash wasn't a Rocket, so he wasn't among the inside traitors, but he had to be part of their group. He was probably the one who discovered Delia's past and put her up to spying.

That had to be it. Why else would Delia show up and reminisce about the past, then get all emotional. Not only was Giovanni not falling for it, he would use their trick against them. Delia would go from infiltrator to double agent. She would ultimately take his side; Giovanni would make sure of it.

"Delia, I think I understand why you left," Giovanni calmly began. His tone and expression caught Delia off guard, he looked almost caring. "I was too focused on my own goals and wasn't paying attention to you. I wanted to give you what I thought you wanted and never asked you what you really wanted. You know Team Rocket is important to me, but so are you."

Delia stared at Giovanni in shock. She didn't understand his sudden change in attitude. She felt as if she was diving head first into a trap. Yet the only thing she could muster to say was "what do you mean are? I'm not important to you anymore."

He was moving too fast, it wasn't believable. Maybe Delia had become a little bit less naive over the years, but only a little. Giovanni was just as prideful, stubborn and confident as he had always been. He could think of nothing to say that would make his act sound believable and turn Delia into his double agent. He wanted her to pretend her infiltration mission was a big success and deliver convenient false information to the enemy.

Instead of answering her question, Giovanni pulled Delia close suddenly and kissed her. He caught her totally off guard and too shocked to oppose any resistance. The kiss didn't last too long. They parted abruptly when they heard an explosion near by.

xoxox xox xoxox

Thanks to the efforts of Gyarados, the two Starmie and Blastoise, the fire was put out without casualties. As the last of the flames were extinguished, Pikachu and Brock arrived. The hole had been covered up from the inside before any of them could see the people in black uniforms with red Rs running in the tunnel. Battle noises, arguments, accusations of betrayal, insults and curses could be heard faintly, with the tunnel's sound proof shield having been shattered.

Giovanni and Delia were the next two to arrive. Giovanni found the way Ash was kneeling on the ground examining a patch of exposed metal quite suspicious. The secret Team Rocket headquarters extended all over the underground area below the park. "What happened here?" Giovanni tried to sound as if he truly had no clue, while Delia was still in a confused daze.

"A missile came out of the ground!" Ash looked up to find his mother and the gym leader. Delia was looking shocked and her face was slightly red. All those present assumed it was because she heard the explosion and it startled her.

Comet was the next one to appear on the scene, ready to implement a hasty cover up. "Is everyone alright? Did anyone get hurt?" He asked with real worry, looking around the area and assessing the damage.

"We're alright," Misty replied, puzzled by the entire event, "what was that?" One second she was on cloud nine and the next she was harshly crashing down in an unpredictable and dangerous reality.

"I'm so sorry about that," Comet apologized deeply, "some of the fireworks we had set up for tonight malfunctioned. I apologize for the trouble it caused. Don't worry, it's all under control now. I'll have to ask you to leave this area so we can make some repairs to the mechanism. I apologize for the inconvenience." No one questioned Comet's explanation. Ash's version of it being a missile sounded much less believable than a fireworks malfunction. Even Ash concluded that he must have misinterpreted what he saw.

The group quietly made their way out of the park, with Giovanni going along with them as well. Delia was trying to tame her internal turmoil and figure out what to say to Ash and Giovanni. Her confusion was overwhelming.

Ash watched his mother and the gym leader from the corner of his eyes. At some point unknown to Delia she took Giovanni's hand or vice-versa and she still hadn't let go. Ash wasn't usually too observant, but there were a few rare occasions in which he took note of details. Then the realization hit him, Giovanni looked familiar because he was the man in the picture with his mother. They must have dated in the past.

A flood of questions invaded Ash's mind, he wondered if Giovanni was his father. His first impression of the gym leader was that he was cool and the way his mother spoke of his father was always good. If he was in Viridian City the entire time, why did he never visit? Even if they broke up, shouldn't he still want to see his son?

Then another thought occurred to Ash. His mother had said the man in the picture was her boyfriend, she didn't confirm he was Ash's father. There were no other pictures that Ash had ever seen of his mother with someone who could be identified as her date. That did not mean that the only picture available had to be of his father.

Maybe Giovanni had dated his mother before she met his father, Ash thought about it and it made sense. They broke up, his parents met, he was born, then his father was somehow out of the picture. An old theory resurfaced and Ash concluded that his father must have indeed passed away. His mother, in her grief, must have gotten rid of all his pictures. The picture of Giovanni was something she kept as a memento, remembering him as a friend.

It must have been awkward for Giovanni and that's why he never visited, even if Delia still wanted to be friends. That had to be the whole story; Ash became more certain of it with each passing second. It did not solve the mystery of his father's identity, but it did ease Ash's worries. He had become aware of how lonely his mother felt whenever he left on a journey and it would be nice if she had some company aside from her Pallet Town neighbors.

He knew that his mother would always love his father, but it had been many years since he passed away. Ash found nothing wrong with rediscovering a past love, given the circumstances. Maybe his recent proposal had left Ash in a somewhat cheesy romantic mood, his theory made perfect sense to him.

When they exited the park, Ash smiled and addressed both his mother and the gym leader, "there's something I have to do, so I'll be going now. Have a good time catching up."

Misty smiled, knowing exactly where Ash was going, though she still had a feeling of uneasiness and Brock was extremely quiet. She pushed the worries away, still in her romance high. She had to give Ash her answer without interruptions. "Right, see you later," she purposely waved with her left hand, bringing attention to the ring she was wearing. It brought a big smile to Delia's face.

Brock watched Ash and Misty leave, then looked at Delia and the man beside her for a moment in worry and uncertainty. In total silence, Brock hurried after Ash and Misty. He had to tell them something important. Delia didn't read too deeply into Brock's reaction, the poor boy was probably frustrated that he was still single.

The way the young group left was extremely suspicious to Giovanni. For the time being he would play along and pretend he didn't suspect anything. He would make them regret trying to trick him. He would find out the details about their group and lead them to a trap. Delia would be the key to that.

Delia decided not to worry about telling Ash the truth for the time being. He didn't seem to suspect anything about Giovanni's identity as his father after all, even if he must have recognized him as her past boyfriend. She didn't want to create drama when he was celebrating his engagement. Understandably, he would want to spend some time with Misty at the moment. Delia didn't want to ruin it. Plus she needed more time to sort things out with Giovanni. If only she knew where to start. "What was that back there? What was that... Charmander outburst all of a sudden?"

Giovanni grinned at hearing the nickname Delia used to call him. "I think that defines it pretty well," his acceptance of her return didn't make any more sense than her sudden return did. He had to make her believe he didn't suspect anything yet, which may involve keeping her occupied thinking of other things.

"But I... you..." It made no sense, it just made no sense and Delia didn't know what to say about it. She told herself over and over not to get her hopes up for a happy ending. Things like that did not happen outside of movies. She frowned thinking that maybe he was just amusing himself with her, enjoying watching her confusion. "Are you..." she paused, unable to continue.

Giovanni couldn't help it but to laugh slightly at her reaction. He couldn't deny he was enjoying it. He let go of her hand instead wrapping his arm around her waist, "maybe if you eat something you'll remember how to speak."

Delia could do nothing more than nod. She hoped that by the time they made it to wherever Giovanni was leading her, her perplexed brain recovered at least a little.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon.