Chapter 4: Painful memories

Mss. Joy stood in front of the desk in Giovanni's office just as Giovanni gave her five folders with Brock's, May's, Misty's, Max's and Ash's pictures on them. "I want you to keep a close eye on these students of yours. I believe they will have potential in this Organization."

Miss. Joy looked into Ash's folder. "I don't wish to be disrespecting your orders, Mr. Giovanni; but why these five?"

"Not only do they work well together, but each one has a member of the family that has or does work with us that are or have been our top agents. Like the one you are holding right now is the only son to, Akio Ketchum."

Miss. Joy nearly dropped all the folders after hearing that name. "A-Akio, he was the one who inspired me to follow my heart to become a teacher when I was still a young agent."

"He was a great Agent, may he rest in peace."

She nodded. "I will keep a close eye on them from now, if they are even half as good as their family members, we maybe finally able to eliminate the Poke'mon once and for all."

Giovanni could only smile. "That is something we could all hope for, Miss. Joy."

The next day at breakfast, Ash seemed to be back to normal while devouring everything on his plate. "Brock's teaching has really helped, this food is great."

But even though he seemed back to normal, his friends weren't too sure of his sudden recovery. "Ash, are you sure you are alright," May asked.

"Feah," Ash replied with a mouth full of food, then swallowed it. "I'm fine, don't worry about it."

"You did act strange yesterday; we just want to make sure you are ok. We are friends after all," Misty added.

"I'm fine," Ash replied in a darker tone this time, "you can drop it now."

This tone from Ash startled the three. Just then, Ash stood up. "I'm going to go for a walk, see you later at morning training."

He walked off, leaving the three a bit confused. "I wonder why he is acting like this all of a sudden," Misty pondered, "Are you sure you can't remember anything, May?"

"I wish I could, but I can't remember," May replied in a down tone.

"Well what happened was that Gary and Ash were best friends just like my sister and Ash, but after Gary found out that it was Ash's father who turned in his grandfather, Gary became a complete jerk to Ash," Max said.

The two girls were completely astounded by what Max said. "How could you know all of that?" Misty asked.

"Simple, I found my sister's diaries. It was hard to make out most of it, but I found my way around," Max boosted with his eyes closed. But when he opened them, he saw his sister looking down at him while surrounded in flames.

"You... read... my... DIARIES!" she yelled as she chased after her brother.

So, they use to be best friends. Misty thought, pushing the food around on her plate and staring into the abyss. Now I understand.

In the training room, Ash is playing the trivia game, completely focused on it to the point that he doesn't notice all of the other girls admiring him.

"I don't get it," Brock complained, "why is it Ash gets all the attention from the beauties of Team Rocket and I just get ignored?"

"Well, if you didn't approach them while in a love daze, the girls wouldn't think you were a creep," May answered, just to see Brock curled up in a corner.

"You don't have to be so cruel."

"Well, she's right. And it could also help if your father was, Akio," Max added, while rubbing the sores on his face caused by his sister's rage.

"Our new friend is the new ladies man of Team Rocket, huh Misty," May asked, just to notice that Misty seemed to be distracted by her own thoughts. "Misty?" May asked, elbowing her in the side.

Misty snapped out of her daze. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"She should have said," Officer Jenny said behind them in a threatening tone, "get back to training!"

They all saluted. "Yes, Officer Jenny."

"Now, fifty pull ups," then Jenny looked down at Max, "sixty for you."

In class, Ash sat away from his friends while Miss. Joy was looking through her notes, Misty would just look at Ash to see the hatred in his eyes, but he being unaware of the attention. "Now, is it true that a Poke'mon that might be considered, cute and adorable, could still be as much of a threat as a dark and scary one? Max?"

Max then stood up. "Yes, it is true."

"Correct, now before you sit back down, could you give the class an example."

"The Poke'mon known as Jigglypuff, to some it is known as a, cute and adorable Poke'mon. But with one note of its Sing attack it can knock out an army cold for about an hour."

"Great example, you can sit now," Joy replied, Max smiled and sat. "Now this next question is for, Ash Ketchum," Ash stood up, "why is it bad when you find a Nidoran?"

"Because the parents to that species of Poke'mon are very strong and defensive of their young, because of that they are always close enough to hear their child's scream if it happened to be endangered."

"Correct, at this rate you will be just as good as your father."

"Thank you, Miss. Joy," Ash replied, sitting back at his desk.

"Has anyone noticed Ash's mood swing?" Brock whispered.

"Yeah, his energy just seemed to disappear," Max whispered back.

"I wish there was something we could do," May replied, "but for some reason he keeps avoiding us."

"It's because, we keep bringing up past wounds," Misty replied.

The three looked over at, Misty. "What do you mean?" they all asked.

"You three, I am trying to teach a class," Miss. Joy called out, while her tone still remained the same.

"Sorry, Miss. Joy," they said, standing up and bowing, then sitting back down.

"I will tell you all later," Misty whispered back.

Later that day, Brock and Max were watching TV in their dorm just as their phone rang. Max picked it up. "Dorm Room 213, Max speaking."

"Hey Max," Misty said through the other line, "do you know where Ash is?"

"Nope, sorry, haven't seen him since we left class."

"Oh ok, I thought he would be in his dorm at this time."

"It is almost dinner," Max joked.

"Oh that reminds me," Brock said, running to the door and putting on his shoes. "Joy asked me to help with the dessert, see you later."

Brock went out the door as Max held up a book titled May's Dairy #3 and said. "Well, according to what I have been able to make out from my sister's handwriting. When they were young and he would be in a bad mood, he would be sitting on the roof of his house."

"You know, Max. You should return those books to," she whispered, "you know who' before she kills you."

"I'll think about it, see yah."

"Bye."

The elevator opened at the roof, and just like Max said, she found Ash lying down on the ground looking up at the sky slowly getting darker. "Ash," she called out, barely loud enough for him to hear.

He turned his head to see Misty standing there, but then he just looked back up in the sky. "How did you find me?"

"Max got it from one of May's diaries," Misty replied. "Can we talk?"

"Sure."

She walked over and lied down next to him. "The sky is beautiful today."

"You don't need to start off with the small talk. You want to know why I have an attitude, don't you?"

"Actually, no," Misty replied, "I think I already know why."

"What do you mean?" Ash asked.

"My parent's died when I was a child so I can't even remember what they look like. So my sisters took over caring for me. I used to look up to them as my sisters, my parents, and my best friends. I felt like I could tell them anything. But then, their attitudes completely changed. From the kind sisters they were they were all of sudden, 'too old' to play with me anymore," she then sat up, pulling her legs into her chest and wrapping her arms around them. "My best friends became my worst enemies. They would only talk to me to insult me in some way; the condition of the hand-me-downs they would give me became worse and worse. I felt like I finally felt free when they joined Team Rocket, but the messages they would send me was as bad if they were with me, telling me I was weak and would never mange to ever be as good as them."

Ash relaxed from this story. "And this is why you join to show them that you are as good as them."

She nodded just as a small stream of water went down her cheek. "So, I'm sorry we kept bringing up why you were so mad after Gary talked to you. But we would like to have our friend back."

Ash sat up, stretching out his arms. "Well, I am getting hungry."

She looked over at him with a smile on her face. "Good to have you back."

He stood up and offered out his hand. "Come on, I bet our friends are saving us a table."

She nodded, accepting his hand and pulled her up. She used her arm to wipe off her cheek. Then out of nowhere, she grabbed Ash by the collar and said in a threatening tone. "If you tell my story to anyone else, when we get out on the field I will throw you in front of a Tauros stampede."

A nervous smile shook on Ash's face. "I understand."

She released him and than gave him an innocent smile. "Good to know. Now, race you to the cafeteria. Loser pays for desserts."

Just then, Ash snapped out of it. "Hey no fair, you got a head start!"

"You snooze you lose," she shot back childishly.

To Be Continued

Don't worry, they will get to the field very soon, but so much jealousy... I mean plots to set up. Can anyone guess who will be the leader of the Unit I will have them assigned to (hint: it isn't anyone I have mentioned so far in this fanfic or one of my original characters and has been known to cause jealousy)? If anyone can guess right I will either give a spoiler to any of my current fanfics or update any of them. Read and Review.