Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, or know anyone who works for Pokemon/Warner Brothers/Ninetendo.
A/N: Okay everyone, here's chapter 2! =) Hope you enjoy!
Jesse arrives at the Pokemon Center with two large suitcases, and walks to James' room without stopping. She knocks and waits. James answers the door and lets her in, she dosen't need to explain.
"Are you alright?" he asks her.
Tears stream down her face. "My daughter hates me, so does Brock, Misty's dead, can it get any worse?" James put an arm around her shoulder. She leans on his shoulder and cries. They stay like that for about 5 minutes, before James gently pulls her off.
"I have to make a phone call" he says quietly
"To who?" She manages to choke out
"To my wife." He quickly replies before running out.
Jesse sighs and flops on the bed. Why does it have to be like this?
He returns after half an hour with a solemn expression on his face.
"She didn't take it very well, I'll have to go back and pack my bags" James explains.
"Well we are we gonna go after that?" Jesse says in almost a panic.
"Calm down, there's heaps of places. Saffron City is nice" James suggests.
Jesse nods. "Okay."
James smiles and hugs her. "This is gonna work out. We'll be fine" he reassures her.
********************************************************
It's a month later and Brock and Kerihana have moved back to Cinnabar Island, after Jesse got her possesions back from there. During that time, Jesse had a very serious talk about her past with her daughter. She told Kreihana about Team Rocket, about the choice she had to make between James and Brock, and she didn't leave out one single detail.
Maybe she should have left out the Team Rocket episode.
One day, Kerihana takes a walk to the famous Pokemon house with a torch. She spots Charizard and waves. It waves back
"Charizard, Char?" It asks (translation: How are you? Charizard adores Kerihana)
"I'm fine, but I have a favour to ask you." She quickly blurts out.
Charizards eyebrows rise.
"Just meet me outside my house at 1.30 in the morning tommorrow," she pleads.
Charizard considers "Rizard charizard" it replies (Translation: Alright, I'll be there).
Kerihana smiles "Thanks, bring Charmander as well."
Charizard is about to say that Charmander evolved a few days ago, but Kerihana interupts its thoughts.
"I'll see you then" Kerihana says before running away.
At 1.20, Kerihana releases her Pokemon from her Pokeballs
"Listen guys, I've gotta leave this place, it's too depressing, you're coming with me, but don't make a sound while I get out, I don't wanna wake dad."
They stare in silence before agreeing.
Kerihana smiles. "Great, I'll just put my note to dad in the kitchen."
When she returns, she places her Pokemon back in their pokeballs. She steps outside and waits for about five minutes before Charizard and Charmeleon arrive.
"What happened to Charmander?" She asks.
"Charizard, rizard char char," it smirks (translation: everything changes).
Kerihanas jaw drops "you don't mean... but it never wanted to evolve, now I'm really stuck" Kerihana sits down with a look of concertration on her face.
"Chrarizard?" It asks (Tanslation: what's wrong?).
"Now you can't fly me anywhere, Charmeleon's too big for both of us to ride on your back" she says angerily.
Charizards face drops "Char, rizad, charizard?" it finishes (tanslation: Where are we going?).
Kerihana thinks. I may as well tell them now... but will they tell dad? It's worth a try, she decides.
"I'm running away to Viridian City with my Pokemon, I need you to fly me there" she admits.
Charizard and Charmeleon nearly faint. "Charizard! Char!" (Translation: I will not help you!).
"But you must!" Kerihana begs. "If you don't, I'll get a ride from a stranger there, you can't stop me!" She screams. The pressure of the last few events got the best of her.
Charizard and Charmeleon sigh, then agree.
Kerihana brightens "great, now Charmeleon, how are you going to get there? Let me think..." She ponders until an indea enters her head. She faces Charmeleon.
"you'll have to come along in one of my pokeballs" she tells it.
Charmeleon sulks. "Charmeleon, Char!" (translation: Never on your life!)
"Then I'll get there my own way" Kerihana shrugs causally.
"Char, char meleon char!" It screams out (translation: Ok, but only for the ride).
Kerihana places Charmeleon in a pokeball and they start their journey. They arrive in Viridian in front of the Pokemon Center.
"Thanks, Charizard, this means a lot to me, make sure you don't tell dad anything about this" She says quitely. She releases Charmeleon form her pokeball. Charmeleon and Charizard stand there quietly, trying not to cry. Kerihana hugs them both, then they leave. Kerihana uses a map given to her and follows the directions needed. She arrives at her destaination and enters a room. The door sign reads, "Uniform and enrollment." She enters to find only one person there, a man patting some kind of Pokemon she can't see in the dark.
Suddenly nerves hit her. "H-hi, I'm, um, Kreihana...I enrolled a week ago" she explains.
The man looks confused.
"I'm Jesse's daughter."
The man remembers and smiles. "Welcome, young lady, we're glad to have you as a member of our organisation, even in the dark, I can see that you have the same hair as your mother. Here is your uniform and sleeping quarters, you begin work tomorrow and will be assigned with your team mates."
"Really? That's it?" Kreihana asks in amazement as she clutches her new uniform.
The man nods.
"Thankyou sir." Kreihana heads for the door.
"And by the way...call me Giovanni" the man says.
Kreihana grins. "Of course, Giovanni" she says politly and shuts the door in excitement. She's done it. She's joined Team Rocket. Now she's gonna have as many adventures as her mom.
********************************************************
"What a great day" Ash mutters as he wakes up. He's in Cinnabar Island to cool off from trashing... well, nearly everything.
"Pikachu!" Pikachu greets him. (translation: good morning)
"Hey Pikachu. What should we do today?" Ash asks.
Pikachu shrugs.
"I think we should visit Brock and see how he's doing" Ash suggests, getting out of bed.
Pikachu nods. "Pika Pika!" it agrees.
Ash quickly looks to his right to his bedside table and shows a sad smile. He is looking at his favourite picture of Misty. She had been laughing at something someone had said and someone had snapped this perfect shot that he was staring at now.
"Hi Misty. I'm missing you more than ever" Ash sighs. At least he has learnt to control his emotions. A month ago he would've looked at that picture and hurled it out the window.
He couldn't help letting a tear escape. "It still hurts, but I love you forever" he whispers.
Pikachu smiles. Thank goodness he's back...well, he's nearly back, it thinks.
Ash seems to know what Pikachu is thinking and smiles at his best friend of twenty years. "It's a hard road, Pikachu, and you won't know what it's like until you experience it."
"Pika Pi, Pika Pikachu" (translation: Ash, you're doing fine.)
Ash smiles. Pikachu couldn't be a better friend if it got paid.
"Right, let's go see Brock" Ash declares, marching out of his room with Pikachu at his feet.
After showering, having breakfast and feeding the few pokemon he bought, Ash walks out the door (he only bought a couple of pokemon with him, the rest are being looked after by a friend on Seafoam Island.)
The walk only takes ten minutes and he slowly knocks on the door. "Brock! Is it too early to visit?" Ash yells.
Inside, Brock has just woken up and gotten dressed. Thinking Kreihana is in bed, he quietly walks over to the door and opens it.
"Hey Ash, how are you?" he asks as he lets his friend in.
"As good as can be expected, I guess. How about you?"
Brock sighs. "Kreihana's the biggest problem right now. I think she misses Jesse. I'll go and get her, she'd love to see you and Pikachu" he walks over to her door and knocks twice.
"Kreihana! Wake up!" he yells.
No answer. No moans of being up too early or not wanting to go to school, despite the fact it's the weekend.
Brock knocks again. "Kreihana? Ash is here and he's got Pikachu." That's sure to get her up, he thinks confidently.
Still no response.
"Uh, Brock, I think you better come into the kitchen, Pikachu's found something" Ash says uncertinatly
Brock's startled, but goes anyway. Pikachu's holding a piece of paper that has "Dad" written on it. Brock grabs the note in panic, and reads:
Dear dad,
I'm sorry, but I can't stay here anymore, it's time I left. Tell mom if you want, I don't care. Tell James that I'm not going to visit ever because I'm busy and still hurting from him taking mom away (which is the truth, anyway) I'm sure he'll understand that.
Love Kreihana
Brock can't believe it. His face was drained of colour and he felt like collasping. He sat down quickly and let the piece of paper fall to the ground. Ash picks it up and reads it over and over.
"Why would she leave?" Ash asks in shock.
Brock stares at the ground. "Where did she go? I'm never gonna find her, this is all my fault..." he starts babbling in a panic.
Ash grabs Brock by the shoulders and keeps him quiet. "Okay Brock, calm down, this isn't your fault. We'll call Jesse and the police, they'll find her. She can't have gone far" he reassures Brock.
Brock doesn't listen. "She's only thirteen! She could get into all kinds of trouble! She could picked up by some stranger and I'd never see her again..." he buries his head in his hands and quietly starts crying.
"Brock, we're gonna find her. Do you have Jesse's number?" Ash asks.
Brock nods. "In the telephone book, under J" he instructs.
"Okay" Ash takes in a deep breath, beginning to feel a little panicked himself. Some wild pokemon could come at her in the forest or something...he didn't need this while he was grieving, but he had to help his friend. He couldn't just turn away.
He flips through the book and finds Jesse's number in Saffron City with no trouble.
"Do you want me to call?" Ash asks.
Brock says nothing, he just stares at the wall. Ash picks up the phone and dials out the seven numbers.
"Hello?" a female voice answers.
"Uh, hi, is Jesse there please?" Ash says politly.
"Ash? Is that you?" Jesse asks.
"Yeah, how did you know?"
"I'd recognise your voice anywhere" Jesse laughs.
Ash gets nervous. "Um, Jesse I've got something to tell you...it's gonna upset you...Brock can't talk cos he's in shock" he starts.
"Well, what's going on?" Jesse asks quietly.
Ash sighs. "I'm in Cinnabar for a break. I came over to see Brock and Kreihana. Brock tried to find Kreihana and he couldn't...then we found a note from her. Jesse, Kreihana ran away and we don't know where she's gone" he says quickly.
There is silence on the other end. In Saffron City, Jesse has collapsed into a chair and nearly stopped breathing.
"Jesse? Are you still there?" Ash asks worridly.
"Huh? Yeah, I'm here...where could she have gone? She didn't say in the note?"
"No, she just said she couldn't stand it here anymore and felt it was time to leave" Ash explains.
Jesse starts crying. "This is all my fault..."
"No, it's not your fault, it's nobody's fault...we're gonna call the police and look for her too...she could be just at the park or something" Ash says, doubting his words.
Jesse unsuscefully tries to calm down. "Thankyou, Ash. Do you want me to come out there?"
Ash hesitates. "No, don't. Just try and think...did you mention anything to her that might cause her to run away?" he asks seriously.
"I-I don't think so..." Jesse stammers.
"Alright. We'll call the police now. Don't worry Jesse, she's a sensible girl, she wouldn't do anything stupid" Ash reasurres her.
Jesse nods. "Okay. Call me straight away if you find her."
"We will. Don't worry, she'll be fine."
"Okay. Goodbye, Ash" Jesse says and hangs up. Ash also hangs up the phone.
"She's beating herself up over it" he tells Brock, who sighs and slumps in his chair.
"Well, we've gotta get going, I'll call Officer Jenny, have you got any Pokemon that can fly?" Brock asks
Ash grins. By sheer luck he brought his Moltres to Cinnabar Island.
"Sure, I brought Moltres."
"Great, we can fly over Cinnabar and see if we can spot her, I'll be just a second" Brock grabs the phone and calls Officer Jenny to report a runaway. After that, they run over to Ash's house, grab the pokeball with his Moltres in it, go back outside and call it out.
"Moltres, we need to get a good areial view of Cinnabar. Fly over this island until we tell you to stop" Ash directs as they climb on.
"Mol, Moltres!" (translation: anything you say, Ash!)
They fly around the tiny island for fifteen minutes with no sign of her and an increasing fear in their minds.
"Where is she..." Brock mutters.
Ash doesn't answer. He doesn't want to tell Brock that he really thinks Kreihana's gone furthur than Cinnabar.
Eventually Moltres gets tired, and Ash makes it fly back to his temporary house and rest.
"She's not on Cinnabar. Where else could she have gone?" Brock asks warily.
"Well, she could've gone back to Seafoam Island, or even to Saffron to see Jesse...we just have to keep looking and never give up hope" Ash says sensibly. They go outside and see Charizard across the road, looking nervous. It spots Ash and Brock and nearly has a heart attack.
"Hey Charizard whats up? Have you seen Kerihana?" Brock asks, maybe he knows
Yeah, I saw her yesterdayand helped her run away Charizard thinks guitily but says "Charizard char rizard?" (not for a while, why?)
"What's it saying Pikachu?" Ash questions. Pikachu tranlates.
"Oh" Brock says sadly. "She's run away" he sighs.
"Charizard" it states without meaning (translation: I know)
Pikachus eyes widen "Pikachu pi pika?" (translation: how did you know?)
Everyone stares. Charizard hangs its head. It decides to confess I'll never forgive myself if I don't it thinks
It confesses to Pikachu that it flew Kerihana to Viridian City. Pikachu tells Ash and Brock in shock. Brock is about to explode.
"Why the heck did you do that?!" He screams
Charizard explains to Pikachu that if he didn't, she would've gone there with a stranger. "Charizard charizard char." It finishes (translation: I couldn't let her do that.)
"I agree with you, I guess you couldn't help it, do you know where she went after that?" Brock tries to stay calm. Charizard shakes its head.
"Well, thanks for telling us Charizard, I know that that took a lot. Now lets get going to Viridian." Ash says. Pikachu is thinking hard, it's almost glad that Kerihana ran away. Now Ash is more like himself Pikachu thinks relived.
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Meanwhile, Kreihana is plotting ideas with her team mate, Rex. He is Kreihanas age and they made friends straight away. She is enjoying this already. So this is freedom she thinks happily. She is thinking hard, so hard that she doesn't notice the shadow above her. Then a Moltres lands a few meters away, interrupting her thoughts.
"There she is!" A familiar voice calls out. Before she knows it, Brock, Ash and Pikachu are all around her.
"Let me go! I mean it!" she screams. They gently release her.
"You can't make me go back! It's not fair! You" she points at Ash "left home when you were ten. I'm thirteen. Thirteen! Treat me like my age!" She catches her breath. "If you take me back, I'll make sure you'll regret it."
Brock wasn't expecting this. He sighs "I can't make you come back, but I want you to."
"You can't get everything you want," Kreihana says in a huff.
"I realise that, but..."
"But you don't accept it" Kerihana finishes for him.
Brock starts to get angry "Listen, you could've just told me, but you didn't have to run off with nothing but a note. Look at you! You're like your mother."
"Well she's the one that gave me this idea in the first place!" Kreihana snaps.
"I figured that" Brock says grumpily. "Look, just come back with us and we'll work something out...something that works for both of us, okay?"
Kreihana shakes her head. "This is working for me. And I think you'd be better left by yourself to work out your own problems instead of taking them out on me."
Brock gets offended. He wants to say, "That's excatly what you're doing!" but keeps quiet.
"Kreihana, your dad's just trying to help you" Ash steps forward.
"Don't you talk to me about getting help! You need more help than a Pidgey that can't fly!" Kreihana yells at him.
Ash glares at her and steps back. "I don't think she's gonna come back on her own free will" he whispers to Brock.
Brock sighs and supresses the tears in his throat. "Okay Kreihana. Come back when you want to" he says quietly.
"Yeah, that'll be the day" Kreihana rolls her eyes.
Brock stares at her. How can her name mean beautiful flower? She's more like poison ivy, he thinks. He hugs her for what he thinks could be the last time and she stiffens.
"If you'll excuse me I have work to finish" she breaks away and walks back with Rex to Team Rocket HQ, leaving Ash, Brock and Pikachu in shocked silence.
"Come on Brock, let's go, you can stay here for hours and she won't come back" Ash says realisticly.
Brock sighs. "I better tell Jesse" he says as they climb back on Moltres.
"Do you wanna stop by in Saffron to see her?" Ash asks as the bird takes off.
"Yeah, I better talk to her" Brock says quitely, and Ash directs Moltres to the big city.
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"What are you guys gonna do?" Brock asks as they land outside the Pokemon Center.
Ash shrugs "I'll get Moltres healed, then who knows? We'll just walk around for an hour or so. Is that enough time?"
Brock nods, "Thanks Ash. See you here in an hour" he farewells them and walks off in the direction of Jesses house which, thankfully, is on the same street as the Pokemon Center.
"169 Gemstone Lane" he mutters to himself, as he approches the small white house with a red roof.
"Okey, here we go" Brock says to himself, and he knocks three times.
To his horra, James answers
"Uh, is Jesse here?" Brock asks uncertinaly
"Um, yeah, sure, she's in the kitchen..." James says nervously. Brock ignores James and edges past him. After easily finding the kitchen he finds himself behind Jesse, who is cutting up vegetables.
Brock stands in silence for a moment before quitely saying "Hi Jesse"
Jesse turns around, realises who it is and stumbles the kitchen knife, causing her to cut her finger.
"Yow!" she exclaims in pain.
"Sorry to scare you, but I have some bad news" Brock announces. Jesse instandtly forgets her finger and stares at him. "Bad news? About Kerihana?" She asks worridly
Brock nods. "Sit down" he gestures to a chair. They both sit down and Brock starts.
"I found Kreihana." Jesse's eyes widen and she breaths a sigh of relief.
"Oh thank goodness! Is she okay? Where is she?" she asks frantically.
"She's okay, she...um, she joined Team Rocket in Viridian City" Brock explains.
Jesse stares into space in shock, then quietly starts crying. "This is all my fault" she whimpers.
"It's okay, she'll come back in her own time" Brock tries to convince her and himself.
Unbeknown to Brock or Jesse, James is behind the kitchen door, listening to their conversation.
Oh boy, this isn't good, he thinks. Maybe I should try to convince her to go back...then again, she wouldn't listen to me...
"Jesse, I just want you to stay here and not worry. She's safe and she's happy" Brock says.
"She can't be happy if she ran away!" Jesse exclaims.
Brock goes quiet. "You're right. But she has every right to be unhappy. Her parents just divorced."
"Why did she run away? My little Kreihana...my beautiful flower..." Jesse lets more tears spill over.
Brock puts his arm around her shoulder. "Kreihana will probably hate Team Rocket and come home."
Jesse nods. "Yeah, she'll probably hate the idea of exploiting pokemon."
Brock checks his watch. "I'm meeting Ash in five minutes, I better go" he stands up.
"Wait!" Jesse stands up and grabs his arm. "You will call me if you hear from her, right?"
Brock smiles. "Of course. Don't get yourself in a mess, she'll be fine."
Jesse nods slowly. "Thankyou for coming, Brock" is all she can say as she leads him to the front door and James hides.
"No problem. Call you soon" Brock farewells and leaves. He is secretly hoping he hasn't told Jesse a pack of lies.
********************************************************
A month of waiting brings no new news from or about Kreihana. Jesse calls Brock nearly every day to see if she has come home.
Ash hasn't left Cinnabar yet, saying he'll stay until Kreihana comes back. Brock tried to tell him that it could be months before she comes back, but Ash didn't listen.
On this day, Ash has just left Brock's house. Brock is sitting on the couch, with his face buried in his hands. He feels like he's lost it all; his wife, his daughter and one of his closest friends (that would be Misty). Why can't anything go right?
Meanwhile in Viridian City, Kreihana is sitting on her bed, also thinking seriously...about how she's gonna catch more Pokemon. So far, she's caught forty two for her boss.
"I wonder what he does with them?" she asks out loud.
Rex walks in. "What are you on about?" he inquires.
"Huh? Oh, I was just wondering what Giovanni does with the Pokemon I give him" Kreihana shrugs.
Rex laughs. "Don't you know? Seriously?"
Kreihana shakes her head. "No."
"Then why did you join?"
"Cos my mom had so much fun when she was part of Team Rocket" Kreihana says.
"Oh. Well...the boss is gonna exploit them to take over the world" Rex says casually.
"Exploit?" Kreihana asks.
"You know, take advantage of..." Rex explains.
Kreihana goes pale. "So I've been catching Pokemon for him to take advantage of?" she whispers.
"Of course you have" Rex replies.
"I can't do that! No, I can't, it's not fair to the Pokemon" Kreihana stands up and heads for the door.
"What are you doing?" Rex asks in surprise.
"I'm quitting. There are better ways to take over the world. Bye Rex, you've been a great team mate" Kreihana waves and leaves as suddenly as she joined.
She grabs her suitcase from the storage department, gets changed into some jeans and leaves, knowing that Rex can tell Giovanni about her.
"Now what?" she wonders as she walks around Viridian City. How is she gonna get home? Then she remembers the money she's made from Team Rocket. Four hundred and twelve dollars. That should get her a flight to Cinnabar Island, or somewhere close.
She runs to the not far away airport, and books a flight for Cinnabar Island.
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"Hi dad." Kreihana says nervously as she opens the door.
Brocks eyes nearly pop out of his skull, then he comes back to reality. He runs up to Kreihana and gives her a hug.
"I'm sorry...dad I'm so sorry...they wanted to exploit Pokemon and I didn't want to do that..." Kreihana cries into his shoulder.
Brock nods. "I know. I didn't think you would enjoy that" he pulls away and studies her. "Well, you might not have grown taller, but I think you've grown up a lot" he says wisely.
"Yeah. I'm just so sorry" Kreihana apologises repeatidly.
Brock shakes his head. "At least you're home, and you've learnt a lesson the hard way."
Kreihana smiles. "How's mom? Is she okay?" she asks worridly.
"She was beside herself when you left. You know you shouldn't have done that to all of us. You made Ash stay on this island longer, and you put us all through a lot of worry" Brock scolds her.
Kreihana sighs "I know I did a wrong thing dad, but can we forget it? I want to see Ash and apoligse." Kreihana pleads. Brock knows that she won't pull a stunt like that again. He smiles.
"Sure, but you might wanna call your mother first" he says sternly.
Kreihana nods and walks to the phone, easily punching out the numbers she's memorised.
"Hello?" James answers.
"Um...hi, this is Kreihana...is mom home?" she asks.
"Kreihana? Where are you?! Does your dad know where you are?" James asks hurridly.
"I'm home, can you just get mom?" Kreihana tries not to snap. She is still not James' best friend.
There is silence on the other end. "Kreihana, your mom is home but I will not let you order me around like your slave" James says quietly.
"What?!" Kreihana exclaims.
"You have no idea what you've put your mother through over these past weeks. I bet you never considered anyone else when you left" James says sourly.
"Of course I did! Listen, I called to talk to mom, not you, so could you please get her for me?" Kreihana asks impaitently.
James sighs then walks away to get Jesse.
"Jesse, you got a phonecall" he announces to Jesse, who is brushing her hair. She looks up and quickly rushes to the phone.
"Hello?" She tries to sound normal in case it's one of her friends.
Kreihana draws in a shaky breath. "Mom, I'm sorry" she apologises straight away.
Jesse immediatly bursts into tears of relief.
"Uh, mom, are you okey?" Kreihana asks uncertianly
"I'm just so happy," Jeese says between sobs.
They catch up and Kreihana explains the everything about her time with Team Rocket.
"I liked my freedom, but hated with I was doing with it" Kreihana finishes.
Jesse nods. "I thought so. Well, I'm glad you're home, but you have to promise me that you will never do that again."
"Yup mom, I promise" Kreihana replies.
"I'm sure your father will set out some kind of punishment for you...but in the mean time, you apologise to Ash cos I know he stayed there longer because of you..." Jesse lectures.
"Yeah, I know mom, I'll go see him now" Kreihana says in an exasperated voice.
Jesse smiles at the tone she so often used to yell at. For now she is overjoyed to hear it. "Alright sweetie. You go do that now. Don't get into any more trouble!"
Kreihana grins. "I won't mom...bye" she says and hangs up. She walks back to where Brock is.
"I think I should go apologise to Ash" she starts.
Brock nods. "Yes, I would think so."
Kreihana follows her father in silence to Ash's temporary house, only five minutes walk away. They go through the front door without knocking, and Brock yells out, "Ash! Kreihana's come back!"
Ash comes through to the kitchen. "Well, looks like someone changed their mind about Team Rocket" he smiles.
"Yeah...you understand, right? I mean, you love pokemon and everything..." Kreihana babbles.
"Uh, Ash, Kreihana has something she wants to say to you..." Brock nudges Kreihana.
She stops talking. "Right." She sighs and starts. "Ash, I know that over these past few months you've been anything but happy, and what I did can't have made it any easier...so I wanna say that I am really, really sorry for putting you through it and for making that comment about the Pidgey that can't fly" she says in embarassment.
Ash shakes his head. "Nah, don't worry about it. But I do appreciate the apology. How would you like to go out back and visit the pokemon?"
Kreihana's face lights up. "Sure!" she exclaims and runs off, before Ash can explain he only bought a few.
Ash laughs. "Well, it looks like she's back to her old self."
"Come to think of it, so do you" Brock notes.
Ash gives him a sad smile. "I still miss her like anything, but I know that wherever she is, she's fine."
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Even though Kreihana is home and happy, something still doesn't semm right in her mind. What's the matter? her annoying inside voice cries out. You've got everything, but you're still not happy? it demands. Kreihana thinks hard. Ever since she joined Team Rocket she really started to live. But what you were doing was wrong, she thinks, and spends the rest of the day in concentration. By the morning, she has come to a decision. She goes into the lounge and is about to confess to her dad.
"Hi dad" Kreihana says, trying to be causal
"Hi Kreihana" Brock says easily. Kreihana smiles, then sits down on a chair.
"Dad, I've got something to tell you" Kreihana quickly says, ignoring her dads raised eyebrows.
"Well, the time when I was with Team Rocket, I enjoyed all the freedom I had, I just didn't like what I was using it for. So, I'd like to get more freedom by using it as a pokemon trainer with Rex" she explains.
Brock sighs. "I thought we had discussed this..."
Kreihana shakes her head. "No. We discussed running away, this is pokemon training. You'll know where I am, and I'll come home sometimes."
"Kreihana, don't go, you can't now that your mother's gone, I couldn't bear it" Brock says sadly.
"I have to go, dad. It's the only way I can be happy" Kreihana says.
"Really?" Brock asks. Kreihana nods.
"I'll call all the time and drop in...it won't be like I'm actually going for good" she reassures him.
"It sure will seem like it" Brock sighs unhappily.
"I know it seems unfair, but..." Kreihana drifts off.
"I understand" Brock nods. "It's just that... I'll miss you like anything."
Kreihana smiles and hugs her dad. "I'll miss you too. But I feel I need to do this."
"Right. Well, let's get you sorted. You can probably get your licence tomorrow from Professer Seaworth, and you won't need any more pokemon...what about Rex?" Brock asks, standing up.
"I'll call him. He's probably still at Team Rocket, and even if he's not, I've got his home phone number" Kreihana shrugs.
"Right. Let's get cracking" Brock walks away with Kreihana behind him.
**********************************************************************************
The next day, Kreihana is about to leave. She's meeting Rex on Seafoam Island, so Ash has volunteered to fly her and Brock over on Moltres since he'll be going back there too, then Moltres will fly Kreihana and Rex to Cerulean City.
"Why didn't you leave earlier?" Kreihana asks.
Ash shrugs. "I kinda like it here, and I needed to get away for awhile"
Kreihana nods. "I know" she smiles. Ash takes a Pokeball from his pocket and calls out Moltres. They all get on its back and fly to Seafoam. When they arrive, Rex is already waiting, and greets Kreihana enthusiastically. She introuduces him to Brock, then they prepare for the journey. Brock gives Kreihana some last minute advice, hugs her and wishes them both luck.
"I promise I'll call, see ya later dad!" Kreihana calls before Moltres flys them out of sight. Brock and Ash wave goodbye. Brock sighs.
"The problem with kids is that they grow up too fast" he mumbles.
"That's for sure, look at us!" Ash exclaims. They both laugh.
A/N: So, that's the end of the happy/sad/weird triology. What did you think? I'd love to hear your reviews, remember, I'm new at this! Luv ya, peace! =)
A/N: Okay everyone, here's chapter 2! =) Hope you enjoy!
Jesse arrives at the Pokemon Center with two large suitcases, and walks to James' room without stopping. She knocks and waits. James answers the door and lets her in, she dosen't need to explain.
"Are you alright?" he asks her.
Tears stream down her face. "My daughter hates me, so does Brock, Misty's dead, can it get any worse?" James put an arm around her shoulder. She leans on his shoulder and cries. They stay like that for about 5 minutes, before James gently pulls her off.
"I have to make a phone call" he says quietly
"To who?" She manages to choke out
"To my wife." He quickly replies before running out.
Jesse sighs and flops on the bed. Why does it have to be like this?
He returns after half an hour with a solemn expression on his face.
"She didn't take it very well, I'll have to go back and pack my bags" James explains.
"Well we are we gonna go after that?" Jesse says in almost a panic.
"Calm down, there's heaps of places. Saffron City is nice" James suggests.
Jesse nods. "Okay."
James smiles and hugs her. "This is gonna work out. We'll be fine" he reassures her.
********************************************************
It's a month later and Brock and Kerihana have moved back to Cinnabar Island, after Jesse got her possesions back from there. During that time, Jesse had a very serious talk about her past with her daughter. She told Kreihana about Team Rocket, about the choice she had to make between James and Brock, and she didn't leave out one single detail.
Maybe she should have left out the Team Rocket episode.
One day, Kerihana takes a walk to the famous Pokemon house with a torch. She spots Charizard and waves. It waves back
"Charizard, Char?" It asks (translation: How are you? Charizard adores Kerihana)
"I'm fine, but I have a favour to ask you." She quickly blurts out.
Charizards eyebrows rise.
"Just meet me outside my house at 1.30 in the morning tommorrow," she pleads.
Charizard considers "Rizard charizard" it replies (Translation: Alright, I'll be there).
Kerihana smiles "Thanks, bring Charmander as well."
Charizard is about to say that Charmander evolved a few days ago, but Kerihana interupts its thoughts.
"I'll see you then" Kerihana says before running away.
At 1.20, Kerihana releases her Pokemon from her Pokeballs
"Listen guys, I've gotta leave this place, it's too depressing, you're coming with me, but don't make a sound while I get out, I don't wanna wake dad."
They stare in silence before agreeing.
Kerihana smiles. "Great, I'll just put my note to dad in the kitchen."
When she returns, she places her Pokemon back in their pokeballs. She steps outside and waits for about five minutes before Charizard and Charmeleon arrive.
"What happened to Charmander?" She asks.
"Charizard, rizard char char," it smirks (translation: everything changes).
Kerihanas jaw drops "you don't mean... but it never wanted to evolve, now I'm really stuck" Kerihana sits down with a look of concertration on her face.
"Chrarizard?" It asks (Tanslation: what's wrong?).
"Now you can't fly me anywhere, Charmeleon's too big for both of us to ride on your back" she says angerily.
Charizards face drops "Char, rizad, charizard?" it finishes (tanslation: Where are we going?).
Kerihana thinks. I may as well tell them now... but will they tell dad? It's worth a try, she decides.
"I'm running away to Viridian City with my Pokemon, I need you to fly me there" she admits.
Charizard and Charmeleon nearly faint. "Charizard! Char!" (Translation: I will not help you!).
"But you must!" Kerihana begs. "If you don't, I'll get a ride from a stranger there, you can't stop me!" She screams. The pressure of the last few events got the best of her.
Charizard and Charmeleon sigh, then agree.
Kerihana brightens "great, now Charmeleon, how are you going to get there? Let me think..." She ponders until an indea enters her head. She faces Charmeleon.
"you'll have to come along in one of my pokeballs" she tells it.
Charmeleon sulks. "Charmeleon, Char!" (translation: Never on your life!)
"Then I'll get there my own way" Kerihana shrugs causally.
"Char, char meleon char!" It screams out (translation: Ok, but only for the ride).
Kerihana places Charmeleon in a pokeball and they start their journey. They arrive in Viridian in front of the Pokemon Center.
"Thanks, Charizard, this means a lot to me, make sure you don't tell dad anything about this" She says quitely. She releases Charmeleon form her pokeball. Charmeleon and Charizard stand there quietly, trying not to cry. Kerihana hugs them both, then they leave. Kerihana uses a map given to her and follows the directions needed. She arrives at her destaination and enters a room. The door sign reads, "Uniform and enrollment." She enters to find only one person there, a man patting some kind of Pokemon she can't see in the dark.
Suddenly nerves hit her. "H-hi, I'm, um, Kreihana...I enrolled a week ago" she explains.
The man looks confused.
"I'm Jesse's daughter."
The man remembers and smiles. "Welcome, young lady, we're glad to have you as a member of our organisation, even in the dark, I can see that you have the same hair as your mother. Here is your uniform and sleeping quarters, you begin work tomorrow and will be assigned with your team mates."
"Really? That's it?" Kreihana asks in amazement as she clutches her new uniform.
The man nods.
"Thankyou sir." Kreihana heads for the door.
"And by the way...call me Giovanni" the man says.
Kreihana grins. "Of course, Giovanni" she says politly and shuts the door in excitement. She's done it. She's joined Team Rocket. Now she's gonna have as many adventures as her mom.
********************************************************
"What a great day" Ash mutters as he wakes up. He's in Cinnabar Island to cool off from trashing... well, nearly everything.
"Pikachu!" Pikachu greets him. (translation: good morning)
"Hey Pikachu. What should we do today?" Ash asks.
Pikachu shrugs.
"I think we should visit Brock and see how he's doing" Ash suggests, getting out of bed.
Pikachu nods. "Pika Pika!" it agrees.
Ash quickly looks to his right to his bedside table and shows a sad smile. He is looking at his favourite picture of Misty. She had been laughing at something someone had said and someone had snapped this perfect shot that he was staring at now.
"Hi Misty. I'm missing you more than ever" Ash sighs. At least he has learnt to control his emotions. A month ago he would've looked at that picture and hurled it out the window.
He couldn't help letting a tear escape. "It still hurts, but I love you forever" he whispers.
Pikachu smiles. Thank goodness he's back...well, he's nearly back, it thinks.
Ash seems to know what Pikachu is thinking and smiles at his best friend of twenty years. "It's a hard road, Pikachu, and you won't know what it's like until you experience it."
"Pika Pi, Pika Pikachu" (translation: Ash, you're doing fine.)
Ash smiles. Pikachu couldn't be a better friend if it got paid.
"Right, let's go see Brock" Ash declares, marching out of his room with Pikachu at his feet.
After showering, having breakfast and feeding the few pokemon he bought, Ash walks out the door (he only bought a couple of pokemon with him, the rest are being looked after by a friend on Seafoam Island.)
The walk only takes ten minutes and he slowly knocks on the door. "Brock! Is it too early to visit?" Ash yells.
Inside, Brock has just woken up and gotten dressed. Thinking Kreihana is in bed, he quietly walks over to the door and opens it.
"Hey Ash, how are you?" he asks as he lets his friend in.
"As good as can be expected, I guess. How about you?"
Brock sighs. "Kreihana's the biggest problem right now. I think she misses Jesse. I'll go and get her, she'd love to see you and Pikachu" he walks over to her door and knocks twice.
"Kreihana! Wake up!" he yells.
No answer. No moans of being up too early or not wanting to go to school, despite the fact it's the weekend.
Brock knocks again. "Kreihana? Ash is here and he's got Pikachu." That's sure to get her up, he thinks confidently.
Still no response.
"Uh, Brock, I think you better come into the kitchen, Pikachu's found something" Ash says uncertinatly
Brock's startled, but goes anyway. Pikachu's holding a piece of paper that has "Dad" written on it. Brock grabs the note in panic, and reads:
Dear dad,
I'm sorry, but I can't stay here anymore, it's time I left. Tell mom if you want, I don't care. Tell James that I'm not going to visit ever because I'm busy and still hurting from him taking mom away (which is the truth, anyway) I'm sure he'll understand that.
Love Kreihana
Brock can't believe it. His face was drained of colour and he felt like collasping. He sat down quickly and let the piece of paper fall to the ground. Ash picks it up and reads it over and over.
"Why would she leave?" Ash asks in shock.
Brock stares at the ground. "Where did she go? I'm never gonna find her, this is all my fault..." he starts babbling in a panic.
Ash grabs Brock by the shoulders and keeps him quiet. "Okay Brock, calm down, this isn't your fault. We'll call Jesse and the police, they'll find her. She can't have gone far" he reassures Brock.
Brock doesn't listen. "She's only thirteen! She could get into all kinds of trouble! She could picked up by some stranger and I'd never see her again..." he buries his head in his hands and quietly starts crying.
"Brock, we're gonna find her. Do you have Jesse's number?" Ash asks.
Brock nods. "In the telephone book, under J" he instructs.
"Okay" Ash takes in a deep breath, beginning to feel a little panicked himself. Some wild pokemon could come at her in the forest or something...he didn't need this while he was grieving, but he had to help his friend. He couldn't just turn away.
He flips through the book and finds Jesse's number in Saffron City with no trouble.
"Do you want me to call?" Ash asks.
Brock says nothing, he just stares at the wall. Ash picks up the phone and dials out the seven numbers.
"Hello?" a female voice answers.
"Uh, hi, is Jesse there please?" Ash says politly.
"Ash? Is that you?" Jesse asks.
"Yeah, how did you know?"
"I'd recognise your voice anywhere" Jesse laughs.
Ash gets nervous. "Um, Jesse I've got something to tell you...it's gonna upset you...Brock can't talk cos he's in shock" he starts.
"Well, what's going on?" Jesse asks quietly.
Ash sighs. "I'm in Cinnabar for a break. I came over to see Brock and Kreihana. Brock tried to find Kreihana and he couldn't...then we found a note from her. Jesse, Kreihana ran away and we don't know where she's gone" he says quickly.
There is silence on the other end. In Saffron City, Jesse has collapsed into a chair and nearly stopped breathing.
"Jesse? Are you still there?" Ash asks worridly.
"Huh? Yeah, I'm here...where could she have gone? She didn't say in the note?"
"No, she just said she couldn't stand it here anymore and felt it was time to leave" Ash explains.
Jesse starts crying. "This is all my fault..."
"No, it's not your fault, it's nobody's fault...we're gonna call the police and look for her too...she could be just at the park or something" Ash says, doubting his words.
Jesse unsuscefully tries to calm down. "Thankyou, Ash. Do you want me to come out there?"
Ash hesitates. "No, don't. Just try and think...did you mention anything to her that might cause her to run away?" he asks seriously.
"I-I don't think so..." Jesse stammers.
"Alright. We'll call the police now. Don't worry Jesse, she's a sensible girl, she wouldn't do anything stupid" Ash reasurres her.
Jesse nods. "Okay. Call me straight away if you find her."
"We will. Don't worry, she'll be fine."
"Okay. Goodbye, Ash" Jesse says and hangs up. Ash also hangs up the phone.
"She's beating herself up over it" he tells Brock, who sighs and slumps in his chair.
"Well, we've gotta get going, I'll call Officer Jenny, have you got any Pokemon that can fly?" Brock asks
Ash grins. By sheer luck he brought his Moltres to Cinnabar Island.
"Sure, I brought Moltres."
"Great, we can fly over Cinnabar and see if we can spot her, I'll be just a second" Brock grabs the phone and calls Officer Jenny to report a runaway. After that, they run over to Ash's house, grab the pokeball with his Moltres in it, go back outside and call it out.
"Moltres, we need to get a good areial view of Cinnabar. Fly over this island until we tell you to stop" Ash directs as they climb on.
"Mol, Moltres!" (translation: anything you say, Ash!)
They fly around the tiny island for fifteen minutes with no sign of her and an increasing fear in their minds.
"Where is she..." Brock mutters.
Ash doesn't answer. He doesn't want to tell Brock that he really thinks Kreihana's gone furthur than Cinnabar.
Eventually Moltres gets tired, and Ash makes it fly back to his temporary house and rest.
"She's not on Cinnabar. Where else could she have gone?" Brock asks warily.
"Well, she could've gone back to Seafoam Island, or even to Saffron to see Jesse...we just have to keep looking and never give up hope" Ash says sensibly. They go outside and see Charizard across the road, looking nervous. It spots Ash and Brock and nearly has a heart attack.
"Hey Charizard whats up? Have you seen Kerihana?" Brock asks, maybe he knows
Yeah, I saw her yesterdayand helped her run away Charizard thinks guitily but says "Charizard char rizard?" (not for a while, why?)
"What's it saying Pikachu?" Ash questions. Pikachu tranlates.
"Oh" Brock says sadly. "She's run away" he sighs.
"Charizard" it states without meaning (translation: I know)
Pikachus eyes widen "Pikachu pi pika?" (translation: how did you know?)
Everyone stares. Charizard hangs its head. It decides to confess I'll never forgive myself if I don't it thinks
It confesses to Pikachu that it flew Kerihana to Viridian City. Pikachu tells Ash and Brock in shock. Brock is about to explode.
"Why the heck did you do that?!" He screams
Charizard explains to Pikachu that if he didn't, she would've gone there with a stranger. "Charizard charizard char." It finishes (translation: I couldn't let her do that.)
"I agree with you, I guess you couldn't help it, do you know where she went after that?" Brock tries to stay calm. Charizard shakes its head.
"Well, thanks for telling us Charizard, I know that that took a lot. Now lets get going to Viridian." Ash says. Pikachu is thinking hard, it's almost glad that Kerihana ran away. Now Ash is more like himself Pikachu thinks relived.
********************************************************
Meanwhile, Kreihana is plotting ideas with her team mate, Rex. He is Kreihanas age and they made friends straight away. She is enjoying this already. So this is freedom she thinks happily. She is thinking hard, so hard that she doesn't notice the shadow above her. Then a Moltres lands a few meters away, interrupting her thoughts.
"There she is!" A familiar voice calls out. Before she knows it, Brock, Ash and Pikachu are all around her.
"Let me go! I mean it!" she screams. They gently release her.
"You can't make me go back! It's not fair! You" she points at Ash "left home when you were ten. I'm thirteen. Thirteen! Treat me like my age!" She catches her breath. "If you take me back, I'll make sure you'll regret it."
Brock wasn't expecting this. He sighs "I can't make you come back, but I want you to."
"You can't get everything you want," Kreihana says in a huff.
"I realise that, but..."
"But you don't accept it" Kerihana finishes for him.
Brock starts to get angry "Listen, you could've just told me, but you didn't have to run off with nothing but a note. Look at you! You're like your mother."
"Well she's the one that gave me this idea in the first place!" Kreihana snaps.
"I figured that" Brock says grumpily. "Look, just come back with us and we'll work something out...something that works for both of us, okay?"
Kreihana shakes her head. "This is working for me. And I think you'd be better left by yourself to work out your own problems instead of taking them out on me."
Brock gets offended. He wants to say, "That's excatly what you're doing!" but keeps quiet.
"Kreihana, your dad's just trying to help you" Ash steps forward.
"Don't you talk to me about getting help! You need more help than a Pidgey that can't fly!" Kreihana yells at him.
Ash glares at her and steps back. "I don't think she's gonna come back on her own free will" he whispers to Brock.
Brock sighs and supresses the tears in his throat. "Okay Kreihana. Come back when you want to" he says quietly.
"Yeah, that'll be the day" Kreihana rolls her eyes.
Brock stares at her. How can her name mean beautiful flower? She's more like poison ivy, he thinks. He hugs her for what he thinks could be the last time and she stiffens.
"If you'll excuse me I have work to finish" she breaks away and walks back with Rex to Team Rocket HQ, leaving Ash, Brock and Pikachu in shocked silence.
"Come on Brock, let's go, you can stay here for hours and she won't come back" Ash says realisticly.
Brock sighs. "I better tell Jesse" he says as they climb back on Moltres.
"Do you wanna stop by in Saffron to see her?" Ash asks as the bird takes off.
"Yeah, I better talk to her" Brock says quitely, and Ash directs Moltres to the big city.
********************************************************
"What are you guys gonna do?" Brock asks as they land outside the Pokemon Center.
Ash shrugs "I'll get Moltres healed, then who knows? We'll just walk around for an hour or so. Is that enough time?"
Brock nods, "Thanks Ash. See you here in an hour" he farewells them and walks off in the direction of Jesses house which, thankfully, is on the same street as the Pokemon Center.
"169 Gemstone Lane" he mutters to himself, as he approches the small white house with a red roof.
"Okey, here we go" Brock says to himself, and he knocks three times.
To his horra, James answers
"Uh, is Jesse here?" Brock asks uncertinaly
"Um, yeah, sure, she's in the kitchen..." James says nervously. Brock ignores James and edges past him. After easily finding the kitchen he finds himself behind Jesse, who is cutting up vegetables.
Brock stands in silence for a moment before quitely saying "Hi Jesse"
Jesse turns around, realises who it is and stumbles the kitchen knife, causing her to cut her finger.
"Yow!" she exclaims in pain.
"Sorry to scare you, but I have some bad news" Brock announces. Jesse instandtly forgets her finger and stares at him. "Bad news? About Kerihana?" She asks worridly
Brock nods. "Sit down" he gestures to a chair. They both sit down and Brock starts.
"I found Kreihana." Jesse's eyes widen and she breaths a sigh of relief.
"Oh thank goodness! Is she okay? Where is she?" she asks frantically.
"She's okay, she...um, she joined Team Rocket in Viridian City" Brock explains.
Jesse stares into space in shock, then quietly starts crying. "This is all my fault" she whimpers.
"It's okay, she'll come back in her own time" Brock tries to convince her and himself.
Unbeknown to Brock or Jesse, James is behind the kitchen door, listening to their conversation.
Oh boy, this isn't good, he thinks. Maybe I should try to convince her to go back...then again, she wouldn't listen to me...
"Jesse, I just want you to stay here and not worry. She's safe and she's happy" Brock says.
"She can't be happy if she ran away!" Jesse exclaims.
Brock goes quiet. "You're right. But she has every right to be unhappy. Her parents just divorced."
"Why did she run away? My little Kreihana...my beautiful flower..." Jesse lets more tears spill over.
Brock puts his arm around her shoulder. "Kreihana will probably hate Team Rocket and come home."
Jesse nods. "Yeah, she'll probably hate the idea of exploiting pokemon."
Brock checks his watch. "I'm meeting Ash in five minutes, I better go" he stands up.
"Wait!" Jesse stands up and grabs his arm. "You will call me if you hear from her, right?"
Brock smiles. "Of course. Don't get yourself in a mess, she'll be fine."
Jesse nods slowly. "Thankyou for coming, Brock" is all she can say as she leads him to the front door and James hides.
"No problem. Call you soon" Brock farewells and leaves. He is secretly hoping he hasn't told Jesse a pack of lies.
********************************************************
A month of waiting brings no new news from or about Kreihana. Jesse calls Brock nearly every day to see if she has come home.
Ash hasn't left Cinnabar yet, saying he'll stay until Kreihana comes back. Brock tried to tell him that it could be months before she comes back, but Ash didn't listen.
On this day, Ash has just left Brock's house. Brock is sitting on the couch, with his face buried in his hands. He feels like he's lost it all; his wife, his daughter and one of his closest friends (that would be Misty). Why can't anything go right?
Meanwhile in Viridian City, Kreihana is sitting on her bed, also thinking seriously...about how she's gonna catch more Pokemon. So far, she's caught forty two for her boss.
"I wonder what he does with them?" she asks out loud.
Rex walks in. "What are you on about?" he inquires.
"Huh? Oh, I was just wondering what Giovanni does with the Pokemon I give him" Kreihana shrugs.
Rex laughs. "Don't you know? Seriously?"
Kreihana shakes her head. "No."
"Then why did you join?"
"Cos my mom had so much fun when she was part of Team Rocket" Kreihana says.
"Oh. Well...the boss is gonna exploit them to take over the world" Rex says casually.
"Exploit?" Kreihana asks.
"You know, take advantage of..." Rex explains.
Kreihana goes pale. "So I've been catching Pokemon for him to take advantage of?" she whispers.
"Of course you have" Rex replies.
"I can't do that! No, I can't, it's not fair to the Pokemon" Kreihana stands up and heads for the door.
"What are you doing?" Rex asks in surprise.
"I'm quitting. There are better ways to take over the world. Bye Rex, you've been a great team mate" Kreihana waves and leaves as suddenly as she joined.
She grabs her suitcase from the storage department, gets changed into some jeans and leaves, knowing that Rex can tell Giovanni about her.
"Now what?" she wonders as she walks around Viridian City. How is she gonna get home? Then she remembers the money she's made from Team Rocket. Four hundred and twelve dollars. That should get her a flight to Cinnabar Island, or somewhere close.
She runs to the not far away airport, and books a flight for Cinnabar Island.
********************************************************
"Hi dad." Kreihana says nervously as she opens the door.
Brocks eyes nearly pop out of his skull, then he comes back to reality. He runs up to Kreihana and gives her a hug.
"I'm sorry...dad I'm so sorry...they wanted to exploit Pokemon and I didn't want to do that..." Kreihana cries into his shoulder.
Brock nods. "I know. I didn't think you would enjoy that" he pulls away and studies her. "Well, you might not have grown taller, but I think you've grown up a lot" he says wisely.
"Yeah. I'm just so sorry" Kreihana apologises repeatidly.
Brock shakes his head. "At least you're home, and you've learnt a lesson the hard way."
Kreihana smiles. "How's mom? Is she okay?" she asks worridly.
"She was beside herself when you left. You know you shouldn't have done that to all of us. You made Ash stay on this island longer, and you put us all through a lot of worry" Brock scolds her.
Kreihana sighs "I know I did a wrong thing dad, but can we forget it? I want to see Ash and apoligse." Kreihana pleads. Brock knows that she won't pull a stunt like that again. He smiles.
"Sure, but you might wanna call your mother first" he says sternly.
Kreihana nods and walks to the phone, easily punching out the numbers she's memorised.
"Hello?" James answers.
"Um...hi, this is Kreihana...is mom home?" she asks.
"Kreihana? Where are you?! Does your dad know where you are?" James asks hurridly.
"I'm home, can you just get mom?" Kreihana tries not to snap. She is still not James' best friend.
There is silence on the other end. "Kreihana, your mom is home but I will not let you order me around like your slave" James says quietly.
"What?!" Kreihana exclaims.
"You have no idea what you've put your mother through over these past weeks. I bet you never considered anyone else when you left" James says sourly.
"Of course I did! Listen, I called to talk to mom, not you, so could you please get her for me?" Kreihana asks impaitently.
James sighs then walks away to get Jesse.
"Jesse, you got a phonecall" he announces to Jesse, who is brushing her hair. She looks up and quickly rushes to the phone.
"Hello?" She tries to sound normal in case it's one of her friends.
Kreihana draws in a shaky breath. "Mom, I'm sorry" she apologises straight away.
Jesse immediatly bursts into tears of relief.
"Uh, mom, are you okey?" Kreihana asks uncertianly
"I'm just so happy," Jeese says between sobs.
They catch up and Kreihana explains the everything about her time with Team Rocket.
"I liked my freedom, but hated with I was doing with it" Kreihana finishes.
Jesse nods. "I thought so. Well, I'm glad you're home, but you have to promise me that you will never do that again."
"Yup mom, I promise" Kreihana replies.
"I'm sure your father will set out some kind of punishment for you...but in the mean time, you apologise to Ash cos I know he stayed there longer because of you..." Jesse lectures.
"Yeah, I know mom, I'll go see him now" Kreihana says in an exasperated voice.
Jesse smiles at the tone she so often used to yell at. For now she is overjoyed to hear it. "Alright sweetie. You go do that now. Don't get into any more trouble!"
Kreihana grins. "I won't mom...bye" she says and hangs up. She walks back to where Brock is.
"I think I should go apologise to Ash" she starts.
Brock nods. "Yes, I would think so."
Kreihana follows her father in silence to Ash's temporary house, only five minutes walk away. They go through the front door without knocking, and Brock yells out, "Ash! Kreihana's come back!"
Ash comes through to the kitchen. "Well, looks like someone changed their mind about Team Rocket" he smiles.
"Yeah...you understand, right? I mean, you love pokemon and everything..." Kreihana babbles.
"Uh, Ash, Kreihana has something she wants to say to you..." Brock nudges Kreihana.
She stops talking. "Right." She sighs and starts. "Ash, I know that over these past few months you've been anything but happy, and what I did can't have made it any easier...so I wanna say that I am really, really sorry for putting you through it and for making that comment about the Pidgey that can't fly" she says in embarassment.
Ash shakes his head. "Nah, don't worry about it. But I do appreciate the apology. How would you like to go out back and visit the pokemon?"
Kreihana's face lights up. "Sure!" she exclaims and runs off, before Ash can explain he only bought a few.
Ash laughs. "Well, it looks like she's back to her old self."
"Come to think of it, so do you" Brock notes.
Ash gives him a sad smile. "I still miss her like anything, but I know that wherever she is, she's fine."
********************************************************
Even though Kreihana is home and happy, something still doesn't semm right in her mind. What's the matter? her annoying inside voice cries out. You've got everything, but you're still not happy? it demands. Kreihana thinks hard. Ever since she joined Team Rocket she really started to live. But what you were doing was wrong, she thinks, and spends the rest of the day in concentration. By the morning, she has come to a decision. She goes into the lounge and is about to confess to her dad.
"Hi dad" Kreihana says, trying to be causal
"Hi Kreihana" Brock says easily. Kreihana smiles, then sits down on a chair.
"Dad, I've got something to tell you" Kreihana quickly says, ignoring her dads raised eyebrows.
"Well, the time when I was with Team Rocket, I enjoyed all the freedom I had, I just didn't like what I was using it for. So, I'd like to get more freedom by using it as a pokemon trainer with Rex" she explains.
Brock sighs. "I thought we had discussed this..."
Kreihana shakes her head. "No. We discussed running away, this is pokemon training. You'll know where I am, and I'll come home sometimes."
"Kreihana, don't go, you can't now that your mother's gone, I couldn't bear it" Brock says sadly.
"I have to go, dad. It's the only way I can be happy" Kreihana says.
"Really?" Brock asks. Kreihana nods.
"I'll call all the time and drop in...it won't be like I'm actually going for good" she reassures him.
"It sure will seem like it" Brock sighs unhappily.
"I know it seems unfair, but..." Kreihana drifts off.
"I understand" Brock nods. "It's just that... I'll miss you like anything."
Kreihana smiles and hugs her dad. "I'll miss you too. But I feel I need to do this."
"Right. Well, let's get you sorted. You can probably get your licence tomorrow from Professer Seaworth, and you won't need any more pokemon...what about Rex?" Brock asks, standing up.
"I'll call him. He's probably still at Team Rocket, and even if he's not, I've got his home phone number" Kreihana shrugs.
"Right. Let's get cracking" Brock walks away with Kreihana behind him.
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The next day, Kreihana is about to leave. She's meeting Rex on Seafoam Island, so Ash has volunteered to fly her and Brock over on Moltres since he'll be going back there too, then Moltres will fly Kreihana and Rex to Cerulean City.
"Why didn't you leave earlier?" Kreihana asks.
Ash shrugs. "I kinda like it here, and I needed to get away for awhile"
Kreihana nods. "I know" she smiles. Ash takes a Pokeball from his pocket and calls out Moltres. They all get on its back and fly to Seafoam. When they arrive, Rex is already waiting, and greets Kreihana enthusiastically. She introuduces him to Brock, then they prepare for the journey. Brock gives Kreihana some last minute advice, hugs her and wishes them both luck.
"I promise I'll call, see ya later dad!" Kreihana calls before Moltres flys them out of sight. Brock and Ash wave goodbye. Brock sighs.
"The problem with kids is that they grow up too fast" he mumbles.
"That's for sure, look at us!" Ash exclaims. They both laugh.
A/N: So, that's the end of the happy/sad/weird triology. What did you think? I'd love to hear your reviews, remember, I'm new at this! Luv ya, peace! =)