The Year of Rocket's Revenge
Session: January, Part 5 (01.23.06/08.09.07)


It's been three, hard, long weeks. Maybe even four. I think I've lost count.

Such is the way when you're forcibly camping out in order to avoid facing the truth. The truth that the boy you love is too stupid to realize it's wrong to allow another girl to flirt with you. To allow her to gaze longingly into your eyes.

To not reject... her kiss.

So why is it that I can't see the truth? Or go and find it? Am I afraid that he actually liked it? That he wanted for it to happen?

Well... even if he did, he's probably not smart enough to realize it. Then again, he's not as dumb as he used to be.

I don't know... maybe I should stop beating around the bush and go find out what probably everyone else in the world but me knows.

Does Ash Ketchum still love me?

-

-

Hmmm... maybe I should wait a few more days to think about it...


Friday, January 25th, Route 5, North of Saffron City

A bright sunny day means another opportunity to frolic and play! Or get into a friendly Pokémon battle, as is the case of a young teenage girl in a yellow sundress. Sporting a straw hat to help block out the sun's rays, even in winter, she and her Croconaw were facing off with a girl of the same age, dressed in a blue-hooded jacket that hid most of her face, and a Vaporeon.

"Use Water Gun!" exclaimed Croconaw's trainer.

Croconaw fired a steady stream of water towards Vaporeon.

"Dodge it, then use Quick Attack!" shouted Vaporeon's trainer in response.

Vaporeon stepped aside of the Water Gun, then bolted towards her opponent. Croconaw moved as fast as he could to counter it.

"Time to Bite!"

Croconaw jumped forward and leaped for Vaporeon's fin-like tail. He clamped on before Vaporeon could avoid it. The Eevee evolution pulled hard to try and escape, but she just could not get her tail out of Croconaw's vice-like jaws. Watching his opponent struggle, Croconaw raised his left paw in the air to prepare to deliver a finishing blow.

"Go for the Slash, Croconaw!"

"Quick, Vaporeon! Sand Attack!"

Vaporeon hastily kicked up some dirt, which got into Croconaw's eyes and stopped him from attacking, as his paws moved to get the stinging sensation out of his eyes. In the process, Croconaw also released his grip on Vaporeon's tail, freeing the Pokémon, who bolted to a safe distance.

"Now... Aurora Beam!"

The bright and colorful ice-like beam shot from Vaporeon's mouth and drilled Croconaw straight in the stomach. The Pokémon stumbled backwards, tripped over his own two feet, and fell onto the ground, tail first. The impact ended up knocking out Croconaw.

"EEK! Croconaw, are you alright?" his trainer asked as she ran over to check on him.

Vaporeon slowly trotted back over to her trainer, who knelt down and petted her on the head, congratulating it on a job well done before recalling her to her Pokéball. Croconaw's trainer comforted her Pokémon, then did pretty much the same. The two trainers then walked towards each other and shared a handshake.

"Thanks for the battle! You were great!"

"You weren't bad yourself! You'll be a member of the Pokémon League in no time!"

The blue-hooded girl then turned to walk away, a tuft of red hair peeking out from under the hood as she trotted off. The other girl shouted at her, remembering something she had forgotten to do.

"Wait! I didn't give you any of my money for losing the battle!"

"Keep it!" the Vaporeon trainer yelled back.

With that, she disappeared down the path, barreling towards Saffron. As she did, the girl left behind was approached by her two male friends, Nathan and Chris, who had just finished packing up the campsite.

"Who was that, Veronica?" Chris, the younger of the two, asked.

"Some trainer," she replied. "A pretty good one, though. Almost beat her, too."

"Say," wondered Nathan out loud as he produced a 'Missing' poster from his back pants pocket. "She didn't happen to look like this, did she?"

Nathan unfolded it and handed it to Veronica, who examined it. After a few seconds, she gasped and nearly fainted in disbelief. And she would have to, had Chris not caught her in time.

"What? Is that a yes?"

Veronica slowly nodded in affirmation. "But... you mean I just went toe-to-toe with a gym leader? Wow..."

She sighed as the poster fell from her hand, indeed revealing that it had the picture of Misty Waterflower on it. And it was marked as her being missing for more than three weeks now.


Thursday, January 31st, Indigo Plateau

A few days later, off at one of the practice fields, Ash and Pikachu were in the midst of training. Training for whatever new challenges awaited them, especially since they were days away from hitting the road again. Pikachu was running about as little targets appeared all over the field, and Ash started directing Pikachu to them.

"Okay, Pikachu! Quick Attack!" ordered Ash.

"Pika!" Pikachu exclaimed.

The yellow mouse sprinted towards and through the first four targets. Next up was another set of four, though these were at different heights and different distances away. Pikachu lined up at a designated 'mark' and waited for instruction.

"Thundershock, on all of those targets!"

Pikachu complied, employing a rapid fire technique to destroy each of the targets, one at a time. That task complete, Pikachu moved in the direction of the next station. As he did, three tennis ball launchers, all positioned at different angles, began firing at him. Each launcher shot out a tennis ball with its stripes colored either red, blue, or yellow. And they were set to fire at different frequencies and at different locations, trying to beam in on Pikachu's position as they did.

"Use Agility to dodge!"

Pikachu's speed quickly increased, enabling him to dodge the incoming balls. But the launchers caught on in an instant, and they started to be fired at an even faster rate.

"Now try Double Team! Confuse those things!"

"Chu!"

He nodded, then created illusionary copies of himself. The Pikachu spread out in order to keep the launchers from firing all in the same direction. As some of the copies disappeared upon being hit, the real Pikachu had by that point sped past the launchers themselves, getting him in the clear.

Pikachu then got to the final obstacle, which involved jumping over a pool of water ten feet in length and, whilst doing so, destroying a target with a two-foot circumference, positioned face-up in the pool's center. Pikachu got serious as he started sprinting for the launch ramp, and Ash egged his best friend on.

"That's it, Pikachu! You know what to do!"

Pikachu's cheeks began to light up as he started to charge up electrical energy. He seemed ready to explode as he ran up the ramp as fast as he could and jumped forward off the end. Just as he did, Ash knew that this was it.

"Pikachu, use THUNDER!"

"Pika... CHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

Clouds gathered above, and then, without warning, a huge thunderbolt rained down from the sky, right towards Pikachu! Pikachu knew it was coming, but he intentionally kept his focus on the landing ramp, aware in his mind that he was right over the center of the target.

Right where he wanted to be.

Just thousandths of a second later, the bolt of electricity raced by Pikachu's body, just skimming by the end of his tail, and it struck the target in the pool below. Every bit of the target was either completely destroyed or sent flying away or into the pool.

Meanwhile, Pikachu had just touched down on the landing ramp on all fours. As he ran down the ramp, he tried to slow to a stop. But as he reached the end and hit solid ground, one of his legs came down in an odd way. And that was just enough to slip and trip him up, as before he knew it, he was sliding belly-first as he skid to a stop.

"Pikachu!" Ash cried out worriedly as he ran over to check on him.

Reaching his friend, Ash bent down and picked Pikachu up, cradling him in his arms. Ash immediately noted he had a few bumps and bruises, and was wincing in pain.

"It's alright," Ash reassured Pikachu, running his free hand through the fur on top of his head. "You did a great job! We're so close to completing that course... it's only a matter of time 'til we do!"

"Pika... pika pi," Pikachu said weakly, though with a smile on his face.

"Let's go see Nurse Joy at the Pokémon Center. You've earned a long rest!"


Ash waited patiently in the empty lobby of the Pokémon Center for Nurse Joy to heal Pikachu. He couldn't get past the fact that this was the slow season; that seeing any trainers here would be out of the ordinary, save for the occasional one passing through the area.

With nothing to do, his mind started to wander. Or, rather, worry about someone else that was very close to his heart.

That someone else being Misty Waterflower, his girlfriend.

Or was she still that? After all, Ash hadn't seen or heard from her in nearly a month. Truthfully, he didn't know if she was okay or if something horrible had happened to her. Or if they could still be a couple given what occurred in Cerulean. Yet, Ash had no intention on giving up on Misty or on their relationship.

He just had to find her to tell her that he still felt that way.

"Chansey!"

Ash was brought out of his thinking trance by one of the Center's Chansey, who was standing gleefully in front of him. And who was holding up an envelope in her right paw. An envelope addressed to Ash Ketchum. An envelope with a Saffron City postmark on it.

An envelope with 'Misty Waterflower' written in the return address.

"Waahhh! It's from Misty!"

Ash took it from Chansey, who then turned about and waddled away, and the young trainer quickly ripped it open to get to the letter inside. Ash read through it, and as he did, he could swear he could hear Misty reading it aloud to him.

-Dear Ash-

I'm very sorry about how I acted on New Year's Eve. I should've given you the chance to explain your side in reasonable detail. Though I still disapprove of the 'kiss,' whether you intended for it to happen or not, I really think we need to get together and really talk about the incident and where we should go, if anywhere, from here.

I'd like to talk to you by videophone or Poké-com, but unfortunately, a freak storm has wiped out the power and telephone lines across the city. And I have very little money left on me. Hopefully by the time this reaches you... and I hope it does, you're at Indigo Plateau, right? Well, maybe by then everything will be up and running again.

If not, it's okay, because I really want to talk to you in person. I'm staying at the Pokémon Center in Saffron. If you think we should stay together, please come visit me!

Oh, and if you could call my sisters and tell them that I'm okay? I would've written a letter to them, too, but... I only had enough money to send one letter.

With love (hopefully),

-Misty.-

Ash folded the letter back up and nodded in determination, anxious to see Misty again and patch things up with her.

"I've got no other choice. Saffron City, here I come!"

Ash jumped up from his seat and ran for the sliding front doors. But as they slid open, he stopped and remembered he was about to run off without...

"Pikachu!" Ash exclaimed, running back in. "Time to go, Pikachu!"


Vermilion City Gym

Meanwhile, Lt. Surge was sitting in his office in the gym, and he was opening a large manila envelope that was addressed to him. The envelope had the Silph Company business stamp, since the League decided to have a local firm in Celadon take up the research that Erika had been doing before her tragic passing. Surge emptied its contents onto his desk, and among a bunch of reports he found a cover letter and a rewritable CD in a jewel case. He reached for the letter and read it aloud.

"After some prodding and negotiating with the staff at the Celadon City gym, we were able to access some new information that apparently Erika had discovered shortly before her death. Information that it seems she wanted to keep hidden from the League. You can find it all on the enclosed CD."

Surge picked up the CD case, opened it, and put it into the CD-ROM drive of his computer. He waited a minute for the CD to boot up, at which point a new window appeared, listing all the files on it. And at the top of the list was a file named THE-CANDIDATES.doc.

"Could it... be?"

He moved to open the file, and when he did... a smile crept across his face.

"Heh heh... BINGO!"


Back in Indigo, Ash and Pikachu had been directed to the Rock Field by the receptionist at the League offices. There, in the stands, they saw Lance observing the field's renovation. Hard-hatted workers were all about, noting cracks and holes in the rocks and trying to plot out places where to move them. Though Lance was watching them very closely, he turned his gaze to Ash and Pikachu as they approached him.

"Well, if it isn't our Pokémon Junior Master! So, finally figure out where you're going to go?"

"Go?" Ash wondered, before recalling what Lance had told him the other day. "Oh, right! Where I wanted to travel to!"

"That's right," Lance replied. "So?"

"I've decided... to go to Saffron City!"

"Pikachu!" raised Ash's best friend's paw in agreement.

"I see. You know, I've been meaning to send a League representative down there following that nasty ice storm on Sunday night there. You'd be perfect."

"Uh, actually, though I don't mind going down there to be the face of the League, there's another reason why I want to go to Saffron."

Lance raised an eyebrow with an interest. "Oh?"

"Yes. You see, Misty's been missing for quite awhile, and..."

"You mean you know where she is?" Lance asked, curious as to her whereabouts.

Ash nodded. "Yeah... I just got a letter from her today, and..."

"I see. Well, when you see her, could you have her please contact me? Unexcused absences from League duties such as running a gym are frowned upon, you know."

"But... you don't know why she disappeared for a month!"

"Oh, and I suppose you do, my boy?"

"Well..."


After a minute or two of explaining...

"The passions of youth," Lance remarked. "I forgot that you're at that age in life."

"Yeah. Uh... I still don't understand it all myself."

"Don't worry! When you need to know what to do, you'll know what to do!"

Ash scratched his head, not quite getting it.

"Trust me. It'll make sense in time."

"So, you're gonna let me go to Saffron and find Misty?"

"Of course!"

"Alright!"

Lance reached into his pants pocket and pulled out what looked to be a credit card. But it was actually more like a computerized keycard, one with Ash's name and a random sequence of numbers.

"As the Pokémon Junior Master, you are entitled to the same travel perks as the Elite Four, Pokémon Master, and the gym leaders. Each of them gets a certain monthly budget, which is prepaid onto each card at the start of every month. You can use this to pay for plane tickets, hotel rooms, or anything else, provided the expense is for League-related business only!"

"Wow! I've never seen one of these before!"

"Now, make sure not to lose it! We wouldn't want this falling into the wrong hands, now would we?"

"No, sir!"

"Well, then, good luck in Saffron!"

"Thank you! Goodbye!"

Ash and Pikachu waved farewell as they ran towards the nearest stadium exit. Lance smiled as the young trainer and his Pokémon departed. But then suddenly, Lance felt something vibrating on his hip. He reached down, pulled his cell phone out, and opened it to answer a call.

"Hello?... Uh huh... Surge found something interesting?... He wants to send it... Okay, there should be a high-speed connection up in the press booths..."


Once Lance was in one of the booths and had his cell phone hooked up to a computer, he had the person on the other end go ahead and patch Lt. Surge in.

"Lieutenant Surge? This is Lance of the Elite Four. You have some new information regarding the five legendary trainers that you wanted to share with me?"

"Yes, sir! Some very good information!"

"Such as?"

"Well, to tell you the truth... I think the babe was holding out on you!"

"The what now?"

"Here, see for yourself! I just sent you a massive file that you need to see!"

"Okay... give me one minute."

Lance accessed his e-mail inbox and quickly located Surge's message. He opened and started downloading the files in without haste.

"THE-CANDIDATES.doc is the one you wanna open first. That's the most important one."

Lance followed Surge's instructions and went to that file. Once he opened, a gasp of shock was emitted from his mouth.

"This is... this is..."

"That's right, baby! Erika had managed to pare down the millions and millions of trainers in the world who might be the five 'legendary' kids down to just 20!"

"Unbelievable..." was all Lance could mutter.

Something akin to a class roster was on Lance's computer screen, showing a color photo of the 20 kids, each with their name listed under their picture.

"It matches Erika's research... all 20 of them are teens! Trainers between the ages of 10 and 19!"

"Indeed."

Lance then grimaced when he saw Marco Pereira and his photo, the third picture in the second row on the chart.

"And there's Marco. If Erika's research holds true, that stunt at the Junior Master Tournament proves he's one of the five."

"That, and the crazy, happy Bellsprout marker pinned to the lower right corner of his photo!"

"Yes. Erika was always fond of Bellsprout. Grass-types, in general."

"Oh, but wait... THERE'S MORE! You see, she updated the chart practically every week, and she kept all the copies. As you go through them, you'll see..."

"That some of them get X's over their photo. Meaning that Erika eliminated those few from being the kids we're looking for."

"But..."

Eventually, Lance gets to a copy where Marco isn't the only one with that Bellsprout mark on the lower right corner of the photo. This one, dated November 15th, had Misty's photo, up in the first row, also marked with that Bellsprout.

"Misty Waterflower, the Cerulean City gym leader? She's one?"

"We have yet to find any definitive proof..."

"But Erika seems to think she did."

"She's not the only one Erika thought she had pinned."

Curious, Lance continued to leaf through the file. A couple more X's showed up... and then, on the chart dated December 18th.

"Brock Slate, the gym leader of Pewter City? He's one?"

"Yep! As well as that kid that just became Junior Master... Ash Ketchum!"

"And we have proof?"

"Uh... no. Nothing."

"So, what did Erika base these assumptions on?"

"We... we really don't know!"

"Then why don't you FIND OUT, SURGE!"

"Hey! You've got the kid in your back pocket, don't ya? Why don't you go and ask him, huh?"

"Because he just left for the airport, about to fly out to Saffron City to... meet... up with... Misty."

"You mean that cutie that's been missing for a month? Wait a minute, do you think they planned this all along?"

"Too early to say. But from what little evidence we've gathered, clearly there's a connection between Misty and Erika, who were openly friendly with each other."

"Maybe Erika swore to secrecy when she found out about them?"

"Perhaps... but we won't know for sure until we talk to them in person."

"How?"

"Bruno's already in Pewter, helping Brock out with the gym's reconstruction. We'll get him to ask Brock some questions. As for Ash and Misty, we'll head 'em off in Saffron. Though I think Sabrina is too busy with her own problems there to handle this..."

"Then I'll go! I can probably get there before the kid and start searching for Misty!"

"Very well. But keep it simple, Surge. This is just an inquiry at this point. There's no reason to think that they're working on the side of the enemy."

"No offense, sir... but you said that about that Marco kid."

And with that, Surge hung up, off to catch the first flight to Saffron.


Meanwhile, Ash and Pikachu had successful reached the airport and obtained their own tickets. Half an hour later, the duo was seated on a plane of their own to Saffron City.

"You ready to see Misty again, Pikachu?"

"Pika!"

"I just hope she's ready to see me, too."

What awaits our hero in Saffron City? Whom will he meet up with first? Misty or Lt. Surge? Or will he end up missing them completely? All that's known for sure is that there's a lot of confrontation in Ash's immediate future!

End Session: January
Storyline to be continued in Session: February!


Author's Notes for 'Session: January':
I've always thought of how hilarious Daisy is as the 'valley girl' in the dub (okay, technically all three sisters were dubbed that way, but Daisy is the most blatant example of the trio), even if it's not accurate to the original Japanese. Still, the opening scene of Part 2 here pays tribute to the Chronicles episode "Luvdisc is a Many Splendored Thing." In particular, to Daisy's wild driving scenes.

Now, if you remember, this story has already made one reference to this... 'Session: November,' Part 4, when Daisy and Misty went on that double 'date.' Only then the focus was on who Daisy was dating and what she was wearing. Here, it's all about her insanity behind the wheel, even in a small dosage.

And Daisy is cackle-worthy wearing sunglasses at night.

Shingo makes his debut in this series after being mentioned as one of the people Erika thought could be one of the 'legendary' kids, as seen in 'Session: November,' Part 1. The exact scene echoes Shingo's battle with Muramasa, a headmaster at a dojo-like school in the Johto region ("Wired from Battle," the first Johto season). Sans the appearance/interference of Ash and company. And the fainting part, of course.

So does Jeanette Fisher, best known as the trainer Ash battle in the anime in the 4th Round of the Kanto League Tournament ("The Fourth Round Rumble"). She's the girl with the humongous cheering squad and the deceivingly weak-looking Bellsprout. Only... Jeanette did have a few appearances in the "Adventures Series," particularly during that series' version of the Kanto Tournament. Or, to be more precise with terms, Pokémon Novice League Tournament.

She also, in that story, is revealed to have a Nurse Joy as her mother! Naturally, that breaks up the whole quirky chain of there's only Joys in the family (yeah, figure that one out) - though I hear that's also recently been dispelled in the anime, too. (Said episode in question has not yet aired outside of Japan as of this writing.) Here's, Jeanette's pretty much continuing that 'tradition,' all while being a fairly good PokИmon trainer to boot.

Forrest also appears for the first time. Forrest is the second oldest sibling in Brock's family (behind Brock, of course), and will be remembered mostly for his actions in the Chronicles episode "A Family That Battles Together, Stays Together!" Unfortunately, like the anime, expect Forrest to have a very minute role and, most likely, not make another appearance in this fic.

One topic at the Pokémon League meeting is the replacement of Koga as gym leader of Fuchsia City, as he's leaving to become an Elite Four member in place of Agatha, who's retiring. Whew... that was a mouthful. Anyway, it was an event that took place in the Gold/Silver generation of the games, but was never touched upon in the anime. In those games, Koga's replacement in Fuchsia is her daughter, Janine. But of course there's the matter of Koga's younger sister, Aya, who makes a second appearance in the anime a few years after the Fuchsia City gym battle (in the Johto episode, "Ariados, Amigos!").

So why not have a battle between the two girls, especially since neither has met in anything official in the franchise, be it the anime, games, or the manga. Who will take over Koga's position in this series? Well... you'll just have to keep reading to find out.

I'm glad to finally get Domino written into this fic. Domino, also known as '009' and 'Black Tulip,' portrays herself as the ideal top agent of an evil organization such as Team Rocket, as shown in her appearance in the "Mewtwo Returns" special. You've only seen a taste of what to expect from her at this point. Just wait 'til things really get juicin' a couple sessions from now.

If Joel calling one of his fellow agents 'McGray' rings a bell, that's because McGray has appeared in the series before. Or, rather, the "Adventures Series." Last seen being hauled off to jail in that series' final episode, along with his partner Randy Vicardi, Jones McGray is apparently back in the fold at the PTA... and in an underling position. Apparently, he must have gotten demoted upon his release from the slammer? Who knows what role McGray will play now that he's lower on the totem pole? And what happened to his partner? Hmmm... many questions to be answered.

One more quick callback to 'Session: November.' Remember all those photos and bios Erika and her assistant Maria were looking at? Well, the file Lt. Surge got, via the Silph Company, has a condensed, computerized version of it. Do you remember who is on the list? Do some of the names sound familiar given some events earlier in this very session?

I hope so, because the race to find the identity of the fifth and final 'legendary' kid is on! So let's get to the 'Session: February' preview! Oh, and don't forget to check out the 'Full Version' of 'Session: January' at my website, which contains many scenes that had to be cut for time... coming in a few weeks!


'Session: February' Trailer:
To most people, February is the month of love. But this month, a few couples will find their relationships pushed to their breaking points. Whether it's actions from the past, in the present, or to come in the future, everyone will be held accountable. It's not all betrayal and heartbreak, though... because someone's gonna find herself on the other end of a one-sided crush.

Who will still be together at the end of 'Session: February?'