Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Don't Give Me Diamonds ❯ Chapter 29

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

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 97: Give me Warmth

Following the lively scene at the Viridian gym's office concerning Purry and Persian, it was decided that Purry would live with Giovanni and his pokemon. The Rocket boss had taken an interest in the female Persian with a most peculiarly large gem. If his own precious Persian took an interest in her, as it was his assumption that had happened, he would not be opposed to the idea. Even if her origin was not of professional breeding, she had become a rare pokemon and that fact could not be denied. Giovanni remembered having seen some theories of ancient Persian with horns; it was a guess of the scientific community at best. Like humans, pokemon not only evolved in the spontaneous sense, but also slowly with time.

Comet and Pixel would still be able to see Purry, since she would be where Giovanni was. Besides, when she felt like running off to visit, they were sure there was no one in the world that could stop her free spirit, not even Team Rocket and its leader. For the rare pokemon, the Rocket agents were rewarded with many prizes which included a payment bonus and several useful items. Some of those items were technical machines, rare candy and even a dubious disk, which Pixel used to evolve Prism, her Porygon2, into PorygonZ.

Just as Comet and Pixel were done with their business and Laiki with her eavesdropping, Jessie and James arrived to report in. "We're back!" Jessie chirped with a cheer that stood out far beyond even her best of moods in the past. In her arms she held a small Eevee, tiny enough to be a newborn. Meteor, Comet's baby Absol, jumped from Comet to Jessie's shoulder to have a better look at the other young pokemon that he had decided would be his new friend and playmate. "Aw, Eevee made a friend!" Jessie chirped in pure bliss.

Giovanni had not requested that Jessie and James should report in when they arrived at Viridian. He merely approved, at Delia's insistence, of their provisional transfer to work at the Viridian Rocket Headquarters in light of the temporary closing of their daycare center at Saffron City. The close was done in hopes of staying as far as possible from the epidemic until an effective cure was put into action. The event brought terrible sorrow to Jessie, who cried like a baby seriously frightening James, as she was usually very strong. However, upon their approach to the gym office, she was inexplicably seized by joyous bliss, probably remembering some moment in the past when they were reporting something or other to the boss and enjoying the sense of nostalgia that came with the random memory. All in all, James was terrified to think of how much worse Jessie's random mood swings would get as her condition progressed.

"Is that Flareon and Growlie's baby?" Filled with his usual curiosity, Ash approached the little Eevee, petting him gently.

While all of that was taking place right at the door to Giovanni's office, Delia arrived with Persian and Purry. Her baby Swablu was perched on her shoulder while she walked slightly bent over, keeping a hand on each Persian's shoulder, as if to guide them. Following her were Pikachu and Peachy, who had tackled Pikachu in a bone crushing hug the second she saw him. Pikachu wasn't sure if he should be happy to be greeted with such affection or worried that he might not survive Peachy's reciprocated feelings.

Delia stood straight, remaining between the two Persian. "Honestly, I don't know if these two were passionately making out or trying to kill each other. Either way, they'll make a mess if left alone." After the revelation escaped her lips, Delia became absorbed in an instant conversation with Jessie and James about the baby Eevee, who gained another new friend in Swablu. No one seemed to be paying attention to the protests, arguments and embarrassed excuses from the two Persian.

The chitchat that had invaded the entrance to the gym office didn't seem to be going away any time in the immediate future. As soon as it looked like it would quiet down as all the immediate curiosities were answered, Laiki, who wanted to know much more than was her business, would come up with something to ask, fueling the chain reaction of one question or comment that led to another. The scene continued in such a way until Delia noticed that Giovanni was looking less than patient and before he told everyone to shut up and get lost, she led them away in a much more gentle manner.

In the end, Ash himself didn't think too much, or maybe even take notice of how he had ran off with Jessie, James, Comet, Pixel, Laiki and the pokemon, with a carefree, "thanks for returning my hat, see you later, dad."

Giovanni barely took notice of it himself, letting it go as something that should have been natural, but would not seem so if the entirety of the situation was taken into consideration. He had a long day and the headache he had been fighting, which he somehow seemed to defeat during his strangely calming conversation with Ash, returned full force when the multitude of voices gathered in front of his office. Overall, the most inviting thing to do at the moment was to follow the suggestion in Delia's eyes and take a small break.

xoxox xox xoxox

After having left Giovanni and Delia alone, the rest of the group headed off to find some safe but comfortable space for the pokemon to play in. It was not too difficult given the size of the base, thus the group occupied an empty battle arena that was not scheduled to be used by anyone in the next few hours. It was there that James pointed out how casual Ash had become with Giovanni. The fact that he acted so naturally around uniformed Rocket agents as well his and Misty's acceptance of Jessie and James' return to Team Rocket, hinted that they knew more than Jessie and James guessed.

Ash nodded in admittance, glancing at the baby pokemon whom Meowth was currently keeping an eye on. Then he looked back at Jessie and James and dropped the bomb of a revelation on them. "The truth is that Giovanni isn't my stepfather because he's dating mom, he's my real dad."

Two jaws dropped and two sets of eyes went wide. "Are you saying you have the blood of the Roketto running through your veins?" James grabbed Ash by his shirt, face inches away from his.

"Um... yeah..." Ash tried to back away to recover his personal space after James invaded it in his outburst. Before Ash could move, James moved first, falling backwards, fainting from the shock, an action which was copied by Meowth who had overheard. He had been trying to steal pokemon from a twerp that was not a twerp, but a prince in a sense. "Is he going to be okay?" Ash asked.

Jessie nodded without doubts, she was currently in a carefree mood. "He'll be fine, don't worry. Now it all makes sense. No wonder we couldn't steal your Pikachu, you're not just a twerp, you're a royal twerp!" Jessie giggled, which made Ash think that his question should have been about if she was okay. Yet as long as her fearsome enraged side didn't show up, it could be said that all was well.

xoxox xox xoxox

Ash returned to the gym's guest room above ground to check on Misty after leaving his pokemon and his mother's Swablu to play. Upon entering the guest room, Ash found that Misty was awake. The bathroom door was open with the sound of the sink's running water as Misty finished waking herself up by washing her face. She dried her face with a soft towel and smiled upon seeing Ash's approaching reflection in the bathroom mirror, though some worries still remained in the back of her mind. "After a nap, I'm ready to continue hoping." Misty set aside the towel, returning Ash's loving embrace.

"That's good, because we can't lose hope, no matter what." Feeling optimistic with the return of his hat and more so with the conversation accompanying the event, Ash kissed his fiance as if the action would magically make everything right in the world.

After their lips parted, Misty voiced the observation that she had noticed right away after Ash came into view. "You got your hat back."

Hearing the fortunate event being further recognized, Ash grinned, "yeah, dad had it in his office all along." It was than that he noticed that he seemed to have switched from a somewhat uncomfortable 'father' to a more carefree 'dad'. "We have our differences and there are things we would strongly disagree on," Ash didn't have to say what he was talking about, as Misty knew right away. "We can still get along, even with that. We can figure out a way to be tolerant, I think, to respect each other's paths..." He would not trick himself into thinking it would be easy, but both he and his mother were certainly willing to try. He knew his father would try too if they were patient.

"I'm really glad that's working out," Misty's face conveyed her sincere emotions.

"Jessie and James are here," Ash announced, "Pikachu and the pokemon are with them, Comet, Pixel and Laiki. We're taking a break from everything and letting the pokemon play. It should help us relax, let's go with them. Since you already know so much, I'm sure it won't be a problem if you come downstairs." Ash was not aware of how deep the basements were yet. He knew about the existence of secret basements, albeit his guess of their size would still fall short and he had not yet tested the limits of his access card. Delia's access card had been upgraded on several occasions since her unofficial return to Team Rocket.

"I'm going back to Cerulean City," Misty's voice was once again filled with sadness as she confessed her determination. "Daisy and Lando are back, they're there too and so is Brock. I need to go help, but I can't take my healthy pokemon with me and risk them catching the virus. I'll leave them here with you. I won't come back until this is over. Until then, I need to stand by their side, my sisters and the pokemon at the Cerulean gym need me the most right now. I know my other pokemon are in good hands with you."

Ash didn't want Misty to leave, though he understood her need to go. "I want to go too, I want to help."

"I know you understand that you can't go," Misty finished for him. "You need to stay and protect the pokemon that are here, keep them safe from the risk of the virus. We'll both work together and things will turn out alright in the end." Even if she seemed to be in the verge of tears, Misty made herself smile.

"Yes, everything will be okay," Ash spoke those words to reassure Misty and himself. "I understand," it was obvious he still didn't like it, but he knew it had to be this way. "I'll take care of your pokemon here. Go and help the pokemon at the gym. I'm sure I'll be able to call you with good news soon."

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, Delia and Giovanni were up on the roof of the Viridian gym. The abundant trees around the city, made it seem later into the day than it actually was, blocking the sunlight. Just like in the past, Delia seemed to be a reassuring light in the middle of uncertainty. "You're wearing the ring," Giovanni observed.

"Yes," Delia glanced at her left hand where the platinum diamond ring sat proudly on her ring finger. She fingered the underside of the band with her thumb. "I just felt like wearing it." Her eyes met his in the tranquility of the roof, where the busy atmosphere of the secret basements couldn't reach them.

"Does that mean that you're finally going to give me an answer?" As it happened in that moment long ago, when he first gave Delia that ring, Giovanni forgot about the timing and voiced his thoughts, temporarily pushing aside all other happenings for that instant.

Delia smiled, her lips parted to give way to words, with endless hope and love reflected in her eyes. Then a shape akin to a missile flew past them towards the area in the sky above. It made Delia's words dissolve before they could truly be formed as she held on to Giovanni tighter, startled by the sudden interruption. A brilliant green firework exploded above with a loud bang. Passers on the street, who were previously oblivious to the couple on the roof, stopped to look. Some pointed at them and others produced cameras from their bags or took pictures with their cell phones.

Among the commotion, there was Rune Antilles, who had been carrying the pyrotechnic sample. It worked with an integrated trigger rather than a fuse to light. He wanted to see firsthand which fireworks were best to celebrate when his son won the elections. Kenobi would no doubt be elected as the new mayor, since it was Giovanni's will. Rune dropped the firework upon hearing the words of his son, who was walking next to him. "You can't go to Cerulean City now, the elections are around the corner and Giovanni has already decided that he wouldn't give me another term in office after all. It's your turn now; it's your duty to serve the city in place of your retired father!"

"I have to go, I already explained it to you, please understand." Kenobi tried to sound as reassuring as he could. "I'm sure the situation will be solved before my term in office begins. By then I would have returned to Viridian City with time to prepare for my new duties. Either way, we should not discuss this here," Kenobi quickly warned. He was generally more careful than Rune when it came to words.

"Yes, yes, I know," Rune sighed deeply as he searched for a small bottle containing his heart medicine in the pocket of his suit. His son's warning seemed to be lost. "You had to lie to your dear Violet to uphold our oath of silence. Now that you have been given permission to right that wrong and tell her the truth about our leader, in light of the recent happenings involving-"

"Rune!" Giovanni shouted from the gym's roof, instantly catching the current mayor's attention. "Shut up!"

"Yes, sir!" Rune squeaked and scurried away towards his house.

"My apologies!" Kenobi soon followed his father and hurried away as well.

Thankfully, the passers were ignorant of the hidden meaning of the conversation that had been held by the Antilles father and son. Their attention was focused more so on the couple on the roof. They assumed that the gym leader was only upset because the firework going off interrupted a tender moment he was sharing with his lady.

After that annoying little event, Giovanni knew they would get no peace or privacy on the roof. He and Delia returned inside and went to Giovanni's room at the gym. "All these interruptions remind me of when we first met Rune." Giovanni's voice was filled with annoyance.

The memory was amusing to Delia. "I remember, you two were good friends right from the start."

"That's the biggest sarcasm I've ever heard," Giovanni replied with less annoyance than his initial comment. It was probably due to Delia removing the jacket of his suit and massaging his shoulders in an effort to help him relax.

xoxox xox xoxox

The day when Giovanni first met Rune was a day quite similar to the present in terms of weather and hour. However, the epidemic of that time was meeting its end along with the other gangs of Kanto. Team Rocket was beginning its steady growth and the elections were approaching to assign a new mayor to Viridian City. The gym building was a different one, the one that was demolished in later years during Ash's battle against Jessie and James for an Earth badge. A younger Rune Antilles stood in front of the gym structure and bellowed at the top of his lungs, "new gym leader! New gym leader!"

At the time, Giovanni and Delia had been taking a moment to rest, since they had both stayed out late battling to wipe out the last few gangs left in Kanto, to establish Team Rocket's firm rule of the underworld. They were cuddled together in bed, while their baby Meowth was taken out to play by his uncle Luke. Delia said her usual line of "chill out Charmander," accentuated with a pleasurable gasp as Giovanni trailed kisses down her neck.

"You're not exactly chilling out yourself," he whispered seductively in her ear.

Delia knew very well that the insistence of her statement would be lost in the fact that her arms were tightly wrapped around him with no intentions of letting go, her legs brushing against his as they became further tangled in their passionate embrace. Then a voice from outside called out with unbreakable insistence for the new gym leader to come out. "Someone's calling you."

"Ignore him," despite his request, Giovanni was unable to ignore the insistent voice himself. Fed up with the idiot that was interrupting that most enjoyable moment with Delia, Giovanni approached the window. He threw the curtains left and right, then looked out at the man, a few years older than him. He stood waiting with a large practiced smile upon his face that only made Giovanni angrier.

"Good afternoon honorable new gym leader of Viridian City!" The man chirped with more cheer than needed. "Allow me to take this opportunity to greet you properly and welcome you as the new gym leader of our proud city of Viridian. My name is Rune Antilles and as you might have heard, I am running for mayor again in the next elections. I hope to count with your vote and promise to continue making this wonderful city a better place." The mayor candidate continued bantering on and on about his political promises and aspirations.

"Rune," Giovanni gave the mayor candidate a firm glare that caught his attention and silenced him even before he threateningly ordered, "shut up!"

It was then that Rune's brain jumpstarted and he thought that maybe the delay in the gym leader's reply was not due to not having heard his calls before. He took in the young man's state from what he could see through the window from the waist up, noticing his mostly unbuttoned shirt and somewhat ruffled hair. Had he been woken up from a nap thus causing him to be cranky? The nap theory was soon proven false as a young woman peeked out the window behind the young gym leader, her face somewhat flustered. Rune blushed crimson as his imagination came up with all sorts of theories to fit the scene. He could only squeak, "yes, sir!" And run away before he further ruined his public relations with the new gym leader.

xoxox xox xoxox

Though they did eventually become lovers, that was not the only time in which annoying interruptions plagued Giovanni's time of romance with Delia. There was the occasional new recruit knocking on his door to ask a stupid question that should have gone to a higher ranked agent instead of directly to the boss. Such was the case in a similar afternoon when rookie after rookie came in to ask about something or other. It was a particularly busy week in several areas of business both legal and secret, leaving the top ranked Rockets all over Kanto. Archer and Ariana had just recently married and left on their honey moon.

Proton and Petrel were taking care of some business in Vermillion City. Leah was all but forgotten, running errands and taking care of a few smaller missions until her strategic thinking was once again called upon. Aayla had insisted on helping the scientists along with Binks, despite battling being more her strength than research. She had her own hidden agenda, but that was still unknown at the time. Giovanni had allowed it, reasoning that the scientists, though brilliant in their field, would be sitting Farfetch'd if anything went wrong and they were attacked by remnants of a gang. If that was the case, Aayla would be very helpful in the battlefield.

The situation left Luke as the highest ranked agent present at headquarters. Thus he was the mediator between the boss and the rookies. He could make all the choices that were too big for the lower ranked agents, yet not significant enough for Giovanni to have to be directly involved. Even so, agents kept coming and going seeking information and instructions from Giovanni until he blew up. "I told you to take your questions to Luke!"

"I'm sorry, sir," the rookie backed away. "It's just that no one can find Luke anywhere."

Not in the mood to be tolerant with unforeseen disappearances, Giovanni called Luke's cell phone to demand to know where he was, but received no reply other than endless unattended rings. A search began all over the old Viridian headquarters, which were not yet anywhere near as large as they would be years later. Luke was finally found in his room, buried under his collection of surf boards which he had piled up unsteadily and thus they had later fallen on him. Luke was exhausted from spending the night surfing in stormy weather quite different from the sunshine that came with daybreak. He put away his most recently used surf board upon his return earlier, causing the pile to crumble on top of him like an avalanche. Too tired to get up, he fell asleep under the surfboards and was since thought to be missing.

When he was finally rescued, Luke could do nothing more than go and on about how the waves have been "like totally like beyond awesome" while Giovanni grumbled about all the interruptions he had to endure due to the newbies not being able to find Luke.

xoxox xox xoxox

In the present time, Giovanni had let go of the burst of anger and intensified headache that came due to Rune's clumsy blunder. At least there had been no more interruptions since that one, which granted him some enjoyable alone time with Delia. He knew he would have to go to work soon, despite being quite comfortable with Delia in his arms, their bodies pressed together. Giovanni thought Delia had fallen asleep, her eyes were closed and her expression was peaceful, as if she was enjoying a blissful dream. Then her eyes opened slowly as she shifted to meet his gaze. She smiled somewhat playfully and voiced a reply that have taken years to be spoken, "I will."

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, at the western edge of Kanto, in the famed Mount Silver, two Rocket agents were conducting an important search. "Hurry up Batch, we have to be the first ones to find the target. If we don't get this mission right, the boss will demote us!"

Butch frowned with a sorrow that only he understood. "I thought you learned my name by now." Cassidy sometimes got his name right and sometimes got it wrong. She at least got it right more often than most other people did.

"Shut up and give me a push!" Cassidy growled at the end of her patience. She saw a rocky ledge on the side of the mountain trail that looked as if it had enough grip available to climb it, thus providing a shortcut to higher grounds.

With a hopeless sigh, Butch linked his hands together intertwining his fingers to catch Cassidy's foot and propel her upwards towards the ledge she meant to grasp. The motion was mostly successful, except for the knee to the nose Butch received. At least Cassidy managed to get herself up the cliff and begrudgingly extended her hand down the cliff side to help Butch up.

The pair quietly crept deeper into the rocky wilderness until they saw one of the targets. Number ten was no where in sight, but the unusually colored Zoroark was there. The Zoroark noticed them and with a fast push that they didn't have time to dodge, she sent them both tumbling down the mountain.

When their painful rolling trip down finally came to an end, Cassidy and Butch sat up, examining the various scratches and bruises that were abundant all over their battered bodies. Thankfully, they suffered from no broken bones. Cassidy was quick to pull out her cell phone from its strap on her belt next to her pokeballs. She dialed for a direct call to Giovanni's cell phone, listening to it ring several times before his annoyed voice declared, "this better be important."

"It is!" Cassidy assured, "I've located Zoroark close to the summit of Mount Silver."

"Don't you mean to say we located her?" Butch complained. He was ignored as Cassidy listened to Giovanni's orders over the phone.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 98: Give me Care

The sound of a helicopter just outside the Viridian gym caught Ash's attention. He was heading back after parting ways with Misty for the time being. He had watched as the taxi disappeared in the distance, knowing that the situation at the Cerulean gym would not remain a secret for too long. He still respected her wish to not want to add worry to that which was already present and didn't speak of it. After all, the need for a cure was already urgent enough for Team Rocket to pool all its resources towards finding it. As for the mysterious Zoroark, Ash wanted to join the search but realized that he couldn't risk his pokemon catching the virus. Besides, Team Rocket probably had enough personnel to conduct a detailed search anyway. Wherever Zoroark was, they would find her.

Boarding the helicopter were Giovanni, Delia, Luke and Comet. Ash quickly approached it, as it seemed that it was about to take off. "Where are you going?"

Delia revealed the news, knowing what that would cause. "We're going to find Zoroark. We're not taking the pokemon; they'll be staying here with Jessie, James, Pixel and Laiki." A lot could be concluded by reading between the lines. Despite Binks' faith in Aayla having the cure, there was no guarantee that an antidote could be produced from her cell samples. She would exhaust her energy quickly healing countless pokemon one after the other. Just in case, it was best to keep the pokemon safe. The Rocket agents that reported to Viridian were tested for the virus and sent away to an isolated underground area to be healed before having access to the rest of the base. The way to remove the virus from humans, who carried it but were not affected by it anyway, had already been discovered. However, the medicine didn't work for pokemon. By sneaking the serum into food supplies the human population was quickly being healed. Yet the virus no longer needed humans to spread, it was enough for it to spread from one pokemon to another.

"I'm going too!" Ash joined the group in the helicopter just as Delia guessed he would. His voice left no room for argument, albeit no one had any intentions of refusing his presence in the mission anyway.

xoxox xox xoxox

The helicopter landed atop Mount Silver and its passengers quickly exited the flying vehicle. Giovanni had ordered Cassidy and Butch, referring to him as Botch, not to approach the Zoroark. If she teleported away again, valuable time would be wasted searching for her and no progress would be made. If she truly was Aayla, maybe seeing people she was once familiar with would make her stay and cooperate. Capturing her by force had been proven useless in the past, before her identity was discovered. Attempting to overpower her was useless with her confusing illusions that had allowed her to slip away. With teleportation being added to her list of abilities, it didn't matter if she was as powerful as a regular pokemon, more, or less, she was simply too sneaky to be caught. It fit her in a sense, she had been a thief and criminal in the distant past, able to make close escapes and slip away from almost any situation.

A short way just beneath the summit of Mount Silver, there was a cave where they hoped to find Aayla. She was indeed there, the same majestic black pokemon with a deep violet mane. Number ten was no where to be seen and Aayla was exhausted and injured. It looked as if she had fought the mutant and was unable to defeat him. However, there was a look of peaceful accomplishment on her face, as if her purpose had been fulfilled.

"Aayla!" Delia rushed to her friend. She had never been able to let go of the guilt she felt for that time Aayla was apparently lost at sea. It was perhaps better that way, for her to finish her transformation away from Team Rocket's evolution.

Aayla stumbled forward, holding a glowing glass orb in her paw. The base with the words written in ancient language was no longer attached to it, but the swirling colors inside it were the same. That orb had been found by archeologists, dug out from the deep ground like a mysterious hidden treasure that would later become lost once again. The priceless ancient artifact was stolen from a museum by an unknown thief. The unidentified thief then sold the artifact to a mysterious lady. If the lady knew of the orb's power or not is anyone's guess. In the end, she passed the artifact to her son. He knew not of its power and could not remember it after the first time he experienced it.

As Aayla fell forward, unconscious, Delia rushed to catch her. The orb that Giovanni had thrown away years ago slipped out from Aayla's grasp. The item hit the rocky mountain cave ground and shattered upon impact into four inexplicably nearly equal parts. Four wisps of light escaped from the encasement red, blue, yellow and gray. In a split second, the light collided with Giovanni, Ash, Luke and Comet. The four succumbed to an irresistible sleep and collapsed, leaving a worried Delia to wonder what in the world was going on.

xoxox xox xoxox

One second Ash, Giovanni, Luke and Comet were at a cave in Mount Silver and the next they were freefalling through the sky. A bright light shot out from the air near by, where Ash should have been. The light reached out for the skies as if wanting to tare apart an invisible wall between dimensions. The light was far too bright and the other three had to close their eyes.

When Giovanni opened his eyes again he was alone, still falling towards the rapidly approaching ground covered in trees. It was certainly not Mount Silver that he was falling towards and it wasn't the Viridian forest either. He moved on instinct, not realizing what he was doing. As a result, the fall somehow slowed down, allowing Giovanni to safely glide into a clearing. "What happened?" His surroundings felt completely alien to him and he had a very strange sensation in his body that he couldn't push away. "Delia? Ash? Luke? Comet?" No one replied when he called. "Aayla? Did you do this? Are you out there?" There was still no reply. Uncertain of what to do, Giovanni began to walk.

As he walked, Giovanni became more aware of how different his body felt and started to remember a dream. Delia was in his dream, but she was a Mew. Upon examining himself more closely, having awakened from the daze he was left in by the harsh fall, he noticed that he was no longer human. "How is this possible?" He stared at his red-orange claws then spun around in circles until he caught his flaming tail. Was that strange dream that suddenly came into his mind a hidden memory? Was Delia transformed into a Mew? He had not seen her falling, perhaps she was still back at Mount Silver with Aayla. "Maybe I'm still at Mount Silver too, in a coma of crazy dreams after somehow hitting my head."

On the bright side, at least he was no longer a little Charmander. Giovanni extended his wings, stretching them out. He was sure he saw Ash, Luke and Comet falling, but after that light faded, they were gone. He felt as if the light had created a sort of shockwave that pushed him away. Maybe they had all been pushed in different directions and turned to pokemon, hopefully pokemon that could fly. Regardless of how strange and random the situation felt, Giovanni concluded that it was best to regroup and hopefully, figure out a way to get back home in the process. Dream or not, he might as well try to do something.

Thinking about having a better look at the surrounding area from the air, under conditions in which imminent death wasn't a distraction, Giovanni spread his wings and tried to fly. Unfortunately he could not. He flapped his wings madly and managed to hover, but flying like that would be terribly exhausting and ineffective. He tried to let his instinct guide him to fly, but it didn't work. Annoyed, Giovanni resigned himself to walking through the forest. He was careful with his tail so as to not cause a forest fire and get caught in the middle of it.

xoxox xox xoxox

After a long walk, Giovanni finally made it out of the thick forest. He spotted a somewhat familiar looking village ahead and hurried towards it. The village seemed rather empty, but he heard a multitude of voices near by, so there had to be someone around. He followed the sounds past the central plaza towards a pond, where he recalled that a Whiscash resided. He couldn't see Whiscash at the moment because of all the other pokemon gathered around the pond, obstructing his view. They seemed to be fussing about something. "What's going on?"

"It's that Pikachu!" A near by Granbull replied, his voice almost lost among the multiple conversations going on. "A Pikachu fell from the sky and no one knows who he is. We've gathered here to talk about what should be done about him. That poor Pikachu seems to be badly injured."

Giovanni felt as if he had frozen, despite being a fire type pokemon. The flame on his tail was slightly reduced as he urgently inquired, "where is he?"

"He's in the home of Team Chiray," the Granbull replied, then took the time to notice that he wasn't talking to one of his village neighbors. "You're new around here, aren't you? Wait a minute, I think I've met you before, did you happen to visit this village before you evolved?"

Granbull received no answer, Giovanni was already hurrying away from the pond and past the plaza. He headed for the little hut just outside the village. It was near there where he and Delia had appeared during their first trip to that strange world.

xoxox xox xoxox

The door to the hut burst open followed by the sound of Giovanni bumping his head on the doorframe. He lowered his head and entered the hut to be greeted by an angry shout of, "you can't just rush in here!" The owner of the voice was the same female Pikachu with pale yellow fur and pink cheeks that Giovanni and Delia had met before. The Charmeleon was there as well, he looked as though he was strong enough to evolve, but resisted evolution. There was also a Leafeon present, whom Giovanni had previously met as an Eevee.

Giovanni's attention was focused on the Pikachu that lay unconscious in a pile of soft leaves in the center of the little hut. "Ash?" He approached the Pikachu. The light that came from Ash had been similar to an aura sphere that became mixed with thunderbolts before he could no longer look at the brightness.

"Do you know him?" Charmeleon asked, before the female Pikachu picked a fight with the somewhat familiar newcomer that had rushed into their home.

"He's... my son," Giovanni concluded, too focused on the current issue to think about the irony of a Charmander and a Mew somehow breeding a Pikachu. The logic of the living world seemed to be lost to the mysteries of that world of souls.

"He is?" the female Pikachu seemed to back down for a moment and observe the Charizard. "Wait a minute, I know I've seen you before, but I can't quite place it." She didn't question the part about a Charizard being the father of a Pikachu, since she herself had raised an Eevee, who later became a Leafeon, with a Charmeleon as the father. They were not Leafeon's biological parents, but that didn't matter to any of them.

"Giovanni, the human," Giovanni automatically revealed, with the past memories of that world becoming more vivid as time passed. Simultaneously, the sense of who he was in the plane of existence of Team Rocket became a little more blurry, but he held on to it as strongly as he could.

"So it was you," Pikachu recalled, "your mate, she was called Delia, right? Is she with you too? She must be worried about him as well... Ash, was it?" She glanced at the unconscious Ash. "Unfortunately he won't wake up, so we can't feed him any berries to help him recover."

"We've patched up his injuries the best we could, but his energy seems to be dangerously low," Charmeleon revealed.

"I still say evolution will wake him up," Leafeon voiced.

Charmeleon shook his head in resignation, "there are no thunder stones left in the village. They appear in the land now and then, but they're not in season."

It was obvious that Ash couldn't wait much longer to be healed. He had nothing to rely on but the rustic methods of that world. "I'll find a thunder stone," Giovanni decided. He had no idea how he would accomplish the task, but he knew Ash's life was in danger and a thunder stone might be his only hope.

"Not to be pessimistic, but I honestly doubt there are any left," Charmeleon voiced. "Maybe Ash will wake up and eat some berries to feel better. If you still want to try to find the thunder stone, we could go see the Kecleon brothers and ask them for some clues."

"Did someone call us?" Two Kecleon, one green and one purple stood at the open door to the hut. "We came to see if you needed more berries to help your guest get better," the green one explained.

"It looks like he's still sleeping," the purple Kecleon observed, "he won't be able to eat berries like that."

"Do you two know where I can find a thunder stone?" Giovanni quickly asked.

The Kecleon brothers unanimously shook their heads. "We don't have any in stock," the green one informed.

"The customers that bought this year's supply of thunder stones have already used them by now. The stones gave their power and became like normal rocks," the purple one explained.

"Unless he is still collecting them," the green Kecleon theorized, "never mind, it's just a rumor."

"Who? Where?" Giovanni urgently insisted.

"Some time ago a very mean Drapion came to the village," the purple Kecleon narrated. "He had been hiding away for some time in a distant part of the world, getting ready to attack. When he came, we fought back and drove him away. Team Chiray was there too and all the teams from the village. Even if the village was saved in the end, some damage was still made and things were stolen. There were rumors that Drapion was trying to collect many evolutionary stones to give as payment to pokemon who would help him fight. Also, he wanted to make those pokemon that battled in his behalf stronger. He was defeated, but many of the things he stole were never recovered and might have not been used."

The green Kecleon continued the story, "there's a rumor that Drapion has a hideout somewhere and is waiting for the right time to attack again. We'll be ready for him if he comes." Realizing that the story was getting off topic, he returned to the subject of the thunder stone. "There might be a thunder stone in Drapion's hideout, but no one knows if that's true or where the hideout is."

"Except maybe Skitty," Leafeon mused aloud. "I'm not sure if it's true or not, but I heard Skitty saying she once followed Drapion to his hideout. She also said Drapion had no more allies so he probably wouldn't try to cause trouble again any time soon."

"Where is this Skitty?" One small clue led to another as each pokemon had a little information to contribute.

"She's probably in the flower garden at the plains northeast of the village. I'm not really sure if she truly followed Drapion. She did seem like she would be easy to miss, so maybe she was able to follow him without being caught," Leafeon explained.

"Even if the information isn't confirmed, it's all there is," Giovanni had no choice but to follow the available clues. "I'll leave Ash here and fly to Drapion's hideout," if he could figure out how to fly, it would certainly speed things along.

"We'll take care of Ash," the female Pikachu assured. "If you find the hideout and want backup, throw a fireball to the sky and we'll follow the signal," as usual, she was ready to jump into battle.

xoxox xox xoxox

The plains northeast of the pokemon village had many flowers, but Skitty was nowhere to be found. 'This is hopeless, is it even truly real? Why do I remember things I didn't remember before? There's something else, another memory in the back of my mind fighting to come out...' Setting the thoughts aside for a moment, Giovanni called out to the pokemon he hoped had the next clue of his unusual journey, "Skitty! Skitty, are you here?"

"I'm here," a small feminine voice came from the ground. Giovanni looked down between the pink flowers to where a Skitty was almost invisible among the flora. She really was easy to miss. She reminded him of someone, small, quiet and sneaky.

"I need to find Drapion and get a thunder stone. I heard you knew where his hideout was," Giovanni got right to the point.

The small Skitty shyly nodded, "yes, it's true. It was because of Liepard," she revealed. "He got hurt during a cave in trying to keep me safe. For a time I thought I had lost him, but later I heard he no longer remembered who he was. He ended up helping Drapion without knowing what he was doing. During the battle of the village against Drapion, Liepard recovered his memories and turned against that mean Drapion. The pokemon of the village still distrusted him even after it was over, so he left. I lost track of him, so I followed Drapion to see if Liepard had gone back there, maybe to get revenge on Drapion for tricking him. He wasn't there and I don't know where Liepard went, maybe he started over somewhere far away, but I have no idea where he is. You are not from here, have you seen him? Do you know where he could be?"

"I haven't seen who you're looking for," Giovanni had seen Liepard, but that was in his own world. He didn't think any of those were the specific pokemon Skitty was searching for. "I need to get to Drapion's hideout and get a thunder stone fast."

"You sound like you really need it," Skitty observed. "If you cross the forest towards the south and keep going southeast, you'll find a waterfall. There is a cave behind it where Drapion was hiding when I followed him. It's a long way from here."

"That's no problem, I'll fly there," Giovanni flapped his wings to no avail. "I just need to find a good spot to use as a runway."

It didn't seem like the Skitty fully understood his flying troubles since she herself didn't know anything about flying, "good luck."

"Leah?" Giovanni paused and shook his head to clear it, the Skitty looked confused, albeit she had an expression of familiarity on her face, "never mind..." It was odd, but the pokemon really did remind him of Leah, who had passed away all those years ago. If the story was more than a coincidence, then that would make Liepard similar to Han. It was only a general similarity anyway and it made little sense to someone who didn't have a full understanding of that world. Only an exceptional few could hope to begin to understand the mysteries of that plane of existence.

xoxox xox xoxox

A small distance further to the northeast, Giovanni saw a cliff with another little hut on it. Pelipper came and went from the little hut as if it were some kind of post office. Giovanni stood at the edge of the cliff and looked towards the distance. No one tried to stop him, since the Charizard's actions seemed harmless enough. Taking a deep breath, he jumped from the cliff and spread his wings. The wind of the fall pushed his wings up causing him to glide. Trying to keep his wings stretched out, he flapped them rhythmically until he got the hang of it.

Stretching out his neck and tail in the most aerodynamic position he could muster, Giovanni sped through the skies towards the south. He hoped to see the waterfall Skitty mentioned as soon as possible. Flying by his own power was an amazing feeling, though he had no time to bask in it given his haste to find Drapion's hideout and hopefully a thunder stone.

Some time later, Giovanni spotted a waterfall on a mountain side that looked like it could be the one he was searching for. He landed in front of it, finally resting his wings. He looked at the flame on his tail and at the water. It gave him a bad feeling, akin to a warning of survival instinct, just by looking at it. "I'm a fire type and that's water, this isn't good, but there's no other choice." Shielding his flaming tail as much as possible, Giovanni rushed in behind the waterfall. He was glad to find, not a solid wall behind it, but a secret cave. Unfortunately, water kept dripping from the cave's ceiling, which made him very uncomfortable.

Giovanni went deeper into the waterfall cave until he heard an angry voice calling out, "who's there?" The voice was somehow familiar, but the memory was distant. Without replying, he hurried towards the deeper area of the cave, where he heard the voice echoing from. As he arrived he saw Drapion. "I knew I heard someone, have you come here to join my gang?"

"I'm here for a thunder stone," there were several evolutionary stones in a small pile behind Drapion. Giovanni couldn't see if there was a thunder stone among them or not. There might be one under the others, he had to make sure.

"A thunder stone wouldn't make you stronger," Drapion stated as a matter of fact. "Just now it sounded as if you wanted to challenge me. Look around, you're at a disadvantage in this cave where water leeks out from the ceiling all the time. It's like being under the rain."

"It's only light rain and I am challenging you for a thunder stone," Giovanni threatened, "I will win."

"I'll show you true power!" Drapion shouted angrily.

'Venom, that's who he reminds me of, but it doesn't look like he knows anything beyond being a Drapion. Maybe their similarities are only a coincidence,' Giovanni thought as he got ready for battle.

xoxox xox xoxox

Aside from Ash and Giovanni, Luke and Comet were also thrown into that mysterious world. After that strange light that came from Ash faded, the group was separated while still falling. Comet saw a Gligar heading towards him as his shape changed into that of an Absol. Since the orb was broken, their souls in their out of body experience went through a harsher entrance into that world. Comet, completely turned into an Absol, was falling fast. Fortunately the Gligar was able to catch him and get him to the ground safely.

"You saved me, thank you," Comet told the pokemon. "How did I end up falling?"

"This is another place, a good place, but I don't think you're supposed to be here. Your body is still back in the other world, isn't it? Not mine, mine is gone, dissolved into nothing, it was her doing. I don't hate her for it, because it means I can stay here. Nothing scares me here; I don't feel angry anymore, this place is peaceful." Gligar looked as if he had been waiting for such peace for a long time.

"I don't understand what you're talking about, but a talking pokemon is really rare. I've only seen one other like that." Comet was referring to the Meowth who was always with Jessie and James.

"Take a good look at yourself," Gligar waited for the reaction that soon came.

"I'm a pokemon? How did this happen?" Comet poked the horn sticking out of the side of his head with his paw. He wondered if an Absol would feel out of balance with one. Yet the long thick white fur on his other side seemed to balance things well enough, since the horn was lighter than he imagined.

"I don't understand it myself. I only know that you're not supposed to be here if you still have a body back there," Gligar seemed to speak in riddles that left many questions unanswered. "It's your business if you want to go back. I don't know why I caught you. I guess I don't completely blame you for being luckier than me, but I'm still jealous because you were absolved from everything that I had to suffer," Gligar began to leave.

Confused by his words, Comet quickly followed. "Who are you? Can you at least tell me that?"

"I was never given a name there. I'm starting to forget it all. I'm sure I'll forget about it entirely eventually. That's alright, I don't want to remember that time anyway," Gligar started to fly. "It was like waking up from a nightmare. I won't be going back and I won't think of that world anymore. Unlike me, it looks like you do have a place there. I don't, so I'll just have to forget about it, the world, the pain, the fear and you too, my so called brother." Extending the wings under his claws, Gligar gained altitude.

"Ten, you're the one known as number ten. When you said it was her doing, you were talking about Aayla, right? Then she must know what all this is about," Comet concluded. "How do I go back, how do I become human again?"

"You're on your own, I have a new life to live," Gligar flew away and disappeared in the distance.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 99: Give me Importance

The water dripped from the ceiling all over the rocky floor of the cave behind the waterfall. Giovanni, transformed into a Charizard, was preparing to battle against Venom. The past Tempest leader had appeared in that world as a Drapion with no memories of his former human self. He could have a thunder stone hidden in his stash, which would be needed to help Ash recover. Giovanni started off the fight with a flamethrower attack. Unfortunately, he was feeling the effect of the water falling on him like a constant light, but significant rain. The attack was diminished further as the flame dissolved almost completely into smoke. What was left of the fire was easily dodged by the Drapion. Venom took the opportunity to fight back, rushing forward and spinning to try to hit Giovanni with his tail in a poison sting attack.

Giovanni jumped back, avoiding the deadly tail of his Drapion opponent. The collision of Venom's tail on the rocky surface left a noticeable indentation with its force. Stumbling back and nearly tripping over his own tail in his haste, Giovanni tried to recover as fast as he could. He knew the environment had him at a disadvantage and fire attacks would not be very effective in that cave. He doubted Venom would follow him out if he tried to lead him away. If anything, he might try to use the waterfall to his advantage, but probably wouldn't leave the protection of the humid cave. If fire attacks weren't working, he would just have to do something else. Giovanni was on the attack again, this time with dragon claw. Unfortunately the Drapion's skin was like armor and hard to pierce.

"You can't win!" Venom taunted as he attacked again. The Drapion's tail collided with its target this time, inflicting poison on Giovanni. Combining the effect of the poison with the wet atmosphere was very bad for the Charizard. He felt weakened, as if he could barely stand. "You lost," Venom prepared to finish the fight with Venoshock, an attack that would be made more powerful by the fact that Giovanni was poisoned.

In a desperate attempt to defend himself, Giovanni went on a wild attack with flare blitz at point blank. Venom's attack was interrupted by the fire. Despite the humid atmosphere working against the element of fire, the attack was so close to the target that it barely had time to lose strength. Unfortunately it took a great effort and Giovanni could barely push himself to attack again. He knew he couldn't let what could be his only opportunity escape. Refusing to give up, with his competitive spirit and determination at its maximum despite the disadvantage he was in, Giovanni went all out with one final dragon rage attack.

The last attack overpowered Venom, who lost consciousness. Weakened severely, Giovanni struggled to reach the pile of evolutionary stones searching among them for a thunder stone, without which all his efforts would have been in vain. Thankfully, he found one thunder stone in the pile and with it, he set off to leave the cave. It was no easy task to exit the hide out. Giovanni made it past the waterfall hiding the entrance, but the effort proved too great. Just as he landed outside the cave at the river's shore, he collapsed.

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, Comet had made it to the shores of a beach. He was still confused about his location, but hoped to find some answers when he found his father, Giovanni and Ash. Seeing some pokemon gathered at the beach, he walked over to them and asked if they had met anyone by the names of Luke, Ash or Giovanni.

"Didn't that newcomer say he was called Luke?" A nearby Simipour commented, "he's a bit unusual, but a great surfer."

"Can you tell me where he is?" Comet inquired; at least he managed to find one of them. But why would his father be surfing at a time like this?

"There he comes!" A Croconaw pointed at the sea where a Floatzel was riding a wave on a rustic surfboard.

The Floatzel reached the shore after a flawless performance, to be greeted by the cheers of the onlookers. "The waves are like totally awesome, man! I like knew Heaven had to be like totally good, you know? But I like never like imagined it would like be like this great, you know?"

"Dad!" Comet made his way through the crowd of mostly water pokemon.

Hearing Comet's voice, Floatzel searched for its source among the pokemon gathered there until he spotted the Absol who had his son's voice, a voice much like his own. "Comet? Like why are you like here? You're like too young to like die, you know?"

"We're not dead!" Comet insisted. "Number ten is the one who passed away, kind of. He's here as a Gligar and he seemed happy about it. He's staying in this world, but we need to go back to our own world. We have to find Giovanni and Ash."

xoxox xox xoxox

During his time of partial unconsciousness, Giovanni thought he heard some voices similar to Luke and Comet. He felt as if someone was moving him with difficulty, making slow but steady progress. He wanted to get up, he wanted to open his eyes, but he didn't have the strength to do so. He fell into a deep coma for a while and once again reached a state of half consciousness some time later. He felt a bit of an electric shock, but it wasn't too harsh, just enough to make him growl in annoyance. Then there was another voice like Ash's voice. He was saying something about berries. Another electric shock came, that one stronger. He opened his eyes finally, just barely conscious being forced to wake up by the electricity.

"That always wakes me up," there was a Raichu holding some berries. "Eat these, they'll make you feel better.

With no energy to argue, Giovanni ate the berries, soon feeling their beneficial effect. The world around him became clearer as he recovered his strength. "Ash?"

The Raichu looked relieved, "are you okay now? Comet and Luke brought you here. You had a thunder stone, that's how I evolved."

"I'm fine," Giovanni observed Comet and Luke's new forms too.

"Dude, Giovanni, it's like awesome that you're like a Charizard, man! It would be like lots of fun if you could like give me a ride sometime, you know?" Luke, transformed into a Floatzel, grinned in anticipation.

"Oh yes, that would be fun," Giovanni started to reply in a light tone, then his face turned serious, "not happening."

While Luke pouted, Comet explained what had happened to number ten and what he had learned about that world.

"At least ten is taken care of," that was one less problem for Team Rocket to deal with as his plans became a reality. "The last time I was here, I was taken back by Gardevoir in a dream," it sounded strange, but that was what Giovanni's newly uncovered memories revealed. There was also something else, another locked memory that still fought to resurface.

"Gardevoir spoke to me when we came," Ash revealed. "She said that the orb was a passage between this world and our world. This world is a place of souls where people and pokemon alike wait to be reborn. Everything here is made of energy, projections coming from people's souls. She said something about a collective conscious, I couldn't really understand. The point is that this world is apparently not a physical place of existence."

"Are we like ghosts?" Luke asked, "like actual ghosts, not the pokemon type?"

"Something like that, I think," Ash nodded.

"It fits what ten said," Comet voiced. "When we came the orb was broken, we all saw it fall and shatter. I have a feeling that we should be heading back as soon as possible if we don't want to get stuck here."

"That's right, I don't know for how long the temporary portal will last," Ash agreed. "Gardevoir asked me to help her in making it, to release my energy for it. The portal won't last forever so we need to get over there."

Giovanni snapped out of his deep thoughts as the group made their way outside the hut. He looked up at the area where they had fallen from, the place where Ash released his energy. There was a light up there, shining in every color imaginable, the portal that would lead their souls back to their bodies.

"I can't say I fully understand what's going on, but good luck getting back home," Charmeleon spoke.

"If this place really is the in between of lives, maybe we'll see each other again after some more decades pass," the female Pikachu from Team Chiray commented.

"Yeah, or maybe we'll meet in the other world," Leafeon agreed.

The Raichu who was Ash, smiled hopefully as he usually did during goodbyes, "we'll see each other again one day. I don't know when, but we will."

Giovanni looked towards the portal and extended his wings feeling more confident about flying after having gotten some experience. "It looks like everyone will be getting a ride after all."

"That's like totally awesome, man!" Luke cheered, even if the detour was strange, it was very amusing to him. Ash, Comet and Luke all climbed on Giovanni's back.

Giovanni got a running start, jumping and flapping his wings. It took some extra effort to gain altitude, but he fell into a steady pace higher up. He headed for the fading portal just in time to make it through, back to the world were they belonged. As they disappeared, they saw a Gligar watching them. The Gligar flew away as if leaving behind all past ties to Team Rocket, to truly start anew.

xoxox xox xoxox

A few days later at the Viridian Rocket headquarters, Archer entered Giovanni's office with an important announcement, "the antidote is ready. Binks was able to make it with a sample of Aayla's blood cells." The top ranked executive looked at the blinking light on Giovanni's phone. "He tried to call you directly but you wouldn't answer." Though Giovanni was yet to say a word, Archer sat down across from him in front of the large polished desk. "You've been distracted lately, ever since you came back from the mission to find Aayla. I understand that it was a success. Delia convinced her to come back willingly as long as her safety and freedom were assured." He leaned back on the chair, becoming comfortable and letting out a breath. "Don't overanalyze it, that world I mean." Archer, Ariana, Proton and Petrel had heard about Giovanni's experience directly from him. "I think it's best to focus on taking over the living world."

Giovanni, who had been staring off into space, closed his eyes and nodded. "If that place really is a sort of collective consciousness then it would be impossible to overtake it, no matter how strong one's own will may be. Besides, when I was there I had no big ambitions; I suppose it's the nature of that place. I wasn't thinking about that, it's this world that I was thinking of. It's been bothering me since I was there. My memories of my first visit to that mysterious world were locked away for some time. During my second visit they were unlocked. There was also something else, another memory that I can't quite reach yet. There's something hidden in the back of my mind that I feel I should know, but I don't. New Island, the failed Mewtwo project, there's something that doesn't fit."

"The island laboratories were destroyed, the project was determined to be a failure because all the clones died." Archer repeated what was known to them, what they thought had happened. Luke's clones were being kept here at Viridian at the time, thus were spared from when the laboratory was destroyed. Binks spent a long time in recovery. The project was declared as a waste of resources, not something worth pursuing again." Archer paused and allowed those thoughts to sink in. "Are you thinking that with the recent technological advances it might be worth to try again? Unfortunately, we don't have a sample to work with."

Giovanni had been going in circles around the issue for some time. He decided to take different approaches to the dilemma and see if he found any clues that would explain that nagging feeling in the back of his mind. It was as if something came loose, and an avalanche of information was imminent. "I want to meet with all the executives, Binks should be there too."

xoxox xox xoxox

The meeting was swiftly organized as per Giovanni's orders. It was convenient that all the executives and the requested scientist were currently at Viridian. The meeting took place in a more private conference room, one equipped with secured data ports to the most precious secrets of Team Rocket. Each person invited passed their keycard in front of the door's sensor as they went in.

The polished metallic table had a black mirror-like surface and silver legs, the pipes twisted into decorative shapes akin to abstract modern art. The carpet was plush and thick, in the darkest shade of crimson. The chairs matched the table in colors and style, with a specially designed kind of wheels that ran smoothly on the deep carpet. The walls were not adorned with art, but instead with charts and diagrams bringing to light the current biggest issues and victories of Team Rocket, as well as serving as a reminder of future plans.

Donuts and coffee were already set in front of each space as the invited shuffled to their seats, setting laptops and agendas on the table in front of them. When there were snacks available from the start, it meant Giovanni wasn't sure how long the meeting would be. It would last until a solution was reached, however long it may take, the issue at hand would not be postponed. However, no specific topic was mentioned to the executives or Binks, in what could be catalogued as the most mysterious and random reunion Giovanni was yet to appoint.

"First of all, I want you all to doubt what you know," Giovanni began in a rather unusual way, once everyone was seated. He was at the end of the oval shaped table. To Giovanni's right sat Archer and next to him Ariana; to his left were Proton, Petrel and Binks. The scientist was recovering his focus at an amazing rate, no longer running away from reality, though he was not without occasional complications. "The first topic of our meeting will be New Island," the Rocket leader revealed. "I want each of you to speak of it one by one; the others will try to find contradictions. Even if you believe that you must have misunderstood something if your version contradicts someone else's I want you to say what you know as you know it." He looked at Binks as if searching for any signs that he should leave the meeting.

"I'm okay," Binks spoke as if reading Giovanni's expression. "I can talk about this. I have no intentions of denying myself the truth. Should I go first?" Giovanni nodded and Binks continued, "Dr. Fuji always spoke of reviving his daughter, Amber, it was his personal project alongside the Mewtwo project. The boys would help provide extra data," he referred to the clones of Luke. "Forgive me, my memories are fuzzy, but this is what I know, Fuji had great hopes. After the accident I was surprised that the project was cancelled. Without such a brilliant colleague as Fuji to constantly reassure me that this was all for the right cause, my views began to change and I started feeling guilty. The destruction of the lab was a sad event, but maybe one full of karma. I spent a long time recovering, but even so I was surprised that the project had been cancelled when I heard about it after being released from intensive care. I concluded that what led to the cancellation was the destruction of the original Mew sample."

There was a silent pause as all those present took in Binks' words. Then began the questioning, the way to the hidden truth was to read between the lines. "All the data was kept in New Island along with the sample. Backups should have been made, though it was uncomfortable because of the constant renovations the Kanto area was undergoing. The data was more protected there, so it remained only there. Even so, such a precious sample... Something might have been left, if only a small hint of the sample. Why didn't I order the lab ruins to be explored in search of it? I had other business in Kanto, but that's not enough. What was I concentrating on so much that I didn't order the ruins to be explored?"

No one had a definite answer to that question, but they were beginning to see what Giovanni meant by doubting what they knew. In an effort to add something, Archer looked up some information in the archives. "Team Rocket's business at the time immediately after the lab's destruction was focused on expanding to other regions that we were barely beginning to reach. Commerce with the Orange Islands increased significantly. Later, there was the development of a machine to capture exceptionally strong pokemon, though it was never successfully put to use."

"Why not?" Giovanni questioned.

"The technology and power was effective, but there was no target that required such machines to be caught. I believe the goal were the legendary birds, but that hunt never really took off." Archer paused looking at the screen of his laptop connected to a data port. His gaze traveled to the Rocket leader meeting his eyes. Giovanni wasn't one to leave things half done.

"Wasn't there a failure in the power supply of that device?" Proton inquired. "I'm not sure if it's the one I'm thinking of, but didn't it blow up?"

"If it did, why wasn't it fixed?" Giovanni continued to inquire.

"Because it was experimental, being tested to see if it was worth it?" Ariana took a moment to go over her own words as well as everything else that was spoken so far. "We're just making up excuses and concluding what is logical to conclude, while contradicting ourselves in the process. In the end, it seems all our memories about certain things from that time are blurry. There was another project before the capturing device, some armor of sorts that I'm also having trouble remembering. Strangely, I remember everything else from that period as clearly as it is normal given the time that has passed."

"That's exactly what I'm talking about," Giovanni was glad that the executives were at least seeing his point.

"I don't see anything strange about that time," Petrel mused aloud. "I remember all of you being busy and hearing rumors about the Mewtwo project being a success. I was busy with business at the Orange Islands at the time and wasn't exactly in constant contact with headquarters. The rumors were false, a pity, I would have designed a grand costume for Mewtwo if it were real. I know you won't let me dress your pokemon, but I thought you'd make an exception for that one."

"Rumors?" The feeling of uneasiness increased in Giovanni, along with a sense of anticipation. "This was top secret, how could you have heard rumors?"

Petrel shrugged, "Proton told me, probably as a joke."

"No, I didn't, I never said anything like that," Proton defended.

"The reason why the ruined laboratory wasn't explored, the purpose of the armor and the machine to catch powerful pokemon, the reason why those projects were dropped..." Giovanni could come up with explanations for them, but he felt as if he was only filling in the blanks as Ariana said. His mind came up with all sorts of logical explanations that didn't quite fit his determination. Why did he give up? "What destroyed the lab in the first place? Was it really a chain reaction caused by the power reactor? Why did we conclude that without a detailed investigation?" Giovanni wanted to find answers and he had gone into that conference room determined not to go out without them. However, there was a faster way to come up with those answers, a more precise way. "Meeting postponed," he finally announced. "Take some time to think about what was said here. Question everything; we'll talk again after I gather some facts from New Island." Giovanni left the conference room to assemble an investigation team.

The four executives and Binks sat at the table for a few moments longer. Proton took a big bite of his donut, "Giovanni's worrying me."

"I'm more worried about the fact that you still haven't learned not to talk with your mouth full," Ariana commented, receiving a roll of the eyes from Proton. "In all seriousness," she continued, "Giovanni's recent experience has really affected him, but he has a point. It's odd that there seems to be something that doesn't fit. I'll check the data and put some information together with what we have. If anything, we might discover some past misinformation, maybe even sabotage. It would be a bit late, but we could still learn from it."

"If you ask me, you all need a vacation," Petrel suggested. "Giovanni's having a stressful time. It happens now and then. Remember when he lost his temper and nearly killed Rune, which led to his heart problems? Remember when he did those training exercises in the mountains on a whim? It's just one of those times."

"Training exercises?" Proton tried to remember what Petrel was talking about.

Archer looked up some extra data in the system, "it was close to the time when the machine to capture powerful pokemon was declared a failure. We weren't training. We were following a vague clue that Moltres had been spotted near that mountain area."

"Zapdos," Ariana corrected.

"There were no legendaries, we were trying out the guns, training the rookies, you know," Proton insisted. "We were playing war, it was a training exercise."

"I was at the Orange Islands so I didn't get to play general that time," Petrel frowned. "I would have come up with some amazing special edition uniforms for the occasion."

"We weren't playing generals, we were hunting legendaries," Ariana insisted.

"Actually, the system says nothing about Moltres, Zapdos or Articuno being spotted near that area. We always keep tabs on them to figure out the patterns of their migrations in hopes of capturing them, though so far there have been no real patterns. None the less, that data should be in the system," Archer massaged his temples, feeling a headache coming on with all the contradictions.

"Let's just continue with our usual duties for now," Ariana suggested. "I'll take care of organizing the data we have in the archives and make sure it's ready for our next meeting."

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, at Cerulean City, Ash, Misty and her sisters were all rejoicing about the discovery of the antidote. Lando and Daisy were there as well, with Violet, Lily and Brock; Kenobi had gone to visit too. He had hidden Giovanni's identity from them before and lied to do so. It was something for which Violet became upset when he confessed after Giovanni's identity was revealed to Misty and thus would be difficult to keep from her sisters. After several apologies, Violet forgave Kenobi and they stayed together.

"To think the gym leader was the Rocket boss all along. This will be our secret to guard," Lando concluded, he knew he would be busy with business related to the production of the antidote. "I'm just glad an antidote was discovered, even if it won't be officially on the shelves for a few more days."

"But darling, the pokemon need it!" Daisy insisted.

"I know, beloved, yet it is outside of my control. Until the Pokemon League approves, we cannot distribute the antidote. We were only able to heal our pokemon right away because of our connections," Lando admitted.

Ash pouted in frustration hearing this, "I don't like bureaucracy," he declared, though he wouldn't let it ruin the relief that finally overcame him when he was given the antidote to protect his pokemon from possible future infections and to heal the pokemon that were infected. He offered to deliver the antidote to Cerulean City right away and flew out on Charizard soon after.

The cure was a virus in itself that mutated the bad one into something good. It was called Pokerus, a virus that only pokemon could contract and made their bodies stronger. It boosted their immune system to a point where no known illnesses could even begin to affect them, save for poison and such conditions originating from another pokemon.

For most of Ash's journey, he focused on pokemon training and left his aura abilities to develop on their own without seeking training. They grew in time and sometimes manifested themselves. Ash could also call upon his abilities, somehow becoming more used to them by instinct with the passing of the years. His experience in that mysterious world where he evolved from the image of a Pikachu into Raichu were not without effect. Evolution aside, it was being exposed to that world which made him more aware of his own aura, thus more able to control it. He felt uneasiness in the air despite the situation looking as if it was steadily heading towards a significant improvement. He catalogued the odd feeling as stress from an exhausting ordeal and tried to remain positive. After things settled down, he would return to Viridian City and stay for a while to try to further get to know his father. They would battle, they would talk and things would work out somehow.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon.