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?

5. The Clan of the Rocket

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

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.

I want to thank Bunny, a fellow FanFiction.NET author; whose story 'Dear Jessie' convinced me that the Madonna song was a perfect one for Miyamoto to sing to Jessie. I don't know who originally wrote the song, but whoever it is, please don't sue either of us! We aren't making any money out of this!

I must apologise in advance for all the long bits of exposition in this fic. I couldn't come up with any other way to get in the needed explanations.

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 voice filtered by coming from a loudspeaker of some kind.

Censor: R for violence and swearing

Ages: Ash is 19; Misty is 19; Rocketboy is 18; Naomi is 14; Buddy is 28; Holly is 25; Jessie is 26; James is 26; Giovanni is 41; Tracey is 23, Delilah is 40

Part 5 – The Clan of the Rocket

Chapter 1 – The Great Betrayal

It was midnight in Cerulean City. Nurse Joy Raith was finishing clearing up her work area in the reception atrium of the Pokémon Centre. It had been another long day, filled with the usual thankless work that all of her kind seemed condemned to endure.

There had been the legions of bratty and unthankful young Novices handing over their battered Pokémon to her for healing so that, later, they could make them fight again, and get injured again. There had been the inevitable scorn from Officer Jenny, who felt that being in a Combat/Enforcement role made her somehow Joy's superior in the scheme of things. Joy always had to restrain herself from pointing out that foot soldiers were ten to a cent while decent medics were treasured and protected.

Joy would give her right arm to find a decent job, maybe working in a Research Centre instead. However, the League knew best and they had placed her here when her predecessor reached the end of her pre-set four-year term of employment.

Joy was looking forward to a nice, revitalising herbal tea and maybe as much as five hours sleep before having to open the shutters tomorrow for another painful day. Then she heard a noise. Something was moving about inside the Treatment Ward. But that was impossible! The Treatment Ward was the most secure part of the Pokémon Centre!

Joy rushed over to the empty security office and, to her horror, saw that static filled all the monitors. Realising that the Centre was under attack and understanding her duty, she lunged forward and pressed the panic alarm. Nothing happened. She pressed the button again. Still nothing. Whoever had broken in had knocked out the entire security system.

Not knowing why, or even knowing what she expected to do, Joy rushed to the Treatment Ward and flung open the door. Perhaps she hoped to stop the unknown intruders. However, she didn't get the chance. As soon as she flung open the door, someone clapped the muzzle of a Beretta P92 semi-automatic pistol to the side of her head.

"Hi there," Charles 'Rocketboy' Reilly said in a friendly tone of voice as he lent against the doorframe. "Do you want to join the party?"

***

Joy squatted in the centre of the room and stared around at the four Team Rocket agents resentfully. She tested the strength of her bonds again and decided that if she wanted to get out of the handcuffs, she would have to be willing to lose a hand.

The obvious leader of the intruders was a tall, muscular black haired man. At his side stood a slightly shorter beautiful ginger haired woman with the physique of an athlete. Both of them wore heavily modified white uniforms. As well as the man with sandy-coloured hair who had captured her, there was also an elfin 14-year old girl with long blonde hair, this latter pair wearing black uniforms of a more standardised type.

"Now just sit tight, Nurse Joy," the black haired man said. "We'll finish up here and you can go about your duties."

Joy scowled up at the man and recognised him at once. Ash Ketchum was one of the most wanted men in Kanto. According to Jenny, he had a rap sheet that read more like a summary list of all felonies that carried a capital sentence. He was wanted for questioning for crimes ranging from Petty Theft and Affray all the way up to Murder One and Treason. That meant the woman had to be Misty Waterflower, Ketchum's partner-in-crime and the person wanted for the kidnap of Pokémon Master's sisters-in-law. She had a reputation of being a kind of wild cross between a pirate and a gunslinger.

Despite being all-too-aware of her precarious situation, Joy managed to find a core of defiance to wave in the infamous terrorist's face. "I don't know what you want, filth," she snapped, "but you won't get it from me."

Ketchum actually laughed. "Actually, Joy, we weren't even expecting you to be present at this hour. Don't worry, we'll do well enough without you."

"Still… she might be useful in explaining how some of this stuff works," Waterflower commented with a slight grin, quirking her eyebrow at her commander suggestively.

Ketchum looked at Joy thoughtfully "You know, you might have a point there, Misty," he said. Joy closed her mouth and pursed her lips together tightly. "How disgustingly predictable," the terrorist continued with a scornful laugh. He shook his head in disgust. "We don't have time for this," he said. "Rocketboy, Naomi, bring the good Nurse with us. Don't let her out of your sight for a second."

"Right, Ash," Rocketboy said.

"You'll never get away with this," Joy warned. "The security system is linked to the local Security Police station! They'll know something has gone wrong when they can't use our cameras for their checks!"

"Actually, they will see an empty and secure Pokémon Centre," Ketchum replied with an infuriating grin. "You'd be surprised what you can do with some portable DVD players and a little electronic know-how!"

Joy winced inside. She had been a fool for even hoping that Jenny and her cousins would come to her rescue. Ketchum and his crew were no amateurs. If she were going to stop them, she would have to do it herself…

***

Ash led the strange cavalcade into the heart of the Treatment Ward. He heard Joy hiss in anger when she saw Holly and Buddy picking over some items of state-of-the-art Pokémon medical equipment, trying to figure out what made this equipment so different from the older off-the-shelf equipment used by Team Rocket.

Ash and Misty had been busy these last six months. In between their duties as Team Rocket field agents, they had patiently tracked down every clue on which they could lay their hands. They had sucked every informant dry and had gone over the information they had stolen from the Cascade Gym and the research centre outside Vermilion City owned by Professor Oak until they were muttering bits of it in their sleep. They had tracked shipments of poisonous chemicals from dozens of different factories and confirmed that the published specifications for much of the equipment used in Treatment Wards bore little or no resemblance to the real equipment.

Along the way, and seemingly laid on to persuade them that they were on the right track, they had encountered more agents of the Project, the mysterious conspiracy which was seemingly behind everything. Ash and Misty had fought many violent battles in defence of themselves and their friends. They had been forced to fight their way out of many tight corners. They had killed…

Now, they had all the pieces in their hands. It seemed that everything that most people assumed were facts of life in Kanto were nothing more than an elaborate shadow play, covering over a terrible truth. It was a truth linked with the League and the UN council governing the islands. It was a truth that, possibly, affected the life of every Pokémon Trainer in Indigo, Orange and Johto. It was logical to assume that most of the answers would be found at the most visible manifestation of the League's power, the Pokémon Centre Network. At last, Ash and Misty were ready to see how all the pieces fitted together.

"Well?" Ash asked Holly and Buddy. He had learnt over the last year that the medic and the technician preferred professional treatment to the closer family-like bond he tried to establish with Rocketboy and Naomi.

Holly turned around. "I don't like it, sir," she said at last. "There is something wrong about all of this stuff. The chemicals in the treatment equipment and the rejuvenator machines just aren't right for medical equipment."

"What do you mean, not 'right?'" Ash asked. "I need details, and I would prefer it in English, Holly."

The blonde medic laughed slightly. "Okay, in layman's terms, some of these supposedly 'medicinal' chemicals are toxins." She saw the shocked looks on the four field agents' faces. "That might not be significant," she continued. "Remember toxins can be beneficial in small doses. The drugs used in Chemotherapy are all pretty toxic in quantity, and Crack is a different product from the same raw material used to manufacture the local anaesthetic Novocain."

Ash nodded thoughtfully. He turned to Joy. "How about it, Joy?" he asked. "Do you want to explain to my medic the application of these chemicals?"

Joy sneered and looked away from Ash. Ash didn't blink, and his expression didn't alter a micron, but he lunged forward and drove a pile-driver punch into Joy's guts. The woman gasped, folded double and fell to her knees. Misty gasped and jumped back. Even Rocketboy seemed surprised. Joy barely avoided being sick as Ash grabbed her by her long red hair and lifted her head to look into her eyes.

"Joy, you are being very brave," he said. "Unfortunately, it isn't doing you any good. I don't want to hurt you, but I am willing to do whatever it takes to get this information. Now, answer my medic's questions!"

Holly shot her team leader a nervous glance, then stepped forward. "I know that Triethylmetabromide is a toxin that affects the Pituitary Gland," she said. "Why do you use it here?"

Joy thought about continued resistance, but decided that there was no reason not to answer this question. "Because it inhibits the growth and biological development in Pokémon," she said. "A small application is made every time we give a Pokémon their booster shots. It approximately halves their rate of growth."

"It does what?" Misty said. She sounded appalled. "Do you mean to tell me that every time we handed our Pokémon over for healing, you were poisoning them?"

Joy sneered at the terrorist woman's naivete. "No, you idiot," she replied. "We slow and restrict their growth rates. The levels of toxins used are not poisonous, they just inhibit their normal development rates."

There was a shocked silence. Suddenly it was broken, and not by a human voice. [You… torturer!] Raichu hissed, leaping up from behind a bit of equipment onto a storage shelf. [You will pay for this…!]

"Ease down, Raichu," Ash ordered, waving at him to stop him from attacking. There was a long pause before Buddy spoke.

"The Rejuvenator has some weird equipment too, Boss," he said. "Radiation generators and sonic guns as well as the medical stuff Holly could identify.

Ash shot Joy a look, an eyebrow quirked questioningly. Joy sighed. "They perform the same function as the chemicals," she said in a scornful tone of voice. "They inhibit growth and induce muscle wastage and bone decalcification. Nothing enough to cause health complications, but enough to stunt the subject's growth."

"I need a minute here," Ash said, shaking his head in amazement. "You are telling us that the League has been systematically poisoning and stunting the growth of every Pokémon brought to the Centres? How long has this been going on?"

Joy blinked at Ash in incomprehension. "The League's medical procedures haven't changed since the Pokémon Centres were first opened back in 2020," she said.

Ash nearly fell over. Misty looked like she was going to be sick. Rocketboy looked at Naomi in horror, and the girl tightened her grip on Joy's shoulders slightly, making the woman wince in discomfort. Raichu leapt to his Trainer's shoulders and begun to rub his face encouragingly. After a moment, Ash could speak again. "Why?" he asked. "Why is the League committing these crimes?"

"The League holds the best interests of all Trainers and their Pokémon as paramount," Joy said primly. "The Commission decided at the outset that it would be risking the safety of both League Trainers and their Pokémon if they were allowed to grow at their natural fast rate."

"What?" Misty blurted.

"In their natural state," Joy explained in a tone that made it sound like she was reciting a written policy document, "Pokémon move up the growth and experience level tables very rapidly when they are properly trained. For instance, a Pichu will evolve into a Pikachu after about three months of structured training, and will evolve into a Raichu about ten months after that, assuming that its' training does not become more lax. By using toxins that inhibit synaptic development and growth and others that make Pokémon wilful, disobedient and difficult to train, we slow that process to approximately an eighth of its' normal rate. If they are not in the hands of an exceptional Trainer, you could expect a Pikachu not to evolve into a Raichu for as much as six years after it evolved from a Pichu."

"That is barbarity!" Holly sounded shocked and disgusted. "You're a healer! It is your job to keep these creatures in the best of health, not restrict them to a level of health that the League has arbitrarily decided is safe!"

Joy rolled her eyes. "Try to use your heads instead of your emotions," she said disdainfully. "Imagine if the League didn't do this. It would mean that you would have 12-year-old Trainers running around with evolved Charizards, Blastoises, Venusaurs, Dragonites, Alakazams, Golems, Gengars, Raichus, Typhlosions, Meganiums and Feragatyrs. Imagine a continent full of pre-pubescent kids carrying around enough firepower to demolish entire cities unaided. They would be repeated massacres waiting to happen, if their Pokémon didn't get strong enough to kill them before they started murdering people who pissed them off!"

Ash filtered out Joy's words as he thought fiercely about this. In truth, this hadn't come as a surprise, but it was still horrifying to hear it explained so explicitly.

"I think that the Trainers involved wouldn't thank you if they knew," Misty was saying sarcastically.

"That is why we don't tell them," Joy said with a smug smile. "The League holds the best interests of all Trainers and their Pokémon as paramount."

Rocketboy sneered when he heard that. "Somehow, I question your motives," he said with a nasty laugh.

"Yeah," Naomi added, "I bet that there is a little more involved than protecting us poor innocent defenceless Trainers from the harsh world of Level-3 evolutions!"

"Too right," Misty said in a biting tone, driving in the nails with every word. "In fact, I bet this is all about 'control.'" She stepped forward and got in Joy's face. "You're nothing but a cog in the machine that keeps Trainers under heel, isn't that it?"

"Oh no!" Joy sounded angry and offended. "That isn't so! Don't you understand that not doing this is dangerous? We have to protect these children from themselves or there could be chaos!"

"I think you are underestimating the level of discipline it takes to be a successful Pokémon Trainer," Ash said dismissively, then paused and shot Joy a thoughtful, assessing look. "But that is the real problem isn't it? A country full of disciplined and skilled Trainers leading powerful groups of evolved Pokémon… I bet that's the League's nightmare scenario, isn't it?"

"It ought to be yours too," Joy snapped. "These children are neither ready nor able to handle that sort of power!"

"That isn't the League's decision to make," Misty said scornfully. "It is up to a Trainer to decide how far and how fast his or her Pokémon develop."

"The League disagrees," Joy replied with commendable calm. "The League holds the best interests of all Trainers and their Pokémon as paramount."

"Jesus, it's like listening to a tape loop," Holly snapped. "Has it ever occurred to you to think about what you are doing and make a moral decision about it?" Joy shot the blonde woman a look of profound incomprehension. "I didn't think so," Holly sneered. "This is what I hate about these clones," she told Ash. "They are so psychologically perfect that they are like programmed automata in flesh and blood form. They'll commit atrocities in the serene certainty that if their owners have decided to do it, it must be right!"

"Maybe we are obedient and efficient," Joy shouted, offended, "but I'd prefer that to being a random collection of genes knocked together by two animals rutting!"

"Oh shut up," Ash said dismissively.

Naomi took a moment to move closer to Holly and Buddy, her face pale and reflecting astonishment. "She's a clone?" Naomi asked in horror.

"Why do you think all the Joys and Jennies are completely identical?" Buddy asked with a laugh. "The UNGC clones most of its' workforce because the eventual costs are so much less. You only have to pay the tiniest living allowance, and there are no wages, no health benefits, no holidays and no pension. You don't pension off a Replicant that can't work anymore, you just retire them." There was an ugly emphasis on the word 'retire' that made its' meaning all-too-clear.

Naomi swallowed and felt a bit ill. She looked at Joy in a kind of horror. Joy scowled at the girl's expression. "Oh get over it, you pitiful child," she snapped. "I, for one, prefer being a clone and knowing my place in the scheme of things to being a natural and having to fret about the meaning of life! I know the meaning of my life!"

Ash was pulling at his bottom lip thoughtfully. "You know, this all makes sense," he finally said. "I had Pikachu for what… four years? In that time, he told me that he didn't want to evolve, and his experience level stayed low enough that he could avoid it. Within a year of our joining Team Rocket and stopping using official Pokémon medical care, his experience level shot up. He was forced to evolve within nine months and Raichu's experience level is something like 150 now."

Misty nodded. "It was the same with Togepi," she recalled. "I didn't think he'd ever learn any attacks, but he was ready to fight by the time we finished basic training and he evolved into a Togetic in just two years."

"Exactly," Joy said brightly. "You see how dangerous that is? Do you understand why this is necessary?"

"No I don't," Ash said firmly. "And I'll bet the vast majority of Trainers won't either. Which is why Team Rocket is going to tell them." He walked over to one of their duffel bags of equipment and pulled out a digital video camera. "Okay, here's what we're going to do," he announced. "Holly, I want you to do a guided tour of this little torture chamber and Joy is going to tell all the happy viewers what each piece of equipment is supposed to do, and what it really does."

"Forget it," Joy snapped. "I won't betray the League to help you cause dissent among Trainers! The League holds the best interests…"

"Yeah, yeah, we heard it before," Ash said. "Change the disk already, Joy."

"Maybe you'd prefer it if I was silent," Joy sneered. Then she screamed as Raichu, entirely of his own volition, fired a full-power Thunder-shock attack into her. Joy screamed and writhed for at least thirty seconds before Raichu stopped attacking her.

[I owe you and your unnatural kind this and more,] the electric-type told the cloned woman as she lay weeping in agony in a pool of her own urine. [You will co-operate with my Trainer or you will learn that I do not regard what you have done to my kind as being 'in our best interests!']

Ash was shocked. He had never heard such hate and violence in his Pokémon's voice before. "I think Raichu has said everything that needs to be said," he said gently. "Does he have to say it again?"

Joy looked up, tears streaming down her face, past several large electrical burns. "No… no more," she said gently. "I'll… do it."

***

So, with Buddy running the camera, they proceeded to go through every machine in the Treatment Ward. Holly would give a brief layman's explanation of the purpose of the machine and components before a subdued Joy explained, frequently in nightmarish detail, what it really did. Ash had to restrain himself from being sick more than once. Some of the things the League routinely did to Pokémon to restrict them to 'safe' experience and evolutionary levels were like the horrors he read about in books about the holocaust in Nazi Germany.

Finally, they were finished. Joy, still under gunpoint, backed towards her desk in the Treatment Centre.

"Ash… I…" Holly said worriedly.

"What is it Holly?" he asked.

"Sir, I know you don't like stealing owned Pokémon, but I want to take all the Pokémon from the Treatment Ward back to our base." Ash was about to protest when Holly continued. "Please Ash, all my life I've trained as a healer. I live to help people and Pokémon, and I don't think I could stand it if I left these poor creatures behind to be stunted by this sadist and her torture machines."

Misty smiled and stepped forward, touching Ash's arm in reassurance. Ash jumped slightly, but when he looked into his lover's eyes, he relaxed. "You know she's right, Ash," Misty said. "It is in their best interests that we do this. We'll get them healthy again and they can live a life where they won't be routinely poisoned when they should be being healed."

Ash considered that for a moment. He looked at Holly's genuinely desperate expression and finally nodded. "Okay, put them in their balls. Buddy, help Holly take these Pokémon to the APC."

"NO!" Joy shouted. "I won't let you steal these Pokémon!" She stepped forward and froze when Rocketboy and Naomi centred their guns on her chest.

"Give me an excuse you bit of filth," Naomi hissed. Her Beedrill buzzed his support, his foreleg drills whirling. Joy swallowed and backed off. She made sure she kept her hands in sight at all times.

Ash, Misty, Buddy and Holly removed the Pokémon from the falsely named 'healing' machines. Then they removed the unhatched eggs from the incubators, packing them in padded cases before taking them to the APC.

When he returned, Ash pulled out a Pokéball and released his recently captured Graveler and Hitmonlee.

Graveler was the proof of the detrimental effect of the League's 'health care.' Brock's Geodude didn't evolve in the twelve years Brock owned him. Ash's Geodude evolved into a Graveler in just five months. "All right, Stoney and Quick-kick," Ash said, "let's turn this chamber of horrors into a scrap metal yard."

[You bet, Ash!] Stoney the Graveler shouted. He smashed his rocky arms into a machine that claimed to be an incubator (but actually injected toxins into Pokémon eggs to make the resulting Pokémon stupid and difficult to train). The million-dollar piece of equipment collapsed in on itself and Stoney started to stamp on it, reducing it to scrap. Simultaneously, Quick-kick the Hitmonlee swept several jars of toxins off the shelves with one sweeping roundhouse kick. The bottles smashed into a corner and began to smoulder dangerously as they mixed.

Misty released Madcoil, her Gyarados, and the huge water snake began to shred the steel shells of yet more machinery like it was wet paper.

"No! Stop!" Joy shouted uselessly as the demolition continued. "Haven't you listened to anything I have said? This is good! It is necessary! The League holds the best interests of all Trainers and their Pokémon as paramount!" None of the Team Rocket agents or Pokémon were particularly interested in what she had to say.

Joy suddenly noticed that Rocketboy and Naomi weren't watching her closely any more. They were enjoying watching the destruction too much. Joy felt a sliver of hope. She might not be a Combat/Enforcement model like a certain policewoman she knew, but she could fight when the best interests of Trainers and their Pokémon were threatened. She slowly slid open the bottom drawer of her desk and gently pulled her Walther PPK pistol out of its' hidden holster. Previously, she had only used this to 'kill' beer bottles on a wall at the back of the centre. Well, she would get in more practice now.

Ash was looking around at the destruction with a grim satisfaction. He wasn't a fool. The League would replace all this stuff in a day, but at least this was one batch of treatment equipment that would not take part in this betrayal of innocent hopes and dreams any longer. He recalled Stoney and Quick-kick to their Pokéballs. "Okay, people," he said. "Let's get going." He turned to look at Joy, who was flushed with anger. Something about her posture made his danger sense mutter a warning, but he couldn't decide what the problem was. "And Joy, learn from this," he said. "You might be a clone, but you are still a thinking being. Think very carefully about what you are doing and why. Start making moral decisions. It is what separates intelligent life-forms from robots."

Joy sneered at Ash's advice. "You really don't understand us, do you, Mr. Ketchum?" she asked. "We think more than you realise. I, for instance, have made a moral decision right now." At that, Nurse Joy Raith (Nexus 6; Medical/Support Batch 12; Unit 0445. Incept Date 23 June 2077) raised her PPK and fired at Rocketboy, who was standing less than five feet in front of her.

"Rocketboy, watch out!" Naomi screamed. She shoulder-charged him and knocked him aside. Unfortunately, it moved her right into the line of fire and the 9mm bullet slammed into her left arm, splashing out a fountain of blood. Naomi screamed again and tumbled to the ground.

Joy was already aiming at another target when three 9mm rounds from Ash's Auto-Nine automatic pistol punched through her chest and slammed her against the explosion of her own arterial blood that suddenly decorated the back wall like a grotesque mural. Joy had just enough time to be amazed at the speed of the man's reactions before she fell into the infinite darkness.

Ash watched as the cloned woman's corpse slumped down to the base of the wall, a look of dumbfounded surprise on her face. As Misty and Rocketboy rushed to help the fallen Naomi, Ash could only stare helplessly at the dead thing he had just put on the ground. The report would read: 'Routine discharge of a firearm in self-defence.' That didn't make him feel any better about gunning down a woman, a nurse, with an automatic weapon.

Ash holstered his Auto-Nine, shook himself all over and ran over to help Naomi.

"I… I'm sorry I was so slow Naomi," Rocketboy was babbling. "This is my fault, Ash. I'll take the rap from the Boss…"

"Will you stop being so damn noble?" Naomi snapped, in tears from the pain. "She took us by surprise! This isn't a fatal wound and I'll get over it! You should too!"

Misty grinned. "Watch it, you two," she said. "This is how Ash and I started off!" Rocketboy and Naomi blushed brightly. Ash grinned and patted Misty on the shoulder, congratulating her on distracting them from their reaction to the violent moment.

As they turned to leave the Cerulean City Pokémon Centre, Ash turned to look at the fallen Nurse Joy one last time. [If it is any consolation,] Raichu said coldly, [you have punished a pitiless torturer who has tormented Mew knows how many Pokémon over the years.]

"I just wish there had been another way," Ash replied helplessly.

Raichu jumped up onto his back and began to rub his head with his cheeks. [She fired first, Ash,] Raichu reminded him. [It is difficult, but you must remember that no one wants you to die uselessly, except the evil ones.]

Ash nodded reluctantly. He stroked Raichu's head once and walked out of the room, leaving it to the dead.

***

"Well, Ash," Giovanni snapped from the communications screen, "another renegade operation completed by Team White November. And, once again, I cannot discipline you because the results are simply too positive for me to sustain any charges." Giovanni sighed and shook his head. "You are going to be the cause of a lot of trouble, Mr. Ketchum," he announced. "I have no doubt in my mind that you will either end up as the leader of Team Rocket… or a mouldering corpse in a gutter somewhere."

Ash grinned unrepentantly. He never made any secret of the fact he was a member of Team Rocket for his reasons. Besides, he and Misty had done enough for the Team to earn a little leeway with the Boss. "Have you had a chance to look at my full report?" Ash asked.

"Yes," Giovanni confirmed. "It makes for… disturbing reading. In fact, I would go as far as to say that it is the most explosive document I have ever read. If used properly, the evidence you have amassed would certainly bring the League down in flames and will probably lead to the overthrow of the UNGC." Ash smiled. That was his conclusion too. He had that goal in mind when he wrote the report. "Of course, I will not use it… not yet anyway," Giovanni announced. "The time for such an exposure hasn't come yet…"

Ash was thunderstruck. "But sir," he protested. "Lives are being ruined right now by this conspiracy! We must…"

"You are NOT a policy maker, Mr. Ketchum," Giovanni shouted, making Ash wince. The Boss only ever shouted like that when he was very angry. "I and I alone will decide when and if we use this information!"

Ash drew in a deep breath and grasped Misty's hand for support out of camera shot. "I'm sorry Boss," he was able to say after a long moment. "I guess that I'm still shaken up after finding out about this."

Giovanni waved his hand to indicate that he felt an apology was unnecessary. "Well, you will be relieved to learn that you will not have to suffer this stress again any time in the near future," he announced. "Your team is being rotated back to headquarters at the end of this week, and all the individual agents are to be reassigned."

There was a horrified pause in the communications room and Misty's grip on Ash's hand became positively painful. "Sir… if the Council has any problems with how my team are acquitting their duties," Ash began.

Giovanni gave Ash and Misty his Basilisk Stare and enjoyed watching them squirm. "You do not need to know the decisions and thoughts of the Inner Council," Giovanni declared imperiously. "As I say, you have been recalled for reassignment. You do not need to know anything else." Giovanni thrust out an aggressive finger at Ash. "After the number of times you have either violated or 'creatively re-interpreted' my orders, you should be thankful you are not returning here in chains! Headquarters out." The screen blinked off.

"Oh…" Misty said. She looked at Ash in worry. "Do you think we may have pushed him too far?" she asked, worry filling her expression.

Ash frowned. "I don't care," he said. "This has gone beyond him now, Mist. We'll see what he has to say but…" Misty nodded in comprehension. There were dark activities in Kanto that needed exposure and overthrow. If they couldn't do it in Team Rocket… well, they would cross that bridge when they came to it.

***

It was what Ash was certain would be their last night ever at Seashell Base. He and Misty lay in their bed in Ash's private dorm room. The week had gone quietly after Giovanni's explosive recall order. Everyone was busy in tidying up the base for its' next occupants, and at least one person was with the recuperating Naomi at all times, trying to keep the girl cheerful despite her painful injury.

All throughout, Ash had remained thoughtful, quiet and introspective, something that worried Misty a lot. That night, Ash's reactions to her first moves had been purely reflexive, although she had succeeded in getting his entire attention very quickly. Now, basking in the afterglow of their lovemaking, the two young people lay together on Ash's bed, looking at the ceiling. Ash, Misty noted, had retreated into his thoughts again.

"I'll give you a dollar for your thoughts," Misty said.

Ash turned to look at Misty and grinned. "Boy, inflation must be high, it's usually only a penny!"

Misty giggled. "No, its' just that you've been thinking so much, there must be a lot of them to give. Bigger package, higher price."

Ash laughed. "I have been thinking a lot," he admitted. "I guess I'm wondering about the future… and what might happen to me."

"Ash…" Misty said, hugging herself closer to his side, "you don't think the Boss will try to separate us, do you?"

Ash shook his head. "I wasn't worrying about that," he said. "We've already been through this, Misty. We stay together; if Giovanni tries to interfere in that, I will make him regret it." He turned in the semi-gloom and looked Misty in the eye. "No, I'm worried that Giovanni will try to sit on what the Project is doing. I can't let him do that. I won't."

Misty nodded. "And I admire you for wanting to expose this, Ash," she said quietly. "But you can't help anyone if you get him so mad at you that he has you killed." Misty paused. "And I wouldn't be able to live very long if that happens anyway."

"I'm not planning on dying any time soon," Ash said, stroking Misty's hair in an attempt to reassure her. "I've got to think of a way to persuade him that this is important."

"So," Misty said with a slight smile, "all this was just you thinking out a strategy, hmm?"

There was a long pause, which made Misty nervous. "No," Ash finally admitted. "I… uh… God this hurts. I can't visualise the look on Nurse Joy's face when I shot her." Ash swallowed and Misty shivered, and not from cold. "I was thinking how that was odd, and then it just suddenly hit me that I stopped counting all the people I've killed. I can still see Brock's smiling as I shot him, you know."

"Ash, don't," Misty pleaded, seeing Duplicia's hate-twisted face looming before her in the last moment before Misty blew her head off.

Ash continued as if he couldn't hear her. "I have nightmares, memories really, about that day. I can still smell the burning flesh from when I used Flame's flame-thrower attack at that prison where they were holding my Mom… I can perfectly recall every PK guard I shot that day too." Ash frowned to himself and then shook his head. "After that, I forget. I must have killed dozens of guards and agents of the Project over the last six months… but I can't remember any of them."

Misty found that her face was wet with tears. "You know this is a war," she managed to choke out. "In war… you have to kill to stay alive."

"I know," Ash said in a desolate, toneless voice, staring out into nothingness. "But it is getting too easy, Misty. I… I am afraid I'm turning into some kind of cold killer like Domino, Butch or Cassidy."

Misty suddenly hugged Ash tightly to her. "No," she snarled. "No, you won't ever fall that far, Ash. You are too kind and you love life too much for that to happen." She sucked in a deep breath. "I saw how horrified you were when you shot Joy. As long as you keep that horror at every life wasted, you won't ever become a monster."

Ash sucked in a deep breath with just a hint of a sob. He looked Misty in the eye. "Have I told you lately that I love you?" he asked. "You are the thing that has kept me close to sane in all this mess."

Misty blushed and looked down. "You are the only thing that gives my live meaning," she said at last. "I love you more than my own life."

There was a long quiet moment in the bedroom before Ash smiled. "Then let us share our love again," Ash announced. "And this time, I'll concentrate fully on the task!"

Chapter 2 –Changes and Decisions

Next morning, after they handed over the base to the new team under a pair of White Rockets named Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barlow, Team White November left in their blimp for Headquarters.

Ash felt strange leaving the base that had been his home for seven months, and had seen the change in his life from just survival to fighting a terrible war against an evil he was only just beginning to understand. He had no idea what might lie ahead for him and Misty at Headquarters, but he was certain of one thing. Ash knew that his path was mapped out. He would fight the Project at every turn. The only thing that would be decided at Headquarters would be if he did so under the banner of Team Rocket

Ash was so preoccupied that he barely noticed the cliff-side hangers of the Headquarters Facility looming before the blimp. "Hey, wakey-wakey, Ash," Misty said, nudging him. "We've just been given landing permission!"

Ash nearly jumped upright in his jump chair. "Sorry," he said with a slight blush that made Misty, Rocketboy and Naomi grin.

***

After the blimp docked in its' landing gantry, Ash, Holly, Misty, Naomi and Rocketboy picked up their duffel bags and disembarked, leaving Buddy to shut down. On the boarding gantry, Ash turned to his two juniors. "Well Rocketboy, Naomi, I guess that it is almost time."

Rocketboy nodded stiffly. After a few moments of chewing over something, the sandy-haired man stuck a hand out to Ash. "Ash," he said, "I know we haven't always seen eye-to-eye on many issues… hell we were at each other's throats most of the time, but I want to say that you were right…"

"Rocketboy, there's no need for you to apologise for anything," Ash interrupted, grabbing Rocketboy's hand and shaking it firmly. "You were usually right, after all. I am sure that you will go far."

"Thanks," Rocketboy said with a slight blush and a nod. "But I wanted to say… You have always lived up to the highest standards of the spirit of The Cause. It has been an honour and a privilege, sir. I will remember this assignment always, because it is the time that I worked with the very best." Rocketboy stepped back and saluted. Ash returned the salute and the two men stood for a long moment, before Rocketboy turned and walked away into the base.

Ash turned to Naomi. "Somehow it isn't going to be the same without you around," he said. "You have been a great help and you have performed superlatively on your first assignment. I am proud to have served with you and I know that you have a great future ahead of you. What is more, you are a genuinely good person, and one I am proud to call 'friend.'"

As Ash's list of compliments grew, Naomi went brighter and brighter red and she began to fiddle with the sling holding her wounded left arm. "Th… thank you, Ash," she said quietly. "I will try to remember everything you taught me, both about Pokémon and how we should conduct ourselves in the field." She smiled in a sunny way and, with an air of daring, leaned forward to kiss Ash on the cheek, making him go red. Misty hid a grin behind her hand.

Naomi turned to Misty. "Thank you too, Misty," she said. "You helped me a lot. I… I hope we'll meet again, Big Sister."

Misty smiled warmly and hugged the girl. "Ash was right," she said. "It won't be the same without you, Baby Sister." Misty kissed the girl and hugged her again before she walked away too. Much to her frustration, Misty realised that she was crying.

Ash, with a gentle smile, wiped the tears from her cheeks. "Hey, who died?" he asked gently.

"Our little family did," Misty said. She sighed in frustration. "It always seems that, just when we're settling down with a team and developing some kind of emotional base, the Boss pulls it from underneath us." Misty scowled. "I bet he does it deliberately too, just to keep us off-balance and easier to control."

Ash smiled. "Hey," he said. "You are all the family and 'emotional base' that I need." He put an arm around her shoulders and led her off into the base, with Raichu scuttling alongside him and Togetic fluttering overhead.

***

As per standard procedure, Ash and Misty reported to the Sergeant-at-Arms' office. Much to their surprise, there were no orders waiting for them to report to Giovanni, only a note that Team White November's official debriefing was scheduled to take place at 2000 hours that night in a briefing room. "That is unexpected," Ash said, feeling a bit nervous. "Why hasn't the Boss summoned us to meet him?"

Misty snorted. "He's just making us dangle," she said dismissively. "I bet he's watching us right now and laughing at how nervous he's making us!"

***

In his offices, Giovanni's eyebrows shot up when he heard Misty say this, and he made a mental note to have her tested for psi abilities as soon as possible.

***

"Well, we've got five hours to kill," Ash said, looking at his watch. "What do you want to do with your afternoon at fun-filled Headquarters? Maybe kill a few dozen shooting targets, maybe sign up for some training courses or watch the dumb movies they play on the Big-Screen TV in the recreation dome?"

Misty grinned. "How about we just book ourselves out for the afternoon and get a hotel room in Black Island City?" she asked suggestively. Ash blushed brightly. He was saved the torment of figuring out what to say in reply by what happened next.

"Hey! Ash! Baby Sis!" Ash's head snapped round just in time to see the two women, one with red hair and the other with dark hair, almost blue-grey, both in the black uniforms of Trainees run up and hug them hard.

"Lily, Violet!" Misty almost screamed. "It is great to see you! How are you doing!"

"Just great Sis!" Lily enthused. "So, are you here for our graduation next week?"

"No such luck," Misty said with a sorrowful grimace. "Ash and me are getting reassigned, so we're only on the way through. Still, we've got enough time to catch up on the gossip! What have you two been up to? How are you doing? How's Psyduck?"

"Hey, like, ask him yourself!" Violet said, drawing and triggering one of the six Pokéballs on her belt.

Psyduck materialised in the middle of the corridor. "Psy?" […?] he said stupidly. Then he looked up and saw Misty. "Psy-yi!" [Misty!] he shouted and flung himself forward to hug her leg. He immediately began to babble continually about all the things he had done and seen in the last six months, making all three Waterflower girls burst into laughter.

Ash, slightly apart from the emotional gathering, noted two things about Psyduck. Firstly, the psychic/water-type was very proud of all the new attacks and defences he had learnt, and secondly, he sounded… smarter than he did before. Of course, over the last six months Team Rocket medics had cared for him rather than official League nurses, so he was actually healthier than he had ever been before. That realisation made Ash feel depressed and angry again at Giovanni's hesitation, and that ruined the good mood of the Waterflower reunion.

"Like, are you okay, Ash?" Violet wanted to know.

Ash tried to clear his angry frown. "Ah, just a bit nervous about reassignment," he lied smoothly, making Misty frown in concern. "Look, why don't you ladies enjoy your re-union? I want to look up a few people while I'm here anyway."

"Okay," Lily said. "Like, knock yourself out already!" Ash smiled, waved and walked off. Misty shot him a look that made it crystal clear that she would wring whatever was wrong out of him later. Then she turned back to her sisters and let them lead her off to their dormitory.

***

Therefore, Ash found himself in a high gallery looking down onto the floor of the Recreation Dome. There had to have been about fifty to a hundred Rockets on the various levels of the facility, all using various entertainment machines or games tables. Ash would normally be down there, trying to relax, but he knew that relaxation was something that he wouldn't have today. Too much was happening, and he was feeling a great frustration at being out of the front line.

Then he felt two hands wrap themselves around him and a welcome voice said: "Hello, Ash."

Ash turned around and he embraced his mother. "Mom, its' good to see you!" Delilah laughed at her son's affectionate and loving greeting. He noticed something immediately. Either she had put on a lot of weight or… or she was at least six months pregnant. "Holy… Mom!" he blurted, placing a gentle hand on her gravid belly. "Say it isn't so!" His voice might sound amazed and horrified, but his face reflected overwhelming joy

Delilah blushed and looked away. "Yes, Ash," she said. "In just two months, you're going to have a little sister… well, half-sister actually."

Ash hugged her again. "That's great news!" Ash stepped back and offered her a mock scowl. "Who's the father?" he asked.

"Hey, you even have to ask?" asked a voice from waist level.

Ash turned with a grin. "I know that voice," he said. He turned to smile down at Tracey Sketchitt, who was grinning fearlessly up at him from his wheelchair. "You are in serious shit, Sketchitt," he said in a mock-threatening tone. "Not content with sleeping with my Mom, you've knocked her up too! This is getting pretty heavy. If I don't see a ring sometime soon, I'll have to requisition a shotgun from the armoury!"

Delilah looked a bit horrified at hearing Ash throw around idle threats. Tracey didn't mind in the slightest. He grinned, dragged Ash down and hugged his old friend hard. "It's good to see you, man," he said gently.

"Likewise buddy," Ash said. "And I'm very happy for you both."

"You mean that?" Delilah asked, hope and fear warring in her voice and posture. "You don't mind at all?"

"Well, I would have liked to have found out a little less suddenly," Ash said, "but I really am happy. So long as you let Misty and me see the little girl regularly, you two have my blessing."

"Who says I've asked her?" Tracey said with a wicked smile, making Ash and him laugh out loud.

"You'd better," Ash said putting on a mock-threatening scowl. "Come on, I know you're wild about her!"

"The feeling is mutual," Delilah said, walking behind Tracey and looping her arms around him possessively.

Ash noticed the simple wedding band on her left ring finger and felt better than he had done for some time now. Ash grinned. "Just don't expect me to start calling you 'Dad,'" he warned Tracey, making the man laugh. There was a long pause. "So… how is the rest of it going?" Ash asked uncertainty. "The… you know…"

Tracey looked up at Delilah who shot him an intense stare of support and love. "The physiotherapy going slowly," Delilah said. "But we aren't going to give up hope, ever."

"I'm going to go walking with my little girl in the park," Tracey announced firmly. "I don't care what it takes."

Ash nodded gently. "I believe you, Tracey," he said sincerely.

***

Ash was about 500 metres below sea level in the bowels of Headquarters. He was seeking one man who had taught him a lot about engineering, and a lot about what it meant to be a man in this world too. This was a good thing, as the last person he had relied on for that latter service was Brock Slate…

"Hey, Chief!" Ash called as he walked through the building-sized Nuclear Fusion spheres and the massive cylinders of super-conducting generator rotors.

There was a thump, a bang of something dropping to the concrete floor and a venomous Gaelic curse. "What the hell?" an Irish voice snapped. Ash ran over to an open inspection hatch in the side of a transformer and saw a familiar face topped with grey-streaked red hair.

Chief Engineer Edward Milton O'Brien was one of the oldest currently active support personnel in the base. He remembered when Madame Boss was a young woman and when the Boss and his late brother were a pair of wild, freshly graduated Black Rockets, tearing up the entire Kanto region in their enthusiasm. In recognition of his services and dedication, he was the only Orange Rocket, the only engineer who wore a deep citrus orange jump suit instead of the canary yellow that the other engineers wore.

"Sorry, Chief, am I interrupting?" Ash asked penitently as O'Brien pulled himself out of the hatch.

O'Brien looked at him with a slight smile. "Nothing that I couldn't leave till later and be glad that I had," he said. "What can I do for you Mr. Ketchum?"

Ash shrugged. There was always something about the old man's measuring gaze that made him feel like a ten-year-old again. "Well, uh, I'm on the way through between assignments and I thought I should look you up."

Liar, O'Brien thought. You're at a loose end and you need advice. Well, I don't mind. "Well, I'm here," he said aloud. He looked at the young man thoughtfully. "I barely recognised you, though. You must have grown a foot in the last year!"

Ash managed a slight grin. When he first joined Team Rocket he was still a boy, by the time he was promoted to a White Field Agent, he was 6'3", and he was now 6'5". He literally towered over the diminutive engineer. "Fortunately I don't think I'll grow much taller," he said. "I don't think they make uniforms much bigger than this."

O'Brien laughed. "So, what can I do for you?" he asked again. He knew Ash well enough to know that the boy would get to the point eventually.

"I… I guess I could use some advice," Ash admitted at last. "There is something big going down, Chief. And… and I don't think the Boss understands how important it is." O'Brien sat down on the lip of the inspection hatch and looked at Ash thoughtfully. Ash continued. "My team has uncovered a conspiracy. It is big Chief. As big as Team Rocket but a thousand times darker. What they are doing is affecting everyone in the Kanto region, but the Boss insists that we wait. But that's stupid. We should act now!"

O'Brien frowned. "What did the last Global Situation Review say?" he asked. Team Rocket's intelligence specialists wrote the complete briefing on the global economic, political and military situation every three months. It was considered the bible on which the Inner Council based policy and mission assignments, probably for years ahead.

Ash was startled at the question. "Hell, I don't know!" he said. "The GSR is 'eyes-only' to the Inner Council!"

"Exactly," O'Brien said. "You don't know what the Boss knows, do you son?" The old engineer shook his head. "I've known Mr. diRocketti since he was a boy of five and Madame Boss used to let him and his younger brother draw pictures in her office while she handed out assignments to field teams. Believe me, son, he never does anything without a reason."

Ash sighed and rubbed his face. "Look, I appreciate what you're saying," Ash said. "But there are people suffering because of this right now. It doesn't feel right with me to sit on my thumbs and wait for the Boss's good time to come around."

O'Brien chuckled. The kid is exactly like his father, he realised. "So you want to go rushing out there, bust a few bad guys' heads and make the world a better, brighter place?" he asked. Ash opened his mouth to agree, and then noted the cynicism in the old engineer's voice. That made him blush. "There is a reason why he said 'wait,' Ash," O'Brien said gently. "He has the experience, and you've got to let that temper your enthusiasm. He is a good man, you know."

"I know," Ash said with a deep sigh. "I… I guess I'm just not good at waiting. Especially when there is so much at stake."

"Well, you are in good company," O'Brien said, touching Ash on the shoulder. "Look, son, why don't you head upstairs and relax? There's plenty of time to save the world, but you've got to make sure you're ready when the time comes."

"I guess," Ash said reluctantly. "Thanks, Chief," he said.

O'Brien watched Ash walk away. "You really are the font of wisdom, Chief," said another voice as soon as the young man was out of earshot.

"He's ready to go off half-cocked, John," O'Brien responded. "You can't hold him back much longer. You have to tell him the truth. You have to tell Jessie too."

Giovanni nodded as he stepped out of the shadows. "I know," he said. "I will Chief. It is almost time. It is just that…" he sighed.

"It is just that you don't know how they will react," O'Brien finished for him. "I think you are worrying a bit too much John. They're both so much like Joe in temperament. They'll go through a bad patch, but they will understand in time." Giovanni nodded thoughtfully and watched Ash walking away.

***

Ash stopped off at the Pokémon habitats to collect Raichu, who had been visiting with the rest of the Electric-types living at Headquarters. The electric squirrel was in a fine mood, which alleviated some of Ash's gloom. It was nearly 2000 hours, so he set off for the briefing room, worrying about what might lie ahead of him.

He found Misty standing outside of Briefing Room Eight when he arrived at 1955 hours, early for the debriefing. "So, how did your afternoon go, Ash?" she said. She seemed a bit pale and her posture was worried. More importantly, Togetic wasn't fluttering around, but was sitting on her shoulder, looking very subdued. The little psychic-type was a reliable barometer of Misty's moods. If he was upset, so was Misty.

Ash looked at her in concern before he spoke. "Well, I got a lot to think about," he said. "I've had one or two surprises today."

"So have I," Misty said, biting her bottom lip in worry.

"What's the problem?" Ash asked in concern.

"Tell me your news first," Misty replied, a bit too quickly for Ash's liking.

"Well, I'm going to have a sister," he said. Misty looked shocked. "My Mom is pregnant with Tracey's child," he explained, enjoying watching Misty's expression change from shock to amazement and then to glee. "The medics confirmed that it was a girl. And wait until you get this: Not only has Tracey married my Mom, they've asked us to be the girl's godparents!"

Misty laughed in amazement. "I can't believe it," she said. "Well, that beats my news. Mine is nowhere near as good." She shook her head and sighed, looking worried again.

Ash cocked his head. He saw how upset Misty was and instinctively moved to reassure her. "What is it?"

"Lily and Violet have been telling me about these two instructors with whom they have become very close friends," Misty explained. "Their names are Butch and Cassidy. Lily has become very close friends with Cassidy." Ash didn't understand at first, and then it suddenly dawned on him. Cassidy especially had a habit of picking out particularly 'interesting' trainees for her own entertainment. That is what happened to Jessie. It took all of James' kindness and nearly a decade before she got over the heartbreak she had suffered at Cassidy's hands. "Worse still," Misty continued, "it seems that Cassidy only comes as part of a double date package, so Violet has ended up going out with Butch."

"Uh… do you want me to do something?" Ash asked lamely, wanting to help Misty.

Misty sighed and shook her head. "They've got to make their own mistakes," she said. Ash hoped it wasn't a mistake. Lily and Violet were two nice women, and he would hate to see them hurt. Considering how badly what happened with Jessie had hurt Cassidy, he hoped that she would be luckier this time too.

At that moment the Briefing Room doors swung open and Ash heard Old Mondo's imperious voice call "Enter!"

***

Debriefing was, thankfully, not a painful experience at all. Mondo was complimentary about Ash and Misty's achievements and he brushed over their habit of making up their own rules and priorities. Ash took that as a good sign. Mondo had known Giovanni for decades and the two men were like extensions of each other. If Mondo was pleased with their performance, it meant that Giovanni was pleased and had asked him to discreetly pass that on to them.

Of course, that didn't explain why Giovanni wasn't conducting the debriefing himself. Ash understood from Jessie, James, Butch and Cassidy's comments on the subject that Giovanni made it a habit to conduct all major mission briefings and debriefings himself. Delegating a job like this to Mondo was unheard of, and it was enough to make Ash worry and rack his brain, trying to figure out what The Boss was up to.

After completing the debriefing, Mondo dismissed Rocketboy and Naomi, leaving a very uncomfortable Ash and Misty sitting in the amphitheatre-like room, watching him sort through some papers in a box file. Ash wondered when the next shoe would drop.

"Now, The Boss has asked me to brief you on your next assignment," Mondo announced.

Ash braced himself. This is it, he told himself.

Mondo turned to the video wall and pressed a button on a remote control he pulled from his utility belt. The room's lights dimmed and a map of an island appeared on the screens. The island, which was shaped rather like a liver was small, according to the scale, 15 kilometres across at its widest point and about 30 kilometres long. "Aquamarine Island in the Orange Archipelago," Mondo announced. "This is the home of the Organisation's primary Pokémon Research Facility. The research centre is not engaged in any major work at present, and the Inner Council has decided to temporarily transfer the research staff, most importantly the facility director, Dr. Leona Morgan, to higher priority work." Mondo knew, but didn't add, that Dr. Morgan was The Boss's lover and that he had been looking forward to seeing her again.

Mondo pressed the button on his remote again and the video wall began to automatically cycle through images of the research facility, the staff residences and the landscape of Aquamarine Island. "With the removal of the research team," Mondo continued, "there is no need for the facility's large support staff to remain on the island, so we are also taking the opportunity to rotate them back to headquarters for some rest & recreation leave."

"Uh… shouldn't we leave someone behind?" Ash asked. "I mean, it would be risky to completely mothball a facility like that."

"I'm glad you asked that, Mr. Ketchum," Mondo said smugly. Ash, too late, recognised the trapped move. "While most of the island's facilities are completely automatic, some human presence is necessary for security reasons. You, Ms. Waterflower and two other White Team agents have been assigned to take on a 'caretaker' role until we return the support staff to the island in eight weeks' time."

"You mean… we've been assigned to guard a virtually empty research facility?" Misty asked, not sure whether or not to be relieved or insulted.

"Not 'virtually empty,' Ms. Waterflower," Mondo said with a smirk. "Totally empty. It will be just you, your team-mates and the Pokémon."

Ash's mouth opened and closed a few times. This is a punishment detail if I've ever seen one, Ash decided. He knew he couldn't avoid it, but he had his pride, so he tried to wiggle out if he could. "Sir… surely this assignment would be better suited for some newer agents," he said carefully. "Experienced field agents like us…"

"Mr. Ketchum, the Inner Council regards Aquamarine Island as one of our most important facilities," Mondo said with a false smile and a great deal of condescension. "You should consider it an honour that you and Ms. Waterflower are considered qualified to care for it. Even if you don't," Mondo paused and smiled grimly. "Well, that is hardly relevant, don't you think?"

Ash still couldn't believe this was happening. He was going from a field team leader to the caretaker of a nearly deserted base. This was definitely a punishment detail. He felt insulted, but he was more than a little relieved that Misty was going to be with him. Even so, he knew why he was being sent there. Giovanni didn't trust him and wanted him out of the field so he couldn't cause any trouble by interfering with the operations of the Project.

It was left to Misty to ask the obvious question. "Who are the other two agents assigned to this 'mission?'" she asked. Ash heard the emphasis on 'mission' that indicated Misty felt as insulted as he did.

Mondo heard the emphasis too, from the look on his face. "I don't have that information," he replied, his face an expressionless mask.

Raichu rubbed his head against his Trainer's cheek. [It could be much worse, Ash,] he reminded him. [Be grateful for small mercies.] That made Ash smile grimly. It could be worse. Giovanni could have sent them to take charge of some nasty punishment battalion or try to send him and Misty on different missions. Ash would fight the latter, but he didn't look forward to such a struggle. He would just have to make the most of an indifferent posting.

"What research did the Organisation perform on Aquamarine Island?" Ash asked.

"It is a cloning and genetic engineering laboratory," Mondo replied. "It replaces the old facility on Mew Island, which was destroyed in a freak accident." That didn't sound right. Ash knew that something else had happened to Mew Island, but he couldn't figure out what. Every time he tried, the memory scampered away like a frightened Rattata. "Are there any other questions?" Mondo asked. When neither Ash nor Misty answered, he turned off the video wall and then the lighting returned to normal. "Then you are dismissed. You are scheduled to depart tomorrow morning at 0600, so I would get an early night if I were you."

Outside the Briefing Room, Ash sagged against the wall. "Well, we're off to exile," he said. "I'm sorry I dragged you along on this, Misty."

Misty shook her head. "I made my own choices, Ash," she said firmly. "Will you stop blaming yourself for them? It is demeaning. Besides, it will be a nice change. We're going to spend the next two months relaxing and sunbathing on the Team's time! Consider it a vacation!"

"Somehow I doubt things will go that smoothly," Ash said grimly. Misty had to agree with that.

Chapter 3 – Far Away

Ash, Misty, Raichu and Togetic were standing together in one of the Headquarters facility's big hanger bays. Around them sat their luggage: two duffel bags, a one large suitcase with some spare uniforms and another of civilian clothing for 'off-duty' use. Ash agreed with Jessie's assessment that having so few personal possessions that they could fit them in so little space was a bit tragic.

Also present were all of their Pokémon. Ash had a total of eighteen Pokémon now. Six were in their Pokéballs on his belt, Raichu was hanging onto the back of his uniform and was peering over his shoulder, Blissey and Raichu's never-used Pokéball were on special loops on Ash's belt and the other ten were snug in their balls tucked away in his duffel bag. Misty now had fourteen Pokémon. Togetic virtually never used his Pokéball, but Misty had the regulation six balls on her belt too.

Last night, Ash had taken a risk. He was shocked at how much had happened with their friends and family while they were out in the field and cut off from normal communications. He wanted to ensure that he would not lose touch in the same way again. Ash learnt that Buddy had been assigned to the Communications Centre at Headquarters. He had managed to convince the man to do him a few favours. So, when Ash's little sister was born and if there was any other major news flashes from his and Misty's families, they would find out about it far more quickly. Ash had instructed his mom, Tracey, Lily and Violet not to over-use this little arrangement. Only time would tell if the Sensational Sisters could restrain their instinct to gossip.

Right now, he felt a bit nervous as he waited for the transport that would take him to his new assignment. The other members of the team remained a mystery and Ash didn't like mysteries. He had a nasty feeling it would be a pair of the Elite 'Red' Rockets, to keep him and Misty in line…

"Ash, Misty? What are you doing here?" asked a familiar voice.

Ash turned around and looked at Jessie, James and Meowth. The three familiar faces were clearly getting ready to ship out, too. "We're off to a new assignment," Ash said.

"A good one?" James sounded a bit mournful, but he always did.

"No," Misty snapped before Ash could reply. "We're being stuck on an island in the middle of nowhere for two months! This is not what I consider a glamour assignment!"

"Well, we feel your pain, dear," Jessie said soothingly. "We've been sent to be caretakers of some kind of research station!"

There was a long pause during which Jessie and James watched in fascination as Ash and Misty's faces grew redder and redder. "Aquamarine Island?" Ash finally managed to grind out. James nodded. "Snap," Ash said bitterly.

Jessie sagged a bit. "Why is The Boss sending us to such an out-of-the-way place?" James whined. "I'll get bored!"

"Shut up, James," Jessie sighed.

"I think it is to punish us," Ash stated in a tone of certainty.

"For what?" Jessie protested. "We aren't like you, Ash! We don't go running around doing whatever we want to do! We're good Rockets!"

Misty didn't know whether or not Jessie's comments were meant to be insulting. Judging by the look of genuine distress on her face, she thought not. Jessie had a well-deserved reputation for being someone with an acid tongue, but, in this case, she was right. "Maybe that is the problem," Misty couldn't resist teasing. "Perhaps he doesn't think you three take the initiative enough any more."

"Hey! We're inventive!" Meowth protested.

"Yeah? When was the last time we did anything original, then?" James asked mournfully.

"Well, dere was de time when… ah… no… um… Well we… ah… nah, not really dat original. Well we caught a few Trainers by digging a hole," Meowth finally managed to offer.

"Who dug themselves out with a Sandslash and blasted us off with an Elekid," Jessie reminded him. Despite that embarrassing low point, she couldn't understand why this was happening either. Their last tour of duty, six months of acting as roving trouble-shooters, visiting bases and checking out how field teams were working, had gone well. She understood that, despite their tendency to make their own priorities, Ash and Misty's last tour had gone very well too. Why was The Boss effectively exiling them?

A depressed silence fell over the four humans and three Pokémon for a long moment. "So," Ash said at last, "the Team's resident renegades have been paired up with Mr. and Ms. Drill Book. What do you think that means?"

It was a sign of how depressed Jessie was that she didn't rise to Ash's implied insult. "It means we are all in The Boss's bad books," she said. "You two haven't experienced that yet," she added to Ash and Misty. "Believe me, it isn't nice."

"Still, at least he hasn't got us hunting for clams and making him drinks at his beach house," James said, trying to sound up-beat. Jessie shuddered when she remembered that punishment detail, at the conclusion of their first futile year of Twerp-chasing.

"Hey, cheer up!" Meowth said, grinning insanely. "We got a whole island to ourselves! Meowth! It's gonna be like a holiday!"

"Yeah, a holiday with no clubs, no parties, no people and no fun," Misty reminded the cat-like Pokémon.

So the depressed silence returned.

At that point Giovanni, accompanied by Shadow, his Persian, walked out onto the hanger floor. "What are you troublemakers doing here together?" he asked angrily. The four humans (and Meowth) snapped to attention.

"Uh… we're waiting for our transport to our new assignment, Boss," Ash said.

Giovanni sized the young agent up like an Arbok sizing up a Rattata. "Ah, so you four have been assigned to the caretaker duty at Aquamarine Island?" he asked.

As if you didn't know, Ash thought bitterly.

"Uh, yes," Misty said. "Uh… is there anything we can do for you, Boss?" Jessie and James both nodded their agreement with the question, eager to curry favour with The Boss.

"Yes," Giovanni said dryly. "Try to stay out of trouble and keep to your assigned missions for once."

[Crawling Weedles,] sneered Shadow.

"Meowth, just you step up a little closer," Meowth hissed. Jessie hit him over the head with a fan to shut him up. The last thing they needed right now was for Meowth to get into a fight with the Boss's favourite Pokémon.

Before Ash or any of the others could say anything else, the hanger doors began to roll open. As they watched, a sleek executive helicopter swung into the hanger. The aircraft touched down and the side doors opened, revealing a woman in a business suit wearing a blood red 'R' pin on the breast of her jacket. She stepped off of the helicopter imperiously. A Persian jumped out of the aircraft and padded alongside her as she walked over to join Giovanni and the four White Rockets.

"Dr. Morgan," Giovanni said. "Welcome back to Headquarters."

"Thank you, Mr. diRocketti," Leona Morgan replied. She turned her imperious gaze onto the four White Rockets. "Are these the people you are sending to look after my island in my absence?" she asked, her voice loaded with contempt.

"So it seems," Giovanni said. "Dr. Leona Morgan, this is Jessica Scarlet, Ashton Ketchum, James Morgan and Mistyra Waterflower."

Ash and James tried to offer the scientist friendly smiles. Jessie gave the woman a single bored glance before looking away and Misty waved nervously and fretted that she was looking silly. Leona smiled grimly at their behaviour. "So, can I rely on you not to break anything?" she asked harshly.

"Ma'am, we will be the soul of professionalism," James said, trying to sound reassuring. "You can rely on us to perform to the best of our abilities."

"That is what I'm afraid of," Giovanni said dryly, making James and Misty sweat slightly.

Jessie was looking somewhere else. Dr. Morgan's Persian had walked up to Shadow and the two cat-like Pokémon were curving around each other, purring ecstatically, their eyes closed sensually. She smiled slightly. You could tell a lot about someone from the behaviour of his or her Pokémon. Ash's Raichu was aggressive and excitable, just like Ash. James' Weezing was clumsy and affectionate, just like James. Misty's Togetic was gentle and courageous, just like Misty. Arbok was like her in that she was graceful and dangerous. From the behaviour of the two Persians, Jessie was willing to bet a year's pay that she had found out who The Boss's girlfriend was. That was a question that had the Headquarters rumour mill buzzing loudly.

"Ms. Scarlet!" shouted The Boss. Jessie jumped in shock and turned back to look at him and Dr. Morgan. She hoped she hadn't missed something important. Well if she had, James would… no… No, she would have to ask Meowth to be sure.

"As I was saying," Leona said with a slight grin at Jessie's surprise, "everything on the island is more-or-less automatic. All our current research projects are completely automated, so you won't have to go into any of the laboratories. You will only have to make sure that the systems that care for our Pokémon work properly and keep an eye on the security monitors. Beyond that, your time is your own."

"Which means that even you four can't possibly screw up this assignment," Giovanni added harshly. "Don't disappoint me by proving that you can."

"Uh, can we capture any wild Pokémon we find on the island?" Ash asked. James smiled to himself. Ash never changed. He might have been an agent of Team Rocket for over five years now, but he was still a wandering Novice Trainer at heart.

Leona grinned. "Mr. Ketchum, if you can capture any of the Pokémon on the island, I will be most impressed!"

"Powerful?" Misty asked. Leona recognised the spark in the girl's eyes. She wasn't worried, but eager to get at them.

"Powerful, large and with very high experience levels," Leona said. "They are pretty impressive. You'll see what I mean when you arrive." Leona adjusted the strap on her travel satchel and Ash noticed her put her hand in The Boss's hand. Giovanni gripped her hand and she smiled slightly. Ash covered his own amusement well. "The storerooms are well stocked with food and other consumables," Leona continued. "I don't expect you four to starve, no matter how much you eat. Just one favour: No mess. That place is my home eleven months out of twelve."

"Dr. Morgan," James said with an ingenuous smile, "you won't even know we've been there." Jessie, Ash and Misty all smiled and nodded in a reassuring way.

Giovanni barely held down a smirk. "It had better be that way," he growled. "Any breakages come out of your pay!" The four field agents swallowed nervously.

"I'm sure that you won't get near anything delicate," Leona said. "That, by the way, means stay out of the laboratories." She had said that before, but it deserved repeating. "Anyway, apart from the light duties needed to keep the place working, this is a fairly easy assignment." She looked Jessie and Misty up and down. "I hope you girls packed your bikinis."

"I hope they didn't," Giovanni grumbled. "My female agents spend too long preening themselves like love-struck Ninetails anyway. All right, you've been briefed. Get out of my sight all four of you! I don't want to hear your names for eight weeks!"

The four field agents scrambled to load their luggage and pile aboard the helicopter. Giovanni watched as the aircraft's engines wound up to full power and it rose into the air. Within a minute, it was a fading silhouette against the southern horizon.

"Aren't you being a bit tough on them, John?" Leona asked.

Giovanni smiled. "They can take it and worse, Leona," he said. "They are my four best agents by a long margin. Nonetheless, they wouldn't feel right if I wasn't shouting at them." He shook his head and put an arm around Leona's shoulders. "My brother's children are tougher than they look. They can handle anything, although I bet they are wondering if I'm punishing them for their rather… individual methods." He snorted. "As if I should punish such things."

"Are you going to tell them?" Leona asked. "Is that why you've sent them to my island?"

Giovanni smiled and nodded. "Yes, but not for a little while. We can enjoy our time together."

Leona smiled and touched his lips with hers.

***

The helicopter shot over the Southern Sea at its' flank speed of 450 miles an hour. In the passenger cabin, Ash, Jessie, James and Misty were fighting the most terrible enemy a person can know when travelling: Boredom.

"Are we there yet?" James asked.

"Just a little further," Jessie replied automatically. They had been in this question/brush-off reply loop for about fifteen minutes now.

"Are we there yet?"

"Just a little further."

"Are we there yet?"

"Just a little further."

"PLEASE!" Misty screamed and whacked Jessie and James over their heads with her mallet (which she kept around for old time's sake). Meowth snickered nastily as his two human friends tried to restart their brains.

"Ouchies… hurting…" James said uncertainly.

"I feel your pain, man," Ash said. Misty glared at him and Ash, smiling broadly, made as if he were warding off her glare.

Jessie rubbed her head experimentally and winced when she touched her lump. She glared at Misty. "You'll pay for that, Brat," she hissed.

"Jessie, do you want to swim back to Headquarters?" Misty asked in a deadly monotone, making the older woman blanch in fright.

"Has she always been this bad at travelling?" James whispered to Ash.

Ash thought back to long years of trekking through the woods. Back to the complaints, continual whining and inevitable friction between the only girl and two particularly dense males. 'Ash Ketchum, don't tell me that we're lost AGAIN!" a young female voice shouted in his memory. Ash grinned. "James, you have no idea," he replied quietly. "If it makes it any easier, though, she is really a nice person when you're not travelling."

James looked over his shoulder to where Jessie and Misty were glaring at each other dangerously. "I'll take your word for it," he replied.

"Hey back there," the pilot, Jake, called. "We're here!"

The helicopter flew past a flock of pelicans and past several towering offshore buttes. The island's coastline was entirely made up of 300-foot high cliffs topped with a tropical forest. The helicopter shot into a v-shaped cut in the cliff-face and began to race down a narrow winding valley. Their argument forgotten, the four field agents were gawking out at the beautiful scenery. "It's like a Lost World," Misty said gently. "A lost island of monsters and magic, just like in the movies."

"Hey! Was that an Aerodactyl?" Ash called out, pointing out to the left.

"Maybe," Jake called back. "I'd strap down if I were you. There's pretty bad wind shear near the landing stage and hangers, so we have to drop pretty fast…" The helicopter hit a cold air pocket and suddenly dropped ten feet in a split second. Everyone was thrown out of their seats. "Yah-hoo," Jake said weakly.

Ash laughed nervously and strapped himself down, as did Misty. Jessie and James got into a bit of a tangle trying to work out who used what bit of the seat belts. Ash managed to keep a grin off of his face at their low-key arguments. Finally they compromised. Jessie sat in James' lap and he tied the two seatbelts across her lap. Hardly FAA approved, but it seemed to do the job. Misty looked at the set up speculatively and looked at Ash in a way that made him come out in a cold sweat.

The helicopter dropped the final 100 feet in less than ten seconds and alighted on a helipad that had been blasted out of the valley bottom at the base of a beautiful waterfall. Jake immediately taxied into an overhang blasted into the valley wall and shut down the engines. "Welcome to Aquamarine Island, agents," he said.

***

Jake explained that his orders were to drive them to the Research Centre before returning to his helicopter and leaving on his rounds. Ash had an obvious question. "Yes," Jake said. "That means you four will be pretty much marooned here. But you're in constant radio contact with Headquarters. They'll have an evacuation transport here in less than an hour if you have any trouble."

"A lot can happen in an hour," Ash replied.

"Meowth, dat's right," Meowth said nervously. He had the oddest feeling that The Boss was up to something…

The four field agents piled into a HMMVR jeep and, with Jake driving, they set off. The first sign of human habitation was the perimeter security. A 40-foot high fence marked 'Danger! 25,000 Volts!' and a computer monitored double gateway that needed to see Jake's handprint and retina scan before letting them through.

In the left front seat, Misty leaned back to talk to Ash. "You know, this tropical rainforest looks pretty wild," she said. "I wonder what kind of Pokémon they are researching here?"

Ash shrugged. At that point, the jeep shot out of the forest and onto a grassy hill and they all saw it.

"Holy…" Ash gasped.

"Oh my God…" Misty said, covering her mouth in shock.

"Meowth! Da Boss can't be serious!" Meowth squeaked.

[Oh… thunder-shocks] said Raichu.

"Mummy…" squeaked James.

"Crap…!" Jessie gasped.

[Big!] was Togetic's opinion.

A huge animal, approximately 100 feet long, with a long tail and a long upheld neck was striding along the hillside, crying out mournfully. Its' four legs were like tree-trunks and its' neck was a dizzying 30 feet long. James tried to take in the scale of the creature. "It's a dinosaur!" he said in shock.

Ash saw it first; the long leaves resting flush against the giant animal's back and running up the length of its' neck. "More than that… it's a plant-type!" he gasped.

"Dr. Morgan calls it a 'Brachioshrub,' Jake said easily. "It's the third evolutionary level of a type of Pokémon that the research team here cloned from a fossil." The pilot grinned at the four field agents' astonished expressions. "It's what they do here. Like Dr. Morgan said: Powerful, large and with high experience levels."

Ash had to restrain the instinct to call out Firestorm and try to capture the thing on the spot. The Brachioshrub stopped by a particularly tall tree, cried out loudly and, balancing on its' tail, it lifted itself onto its' hind legs. It pulled off a mouthful of branches and leaves before dropping back down onto all fours, creating a miniature earthquake as its massive weight struck the ground.

The four field agents were rather subdued by the easy-going way Jake rattled of the list of previously unknown fossil-types that the team on the island had cloned. "And there is the Dinoraptor, a fighting-type. Watch out for them, they're smart and real nasty critters. As for firepower, there's Tyranoshock, an electric-type… Um… Dilophospit is a poison-type; Firecrest is a fire-type, although you wouldn't think it. Evosaur is a cute little critter, about the size of a Ponyata. It's a kind of reptile Eevee. There are six possible evolutions, one for every stone. And don't forget Trihorn, that's another level-three, a rock-type this time."

The HMMVR pulled up in front of a sprawling complex of large buildings built in the style of savannah lodges. This, Ash imagined, were the various buildings of the research centre. Jack confirmed this. "Most of the juicy stuff is underground of course," he said. "On paper, this is Mr. diRocketti's personal summer holiday villa. The largest building is the administration and control complex, and the smaller buildings are the personnel quarters. However, you four are going to be staying at the Director's Residence." Jack pointed out the second largest building, a three-storey affair with balconies on every level, an arboretum and a massive swimming pool.

"Wow," Misty said.

"At last," Jessie sighed, "a home that is worthy of me!" Misty somehow restrained a giggle.

***

Jack helped the four field agents offload their luggage, and then he was off back to his helicopter, leaving the four young people to explore the building that would serve as their home for the next few months.

The atrium was a beautiful open roundel with a glass roof allowing the sunlight to stream in over water features and potted trees. The rooms were all radiating off of the atrium. James was the one who found the living room. "Hey! Jessie! Ash! Misty! Look at this!" Everyone rushed in and, as children of the communications age, were suitably impressed.

"That TV set is bigger than the one at Headquarters!" Ash breathed as he looked at the 150" holographic widescreen set. Various wooden cabinets contained the surround sound speaker system and Jessie quickly found the video library, filled with DVDs from the dawn of the motion picture era up to the present day.

Ash looked at the entertainment system and found a familiar set of controls. "Hey, Dr. Morgan has an integrated Nintendo N-Millennium system too!" He sorted through the game cartridges before suddenly whooping in triumph. "All right, she's got Pokémon Supreme! All the Game Boy releases and the Stadium games on one cart! Good thing I bought my Game Boy!"

"Hah!" James replied. "You'll never stand a chance against me! I was Pokémon Supreme champ in my fraternity at Pokémon Tech for four years!"

"You?" Ash snorted. "I'll bet you don't even know what way to hold the control pad!"

"You wait, Twerp!" James snapped back.

Misty smiled patronisingly at the developing 'alpha-male' argument. She turned to Jessie. "Jessie, while the little boys decide who is the toughest, why don't we check out the rest of the building?"

Jessie smiled approvingly. "Of course, dear," she replied. She shook her head as she watched Ash and James get in each other's faces. "It will probably take a while for them to sort this out."

The two women wandered out into the arboretum. They stood for a while at the edge of the Olympic-sized swimming pool and looked at the beautiful trees and flower arrangements. The sun was warm and there was a relaxing cool breeze to stop it from becoming too hot. The sun loungers (with tables for cool drinks beside them) called out to them both on a fundamental level. "This is incredible!" Misty gasped. "It's better than some palaces I've seen!"

Jessie was in a daze as she looked around at the luxury. "Well, I suppose there has to be some compensation for being The Boss's favourite," she replied. Never before had Jessie been so aware of the power The Boss had.

Misty smiled and reminded herself of the facility's cover. No doubt Giovanni wanted it to look like a playboy's pleasure palace. The really important stuff was all underground with the research facilities. Still, she was willing to bet that Dr. Morgan never felt restrained from not using these facilities to the full.

Suddenly there was a loud shriek from inside the building. "James!" Jessie gasped. She frowned. "Now what has he got himself into?"

The women ran inside and followed Ash into a room opposite the living room. It was a kitchen area the size of most Field Teams' entire barracks block. James was standing in front of a walk-in refrigerator, an expression of profound stupidity on his face. "What is it James?" Jessie asked worriedly.

James could only point while mouthing 'Food! Food!' over and over again. The other three looked and their brains jumped the rails too. The amount of tongue-exploding luxury fare within was beyond their wildest imaginations.

Misty grinned and rubbed her gloved hands together. "My friends, my fellow field agents, we have scored," she said with a laugh. "If the Boss wanted to punish us, he has gone the wrong way about it!"

Everyone was staring at the gastronomic wonders when Ash suddenly grabbed Misty's arm and towed her out of the room. "Hey, come on, Misty," he said.

"Ash what…?"

Ash winked at her and mouthed 'bedroom.' Misty grinned and nodded. Leaving Jessie and James still staring at the provisions, they jogged up the beautiful open stairwell.

The second level was full of relaxation areas. There was a computer room, a library (filled with more books than Ash and Misty had ever seen before, let alone read), a luxurious Scandinavian sauna and two bathrooms, each with gigantic Jacuzzi/bath units from their wildest dreams.

The third level had the bedrooms. Being the first, Ash and Misty took the ancient Team Rocket principle of 'finders keepers' to heart and strode through the largest set of double doors. "Wow…!" Ash said for the fifth time in as many minutes. "I… think this must be the room that The Boss and Dr. Morgan must use when they're both on the island," he suggested.

"Yeah…" Misty agreed. The master bedroom was the size of an eight-person barracks block and took up the entire north quadrant of the second floor. As well as wardrobes lining one wall, there was also an en suite bathroom (with Jacuzzi), a 50" widescreen TV set, a sound system that looked better than the one in the living room, and a mini-bar (alcoholic and otherwise). The bed… the bed was circular and the size of an APC. There were mirrors on the ceiling, a kinky touch that told them both a lot about both Giovanni and Leona's tastes.

Ash nervously walked up and sat down on the bed, feeling the resilience of a top-of-the-range mattress. "This is… incredible!" Ash gasped as Misty sat beside him. "I don't think that we'll need to leave this room most days!"

"Yeah…" Misty said with a sudden, sensual smile, "I can keep you entertained!" She leaned forward and their lips met in a passionate kiss. Holding on to each other, the two fell back onto the bed.

[Please, grow up you two,] Raichu remarked as he strode in.

[Yeah, Mommy, Daddy, there is a time and a place for everything, Togetic agreed.

"Quiet, or I'll put you in your Pokéballs," Ash said firmly. He and Misty went back to making out. One of the things he enjoyed about their relationship was that they still had a teenage enjoyment from just being together, hugging and kissing.

"YUCK! Can't you two wait?" Jessie sneered. James just looked on in amazement at the contortions Ash and Misty had got in to. Both of them just about ducked the big goose-feather pillows that flew at them from the bed.

***

"Control to Rover," James said into the microphone. "I need a status report, Ash."

There was a pause before Ash replied, meaning that he was probably not in the jeep he had been using to tour around the island's remote facilities. James leaned back in his chair inside the heavily computerised Command & Control bunker under the administration building and started stroking Growly, his Arcanine, between the ears.

The control centre, like everything else about Aquamarine Island, was state-of-the-art. The facilities reminded James of the Major Missions room at Headquarters, with several rows of consoles and three large monitors at the very front of the room. James was sitting in the centre of a massive control station with computers and consoles piled up around him making up five faces of a hexagonal cubicle. He assumed that this was where Dr. Morgan's Operations Director managed the base.

"Hey James," Ash's voice came from the speakers in the roof of the room. "Sorry about that, I was a bit busy. I've just finished the last facility on today's schedule and I'm heading back home for the day."

"What have you been up to, Ash?" James asked suspiciously. Ash was one of those types who would do anything, no matter how outrageous, if he liked the thought of it. James had a horrible vision of 'Up Yours, Boss' spray-painted in neon pink on the side of a Brachioshrub.

"Oh, nothing we can get in trouble for," Ash said in false-sounding innocence. James sighed. He was about to reply, but there was a hiss of static, indicating that Ash had turned his jeep's radio off. James nervously reached down to tickle Growly some more. He ought to trust Ash, James knew that, but somehow he never stopped feeling that the younger man was in this for his own ends, not the good of Team Rocket.

Growly whined good-naturedly and licked his hand. [Raichu's Trainer is a good man,] he reminded his own Trainer. [He would never hurt anyone if he can avoid it. Besides,] and here Growly's voice became annoyed and resentful, [the Talking Cat is with him.]

James laughed gently and rubbed Growly's head a bit harder. For as long as he knew, the dog-like Pokémon had known what was on his mind. He was right of course. Meowth would keep Ash in line. Ash respected the cat's experience and would listen if he told him not to do something.

They had been on the island two weeks now and had settled in. They had arranged a duty roster (with a lot of flashing mallets and paper fans when the girls decided they didn't want a certain duty). Now they were getting into the swing of things and the assignment, as Meowth had predicted, had turned into a holiday of sorts.

James took one last look at the situation monitors and decided that there was nothing left to do. There was a big fat nothing waiting for action in the communications buffer and there was nothing moving within 100 miles of the island in any direction according to the radar. James set the systems to automatic, safe in the assurance that the computers would sound an alarm in the residence if an intruder aircraft or sea vessel got too close to the island, and walked out of C&C.

With Growly at his side, James went down to the underground vehicle pool. He arrived just in time to see Ash drive his jeep into the garage, virtually jumping down the ramp and skidding to a halt. "Hey, James!" Ash shouted, vaulting out of the driving seat without bothering to open the door. Raichu jumped out and started skipping around him excitedly.

James felt worried again. Ash and Raichu were only like this after something really good happened. "Okay, Ash, spill it," he said. "What have you done?"

Ash shot James an innocent look that didn't fool him for one second. [Yeah! Tell him the good news!] Raichu squeaked excitedly.

"Meowth! Yeah, why don't ya tell James da 'good news,'" Meowth moaned from the Jeep's back seat, sounding worried and upset.

"Meowth, chill out already!" Ash advised with a laugh. James folded his arms and tried to look threatening. It didn't work, but Ash was too hyper to keep his achievements a secret right now. "Okay, James, I've got two bits of good news and a bit great news! You know those big meat-eating electric types with the itty-bitty little forearms? The Tyranoshocks?" Ash asked. James nodded. "Well one got out of their compound and charged the jeep. Fortunately, I had my Rhydon and my Graveler, Stoney," he continued. "What can I say? I was just too hot today! Not only did Stoney evolve into a Golem, but also…" Ash raised a Super-type Pokéball, which he waggled suggestively.

"Oh no," James groaned. "Ash, don't tell me that you captured one of the experimental Pokémon!" Ash grinned unrepentantly and put the Super-ball back on his belt. "Ash! You are going to get us all in serious trouble!"

"Come on, James," Ash protested. "Dr. Morgan never said that we shouldn't capture any of the Pokémon on this island, just that it would be very hard!" Ash winked. "Unfortunately for her, I'm good at doing the impossible!"

[We're Team Supreme,] Raichu agreed, standing on his hindlegs and giving James a little victory sign.

James had to laugh at that. "Anyway," Ash continued, "I didn't want you guys to feel left out so…"

"Meowth, here comes the nasty bit," Meowth sighed. Ash gave him a dirty look.

"Anyway," Ash said, "I got some of those Eevee-like earth-types, the Evosaurs. One for you," Ash tossed James a red-and-white standard-type Pokéball, "one for me," he continued, patting a new ball on his belt, "and one each for the ladies."

"Ash…! You didn't catch just one but five? You are going to get us busted down to permanent latrine duties when The Boss finds out," James said.

"He won't if we don't tell anyone," Ash replied with a wink.

James looked at the ball containing his new Evosaur for a moment before sighing deeply and putting it onto his Pokébelt. Ash was right, of course. Team Rocket had always maintained that its' agents could keep anything they could capture so long as the Boss hadn't ordered them to bring it to him. James had a Thunder Stone that he found in Viridian Forest. It would be interesting to see what happened if he used it on Evosaur after he had got it trained. He had wanted an electric-type anyway…

He sighed again, shook his head and followed Ash out of the vehicle pool. He wondered what the girls were doing.

***

In the deserted C&C bunker, a screen displayed the long-range radar display. A single dot appeared at the very edge of the northern radar cover. The screens flashed with data as the base's computer system processed the possible threat.

"Unidentified aircraft approaching island on bearing 355. Defence condition Yellow."

"Interrogating intruder aircraft IFF transponder…"

"IFF recognition code received. Team Rocket IFF protocols detected. Requesting ID and security codes…"

"IFF Transponder ID code received: TR-A-001. Aircraft identified as Team Rocket executive transport."

"Security Code received: THX-541-285/IIX-3. Code matches Team Rocket Inner Council priority security codes for current security cycle. Security Clearance confirmed as Clearance Gold. Priority Access to all facilities and equipment."

"Stand down defence systems. Clearance to approach and land transmitted to aircraft TR-A-001."

"Returning to standby mode…"

***

Ash and James found the Residence building empty, which wasn't a big surprise. It was a fine day out on the margins of the Southern Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Only an idiot would stay indoors on such a day if they could avoid it.

The two men walked out to the swimming pool and froze at the sight before them. James' jaw dropped open and Ash could only stare, looking most undignified. Misty and Jessie were relaxing on sun-loungers and topping up their suntans. Nothing particularly unusual about that, it was just that both ladies had clearly decided to avoid bikini lines.

Misty, who was lying on her chest, opened her eyes and smiled wickedly at the two stunned men. "Are you two going to just stand there, or are you going to get us both a drink?" she asked. She winked seductively. "The sooner you get that done, the sooner you can join us!"

Jessie didn't open her eyes, but from the sudden clatter of combat boots, she surmised that a Pikachu using a Swift attack couldn't have moved faster.

***

That night, no one was awake to notice the black-clad figure that stalked through the residence building. This person was a past master at moving around undetected and, besides, the four young field agents were rightly certain that the buildings alarms would detect any intruder. However, the alarms were not functioning, shut down by a Team Rocket command code.

So the four young people, who were understandably exhausted after the day's activities, were completely unaware of the person who was going through their wardrobes with such methodical care.

Chapter 4 – True Lies

Ash was still in a semi-conscious state between waking and sleeping. He and Misty had… well they had loved each other pretty thoroughly last night and Ash was still relaxed in the aftermath. It was days like this that he could half-forget that there was anything wrong with the world. It was just him, his two closest friends and the woman that he loved to the point of distraction on a paradise isle. He was quite happy with his situation right now.

Misty had just left the bed, leaving an aching cold emptiness at Ash's side. Still, he was too relaxed to care right now…

"Ash!" Misty's voice was alarmed. His eyes snapped open and he snapped to a sitting position, years of training and bitter experience bringing him to full wakefulness in an instant.

"What is it, Misty?" Ash asked, alarmed. Misty was out of sight in one of the room's massive wardrobes.

"Ash… I don't think we, Jessie and James are the only people on the island," Misty said.

"What makes you say that?" Ash asked, befuddled.

"Well…" there was a pause before Misty walked out and Ash boggled at the uniform she was wearing. "Someone has changed all our uniforms," she said. Misty was wearing a Team Rocket uniform. It was her preferred style, with the tunic ending at the level of the diaphragm, exposing the waist of her body suit, but the colours were wrong. The body suit, gloves and boots were the standard black, but the uniform over-trousers and tunic were blood red and the Team Rocket sigil was picked out with a pencil-thin white outline over the heart. It was the uniform of an Elite 'Red' Rocket. "Your uniforms have all been swapped for identical ones in red too," Misty continued, sounding shocked.

It was a very shocked and red-clad Ash and Misty who stood on the second-floor landing waiting for Jessie and James. Neither of them were remotely surprised at the sight when their friends emerged from their bedroom. Both of them looked highly self-conscious, and both were wearing red uniforms in their preferred style.

Jessie made a fair stab at being annoyed. "Is… is this your idea of a joke, Twerp?" she asked quietly. Ash shook his head. "No," she said. "I didn't think so. What is this?"

"I have a nasty idea," Ash said. "Come on, we'd better get something to eat."

After a very subdued breakfast in the kitchen, the four agents, including a very worried-looking Meowth, Togetic and Raichu, entered the living room. Ash wasn't surprised in the slightest by whom he saw standing in front of the TV screen, wearing his gold-highlighted stone brown uniform. "Come in, Agents," Giovanni diRocketti said firmly.

***

Ash, Misty, Jessie and James sat down opposite Giovanni, trying not to feel too afraid. The Red Rockets were Team Rocket's elite force. Only the finest agents were part of this division of the organisation (Butch and Cassidy had been promoted to the Red Squads about a year ago, for instance). The Red Rockets got the hardest and, frequently, the bloodiest assignments. This sudden surprise promotion boded no good, especially because of the secretive way Giovanni had carried it out.

"Now, I should start by apologising for misleading you," Giovanni said smoothly, surprising the four field agents. The Boss apologising to them? "Although this assignment is a genuine one, I admit that I sent you four out here on false pretences. I didn't really want four such skilled agents on such a menial task, but I wanted you away from Headquarters and all the distractions that brings when I told you this." Giovanni pulled in a deep breath. "I wanted you to have the time to think when I told you the truth."

"The… 'truth?'" Jessie asked after a long pause. "What truth is that?"

Giovanni smiled. "There are many of them, Jessie," he said gently. "Many of them will be difficult for you to deal with, and some will be difficult for you to understand, but the time has come for you to hear them." Giovanni turned away to gather his thoughts before turning back to them. He leaned down, opened his briefcase and pulled out a fragile photograph in a plastic cover. "Take a good look at this, Jessica," he said quietly, and almost fearfully.

Jessie took the photograph and gasped. "It is a picture of me with Mama!" she cooed. James stood up and looked over her shoulder. "It… it can't have been taken long before she died! I must say I look a lot better than in that last photo she took! I was crying my eyes out in that one!" Jessie suddenly saw the other figures in the picture and frowned. "Who is the man and who is the baby?" she asked.

"The man is your father," Giovanni said. "He was, up to the time of his death, the finest man ever to wear the uniform."

Misty and Ash had joined Jessie and James. "Your dad looks like Ash, Jessie," Misty teased.

"Yes… yes he does, doesn't he?" Jessie said, surprised and horrified by the realisation. "Who is the baby?"

"That… is your brother, Jessica," Giovanni said. That brought all activity in the room to a halt.

"I… I… I don't have a brother," Jessie said in a small, frightened voice.

"You don't think you have a brother," Giovanni corrected her. "I'm sorry, Jessie, but when your parents died, my mother, Madame Boss as she was known, decided that you should be placed with separate foster families. You didn't see each other again for a decade."

"I… I have met him?" Jessie was confused now. "When?"

"He is in the room with you right now," Giovanni said quietly. No one picked up on that comment immediately. Giovanni sighed and drew a hand through his slicked-back hair. "This will be difficult for all of you, but you must hear me out. 'DiRocketti' is not my family's real name, but one we use to protect our families from our enemies. We are Italian by descent, but our family hasn't visited the Mother Country for… oh I would say at least 150 years now. We have an English family name and our given names are English too. For instance, my given name is really 'Jonathan.'"

That revelation made alarm bells ring in Ash's mind. Suddenly, dim memories of his first waking moments of his new life came rushing back with frightening clarity. He became painfully tense. Misty noticed immediately and grabbed his hand. "Ash! What is it?" she asked quietly. Ash didn't reply. Rather, he grabbed her hand and squeezed hard.

"The man in the photograph is my younger brother Joseph, or 'Giuseppi,' to use the Italian styling," Giovanni continued. Jessie looked shocked. She almost dropped the photograph and James had to stop her from falling over in amazement. "Yes, Jessica," Giovanni said compassionately, "that makes you my niece."

"But… but I would have remembered," Jessie protested. "I don't remember anything about Papa's family at all… why can't I remember it?"

"Your parents' death was so traumatic that your mind blanked almost all your memories of your childhood," Giovanni explained. "Your father's identity, almost everything about your mother and all your memories of your younger brother were all gone. In retrospect, I should have told you earlier, let you see my photos and the videos of our family together, but I didn't want to cause you pain by opening old wounds before you were ready to hear it." Giovanni drew in a deep breath before continuing. "You might be interested to know that you mother's full name was 'Marion Miyamoto.' Like all of us born in Kanto, she had an English first name and a Japanese middle name, but she hated her first name, and she was 'Miyamoto,' or just 'Miya' to everyone."

"I… How could you do that?" Jessie said, starting to cry. "I can barely remember anything about Mama even now! Now you tell me that you could have filled in all those gaps but decided not to? Why?" That last question was in the form of a despairing scream.

Tears were streaming down Jessie's cheeks. Her lover and her two friends closed around her to support her and lead her to a chair. "Sir, with all due respect," Ash said, letting all his sarcasm and scorn into his voice, "that was a lousy thing to do. She deserved to know her past."

"Ash, I didn't want to hurt her!" Giovanni snapped back. "The pain she went through when Joe and Miya died almost drove her mad! I didn't want to tell her until I was sure she could handle it!" Giovanni looked at Jessie, who was weeping onto James' shoulder.

Ash shook his head in disbelief. "So you say her brother's in the room," Ash suddenly said. "Who is it? And please don't tell me it is James."

Giovanni smirked. "No, it isn't," he said, "nephew. Don't tell me you forgot what I told you on that first day."

"I… I thought it was a dream," Ash said in a suddenly frightened tone of voice. Misty was at his side in an instant. "No," Ash said. His voice began to rise to a shout, laden with fear and denial. "No, you can't tell me that. My mother's name is Delilah Ketchum! She has never told me much about my father, but I know he wasn't an agent of Team Rocket!"

"Did she ever say or even imply that he was not?" Giovanni asked. "I know that she has told you very little indeed about your father, Ash. Trust me, his name was Joseph Ketchum. He was my younger brother and the light to your grandmother's soul."

"Wait a minute!" Jessie suddenly snapped. "Are you suggested that Papa cheated on Mama and that Ash is my half-brother?"

Giovanni laughed. "God no," he said. Everyone relaxed when they heard that. "Joe was far too loyal to Miya to cheat on her! No, Ash is your full brother! Why else would Miyamoto be holding him in the photo?"

Ash fell to his knees. "No…" he whispered. "No, you're lying!"

"Ash, I'm sorry," Giovanni said in a remorseful tone of voice. "You are Joe and Miyamoto's son, Jessie's brother. When your father and mother died in the service of Team Rocket, your grandmother decided that, as you were only six months old, Delilah should have custody of you. That as a woman, and kin, she could care for you better than some assigned Team Rocket foster family.

"Delilah was so loyal to Miyamoto, but she never understood Joe and Miya's ideals. She felt that, when Jessie was born, they should have resigned from Team Rocket and tried to bring up their family in safety. Delilah never told lies, but neither did she tell you the complete truth. She loves you as her much as if you were her own child, Ash, and she wanted to protect you. She even changed her surname from 'Scarlet' to 'Ketchum' to prevent any awkward questions about your parentage. It wasn't a bad thing on her part at all, in my view. Unfortunately, sometimes things have a tendency to catch up with you, no matter how hard you try."

"You're LYING!" Ash shouted, his face bright red and tears starting in his eyes.

"Am I?" Giovanni asked firmly. "If I were to play a tape, could you tell me if you have heard it before?" Giovanni pulled an old 16-track tape recorder out of his briefcase and pressed the 'play' button.

A woman's gentle voice, singing a beautiful lullaby echoed through the living room. Jessie's raised her head, her face filled with wonder. "Mama!" she said quietly. "Oh… oh I know this song!" Her face twisted with frustration. "Why can't I remember where I know it from?"

Ash was crying openly now. "You… bastard!" he groaned. "Huh… how did you do this? How did you fake someone singing the song my Mom always sang when I was a baby? I can remember it so clearly!"

"It isn't a fake, Ash," Giovanni said. "Please face the truth. I can arrange a DNA test if you want. You are Jessie's younger brother. You are the son of Joseph and Miyamoto Ketchum, my brother and my sister-in-law."

"No…" Ash said again, more in pain than in denial. Giovanni, respecting the shock the young people must be feeling, left the room, leaving behind the photograph and the tape recorder. The song ended and voices began to speak.

"Joe, what the hell are you doing poking that microphone at me?" Miyamoto Ketchum hissed from across a decade of time.

A male voice, one Ash and Jessie immediately knew, laughed gently. "You look and sound so beautiful when you sing to baby Ash, Miya," Joe Ketchum replied gently. "Even Jessie says that it is lovely. You should become a singer! You'll make a mint!"

Miyamoto laughed and there was the sound of movement. "You are crazy Joe," she said. "Come on, I've got enough time to sing to Jessie too before we have to go on the new mission." The movement continued.

"Do you want a better photo of her?" Joe asked.

"No," Miyamoto said. "I like that one of her crying. It reminds me that I love her. Come on, quiet now, I don't want to wake up Ash."

The room fell silent and there was a 'click' as the tape reached the end and auto-stopped. Ash was suddenly on his feet and running as fast as he could. Misty rose to follow, but suddenly Jessie was at her side. She shook her head and then turned to follow him out of the building.

***

Ash was kneeling on an earthen embankment, crying helplessly. Raichu was cuddled up to him, helpless to reassure him or comfort him.

"Ash?" Jessie called gently. "Ash… I… are you okay?"

"What do you think?" Ash hissed. "I have just been told my whole life was a fucking lie! How would you feel?"

Jessie reeled back from Ash's venomous shout. "Ash, I'm sure The Boss had his reasons," she said, although she felt her own heartbreak. "He has told us the truth now. We have to move on!"

"Jessie it isn't that easy," Ash said with a sigh. He wiped the tears from his eyes. "All my life I idolised my mystery father. My Mom… I guess I should call her my Aunt Delilah now… She told me that he had been a great Pokémon Master. I forced myself through agony at school to get the grades I needed to go on a Pokémon Journey. I have been through fire, ice, flood and drought to become a Master, to follow in my father's footsteps. Now I learn that he was a Team Rocket agent, one of the best! I have lost everything that gave my life meaning!"

"Don't give me that!" Jessie snapped. "What about your Pokémon? What about Misty? Are you going to forget all they have done for you just because your parents weren't who you thought they were?"

"I… I feel like I have misled them," Ash said. "How can I ask them to be my friends anymore? I don't know who I am any more!"

"You are being so selfish!" Jessie shouted suddenly, slapping Ash across the face. "Are you the only one who is hurting, Ash? Think of how this has affected your friends!"

"I don't know if that is what they are any more," Ash said in a hollow tone of voice. "They… they're friends with Ash Kechum of Pallet Town, not with Ash, the nephew of Giovanni of Team Rocket!"

Raichu butted his hand with his head. [You are still my Trainer,] the electric squirrel insisted. [I still love you.]

"You are still the same person!" Jessie snapped. "Nothing has changed for you! I'm the one who has problems! I've wasted ten years of my life, wondering about my past and about who my family were," Jessie said. "Now I learn that my family was closer by than I imagined but that it was all kept from me! All that time when I could have been reclaiming my past has been wasted! I feel…" Jessie paused and sighed, a sob snagging her breath. "I feel dirty and used, Ash. I feel like someone has raped my soul for their own purposes."

"Jessie, don't feel bad," Ash said. His natural compassion brought him to his feet and he grabbed her by the shoulders. "None of this is your fault!"

"If it isn't my fault, then it isn't yours either," Jessie said tartly, shaking Ash's hands off her shoulders. "If I'm not allowed to wallow in self-pity, then neither are you!"

Ash looked a bit surprised and took a step back. "Who is trying to comfort who here?" he asked after staring at Jessie for a long moment.

Jessie shot Ash an equally befuddled look. "I… I'm not sure," she admitted. She started to giggle. "I thought I was trying to help you, and you end up trying to help me!" Jessie started laughing as Ash began to chuckle, then laugh out loud.

"I remembered you," Ash said through his laughter. "When we fought at the Pokémon Centre in Viridian City for the first time, I was certain I knew you from somewhere! Now I know where!" Ash was laughing his head off by now.

"I knew you too!" Jessie shouted through her laughter, tears streaming down her cheeks. "From that very first moment! I had all sorts of dreams of Mama with a black haired baby! I thought I was going mad!"

The two young people fell into each other's arms, still laughing their heads off. After a moment they calmed down, but didn't release the hug. "Dear Jessie, by Madonna," Ash suddenly said.

Jessie's eyes grew wide. "What makes you mention that song?" she asks.

"It has always been on my mind," he said. "It haunts my dreams, and now I know why. I bet you a year's pay that Mom was going to sing that to you before she left."

"Yes… yes that was always my favourite song when I was young," Jessie said, awed. "I remembered it even when I couldn't remember the context…" Jessie paused and looked at Ash. "It is all true, isn't it?" she asked.

"Yes," Ash said, calmer now. "I think I can accept it. Everything fits my few memories of my first year of life. It… feels right too."

"I think I would like to have a little brother," Jessie said with a silly smile.

"I would love to have a big sister," Ash replied with a grin. On an impulse, he leaned forward and kissed his sister on her cheek. Jessie blushed and let Ash lead her back towards the Residence.

***

Ash and Jessie re-entered the room, still hand-in-hand. James and Misty jumped to their feet and rushed over to their respective lovers.

Jessie literally fell into James' arms and hugged him as tightly as she could, tears streaming down her face. "My love," she whispered into his ear.

Misty kept her distance and treated Ash with the fearful respect one would give a wounded Houndoom. She watched as Ash knelt in front of the coffee table and picked up the photograph. She knelt beside him, a strange feeling in her chest as if something very important were happening. Ash reached out to each of the figures in the photograph reverently. "Dad," he murmured, "Mom, sister." Ash shook his head. "Somehow… I always knew I wasn't who I thought I was. I always knew there was an unspoken truth about my parentage."

"I still love you, Ash," Misty replied stoutly. "Just because you weren't the child of Delilah and some mystery trainer doesn't change what I feel for you. Nothing can change that."

"I know," Ash whispered. "You are why I'm still alive, you know." He hugged her. Suddenly he whispered something into her ear. "Want to get married?" he asked. Misty sat back, shocked. "Not just yet, of course," he continued. "But soon."

Misty was saved from having to answer by Giovanni re-entering the room. "So, have you come to terms with this truth yet?" the man asked harshly. James peered closely at The Boss. Had he been… crying?

"I have come to terms with the fact that my biological parents were your brother and sister in law," Ash replied angrily. "I have come to terms with the fact that Jessie is biologically my sister, but the woman who has cared for me all my life is still my mother. Nothing has changed for me."

Giovanni smiled slightly. "I expected you'd feel like that," he said. "You should never lose your love for Delilah, Ash. She deserves better than to be abandoned like that."

"Boss… how did our parents die?" Jessie suddenly asked. "You've told me a story about Mew, but I wonder if that, too, was a 'necessary' lie."

Giovanni sighed. "You're right and wrong," he said. "This is hard, but I suppose you've got to know. Joe and Miyamoto had an informant who told them that a trainer had caught a Mew and that it was at the Pallet Town Pokémon Research Centre. They went to Pallet Town, and found that it was a trap. The Security Police were waiting and opened fire without giving them a chance to surrender. Their informant was the Deputy Director of the Centre, one Doctor Samuel Okido Oak. He betrayed and murdered your father and mother."

There was a long, horrified pause. "Why?" James suddenly asked. "Why so much blood? What is the cause that meant we have to fight in a war?"

Giovanni raised an eyebrow. "A good question, James," he said. "You will, of course, remember the Cause as it is described in Basic Training. Why don't you tell us what it is Misty?"

Misty jumped, a little surprised. "We're fighting to break the power of the U.N. Governing Committee," she said. "We're fighting to make Kanto, Johto and Orange self-governing and to allow Trainers to take their place in society as something other than gladiators for the entertainment of the masses."

"I don't know about you," Ash murmured to James, "but I found that suspiciously vague." James grinned and nodded.

"And it is purposely so, Ash," Giovanni said, demonstrating his skill at lip-reading. "The real Cause of Team Rocket is known only to the Inner Council and a few other very senior agents and support personnel. One of the reasons for this is that it is such an immense concept that we know that it would intimidate and scare off a lot of potential recruits."

Giovanni smiled around at the expressions on the four young people's faces. "I will explain it as best as I can. First you need to watch this tape." Giovanni pulled a DVD-R from his briefcase and put it in the player in the room's entertainment system. He picked up the remote and pressed 'play.'

The holographic wide-screen TV activated, images projected on a Xenon mist generated from the hollow plastic frame. An animated computer graphic appeared, one that James recognised as the logo of the long-defunct Cable News Network news agency. "This is CNN!" a portentous voice boomed. A dateline appeared at the bottom of the screen. 'July 2^nd 2020.'

A white-haired man, identified by a pop-up caption as 'Harry Carter' appeared on the screen. The man looked flushed and was reading from some hastily prepared notes. "We interrupt our scheduled broadcast to bring you breaking news from the Russian Federation!" the man declared. "President Alexander Putin of the Russian Federation has been assassinated in a bloody assault on his presidential motorcade in central Moscow. CNN correspondent Wolf Blitzer is on the scene. Wolf."

The screen changed to show a harassed-looking African-American man, pressing a radio transceiver earpiece to his head. A street in Moscow, filled with smouldering wreckage, dominated the background behind him. "Thank you, Harry," he said. "It was a sunny day in summertime Moscow and President Putin, the man who had kept an iron grip on Russian politics for two decades and the person widely held responsible for the death of Russia's second brief experiment in democracy, was returning to the Kremlin from his out-of-town Dacha…"

"The original of this report in Team Rocket's archives is the only copy of this report left in the world," Giovanni interrupted. He was watching the three-decade old news broadcast as intently as the others were. "The UN put a lot of pressure on the news agencies to delete every copy of every report and every bit of original footage of this incident. Reporters were bribed and the event was expurgated from the history books. People these days know that Putin was assassinated, but not how."

"Why?" Misty asked.

"Because some things are too dangerous for any government, even nominal democracies, to ever let their people know. However, CNN was always so quick to get its' reports on the air, this broadcast went out before the security lock-down took effect. That's one of the reasons the station doesn't exist anymore."

"Then, violence descended on this peaceful street like a bolt from the blue and a new era of international terrorism surely began," Blitzer was continuing. "We will let the unedited footage, taken by a camera crew from the Russian Interfax news agency, tell the whole story."

Then the picture changed to the same street. The cameras tracked to show a large convoy of heavily armoured vehicles escorting a trio of black limousines through the centre of the street. Suddenly, a shadow fell and a massive shape dropped out of the sky and landed in front of the leading motorbikes of the motorcade.

The Rhydon bellowed defiance, drove its' mighty hands into the street and ripped up a house-sized bit of black-top, holding it up like a kind of barricade. The vehicles squealed to a halt, except for the lead four motorbikes, which rode up the suddenly inclined road and flew into the air, sending the riders tumbling through the air.

The lead APC began to fire on the Rhydon with its' turret-mounted 20mm automatic cannon. The bullets, intended to kill trucks and lightly armoured helicopters, bounced off the rock-type's quartic crystal hide like soft rubber balls.

Then another shadow fell and a huge Dragonite, as graceful as any of the species the watchers had seen, dropped out of the sky and landed beside the Rhydon. The Dragonite had a single rider on its' back, probably its' Trainer. Several armed soldiers leapt from the first two APCs and ran forward, pointing their guns and shouting warnings in Russian. The Trainer reached behind him and pulled out a Pokéball. He activated it, releasing a Magneton. The small electric-type jumped over the barricade and unleashed a wide-angle Thunder-shock attack, sending the soldiers crashing to the ground, smouldering and twitching.

What happened next was almost too quick to take in easily. The three limousines began to reverse away as two more APCs charged along the right side of the convoy towards the Pokémon. The Trainer pointed and the Rhydon charged at the armoured vehicles. The massive rock-type lowered its head and speared the leading APC with a Drill Horn attack. Then it used Horn Toss to slam the APC end-over-end into the second vehicle. Both armoured vehicles exploded into a ball of flame, wreckage tumbling through the air.

Simultaneously, Dragonite used Ice Storm to frost the road. The limousines began to skid and swerve, unable to get any traction on the icy road surface. The Trainer released a Magmar and a Venusaur. The huge plant-type unleashed a Razor Leaf attack that took out the remaining motorcycle outriders and also shredded the limousines' and the surviving APCs tires.

Another group of soldiers left one of the surviving APCs two carrying what looked like hand-held anti-tank missiles. The Trainer barely gestured and Magmar fired a Flame-thrower attack at them, turning them into blazing stick figures before they could bring their weapons to bear. Magmar then breathed out a Firestorm attack that consumed the two leading APCs. Although the flame couldn't penetrate the armour plate, it made the temperature inside skyrocket. The rear doors swung open and a few soldiers tumbled out, already dying of heat stroke.

"Venusaur, Vine Whip!" the Trainer called. The Venusaur reached out with its vine whips and tore the limousines' doors off one by one. Russian Secret Service guards charged from the first and third limousine, but they fared no better against Magneton than the soldiers. Four air-launched wire-guided anti tank missiles shrieked towards the Dragonite, but the Dragon-type used a Bubble Beam defence. The missiles dropped loosely to the ground and exploded, one taking out one of the limousines in a massive fireball. A helicopter swung in, firing a gattling gun from a turret under its' nose. However, a single Solar Blast attack from Venusaur turned the helicopter gunship into slivers of burning metal, falling to the street like leaves.

"Come out, tyrant!" the Trainer shouted. There was a pause before he repeated the order in Russian. "Okay, you asked for it, Ghastly, use Terror!" The Trainer's released a Ghastly, who floated forward, washing a psychic attack, which looked like a heat haze, over the second limousine

Then a figure, a man in his sixties in a sober business suit, leapt from the car and began to run as three other men jumped out and began to fire sub-machineguns. They lasted less than half a second before Ghastly blew them across the street and through the plate glass of a shop front with a Psi Beam attack. Dragonite used Water Gun on the fleeing man, soaking him from head to toe. Then the Trainer shouted another command: "Magneton, Lightning Bolt!"

A triple whiplash of blue-white lightning struck the soaking man, who was stumbling and slipping on the ice-covered roads. The man screeched briefly in agony as the electrical attack consumed him. After a few seconds, Magneton ceased fire. A smouldering, charred body fell to the pool of water melted in the ice and lay still.

The Trainer turned to the camera, which had zoomed on his face. It wasn't even a man. The Trainer looked younger than Ash, barely out of childhood. He spoke in Russian, but someone at CNN's Atlanta headquarters provided a translation. "I have done this for the Russian people!" he shouted. "Too long have they had to tremble under the heel of one dictator or another; dictators aided and abetted by church, army, police and business to the point that no one dared resist them! No more! The tyrant is dead! Russia is free!"

The Trainer recalled Venusaur, Ghastly, Magmar, Rhydon and Magneton. Dragonite spread its' wings and launched itself into the air. The cameraman tracked the Dragon-type Pokémon as it vanished into the sky, the double boom of it breaking the sound barrier making the picture shake for a moment.

Giovanni paused the video. "The most paranoid dictator of the first years of the 21^st Century," he said. "The most hated by his own people and the most heavily guarded. One hundred and forty soldiers, ten secret service agents, three limousines, capable of resisting a direct hit from one light anti-tank missile, four BRM-9 armoured personnel carriers and a Mi-24E gunship helicopter. All taken out by what looks like a sixteen-year old boy and six high-level Pokémon. One of the world's top three powers decapitated in a single move. If he wanted to, he could have gone on to wipe out the country's Politburo and all the rest of the apparatus of power in Moscow before anyone could have acted, but he had realised that Putin was the key. Without him as the centre, the whole thing collapsed. Russia fell apart and there is no one 'Russia' any more, but a series of republics that arose in the total power vacuum that existed without Putin's web of fear, patronage and thought control."

Giovanni's eyes were unfocussed as he continued to speak. "They tried to get him, my young friends. But flesh and blood doesn't show up well on radars, and the infrared emissions of a reptile like a Dragonite are just too low to detect easily. Oh, some pilots got lucky, if you can call it that. He and his Dragonite destroyed at least ten fighter aircraft on his way back to Kanto."

There was a long silence as Giovanni ejected the DVD, put it back in its' case and returned it to his briefcase. "My grandfather, Michael Ketchum, owned his own news organisation here in Kanto, Red-R News, when all this happened. He watched the original broadcast on CNN in the last minutes before it was suddenly taken off the air. He listened to the blatant threats to the news agencies coming from the American and Japanese governments as well as the U.N. However, he knew that what had happened was more than just the long-overdue execution of a vile criminal. He knew that what he saw… was the dawn of a new world order."

"What?" Jessie shook her head and looked at Giovanni in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"Imagine a world, if you will, where no politician would ever dare lie to the electorate. Imagine a world where no police force could murder an innocent man and hope to survive the night. Imagine a world where no business that polluted and ravished the world while ignoring the wishes of the people could continue trading." Giovanni smiled. "Imagine a world where every man and woman were so empowered and so powerful… that government without the consent and continual agreement of the masses were an absolute impossibility. Where the mightiest and most loyal of armies could not protect a nation's leaders from the ordinary people should that leader fail them. My grandfather knew that this was the gift that the Pokémon offered us. If a majority of the people of the world had at least one Pokémon, then we would have a world where any form of tyranny and oppression were not only impossible, but utterly unthinkable. A world where power rested in the hands of those to whom it belonged: the people."

"You're talking about anarchy," Misty protested.

"No," Giovanni said. "I'm talking about democracy in its purest and most perfect form! A world where the people decide, and where they hold the power and those in positions of oversight must serve them or face certain punishment."

"That's a… utopia, I think," James murmured.

"No," Ash whispered back. "A utopia is a world without any need to strive any more. This sounds more like a kind of Pokémon Marxism."

"But it seemed that the old order was intent on smothering this dawn when it had barely begun," Giovanni continued. "The U.N. declared a total quarantine of Kanto, Johto and Orange, allegedly to 'protect ecologically sensitive regions from the immense power of these creatures.' No Pokémon was allowed outside of this region. Any that were, mostly in zoos and private collections were seized and culled, often over their owner's dead bodies.

"Within six months of President Putin's assassination, the League came into existence, a glorious new opportunity for competition and brotherhood between Trainers." Giovanni laughed bitterly. "What an impossible joke! What the League did, indeed what it was intended for from the outset, was keep Trainers content with vulgar mass media celebrity and kept them divided and at each other's throats over match statistics and the relative quality of their Pokémon when they should be united for their common interests! Meanwhile, the Pokémon Centres systematically poisoned and stunted Trained Pokémon in a desire to minimise the threat they posed to the status quo.

"Grandfather saw through all the lies. He realised that, if Pokémon were ever to become the force for freedom he hoped, and if Trainers were ever to be free of the League and its' careful control of their every action, he would have to give them a different organisation to whom to turn to. He would have to give them an alternate path to let them recognise the potential of the power they were seeking. He sold his businesses and spent the rest of his life setting up an underground organisation to oppose the League and fight to set Trainers free of the bonds of the old order. He gave that organisation a name: Team Rocket."

"The U.N. is not run by fools by any means. They are the best and brightest from the global bureaucratic empire and they realised that something like this would happen. They founded The Project with the express goals of monitoring and controlling Pokémon development here on the ground in Kanto. The Project was under orders to identify and eliminate any threat to the strict control of Pokémon in this region. It's ultimate aim, as far as we know, is to totally eliminate any Pokémon activity outside the League and the Breeding Ranches, probably including the total eradication of wild Pokémon and the use of the most effective behavioural conditioning to limit Trainers' ambitions to the League and its' competitions."

"Oh, in their own minds, they are doing the right thing," Giovanni concluded. "They tell themselves that they are trying to protect the world from chaos that they feel Pokémon would cause. But in truth, they are servant and protector to tyranny of every kind from lying politicians to fat, greedy and thoughtless tycoons. They are simply acting to preserve their own power from the possibility that true power may land in the hands of the grout they hate, fear and distrust more than anyone else, the ordinary man and woman."

"So… why are you telling us this?" Ash asked.

"Oh, it is quite simple," Giovanni said gently. "The time has almost come for their plans to bear fruit, though in what form I do not yet know. However, Team Rocket has an ace up our sleeves. We have a weapon that they cannot fight, one they have been to a great deal of trouble and risk to destroy. That is you, Ash."

"M… me?"

"Yes, you, your sister and your friends," Giovanni said. "You are, quite simply, the finest Trainers ever to walk the earth. Your brotherhood with your Pokémon is something unlike anything I have ever seen before. However, you especially Ash Ketchum, the Chosen One, are the lynchpin of the entire world's hopes for a future of freedom. It is your destiny to expose and destroy the plans of this barbaric and amoral conspiracy. It is your destiny to set Pokémon free."

To be continued…

Next time on Team Rocket Neo…

• The final battle between the old world order and the forces that would forge a new world society begins…
• Sides are chosen…
• Allies are identified…
• Enemies are exposed…

All this and more in Team Rocket Neo: Part 6 – Dark Victory, coming soon to a library server near you!