Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.
Chapter 5: A Wish in Anger
"You want me to be the new leader of Team Rocket, eh?" Richter asked Cassidy and Butch. "And just what faction would I be leading? Last I heard, Team Rocket fell apart after Giovanni was arrested in Lilycove City several months ago. All of his top lieutenants have been battling for control ever since."
"My partner and I don't represent any of the current factions, but a new one." Cassidy revealed. "One that can unite all the other factions together into a new and stronger Team Rocket. All it would take is your leadership."
"But why me?" Richter asked. "Why not just try and unite the team all on your own."
"Well… ya see…" Butch began as he rubbed the back of his head. "We kinda got kicked outta Team Rocket about ten years ago."
"It wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for that one trainer we kept running into." Cassidy added. "Because of that damn rock star, Bolt Hanson, our reputations in Team Rocket were ruined! We were two of the organization's most elite agents before he came along!"
Richter suddenly chuckled. "So… Hanson is the one to blame for your disgrace. He was a thorn in my side once too. Still is, really. Since you managed to gain my sympathy, go ahead and tell me the rest of your proposal."
"Alright. The bottom line is that my partner and I don't like what Team Rocket has become, but as it is we can't do anything to change it." Cassidy explained. "But there's a good chance that you can. Your family has deep connections with Team Rocket. If someone like you were to step up and take the leadership, the other faction leaders would fall behind you."
"I see… and I'm guessing that all the two of you want is to be my top lieutenants, right?" Richter deduced. "Okay. I accept your little offer. Things haven't been going as smoothly for my family since Team Rocket fell out of power. Just answer me one question though, what happened to the Wyler villa where I was staying?"
"Well… I'm afraid that the villa is now just a pile of charcoal." Butch reported. "Derik Wyler, his wife, and all the house staff are dead."
"And what about Derik Wyler's daughter, Christine?" Richter asked, anger starting to show in his voice. "Where's the girl I was supposed to marry?"
"She's alive, but… we have no clue where she is." Cassidy answered.
Richter slammed the side of his fist into the rail on the side of the bed. "Let this by my first executive order as your leader! I want all available resources put towards finding Christine and bringing her to me! I also want to know exactly how the villa exploded like that!"
"Of course, sir. But there's something else you should know." Cassidy told him. "The Legendary Pokemon known as Jirachi has been sighted all over Stardust Falls for the past few days. If we could capture a Pokemon like that, it would go a long way towards cementing your position as leader of Team Rocket."
"Plus, Jirachi is said to be able to grant wishes." Butch added. "If we caught it, we could wish for just about anything we wanted."
Richter sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "You make a good point. Okay, I want the capture of Jirachi to be our number one priority. But all our other resources are to go towards finding Christine, is that understood?"
"Yes sir!" Cassidy and Butch said together as they saluted. Soon after, the duo left the room.
"Your father's death changes nothing, Christine." Richter spoke. "You're still mine, and nothing is ever going to change that."
Two days went by since the incident with Archie, and the town of Stardust Falls had been relatively calm. There had been no signs of Jirachi, though Bolt and the others had been keeping their eyes out for strange incidents in the news and they could see that Jirachi had been busy. The day before there had been an incident where a man had wished for his brother-in-law's sport's car would blow up, and a second later it had spontaneously exploded. Had the man's brother-in-law actually been in the car at the time, there would've been a fatality. There had been other similar incidents occurring all over the town, yet no actual sightings of Jirachi. It seemed to Bolt and the others that Jirachi had been laying low. Of course it was only a matter of time before Jirachi would grant a wish that would have more disastrous consequences.
Meanwhile, Christine was calmly sitting on a white bench in the small park behind the hotel. She had been coming out to that spot to think ever since she had arrived at the hotel. Before long, Bolt came out of the hotel and sat next to her on the bench.
"How ya doing?" Bolt asked.
"Okay." Christine answered. "I can't wait to get rid of these crutches. Any sign of Jirachi?"
"Nah. The little bastard's doing a good job of hiding." Bolt answered. "So… you still beating yourself up over what happened with your dad?"
"I keep telling myself that you're right, that there's no way I could've know that Jirachi was going to grant my wish that way." Christine replied. "Still, if I hadn't woken Jirachi up in the first place… I guess this is just something I'm going to have to learn to live with."
"I'll try and help you any way I can." Bolt told her as he took her hand.
"Bolt… there is something else that I've been feeling guilty about." Christine revealed. "I've never forgiven myself for leaving you ten years ago. And here you are again, taking care of me even after what I did."
"Yeah, well… the truth is Chirstine," Bolt began as he took off his trademark sunglasses and looked her in the eye, "I guess I've never stopped loving you."
Christine smiled as tears began to roll down her cheeks. As they gazed into one another's eyes, they had become locked in a deep passionate kiss before they had realized it. Meanwhile, Lorain had been watching Bolt and Christine from behind a tree the whole time.
It was later in the afternoon as Lorain headed back outside to the park. She found Christine out hobbling around her crutches and getting some fresh air. Lorain immediately stormed over and got in Christine's path.
"Oh! Hello Lorain." Christine spoke upon seeing the blunette. "I haven't seen you since that talk we had the other day."
"I thought I told you to stay the hell away from Bolt!" Lorain reminded her.
"Whether or not I spend my time with Bolt isn't any of your business." Christine told her. "Besides, Bolt really seems to want me around."
"Yeah, well that's because he doesn't know you the way I do!" Lorain retorted. "You're a selfish bitch, you know that? I told you to just stay away from Bolt so that he wouldn't get hurt again! And here you are trying to pick up where the two of you left off!"
"That's not what we're doing at all!" Christine told her. "I know that Bolt and I just can't go on like what happened in Viridian City never happened, but the fact is that Bolt and I still have strong feelings for each other and we both want to explore them. Lorain, I get that you're worried about Bolt… but you don't have the right to tell either of us that we can't see each other."
"Dammit!" Lorain cursed as she clenched her fists at her sides. "I wish… I wish that a small meteor would just fall down from the sky and hit you!"
Suddenly the bush that Christine and Lorain were standing next to rustled and Jirachi popped out. "I heard that! Consider your wish granted!"
The eye on Jirachi's chest opened and the area was bathed in a silvery light. When the light faded, Christine and Lorain looked up to see a blue ball of light in the sky. The ball of light got bigger and bigger as it fell closer towards them, and it soon became clear that it was going to hit right where Christine was standing. Christine and Lorain remained standing where they were, completely frozen in horror.
"Raikou! Blast that thing out of the sky with Hyper Beam!" Bolt's voice suddenly cut in.
Raikou jumped forward next to Christine and fired a beam of golden light into the sky up at the meteor. The attack struck the front of the falling space rock, but only caused a few cracks to form. At the same time, Christine looked back and saw Bolt and the rest of the gang standing behind her.
"Damn! It wasn't enough!" Bolt observed. "And it'll take a bit before Raikou can launch another attack!"
"Let me handle this!" Quinton told him as he pulled out a pokeball. "Go Chrome!"
Quinton's silver Metagross burst out of the thrown ball, its body giving off a sparkling flash as it emerged.
"Okay Chrome! Break that thing apart with Meteor Mash!" Quinton ordered.
At that moment, the stone in Quinton's bracelet flashed along with the stone attached to Chrome's leg. In seconds, Chrome's body gave off a dazzling light before changing into its starship-like mega form. The silver Pokemon then took off into the air towards the meteor at full speed. As Chrome came in range of the meteor, its body became shrouded in a multicolored mist. A few seconds later, Chrome's golden claws struck the meteor, causing it to explode with a bright flash of light that washed out the entire sky.
When the light finally faded, the meteor had been almost completely destroyed, with only a few small harmless chunks falling towards the town. A few moments later, Chrome flew back to the ground and changed back into its original form.
"Damn! I have got to get me one of those Mega Stones!" Ross declared.
"How fascinating!" Jirachi declared. "You were able to overcome the power of your friend's wish. Though perhaps if she had wished for a more mundane demise for your other friend, the outcome might've been much different."
"You little son of a bitch!" Bolt cursed. "What the hell were you just trying to pull?"
"I was merely granting the wish of your friend there." Jirachi indifferently replied. "She was the one who wished for the meteor to fall."
"But I never… I didn't want…" Lorain spoke as she backed away in horror. "I didn't actually mean for anything like that to happen!"
"Really? It seemed clear that you wished to be rid of a romantic rival." Jirahci assumed. "Was I incorrect?"
"Well I… I mean…" Lorain began, but she couldn't get the rest of the words to come out of her mouth.
Jirachi flew closer to Lorain. "From your reaction, it would appear that my assumption is correct. Human emotions have always been a hard thing for me to understand, but past experience has taught me that humans will often wish for things they don't consciously mean, but still desire on a subconscious level. You wanted Ms. Christine out of the way so that you could have that man over there as a mate. Am I wrong?"
Lorain said nothing but simply burst into tears. The blunette then ran away sobbing before any of the others could stop her.
Ross slapped his fist into the palm of his left hand. "Okay ya little bastard! We're tired of you screwing with us! It's time we put your lights out!"
"I don't think so." Jirachi told him. "Flash attack!"
Jirachi quickly reopened the eye on his chest and the area was washed out in a blinding flash of silvery light. When the light faded and Bolt and the others uncovered their eyes, Jirachi had vanished without a trace.
"Damn!" Quinton cursed. "It got away again!"
"The little guy's harder to catch than Raikou!" Bolt remarked. "No offense, buddy."
Raikou merely growled in response and used his hind leg to scratch behind his left ear.
"I'm going to have to come up with some way to counter Jirachi's flash." Quinton realized as he held his chin. "Otherwise Jirachi is just going to keep getting away form us."
"What about Lorain?" Skins suddenly asked.
"Bolt, I think you need to go have a talk with Lorain." Christine told him. "I think Jirachi was right. What just happened isn't just because she's still mad at me for what happened ten years ago."
Bolt let out a heavy sigh. "Yeah, I think you're right. Man! This whole thing just keeps getting more and more messed up!"
Author's Note: I apologize for this chapter being a little on the short side. It seemed a lot longer when I planned it out on the original outline.
Please review and let me know what you think.
