1-2

Part 2 : Storms in Orange

Chapter 6 : A cry in the Night

Brock looked at every shadow on the ground, being sure to illuminate every spot of darkness with his powerful flashlight. Dimly, he heard Gary and professor Oak calling in the distance, but intent as he was on looking for the wounded - probably dying pokemon - he could not divert his attention to what they were saying.

He pushed a few branches out of the way, clearing his path, hoping he would reach the wounded creature in time. He had to save it, somehow. He caught a glimmer of movement in the bushes to his left, and as he looked he saw a rattata scurrying away - though a strange one, but he had no time for that at that point. He had to find the pokemon.

There was a low squeal from somewhere nearby, a sound unmistakable - that of a wounded pokemon. Brock hurriedly pushed branches aside, not bothering that some of the branches snapped back in place, whipping his side, and finally he reached the source of the squealing. A wounded pikachu, lying on the forest floor, by a pidgeot.

Then his eyes narrowed as a dreadful suspicion crept up his mind. A pikachu. Not just any pikachu, maybe...He frantically looked at the beast, searching for some telltale mark...

And found one - it was indeed Ash's pikachu. The old scars of that encounter with a flock of spearows and fearows, on their first day of traveling together, before Brock had even met them. "Gary! Professor! I found them!" he yelled, breaking the silence of the forest

The two of them soon came crashing through the wood, reaching him from two direction but at almost the same time. Gary took a look at them, and his eyes widened.

"Are those two pokemon the two I think they are?" he asked.

"Yup. At least the pikachu is." Brock shortly answered.

"Well, show how much of a looser he..." Gary began, then interrupted himself.

Professor Oak bent to look closely at the two bodies.

"That pidgeot is going to make it." He finally said. "It's only exhaustion, and some rest in a pokeball will be enough." He finally said, then hesitated. Brock felt cold fear grip his heart as he wondered what it was that the professor had not yet told them.

"The pikachu, however...we have to get him to pokemon center as soon as we can. Else, he's dead - he was too badly wounded, and then he suffer from the same form of exhaustion."

"A pokemon center? But..." Brock began, knowing the nearest one was in Viridian.

"I'll get us all there. I have a car, remember? And I can't pass an occasion to get Ashy boy to have a debt toward me..." Gary said. Brock glared at him, angry that the young man would think of petty rivalries at such a critical time.

All three of them raced toward the lab, Gary carrying the pidgeot and Brock the pikachu. As he took a brief look at the young man, Brock almost sensed some emotion coming from him, though he could not name it. Maybe it was jealousy, or cockiness. Or maybe it was something else. Brock shook himself out of it and started running again - he could not afford to let Pikachu die on him. He had to find out what had happened for the little electric pokemon to leave Ash's side.

They finally got to the car, and left, heading at full speed toward Viridian, and Brock could only hope they would get there in time.

__________________________

With a weary sigh, Richie pushed open the door of the pokemon center of Viridian, finally getting there. He had planned on arriving there early in the evening, instead it was nearing midning and curfew as the finally dropped on one of the seat, letting his bag fall besides him.

The local nurse approached him.

"Hello young man...you are out late aren't you?"

"Took me more time than I expected to reach Viridian." He shortly answered, feeling more than a little frustrated at how his fine plans for the day had been thrown out of the window by one lucky - or rather, unlucky - encounter with a bug catched had led to a prolonged battle between their pokemon. The fact that the trainer had gotten an early cheap shot with his Parasect's spore attack, putting poor Zippo out of action all at once, had not helped. "Could you please take care of my pokemon? One of them got spored by a parasect, and, well..." he added.

"Of course. I should have them ready for tomorrow morning. Why don't you get some sleep in the mean..."

She was interupted as the door of the center crashed open, leaving room for a frantic trio to enter, two of them carrying pokemon. Richie gave them a quick glance, went back to his pokeball which he was about to handle to Nurse Joy...

And then his head snaped back toward the three of them. He knew them - professor Oak, Brock, Ash's friend, and that other guy, Ash's rival or some such. And one of the pokemon they were carrying was a pikachu...

"Brock!" he yelled, heading toward them.

The slightly older young teem took a quickl look at him.

"Richie?" he said tentatively.

"Yup! Is that Ash's pikachu? What happened to Ash?" Richie asked, worried about his friend.

"Yes, and we don't know." Brock answered quickly, before putting the pokemon before nurse Joy.

"Oh my god! This pokmeon nead treatment - immediatly." The nurse said , gaping in horror at the wounded creature. She immediatly picked it up, and, putting it on a stretcher, pushed it to the backroom, Professor Oak just behind her.

Brock, Richie and the other young man soon were left alone in the main room, and they went to sit down in a circle to talk.

"You're Richie Cotter aren't you?" the other young man - Ash's rival - suddenly asked.

"Yep, That's me." Richie answered automaticaly.

"I saw you in the league games last year...you did pretty well. That looser Ash sure got beaten good." The young man said.

"Ash? A looser?" Richie asked confusedly. Even though Ash had lost to him, he still considered that the fight had not been a fair one, due to Team Rocket kidnapping Ash, leaving some of his best pokemon out of the fight.

"Yeah...I'm Gary Oak." The offender finally presented himself.

"Pleased to meet you." Richie answered, barely keeping his voice from being frosty.

Suddenly, one of the doors that lead to the dormitory of the pokemon center opened and a young woman stepped in. She was in her nightrobe and not at all un-atractive - though Gary seemed to notice it far more than Richie did.

"What's all the noise about?" she asked, then, as her eyes fell on Brock, recognition appeared. "Brock? Is that you?" she suddenly asked.

"Yeah...Duplica, is that it?" Brock answered, while Richie looked curiously at the two, wondering how they knew each other.

"Yup. Do you know how Ash is? I was thinking about him..." she asked.

"No...we found his pikachu wounded near Pallet earlier tonight, and the noise was us bringing him in."

She sat down close to them, and as she darted a look at Gary, Richie had to conceal a grimace. For reasons she couldn't fathom, it seemed that the young woman actually found the whiny, arrogant young trainer interesting.

_________________________

Ethan Starkhad grimaced as he tried to think up a backup way of letting the two young ones friends know what had happened. Originally, he had planned to let the young man's pikachu get away to spread the tale, but now, of course, seeing as the poor beast had preferred to jump from a cliff rather than face capture, there was no way to do that. The other pokemon just wouldn't do, so, he would have to arrange it so that Jessie and James made a slip in public.

Of course, chances were, knowing the two, that he wouldn't have to arrange a thing, but he would all the same. He would not let any randomness play in his plans this time, and as he rose from his seat to look at the moon through the window of the mill, he could only smile. They would play right in his trap, and Team Rocket would die.

The way would be free for the Crimson Lotus to reveal itself.

__________________________

Gary looked again at the superb young woman who had just taken a seat next to him. She was stunning in every sense of the word, and although she seemed to have caught the eye of Richie as well, she actually kept darting look at him - but he could not, would not believe that she would actually fall in love with him.

"I wonder what happened to get Pikachu in that bad a state." Richie asked.

"I don't know..." Brock replied. "What worries me more is to see Pikachu without Ash...I wonder what happened to HIM..."

"Bah...well...I...I mean...well...." Gary stuttered. He had been about to say "Who care about that looser?" but he could not - would not say that with the young woman around.

"Well, seeing as they were after Pikachu definitely and Ash probably, I can name a very suspect group off the top of my head..." Richie said, and Gary glared at him. He was the one who had to find the answer, to impress the girl. If only she could see how great he was...Or rather, how great I'm not...I'm the pathetic looser, not Ash...she'd never fall for me... he thought with a weary inner sigh. He seemed so...unworthy...of her.

"Team Rocket" Brock nodded. "Obviously."

"You mean, those guys who actually got Ditto to do something right?" Duplica asked, looking at the two of them. "And also kidnapped him?"

"Yup, those." Brock nodded again, this time while looking at Duplica, which somehow gave Gary an unreasonable urge to punch him in the face.

"Oh, c'mon. Don't be such loosers - anyone would have reason to go after Ash..." he told them.

"I don't think so...I mean, it's not like people - aside from you Gary - tend to hate Ash..." whispered.

Gary winced as he heard the words, wishing he had kept his mouth shut.

Richie sighed. "Well, I think the rocket did it, but...We really can't do a thing about it for now..."

Brock nodded. "We should all get some sleep." He added.

"Well, first I think I'd like some more formal presentations." Duplica said, looking at him.

"Well, ok...Duplica, this is Richie Cotter, a pokemon trainer, and Gary Oak, another trainer. Richie, Gary, this is Duplica. She's out to become a mistress of Mimicron or some such..." Brock told them all.

"Mimicron?" Richie asked curiously.

"This." She whispered, disappearing for a moment behind a drape - to later reappear...

Or rather, to have a second Gary reappears in the room all of a sudden. Gary stared in shock at the...clone...of him that had just appeared, wondering how exactly she had done it.

Then, suddenly, the body became more feminine, turning from a perfect clone of himself into a girl wearing his clothes - Duplica.

"Now I think you know what Mimicron is." She said, winking at him. Gary felt his knees going weak, and had never been so thankful to be sitting.

Chapter 7 : Dark Tidings

With a weary sigh, Samuel Oak left the operation room of the Viridian pokemon center. All that he could do had been done, now it was time to wait - and see. Judging by the sky outside, it was already early morning, and Brock and Gary were sound asleep on the seats in the main hall - along with a young man - Ash's friend from the pokemon league, if he remembered correctly - and a young woman that seemed somehow familiar.

Sighing again, he woke them up.

"I think it's time to call Leman island - that's where Ash last was, as far as I know." He said. "Maybe someone will be able to help us?"
_________________________

The sun rose slowly over Leman island, bathing the world in a eerie light. Sitting in the pokemon ceter, Tracey could not help but worry about Ash and Misty. They had said they would be gone for three day at most, and not it was already the morning of the fourth one. He started packing, deciding to go out and search for them a little. Near the desk, he heard Nurse Joy slowly powering up the equipment, yawning as she did so.

Suddenly, the video-phone rang, and with another yawn, the nurse answered.

"Hello miss, is Ash Ketchum perhaps near your pokemon center right now?" the voice of the person calling saidé
"Ash Ketchum...Ash Ketchum...no, but I think that one of his friend his here." She turned toward Tracey, eyeing his travel bag.
"Aren't you a friend of Ash Ketchum? I think I heard you mentioning him once or twice..." she asked.
When he nodded, she moved away from the phone and motioned him forward. He went to the phone, wondering if he would learn anything about Ash's whereabout from the voice he had recognized as professor Oak's.
"Oh, Tracey! I should have known you would be somewhere around! Do you happen to know where Ash is?" The professor asked.
"No, and that worries me - a lot. He and Misty left for a three day trek in Mount Lemonade, but they haven't come back yet, and they left four days ago." Tracey answered quickly.
"We might have a problem...We found his pikachu dying close to my lab last night..." The world-famous professor slowly said.
"Pikachu would never leaves Ash...something is very wrong here..." Tracey replied, wondering whatever could have happened to split the two apart.

Suddenly, there was a second man on the screen, a young man who seemed about Tracey age, with sun-darkened skin, very small eyes and brown pants, as well as a green vest covering a orange shirt.

"Professor! Pikachu just woke up! Nurse Joy says he 's going to live!" he shouted at the professor.
"Well, let's see what that little mouse can tell us." The professor replied, then turned back toward the screen. "I'll call back as soon as we find out more!" He told Tracey.

_________________________

Brock and the professor entered the room, Richie, Duplica and Gary hot on their heels. Pikachu was on a sickbed, looking much better, though the wounds were still there, and he still seemed quite tired.

"Feeling better pikachu?" Brock asked grinning at the little mouse.
"Pi!" the little mouse nodded weakly.
"Can you tell us why you're here - or where's Ash for that matter?" the professor asked.
"Pi...ka" the little creature started, as the professor suddenly hit himself on the head with the palm of his hand.
"All right, I should have thought that we wouldn't understand a thing." He admited.
"Don't worry, I can deal with that." Duplica smiled. She took a pokeball from her belt and threw it to the ground. "DITO! I choose you!" she yelled.

The lavender amoebia appeared, and looked at the scene for a short while.

"Dito! Ask pikachu what happened to Ash." She ordered while Brock wondered what she was after. Of course, the Dito would be able to understand, but how would he pass that knowledge on to them?

The two pokemon chatted for a moment, and again Brock wondered why it was that the two understood each other so well despite having such a limited language. After a while of chatting, the dito turned toward his mistress. Duplica quickly nodded.

"Dito! Transform - human shape!"


The form of the amoeba seemed to blur for a moment, becoming indistinct, and then where a little lavender pokemon had stood barely a moment before stood instead a second Duplica, perfectly identical to the original one. Brock whistled as the new Duplica started to explain.

"Raiken says it was Team Rocket, as we suspected. He also says that Ash and Misty are being held by them on an abandoned mill on Leman Island, and that he escaped, though it was hard." The young - pokemon? Woman? Brock was not quite sure how to put it - told them. Brock looked again in amazement at the two, unable to find even the smallest difference between them.

Professor Oak seemed just as dumbfounded as he looked at them, apparently seeing something he had never thought he would, yet being forced to acknowledge it.

"How did you do...that?" he finally asked. "I thought Dito could only take the shape of other pokemon - or maybe inanimate objects, in some rare cases..." he added, wonderingly.
"I trained him a lot. Simple as that." She answered.
"Well, now we know what happened..." Brock mused, wondering what they should do now.
"I think we should try to find some help, and also ask Tracey to look around there for some information..." the professor told them, heading almost immediatly for the video phones..
___________________

Tracey walked on the steep mountin trail, following what, as far as he could tell, was the exact trail Ash and Misty would have followed five days before. He had left at dawn, expecting to be back in the day. and now the sun was already low on the horizon. He was making a conscious effort to be stealthy, knowing that he would be of no use to Ash and Misty if he got captured too. The forest was silent, and not even the wind shook the brances of the trees.

With the sun almost gone, he finally spotted a likely place for them to be held - what seemed to be an abandoned lumber mill, close to a small river, and with a cliff close by. The lumber mill seemed to be guarded by what he recognized as standard members of Team Rocket - black uniforms with a strange Hoshoan-looking hat.

"So. That's where they are...Ash and Misty are certainly inside." He whispered to himself.

He crept closer, to the building, still as silent as he could manage - and more beisde. As soon as he got close enough to see the features of the guards - at least in general details - he started observing carefully. To most others it would have been impossible to diferentiate the troopers, due to the uniform, the fact that they had the same general built and that their hair were hidden by their clothes, but to Tracey's eyes, eyes trained to find each and every small detail of a pokemon, each looked quite different. Whenever he saw another one, he quickly noted the major personal traits in his scrapbook, to be sure not to count the same rocket twice. After a while, he could estimate that there were about 12 or 15 rockets there, not including Jessie and James, whom he had not seen, but could easily assume were there, but including the black-cloaked stranged who seemed to be in charge.

"This will be a lot tougher than we tought..." he whispered once he was safely away, knowing that instead of going up against the two official numbskull they were so used to defeat they would have to face over ten standard rocket trainer - trainer he had no doubts were at the very least each a match for Jessie and James - and the mysterious stranger in the black cloak.
_______________________

By noon on the sixth day after Ash and Misty were captured, Brock, Gary, Richie and Duplica knew everything there was to know about the situation. They also knew that unless they managed to find a few allies, they would never see Ash and Misty again. They started planning almost immediatly, trying to find those who were most likely to help Ash and Misty out of the situation they had found themselves in. Of course, Misty's sisters volunteered to help as soon as they heard the news. As much as they claimed to be apart from their sister, they wouldn't let her down. They arrived soon, carrying with them the pokemon that Misty had left behind at Cerulean.

Surprisingly, the next to join them was one Brock would never have expected to see joining them, one of the gym leader who had the least reason to help, along with Giovanni, of course. As she calmly teleported near them, Sabrina of course had to explain the why of her presence, as no one seemed to understand.

"Gengar did not leave me a choice...It almost physically forced me to come here..." she explained, and even though he knew about her being different, Brock felt an incredibly strong itching to slowly edge away from her.
"Gengar!?!?!?" He asked, wondering where she had obtained the pokemon.
"Yes, Ash's Haunter evolved shortly after he gave it to me...giving away amount to the same thing as trading I guess..." she explained, her face serious, yet with a faint hint of a smile.

Others arrived, including Todd, who, surprisingly enough, had a pokemon with him, despite saying time and time again that he would not capture pokemon.

"Well, I was on a mission for Prof Oak, and the little thing decided to follow me around..." he explained shortly, seemingly amused by Brock's surprise at seeing him with a pokemon. "You can't really say I got myself a pokemon...it's more like, that pokemon got himself a trainer."
"What kind is it?" Brock asked, puzzled even more by the explanation.
"You'll see...all I'm saying right not is that it is very strong." He answered, smiling slightly.

Besides him, professor Oak nodded vigorously.

Erika was the last to join them, still unhappy about the destruction of her gym by team rocket a year and a half before. Even though it had been repaired, she had not forgiven them, and had nothing against helping Ash out.

Chapter 8 : A moment of Reflection

The liner SS Queen of Vermillion was an old ship, there was no doubt about it. Nowaday, people would rather use planes to cross between Kanto and the Orange islands, but when it had been built nearly fifty years before, planes were not yet the mean of transportation they had become in recent years. Yet, it was still a fine ship, and ensured the transport between Vermillion and Valencia, with stops in Pallet and Leman island, on a regular basis. It had left Pallet toward Leman three days ago, and was unusually full for a ship.

Looking at the sea below him as he stood, hands on the railing, at the very prow of the ship, Brock could not help but shiver. He did not like the ocean much. He did not mind rivers, pools, or even beach. The former two because they weren't deep enough for him to feel particularly threatened, the later because of the girls. Deep sea, kilometer deep sometime even, however, struck his very heart, especially since the SS Anne misadventure. Besides him, Erica also watched the water, lost in thought. He looked at her, and was stunned to see how beautiful she was. She looked so sweet, so innocent...He opened his mouth to comment on it...

"I'm sorry, I'm already taken." She smiled sweetly, as she crushed all his hopes. He sighed.

"You're hard." He accused.

"The most beautiful of roses still have a few thorns." She replied sweetly, smiling. "But right now, we have other things to think about than you going girl-crazy, I think." She told him.

"We definitely do." A level voice added, joining the conversation with no hints of emotions. Although, unlike her, he was no psychic, Brock had no need to turn to recognize Sabrina.

Taking a deep breath and trying to forget about the rather humiliating scene which had just taken place - no doubt Sabrina had heard it - he wouldn't even be surprised if she had staged it all with her psychic powers for some reason , Brock lead them back inside, where Richie and the others were waiting. It was time to plan their assault on the Rocket base.

Unfortunately, they had no good maps. Tracey had given them sketch of the outside and of the various possible approach - few as they were - but they had no maps of the inside.Of course, they could have a few ideas of what it was like by looking at the design of other similar buildings, but any such knowledge they gained would be incomplete and unsufficient for the raid.

Looking at the map of the outside, Brock could not come up with a plan.

"We're going to have to split." Todd stated after looking at it for a while. Sabrina nodded approvingly.

"It's the only way. There are three doors, I guess that means one of us should head as secretely as possible toward each door." She added, still looking at the map. "Question is, how do we arrange our teams?" she added.

"Gary will be..." Brock started, then broke off upon realizing the younger trainer was not with them. "Where is he?" he asked.

"I dunno. With Duplica, probably, though." Richie commented.

Brock looked at his friend in surprise, wondering what Richie was refering too...certainly not...but yet, it was the only thing that made sense with the comment. For a fleeting moment, Brock wondered how it was he had missed it when knew about Ash and Misty while they did not, and then, he wondered how it was anyone in her right mind could fall in love with Gary,

"Could someone get them up here?" he asked, wondering at the same time if it was a good idea,

"I'd rather not...they might not take it too well." Erica whispered softly, a tin smile on her face.

"Well, we kinda need them here..." Brock replied half-heartedly, knowing it was futile, that none of his friends would go down to fetch the two - lovebirds? - and that even if one of them did, he or she would return empty-handed.

"We can plan without them." Richie told him.

"Alright, alright." He finally nodded. They would have to be briefed on the plans later, but that would be better than no briefings at all. "As I was saying, we need to plan who get in by which door, since we already agreed to split."

"True. I'd say, two gym leader in each team, with a trainer in each of the first two group and Duplica and Todd in the last one." Sabrina suggested, getting approving nods from Daisy, Lily and Violet who had up to then remained silent. Todd looked at the map for a while longer, and then pointed at the main door.

"Not a bad idea. I'd say we wend in Sabrina and Violet by the front door. They are our bests - except Erica, but I need her elsewhere."

"Hey!" Lily and Daisy protested at once, but Sabrina and Erica nodded as Richie continued. "That door is likely to be the most heavily guarded, so we send in our best."

He then pointed to another door, by the lake side, that was only accessible by a narrow strip of land.

"Next, that door is harder to access...at least by land. So, I think Daisy, and either Lily or Violet should be in charge there. Use your water-types to cross the lake." He suggested, getting both of them to nod. He finally fointed at the last door, close to the edge of a cliff, and again only accessible by a narrow strip of land. "We'll need an attack from below here. That will be up to your Onix Brock, and one of your grass type Erica. Think you can handle that?" he added, getting nods from both of them.

He took a breath. "Now, Duplica and I will go by the cliff door too. My pokemon can fly, and here can transform in any of ours, so that's no problem. And we'd better be at the least guarded door. Richie, do you have any good water type?" he asked, continuing with his plan.

"Nope. Guess that means front door for me." He said.

"Yup. Anyway, you're a better trainer than Gary, so you'd better be where the resistance should be the stiffest. Which means Gary - he does have a Gyarados, doesn't he? - will be part of the lake team." Todd finally finished. Yet again, all of the team nodded, and Todd smiled, while Brock wondered where the young man had picked up such skills at tactic.

_______________________________

Meanwhile, belowdeck, Gary was sitting on a couch, with Duplica besides him, her arm around his shoulders.

"You still have not told me why you acted like you did." She told him softly.

"Why? Because I'm a egoistic, self-centered idiot. That's why." He replied harshly.

"No, you are not." She almost yelled, at the same time feeling a wave of pity overcoming her. "I've known you for a few days already, and I know you aren't like that all the time. That's just what you want others to think you are. And I just want to know why." She said, a bit angry with him, yet trying to be nice to him. Theirs was a peculiar relationship, and she would not endanger it if she could avoid it. They were not in love - not exactly. They were not exactly friends, either, closer than that.

Maybe, she reflected, they were in love and just not willing to admit it yet either of them. Maybe it was something else. Whatever it was, she liked the relationship they had, as if it was a piece that had been missing in her life since forever.

Something caught the light just under Gary's eyes and reflected it, almost causing her to jump away in surprise. Tears? From Gary? Had she broken his shell that far?

"I guess I might as well tell the story." He whispered. "It all started a few years ago. I had a nice group of friend- Ash and a few others - and we all had a lot of fun. But there were these other kids, and I wanted to be friends with them too...They thought I was too soft, so I tried starting to act hard and all...I lost my first group of friend, but of course the new ones would not let me in...I was so ashamed that I just couldn't get back to my friends and apologize...so I decided to keep up the act. Are you happy now?" he asked, glaring at her, yet somehow almost seeming to be afraid of her.

"Oh God...Gary...You should have told them about it. They would have welcomed you back if you had apologized. You know Ash, don't you? Can you really see him rejecting someone who was ready to apologize?" she told him softly.

"He hates me now." Was Gary's flat reply.

"And he'll forget about hating you just as soon as you find the courage to apologize." She replied.

"Maybe you're right...maybe...I just feel so alone...I never wanted to be alone, but that's all I managed to do with my life." He told her, then sighed.

"You don't have to be alone. I'm sure you can get Ash back as your friend, especially if he sees that you went out of your way to help him out." She told him on a soothing tone.

"Yeah...but...will you be with me Duplica?" he asked, his breath slightly hoarse. "I don't feel as much alone - alone at all - when you're there." He said, as more tears appeared in his eyes.

"Of course Gary. I'll be with you. I won't ever leave your side, until I die." She told him, as he put his head on her shoulder and wept openly.

____________________________

May stared at the man for a long time. When she had received the envelope calling her to this meeting in a restaurant of Pallet, it had seemed innocent enough, a simple normal envelope, with a simple letter asking her to be present at the restaurant by eight in the evening, three days later.

Only, now, sitting in front of the man, she was a lot less easy. He wore blue jeans and a blood red tee shirt, nothing unexpected in a fast food restaurant, but as he silently ate his cheesburger, she felt her eyes constantly drawn to the tiny embroidery on the sleeves. From afar, they were invisible, and from close on no one who did not know to look for them would know their significance. A number of small flowers - lotus.

"We are going to need you at the base soon for your training. You should get ready to leave." He told her. "We will be picking you up at midnight saturday."

She stared at him for a moment. She was supposed to be ready to leave - wihout letting anyone know where she was going - in three days? Three little, meager day to prepare herself? That was madness...Or was it? She wanted to be with them, because of what they taught...She did not agree completely with what they taught - but she hated pokemon, and so did they.

They stole my brother and my grandfather away from me... she remembered, anger bubbling in her. After having the affection of her loved ones stolen away by them, how hard had it been for her to accept the belief of the Lotus that pokemon were evil?

In the back of her mind, she was already forming up a plan.

Chapter 9 : The Moment Before the Strike

The sky was stormy two days later as the Queen of Vermillion dropped her lines by the main pier of the Leman City harbor. Brock hoped that the dark clouds were not telling him about a dark future, because he knew he would need luck on the next day. They'd be going in with a slight numerical disadvantage - about 15 to 10 - and while Tracey so far had not reported any actual weapons in the arsenal of the opposition, there was no guarantee they had none.

And if they had some, they would be willing to use them - against his friends or himself. And to even think about that made him shudder. Yet, he could not dismiss the possibility that at the same time the next day, not all of his friends would even be alive.

Yet, what other choices did they have? The police would not intervene without proof, and they had nothing solid enough to convince them, and no means nor time to get the solid proof the officers wanted. Being part of Team Rocket was not enough - the declaration of rights of both Johto, Kanto, and the Orange Republic, prevented people from being dragged in for simply belonging to a group. Which meant that they could wear clothes that made them members of Team Rocket as much as they wanted, as long as they actually didn't steal or otherwise commit an illegal act, they were perfectly safe. And then, of course, you had to be able to proove they had comitted said illegal act.

Brock sighed. He knew the law had been thought up to fight against dictatorship such as what had been common not too long ago...but in this specific case, it hindered them rather than helped.

As he walked down the gangway and jumpbed on the pier, he caught a sight of a young man in a greenish tee-shirt, with a red headband and medium lenght black hair. He seemed about Brock's own age.

"Tracey?" he asked, not sure even though he had talked to the young man on videophone a few time.

"Yup. Brock?"

"That's me." He said, as the two of them shook hands. "Any changes with our friends uphill?" he asked.

"Nope. I was there yesterday, still about ten of them, no obvious weapons, aside from their pokemon. As for pokemon, they have mostly poison, normal and dark types." Tracey reported.

"Dark types? What kind?" Todd, who had just joined them, wanted to know.

"Houndour, for the most part. Maybe a few umbreon, and a few Murkcrow. Nothng big, aside from the Umbreon."

"Those might be a problem." Todd said thoughtfully. "What's best to handle dark types?" he asked.

"Fighters works. Bugs types are not too bad at attacking dark pokemon, and we have a few of those. Steel types are resistant to dark attacks, too." Richie answered.

"Do we have any of those?" Sabrina asked.

"Not that I know. A few bugs. twi pokemon that evolves in steel type, but unevolved - Onix and Scyther." Richie reported.

"Guess that will have to do." They all nodded to Tracey's comment. "Think any of those could evolve by tomorrow?" he asked.

"Well, people aren't even too sure how Scyther and Onix evolves yet. They've seen it happen, but they have no idea how. So, I have no idea. It might happen, but we have no way of making sure it happens." Richie reported. "As for the poison type, we have enough psychic to dispatch them, and normal pokemon aren't much of a threat." He added.

"Good." Todd nodded.

"I think we should move out...the sailors seems after leaving, and we are in the way." Tracey commented.

"True. Are we going to the pokemon center?" Erica asked.

"No." Gary, who had just joined them after getting off the ship told them. "I made arrangement for a room in a local hotel. I have the money to pay for it, and we'll need all the rest we can get." He explained.

"Really?" Brock asked in amazement, surprised that the young man would do something for them all. "Thank you." He added, realizing what he had just said didn't sound really polite.

They headed for their hotel rooms, all knowing just how important the next day was.

________________________________________

May relaxed in her chair in her grandfather's laboratory, waiting for what she knew would soon come. Their was very little in the way of security measure in the laboratory, only a camera at each entrance, to see people coming in. And she knew how easy it would be to deceive those camera - especially since they were not recording sound, only images.

Thus, it would be easy for the plan she had explained to the young officer at the restaurant - Eric Nelson, he had said his name was - to work. She would be able to get away, and they would score a major blow at all those who believed in pokemon, and who would use them.

With a smile she started gathring the pokeballs from the shelves, and putting them in her backpack, one after the other. They had all been recalled for the night, and we're defenseless as she gathered them, taking them for the Lotus. A soft laugh escaped her lips. It was a perfect plan, really. When the Lotus agents would come, in Rocket clothes, they would pick up the bags, and fake kidnapping her, thus making it appear as if the labs had been raided by Team Rocket, and as if she had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It was a perfect plan, especially since she had made sure that her grandfather would not wake up in time to do anything - neither would her parents. She had seen to it, though she hadn't liked having to do so.

________________________________

"So that's the place, isn't it?" Elayne asked as she looked at the old, half-ruined tower that apparently contained the eons-old scrolls that apparently were the objective of the mission they had been sent on. For a brief moment, she wondered what made those scroll so important that Giovanni would send his only son out to fetch them.

And why it was that her tale about the strange individual getting her as an high-ranking Rocket member had troubled the young man so much, so much that his eyes had seemed distant for nearly half an hour, as if seeking an answer within his own mind. For that matter, she still wondered why the woman had taken her under her wings that way.

With a weary sigh, she checked her pokeballs - the grass type pokemon that were there, to ensure that they were ready to help her in case they needed it - which seemed far more than likely. Her Tangela, Ivysaur, Exeggutor and Gloom all seemed ready for action. Besides her, Damian was doing the same, calling out his five pokemons - Jolteon, Vaporeon, Flareon, Umbreon and Espeon - to check them up.

"Yup. According to my father, there shouldn't be much in the way of resistance, but we'd better be careful." He answered while continuing to check his pokemon.

After recalling the nine beasts, they carefully stepped inside the tower, their hands on their pokeballs - Damian's on his Espeon's, her on her Ivysaur's. They checked the first floor carefully, before proceeding on to the next one, wondering where they would find the library that apparently housed the ancient scroll - and what kind of defenders would be there.

The last question was first answered, as a quatuor of mean looking arcanine appeared. With a brief flicker of his hand, Damian was throwing a pair of pokeball, and despite knowing that they wouldn't do much good with the type disadvantage they were at, she did the same, sending out Ivysaur and Gloom, hopeing that their poison type would help them…but not thinking so.

The Arcanine ran toward them, strangely enough all of them going toward Damian, who stepped back and slightly to the left to avoid them. They jumped at him, and just as they were about to hit, there was a sinister sound, and the floor under Damian gave way, revealing a deep pit, a fall that he certainly wouldn't survive. The Arcanine suddenly vanished, as if they never had been there, and Damian was left holding the edge of the floor with his hands, with no way to get back.

Elayne raced toward him, even as he ordered her to get the scrolls and get away. Ignoring the orders – which she knew would cost her her part in Team Rocket, if not her life, she instead bent and tried to pick him up to lift him back, straining with all her might, ignoring his protests that he could get himself out of trouble without her help, and that he didn't need her help.

Yet, try though she might, there was no way to force him back but she could not give up – she knew that if he fell down in the chasm, she would simply take a step and follow him. If he was lucky and lived, hopefully so would she, and otherwise, she wouldn't see the world without him.

With one last effort, she managed to pull him back on safer grounds. As he rose back on his feet, he glared at her.

"Why the hell did you do that? You could have died…" he told her angrily.

"Well, too bad." She answered, her anger showing through her eyes. "I'm not about to let you die."

"Why?" he asked, his eyes which were usually so gentle filled with unrelenting anger.

"Because I love you, damn it! Is that so hard to understand? Now you've made me go and say it. I guess you're happy?"

The anger vanished from his face as suddenly as it had come, replaced by disbelief, and what seemed to be happiness. Yet, she wouldn't let herself think it was that. Never – it would be too much too hope for.

"Yes I am. Happier than I ever could say." He told her, answering her question. "I would never even have dared to dream that you would tell me that one day." He added, taking her hand and fondly caressing her long fingers. "I love you too."

With a smile, he let go of her hand and the two of them walked toward the room that the illusionary Arcanine had protected, entering it easily, to find, as they had both suspected they would, the scrolls they had been sent after. There were five of them, easy to recognize from Giovanni's description – from what Damian said – and they soon were able to leave the tower.

As they walked outside, she took his hand in hers, and held it tightly, not interested in letting go at all.

___________________________

Gary watched the sun rise over Leman's island, just as he felt his mind rising again with hope that he would be able to break the infernal circle he had entered. Below, no one has started to rise, and in the soft, golden light of dawn, a wind was shaking the branchs of the palm trees that bordered the street on every side.

He smiled, a smile of hope and renewal. For a moment, he considered getting some more sleep to be at peek strenght when they attacked the Rocket base, but then he discarded the idea, prefering to continue watching the sunrise instead.

Someone knocked at his door, and for a fleeting instant Gary wondered who it was, before the obvious answer came to his mind a split second before a voice came, confirming it.

"Gary? Can I come in?" Duplica's voice softly asked from the other side.

"Of course." He answered, going to the door to open it.

She stepped in, wearing simple jeans and a blue tee-shirt. When he looked at her in surprise, she gave him a simple explanation.

"I don't want any fancy clothes cluttering me today." She smiled. "What were you doing?"

"Watching the sun rise" He told her, whispering, as if talking any louder would have broken his happy mood.

With a smile, Duplica walked to the window, and he followed her, wondering what she wanted, though deep inside he knew, but would not admit it, too afraid to be wrong. She had hinted at it several time, and so had he, but yet neither of them had openly admitted to loving the other. He was sure he did, and he thought she did too, but he would never admit that deep inside he thought so. The consequences of being wrong would be too shattering.

"Gary...I got something to tell you." She whispered softly.

"What is it?" he asked, his heart beating faster at the very idea that she might be about to say...that.

"You have to promise me something though." She added. "You'll be my friend, no matter what, won't you?" she said, shivering as she did so, despite the fact that the air wasn't cold. Gary could only assume she was afraid - but of what? Loosing him? Again, that lead to things he would not dare to think about even in his dreams.

"Of course I promise." He answered rapidly, knowing that he would have promised anything for her sake.

"Well...the matter is...I know we haven't known each other for even a week but..." she tried to say, apparently at a loss for words. Finally, she took a deep breath. "I love you Gary." She said, her face crimson, her body shaking uncontrollably.

Gary felt as if he could explode, so great was the joy that filled him. He wrapped his arms tightly around the shivering young woman, and whispered softly in her ear.

"I love you too. More than I could ever tell." He whispered, seeing her eyes light up with an unearthly happiness as she let her head rest on his shoulders and as he softly kissed her forehead.

Chapter 10 : Seeking the Storm

"There's just one thing wrong with that plan…Where do I fit in?" Tracey commented as the others told him about the plan that Todd had devised at the breakfast table in the hotel that morning. As he listened to them, Brock noticed that Gary and Duplica weren't paying much attention to the planning, as they apparently were busier thinking about each other. Gary's arm was on Duplica's shoulders, while her own arm was around Gary's waist, her head resting lightly on his shoulder. Brock almost felt a moment of stabbing jealousy that Gary, as nice as he seemed to have become, would have a girlfriend while he would not. But the moment was soon gone, and he turned his mind back to the problem.

"You'll be at the main entrance with Richie, Sabrina and Violet. We need some bugs to cover Sabrina's psychic against any dark types we encounter." He explained, and Brock nodded as he remembered their conversation from the previous day.
"All right" Tracey nodded, hefting two pokeball in his hand, without a shadow of a doubt the two containing his Scyther and Venonat.

As they approached the mill, they each went their own way, Gary, Daisy and Lily toward the lake, himself, Erica, Todd and Duplica down at the bottom of a twisting ravine so that they could attack the mill from below, and Sabrina, Violet, Richie and Tracey toward the front gate, approaching as stealthily as they could in the forest.

As his group headed toward the ravine, Brock carefully took out his Onix pokeball, watching as the other three each picked up a pokeball as well, and looked up.

"Are we there?" Todd asked, trying to compare their current location with the map Tracey had drawn, so as to know if they had reached the right place to go back up or not.
"Only one way to know." He answered, keeping his voice down as he slowly sent out one of his pokemon – Zubat.

"Zubat! Go check if we are under the lumber mill!" he ordered the little bat-like pokemon, who immediately flew away, coming back nodding a few second later, a few second that had seemed to last an eternity to Brock.

"All right. Time to head in." He told them, sending out his Onix and watching Erica doing the same with her Venusaur. They'd need the two of them to head in and do the damage they were after doing.

All at once, Erica's Venusaur shot out her vines, wrapping them around a solid tree way upward. Similarly, Brock's Onix simply rose to stand on the tip of his tail, carrying Brock, Duplica and Todd to the top.

After a few minutes, they were all upward, and unnoticed of the two rocket who were a bit further away from the door, at the narrow place where there were barely two meters between the mill wall and the cliff edge, both of them watching away from the door. With a flicker of her vines, Erica's Venusaur tied down the two, gagging them at the same time, and brought them close to her, suddenly sending a wave of stun spore in their faces, causing them to fall down on the ground.

Brock headed toward the slightly rusty metal door, fearing that it would either creak or be locked, but neither fear proved true as he easily opened it, giving them a way in.
____________________________________

"Are you ready?" Sabrina whispered to her companions as they watched the main door to the rocket-controlled mill, and the three guards protecting it.
"Yup." Richie nodded, and shortly after violent and Tracey did the same.
"Time to do it, then." She told them. They had sneaked in by the forest, staying hidden in the densest part all the time, only relying on Sabrina's ability to find human's thought to keep a general idea of where their target was. Finally, they had reached it, though they were a few minutes late on the plan, two or three maybe.

Firmly calming down any fear her mind might have, Sabrina channeled a tiny flow of her psychic power, specifically the telekinetic variant. On the opposite side of the pathway, a tree branch broke with a sharp snap. Sabrina watched with a satisfactory smirk as two of the three guards headed toward the source of the noise, watching warily aground them, yet falling to notice the four hiding in the wood on the side opposite to that of the sound they had heard. With a smile, Sabrina channeled another flow of psychic power, this time to take a tiny bit of control of the third guard, putting him to sleep before he could even begin to wonder about what it was that had lured his companions away - or worries about being left alone to guard the door.

Sending a careful probing thought throughout the surrounding area, she checked that the other two guards were too far away, looking for the source of the noise to intervene. She rose from her place of concealment, and watched the others doing the same, then headed toward the now unguarded door, still keeping a psychic watch out for the two guards she had sent in the forest, hoping that they would not return at a less than appreciable time, such as right then. But apparently they didn't, and it was easy for Sabrina and her companions to enter the base, closing the door behind the sleeping guard.

Once they were in, Sabrina sent out another probing touch of psychic powers toward the mind of the sleeping guard, waking him up and thus removing all traces of them entering. The guards would have to be dealt with again when they would leave, but better that than making all other guards aware of their presence. As it was, the guard at the door would not even remember falling asleep, and would be convinced he had remained up the whole time, and of course would have no idea about them entering the base.

She smiled as they headed deeper inside, watching as the other released their pokeball, while her Gengar trailed behind her, and her Kadabra walked to her side. They were ready to face anything, at least she was.
________________________________

Gripping the neck of his Gyarados, the only part of the great beast that could be seen above sea level, Gary kept his eyes on the shore they would soon reach, and on his companions who were being carried by their Blastoise and Dewgong, respectively. For the thousandth time he wished that the plan that they had devised for their attack did not involve keeping him and Duplica apart, as he wished nothing more than to be with her, especially after what they had told each other earlier in the morning. A smile crept across his face as he remembered, but chasing it away, he became deadly serious once again, watching the shore for any sign of Rocket watching out for them, but finding none.

They landed a second later, drawing out their pokeball and sending out their pokemon. Gary signaled to his two companions to remain hidden, knowing that he could deal with the two guards by himself. He approached them, and sent out his nidoking and nidoqueen, who easily knocked out the two guards before they could send out anyone to intercept them. He recalled them, knowing they would be more useful as secret weapons once inside the mill than out where everyone could see and, more important, hear them.

Lily pushed the door open as Daisy recalled all of her pokemon that could not be stealthy enough to give them the advantage of surprise in their assault, something they would definitely need. With one last thought of Duplica, Gary followed them inside.

_______________________

Ethan Starkhad smiled as he admired the pokeball that he had not sent to the two idiots who thought he was working for them. There were two of them only, but they were two of the three most powerful - Jessie and James had already sent the other powerful ones before he arrived. He did not want the two victims to be powerless; after all, since they were supposed to do some damage to Team Rocket, which, combined with the coup he had staged, would be enough to cause the mighty shadow empire to crumble.

A slight buzzing sound caught his attention, and he turned to his computer screen, which controlled all of the many hidden cameras and motion detectors in the mill. He rapidly caught sight of the three groups of intruders, and looked at them a long while, hesitating before making his final choice.

One of them must fall, so that the Rocket fall with that one... he reflected, remembering the heart of the plan he had devised to break Team Rocket, and the power they had to oppose the Crimson Lotus.

He finally made his choice, drew his handgun, and then took a long look at a map of the mill, wondering where best to catch his prey, so that there would be no way for her to escape him. One of the many mechanisms he had just installed would be perfect for that he realised, as she was walking slightly ahead of her companions. He keyed in the number of the matching camera, and watched, waiting for her to appear at the appropriate location.

_____________________________________________

Duplica kept on, setting the speed for the others who certainly did not want to be left behind, and eager to rescue Ash and Misty and be out of the creepy mill that sent shiver down her spine. Ditto was besides her, in the shape of a great Arcanine, walking proudly.

Suddenly, just after she stepped through the doorway, a great steel door shut down just behind her, keeping her away from her friends on the other side, with only Ditto and her on this side. She took a deep breath, trying not to let panic overcome her, and before the cloud of dust that had appeared with the door shutting down could vanish, she had ordered Ditto to take her shape, confident that a second human would be worth far more than an Arcanine.

Yet again, she felt a chill travel down her spine as she realized that she was now cut off from all her friends, in a base that was probably filled to the brim with enemies, and without much in the way of weapon. She went on forward, bravely, and finally heard the door that had closed opening as she reached the other end of the room.

Suddenly, she heard a loud noise, and there was a blaze of light.

______________________________________________

Brock shielded his eyes from the intense light that had appeared at the other end of the room, trying to discern Duplica, hoping that she was all right, knowing that the chances were not too high, as the sound they all had heard sounded just too much like a gunshot for it to be something else.

Panic welled up in him, as he could not see her form as the light subsided. He had barely caught sight of her shadow, strangely seeming doubled, when the door had opened, and now...

Now, he could finally see her - her body, fallen on the ground. He rushed toward her, not knowing if he would be able to do anything, very much afraid he wouldn't be able to help at all. He wanted to scream in frustration at the realization, knowing that if they had forced her to slow down it would have been enough to spare her life, to let her live another day...

Now, there was only her fallen body, and a weeping Dito besides it. Brock gently picked up the pink amoebae, and put it on his shoulder. Yet, the amoebae jumped off, taking as it did the shape of a pidgey and flying besides him. For a moment, Brock wondered at the strange behavior, but had no time to do so. A group of rocket trainer - three of them - was coming from a nearby room, and he had to fight them if he wanted a chance at finishing the mission, without being taken out.

With a sad sigh, he sent out his Onix, Geodude, Vulpix and Zubat. Behind him, Erica joined him, sending out her own pokemon to fight off the three criminals.

The rockets sent out their own pokemon, three raticates, an houndoom, a fearow and an arbok. Despite being very badly outnumbered, they seemed willing to put up a good fight.

"Raticate! Hyper Fang!" the order flew from three mouths at once as the tree rat-like pokemon flung themselves at the group of pokemon. Cold fury filling his heart, Brock ordered his Onix to intercept them, and the rock snake did so, blocking the attacks...

And then a strange reaction started. Maybe it was the steel walls of the factory, maybe it was something else, but it seemed somehow as if the steel around them was spreading, covering Onix's body, as the great worm glowed brightly, evolving.

"STEELIX!" the worm bellowed as the light subsided so that they could all see the rocky body had become covered with a thick metallic armor, shielding the great snake from enemy attacks even more securely.

"Houndoom! Flamethrower!" one of the rocket bellowed, pointing with his fingers at the great worm, his eyes locked on his great flame wolf.

"Arbok, use dig to get past that Steelix and attack those trainers." the second rocket added, a wicked smile on his face as he calmly gave the order.

"Fearow...fly...over that Steelix. Take out the trainers, too." The third trainer added, after hesitating for a while, as if he did not know what he meant for his pokemon to do.

"Erica, Brock, can you handle the two pokemon coming at us?" Todd told them, taking out his pokeball, ready to throw it and reveal his mysterious pokemon.

"Yeah, we'll do that. Erica, you take care of that Arbok. I'll deal with the Fearow."

Erica nodded once, whispering a few words to her Bellossom, who stood ready, watching wearily all around to attack the Arbok the second it would pop up.

"Vulpix, the second you can do it without hitting Steelix, you fire a flamethrower at that Fearow! Geodude! You cover Steelix! Make sure that houndoom doesn't get a shot in!"

The two pokemon nodded in approval, Geodude quickly levitating over to the other side, so as to take on the attack and Vulpix crouching to fight.

Todd weighted his pokeball in hand, and slowly started speaking.

"All right big boy. You wanted to come along back when we were on pokemon island, and you wouldn't leave me alone, even when I left...now, I need you." He whispered, holding the pokeball tightly, then swiftly throwing it, releasing something Brock had never expect to see...

In the darkness of the abandoned mill, the creature seemed like a point of light, as it's long orange body emerging from the beam of light of the pokeball, the single pearly white horn catching what few light there was and sending it back coruscating. The great wings flapped, easily holding the creature in the air, and Brock had the impression that the creature could circle the world in a moment if it so wanted. Its eyes shone with intelligence as he turned to face the Rocket immediately upon release, as Todd yelled while releasing it.

"DRAGONITE! I CHOOSE YOU! Hyper Beam on those rockets!" he yelled,

The great dragon looked at the rocket grunts gathered, who suddenly looked on the beast as if seeing their own doom. A single bright spot of light appeared in the beast's mouth, and then it flew off, a gigantic spear of light aimed at the rocket members. As it hit the floor in the middle of the triangle their frozen enemies, the beam caused an explosion just as big as the one that had hidden what had happened to Duplica from view. As the dust fell back down, the three Rockets where sprawled on the ground. Their three Raticate were, too, easily defeated by the great Steelix, as well as their other pokemon, outmatched by Bellosom, Vulpix and Geodude.

Todd moved closer to Duplica's body, and put a hand to her neck. A short moment after, he confirmed what they all feared what they all knew in the depths of their hearts but would not admit.

"She's dead." He told them, and Brock could see in the faint light a few tears rolling down the young man's cheek - the same tears, perhaps, that he felt slowly coming down from his eyes.