Hello, me again.

I am so sorry. I didn't mean to leave this story behind but I was quite stressed with school, sickness and real life in general.

I promise this story will be finished. No matter what!

So here's the new chapter and feedback would be awesome.

Also I'd like to say 'thank you' to the ones who reviewed to me. It is highly appreciated and I hope you're still out there.

English isn't my mother tongue so I'm sorry for any grammar errors.

Here is a little flashback, so everyone knows the story again:

Ash and Co. are on their journey through Hoenn when Ash is kidnapped by some strange men.

Team Rocket gets order from their boss to find Ash. Giovanni, who is Ash's father, travels to Hoenn to search for Ash himself.

Giovanni, Team Rocket and the Ash-Gang team up to find Ash.

Meanwhile Ash finds himself in a strange warehouse and is confronted by the leader of the kidnappers, a man names Zane. He tells Ash that he has just kidnapped him because Zane is interested in Ash's father.

Ash doesn't know who his father is and Zane doesn't want to tell him.

Brock discovers that Giovanni is Ash's father but he keeps the secret to himself. Pikachu is the only one who also knows the secret.

Finally they find the abandoned warehouse where Ash is kept and they prepare to save him.


Surprisingly there were no guards at the entrance. The whole surrounding was deserted and the little group could easily slip into the building.

"This is strange." Max voiced his thoughts. "Wouldn't kidnappers try to supervise their hideout so no unexpected visitors can just walk through the front door?"

"You're right." Brock agreed. "Something's weird about this place. We better find Ash quick and then get away from here."

"No arguments from me." May replied scarily.

They walked through some corridors until they reached a crossroad.

"What now?" James asked.

"Well, it's clear, isn't it?" May and Jessie replied at the same time.

"This way!" They said confidently. May pointed to the right side and Jessie to the left side.

Max and Meowth sighed frustrated: "Well, that was easy."

Giovanni could only shake his head. Where had he gotten these amateurs?

He kneeled in front of Pikachu: "Can you smell him?"

The little yellow Pokémon lifted its nose high up in the air and sniffed a few times.

The humans – and Meowth – waited anxiously.

A few minutes nothing happened.

Suddenly Pikachu sprinted off to the left side.

"Pikachu!" May and Max yelled surprised.

"I knew I was right!" Jessie said happily.

"Boss!" James and Meowth yelled after Giovanni who immediately followed Ash's Pokémon.

"Come on!" Brock said and set off down the corridor.

...

Pikachu and Giovanni ran through some corridors but slipped to a halt when they reached a corner.

Behind it there was another corridor with a metal door. But what really had caught their eye was the fact that two guys guarded the inconspicuous door.

"I think we're here." Giovanni whispered to his Pokémon fellow.

Pikachu nodded silently.

The rest of the group arrived and the Boss signalled them to be quiet.

Brock peered around the corner.

"What should we do?" He asked the others. "We could fight with them but I'm pretty sure that this will alarmed the rest of them."

"Maybe we should skip the fight and just knock them out." Meowth suggested and looked at the humans.

"Not a bad plan." Max mused.

"And how will we do that?" May asked her little brother.

"Just watch us." Jessie and James replied in unison.

Before anyone could argue Team Rocket dashed around the corner and shortly after Seviper and Cacnea appeared and knocked the guards out cold.

"Well, that's one way of doing it." May mused, unsure if she should be impressed or scared.

"At least they're unconscious." Brock replied and stepped around the corner.

"Told you we could do it." Jessie said self-satisfied.

"Whatever, we have to move quickly." Giovanni interrupted them and took a look at the door.

"Can you open it?" Brock asked and stepped next to the older man.

"Should be easy. We just need Seviper and its poison tail to break the lock." Giovanni answered and looked meaningful to Jessie.

"R-right, Boss. Seviper, use…"

The red-haired woman couldn't finish her command because in this moment a bunch of Magnetilos raced down the corridor from both sides and suddenly they were trapped.

"Damn! Where do they come from now?!" Meowth cursed frustrated.

"We're trapped! What should we do?" May asked anxiously.

"Stay calm." Brock said. "Don't worry."

"I wouldn't be too optimistic, boy." Giovanni replied and looked to the Pokémon around them. "This isn't going to be pretty."

Then the Magnetilos shocked them and the group fell to the ground unconsciously.

The attack didn't work well on Pikachu and the little fellow attacked its enemies.

It used quick attack on one of the Magnetilos but it didn't work that well.

The opposing Pokémon formed a circle around the electro mouse and pressed it together.

Pikachu tried to break free but lost consciousness at last.

...

"Cacnea, use Pin Missile!"

"Poison Tail, Seviper!"

Ash looked up in surprise. Those voices he would recognize everywhere – Jessie and James.

But why were they here? Did they come to rescue him? No, they wouldn't. Right?

The boy listened carefully. It seemed that Team Rocket had knocked out the guards. He could hear Jessie praising herself and if he heard right then Brock was also with them. Did his friends teamed up with Team Rocket to save him? Granted, it wouldn't be the first time those criminals had come to his rescue. But why now?

But then he heard the unmistakable sounds of Magnetilos. Damn, they're caught!

Ash tried again to break free from his bonds but it was no use. He couldn't help them.

The young trainer sighed deeply.

"I can only hope that Pikachu and the others are okay." He murmured sadly.

There had to be a way to flee – He just had to find it.

...

Tiredly Brock opened his eyes. What happened? Where were they?

He took in his surroundings. There wasn't much to look at. It looked like an empty room. There wasn't furniture or even windows, so it was pitch black.

"Hey, guys. Are you alright?" Brock asked into the darkness.

"Define 'alright'." He heard Max's voice right behind him. "My head hurts."

"That's what happens when you get shocked by a Pokémon." Meowth grumbled. "Now you know the feeling, twerp."

"Are we all still together?" Brock asked.

"I'm here." May spoke up.

"Me too." James replied. "Jessie?"

"Yeah…" The red-haired woman answered.

"I'm also here." Giovanni said and he seemed to be the only one who wasn't that effected by the attack of the Magnetilos.

"Where are we?" Max asked and you could hear that he was slightly afraid.

"In some sort of room, it seems." May answered. "Don't worry, Max. Everything will be fine."

"Yeah, right." Jessie snarled. "Who knows what these guys are going to do with us."

"Quiet! I can hear something." Meowth interrupted them suddenly and everyone listened carefully.

They could hear footsteps approaching and a few moments later the door was opened and bright light shone in the room and blended the group temporally.

"Well, well, well. What have we got here?" An amused voice spoke up.

Giovanni looked up and saw a familiar face and an even more familiar smirk.

"Long time no see, old friend." Zane said with an arrogant smirk.

Giovanni snickered: "We've never been friends, Zane. Why are you still alive?"

The man in the black coat feigned hurt: "Like always you say exactly the right things at the right times."

The others looked curious between the two men. What exactly was going on here?

"You know each other?" May asked finally.

"Sure we do – For a long time by now. Actually, I was once a member of Team Rocket, too. In fact, I was the partner of this man here when we were both nothing more than young recruits." Zane answered in an almost casually tone.

His eyes flashed with some unknown emotions.

"But it seemed that I had not the right… connections to survive in the organization. And while I had no fair chance to be anything other than an lackey, the grand Giovanni here rose like a flower in spring – All because of little mommy, don't you agree, Giovanni?"

"You didn't have success in Team Rocket because you had no talent, Zane. It had nothing to do with any connections." The Boss replied angrily.

But Zane just chuckled: "Look, look, look. Isn't that quite a picture? The big boss of the criminal organization Team Rocket is now tied up on a chair in an abandoned warehouse in a country far away from home. Well, what can I say? Like father, like son. Don't you agree, old boy?"

Suddenly Giovanni tensed up and pressed against the chair he was tied to: "So, he's really here, isn't he? You've captured him! Why?!"

Both, twerps and rockets, flinched at the unexpected outburst of the leader.

Zane on the other hand was truly unimpressed: "So, you really knew about him – All this time? That is highly interesting. Do you have still contact with his mother? Does he even know about you?"

"I have no idea in which aspect my family business is any of your concern." Giovanni answered coldly.

"You're right, it isn't." The kidnapper replied with a chuckle. "But when it will help me to let you suffer then I will of course use your son against you, Giovanni."

Zane laughed rather evilly and turned towards the door: "Now – if you excuse me – I have some business to handle. See you later."

The door closed and the room fell silent.

"What was that?" Young Max asked confused and broke through the thick silence.

"So, it is really true, isn't it?" Brock thought aloud and looked with a serious expression to the leader of Team Rocket. "You really are Ash's father, right?"

The following silence was enough of an answer.

Now – it seems – the bystanders finally grasped the exact meaning of the conversation.

"Wait a minute!" May pleaded and shook her head. "Brock, are you trying to say that this man here is the father of our Ash?"

"I can't believe this!" Max exclaimed more fascinated then shocked.

"WHAT!" James, Jessie and Meowth shouted in unison. "The leader-twerp is the son of our boss!?"

"Sir?" Brock asked with an unusually politeness towards the criminal.

The gym-leader of Virdian City sighed deeply: "Yes, it's true."

"How could this happen?" May asked still shocked.

She couldn't imagine the kind and friendly Delia Ketchum with a criminal man like Giovanni – the big boss of Team Rocket. They didn't seem to match in the slightest.

"I wasn't always the cold-hearted leader of the organization." Giovanni replied rather rudely. "11 years ago I was together with Delia. Although I already was part of Team Rocket, I tried to have a normal life. It worked… for a short time. I feared I would eventually loss both Delia and Ash to Team Rocket one day. That's why I sent Delia away after she told me about her pregnancy. She fled to her hometown Pallet Town and hid there before the prying eyes of Team Rocket. Meanwhile my mother died and I became the boss of Team Rocket. I didn't like it at the time but I knew I could protect them on this way. A few months later I received a letter from Delia where she told me about Ash."

All persons – humans and Pokémon – were quite speechless by Giovanni's story. Everyone, except Brock.

"Now all makes sense." He spoke after a few minutes.

"What do you mean?" Max wanted to know.

"I've spent a lot of time with Ash on our journeys and there were some things about him that I couldn't really explain even after I first met his mom." Brock said thoughtful. "For example his impulsivity and aggression in battles or dangerous situations. I always thought he would have inherited these traits from his father but I never imagined…"

May was still rather shocked by this revelation. She never thought Ash's father could be such a man. The girl scrutinized Giovanni and she had to admit that there were some similarities between Ash and the leader of Team Rocket. The skin and the facial structure – She could easily imagine that, if Ash would be a grown-up one day, he would look a lot like Giovanni. The thought scares her somewhat.