Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Don't Give Me Diamonds ❯ Chapter 14

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

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 51: Give me Communication

Ash, Lando and the Waterflower sisters were at the Vermilion City hospital, when Ash received Brock's call. "I have to go," Ash suddenly exclaimed, taking everyone by surprise. "Thanks for telling me Brock, I'm on my way," he ended the call before Brock could say anything more. "Let's go Pikachu," he picked up the yellow electric pokemon, glanced meaningfully at Misty and rushed out of the room.

"Ash, what's going on?" Misty hurried out of Lando's room after him. Lando's head was finally starting to clear up for real. He and the Waterflower sisters were worried and perplexed by Ash's sudden reaction.

"I don't know, but Brock just called me saying mom's in trouble," Ash hastily explained in alarm. Misty was walking beside him down the hall towards the elevator. "I don't really understand, but it looks like Team Rocket is involved." A theory occurred to Ash, "maybe Team Rocket is behind the false accusations to Giovanni. They must be trying to frame him for something and mom got caught in the middle of that."

Ash slammed his finger repeatedly against the elevator's button. Daisy watched from the door to Lando's room up the hall. Violet was standing mid way down the hall and hurried to Ash and Misty. "Everything will be alright," Misty reassured more so to Ash than her sisters. "I'll call later." The elevator finally opened and Ash and Misty got in leaving the other Waterflower sisters to stay at the Vermilion hospital.

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In Pallet Town, Gary rushed into his grandfather's house. The elderly professor Oak was fast asleep sitting on the couch in front of the TV, which displayed a documentary about pokemon. "I'm going to track down an evil Rocket and protect Pallet Town. I might not be back for a while," Gary rushed past his grandfather and got six of his pokemon from the lab. He ran out again as he hastily explained.

Professor Oak drowsily woke up at the voice. It puzzled him how Gary could be so energetic after staying up all night dealing with that loud mouth insomniac Electabuzz. He didn't quite catch what his grandson was saying, but Gary was already out the door before he could inquire about it. The young seemed to have an infinite supply of energy.

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On the road from Pallet to Viridian a voice called out, "Pixel!" Upon hearing her nickname, Pixel stopped running. She looked at the expensive neon-cyan colored convertible car that stopped on the side of the road next to her.

The hood of the car was up and the windows were tinted like mirrors. The driver soon lowered the mirror glass and Pixel immediately recognized her. "Akira?" She was surprised to see Akira there, despite being unaware of her connections to the incident in Vermilion City.

"Get in, I don't think you should be running around in plain sight with all that's been going on," Akira invited.

"Thanks," Pixel got into the passenger's seat and Akira continued on her way. "Some guy saw me in Pallet Town. I don't think he had any pokemon, that's how I managed to get away. Don't tell anyone about that. I was looking for someone who escaped from the boss' mansion. Have you seen a woman with long brown hair around here?"

"I haven't," Akira's voice was monotonous, rather than cheerful as it usually was. "Have you seen a little dark green car?"

"No..." Pixel observed her friend, "are you worried about Team Rocket?" She would think Akira of all people would be able to handle the pressure. Pixel perceived her as being very brave.

"I lost them," Akira frowned, "listen Pixel, I don't want you involved so I'm just going to drop you off at HQ." She drove towards Viridian City in a hurry.

"What's going on?" Something was wrong with Akira, Pixel could guess that much. It was more than just stress.

"I can't tell you," Akira admitted, "there are some things I'm going to do that the boss may not approve of. I don't care, I want them dead."

"What?" The situation was obviously more serious than Pixel had imagined, "who?"

"I've said too much as it is," Akira went silent, her expression a mix of frustration, anger and sadness.

"Akira," Pixel insisted, "what are you planning? Why are you doing this? You're not one of them are you? One of the traitors?"

Akira gripped the steering wheel tightly, "don't even think of it. They are the ones I'm going to kill," despite having intended to remain silent, it was all too much to keep bottled up. "Don't you see? The boss isn't going to kill them because he needs someone to blame. He'll capture them and they'll take the blame. Then Team Rocket will be off the hook, but that's not enough for me!"

"I don't think it will be that simple," Pixel quietly voiced, "but why do you want them dead? I know you really like Team Rocket. If you just said they are necessary, then why?"

"It's not about Team Rocket!" Akira growled, "it's about Mirta and revenge. They killed Mirta so I'll kill them. She was the only one who knew, the only one who could tell me. In the end, she left me with only a small clue, but it doesn't matter anymore. Mirta raised me and protected me. She had a reason to keep me in the orphanage for so many years. She feared I would be discovered, but I still don't fully understand what that means. When I was a teenager I decided to leave. I wanted to live my life, but I couldn't let go of my past." Akira stopped; they were just outside Viridian City. Abundant tears ran down her face and her vision was a blur.

"Akira..." Pixel didn't know what to do to comfort her friend. She couldn't even make sense of the things Akira was saying.

"That's not my name," Akira whispered almost inaudibly. Her hands still gripped the steering wheel, her forehead resting on top of it. She felt Pixel's hand on her shoulder but could draw no comfort from it. What Akira wanted the most was to understand her origin. She feared she would never obtain it. "It's just a name my agent gave me," he adopted her, but he could not be called a father. "Secura, my real name is Secura. It mean's 'to heal', Mirta was a very hopeful person. She thought everything could be healed in time. She kept me at the orphanage to protect me. She didn't really explain much about it. She only gave me a clue; she told me my mother was a Rocket."

In the sky above Akira's car, Gary flew away riding on his Pidgeot. He saw a few cars below. Among them there was a very brightly colored one in neon-cyan that stood out. He didn't see the Rocket girl anywhere. He didn't want to go further away from Pallet Town; it would be left unguarded without him. Gary resolved to return to town for the time being. She got away, but he would capture her if she returned.

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At Pewter City, Delia was looking out the window at Rock On. She watched as Giovanni's car stopped in front of the structure and he got out. She was opening the front door before he had time to get within a few feet of it. Brock had been asking questions as delicately and casually as he could and Delia had been giving him excuses. She didn't want to reveal anything that might get him involved in Team Rocket's problems.

"What happened to you?" Giovanni paused in front of the door. Delia was clearly in a hurry to leave, it made everything all the more suspicious.

She had changed out of her torn clothes, now wearing jeans and a yellow t-shirt. The clothes were borrowed from Yolanda, one of Brock's sisters. However, despite having gotten cleaned up, she still had her bruises from her battle to escape her kidnappers. "I'll explain on the way." She glanced back inside where Brock stood, looking concerned and worried. "Everything is fine now, sorry to barge in on you like that. Just forget it ever happened," Delia gave him a bright smile, though it was obviously forced.

Giovanni began to silently theorize about the situation. The young man at Rock On was the same one he had seen with Ash before. It solidified his theory that Delia was being used by the enemy. She didn't do her job of spying on him and getting information, so they hurt her. He watched her get into the passenger seat of his car with Persian jumping on her lap to be petted. Giovanni paused, typed a small message into his little cell phone and sent it, hoping that it made it through the system despite its recent malfunctions.

He felt a different kind of anger towards the enemies. With the suspicion that the one at Rock On had hurt Delia it took every ounce of will power he had not to march in there for an immediate violent vengeance. Such rash actions would only bring trouble for Team Rocket, for himself, and for Delia. Delia didn't see the message and she didn't think too much of it when she saw Giovanni typing something in his cell phone. Soon after, he shut it off again.

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At the Viridian Rocket base, Laiki received an email marked as high priority. A small icon on the bottom right of her computer screen next to the time flashed to alert her of it. She opened the email immediately, realizing it was from Giovanni. First there was a password composed of random letters and numbers. The password was correct confirming that this was a real order from Giovanni. If he was putting her on field duty it meant he got tired of waiting for her to figure things out. The thought frustrated her as an information gatherer, but she was at least trusted with a mission. At least that proved that the boss knew she wasn't a traitor.

Next to the password there was the order, 'code red, Rock On, Pewter, plan 3'. Translated, the spy movie style gibberish meant that an establishment called Rock On located in Pewter City was discovered to be an enemy base. It had to be secretly taken over. The order required immediate action, thus Laiki left her theories for later. She got ready to put a squad together and storm Rock On. She knew she better not mess up that mission. Field work was not her forte, but she wouldn't have to worry about combat if she was well armed.

A few minutes later Laiki was in the weapons storage room when Pixel rushed in looking for her, "Laiki!"

Laiki tried to even her breathing and heartbeats, which jumped in speed when she was startled. "Don't pop out of nowhere like that, especially when I'm holding a bazooka!" She scolded, setting the bazooka aside. She was in good shape in terms of looks, but her fighting capabilities were that of an average person, she needed to be armed. "What are you doing here? Did something happen? Who were you chasing? Did anyone see you come to HQ?" Laiki took another look at the bazooka. She decided it was too large to work given the secrecy of the mission, plus it was uncomfortably heavy. "Now that I think about it, how did you get inside this room?"

"I know all the pass codes for the Viridian HQ. I took them from the system with Prism's help back when I was in hacking training. Don't tell anyone, it's not like I've done anything bad with this information," Pixel hurriedly excused herself. She then replied to the rest of Laiki's questions in a similar rush. "I was chasing Delia; the boss had her locked up in his mansion. She got away and I lost track of her. Some guy from Pallet Town saw me, but I got away from him. No one saw me come into HQ. Akira gave me a ride and dropped me off in the forest so I rushed over here through one of the secret doors."

"Delia? Akira?" Laiki froze, almost dropping the revolver she held. "You know where they are? You've spoken to them recently?"

Laiki's tone hinted to Pixel that she was aware that something must be going on. Maybe she had some answers, "yes, Akira is heading to Saffron City. She must be passing through Pewter City by now. I don't really understand what's going on, but Akira was a mess. She kept saying something about getting revenge for Mirta. She said her mother was a Rocket and that her real name was Secura."

"Mirta was killed in the Vermilion City attack," Laiki began to explain. "She worked at the orphanage. That's where Akira or Secura grew up. The name is not really a secret, though I'm already used to calling her Akira. Mirta raised Akira so I can understand that she wants revenge. If she does something, it'll be troublesome for Team Rocket. Things are already a big enough mess. As for her mother being a Rocket, I have no idea who her parents could be."

"I didn't know Akira grew up there. So that's what she meant when she said the boss wouldn't kill them because he needed someone to blame. It was about the fake Rockets." Pixel concluded. "She also mentioned looking for a little green car."

Laiki had been staying up to date with the news through the internet. "There was an accident involving a green car that crashed into a store in Pewter City. A Rocket was arrested after he started trying to shoot an unknown woman who ran out of the car after the accident. His accomplice got away. I didn't have time to wait for visuals. I only read the bulletin before they published anything else. I'm not sure what the people looked like, just that two of them were dressed as Rockets."

Laiki continued, "where is Delia now? How much does Akira know? I thought she was in Vermilion, what business does she have in Saffron?" Laiki could feel the beginnings of a strong headache. "When I last saw the boss, he was heading to the mansion to interrogate Delia. Something needs to be done about Akira and the communication system is still malfunctioning. I also have a mission to tend to... too many things at once!"

Laiki took a deep breath. "I have to go on my mission, but I can't leave the base to fall apart. I'll get my teammates and go. But before that, I'll help you round up a squad here too. You can clean up the base. I'm beginning to suspect that the ones who are supposed to be cleaning the viruses off our satellite mainframe are taking too long. It's too suspicious, no more of that innocent until proven guilty stuff. We can't wait for the boss to do everything; we'll have to show him we're capable agents."

"Clean up?" It was chasing Delia which made Pixel run into Akira. That led her to return to the Viridian headquarters and placed her into her current position. From that point on, the chain of events that made her regain her confidence would be inevitably set into motion. If not for getting locked up with Delia, Pixel would be on break and half way to Cerulean City in a taxi to attend a sci-fi convention.

"You don't have a choice. The boss gave me an important mission and I have to go, but things can't be left as they are here." Determined, Laiki exited the weapons storage room.

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After leaving Rock On, Giovanni and Delia were on the road to Cerulean City. He intended for Delia to stay there, if he could get her to stay in one place. "Don't run away again, you're just going to get hurt," he warned. "After this, I don't think you'll want to cooperate with them anymore."

"Cooperate with who?" Delia had caught a glimpse of the deadly glare Giovanni had given Brock. She saw how Brock paled as if Giovanni was draining away his very life with his eyes. "You're not trying to say you think Brock hurt me, are you? It's not like that."

"Then who did?" Giovanni inquired urgently.

"After I escaped from your mansion two people dressed in Team Rocket uniforms came to find me. At first I thought they were real Rockets that were taking me to you. After I got into their car I realize they were not real Rockets. I tried to escape from the car when they stopped at a traffic light. I caught them by surprise because they thought they still had me fooled. I guess that's why the man didn't have time to use his gun at that point," Delia realized.

"You were kidnapped by armed traitors?" Giovanni didn't know the situation was like that. He didn't think the traitors would go after Delia, let alone in such a way.

"Yes, but I got away." Delia explained, "when I tried to escape the man who was in the back of the car with me stopped me. I managed to throw the door open and yell for help. The people on the street realized I was being kidnapped. The woman driving tried to get away before the police was alerted."

Delia continued, "I kept trying to get the man to let me go and was finally able to grab the woman's hair. I pulled it as hard as I could. She was driving really fast and lost control of the car. She crashed into a store and the man and I felt the impact in the back of the car too. Fortunately, other then a few bruises and cuts there were no big injuries. I escaped thanks to the crash and ran across the street from side to side. I was trying to lose those two between the cars. That's when I realized that man was armed. He started shooting at me and hit a few cars. I don't think anyone got injured, but there was a lot of property damage."

"Jenny arrived and sent out her Arcanine. Arcanine attacked the man, but I kept running. When I finally looked back, the woman wasn't chasing me anymore. She must have given up after the police showed up. I didn't want to be taken in for questioning so I hid at Rock On. Brock doesn't know anything, so please don't get him mixed up in this. He's a good boy and I don't want him to be in unnecessary danger," Delia's face was filled with worry. She could almost feel the rush of adrenaline returning to her. This time she was all too conscious of the fact that she wasn't an invincible vigilante.

Giovanni took in all the information. He was not fully conscious about how his expression had turned into a grin for a moment, before becoming serious again. "I almost forgot that you are capable of defending yourself well. That was still very dangerous. What about Team Rockets enemies, what can you tell me about them?"

"Nothing, I honestly don't know what in the world is going on!" Delia emphasized, "why have you been acting so strange?"

"You're not a spy," Giovanni realized, "you just have bad timing. Is that all? It doesn't make sense."

"You're the one who's not making any sense," Delia argued.

"I'm having problems with some traitors. You happen to show up with some secret information to give me concerning Ash, but you didn't tell me in the end. It was all too suspicious, enough games, tell me the truth. Is Ash involved with Team Rocket's enemies? That man from Rock On was with Ash before, is he involved in this? Is the redhead girl in it too?" Giovanni finally asked all the questions directly, looking completely serious.

"It's not like that," Delia was shocked, "Team Rocket has tried to steal Ash's pokemon in the past. They have tried to cause trouble and he stopped them, but that's just because he was there. He was involved without trying. It's not like he goes around picking a fight with Team Rocket. He definitely would never be involved in anything like what happened in Vermilion City. Don't you even dare think that way of him!"

Delia felt as if her voice was being choked by a pain in her heart. She pushed herself to continue, "is that why you asked me to stay with you? You thought I was trying to cause trouble? You thought I was trying to do something that would harm you? Is that what it was all about? Obtaining information from me, that's all you wanted? I don't know what's worse, that you used me or that you thought I would try to hurt you... No, the worse thing is that you thought such terrible things of Ash. He's completely innocent. My timing was bad, this is... terrible," Delia finished in a whisper.

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Diamond 52: Give me Pride

Laiki rushed down the underground tunnels of the Viridian Rocket headquarters followed by Pixel. "You can't just leave me like this. I'll mess up and there will go my chances of ever cashing in on the better missions!"

"If you mess up, you'll be dead," the grin on Laiki's face never faded. She added when she saw Pixel's stubborn sarcastic look, "I'm not kidding, arm yourself. This is war and the enemy has infiltrated our fortress."

They arrived at an underground garage where several normal looking cars were stored, they were anything but normal. Most of them were black, the classic color of spy movie cars, the kind that was loaded with missiles. Five Rocket grunts followed after the two girls. Three of them got into one of the cars. They waited for Laiki, their squad leader, to take the driver's seat.

"What about the squad you said you would help me put together," Pixel eyed the other two grunts standing next to her with distrust, "we need more allies."

The garage was dimly lit, with gray walls and floors. There was a ramp going up to the ceiling, where a secret door opened leading to the Viridian Forest. "You'll have to make due. I know you have some Rocket fire in you, now is your time to show it." As Laiki opened the door on the ceiling two people and a pokemon fell in. The man and woman were wearing Team Rocket uniforms. The pokemon was a Meowth. "Jessie? James?"

"You know them?" Pixel observed them with suspicion, "why were you up there?"

"We're here to bring important information!" Jessie announced. She honestly didn't know what possessed her to rush to Viridian City after having given up on contacting Giovanni by phone. She told herself the only reason she was there to help the one who had fired them, was because James wouldn't stop whining about it.

"That's right, we know all about Neo Rocket. We're ready to help take them down." James knew that deep down Jessie couldn't stand the idea of Team Rocket falling apart any more than he could. Their Rocket pride pushed them to do their part to save Team Rocket as soon as possible. Besides, Meowth kept worrying about the boss and they had to shut him up somehow.

"Jessie and James... Those two are not Rockets anymore, but I don't think they would ever be traitors. They have real Rocket pride, even if they're incompetent," Laiki explained.

"Hey!" Jessie and James called out in unison; they didn't go all the way from Saffron to Viridian to be criticized.

"Pixel, here's the rest of your squad. The boss will probably have my head for this, but as an agent of a higher rank I'm ordering you to work with these two," Laiki decided and grimacing she prepared to leave, "why does the juicy information arrive when I have to go?" She started up the car and headed up the ramp towards the forest calling out, "Jessie, James, take care of the rookie for me."

"I've been a Rocket for some time; I'm not a rookie anymore!" Pixel argued, but Laiki was already gone. The term rookie still somehow fit despite the time she had spent in Team Rocket. She still getting adjusted and finding her place, so she came off as a rookie. The car sped through the secret forest paths, off to take over Rock On in Pewter City.

"What about me?" Meowth pouted, feeling ignored.

"Alright you two," Pixel noticed Meowth's frown deepening, "three," she corrected, "I can access the secret equipment rooms, but you guys need to give me some information first. What is that Neo Rocket you mentioned? Either way, whoever the traitors are, I'm pretty sure they know they're being hunted, so they'll be prepared."

Jessie grinned, taking command of the mission, "just follow my lead and we'll clean out all the traitors in no time." She had always wanted to command an important mission like this.

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On the road towards Cerulean City, the atmosphere in Giovanni's car was tense. He had more questions than ever about Ash and his obvious importance to Delia. She was upset and it was all because of his incorrect theory. He shouldn't have made the assumption that she was a spy; it only made things more complicated. He decided to take a moment to think and choose his words carefully. Then he saw a neon-cyan colored car ahead. He knew it was Akira's car and he knew she could cause trouble for Team Rocket if he let her go. He followed the car while he tried to come up with something to say to Delia.

Akira noticed she was being followed. Hiding would not be easy in the light traffic. She recognized the custom made black car as being one of Giovanni's cars and sped up, zigzagging to get past the cars ahead.

Giovanni followed her. He knew he had been seen, but he couldn't let her get away. She would make things more difficult for Team Rocket.

Delia looked up at the road ahead. Giovanni had obviously started chasing someone; it had to be that neon-cyan car. She held on to Persian tightly, "who is that?"

"Akira," Giovanni focused on the road and on not crashing with the other cars.

Akira had to get away; she needed to meet her informant at Saffron City without being followed. She recklessly switched lanes, passing in front of the opposing flow of traffic. A car came to a screeching halt, with the one behind it, crashing into it.

Giovanni drove after her, passing in front of the accident. He would have to make up a story about his car having been stolen to avoid his reputation as the gym leader being stained.

Akira left the main road, turning towards the mountains north-east of Pewter City. She drove as fast as she could without losing control of the car in the narrow mountain paths. To her surprise, Giovanni accelerated in pursuit.

Akira tried to hurry and took a sharp turn on the mountain's side. Her car skittered to the side, unable to stay on the dirt road. It slid down the mountain, though luckily, it didn't overturn. The neon-cyan car came to a stop at the bottom of the mountain, crashing into some rocks near a small stream. Akira battled to get out of the car, pushing the airbag aside and stumbling out. She fell with a sharp pain on her left leg. She was bleeding black blood.

Giovanni stopped on top of the mountain side road. "I can't let her get away. We're also being followed." He noticed the seemingly normal bronze car following them from a distance when the pursuit began. It took a different route at the base of the mountain. The digital display of the speedometer changed to Akira's image below. There was a red circle with a cross targeting her. The words 'lock on' flashed red on the screen.

"You're not going to shoot a missile at her, are you?" Delia asked in alarm. She was ready to stop Giovanni if those were his intentions.

"Relax, it's just a net. I need to capture her alive and interrogate her," Giovanni assured. He pressed the bottom to fire the net. A cannon extended from the car's front, shooting the net at Akira below.

Akira screamed and fell to the ground again when the net landed on her. Despite the pain she continued struggling to get away. With a small pocket knife, she tried to cut the net open as fast as she could. She could see Giovanni was already on his way down the cliff followed by Delia and Persian.

"You should have just waited in the car," Giovanni argued as he tried to hurry before Akira escaped. He lost his footing and fell down the cliff. He got up, a little scratched and bruised, but otherwise alright.

"No way, I'm helping you catch her and taking care of her injuries when we get her back in the car," Delia hurried down the cliff. She stumbled down and fell into Giovanni, but he was able to catch her.

A sudden explosion resonated from the top of the mountain. From the angle at the top, the ones that triggered the explosion didn't see that Giovanni and Delia were out of the car. The explosion had to be the work of their pursuers in the bronze car.

A large boulder was set lose from the mountain and it fell on top of Giovanni's car, the damage was extensive. The weapons system short circuited and several missiles where shot on their own. One of the missiles fell between Akira and Giovanni. Giovanni, Delia and Persian took cover behind some rocks and Akira hurried to get away. She had freed herself from the net right on time.

The aftershock of the missile pushed Akira into the little stream ahead. It was too small and gentle to drown in, but the water was tinted black. The color dissolved as it was carried by the stream. She was in bad shape, but Akira wasn't going to give up. She struggled to get away despite her injuries, leaving a trail of black blood in her path.

The black car was consumed by fire when the rest of its weapons exploded within it. Giovanni, Delia and Persian got away from the falling rocks, debris and sparks on the mountain side. They dashed towards Akira, but were stopped by a sudden gunshot that just barely missed Giovanni. He and Delia, along with Persian, took cover behind the rock formations again. "We're surrounded," Giovanni realized.

Two men and a woman approached from different directions, all of them armed. Akira lay still on the ground until a man and woman were close to her. Then she suddenly took out a hidden gun and opened fire, killing them both at point blank.

"Giovanni, she shot them!" Delia cried.

"I know," what Giovanni didn't understand was why Akira didn't use her gun sooner. She had a good chance to shoot him when he was going down the cliff. In truth, Akira didn't want Team Rocket to fall apart without its leader. She only wanted revenge on the false Rockets who killed Mirta.

Only one man remained, he moved fast towards Akira with full intentions of killing her. It all happened in a split second; the man aimed his gun at Akira and she did not react fast enough. Giovanni shot a well aimed bullet at the man's hand, making him drop the gun in pain. Akira took the opportunity to shoot the man in the head before collapsing of blood loss.

Amidst the chaos, the sound of a helicopter was heard. "The police!" It was the worse timing possible. Giovanni couldn't let himself be seen like this. He grabbed Delia's hand, running towards a cave on the mountain side hastily. They dashed through the dark tunnels with Persian following them.

"Giovanni, those people who got shot might still be alive. Akira is injured but alive. We have to do something," Delia struggled to get free, but Giovanni wouldn't let her go.

"They're dead; no one can survive a bullet at point blank. I don't want to leave Akira in the hands of the police, but I have no choice. Besides, what can we do? It's for a different reason than you, but I didn't want them dead either." He needed information and someone to blame. "The police will help them. If there's anything that can be done, they can do it a lot better than we could."

Delia stopped struggling, instead running along with Giovanni, gripping his hand tightly. "I wish this hadn't happen." They approached the end of the tunnel in the area north west of Cerulean City. They exited the tunnel cautiously, there didn't seem to be anyone out there. The old burnt ruins of a structure were seen near by. Delia recognized it, "it's our old hide out. There was a terrible massacre on that day when the Tempest Gang burned everything. So many pokemon passed away that day, today is a catastrophe too."

Giovanni had not set foot in his old hideout in many years. The ruins were all but forgotten when Team Rocket took over the Viridian gym. He searched around the floor until he found a secret door, leading to a small basement. "We should stay here for a little while. It's not safe to go out there yet." The secret underground room was nothing special, but it would keep them hidden.

Delia took one last look at the darkening skies before going down to the secret room with Giovanni and Persian. She felt as if the darkness would consume her. The day was ending and the sun was sadly setting. Darkness invaded the atmosphere in more ways than one.

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Meanwhile, at the Vermilion City hospital, Lando was arguing on the phone. "I don't care if it's late!" He yelled into his cell phone, "I don't care about what the board of executives says either. I want all business to be halted immediately!" The pain killers had finally left his system sufficiently so that his anger and frustration surfaced full force. He growled in agitation and ended the call. "Daisy, darling, I must go to Ackbar Inc. headquarters right now. I need to take care of a few things."

"But it's the evening and we've had such a rough day," Daisy argued with worry.

Lando looked terribly ashamed, as if he hid a dark secret. "I don't understand what's happening, but I must get to the bottom of this. I need to know why he betrayed us," Lando got up from his bed, despite Daisy's efforts to convince him to rest at least until the next day.

"What are you talking about?" Daisy insisted on knowing. Violet and Lily watched the argument uncomfortable and concerned.

"Daisy, my sweet," Lando simply couldn't look into her eyes. "I'm sorry, but Ackbar Inc. is not an honest company. I didn't want you or your family to know about this, but I can't hide it anymore. When I was very young I was ill and desperately needed surgery. It was a life or death situation. A few years before that, a pokemon epidemic spread through the land and the discovery of the antidote marked its end. Large companies rushed to buy the limited supply of antidote from the mafia. They had it before it was officially released. Waiting for legal approval would have meant the death of many pokemon, so no one ever pressed charges."

Lando continued, "my father's company sold supplies for pokemon only at the time. He had been struggling to stay in the market and didn't have the money to pay for the antidote. Even if reselling it would surely bring a benefit, he couldn't afford the merchandise in the first place. Because of that, his company went down and never recovered. Later, when my life was in danger, father made a deal with the mafia. That same man who was selling the antidote before, agreed to let my father borrow the money he needed to pay for my surgery. In exchange Ackbar Inc. would follow his orders from that day forward."

"My father agreed," Lando revealed, "he didn't have a choice. Things were not as bad as he expected. Business was expanded and many medical discoveries were made. Both pokemon and humans were helped. In the end, that deal had a positive effect for Ackbar Inc. and for all of Kanto. So many lives were saved because of the products we developed with the help of their scientists," he left out the part about pokemon experimentation as part of the development of their products. His father had tried to paint the picture as positively as he could when he son became old enough to know.

"I didn't know what that man from the mafia hoped to accomplish beyond monetary benefits. It was as if he were doing a good deed by taking control and guiding medical science towards great new discoveries. I understand now, Ackbar Inc. was pushed to the top so that he could control Kanto's medical supplies. I've had enough of this," Lando's pain and anger was reflected in his eyes, "regardless of what happened in the past, I can't forgive this. Team Rocket will not continue being benefited by Ackbar Inc., even if it drives the company to bankruptcy," and even if Kanto's health system collapses.

"I must know why the leader of Team Rocket betrayed the Ackbar family. He was the one with whom my father made that deal. We did what he asked, business had been going well. He had no reason to attack us!" Lando firmly declared, "the Ackbar clan might be powerless in comparison to the Roketto clan, but I can't ignore this. My beloved Daisy, that is why we can't get married. Since the time my father died, I became the new head of a mafia group. Until today, we operated serving the most powerful mafia group there is. Now we're about to go to war with them. I'm sorry; I have to avenge my father. I must, even if it means going against the man who saved my life years ago for his own benefit."

"Lando..." Daisy gasped in surprised, while Violet and Lily were shocked to silence. "It doesn't matter! I don't care if you're a gangster. I don't even care if you're like a low rank gangster, I still love you."

xoxox xox xoxox

In the ruins of the old Team Rocket hideout, Giovanni, Delia and Persian sat on the floor. The little underground room was in total darkness. Giovanni's cell phone wasn't working at all anymore. Silence invaded the room for a few long moments. Finally, Giovanni quietly requested, "tell me about Ash."

Delia had wanted to hear something like that from him for a long time, but the situation was different now. "Before that I want you to tell me the whole truth about what's going on. I will answer all your questions soon. Please be honest with me. Regardless of what happened, in the end, you have the right to know. I've kept the secret long enough."

"Alright, I'll tell you," he knew he didn't have to tell her to keep it a secret. This whole mess would have been less complicated if he hadn't doubted her in the first place. "For the most part, things have been going well for Team Rocket. Every now and then there would be a little trouble, but it was nothing big. Then I found out about some traitors that were keeping strong pokemon and several other resources to themselves."

Delia wanted to tell him that pokemon were not just resources but stopped herself from interrupting.

Giovanni continued, "I suspected they were planning something big. At first I thought the traitors were actually infiltrators from an outside organization that held a grudge against Team Rocket. Later, another theory emerged that this was all an inside job. I thought they were traitors within Team Rocket trying to take over. Although it was still evident they had connections on the outside."

"You showed up when all of this was happening, when everything was full of uncertainty," Giovanni explained. "You told me you had something to say and kept hinting without telling me. I started to find it suspicious. At first I didn't know what to think of your sudden visit. Then everything appeared to fall into place. I thought you were sent to spy on me by the enemy because of our past. I thought you were unsure about what you should do. That you were debating if you should reveal the truth or not."

Delia felt a fresh stab of pain but didn't say anything. She knew it; she was being used. She didn't care anymore. She couldn't walk away from this. Besides, somehow she still saw a glimmer of hope, though she couldn't quite understand why.

Giovanni's expression remained unseen in the darkness of the little underground room. Delia honestly couldn't imagine it. "Because of how you spoke of Ash and his presence when there was an explosion underground, I thought I was right. I thought he was the one who sent you to spy on me. While we were at the mansion I got an emergency call and began to think that your true purpose was to serve as a distraction to make me lower my guard. That's why I locked you up and left to try to get things under control. I found out that Ash had defended me when he was interviewed by a reporter. All those accusations surfaced as the enemy's way to pressure the police into taking action. I thought it was a trick," Giovanni finished, "Do you know about Vermilion? That's how everything became public and complicated."

"Yes, I saw what happened on the news while I was at the mansion," Delia confirmed. She asked about something else that bothered her. "Why is Akira's blood black instead of red? Has she been experimented on? I thought that after what happened to Aayla there would be no more human experiments."

"I can honestly tell you I have no idea about Akira," Giovanni was also puzzled about that strange detail, but he didn't disregard the possibility of a mutation. He knew there had been human experimentation in the past, but Akira wasn't supposed to be one the subjects. "If she was experimented on, it was done without my knowledge."

Delia found that she could believe him. Giovanni was obviously confused about it too. Yet she knew there was more to it.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 53: Give me Truth

In an undisclosed location, at an unspecified time... The boy looked at the pictures on the screen. There were nothing but bits and pieces left to be discovered. These particular files were deemed useless for the purpose of his mission. He was still curious and wanted to look at those files, to learn their destiny. He had been told the files were not recordings of history, merely agent profiles. He wanted to learn about the organization's past so he opened them.

The screen became black with a red R and a semi-robotic voice was heard, "I don't recognize this system, you must not have authorization to view these files. Goodbye!" The screen went blank.

"What? There was a security virus on those?" The boy tried to restart the futuristic computer but it didn't work. He was amazed that such an ancient virus would render his technology useless so easily.

"Brat boy, what did you do?" An angry female voice called from a different room in the underground base, "the system's locked up!"

"Oops..." The boy glanced at his pokemon. "I think this is a great time to go out and train, don't you?" He hurried to make his escape.

xoxox xox xoxox

On the road to Saffron City, in the present time. Akira lay on the back of a yellow mini-van feeling pained and sore all over her body, especially her left leg. Despite that, she drifted off to sleep.

She had been taken away by the police and the paramedics they called. She received first aid, though the paramedics were curious and unnerved by the unnatural color of her blood. They thought it was due to some kind of drug. In truth, it was the color it had been for Akira's whole life. She never tried to get any kind of lab tests for it, she was afraid to find something terrible.

When she was with the paramedics, she pretended to still be lightheaded. She had woken up completely shortly after her bleeding stopped. She acted as if she couldn't move to make them lower their guard. Then she made a hasty escape from the ambulance as soon as it entered Pewter City.

The ambulance was being escorted by the police, but it didn't matter. Several people on the streets recognized Akira and were quick to help her, even if they didn't know what was going on.

Akira jumped from the back of the ambulance to the top of the police car that was following it closely. The car stopped immediately, so the impact was not too hard when she fell off. She struggled to her feet, leaning on her good leg and calling out for help. Those who recognized her rushed to her, pushing the officers away. One person called another and as they made their get away, the number of fans that gathered grew.

The police officers were able to detain many of them with charges of helping Akira. She was accused of murder, but she escaped. The yellow mini-van driven by her fans would take her to Saffron City, to her informant. For the time being, she could rest.

xoxox xox xoxox

Silence had once again invaded the little underground room in the ruins of the old Team Rocket hideout. Confused by the situation Giovanni found himself thinking of various things. Perhaps it was a distraction to escape thinking of Delia and the effect his false accusation had.

Binks had a brilliant mind on occasion, but more often than not lately, he lost himself to his hallucinations. Even so, he had made many discoveries over the years. Giovanni was convinced that the Mewtwo experiment had failed when the laboratory exploded. Many scientists died on that day, but Binks and a few others were rescued barely alive.

Binks eventually recovered. The only ones who knew of his existence in the world of the living were Giovanni, Laiki, and those who worked directly with him. All of them were to keep it a secret. Binks' experiments were slow at times, though they brought great medical discoveries. Overall it was best if no attention was directed at him. It was convenient to be able to pretend he was dead.

Maybe seeing Delia would awaken Binks' consciousness. She could be a reminder of good memories of the past. Perhaps then Binks would become more productive. At the rate he was going, he would succumb to insanity completely and a valuable resource would be lost. "Binks is still alive," Giovanni tried to break the silence with good news. "When this is over, if you want, you can see him. You can visit Luke too and I'm sure Archer, Ariana, Proton and Petrel will be happy to catch up with you." Delia would need a reminder that not everyone's story had a tragic ending if she was going to help deal with Binks.

"Binks' sister, Laiki, is a Rocket. Luke's son, Comet, is in the team too. He was the one who brought us breakfast at the gym. I'm sure you must have seen the resemblance. You can see all of them when this ends, if you want." Giovanni didn't know why he assumed that Delia would want to stay. Subconsciously he didn't want her to leave again. He kept telling himself to focus on Team Rocket and Delia's possible contribution to it. If he focused on that then the sour thoughts akin to guilt might stop pestering him.

"Of course I want to!" Delia exclaimed. One thing didn't make sense though, "Binks has a sister that's a Rocket too?" What she really wanted to know was why Comet told her that Binks had died. She tried to get Giovanni to elaborate about Binks without revealing that Comet had spoken to her earlier.

"Yes, her name is Laiki and they're nothing alike," Giovanni replied, "Binks isn't very social so I wouldn't be surprised if people don't think that he's in the team anymore. He communicates with his sister often though." Most of the time, she was the only person whose name he could remember for more than a few minutes.

"I want to see them all when this is over," Delia didn't think Comet had lied about Binks on purpose, maybe someone lied to him and Laiki never clarified. Maybe she was the one who lied about her brother. It made Delia think about what could possibly be happening with Binks.

"You can," more than ever, Giovanni would need business to run smoothly after the mess was cleaned up. It would take a lot of time and effort to recover. A new medical discovery from Binks would be useful. He needed a new medicine to sell, something to appease the business relation with Ackbar. In part Giovanni didn't want to trust Delia with anything concerning Team Rocket, but at the same time he knew he could as long as certain key points were kept quiet. "I've told you a lot of things," his curiosity about Ash surfaced again.

"I appreciate it," Delia knew that meant that Giovanni wanted her to give him some information too. She had promised she would. "Also, thanks for offering to introduce me to everyone later." Delia could see the faded light of hope again and at the same time the alarms went off in her head. "Are you sure you want to do that? I mean, are you sure you want me around. You only wanted me around for information before." Delia stopped herself; she didn't want to get into an argument. She didn't want to feel hurt again.

"Your return was sudden," Giovanni reminded, "isn't it only natural that I would find it suspicious?" He reasoned, "I know now that it wasn't like that. Can't you just forget about that?"

Delia sighed, "I suppose I could forget about it. I can't blame you for suspecting me after the way I left and suddenly returned." She wanted to stop herself from saying things she deemed to be unnecessary, but she couldn't. "It really hurt, I was being stupid, but I thought you actually wanted me back. I waited in Pallet Town for so long. I kept hoping that you never came because it was for the best. At the same time I hoped that you came looking for me." Delia tried to calm herself, "forget about it, that's not what I came to tell you."

Unexpectedly, he hugged her, he was sure he would never forgive her for leaving. He was certain that he was only doing what he thought was best for Team Rocket. That was all that he thought about. She would help make Binks productive. She would help train his pokemon like she used to. She would be perfect in the process of fixing his good image. Let them be seen together, he didn't care if they talked about him as long as they weren't talking about Team Rocket. With that in mind, he would make sure she stayed. He thought that was all there was to it, yet he wasn't entirely convinced. Other thoughts floated in the back of his mind. They were thoughts about having missed her, but he pushed such troublesome musings away.

"Stop it," she tried to sound angry but found she could not. "Let go, I know... I know you don't love me anymore. I believe you used to. I'm really sorry I left like that."

He didn't let her go and she stopped resisting, "it's alright now," she didn't believe him, but he didn't let go. "I want you to stay with me."

"I will," she shouldn't have agreed, he wasn't asking her to stay for the right reasons and she knew it. She hoped that whatever reasons he may have would change in time if she was patient enough.

xoxox xox xoxox

While many seemingly individual, yet connected events occurred all over Kanto, Comet was out investigating. He had left shortly after Giovanni returned to the Viridian gym after locking Delia in his mansion. His investigation of the events that occurred in Vermilion City had led him to discover unexpected things. However, he was conscious that what he had found was only the tip of the iceberg. There was much more left to be uncovered.

He knew there was trouble at headquarters. Giovanni had previously told him to continue with his mission even if for some reason communications ceased. Comet followed that order and continued investigating. He thought about gathering information from a group that conducted illegal pokemon tournaments. They took bets for their extreme battles. He suspected that the group was linked to the false Rockets that attacked the donation ceremony at Vermilion City. The group was based on Saffron City. To seek more information, Comet had left Vermillion and gone to Saffron.

Comet's suspicions grew when he saw someone in a Team Rocket uniform talking to one of the tournament managers. He followed them out of their battle area in the basement of an apartment building. The basement could only be entered from an alley. A dark long coat covered Comet's Team Rocket uniform. He followed the suspects like a detective in a movie.

The false Rocket put on a jacket, zipping it up to hide the red R on his black shirt. The other man, involved in the illegal tournament business was wearing normal clothes, nothing about him really stood out. The enemies noticed they were being followed, but continued on their way.

Finally, the enemies reached the Saffron city hall and went inside. There were rumors that the Saffron City mayor was involved with the group conducting the illegal tournaments. The mayor was a very mysterious person who remained solid in office despite the lack of public appearances. That group, though not an official ally, was in good terms with Team Rocket. Maybe it was all an act.

Comet followed the suspicious men into city hall where they openly faced him. They made it clear they had been aware they were being followed all along. "The lady will see you now, Rocket grunt," the man from the illegal pokemon tournament group spoke bitterly.

Comet knew it had to be a trap, but he couldn't let this opportunity pass him by. He refused to run away, retreating like a coward. He walked past the secretary who paid him no mind. He made his way down a hall with abstract paintings lining the walls. He followed the two men, until they reached an elevator. The false Rocket removed his black hat. His dark green, near-black hair was cut very short. He tossed the hat and the jacket on the couch of a small lobby. The room was empty of people save for them. The door to the mayor's office was in front of them. Comet didn't know what to expect to find behind the polished dark red wood.

The false Rocket sat down, "you take care of business first. I'll go in with the report later," his cold bronze eyes glared at Comet.

The manager from the illegal tournaments grinned cruelly, "this won't take too long," his bright yellow hair reached down a little beyond his shoulders framing his handsome face. His gray eyes were just as cruel as the other man's gaze.

The door to the mayor's office suddenly opened. The color red predominated even more inside, in much brighter shades than the dark reds of the lobby. The lobby was furnished with maroon couches and plastic potted plants in near-black, red-tinted pots. A man and woman exited the office. They appeared to be around the age of Comet's father and they looked surprised when they saw him. It was as if they recognized him, but Comet was certain he had never met them before.

The man's hair was a pale green to match his eyes, while the woman had lavender hair and stunning red eyes. She whispered, "too young," to which the man nodded and pushed away whatever thoughts had caused him to look surprised.

The older man glanced at the two younger men, "take care of your business here and continue as planned," he headed towards the elevator with the woman.

Comet wondered what that was about. He soon focused on his current situation when he was called inside the office and told to sit down. The carpet and furniture were red and the office was dimly lit. The false Rocket had stayed out in the lobby and the manager of the illegal tournaments stood beside Comet watching him closely.

"Leave us," the woman behind the desk commanded. She was shrouded in shadows and her face was hard to see.

The blond man opened his mouth to protest. He wanted to point out the danger of leaving her alone with this intruder. Yet he was unable to find his voice in her threatening presence.

"Go now, there's no need to worry about me," as if to emphasize her point, she released a Ninetales from a pokeball. The majestic pokemon stood beside the woman behind the desk. The Ninetales was proud and strong, glaring at the young man sitting in front of her.

The blond man nodded and exited the office, closing the door behind him.

"You're a brave one coming in here like this," the woman grinned. She folded her hands on the desk in front of her a little out of the shadowy spot where she sat. Her nails were long and crimson.

"You're brave to let me in here like this," Comet retorted. He had his Gyarados to count on against that Ninetales. As for his Meowth, Purry, she had run off again. It was as if she wanted to conduct her own investigation. Comet was used to her coming and going on a whim.

"If Giovanni has done nothing, I can only conclude he doesn't know the true identity of the group managing the illegal pokemon tournaments here in Saffron City. To think they even appear to be on good terms with Team Rocket," she laughed and twisted a strand of long hair around her fingers. "I think Giovanni suspects something about that group's present and perhaps about me. Surely he doesn't realize how their past is linked to his. Either way he has no proof." Comet squinted at the darkness with curiosity, but still couldn't see her face.

"You didn't exist back then. A long time ago, Team Rocket had a rival called the Tempest Gang. By the time you came into the world they were all locked up in jail. Years later they were released. Giovanni doesn't care; he doesn't consider them a threat. There are other groups though. There is a group of traitors in Team Rocket who want the organization to themselves. If they banded together even then they wouldn't be able to take Team Rocket easily. Even so, they could do some damage, especially if Giovanni gets cocky and lowers his guard. He's always been too overconfident for his own good. I fear that one of these days he might get himself killed."

"What are you getting at, lady? What are you planning?" Comet was getting impatient; he knew he had stumbled upon something big. This mysterious lady was the secret mayor of Saffron City. Everyone knew she existed but no one ever saw her. She was obviously a figure of great influence behind the scenes. She seemed to assume he didn't know anything about Tempest. Comet knew about them because of the stories his father told him.

"I brought the two groups together. The remnants of Tempest who got out of jail started to round up allies. I protected them here in Saffron City and set them up to meet with Neo Rocket, the traitors that want to take Team Rocket for themselves. They are planning to replace Giovanni. Or rather I should say they want to kill Giovanni, then replace him," the lady smiled mischievously. "Ah the things I know, the connections I have. I could be quite troublesome if I wanted," she laughed.

"Are you one of them too? Are you from the original Tempest Gang?" Comet demanded to know.

"Does it really make a difference who I am? What will you do? You're surrounded, I have my darling Nien," she glanced at the Ninetales, "and my men are right outside. Do you think you can take them all on? Oh, but you're a smart boy, aren't you? You know what's good for you. I'm going to make you an offer you can't refuse. Neo Rocket and the Tempest Gang are negotiating to become one. I just spoke to the leaders of Tempest and the leader of Neo Rocket will step into this office soon. I'll have to talk him into accepting the name of Tempest when they merge. That was one of the conditions," the lady chuckled.

She paused, observing Comet's relaxed expression. She appeared to be above being affected by anything, but seemed to be amused by everything. "The world is full of deception. What you think you know may be something else entirely. Sometimes sacrifices must be made and bridges burned, sometimes before they are even built and sometimes after years of existing. Even so, no matter what, it seems some traces can never be fully erased." She was speaking in riddles as if mocking the whole city because they didn't know who she was. "Join us, leave Team Rocket or die. As insurance that you sincerely wish to join us, I expect you to provide me with information."

xoxox xox xoxox

All the secrecy that had been kept for years was about to be broken in the ruins of the old Team Rocket hideout. Delia took a deep breath, still remaining close to Giovanni. "First of all, let me clarify again that Ash is not involved with any of this chaos and neither am I. My timing was only an unfortunate coincidence. For the longest time, for his whole life, I kept Ash wondering about the answers until he seemed to accept the lack of answers. At least that's what I thought. I realized that he really did want to know and I promised to tell him."

Giovanni listened in silence, still puzzled about where Delia was going with all that.

She continued, "a lot happened after that promise. There was the tournament with all its surprises. Soon after he left the stadium, Ash got engaged to Misty. She's the redhead young woman who was with him that day. With all that was going on, I guess he decided to leave his questions for later. He must have recognized you, I'm sure he did. On the day before the tournament he saw a picture of us together from many years ago. He knows we used to be together, but I'm sure he knows of nothing beyond that. He's not aware of the truth, he would have said something if he was."

"What is that truth?" Giovanni asked; he couldn't hide his need to know any more.

Delia took a deep breath; her speedy heartbeats were so loud she could hear them. "Ash is the reason why I left all those years ago. It was so he could live a peaceful life. Ash is our son."

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 54: Give Me Honor

At the Viridian Rocket base, Pixel read over the list Jessie had given her. "Are these all of them?" Pixel, Jessie, James, Meowth and a pair of Rocket grunts made their way to the weapons supply room.

"There might be more, these are only the ones we know of, that is the first page," Jessie explained running down the long underground halls. "The second half of the list is something else entirely; I got it in the mail. It was the strangest thing, but strange things had been happening ever since we moved to Saffron City."

"I thought we were just lucky," James commented.

"When have we ever been lucky?" Jessie had been driven to stop believing in luck a long time ago. "It's clear that someone in Saffron is controlling things from the shadows. If I had to take a guess, that person is using this whole thing to weaken Team Rocket. But they can't allow someone else to take control either. The competition must be eliminated. This is just a theory, but I think the answer is in Saffron City."

"Then it's convenient for that mysterious person that Team Rocket wins this time? The media coverage is making things difficult and business will be terribly affected. With Team Rocket left like that, it would be the perfect time for the true enemy to move in," Pixel reasoned.

"The one behind this doesn't want any competition when it comes to taking over Team Rocket," Jessie theorized. "The Neo Rockets probably have no idea they're being manipulated. In fact," Jessie added bitterly, "we're probably dancing to the tune they're playing for us right now, but we don't have a choice. We need to take care of things here, then get the rest of them. Whatever conspiracy is going on, I think it will be revealed soon, but first we need to clean the base."

"Agreed, one thing at a time if we're going to win," Pixel looked left and right down the long underground metal halls. Confirming that the coast was clear, she entered a number on the little keypad on the wall. "When Laiki and I left the weapons storage room I entered a secret number that switched all the access codes. Not everyone knows the second set of access codes, but I'm sure they're figuring that out right now. Let's hurry, take as much as you can, they must have detected this room being opened."

Jessie grinned and picked up a bazooka. She realized it felt heavier and deadlier than any other bazookas she had held. "This is different from the equipment we used in the past. Someone could get killed with this."

Pixel grinned, "welcome to the dark side." In her mind she was an invincible super villain, or at least an almost invincible minion of an almost invincible mafia lord. Ironically she had never actually had the need to injure anyone, at least not yet.

"Watch yourself rookie," despite her warning, Jessie's confidence didn't fail. "Don't worry too much though; you're with experienced agents now."

James kept giving Jessie a knowing grin and he couldn't help it but to comment, "I knew you missed being a Rocket as much as I did, if not more." The remark earned James a smack on the back of the head from Jessie.

"I just hope we get the chance to do something heroic," Meowth's eyes shone with anticipation. "Then the boss will give us a big reward and say, 'for saving Team Rocket and my life I'll hire you again and give you the biggest raise you can imagine. From now on it's going to be only the best for Meowth and his friends."

"This is no time for your fantasies. We have traitors to catch!" Jessie was well armed with a pair of guns on her belt and a bazooka on her back. She carried a lot of extra ammunition as well. "I really hope it doesn't come to this, real Rockets fight with the power of pokemon."

"Then we'll just have to restore Team Rocket to how it should be!" James cheered; he was similarly armed to Jessie, just in case. "Our pokemon are strong, we can do it. By the way, speaking of pokemon, what did you do with the egg Flareon laid before we came? You ran off with it and returned without it. Then you drove over here taking weird shortcuts like a maniac. I was too busy fearing for my life to ask."

"Don't worry about it," Jessie assured, "the egg is with auntie, she'll take care of it."

"I have a question, if someone else gave you the second page of the list and you compiled the first yourselves, how did you do it?" Pixel inquired.

"It's because Neo Rocket offered us to join them, but we refused. They thought we would join in since we weren't in the best terms with the boss before. I think they just wanted to use James to access his family's money and use it for their cause," Jessie explained bitterly. The thought of someone taking advantage of James bothered her. Either way, his parents kept the fortune and were not keen on sharing since he married Jessie.

"Or they could have thought we're awesome and tried to get us to join," James added with a more pleasant tone. "They didn't understand that part of being awesome is being loyal."

"Save any other questions for later, let's focus on the battle now," Jessie urged. "The Neo Rockets were planning to gather in Kanto and this is the main base of the region. The majority of Team Rocket is actually still loyal, but there are enough traitors to make a noticeable difference. I think their ultimate goal is to get rid of the boss to establish their power over Team Rocket. They must assume that the loyal Rockets will change their minds and follow them if they take out the boss." Jessie explained, she was ready to head into battle. The Rocket grunts followed quietly, hoping that they wouldn't regret remaining loyal to Giovanni.

xoxox xox xoxox

Things had taken a complicated turn at Rock On in Pewter City. Yolanda backed away to the wall. Four members of Team Rocket had snuck in and detained her. The blond woman who led them was currently interrogating her. Yolanda didn't know what they were talking about.

"Don't play dumb, I know this place is a secret base for Team Rocket's enemies!" Laiki insisted, aiming her gun at the frightened girl.

"I really don't know what you're talking about," Yolanda cried. "This is a pokemon breeding center. It belongs to my brother. I'm taking care of the pokemon while he's out. He doesn't have any connections with you people or your enemies, I'm sure of it!"

The three Rocket grunts returned to the living room where Laiki was holding Yolanda hostage. "We didn't find anything suspicious at all," one of the grunts informed, "this isn't an enemy base."

"That's weird," Laiki mused with worry, "here I am with an elite squadron," she motioned towards her weapons rather than the grunts, "ready to storm the enemy base and take over with sheer power. Then what do I find? A girl who honestly doesn't seem to know about the situation and no incriminating evidence."

Laiki gave it some thought, the order she received came from the boss. His cell phone had since been rendered useless. Pixel was sure the geeks on the traitors' side would collapse the communication system eventually and her guess was right. The enemy would rather have no method of spying if it meant risking false information and giving their opponents a chance to slip encoded messages past them.

A thought occurred to Laiki. The password was so that she would know the order was from the boss, even if his voice was not heard. But why didn't he just give her a quick call? Messages were useful when sneaking around quietly. What was making him hide the message? Maybe he was in trouble.

That couldn't be it, if the enemy had Giovanni, then the battle should have been over. "This doesn't make sense, but I have a bad feeling." The three grunts looked at Laiki with puzzlement, 'the boss is still a human being. Even if he seems like so much more to us most of the time. It must have been a mistake,' she mused. 'Giovanni is a stubborn person,' Laiki thought, 'I can't imagine anyone being able to force the password out of him by any means. He could have been tricked or someone could have obtained the code in some other way. Perhaps the boss just sent the wrong information by mistake. Maybe the mistake was mine and my true mission was to investigate and be ready for the worse. The worse case scenario wasn't confirmed as I assumed.'

Laiki took one last look at Yolanda, who was still frightened. "Sorry about that. Well boys, it seems there was a mistake. The Rock On enemy hide out was nothing but a false alarm. Let's head back to HQ, that's where we're really needed."

"Wait! What's going on?" Yolanda suddenly demanded to know. She wanted those people gone, but she couldn't stop herself from asking.

"I can't tell you that. If you knew, then I would have a real reason to storm this place," Laiki smiled innocently. "Oh and by the way, Team Rocket doesn't go around attacking people at random. Don't get the wrong impression. You're perfectly safe as long as you don't pick a fight with us, don't hinder our business and don't try to keep a strong pokemon to yourself. We would also appreciate it if you kept this whole misunderstanding a secret. Do it for the sake of everyone's safety, if you know what I mean."

Yolanda nodded slowly; she felt that she had no choice. The Rockets left Rock On without any casualties. Yolanda watched from the window as the seemingly normal car with tinted glass drove away.

xoxox xox xoxox

In the little underground room of the old Team Rocket hideout, Delia remained quiet. She was waiting for Giovanni to say something. She wished there was some light so she could see his expression. "I'm sorry," she cried, speaking hurriedly and breaking the thick silence. "So many things happened and it looked like Team Rocket was getting worse. So many of our friends were hurt and even died. I didn't know for how long that would continue or if it would ever end. I thought the only way Ash could live in peace was if I left. Despite our disagreements, I was prepared to stay if it was just me. I don't regret having Ash, he's our son and I love him so much. He reminds me of you a lot sometimes. You both want to be the best, you're both stubborn, you both like powerful pokemon, you both never give up and so many other things."

"Ash looks a lot like you when he brushes his hair back. His hair is just as stubborn as yours when it comes to staying in place without putting a million things in it. Most of the time he wears a hat. Oh, and you both like chocolate cake, I guess a lot of people do, but yeah, you still like it, right?" Delia stopped herself, she was rambling. It must already be a lot to take in, she didn't want to make the overload worse. "Um... Giovanni... are you mad at me?"

"Yes," he replied after a moment, though he didn't sound angry. He sounded surprised and confused. For once his voice completely lacked his usual mask of neutrality. He told himself this didn't change anything. Ash had existed for years and nothing had changed. The only difference was that he didn't know. He wanted to know just who was Ash beyond what little he knew about him. The need to battle him resurfaced again, much stronger then it had been during the tournament. Giovanni couldn't explain it.

"Alright, that's okay, you can be mad at me. I guess I did kind of cheat you out of a lot of visits by keeping the secret," Delia breathed deeply. "You do understand that I thought it was for the best, don't you? Ash is... well, you should meet him for yourself and see. He doesn't know about you. He knows you as the Viridian gym leader and I'm pretty sure he admires you. He doesn't know anything about your connection to Team Rocket. If you want to tell him, I'll leave that up to you. Please wait until things calm down if you decide to tell him the whole truth and let me prepare him first."

Giovanni closed his eyes in thought; everything was darkness in the little underground room anyway. "I'll get things under control first, then we'll talk." It was a strange overwhelming feeling, too many things were happening at once.

Delia breathed in relief, "I'll help out in any way I can. Please count me as an ally," she paused. She felt that Giovanni would probably want to have some time to let things sink in before more questions started to surface. "Should we wait here until tomorrow?"

"No, that's not necessary," Giovanni had too much to think about as it was. He made himself focus on his problems with Team Rocket; there would be time for everything else later. Still, thoughts of Delia kept resurfacing. Why would she still want to help? What about Ash? He couldn't deny he wanted to know more. "We've waited long enough. Let's walk the rest of the way to Cerulean City. We can get communication and transportation there."

Quietly and with a heavy atmosphere, Giovanni, Delia and Persian made their way out of the little underground room. They walked in silence, which made Delia feel uncomfortable. She thought about what to say, but was interrupted by an explosion near by.

A familiar voice called out, "Pikachu, no!"

"That was Ash!" Delia started running towards a source of light up ahead, where the voice had come from.

The light was a fire on Ash's little indigo car, "I'm on it!" Misty called out her Starmie. "Water gun, put out that fire!" The solution was effective as Starmie's water successfully extinguished the flames in the car.

"Misty," Ash frowned, "you drowned the engine."

"It's better than letting the fire reach the fuel tank and the whole car exploding. Besides, there's not much left of the engine anyway," Misty waved away the smoke coming from the little car. It had been rendered useless.

"My poor car, it was my first car, it was my only car. It took me such a long time to save up for it and now it's gone," Ash gave his dear car a moment of silence.

"Pikapi," Pikachu looked at Ash with sadness and guilt.

Ash hugged the little yellow electric pokemon, "it's alright Pikachu, it's not your fault. I was the one who told you to keep recharging the battery instead of changing it like I should have."

Delia and Giovanni arrived and witness the scene. It reminded Giovanni of something that happened before he met Delia. At the time, Aayla had just recently joined Team Rocket.

That night long ago, Giovanni, Luke, Leah, Aayla and Binks were all in Giovanni's car, which he intended to replace soon. "Dude Giovanni, like tell me again like why you're getting rid of this car. I like still don't totally get it, you know?" Luke happened to like the car. It was brown and he thought it looked like a giant chocolate bar.

"Because it won't last much longer," Giovanni tried to explain it again, "the battery keeps giving out and the newbie has to recharge it with Electabuzz."

"When will I have a name other then newbie?" Aayla grumbled from the back of the car. She was sandwiched uncomfortably between Leah and Binks. She sometimes forgot Leah was there until she tried to move and bumped into her. As for Binks, she elbowed him on occasion, simply because she felt like it.

"When you earn it," Giovanni answered, "it doesn't look like Electabuzz will last too long either. Lately there have been less pokemon around. There's a rumor that some kind of epidemic is starting. It's only a rumor but it could be true."

"But dude, can't you like change the battery? I'll like miss this car, you know?" Luke insisted upon his argument that the car should be kept.

"You can have it after I get a new one," Giovanni offered, knowing very well that Luke would love the idea.

"Thanks dude! You're like totally awesome, man!" Luke's cheering was interrupted when the engine failed and the car shut down.

"I think it's more than the battery that's wrong with it," Giovanni theorized. He wasn't in the mood to tinker with the car. He felt like getting a new car, maybe he could find an orange one to steal, though the color wasn't too common. He tried to turn the car back on, but it didn't work.

"Time for another recharge?" Aayla didn't even wait for an answer before shoving Binks aside and exiting the car. She opened it up, frowning at the smoke that came from the engine. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"It worked fine before, just give it a quick recharge," Giovanni needed to get to Pewter City. Once he was there he would have a new car and the old one would be Luke's problem.

"If you say so," Aayla sent out Electabuzz. The large yellow pokemon looked as if he had no energy left. It was a side effect of the illegal power-ups he had been given before. Ever since Aayla joined Team Rocket she stopped giving Electabuzz any of those substances. The gang leader, Giovanni, forbade it. He claimed it was more of a liability than a help in the long run. Electabuzz was still suffering from the symptoms of withdrawal. "Electabuzz, give the battery another electric charge."

With a lot of effort, the weakened Electabuzz obeyed. The electricity wasn't much, but the car's battery had all the mistreatment it could take. The result was a chain reaction that set the engine aflame.

"My car!" Luke cried out at the top of his lungs. He jumped out of the front passenger seat and hurried to put out the fire. It was technically still Giovanni's car, but it was close enough to becoming his. "Like put out the fire Poliwag, water gun, man!" The car that Luke affectionately referred to as a giant chocolate bar met a grim fate that night.

Years later, Ash's car suffered a similar tragedy. "Ash!" Delia called out to her son as she, Giovanni and Persian approached.

"Mom!" Ash rushed to her and hugged her, noticing Giovanni's presence as well. "The Viridian gym leader is here too!" He observed them as well as he could in the light of the full moon and stars. "Were you two in a battle, did Team Rocket attack you? I've heard the accusations, but I don't believe a word of them. Team Rocket attacked you, didn't they?"

Delia was at a loss for words, "something like that?" She looked at Giovanni, hoping that he would have some kind of believable excuse. Their bruised appearance was in truth the result of being kidnapped and falling off a cliff respectively.

Giovanni had been looking at Ash curiously. Ash was more focused on his mother and didn't really notice. Giovanni snapped into attention upon hearing Delia's cue for him to come up with an excuse. "I think they might have only been pretending to be Team Rocket. There have been rumors about a battle between gangs. Something about Team Rocket's rivals trying to get the police to go after the Rockets."

Ash gave this new possibility some thought as did Misty. "That makes a lot of sense," she commented.

"Yeah," Ash agreed, "what happened at Vermilion City, you've heard about it, right? It's not Team Rocket's usual style. There was nothing to gain for them. Then the really bad gang isn't Team Rocket, it's their rivals. The police will figure it out eventually if they stop Team Rocket and the crimes don't stop, but a lot of things could happen before then."

Giovanni found that Ash's logic was easier to guide than he expected. Maybe keeping the secret of Team Rocket from him to avoid further complications would not be difficult after all. Besides, he was telling the truth about Team Rocket and their enemies. "It's more serious than that. Team Rocket and their enemies cancel each other out, so to speak. If one was left alone, it could be very dangerous," he bent the truth, Giovanni didn't think any other gang was strong enough to truly stand up against Team Rocket.

Misty gasped as the gym leader's theory became clear to her, "that means that the police is being used. If they spend all their resources taking out Team Rocket, they'll be left exposed for when that other gang openly emerges."

"This is just a theory," Giovanni voiced with fake concern, "but if it's true, it may happen that way."

"That's how it seems to be, the gangs keep each other at bay. The police would have to stop them all at once to get anywhere and that would be next to impossible. It's dangerous to allow the balance of power to shift too suddenly," Delia added, she always knew a lot more than she let on. She was secretive in many ways and most people tended to assume she knew little.

"Wow, I guess I never thought about it that way," Ash was surprised at his mother's conclusion. He understood the logic in it. "Then that other gang must be stopped. Team Rocket wasn't so bad by comparison, so the other group should be stopped first. Anyway, I'm just glad you're both safe. We'll figure out the rest as we go along, right Misty?"

Misty thought she shouldn't encourage Ash's tendency to rush in without a plan too much, "yeah, but we need to be careful."

Ash nodded in agreement and looked at Giovanni. The gym leader couldn't help it but to wonder if Ash knew who he was. It was soon proven he didn't, "can we still have our pokemon battle?"

"Is that all you think about?" Misty face palmed.

"Of course we can battle," hearing Giovanni's reply, Delia decided it was good. Maybe a pokemon battle was just what they needed to understand each other in their own way, as long as it remained friendly. "Not here and now," Giovanni clarified.

"Right," Delia continued, "and since we're all here together talking I might as well formally introduce everyone," she tried to make it sound as natural as she could, with Giovanni putting up a very good act despite his curiosity. It reminded her of the past, when he put up an act for Professor Oak. Things were different and at the same time similar.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon. Secura doesn't actually mean 'to heal', but 'se cura' means 'it heals' in Spanish so it's close enough. The group that bets on pokemon battles was mentioned on Diamond 48.