Next day at the Team Rocket Head Quarters, Giovanni arrives at his office and finds two people waiting for him. A Kyle Cain, the head researcher of the enhancement research, and Doctor Brandon Gann, the one Giovanni had him do a DNA comparison test. As Giovanni walks passed them, the two doctors stand up and give him a bow. Giovanni just walks into his office, not paying any attention to them. The two doctors just sit back down, knowing they will meet with their boss in due time. They both sit silently and wait till they are called upon.
What seems like hours, the sectary finally calls to Cain that he can go meet with the boss. Cain gets up, and walks towards the double doors of Giovanni's office. He pauses to straighten out his clothes, and hair, and knocks on the door twice and enters. As he walks in, he finds that his boss is looking straight at him when he entered. He is usually turned around in his chair with his back facing the door. He ends up gulping, and gives another bow.
"Speak" is all Giovanni says
"Sir, the letter you sent me asking if the enhancement serums can be used on humans, yes I believe it can be. There will have to be some modifications to the serums to get it compatible for the human DNA structure. It has been doing very well on the pokemon that I have administered it to." Cain said
"Good. Begin the process now."
"Yes sir."
"Have Mr. Gann sent in."
"Yes sir." he said with a bow.
As Cain leaves Giovanni's office, he breaths a sigh of relief. He walks up to Doctor Gann and tells him that Giovanni will see him now. As he leaves, he has not seen that man haggard looking in a long time. He must have worked through the night again on a sudden project for the boss.
Gann came walking into the office and was very afraid of what the test results came out to be.
"Sir, sorry for my appearance, but I did as you requested, I have the results of the test you asked me to perform for you sir." As he said this, he was trembling with fear, and exhaustion.
"Well?"
"Oh, here sir." Gann says as he hands over a folder with the test results, and was trembling with even more fear. "I ran the test over many times to make sure it was accurate. All of the conclusions come out the same sir."
Giovanni takes the folder from him and sets it flat on his desk. He opens it up, and reads over the findings the doctor had presented him with. He closes it and looks up at the doctor. This scares the doctor even more. Giovanni's Persian is enjoying the scared look on this human face and smell of fear emitting from him.
"I do hope you destroyed all evidence of this project I had you perform for me."
"Yes sir, I destroyed the samples you gave me." he said with trembling hands.
"You can return back to your other projects."
"Yes sir." He said with a quick bow, and left Giovanni's office.
As the door closes, Giovanni leans back in his chair and starts to pet his Persian. His Persian starts to purr with the attention from his trainer.
"Now we have preparations to get ready for."
Soon Giovanni moves himself closer to his desk, and dials a number to contact Kaleen and Luke.
At the edge of the forest, watching the Ketchum house, Kaleen, and Luke are watching to see when Ash comes out of the house. They are interrupted when Kaleen's cell phone starts to ring.
"It must be the boss. Hello, Kaleen speaking."
"Start phase two." Giovanni said, and hangs up on them.
"What did the boss want, Kaleen?"
"He wants us to start with phase two. So I guess the stakeout is over with. I guess we go back to our campsite, and get ready for tonight."
"Okay, let's go."
The two of them get up from their hiding spot, and head back to their camp site. As they are packing up they are interrupted by an Officer Jenny.
"Hello, I am making a round of the forest and I spotted smoke from your campsite. What brings you out here in Pallet?"
"Oh you scared us." Luke said covering their hatred of Officer Jenny finding them. "Oh, we are here on vacation, from city life. I am trying to get my friend interested in camping, and also probably try and catch some new pokemon."
"I see you are packing up, are you heading back home?" Officer Jenny said
"Oh no, we are planning on moving to a new spot. Would you know a good place to camp at?" Kaleen said with fake cheerfulness at the officer.
"There is a good spot, I know of. It is about a half a day's walk north, from here. There is a clearing with a stream running through it. It is a good spot to fish at." She said as she points to the direction she is describing
"Good, I guess that will be a great place. Kaleen, I guess I can show you some of my fishing secrets." Luke said
"And probably make me do all of the cooking again." He said in a mock tone of disgust.
Officer Jenny just laughs at them. "I guess I will be leaving you to your packing, make sure you douse that fire very well."
"Thank you for telling us that camping site, bye." Luke said
"Bye." said Kaleen
As Officer Jenny walks away, Kaleen, and Luke are glad she is gone.
"Man that was close lets gets out of here." Kaleen said
"Yah, your right, the sooner night falls, the happier I will be. So let's go off in the direction she told us about, so we do not draw any suspicion to us. Once we are about a few hours out, let's double back, and get ready with phase two of our assignment." Luke said as he gets out a candy bar, and passes one to his partner
A few yards away, Officer Jenny is resuming her rounds of the forest. She thinks it is strange that someone would want to camp around Pallet Town. She just shrugs it off, and goes back to work.
At Professor Oak's house, outside in Oaks backyard are many different colored tents. Some of the guests were early risers, while others were not. Good thing Oak had two bathrooms, but it was still hectic. Brock was in the kitchen making breakfast, with the help of Misty, May, Max, Gary, and a few others. They are about half way done doing the decoration, and tonight and tomorrow morning before the party at twelve, they will put the outside decoration up, just incase Ash comes sneaking around day before the party starts. Oak could not believe Delia came up with this ideal of inviting all of the people Ash meet and became friends with on his journey. Soon breakfast was under way and Oak was amazed that he can fit a lot of people in his house. Tracey and Oak had cleared away many of the Professor's research items and put them in storage. He is just glad many of the guests still have not arrived yet. They will be arriving the day of the party.
"Well I have not gotten a phone call from Delia about Ash leaving the house yet, so he must be still asleep." Oak said as he tried to get some pancakes, but as he reached down, the last three disappeared before his fork hit the plate. He just sighs.
His phone starts to ring, and Tracey gets up and answers it. Oak seeing that he had not started on his own breakfast, he goes over and switches out his empty plate with Tracey's, and walks off in a corner to eat his new found breakfast. He is glad for one thing; he does not have to eat tofu for a while.
"Who was on the phone, Tracey?" Misty asks.
"It was the grocery store, they have what you ordered Brock, and will be delivering it this afternoon." he says as he sits down, and picks up his fork, but to his surprise, he finds that his plate is empty. He just sighs, because he knows who took off with his breakfast.
"That is good, that is all I need for the food. So I guess who wants to help me with the dishes." Brock said as he walks out with another serving of food.
Everyone there just produces the stress tear drop, and sighs. Many started to volunteer. They know one thing, they can suffer doing chores just for Brocks cooking. Oak is happy, with this many people, he can get all of the pokemon feed, while he sneaks off to do something else.
At the Ketchum place, Ash is woken up by his mother. He did not like being wake up, but he remembers the load of chores she has assigned him. Go to the greenhouse and pick up a cart full of fertilizer, after that, go to the grocery store, and pick up what is on the list, help out in the garden, mow the lawn, prune the hedges, and so on. He has noticed that his chores do not lead him towards Professors Oak's Lab. So he just gets up, gets dressed, and comes down to breakfast. His mom takes a look at his face, and is happy with what she sees. He can fully look out of his left eye, but his right eye is still swollen shut, and the swelling only went down some. The lump is gone, but all is left is a circle of purple, yellow, hint of blue and green coloring.
"Ash, it looks like you are doing better. Does it still hurt?"
"It still hurts a bit, but it is okay. Thank you for breakfast, I guess I will get these chores done for you." he said as he gets up, places his hat on, and pikachu and him are out the door.
Delia watches as her son leaves towards the Greenhouse in town, and waits till he is over a hill. She goes over to the phone and call Professors Oaks place, to let them know that he has left the house and is out wondering about. She tells them that she gave him errands to run that are away from where they are, but to be careful, he may sneak around still.
"Pikachu, I bet my mom is on the phone right now, warning the others I may be on the prowl to see if they are planning a surprise party. I guess I will make them think I might go over and see if I am right. I will just do the errands mom gave me, and stay away from the Lab.
"Pika." Pikachu said very happy he will not go snooping around.
On the ice island, where Giovanni had sent Jessie, James, and Meowth, they have just awakened, to a bright sunny day. A radio James had found when he found with the supplies, he finally sees it has a tracking device located on it. He turns it on, and to his surprise a voice comes over the radio.
"It is about time you activated it you idiots." A women's voice is heard
"Who is calling me an idiot, no one gets away from saying that." Jessie said right into the radio.
"Shut up you nuisance, you will not speak to a superior like that. For that you can wait one more hour till I pick up your worthless hides. I do not see why he sent you three to me."
"Wait, I am sorry I did that, come and pick us up please, I do not like the cold." Jessie said trying to make up her remark, but it was no good.
"One more hour, for winning." Said the women's voice
"Jessie, why don't you be quite, before we have to stay here for a week." whispered James to Jessie.
"I will pick you three up in two hours, make sure you do not leave anything behind, store all of your junk in the rocket, and stay put."
"Man I do not like this woman. I hope she is someone I do not know." Jessie said as all three of them break there somewhat camp apart and wait the two hours for them to be picked up.
Back in Viridian City, at the Team Rocket Head Quarters, Giovanni receives word that the trio have finial figure out and turn on the tracking device, and they will be picked up and taken to the Ice Base. He is just glad to finally have come up with an ideal to get rid of them, and now they are someone else's problem. He is preparing for the arrival of Ash. He has chosen a room on the same level as his office. A room which he has used many time since he has come into power. It is already set up with surveillance equipment, and a video communications set, (like the video phones they use in the series, but without the receivers). The room itself is ten foot by ten foot, and no windows. The only furnishing in the room is a bed.
A beep is heard in his office, and he turns to the video set, and turns it on.
"Sir, you need to speak with me."
"Yes, I need two of your best men assigned to guard for me. My privet cell." he said
"Yes sir, I will have them ready with in the hour."
The video set turns off, and Giovanni is pleased with himself. He is also thinking of giving Ash a pokemon as a present, but will have to see what he is like before he chooses one for him.
He turns to his Persian and starts to pet him. "Now we must wait, but patience is rewarded in the end."
Back at the Ketchum residents, Ash had finish with all of his errands that brought him into town. He also has finished mowing the lawn, weeding the garden and adding the fertilizer. He is busy working on the hedges and his mom can not see him because he is bent down working on the lower parts of the hedges. She is getting worried he may have taken off to the Professors lab. She calls Oak, to give him a warning that Ash may be heading there or he may be there now. Gary was the one who answered the phone, and give out the warning to the group.
"Guys, we may have a problem, Mrs. Ketchum has lost sight of birthday boy a few minutes ago." He yells out
"This is not great, and we were doing so well. Is she sure, he may be still there." Misty said getting worried.
"Have her go outside and check, he may be still there at the house." Oak said
"Delia, if you can go outside and just check real quickly."
"Okay Gary, I will do that." Delia said
She sets the phone receiver on the table, and goes outside to call for Ash.
"Ash I need you to take out the garbage for me, if you have time." Delia said hopping that Ash is still at the house.
"Okay mom, let me finish bagging the trimmings of the hedge first." Ash said
Delia jumped, not thinking she would have received a reply back from her son. She goes back in, and tells Gary the good news. As she hangs up the receiver, she gives out a sigh of relief.
"Guys, he is still at the house. False alarm." Gary said to the throng of people
"How dense can he be? I thought you said he would have known about this party." Misty said as she pieces cut out letters together saying Happy Birthday.
"I don't know, but I think he switched tactics on us this year. He could still know about the party, and is trying to make us jumpy with the knowledge of he knows that we know he knows. I suggest we stay on our toes, just incase. He may still come sneaking around." Oak said confusing some people
"I did not know this side of Ash exists. What else about him we do not know." May asks
"Probably a lot." Brock said
Back at the Ketchum house, Ash comes in and takes the garbage out. As he goes outside, he sees that his mother has a worried look on her face.
"Mom is there is something wrong."
"No Ash, are you about finish with your chores."
"Yes, all I need to do is feed my pokemon. What are we going to have for dinner tonight?"
"Oh, I believe soup sounds good."
"Okay, call me when dinner is ready."
"Okay Ash." his mom says, but in her gut she thinks he is up to something.
As Ash takes out the garbage, he has a big grin on his face.
"Pika?"
"Oh, pikachu, I told you mom is planning a surprise birthday party for me. She is getting worried that I may go sneak off to see for myself, but I guess I will stay in her sight. Well let them all think they know me, but they do not." He said with a big smile. "So, the garbage is taken care of, so let's go feed the pokemon.
At the Ice Base of Team Rocket, in the northern area of Hoenn, the trio has finally been picked up. The rocket is lifted up into the cargo area of a plane. As they exit the plane, to Jessie and James surprise, they were assigned under the person they were trained by; Miss. Knife, an elderly lady, but do not let looks deceive you. She is close to eighty years old, but is one person you do not want to miss with.
"I can not believe it; I have to see you two again. I thought I taught you better, and here you two are. I thought you will be in the higher ranks of the organization. But no, you are still low level grunts. I am disappointed in you two. For punishment, you have the duty of cleaning the dishes, mopping the floors; do my laundry, and anything else I tell you to do. You got that." She said all of this, while pulling them by there ears through the halls of the base.
"Ouch! Yes ma'am. Ouch! Yes ma'am." The two of them say being drag by their ears.
Meowth is stunned by this, he just follows close behind. The three of them soon get on with their chores. They see that if this is one way to be able to get food, they will do what ever she assigns them.
As night rolls in, Kaleen and Luke are getting ready for phase two of their mission. Get the kid out, and only the kid. They have backed track their trail, and almost ran into Officer Jenny three times, but they had lost her. They are hiding out about a quarter of a mile away from the Ketchum's house. They are waiting till midnight to execute their plan.
"So let me guess, we go to the kids house, get your vileplume to use sleep powder, wait a few minutes till it takes infect, grab the kid, and get to the pick up point." Kaleen said. "I guess that is easy enough."
"Yep, now let's just get settled and wait. It is about six hours till midnight. Let's get something to eat first."
At Professors house, every one is eating dinner. Very glad with themselves with what they have done. They know how great a friend Ash is, and this is why when Delia pitched this ideal, they all jumped on the band wagon. Some of the gym leaders and many of Ashes friends he had made could not come, but sent their wishes. It is still a big gathering. Delia already warned them he may sneak out of the house tonight, but pikachu and Mr. Mime will keep an eye out for his mischief. Before they all went to bed, they set up guard duty.
At the Ketchum's house, they are had just finished dinner, and Ash went to bed early. His mom still thinks he is up to something. She has decided to stay awake for a little bit more, and later let her Mimmie and pikachu take over watching Ash.
Ash is very happy. He knows what his friends are up to, and is glad that this is happen. He can hardly wait till he sees all of his friends again. He even has some presents he got for May, Max, Misty, and Brock. He got May a bracelet. It has rainbow colored diamond shaped gems set in it. He got Brock a subscription to Breeders Weekly. Misty, he found a beautiful necklace on a golden chain. The gem is a sapphire in the shape of a tear drop. It is about two inches in length, and it is wrapped around with gold in a complicated pattern of knots and loops. For Max he was going to send him a pochenna for his birthday, but when he learned of his mothers plan to throw him a surprise birthday party, he waited till his birthday party to give the pochenna to Max. He has been training it for him also. He had saved up most of his money the past half year, so he can afford the presents, and was pleased when he had enough. He mostly did side jobs to earn enough. He even got Tracey a present. A new sketch pad, with new drawing pencils, and a carrying case to hold all of it in. Oak got a gift card for him to get new books.
"Well pikachu, now that you see what presents I have for them, what you think. I know May and Misty will be surprised with their presents. I really do not know if Brock had a subscription to that magazine already, but I know he will still like to have it. I know Max will be happy to have his fist pokemon. This little guy is a bit hyper, so I hope he can handle him." Ash said as he finishes wrapping a fifth present. "I know mom will like this. It is a heart locket." He opens it up, and inside is a picture of Ash on one side, and a picture of pikachu on the other side. On the front, is a big letter D. "I hope she likes it." he said as he finishes wrapping his mothers gift. "I know I am pose to be the one getting presents, but what the heck, I really do not care for presents, I would love just to have my friends with me, like you pikachu." He said with a yawn, and stuffing the presents under his bead. He gets up and turns off the light, and goes to bed.
Pikachu is surprised with what he got for his friends. He knew about the present for Max and Brock, but the others, he was amazed. He just curlers up against his best friend and can hardly wait till tomorrow, for Ash will have a big surprise. Not only is his traveling friends will be there, but a lot more people he has meet on his journey.
"Pikachu, I do know one thing, you think you may not know." Ash said as he started petting his friend.
"Pika? Pikachu said as he was being petted.
"I did know mom had you spy on me, so I would not find out about the party."
"Pika!" Saying as he set up in bed surprised Ash knew
"I knew mom needed someone she could trust to keep me from finding out. I kind of knew she may do something like this. I over heard her talking to Brock and the others about it. Goodnight pikachu." said Ash
"Pika." said and snuggled closer to his friend.
Around midnight, Luke and Kaleen came close to the house. They found that a window had been left open, and were about to make their entrance, till they saw Mr. Mime walking around. They had vileplum use its sleep powder and it knocked him out. They moved upstairs, and had vileplum fill up the house with a thick cloud of sleep powder. They enter one room, and found it was Ashes room. They walked over, and grab him out of his bed, and left in the night. They did not take any of Ashes pokemon, and pikachu, was wrapped up in Ashes blankets.
By morning Pikachu woke to be tangled up in Ashes covers. He sees that Ash is gone, and goes downstairs. He finds Delia cooking breakfast, and humming to herself. She sees that he had awoken up.
"Oh good pikachu you are awake. Can you go get Ash up for breakfast pikachu?"
Pikachu just stares at her. He thought Ash had already woken up. Pikachu starts getting worried; he may have sneaked out of the house last night, and went snooping at the Professor's lab. Delia seeing his worried look went upstairs to find that the cloths he laid out were still there, along with his hat, shoes and pokeballs.
"Do you think he snuck out last night, without us knowing?"
Pikachu just shrugs, not knowing if he did or not. Delia went downstairs to the phone. She calls at the lab, and gets Oak on the line.
"Samuel, Ash is gone."
"He must have gotten by you last night, and is coming home as we speak. We have had no sigh of him here."
"I do not think so, his shoes are still here, along with his pokeballs, and he never leaves pikachu behind."
"I see your point. Lets us wait for a few hours to see if he comes home, if not, call Officer Jenny and then us."
Few hours later and Ash still has not showed up. Delia called Officer Jenny, and at Oak's place. May, Max, Misty, Brock, Tracey, Gary and Officer Jenny arrives at the same time at the Ketchum's house. Officer Jenny starts to ask questions to Delia.
"When do you believe he sneaked out last night?"
"I do not know? I was in bed asleep." Delia says
"When did you find him gone?" Jenny asks
"When I asked pikachu if he could go and get him for breakfast, and I saw how worried he looked, so I went up stairs to find he was gone." Delia says
"Do you know why he might have taken off?" Jenny ask
"I believe he went off to spy at Professors Oak's house, for his surprise birthday party, but he left without changing from his night closes and left his shoes. He also left his pokeballs, and he never leaves without pikachu." Delia said getting more worried.
"Okay, I see what you are saying; lets get started looking for him. Can I get something of your son's scent of him, so I could get my growlithe to track him by?"
"I'll go get a pillow from his room." Brock said, without going mad crazy love over Officer Jenny.
"I am amazed that Brock is not going love sick over Officer Jenny." May tells Misty
"That is easy; I threaten him if he pulls his stunt he is going to wound up with a very sore set of ears."
Brock comes down the stair with the requested and hands it over to her. He quickly comes to May and Misty side to keep his ears safe, but you can tell he is having a hard time, by the expression of his face.
Officer Jenny lets out growlithe, and asks him to sniff it so he could get a scent of Ash. But as he does, he starts to gets wobble, and falls down and goes to sleep.
"What happen? Max asks the Officer
"I do not know?" She says and holds the pillow up to her nose. "Its sleep powder. Does your son own any pokemon that know this move?"
"No he does not." Oak said as he walks in. "What do you think might have happen to him Officer Jenny."
"I do not know, but I suggest we start to search outside. Do you think his pikachu may be able to up his scent outside?" Officer Jenny says as she recalls her growlithe.
"I believe so." Oak says. "The others are coming over to help."
"What others? Officer Jenny asks
"The people we invited for Ashes birthday."
As they group up, Officer Jenny is surprised to see all of these people here. Delia had to explain to her that she organized it with the help of May, Max, Brock and Misty. Pikachu caught Ashes scent and ran for the forest. As they look around they find depressions in the ground and footsteps.
"If he was kidnapped it looks like this is where they waited. They must have come back through this area after taking Ash. I suggest we split up." Officer Jenny said
They split up to search the surrounding area while Delia and Oak went back home just incase Ash did showed up. As dark started to fall, Officer Jenny called a halt to the search.
"I am sorry for doing so, but we would have had found him by now. I think if he had been kidnapped, they are long gone now. Does he have any enemies?" She asks the group
"Team Rocket is him main enemy, there are these three who try and still his pikachu all the time." Misty speaking up
"Don't forget Team Magma and Aqua. He messed up some of their plans also." May said
"I see. I suggest that we all go home, and get some rest. If there is any news I will call his mother." Officer Jenny said
Brock, May, Max, Misty, why don't you four stay here tonight with Delia, I will get Tracey to send your things over when we get back to the lab. I believe she and pikachu needs some of their friends over. Many of the guests will be leaving tonight and in the morning. Oak said to the group
"Okay Professor." they said
As many of the guest left to go back to Oaks lab and to go home, and said their goodbyes to Delia. The small group of Misty, Brock, May, and Max stayed with Delia. Brock started to cook something for a late dinner, while May and Max helped out. Misty stayed with Delia and pikachu. After dinner pikachu disappeared into Ashes room.
"Where did pikachu go off to?" Max asked
"I think he went up into Ashes room. He is taking this very hard." Delia said as she gets up and goes to her son's room.
When she returns, pikachu eyes are red and swollen with crying and holding a bottle of ketchup and she holding a bag. Delia sits down pikachu on a pillow, and sits back down and looks at the bag.
"What is in the bag Mrs. Ketchum?" Brock asks as he pours her another cup of coffee.
"I do not know. When I went up to Ashes room, I found pikachu crying and holding a bottle of ketchup, and ripped up paper on the floor. When he seen me, he went under the bed. I thought he wanted to be left alone, but he came out with this bag and gave it to me." She said as she opens it up
"There are presents in here, with your names on them."
Delia gets the presents out, and passed them out to the group. When she came across with Tracey's and Oaks, she just set them on the table, and found one for Gary. When she found hers she was amazed she had one.
"Pikachu was he going to hand these out today?"
Pikachu just nodded his head yes. That is when they heard the front door being knocked on. Max got up and let Gary and Tracey in, who brought all of their things over.
"Hey guys brought your things over and some of the food from the party. Don't want it all going to waste." Gary said as he set down backpacks.
"Thank you." They all said at different times.
"Mrs. Ketchum do we open these now or when Ash gets back?" May asks
"I think we may want to open them now. He would understand if we open them, when pikachu gave us them. Gary, Tracey, he got you presents also. Gary you will you give your grandfather his."
"Okay Mrs. Ketchum." He said as he receives his present.
They all open their presents and where amazed with what they got.
"I got this bracelet, it is wonderful." May said while tearing up
"I got a subscription to a breeder's magazine. I like it." Brock said
"I got a sketch pad, pencils, and a carrying case from Ash." Tracey said.
"I do not believe this, it is a heart locket. I been wanting one for a long time, and, and..." Delia could not finish because she started to cry.
"Misty what did you get?" Brock said
"I got this necklace; I do not see how he could have gotten this for me?"
"He has been doing odd jobs around town. I thought he was saving up for his journey." Delia said
"Max what did you get?" May asked her brother
"I got a pokeball." Max said
Pikachu got up, and went to Max, and pushed the button on the pokeball twice to make it bigger and to release the poochyena out of the pokeball. The pokemon just looks around to see who released him, and jumps into Max's lap and starts to lick him. They all laugh at Max, but soon were sad again.
"Gary what did you get from Ash." Misty asks while wiping tears from her face.
Gary started to open his up, and found a dog tag shaped necklace. On one side was his name, and on the other it said "We may be rivals, but we shall be friends in the end." Gary had a single tear come down his face but wiped it away quickly.
"That is wonderful Gary. I guess it would be wise for the two of you to return home, and we all go to bed. Being tired will not help Ash." Delia said "Girls I guess you will get Ashes room. Brock and Max let me get you some pillows."
Soon Gary and Tracey left to go back to the lab. Pikachu followed May and Misty to Ashes room, and Max and Brock got the couches. They all could not go to sleep right away with the worrying over what has happen to Ash, but they all fell asleep in the end.
