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

Okay, after a good, long break, it's time to pick up where we left 
off!  Time to start the second half of "The Year of Rocket's 
Revenge," and this is where things really get going.  I don't want 
to spoil anything, but trust me... a lot happens in this 7th session!

So, without further ado... we pick up where we tragically left off...

Disclaimer:  All characters and places featured in the Pokémon anime 
series and other productions belong to Nintendo and Pokémon USA!  
As for those original characters like Cassie Banks, Arius McFly, and 
many, many others, they are my creations.  My characters cannot be 
used by anyone else without my prior permission... by penalty of 
clogging!  Bwa ha ha ha!

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: January (09.01.07)

******

Last time, the gears revolving around the mystery of the five 
legendary Pokémon trainers began to spin even faster.  Two of the 
factions involved in it, the Pokémon Trainers' Association and Team 
Rocket, have claimed many lives in the quest to find the fivesome.  
Amongst them was a dear friend of Cassie Banks', a young researcher 
named Franklin Mosley.  But it didn't take long for Cassie's 
boyfriend, Arius McFly, to find out that Cassie and Franklin might 
have been more, thanks to one of the PTA's newest recruits, AJ 
Kamensky, who holds ties to the Pokémon League.  Could the PTA 
purposefully be planting seeds of betrayal and mistrust between the 
two ex-operatives?

Meanwhile, Erika, with the help of her assistant, Maria, and a 
fellow gym leader, Brock, got a breakthrough when they discovered 
some weird passages in a book detailing the history of Olivine 
City.  It included details of a finite limit to how many times one 
could tap into their powers before it would prove fatal.  But they 
didn't have time to test the validity of the book, for they were 
jumped by Team Rocket!  Luckily for them, a group of Pokémon 
Trainers' Association agents, led by Joel... who, even more 
surprisingly, was the brother of the leader of the Team Rocket 
Squadron, Jude!  Though Erika and Maria were grateful for the rescue, 
Brock wasn't so sure of their intentions.

It didn't take long for Erika to be thrown into the line of fire 
once again, when an explosion rocked downtown Celadon City just mere 
moments after the ball dropped to celebrate the start of a brand new 
year!  Chaos reigned, and the fates of Erika and many other partygoers 
were unknown, presumably lost in the smoke and flames left behind by 
the explosion.

But Cerulean City had some fireworks of its own, as Misty walked in on 
her boyfriend, Ash Ketchum, sharing a kiss with her friend, Duplica 
Imite, who's never been shy about her attraction to Ash!  What will 
be the fallout from this?  Is this a sign that Ash and Misty's love 
was never meant to be?  And does Ash even know what it means to be 
stuck in the midst of a definitive love triangle?

We hope you'll stick around to find out the answers, for as we begin 
a new year, one character's fate seems to have been sealed...

******

Tuesday, January 1st, Celadon City Business District

"Ladies and gentlemen, in all my years of broadcasting I have never 
seen such a horrific act of terrorism in our country!  But tonight, 
with most of the world still waiting to celebrate the arrival of the 
new year, ours has started out in the worst imaginable way."

DJ Mary, who had been broadcasting live from a window studio six 
floors above the ground from a skyscraper located southwest of where 
the stage had been set up, had made her way outside with her crew.  
Once getting into a safe spot as the last of the fearful revelers 
scattered from the scene, Mary and the crew had just resumed filming.

"In the world's first new year's celebration since the deadliest 
day in the United States less than four months ago on September 11th, 
security was expected to be at an all-time high at New Year's Eve 
parties across the globe!  While all of us are stunned that our local 
authorities could not prevent this from happening tonight, we must 
worry about placing blame later, and now worry about who caused this, 
why, and how many lives have been claimed by this tragedy."

"Hey!" Officer Jenny yelled, reaching in and attempting to take 
Mary's microphone from her.  "You need to clear the area immediately!  
There could still be secondary explosive devices!  Please step back 
towards the police barricades..."

"Oh my gosh!" one of DJ Mary's crew members yelled.

The camera turned to the left and saw, about fifty feet away, a 
blue-haired woman in a tattered kimono limping... limping... and then 
collapsing on the ground.  DJ Mary appeared on camera once again, 
running towards the fallen woman.  The cameraman tried to follow, but 
he was stopped by Officer Jenny.

"I said you need to clear the area!  And where are those ambulances 
already?  We've got a priority-one, stat!"

======

Cerulean City Gym

All around the world, people were watching the horrific events unfold 
before them, and needless to say, they were a lot viewing the incident 
with complete and utter shock.  Among them were the partygoers at the 
Sensational Sisters Bash at the Cerulean City gym, watching on TV.

"Doesn't that look like..." one partygoer thought out loud.

"But wasn't she on the stage?" asked another.

"The fact she even walked out that far is a miracle!" exclaimed a 
third.

Off to the side of the crowd, Professor Oak, Delia, and Tracey were 
making their own commentary on what just happened.

"How could someone commit such a horrible act?" questioned Professor 
Oak.

"All those people..." cried Delia.

"This smells rotten!" Tracey grumbled.  "Rotten as in Rocket!  Team 
Rocket!  They have to be behind this!"

"If that's true, then why?  And Celadon may not be their only 
target... they may be planning other such activities!"

Professor Oak ran over towards Violet and Lily on the other side of 
the room, and his wife and Tracey followed closely.

"My party's, like, ruined!" Violet told Lily angrily.  "And it's all 
because some nutcase blew up Celadon City!"

"Who said it's YOUR party?" Lily questioned.  "We all chipped in to 
help."

"Violet!  Lily!" shouted the professor as he ran up to them.  "Do 
you girls have a bomb shelter?"

"No..." Violet replied, "but we do have this, like, wonderful panic 
room!"

"Will we all fit in there?"

Violet gasped.  "You're not joking... did someone call in a bomb 
threat?"

"No, but it's best to err on the side of caution.  The fact that the 
explosion in Celadon might have been an assassination attempt on that 
city's gym leader, they could very well try to do the same here!"

"Which means..." Tracey and Lily said at the same time, "MISTY!"

"Isn't she with Ash?" Violet told them.  "Daisy went to look for them 
to tell them what's going on."

"Violet!" Professor Oak prodded again.  "Will we all fit in there?"

"I... I think so."

"Good.  Lily, go inform the security guards of what's happening.  The 
rest of us will start guiding the guests to the panic room."

"Right," the sisters nodded in unison.

======

"Misty!  Misty, where are you?"

Daisy was wandering around the second floor of the gym when she came 
across a corridor that was completely dark.  In addition, she could 
hear the sound of someone wailing from somewhere down there.  Daisy 
reached for a Pokéball instinctively before realizing that she had no 
place to hold one on her person, given her form-fitting dress.

"Curse my right to be fashionable," she muttered under her breath.

"Who... who's there?"

Daisy gasped, noticing that the wailing had stopped and whomever had 
been doing it had probably noticed her standing at the edge of the 
darkness.

"I've got a good pair of lungs on me!" Daisy quickly countered.  "I 
assure you, make one wrong move and I'll scream like... like... 
something really loud!"

"D-D-D-Daisy?" the voice muttered.

Daisy stopped, recognizing the voice instantly.  "Mist?  Is that, 
like, you in there?"

Misty slowly walked out into the light, with the makeup on her face 
visibly ruined by all the crying she had been doing.

"What happened to you?  Did someone do something to you?  Are you 
hurt?"

"Do... something?"

======

As the countdown rang out from downstairs, Misty was climbing the 
last of the stairs leading to the balcony.  She reached the top just 
as loud screams came out from below.

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

Fireworks popped in the sky above, but all Misty could pay attention 
to as she stood in the doorway was Ash and Duplica kissing in the 
moonlight.  Stunned beyond belief, a myriad of emotions ran through 
her.  What could she do?  What would she do?

======

"No," Misty shook her head.  "Nobody did anything.  I just saw... saw 
something I just couldn't believe with my own eyes."

"So you know about what happened in Celadon City?"

Misty perked up at that question.  "Wait... what?"

"There was an explosion... just a few seconds after midnight!  You 
didn't, like, hear the screams from downstairs?"

"Erika..." Misty muttered, remembering that she was there.  "How's 
Erika?"

"She's... fine," Daisy lied.  "Fine.  But there's no time to worry 
about that!  Violet just told me that everyone is moving towards the 
Panic Room.  In case Celadon City wasn't the only target..."

"You think..."

"We're sorry for overstepping your authority as gym leader, Misty, 
but we, like, have to take extra precautions just in case you're a 
target, too!"

"No, I understand.  Let's go."

Misty walked past Daisy, heading for the nearest stairwell.

"Wait!  Where's Ash?"

Misty stopped dead in her tracks.

"Did I say something wrong?  Oh my... did something..."

"Ash is fine," Misty quickly interjected.  "We had a talk, then I 
left him out on the balcony just before the fireworks began to go 
off."

"Okay then... well, Brock's probably found him by now anyway.  They're 
probably, like, already waiting for us."

"Yeah... waiting..."

"Come on," Daisy said, grabbing Misty's hand.  "We have to make sure 
all the Pokémon are corralled into the safety tanks as well."

======

Ten minutes later, Daisy and Misty had finished with the aforementioned 
task and had made their way to the second underground level, where 
Ash, Pikachu, Brock, and Violet were waiting.  A large metal sliding 
door stood firmly closed behind them.

"Daisy!" Violet and Brock shouted enthusiastically.

"Misty!" added Ash, glad to see his girlfriend alive and well.  "Are 
you okay?"

Misty grumbled before starting to yell at the top of her lungs at him.

"WHAT KIND OF STUPID QUESTION IS THAT?"

"Gee, like, calm down!" Daisy said, restraining her youngest sister.

"I... I didn't mean any harm," Ash stated, a bit confused.

"She must be confused," Violet admitted, pointing it on Misty.  "After 
all, considering what happened, Erika's..."

"Shhh!" Daisy shushed, but to no avail, as Misty stopped flailing 
around.  "Erika..."

"We didn't want to tell you..." Brock began.

"But... Erika," Violet said aloud.  "She was on the stage when the 
explosion happened."

"You... you mean..."

"We can't say for sure.  But... it's not looking good..."

"No... it... it can't..."

Misty broke down in tears again, this time running away from Daisy 
and towards Brock for support.  She cried into his tuxedo, and Brock 
did his best to comfort her.  All the while, Daisy and Violet looked 
at Ash, who just stood there, dumbfounded.

"Why did..." Violet wondered, pointing at Misty being with Brock and 
then at Ash, who... didn't have Misty.

"What did you do to Misty?" Daisy asked, glaring at Ash.

"Nothing, I swear!" he pleaded in defense.

Ash glanced down at Pikachu, who was giving him the same odd look.

"Ohhh... not you too, Pikachu!  I swear, I did nothing to her!"

"Violet," Daisy told her purple-haired sister.  "Open the door.  Get 
Misty inside.  Make sure you and Lily stay beside her at all times!"

Violet nodded, then banged on the door once.

"Tuna of the wavering ocean!"

The door suddenly began to rise, opening the entrance to the Panic 
Room.  Lily was standing by the controls as Violet motioned for Brock 
to bring Misty inside.  Brock did so, continuing to comfort Misty as 
they headed in.  Ash reached out, as if only now he wanted to do 
something, but Daisy quickly slapped his hand down.

"Ow!  What was THAT for?"

"You're staying out here with me, young man!"

Once Violet, Brock, and Misty were inside, Lily immediately pressed 
the button to close the gate.  Ash watched with Daisy and Pikachu on 
either side of him as some of the other guests made way at a nearby 
table for them.  A few seconds later, the door was closed and locked 
from the inside.

"Misty's in there!" Ash yelled defiantly at Daisy.  "I should be in 
there with her!"

Daisy responded, to Ash's surprise, by pressing the button on the 
Pokéball he just noticed that she was holding in her left hand.  She 
then threw the Pokéball out, and Dewgong emerged from it.

"Dewgong, gong gong!"

"Our job is to stand guard until the local police arrive!" Daisy said 
to her Pokémon.

"Dew!" Dewgong nodded, understanding the order.

Dewgong then turned about and faced the stairs.  Pikachu, instantly 
noticing his role, walked up and took a ready position beside Dewgong.

"Pika!"

"Let's just call it your first 'official' duty as the new Pokémon 
Junior Master!" Daisy said to Ash.

"You think I care about that right now?  Misty's in there, and..."

"And what, mister?  You think I'm gonna let you near her when you did 
something vile and despicable to her?"

"What?  Now hold on..."

"Do you know where I found her, Ash?  Bawling her eyes out in the 
darkness!"

"She was... crying?"

"And she said she had talked to you on the balcony just prior to 
that!  That makes me think you said something to upset her!"

"But I never saw her up there, honest!"

Daisy grabbed Ash by the ear and pulled them away from the door, so 
prying ears couldn't hear them from inside.

"I swear to God, like, if we weren't out here protecting everyone 
in that room there, I'd have Dewgong rip you limb from limb right 
now!"

"Daisy..."

"YOU DID SOMETHING TO MY SISTER, AND I WANNA KNOW RIGHT NOW WHAT!"

"Nothing!  I did nothing!  I swear on my life, as the Junior Pokémon 
Master of the World... I did nothing to harm Misty in any way, shape, 
or form!  She was never up there!"

Daisy stared into Ash's eyes deeply, as to see if he was telling the 
truth.

======

Ash found himself a little stunned as Duplica finished up, pulling 
away after her tongue had danced inside his mouth for about ten 
seconds or so.  In fact, they just stood there silently, looking at 
each other and wondering what had just transpired as fireworks 
continued to go off in the distance.

"Ummm..." Ash stuttered.

Suddenly, the tense moment was broken up by the screams from some of 
the partygoers below.

"Something's wrong!" Ash shouted, quickly regaining his composure 
and bolting for the stairwell, which was empty.

As Ash ran off to see what the commotion was about, Duplica was left 
alone on the balcony.

======

"Well..." Daisy said, pulling back.  "Surprisingly, I think you're 
telling the truth."

Ash sighed with relief.  "That's what I've been trying to tell you!"

"But why would Misty lie?  Hmmm... maybe whatever she saw wasn't what 
she thought she saw..."

Suddenly, the two heard howling coming from the stairs.  Ash and 
Daisy turned their attention in that direction, as did Pikachu and 
Dewgong.  They waited as the howling got closer and closer, and began 
to be accompanied with several pairs of footsteps.

"This is it!  Down here!"

Ash and Daisy shared a collective gulp, knowing that the intruders 
were about to appear in the stairs.  Pikachu's cheeks began to spark 
in anticipation of an attack.

Seconds later, an Arcanine appeared, running down the steps.  He 
stopped as he reached the bottom, seeing Pikachu and Dewgong waiting 
for him, and Ash and Daisy a few paces behind, guarding a metal door.  
But instead of attacking, Arcanine turned his head back up the stairs 
and barked at the ones that were tailing him.

"Good work, Arcanine!" thanked Officer Jenny, as she appeared next to 
him.

"Officer Jenny?" Ash asked, recognizing the uniform from afar.

"Good!  You're right where your security told us you were gonna be."

"Are we, like, gonna be alright?" Daisy asked, stepping forward and 
past Pikachu and Dewgong.  "There's no bomb threat, right?"

Jenny smiled.  "We have a team searching the premises now.  But right 
now, it's just a precautionary measure.  We have no reason to believe 
that what happened in Celadon will happen here too."

Daisy breathed a little easier.  "That's good to hear."

"We'll be here as long as you need us," Jenny reassured Daisy as two 
fellow policemen stepped forward and to her side.

As things calmed down amongst the heroes, Ash glanced back at the 
metal door.  He wondered how Misty was doing, but he couldn't check on 
her just yet.  Not until the all clear was given.

======

Inside the chamber, Brock and Violet were doing their best to comfort 
Misty over the supposed loss of Erika.

"I don't understand..." Misty wailed.  "Why did she have to..."

"Let's not give up hope," Brock said, on the verge of tears himself.  
"Someone as beautiful as Erika can't die so young!"

"Brock's right," Violet added.  "We have to hope that she can pull 
through this!"

"No!" Misty responded, shaking her head.  "I should've seen this 
coming.  Team Rocket's going to be coming after us again..."

"Huh?  What do you..."

"Violet," Brock said to her.  "A couple weeks ago, Erika and I were 
attacked in Olivine City by Team Rocket.  They were trying to stop 
her research project."

"You mean... the one trying to figure out where those strange powers 
that you and Mist have came from?"

Brock nodded in affirmation.  "Exactly."

"I should've convinced her not to do that New Year's Eve celebration," 
Misty said.  "If I had..."

"There's nothing you could've done," Violet tried to reassure Misty.  
"You can't blame yourself for something you have no control over!"

"Yes," Brock added.  "Right now, we have to think about the future.  
Team Rocket may come after you or me... or Ash next.  We'll have to 
be on guard, in case they decide to strike again."

As this was going on, Duplica was watching from afar.  She seemed to 
be trying to read lips, attempting to figure out what Misty was 
crying about.  But her staring didn't go unnoticed, as Tracey was 
sitting on the ground next to her.

And was making a sketch of her pose in his notebook.

"Did anyone tell you that you look cute when you think?" Tracey 
muttered without looking up from his work.

"Yeahhhhh..." Duplica nodded, having not heard what he said.

She suddenly got to her feet, resulting in Tracey audibly moaning 
in disappointment.

"Awww... I only needed a few more seconds!"

"Tracey..." Duplica asked him.

"Yes?"

Duplica pointed in Misty's direction... which, of course, got Tracey's 
attention instantly.

"She looks so sad... as a gentleman, maybe I should go over and ask 
her what's wrong."

"But... can't you tell from here what she's crying about?"

Tracey glanced over and began doing what he did best... watching.

"Not really.  But I bet it's something really bad."

"Something... bad?" stuttered Duplica.

======

Having just broken their kiss, Ash and Duplica were just staring 
silently at each other as fireworks continued to go off in the 
distance.

"Ummm..." Ash finally managed to utter.

Suddenly, the tense moment was broken up by the screams from some of 
the partygoers below.

"Something's wrong!" Ash shouted, quickly regaining his composure 
and bolting for the stairwell, which was empty.

Duplica stood and watched as Ash disappeared back into the building.  
Once he was gone, she raised her right hand up and pressed her middle 
and index fingers against her lips.  She held them there for about 
20 seconds, quietly reflecting on what had just happened.  She then 
smiled and sighed with happiness and delight.

======

"How can something that felt SOOOOO good be so bad?" Duplica thought 
to herself.

She raised her hand again and pressed her fingers against her lips, 
unaware that Tracey was staring at her and making his own conclusions 
in his head.

"Ohhhhh..." Tracey smirked slyly.  "So THAT'S it."

"Wha?" Duplica suddenly freaked, blushing.  "What are you talking 
about?"

"Well, given your flush cheeks, the position of your hands, and that 
goofy smile on your face, I say that whatever Misty's sad about it 
involves the two of you and some sort of kiss."

"Ehhhhh?"

"But if it were a kiss between the two of you, I'm pretty sure Misty 
wouldn't have such an openly sad reaction... such as the one she's 
having now.  Which means..."

Tracey then gasped in shock, finally getting it.  Realizing that 
fact, Duplica quickly reached up and cupped Tracey's mouth with her 
hand.

"Shhhh!" she shushed.  "You want the whole world to know?"

A couple of people nearby, including Professor Oak and Delia, looked 
over to see what was up.  But Duplica quickly shooed them off, 
signaling it was nothing so that they'd stop paying attention to her 
and Tracey.

"That's low..." Tracey told Duplica in a low voice.  "Even I wouldn't 
be as brash as to steal a kiss from Misty.  But you just went and did 
that with Ash!"

"You're making it sound as if I planned it that way!"

"Did you?"

Duplica paused for a second, trying to think of the correct way to 
answer his question.

"So?  It was one innocent kiss!"

"Are you sure about that?"

"But how did she find out?  I'm pretty sure we were alone up there..."

"I think you two better have a talk before something happens and this 
gets all blown out of proportion."

Duplica sighed.  "I guess so..."

She took two steps forward before the sound of someone knocking on 
the panic room's door from the outside filled the room, grabbing 
everyone's attention.

"Chicken of the salty sea!"

Lily, at the door's control panel, squealed with delight.

"That's the all clear signal!  One metal door, cominnnnnnnnn' UP!"

Cheers and sounds of relief could be heard from the entire group as 
Lily had the door raised and they were all greeted by Ash, Daisy, 
and Officer Jenny.

"You can all come out now!" Jenny said to them all.  "All clear!"

======

It didn't take long for the partygoers to get upstairs and to the 
gym exit, where most of them headed straight for their homes and 
hotel rooms.  A small group of stragglers stayed behind, apparently 
believing there was great partying to still be had that night.  
Unfortunately for them, the sisters were thinking otherwise, as 
Daisy, Violet, and Lily began the exhausting clean-up process.  
Professor Oak, Delia, and Tracey also helped pitch in.

Misty, still teary-eyed, walked in to assist as well.  But Daisy, 
as the eldest sister, was having none of that.

"Mist... it's okay," Daisy told her.  "We can handle it.  Maybe you 
should go get some rest.  The last hour or two's been really hard on 
you."

"Yeah... I guess you're right."

Daisy smiled, then glanced over at Ash and Brock, who were watching 
the news on TV, and Duplica, who was spacing out alone at one of the 
dining tables nearby.

"Oh, Ash!  Would you, like, mind if you escort Misty to her room?"

"Huh?" Ash responded, turning around and starting to walk over.  
"Yeah... sure..."

"No... please..." Misty spouted, with a tinge of fear in her voice.  
"ANYBODY BUT HIM!  ANYONE BUT ASH KETCHUM, THE DUMBEST GUY IN THE 
WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD!"

Everyone in the room was left speechless by Misty's outburst.  
Particularly Ash, who still seemed to not know what he did wrong.  
Violet dropped what she was doing and started pushing Misty out of 
the room.

"C'mon, Misty... I'll take you to your room."

Satisfied with Violet's help, Misty meekly replied...

"Thank you..."

"Ash?" Delia asked, worried about what had just transpired.  "Is 
there something going on between you and Misty that we should know 
about?"

"She seemed pretty upset," observed Professor Oak.

Daisy started giving Ash the eye.  The 'evil' eye.

"Are you absolutely sure you, like, didn't do anything to her?"

"I swear, I really don't know!" Ash shouted in defense, wailing his 
arms around in confusion.

Duplica looked on from afar, debating in her mind whether she should 
stand up and come to Ash's defense by admitting the truth about why 
Misty was sour.  But before she could decide, Pikachu and Brock both 
interrupted... but for an entirely different reason.

"PIKAAAAAA!"

"No... it can't be!  IT CAN'T BE!"

Everyone quickly ran over and joined Brock and Pikachu by the TV.  On 
the screen, to their horror, was the Pewter City Pokémon Gym.

Or, more accurately, what was left of it, as it had been reduced to a 
large pile of rubble.

======

Brock was already outside, sitting inside Daisy's convertible as he 
saw her exit from the gym and head in his direction.  Well, as fast 
as she could given her tight-fitting dress and her high-heeled shoes.

"Daisy, come on!" Brock yelled.  "I've gotta get to the airport!"

"Don't have a Miltank!" quipped Daisy.  "I'm, like, hurrying as fast 
as I can here!"

Daisy finally reached her car and got in.

"Could you do me a favor and hand me my shades?" Daisy asked Brock as 
she fastened her seatbelt.

"Do... what now?"

Daisy pointed to the glove compartment, which Brock quickly opened.  
Upon doing so, a pair of sunglasses fell out and right into his 
hands.  From which Daisy quickly grabbed it from and put them on.

"Yes... that's much better!" she smiled.

"Uh..." Brock sweatdropped.  "It's the middle of the night... you 
need sunglasses WHY?"

Not hearing Brock's question, Daisy started up the convertible with 
a roar.

"Buckle your seatbelt, Brock, because you're driving with Miss Daisy!"

With the obligatory warning out of the way, albeit a bit speedily, 
Daisy stepped on the gas and raced the convertible out to the street, 
nearly sending Brock flying out of the car.  As he hadn't reacted to 
Daisy's lone instruction fast enough.

======

Back inside the gym, Duplica was still sulking as clean up around her 
continued.  Ditto and Mini-dit were sitting on each of her shoulders, 
patting her on the back and trying to cheer her up.  But to no avail.

On the other side of the room, Ash was sitting down on the ground, 
with his legs crossed, his back against the wall, and his head 
lowered.  Pikachu was trying to perk up his spirits as well, but he 
wasn't faring any better.

All of a sudden, Tracey wandered over and took a seat next to Ash.

"What do YOU want?"

"I'm here to give you some friendly advice!" Tracey smiled.

"About what?"

"Well... for one thing, I know what Misty's so angry about."

"What makes you... think that?" Ash asked, with hesitance.

"Because I had a talk with Duplica, and... she told me what you and 
her did."

"Did?"

Pikachu curiously looked up at Ash.

"Up on the roof, Ash!  Don't try and deny it... she's already 
confessed to it!"

"You... you mean that kiss?"

"PIKA?"

"That's what Misty's angry about?"

"Why, of course!  What did you think it was?"

"But that wasn't even a real kiss!  Duplica was just teaching me how 
to impress Misty after all that time I've been away from her."

"Well, you REALLY left an impression on both her AND Duplica!" 
Tracey scoffed.  "That's for sure."

Pikachu jumped up onto Ash's left shoulder and then bonked him on 
the head lightly with a closed fist.

"What was I supposed to do?  I thought she was helping me!  Quick, 
Tracey, since Brock's not here, you're the only one who can give me 
advice on women!"

"Well, I'm very flattered that you're asking for my help!  And I'll 
give it to you!"

"Really?"

Tracey nodded.  "It's pretty simple.  First, go over to Duplica and 
make sure to tell her that what she did was wrong and that your kiss 
meant nothing!  Then, you need to go and apologize to Misty and 
assure her that the whole incident was nothing."

"But... but..." Ash started to panic, "what if Duplica doesn't want 
to forget it?  What if I can't forget it?  And what if Misty doesn't 
forgive me for what I did?  Who knows what she'll do to me?"

"Hey, hey!  You asked for advice on what to do.  I can't do what you 
actually have to do.  It doesn't work that way."

"But..."

"Look," Tracey calmed him down, placing a hand on his shoulder, 
"just speak from the heart, Ash.  Do that, and everything will work 
itself out."

"Speak... from the heart," Ash repeated, getting up from the ground.  
"Okay then... here goes nothing!"

Ash took a deep breath and then exhaled.   He then walked over to 
where Duplica was sitting, with Pikachu hopping off his shoulder and 
walking alongside him.  Once they were out of hearing range, a river 
of tears started to fall from Tracey's eyes.

"WAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!  That was my best chance to score Misty and I 
blew it... all because I'm such a nice guy!"

Duplica, still out of it and unaware of what was about to transpire, 
was shocked out of her stupor when Mini-dit, perched on her right 
shoulder, jumped on top of her head.  That allowed Ash to put his 
left hand there just as she turned to face him.

"Duplica... I think you and I need to talk."

======

Leaving their Pokémon inside, Ash and Duplica made their way outside, 
where they could be alone in private to discuss the matter at hand.

"Duplica, I..." Ash began.

"You must hate me for what I did..." murmured Duplica, cutting him 
off.

"Hate you?  But..."

"I know you thought my intentions were noble!  But, frankly, I 
deceived you.  There's no other way to say it.  I wasn't trying to 
help you.  I was trying to help myself!  To you!"

"Dupli..."

"Please, Ash, don't make this any harder than it already is!  Don't 
you realize how much this is eating away at me?  I shouldn't have 
put my selfish desires over the love you and Misty have for each 
other!  That was wrong of me, and I feel I need to apologize."

"Well... I don't think you should have to apologize!"

"Wha?"

"It's as much fault mine as it is yours.  I could've resisted, pulled 
away... but I didn't."

"But that's not right!  I led you under false pretenses!  You weren't 
in the right state of mind!"

"I told you, it's both our fault!  Let's just learn to accept it, 
okay?"

Duplica gazed into Ash's defiant eyes and gave in to his suggestion.

"We're all in this together, huh?"

Ash nodded.  "Forget this ever happened?"

"Agreed.  That is, if Misty will..."

"Don't worry about Misty.  I'll take care of it."

"You're a brave man, Ashy-boy!  Hopefully, she and I will still be 
friends after this... even if not best friends."

"Huh?  What do you mean by that?"

Tracey appeared in the doorway with Pikachu, Ditto, and Mini-dit.  
The two Ditto slithered over to Duplica, who ran over and picked them 
up from the ground, bending over in front of Tracey in the process.

"Ditto!" the two squealed as she placed them back on her bare 
shoulders.

"I think it's for the best if I just disappear for a little while."

"Disappear?"

"Besides, I haven't been home in months!  The place is probably due 
for a little sprucing up!"

Duplica then picked Ditto off her left shoulder and gave it a command.

"Ready to become a Ponyta?  Ditto... Transform!"

"Ditto!" Ditto nodded, before following instructions and changing 
into a Ponyta.

Once the transformation was complete, Duplica hopped on.

"I guess you and Tracey will have to pass on my good-byes to 
everybody!  I'll see y'all 'round!"

She said the last few words with her best Wild West accent, then 
rode off towards town and to the hotel she had been staying at the 
past few days.  Ash, Pikachu, and Tracey were a bit stunned at 
Duplica's exit, as they watched her disappear over the horizon.

"Wow..." Tracey said, his face blushing a deep red.

"I know," Ash added.  "Didn't see that coming."

Tracey sighed, in disbelief that Ash wasn't thinking the same thing 
he was.  "This is one of those 'you'll understand more when you get 
older' things, isn't it?"

Ash scratched his head in confusion, obviously not getting it, while 
Pikachu shook his head at another blatant sign that Ash still had a 
lot to learn about women.

"I wonder if talking to Misty will be just as eventful."

======

A few minutes later, Ash had made his way upstairs to the closed door 
leading into Misty's room.  He braced himself for the worst as he 
knocked on the door.

"Misty?" he said quietly, almost whispering.  "Are you in there?"

Ash leaned against the door, listening to see if there was any 
movement inside.  After a few seconds of silence, Ash sighed and 
began to walk away.  But as he did, the door creaked open and...

"Ash..." she growled venomously, taking one step out of the room and 
stopping to stare at him.

"Misty... uh, well... there's something we really need to talk 
about..."

"Why don't you let your lips do the talking?  Apparently, that seems 
to be the only way you can talk to Duplica."

"Mist, you don't understand!  I did it for you!"

"Ha!" Misty scoffed.  "You kissed Duplica for me?  For ME?  The last 
time I checked, Ash, the only girl you should be kissing on the lips 
is your girlfriend!  And that's me!"

"But like I said, it was all for you!"

Misty shook her head.  "You just don't get it.  You've never gotten 
IT, Ash!"

"What's to get?" Ash asked, enraged and confused at the same time.

Misty threw her arms up in frustration.  "You know, I've never been 
one to listen to my sisters when it comes to romance.  They kept 
telling me... hey, even a runt like you can do better!  I can't 
believe I'm saying this... but I agree with them one hundred percent!"

"But..."

"It's over between us, Ash!  I hope you and Duplica have a great life 
together... and forget inviting me to the wedding!"

With that, Misty stomped back into her room and slammed the door shut 
behind her.  Ash ran up to the door and started knocking on it 
repeatedly, trying to get her to open back up.

"C'mon, Misty, don't be like that!  I swear, it was in our best 
interests..."

"GO AWAY!" Misty yelled.

With Misty unwilling to listen anymore, Ash lowered his head and 
sadly trotted back to the guest room.

======

A few hours later, Ash was lying awake on the top bunk of a bunk 
bed, with Pikachu sound asleep next to him.  The bunk underneath 
his was empty, as Brock had to rush home to take care of matters at 
the Pewter Gym.  As he lied there, he kept thinking about what he 
had done with Duplica... and if he could fix things with Misty.

"Man... why can't love be as simple as winning a Pokémon battle?" 
Ash asked himself out loud.

Ash sighed, then closed his eyes as he attempted to get some shut eye.

======

The next morning, Daisy was busy working in the sales office on some 
paperwork as a small TV in the corner of the room blared, turned on 
to the news of the day.

"Repeating our Top Story," stated the male news reporter, "three 
major Kanto cities had New Year's Eve parties crashed in the worst 
way possible last night.  Law enforcement has not officially declared 
it, though many are already stating all three incidents are connected, 
all the dirty work of the notorious Team Rocket.  It's the worst 
terrorist act on Japanese soil since World War II."

Daisy stopped what she was doing and kept both eyes focused on the TV.

"An earthquake at the Pewter City gym.  A tsunami that flooded a good 
portion of the Cinnabar Island resort.  And, worst of all, an 
explosion that rocked downtown Celadon City... for everyone across 
the region to see!  These are not freak incidents thanks to Mother 
Nature... proof has surfaced that Team Rocket is responsible for all 
three incidents.  Not only are there millions and millions of property 
damage, thousands of lives were taken."

Daisy gasped as a black and white photo of Erika appeared on the 
screen.

"One of the few confirmed deaths is Erika Byou, the 27-year old gym 
leader of Celadon City.  She was believed to have been killed 
instantly by the blast, though this footage from last night seems to 
prove otherwise..."

======

"Oh my gosh!" one of DJ Mary's crew members yelled.

The camera turned to the left and saw, about fifty feet away, a 
blue-haired woman in a tattered kimono limping... limping... and then 
collapsing on the ground.  DJ Mary appeared on camera once again, 
running towards the fallen woman.  The cameraman tried to follow, but 
he was stopped by Officer Jenny.

"I said you need to clear the area!  And where are those ambulances 
already?  We've got a priority-one, stat!"

"This..." DJ Mary gasped as he knelt down next to the woman, "It's 
Erika!"

"I said this is a crime scene!" Jenny yelled, swatting the camera 
away from its holder, and going dead soon afterwards...

======

"Miss Erika passed away en route to Celadon Metropolitan Hospital.  
How she managed to survive as long as she did despite being so close 
to the exact center of the explosion is still unknown, but 
investigators will have plenty of time to solve that and many other 
mysteries in due time.  For now, the long process of cleaning up the 
remnants of this portion of Celadon's Business District is only just 
beginning..."

Daisy suddenly heard a knocking at the open door into the office.  
She turned and saw Ash standing there, with Pikachu perched on his 
shoulder.  Daisy nodded for him to come in, then she turned her 
attention back to the TV.  Ash took a seat on the opposite side of 
the sales desk and watched the news with Daisy and Pikachu.

At this point, the news station was showing images of the damage in 
Celadon, Pewter, and Cinnabar.

"Can you, like, believe it?" Daisy shook her head in disbelief.  
"That Team Rocket's really done it this time."

"Pika?"

"What?  This is all Team Rocket's doing?"

"Like, I thought that's what I just said!  But... yeah.  Unbelievable, 
right?"

"But... why?  Why would they do something like this?"

"It might be, like, weeks before anyone attempts to figure that out.  
And even then, we might never find out the truth."

"So... many... people..." Ash shuddered, clenching his fist in anger.  
"How dare THEY?"

Suddenly, Brock appeared on the TV, talking to the reporters amid the 
remains of the Pewter Gym, where his siblings were helping several of 
the locals clear the debris.

"Mark my words," Brock said defiantly.  "We will rebuild, and the 
Pewter Gym will be better than ever!  Team Rocket won't get us down... 
NO WAY, NO HOW!"

"That-a-way, Brock!" Ash pumped his fist in agreement.

"Pikachu!"

Daisy sighed.  "I know that Brock's trying to give off a look of 
confidence.  But, like, truth be told, his gym's gonna be out of 
commission for a month or two."

"A month or two?  Really?"

"Uh huh.  And although he could still give official battles even 
without a working gym, he probably won't have much time for it with 
the rebuilding, not to mention the state of the nearby neighborhoods.  
Some people lost all they had in that earthquake.  The same with 
the tsunami on Cinnabar Island, and that explosion in downtown 
Celadon.  It could be quite awhile before things will be back to 
normal."

Ash growled, steamed over Team Rocket's path of destruction.

"Those guys... they'll pay for all of this!  Team Rocket... TEAM 
ROCKET'S GOING DOWN FOR THIS!"

"PIKA-CHU!" agreed Ash's best friend.

"I agree that, like, something has to be done," responded Daisy, "but 
surely you're not going to attempt to, uh, take that whole 
organization down by yourself?"

"It won't be by myself!  Pikachu's with me!  And so's Brock and 
Misty..."

"Brock's gonna be too busy with the rebuilding of his gym.  And given 
what you did to Misty, I doubt she'll want anything to do with you."

"But..."

"Oh, and Tracey told me what happened.  Like, I never pegged you to 
be the two-timing type.  Even I didn't see that comin'!"

"But... but..."

"I'm, like, kidding Ash!  When I said Tracey told me what happened, 
he meant EVERYTHING!  Like how Duplica misled you into thinking she 
was helping your relationship with Misty.  Boy, she's a sly one."

"So... what am I gonna do about Misty?"

Daisy winked.  "You know Mist is pretty stubborn.  I mean, after I 
found out this morning, I wanted to talk to her.  But, apparently, 
she needs some, like, alone time."

"What do you mean?"

Daisy shuffled through some paperwork on her desk and gave one of the 
pages to Ash.  Ash had a puzzling look on his face as he took it and 
started to read it aloud.

"I need some time alone to think about what to do with my life.  
Please mind the gym until I return.  And don't bother to look for 
me.  Misty."

"Apparently, little sis has taken upon it to run away from her 
problems."

"RUN AWAY?  I HAVE TO FIND HER AND EXPLAIN EVERYTHING!"

"But, like, you don't even know where to start!  She could've walked, 
caught a flight, climbed up towards Mt. Moon..."

"I don't care!  Misty and I deserve to be together, and I wanna prove 
it by finding her and setting things straight!  Now that I've 
confronted my mistakes and learned from them, I've got to get her to 
do the same!"

"Pika pika!" Pikachu nodded in agreement.

Ash started to run out the door, but Daisy jumped out of her seat to 
stop him.

"Wait!  Like, what about the Pokémon Junior Master Coronation 
Ceremony?  President Goodshow will be arriving tomorrow to..."

Ash never heard the rest of Daisy's statement, as he had long left the 
room and, by that time, the Pokémon gym.

======

"Misty!  Misty, where are you?"

"Pika!"

And so, Ash and Pikachu began searching the city for Misty.  They 
went to the Pokémon Center, the local branch of the Pokémon Fan Club, 
the International Airport, the Police Station, and the Fashion 
District.  But everywhere they went, they got the same answer.  That 
no one had seen her.

Determined not to give up, Ash and Pikachu started towards the 
outskirts of the city, heading for the path towards Vermilion City.

"C'mon, Misty, don't do this to me!" Ash thought aloud.  "I'll do 
whatever it takes, even if it means never looking at another girl 
again!"

"Pika pi!" Pikachu suddenly cried, pointing ahead and to the right.

"Huh?"

Ash followed Pikachu's gaze, and saw that he was pointing at a small 
log cabin off to the side of the main road.  A sign in front of the 
building read 'Poké-Mart Southern Cerulean - Grand Opening!'

"I guess even out here shops are starting to pop up," Ash said.  
"We'd better check it out, just to be sure."

And so, Ash and Pikachu headed over there.  As they did, a teenage 
girl walked out.  She was wearing a closed, long sleeve yellow 
jacket and a pair of blue jeans, but her face was obscured by the 
hood hiding her hair.  Suddenly, the girl jumped upon seeing Ash 
and Pikachu, and quickly turned the opposite direction, whistling 
and twiddling her thumbs, hoping they wouldn't notice her.

"Excuse me, miss?  Have you seen a girl about your age, with 
orange hair?  Her name's Misty, and she's the Cerulean City gym 
leader.  I'm trying to find her."

Pikachu blinked curiously, and started sniffing at the girl's shoes.

"Nope, never seen her!" she exclaimed as she took off running.

"Hmmm... must've been in a hurry," noted Ash.

Pikachu scratched his head curiously, wondering if...

======

Ash and Pikachu ran into the Poké-Mart and were immediately 
greeted by Peddler Judy, the storekeeper.  She was a blond-haired 
woman in a green dress, and it was her responsibility to sell 
needed items to passersby.

"Hello!" she greeted.  "Can I help you?"

Ash turned to Judy and asked her about Misty.

"Misty?  You mean the Cerulean gym leader?  I'm afraid not."

"Aw man," Ash said dejectedly.  "Where could she be?"

"Pikachu," Pikachu tried to reassure him, patting him on the 
shoulder.

The two of them walked out of the Poké-Mart and started to make 
the long journey back to the gym.

======

Upon returning to the gym, Ash and Pikachu were surprised to see 
not only Daisy waiting for him, but Professor Oak and Delia as well.

"I take it you didn't have any luck?" Daisy deduced.

"No..." Ash replied sadly, lowering his head.

"I'm sure she's alright," Delia reassured her son.  "Misty's a 
mighty Pokémon trainer.  She can handle anything the world throws at 
her."

"That's right!" Professor Oak nodded in agreement.  "After all, not 
just anyone can become a gym leader!"

"I think once Misty looks inside her heart, she'll realize the truth, 
and then she'll, like, come back to all of us.  Especially to you, 
Ash."

"You... you really think so, Daisy?"

"Pika!" Pikachu chimed in, as confident as the others.

"Yeah!  No, wait, then again... as I think I mentioned before, Mist is 
pretty stubborn.  Maybe it's time you were taught proper dating 
etiquette?"

Ash scratched his head, confused.  "Proper dating eat-a-kite?"

"Etiquette, ETIQUETTE!  Yeesh... and, like, people call ME a ditz!"

Violet and Lily suddenly walked out of the gym, wondering what all 
the hubbub was about.  Both of them were dressed in corduroy overalls, 
as they had been spending the last hour or two cleaning out the gym's 
largest tank by hand.

"Daisy, I swear!" Violet cried.  "Like, we gotta hire someone else to 
do this gunk!"

"What will boys think with all of these dirt and chemicals on me?" 
Lily wondered with worry.

"They'll think you like to get down and dirty, but enough about your 
love lives!" Daisy yelled at them.  "I want you two to teach Ash 
everything he knows about how to impress Misty so he doesn't mess up 
again when she comes back from her 'little sabbatical'!"

"But Daisy... I don't want to eat a kite!"

"It's ETIQUETTE, not eat a kite!"

"Wait..." Lily questioned, "what about you, Daisy?  Aren't YOU gonna 
help?"

"Well, with Misty gone, I have to take over as gym leader... which 
means there's a lot to do with the gym official back open for 
business tomorrow now that the holidays are done with, and..."

"Aw, I see," Violet smiled, figuring it out.  "You don't wanna help 
because you've never done... you know..."

"Oh!" Lily agreed.  "You mean... she's never slept with..."

"Never done?  Never slept?  Wha?" Ash panicked, not knowing what they 
were getting at.

"GETCHA MINDS OUTTA THE GUTTER!  BESIDES, THEY'RE STILL TEENS!"

"Whatever makes you sleep at night," Violet said with a wink.  "'Cause, 
of course, you're always sleeping through it and all..."

"THAT'S IT!  YOU'RE CLEANING ALL OF THE OTHER TANKS TODAY, ALL BY 
YOURSELF!"

"You gotta catch me first, 'no action!'"

With that, Violet took off running, with Daisy giving chase.

"COME BACK HERE!"

"If only you promise to go after men as fast as you do after me!"

Daisy and Violet ran themselves silly around and around the gym's 
outer perimeter, as Lily and Pikachu sweatdropped in coy acceptance, 
Prof. Oak and Delia watched the 'passions of youth' play out, and 
Ash...

Well, Ash just danced around haphazardly, dazed and confused at all 
the weird terminology Misty's sisters were using to refer to love 
etiquette.  Or, at least etiquette that was inappropriate when 
talking about others' love relationships.

======

Thursday, January 3rd

A medium-sized crowd was gathered outside the Cerulean Gym as Ash 
was preparing to officially be coronated as the new Pokémon Junior 
Master.  His parents and some friends were among those in attendance, 
as well as all his Pokémon... though there was one that wasn't...

"Misty..." Ash murmured.

As he kept thinking about her, President Goodshow was in the process 
of introducing him at the podium.  In fact, he was so lost in thought 
that he didn't even hear the President say his name.  It took a nudge 
from his mom, seated next to him, to snap him out of it.

"Ash, dear!" she smiled.  "Let's not keep them waiting!"

"Pika pi!" added Pikachu, sitting on top of Ash's head.

Ash finally got up out of his seat, to the relief and delight of the 
crowd as they gave him a standing ovation.  That included his mom and 
his dad, as well as President Goodshow, all smiling with glee.  And 
Tracey and Misty's older sisters, who were cheering for him.  As well 
as Ash's Pokémon... Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Charizard, Pidgeotto, and 
Heracross, who were ecstatic to see their friend get a just reward.

"Thank you!" Ash said, quieting the crowd as he began to speak.  "I 
just wanna say that I'll do my best to honor the Pokémon League by 
becoming the best Junior Master ever!  I also hope that, one day, 
I'll become the Pokémon Master as well!"

The audience cheered enthusiastically to that.

"And one of the first things I'm going to do is to try and bring Team 
Rocket to justice!  What they did a few nights ago was uncalled for!  
Taking so many lives just for the evil purposes... including a gym 
leader that many of us hold dear to our hearts.  With the help of 
the Pokémon League and the Elite Four, we will make Team Rocket pay 
for what they've done... and stop them, ONCE AND FOR ALL!"

That last statement produced a thunderous round of applause by the 
crowd... especially from his friends, family, and Pokémon.

"And with that," President Goodshow stepped in, holding up a case 
that he opened to reveal the Junior Master medal, "Ash Ketchum, I 
hereby dub you... Pokémon Junior Master!"

Ash bent down to allow the President to hang it on his neck.  Once 
he had been decorated, Ash and Pikachu rejoiced, waving to the 
crowd as they did.

"Ha ha!  I'm now... A JUNIOR MASTER OF POKEMON!"

"PI PIKACHU!"

Ash continued to take in the cheers, and despite how happy he was, 
the thought of Misty not being there refused to leave his mind...

======

Saturday, January 5th, Indigo Plateau

Two days later, an even larger crowd was at Indigo Stadium at the 
Indigo Plateau, with mourners lined up for what seemed like miles.  
All just to pay their final respects to Erika, the gym leader of 
Celadon City.

Among those saying their goodbyes were gym leaders from all over.  
Not just the Kanto leaders, but many from the surrounding Johto and 
Hoenn regions as well.  Some left mementos, others left prayers, 
and quite a few left wails of despair.

Daisy, representing Cerulean in Misty's absence, peacefully 
transmitted her farewells on behalf of the Waterflower family.  She 
did her best to keep up a strong presence as she glanced upon Erika's 
calm body.

Brock, however, was a different story, crying heavily as he moaned 
out loud about what he could've done to protect her, given everything 
he knew about what she was researching.

Finally, it was Ash's turn.  Stepping up to the side of the coffin, 
it felt kind of eerie looking at how comfortably Erika was relaxing, 
with her arms folded over her stomach.  Pikachu seemed to have the 
same feeling, looking on sadly at the deceased gym leader.

"Chaaaa..."

"I know... it's so sad.  She didn't deserve this."

"Pika," Pikachu nodded.

"She didn't deserve to have her life taken.  None of them did."

"Chu."

"Pikachu... we're going to make sure Team Rocket pays.  For Erika 
and all of them!  No matter what it takes!"

"Pikachu!" Pikachu nodded, pumping his fists.

Ash then reached into his pocket and pulled out his Rainbow Badge.  
He then slowly placed it on the table next to the coffin as he 
remembered his battle with Erika... and how he earned it.

"I'll never... make fun... of perfume again..." Ash stated with a 
shudder, trying to keep his composure as he walked away from Erika's 
coffin, head lowered in despair.

As Ash left, the procession of mourners continued, as it would for 
several hours that day.

======

As night began to fall, many were still gathered around as several 
Pokémon League officials, including Lance and Bruno, were helping 
carry the casket out to the hearst.  The closed coffin brought 
another round of tears to the onlookers as they watched it being 
loaded in, where it would be driven to the airport and then loaded 
onto a plane back to Celadon City for the official funeral and burial.

The crowd was silent as the hearst pulled away from the arena.  It 
didn't take long for the crowd to start diminishing.  As they did, 
a brown-haired young man was sitting in a tree overlooking the 
crowd, peering down on them through a pair of high-tech binoculars.  
Once the hearst was out of sight, he pulled them away and tapped 
the earpiece of his cordless communicator.

"I'm sorry it had to be this way..." he murmured.

Coughing to clear his throat, he then began his transmission.

"This is PTA Operative Joel Orino... Phase One is complete.  I 
repeat, Phase One is complete.  Begin preparations for Phase Two... 
launch in T-minus five days."

He then reached down and tapped his belt buckle once.  With that, 
the PTA agent disappeared into the impending darkness...

======

Monday, January 7th, Lavaridge Town

Inside a local restaurant, one would expect many eyes to be glued 
to the two televisions hanging at either end of the diner-style 
counter.  But instead, all of the employees and the customers were 
focused towards the front door.  There, a conscious, yet very weak 
Cassie was lying on a gurney.  The paramedics were talking with her 
to check on her condition as they prepared to wheel her out.

Arius was also there, but he was told to step aside as the gurney 
was pushed out to the ambulance waiting in the parking lot.

"Oh, Cassie, what's going on with these fainting spells of yours?" 
Arius thought to himself as he followed them out.

======

Tuesday, January 8th, Johto Region Training Dojo

The next day, a young purple-haired teenager named Shingo Macintosh 
was typing away at his laptop.  Or so it seemed... he was actually 
using it to formulate battle strategies as he watched his Scizor, 
Blade, do battle with the dojo's headmaster, a man named Mr. Muramasa, 
and his own Scizor, nicknamed Masamune.

"Use Slash, Masamune!"

Masamune nodded, then leapt towards Blade.

"Agility, followed by False Swi..." Shingo said slowly before his 
voice faded...

Not hearing Shingo's entire command, Blade tried to go on his own.  
But that proved futile, as Masamune was upon him before he could 
move.  Masamune slashed Blade across the chest, knocking him back.  
Blade prepared to produce a counterattack, but stopped when he 
noticed Masamune being recalled to his Pokéball.  Blade looked to 
his right and gasped when he saw his trainer, Shingo, lying flat on 
his stomach, on top of his laptop, and out like a light.

"Someone get the school doctor, on the double!" Mr. Muramasa yelled, 
sending a few onlookers scrambling towards the doctor's office.  "And 
a glass of water!"

He then, with some help of a few others, moved Shingo off of his 
laptop and onto his back, so that he was facing upwards.  Blade 
looked on worriedly as they went to work treating his master.

======

Wednesday, January 9th, Crimson City Pokémon Center

A day later, young Jeanette Fisher was sitting in the middle of the 
nursery, feeding a baby Pichu cradled in her arms with a bottle of 
milk as a few sleeping Pichu and Igglybuff lied in the cribs around 
her.

"Okay, that's enough now!" Jeanette told the baby Pichu.  "It's time 
for you to take a nap like your brothers and sisters."

She pulled the bottle away, and expected Pichu to start crying 
loudly.  But instead, the little Pokémon seemed content with what it 
had gotten.  Jeanette carried it over to an empty crib and placed 
Pichu inside of it.  But as she went to tuck it in, she began to feel 
a little woozy.  She reached for the crib's rail, but missed it as 
she fell to the floor, breaking the glass bottle in her other hand 
in the process.  The loud noise awakened the other baby Pokémon, who 
started wailing as loud as they could.

"Is everything alright, daughter?" Nurse Joy asked, entering the room 
after hearing the crying.

"Chansey?" her Chansey chirped, coming in as well.

"Oh... my!"

Nurse Joy gasped as she saw her daughter passed out next to the crib, 
her right hand bleeding from the glass shards sticking into her right 
hand.

======

Pewter City Gym

At almost the exact same time, panic ensued at the reconstruction 
site at the Pewter City gym, as Brock had fainted while overseeing 
the process.  A few of the workers were carrying him to a flat 
surface away from all the construction as they tried to get him 
conscious again while they waited for the paramedics to arrive to 
check him out.

"Brock," wept Forrest, the next eldest sibling.  "Wake up, Brock!"

"I think he just fainted..." shouted one of the workers.

======

Thursday, January 10th, Goldenrod City

Hoothoot, Natu, and even a Murkrow or two could be heard chirping in 
the trees nearby.  A Hoothoot was even sitting on the sign outside 
that read 'Bike Shop.'  Inside, dozens of bicycles, new and used, were 
in place, ready to be sold.  But the lone patron inside at this time 
of day already had a bicycle.  In fact, she had just bought one from 
this very shop a few days ago.

Unfortunately, it was in the process of being repaired, if the sounds 
of work being done in the background were any indication.  The room 
was also filled with sounds coming from a TV hanging above the front 
counter, which was turned to a local station broadcasting the news.

"You know, you're very lucky..." the shop owner suddenly spoke up.

Apparently, she didn't seem to be paying attention as she browsed 
through the helmet section.  A pair of elbow pads and one of knee 
pads were sitting on the counter next to the register, both colored 
brown and decorated with a Golem on each one.

"Most people your age in accidents like these?  They're lucky if 
they're able to walk again... for weeks!"

The teenage girl picked up a brown colored helmet with white racing 
stripes running down its center, from front to back.  After a moment 
of thought, she put it back on the shelf she had plucked it from.

"I'm still surprised someone like you's out here, going on a Pokémon 
journey all by herself!  Why, if you were my daughter, I wouldn't 
have let you set one foot out of the house unless you had someone with 
you that I could..."

Before he could finish his statement, the girl had slammed down what 
looked like the skull of a Marowak, but was actually a helmet shaped 
to resemble one, on the counter.  The orange-haired, husky sized shop 
owner blinked in confusion, then picked it up and examined it.

"This one?" he asked, as if to make sure she knew what she was buying.

"Yes, that's the one I want!" she reiterated.  "But I need the next 
largest size.  Or... actually, two sizes up.  I can't subject my 
beautiful head of hair to being buried underneath those sweaty helmets 
more than I have to."

"Six months, and you're the first person to ever ask me about this 
model," he shook his head as he headed for the store room.  "And I 
was ready to send these darn things back to the manufacturer..."

Once the store owner was gone, the girl sighed disappointedly as she 
reached into the breast pocket of her white blouse and pulled out a 
small compact mirror.  She aimed it at first at the left side of her 
forehead, where a small reddish bump was slightly protruding out of 
her skin.  She then aimed it so she could see the rest of her face in 
the mirror.

Giselle Gravelpot sighed once again as she raised her left hand to 
it, a hand that had its middle and index fingers wrapped up in 
bandages.  She winced as her left thumb made contact with the 
aforementioned bump, sighing for her third time as she lowered her 
head and wandered over towards the bike shop's waiting lounge.

"And the rash of dizzy fainters continues," a news reporter on the 
TV said as Giselle approached it in the lounge.  "Pewter City gym 
leader Brock Slate joins a quickly growing list of people around the 
Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn regions in the past few days.  It's already 
the third report from yesterday, with close to two dozen widespread 
cases over the last 72 hours..."

Giselle glanced at the TV, apparently interested in the report.

"No clues as to what's causing it yet, but it's believed that 
weather is not a factor despite a January already several degrees 
warmer than normal all across the country.  More as it develops."

The Tech graduate reached into her purse and, after a little bit of 
searching, pulled out a business card for the Goldenrod City Medical 
Clinic.  She looked over it for a second, and then put it back in.

"Ridiculous," she said, jerking to the right to toss the permed 
locks of her hair back into place.

"Today at the Indigo Plateau," stated the 20-something female news 
anchor on the TV, "the Pokémon League has its first official meeting 
since the untimely death of Erika Byou, the former gym leader of 
Celadon City, and the appointment of Ash Ketchum as Pokémon Junior 
Master, made after the League stripped Marco Pereira, the young man 
who won the title in a four-trainer battle here last September..."

"That should've been me," Giselle scoffed as she drew her attention 
back to the TV again.

======

Indigo Plateau

The officials of the Pokémon League were gathered in a small assembly 
hall located inside the organization's headquarters, located within 
the town's business district.  The room was filled with many gym 
leaders of both the Kanto and Johto regions, along with the Elite 
Four.  A few leaders, unable to make the meeting in person, were in 
'attendance' via videophone or by teleconference.  Among those that 
were actually present were Ash, Pikachu, and Daisy, the latter in 
place of Misty, whose whereabouts were still unknown to either of 
them.

Lance got up of his seat and approached the podium to get the 
meeting started.

"Good morning, everyone, and thank you for attending this monthly 
meeting.  Given recent events, I thought I was clear that everyone 
make every attempt to actually be here in person..."

Lance then glanced to the empty seat to his left, on which a name 
plaque that read 'Pokémon Master' was placed.  Ash looked a little 
miffed that he was sitting with the general assembly instead of up 
front with the Elite Four, but Pikachu quickly consoled him.

"Ahem..." Lance coughed.  "Hopefully things will change when we have 
our first-ever Pokémon Master Open Tournament in March.  Because, of 
course, the Junior Master Tournament last September was such a 
success!"

"May I remind all," Agatha quickly interrupted, "that all gym 
leaders may recommend up to three trainers at least 18 years of age 
to compete in the tournament, though entries must be reserved by 
month's end!  Remember, there are no walk-in entries!  WE WON'T 
ACCEPT THEM THIS TIME!"

Agatha then turned to glare at a couple gym leaders... particularly 
Whitney of Goldenrod City and Pryce of Mahogany Town.

"And remember to send your best," Lance told them.  "Because I'm 
going to win the title this year!  Bwa ha ha ha!"

"That's... nice," Lorelei remarked, unemotionally.

"Be careful... your ego is showing," Agatha warned Lance.

"That reminds me," Lance chuckled.  "Agatha is officially retiring 
at the end of the month as well.  We're holding a 'Goodbye' party 
on Friday, February 1st - if you haven't reserved your seat yet, let 
me just remind you that attendance is mandatory!"

"Only because Agatha's got the power to, like, place a serious 
curse on anyone who doesn't," Daisy said... out loud.

Everyone quickly turned to look at Daisy, who, just realizing that 
which she meant to murmur under her breath she had actually stated 
aloud, hastily tried to hunch down in her seat.

"Your gym's in hot water already as it is, missy!" Agatha snapped 
at the blonde.  "And you're not helping matters, between your 
outburst and the fact that your actual gym leader isn't here!  If I 
weren't in such a good mood, I'D NOT RETIRE AND TAKE OVER THAT 
DEADBEAT JOB MYSELF!"

"Sorry..." Daisy apologized, bowing her head in shame.

"Wow... scary..." Ash commented, though he managed to keep it to 
himself.

"As I was saying," Lance spoke up, "Agatha's retirement means we 
need a new Elite Four member to replace her.  And as you all know, 
Koga was chosen by us four to fill that position."

"Koga's gonna be a member of the Elite Four now?" Ash asked, 
whispering his question into Daisy's ear.

"Yeah," Daisy confirmed.  "And that's hard... as the vote has to 
be unanimous between the Elite Four and the Pokémon Master."

"Naturally," Lance continued, "that means that Koga's old position, 
gym leader of Fuchsia City, will be vacant soon.  Koga himself, 
you're giving us an update on the replacement process?"

"Yes," Koga stated as he stood up.  "The formal election is this 
Tuesday, and the city's really divided among the two leading 
candidates..."

Koga pulled out a holographic display that revealed the latest polls 
surrounding the election.  It made it apparent that it was, indeed, 
a two-candidate race... between two talented teenage girls, in fact.  
One with green hair in a pink ninja get-up, the other black haired 
with a purple get-up.

"The race has pretty much come down to my assistant gym leader, Aya, 
and my daughter, Janine.  Support for each of them is practically 
even, and I wish them well... whomever wins the election."

"So you're assuring us the winner of the popular vote has your 
blessing?"

Koga nodded.  "Indeed."

"Very well.  We look forward to officially crowning the new Fuchsia 
City Gym Leader at next month's meeting."

Koga bowed, then took his seat again.

"Speaking of gyms needing new leaders... naturally, given Erika's 
tragic passing, there has yet to been any official candidates who've 
declared to fill her position."

"About that, sir?" a brunette wearing a safari camouflage outfit 
stated, jumping up out of her seat.

"And who might you be, lass?" asked Agatha defiantly.

"Uh..." the young woman hesitated, shaking nervously.  "I'm... 
Simone.  I served as interim gym leader while Miss Erika was away on 
her research expeditions.  And also... also... also the only one of 
Erika's core gym staff not on stage when... when..."

"Say no more," Lance cut her off.  "Lorelei, you're the Elite Four 
member responsible for overseeing the Celadon Gym.  Give me a status 
report on their operations the past three months."

"Well... I'd give them a 'fair' grade," the ice master reported.  "No 
serious incidents or any odd behavior to speak of.  Aside from the 
research duties we gave her, which significantly impacted her 
popularity rating, the gym is operating under normal parameters.  In 
other words... Rainbow is still really now."

"Thank you, Lorelei," Lance sweatdropped.  "I think I got most of 
that.  Now, as for you, Simone... would you be willing to continue 
as interim gym leader until a replacement is found?"

"Yes, but... but... why can't I?"

"No offense, my dear..."

"No offense?" Agatha interrupted.  "The girl has no qualifications 
whatsoever!  SHE'S NOT EVEN FIT TO BE AN INTERIM LEADER!"

Ash quickly jumped out of his seat to defend her, but Daisy quickly 
pulled him back into it.  Good thing, too, because Lance had regained 
control of Agatha and elaborated further on the ghost master's honest 
application of the truth.

"Applying to become a gym leader is, at the minimum, a six-month 
preparation process... and that's under the normal process.  In a 
situation like this, a possible candidate must have gone through an 
equivalent program already and shown remarkable progress in League 
competitions of all types to be eligible.  Given your limited working 
experience at the Celadon Gym of only eight months, that's not 
possible."

"Wait a minute," Ash whispered to Daisy.  "If that's true, then how 
did Misty become gym leader without too much trouble?"

"She's been part of the day-to-day activities even when our family 
was given the gym seven years ago," Daisy said back.  "Though, 
truthfully, because of her age, Misty couldn't get credit for time 
worked until she became an official trainer at age 10.  I mean, like, 
most of the two years before she met you, she handled a fair amount of 
the gym leader duties to begin with."

"You do understand that despite everything you might know about 
running a gym, we cannot permanently place you in such a high position 
of merit, especially in a case where many other deserving candidates 
have already shown interest in it."

"I'm sorry," Simone apologized.  "It's just..."

"I understand your position, but trust me... this is for the good of 
Celadon City and the entire League."

"You know, since we're on the subject," Bruno spoke up.  "Miss Simone, 
are you in the process of lining up candidates?"

Simone nodded slowly.  "Yes... though I'd personally like to keep up 
the tradition of Celadon Gym by keeping its favoring towards grass 
types."

"Are you willing to consider candidates who might think otherwise, 
particularly if they possess strong qualities elsewhere?"

Simone nodded again.  "Yes... it is my wish to have the gym to follow 
in the same ways as Miss Erika did, but I understand if they have to 
be set aside in order to ensure the process does result in the 
election of the best person for the job."

Bruno wrote some notes down on the pad before him as Lance addressed 
the interim gym leader again.

"Please inform Lorelei when the application process is completed.  She 
must be involved in all aspects of the election of the new gym leader 
from that point on."

"I understand."

"Also... well, it's no guarantee, but I think we all owe it to Erika 
to do our best to appoint someone who does have the same ideals as she 
did.  Lorelei, you will do your best to ensure that."

"Very well," Lorelei agreed.

"Thank you very much," Simone said in jubilation.

"See?" Daisy smirked at Ash.  "Like, they may look like meanies, but 
the Elite Four always does what's best for the League."

"In the meantime, Simone, though you will still be regarded to as an 
interim gym leader, will be granted all of the basic principles and 
support from the League as if she was the official leader, up until 
the point a replacement is named.  Any objections?"

Lance glanced out to the panel, and there were no dissenters.

"Very well... Simone, please keep us informed of the details, including 
a date for the election as soon as possible."

"Yes," Simone replied, before taking her seat at last.

"With that matter settled, we have issues with yet another gym leader 
to settle.  It's been brought to my attention by several members of 
the League that there are accusations out that a certain gym leader 
is involved with the notorious Team Rocket."

Ash and Pikachu were visibly growling, given they knew first-hand of 
Giovanni's role in Team Rocket.

"Normally, standard procedure would be to allow the accused to 
defend himself, even in light of any of concrete evidence.  Still, 
since Giovanni is not present and gave no prior excuse for being 
unable to attend this meeting, we must immediately move onto a 
formal inquiry."

"What's there to question?" Morty of Ecruteak asked, speaking up.  "We 
know the guy's got a significant role in Team Rocket's day-to-day 
operations!

"I agree!" Chuck of Cianwood piped in.  "It's all out there!  Ask any 
fairly-recognized Pokémon expert... they know the same thing most of 
us know, and yet we haven't done anything about it!"

"The guy's, like, a creep, and he shouldn't be running a gym as a side 
operation to Team Rocket!" Daisy added.

"What makes you all so sure?" Lt. Surge of Vermillion asked them all 
quizzically.  "How come I haven't seen any of this so-called 
recognizable evidence?"

"I, too, think these accusations aren't worth getting spurious over," 
commented Sabrina, via videophone from her gym in Saffron.

"I agree," Clair of Blackthorn concurred.  "I refuse to believe 
anything without hard evidence sitting right in front of me!"

"What's with all you whippersnappers?" asked an irate Pryce.  "In my 
day, we went on gut instinct and accusations alone to decide who was 
worthy to be a gym leader!"

"They're probably in cahoots with him!" Whitney shouted.

"I agree," Bugsy of Azalea Town stated, siding with her.  "Even as 
strong as he is, he can't have such an influence on the Pokémon League 
without strong help."

"You little runts dare accuse me of being against the side of good?" 
Surge shot back.  "You have no right, after all I've done for the 
League!"

"Besides, I side with Clair and the others in mucking up another gym 
leader's reputation if it's not warranted," cautioned Jasmine of 
Olivine, getting her two cents in via teleconference.

"I understand your reservations," Morty replied to her, "but still, 
you have to be crazy to not have heard the rumors!"

"Rumors are just that, rumors!" Clair exclaimed.

"Like, how 'bout getting your head out of the clouds and looking at 
the same thing we are?" Daisy shot at the Blackthorn leader.

"If we don't stop them now, who knows what they'll do next?" Ash 
yelled, getting into the conversation.  "Do you guys want them to 
ruin the Pokémon League?"

"One person's definition of ruin is different from another's!" 
Surge shouted back.

The gym leaders yelled furiously amongst one another, trying to get 
their point across and defend their views, right or wrong.  The Elite 
Four seemed a bit stunned by the sudden disorganization of the 
League... all 'cept Agatha, who seemed determined to bring it all to 
an end.

"SHUT YOUR PIEHOLES, YOU HELLIONS!"

That quickly quieted everyone in the room.  The other Elite Four 
members looked in amazement at Agatha, then quickly regained their 
composure.

"Ahem..." Lance coughed, taking control again.  "Yeah.  I see this is 
a strong point of debate.  Perhaps this inquiry is needed after all, 
just to clear the air and to check out these accusations in detail."

"There shouldn't be any inquiry at all!" Clair spoke up again.  "It'll 
be a black eye on the League if we make such a brazen accusation at 
someone who's helped in many of our endeavors to keep the League 
running the way it should be."

"I'm with the Cianwood babe!" Surge added, though he got an angry 
glare from Clair for the 'babe' bit.  "You guys are just looking to 
pin the Celadon explosion and all that other hoopla on a scapegoat, 
and you just picked him because he's not here."

"Who's the one making accusations now?" Morty asked snidely.

"You wanna a piece of this?" Surge shouted, jumping out of his seat 
and flexing his muscles in Morty's direction.

"You call that a piece?" Chuck bit back, ripping his shirt and showing 
off his own peck-tacular body.

"Somebody's been working out," Whitney commented dreamily.

Bugsy shook his head in dismay.  "This is not how I envisioned this 
day..."

"THAT'S IT!" Lance yelled, finally losing it.  "THERE WILL BE NO MORE 
DISCUSSION ON THIS!"

Lance's angry exclamations calmed the chamber down, and most likely for 
good this time around.

"Look, it's better to be safe than sorry," Lance said more calmly, 
having cooled down.  "It's already been decided upon by myself and my 
fellow Elite Four members.  Bruno will lead the inquiry, since it 
falls under his jurisdiction.  Until it's complete, all discussion of 
it has been tabled.  Understand?"

Everyone nodded in agreement, though some reluctantly.  Ash seemed to 
be one of them, though only because the League wasn't going to charge 
in there like he thought they would.

"Good.  Now, let's move on to the individual gym reports..."

Ash leaped out of his seat, and this time Daisy couldn't stop him 
from doing so.

"Why don't you go after him now?" Ash yelled.  "Everything he's 
doing... to Erika and all the others... don't you..."

"Junior Master Ketchum, I said the matter is tabled!  That means 
there's to be no further discussion of that until the inquiry has 
been completed!"

"But..."

"No!  And one more outburst from you, and you'll be removed from this 
room!  That goes for everyone in here!"

Ash grumbled as he sat back down again.  Daisy did her best to settle 
him down.

"It may not seem like the right move," she told him quietly, "but let 
it be.  I know you're upset, but let them do their job.  They may 
know something you don't."

"Well... that still doesn't make their call the right one," Ash 
complained, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Pika," agreed Pikachu, doing the same.

"Now," Lance spoke up again, "I guess we'll start with Kanto this 
time... let's start with Cerulean City."

"Like, here!" Daisy bubbly announced, standing up.

She then turned to Ash one last time and gave him a few more words 
of reassurance.

"Have faith in the League," she whispered to him.

Daisy then addressed the other League members and began giving a 
status report on everything happening at the gym.  All the while, Ash 
sat there and sulked, dismayed that the League didn't agree with his 
views.

"I still say Team Rocket's has to go down today..." Ash muttered under 
his breath.

======

Outside of Viridian City

That night, scores of Pokémon trainers clad in nothing but black masks 
and jumpsuits descended upon the outer boundaries of Team Rocket HQ.  
Somewhere amongst them was Joel Orino, who had a group of operatives 
with him as he tapped on the wireless communicator in his right ear.

"Attention, all teams!  This is Field Commander Operative Orino.  We 
have a green light... all teams advance with Phase Two!  Before dawn 
breaks, Team Rocket... will be no more!"

With that, dozens and dozens of black-clad trainers and their best 
Pokémon charged towards the gates from all sides, ready to finish off 
the evil organization once and for all.

======

Thursday, January 10th, Route 112, Near the Fiery Path Junction

A campsite was set up just south of Mt. Chimney in the grassy plains 
along Route 112.  It was there that a small tent was set up and a 
campfire was going.  Cassie, having recovered from her most recent 
fainting spell, was in the midst of roasting marshmallows with two 
of her Pokémon, Bulbasaur and Meowth, as well as two of Arius', Mr. 
Mime and Venomoth.  As for Arius himself, he had sneaked away to a 
nearby tree with a hole in it, about five feet up from the ground and 
facing towards him.  Reaching inside, he pulled out a piece of paper 
that had been rolled up and secured with a small piece of twine.

He unfurled it and glanced over the message inside, which read as 
follows:

Phase Two will commence tonight at 8 p.m.  Those agents that are not 
part of the operation are to remain on standby at their current 
locations for the next 48 hours.

For further details and instructions, consult your supervising agent.

"So," Arius thought to himself.  "Tonight's the night they go down..."

======

Team Rocket Headquarters

Dozens upon dozens of Pokéballs could be heard opening as agents on 
both sides started up impromptu battles all over the grounds.  Magmar 
grappling with Charizard, Victrebel butting heads with Heracross, 
Flareon, Jolteon, and Vaporeon mixing it up with their brethren 
Umbreon and Espeon... it seemed as if there were hundreds and hundreds 
of different Pokémon duking it out.  An amazing sight to behold, if it 
weren't for the fact that the PTA and TR agents were pushing them to 
their breaking points and beyond.  All for the purpose of wiping the 
other side completely out.

"Houndoom, use Flamethrower!" one TR agent yelled, pointing at a 
trio of Exeggutor.

"Hunter and Gengar!  Night Shade!" exclaimed a PTA operative, 
directing the attacks towards some Girafarig and a Kadabra.

It didn't take long for Pokémon to start dropping, at which point 
they were replaced by other Pokémon.  The battles moved along at a 
fast clip, as trainers on both sides made attempts to go for type 
advantages and eliminate opponents quickly based on that strategy.

As the battles raged on, they were unaware that they were being 
watched from the command center inside the base.  And the one 
commanding them smirked, that person's yellow blond curls the only 
other part of the face visible looking towards that dark corner of 
the room.

======

Meanwhile, Joel was leading a small squadron of four into one of 
the inner buildings.  One of them had also called out his Mankey 
to lead the way, just in case they ran into trouble.

And it only took them turning around one corner to find it...

"It figures..." stated the lone Team Rocket operative standing in 
their way; a Pokéball firmly in his left hand.

"I should've expected to see you here, brother," Joel said aloud.

"So, this is the biggest operation in PTA's short history, huh?" 
commented Jude as he smiled evilly.  "Big mistake... that short 
history will end here and now!"

"Mankey!" the agent behind Joel said, about to shout an order.  
"Use..."

"That won't be necessary," Joel cut in, raising his arm in front of 
the anxious Mankey.  "I'll take care of him myself."

"HA!  Big words coming from someone who lost the last time."

"If I remember correctly, it was your men being carried off to the 
slammer.  Not mine.  And this time..."

Joel threw out a Pokéball, and out of it emerged his Forretress.

"Forretress!" the bagworm Pokémon chirped.

"Boss, let us help..." the Mankey trainer shouted, before getting 
cut off again.

"No.  Remember, this just isn't about revenge tonight."

"Awww..." Jude smirked, catching on.  "So not only do you want to see 
us destroyed, but there's also something you want from us as well!"

"GO!"

Without hesitation, Joel's three operatives turned about and ran the 
other way, off to complete this 'secondary' mission.

"Let me guess... three low-level recruits?  Whatever they're after, 
they won't get to it.  This is the home base of the most devious 
organization in the world... Team Rocket!"

"The only person you should be worried about... is me!  And my 
Forretress!"

Jude nodded his head.  "For once you're correct."

"Heh... as the older brother, I'm always correct."

"So says you!" Jude yelled as he tossed his Pokéball.

The Pokéball collided with the ground, bursting open in an instant to 
release... a Skarmory!

"I'd like you to meet my Skarmory.  I just caught it the other day."

"Hmmm..." Joel thought aloud.  "That must mean it's weak."

"Weak?  Hardly!  Skarmory, Fury Attack!"

Skarmory flew straight at Forretress, planning to knock its block 
off.

"Forretress, Defense Curl!"

Forretress complied, shutting its shell closed just as Skarmory's 
left wing struck it.  Skarmory continued to pound away several times 
more, with Forretress staying curled up in that defensive position.  
Once Skarmory stopped, Joel saw the opportunity to go on the 
offensive.

"Now, go into a Rapid Spin!"

Forretress nodded, then spun around and around, heading in Skarmory's 
direction.  Considering the cramped confines of the corridor, Skarmory 
had no choice but to take the attack head-on, since there was no room 
to evade it.

"Is that all you got?" Jude yelled, unfazed by what had just 
transpired.

"We've servin' up more right now!" Joel shouted.  "Forretress, Take 
Down!"

"Beat it to the punch, Skarmory!  Agility!  Then, Drill Peck!"

The two Pokémon charged towards each other, colliding head-on as both 
employed their brute strength to gain the advantage over the other...

======

"Bring in that Voltorb and Electrode squad!" exclaimed a PTA 
operative.  "This headquarters is going dow..."

He never got to finish his sentence, as he was suddenly struck down 
thanks to a bullet to the head from about a hundred feet away.  It 
didn't take long for the sounds of several dozen more gunshots filled 
the air, as a large platoon of Team Rocket Grunts, all armed with 
shotgun rifles, had opened fire on the PTA agents.  Caught off 
guard, many of the PTA's operatives and their Pokémon were dead or 
dying on the ground before they knew it.

"Shield and rifle patrols, move in!" yelled another PTA agent.

Moving in reinforcements of their own, the PTA scrambled to protect 
their heavily exposed agents as well as provide them with the chance 
to return fire.  And they quickly took it, as some parts of the 
battlefield turned into a firefight.  Some Pokémon moved to protect 
their trainers, using Reflect and other similar moves to shield them 
from harm.  Others continued to engage in several groups of battles 
untainted by gunfire so far.

Though both sides were still quickly taking injuries and casualties, 
the battle overall was practically even, with no clear advantage to 
either side.

But one side was ready to change all that...

"Release them," ordered Team Rocket's battle commander from inside 
the Command Center.

Two ear-piercing screeches could be heard from the sky.  Several PTA 
operatives took a moment to look up... and went they did, they 
suddenly wished they hadn't.

"Oh my gosh!" one yelled.  "What are THOSE?"

One of them appeared to be a Yanma at first glance, yet it also had 
the snout-like nose of a Swinub and the tusks of a Piloswine!  The 
other had the body of a Dragonite, but the skin color and wings of an 
Aerodactyl!

The smaller of the two quickly dived towards the front line, using 
Blizzard to freeze a good portion of the PTA's agents in their 
tracks.  As it did that, the larger one started charging up for Hyper 
Beam in that general area.

"Take that thing down!" yelled one of the PTA squad leaders.

Three Meganium, lined up all next to each other, started charging up 
for Solar Beam.  They were joined by a pair of Lapras, who were ready 
to launch Hydro Pump, and a Raichu, who was charging up to release a 
huge Thunderbolt!

"Ready... FIRE!"

The six Pokémon fired as if they were one, their attacks intertwining 
with each other in mid-air as they flew towards the combination 
Dragonite-Aerodactyl.  The targeted Pokémon responded by firing its 
Hyper Beam, which tore through that mix of solar power, concentrated 
water, and electrifying energy, and dissipated it all.  It then 
completed its flight path, coming down almost directly in front of 
the six attacking Pokémon.

Those Pokémon, all of the frozen bodies in front of them, and almost 
everything within a quarter of mile was completely eradicated.  In 
a flash, nearly 200 humans and Pokémon had perished; thrice as many 
more were injured to various degrees with everything from minor 
burns to limbs and other body parts that had been completely 
destroyed, if not severed and/or damaged beyond repair.  Needless to 
say, those PTA agents not in the blast radius were frightened at this 
new development.  Heck, even a good number of Team Rocket's grunts 
were shaking in their boots, as many of them didn't even know what to 
expect.  That was made apparent by the fact that they had lost a good 
deal of their own teammates as well in the blast.

"What... power!" stated one of the shocked TR Grunts.

One of the PTA agents turned on his communicator unit and started 
yelling new commands into it.

"Get me all the heavy-fire Pokémon you can!  Shoot those monstrosities 
OUT OF THE SKY!"

======

Forretress and Skarmory had fainted at the exact same time, 
leaving the first round between brothers on opposite sides of the 
battle with a draw.  They quickly recalled their Pokémon as they 
heard the rumblings of explosions from outside and spotted small 
pieces of the walls and the ceiling falling apart.

"You never let me win easily, do you?" said Joel with a twisted 
smile.

"This coming from the guy thinking he's entitled to winning 'cause 
he's the older brother," Jude replied.

"Round two?" Joel asked, pulling another Pokéball out.

"Round two!" Jude smirked, doing likewise.

And with that, Weezing and Magmar appeared before the two trainers, 
respectively.

"READY TO TURN IT UP?"

"BRING IT!"

"SMOG!" the two yelled simultaneously.

The two Pokémon went to work quickly filling the corridor with 
artery-clogging smoke, making it hard for both Pokémon and trainer 
alike to see or breathe.

======

Hyper Beams aplenty were being shot from the ground and up towards 
the two cross-bred Pokémon flying above.  The Yanma-Swinub-Piloswine 
hybrid fired an Ice Beam down towards the firing squad, but the 
attack was stopped by two Jynx, who absorbed the ice attack in an 
instant.  Meanwhile, the combination Dragonite-Aerodactyl just 
circled above the battlefield, more or less observing and dodging 
any attempts to bring it down.

Two Snorlax, an Octillery, and a Gyarados continued firing Hyper 
Beam as often as their bodies would allow, but they were beginning to 
show signs of exhaustion.  An Electrode and an Ampharos were 
protecting them with Light Screen, but they too were tiring.

One of the PTA commanders was watching the whole scene unfold and 
continually screaming orders into his communications radio.

"Don't tell me we're running low on reserves!  Any agent that has a 
Pokémon that can use Hyper Beam or some attack just as strong needs to 
get over here to the south side and take these freaks of nature down!"

Suddenly, a black tulip was thrown to the ground, landing just a few 
feet in front of the commander and the few soldiers still standing 
around him.

"What the..."

Then, two more were thrown, this time right at the operatives!  Before 
they knew the tulips burst into nets, ensnaring the PTA agents and 
pinning them to the ground.  And with no way out, apparently, as the 
net's wires had a powerful purple-colored electric charge running 
through them.

The men looked on in fear as the owner of the tulips appeared before 
them with a sadistic smile on her face.  She seemed to be dressed just 
like any ordinary female Team Rocket agent, yet the white beanie cap 
that covered a good portion of her golden, curly locks suggested 
otherwise.

Not to mention the pointy black tulip she held in her left hand.

"You're the best the Pokémon Trainers' Association can offer?  Tsk 
tsk... I guess Team Rocket was right in letting your founders go off 
on their own.  Because they just weren't 'world domination' material."

"How dare you speak of our organization like that!" the commander 
shouted.  "We're nothing like you!"

She smirked and flicked both of her hands back and forth.  Just like 
that, the one pointy tulip had become eight.  Then, without warning, 
she flung them at the trapped prey before her, killing them as the 
points pierced vital organs and the like.

"Exactly."

In the background, most of the aforementioned Pokémon fighting force 
were flung about in several directions as if they were rag dolls, as 
they were all on the receiving end of another Dragonite-Aerodactyl 
massive Hyper Beam.

======

"Fire Punch!"

"Slow it down with Sludge!"

Magmar charged forward, rearing back with his right arm.  Approaching 
the blast of mucky sludge, Magmar punched forward and through it with 
relative ease.  Weezing gasped in shock, now that he was wide open for 
an attack.

"DO IT!" Joel yelled.

Magmar drilled Weezing in the face with Fire Punch, sending the poison 
Pokémon flying into the side wall.

"Weez..." Weezing trailed off, a pained look on his face.

"Hang in there!" Jude said to his Pokémon.  "We can still win this!"

"Not if I can help it!" exclaimed Joel.  "Magmar, let's finish this!  
Another Fire Punch!"

"Mar!"

Magmar charged forward again.  But this time, Weezing was ready for 
him.

"Okay, Weezing, use Smog!"

Weezing puffed out a cloud of poisonous smoke at Magmar.  The 
fire-type ran into it and was stopped dead in his tracks.

"Magmar!"

"Ha ha ha!  Looks like the battle's over for you, brother!"

Weezing then began to glow yellow... a glow that grew brighter and 
brighter very rapidly.  Before Magmar could guess what was going on, 
Weezing self-destructed, resulting in an explosion that quickly 
filled the hallway with smoke and cause the already deteriorating 
ceiling and walls to come apart even more.

"Koff koff!"

"Sir... SIR!"

Joel turned about and saw the three agents that had run off minutes 
ago had returned, all with a few wounds and such, but otherwise okay.

"Secondary mission complete, sir!"

Joel nodded in response.  "And the primary?"

"Unfortunately, not so good.  You see..."

Joel raised his hand up to stop him.  "Should've figured... we waited 
too long.  How bad is it?"

The agent pulled out a small carrying case and took five rewritable 
CDs out of it, numbered from one to five.

"And that's just what we could get without having to break through 
encryption codes in the database.  We just didn't have the time."

"So it is worse than I thought.  Hmmm... okay.  We're pulling out.  
Radio to the forces to retreat to rendezvous points C, D, and E."

The young operative looked past Joel and into the smoke.

"But what about..."

Joel pulled out Magmar's Pokéball and recalled it.

"Okay, Magmar, we're done here!  Good job!"

Magmar crawled out of the smoke just as he was drawn back inside his 
Pokéball.

"Are you retreating?" Jude yelled angrily from the other side of the 
smoke cloud.

"Let's just call it 'living to fight another day.'"

With that, Joel pocketed the Pokéball and then tossed out a small 
black orb, which he threw up at the ceiling above.

"I'd not come after me if I were you, brother!"

Joel and his team then headed out the way they came, just as the 
poisonous smoke cloud was beginning to dissipate.

"What are you talking about?  Get back HERE!"

As Jude took a step forward, the orb attached to the ceiling exploded, 
causing a small cave-in that was enough to block the hallway and also 
take out the lights as well.  Jude had managed to avoid the falling 
debris, but he now had no way to chase after his brother.  Frustrated 
by his failure, he kicked Weezing, who was lying on the floor 
unconscious, into the newly piled mound of rubble.

======

And with that, the remaining Pokémon Trainers' Association operatives 
retreated for the hills, escaping from the grounds of Team Rocket's 
headquarters.  A few Team Rocket grunts gave chase, but most were 
content to lick their wounds and be thankful they were more than able 
to avoid complete annihilation at the hands of a rival organization.  
The two hybrid Pokémon flied back towards their nest on the opposite 
side of the headquarters.

As for the golden-haired agent who had taken many lives that day 
single-handedly, she was hovering about 200 feet in the air using a 
rocket jetpack, as she observed the PTA's withdrawal.  As she did, 
a familiar voice rang out over her radio.

"Domino!  Status report!"

"Yes, sir," she replied.  "Preliminary reports indicate that only 
35 percent of the opposition's forces escaped without serious 
injury or death.  Ours is a more respectable 75 percent.  No official 
reports on structural damage as of yet, but from here it looks like 
they got a few buildings on the south side... the first-level R & D 
labs and Pokémon indoor training facilities."

"Very well.  Enact Emergency Plan B-29."

"At once, sir!"

======

Once at a safe distance, Joel gazed upon the compound from afar using 
a pair of binoculars.  He noted that Team Rocket was already in the 
process of cleaning the mess left by the huge battle.  With that 
settled, he lowered his binoculars and addressed his fellow squad 
commanders behind him.

"It looks like they're gonna try to cover the whole incident up 
before word spreads to the authorities."

"All the more reason to go back in there and finish them off!" one of 
them retorted.

"If you hadn't noticed, McGray, we were getting our butts kicked out 
there once they pulled out their cross-breeds.  And we don't have 
nearly the amount of forces in place to counter them.  We're better 
off living to fight another day.  Even if it means we'll have to 
find their main headquarters all over again."

"Very well, sir."

"Besides, I'd like to think all of those men and 'mon down there 
didn't sacrifice their lives for nothing.  After all, we did 
complete our secondary objective.  At least with that, we're even 
closer to finding the 'legendary' trainers than we were before.  
Team Rocket may have one... but we'll beat them to the other four!"

======

Friday, January 11th, Indigo Plateau

The following morning, the League was in the midst of their second 
day of meetings as they were interrupted by Bruno, who was giving 
them a live report from Viridian City.

"As you may have heard, fellow gym leaders, several homeowners from 
the outskirts of Viridian reported sounds of explosions and the 
like.  After substantiating the reports, I was led here..."

Bruno repositioned the camera so that everyone could see the 
clearing where Team Rocket's headquarters stood the night before.  
Only now, it had been pretty much abandoned, and many of the 
damaged buildings had been demolished.

"It looks there was a huge battle here last night, with Team Rocket 
trying to defend their turf from somebody.  We don't know who, but 
it has to be somebody or some organization with the firepower to 
match up with Team Rocket.  It seems that Team Rocket won, but 
probably felt that their location had been or would be compromised 
as a result.  So, they packed up as much as they could and left."

"And we're assuming they won because..." Lance started, trying to 
get a straighter answer out of Bruno.

"A huge amount of human and Pokémon prints entering and leaving the 
grounds from the compound's south side.  We believe this was the 
invasion force.  But there's so many prints on top of each other 
that we may never know just how large they were in number."

"So, theoretically, the force could've been anywhere from five to 
500 trainers... and their Pokémon."

"Exactly."

"Who could this force be?" many of the League members murmured 
amongst themselves.

"Could it be?" Ash thought to himself.  "Would it be?"

"The fact that they decide to move out as quickly as they did means 
whomever attacked them potentially has the resources to engage in 
secondary and tertiary attacks on the compound at a later date," 
Lance deduced.

"It seems that way," Bruno nodded in agreement.

"How could they move the headquarters of a huge organization like 
Team Rocket's in one night?" Agatha asked in rash disbelief.

"No clue, but they could have had a contingency plan in place for 
emergencies such as that.  And they did a very good job... all we're 
finding in the buildings is random trash and a fully-stocked pantry 
or two."

"That's it?" questioned Lance.

"Oh, wait... there was this too."

Bruno showed off a framed photograph of Giovanni in a group picture 
of about 15 to 20 uniformed Team Rocket agents.  Everyone gasped in 
shock at this proof that a gym leader was definitively working 
hand-in-hand with an organization determined to bring them down.

"What did I tell you!" Morty yelled, jumping out of his seat.  
"Giovanni's done nothing but soil the reputation of the Pokémon 
League and the gyms!  I say we should revoke his gym leader powers 
immediately and shut the Viridian gym down completely!"

"That's, like, goes without question!" Daisy added.

"That's unbelievable!" exclaimed Lt. Surge.  "Besmirching the 
good name of the Pokémon League!  I ought to give that Giovanni a 
piece of my mind!"

"Fairly quick turnaround for someone who wanted to wait for a fair 
investigation yesterday," Morty reminded him.

"Well, I didn't believe it until now!"

"To be fair, Giovanni cannot be completely stripped of his powers 
until the conclusion of a fair and thorough investigation..."

"Screw that!" Surge yelled.  "That photo's proof enough!"

"Yeah!" yelled all of the gym leaders in the room.

"WILL YOU LET HIM FINISH, YOU INGRATES?" Agatha shouted at them all.

The room went dead silent.

"Uh... thank you, Agatha.  As I was about to say, but given the 
physical evidence as presented by Bruno, it is the decision of the 
Elite Four that the Viridian Gym cease operations until further 
notice.  Giovanni's gym leader license is also suspended indefinitely, 
and he will not be allowed to perform any duties related to the 
position until such suspension is lifted."

"Though given what we know," Agatha cut in, "he could definitely be 
facing the revocation of not only his gym leader license, but his 
trainer's license as well!  Not to mention the many laws the 
authorities could book him on, potentially putting him in prison for 
the rest of his life!"

"Does this mean the end of Team Rocket?" Whitney wondered aloud.

"It's too soon to tell, but this is a big step towards accomplishing 
that goal at long last!"

"Hooray!" many of the gym leaders cheered.

Ash smiled in relief.

"Finally... Team Rocket will soon be taken care of once and for all!"

======

About an hour later, the League's monthly meeting came to an end, 
and the gym leaders and Elite Four members dispersed to head back to 
their respective hometowns.  There were a few stragglers, as they 
were dragged into personal conversations off to the side.

Among them was Lance, who was still up at the podium and talking to 
Morty, who was endlessly thanking him for finally taking action on 
Giovanni and his dealings with Team Rocket.  At that point, Lt. Surge 
approached them, with a two-finger-width manila folder in hand.

"Could I have a word with you, sir?" Surge asked.

"Very well," Lance replied before turning to Morty.  "I'll make sure 
personally that you're on the investigation team."

"Thank you, sir."

With that, Morty bowed his head to Lance and Surge, and then headed 
out of the room.

"What is it, Surge?"

"These files that Miss Erika was working on... the ones you gave me 
to pick up her research?"

"Yes?"

"Well, apparently she was onto something big when... the whole 
incident happened.  Remember when she originally reported that 
after a person embedded with these 'possession' powers dies after 
accessing that ability three times?"

"Yes, I remember her reminding me and the rest of the Elite Four about 
that incessantly.  Your point?"

"The point IS, sir, that there's a way to tell when someone has 
already done it twice!"

"How?"

Lt. Surge opened the file to the top page and plopped it down on the 
podium.  Lance quickly skimmed through it, his eyes racing past line 
after line until he found a bit of information that was new to him.

"And you're sure of this?"

Surge nodded.  "Without a doubt!  The next three pages are archived 
testimonials of people who had a loved one that had this ability."

"So there is something to all of those news reports after all!"

"That's right!  It turns out that anyone who has used this ability 
twice already can be easily spotted by an obvious side effect!"

Lance put the file down and looked up to the lights, aware of what 
Surge was getting at.

"They're prone to constant fainting!"

======

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

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

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

Croconaw fired a steady stream of water towards Vaporeon.

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

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

"Time to Bite!"

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

"Go for the Slash, Croconaw!"

"Quick, Vaporeon!  Sand Attack!"

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

"Now... Aurora Beam!"

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

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

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

"Thanks for the battle!  You were great!"

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

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

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

"Keep it!" the Vaporeon trainer yelled back.

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

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

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

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

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

"What?  Is that a yes?"

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

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

======

Thursday, January 31st, Indigo Plateau

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

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

"Pika!" Pikachu exclaimed.

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

"Thundershock, on all of those targets!"

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

"Use Agility to dodge!"

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

"Now try Double Team!  Confuse those things!"

"Chu!"

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

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

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

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

"Pikachu, use THUNDER!"

"Pika... CHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

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

Right where he wanted to be.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

======

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

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

That someone else being Misty Waterflower, his girlfriend.

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

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

"Chansey!"

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

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

"Waahhh!  It's from Misty!"

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

-Dear Ash-

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

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

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

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

With love (hopefully),

-Misty.-

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

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

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

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

======

Vermilion City Gym

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

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

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

"Could it... be?"

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

"Heh heh... BINGO!"

======

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Well..."

======

After a minute or two of explaining...

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

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

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

Ash scratched his head, not quite getting it.

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

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

"Of course!"

"Alright!"

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

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

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

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

"No, sir!"

"Well, then, good luck in Saffron!"

"Thank you!  Goodbye!"

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

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

======

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

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

"Yes, sir!  Some very good information!"

"Such as?"

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

"The what now?"

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

"Okay... give me one minute."

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

"THE_CANDIDATES.doc is the one you wanna open first.  That's the most 
important one."

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Indeed."

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

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

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

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

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

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

"But..."

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

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

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

"But Erika seems to think she did."

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

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

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

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

"And we have proof?"

"Uh... no.  Nothing."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"How?"

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

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

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

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

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

======

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

"You ready to see Misty again, Pikachu?"

"Pika!"

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

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


******


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


******


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

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

And Daisy is cackle-worthy wearing sunglasses at night.

Here's an introduction of another character that was in the 
"Adventures Series."  It's Peddler Judy, the Poké-Mart equivalent of 
Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny!  That's pretty much all you need to 
know about her character-wise, but she has the same quirks as the 
Joys and Jennys.  There's many of them, they all look the same, and 
there's at least one in every major city in the world.  Well, the 
Pokémon world, anyway.

If you're curious to see Judy's first and only appearance before this, 
go check out "Adventures Series" Episode 18, "Dreams Do Come True, 
Part 1: Playing by the Rules."  Which you can only find on my website 
(hint hint).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


******

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

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