Hello, and welcome to the fourth episode. Due to unforeseen circumstances, this episode has been edited by me alone. Feel free to point out any mistakes if you'd like. I won't get salty as long as you're not rude.

I want to thank you for voicing your thoughts in the reviews. I'm delighted that you are as excited for every update as I am. To answer Denavor's question, it is just as proper to refer Ash as an android as it is to refer him as a robot since androids are a type of robot. But I thank you for pointing this out. I've probably been using the word "robot" too much, so should work on using other terms such as "android".

Another note before you begin, prepare your hearts again. This time, for the rest of the series. This particular episode is dark, and things won't get peachier in future chapters.

Enjoy!


Ash's eyes widen, and this isn't because he finds something interesting in his soup. His mother struggles to communicate what she has to say, stammering for the most part and taking long pauses to stare into empty space. But she eventually delivers her message. When she finishes, Ash's body is so still, it reminds him of the days his joints are still able to rust.

"So he left to find a cure for my disease," the boy concludes, still barely able to move.

Delia grips her spoon and nods. "Yes."

"But I'm not sick anymore," Ash reminds. "Why hasn't he come back?"

"I don't know," his mother confesses. "But whatever reason he has can never justify leaving you, Ash. That's why I wiped him from your memories. If he refuses to be with his family, then he doesn't deserve to be remembered."

Ash remains still. Delia frowns upon realizing that neither of them has touched their meals. The gravity of their conversation has removed whatever appetite they have had before they spoke. Delia can handle the pain, but can Ash?

To distract her son from their depressing conversation, Delia guides them to the living room and turns on the television. Her eyes light up at the program that appears on the children's channel.

"Look, Ash," she points encouragingly. "Pokémon Adventures is on!"

Ash looks up from the carpet and smiles. The movement isn't as big as Delia has hoped, but it's still better than a frown. "I want to be the very best," the show's anthem sing, "like no one ever was!"

The series stars a young boy traveling a land to collect gym badges and compete against strong trainers in the Pokémon League. It is filled with excitement and suspense. No wonder Ash has become inspired. He can only watch someone his age have the time of his life so long until he yearns for one of his own.

In tonight's episode, the main character, Red, faces off against the last gym leader he has to defeat to complete his badge collection. The gym leader isn't like the ones he has faced before. This one is dark and ruthless. Only fifteen minutes have passed when Red's second to last pokémon collapses in exhaustion. It's usually at this point in the show when Ash gets so excited, he would scream at the television and demand Red and his pokémon to overcome their obstacles. Delia desperately anticipates it. Her son's face falls in discouragement, but there is no sign of determination changing his features.

"What if Dad," Ash speaks out, "doesn't want to come back because he still thinks I'm sick?"

Delia frowns. "That's not possible, Ash. Your development has made you well-known. There's no way he hasn't heard of you."

"But what if he didn't like what he heard?" Ash suggests. "I've stayed at home for twenty years, and when I finally go outside, I get sent back by a group of bad people."

Delia's mouth hangs open, but no words come out.

"What if being a robot isn't good enough for him?" Ash asks. "What if he still thinks I'm weak?"

Delia wants to say something, anything to comfort him. But his words strike a bad chord inside her. The growing anger she now feels for her husband renders her speechless. But Ash interprets her silence differently. He thinks that his mother is angry at him, not with his father, and that she blames him for keeping their husband and father out of their lives.

"I'm sorry, Mom."

Delia freezes.

"It's my...f-fault Dad is still gone," tears stream down Ash's face. "It's...my fault!"

"Ash, no!" Delia automatically pulls her son into her arms. "Ash, no! No! This is not your fault!"

"B-But," Ash hiccups, "you're m-mad at m-me."

"I'm not mad at you," she tells him. "I'm mad at your father! It doesn't matter why he's still gone! The fact that he's gone at all is unacceptable! You deserve better than this, Ash! Ash. Ash, look at me."

Ash coughs as Delia cups his wet cheeks.

"This isn't your fault," she repeats softly. "It's not your fault. It never will be your fault. If anybody is to blame, it's your father. He's the one that abandoned you, Ash. He's the one that let you down."

Ash isn't able to speak. He can barely do anything with sobs racking his body. So his mother only pulls him closer to her, hoping her comfort would be enough to console her son.

But it isn't. As sad and increasingly angry Ash is at his dad, he still can't deny the desire for his father to love him. He has to prove his worth somehow.

That's when Ash looks back to the television. Red has won his battle. The trainer is waving his badge for all to see before he is congratulated by his friends and mentors. His theme song plays again at the end credits.

"I want to be the very best…"

Ash's eyes widen. "...like...no one ever was."

~.~

Giovanni signs the last sheet in a thin folder before placing both on a pile of unsorted documents. He casts an upward glance to his desktop screen to check the time. 9 a.m.

The leader sighs and picks another folder to work on. As much as he loathes making up for postponed projects, he has to make an exception today. Agent 32 and her cohorts aren't going to get away with what they did. But if Giovanni were to execute his revenge, he has to make sure the hitmen he assigns won't turn their backs on him too. It has taken a while to scan through potential candidates. But after several hours of tedious background checks and analyses, he found the perfect duo to do the job.

Half an hour later, a knock is heard from his office door. Giovanni has no problem meeting his recruits in the headquarters, for the mission he has for them will be no secret. After a quick look at the hallway feed on his monitor, Giovanni drops his pen and eyes the entrance. "Enter."

The knob of the wooden door turns before a man and a woman sweep it out of vision. The woman has long golden hair tied in low pigtails, and the man has short green hair and brown eyes. Both are dressed in primarily black uniforms labeled with a large red "R".

"Agent 66 and Agent 69 reporting for duty, sir," the woman announces.

The man nods in affirmation.

"Come inside and close the door behind you," Giovanni gestures to the center of the room. The duo does so. "This mission is of utmost importance, and you are the only ones that are most qualified to do it. Failure will not be tolerated. If you do not come back with what I have asked, there will be consequences. You," he points at the woman. "What is your name?"

"Cassidy, sir," the woman replies.

"I've done some background-checking, Cassidy, and stumbled upon someone you might know," Giovanni turns to his monitor and searches for something in the system. Once he finds it, he turns the desktop so Cassidy can see the picture displaying on it. "Who is this woman?"

Cassidy's jaws clench. "My mother, sir."

"Do you love her?"

"Very much, sir."

"Good," Giovanni turns the desktop back to him. "You and your mother are very poor. One of the reasons you joined Team Rocket is to provide for her and yourself. Correct?"

It's the only reason, Cassidy thinks. Nevertheless, she nods mutely.

Giovanni has expected much and turns to the male. "And you," he regards him. "What is your name?"

"Butch."

Giovanni does the same processes as he has with Cassidy and shows him a picture of Butch standing with a brown-haired woman and two boys no older than five and six. "This is your family," he states. "Your wife and sons."

"Yes, sir," Butch confirms.

"You must be so proud of yourself," Giovanni goes on, "to have two healthy sons and a loving wife to come home to."

Butch almost says yes, but detects malice, almost envy, in the older man's voice. This confuses him. Giovanni may not be married to Ariana, their second leader-in-command, but the mother of his son is loyal and faithful to him. Silver, the son himself, is in one of the most prestigious schools in Johto. Giovanni has everything. So why does he sound so bitter?

To move the conversation forward and hopefully change the subject, Butch stays silent. But Giovanni isn't appeased by this. Seeing a lowly grunt have everything he doesn't have fills him with enough anger to smash through his computer. But he doesn't. He doesn't show the agents their loved ones so they can rub them in his face. No. If Giovanni can't use love to gain happiness, then he'll use it to get something else instead.

"I recently discovered that not everyone is afraid of dying, not even if their death is painful," Giovanni tells them. "Being alive is what's painful, and nothing hurts more than living without something you can't get back. So I've decided to change the conditions of these kinds of missions."

Cassidy and Butch watch intently as the leader types and clicks away in his computer. They don't know the turmoil the man is hiding behind his blank expression. But they do sense a newfound darkness in him, something that makes their stomachs turn.

"If you fail to give me back what I ask," Giovanni mutters, "I won't kill you."

He reveals his computer screen once more. This time, the pictures of Cassidy's mother and Butch's family are shown side by side on the monitor.

"I'll kill them."

The blood in both agents run cold. Their professional demeanors are gone now, replaced with expressions of terror and shock.

"Do I make myself clear?" Giovanni asks.

Cassidy and Butch share a worried look, trying to process the gravity of the situation. The both of them have been expecting another heist involving stealing and selling pokémon in the black market. What has changed to procure such high stakes?

But one thing is for sure: neither can allow their loved ones to die. So they turn back to their leader, who looks at them expectantly, and simultaneously reply, "Yes, sir."

"Good, Giovanni commends. He tilts the monitor to minimize their loved ones' pictures. What he reveals next is Jessie's Team Rocket ID picture with snapshots of James and Meowth at the bottom. "You may not recognize the man and meowth, but you recognize the woman. Correct?"

The agents nod slowly. Jessie has been a heated rival of Cassidy for years and has been no nicer to Butch. Cassidy and Butch have never cared for the woman, making them more curious as to what she has to do with the man that has threatened their families.

"She is a traitor to the organization," Giovanni explains. He does so with finality, indicating no sign of elaboration. "She and her cohorts have something that I want, something I prefer to see tied neatly in separate boxes."

"Would you like us to steal their pokémon, sir?" Butch inquires.

Giovanni doesn't just give them a negative; he shoots them a cold leer. "I don't want their worthless pokémon," he grits.

The leader raises something from behind his desk and places it on the wooden surface. Cassidy and Butch's eyes widen. It is a large box sealed with a lid.

"I want their heads."

~.~

"Goodness," Oak cringes.

"I know," his speaker replies.

Oak slides his coffee mug to the side before assessing the bandaged wound being displayed on his computer screen. Professor Frank Elm, the man possessing the injury, buttons his teal dress shirt before sighing onto his entwined fingers.

"That kid could jump," he comments through the video screen, "but at least he missed my heart."

"I've never heard anything like this happen in Johto before," Oak inputs. "And to you, out of all people. You're one of the kindest men I know."

"Thanks, Samuel," Elm gives his friend a small smile. "Now I'm just worried about the kid."

"You mean the kid that stabbed you?" Oak inches back. "But why would you worry about him? You of all people should know that he's more than capable of defending himself."

"That's what worries me," Elm remarks, confusing him even more. "Children wouldn't need to worry about defending themselves if they were raised in a safe environment. That child would rather stab me and steal my pokémon than come back to get one with his parents. What if he is being abused at home?"

Oak hums lowly. "It's a possibility. Whatever the case, you and your scientists need to be prepared for anything. The kid could come back with friends."

Elm nods as if he has already done so. After all, as the lead scientist New Bark Town's laboratory, the forty-three-year-old professor cannot let anything happen to his research, employees, or the pokémon they care for. Most especially, the pokémon they care for. The scientist may focus on pokémon evolution, but how the creatures are raised are just as important to him. How will the totodile the redheaded thief has stolen grow up in the hands of such a dangerous individual?

"Anyway," Elm sighs, putting aside the depressing thought for now, "how about you, Samuel? How is your research with the androids progressing?"

"Scientifically wise, very well," Oak crosses his arms. "But the project has encountered many obstacles."

"Oh? Like what?"

"Well, for one thing, I had to move the laboratory up to a tall hill to discourage the protesters and boost security," Oak replies grimly. "When Ash started to travel, all the threats I've been receiving have started coming to fruition. We've had graffiti on the walls, objects thrown through the windows, and attempts at arson."

Elm gapes. "You can't be serious."

"Oh, but I am," Oak's face falls onto his palm. "Money wasn't an issue, but the transferring process was a nightmare. The protesters were around the whole time, attacking the moving trucks and harassing the movers and scientists. Things got so out of hand, we had the police come over and arrest almost a hundred individuals."

"That's," Elm shakes his head, "that's just terrible."

"You should've heard them, Frank," Oak continues, "They were going on about robot uprisings and other such nonsense. Once someone brought up the rights the androids may or may not possess, everything erupted into chaos. Now I don't just have scientific, medical, and mechanical concerns to worry about; I have political issues to sort out as well."

"I'm sorry for your troubles," Elm laments.

"But I'm still not done, Frank," Oak points. "When Ash started his journey, he had to be immediately sent back because he was possibly attacked by Team Rocket."

The spectacled professor pales, "Oh no, I've heard about that."

"The chief officer in Viridian City recognized the female of the group as a member of the mafia," Oak goes on. "My technician reports that she and her companions were trying to steal Ash's pikachu, but Ash picked up the woman talking about his father. So now, we think the attack was personal."

"Is Ash alright?" Elm asks.

"Fortunately, yes."

"Oh, that's good," Elm sighs, relieved to hear good news for once. "But something doesn't make sense. If the target was Ash, then why go after the pikachu? Does Ash's father want the pikachu?"

"Your guess is just as good as mine," Oak hums. "We only have two pieces to a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle. We're currently searching for the attackers, which may not go well considering Team Rocket's reputation of fleeing from the law. But I also have Ash and his mother to worry about."

"Oh no," Elm tenses. "What happened to them?"

"It's a personal matter," Oak answers. "Ash's father is a sensitive subject for the family. The man left as soon as he was born."

"I see," Elm sighs tiredly. "Another conflicted child. How saddening."

Oak sighs too. "It is," he concurs. "But it isn't like I knew what I was getting into."

"You can overcome this," his spectacled friend smiles. "I've known you since you mentored me at the university. You're not just a brilliant professor and scientist; you're also a brilliant man."

Elm's faith emanates from the Johto region to Kanto, bringing a wide grin across Oak's face.

"Thank you, Frank," Oak acknowledges. "You're a good friend."

~.~

Jessie swipes down on her tablet to continue reading a news article. Her face, as well as James's and Meowth's, are sketched and shared throughout almost every media outlet she can find. This doesn't surprise her that much. Her team has attacked the most famous and controversial subject in Kanto, maybe even the whole world. And with technology's advancement throughout almost every land and sea, it will be hard to find a place that won't recognize who they are.

Which means they're on their own.

"We shouldn't have attacked that kid," James grunts from the driver's seat of their car. He rakes through his long locks and thrums on the wheel. "We're almost out of gas, and every station we stop by keeps calling the cops on us. Should we just turn ourselves in?"

"No, you moron! You wanna get off'd in jail?" Meowth snaps.

His feisty personality is even feistier due to his hunger. The trio has yet to eat since they have escaped the Viridian police. The group has managed to drive to Route 4, almost a two-hour drive from Viridian City, before stopping at a hidden grove of a forest to sleep. None of them can rest soundly in fear that they will be assaulted in their slumber. It is about 9 a.m now, and their stomachs grumble from not being fed dinner nor breakfast.

"I can't believe we agreed to do this," Meowth continues. "Why didn't we just wreck the kid and move on with our lives? That damn Jessie and her semantics."

"Shut up, Meowth!" Jessie barks back with a sharp, warning voice. "We don't need your big mouth right now. If you say one more word, we'll eat you for lunch!"

Meowth wouldn't have given up that easily, but Jessie pulls out her gun right then, silencing him.

"Ea-easy, guys," James waves with a free hand. "We're all just hungry and tired. "Why don't w—"

Everyone stiffens when the car trembles. The vehicle then starts to slow down, causing the cars behind them to honk in protest.

"Damn," James curses. "Damn! Damn! Damn!"

With no other choice, James drifts the car to the side of the road so the vehicle can stop completely. He doesn't need to look at the gas meter to know that the arrow is on "E". But Jessie and Meowth look, and he feels their anger spike again.

"Damn it!" Meowth screeches. "Now we're out of gas too?"

Jessie grunts and steps out of the vehicle. When she looks around, she sees a long stretch of asphalt surrounded by fields of dry grass. Cars zoom by them at speeds too fast to follow, strengthening her feeling of isolation.

"Now what?" James asks, stepping out of the car as well.

"Should we hitch a ride?" Meowth suggests.

"And risk giving away where we are? I don't think so," Jessie rejects. She takes another look around the area before looking ahead. "We should only be an hour or so away from Cerulean City."

"What are you sayin'?" Meowth screeched. "Are you saying we should walk there?"

"Do we have a choice?" Jessie demands.

"You know, this wouldn't have happened if you just killed the kid!" Meowth repeats. "Why should we even keep listening to what you're saying? We can go off on our own; we don't need you! Right, James?"

"Please, guys, just calm down," James is almost pleading. "It's obvious that we're hungry and tired. We just need to stick together and—"

"Well what if getting rid of Jessie is what we need?" Meowth remarks. "Why follow what she says when I'm the one makin' the plans and you're the one doin' all the work! She's useless without us!"

"Shut up, Meowth," Jessie warns.

"She's always thinkin' about herself! She never cares about us!" Meowth goes on regardless. "Heck, if her mother isn't dead, she wouldn't even be hanging out with us! She acts all tough, but in the end, she's just a scared, worthless little girl that will never get her mommy ba—"

James screams, but is unheard through the loud fire of Jessie's gun. He looks down in horror at Meowth, who is now laying on the dry soil, dead.

"N-No!" James falls to his knees and cups his mouth.

He pinches every part of his body to wake himself up, but he isn't dreaming. Meowth, one of his closest friends and companions, is gone. A bullet shot him between the eyes, staining his fur and coin red as blood pools around his body.

"Wh-Why?" James's wide green eyes leak with tears. He looks up at Jessie, who slowly returns her weapon to its holster. "Wh-Why did you do this, J-Jessie? Meowth was our friend!"

"Friends don't say things like that to each other," Jessie responds quietly. She has never taken a life so violently before, and is still a bit shaken by it. What has come over her? The agent has usually displayed more patience for Meowth's big mouth despite having a worse temper than him. But the fatigue has gotten to her too. She, as it turns out, just happens to be more reckless because of it.

But whatever remorse she feels quickly fades when she notices that the other cars have started to slow down. The faces in them are becoming discernible, and they all display the same emotions James is expressing: fear and disbelief.

"We have to get out of here," Jessie says.

Her last remaining friend glares at her but says nothing as he stands up. As angry and afraid as he is at her for killing Meowth, James doesn't want to lose the last person he has left. The trio isn't just a group of friends; it's a family. And family sticks together no matter what.

Jessie runs to the opposite direction. She glances to the side to make sure James is following her before picking up speed. The witnesses of her crime will in no doubt call the police as soon as they reach Cerulean City, so it won't be wise to head there. The farther they are from their abandoned car and friend, the better.

They've gone to the point of no return. The only direction to pick now is survival.

~.~

Ash block's out the world's noise with his headphones as he watches an episode of Pokémon Adventures on his tablet. He and his mother have to move out of their house because bad people are trying to destroy it; so while the adults are making appropriate arrangements to relocate them, he does what he has been asked and sits in the lounge of Professor Oak's lab. He is alone for about two hours (Pikachu is having a checkup at the pokémon center) until Gary walks into the room. The human boy's face contorts into annoyance first before switching to one of pride.

"What are you watching, loser?" he runs up to the couch Ash is sitting on.

The robot shoots him a glare before returning to his screen. "Leave me alone, Gary," he tells him. The boys used to be close friends back when Gary wasn't as insulting. But now that Gary practically bullies him on a daily basis, Ash isn't very pleased to see him.

Gary growls and snatches Ash's tablet.

"Hey!" Ash protests.

"I'm tired of people telling me to leave!" Gary screams. Then, before Ash can stop him, he smashes the tablet into the ground, shattering it.

Ash gasps and falls to pick it up. "No!" He shoots a glare at the bully, but the professor's grandson looks even more furious than he does.

"I wish you were dead!" he shouts. "I wish you would die so grandpa can love me instead!"

The young boy shoves the android to the ground before running out of the lounge.

~.~

Jessie and James travel until they see what looks to be an old farmhouse. The entrance of the abode is a dusty screen door, which Jessie peers through before waving James to enter. The house will be their home until they find it necessary to move. Anyone who says otherwise will get shot.

"We can't stay too long," Jessie says as she scans the refrigerator. She frowns. It is almost empty. "That boy is Giovanni's son. He'll want us dead as soon as possible."

James's eyebrows furrow. "How do you know that robot is Giovanni's son?"

"Hospital records aren't that hard to get," Jessie informs. "The kid was born to Delia and Giovanni Ketchum. We may not know that Giovanni-bastard's last name, but it isn't hard to put two and two together."

"What if it's just a coincidence?"

"I've been in Team Rocket for years, James," she reminds. "I've worked with that creep long enough to know that he has his reasons. He didn't hire me to watch over someone else's son if the boy isn't his son too."

"I don't know," James lowers his head. "The man doesn't seem like he cares about the boy everyone is certain is his son. Why care about the robot kid?"

"I don't know and I don't care," Jessie scoffs. "All I know is that he cares about that boy and that I wanted to hurt him as much as he had hurt me."

James silently absorbs her words. Then, when the memory of their deceased friend returns to his mind, he asks, "Do you regret it?"

Jessie sends him a glare. "Regret what?"

"Shooting Meowth," James struggles to say. "Killing him."

Jessie grits her teeth. "Of course I do," she says. "I'm not a heartless maniac."

"So why did you do it?" James grunts. "Why did you kill him?"

Jessie's fists clench. "I don't know," she says. "Meowth just...kept going on and on and...then he called me out on my grief, and..and I just lost it and…"

Her next words seem to vanish into thin air. James's expression softens as he watches his companion stare into space. He barely sees this side of Jessie, the part of her that isn't trying hard to look tough or glamorous. How rare is it to see her so raw, open, and vulnerable.

Jessie snaps out of her reverie and looks up at James. He is standing before her now, smiling warmly. She narrows her eyes in confusion. What's there to smile about? Aren't they just discussing the murder of their friend? Why does he look like he has just won the lottery?

But as seconds go by, Jessie is finding herself not minding. James's stupid grin and the quiet of the house are giving her a sense of peace. Times like this are rare, especially now that so much has changed in a short amount of time. Jessie hasn't chosen the right decisions recently. But with a companion as loyal and as faithful as James, maybe she can—

Jessie gasps as blood splatters onto her face. She takes a quick glance at James's body, which is now lying face down on the floor, before drawing her gun. Her gun cocks to shoot who is responsible. But then she hears a click. Her entire body freezes except for her head, which turns to see Butch pointing a gun at her skull.

"Sorry about your friend," a woman opens the screen door and walks in. She looks down in disgust at James, who has blood oozing from his brain, before pointing a gun at Jessie's face. "I won't be much with you, though."

Jessie's teeth grind as tears border her eyes. She has felt something close to animosity to the blonde woman standing before her. Now she feels unfathomable rage. Rage so fierce, she can barely breathe.

"Oh come on, Jessie," Cassidy goads. "This is usually when you try to talk me down or threaten to hurt me."

"I'm not going to give you that satisfaction," Jessie lowers her weapon. "You've gone too far this time."

"This isn't one of the diabolical pranks we throw at each other," Cassidy clarifies. "Giovanni's orders. He threatened to kill our families if we don't do this."

Jessie's eyes widen.

"I don't want to lose my mom, Jessie," Cassidy confesses. "You, out of all people, know how hard it is to live without her mother."

Jessie automatically raises her gun. But as soon as she does so, Cassidy shoots hers, causing blood to shoot from Jessie's forehead. She falls onto the ground with a thump, her corpse landing on top of James's.

"That was easy," Butch leaves the house and returns with two boxes.

"It always is with a hothead like her," Cassidy accepts the containers from him. "Hand me the scissors too, Butch. I've always wanted to cut that ridiculous hair of hers."

~.~

Ash is angry at Gary but is more paralyzed with shock to do more than sit up from the carpet. He stares helplessly at the broken tablet until Oak and Delia rush into the room. Delia helps her son sit back up on the couch as Oak picks up the device.

"The staff told us that they heard screaming in here," Oak says. "Are you alright, Ash?"

"Y-Yeah," Ash answers. He avoids eye contact with Delia as the mother scrutinizes the tablet. He expects her to scold him, but she soothingly rubs his back instead.

"Are you sure?" Delia asks. "You weren't hurt in any way?"

"No," Ash shakes his head. "You're," he glances at the tablet, "you're not mad at me?"

"Why would I be mad at you?"

"Because Gary took the tablet from me and broke it."

Oak clicks his tongue and shakes his head at the hallway. "That Gary," he mutters. "I'll have a talk with him later."

"But if Gary is the one that broke the tablet, Ash, why are you blaming yourself?" Delia inquires.

Ash shrugs, and Delia pulls him to her shoulder.

"You can watch television at my wing later," Oak resolves. "But right now, we have a little surgery we need to perform on you."

"Surgery?" Ash looks up. "For what?"

"A colleague of mine has been working on a cooling system and sent her most successful prototype to me," Oak answers. "If things go well, it could fix that overheating problem you've had yesterday."

Ash's eyes widen in delight.

"But before we go through this surgery, Ash," Delia pulls back to look at him, "I'd like to ask you...would you like to forget our conversation from yesterday?"

"You mean," Ash stiffens, "about Dad?"

Delia nods.

"N-No," Ash shakes his head. "I can handle it."

"Are you sure?" Delia cups his face. She remembers her discussion with Ben after Ash's session and adds, "You don't have to remember it, you know. You don't have to go through the...the pain."

Ash frowns and looks at the broken device. "I don't want to forget Dad," he tells her. "I want him to come home."

"That's easier said than done, Ash," Oak interjects. "No one has heard about your father in years. We don't even know where he is."

"But he knows where I am," Ash remarks. "And...and when he sees what I'm going to do, he's going to want to come home."

Delia narrows her eyes. "What are you going to do, Ash?" she asks.

Ash looks up at her and grins. "I'm going to be a pokémon master!"

Delia and Oak inch back.

"A pokémon master?" the professor repeats.

"Like Red?" Delia asks.

"Yeah!" Ash confirms.

"But why?" Delia asks. "You'd have to challenge gyms and battle strong trainers, and that's not as easy as it looks on TV."

"But that's why I have to do it," Ash tells her. "Dad is still out there because he thinks I'm still sick. But if I become a pokémon master, then he'll know that I'm not weak anymore and be proud of me and come home!"

Delia freezes, her hand falling on his shoulder.

"It sounds like a good proposition."

The mother and son turn to Oak, who is nodding in approval.

"The only way Ash can improve as a living being is to discover his weaknesses and fix them," Oak tells them. "A journey to greatness can only make a person stronger. If Ash accomplishes his goal, then not only will his father have faith in him, but so will the rest of the world."

Delia bites her lip. "But he won't be safe out there," she points out. "Remember what happened just yesterday?"

"He won't be safe here either," Oak remarks. "The protesters have gotten violent enough to drive you two out of your house. If we really want Ash to be safe, then he has to travel and get stronger so he can defend himself. He has no better chance of doing so than becoming a pokémon trainer."

Delia's lips press together as she turns to her son. The robot is beaming at her now, displaying more hope and excitement than she has seen since his return. She doesn't want to part with him again. The pain has been great enough when Ash left her the first time. But Oak is right. Ash isn't safe at home with his mother anymore. If she wants him to live a long healthy life even after she is no longer around to take care of him, she has to let him go. It's the only way he can grow and be happy.

"Alright," the mother nods, cupping her son's face before forcing a smile. The smile won't last for long, however, so she pulls her son back into her arms to hide her quivering lips.

~.~

Two knocks hit the wooden door of Giovanni's office before three men enter with a box on each person. Giovanni motions them to place the containers on a long table and smirks. The boxes he has granted to the blonde and bush are dirtier than they were this morning. Now to see if they're dirtier inside.

The leader stands before the boxes and removes their lids slowly. He does so to build tension, which multiplies the satisfaction resulting from each reveal. The agents have definitely completed their mission, Giovanni's smirk widens. He will be sure to use their services again soon.

But before the mafia boss can call back the agents stationed outside the homes of Cassidy and Butch's loved ones, the phone from his desk begins to ring. He approaches the device and picks up the receiver. The caller ID reads "Fuji".

"What do you want, Fuji?" Giovanni demands.

"The arrangements have been finalized, sir," the scientist responds from the other line. "We are scheduled to transport the subject this Thursday."

"Excellent," Giovanni sneers. "The island will be clear?"

"The island will be clear."

The organization leader chuckles in approval. After two decades of disappointment, things are finally starting to go his way. So much has been accomplished in a day. Who knows what will happen in two?

"Make sure nothing goes wrong until then," Giovanni orders. "Tell your staff to mark it in their calendars if you have to. February 6, Cinnabar Island."