Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Don't Give Me Diamonds ❯ Chapter 26

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

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 88: Give me Purpose

In the Aquatic Circuit XL, underground at Viridian, Blastoise, Tentacruel, Milotic and Gyarados launched forward in the pool, speedily surfing along the water. As they approached the first jump, Delia noticed the rings were electrified. The hoops were large enough for fully evolved pokemon to jump through, but touching the edges would be painful. The water pokemon jumped through the lower hoops almost in unison. The trainers jumped through the higher rings, landing on their pokemon's back on the other side. As they progressed through the lap, the circles were a little higher.

The balcony soon became crowded with spectators witnessing the race. The lower part of the floor was also crowded with people watching the competition unfold. They were getting drenched being so close to the pool, but they didn't seem to care, caught in the excitement of the race. The racers were almost to the turn of the oval shaped pool on one of the far sides. There was another hoop there, which was a difficult move.

"Gyarados' body is so long and that turn looks difficult. He would have to fly to get through that without touching the hoop," Delia watched with concern.

"Even if they like touch the hoops, the electricity isn't like enough to like seriously hurt, it'll just like sting, you know? It'll like get stronger, but it's like still not that bad, you know?" Luke's dizziness from Laiki's speech seemed to have considerably dissipated as he focused on watching the race.

Gyarados leapt from the water, the turns on either side of the oval shaped watery race track were the hardest part. His long body was almost through as the pull of gravity inevitably acted against him. The long water pokemon's tail touched the large ring, which let out a blast of electricity. He growled in protest, his wet scales transferring some of the shock to his trainer. However, they were far from out of the race. They continued on as if nothing happened, racing through the other side of the giant pool.

Domino wasn't so lucky. Milotic screeched and contorted with the jolt of electricity that took her by surprise after miscalculating the jump. She threw her trainer into the water below. They would not be disqualified, but would lose precious time as the other contestants moved further ahead.

The race continued with the circles becoming higher. At the third jump, Tyson, Attila and Comet were head to head. As they passed by, water splashed up to the people in the balcony, though they were high and far enough so that only a few drops reached them. On the forth ring, Domino started to catch up. Approaching the fifth hoop, Comet took to the inner side of the pool, with Gyarados jumping through the second one from the inside. Closing in on the sixth jump, they went even closer to the inner area. It might have been the shortest route to the goal, but it was the most difficult jump to make due to the sharp turn.

"Why is he getting closer? Isn't it easier on the further side?" Delia's voice was barely audible over the cheers of the crowds.

"It's like too high and Gyarados is like too long, you know? He'll like touch the ring anyway, you know? Like only one of the rings like electrocutes at the same time. I like think Comet's like going to take the hit, it's like allowed, you know? You should like see the rookies like racing or like trying to race. They like fall off and sometimes like climb the pillars because their pokemon can't like jump like high enough while like carrying them, you know? Almost everything's allowed except like switching pokemon, or like attacking someone else, or like skipping a ring. If you like know your pokemon will touch the ring anyway, you can like touch it yourself and like take the hit," Luke explained.

"If the pokemon faints it's an instant loss," Laiki elaborated, "but that only really happens with rookies. Gyarados can take the hit; Comet just wants to make it easier for him."

The sixth jump happened as they had expected, with Comet choosing to go through the most difficult route in hopes of claiming a solid lead. He watched for the timing and reached for the ring as Gyarados slipped through it. The electricity was stronger than in the past rings. Attila fell a little behind, having decided that he wanted to avoid the delay that it may cause if his Blastoise touched the circle. Attila jumped through the third one from the inside. Tyson took the second hoop from the inside, along with the second place so far.

Attila refused to give up; this race would decide who held the top spot in championship wins. There was only one jump left and Comet was perfectly positioned to take the innermost ring. Since there was no turn involved, it would be easier even if it was the highest jump. Attila pushed his Blastoise to go faster and momentarily passed Tyson. Attila was aiming for the second innermost ring so that he would come out next to Comet, rather than directly behind him. Tyson refused to let it go and the two men guided their pokemon to jump through the second innermost ring. At the same time, Domino, jumped through the third ring from the inside, determined to make a strong final effort. Unlike Attila and Tyson, she had nothing to collide with.

Attila and Tyson's Blastoise and Tentacruel bumped into each other as they passed through the ring, throwing their trainers off. The two pokemon were uncomfortably stuck in the ring simultaneously, before finally squeezing through together. Attila and Tyson had landed in the water near each other and were fighting. Another Rocket with a whistle called their attention and they swam away from each other, glaring daggers. Attila and Tyson got out of the pool, knowing of the repercussions that came from causing unnecessary fights within the base, which may disturb the training activities.

Without looking back, Comet had already crossed the finish line and claimed the victory for the race. The triumph also broke the tie for most championship wins, which he previously had with Attila. Domino took second place, while Attila and Tyson were declared disqualified due to having attacked each other. They would still be able to continue racing next time, since the fight didn't become serious enough to merit anything beyond a warning. The look Attila gave the others made it clear he would return the following week and expected them to be there. A championship win was still counted even if the previous week's champion wasn't present, but Attila wanted a rematch and Comet was all up for it.

The crowd dispersed with some running off to collect their winnings and others ready to count their losses. Some went to congratulate the winner and others discussed the most exciting parts of the race with their friends. The pillars with the pairs of hexagonal rings became straight again and sunk beneath the water of the pool. The island in the pool's center sunk as well, with the water level going down to fill up the space. The water was filled up to the proper level again as they got ready for some other type of competition.

Delia smiled seeing that there was a good amount of control over the sport. Plus the rings really weren't as dangerous as she thought. Nearly lost in the crowds, Delia managed to keep an eye on Comet as he made his way past the multitude, occasionally stopping to exchange a few words with people. He headed for some doors on the far wall. People were coming and going from the large double doors, men through the left and women through the right. He was probably heading to the lockers to get dressed. "Good luck," she smiled at Luke reassuringly.

"It'll be like okay, because you said so, you know?" With confidence, Luke walked off to the elevator disappearing out of sight.

Delia was left to wonder if her judgment really should be trusted that much. The atmosphere was so cheerful that she felt optimistic as she realized, "Ash would love to try this."

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, in a small cottage, north of Ecruteak City, Iblis paced around impatiently. There was a teenager tied to a chair. The small structure of the cottage was otherwise furnished with an old wooden table and three other chairs, one of them lopsided. The effects of the induced sleep had since worn off and the boy was glaring daggers at his captor. He reminded her of both Ash and Giovanni, it was unnerving.

Iblis knew she couldn't risk going back for Ash, certainly not in broad daylight. She should have guessed that the capture was far too easy. "It doesn't matter," she thought aloud. "Sweet Delia will come for you anyway," she laughed like a witch from a fairytale, determined to make the protagonist miserable. She was in an especially rotten mood due to her plans failing one after another. To top it all up, that clone she worked so hard to get out of the Rocket lab had escaped. She had no idea where number ten could have gone.

"Why are you doing this? Why Delia? What did she ever do to you?" Vandel, alias Skye, asked from his position tied to the chair. She had taken his pokeball containing the green Bulbasaur and had it on her belt.

"She stole him from me," Iblis growled bitterly, "I was to become the queen of the world and she stole everything from me!"

"I see..." Vandel closed his eyes in thought, "so that's what happened, you intend to kill her."

"I will!" Iblis raged, "she'll come for you even if you're not Ash. You'll just have to be enough."

"I don't think Ash would have been captured," Vandel mused, "I don't know what happened, what would have happened or what will happen, but it seems I found the cause."

"Stop your stupid ramblings!" Her eyes threatened to silence him permanently if he didn't shut up.

Vandel grinned, much like Giovanni when he was feeling victorious. His eyes shone with a special kind of determination, the kind found in Ash's eyes. "I guess I'm no longer taking random guesses, that's good to know." With one swift motion, Vandel was on his feet at an odd angle, with his ankles strapped to the chair's legs. He quickly spun around knocking Iblis back with the chair and simultaneously knocking one of her pokeballs off her belt. It was Bulbasaur; he saw the scratches from when Givan batted it away with his claws the previous day, sending the pokeball crashing into the wall. That earned him a protest of disapproval from Dia, who thought that calling out Bulbasaur for dinner could have been done more gently.

"Saur?" The little green Bulbasaur didn't recognize his surroundings and was instantly frightened. His fear grew upon seeing his trainer tied to a chair, struggling to stop some scary lady from taking aim with her gun. He was using the chair to tackle her backwards, trying to make her lose her grip on the weapon.

"Bulbasaur, razor leaf on me!" Vandel ordered with such authority that Bulbasaur dared not question it. The small green pokemon attacked his own trainer, successfully freeing him of the ropes that had bound him to the chair. A few small cuts were also inflicted upon him, but he didn't seem to care.

"You insolent fool; you're going to die for this!" Iblis was finally able to aim. However, her gun shot missed Vandel as small vine whips wrapped around her arm and pulled.

Wasting no time, Vandel kicked the gun out of her hand and delivered a solid punch to the face, which left Iblis in a pained daze. "Saving Delia is what I've been training for. You might have killed her the first time, but not this time. This time, I'm here; this time, the great fall will be prevented." The boy picked up the gun from the floor. "If I kill you, you won't be able to kill her." He aimed for her head at point blank; she was still too dazed from the hit to try to get away. It would be hopeless anyway.

"Bulbasaur!" Frightened, the small green pokemon wrapped one of his vine whips around his trainer's wrist. "Saur!" He shook his head.

"Mind your own business," Vandel harshly pulled the vine whip away. "You have no idea what the future is like, this is to save your kind as well."

"Gengar, Alakazam," Iblis weakly released her pokemon. They were trained for interrogations, not battles. She knew there wasn't much they could do. However, if they served as her shield, that would be enough.

The door to the cottage was suddenly knocked down by a large, strong Persian. He was quick to attack the Alakazam and Gengar slashing at them in rapid succession. Iblis watched in horror, fearing for her life, "confuse ray, hypnosis, fight back!" The Alakazam and Gengar, who had been forcefully evolved, were helpless against the Persian. They were knocked out easily.

"Givan," Vandel immediately recognized his own pokemon, lowering his weapon. "How did you find me?"

Givan shook his head, indicating that this was not the proper time to discuss such details. Besides, he wasn't wearing his collar, so Vandel wouldn't understand him anyway. Furthermore, he didn't know the answer to that himself. He just knew that the cottage was the enemy's hideout. When he went to check on Vandel and realized he was missing from Pallet Town, he went to find him there.

It was one of those random thoughts that surfaced without explanation. It was an inexplicable answer that he knew but shouldn't know. It was almost as if he could vaguely remember bits and pieces of things he couldn't have witnessed. Givan's silent gestures were enough to communicate that they should give Iblis to Team Rocket alive. After all, Dia would strongly disapprove if he allowed the boy to have any blood on his hands.

xoxox xox xoxox

At the Team Rocket Viridian base, among the spectators of the Aquatic Circuit XL, Laiki had suddenly frozen and fallen silent after Luke left. Delia was there when Giovanni brought the cure, she probably knew the truth.

"Laiki?" Pixel waved her hand in front of the blond girl's face. "I think she's experiencing a mental blue screen."

After a few more seconds, Laiki finally blinked, "this is a totally crazy theory, but I have to ask," she paused and looked at Delia seriously. "When you mentioned Luke had to talk to Comet, you didn't mean about... his... origin... did you?"

"Actually, yes," Delia admitted, further questioning if she should have encouraged that or not. The way Laiki's jaw dropped and she experienced, as Pixel would say, another mental blue screen, wasn't exactly encouraging.

"What origin?" Pixel curiously inquired.

"Um... ah... er..." Laiki babbled before blurting out, "Comet is long lost royalty!"

Laiki's announcement was something that neither Pixel nor Delia believed. "Long lost royalty, right. Who is his majesty Comet related to?" Pixel further inquired, wondering what crazy story Laiki would come up with. Her question about the mysterious detail, that both Laiki and Delia seemed to know about, was still present in her mind. If they didn't tell her, she would get some information out of Comet later. Besides, how secret could his origin be?

"Well you see," Laiki began her explanation in all seriousness. "I happen to know that the daughter, of the son, of the aunt, of Comet's father, is dating the long lost prince of our secret and proud kingdom. So that means that if they get married, she would be the princess. Which means that Comet would have a... um... what do you call the daughter, of the son, of the aunt, of your father anyway?"

"The son of your aunt would be your cousin, so this is the daughter of Luke's cousin we're talking about," Pixel mused.

The conversation took another casual turn and Delia decided to go along with it. "Right, if your father's cousin is your second cousin, I think that the daughter of your father's cousin would be your third cousin," Delia reasoned.

"Right," Laiki nodded, "one day, Comet's third cousin might become royalty for all we know."

"That makes him a royal how?" In Pixel's opinion, the relation, if it were real, was far too distant to mean anything.

"By the marriage of his third cousin," Laiki didn't really know how to support her point beyond that. "I don't know how close that is to actually happening, maybe Delia can tell us."

"Me?" Delia blinked, was she supposed to add something to the fairytale?

Laiki nodded energetically at the prospect of hearing some interesting information. "You're the queen after all, you should know."

Delia paused and allowed the influx of information to wash over her. If she was the queen in Laiki's story, that meant the so called kingdom was Team Rocket, of which Giovanni was the king. That would make Ash the prince and the future princess was, "Misty?"

"Yup," Laiki chirped, "I happen to know that her father was Luke's cousin, the son of his aunt."

"Wow, I guess there are more family connections than I thought," Delia laughed. She had learned a lot of interesting things as of her return to Team Rocket. Daisy was married to Lando, whose father and consequently he, worked for Team Rocket. Violet was dating Kenobi, the son of Rune, who was currently Viridian mayor and secretly also with Team Rocket. Kenobi was also the future mayor of Viridian City if all went according to plans. Misty was engaged to Ash, who was the son of the leader of Team Rocket. As if all those connections weren't enough, some kind of obscure distant connection had to turn up to add another drop to the already full glass. "Now that you mention it, Comet and Misty's hair color is pretty similar."

"That doesn't explain all this secrecy," Pixel pointed out the fact that she was not so easily distracted.

"Yes, well... I guess he'll tell you eventually, maybe," Laiki gave a weak forced smile before clapping her hands together and loudly declaring, "let's just forget about everything and go man watching!"

"I should go see if Giovanni needs anything," Delia decided.

"I have to keep studying codes," Pixel added.

"Fine, be that way," Laiki sighed, "ah well, maybe I should go back to my usual post now." She headed to the lockers to get dressed so she could return to the infirmary.

Unlike Laiki, Pixel was still in her Team Rocket uniform. Delia's thoughts went to Luke and Comet one more time. "Could you keep an eye on Comet for me? If he seems... sad, let me know, maybe I could help somehow."

"Sure, no problem," Pixel's curiosity incremented with Delia's request, but she left it at that for the time being.

xoxox xox xoxox

At the battle arena of the Viridian Gym, a newly evolved pokemon was easily beating the opponent. Delia arrived on time to catch the end of the battle between Giovanni's Rhyperior and a Rocket grunt's Mightyena. The Mightyena was knocked out and recalled into its pokeball, with an apology from the grunt for not providing a better challenge, or any challenge at all.

"Doing some training?" Delia smiled as she approached Giovanni.

"Hardly," he replied almost amused, which was unusual given that he didn't get the challenge he wanted. He was looking forward to the challenge he would surely get from Ash.

Delia saw it coming from a mile away. They would battle; she knew it all too well. It was almost like a form of communication for pokemon trainers. She knew Ash would want to battle too and she hoped that they somehow became a little closer that way, even if it was just a tiny first step. The day felt crowded with many events, but also somehow optimistic. "I'm going to Pallet Town."

Giovanni nodded, "I'll see you this evening."

"Yes," Delia smiled, "both of us."

xoxox xox xoxox

Just outside of Pallet Town, a trainer made his way through Route One with an egg in his arms. He had traveled from the eastern edge of Kanto where the virus was at its worst. His entire pokemon team had fallen to the illness. The effects of the virus seem to lessen as he traveled to the west of Kanto and were not as strong in Johto. He didn't know how long that would last, but it was his only hope. He knew that the Oak research laboratory was in Pallet Town and intended to leave the egg there to be studied. It was all he had left of his past pokemon.

"What does it matter, it's doomed anyway." He bitterly set the egg down on the side of the road and went on his way. He intended to get a fresh start in Johto and maybe head home to Hoenn before things got worse in Johto.

"Vulpix!" Dia had gone out to patrol the area, just in case, while Givan ran off to find Vandel. She knew that he had a point in not wanting to leave Pallet Town unguarded by someone of their team. Witnessing the trainer abandoning his pokemon, one that had not even hatched no less, she ran over to him. "Vulpix, vulpix!"

The trainer was tempted to try to catch the Vulpix which looked healthy enough, but had no way to do so. He was going to obtain a new pokemon to start with from a friend in Johto. Shaking his head, he turned around and headed away from Pallet Town, ignoring the Vulpix.

"Vulpix!" Dia called once more, but was ignored. If that's how it was, maybe the little one was better off with someone else. Dia touched the small egg, it was still warm and it twitched occasionally, it would hatch very soon. How could that trainer abandon the poor baby? Dia knew she couldn't take the child with her. When she, Givan and Vandel went home, they could only take what they came with. However, she could at least find a home for the child. She picked up the egg with one paw, holding it close to her chest, and went back to the Pallet House.

xoxox xox xoxox

It was the afternoon in Pallet Town and Vandel was getting ready to leave. "The world should be much better now." He looked at Dia, who seemed to be feeling accomplished. She had her collar back on, since they were leaving soon anyway. "All that's left to do is to give Ash the anti-paradox card." He looked around the guest room that had served as his residence during his stay at the Oak research lab. As soon as he gave Ash that card, the last piece to the puzzle would be set. "Hey Dia, what did you do with that egg you had when Givan and I got back to Pallet Town?"

"I gave it to Delia," Dia replied, her collar tracing red sound lines as she spoke.

Dia remembered Delia wondering if the egg belonged to Dia, to which she shook her head. "An orphan?" Delia had asked, to which Dia nodded. "Do you think Skye will want to take care of it?" It was out of the question if he wanted to keep the baby pokemon or not, he couldn't anyway. Delia seemed to somehow understand and offered, "I can take care of the baby." Dia had smiled and encouraged her to do so. Delia's team then consisted of Kingler, Cloyster, Mimey, the fully recovered Oddish, whom was given back to her after healing, and a mysterious egg.

Vandel nodded, "that's good, she'll take care of it." He looked at the pokeball containing Bulbasaur. "I guess this is goodbye." He released the grass pokemon and petted him, "you're going to be the Oaks' pokemon again, I can't take you with me where we're going."

The little green Bulbasaur seemed sad, not understanding why he couldn't accompany his new trainer on his journey. He had witnessed some scary things in their short time together, but he thought that if he continued journeying with Skye and his other pokemon, it would all be for the best. "Saur?"

"Aw, it's not that we don't like you," Dia tried to console the disappointed little Bulbasaur. "It's hard to explain, we can't take anyone along that wasn't in our original group. Don't worry, the Oaks will find a new trainer for you and it'll be lots of fun."

"Bulba saur," though still a bit disappointed, the Bulbasaur at least seemed to accept the fact.

"I'll miss you too," Dia smiled gently.

Vandel threw his backpack over his shoulders. He made sure not to leave anything behind, with the exception of the card, and not to take anything he didn't come with. "Where did Givan run off to anyway?"

"I'm sure he'll be back soon," Dia replied and exited the guest room along with Vandel. They went to find Gary.

Gary was in the middle of typing something, apparently some kind of research. A cup of coffee was sitting next to his keyboard with pictures of the three Kanto starter pokemon. "Almost done, almost... Rejecting my article on that reason, how could they?" He muttered under his breath. "It may inspire an unnecessary panic, they say," he grumbled. "Panic is never necessary, but none the less the gravity of the situation can't be hidden for much longer. The east of Kanto is a mess," his furious typing never ceased. "Make it sound more hopeful," he grumbled, "how am I supposed to do that?"

"Excuse me," Vandel spoke up and Gary's rambling ceased immediately.

The young researcher looked up from his computer and smiled as casually as he could. "You disappeared for a while. There was a drunken Rocket stumbling around like a zombie in town, but I didn't think that could be the cause of your little disappearance. After all, that guy was so confused and had no pokemon on him. I handed him to the police. So, where did you run off to?"

"No where important," Vandel lied, "listen, I can't really explain it, but I have to go back home. I don't think I'll return, ever. So this is goodbye, sorry it's so short notice."

Gary's expression soured, "you're worried about your pokemon, aren't you? It's because of the virus that's killed practically every pokemon in the east of Kanto; you're worried it'll reach here soon."

"That's not it," Givan and Dia were immune. However, the virus in the east was spreading fast. Maybe since the fall was adverted, the cure would come to that world sooner. Then maybe, the world from which Vandel came would be even better. It would no longer be a place where pokemon that used to be common were extremely rare. It wouldn't be a broken world, because is foundation would not have been removed; Team Rocket would still be there. "I just really need to go home. I can't take Bulbasaur with me," he handed the pokeball back to Gary. The little green Bulbasaur, who was still outside of it, sat down on the floor, next to the researcher's chair.

"Let me guess," Gary looked at him suspiciously, "you can't tell me where you're going or what your real name is?"

"How did you know?" Vandel was taken by surprise.

"I did a background check on you, just in case," Gary gave him a knowing grin. "There are no records of a Skye Mirai ever existing anywhere. That is a reason to be alarmed and suspicious, but you seemed trust worthy, so I let you stay. I don't know who you are, where you came from, why you're here or what you hoped to accomplish, but I don't think it's bad."

Vandel smirked, his eyes shone with determination and satisfaction at his mission. It was a look that Gary had seen in Ash before. That smirk was something he had seen somewhere else, in the Viridian City gym leader, though Gary wasn't immediately aware of it. "Even if I tell you the whole truth, I don't think you would believe it."

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 89: Give me Revelations

While Vandel gave the Oaks his goodbyes, Givan was at the Pallet House. He led Ash outside, his tail wrapped around the young man's wrist as he pulled him along. "What was it that you wanted to show me?" Ash asked with curiosity. If he didn't know any better, he would think that big Persian just wanted to lead him away from everyone else.

They had finally found a quiet spot behind the Pallet House, while Delia, Misty and the pokemon were inside. Givan began to glow and anyone else would guess he was getting ready to attack. There was something about that Persian that reminded Ash of someone. It all made him so curious he didn't move. A blast of hidden power came from Givan, the red jewel on his forehead glowing brightly.

The effect of the hidden power was unusual; it caused Ash no pain as it overtook his senses. The young man gasped in surprise, his back pressed against the wall behind the Pallet House for support. He saw his mother holding a pokemon egg, she seemed younger. He saw her leaning into a volcano, when did that happen? He saw her standing on the edge of a cliff. This was more recent, but why was she in a Team Rocket uniform? He saw her wearing the dress from Daisy's wedding. Then he saw her again, in an unknown place, with a sincere expression. He heard her voice in his mind, 'I love you.' Then he heard another voice, 'I love you too,' and the visions ended.

Ash allowed himself to slip down the wall, almost breathless. "What did you do?" The images and the feelings that went with them were still fresh in his mind. "How did you do that?" He knew then that the one who Givan reminded him of was his father. It wasn't simply because Giovanni had a Persian too; it was something else, something much deeper. It was something that few would believe, even if it was explained to them. "Was I seeing what he saw? How is that even possible?" The large Persian seemed to have no intentions of elaborating on his 'message.' Ash remained on the same spot taking in the images that he saw.

"There you are," Vandel, alias Skye, arrived, turning the corner and walking towards the area behind the Pallet House. "What are you doing sitting there?" Still too absorbed in his thoughts, Ash couldn't reply. Vandel took something from his backpack; it appeared to be a collectible card. It was the one exception to the rule; this was something that he had to leave behind to avoid contradictions. "This is for you," he gave the card to Ash.

Ash had just barely woken up enough to receive it. "It looks rare," he finally managed to find his voice.

"It is very rare, one of the kind I would say," Vandel grinned. "Keep it safe, make sure you never lose it," he spoke as if the fate of the world depended on it. "Eventually, when years pass, give it to your descendant and keep passing it on like that."

Ash nodded, after thinking about it, Skye was pretty mysterious. He had an aura of familiarity around him. His Persian reminded Ash of his father and the Vulpix of his mother. It was inexplicable, especially after what just happened. Somehow, he felt that he could trust this boy and his pokemon. "I'll treasure it, I promise."

"Good," Vandel's usual grin turned more into an Ash-like smile. "It's time for me to go home. I already said goodbye to the Oaks and Delia. I don't think I'll come by Pallet Town again," at least not that Pallet Town, "but I'll always remember my time here."

xoxox xox xoxox

Some time later, far from Pallet Town and away from the road, Vandel, Givan and Dia stopped and looked back at the little town in the distance one last time. They had anonymously reported Iblis to Team Rocket, who had sent some agents to investigate. It would be an inexplicable shock to find her tied up in the little cottage. It would be something Giovanni could never figure out, but at least it was a step forward. However, number ten and number three were still out there.

"Ready?" Vandel looked at his two pokemon, who nodded. He took a futuristic looking communication device from his backpack, which he kept well hidden. He activated it, feeling the static and heat from the equipment as it strained to reach its counterpart. "Mission accomplished!" He victoriously declared into the device.

Through the heavy static, a barely perceptible female voice replied, "well done, I'm taking you home." The machinery in the future locked on to their position. Just as mysteriously as they came, the boy, the Persian and the Vulpix disappeared. Though the boy thought the capture of Iblis was the key to preventing the fall of Team Rocket, that was far from the truth.

'Do you ever wonder why we're here? I think I know...'

xoxox xox xoxox

Vandel returned to his place of origin, his own time hundreds of years later. This was not an underground base, but a grand palace. Red, black and gold covered every surface. Something that seemed out of place in the splendor, were the large hole on the ceiling and the disarray of broken furniture, shattered sculptures and ruined paintings. "He came," Vandel simply stated.

His mother, Hime, looked the same as he remembered her, save for her new expensive dress. "He did," she allowed a sigh to escape her. Then she held up the collectible card, which was in fact an information storage device. Card readers capable of interpreting the encoded message it carried wouldn't exist for years. When they did, they would recognize even the very old cards, using them for simulated pokemon battles. She was destined to stumble upon some very important information when trying to play a game. She reviewed the story she had learned from the card, "long ago a terrible disaster befell Team Rocket. Delia died due to circumstances history did not remember. As a result, Ash blamed Giovanni and challenged him and Team Rocket. Some say that eventually, Giovanni lost the will to fight. Some say that Ash found a way to cause big trouble for Team Rocket. Regardless of how it happened, the point was that Team Rocket fell."

After a pause, Hime continued, "when Team Rocket fell, the world fell apart along with it. The production and commerce of most food and medicine was paralyzed. Science took a harsh blow and a terrible virus continued to spread. They say that somewhere the cure might have existed, but no one found it. As a result, the world faced a terrible dark age that Ash regretted. Picking up the pieces was nearly impossible; the world was far too broken. Time passed and pokemon became rarer, with some becoming extinct. A few species would survive in time and begin to repopulate in the wild, but many would be lost forever."

Hime contemplated the card as she spoke, "Team Rocket, what was left of it, banded together to one day reemerge. Ash tried to fix his mistake of taking Team Rocket away from a world that needed it. The damage was done, thus an ambition was born to undo it all. It has been the duty of the Roketto to seek out Celebi and ask to use its power to change the past. Hundreds of years passed and it was finally done, though not by the peaceful means our ancestor would have wanted. However, if those disasters never happened, time traveling to prevent them would not be needed. If the time travel didn't occur, the disasters would happen. They would be erased and again a contradiction. With this information, I would know to train you and send you to the past whether you grew up as the son of a fugitive or the son of a queen. The loop of changes would be ever present and history would be changed without the danger of a paradox. I've forgotten my time as a fugitive; I've always lived as royalty."

"Lucky you," Vandel chuckled, "since I was not in my original time when the change occurred, my memories are the same. I remember the broken world; I remember why I so desperately needed to change it." He looked towards the palace's ruined state, "so Mewtwo came..."

"Yes, he took Celebi and left. I believe he was always watching," Hime confessed, "I believe that it was Celebi's wish to allow us this one change. We may be Team Rocket, and Celebi's dear friends Mew and Mewtwo are certainly not fond of us, but they respected Celebi's wishes. This was for pokemon kind as well. They allowed this to happen to save the millions of pokemon and even humans, who would have died in those dark ages. Don't be fooled by this broken throne room, this is nothing, the world is grand. Pokemon are abundant, the economy is flourishing and I am the queen of everything. Team Rocket rules the world as it should."

Vandel felt a great satisfaction upon hearing this. Dia still wished that they had tried harder to make Celebi understand their reasons to borrow the power to change history. In the end, it seemed the legendary pokemon understood. Mewtwo, a good friend of Celebi, went to the rescue, freeing the time traveler pokemon of the futuristic machines when the world was saved. The world was ruled by Team Rocket, but it was prosperous, it was undeniably better than before. For the sake of the world, Team Rocket would have to be accepted. The organization was also quite different since they had their own world to protect, rather than a world to conquer.

Vandel looked beside him at Givan and Dia. They had a whole new, much better, world to explore. "Without the fall of Team Rocket, history should be clear now, more accurate and detailed records should exist. It was Iblis, wasn't it?"

"Iblis?" Hime shook her head. "I know history well, I've read about it. Iblis Raymus was indeed an enemy of the past. However, for all we know it could have been someone else who was close to killing Delia and angering Ash. Whatever was set in motion changed history. There's no longer a way for us to know what would have happened without interference. The general records are available, but the small details of the past were destined to become a mystery, no matter how precisely the new history was recorded."

Vandel was taken by surprise. He captured Iblis, but she might not have been the key to changing history? History had clearly changed; his mission had been a success. Team Rocket, never fell, Ash and Giovanni did not become true enemies. "I see..."

"You must be tired from your travels, rest prince brat boy," Vandel decided it was best to follow his mother's suggestion and rest for the time being.

Vandel Roketto, descendant of Ash and thus Giovanni, from hundreds of years into the future, found that his chambers were indeed fit for a prince. He tossed his backpack aside and allowed himself to fall into his big comfy bed. "I still don't understand. If Iblis wasn't the problem, then I didn't change anything, yet everything changed."

Givan and Dia curled up on the bed next to their trainer. "It wasn't your duty to change it," Givan spoke as if he knew far more than he was saying.

Vandel didn't read too deeply into it, his time was safe, the world didn't fall apart, that was all that mattered. His eyes went to an old hat encased in glass, a pokemon league collectible. The world of his era was different in many ways, but he still had that hat safely kept among his belongings. He was able to learn mostly about Giovanni before, but the new Team Rocket history should remember Ash more and in a better light now.

Givan closed his eyes and slept comfortably, it had been a long journey. Perhaps the duty to change the past was his after all. Those memories of past events were truly his as well, images of another life from long ago. Dia was still there, to make sure he didn't lose his way, to support him and to remind him of what he really wanted, just like before.

xoxox xox xoxox

In the present, in the deepest underground laboratory in the Viridian Rocket base... Comet's hand went to the glass container, its coldness invading his palm. He closed his eyes and tried hard to remember. There were no memories like what one would expect from a child, no childhood to speak of. There was a cold and wet place mixed with the echo of voices. The voices were muffled and he couldn't understand them. He had not begun to live, he merely existed.

Comet had always disregarded such thoughts as nonsense and formed his own logical theories. He had to have a mother, because someone had to give birth to him at some point. She was most likely a Rocket, because his father wouldn't have been able to have a relationship with someone who wasn't in Team Rocket, given the nature of his missions and situation.

She must have died tragically, thus his father did not wish to speak of it or remember it. Comet himself might have been involved in that event that took his mother's life, he theorized. It was maybe that same event which erased his early childhood memories, leaving nothing but that faint gibberish of cold, wet darkness and muffled sounds. Maybe there was an accident, maybe he hit his head.

He sometimes tried to picture that mysterious lady he thought had existed at some point. Her appearance was always different every time he imagined her, since he could gather few clues about that based on himself, he looked just like his father. Lady Luck, he would call her in his thoughts, maybe that small number seven he had on his arm since before the true beginning of his memories was something from her, a sort of amulet. It was funny, because he didn't believe in leaving things to luck, maybe she had and that let to her unknown tragic demise. None of that was true, none of it was real, Lady Luck didn't exist, she never had.

He looked down at the number on the base of the tank, it was a seven. There were twelve of them, all empty now. They must have been used later for other beings, pokemon most likely, but he was one of the few humans who had originated in this laboratory equipment. They were originally on New Island, later moved to Viridian after the digging and construction was finalized. Perhaps it was more accurate to think he was the only human that had come out of it still human. Admittedly, his unusual origins didn't bother him as much as the fact that there were two insane versions of him out there. As he looked up at the glass again, he saw the faint reflection of his father standing behind him with Binks.

The thin man, who for many years Comet had assumed was dead, looked too fragile to truly fit the profile of a mad scientist. He didn't look like he would have the strength to laugh insanely as one would expect a mad scientist to do. Another figure further away was reflected on the glass, Pixel was busy looking around curiously. She had approached them as Comet and Luke walked to a destination unknown to Comet. Luke had decided she should come and proceeded to ask for Giovanni's permission to take them both down to the lab, stating that Delia had already approved. Giovanni had agreed, letting them be on their way. The Rocket leader was rather easy to convince and eager to be left to focus his thoughts and continue his training.

Comet turned around to face them and Luke appeared to be apologetic, "I'm like sorry I like didn't tell you like sooner, you know? It's like going to be like okay, you know?" He hurriedly added, "you're like the same as like always, you're like Comet, you can like go on living like always, you know? It's like okay, even your lover is like okay with it, man!"

"My what?" Through the stream of answers that flowed to resolve all his questions, one more question surfaced.

"Laiki like told me, you know?" Suddenly, Luke's statement made a lot more sense.

"Laiki has a big imagination," Pixel approached the others. She had been examining the lab, but also listening. "This is all really cool."

Binks observed her as if she was a strange specimen, "young lady, you are not alarmed?"

"Not really," Pixel smiled casually, "I used to live in a very lame place; stuff like this is still pretty cool to me." It wasn't exactly common in Team Rocket either, not anymore, especially not with humans. "I wish I had a story like this."

"Interesting," Binks nodded weekly, "it is not that the grass is always greener on the other side, but rather some are meant for certain shades and others for different shades. Those who know not their place will always think it is elsewhere. Those who know where they wish to be are capable of finding their place, even if it is far away from where they started." With his philosophy stated, Binks went back to staring at some beakers with fluorescent content. He mostly worked in his own little laboratory; it was nice to have some extra space to work in, even if that space brought bitter memories. The revelation of the truth and the rather calm resolution assured him that maybe the nightmare could end. Little by little, reality was less scary to look at.

"I'm glad you told me," Comet finally spoke, which filled both Luke and Binks with additional relief. "I'm going to request to be added to the assignment."

"You like want to look for like 'them' too?" Luke couldn't mask his surprise. He would prefer to stay away from number three and number ten, least they remind him of Comet and make him lose his concentration at a vital point.

"I've been taking too many sick days anyway," Comet reasoned, determination clear, "besides, it's kind of my business too. I'll help Team Rocket clean up, I'm a Rocket, it's my duty," plus he was curious to know how much he wasn't like them.

"If you're like sure," Luke presented no further arguments. He knew that Comet would go ahead with it anyway. He also had a feeling that Giovanni would allow it.

"Count me in, if there's anything I can assist with, I'll do it too," Pixel offered as she and Comet made their way back to the elevator for a long ride. Luke stayed behind with Binks for a little while, to make sure everything was okay. Comet looked calm enough and Pixel was with him.

"Hey Pix," he stopped in front of the elevator, his hand hovering over the button to open it.

"Yeah?" She chimed curiously.

"You know... the inevitable realization about life and how it shouldn't be wasted, combined with a new appreciation for what I have and all that stuff," Comet explained.

Pixel laughed, "along with some added sci-fi coolness, plus your usual 'I'm too cool to be melodramatic' atmosphere?"

"Something along those lines," he grinned and pressed the button to open the elevator, they both stepped in. "So... will you go out with me?" It was the second time he asked, the first he had received a negative answer.

Back then, Pixel wasn't sure what to expect of him. They were friends, but she didn't know if it was one of those passing friendships that would fade in time. People changed, they moved on to boring lives as 'good citizens' where she came from. They were off to slave away in a dull job and have a family simply because everyone else threw that same responsibility upon themselves. They lost their taste for fun and Pixel lost her interest in their existence, if there was ever any to begin with, which was rare. "I'm more of an indoors person..." Pixel paused in thought as the elevator doors closed and it started to move up. "In movies, I really like it when the action hero stays the action hero forever. I hate it when they make him a cheesy fluffy family man. I suppose I can rest assured that you won't become clingy or attention needy or overly fluffy."

"Nah, I'm too cool for that," Comet laughed, "besides, I'm a Rocket, I'm more like the action villain than the hero. They rarely turn lame."

Pixel grinned, "then okay."

xoxox xox xoxox

The afternoon was very calm in Pallet Town. After the mysterious Vandel, alias Skye, left, with Givan and Dia having influenced certain vital details, the town continued existing as any other day. It was a little town where events that were out of the ordinary were extremely rare and peaceful silence reigned supreme most of the time. That afternoon might have appeared to be exactly what one would expect of such a type of little town.

Delia, proprietary, manager and chef of the small restaurant known as the Pallet House, sat on one of the outside tables with her son and his fiance, their pokemon playing outdoors nearby. There was seemingly nothing out of the ordinary with that picture; no one would have guessed the topic of their conversation. "I knew you would have to tell Misty eventually. Now that I think about it, I'm kind of glad you did," things couldn't get any more complicated, Delia thought. While the truths were being revealed it was best to face them without excuses after all.

"I'll make sure not to speak of this to anyone," Misty assured. "I have to admit I was taken by surprise." Seeing Ash's mother sitting there with them, Misty found it a little difficult to picture her as having a relationship with a crime lord, let alone the most powerful one. However, if it happened and still went on, there had to be much more to him than that. Perhaps some select characteristics of the good Viridian gym leader were more than just an act.

Delia smiled with optimistic reassurance, "I hope that's soon." She gently petted the little egg on her lap and felt it move in response. "The baby..." the atmosphere stood even more still than it already was.

The sounds of the playing pokemon were replaced by silent curious looks as they gathered around to witness the egg hatching. The egg cracked as the baby pokemon tried to break free of its confinement. A tiny beak pecked at the egg shell as a blue little face came into view, surrounded by fluffy white. The small Swablu looked at Delia and chirped happily.

The group was still in awe about the baby when Delia's phone rang and she wondered who it could be. Misty automatically held out her arms, where Delia placed the little Swablu. The pokemon's eyes stayed on Delia, though she was very close by, so Swablu was calm. Delia looked at her little Rocket cell phone to see that the one calling was Pixel. She remembered that she had asked her to keep an eye on Comet. Immediately she wondered about his reaction and hoped for the best. Ash and Misty didn't even try to hide the fact that they were curious about that call. "That's wonderful, I'm so relieved!" She paused as if hearing something in the background, "that's a great idea."

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 90: Give me Improvement

At the Viridian Rocket base infirmary, Laiki watched as Comet slept soundlessly. "How can he sleep so calmly? I would be freaked if I found out I was a clone," she pouted. They were away from prying eyes and ears, save for the few injured pokemon occupying the other beds. Only the sleeping Comet, the fussing Laiki and the composed Pixel were there.

"Why not? He got the truth he wanted and suddenly everything from not knowing his mother to that little number seven tattoo he's had on his arm his whole life make sense," Pixel reasoned. "This is not a life changing situation in the sense that those closest to Comet knew. If they intended to treat him any differently, they already would. Plus there's no uncertainty about what's to come. I'm sure Comet would have preferred to know sooner, but this is a revelation of the past, not the coming of unknown changes in the future. I didn't believe it at first, but after I got a tour of the lab... Let's say it was one surprise after another. I was surprised that Luke talked the boss into letting us go down there, I was surprised at what was down there and..."

"Shocked, scared, horrified?" Laiki added in, "I'm just glad you didn't freak out at Comet, he doesn't need something like that. Don't worry; you get over stuff like this."

"Actually," Pixel tried to put a stop to Laiki's usual fast theories, "I wasn't scared or horrified, just surprised and kind of excited to see stuff in real life that I thought could only exist in science fiction movies. Besides, Comet has such a cool past; I'm just some no name island girl who ran away to the main land. Let me tell you, I jumped with joy back when I first saw my supposed death on a news website. It was nice, having no identity in the eyes of the law, starting over as a Rocket. Anyway, that's getting off topic, the point is that I don't see what the freak out should be. So Comet is a clone, he's healthy, he'll live as long as a human, there are no set backs, just added coolness. So what if there are two insane clones out there and one has already become an urban legend? That doesn't mean-"

"What?" Laiki's eyes went wide as she stared at Pixel, "you know about that too? About number three alias the Bloody Killer and number ten?" What they were not aware of was that the Bloody Killer was to blame for the death of Laiki's parents; that was a secret that Binks still kept from his sister. "Just how much did Binks spill out? I wish I hadn't gotten sidetracked stalking that hot new guy I saw, then I could have gone with you. I can't believe Comet would go and tell you before telling me. He might have needed to get stuff out of his system and he told you instead of his 'big sis,' but then he went on and let you get the tour without me." That was something that happened because Luke had mistakenly believed them to be lovers and thus thought Pixel should be there for Comet. Laiki didn't know that and was, as always, quick to come up with her own theories. "That's it, it's a sure sign, he trusts you, he likes you and I know he just got extra attractive points from you for his sci-fi origins. Plus you're both such big fans of Team Rocket, not the rabid kind, the good kind, like me."

"Maybe he just knows I don't freak out easily," Pixel shrugged, as long as she had her precious technology, she was okay. "Anyway, you should also know Comet wouldn't fall apart over this. He seemed kind of bothered by it, as it is understandable, but he's got a very carefree nature. He's..." Pixel grinned, not completing the sentence.

Laiki pouted, "go ahead and say it, he's not like me. Excuse me, but it just bothers me to see someone I appreciate on the verge of death. He might have really, if Peachy had not..." Laiki left it at that, certainly not in the mood to finish voicing such a grim thought. "It's funny, in the rare occasions when I have field missions, I jump at the chance to shoot stuff. I guess lives only count if I care about them."

"I know what you mean, even if I'm not as trigger happy as you, which is a good thing given my aim." Pixel agreed, "priorities, loyalty over justice. I think we all understand that."

"Really though, I'm kind of worried, I mean, Comet never sleeps like this." Laiki stood hovering over the young man who opened one eye before closing it again, then turned over and burying his face in the pillow.

"Of course, no one sleeps like this, not with us talking right next to him," Pixel reasoned. "We should let him rest. The best way to get over a cold is by playing tons of video games and the best way to get over a surprise is by sleeping it off."

"Your medical knowledge astounds me," Laiki joked, "I knew he was awake, he wasn't snoring."

"I don't snore," Comet defended.

"Do too," Laiki insisted.

"Do not," Comet argued.

"Do too," Laiki continued.

"Do not, Purry cured me while I was still on sick leave," Comet recalled the event, "if someone attempts to feed you a living Gyarados in your sleep, trust me, you'll keep your mouth closed at all times when you're asleep from that point on and you won't make a single sound. That's how powerful survival instinct can be." Not a second passed before the two girls erupted into laughter. Comet took a look around, "how are some of these pokemon still asleep?" He had to wonder, given all the noise they were making.

"They're sedated, I don't want them whining and making my job more difficult than it needs to be," Laiki stated as a matter of fact.

"I should have guessed," Comet sat up on the bed, no longer really in the mood to sleep. He observed Laiki's pouting worried expression, "relax, I'm here, I'm me, that's all that matters," he assured her.

"I guess you won't be needing your feel better present..." Laiki mused aloud.

"Oh, I'm so depressed!" Comet voiced dramatically with exaggerated pain. Then his expression turned amused, "give me my present," he grinned.

"Fine, but you could have at least tried to put up a more believable act. I know your acting skills are better than that." Laiki went to retrieve the gift from a storage room attached to the infirmary. It was a pokemon egg in a container. "It's ready to hatch, just take it out and wait for the little one to wake up." The container kept the egg from hatching until it was given to its trainer, so that loyalty would be formed when the baby hatched and saw the trainer. "I just find it unusual that you're over it so quickly; don't keep anything bottled up, okay?" Laiki tried to be supportive, while Pixel and Comet exchanged knowing looks. Those looks were not missed by Laiki, "there is something going on here."

"Relax, he didn't keep things bottled up. He already ranted at me and got things out of his system, all is well in the world," Pixel assured.

"I named my pokemon," Comet had gained a new appreciation for the fact that he had a name. He wasn't simply specimen number seven, he was Comet. That motivated him to name his pokemon. "Scyther is Rykros and Gyarados is Shenron." Comet took the egg out of its container and waited for it to begin to hatch.

A short while later, a portion of something black and somewhat pointy peeked out from the broken egg shell. The appendage broke more of the egg shell and white fur came into view. Finally, a little white and black head peeked out from the opening on the egg and looked at Comet with curious eyes, recognizing him as his 'father.'

"Aw, how cute," Pixel smiled.

"What should we name him?" Comet gently petted the little Absol.

"Fluffy!" Laiki suggested.

"That's a girl's name and this one is a boy," Comet pointed out. "Not to mention it's silly, who would name their pokemon Fluffy?"

"That would be pokemon abuse," Pixel agreed.

"I think Fluffy is cute," Laiki huffed.

"How about Meteor? Since you're Comet it kind of fits," Pixel suggested.

"Good idea," Comet agreed. "Is Meteor okay for you?" The little Absol cooed happily. "He likes it," Comet smiled, petting the baby pokemon.

"That's what I'm talking about," Laiki threw her hands in the air in an exaggerated expression. "Why aren't you two together already?" There was only silence in response. A few seconds passed, then a few more, "unless, you already are?"

After a few more moments of silence there was a chorus of "no weekaversary," originating from Comet and Pixel.

Laiki let out a loud squeal before pouting and whining, "you have to let me plan your weekaversary, I've had plenty of week long relationships, I have experience!"

"We don't need to know," Comet reminded her.

"Yeah, besides, neither of us is keeping count of time anyway and we're not into overly mushy situations," Pixel added.

"So then what are you going to do for a relationship?" Laiki's voice rose in pitch as she got excited, some would say over excited, about the whole thing. "Train, study, play videogames, go on Team Rocket missions... No one even notices you're together, even if everyone notices there's a certain chemistry there. Then what? Make out where no one can see you and repeat that same schedule the next day? No public displays of affection to show off what you can have and others can't? No weekaversaries, monthaversaries or anniversaries to be spoiled with tons of presents?"

Comet grinned, "works for me."

"Me too," Pixel agreed.

Laiki pouted at Pixel, speaking as if Comet wasn't even listening, "how could you not demand weekly presents from your man? That's so unfeminine!"

"I'm still here, in case you've forgotten," Comet pointed out.

Laiki continued her outburst, "stay out of it, this is girl talk!"

"If you'll excuse me," Pixel raised her voice to silence any further arguing. "I promised Delia I would keep her informed. She seemed worried so I need to let her know everything is okay." Pixel called Delia's Rocket cell phone, it was the only number she had for her.

As expected, as soon as Pixel called, Laiki let out of flood of 'tell her this and tell her that'. The nurse had seemingly let go of her previous relationship argument, for the time being at least.

Pixel just barely managed to say, "hi Delia, it's Pixel, I just wanted to let you know that everything is fine." Then Delia heard Laiki's voice in the background going on and on about how they should all get together and in a split second it was agreed upon.

xoxox xox xoxox

Later that day, the brown car nicknamed the chocolate bar, in honor of a past car of the same color, appeared in the horizon heading towards Pallet Town. It stopped in front of the Pallet House and three people exited it, one practically bouncing with excitement with a high pitched, "Delia!"

"The visitors are here," Delia smiled.

Ash and Misty were expecting visitors from Team Rocket, but Ash was still surprised to see just who had arrived. "You!" He pointed at Comet. "Your Meowth stole my hat!"

"I'll battle you for it," Comet offered, though he no longer had the hat in his possession, as it had long since been delivered to Giovanni.

Before the battle could start, Misty interrupted, "weren't you with Tempest?"

Then another intervention followed from Delia, "just a moment, you can have your friendly pokemon battles in a minute, let me introduce everyone first." She seemed to irradiate calmness into the atmosphere. "The one who is staring at Ash as if he's a very strange pokemon is Laiki."

Upon being called, Laiki ceased her examination and smiled sweetly, "hi!"

"Here we have Pixel," Delia continued with the introductions, "and Misty's third cousin, Comet."

Both Comet and Misty were taken by surprise, while Laiki nodded energetically, "it's true! It's true!"

"This is my son Ash and his fiance Misty," Delia finished.

"We're third cousins?" Misty asked with curiosity, "and you're not with Tempest?" She added in a quieter voice.

"Infiltration," Comet grinned, "that's all it was."

"I still want to battle for my hat," Ash pouted.

"The truth is I don't have it anymore," Comet admitted, much to Ash's dismay. Before Ash's despair could evolve into an accusation, he added, "the boss should have it."

It took Ash a moment to process that piece of information. The boss, the Team Rocket boss, Giovanni, his father. "Why hasn't he returned it?" He remembered that Giovanni had not been too fond of the hat before. "Did he throw it away?"

"Aw, he wouldn't," Delia certainly hoped not, or some unfortunate rookies would find themselves on an unusual mission to recover that hat wherever it went. It didn't matter if it was unusable anymore; it was a collector's item. "He's probably keeping it somewhere and just forgot to return it," he better have kept it. It would not be good for the true start of their relationship to be scarred by the loss of a precious hat. Anything could make things difficult and Delia certainly didn't want that. "You can ask him about it this evening."

"I will," Ash made a mental note to do so. While their unusual conversation took place, the group had settled into a table at the Pallet House. The Rockets were all in civilian clothes and didn't stand out for any reason other than the fact that they were not from Pallet Town and visitors were rare. That alone was still not enough to cause any alarm.

Misty had been thinking about her distant family relation with Comet, searching for any clues in her memories. "I remembered something," she finally spoke. "My sisters were looking at an old photo album." It was part of coping with Daisy's recent marriage. "There was a picture of a toddler Daisy with someone who kind of looked like you. Violet said that was 'uncle Luke,' he wasn't really our uncle, he was dad's cousin, but my older sisters would call him uncle. I don't think I ever met him, but Daisy is the oldest so she would remember best, Violet remembers a little too. Lily, the second youngest next to me, doesn't know much about him. I remember Violet mentioning that she and Daisy picked up saying the word 'like' from Luke, and Lily picked it up from them. I don't know if that's just something they made up or not, but if by any chance your father's name is Luke..."

"It is, and that sounds like something that would happen with him," Comet confirmed. He came close to picking up his father's style of speech when he was younger, until Laiki was assigned to the task of making sure he didn't. If he was going to grow up to be a Rocket agent, he needed to be able to write reports that didn't need to be 'translated' before the boss could stand to read them. "I guess we are related after all."

"Were there ever any doubts about my information?" Laiki pouted.

Ash observed Comet and Misty, "your hair color is a lot alike." After another moment of thought, he added, "we should commemorate this discovery with a pokemon battle!"

"You're on!" Comet was quick to agree, "two on two, you better not lower your guard. This won't be an act to make Tempest look bad."

"It's good to know that your real battle style isn't cheating," Ash grinned with anticipation, "I choose-"

"Not so close to the house!" Delia cut in, "why don't we go over to Professor Oak's place, there's plenty of space to battle there."

Excited for the battle, Ash was no longer worried about facing Professor Oak, someone who knew the truth. Besides, even if he did see him, the questions that floated in Ash's head could at least wait until that evening, since the time of his reunion with his father had been set. Ash recalled his pokemon to their pokeballs temporarily, all except Pikachu. Delia's baby Swablu and Comet's baby Absol were also left out of their pokeballs.

At the Oak research lab, Gary was surprised to see such a crowd coming to visit. "I have a battle!" Ash proudly declared, though it was nothing new. "Can we use your yard?"

Gary blinked, "sure," and he watched as Ash led the crowd in. Laiki paused, looked at Gary up and down, then winked before following along. It reminded him of when he used to travel with his cheering squad, except this young woman had something about her that screamed, 'I'm dangerous, therefore irrationally irresistible.'

Delia smiled sweetly and followed the group, "Laiki, you'll be a good girl and behave, won't you?" She whispered discretely.

"Off limits? Aw..." Laiki looked somewhat disappointed, but let it go.

The walk to find a spacious spot outside was filled with casual conversation about Ash and Misty's friends from Viridian City who had come to visit. A convenient mention of Comet being a relative of Misty was added in for extra reassurance. Gary was also curious about the newborn Swablu that Delia had acquired and the newborn Absol, who was confirmed to have hatched on that same day as well.

The specific place were Ash and Comet would be battling was the same place were Ash and Giovanni had attempted to battle before, until a mischievous Jigglypuff interfered. Fortunately, the little troublemaker didn't seem to be around today. Ash was curious about where she went. Wherever she was, he hoped that it wasn't too close by, as she seemed to have regained the ability to pop out when he least expected it.

The two opponents exchanged confident looks as the audience gathered around to watch. "Shenron, I choose you!"

"I choose-" Ash was cut off by one of his pokemon jumping in front of him. "Sceptile?" He occasionally switched pokemon and had been recently traveling with his Kanto pokemon while the others stayed with Professor Oak. "I guess you want to battle?" Why not? To send out a grass type against a water type seemed logical enough. "Alright, I choose Sceptile!"

"A grass type," Comet observed, "Shenron, don't hold back!"

"Let's see how well you've really trained your pokemon, Sceptile, leaf blade!" Ash sent his pokemon on the attack. Eager to battle, Sceptile quickly closed the distance between himself and the Gyarados. The leaf on his right arm was already glowing, ready for a powerful strike. Just a little closer, "Sceptile, stop! Jump back and use leaf storm!" Ash called out at the last moment.

Sceptile was confused by the sudden change in plans; he hesitated for a moment before retreating. Not wanting to lose the opportunity, Comet sent Shenron on the attack, "fire blast, twice!"

Sceptile's leaf storm was scorched to nothing by the flames, but it at least served to shield the pokemon a little from its vulnerable element's first attack. Still surprised, Sceptile struggled to dodge the second blast of fire and came out with a few burns. "Sceptile, are you okay?" The grass pokemon shook away his surprise and nodded; he took some damage but could still fight.

"You knew," Comet observed, "you called Sceptile back just in time. How did you guess what I was going to do?"

"I didn't guess it exactly," Ash admitted, "but I knew you were going to do something. I can't really explain it, I could almost feel it coming. Fire blast being used by a Gyarados, there's something you don't see every day. Twice in a row too, you catch your opponents off guard like this a lot, don't you?"

"That's right," Comet confirmed with a grin, as if remembering one of his missions where the element of surprise was in his favor. "People tend to associate water type pokemon with water moves, but they can learn more than that with the right technical machines."

It occurred to Ash that Team Rocket must have access to a large number of evolutionary items and technical machine discs. His eyes shone at the prospect of a real challenge. Not knowing what to expect beyond the awareness of facing a strong opponent could make a battle more interesting. "I'll just have to give it my all, another leaf storm Sceptile and get ready to use solar beam!"

"Get those leaves out of the way with thunder and charge in!" Comet quickly urged, saving the next fire blast for when Shenron was closer. Shenron didn't waste a second in unleashing the attack. Most of the leaves fell harmlessly with static around them, only a few reached the Gyarados, certainly not enough to stop him.

"Solar beam!" "Fire blast!" Ash and Comet called out in unison. The two powerful attacks collided in a bright light. The spectators and trainers had to look away from the extreme brightness. Neither pokemon wanted to give in, each trying their best to withstand the attack and take down the opponent.

Finally, when the light faded and everyone was able to look at the results, the two pokemon lay unconscious next to each other. The mix of withstanding the attacks and pushing themselves to fight back had exhausted them. The attacks got through their defenses simultaneously, knocking out both combatants.

"Both pokemon are unable to battle," Gary formally announced, "the first round is a tie."

"Shenron return, you did very well," Comet recalled his pokemon.

"You too Sceptile, good job, return," Ash paused, realizing he didn't have Sceptile's pokeball with him.

"Catch!" Gary threw a pokeball at Ash, which he caught.

"Sceptile's pokeball?" With that on hand, Ash recalled his unconscious pokemon. He then noticed a little green Bulbasaur next to Gary.

Gary petted the small green Bulbasaur, "I asked him to fetch the pokeball from the lab at the start of the match when you decided to use Sceptile. He's been here for a while so he's familiar with the lab. I told grandpa to give him to a trainer, but his past trainer couldn't keep him, so he ended up back here. Maybe I'll keep him around, I think he likes helping around the lab."

"Thanks," Ash voiced automatically, before he had a few seconds to process the implications, "hey! How come you assumed I would be needing the pokeball?"

"Lucky guess?" Gary laughed, "besides, Comet didn't seem at all bothered by the type disadvantage, so I thought something was up. It's still unusual for people to use these type of technical machines on Gyarados and for the pokemon to adapt so well."

"I've only really kept these two with me, so I've had time to train them," Comet explained, though it wasn't entirely true, since he was sometimes so busy with missions that his pokemon had to learn on the job. "Now I have Meteor too," the little Absol would be trained to track scents, as well as used his special ability to sense possible disasters. He would be another reliable partner to have during missions and another pokemon friend. "There's also a Meowth that's Pixel's pokemon too, but she comes and goes how she pleases."

"Sounds like a mischievous one," Ash knew exactly what Meowth Comet was talking about, but pretended he could only imagine.

Comet released his other pokemon, "go Rykros!"

"He looks strong, but I won't lose," Ash's resolve grew; this would be the decisive match. "Pikachu, I choose you!"

With a determined, "pika!" the small and powerful yellow pokemon entered the designated battle area.

To be Continued

In this story Gyarados don't fly, that would be way too easy. XD Mirai means future, a reference to future Trunks from Dragon Ball Z. Shenron is a dragon from Dragon Ball Z. Rykros is a planet from the Phantasy Star video game series. Rykros is named after the legendary planet from PSIV (the one where Le Roof inhabits) not the one from Portable, hence why Comet mentions it being the original.