Disclaimer: I own nothing except for Lily.
Well! I finally decided to stop being lazy and update! Hooray for me! Um, I'm sorry it's been so long. Really, I have not been feeling well lately, and just couldn't bring myself to type. Besides that, I got stuck at this chapter. I thought it was pretty stupid and I wanted to rewrite it, but every time I tried it just got worse, so I finally decided to leave it alone, except for a few small changes. I just hope I don't get rotten tomatoes thrown at me for putting out such a crappy chapter…Oh well. The later chapters should be better, if I ever get to them, that is! Thanks to everyone who reads and reviews. Those reviews, more than anything, are what help me continue with my stories, so keep 'em coming!
Now, some words for my wonderful reviewers:
Phoenix727: Thanks so much for reading and reviewing! I did respond to your questions in a review I sent to my own story, but just in case you didn't read it, I'll repeat the stuff here. Lily is Samuel's daughter, not Giovanni's, because in my story, Delia has not seen Giovanni since leaving him before Ash's birth. Also, and this is to everyone who asked about the possibility of AAML, sorry! Not in this story, I'm afraid. But…when I wrote this story a few years ago, I also started a few sequels/spin-offs which do contain AAML, so, if this story goes well, I just might return to those other stories, finish them, and post them too. Who knows? It will all depend on how many people like this one.
Briememory: Thank you for your review! Is this an old plot twist? Geez, when I wrote it, I'd never heard of fan fiction, and it seemed slightly unexpected to me, but now that I've read so many stories on this site, I see that nothing is new. And here I'd thought I'd done something cool! I just hope the rest of this story isn't as predictable!
Shippo123: Thanks! Your review was one of the nicest I've ever gotten! I can't believe someone liked my story so much! I hope you'll continue to read (and review!). And by the way, you can't shoot my wizard! He's much too powerful! And besides, who would I blame my stupidity on then? I need him!
Pikados: Thanks for another great review! And thank you so much for adding me to your favorites! I'm really honored! Even my own brothers haven't put me on their favorite author lists!
Cruel Kindness: Thanks for a great review! I'm glad you like it so far. Well, here's the next chapter. Hope you like it!
Chapter Nine: In the Hands of the Enemy
The next day, Ash was awakened early by Giovanni.
"Come with me," the Boss said.
Ash sat up and rubbed his eyes with both fists. "What? What time is it?" he asked, yawning.
"That doesn't matter. Get up."
Ash got out of bed slowly and put on his shoes. He was glad now that he'd dressed the night before in one of the uniforms he'd found in the dresser. The outfit may have been ugly, all black with a big "R" on it, but at least it was comfortable. He'd even found a cap that matched the uniform. His own precious Pokemon League cap was tucked safely under the bed for now. He didn't want anything to happen to it.
Ash finished tying his shoes and was about to go with Giovanni when he suddenly hesitated. If he refused to do anything Giovanni said, maybe the Boss would decide he was more trouble than he was worth and send him back home. It was worth a shot, at least.
"Well? Come on!" Giovanni said impatiently.
Ash folded his arms across his chest, making no move to obey. "No," he said, trying to sound braver than he actually felt. "I won't."
Giovanni strode over to Ash and grabbed him by the arm. He started to pull Ash out of the room. Ash struggled at first; then he realized that this might be his chance to escape. The guards weren't around right now. Ash allowed himself to be pulled out the door. Then he stamped as hard as he could on Giovanni's foot. Startled, Giovanni let go of Ash's arm for just an instant. It was all Ash needed. He sprinted off down the corridor as fast as he could. Down at the end of the hall, he saw a door. If he could just reach it, he could be free! He was sure it led outside. It just had to!
Almost there! Ash thought triumphantly. Heart pounding, he forced himself to speed up. The door was right in front of him! He reached for it---and was stopped. He turned to see that Giovanni had caught up with him and had his arm once more in a firm grip. Ash squirmed and tried to twist away, but it was no use. He looked up into Giovanni's eyes and was filled with sudden fear at the rage he saw there.
Giovanni jerked Ash closer and slapped him hard across the face. Ash stumbled from the force of the blow and would have fallen if Giovanni hadn't been holding onto him tightly.
Giovanni glared at Ash. "If you ever try something like that again, I swear you will regret it," he hissed, his tone deadly. "Do I make myself clear?"
He hadn't, not really, especially since Ash already did regret what he'd done. But there was no way he was going to argue with this man. He didn't know what Giovanni would do to him if he tried to escape again, but he didn't think he wanted to find out. Already his cheek was burning like it was on fire. He could feel the tears pushing at the corners of his eyes, threatening to spill over, but there was no way he was going to cry in front of Giovanni. He forced the tears back with a huge effort.
Giovanni shook Ash by the arm. "Answer me! Did I make myself clear??"
Ash winced. His father was holding his arm so tightly, he was sure it was going to be bruised. "Y-yes!" he gasped, then added, "Sir! Yes, sir! I won't do it again! I promise!" I won't do that exact same thing again, anyway, he thought. If I'm going to escape, I'm going to have to think up a good plan, so I won't get caught. I don't want him to hurt me anymore, so I'll have to be careful.
"Good," Giovanni said. "I certainly hope, for your sake, that you're telling the truth. Now come along."
He took Ash to a huge room, one that looked like a training gym. One side of the room was filled with exercise and physical training equipment. The other side of the room was an arena for Pokemon battles. Giovanni led Ash over here.
"I want to see how well you battle," he said, sounding nice now, like nothing had happened. He snapped his fingers, and a Team Rocket member appeared from where he'd been waiting in the shadows.
"This person will be your opponent," said Giovanni.
"I don't have my Pokemon with me," Ash mumbled.
The young Rocket Grunt tossed some pokeballs to Ash. Ash caught them and looked at the little balls in his hands. There were three. He wondered which Pokemon were inside.
"Is a three-on-three battle all right with you, sir?" the young man asked. It took Ash a minute to realize that the young Rocket was speaking to him. Why had the guy called him 'sir'? What was going on?
"Three-on-three's fine with me," he said. "Let's go!"
"By the way, my name is Will," the Rocket said.
"I'm Ash."
"Pleased to meet you." Will tossed a pokeball. "Go, Ursaring!"
A big, mean-looking bear Pokemon appeared. Normally Ash would have consulted his pokedex about a new Pokemon, but since he didn't have it with him, he just tossed a pokeball instead.
There was a flash of light, and then an Arcanine appeared. Ash's eyes widened as a plan formed in his head. Arcanine were really fast, one of the fastest Pokemon of all. If I can ride this Arcanine out of here, they'll never be able to catch me! He thought. It's perfect!
He ran to the Arcanine and jumped up onto its back. "Arcanine, get us out of here!" he said. The Pokemon took off like a bolt of lightning, heading toward the nearest exit, Ash clinging on for dear life.
Giovanni and Will stood there looking stunned for a second. Then Will called out, "Arcanine! Stop!" Arcanine halted abruptly, sending Ash flying over its head. Ash landed with a thud. He lay on his back, unhurt, but with the wind knocked out of him. He heard Will talking as if from far away.
"—scared me for a minute. But Arcanine here is a good Pokemon. It has always obeyed my commands," the young man was saying.
Ash closed his eyes, willing this nightmare of his to be over. When he opened his eyes, Giovanni was standing over him, frowning down at him. Ash's chest tightened with fear. His fear became full-blown terror in the next few moments, however, as Giovanni slowly began unfastening his belt.
Professor Oak and Ash's mom had been up all night. Misty could tell. She got Lily up out of her crib and changed her while Brock made breakfast. The adults walked into the kitchen looking like zombies. Misty sat down with Lily in her arms. "Did you find out anything?"
"Well, the police say they're doing everything they can, but they have no idea where the Team Rocket headquarters are," Professor Oak said.
"I thought the gym was their headquarters," Misty said. The Professor shook his head.
"If it was, the police would have found them a long time ago."
"If only we knew where their headquarters were," Misty thought aloud. Then she felt like a moron for stating the obvious. Usually Brock was the one who did that.
Brock spoke up. "Team Rocket knows."
"Brock, just when I think you've said the dumbest thing possible, you keep going and proving me wrong!" Misty cried. "I mean, of course Team Rocket knows where their own headquarters are! But it doesn't help us any!"
"I meant Jessie, James and Meowth. Maybe they would help—"
"Yeah, right!" Misty burst out laughing. "That'll really happen!"
"Misty, that's enough!" Delia said. "You need to apologize to Brock right now."
"Why? It's not my fault he's stupid!"
"Misty! Apologize right now!"
"Well, this isn't your house, and Professor Oak didn't say I have to apologize," Misty argued.
Delia slapped her. Misty started crying, which made Lily start crying too.
"Delia!" Professor Oak said, shocked. He took Lily from Misty and tried to quiet the baby down. Misty got up and ran from the room.
"Look, we're all upset," Professor Oak said to his wife, "but you can't take it out on Misty."
"You heard how disrespectful she was being!" Delia shot back. "Was I supposed to just sit there and take that from her?"
"I know she was wrong to say that, but honey, she's not our child. We don't have the right to punish her."
To the surprise of both Brock and Professor Oak, Delia started crying. She put her head in her hands. "Oh, you're right! I'm so horrible! I don't know why I flew off the handle like that. It's just—Ash—and everything!" She collapsed into a chair.
Professor Oak handed Lily to Brock, and hugged his wife. "I know. But we'll get him back. No matter what we have to do, we will get him back."
Ash was forced to start the battle over again. He didn't want to do anything Giovanni said, but after the beating he'd just gotten, he was too afraid to refuse. He stood opposite Will and muttered under his breath every bad name he could think of, aimed at the world, and Giovanni in particular. His whole body ached, and he was tired and hungry.
Just battle! His mind told him. Then you can rest and think up a new plan!
He threw a pokeball. The Pokemon that came out was a Typhlosion. Ash hadn't seen one, but he'd heard of it. It was an evolved form of Cyndaquil, which was a Pokemon he had.
Will sent out Golem.
"What's that?" Ash asked, even though he'd seen a Golem before.
Will didn't reply. "Golem, use Earthquake!"
"Typhlosion, Flamethrower!"
Typhlosion got hurt badly by Golem's attack, but it got in a pretty good hit.
"Good, Typhlosion, now finish it with another Flamethrower attack!" Ash cried. Golem used Fissure, but Typhlosion was able to dodge it and send back its own attack at Golem. The huge rock Pokemon fell to the ground, unable to go on. Will returned it to its pokeball.
"Yay, I did it!" Ash cried.
He beat Will's other two Pokemon, Ursaring and Sudowoodo (which both took a lot of effort) using Arcanine and a Nidoqueen. When the battle was over, Giovanni walked over to Ash. "That was quite impressive," he said. "You will be a great asset. If you can learn obedience, that is."
Ash just glared at Giovanni for a minute before collapsing from exhaustion.
Sleep. All I want to do is sleep, he thought, right before he passed out.
Okay, that's another chapter finished. What did you all think? Now, before you start pelting me with various things, I have one rule: no pushing! You'll all get a chance to flame me, just try to do it in an orderly fashion! But seriously…please don't flame me! I know it sucks but soon it'll be better…and funnier too! I promise! This story is just getting started!
And I'd just like to clear up one thing right now about this chapter:
Remember, when this was originally written, Ash hadn't encountered many of the Pokemon from Pokemon Gold and Silver. And the story takes place in 2001.