Life As I Knew It Exists No More

by StarryHeaven

Set after the original storyline. Miya Morgan lives an ordinary life of an ordinary ten year old until one day, a mysterious girl named Zoey comes to her school. She brings with her dark secrets and many mysteries that will shatter Miya's world.

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Author's Note: Hi everyone! I'm back again! This is my first story in this category, and I wrote this for NaNoWriMo way back in November. I left the format the way it was when I wrote it because I'm still in the middle of typing it up, so what you're looking at is still unfinished work. I'm planning on editing it big time and making separate chapters after I finish typing the entire story. So please try to bear with me as I complete this story. As usual, if you have any comments or concerns, just message me. Enjoy!

Please note: This story takes place a long time after the original storyline. Ash and Misty are already into their late twenties/early thirties, and everyone is now all grown up. For the sake of understanding this story, know this: Giovanni has a brother, Kaputo, who is now leader of TR.

June 10th

Today our pretty daughter was born at 2:23 a.m. in the Viridian City Hospital. We named her Miyamoto Morgan, after mother. It's amazing that over a year ago at this time, James and I were still chasing after that twerp Ash and his Pikachu. We'd get 'blasted off' over and over and over again. It sure will be a big change, being good instead of evil and now actually caring for our Miya. I'll do anything I can for Miya, even risk my life for her. I'll try to keep her shielded from the bad influences in life, but of course, I can't protect her forever. I just hope that Miya will grow up to be a kind hearted caring and compassionate woman, and not evil. No matter what, I have to be careful what I say now around Miya as she's growing up, and I can't mention anything about our past life in Team Rocket. I can't tell her anything that she might perceive as evil and I especially have to be cautious, especially about Team Rocket.

-Jessie

In a town called Viridian City, a beefy and heavyset man tacked a small sheet of paper on an electric pole. On it was a line of words that read come one, come all! Be the first to join the new organization called Team Rocket! Register at the headquarters on Chansey Ave. and Jigglypuff Road. Underneath were a picture of two people, an orange-haired girl and a blue-haired guy, both wearing black midriff shirts that had a red "R" on the front. The girl had on a black miniskirt, and the guy had a pair of black pants on.

"Hehehe." chuckled the beefy guy evilly. "That should lure her here in no time. Kaputo will be pleased. Soon he will be able to force the girl to work as a Rocket, and soon, the girl will be brainwashed to kill her parents!" He gloated. "Soon, Jessie and James will be no more!" He cried maniacally.

10 years later…

The day dawned bright and sunny. Suddenly, a girl with lavender colored hair and bright blue eyes zipped by an electricity pole, knocking over the faded piece of paper that had been attached to the pole.

"Oh, jeez! I'm late for school! How can I be late for school?! Yikes! I knew I shouldn't have watched that rerun of pokemon master Ash Ketchum battling against that Dratini! Now I'm late for school! Mom was right when she said--hmmm? What's this?" she wondered, picking up the piece of paper.

"Come one, come all." She read aloud. "Be the first to join the organization called Team Rocket. Sign up at the headquarters on Chansey Ave. and Jigglypuff Rd., and fulfill your lifelong wish of being a pokemon master."

"All right!" she shouted excitedly. "This was always what I wanted to do!" Just then, the sound of bells could be heard in the distance.

"Yikes!" the girl screamed. She hastily stuffed the ad in her bag and raced off. A shadow from behind a nearby tree laughed sinisterly.

"Phase one, done." he said into a small computer.

A harsh voice from inside the computer replied, "Well done. Get her here, and quick."

The shadowy man responded, "I can't do this on my own. I'll get Cassidy here, too."

The voice on the computer answered, "Just as long as you get her here, I don't care who you get to help you. I'm counting on you. Don't disappoint me, Butch."

"Don't worry. I won't." Butch replied. He closed the computer and chuckled evilly. "I won't disappoint you, Kaputo. Cassidy and I will be ten times better than those losers Jessie and James ever were." He laughed again as he took out a picture of Jessie, James and Meowth. Slowly, he lit a match and set fire to the picture. "Goodbye, old team rocket, hello, new team rocket." He whispered as the photo slowly disentigrated into ash. The man got up, and, treading on the ashy remains of the photo, left. Meanwhile...

The girl panted as she raced into the schoolyard just a second before the gates closed. "Phew. For a minute there, I thought I was a goner." She muttered with relief. Just then, a shadow loomed over her.

"And just what are you doing out here, Miss Morgan?" A voice thundered.

"Umm... exercising?" she suggested in a small voice.

At the end of the day...

Sitting in the principal's office was the most terrifying thing that could happen to the students at Pokemon Academy. Yet, Miya Morgan was sitting right in the seat reserved for bad students such as Zanmosse, the notorious bully that beat up little kids. The principal walked in.

"You're free to go, Miss Morgan. But no more tardiness, understand? This is your first, and hopefully, your last. Now a good day to you." Miya raced out of the office and all the way home. Her major concern right now was to get home before her mom and dad did, so she wouldn't get in trouble for being late. Miya ran to the apartment where she lived, ran all the way up the stairs, and into her apartment, slammed the front door and raced up to her room, where she threw down her knapsack and sighed with relief. She knew that her mom was a waitress at the Viridian City Restaurant, and her dad was an assistant at the Viridian City Pokemon Center, so they wouldn't be back until 9:00. Miya dropped on her bed and looked at the clock. It said 7:00. "Gosh, that was close." sighed Miya.

"Two hours left to spare, can you believe it?" she asked her stuffed Pikachu toy. Then Miya had another inspiration. She snuck into her parents' bedroom and searched inside. Sure enough, underneath her parents' wedding photo were three tiny white and red balls. Nervously, Miya clicked the black clasp in the middle and the balls grew to fit inside her palm. Miya threw a rope out of the window and ducked out of the house. She ran into the Viridian Forest and threw the pokeballs down, calling, and "Come on out, Arbok, Weezing, and Victreebell!" The pokeballs opened and Arbok, Weezing and Victreebell came out of their pokeballs. "Yes!" Miya cried triumphantly. She had been waiting for this moment since she first saw the pokeballs- since she was 2. Her mom, Mrs. Jessica Morgan had been given an Ekans when she was little by her mom, Miyamoto. The Ekans evolved into an Arbok. Her dad, Mr. James Morgan was given the Koffing that later evolved into a Weezing. Then he caught a Weepingbell, which later evolved into a Victreebell. Now it was Miya's turn to catch a pokemon. She dug in her pocket until she found what she wanted- a small red and white ball. "Come out, Charmander! I choose you!" Miya threw the ball and a charmander appeared from the ball. Miya was very proud of her Charmander. She had gotten Charmander on her first birthday as a present. Miya had only one dream- to become the world's greatest pokemon master, just like her hero Ash Ketchum.

"Come on, everyone!" Miya yelled as she ran into the forest behind her home. "Let's go catch my first pokemon!" At the Team Rocket headquarters, a girl with orange hair and a boy with blue hair, both wearing Team Rocket uniforms snuck out of the station.

"It's going to be so easy, Butch." the girl whispered.

"I know, like taking candy from a baby." Butch answered. "Only easier. Because we are taking a child from her parents. This should be very easy, Cassidy. Easier than any other mission we've ever done."

"I know." Cassidy answered. Meanwhile, though, Miya had found a pokemon and had no idea whether it was friendly or not.

"Ummmmm... Hi?" tried Miya nervously. "I'm Miya Morgan, and I want to be the world's greatest pokemon master."

"Oh, you do, don't you." smirked a shadow behind her.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Miya screamed.

"Don't be scared. I'm only trying to convince you to give up your dream."

"Why?" asked Miya tentatively. "Because I am going to be the world's second pokemon master." replied the shadow, coming out. Miya saw a girl with shoulder length brown hair and pale gray eyes.

"I'm Miya. What's your name?" asked Miya conversationally.

"Me? I'm Lexi, and next time, mind your own business. Let's go, Crawdaunt."

"Crawdaunt!" exclaimed a pokemon that looked like an overgrown crab. It scurried off behind the girl.

"Sheesh! Just trying to be nice!" Miya called after her. Miya shook her head. She couldn't understand people sometimes. Miya ventured further into the forest and found a yellow thing. Curious, she poked the thing. It stirred and woke up.

"Snorelax" it yawned sleepily. It got up and looked at Miya. Miya then realized that the thing was taller than a skyscraper! Miya forgot about catching pokemon and ran and ran and ran until she was safely inside her apartment.

"Whew. That was way too close for comfort!" Miya sighed. She got the table set up, prepared the food for dinner, and set it on the table just as her mom and dad walked in.

"Wow! Something smells delicious!" Her dad exclaimed as soon as he walked in.

"That's just Miya for you." Her mom replied, smiling.

Later that evening, Miya asked her parents, "Hey, mom, dad? What do you know about the pokemon master Ash Ketchum?"

Miya's dad said, "Well, he was kind of crazy... and our biggest enemies." Just then her mom walked in and glared at him. "Well, it's true!" he protested.

"What did I say about telling lies to our daughter?" Her mom demanded.

"All right, all right." her dad stalled.

There was an uncomfortable silence.

Then Miya's dad said awkwardly, "Ummmmm, well, Miya, it's bedtime and you should be getting to sleep. Go now." He practically shoved Miya all the way to her room and shut the door. Miya brushed her teeth and got ready for bed. She was about to climb into bed when she heard her mom and dad arguing. Curious, Miya kneeled next to her door and listened.

"I knew you shouldn't have told her about the twerp and his friends!" her mom was yelling. "Yeah, but we can't hide the fact forever." her dad answered. There was banging, and then silence.

"The fact that what?" Miya wondered. Just then, she heard her parents going towards her room. She raced across the bedroom, jumped into bed, pulled the covers up and closed her eyes, steadying her breathing so her parents would think she was sleeping. She heard her parents walking past her room and into their room. Whew, that was a close one, Miya thought. I should probably get some rest now, since tomorrow is the big field trip to Professor Oak's lab, and the entire fourth grade is going. I definitely don't want to be the one person left behind! At that, Miya's pulse stated racing. I can't wait to see the very famous professor who was the only one to discover the mystery behind the GS Ball, and the very person that gave Ash Ketchum his Pikachu! Miya turned around in bed, and, clutching her pokeball tightly with both hands, drifted off to dreamland.

The next day was the day of the big field trip to the pokemon lab. Everyone piled up inside the bus and they were off to Professor Oak's laboratory in Pallet Town.

"I can't believe it!" Miya said excitedly to her friend, Lavinia. "This is where pokemon master Ash Ketchum got his first pokemon, Pikachu!!"

"I can't wait either!" squealed Lavinia excitedly. She bounced up and down on the seat, causing Miya to fly face forward into the back of the seat in front of them.

"Sorry." Lavinia grinned sheepishly. "I just can't help it. I'm so excited."

"That's okay," answered Miya, picking herself up. "I can hardly wait myself." Meanwhile, at the lab, Professor Samuel Oak was getting his lab ready for the kids on the field trip. He had been getting ready since early that morning. He set a glass tube into the rack and sighed. Everything was finally in tip-top shape.

"All set." He sighed, as he mopped his face with a black and green checkered handkerchief. Just then, he was grabbed from behind and tied up with ropes.

"This is an interesting catch," cackled a man.

"Yes, a prize catch, indeed," a woman's voice responded.

"What should we do with him now?" questioned a third person in a high and reedy voice. "Silence! You will not speak unless you are spoken to!" the woman reprimanded.

"Yes, ma'am," the person with the reedy voice responded humbly. The man suddenly froze in place and threw up a hand for silence. The woman perked up her ears and listened intently. From outside, a group of some thirty or forty people could be heard, sounding mostly like students and teachers from the local elementary school.

"Abort the mission! Immediately!" the woman hissed at her two companions. The other two nodded and quickly got to work. Someone gagged Professor Oak and tied him to a chair. Then he three mysterious people threw the whole lot, chair and person, in the storage room. Little did they know, Professor Oak's coat had torn during the escapade, and now shredded lab coat lay on the ground in a trail from the lab to the storage area. The mysterious figures drove out of the lab, cackling evilly. Meanwhile, the school bus arrived at the lab and everyone trooped inside, excitedly babbling the whole time.

"Professor Oak?" called the teacher. "Funny… he must be out. Well, I guess we'll have to visit another day, kids."

"Awwwwwwwwwwwww" everyone groaned.

"It's a shame, isn't it?" asked Lavinia disappointedly. Miya had other plans. That night, Miya had dinner as usual, got ready for bed, and went to bed at exactly 9:00. As soon as her mom had said goodnight to her, Miya popped out of bed.

"Time to put plan "Find Professor Oak" into action!" she grinned, and rubbed her hands together. Then she stopped and sighed. "I feel so guilty about disobeying my mom and dad. I feel like some sort of undercover spy." She threw a rope out of her window and stealthily climbed down, landing on the ground with a soft thump. Miya quietly crept along the worn path, turning every now and then to check to see if anyone was following her. Miya arrived at the deserted lab in an hour, and turned the knob to find it locked. She took out a bent paper clip and poked it in the lock. A second later, she heard it emit a soft pop, and the door gave way. Miya walked inside to find it trashed and deserted, just like when she and her class came in earlier that morning. She quietly walked across the room, crunching softly on bits of crumpled paper scattered on the floor. Miya walked over to the test tube racks and examined them. No sign of tampering. She searched all around the main room, but still no sign. Miya sighed. This could take forever, and she didn't have much time. She looked at her wristwatch. The watch displayed 11:46. Miya sighed again. She felt very tired. "Maybe Professor Oak won't mind if I sit on his couch for a while." Miya walked over to the grove of overstuffed couches and wearily sank into a sagging green beanbag chair. CRUNCH!

"Huh?" Miya wondered, as she pulled out a broken pencil. It had broken when Miya sat in the chair. "What is a pencil doing here? Unless…" her voice trailed off as she looked around the lab and discovered a broken test tube on the floor. It was covered with ragged pieces of cloth and fragments of fibers. "Oh, no!" Miya gasped as her heart sank. Her eyes followed the trail of fibers and broken cloth. "Oh, yes!" She gasped, jumping up and following the trail of rope fibers and broken cloth. The trail led to a small storage room with a furnace and chairs. One of the chairs was covered in the same cloth that the trail consisted of! Miya hurriedly ran over to the covered chair and pulled the cover off. There in the chair sat Professor Oak, tied to the chair and gagged with tissue paper. "Professor Oak!" Miya gasped, startled. Professor Oak made a rasping noise and jerked on his rope chains. Miya quickly untied the rope and Professor Oak took out the gag.

"My! That cloth is definitely not made of 100% cotton. I'd say 40% Nylon and 60% Polyester." Miya just raised her eyebrows at him.

"Say, I don't know you from anywhere. Who are you?" the professor asked. "I'm Miyamoto Morgan. I'm from Viridian City."

"Ah, yes. Then how and why did you come up here at-"He checked the clock, "-one in the morning?"

"What?" gasped Miya, shocked. "Oh, no! I've gotta get home. Okay, I'll just explain things really fast. My fourth grade class went on a field trip here, and you weren't here, and there was a bunch of litter and junk on the floor, like a robbery." Miya spewed nervously. She glanced at the professor, who had an amused expression on his face.

"Go on."

"So I decided to come back here in the night and see what was going on. You see, professor, I'm ten, and I already have my very first pokemon, a Charmander. I want to travel on a journey to train and be a great trainer." The professor nodded. "Ah, yes. Let's see now. Let me ask you one thing. If someone came up to you right now, and asked what your greatest ambition was, what would you answer?"

"Oh, that's easy." Answered Miya eagerly. "I want to be the greatest pokemon master in the world, just like my hero Ash Ketchum! I've wanted to be like him since, like, forever! You don't know how much I want to fulfill that dream, professor! Ever since I was old enough to understand, I wanted to become a pokemon trainer. It's so fascinating, exploring and learning about new pokemon and new places. It's just so cool!" Miya paused, and then blushed with embarrassment.

Oh, no. Have I said too much? Will the professor get mad at me? Miya wondered anxiously. But the professor merely chuckled.

"You remind me of someone else, a long time ago." He chuckled. "In fact, you are very similar to him, and he had the same dream when he first started out with just a naughty Pikachu. You remind me of him." He held up a picture.

"Ash Ketchum?!" gasped Miya.

"That's right." "Ever since I saw you for the first time, I knew that you would have the same kind of courage as he did, and have the same dream- to become the world's greatest pokemon master." Just then the cuckoo clock chimed cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo, and a Swellow popped out of the clock with every cuckoo.

"Oh my gosh!" gasped Miya. "Two in the morning already? I have school tomorrow!" The professor went to the computer, and typed something in the computer.

"Well, now you don't." smiled the professor, pointing out the window. Miya looked at where he was pointing, and sure enough, on the ground was a thin layer of snow.

"That's odd. Snow in summer?" Miya wondered aloud.

"I have contacted a weather changing lab far from here. They have the equipment to make it snow, even in the middle of summer." Winking at Miya, he continued, "The snow should be at least 10 inches thick tomorrow morning. And if I'm not mistaken, I guess that means no school for you."

"Yay!" exclaimed Miya happily. "Thank you ever so much, professor!" she exclaimed happily. "Now, I believe you should get going now." The professor smiled. Miya hurried along the worn path and returned home. She stealthily climbed back in through the open window, making sure to brush off all the snow from her shoes. Suddenly, the lights went on in her room.

Miya looked up, startled. In the doorway stood her mom.

"Miyamoto Morgan, where have you been?!" she fumed, crossing her arms. "You've got a lot to explain, young lady." Her dad entered the room, followed by Officer Jenny. "Well?" demanded her mom.

"I was out for a walk, and I guess I lost track of time." Miya started in a small voice. Just then, Officer Jenny's walkie-talkie radio squawked.

"Snow very deep. Unable to drive back to headquarters. Over."

"I read you." replied the other Officer Jenny.

"Well, it's getting late, and you should be getting to bed. We'll settle this tomorrow, Miya." Her mom said as she, her dad, and Officer Jenny walked out of her bedroom. Miya flopped onto her bed and groaned. This was worse than she had thought it would be. Who knew that her own parents would ambush her like that?

"I'll probably be grounded 'till I'm a pokemon master." Groaned Miya to the ceiling. Suddenly, she saw a flash of yellow in her backpack. "Oh, no." She groaned. Charmander had let itself out again. "You're worse than that Wobbuffet my friend Lavinia has. Return, Charmander." Another flash of light and Charmander returned to its Pokeball. "Remind me never to get my mom mad." She muttered as she brushed her teeth. Miya changed into her nightdress and went to sleep. The next morning, Miya awoke to the radio blaring an announcement. "This is the school board of Viridian City speaking. Due to the amount of snow, the schools will not be operating today, and no children should be in attendance at school. Again, school has been canceled due to the weather. We appreciate your cooperation. Thank you." "Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssss!" Miya yelled, leaping out of bed. "No school today! Now I can have fun!"

"I wouldn't count on that." Her mom said, walking into the room. Miya just sweatdropped. Half an hour later, Miya found herself scrubbing the toilet in the restroom.

"This is not at all it's cracked up to be." Miya groaned as she scrubbed the toilet a bit too hard with the brush, and the brush tip broke and landed in the toilet bowl. At that moment, Miya's elbow landed on the handle and the toilet flushed. "Oh, no!" gasped Miya. She clenched her hands in fear. This is it. I'm really gonna get it now. The toilet's gonna overflow, and mom's gonna get mad at me. I don't want to get mom mad. The toilet flushed, down, down, down, and stopped. "Gosh, what luck," Miya sighed, contemplating the series of bad luck she had had in the past few days. "First, I'm late to school, and get grilled by frumpy old Mrs. Wich, then I go into the forest and meet up with a Crawdaunt and get scared half out of my wits, and a snobby trainer snubs me. Now I'm stuck scrubbing the toilet, which is the worst punishment in the world, and now the brush breaks and flushes down the toilet. What next?" Miya sighed again and swiped at a wisp of lavender hair, which had fallen in front of her face. Great. Now to make things worse, she had bleach all over her hands, arms and hair. Miya groaned with exasperation and looked up, catching a glimpse of her in the mirror. A messy and disarrayed Miya stared back at her. "Oh wow. All that trouble and I look like an escapee from the black lagoon?" Miya told her reflection sarcastically. Miya got up from the toilet bowl and washed her hands at the sink. After she had cleaned herself up, she looked at herself again. She was pretty, a petite figure and very slim for a ten year old. Although she didn't look prettier than her mom, she was thin for her age, probably, she mused, because she didn't stuff herself with pastries like Lavinia did. Lavender hair, bright blue eyes- wait. Where did she get the purple hair? And those eyes. Her mom had gorgeous blue eyes, with lots of depth in them, while her dad had emerald green eyes. So where did she get her bright blue eyes? Miya's mind instantly wandered off to a conversation that she had with her mom a year ago. She had asked, "Mom, who was I named for?"

Her mom answered, "Miyamoto, your grandmother. She looked just like you."

"Oh!" Miya grinned happily. Then she noticed that her mom had a sad and faraway look, and decided not to ask more about the subject. Miya sighed, and her thoughts wandered back to present day. She gave the toilet bowl another half-hearted scrub, then called downstairs, "I'm done, mom!" There was no response from downstairs. "Oh, well. I guess I'm finished then." Miya shrugged, and then started to go to her room. She stopped in front of her parent's room, and then cautiously looked inside. No one was inside, and the door was ajar, so Miya pushed open the door and walked inside. She carefully opened the drawer and was about to get the pokeballs when her knee hit the drawer and the drawer below it popped open. "Huh? What's this?" wondered Miya as she took out an old faded photo. In the photo were some people, but what really caught Miya's eye were two people, a guy and a girl, both in their early twenties. The girl had fiery red hair and bright blue eyes, and was wearing a white jacket that showed her tiny waist, and a white miniskirt. The jacket had a red R on the front. The guy had blue-purple hair and emerald green eyes, and was wearing about the same as the girl, only he had a white jacket and pants on, and the jacket had a red R on it as well. "Who are these people?" Miya wondered aloud. These two looked awfully like her parents. Her mom had red hair, and her dad had blue-purple hair, just like the two people in the picture. Just then, Miya heard the door closing downstairs, and hastily shoved the photos back into the drawer and slammed the drawers shut.

"Miya?" she heard her mom calling, "Where are you? I'm home!" Miya quickly walked into the room.

"I'm here, mom," she answered. Swinging her backpack on her shoulder, she said, "I'm going to the library, okay?"

"All right," Jessie answered. "Just make sure you come home before 5 for dinner, okay?"

"Sure thing, mom!" Miya called over her shoulder.

"And Miya, don't slam the" Miya raced outside and slammed the door shut. "-door." Her mom finished. Miya hopped on her bike and pedaled furiously toward the town library. Inside her backpack she had hidden the photos and pokeballs. As Miya raced along, thoughts went around her head like a spinning top at a dizzying speed. I wonder why those photos were in the drawer, kept away. Maybe they have something to do with my parents. No! They are good people, and wouldn't be stupid enough to be in a gang or something like that. But common sense overwhelmed her. My parents couldn't be bad people, she thought desperately. I know they can't be evil… or can they? Endless thoughts overwhelmed Miya, flowing around and washing over her, engulfing her like a tidal wave.

"Hey, little girl! Watch where you're going!"

Startled out of her private realm of thoughts, Miya jerked back to the real world to find herself on a collision course with an old man. Miya quickly jerked the handlebars, and the bike wobble precariously as Miya swerved and just narrowly missed the old man by a hair.

"Sorry, sir!" Miya called over her shoulder, wobbling left and right. Miya arrived at the library and snagged a computer. Going on the Internet, she browsed around on different sites. Then, on a pure whim, she typed in "Girl and boy with white jacket with red R on the front" in the search engines. A bunch of sites for Halloween costumes appeared, and none of the sites were good, as they were all trying to sell costumes. Miya sighed. Then she returned to the original search engine, and typed in "big red R" and got a list of results for gang affiliations with the name "big red R". This was impossible! Miya groaned and typed in a bunch of nonsense words, just for the fun of it. "No search results were found" showed up on the screen in big bold letters. Miya felt a surge of anger and a heat wave washed over her. She felt her anger thermometer get higher and higher, and finally, unable to contain her anger any longer, she banged on the table with all her might.

The librarian looked up and sternly glared at Miya, saying, "Please be careful. You break it, you buy it."

"Yes ma'am." Miya said meekly. At exactly 5 o' clock, Miya pedaled homewards, churning with questions. Who are the people in the photo? Why are they wearing the outfits with the big red "R" on the shirt? Why do mom and dad have this picture in the drawer, and are they related to them? Questions like these went through Miya's head over and over and over again, but she could not make sense of any of the questions, and she could not answer any of them. She didn't dare ask her parents; for fear that they might get mad at her for asking such a question. If my parents can't answer the questions, then I'll figure it out myself, Miya decided. But right now, I'd give anything to figure out why my parents are so protective of me. They won't let me go shopping- not that I care anyway, but they're so protective of me. Perhaps too much. But I know one thing that's for certain: I'm going to get to the bottom of this, no matter what. I'm tired of my parents whispering behind my back and all the secrets kept from me, so I'm going to find out what's going on, and no matter what, I'm going to find out, Miya resolved. Reaching home, she locked her bike into the kickstand and went in the apartment building. Pulling out her house keys, she unlocked the apartment and went inside. She picked up the pace and speed walked to her room. She grabbed her orange and yellow PokeTalk- her laptop- and flopped on her bed to wait for it to boot up.

When her PokeTalk loaded, Miya opened Pokenet and typed in, "gang affiliations with costumes." Almost instantly, the results showed up. There were 10,000 results found. Miya groaned.

"That wasn't any help."

Sighing, Miya scrolled down the page to look at the results.

"Nothing is useful, wait… TR? What's that?"

Mystified, Miya clicked on the link. A black page showed up, with the words TEAM ROCKET in big red bold letters with a silhouette of Kaputo in the background.

"What the heck is this? Who is that?"

As she scrolled down the page she saw a link that said, "News". Interested, she clicked on the link and was brought to a page that resembled a newsletter. Miya flipped through the articles one by one, until a particular article caught her eye. It was a tiny article, only five lines long, and the article said:

Since Giovanni has died, the new leader of Team Rocket will be Kaputo,

the younger brother of Giovanni. He's hiring new recruits, so sign up now!

ENROLL NOW AT THE TR HEADQUARTERS ON CHANSEY AVE. AND JIGGLYPUFF RD! THE SPACES ARE LIMITED, SO SIGN UP NOW! BE THERE FOR YOUR CHANCE TO BECOME A MEMBER AND WIN A GIFT FROM KAPUTO!

Miya stared at the screen in shock, her mind reeling with the new information. Quickly, she went back to Pokenet and typed in "Team Rocket" and clicked the quick find button. The first thing that popped up on the page was a Pokepedia page with a whole page about team rocket. Miya scrolled down the page slowly. This is what she saw:

Team Rocket

An evil organization out to take over the whole world. The leader was Giovanni, but currently, he is listed as missing and the current boss is his brother Kaputo.

Agents

Giovanni Giordano

The original boss and leader of Team Rocket. He wanted to catch rare Pokémon and use them for his evil plans. He has a younger brother name Kaputo (see below)

Kaputo Brooks

The younger brother of Giovanni. He is the current leader of Team Rocket. He is cruel and ruthless, and will stop at nothing to get what he wants. He has a daughter named Zoey.

Zoey Brooks

Zoey is the daughter of Master Kaputo. She is trained as a team rocket agent; her agent name is double 09. She goes to Cerulean Academy, but now goes to PokeAcademy in Viridian City. She always does her best, but is a bit mysterious.

Cassidy Butcher

Cassidy is a top agent for Team Rocket. She and Butch steal rare Pokémon for the leader, Kaputo. She is extremely talented in singing and can charm a Pokémon to sleep with her singing. She rarely shows her caring side, but she cares about Zoey and regards Zoey like a daughter.

Butch Butcher

Butch is also a top agent for Team Rocket. He and Cassidy steal rare and valuable Pokémon for Master Kaputo. He isn't that talented in anything but he can dance pretty well!

Agents classified as missing

Miyamoto

There's not a whole lot of information on Miyamoto. We do know that she has a daughter named Jessie, who was once a rocket agent as well. She was sent on a mission to the Andes Mountains and was never heard from again.

Jessie Morgan

Jessie was a "B" class agent. She was known for being stubborn and difficult. She was vain at times, and cared about her appearance more than she cared about catching Pokémon. In her group of James, Meowth, and herself, she was a leader and came up with all the ideas for catching Ash Ketchum's Pikachu. She went missing after she dropped out of Team Rocket, along with James and Meowth.

James Morgan

He is also a "B" class agent, and can be a bit of a wimp at times, and likes to whine a lot. Although he doesn't have much of a backbone, he has a big heart and gave up his inheritance of the manor in order to stay with his team. Awwwwwwwwwww…

Domino Dice

Not much is known about Domino. She was a top class agent as well, and she was the second in command under Giovanni. Kaputo got rid of her because he didn't like her.

What? Mom and Dad were team rocket agents! Why didn't they tell me, why are they hiding this piece of information from me? Well what ever they're hiding from me I'm gonna find out. Who is this Zoey and why is she coming here? What does she want? What is she gonna to do to our school? Is it something bad? What part of this team rocket organization is she? Arrrrrrr, I don't know anything about this! I'm gonna find out even if it takes me to dangerous places, creepy woods, glaciers, abandoned deserts, and deep into the jungles, I'm gonna to find out!

"Miya, dinner!"

Miya heard footsteps getting closer and closer to her door.

Oh, no! Now what? If Mom and Dad find out about what I'm looking up on the Pokenet, I'm gonna be grounded forever! What should I do? What should I do? WHAT SHOULD I DO?!!!!

Quickly, Miya touched a button on the back of the screen and the monitor went black. She smiled innocently at her mom as if she hadn't been caught red-handed by a squad of Officer Jennies.

Jessie walked into the room. "Miya dear, it's time for dinner."

"Okay, mom. Be right there."

Whew, Mom didn't catch me. At least, not that time.

Miya turned on the monitor again and shut down her poketalk.

As she went down the stairs, she heard her parents talking as they set the table. She quietly sat on the stairs to listen.

"Hey, James," she heard her mom say.

"Yes?" her dad responded.

"I heard there was a new girl coming to Miya's school tomorrow. I heard she's a transfer student all the way from the Hoenn region."

"I heard she was from Cerulean City."

"I also heard that her mom died when she was very young. Poor girl."

"What's her name?"

"Don't know. Think it might be Zoey. Zoey… Zoey Brooks, I think."

Zoey?!!

"Really? What's her dad's name?"

"Kaputo Brooks."

Kaputo?!!!!

"He's the boss of the Bulbasaur Credit Card Company."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Hey, can you pass me that salad tosser?"

"Sure. Here."

Miya got up and tried to act nonchalant as she went down the stairs. When she walked into the kitchen, her mom and dad quickly sat down and started to spoon food into their plates.

"So, how was your day, honey?" James asked as he popped a baby tomato into his mouth and chewed.

"Oh, great. The restaurant had a lot of customers today. What about you?"

"It was great. Today, we had a 250 pound customer at the Pokémon Center."

"A 250 pound person?!"

"No, it was a munchlax."

"JAMES!!"

"What?"

The next day at school…

"Class, a new student has arrived at Pokémon Academy. Please welcome Zoey Brooks!"

So this is this Zoey…

"Zoey, would you stand in the front and introduce yourself?"

"Um, okay."

Miya watched as the brown haired girl walked to the front of the classroom. She wore a blue shirt that had gray sleeves. Her shirt had three yellow buttons in the shape of a Pikachu. She had a cap on her head that was green in the middle and blue on the outside, with a lightning bolt in the middle. Her hair was tied up in a high ponytail with a brown hair tie. She wore gray sweatpants and white running shoes. But what was crazy about her was that she wore green fingerless gloves, even though it was the middle of summer.

Okay, she looks like a girl from a gang or something. If she's purposely trying to scare me, it's NOT working!

Miya stared the new girl straight in the face, hoping she would get scared. But she didn't, and Miya found a pair of blue-green eyes staring coolly back at her.

At lunch break, Miya came up to Zoey.

"I'm Miya," Miya responded warily.

"I'm Zoey," the new girl responded seriously.

"So… you wanna battle me?"

"You're on!" Miya answered enthusiastically.

"This is a one on one battle, with no substitutions."

Miya pulled out a pokeball and enlarged it, then threw it out into the field.

"Let's go Charmander!"

A lizard like pokemon that was almost all orange except on the belly emerged. "Char!"

Zoey also pulled out a pokeball and threw it out.

"I choose you, Poochyena!"

A wolf like pokemon that was almost all black with white paws appeared facing Charmander. It bared its fangs at the opponent. Miya stood in what she hoped to be a battle stance, all the while envying her opponent.

I don't believe it. She's standing there like it's nothing, so natural and relaxed. How does she do it?

"Ready? Begin!"

"Charmander, use flamethrower!"

Zoey didn't even flinch. Her Poochyena took the damage, then Zoey yelled, "Poochyena, shadowball!"

Shadowball?!

"Charmander, dodge it!"

But Charmander didn't have time to react, and the dark blast of energy hit it directly. It went flying, hit the ground and skidded a few feet. But it still got up. Miya wasn't finished yet.

"Charmander, body slam!"

It hit full force into the wolf puppy pokemon, but the wolf didn't even bat an eye. Both pokemon skidded a few feet, then stopped.

"Poochyena, howl!"

Wait, howl?

A deafening howl resounded throughout the gym, and heads turned toward the sound of the noise. Miya watched in horror as Charmander's eyes crossed, a common sign of paralysis.

"Charmander, no!" Miya wailed as it bumbled clumsily around the battlefield.

"Poochyena, end it now! Shadowball!"

A second blast of dark energy shot at full speed towards Charmander, and Miya watched helplessly as it fell to the ground.

"Charmander is unable to battle! Poochyena wins! The winner is Zoey!"

Miya just stared as Zoey recalled her Poochyena and started to leave. She ran after Zoey, calling, "Wait! Zoey, wait!"

The younger girl turned around. "Yes? What do you want?"

Miya came to a stop in front of Zoey, breathless. "That was a great game. You're tough." She held out a hand for Zoey to shake.

Zoey looked at Miya's hand, then at Zoey. Time seemed to stop as Zoey sized Miya up. Finally, Zoey spoke.

"Thank you."

"Lavinia! Lavinia! Guess who I battled!" Miya skidded to a stop in front of her friend.

"Who? Did you win? Did you win?"

Miya hung her head. "No. I lost. But it was against Zoey, so…"

Lavinia gaped. "You mean that creepy new girl?"

Miya shot back, "She's not creepy, she just dresses weird."

Lavinia scoffed. "Looks like she went on her journey without permission."

Both Miya and Lavinia cracked up.

"No, seriously," Miya said, when she stopped laughing. "that Zoey has strategy."

"I still think she went on her journey without permission," Lavinia scoffed.

At TR headquarters…

"Dad, I'm home!" Zoey kneeled in front of a looming shadow sitting in a chair.

"Good, I need you to go on a mission. You know the drill. Now go."

"Roger that Dad."

Zoey accepted a folder from the shadowy figure. "I'm on my way."

Zoey inspected the contents. "Okay, it says… 761 Jynx Court. There's an old lady with a ring that's supposed to be the legendary ring of Lugia. Come on Poochyena."

"Poochyena!"

She grabbed her equipment and got on her electric powered scooter, all the while talking to herself.

"I need to get there fast, so I'm gonna put it on high."

She turned the dial and the scooter sped off.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"

"How-do-you-stop-this-thing?!" Zoey screamed as her Poochyena put his paws over his eyes. The scooter stopped when Zoey crashed head first into an apple tree. The occupants of the scooter flew off and landed next to…

"761 Jnyx Court?" Zoey wondered. "Well, I landed in the right place."

She put on her Pokescout outfit and rang the doorbell with one finger, while the other hand was gripped around several containers of mint cookies. As the door opened, Zoey smiled and said, "Hi! I'm from Troop Pikachu and we're raising money to… buy new supplies for our school! Would you like to buy some mint cookies?"

The old lady looked at Zoey over her spectacles and smiled. "Sure, honey." She poked her head out and looked at the sky. "Oh dear. Looks like it's going to rain. Why don't you come on in so you don't get wet."

"Thank you ma'am," Zoey replied. As she stepped inside, she looked for the ring. Where could it be? Then she spotted it. It was on the old lady's fourth finger, glittering blue in the light of the house.

So I have to get it off her hand somehow.

"Oh, and we're also offering…um… hand massages… to relieve… um… finger pain." She silently congratulated herself for great improvising. The old lady smiled at her.

"Sure, dear. Let me take my ring off first."

Darn it!

The old lady started to take off her ring, but the ring was stuck. Zoey quickly offered, "I can help you. Do you have butter? That stuff does wonders."

"Thank you, dearie," the old lady smiled. "you are such a kind child."

"Yup, that's me," Zoey beamed.

Not!

The old lady brought back the butter and Zoey quickly said, "You might need to close your eyes for this. It's not a pretty sight."

The old lady closed her eyes and Zoey pulled the ring off with no problem. She quickly pocketed the ring and said, "It's done." She beamed at the old lady and said, "Would you like to know the selections for today?" She pulled her two way radio out, turned it on, and held it behind her back as she said, "Chocolate double mint fudge, peanut butter batter, and triple chocolate." That was the secret codeword that told Cassidy and Butch that she had completed her mission and needed to return. She smiled at the old lady and said, "Would you like to buy some?" When the old lady agreed, she handed the old lady the cookies and pocketed the money, which, Zoey knew, she would get to keep. She walked over to the window, telling the old lady that she needed some fresh air, and started to climb out. The old lady looked at her, puzzled, and Zoey knew it was time to act. She pulled out a canister that looked like a cookie jar, and threw it at the old lady. The canister missed, but it smashed to the ground and a fume of gas enveloped the room, making Zoey gag. She looked out the window and still didn't see the helicopter, so she pulled on a parachute, grabbed Poochyena, and jumped. Just as she was about to hit the ground, a hand shot out of nowhere, grabbed her, and pulled her into the helicopter. Once inside, everyone congratulated Zoey on a mission well done. Zoey beamed with delight and accepted everyone's complements, but deep inside, she felt a strange feeling nagging at her. However, she pushed it aside and forgot about it. When they were landing, the intercom came on and Kaputo's voice was heard over the intercom: "Zoey, report back to me immediately." "Right away, Dad," Zoey responded. When Zoey entered the room, Kaputo spoke. "Well done, Zoey. Here's your reward. Take it, but don't play with it on missions. Understand?" He threw a small chip and it skidded to a stop in front of Zoey's feet. "Understood," Zoey responded. "By the way, dad, what happened to the old lady?"

"She… was disposed of," Kaputo answered. Before she could ask what he meant, he disappeared into the shadows of the darkness.

She was so happy she almost forgot to bow to her dad before she left. She was halfway out the door when her dad's second in command, Ms. Dreavus, came in. Zoey didn't particularly like her, but she didn't hate her either. However, Ms. Dreavus hated Zoey because she thought Zoey was loved and spoiled by everyone because she was the boss's daughter. So whenever Zoey did something wrong, she would taunt her and continually remind her about what she had done wrong. Now, Zoey brushed by her, and they locked eyes.

"Ms. Dreavus," Zoey nodded, keeping her eyes locked on the secretary's.

"Zoey," Ms. Dreavus replied just as evenly, returning the nod.

"I'm surprised you didn't end up in the dump, Zoey," Ms. Dreavus hinted.

"Oh, I got cleaned out. And I left you a present too," Zoey responded, walking by the secretary, bumping her shoulder roughly.

"Owwwwwww," Ms. Dreavus whined loudly, but stopped when Kaputo came out of his office. She nodded to him and waited until he passed, then put on a hurt look and said with a poisoned honey voice, "Zoey, you know it's not nice to bump into people like that. What were you thinking? You have to learn how to behave like a nine year old."

"Oh, and you act like you're 5, not 45!" Zoey shot back.

"Gasp! I'm only 25! How dare you!"

Zoey smirked. "Oops, I meant 65."

Ms. Dreavus looked hurt, and her voice rose rapidly. "You shall be cursed! Good day! I said, good day! Humph!" With that, she swept out of the hall. Zoey laughed to herself. "Ms. Dreavus: 0, Me: 25. Ha. I'm good at logic."

The next day at school

When Miya got to school, Lavinia strolled over to Miya like a supermodel. She smirked. "Miya, I'm not sitting with you at lunch today. I'm sitting with Lexi."

Huh? What's up with her?

"Lavinia, don't you remember? Tuesday is our 'Bash Lexi' Day!"

Lavinia scoffed. "Lexi is perfect, unlike you, loser!" She walked off, her head held high, tossing her hair.

"Somebody should tell her that she looks like a horse with fleas, and it's not gonna be me," Miya muttered to herself. During lunch, Miya walked down the lunch line alone.

"Ravioli and Oyster Pasta…ick! Cream Miltank crackers…ick! Lotad Vegetable Salad… ick! Well, at least there's some variety today," Miya muttered to herself.

"Is that all?" the lunch lady asked, looking at Miya over her spectacles. Miya realized that she had walked through the entire lunch line without taking anything.

"Ummm…I'll take Pikachu fries, and Miltank's choco double fudge bar, one inch Caterpie mini hotdogs, and a bottle of Gyrados' Spring water." Miya paid, and looked around for a place to sit. Every table was full except the table Zoey sat at. Miya then skimmed through the cafeteria and found the table where Lavinia sat at. Bags, coats, embroidered lunch bags piled over the table where girls wearing designer clothes laughed and giggled. Lavinia was in their group, but she hung back, unsure of what to say.

Maybe I should go over there and talk to her.

"Lavinia!"

Lavinia turned and raised her eyebrows, "What do you want?" Lavinia said, annoyed.

"Why are you sitting and this table with Lexi and-" Miya turned and looked at all the girls around the table then she turned back, "-a bunch of people I don't even know that go to this academy?"

"Because I said I would be sitting here today. Didn't you hear me, or are you deaf or something?"

The girls at the table giggled. Miya felt her face turn red as a tomatoberry.

"Fine! Maybe I won't! See how you like that!" Miya turned and flounced over to Zoey's table.

Lexi snickered. "Oooooooooooooh, she's sitting with the goth girl!"

Peals of laughter followed.

"So what? She's not goth, just a little weird," Miya muttered under her breath. She walked next to Zoey and asked, "Can I sit here?"

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh… sure." Zoey scooted over and Miya sat down next to her. Zoey took a bite of salad and asked, "So, friend ditch you?"

"Yup," Miya answered gloomily. "Wait, how did you know?"

"I watch people," Zoey responded while taking a bite of her banana.

That's scary.

"Hey Zoey, where did you transfer from?"

"Cerulean City."

"Isn't that really close to here? So why did you transfer here, rather than anywhere else?"

"My dad got a new job here."

"Really? Where?"

"Bulbasaur Credit Card Company. Why are you asking me all these questions?" Zoey, looking irritated, finished off her salad and banana.

"Oh. Sorry," Miya responded, finishing her hamburger. Zoey, who was done with her food already, took out a book and started reading.

"Hey, is that the new Ash Ketchum biography?" Miya asked, looking at the cover.

Zoey put her book down. "Yeah. I have the Misty one, you wanna read it?"

"Sure!"

Both of them dove into their books and didn't talk again until the bell rang for their next hour class, Miya's favorite: pokesnack cooking.

"Today, class, we will be making poffins. Zoey, do you know what poffins are?"

"They are special snacks for pokemon made from berries. They have to be made a special way or they will not turn out right," Zoey rattled off.

"Excellent! Fabulous, just fabulous, Zoey!"

"Showoff," Miya muttered.

But it turned out that Zoey did know how to make poffins, and very well at that. Her poffins were so delicious that by the end of class everyone was asking her for her recipe. The teacher even came up to Miya and said that even though she was the best student in the class, she could learn from Zoey, which only made her madder. By the end of the school day, Zoey's poffin recipe was known all around the school, and one teacher asked for the recipe so that he could e-mail it to the other teachers and post it on the school website. Miya went home madder than usual. She slammed the door and locked herself in her room. Within an hour, she had finished her homework, and she decided to surf the net and see if she could find more information about the mysterious Team Rocket. Miya flipped on her orange and yellow poketalk and went to Pokesearch. She typed in Team Rocket and got 15,000,000 results, but after browsing through, she discovered that only the first three pages were useful. Then she found an interesting website:
"That seems interesting," Miya wondered as she clicked on the link.

The next instant, a loud alarm sounded, then it stopped. The screen said, 'Please enter username and password to continue.'

"Aww, man!" Miya muttered as she clicked back a page. She went on searching.

Meanwhile…

Minion Joe rushed into the room and hastily knelt down, almost falling flat on his face in the process.

"What is it?" Kaputo's voice boomed.

"Sir, I found out that Jessie and James are alive! They have a daughter named Miya, who is in Mr. Hacke's fourth grade at PokeAcadamy. Should we-"

"I've got it. Call Zoey in. You are dismissed."

"Understood, boss." He knelt down and almost fell again, then ran out and straight to the bathroom, where had been headed before he was called to Kaputo's office.

Zoey came in and kneeled. "Dad, do you need me? Another mission already?"

"Yes. But first, we need to talk."

"Uh oh." Zoey bit her lip, trying to remember what she had done wrong. "Ummm, what is it dad?"

"Do you know Miya Morgan?"

"Yes. She's in the same class as I am- Mr. Hacke's fourth grade class."

"I know that! She is supposedly Jessie and James Morgan's daughter. I need you to investigate and get some useful pieces of information, do you hear?" Kaputo's voice boomed, making the walls shake.

"Understood, dad."

"Here is your two way radio. It is disguised as a cell phone. If you press the red button, it will record voices. If you press the blue button, it will act as a two way radio that will directly connect to me. I want this done by tomorrow afternoon."

"Yes, dad. but one problem: Miya didn't invite me."

"So make her invite you. Either way, I want this mission done, do you hear? This is a very important mission. You must not mess it up."

"Got it, dad."

The next day at school…

"But Lexi, I didn't mean it," Lavinia whined. She was wearing a sparkly purple tank top with black and red striped leggings, and knee high black lace up boots. She looked like a total Lexi wannabe.

"Whatever," Lexi said, rolling her eyes. She was wearing a mini pink t-shirt that was so small you could see her belly button, a black miniskirt that was so tiny that when she bent over, you could see her underwear- white with pink hearts. Luckily, she was wearing navy blue tights. On her feet she wore purple Ugg boots.

Zoey then looked at herself, Cerulean City Goldeens football tee, gray sweatpants, red baseball cap, and her gray sneakers, the same as usual. She spotted Miya wearing a watermelon layered T-shirt and a pink Capri. Her hair was in ponytails with purple bands.

Here goes nothing.

" Hey Miya, wait up!" Zoey shouted, jogging towards Miya.

"What up, Zoey?"

"I was wondering if you could come to my house and play for a little while after school."

"I don't think I'm allowed to go to a friend's house without my mom knowing my friend's mom or dad, but I could probably bring my friend over to my house. My mom probably wouldn't mind.''

"Ok, so does this afternoon sound good?"

"I don't know. I haven't given my parents any heads up yet, so they'd be pretty mad." Miya's face brightened. "However, I can Pokemail them."

"I thought using your poketalk during school wasn't allowed."

"It's not," Miya smiled. "But who's watching?"

Zoey looked around. The teachers were preparing for that day's lesson, and they were all at the teacher's lounge. Zoey knew that they wouldn't get there until five minutes before the bell rang. She turned around and gave Miya the signal to go. Miya opened her poketalk- which was always on, Zoey noticed, and found her e-mail server. She quickly typed in a note and sent it, then impatiently tapped her feet while looking alternatively towards the screen and the door. Finally, her poketalk pinged again, and Miya quickly opened up the message and read it.

"Yes!" She shouted, pumping her fist in the air.

"I take it it's a yes?"

"You bet," Miya grinned. "you're going to my house this afternoon."

"Perfect," Zoey smiled.

That afternoon…

Miya and Zoey stopped in front of the condo complex, and Miya started to insert the key into the keyhole when the door opened, showing Jessie, her hair tied back into a bun and wearing a pale pink t-shirt and faded jeans, with a white apron over everything. The apron was smudged with flour, and Zoey could detect the faint smell of pork buns cooking. She held the recorder/two way radio behind her back and turned it on. Then she stepped forward, extending a hand.

"Hi Mrs. Morgan, I'm Zoey Brooks."

Jessie wiped her hands on her apron and shook the hand that Zoey offered. "I'm Miya's mom, but you can just call me Jessie." She turned her head and called, "James, come and meet Miya's friend!"

"Coming!" A man who had blue hair and was wearing a gray hoodie and ripped jeans came to the door. "Hi, I'm Mr. Morgan, but you can just call me James." He smiled warmly and offered a hand, which Zoey shook. They went in, and Zoey was treated to warm buns and noodles. Later that afternoon, Zoey walked into her dad's office and kneeled.

"Dad, I have all the information you need. Miya's parents are Jessie and James Morgan. There is more information, but I doubt you want to hear about Miya's mom's contest ribbons or her dad's bottle cap collection." Her mouth twitched in a wry smile.

"Very well. You did a good job. Here's your reward." A few bills floated to the ground in front of Zoey, and she picked them up.

"Thank you."

"I'm not done yet. Bring her over to our place. I want to… see her."

"Yes, dad. Tomorrow?"

"Yes. You're dismissed."

As Zoey left, Kaputo stroked his Persian, thinking.

"I know where you're hiding, James and Jessie," he said in a sing-song voice. "Don't think you can hide from me. I know where you are. You may be able to hide from my stupid brother, but not me. I will find you and I will destroy you." His mouth twisted into a terrible smirk and he looked down at Persian. "Come on, Persian. We have business to take care of."

"Mrowwwww?" The big cat pokemon looked at him before leaping off his lap and padding silently to the bed.

The next day…

"I swear, Lavinia gets weirder very day," Miya remarked to Zoey in between bites of bologna and lettuce sandwich. Lavinia strutted by, wearing denim shorts, navy blue colored tights, a yellow t-shirt that said, 'I ***** slap ugly girls.'

"Is that shirt even appropriate?" Zoey wondered, as she ate a mouthful of ravioli.

"Probably not," Miya remarked. "Sooner or later, she'll get busted. Watch now." Lavinia strutted by Mrs. Ominitzio, one of the strictest teachers in PokeAcademy. Miya held her breath, waiting for the inevitable yelling and scolding about how inappropriate the t-shirt was and that she had to go home and change it, or turn it inside out or something. But it never came. Instead, Miya watched in horror as Lavinia walked towards Mrs. Ominitzio and say good morning. And Miya's mouth dropped open when Mrs. Ominitzio pleasantly replied hello and good morning back. Miya turned back towards Zoey.

"Did you just see what I saw?"

"Yup," Zoey responded, not fazed by it at all.

"That was a complete violation of the school dress code and she still got away with it?! What has the world come to?" Miya wailed.

"First of all, you need to keep it down 'cause people are staring at you, second of all, haven't you noticed who Lavinia is hanging out with?"

"Yes, but what does that have to do with her getting away with wearing an inappropriate shirt?" Miya asked.

"It has everything to do with getting away with breaking school rules. I may not have been here a long time, but I've been here long enough to know that when you're a rich girl, and when you're dad is the CEO of Pokesteel Inc., you pretty much get away with everything."

"What does that have to do with Lavinia?" Miya asked again.

"Since Lavinia is hanging out with Lexi and her friends, she has immunity to getting in trouble. She's not gonna get in trouble, no matter what ridiculous thing she does."

Miya gaped. "Wow. I didn't know being rich had that much power. I mean, I read about it, but I never really got a chance to see it with my own eyes."

"Well, now you know," Zoey responded. "The rumors, the whispering behind your back, the backstabbing…"

"Oh." For once, Miya was at a loss for words. She had forgotten that Zoey was the daughter of a boss herself, so she had witnessed firsthand the cruel things people did and said behind Zoey's back.

After school that day

"Hey Miya wait up!" Zoey called as she ran up to Miya.

"Huh? Oh Zoey, what up?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to come over to my house today."

"I don't know remember the rule: I can't go to your house without asking my parents first. Although I could use my Pokemail…"

Mom,

Can I go over to Zoey's? I promise I'll be back by dinner.

Love,

Miya

"Ok she could respond any minute now." Miya stared intently at the screen, willing her parents to respond. A split second later, the Poketalk beeped, and Miya read the mail eagerly. When she finished, she smiled widely at Zoey.

"It's a yes."

They arrived at the building, unsuspecting of what was happening in a room above them.

"Codename Capture part 2 complete," The shadowy figure said, while patting the Persian.

Meanwhile…

"Come on Zoey! I wanna see what your room looks like!"

"You don't even know where my room is."

"Well, lead the way," Miya gestured.

Zoey took Miya down the hallway, down another hallway, turned left, then turned right, then turned left again, then turned right, then turned left, then turned right.

"How big is this place?" Miya asked, after what seemed like the fiftieth turn.

"It has 120 rooms, including bathrooms," Zoey responded.

Miya only gaped.

120 rooms!

"So let me get this straight. Your dad is the boss of the Bulbasaur Credit Card Company, and you live in a mansion," Miya stated she followed Zoey down yet another hallway.

"Correct," Zoey replied. She turned a corner, and went down a yellow-wallpapered hallway. "My room's the last one down the hall."

She went in and felt along the wall until she felt a switch. She flicked it on, and her room instantly changed to resemble a normal nine year old's bedroom. She flicked on the lights and they went in.

"Whoa," Miya gasped as she entered. The room was entirely covered in cyan wallpaper, and had large portraits of underwater scenes that moved, so the whole room looked like it was underwater.

"This is your room?!"

"Yup," Zoey said happily. "Cassidy let me redecorate it after I turned five."

"Who's Cassidy?" Miya asked as she inspected some (fake) trophies that Zoey had made the day before out of cardboard. "Is she your mom?"

"My dad's second in command," Zoey corrected, straightening her bookcase, the only thing she kept from her real room. "My mom died when I was little."

Miya walked over. "Omygosh! You have all the Ash Ketchum biographies?!"

"Yup. Every time I get a good grade, my dad lets me buy one," Zoey smiled, congratulating herself on putting on a good charade. Just then, the intercom came on.

"Zoey, we're going to be late to the meeting! Hurry up!"

"Was that Cassidy?" Miya asked, her nose stuck in a book.

"Yup," Zoey said, hastily getting up. "I better get going. She's gonna bite my head off if I'm so much as five minutes late!"

"What meeting? You go to your dad's meetings?" Miya asked incredulously.

"No, it's just that my dad's company needs a new logo, and they thought that as the boss's daughter, I could tell them about the latest trends. I am a child, after all," Zoey made up wildly.

"Okay," Miya said placidly, as she continued to read. "Go ahead."

After ten minutes, she finished the book, and looked around for something else to do.

She spotted Zoey's Poketalk, a cerulean blue one, how typical of Zoey- and decided to browse around while she waited. She turned the Poketalk on and went on Pokenet. A black screen with the red words "Team Rocket Website" came up and the login screen popped up. It already had Zoey's username, 009, but asked for her password. Miya scrunched up her eyebrows. What was a site like Team Rocket doing on Zoey's Poketalk? And 009?

Wait…

Flashback

Zoey is the daughter of Master Kaputo. She is trained as a team rocket agent; her agent name is double 09. She goes to Cerulean Academy, but now goes to PokeAcademy in Viridian City. She always does her best, but is a bit mysterious.

End Flashback

Double 09? Agent? Team Rocket? This is all a trap! I've gotta get outta here!

Miya quickly erased the history and turned off the Poketalk. She ran out of the room and turned a corner. She turned another corner, then turned another corner. Finally, she slumped in a corner, exhausted. "I'm lost," she groaned. Just then, a minion walked by and Miya sprang at the chance.

"Hey!" She ran up to him, breathless. "Do you know where the meeting is? I'm running a little late."

The guy looked at her suspiciously. "Do I know you?"

Miya thought quickly. "No, you don't. I'm new here. I've only been here a few days, and I was called to go to some meeting today." She bit her lip, waiting as the guy looked her up and down. Finally, he spoke.

"Go down this hallway and take a right. It's the last door in the hallway."

"Thank you," Miya called as she ran down the hallway. She arrived, out of breath, in front of the door, and stopped cold.

"As you know, we are planning to eliminate former members of Team Rocket who are a threat to our existence. They will reveal secrets that should never be told. My foolish brother, Giovanni, tried to eliminate them, but he died before his plan was executed. Now, it's my job to find them and get rid of them completely," a deep male voice was saying. Miya hid in a corner, heart racing.

Former members? Secrets? What secrets?

Flashback

"I knew you shouldn't have told her about the twerp and his friends!"

"Yeah, but we can't hide the fact forever."

End Flashback

Miya gasped as everything clicked.

Grandma, mom and dad were members of Team Rocket! The leader of Team Rocket is Kaputo, who's Zoey's dad, and I'm a…

Miya's thoughts trailed off at that last realization, which was still too scary to comprehend. She heard the same male voice say, "Meeting adjourned."

Miya scrambled to get out of there before anyone noticed. However, as she was leaving, she came face to face with the last person she wanted to see- Zoey.

"What were you doing there? Were you spying on us?" Zoey demanded. Miya looked past Zoey and saw the boss, Kaputo, aka Zoey's dad, looking furious, and she knew it was time to scram. She grabbed Zoey by the arm and bolted for it. By some miracle, she managed to find her way back to Zoey's room, and they rushed inside. Miya's arm accidentally brushed a switch, so when she flipped on the lights, she was standing in a totally different room.

"What the-"

The next instant, the lights flickered and went out. Miya screamed. When the lights went back on again, Miya was gone.

A shadowy figure walked towards the cage and the struggling Miya inside, revealing himself to be none other than Kaputo Brooks. He smiled evilly.

"Miya, Miya, Miya. I have heard a lot about you."

"I hate you," Miya spat, and pulled out a pokeball.

"Go, Charmander! Flamethrower, now!"

But the heat merely bounced off the walls and both Miya and her Charmander got scorched by the heat. But Miya wasn't done yet.

"Charmander, tackle the bars!"

Charmander tackled the bars only to bounce back like a rubber ball and hit into Miya. Both of them went flying across the cage. Kaputo only laughed evilly and left.

Meanwhile, in Zoey's room…

Zoey felt someone coming, and instantly reached behind her to her pokeball with Poochyena in it. Her senses where alerted, and every hair on her body bristled with anticipation as the person drew closer. It (he? she?) came forward out of the shadows. It was Ms. Dreavus. Zoey gasped, and her eyes narrowed.

"Ms. Dreavus! Should've known you were behind this too!"

The secretary pressed a button on a remote, and Zoey found herself in a cage suspended in midair.

Ms. Dreavus walked over to the cage, putting her head close to Zoey's so that Zoey could smell her cinnamon and brown sugar perfume.

"Relax, dear. You're only bait. The big fish will follow." With that, she turned around and disappeared.

Zoey merely chuckled. "She underestimates me way too much." She pulled out a pokeball and called, "come on out, Poochyena!"

"Use dark pulse on the bars!" Zoey commanded. There was a flash of black and white light, then the iron bars fell apart. Zoey jumped to the ground and felt her way out of her room.

"Miya, are you there? It's me, Zoey!"

"I'm here," Miya's feeble voice came from the middle of the hallway. Zoey felt until she felt the cold metal bars, then told Poochyena to use dark pulse on the bars again. The bars fell apart, and Miya climbed out. She turned to Zoey, took a deep breath, and asked accusingly, "Why didn't you tell me you were a team rocket agent? Why didn't you tell me your dad, Kaputo, was the boss of TeamRocket? Why didn't you tell me my parents were Team Rocket agents? More importantly," Miya paused to take another breath, "Why didn't you tell me I was a Team Rocket agent?"

Zoey waited until Miya was done, then replied, "If I told you all of this, your brain would have been fried in an instant, and you wouldn't have believed me."

But Miya wasn't finished. "What kind of person are you, Zoey? You're definitely not the nice girl I thought you were!"

Zoey crossed her arms in front of her. "Oh, so just a little discovery changes your whole world, huh? You're such a drama queen!"

Just then, the sound of opening doors could be heard, then someone fell, and Miya looked at Zoey.

Who was it? What's going on?

"Owwwww, let me out!" a female voice complained loudly. A male voice asked, "Where are we?"

Miya looked at Zoey. "Mom and Dad!"

They raced to the entrance and saw two iron cages with Jessie inside one and James inside the other. Miya and Zoey both pulled out their pokeballs.

"Go, Charmander! Flamethrower!"

"Go, Poochyena! Dark Pulse!"

The two cages broke open and Miya's parents jumped out. All four of them looked anxiously left and right as they crept down the oddly deserted hallway.

"This way," Zoey whispered as they tiptoed down the hall. The back door was getting closer and closer, and Miya's heart raced with fear and adrenaline.

"You there! Where are you going with the prisoners?"

"Run!" Zoey screamed, as they all bolted for the exit. They all got to the door, which was open, but only halfway open. Miya got there first and grabbed at the door frantically, trying to pry the door open.

"Zoey, get over here," Miya hissed as her hands slipped. She wiped her sweaty palms on her skirt and tried again.

"I'll cause a diversion and go get my stuff. You guys keep trying," Zoey called as she ran down the hallway.

I should open the fire alarm. That should cause enough panic to last them a while. I need to go to my room and get my backpack, snacks, and four two way radios.

Zoey rushed into her room just before the minions passed the door. They stopped and went into her room. Zoey silently opened her closet, jumped in, and quietly shut the door.

"No one in here. Let's go," a short, fat and bald man announced. The skinny one pushed open the door anyway. "We should check anyway. Besides, you do know whose room this is, right?"

The short man shook his head. "No idea."

The tall man grunted irritated. "Zoey, the boss's bratty daughter, you onion head!"

"But I love onions," the short guy mumbled, opening the closet door.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Zoey screamed.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Both men screamed in a girly voice.

The tall guy recovered quickly. "Zoey! Get her!" He lunged towards her, but Zoey, being smaller and faster, somersaulted under him, clutching her supplies and a rope. She threw the rope out the window, lassoed the tree, and climbed out, leaving the minions panicking.

As she rounded the corner, she spotted Miya and her parents.

"Guys, wait up!" she called, jogging towards them.

Miya turned towards Zoey. "Where are we going?"

"Viridian City."

"But that's ten miles!" Miya protested.

"We'll ride the subway!"

Ten minutes later…

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I swear, I'm never riding on top of a subway again! Next time, we're takin' the luggage compartment."

"There is no next time!"

Jessie yelled, "We're going to stop soon! I see Mira's house!"

"Who's house?" Zoey yelled back. But at that moment, the subway rails screeched as it stopped at the Viridian City Subway Station.

"Quickly, the passengers aren't out yet, so this is our chance to sneak away!" Zoey called as she jumped down and raced through the halls of the station, with Miya, Jessie and James behind her. They reached the condo and burst in.

"Pack warm clothing and food!" Zoey demanded as she followed Miya into her room. Miya grabbed her pink backpack from school and started throwing in things. She threw in one pair of snow pants, two sweaters, one pair of warm mittens, two pairs of jeans, two pairs of wooly socks, orange snowshoes, her poketalk, food and water for Charmander. "All set and ready to go," Miya announced as she marched into her mom and dad's room. They were packing snowsuits for them, gloves, sweaters, jeans, hats, earmuffs, and socks. Jessie went into the kitchen and grabbed dried food for them to eat. Miya asked curiously, "Zoey, I don't get it. What's all this packing for?" Zoey opened her mouth and was about to respond when they heard footsteps on the roof. They all froze and Zoey whispered, "Team Rocket."

Jessie silently crossed over to the door and opened it.

"One the count of three, we all bolt for it. One…two…three!"

All four of them ran out the door and down the stairs and men's voices sounded throughout the hallway.

Which way should we go?" Miya asked.

"Glacier Mountain," Zoey answered without stopping. "They won't find us there."

They crossed the swampy marsh and entered the Viridian Forest. It became darker and darker as they went further and further inside, so they stayed together and all followed Zoey. Along the way, they picked berries, eating some, but mostly saving them for later.

"How much longer?" Miya complained as she swatted away some pesky Caterpies, Wurmples, and Yamegas.

"Not much longer," Zoey responded from a distance away. She turned around and saw the three of them, carrying their luggage and looking exhausted and worn out, especially Miya. Her purple pigtails, which were usually neatly tied up with red hair ribbons, now straggled around her face, and her hair ribbons drooped. Zoey looked at her parents, and noticed that although they weren't complaining, they both looked really beat. She looked around and saw no one in sight and no one around for miles, judging by how relaxed Poochyena looked. She decided that it was time for a break. She stopped, turned around and said, "Why don't you guys take a break? I'll go ahead to see how much further we need to go before we reach the mountain."

Miya put her things on the ground and slumped on a rock. "Finally! I'm so tired!" She moaned, massaging her shoulders. Jessie and James also took off their things and sat down. Zoey took out the two way radios and handed each of them one, leaving one for herself. When Miya looked at her, puzzled, she explained, "If anything happens to us, we can contact each other immediately. However, these link right back to Team Rocket, so we need to be careful. From now on, we will be known as our code names when we talk on the radio. Miya, you will be known as 'double 07', Mrs. Morgan, you will be known as 'double 02', Mr. Morgan, you will be known as 'double 03', and I will be known as 'double 09'."

Miya clapped her hands eagerly. "Cool! Code names! This will be interesting!"

"And keep us safe," Zoey muttered under her breath as she jogged north. After another five miles, something crunched under her feet and she looked down. She saw hard, dirty snow, compacted by the numerous amounts of people who had been there before her.

"Look boy, snow," she pointed out to Poochyena. "The air's crisper here, too." She blew into the air and watched as a little puff of her breath dispersed into the chilly air. Poochyena looked at her and whined.

"Yes, I know it's cold. But we're going to be here for goodness knows how long, and we're just going to have to deal with what we have." She turned around. "Come on, we still have to tell the others they've got five miles until they reach the mountain."

Later…

"WE"VE STILL GOT HOW MANY MILES LEFT?!"

Zoey winced as Miya's loud voice blared through the stillness of the forest. Behind them, a flock of Pidgeys flew into the air.

"Not so loud, Miya," Zoey hissed. "Do you want them to find us?"

"Sorry," Miya whispered. "It's just that it seems impossible. Five miles?"

"According to my GPS, yes, we've still got five miles left. If we hurry, we can get to the first campsite by nightfall."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Miya asked as she got up and put on her backpack. "Let's get going!"

They continued to trek through the seemingly endless woods infested with endless amounts of Caterpies, Wurmples, and Yamegas. Finally, Zoey stopped again. Puzzled, the others stopped too. "Sniff the air. What do you smell?" Zoey asked.

Miya sniffed, then opened her mouth and inhaled a large quantity of air.

"Mountain air!"

The crisp, fresh smell of mountain air pervaded the air around them. As they continued forward, it became colder and colder. They stopped to put on a few sweaters and kept going. Here, the mountain grew a little bit steeper and soon, everyone was panting except Zoey.

"Climbing-the-mountain-is-hard-work!" Miya huffed as she climbed the steep slippery slope. The sun sank deeper and deeper into the trees behind them as they climbed yet another snow bank and trudged across yet another pile of never ending snow. Finally, Zoey called out for them to stop. She pointed at something, and as tired as everyone was, they all cheered. They had reached their first campground. They went inside the cave and quickly lit a fire (with Charmander's help, of course) and got dinner cooking. They ate dinner (which consisted of canned vegetables and beef jerky) then they all sat around the fire. Finally, James broke the silence.

"Who wants to hear a story?" he asked to the group in general.

"Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Three pairs of hands shot up into the air. James smiled and continued.

"A long long time ago, in a small city lived a girl. She had eyes that were kingfisher blue, and hair that looked like it was spun of gold. She was kind to everyone she met. People said that wherever she went, she cast a ray of sunshine on whoever's lives she touched. But because of how she looked, people started to wonder. Now there is a legend that if a Ho-oh is killed, it will be revived in two days. Remember that. When she grew up, she married a rich boss of some company and had her first child- a girl who had emerald green eyes and rich brown hair."

Here, James paused, but no one was looking at him. They were too busy looking at Zoey, the very description of the girl in the story's child. James continued, "But her husband wasn't happy. He had wanted a boy. He began plotting against her, spreading rumors that she was Ho-oh reincarnated and that she must go back to where she came from. The townspeople believed him, as he was a very powerful person, and they began to mistrust the girl. They secretly started plotting ways to get rid of her. One day, she was on the mountain when an angry mob suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Surrounded, with nowhere to go, she backed farther and farther until she fell off the cliff. The townspeople thought that she was dead, so they went back to their shops and homes. Two days later, a torrential downpour flooded the city. It lasted two weeks and killed many people. When the rain finally cleared, the people were stunned to see a rainbow splitting the sky above the mountain. They raced up the mountain just in time to see a beautiful goldenrod colored Ho-oh lift up into the sky and disappear. From that day on, it is said that every year on that day, a majestic Ho-oh can be seen at the top of these mountains," James finished. No one spoke, still caught up in the tale of the golden Ho-oh. After dinner, they cleaned up and packed away their things. No one spoke a word. Finally, Jessie broke the silence. "We need to get an early start tomorrow, so get to bed early."

"Aw mom," Miya whined, "do I have to? What time is it anyway?"

"I'm not sure. Ask Zoey."

"Zoey, what time is it?"

"A little after 5," Zoey answered, checking her watch.

"Aw man, mom, do I have to?" Miya whined.

"Yes, you absolutely have to. We need to be rested just in case they come in the middle of the night and we have to move." She turned to James. "We need someone to stand guard. James, can you take the first half of the night?"

"I'm tired. I'm very sore from all that walking," James complained, taking off his shoes. Zoey raised her hand. "I'll do the first half."

Miya nodded. "Since I'm not tired, I'll stay with Zoey. You guys get some rest."

Jessie and James unrolled their double sleeping bag and got in. Within a few minutes, they were asleep.

Zoey put more sticks on the fire and hugged her knees to her chest. Miya sat down next to Zoey and stared into the fire for a while. Then she spoke. "You know I could just get Charmander to use ember."

"I know, but that's not efficient."

"How?"

"Use your brain. Charmander is a pokemon. It needs energy. When it uses an attack, it loses energy- energy we could be saving to battle."

"Ohhhhhhhhhh, now I get it!"

No one said anything for a while. Then Miya spoke again. "Zoey, how long are we going to be on the mountain?"

Zoey replied, "I don't know. Maybe a week, a month, maybe even a year."

"A year?!" Miya gasped. "We're going to run out of supplies! Are you crazy Zoey?" She took Zoey by the shoulders and shook her.

"No."

Just then, a rumbling sound was heard, and crashing followed. Miya looked at Zoey, eyes wide, but Zoey put a finger to her lips and peeked out cautiously. A minute later, she put her head back in.

"All clear. It was just an avalanche."

"Where?"

"Far from here."

"Well, that's good."

Another lapse of silence, this time broken by Zoey's watch beeping. Miya looked at it.

"Nine o'clock," she announced.

"You didn't have to announce it," Zoey commented sarcastically.

"I just wanted to make sure everyone heard it," Miya responded.

"Yeah, and with that voice of yours, Team Rocket would have heard too," Zoey shot back.

"Why are you so mean?" Miya asked, pouting.

"Why are you so whiny?" Zoey shot back.

"Stop copying me!" Miya demanded.

"You're not the boss of me, so you can't tell me what to do," Zoey responded, poking the fire with a stick.

"Gimme that!" Miya demanded, holding out her hand.

"Why should I?" Zoey challenged.

"Because I said so," Miya retorted.

"Just because you said it, doesn't mean I have to do it," Zoey shot back.

"Hah, what a joke. I'm not talking to you anymore." Miya turned around to face the cave wall.

"What a loser. You can't say anything, so you must be wrong." Zoey replied.

"I'm not wrong!" Miya yelled. Instantly, both their heads turned to the sleeping Jessie and snoring James.

"I'm not wrong," Miya hissed, in a lower voice this time.

"You quit, so I guess you lose."

"Whatever."

"Fine," Zoey responded, rolling her eyes.

They faced away from each other again. Zoey's clock beeped again.

11 o' clock.

Zoey threw more sticks in the fire. Miya found a burnt stick that hadn't been completely burnt out yet and started writing in the snow. She printed the words, "Miyamoto Morgan" over and over again.

"What are you doing? Do you want us all killed?"

"Uh, no. I guess not."

"Then stop writing your name in the snow!"

"Sorry."

Miya cleared the snow by smushing the words with her boot.

"Oh, right. Footprints never leave marks of where we've been," Zoey commented sarcastically.

"Oh. Sorry." Miya wiped the footprints out with a twig. After another long pause of embarrassed silence, Miya asked, "So when is the next shift?"

"Now." At that moment, Zoey's watch beeped, indicating that it was midnight.

"Huhhhhhh?" James mumbled, rolling over. He opened his eyes groggily and looked at the girls.

"Is it my turn yet?" he asked, walking over to where they were huddled.

Miya looked back. "About time, dad! I'm freezing here!"

"Oh, sorry."

"Why can't I go to sleep?" Miya whined.

"No one forced you to stay up," Zoey remarked.

"Well, in that case, I won't! I'm going to bed!" With that, Miya flounced over to her pink sleeping bag and went to sleep.

"Well, I guess it's just you and me."

"What do you mean, you and me? I'm going to bed too," Zoey said, crawling into her navy blue sleeping bag. So for the rest of the night, James sat alone at the mouth of the cave, keeping guard. At around five o' clock, Zoey and Jessie woke up to chattering.

"I didn't know Pachirisu's lived here," Jessie remarked.

"They don't," Zoey answered, pointing to James, who had icicles hanging from his nose, his fingers, his boots and his ears.

"We're going to have to get Charmander do this." Jessie pulled out Miya's pokeball.

"Go, Charmander!"

"Char?" The lizard pokemon tilted its head to the side in a cute pose.

"Heat James up," Jessie commanded.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

"Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot, I'm burninggggggggg!" James hopped on one foot around the cave, trying to put out the fire from Charmander's flamethrower.

Finally, Zoey pulled James to the ground and Jessie threw snow on him.

After they finally put James out and dried his clothes off (with ember this time), Miya woke up.

"So, what did I miss?"

"Nothing. Let's, um, have breakfast," Jessie quickly said, before anyone could open their mouth. They had breakfast, which consisted of condensed milk and raisins. Not a very good breakfast, but sustaining nevertheless. They had just packed up when…

"Troops, let's move!"

They all froze. Zoey whispered, "Team Rocket."

"Run!" Miya screamed, and bolted for the front entrance.

"Miya, not there!" But it was too late. Team Rocket agents surrounded her on all sides.

"Well, now, you're a pretty one. Tell me, what's your name?" A big beefy guy with a few teeth leered at her. Miya only spit in his face.

"Over my dead body, I will!"

"Well, now, not very cooperative, now are we? Let's hear some noise!"

He threw out a pokeball.

"Go, Mightyena!"

The others followed suit. Out came a multitude of pokemon ranging from harmless, seemingly cute ones to menacing, dangerous looking ones. Of course, they were all powerful. Miya assumed a somewhat fighting position and called out her Charmander. She could see the looks on some of these men's faces; they were smirking at her, laughing because her Charmander was so puny looking.

I'll show them!

"Charmander, flamethrower!"

The man smirked in her face. "Mightyena, darkball!"

"What?" Miya gasped.

The dark blast of energy hit Charmander, knocking it back a couple of feet.

"Charmander!"

"Cha-a-a-ar," it gasped as it skidded, but held on. The smoke cleared, and Charmander was still standing!

"Charmander, go use tackle!"

The man smirked again.

"Mightyena, use tackle!"

"No!" Charmander, dodge it!" Miya ran forward and threw herself on top of Charmander. She braced herself as the wolf-like pokemon barreled towards her. Just then, a burst of smoke covered her, and as she peered out of the smokescreen, she heard,

"Poochyena, darkball!"

"Seviper, poison tail!"

"Mightyena!" With a roar, the Mightyena fell with a thud.

"Great job, Poochyena! Return!"

"Same for you Seviper!"

In a flash of red light, the pokemon returned to their pokeballs and Miya got up. With a smile to Zoey, she faced the villains and squared her shoulders.

"Charmander, flamethrower again! Full blast!"

"!" A blast of fire scorched not only the main bad guy, but the grunts behind it and their pokemon. They retreated quickly, leaving only the four of them standing in the snow. Miya turned around.

"Well, I did it."

Later that afternoon...

"Careful!" Zoey warned as they picked their way up the mountain. Zoey grimaced as she stepped on a loose piece of ice.

"There are loose pieces of ice here, so be careful," Zoey warned as she almost fell through for the fourth time.

James commented, "The land is so flat here. We must be close to the top."

"No, this is only almost Middle March," Zoey replied.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh," James responded.

"Come on, we got a lot to go," Zoey called from far away.

Just then, a rumbling could be heard. They looked back to see a patch of snow crumble below.

"It's okay. It's just a small scale avalanche."

"I don't know how much longer we can put up with this," Jessie said, wiping perspiration from her forehead.

"I'll go back and check," Zoey said, climbing down carefully and landing in front of them.

"I'm going with you," Miya said quickly.

"You can't. It's far too dangerous," Zoey replied. "What if we get caught?"

"Well, I'm not going anywhere without you," Miya announced.

"Fine with me, if you wanna die," Zoey shrugged.

"I'm not gonna die," Miya scoffed.

"Whatever."

Zoey faced Jessie and James.

"Mr. and Mrs. Morgan keep climbing to the top and don't wait for us," Zoey instructed. She pulled out her two way radio.

"If anything happens, contact us through the radio."

"Got it," Jessie and James agreed, hugging Miya and then turning around and heading for the summit.

"Let's go, double 07. We've got some investigating to do."

Farther down the mountain…

"Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I heard something!" Miya stopped and listened. Nothing.

"Must be your imagination," Zoey remarked as she stopped to listen too. Then she heard it: the squawking of radios, which usually meant somebody was nearby. Zoey gestured and she and Miya hid behind a rock. Soon, a blond haired woman and a blue-green haired guy come around the corner, talking quietly.

"Butch and Cassidy! Should've known they were coming to get us!" Zoey hissed.

"What do we do?" Miya asked, worried.

Zoey thought for a minute. Then her eyes lighted on the snow-covered mountain, and she had an idea. She waited until they set up camp, then she and Miya snuck to slightly higher grounds. Miya let out her Charmander again and told it to use flamethrower as high up the mountain as it could reach, which wasn't very high. The snow melted, and a familiar rumbling was heard.

"Return, Charmander!" Miya and Zoey ducked into a snow bank as an avalanche of snow cascaded down the mountain, covering everything in white. They waited until everything was quiet again, then poked their heads out. In the distance, two figures, Cassidy and Butch, lay face down in the snow, unmoving. Miya high fived Zoey.

"Yeah!"

"We have to get rid of their radios," Zoey asserted while dismantling the radios. Once they had picked apart the radios, they headed back up the mountain.

The sun had set when they reached Top March. They were both out of breath and tired, but both of them tensed when two shadows fell over them.

"Miya!" one exclaimed. "James, come over here! It's them! They're back!"

That night, they had dinner (canned vegetables and crackers) and went to bed early again.

"I'll take first shift," Jessie announced, walking to the front of the cave. Miya shifted through her brain and faintly recalled a house, a time where it had been safe, but all had changed now.

When it was her shift, Miya grabbed a blanket and headed towards the front. She sat dreaming about the days when there was no trouble, when every day was fun.

Now, every day, I'm fighting for my life.

The next morning, they headed for Cave of Camerupts, the location Zoey said was next.

The cave was dark, so they needed a flashlight.

"Be careful. There are potholes made of fire on the ground," Zoey warned. They started picking their way across the cave. There were four routes, but unnoticed to them, they had split up. Each went their own route.

After a while, Zoey decided to make a landmark to know where she was going and to not walk in circles. She picked up a stick, dipped it in lava and wrote "zoey" on the ground. The ground was wet, so the "z" looked like an "s", but Zoey didn't care. Meanwhile, Miya picked up a stick and wrote "Miya" on the ground, but it turned out as "wiya". Jessie wrote "Jessie" on the ground, but it turned out "lessie". James wrote "James" but he forgot the "s" and the "j" looked like an "l", so it really read "lame". They didn't know the route went in circles, so after a while, Zoey shouted, "Who's Wiya?"

Miya wondered who "Lessie" was, James wondered who "Soey" was and Jessie wondered who "Lame" was. They were all walking at a different pace, but somehow, they all met up again. It was then that James noticed a path that possibly lead out of the cave. They followed that path out of the cave together.

"Next up is Regice Trail," Zoey announced. "No one has crossed this path before, so it's very dangerous. There are sharp pieces of ice that could fall and knock you unconscious, so careful," she warned. When they exited Cave of Camerupts, it was like the energy had been sucked out: the temperature outside was far colder than that of Cave of Camerupts.

"How can two places that are so different exist in the same place at once?" Miya wondered.

"It has to do with the strange balance of nature on the mountain," Zoey replied.

"Well, let's keep going while we're chatting," James reminded them.

Miya stepped onto the glossy surface of the trail and fell down almost immediately.

"How can people walk on this kind of surface?"

"They can't. Remember no one has traveled to this place before."

"Then how can we get across here?"

A few minutes later James was in hiking boots belaying Jessie up the mountain.

Jessie was screwing in nails to the ice to make handholds. Miya went after Jessie finished screwing the nails in. Belaying Miya was hard work especially when you don't have the right tools. Zoey was easy to belay because she was the lightest and she was trained. They had passed Regice Trail.

"Finally, we're done! Where are we going next Zoey?" Miya asked.

"According to what I know the stairway of Giana is next." Zoey answered.

The stairway of Giana was a series of steps (which looked like steps on a staircase) with mysterious breakable ice that broke when you stepped on them.

Climbing the stairway of Giana was hard because Zoey had to touch the next step and make sure the next step was safe.

"All clear," Zoey called down. She tapped the next stair and moved up. Miya moved up one and watched intently. Zoey tapped the next step and it crashed through. Zoey tapped the stair above it and watched as that one crumbled too. She was forced to step up two steps and pull Miya up. Together, they pulled James and Jessie up, and continued on. Finally, they made it out of the staircase of Giana.

"Where are we headed now?" Miya asked as they trudged along. She plopped on a rock. "I can't go any farther. I'm pooped."

"Me too," James agreed. "But we've gotta keep going, or Team Rocket will find us. Come on."

He helped Miya up and they kept trekking. They reached an enormous cave and entered it. They inspected it and didn't find any pokemon living in it, so they decided to take a break. They all sat on the rocky ground except Miya, who, after looking around, found a softer spot to sit on.

"Man, this place is cozy. Especially the rocks here. They're so soft and fuzzy!"

Her eyes widened as she realized what she said. Looking down, she saw that she was sitting on a Mightyena!

"Zoey?"

"Hmmmmm?"

"I'm-I'm-I'm-I'm sitting on a Mightyena," Miya whispered, afraid of waking up the sleeping pokemon.

"Well then, get off," Zoey replied calmly. Then the full force of her words came through, and her eyes went wide.

"Okay, slowly now. When I count to three, get up slowly. One…two… three."

Miya slowly got up and carefully backed away. Her foot hit a twig and it snapped. Miya froze as a pair of red eyes fixed themselves on her.

"Zoey?"

"Yeah?"

"I think- we have a canine problem on our hands."

"Let's back up slowly."

Zoey, Miya, James, and Jessie slowly backed up until their backs were touching.

"On the count of five, we all bolt for the exit. One… two… three… four... five!"

They sprinted out of the cave, the Mightyena hot on their heels. They ran until they ran out of breath and the yapping of Mightyenas was distant.

"Where-is-the-next-location?" James panted, taking a swig of water.

"Close by," Zoey replied calmly. They took a break until everyone recovered their breath and they pushed on.

"What is the next location?" Miya asked.

"Glacier Pass," Zoey responded, continuing to climb. They climbed higher and higher until they got to another very long tunnel.

"That looks really slippery," Miya remarked. She was a little afraid, but she didn't want to show it.

"It is. That's why I got these," Zoey replied, holding up ice picks.

A few minutes later, the four of them were carefully picking their way across Glacier Pass, with Zoey in the front. She would tap the ice, and if it seemed safe, she would call out, "all clear!" and they would walk for a foot or two. Then something would unexpectedly cave in, and they would detour around it. They continued this way for almost two hours, it felt like to Miya. Finally, they made it out.

"We're out! We're out!" Miya shouted gleefully, jumping in the snow, only to have three voices reprimand her at the same time:

"Miya!"

"Sorry," Miya whispered.

"We can take a break here," Zoey said, sitting down in the snow. She looked over her inventory of food and noticed that they were already down almost half. Despite Jessie's packing a lot of food in the beginning, despite saving their food, they were already down halfway. Zoey felt a lump of panic forming in her stomach and pushed it down.

Only a few more days, she told herself, but her heart told her, forever.

Meanwhile, James was hovering over Jessie, who was sitting down with her head between her knees.

"Jess?" James asked softly. "What's the matter?"

"I… feel… sick," she gasped. "can't… breathe."

James put his arms around Jessie. "Just hang on there. I'll go get help."

He walked over to Zoey and explained the situation and Zoey came over. After one look, she said, "It's altitude sickness, Mrs. Morgan. Here, take these. You too, Mr. Morgan and Miya."

After Miya had downed the vial of liquid with some snow from the mountain, she asked, "Why aren't you affected, Zoey?"

"I've been up this mountain more times than I can remember," Zoey responded flatly. "I've bungee jumped from about 10,000 feet up. I'm used to the sudden altitude change already."

"Oh."

They kept walking until they reached the next stop- Snorlax's Last Survival Cave.

"We should stop here for the night," James said, when they finally saw the cave entrance. "It's getting late and we need to get up early tomorrow morning."

"Good idea," Jessie agreed. They went inside the cave and unrolled their sleeping bags and unpacked the food. Jessie broke off pieces of the lemon angel food cake she had made the day Miya went over to Zoey's place- over a week ago. The cake was still fresh, but Zoey stopped Jessie.

"We shouldn't eat it," she said firmly. "We should save it." They looked at each other, and in that moment seemed to share the understanding that food was running out. Jessie nodded.

"No dinner tonight," Jessie said, repacking the food. "Miya, go get some snow and get Charmander to turn it into water. We're drinking water for dinner tonight."

"Ok," Miya responded, going outside.

A few minutes later, she came back with two bowls of hot water. She went back outside again and came back with two more bowls of hot water.

Zoey, who had the first watch, went to the front of the cave. After making sure everyone was fast asleep, she took an object from a long thin pouch- a flute, but it looked more like a recorder than a flute. When she started playing, a clear, simple melody came out and rose into the sky, where the sun was setting.

The next morning at 4 am, they continued on their way, trekking for another four long hours before they reached Straight Line Barrier, which was a gigantic mountain of snow covering their path; snow from the last avalanche on the mountain. In the end, they had to spend two hours slowly melting all the snow so that they could cross. Finally, at around noon, they reached the summit of Glacier Mountain.

It was Zoey who saw it first; being in the front, she got to the top faster than anyone else. Miya, who was right behind her, exclaimed, "Wow!"

"Wow, all right," James, who was behind them, responded. Beyond the mountain, they could see the dark, lush green valley, and farther, the town and the Team Rocket building from which they had fled from just a few weeks ago, but which felt more like a month.

"So this is the top of the mountain, huh?" Jessie asked, coming up huffing and puffing behind them. They stood there for a few minutes, admiring the scene, then reality caught up with them. They were still in danger.

Zoey sat down on the snow, digging aimlessly, when her fingers hit a soggy something instead of snow.

"Hm?"

She kept digging and digging, but the thing was very soggy, and it seemed to be pretty big. Miya, who had noticed Zoey digging, came over and helped her dig. After a while, they dug out a large piece of paper, faded and yellowed with time.

"I wonder what this is?" Zoey wondered as she examined the faded piece of paper. There was nothing unusual about it, but when Zoey flipped it over, there was a painting, still well preserved. It was an oil pastel or some kind of watercolor of trees, and something big in the background, although Zoey couldn't tell what it was. She started hunting around for more clues. After Jessie and James understood what Zoey was doing, they started to look around too. Miya yawned.

"This is boring. Tell me when you guys are done." She walked around, trying to find a good spot to sit down.

"Miya, come help us!" Jessie demanded.

"Nah, I'm too tired."

"What part of 'that is a demand, not a request' did you not understand?"

"But it's just a piece of paper," Miya insisted. "What's so important about a piece of- ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Her sentence broke off as the piece of land she was standing on broke and Miya fell straight down.

Suddenly, a hand shot out and grabbed her wrist.

"Miya!"

It was Zoey.

Ten minutes later, Miya hauled herself up over the cliff and collapsed into the snow.

"That was scary."

"You shouldn't have walked there in the first place," Zoey reprimanded her. "the edge of the cliff is never stable."

"Right," Miya responded weakly. "So," she said, trying to change the subject, "Do you know what that's supposed to be?"

"It's some sort of painting," Zoey replied. "A painting, I think, of a forest somewhere in the Orange Islands."

"No," James said quietly. "Viridian Forest."

"What?" Zoey asked, looking at the picture again.

"The picture," James answered. "The picture is of Viridian Forest in the fall, around late October. Glacier Mountain is in the background."

They looked again, and now recognized the picture. It was Glacier Mountain and Viridian Forest in the fall. Jessie, who had been peering over their shoulder the whole time asked, "Who's ella
ooks?"

"Who?" Zoey asked, peering at the paper. James and Miya gathered around Zoey and looked at the paper.

Faintly, they could make out the words, "ella ooks, 1972"

"I don't understand," Miya mused. "What is ella ooks, and why is this on the mountain?"

"It's probably a name," Zoey cleverly guessed. "Artists always sign their names on their paintings."

"Then this painting is-" Miya stopped, calculating in her head. "-over 20 years old!"

"The question is," Jessie asked, "Why did the person leave this painting here, buried in this remote area on top of the mountain, under layers of snow?"

"Pella, mella, zella, kella, jella, no none of those work," Miya said, trying to figure out the mysterious words on the page.

Zoey looked at the words. They were pretty faded, so she couldn't really guess what else the person had written. She slowly ran her fingertips over the words, which were slightly raised.

"ella ooks, 1972," she murmured.

She sighed. This was getting nowhere. They were going in circles, and she knew it. It wouldn't be long before-

No. Don't think.

She pulled out the now crumpled piece of paper with the words to the song on it and looked it over to the end.

Suddenly, she was thrown into a vision. She saw everything happen very rapidly: a man, pushing a woman, the woman screaming as she fell off the cliff, then a zoomed in shot of a piece of paper sticking out from the snow.

Then the vision was over, and with a gasp, Zoey returned to the present. She looked around her, trying to gain her bearings again.

"Are you alright?" Jessie asked worridly, peering at Zoey.

"Stella Brooks," Zoey finally got out.

Miya looked just as confused as James did.

"What?" they asked simultaneously.

Zoey looked at them firmly. "Stella Brooks. The paper says, Stella Brooks, 1972." Then she added, "Stella Brooks is my mom's name. She was killed by Kaputo, my dad."

"Hold it, hold it," James said, holding up a hand. "Kaputo? Your dad? How does this work out?"

Zoey hesitated, then answered in a firm voice, "Here's what you need to know. My dad is Kaputo Brooks, and he's the boss of Team Rocket. I was sent on missions by him to secure valuable items that my dad said people had "stolen" from us." She made quotation marks in the air to show that those were her dad's words, not hers. She took a breath and continued, "I didn't know why my dad needed these items so badly. Once I tried to ask him and he wouldn't tell me. I tried asking Butch and Cassidy, but they wouldn't tell me either. So I forgot about it. Until one time I was sent on a mission to get a valuable Lugia Ring from an old lady. I was instructed to, when I left, throw a bottle on the ground around the person so that they couldn't see and get away. I didn't know at the time what happened to the old lady. I just threw it and ran. Then later, going back over the mission, I realized that the gas I had thrown would kill whoever came in contact with it."

"So your dad- Kaputo- would just send you to take rare and valuable items from people and then kill them?" Miya demanded.

"I didn't know!" Zoey yelled back.

"Girls! Now is not the time to be fighting!" Jessie yelled over them. Both of them fell silent.

68