Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Don't Give Me Diamonds ❯ Chapter 15

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

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 55: Give Me Comrades

Things seemed to be running as smoothly as possible within the circumstances for Delia, Giovanni, Ash and Misty. Ash called Brock to let him know he found his mother and she was alright. He noticed that when he pressed the button to end the call at Vermilion, he held it down for a little too long and turned his cell phone off. Unknown to Ash, Brock had tried to call him again, but couldn't get through.

"Ash! Are you alright? I've been trying to call you this whole time," Brock answered his cell phone with a worried tone as soon as he saw Ash's name on the screen.

"We're fine; I'm calling you to let you know. I ran into mom and Giovanni, they're both safe. Team Rocket, or rather, Team Rocket's rivals pretending to be Team Rocket, attacked them. They got away, so don't worry. Actually, I haven't heard the whole story yet, I just wanted to give you a call first. Misty's here with us too and our pokemon of course. My car will probably never run again. I guess I pushed my luck too far having Pikachu recharge the battery," Ash explained hurriedly. He was about to continue venting about his car, he really needed it.

Brock interrupted, "you're all alright? Giovanni is there too?" He reminded himself that he was giving Giovanni the benefit of the doubt. Delia and Ash seemed to trust him. The attack Ash mentioned could be used to explain Delia's state when she arrived. Who knows what happened and how many times they went after her. Her little black cell phone with the red R was still present in Brock's mind. He decided to disregard it as an unimportant detail. It was just a cell phone, it didn't mean anything. Maybe she just couldn't find one with her own initial. A red R usually meant Team Rocket, but there could be exceptions.

"Yeah, we're fine," Ash assured, Brock still sounded very alarmed.

"What was that about someone pretending to be Team Rocket?" Brock spoke as if it was urgent. "do you know what's going on?" He explained what had happened to him, "I was worried, so I went to find Delia. I thought she might be in Viridian City. I couldn't find her and I couldn't contact you. Yolanda was taking care of Rock On while I was in Viridian. She called me to say Team Rocket was there. Apparently they thought Rock On was an enemy base and searched the place. They held her hostage and asked her a lot of things she didn't understand. When they realized it was all a mistake, they left. They didn't even steal anything!"

Ash's face was visibly surprised at Brock's revelation. The expression was not missed by Delia, Giovanni and Misty, though they couldn't hear Brock. "It sounds like there really is a war between gangs. Some other group is pretending to be Team Rocket so the police will go after the real Team Rocket. Then they can take over when Team Rocket and the police are left weakened by their battle. Team Rocket must be really serious about stopping their rivals."

"So this is their battle... I thought what happened at Vermilion City was too much for Team Rocket. I didn't know about it at first. Later I heard about the attack when they aired the news bulletin again." Brock was feeling frustrated with how innocent people were being caught in the battle between Team Rocket and their rivals. "I'm going to stay here just in case they come back. Yolanda doesn't want to call the police..."

"Why not?" Ash asked when Brock went silent in doubt. "You should call the police and tell them what happened." From the corner of his eyes, Ash caught Giovanni shaking his head. Ash thought about what they had discussed concerning the balance of power, "on second thought, you shouldn't call the police right now. Let the two gangs fight each other. Then the police will arrest them when they're weak."

"If you say so," Brock mused over Ash's words, "alright, I won't call the police. I guess there's no choice but to give the situation some time and stay alert." Brock was still uneasy, but he decided to trust Ash.

"Yeah, take care of your siblings. I think we'll spend the night at Misty's place," Cerulean City was the closest to them. Ash glanced at Misty, who nodded in approval. "I'll call you again tomorrow." Since the engine of Ash's car would never run again, they would walk the rest of the way to Cerulean City.

"Alright, be careful," Brock sounded exhausted with stress.

Giovanni was caught in the situation. He didn't want to blow his cover so soon. He was heading to Cerulean City anyway; he had to find a working phone that he could use in private. He would decide if he could stay there until the next day after he communicated with his agents. He didn't have a solid plan. It looked like he would have to improvise as he used to do long ago.

After a long walk, Ash, Misty, Delia and Giovanni made it to the Cerulean City gym. The gym was closed, with all its lights off in the quiet of the night. Misty fished for her keys in her bag. She pulled them out by the Horsea keychain. "It looks like we have the place to ourselves," Misty announced as she led the group inside. She wasn't really expecting her sisters to have returned. "What a day..."

"I'm hungry," Ash announced. When something exciting or worrying happened, it always made him hungry in the end.

Delia and Misty laughed; at least Ash was being himself. They took it as a good sign. Ash was a ray of familiarity in the uncertainty that lay ahead. "I have been meaning to ask for a cake recipe," Misty joked.

"Then lets do it," Delia didn't care if it was late at night. She didn't care she had realized that she needed to learn more recipes before she could truly call herself a chef. Cooking still helped her relax and she didn't feel like going to sleep. Besides, if she was going to become a more skilled cook, the sooner she started practicing, the better.

"Really? Right now?" Misty was taken by surprise, especially when Delia nodded, confirming that it wasn't a joke.

"That's a great idea!" Ash's mouth began to water at the thought.

"Pika!" Pikachu nodded in agreement while Giovanni and Persian watched the scene quietly.

"We might not have all the ingredients," Delia theorized looking thoughtful, "isn't there a little convenience store near here that's open twenty-four seven?"

"Yes, there is, they have a lot of things. Let's go," the distraction was welcomed by Misty. She felt she needed to focus her mind on something simple and cheerful, such as learning a new recipe. She wanted to clear her head of the day's stress.

Giovanni caught on then, thinking that he should have caught on sooner. Delia was giving him the perfect chance to establish communication with headquarters without interruptions. "Do you mind if I use the phone? My cell phone isn't working for some reason."

"No problem, it's right over here," Misty led him to where the video phone was, in a corner of the living room. "They must be worried about you in Viridian City," the gym leader obviously held an important position there. Perhaps he was more important to the city than an average gym leader would be.

"Thanks, I should at least let them know we're alright," Giovanni continued his nice act perfectly. He had practiced it many times in the public eye. He wondered how well he would be able to act after the truth about Ash fully sunk in. Several times he had to make himself stop staring, noticing familiarities he didn't know how he missed before. Fortunately, Ash and Misty were too tired to notice.

The growling of Ash's stomach was perfectly timed to Delia's plan, "we should get the ingredients. Ash, come help us carry the bags." With a casual excuse, Delia led the young couple and Pikachu outside. They departed towards the little convenience store near the gym. Giovanni was left alone with Persian to go about his business in private.

xoxox xox xoxox

At the Viridian Rocket headquarters below the gym, the hunt for traitors continued. "What is the meaning of this?" Two traitorous Rockets found themselves surrounded in the main computer room of the base.

The two men contrasted greatly with each other, one was tall and muscular. The other's physique resembled Binks, thin and fragile. The thin one had short light hair, nearly white, despite being no older than his mid twenties. He had big glasses and a white lab coat over his black Team Rocket uniform. The coat had a small red R on a pocket carrying an assortment of pens. "You're in trouble; we're higher ranked than all of you!" His threat was ineffective due to his frightened shaking. His blue-gray eyes kept looking for an escape route but found none.

The tall man glared, seemingly unfazed by the heavily armed group standing before him. "So Giovanni's grunts are fighting back?" That man also wore a Team Rocket uniform, the shirt was sleeveless revealing his muscular arms. He had dark skin, short curly black hair and brown eyes. "You don't happen to know where Giovanni is, do you?" In order to take control of Team Rocket, Neo Rocket grouped in Kanto, Team Rocket's main base of operations.

Their plan had been to broadcast Giovanni's defeat and subsequent death on TV. They would set the stage for that by forcing him to offer a press conference. The defeat of the leader would put Neo Rocket on top, or so they thought. They expected to gain the support of the rest of Team Rocket with fear. To back them up they had New Tempest. The reestablished gang was Team Rocket's rival in the past. Neo Rocket didn't care for world domination or secrecy. They only wanted power and riches.

Neo Rocket was planning to unite with New Tempest under the name of Tempest. The name of their gang wasn't really important to Neo Rocket anyway. The tall man chuckled cruelly despite the situation he and his cowering ally were in. "Where is he hiding? Where did Giovanni run off to? That coward!"

Jessie and James were offended, their expressions furious. James was just as angry as Jessie was, but she had a special talent for looking absolutely terrifying when she was enraged. Before they could say anything, Meowth jumped forward. He wildly attacked the man who had dared to insult Giovanni, trying to tare him apart with his claws.

The man pushed Meowth off. Meowth went on the attack again, relentlessly scratching until the man threw him against the wall harshly. "Meowth can't take on this guy alone," Jessie threw out a pokeball and Flareon appeared from its red beam. Jessie knew that she was eager to get some action as soon as possible after having laid her egg.

"If you're not going to shoot I'll have to take those weapons away from you," the tall man's shirt had been ripped to shreds and he had many cuts in his upper body. He jumped to take Jessie's weapons, but Flareon let out a massive fire blast without even waiting for Jessie's command. Badly burnt, the man stumbled back. His geeky comrade squealed in a high pitched fearful voice.

Pixel glared at the weak geek, "you give a bad name to geeks everywhere," she huffed angrily, "we're not all wimps!"

The muscular man struggled to fight back despite the injured state he was in. He was knocked back again by Flareon's fire. The sound of approaching foot steps was heard announcing the arrival of more traitorous Rockets. Their appearance was that of typical grunts, with the standard Team Rocket uniforms. Their faces were shrouded in shadows by their black hats. "Get down!" James called out. He pushed Pixel to one side and dived to the other, dragging Jessie down along with him. A missile zoomed over them, exploding when it hit the tall man.

The traitorous grunts at the door cursed loudly. They meant to take out the loyal Rockets, but instead the missile hit one of their own. The skinny geek squeaked in fear again and began to cry.

"You're really asking for it! Flareon fire blast that bazooka!" Jessie commanded. Flareon let out a battle cry, shooting a powerful flame from her mouth. The blast of fire collided with the bazooka held by the traitorous Rocket grunts, causing it to explode.

"Go Wheezing; hold them with your sludge attack!" James scrambled to his feet along with Jessie and sent out his pokemon. Wheezing's attack was effective in its purpose. It detained the injured traitorous grunts in a sticky mess at the door. The two loyal grunts that accompanied Jessie, James and Pixel watched in awe.

"Shut up already!" Pixel lost her patience and kicked the crying geek on the ribs. The action only caused him to wail louder. "That's it, go Peachy, thunderbolt this idiot into silence!" The Pikachu emerged from her pokeball and followed the command. She electrocuted the thin man into fainting.

"You have a Pikachu, very convenient," James commented. He and Jessie had developed a strong perception of Pikachu in general thanks to Ash's Pikachu.

"Indeed," Jessie agreed, "Meowth, get up, we need to make sure these guys can't cause any more trouble and-" Jessie paused, watching as the two loyal Rocket grunts made themselves useful.

The loyal Rocket grunts handcuffed the traitors' hands and feet to prevent them from causing trouble should they escape the sludge. "Don't forget about us," one of the grunts spoke.

"We can detain the traitors here, just keep bringing them over," the other grunt offered.

"That's a good idea," Pixel agreed, "and watch my back while you're at it. I need to figure out what they were doing to the system." Pixel was already sitting in front of the large screen of the main computer. There were also two other screens left and right of her. There was a large keyboard in front of her. It included not only the alphabet, numbers and the usual keys a computer would have, but also abundant extra keys. The additional keys were labeled with different symbols, pictures and abbreviations.

"It looks like they were trying to crack the code to launch the big missiles," Pixel announced as she examined the system. "Fortunately, they didn't have enough time to crack it. Not even the top ranked Rocket geeks know how to crack this program. It was made by one of the Rocket executives, or so I heard. Only the top executives and the boss know the password."

"The bad news is that the general system suffered some extensive damage," Pixel informed. "Especially the communications software and satellite control programs. The system will have to be reformatted to be on the safe side. This is well beyond my current level, but I guess I'll have to try. By the way, is your Meowth alright?"

Meowth had gotten back on his feet, but looked dizzy, "I'm fine, thanks for asking. It's just that all that stuff on the screen is making me dizzy."

"I don't consider myself to be an expert yet, but I think I can at least make a bit of a difference for now. I can't really fix it, but I can try to reduce the damage. I'll work on it, unless I should join the frontlines again?" Pixel looked at Jessie, the self appointed leader of their squad.

"Make sure they're not planning to launch any more missiles. Then see if you can reestablish at least some basic communication," Jessie decided. "We need to detain the traitors somewhere. Your pokemon and those two," she pointed at the two loyal grunts, "can stay here and guard the prisoners while you work. James, our pokemon and I are tough enough to finish the cleanup ourselves."

"Alright, Peachy, Pyro," Pixel let her Charmander out of his pokeball as well. "Guard the prisoners! You two," she looked at the grunts, "try to keep the big guy that got hurt alive; alive and tied up that is. We might get some info out of them later." She then addressed Jessie, James and Meowth, "good luck!"

Meowth reminded Pixel a little of Purry, except Purry wouldn't have allowed her opponents to push her away. She would have aimed for the throat. Purry was also a lot tougher and didn't need much provocation to be violent. On second thought, maybe all that they really had in common was their species. Pixel hoped that wherever Purry was, she was alright, the same for Comet and Laiki.

xoxox xox xoxox

At the Cerulean gym, Giovanni received an unexpected visitor. "Boss," the voice came accompanied by a tapping sound on the living room window. Giovanni stepped away from the video phone for a moment and opened it to find Comet. "I knew it was you I saw. I couldn't contact anyone, I'm glad you're alright."

"What are you doing here and what's the meaning of that?" Giovanni pointed at the green T on Comet's black shirt. The uniform was very similar to Team Rocket's uniform. The most noticeable difference was that the red R was replaced with a green T.

"The enemies are actually two groups. One group is made from people who used to be from the Tempest Gang. The others are traitors that want Team Rocket for themselves, the Neo Rockets. They intend to unite under the name of Tempest. I'm only pretending to join them so I can spy on them," Comet explained. "There is someone who seems to be partially controlling them, the Saffron City mayor. It looks like she's more of a mediator then their boss. I get the impression that the mysterious mayor has her own agenda. Sorry, I couldn't find out her identity, it seems no one knows who she is, even in Saffron City."

"Tempest returned after all these years," Giovanni had not heard that name in a long time. What bothered him the most were the traitors. Team Rocket was a big organization and a few traitors would appear from time to time. He hated that they organized themselves well enough to cause trouble this time. "Those traitors are worse than Tempest, they'll pay for this," Giovanni was angry and frustrated with the situation. He was sick of waiting to do things without bringing more unnecessary attention to Team Rocket. It was time to show them his power; he would solve the problem himself.

"I just got to Cerulean City on a mission for Tempest. I'm still in the process of proving my loyalty. I just hope they don't realize that the information I gave them about Team Rocket were lies. We're going to break into the Pokemon Center and steal the pokemon there. Some Neo Rockets will be there too, not all the uniforms have been changed to Tempest yet," Comet explained. "I'm sure you know where I'm going with this."

"This is an opportunity for me to clear my name," Giovanni caught on right away. "With all the false accusations going around, it's only natural that I would want to conduct my own investigation. It is something the good gym leader of Viridian City would do. I tracked down the villains to this city and happened to be near the Pokemon Center when they broke in. Most of them will be captured, save for a few that will manage to escape," Comet would be among them. "Make sure that your presence is known so that it doesn't look suspicious when I conveniently arrive."

"You can count on me! I guess this means we'll have to battle. We're planning to break into the Pokemon Center at midnight," Comet always got excited when he thought about pokemon battles. He would make sure to put up a fight, but at the same time make Tempest look bad.

"I'll be there," Giovanni assured, he really needed to let some stress out in a pokemon battle. "For now, return to your Tempest duties before they find you."

"Yes, sir!" Comet hopped out the window again and disappeared into the night.

Outside, Purry was waiting for Comet. She had caught up to him as he was leaving Saffron City. Comet departed towards Cerulean City alone with Purry in his little brown car. Luke had given it to him as a tribute to the original chocolate bar Giovanni used to have. "I'll need your help, Purry. I have an idea."

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 56: Give me Satisfaction

The main computer system at the Viridian Rocket headquarters detected an incoming call. It managed to pass through the system with the limited glitch filled functions that Pixel was able to partially restore. Curious about it, she put it through, even if it could be a transmission from the enemy. If it was, she would pretend she was on their side and get information. To her surprise the video call was from Giovanni, "boss!"

Giovanni had seen this girl before, Pixel or something like that. She was a low ranked agent a step above a grunt. "What's happening at headquarters, why are you answering this call?"

"I'm not sure who you were trying to contact, but the communications system collapsed. Neo Rocket, the traitors, caused it. I was trying to restore it. Some other agents and I are cleaning up HQ, catching the traitors and stuff." Pixel wasn't sure how Giovanni would take the news about Jessie and James. She didn't feel good about having to be the one to give him the report about that particular detail.

Giovanni had many things to ask. Before he could, someone else appeared on the screen behind Pixel. The girl turned around to look at the man who had arrived. "I'll take it from here, rookie."

"Archer," Giovanni recognized the new arrival.

Pixel blinked and looked back and forth between Giovanni and Archer before finally moving out of the way to stand behind Archer.

Archer opened a window of code on the screen beside the one containing Giovanni's video call and began to fix things in the system. "I'll have the communications system up and running soon. I'll come up with some better security for the future. I hope you don't mind, but after the communications system collapsed, the four of us decided to move on our own," Archer was referring to Ariana, Proton, Petrel and himself. "I just arrived at the Viridian headquarters. Before you say it, don't worry, the other regions are safe. We're not neglecting our duties by coming to Kanto."

More people entered the Viridian control room. It was a group of Rocket grunts led by Ariana and Petrel. "We secured the detention facilities. We can move the prisoners there now, get to it!" The grunts got to work while Ariana noticed just who was on the screen. "Don't try to do everything on your own so much, you can count on us." Without waiting for Giovanni's reply, Ariana left along with the grunts and Petrel.

"I should go with them, right?" Pixel looked around, unsure of what to do.

"You were trying to fix things, weren't you?" Archer took his own miniature lucky seven computer and handed it to Pixel. It had many programs that were custom made and not found anywhere else. "Plug it in and follow my lead so we can fix this faster."

"Yes, sir!" Pixel jumped at the opportunity to do something high tech with someone so high ranked.

"If something goes wrong in the other regions," Giovanni didn't have to finish for the message to get through.

"I know, I know, don't worry. The enemies are not many in comparison to the number of loyal members. They gathered in Kanto to take you out, the other regions are fine," Archer insisted. "Watch your back, the enemy might get desperate and attack you. It's clear they want you dead. Proton went to Saffron City to investigate who's behind this. He got a lead from Miyamoto's daughter when we got here."

"She was fired a long time ago!" That was the last thing Giovanni needed, help from someone he fired.

Archer sighed and paused his rapid typing to massage his temples for a moment. He guessed it would be a headache to deal with this issue and he was right. Giovanni was a great leader ninety-nine percent of the time. When he got especially stubborn, prideful or reckless, he was not easy to deal with. Archer resumed his typing as he spoke, "Giovanni, please be reasonable. The information from Miyamoto's daughter is the best clue we have right now. Her partner is here as well. They're helping clean up headquarters. I'm not fully aware of what's going on, but we're going to find out. We'll be careful," Archer paused, sending something to Pixel, "debug this code for me, rookie, you should be able to catch most of the bugs by logic."

"Yes, sir!" Pixel chirped and started reading through the code. She was looking for endless loops, missing variables and contradictory conditions, running try catch scripts.

xoxox xox xoxox

"We're back!" Delia cheerfully and loudly announced as she entered the Cerulean gym with Misty, Ash and Pikachu. Albeit she tried to take her time at the store, Ash kept complaining. He wanted to go back so that the cake would be ready soon and he could eat it.

In the living room, Giovanni finished the call quickly, "we'll talk later. You and the others better not let anything slip out of place in your regions. I'll take care of the enemy myself. Don't call me back at this number."

"What are you going to-" Archer's question was cut off as the call was ended.

xoxox xox xoxox

The loud sound of a gunshot echoed in the underground Rocket base at Viridian. The bullet passed between Jessie and James. "My hair!" Jessie screamed as she saw a few strands of red land at her feet. Fortunately, Flareon's flame thrower melted the gun in the traitor's hand before he could shoot again.

Another traitor tried to sneak up on Jessie and James from behind. Her gun met the same fate as her partner's thanks to Growlie. The pokemon was still recovering, but would never accept being left out of the fight. "Well done Growlie! Wheezing, sludge!"

At the same time Jessie commanded, "Arbok, bind!" The strategy was effective. Flareon and Growlie would take care of the weapons. Then Arbok and Wheezing would restrain the traitors until they could be handcuffed and taken away. Laiki had returned to headquarters along with the three grunts that went to Rock On with her. They joined the traitor hunt and were investigating another area of the large underground headquarters.

Further ahead there was a fork in the underground metal corridors. It went in three different directions. Jessie and James came from one side, while Ariana and Petrel appeared from the other. From the third hallway, Butch and Cassidy ran towards Jessie and James. They couldn't see Ariana and Petrel from their angle. "What's going on here? We returned to HQ to find that it's a war zone! Weren't you fired? Is this your doing?" Cassidy accused Jessie.

"Cassidy!" Jessie growled the name in a poisonous voice.

"And Batch," James knew there was a possibility that they would run into those two. He was hoping they didn't.

"It's Butch!" The green haired man corrected in indignation. No one ever seemed to get his name right.

"Cassidy, Botch," Ariana came into view at the point where the three underground hallways met. Butch considered pointing out that was not his name, but Ariana was very high ranked so he remained silent. "Since you're here, make yourselves useful hunting down the traitors. Here's a copy of the list of suspects." Ariana handed Cassidy a paper.

"Yes ma'am, but what about them?" Cassidy glared at Jessie. She was looking forward to hearing the Rocket executive sentence them to a harsh punishment.

"They are on our side and have worked quite well in the mission to secure headquarters," Ariana's words left Cassidy in frozen shock. Butch kept looking back and forth between Cassidy, Ariana, Jessie and James. He was overwhelmed by confusion.

"Meowth, that's right!" Meowth cheered making his presence known, with a look of satisfaction. Jessie had the biggest grin out of all of them.

"You know what Gio will say," Petrel reminded Ariana quietly.

"Let's give them a little reward for their loyalty. I'll leave Giovanni to Arch. Maybe he can talk him into taking them back. Keep an eye on the hunt; I'm going to see how Arch is doing," Ariana announced. She hurried down the metal hall, her footsteps echoing lightly.

xoxox xox xoxox

Later, Ash was in the Cerulean gym's kitchen along with Giovanni, Delia and Misty. "Then the real bad guys, Tempest, are going to attack the Cerulean Pokemon Center at midnight?" Ash summarized for confirmation. Misty was mixing some cake batter while Delia measured ingredients and added them to a bowl.

"If my sources are correct; I don't want to jump to any conclusions. With all those false accusations I had to investigate and try to clear my name," Giovanni explained.

Ash was too excited to question Giovanni's theory. Ash didn't even ask about his sources, he had time to call for an update while they were gone. Misty was curious about that detail, but the safety of the pokemon was more important. Maybe Giovanni had hired a detective or something. At least Ash was distracted enough so that he stopped eating the chocolate chips for a few minutes. Otherwise they might run out before they could be added to the cake.

"Yes, that makes sense," Ash reached for the open bag of chocolate chips once again. He found it wasn't on the counter anymore.

On the floor, Pikachu and Persian were having a tug of war with the bag. It was torn in half with chocolate chips falling all over the floor. Persian hissed in indignation and jumped on Giovanni's lap. He demanded attention to be consoled for the loss of the chocolate chips. He was not eating anything from the floor. Pikachu shrugged and began to gather the chocolate chips in a piece of the plastic bag. Persian didn't want them anymore so he had them all to himself.

Ash reached for the other bag of chocolate chips that was yet to be opened. Delia took it away and gave him a bowl full of batter to mix. "Don't eat it, you have to wait until it's baked," she warned. She wasn't sure where Giovanni was going with his sudden revelation that the Cerulean Pokemon Center was suspected to be in danger. She didn't think it was anything particularly bad, so she didn't try to stop his plans.

"Since it's not certain, there's no need to cause a commotion. Besides, if they see the police, they might run away," Giovanni reasoned, leading the logic exactly as he wanted.

Ash nodded in agreement, "that's why we have to catch them in the act, right?" He assumed Giovanni intended to go to the Pokemon Center and was asking him to come along by revealing this information.

"Exactly," it was risky to take anyone along with him. Yet having extra witnesses on his side would also be beneficial. "I'm planning to have a look around the area when it's close to midnight. I don't want to cause any trouble if this suspicion turns out to be wrong."

"Okay, then we'll have a look around. If nothing happens, it's alright, but if it does, we'll stop them!" Ash cheered.

Delia decided not to worry about the situation too much. "You'll be like vigilantes?" She grinned, reminding Giovanni of her past wish.

"Yes, exactly!" Ash loved the idea, "you'll come too, right Misty?"

Misty agreed with determination, "count me in! We can't let them steal the pokemon."

"I'll be going as well," Delia happily announced, even if it was part of some act or plan Giovanni had, she still enjoyed the idea. She liked pretending that Giovanni and Ash were righteous vigilantes like in her fantasies from long ago. Even if the dream only lasted a little while, she would grant herself that much.

"But mom, you don't have any pokemon with you," Ash pointed out.

"I know, Mimey is back home. He knows how to look after himself, so he'll be fine. There's plenty of food left in the refrigerator that only needs to be put in the microwave and he makes great sandwiches. I bet he's keeping the house very clean. He must have finished the laundry a long time ago," Delia mused aloud.

This came as no surprise for Ash and Misty, but Giovanni had to ask, "who is Mimey?"

"My Mr. Mime," Delia replied with a smile. "I should introduce him to you, Persian and your other pokemon later."

"Your Mr. Mime does chores?" Not even Giovanni had thought about having pokemon servants. He thought they wouldn't be able to do the chores properly.

"Oh yes, he's very helpful and he always looks like he's having fun," Delia fell into the conversation naturally. She was pleased that they could talk about something casual. "Mimey helps with the dishes, the laundry, cleaning the house, watering the garden and works as a waiter at my little restaurant." The cake batters were finished and placed into round molds. One of the batters was dark, thick and chocolaty. Another was paler than the first and had chocolate dots. The last was less in a mount, only a thin disk in a yellow color.

"You were always good at getting pokemon to do what you wanted," Giovanni recalled, he gave her two pokeballs. "If you insist on coming along, you'll need some pokemon. You should take Cloyster and Kingler back." The only pokemon he was carrying were his original team. He didn't have any of his newer pokemon on hand, but the ones he had would have to be enough.

Delia smiled, holding the two pokeballs containing her pokemon from long ago. "Just like before," she whispered.

It was ironic; they would be facing Tempest, their enemies of the past. They would probably only find new members in that night's mission, but it was still Tempest. The Cerulean City Pokemon Center was also the place where they first met. Giovanni discreetly glanced at Ash and Misty. It was enough to remind Delia that they had an audience and she shouldn't reveal too much.

Delia reacted by changing the subject and explaining for how long the cake batters had to be left in the oven. Not even the thought of food distracted Ash enough to stop him from asking Giovanni, "what do you mean take Cloyster and Kingler back?"

Giovanni didn't mean to let that slip, he lowered his guard and it just happened. He didn't realize until that moment that his stress had been reduced, despite the circumstances. Yet he still had a feeling of numb confusion. It was obvious that Archer and the others wanted to be trusted to handle the situation at Viridian City. He would give them that and take care of his own mission in Cerulean City. Then he would put an end to the situation one way or another.

Giovanni focused on Ash's question. The fact that he was his son was something Giovanni had been trying not to think about too much, but couldn't help it but to think about it constantly. It was decided that, if things went as planned, Ash would not know the whole truth until after Team Rocket's business was settled. Giovanni determined that what was said was only a small harmless fact after all. "Cloyster and Kingler were originally Delia's pokemon. She had them since they were Shellder and Krabby. They evolved with Delia as their trainer. After I became the Viridian gym leader, she gave them to me," Giovanni explained.

"Really?" Ash was surprised, as was Misty. "Mom, why didn't you tell me you trained a gym leader's pokemon in the past? That's really cool!"

Delia remembered her little adventure at the beach years ago. "A lot of things happened in the past, a lot of adventures. I'll tell you one day." Delia felt guilty making Ash continue to wait for information.

Ash was excited and didn't know how closely Delia's story about her past was linked to his questions of his father. Those questions had been momentarily left in the back of his mind. He assumed all the things that could have happened between his mother and Giovanni took place before his parents met. "Why don't you tell me about it now?"

"Because it's almost midnight," Giovanni informed, looking at the blinking green time display on the black microwave. It sat atop the blue kitchen counter quietly announcing that it was forty minutes past eleven.

xoxox xox xoxox

The communication systems repair process continued in the Viridian Rocket headquarters. "Okay rookie, test the functions I sent you individually, then together. Make a copy of them and purposely try to mess with them. See how long it takes you to mess up the copy," Archer instructed.

"I'm on it!" Pixel chirped happily. She was having trouble keeping up with Archer, but she was still enjoying her current mission as his assistant. She found a new determination to gain more knowledge about technology.

"How are things going?" Ariana entered the control room. She placed her hands on Archer's shoulders and leaned forward to look at the screen. Her head was right next to his. Pixel saw them from the corner of her eyes in her position sitting right of Archer. They were half covered by one of the three big screens around Archer.

"The communications system is repaired. I'm implementing some extra security measures. Giovanni has entrusted Team Rocket to us for the time being. I wonder what he'll do," Archer couldn't stop thinking about it.

"We'll just have to trust him in return," Ariana concluded. "I'm sure we'll still get an earful when he comes back. You know how prideful he is and it's obvious he's been holding back. He's probably run off to show that he's more than just a figure of authority that sits in the shadows while his agents do all the work. Relax Arch, he won't do anything too drastic. At least not something that will bring negative consequences to Team Rocket."

"Avoiding consequences and doing something drastic are different things," Archer pointed out, his expression thoughtful. "He might do something drastic to avoid consequences."

"You're not really worried," Ariana grinned, "in fact, you sound more like you're looking forward to it."

"Maybe I want to see him in action," Archer smiled with a look of confidence in his eyes. "How are those codes coming along, rookie?"

Pixel took a moment to reply. She had been listening to the conversation and didn't expect to be addressed at that moment, "no bugs so far."

"Good," the sound of more typing was heard as Archer's fingers moved on the keyboard. "Ari, can you send someone to check the physical state of the security system?"

"Sure," Ariana left the control room once more.

xoxox xox xoxox

It was mid night and everything was silent outside of the Cerulean City Pokemon Center. Comet and four others broke in quietly through the back door. Three of the five, including Comet, were wearing the Tempest uniform. The other two were wearing Team Rocket uniforms. Purry had snuck inside through a window and was making her way to nurse Joy's room.

The door to the nurse's room was left partially open. The faint brightness of a tiny Togepi shaped nightlight could be seen inside. Joy was sleeping peacefully in her bed with a man slumbering next to her with light snores. There was a small crib in a corner of the room where a pink haired baby girl slept.

Purry jumped on the bed, waking the couple. Before they could catch her, she dashed out of the room. "A pokemon?" The man was still half asleep and didn't really see which pokemon it was.

"I wonder why it went out of its pokeball," Joy walked over to the door and turned on the light in the hallway. The pokemon that stood at the end of the hall was a Meowth. Joy had not seen her before. "A wild pokemon?" She approached the Meowth slowly, her bare feet stepping noiselessly on the floor. "Come here girl," she knelt down, her long pink night gown brushing against the floor. "Come on, don't be scared."

Purry hissed loudly with her tail standing up straight. Joy was startled and stumbled back, falling into a sitting position on the floor. Her husband helped her to her feet and they watched the pokemon dash away.

"She might cause trouble with the other pokemon," Joy's husband, Otoshi, was concerned. "She has a lot of fight in her, like Marowak." His long black hair was out of its usual ponytail, reaching down to his mid back. It blended in with the dark shades of green of his loose yukata-style pajamas.

"Are you thinking about catching her?" Joy didn't really need an answer, seeing her husband's grin.

"Marowak will enjoy this battle," he returned to their room and got Marowak's pokeball. He released his long time companion from it out in the hall. "A wild Meowth snuck into the Pokemon Center, let's challenge her."

"Marowak!" The pokemon eagerly agreed, even if he had been woken up in the middle of the night.

The sound of something being knocked over was heard from further into the Pokemon Center. The sound was followed by the baby's small startled voice from the room behind the couple. "It must have been that Meowth," Joy correctly guessed. She was unaware of the quiet thieves that had broken into her home. "I'll go take care of the baby. I hope she falls asleep again soon."

"Don't worry, we'll catch that Meowth," Otoshi assured. He went off to find the Meowth with Marowak.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 57: Give me Heroes

The noise of something being broken echoed in the quiet of the night at the Cerulean City Pokemon Center. "What was that?" The noise startled the thieves from Tempest and Neo Rocket that were hastily putting pokeballs into sacks.

Before anyone could come up with a possible answer to the grunt's worried question, Purry ran past them in the darkness. "Come back here!" Otoshi followed the Meowth, who he thought was wild. He turned the light on, illuminating the large storage room where pokemon were kept in their pokeballs. The thieves were caught in the act, "is this what that wild Meowth wanted me to see? Thank you honorable Meowth, I shall grant you a duel later. Marowak, we can't let these thieves get away!"

xoxox xox xoxox

The noises coming from inside the Pokemon Center were mostly lost in its large halls, but some of the sound waves reached outside. "Something's happening!" Ash alerted.

Ash, Misty, Giovanni, Delia and their pokemon were walking around the Pokemon Center, examining the area. Giovanni noticed that the backdoor was conveniently left open, "we can go in through here." No one questioned the fact that they were technically trespassing, there were other more important things happening at the time.

The group ran through the dark halls of the Pokemon Center until they saw light coming from the storage room. "Marowak, we can't let these thieves get away!"

"Let's see you deal with this!" One of the grunts sent out a pokemon and the action was repeated by the others. Tangela, Grimer, Zubat, Voltorb and Gyarados were sent into battle, the last one belonging to Comet.

Ash was the first to reach the door to the storage room and saw the one who spoke, "Otoshi!" Misty occasionally went back to Cerulean City to make sure her sisters were okay and they weren't just giving away cascade badges to everyone without a battle. Otoshi and Ash had coincidentally met at the Pokemon Center around a year ago.

The samurai, who remembered how Ash had helped him recover his Indigo League badges years ago, was glad to see Ash again. At the time Brock was also traveling with Ash and Misty. His heart was broken again when he found out that another nurse Joy would be getting married very soon. Ash, Misty and Brock went to the wedding and Brock cried through most of it, albeit the other guests didn't notice his pain and assumed he was just very emotional with happiness for the couple. A year later, Otoshi and Joy had a baby girl who looked just like her mother.

"Ash! Your timing is quite convenient, but I think Marowak and I can handle this," Otoshi sent his pokemon on the attack, "Marowak, use bonemerang!"

"Marowak!" Marowak threw his bone club; it spun in the air and knocked Zubat down. Zubat fell on top of Voltorb, who self destructed in anger.

"Two for one, this is no challenge at all!" Otoshi was confident in Marowak's abilities.

"I guess it was nothing you can't handle, but we did come all this way," Ash looked confident as well.

"It would be rude of me not to share, and you were polite enough to ask first," Otoshi nodded and grinned, "go ahead."

"Alright! Pikachu, let's finished this, thunderbolt!" Ash victoriously called out.

"Gyarados, return!" Comet called his pokemon back into his pokeball just in time to avoid Pikachu's attack. His pokemon was not weak enough to fall so easily even with a type disadvantage, but he wanted to make Tempest look bad.

"Pikachu!" The electric attack was extremely strong and it knocked out Tangela and Grimer instantly. They too were recalled into their pokeballs as the unconscious Zubat and Voltorb had been. One of the Tempest grunts backed away into a corner and whispered hurriedly into a little cell phone.

"I can't let you do this, go Gyarados!" Comet called out Gyarados once more. He couldn't count on Purry for that battle since she had been pretending to be a wild pokemon.

"Are you going to battle or retreat?" Ash questioned impatiently.

Delia recognized Comet but didn't say anything, though she was shocked by his next course of action. "Gyarados, hyper beam, your target is that man!" Comet pointed at Otoshi.

Otoshi didn't expect to be attacked directly and was caught off guard, but Marowak jumped in front of him and protected his trainer. "Marowak!" Otoshi rushed to his pokemon's side, he had taken a direct hit. However, Comet had previously instructed his pokemon not show their true power while they were pretending to be with Tempest, so the attack wasn't as effective as it could have been.

"Maro... wak..." Marowak struggled to get up, he could still fight.

"That was a cheap shot!" Ash called out in anger.

"Yeah, that attack was cowardly!" Misty added with the same rage. "I'll give your pokemon an opponent, Gyarados, I choose you!" Misty's own Gyarados emerged from his pokeball, ready to battle against Comet's Gyarados.

Delia frowned and gave Comet a disapproving look; she wouldn't guess he was like that from the short time she had spent with him. Luke had not been that way. In truth that was not Comet's usual battling style, but since he was purposely trying to make Tempest look bad, part of his act included fighting dirty. "Giovanni," Delia reproached, she had a feeling that he must know what was going on and the explanation as to why Comet had a green T on his shirt instead of a red R. Giovanni made no reply and Delia silently assumed everything must be an act.

The two Gyarados were locked in battle, firing hydro pumps and hyper beams at each other. The shelves with pokeballs were knocked over and all those present were soaking wet. "While those two are busy, how about I introduce you to another pokemon?" Comet sent out another pokemon, a Scyther emerged from the pokeball's red beam.

"Tauros, take down!" A new voice called out as a woman in a Team Rocket uniform arrived. The Tauros dashed towards Misty's Gyarados, who would not be able to avoid the attack and continue fighting Comet's Gyarados at the same time.

"Gyarados, watch out!" Misty called out in vain.

"Marowak!" Otoshi didn't have time to voice the name of an attack, but Marowak was quick to react. He slammed his bone club down on Tauros' head, stopping his rampage.

"It's you!" Delia recognized the pink haired woman with the Tauros as one of the people who had tried to kidnap her.

"Scyther, slice that Marowak to pieces with X Scissor!" Comet commanded.

"Two against one is not fair, Pikachu, use thunderbolt on Scyther!" Ash sent out his most trusted pokemon.

"Scyther, forget the attack and dodge the electricity!" Comet called out at the last second, holding Scyther's pokeball ready just in case. However, Scyther was able to narrowly dodge the attack.

"You were going to recall him weren't you?" Ash accused, "that's cheating!"

"The Tempest Gang doesn't play by the rules!" Comet retorted with the cruelest and most mocking tone he could muster.

Delia looked at Giovanni who had been watching everything play out. "I'm not standing by any longer."

"Good, because you and I have unfinished business!" The pink haired woman threatened.

"We're here, we're here, what did we miss?" Another group of five grunts arrived as well; they were all wearing Tempest uniforms. The Tempest grunt with the Zubat had called for reinforcements while the others battled. That brought the Tempest total to eleven, counting Comet, though four of them were already out of pokemon.

"Don't just stand there, attack!" The pink haired woman commanded the recently arrived grunts.

"I haven't train you in a long time, but please try your best Cloyster!" Delia sent out her pokemon from long ago.

"Go Hitmonlee, it's payback time, you should have just come with us quietly!" The pink haired woman sent out her second pokemon. She held a strong grudge against Delia, blaming her for her partner's arrest. The informant, a mysterious person from Saffron City, had requested Delia to be taken to her alive and unharmed, but the woman didn't care anymore. "Hitmolee, revenge!" It was a fitting opening move.

Cloyster's shell closed and the pokemon stayed still even after Hitmonlee's attack had harmlessly ceased, unable to penetrate his strong shell. "Cloyster, what's wrong?" They had been reluctant to play with her in the mansion's yard. It was true that she had not seen Giovanni's pokemon or her own past pokemon in many years, but were they really so neglected during that time?

"Don't be stubborn and listen to Delia," Giovanni ordered and Cloyster immediately opened his shell.

"We have a lot to do," Delia remarked, her displeasure clear in her voice. "For now, please help me Cloyster," playing with her was one thing, but in order to battle for her with all their might, Delia would have to regain the trust she lost when she gave her pokemon away to Giovanni. "Aurora beam!" The beam hit its target, weakening Hitmonlee and the battle continued with Cloyster on the offensive, showing that he was still very powerful, even if he was a little doubtful.

Hitmonlee was not fairing well and his trainer seemed to have all but forgotten her Tauros. The Tauros was soon defeated by Otoshi's Marowak. The pink haired woman recalled both the Tauros and Hitmonlee, glaring at the new group of grunts to do something.

The five Tempest grunts sent out more pokemon to join the battle: Parasect, Exeggutor, Hitmonchan, Hypno and Alakazam. Everything had spiraled into chaos, Giovanni didn't expect the battle to be organized, but he didn't expect it to get this messy. He had no more time to observe, "I might as well join the chaos, Golem, Machamp, Rhydon, earthquake!"

The three pokemon materialized in red beams and combined their attacks into a massive earthquake that threatened to make the Pokemon Center fall apart. "This is crazy!" One of the Tempest grunts from the first group cried out.

"We have to retreat!" A Neo Rocket grunt agreed.

"Don't be so cowardly!" Comet scolded them. Scyther had been avoiding Pikachu's attacks, being recalled into his pokeball if it was too late to dodge, then being sent out again. The two Gyarados rendered each other unconscious and were called back into their pokeballs.

"Pika!" Pikachu couldn't stay on his feet because of the Earthquake. Scyther was flying and his trainer could have taken the opportunity to attack. Unknown to Ash, Comet had decided that Giovanni's interference was a signal that the battle had to end soon and no further dirty tricks were necessary.

Why didn't he attack and why did he look so familiar? "You're that waiter!" Ash realized, "you look different when you're not wearing lime green... But that's not the point, I'm not letting any of you get away!" With the ability to fly, Charizard should be fine, even with the Earthquake. Go Char-" Ash was interrupted before he could release Charizard from his pokeball when a seemingly wild Meowth jumped on his head and got away with his hat. Purry was feeling bored not to be included in the battle. "Come back here!" It was very hard to chase after her with the ground shaking. On the bright side it was also difficult for the grunts to escape.

Golem, Machamp and Rhydon were starting to look tired, but Giovanni would not allow the attack to cease, "don't stop now, keep using earthquake!" Marowak and Pikachu were becoming too dizzy, thus their respective trainers picked them up and held them, with Ash momentarily postponing the recovery of his hat to protect Pikachu. Delia called Cloyster back into his pokeball and Persian jumped on Giovanni's back. Helpless against the massive earthquake, Parasect, Exeggutor, Hitmonchan, Hypno and Alakazam finally fell unconscious and Golem, Machamp and Rhydon at last stopped the earthquake attack. The ground continued to vibrate for a while, albeit much more gently.

The sound of sirens was heard outside and Comet retreated, leaving the grunts behind. "Next time Tempest will take down Team Rocket for sure!" Comet jumped on Scyther's back.

Purry jumped on Comet's shoulders, still in possession of Ash's hat. "My hat!" Ash rushed after them as Comet exited through a window, riding on Scyther.

"Nobody move!" Jenny dashed into the storage room, "you, near the window, freeze!"

"They stole my hat!" Ash tried to get out through the window, but Jenny hurried to stop him.

"Wait, it's a misunderstanding, Ash is not with the bad guys!" Misty tried to explain.

In the mist of the chaos another earthquake took place, though it was a natural one. It made Ash fall to the floor as he tried to climb out the window. "Stop that!" Jenny shouted, thinking that it was being caused by the pokemon.

"That's not the pokemon," as if to prove his point, Giovanni returned his pokemon to their pokeballs. The earthquake ceased after a few seconds, "that happens sometimes, when strong pokemon use earthquake at the same time. The Earth reacts, but it's nothing to worry about." It had been a long time since his original pokemon were able to create that effect. Giovanni had assumed they simply couldn't do it anymore, but something seemed to motivate them to try harder to win that battle.

"Everyone please calm down," nurse Joy stood at the door among the flow of officers that arrested the people in uniforms and watched the others suspiciously. "It's okay, Ash has no connection to any gangs." Joy held the baby protectively in her arms, glad that the police had finally arrived. She had called them as soon as she realized what was going on.

"Exactly, if he says he only wants his hat back, that is all there is to it," Otoshi added.

Ash looked out the window but saw no sign of the hat thieves, "they're gone, but I won't give up, I'll definitely find it!"

"What's so special about a hat?" Giovanni couldn't help it but to ask. The hat in question looked very old, it was about time Ash replaced it. Better yet, he could stop wearing hats and learn to keep his hair under control.

"It's a Pokemon League collectable item; I've had it for years! I have other hats at home, but that one is special. I decided to wear it for luck in the Viridian City tournament. I had to send a million post cards to win it and I have to get it back!"

Ash attempted to continue his search and rescue mission for his hat, but Delia stopped him. "It's okay, I'm sure your hat will be returned to you." Delia reasoned that Comet must still be working for Giovanni, infiltrating Tempest. She looked at Giovanni insistently, "right?"

Giovanni wasn't sure what Delia was expecting him to say, but he found Ash's attachment to a simple hat to be ridiculous. Even if it was a collector's item, it was still just a hat. "Right..." he decided to agree; maybe she just wanted someone to support her statement. He didn't know why Ash would believe it, unless he was as much of an idealist as Delia, which was probably the case.

"Cheer up, Ash," Misty encouraged, with Pikachu adding in a few words in his own language. "You got your hat back the last time a pokemon stole it."

"Yeah, but I didn't lose sight of it like this and Team Rocket wasn't involved," Ash frowned.

"Karma is strong, that's what I've learned," Otoshi voiced, "your hat will be returned."

Delia nodded in agreement, "Giovanni will find it for you."

"What?" Giovanni certainly didn't expect that and neither did anyone else.

"Just ask your friend the detective for some help," Delia grinned.

It made Giovanni wonder if this was some sort of strange revenge she was using to annoy him. If that was the case she accomplished her goal because he was annoyed. He hid that fact, seeing as everyone was staring at him waiting for his reply. "I'll see what I can do."

Since everyone was trying to cheer him up, Ash thought perhaps he shouldn't make such a big fuss. Even if it was his beloved hat and he missed it terribly, Ash calmed down for the time being, "thank you."

xoxox xox xoxox

By the time Ash, Misty, Delia Giovanni and their pokemon returned to the Cerulean gym, the cake was ready to be taken out of the oven. "Let it cool, it's too hot right now, besides, I have to put the layers together and decorate it," Delia warned Ash, who clearly wanted to start eating immediately.

Several of them felt guilty for the state the Pokemon Center was left in. The walls, floor and ceiling were cracked, with parts of the ceiling having collapsed. The building would have to go through heavy maintenance. The structure was too unstable and not safe to live in, Joy and her family would be temporarily staying at their good friend Jenny's house. The pokeballs would be kept in the police station for safety.

Joy and Otoshi assured them that all that mattered was that everyone was safe and none of the pokemon were stolen. Plus they blamed Tempest entirely for the situation, believing the story about the Rockets being agents of Tempest using Team Rocket's identity falsely. As for Ash, Misty, Delia and Giovanni, they were heroes and that information would surely reach public knowledge.

"Giovanni, I know it's late but could you please leave a message for your detective friend so that he gets to work on finding the hat first thing tomorrow?" Delia smiled sweetly.

The part about having connections with a detective fit the situation of being better informed than expected, but Giovanni was still annoyed with the entire hat situation. "Alright, I'll leave a message," he checked his cell phone, which was now working, "looks like I finally have a signal," he began to type a message for Comet.

"It was probably the cell phone company having problems, that happens to me too," Ash commented, while eyeing the cake hungrily. "Thanks again for helping me find my hat."

"You're welcome," Giovanni tried his best not to sound annoyed or sarcastic. Despite all his public relations acting experience, he wasn't sure if he was successful.

"It's really special," Ash continued to explained, noticing that Giovanni wasn't quite convinced about the importance of the hat. "It's something that only I have and I can't stand the thought of it being taken away. It's rare, it's unique and it's mine." If power was added to the equation Giovanni could relate to it. Ash noticed the change in Giovanni's expression from forced understanding to truly knowing what he meant. Though he wasn't too observant, that was one of those rare moments, "you understand now, don't you? I'm glad," he smiled. "It was also interesting to see why I heard you were called Giovanni of the Earth. I thought it was because of the Earth badge, but there's more to it. It's because even the Earth itself responds to your pokemon, isn't it?"

"Something like that," Giovanni found that the pokemon were acting differently, but he didn't fully understand why.

Delia's pokemon felt betrayed to have been left with another trainer, who didn't appreciate them as much as she did. Delia had trained Giovanni's pokemon in the past, but even if they might have felt abandoned by her sudden departure, they were his pokemon from the start. It was not the same; they didn't feel that she had an obligation towards them. They were happy to see Delia again and tried to earn her attention by battling like they used to before they became unmotivated after years of neglect. Persian was treated well, so even if he had missed Delia, he was most attached to Giovanni and had no reason to feel bitter.

Giovanni's cell phone beeped with an incoming text message and Ash froze hopefully, "there's no way the hat could have been found that fast," Giovanni looked at the screen. Comet would surely be confused by his strange request to send the stolen hat to him. Comet's message assured that the hat was already on its way via secure express mail and no one from Tempest or Neo Rocket saw him send it. The whole thing somehow felt like a spy movie. "It's just an automatic reply saying my message was received."

"Oh..." Ash knew it was silly to hope for such immediate results. His mood took a turn for the better when Delia began to put the finishing touches on the cake, once it had cooled.

Delia covered the cake with frosting, placing the chocolate chip cookie flavored part on the dish first, then the pure chocolate layer and after covering it with more sugary white frosting, she place the cheese cake on top for an unusual but delicious combination. She added some extra caramel to the top and finally added little balls of cookies and cream ice-cream on top, so that there would be one ball on each piece when it was cut.

"I have to take a picture of it!" Misty announced as she ran off to find her camera.

After the pictures were taken, Ash could wait no longer, "I'm hungry," he emphasized. He watched impatiently as Misty got some plates and spoons and Delia began to cut the cake. The rest of the pokemon were let out of their pokeballs for the treat too.

The cake was served and they began to eat, including the pokemon. "Slow down, Ash," Delia reminded.

"It's delicious!" Ash loudly exclaimed.

"This is the cake I want," Misty assumed the perfect elements for her wedding would come to her when she saw them. "The cake for our wedding, I take it that's okay with you, Ash?"

"Mmm-hmm," Ash nodded in the middle of savoring a bite.

"Would you bake it?" Misty asked Delia hopefully, though she knew the answer that would come.

"Of course!" Delia couldn't be happier to have been asked to bake their wedding cake, though they didn't even have a date planned out to hold the ceremony yet. She looked at Giovanni with curiosity, "like it?"

"It's the best thing I've ever tasted," though Giovanni was in the middle of his good gym leader act, Delia could easily tell that he wasn't lying. She felt a strange sense of pride in knowing that with a little creativity and perseverance she was able to make something that he liked more than what his chefs made. It was also very nice that they could eat together like this. She hoped that even after Ash eventually learned the truth, they could do this again.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon. Otoshi appeared in the episode Bad to the Bone.