Three days later…
Ash stepped out of a mirror in Bianca's bedroom. Fortunately, the girl wasn't in the room at the time so he didn't frighten her.
He looked around. There were painted pictures everywhere and an easel holding a pad of paper in the corner by the window. The long mirror Ash had used as a portal into the house hung on the bathroom door and a bed stood not far away.
Hearing voices, Ash exited the room. He saw some Team Rocket agents, including Annie and Oakley, standing by the front door, talking to Lorenzo and Bianca. He quickly hid before they noticed him.
"What was that?" He heard Annie say. "I thought I saw movement out of the corner of my eye."
Everyone looked to where Ash had just been. The boy had slipped back into Bianca's room in the nick of time.
"I don't see anyone." Bianca said, exchanging a glance with her grandfather. "We're not expecting anybody. Besides, even if we were, they'd probably see the Team Rocket boat parked out front and go home."
Looking around, Ash found a bag full of Master Balls, sitting on top of a cape with a hood, in the closet. There was also a mask that he soon found altered his voice. Figuring this was the disguise Lorenzo and Bianca had prepared for him, he put the mask and cape on, covering his head with the hood, grabbed the bag full of Master Balls, and jumped out the window, landing in the bushes.
He then ran through Lorenzo's workshop, into the garden.
Once in the garden, he showed his face to Latias, covered his lips with one finger, and pulled out a Master Ball to show what he wanted.
Latias had known this was coming and nodded in agreement. She convinced her three children to go inside the Master Balls first before being the last one captured.
Ash immediately called her back out and asked her to let him ride her. They had just gone out of sight when Team Rocket entered, Bianca and Lorenzo trailing behind them.
"I'm telling you! We don't have any legendary pokemon here!" Lorenzo cried.
"We all know that's a lie, Gramps." Oakley said. "We'll do this the easy way, or the hard way. Call them here now and we'll leave you be."
"But they're not here!" Bianca cried.
"Spinarak, use string shot." Oakley ordered. "Tie them to those trees."
By the time Team Rocket had searched the whole garden, Ash and the pokemon were long gone.
"Damn it! Where are those pokemon?!" Oakley shouted. She turned to Lorenzo and Bianca. "Tell us now!"
"But we don't know, Miss." Bianca said sweetly. "They must have left while we were distracting you."
"Argh! Take them to headquarters! They'll pay for this!" Oakley commanded the grunts that had come with her. "Annie and I will search this town top to bottom until we find those pokemon!"
Lorenzo and Bianca exchanged smirks as they were taken away. Looks like Ash had arrived just in time.
Meanwhile…
Tracey groaned as he was shoved into a cell with a woman he didn't recognize. It had been a three-day drive to Team Rocket Headquarters, which was now housed in Cameran Castle in Rota. The woman he was sharing a cell with was breast-feeding a baby that looked to be between ten and thirteen months old.
She glanced at him once when he was pushed in, before looking again at him in surprise. "Tracey?"
"Um… Do I know you?" Tracey asked, confused.
"It's me! Delia Ketchum!" The woman said.
"It is?" Tracey realized that underneath all that dirt and grime it could be Mrs. Ketchum, but he still didn't recognize her. "What happened to you? And where'd the baby come from?"
"Team Rocket's leader, Giovanni… he did bad things to me, very bad things." Delia explained. "And I haven't showered in over two years. That's probably why you don't recognize me."
"So… um… what's her name?" Tracey asked, now uncomfortable.
"Hope, because she gives me hope." Delia replied quietly. "She's… all I have now… Team Rocket killed Ash and I was all alone, but now I have her and I have hope again."
"Wait a minute! Back up! Ash is dead?!" Tracey gasped. Delia nodded and Tracey just stared off into space. He and everyone who knew Ash had believed he'd reappear and be their savior. Now, with this new information, he felt all his hopes become crushed.
"I… I miss him…" Delia started crying. "The last thing he said to me before they took him away and killed him was to always remember that he loved me. I loved him too, but I never got to say that to him one last time. I miss him so badly. He'll never get to meet his new half-sister."
"Mama…" Hope said. "Mama…"
Delia's tear-streaked face lit up a little. "Oh! She… she said her first word!"
Tracey smiled lightly, holding back his own tears. Although Ash was gone, it was sweet to hear the little baby say her first word.
"One day, when Team Rocket is over and done with, Hope will be just like Ash, and she'll live her dreams and become a wonderful adult." He told Delia.
Delia gave him a small smile, appreciating his attempt to help.
"We'll get through this." Tracey continued. "Promise."
