Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 068: Give me Companions

Giovanni's orange sports car moved away from Pallet Town. "What's my mission?" Delia interrupted the silence. She had been expecting Giovanni to mention it on the way, but he had been quiet and plotting so far.

"Your mission?" Giovanni knew that Delia was aware that he would ask her to do something. He didn't expect her to address the matter so directly and business-like.

"What is it that you want me to do? You were patient today and I know Ash enjoyed your visit," Delia voiced sincerely. "I know he's looking forward to your return. Since you were nice to him today, I'll do something for you. I don't mind if it's for Ash's sake. Go ahead, say it directly."

"Since you asked," she was still the same Delia. She was still thinking of others before herself. Yet there was something different in the way she spoke to him, so bluntly. She appeared to have become less idealistic in his presence. Giovanni wasn't sure he liked it. Her new direct attitude would at least make things flow easier and faster. "Binks has not been himself lately. He's quite a genius; his true ability began to show after he was able to work with other scientists. I could tell his skill had increased after his antidote project with Professor Oak. Then he had a chance to work with other knowledgeable scientists on New Island and learn from them.  The New Island Laboratory was ultimately destroyed in an accident." 

The headquarters Mewtwo built for himself were later destroyed by the clone himself. He didn't want to leave any clues about his existence. The records of the experiment were kept on New Island, thus they were destroyed when Mewtwo initially broke out of the lab.

Giovanni went over Binks' story. They had briefly spoken about it when they were in the ruins of the old Team Rocket hideout. "By then Binks had gathered a lot of knowledge from his experiences working with various well known scientists. The problem is that for all those years he had been suffering from periodic attacks of schizophrenia. He was usually not violent, but he couldn't be trusted to stay in control of delicate experiments. Most of the time he just rambled and didn't react when someone tried to talk to him. Sometimes he would cry, others he would yell. He never quite got over Aayla's disappearance and presumed death." It was a lot of information to take in. Giovanni needed to know if Delia could truly handle it.

During the past few days, Delia had become mentally prepared. She nodded silently and paused. She would have to speak steadily if Giovanni was going to continue trusting her to handle such revelations. "Go on, this happened long ago, I... understand." That was not the proper word at all. Delia simply wanted to communicate that she could handle it. There were questions that would probably remain unanswered forever. The most logical answers she could guess were not pleasant. Her voice came out very formal and serious. She held her emotions back so strongly she almost sounded cold. She didn't mean for it to come out that way.

Giovanni noticed that Delia was trying hard to stay in control of her emotions. The passing of time must have made that possible. "What I want you to do is talk to Binks. He's been helpful over the years," Giovanni admitted. He had no use in denying the reason for his interest in Binks' condition. Delia would guess the truth anyway. "Lately, his condition has been worse than ever. He has trouble recognizing people. When too many people are with him at once he hyperventilates. He can't work with a team of scientists anymore, but he's been making some interesting discoveries on his own."

Delia felt sorry for Binks, but she didn't voice it. "What can I do for him? Will he even know who I am?"

"He might," Giovanni considered, "the one who's easiest for him to remember is his sister Laiki. From what I was told, Binks' mother had passed away when he was very young. His father later remarried and Laiki was born. Then both her parents passed away in an accident when she was young. Binks was the primary candidate to assume her custody. That's how she ended up in Team Rocket. She became a pokemon nurse mostly learning on the job. Most of the time, his sister is the only one Binks can remember. Even so, there are times when he can recognize other people. During those times he makes his best discoveries. The peculiar thing about those times is that he speaks as if it was the past. He talks about the epidemic as if it only recently ended. He talks about Aayla and Leah as if they were alive. He thinks Luke and I are the same as in that time. He has asked about you too. He's wondering why you won't visit."

The realization overcame Delia. She was prepared to do something illegal, but not something that went against her human values. "He's not going to get any better if we lie to him!"

"Delia, don't you think I've tried to make him better?" Giovanni sounded truthful. It was a real truthfulness rather than an acted one and Delia could tell the difference. "I've had several doctors try to help him, but it's not working. He's one step away from permanently losing his mind. The only time he's conscious is when he's living in the past. I know it's a lie, but he has nothing more left. I can show you his medical papers. You can even speak to the psychologist who treats him. You don't have to take my word for it."

"I believe you," Delia stated. Her mind was racing. Her voice didn't come out neutral that time. She was truly pained for Binks. "It's merciful cruelty."

"I won't deny that," Giovanni admitted. "It's better than having him go crazy. He can at least be a little happy this way. Laiki is aware of the situation and agrees." His expression was serious, "Delia, this is a very delicate situation. If you're not absolutely certain you can handle it, don't try. If you break down in front of Binks he could be lost forever. He has lost consciousness in the past after looking at the truth too directly. If he doesn't go insane, he might end up in a coma."

The weight of the responsibility felt very heavy on Delia's shoulders. "If I can't put up a good enough act, I could basically kill him?" Not kill but close enough. Binks could be doomed to never again be himself or to sleep without waking up. 

"That's a possibility," Giovanni was completely serious about it. "It's vital to play along with what he says."

Delia had to take a moment to let it all sink in. She didn't expect the situation to be that serious. She thought she was prepared but it was all too intense. "It's been so many years. Can he really believe the past is now?" Delia feared that Binks would take one look at her and just drop unconscious. She couldn't forgive herself if that happened.

"Don't worry, you haven't changed," it could be seen as a compliment, but in the current situation, neither cared to notice. "Laiki used to be a little girl in the time period Binks relives. She's a little older than Ash now and Binks doesn't have any problems with that."

Delia sighed deeply, "I admit I wasn't prepared for this, but I will help. I'll be careful and I'll need to be well informed. I'm doing this for Binks, not so you can use him." She made sure to specify.

"I know," Giovanni expected as much. "There's something else you should know. Remember how you used to phrase things in a certain way to get me to agree?" 

Delia didn't like the sound of that. Was her position worse than she thought? Was it about Binks? "Blackmail?" She questioned suddenly, with a more aggressive tone than Giovanni could ever expect from her. "It's not going to work, if worse comes to worse I'll tell Ash the truth myself. I don't fear Team Rocket."

Giovanni was taken aback; he would never imagine Delia would speak to him like that. "That's not what I meant," he quickly amended. "I only intended to explain why this is in your best interest and in Kanto's." He couldn't give her a full explanation because he didn't know it himself. He reanalyzed his decision to trust her. It was foolish to still believe in Delia like that. He held all the cards, he had Team Rocket, he had power and influence. Yet somehow, Delia had always managed to come out on top of seemingly impossible situations. Despite her normally forgiving nature, sweet demeanor and gentle attitude, she was not someone to be taken lightly. 

Delia stopped the motions of her hands petting Persian. Her eyes were focused on Giovanni while he looked at the road ahead. "Yes I know; Kanto is your hostage. Actually, not just Kanto, I'm aware of that. It still won't work, Ash is more important to me." She paused in silent reflection before continuing. "It's ironic; in the past I could never understand how you were willing to sacrifice everything for your goals. I thought it was selfish, I wondered where your conscious had gone. Yet here I am, saying that I'll let Kanto fall if it's to keep Ash safe. I guess I can understand extreme priorities after all. Of course, I would rather not allow that to happen." Since the night of the battle against the Tempest leaders Delia had been preparing herself to deal with Giovanni. If he wanted something from her, he would have to earn it.

Giovanni let a moment of silence pass before speaking again. He decided not to go back to the subject at hand just yet. Instead he admitted, "you took me by surprise. I have no intentions of blackmailing you, but I see you've become more cautious." She made no comment and he continued, "can I at least trust your secrecy given that I keep my word about Ash?"

"Of course!" Delia energetically assured. "I'm not going to ask for the impossible." Many thoughts were conjured on her last sentence. There were things that Giovanni would do and things he wasn't willing to give up. She understood that far better than ever.

Giovanni decided to continue with what he was going to say, though he spoke in secrecy. "We believe Poisona's true plan was put in motion before our battle. Bollux and Solo will be handed over to the police; Poisona is being kept for interrogation. I can't tell you much else, because I don't know." There were several details that he skipped over. "Let's just say that we have acquired a strange substance that we think is related to Poisona's true plans. Our clues are few right now, but if the substance is analyzed, maybe we can find a lead. For all we know Kanto could be sinking further into danger as we speak. We need a clue as to what exactly has been set in motion."

"Binks is good at that sort of thing," Delia finished, catching on to where Giovanni was going with his explanation. "I remember Professor Oak mentioning what an amazing researcher Binks had been when they worked on the antidote. It seems he has the ability to absorb the knowledge used by others very quickly."

"Exactly," Giovanni confirmed. "Even if his mind frame is in the past, his later knowledge somehow remains. I can't really explain it, that's just the way he is. If it's for the sake of both Binks and Kanto, will you help?"

"Alright," Delia agreed. "I will not risk Binks' health," she firmly assured. "You'll have to hear me out; I'll have questions and opinions for everything. You'll have to at least listen. Don't assume I'll help with something without first discussing it with me in detail. You can't count on me that much anymore." This wasn't like her and Delia felt a little guilty being so harsh. She told herself that she was entitled to it and stayed firm.

"Fair enough," it was all that Giovanni could realistically expect. He noticed then that his trust and expectations for Delia had not been truly logical. Maybe she wised up and stopped being an idealist, or perhaps a small part of him could be a little idealistic about certain things at times.

The rest of the drive to Viridian City went by in silence. Tension seemed to once more build up between Giovanni and Delia. It was a different tension than before. This time the atmosphere was more than resentment and wariness, it carried guarded thoughts and defensive looks.

When they arrived at Viridian City, a multitude of panicked voices greeted them. Bollux and Solo had been handed to the police as soon as a rookie came by. He had been instructed to wait for Jenny and the others before proceeding. His only real mission was to assure the mayor that the police was on their way. Rune was serving as a sort of mediator between the mafia and the police, it was best not to question the arrangement. 

Jenny had another situation to take care of due to a catastrophic car accident. The event was completely coincidental and unrelated to Team Rocket. Archer wanted to get rid of them as soon as possible so as to not raise the suspicions of the citizens. 

Bollux and Solo had been pushed into the back of the police car. The windows were dark enough so that they couldn't be seen. The nervous rookie didn't know how good they were at emergency escapes. It wasn't long before he realized that he failed to properly lock one of the doors in the back. It was a grave mistake.

Bollux and Solo jumped out of the moving car with their hand still cuffed behind their backs. Jenny's motorcycle zoomed past Giovanni's car. The orange sports car had just reentered the main street from one of the smaller streets he took to avoid the traffic jam on the main street. The officer's rush and the people's yelling made it obvious there was something going on.

Seconds after Jenny hurried past them, three police cars followed, zooming by in the lane next to Giovanni. With the way his luck was going that day, Giovanni could only assume that it would get worse. He hurried after the police cars that parked ahead blocking the road. With no way to get past them, Giovanni parked his car on the side of the street and got off.

Delia was quick to follow him, observing their location. The store where the car of her kidnappers crashed was almost fully repaired very quickly. She didn't bother asking Giovanni about what was going on, he didn't seem to know. She followed him towards the panic where people couldn't decide if they wanted to run for cover or stay and watch. The two handcuffed men made their get away while the rookie chased after them on foot. It was impossible to move in the police car with all those curious people in the way.

The chase was joined by Jenny and the other officers as they tried to hurry after the two men. Giovanni and Delia made their way through the crowds hastily. Solo got lost in the multitude; he was quite a speedy runner. Bollux was a tad slower and took off in a different direction, desperate to get away. Bollux was confused and panicked in his rush to escape. People jumped aside, afraid to get too close to the criminal. They opened a path for him then stood watching him run, while gossiping about the event. They were inadvertently helping him get away.

Jenny and her Arcanine were in pursuit of Solo, while Bollux had the unfortunate luck to find Giovanni in his path. That was all he could take, Giovanni could not hold down his anger any longer. Before Bollux had time to panic and change course, Giovanni delivered a solid punch to his face. Bollux fell several feet back with the momentum he carried. He lay motionless but alive on the street with a broken nose.

The officers were quick to reach Bollux. They pulled him to his feet and took him away to a police car. They didn't dare to question the fierce looking gym leader. The curious people who had stopped to watch began to clap. In their eyes, their good gym leader was a hero.

Delia wasn't sure what to say about the entire event. It all happened very quickly. "Let's go," Giovanni placed his arm around her shoulders, leading her away from the multitude. She decided not to make a scene and allowed him to walk with her like that until they returned to his car. Persian closely followed them back.

xoxox xox xoxox

At the Viridian Rocket Headquarters, Laiki and Pixel were putting the finishing touches on their report about Mirta's journal. They had received a call from Archer telling them to have it ready immediately. Laiki read over it one last time. "It looks like it's ready. Figuring this out was like a riddle, you have a good eye for logic and word games," Laiki commended.

"So do you," Pixel smiled, "at first I thought it would be lame, but it was actually kind of fun," she admitted. "Shall we send it in?"

"Yeah, this is good to go," Laiki emailed the report to Archer. She stretched and leaned back in her chair. "It feels like the calm before the storm all over again," she commented.

"Maybe," Pixel would rather not go through the exhausting chaos of a traitor hunt again any time soon. She wanted to continue her technological studies and hacking training in peace until she was ready to take on important missions. "Whatever's going on, it shouldn't affect Team Rocket like before," she hoped not.

"I don't think so. The executives seem concerned. The boss has a lot on his mind, I imagine. Anyway, whatever this is, I'm pretty sure we can handle it." Laiki let out a relaxed breath and watched what Pixel's pokemon were doing around the medical facility. 

Peachy, the Pikachu, was taking a nap on one of the beds after having devoured a large meal. Her table matters were surprisingly good, except for the part about her disregard for portions. She could eat more than one would expect a Pikachu to consume. She slumbered peacefully, her right ear twitching slightly in her sleep. She had a blue bow on her left ear.

Pyro, the Charmander, was sitting on Laiki's lap, his head resting on her chest. He loved being held, petted and cuddled by girls. Be it pokemon or human, Pyro had a very Brock-like personality. He was a happy pokemon since he had a female trainer to battle with him and a female nurse to take care of him. Plus he was currently the only male pokemon on Pixel's team. His only complaint was that Pixel never let him sleep on her bed because she feared his tail would set the sheets on fire. Every night he was put in his pokeball, even if Peachy and Purry were allowed to sleep on Pixel's bed. Peachy, similar to her trainer, slept like a rock. Even if she was tossed around and unconsciously used as a pillow, she wouldn't wake up. Purry preferred to sleep on a pillow on the floor or with Comet, since Pixel moved around too much and kept waking her up. Both Pixel and Purry had grown used to Peachy's soft, "chu" snores.

While Peachy napped and Pyro cuddled Laiki, Purry occupied herself with a book. She didn't know how to read the human language. It didn't matter; she was only looking at the pictures anyway. She had tried to tell herself that the boss' Persian was out of her reach. She had not even exchanged a single word with him. She wanted to evolve into a beautiful Persian. She was strong enough, but her fear that the evolution wouldn't make her pretty enough, stopped it from happening. If evolution didn't turn her into a refined creature that could fit into his world, all her hopes would be lost. It was a lot to face. She didn't want to stress about it so she distracted herself looking at one of Laiki's pokemon medical books.

"I just thought of something," Laiki mischievously voiced. "What is to you and me just a normal pokemon anatomy medical book, must be something else to Purry. She's a pokemon; there are pictures of male pokemon in that book. It must all be a lot of high rated eye candy from her point of view," she laughed.

Purry could feel her cheeks turning almost as red as Peachy's. The supposedly sleeping pokemon giggled with an amused, "pi pi pi." It was then that Purry realized her sleeping "chu" sounds had ceased a short while ago. Peachy was awake and listening.

Pyro pouted with a whiny, "char." He did not need to hear about his teammate's reasons to look at that book. It further offended him that Purry had never taken an interest in him and would rather look at a book than him. Peachy insisted on treating him like a sibling and ignoring all his advances. As for the humans, he knew his chances of romance were null, humans only like other humans. Laiki had two humans whom she liked. Pixel didn't have a boyfriend, but it was clear her tastes gravitated towards human males only. Regardless of that, if it was up to Pyro, no one would ever lay a finger on her. 

"I think Comet might be right, sometimes it's best not to know what goes on in your head," Pixel teased. "Speaking of Comet, where did he disappear to? I thought he had some overdue time off to reclaim. Did he go on another mission?"

"He's still here," she referred to the Viridian Rocket base. Laiki's eyes flashed with a hint of worry. She quickly hid the negative emotion and smiled. "With all the work he's been doing he's been short on sleep. He's in his room getting some rest. I bet you could hack the keycard lock. I'm sure he wouldn't mind your company," Laiki winked. "If you don't, I might go keep him company myself."

"I thought he was like a brother to you," Pixel reminded.

Laiki laughed, "he is, I just wanted to see you get jealous."

"I'm not jealous," Pixel pouted stubbornly. "There's nothing going on, he's like a brother to me too," she insisted.

"Yeah right," Laiki didn't believe it for a second. "Only if the word brother means secret crush in another language. That would be a weird translation so let's stick to our language, okay?"

Pixel rolled her eyes, "you're delusional. Besides, I only like older men. Comet is too young."

"I happen to know you're a big fan of sci-fi," Laiki stated with a grin, the mischievous look in her eyes never left. "There are less years between you and Comet than between Padme and Anakin."

"It's my favorite movie series, but that's not enough to convince me," Pixel stood her ground. If she admitted to occasionally having a liking for Comet, Laiki would stretch the truth and assume they were secret lovers.

The nurse laughed and friend. Through all of it she couldn't help it but to worry about Comet. She really did care about him like a brother. He had always been energetic and cheerful. Laiki wondered if what she feared was truly happening. She hoped the time never came. Still, she couldn't discard the possibility. When it happened, no real warning was expected, she knew it could all be very sudden. She hoped Comet's exhaustion was all the result of his lack of rest and nothing more.

To be Continued

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 069: Give me Connections

Giovanni and Delia entered the Viridian gym and headed towards the back, past the arena. Giovanni slid a keycard into the electronic lock of a door and pressed a numeric combination on the small pad next to it. The door was unlocked and they were allowed into a small room. The room was occupied by nothing but a little sitting area and an elevator. They took the elevator down to the Rocket headquarters where Giovanni unlocked another door. Both doors were locked behind them.

The long underground corridors brought a heavy sense of deja vu to Delia. It had been many years since she had walked down those tunnels, but she remembered them clearly. "Dudes, you're here!" A familiar voice made Delia's face brighten. Luke rushed down the long hall lined with doors to greet them.

"Luke!" Delia hurried to close the distance between them, greeting Luke with a friendly hug. "It's been so long, I'm really glad you seem to be doing well."

"Yeah, everything's like totally fine, you know?" Luke truly believed that Comet needed rest simply because he had been working too hard. Comet was used to working at night and sleeping during the day, so being awake during the daytime must have also affected him. Luke was completely unaware of the possibility that worried Laiki. He was well aware of Comet's condition, but didn't know of the true dangers associated with it.

Giovanni approached them at a normal pace, "I have some business to take care of, so I'll be busy for a while. Luke, you can take some time off."

Luke's already cheerful face became happier. "Thanks man! I like totally appreciate it, you know?" With only a tired nod, Giovanni went on his way.

"We have so much to talk about," Delia pushed her thoughts about Binks to the back of her mind for the time being. She wanted to have a happy reunion with Luke.

"Like totally!" Luke cheered, "let's like go into like one of the conference rooms, you know? We can like sit there and like no one will interrupt, you know?"

The two friends found an empty conference room to occupy. The floor matched the metal of the halls and the walls were bare. The table was moist as if it had been recently cleaned. The standard black chairs with wheels were nothing particularly elegant. They resembled what could be found in any office, but they were comfortable enough. "Where to start?" There was simply too much to be said. "I met your son, he told you, right?"

"Yeah," Luke's face was filled with pride at the mention of his son. "Comet's like a good boy, you know?" The phrase would contradict what other people would think. "I like mean he's like totally a good Rocket, you know? He's like a good son, you know?"

"I know what you mean," Delia smiled, "he reminds me a lot of you. You two look almost identical." Their faces were especially similar. Their eye and hair color was also exactly the same. Comet's haircut was slightly longer than Luke's, but still relatively short. Their skin tone was their only real difference, aside from their age.

"I like hear that a lot, you know?" Luke laughed. "Comet like grew up here, like in Team Rocket, you know?"

A flicker of sadness passed through Delia's eyes at the thought of Ash. He, unlike Comet, had grown up without his father. "Was it difficult?" That was not the question Delia meant to ask. "I mean... not to pry." It was too late to take it back.

"It's like okay. You can like ask me like anything, you know?" Luke assured. He thought back at Comet's younger years. "I like didn't see him much when he was like little," Luke confessed. "I like had my missions, you know?" He might as well be honest about it, or as honest as he could be. Delia must have been waiting to know what had happened since the last time they saw each other. 

"I remember your letter," Delia recalled. "I was so glad that you wrote to me that time. I wish I could have written back, but I know it was impossible," the memory was bittersweet.

Luke maintained a cheerful expression, "it's like okay now. Do you like remember the Beedrill I like wrote about?" Delia nodded and Luke continued. "She's like still around. She like guards the forest with her bug pokemon friends, you know? If Giovanni like calls her, she like totally comes right away, man!" Luke smiled proudly speaking of the pokemon he had trained.

"That's amazing," Delia was glad they had falling into a relaxed conversation. "Maybe I can meet her some day."

"How about like right now?" Luke offered getting up. "Giovanni like knows where I am. He like won't mind. We're just like going to the forest like near by, you know?"

The fresh air of the forest sounded like a very welcoming prospect. Plus Delia was really glad the atmosphere between her and Luke felt so similar to old times. "Let's go," she happily agreed.

The way out of the Rocket headquarters was different since Luke was in his Team Rocket uniform. They went out through a secret passage in the forest. The umbrella of trees shielded them from the bright sun, allowing the breeze to pass through the leaves.  

"Queen! Like come here dudette!" Luke waited a moment and listened to the buzzing of the bug pokemon near by. It seemed that they were relaying the summoning. A few minutes later, a Beedrill arrived, majestically flying in front of Luke. She had a certain deadly elegance to her. "It's like good to see you again, Queen," Luke petted the pokemon gently. "I like want to like introduce you to Delia."

"Nice to meet you, Queen." She greeted with a friendly smile. 

Luke had introduced this human to her so she must be an ally of Team Rocket. To Queen, Team Rocket was a band of humans who protected the forest. They expanded it to make sure their home wasn't lost to the city. "Beedrill!" She greeted energetically. "Beedrill, beedrill!" 

More buzzing sounds followed as the bug pokemon's message relay system was put into effect. When a pokemon heard someone calling out, they repeated the message passing it forward. The message would echo through the forest in that way. Eventually, it would reach its target as long as the receiver was in the forest. An answer would then be transmitted in the same way.

"She's like calling someone, you know?" Luke had a good guess about who would come, "I like think she wants to like introduce you to her family, you know?"

A younger male Beedrill and a Butterfree around his age arrived. They exchanged a few words in their language with Queen and flew near Delia.

"It's very nice to meet you all," she gently petted the pokemon. They seemed to get a trust worthy impression from her.

"This is like Queen's son, Prince," Luke introduced, "and this Butterfree is like his lady love, Pretty. She was like caught by Pixel, one of Comet's friends, when she was like a Caterpie. Then Pixel like let her go after she like evolved into Butterfree, so she could like be with Prince, you know?" 

The story reminded Delia of when Ash freed his own Butterfree. "I've met Pixel before," Delia smiled. "She's seemed like a good girl... a good Rocket I mean." 

"She like is, even if she's still like a rookie in like some ways, you know?" They all sat in the nice atmosphere of the forest to have a long talk. "Like where have you been like all this time? Did you like stay in Pallet Town?" Luke got things started.

Delia saved her questions about Luke and his family for later and first old her story. "Yes, I never left Pallet Town," Delia remembered her first few weeks there. It had been difficult, but she persevered. "Maybe you've heard by now, Giovanni and I have a son."

Luke nodded, with a small flicker of sadness barely perceptible in his blue eyes. "Ash, I like wanted to ask about him, you know?"

"He's a pokemon trainer aiming to be a master," Delia always smiled when she thought of Ash. "He can be pretty stubborn and always wants to be the best at everything, just like you-know-who. He grew up in Pallet Town and went on a journey when he was a few months away from his eleventh birthday. It wasn't easy letting him go, but I'm glad he was able to see the world. He got engaged recently to Misty from the Cerulean gym. He really has grown up so fast in my eyes."

Luke felt identified with that, "that's like how it is, kids like grow up fast, you know? Then like the next thing you like know, they're not kids anymore, you know? I like guess I shouldn't like really say that. I like only saw Comet a little when he was young," there was no real bitterness in his voice; albeit a hint of regret was present.

"You had some dangerous missions, that's understandable," Delia decided to be accepting. She knew Luke was a good person and she could never judge him harshly for staying in Team Rocket. Besides, if Comet's mother was a Rocket as well, then where else would Comet go? "So Comet stayed with his mom most of the time?" Delia couldn't deny the fact that she was curious. 

Doubt overtook Luke for a fleeting moment and he looked away. He looked back at Delia instantly, hoping she didn't notice the change, but she did. "She like passed away."

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Delia felt bad for having asked. She didn't want to bring painful memories to Luke.

"It's like okay; it was like a long time ago," Luke tried to lighten the conversation again. "She was like..." he paused in deep thought, "I'd like to say she was like a lot like you..."

The hidden meaning of the words was completely lost on Delia as she tried to steer the conversation towards a more cheerful topic.

xoxox xox xoxox 

Inside the Viridian Rocket headquarters, Giovanni was studying the report about Mirta's journal with the four Rocket executives. They were all reading from black laptops with red Rs.

"Interesting, they were able to identify what entries referred to Akira, or rather Secura, even if no names were mentioned on the journal," Ariana observed. It was probably done as a measure of privacy. That way only the one who wrote the journal would be able to easily interpret it.

Mirta's journal spoke of many of the children she took care of in the orphanage at Vermilion City. Without any names being mentioned, it was difficult to find the proper entries. The report referred to various excerpts and the pages where they were found. It seemed that Mirta had stopped writing years ago, but she didn't write too often to begin with, thus there were big gaps between the dates. The journal must have been forgotten, to be rediscovered and used again at a later date, soon to be stored away once more.

The first excerpt in the report referred to page fifty, the journal pages had been numbered for convenience. "I failed to keep her here, the girl entrusted to me in a stormy night. She has gone with a man who offered her fame." All the entries were written in a similar ambiguous fashion. Taking Akira's history with her agent into account, it could be concluded that she was the girl entrusted to Mirta in a stormy night. That was the main clue.

The journals pages were filled with references to children in such ways. The girl entrusted to me in a stormy night, the boy with bright eyes, the girl with long hair, the child of cold December and other such pseudonyms. The next excerpt was from page ten. There was more written in-between about Secura's childhood, but such mundane stories were irrelevant to the investigation. "I'll never forget that stormy night. She came to me and entrusted me with her child. I begged her to stay with the girl, but she refused. Leaving her with me was the best she could do for her daughter, she insisted. How I wish for you to see the light, you who are of the same family as I am."

Among a sea of words, those few sentences held the key to unlocking Akira's past as Secura and her origin. Secura's mother entrusted her to Mirta. That woman happened to be related to Mirta. From that point on an investigation was conducted on Mirta. Hacking the citizen databases was easy with some help from Prism. Pixel's Porygon generally preferred to reside in her computer and rarely came out. 

The discovery from the journal was quite interesting. Mirta Stass had a relative who stood out, her name was Aayla Stass. The name was familiar to Laiki and she knew the executives and boss would be able to reach conclusions with that information. The last part of the report included a peculiar file hacked from the Vermilion City hospital. Aayla Stass had checked in to give birth, but her child was supposedly stillborn. The baby would have been the same age as Secura. Reading through the journal was very time consuming to find those little clues. Archer had announced that he needed the report right away, thus Laiki declared that it was enough.

At first Giovanni was disappointed by the short length of the report. However, that short report spoke volumes to those who knew of the past. The four executives remained silent as realization washed over them. The journal was a collection of sporadic thoughts, yet it all fell into place. 

Everything made perfect sense. When her daughter was born, Aayla was still with Tempest. Rumors had run through the streets in the past that someone was expecting a child from the leader of Tempest, Venom. They apparently turned out to be nothing but rumors, but that wasn't true. With all the information that had been gathered, it could be concluded that Aayla did give birth to Venom's child. The baby turned out to be Secura, who was later known as Akira. She grew up with Mirta in the Vermilion orphanage, without knowing they were related. Maybe Venom had experimented with his unborn child. Perhaps Aayla felt guilty and faked her daughter's death, secretly leaving her in Mirta's care.

"What were you talking about when I came in here?" Giovanni's mind was racing.

Petrel thought back to the specific point in time in which Giovanni entered the conference room. "I was complaining about my water bottle being warm." 

That detail was enough to set Proton's mind in motion. "Then I said, at least you can still drink it, unlike the water from the stream that killed a bunch of pokemon. Petrel asked which stream, and I said the one between Pewter and Cerulean. It was something I saw on the news."

Archer followed their train of thought as if they were all connected, "let's not jump to conclusions."

"It's not such a big jump," Giovanni thought about the worse possibility. "Akira's blood was in that stream, I saw her bleed into it. She's Venom's daughter, this could mean-" The sound of Giovanni's and all four executive's laptops interrupted in perfect unison. The devices were letting them know that an urgent report had reached their inboxes.

They quickly opened the encrypted message from the laboratories, entering IDs and passwords. The conference room fell silent as they all read. Their expressions were mirrors of surprise and worry.

"As I thought, Akira's blood contains a virus that kills pokemon," Giovanni voiced. "This could be worse than last time. The only reason the epidemic ended was because we found the data for the antidote. We know nothing about this. Back then, we searched for more data that could be useful. If we didn't find any, it might not exist. Figuring out how to control this will be much more difficult if a full breakout occurs."

"It makes sense," Proton recalled what Poisona said, "Poisona hates pokemon. Getting rid of them is most likely her goal."

Archer was in deep thought, "I suggest concentrating Team Rocket's resources on this before it gets out of hand."

"I second that," Ariana voiced. Proton and Petrel nodded, the action was unquestionable.

"Yes, we have to do something about this immediately," Giovanni agreed. "I want a team investigating the area right away. Find out how the virus spreads. No one from Team Rocket will enter that area with Pokemon; I don't want the infection reaching any of the bases." Giovanni paused as he came to a realization. "Get Akira out of here immediately and isolate her. I want this place clean of any traces of that virus!"

Persian was born at the end of the crisis and didn't fully understand what was going on. He knew it was serious and it was bad, that much was certain.

xoxox xox xoxox

In Pallet Town, Ash had finally escaped from Belle for a while. After Giovanni and his mother left, Ash returned to his previous task of helping Gary put Belle to sleep. Their off key lullaby succeeded in making Belle shut up, though she was wide awake and twitching. Fearing that the duet would continue, the Bellsprout wisely decided to remain quiet. She was staying at the Oak research lab, while Ash went home to talk to Misty on the phone.

Tango music played while Mimey danced with the vacuum cleaner as he cleaned the house. That pokemon could be quite a neat freak at times, and sometimes just a freak. Ash passed by quietly, deciding not to disturb Mimey, and went up the stairs to his room. The room was the same as ever. It still had the same pale green walls, the same blue carpet and matching blue curtains. 

The small TV in the corner was rather outdated, but still worked. Unlike the one downstairs in the living room, it had not been replaced for a newer model. A big Snorlax shaped pillow was on the floor in front of it. The bunk bed was neatly made, courtesy of Mimey. The shelves were packed with various things. Books, figurines and pokemon shaped things lined the wooden furniture. The collection included a winged Rapidash Christmas ornament. A faded poster on the wall showed the three starter pokemon from Kanto.

Ash lay down on his bed with his cell phone to his ear after pressing the speed dial. Misty answered on the first ring. "Ash, can we talk now?"

"Sure," he didn't realize how urgent she sounded. Ash didn't pause before getting started on his narration of the day's happenings. "Remember what I told you about Belle yesterday? She was still crying non-stop today. I had Gary babysit for a while, but then he told me that Belle was mine because Mrs. Alderaan's will said so. It's probably because she liked mom's cooking and I used to be the delivery boy before I left on my journey. At least we got Belle to keep quiet by singing to her. Honestly, I'm not sure if she cheered up or if she stop crying so we would stop singing. If that's the reason then it was Gary's fault for being off key," all in all Ash was more off key than Gary.

Misty listened to Ash's narration without getting a word in, she didn't even try. She allowed him to vent for a while.

"When you called me today, I was going to tell you about Jigglypuff," Ash continued. "To start the story from the beginning, I was at home with Belle and went out for some fresh air. Then I found Giovanni right in front of the house. He has the coolest orange car I've ever seen. That reminded me that I should start saving for a new car. What do you think about orange? The color never really caught my attention until just now. I guess there's time to decide. Red, indigo, orange, any of those would be nice."

Ash made a small pause before he went on with his previous narration, "I challenged Giovanni to a pokemon battle and he agreed. We went to Professor Oak's place for the battle because there's lots of room there. Maybe I should say Gary's place, since he's the one running the lab now and he does live there."

Setting the tiny details aside, Ash continued, "we talked for a while and I told him about what happened in Saffron City. He seemed interested. I started to feel weird because it is kind of odd to think that mom's dating someone. At the same time it's not, I mean we all get along just fine. I started feeling comfortable again later."

After again deviating from the story Ash returned to it, "about our battle, we didn't even get started! I just stood there ready to call out my first pokemon when Jigglypuff had to ruin it all. It was going to be a six on six battle! It was going to be epic! Giovanni was pretty angry at having his face painted, but I bet he's laughing about it now." Ash would have lost that bet. "The part that I didn't find amusing in the least was missing my battle. After that, we got cleaned up and Gary returned with Belle. He was babysitting while I battled, except I never got around to battle," Ash emphasized with a pout.

"Than finally, Giovanni had to leave and mom went with him. Gary and I sang to Belle and she's staying at his place right now. I decided to go home and take a break. I remembered to call you so we could continue our conversation from earlier today," Ash smiled, proud of himself for having remembered. He knew Misty liked those little details, albeit he often missed his chances to seize the moment. "Do you think they're on a date right now?" He referred to Giovanni and his mother. "It doesn't bother me, but should it? I don't even know anything about my father. Mom said she would tell me. Then one thing led to another and I forgot. Is it okay to think Giovanni's cool when I don't even know my own father? At the same time, it feels natural, almost as if he was my father," but he wasn't, as far as Ash knew.

Misty sighed, she had called to seek Ash's support, but it looked like he needed her support. "I think you should talk to her. I don't know about your mom's past. Maybe it's difficult for her to talk about your father. Even so, you have the right to know. I'm sure she understands that. Just try to talk to her when you have a moment alone. It's okay that you enjoy being with Giovanni. It's good that you two are getting along and I'm sure Delia appreciates that."

"You're right," Ash agreed with new found determination. "Belle kind of got in the way last time, but not anymore. When mom comes back, I'll ask her directly. I'm sure she'll tell me the whole story if I insist." Ash left his cell phone on his pillow, allowing his eyes to close. Pikachu was comfortably resting on the big Snorlax shaped pillow. He relaxed and let sleep overtake him.

"Ash?" Misty heard the rhythm of Ash's breathing. She was familiar with it after years of camping out together. "Don't fall asleep now," she whispered. "I haven't told you what I'm worried about." She took a deep breath, she had worries to share too, and they were serious, "Ash Ketchum, wake up!" Misty yelled into her cell phone.

Ash jumped awake and sat up on his bed. His nap lasted only a few seconds. He picked up his cell phone from his pillow and yawned. "Misty? Are you still there?"

"Yes, I'm still here," Misty was getting a little annoyed, but maintained a calm tone of voice. "My sisters had a talk with me about keeping secrets. I don't even know the full details and I already have secrets to keep."

Ash's curiosity was captured, "secrets? What kind of secrets?"

To be Continued

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 070: Give me Safety

Ash waited impatiently for Misty to speak. He got out of bed and paced around his room with his cell phone to his ear. "Misty?"

"Secrets about the mafia," Misty confessed. "My sisters are involved with, I don't even know what." She finally broke down in tears. All the pressure and the seriousness of her sisters' insistence on her silence got to her. They didn't want to share too much new information for her protection. "Ash, Ackbar is with them, they have a lot of power. The Roketto clan, Team Rocket, they're already too involved, they can't leave now. They keep saying that everything is fine and life will continue normally. What if it doesn't? It can't be that simple!"

Ash couldn't believe what he was hearing. Misty made him see things in a whole new perspective. They were so desperate to relax, so eager to think things were okay. "Everything will be alright, because I'll make sure of it!" He didn't know what he was talking about, yet some how hearing Ash say those words made Misty feel a little better. "Are you in Cerulean City right now?"

"Yes," Misty tried to stop crying, she didn't want to worry Ash or her sisters. She had been locked in her room for a while and they might go check on her soon.

"I'll be there soon," Ash left no room for argument, as if making an unbreakable promise. "I'll be there really soon then you can tell me about it in person."

"Alright," Misty took a deep breath to calm herself, "thank you."

"I'm your fiance, you can count on me for anything," Ash assured, he couldn't help it but to smile despite the situation. "I'll see you soon."

"I love you," Misty whispered.

"I love you too," Ash replied and ended the call. He didn't have a car anymore, but he knew of a faster way to get around. 

"Pikapi?" Pikachu had woken up and was looking at him with questions in his eyes.

"I'm not entirely sure what's going on, but Misty could use some cheering up," Ash explained. "Let's make sure she's alright."

Pikachu nodded, "Pikapipi!" He jumped on Ash's shoulder as Ash opened his bedroom window.

"Charizard, I choose you!" Ash threw the pokeball out the window.

The red beam from it shaped into the powerful fire/flying pokemon, who let out a mighty roar. The ball bounced back towards Ash with the force of Charizard taking shape. 

Ash caught the empty pokeball and reattached it to his belt. He jumped out the window on Charizard's back with Pikachu on his shoulder. "Full speed to Cerulean City!"

xoxox xox xoxox

Approaching footsteps alerted Delia and Luke that someone was coming. Queen, Prince and Pretty were relaxed. The forest not only had hidden cameras, but also pokemon guardians. Luke knew right away that it meant the bug pokemon of the forest had not detected anyone unfamiliar. Giovanni approached them with Persian following him as usual. Delia and Luke were sitting on the grass sharing stories and laughing. Their little reunion would have to be cut short; there was an emergency to take care of.

"Giovanni," Delia looked at him as he approached, "come to join us?" She didn't expect him to agree.

"Actually, I was going to take you to visit Binks, you can both come," Giovanni was going to need every scientific resource he had available working towards a new antidote. It was a great danger and a great opportunity.

Delia's expression was full of questions. Giovanni had told her about the complications of Binks' condition, she didn't expect him to take her to him so soon. "Is something the matter?" He was rushing things and there had to be a reason for that.

"Not yet," Giovanni hinted. 

Delia got to her feet, giving Giovanni a critical look, "what do you mean?"

"I'll explain in the way," Giovanni began to walk back towards the secret passage in the forest. He made it clear that there was no time to waste. He opened the hidden tunnel and made his way down.

Delia looked at Luke searching for answers, but he shrugged and shook his head. She sighed, feeling as if she was being dragged around. Giovanni better keep his word and explain things on the way. She didn't even know where they were heading. "We have to go now," she addressed the pokemon, "it was very nice meeting you." The two Beedrill and Butterfree responded cheerfully. They had another human ally. Plus they got to see the leader of Team Rocket, whom they had not seen in a while.

After returning to the underground Viridian Rocket base, a grunt hurried to them with a sealed envelope. The Rocket grunt handed the black envelope to Giovanni and quickly went away. The envelope was labeled only with a red R. It gave no hint about its contents, but at the same time spoke volumes about the possible documents that could be in it. 

Giovanni opened the sealed envelope, tearing off the edge. He looked at the papers inside as he walked down the long underground tunnel with Delia, Luke and Persian. Once he confirmed the documents were what he requested, he handed them to Delia. "This is information about Binks."

"First tell me why we're going to see him all of a sudden," Delia inquired with mounting concern.

Luke looked back and forth between Giovanni and Delia. He felt as if he had been caught in the middle of a soap opera lovers' spat. His gaze finally settled on Persian, he was the easiest to look at, since he was the least tense. Luke slowed his pace to walk a few steps behind them. The metallic tunnels seemed more endless than ever.

"Don't you want to see him?" Giovanni knew his fake tone of innocence wouldn't work on Delia. He didn't bother waiting for her to demand an answer before he gave it. "Nothing is certain yet," the introduction to the issue at hand was not very encouraging. Delia's gaze was focused and inquiring. Giovanni had liked those rare moments when she got that look in the past. He never thought a time would come when those looks made him feel he should be cautious. "There have been a few cases of sick pokemon. I don't know exactly what's going on, but it's best to take precautions now." It wouldn't be long before Delia or someone she knew decided to watch the news and heard about it. The illness that was going around was no secret, though it was not yet too bad. "I want Binks to research what's going on so he can come up with a cure before things get worse."

"That makes sense," Delia granted, yet she didn't lose her intense look. "Why do I feel like there's more to it than this?"

"Because there probably is," Giovanni openly admitted, "not even I know what." He met her eyes for a moment before once again looking forward. "This situation will probably reach common knowledge soon if it gets worse. It's no secret; you just haven't been keeping up with the news, have you?"

"I wasn't in the mood to watch the news," Delia felt that she needed to rest and make herself focus in the future. She didn't want to spend all her time theorizing about how anything reported on the news could possibly be linked to Team Rocket. Delia began to read the papers in silence while they boarded an elevator. Giovanni inputted a numerical code, rather than using the buttons to select the level where he wanted to go. The controls also served as an access panel, though few knew of that function.

Binks' condition had been getting worse since Delia last saw him years ago. He seemed to have suffered a severe trauma. Some of the notes mentioned he used to escape from the lab, but that stopped happening after he was assigned to work with Dr. Fuji. It seemed his work kept him busy then and he was very interested in it. After the accident which ended Dr. Fuji's life, Binks took a long time to recover from his injuries. Later, he remained in his private laboratory. The documents mentioned that Binks often lost the notion of time. 

The elevator ride seemed to take an eternity. The temperature rose with the warmth of being so far underground. Finally, when the elevator doors opened, the air conditioner felt sudden and cold. That deep underground level wasn't there before Delia left. There was a long corridor up ahead. Delia's eyes went from the last sentence of the paper, to the long metallic corridor, to Giovanni. "I finished reading," she placed the papers neatly back inside the opened envelope and handed it back to Giovanni. 

The Rocket leader opened the first door on the left. There were several laboratory supplies neatly stashed inside, with a paper shredder in the corner. The documents were turned into confetti after being tossed in the shredder. "Are you ready?"

Delia doubted she could ever be ready. At the same time she couldn't wait to see Binks. "Yes," her eyes spoke much more than her voice.

"I don't need to tell you again what will happen to Binks," Giovanni reminded just in case. Delia nodded, her expression going from doubtful to determined, "act natural."

The walk down the long hallway felt as if it took much more time than it did. The metal doors were closed and sound proof. Small glass windows on each one gave a brief view of the experiments being conducted inside. Delia would have lost her temper if she saw any pokemon being experimented on. Fortunately, there was nothing but unidentifiable colorful substances in vials and beakers.

The suspense piled up as Giovanni slid a keycard through the lock on the door at the very end of the hallway. He entered a numerical password on the little pad next to it and the door was unlocked. Giovanni, Delia and Luke entered and the leader locked the door behind them. 

Delia was taken by surprised by the warm atmosphere she saw. Unlike Luke, she had not been there before. The cold metal walls were covered by wood. A gray stone fireplace was oddly burning in the wall to the right. Upon closer inspection, it wasn't burning at all, the fire was fake.

On the wall opposite to the fireplace there hung a painting of a pokemon. It was not expertly made. It could have been a big fuzzy Rattata or a purple Raticate. The pokemon portrayed seemed to be a combination of both. The shelves below the painting were lined with different awards and recognitions of the scientific world. With Pallet Town being the home of Samuel and Gary Oak, such awards were not alien to Delia. Some of them she had to doubt were real, despite being aware that Binks had enough knowledge to win them. She wondered if they were all part of the atmosphere created in that area.

The wooden floor made Delia's light steps sound off differently than the metal surface of the corridor. The furniture was a dark mauve color. It seemed lived in, but still in good conditions so that it was comfortable. The couch faced the fireplace, while two matching seats faced the couch. There was a little wooden coffee table with a clear glass top in the middle of the sitting area. A lighter wine colored oval shaped rug was under the coffee table, extending to the foot of the couch and seats.

The door that they came through blended in with the brown wood covered walls. On the wall opposite to that door there was another door. The inner door was made of only wood, as opposed to being metal covered in wood. Its shade of brown was noticeably lighter than the walls, closer to a shade of caramel. Somehow, the scent of hot chocolate was constantly in the air, even if Delia didn't see any. There was another caramel colored door next to the fireplace, which was open a few inches.

The atmosphere was overall relaxing until Delia realized that Binks was not allowed to leave. No matter how comfortable a cage was made, it was still a cage. She felt sorry for him being forced to live underground. She had to remember that he was in no condition to live anywhere else safely. Two voices could be heard from beyond the closed caramel colored door, one was male and the other female.

Giovanni looked at Delia, silently asking if she was ready. She nodded reassuringly and looked as natural as she could. Luke exchange another glance with Giovanni before calling, "Dude Binks, we're like here, man!" 

It was at that moment that Delia further wondered why Luke was aware that Binks lived and Comet was kept in the dark. She had assumed it was because seeing Luke's son would make the passing of time too obvious for Binks. She wondered if that was the only reason, but that was not the time to ask.

The caramel colored door opened revealing a very different atmosphere beyond it. The room was completely white, the walls, the ceiling and the floor. Long counters lined the walls filled with laboratory equipment, a laptop computer and scattered papers with messy handwriting. The area was cluttered, but nothing was broken or on the floor. 

Binks stepped through the door followed by Laiki. His brown eyes were mostly dull but shone with the faintest sparkle of life when he saw Delia. His blond hair was much paler than Delia remembered, almost white. Binks looked much older than he was. He was thinner than before, like a skeleton with his clothes and lab coat hanging off him. "You came to visit!"

Delia wanted to cry but showed no hints of it as she smiled. "Hi," was all she could muster to say. She didn't know how to talk to Binks in a natural way when things were anything but natural.

Delia froze on the inside when Binks' face turned sad for a moment, "I thought you didn't want to be my friend anymore." His expression changed drastically to carefree and curious. "Have you been busy taking care of Giovanni's pokemon so he can be a good gym leader?"

Delia forced herself to keep a cheerful expression and a steady voice. "That's right, I've been really busy. Of course I still want to be your friend."

Binks clapped his hands together in happiness, "how wonderful. I knew you would be my friend forever. Tell Aayla and Leah to stop by sometime too. I haven't spoken to them in a long time. I guess everyone got busy after Tempest was defeated."

So far so good, Binks looked more cheerful, coherent and focused than usual. Delia wouldn't know of the comparison, but the others noticed.

"I haven't introduced you, have I?" Binks looked back at Laiki. "I'm sure you've already heard from Giovanni and Luke. This is my sister Laiki. She's still very young but she's an aspiring Rocket. It won't be long before she can run around training pokemon." The time in which Laiki was taken in by Team Rocket was after Delia left. In that sense, Binks had the eras a little mixed up. "I'm telling you, she's growing up so fast. Pretty soon she won't be my baby sister anymore.  Just look at how tall she's gotten, last week she was this small." Binks held out his hand, palm down, indicating a height that could only belong to a child.

"It's nice to meet you, Laiki," Delia played along. She felt as if she was being torn apart on the inside. On the outside she smiled sweetly, while the sour acid of a lie ate away at her heart.

"Nice to meet you too!" Laiki chirped cheerfully. She was good at lying. Her acting skills were commendable, a fact that she took advantage of.

Binks went on his knees to look at Persian and petted him gently. "Too big to ride on daddy's shoulder anymore, Meowth?" He laughed in good humor as he stood again. He looked at the partially open door next to the fireplace. "Rattata, have you woken up from your nap?" A shy Raticate watched from the slightly opened space of the door. "Come greet our guests. Laiki, Luke, Giovanni and Persian are here, plus a surprise visitor. Delia has come to visit; it's such a happy day!"

Raticate pushed the door open and entered the little living room. Behind the door there was a bedroom. The walls were covered in wood in a similar way to the living room. The floor was covered by a blue carpet. It contrasted with the wood that covered the living room floor and the white tiles of the laboratory. The carpet had soft lines and swirls in different shades of blue as if to simulate water. 

The bed frame was made of wood with the bed posts shaped as palm trees. The big green plastic leaves formed a partial umbrella over the bed. The mattress was thick and soft. A purple pokemon comforter was extended on the bed with pictures of a Gengar, Haunter and Gastly. Two pillows were in matching pillowcases. Shoes, lab coats and articles of clothing were scattered in the room. There was a rather large collection of ties hanging from the palm tree leaves. The assorted ties varied in colors and patterns.

Raticate was always fragile as a Rattata. She never lasted long in a battle before fainting. How she managed to evolved under such circumstances was nothing short of a mystery. Perhaps the inner battle of her constant worries for her trainer pushed her to become stronger that way. If she had become physically stronger was yet to be seen, but not likely. She had not battled in many years.

"Come now, don't be shy," Binks picked up the small Raticate. "You remember Delia, don't you?"

Raticate looked at Binks with curiosity. For once her trainer looked truly happy. She nodded and looked at Delia with pleading eyes. She didn't speak; the humans wouldn't be able to understand her anyway. Even without words the message reached Delia. It was as if Raticate was begging for her trainer's well being, pleading 'help him.'

Binks sat down on the couch with Raticate on his lap. "Sit, sit everyone, and have some candy." He motioned towards a Blastoise shaped bowl on the coffee table in the center of the living room. "Luke, you're quiet today," he observed.

"Me? Like quiet? No way, man! I'm like as full of energy like as ever, you know?" Luke had been quietly watching everything unfold. So far Binks had not yelled, cried or laughed insanely. That was big progress. He hopped on one of the chairs, leaning forward to the coffee table. He lifted the Blastoise jar's shell off to reveal the overflow of candy. There were yellow candies in clear wrappers and chocolates in silver wrappers. "Like yum!" He took a handful of candy and began to slowly unwrap them.

Giovanni sat down on the other seat, leaving Delia and Laiki to seat left and right of Binks. "Do you think you could start working on some research soon?" Giovanni left out any sense of urgency in his voice.

"Of course, of course!" Binks exclaimed. "I've found the motivation, I'll do it, I'll definitely do it!" He paused and looked thoughtful for a moment, almost nostalgic, "on one condition." His voiced changed from cheerful yet disconnected, to completely serious. "I want Delia to come visit now and then, because I don't want to stop being her friend. In fact, you should all keep coming to see me regularly," Binks seemed to have a quiet acceptance of his captivity. 

"I'm sure we can find the time," Giovanni looked at Delia, "right?"

"Yes!" Delia was quick to reply. She didn't know how she would endure any future visits.

A soft beeping sound came from Binks' watch. He pressed a tiny button on it and ignored it once the sound stopped. "Dear brother, don't forget your medicine," Laiki reminded with gentle insistence.

Binks frowned and hugged Raticate, resting his chin on her head. "It makes me so sleepy."

"It's for your own good," Laiki got up from the couch and walked to the small refrigerator in the corner next to the award shelves. She opened it and retrieved a glass of water, which she handed to Binks. She went into the bedroom and out of sight, entering the door leading to an adjacent bathroom. The medicine cabinet was locked for safety reasons. Binks had never tried to break it open. Laiki returned to the living room with a pill which she deposited in Binks' open hand.

Binks looked at the pill as if it were something unappetizing. The refrigerator was full of appetizing dishes and snacks, but Binks ate little. "I had insomnia before, I wanted to sleep. I don't want to anymore." He rolled the little white pill from side to side in the palm of his hand.

"Dude, you should like take your medicine, man!" Luke encouraged, his mouth half full of candy and chocolate. "It's like just a pill, it like can't taste like that bad, you know? Besides, you can like totally eat something yummy like right after, you know?"

"If I go to sleep, will it all be a dream?" Binks whispered solemnly. "Delia, are you really here, or is this a dream? Has light returned? Laiki was too small, she wasn't here. Giovanni, he needed the light, but the light went away. I was without my light too. I can't be strong like Luke. I can't be strong like Giovanni. What if I'm dreaming? If I go to sleep in a dream, will I wake up in reality? Will you be gone forever? Will you be gone like her? Will you hate us of the darkness?"

A thick and tense silence invaded the room. Delia couldn't stop looking at Binks' eyes, so pained and pleading. She gently placed her arms around his thin shoulders, he looked so fragile. "It's okay, I'm really here. Take your medicine and get some rest, you really need it. When you wake up, you can call me. I'll come visit you again. I'm not going to abandon you."

Binks nodded weakly, "alright," he swallowed the little white pill with the water. He set Raticate gently down on the floor and placed the near empty glass on the coffee table. "I'll get some sleep and this time I won't have any nightmares." He walked to his bed as if in a trance muttering to himself about light and darkness.

"We should let him rest for now," Laiki voiced softly, to break the unbearable silence.

Raticate went to the bedroom and stood watching her trainer in bed under the purple covers. He was still murmuring to himself, but it was quieter and slower. He was falling asleep. As usual, Raticate would stand watching him with worry. Differently from other times, there was also a hint of hope in her eyes.

Giovanni, Persian, Delia, Luke and Laiki exited Binks' living area. The door was locked behind them leaving Binks in his own little world. Since Binks could no longer hear them in his sound proof little apartment, Luke apologized. "I'm like sorry, man!" I was like too quiet at first, you know? He like surprised me, you know?"

Laiki nodded in agreement with a real smile on her face, "I was surprised too. It's been such a long time since Binks recognized people so easily and had something that could be called a conversation. Plus he didn't have any problems with all of us being there at the same time. This is a big improvement."

Delia listened, feeling her heart becoming more pained for Binks. It seemed that everyone was impressed with Binks' apparent improvement. Delia had no real point of comparison, but if that was a big improvement, how was it before? 

"I have some work to look into down here, so I'll stick around," Laiki gave Luke a meaningful look.

Luke interpreted it as a suggestion to give Delia a moment alone with Giovanni. There was only one elevator that went that far down underground. It was monitored by hidden cameras. It would have been stopped if unauthorized personal had somehow figured out the code to make it go down to the deep secret basement. "I will like go up in like a little while too, you know? So you should like totally go on ahead if you're like using the elevator, you know?"

Giovanni guessed they were leaving him alone with Delia. "Alright," he agreed and started walking towards the end of the hall. "Delia?"

Delia was lost in deep thought. Her eyes were a little watery but she hid it well. She woke up from her trance when Giovanni called her and was quick to follow him to the elevator.

To be Continued

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 071: Give me Surprises

The elevator doors closed blocking out the cold air conditioner of the hallway. The elevator began to go up towards the higher underground levels of the Viridian Rocket headquarters. The tension in the air floated heavily. "Delia," Giovanni tried to look at her face but she looked away, "look at me."

She lowered her face and shook her head. "I'm fine, I can do this," her voice was shaking. "I can visit Binks again, I can control myself," she insisted almost pleading.

"I know, you did very well," Giovanni saw many possibilities in the future if things progressed as they had so far. "You don't know how much you've helped him."

"I'll make sure he finds himself," Delia didn't care about Giovanni's plans for Binks. She just wanted to help him recover. She couldn't stand the thought of him living as a prisoner used for his scientific knowledge. He was not a thing, not a resource, he was a person.

"You don't have to keep everything bottled up all the time," Giovanni tried to hug her.

For a moment, Delia leaned into him and allowed the overflow of emotions to show. Then she pulled back quickly and dried her eyes with a determined look. "I told you, I'm fine," she glared.

"You've been on edge," Giovanni observed. She wasn't so distant before. Now she was looking at him almost as if he was poisonous to her. The pained yet welcoming look in her eyes was gone.

"Can you blame me? I'm not just going to play your game. I'm not here to give you everything you want. Not anymore," her voice was lowered to a fierce whisper. She was tired of being forgiving.

"This isn't like you," Giovanni spoke calmly. The elevator reached its destination and opened. A few Rockets made their way through the long hallway ahead. 

Delia waited until the Rockets passed by before continuing, "I don't like being this way," she admitted. "It's just that, I'm not supposed to care about you, so I won't. It should be my choice to make." She made it clear the conversation was over. She would speak of the matter no more.

It was an unusual event for Giovanni. Delia had never really confronted him in such a way. She just left, ran away. This time she wanted to face him without the burden of past feelings, but it wasn't easy. She couldn't simply erase the past and she couldn't make herself hate the present. She wanted Ash to know what was his right to know. She couldn't find the balance between being too involved and not involved enough.

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, down in the secret underground laboratory, Laiki was getting ready to share her suspicions with Luke. "About Comet," she began in a grave tone.

Luke didn't like the way the topic was brought up, "he's like going to be like okay, right?"

"I don't know," Laiki admitted. "There is something that Binks didn't tell you about him, back when he used to take care of him when he was little. He told me, but I didn't think it was of any use to make you worry."

Luke's expression turned concerned, "like what do you mean?"

"Comet wasn't expected to," Laiki tried to think of a gentle way to phrase it but found none. "He's not expected to live a long life." She stopped there. That was what Binks had told her without explaining it further, but she had reached her own conclusions.

Luke looked absolutely heartbroken. "Are you like saying he's not just like tired? Is this like a sign of like the end?" Luke couldn't accept that. Comet was his son; he wouldn't give up on him so easily. "No! That like can't be, there like has to be a way to like save him, you know?"

Laiki sighed sadly, "I couldn't say."

Luke was determined not to lose hope, "I'm like staying positive, you know?"

Laiki smiled weakly. She feared the worse, having already faced reality, "yeah, I guess there's nothing more to do. I'll believe in him too."

xoxox xox xoxox

Several levels above the secret laboratory, but still underground, Comet was sleeping in his room. Someone calling at the door woke him from his restless slumber. "Comet, are you in there?"

Comet waited for the blurry voice to become clearer as the person at the door called again. He got up and immediately felt dizzy. He fell sitting on his bed again, holding his head. His forehead felt warm, but he was cold. He didn't get sick easily. He had never felt this ill before.

"Comet!" The person at the door was growing impatient. There was a silent pause, then footsteps.

"Wait, don't go," Comet forced himself to get up and tried to steady himself. He quickly opened the door. 

Pixel had started walking down the hall, assuming Comet wasn't in his room after all. She stopped and looked back. "So you were in there. Were you sleeping? What a waste of free time. C'mon, let's run around the galaxy for a while. Remember those two big mutant monsters? I mean the ones in the second area, in the buildings beyond the caves. You said you would help me slay them. I'm a strong mercenary but this isn't a one person job."

Comet took a moment to absorb the information, "oh yes, the game." His brain seemed to finally restart and connect to his surroundings.

Pixel looked impatient, "Have you been training your character at all? I'm ready for the S rank missions! You're not going to get over your cold if you just lay in bed bored out of your mind. Video games are the best way to get over a cold!"

Comet nodded weakly, not quite all there, "I agree. Let me grab my game. Should we go play in your room? Your router is faster than mine and we're going to need a wireless that doesn't lag."

"Yup," Pixel nodded, "hurry up, we have mutant monsters to slay and rare treasures to collect!" She cheered.

Comet got his handheld game from his cluttered room. "Let's go," he made himself smile, as the world became less blurry. "By the way, you look different."

"Custom made uniform," Pixel replied. Instead of the standard boy style uniform she usually wore, and still did if it was cold, she was wearing a slight variation of the Team Rocket uniform. The tshirt had short sleeves; it was black with a red R. She had black jean shorts that went to her knees with a belt carrying several pokeballs. Her black boots had silver metal at the soles. They were heavy, but felt cool, so the extra effort was worth it. Her gloves were short and black. Her dark blue hair was in it's usual ponytail and she wore small silver earrings. The red R on the uniform stood out as always.

"It looks cool," Comet sleepily complimented as he closed his door and followed Pixel. He never used to get sick like that. He wasn't sneezing or coughing as he should be if he had a cold. It was just a fever and exhaustion.

xoxox xox xoxox

Later, Misty was resting in her room at the Cerulean City gym. Her eyes were closed though she was still awake. "Misty!" Ash's voice sounded as if it was nearby. 

She quickly got up and looked towards the window. There he was, riding on Charizard. She opened the window and let him in, "I'm glad you came," they hugged tightly. 

"It's okay, I'm sure we can work something out," as usual, Ash tried to stay optimistic. Charizard complained from out the window. He didn't fit through it. "Thanks for the ride Charizard, I knew I could count on you to bring me here really fast." Ash walked over to the window, petting Charizard with one hand, his other arm still around Misty's waist. "Take some time to rest," he called the fire pokemon back into his pokeball.

Misty's Marill began to talk to Pikachu, answering his curious questions. Marill had been listening to the Waterflower sisters' conversation and was well informed. The two pokemon nodded to each other and headed towards the door, "Pikapi, Pikapipi."

"You're going to spend some time with Misty's pokemon? Okay, see you later Pikachu. Actually, I'll let everyone out," Blastoise, Charizard, Charmander, Charla and Bulbasaur, were released from their pokeballs as well. Charla had been given to Ash's so she could be with her mate and son. Misty's room was suddenly very crowded. "Take a break everyone, go play with Misty's pokemon."

Ash's pokemon expressed their eagerness and made their way out of Misty's room after Marill and Pikachu. Misty's other pokemon were at the gym's pool. There was a bit of a traffic jam at the door as the larger pokemon made their way out. Eventually they all left the room, making their way down the hall to go downstairs.

"Having everyone here makes me feel better," Misty voiced. Being around Ash and his pokemon had become very natural to her.

"I'm glad," Ash smiled. They both sat down on Misty's bed. The mattress felt odd to Ash. "Are you sure this thing isn't going to pop?" He poked at the mattress.

"You always ask that whenever we sit here," Misty laughed, relaxing a little more. "It's a water bed; it was built to be used. It won't pop; it's not a water balloon."

"If you say so," Ash poked at it some more. 

Shades of blue were predominant in the room; representative of the water type pokemon Misty loved so much. Soft yellow was another present color. There was a doll collection in the corner of her room. She had won it many years ago. They remained well preserved. A collection of fishing rods lined one wall with various boxes full of different lures. There was a picture on the nightstand of Ash and Misty together.

"What am I going to do with them?" Misty let out a deep breath. "Maybe there's no use in worrying, but I don't know what to do. The worse part is that they won't give me all the details because it's for my own good, so they say. That just makes me wonder how bad things are."

"Maybe it's not so bad," Ash tried to make Misty feel better, though he didn't know what they were up against. "I know!" He suddenly got an idea. "We should go to Saffron City!"

Misty blinked, not quite following Ash's train of thought. "Saffron City? Why there?"

"Because Jessie and James live there," Ash replied, "they used to be in Team Rocket," he reasoned. "They should know something. Okay, so they must have been kind of low ranked, but maybe they have some information after all."

"It's worth a try," Misty decided, though it was getting late. "We should go tomorrow, first thing in the morning."

xoxox xox xoxox

When the next day came, Ash slept in. He was woken up by Misty who urged him on his way. During dinner the previous day, Misty got the feeling that her sisters were conspiring to take her and Ash shopping as if nothing was out of the ordinary. No direct invitation was made, thus Misty decided it was best to leave before it happened. 

They ate a quick breakfast with their pokemon. The pokemon were all put into pokeballs except Charizard and Charla, who would carry them to Saffron City. As usual, Pikachu stayed out as well, riding on Ash's shoulders.

The trip to Saffron City was relatively short. Ash and Misty soon landed in front of the pokemon day care center as passers stared. Ash had called his mother the previous night, in case she was back in Pallet Town wondering where he had run off to. She was still in Viridian City and would probably stay there for a while. Ash's mind was occupied in helping Misty obtain more information about her sisters' situation with the Roketto clan, better known as Team Rocket. As a result he left his questions for later, but was determined to hear the truth about his father at some point in the near future.

"Thanks for the ride you two!" Ash expressed his gratitude to the two Charizard.

"Yeah, that was fun," Misty thought it would be more difficult than it was to ride on a Charizard. Charla made sure to fly steadily, carrying Misty, while keeping up the pace.

With the two Charizard back in their pokeballs, Ash and Misty entered the pokemon day care center. The little bells on the door rung as they opened it and went in. The cheery atmosphere inside, seemed to be more festive than ever. "Twerps!" James jumped towards them from behind the front counter. "Guess what? Guess what?" He jumped up and down excitedly.

"You found a really rare bottle cap?" Misty knew how much James loved those. It was expected for him to become that excited over it.

"It's even better than that!" James cheered.

"Did you find a super rare bottle cap?" Ash guessed. Misty had stolen his guess and he didn't have time to think of a new one.

"Even better!" James loudly cheered. "I do commend you on knowing the difference between rare and super rare though," he smiled.

Ash blinked, "you mean there's a difference?" He paused and laughed, "of course there is! I knew that," he grinned proudly.

Misty pushed him gently and teased, "no you didn't."

"I did too!" Ash insisted.

"Fine," Misty rolled her eyes with a smile, "have it your way, maybe this is about an ultra rare bottle cap."

"That would be even better than a super rare," James agreed, "but that's not it either." He waited energetically for the right guess to come. "It's something even better!"

Jessie emerged from the door in the back, having heard the conversation. "Why don't you just tell them?" She suggested, "you've been telling everyone. I bet more than half of Saffron City already knows."

"That's because it's something to celebrate," James was smiling from ear to ear. "Wouldn't it be amazing to find an ultra rare bottle cap to commemorate this moment? It's okay though, I'll still celebrate with or without the bottle cap."

"Okay, I give up, what's this amazing thing that happened, that's even better than a bottle cap, better than a super rare bottle cap and better than an ultra rare bottle cap?" Ash inquired curiously.

James nodded, "it's even better than all three put together," he grinned proudly, "Bottle cap is having a baby. I mean I'm having a Jessie. Jessie's having a bottle cap." James got tongue tied again. "What I'm trying to say is I'm pregnant." He paused and thought about it, "I mean we are," he tried to correct it.

Jessie placed her hand on his shoulder, "don't hyperventilate," she joked, "I think they already got the message."

A wave of "congratulations" and best wishes was sure to follow. Meowth soon entered the front room followed by the other pokemon that had been playing in the yard. From there on, the atmosphere turned increasingly cheerful and the purpose of Ash and Misty's visit was forgotten for a while. They also took some time to look at Flareon and Growlie's egg making guesses about if it would be a boy or a girl.

It wasn't until a couple of hours later that the topic came up as to what brought them to Saffron City. Misty was reluctant to mention it since she didn't want to ruin the cheerful mood. Ash was, as usual, rather direct. "We want to ask about Team Rocket."

Silence invaded the cheerfully decorated room where they all sat in fluffy cushions around a table eating cookies. "Ash, don't be so direct," Misty whispered under her breath.

"How did you know?" James was the first to truly break the following silence in puzzled curiosity. 

"No one should know, how did you figure it out?" Jessie insisted upon the question. They both assumed that Ash and Misty knew they were working for Team Rocket gathering information.

"What do you mean?" Misty carefully asked. "Just how much do you know about... things?"

"What things?" Jessie inquired. She was no longer so sure about Ash and Misty knowing about her and James returning to Team Rocket. Their new job was quite different and it defied the law a lot less, but the information they gained would still be useful. They were still allied to Team Rocket in the end.

Misty was reluctant to talk about it. Her sisters had told her to keep things a secret. Maybe if they had given her sufficient information she wouldn't have to go looking for it. A cold chill ran down her spine. "Nothing," she quickly tried to amend what she had said.

Jessie and James exchanged glances. Meowth stared at Ash and Misty curiously. He looked at Pikachu searching for answers. The yellow electric pokemon didn't breathe a single word. The silence piled up until Jessie spoke again, "if you know something we already know, there's no use in hiding it." She ambiguously hinted at the possibility of Ash and Misty knowing about her and James' new positions in Team Rocket.

Taking a deep breath, Ash decided to get things started in the most neutral way possible. "We were just curious because of all the things that happened recently. A lot of rumors were going around. Since you used to be in Team Rocket, we thought you might know."

The atmosphere turned less tense. "You wanted to ask about the past?" Meowth inquired, to which Ash and Misty nodded. "We're supposed to keep it all a secret," he reminded. He didn't want to ruin his second chance at being recognized. He couldn't picture himself living with the boss anymore. He wanted to stay with Jessie and James. 

Meowth wanted to make friends with the pokemon that stayed at the day care center. He wanted to be there to read stories to his little nephew or niece, when the egg hatched. Even so, some recognition would still be nice and he didn't want to negatively affect Jessie and James' careers either. All in all, being allied to Team Rocket was rather convenient, especially with the current arrangement.

Misty couldn't take it anymore, "we know about Team Rocket and the Roketto. We know who Team Rocket is for the mafia," she said a lot but at the same time not much. "In general terms, can you at least tell us how bad the situation is? Even if you only say things that are common knowledge for those that are, or were more involved, that's enough. It doesn't have to be something secret."

"If that's all you want to know," Jessie mused about it for a moment before deciding it was safe enough. "The Roketto clan and Team Rocket are indeed the same. I guess you could say the Roketto clan is like an elite group within Team Rocket, but the grunts are under their command so there's no line to draw. They all answer to the same boss. The identity of that boss is top secret and I can't reveal it."

Misty nodded in acceptance, "I understand," maybe if she found a piece of information that her sisters had not shared and confronted them with it, they would reveal the whole story.

"Is there anything else you can tell us?" Ash searched for more information.

James was lost in thought trying to think of something that wasn't too revealing. Meowth spoke up first, "I happen to know the boss has a big swimming pool. He's also good at boxing and has his own private workout gym." That information was nothing too relevant to the investigation at hand. Knowing random personal details about the Rocket boss would lead them nowhere if they didn't know who he was.

James opened his mouth to contribute some other random detail about Giovanni, but Jessie cut him off. "Okay, that's enough information from our side. Now it's my turn to ask something. Have you heard of any secrets lately?" She looked at Misty questioningly.

Misty looked away, feeling as if her sisters' secret was already too exposed. "No, not really."

"Well," Jessie grinned confidently. "I just happened to know that Team Rocket decided that the Cerulean City gym was off limits. Generally, they don't pick fights with gym leaders, but there are no rules against it." James and Meowth observed Jessie. She was revealing a little too much, but Misty should be aware of the details already. The Waterflower sisters served as the gym leaders, taking turns to fill the role. 

"I didn't know about that," there wasn't a single hint of doubt in Misty's eyes as she denied everything.

"Can we stop?" James snapped. "All of this going around in circles is making me nervous. Are you two planning to make a deal with the mafia or something?" 

Misty paled and Ash adamantly denied it, "no way! We have nothing to do with the mafia. Misty doesn't, I don't, no one does!"

Jessie blinked in realization, "sounds like James hit the nail on the head, didn't he?" She grinned victoriously again, then the possibilities sunk in. This was the perfect opportunity to gain information for Team Rocket. Regardless, she couldn't do it and she knew neither could James. She didn't want to get the twerps into trouble after they became friends. Besides, Delia would never invite them over to eat again. "Alright, come clean, we won't get you into trouble."

Misty paused, she felt that she was in as deep as she could get. She sighed exasperated and tired. "What are the consequences of breaking an oath of secrecy?"

"Scary," Meowth shuddered at the possibilities swimming in his wild imagination. 

"I think it's at least okay to say you have an oath of secrecy," James elaborated.

Meowth nodded in agreement, "yeah, that much should be fine."

"We have an oath of secrecy to Team Rocket," Jessie stated. "It's okay for you to say to whom you have an oath of secrecy."

"The same," Misty revealed.

"I knew it," Jessie exclaimed, "then the Waterflowers really were involved with Team Rocket. I can understand why you would worry. It would tarnish your reputation as gym leaders." She remembered how careful the boss was with his reputation.

James agreed and further added, "it'll be bad for Team Rocket too. If they said you should keep it a secret, it's because they don't want anyone knowing of it. I guess that applies to us in that we are forbidden from committing any acts that have a negative effect on Team Rocket. Either way, we'll keep your secret anyway, right?"

Jessie nodded, "of course, even Meowth can keep his big mouth shut under the right circumstances." The wheels in her head began to turn. Maybe it would be alright to inquire about the Waterflowers at Team Rocket. "James, why don't you take the pokemon to play at the park? Ash and Misty can go with you," she suggested it casually, but it still sounded sudden.

"What are you going to do?" Misty immediately wanted to know.

"Nothing that will affect you. I might actually be able to help you. There are some things I need to know first. Don't worry, I promise on Delia's delicious cooking that I won't get you two into any trouble," Jessie seriously assured, her expression sincere.

Ash and Misty exchanged glances before simultaneously nodding. Their eyes reminded Jessie that they were counting on her to keep her promise. Ash and Misty soon left with James and the pokemon towards the park. Jessie was left alone to make a few calls and find out what was the real limit of the information that could be exchanged. She would speak with caution.

To be Continued

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 072: Give me Discoveries

In the Viridian Rocket headquarters dungeon, Poisona was finally revealing new information. After many tries, it was finally possible to put her in a hypnotic trance without triggering her secondary personality to surface. It took a lot of mental tricks and high level psychic and ghost pokemon, but it was done. "Humans are poison, they shall cleanse the world," Poisona's voice was soft and quiet, barely above a whisper in the dim cell. "They'll all die!" She suddenly screamed at the top of her lungs.

Iblis Raymus stood perfectly still and unfazed. She was a tall woman in her mid thirties. Her attire consisted of a black business suit with a small red R on the top right of the blazer. Her hair was long straight and black, parted at the side and tugged behind her ears. She wore glasses with a black frame, behind which cold blue eyes stared. She held an overflowing clip board with many white papers full of illegible yet elegant black ink cursive. The back of the black clipboard had a big red R on it.

Iblis observed Poisona become wilder. She pulled at her chains so harshly, the cold metal bruised and nearly cut her wrists. To the display before her, Iblis only reacted with a quiet, "I see..." Her loyal Gengar and Alakazam stood left and right of Poisona.

Iblis flipped through the papers in her clipboard. She ignored the growls Poisona was making as if she couldn't hear them. "Well Patricia, I've researched your past." More so other Rockets had done the database hacking and investigating, then handed in the report. "I've found that your family was a group of outcasts in Lavender Town to the bitter end. Your parents died in a fire that the police found no public culprit for. They did have a suspect, but that suspect was never prosecuted. They expected the case to fall due to its particularities."

"Charmander!" Poisona wailed so loud that gave out and her voice turned fragmented. "He did it, it was Charmander!"

"That has been investigated," Iblis informed with a tone of superiority. "It turned out Charmander died in its pokeball. A pity isn't it? Who could the culprit be?" She looked from the clipboard to Poisona, eyes cold and piercing.

"Fire, burn, they all burn, fire!" Poisona screeched. The psychic and ghost pokemon exchanged glances with their trainer. The human they were forcing into a trance with their combined powers was nearing her limit.

Iblis did not give the order for the pokemon to stop, so they did not. Instead she continued calm and indifferent, almost mocking. "Let us look at the source of the problem. Why was your family rejected? The parents were nice people, they got along with everyone. The boy was a little mischievous, but nothing out of the ordinary. Then there was the girl. The girl had a split personality and was prone to acts of violence. Oh yes Patricia, I dug out your old files."

Poisona's throat was scratched from all the screaming. She could say nothing more, so instead she let out a raspy growl.

"The parents were reluctant to abandon their little girl in treatment. That is to say, they wouldn't just give her up to an insane asylum," Iblis' glance back at her clipboard and took a moment to read from it. She gave the distinct impression that Poisona simply wasn't important enough to remember. The indifference somehow amplified her image of mocking cruelty.

Poisona had stopped growling. The pokemon's hypnotic powers had put her in a hyper sensitive state. All her deepest memories were hers to reach out for. She would not bring out a memory she hated, she had to be forced to do so. Rubbing the truth in her face should work well to that end.

"That's the reason why they were outcasts; they had a dangerous little girl. Guess what she did next?" Iblis grinned in amusement, "she burned them. Well, her other personality did. I wonder which one is the real you, Patricia?"

Poisona growled loudly, her voice fractured. During the trance she unconsciously tried to confirm that Iblis was lying. She tried to call upon her false memories. However, with all her mental defenses rendered to near extinction, she saw the truth. The memories returned to her mind and tears flowed from her eyes.

Iblis took a few more notes on her clipboard. "You turned your pain to hatred and blamed Charmander. The arsonist was really you, but you couldn't live with that. You wanted revenge because it would convince you of your lie. The more you chased after your lie, the more truthful it felt, but it was still a lie." A breakthrough was near, Iblis could almost feel it. "Humans are poison you say?"

"Virus, pokemon, kill, humans will kill them..." Poisona gasped and sobbed before finally losing consciousness.

"It is the end of the session," Iblis acknowledged, letting out an apathetic breath. "Alakazam, Gengar, return," she called her two pokemon companions back into their pokeballs and turned away from Poisona. "None the less, this information may be useful." The scientists might want to look into the possibilities about how the virus affected humans.

xoxox xox xoxox

In Saffron City, James, Ash, Misty and the pokemon didn't stay in the park for long. There was a feeling of unrest in the air and they all wanted to know what Jessie's private calls were about. "Don't worry, she won't tell on you," James reassured on the way.

When they returned to the pokemon day care center, Jessie was waiting. She put on a grave expression and spoke in all seriousness, "The truth of the matter is..." The others held their breath, "you were worried over nothing!" Jessie laughed.

Misty pouted, "don't scare me like that!" Then Jessie's words truly sank in and she immediately asked, "what do you mean by that? Who did you call? What did they say?"

Ash and James were very curious as well. They once again sat around the same table from before. "Tell us the whole story, I want to know too," Meowth tended to be curious by nature.

"I called headquarters and talked to some higher ups. Actually, since this is an important issue, they put me through much higher than I thought," Jessie wondered just what was so important about that particular situation. "Anyway, the point is you're considered Team Rocket's allies. I was asked to pass along the warning that you shouldn't search for more information."

"I thought you wouldn't tell on me!" Misty reproached.

"I didn't!" Jessie defended. "I simply asked why we couldn't steal from the Cerulean gym. Apparently they were already aware that I knew you, almost as if they expected me to ask about that at some point. I didn't mention you were here. I was simply told that the Waterflower sisters were considered Team Rocket's allies due to some connections. He didn't specify what connections. He said that I should not bring up the topic, but if you did, I should warn you to keep quiet. You haven't signed for your secrecy, have you?"

Calmer after hearing the explanation Misty replied, "no, I haven't."

"You can expect that to happen at some point, probably sooner than later," Jessie guessed, the other Waterflowers have already done so. "What I still don't know is what business is so important with the Waterflowers that the higher ups are so highly aware of it."

Misty sighed helplessly, "I don't think I know the full extent of it either."

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, at the Viridian Rocket headquarters, Delia was occupied in taking care of the pokemon. Archer had contacted Giovanni about the call Jessie made. As expected, there was restlessness among the Waterflowers, especially the youngest. Due to her proximity to Ash, she was to be treated with caution.

Delia was about to quietly enter Giovanni's office without knocking. It was not his gym office, but another underground office. The security was heavier, but since she was around him so often, he granted her a keycard that would let her in. She unlocked the door and stopped with the doorknob in her hand. The door was only open a mere inch. It was enough for the sound of voices to filter out of the office. 

Giovanni was in the middle of a conversation with Archer, "so what do you suggest? We can't just tell her. She'll tell Ash, he'll complain to Delia and who knows where that will lead."

"Yes, I know, it would ruin your conquest," Archer bravely replied.

"I'm serious," Giovanni reproached him.

"This isn't how you usually deal with the threat of bad publicity," Archer reminded. "You can easily arrange it so that none of them will speak of anything that can affect you, ever," the possibility Archer hinted at was obvious to Giovanni. "You don't seem to have intentions of doing that."

"Because of Binks," Giovanni reminded defensively. "That venture proved to be profitable in the past. It can be again."

Delia clenched her teeth and almost burned a hole through the door with her glare. She gripped the doorknob until her knuckles turned pale white. She didn't make a single sound, instead choosing to listen in silence.

"If that's the truth I'll take your word for it. If it's not then good for you," Archer sounded like he was speaking in riddles. 

Giovanni gave the executive a questioning look, "what do you mean? Are you saying Delia is that much of an inconvenience?"

"No," Archer denied with a knowing grin, "I'm saying that she's good for you and that I'm glad you're keeping her around." Before Giovanni could comment on that, Archer continued, "for the sake of getting Binks to work, or simply because you feel like having her around."

Giovanni realized what Archer was getting at, "Delia is... troublesome," it sounded more as if he was convincing himself rather than Archer. The headlines painted him in a good light. The press was all over the incident in which he heroically stopped a run away criminal, then dramatically drove off with his lady. He had been very secretive about his personal life, mostly because it was a life of crime. Allowing the public to see another side of him beyond that of the gym leader did wonders for his image. 

All the rumors, tension and suspicions from the Vermillion massacre were left in the past. People had something new and more interesting to gossip about. It was not too comfortable that the new topic happened to be his personal life, but at least the effect was beneficial. The role of the lady of the story didn't necessary had to be played by Delia, she just happened to be there and they had already been seen together. It was only convenient. Besides, she could be unpredictable and keeping her close was the only sure way to keep her under control.

"I really don't know what you're getting at," Giovanni finally spoke. The image of Delia standing at the world's edge in a Team Rocket uniform reemerged in his mind. He pushed it away; he couldn't allow her to become a distraction. If Archer was making any assumptions, he was wrong.

Archer shrugged and decided not to push the matter further, "you've been working really hard," he commented ambiguously, then returned to the topic at hand. "Maybe it's best if I speak to Misty and assure her that her family isn't in any danger as long as they don't mess up. I guess I should also mention that messing up by accident isn't likely unless they're careless."

"Those who are new to working under Team Rocket are always restless at first. They either rebel and are crushed, or they realize that doing their job right is the best strategy and behave. It'll be the second option with this. Their restlessness will pass," Giovanni predicted. "A warning will suffice this time."

Archer shifted as he sat across the desk from Giovanni. It looked as if he was about to get up, "alright."

Archer paused and remained seated as Giovanni added, "why Jessie? Why would they ask her? Is it because she was on Team Rocket before or is it because they know she's back."

Archer shook his head, "I couldn't say. Anyway, I'll make sure Misty gets the warning."

"I'll tell her," Delia suddenly opened the door, taking the two men by surprise. She entered the office, closing the door behind her. "I don't want Misty and Ash to be stressed. I'll reassure them myself, Misty's sisters too."

"How much sneaking around have you been doing?" Giovanni demanded to know with disapproval.

"None," that was her first time intentionally listening in on a conversation like that. "My keycard only lets me into the common areas and your office." The common areas were accessible to all the Rockets; the cafeteria and the workout gym where among such areas. 

"I see you've taken the time to test it," Giovanni observed, though he had already been aware of that.

Delia ignored his remark and stepped forward. She placed several pokeballs on his desk. "Your pokemon have been fed, exercised and bathed."

Archer felt that he was where he should not be. "If you'll excuse me, I should get back to work now." He had a feeling the discussion had taken a turn down a more personal alley.

"Yes, go ahead," with Giovanni's confirmation, Archer left the office. He closed the door behind him, once again locking the voices in the office within its walls.

Delia took up the empty seat across from Giovanni's desk. Persian watched them with attention. He could feel that they were tense. "It's the best choice," Delia began, "if I'm the one to tell Ash and Misty that everything is okay, they'll believe it. I'll tell them it's possible to live in peace with the mafia." Peace was not the right word and Delia realized that. She didn't know how to rephrase it to sound truthful yet optimistic. 

Delia's thoughts were elsewhere. Archer hinted that he thought Giovanni was keeping her around for a reason other than Binks. She couldn't help it but to wonder. She told herself not to get her hopes up. Practicing that decision was difficult; her sense of hope was very stubborn.

"That would require revealing your position," Giovanni reminded. He felt as if he was fighting a losing battle from the second Delia entered the office. 

"Not necessarily," she concocted a possible scenario. She could say that she had a friend or distant relative in the mafia with good connections. That allowed her to take a look around and be assured that everything would work out. No, that wouldn't work. She could admit to having been in Team Rocket in the past. She could say she had a friend in a high place. That seemed closer to the truth, yet it was still partially a lie. 

Furthermore, how did she come across such a friend in the first place? How would she explain that? Maybe she could be truthful yet ambiguous. She felt terrible about it, but she had become an expert at that. It wasn't enough; the truth had to be told. "I know I told you that I would leave it up to you to tell Ash the entire truth or not. I take it back; he has the right to know. It might break his heart, but these lies are worse. It'll be better that way; you don't need to be so avoidant of the facts anymore."

Giovanni thought of many things he could say. Abundant arguments and reasoning floated in his mind. Yet the only words he voiced were, "I won't try to stop you. Just don't say more than necessary."

"I promise," Delia assured, "besides, I don't know any real secrets anymore. The things I'll be discussing with Ash and later Ash and Misty are more related to us than Team Rocket."

Giovanni wasn't sure how to take that, "if you deem it necessary," the atmosphere felt heavy, as if the world came to a halt. 

Delia got up and petted Persian before looking back at Giovanni, "I'll let you know how it goes." It was clear she intended to take action immediately. 

Giovanni remembered something and was quick to stop her from leaving the office, "wait, the wedding."

Delia thought for a moment, remembering Daisy's wedding. She didn't want to cause unnecessary tension right before it.

"All the gym leaders are expected to be there," Giovanni pointed out.

"That would complicate things," there wouldn't be enough time for everything to settle down. Delia really didn't want to ruin the special occasion.

"I'll send Kenobi to talk to them," Giovanni decided. Kenobi was high ranked in the organization. It had been decided this term would be Rune's last. The elections were close, but Kenobi was always involved in the city's activities. As a result he easily stepped into his role as mayor candidate taking his father's place. Overall, the city received him well. They were convinced that Rune retired to take care of his health, which was in many ways close to the truth. "They should trust him and he can reassure them. That will be enough."

Delia nodded; it was the best course of action for the time being. However, she wouldn't let her determination crumble so easily. She wouldn't take the excuse to run away. "After the wedding, I still want to tell Ash the truth."

Giovanni knew that was coming. Things should have settled down sufficiently by then. He would be ready to deal with the possible and likely troublesome reactions. "Alright, just give me a warning first."

xoxox xox xoxox

The next day seemed to drag on forever at the Cerulean gym. The Waterflowers and Lando had been informed that someone would be visiting them to further discuss their adaptation to their new situation in alliance to Team Rocket. Ash was still there. Lando had left his Ackbar duties and hurried to Cerulean City. There was tension in the air as the four Waterflower sisters, Lando and Ash sat in the living room waiting. They didn't know who to expect or when exactly. They only knew someone from the mafia would pay them a visit on that day.

The pokemon were let out of their pokeballs to play and rest in the pool area. They sensed the tension and weren't in the mood to play. Most of them just sat there discussing the complex situation their trainers were in and wondering about it. Pokemon were generally more optimistic than humans.

It was the late morning when the door bell rang and the group got up at once. "I'll go," Daisy insisted. She felt it was her duty as the oldest Waterflower, to let the guest into their home. She walked to the main door, took a deep breath and opened it. She released the accumulated air in her lungs upon seeing who was at the door. "Kenobi, it's you. I like thought it was... you know," he was aware of their connections, "come in." Despite feeling relieved for a moment, the tension was quick to build up stronger. Daisy wanted to get everything over with.

"Sorry I'm a little late," Kenobi apologized as he followed Daisy back to the living room. "There was some heavy traffic on the roads today."

"It's okay, Violet will be happy to see you and I'm like glad you came too," Daisy tried to keep the stress out of her voice.

Kenobi arrived at the living room full of fidgeting people. All their eyes focused on him as he came in, then on the empty space behind him. No one else had arrived. Violet was the first to greet him with a hug. "I'm like really glad you could make it. I wonder when that person who's like supposed to be coming today will arrive."

Misty immediately caught what Violet was referring to openly. "He knows?" The word mafia was scarce in their conversation but to say 'them' and such words, was enough to communicate the message.

"Yes," Violet confessed. "Kenobi is in this too, since you're like about to get more information soon, it's okay to tell you now." She felt a bit guilty hiding that detail from her youngest sister, even if she thought it was for her own good.

"How many more surprises will I get?" Misty sounded too exhausted to be upset. Kenobi was the primary candidate to be Viridian City's mayor. Ash gave Misty's hand a soft squeeze, which she returned.

"There will be at least one more surprise," Kenobi announced, taking a seat in the living room next to Violet. "I hope this helps you relax rather than create more tension. The one who was to come to answer your questions and let you know what can and can't be done is me."

Everyone was visibly surprised. They had assumed Kenobi's involvement in the mafia was not quite high ranked enough for that. "Wait," Misty took a moment to process everything, "you're the Viridian mayor's son and the next candidate for mayor. Does that mean the mayor really supports Team Rocket?" Her eyes widened with a sea of possibilities forming, "the gym leader too?"

"What?" Ash exclaimed suddenly.

"Please don't jump to conclusions," Kenobi tried to keep the situation calm. "The Viridian gym leader is indeed our friend, but he is not aware of our connections," Kenobi felt guilty about lying, but it was necessary for Giovanni's identity to remain a secret until the tensions settled completely. "It's not impossible to have friends even if we are with the mafia. You're not forfeiting your lives. You just need to keep the business and your personal lives separate. This is a lot easier than it looks." 

Kenobi continued, "take Ackbar Inc. for example, the business functioned normally for many years. Several things were happening behind the scenes, but it wasn't a real obstacle. You can continue with your lives as if nothing has changed. Just remember not to say too much, remember what side you're on. As long as you don't cause any negative effects, everything is alright. It's not so different from before, from when you didn't even have this information."

"Pretending I don't know isn't so easy, but if it's the only safe way," Misty felt defeated.

"It will get better," Kenobi promised, "you have my word that it will."

A good portion of the day went by discussing business and proper social practices. It was as if the mafia had their own code of ethics where loyalty reigned supreme and justice had a new definition. From a certain point of view and embraced with an open mind, it didn't sound so bad. There were two sides of the coin; they would be fine as long as they remained in the good side. It felt constraining. The temptation to do things they wouldn't have done before, by lack of information or lack of provocation, was great. 

Forgetting about the nameless consequences as long as their dearest ones were safe was not an easy task for Ash. He connected with others easily; he was quick to help and quick to make friends. He wondered if he could handle it, he knew he had to. All in all, the tension did decrease after they listened to Kenobi and asked a few questions. Not all the questions came with a full answer, but Kenobi still had something reassuring to say.

xoxox xox xoxox

The Team Rocket laboratories continued with their tests and analysis of the blood sample from Akira. They arrived at several conclusions. The virus was a slow killer, unless the substance containing it, the black blood, was directly ingested. Madame's Ninetales Nien was one of the victims. Even if the poisonous blood was diluted by water, it was still potent enough to work fast. The quick deaths in the area near the stream between Pewter and Cerulean had ceased, the essence of death spilled into the stream was consumed. However, the sickness still spread, slowly being passed from one living being to another. 

What was left of the virus was much less severe. It would take time for it to become a serious problem. When passed from one living being to another, rather than being consumed or injected, the virus weakened considerably. Unfortunately it wasn't eliminated and would eventually begin to strengthen and present symptoms.

Poisona's words had been confirmed. The virus had no negative or even noticeable effects on humans. However, they could carry it, passing it to pokemon, becoming as poison to them. The scientists had to find, not only a way to cure the virus from pokemon, but also to remove it from humans. The way they reacted to it was different, thus there were many routes to explore. It was discovered that Akira's blood was black not due to the virus, but due to a strange substance that contained it, preventing it from spreading. That way, the initial infection would develop over time becoming harder to cure. No one would be prepared for it.

When Secura, alias Akira, received the virus through her mother as an unborn child, it was harmless. Aayla's body eliminated the substance, but in the fragile unborn Secura it remained. It developed over the years contained within her, unable to be contagious. Then it was finally released after the virus had developed into something deadly. She was the vessel for death to be born. No records of such experimentations existed as far as Giovanni knew. He theorized that Poisona or even Venom years ago, destroyed any remaining records. 

Secura's potential would not be awakened for many years. Venom intended to keep her by his side and train her as a valuable ally. Yet in a moment of guilt Aayla decided to lie. She insisted that she would be fine giving birth alone. A crowd of suspicious people in the hospital would not be good. She left her child in Mirta's care after faking the baby's records. The child was thought to have been stillborn and Aayla returned to her life with the gangs. She believed it was all she could do, she believed it was best that way. 

Perhaps that hidden secret was another aspect that influenced Aayla's thirst for vengeance on Venom, alongside being betrayed. Maybe that was why she was fearless with experimentation, if her daughter had to endure it, she could endure it too. Power would make everything alright. It would make her strong enough to avenge everyone she thought was lost and protect those that remained. That was what Aayla had believed.

To be Continued

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 073: Give me Destiny

In an unspecified time at an undisclosed location, a teenage boy entered a dark room followed by two pokemon. The room was shaped as a long rectangle with a tall ceiling. A thick red carpet five feet wide covered the metal floor from the entrance to the other side. Two three feet wide stripes of silver floor were visible on either side of the carpet. Its edges left and right were adorned in golden lines parallel to its length.

The boy walked down the long room. It had no windows as it was underground. A multitude of crystals hung from the ceiling producing dim light. Two waterfalls fell left and right at the end of the room. The water flowed down the walls seemingly disappearing when it hit the floor. In their center there was a throne upon three steps. The throne was surrounded by red curtains. Not a single sound could be heard, not even from the water. The footsteps were lost on the soft carpet.

Upon the throne there sat a woman. The clothes she wore were of a dark color, their details unperceivable in the darkness of the room. The glimmer of a diamond around her neck could be seen, its shape akin to a crescent moon. The woman's hair was long and golden, perhaps too golden to be a real shade of blond. Her eyes were brown, focused and piercing. Her straight hair ended in curls. She twisted one of the curls around her fingers with long crimson nails. She looked young, but she was just old enough to be the boy's mother.

To her left, two shadowy figures stood with green and purple hair. To her right there was another shadowy figure with red hair. They were very much alive, but stood motionless like statues. The boy stopped in front of the lady, his eyes determined, "mother?"

"The experiment was successful," the woman on the throne informed. The throne was plated in gold, with comfy red covers. "We have what is needed, the mission is yours." 

The red haired figure extended a hand from the shadows. The lady on the throne received the item given to her. It was a strange machine, shaped as a thick wand of metal. Its handle was a foot long with a glowing green jewel at the end. Lime green ones and zeroes floated endlessly inside the jewel's light. Tiny wires entered the jewel from the metal handle forming a faded web inside it.

The two pokemon with the boy were a female Vulpix and a male Persian. They both had thick black collars. The Vulpix looked worried, "is it alright?" As she spoke a red light appeared on her collar tracing the sound waves. Her voice came out in the human language, sweet and concerned.

The woman in the throne scoffed, "must you keep those collars on them at all times? Tell me again how you found those two oddball fur balls?" 

"They found me," there was a defensive edge to the boy's tone. He loved his pokemon, even if Vulpix was too kind for her own good at times. Persian's personality was quite different. He always encouraged his trainer to take all the opportunities that came his way, even if it meant breaking the rules.  

"The card," the regal woman spoke. The shadowy figure with green hair handed the boy something. It was what appeared to be a collectible card with a picture of a Pikachu. That particular card was shiny and durable, it was much rarer then a regular Pikachu card. "Everything will be as we discussed."

The boy nodded, "I'm ready," he insisted with determination. His brown eyes matched those of his mother. His hair was mostly brown as well, save for a line of gold in the middle, spiked up. The challenging look on his face was an often used expression for him; others included a cocky grin or dense confusion. He grinned as he spoke his parting words, "make sure not to fall in battle if he returns."

The woman ceremoniously lifted the odd scepter, its green jewel glowing. She ignored the boy's warning with a cocky grin of her own, "away you go!" She lowered the scepter and reminded, "you must blend in. Get ready and then you may leave." The boy knew she was right about that.

xoxox xox xoxox

In the present time, all over Kanto and perhaps soon the world, a dark legacy threatened to consume life little by little. The remnants of the virus introduced to Kanto by Poisona were slowly coming to light. It would be a long and arduous journey in the field of science. Many wondered if they would be able to come up with a solution on time. Even if the problem wasn't obvious yet, it was real.

Iblis' latest report gave the investigators another clue. As a result they discovered that traces of the virus had infected various storages of food shipped for human consumption. The investigation had been previously looking in the wrong place. Poisona didn't try to infect the pokemon directly; she aimed for the humans who would spread it.

It was already too late to stop the infection. The virus was still not something the public was well informed about. Humans suffered from no symptoms. The virus developed slowly within them, becoming stronger until it infected pokemon and began to weaken them progressively. It was happening so slowly that it was not yet a real epidemic, but the problem had already been released into the world.

Unaware of the situation concerning the virus, Ash, Misty and her family had their own reasons to be doubtful of the future. "I wish I could do something," Ash had insisted. He had gotten a look of determination as if he could take on the world. 

Misty had to calm him down, "let's give everything more time. Let's not do something we will regret."

A new day had started and breakfast brought a gloomy atmosphere. Lando and Kenobi had both stayed at the Cerulean gym. The previous day, things evolved into a point where the group relaxed and saw the visit as just another family gathering. There were even pokemon battles for fun. Ash came out as the ultimate victor. Misty was the only one able to put up a fight, the others didn't stand a chance. In the end, her Gyarados was knocked out by Pikachu, granting Ash victory. 

After a night of sleep, reality resurfaced. Daisy had enough of the gloomy atmosphere, "everyone cheer up!" She spoke of it as if it was the most vital requirement. "My wedding is in a few days. I don't want any long faces there. I expect to see smiles!"

The realization sunk in for Misty, she had been too preoccupied to worry about the wedding. "Oh no, Ash!"

Ash looked at Misty with confusion, "what's wrong? You look like you saw a ghost and I don't mean a pokemon."

"You have nothing to wear!" Misty urgently reminded Ash. "I was going to help you find the right tuxedo for the occasion, but we never got around to it." Her dress had been ready for a long time, but Ash kept procrastinating.

"Is that all?" Ash laughed. "I'll just go get one today. How hard can it be? All tuxedoes are exactly the same."

Ash was nearly melted alive by the glares of the Waterflower sisters. Daisy spoke in all seriousness, "no they're not."

Ash lifted his hands in a sign of surrender, "sorry, sorry, I meant no disrespect. I will choose carefully."

Daisy was not convinced. She looked at Misty pleadingly. "Don't worry," Misty assured, "I'll choose for him."

Daisy was visibly relieved, her worries replaced by a smile, "that's good to know." Ash pouted but didn't say anything. Daisy continued, "we should go shopping today."

Ash felt his blood run cold. Going shopping was in itself an unpleasant experience. Going shopping with Misty could be turned into a date, thus saving the experience from becoming torture. However, going shopping with all the Waterflowers was indeed torture. "Do we have to?" Ash pleaded in a small voice.

"Yes," Daisy cheerfully declared.

Ash summoned all his courage and patience, "alright." Surely Misty would reward him for being good and putting up with her sisters. Everything would be worth it in the end. His cell phone rang and he wondered if it was someone urgently calling him to be somewhere else. "It's Brock," he announced looking at the name displayed on the screen. He answered the call immediately putting Brock on speaker phone. "Hey Brock!"

"By the way, Ash put you on speaker phone," Misty specified. Though well intended, Ash sometimes forgot that it was not nice to put people on speakerphone without warning them.

A chorus of "hi," "hey," and "hello" mixed together as the table took a much more casual and light atmosphere. Introductions were mentioned where needed.

"Are you having a party without me?" Brock joked.

"Not at all. We just happened to be here at the same time so we improvised a little get together," Daisy lied.

"I'm in Cerulean City right now. Misty and her sisters are making me go shopping," Ash dramatized with exaggerated agony. "Want to endure with us?"

Brock laughed nervously, "I'd love to, but you know, you're way over there in Cerulean City and I'm way over here in Pewter City."

"Aw, that's too bad," Ash pouted, he didn't expect Brock to show up on such short notice, but that would have been good.

"It's going to be like an all day thing. Join in if you change your mind," Violet extended an invitation that made Ash pale. Shopping all day long? Not just until they found the proper tuxedo? Would it take that long to find one that was satisfactory? Kenobi and Lando shared Ash's expression while Misty sighed and summoned her patience.

"I'll think about it," Brock offered. The conversation took a turn towards the previous day's non-secret happenings. 

Daisy inquired if Brock had his attire for the wedding ready, he was also invited. Brock was indeed ready. "An example to be followed," Daisy commented, while looking at Ash. Ash could only place his hand behind his head and laugh sheepishly. 

They were all secretly thankful to Brock for pushing the conversation towards a more relaxed atmosphere. When they were only among those who knew of certain things, it was tempting to discuss them, even if everything had already been said. That did not help the mood. A mutual silent agreement was reached that they would try to continue living their lives as they normally would, one day at a time.

xoxox xox xoxox

A boy followed by two pokemon approached the Oak research laboratory. He glanced past the bars of the parted gates to the area beyond the brick fence. After a moment's pause he turned to his pokemon. "I know you don't like not being able to talk to me, but I can't let anyone see those collars. He patted his green backpack, "there safe here."

The Vulpix sighed, 'he'll get into more trouble without our advice,' only the Persian next to her could understand her. She considered her words again and changed them, 'then again, he might get into less trouble without your advice.'

The Persian pouted, 'what do you mean by that? I'm trying to help him; he's destined for great things.'

'Yes, I know. He comes from a mafia family but...' the Vulpix trailed into silence. 'Never mind, I feel like we've had this argument for more years than what we've lived. In the end, we always agree to disagree and put our differences aside.'

'You could always agree with me,' the Persian offered with a confident grin.

The Vulpix smiled sugary sweet, 'not happening.'

Their trainer was pouting at them. "Sure, have a conversation now that I can't understand you. I have the distinct feeling that you're talking about me." Choosing to disregard the possibility, he covered his spiky hair style with a red hat, only the brown part was visible. "Do I blend in, or do I blend in?" Without waiting for an answer he stepped on to the steps and waited. "That's odd, this escalator is broken..." He climbed the steps up to the door followed by his two pokemon. Atop the stairs in front of the door nothing happened. "Hello?" 

There was still no automatic greeting, no robotic voice saying, 'welcome guest.' No prerecorded message from the owner of the house. 

"Of course, I studied for this," the boy reminded himself. "Everything is low tech." He took a deep breath and yelled, "Professor Oak!" At the top of his lungs.

A few seconds later, Gary Oak opened the door. He blinked and stared at the boy before him. He was wearing light blue jeans, an indigo hoody and a red cap. He reminded him of Ash. "Yes?" Gary finally found his voice.

"Are you the renowned Professor Gary Oak?" The boy tried to put up his best act. "I'm here to be your employee."

"I'm not really looking for an employee," Gary calmly replied after having gotten over the familiarity of the unknown boy.

Time for plan B, "my poor pokemon..." he picked up his Vulpix. While the Persian's specialty was looking menacing, the Vulpix's specialty was looking cute. "I'm broke and homeless. My pokemon will starve to death!"

The Vulpix's brown eyes shone in sadness as if she was about to cry, "vulpix," she cooed gloomily.

"Well I guess I can't let that happen," Gary scratched the back of his head and looked away from the Vulpix feeling guilty. "What about your family?"

"I'm an orphan," the boy lied.

"I see," Gary found the entire situation to be suspicious, but it wasn't rare for pokemon trainers to try to become his apprentices. Gary would rather concentrate on his research then train an apprentice, but this boy got points for originality in his roundabout approach. Besides, he never said anything about training him and he could use some help taking care of the pokemon. If the boy asked for an apprenticeship later, he would deal with that at the time. "Come in, I'll hire you if you prove your skill in a pokemon battle. What's your name?"

The boy followed Gary inside, looking around as if he was in a museum. "I'm Va- I mean, um... Skye, my name is Skye." A low growl from the Persian prompted Skye to continue, "these are my best friends, Dia," he petted the Vulpix, "and Givan," he placed his hand on the Persian's back.

Gary attributed the verbal stumble to nervousness and excitement, though it was unexpected from someone with such a cocky look in his face. "Alright Skye," he would have to keep his guard up around that boy until he proved to be trustworthy. "We'll have a pokemon battle, one on one. If you're going to work here, you'll have to win."

Skye looked confident, "I will win," he stated with absolute certainty.

"We'll see about that," Gary had no intentions of making things easy. Gary and Skye stepped outside, sufficiently far from the structure so that it would not be damaged if the battle became intense. Gary took a pokeball out of his white lab coat pocket, "go Blastoise!"

The confident grin on Skye's face never faded, "Givan, I choose you!" Givan stepped forward with eagerness. He showed his sharp claws hissing menacingly. He was larger than an average Persian and definitely more threatening. His toned muscles tensed beneath his smooth fur and his tail was upright as he prepared to attack. 

"Your Persian is-" Gary's observation was cut short when Givan lunged for Blastoise with his sharp claws outstretched, aiming for the throat. "Blastoise!" The large water pokemon quickly retreated into his shell. 

Givan landed on his shell slashing at the opening where Blastoise's head was hiding. "Vulpix!" Dia stood at the sidelines alongside Skye. She sounded more as if she was scolding Givan rather than cheering for him.

"Rapid spin!" Alerted by Gary's command, Givan jumped off Blastoise as he began to spin. He dodged the spinning shell again as the Blastoise relentlessly attacked. 

Blastoise increased his speed as Givan dashed to the other side of the field. Givan jumped, at the same time Blastoise came to a halt. He had to avoid leaving the designated battle area and colliding with Gary, the turn was too sharp to make. Givan was already glowing surrounded by sparks when he landed on Blastoise. The brightness turned blinding as Givan released a powerful thunderbolt. When the light faded, Blastoise was unconscious.

"It can't be!" Gary was shocked. "Blastoise return, thanks for trying." The researcher looked at the Persian with curiosity. "His strength is obvious just by looking at him. But for him to fight so accurately without commands. What kind of training regimen do you have for your pokemon?"

"They do whatever they want," Skye began to reply, but was quick to change it. "What I mean is I trained them very well so it's possible for them to do what they want. They want to win!" Dia was saying something, but Skye couldn't really understand her.

"I would like to study Givan," Gary harmlessly extended his hand to the Persian in a friendly gesture. Givan hissed baring his claws, which caused Gary to pull his hand back. "He's strong, but not very friendly."

"Givan doesn't let anyone pet him," Skye confessed, "I can give him a friendly pat on the back, but that's it." He did so, congratulating his pokemon on winning. "I've always thought that Givan and Dia were special. There's something about them. I didn't even catch them, they came to me and stay of their own free will."

"Now I really want to study them," Gary looked at the pokemon with curiosity. Givan still looked fierce; there was an intimidating aura around him. Dia was all the opposite, she looked sweet, nice and harmless. "Are you friendlier than Givan?" Gary gently petted Dia who smiled in response. Givan's glare intensified and Gary thought it wise not to pet Dia too much. It seemed Givan was protective of her, "his mate?"

"I guess so," Skye replied, "they do get cuddly from time to time when they think I'm not looking." Givan hissed while Dia giggled, "alright, alright, don't get all temperamental."

"As promised, I'll hire you, but working here won't be easy. You'll have a lot of chores to keep up with," Gary warned.

Skye nodded, he would probably be doing things that were done by machines where he came from. It was all part of the mission; he would endure it and fulfill his purpose. He had stopped at the Pallet House on the way to see Professor Oak. Delia wasn't there. She was probably in the safety of Team Rocket, where no one could steal her away. When she returned to Pallet Town, she would be more exposed to a kidnap attempt.

xoxox xox xoxox

Daisy, Lando, Violet, Kenobi, Misty, Ash and Pikachu went from one store to another trying to find all the last minute things they supposedly needed for the wedding. Things that were not real necessities, but they decided they wanted. Lily had opted to stay at the gym all day, claiming she was tired. In truth she was feeling lonely in a crowd. The pain of her relatively recent heartbreak had resurfaced. 

She flipped through the channels on the living room TV, looking for something to watch. A sitcom about robotic pokemon who ran a pizza parlor and were secretly superheroes was about to end. A news bulletin came on during the space between shows. Lily wasn't really paying attention to it. They were talking about Tempest and Bollux's trial. The news made no mention about Solo, who had escaped due to some carelessness of the police. The police's reputation had been damaged enough. They didn't need any more incompetence coming to light. 

To keep quiet about Solo would make it harder to catch him, since no one who wanted to contribute a clue could do so. Yet the price to pay for possible clues contributed by the general public was too high. They would have to remain ignorant, believing the captives of the law to be the only culprits. Solo would remain anonymous. The police would search for him in secret.

Lily changed the channel as her cell phone rang. She put down the remote control next to her on the couch after lowering the TV's volume. Two men with big muscles and spiky hair fought each other on the screen in a flurry of special effects. "Hello?" Lily didn't recognize the number.

"Lily, it's me," the male voice was familiar and she recognized it right away. 

"Caedus!" Lily growled in an acid tone. "You called me to say you like couldn't be with me anymore, then you disappear and like never called again. I tried to find you, but it was like the very earth swallowed you. Now you suddenly call like nothing's happened?" 

When he broke up with her, he hung up so fast that he didn't even give her time to say anything. Afterwards he blocked her number and disappeared. He had gotten a new phone since then, a lot had happened. "I'm sorry; I was only trying to protect you."

"From what?" Lily had quite a few things to say to Caedus and none of them were nice.

"From Tempest, they had a grudge against me. They were looking for me. I couldn't get you involved," Caedus sounded tragic. "They're behind bars now so I can finally tell you."

"Do you expect me to believe that?" The tale sounded too convenient and exaggerated to be true. Albeit with all the surprises that had been popping up, Lily wondered if it was really true.

"I just wanted you to know," Caedus insisted solemnly. "I don't expect you to forgive me. In fact, you have the right to hate me. I just want you to understand the truth. I didn't want to get you involved, I had no choice. Please, let me explain in person. I'm right in front of the gym."

Lily was feeling angry and hurt, but she decided to at least listen to what Caedus had to say. She hung up on him without a word and paced around uncertain before finally opening the door. Caedus stood there looking apologetic with a dozen roses in one hand and a wrapped gift box in the other.  "Come in, I'll hear you out, but that's all." Lily stood aside indicating for him to enter, then closed the door when he did. She headed back to the living room with Caedus following. 

They sat down on the couch and Lily clicked the TV off. Caedus insisted that she accepted his gifts, "please, take this as an apology, even if I know it's not enough to say I'm sorry."

Wordlessly Lily took the gifts, setting them in a pile on her lap. Caedus was insisting with his eyes that she opened the box, he kept looking at it. "Start explaining," Lily set the roses aside and the wrapping paper on the box. It had pictures of pink and blue bubbles.

Satisfied that Lily was slowly opening her gift, Caedus spoke, "I suppose the best way to describe it is that I was in the wrong place at the wrong time," his words came out slowly and solemnly.

Lily pulled the shiny wrapping paper off the gift to find a box of chocolates. Admittedly, she really needed some sugar in her system after receiving such an unexpected visit. She opened the box and looked at Caedus with a neutral expression, "go on," she urged, before putting a chocolate in .

"I was walking down the street minding my own business. Then I heard someone yell in a dark alley near by," Caedus spoke slowly and sadly. "I didn't think about it properly before rushing to see what it was. Someone was being attacked. It was a girl just barely old enough to be a pokemon trainer. I couldn't abandon the poor kid," he paused looking at Lily; his gray eyes were full of sadness. "I managed to save her and took her to the Pokemon Center. The girl said she would stay there and report the incident to the police. Nurse Joy said she would take care of her." 

"That's what started it all," Caedus continued. "The girl was the daughter of someone important. They really needed to kidnap her. I messed up their plans and apparently that was more significant to them that I imagined. Lily, they were hunting me down. If they saw us together, they would have gone after you too. I was only trying to protect you because I love you."

Lily listened to Caedus' story. She felt tired, very sleepy. She leaned back on the couch and rested her eyes. His voice was so soothing. She didn't want to fall asleep, that would be so rude. She couldn't help it, she couldn't hold on to her consciousness. Her awareness slipped away.

He ran his fingers through his bright yellow hair. "You're so gullible," he grinned evilly. "Well, we'd best be on our way," Caedus, alias Solo, picked up the unconscious Lily and headed out of the gym.

To be Continued

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 074: Give me Eagerness

Brock got off the bus and headed towards the Cerulean gym. His friends were supposed to be out shopping all day, but surely they would be back by then. It was already well into the evening. He thought he should meet them after all, he wouldn't get over his sadness for being unable to get a date if he spent all his time at Rock On. Besides, with the news of Tempest having been apprehended he was feeling better about leaving the breeding center. He had heard the detailed story about how they were captured from Ash. 

Brock saw something unusual as he approached the gym. There was a man with yellow hair carrying Lily outside. He put her in the passenger seat of a blue car that had a broken window on the driver's side. He rushed over as he called, "what happened to Lily?" The man looked at Brock for a split second, before rushing to drive away. "Come back here!" Brock couldn't allow the apparent kidnapper to get away. "Go Steelix!" He jumped on the pokemon's back, "follow that car!" With a loud roar, the large pokemon began to chase the car as fast as he could.

Not too far from the Cerulean gym, Ash, Misty, her sisters and their dates, were at a fancy store. The store focused on men's formal attire. Ash came out of the change room wearing a tuxedo. As far as he could tell it was the same as the many others he tried on. Besides, that was the first store they visited early in the day. He had tried on that very same tuxedo before.

A collective gasp followed by fan girlish squeals escaped the Waterflower sisters. Their voices mixed into one with phrases such as, "you look great," "so handsome," "absolutely amazing," and such compliments.

Ash adjusted his tuxedo and grinned. His expression changed when he realized that the Waterflowers were rushing over to Pikachu, who was wearing a tuxedo top. Ash pouted and cleared his throat, "how do I look?"

Several seconds later, after some understanding looks from Lando and Kenobi, the Waterflowers finally stopped fussing over Pikachu. "You look very handsome," Misty complimented.

Daisy nodded, "I think this is the right one,"

"Yes, you should definitely wear that one," Violet agreed.

"I think this was the first one I tried on this morning," Ash reminded.

"We needed a point of comparison," Daisy calmly replied as if the day long ordeal had been nothing. "Oh, your bow-tie isn't on right. Misty, you'll keep an eye on him, won't you?"

Ash fiddled with the bow-tie, he could find nothing wrong with it. "Let me," Misty offered, fixing some unperceivable fault in the bow-tie. Daisy and Violet nodded their approval. Ash, nor Lando, nor Kenobi, noticed anything different about the bow-tie. 

At that moment, everyone was facing towards Ash. Ash was facing in the opposite direction towards the glass windows of the shop. He saw a car drive by wildly, avoiding traffic. Brock rushed after it in pursuit riding on Steelix. The noise caught everyone's attention, but by the time they turned around, they were only on time to see a police car zoom by. "That was Brock!" Ash exclaimed. "He was chasing some car riding on Steelix and the police was chasing them."

"I thought Brock was in Pewter City," Misty mused. The possibility of Brock rushing through the street chasing a car sounded very unusual.

"You don't have to like make up such silly stories," Daisy laughed, "we're like finished shopping anyway."

"Yeah," Violet agreed, "someone like ran a red light or something, I'm sure that's all."

"I'm serious!" Ash insisted. The approaching noise was heard again. "Listen, they're coming back around!" The same blue car from before drove up the street again with a police car after it. Brock and Steelix were no where to be found. Ash rubbed his eyes in confusion. "I saw them!" He insisted.

Misty gently patted his back, "it's okay, you're just tired."

Ash thought about it for a moment. What he claimed to see was indeed unlikely. "I guess you're right. My imagination must have played a trick on me."

Ash changed back into his normal clothes and purchased his and Pikachu's tuxedos. The group exited the store to the sound of Ash's stomach growling in hunger. They got in Lando's limousine and were on their way to get something to eat.

xoxox xox xoxox

Caedus, known in the illegal world as Solo, drove up the street trying to lose the police. He cursed his luck; he had almost made a clean get away if not for that guy with the Steelix. Misty didn't know who he was, but Caedus had seen Misty in pictures Lily had shown him of her family. He knew she was one of the trainers that ruined things for Tempest and wanted revenge. He remembered just why it was best to work alone, getting involved with Tempest brought him nothing but trouble.

Suddenly, Steelix dashed out of another smaller road into the main one. They had taken a shortcut to head off the kidnapper. Caedus tried to go around Steelix, yanking the steering wheel to the right. It was too late so he stomped on the breaks. The tires screeched and pealed, leaving black lines imprinted on the road. A loud crash echoed as the car collided with the large pokemon. The car was a mess, but Steelix stood strong with nothing but minor scratches.

The airbag on the driver's seat didn't activate and Caedus was thrown forward against the windshield. Lily was trapped between the passenger seat and the airbag. The police car came to a screeching halt, with another track of burnt tires edged into the road. Brock jumped off Steelix and rushed to Lily's side. He threw the door open and pushed the airbag aside to get her out before she suffocated. "Lily! Lily! Answer me!"

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, Lando's limousine was moving quite slowly. The driver's voice came from the intercom, "it seems there's been an accident up ahead. We might be stuck in traffic for a while. I apologize for the inconvenience. I can't see exactly what happened from here, but it looks like it involved a Steelix."

Ash jumped in his seat, "I knew it! I knew it! I told you I saw Brock riding on Steelix! I have to go see what happened." Ash was quick to hop out of the limo and dash to the side of the road. He hurried up the street on the sidewalk.

"Wait for me!" Misty followed suit, rushing after Ash.

"Shall we?" Kenobi inquired.

Violet decided to go with the flow, "we might as well go too."

"That's right, let's be adventurous," Daisy followed as well.

"We'll be back later," Lando said to the driver, before rushing out after the group.

xoxox xox xoxox

Ash was the first to arrive at the site of the accident with Pikachu on his shoulders. He was followed by Misty. They found Brock with Lily in his arms, crying like a baby. "Lily, you have to hold on! This is all my fault," he blamed the accident for her unconscious state and thus he blamed himself. The fact that she was already unconscious when Caedus put her in the car eluded him in the rush of the moment.

"Lily!" Misty called out, her voice drowned out by the sound of the two approaching ambulances. The rest of the group arrived soon after. 

Caedus was taken to an ambulance; he was badly injured but alive. The police network was informed about him, though only the Viridian public knew about his escape. The Jenny of Cerulean City immediately recognized the wanted man. 

Lily was placed in the other ambulance. She wasn't injured beyond a few scratches and bruises. Because Caedus was trying to make a turn when he crashed, the driver's side received most of the damage. Lily was unconscious and that was what worried the paramedics. Even if the airbag had apparently worked, they didn't discard the possibility that she might have hit her head. 

It was decided that only her sisters would ride in the ambulance with her, it would be too crowded if everyone did. The rest of the group returned to Lando's limousine and followed the ambulance to the Cerulean hospital. The entire way, Brock was a wreck. It took the combined efforts of Ash, Lando and Kenobi to calm him down.

While the group waited for the doctor's examinations and testing to finalize at the Cerulean Hospital, Jenny came by. Caedus had been safely locked up and she needed to file some reports. Brock received the most questions. He finished his replies just on time for when a nurse informed them that they could see Lily. Jenny followed after the crowd to hear Lily's side of the story.

"Don't worry, she's going to be fine," a doctor confirmed in Lily's room as the group of worried expressions entered. "She was just given a fast working sleeping chemical, it's nothing particularly harmful. Lily will be free to leave as soon as all the test results are in, it's just a precaution." Among looks of relief, the doctor left the crowded room.

Jenny wasted no time in stepping forward, "I know this is too soon," she apologized. "Could you tell me what happened?"

Lily was sitting up on the hospital bed. She was still light headed, but felt a little more awake when she wasn't laying down. "Caedus came back when I was at the gym," she began; the name was familiar to Daisy and Violet. Misty had heard it before, though she was away traveling with Ash often and wasn't well informed about who he was. She had never met him as Lily's boyfriend. Ash and Misty only recognized the man taken away in the ambulance from their battle with Tempest.

"Your ex?" Violet had arrived a few minutes after Ash and Misty, along with the others. Caedus was already in the ambulance and out of sight by then.

"Yes," Lily nodded sadly, "he said he broke up with me because Tempest was like after him and he didn't want to get me into trouble. He apologized and like told me about that, since Tempest has been arrested. He said he got on their bad side because he like saved a girl they were trying to kidnap. I think he was lying. He gave me roses and chocolates. When I ate some of the chocolate I felt really tired. I was like falling asleep and I couldn't help it. That's all I remember."

"I see," Jenny took in the information. She would fill up the report herself. There was no need to burden these people any longer. "Caedus Calrissian is a wanted man, though many people are unaware of that. He'll be going to jail as soon as he's out of the hospital. I'd like to speak to you again tomorrow when you're feeling more awake. If you don't mind, I'll drop by the Cerulean gym."

Lily nodded slowly, "yes," she could barely find her voice after learning the truth about Caedus.

"Well then, I'll be on my way, may you recover soon," Jenny referred more so to the shock then to any physical injuries. The officer left the room where everyone offered their words of encouragement to Lily.

Caedus Calrissian, alias Solo, turned to a life of crime after his father's cargo company was taken over by the Antilles family, under the guidance of Team Rocket. It all began when Caedus was a small child. His father was forced to sign an unfavorable contract. From that point on, the takeover slowly commenced until Calrissian Cargo became Antilles Oceanus. The Calrissian family was left in ruin.

xoxox xox xoxox

At the Viridian City gym, Delia was flipping through a catalogue looking at dresses. "Explain to me again why I'm doing this?" She sighed.

"Because all the gym leaders are socially required to go to Daisy's wedding," Giovanni explained as he typed something into his computer. They were in his secondary office above ground. He made himself available for gym battles. He had defeated a few trainers that day. "Since everyone thinks we're dating and you're going to be there too, then it's reasonable we go together."

"Yes, I already said I would go," Delia replied, "what I don't understand is why I can't wear what I intended to wear. I already have a dress. How do you know it's not proper if you haven't even seen it?"

"You told me," Giovanni reminded. 

Delia raised an eyebrow, "when did I say that?"

"When I gave you some jewelry to wear," Giovanni recalled, "you said it was too much to go with your dress."

"So instead of just wearing less jewelry I'm supposed to get a new dress?" Delia found the approach to be rather inconvenient. "Forgive me your majesty. This peasant has forgotten that she needs to look like a queen if she's going to be the king's date in a formal event."

Giovanni's reply to Delia's sarcasm was a simple and slightly amused, "you're forgiven." 

Throwing the fancy designer's catalogue at him was quite tempting for Delia, but she refrained from doing so. She continued looking at the dresses.

Giovanni interrupted with an annoyed, "what is the meaning of this?"

At first Delia assumed he was annoyed at some report or something he was reading on the computer. She couldn't see the screen from her angle sitting across from his desk. 

"Delia!" Giovanni insisted, turning the screen around so she could see it.

Delia found herself looking at a picture of a sleeping Giovanni with red ink all over his face. The design was reminiscent of a Persian. "So you were spying on my cell phone." Thankfully she had a backup copy of that picture in her computer at home, and several printed copies hidden in the bottom of some drawers.

Giovanni had been too busy to keep up with such details. Delia couldn't be making suspicious calls if she was with him most of the time and they had an agreement. It took him too long to realize that she had taken such a picture. He quickly sent the wireless signal to delete it from Delia's Rocket cell phone. "If you have any more copies of that," he looked threatening.

Delia was amused, she smiled sweetly, "just the one on my cell phone," she grinned mischievously, purposely hinting that she was lying.

Giovanni leaned back in his chair, and massaged his temples, "you're such a handful to deal with sometimes."

"So are you," she kept the same sweet smile. Giovanni returned to his work and for a moment only the sound of his typing was heard in the office. Then Delia suddenly asked, "do you want to hear a story?"

"A story?" He questioned. "Is this completely random?"

"Not at all," she paused. She was looking at elegant dresses to go to a wedding. The thought of a wedding reminded her that she never had one, though she almost became officially engaged. Those memories made her think of when she left Team Rocket to raise Ash peacefully. That reminded her of when Ash was born. Maybe the links were too long and many to be easily followed, "actually yes, let's say it is random. I realized I never told you about when Ash was born."

"Was there something unusual about it?" Giovanni wondered with curiosity. Why else would Delia offer to tell the story? If it was just a normal childbirth, he didn't think there was much to tell. Go to the hospital, give birth, wait a few days, go home, end of story.

"Not really," Delia mused, "well it was a little early, but it turned out fine. I just thought you might want to hear the story," she clearly wanted to tell it.

Giovanni didn't understand Delia's sudden eagerness to share that tale. He decided to listen. She would tell the story anyway, he was sure. "Alright, tell me the story."

He was discreetly reading something from the screen, but Delia decided not to mention it. Instead she began her story.

xoxox xox xoxox

Ash had been born just a few days after Gary. He came early, thus Delia was a little unprepared. Mrs. Oak had given birth in the Viridian City hospital. Pallet Town didn't have its own big hospital; the closest one was at Viridian. There was a small clinic in town to take care of check ups and minor injuries. Gary's mother and Delia had been going there for check ups. 

Mrs. Oak was very talkative. She would go on for hours about how glad she was they would give birth at close dates. She was convinced that the children would become best friends. She even hoped that they would end up dating when they were older if they were a boy and a girl. If the children were of the same gender then they would become sibling-like best friends. Mrs. Oak never would have guessed that the boys would develop such a rivalry, though they did become friends later on.

When Mrs. Oak went to give birth at Viridian City, she took the local Pallet Town doctor with her. The doctor had been keeping up with her check ups all that time and she wanted a familiar doctor with her. She also wanted to have the resources of a large hospital available. Professor Oak had gone to Viridian City with his son and daughter-in-law. For the next few days, Delia would be without her closest people in Pallet Town. 

She assured them she would be fine. They would return before her due date. Then later she would journey to Cerulean City with Professor Oak. She didn't want to give birth in Viridian, it felt too close to Team Rocket. She wasn't really hidden in Pallet Town, but she wouldn't purposely do anything that might make her presence stand out. She knew Giovanni had many connections in Viridian City. Pewter City was also too close.

It was a sunny morning in Pallet Town. Delia was beginning the preparations to serve breakfast at the Pallet House. People sometimes told her that she should take a break since she was so close to her due date, but she refused. She didn't want anyone thinking they had to feel sorry for her. After a wave of unusually strong morning sickness, Delia went to the kitchen and started to get things ready. She was running a little late that morning.

She dropped the bag of coffee beans she was holding, when the baby made an unusually strong movement, "what's gotten into you today, Ash?" She patted her large belly as is trying to soothe her child. The pain ceased and she carefully picked up the bag of beans from the floor, keeping her back straight. She lifted herself upright with her legs, thankful that the coffee beans had not spilled out of the bag.

She left the bag on the counter and reached for the little radio she kept in the kitchen. She was in the mood for some soothing music. As she tried to find a good station, the sudden sharp ache came again. Her face contracted in pain and her hands went to her stomach. "Ow, Ash, no..." 

Her breathing turned labored as she carefully reached for a chair and sat down. She took long deep breaths.  It had to be a false alarm, she couldn't be giving birth. It was not her due date yet. She looked at the calendar in the kitchen wall. It was May twenty-two. Her baby was supposed to be born at the start of June. The Oak family was still in Viridian City. Little Gary was only a few days old. More nausea came and she pushed herself to her feet, rushing to the bathroom. Minutes later her water broke. Another sharp pain came; there was no denying the truth.

"Delia!" A voice called from outside. It was Mrs. Alderaan, she often went to drink coffee at the Pallet House in the mornings. "Are you there?"

Delia took a deep breath and willed her child to stay still. She reached for the bathroom sink and splashed cold water in her face. She composed herself and went over to the kitchen door that led to the area with tables and chairs outside. "Good morning Mrs. Alderaan, I'm running a little late this morning."

"Oh, don't worry dear; I just came to say hi, you really should take a break." Mrs. Alderaan began her endless story about her Bellsprout, which she carried in her arms. "When Belle is exhausted, she gets asthma."

Did pokemon even get asthma? Delia smiled sweetly and interrupted, "I heard that the local doctor left the keys to the clinic with someone in case anyone needed some first aid supplies. Just out of curiosity, who was it?"

"It was me. At least I can count on having first aid supplies on hand if Belle ever got hurt. Oh but I will make sure she doesn't," Mrs. Alderaan continued. "Sometimes I call Professor Oak to look at Belle when she gets sick. My poor sweet Belle often chokes on air and gets the most violent hiccup attacks. Sometimes I call Dr. Quigon too. A human doctor should at least know the basics of pokemon medicine. It's just so unfortunate that they're both away at the same time. What if something happened to Belle? Don't you think it's just nerve wrecking to be without the doctor and the professor in town at the same time?"

Delia felt another wave of pain wash over her. She kept her legs firm and straight. If she bent her knees even a little, she was sure she would crumble to the floor. She clenched her teeth in a forced smile. "Yes, terribly nerve wrecking. Can I borrow the keys?"

"Of course, let me get them for you," Mrs. Alderaan didn't move, "speaking of keys, Belle was playing with the keys earlier, it was so cute!"

"Thank you so much, I'll come get the keys, just as soon as I get back from running a little errand," Delia walked past Mrs. Alderaan. Walking very stiff and pained, she headed up the street. If she let people take pity on her, they might treat Ash differently. She would prove she didn't need any pity.

"Such impatience!" Mrs. Alderaan raised one arm dramatically, palm up. In her other arm the Bellsprout seemed to be more aware of the situation than her trainer.

Delia hurried up the street to Professor Oak's place. She didn't bother with the stairs, instead calling at the top of her lungs, "Marty!"

She waited a few seconds and the young man came out, breathing heavily from all the running. He spotted Delia at the base of the stairs and hurried to her. "Is there an emergency?" Professor Oak had left one of his Pallet Town neighbors taking care of things while he was away. He only really needed to feed the pokemon.

Delia smiled sweetly; it felt relieving to be able to scream as loud as she could at least once. "There's no emergency, I just want to borrow Chansey. I feel like having the company of a Chansey, that's all."

"Oh..." Marty assumed it was all due to some kind of odd mood swing. "Okay, I'll go find Chansey for you, I'll be right back." The seconds ticked away painfully until Marty returned and gave Delia a pokeball, "here you go, is there something else you need? Is everything okay?"

Delia forced herself to keep smiling, "everything is fine, thanks for asking.  See you later," she went on her way, pained and stiff down the street. 

After making it to Mrs. Alderaan's house, Delia found the old lady in the front yard playing with Belle. Thankfully she had remembered to get the keys and promptly handed them over. "Isn't it a lovely day?" Mrs. Alderaan continued with her usual chatter. "That's why I brought Belle out to play in the yard, I'm sure she enjoys nice days like this."

"Oh yes, lovely day, thanks for the keys, see you later!" Delia rushed away as quickly as she could.

Mrs. Alderaan watched her leave. "Such impatience!" She threw her hands in the air. "I bet that patience will not be that baby's strong point." Standing on the ground beside her, Belle continued being more aware of the situation than her trainer.

Delia let herself into the clinic and hurried with difficulty to lay in bed. "Go Chansey!" She released the pokemon from her pokeball. The Chansey immediately realized what was going on. Her caring nature made her want to help the human. "Chansey, I'll be counting on you!"

Delia wasn't sure how much time passed, but it wasn't more than a few hours. The birth happened relatively quickly. Chansey was at a loss of what to do with something that wasn't an egg. "Chansey!"

"It's okay," Delia gasped for air, "I' know what to do." She did her best to guide the pokemon through the process of human birth. Delia had read up on it to feel more prepared. Chansey was nervous, but did as she was told and everything worked out in the end.

xoxox xox xoxox

By the time Delia finished her story Giovanni had stopped reading from the computer screen and was staring at her. "You were always good at blurring the line between brave and crazy," he finally spoke, impressed that Delia was able to handle the birth practically on her own.

"That's funny," Delia smiled as she remembered, "Professor Oak said something like that when he came back to town the next day and found out what happened.  You should have seen his face. The Chansey that helped me was his pokemon. He allowed Dr. Quigon to keep her in the clinic. She's a Blissey now. She's still helping out at the Pallet Town clinic." 

To be Continued

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 075: Give me Parties

"Relax; I'm not going to do anything crazy. You don't need to keep an eye on me twenty-four seven." Delia reassured Giovanni before he even had the chance to protest on her decision. She had just informed him that she was going back to Pallet Town. She missed her home and Mimey must be getting lonely without her. "I already tried on the new dress and it fits, I'm all set to go to the wedding. I just want to be in Pallet Town for a while before going to Cerulean City."

"I wasn't going to stop you," Giovanni half complained, though in truth he was going to remind her about a few things. 

Delia had, as promised, been visiting Binks. The visits went more or less the same way as the first. On the bright side, the dark circles under Binks' eyes were less prominent and she had talked him into eating a decent amount of food. She didn't expect him to be anything but thin; he had always been that way. At least he could return to being relatively normally thin, rather than in the bones.

"Be mindful of Binks' health," Delia recited. It was not how Giovanni would have phrased it, but it encompassed the basic idea. "Secrets should remain secret," she continued, "no big family revelations will be made until after the wedding," she paused in thought, "am I forgetting something?"

"That just about covers it," Giovanni voiced, at least she was aware of those points, even if she seemed much more relaxed about it than in the past. He knew she wouldn't keep up trying to avoid him as she did for a short time.

"Why do I get the feeling that you're assuming whatever you want?" Delia mused; she knew that confident look all too well. 

"You're imagining things. Besides, aren't I always plotting something?" There was no use in denying it.

"That is very true," Delia admitted. "Anyway, I'm concerned about the illness that's spreading. It still hasn't been declared an epidemic but it's worrisome. I trust you're not withholding any information?"

"No cure has been found, but the researchers claim they're making progress," Giovanni truthfully replied, 'they better be,' he mentally added.

"Binks said that too. Let's hope they have a breakthrough soon," Delia felt she had nothing more to do but to hope. Yet she wished she could do more. She had been reacting to things rather than taking action beforehand for the most part in her life. She wanted to change that.

"Now that I think about it, there is one thing you're forgetting." Giovanni stopped Delia as she was about to exit his gym office. 

"Not that I know of," Delia couldn't think of anything that was pending for her to do.

"Transportation," Giovanni reminded. "You need a reliable form of transportation in case I need to call you here for some reason. He gave her a key with a leaf shaped keychain that looked like the Earth badge. "It's for the orange car, in front of the gym."

"I don't really need-" Delia was interrupted.

"Just take it," Giovanni insisted, "if you don't want it, you can give it to Ash or something."

Didn't he just say it was in case she needed to be there quickly? Delia decided not to read too deeply into it. Instead she pocketed the keys and went on her way, "thank you."

xoxox xox xoxox

The trip from Viridian City to Pallet Town went by quickly in the car. It was late when Delia decided to return, but that didn't stop her. She parked the orange car in front of her little house. The evening had already given away to the night. She entered the house quietly. 

Mimey had heard the car in the stillness of the atmosphere. He looked out the window and saw Delia get out of the car. "Mime!" Mimey ran to hug her.

"Aw, did you miss me, Mimey?" Delia gently petted his blue hair. "Next time, you can come with me."

"Mime?" Mimey glanced at the living room, "mime?" He gazed towards the kitchen, "mime?" He looked towards the stairs.

"Don't worry about the house chores. The house will be fine by itself for a few days," she let Cloyster and Kingler out of their pokeballs. "How about we all have a snack then go to bed early? A good night's rest is important," she smiled. All the pokemon agreed.

xoxox xox xoxox

Down the street, Gary was ready to turn in for the night. His new employee was helpful but odd. It seemed he sometimes forgot how the most basic items worked and expected everything to be automatic. Then some kind of hidden realization overtook Skye and he knew what should have been obvious from the start. Other than being an oddball there didn't seem to be anything wrong with him so far. Maybe he was just a really big fan of science fiction. Gary yawned and went to bed.

Meanwhile, in one of the guest rooms, the boy who claimed to be called Skye was still awake. "Maybe I should check the house one last time just to make sure Delia is still with Team Rocket."

Dia and Givan had their collars on, which allowed them to speak the human language. "Do you think she'll come back this late?" Dia's black collar traced the sound waves in red lines. 

"We never know," Skye decided it was best to be on the safe side. If anything happened, he would at least have the proper information for a second attempt at his mission. However, he might not get that chance. One try was already a lot to ask for. "I'll take a quick look." Skye headed out of the guest room. His two pokemon followed him towards the front door. They exited silently and made their way down the stairs. From behind the locked gates, they looked towards the Pallet House. "There's a car, she must be back!"

It would look suspicious to ask Gary to unlock the gate, so Skye and his pokemon jumped over it. They hurried towards Delia's house stopping in front of the orange car. "It's pretty cool even if it's an antique. It must be new for everyone here," Skye observed. He looked towards the calm and quiet house. "I don't think anything has happened. We'll have to keep an eye on her just in case. At least until the danger passes. I wonder how long it will be? We don't even know what to expect. It was all so long ago."

"All of this could bring consequences," Dia's doubts plagued her again. "At the same time given what came as a result of that event, it can also bring improvements. It all feels so..."

"Confusing?" Skye offered.

"Convenient?" Givan suggested.

"Familiar," Dia finished unexpectedly. "Why don't I guard her for tonight?" She looked at Givan, "I'm trusting you not to be a bad influence on Van while I'm gone."

Givan grinned mischievously, "I always give him the best ideas, don't I, Vandel?"

Vandel, alias Skye, grinned in agreement, "most of the time."

"Stay out of trouble you too," Dia insisted. After Vandel took her collar off, she climbed into the house through the window.

"We should go back before anyone gets suspicious," Givan reminded. Vandel agreed and they hurried back to their assigned guest room at the Oak lab.

Dia quietly made her way to the source of light in the kitchen. The other pokemon, Mr. Mime, Cloyster and Kingler, noticed her, alerting Delia. "Hello there," Delia petted the Vulpix, "how did you get in?" She was too friendly to be wild. Maybe she belonged to someone in town. Most likely, she lived with the Oaks. Delia would take her there tomorrow and ask. For the time being, the Vulpix could stay in the house. "Do you want to join us?"

"Vulpix," Dia nodded. Delia gave her some food. Dia sniffed the cookies then began to eat them. She and Givan preferred human food for the most part. The chocolate chip cookies were welcomed.

xoxox xox xoxox

Morning came in the peaceful town of Pallet. Ash was still away, he had been talked into helping Lando with his bachelor party. As a result, he and Brock journeyed to Vermillion City with Lando and Kenobi, while the Waterflowers stayed at Cerulean City. Jenny did visit the gym, but her questions were quick and to the point. Lily was unaware of Caedus' illegal activities as Solo. Either way, they had enough accusations waiting for him, including kidnapping and car theft.

Delia woke up, got ready for the day and began the breakfast preparations. It had been a few days since the Pallet House was open. A quick group email to the town the previous night brought back her customers. The town woke up to the pleasant news in their inboxes that the Pallet House was open for business. Those who didn't see the message that morning, heard from their neighbors. It was a small town where anything resembling news was a rarity that traveled quickly when it came.

Among the chatter in the tables at the Pallet House, Delia filled her customers' cups with coffee. Gary was at one of the tables reading the news paper. "Good morning Gary. I think one of the pokemon from the research lab snuck into my house last night." She looked at the Vulpix by her feet. "She's a real sweetie."

"Good morning," Gary was able to take his time with breakfast that day. He started preparing the pokemon's food and setting it out for them with his new employee, then left Skye to finish the job. "Dia?" Gary recognized the Vulpix. "She belongs to Skye; I just hired him to work at the lab. I have to admit it feels good having more time to do research with some extra help taking care of the pokemon. It's been pretty busy ever since Tracey returned to the Orange Islands a couple of years ago. I told Skye to come have some breakfast over here when he finished getting the pokemon's breakfast ready." Gary looked towards the road, "there he comes."

A few minutes later, Skye arrived looking exhausted. He could run, jump and fight all day long, but chores tired him out quickly. He had plenty of physical endurance for some things and almost none for others. Perhaps it was the tediousness of a task that should been automatic that got to him. "All the pokemon have been fed," he collapsed into a chair at Gary's table, glancing at Delia with curiosity.

"Good," Gary commended, "this is Delia," he introduced, unaware of the fact that Skye, whose real name was Vandel, already knew who she was. "She's the best cook in town."

Skye woke up from his tired daze, "nice to meet you, I'm Skye," he gave her a grin that reminded her of both Giovanni and Ash. The boy's face seemed to be a blend of both their faces.

"It's nice to meet you too," Delia smiled sweetly, not letting her surprise at the resemblance show. Additionally Skye dressed in a similar way to Ash. "This Vulpix is yours?"

"Yes," Skye petted Dia, "Dia likes to explore sometimes. She must have gotten curious about the town. She didn't bother you, right?"

"Of course not, she's such a sweetie, it was nice to have her visit," Delia petted Dia as well. "You're welcome to come visit me whenever you like. Who's this handsome gentleman here?" She reached out to pet Givan.

"Be careful with that one," Gary warned, "he's not very... friendly?" He watched in awe as Givan allowed Delia to pet him, even purring in response.

"He seems friendly enough to me." The Persian reminded Delia of Giovanni.

"Is Givan one of those pokemon who are only nice to women?" Gary had come across a few pokemon who only allowed humans of the opposite gender to pet them.

Even Skye was surprised, "I don't understand, he usually doesn't let anyone touch him like that, even if it is a woman. I guess he likes you." Skye observed Givan; he didn't seem to be pretending to be nice for the sake of their mission involving Delia. It looked as if he honestly didn't mind if she petted him.

Gary got an idea, "maybe you can help me study him," he suggested. Givan gave a low threatening growl, "or maybe not." His cell phone rang, making Gary wonder who was calling him so early. He took a look at the little screen and saw Ash's name. "It's Ash," he announced before answering, "good morning Ash, you're actually up early today."

Ash yawned, still sleepy, "morning, I've been really busy," he stated what his yawn had made obvious. "Do you feel like coming to a party in Vermilion City? Say yes!" Ash insisted quickly explaining, "we need to invite one hundred guests, because Lando decided that it wouldn't be a real bachelor party without that many guests. Lando, Kenobi and I don't know that many people put together," or rather not that many that could be invited and expected to make it on time. "Say yes! There will be lots of food, drinks and pokemon battles, say yes!"

Gary laughed, "yes, but you'll have to give me the specific directions and time."

"No problem, I'll write everything in a text message so you can look at it if you forget," Ash cheerfully offered. "Sorry to hang up so quickly, I need to keep searching for guests, see you at the party!"

Gary looked amused, "he didn't even give me time to say goodbye." He closed and pocketed his cell phone. "There will be a bachelor party in Vermilion City with food and pokemon battles."

Skye looked up from the menu he was examining, "are we going?"

"I am going, you are staying here and taking care of the pokemon," Gary replied, much to Skye's annoyance. "Grandpa can't take care of all the pokemon by himself anymore. Besides, you're too young to drink."

Skye scowled, then remembered his mission, "fine." He couldn't leave Delia out of his sight unless she was with Team Rocket. No one ever said that the tragedy had to occur when she was in Pallet Town, but it was only logical. She was safe with Team Rocket, he assumed.

xoxox xox xoxox

The day went by uneventfully, giving way to a night of parties. Charla was at Cerulean City, she had stayed there since she was a girl, thus she would attend Daisy's party. She looked at the glass bubble on her tail. It would protect her flame from the water that would be abundant in the pool party. The large gym pool had just been cleaned and needed to be refilled with water. Misty left the pool automatically filling itself with water, the mechanism would shut down the flow of water automatically when the level was proper. 

Next to the pool there was a large supply of paint. It was temporary body paint that they would play with later. Daisy thought it would be original. She had definitely ordered far too much paint. Misty shut the doors to the gym arena so that the guests wouldn't wander in before the area was ready. She went to the aquarium area to talk to the guests.

A little later, music was playing and Daisy's party was going well. Other than playing Rattata maze with the pizza delivery boy, nothing too out of the ordinary had happened. The game consisted of blindfolding a person and having them make their way out of a maze of people without bumping into them. Their voices would be the guide. It was a childish playground game that was much more amusing than usual when the person declared to be the Rattata was a terrified handsome young man who was never actually asked if he wanted to play. Aside from being blindfolded, his hands were tied behind his back. It was hilarious watching him stumble around. It got better when his also handsome co-worker came asking about why his friend never returned to the pizza parlor. He became another victim of their game.

"Misty, did you fill up the pool?" Daisy inquired, she wanted to move the party there since all the guests had already arrived.

"Yes, I filled it up a while ago," Misty replied.

The festivities were interrupted by the arrival of officer Jenny. It was Violet who opened the door. "Hi!" She cheerfully greeted. "Have you come to join the party?" The local nurse Joy had attended. They had conveniently forgotten to invite Jenny, but decided to act natural if she showed up.

Jenny looked very displeased, "I'm here because of the complaints from the neighbors," she seriously informed.

"I didn't think the music was that loud," Violet mused, "alright, we'll turn it down."

"It's not the music; it's the massive amount of water coming out of your window. It's flooding the street and painting it!" Jenny dramatized. 

"What?" Violet blinked in confusion.

"Come have a look," Jenny urged.

Outside, Violet noticed that there was indeed a very unusual amount of water out in the street and it was indeed unusually colored. A small rainbow stream made its way down the sidewalk, filtering in under people's doors. The water fell to the lower ground of the road, making it difficult for cars to drive by when their tires caught the sticky paint. They went around the gym and found that there was a large amount of water coming out of the windows that led to the arena area. "Oh no," Violet hurried back inside."

Misty and Daisy stood in front of the door leading to the arena area where the big pool was. "Why is there water coming out from under the door?" Daisy asked with worry.

"I don't know, the pool should have stop filling itself with water when it reached the right amount," Misty observed Daisy's worried expression.

"Since you have like been away traveling you didn't know," Daisy realized. "The mechanism is like broken," both sisters shared wide eyed expressions.

Lily walked by, "why are you two like standing there? Everyone is ready to like have fun in the pool."

Violet rushed inside, her voice mixing with Daisy's and Misty's as they yelled, "don't open it!" It was too late, Lily opened the door and a flood of water came rushing out.

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, in Vermilion City, Lando was quite happy with the amount of guests in his party. Even if many were pokemon, there had to be more than a hundred guests in his mansion. "How wonderful," he cheered, "I am quite pleased to have entrusted the guest list to you, Ash. Now, how do we properly have a bachelor party? Such celebrations are not familiar to me," he admitted. "Shall we play classical music? Oh, but who would we dance with? Maybe we should do something else."

Kenobi paused for a moment in thought, "well, we could threaten some small company somewhere and take over their business. That would be a celebration," he suggested with a carefree smile.

Brock took Kenobi's suggestion as a joke, "Can we even call it a party if there are no girls?"

Ash rolled his eyes, the rich, the mafia and the obsessed didn't know how to have fun. "You have it all wrong. This is a party not a ball or a business meeting. We're supposed to listen to super loud rock music while we eat, drink and have pokemon battles until we pass out from exhaustion!" Lando and Kenobi looked at each other, then back at Ash. They nodded in agreement, admittedly, his suggestion did sound fun. "Since I'm starving, why don't we eat first and then battle?"

"Splendid!" Lando exclaimed, signaling for the butler to come over. The female staff had the day off. "I would like rock music to play, the loudest you can find!"

"Right away sir," the butler hurried to accomplish his unusual mission.

"I shall make sure all the guests are happily eating and drinking to their hearts' content, starting with you two!" Lando blissfully declared.

"Then I'll go eat and drink to my heart's content," Ash agreed with a wide grin.

"I'll gladly join in too," Kenobi added.

"Me three!" Brock cheered.

The music began to play and the party progressed as everyone ate and drank. Many tables with food and drinks were all over the grand room. It looked like a room where a royal ball would take place. It had a high ceiling with detailed paintings of various flying pokemon. The crystals in the glass chandeliers shimmered brightly, vibrating with the strong sound waves of the hidden speakers. The marble floors were perfectly polished like mirrors. The walls were made of glass, save for the columns that supported the structure every few feet.

Charizard was offered a cup with strong liquor, which he curiously drank. The substance had a strong burning taste, it was sour, but he liked the warm feeling it gave him. There seemed to be similar liquids of different colors. He tried each one, finding the warmth within him increasing with each drink. The flame on his tail grew, with sparks of fire jumping from it. The sparks reached the various tables as Charizard went from one to another, trying the contents of all the bottles he saw.

It didn't take long for someone to realize that there was a fire and it was spreading. Many flaming desserts were ordered and Lando had decided to deactivate the fire security system. He had a rather embarrassing mishap with it in the past that ended up with drenched angry guests and smoking desserts that should have been flaming. Before anyone could think to turn the security system back on, Charizard reached his limit. 

Charizard felt that something was about to explode in his stomach. He looked up to the ceiling; he couldn't hold it in anymore. He let out a loud roar with a massive breath of fire. The powerful column of fire reached the ceiling burning a hole through it. The fire continued spreading in the ceiling as sparks fell and most of the guests fled. The security system was turned back on and the sprinklers were finally activated. The indoor rain was very unpleasant for Charizard. He was lightheaded, not in his full senses, but still strong, he could not be called back into his pokeball. Displeased, Charizard thrashed about wildly, spreading the flames.

Ash and Gary called for their Blastoise to calm Charizard. The two large water pokemon only gave their trainers sheepish smiles as they leaned on each other like drunken buddies. In the middle of the chaos, Bulbasaur swung happily from the chandelier on his vine whip. He didn't seem to notice the danger around him as he laughed merrily. Brock was holding on to Bulbasaur, enjoying the ride.

"You let the pokemon get drunk!" Ash and Gary pointed accusing fingers at each other.

"Turn the water off, it's making him mad!" Kenobi yelled. A few more seconds passed until the sprinklers were turned off. "Calm the Charizard and get him out, then turn the water back on to put out the rest of the fire." Somehow in the battle of Charizard versus the sprinklers, Charizard had been winning.

Kenobi's advice was followed. Dodging flames, Ash approached Charizard and tried to calm him down. Charizard couldn't help it; he had an overload of fire. "It's okay, just let that fire out in a safe place." Ash climbed on his back as Charizard flew out the hole in the ceiling. He breathed fire into the sky, like fireworks, until he calmed down.

When Ash and Charizard landed back inside the mansion, the fire had already been put out and the water from the sprinklers ceased. Only Lando, Kenobi, Ash, Gary, Brock, the mansion staff and their pokemon remained. The other guests were gone.

"Leave it to Ash and his pokemon to heat up the party," Gary teased. His own pokemon weren't exactly sober, but they were nowhere near as destructive. 

"You said it!" Lando cheered as he put his arms around Ash and Gary. "You Pallet Town people really know how to party!" He sounded as if he had enjoyed every second of it.

"Is he drunk?" Ash inquired, referring to Lando.

"I'm not certain," Kenobi admitted.

"Let's hope so," Gary added, at least that way the insanity would be gone by morning.

Brock fell from the chandelier, with Bulbasaur landing on top of him. "They're drunk," Ash stated the obvious as Pikachu attempted to climb on his shoulder and kept falling back clumsily, giving him little electric shocks.

To be Continued

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 076: Give me Expectations

On the day after the parties, the day before the wedding, Ash, Lando and Kenobi returned to Cerulean City. Gary and Brock, who were also invited to the wedding, went there as well. The men found the interior of the gym looking messy and wet. Puddles were abundant in the street. Oddly enough, the street was also painted in bright colors. The body paints were indeed easy to wash off skin, but stuck to any other material.

The group had lunch together at a nice cafe near the gym. "Are you perchance remodeling the gym?" Lando curiously asked during their conversation.

The Waterflower sisters looked at each other and Daisy replied with a smile and a simple, "yes." It's not like they had a choice after what happened.

"I thought so," Lando smiled back. "I also noticed they painted the street in a rather original design, how very festive. Speaking of remodeling, I'm remodeling the party room. It's nothing too major; it will be ready for the reception tomorrow and I'm sure you'll like it." 

"I can't wait to see it!" Daisy happily exclaimed. Without any direct references to the disastrous parties, their conversation continued casual and carefree. The wedding would be held in Cerulean City, at Daisy's request. The reception would be held at Lando's mansion in Vermilion City, also by Daisy's choice. The locations were far from each other which posed an inconvenience. However, the problem was quickly minimized by making sure enough aerial transportation was ready.

xoxox xox xoxox

That afternoon, the group returned to the Cerulean gym where Brock found a quiet corner in a guest room to mope. It didn't take long for Ash and Misty to stray from the group and investigate. "What's wrong Brock?" Ash inquired, though he had a good guess about what was going on. Brock must have been feeling lonely due to his lack of date.

Brock looked away from the wall with a desperate expression. "I asked Lily if she would be my date for Daisy's wedding party and she said..."

"She said no?" Misty asked, "don't take it so badly. Maybe I can talk to her for you."

Brock shook his head, "actually, she said yes, but only because I helped her before."

"Congratulations!" Ash happily exclaimed, "you have a date, that's great!"

"Why aren't you happy?" Misty guessed Brock would be jumping with joy if anyone agreed to be his date.

"Because it's only a pity date," Brock pouted, "Lily might feel it's her obligation to stand next to me and talk to me and dance with me," Brock dramatized, his voice rising in volume and pitch as he went along. He frowned deeply, "she might not enjoy the wedding and it'll all be my fault."

"Aw, don't think that way," Misty tried to console him, her expression supportive. "You're a fun guy, I'm sure Lily will enjoy the date."

"Yeah, you two will have lots of fun together," Ash grinned. "Maybe Lily will even agree to go out with you again."

Brock seemed to grow sadder, "I don't think she'll go out with me again. Relationships never work out for me, I'm cursed. It's going to be heartbreaking even if she does have a good time. I'll miss her more when she rejects my second date invitation."

"Think positive!" Ash urged, though given Brock's history that would be a challenge.

"Listen Brock, it's about time you learned to be smarter with women," Misty spoke in a serious tone, her eyes piercing. "When you see a girl you like, don't just tell her, you have to get to know her first. I know you're good at heart, but anyone who doesn't know you that well will think you're a superficial jerk. You also give up too easily. Take it slow and gently, pursue the same interest loyally, but without stalking."

Brock nodded like a bobble head toy. He was too shocked for words. He stared at Misty, processing her advice. Then his mind was filled with pictures of his happy life with Lily. "I understand!" Brock loudly exclaimed. "I won't give up until I win Lily's heart. Somehow I will accomplish this without getting slapped or getting a restraining order!" He ran off to put his plan into action immediately.

"Wait, Brock that's not what I-" Misty didn't have time to explain herself. Brock had already run off, from his quiet guest room corner. His footsteps faded away down the stairs. Misty's advice was spoken in general terms. She didn't mean for Brock to apply it specifically to her sister. "Lily is never going to forgive me for this." 

"Who knows, they might end up dating for real," Ash thought of the possibility, but it seemed difficult. Brock really did have the worse luck with women.

xoxox xox xoxox

Far away from Cerulean City, strong winds blew as a helicopter landed in Pallet Town. The only thing identifying the black helicopter was a green leaf, shaped like the Earth badge. That particular helicopter lacked the red R most of Giovanni's flying vehicles had. It was an extremely rare event, far rarer than a car driving by, and that was already quite rare. It didn't take long before some of the inhabitants of the town gathered around the helicopter. They witnessed as the Viridian City gym leader exited the flying machine when the wind died down. He was followed by his loyal Persian, who was always by his side.

The people of the small town knew of the apparent relationship between Delia and the gym leader. Rumors traveled fast in the little town. As he walked, people stepped aside as if making way for royalty. They commented among themselves about the gym leader's 'dashing' arrival and came up with all sorts of romantic stories. Giovanni found it annoying that they didn't have the decency to wait until he was out of earshot to start gossiping.

Delia rushed out of her house to meet Giovanni. She was accompanied by her three pokemon, Cloyster, Kingler and Mimey. Additionally, she was followed by two other pokemon, a Vulpix and a Persian. The last two were Skye's pokemon Dia and Givan. "You could have been a little more discrete," Delia whispered to Giovanni. She expected him to pick her up, but not in such an attention grabbing way.

"Does it bother you that much that they talk?" Giovanni whispered back. He caught bits and pieces of the murmurs of the Pallet Town residents. They were muttering something about whispering sweet nothings. The public was composed of mostly idiots; it was something Giovanni had figured out a long time ago.

"Let's discuss this inside," Delia urged. She was feeling a little too scrutinized. Though the looks she was getting were much nicer, she was reminded of when she returned to Pallet Town expecting Ash. The looks she got back then were not nice. Now people seemed to be happy that she was with such an important public figure. They treated the situation as a matter of pride.

Giovanni, Delia and the pokemon went inside her house. Persian gave Givan a threatening glare. Givan was bigger than him, but he didn't care. He liked being the only Persian around. Givan had a look of superiority in his face. His expression was very familiar. Then something seemed to click. 'You're...' Persian glared, 'impossible! Who are you really?'

Givan remained unfazed, 'sometimes I wonder about that myself.' He began to leave and Delia noticed.

"Are you going back, Givan?" She called after him and he nodded in response. There was no need to guard Delia when she was with Giovanni. "Alright, I'll see you when I return, you too Dia."

"Vulpix!" Dia gave her goodbye and followed Givan to the door. Givan stood on his back paws, taking the doorknob between his front paws and twisting it. He exited the house along with Dia and closed the door.

Giovanni watched the scene with interest, "did you teach him that?"

"No, Givan and Dia already knew how to get around when I met them recently," Delia explained. She went to pet Persian, who was giving her an attention demanding look. "They're Skye's pokemon, he's Gary's new employee. He'll be taking care of the pokemon while Gary is away."

"Mr. Mime, mime mime," Mimey was curious about the man who was apparently dating his trainer. He introduced himself and extended his hand.

Though a handshake was a common trick, Giovanni decided to humor the pokemon and more so Delia. He returned the greeting shaking hands with Mimey. "Giovanni, Viridian City gym leader."

"Mime!" Mimey sounded happy.

Delia laughed, "he's impressed," she smiled and elaborated upon the introduction, "Mimey is my little helper."

"The one that cooks, cleans and uses a vacuum cleaner to wake people?" Giovanni remembered Ash mentioning it during his last visit to Pallet Town. 

"The very same!" Delia smiled proudly along with Mimey. "I promised to take him along with everyone the next time I went away. Should we get going before the neighbors decide to coincidentally drop by?"

"Yes, it's best if we leave right away," Giovanni agreed. Getting away from the office when he was waiting for important scientific reports was not easy. Either way, he really needed to attend the wedding the next day. As for his little trip to Pallet Town, the publicity was good. His image as the good gym leader was restored quickly. Romantic gossip could make miracles and disasters for public figures.

"Okay, is everyone ready?" Mimey, Cloyster and Kingler agreed cheerfully. Delia had been making sure to give her pokemon a lot of attention so that she wouldn't lose their trust ever again. "Into your pokeballs you go, I'll let you out when we get there," Delia recalled all three pokemon into their pokeballs. Mimey wasn't used to being in a pokeball, but he didn't resist the red beam that absorbed him.

Delia, Giovanni and Persian returned to the helicopter. The pilot was instructed to take off with Cerulean City as the destination.

xoxox xox xoxox

Dia and Givan had returned to the Oak research lab. Vandel, alias Skye, was laying on the grass a few steps outside of the house. "Chores are far more tiring than battles," he complained when Dia looked at him curiously. 

'Should we tell him that Giovanni was here?' Givan grinned mischievously. The expression didn't go unnoticed by his trainer.

'Van might be upset that he didn't get the chance to see Giovanni in person,' Dia warned. She could clearly picture Vandel complaining about missing a chance to obtain the autograph of the great Giovanni.

Vandel's tired eyes focused on the two pokemon. "I keep getting the feeling that you're talking about me right in front of me," he mused aloud. "I thought not having your collars would bother you more than me, but it's the other way around." He closed his eyes, "I'm taking a nap right here..."

"Skye?" Professor Oak's voice came from the door. 

Vandel got mentally ready to assume his alias, though Skye's following statement required no acting, "I'm so tired!"

"You're still young, where has your energy gone?" Professor Oak got an idea and smiled knowingly. "If you're that tired you can take the rest of the day off. That's too bad though, I was hoping you could help me study a rare pokemon. Oh well, I guess I'll wait until Gary comes back and ask him to help me."

"Rare pokemon!" Skye jumped to his feet. "Where is it? Where is it?" He was suddenly full of energy.

"It's right over here in the lab," Professor Oak walked towards the laboratory area of the residence.

Skye followed him impatiently asking questions, "what kind of pokemon is it? What makes it so rare? Is it really powerful?"

The short walk to the laboratory area felt eternal for Skye. Finally, Professor Oak picked up a pokeball he had set aside on his desk and released the pokemon it contained. What came out was a young Bulbasaur and he was all green.

Skye closely observed the Bulbasaur, waiting for him to do something amazing. The green Bulbasaur backed away, intimidated. That human had a very piercing stare, plus there was a very fierce looking Persian next to him. The Vulpix looked friendly, but that wasn't enough to make up for the young human and his Persian companion. "do something!" Skye exclaimed.

The green Bulbasaur let out a loud and frightened, "bulba!" He ran to hide behind the elderly professor. He was familiar with that particular human at least. "Saur!" The little green Bulbasaur wrapped his vine whip around Professor Oak's leg, firmly attaching himself to him.

"Be careful little one, you almost made me trip," Professor Oak grabbed on to the edge of the desk for balance. "There's nothing to be afraid of, no one will hurt you." He tried in vain to calm the little Bulbasaur.

Skye was still staring at the young pokemon intensely. He didn't want to miss anything whenever that so called rare pokemon did something amazing. "When is he going to do something?" He urged impatiently.

"It's his color," Professor Oak pointed out what he thought would be easy to notice. Skye sure sounded excited about seeing a rare pokemon, so the professor had assumed he knew that much about them. "This color is quite unusual for a Bulbasaur. I'm sure you've seen light blue Bulbasaur before."

Skye blinked, "his color?" Pokemon could be digitalized into data and kept in suspended animation where he came from. They could additionally be recolored. That was an illegal practice that could result in corrupt data. The risk of the pokemon remaining in a permanent coma after they were returned to a physical state was too great. Not even an expert could guarantee a successful modification. Of course, that didn't stop people from doing it. The pokemon that survived were generally weak as an aftereffect of the procedure. They were not ideal for battle, but they were not sold to battle anyway. They were living decorations. The technology to do such things didn't exist in the era of his mission. That Bulbasaur was naturally colored differently from most of his kind. "That is rare," Skye finally acknowledged, "is he very powerful?"

"He's still a baby," Professor Oak pointed out, "a frightened baby," he emphasized. He knew Skye wasn't scaring the little pokemon on purpose, but he was still scaring him. The same went for Givan, except he seemed amused by the little pokemon's fright. 

Dia pouted at Givan's grin. 'Don't be mean to him,' her words came out as a stream of "vulpix" for the humans. She walked over to the little green Bulbasaur and sweetly talked him into calming down. 

Vulpix was a fire type, but she was very gentle, so Bulbasaur wasn't afraid of her. He finally let go of Professor Oak's leg. "How interesting, it seems Dia has calmed him down." It was ironic due to their types. "I think we should begin the study there. Let's allow Bulbasaur to interact with other pokemon and observe them."

"You mean we're not going to battle?" Skye pouted in disappointment, "I want to battle!" He stubbornly insisted. What he really did was sent his pokemon into battle and watch them win. Givan had already shown his strength to Gary. Dia was generally a pacifist, but she was not a pokemon anyone would want to make angry.

The little green Bulbasaur once again looked frightened at the prospect of having to battle. The big Persian looked extremely scary and he didn't want to battle him. The Vulpix had shown him kindness, but she was a fire type. Even if she was merciful, the idea of battling her was also scary. Any type of battle frightened the little Bulbasaur. 

"I don't think Bulbasaur is ready to battle," Professor Oak tried to make Skye understand.

Skye looked at the small green Bulbasaur with disinterest, "he's not very brave. He's probably not very strong either. Don't you have some sort of super rare pokemon around here I can battle with?"

Professor Oak looked thoughtful; there was something about that boy that was different. He glanced at the Persian who was examining his expression. Their eyes met and a cold chill went down Samuel's spine. That Persian did indeed have a very intimidating presence. The professor brought his mind to focus on the situation with Skye and Bulbasaur. 

"To be honest, Gary has already studied this pokemon," the elderly professor revealed. "I just thought it would be good for you to study him as well. This little one is ready to be given to someone to train him. I've made up my mind; I'm giving you this Bulbasaur, take good care of him."

Skye was taken by surprise; he looked back and forth between Professor Oak and the small green Bulbasaur. He didn't really want the Bulbasaur. Plus he couldn't take any pokemon other than the ones he came with when he returned home. His refusal was clear in his face, but Professor Oak was giving him an insistent look.

'Just take him,' Givan finally spoke. Skye could only hear him say "per persian," but his expression spoke loud enough. 

'I thought you didn't like children,' Dia reminded.

'I don't,' Givan confirmed, much to Bulbasaur's worry. 'I just think it's a good idea for Vandel to train a pokemon from the start. We've been doing all the battling for him. He needs to learn how to train pokemon instead of relying on us all the time. He needs to become strong on his own.'

Dia thought it made sense, 'you're right, this will be good for Van. Even if we'll have to part ways, it will be a good experience.'

The tiny Bulbasaur whimpered, 'what's going to happen to me?'

'Don't worry, we'll take care of you,' Dia assured with a sweet smile. 'Van, I mean, Skye has to return home eventually and he won't be able to take you along. It's okay; we'll make the best of our time together and help you become brave and strong. Givan will help too, he's really not scary once you get used to being around him,' Dia casted a glance at Givan who grinned showing his fangs. He wasn't really trying to look any less intimidating.

Skye and Professor Oak found themselves watching the conversation that they didn't understand. Oak was determined to invite Meowth over sometime and have him talk to Skye's pokemon. That might not be so simple in Givan's case. Meowth was an open book when it came to his life outside of Team Rocket. Though he didn't specify why, he had stated time and again that he hated Persian. Perhaps the professor could get Dia alone for a moment while Givan was visiting Delia and ask Meowth to speak with the friendly Vulpix.

"Alright, I'll take him," Skye finally voiced his agreement. Later, he would have to ask Givan why he looked so encouraging. Dia he could understand, but this was an unexpected acceptance coming from Givan. It was only temporary, but Skye didn't mention that. There was no need to disclose details that would encourage an inquiry about explanations he couldn't share.

xoxox xox xoxox

The trip from Pallet Town to Viridian City went relatively fast, but for Delia and Giovanni it didn't feel that way. Delia was asking questions that Giovanni didn't feel like answering. Yet the information didn't seem too bad if painted in the right light. She had done her research about the news and wondered what happened to those who were not in the custody of the police. "Bollux was arrested and I also heard they captured Caedus," it was the name revealed by the news. She connected the events with what Ash told her about in a recent phone call. "Which leaves..." 

She didn't need to finish, Giovanni knew what kind of information Delia was looking for. "Yes, Poisona is still in Rocket custody. She's alive and as well as a prisoner could be. We might hand her to the police soon. It doesn't seem like she has much else to confess."

"I do wonder about your interrogation techniques," Delia frowned in disapproval at the possibilities. "I'll be keeping an eye on the news. I know she's a terrible person, but she better be in one piece. I wouldn't be surprised if she's a little bruised, but there are still limits," she stopped, she wasn't sure just where to set her limits. She had slipped back into a tolerant mind frame without fully realizing it. It gave her a headache to go in mental circles and she didn't like the satisfied smirk Giovanni gave her remark. 

Delia decided to change the subject a little. Her next question went down a similar road as the last, concerning a different person. "What about Akira? According to the news she escaped from the police on the same day she was detained. It was when... all those terrible things happened. They haven't really said anything beyond that." The sounds of the gunshots and pain were still clear in her mind.

Giovanni decided to mostly tell the truth about Akira. Technically, Team Rocket was keeping her alive, even if it was only for research purposes. Once that was done, she could spend the rest of her life in jail. She would take the blame for her own crimes and a few other unlawful acts that needed a culprit. "Comet found Akira and returned her to Team Rocket," there was no need to specify when those events took place. "She was in bad shape, almost dead, and it was not Team Rocket's doing. She's in a coma, the doctors are doing what they can to keep her alive," while at the same time studying her, but Giovanni kept that last fact to himself. "After she's been interrogated," in truth the interrogation wasn't important, the scientific studies were. "She'll be given to the police."

"I take it her list of crimes will be longer than it should be," Delia sighed. "It was just like with Tempest, they took the blame for everything. Team Rocket was doing a lot of unlawful things back then. It wasn't as pretty as I painted it," admitting it made Delia feel as if her precious past had been suddenly stained. "I should realize that and admit it," a part of her wanted to reject that truth and hold on to her precious memories as perfect pictures. She wanted to do that with at least the very distant memories, the ones of her beginning with Giovanni. The memories of a time before Team Rocket started to turn into what it currently was.

"You've matured," it was a slightly odd thing to say to someone who was well into adulthood. Yet somehow it appeared to fit. "Even so, it seems you still can't decide what you want."

"I know what I want," Delia affirmed, "I also know it's not possible to have it exactly as I want it. I'm trying to find the middle ground, trying to stretch the limits of tolerance. I'm trying to be happy with what I can have. I thought I had already accomplished that," until she decided to seek him out and he complicated things. She looked almost annoyed, "you have a grand ability to complicate things."

"So do you," he returned, almost amused by her expression.

The helicopter landed on the roof of a nice hotel in Cerulean City. After the blades slowed down and the wind subsided, Delia, Giovanni and Persian got out. "I should head to the Cerulean gym," Delia stated unsure.

"It's getting late, everyone must be busy and the gym is probably crowded. You'll be able to see everyone tomorrow anyway. Besides, I already had your things delivered here," Giovanni didn't expect Delia to oppose an argument. She didn't sound like she was protesting; it was more like she wanted to get away. It was all the more reason to keep her there. "Aren't you hungry? Dinner is waiting for us. There's no need to run away."

The thought of running away hit a sour note for Delia. She had been doing so much of that she felt sick with herself. "Sometimes I wonder if I'm just pretending to be nicer than I am. Sometimes I think I'm terribly selfish."

"You worry too much," Giovanni nonchalantly voiced. The elevator took them from the roof one floor down. Giovanni was already in possession of the keycard that unlocked the door to the fanciest suite. "We have a celebration to attend tomorrow. Even I know I should leave stress for later," running such a large organization as Team Rocket could indeed be very stressful.

At least he knew she couldn't simply make her worries go away. "Alright, I'll forget my worries and enjoy the celebrations. As of right now, until the morning of the day after tomorrow, I'll try to relax." She felt selfish in doing so, but honestly tried to let go of her worries for the time being.

To be Continued

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