A/N: Just to clear up any confusions anyone mighta had, NO, this has absolutely nothing to do with absolutely any of my other fics. That means any made up characters from there probably don't exist…*^_~*;

Chapter 3

A weary, yet proud team trodded to the cafeteria counter. There was no one around it, because most everyone had already gotten their supper and were eating it. Ash reached up and smacked the side with his fist.

"Hey! We could use a little grub here!" he yelled.

"Nah, we could use a lotta grub here," Meowth corrected.

An exhausted Rocket cafeteria worker leaned over the counter to peer at the two. "D'ya wanna specify or should I feed ya the bugs from the corners?" she asked dully.

Ash and Meowth stuck their tongues out in disgust. "Ewww yuck!" they vocalized.

The 'lunch lady' drummed her fingers on the counter. "Well then?"

Meowth coughed something that sounded unusually like the word "tuna." Ash sweatdropped.

"We'll have the uhh…tuna buffet!" he ordered.

She raised an eyebrow. "There's no such thing, twerp."

"Oh yeah!? Well there is now!" he retorted.

"Yeah, jus' hurry up wid da tuna!" Meowth added.

The lunch lady groaned and went to the kitchen to gather everything tuna for the kid and his cat. She came back a while later with a tray loaded with tuna sandwich, tuna salad, tuna casserole, and tuna tuna. Ash took it gratefully and strode through the crowded tables, looking for a seat. Eventually, he found himself being waved over to a table by Jessie and James. Not wanting to tick them off anymore in one day, he fell into a chair besides James. Meowth immediately hopped off his shoulder and began scooping up the food with his paws, sampling a little of each all at once.

"You two are gonna eat all that tuna!?" James cried in disbelief.

"Yepf!" Meowth replied through full jaws.

"Uhh…Meowth'll probably eat most of it," Ash admitted, sweatdropping.

"Yu gotta try dis, it's dewicious!" Meowth said, offering Ash a pawful of tuna.

"Uh…I'll stick to uh…this…" he replied, picking up one of the sandwiches and taking a bite.

Jessie propped her head on her hand and smiled mischievously. "So, twerp, what've you been up to?"

Predictably, all traces of his weariness vanished at that question. Ash grinned and took another bite of his sandwich before answering. "Me and Meowth have been training really hard! We were out there sparring, and we were unbeatable! Isn't that right Meowth!?"

Meowth just nodded as he continued to dive into the food.

"See?" Ash said, "That's why Meowth gets all this tuna!"

Jessie and James exchanged glances and smiled. James casually rested his chin on his hand as well and asked, "Ash, are you sure you were unbeatable? No one beat you? Not even once?"

Ash swallowed loudly and hesitated. "Umm…Nope! Never! We beat all challengers!"

"…Even that big Ursaring…?"

"Yeah! Even him!"

Jessie sighed in boredom. "I bet I would've beaten you."

"You would not!!"

"I could too!" James piped up.

"No you wouldn't!"

"Oh come on," Jessie chided, "What can your little Meowth do against my Ekans?"

"Meowth can beat it, that's what!"

"And Koffing?"

"No problem!!"

Jessie drew tiny circles on the table with her finger. "And what do past records say about your claims, junior?"

"…Uhh…It doesn't matter! We're stronger than ever, and I don't see you guys doing any training ever!"

"We…don't need to," Jessie answered haughtily, "We're already that good."

"Yeah, well maybe you guys think you're pretty tough, but you wouldn't last a day outside of Team Rocket! Me and Meowth are ready for the big leagues, aren't we Meowth!?"

"Dat's wight!" Meowth chimed in through a facefull of tuna.

"…The big leagues…?" James wondered aloud.

Jessie frowned. "Ash, just what would you know about the world outside of Team Rocket?"

He flushed slightly. "I…I…I know enough to know that they're tougher than you are! And me and Meowth are gonna take 'em all by storm! We're gonna be the best!"

"Bettah dan da best!" Meowth reminded him.

"Oh yeah! Better than the best!"

All previous amusement faded from the Rockets' faces. They glanced at each other, then turned to their twerp, this time with pity in their eyes.

"…You're really serious about this, aren't you?" Jessie asked quietly.

"Of course! I'm gonna be a um…What's the word again?"

"Master?" James supplied nervously.

"Yeah, that. I'm gonna be a master!"

"Da best masteh evah!" Meowth reminded him again.

"Yeah!"

"…Oh boy…" Jessie groaned inwardly, "Ash, what makes you think you can do that…?"

"We've been training hard!" he replied indignantly, "We're ready to take on anything that comes our way! Nothing's gonna stop us!"

"……Not even your dad?"

"Not even-……" He froze in midsentence.

Jessie and James looked at him expectantly. They knew they must've gotten their point across.

Ash frowned and crossed his arms. "…Of course not even him," he said quietly, "Once Dad sees what a great trainer I am, he's gonna have to let me go!"

"Once he sees what a great trainer you are, he's going to make sure you stay here for Team Rocket," Jessie corrected.

"He is not!"

"Oh, believe me Junior…The boss wants nothing more than for you to become outstanding Rocket…Why don't you stick to being the best at that?"

"I already am and you know it!" Ash shouted, standing up, "When I'm ten I'm gonna get a license and I'm gonna go and become a Pokémon Master! And no one's gonna stop me, not even Dad!!"

He glared hotly at them, the frustration and anger burning through him eager to explode at them. When they opted to avoid his gaze and not reply, he couldn't take it anymore. He grabbed Meowth by the scruff of the neck, while the poor cat was still trying to scarf down all the fish in sight.

"Come on, Meowth. Let's go show these two what we're made of!"

"Mmm-ff-gwa!" Meowth exclaimed when bits of tuna fell out of his mouth when he tried to reply.

Dragging his Pokémon along, Ash stomped off through the cafeteria, threw the doors open loudly enough for the everyone in the room to look over to see what the noise was. When they saw it was just the kid again, they went back to their meals with only a few glances at his watches.

Jessie slumped over the the table, half-hid her face with her hand, and sighed. "This isn't going to end prettily," she commented.

          *  *  *

Meowth clutched the last piece of tuna he'd been able to salvage and stared nervously up at his trainer while he literally hung at arm's length. He hadn't really been paying attention to the conversation, but Ash sure seemed mad about something. It kind of scared him. His trainer had always been excitable, but he had a generally cool temper. A mood like this was rare.

"Um…Where ah we goin'?" he ventured up the courage to ask.

"Dad."

"Uhhhh…Ya suwe abowt dat?"

"Yeah."

"Uh…Okie…"

Meowth gingerly licked the tuna he held in his paws and watched whichever Rockets happened to be in the hallways move swiftly to the side when they saw Ash marching towards them. It was like watching a stray Tauros wandering through the streets of Pamplona during their swap festival.

As they neared their destination, Meowth tensed, unwittingly tightening his grip on the fish with his claws which let the juice flow and drip to the floor. Once, Meowth might have done anything to stay in Giovanni's office for as long as he pleased, if it meant the comforting love and affection awarded through fond strokes and massages…but he could get that from Ash, and he'd never say this to Giovanni's face, but Ash was a lot gentler and warm. When he'd seen the way they acted toward each other, he felt disgusted. He had no reason to want to go back in there for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

"Hey, Ash, aw ya absolutely suwe ya wanna go in dere?" he asked hesitantly.

"Yes."

"Uhh…"

Geez, he's serious about this…

Meowth started to squirm to get out of Ash's tight grasp. "Well, why don't you go in dere yowself and Ay'll just waid out heywe…?"

"No way! I need you to come with me so Dad can see how strong you are!"

Meowth finally stopped struggling, seeing that it was pointless. It always was when Ash was like this. "Meeowwth…" he sighed.

Then they were there…Ash pushed the door open without even so much as knock and strode in purposefully. "Dad!?" he shouted upon entry, regardless that his father was sitting directly across from the door.

Giovanni was also having a heated conversation on the vidphone and simply shot his son a glare and waved to shoo him out of the room. Ash narrowed his eyes and marched across to the desk and crossed his arms over the top and rested his head there, which was hard, considering he wasn't much taller than the desk.

"Dad!" he yelled again.

"Can't you see I'm busy!?" Giovanni shouted, then turned back to the screen, "Sorry, my…son just came into the room…You were saying?"

The voice on the other line began to babble again and he nodded a few times and encouraged the voice to go on.

"Hello? Dad!! I'm trying to talk to you here!"

"Go away," Giovanni whispered meaningfully through gritted teeth.

"But I wanna-! Er…I have a question!!" Ash insisted.

"Hold on a moment," Giovanni told the person on the line apologetically, then glared angrily at his son. "Look, I am sure that whatever it is you want to say can wait until I'm off the phone! Now silence yourself!" He sighed and picked up the phone. "I'm sorry…Now…Yes…Yes, I realize would be more efficient, but have you looked at the costs?…Mm-hm…Yes, perhaps you could find a way to lower them…?"

Ash growled to himself and stood back a little, then gave up and plopped himself into one of the stiff office chairs positioned around Giovanni's desk. Meowth hopped into his lap and purred, if only to comfort them both.

After what seemed like an eternity, Giovanni finally hung up and swiveled his chair around to face Ash. His hard-lined face was narrowed in a disapproving frown which could have frozen a volcano, or at least most Rockets. Ash on the other hand, responded by doing his best to return the favor, if only succeeding in making a scrunched up frowny face.

"This had better be important," Giovanni told him icily.

"It is!" Ash shot back, "A lot more important your stupid executives!"

Giovanni took a breath in through his teeth. "They are not stupid," he said slowly, "else they would not be executives…and few things are more important than the welfare of Team Rocket."

"I'm more important!" Ash retorted, and Meowth visibly winced, knowing what the answer would be coming from Giovanni.

"You…" he whispered, "…are a part of Team Rocket…" He breathed in tensely. He had to word this carefully. "Your welfare is important to the welfare of Team Rocket…"

That statement drew silence from the boy, who stared at the head Rocket with true iciness, not an imitated one.

"…I have a question…" he stated finally.

Giovanni raised an eyebrow. "And what might that be?"

"I…" Ash stared down at his dangling feet and milky feline. Determination came to him and he stood up decidedly. "I want to be a Pokémon trainer!" he announced.

Giovanni sighed. "You already are…remember? That's why I gave you Meowth…"

"No, I know that! But that's not what I meant! I wanna be a real trainer! I wanna go out and collect badges and travel all over the world and compete in tournaments and-"

"You know you can't do that!" Giovanni said, aghast.

"Yes I can!! All I need is a license and-"

"A license!?"

"Yeah, so I can-"

"What an absurdity! You know that's impossible!"

"It is not!! You have one don't you!? So why can't I-!?"

"Because you are staying here and training with the rest of the team!"

"But I don't want t-"

"That is final!"

"Dad!!"

"Don't raise your voice to me!!"

"I'll raise it to whoever I want!" Ash screamed, "And I want a lic-!!"

He was cut off by a vicious slap across the face. He gasped and held a hand to his cheek, shocked not by the slap itself, he'd been hit by others, but by the intensity of it. Struggling to fight tears of pain, he raised an angry face to his father.

"…I told you not to raise your voice to me…" Giovanni said coldly.

The boy sniffled and wiped away hated tears. "…I want a license…" he whispered, "Trainers are supposed to get 'em when they're ten, and I'm gonna be ten soon and-"

"You are only nine," Giovanni hissed.

"…Nine and three fourths…" Ash corrected bitterly.

"It doesn't matter! You are not getting a license and that's that!"

"But why not!? Lots of other kids get theirs when they turn ten and-"

"You don't know that for a fact!"

"But-!"

"There is a difficult test that you must pass in order to receive your license that you wouldn't pass anyway, and you must take it at a registered testing area, which would be outside of headquarters!"

"So!? I wouldn't mind going out and-"

"You are staying here."

"But Dad-!"

"No buts! Just stop delusioning yourself that you'll ever be something other than a Rocket!"

Ash bit his lip, making it even harder to fight tears. In desperation, he argued the last point he had left.

"M-m-mm…Mom woulda let me be a trainer!" he shouted as tears started to fall freely at the thought of the parent he'd never known…

Giovanni went rigid as fire blazed in his eyes. "…Don't you dare bring her into this!" he warned dangerously.

Even through his crying, Ash knew he'd hit a weak point and went on to exploit it to its fullest. "You know she would!" he continued to shout, "Mom woulda let me do anything I wanted! Mom woulda let me leave the headquarters, and Mom woulda, woulda…She woulda payed attention to me when I was talking to her, and she woulda-" A sharp scream escaped his mouth as Giovanni's fist connected with his face and he was knocked to the floor.

"I told you not to bring her into this!" Giovanni roared as his son cowered on the floor.

Ash hiccupped a few times and tried to ignore the blood he could taste and the pain which he knew was going to swell and bruise. "You know it's true…" he whimpered meekly.

Giovanni growled before taking his son by the collar and slapping him with a rough, broad hand again, then shoving him back to the floor.

"You don't have any idea what you're talking about…"

Ash wiped his mouth, leaving a smear of crimson on his hand. "I know she was better than you…" he whispered.

"That's IT! I've had enough out of you! Leave here!"

Ash didn't remove his glare from Giovanni, but crawled back to the chair and used it to stand up.

"Meowth and me are strong. Real strong. I'm not just gonna be some wanna-be trainer, Dad. I'm gonna be a master…The best…And Mom's gonna be proud of me…"

"You will do no such thing!!"

"Yes I will! You just watch me!!"

"Don't raise your voice to me!!" Giovanni reprimanded him with another slap.

"Stop hitting me!!"

Another slap. Harder.

"Don't tell me what to do!"

"Stop telling me what to do!" Ash cried and tried to fight back, throwing punches wildly and landing most of them, but not making much of an impact at all. Giovanni stopped his attack by putting a hand to his forehead and pushing him backwards. There was a violent silence as Ash stopped to catch his breath before charging again. This time, he was stopped by a fist. He staggered backwards and fell, but picked himself up again quickly, as he'd learned to do in sparring sessions…but this wasn't an organized duel…This was a brawl, and he was losing pathetically…He knew when to give up and sniffled quietly for a moment, before choking his voice out as his last weapon.

"…I hate you," he whispered.

"What did you say?" Giovanni demanded.

"…I hate you!!" Ash shouted as loud as could, scratching his already dry throat. Tears were streaming down his face as he screamed it one last time before stumbling to turn around and running out of the room and in doing so threw the door open so hard it hit the wall.

Meowth, who had been too scared stiff to do anything before, made no hesitation to flee after his trainer, hoping that he could catch up with him.

Giovanni held back a strained sigh as they left. His son…often more trouble than he was worth…so far…He had the strength and the attitude of a great leader, but he was not a leader yet, and until then had to learn how to hold his tongue. Giovanni shook his head sadly and trodded back around and dropped into his seat behind his desk. His hand wandered and soon found the head of a nervous Persian. He stroked it absently and stared into space.

"…You don't think he means that, do you Persian…?" he asked.

"…Per?"

Giovanni couldn't understand what Persian had said, so he ignored it.

"He must just be at that age……I know he doesn't hate me…" He gazed up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "A Pokémon Master? Can you imagine that, Persian? He wants to become a Pokémon Master…Now where on earth did he get a silly idea like that…?"

"Perrsian?"

"…I'm sure he'll get over it…" Giovanni blinked and brought himself back to the present place and time. "Now…about that deal Ichiko was trying to make…"