Updated as of 2 April, 2015

Unlike most of the other chapters I've revised, I actually added a whole new scene to the end of this one. Check it out if you'd like.

"To seek something is to believe in its possibility." – Star Wars: The Clone Wars, episode 5.3

The setting sun paints the cape in hues of red and orange, and the waves lap up on the shore in rhythmic motions that would relax even the most uptight trainers. Gary stretches out his legs and looks at the sky, his hands behind him sinking in the soft sand. Not more than a few feet away, Misty tries to keep herself from relaxing by not spreading out her limbs in the same comfortable manner. He notices this but says nothing. Even now, even after almost five years of being absent, he cannot understand why her mind drifts back to the boy who started his journey with a Pikachu. That electric mouse is currently resting with all of their other Pokémon at the city's Pokémon Center after the battle they just faced together. It was not how he expected this project to end.

He originally came here two months ago to study the odd decline of water types off of the coast. Cerulean Cape has always been known for water Pokémon just like the rest of the city, but the last few months saw an odd disturbance to this pattern. Professor Oak volunteered his grandson for the job, which would be his last in his home region before he departs for Sinnoh when the new year comes.

As it turned out, it was the result of changing migration patterns that were the consequence of rising ocean temperatures and chemicals being dumped into the water. This increase in ocean temperatures was first reported on years ago, the fear of the increasing production of energy from fossil fuel sources the catalyst for such worry. Due to the interests of other, more powerful entities, there was a lot of controversy about this idea, which squashed a lot of research. So far, however, those concerns have seemed valid not just here in Cerulean but in other areas, especially the Orange Islands. The tropical region's waters were rising in temperatures that varied one to two degrees above normal. As Pokémon are adaptable, this was not enough to change their habits too much, which is why Cerulean Cape was such an odd phenomenon.

Recently, before more blame was placed on the warmer waters, the crisis was thought to primarily be caused by the Hakubi family's dumping of waste material from the production of various human and Pokémon biomedicine products. With the gym leader's help, Gary was able to prove that it was indeed the Sinnoh-based family whose influence has come to rival even Team Rocket as they expanded their industries and moved into the other three mainland regions. One of their major factories is located on the outskirts of the city, and they were freely dumping the by-products into the water despite this practice being prohibited by various laws enacted by the local and regional governments.

Even with this setback, the family has put out a statement of intent to pay all fines and close the factory until the violations are fixed. Though this incident just happened earlier today, the matriarch was quick to speak to the public and begin repairing the damage done to their reputation. It doesn't matter too much since they own a significant portion of other sectors of the economy aside from medicine, but that woman loves money, success, and showing off her brilliance. Her husband, who is far quieter, lets her get away with such behavior.

In the meantime, there will be much clean-up, and it will take time to heal the ecosystem though everyone is confident things can return to normal eventually. The chemicals luckily only seemed to interfere with their senses only as long as they were exposed. The ocean flora worries experts more, but all that can be done is fix the damage and hope the plants respond as well as the Pokémon.

The breeze picks up and ruffles Gary's dark gray jacket, which is unzipped and reveals his white shirt underneath. The evening temperature is mildly warm despite it being winter, and it felt good to sort of remove one layer. She, however, is more dressed for the beach since Gary burst into the gym during her daily training session with her Pokémon. She barely had time to throw on a pair of long denim shorts and a loose fitting light blue button shirt she had left by the pool before he was hauling her out of the gym by the hand. The whole scene makes him feel relaxed enough to say what he has been thinking since this afternoon.

"Thanks for helping me, Red." His words surprise her as they seemingly come from nowhere, but he quickly remedies the weirdness by going back to his normal self. "You actually came in handy for once." Without having to think about it, she picks up a handful of sand and throws it at him. "Hey, what was that for?"

"You're a jerk, Oak," she says simply. He goes about rustling his hair to get as much of it out as he can, but he quickly gives up on this. His hands return to the sand behind him, and he leans back again.

"I'm serious, Misty. I couldn't have exposed them without your help."

"I didn't do it for you. I did it for the Pokémon."

"Fair enough," he concedes though they both know it isn't the whole truth. Two months of butting heads and the occasional serious conversation have given each of them insight into the other. Next she decides to ask what she has been thinking about for a while.

"So what are you going to do now?" He ponders that for a few seconds.

"I was thinking of going back to Pallet. There's no reason to stay at your lame gym anymore." Obviously this enrages the redhead, and she glares.

"Take that back!"

"Why should I?"

"The Cerulean Gym is one of the best in Kanto."

"Not with Daisy running it. She's lost, what, four times this week alone?"

"She could still beat you any day."

"That was a low blow, Red."

"Keep it up and I'll show you a real low blow. And stop calling me Red."

"Someone's as cranky as her gyarados."

"Gyarados isn't cranky. He just doesn't like you. Can't say I blame him..."

"Who doesn't like the great Gary Oak?" She rolls her eyes and moves to get up, finding his behavior to be nothing short of annoying. Her temper is definitely still intact, but she has also learned as she has gotten five years older when it is appropriate to let loose her anger. She won't admit it, especially to him , but she will miss his smug presence at the gym. That is what she is actually irritated about. Not only does she feel that way but she doesn't mind it. Somehow she has gotten used to their arguments to the point of enjoying them (especially since she usually wins). He, too, will miss the chance to out argue her about the day's point of contention. If nothing, he has learned how to be a better debater (though he swears he usually wins). He stands up as well though much quicker and grabs her by the arm. She only looks at him more annoyed than before.

"Let me go, Oak. I have to go pick up my Pokémon."

"So do I. Let me come with you." His proposition floats in her mind by itself before something more sinister, more embarrassing joins the fray. It takes all she has to hold back the blush the warmth of his hand wrapped around her left arm brings, but she manages to do so. He waits for an answer and also has to hold back what he is really thinking. Luckily for both, they are saved from further humiliation by a familiar voice in the not so far off distance.

"Misty!" Lily's voice calls out. Gary lets her go as they both turn to look at the Sensational Sister getting close. She and Violet came home for the week on a break from their latest magazine photo shoot. She finally reaches them and takes no time to recover her breath. "Misty, there's a challenger at the gym!"

"So what? Let Daisy deal with it." She shoots a look at Gary not to comment, and he refrains.

"But she, like, won't come out of her room!" This spurs some concern.

"Why not?"

"Tracey called earlier. I think he broke up with her for good this time."

"What?" they both ask in surprise. Their minds also jump to what a jerk the older researcher is for doing something so serious over the phone. What kind of guy does that? Both thought better of Tracey after knowing him for so long. "You need to come back and, like, battle the kid. He keeps insisting he earn the badge, not just take it like me and Violet were offering." Resisting the urge to get angry at their willingness to give away such a coveted prize like usual, Misty agrees to come back and make him work for the honor of the tear-shaped badge.

"Fine. Just let me get my Pokémon from the Pokémon Center." Lily accepts her answer and leaves to head back to the gym to inform the challenger. Misty grumbles internally and begins to head back as well. Just as quickly, Gary is by her side, which annoys her.

"What are you doing now?" she asks.

"Like I'm going to let you battle without my supervision. You don't want to tarnish the gym's rep any more than Daisy already has."

"Shut up, Oak." Instead of swatting at him like she wants, she just keeps walking. He allows himself to smirk and stays by her side, looking forward to seeing what will most definitely be a great battle.

The trees pass by quickly as Misty, with Pikachu in her lap, stares out the passenger side front window. In the back seat of the black jeep Gary rented sits Brock with Tracey on his left and Professor Oak on his right. The poor doctor in training is not only squished but is forced to listen to the other two converse about the lab's latest research. It's not that Brock isn't interested as he would more than likely also participate himself, but the current seating arrangements in the back of the small vehicle makes things less than comfortable.

Initially the young men both insisted that their elder take the front, and Misty agreed, especially because she did not want to end up next to Gary for the trip. Professor Oak declined and offered that the better choice be the young gym leader (ladies first and all). He and Gary would have plenty of time to chat after this mystery was looked into. Gary didn't mind in the least, but Misty has made it a point to not look anywhere near him. He was strangely nice that last night on the cape, but the next morning they had a shouting match far more intense than anything previous. Daisy, though she was dealing with her own issues, offered the idea that they fought so intensely to cover up the sadness of his departure. Their friendship, after all, has been marked by arguments almost as much as normal conversation. She of course denied any such thing and avoided the subject of Gary from then on.

Gary on the other hand has not been quite as closed about his feelings on leaving and on the gym leader herself. Tracey was the first one made aware of the situation when he complained about dealing with the Waterflower sisters and how complicated they are. He figured Tracey would understand what he meant since he finally broke up with one of them. It was then that he discovered what really happened. Tracey had not called that evening with the intent on ending their relationship. Rather, he wanted to ask if she would like to spend the weekend on the Seafoam Islands with him as he was going down there to meet up with Professor Ivy's assistants (they wanted him to give an opinion of their research so far). He was also going to bring back the data to take a look at with the professor thanks to the request of female colleague. Once that goal was met, he and Daisy could have the whole weekend to be alone together with no other responsibilities.

She picked the video phone up fairly quickly and greeted him with her usual bubbly self. He barely got to say hello before someone else's voice interrupted from elsewhere in the lab. It was distinctly female and sounded as old as them. Tracey had neglected to inform her that they took on an apprentice as part of her graduate research.

Now Daisy is not the overly jealous type, but even after he told her who the young woman was, she was still angry that he felt the need to keep it from her when it really wasn't a big deal. The conversation quickly devolved into yelling and arguing about trust issues and jealousy, and it all culminated in the heated announcement that he wanted space if she was going to continue to act like that. The usually nice and calm Tracey betrayed his own personality with a few more words and didn't even say goodbye when he hung up. They talked a few days later and decided that it was probably best if they stayed friends from then on since their break-ups would probably always be marked by the same trust issue dilemma.

It was an interesting story to be sure, and Gary and Tracey both agreed how complex girls are. The young Oak was never one to be emotionally open, especially about feelings of like, but Tracey cajoled just enough information from him to understand. Gary left for Sinnoh shortly after, but knowing him, he has not given up on pursuing what he wants no matter how unreceptive she is or pretends to be.

They all miss Ash and think of him often, but aside from Misty and his mother, they have let go of the hope that he would return, instead believing that wherever he ended up, he has been doing well and hasn't contacted them because he couldn't. It was a long shot, but they decided maybe he fell when Mew reappeared, and it gave him amnesia. For all they knew, Liz was still with him so at least he would have company (although hopefully she lost her memory as well and was no longer the revenge-seeking girl they all met). It was better to believe that than the darker thoughts that had plagued them during their search.

It is for obvious reasons why Delia still holds onto the hope that her only son will come home one day, but even Misty admitted to herself that she didn't know why she has held on as well. Aside from being one of her best friends, Ash was her first crush. That much was obvious to anyone who met them, but they were just kids back then. Still, she finds herself thinking of him in moments where he should be the last thing on her mind. Gary is a poor substitute for Ash as she constantly reminds herself. The only thing is, lately she has had trouble believing it.

The rain, which was pouring lightly on the outskirts of Goldenrod, has steadily increased the closer they get to Mt. Quena. This was not unexpected, but it does make for longer drive time as Gary slowed his speed when his grandfather chastised him for speeding in such slippery conditions.

"I hope you guys packed your umbrellas," Gary jokes to try and ease the tension up front.

"You're not afraid of the water, are you?" Misty snaps without even meaning to.

"Settle down, you two," Oak says, cutting off Gary's chance at a reply.

The atmosphere falls quiet again, this time even the ones in the backseat refraining from conversation. Gary takes his eyes off of the road for just a second to adjust the radio dial, hoping to tune into some information about the weather to see if there is any indication of it letting up. While he is distracted, a shadow jumps in front of the vehicle. Misty sees it and yells at him to watch out, but the warning comes too late. The sound of an impact comes next, and he lays on the brakes like their lives depend on it. The water causes the tires to lose traction, and the jeep spins around once before finally coming to a stop on the opposite side of the road. After a few seconds, each of them looks up from the brace position.

"What the hell was that?" Misty is the first to exclaim.

"Hey, it's not my fault some Pokémon ran into the middle of the street!" It only takes a few seconds for everyone to realize what he said before they all unbuckle and jump out to see if said creature was injured by the collision. The falling water quickly drenches them all, but no one notices as their instincts take over. A shadowy lump lies on the road, and Misty takes off faster than any of the others with Pikachu in tow. Gary follows, accompanied by the doctor and the research duo.

The Pokémon, who resembles a girafarig in basic body type, lies motionless. Its white lightning bolt mane has been turned brown by the mud, and its little stub tail looks the same as the mane. No one has any idea of what Pokémon this could possibly be as none of them have ever seen such a thing before. Then Gary quickly remembers something he saw in a research journal owned by his mentor in Sinnoh.

"This looks like a blitzle."

"What's that?"-Tracey

"It's an electric Pokémon similar to girafarig in body type from Unova. It was thought to be native to that region so I have no idea what it's doing here." Misty, who has been attending to the creature, looks at Brock as her hand remains on its head.

"What should we do, Brock?"

"Let me get some supplies out of my bag. I'll be right back." He gets up and runs back to the jeep while the others stay in place.

From the trees, a dark figure in a long coat watches the scene. His look betrays no emotion from under the brim of his hat. Perhaps he should not have sacrificed such a majestic creature in his plan after all. This thought is quickly eclipsed by his main goal as he recalls the train station scene he observed recently. The bickering between the red head and the arrogant researcher will further help him reach his end goal. When the Chosen One comes back from his five-year waking slumber, an unpleasant surprise will be waiting for him. Along with what his mother kept from him and what his father did to him, that should be enough to gain his allegiance or at least his trust. After that, it will all be easy in this phase of his master plan.

For now, however, he has to report to the mystery woman known by most only as Madame Boss or some close euphemism. She too has interest in the boy though their goals are quite different. Although her vision is not as grand, it still spells big things for the one currently known as Max Sakaki. The man takes a few steps back and disappears into nothingness.

Up in the sky, the plane bound for Mount Quena has started to suffer from some turbulence. The pilot, someone Giovanni trusts very much, came over the loudspeaker to announce that it was no big deal and that he had everything under control. That was ten minutes ago, but the bumps have increased in intensity. Each of them buckled their belts and have remained seated just in case. James' hand managed to covertly finds Jessie's, and the two have remained that way. Meowth thought to make an easy comment when he noticed it but kept his usually big mouth shut since he was feeling nervous about the situation, too.

Giovanni, however, is irritated more than he is worried. When the pilot came over the system, he also said he was going to divert the plane south towards Goldenrod due to the rain. It would be nearly impossible to land near the mountain with such heavy clouds and fog not to mention the lightning the plane had already been jolted by twice to no effect.

Suddenly from out of nowhere, the craft shakes more violently than ever. Quickly following, the plane takes a dive to the right side as if it lost some of its engine power. Another impact rocks the plane some more, causing it to lose more altitude. Giovanni presses the button on his armrest that connects him to the pilot as Max tries to see out the windows. Domino undoes her belt as well and goes right to the side of the jet to get a clearer look. She, though normally composed and ready for anything, lightly gasps when she sees the wing on fire.

"What the hell is going on?" the boss' voice echoes. The pilot comes back sounding frazzled.

"I don't know. It seems we've been hit twice by unknown projectiles." A loud alarm sound comes over the intercom, and it only increases in intensity the longer it sounds. "Brace yourselves! Another one is on the way!" It hits right after, knocking Domino to the floor.

One thought races through Gio's mind, and that is to get his son out of here safely before anything else. The jet is equipped with enough emergency parachutes to save each of them (excluding Meowth who will have to cling to Jessie or James). Ensuring the future head of Team Rocket (and his only son) is his main priority as he undoes his belt. Jessie and James know where their boss is headed and undo their belts as well. Domino manages to stand up and follows Giovanni with her gaze. He goes to the back of the fuselage, the right side opposite of the restroom.

"Max, get over here now." Obediently, he comes to his father, who immediately shoves him a pack and instructs him to put it on. The others close in to get ready as well, but Gio, for once putting someone else first when it really matters, shoves his son to the door. He can tell by the view via the window that he can safely open the door without worrying about depressurization. Max finally pulls the pack on all of the way while his father struggles with the lock. It opens, and air is pulled outside. Max looks to his father in confusion and fear, but Giovanni only appears calm and collected. Max may have had experienced skydiving when a mission he and Abby went on ended badly, but he still feels he does not have enough practice for this to end well.

"Wait for me below. Don't worry. I'll find you."

With that, he shoves his only son out the door. Another missile hits the body of the plane, knocking everyone down. Giovanni does not even get to watch his son open the parachute. Instead, he is left scrambling back up and hoping that Max is as resourceful as his old man. Whoever is attacking them will no doubt be looking for anyone jumping from the flaming plane. What they want is currently a mystery, but he puts it out of his mind for now as he goes to get his own chute on. The right engine explodes in a fiery blaze.

From the ground below where the gang sits with the injured Pokémon, a bright light catches Tracey's eye. The next thing he sees in the distance is a figure descending slowly, a parachute attached to him or her.

"Hey, look, you guys!" They all look up, including Brock and see what he is pointing at.

"That looks like a person," Gary adds.

"And that looks like a plane on fire!" Misty exclaims when she sees the craft that has slowly been engulfed in more flames. A craft behind it seems to be suffering the same fate. All stare at the sight, their gazes fixed and seemingly unable to do anything else.

"Madame, the missiles have hit their targets." The woman looks up from her game of solitaire. "And we have spotted a lone figure exiting the craft. We believe it is who you are searching for." Her expression curves into a smile.

"Good. Dispatch the search teams, and bring him back here in good condition. I do not want one hair on his head touched. Is that clear?" He salutes his boss.

"Perfectly. He will be ours within the hour."

"Isn't he adorable, Vanny?" she coos while rocking the newly hatched phanpy. From his place behind her, Giovanni hmphs and crosses his arms.

"It's less than a day old. You have no idea if it's male or female. Don't go making assumptions." Her patience for his rudeness has improved greatly in the five months since she has been in Team Rocket with him so she pays no heed to his tone.

"No need to be such a grump. You're going to have to get used to having little ones around, anyway." His face blanches at that, unsure of what she means. He may enjoy her company, and he may want her to stick around, but that is all. When she turns around to look at him, she sees him looking much paler than normal, almost closer in tone to her. "What's wrong with you?"

"N-nothing," he stammers, trying not to think of the prospect of reproducing. She finally catches on and starts to laugh at him. This, in turn, infuriates him now. "Don't you dare laugh at me."

"Why not? Your face is priceless. I wish I had a camera." He turns away to avoid her getting any longer of a look at his face, which is now starting to burn instead.

While he sulks in his embarrassment, she gives the baby back to its loving parents, his donphan from childhood and the numel that brought them together. After a serious brush with injury on a mission gone awry three months ago, he gifted her the Pokémon. She had actually come to greatly care for it, and even though he was the ground-type trainer, he let her go. Her new master had risked serious injury to protect his persian from a bite attack from the opposing team's houndour. It left her right arm in need of stitches and a splint for a month, but Persian, who was severely weak at the time due to that awful virus, was safe. The last person to have done that was Giovanni himself when the duo met. His way of conveying his admiration was to gift her that numel.

Now that the 'mon was hers, she let her out of the pokéball more often. As Delia came to learn about Gio's donphan, he was stingy and did not suffer fools. He obtained him that way ten years ago when he was merely a phanpy. One of the many ways Madame Boss tried to mold her son was by sending him to a boarding school, the precursor to what would become Pokémon Tech, near Vermillion. He was only ten at the time, and it was his first foray into the world with other kids his age and slightly older. He pretended to be meek and unsociable to weed out the ones who might try to use him, and he actually came to like one boy named Reed. He may have been two years his junior but that boy was smart and had a good wit about him. His father was a renowned Pokémon researcher based in Pallet, and the two plotted various ways to mess with their older classmates.

Then Reed was pulled back home prematurely (a family friend had gone missing and the Oaks wanted to support Mrs. Ketchum and her daughter in their time of need). Of course, Gio never knew why he went back exactly, but it didn't matter. Gio was going to go through with their plan. In the weeks leading up to it, both boys were seeding false information any place they could in a bid to convince the other kids that caterpies were amazing and not the weak little bugs they really were. Soon enough they were in high demand. As Vermillion housed more water types being right there on a cape and all, caterpies were in fact hard to come by. It was finally time to take his mark.

The girl they were targeting was the most stuck-up person at the school. No one even knew why she was there since her parents were so poor. She was actually very smart and was attending on a scholarship, but she was a witch to everyone who crossed the blonde's path. For someone as smart as she was, one would not expect her to fall for the scheme, but fall she did. She traded him her prized phanpy for a worthless caterpie Reed had snuck in from his father's lab.

Once she found out, of course, she as livid and vowed revenge on the little boy who wronged her. She knew he was the heir to Team Rocket since some older friends from childhood, who were reunited in the organization itself just the year prior, advised her to watch how she treated the boy lest his mother come swooping in. She cared not for any such punishment as her hatred for the child practically seethed out of every pore. Of course, she was always quick to anger and had been more prone to moods for a reason that would come to light later. Luckily for her, Doug and a reluctant Miya informed the boss before it was too late. Madame contacted the headmaster. They all had a meeting. Aileen was kicked out, but Madame then offered the seventeen-year old a job.

("You can wait to take the field test until after the baby is born,") Gio always remembered her saying. Despite how she came by that knowledge, her offer was accepted. When the time came after she had her daughter Cassidy, she took and passed the field test with flying colors, being launched into the wonderful world of Team Rocket.

"I was talking about the eggs, you dummy," she says, breaking Gio out of his sudden trip down memory lane. He relents easily as she drapes her arms over his shoulders.

"I figured it out, thanks."

In a bid to do something useful and different, he took her advice to start breeding Pokémon with unique characteristics and personalities. Neither expected Numel to go and lay an egg at the start of their plan, but she did. The other four eggs came along almost right after from their respective parents, leaving Gio and Delia to just wait. His mother, though, hates the plan like everything else of his. She hates the eggs and Delia and his notions of applying for a gym leader position. But that only makes him want them all even more.

He turns around and embraces her, for once not caring that other eyes are present in the room. That woman can't take everything from him.

TBC...

I hope you all liked that added scene there. Like I was saying, I snuck in more references to canon characters, in this case Jessie's mother and Cassidy. I also really like writing Gio and Delia because their personalities are so different. I need to do more of that.