Don't Give Me Diamonds
Diamond 054: Give Me Honor
At the Viridian Rocket base, Pixel read over the list Jessie had given her. "Are these all of them?" Pixel, Jessie, James, Meowth and a pair of Rocket grunts made their way to the weapons supply room.
"There might be more, these are only the ones we know of, that is the first page," Jessie explained running down the long underground halls. "The second half of the list is something else entirely; I got it in the mail. It was the strangest thing, but strange things had been happening ever since we moved to Saffron City."
"I thought we were just lucky," James commented.
"When have we ever been lucky?" Jessie had been driven to stop believing in luck a long time ago. "It's clear that someone in Saffron is controlling things from the shadows. If I had to take a guess, that person is using this whole thing to weaken Team Rocket. But they can't allow someone else to take control either. The competition must be eliminated. This is just a theory, but I think the answer is in Saffron City."
"Then it's convenient for that mysterious person that Team Rocket wins this time? The media coverage is making things difficult and business will be terribly affected. With Team Rocket left like that, it would be the perfect time for the true enemy to move in," Pixel reasoned.
"The one behind this doesn't want any competition when it comes to taking over Team Rocket," Jessie theorized. "The Neo Rockets probably have no idea they're being manipulated. In fact," Jessie added bitterly, "we're probably dancing to the tune they're playing for us right now, but we don't have a choice. We need to take care of things here, then get the rest of them. Whatever conspiracy is going on, I think it will be revealed soon, but first we need to clean the base."
"Agreed, one thing at a time if we're going to win," Pixel looked left and right down the long underground metal halls. Confirming that the coast was clear, she entered a number on the little keypad on the wall. "When Laiki and I left the weapons storage room I entered a secret number that switched all the access codes. Not everyone knows the second set of access codes, but I'm sure they're figuring that out right now. Let's hurry, take as much as you can, they must have detected this room being opened."
Jessie grinned and picked up a bazooka. She realized it felt heavier and deadlier than any other bazookas she had held. "This is different from the equipment we used in the past. Someone could get killed with this."
Pixel grinned, "welcome to the dark side." In her mind she was an invincible super villain, or at least an almost invincible minion of an almost invincible mafia lord. Ironically she had never actually had the need to injure anyone, at least not yet.
"Watch yourself rookie," despite her warning, Jessie's confidence didn't fail. "Don't worry too much though; you're with experienced agents now."
James kept giving Jessie a knowing grin and he couldn't help it but to comment, "I knew you missed being a Rocket as much as I did, if not more." The remark earned James a smack on the back of the head from Jessie.
"I just hope we get the chance to do something heroic," Meowth's eyes shone with anticipation. "Then the boss will give us a big reward and say, 'for saving Team Rocket and my life I'll hire you again and give you the biggest raise you can imagine. From now on it's going to be only the best for Meowth and his friends."
"This is no time for your fantasies. We have traitors to catch!" Jessie was well armed with a pair of guns on her belt and a bazooka on her back. She carried a lot of extra ammunition as well. "I really hope it doesn't come to this, real Rockets fight with the power of pokemon."
"Then we'll just have to restore Team Rocket to how it should be!" James cheered; he was similarly armed to Jessie, just in case. "Our pokemon are strong, we can do it. By the way, speaking of pokemon, what did you do with the egg Flareon laid before we came? You ran off with it and returned without it. Then you drove over here taking weird shortcuts like a maniac. I was too busy fearing for my life to ask."
"Don't worry about it," Jessie assured, "the egg is with auntie, she'll take care of it."
"I have a question, if someone else gave you the second page of the list and you compiled the first yourselves, how did you do it?" Pixel inquired.
"It's because Neo Rocket offered us to join them, but we refused. They thought we would join in since we weren't in the best terms with the boss before. I think they just wanted to use James to access his family's money and use it for their cause," Jessie explained bitterly. The thought of someone taking advantage of James bothered her. Either way, his parents kept the fortune and were not keen on sharing since he married Jessie.
"Or they could have thought we're awesome and tried to get us to join," James added with a more pleasant tone. "They didn't understand that part of being awesome is being loyal."
"Save any other questions for later, let's focus on the battle now," Jessie urged. "The Neo Rockets were planning to gather in Kanto and this is the main base of the region. The majority of Team Rocket is actually still loyal, but there are enough traitors to make a noticeable difference. I think their ultimate goal is to get rid of the boss to establish their power over Team Rocket. They must assume that the loyal Rockets will change their minds and follow them if they take out the boss." Jessie explained, she was ready to head into battle. The Rocket grunts followed quietly, hoping that they wouldn't regret remaining loyal to Giovanni.
xoxox xox xoxox
Things had taken a complicated turn at Rock On in Pewter City. Yolanda backed away to the wall. Four members of Team Rocket had snuck in and detained her. The blond woman who led them was currently interrogating her. Yolanda didn't know what they were talking about.
"Don't play dumb, I know this place is a secret base for Team Rocket's enemies!" Laiki insisted, aiming her gun at the frightened girl.
"I really don't know what you're talking about," Yolanda cried. "This is a pokemon breeding center. It belongs to my brother. I'm taking care of the pokemon while he's out. He doesn't have any connections with you people or your enemies, I'm sure of it!"
The three Rocket grunts returned to the living room where Laiki was holding Yolanda hostage. "We didn't find anything suspicious at all," one of the grunts informed, "this isn't an enemy base."
"That's weird," Laiki mused with worry, "here I am with an elite squadron," she motioned towards her weapons rather than the grunts, "ready to storm the enemy base and take over with sheer power. Then what do I find? A girl who honestly doesn't seem to know about the situation and no incriminating evidence."
Laiki gave it some thought, the order she received came from the boss. His cell phone had since been rendered useless. Pixel was sure the geeks on the traitors' side would collapse the communication system eventually and her guess was right. The enemy would rather have no method of spying if it meant risking false information and giving their opponents a chance to slip encoded messages past them.
A thought occurred to Laiki. The password was so that she would know the order was from the boss, even if his voice was not heard. But why didn't he just give her a quick call? Messages were useful when sneaking around quietly. What was making him hide the message? Maybe he was in trouble.
That couldn't be it, if the enemy had Giovanni, then the battle should have been over. "This doesn't make sense, but I have a bad feeling." The three grunts looked at Laiki with puzzlement, 'the boss is still a human being. Even if he seems like so much more to us most of the time. It must have been a mistake,' she mused. 'Giovanni is a stubborn person,' Laiki thought, 'I can't imagine anyone being able to force the password out of him by any means. He could have been tricked or someone could have obtained the code in some other way. Perhaps the boss just sent the wrong information by mistake. Maybe the mistake was mine and my true mission was to investigate and be ready for the worse. The worse case scenario wasn't confirmed as I assumed.'
Laiki took one last look at Yolanda, who was still frightened. "Sorry about that. Well boys, it seems there was a mistake. The Rock On enemy hide out was nothing but a false alarm. Let's head back to HQ, that's where we're really needed."
"Wait! What's going on?" Yolanda suddenly demanded to know. She wanted those people gone, but she couldn't stop herself from asking.
"I can't tell you that. If you knew, then I would have a real reason to storm this place," Laiki smiled innocently. "Oh and by the way, Team Rocket doesn't go around attacking people at random. Don't get the wrong impression. You're perfectly safe as long as you don't pick a fight with us, don't hinder our business and don't try to keep a strong pokemon to yourself. We would also appreciate it if you kept this whole misunderstanding a secret. Do it for the sake of everyone's safety, if you know what I mean."
Yolanda nodded slowly; she felt that she had no choice. The Rockets left Rock On without any casualties. Yolanda watched from the window as the seemingly normal car with tinted glass drove away.
xoxox xox xoxox
In the little underground room of the old Team Rocket hideout, Delia remained quiet. She was waiting for Giovanni to say something. She wished there was some light so she could see his expression. "I'm sorry," she cried, speaking hurriedly and breaking the thick silence. "So many things happened and it looked like Team Rocket was getting worse. So many of our friends were hurt and even died. I didn't know for how long that would continue or if it would ever end. I thought the only way Ash could live in peace was if I left. Despite our disagreements, I was prepared to stay if it was just me. I don't regret having Ash, he's our son and I love him so much. He reminds me of you a lot sometimes. You both want to be the best, you're both stubborn, you both like powerful pokemon, you both never give up and so many other things."
"Ash looks a lot like you when he brushes his hair back. His hair is just as stubborn as yours when it comes to staying in place without putting a million things in it. Most of the time he wears a hat. Oh, and you both like chocolate cake, I guess a lot of people do, but yeah, you still like it, right?" Delia stopped herself, she was rambling. It must already be a lot to take in, she didn't want to make the overload worse. "Um... Giovanni... are you mad at me?"
"Yes," he replied after a moment, though he didn't sound angry. He sounded surprised and confused. For once his voice completely lacked his usual mask of neutrality. He told himself this didn't change anything. Ash had existed for years and nothing had changed. The only difference was that he didn't know. He wanted to know just who was Ash beyond what little he knew about him. The need to battle him resurfaced again, much stronger then it had been during the tournament. Giovanni couldn't explain it.
"Alright, that's okay, you can be mad at me. I guess I did kind of cheat you out of a lot of visits by keeping the secret," Delia breathed deeply. "You do understand that I thought it was for the best, don't you? Ash is... well, you should meet him for yourself and see. He doesn't know about you. He knows you as the Viridian gym leader and I'm pretty sure he admires you. He doesn't know anything about your connection to Team Rocket. If you want to tell him, I'll leave that up to you. Please wait until things calm down if you decide to tell him the whole truth and let me prepare him first."
Giovanni closed his eyes in thought; everything was darkness in the little underground room anyway. "I'll get things under control first, then we'll talk." It was a strange overwhelming feeling, too many things were happening at once.
Delia breathed in relief, "I'll help out in any way I can. Please count me as an ally," she paused. She felt that Giovanni would probably want to have some time to let things sink in before more questions started to surface. "Should we wait here until tomorrow?"
"No, that's not necessary," Giovanni had too much to think about as it was. He made himself focus on his problems with Team Rocket; there would be time for everything else later. Still, thoughts of Delia kept resurfacing. Why would she still want to help? What about Ash? He couldn't deny he wanted to know more. "We've waited long enough. Let's walk the rest of the way to Cerulean City. We can get communication and transportation there."
Quietly and with a heavy atmosphere, Giovanni, Delia and Persian made their way out of the little underground room. They walked in silence, which made Delia feel uncomfortable. She thought about what to say, but was interrupted by an explosion near by.
A familiar voice called out, "Pikachu, no!"
"That was Ash!" Delia started running towards a source of light up ahead, where the voice had come from.
The light was a fire on Ash's little indigo car, "I'm on it!" Misty called out her Starmie. "Water gun, put out that fire!" The solution was effective as Starmie's water successfully extinguished the flames in the car.
"Misty," Ash frowned, "you drowned the engine."
"It's better than letting the fire reach the fuel tank and the whole car exploding. Besides, there's not much left of the engine anyway," Misty waved away the smoke coming from the little car. It had been rendered useless.
"My poor car, it was my first car, it was my only car. It took me such a long time to save up for it and now it's gone," Ash gave his dear car a moment of silence.
"Pikapi," Pikachu looked at Ash with sadness and guilt.
Ash hugged the little yellow electric pokemon, "it's alright Pikachu, it's not your fault. I was the one who told you to keep recharging the battery instead of changing it like I should have."
Delia and Giovanni arrived and witness the scene. It reminded Giovanni of something that happened before he met Delia. At the time, Aayla had just recently joined Team Rocket.
That night long ago, Giovanni, Luke, Leah, Aayla and Binks were all in Giovanni's car, which he intended to replace soon. "Dude Giovanni, like tell me again like why you're getting rid of this car. I like still don't totally get it, you know?" Luke happened to like the car. It was brown and he thought it looked like a giant chocolate bar.
"Because it won't last much longer," Giovanni tried to explain it again, "the battery keeps giving out and the newbie has to recharge it with Electabuzz."
"When will I have a name other then newbie?" Aayla grumbled from the back of the car. She was sandwiched uncomfortably between Leah and Binks. She sometimes forgot Leah was there until she tried to move and bumped into her. As for Binks, she elbowed him on occasion, simply because she felt like it.
"When you earn it," Giovanni answered, "it doesn't look like Electabuzz will last too long either. Lately there have been less pokemon around. There's a rumor that some kind of epidemic is starting. It's only a rumor but it could be true."
"But dude, can't you like change the battery? I'll like miss this car, you know?" Luke insisted upon his argument that the car should be kept.
"You can have it after I get a new one," Giovanni offered, knowing very well that Luke would love the idea.
"Thanks dude! You're like totally awesome, man!" Luke's cheering was interrupted when the engine failed and the car shut down.
"I think it's more than the battery that's wrong with it," Giovanni theorized. He wasn't in the mood to tinker with the car. He felt like getting a new car, maybe he could find an orange one to steal, though the color wasn't too common. He tried to turn the car back on, but it didn't work.
"Time for another recharge?" Aayla didn't even wait for an answer before shoving Binks aside and exiting the car. She opened it up, frowning at the smoke that came from the engine. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"It worked fine before, just give it a quick recharge," Giovanni needed to get to Pewter City. Once he was there he would have a new car and the old one would be Luke's problem.
"If you say so," Aayla sent out Electabuzz. The large yellow pokemon looked as if he had no energy left. It was a side effect of the illegal power-ups he had been given before. Ever since Aayla joined Team Rocket she stopped giving Electabuzz any of those substances. The gang leader, Giovanni, forbade it. He claimed it was more of a liability than a help in the long run. Electabuzz was still suffering from the symptoms of withdrawal. "Electabuzz, give the battery another electric charge."
With a lot of effort, the weakened Electabuzz obeyed. The electricity wasn't much, but the car's battery had all the mistreatment it could take. The result was a chain reaction that set the engine aflame.
"My car!" Luke cried out at the top of his lungs. He jumped out of the front passenger seat and hurried to put out the fire. It was technically still Giovanni's car, but it was close enough to becoming his. "Like put out the fire Poliwag, water gun, man!" The car that Luke affectionately referred to as a giant chocolate bar met a grim fate that night.
Years later, Ash's car suffered a similar tragedy. "Ash!" Delia called out to her son as she, Giovanni and Persian approached.
"Mom!" Ash rushed to her and hugged her, noticing Giovanni's presence as well. "The Viridian gym leader is here too!" He observed them as well as he could in the light of the full moon and stars. "Were you two in a battle, did Team Rocket attack you? I've heard the accusations, but I don't believe a word of them. Team Rocket attacked you, didn't they?"
Delia was at a loss for words, "something like that?" She looked at Giovanni, hoping that he would have some kind of believable excuse. Their bruised appearance was in truth the result of being kidnapped and falling off a cliff respectively.
Giovanni had been looking at Ash curiously. Ash was more focused on his mother and didn't really notice. Giovanni snapped into attention upon hearing Delia's cue for him to come up with an excuse. "I think they might have only been pretending to be Team Rocket. There have been rumors about a battle between gangs. Something about Team Rocket's rivals trying to get the police to go after the Rockets."
Ash gave this new possibility some thought as did Misty. "That makes a lot of sense," she commented.
"Yeah," Ash agreed, "what happened at Vermilion City, you've heard about it, right? It's not Team Rocket's usual style. There was nothing to gain for them. Then the really bad gang isn't Team Rocket, it's their rivals. The police will figure it out eventually if they stop Team Rocket and the crimes don't stop, but a lot of things could happen before then."
Giovanni found that Ash's logic was easier to guide than he expected. Maybe keeping the secret of Team Rocket from him to avoid further complications would not be difficult after all. Besides, he was telling the truth about Team Rocket and their enemies. "It's more serious than that. Team Rocket and their enemies cancel each other out, so to speak. If one was left alone, it could be very dangerous," he bent the truth, Giovanni didn't think any other gang was strong enough to truly stand up against Team Rocket.
Misty gasped as the gym leader's theory became clear to her, "that means that the police is being used. If they spend all their resources taking out Team Rocket, they'll be left exposed for when that other gang openly emerges."
"This is just a theory," Giovanni voiced with fake concern, "but if it's true, it may happen that way."
"That's how it seems to be, the gangs keep each other at bay. The police would have to stop them all at once to get anywhere and that would be next to impossible. It's dangerous to allow the balance of power to shift too suddenly," Delia added, she always knew a lot more than she let on. She was secretive in many ways and most people tended to assume she knew little.
"Wow, I guess I never thought about it that way," Ash was surprised at his mother's conclusion. He understood the logic in it. "Then that other gang must be stopped. Team Rocket wasn't so bad by comparison, so the other group should be stopped first. Anyway, I'm just glad you're both safe. We'll figure out the rest as we go along, right Misty?"
Misty thought she shouldn't encourage Ash's tendency to rush in without a plan too much, "yeah, but we need to be careful."
Ash nodded in agreement and looked at Giovanni. The gym leader couldn't help it but to wonder if Ash knew who he was. It was soon proven he didn't, "can we still have our pokemon battle?"
"Is that all you think about?" Misty face palmed.
"Of course we can battle," hearing Giovanni's reply, Delia decided it was good. Maybe a pokemon battle was just what they needed to understand each other in their own way, as long as it remained friendly. "Not here and now," Giovanni clarified.
"Right," Delia continued, "and since we're all here together talking I might as well formally introduce everyone," she tried to make it sound as natural as she could, with Giovanni putting up a very good act despite his curiosity. It reminded her of the past, when he put up an act for Professor Oak. Things were different and at the same time similar.
To be Continued
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Don't Give Me Diamonds
Diamond 055: Give Me Comrades
Things seemed to be running as smoothly as possible within the circumstances for Delia, Giovanni, Ash and Misty. Ash called Brock to let him know he found his mother and she was alright. He noticed that when he pressed the button to end the call at Vermilion, he held it down for a little too long and turned his cell phone off. Unknown to Ash, Brock had tried to call him again, but couldn't get through.
"Ash! Are you alright? I've been trying to call you this whole time," Brock answered his cell phone with a worried tone as soon as he saw Ash's name on the screen.
"We're fine; I'm calling you to let you know. I ran into mom and Giovanni, they're both safe. Team Rocket, or rather, Team Rocket's rivals pretending to be Team Rocket, attacked them. They got away, so don't worry. Actually, I haven't heard the whole story yet, I just wanted to give you a call first. Misty's here with us too and our pokemon of course. My car will probably never run again. I guess I pushed my luck too far having Pikachu recharge the battery," Ash explained hurriedly. He was about to continue venting about his car, he really needed it.
Brock interrupted, "you're all alright? Giovanni is there too?" He reminded himself that he was giving Giovanni the benefit of the doubt. Delia and Ash seemed to trust him. The attack Ash mentioned could be used to explain Delia's state when she arrived. Who knows what happened and how many times they went after her. Her little black cell phone with the red R was still present in Brock's mind. He decided to disregard it as an unimportant detail. It was just a cell phone, it didn't mean anything. Maybe she just couldn't find one with her own initial. A red R usually meant Team Rocket, but there could be exceptions.
"Yeah, we're fine," Ash assured, Brock still sounded very alarmed.
"What was that about someone pretending to be Team Rocket?" Brock spoke as if it was urgent. "do you know what's going on?" He explained what had happened to him, "I was worried, so I went to find Delia. I thought she might be in Viridian City. I couldn't find her and I couldn't contact you. Yolanda was taking care of Rock On while I was in Viridian. She called me to say Team Rocket was there. Apparently they thought Rock On was an enemy base and searched the place. They held her hostage and asked her a lot of things she didn't understand. When they realized it was all a mistake, they left. They didn't even steal anything!"
Ash's face was visibly surprised at Brock's revelation. The expression was not missed by Delia, Giovanni and Misty, though they couldn't hear Brock. "It sounds like there really is a war between gangs. Some other group is pretending to be Team Rocket so the police will go after the real Team Rocket. Then they can take over when Team Rocket and the police are left weakened by their battle. Team Rocket must be really serious about stopping their rivals."
"So this is their battle... I thought what happened at Vermilion City was too much for Team Rocket. I didn't know about it at first. Later I heard about the attack when they aired the news bulletin again." Brock was feeling frustrated with how innocent people were being caught in the battle between Team Rocket and their rivals. "I'm going to stay here just in case they come back. Yolanda doesn't want to call the police..."
"Why not?" Ash asked when Brock went silent in doubt. "You should call the police and tell them what happened." From the corner of his eyes, Ash caught Giovanni shaking his head. Ash thought about what they had discussed concerning the balance of power, "on second thought, you shouldn't call the police right now. Let the two gangs fight each other. Then the police will arrest them when they're weak."
"If you say so," Brock mused over Ash's words, "alright, I won't call the police. I guess there's no choice but to give the situation some time and stay alert." Brock was still uneasy, but he decided to trust Ash.
"Yeah, take care of your siblings. I think we'll spend the night at Misty's place," Cerulean City was the closest to them. Ash glanced at Misty, who nodded in approval. "I'll call you again tomorrow." Since the engine of Ash's car would never run again, they would walk the rest of the way to Cerulean City.
"Alright, be careful," Brock sounded exhausted with stress.
Giovanni was caught in the situation. He didn't want to blow his cover so soon. He was heading to Cerulean City anyway; he had to find a working phone that he could use in private. He would decide if he could stay there until the next day after he communicated with his agents. He didn't have a solid plan. It looked like he would have to improvise as he used to do long ago.
After a long walk, Ash, Misty, Delia and Giovanni made it to the Cerulean City gym. The gym was closed, with all its lights off in the quiet of the night. Misty fished for her keys in her bag. She pulled them out by the Horsea keychain. "It looks like we have the place to ourselves," Misty announced as she led the group inside. She wasn't really expecting her sisters to have returned. "What a day..."
"I'm hungry," Ash announced. When something exciting or worrying happened, it always made him hungry in the end.
Delia and Misty laughed; at least Ash was being himself. They took it as a good sign. Ash was a ray of familiarity in the uncertainty that lay ahead. "I have been meaning to ask for a cake recipe," Misty joked.
"Then lets do it," Delia didn't care if it was late at night. She didn't care she had realized that she needed to learn more recipes before she could truly call herself a chef. Cooking still helped her relax and she didn't feel like going to sleep. Besides, if she was going to become a more skilled cook, the sooner she started practicing, the better.
"Really? Right now?" Misty was taken by surprise, especially when Delia nodded, confirming that it wasn't a joke.
"That's a great idea!" Ash's mouth began to water at the thought.
"Pika!" Pikachu nodded in agreement while Giovanni and Persian watched the scene quietly.
"We might not have all the ingredients," Delia theorized looking thoughtful, "isn't there a little convenience store near here that's open twenty-four seven?"
"Yes, there is, they have a lot of things. Let's go," the distraction was welcomed by Misty. She felt she needed to focus her mind on something simple and cheerful, such as learning a new recipe. She wanted to clear her head of the day's stress.
Giovanni caught on then, thinking that he should have caught on sooner. Delia was giving him the perfect chance to establish communication with headquarters without interruptions. "Do you mind if I use the phone? My cell phone isn't working for some reason."
"No problem, it's right over here," Misty led him to where the video phone was, in a corner of the living room. "They must be worried about you in Viridian City," the gym leader obviously held an important position there. Perhaps he was more important to the city than an average gym leader would be.
"Thanks, I should at least let them know we're alright," Giovanni continued his nice act perfectly. He had practiced it many times in the public eye. He wondered how well he would be able to act after the truth about Ash fully sunk in. Several times he had to make himself stop staring, noticing familiarities he didn't know how he missed before. Fortunately, Ash and Misty were too tired to notice.
The growling of Ash's stomach was perfectly timed to Delia's plan, "we should get the ingredients. Ash, come help us carry the bags." With a casual excuse, Delia led the young couple and Pikachu outside. They departed towards the little convenience store near the gym. Giovanni was left alone with Persian to go about his business in private.
xoxox xox xoxox
At the Viridian Rocket headquarters below the gym, the hunt for traitors continued. "What is the meaning of this?" Two traitorous Rockets found themselves surrounded in the main computer room of the base.
The two men contrasted greatly with each other, one was tall and muscular. The other's physique resembled Binks, thin and fragile. The thin one had short light hair, nearly white, despite being no older than his mid twenties. He had big glasses and a white lab coat over his black Team Rocket uniform. The coat had a small red R on a pocket carrying an assortment of pens. "You're in trouble; we're higher ranked than all of you!" His threat was ineffective due to his frightened shaking. His blue-gray eyes kept looking for an escape route but found none.
The tall man glared, seemingly unfazed by the heavily armed group standing before him. "So Giovanni's grunts are fighting back?" That man also wore a Team Rocket uniform, the shirt was sleeveless revealing his muscular arms. He had dark skin, short curly black hair and brown eyes. "You don't happen to know where Giovanni is, do you?" In order to take control of Team Rocket, Neo Rocket grouped in Kanto, Team Rocket's main base of operations.
Their plan had been to broadcast Giovanni's defeat and subsequent death on TV. They would set the stage for that by forcing him to offer a press conference. The defeat of the leader would put Neo Rocket on top, or so they thought. They expected to gain the support of the rest of Team Rocket with fear. To back them up they had New Tempest. The reestablished gang was Team Rocket's rival in the past. Neo Rocket didn't care for world domination or secrecy. They only wanted power and riches.
Neo Rocket was planning to unite with New Tempest under the name of Tempest. The name of their gang wasn't really important to Neo Rocket anyway. The tall man chuckled cruelly despite the situation he and his cowering ally were in. "Where is he hiding? Where did Giovanni run off to? That coward!"
Jessie and James were offended, their expressions furious. James was just as angry as Jessie was, but she had a special talent for looking absolutely terrifying when she was enraged. Before they could say anything, Meowth jumped forward. He wildly attacked the man who had dared to insult Giovanni, trying to tare him apart with his claws.
The man pushed Meowth off. Meowth went on the attack again, relentlessly scratching until the man threw him against the wall harshly. "Meowth can't take on this guy alone," Jessie threw out a pokeball and Flareon appeared from its red beam. Jessie knew that she was eager to get some action as soon as possible after having laid her egg.
"If you're not going to shoot I'll have to take those weapons away from you," the tall man's shirt had been ripped to shreds and he had many cuts in his upper body. He jumped to take Jessie's weapons, but Flareon let out a massive fire blast without even waiting for Jessie's command. Badly burnt, the man stumbled back. His geeky comrade squealed in a high pitched fearful voice.
Pixel glared at the weak geek, "you give a bad name to geeks everywhere," she huffed angrily, "we're not all wimps!"
The muscular man struggled to fight back despite the injured state he was in. He was knocked back again by Flareon's fire. The sound of approaching foot steps was heard announcing the arrival of more traitorous Rockets. Their appearance was that of typical grunts, with the standard Team Rocket uniforms. Their faces were shrouded in shadows by their black hats. "Get down!" James called out. He pushed Pixel to one side and dived to the other, dragging Jessie down along with him. A missile zoomed over them, exploding when it hit the tall man.
The traitorous grunts at the door cursed loudly. They meant to take out the loyal Rockets, but instead the missile hit one of their own. The skinny geek squeaked in fear again and began to cry.
"You're really asking for it! Flareon fire blast that bazooka!" Jessie commanded. Flareon let out a battle cry, shooting a powerful flame from her mouth. The blast of fire collided with the bazooka held by the traitorous Rocket grunts, causing it to explode.
"Go Wheezing; hold them with your sludge attack!" James scrambled to his feet along with Jessie and sent out his pokemon. Wheezing's attack was effective in its purpose. It detained the injured traitorous grunts in a sticky mess at the door. The two loyal grunts that accompanied Jessie, James and Pixel watched in awe.
"Shut up already!" Pixel lost her patience and kicked the crying geek on the ribs. The action only caused him to wail louder. "That's it, go Peachy, thunderbolt this idiot into silence!" The Pikachu emerged from her pokeball and followed the command. She electrocuted the thin man into fainting.
"You have a Pikachu, very convenient," James commented. He and Jessie had developed a strong perception of Pikachu in general thanks to Ash's Pikachu.
"Indeed," Jessie agreed, "Meowth, get up, we need to make sure these guys can't cause any more trouble and-" Jessie paused, watching as the two loyal Rocket grunts made themselves useful.
The loyal Rocket grunts handcuffed the traitors' hands and feet to prevent them from causing trouble should they escape the sludge. "Don't forget about us," one of the grunts spoke.
"We can detain the traitors here, just keep bringing them over," the other grunt offered.
"That's a good idea," Pixel agreed, "and watch my back while you're at it. I need to figure out what they were doing to the system." Pixel was already sitting in front of the large screen of the main computer. There were also two other screens left and right of her. There was a large keyboard in front of her. It included not only the alphabet, numbers and the usual keys a computer would have, but also abundant extra keys. The additional keys were labeled with different symbols, pictures and abbreviations.
"It looks like they were trying to crack the code to launch the big missiles," Pixel announced as she examined the system. "Fortunately, they didn't have enough time to crack it. Not even the top ranked Rocket geeks know how to crack this program. It was made by one of the Rocket executives, or so I heard. Only the top executives and the boss know the password."
"The bad news is that the general system suffered some extensive damage," Pixel informed. "Especially the communications software and satellite control programs. The system will have to be reformatted to be on the safe side. This is well beyond my current level, but I guess I'll have to try. By the way, is your Meowth alright?"
Meowth had gotten back on his feet, but looked dizzy, "I'm fine, thanks for asking. It's just that all that stuff on the screen is making me dizzy."
"I don't consider myself to be an expert yet, but I think I can at least make a bit of a difference for now. I can't really fix it, but I can try to reduce the damage. I'll work on it, unless I should join the frontlines again?" Pixel looked at Jessie, the self appointed leader of their squad.
"Make sure they're not planning to launch any more missiles. Then see if you can reestablish at least some basic communication," Jessie decided. "We need to detain the traitors somewhere. Your pokemon and those two," she pointed at the two loyal grunts, "can stay here and guard the prisoners while you work. James, our pokemon and I are tough enough to finish the cleanup ourselves."
"Alright, Peachy, Pyro," Pixel let her Charmander out of his pokeball as well. "Guard the prisoners! You two," she looked at the grunts, "try to keep the big guy that got hurt alive; alive and tied up that is. We might get some info out of them later." She then addressed Jessie, James and Meowth, "good luck!"
Meowth reminded Pixel a little of Purry, except Purry wouldn't have allowed her opponents to push her away. She would have aimed for the throat. Purry was also a lot tougher and didn't need much provocation to be violent. On second thought, maybe all that they really had in common was their species. Pixel hoped that wherever Purry was, she was alright, the same for Comet and Laiki.
xoxox xox xoxox
At the Cerulean gym, Giovanni received an unexpected visitor. "Boss," the voice came accompanied by a tapping sound on the living room window. Giovanni stepped away from the video phone for a moment and opened it to find Comet. "I knew it was you I saw. I couldn't contact anyone, I'm glad you're alright."
"What are you doing here and what's the meaning of that?" Giovanni pointed at the green T on Comet's black shirt. The uniform was very similar to Team Rocket's uniform. The most noticeable difference was that the red R was replaced with a green T.
"The enemies are actually two groups. One group is made from people who used to be from the Tempest Gang. The others are traitors that want Team Rocket for themselves, the Neo Rockets. They intend to unite under the name of Tempest. I'm only pretending to join them so I can spy on them," Comet explained. "There is someone who seems to be partially controlling them, the Saffron City mayor. It looks like she's more of a mediator then their boss. I get the impression that the mysterious mayor has her own agenda. Sorry, I couldn't find out her identity, it seems no one knows who she is, even in Saffron City."
"Tempest returned after all these years," Giovanni had not heard that name in a long time. What bothered him the most were the traitors. Team Rocket was a big organization and a few traitors would appear from time to time. He hated that they organized themselves well enough to cause trouble this time. "Those traitors are worse than Tempest, they'll pay for this," Giovanni was angry and frustrated with the situation. He was sick of waiting to do things without bringing more unnecessary attention to Team Rocket. It was time to show them his power; he would solve the problem himself.
"I just got to Cerulean City on a mission for Tempest. I'm still in the process of proving my loyalty. I just hope they don't realize that the information I gave them about Team Rocket were lies. We're going to break into the Pokemon Center and steal the pokemon there. Some Neo Rockets will be there too, not all the uniforms have been changed to Tempest yet," Comet explained. "I'm sure you know where I'm going with this."
"This is an opportunity for me to clear my name," Giovanni caught on right away. "With all the false accusations going around, it's only natural that I would want to conduct my own investigation. It is something the good gym leader of Viridian City would do. I tracked down the villains to this city and happened to be near the Pokemon Center when they broke in. Most of them will be captured, save for a few that will manage to escape," Comet would be among them. "Make sure that your presence is known so that it doesn't look suspicious when I conveniently arrive."
"You can count on me! I guess this means we'll have to battle. We're planning to break into the Pokemon Center at midnight," Comet always got excited when he thought about pokemon battles. He would make sure to put up a fight, but at the same time make Tempest look bad.
"I'll be there," Giovanni assured, he really needed to let some stress out in a pokemon battle. "For now, return to your Tempest duties before they find you."
"Yes, sir!" Comet hopped out the window again and disappeared into the night.
Outside, Purry was waiting for Comet. She had caught up to him as he was leaving Saffron City. Comet departed towards Cerulean City alone with Purry in his little brown car. Luke had given it to him as a tribute to the original chocolate bar Giovanni used to have. "I'll need your help, Purry. I have an idea."
To be Continued
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Don't Give Me Diamonds
Diamond 056: Give me Satisfaction
The main computer system at the Viridian Rocket headquarters detected an incoming call. It managed to pass through the system with the limited glitch filled functions that Pixel was able to partially restore. Curious about it, she put it through, even if it could be a transmission from the enemy. If it was, she would pretend she was on their side and get information. To her surprise the video call was from Giovanni, "boss!"
Giovanni had seen this girl before, Pixel or something like that. She was a low ranked agent a step above a grunt. "What's happening at headquarters, why are you answering this call?"
"I'm not sure who you were trying to contact, but the communications system collapsed. Neo Rocket, the traitors, caused it. I was trying to restore it. Some other agents and I are cleaning up HQ, catching the traitors and stuff." Pixel wasn't sure how Giovanni would take the news about Jessie and James. She didn't feel good about having to be the one to give him the report about that particular detail.
Giovanni had many things to ask. Before he could, someone else appeared on the screen behind Pixel. The girl turned around to look at the man who had arrived. "I'll take it from here, rookie."
"Archer," Giovanni recognized the new arrival.
Pixel blinked and looked back and forth between Giovanni and Archer before finally moving out of the way to stand behind Archer.
Archer opened a window of code on the screen beside the one containing Giovanni's video call and began to fix things in the system. "I'll have the communications system up and running soon. I'll come up with some better security for the future. I hope you don't mind, but after the communications system collapsed, the four of us decided to move on our own," Archer was referring to Ariana, Proton, Petrel and himself. "I just arrived at the Viridian headquarters. Before you say it, don't worry, the other regions are safe. We're not neglecting our duties by coming to Kanto."
More people entered the Viridian control room. It was a group of Rocket grunts led by Ariana and Petrel. "We secured the detention facilities. We can move the prisoners there now, get to it!" The grunts got to work while Ariana noticed just who was on the screen. "Don't try to do everything on your own so much, you can count on us." Without waiting for Giovanni's reply, Ariana left along with the grunts and Petrel.
"I should go with them, right?" Pixel looked around, unsure of what to do.
"You were trying to fix things, weren't you?" Archer took his own miniature lucky seven computer and handed it to Pixel. It had many programs that were custom made and not found anywhere else. "Plug it in and follow my lead so we can fix this faster."
"Yes, sir!" Pixel jumped at the opportunity to do something high tech with someone so high ranked.
"If something goes wrong in the other regions," Giovanni didn't have to finish for the message to get through.
"I know, I know, don't worry. The enemies are not many in comparison to the number of loyal members. They gathered in Kanto to take you out, the other regions are fine," Archer insisted. "Watch your back, the enemy might get desperate and attack you. It's clear they want you dead. Proton went to Saffron City to investigate who's behind this. He got a lead from Miyamoto's daughter when we got here."
"She was fired a long time ago!" That was the last thing Giovanni needed, help from someone he fired.
Archer sighed and paused his rapid typing to massage his temples for a moment. He guessed it would be a headache to deal with this issue and he was right. Giovanni was a great leader ninety-nine percent of the time. When he got especially stubborn, prideful or reckless, he was not easy to deal with. Archer resumed his typing as he spoke, "Giovanni, please be reasonable. The information from Miyamoto's daughter is the best clue we have right now. Her partner is here as well. They're helping clean up headquarters. I'm not fully aware of what's going on, but we're going to find out. We'll be careful," Archer paused, sending something to Pixel, "debug this code for me, rookie, you should be able to catch most of the bugs by logic."
"Yes, sir!" Pixel chirped and started reading through the code. She was looking for endless loops, missing variables and contradictory conditions, running try catch scripts.
xoxox xox xoxox
"We're back!" Delia cheerfully and loudly announced as she entered the Cerulean gym with Misty, Ash and Pikachu. Albeit she tried to take her time at the store, Ash kept complaining. He wanted to go back so that the cake would be ready soon and he could eat it.
In the living room, Giovanni finished the call quickly, "we'll talk later. You and the others better not let anything slip out of place in your regions. I'll take care of the enemy myself. Don't call me back at this number."
"What are you going to-" Archer's question was cut off as the call was ended.
xoxox xox xoxox
The loud sound of a gunshot echoed in the underground Rocket base at Viridian. The bullet passed between Jessie and James. "My hair!" Jessie screamed as she saw a few strands of red land at her feet. Fortunately, Flareon's flame thrower melted the gun in the traitor's hand before he could shoot again.
Another traitor tried to sneak up on Jessie and James from behind. Her gun met the same fate as her partner's thanks to Growlie. The pokemon was still recovering, but would never accept being left out of the fight. "Well done Growlie! Wheezing, sludge!"
At the same time Jessie commanded, "Arbok, bind!" The strategy was effective. Flareon and Growlie would take care of the weapons. Then Arbok and Wheezing would restrain the traitors until they could be handcuffed and taken away. Laiki had returned to headquarters along with the three grunts that went to Rock On with her. They joined the traitor hunt and were investigating another area of the large underground headquarters.
Further ahead there was a fork in the underground metal corridors. It went in three different directions. Jessie and James came from one side, while Ariana and Petrel appeared from the other. From the third hallway, Butch and Cassidy ran towards Jessie and James. They couldn't see Ariana and Petrel from their angle. "What's going on here? We returned to HQ to find that it's a war zone! Weren't you fired? Is this your doing?" Cassidy accused Jessie.
"Cassidy!" Jessie growled the name in a poisonous voice.
"And Batch," James knew there was a possibility that they would run into those two. He was hoping they didn't.
"It's Butch!" The green haired man corrected in indignation. No one ever seemed to get his name right.
"Cassidy, Botch," Ariana came into view at the point where the three underground hallways met. Butch considered pointing out that was not his name, but Ariana was very high ranked so he remained silent. "Since you're here, make yourselves useful hunting down the traitors. Here's a copy of the list of suspects." Ariana handed Cassidy a paper.
"Yes ma'am, but what about them?" Cassidy glared at Jessie. She was looking forward to hearing the Rocket executive sentence them to a harsh punishment.
"They are on our side and have worked quite well in the mission to secure headquarters," Ariana's words left Cassidy in frozen shock. Butch kept looking back and forth between Cassidy, Ariana, Jessie and James. He was overwhelmed by confusion.
"Meowth, that's right!" Meowth cheered making his presence known, with a look of satisfaction. Jessie had the biggest grin out of all of them.
"You know what Gio will say," Petrel reminded Ariana quietly.
"Let's give them a little reward for their loyalty. I'll leave Giovanni to Arch. Maybe he can talk him into taking them back. Keep an eye on the hunt; I'm going to see how Arch is doing," Ariana announced. She hurried down the metal hall, her footsteps echoing lightly.
xoxox xox xoxox
Later, Ash was in the Cerulean gym's kitchen along with Giovanni, Delia and Misty. "Then the real bad guys, Tempest, are going to attack the Cerulean Pokemon Center at midnight?" Ash summarized for confirmation. Misty was mixing some cake batter while Delia measured ingredients and added them to a bowl.
"If my sources are correct; I don't want to jump to any conclusions. With all those false accusations I had to investigate and try to clear my name," Giovanni explained.
Ash was too excited to question Giovanni's theory. Ash didn't even ask about his sources, he had time to call for an update while they were gone. Misty was curious about that detail, but the safety of the pokemon was more important. Maybe Giovanni had hired a detective or something. At least Ash was distracted enough so that he stopped eating the chocolate chips for a few minutes. Otherwise they might run out before they could be added to the cake.
"Yes, that makes sense," Ash reached for the open bag of chocolate chips once again. He found it wasn't on the counter anymore.
On the floor, Pikachu and Persian were having a tug of war with the bag. It was torn in half with chocolate chips falling all over the floor. Persian hissed in indignation and jumped on Giovanni's lap. He demanded attention to be consoled for the loss of the chocolate chips. He was not eating anything from the floor. Pikachu shrugged and began to gather the chocolate chips in a piece of the plastic bag. Persian didn't want them anymore so he had them all to himself.
Ash reached for the other bag of chocolate chips that was yet to be opened. Delia took it away and gave him a bowl full of batter to mix. "Don't eat it, you have to wait until it's baked," she warned. She wasn't sure where Giovanni was going with his sudden revelation that the Cerulean Pokemon Center was suspected to be in danger. She didn't think it was anything particularly bad, so she didn't try to stop his plans.
"Since it's not certain, there's no need to cause a commotion. Besides, if they see the police, they might run away," Giovanni reasoned, leading the logic exactly as he wanted.
Ash nodded in agreement, "that's why we have to catch them in the act, right?" He assumed Giovanni intended to go to the Pokemon Center and was asking him to come along by revealing this information.
"Exactly," it was risky to take anyone along with him. Yet having extra witnesses on his side would also be beneficial. "I'm planning to have a look around the area when it's close to midnight. I don't want to cause any trouble if this suspicion turns out to be wrong."
"Okay, then we'll have a look around. If nothing happens, it's alright, but if it does, we'll stop them!" Ash cheered.
Delia decided not to worry about the situation too much. "You'll be like vigilantes?" She grinned, reminding Giovanni of her past wish.
"Yes, exactly!" Ash loved the idea, "you'll come too, right Misty?"
Misty agreed with determination, "count me in! We can't let them steal the pokemon."
"I'll be going as well," Delia happily announced, even if it was part of some act or plan Giovanni had, she still enjoyed the idea. She liked pretending that Giovanni and Ash were righteous vigilantes like in her fantasies from long ago. Even if the dream only lasted a little while, she would grant herself that much.
"But mom, you don't have any pokemon with you," Ash pointed out.
"I know, Mimey is back home. He knows how to look after himself, so he'll be fine. There's plenty of food left in the refrigerator that only needs to be put in the microwave and he makes great sandwiches. I bet he's keeping the house very clean. He must have finished the laundry a long time ago," Delia mused aloud.
This came as no surprise for Ash and Misty, but Giovanni had to ask, "who is Mimey?"
"My Mr. Mime," Delia replied with a smile. "I should introduce him to you, Persian and your other pokemon later."
"Your Mr. Mime does chores?" Not even Giovanni had thought about having pokemon servants. He thought they wouldn't be able to do the chores properly.
"Oh yes, he's very helpful and he always looks like he's having fun," Delia fell into the conversation naturally. She was pleased that they could talk about something casual. "Mimey helps with the dishes, the laundry, cleaning the house, watering the garden and works as a waiter at my little restaurant." The cake batters were finished and placed into round molds. One of the batters was dark, thick and chocolaty. Another was paler than the first and had chocolate dots. The last was less in a mount, only a thin disk in a yellow color.
"You were always good at getting pokemon to do what you wanted," Giovanni recalled, he gave her two pokeballs. "If you insist on coming along, you'll need some pokemon. You should take Cloyster and Kingler back." The only pokemon he was carrying were his original team. He didn't have any of his newer pokemon on hand, but the ones he had would have to be enough.
Delia smiled, holding the two pokeballs containing her pokemon from long ago. "Just like before," she whispered.
It was ironic; they would be facing Tempest, their enemies of the past. They would probably only find new members in that night's mission, but it was still Tempest. The Cerulean City Pokemon Center was also the place where they first met. Giovanni discreetly glanced at Ash and Misty. It was enough to remind Delia that they had an audience and she shouldn't reveal too much.
Delia reacted by changing the subject and explaining for how long the cake batters had to be left in the oven. Not even the thought of food distracted Ash enough to stop him from asking Giovanni, "what do you mean take Cloyster and Kingler back?"
Giovanni didn't mean to let that slip, he lowered his guard and it just happened. He didn't realize until that moment that his stress had been reduced, despite the circumstances. Yet he still had a feeling of numb confusion. It was obvious that Archer and the others wanted to be trusted to handle the situation at Viridian City. He would give them that and take care of his own mission in Cerulean City. Then he would put an end to the situation one way or another.
Giovanni focused on Ash's question. The fact that he was his son was something Giovanni had been trying not to think about too much, but couldn't help it but to think about it constantly. It was decided that, if things went as planned, Ash would not know the whole truth until after Team Rocket's business was settled. Giovanni determined that what was said was only a small harmless fact after all. "Cloyster and Kingler were originally Delia's pokemon. She had them since they were Shellder and Krabby. They evolved with Delia as their trainer. After I became the Viridian gym leader, she gave them to me," Giovanni explained.
"Really?" Ash was surprised, as was Misty. "Mom, why didn't you tell me you trained a gym leader's pokemon in the past? That's really cool!"
Delia remembered her little adventure at the beach years ago. "A lot of things happened in the past, a lot of adventures. I'll tell you one day." Delia felt guilty making Ash continue to wait for information.
Ash was excited and didn't know how closely Delia's story about her past was linked to his questions of his father. Those questions had been momentarily left in the back of his mind. He assumed all the things that could have happened between his mother and Giovanni took place before his parents met. "Why don't you tell me about it now?"
"Because it's almost midnight," Giovanni informed, looking at the blinking green time display on the black microwave. It sat atop the blue kitchen counter quietly announcing that it was forty minutes past eleven.
xoxox xox xoxox
The communication systems repair process continued in the Viridian Rocket headquarters. "Okay rookie, test the functions I sent you individually, then together. Make a copy of them and purposely try to mess with them. See how long it takes you to mess up the copy," Archer instructed.
"I'm on it!" Pixel chirped happily. She was having trouble keeping up with Archer, but she was still enjoying her current mission as his assistant. She found a new determination to gain more knowledge about technology.
"How are things going?" Ariana entered the control room. She placed her hands on Archer's shoulders and leaned forward to look at the screen. Her head was right next to his. Pixel saw them from the corner of her eyes in her position sitting right of Archer. They were half covered by one of the three big screens around Archer.
"The communications system is repaired. I'm implementing some extra security measures. Giovanni has entrusted Team Rocket to us for the time being. I wonder what he'll do," Archer couldn't stop thinking about it.
"We'll just have to trust him in return," Ariana concluded. "I'm sure we'll still get an earful when he comes back. You know how prideful he is and it's obvious he's been holding back. He's probably run off to show that he's more than just a figure of authority that sits in the shadows while his agents do all the work. Relax Arch, he won't do anything too drastic. At least not something that will bring negative consequences to Team Rocket."
"Avoiding consequences and doing something drastic are different things," Archer pointed out, his expression thoughtful. "He might do something drastic to avoid consequences."
"You're not really worried," Ariana grinned, "in fact, you sound more like you're looking forward to it."
"Maybe I want to see him in action," Archer smiled with a look of confidence in his eyes. "How are those codes coming along, rookie?"
Pixel took a moment to reply. She had been listening to the conversation and didn't expect to be addressed at that moment, "no bugs so far."
"Good," the sound of more typing was heard as Archer's fingers moved on the keyboard. "Ari, can you send someone to check the physical state of the security system?"
"Sure," Ariana left the control room once more.
xoxox xox xoxox
It was mid night and everything was silent outside of the Cerulean City Pokemon Center. Comet and four others broke in quietly through the back door. Three of the five, including Comet, were wearing the Tempest uniform. The other two were wearing Team Rocket uniforms. Purry had snuck inside through a window and was making her way to nurse Joy's room.
The door to the nurse's room was left partially open. The faint brightness of a tiny Togepi shaped nightlight could be seen inside. Joy was sleeping peacefully in her bed with a man slumbering next to her with light snores. There was a small crib in a corner of the room where a pink haired baby girl slept.
Purry jumped on the bed, waking the couple. Before they could catch her, she dashed out of the room. "A pokemon?" The man was still half asleep and didn't really see which pokemon it was.
"I wonder why it went out of its pokeball," Joy walked over to the door and turned on the light in the hallway. The pokemon that stood at the end of the hall was a Meowth. Joy had not seen her before. "A wild pokemon?" She approached the Meowth slowly, her bare feet stepping noiselessly on the floor. "Come here girl," she knelt down, her long pink night gown brushing against the floor. "Come on, don't be scared."
Purry hissed loudly with her tail standing up straight. Joy was startled and stumbled back, falling into a sitting position on the floor. Her husband helped her to her feet and they watched the pokemon dash away.
"She might cause trouble with the other pokemon," Joy's husband, Otoshi, was concerned. "She has a lot of fight in her, like Marowak." His long black hair was out of its usual ponytail, reaching down to his mid back. It blended in with the dark shades of green of his loose yukata-style pajamas.
"Are you thinking about catching her?" Joy didn't really need an answer, seeing her husband's grin.
"Marowak will enjoy this battle," he returned to their room and got Marowak's pokeball. He released his long time companion from it out in the hall. "A wild Meowth snuck into the Pokemon Center, let's challenge her."
"Marowak!" The pokemon eagerly agreed, even if he had been woken up in the middle of the night.
The sound of something being knocked over was heard from further into the Pokemon Center. The sound was followed by the baby's small startled voice from the room behind the couple. "It must have been that Meowth," Joy correctly guessed. She was unaware of the quiet thieves that had broken into her home. "I'll go take care of the baby. I hope she falls asleep again soon."
"Don't worry, we'll catch that Meowth," Otoshi assured. He went off to find the Meowth with Marowak.
To be Continued
My Main Site: http://azurelight.net
Deviant Art: http://mikaristar.deviantart.com
Fanart Central: http://fanart-central.net/user/AzureMikari/
Don't Give Me Diamonds
Diamond 057: Give me Heroes
The noise of something being broken echoed in the quiet of the night at the Cerulean City Pokemon Center. "What was that?" The noise startled the thieves from Tempest and Neo Rocket that were hastily putting pokeballs into sacks.
Before anyone could come up with a possible answer to the grunt's worried question, Purry ran past them in the darkness. "Come back here!" Otoshi followed the Meowth, who he thought was wild. He turned the light on, illuminating the large storage room where pokemon were kept in their pokeballs. The thieves were caught in the act, "is this what that wild Meowth wanted me to see? Thank you honorable Meowth, I shall grant you a duel later. Marowak, we can't let these thieves get away!"
xoxox xox xoxox
The noises coming from inside the Pokemon Center were mostly lost in its large halls, but some of the sound waves reached outside. "Something's happening!" Ash alerted.
Ash, Misty, Giovanni, Delia and their pokemon were walking around the Pokemon Center, examining the area. Giovanni noticed that the backdoor was conveniently left open, "we can go in through here." No one questioned the fact that they were technically trespassing, there were other more important things happening at the time.
The group ran through the dark halls of the Pokemon Center until they saw light coming from the storage room. "Marowak, we can't let these thie