Team Rocket Neo

by BenRG

Have you ever wondered what the world would be like if good became evil and a hero had to choose sides? How would Ash and Misty handle being part of Team Rocket?

4. Counter-strike

Team Rocket Neo

A Pokémon nightmare by BenRG

Legal Disclaimer

Pokémon, the Pocket Monsters, their human friends and enemies and all technologies of the Pokémon universe are the legal property of Nintendo Entertainment, Game Freak Software and 4Kids Productions. No violation of any legal property intended. This is a non-profit work for free distribution through the Internet.

Author's Notes

Believe me, Ash and Misty are going to be very OOC. After four years of stealing and roughing up Team Rocket's enemies, you should expect it.

Shades of grey alert. There are no heroes in this story, only those who are slightly less bad than others. Sometimes the price of survival is a lot higher than people expect.

Text in [Squared Brackets] is translated Pokémon talk.

Text in Italics, but not in quotes is thought or telepathic communication.

Text in "Quotes and Italics" is a communication by radio or videophone.

Censor: R for violence and swearing

Ages: Ash is 18; Misty is 18; Rocketboy is 17; Naomi is 13; Buddy is 28; Holly is 24; Jessie is 26; James is 25; Giovanni is 40; Gary is 20; Tracey is 22, Delilah is 39; Oak is 55

Part 4 – Counter-strike

Chapter 1 – Loyalty

"Okay, Smiley, Water Gun attack!" At her command, Naomi Athena's assigned Totodile fired a jet of pressurised water that blew the Paras off its' feet. The small crab-like bug/plant-type landed on its' back and struggled fitfully.

"Okay, Naomi, go for it!" Ash whispered into her ear. Naomi swallowed nervously as she drew a Standard-type Pokéball and threw it at the stunned creature. The ball struck the Paras on its' belly. The Pokémon flashed into red light, which the Pokéball sucked up greedily. The ball fell to the earth and twitched for a few seconds before locking closed.

Naomi was in shock as she walked over to the ball. She picked it up and looked at it. "That makes two," she said in a quiet, contemplative voice. "I've actually caught two Pokémon in one morning!"

"Only because you're a good Trainer," Ash told her. "Smiley goes to great lengths for you, Naomi, you should be proud of forming such a bond with him."

Naomi blushed at her team leader's praise. She took a moment to try to regain her composure before collecting Paras and putting him on her bandoleer alongside the Beedrill she caught earlier today. She then turned back to rejoin Ash and Raichu by the team's APC. Ash was introducing himself to the Rhyhorn he had captured about an hour before. To tell the truth, Naomi couldn't quite understand how it was that she and her Team Leader got to be capturing Pokémon for themselves.

The day had started normally enough. Naomi had joined Ash on a standard sweep patrol of the forests surrounding Seashell Base. After encountering a group of novices and taking DNA samples of their considerable collection of Pokémon, the pair had encountered an entire tribe of Sandshrews. Ash surprised Naomi by immediately laying into the hapless Earth-types with the help of his incredibly powerful Charizard, Firestorm. The entire tribe was now in a collection of Pokéballs, ready for shipping back to Headquarters.

Ash seemed strangely affected by the incident. He announced to Naomi that he considered that it was a disgrace that she only had one Pokémon, and an assigned one at that. Ignoring her protests, he lead her off into the woods to, in his words 'begin to gather your own team.' He showed the way by capturing a Pidgey, and then manoeuvred her into a position where she had no choice but to capture a Beedrill. The rest followed from that.

Now, they were heading back to the base. "Sir," Naomi began uncertainly, "surely we should hand these Pokémon over to the Boss… I mean the Team must come first."

Ash turned from the controls of the vehicle with a laugh. "Naomi, the Team is coming first. We are serving its' best interests by being as well equipped as we can be." Naomi opened her mouth to protest, but Ash overrode her immediately. "Don't get me wrong, Naomi. These Sandshrews… well, most of them anyway, will go to HQ all right, but the individual captures are ours and ours alone. As we assemble a larger team of our own, we won't need to draw on the Team's resources by needing assigned Pokémon." Ash shrugged and grinned. "Me, Misty and Rocketboy have only got our own team now, no assigned Pokémon at all!"

Naomi still felt uncomfortable with this, but one thing she had found out over the last few weeks was that Ash and Misty weren't your typical White Team agents at all. They were full of strange ideas and ideals that bordered on the insubordinate sometimes. For some reason the Boss permitted them to get away with this behaviour, but it still made her nervous.

"Ash," Misty's voice crackled from the communications speakers, "when are you going to be back at the base?"

Ash clicked the channel open. "Our ETA is five minutes, Mist," he replied.

"I'm just calling to let you know the courier blimp from HQ is almost here," Misty explained. "I thought you would want to give Violet and Lily your regards before they leave us."

***

As Ash drove the APC into its' hidden hanger, he saw the silhouette of a type-A10 cargo blimp descending out of the clear blue sky towards the base. He shut down the ground vehicle's engines and virtually ran up to the air transport-docking gantry. Standard procedure called for any visiting transport to be docked for as little time as possible, so he had to hurry.

At the gate to the boarding arm, Lily and Violet Waterflower were standing, shifting nervously from foot to foot as they watched the blimp's crew perform the cargo loading and unloading operations. They were both acutely aware that it was their last chance to back out, and they were clearly having second thoughts.

Neither of them were what Ash considered born Team Rocket material, but he appreciated their desire to fight the mysterious conspiracy that everyone in the base had been increasingly aware of over the past few weeks. Besides, after co-operating with Ash and Misty to raid the Cascade Gym in Cerulean City, it wasn't as if they had anywhere else to go.

"So, guys, I guess this is it for the next six months or so," Ash said.

Violet smiled a bit uncertainly. "Like, I guess so," she said quietly. She swallowed dryly before continuing. "Gee, but I'm really nervous!" Lily nodded her agreement.

"Nothing to be nervous about," Ash announced. "It's just going to be like a college course in… uh… special skills."

Misty grinned at that definition of the Organisation's basic training course. "You'll both do fine," Misty said in a gentle, reassuring tone. "You've both already proven that you have what it takes."

Violet nodded nervously and Lily managed a slight smile. They hoisted their duffel bags to their shoulders and were about to board the blimp when Ash suddenly spoke up. "Hold on a moment," he said. Both of the Waterflower sisters stopped and looked at him in surprise. "I've got a gift for you," he said. "A little something to remember us by." Ash reached out and handed both women one of the Sandshrews he captured earlier. "You've mostly just got Water-types right now, so these Sandshrews might help you round out your bands."

"Like, thanks, Ash," Lily said. With an air of great daring, she leaned forward and gave Ash a chaste kiss on the cheek.

"Take care of yourselves, big sisters," Misty said, a hint of tears in her eyes. The three women hugged and finally separated.

Lily grinned fearlessly at Ash and turned to leave. "Thanks for everything, Ash!"

Violet was a bit more hesitant. She hugged Misty again and, when Ash leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek, he could feel her trembling with what was either anticipation or fear. Just as Violet was about to board, one of Misty's Pokéballs began to shake and shudder. It suddenly split open and a yellow-tan duck with wide, staring eyes materialised on the gantry. "Psy-yi-yi-duck-yi-yi-psy!"

"What do you want Psyduck?" Misty asked in surprise.

Psyduck began jumping around comically, pointing at himself, Violet and the blimp. "Psy-yi-yi-duck-uck-Yi-duck, psy-psy!"

Misty looked shocked. "You want to go with Violet?"

"Psy!"

Misty grinned. "Well, if you're sure, pal,"

"Psy-yi! Psy-duck-uck-psyduck-yi-yi-psy-yi-uck-duck-psy!"

Misty shrugged and handed Violet Psyduck's Pokéball. "He said that you were very kind to him over the last four years. He is very grateful and he wants to repay you by serving you as he once served me." Violet looked like that she would burst into tears at that declaration of loyalty. Misty grinned maliciously and leaned forward. "Good luck," she whispered. "He is always getting into trouble and popping out of his ball when you don't want him!"

Violet grimaced when she heard that. Misty and Ash started laughing at the expression on her face. "Come on, Psyduck," Violet sighed.

"Yi-yi, Psy-yi," [Bye, Misty,] Psyduck called with a cheery wave as he waddled onto the blimp after Violet.

"Like, you take care of my sister, Ash," Violet said from the passenger hatch. Ash nodded and waved. "And you take care of that heroic idiot of yours, baby sister," she continued.

"You bet I will, Sis," Misty replied with a wave. Then the two Waterflower girls were out of sight. Misty sighed and sagged a little.

"Are you okay?" Ash asked in concern.

"I'm just a little tired of seeing my friends and kin going off to train for the wars," Misty said gently.

"The war has come to us, Misty," Ash said firmly. He hugged her supportively. "At least they'll have a chance to make a difference this way." Misty nodded and gave Ash a kiss on the cheek. Ash looked up and noticed that the blimp hadn't left yet, which was strange as all the cargo loading and offloading was now finished. There was a movement inside the cargo hatch and two familiar figures appeared.

"Prepare for trouble," said a familiar female voice.

"And make it double," added a male voice.

"Jessie and James?" Ash said in surprise.

"Hey, don't ferget Meowth!" said the diminutive cat-like Pokémon. Carrying their duffels, Jessie, James and Meowth got off the blimp. The big air transport's cargo hatch swung closed and the aircraft immediately began to back out of the hanger.

As soon as the big hanger doors had swung shut and Ash could hear himself think, let alone speak, he turned to his old friends. "So, guys, what is the reason for this pleasure?" he asked. He was concerned at their unheralded arrival. After all the collisions Ash had experienced with High Command over the last few weeks, a surprise visit by a pair of senior field agents wasn't a good thing, even if they were old friends.

James was looking around the hanger thoughtfully. "Hello, James, how are you doing?" he said sarcastically. "I'm fine, Ash, how are you?"

Ash gave James his patented 'ha-ha-I-don't-think' look. "Hello James, Jessie, Meowth," he said.

"Hi, guys," Misty said, her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

After an awkward pause, Jessie began to speak, her eyes shining with a little too much pleasure and anticipation for Ash and Misty's peace of mind. "Well, Ash, you've been creating quite a stir," she remarked a little too pleasantly. "I'm not revealing any secrets by saying you've got the Boss very concerned about your conduct." She waggled her finger at Ash reprovingly.

"Well, I'm sorry if I have cost our beloved Leader any sleep," Ash said sarcastically. "You'll find, however, that we're doing our jobs; we're just doing them a bit differently."

"Are you? " James asked with a smug grin. "Well, that's the question that we're here to answer."

Ash looked at Misty in concern and then turned back to Jessie and James. Jessie was looking around the base's main hanger with a definite patronising air. "Why Ash dear," she said with a smirk, "we've been sent here to make sure you are still loyal to Team Rocket!"

***

Rocketboy and Buddy snapped to attention as Ash led Jessie and James into the Control Centre. "And here is the Operations Centre," Ash said. He grinned at the expression of disapproval on the two senior agents' faces as they looked around the small chamber, with Post-It notes decorating almost every surface and several pencils imbedded in the acoustic tile ceiling. It looked like someone had detonated a bomb filled with office supplies in the middle of the room.

"It isn't… tidy," James said at last.

"No, that's one of the problems of being an actual working field team," Misty commented from the door, letting the sarcasm into her voice.

Predictably, Jessie rose to the bait. "Are you suggesting that we don't work, you Scrawny Brat?" she hissed.

Once, Misty would have exploded, but these days she was slightly taller than Jessie and boasted a pretty-much-perfect hourglass figure, so the insult was more of a nostalgia trip than anything else. "No, I'm not," she replied sweetly. "I think that you are suggesting that you don't work, Ms. Wannabe-Perfect." Jessie virtually exploded and lunged towards the younger woman. To Ash's immense surprise, she stopped dead when she reached throttling distance of Misty. "Give me an excuse, Jessie," Misty said, her voice cold. James sweat-dropped and Jessie made a strange whimpering noise, making Ash frown.

He sidestepped around James and saw that Misty's Desert Eagle .357" Magnum semi-auto was pressed to Jessie's throat. She had drawn her gun far quicker than anyone could follow. "Misty," Ash said gently, "they are on our side."

"Of course they are," Misty said with a winning smile. "That is why I didn't blow this hag's neck apart on the spot." Misty made a show of snapping the safety catch back on and putting her personal cannon back into its' back-draw holster. As soon as the gun was in its' holster, everyone in the room relaxed slightly. "Do you really think that you two would have survived more than a minute if we were going renegade or something?" Misty continued, giving her two oldest friends in the organisation the sourest look.

Jessie had a bad case of the shakes and James stepped to her side to support her, giving Misty an angry glare. "Misty has a point," Ash said loyally (though he promised that he would talk to her about waving her gun around like that). "We have just shipped a crate of Sandshrews and a Pidgey back to Headquarters. On top of that, our rate of collecting rare kinds of Pokémon is quite high. Frankly, I find the whole concept of checking that we are loyal really insulting."

"Tough," Jessie snapped, shaking James' supporting hands off of her shoulders. "Look, Ash, you've been doing the weirdest shit over the last couple of weeks. Team Rocket depends on internal discipline. We can't afford to have anyone just making up his or her own rules and priorities. James and I are here to ensure that you are not doing anything that could risk the Cause."

Ash shook his head. "Jessie, I really think that the Boss should know better than to question us," he said sadly. "We picked up Richie's Charizard for him. Admittedly it hurt a lot, but we did our duty. I am really sorry that it wasn't enough for him."

Jessie snorted, crossing her arms. "The Boss has his own standards," she said tartly. "You should be concerned with meeting them not worrying about your own strange idealistic morals."

Misty laughed. "That's rich coming from a woman who once said: 'I know we're supposed to be bad guys… but we can't just let these cute fluffy creatures get hurt!'" Jessie flamed a bright, embarrassed red. James tried not to laugh and Ash grinned maliciously as they all remembered that day in Johto, six long years ago now, when Jessie and Arbok helped protect a flock of Mareep. Her 'Little Bo Jessie' costume was something that ensured that Ash fall asleep laughing for days afterwards.

"Please, Misty," Jessie begged. "Don't bring that up. I wasn't feeling all that well that week."

"Besides," James said with a slight smile, "she had to borrow my favourite ball gown to imitate a shepherdess."

The laughter, thankfully, broke the tension in the room. "Look, guys," Ash suddenly announced. "Why don't you come with Misty and me on patrol this afternoon?" There was a surprised pause. Jessie and James looked at each other. "Once you see that we are doing our jobs, no matter how differently from how they teach it in the trainee barracks, then you will see that you, and most importantly the Boss, have nothing to worry about."

"Yes… I suppose," Jessie said doubtfully.

"Okay, but…" everyone looked at James. "Can we eat first?" he asked.

***

The evening sun was washing over the sea around Tangelo Island as Delilah worked on an evening meal in the small beachfront property where she and Tracey lived. It was at times like this that she could almost forget her old life, and the pain that accompanied her every memory of it.

"Hey, Delilah?" Tracey called. Delilah Ketchum stuck her head out of the window to see Tracey walking up the path. A young woman with bright green hair, and a Ditto (who had adopted the shape of a wheel to roll along at its' mistress' side) accompanied him.

"Hello, Tracey," she called back. "Who's the young lady?"

"This is Maxine Simmonds, Duplicia to her friends," Tracey explained. "She's a travelling performer. The Pokémon Centre in Tangelo City doesn't have any free rooms today, so I told her she could stay the night with us.

Delilah rolled her eyes slightly. Thanks for consulting me Trace, she thought to herself. Outwardly, she gave her best 'mommy' smile and nodded. "Of course, you're welcome to stay for as long as you like, dear," she said.

"Oh thank you, Mrs. Sketchitt," Duplicia said with a broad, guileless smile. "I really thought I would be camping in the woods tonight!"

So, later that same evening, Tracey and Delilah were sitting in their living room along with their guest. "So, you are a travelling Imaté performer?" Delilah said. "Well, that sounds like a rough life."

"It is a bit hand-to-mouth, as far as money goes," Duplicia agreed, "but I really love dressing up and getting inside the heads of people and Pokémon. It is just such a wonderful way to learn about people."

Tracey grinned. "I can see why you've got a Ditto," he said with a laugh. "You even think a little like one."

"Yes," Duplicia agreed, stroking Ditto's 'head.' "When they change, they alter their genetic structure. That fascinates me, it is the ultimate mimicry: Literally becoming your subject. That is a sort of epiphany for a mimic. I'd love to have a power like that."

"Oh, I don't know," Delilah replied. "Being able to change who and what you are must be a strange thing. I'd hate it: I'd never know who I really am."

"But we all have secrets, Mrs. Sketchitt," Duplicia said brightly. "I think that we all pretend that we are something that we aren't, isn't that so?" Duplicia smiled in triumph as Delilah blushed bright red and Tracey shifted uncomfortably.

That night, after everyone went to bed, Duplicia sat up in her room, thinking. After a moment, she pulled a small palmtop computer with UN Security Council graphics stencilled on it out of her backpack. She activated the computer and pulled up the picture files of the people she was looking for. She then pulled off her Pokéball-shaped broach and flipped it over. From the back, she pulled a tiny memory crystal out of the hidden digital camera. She put it into an interface slot on the palmtop's side and waited for the memory to load into the computer.

She then selected two good photographs of her hosts and togged an image processing application. She smiled coldly as the four pictures became two. She didn't need the computer of course; she recognised both of them at once. Someone as skilled as her at changing her appearance could see though an amateur's efforts at once. Still, it was good to get confirmation for her report to the Professor.

She activated a communications application. "Switcheroo to Champion," she said quietly. There was a pause.

"Champion here," replied a male voice. "What do you have to report Switcheroo?"

"It's them, Gary," Duplicia said excitedly. "Delilah Ketchum and Tracey Sketchitt. They've made some attempts to avoid casual detection, but I saw through them at once."

"Well done Maxine," Gary Oak replied. "Make sure that they don't have any security in place. We're on our way in now."

"I'm on it, Gary," Duplicia said firmly. "Switcheroo out."

Duplicia packed away her equipment and walked out onto the porch of Tracey and Delilah's house with Ditto at her side. She saw at once that Tracey's Venonat and Delilah's Mr. Mime were sitting there, probably standing guard. "Hey guys," she said gently.

"Venon!"

"Mi-ime!"

Duplicia smiled and Venonat jumped, noting the cruelty in the woman's expression. "You know, your Trainers are in a lot of trouble," she suddenly said. "They know a very bad man by the name of Ash Ketchum, and they haven't given him up to the authorities. Don't you think that is a bad thing to do?" Mime looked worried and Venonat gave Duplicia a suspicious look. "The good thing is that my friends will bring them to their senses," Duplicia said with a relieved sigh. "You know, I had a bit of a crush on Ash once, but now he has betrayed the League. And I can't stand traitors, can you?"

Suddenly a bit of shadow moved across the night sky. Venonat looked and immediately saw the 'stealth' transport helicopter with UN Defence Forces logos painted on its' side. He jumped and turned to run and raise the alarm, but it was already too late. It had been too late when Tracey met Duplicia late that afternoon.

"Ditto: Starmie!" She ordered. The morphing-type glowed yellow and turned into a Starmie water-type Pokémon. "Use Water Gun!" The pressurised water jet struck Venonat and blew him across the beach. As a bug-type he was very vulnerable to water and he was badly hurt. "Now use Ice Beam," Duplicia continued. The energy bolt froze the hapless Venonat solid.

Mime was already acting. A Kinetic Throw attack blew Ditto into Duplicia and the two tumbled across the sand.

Behind the little psi-type, the helicopter landed. Gary Oak, at the head of a squad of Peacekeeper Commandos strode out, looking sort of stupid in the colonel's uniform he modified to make himself look a bit more heroic.

"Gary, I could use some help!" Duplicia yelled. Gary drew a Pokéball and strode forward.

Mime turned and immediately raised a psychic shield. Gary released an Onyx (which used to be Brock, but remembered nothing of those days now). "Onyx, Burrow," he ordered. Onyx buried itself into the beach and tunnelled right under Mr. Mime. He emerged right under the porch and threw the psi-type into the air with a loud yell of fear.

The noise had roused Tracey and Delilah from their sleep. They appeared at the door and stared at the troops, half blinded by a massive spotlight on the helicopter, directed right at their cabin. Delilah, seeing Mr. Mime fall from a Tail Whip attack from Onyx, screamed in fear. "What are you doing?" she shrieked. "Leave my Pokémon alone!"

"Delilah Ketchum, you are under arrest for complicity with an enemy of the people of Earth," Gary snapped. "Sargent, take her into custody." The grizzled PK sergeant nodded and stepped forward.

"Leave her alone!" Tracey shouted. "Go Scyther!" Tracey's fighting bug materialised.

Gary raised a brow in a mocking way. "Onyx, return," he ordered. After recalling his stolen rock-type, he swapped balls and threw another. "Kabutops, I choose you!" His fossil-based fighting bug materialised opposite Scyther. "Old against New. I always wondered which of these two would win out in a no-holds barred match."

"Stop grandstanding, Gary," Duplicia shouted. Suddenly, a Dragonite landed on Scyther, nearly smashing him flat. "Nice work, Ditto," Duplicia laughed. "Now, I think that bug is only going to be trouble. Why don't you bite his head off for me?"

"No, leave him alone!" Tracey shouted, charging the fake Dragonite.

"Oh boy. Another bleeding heart that sees his Pokémon as his 'friends,'" Duplicia said, rolling her eyes dramatically. "Use Tail Whip, Ditto." The impact smashed Tracey back into and through the wall of the cabin. "Now use Tempest," she continued with a big smile. The massive storm of wind caught the damaged cabin and collapsed it on top of the unconscious artist.

"Tracey!" Delilah screamed. She rushed forward and began tearing at the wreckage. Then the PKs reached her. Delilah had lost everything now, her son, her life and the one person whose love kept her sane. She turned with a cry of hatred and raked her nails across one soldier's face, trying to rip out his eyes. Another jabbed her with a cattle prod and she collapsed. She barely noticed the handcuffs snapping around her wrists.

As she was lead to the helicopter, she passed a smug Duplicia and Gary. Duplicia looked incredibly pleased at the way the night's work had gone. "Why…" Delilah whispered. "Why kill him? What did he do to you?"

"He had aided an enemy of the League," Duplicia said severely. "That made him an enemy of all Pokémon Trainers who are true to their calling." The woman's voice rose with righteous indignation. "He let your son attack one of the greatest living Pokémon researchers, and aided you in abetting Ash's crimes."

"You don't have to justify your actions to her, Duplicia," Gary sneered. "You know what they say about family. A rotten tree produces rotten fruit. If one is a traitor, it usually means that there are more in the family."

"Traitor? That's rich coming from you… murderer!" Delilah screamed. "I know what you did to Ash and Misty!" She spat in the Pokémon Master's face. Gary scowled and kicked the woman in the stomach, making her collapse and lie there, crying in pain.

"Get her out of here," he snarled. "Come on," he added to Duplicia.

"Come on, Ditto, leave that bug alone," she said to her morphing type. Ditto looked at the half-crushed Scyther and morphed back to his 'default' shape, leaving the bug to his dying. With a happy cry, he ran off to join his mistress on the helicopter. The silent aircraft left, leaving the battlefield silent and dark.

***

Ash hefted his Armalite M21-A1 in his left hand and opened fire. The .22" bullets roared from the assault rifle, peppering his target's chest with holes, forming a neat group over the heart. He shifted his aim upward and tore another series of holes through the target's head. Once the clip was exhausted, he shifted his posture, raising the Franchi SPAS-12 semi-automatic shotgun in his right hand and fired, one-handed again. The first shot blew off the target's left leg, the next its' right. The third took of the left arm, then he repeated the feat with the right. Finally, he used the last two shells to sever the neck, and the torso of the target fell limply to the floor.

Ash lowered his two emptied weapons and pressed the button to move the cardboard shooting target to the front of the firing range. To either side of him, Jessie and James removed their ear protectors and looked at the younger field agent with some awe. "Maximum points, I think," Ash said with a grin.

James swallowed nervously and Jessie sneered a little. "I always knew you were a show-off, Ash," Jessie remarked. "You just wasted thirty bullets and six shells on a target that should only take two bullets."

"He also hit with every bullet," James added, his eyes tracking involuntarily to Ash's holstered Auto-Nine pistol.

"I just wanted to show you guys that I'm keeping in practice," Ash said with a slight grin.

"Whatever," Jessie said with a roll of her eyes. "Look, are we going on patrol or not?"

"Later," Ash said. "I just have to do something first."

"What?" James asked.

"That's none of your business," Ash replied coldly.

"We are here on an official inspection," James said, trying to sound authoritative. "That makes it our business."

Ash sighed. "Okay, James, if it will settle you down, I'm going to meet one of my informants." The two other agents looked at him in some surprise. "I have several contacts that clue me in on local affairs," he explained. "I'm going to see one now, but I can't have you come along as he… well 'she,' actually, is very nervy and doesn't like crowds. Okay?"

James agreed easily enough, but Jessie couldn't shake the feeling that Ash wasn't telling them something. She had always had a strange intuition about what the boy was thinking, and ever since he joined Team Rocket, it had only grown stronger.

***

Delilah had slipped into deep shock during the long helicopter flight to whatever prison the UNGC had decreed would be her new home. She barely noticed the rough hands lifting her up and forcing her to walk down the corridor to a cellblock. She didn't respond to her clothes being torn off and the rough body search that followed. She barely noticed the poison yellow-coloured prison jump suit that was zipped over her naked form. All she could see was faces, parading before her eyes, Ash, Misty, now Tracey and even poor Mimey. She had lost everything and she knew that the only thing left for her to do was to crawl into her grave and rot there.

She sat on the bunk in the bare cell for some time. If any meals were delivered in that time, she ignored them. She ignored everything in the devout hope that, if she kept ignoring it, life would quickly and painlessly go away.

"Hello Delilah," a familiar voice said.

Delilah's head snapped up. "Sam!" she said in amazement.

Professor Samuel Oak was standing at the door of her cell, wearing a kind smile. "It is good to see you, Delilah," he said. "I'm glad to see that our troops weren't too rough on you. Gary is a good boy, but he has a deplorable tendency towards excess when it comes to the use of force."

"That is an understatement," Delilah hissed. "Your hell-spawn of a grandson murdered my lover and several Pokémon for laughs!"

Oak grimaced. "Now, now, Dee," he said reprovingly. "Your young friend was resisting arrest. Gary had the right to defend himself. As for the Pokémon…" Oak shrugged. "Well, there are plenty more where they came from."

Delilah couldn't believe she had heard that. "It is true, isn't it?" she said in a curiously detached tone of voice. "Everything Tracey said. You brainwashed Ash and Misty's Pokémon and covered up Gary's clumsy attempt to kill them." Oak shrugged. "How could you do that?" Delilah whispered. "Two innocent children… dozens of thinking beings… you destroyed them!"

"Pokémon are not thinking beings," Oak snapped. "All the officially-sanctioned research shows that they are even less sentient than most animals! That is why they are so easy to train! As for Ash and Misty…" Oak sighed and drew a hand through his hair. "Delilah, I am genuinely sorry about Ash. Unfortunately, your son was the fulfilment of a very old and very dangerous prophecy. The UN has gone to a lot of trouble for us, Delilah. Pokémon, if uncontrolled, could cause a lot of trouble. Fortunately the international community has acted to stop that from happening. Ash, however, was a threat to that. He is The Chosen One, you see, the one who will 'liberate' the Pokémon to claim their 'destiny.'" Oak snorted. "It sounds like gibberish, I know, but after that incident on Shamuti Island when he wrecked the attempt that our Project made to gain control of the Legendary Birds… well I couldn't take the risk anymore. Gary's pitiful jealousy was just the excuse I needed. As for Misty… well she was just another bystander caught in the crossfire, like Tracey."

"I can't believe that you're saying that!" Delilah shouted, standing up. "Do you mean that you have been trying to… control Pokémon somehow? Sam, you were always the one who spoke of caring for them!"

"YES!" Oak shouted. "Caring for them as carefully controlled resources! If they ever were to reach their ultimate natural potential… Delilah, there would be chaos! The UN couldn't allow that, so they founded the Project to stop it! Ash, unfortunately, is a threat to that control and he must be neutralised."

"Neutralised?" Delilah parroted. "Is that what your friends in New York call 'murder' these days?"

"No, it is what they call 'neutralised,'" Oak replied with a snarl. "Don't presume to judge us by your pitiful small-scale morality, my dear Dee. What is at stake here is the century of peace and international harmony that so many people died for back in the Second World War."

"Don't call me 'Dee,'" Delilah snapped. "You will call me 'Mrs. Ketchum.' And I don't care what justifications your employers have given you for their actions. The fact remains that you are a willing accomplice to torture, brainwashing and murder!" She shook her head and looked away. "I really don't know why you've done this," she murmured at last. "Why am I so important that you had to hunt me down and have your attack dog of a grandson murder poor, innocent Tracey?"

"My dear 'Mrs. Ketchum,'" Oak laughed, "you have no idea how important you are. Where you are, your son will shortly come. And when we have him, we will control him." The man laughed sadistically. "And he who controls The Chosen One controls the future."

"You are insane," Delilah said. "I will never help you!"

With a roar of fury, Oak stepped across the cell and slapped Delilah around the face, knocking her to the ground. Oak shook for a moment before regaining control of his shaking limbs. Finally he knelt by her and looked at her. "It isn't too late for us, you know, Delilah," he said quietly. "I should have just had you executed, but I still care for you."

Delilah couldn't believe she had heard that. "You tried to murder my son, Oak," she hissed dangerously. "I feel nothing but contempt for you!"

"That will change," Oak said. He stood up, his face expressionless and his eyes cold. "You already know that we have access to rehabilitation equipment, which can effectively erase a Pokémon's memories, making it easy for a new Trainer to re-train. What many people don't know is that I have been working on ways to make it work on humans too." Oak paused and let the implications dawn on Delilah.

"You are going to… reprogram me, like you did Ash and Misty's Pokémon," she said in horror. She swallowed. "Sam, if there is anything of the man I loved in you, you won't do that."

"I have my duty," Oak said coldly. "Once you have been… re-educated, you will be a prime asset to the Project, I think." He managed a slight laugh as Delilah cowered back from him. "Ash will come to your 'rescue,' and you will hand him over to us. Then… well I'm sure you can guess the rest."

Oak turned and strode out of the cell. "Take her to an isolation room," Delilah heard him say. "I don't want her to have the opportunity to damage herself." Two PKs rushed in and grabbed Delilah. She was dragged through the small facility until they reached a padded cell. The PKs threw her in and the door banged shut behind her.

Delilah could only lie on the floor and weep like a lost soul.

Chapter 2 – Visionary

Sabrina von Daimen, the Gym Leader of Saffron City's Marsh Gym first sensed the intruder in her Gym whilst teaching a young band of Novice Trainers the potential and limits of their psychic-type Pokémon. The consummate professional, she did not allow the presence to disturb her, even though the fact that this one of all others had sought her out made a child-like terror uncoil in her stomach.

For the next six hours, she calmly performed the duties required of her as Gym Leader. She taught two classes to young novices still too young to depart on their Journeys, faced and defeated a challenger for the Marsh Badge and completed a great deal of backlogged paper work. In all that time, she could still sense the power and potential waiting for her in the Gym's fighting arena.

Finally, at nine PM, she closed the doors to the Gym and pulled down the security shutters. In the half-darkened gym she called upon all of her power and stood, waiting for the challenge. When nothing immediately happened, she called out. "You may as well come out," she called. A nervous squeak entered her voice, embarrassing her slightly. "I know you are there!"

A bit of the night detached itself and walked forward. It was a tall, heavily built young man with ebony black hair and wide, humour-filled chocolate brown eyes. He was wearing a paramilitary uniform consisting of white trousers, a black under-shirt, black gloves and boots and an open-fronted white jacket. Over the heart of his jacket was a stylised capital letter 'R' in blood red inside a blood-red ring. "Hello, Sabrina, it's been a long time," Ash Ketchum, The Chosen One, declared with a wide smile.

Sabrina called upon her powers to create a psi shield around her to protect herself from a first attack and put her fingers on Alakazam's Pokéball. "I do not know what you want, Dark One," she said angrily, "but you will find it far harder to best me than you did Daisy Oak."

Ash raised his brows in surprise. "No, it isn't like that," he said hurriedly. "Sabrina, I'm not here to raid your Gym or to attack you."

Sabrina looked at the man thoughtfully. That same aggravatingly perfect psychic shield that she noticed when he first came here eight years ago as a challenger for her Badge was still there and she could sense nothing about his real intentions. She briefly considered using her telekinetic powers to snatch the Pokéballs from his belt as she had done before, but some instinct told her that such an act could be counter-productive.

"Assuming I believe that," Sabrina suddenly asked, "why are you here?"

"Because you are the most powerful human psychic on Earth," Ash replied. "I've come to you because I need your help."

Sabrina was completely nonplussed by that comment. "You want my help?" she asked. She fought down an instinct to laugh. "Don't you have psychics in your brotherhood of evil who could assist you?"

Ash winced at Sabrina's description of Team Rocket. After all these years, he still had not got used to the fact that he was now a bad guy. "Yes," he allowed, "but then I would have to make this an official request, and I'm not ready to do that yet. I've come to you because everyone knows you have the highest ethical standards. I need a psychic who I can trust and one who will not be reporting their findings to my superiors."

Sabrina walked right forward to where Ash and Raichu were standing. She looked deeply into his eyes and tried to read his expression. "Give me one reason why I should help you with your plans," she growled.

Ash sighed and opened his arms helplessly. "Sabrina, I'm not a bad guy," he protested. "I have made a lot of hard choices, its' true, but I am not evil."

Sabrina tapped the red 'R' on Ash's jacket. "That says otherwise," she snapped. "I don't know what you intended to achieve, but you have failed. Now get out before I force you out."

"Sabrina," Ash said gently as she turned away. "I am a proud man, but I am desperate here." Sabrina tensed, half-expecting the sudden agony of an electrical attack or the brief burning pain of a bullet in the back. When that didn't happen she turned to face Ash again. "I'm not the sort to beg," he said, "but I will do it now. Please, help me. If I can't figure this out, thousands may suffer."

Sabrina couldn't drag herself away from this conversation. "Is that a threat?" she asked gently.

"No, it is a fear," Ash said, running a gloved hand through his black hair. "There is some kind of conspiracy at work in these islands, and I have found myself opposing their plans. But…"

"But…?" Sabrina asked gently.

"But I don't even know my role in this game," Ash said with a sigh. "All I have is a name: 'The Chosen One.'"

"Yes, 'The Chosen One,'" Sabrina replied, frowning gently. She finally turned back to Ash and looked into his chocolate brown eyes again. "I would have thought your time with Lugia would have answered all of your questions in that area."

Ash shrugged and groaned in frustration. "Answered my questions?" he spluttered. "Sabrina, that bird talks in riddles most of the time. He left me with more questions than I had before."

Now Sabrina had to laugh. Yes, that sounded like the God of the Seas all right. Ash blushed at her obvious amusement. "What do you want to know?" she asked when she calmed down.

"I want to know what it means to be the Chosen One," he told her. "Sabrina, I must know whether everything that has happened to me has a meaning, or whether I have just suddenly had a run of bad luck."

"There is no such thing as 'luck,'" Sabrina replied. She sighed deeply. This hadn't gone as she had expected. "I am still not sure I should trust you," she added.

Ash stood up straighter. "As I said, I'm desperate," he replied. "I am willing to prove that I am trustworthy." Ash's voice became fearful as he continued. "Please explore my thoughts."

Sabrina jumped. What Ash was proposing was the most absolute invasion of his mind that she could perform. He would have no secrets from her, none at all. "Ash," she said. "Do you really want to do that? You of all people are a man with secrets."

Ash laughed, fear and nervousness filling his voice. "Sabrina, I have no other choice. I need your help, and if this is the only way to get it… well then so be it."

There was a long pause as Sabrina considered the terrorist standing before her, her eyes wide and frightened.

***

Ash sat on a couch in Sabrina's private rooms and felt very nervous and uncomfortable. At the other side of the library-cum-consulting room, Sabrina was sorting through some very old books on the shelves. After a moment she said "Ah!" and walked back over to him. "I think this might answer some of your questions, Ash," she said.

Ash took the book from Sabrina and saw a medieval etching. It was clearly of four young people riding on the back of Lugia, the God of the Seas. Ash peered at the picture and saw that the people on the Legendary Bird's back were a male with longish hair, a woman whose hair was styled in a dramatic wave, another woman, whose hair was in a tight ponytail from the side of her head… and a man wearing a baseball cap. Ash stared at the etching for a long time. "How old is this?" he asked.

"The book is a hundred years old," Sabrina said. "The picture itself is much older, no-one is sure exactly how old. The etching was done five hundred years ago, based on a cave painting found in the desert north of Sandstone City where wild Aerodactyls can be found. The best age for it is at least 20,000 years. Under it was an inscription in Neolithic runes that read: "And the world will turn to ash." Sabrina grinned at Ash's expression. "Yes, Ash," she said. "Everyone used to think it was an ancient prophecy of doom. It wasn't until you defeated that psychotic collector Laurence III, no-one even suspected that it might me a prophecy of hope."

Ash looked at the picture again in amazement. "How did they know?" he asked. It was the only near-sensible query that he could think of.

Sabrina shrugged. "I am not the first human with psychic powers," she reminded her visitor. "Nor am I even the most powerful. There were others in the past whose abilities make mine pale by comparison. Whoever painted that image and wrote those words was so powerful that time itself was merely a curtain that they could peel aside at a whim."

Sabrina took the book back and turned to another page. "Another, less powerful perhaps, but still formidable precognitive was Nostradamus," she said. "Unfortunately, he continually scrambled his brains with hallucinogenic drugs in a futile attempt to boost his powers, so most of his visions are less than meaningless. However, there is one unpublished vision that does the rounds amongst those of us with psychic abilities. Here it is." Sabrina's timbre of voice changed as she read the six-century old prophecy. Ash, irreverently, realised that the psychic had missed her true calling. She was a born actress.

"And it will come in the third millennium of the new faith,
That men will find again the powers of the Element Warriors.
And those, whose power comes from that what is,
Will see threat in these wonders.

"They will see that with friends so touch by God,
No tyranny could survive the wrath of the common man.
So they will act to control them, stunting the powers the Lord gave out freely.
In that time will come a Chosen One.

"His will be the power to make the Element Warriors brothers.
He will free them,
He will destroy what is,
He will set the world free.

"In doing so, he will pay a heavy price.
For he must sacrifice his youthful dreams,
And take on the role of the destroyer.
And his curse will be to be called 'evil.'"

There was a long silent pause in the room as Sabrina sat down in a chair next to the couch. "That is talking about me," Ash said.

Sabrina nodded. "There is more, but it is mostly technical stuff, not for the layman," she explained. "Enough to say that all the indications are that the 'Chosen One' will be turned to the path of evil. He will overthrow the system of things and impose upon the world a new way of life based upon 'brotherhood' with the 'Element Warriors.'"

"The Pokémon," Ash surmised. Sabrina nodded. "What… what does it mean about sacrificing my dreams?"

Sabrina smiled. "Ash, what was the dream that started you on this path?" she asked. "You wanted to be the Pokémon Master. However, they don't let members of Team Rocket fight in the Leagues. So you have already given up all your dreams and ambitions."

"I didn't do it for any great cause," Ash said. "I just wanted to survive. Team Rocket was the only way."

Sabrina grinned in a fey fashion. "It usually turns out to be that way," she agreed. "Forget about great meaning, Ash. That is for historians to argue about in two or three centuries' time. Right now, you have only got blood, sweat, tears and all the other unglamorous bodily secretions."

"So they will act to control them, stunting the powers the Lord gave out freely," Ash said thoughtfully. "The Project. It must be something to do with them. I've got to find out what their game is."

"The Project?" Sabrina asked.

Ash sucked in a deep breath. "I think the time has come," he said. He lay back on the couch, his head towards Sabrina.

Raichu immediately jumped up on his chest. [She has given you everything you need,] he chattered in alarm. [There isn't any need for this!]

"Yes there is," Ash replied. "She has given me my answers, now I have to give her the answers she needs."

[Are you sure?] Raichu asked, sounding very nervous.

"Yes," Ash replied, sounding completely sure of himself, even if he was in a cold sweat.

Sabrina nodded. "Prepare yourself," she said, reaching out to touch him.

To call it painful was an understatement. Not for Ash, all he felt was a strange tingle in his head, but Sabrina felt the complete memories of nineteen years flash across her frontal lobes in a split second…

My first conscious memory whilst in my mother's womb… the pain of birth… nursing at my mother's breast… the new home in Pallet… meeting Gary for the first time… school… becoming aware of Pokémon through Professor Oak… "I will be the Pokémon Master, Mom…!" Receiving Pikachu… Ow! That hurts! Stop shocking me you crazy rat…! "I'll bring your bike back, I promise…!" Please be okay, Pikachu… Who are these three crazies…? Bye, bye, Team Rocket…! Why won't this girl leave me alone…? My first gym badge…My second… This Sabrina is scary… Leave Misty alone you psychic freak…! Another Gym Badge…! Why won't Charizard listen…? She is beautiful with her hair down… My final Gym Badge… What was that 'Mewtwo' thing he used on Gary…? Fear… my Pokémon stolen… I'm… dead…? I can't have flunked the League so easily! I'm a failure… The Orange Islands… a nice place… Snap… Tracey… strange guy… Gym Badges…! Why was Misty cheering the Gym Leader? Doesn't she know how it hurts…? My eighth badge… Winning the Orange League…! All for you, Mist… I have saved the world…? Wow, I can't believe this has happened to me! Johto…! A New World and new opportunities… Chikorita… Why did Gary have to steal you too…? The Gyms of Johto… Misty… looks different nowadays… Why does the way her hips move as she walks affect me…? The mystery of the Unown… a stolen kiss before the League… I win the Johto League… Misty rushes across the arena to kiss me… A bomb goes of in my head… Returning to Indigo and re—qualifying for the Indigo League… my visitor from the future… Celebi, a mystery… I win the Challenge Cup! I'm in the League! Brock… Brock, why…? Gary, Daisy… How could they do this…? Team Rocket… my only hope, what a joke! But for Misty… I would do anything for Misty…Our first mission… What have you done! Brainwashed them…? Working with Jessie and James… Flint does not believe us… There is no hope anymore… It is easier to go with the flow… But hurting others hurts me… hurts her… We kiss… the pleasure of a touch and being together… I will not let them separate us…! Becoming White Team agents… A choice… Richie… I'm so sorry, Brock… I forgive you… Who is the Chosen One…? A 'Project' that means to control the Pokémon… What does it all mean…?

Sabrina released Ash's head with a shriek of pain and nearly collapsed. Ash was on his feet in a second, holding her tightly. "Sabrina, are you all right?" he asked worriedly. "Should I get a doctor?"

"No, no I'm okay," Sabrina replied, patting his arm. "Your memories were a bit intense, that's all." She shook her head. "You've had quiet an intense life, Mr. Ketchum," she said wryly. "In nineteen years you have gathered the experiences most people don't gather even in a lifetime!"

Ash smiled slightly. "Believe me, it was worse gathering those experiences," he said ruefully.

Sabrina still looked a bit shell-shocked. "I think I understand what you mean about this 'Project,'" she said. "As a Gym Leader, I am more than aware that there are some things in the League that are not entirely as they should be, but I never guessed it might be on such a scale."

Ash nodded in agreement. Then he shook himself all over and turned to leave. "Look, Sabrina, I've got to get going," he said. "Thanks for your help."

Ash turned to go, when Sabrina suddenly shouted out "No!"

Ash stopped and turned back. "What is it?" he asked the psychic woman. Her eyes were glowing icy blue with power, something he found rather disturbing.

"In your mind, I saw a boy… he must be a man by now, called 'Tracey,'" Sabrina said.

"Yes, Tracey Sketchitt, he was a friend," Ash said.

"He is dying," Sabrina announced, making Ash's heart lurch in horror. "I could feel his despair calling out to you. I saw a cabin on a beach and I heard a name… Tan… Tan, something…"

"Tangelo?" Ash snapped? Sabrina nodded, her face excited. "His family home is on Tangelo Island. I've got to go!" Ash turned to run, but Sabrina grabbed his arm. "Sabrina, he's my friend," Ash nearly shouted. "If he's in trouble, I have to go to him!"

"I can get you there faster," Sabrina said, drawing the Omni-ball containing Alakazam.

***

"Where is Ash?" Jessie nearly shouted.

Misty frowned in disapproval and pushed the other woman back so she wasn't so obviously in her face. "I don't know, Jessie."

"Well call him then," Jessie snapped, gesturing at the communications console in the Control Centre.

"I can't, his walkie-talkie is off-line," Misty said, letting a little of her worry into her voice.

"I was afraid of that," Jessie said in worry. She began to pace, not knowing what else she should do.

***

With a flash of blue light, Sabrina, Ash, Raichu and Alakazam materialised on the beach in Tangelo Island where Tracey's cabin had stood. Ash saw the unconscious Mr. Mime, Venonat and Scyther at once. "Oh no, what the hell happened?" he shouted. He ran forward, fumbling the Super-ball containing his Blissey out of its' bandoleer loop. "TRACEY!" he shouted.

"He's under the front of the wreckage, Ash," Sabrina shouted.

As Ash's assigned Blissey began to work on the three unconscious (probably dying) Pokémon, Ash released Rose-Roar and Kadabra. Aided by their strength and telekinesis, he began to tear at the wreckage.

Sabrina joined him, just as he uncovered Tracey's broken form. The man had been bleeding heavily and his body was at an angle that made Ash think of broken spines. "Oh no, Tracey," he moaned. "Hang on, pal, I'll get you fixed up." Without even a thought, Ash pulled his TR-issued distress beacon and pressed the activation stud. It generated a radio 'shriek' that was detected by the Organisation's Skynet GPS navigation and communications satellite network. The signal was then 'bounced' to the nearest Team Rocket outpost so they could send help.

Tracey's breathing was weak and his pulse was thready. Unable to move his friend out of fear of worsening already-critical injuries, he could only sit by him, holding his hand and willing him to live. "Hang on, pal," he whispered. "Hang on."

Sabrina touched him on the arm in sympathy. "He will live, Ash," she said. "He is too strong to die easily, and you have found him in time. Now I should go. May you find success in your endeavours; all of them."

"Team Rocket could use someone like you, Sabrina," Ash said, concerned. "After seeing what I have seen…"

"Ash, my place is at my Gym," Sabrina replied. "I am a teacher, not a warrior. Besides, my entire calling has sworn never to interfere in the flow of history. We are not gods, not yet anyway, and we do not have the right to dictate the direction of humanity's evolution. Maybe, one day, your descendants will progress far enough to join us, and we can work together… If you don't go extinct first, of course."

"What are you talking about?" Ash blurted as Sabrina walked over to Alakazam. She never replied, rather she raised her hand in a blessing… and was gone.

Ash was still staring at the place she had stood when the Team Rocket Medevac blimp from Tangelo Base dropped to the sands before him.

Chapter 3 – The Web of Friendship

"We've just got word on Ash," Rocketboy announced, barging in on Jessie, James and Misty. The latter had been playing with her coffee and desperately trying not to come up with horrible worst-case scenarios about her lover. "He's at Headquarters now with a casualty."

"What casualty?" Jessie demanded. "And how did he get to Headquarters? That's two hundred miles away!"

"No details, Ma'am," Rocketboy said with a helpless shrug. "The Boss just says to stand by. Ash will be coming back as soon as the casualty is stabilised."

***

Ash knew it was pointless, pacing back and forth outside the medical ward, but he couldn't help it. Tracey was balanced on a knife-edge between life and death, and Ash had a horrible premonition that this was the least of it.

He stopped and sagged onto a chair. He ran his hand through his hair and tried to calm himself. Raichu jumped up onto his lap. [Don't despair,] the electric squirrel said. [Remember that Dr. Williker brought you and Misty back from the point of death. If anyone can save Tracey, it is him.]

Ash stroked Raichu's cheeks with a wan smile. "I know pal," he said. "But the waiting is hard… and I can't shake the feeling this is my fault."

[How?] Raichu asked scornfully. [You haven't even seen him for four years.]

"People close to me…" Ash said quietly. "I'm touched by history, Raichu. Everyone close to me just seems to get swept up in the current, for better or worse… usually for worse."

Raichu watched as tears began to trickle down Ash's cheeks. He nuzzled his Trainer and tried to comfort him, but he felt that comfort was something that Ash would have a hard time receiving right now.

"Ash?" Ash looked up and saw Williker standing there.

"Yeah Doc?" Ash asked, hope tingeing his voice.

"He will live," Williker said. "He's a strong man, and that will win the battle in the long-term, I think." Ash sighed and sagged in relief. "But there is some bad news," Williker continued in a sad tone of voice.

"What?" Ash asked, a cold finger of ice trickling down his spine.

"I am afraid that the impact he suffered to the small of his back fractured his spine between vertebrae 17 and 18. Ash, barring a miracle… your friend will never walk or have any feeling below the line of his waist ever again."

Ash's mouth dropped open and he could only stare at Williker in horror. The doctor shifted unhappily and turned away for a second. "He's awake now," he said, trying to sound cheerful. "Incredible lad, really. He's full of enough painkillers to knock out an elephant but he won't black out. Try talking to him. It might help."

Ash walked reluctantly through the door to the medical ward. Tracey was in a bed surrounded by life-support equipment in a private room. Ash walked forward reluctantly and touched his friend's hand. "Hey, Trace," he said with a wan smile.

To his surprise, the hand grabbed his own and held on with some strength. "Ash…" Tracey whispered. "Is… is it you?"

Ash couldn't blame Tracey for being unsure. All grown up and in uniform, he must be virtually unrecognisable. "In the flesh, buddy," Ash said, trying to sound cheerful. "Don't talk, pal. Save your strength for getting well again."

Tracey wasn't in the mood for convalescent bullshit. "I can't feel my legs, Ash," he said in a gentle tone of voice. "What has happened to them?"

"They… they're still there, pal," Ash said nervously. "You took a bad knock back there and it may have shaken you up a bit. Don't be surprised if bits are numb…"

"I'm paraplegic, aren't I?" Tracey interrupted. The man sounded desperate and horrified.

Ash fought down tears. "The doctors don't know that for sure," he replied. "You might get well after a little rest and therapy…"

"Don't lie to me, Ash," Tracey whispered. "I know how small the chances of that are…" Ash held Tracey's hand tighter, trying to communicate that he must be strong. "I deserve this," Tracey said quietly. "It is my just punishment."

"For what?" Ash almost shouted. "Tracey, you didn't do anything wrong. So Professor Oak took you in? You and everyone else, old friend. You can't blame yourself for what he did!"

Tracey gave Ash the strangest look. "I… I thought you knew," he said.

"What?" Ash asked.

"Delilah… your mother… she came with me… We were looking after each other…" Tracey explained. Ash tried to fight down an insane desire to laugh at the thought of Tracey and his mom living together. "I love her, Ash," Tracey continued. "I was trying to care for her as best as I could… Then Gary came."

"Gary…?" Ash asked in horror. "He did this?" Ash was furious. He had given Gary a chance to get out of this, and he spurned it. Now whatever happened to him was on his head.

"Ash…" Tracey whispered. Ash returned from his fantasies of revenge and stared at Tracey's broken body with a sick sense of horror. Everyone who got close to him seemed to end up being hurt. Sometimes just keeping breathing was difficult. Tracey was finally succumbing to the painkillers and was slipping into unconsciousness.

"Yeah, buddy?" Ash asked, moving his head closer.

"They… they took Delilah…" Tracey gasped. "I'm sorry I couldn't look after her for you…"

"They took my Mom?" Ash asked, his voice rising in horror. "Where?"

"I don't know Ash… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"

***

Delilah screamed as the pitiless machine drove waves of pain through her mind. Still she wouldn't give up. She concentrated on every memory, anything she could recall. She wouldn't let them make her their creature. She would die first!

"Why aren't you making more progress?" Gary snapped as he watched the woman writhing in the Rehabilitation Chair.

"Er… well, the subject has a remarkably strong will," the little technician blurted to him. "It is difficult to erase synaptic patterns when she continually re-enforces her memories like this." Gary glared at the technician, making him even more nervous. "Besides," he squeaked, "the apparatus has never been tested on a human before… It isn't properly calibrated…"

"Then I suggest," Gary snapped, "that you take her out of that contraption and get it calibrated. My Grandfather is very keen on having your 'subject' as a weapon he can use against Team Rocket." And having her as a lover again, I bet, Gary added silently. "If you don't start making progress," he continued aloud, "then he might just decide to calibrate it on you."

Gary stormed out of the torture chamber, leaving a nearly prostrate technician babbling in fear.

***

Ash was holding onto Tracey's hand, listening to his story. "How did they find you?" Ash asked.

"I don't know Ash," Tracey sighed. "I think that Professor Oak had been looking from the day we left Pallet, but he wasn't sure until recently. He sent an agent to make a positive ID the day before Gary attacked. She had the weirdest hairdo, in green of all things… and she had a Ditto."

"Duplicia?" Ash blurted.

"Yeah, that was the name she used," Tracey said. "You know her?"

"I thought I did," Ash said. "Tell me more."

"She was the most sadistic, cruel…" Tracey said quietly. "She enjoyed handing us over… I think she was going to have her Ditto rip poor Scyther to bits for laughs… How is he anyway?"

"They're all in rejuvenation right now," Ash said thoughtfully. "They should all make it." He shook his head and sighed deeply. "I can't believe that Duplicia was in on this! She was the nicest person I've ever met!"

"She said that we were traitors to the League and that she had a duty to bring us down," Tracey said bitterly. "But that was just a rationalisation, I could see it. She enjoyed being cruel."

Ash nodded sadly. She was another past friend who turned out to be nothing of the kind. "Try to rest, Tracey," he said. "And don't worry about my Mom. We'll handle that from here on in."

***

"I'm sorry, Ash, but it is completely out of the question," Giovanni said. Ash was standing in his office. He had never seen the young man look so desperate. He was begging, something he had never seen him do before. "I am genuinely sorry about your mother," Giovanni continued in a gentler tone of voice, "but I cannot have my agents going rushing off on private vendettas whenever it suits them."

"Sir, I must help her," Ash begged desperately. "Don't you see that this is because of me? Professor Oak only wants her because of her relationship to me! I got her into this, and now I've got to get her out!"

"Ash, this is probably a trap, have you thought of that?" Giovanni said. "She is the bait to get to you. You're too important…" Giovanni cut himself off before he said too much. "You are too experienced an Agent for them to miss a chance to force you to join them," he corrected himself.

"I know it is a trap," Ash said firmly. "But it doesn't matter."

"It does to me," Giovanni said firmly. He sighed. "Ash, I'm sorry, but this subject is closed," he said. "I want you to go back to your base. When you get there, you and the rest your team are restricted to the base for the next four weeks."

"Four weeks!" Ash said. "By then…"

"By then she will either be dead or brainwashed. Either way, she won't be a threat to you anymore," Giovanni said, feeling like dirt for forcing the boy to face these facts. "I'm sorry Ash, but it is better for everyone this way. The Cause must come first. Dismissed."

Ash stood there, vibrating with outrage for a second. Giovanni watched as his shoulders slumped and he turned to walk out of the office slowly. I hope I haven't gone to far, Giovanni thought. I can't risk breaking his spirit, but I can't risk him like this… I can't risk any of my people, no matter how much I owe her."

***

Ash was very quiet on the journey back to Seashell Base. Raichu quickly gave up even trying to talk to his Trainer, who had sunk deep inside himself in introspection and self-accusation. No matter how Ash thought about it, it was his fault. By the simple accident of his birth, he seemed to be ruining lives left right and centre. Now, most horribly, his mother, a gentle and kind woman who had never hurt anyone in her life, was at the mercy of an amoral killer, simply because she was his mother.

Ash's brows lowered dangerously. Finding her would be difficult if it were not for one tiny error Professor Oak had made. There was one person involved in this entire mess who might be persuaded to help him recover his mother… by hook or by crook, if necessary.

Raichu noticed the slightly dangerous smirk on his Trainer's face and felt a bit worried about it. [What are you thinking about, Ash?] he asked one more time.

"I'm thinking that finding Mom might be easier than The Boss thinks," Ash said. He then refused to elaborate, frustrating his first and best Pokémon to no end.

Within a half-hour, Ash was in Seashell Base. Because Jessie and James were there, Misty didn't immediately launch herself into her lover's arms. That was something she could keep until they had some privacy. "Ash, what happened?" she asked, looking at the devastated look on Ash's face.

"Its'… a long story," Ash said. After a moment he continued. "The short version is that I found out where my Mom has been staying all these years."

"Uh… shouldn't that be a good thing?" Misty asked, her bright green eyes reflecting her confusion.

"No," Ash replied in a low, angry tone. "Because Gary got there first. He's taken her… God, I don't know where and by now Professor Oak has either raped her or worse." Ash sagged and covered his face. "Tracey was there too… he got in the way and Gary broke his back for him… he may never walk again…" Ash started crying. "I… I'm not sure… I'm not sure I can take this," he managed to grate out.

The other White Rockets closed in around him and managed to get Ash to his private room in the 'cabin.'

A few hours later, Misty came to visit Ash. He was sitting at a small desk and working on one of the base's computer terminals. Misty couldn't see what was on the screen that was so fascinating. "Uh… this is probably a stupid question, but how are you doing?" Misty said.

"I'm actually a bit better," Ash said. "Misty, I've got to talk to you." Misty gave him a strange look, then closed the door to give them privacy. Ash gestured for her to sit down next to him before continuing. "Look, Misty, the Boss has ordered us to stay at the base for the next month," he explained. "He has forbidden me to look for Mom, and has told me he can't afford the resources to send anyone else."

Misty sighed and shook her head. "I wish I was surprised," she said. "Sometimes I think the 'fighting for freedom and liberty' bit during training was for propaganda purposes only."

Ash smiled slightly. "Well, the Boss has his own priorities," he said. "But I have mine. I'm going to get her, Misty. I don't care what he says, and I am going after her, fully aware that there is a trap somewhere here."

Misty nodded and smiled too. "My hero," she said with a laugh. "Ash, do you have the slightest idea where she might be?"

"No, but I know someone who does," Ash said. Misty simply looked at him with a raised eyebrow. She hated it when he got all mysterious like this, and she wouldn't let him get away with it. He sighed and turned around the monitor of his computer. On the screen was http://tangelo.island.gov.kto/events, the local entertainment page run by Tangelo Island's council. The main event, with a full blow-up picture of the star announced: 'World-famous Imaté Master performs in Tangelo City today!'

"Duplicia?" Misty said, looking at the picture in surprise. "What does she know?"

"She is working for the Oaks," Ash explained.

Misty gasped. "Oh no, how could she?"

Ash shrugged. Thinking back, perhaps it wasn't so strange, after all. "She always was a bit weird, loving imitating people and things. There was never any indication that there ever was a 'Duplicia,' only the perfect mimic. Tracey said she enjoyed it, and given how she was willing to let Team Rocket get away with Pikachu if she got a fully trained Ditto back…"

Misty nodded. "There was always a coldness about her," she agreed. "Even so…"

"Misty, I know how you feel, but Tracey described her perfectly," Ash said quietly. "Duplicia is the weak link, and I mean to get her to tell me where they took my Mom." He drew in a deep breath. "Warm up our blimp, Misty, and get the other four loaded up. We're going on a big job this time."

"What about Jessie and James?" Misty asked.

"I'll deal with them," Ash said darkly.

***

Ash was in the armoury of the base. He finished strapping on the double-strap bandoleer that he had designed for when he wanted all of his Pokémon with him at one time. All his Pokéballs were on the bandoleer. Raichu (who never used his ball, but had one anyway), Kadabra, Rose-Roar the Ivysaur, Firestorm the Charizard, Flame the Ninetails, Wartortle, Wings the Pidgeot, Rage the Gyarados, Rhyhorn, Sandshrew, and his assigned Umbreon and Espeon. He was now putting on the last parts of his body armour.

"Ash, what the hell are you doing?" Jessie asked. Ash rolled his eyes. He knew he wouldn't just be able to walk out of here without them noticing, but that didn't mean he was looking for a confrontation.

"What does it look like I'm doing, Jessie?" he asked, laying on the irony with a shovel.

"It looks like you're disobeying a direct order," Jessie snapped. "Well forget it, Ketchum, we're not letting you do it!"

"So, you are proposing that I allow an innocent woman suffer who knows what torments when I can stop it?" Ash asked.

Jessie nearly exploded again. While she fumed, James leapt into the breach. "Ash, you were ordered not to leave base," he reminded the younger man. "We can't let you go."

"I'm not abandoning my mom, James," Ash replied simply.

"Ash, you don't have a family anymore, apart from the Cause," Jessie shouted.

Ash looked at the redhead with an expression of scorn. "If you really believe that," he said, "then I pity you." Ash turned back to the armoury locker and pulled his rifle off of its rack. He pulled back the cocking lever and looked into the breech. Clear. Good.

Jessie was going apoplectic with anger. "Damn it, Ketchum, you do this and you will be finished. Team Rocket will hunt you down and, God help me, I will be first in line!" Ash ignored her. Jessie was getting desperate. "Blast it, Ash, don't you understand that you have a future? Don't throw it away over some dumb emotion!"

This time, Ash did stop. After a long moment he turned around. "I'm not going to do it, Jessie," he said. Suddenly he started walking forward. Jessie and James began to back off nervously as the younger field agent walked towards them, his eyes sparkling with rage and his whole posture reeking of suppressed violence. "I am not going to kill everything human in me to make myself a good little Rocket the way Butch and Cassidy have done. I am not going to forget the people to whom I owe my life and everything good that has ever happened to me. And I as sure as hell am not going to leave my own mother at the mercy of a man that I know has no mercy!"

Jessie swallowed nervously. "Ash…" she said helplessly.

"Ash, you… you can't…" James said lamely.

Ash turned around and walked back to the weapons locker. He pulled a 40-round .22-cal magazine out. Jessie recovered her wits slightly. "Ash, we have got to report this to the Boss," she warned. "You know how he will react."

Ash slid the 40-round magazine into his rifle and pulled back the cocking lever. "Jessie," he said with simple certainty, "I am going to rescue my mother and God help anyone who stands in the way. So, you can either help, or you can get out of my way because I am getting very bad at telling friend from foe these days!" Ash inadvertently tapped Jessie on the chest with the barrel of his rifle. She swallowed, suddenly feeling very, very vulnerable.

Suddenly James groaned out loud. "Oh for God's sake, Ash. Give me one of those guns!"

"Why?" Ash asked. Jessie looked a bit surprised too.

"Because we're coming with you," James said. "The Boss may have forbidden you to go after your mother," James continued with a sparkle in his eye, "but he didn't forbid us. And he didn't restrict your team from helping us out if we ask."

"James Morgan… you are crazy!" Jessie announced.

"You don't have a family, Jessie," James said. "You don't know what it is like, but I know how I'd feel if a member of my family were in danger." Jessie looked about to protest, but she saw something in James' eyes, a resolution and a certainty that wasn't normally there. After a long moment, she nodded firmly and reached into the armoury herself.

Chapter 4 – The Flames of Vengeance

Duplicia sighed in relief as she walked through the forest. She enjoyed performing for the entertainment (and education) of the masses, but like all true Pokémon Trainers, she only ever felt really comfortable out in the forest, among the creatures that she had chosen to spend her life domesticating and putting to a useful task.

She felt particularly good this week. Not only had her first tour of the Orange Islands got off to a wonderful start, she had also managed to pay back an old debt to the Pokémon Master himself, and serve the best interests of the League.

Duplicia, if she were the sort of person to go in to self-examination, would realise that she was a contradictory sort. She was no fan of violence or of 'action,' but she wasn't a nice person, and she had absolutely no compunction to use the most… aggressive… of methods for training her Pokémon. She would be horrified if someone were to suggest to her that she were cruel or sadistic, but, on the other hand, she genuinely felt that one should enjoy a victory, and should make the other understand that they were beaten.

Right now, Duplicia was walking in the woods near Tangelo City, whistling a tune she was making up on the go. She walked into a circular clearing; blissfully unaware that she was walking right into a trap, until it was too late. "Prepare for trouble,"

"And make it double!"

"To protect the world from devastation,"

"To unite all peoples of our nation,"

"To expound the joys of truth and love,"

"To extend our reach to the stars above,"

"Misty,"

"Ash,"

"Team Rocket, blasting off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender, or prepare to fight!"

"Raichu! Rai-ai-rai!"

Two people and a Raichu leapt out of the trees and landed right in front of the amazed young woman. A few seconds later, a Togetic fluttered down to join them. The first person was a tall, heavily built man with chaotic black hair. The other was a tall and athletic ginger-haired woman. Duplicia recognised them, of course. They were the arch-traitors, the Trainers who had done so much to cheapen the image of the League and their calling. "You!" she shouted. "Well, I got one of your kind, why not get the rest!"

Duplicia drew the Pokéball containing her first Pokémon, a Ditto, and threw it forwards. "Ditto!" Ditto shouted as it materialised.

"Ditto, Venusaur," Duplicia ordered. There was a flash of yellow light as the morphing-type mimicked the largest and most powerful of the plant-type. "Ditto, bind 'em with your vine whips!" she ordered.

Ash actually smiled. "Go, Firestorm," he shouted, throwing a grey-and-white Super-ball. A Charizard materialised, one far larger than any Duplicia had seen before.

"Use Solar Blast," Duplicia ordered.

"Agile," Ash responded. The golden-yellow energy bolt missed the Charizard by a wide margin. Duplicia just got the impression that she should change Ditto into a water-type instead, but it was too late. "Flame Spin," Ash cried. The Charizard generated a hollow spherical fireball that flashed down and surrounded Ditto. In the form of a plant-type, he was hideously vulnerable to such an attack. "And finish it with Pound," Ash continued. The Charizard slammed his back feet hard against the "Venusaur's" back.

"Dit… tooooohhh," Ditto moaned, slipping back to its' default shape and losing consciousness.

Duplicia suddenly felt panic in her heart. She wasn't a coward, but she suddenly realised she was outgunned. She would have to make a distraction if she were to get away. She recalled Ditto and pulled another Pokéball. "Go Machoke!" she shouted, releasing her recently acquired fighting-type (who did scene shifting in her shows). "Tackle, Machoke!"

Machoke charged forwards, just as Misty said, "Togetic, Psi Beam!" The concentrated bolt of psychic energy caught the charging fighting-type and blasted it right into unconsciousness.

Duplicia was already running, but she didn't get more than ten paces before a massive electric shock flashed through her body, making her muscles cramp and freeze up. She hit the ground with a scream. Before she could even think of using Abra or Ampharos, someone seized her and dragged her to her feet.

Duplicia moaned in pain as Misty twisted her arms behind her. Ash made a show of taking a moment to thank Firestorm kindly for his bravery and skill before walking over to the terrified Imaté artiste. "Hello, Duplicia," he said. "Its' been a long time."

"Too long, you traitor," Duplicia hissed. "How could you do it? How could you betray the calling that gave you everything?"

"Its' quite simple," Ash replied. "It, in the form of Professor Oak, betrayed me first. So, you could argue that I was acting in self-defence when I joined Team Rocket, right Misty?" Misty laughed from where she was holding Duplicia immobile as painfully as she could. "But enough of your accusations," Ash said. "I know you were involved in the kidnapping of my mother."

"Kidnapping?" Duplicia snapped. "It was an arrest! She is a criminal, just like you!"

Ash shook his head. "Duplicia, Duplicia, Duplicia," he sighed. "What am I going to do with you? Ah! I know." The slap came from nowhere and the woman shrieked in surprise as the impact rocked her sideways, stretching the tendons in her near-dislocated shoulders even more. "You are the criminal, you stupid bitch," Ash hissed. "You have aided self-confessed thieves and the people who tried to murder me and Misty for no better reason than we might be a threat some time in the future. You assaulted Pokémon with lethal force, something no Trainer should do. And you dare accuse us of betraying our calling?"

Duplicia was slowly recovering her wits and she looked at Ash scornfully. "Please, spare me," she said in a bored tone of voice. "I haven't got the time for you bleeding hearts, worrying about how your precious 'friends' are hurt. If they lose, then they deserve the pain. Maybe they'll learn from it."

Misty growled dangerously and twisted Duplicia's arms tighter, making the woman scream in pain. "You are a sadistic little shit, you know that don't you?" Misty hissed into her ear.

"Misty," Ash warned. Misty lessened the tension on Duplicia's arms, but not by much. "Now, you are going to tell me where Gary took my mother."

"Forget it, Ketchum," Duplicia snapped. "I'm no traitor to the League. I'll tell you nothing… except to kiss my rosy red…" Ash hit her again, if only for effect this time.

"You will tell me everything," Ash said. "And then you will help us rescue my mother. What is more, you will do so with a song of joy in your heart."

"Or what?" Duplicia jeered. "I know your kind; you come on tough, but you are too gutless to do anything. That is why Gary is better than you, Ash. He isn't afraid to do whatever it takes."

"Duplicia, you really don't know anything about me do you?" Ash said gently. He stepped forward, holding his survival knife. "My mother is one of the few people in the world that I would die to protect. And, by a funny trick of psychology, she is also one of the few people I would kill to protect."

Misty's eyes widened. She hadn't expected this. Ash's face was taking on that mad, dangerous look that he wore whenever he got really mad after Brock betrayed them. Duplicia was only making him angrier. "I'd listen to him, if I were you," she said, trying to put sincerity and urgency in her voice. "He really isn't the nicest guy to know when he is mad."

"Oh, I'm really scared," Duplicia yawned.

"You will be," Ash said. "You see, my dear Duplicia, I am not the sort of person to kill in cold blood, but between here and there is an ocean of pain." He reached forward and put the blade of his knife up Duplicia's nose. "Now, I am going to take you on a little guided tour across it. If, as you say, you should learn from the pain of defeat, then you'll be qualified for a master's degree by the time I'm finished." Ash suddenly and savagely jerked his knife away from Duplicia's face, slicing open her right nostril. The woman screamed in agony, blood streaming down her face.

"Christ, Ash," Misty said in horror. Only her professionalism kept her holding her prisoner, who was now writhing desperately, trying to escape.

There followed the most painful few minutes of Misty's life up to that point. Ash proceeded to cut and jab Duplicia in dozens of places designed to maximise her pain. Tears were pouring down her face, mingling with her blood, but still, no matter how much she screamed, she would not talk.

Misty was close to breaking herself, only her loyalty to Ash held her, that and her sudden realisation that this was all a horrible bluff. That Ash wasn't going to torture Duplicia to death, that he just couldn't do such a thing. Even so, he knew enough from the Field Interrogation courses at Headquarters to make Duplicia's existence incredibly painful. Misty knew she would have nightmares about this for years to come. From the look on Ash's face, so would he.

Duplicia was just a hired gun really, and she wasn't all that brave when she was the one being hurt. The continual pain finally broke her fragile resolution. "I'LL TALK!" Duplicia screamed at the top of her voice. "I'LL HELP YOU… PLEASE GOD, JUST DON'T CUT ME ANYMORE!"

"You see, Misty? She can be reasonable," Ash said. Only Misty (and Jessie and James, who were hiding behind a tree, their mouths covered to stop themselves from crying out in horror) saw the disgust, anger and self-loathing that Ash felt at being forced to do this.

***

A van with the name 'Duplicia's Travelling Imaté House' stencilled on its' side sat on a hill near Vermilion City. A young woman with green hair, and numerous dressings on her face, sat in the driver's seat, only too aware of the assault rifle pointing at her from behind the thin metal wall separating the driving compartment from the cargo compartment.

Ash was looking at the distant facility through his binoculars. 'Oak Industries Incorporated – Vermilion Research Unit' read the big sign at the entrance. What gave away that this was no ordinary corporate R&D unit were the UNDF Peacekeeper soldiers guarding it. "This is the place?" Ash demanded of his prisoner.

Duplicia nodded, a bitter expression on her face. "The UNGC didn't want her held in a regular prison, so the Professor offered the use of one of his research centres," she explained.

"That's pretty typical. Take us in."

"They'll never let me in," Duplicia protested, turning to look at Ash through the ventilation grid. "I am just a civilian auxiliary, they didn't even let me off of the helicopter when we arrived."

"Well, then you'd better be extra-convincing, hadn't you?" Ash said quietly. Duplicia heard the safety catch on the gun covering her snap off. She swallowed a desire to start crying again and started the van's engine.

The van drove down towards the main entrance gate. A PK guard walked out of his sentry box and waved Duplicia down. "This is a restricted area," he said in a bored tone. "I'm afraid that I'll have to ask you to turn back."

"Auxiliary Maxine Simmonds, serial AMX-335-010-770-APP, codename 'Switcheroo,'" Duplicia said immediately.

The guard pulled out a PDA. "Hold on, checking that," he said. He tapped in a few commands into his palmtop. He looked up in suspicion. "Evening, Ms Simmonds. What happened to your face?"

"I fell down the stairs at a hotel of all things," Duplicia said with a slight laugh. "Look, soldier, I have to talk to Colonel Oak. I have information about when Ash Ketchum is planning to move against this facility."

The soldier hesitated for a few seconds. This was hardly normal procedure, and he knew that Duplicia had a route for contacting Gary without actually visiting him. "Move it!" Duplicia shouted, her voice filled with anger (or maybe terror). "Or would you prefer explaining to the Professor why you delayed me until it was too late to achieve the prime objective of this mission?"

The soldier swallowed. "No Ma'am," he said. "You're authorisation is in order. Proceed to the main courtyard." The soldier stood aside and gestured for her to drive on.

Duplicia made a show of rolling her eyes in disgust and put the van back in gear again. "See, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Ash asked quietly.

"I hope they cut you to pieces, Traitor," she snapped back, finding a little of her bravado returning to her.

"Tut, tut, Duplicia. 'Sticks and stones' and all that."

***

The van pulled into a central square surrounded by single-storey research buildings. "Where is she being kept?" Ash asked quietly.

"I don't know," Duplicia said, "but most of this facility is underground. If she's anywhere…"

"I agree," Ash said. "Now sit tight. This is going to get a bit rough."

At that moment, Gary strode out of the 'east' building, wearing a ferocious frown. "Duplicia, what the hell are you doing back here?" he shouted. "You can't just 'visit' whenever you feel like it. You'll blow a mile-wide hole in our security…"

"Uh… Gary, I came to WARN you that KETCHUM is on his way RIGHT NOW!" Duplicia said, starting to sweat nervously. Ash actually started laughing under his breath when he realised that the woman was trying to warn Gary in a subtle way. What a pity that Gary was far too stupid to take a hint. Ash nodded to the rest of his team. They selected their first Pokémon and got ready to go.

"I know that, idiot," Gary said. "We're expecting him, remember?"

"NO!" Duplicia said. "I mean that… Oh, why do I bother? GARY! HE'S IN THE VAN RIGHT NOW!" Her voice rose to a scream. It was a surprisingly heroic thing to do, really, but also an utterly futile one.

Duplicia's van literally exploded open. Ash's Rhyhorn charged right at Gary, who barely dived aside in time. Simultaneously, Jurassic, Rocketboy's Aerodactyl, and Misty's Dragonite rose from the wreckage of the van and into the sky.

Everything was simply going too quickly for the stunned PKs to react. Jurassic, with Rocketboy riding on his back, began to pick off the guard towers with precision-aimed Omni-blast attacks. Simultaneously, Dragonite used Tempest to whip the dry, dusty ground into a blinding sandstorm. The Rockets, all wearing thermal imaging goggles, were unaffected.

"Substation in the north building!" Naomi shouted after checking a Gauss sensor.

"Gotcha!" Ash replied. He pointed at the building Naomi had identified. "Okay Rhyhorn! Avalanche Charge!" The massive rock-type charged right at the building and smashed it open like it was a house of cards. Unsurprisingly, apart from a few stunned guards it was empty. As Duplicia had said, most of the facility was underground. What was visible was the main electrical switching gear. "You're up, Raichu, use Thunderball!"

"Rai-CHU!" The electric squirrel unleashed a massive crackling ball of lightning, which struck the electrical substation, causing it to literally melt down with a massive explosion of blue-white sparks.

A klaxon finally started ringing, something like two minutes too late. Gary was finally getting his head together too. He pulled out a Pokéball. "I've been waiting for this chance Ketchum!" he shouted.

"So have I, Gary," Ash replied.

Gary released a Bayleef that Ash felt sure he knew from somewhere. "Use Vine Whip on that Rhyhorn!" Gary commanded. The Bayleef reached out and grabbed Rhyhorn. Rock-types are vulnerable to plant-types, besides which Rhyhorn still had quite a low experience level, so he didn't stand a chance. After a few slams and bashes, the Bayleef dropped the unconscious Rhyhorn in a heap.

"Damn," Ash growled, recalling the stunned rock-type. He was already reaching for Flame's Pokéball, when he decided to do the unexpected. "Raichu, use Thunder-shock," he ordered. The electrical attack flared around the plant-type making it roar in pain. It reached out with its' vine-whips, but the agile Raichu easily dodged its' first attack. "That's right, Raichu, keep it off-balance!" he shouted.

"Use Razor Leaf you useless weed!" Gary spat. Once again, Raichu's agility was more than enough to avoid the attack.

"Now use Thunder again!" Ash ordered. Another attack hit the plant-type. This time it staggered and almost fell.

Gary wasn't stupid, and he also knew every Pokémon's vulnerable spot: It's trainer. "Use vine whip on him," he snapped, pointing at Ash. The Bayleef reached out and grabbed Ash in a crushing grip and lifted him off of the ground.

"Rai-ai!" [Ash!] Raichu yelled. He was afraid to use another electrical attack because he knew it would affect Ash too.

"Not so smart now, eh, rat?" Gary laughed cruelly. "Bayleef, crush that brat with your vine whips."

The Bayleef looked at Ash and he felt the whips tighten, but, strangely, it wasn't too bad. What the hell? Ash thought. The plant-type was looking at him very closely now, almost as if it was trying to figure out what was going on. Suddenly, it pulled him close and sniffed him. Ash smelt something… a rose scent unlike any other he had smelt before, except once… "Chikorita?" Ash said, his voice horrified. It was one thing to know that Gary had stolen and brainwashed all his Pokémon, but it was another to be attacked by one. It was Gary's idea of a joke, probably.

But still, the attack did not come. Bayleef (once Ash's Chikorita) was looking at him, its' blue eyes filled with pain and confusion. "Baylee…?" she said. Suddenly, Ash remembered that his Chikorita always called him 'Chikori.' Was Bayleef saying his name? Could she… remember?

"Bayleef… KILL HIM!" Gary roared. The plant-type jumped and looked at her new Trainer in confusion. Then she looked back at Ash, her face twisted with disorientation.

"You… you recognise me, don't you Bayleef? Or should I say 'Chikorita?'" Ash said, his voice suddenly certain. Perhaps Professor Oak's evil wasn't as all conquering as he thought…

"Baylee!" [Ashy!] Bayleef suddenly said joyfully. She pulled Ash close and rubbed against him joyfully and lovingly. "Leef-Baylee!" [My Ashy!]

"Aargh… it's good to see you again, Bayleef," Ash groaned. "But… if you could loosen the vine whips a little?"

[Oh! Yeah, sorry, Ashy,] Bayleef said in some embarrassment. She loosened her vine whips and continued to rub against him, love written in her every movement.

Gary was horrified. "Damn you, Grandpa!" he shouted. "You told me the process was foolproof! Well it doesn't' matter, I'll use my own Pokémon! They're more reliable anyway! Go Arcanine!" The fire wolf appeared at once, but Misty, on her Dragonite, had completed her attack on the base perimeter. She saw the threat at once. An Ice Beam struck Arcanine, freezing him solid. A few seconds later, Dragonite picked him up, lifted him up into the air and slammed him hard back against the ground.

Gary responded immediately by unleashing his Feragatyr, but Ash was back in action. "Raichu, use Lightning Bolt on that lizard!" he shouted. "Bayleef, use Stun Spore on Gary!"

Raichu's most powerful electrical attack fried the big evolved water-type before it could even get set up for an opening attack. Simultaneously, Bayleef sprinkled a strange sparkling dust on Gary, who staggered, his expression becoming uncertain. "No…" he whispered. "Not so easily…" He drew another Pokéball. "Go Aerodactyl!" His earth/flying-type materialised as Gary fell to his knees. "Aerodactyl… fly me… home…"

Gary blacked out from the stun spores, but Aerodactyl already had her orders. She picked her Trainer up in her talons and flew off to the north, carrying his limp body beneath her.

Bayleef watched him go, her expression angry as the shadows of four years of slavery slowly receded from her mind. Ash watched as she charged her own Solar Blast attack. [I can't miss at this range, Ashy,] she said. [Please let me…]

"No, Bayleef," Ash said quietly. "There's time enough for that later. Right now, we've got to rescue my mom." Bayleef looked at him and nodded in agreement.

Ash walked through the chaos accompanied by his two friends. Naomi had caught a guard and was interrogating him with the help of Buzz, her Beedrill. Those powerful foreleg drills were a formidable weapon. More importantly, they were quite a threat, as a young PK trooper was finding out. "She's in the fourth sublevel!" he shouted. "East Building, now please call it off!"

"Okay," Naomi agreed, and cold-cocked the grunt with one punch.

"East Building?" Ash asked. The girl nodded. "Okay, Bayleef, this is my friend Naomi. I want you to stay with her and help her out while I go downstairs, okay?" The plant-type nodded eagerly, glad to be back in the service of her beloved once again.

Ash pulled out a Super-Ball and released Firestorm. "Okay, Firestorm!" he shouted, gesturing to the damaged East Building, "Smash me a hole!"

"CHARRR!" Firestorm roared. He unleashed a massive fire attack that literally slagged the building. A few seconds later, a Pound attack straight from hell collapsed the floor into the first sublevel.

Ash and Raichu jumped in. Rocketboy, accompanied by his two Nidorans, Buster and Babs, followed him in. "Okay, Raichu, get everyone's head down!" Ash ordered. Raichu unleashed an omni-directional Stun Shock. Ash and Rocketboy charged down the hallway towards the nearest stairwell past several comatose UN technicians and PK guards.

On the surface, Duplicia finally decided it was safe to come out from beneath the wreckage of her van. She reached into the ruined cargo compartment and pulled her Pokébelt from where Ash left it. She sucked in a deep breath and desperately tried to decide what to do next. As she watched, Naomi and Misty, with the help of Bayleef and Naomi's Paras, Puff, were herding a few terrified PK guards into a smaller and smaller area. It was a task made infinitely easier by the continuing series of Terror attacks that Togetic and Jurassic were laying down over them from the air.

Far, far, below, Ash was on the fourth sublevel. The damage caused by several electric attacks higher up had knocked out all but the most basic emergency lighting down here. He unslung his assault rifle from over his shoulder and pulled back the cocking lever. He felt uncomfortable taking the weapon into battle, but he had to be ready; Raichu couldn't watch every possible threat vector, and he had left Rocketboy up on sublevel 2, creating as much havoc as he could as a distraction.

Ash turned the corner at exactly the same time as a PK guard appeared at the other end of the semi-darkened corridor. The two men looked at each other in utter surprise before the PK raised his M-667 laser rifle. Ash's M21 was already firing. Three APTT bullets punched through the PK's chest armour and the man went down, blood spraying from the holes. There was a long silence as Ash looked at the dead thing he had put on the floor. God… is it that easy? an appalled part of him asked. Ash wished that he felt bad about killing the anonymous soldier, but in truth he felt nothing at all.

Raichu butted against his legs urgently. [This is a fight as we Pokémon know it in the wild, Ash,] the electric-type said gently. [No quarter asked or given. Let's go.]

Ash got moving again. He encountered several more guards on his journey and… horribly… he had sufficient cause to use up half the first 40-round magazine for his rifle. Thank God that Raichu was able to get the rest.

Ash turned a final corner and saw several PKs manning an H&K MG-3 heavy machine gun. Ash dived forwards as 7.62mm bullets tore up the wall behind him. Still rolling as the machine gun tracked towards him, he released Flame, his Ninetails, and shouted "Flame-thrower!" There was a massive firestorm down the enclosed corridor, followed by the most horrible screams Ash had heard in his entire life, then silence.

Feeling sick to the core, Ash walked down the hallway and found that, unfortunately, one of the PKs was still alive. Ash managed to remember what he was doing there in this charnel house from hell. He grabbed the horribly burnt soldier and thrust the barrel of his Auto-Nine pistol against his throat. "Where's my mother, scum?" he hissed, desperate to get this over with now.

The man looked up at Ash in incomprehension, and it suddenly dawned on the Rocket that the guy probably didn't know who his mother was. Ash shook his head to clear the red haze of battle from his wits. "Where is Delilah Ketchum?" he clarified, his voice gentler and more reasonable.

The PK pointed to a doorway opposite. Of course, they were guarding his mother. It made sense that the Professor would have some guards on his prize prisoner. The PK grabbed the front of Ash's body armour and made a bubbling noise. Ash leaned closer. "What…?" he swallowed his nausea. "What is it, buddy? I can give you something for the pain…" The man nodded eagerly and Ash noticed that he was looking at his pistol, still near his face. "You… you want me to shoot?" Ash said, his voice desolate with horror.

The man nodded once and closed his eyes, the last prayer he was capable of in his mutilated state. Ash aimed and pulled the trigger, putting the man out of his misery once and for all. After being sick in a corner, he had to reassure Flame, who was responding empathetically to his own self-loathing, that she had done nothing wrong. He was the Trainer. He gave the orders, and he would have to stand before the Judgement Seat for it. Oh, it was war, as Giovanni always said, but that didn't make Ash feel any better about it.

Ash was now angry enough with himself and the whole damninable situation that he wasn't about to waste time on the door. "Hey in there!" he shouted. "Cover your ears and open your mouth. I mean it!" He transferred his front hand to the trigger of his rifle's underslung M-203 grenade launcher. The explosion was deafening this far underground, but Ash's ear protectors, part of his TR headgear that made him look a bit like the soldier in 'Doom,' protected his hearing.

He charged in through the blazing doorframe and found a sight for sore eyes huddling on a mattress in the far corner. "M… Mom?" Ash asked.

The woman, whose face was pale and tormented, looked up at Ash in incomprehension. Man and woman looked at each other for a long moment before the woman staggered to her feet. "Who… who are you?" she asked.

"Mom, its' me… Ash!" he said, stepping forward. He remembered Giovanni's warning about brainwashing. Did she even know who she was anymore? He pulled off the concealing helmet and tried again. "Mom, don't you remember all those years in Pallet… me always getting in trouble and you having to come over to Gary and May's house to pick me up?"

"A… Ash?" Delilah whispered, tears streaming down her bruised and cut face. "Ash, if it is you… what… what should you always change, every day?"

Ash laughed in relief. She did remember. "My 'you-know-whats,' Mom; my underwear. And I still do, much to the relief of everyone at the base."

"ASH!" Delilah screamed and threw herself into his arms. "Oh thank God you're here… thank God you've come for me! They were going to… going to…"

"I know Mom," Ash said, shushing her gently. "It's all right now… No-one will ever hurt you again," Ash swore that as he hugged her hard. Strange that he was taller than she was now and she could bury her face against his chest as a child named Ash did against hers so many years before…

It took the combined efforts of Ash, Raichu and Flame to calm Delilah down enough to the point where Ash could lead her through the devastated base back to the surface.

The battle was, at last over. The last PK was either dead or tied up and sitting in the landing field to the north waiting for the eventual clean-up crew from Vermilion City's Security Police force to turn up. Naomi had sucked the last byte of data from the damaged base computer system and Rocketboy had finished setting the demolition charges. The air was, despite the smell of smoke and cordite, strangely clear as Ash recalled Firestorm to his Super-ball.

Delilah hugged his arm nervously as she looked at the other three heavily armed young people. "Ash… who are they?" she whispered.

Ash hugged her reassuringly. "Come on, Mom, you recognise Misty don't you? The other two are Naomi and Rocketboy, they're my friends."

If Rocketboy's eyes bulged out a little at being described as his team leader's 'friend,' he controlled his disbelief well. "Its' a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Ketchum," he said courteously, giving her a nervous grin and wave.

"It is a great honour to meet the mother of such a great hero," Naomi said in her worshipful tone of voice that she used when she was really impressed with someone's reputation. She barely stopped short of curtseying to Delilah.

"Hello, Delilah," Misty said. She looked so different: a woman now, her hair wild and tangled after the fight, Togetic sitting on her shoulder and her G11 rifle slung over her other shoulder, but she was still, at heart, the mischievous little girl who had shared a table at Delilah's home for four off-seasons.

"Misty!" Delilah gasped, and hugged the young woman hard. "Now I know everything is true… that Tracey said…" she suddenly began to cry. "Oh God… Tracey… poor Tracey…"

"Tracey is alive Mom," Ash said, touching her on the shoulder. "He is still very sick after the beating these beasts gave him, but he will live." Time enough to tell her the rest later. Delilah was still crying, but even the less-than-perceptive Ash knew they were tears of joy this time.

Delilah saw Bayleef walk up close and gasped. "Ash!" she said. "That's one of Gary's Pokémon!"

Ash laughed. "No, Mom, she's one of mine. You knew her as Chikorita, but she's back now, evolved and all the stronger for it." Ash pressed a button on his walkie-talkie, summoning Jessie, James, Buddy and Holly in the blimp. It was time to leave.

Duplicia waited in the shadows, fingering Ditto's Pokéball. Seeing Bayleef, a traitor like her first Trainer, finally decided her. She wouldn't achieve much, but she would make that traitor know a little pain. Hell, if she was lucky she might even pick off one or more of this brotherhood of betrayal. She drew in a deep breath to stimulate a rush of adrenaline and sweep away the last of her fear, then she charged.

"Ash Ketchum, this is your time," she screamed, throwing the Pokéball. "Ditto, Charizard!" Ditto emerged and flashed into the shape of a Charizard. "Use Flame-thrower on that Bayleef!"

"Bayleef, use Leaf Cloud," Ash shouted in response, already knowing that it would be useless. He was pulling another Pokéball off of his bandoleer. As he expected, the fire attack blasted through Bayleef's defence without stopping and knocked her out. Everyone was scattering for cover; Misty landed on top of Delilah, shielding her with her own body.

Ash gestured for Raichu to go out to the right flank. "Thunder," he said. The electric shock hit Ditto, nearly knocking it out of the air. "Ditto, Onyx," Duplicia shouted. "Now use Body Slam on that electric rat!"

"Rage, I choose you!" Ash said, releasing his Gyarados. "Use Water Cannon on the Onyx!"

"GYYYYRRRRR!" Rage bellowed as he slithered forward. The Water Cannon attack hit Ditto in the face, knocking him back. The water soaked his entire body, weakening the rock that made up most of his structure in his current form.

Ash wasn't about to let the morphing-type have time to respond. "Ice Beam!" This new attack froze the water already infiltrating the mimicked rock structure of the Ditto/Onyx, causing it to fracture and fragment. Bits of rock began to fall from his body. The creature moaned in agony as Ash prepared to issue the final order to his water snake. He would hate himself for doing this later, but a tiny part of him realised that Ditto was infected with its' Trainer's curse. It liked hurting people too. It didn't sit well with Ash, being judge, jury and executioner, but if it taught Duplicia a lesson… "Rage, use Dragon Rage!"

Rage curved forward and body-slammed Ditto, knocking him back. He head-butted the rock snake hard, snapping its head back, then curved his coils around the weakening morphing-type's length and tightened his muscles as hard as he could. There was a sickening 'snap' and the Ditto/Onyx's glowing yellow eyes suddenly blinked out like an extinguished flashlight. "Okay, Rage," Ash said, regret colouring his voice, "return." Rage scowled, but permitted himself to be returned to his Aqua-type Pokéball.

As Ash watched, the Onyx collapsed to the ground with a massive 'thump,' and then shrunk into a shapeless pink blob the size of a domestic cat. The blob continued to shrink down, drying out as it did so, until nothing was left but an anonymous pile of grey dust that blew away with the breeze.

There was an appalled silence. "Ditto…" Duplicia said, her face horrified. "Ditto… oh… oh no!"

"It isn't so good when it happens to you is it, Duplicia?" Ash said severely. "Perhaps you will learn from this, as you say others should."

"Don't waste any sympathy on her," Delilah snapped. "She was ready to have that monster of hers tear Tracey's Scyther limb-from-limb for her entertainment."

Ash nodded. Tracey had told him something like that had happened. "Come on," Ash said. "Let's go."

As they watched, Jessie and James piloted the blimp down, ready to receive the strike team. First on board was Delilah, who went right into Holly's care. Next went Naomi, clutching the sack of memory modules full of data pirated from the base computer network, and then Rocketboy.

"Are you okay, Ash?" Misty asked.

"No," Ash replied, his expression grim. "I hate being in a war. I want to finish this as soon as possible."

Misty sighed and nodded.

Suddenly a voice rang across the battlefield. Duplicia. "Ash Ketchum, you bastard! Do you know how long I trained that Ditto? Do you? Now I'll have to start all over again!"

Ash turned back to the Imaté Master and shook his head in contempt. "I suppose it hasn't occurred to you to mourn the death of your Pokémon because a friend has died?" Duplicia looked at him in incomprehension. "I didn't think so," Ash said. "You really are an utter failure as a Trainer, Duplicia," Ash announced. "It isn't me who has betrayed my calling, you know. You've never even been part of it, in your heart." Ash sighed, realising that his words were having no effect, and turned to leave.

Duplicia felt her world crashing down on her as Ash's words penetrated her mind. Suddenly, she realised that she hated him more than anything else in this world. She hated his betrayal, she hated his membership of Team Rocket, she hated his skill as a Trainer that had destroyed her valuable property with such consummate ease, and she hated his unflattering standards. Most of all, she hated the fact that he made her face her own inadequacies as a Trainer in such a startlingly clear light. She began to run forwards.

Suddenly, Ash heard a cry from the Blimp. "Ash, look out!" Delilah screamed.

Ash turned just in time to see Duplicia charging right at him. A switchblade was flashing in the sunlight as she ran forward, trying to impale him through the heart. Then there were two incredibly loud explosions from behind and to the right. Duplicia's head suddenly exploded in a cloud of red and yellow vapour. Her headless corpse tumbled to the ground, her knife stabbing into the earth at Ash's feet.

Ash turned to see Misty standing at the bottom of the blimp's boarding ladder, her Magnum semi-auto in her hand, smoke still rising from its barrel. Her face was pale, her mouth was hanging open and her eyes were staring blindly. She was shaking like a leaf. Ash walked over, and gently pulled the gun from her trembling hands. She was crying, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I ki… I ki… I killed… I killed her…" she whispered, shaking all over.

"Shh, I know," Ash said quietly. "You saved my life. Thank you." He hugged Misty to his chest and let her weep out her horror at having finally joined that most terrible of associations, those who had used lethal force.

***

Misty was still crying as the blimp took off. Ash watched as Duplicia's strangely pathetic corpse slowly receded from view. "Uh… boss?" Rocketboy said, standing by him. Ash looked up. Rocketboy handed him a remote detonator. "The charges," the Black Rocket said. "I thought that you…"

"Give it to my mother," Ash said, suddenly deciding that it was somehow right that it should be that way. Rocketboy nodded and walked over to where Delilah was sitting in one of the rear seats. He quietly explained the mechanism to her and handed it to her.

Delilah walked up to the window and watched her former prison receding. Then, without a moment's hesitation, she flipped up the safety gate and pressed the red button hard. There was surprisingly little sound and flame. The entire area collapsed in upon itself as six levels of underground facilities collapsed in upon themselves. The crater sank down until it was twelve feet deep. Smoke began to pour from the eastern end, where Firestorm had so dramatically opened up the underground chambers to the light.

Delilah sighed deeply and closed her eyes for a moment. Then, at last, she dropped the detonator and slumped into a seat on the other side of Ash from Misty. Ash hugged the two most important women in his life to him and looked at Jessie, who was sitting at the pilot's console. "Let's get the fuck out of here, Jessie," he said.

Jessie managed a gentle smile and turned the blimp's fat nose towards Black Island and Headquarters.

Chapter 5 – Coming to terms…

Giovanni was pacing back and forth in his office in front of Ash, Jessie, Misty, James, Rocketboy, Naomi, Buddy and Holly. "You lot…" he growled. "You're all impossible to lead! Undisciplined! Renegades! I ought to have you all imprisoned for life… no dismissed!" Giovanni walked up to the immediate cause of his apoplexy, Ash Ketchum. "Especially you, Mr. Ketchum! I know that you are the ringleader behind this little operation. You deliberately ignored my orders to do nothing, and you went racing off after your own objectives. Well it is not good enough! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" Giovanni's voice rose to a furious roar.

"Sir," Ash replied neutrally.

"Is that 'Yes sir' sir or 'No sir' sir?" Giovanni snapped in reply.

"I just said 'sir,' sir," Ash explained. Giovanni kept his scowl on his face. It would be even worse for Team discipline if he started laughing.

"I just said 'sir,' sir," Giovanni mimicked sourly. "I don't know what I'm going to do with you, boy…"

"Um, Boss," James said. "I think I should say that you didn't give me any orders about doing nothing." Jessie looked at James with a growing expression of horror. "Ash and his team were just helping…"

"Oh shut up, Mr. Morgan, you are even worse than he is!" Giovanni interrupted, storming over to the lavender-haired man. "You and your useless clothes horse of a partner were supposed to confirm Ketchum and Waterflower's loyalty, not aid and abet them in a renegade operation!"

James winced and leaned back from Giovanni's shout. Jessie mouthed "Clothes horse?" going red in outrage.

"I… God I ought to make an example of all eight of you that they will tell children about in ages to come to frighten them into brushing their teeth before going to bed." Giovanni said, pointing a shaking finger at all of them. He stormed back to his desk and slammed himself down into his plush leather chair. "But I won't." The eight Rockets looked at each other in surprise and, maybe, just a little glee. "Not because I approve of your acts, because I don't," Giovanni continued, "but because I know full well that you would probably enjoy it. Furthermore it will only serve to continue to inflate your maddening personal reputations among my junior agents, who seem certain that you are all some sort of superheroes! SO! I am going to do the very worst thing in the whole world that I can to you. I am going to stick you all back in the field right where I found you. You will continue doing the same menial and unglamorous field operations day after day, month after month, year after year, decade after decade! And you will stay there… until… until… until I can think of something even more soul-destroying to do to you! Or until I have had enough! Or until you learn your lesson, whatever the hell that is supposed to be!"

Giovanni hit a button on his desk and the big doors to his office swung open. "Now… GET OUT!" he screamed, going beetroot red in the face.

Ash turned to his companions. "You heard the man!" he shouted in his best parade ground voice. "Double time! One… two… one… two…!" The eight Rockets quick-timed it out of the office.

Once they were gone and he was safely alone, Giovanni doubled over in laughter. That was probably the most fun he had experienced in years. And the barefaced cheek of the whole pack of them: 'I just said "sir" sir,' indeed! Team Rocket was originally founded on maverick individual effort and the actions of brave people who understood that people mattered, and that as long as someone believed that, the dehumanising global bureaucracy would never win. It was good to see that this pioneering fighting spirit still survived in some of his young agents to this day.

Giovanni turned on his desk monitor and pulled up a photomontage image in a Photo Editor window. The image showed Ash and Jessie from the time of their births to the present day. Included in the image was their graduation from the Trainee course and their promotion to the White Teams. There was also photo captures of Ash's two League Triumphs, Jessie's graduation (joint bottom) from Pokémon Tech, and an image of them with James and Misty, talking urgently as they disembarked from the blimp after their latest adventure.

Giovanni sat back and considered the pictorial history thoughtfully. He pulled out the dog-eared photo of Joe and Miya and looked at it for a long time. "No, not yet," he said at last, "but soon. They are almost ready now."

***

"Uh, so, do we live?" Naomi wanted to know.

"Yeah," Ash reassured the girl. Though why, I couldn't tell you, he continued to himself.

"I can't believe that he called me a Clothes Horse!" Jessie was shouting. James was trying to calm her down and got a fan over his ear for his trouble. "And you! Talking back to the Boss! Don't you ever, ever do something like that again, James. If you do, I'll… well I'll think of something terrible to do to you, be sure of that!"

Suddenly, inexplicably, James snapped. "Oh for God's sake, shut up, Jess!" he shouted. "We got out of there alive didn't we?" James backed Jessie into a corner with a finger pointed at her face. "I have had enough of your tantrums and your threats, Ms. Scarlet," James continued angrily. "I will not hide from my actions and my values. Not before you and certainly not before the Boss. If you don't like that… well tough!"

Jessie looked at James in awe. "James…" she said quietly. "Do… do you mean it…? You weren't scared?"

"Of course I was scared!" he shouted. "But that wasn't the point. We had to do it, because it was the right thing to do! I would do it again in a second!"

Jessie, amazingly, grinned in response. "My man…" she whispered. "My idiotic, simple-minded, good-natured, courageous, righteous, all-fighting, man!" Suddenly the two of them were kissing deeply and passionately.

"I think Jessie has finally realised James is a man," Ash said with a grin.

"I think James has realised that too," Misty said with a slight smile. Then she turned to Ash to claim a kiss of her own. Why should Jessie have all the fun?

***

"How are you doing Bayleef?" Ash asked as he entered the Pokémon Medical Centre. "Are you feeling…" And that was as far as he got. Bayleef jumped on him and rubbed her head against his face frantically, shouting his name over and over again. When she was a Chikorita it was cute, but now she was the size of a large dog and it was now a serious hazard to health.

The head medic grinned. "Good thing you got here, sir. She couldn't wait to see you." Ash could tell.

"Easy, Bayleef," he said. "We're glad to see you."

[Speak for yourself,] Raichu said with a grin.

[Shut up, jealous,] Bayleef shot back.

[I'M jealous?] Raichu said in disbelief. [Which one of us has been with Ash through four years of hell?]

[Which one of us pulled his fat out of the fire today?] Bayleef replied angrily.

"Okay, stop it right now!" Ash shouted. Both Pokémon shut up and looked at him sheepishly. "You have both evolved and it is time you grew up," Ash said firmly. "You, and Firestorm, are my best Pokémon by far. I value you equally, okay? You have your strengths and weaknesses that make you perfect for different things, and I do not like one of you 'more' than the other. Raichu has been with me longer, Bayleef, so you are going to have to accept that I am closer to him than I am to you. Raichu, you are going to have to accept that Bayleef likes me a lot and wants to spend time with me whenever she can. You can both learn to accept this, or you can stay in your Pokéballs while the other is out. Okay?" The two Pokémon looked at the floor in such comical penitence that Ash had to work hard not to laugh.

[Okay.] Raichu.

[Okay.] Bayleef.

Ash sighed and shook his head. "For this I gave up school," he said. "Now I want you to shake hands and promise to be the best of friends from now on."

Bayleef reached out with a vine whip and Raichu took it in his paw. They shook and made up, as their Trainer instructed. "Okay, Bayleef… would you like a nickname?" Ash asked on a sudden whim. "I think it might be appropriate."

[Like what?]

"Aimé," Ash said. "It sounds like the French for 'love.' I think it fits you well."

[Yes… yes, I want that name,] Aimé said. She stepped forward and rubbed Ash's head affectionately. [Hey, Sparks! Ash has given me a name.]

[Yeah, he doesn't give me one because everyone knows who I am, even without it. I'm unique.]

[Yeah, uniquely useless,] Aimé giggled.

[Useless?] Raichu's hackles raised when he heard that. [Which of us has been in the most Gym Battles, Leaf-head?]

That didn't last long, Ash thought in disbelief. "Let it drop, you two," Ash said firmly before Aimé could retort.

***

Ash's next port of call was the Medical Ward. His mother was sitting on a bed while a nurse finished anointing with restorative creams the cuts and bruises on her body from the rough treatment she had endured. "There," the nurse said in a sunny tone of voice. "All done."

Ash thought his mother looked a bit uncomfortable. He couldn't blame her, surrounded by all these uniforms after the nightmare she must have experienced in that torture facility Professor Oak dumped her in. "How are you doing, Mom?" Ash asked kindly.

"I'm… a lot better, thank you darling," she said, managing a slight smile.

The nurse handed Ash a clipboard and he read the notes quickly. Mostly bumps, scrapes and bruises on the surface. Hmm… some indications of repeated neurological trauma. Given what his mother had told him about that monstrous device Oak had built to try and… re-program her, that wasn't surprising. However, all the psychological tests indicated that her mind was still whole and still hers. "So, are you ready to get moving?" he asked. Delilah nodded.

Ash and his mother walked down the corridor to the Critical Care ward. "Now, I want you to go easy with Tracey," Ash instructed her. "He is still very sick after what those beasts did to him." Delilah nodded again. Now was the time. Ash wished he could find a better way to handle this, but she deserved the truth. "Mom… you should know that Tracey was very badly hurt."

Delilah stopped and looked at him in concern. "How badly, Ash?" she asked gently.

"He…" Ash swallowed dryly. "His back was broken, Mom. The doctors will do their best, but it looks like he may never walk again."

Delilah gasped and closed her eyes, trembling all over. A single tear ran down her cheeks and she was still for a moment. Then she opened her eyes and looked at Ash levelly. He saw that familiar determination in her eyes, and he was certain that his Mom was going to be all right. "I understand Ash. If they need my help, they only have to ask."

Ash smiled gently and led her in to Tracey's room, where Misty was talking to him, trying to reassure him. Togetic was hovering nearby, chirping good-naturedly. "Brought you a visitor, Trace," Ash said with a broad grin.

Delilah walked in and there was a frozen moment as the two of them stared at each other. "Delilah… you're alive! Oh, thank God!" Tracey was grinning like a mad chimpanzee and he reached out for her.

Delilah suddenly crossed the room and engulfed Tracey in her arms. "Tracey… Oh God, Tracey my love, I thought I'd lost you…"

"Shh, shh…" Tracey stroked Delilah's hair gently. "It's all right, Delilah, I'm here…"

Ash couldn't believe what he was seeing. Here was the proof, if proof was needed, that something very special had happened between these two in the last four years. After a shocked moment, Misty walked up to him and gestured for them to leave. The two Rockets sneaked out, leaving the lovers to their reunion.

Outside, Misty turned to him. "Are we heading off?"

"Yeah," Ash said. "We've got to be back at Seashell in twelve hours or the Boss will start deducting pay for absence from our posts." Misty giggled slightly when she heard that. "Anyway, I want to get back."

"You do?" Misty's green eyes were innocent and questioning. Ash treasured that unconquerable innocence. Sometimes, it helped him retain his humanity.

"Yes, Misty," Ash said. "I think, at last, I am beginning to understand what is going on. Everything Sabrina has told me, and everything Professor Oak told my Mom… It is all coming together now. I think I see the pattern at last. We're heading back to the base, and we are going to start doing some real damage." Misty frowned in concern as she watched her lover's face darken. "Professor Oak started this war," Ash said, "and, as God is my witness, I am going to end it."

To be continued…

Next time on Team Rocket Neo…

• The secret of Ash and Jessie's parentage revealed!
• The origins of Team Rocket explained!
• Why is the UN so afraid of the Pokémon?
• And what is the great Cause, the working out of which Ash and Misty are so important?

All this and more in the next instalment of Team Rocket Neo: Part 5 – The Clan of the Rocket…