13

I feel the sword go through me, and gasp. Gasp? I can breath again!? I think, not even sure that the fact I almost died had sunken in yet. It hurt, but not in the deathly way I had expected. The sword had fazed through me, and I felt the pain ease away slowly. I close my eyes and let this odd sense of comfort fall over me, glad that I am finally rid of this curse.

-----

I wake up, still in the tower, but the lack of light coming from the windows tells me it is night out. The man who thrust his sword into me is kneeling at my side, but talking to my Lucario.

…He is kind, but has trouble with people. He says, I not hearing what this man asked.

He nods. "A curse of that power… should have killed most people his age much sooner. He must have some kind of will power…"

I move my hand to grab his clothes. "Don't talk about me behind my back." I say, with a smirk.

The man chuckles. "You got my message then?"

"That was you?" I ask, assuming he is referring to my dream.

"Of course. Jenny called me first, to say that an extremely powerful curse had been laid. I sensed it, and tried to call out to you."

"Well it worked… but that isn't all that has been getting to me."

"Oh? Explain, on the way down. No one will come to harm us as we go down the tower."

And indeed he was right. As we walked on, most of the pokémon went on their usual business, as if nothing had happened that day. As we go down, he supports me by having my one of my arms over his shoulder. I tell him about attack from Viridian, the curse and it's painful effects, and the assassin who attacked me and the man who brought me Markus. When I started to talk about how we ascended to the top, he stopped me.

"That happened because of your curse. The ghost pokémon are attuned to that sort of thing, and if it had not been for your pokémon, you might have died before I found you."

"Not all of them…" I say, and look down and at my eevee's pokéball. "I never even released her when I was about to die at the top… I'm a horrible trainer. I haven't even caught my pokémon."

"I bet she knows why."

"Why? Because I'm so stupid I won't let my best friend know what is about to happen to me?"

"Stop beating yourself up. No, it is because you wanted to save her. Deep down inside, you knew releasing her, being weaker than your other two, would have put her in danger. A good trainer puts the lives of their pokémon over a silly little good bye."

I nod, and release my eevee, and before she is even done coming out of the red flash, she jumps into my arms, crying and rubbing my chest with her head. "I don't care. We have to share experiences, and I won't shun her for safety. I promise, eevee, that I will take you where ever I go, through thick and thin."

He just nods and acknowledges my feelings, and we walk out of the tower. There is actually a small crowd of people, and they cheer. I look around and see Sakura and Serena at its front.

I get off the man's back and almost collapse, but Serena catches me and puts me on my feet. I ask her, "What is going on around here?"

Serena gives me a proud look. "Well, after you left, we figured you went up the tower. Little did we realize that half the town knew. These town folk sense supernatural powers very well, and your curse hit them like a tidal wave. We came out and they were all out here very concerned for you. And get this: You are the first human in recorded history to live through a ninetails curse."

I just lie there as the small crowd cheers for me. "This is all for nothing. I didn't even deserved to be cursed…"

"Well DUH! That is why they are cheering for you, they WANT you to live!"

I try to get up, but I stumble over. "Do they expect a speech?"

"No, they expect you to get a good sleep. Draxik can tell you more tomorrow." Explains Serena.

"Who?" I say, slightly confused.

"Just go sleep."

And we do, as all three of us, with my eevee, Markus, and Abby, head off to the inn for a good night's sleep.

-----

The next morning, we all wake up, and it goes perfectly normal until we get outside the inn, when the man with a zanpakto saved me awaits. "I've been waiting here all morning."

"It's nine AM…," I say.

"Been up since six." He says frankly.

"Aren't you a little boy scout?" I say, sarcasm filling my voice for the first time in days. "Okay, let's all head out toward Saffron City, I need to tell you guys something there."

They all nod, and just head out, and I notice something on the man's waist, a pokéball. "Hey, wait, uh…"

He turns around. "Draxik."

"Yeah, you, OH YOU? Yeah, uh… What pokémon do you have with you?"

"Later. And don't ask about my cursed status either, that will have to wait." He says to cut me off. I shrug and just continue toward the girls.

We come to a clearing a few minutes out of Lavender, and I signal for us to stop. We all gather around a log that I sit on, and look at everyone in the group. Serena, Sakura, Draxik, and my little eevee. I sigh, and start.

"When I was really small, like before one year old, my father left my mother, completely unexpected. I never truly knew what happened, except for one day I was cleaning my room and I found something odd in a pokéball that I was supposed to use for my first pokémon, and I suspect I found it before I was supposed to. It was a chip, and I placed it in a memory card and promptly into the computer to watch it, and it told me how he has, at the last minute, became the leader of Team Rocket."

I stop, and Sakura gasps, and Serena doesn't change much expression. Draxik looks wild with rage."

"I was too young, but I did know that Team Rocket was a bad group of people, who weren't above killing and stealing for political gain. He said that at the last second, he was voted in as leader after Giovanni was beaten by some Ash kid. My father must have received some kind of message from that little video, because the next time I went onto the Internet, he started talking with me. I shunned him at first, saying I hated him. He left my mom and I and joined an equivalent of a pokémon Mafia. He told me that I would have to join eventually, but I just shoved him out of my life from that day off. I never even told my mother, hoping it would all go away. I was 5. Now that I'm 12, I suspected that starting my pokémon journey would start something, but kept shoving it out of my head. I didn't know that I was supposed to be an heir by the time I was this age. What he has been trying to do lately… is find me. But, his men have been attempting to take my life. Markus, Lucario, told me that his men… were acting on their own reasons."

"I still remember vividly the last day I talked with my father. I didn't believe him then, but he said he was trying to turn Team Rocket around, to helping. But he told me one thing that I still take to heart this day. No, two things: He is still my father, and always will be, and that there is a man I should watch out for. He didn't give me a description, but the man with Dark Ambitions is one who wants to usurp the power of Team Rocket, though few know why. My father says he is second in command, and wants nothing more than leadership. And he'll do anything to get it."

"So what is our next move?" Asks Sakura. "Do we want to find him? Hide, or leave Kanto?"

I shake my head. "We are going to end it, or die trying, as they are very powerful of late. I'll go to Team Rocket's base and try to talk with my father. Seven long years and I'm only 12, and I hardly know what is going to happen. I still hardly know my father. I may be attacked upon walking in."

"So we are going to find him how?" Asks Serena.

"I haven't thought that through yet…" I rub my temples with my fingers. "But I know that he wants me to lead Team Rocket in peace, and his men don't. So really, besides finding my dad, I'm stuck. Can I trust you guys to help me out?"

Serena gives me a funny look. "Of course silly! We all know about Team Rocket, and we know you. They don't mix. We'll end Team Rocket's activities as quickly as possible, so don't worry your little head."

Sakura walks over and places a hand on my shoulder. "My duty as a ranger calls to end their acts of violence, so I'd help you, whether or not you wanted it."

Draxik just gets up and walks toward Lavender again. "I'll see you guys around. You have your way around Team Rocket, and I have mine. Bye." He says, a hint of anger in his voice, but I don't let it get to me.

I start talking again. "Okay, we don't know for sure where they are, but Viridian is controlled by them obviously, as evidence that I was hit by the entire police squad there. But, if I remember the news correctly, there was a take over of Silph. Co a while ago. We should head there, as agents might be around still."

"Well, then off we go to find an organization we know hardly anything about, that likes to kill, and is looking to kill someone we know!" Says Serena, acting like she was giving a pep talk. I laugh, and lead the group, having my eevee walk with me, and the two girls behind me. My father and all this Team Rocket business has finally come around to bite me in the ass. I think. Well, now I am going to end it. I'll disband Team Rocket once and for all, or lose everything I know trying