The Year of Rocket's Revenge
Story Written by Freedom Fighter

Wow.  I told you the end of the last session was going to be a shock, 
but things build even more towards the climax.  It's time to start 
showing why this fanfic is named "The Year of Rocket's Revenge."

But first things first... the disclaimer!

Disclaimer:  All characters and places featured in the Pokémon anime 
series and other productions belong to Nintendo and Pokémon USA!  
Cassie Banks, Arius McFly, and several others of various degrees of 
importance were created by me and can't be used by anyone else without 
my expressed written permission!  If you thought there were some 
gruesome deaths already, the next goner will be really killer!  And you 
don't want to be the one on the wrong end of that deal!

This fanfic is only posted at two places: my place, which contains the 
full-length chapters in one piece, and Fanfiction.net, which has the 
same story, but split up into smaller pieces.  It should not be posted 
anywhere else without my permission.

******

The Year of Rocket's Revenge
Session: April (08.14.08)

******

Previously, on "The Year of Rocket's Revenge," Misty had traveled to 
Mt. Pyre in the Hoenn Region, following a cryptic clue from an old man 
communicating through his Alakazam about the whereabouts of her boyfriend, 
Ash Ketchum.  Not only did she finally reunite with him, she noticed that 
Ash had done a little bit of growing in the month he had been gone.  She 
also learned that the circumstances behind his kidnapping were a bit odd...

Misty also learned a few new things about Celebi-rus Syndrome, the 
extremely rare condition that she, Ash, Brock, Marco, and one other 
teenager shared.  All from the current Hoenn League Champion, Wallace!  
More importantly, he was offering an experimental training regimen that 
might help cure the potentially deadly condition.  Seeing Ash having 
already bought into, the curious Cerulean gym leader also agreed to be 
subjected to the training.

But while Wallace's 'experiment' was being done with the blessings of the 
Pokémon League, Lt. Surge was being endorsed on an endeavor of his own!  
Along with Ash's replacement as Pokémon Junior Master, Cassie, and 
Professor Werner Geissler, a German scientist with a good base of 
knowledge of Celebi-rus Syndrome, were on a search for the fifth and 
final carrier!  Utilizing the research of the late Erika, they had 
narrowed it down to three candidates.  Shingo Macintosh, Giselle 
Gravelpot, and Cassie herself.

After an exhaustive search, Giselle turned out to be the fifth carrier.  
Willingly cooperating with Professor Geissler, she and her Marowak 
underwent an electrical shock procedure in hopes in separating whatever 
was causing the condition from their bodies.  Unfortunately, it didn't go 
as planned.  Though Giselle was able to achieve the 'merged state' for 
the third time, the Dissolution Chamber had automatically shut down due 
to a voltage overload in the system!

The fate of Giselle, one of the most decorated valedictorians in the 
history of the Pokémon Technical Institute, hangs in the balance!  But 
how did she come about contracting Celebi-rus Syndrome?  In fact, how did 
she already get to her third time?

It might help if we go back to the 'beginning'...

******

"It was the day that will forever be etched in my mind..."

21 months ago - Friday, July 8th, 2000, Viridian City Gym

Ash, Pikachu, Brock, Giselle, Mikey, and Todd all stood back and watched 
in horror as Golduck gasped with exhaustion.  A tear-filled Misty seemed 
to believe that it was all over.  On the other side of the field, the 
leader of the gym and of Team Rocket, Giovanni, was smirking snidely, as 
in front of him stood a Speartrio.  A strange cross-bred monstrosity with 
the three heads of a Dugtrio and the beak and body of a Spearow.

All of a sudden, Vulpix hopped out of its Pokéball, materializing right 
in front of Brock.  She perked up and started glaring oddly into his 
eyes.  Pikachu and Golduck did the same to Ash and Misty.  Then, without 
warning, Ash, Misty, and Brock all fainted on the spot, to everyone's 
surprise.  Concerned for their health, Giselle, as well as Todd and Mikey 
ran over to check on them.  But then they started hearing noises from 
the Pokémon.

But they were no longer standing in front of their trainers.  They were, 
in actuality, engaged in a three-on-one battle with Speartrio!

Giselle gasped in amazement as she watched the trio put a pounding on the 
anomaly of a Pokémon.  She also noticed the different colored auras they 
had.  Vulpix was glowing brown, Golduck a cerulean blue, and Pikachu an 
imposing black!

"What's going on?" the then-recent Tech graduate thought out aloud.

A glimpse across the field confirmed Giselle's thoughts... that Giovanni 
himself was just as baffled as she was.  His confounded look became more 
distraught as the trio of glowing Pokémon combined their strength to make 
one super tri-elemental beam, knocking out Speartrio and then 
subsequently knocking out the gym's support structures.

As the gym started to fall apart around them, the three Pokémon fainted 
on the spot.  Just as quickly, Ash, Misty, and Brock woke up and all got 
to their feet.  They recalled their Pokémon, with Ash scooping Pikachu in 
his arms, and all six trainers bolted for the exit, avoiding falling 
debris.

They managed to escape into the arms of an astonished and curious crowd 
outside, just as the last of the building's supports gave way and the gym 
collapsed within itself.  Curious as to what just transpired, Giselle 
turned to the gang and started asking questions.

"What really happened in there, you guys?"

"I don't know how to describe it..." Brock replied.  "It's like a spirit 
possessed me and transferred me over to Vulpix's body, doubling her 
power!"

"Strange... I felt the same thing happen to me and Golduck," Misty 
remarked.

"And me and Pikachu here," dittoed Ash.

"Gee, do you think it has something to do with that legend you guys 
spoke about earlier?" Todd wondered out loud.

"Who knows... but if it's true, I'd like to know one thing."

"What's that, Giselle?" Ash asked.

"Why am I not included?" she whined.  "Don't I deserve a little credit?"

======

"Now I'm wishing I could take that statement back.  I'd give up anything, 
including my award for graduating Tech as valedictorian of my class!  But 
someone as beautiful and talented as myself would never, ever settle for 
second place.  Or third, or fourth!  So that's why I decided to spend 
some time with Ash, since I was heading that way anyway to meet with the 
great Professor Oak.

"All I originally wanted to do was to ask the professor for some advice 
about how to properly prepare for the Novice Tournament.  But seeing the 
Professor became nothing but an excuse to stay in Pallet for as long as 
I needed to get what I wanted.  From Ash.

"On the side, I kinda figured it would great to get Misty riled up by 
pretending to have thrown myself all over Ash.  You know how it goes... 
put someone at a psychological disadvantage by playing with their minds.  
I mean, with her angry at me flirting with her boyfriend, she wouldn't be 
focused on battling!  And she'd run herself right out of the tournament!

"I wasn't worried about actually falling in love.  Sure, him being smart 
enough to outwit my strategy despite me having the type advantage was 
amazing, to say the least.  But when it came to anything other than 
Pokémon, he was as dumb as a brick.

"But with no one else really my age around and me, given my need for 
constant attention, I had no choice but to hang around with the guy!"

Saturday, July 16th, 2000 - Ketchum Residence, Pallet Town

"Can you blame a girl for wanting to be loved?"

It was a beautiful, sunny, and hot morning as Giselle knocked at the 
front door of Ash's house.  She got a little surprise when the door was 
answered by not a human, but rather a Pokémon... Mr. Mime.

"Mime?" he asked, wandering who she was.

Giselle blinked.  "What the?  Figures... a clown Pokémon for a clown 
trainer..."

"Mimie, who's at the door?" Mrs. Ketchum rang out.

"Mime mime, mime!"

Suddenly, Mrs. Ketchum appeared, opening the door a little wider so 
Giselle could see the both of them as well inside the house.

"Hello there, uh..."

Ash's mom was a little speechless, as at her door was this beautiful girl 
who was sweating from head to toe and dressed in only a brown sports bra, 
a pair of black biker shorts, and a pair of running shoes.  A Cubone was 
next to her, a sweatband around his forehead, trying to catch his breath.

"I'm sorry, dear, but I think you have the wrong house."

"Nonsense!  This is the house of Ash Ketchum, right?  And you must be his 
sweet and caring mother that he's told me lots about," Giselle stated, 
apparently trying to charm her way into her heart.

"Are you one of his friends?"

"Well... you could... say that," Giselle lied.  After all, she and Ash 
knew each other, but they weren't exactly that close.

"Um..."

Mrs. Ketchum was getting a little nervous, as she noticed this girl had 
a much better figure than Misty, but she looked about the same age.

"Oh, where are my manners?  I'm Giselle!  A pleasure to meet you, Mrs. 
Ketchum!"

Giselle bowed before Ash's mom, and Cubone did the same.

"I know it's kinda early, but Ash promised me he'd do some training with 
me.  He's helping get prepared for the Novice Tournament in a few weeks!"

"Well, okay then..." Mrs. Ketchum said, reluctantly buying into it.  "But 
I don't think..."

Giselle stepped past Mrs. Ketchum and Mr. Mime and immediately headed for 
the stairs.  As she started climbing up, Mrs. Ketchum was about to object 
to Giselle going up there without permission, yet... something about 
Giselle told her not to.

"Uh, make a left, first door on the right," Mrs. Ketchum stated, giving 
up the information before she could stop herself... or even before 
Giselle could ask.

Seconds later...

"WAKE UP!  WE'VE GOT TRAINING TO DO!"

Several crashing sounds could be heard, of which Mrs. Ketchum could deduce 
were of Ash somehow getting out of bed in the messiest of ways.

"WHAT?  HEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM!"

"YOU PROMISED TO HELP ME TRAIN AND I'M GONNA MAKE SURE YOU KEEP THAT 
PROMISE!  I WANNA GET IN FIVE MILES BEFORE IT GETS TOO HOT!"

"FIVE?  I DON'T EVEN REMEMBER PROMISING ONE!  AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN 
MY ROOM?"

"THE BACKSTROKE, GENIUS, NOW GET CHANGED ALREADY!"

"WHY SHOULD I HAVE TO LISTEN TO YOU?  YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME!"

Ash received an answer in the form of a club to the head, courtesy of 
Cubone.

"FIRST YOU'RE IN MY ROOM, THEN YOU ATTACK ME?  IF IT'S A BATTLE YOU 
WANT..."

"ALL I WANT IS FOR YOU TO GET DRESSED SO WE CAN GO OUT TRAINING!  HOW 
WILL YOU BECOME A BETTER TRAINER IF YOU SLEEP THE DAY AWAY?"

"I GET BY ON MY OWN WITHOUT YOUR HELP, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!"

"YOU'RE GONNA WISH YOU HAD MY HELP WHEN I'M DONE WITH YOU!  CUBONE!"

More crashing sounds.  Mrs. Ketchum and Mr. Mime listen as sounds of 
Cubone attacking could be heard.  Suddenly, they heard Pikachu's 
trademark defensive cry, which means things were about to get very quiet.

Sure enough, after a little flickering of the lights, the house went 
dead silent.  Upstairs, Ash, Giselle, and Cubone were all covered in 
soot and twitching after all getting a few early volts through their 
bodies.

======

"What are you, a Slowpoke?  Move it!"

Cubone kept pace with Giselle as she was simultaneously jogging and 
shouting back at Ash and Pikachu, who were desperately trying not to 
collapse in anguish and pain as they fell further and further behind.

"You're the guy, you're supposed to be outrunning me!"

"Not even Misty tortured me this much," Ash commented, gasping for air.

"Pi..." mustered Pikachu, with even less air for him to use to talk.

======

"And now, a Pokémon battle!  Huh?"

Giselle and Cubone turned around and saw Ash and Pikachu lying on the 
ground, with their backs on the grass and them looking up into the sky.

"Can I... rest first?" Ash asked.

Giselle responded by winking at Cubone, who responded by throwing his 
bone like a boomerang right at Pikachu.  It hit the electric mouse square 
in the noggin before he even saw it coming.

"Cha!" Pikachu cried, sitting up and rubbing his head.

"What did you do that for?" Ash asked as he saw the Bonemerang return to 
Cubone's paw.

"Once a battle starts, you have to be ready for anything!" Giselle 
explained.  "You... weren't.  How can you not know something as simple as 
that?"

"Fine, Giselle!  If you want a battle, then I'll give you one!  Pikachu, 
are ready?"

"Pika!" Pikachu nodded, getting on all fours and into a battle stance.

"Pikachu, use Quick Attack!"

Pikachu started charging towards Cubone with lightning speed.  But 
Giselle shook her head in dismay.

"Charging in head-on.  You call THAT a strategy?"

Ash growled in response.  As for Pikachu, he was a little stunned when 
he reached Cubone and looked as if he was going to connect, when suddenly 
Cubone dodged without any orders from his trainer.

"Wha?"

"Cubone, execute plan zero-one-four!"

"Cu... BONE!" Cubone exclaimed, throwing his Bonemerang at the back of 
Pikachu's head.

Pikachu somehow managed the look back and tilt his head just enough to 
have the Bonemerang miss bonking him.  Unfortunately, he didn't see what 
was coming next, as he unexpectedly found himself on the receiving end of 
a headbutt!  Pikachu tumbled unceremoniously backwards, stopping just a 
few feet away from Ash.

"Oh no!  Pikachu!" Ash cried.

Ash took a step forward, then found he could go no further!  Giselle had 
gotten behind Ash, unnoticed, and had slipped both of her hands under his 
armpits, making it so her fingers were interlocked behind Ash's head.

"What the... Giselle, what are you doing?"

"You never know what an opponent might do!" Giselle smirked.  "Especially 
if you're battling some lowlife from Team Rocket!  Those weaklings would 
probably resort to dirty tricks just to get an advantage."

"Knock it off!" Ash whined.  "That hurts!"

Ash struggled to break free from Giselle's grip.  In the process, his left 
leg somehow got behind Giselle's and swept itself forward.  This caused 
Giselle to lose her concentration and balance, as she fell backwards.  
Before her arms were completely free of Ash, her right hand managed to 
grab just enough of his shirt to twist him around and pull him down with 
her.

Though Giselle landed flat on her back, albeit a little painfully, Ash 
had managed to extend his arms just in time to brace his impact.  Only 
his hands and his knees actually touched the grass.  But he had been left 
in an awkwardly precarious position, hovering over Giselle, whose face 
seemed to flush a bright red as her eyes tried to avoid looking directly 
into Ash's.

Ash hurriedly got to his feet and quickly offered a hand to help her up.  
Giselle came back to her senses and slapped it away.

"I can take care of myself, thank you!" she exclaimed.

"Well, fine then!" Ash yelled back, then sticking his tongue at her.

Ash stomped away, passed Pikachu and Cubone, who had just calmly watch the 
whole scene unfold.

"Cu-bone?"

Pikachu shook his head in disbelief.  "Pika, pika pika..."

Pikachu then followed Ash, who was heading back towards his house.  
Cubone trotted over to Giselle, who was wincing in pain as she sat up.

"Cubone, bone?"

"I'm alright," Giselle replied.  "But... what was that strange feeling I 
just had?"

"Bone?"

"I've never felt this way... except for..."

Cubone looked up at his master, curious as to what she was getting at.

"Except for when I was with Joe..."

Giselle turned in the direction in which Ash was departing and noted that 
he was still in sight, even if his back was towards her.

"Could it be?"

======

"I had to find out for sure..."

Two days later...

Giselle snuck around Professor Oak's Pokémon Preserve, ducking behind 
trees and large rocks and the like.  All so she could observe Ash in 
secret.  On this particular day, Ash had offered to help make sure all of 
the Pokémon were fed for breakfast.

"Breakfast time!" Ash yelled, standing in front of four bowls full of 
Pokémon food.

"Pika pika!" translated Pikachu.

In mere seconds, a few dozen grass-type Pokémon emerged from the nearby 
trees.  It didn't take long for the area to get overcrowded, and for 
there to run out of places for some to reach the bowls.  Ash noticed as 
some of the bigger ones, like Nuzleaf, Weepinbell, and Ivysaur, tried to 
take more than their fair share, leaving nothing for the smaller ones like 
Oddish, Hoppip, and Sunkern.

"Come on, you guys!  No second helpings!  Everyone's gotta eat!"

Giselle watched with interest, trying to see how Ash would resolve this.  
At this point, the smaller grass-types were already yelling in anger at 
the larger ones, who yelled back.  Arguing degenerated into growling, 
which turned into battling as Razor Leaf, Sleep Powder, and other attacks 
started being exchanged.

"Break it up!" Ash shouted at them, running into the middle.

The middle was the wrong place to be, though, as Ash found himself on the 
receiving end of one Pokémon's Stun Spore!  Unable to move, Ash fell to 
the ground, lying right in the line of fire!  Pikachu ran over to try and 
help Ash, and Giselle was thinking about doing the same.

"He could get seriously hurt!" she exclaimed as she started stepping 
through the bushes before coming to a stop.  "Wait!  Why should I help 
that idiot?  It serves him right for stepping right into a Stun Spore!  
I can't believe he doesn't know the paralyzing effects it causes if you 
inhale it!"

She then heard a Pokéball open up, and she turned her attention back to 
Ash.  Bulbasaur had come out, and the grass starter was already taking 
stock of the situation.

"He's got a Bulbasaur?"

She watched as Bulbasaur immediately took the role of peacekeeper, 
talking to all of the Pokémon and getting them to settle down.  It only 
took a minute, but soon enough all of the grass-types were calmly eating 
breakfast again.  Even more importantly, the larger Pokémon were sharing 
and offering food to the smaller ones!  Bulbasaur nodded in approval of 
his work as Ash picked him up, having recovered from the Stun Spore, and 
gave him a big old hug.

"Great job, Bulbasaur!  I knew you could do it!"

"Bulbasaur!"

"Wow..." Giselle commented to herself.  "Who would've thought he would've 
trained a Bulbasaur so well that it could resolve a large dispute without 
even batting a vine!  That's amazing!"

======

Giselle continued to observe Ash and saw similar outstanding results at 
the water-, fire-, and electric-type areas of the preserve.  In each case, 
there would be some disagreement and pushing and shoving, and then the 
fighting being resolved by Ash's Squirtle, Charizard, and Pikachu, 
respectively.

"I never realized how loyal Ash's Pokémon were!  Or how strong!"

"Hey!"

Giselle suddenly realized that Ash could see her, as she was doing a very 
poor job, for once, of keeping herself hidden.  Of course, that's hard to 
do when you're hiding behind a wooden fence post.

"You know, if you wanted to help feed the Pokémon, all you had to do was 
ask!"

"Me?" Giselle gasped, pointing at herself.

Ash started walking towards her.  Giselle was a little frightened of this 
friendly approach, and she wanted to turn around and get out of there as 
fast as she could.  Yet, for some reason, she couldn't get her legs to 
move.  When they finally did, Ash had already grabbed her by the hand and 
was beginning to guide her along the fence, to where a bunch of Tauros 
were waiting.

"You're just in time to help me feed Tauros!" Ash exclaimed.

"Feed... a wild Pokémon?"

Ash laughed.  "They're not wild.  They're mine."

"Which one?"

"All of them!"

"ALL OF THEM?"

Ash nodded as he stopped at a certain point at the fence, where all of 
Ash's Tauros were lined up side-by-side, waiting to be fed.  As Giselle 
stood face-to-face with one, with only the fence separating at them, she 
felt Ash pull both of her hands together, palms up.  Giselle could feel 
her face flush a little red - but the feeling quickly went away when Ash 
produced a bag of Pokémon food and dumped some of it in her clasped hands.

"Wait a minute!" Giselle shouted.  "What happened to those containers you 
were using?"

"Oh, Tauros likes it when I feed them straight from my hands!" Ash stated, 
scooping out a handful of it himself.  "You mean you've never done that?"

"Only with Cubone!  And Tauros are, on average, three-and-a-half times 
bigger!"

"It's simple, watch!"

Ash demonstrated by extending his hands out to one of the Tauros.  It 
slowly lapped at the food, its tongue tickling Ash as it licked up the 
food.  Once Tauros had finished, Ash gave it a good pat on the head.

"See?  Now you try!"

"Try?" Giselle retorted, a little offended.  "I'll do more than try!"

Giselle leaned forward, slowly extending her arms around the horizontal 
fence posts and ever closer towards Tauros.  But her eyes were closed, 
probably in an attempt to avoid eye contact with it.  In fact, she was 
scared that Tauros might accidentally bite her, or worse.

"You're scaring Tauros because you're scared!" Ash told her.  "Calm 
down, Giselle."

She suddenly felt a warm feeling, both on her wrists and near her face.  
Opening her eyes, she saw that Ash was holding her wrists steady and 
extending them straight in the pen.  All the while, he was standing right 
next to her, shoulder-to-shoulder.

"Pika pika!" Giselle could hear Pikachu cheer.

"That's it... just like that..." Ash said.

But Giselle hadn't even noticed Tauros had starting eating out of her 
hands.  She was too focused on Ash, who had a confident know-it-all smile 
on his face.  Strangely enough, that seemed to be a turn-on for Giselle, 
who found herself in a state where she was imagining that Ash was there, 
and only him alone.

The feeling quickly dissipated, though, when she felt Ash let go of her.  
Snapping back to reality, she saw that Ash had already gotten another 
handful of Pokémon food and was feeding another one of his Tauros.  She 
saw that the Tauros she had been feeding had already walked away, and had 
left nothing but a few small crumbs and some drool.

Which really got Giselle back to her old state.

"Eeeewwwww!" she cried, quickly running her hands up and down on the 
white T-shirt she was wearing.

"Is something wrong?" Ash asked, stopping his feeding to see what was up.

"Unbelievable!  Now I have to go and wash up!"

Giselle walked off, lost in thought in regards to the germs that were now 
all over her hands.  At least, that's what Ash thought.

"You'd think she'd never fed a Pokémon before," Ash commented to Pikachu.

"Pikachu?" shrugged the electric mouse.

======

"As the days turned into weeks, my feelings seemed to grow stronger and 
stronger... almost to the point where I didn't care who saw me flirting 
with him.  Yet, just as odd as my out-of-character behavior was Ash's 
non-response.  Does he even realize that I like him?  Like him like him?

"At the same time, though, I couldn't let anyone else know I liked him 
like that.  No one.  Yeah, I dropped the 'flirt with Ash to tick Misty 
off' plot.  Especially now that I actually loved him, I didn't wanna fake 
it for everyone else.  They'd probably think I really was in love, and 
then I'd be in real trouble.

"Somehow, I stuck to this new plan.  It was tough, though, after that 
skirt-chaser Brock tried to him on me yet again, this annoying jerk named 
Gary really got under my skin, and that performer-turned-trainer Duplica 
teased me when she saw that picture of me and Joe.

"Speaking of which..."

Tuesday, August 16th, 2000 - Indigo Plateau

After surprisingly seeing Joe competing at the Novice Tournament, Giselle 
confronted him later that day at a nearby Chinese restaurant.

"You’re acting like we haven’t seen each other in ages," Joe exclaimed.

"We’ve been apart for nearly two years!" Giselle shot back.  "That’s long 
enough for me."

"Gee, Giselle," Joe said, giving Giselle the once over.  "You’ve changed a 
lot."

Giselle batted her eyes at Joe and answered his observation in her cutest 
voice.

"In what ways?"

Joe gulped.  "Um, for one, you seem to have gotten cuter since I last saw 
you..."

"Tell me more..."

"And you don’t seem as tense or cold-blooded as before..."

"Anything else?" Giselle asked as she leaned over the table and closer to 
Joe's face, completely missing the context of Joe's last comment in the 
process.

Joe gestured to all of the males all around them.  "Well, you don’t seem 
to care about all of the guys that are staring at you right now."

"All that matters right now is that I have you..."

Giselle leaned in and kissed Joe on the lips.  At first, Joe seemed 
surprised and reluctant at Giselle’s advances towards him, but he 
eventually relaxed and gave in to her desires.  After having their lips 
locked for about twenty seconds, they let go... and spot the waiter 
impatiently waiting for them to order.  They both blush, and begin to 
look at the menu... but not without each of them stealing another glance 
at each other.

======

"I know, I know!  You all think I'm two-timing Joe!  Well, technically, 
since we hadn't had physical contact in quite awhile, we weren't 
officially together!  But seeing Joe again, and given Ash's 'no reaction,' 
well...

"I told you, I need constant attention!

"Maybe that's why I invited Joe to come with me after the tournament.  
After all, I needed to prepare him for the next Novice Tournament after 
he failed to get into the League that first time around!  Besides, even 
I wouldn't be as so heartless as to invite myself to go with Ash, 
especially with Misty along for the ride and given I could see how they 
felt for each other.  I mean, sure, I outscore her in every category, 
from beauty to brains.  But we'd always be fighting, instead of 
training.  It would ruin both of our reputations.

"Oh, who am I kidding... her reputation's bad enough without my help.

"But, somehow I managed to ruin my reputation without hers..."

Monday, September 19th, 2000 - Route 7, just east of Celadon City

"What's that?" one young boy asked.

"It's... it's a monster!" exclaimed a second.

Giselle opened her eyes and saw four teenagers with leather jackets all 
pointing at her, shaking in their shoes in fear as they each cautiously 
took one step back, then another.

"How dare you attack me like that!" she exclaimed.  "That's against the 
rules!"

But that's not what the bikers heard.

"Maro maro wak wak wak!  Wak marowak maro maro!"

Giselle gawked in surprise.  Why was she hearing Marowak's voice, and 
not others.

"Giselle!  Giselle, please wake up!  Oh, Giselle!"

She then heard Joe's voice behind her, weeping out for her.  She turned 
around to assure him that she actually was awake and was okay, save for 
the minor headache.  But then she got an even bigger surprise.

Just ten feet away, Joe was kneeling beside her own body!  Her eyes were 
closed, and she could see Joe cradling the back of her head with his 
hands, crying out for her to wake up.  He then pulled out one of his 
hands, and he nearly bawled out even more when he saw blood on it!

"Oh my God..." Giselle thought.  "If that's me over there, then..."

She then noticed, for the first-time, the form-fitting skull surrounding 
the outside of her head, the paws that made up her hands, and the bone 
she was holding in one of them.  As she moved it up and down, she noticed, 
out of the corner of her eye, the bikers having had enough and 
high-tailing it out of the scene.

"I'm... I'm inside Marowak?  I'm inside Marowak's body!"

At that moment, the clouds opened up and the area was soaked in a 
torrential downpour.  Joe was still sobbing and pleading for Giselle to 
wake up as he became completely drenched, while Giselle's physical spirit, 
inside of Marowak, tried to wrestle with what had just happened.

She could only come up with one response.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!"

======

Tuesday, September 20th, 2000 - Celadon City General Hospital

The door to the room opened, and Joe peeked his head in.

"Uh... hello?"

Giselle was sitting up, her back half-upright, as she shot a glare at 
Joe.  Seeing it, the young man quickly ducked back behind the door.

"Oh, it's just you, Joe..." Giselle relaxed.  "Well, come on in!  You 
know it's bad to keep a girl waiting!"

Slowly but surely, Joe entered the room.  He was hiding a bouquet of 
pink carnations behind his back, albeit badly, as he stepped towards 
Giselle's bedside.

"How... thoughtful..." Giselle said aloud.

"They were out of roses in the hospital gift shop," explained Joe.

"I'll manage..."

Joe placed the bouquet down on the table to Giselle's left, then he took 
a seat on the bed, right next to Giselle's right hand.

"So... you went down pretty hard there.  You... okay?"

"I'm laid up in a hospital bed," Giselle answered sarcastically.  "What 
do YOU think, Joe?"

"That you're pretty tough and you won't let something like that stop you?"

This time, Giselle responded with a smile.

"Good answer!"

"Heh..." Joe laughed, glad to be at a point where he knew what Giselle 
wanted to hear.

Giselle sighed with relief.  "I'm glad you're here with me, Joe."

"I'm just glad you're not hurt, after what those guys tried to do to you."

======

The night before, Route 7

Joe and Giselle were happily chatting as they walked along, when all of a 
sudden they came across four leather-wearing teenagers, three guys and a 
girl, just hanging out in the middle of the path.

"Hey hey, look at what we have here!" the guy with black mohawk 
exclaimed.  "A couple of kids wandering onto our turf!"

Giselle took a step forward to confront them, but found herself being 
tugged at the arm by Joe, who wanted to avoid a confrontation.

"Leave 'em be, Giselle.  They're not worth it."

"So because you guys look better than us, you don't wanna mess with us?" 
insinuated a guy with a green-haired buzzcut.

"Rich kids make me sick," spat out the lone gal, "thinking they're better 
than the rest of us because everything's handed to them on a silver 
platter."

"We just think we're better because we actually do something with our 
lives!" retorted Giselle.  "Not just sit around like you lazy rats!"

"Giselle, don't!" Joe begged.

"You think we're lazy?" growled the brown-haired tall guy, who was the 
leader of the gang.  "We'll show you lazy!  We challenge you to a Pokémon 
battle!"

"Are you sure?" Giselle teased.  "Us being spoiled and all, we probably 
let our servants train our Pokémon for us, so we have no idea how to 
control them!"

"Well, too bad!  You're in for a world of hurt, rich girl!"

"Very well.  But let's make this interesting.  I've heard a lot about how 
great tag battles are.  So... Joe and I challenge you to a two-on-two, 
with each trainer using only their number one Pokémon!"

The leader sneered.  "You really wanna be taught a lesson that bad, huh?  
Fine, then... it's me and Snits.  And we get first attack!"

"It is your turf, so... agreed!"

Joe tugged at Giselle again, still wanting to get her to reconsider.

"Are you sure you wanna do this?" he whispered.

"Come on, Joe!" she whispered back.  "We have to respect the little 
people.  After all, if they wanna get a beatdown so badly..."

Joe sweatdropped.  "I was afraid you were gonna say that."

A few minutes later, the tag battle was set to begin.  Giselle and Joe 
on one side, the leader and Snits, the guy with the mohawk, on the other.

"Alright, Marowak... go!"

"Let's do it, Weepinbell!"

Giselle and Joe called out their signature Pokémon.

"Weavile, front and center!" shouted the leader.

"Go for victory, Fearow!" exclaimed Snits.

"Let's get this started... Weavile, Quick Attack!"

"Fearow!  Use Aerial Ace!"

"These guys aren't fooling around," Giselle observed.  "They're really 
gonna try to beat us to the punch!"

Fearow barreled for Weepinbell, while Weavile went for Marowak.

"Weepinbell, use Double Team to confuse your opponent!" Joe exclaimed.

"Focus Energy, Marowak!" yelled Giselle.  "Then, Plan 22T!"

Weepinbell produced several copies of himself, while Marowak charged up 
and braced for impact.  Weavile happily obliged, going for a blow right 
into Marowak's hard skull.  That's just where Marowak and Giselle 
wanted him.

"Do it... NOW!"

"Maro!" Marowak chirped, leaping forward and giving Weavile a vicious 
Headbutt.

"Weav!" groaned Weavile, stumbling backwards with a huge bump on his 
forehead, but managing to stay on his feet.

As for Fearow, his sweeping Aerial Ace managed to take out all of the 
Weepinbell... except for the real one.

"Use Wrap, Weepinbell!"

Weepinbell followed orders, extending his vine-like appendages and 
wrapping up Fearow's legs and wings.  That made the bird Pokémon 
immobile.

"C'mon, Fearow, you can break out of a wimpy move like that!"

Fearow growled as he attempted to break free of the vines, while 
Weepinbell did his best to try and keep him ensnared.  Meanwhile, 
Weavile charged in for another attack on Marowak.

"Fury Swipes!" Weavile's trainer called out.

"Marowak, use Bonemerang!" countered Giselle.

Marowak threw his bone club like a frisbee, sending it right for 
Weavile's hand.  Unfortunately, Weavile dodged it, and took advantage of 
the opening to wail on the defenseless ground type.

"That's it, keep pounding away!"

But as Weavile kept slashing at Marowak, both were unaware that the 
Bonemerang was already on its return trip, and heading straight for 
them.  Their trainers, on the other hand, had already planned for it.

"Up in the air, Weavile!"

"Jump, Marowak... NOW!"

The two followed orders, leaping off the ground just high enough, 
especially Marowak, for the Bonemerang to pass underneath them.  The 
Bonemerang hit the ground awkwardly, bouncing off the ground and 
directly towards Giselle's right leg.  Without thinking, she quickly 
turned her body to the right, moving her right leg so that her ankles 
crossed with that leg behind her left, as the bone passed by and hit the 
ground again, this time into the grass, where it disappeared.

"HYPER BEAM!"

But Giselle's concern for her safety had drawn her away from focusing on 
the battle for one brief moment.  A moment that her opponent took 
advantage of, calling for Weavile to use Hyper Beam.  With the two 
Pokémon still in mid-air, Marowak had nowhere to dodge and no bone club 
to defend himself or deflect the blast.  As a result, Marowak took the 
Hyper Beam at full force, and was sent flying backwards.

It all happened so fast that Giselle didn't see it coming.  Before she 
knew it, Marowak's head collided with hers, and both of them went down.

"Giselle!" Joe cried out.

Joe ran over to his girlfriend's side, ignoring the fact that he and 
Weepinbell were still in the midst of a battle.

"Hey, we're in the middle of a battle here!" shouted Snits.

"Let him go.  He's worried about his girllllll-friend!" teased the one 
with the buzzcut.

"Now, now," mockingly snapped the gal.  "She might be really hurt, you 
know."

"Stupid rich kids," the leader jeered.  "They're pampered so much, they 
probably have a low threshold for pain.  The wimps!"

"Giselle, are you okay?" Joe asked as he knelt down next to her.

The four teenagers broke out in laughter, not caring at all that Giselle 
had really been hurt.  Joe ignored them, as his mind was already racing 
with thoughts of trying to figure out how to get her to a hospital.

Suddenly, a silver aura started to emanate from both Giselle's and 
Marowak's bodies.  But by this point, Joe had broke out in tears and was 
wailing so loudly that he had no idea what was going on.

The teens did, though, when Marowak got to his feet and growled angrily 
at them.

"Wak wak wak, Marowak!" he grumbled.

"What's that?"

"It's... it's a monster!"

"Maro maro wak wak wak!  Wak marowak maro maro!"

Without warning, the clouds opened up and the area became soaked in a 
torrential downpour.  Joe was still sobbing and pleading for Giselle to 
wake up as he became completely drenched, while Giselle's physical spirit, 
inside of Marowak, was wrestling with what had just happened.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!"

"What's with that Marowak?" the leader wondered out loud.  "It's freaking 
out!  C'mon, let's bounce before it decides to come after us!"

With that, the foursome high-tailed it out of there.  Once they were gone, 
Marowak fainted.  The sound of him hitting the ground got Joe's attention, 
and he regained his composure and started to take some action.

"Don't worry, Giselle!" Joe declared.  "I'm gonna get you to a hospital!"

Pulling a handkerchief out, he wrapped it around her head, hoping to keep 
any more blood from coming out.  He proceeded back towards Celadon City, 
with Weepinbell following close behind, with the unconscious Marowak 
wrapped in his vines.

======

"Wait a minute!  What about Marowak?"

"Don't worry!" Joe said as he pulled out a Pokéball.  "Marowak's fine."

"That's not what I meant!  What about the part of me waking up inside 
Marowak and seeing you crying next to me from ten feet away?"

"Giselle, what are you talking about?  Maybe that blow to the head was 
harder than the doctor thought."

"I'm serious, Joe!" Giselle shouted, leaning forward... before a bout of 
dizziness overtook her and she quickly slumped back down.

"Take it easy!  The doctor said you need to rest!  And the last thing 
you need to do is open up that wound in the back of your head!"

Giselle sighed.  "You're right.  Maybe it's just the concussion talking."

She relaxed as Joe pulled the covers over every part of her body except 
for her head.  He then gave her a quick peck on the cheek before leaving 
the room.  Once Joe had left, Giselle found herself drifting off into a 
deep sleep.

======

"I truly did believe that that bump on the head really did make me 
imagine the whole bit with Marowak.  Really... that situation was so 
farfetched.  There was no rational explanation for what happened.

"But at the same time, it kept nagging at me.  Every so often, I found 
myself trying to prove what happened actually took place.  And I think it 
affected me for several months.  But never so much as the day before the 
Pokémon League Novice Tournament began, as I was trying to get Joe to put 
everything I taught him together.  He seemed to be giving his all, but as 
for me..."

Sunday, February 4th, 2001 - Indigo Plateau

"Weepinbell, use Vine Whip!" called out Joe.

"Bell!" Weepinbell nodded before proceeding.

"Defense Curl!" Giselle shouted at Graveler.

Graveler curled up in a defensive position and willing took the super 
effective hit against it.  Joe seemed a bit perplexed by Giselle's choice 
of moves.

"Okay then... let's go with Sleep Powder!"

Weepinbell blasted a dose of Sleep Powder in the vicinity of Graveler.

"Graveler, Rock Blast!"

Graveler glanced around for some boulders to toss, but being on a field 
full of sand and dirt, there was nothing large enough to do any damage.  
At the same time, it had left Graveler completely open to being doused 
by the Sleep Powder.  In seconds, he was asleep and out like a light.

"Graveler, what are you doing?" Giselle asked it.  "Wake up, you lug!"

"I don't think he's the one that needs to wake up," Joe stated, as he 
recalled Weepinbell and walked over.  "Something's definitely wrong with 
you today, Giselle."

"There's never anything wrong with me.  You know that!"

"But I think there is."

Joe was staring into Giselle's eyes, and he already knew what the problem 
was.

"You're still having those dreams about you and Marowak, huh?"

"It's not a dream!  It really happened!"

"You're letting this whole thing get to you!  You're not pushing me to 
be my best, and that worries me!"

"Oh, come on!  My teaching methods are foolproof!  You're going to not 
only get into the Pokémon League... you're going to win this tournament!"

Joe noted that Giselle was telling him what he wanted to hear, even 
though he knew she was heavily exaggerating.

"Well... if you believe I can win the whole thing..."

"Of course!  I believe in you, Joe!"

"Just promise me that you'll accept that those dreams are just that, and 
I know you're behind me."

"I promise.  Cross my heart!"

"Good.  Then let's wake Graveler up and get a real battle going!"

Giselle nodded, then went to knock Graveler out of his peaceful slumber 
while Joe returned to his position at the opposite side of the field.  
Soon after, Weepinbell was released back onto the field, and the battle 
picked up as if it had never stopped...

======

"But truly, the endless thinking about Marowak had distracted me so much 
the last few weeks of training Joe had become an afterthought.  That's 
why I found it hard to give him any criticism after he won his two of his 
first three matches.  And even harder to tell him what he was doing wrong 
when he lost the next three in a row, pretty much eliminating any chance 
of him getting out of the preliminary round.

"After he crashed and burned in his seventh and final match, I refused to 
believe that I didn't train him good enough.  Or that he didn't do 
everything I told him to.  I chucked up his results in the tournament to 
just being a huge stroke of bad luck.  After, he had randomly drawn into 
a group where only one trainer was competing here for the first time.  
That's what it all was... bad luck.  Not me not guiding him during the 
tournament, just when he needed me the most."

Sunday, February 11th, 2001

"I was lucky to make it this far, and your training definitely helped.  
But... if I can't get into the League after being mentored by a 
trainer as good as you... then I'll never..."

"Joe..."

"I appreciate all you've done for me, Giselle, but you probably don't 
want to waste any more time on a guy who's never gonna amount to 
anything.  I think it's time to part ways."

Without another word, Joe ran off in the opposite direction.  Giselle 
reached out, as if to stop him.  But she appeared to have no intention 
to do so.  Or go after him.

======

"As much as I loved Joe, I decided not to go after him.  I didn't want 
to see him go, but the truth was that I needed to find Ash.  If anyone 
knew what might have happened that day, it would be him given his 
experience in Viridian City.

"And so, after getting some directing from Professor Oak, I made my way 
to the Johto region.  I was hoping that the sooner I found him and got 
some answers, the sooner I could put all this drama behind me.

"I never found Ash, nor did I get any answers after ten months of 
searching.  But then, one day, it hit me while Marowak and I were running 
away from some wild Pokémon..."

Saturday, December 8th, 2000, Route 34

"Beedrill!  Why'd it have to be Beedrill?"

"Maro, maro!"

Sure enough, Giselle and Marowak were running for their lives as a swarm 
of Beedrill chased after them.

"And on the day I happened to be wearing my expensive leather boots!"

Though stylish, the boots weren't helping her speed any, as the Beedrill 
were getting within stinging range.  Luckily, they had emerged into a 
clearing, and had the territorial advantage for the moment with the 
Beedrill still surrounded on either side by trees.

"Time to fight back!" Giselle exclaimed as she and Marowak came to a 
stop.  "Knock 'em out of the sky with Bonemerang!"

Marowak threw his bone club at the Beedrill, and with nowhere to dodge, 
a good portion of the swarm was hit, causing them to either fall or get 
distracted and fly into trees or each other.  The remaining few that 
weren't hit turned about and fled the scene, not seeing any point in 
continuing the chase.

"What a useless Pokémon," Giselle remarked.  "They're only good in 
groups.  Not much help in one-on-one Pokémon battles."

Giselle and Marowak continued up to the top of the hill, where they 
found a small patch of Oran Berry bushes.  As they reached them, Giselle 
suddenly had an uneasy feeling.

"Huh?  I don't feel right.  Did one of the Beedrill sting me?"

Giselle started to stumble about, drawing Marowak's attention to her.

"Wak?" he wondered.

"I didn't feel any... why am I so..."

She never finished her sentence as she spun around and fell to the ground, 
landing back first, but not before brushing against one of the bushes, 
resulting in a few scratches on her skin.  Marowak ran over to her, 
obviously concerned for his master's condition.  The first thing he did 
was grab her arm and pull her off of the dirt path her unconscious body 
was now covering.  As he did, both Marowak and Giselle began to glow 
silver - as they had during the incident on Route 7.

Within seconds, Giselle found herself inside Marowak's body once again.

"I knew it!" Giselle thought to herself.  "It wasn't a dream!  It really 
happened!"

"We've never been this low," she heard a voice muttered from a female 
voice that was closing in.

"Maybe we should end it now," added a male voice.  "This running is 
killing us!"

"Hmmm... why do those voices sound familiar?" Giselle wondered.

She pushed aside one of the Oran Berry bushes just enough so she could 
see through them and spot who was coming up the path.  After all, she had 
to know what kind of action to take if whomever was walking her way were 
to find her body.

"Not eatin' is da thing dat's killin' us!" exclaimed a third.

Her hunch turned out to be right, as she did recognize the walkers.  It 
was Jessie, James, and Persian, that dastardly trio from Team Rocket.

"Oh, great," Giselle remarked sarcastically.  "Those idiots are going to 
try and steal my Pokémon!  Well, not on my watch!"

Giselle emerged from the bushes and turned toward her body.  Sure enough, 
Team Rocket had already found it and were eyeing her... her...

Fashionably expensive leather boots?

For whatever reason, their attention was turned on her boots and not her 
Pokémon.  Giselle didn't think they'd steal those.  Sure, they're of very 
good quality and they were the must-have boots for rich teenager girls 
everywhere, but this wasn't their style.

Thankfully for Giselle, they seemed to stop in their tracks when they 
saw who they were trying to swipe from.

"The brat?" Jessie stated.

"The snob?" James corrected.

"It's dat Techie girl!" Persian concluded.

"She's out like a light!"

"Do you think she's dead?"

"Who cares?  Let's take dis opportunity to steal all her Pokémon!"

Jessie smiled.  "And she's bound to have some food."

"And plenty of refreshing spring water!" added James.

Giselle-Marowak sweatdropped.  "That's more like them."

She took out her bone club and threw it Persian's head.  Her aim was 
right on the mark, as he succeeded in clocking him real good.

"What the heck was dat?" Persian asked as he got up.

Persian followed the Bonemerang as it returned to its owner... a 
Marowak.

"Marowak!" it shouted as it trotted over to Giselle's body and then 
stood in front of it.

"That's right!" Jessie grimaced as she remembered.  "That Marowak 
belongs to her!  And it's her best Pokémon!"

"We're in no condition to fight!" pleaded James, waving his arms 
about in a wild fashion.  "You can't even let us take ONE morsel of 
food?"

Marowak gritted his teeth before proceeding to roar as loud as his 
lungs could muster.

"What's he doing?" Jessie screamed, covering her ears with her hands.

"He's not trying to wake HER, is she?" James asked in fear.

"He doesn't need her!" Persian exclaimed.

"Why not?"

Marowak smirked, then charged at the trio.  She started pummeling them 
mercilessly, up to the point when they decided to book it when they had 
taken enough punishment.  As soon as Team Rocket were out of sight, the 
silver aura disappeared.  Marowak stayed conscious as he watched Giselle 
arise, yawning loudly as she did.

He then bonked her on the head with his bone club.

Owwwww!" she screamed.  "Marowak, what in the..."

"Marowak, maro maro wak, Marowak!"

Giselle gasped as she listened to what Marowak was telling her.

"It happened again, didn't it?"

"Maro!" her Pokémon nodded in confirmation.

She sighed as she walked over to her bags and put them on.

"I knew I wasn't cut out for this 'walking around and earning badges 
the hard way' bit!  When we reach the next town with an airport, I'm 
booking a flight to the next Pokémon gym!"

======

"I may have been making light of the situation, but at that point I 
knew that something was wrong.  What happened to me wasn't normal!  Maybe 
I caught it from Misty.  It'd be just like her to try and make my life 
miserable.  Then again, it had been awhile since I was face-to-face with 
her, and there was a huge time gap between the two oddly similar events.  
I needed to find out if I had some kind of strange illness or condition.  
After all, unhealthy people tend not to be able to maintain their stunning 
looks.

"Of course, I always look good no matter what condition I'm in.

"Still, to be safe, I needed to seek out a professional opinion..."

Monday, January 7th, 2002 - Goldenrod City Medical Clinic

Upon reaching Goldenrod City about a month later, Giselle instantly 
sought out the closest doctor's office and got a check-up.  After going 
through all the motions and tests, she was sitting out in the lobby as 
she waited for the preliminary results to come back.

She wasn't kept for too long, as the doctor soon appeared to fetch her 
and bring her to his office.  Once they were seated inside, he told her 
what he had discovered.

"Nothing?" she shouted.  "You're telling me nothing's wrong with me?"

"Well, your results show no abnormalities of any kind.  Except for..."

"Except for?"

"The fainting.  But even that's somewhat normal for girls your age."

Giselle gasped.  "Really?"

The doctor nodded.  "Of course.  It's common for teenage girls to try 
and keep their figures by eating very little.  Especially those who are 
Pokémon trainers.  They rarely find themselves amongst an abundance of 
food out in the wild, and thus..."

"YOU THINK I'M ANOREXIC?"

"Well," the doctor gulped, twiddling his thumbs.  "A little..."

======

"The nerve of that guy!  Making me think I'm fainting because I'm skinny!  
No wonder everyone thinks lowly of the Johto Region.  Their medical 
facilities are SO third-class.

"As they say, if you want something done right, you do it yourself.  
Especially in a city where the gym is run by a girl raised on a farm.

"So, even if slightly inadequate, the educational and research facilities 
in Goldenrod City would have to do if I were to find any answers.  The 
problem was, getting a hotel room was far from feasible.  It's 
unbelievable how much they charge around here!  Renting an apartment 
wasn't much cheaper, but I had to have somewhere to put my feet up in 
case I had to be stuck here for awhile.

"But in order to pay for it, I had to take a few part-time jobs..."

Giselle was seen riding her bike while delivering newspapers to the 
citizens of Goldenrod, helping paint a house, and serving patrons while 
working as a waitress at a maid cafe.

"Wait... people actually do this for a living?  Such saps!  Needlessly to 
say, I willingly walked away from those gigs..."

Insert shots of a pair of Granbull chasing after a frightened Giselle, 
two painters upset when she corralled two local eight-year old boys to 
do her work for her, and yelling at a customer at the cafe for grabbing 
a handful of her skirt.

"Eventually, I came across my dream job..."

Tuesday, January 29th - Mitchell and Marion Accounting Firm, 2nd Floor

"You owe the government over two million Poké," Giselle told a stunned 
client.

======

"Who would've thought solving other people's financial problems would be 
fun?  Especially when I could laugh at them for making stupid mistakes?

"Not in their face, of course.  Though there was that one guy...

"But as exciting as my job was, my search for answers to my condition 
was far from it.  I browsed books at the library for weeks and weeks and 
weeks... but I was coming up with nothing!

"Until I found HIS leaflet..."

Wednesday, March 20th - Goldenrod City Library, South Forest Branch

"I firmly believe that certain individuals have what is necessary to be 
able to temporarily transfer their souls in and out of certain Pokémon, 
given a set of exacting conditions, none of which I have been able to 
discern, though I do have some theories."

Giselle read the statement over and over again to herself, in order to 
absorb its meaning.  She then glanced at the top of the page and found 
the name of the document's author.

"Werner Geissler.  Sounds... German."

A quick search for information on Werner Geissler turned up a few good 
books about his studies on Pokémon.  It didn't take long for Giselle to 
figure out that she needed to find this man, and fast.

Little did she know that it would be him that would find her...

======

The next day at work, Giselle got a surprise when, instead of her next 
client, Junior Master Cassie Banks stepped into her cubicle.

"Well well, look what we have here!" Giselle smirked.  "The girl who 
lucked her way into being Pokémon Junior Master!"

"Lucked?"

"Of course!  You finished as the third runner-up, but after the champion 
and the first runner-up both went missing, and the League decided to 
conveniently skip over the second runner-up, guess who ended up in the 
catbird seat?  My my, how many people did you have to betray to get what 
you wanted this time?"

"You're accusing me of knocking off the competition that beat me?"

"If the shoe fits..."

"How dare you!"

Cassie slammed her hands down on Giselle's desk and glared into her 
eyes.  Giselle, though, didn't seem the least bit scared.

"Now, hold up there!" an adult male's voice rang out.  "There's no need 
for two beautiful young women to fight each other!"

Lieutenant Surge appeared, pulling Cassie back so he could chat with 
Giselle face-to-face.

"My name is Lieutenant Surge," he said, introducing himself.  "And I'm 
the gym leader of Vermillion City!"

"I see," Giselle noted, before smirking in Cassie's direction.  "Have to 
have gym leaders protect you now?  You really are swindling things in 
your favor, aren't you?"

Cassie took a Pokéball out of her pocket and held it up for Giselle to 
see.

"Protection?  I don't need Surge to deal with the likes of you!"

Giselle reached into her desk and pulled out a Pokéball before calmly 
getting out of her seat and walking over to her would-be challenger.

"Very well.  If it's a battle you want, it's a battle you'll get!"

======

Outside on the courtyard, Cassie and Giselle stood ready to battle, with 
Surge unexpectedly roped into being the referee.  Many of the workers in 
the building, as well as their clients, had gathered to watch the bout.

"This isn't part of the deal, missy!" Surge shouted at Cassie.  "I was 
supposed to do the battling while you used your psychic mumbo jumbo!"

"I can use my powers AND take care of this witch at the same time!" 
Cassie shot back.

"Strong words coming from the fourth best Junior trainer in the world!" 
balked Giselle.  "If I had been there, I would've won the tournament 
outright myself!"

"Prove it, then!  I challenge you to a one-on-one Pokémon battle!"

"Fine, but don't pout when I win!"

With that, the two young women threw out their signature Pokémon.  The 
battle was going to be Giselle and Marowak versus Cassie and Kadabra.

"Since I'm the prettiest," Giselle touted, "I'll go first!  Marowak, 
time to show them the Bonemerang!"

Marowak complied, tossing his Bone Club as if it was a boomerang.

"Kadabra, use Confusion!" ordered Cassie.

Kadabra used his powers to redirect the Bonemerang harmlessly to the 
ground.

"Teleport, then Psybeam!" Cassie quickly commanded.

Kadabra disappeared and reappeared directly behind Marowak, and the 
psychic-type unleashed Psybeam on the unsuspecting ground-type.  Giselle, 
however, knew exactly how to counter.

"Dodge by digging, Marowak!"

Marowak dug through the ground, and just in time to avoid the Psybeam.  
Cassie sidestepped as the Psybeam struck the ground where she was 
originally standing.  As she did, she scanned the field, trying to sense 
where Marowak was going to come out.

"Kadabra!" Cassie yelled out.  "Take three steps forward, then one to 
the right!"

Giselle laughed, not amused by Cassie's tactics.

"Seriously?  You're walking right into my trap!  Marowak, burst out and 
do a Headbutt!"

Marowak exploded out of the ground and went in for the knock-out.  There 
was only one problem.

"Huh?" Giselle wondered, when Kadabra disappeared from where it was 
supposed to be.

To both Giselle's and Marowak's surprise, Kadabra had teleported and was 
standing next to Cassie.

"Did your Kadabra teleport without you telling it to?"

Cassie smiled slyly.  "You... could say that."

"I see," Giselle observed.  "Guess I was wrong to not take you 
seriously.  I won't make that same mistake twice!  Marowak, Plan 2-A!"

Marowak used Double Team, producing several images of himself.  Then, 
the images came to life as they all ran around Kadabra in different 
directions.  Kadabra didn't panic, though, as he closed his eyes and 
tried to sense which of the potential attackers was the real Marowak.

Marowak didn't give Kadabra the time, as the real one immediately jumped 
out of formation, picked the Bone Club off the ground, and swung it at 
Kadabra's head.  Unfortunately, the club and Marowak passed right 
through, as this Kadabra was fake!

"Did Kadabra use Double Team as well?" Giselle asked.

"Yep.  Good luck finding the real Kadabra!"

"I'd say the same of you locating the real Marowak!"

Sure enough, the two real Pokémon had now mixed themselves amongst all 
of the copies... so much so that no one, Pokémon or trainer, could tell 
where the real ones were.

"Wow, this girl isn't half bad," Giselle commented under her breath.

But Cassie, on the other hand, was feeling different about Giselle.  Or 
rather, the sensation she was giving off.

"Could it be?" she asked herself.  "Am I sensing what I think I'm 
sensing?"

Cassie peered deep into Giselle's soul.  Upon doing so, she gasped in 
surprise when she saw a faint silver aura emanating just underneath the 
surface of her skin.

"You've got IT, don't you?" questioned Cassie.

"If IT refers to my charming good looks, then yes.  Yes, I do."

The psychic rolled her eyes.  "I'm talking about the power to temporarily 
transfer your soul to your Pokémon, giving the two of you strength beyond 
belief!"

Giselle stopped dead in her tracks and slowly delivered a response.

"So?  What... what if I do?"

"What if I told you that what you have is some extremely rare condition 
and we're trying to find a cure for it?"

"We?  As in the Pokémon Trainers' Association, those lowlifes who are as 
morally corrupt as Team Rocket?  As if!"

"She's talking about the Pokémon League!" Surge cut in.  "And you'd be 
wise not to say bad things about us."

The Tech graduate raised an eyebrow in tempered semi-satisfaction.

"Let's assume that you mean what you say.  How do I know this isn't all 
smoke and mirrors, and that the PTA isn't running the League itself?"

"That's because they hired me, my dear," stated another voice, this one 
much older.

The crowd parted to let an old German man in a lab coat through.  Once 
she could see his face, Giselle instantly knew whom he was.

"Professor Werner Geissler!"

The professor blinked his eyes, a bit shocked he was identified so easily.

"Yes.  Yes, that's me.  How did you know my name?"

"Well, out of all the research I've done on the subject of this 
'condition,' you happened to be the only living person I could find that 
actually knew what was going on and had done some studies on in the past.  
I figured that once I found you, I could get the answers that I've been 
searching for!"

"Ah, so you're looking for answers?"

"I'm looking for THE answer, professor.  As in, how to get rid of it!  
It's consumed and virtually ruined my life!  I want control back!  I 
want to go back to the way I was!"

"That's perfect!" exclaimed Professor Geissler.  "We've been looking for 
someone with the actual condition to make observations with.  With your 
help, we'll find a remedy for this for sure!"

Giselle chuckled.  "Now that's what I wanna hear!"

"So..." prompted Cassie.  "You believe us?"

"You?  Not so much.  But as for the professor... let's do this!"

======

"And thus it began.  I assisted Professor Geissler with his research, 
and with the help of Lieutenant Surge and what's-her-name, we edged 
ever closer to finding a cure.  I had tests conducted on me to see what 
it might take.

"And then, the professor introduced me to the Dissolution Chamber.

"Was this the answer?  Would I really be cured of this freak condition?  
Little Miss Junior Master didn't think so, as she reminded me of the 
whole 'three strikes and you're dead' rule.  But I didn't care.  I would 
rather die than live with this for the rest of my life!  I'm way too 
beautiful to be a freak!"

Friday, March 29th

"I have 100 percent faith in you!" Giselle smiled as she gave a thumbs 
up to the professor after she had been strapped into the Dissolution 
Chamber.

"All systems are prepped and ready!" exclaimed one of the scientists in 
the room.

"START THE DISSOLUTION CHAMBER!" Professor Geissler shouted.

The many scientists started pulling levers, pushing buttons, turning 
knobs, and other sorts of actions as they got the machine quickly 
running up to full capacity.  A visible amount of electricity funneled 
into the pods, and Giselle and Marowak felt it coursing through their 
bodies.

"Maro maro maro!" Marowak cried in pain.

Giselle was gritting her teeth, desperately trying to keep her composure, 
though it was visibly obvious that she was hurting as well.

"Remember, this is all normal!" the professor yelled to them.  "We're 
trying to force you into going into the 'merged state!'"

"AAHHH!" Giselle whelped.  "It... OUCH!  This isn't... EEEEEEEEE!"

"Sir, something's gone wrong!" one of the scientists exclaimed.  "The 
voltage regulator's gonna kaput!"

"What?"

"I can't steady the voltage flow!  It'll be in the overload region in 
seconds!"

"We've got to shut it down!" a colleague added.  "We're putting their 
lives in danger!"

"Fine," the professor agreed, though regrettably.  "Shut it down."

"Shutdown procedure initiated... access denied!"

"Try the override code!"

After a few seconds...

"Negative!  Access denied!"

Suddenly, a high-pitched, ear-piercing scream filled the room.  The 
electricity flowing through Giselle's body was too great for her to 
withhold her cries of pain anymore.  With that, she blacked out.

======

"Well, the good news is that she's alive."

"And... the bad news?"

"She's in a coma.  One that she'll probably... never come out of."

Silence.

"Um... can I see her?"

After getting confirmation from the doctor, the door into the room 
opened.  Cassie walked in solemnly, taking time to close the door behind 
her.  She then slowly made her way over to a nearby chair, picked it up, 
and carried over next to the hospital bed where Giselle lied.  Giselle 
was smiling so peacefully, as if she was content to be there.

Cassie, though, believed otherwise, as she sat down and recalled the 
brief amount of time the two spent together.

"Didn't Ash Ketchum teach you anything?  Relying on textbooks and playing 
by the rules isn't enough.  You're so much against hearing other people's 
opinions.  We may have not seen eye-to-eye... but never would I wish a 
fate upon you worse than death."

Cassie shed a tear, and fought to keep more from coming out as she 
reached into her purse and pulled out a Pokéball.  Marowak's Pokéball.

"I just wish I had been more adamant in my warnings.  I'm sorry, Giselle, 
but as the Pokémon Junior Master... I've failed you."

With that, Cassie stood up and exited the room.

======

Thursday, April 18th, Cianwood City Gym

The front door swung open, and three teenagers walked out of the gym.  
They were waving farewell to the gym leader as they departed, the lone 
male of the group doing so while holding the Storm Badge in his hand.

"Thanks for the hospitality!" he exclaimed.

"Best of luck getting your next badge!" shouted the gym leader, Chuck.

With that, Chuck went back inside to prepare for the next challenger.  
As he did, the young man pulled out his badge case and placed his newly 
won prize inside to join the other five Johto League badges he had 
already collected.

"Glad that's over," he breathed a sigh of relief.  "That Machoke of his 
was really tough to beat."

"We knew you could do it, Gary!" the younger girl shouted.

"Who was the one crying when Gary-poo was on the ropes, huh?" asked the 
older female.

"Hey!  That was y..."

The older one then squealed with delight for some unknown reason.

"Ooh!  I just figured out what we can do to celebrate you getting your 
sixth Johto badge!"

"It better not be another trip to a department store, Stephanie," griped 
Gary.  "We barely have enough money for the ferry back to Olivine City, 
much less for restocking for supplies."

"It's even better!  Come on!"

Before he knew it, Gary was being dragged off by Stephanie.  The younger 
girl sighed as she begrudgingly followed.

"Sure.  Go ahead and ignore Amber, the third wheel.  Makes me wonder why 
I'm still here sometimes..."

======

"WHATTTTTTTTTTTT?"

Stephanie was in shock upon arriving at her planned destination.

"You dragged me all the way out here to a photo studio?" queried Gary as 
he dusted himself off.  "And it's not even open?"

"Gone fishin'?" Stephanie read the sign aloud.  "What kind of 
photographer just closes up shop to 'gone fishin''?  It's madness, I tell 
you!  These people are insane!"

"It also says it's a Pokémon photo studio," added Gary, studying the 
rest of the sign next to the door.

She quickly searched her purse and pulled out a small flyer she had 
picked up upon their arrival in the city two days ago.

"This ad says that they offer one free eight-by-ten photo to any winner 
of a Storm Badge!  I wanted to get one of me and Gary together!"

"In your haste," Gary said as he looked at the ad, "did you happen to 
notice that all of the photos are of Pokémon?"

Stephanie collapsed down to the sandy ground in defeat.

"Just... great..."

Gary shook his head in disgust as Amber came bolting in, having finally 
caught up to them.

"So... you guys finished leaving me out of the fun already?" she asked, 
a bit irritated of being abandoned.

"Nah," Gary replied.  "Just Stephanie being... Stephanie."

Amber looked over and saw Stephanie crying with her face buried in the 
sand.  Or, at least that's what it looked like from her perspective.

"Can I make a victory celebration suggestion then?"

======

"WHAT KIND OF VICTORY CELEBRATION IS THIS, AMBER?  YOU SUDDENLY SCROOGE 
MCDUCK OR SOMETHING?"

The trio were at a Pokémon Center, where they were enjoying a 
complimentary glass of lemonade, courtesy of the local Nurse Joy.

"Didn't you hear Gary?" Amber retorted.  "We're low on money right now.  
Now's not the time to be splurging at some fancy restaurant."

"But I've always wanted to eat at the Auburn Kingler!" Stephanie whined.  
"You pick out the live Kingler from the tank and they pluck it out right 
in front of you and take it to the kitchen to be cooked!"

Amber sweatdropped.  "I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear that, 
'cause that sounds disgusting.  Eating Pokémon... revolting."

"Settle down, you two!" Gary told them.  "We got to figure out what to 
do about our money situation, or we'll never get off this island!"

"I don't think that's so bad," Stephanie cooed.  "After all, summer's 
just two months away, and it's already starting to get warm outside.  
Swimsuit season is just around the corner!  We can enjoy daily walks 
along the beach without a care in the world!"

"No."

"But Gary-poo!"

"Amber?  Any ideas?"

"Uh... why are you asking me, Gary?"

"Because, miss flavor-of-the-month, you can't seem to go a week without 
changing what the heck you wanna grow up to be!" Stephanie chided.  "So 
how about figuring out what you haven't tried to be yet?"

Amber thought for a second, then came up with answer.

"Well, there's..."

======

Half an hour later, a small area just outside the Pokémon Center had 
been roped off.  A makeshift wooden sign had been nailed into the ground 
nearby, which read 'Babysitting - 250 Poké/hour.'

"Pokémon babysitting," Stephanie said with a smile.  "Glad I thought of 
it!"

"But I..." Amber cut in, before deciding otherwise.

Gary groaned.  "Why do I have to be a part of this?"

"You're the one who said we needed money.  We just opened our own 
business.  We'll be raking it in in no time!"

======

Three days later...

"I don't understand it!" Stephanie cried.  "We haven't made any money!"

Most of the residents walked by without batting even an eye, despite 
Amber's attempts to drum up business by having her Horsea swim around in 
a man-made wading pool.

"In fact, we've even lost money!  If we don't get at least one customer 
today, we'll have to close up shop!"

"You could help by bringing out your Pokémon, you know," Amber suggested.

"M-m-m-m-m-my Pokémon?"

"Uh huh.  You know, the one you caught at Tin Tower?"

======

Two months ago...

Gary and Amber watched embarrassingly as Stephanie ran circles around 
them on the fourth floor of the Tin Tower, being chased by infatuated 
Gastly.  At some point, she tripped over a loose floorboard and fell to 
the ground, unaware that a Pokéball that she just happened to be holding 
onto at the time.  Seeing his opportunity, Gastly flew over and started 
rubbing himself against Stephanie's face.

Not loving this display of affection, she pushed Gastly away... and 
right into the Pokéball.  Gastly was sucked in, and the Pokéball shook 
violently for a few seconds before settling down.

======

Present time...

"I was going to give him that Pokéball to Gary as a Valentine's Day 
present.  Then Gastly got caught, and when I tried to give that Pokémon 
to Gary... he attached himself to me and refused to let go!  And now I'm 
stuck with him..."

"I think it's cute that he's so affectionate for you," stated Amber 
matter-of-factly.

"Then why don't you have him?" Stephanie said as she took the Pokéball 
out and offered it to Amber.

"But he refuses to be with anyone but you."

"I'm never going to unload this thing," the elder girl wept.

"You're offering a babysitting service, huh?" a man asked.

Stephanie stopped her crying as she and Amber turned their attention to 
a blue-haired man, who looked to be in his early-to-mid-30s, standing 
there.  Stephanie quickly gathered herself and introduced herself.

"My name's Stephanie Applegate, the woman-in-charge of this little 
establishment.  And that girl fondling the Horsea over there is my 
assistant, Amber!"

"Hey!" Amber yelled, taken aback by the over-exaggeration of her having 
Horsea cradled in her arms.

"My business partner, the great Gary Oak, has stepped out, but I'm sure 
he won't mind if I take this transaction by myself.  By the way, did I 
mention how dreamy he is?"

"Well... no, you didn't."

"Well... sigh... he is.  But more about him later.  You need a 
babysitter?"

The man nodded.  "I need you to take care of two.  A 9-year old and a 
6-year old.  And I'll pay triple for you to watch them for a few..."

As soon as the man took his wallet out, Stephanie grabbed it and 
instantly took out the exact promised amount without even counting it.

"Deal!"

"But... you didn't even let me explain..."

"Sorry, no refunds!"

"Steph!" Amber exclaimed.  "Since when?"

"Since now!"

"I just want to make sure you understand..."

"Look," Stephanie cut him off as he tossed his wallet back to him.  "I 
assure you that nothing will happen to them!  We're the best in the 
business!  We can handle whatever you're gonna give us!"

======

Twenty minutes later, Gary returned with a yellow duffel bag hanging 
from his shoulder.  And he had a look of displeasure on his face.  Not 
from where he had come from, but rather, what he had come back to.

"Um... I know it's impolite, but... how old are you again?"

Gary was referring to the fact that Stephanie had not Pokémon, but human 
children running around as she knelt down on the sand.  To her right, a 
9-year old girl with chestnut brown hair shaking in fear as she grasped 
the side of Stephanie's dress.  To her left, a 6-year old boy with blue 
hair and glasses jumping up and down excitedly as he tugged at the elder 
cheerleader's arm.

"I wanna see it, I wanna see it, I wanna see it!" shouted the boy.

"No!" squealed the girl.  "Please, no!"

With Stephanie too busy dealing with the kids, Amber, who was about 80 
feet away preparing lunch, spoke up.

"They're not her kids, they're not siblings, and no, she didn't suddenly 
out of the blue decide to adopt so she and you could feel like a real 
couple."

Gary sweatdropped.  "Sorry I asked... or even thought of those as 
plausible explanations for this.  Yeesh... so, tell me what's really 
going..."

Before Gary could finish, he took a step back in astonishment at what 
Amber was doing.  She was making rice balls... of odd shapes and sizes.  
Those included one big enough for a Rattata to live in, one small enough 
to balance on the tip of her fingertip, one as flat as a pancake, and 
one bloated up like an overinflated Jigglypuff... just to name a few.

"Alright, tell me what else is going on," Gary finished, deciding not to 
inquire into Amber's latest flub.

"Stephanie promised to babysit for a man dropping off two, immediately 
after he promised to pay triple.  Five minutes after he walks off, he 
returns and drops off not Pokémon... but those two kids."

Amber pointed at them, as they were still crowding Stephanie.

"Don't tell me you don't wanna see it!" the boy said to his sister.

"No!  I freak out whenever I see it!" replied the girl.

"You're not gonna see it because I'm not gonna take it out!" yelled 
Stephanie.

Gary observed the situation as Amber identified the two children.

"The girl's name is May, and the boy's name is Max.  The guy who dropped 
them off, who I assume is their father, said he was only going to be 
gone for a few hours."

"Wait... a few hours?"

"Yes, Gary.  Why?"

With that, Gary dropped the duffel bag he had been carrying and reached 
for the zipper.  Amber squatted down for a closer look as he pulled a 
pair of jean-like overalls and a hard hat out of the bag.

"I figured out how to get back to Olivine City!  The three o'clock ferry 
had a couple of people quit, so they're short-staffed.  I'm going to be 
working down in the engine room, shoving coal."

"You mean all of us will?"

"No," Gary replied, as he pulled out a pink frilly dress and a green 
waitress outfit.  "One of you will work as part of the on-board 
entertainment, the other serving guests during dinner."

"Hey!" Stephanie objected, overhearing the conversation over May and 
Max's arguing.  "I want the performance gig!  If you think I'm risking 
breaking a nail carrying a trap of food..."

"Sorry," Amber said, holding up the dress.  "It looks a little too small 
for you."

"No way!  Gary-poo!"

"Hey, no objections!  I didn't know either of your dress sizes, so I had 
to take a guess!  Besides, we only have to work the one trip, and the 
pay actually serves as our ride tickets.  So don't complain!"

"But... we can't just leave these kids!  We were entrusted to a job!"

Gary stood up and clenched his fist.  "Then I suppose we find their 
father and give him his money back.  It's the only way."

"So, where do we start?" questioned Amber.

"Well, you remember what he looks like, right?  You lead the way."

As Amber and Gary started to run off, Stephanie protested again.

"Hey, what am I supposed to do?"

"Watch the kids, what else!" Gary shouted.

With that, the elder cheerleader was left with May and Max.

"You know he's right," Max told her.  "You promised our dad that you'd 
make sure nothing happened to us."

Stephanie sighed.  "I guess a promise is a promise."

"Great!  So... can we see it now?"

"NO!" Stephanie and May yelled in unison.

"Awww, come on!"

"NO MEANS NO!"

As Max continued to plead to see whatever 'it' Stephanie had that both 
she and May didn't want to reveal, little did they know that they were 
being watched by a young couple in the process of putting ski masks on 
to hide their identities.

They weren't both black ski masks, though.

"Uh... Christina?"

"Yes, Christian?"

"Why do you have a flower-print ski mask on?"

"So they can tell which one of us is the girl, silly!"

Christian slapped himself on the forehead.  "When someone's stealthy, 
the enemy's not supposed to instantly recognize if you're a guy or a 
girl!"

"Then shouldn't we have bought the skin-tight Lycra suits that came with 
them?"

"You darn know that it chafes my skin!"

Christina gasped.  "Mine too!  We're soul mates!"

Christian slapped himself again.  "This is why I told mom I had 
reservations about marrying someone I have way too much in common with."

"So... why are we trying to kidnap the kids again?"

"Because it's their father that makes the huge money!  If we kidnap the 
father himself, you think his wife will shell out the money for his 
ransom?"

"I don't know... the latest issue of 'Plebes' said in a recent poll that 
they were the least likely Pokémon League couple to break up in the next 
ten years.  And everybody reads 'Plebes.'"

"The point IS that if we kidnap his kids, then he'll willingly pay 
anything to get them back!"

"So we can finally afford that mansion overlooking the Olivine Lighthouse 
I've always dreamed about?"

"Yep, and the one butler and one maid that comes with it!"

"Alright!  Let's do this!"

The two focused themselves and took one last peek around the corner.  
Sure enough, Stephanie and May were still arguing their case against 
Max.  The couple bolted into sight and laughed maniacally as they 
introduced themselves.

"Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

Seeing the masked couple, May and Max immediately tried to hide behind 
Stephanie's skinny frame, but neither could get their entire bodies out 
of sight.  Stephanie didn't help matters when she decided to stand up.

"Masked men," she groaned.  "Father told me this day would come."

"I am the angst that croaks when the sun is gone!" proclaimed the black 
masked one.

"I am the exquisitely decadent umbrella that will keep you dry to the 
bone!" the flower-print masked one declared.

"We are... Chris and Chris!" the two finished in unison.

"I knew you were coming for me!" Stephanie yelled at them.  "I may be a 
cheerleader, but I'm not as vapid as... uh, vapid as... well, whatever 
vapid means.  But I'm not stupid enough to not carry protection on me!"

"So, that's what it comes down to," stated Christian.  "Just as 
expected."

"Prepare yourself," Christina began, reaching for a Pokéball out of her 
blouse pocket, "for the ultimate defen..."

"Take this!" Stephanie yelled, producing... a small black canister and 
aiming it at Christine.  "Pepper spray!"

"Argh!" Christina yelled as the pepper spray went into her eyes.  "That's 
for self-defense against guys, you idiot!"

"Sorry, honey, but I don't swing that way."

"That's not fair!" Christian yelled.  "We thought you were challenging 
us to a Pokémon battle!"

Stephanie suddenly had a look of fear on her face.  "A... Pokémon 
battle?"

"Never mind... Chris, grab the kids!"

Christina immediately ran past Stephanie, despite the fact that her eyes 
were still burning, and reached out to grab one of May's arms.  Instead, 
she ended up grabbing May's hair and tugging on it, causing the young 
girl to cry out in pain as both of them fell to the ground.

"Lemme go!" May cried out between painful bouts of tears.

"I'm not even pulling that hard!" yelled Christina, not aware of where 
she had latched onto.

"Get your hands off my sister!" Max squeaked defiantly, stomping his 
foot down on Christina's arm.

"Owwww!  Hey, is that quite necessary?  You'll leave an unsightly mark 
there!"

Seeing the kids were in danger, Stephanie tried to run over to help.  
But she was stopped when a Furret materialized in her path.

"Meet Christino the Furret!" Christian said, introducing his Pokémon.  
"But we just like to call him Chris."

"A Furret?  Are you kidding me?"

"If you won't let us kidnap those kids, then we'll take them from you as 
a prize for defeating you in a Pokémon battle!"

"And I'm gonna help!" Christina announced, trying to get to her feet as 
she rubbed the last of the pepper spray out of her eyes.

At this point, she had let go of May's hair.  Max, though, was looking 
for revenge, as he reached up for the hair Christina didn't hide under 
her mask.  He pulled on it, causing her to scream as she was pulled down 
to the ground once again.  May started to lightly pound her fists on 
Christina's shoulder as Max continued to tug at her hair.

"Stop being such a meanie!" May and Max shouted.

"Owww!" screamed Christina.  "You know how it long it takes to do my 
hair in the morning!"

Christian slapped his forehead.  "Okay, I'll take them from you.  Now, 
let your Pokémon out so we can battle!"

"But... I can't..." Stephanie hesitated.

"Just do it!" Max shouted.  "I wanna see it!  Use it to protect us!"

But Stephanie ignored Max once again, refusing to let her Gastly out 
into the open.  Christian was getting visibly annoyed with her refusal 
to fight, so he motioned to take it one step further.

"Fine!  Furret, use Fury Swipes... on the little girl."

"What?"

"You forced my hand.  If you won't fight by choice, I'll force you to 
do so... by doing the cliché thing and attacking a pure innocent child!"

"I don't see how that statement's helping your portrayal of a serious 
bad guy," Christina commented before being silenced by another painful 
hair tug.

Furret followed orders, albeit a little reluctantly, and charged towards 
May with his claws bared.  But just as he was about to pounce, he found 
himself blindsided by Gastly, who chuckled as he extended his tongue out 
of his mouth... and licked him.

Both Stephanie and Christian were flabbergasted as Furret lied on the 
sandy ground, twitching oddly as he had been paralyzed by the lick.  
Gastly was doing mid-air loop-de-loops in celebration as Christian 
recalled his Pokémon and ripped off his ski mask in frustration.

"Unbelievable!  I thought this would be a whole lot easier!"

May and Max tugged Christina's mask off before she could stop them.  Not 
wanting to deal with them anymore, she scrambled to her feet and ran to 
her boyfriend's side.

"They know who we are now!" Christian said to her.  "We must flee!"

Christina reached for her Pokéball again, this time succeeding in doing 
so.

"Time for you to meet Junie!"

But as she was about to toss it and release whatever Pokémon was inside, 
Gastly appeared between the two of them.  He gave Christina a quick lick, 
then Christian.  In seconds, the two of them were both paralyzed as they 
dropped to their knees, unable to move.

"I guess we really should've gone with naming her Christine," Christina 
admitted.

"Did I ever mention how much I can't feel my legs?"

"Really?  Me too!  Soul mates!"

"Hey, you, useless chick who beat us!  Can you smack my forehead for me?"

"Wow, Gastly!" Stephanie rejoiced with excitement while simultaneously 
ignoring Christian's request.  "You really did it!  And I didn't have to 
do a thing!  Way to make me look good!"

Happy with the praise of his trainer, Gastly did what he thought would 
be the best way to show his appreciation.

Gastly tried to lick her.

Not knowing how to respond without hurting Gastly's feelings, Stephanie 
did the only thing she could think of.

She ran away from Gastly.  Ran away in circles, that is, as Gastly chased 
Stephanie around and around May and Max, who just sat there on the sand 
and watched.

"Wow!" an entranced Max cheered.  "What a cool Pokémon!"

May, on the other hand, was so frightened of Gastly that her face got 
bluer and bluer and bluer...

Until she fainted out of consciousness.

======

A little later, the rascally couple were in handcuffs and being taken 
away by the local police force.  May and Max had clung onto their 
father's legs, ecstatic to see him again, as Gary, Stephanie, Amber, and 
Officer Jenny looked on.

"Don't ever go away again, daddy!" May pleaded.

"Yeah!" added Max.  "We missed you!"

"I'm just glad you two are safe and sound," their father said with 
relief.

"Those two kids are glad you were there to protect them, Stephanie," 
Jenny told the elder cheerleader.  "You're their hero, it seems."

"Imagine that," Amber said aloud.  "Who would've guessed?"

"I have to admit... even I'm shockingly impressed," commented Gary.

"Oh!" swooned Stephanie, leaning over and wrapping her arms around 
Gary.  "That means so much to me, Gary-poo!"

"What did we say about calling me that in public?" the trainer growled.

"Officer Jenny, they're not really bad people," Stephanie said to Jenny, 
in defense of the two would-be kidnappers.  "They just seem a little... 
lost, if you know what I mean."

"Don't worry.  I'm sure the judge will go easy on them.  That is, once 
the two of them are taught of an easier way to make money legally."

"Whew... that's a relief."

"Speaking of making money legally... do you happen to know, young lady, 
that it's illegal to run a child daycare in Cianwood City without a 
license?  That's a 150 Poké fine for the first offense!"

"But, Officer Jenny!  It was supposed to be a Pokémon daycare!"

Jenny gasped.  "That's even worse!  It's a 1500 Poké fine for that!"

Two of the local officers walked over to the cash register and took it 
away, much to Stephanie's dismay.

"It wasn't even my idea..." she said truthfully, though not believably.

"Maybe you'll know better next time," Jenny said as she walked off with 
her fellow officers.

Stephanie sighed, then turned to face May and Max's dad.

"I'm sorry.  I wasn't trying to deceive you or anything.  Me and my 
friends were just trying to earn enough money for a ferry trip to 
Olivine City.  You see, Gary's a Pokémon trainer..."

The man raised hand up to stop Stephanie from apologizing any further.

"You don't have to apologize.  I know hard it can be to travel around 
to gyms around the region with very little money.  Trust me... I was a 
trainer once myself.  In fact, I was almost like Gary.  Just as talented, 
if I do say so."

"I was surprised when we found him and he identified himself as Norman, 
the gym leader of Petalburg City," Gary said.  "I had heard plenty of 
stories about him... he's quite the challenge."

"Long story short," Amber cut in, "Norman said that he'd be willing to 
give us a ride to Olivine on his own private yacht... for free!"

Stephanie went all googly-eyed at Norman, enthralled by his generosity.

"Did I mention how dreamy you are?"

"Well... no you didn't.  But I'm married with children."

Amber sweatdropped.  "Stephanie likes embarrassing herself, doesn't she?"

"More like embarrassing us," Gary stated, shaking his head.

======

That evening, as the sun was beginning to set, Norman's private yacht 
departed from Cianwood City.  On board, Gary was on the bridge, getting 
some advice from Norman.  Up front on the bow, Amber and May were gazing 
at the clouds, noticing a few odd shapes that were forming.  And back 
in the stern, Stephanie was relaxing on a beach chair as she watched 
the sunset.

"I wish Gary were sitting here next to me, watching this beautiful 
sight," she sighed.

Suddenly, Max came running over from the starboard side.

"Uh, Stephanie, right?"

"Uh, yeah," she replied, a bit annoyed that he had interrupted her 
observation of the end of the day.

"Why don't you like your Gastly?  It's a great Pokémon!"

Stephanie rolled her eyes.  "Ugh.  It's not even worth counting off the 
reasons!"

"C'mon!  Yours already learned Lick, which can paralyze people!  It can 
learn Mean Look and Night Shade!  Plus I heard that Destiny Bond is 
really great as a last resort!"

"How do you know so much about Gastly?"

"I study Pokémon move sets and watch hundreds of battles on TV!  I hope 
one day to become a Pokémon trainer just like you!"

"Well, let me tell you something, kid.  It's not all it's cracked up to 
be."

"Why not?  It's obvious Gastly likes you a lot, and you like Gastly a 
lot, too."

Now Stephanie's interest was piqued.  "What made you think that?"

As if on call, Gastly phased out of the cabin and licked Stephanie across 
the cheek as if he were a slobbering dog.  Stephanie froze, then fell out 
of her chair and landed face-first on the deck.  Gastly laughed with 
glee, and Max was on the verge of busting loose himself.

"No matter how many times he does it, you do your best not to avoid it!  
Ha!"

Gastly and Max broke out in hysterical laughter as the others on the 
yacht walked over, a little baffled as to what the hubbub was about.

But who really cares?  For once, Gary and his girls got permission to 
'kindly freeload' for themselves.

======

Speaking of 'freeloading,' let's check on a trio who have since given up 
on it...

"Well, well, well, look who's here!"

"We're pleased to be by your side always, Dragon Master!"

Former Team Rocket members Jessie, James, and Persian, now dressed more 
plains-clothed, were bowing before the gym leader of Blackthorn City, 
Clair.  She smiled, knowing exactly why they had come to her this day.

"It always figures that on paycheck day, you three are always the first 
ones here."

"You know what they say," Jessie explained.  "Paychecks pay the bills!"

"And the bills aren't cheap!" added James.

"You know what amazes me the most about you three?" Clair said to them.  
"That just a few months ago you guys were down on your luck, as if you 
had given up on life.  And then I found you..."

"And you nursed us back ta good health," Persian chirped.

Jessie and James both grabbed the back of Persian's head and slammed it 
into the wooden floor.

"Don't talk when the mistress is speaking!" they yelled.

"Sowwy," he managed to muffle.

"I can't believe that you'll be leaving tomorrow," Clair said, 
apparently saddened by this fact.

"We appreciate everything you've done for us, Dragon Master Clair," 
James said, bowing before her.

"But, alas, we don't want to be a burden," Jessie admitted.  "We thank 
you for all you've done for us, but for us to truly be reborn... we 
have to move on and fend for ourselves."

Clair nodded.  "I understand.  But just know... as honorary members of 
the Dragon Clan, you may call on us should you ever need help again."

"Thank you," the trio said once more, bowing one last time.

They then got up and departed, leaving the gym and heading to their 
small house in Blackthorn City, where they had to beginning preparing 
for the long journey ahead as the street lights began to come on.

Little did they know, though, that someone was spying on them from afar, 
atop of one of the ledges on a part of a surrounding mountain.

Or rather, two someones.

"So it really is them?" one of them asked, a male.

"Sure enough!" confirmed the other, a female, as she lowered the 
binoculars.

The two stared at each other, as if in some sort of contest.

"Tomorrow..." they both proclaimed, "a winner will be declared."

The two stepped out of the darkness just enough that the glow of the 
lights of some of the higher city buildings were making them visible.  
It turned out the two spies were...

"Agent 009, the Black Tulip... Domino!" the female said with a smirk.

"I always get my... Mark!" the male said, flashing his pearly white 
teeth.

"Tomorrow..." they both exclaimed, "I will become... THE NEW DIRECTOR 
OF TEAM ROCKET OPERATIONS IN JOHTO!"

======

Friday, April 19th, Blackthorn City Southern Limits

The following morning, Jessie, James, and Persian were standing at the 
city border, each of them carrying a backpack filled with supplies and 
what little belongings that had been given or had bought while staying 
in Blackthorn for the last few months.  They were being sent off by 
several members of the Dragon Clan, all dressed in blue.  But one in 
particular was noticeably missing from the group, and James was the 
first to notice.

“Hey!  Where’s Dragon Master Clair?”

“The mistress apologizes in advance for not seeing you off,” one of 
them replied.  “Being a gym leader comes first, and she had some 
challengers awaiting her this morning, so...”

“Say no more,” Jessie interrupted.  “You’re right, being a gym leader 
does come first.”

“Den she won’t mind if we skedaddle!” chirped Persian.

“Remember, my friends... feel free to call on us if you ever need help.”

“Thanks for everything!” the trio said gracefully as they bowed before 
the clan.

The clan members bowed in return, and then Jessie, James, and Persian 
turned about and started to head out of the city, down Route 45.

“Aren’t they nice folk?” James asked.

“Uh huh,” Jessie nodded.  “They didn’t have to be so gracious to rotten 
scoundrels like us, and yet, they welcomed us with open arms!”

“Makes me wunda why we used ta pick on people like dat.”

As the three former Team Rocket members rounded the corner and 
disappeared from the sights of the Dragon Clan, they didn’t know that two 
current Rockets were waiting for them to walk right into their trap.

“That’s right... just a little bit closer...”

They watched as the trio trotted right into the ‘target zone.’  At that 
point, the duo began their attack... with Domino throwing one of her 
trademark black tulips to the ground in front of them.

“What’s that?” James asked.

“It looks like a tulip,” replied Jessie.  “A black tulip.”

“Ha ha ha ha ha!” came a laugh from a nearby barren tree.  “You must’ve 
been some great ex-Rockets for someone of my stature to come and have to 
exterminate you.”

“Ex... exterminate?!” the trio said with fright.

“You see, I’m a member of Team Rocket’s Special Forces.  I am one of the 
organization’s most elite agents.  We’re only called upon to tackle the 
most dangerous assignments.  Consider yourselves lucky... for to have to 
have been put on an extermination assignment, you guys must be the best.”

“We are the best!” James exclaimed.

“Isn’t that reason enough for you to give up on exterminating us?” 
screamed Jessie.

“You know what you got into when you became members of Team Rocket.  
Isn’t that right... Jessie and James?”

Jessie and James gasped in shock, while Persian was a bit agitated.

“What about me?  I’m not chopped liver, you know!”

“You’re just a Pokémon!  You’re nothing more than a tool of destruction!”

“Persian is NOT a tool!” Jessie shouted.

“That’s right!  He’s an equal member of our terrifying trio!” added James.

“Very well then.  We were going to spare the Persian so he could get 
reassigned to another team.  But I guess you all want to go down 
together...”

“Will you stop talking already!” exclaimed Mark, who appeared a few feet 
behind Jessie and James.  “That’s not what we’re here for!”

“Hey!” Domino exclaimed.  “I haven’t finished my introduction yet!”

“You’re taking too long!  How long does it take to tell them your name’s 
Domino?”

“Thanks, you just ruined the whole bit for me!  And it’s Team Rocket 
tradition, I’ll have you know!”

Mark tossed out a Pokéball, and out of it came his Absol.

“Sol!” Absol growled.

“Besides, we’re assassins.  If they know who’s going to kill them, it 
makes it harder for us to do our job!  Absol, use Razor Wind!”

Absol fired a sharp edge of wind at Jessie and James, but they were 
ready to respond as they pulled out Pokéballs of their own.

“Go...” they both yelled.  “Dratini!”

Out of each of the Pokéballs came a Dratini, ready to fight.

“This is so exciting!” squealed Jessie.  “I’m finally able to use a 
Dratini of my own!”

“Now,” James commanded, “use Twister as a counter!”

James’ Dratini used Twister, and indeed, it countered the Razor Wind 
from Absol.  Jessie then sent her Dratini into the fray.

“Okay, Dratini, use Wrap!”

Jessie’s Dratini slithered over and surrounded Absol.  She then wrapped 
her body around the Pokémon, temporarily immobilizing him.

“Absol, use Bite!”

Absol bit into Dratini, forcing the dragon Pokémon to release her grip.

“Now, Quick Attack!”

Absol quickly slammed into Jessie’s Dratini, sending it flying back into 
James’ Dratini.  Both hit the ground, taking heavy damage.

“Oh no, our Dratini!” James yelled.

“I guess we didn’t give them enough training yet!” Jessie declared.

Domino reminded them all that she was still there by throwing another 
black tulip – this one right in front of the two Dratini.  And this one 
happened to spark dark electricity, powerful enough to paralyze the two 
dragon Pokémon.

“Is that all it took?” Domino wondered as she jumped down from the tree.  
“Pathetic.”

Jessie, James, and Persian were now surrounded, with Domino in front of 
them and Mark and Absol behind them.

“You know, I usually don’t soil my hands with exterminating people.  But 
I can make an exception for some lowlifes like you three.  How you ever 
got this supposed reputation of yours is beyond me!”

“Oh yeah?” Jessie shot back at her.  “Well, that’s not all we have!”

Jessie and James threw out all their other Pokéballs.  Arbok, Weezing, 
Lickitung, and Victreebel emerged to protect their masters.  Even 
Persian unsheathed his claws, prepared to defend all of them to the 
bitter end.

“That’s it?” Mark wondered out loud.  “Man, this is going to be a piece 
of cake.”

“This isn’t even worth my time,” Domino declared, rolling her eyes.  
“You can handle it.  I really don’t care.”

“You mean you don’t want to be head of Team Rocket in the Johto region?”

“Like I said, I don’t care.  Good luck running this dump!  Johto hasn’t 
really been worth my time.”

Domino turned and started to walk away, but then out of nowhere, a 
massive Hyper Beam blasted the ground near her.  A huge cloud of dust 
kicked up, and a few pieces of the mountains surrounding the path could 
be heard breaking loose and falling to the ground.  Mark turned about 
and searched for the source of the attack.

He saw it... flying in the air above.

It was a Dragonite.  A Dragonite that had a man in blue garb riding on 
his back.  But he wasn’t alone, as three more Dragonite appeared with 
riders on their backs.  And on the ground, four more trainers in blue, 
each sporting a Dragonair.

“Wow, they really did come to help us!” James exclaimed.

“Wait... did you call for them, James?” Jessie wondered.

“No.  I thought you did!”

Two of the Dragonite landed on the ground, between Jessie and James and 
their Pokémon, and Mark and his Absol.  The other two continued to fly 
overhead, while the four trainers with Dragonair held their position.

“We’ll handle this hooligan!” the guy on the lead Dragonite said.  “Go!  
Make a break for it!”

Jessie and James nodded without hesitation, and then recalled all of 
their Pokémon, including their weakened Dratini.  They bolted into the 
dust cloud and ran through to the other side, unimpeded, and towards the 
trail leading down the mountain.  But Domino emerged seconds later, 
having survived the explosion yet covered with dust and a bruise or two.

“Figures there was more to this,” Domino said aloud.  “They’ve got 
hired help, and powerful help at that!  Too bad they didn’t leave any to 
watch their backs.”

Domino pulled out three more black tulips.  But these had red stems on 
them, signifying that these would be lethal to whoever was struck by 
them.

“Farewell.  You won’t be missed.”

She reared back, preparing to throw them with all of her might.  Then, 
without warning, she was swept off her feet by a massive wind.  A wind 
courtesy of yet another Dragonite and his large wings.

And riding on this one’s back was Clair, the Blackthorn City gym leader.

“You’ll have to get through me before even thinking about them!” she told 
her.

Domino hopped back up on her feet, growling as she whipped out another 
red-stemmed black tulip.

“I’m sure the boss won’t mind if there’s an extra extermination.”

“Watch your mouth!  I’m a gym leader, and a member of the Pokémon 
League!”

Domino smirked.  “Then he really won’t mind.  Taking out a gym leader?  
That’s exactly how I wanted to spend my day.”

Domino charged for Clair’s Dragonite, and the humongous Pokémon followed 
suit.  It was a battle for the ages, and neither was going to back down.

And all the while, Jessie, James, and Persian were once again escaping to 
safety.

======

Monday, April 22nd, Pokémon Trainers’ Association Headquarters

AJ Kamensky was sitting inside the office of Patti Masters, who was in 
charge of all of the junior agents at the PTA.

“No offense, but are you sure I need a partner?” AJ asked.

“No matter how strong you and your Pokémon might be,” Patti said to him, 
“an agent always needs someone to watch his back.  You never know what 
can happen out there in the field.”

“Fine.  But I don’t want no rookie!”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.  In fact, your partner has plenty of field 
experience.  You might actually know him.”

As if on cue, the door into the office slowly swung open.  And in 
stepped... Arius McFly.

“Hey, I guess we’re partners now, huh?”

======

Pokémon League Headquarters, Indigo Plateau

Cassie was holding up an empty picture frame in one hand and a photo of 
Arius in the other as she sat behind her desk in her office.  She then 
tossed both in the trash can and turned her attention to more important 
matters.

She was busy trying to rearrange her schedule for the next few weeks, as 
a couple of appearances she had planned were canceled and a couple of 
others had popped up that she really wanted to go to.  But as she went 
through her inbox and her automatic computer scheduler, she came across 
two messages that were marked as read, but also had a ‘flag’ marker next 
to them to signify their importance.

The first one had ‘Werner Geissler’ listed as the subject.  She clicked 
on it and opened the message.  There was a fairly large attachment pinned 
to it, with the e-mail itself stating:

‘Here’s the information you requested, C.  From B.’

She opened the attachment and quickly scanned the 72-page document.  
Having read it before, she was only looking for a few key parts.  Once 
she was satisfied, she closed the attachment and the message and went to 
open the second one.  This one had as a subject ‘Request for 
Authorization.’

Upon opening it, the message read:

‘In order to complete admission into the Saffron City Medical Center, 
authorization is needed from the admittee’s sponsor.  Please have the 
attached form filled out completely and send it and all the appropriate 
documentation to the address listed.

We once again thank you for choosing Saffron Med, the number one 
hospital in the Kanto region.’

======

Meanwhile, Lt. Surge was in Professor Geissler’s office, having a lively 
debate about Cassie and her role in their continued research.

“I just don’t think we can trust the girl anymore!” Surge shouted.  “She 
has refused to cooperate ever since the accident with that Tech doll!”

“I still believe Cassie can be very useful to us,” countered Geissler.  
“After all, despite the Pewter City incident, Brock Slate has openly 
welcomed himself into our research plan.  And she can still help us 
locate Marco Pereira, Misty Waterflower, and Ash Ketchum.”

“You say can as if she will!”

“She just needs to be convinced that the experiment was an unexpected 
accident.  One that the entire team is truly sorry transpired.”

"Fine, but you deal with her.  I'm tired of dealing with people that 
don't yield results..."

With that, Surge walked out of the office, slamming the door behind him.

"No need to worry, Lieutenant," the professor said with a smirk.  "You 
won't have to deal with her much longer."

======

Thursday, April 25th, Team Rocket HQ Johto Region, Goldenrod City

Giovanni had just entered the base, which was smaller than the main 
branch outside of Viridian City, and found Domino, Marco, and all of 
the Johto base's personnel waiting for him, anxious to hear who will be 
the new leader.

"After reading the evaluations of your fellow Team Rocket members and 
carefully going over the reports of activity in the two months you two 
have been here, I've finally reached my decision."

Domino and Mark waited with baited breath.  One of them was about to 
become the leader of an entire region's forces.

"I have decided... that neither of you will be the new leader of Team 
Rocket."

Lots of mumbling could be heard by the underlings as Domino's mouth was 
hanging wide open in shock.  Mark, on the other hand, was outraged.

"After all that?  Then why did you have me waste the last two months 
of my life?"

Mark stepped forward as if he was going to hurt Giovanni.  Noticing this, 
Domino threw a black tulip into his path, causing him to stop and think 
twice about what he was about to do.

"How... HOW DARE YOU!"

"What?  You're not angry that we've spent two months in this wasteland 
with nothing to show for it?"

Mark said that, unaware some of the underlings had heard him and were not 
pleased.

"Nobody cares what YOU think!  Whatever the boss orders us to do, we're 
supposed to follow those orders to the letter!"

"But I could've been out there, doing other things!  Things that would 
help Team Rocket achieve its goal of world domination!"

"Which is precisely the reason why I didn't give either of you the job," 
Giovanni sternly told them.

"What?"

"The two months the both of you spent out have made me realize how 
valuable your services are.  So much so that having either of you pinned 
down in a position such as this would prove detrimental to all of our 
causes!"

"Does that mean what I think that means?" Domino wondered.

"Yes.  Effective immediately, both of you are reassigned to the Special 
Forces division."

"Wait a minute!" Mark objected.  "I've never been part of the Special 
Forces!"

"It means you are now, dummy!" Domino exclaimed.

"I have for each of you a special assignment that requires urgent 
attention."

Two black-suited Rocket grunts stepped forward, each handing over a 
sealed manila envelope.

"Both of you are to depart immediately.  These missions must be dealt 
with before our grand scheme is to commence!"

Domino gasped with anticipation.  "You mean..."

"Yes.  Very soon, we will achieve world domination!  Team Rocket will 
rule the world!"

With that announcement, everyone in the room cheered, sensing that all 
of their hard work would finally pay off.

"Then it all depends on us," Domino noted, before standing up at 
attention and saluting Giovanni.  "I'm off then!"

Domino bolted out of the room.  Mark got a hint and followed her out, 
off to complete his newest assignment, apparently satisfied with the 
reasoning Giovanni gave.

======

Monday, April 29th, Mt. Pyre

The people of the village inside the mountain were throwing a festive 
feast for two very special teenagers getting ready to leave after 
spending quite a time living there.  There was plenty of lively music, 
cultural dancing, and huge feast to partake.

Most of which Ash Ketchum took advantage of.

"Wow!" Ash exclaimed between mouthfuls of food.  "I want more!"

Misty sweatdropped.  "I guess stuffing your face is going to keep being 
a tradition for you, huh?"

"Please, Lady Vaporeon the Second," pleaded Silvia as she presented 
another plate full of food.  "Eat to your heart's content!"

"My heart's content enough already, but thanks anyway."

Suddenly, everything got quiet as everyone's attention turned towards 
the old sage's house, where he was about to address the crowd with Hoenn 
Champion Wallace by his side.

"With their training complete, it is now time to congratulate Sir Pikachu 
the First and Lady Vaporeon the Second!  Now they go forth, back to the 
outside world, where they will be able to resume their normal lives while 
simultaneously spreading the good news of their succession."

The crowd cheered as the sage stepped aside to allow Wallace to speak.

"My fellow Pyrinians, it is with great pleasure that we honor Sir Pikachu 
the First and Lady Vaporeon the Second for their very outstanding 
achievements!  Tonight, we celebrate the completion of their initiation!  
They have become the newest members of the Pokémon League's Young 
Masters Crew!  They will now serve as ambassadors of the Pokémon League, 
to young trainers everywhere, to find up and coming youngsters..."

Ash leaned over and whispered in Misty's ear.  "Why is Wallace telling a 
lie?  Everyone here knows what we've been doing!"

"Yeah," Misty whispered back, "but since there are a few League 
officials here that aren't in on the whole 'Celebi-rus' deal, so we have 
to make sure they don't go and accidentally incite a panic."

"...and so, let's bring them up to award them their official badges!  
Sir Pikachu the First and Lady Vaporeon the Second!"

Ash and Misty got up and went to the stage to receive their badges from 
the old sage.  They then got handshakes from him and Wallace, as well as 
the other League officials there.

"Now that all of that business is done with," the old sage said to the 
people, "LET'S PARTY!"

With that the festivities resumed, and everyone got back to having a 
good time.  All except for Ash and Misty, who were hustled off to a 
private area by Wallace to have one last chat.

"I just want to wish you guys off," Wallace said them.

"But we're not leaving until tomorrow," Ash responded.

"You two aren't.  But I am."

"But why?" Misty asked.

"Tracking down Marco won't be easy.  For all we know, he might not still 
be alive.  But it's important that if he still is, that I find him and 
convince him to undergo the training."

Wallace reached into his pocket and pulled out photos of Brock and 
Giselle and handed them to Ash.  He and Misty looked at them, noticing 
both were taken very recently.

"You two will have the job of finding Brock and Giselle."

"I guess we're getting Brock first, since we know where he is," Misty 
said aloud.

Misty looked at Ash, as if waiting for him to agree.  But he seemed to 
be eying Giselle's portrait very painstakingly.

"Is it just me... or has Giselle gotten hot?"

Misty replied... by bashing Ash on the head with her fist.

"Of course," Ash quickly covered, "You're even hotter than she is!  In 
fact, you're SMOKIN'!"

"That's better."

"If I were the two of you..." Wallace said to them, "I would try and 
find Giselle first."

"Huh?" Misty said, now a little outraged that the Pokémon Master was 
focusing attention on her as well.  "Why should we help that stuck-up 
bitch first?"

"Because that stuck-up bitch is in a lot of danger!"

"Danger?" Ash asked.  "From what?"

"I don't know.  Call it a gut feeling.  Remember, I haven't been in the 
outside world since a few days before we brought you here.  But just to 
be safe, I've had a trusted League official keeping tabs on them.  They 
report to me once a month.  But she hasn't given me a report on Giselle 
since last month!"

"You don't think..." Misty thought out loud.

"...that Team Rocket may have gotten a hold of her?" finished Ash.

"If they have, she may be in as precarious a position as Marco is.  You 
have to make it a priority to find Giselle first!"

"Fine," Misty agreed.  "But I'm not expecting her to be happy to see 
me."

"And convincing her will be even harder.  I doubt she'd believe what 
we've been through."

"Do what you've got to do.  In the meantime, I must flee.  Good luck to 
the both of you."

And with that, Wallace ran off, disappearing towards the cavern exit 
heading down the mountain.

======

The next morning, Ash, Misty, and Pikachu left Mt. Pyre and headed 
northeast, riding aboard Charizard as they flew towards Lilycove City.

"It's a shame neither of them could come along with us," Misty said 
aloud.

"Yeah," replied Ash.  "Sure would've been nice to have them by our side, 
especially given everything that's happened."

"You know how much chaos that would cause?  It would be better if she 
waited before showing her face in public again."

"Pika," Pikachu nodded in agreement.

======

An hour and a half later, they landed in Lilycove.  But the large 
metropolis was anything but quiet, as Ash and Misty saw plenty of police 
officers running here and there, and citizens and tourists with their 
eyes glued to the nearest TV they could find.

"What's going on?" Misty asked aloud as she hopped of Charizard, followed 
by Pikachu.

"I guess we'd better find out," Ash replied as he jumped off and then 
pulled out Charizard's Pokéball.  "Charizard, return!"

"Groaaaarrrr!" he roared as he willingly was sucked in.

Ash pocketed the Pokéball, then ran after Misty and Pikachu, who had 
bolted for the nearest television.

"Hey, Mist, wait up!"

Ash finally caught up to his girlfriend as she gasped at what was 
unfolding on the TV screen.  Pikachu leaped up onto Ash's head to get a 
better view, and he and Ash both elicited similar reactions when they 
saw the headlines.

"Repeating our top story," stated the news anchor, "no less than eight 
major cities were shaken out of their slumbers early this morning by a 
massive Team Rocket attack unlike any we have seen before.  From Viridian 
and Celadon in the Kanto region to Blackthorn and Goldenrod in Johto, the 
evil organization is causing widespread destruction all over."

The station feed then changed to a small sampling of amateur film from 
some of the attacked cities, as Rocket agents were seen breaking windows, 
invading buildings, and ordering their Pokémon to attack innocent people 
and Pokémon fleeing for their lives.

"No one knows what provoked this attacked, but their strength and numbers 
have led many to suggest that such a grand-scale massacre was months in 
the making.  The Pokémon League announced they are trying to send help, 
but with it all so widespread, one wonders if their forces are large 
enough to stop a Team Rocket of this magnitude."

Ash started to growl angrily, and so did Pikachu.  Misty noticed, and 
although she shared the same sentiment, she was also concerned of 
everything that was transpiring.

"How could they?  This is beyond anything I ever imagined Team Rocket 
being capable of!"

"We... WE HAVE TO STOP THEM!" Ash yelled.

With that, Ash called Charizard back out of his Pokéball.  He and Pikachu 
climbed aboard, already knowing where they were going to go.

"Damn it, Ash, can we at least plan what we're going to do first?" Misty 
exclaimed as she ran over and got on, not wanting to be left behind.

"We'll have plenty of time on the way there," he shouted back.  "Let's 
go, Charizard!"

"GRRRRRROOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!"

Charizard took off like a rocket, departing Lilycove City and heading 
off according to Ash's direction.

"Misty, quick!  What's the closest Kanto city from here?"

Misty whipped out her Pokédex and used the 'Map' function to try and dig 
up an answer.

"It's Viridian City.  But that'll take half a day to..."

Ash suddenly had a revelation, as he remembered from the news report 
that Viridian was one of the attacked cities.

And that Pallet Town wasn't that far away.

"Pallet Town!  My parents!"

Misty gasped.  "You don't think..."

Ash focused and barked some new orders to Charizard.

"We're heading home to Pallet, Charizard!  On the double!"

Seeing the fire in Ash's eyes and the urgency in his voice, Charizard 
adjusted his direction and picked up speed, flapping his wings as fast 
as he could muster.

"GRRRRRROOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRR!"

"PIKA PIKAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"


******


End Session: April
Storyline to be continued in Session: May!


******


Author's Notes for 'Session: April':
So now the pieces start falling into place, as Team Rocket begins their 
grand scheme at long last...

As aforementioned somewhere back, here we finally get into details of 
"Love Affair in Pallet Town," which if some of the older fans remember, 
was going to be a gigantic movie-length side story that took place 
between Seasons 1 and 2 of the "Adventures Series."  It, of course, 
focuses on Giselle spending that time in Pallet, wanting to make Misty 
jealous by teasingly flirting with Ash... and then ending up actually 
falling in love with him!  Honestly, sometimes I wish I could've gone 
back to the past and actually written that 'feature.'  Would've help 
make Giselle falling for Ash a little more realistic, given she had had 
very little interaction with him before this.

Then, as you all know, Season 2 came along, and Giselle reunited with 
Joe for the first time since he left Tech, and... her passion for him
reignited.  Boy, did she get herself into a pickle on that one!  It's 
too bad they ended up breaking up in the end.  They were a cute couple, 
I admit, but for some reason it just didn't feel right to have them be 
more than just friends.

That being said, I also regret the way they broke up, between Giselle 
thinking, but not knowing for sure, that she had the then-unnamed 
Celebi-rus Syndrome, and Joe thinking it was distracting her from helping 
him get into the Pokémon League.  Could've found a better reason, but... 
meh...

Truth be told, I wanted to make the Cassie-Giselle fight longer than it 
was, but given how long that particular chapter was, I had to improvise 
and only make it long enough to get the point across.  Hopefully the 
fights to come will make up for it.

Another aforementioned point... the Gary story in Chapter 3 was 100% 
filler.  I wanted to get in Gary, Stephanie, and Amber in one more time 
prior to all of the serious stuff coming in, and so this chapter was 
born.  That's also how May and Max came to play pivotal parts in this 
episode, which if you're counting time, takes place a little over a year 
before the start of Hoenn in the anime dub.  Originally, the two siblings 
were going to make a brief cameo in the Junior Master Tournament arc 
(see 'Session: September'), but if I remember right, that got scratched 
it.  I still wanted them to appear somewhere, so that got in here as a 
means to fulfill that obligation.

Which means, naturally, May and Max won't be appearing again.

Okay, let me correct myself.  95% filler.  Stephanie 'capturing' a Gastly 
did indeed happen, and that event will factor in her future.

Anyone a little surprised Clair helped Jessie, James, and Persian so 
willingly despite her comments back in 'Session: January'?  You'll get 
an answer to that soon, I promise.

You'll also get an answer to why Arius went back to the Pokémon Trainers' 
Association soon.  Of course, if you've been following the story like you 
should be, you probably would've realized such a turn was inevitable.

I'm surprised no one has caught the snafu regarding Misty yet.  I won't 
identify it yet, but I do plan to resolve that 'mistake' next session.

And I think that's all I have to explain.  The real meat of the story is 
here in the final fourth of the series, which begins now.

******

'Session: May' Trailer:
Team Rocket has established a new world order, and despite the best 
efforts of both the Pokémon League and the Pokémon Trainers' Association, 
it doesn't seem that they can be stopped.  Only a small group of talented 
teenagers may have what it takes, but the trouble is finding them first!  
But one small event may keep Ash Ketchum from assembling that team.  Team 
Rocket trying to level his hometown and erase him from memory.

When 'Session: May' arrives, it's time for young Ash to grow up...