Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 040: Give me Skill

Time continued to pass and the number of trainers left in the tournament was significantly smaller. Ash was sitting in the lobby, he didn't have the energy to stand by the window and watch the battles. He wanted to shout out advice as if he were part of the crowd, but that red haired waiter in the lime green suit told him he had to be quiet. The excuse was that he shouldn't distract the battling trainers. The truth was that people might complain if they thought the champion's advice decided the match instead of the battling trainers. 

Just watching quietly made Ash grow more impatient for his name to be called. He was sitting with his head down in impatient frustration when someone asked, "why the long face, Ash?"

"I haven't been called out to battle, not even once." Ash looked up at the one who had spoken, instantly recognizing the other young man, "Ritchie! What are you doing here?"

"Rumors travel fast. I was at the Pewter City Pokemon Center when I heard you were here. I made a few calls and rushed over. They're letting me participate as a late entry." Ritchie happily announced. Normally, he would only be interested in official Pokemon League competitions, but being able to battle Ash within a tournament was worth the exception. It was more exciting than a private battle, as it felt different with the energetic atmosphere of battling in front of a crowd. It helped both trainers battle at their best.

Ash's mood took a sharp turn for the better, "this is great! We'll finally get to battle; I'm looking forward to it so much!"

Ritchie laughed, "you haven't really changed at all." While the two Indigo League champions talked, the battles continued. The champions were being saved for last.

xoxox xox xoxox

Out in the arena, another match was about to start. Fan girl squeals erupted through the crowd as the mysterious Rose Mask appeared again. He looked dashing in his black tuxedo, cape, mask and top hat. He held a single red rose, posing with it. 

From the window of the lobby, Sailor Flame, who was Jessie in disguise, rolled her eyes and vowed to get a louder applause. She was wearing a white and red mini skirt sailor suit with a yellow bow. Her hair was in pigtails and she also had a mask similar to James'.

"For our next match we have Samurai versus Rose Mask, on a two on two battle. You may switch between your two chosen pokemon at any time, fight!" Jango announced the beginning of the match. The earlier rounds had been one on one to accommodate for the fact that some trainers only had one hastily caught or borrowed pokemon. They had already been eliminated so the number was increased to two for the next series of battles. The remaining trainers had no problem with that.

Samurai was from Viridian City, thus Mayor Antilles would be pleased if he won. It seemed most of the women in the crowd were cheering for Rose Mask, except for those who were Samurai's friends or relatives. Living up to his name, Samurai was dressed in classic armor with a helmet included and a katana at his waist. He threw out his first pokeball, which bounced back into his hand after releasing a red beam of light. The beam took the shape of a Butterfree. "My specialty are bug pokemon and they are all strong and noble!"

"They're also weak against fire types!" James reminded as he threw his own pokeball into the arena. His loyal friend Growlie emerged from the pokeball ready for battle. James looked back at Jessie, who was watching from the lobby's window. He wanted to see her reaction to his smart move, but she only glared at him. She was getting fed up with the constant high pitched squealing of the girls in the audience.

"You are very wrong if you think you can win judging only by types. I'll show you the true strength of an honorable warrior!" Samurai ordered the first move, "Butterfree, fly high up and use stun spore!"

"Don't let Butterfree get away, Growlie," James urged, "flame thrower!" Growlie began to shoot fire balls at James' command.

"Dodge it Butterfree!" The bug pokemon didn't even need to be told this, as she moved rapidly in the air out of the way of the flames immediately. At the same time, Butterfree released her stun spores. The potent yellow dust fell on Growlie, who immediately started feeling the effects.

"Don't give up Growlie! You just have to hit that Butterfree with your flame thrower, I'm sure it'll be super effective," James cheered for his pokemon, but Growlie was severely suffering from paralysis due to the effects of stun spore. He couldn't defend himself.

"Butterfree tackle!" The bug pokemon was small, but very strong. She swooped down at Growlie flying as fast as she could and collided with him pushing him back.

"C'mon Growlie, use flame thrower!" James watched as Butterfree tackled Growlie again and again. If that kept up, Growlie would faint. "Growlie, return for now." Since Growlie had not fainted, James still had the option to call him out again, but he was paralyzed and the use of healing items during the matches was prohibited. "Go Weezing!" Long ago, James had freed his Weezing at the same time Jessie freed her Arbok. During their journey years later, Jessie and James had ran into them again and the pokemon rejoined them. They had spent their time apart training their wild pokemon friends to defend themselves.

"Butterfree, tackle!" Samurai wasn't about to end the relentless attack.

"Weezing, smoke screen!" Hidden behind a curtain of smoke, Weezing was able to evade Butterfree's attack. "Good, now use a sludge bomb!" Weezing shot sludge at Butterfree. Some of it fell close to the referee, who jumped back in fright. Though Butterfree was lost in the smoke screen, she didn't stay still and it made her hard to hit.

"Use sleep powder Butterfree!" Samurai called out. He couldn't see what was happening behind the smoke. When it finally started to clear out a very sleepy Weezing was revealed. Butterfree kept flapping her wings with abundant blue dust coming from them. 

Weezing flew lower by the second until he was on the ground fast asleep. "Weezing you have to wake up!" James called out to his pokemon as loud as he could, but Weezing wasn't moving.

"Alright Butterfree, finish him off with hyper beam!" Samurai was sure he would win. After Weezing was out of the picture, all that remained to be done was to finish the paralyzed Growlithe.

"Weezing!" James didn't know what to do, he couldn't substitute Weezing with Growlie. He was still paralyzed, so that wouldn't make the situation any better. For a moment he was sure he would lose, but even so, there were people in the audience still loudly cheering for Rose Mask. The cheers of the crowd gave James an idea that might be crazy enough to work. He held up his rose, made a pose, winked and blew kisses at the audience. Simultaneous loud squeals erupted from the crowd in such a massive high pitched volume that Weezing woke up. The poison pokemon was so startled that he used self destruct. 

Butterfree and Weezing both lay on the arena unconscious, "Butterfree and Weezing are unable to battle!" Jango announced; "both trainers are down to one pokemon each!"

Samurai considered calling it cheating, but a warrior needs to be aware of his surroundings and how the field of battle can affect the outcome of the fight. He called his pokemon back into her pokeball, "Butterfree return, you fought excellently my friend."

"Time to rest, Weezing, you did great," James recalled Weezing into his pokeball and sent out Growlie again. "Don't give up Growlie, just try to recover and let's win this!" Growlie was struggling, trying to get his body to respond.

"There's no way you can win with a paralyzed pokemon," Samurai called out his second pokemon, "go Pinsir! If you refuse to give up, I have no choice but to end the battle myself."

"I'll never give up and I'll win!" James' supporters in the crowd continued to cheer for him.

"Pinsir, vice grip!" Samurai commanded and Pinsir easily captured Growlie between his horns. 

The fire pokemon let out a pained howl and James seriously considered giving up until he heard Flareon calling out to Growlie. "Flareon, flareon flare!" Flareon yelled from the window of the lobby.

"Growlithe, growl!" Growlie looked frightened for a moment, then suddenly determined. He would not give up.

Seeing Growlie try so hard to force himself to move, James knew he couldn't give up either. "Growlie, fire blast!" Growlie continued to struggle against Pinsir's vice grip with Flareon's words ringing in his ears. Finally, Growlie took a deep breath and let out a fire blast at point blank, which knocked out Pinsir.

"Pinsir is unable to battle!" Jango announced, "the winner is Rose Mask!" The crowd cheered with many shouting flirty compliments at the mysterious Rose Mask.

"Return Pinsir, that was a valiant effort," Samurai called him back.

James took a vow for the crowd and made a few poses with his rose. Then he realized that Growlie was really having trouble staying on his feet because of all the damage received from Pinsir. Before the fire pokemon fainted, James called him back into his pokeball, "congratulations Growlie, I'm sure Flareon is very impressed."

"That was a very good battle, you've proven yourself to be a worthy adversary," Samurai congratulated honorably.

"Thank you Mr. Samurai, you're pretty good yourself!" After a few more poses, James returned to the waiting room and Samurai left.

Jessie received her husband with a deadly glare and hit him on the head, "show off!" She then stomped away and began to eat all the cookies the waiter in the green suit had recently brought and set on the table.

"Why are you mad at me?" James pouted, then sighed at Jessie's refusal to reply. "I have to get my pokemon healed, I'll be back soon." He looked at Meowth, "before I go, just out of curiosity, what was it that Flareon said before?"

Meowth made a scary face as he translated, with a menacing tone imitating Flareon, "if you lose this battle, you'll have to face my wrath!"

'Flareon really is the perfect pokemon for Jessie,' James thought as he went off to have his pokemon healed.

xoxox xox xoxox 

The activity at the Viridian city hall had slowly decreased. As James entered, he bumped into Brock, who was running away in sadness. They both stumbled backwards, but soon recognized each other. James couldn't help it but to notice Brock's depressed expression, "did you get dumped again?"

"You have no tact!" Brock cried, "she said I made it too easy so it was no fun to be with me. What does that mean? Am I cursed to forever be lonely? The world is a cruel place!" Once again Brock ran away.

James watched him disappear among the people outside, "poor guy..." He went over to the blond nurse who had witnessed the drama and seemed to be amused. She was the cause of the drama herself. "Hi, I have a Growlithe and Weezing in need of healing."

"I'm sure it's nothing serious," at least not compared to the injuries Laiki was used to treating, "I'll make them feel better in no time." She examined Weezing first, giving him some medicine to help him recover, "there now, you're okay," she petted the poison pokemon and returned him to his pokeball. She gave the pokeball back to James and asked, "have I seen you somewhere?"

James froze, the last thing he needed was to be discovered by the resident Rocket gossip expert. Not that there was anything wrong with his participation in the tournament. It's not like he was disclosing any information about Team Rocket, therefore he wasn't breaking his oath of silence. He just felt like avoiding Team Rocket altogether, deep down, he missed it. "I'm the mysterious Rose Mask! Maybe you have seen me or maybe you haven't, you can never be sure." He made a pose and tried to look like some kind of super hero on TV.

Laiki shrugged, "maybe not," she examined Growlie, gently pressing her hands on his mid section. The fire pokemon complained in response. "It seems he got pretty hurt out there," it was still not as bad as many of the injuries Laiki treated, but it was enough to be the highlight of her dull day. "You'll have to keep him out of battle for a while."

"Oh no! Is Growlie hurt badly? My poor Growlie!" James hugged his pokemon, which only caused Growlie to howl in pain from being squeezed in an Ursaring hug.

"Stop it you're just making it worse!" Laiki scolded, "it's not that bad, just make sure you let him rest." The undercover Rocket nurse bandaged the fire pokemon and sent the mysterious trainer on his way.

xoxox xox xoxox

James returned to the waiting room with Growlie in his arms rather then putting him in a pokeball. He got there just on time to hear Jessie being called out to the battle field.

"Our next battle will be an encounter between the mysterious Sailor Flame and the famous AJ!" Jango announced. "This will be a two on two battle. You may switch pokemon at any time, fight!"

"I'll win this just like all the other battles, go Arbok!" Jessie sent out her pokemon, she knew this wouldn't be easy. AJ had been dominating each of his battles so far.

Many people had heard of AJ and his pokemon gym. His training methods were very strict, which earned him the admiration of some and the scorn of others. Some thought he was too harsh with his pokemon. "I won't go easy on you, I choose Beedrill!"

"Don't expect any mercy from me either!" Jessie retorted, "Arbok, poison fang!" Arbok attempted to poison Beedrill, but Beedrill flew and dodged the attack.

"Beedrill, poison jab!" AJ commanded.

"Be careful Arbok, dodge it and use acid!" Despite Arbok being a poison type, being stabbed by Beedrill would still hurt a lot. The bug pokemon's stingers looked very sharp. Arbok struggled to dodge the hits while spitting acid as fast as he could, but Beedrill moved too fast. Beedrill managed to stab Arbok repeatedly, while Arbok's acid only graced the tip of his stingers. Even so, Arbok would not fall so soon, he kept trying to reach Beedrill with his acid.

"Arbok, back away and stay still," Jessie's new command surprised AJ. He wondered what the mysterious Sailor Flame was up to.

"Attack Beedrill, poison jab!" AJ insisted and Beedrill obeyed, flying towards Arbok.

"Now Arbok, iron tail!" With a loud battle cry, Arbok whipped his tail towards Beedrill and came close to hitting him. However, Beedrill dodged at the last second. Seeing as that strategy wouldn't work, Jessie decided to switch pokemon, "Arbok return, rest for a while, I might need to call you out later. Go Flareon, avenge Arbok with flame thrower!"

"Flare, flare!" Flareon was protective of her fellow pokemon. It was something she learned back when she was a shy Eevee and her big brother Pikachu would protect her. She threw out her flames, though Beedrill kept dodging the fire.

"Use hyper beam, Beedrill!" AJ was still feeling confident.

"Dodge it Flareon and use fire blast, fill the arena with fire!" Jessie was determined to win no matter what. Flareon's fire blast cancelled out Beedrill's hyper beam. 

"Time to finish this," AJ still had another strategy to try, "evasive maneuvers, get close and use hyper beam!" Beedrill flew in speedy zigzags towards Flareon preparing to shoot a hyper beam. At point blank Flareon couldn't counter it like before.

"Don't let Beedrill escape, fire blast!" When Beedrill was in range, Flareon suddenly bit into his leg, holding Beedrill down. Beedrill desperately stabbed Flareon. Before the bug pokemon could shoot the powerful hyper beam he had been preparing, Flareon let out a massive fire blast right into Beedrill, effectively ending his struggle.

"Beedrill!" AJ couldn't help it but to call out to his pokemon, who was not only unconscious, but also severely injured. "Return! You put up a great fight, don't worry, I'll get you to the Pokemon Center soon." The crowd loved the show. They were getting increasingly excited as the match became more heated.

"Hey Flareon, do you think you over did it?" Jessie watched as Flareon's breathing became labored, she was poisoned. "Take a break in your pokeball, Flareon return. Arbok, you're up again!" Jessie switched pokemon, giving Flareon some time to rest and sending out Arbok once more. Both her pokemon were in bad shape from that Beedrill. Yet she still had two pokemon, while AJ only had one. Jessie knew what to expect, he would surely send out that strong Sandslash he used in previous battles.

"I'll show you my strongest pokemon, go Sandslash!" Sandslash looked fierce and strong, much more intimidating than a Sandslash would normally look.

Jessie had a plan, Arbok would weaken Sandslash as much as possible to give Flareon time to rest. Then she would use their special secret strategy. For it to work, Flareon needed to recover first, she was a little too disheveled from the recent battle. "Arbok don't get too close, use acid!"

"Sandslash, defense curl!" Sandslash curled into a ball and though the acid hit its target, it had no effect. "Earthquake!" The entire Stadium shook with the force of Sandslash's attack.

"Endure it Arbok, you can do it!" Arbok struggled to stop himself from fainting. Years of fighting Pikachu and later training wild pokemon, had made him very resistant. 

"Don't stop, keep using Earthquake!" AJ insisted.

Up in the VIP balcony, Mayor Antilles fell out of his chair, "this is terrible, they're going to tare the stadium apart right before the elections! If this place is reduced to rubble, where will I give my next campaign speech?"

"If it falls apart it's your own fault for using cheap materials," Giovanni countered, focused on the match. He didn't recognize Sailor Flame, nor had he recognized Rose Mask.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" The mayor was clearly not enjoying the constant shaking. He was especially worried about how the arena's floor had become cracked and fissures had started to climb up the walls. 

"I like strong pokemon, why wouldn't I enjoy it?" Giovanni could have been thinking about sending agents out to steal those pokemon. He could have been thinking of what he would do if he were the one battling either trainer. He could have been thinking a lot of things. Yet the thought that occurred to him was how much he missed watching the Indigo League championships. Giovanni was usually too busy with Team Rocket. Battling amateurs who wanted badges made him forget what a real battle was supposed to feel like. 

Suddenly, he found himself looking forward to seeing the Indigo League's past champion in action. He wanted to see how strong Ash was. Giovanni didn't know anything else about him, save for a few details. His name was Ash, his home town was Pallet and one of his pokemon was a Pikachu. He didn't know Ash's lastname, information concerning the rest of his pokemon or any other details. Remembering the conversation with Delia earlier made Giovanni look forward to seeing Ash battle even more. 

In the battle arena, Arbok finally had all he could take. He had managed to buy Flareon a good amount of time. He lasted far longer than any other opponent had against Sandslash since he evolved. "Arbok return, you did very well. Don't worry, we'll get revenge for you, go Flareon!"

"I didn't expect your Arbok to last that long," AJ admitted, "but don't forget, Flareon is weak from the previous battle. Not that it would make a difference against Sandslash even if she was fully healed."

Flareon had groomed herself the best she could within the pokeball. She adjusted her ribbons tugging away the turn edges inside the folds of the bows. She her fur, much like an average Meowth would, to try to look as good as possible.

"Sandslash, giga impact!" Sandslash went on the attack at AJ's command. He dashed towards Flareon on the other side of the battle field.

"Use your secret weapon Flareon, just like we planned!" Jessie knew everything depended on this strategy. Using all the contest experience she had gained with Jessie to her favor, Flareon used attract. She looked absolutely adorable, cute and irresistible. For a moment Sandslash was captivated by her beauty and hesitated on his attack. "Overheat!" Flareon covered Sandslash with fire, struggling to keep her flaming breath going on for far longer than usual. She could sense that her opponent still had not fallen.

James was watching from the waiting room's window with Growlie in his arms. The pokemon was barking wildly in a fit of jealousy, yelling at Sandslash to keep his distance from Flareon. "Calm down Growlie!" James held on to him tightly.

Sandslash battled through the fire, trying to perform his own attack, heartbroken and angry. Flareon was at her last breath. When the fire ceased, another attack followed, "facade!" With one last brave effort, Flareon glowed as she launched herself at Sandslash like a lethal wild beast and finally defeated him. The crowd cheered loudly, with Jessie feeling very victorious at having obtained the biggest applause so far.

AJ stared at his unconscious pokemon in disbelief. Jango announced Sailor Flame as the winner. "Sandslash return, I guess we still have to train harder. That was an unexpected strategy, but none the less you won the match." AJ never thought his pokemon's lack of social life due to their constant training would create such a weakness towards the opposite gender.

"Nothing can beat the power of cuteness!" Jessie posed for the crowd that continued cheering.

Up in the VIP balcony, Giovanni was a bit disappointed with the trick, "of all the ways it could end..."

"You should never underestimate what a woman can do," Delia smiled.

"I know that already," Giovanni couldn't deny it but he still thought that Flareon used a cheap trick. Still, she was amazingly strong.

Mayor Antilles was shaking even after the earthquake ended. He kept shaking out of fear and worry, "I'm just glad it's over."

"It's not over yet, we still haven't seen the past Indigo League champion in a single battle. The real battles are about to start," Giovanni's reminder caused the mayor to faint.

To be Continued

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 041: Give me Amusement

The trainers in the Viridian tournament continued to be eliminated until only four remained. It was clear that the champions would be called out to battle soon. Ash couldn't stay still, pacing around the waiting room. "I'm guessing you're more eager than nervous," Ritchie accurately theorized.

"Of course!" Ash happily exclaimed, "I'm so glad you're here. I was looking forward to my turn to battle before, but after I saw you, I just couldn't wait."

"It's ironic, when we were set to battle each other in the Indigo League years ago, you weren't too happy about it," Ritchie thought of the memories fondly.

"Yeah, but it's okay, because we can help each other improve and we'll both have fun," Ash smiled for a moment, then pouted impatiently again, "I just wish they would hurry up and call us or..."

Ritchie looked at Ash suspiciously, he had a sparkle of mischief in his eyes, "or?"

Ash grinned, "or we could have a practice match right here and now!"

Ritchie laughed, he should have expected such a crazy idea from Ash, he could have a wild side sometimes. "We'll get into trouble if we do that. Besides, I'm sure we'll get our chance soon."

Comet returned to the waiting room, replacing the empty tray of snacks with a new one. It was full of little triangle shaped mini-sandwiches with peanut butter and jelly in the middle. He handed a paper to Jango who had gone to the waiting room after the previous battle. It listed the lineup for the final four matches, not counting the bonus match that the winner would have against the Viridian City gym leader.

"Ritchie and Rose Mask," Jango read as he looked around the nearly empty waiting room for the two battlers.

"Here!" Jessie exclaimed as she pointed at James, who had his mouth full of mini-sandwiches. This caused Jango to jump in surprise; he didn't see Sailor Flame and Rose Mask make their way to the snack table. They could certainly eat.

"Looks like I'm up," Ritchie observed Ash's pouting face. Ash got there first but still hadn't been given a chance to battle. As mused that maybe his name was stuck on the bottom of whatever hat they were pulling the names out of. "C'mon, be a little more patient," Ritchie encouraged. "There are only four of us left, so you have to be in the next battle or the one after that at the latest."

"Alright, I'll wait a little longer," Ash agreed, though he still looked very impatient. He glanced at James who was stuffing his face, while he waited for Ritchie to lead the way into the arena. James, Jessie and Meowth loved free food. "Good luck to you both!" Ash spoke louder than needed, as if hinting he wanted the two combatants to go out and battle already. Ash expected Ritchie to win, but he also wanted to see James put up a good fight.

James choked on his last handful of mini-sandwiches. He was saved by Jessie, who patted him on the back harshly, but with good intentions. "In the words of Flareon, if you lose this battle, you'll have to face my wrath!"

James gulped, "Rose Mask will do his best!" Then he hurried after Ritchie. He left the bandaged Growlie on the table to eat the rest of the mini-sandwiches.

xoxox xox xoxox

"Out of all the trainers that had entered the tournament only four remain!" Jango announced as the crowd gathered in the Viridian Stadium cheered. 

Many of the spectators were once again screaming in delight at the return of the handsome Rose Mask. Others, who recognized Ritchie as the Indigo League champion from last year, cheered for him. They were filled with joyous surprise to see him there.

"For this semi-final match we have the mysterious Rose Mask versus a surprise guest. Here's the champion from last year's Indigo League competition, Ritchie!" The crowd went wild at the announcement, cheering and clapping even louder.

Up in the VIP balcony, Mayor Antilles began to have a nervous breakdown. "Why? I thought the only Indigo League champion was Ash. Why are there two of them?" He feared for his precious stadium, it could be torn apart.

"He must have been a late entry," Giovanni reasoned. He was pleased with the situation. Two champions meant double the power. After they faced off against each other, he would battle the strongest one.

"This is... this is..." it was so terrible that Rune Antilles couldn't find any words to describe it.

"Perfect," Giovanni supplied, it was much better than watching the Indigo League championships on TV. He had both of the champions from the previous two years right in front of him. He would have a real battle after such a long time.

Delia smiled at the newly added twist. She knew Ash was looking forward to battling Ritchie and was happy that he could. He had not been called out yet and it was obvious that Giovanni still didn't know who he was. She had a worrisome thought as she remembered Ash's expression during Giovanni's speech. Delia had calmed down and convinced herself that everything was alright. But what if it wasn't? What if Ash had left in confusion? "I'll be right back. I just have to check on something really quick."

"Are you going off to find shelter?" Rune suddenly asked. "Maybe I should do the same. Oh, but how is that going to look? If I come out as a coward who hides when ferocious pokemon appear, I'll lose the elections!" He paused, examining Delia's face with his panicked expression suddenly changing to perplexity, "have I seen you before?"

"Probably in the crowds," Delia made her way out of the VIP balcony and down the stairs. Giovanni made no motion to stop her. He was focused on the battle. He noticed her leave, but he knew she would return just as she said.

The mayor rubbed his chin, "hmm..." he had seen many people in many crowds, he was the mayor after all. He was used to giving political speeches in front of large audiences. Even if the speeches were never written by him. The mysterious woman who came with Giovanni seemed to stand out in his mind from somewhere else. 

Rune didn't remember that she was the same woman who had been at Giovanni's side when he first became gym leader. It was back when they started their secret negotiations with the help of the pokemon epidemic's antidote. Rune shrugged and decided to forget about it. 

"Since these are the semi-finals, new rules have been added to make things more interesting," Jango had continued his explanation. "The pokemon limit per trainer has been increased to three and substitutions will count against the trainers. Ready? Fight!" 

There was a moment of tension in which the audience grew eerily silent and Giovanni could hear an odd irregular sound. He looked at Rune who was pale and sweaty as he gripped the armrests of his chair. "Don't go into cardiac arrest so close to the elections," 'or any other kind of arrest,' he mentally added.

"Huh?" The mayor snapped out of his daze, "oh, yes, thanks for reminding me." Rune retrieved a small bottle from his pocket and swallowed a tiny pill, it was his heart medication. The sound of the mayor's heartbeats became more stable, though it was just as loud in the unfathomable silence.

The participation of Jessie and James, whom she recognized because of their pokemon, didn't come as too much of a surprise for Misty, but Ritchie's arrival was. As she sat in the audience, she almost expected a tumble weed to roll by as James and Ritchie engaged in a staring contest. It was reminiscent of Ash's contest with Samurai years ago when they waited for something to decide the battle between their Metapod. The most notable difference was that in the battle of Rose Mask versus Ritchie, neither had sent a pokemon out yet.

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, in the waiting room, Ash stood near the window impatiently. The undercover Jessie, the bandaged Growlie and the recovered Flareon devoured all the food Comet brought. The trio had been temporarily joined by Pikachu, who retreated after snatching a couple of cupcakes. He offered one to Ash. Only Meowth understood Pikachu's remark about cooties, but he was used to Flareon and Growlie getting all cuddly and flirty.

Ash had finished his cupcake, contemplating that it was nowhere near as good as his mother's. The thought brought back his curiosity about why his mother was sitting with the mayor and gym leader. He pressed his face against the glass window, angling himself to try to see the balcony. He found that his mother was no longer there.

Seconds later, Delia entered the waiting room following Comet. He had gone to deliver more food, a pizza. The food kept getting better as trainers were eliminated. It was part of mayor Antilles' plan to butter up the winner into putting in a good word for him. 

Jessie and Meowth jumped on the pizza immediately. It caused Growlie to whimper, and Meowth to make room for him to grab a slice in his mouth. The slice was playfully stolen by Flareon, who also stole a kiss in the process. Meowth backed away; maybe he wasn't used to this after all. Jessie on the other hand was fascinated. She paused her eating in favor of staring at the cute couple of fire pokemon adoringly.

"Ash," Delia called softly, her voice ringing out clearly in the absolute silence.

Ash turned around to face her, "mom! I was wondering why you disappeared from the balcony. Why were you up there?" Ash's curiosity presented no worries, only puzzlement.

Delia knew right away Ash's surprise during Giovanni's speech must have been entirely due to seeing her and not due to recognizing Giovanni. "The gym leader and I are," she corrected, "were," she paused and rephrased her reply, "I met Giovanni a long time ago and we were catching up. We haven't seen each other in years."

"Oh, so that's it!" Ash concluded, then elaborated noting Delia's confusion, "I had this feeling that I've seen the gym leader somewhere before, even if I didn't battle him for an Earth badge. I thought it might have been on TV, on a magazine or something, but that didn't feel right. You said you haven't seen each other in a long time; did he visit when I was very young? I can't remember where I've seen him before, but I know I have."

"No, he never visited," there was a hint of bitterness in Delia's voice. She forced herself to smile to make up for it. "Maybe you remember him from somewhere else." Sometimes the answer could be right in front of a person, but they would not see it unless they looked straight at it. It seemed that the picture of the man Delia confessed had been her boyfriend was yet to surface in Ash's mind. "You shouldn't think about it now, just focus on your coming battle."

Ash nodded in agreement, full of excitement once more, "yeah!"

Delia smiled sincerely, seeing her son so cheerful. He was that way for every competition. She would forever share that same enthusiasm to watch him participate in one pokemon tournament after another. "I just wanted to wish you good luck. I really should be going back to my seat now."

"Thanks!" Ash cheered, "I'll try my best and I'll win," then he could get Misty a ring that would make her jump into his arms in absolute joy. He wanted it to amaze her.

xoxox xox xoxox

Delia returned to the VIP balcony and took her seat next to Giovanni, who was looking very impatient. Noticing her presence he commented, "they say that when the eyes of two pokemon trainers meet, a duel between them is destined to happen. I just wish they would get on with it."

"I'm sure one of them will have to blink eventually, try to be patient," the last four words were spoken with the same tone Delia would use for Ash. She remembered how Giovanni and Ash's eyes met when Giovanni was giving his speech. Perhaps their battle would be a true duel. Delia couldn't decide how she felt about that.

In the battle arena, Ritchie inevitably blinked, "ha!" James pointed at him with his rose. He finally shattered the silence that loomed over the stadium. "I saw that!" He declared in what he thought was a heroic tone, "you blinked, I won!"

"How did we get into a staring contest anyway?" Ritchie blinked again, this time repeatedly in confusion. "Either way, it's impossible to tell if you're blinking or not behind your mask. That doesn't matter; this is a pokemon battle, so let's battle!" Ritchie threw out a pokeball, "Sebastian, I choose you!" A strong looking Kingler came from the pokeball's red beam.

"I won the staring contest," James lied, he had been blinking behind the mask, "and I'll win this battle too!" He threw out a pokeball as well, "Rose Mask calls upon Weezing!" This would be a difficult match and James couldn't count on Growlie, who had been injured earlier. He tried to look and sound as cool as possible, hoping that it would somehow empower him and his pokemon.

"Sebastian," Ritchie called out to his Kingler, "use crab hammer!"

"Dodge it Weezing, go higher and use smoke screen!" James posed with his rose as he instructed his pokemon. Sebastian dashed forward with his pincers ready to smash into Weezing. The poison pokemon floated away hastily and covered the battle field in smoke. 

"Blow away that smoke with blizzard!" Ritchie urged. His Kingler obeyed, unleashing a powerful blizzard upon the battle field. It chilled the air and blew away the smoke. "Good, now use crab hammer!"

"Get out of the way Weezing!" Weezing had lowered his floating, shielded by the smoke screen as he prepared to launch a sneak attack at James' command. The poison pokemon was quick to gain altitude once more. It was rather comical to watch Sebastian leap into the air trying to hit Weezing with his largest pincer. Weezing continued to float, unreachable above the jumping Kingler.

"Sebastian, get Weezing down with a bubble beam!" Ritchie's change in strategy worked. The bubbles hit their target, causing Weezing to have trouble floating due to the constant hits. The attack also left him in a half-fainted daze.

"No Weezing, don't go down, go up, up!" As much as Weezing wanted to do what he was told, he could not. 

The poison pokemon helplessly landed exhausted on the cracked floor of the battle field. Ritchie was quick to take the opportunity, "let's finish this, Sebastian!"

As Sebastian dashed forward to smash Weezing with his pincers, James desperately called out, "self destruct!" At least Weezing would take that persistent Kingler down with him; that was what James had in mind.

Ritchie reacted quickly, "dig!" Weezing exploded and the arena was filled with light and toxic smoke. It was impossible to see if Sebastian had evaded the attack on time by hiding underground. 

When the smoke finally cleared, Weezing lay unconscious in a crater on the floor. The sight made mayor Antilles whimper in pain, witnessing the additional damage to the stadium. Sebastian came into view seconds later, digging himself out from the ground. The mayor noticed that the powerful Kingler had used his strong pincers to break the cracked floor and dig a hole. He took another heart pill and tried to endure the distressing sight without fainting again.

"Weezing is unable to battle!" Jango exclaimed.

"Weezing!" James cried out, dramatically reaching out for his fallen comrade. He retrieved Weezing's pokeball from his belt and called him back, "return!" Then, tapping his red rose on the pokeball he declared, "I shall avenge you!" The crowd went wild, much to Jessie's annoyance in the waiting room lobby.

As he watched the so called battle, Giovanni complained, "first a staring contest and now a soap opera? I thought the battles were finally getting good, but it looks like things won't get serious until the two Indigo League champions face each other." The mayor gasped for air, his breathing becoming more labored by the second. The noise annoyed Giovanni, who had been put in a bad mood due to the silly turn the battle had taken. "Can't you have a heart attack quietly?" He snapped.

"Giovanni, that's mean!" Delia scolded Giovanni, then looked at the mayor with worry.

Rune's face continued to pale, but his breathing stabilized, at least temporarily. "I know who you are," he recognized Delia. "You were there, in all those events long ago, in the parties, you were there," he stuttered.

"Don't try to speak now, just focus on your breathing," Delia instructed in a motherly tone.

"It is you, right?" Mayor Antilles continued, "you were Giovanni's lover!"

"Rune," Giovanni growled, causing the mayor to jump in his chair and look at him, "shut up."

"Yes, sir!" Rune squeaked, then remained quiet after that. He kept fidgeting worriedly in his chair and twisting the ends of his large mustache. The mustache used to be black, even after his hair had turned white, but was now white to match it.

In the battle arena, James sent out his next pokemon, "go Victreebel! I mean, Rose Mask summons Victreebel, avenge our fallen comrade!" James had met many Victreebel over time. Some were his own and others were pokemon he took care of at the day care center he and Jessie had in Saffron City. 

Something that never changed was that each Victreebel James had taken care of had a peculiar habit of trying to eat people or pokemon. Some tried to eat James, others tried to eat Jessie, several tried to eat Meowth and one had made the mistake of trying to eat Flareon. That last one became the only one to be cured of the habit, though he would only be able to eat soft pokemon food for the rest of his life.

The particular Victreebel that James called out to battle had the habit of trying to eat people at random. She let out a high pitch screech that made Jango, James, Ritchie and the first few rows of people in the audience cringe and cover their ears. It signaled the start of her chase. The grass pokemon hopped right out of the battling area and towards Jango, who was refereeing from the sidelines. "What are you doing?" Jango backed away.

"Run!" James urged hastily in alarm.

Jango wasted no more time and dashed away. He ran in circles around the battle arena. James hurried after them, trying to calm his berserk pokemon. "Stop Victreebel, the referee is not food!" 

Watching the disaster play out from the window, Jessie grumbled, "you idiot."

Giovanni was angered by the ridiculous scene, "this is turning into a circus show," he criticized.

In contrast, Delia was having fun, "I know!" She laughed.

"Well," Rune let out a breath, "as long as they don't cause any more harm to the stadium, it's okay."

Unfortunately for Jango, he wasn't fast enough to evade Victreebel and soon found himself inside up to his waist, with his legs flailing in the air. "Oh no! Oh no!" James tried to pull Jango out and Ritchie rushed to help while the spectators' laughter echoed.

Between James and Ritchie, they managed to pull Jango out of Victreebel's mouth. The grass pokemon was quick to choose a new victim, attacking Ritchie instead. Ritchie was caught off guard and suffered the same fate as Jango before he could even try to run away. Trapped in Victreebel's mouth, Ritchie called out for help. Distressed over the peril of his trainer, Sebastian attempted to free Ritchie by sending a flood of bubbles their way. The action only made matters worse when not only Victreebel, but also the three men suffered from the attack.

Unable to pull Ritchie out of Victreebel's mouth, James had no choice but to call her back into her pokeball, before Ritchie suffocated. "Victreebel return!" In a beam of red light, Victreebel faded away into her pokeball, leaving Ritchie to fall face first on the floor. "Sorry about that, are you going to be alright?"

Still a little dizzy, Ritchie nodded, "I think so... It's okay, accidents happen," he struggled to stay on his feet and made his way to his side of the arena.

James returned to his own side of the battle field and Jango stood at the sidelines. "Since Victreebel was recalled, Rose Mask only has one pokemon left."

James sighed sadly and the audience that had previously been laughing, chorused an, "aw!"

"Rose Mask never gives up!" James held his rose up high in a sudden change of attitude from sad to determined. "I summon..." he looked towards the window where Jessie, Flareon, Growlie and Meowth were watching, "Meowth!"

"What?" The talking pokemon gasped. Before Meowth could further protest, Growlie escaped and ran into the battle field. 

"Growlie?" James stared in surprise. "You can't, you're hurt!"

"If you call back your pokemon, you will be forfeiting the match," Jango reminded. He was in no mood to be lenient after his traumatic Victreebel experience.

"Growlithe, growl!" Growlie bravely declared.

Even if the fire pokemon didn't speak the human language, James understood that Growlie wanted to help him. "Growlie!" He emotionally exclaimed, "alright, let's do this, flame thrower!"

"Counter with bubble beam!" Ritchie quickly commanded. The two opposing powers collided. Surprisingly, the bubbles were extinguished into vapor by the flames that barely diminished. The attack was not very effective, but it still caused Sebastian pain due to all the strength and energy Growlie put into it. 

"Bite him Growlie!" James cheered, watching his loyal pokemon dash forward.

"Crab hammer!" Ritchie called out, expecting the strategy to work. However, Growlie moved out of the way of Sebastian's pincers and jumped over him. He spun around quickly and bit one of Kingler's thin legs.

Growlie was fighting with an injury and the strain was too much for him, he released Sebastian and collapsed. Sebastian was left in a pained daze, swaying from side to side unable to find his balance. "Growlie!" James was distressed; he knew Growlie shouldn't be battling in his condition.

"Growlithe is unable to battle," Jango announced, "the victor is Ritchie!" He declared with satisfaction.

"Flareon!" Flareon screamed as she ran into the battle field, "flareon flare!" She raged at Sebastian and released a blast of fire that finished knocking him out, but her breath of fire didn't cease.

"Stop it, Sebastian can't defend himself anymore!" Ritchie quickly recalled his unconscious and burnt pokemon to the safety of his pokeball. The pokeball had a star sticker on it, as all of Ritchie's pokeballs did.

"Flareon, flare!" Flareon directed her anger at Ritchie, whom she blamed for the state Growlie was in.

"No, Flareon!" Jessie, still in her Sailor Flame disguise, rushed into the battle field along with Meowth to try to calm the turmoil. First Flareon threatened to beat up Growlie if he lost, then she got all cuddly and sweet. Next, she became protective and rushed out to attack Growlie's opponents, even threatening the trainer. Jessie knew something was going on with Flareon. She would be frying Ritchie if Jessie wasn't blocking the way.

To be Continued

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 042: Give me Emotion

"Growlie?" The orange pokemon whimpered softly, "you're okay, right? Please tell Flareon you're okay." James pleaded.

"Flare!" Flareon rushed to Growlie's side, crying abundantly and his face gently. "Flare, flareon, flare!"

"Now she's crying?" Jessie watched in shock while Meowth went through one of the few occasions in his life in which he was speechless. No one could make heads or tails of Flareon's extreme mood swings. Wait, mood swings... "Flareon, sweetie," Jessie knelt down beside the pokemon, "you're going to lay an egg, aren't you?" Flareon nodded her head, her tears ceasing. "It's alright, we can go home now. You and Growlie should rest; there will be other chances to battle. I have a good guess who our opponent would have been," it had to be Ash, since he had not been called out to battle yet, "we can battle him any time. Let's go home, do it for the baby's sake," Jessie voiced gently.

Flareon nodded in agreement, she wanted to stay and continue battling, but Jessie convinced her to go home for her child's sake. Jessie understood Flareon had been pushing herself and endured a harsh battle despite her condition. Now she had the accumulated fatigue from the previous fight and her subsequent recovery from poisoning. The effect on her body of having to spare energy to feed the egg within her and her worries about her injured mate all piled up. Jessie didn't want Flareon to have to battle while dealing with all that. 

Jessie knew the other pokemon would understand if they returned home before the tournament ended. She was looking forward to playing nurse and helping take care of the baby when it hatched. She glanced at Ritchie who seemed to understand. Then she looked at the stunned Jango and informed him, "I'm leaving the tournament to take care of our pokemon. Continue without me."

At first, Jango could do nothing except nod dumbly. Then, as Sailor Flame, Rose Mask and their pokemon left the arena, he woke from the daze he was left in after the commotion. The referee spoke into the little microphone that extended from his earpiece over his mouth, "Sailor Flame has forfeited the tournament. This means that only two participants remain: Ritchie, the winner of the Indigo League championship from last year, and the challenger, who is also a champion. He won the Indigo League tournament two years ago... Ash! Many thought they would have to wait until this year's Indigo League to see the two champions face each other. The wait is over, it will happen today, right here in the Viridian Stadium!"

Ash ran out of the lobby and into the arena when he was called. The crowd cheered wildly, looking forward to the battle of champions. Jango continued with his announcements and explanations, "it's a three on three match with no substitutions. Additionally, if a pokemon leaves the battle area, that pokemon will be disqualified and must be recalled into the pokeball immediately," it was a hastily added rule, but Jango didn't care if he got into trouble for it. He didn't want to relive his Victreebel experience. "Ready? Fight!"

"Charmander, I choose you!" Ash was the first to eagerly throw out a pokeball.

The red beam from the ball took shape as the basic Kanto starter pokemon of fire. He looked very eager to battle, "char! Char!" Far from looking menacing, he looked cute.

Ritchie studied Ash's choice in pokemon. The Charmander was clearly very young. He was still smaller than an average one, with big innocent blue eyes. "I know appearances can be deceiving and I intend to try my best!" Ritchie took note of the flame on Charmander's tail and realized it was too big for such a tiny pokemon. No doubt about it, the little Charmander had to be strong. He sent out his first pokemon, determined to seriously try to win. Vaporeon was just the pokemon to help him accomplish that. "Aqua, I choose you!"

"I'll try my best too," Ash didn't look at all worried about the type disadvantage. He knew Charmander, albeit very young, was amazingly strong.

From the balcony, Giovanni watched the battle arena below. The presence of Charmander surprised him. He expected to see nothing but fully evolved pokemon on a champion's team. For a moment he wondered if the Indigo League was just over-rated, but he decided to keep an open mind. If there truly was something special about Ash, he would soon find out. It might turn into an interesting battle after all. He had Delia to thank for rediscovering his love for challenging pokemon battles. Giovanni didn't plan to watch the tournament. He originally intended to make an appearance in the beginning to give a speech, sneak off to work on his world domination plans, then return on time for the bonus round in which he would participate.

The mayor swallowed another heart pill. He didn't want to overdose, but he didn't want his heart to burst from the stress. "I'm too old for this," he complained pitifully.

"None sense, all that matters is being young at heart," Delia tried to encourage him, she felt truly sorry for Rune, seeing his worried expression.

"That's the problem," Rune whimpered, "my heart isn't young."

"Stop complaining," Giovanni interrupted; Rune had always been a wimp in his opinion.

Mayor Antilles pouted indignantly, "you know, my heart only started failing me after that time you almost killed me," he reminded in a low raspy voice.

Delia gasped in angry shock, "Giovanni!" She scolded upset, though she didn't know what else to say or do, except to glare.

"It was many years ago," Giovanni calmly stated with indifference.

"What happened?" Delia insisted on knowing.

Giovanni brushed off the inquiry and it was the mayor who replied, "it was indeed a long time ago, but I never fully recovered. I was having second thoughts about a business deal and was kindly expressing my concerns."

"Whining," Giovanni corrected with annoyance.

Mayor Antilles cleared his throat and continued, "as I was saying, I was expressing my concerns about a business deal. I guess it must have been a bad day for Giovanni. He seemed to be angry at the entire world on that day, except his Meowth." Rune glanced at Persian, who had been quietly purring next to Giovanni during the entire tournament, as his trainer petted him. "The point is that when I cautioned him about his business practices, Giovanni lost his temper and punched me really hard. He broke my ribs and nearly caused a piece to be stabbed internally into my heart. Fortunately, I was taken to the hospital on time and they removed the rib fragment that had come off. I was saved, but the fragment managed to scratch my heart a little. I've had a weak heart since then, albeit my worries generally decreased after that."

"You poor man," Delia frowned in pity, but there was something she didn't quite understand, "why were your worries less after that? Did the near death experience make you reevaluate your life?" She inquired with puzzlement, then caught herself in an old habit, 'no, don't do that again,' Delia mentally scolded herself. Even after so many years apart from him, Delia felt like she was falling into her old habit of twisting things around to justify Giovanni.

"Well, not exactly," Rune confessed, "I just realized that Giovanni was scary enough to deal with any troublesome people that might complain. I concluded there was nothing to worry about after all." After a short moment of reflection, the mayor added, "now that I think about it, the last time I saw you with Giovanni was before that happened."

"Rune," Giovanni growled, causing mayor Antilles to give him a worried look, "shut up," he ordered once more.

"Yes, sir," Rune once again complied and remained silent for some time.

Delia thought about what the mayor had revealed. The time he referred to might have been an event that happened right after she left. Was that the reason Giovanni was in such a bad mood that day. "Gio... When you punched the mayor back then, the reason you were angry, was it because..."

"Is there a point to this conversation?" Giovanni found it to be useless and irritating, but Delia looked insistent. He knew she wouldn't back down until he answered her question. He did, though not directly, "it seems you haven't dropped your habit of blaming yourself for everything."

Delia stared at Giovanni for a moment, then smiled, which caught him off guard. Studying his puzzled expression, she clarified, "I'm only glad you're not indifferent," angry seemed to be a little better than completely uncaring, even if it was unfortunate for mayor Antilles. "It was still wrong, what you did to the mayor," Delia added, "but you're right, it happened many years ago." Even so, Delia wanted to sit down for hours and catch up on everything. Yet she seriously doubted Giovanni would ever do that.

Rune opened his mouth to speak, lifting his index finger as if indicating he was about to make an important point. Then he wisely decided to keep his questions and comments to himself and remained silent. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair and gripped the armrests in tension. Both Giovanni and Delia turned their attention back to the battle.

Jango had implemented a new rule that stated that pokemon would be disqualified if they left the battling area. The rules before that had been rather lenient to keep the contestants as happy as possible. However, there was nothing Jango could say about the pokemon's attacks remaining within the designated area. 

The Viridian Stadium clearly wasn't built for strong pokemon battles. Average battles were fine, but the field wasn't big enough for true power. Many of the people in the first, second and even third rows in the audience had to dodge stray fire balls and beams of water. When the water hit them it was at least refreshing, though still annoying and often painful. The lethal fire would be another story.

The people in the first few rows didn't know when a fireball would fly their way, how far it would go and how strong it would be. Some got on their feet, ready to move away any minute, while others tried to retreat, pushing back the people behind them. With those in the front rows standing up, the people in the rows behind them had to stand up as well. Soon the entire attendance of the stadium, save for those in the balcony, were on their feet.

Charmander was agile and avoided Vaporeon's water gun, even if the water pokemon was also fast and many members of the audience were soaked. "Flame thrower!" Ash commanded with a glow in his eyes that hinted he had a plan.

"Water gun!" Ritchie countered. The two attacks collided and it looked like Vaporeon was winning. Ritchie noticed that Charmander's tail flame was growing, "watch out Aqua, don't lower your guard. Make the water gun stronger, give it everything you have!" It was best not to give the little Charmander the chance to prepare his attack.

The water gun intensified, but so did the flame thrower. The opposing forces produced a curtain of steam that swallowed the whole stadium. "Overheat!" Ash called out and the fire coming from the small Charmander intensified further.

Ritchie couldn't see the battle behind the thick veil of steam, but he could hear Aqua's water gun becoming weaker. "Aqua, push that fire back with everything you have, then get out of the way!" The Vaporeon trusted in his trainer and followed the commands perfectly, managing to dodge the fire. Ritchie saw a bright light and jumped out of the way. The fire that Charmander had been pushing against Aqua's water gun blasted through the steam. It went past Ritchie and into the wall behind him. Sparks and rubble flew all around on impact. The spectators in that area screamed and panicked, hastily stumbling to get away, pushing the people around them.

Misty was feeling very uncomfortable in the audience. She could only compare the experience to a time when she went to an outdoor concert with Ash and Brock. The singer's name was Akira, a woman rumored to be involved with Team Rocket. Brock insisted on going and not surprisingly, he fell in love with Akira. She was admired by many, who claimed she had the elegance of a Ninetails along with its imposing presence. Brock claimed Akira was the image of perfection. From her sweet voice to her sky colored hair, emerald eyes, pearl smile and flawless snow skin. He was nearly crushed to death as he helplessly tried to reach the stage during the concert.

On top of worrying that Brock might do something crazy and end up with a few broken bones, Misty also had Pikachu to worry about. The powerful yellow pokemon had shocked the people around him, Ash and Misty included, several times when he felt suffocated. Displeased remarks and foul words followed the electric shocks. It made Ash lose his temper and yell back, even if he knew he was walking right into a fight.

While all of that had been happening, Misty was thrown around in the mush pit of fans, shoved, elbowed and kicked by the multitude. She was driven over the edge and joined Ash in releasing her pokemon to fight off the overwhelming crowd. It got worse when Akira's back up dancers revealed themselves to be Team Rocket agents. They took advantage of the mayhem to try to steal from the crowd. The theft was a failure; the situation was far too out of control for the Rockets to make their way through the chaos.

In the end, Team Rocket fled, many people where injured and abundant bones were broken. That included Brock's right arm and left leg. Somehow, the pokemon breeder was satisfied with the experience. He almost made it onto the stage before Akira herself violently sent him away with a kick to the face and a broken nose. He was delirious with a stupid smile for a while, chanting, "she touched me," even if it was with the bottom of her boot.

Misty escaped the commotion with many bruises and cuts, but her most serious injury was a sprained ankle. By some miracle, Misty and Ash survived without broken bones, albeit Ash had to get stitches for a cut he got on his right arm.

Even if Akira was revealed as a member of Team Rocket, she still had concerts, which were troublesome. It was still better than dealing with a riot of her fans if the police took direct action against her. The casualties would be far more numerous then.

xoxox xox xoxox

As the battle raged on, Charmander became cocky, despite his opponent being a powerful Vaporeon. The small fire pokemon refused to listen to Ash, instead running around the arena, wagging his flaming tail and making faces at Aqua.

The display caused the audience to go from astonishment and fright to amusement and laughter. Giovanni recognized the power of the tiny Charmander, but he could certainly use more training. 

"What have you figured out so far?" Delia inquired with curiosity. She theorized that Giovanni didn't know too much yet.

"What do you mean?" Giovanni looked away from the battle for a moment. They weren't really battling like before; Charmander was just running around making fun of his opponent.

"You have that analytical look in your eyes. I can tell you're trying to gather as much information as you can from watching the battle and the trainers." Delia found that she could still read Giovanni after all. She just needed to spend a little time with him to remember how it was done. "You're looking for information, have you found anything yet?"

Giovanni gave his observations some thought and began to construct a profile. "Charmander is young and needs more training, but he's very strong. Ash is a good trainer and has powerful pokemon."

"His pokemon are strong, that is true, but they grew with Ash's guidance," Delia elaborated, "what I mean is, simply having strong pokemon isn't enough. It doesn't just happen; they have to be raised to be strong."

Giovanni didn't comment on the lecture. He was still puzzled as to what role that young man could possibly play that made Delia return to Viridian City. "I would say he's a risk taker," anyone who would send out a pokemon that was not properly trained couldn't have a problem with taking risks. "He's stubborn, I can just tell."

Delia couldn't help it but to laugh, "you're absolutely right about that, Ash is very stubborn, just like you. He really likes pokemon and sometimes his winning streaks go to his head. Even if he has a mischievous side, he's a very caring person."

Giovanni didn't catch the true meaning behind Delia's comment about stubbornness and instead pointed out, "you're pretty stubborn yourself." He didn't wish to wait any longer, "whatever it is you wanted to tell me about him, I don't think I can figure it out just by watching the battle after all. Besides, this is turning into a circus show again," Giovanni complained impatiently.

Delia sighed, "so impatient," she kept her expression neutral as she spoke, "like father, like son."

"What do you mean?" Giovanni had no suspicions about Ash, he didn't show any hints of surprise.

Delia looked towards the battle arena, "he's a lot like his father. He's a bit more playful, but he's stubborn, strong and can get a little cocky unless someone is there to keep his feet on the ground. Most of all, he's determined, cunning and has a deep desire to be the very best." Delia paused and looked at Giovanni again, his puzzlement surfacing with a hint of curiosity. With a secretive tone she voiced, "Charmander."

Giovanni turned his attention to the battle once more, "I still say he needs more training." Giovanni observed Ash and his subconscious seemed to realize something he couldn't quite fully grasp. Ash reminded him of someone.

After a lot of running around, Charmander was finally getting tired from too much showing off. "Aqua, use hydro pump!" Ritchie called out, it was time to finish the battle.

Charmander stood his ground, despite Ash's expression becoming alarmed in realization, "no, don't do that!" It was too late, Charmander jumped backwards and sliced through the hydro pump's blast of water with iron tail. The end of his flaming tail collided harshly with the exhausted Vaporeon's head and finally knocked him out. "Charmander, why? Aqua was tired; you could have finished him off with an attack that didn't leave you so exposed to damage!"

"Charmander char!" Charmander dizzily argued as if trying to say he would do whatever he wanted. "Char..." he fainted as well.

"Vaporeon and Charmander are unable to battle! So far the match is a tie; both trainers each have two pokemon remaining!" Jango announced, he was just glad the chaos of fire and water was over. He hoped the next pokemon they sent out were not so dangerously destructive.

Ash called Charmander back into his pokeball, at the same time as Ritchie recalled his Vaporeon. Ritchie looked across the battle field at Ash, "tell me something Ash," he curiously inquired, "is that Charmander related to your Charizard from our first Indigo League competition?"

"You noticed," Ash laughed sheepishly, "you're right, Charmander is Charizard's son. I guess I still need to train him more. Speaking of Charizard, he listens to me now and he's my next pokemon, "Charizard, I choose you!"

"This will be an interesting battle," Ritchie anticipated, "I choose Zippo!" Another Charizard emerged from Ritchie's pokeball. 

Ash's Charizard blew smoke rings as he smirked confidently. Zippo frowned at the arrogant attitude and waited for Ritchie's command. Both trainers called out in unison, "heat wave!" The pokemon sprang into action immediately, blasting each other with fire. More flames escaped the battling area when the two beams of fire collided and sparks flew in every direction.

"It's getting more destructive!" Mayor Antilles couldn't hold his silence any longer, not that anyone was listening to him, anyway. Giovanni, Delia and even Persian had their eyes glued to the battle field. "At least we're safe up here," the mayor thought aloud. He was soon proven wrong when the trainers instructed their pokemon to use aerial ace and fire blitz. That took the battle to the air with flames being ignited all over the place.

The abundant harsh fire attacks caused the stadium to catch aflame. The fire didn't dissolve after leaving an indentation in the walls, it was too strong and it spread and grew. People screamed in a panic and scrambled to get away from it. The security system activated and the sprinklers began to throw water all over the stadium, some spraying on the combating pokemon. They were too strong to be weakened that easily, thus the water only gave them discomfort and made them cranky. That caused their battle to turn more violent.

Giovanni glared at Rune in absolute fury, "you idiot! Whose idea was it to install this many sprinklers!" He was getting all wet along with everyone else. Persian had taken shelter under his chair to stay as dry as possible.

"I'm sorry!" Rune cried in fear and stress.

The massive battle continued, causing pandemonium in the stadium. The two trainers were focused on the fight, as if locked in a trance. "Fire blast," Ritchie called out.

At the same time Ash guided his Charizard with a different attack, "blast burn!" The flames collided with each other, with Ash's Charizard prevailing over Zippo.

Zippo was not going down without a fight and tried to blast back as much fire as he could, which Charizard returned. It resulted in a giant blast of fire, with flames raining upon the stadium. Mayhem ensued as people pushed and shoved others aside to abandon the blazing stadium.

Zippo fought to stay conscious while Ash told his Charizard to use "seismic toss!" Zippo and Charizard exchanged additional blasts of fire during the entire process. Finally, Charizard sent Zippo crashing to the ground. The impact not only caused Zippo to faint, but also shook the entire stadium. It further expanded the already severe damage the structure had sustained.

Ritchie called Zippo back to his pokeball with words of gratitude. The two trainers snapped out of their trance and noticed the destruction around them. "We messed up, didn't we?" Ritchie acknowledged.

To be Continued

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 043: Give me Priorities

Ash couldn't see Misty in the wild crowd of fleeing people, only a few stayed at the stadium. Even without seeing her, Ash knew Misty would be upset. He looked towards the balcony to find his mother glaring with disapproval. Ash also saw that the gym leader was smirking, as if he was amused by the chaos. Well, at least someone was happily enjoying the show. 

The sprinklers did their job and finally put out the flames. After the threat had passed, people began to settle back into their seats, many sporting new bruises. A considerable number of people had left, so at least the audience wasn't suffocating any more. Ash finally spotted Misty, she was scowling. 

Taking a deep breath, Ash decided to try to be optimistic, "maybe if we put on a good show they'll forgive us. At least the gym leader looks happy; he understands what battling is like." Ash smiled up at Giovanni and gave a thumbs up. The gym leader seemed to be the only one who wasn't upset by the destruction. 

Giovanni found the gesture to be puzzling. Yet he knew that the possible destruction of the stadium was not what Delia came to tell him about Ash.

"Do you really think they'll let us continue?" Ritchie's question took Ash's attention from Giovanni back to the battle field. 

For a split second, Ash had been close to recognizing Giovanni when his expression had changed. He was certain he had seen that confident smirk somewhere before and he had seen it recently. Ash once again let it go for the time being. He examined the damage around them, trying to come up with some kind of justification for it, "it is a battle so-"

"I'm disqualifying him," Jango trembled as he pointed at Ash's Charizard, interrupting the trainer's excuse.

"Why?" Ash argued, refusing to accept the referee's choice.

"Too destructive!" Jango flailed his arms around as he backed away. The day had been too much for him and he was losing his head.

"No one got hurt... seriously." Ash tried to make the situation sound as positive as possible, though it was difficult. Charizard nodded his head eagerly at Ash's argument; he didn't want to be disqualified.

"Too dangerous!" Jango pointed at Charizard, still shaking in fear.

Comet stepped out to the arena, "you may leave," he told Jango, who wasted no time in dashing away. "I will referee the final battle of this match, but I'm afraid Charizard will still be disqualified." Comet calmly pointed towards where Charizard stood, specifically at his tail.

Charizard looked at his own tail, Ash and Ritchie examined its position as well. "Oh, your tail is outside the lines," Ash admitted, "well, I guess those are the rules, you can't step out of the battling area." Charizard's jaw dropped as he pointed an accusing clawed finger at Ash. He growled and roared as if blaming his trainer for not properly warning him about that. "I'm sorry!" Ash hastily apologized to Charizard, "it's okay, you were a great help! Let Pikachu do the rest, alright?" After exchanging a few words in their own language, Charizard returned to his pokeball and Pikachu went out to the battle field.

"The battle of Ash versus Ritchie will continue," Comet announced, "for his final pokemon, Ash has chosen Pikachu, who will battle against," he paused dramatically, allowing Ritchie to finish.

"Sparky!" Ritchie's own Pikachu was sent to the battle field. It was the battle that would decide the tournament.

Giovanni continued observing everything; he thought it was odd that Ash apologized to his pokemon. He couldn't picture anyone doing so, except maybe Delia, but she was a special case. She cared about pokemon very much, that was how they met, that was how many things happened.

The two Pikachu stared at each other from across the arena, with sparks already flying from their hot red cheeks. Soon the stadium was filled with electricity and the fact that the sprinklers had only recently been turned off didn't make it any safer. The many fissures, indentations and holes in the stadium were filled with water and puddles were scattered all around. The members of the audience who were brave enough to stay and watch the battle to the end were soaked.

The Indigo Plateau was extremely big, allowing for plenty of empty space between the audience and the battle field. Not stepping out of the battle field was a standard rule. The Viridian Stadium was much smaller. The structure was not safe for true pokemon battles. It lacked the enforced architecture, seismic proof strength and high tech energy absorption machinery that the Viridian Gym possessed. 

The Viridian Gym would have proven to be a much safer place to have an all out pokemon battle, but it was not a place where a large crowd could witness it. It only made matters worse that the stadium's structure was indeed poorly built with cheap low quality materials. The foundations of the building were fragile and if there was another earthquake, it might cause the building to crumble.

The two electric pokemon continued their battle. Their electric attacks sometimes reached the audience, despite it having become small enough to be able to back away to the final rows. "Thunder!" "Thunderbolt!" "Thundershock!" The attack names were called out constantly, and there wasn't a single moment in which the stadium wasn't lit up by the abundant electricity.

Mayor Antilles watched the match in a trance, "I just got an idea," he muttered, short of breath, "a grand idea!" He pushed himself to raise the volume of his voice enough to be heard. "We could use pokemon to provide the city with electrical power, it would be much cheaper!"

"We're already doing that," Giovanni reminded, without looking away from the fight. He didn't even blink at the bright lights.

"Really?" Rune gasped, "but then, why is it that we need to buy so much fuel and supplies. What about the workers of the power plant?" Mayor Antilles insisted in confusion.

"Rune," Giovanni once again scolded him sternly, "shut up."

"Yes, sir," the mayor realized he was treading into a topic he shouldn't be talking about. Maybe Giovanni had his own uses for the power plant. If that was the case, Rune thought it was in his best interest to remain as ignorant as possible about it.

"I hope those pokemon are being treated well," Delia intervened with a serious expression.

"They're fine," Giovanni assured with indifference, "you can see them if you want. The real facilities that supply power to the whole city are open to public tours. None of the pokemon used there are hidden. People think that the pokemon power plant only produces enough electricity for part of the city. They think it wouldn't be cost effective to try to get enough pokemon, food and health care for them, to power the entire city."

"I see, so that's why they think the conventional power plant is still needed. It would look suspicious if the truth got out." Delia remembered Ash telling her a story about the Pikachu powered electric generator that they used in the Viridian City Pokemon Center if the main power supply failed. "It sounds like your organization has come across quite a few technological advancements. But you're only sharing them when and as much as it is convenient."

"It wouldn't be the first time," Giovanni looked away from the battle field. He finally felt the need to rest his eyes after staring at the bright electric attacks for too long.

"I know," Delia sounded displeased. Team Rocket's way to deliver the antidote for the pokemon epidemic many years ago was more effective than waiting for it to be officially approved and mass produced. Nevertheless, Giovanni still used it to his convenience and could have done a lot more good if he tried. Regardless, Team Rocket's influence had been highly beneficial to the population of pokemon so what happened wasn't all bad. It brought the end of the epidemic after all. 

With those internal arguments and memories, Delia found herself realizing the cause for all the circles she had gone in for such a long time in the past. The world was not black and white and sometimes from a certain perspective, the shades of gray were light enough to be worth the trouble. When it came to Giovanni, she always tried to look on the bright side. She realized that the gray was closer to black than to white when the situation became really dark.

"Excuse me," Mayor Antilles shyly voiced, "should you really be, I mean, not to meddle," he mumbled unsure, "is she, are you?" He couldn't find a way to construct a coherent sentence.

"She won't tell anyone, and you better keep quiet as well," Giovanni warned. A spark of lightning collided with the edge of the balcony, breaking off a small piece. They were high enough not to be heard in their little royal tower, but they were not completely out of range from the attacks.

Delia sighed hopelessly, "maybe that's my biggest flaw, I could never say anything against you," she admitted bitterly. "Regardless of what you do, my first instinct is to justify you and I could never stay mad at you for long."

"You seemed perfectly capable of that before," Giovanni accused, ignoring the fact that mayor Antilles was listening, he didn't matter anyway.

"If I ever stayed angry at you for more than a few hours, it was because you kept giving me a new reason to be angry," Delia retorted. She realized that her argument fell short if she considered the fact that she had been away for many years. "Just so you know," she confessed sadly, "I would have come back if you asked me. It's not like you didn't know where to find me." It was something that filled her with both hopes and worries for years when Ash was little. "I just couldn't come back, because, because of a good reason." 

Delia wanted to raise Ash peacefully, yet she knew her resolve would crumble if Giovanni had ever showed up at her door. Then she would have told herself that the situation wasn't so bad. She would think that regardless of what Team Rocket did, by some miracle Ash would turn out alright. During those first few years in Pallet Town, Delia both hoped that Giovanni would come and feared that seeing him would throw her into that kind of reasoning. It would ruin the chance of the peaceful childhood she wanted for Ash.

Tired of the guessing games of the past, Giovanni kept a neutral face and spoke with complete indifference. He knew it would bother Delia much more than any angry remark could. "It doesn't matter, it happened many years ago. I knew where you went and I didn't go find you. I had more important things to do and you were holding me back. Besides, if you had bothered to come back, I would have sent you away."

Delia didn't breathe a word; instead she got up and left. She guessed that whatever amount of surprise, puzzlement and curiosity that kept Giovanni from sending her away sooner, had worn off. He didn't want her there anymore. She had promised Ash some answers, she had promised to reveal the identity of his father and she knew Ash could handle the truth. There was no reason for Giovanni to know. 

Mayor Antilles watched as Delia went away and looked at Giovanni in shock. The mayor's mouth was slightly opening and closing like a Magikarp. "You, she..." he tried to voice something but realized he had temporarily forgotten the majority of his vocabulary. 

"Rune," Giovanni warned menacingly, he was indeed surprised by Delia's visit and tried to be patient with her. In the end, his patience could only stretch so far. "Shut up," he ordered, not in the mood to deal with idiots.

"No, sir," Rune surprisingly refused, "I can't help it but to feel that I've been caught in the middle of some kind of lover's spat. It's like the soap opera dramas on TV and it is my duty to tell you to go after her." The mayor paused, taking a deep breath, then dramatically insisted, "go after her!"

"Is that all you wanted to say?" Giovanni inquired, with an intimidating expression. Rune paled and nodded hurriedly. "Then shut up."

"Yes, sir," the mayor sighed in both sadness for what he had witnessed and relief that he didn't have any broken bones as a result of his reaction. It was a pity that Giovanni had refused to dramatically run after his lady. Mayor Antilles would need something to occupy the headlines and take attention away from the broken state in which the Viridian Stadium was left in. What could be better than a touching reunion with a lost love? 

Rune knew Giovanni had more fame than him. People would rather read about the gym leader's secretive personal life, than fuss about the poorly built stadium. Besides, if Giovanni came out looking all nice and romantic, he would be even better received by the city. His support for mayor Antilles' political campaign would be that much more valuable.

xoxox xox xoxox

The Viridian Stadium shook with the force of the two colliding electric pokemon. It was already weak to begin with and terribly damaged. The electricity crashed into one of the balcony's columns causing it to shake unsteadily and begin to fall apart. 

The balcony tilted when the column fell, but it didn't crumble. It was barely supported by the column on the opposite side. It looked artistic to have two columns diagonally opposite to each other in the propounding structure of the balcony. The stadium was undoubtedly built more for show than anything else. It was not safe to stay in the weakened balcony. Giovanni and Persian quickly left, "are you coming?" Giovanni looked back at the mayor who sat nervously.

Mayor Antilles was breathing heavily; he had gone from ghostly pale to bright red, as if all his blood suddenly accumulated in his head. He got up from his chair, stumbled and fell flat on his face, than pushed himself up and rubbed his nose. "Ow," the blood that had accumulated in his head began to be drained again until he was once more ghostly pale. Seeing as Giovanni had no intentions of giving him a hand or waiting for him, the mayor struggled to his feet by himself and followed the gym leader to safety.

xoxox xox xoxox

"Boss!" Wendy called in alarm as she spotted Giovanni in the waiting room with Persian and the mayor. They were watching the battle from there, since the balcony was no longer safe. "All this electricity and commotion has the police's attention. Sio and the others are holding them off, making up excuses to reassure the officers that everything is okay. The police was saying the tournament should be suspended immediately before the stadium collapses."

"Preposterous!" Mayor Antilles exclaimed, "imagine the headlines when it becomes known that the tournament had to be canceled because my stadium didn't hold up. We must let the tournament conclude! I just wish they were gentler; it's also going to be bad if this place does come down. In that case it might really be best to call it off," the mayor thought about it. "How about we make them forfeit, or maybe..." he couldn't think of any good plans, it felt like he was trapped in a lose-lose situation.

"Shut up, Rune," Giovanni reprimanded the worrying mayor for what felt like the millionth time that day. "This is the last tournament battle. After they finish, I can battle the winner at the gym. Wendy, keep the police out until this battle is over, I don't want any interruptions."

"Yes sir!" Wendy ran back outside to join the other undercover Rockets protecting the stadium from the police's interference.

In the battle field, Pikachu and Sparky had discharged a massive amount of electricity. Even if Ash and Ritchie were once again in their battle trance, when one of the columns of the balcony tower fell, the noise was loud enough to make them look. Ash didn't see his mother, but he saw the gym leader leaving. He didn't see the mayor on the floor from his angle. Assuming that his mother left along with the others, Ash was relieved and focused on the battle once more. Thus when the balcony finally crumbled, Ash and Ritchie knew it was empty.

The collapse of the balcony tower caused rubble to rain upon the battle area and part of the audience area. People scrambled not to be hit by the rocks. Some were reached by the debris, but those were only small pieces that didn't cause any serious injuries. Those in the battle arena were in the most danger: Ash, Ritchie and Comet, who remained watching from the sidelines. Fortunately, they managed to dodge the falling stones only being scratched by a few small ones. The two Pikachu also avoided damage and were quick to be ready to continue the encounter.

When the dust finally settled down, both Ash and Ritchie called out in unison, "volt tackle!" The two Pikachu dashed towards each other and collided in the center of the battle arena in a huge explosion of electricity. The force made the weak structure of the stadium give in further and begin to collapse in several areas. When the light faded away and the new cloud of dust settled, it was revealed that Sparky had fainted. Ash's Pikachu still stood.

"Sparky is unable to battle!" Comet announced, shouting over the panicked screams of the alarmed spectators. "Ash's Pikachu is the winner. The tournament has ended, Ash is the ultimate champion!"

Ash jumped with joy and ran to the battle field to hug Pikachu and congratulate him. Ritchie approached and shook hands with Ash. The two young trainers once again got lost in their own little world, complimenting each other and their pokemon. This went on until mayor Antilles approached Ash with a trophy. "This is for you. However, given the damage caused to the stadium, I won't be able to pay you the prize money." Besides, Ash wasn't from Viridian City; there was no vote to buy. Now it was up to Giovanni to defeat him and avenge the city's honor at the Viridian Gym. Then hopefully the ruined stadium wouldn't be reduced to a pile of dust.

"That's not fair!" Ash pouted, he wanted to buy Misty a nice ring and he wouldn't be able to afford it without the prize money.

"We did make a mess," Ritchie pointed out, though in his frustration, Ash didn't hear him. Ritchie continued, placing his hand on Ash's shoulder to get the other young man's attention, "at least we had a fun battle, isn't that worth more?"

"Of course!" Ash assured, "I had a lot of fun. I'm really glad we got to battle, it was a true challenge. It's just that I was planning to..." he trailed off into silence, then scanned the surrounding area hoping to see Misty and his mother.

Delia had not left the stadium facilities after she stormed away from Giovanni, angry and hurt. There was quite the commotion going on outside with the police surrounding the stadium, claiming that it wasn't safe for anyone to remain inside. An array of people in matching green suits were trying to talk Jenny and the other officers into believing that everything was fine. Knowing of the danger of the stadium collapsing, instead of leaving, Delia felt the need to stay and wait for Ash and Misty. She rushed to the arena when she heard the balcony tower fall apart and got lost in the group of panicked people in the audience. After a lot of pushing and shoving, she was finally able to make her way towards Misty. The redhead was determined to stay and watch Ash's battle to the end.

Delia stayed with Misty until the battle ended and watched as mayor Antilles and Giovanni emerged from the waiting room lobby. The two women made their way out of the audience area and into the arena, lost among the people who rushed to congratulate the winner. Ash spotted them in the crowd and was relieved. His frustration with not receiving his due prize still remained and both Misty and his mother had heard his complaints.

Misty frowned in disapproval, making sure that Ash saw her displeased expression before she turned away to leave. Delia looked right at Ash among the crowd, she was still unseen by Giovanni. She gave him a look of urgency and disappeared among the other people in the same way Misty had. She was encouraging him to go after her. Ritchie witnessed this as well and whispered, "go."

Ash nodded, which mayor Antilles interpreted as an acceptance of his excuses as to why he couldn't be given the prize money. The truth was that Ash had not heard a single word the mayor spoke. He did hear the gym leader giving him a formal congratulation and inviting him to the gym for the promised bonus battle. Giovanni even offered to give Ash double the prize money if he won.

Ash got a closer look at Giovanni and was more certain than ever that he had seen him before. Nonetheless, there was a more urgent matter to tend to at the time. With so much in his mind, Ash couldn't think of anything other than going after Misty. As tempting as it was to accept the gym leader's offer of a double prize, what good would a diamond ring do if Misty was too upset to say I do? "Sorry, but I have to go."

"What about the battle?" Giovanni insisted, "you can switch pokemon if you want," he was feeling impatient and in a bad mood, despite hiding it well. He needed to let out his troubles in a true challenge. He pressured Ash, while still keeping a nice tone, "if you leave, you would be forfeiting." Giovanni was sure that would convince Ash to agree.

Ash took a deep breath and realized he needed to get his priorities straight. There would be other tournaments and other prizes, but Misty was clearly upset and needed him right away. "I forfeit," Ash's voice was hardly above a whisper. He never would have thought he would give up in a pokemon battle without even trying. "I'm sorry; I really want to battle you. I was looking forward to it when I heard you would battle the winner of the tournament, but I can't. There's something more important I need to do, maybe we can battle some other time." Ash disappeared among the crowd, leaving a stunned Giovanni behind.

"Hmm..." Mayor Antilles mused, "this could work," with the tournament winner forfeiting the match against the gym leader it would be easy to say that the young man from Pallet Town knew there was no way he could win. The gym leader would then be considered to have been recognized as better than the champion, by the champion himself, and thus he would become the hero that avenged Viridian City's honor. 

The mayor nodded to himself, if the press painted the picture correctly, and they knew better than to mess up, everything would work out. Giovanni's unconditional support in the mayor's campaign would still be enough to make him win the elections. If he ever lost, he was sure Giovanni could arrange that to change. However, Rune still had a little bit of pride left and wanted to win with real votes. 

The publicity tournament wouldn't be a total loss after all, though the damage to the stadium was still a catastrophe. Rune would think of a way to cover that up. Maybe he could say that the stadium was built so that certain parts would collapse on purpose. He would claim it was part of the show and that the real goal was to model the place as closely as possible to an ancient stadium. It did have a special likeliness to real ruins being collapsed on one side and damaged all over.

To be Continued

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 044: Give me Forgiveness

The Viridian City park was very large and full of abundant plants and trees. It was not ideal for playing volleyball or tossing a frisbee due to the many obstacles. Yet it was perfect for young couples to sneak around without having to go to the forest's border in the outskirts of the city to find privacy. The park was located at the very center of the city, not too far away from the Viridian gym and the ruined stadium. Other than serving as a hiding place for couples, it was also the most obvious place where one would go to be alone. Brock's lonely grieving was interrupted by Ash, who had lost track of Misty. "Brock, have you seen Misty around here?"

Brock looked up from his position sitting under a tree hugging his knees to his chest, face buried in his arms. "She ran past me a few minutes ago. I called out to her, but she said she needed to be alone for a while. She said that if you came after her I should tell you that she's not in the very middle of the park, sitting by the little pond."

Ash frowned, "where is she then?"

Brock paused, observing Ash's perplexed expression, "in the very middle of the park, sitting by the little pond," he recited.

"Didn't you just say..." Ash understood as Pikachu jumped off his shoulders and encouraged his trainer. "Oh, I get it, I'll see you later."

xoxox xox xoxox

The pond was quite small but beautiful, with crystalline waters that shone as the summer sun hit them. Misty was sitting at the pond's edge in a similar posture to Brock's. She heard the approaching footsteps on the lush green grass and looked up to see Ash. He wordlessly sat down beside her.

They sat in silence for a few seconds until Ash finally asked, "why are you mad at me?"

Misty was used to needing to be direct. She had not completely grown out of the habit of dropping hints about how she felt and letting Ash attempt to figure it out, but she knew the limitations of that. Most of the time, he didn't understand unless she was direct. She loved him dearly, but she knew she had to spell things out to him sometimes. "I'm not mad," she moved closer, resting her head on his shoulder.

Ash responded by putting his arm around Misty's shoulders, tilting his head to rest on hers. "I know you're upset about something. Is it because of the mess we made at the stadium?"

"No, I don't blame you for that." Misty could have an explosive temper at times, but sometimes she just didn't feel like blowing up about the issue at hand. That only meant it really bothered her, she wasn't angry, she was worried. "Ash, I'm upset because of... well..." she searched for the right way to phrase it, shifting to meet his eyes. "I feel like you've been hiding something from me. You've been busy going from one tournament to another, which is normal, but you seemed more focus on the prizes than ever before and that worries me."

Misty continued, "usually you're in it for the challenge. I've just been seeing another side of you. It's fine to want a reward, but I don't want you to change. I want you to be the same carefree Ash who just wants to have fun and be the best. It doesn't matter if you're stubborn and dense, just don't get greedy. Don't put your pokemon or your friends in second place next to the glory, fame and riches. You didn't change when you became champion. You went on and on about it twenty-four seven for a week and drove everyone insane. But after that, you were back to your old self, ready to tackle life's next challenges." 

Misty took a deep breath; she looked into Ash's brown eyes. Her cerulean eyes were full of adoration with a remaining hint of worry. "I really don't want you to change. I want you to be the Ash I fell in love with forever. I want to spend the rest of my life with you." Misty didn't know where the outburst came from, she just felt like speaking out her emotions.

Ash looked at Misty as if it was the first time he was seeing her in a long time. "Misty," the ring and the place didn't matter anymore. She didn't need to be impressed to say yes. Ash knew that from the start, he just wanted to do something big for her. He understood what his mother was trying to tell him before; Misty didn't want riches or power. She just wanted Ash to stay the same and be there for her. "That was my line." Ash took the silver sapphire ring from his pocket and placed it on Misty's finger, "will you marry me?"

Misty felt her breath catch in and her heart beats speed up as tears of happiness began to fall from her eyes. She smiled, trying to find her voice, the image of Ash's hopeful and loving face forever engraved in her mind.

A sudden explosion came unexpectedly and the near by plants caught on fire. The abundant flora's proximity to each other only made it easier for the fire to spread. The explosion, originated underground, blasting through the land behind Ash and Misty. It left the couple frozen in shock in a tight embrace. They were between the pond and a hole on the ground. "Was that some kind of missile?" Ash stammered, trying to recover from the shock. 

The missile had exploded on the ground as it broke through. Its effect was mostly thrown at the tunnel from where it was shot. But its force was enough for sparks to fly out of the hole along with pieces of scrap metal. As soon as Misty recovered from the shock, she sent out her Gyarados and a pair of Starmie, "water gun, everyone put out all the flames before they spread!" Psyduck popped out of his pokeball uncalled and ran around in a panic until Misty recalled him. 

The yellow water pokemon would never evolve and Misty had come to terms with that. She discovered it one day when she took Psyduck to the Pokemon Center for a detailed examination. She hoped she could find out why he wouldn't evolve, even if she had been training him for years. After a series of tests, including an x-ray, nurse Joy discovered that Psyduck had swallowed an everstone. It resided inside his stomach for years.

Psyduck had apparently adapted to having the small everstone stuck in a corner of his stomach and out of the way for his digestive system to function normally. Joy had offered to operate Psyduck and take the everstone out. But seeing poor Psyduck so frightened about the surgery made Misty decide to leave him as he was.

Ash released his Blastoise from his pokeball, he had been with Ash since he was a Squirtle and remained as one for many years. "Help put the fire out!" Squirtle evolved into Warturtle when he began to travel with Ash again. He later evolved into Blastoise to put out a fire at the Pewter City Pokemon Center, where Ash and his friends were trapped. The fire had been started by a malfunction in Jessie and James' equipment, causing them to become trapped as well, though they were all saved in the end. Despite Blastoise having evolved, Bulbasaur still remained the same, determined to stay that way.

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, Delia had gone to the park to think. "I thought you would still be around here," she turned around at the familiar voice. She was surprised at just how familiar it felt. She had only heard it for a short time after an absence of many years. 

She needed to compose herself and figure out what she was going to tell Ash about his father. She intended to delay the confession until after he sorted things out with Misty. She told herself that the procrastination was necessary and that she wasn't just escaping from the truth again, but she wasn't sure. "I didn't think you would come looking for me." Delia honestly didn't expect it. She assumed Giovanni would just disregard their meeting and forget about it. He made it clear he had more important things to do.

"You never told me what you came here to say," Giovanni reminded with a casual tone, as if their recent argument had never happened. He knew he purposely upset her, though it seemed to have hurt her more than he expected.

Frowning, Delia took a deep breath and tried to find the words that would allow her to make Giovanni forget about his curiosity. Maybe this was something he didn't need to know after all. "It's nothing vital to Team Rocket. In fact, you would probably say that it doesn't make a difference, especially not now. I don't know why I even bothered to come to you. Please forget about it, I didn't mean to make you waste your time," she didn't realize it, but she was crying.

"I don't understand," Giovanni admitted. "this is, important to you," he stated, still completely in the dark about what the secret Delia held could be. "Is this really about when you left? Delia, it's been so many years. You can't expect me to believe that's all there is to it. If it was something like that, something related to us, you would have forgotten about it by now." He felt as if she was using their past relationship to hide the real information that she came to reveal. He didn't understand that she would never simply forget about the past that was so precious to her.

Giovanni reflected on his own words. When Delia left, he felt betrayed and stubbornly refused to go after her. He restructured Team Rocket and focused on his work. He was in a foul mood for days, but during those first few days he would have welcomed Delia back if she returned. He knew she was in Pallet Town, it was easy to guess. Thanks to her letter, he knew she left of her own free will; no one kidnapped her or forced her to leave. He never understood her allusions to having a good reason to leave. He never found any justification in it, thinking it was something related to foolish ideals of justice.

When the days turned to weeks, Giovanni regarded Delia as a traitor. He was determined not to welcome her if she returned, but she never did. Even so, he somehow knew that she would not speak against him. He assumed she simply had enough of his criminal ways and left, thinking it was for the best. He was bitter that she had apparently chosen justice over him. He was selfish in that sense, wanting all her devotion to himself, knowing that for some time he had it.

Many years had passed, Giovanni reminded himself of that again. Why would Delia still care about him as she did before? The information she possessed about Team Rocket was mostly outdated. Save for a few details that hadn't changed, such as their main base of operations being hidden in the Viridian Gym, she didn't know anything important. They also had many other bases in several regions and the Viridian base wasn't a total secret from the police.

Was Delia trying to gather more information? Could the traitor he was seeking in an internal investigation have contacted her and put her up to this? He couldn't imagine her doing something like that. None the less, it had been many years and Delia had no reason to pledge her loyalty to him anymore. If this was a trick, Giovanni wouldn't fall for it. He wouldn't waste the opportunity to use Delia's possible situation of being a spy to his favor.

That was the only explanation Giovanni could think of. Delia was working with the enemy and Ash must be with them two. She must have been conflicted about it. Seeing him again must have pushed her into trying to confess her mission, though she was still unsure about doing so. Ash wasn't a Rocket, so he wasn't among the inside traitors, but he had to be part of their group. He was probably the one who discovered Delia's past and put her up to spying.

That had to be it. Why else would Delia show up and reminisce about the past, then get all emotional. Not only was Giovanni not falling for it, he would use their trick against them. Delia would go from infiltrator to double agent. She would ultimately take his side; Giovanni would make sure of it.

"Delia, I think I understand why you left," Giovanni calmly began. His tone and expression caught Delia off guard, he looked almost caring. "I was too focused on my own goals and wasn't paying attention to you. I wanted to give you what I thought you wanted and never asked you what you really wanted. You know Team Rocket is important to me, but so are you."

Delia stared at Giovanni in shock. She didn't understand his sudden change in attitude. She felt as if she was diving head first into a trap. Yet the only thing she could muster to say was "what do you mean are? I'm not important to you anymore."

He was moving too fast, it wasn't believable. Maybe Delia had become a little bit less naive over the years, but only a little. Giovanni was just as prideful, stubborn and confident as he had always been. He could think of nothing to say that would make his act sound believable and turn Delia into his double agent. He wanted her to pretend her infiltration mission was a big success and deliver convenient false information to the enemy. 

Instead of answering her question, Giovanni pulled Delia close suddenly and kissed her. He caught her totally off guard and too shocked to oppose any resistance. The kiss didn't last too long. They parted abruptly when they heard an explosion near by.

xoxox xox xoxox

Thanks to the efforts of Gyarados, the two Starmie and Blastoise, the fire was put out without casualties. As the last of the flames were extinguished, Pikachu and Brock arrived. The hole had been covered up from the inside before any of them could see the people in black uniforms with red Rs running in the tunnel. Battle noises, arguments, accusations of betrayal, insults and curses could be heard faintly, with the tunnel's sound proof shield having been shattered.

Giovanni and Delia were the next two to arrive. Giovanni found the way Ash was kneeling on the ground examining a patch of exposed metal quite suspicious. The secret Team Rocket headquarters extended all over the underground area below the park. "What happened here?" Giovanni tried to sound as if he truly had no clue, while Delia was still in a confused daze.

"A missile came out of the ground!" Ash looked up to find his mother and the gym leader. Delia was looking shocked and her face was slightly red. All those present assumed it was because she heard the explosion and it startled her.

Comet was the next one to appear on the scene, ready to implement a hasty cover up. "Is everyone alright? Did anyone get hurt?" He asked with real worry, looking around the area and assessing the damage. 

"We're alright," Misty replied, puzzled by the entire event, "what was that?" One second she was on cloud nine and the next she was harshly crashing down in an unpredictable and dangerous reality.

"I'm so sorry about that," Comet apologized deeply, "some of the fireworks we had set up for tonight malfunctioned. I apologize for the trouble it caused. Don't worry, it's all under control now. I'll have to ask you to leave this area so we can make some repairs to the mechanism. I apologize for the inconvenience." No one questioned Comet's explanation. Ash's version of it being a missile sounded much less believable than a fireworks malfunction. Even Ash concluded that he must have misinterpreted what he saw.

The group quietly made their way out of the park, with Giovanni going along with them as well. Delia was trying to tame her internal turmoil and figure out what to say to Ash and Giovanni. Her confusion was overwhelming.

Ash watched his mother and the gym leader from the corner of his eyes. At some point unknown to Delia she took Giovanni's hand or vice-versa and she still hadn't let go. Ash wasn't usually too observant, but there were a few rare occasions in which he took note of details. Then the realization hit him, Giovanni looked familiar because he was the man in the picture with his mother. They must have dated in the past.

A flood of questions invaded Ash's mind, he wondered if Giovanni was his father. His first impression of the gym leader was that he was cool and the way his mother spoke of his father was always good. If he was in Viridian City the entire time, why did he never visit? Even if they broke up, shouldn't he still want to see his son?

Then another thought occurred to Ash. His mother had said the man in the picture was her boyfriend, she didn't confirm he was Ash's father. There were no other pictures that Ash had ever seen of his mother with someone who could be identified as her date. That did not mean that the only picture available had to be of his father.

Maybe Giovanni had dated his mother before she met his father, Ash thought about it and it made sense. They broke up, his parents met, he was born, then his father was somehow out of the picture. An old theory resurfaced and Ash concluded that his father must have indeed passed away. His mother, in her grief, must have gotten rid of all his pictures. The picture of Giovanni was something she kept as a memento, remembering him as a friend. 

It must have been awkward for Giovanni and that's why he never visited, even if Delia still wanted to be friends. That had to be the whole story; Ash became more certain of it with each passing second. It did not solve the mystery of his father's identity, but it did ease Ash's worries. He had become aware of how lonely his mother felt whenever he left on a journey and it would be nice if she had some company aside from her Pallet Town neighbors. 

He knew that his mother would always love his father, but it had been many years since he passed away. Ash found nothing wrong with rediscovering a past love, given the circumstances. Maybe his recent proposal had left Ash in a somewhat cheesy romantic mood, his theory made perfect sense to him.

When they exited the park, Ash smiled and addressed both his mother and the gym leader, "there's something I have to do, so I'll be going now. Have a good time catching up."

Misty smiled, knowing exactly where Ash was going, though she still had a feeling of uneasiness and Brock was extremely quiet. She pushed the worries away, still in her romance high. She had to give Ash her answer without interruptions. "Right, see you later," she purposely waved with her left hand, bringing attention to the ring she was wearing. It brought a big smile to Delia's face.

Brock watched Ash and Misty leave, then looked at Delia and the man beside her for a moment in worry and uncertainty. In total silence, Brock hurried after Ash and Misty. He had to tell them something important. Delia didn't read too deeply into Brock's reaction, the poor boy was probably frustrated that he was still single.

The way the young group left was extremely suspicious to Giovanni. For the time being he would play along and pretend he didn't suspect anything. He would make them regret trying to trick him. He would find out the details about their group and lead them to a trap. Delia would be the key to that.

Delia decided not to worry about telling Ash the truth for the time being. He didn't seem to suspect anything about Giovanni's identity as his father after all, even if he must have recognized him as her past boyfriend. She didn't want to create drama when he was celebrating his engagement. Understandably, he would want to spend some time with Misty at the moment. Delia didn't want to ruin it. Plus she needed more time to sort things out with Giovanni. If only she knew where to start. "What was that back there? What was that... Charmander outburst all of a sudden?"

Giovanni grinned at hearing the nickname Delia used to call him. "I think that defines it pretty well," his acceptance of her return didn't make any more sense than her sudden return did. He had to make her believe he didn't suspect anything yet, which may involve keeping her occupied thinking of other things.

"But I... you..." It made no sense, it just made no sense and Delia didn't know what to say about it. She told herself over and over not to get her hopes up for a happy ending. Things like that did not happen outside of movies. She frowned thinking that maybe he was just amusing himself with her, enjoying watching her confusion. "Are you..." she paused, unable to continue.

Giovanni couldn't help it but to laugh slightly at her reaction. He couldn't deny he was enjoying it. He let go of her hand instead wrapping his arm around her waist, "maybe if you eat something you'll remember how to speak."

Delia could do nothing more than nod. She hoped that by the time they made it to wherever Giovanni was leading her, her perplexed brain recovered at least a little.

To be Continued

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 045: Give me Romance

Brock, Ash and Misty walked through the crowded streets. Pikachu was once again riding on Ash's back and the rest of their pokemon were resting in their pokeballs. As soon as they were away from Giovanni and Delia, Brock was quick to express his worries. "Do you remember Mewtwo and the one who tried to capture him?"

"I remember Mewtwo, but not really the one trying to capture him," Ash was confused by the sudden question that didn't seem to be related to anything recent. "I was helping Mewtwo when he arrived and when I looked up I just saw Onix. Maybe he didn't see me either, but why do you ask?"

Misty had grown pale, her hand gripping Ash's tighter, "it has to be a coincidence. The man who was with Delia is the Viridian City gym leader," Misty also remembered that man who tried to capture Mewtwo. She saw the resemblance between him and the gym leader too. It was something that she realized subconsciously before Brock finally pointed it out and she became aware of it.

"What are you talking about?" Ash inquired with curiosity, "do they look alike or something? Well, I'm sure it's just a coincidence. The gym leader is the same man from mom's picture. They used to date," and therefore, he had to be a good man. "I want to ask her about it, but this is no time to be nosy. I'll give them some space and let them catch up. Besides, it would be nice if mom had someone to keep her company when I'm away. Viridian City is very close to Pallet Town, so visiting would be easy," Ash reasoned.

Misty and Brock nodded in understanding. Surely the gym leader's resemblance to Mewtwo's enemy of the past was purely a coincidence or maybe even their imagination. They would never know for sure unless they saw Giovanni wearing orange. Seeing him in black made him look like someone who wouldn't wear such a bright color.

It was only after his worries were calmed that Brock noticed the look of bliss on Ash and Misty's faces. Then the situation became more apparent when Pikachu jumped on his shoulder. "Did something happen?" He had been too worried before to notice the ring on Misty's finger, even when she waved at Delia.

Misty smiled from ear to ear, "I thought you'd never ask," she lifted her left hand to show her engagement ring.

Brock immediately understood, "congratulations!"

"I still haven't given Ash a proper answer. The explosion interrupted me," Misty recalled, still blissful nonetheless.

"In that case, you should do that now," Brock smiled, truly happy for his friends. He wished that he could experience that kind of happiness one day too. "Pikachu and I are going to get a snack, how about it, Pikachu?"

"Pika!" Pikachu nodded, he too was full of questions regarding Giovanni. Pikachu had been paying attention to the conversation and was puzzled. He remembered having met Giovanni some time ago, years after the Mewtwo incident.

xoxox xox xoxox

Jessie had thought James' idea was bad, "quality over quantity," she had argued. James had purchased a pair of cheap remote control robots with long arms culminating in robber covered hands. The robots did not posses a human shape or even a head. They were instead a pair of metal boxes with conveyor style wheels to help them move. They were about five feet tall with long arms, protected by rubber, though their bodies were not.

Jessie, James and Meowth appeared in front of the path Ash, Misty and Brock were taking across the Viridian forest. They began by reciting their motto as they always did and creating a commotion. James served as the decoy, sending his robot to capture Pikachu. He was ultimately sent flying after Pikachu short circuited the machine into exploding before he could be caught.

Jessie took advantage of the distraction and sent the second identical robot to capture Pikachu. The yellow electric pokemon was taken by surprise and captured by the robot. However, things did not go as planned. The robot began to malfunction by itself, even if Pikachu wasn't doing anything. It ultimately exploded and sent both Jessie and Pikachu blasting off, while Meowth was left behind.

Jessie was used to the rough landings and was able to recover quickly. In contrast, the explosion, aftershock, flying shards of the destroyed robot and the fall, affected Pikachu greatly. Jessie picked him up, he was conscious, but he was injured and his breathing was labored and pained. The yellow pokemon didn't have the strength to fight against his captor.

In her euphoria for having captured Pikachu, Jessie didn't even realize the critical state he was in. "James, Meowth, I have him!" She wasn't even wearing rubber gloves, but she couldn't think about that at the time. She only thought of finally handing Pikachu over to the boss.

James, who had landed in a tree near by, heard Jessie and rushed towards her. "We have him, we have him!" He jumped and cheered, "we finally captured Pikachu!"

"Shut up, don't jinx it!" Jessie scolded, she didn't know where Meowth was, but there was no time to wait for him. "We need to give Pikachu to the boss right away before something goes wrong." It was a good thing they were so close to headquarters, and they wasted no time in rushing there.

Giovanni was just returning to the Viridian headquarters after completing some business in the Johto region. He was entering the gym from the back door when Jessie and James arrived and cheerfully called out, "boss! Boss!" They felt bad about leaving Meowth out, but it was vital to hand over Pikachu before their good luck ran out.

"What do you two want?" Giovanni snapped; he was in no mood to deal with Jessie and James.

"We brought you a super strong pokemon!" Without even thinking that her boss wasn't equipped with rubber gloves or any sort of electric protection, Jessie placed Pikachu in his arms.

Giovanni never liked jokes and he knew no one was crazy enough to play a joke on him. He didn't have the best impression of Jessie and James. They had been competent at some point, but those times were long gone. He wasn't even sure why he put up with them anymore and decided that day that it was over. If that beat up barely conscious creature was their idea of a super strong pokemon, they were useless, "you're fired!"

Jessie and James stood in shock while Giovanni took his little black cell phone with a red R from his pocket. He was still holding Pikachu in his other arm while he called out a few Rocket grunts. He instructed the Rocket grunts to carry out the usual procedure when someone left Team Rocket. He watched as Jessie and James were dragged away.

Realizing that he was still holding the injured Pikachu, Giovanni examined the creature. He noticed the little yellow pokemon was glaring at him. Putting no importance in that detail, Giovanni decided that maybe that pokemon would be useful after all. He took a small clear vial from his pocket. It was a sample of a new healing potion that would be quite profitable when it hit the market. All the tests were complete and it worked perfectly with no side-effects. Giovanni wanted to see its fast effect in action one more time.

He took the vial's cap off and held Pikachu carefully, "drink this," he instructed gently, so as to not startle the creature, but with commanding authority.

Pikachu was dazed and barely conscious. His electricity felt as if it was completely gone at the moment and his body didn't respond when he wanted to move. His vision was blurry and it hurt to breathe. He had no choice but to swallow the salty liquid the human was giving him. The aftertaste beyond the salt was bitter and unpleasant, but the pain was starting to fade away. Pikachu felt strong again, he could breathe easily and his limbs were no longer limp with numbing pain. He shifted in the human's arms, looking up at him with puzzlement. If this was the Team Rocket boss, why would he heal him?

Satisfied with the test, Giovanni set the Pikachu down, he had no interest in keeping the seemingly weak pokemon. Leaving Pikachu standing in confusion, Giovanni proceeded to go inside the Viridian Gym. Persian paused before following his trainer and addressed Pikachu, taking note of his confusion. 'You're free to go,' Persian followed Giovanni inside and the door was closed behind them.

xoxox xox xoxox

After the perplexing event, Pikachu was reunited with Ash, who didn't let Meowth get away. Upon finding Pikachu, Ash finally released Meowth. The Rocket pokemon ran away immediately to avoid being sent blasting off. 

Meowth searched for Jessie and James, finally finding them as they exited the Viridian Gym wearing casual clothes. Meowth almost didn't recognize them. "I've been looking all over for you. It looks like Pikachu got away again; he's with the twerps now." Meowth examined their depressed expressions, "why do you look so sad and how come you're not wearing your uniforms?"

Jessie and James tearfully informed Meowth that they were fired and that all the final paperwork had been completed. Meowth exploded in depressed rage, scratching them and running away. He later rejoined the two humans to seek revenge. Then one day they decided to start anew after a good meal and an understanding talk from Ash's mother in Pallet Town.

xoxox xox xoxox

Time passed and once again it was morning in Viridian City. The previous night had been filled with celebrations, music and fireworks. Delia was just waking up and her head wasn't any clearer than it was the previous day. She knew she wouldn't be able to figure things out any time soon. She examined the unfamiliar ceiling before remembering where she was and her confusion hit her harder, "what am I going to do?"

She got up and went to take a shower in the bathroom attached to the Viridian Gym's guest room. The room was rather elegant. The carpet was so thick that her bare feet sunk into it and she didn't even bother putting on her shoes when she got out of bed. It was that same deep red color as the sheets and pillows, there were at least a dozen pillows varying in size. From the biggest being almost as long as she was tall, to the smallest being a little square less than a foot long.

The walls were a very pale gray that looked almost white by the contrast of the deep shades of red. But it was not white enough to stand out and take any attention away from the dark colored furniture. The bed was large enough to fit three or four people with an intricately carved backrest in swirling shapes on the black wood. It was as if it had been crafted from an imaginary tangible material which composed the black holes of outer space. The two nightstands on either side of the bed, the desk in the corner, the chairs and various pieces of furniture in the room matched the bed.

There was a large mirror in front of the bed, three feet tall and five feet wide. Delia found out by accident that it was not a normal mirror. That was a fact Delia discovered the previous night after insisting that she needed some alone time and kicked Giovanni out of his own guestroom. She locked the door to ensure his lack of intrusion, not that it worked.

She intended to lie in bed sorting through her thoughts, but the lack of concentration made her observe the various aspects of the room like a detective searching for hidden clues in a crime scene. She spotted a remote control on the night stand to her right and picked it up, examining the multitude of colorful buttons it possessed. She experimented with the buttons, learning by trial and error how to control the room's temperature and lights. The lights could be set to a variety of intensities and colors. It was an unnecessary luxury in her opinion, but that didn't make it any less amusing.

As Delia played with the lights and the purple faded into darkness, her finger slipped and pressed another button. She was suddenly face to face with a masked man armed with a bloody knife and couldn't help it but to scream.

Giovanni entered the room, turning the lights on as he rushed in to find Delia rolling around the bed in a fit of laughter. "What happened? Why did you yell?" The 3D TV was on, having less of an effect in the bright light, though it still showed the vicious killer finishing off his latest victim. "Where you yelling because of this movie and is that the same reason you're laughing?"

Delia composed herself and nodded, she should have known a simple lock wouldn't keep Giovanni out. "Yes, I didn't realize it was a TV at first, then suddenly there's some murderous masked man trying to stab me. When the scene changed it made it look as if the room was haunted. That would have been nice, but then I realized it was just a TV hidden in the mirror."

Giovanni had forgotten Delia's liking for haunted places. Yet Ash was the one who ended up finding ghosts now and then. Some should have been haunting Giovanni, due to Team Rocket's actions. The topic reminded Delia that Giovanni also had a liking for such things. More so than simple curiosity, it was because he wanted to know what kind of power lurked behind the illusions and how to obtain it. "Maybe I should stay here and keep you company so you don't hurt yourself with everyday household appliances like a naive country girl." 

She could have argued that particular kind of TV was not an everyday household appliance for everyone, but there were other more pressing matters in her mind. Delia didn't know when Giovanni sat down on the bed beside her. She didn't know when he wrapped his arms around her. She didn't know when he got close enough to whisper in her ear. It all still felt unreal, but years of waiting for that moment and not obtaining it had build up her defenses, if only by a little. She wanted to laugh, call him Charmander like she used to and playfully scold him, not really meaning it. She felt a heavy sense of deja vu that drowned her and she liked it, which was all the more reason to push him away. "Stop it, I'm serious. I told you I needed some time by myself to think."

He gave her a quick kiss and got up, "you really need to stop denying yourself what you want." She wanted to throw the nearest blunt object at him for telling her the exact same thing he had told her long ago. As if her deja vu and confusion wasn't overwhelming already. At least he didn't intrude in her requested privacy again for the rest of the night.

xoxox xox xoxox

After her morning shower, Delia threw on a bathrobe tying the band around her waist and wrapping a towel on her damp hair that matched the color of the sheets. She exited the bathroom and opened the closet. It was full of clothes, clearly new, which must have been hastily purchased by that Rocket girl she saw when Giovanni led her to the room. 

When he convinced her to spend the night over at the gym, he made a call to have the guest room prepared. Delia had insisted that she would only stay if she got her own room. As they arrived, a girl with cyan colored hair and green eyes, that Delia was certain she had seen before, was exiting the room. "Everything is ready, boss!" She chirped cheerfully, her voice was particularly melodious. 

The girl left soon after, before Delia could inquire about her identity. "Isn't she a famous singer? Akira?"

Giovanni didn't seem to place too much importance in the fact, "members of Team Rocket can do what they want in their free time, as long as it doesn't interfere with their duties."

Delia had found it all too puzzling. Why would a famous singer want to be a part of Team Rocket? Furthermore, why would she still remain as a famous artist even after it became well known that her concerts were most likely Team Rocket traps? Perhaps the added danger contributed to the rebellious teen image she had since she was actually a teenager. Albeit those years had passed, she still looked like one.

xoxox xox xoxox

Delia felt guilty examining the price tags on the clothes that Akira must have hastily placed in the closet. At least the girl had good taste, despite her own attire outside of her uniform being very different from what Delia would wear. Sighing hopelessly, Delia frowned at the amount of clothes there were. It was as if Giovanni wanted the well supplied closet to send the message that she should be in no hurry to leave. Two could play that game.

If she was going to be there, she would make herself useful to the world by trying to pick up where she left off in her attempt to talk Giovanni into making Team Rocket an organization of good. Either he would get tired of her and send her away, or she would at least push him to the edge and make him explain why he was suddenly all over her. She knew she might not like the explanation, but she needed to know. Either way, first she had to call Ash so he wouldn't worry about her prolonged absence.

Unfortunately, Delia's cell phone had mysteriously vanished. She had a sinking suspicion that Giovanni took it from her pocket at some point when she attempted to continue conversing with him in a private living room area at the gym after dinner. It must have happened before she decided it was time to do something to protect her personal space. There was no phone in the guestroom or at least not in plain sight; unless some random piece of furniture was secretly a phone. Left without a choice, Delia went off to find Giovanni and ask to use a phone.

xoxox xox xoxox

Ash, Misty, Brock and Pikachu were in the Viridian Pokemon Center's lobby that morning. Brock didn't know where his friends went the previous night or at what time they got to the Pokemon Center. He assumed they stayed in the city and that their date lasted until late. Pikachu jumped on Ash's shoulder, greeting his happy trainer. Mutual "good morning"s were exchanged.

After the greetings, Ash curiously inquired, "did mom come back to the Pokemon Center last night?" The question was followed by a growl from his stomach, demanding breakfast.

"No, I haven't seen her since yesterday. I thought she might have called you," Brock voiced with concern.

Ash was surprised by the news, but not unpleasantly so. "She must have forgotten the time talking to Giovanni. They had a lot of catching up to do, I bet they enjoyed it," he smiled. As it often happens when children turn to adults and the time to officially leave home approaches, Ash also worried about leaving his mother. In truth she had been practically living by herself since he left on his journey. Even so, he didn't want her to remain that way for the rest of her life.

Misty was about to comment, but before she could speak, Ash's loud but catchy ring tone filled the relative quiet of the Pokemon Center. The Viridian City Pokemon Center was nothing unusual, it had a nurse Joy managing it, white tiles on the floor, matching walls and a large front desk. Rows of plastic black seats with metal legs were available for people to rest and wait for their pokemon to be healed. Rows of PCs and video phones lined the walls and there was a plastic potted plant here and there.

Ash glanced at the number displayed on his cell phone realizing he did not recognize it. He answered it anyway, "hello?"

"Hi, it's me," she would feel odd saying that 'it's Delia' because when talking to Ash she would normally say 'it's mom'. She couldn't say that at the moment, Giovanni was still unaware that they had a son. Until she sorted out her life and where he stood in it, she thought it was best not to reveal too much. 

A part of Delia wanted to be happy that Giovanni had taken her out to dinner in a nice restaurant and they shared a long conversation about their past together. That part of her wanted to believe that everything was somehow fixed by some inexplicable miracle. She wanted to believe that he did care and that he was happy to have her back, though she had not officially mentioned anything about getting back together.

Another more realistic part of Delia screamed at her that she was only being used. She was just an old flame with no emotional value, merely there for amusement. That part told her she should leave before she got hurt and more so before Ash was hurt because of her actions. Yet she couldn't bring herself to heed the warning.

"Good morning! Where are you?" Ash recognized his mother's voice immediately, though there was something off about her tone. Was she nervous?

xoxox xox xoxox

With Giovanni listening in on the conversation, there was only so much Delia could say. She didn't want to hint that her young friends were actually their son, his fiance and his best man for the coming wedding. Ash had already told Delia about choosing Brock before he even proposed, though the date of the wedding had not yet been set.

"I'm at the Viridian City gym," Delia paused, watching as Comet, now in his Rocket uniform, entered the dinning room with their breakfast and set it on the table. She was right; the Rocket image did fit him. Despite his good boy face, the mischief in his eyes shone through. She nodded in silent thanks, watching as Comet smiled. 

Delia continued speaking into the little black cell phone with the red R, much like the one Comet had. The high tech cell phone was something Giovanni had given her. It was as if she was joining Team Rocket, though she was not. "I think I might be staying for a little while, so don't worry or anything."

She paused, watching as Giovanni got up from his seat across from her. He stood behind her and whispered in her ear, opposite to where she held the tiny cell phone, "stay forever." She gasped in surprise when he started kissing her neck, trying to get her to end her conversation with who he assumed to be the enemy. He still had some preparations to make before he was ready to ambush the anti-Rocket group. Delia would have plenty of time to talk to the mysterious Ash after she became his loyal double agent. 

xoxox xox xoxox

Ash couldn't make any sense out of the surprised gasp and following silence that came from his phone, "hello?"

"Stop that," Delia mentally kicked herself for letting a giggle escape, "I'm on the phone," there was another short silence, "yes, I'm still here. I'll be staying over for a while. I lost my cell phone so if you need anything call this number. I'll try to call you again later, bye."

"Okay, have a good time, bye," Ash stared at his cell phone before pressing the buttons to save the new number into its address book. "Is giggling good?"

Misty couldn't help it but to laugh at the question, "yes Ash, it's good." Meanwhile, Brock frowned and held back the need to cry because everyone was getting some love except him.

To be Continued

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 046: Give me Family

Delia wasn't sure what kind of bread it was, but it was fluffy. It was as if the food couldn't decide if it wanted to be bread, a pancake, a waffle or some kind of cake. The buttery substance in it also couldn't decide if it wanted to be butter, cheese, honey or some rare yellow-bronze sauce. As for Delia, she couldn't decide if she was awake or asleep if her thoughts had decided to attribute personification metaphors to her food. The point was that it was all delicious and seemed to adapt to whatever taste she wanted to feel out of the list of possibilities.

As for the muffins, she really couldn't decide if they were muffins, biscuits or creampuffs, or perhaps a combination of their best aspects. The filling, albeit delicious, was a complete mystery to Delia and she wanted to ask for the recipe, or to speak to the cook, but did not. She felt like a country girl who didn't know as much about cuisine as she thought she did. That was all the more reason to keep quiet, least her lack of expertise in the business she had dedicated the past years to made her feel more exposed than she already felt.

Going back to the bread, Delia knew for certain that the thin strip of meat in the middle, albeit akin to bacon, did not come from a Tauros. The taste simply didn't fit, it had a delectable taste, but the taste was too soft to be Tauros. She also decided not to ask about what it was.

"You look like you have a lot on your mind," Giovanni broke the silence that had invaded the elegant dinning room. He had taken his seat, temporarily ceasing the 'Charmander moment' at Delia's insistence.

"Of course I do," ironically, instead of thinking about the multitude of things she should be analyzing, Delia was studying the food. She picked up her cup and drank as if to buy herself more time. The juice was deep red like something that a vampire would be presented drinking in a movie pretending it was blood. The strong yet pleasant aroma reminded her of grapes, apples and raspberries all at once, it tasted sweet and good. She allowed herself another moment of distraction observing the paintings that lined the white walls.

The frames were a polished and sparkling gold, which she knew must have been real. Even with its shine, the beauty contained in the paintings didn't pale. The paintings were so majestic that any other frame not made of pure gold, would offend them. Delia almost expected the pokemon in them to come to life when she looked at them.

A Gyarados towered in the middle of the sea surrounded by a storm. The clouds were so detailed it almost look as if they would shift with the wind any second. The illumination of lightning overtook the horizon and if someone looked at the painting long enough, they would expect to hear the sound of thunder. The Gyarados looked to the sky with a determined expression, challenging the storm. At the same time, the mighty pokemon appeared to long for the end of the storm in the horizon, where a faint hint of calm could be seen.

Another painting on the wall depicted a Persian laying on a brown rock surrounded by a grassy field of lush green. It was as if the canvas held the texture of the grass and fur rather than that of paint on the material. It looked as if the soft pleasant breeze would blow the grass gently and the Persian would welcome it as a relief to the heat of the sun. The hunter was satisfied; the Persian's expression had a clear mark of victory. The pokemon was resting after a successful battle, inhabiting his territory proudly, as if no one could ever defy him.

"Delia," Giovanni's voice got Delia out of her thoughts again. She looked at him for a long moment before coming to a choice.

She wouldn't go in mental circles anymore; she would let things flow as she did in the past. She would do whatever she felt like doing at the time. If she got herself into trouble, she would get out of it. If she got hurt, she would recover and if she felt Giovanni should never know about Ash, she would keep the secret. Until Giovanni and everything else around her began to make a shred of sense, she would just go with the flow and follow her instincts. "How about you give me a tour after breakfast?"

xoxox xox xoxox

That same morning in the Viridian Rocket base, Laiki was having a fit. She was out of her goody-goody nurse disguise, as she called it, and once again wearing her own version of the Team Rocket uniform. It consisted of a black shirt, lacking buttons or a zipper, instead folded as a kimono or yukata would be. It had a red R, though it was in the back. The shirt was held closed by a thick white band around her waist, tied into a bow on the back. 

She wore short black gloves that reached only up to her wrists, a black mini skirt and white boots. Her hair had bangs falling on her forehead and long green locks framing her face on both sides, trailing down to her mid back. The rest of her hair was blond and only reached down to her shoulders.

She had an attractive figure that made heads turn and had no qualms about using it to her advantage. Something that never seemed to change about Laiki was her love for gossip. "Do you know what I heard?" She threw her arms in the air as Comet entered the Team Rocket medical facilities below the Viridian Gym.

"What did you hear?" Purry, the Meowth, was riding on Comet's back since he was wearing his Team Rocket uniform instead of the ridiculous lime green suit from the previous day. His uniform was standard, consisting of a long sleeved black shirt with a red R on the chest, long black pants and matching white boots and gloves with a thin red line at the edge. He never liked wearing the hat, though his red hair stood out. He was carrying a folded up newspaper. 

Comet had known Laiki since he was a child and was used to her antics, regarding her as an older sister. He grew up in Team Rocket, learning from his father that he must always remain loyal no matter what. Raised on those beliefs, he would never betray Team Rocket, though he might consider doing things his own way if he firmly believed that it was for the good of Team Rocket and especially the boss. Lucky for him, he had never found himself faced with that kind of choice and followed his orders without question so far.

Laiki lowered her voice, as if keeping a secret from the pokemon that lay in various beds of different sizes. They were recovering from the previous day's commotion in the tunnels below the park. "I heard the boss was with a lady yesterday." Laiki eyed the pokemon, though none of them seemed to care about her revelation, they just lay still in their beds, their breathing being their only motion. 

White was the predominant color of the medical facilities and Laiki never liked it. She said it would be much more cost effective to get red sheets that didn't need to be replaced so often after being worn out by the strong detergent. White was hard to clean, not that it was her chore to do, but she felt sorry for whoever was on laundry duty dealing with bloody sheets. The tiles, the walls, the sheets, it was all white. The beds and various pieces of furniture had silver metal legs, though the surfaces were still white.

"We already knew that," Comet reminded, "Delia was here, remember?" The day Laiki forgot a piece of information about the life of any celebrity, and the boss counted as a celebrity for her, would be the day the world would surely end. "It was even in the newspaper."

"Lies!" Laiki squeaked, "I'm subscribed to a hundred and eight daily newsletters and they didn't mention anything about it, granted that I'm not done with all of them yet. Are you seriously telling me it's on the newspaper? Who would think to look for news on the newspaper?"

"Who indeed?" Comet sarcastically replied, though he understood that Laiki meant to say that the newspaper only had news she considered to be boring. "How do you get through so many newsletters a day anyway?"

Laiki pointed to the little black headphones resting on her neck united by a thin silver band, "I listen to them while I work. I just get them from my email with my phone and have it read them to me." Laiki looked towards the picture sitting in the corner of her desk framed in simple brown wood. "She was the one who told me about that trick, she loves technology and thinks reading is as outdated as paper."

The desk was cluttered with several gossip magazines, a blueberry granola bar lay on top of the tallest pile in the corner opposite to the picture. The photo showed Laiki and Comet along with another girl with blue hair and a Team Rocket uniform. Her uniform was the male version because she didn't like skirts and found the extra long gloves and boots to be uncomfortable, though she was more of a geek then a tomboy.

Comet almost expected Laiki to and ask if he still liked her. She was older than him, albeit not by much, but Laiki had heard her say she preferred older men. The girl had been Purry's previous trainer, though Comet still thought of her as Purry's true trainer. She had given him the Meowth because she thought Purry would prefer to be the pokemon of a higher ranked Rocket.

Laiki snatched away the newspaper from Comet, "the gym leader's inspirational speech, blah, blah, blah. The artistic splendor of the accurate replica of an ancient Roman coliseum, blah, blah, blah." She scanned through the paper, "Aha! Gym leader Giovanni and mayor Antilles were seen with a mysterious lady who was their guest at the tournament... where's the juicy stuff? It doesn't say anything about them being together."

Comet paused, realizing what Laiki was talking about. He decided not to mention he saw Giovanni and Delia not long ago while playing waiter during breakfast. He was still supposed to be on break, but there was too much going on for him to leave. At least his current tasks were easy, nothing complicated like his usual sneaky nocturnal missions. "I'll need the newspaper back, I have to deliver it." Comet took the newspaper and hastily headed for the door. He was not surprised that Purry jumped off his shoulders. The Meowth was madly in love with the boss' Persian, but would never let him see her, not until she evolved. Until then, she would only see him if she could stay hidden while watching him.

"Are you taking the newspaper to the boss?" Laiki called after him, "be observant!" She condensed a whole world into those two words. It was as if she was expecting Comet to magically obtain the whole story of the previous evening's happenings by just glancing at Giovanni's expression. Comet was only going to leave the paper in Giovanni's office, not hand it to him personally. He knew the boss would not appreciate being interrupted.

xoxox xox xoxox

After breakfast, Delia got a tour, but it was not of the remodeled Team Rocket headquarters. Giovanni instead took her to a mansion west and slightly north of Viridian City. The mansion was situated at the very edge of Kanto, bordering Johto, with Victory Road not too far away. There were so many trees around it, that it remained hidden and mysterious with a slightly dark atmosphere due to the massive trees blocking the sun.

The mansion had marble-like white walls with climbing deep green vines that had matching green leaves. In the daylight it looked like another painting. At night, it probably looked ominous, as if it were haunted. Delia would love to see it. The mansion had a triangular redish-brown roof and glass windows framed in gold.

The path that led to the mansion looked bumpy with its white and gray stones placed close to each other to form the road. In reality, it was only a visual illusion; the road was whole, solid and smooth. The gates, with ten feet tall bars culminating in sharp points, were a glossy black. They surrounded the mansion sitting atop three feet of thick black bricks at the base of the fence. 

The large gates opened as Giovanni pressed a button on his tiny black cell phone with the red R. Delia realized it must be programmed to be more than just a cell phone. She felt watched as Giovanni's expensive black car, no doubt equipped with missiles, made it past the gates. The driveway was long with a circle in front of the mansion and enough space for two more cars to drive by on either side. 

There was a majestic fountain made of pure white marble in the center of the drive way's circle in front of the mansion. In the middle of the fountain there stood an elaborated sculpture of a winged Rapidash. The flames of the mane and tail were carved in exquisite detail. The wings made of cold hard stone looked as if they would feel as soft feathers to the touch. If the statue wasn't a pure white shiny color and instead painted in the fiery shades of the pokemon, Delia might have thought that the winged Rapidash was real. 

She couldn't help it but to remember the Christmas ornament she had received from Giovanni's mother during her secret visit on a cold December years ago. Ash loved that winged Rapidash. He was unaware of where his mother had obtained it. After Christmas ended and the tree and decorations were put away, Ash asked to keep the winged Rapidash in his room. Delia had smiled and given it to him, it was still in Ash's room to the present day.

The sparkling water of the fountain was too blue to be natural; it must have been artificially colored. Delia imagined a little Ash running around the round fountain's edge despite being told not to. He would fall into the bright blue water and emerge soon after. He would splash towards the edge of the fountain, only to turn back and look at the winged Rapidash. Then the little boy would climb on the pokemon statue and dream he had caught a real winged Rapidash. Such things never happened and they never would.

Feeling her eyes water, Delia tried to focus on examining her surroundings to stay occupied. The car where she and Giovanni were, was not the only one in the large drive way. There was also a long black limousine, a red convertible and two sports cars, one silver and one orange. Though she felt as if she, Giovanni and the Persian on her lap were the only ones there, the shy presence of others existed.

There was someone polishing the red convertible and someone else tending to the bushes that lined the base of the mansion with dark red roses. They were not wearing Team Rocket uniforms and they were both very quiet. They blended in with the background, their gazes unfelt, even when they curiously looked at Delia. They didn't know her.

The mansion's large double doors were opened and Giovanni got out of the car. Delia was still staring at the scenery in amazement. She didn't snap out of her bittersweet dream until a deep voice rung out with a polite, "milady?" 

Delia noticed then that at some point the butler had exited the mansion. He had opened her car door while she sat there staring at the regal residence. She got out of the car, seeing that Giovanni was waiting for her a mere step ahead. Giovanni placed his arm around her waist leading her inside. She followed silently up the few steps that led to the golden double doors, which the formally dressed butler closed behind them. 

Delia tried to keep her imagination quiet, but whenever she saw an article of decoration inside the mansion she pictured a past that never was. Seeing the various pokemon sculptures she couldn't help it but to imagine her little Ash, their little Ash, climbing all over them. Then the imaginary little boy would run towards the line of paintings on the walls. He would point at them and loudly declare that he would catch those pokemon one day. That is if the boy would have had any time to run around while being prepared for his future in Team Rocket. Such thoughts made the imaginary boy disappear as Delia returned to reality.

Delia felt as if she was being escorted to meet the king and queen of a distant land. She didn't know how to behave in front of royalty and the slightest offense would bring forth a war. That was how she felt and it didn't go unnoticed by Giovanni, "you're so tense."

Delia looked at him wondering if there was a trace left of the Giovanni she used to know. She refused to believe that stubborn, unpredictable and wild man was gone. The man who ran around with a gang getting into mischief and causing trouble with somewhat noble side-effects couldn't have fully disappeared. "Can we go on a date today, to wherever I choose?"

Giovanni attributed Delia's tension to a feeling of guilt. The guilt was rooted on that she was working for the enemy, spying on him. Giovanni had no doubts about his theory. Her request was extremely suspicious, but he would pretend he didn't know anything about her secret plans, "of course, wherever you want."

Delia paused and thought about her request again, she wasn't sure where she wanted to go. "Before that, I want to see the rest of your pokemon, I've missed them. I want to help you take care of them like I used to."

Giovanni knew for certain Delia would never hurt innocent pokemon, although he wasn't gullible enough to hand over his newest pokemon to a spy. His pokemon varied over the years, he changed them around whenever he came across a stronger one. Even so, he still kept his pokemon from long ago. He would let her train them. Maybe it would bring her good memories and speed up the process of bringing her to his side.

xoxox xox xoxox

Delia got a tour of the mansion, minus the secret basements. After that, they went outside so Delia would have plenty of space to get reacquainted with the pokemon she had not seen in years. Giovanni watched as Delia showered his pokemon with attention. They were out in the backyard with the mansion casting a shadow on the space behind it. 

Golem, Machamp, Rhydon, Cloyster and Kingler were all there. They looked a little on edge at first, growling at Delia and backing away when they caught Giovanni's scolding look. It had been so long since they had received such close attention that they had all but forgotten what it felt like to truly be cared for. The only one that got any attention from Giovanni was Persian, who sat by his side as he observed Delia. Cloyster and Kingler were, ironically, the most reluctant to go near Delia.

"It seems that the bond between trainer and pokemon has faded, but it must still be there," little by little, the pokemon relaxed with Delia's gentle words and affections. "Giovanni, you haven't been giving them the attention they deserve," he should have expected her to say something like that. He didn't reply and she didn't really expect a reply.

His cell phone rang and he answered it uneager, while Delia continued tending to the pokemon, "what is it?"

The call was from Luke, who had been working in Johto, "dude, Giovanni, I like heard Delia was like back, man!"

Giovanni knew Comet would tell his father. The boy was loyal, having been raised in Team Rocket. He was a good agent, but there was no such a thing as the perfect Rocket agent. "Yes," Giovanni kept his reply simple, so as to not call Delia's attention to the conversation.

"Can I like talk to her, like please?" No matter how many years passed, Luke would forever keep the very same style of speech. It was carried over to his writing, much to Giovanni's annoyance when he had to read a report. Since it seemed that Luke was simply incapable of writing in any other way, Giovanni had someone 'translate' and summarize Luke's written rambles into a decent report before attempting to read it.

"Not now," It was not good to give Delia too many reminders of the past. She would have only the ones Giovanni selected. He didn't want her to think of anything unfortunate and reestablish her resolve to go through with her mission for the anti-Rocket group. The group's full details were still a mystery. Ash was a suspect of being a part of it and as a result those who accompanied him. 

There were traitors in Team Rocket being internally hunted, which caused the tension to run high in Viridian. The true extent of the group was still unknown. Giovanni needed Delia as his double agent for everything to progress swiftly and smoothly in Team Rocket's favor. He had to be sure of her loyalty before he sent her out on a mission.

"Like later?" Luke was satisfied enough with Giovanni's answer. He wasn't expecting to be allowed to talk to Delia at all; at least not so soon after her mysterious return. "Thanks, man! I like totally appreciate it, you know?"

"Just make sure you finish your work," Giovanni noticed that Delia was watching him from the corner of her eyes while she played with the pokemon. Persian had joined them as well. She spun around laughing along with Machamp, her hands in his, her long brown hair flowing in the breeze. It was like a cheesy scene from a fluffy movie. Thankfully, the pokemon controlled his strength and Delia wasn't sent flying when he let her go. She was left a little dizzy, but amused.

Delia stumbled dizzily towards Giovanni, still in a fit of laughter. "You really need to relax once in a while," she took his little cell phone and pressed the button to turn it off. She placed it in his hand again and he pocketed it, not really expecting any important calls anyway. The anti-Rocket group wouldn't strike so soon, not while they were waiting for Delia's report.

Giovanni took her hands, but instead of spinning around aimlessly, he pulled her towards him and kissed her. He stopped when he heard the mansion's backdoor opening a short while later. 

The butler exited the mansion to the backyard and shifted uncomfortably. He was regretful of having stumbled upon the scene and hoped that the boss wasn't too angry. The breeze blew, moving a single auburn hair out of place, the rest perfectly brushed back. His dark violet eyes remained fixed on Giovanni's shoes, even without looking, he knew the Rocket leader was glaring. "Sir, there is a call for you from agent Comet. He says it is important."

Comet must have been calling about something truly significant if he was being so insistent, after being unable to reach the deactivated cell phone. Without another word, Giovanni took the wireless phone the butler was holding with a bad feeling building up, "what happened?"

Comet's urgent voice came from the receiver, "there was a donation ceremony at the Vermilion City orphanage. It was sponsored by Bane Ackbar, CEO of Ackbar Inc." 

The company produced medical supplies of various types and was divided into two branches, for human and pokemon products. They made pain killers, anesthesia, medical lotions and several others things. The company purchased experimentation subjects from Team Rocket. They had been buying from Team Rocket for years and shared a strong business relation. In the public eye Ackbar Inc. was known for its charitable events for both pokemon and humans. 

"The ceremony was attacked in the name of Team Rocket; it's all in chaos at Vermilion City. Apparently Rockets just stormed in and started shooting left and right. Boss, this is big." Comet couldn't find the words to elaborate further. Team Rocket had not attacked its own ally, but it was made to look like they did.

Giovanni gripped the phone tightly; he wasn't expecting something like that. It was more extreme than what Han had done years ago. It was worse than the things that happened when little anti-Rocket groups emerged occasionally over the years. Perhaps the elusive Ash was smarter than he was given credit for. Delia wasn't a spy, she was a distraction. She was supposed to make Giovanni think that they would wait to gather more information before attacking. She was there to make him lower his guard thinking he still had time to prepare. He couldn't stand having someone a step ahead of him like that. 

Delia would never approve of such a ruthless attack on innocent lives. Giovanni knew she must have been unaware of the anti-Rocket group's plans. Most likely to the extent of her knowledge, she was nothing but an information gatherer. That didn't change the fact that she had served as a distraction that made him think the enemies were biding their time.

"Keep it under control, set the security to level red and start carrying out plan fourteen. I'll lead the operation from Viridian," Giovanni would need to command the mission in continuous communication with the field agents. He had to keep the damage to a minimum, make sure business with Ackbar Inc. was fixed, get rid of the police. He had to find a way to prove that this wasn't Team Rocket's doing or business would be affected.

Giovanni realized what they were trying to do. They wanted to strain Team Rocket's political and business relations and push the police into taking action. What was keeping the authorities at bay was that they feared the casualties that an all out war with Team Rocket would bring. Because of that, they would be fine as long as they operated behind the scenes. If those casualties were a reality either way, they would have no reason to hold back and no choice but to fight. Giovanni had many resources, but he knew they were not infinite and it wouldn't get him any closer to controlling the world if he wasted them. 

Taking over the world wasn't the hard part, maintaining control was. Giovanni knew that taking control of a territory by sheer power wouldn't work for too long. He thought it would work years ago, but realized that eventually it would all fall into a constant war that could hardly be called domination.

He would move in slowly. Making the economy of Kanto, Johto and other regions depend on Team Rocket to the point where they would collapse without it was important. He made that plan a reality in Kanto, Johto and the Orange Islands, with progress being steadily made in other regions. The recent event was terrible for business and it affected Team Rocket's underground image as well. What's the use of fearing an attack if the fear doesn't serve as a tool of survival? If the attack is inevitable without a cause, what's the use in trying to prevent it? Immediate action had to be taken.

To be Continued

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 047: Give me Support

Sometime in the future... The strong Charizard flapped his wings and gained altitude. "Give us some cover Pyro," his trainer instructed. The Charizard called Pyro let out a stream of white smoke; it had taken him a while to master creating smoke like that. It had taken the woman riding on him quite some time to reach her current level as well. The fire pokemon kept himself steady in the dark night sky. On his back he carried not only his trainer, but also Peachy, a Pikachu, a laptop computer and a small satellite dish. The dish communicated with the Rocket satellite in the atmosphere amplifying the signal from the computer. A Porygon-Z by the name of Prism was contained in the laptop.

The woman by the name of Millennia, more commonly known as Pixel, was wearing a slightly modified Team Rocket uniform which was more comfortable. The black pants went to her knees and her black boots had silver metal soles. The sleeves of her black shirt with a red R were also short. She wore black gloves with silver metal knuckles. She wasn't there to fight though; it wasn't her specialty, though she had learned the very basics of self defense given time to practice. Her fingers danced rapidly on the keyboard, her dark eyes focused on the screen as she worked together with the PorygonZ to hack into the building below.

The portable equipment could receive extra power from the Pikachu if needed. She adjusted the earpiece she wore as her blue ponytail blew in the wind. "Motion sensors deactivated; first level electronic locks open. You might run into some locks you'll have to pick the old way. Don't touch the fences, they are constantly electrified and they have no mechanism to deactivate them wirelessly."

"No problem; I'm going in," several feet below outside the tall fences, there was a man with red hair and blue eyes by the name of Comet. He stayed in the back of the building where the lights didn't reach him. "Go Rykros," he released the powerful bug pokemon from his pokeball and hopped on his back. "Let's go over the fence quickly." The Scyther flew over the fence, being able to carry his trainer easily after exercising with weights regularly. Comet hopped off on the other side and recalled his pokemon, "so far, so good."

"I'm in the camera system," Pixel's triumphant voice came from Comet's earpiece. She could see him outside in his standard Team Rocket uniform. Anyone else accessing the system saw nothing but a still empty image. "From your position, move twenty feet to the right, that will lead you to the least guarded hallway via a back door, if you can pick the lock."

"Watch me," Comet grinned, he dashed towards the aforementioned back door, dodging the circles of rotating lights. He stayed close to the wall as he moved in, "looks like a double lock, there's the lock on the doorknob and an electronic one."

"I'm not detecting it," Pixel replied, "it must be a highly isolated electronic lock. Plug me in," she grinned, even if her wireless didn't reach that lock at first, she would get to it anyway.

Comet took a small card from his utility belt. It was a plain black card with nothing but a red R to identify it. It looked like a regular card without a use beyond decoration, but it was in fact a wireless transmitter. He inserted the card into the keycard space and got to work on the door knob's lock with a few other tools.

Pixel watched as her computer screen changed when the lock became accessible. The card Comet inserted into it could unlock just about anything given the proper use. "Let's do this, Prism," the Porygon-Z on the screen looked eager, once again working with her trainer to unlock something else.

Comet heard the small number pad next to the keycard slot beep as numbers appeared on its tiny screen. "All done," he heard the click that indicated the door's physical lock was no longer an obstacle.

The final beep for the last digit was heard and the electronic lock was undone, "same here," Pixel voiced.

Comet proceeded inside, his footsteps speedy but inaudible. "You said the least guarded hallway," he whispered quietly.

"Yup," Pixel confirmed, "there is no unguarded route, but you don't sound disappointed. Whatever it is your thinking, you'll get your chance now, because there's a guard going your way. I bet you can't avoid him."

Comet grinned, "I'm up for a fight but I'll take that bet." He jumped and stretched out in the hallway. His hands and feet could barely reach the opposing walls left and right. He pushed on the walls staying close to the ceiling and slipped away right above the guard.

Pixel followed Comet's signal on the screen. "The elevator is coming up, occupied," she opened the door.

Comet hurried towards it and hopped down to the floor. He looked into the elevator shaft as the elevator box went up. He stepped onto it rather than jump, so that he could get on as quietly as possible.

"Your floor's coming up," Pixel watched the images on the building's security cameras, "it's too heavily guarded, a confrontation is inevitable."

The elevator shaft door opened. Though the elevator was destined for the last floor, Comet's target was in the second to last floor. He jumped out catching the first guard by surprise, his fist harshly colliding with the other man's face. The guard was knocked out on impact. The room in the middle of the floor was surrounded by a hallway that went all around it, constantly packed with guards.

"We have an intruder! Send backup!" Another guard desperately called. Only one intruder had been spotted so far, but the red R on his chest warned that even one could be plenty of trouble. Plus for all they knew, others may be waiting to attack. A swift kick relived the guard of his gun a split second after it was taken from its holster, before he could even aim.

"Ten of them; take them out. Back up won't be coming," as an extra gift, aside from blocking the enemy's radio contact, Pixel sent out a loud screeching noise to their ear pieces.

Comet noticed right away what it was when He saw his next opponents cringe suddenly losing their focus. "Hey Pix, don't forget I won our bet back there," Comet skillfully fought, taking out one opponent after another.

"It was just dumb luck," Pixel scoffed, though she knew it was a lie. This was only the beginning, but then again, it was always the beginning when the goals to reach were so high. Pixel grinned allowing the excitement of the mission to wash over her as she listened to the sounds of battle. In the past, she never imagined she would be able to go on such an important mission and actually be of assistance. She clearly remembered when the series of events that changed her started, it was right after the first time she met Delia.

xoxox xox xoxox

At Giovanni's mansion in the present time... Giovanni shoved the wireless phone back into the frightened butler's hands and recalled all his pokemon to their pokeballs. Delia was looking at him with a worried expression, "what happened?"

"Something came up," he led her inside the mansion hastily; she could still be useful, "I want you to stay here."

"I want to go with you!" She refused to be left out, but knew the argument was useless. She had just returned, Giovanni didn't trust her and she still didn't understand his behavior towards her. She wasn't sure what he could be trying to accomplish, but she wanted to find out. She followed him as he headed up to the forth floor of the mansion.

The glass elevator opened and they both exited. Giovanni opened a door with Delia still following him closely, "stay here."

Delia frowned, "no, I want to go with you!" She insisted urgently.

"You've caused enough trouble already," Giovanni didn't have any more time to waste. He shoved Delia into the guestroom and closed the door. The electronic lock beeped in response to the keycard and numbers entered in the little pad next to the door.

"Giovanni!" Delia screamed at the top of her lungs. She tightened her fists and pounded on the polished wood door. "Open this door! You can't keep me locked up in here!" There was no response. She knew that he was gone and that no one from the mansion's staff would let her out. She twisted the door knob helplessly. She hit the door until her hands hurt and shouted until burned. Then her tears silenced her.

Delia didn't understand, one second Giovanni was being suspiciously nice to her and the next he was locking her up. If only she knew what thoughts were going through his head. If only she knew what that sudden phone call was about.

Delia sobbed and closed her eyes tightly. She turned around and pressed her back against the door. She slid down the glossy black wood and sat on the floor. The carpet was soft and thick, a dark shade of red. It was the same color as the bed sheets and pillows, but those were lined with gold. The bed was very large, enough to fit three people with eight pillows piled on it.

The walk-in closet was empty, its double doors matching the black wood of the door, with golden handles to match the door knob. The golden lined glass window was closed, the golden curtains motionless at its side, untouched by the light breeze outside. There was a big screen plasma TV and a desk. On the desk there was a fancy black pen decorated with a green leaf and a golden lined white notepad with a faded green leaf watermark in the center. The leaves were similar to the earth badge.

One of the walls was lined with shelves filled with various books, mostly about pokemon and a few fictional stories. The books looked as if they had never been opened, very different from Delia's copy of Mysteries of the Earth. That book was on the coffee table of Delia's living room in her little Pallet town house, its cover worn. Delia had read Mysteries of the Earth so many times she had the book practically memorized, with the most interesting passages highlighted in yellow. She would read over every page endlessly and imagine what event brought each discovery.

"Um... excuse me," Delia looked up at the quiet voice, realizing that she was not alone in the room. She didn't know for how long the Rocket had been standing there waiting to be noticed. The girl's hair was dark blue and her eyes were such a dark brown they looked black contrasting with her white skin. She was wearing a Team Rocket uniform, though it looked like the style males usually wore. It included long black pants, a long sleeved black shirt with a red R and short white gloves and boots lined in red. Her hair was in a ponytail, it was perhaps mid back length, though the end of the ponytail only reached her shoulders. Her bangs covered her forehead and looked longer than they were due to her posture with her head lowered to look at Delia sitting on the floor.

Delia stood up and smoothed out the folds of her sky blue dress out of habit. She tugged her long brown hair behind her ear, revealing three small diamonds cascading from her earrings. She shifted her weight from one foot to another, as if looking for little things to do to buy more time to compose herself. "Did Giovanni assign you to guard me?" Delia wondered if he had planned to lock her up all along. It had looked as if it was done in the rush of the moment after that mysterious call.

"Not really, I was just changing a lightbulb," the girl tilted her head towards a door that led to an adjacent bathroom. Shiny white tiles were the only things visible from the door's slightly open position.

Delia sighed; it didn't look like the girl knew what was going on. "Can you open this door?"

The girl looked at the door with uncertainty, as if imagining what the boss would say if she opened it. At the same she was wondering if the card and code she had would work. "If the boss locked it then we're trapped," she finally replied after some thought. She decided it was best not to further annoy Giovanni. It was bad enough that she had gotten herself trapped along with his guest, simply because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Delia wasn't sure she believed the girl, but at least she still had her little cell phone. Upon trying to call Giovanni to demand to be set free, she found that the device had been deactivated. She looked around the room, her gaze pausing on a lamp on one of the black nightstands beside the bed. She couldn't help it but to think of Ash and hoped she could escape soon. She wanted to be out of trouble before Ash realized that her absence without communication was too long to be caused by forgetfulness or distraction. Even when Ash traveled he still spoke to his mother over the phone often.

The lamp reminded Delia of Ash because she knew he would really like it. It was shaped as a Charizard of glass with the light bulb hidden in a massive breath of fire coming from its mouth. She continued scanning the room until she spotted a glossy red phone on the desk. She picked up the receiver hopefully and let out a breath of exasperation. The line was dead; they must have blocked it from outside.

Delia's next idea was a desperate one; she walked towards the window and found that it was unlocked. She pulled the golden lined glass open and felt the soft breeze of the escape route. "You're not thinking about climbing down with the vines, are you?" The Rocket girl inquired with worry, "those vines aren't strong enough to hold a person. You'll fall for sure!"

"I'll take my chances," Delia looked down; she would be seriously injured if she fell from there. She was in the forth floor, but felt as if she was much higher up when she thought about falling.

The girl let out a breath of relief, seeing Delia stepping away from the window. A short moment of silence passed and her cell phone suddenly rang. It was the catchy tune of one of Akira's songs, a fast paced mix of pop and punk rock.

Delia snapped into attention, "your phone."

"Even if you call someone they won't open the door," the girl tried to persuade Delia out of trying to steal the cell phone. She took it out of her pocket and watched Delia guardedly. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's Laiki, where are you?" The voice came from the cell phone, unheard by Delia.

"Hi! I'm at the boss' place and I think I'll probably have to stay here for a while," the girl replied, curious about her friend's urgent tone.

"Okay, I just called to warn you," Laiki hastily continued, she sounded stressed and frustrated, "after the false Rockets attacked Vermilion City the cops started poking around the Viridian Gym. The press has the boss cornered denying the suspicions that he's a Team Rocket supporter. It's best if you don't come back for a while. I have to go, don't try calling HQ or anyone."

The call was hastily ended before the blue haired girl could inquire further. Delia was watching her intently, pressuring her with her eyes to talk. If the press was involved, she reasoned that the event was no secret. "False Rockets attacked Vermilion City."

Delia's eyes widened, "false Rockets?" Her voice was shaky. She walked over to the bed and sat down. "What happened?"

"I don't know, but the press is all over the place in Viridian City," the girl replied with growing worry.

Upon hearing that, Delia looked around the room for the TV's remote control. She spotted it on the night stand on the other side of the bed, opposite to the one with the Charizard lamp. She the TV and one of Akira's music videos came on. The singer showed off the potency of her voice as she danced on a stage with abundant blue and purple lights. She was wearing a black leather mini skirt, a bright pink strapless top, white platform boots, yellow star earrings and a pink chocker with a yellow star on it. The tight outfit left little to the imagination.

Delia changed the channel quickly until she found the news. On the screen she saw Giovanni. He was angry, she could tell, but it was perfectly hidden behind a mask of sorrowful concern. Delia listened as he played the part of the good gym leader. He was denying all involvement with Team Rocket and expressing his sadness and indignation concerning the recent Vermilion City catastrophe.

After Giovanni's forced press conference ended, the reporters where left with mayor Antilles to defend himself of similar accusations. Delia kept watching the TV in a trance. She occasionally changed the channels from one news program to another, seeking a full report about the events that occurred in Vermilion City so that she could better understand them.

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, Ash and Misty were in route four, heading towards Cerulean City. "Chu, chu!" Pikachu cried in pain while Misty cuddled him on her lap, trying to console him.

Ash made a sad face, his eyes were watery and his lower lip was puckered. "Please officer Jenny, please let us get to the Cerulean City Pokemon Center," he begged, "my poor Pikachu is on the verge of death!"

The blue haired woman looked at the little yellow pokemon with compassion. "I'll lead you there," she offered hurriedly. Without even waiting for a reply, she ran back to her police car.

"Wait, officer, I understand you're busy, you really don't have to!" It was too late, Jenny was determined and nothing Ash said could change her mind.

"Follow me!" Jenny called out before starting up her white and blue car. She was ready to dash down the road at full speed.

Ash's little indigo car was pulled over on the side of the road after he had been caught speeding. Ash and Misty had spent the previous night at Pewter City in Brock's pokemon breeding center. One of his siblings took care of it while he was gone. Unaware of the happenings at Vermilion City or Delia's predicament, Ash and Misty made their way to Cerulean City. Misty wanted to personally give her sisters the news of her engagement.

"How lucky, we get a police and everything," Misty commented sarcastically. Ash sped down the road following Jenny, who was clearing the way for him. The siren on top of her car was blaring with the blue lights rotating like a lighthouse. Misty's eyes screamed the phrase, 'I told you so,' referring to when she quietly warned Ash that his hasty plan would backfire.

"Aw c'mon, I've never gotten a ticket in my entire life and I don't want to change that now," Ash defended, his eyes focused on the road.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you don't speed all the time," Misty continued. She wasn't really bothered by it, she sounded teasing.

"Everyone gets into a little mischief now and then," Ash grinned.

Pikachu laughed and hopped on the dashboard. He was enjoying the speed of the ride. He wasn't feeling ill at all, let alone on the verge of death as Ash so dramatically told Jenny. The officer ahead came to a sudden stop at an intersection and Ash slammed his foot on the breaks. It caused Pikachu to fall backwards, though he was thankfully caught by Misty. She held him securely the rest of the way. Jenny continued after a few seconds' pause, with Ash following.

A short while later, the little indigo car stopped in front of the Cerulean City Pokemon Center behind the police car. "We're here, hurry inside!" Jenny urged. She looked like all the other Jennys, wearing the same police uniform, with the same hairstyle and the same face. Only the symbol on her hat was different.

Ash and Misty wasted no time rushing into the Pokemon Center. They hoped that Pikachu's act was good enough to at least convince nurse Joy to take him to the back for an examination. The Pokemon Center looked identical to any other with it's white tiles, white walls, tall ceiling, plastic chairs, video phones and PCs. Seeing that Jenny was still following them, Ash continued his act, "nurse Joy, we have an emergency, Pikachu is dying!"

"Chu!" Pikachu let out an ear splitting wail. It made all those present cringe, especially Misty who was still cradling him.

"That poor dear!" Nurse Joy exclaimed; she looked like all the other Joys with a light pink dress and a white apron over it. She had pink hair, a nurse cap and the same face as the others. "He sounds like he's in a lot of pain," she gently picked up Pikachu from Misty's arms and took him to the back where she laid him on a bed.

Ash and Misty followed Joy, but they were not the only ones, a concern Jenny was there as well. Ash didn't know how to make her leave without sounding like a horrible ingrate.

"Chu... chu..." Pikachu's breathing was heavy, his expression contorted in pain, "chu!" He wailed again.

"Chansey, chansey," the pink nurse pokemon tried to console her patient and calm him to no avail.

"Oh dear, if this is what I think it is," nurse Joy's expression became more serious and worried, "I might have to operate, but I-"

Pikachu's eyes widened upon hearing about an operation, "pikachu!" He let out a massive amount of electricity that made Chansey faint and knocked Ash, Misty, Joy and Jenny to the floor in pain.

The humans struggled to get up, with Ash being the first to recover, followed by Misty. The couple helped the other two women to their feet. "As I was saying, I need to conduct some tests to make sure it's not just a build up of excess electricity," Joy finished in a daze.

The medical tests showed that Pikachu was perfectly healthy. In fact he was one of the healthiest pokemon Joy had come across in a long time. Thus it was concluded that the cause for his pain was indeed a build up of excess electricity, which he had already let out on them.

"It looks like everything turned out alright in the end," officer Jenny breathed in relief. She was honestly glad that Pikachu was not in any serious danger after all.

"I'm sorry about the commotion," Ash apologized, "I really thought Pikachu was in mortal danger, thanks for helping us get here. Even if it wasn't serious, I'll still think of this day as the day when the noble officer Jenny saved Pikachu's life." Ash hoped he was still off the hook for his ticket.

Jenny smiled proudly, "I'm just doing my duty! Speaking of which, I have to get back to work now," with a look of satisfaction, the officer finally left.

After the detour at the Pokemon Center, Ash and Misty headed to the Cerulean City gym. Ash parked the car in front of it and they both got out. Pikachu was riding on Ash's shoulder as Misty cheerfully rushed in to call her sisters. "Daisy! Violet! Lily!" There was no reply at first, until Misty called their names again, even louder.

Lily's voice answered, "in the living room," with a tense tone. Ash and Misty hurried to their location. The living room of the home and gym of the Waterflower family had predominant shades of blue. The couch was a deep ocean blue, the carpet a light cerulean blue, the walls a pale sky blue. Seashell ornaments could be seen throughout the room.

Daisy was nowhere to be found; perhaps she had gone out with her fiance. Her wedding would be in just a couple of weeks. Misty felt ignored because Violet and Lily were paying more attention to the TV than to her. She was also confused by Lily's tone. They saw a familiar image on screen, "that's the Viridian City mayor," Misty observed.

The report was just ending and neither Ash nor Misty caught enough of it to understand what it was about. "Were they talking about the pokemon tournament?" Ash curiously inquired.

Violet shook her head, "no," she got up with a worried expression, "I'm going," she began to walk away, but Lily stopped her.

"Isn't it better if you like stay here?" The pink haired Waterflower sister insisted. Lily was the second youngest next to Misty, but often felt as if she was the youngest, since Misty was away traveling most of the time.

"Kenobi is probably feeling terrible, he like hasn't even called me!" Violet fumed, though her expression soon changed to worry, "he's having a family crisis with the press hounding his poor father like that. Did you know he has a heart condition? My future father in law," never mind that they weren't engaged yet, "will be like driven to the grave if they don't give him some room to breathe. I'm sure Kenobi is upset about this whole thing. How dare they link his family and their friend, the Viridian gym leader, to Team Rocket? They are like not only offending Viridian City and the Antilles family, but also gym leaders everywhere!"

Misty remembered that Violet had said something about dating the son of a mayor, though she hadn't been paying too much attention to her sister's love high ramblings. Violet had been saying too much, too fast, with a lot of it being gibberish, so Misty didn't quite catch the details about her sister's boyfriend.

Refusing to allow anyone to stop her, Violet rushed out, determined to go to Viridian City. Lily sighed in resignation, allowing herself to fall back into the couch. She turned off the TV, where the normal programming had resumed after the news bulletin. "This is a disaster," she grimaced, throwing her head back on the soft blue backrest and closing her eyes.

Misty sat down beside her sister with a serious expression. Ash took a seat next to his fiance, with Pikachu now on his lap. "Will you please explain what in the world is going on?" The youngest Waterflower insisted impatiently. Her sisters' behavior alarmed her. Misty had a feeling that they were not just being overly dramatic.

To be Continued

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 048: Give me Allies

Lily, Misty, Ash and Pikachu sat at the Cerulean City gym's living room, with the last three still lost in confusion. Lily took a deep breath and tried to organize her thoughts. "You like know about Vermilion, right?"

"Wrong," Misty was as puzzled as ever. If anything happened in Vermilion City she was completely unaware of it. "Wait," she paused, her expression thoughtful. Misty remembered Violet mentioning Viridian City and it was the Viridian mayor who was on TV, "Vermilion or Viridian?" She inquired wondering if her sister had gotten the names mixed up. Either way, Misty still didn't know what could be happening in Viridian or Vermilion that was alarming, other than the destroyed stadium.

"Vermilion, the attack was in Vermilion, but they like got Viridian involved too," Lily dramatized with worry.

Misty frowned, her alarm growing, "what attack? Where is Daisy? What's going on?"

Though he was usually the most impatient of the two, Ash placed his hand on Misty's shoulder to calm her. The announcement of their engagement was far from their minds at the time. "Start from the beginning," he encouraged Lily to tell them the full story.

Lily nodded and began her explanation, her expression grave, "you know Daisy's fiance, Lando Ackbar, is the son of Bane Ackbar of Ackbar Inc."

Misty nodded; Daisy's wedding date was near. Misty's dress was already prepared for her to step into her role as a bridesmaid. She still had to drag Ash shopping for an appropriate tuxedo, he kept procrastinating. She knew Daisy intended to go all out in her wedding.

Lily continued with her face unchanged, "earlier today, Lando's father was like being honored for a donation his company was making to an orphanage in Vermilion City. Lando was there watching and so was Daisy. She called and said she wasn't injured but Lando and Bane were; she said she would call again later. I like tried to call her again but she has her phone off. At least no other attacks were reported on the news," realizing her audience was still confused, Lily elaborated, "Team Rocket attacked during the donation ceremony and like a lot of people were injured, some were even like... killed."

"Killed?" Misty gasped, "that's what the news said? That people were killed?" She paled in absolute shock. Team Rocket had never done anything so extreme before, at least not publicly.

"That's impossible!" It was quite possible and Ash knew it, but he refused to believe it. "Team Rocket are thieves, not murderers. I would believe it if you said they took prisoners. Injuring people and kidnapping for ransom is something I can picture them doing, but killing?"

"Daisy told me about it," Lily snapped, "and it was on the news!"

Misty sat in silent shock while Ash let the revelation sink in with frustration. "What about Viridian City? What about the gym leader?" Ash remembered that Violet mentioned him. His mother was still at Viridian with Giovanni as far as Ash knew.

"They say that Giovanni, the Viridian gym leader and Rune Antilles, mayor of Viridian City, secretly support Team Rocket. Rune is Kenobi's father so Violet was worried about them. The press is like all over them all of a sudden, it makes no sense!" Lily scowled in frustration.

Outside of the public eye, it was known that Giovanni was with Team Rocket and it was also known that a direct confrontation was a bad idea. The pressure of the press was retaliation for the Vermilion attack. They hoped that Team Rocket would go back to keeping a low profile and larger casualties could be avoided.

"Of course it doesn't!" Ash got defensive, while Misty was lost in thought. Usually a son would be a little more hesitant to accept his mother dating someone who was not his father. However, in Ash's case he didn't feel that Giovanni was replacing anyone because his father had never been around. He went straight to the phase of acceptance and even welcomed the gym leader's presence.

"Ash," Misty's voice was barely above a whisper, "do you remember what Brock said? The gym leader did look a lot like-"

"No way!" Ash interrupted, "that's just a coincidence, they're accusing him falsely. There's no way he's evil, my mother knew him, she's known him since before I was born. Besides, he's the gym leader. You heard him at the tournament; you saw how much people admired him. He tried to be so generous to me when he offered to battle at the gym and.... and Persian! Persian is to Giovanni as Pikachu is to me. I can't doubt him any more than I can doubt myself."

Misty took a deep breath and let it out slowly, she knew there was no arguing with Ash when he got defensive like that. "His resemblance to that man might have gotten him into trouble... or maybe it's something else entirely. It could be political pressure. Maybe Antilles' opposing candidate is trying to use the Vermilion City crisis to his advantage. The gym leader is caught in the middle because he's the mayor's friend."

Ash's frown deepened, "that's a dirty trick!" He couldn't believe it, using a tragic event that happened clear across the region to stain the reputation of the Viridian City mayor and his friends. He was upset beyond words and he could imagine his mother was upset as well. "I'm calling mom," Ash announced, taking his cell phone from his pocket, but he was unable to reach Delia. "It says the unit is deactivated, maybe the battery ran out."

Lily got up suddenly, "I'm going to find Daisy."

"You can't just rush into Vermilion City," Misty stopped her, jumping to her feet and blocking her sister's path.

"I can't leave her!" Lily insisted, her voice rising.

"I'll go find her, you should wait here," Misty marched out with a steady pace, followed by Ash.

"I'm going too, Team Rocket has really crossed the line this time," Ash insisted.

"I'm going alone if you like don't want me with you," Lily was determined to find her older sister. Daisy had taken care of her more than her parents. Seeing her determination, Ash and Misty had to agree to take Lily with them.

xoxox xox xoxox

At Giovanni's mansion, Delia grew tired of flipping through the channels. The TV returned to its normal programming and the few scattered news bulletins that came on were only repetitions of what she already knew. She reminded herself that the recent catastrophe was not truly the work of Team Rocket. What happened was not ordered by Giovanni, but the thought of his retaliation worried her.

"How long will it take to stop this false Rocket group?" Delia didn't expect to receive an informative answer as she turned off the TV.

"I don't know," the Rocket girl who was trapped with her in the room replied. If she had not been distracted by her curiosity looking out the window at the lady that was with the boss, she would have left before she ended up trapped with said lady. She would have been on break and gone straight to Cerulean City to a video game convention. She wouldn't have been caught in the following series of events.

"What's your name?" Delia asked, feeling odd that she had been trapped with that girl for so long without knowing as much as her name.

"Huh?" The girl was taken by surprise. She paused, as if replaying the question in her mind since it was so unexpected. "Millennia, but my friends call me Pixel," it was a nickname she received due to her love of video games and technology. 

"My name is Delia, let's be friends, so I'll call you Pixel," Delia was trapped and there was nothing she could do about it, that reality had sunk in. 

"I can't let you out," Pixel reminded as she took a seat next to Delia on the large bed.

"I know," Delia paused and a heavy silence hung in the air for a few seconds, she didn't like it. Maybe if she talked to someone, the only person available, the seconds wouldn't drag on so slowly. 

Ash was probably at Cerulean City celebrating his engagement to Misty with her sisters. Delia knew Misty would want to tell them about it in person right away. The visit to Cerulean City would probably be similar to past visits. Ash would have a story to tell about how Daisy, Violet and Lily dragged him and Misty on a shopping spree and drove him insane making him try on clothes he would never wear. They would get a lot of clothes for themselves and make Ash carry the bags. At the end of the day Misty would apologize for her family's antics and give Ash a kiss for having survived so bravely. 

"Why did you join Team Rocket?" Delia finally broke the silence once more.

Pixel was quiet, blending into the background like Leah used to do. Her eyes held a stubbornness that had not been present on Leah's submissive gaze. "I like it, it's the best job I could have."

"Team Rocket is a criminal organization," Delia pointed out.

"Team Rocket is strong; the police won't come after us. Besides, I haven't gotten myself into trouble, unless you count this," Pixel tried to stay as positive as she could in the situation.

"Will you tell me the story?" Delia desperately needed to keep her mind busy or she would continuously think of the worse.

"If you really want to hear it... I used to live at Cinnabar Island, but I never fit in. I was the indoor geek in a town of beach loving people. Things improved when I started to attend college in Fuchsia City. I started working with Team Rocket a couple of days after I graduated. I didn't like living at home, dad was overprotective and mother was... totally crazy.  She was panicky all the time because of an experience she had back when I was a year old. My parents both worked at a local hotel and I stayed at the hotel's childcare." 

Pixel continued, "There was an act of terrorism on a nearby volcano, which caused a fire at the hotel. Dad went to make sure all the guests knew they had to leave immediately while mother went to get me. The babysitter had already taken the children to safety, but mother was apparently too panicked to realize that. She inhaled too much smoke and passed out. Dad got her out of there and she recovered, physically at least. She got on my nerves badly and I didn't want to go back to Cinnabar Island. They were looking for..." hackers, "office personnel to work for Team Rocket. Since I was in the computer field, I was offered a job. I wasn't at the top of my class, but I had pretty good grades and was at least in the top ten."

A rush of memories returned to Delia, "was that volcano called Princess by any chance?"

"Yeah," Pixel confirmed, "I guess it must have been all over the news back then."

"Was there no other way?" Delia asked softly. It was all too ironic. Han's act of terrorism against Team Rocket affected Pixel's parents. They overwhelmed her with exaggerated concerns, which caused her to become fed up with their dramatic emotions, thus growing a little detached from her own. Finally, she escaped from the suffocating household by joining Team Rocket. They offered her a place to live and she wanted to be independent as soon as possible. She signed up and had been living at the Viridian headquarters since then.

"How did you end up working at the mansion?" Delia encouraged the conversation to continue despite her own mixed emotions about the situation.

"I... failed at my old job," Pixel decided to leave it at that. As a student she was good, she took advanced tests and summer classes so she graduated early. When she got to Team Rocket, she was at the bottom. There were many people who were more skilled than her. It made her realize how little she could learn from the outside world. She did a lot of training, both physical and academic. She wasn't used to exercising so it wasn't easy. She got to class exhausted from the exercise and her brain was hardly functional in that state. 

She managed to hold her own for a while thanks to Prism, her Porygon. Team Rocket gave Porygon to all the members of the software department. She wanted to finish the classes quickly so she tried to take the final exams early. She was good at tests as a student, so she thought she would somehow pass. The tests were actually hacking exercises in a controlled environment. They weren't really hacking, just practicing within the training Rocket server. She had to pass the test without Prism, whom she relied on so far, and lacked the skills to do so. 

"Then you ended up here?" Delia guessed.

"Not right away," She had lost her confidence. In her current state Pixel was a super geek in comparison to a normal person, but even with all her knowledge she was at the bottom in comparison to the experienced tech Rockets. "I was drained from the busy schedule." She left her old life to have more freedom, but didn't have any time to herself. "I requested to be transferred..." to the hardware department, thinking that would be easier. The transfer was denied and she instead ended up as a supplier. The Porygon she had borrowed was taken away as soon as she left the software department.  Basically, she was a delivery girl who took supplies to the field agents. Another Rocket supplier, Mondo, gave her some training.

"How did that job go?" Delia was aware that Pixel was only scratching the surface of the story, not wanting to reveal too much.

"I thought it was alright, but I guess it wasn't." She was late too many times due to being unused to traveling. Because of that, she was demoted to agent by commission. She didn't have a stable salary; she was paid depending on what pokemon she brought in. "I never had any pokemon of my own, so capturing pokemon was not possible, or rather, too difficult."

"You mean stealing?" There was a distinct difference between catching pokemon and stealing them. It was something Delia couldn't help it but to point out.

"I didn't even try that, I was worried I would get caught. Capturing wild pokemon is allowed, Team Rocket isn't just about stealing." Pixel left it at that, not wanting to mention too much about the business side of Team Rocket.

"I know," the thought brought bitter memories to Delia, "there are also scientists conducting experiments." Pixel didn't know the true meaning behind Delia's words.

After her demotion, Pixel had hit rock bottom. One night she was broke and didn't want to go back to headquarters. She knew they would ask her to pay for her room. They couldn't take it out of her paycheck because she hadn't earned anything that month. The room was cheap, but Pixel's account was at zero. She wandered around the streets of Pewter City and someone tried to rob her. 

The only things she had were her cell phone and computer, which she was allowed to keep after leaving the software department. The laptop was a glossy black with a red R on top. It was about four inches tall, six inches wide and only an inch thick. It was a lucky seven model. It had a seven gigahertz central processing unit, seven gigabytes of random access memory, a hard drive with seven terabytes of space, seven USB ports and a rocket port.

Pixel knew she couldn't allow some strange man to steal her equipment. She prepared for a fight she knew she couldn't win. Out of nowhere, a Meowth came and gave that masked man quite a beating. Pixel wanted to thank her, but the Meowth was unfriendly and Pixel ended up running away. Looking back on it, it was stupid to walk into an alley in Pewter City. She was used to the safety of Viridian City. Despite being surrounded by a thick forest and having plenty of dark alleys, only Rockets were allowed to challenge the law. There were severe punishments for non-Rockets that broke the law within the city's borders or in the forest. It was ironically a relatively safe place to live as long as Team Rocket remained unprovoked. 

Pixel made it to the Viridian park late into the night. She didn't want to go to the Pokemon Center since she was wearing her Rocket uniform, but she couldn't get any clothes from her room at headquarters. She sat under a tree and thought about sleeping there, then she saw that Meowth again. She followed Pixel and she wanted to pick a fight, which Pixel talked her out of. 

"I met a strong Meowth one night and tried to talk to her. Of course she only answered with 'meowth' and I didn't understand her, but I think she understood me. I wasn't experienced with pokemon, so I wasn't sure what to expect," Pixel admitted. "We somehow reached an understanding and she ended up as my pokemon, even if she preferred to stay out of her pokeball most of the time. She would battle for me for our mutual benefit. I would give her food shelter and find opponents for her to fight and I caught pokemon with her help." 

Pixel had returned to HQ that night after all. She borrowed some money from her friend Laiki to get by while she put her plan into action. She set out for Saffron City the next day. After getting to Saffron City everything fell into place. There was a group there that hosted secret pokemon battles where people made bets. They were not affiliated with Team Rocket, but they were not enemies. The battles were harsh, not something the official league would approve of. Purry, the Meowth, was eager to participate. 

"There's this wild Rattata that keeps getting away from me. I named him Speedy because he's so quick to run away. That was how I first ended up working at the mansion. A friend," Laiki, "told me that the mansion staff needed a trainer for something and I came. When I got to the mansion I was told that my mission was to defeat a Rattata that snuck in and they couldn't get rid of. Peachy ended up scaring him off. After that I ended up coming here to do different jobs now and then," Pixel explained.

"I didn't come here just to change a lightbulb," the blue haired girl continued, "that was something I was randomly asked to do. I was here for something else," to go over the security system and make sure the electronic locks and alarms were in working order, just in case. "So, who exactly are you and what is your position with the boss?" Pixel asked curiously.

"I'm no one famous, I have a little restaurant in Pallet Town, I'm usually always there." Delia paused unsure of how to phrase the next part, "I've known Giovanni for a long time... we used to date years ago."

"Really? So you're his ex who is or was getting back together with him?" Pixel knew Laiki would love to hear about something like that, but the Rocket gossip expert probably already knew. 

xoxox xox xoxox

Ash, Misty and Lily arrived at Vermilion City. The streets were flooded with police officers keeping a close eye on the people coming and going through the streets, even if not many people were out at the time. Lily had been trying over and over to call Daisy during the entire drive, but her cell phone remained off. She decided to check on Violet, whom she thought had gone to Viridian City. 

Violet answered her cell phone after just a few seconds, "Lily?"

"I'm like so glad you answered, I haven't been able to talk to Daisy yet," Lily spoke with worry. "How are things in Viridian City?"

"I don't know," Violet quietly admitted, "I like wanted to call sooner, don't be mad at me. I'm not in Viridian City; I'm in the Vermilion City hospital with Daisy. Mr. Ackbar passed away from his injuries; he was like shot during the donation ceremony. He was alive when he got to the hospital but he didn't make it..." Violet started crying again, Bane Ackbar's son, Lando, who was Daisy's fiance, had taken his father's death hard. He was thirsty for justice. He was upset, Daisy was upset and when Violet arrived, she cried with them more than she could comfort them.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Lily screamed into her little pink cell phone with tears forming in her eyes, which alarmed Misty.

"What is it? What happened? What's wrong?" Misty urged, tempted to snatch away the cell phone if her sister didn't answer quickly.

"Violet is in the Vermilion City hospital, she like came to find Daisy instead of going to Viridian City!" Lily informed, with a mix of anger at being excluded, relief to know Daisy and Violet were alright and sadness for the loss. Every hint of color was drained from Misty's face, imagining that Violet was injured and Daisy was missing or hurt as well. "Violet is alright," Lily clarified, seeing Misty's face, "Daisy is like okay too, but Mr. Ackbar, Lando's father, passed away."

As Misty and Ash took everything in, Lily listened to Violet on the phone, "Lando got hurt, but he's not in danger. He like took a bullet on the shoulder protecting Daisy, but the doctors say he should be able to fully recover in time." Violet's explanation was hurried and mixed with sobs.

"We're here," Ash hastily announced as he found a parking space at the Vermilion City hospital. The building stood tall, painted plain white, with many glass windows on each floor. Ash was on edge with everything that was going on, the recent update which revealed a death, only made him feel worse. 

"Violet, we're like going into the hospital right now," Lily told her sister on the phone, "yes, we're here, what room are you in?" There was a short pause, "okay," then Lily hung up. "Violet says she'll come get us, they're like not allowing anyone in Lando's room without his permission, he doesn't want to deal with the press right now."

They quietly hurried across the hospital's large waiting room. The tiles and walls were white, matching the rows of chairs. "Excuse me, you can't bring pokemon in here, this is a human hospital, put it in a pokeball."

Pikachu protested and glared at the nurse. Before Ash could say anything, Violet called out to them, "Lily, Misty, Ash!"

"Violet!" Lily dashed towards her sister and hugged her, as if they haven't seen each other in years. Violet returned the emotion. 

"You are friends of the Ackbar family?" The nurse inquired, not really needing an answer. "I'm sorry, please go on."

The group hurried to the elevator and Violet led Lily, Misty and Ash to Lando's room. In his room, Lando was going on endlessly about how much he hated Team Rocket. He was light headed from the pain killers and his speech was blurry.

"Daisy!" Lily shared a similar emotional reunion with her oldest sister as she had with Violet, hugging her. The three women stood together hugging each other until Misty joined in as well.

"What happened?" Misty took note of the white band around Daisy's head. There was a little white pillow attached to it on the back.

Daisy touched the little pillow that made contact with the back of her head, "it's like an ice-pack." Her eyes were red from crying and her voice was still shaky. "When Lando jumped in front of me and pushed me down I like hit my head on the floor, but if he hadn't done that..." Daisy became silent; she had never been so close in her life to having a bullet go through her head.

Misty watched as Lando lay in bed rambling about what he would do to get back at Team Rocket. "Thank you for protecting Daisy," Misty felt her own tears start to come out and felt Ash put his arm around her shoulders and pull her close. Pikachu, who was on his back, patted Misty's head gently.

Lando's half-conscious speech continued until he finally declared, "I can't get vengeance on an empty stomach, but I'm supposed to stay here for a while longer. Oh father, rest in peace I will avenge you! Where's my cell phone, I'm calling that restaurant we like and ordering something." His violet eyes remained unfocused and his pale platinum hair was a bit messy.

"They deliver?" Daisy finally let go of Violet and Lily, she kept her arms around her sisters' shoulders even after their group hug had ended.

"They do not, but I'll have someone pick up the food," Lando resolved. "That," he pointed at the clear bag beside the bed, feeding nutrients into his veins, "is not food," his speech was slurred due to the leftover anesthesia from when the bullet was removed from his shoulder and the pain killers in his system. He was still surprisingly talkative, even if most of his speech consisted of repetition and gibberish. His drunken tone was a big contrast to his normally polite and educated clear speech.

"Maybe you should ask the doctors first," Misty suggested.

"What are you saying? If we leave it up to the doctors they'll like starve my poor darling!" Daisy cried, still in a highly emotional state. "This man saved my life today and he will get to eat whatever he wants," she looked at Ash, "and you will bring it."

"Me?" Ash paused and decided not to protest, "alright, just tell me where to go."

Misty sighed hopelessly, it's not like food could do much harm anyway. Lando was already on the phone with his favorite restaurant, telling them to have his order ready. "I thank you for volunteering," he had overheard that Ash would be the delivery boy, "the restaurant is called Squisito, it's on the east of the city, near the coast, you can't miss it. When Team Rocket is destroyed, I'm taking everyone out to dinner there. Let's all eat together here for now, what should I order for you?" He made several suggestions in a different language, none of which Ash understood.

"Whichever tastes the best," Ash replied unsure.

"Great choice, I am having that as well!" Lando laughed for no reason other than his pain killer high and spoke on the phone again in that foreign language. He paused to tell Ash, "you should be on your way; they will have things ready when you get there."

"Right," Ash nodded awkwardly and glanced at Misty before exiting the immaculate white room, heading for the elevator.

xoxox xox xoxox

After going down ten floors and across the large waiting room, Ash exited the Vermilion hospital. He was followed by a reporter and her cameraman. They were in the waiting room hoping to have a word with Lando as soon as the heir to Ackbar Inc. tried to leave. Though they insisted, the hospital staff wouldn't let them visit his room. 

"Wait! You're Ash aren't you? The young reporter, Allana, had platinum hair and golden eyes like her father, though her facial features were identical to her mother, Ameda. "A good news reporter has to stay informed. Since it looks like Mr. Ackbar isn't coming out, the Viridian mayor and gym leader's alleged support of Team Rocket is just as much news as anything. Will you comment? I mean, you did win the tournament, but you didn't battle the gym leader, is there a reason for that?" 

Normally, Allana wasn't so well informed, but the Viridian tournament had been set to be recorded and the rights to broadcast it had been purchased by the station where she and her parents worked. The arrangements were made before the tournament even took place. Allana was participating in the final edit of the program, narrating the events of the tournament and providing comments to go with the images. She still hadn't done that, but she received a basic summary of how things went and saw a few video clips.  

Ash looked at the reporter suspiciously, "what do you mean by that?" He pouted and snatched away the microphone. Allana excitedly signaled for the man with the camera to start filming. Ash looked at the camera and took a deep breath, "everyone, I Ash Ketchum, Indigo League Champion, hereby assure that the Viridian City gym leader, Giovanni, is not with Team Rocket. Stop throwing false accusations! Oh and don't pick on the mayor either." Ash handed the microphone back to the reporter and went on his way, "I have food to deliver, so I have to go now."

Allana didn't follow Ash, his declaration was plenty of material to work with, "thanks!" Grinning from ear to ear, she took her little golden cell phone from the pocket of her loud magenta suit. "Daddy, I have news!" She squealed into the phone. 

Her father, the producer for the station's news programs encouraged her to continue, "what is it sweetie? Did you interview the young Mr. Ackbar?"

"No, he's still up in his hospital room and won't come out. I spoke to Ash Ketchum, he won the Indigo League championship two years ago and won against last year's champion at the Viridian City tournament," Allana's voice continued rising in pitch as she went on, "he says people should stop accusing the gym leader and the mayor!" 

The news wasn't particularly shocking or controversial; a lot of people still had faith in the gym leader. Nonetheless, Giovanni's alleged involvement with Team Rocket was becoming big news and if it was proven to be true, the drama would extend to Ash thanks to his statement. If that happened, that report could be gold. "Let's prepare the report for the airwaves immediately!" The producer decided.

To be Continued

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