A Promise of Darkness - My return to the pokemon fandom

[Kinglerlord2]

Just so it can be seen:

Be advised that this fic may contain violence, occasional language and other potentially distressing scenes. Read at your own discretion.

OK so it's not really that spectacular of a return seeing as how very few people on this board have any idea who I am or know anything about the other stuff I've written. :-D

For those who have: I apologise if you came here looking for decent writing because it seems that I no longer possess the ability to write decently. That is one reason why I'm writing this fic, to find my talent again. (assuming of course that I possessed any to begin with)

The other reason I write this is because I have recently reaquianted myself with the pokemon episodes, slowly making my way through them from the very beginning and I've fallen in love all over again. (21 on the outside, 12 on the inside :-D)

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This first post will be a chapter index similar to that used by Damian Silverblade. I hope you don't mind me using your idea Damian, it's just neater and more efficient. It will also serve as a news post in case there's some random information I feel you need to know.

25/8/2003: Not much new to say except that I didn't give this a rating and probably should have. My last big fic had some really gory scenes in it, I doubt this one will follow that path but be warned that there will still be some pretty disturbing scenes if all goes to plan.

4/8/2003: Sorry about the delay between chapters there people. There probably won't be chapter titles because I'm uncreative and nothing happens in these chapters anyway.

Chapter Index:

Prologue
Chapter 1 - A Face of the Shadows
Chapter 2
Chapter 3

 

[Kinglerlord2]

A Promise of Darkness​

By Kinglerlord2​

Prologue

The early morning sun sat just above the peaks surrounding the famous, yet humbly so, town of Pallet. All over town the dew that had settled overnight on the early spring blooms reflected the sunlight, making the town glimmer.

Professor Samuel Oak, renowned professor in the pokémon field, especially in the Kanto region, had been awake hours before the first Dodrio’s call and now waited patiently at the gate of his laboratory for the arrival of Pallet town’s new trainers. The four youths would be receiving their starting pokémon from him to begin their journey towards whatever goal they had set themselves. He gave a small smile as two of them came sprinting excitedly towards him.
“Good morning Jason, good morning Kate.” He greeted the two thirteen year olds cordially. “All set to start are you?”
“Absolutely Professor!” Jason nodded eagerly. “I can’t wait to get going!” Despite his age, Jason was a very solidly built youth, an image that was in sharp contrast to his ‘gentle as a kitten’ nature. Jason’s dark brown hair sat in a random mess atop his head. His friend Kate had her own jet black hair tied back in a neat ponytail.
“Are you two going to be traveling together?” Oak asked.
“For a while at least.” Kate said calmly, removing her sunglasses and fixing him with a stunning emerald gaze. “We’ll see how it goes.”
Oak nodded in approval. “Ah! Here come the other two.”
Two more young males were coming towards them, not sprinting as Jason and Kate had done but there was a definite eagerness in their pace.
“Bill, Andrew.” The professor nodded to the two new arrivals and smiled warmly. “Okay, now that we’re all here let’s head inside.”

He led them to a large room that was cobalt blue from floor to ceiling and whose walls where lined with sophisticated looking equipment. In the centre of the room sat a small podium, upon which sat four gleaming red and white pokéballs. The four trainers gathered around it excitedly.
Oak stood by a computer near the wall. “This computer will randomly put your names into an order; this order will determine who gets to choose first. The pokémon choices are Charmander, Squirtle, Bulbasaur and Vulpix.” He pressed a key and the four names were displayed, Jason first then Bill, Kate and finally Andrew.
Jason eagerly grabbed a pokéball from the podium. “I’m taking Charmander!” He exclaimed.
Bill reached out and picked up Bulbasaur’s pokéball. “Grass type for me.” He said coolly.
Kate sat contemplating for a moment and finally decided on Squirtle; Andrew took the remaining pokéball containing Vulpix.

Tracey, Professor Oak’s assistant, came into the room with four packages and handed one to each of the new trainers.
“In those packages,” Oak explained, “are your pokédex and six pokéballs to get you started.” He walked into an adjacent room and the others followed. The massive room was lined with shelves, most of them filled with pokéballs. Behind him came the collective gasp of the four trainers.
“Here is where all of the pokémon are stored when the trainers from Pallet Town catch them. The pokémon are allowed to roam free at the back of this lab. Just the pokéballs are kept here. And here are your shelves.” He gestured to four empty ones, each shelf containing hundreds of empty pokéball cavities.
The look on Jason’s face betrayed his intimidation.
“I have to fill all of them?”

Oak chuckled. “You’ve got many years ahead of you to do that, I wouldn’t let it worry you.”
“Could we see Ash Ketchum and Gary Oak’s shelves?” Bill asked curiously, referring to the two young pokémon masters that were idolized by all of the Pallet trainers.
The professor gave a small smile and led them to another series of shelves. All four trainers gave out vocal, awe inspired comments as they saw shelf after shelf of pokéballs under both masters’ names.
“Unreal.” Oak heard Andrew mutter.
“What you see there is fourteen years of dedicated pokémon training. “If your goal is to become a pokémon master as well, you could very well achieve something similar.” He hustled them from the room. “Come now you need to get going before it gets too much later into the day.”
He and Tracey walked the group to the gate.
“Good luck to all of you.” He said smiling.
“Remember, if things aren’t going your way, don’t get disheartened.” Tracey added. “Even masters have their bad days.”
“Keep in touch.” Oak said seriously. “I want to hear regular reports from you all on your progress.”
The four trainers headed away from Pallet town waving to the Professor and Tracey.
“What do you think?” Tracey asked as the trainers turned a corner out of sight.
The Professor didn’t respond. He stood staring at the spot where the trainers had disappeared from view, looking deep in thought. Tracey studied his mentor quietly for a moment. Over the years the professor’s hair had turned completely white and wrinkles had gathered at the corners of his eyes, though this was a sign of the troubled times more than his age.

“It looks like Ash and Gary were right again this year.” Tracey said trying to get a response from his mentor.
“So it seems.” The Professor replied. “Speaking of which, we should call Ash and tell him the news.”
“Shall I go attend to the pokémon?”
Oak turned to his assistant. “No, you’d better come with me, if there’s any news it’s better that we both hear it directly.”

Misty Ketchum, Ash’s wife and the gym leader of Cerulean City answered the call. Her face broke into a wide smile when she saw the Professor and Tracey.
“Hello Misty.” Oak said genially. “How are things at the gym?”
“Everything’s fine here at the moment I guess. All the gym leaders have been pulled out of operations for now to give us time to focus on our gym duties.”
Oak nodded. “I heard about that. It’s been disturbingly quiet in most of the Kanto area lately.”
Misty’s face darkened slightly. “Yeah, it’s making me nervous to be perfectly honest. I’m concerned that something really big is about to happen.” Her face darkened further and a cold fury burned in her eyes. “Ash is as busy as hell, and the lack of action is only making his workload larger, not smaller. We’ve barely seen each other at all in the last two months.”
Oak nodded solemnly. “It must be very hard on you.”
Misty sighed. “That’s life I suppose. It’d be nice if I could see some sort of end in sight but it doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen anytime soon. Hang on, I think I hear Ash coming.” She turned her attention off screen for a moment. “Ash honey, Professor Oak’s on the phone. Here he comes Professor; I hope I’ll see you both soon.”
“Goodbye Misty.” Oak replied. Misty rose from the chair and was replaced by Ash who was grinning broadly but couldn’t hide the tiredness in his eyes. His untidy black hair had not changed from his youth nor had his clothing really. He still frequented a tight black t-shirt but had replaced the blue jacket with white sleeves with a collared black open vest bordered with red; his open fingered gloves too were now black with red wrists.

“How are you Professor, Tracey?” He said jovially. “I assume you’re calling to inform me about the new trainers?”
Oak nodded. “I am indeed.”
“And?”
The professor sighed. “We rigged the system so that Jason would get first choice and, as you and Gary both predicted, he chose Charmander.”
Ash clapped his hands together. “Excellent. What were the excitement levels like?”
“Jason was definitely the most enthusiastic.” Tracey said. “He was a bit daunted by all the empty slots on his pokéball storage shelf but when we showed the trainers yours and Gary’s shelves, the determination in his eyes was unmistakable.”
Ash nodded. “He’s a real potential just like Gary and I said. What were the other pairings?”
“Bill went second and chose Bulbasaur, then Kate took Squirtle leaving Andrew with Vulpix.”
Ash tapped a finger against his lips. “Hmm I picked Bill taking Squirtle but those pairings are pretty good anyway.” He pulled out a piece of paper and wrote the pairings down. “I’ll pass this info on to Gary when I see him.”
“Speaking of Gary…” Oak trailed off hopefully, wanting any information on his grandson.
Ash sighed. “I wish I could tell you something Professor, anything, but I can’t, his location and current mission is maximum security information. All I can say is that he should be back by the end of the month. I’m sorry I can’t say more…”
Oak nodded. “I understand. Any theories on the inactivity?”
Ash scowled. “Several. All of them aren’t very nice. Team Rocket hasn’t been this quiet in years, not since they started going all out with these massive operations. It’s really disconcerting and the team is in overdrive trying to figure out what the hell is going on.”
“What about Carrada?”
Ash’s scowl darkened. “That slimy bastard gave us the slip again; our agents lost him near Vermillion City, he always seems to be one step ahead of us. Still, I suppose that’s why he’s a high ranking Rocket agent. How’s everything there?”
“Everything’s fine here, yours and Gary’s pokémon are better than any security system I could come up with, anything unwanted wouldn’t be able to get ten meters into the property by air, land, water or even underground.”
Ash nodded. “Good. And the underground refuge shelters?”
“I check the entrances everyday to make sure they aren’t obstructed.” Tracey said. “The pokémon are keeping a constant vigil on them too.”
“Excellent, let me know at once if anything changes. I’ll only be here for another day or so but if you contact Misty she can get any messages to me pretty quickly.”
“Where are you off to this time?” Tracey inquired.
Ash ran a hand over his face. “I’ve got a few top secret affairs to take care of and then depending on how events play out I might be in Viridian City. With the next championships only three months away I’ve got to help organize security for that plus Giovanni, the Viridian Gym leader is holding some special conference or dinner or something along those lines next week for pokémon trainers who have got their minimum eight badges and are waiting for the championships to begin.”
“Sounds like he’s almost inviting Team Rocket to crash the party.” Tracey said.
“Yeah well everyone’s trying their best to keep things as normal as possible even with the high probability of Rocket interference.” He looked to his right to something off screen. “Look, you guys’ll have to excuse me, as I said I’ve only got about two more days here with Misty and even with that I’m having to juggle time around work so I’m trying to make the most of it.”
Oak smiled. “Go ahead Ash, thanks for the info.”
“Take care of yourselves.” Ash hung up and Tracey watched as Professor Oak stared at the blank screen, again deep in thought.

“It’s amazing.” Tracey said to break the silence. “We’re almost in a full on war with Team Rocket but young trainers are still willing to go out and venture through the world on pokémon journeys.”
“It’s like Ash said.” Oak replied still staring blankly. “Everyone’s trying to keep things as normal as possible in a time of turmoil.” He was silent for a moment. “It is dangerous for the young trainers to be out there though; perhaps we should send the new Pallet trainers a strong pokémon to accompany them. I’m sure Ash and Gary wouldn’t mind donating a few of their pokémon to the cause.”
Tracey sighed. “If only we could go back to how it was even ten years ago. I’d feel a whole lot better about sending inexperienced trainers out on their own.”
Oak nodded. “Indeed. However these times will provide the trainers with some extremely difficult challenges and will definitely show us who the future pokémon masters will be.”

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Told you it was bad. Evil dialogue heavy chapters.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

Sounds cool so far. The only quibble I have is thusly:

Originally posted by Kinglerlord2
Ash ran a hand over his face. “I’ve got a few top secret affairs to take care of and then depending on how events play out I might be in Viridian City. With the next championships only three months away I’ve got to help organize security for that plus Giovanni, the Viridian Gym leader is holding some special conference or dinner or something along those lines next week for pokémon trainers who have got their minimum eight badges and are waiting for the championships to begin.”
“Sounds like he’s almost inviting Team Rocket to crash the party.” Tracey said.

But...Ash, at least, already knows that Giovanni is the TR leader. Remember Mewtwo Returns? Ash didn't forget that.

 

[Fig]

Dialogue-heavy isn'T a vice ; in fact its probably one of the most efficient way to have what's termed "exposition". Slipping the information in what the characters have to tell each other is a pretty good way to start a story.

It's amusing how the first half of the chapter almost sounded like the beginning of a trainer fic, yet the second the phone call to Misty took place we fell right out of that and right in what looks more like the beginning of a Pokemon Master-style story.

 

[Kinglerlord2]

BJ: Gah! I knew that was going to bite me on the ass! I haven't seen Mewtwo Returns! ^^;; Oh well I've just had a quick discussion with Damian and I might just be able to work around it. Nothing like having to unexpectedly add a plot twist.

Damian: I thought it would be a nice little quirk to make the readers think it would be an evil trainer fic :-D in all honesty I haven't fully decided what path this fic will take, there'll be a bit of focus on the new trainers but it definitely won't be a dominating part of the story.

 

[Kinglerlord2]

Chapter 1 – A Face of the Shadows

Jason sighed in relief as the cool air conditioning flooded over him and the sliding doors to the pokémon centre in Viridian City slid closed, blocking the heat of the late afternoon sun. He wiped the sweat off his brow with his arm and walked towards the desk, Kate following closely behind.
“It feels like summer is here already!” He said to Nurse Joy as he placed three pokéballs on the desk. Kate placed four beside his. “Could you heal our pokémon please?”
The pokémon nurse smiled and placed the trainer’s pokéballs on separate trays.
“Sure thing. You two are from Pallet town aren’t you?”
“Uh… yeah.” Jason said incredulously. “How’d you know that?”
“Professor Oak asked me to keep an eye out for you. The other two trainers were here yesterday, they headed for Pewter City this morning. Anyway Professor Oak wanted me to get you to call him as soon as you got in. There are phones on the wall over there.” She indicated to a row of green phone booths and then retreated through a door, carrying their pokéballs.

Jason raised an eyebrow at Kate. “What do you think he wants?”
The other shrugged. “Beats me. He did tell us to report in regularly. Maybe he’s just making sure that we do.”
The two wandered over to the phones and dialed the lab’s number. Tracey’s face appeared after a few rings.
“Oh hi guys!” He said cheerfully. “I’m glad to see you’re ok, we were starting to worry.”
“Nurse Joy told us to call Professor Oak.” Jason explained.
“Yeah, I’ll get to that in a second. Professor Oak is out at the moment, he wanted me to get a list of the pokémon you’ve caught.”
“I’ve caught a Nidoran, a Spearow and a Weedle.” Kate said beaming.
“I’ve got a Bellsprout and a Pidgey.” Jason said. “It’s a pity that Nurse Joy has our pokémon, my Pidgey is super tough and has these weird markings. I’ll have to show it to you later.”
Tracey raised an eyebrow. “Sounds interesting. I’d like to see that. But now onto business. The Professor and I are concerned about your well being with Team Rocket running around like they are so we’ve decided to send you a little security. I’m about to send both of you a pokémon each from either Gary or Ash’s collection. We’ve explained the situation to them so you’ll have no problems with them not obeying you.”
Jason’s eyes grew wide, something Tracey obviously saw. “It’s absolutely imperative that you understand that these pokémon are for your defense only. You aren’t to use these pokémon in normal pokémon battles. As such they won’t count in the six pokémon limit.”
There was a small crackling sound and a pokéball materialized in a slot beside the phone.
“That one’s Kate’s.” Tracey explained. “Yours is coming now.”
Another pokéball appeared and Jason removed it from the slot.
“Now you both understand what I’ve told you?” Tracey asked sternly. “You may not be aware of this but Professor Oak can sometimes have a nasty temper. If he hears that you’re using those pokémon for anything other than defense then I wouldn’t want to be you in that situation.”
Jason nodded firmly. “We understand.”
Tracey smiled. “Good luck guys. Call us whenever you can so that we know you’re ok.”

The screen went blank and Jason turned to Kate with a raised eyebrow. Kate shrugged in response.
“I guess we should have a look at what we were sent so we can think quickly if we need to use them.” Jason said slowly.
“In other words ‘I wanna look! I wanna look!’” Kate said with a grin.
Jason grinned back and released the pokémon from the pokéball he held in his hand. The grin was replaced instantly with a hanging jaw. A towering mass of fur and claws stared down at him.
Jason sat down heavily and gaped, trying to make his voice work.
“U-Ursaring…” He squeaked weakly.
The giant bear pokémon looked around briefly, blinked and then took a step towards Jason and poked the pokéball in his hand with a large claw. The pokémon phased into red light and disappeared back into the ball.
Kate looked down at the pokéball she held in a trembling hand.
“Um… I’m not sure if I want to know what’s in this.”
Jason slumped in his chair and waved a weak hand in her direction. “Better to know now than to have to deal with the surprise when we’re under attack.”
Kate nodded and dropped the pokéball onto the ground. The sound that emitted from Jason’s throat was akin to that made by a mouse being stepped on. Kate stared up in terror at the giant Feraligator and it stared curiously back at her. Suddenly it lurched forward, shoving its muzzle against her hair and snuffled for a few moments. It raised itself back up apparently satisfied and returned itself to its pokéball.
Jason ran a trembling hand through his hair. “Um… does the fact that they’ve given us really powerful pokémon worry you at all?”
Kate slowly bent down and picked Feraligator’s pokéball off the floor. She stared at it contemplating what it meant. “Maybe they know more about what’s going on than the public does about Team Rocket.” She said thoughtfully. “Maybe they think we’re in direct danger for some reason.” She looked up at Jason. “I guess I can understand why they gave us the pokémon but…I’m worried about why they gave us ones that are obviously really powerful.”

From the balcony of the pokémon center that evening the two watched the arrival of pokémon trainers to a special function at a hotel beside the pokémon center. Their hopes of catching a glimpse of the trainers’ pokémon however, went unfulfilled. After having their pokémon returned to them they retired to the beds provided by the pokémon center.

They had barely closed their eyes when they were awoken by a loud commotion filtering through the windows. The two raced out to the front of the pokémon center where Nurse Joy and several other trainers already stood watching a battle unfold outside the hotel.
“What’s going on?” Kate asked.
“Team Rocket.” Nurse Joy replied grimly.
Two police officers stood facing up against a group of three black-clad figures with a scarlet ‘R’ painted on their chest. In front of them two large Arcanines stood ready. The three figures each threw a pokéball and two Raticates and a Vaporeon emerged.
Without waiting for a command the Raticates shot forward, each one heading to one of the Arcanines who stood ready to take the direct hit. When they were inches from the huge fire dogs they disappeared simultaneously, presumably in a quick attack and Jason didn’t dare blink. The Raticates’ maneuver divided the attention of the Arcanines and one of the Rockets took advantage of the confusion and ordered the Vaporeon to use a hydro pump. The Vaporeon stepped forward and sent a powerful blast of water directly at one of the Arcanines. The huge beast gave a great yelp and tumbled backwards, propelled by the blast. It came to a stop and struggled to its feet standing only momentarily before the Raticates hit it from either side. The huge dog slumped to the ground and blacked out.

The second Arcanine had attempted a take-down on the Vaporeon but the nimbler water pokémon dodged the attack, launching a jet of water at its opponent. The Arcanine deftly dodged but with its attention focused on the Vaporeon it didn’t notice the Raticates until they sunk their enormous teeth into its hide. The Arcanine shook them off, yelping wildly and then slumped to the ground bleeding heavily. Without warning Nurse Joy suddenly stepped forward and launched a pokéball.
“Take out that Vaporeon!” She yelled fiercely. “Use thunderpunch!”
A Raichu erupted from the pokéball and launched itself with amazing speed at the Vaporeon. The Vaporeon had barely crouched in preparation to spring clear when the Raichu’s fist slammed into its neck and electricity coursed over its body. The water pokémon screamed in agony as the Raichu continued to pulse electricity through its system.
“Look out! Use agility!” Nurse Joy called.
The Raichu looked up and barely avoided the incoming Raticate. Using its impressive speed the Raichu dodged behind the Raticate and leapt onto its back, releasing a powerful thunder attack. The Raticate slumped to the ground and the Raichu leapt up into battle stance. The next attack happened so fast that Jason was taken completely by surprise. The Hitmonchan seemed to come out of nowhere and connected with a powerful hook that hit the Raichu in the side of the head. The electric type staggered from the force of the blow and hit the ground, out cold.

A tall man with a commanding presence stepped forward addressing the Rocket members. He was wearing a black tuxedo with a carnation in the pocket of his jacket. His eyes burned with a furious rage. Jason immediately recognised him as the Viridian City gym leader, Giovanni.
“How dare you?” The cold fury in Giovanni’s voice seemed to freeze the air around him. “How dare you come here and attempt to steal pokémon from under my nose?”
He reached into his jacket and pulled out a pokéball, hurling it towards the Hitmonchan. A Nidoking emerged and immediately began bearing down on the fighting type. Before the Hitmonchan could respond it found itself in the grip of the Nidoking. The huge ground type threw the fighting type with all of its might and the Hitmonchan hit the pavement hard and stopped moving. Suddenly from the shadows a new pokéball flew into the battleground and landed at the feet of the Nidoking. Before it could react, the Snorlax that emerged hit it solidly in the head with a megapunch. The Nidoking staggered from the blow but righted itself and turned to face its opponent again. The Snorlax’s hyper beam hit it solidly in the chest and it crashed to the pavement and lay still.

The Rocket members returned their fallen pokémon and the Raticate that was still standing as a new figure emerged from the shadows grinning maliciously.
Nurse Joy swore violently under her breath causing Jason to start and stare at her in amazement. The word she had just uttered was certainly not one used in any from of civilised conversation, nor was it something that he’d ever expect the normally upbeat nurse to say.
“I should have known that you’d be here Carrada.” Giovanni spat. His voice was laced with pure hatred.
“Well I could hardly pass up this lovely opportunity could I?” The other replied, still grinning. “I mean, you basically invited Team Rocket to do this by pulling all these wonderfully skilled trainers here.”
“You’re leaving here with nothing!” Giovanni yelled hurling a new pokéball. The Machamp had barely emerged before the Snorlax hit it with a megapunch, leapt into the air and slammed down on top of it. Giovanni returned the stunned pokémon and glared at Carrada.
“Care to try for third time lucky?” Carrada asked sweetly.
“My turn!” Came a new voice. “Ice beam!”
A beam of ice shot out of the darkness and hit the Snorlax dead on, engulfing it in a prison of ice. Suddenly a Nidoqueen charged for the frozen pokémon with its head lowered and slammed into it, shattering the ice and causing the Snorlax to tumble away.
“Finish it with hyper beam!” The voice commanded. The Nidoqueen complied with a powerful blast that drove the Snorlax back against the wall.
Carrada returned his Snorlax as a cloaked and hooded figure emerged from the shadows.
“Shall we dance Carrada?” The figure said.
“I was wondering what happened to you.” Carrada grinned maliciously and hurled another pokéball. A Meganium emerged with a triumphant call.
“Ice beam!” The cloaked trainer called.
The Nidoqueen fired a second ice beam but the Meganium easily leapt clear. Without a single command from its trainer the Meganium sent vine whips out, caught the Nidoqueen and hauled it off the ground. The Nidoqueen thrashed in the grip of the vine whips as the Meganium pummeled it with razor leaves. The Nidoqueen screamed in pain and suddenly dissolved into scarlet light as the trainer recalled it. Seconds later a Fearow emerged in the air above the Meganium.
Carrada recalled his grass type. “Enough of this.” He said impatiently. “I have places to be.” He held out a new pokéball and a Cloyster emerged.
Nurse Joy uttered a profanity worse than the first one.

With speed that Jason was sure was impossible, the Cloyster fired an aurora beam at the Fearow as the flying type dived towards it. The Fearow was recalled before the beam hit and yet another pokémon emerged. Jason inhaled sharply and felt Kate grab his arm in surprise. An Absol stood facing the Cloyster. Absols weren’t found anywhere near Kanto or Johto. Whoever this trainer was, he had traveled a long way.
“Slash it!” The trainer called.
The Absol charged forward and swiped its blade down the opening of the clamshell pokémon but again with speed that was surely impossible, the Cloyster acted clamping its shell shut and trapping the blade of the Absol. The Cloyster had obviously been charging an aurora beam while its shell was closed because as soon as it opened the Absol was engulfed in the colorful beam. The trainer recalled it and replaced it with an Umbreon.
“Faint attack!”
The Umbreon disappeared from sight and the Cloyster clamped its shell shut again. Spikes began flying out in every direction and with a yelp of pain the Umbreon reappeared and began to limp away from the water type. The trainer recalled it, no new pokémon followed in its wake.
Carrada smiled. “Next time perhaps. For now you’ll have to excuse me. I have some new pokémon to admire.”
In the commotion of the battle Jason hadn’t noticed that the other Team Rocket members had slipped away. Carrada returned his Cloyster and called out a Pidgeot. A wave of anger rushed through Jason and he stepped forward and hurled Ursaring’s pokéball.
“Stop him Ursaring!” He called.
The bear pokémon let loose an enraged roar and charged straight for the Pidgeot and Carrada.
“Ursaring stop!” The unnamed trainer commanded pulling back his hood. “Let them go.”
The Ursaring took one look at the trainer and obeyed but continued to snarl at Carrada.
“Team Rocket rules Kanto.” Carrada said as his Pidgeot took flight. “And always will as long as cowards like you are all there is to protect it.”
The Pidgeot quickly ascended leaving disheartened trainers far below it. But Jason barely noticed as he stared open mouthed at the trainer who was now being swamped by the media.
“Jason.” Kate whispered in awe as she too stared. “It’s Gary Oak.”

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Whee! I still suck!

 

[Fig]

No, you don't. And wheeee! Gary! .

That was a pretty good action chapter to begin the story. This Carrada person is rather intriguing, to be certain.

I can't wait to see more of this

 

[Kinglerlord2]

Why thank you for those comments :-D

Gary will play a fairly significant role in the story so you'll be seeing lots of him.

 

[DGE]

.... Hmm. Journeying, TR, and Ash and Misty being married. Nope, you're a cliché. Not gonna read it.

Just kidding. I'm gonna have faith because of a Promise of Darkness.

Damian's right. One of the first rules of good writing is to *show* what's going on, through character dialogue and interaction, rather than *tell* through a rambling paragraph. Nothing is a bigger turn-off in fiction than having to read this long jumbly thing. Less is more.

That in mind, I got all mixed up when there was the big battle and it jumped from Nurse Joy to Giovanni. It's common knowledge that Gio is the Rocket leader, then, since Jason recognized him?

But, as usual, that's me, and how I read, and isn't a slam against you. ^^;

Speaking of Jason, and his fellow Pallet trainers... I must know more about them. Jason and Kate are journeying together, but what of Bill and Andrew? Was there a need to mention them at all, or will they come back later in the story? Who will be... *suspense* the evil trainer? ^.^

Looking forward to more. You don't suck, not comparatively, I assure you.

(21 on the outside, 12 on the inside)

24 out, 15 in. Nyaaa.

 

[Kinglerlord2]

If this turns into a cliché then something will have gone seriously wrong in the writing

As for the battle I had a feeling it would get all confusing and I did my best to minimise the damage, but looking back on it with your comment in mind i can probably do another alteration.

As for Gio, Jason recognised him as the Viridian City Gym leader... at what point was there a mention of Rocket leader? ;-)

Bill and Andrew are not gone forever, their role is a very minor one but still necessary of mention and there'll be sufficient character development of Jason and Kate in the chapters to come.

....

I've just realised how plain and boring those names are :-D oh well!

Thanks heaps for reading!

 

[Fig]

See? Told ya japanesse names would be better. Nyah .

And I'm 22 on the outside and ...oh, yeah. 22's the same either way. Damn.

Though T would insist it's "122", but...

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

I donno if Japanese names would be better. There's only so many "Ken"s and "Akira"s you can have...

 

[Kinglerlord2]

Damian: Keep up that 'Nyah-ing' business and I'll think up a way to kill Sabrina ;-)

BJ: There are other Japanese names besides Ken and Akira

 

[Kinglerlord2]

Sorry it took so long people I went home for the weekend and then tried to write ahead a bit. If even half the stuff I've got planned happens, there's going to be some nasty nasty stuff happening.

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Chapter 2

The media swarmed around Giovanni and Gary Oak and as the famous Pallet trainer spoke, his eyes drifted up to Nurse Joy’s and then flicked very briefly to Jason and Kate before his entire attention returned to the press. From the corner of his eye Jason saw Nurse Joy give Gary a subtle nod.
The pokémon nurse turned to the two new trainers and started herding them back inside.
“Come on, get inside, you don’t want your faces in the paper with an incident like this.”
Jason returned the ursaring which attracted the attention of a few photographers and cameramen who whirled around to capture the face of the trainer on film. Nurse Joy jumped in front of him and shoved him inside.

“Damn press.” She muttered, scowling out the door. She turned to Jason and Kate. “I’d tell you to go to bed but by the looks on your faces I can see that that’s hardly going to happen. Besides I’d say that Gary will want to talk to you once he’s done out there.” She flashed another dark look out towards the media before disappearing into a room behind the counter. Moments later several chansey charged through the doors wheeling the wounded arcanines on stretchers.

Jason and Kate moved towards a small glass coffee table and sunk down into the comfortable chairs surrounding it. Several of the other trainers joined them.
“Well.” Jason said after a few minutes silence. “I guess that explains why Professor Oak and Tracey gave us those pokémon.”
“Also explains why the minimum age requirement got shifted up three years.” Kate replied.
“Yeah, but that’s only in Pallet Town.” Jason pointed out. “That’s Professor Oak’s policy, not the league policy.”
“So you guys are thirteen and you’ve only just started training?” One of the other trainers asked. “Why didn’t you just register somewhere else on your tenth birthday?”
Kate gave him a cold stare. “Professor Oak obviously had good reason to change the policy, Pallet Town trusts him and it would be insulting to him if we registered somewhere else.”
The trainer turned away and muttered something about “hicks”.
“You want to repeat that so we can all hear you?” Jason said raising himself and his voice angrily.
“Hey cut it out!” Nurse Joy snapped moving quickly over to the group. “Tempers are stretched enough around here as they are.”

Several of the trainers muttered apologies and announced they were going to bed leaving Jason, Kate and two others sitting around the coffee table.
One of the trainers stood up and walked over to the window and watched the media continue to harass Giovanni, Gary and the police.
“When you see it on TV it doesn’t really seem real.” She said with a sigh. “Seeing it happen right in front of me brings it to a whole new level. League sanctioned battles are carefully monitored so that the pokémon aren’t in any real danger. But what happened tonight… that was a street fight with no rules and showing mercy is the quickest way to lose.” The trainer wandered back over to the seats and sat down heavily. “All those trainers lost pokémon tonight because of Team Rocket. What happens if it’s me next time?” She shuddered. “It scares me just thinking about it.”

The doors to the pokémon center slid open and Gary Oak stepped inside, walking immediately over to the counter. Nurse Joy met him there and took his pokéballs.
“How are the arcanines?” Jason heard him ask.
“They’ll live.” Nurse Joy said heavily.
“And the raichu?” .
“He’s fine.” She replied. “Just a bruised head.”
“And ego.” Gary added. The nurse nodded in agreement and started heading into the back room.
“I’m not in any real hurry Joy.” Gary called after her. “If you still have more urgent patients.” The Pallet trainer turned and headed towards the four trainers still sitting at the coffee table and sat himself down with them.
“Well that was a more interesting night than I had planned on having.” Gary said, leaning forward to pull the coffee table towards him. He leaned back and put his feet up on it.
“So Jason.” He said, turning to the young trainer who jumped at the sound of his name. “Would you care to explain how you came into possession of my ursaring?”
“Um… Tracey sent it to me… as protection. Professor Oak wanted us to have a strong pokémon each in case we had to defend ourselves.”
Gary’s eyes twinkled. “Correct me if I’m wrong but from where I was standing it didn’t look like Carrada or his pidgeot were attacking you.”
Jason dropped his head and muttered something incomprehensible.

Gary turned to the two non-pallet trainers. “Could you guys excuse us?” He asked politely. “I’d like to chat to these two alone.”
The guy nodded and got up heading for the bedroom but the girl, who had been staring open mouthed at him squeaked “Autograph?”
Gary took the pen and paper in her hands and scribbled his signature on it. The girl took it back and scampered from the room.

“So have you got one of my pokémon as well?” He asked, turning to Kate.
“Um… I don’t know if it’s yours…” She trailed off nervously.
“Well lets see it then.” Gary gestured to the floor.
Kate fumbled with the pokéball and released the feraligator.
Gary’s eyebrows came up and he let out a groan. “They didn’t!”
“I can give it back if you don’t want me to have it.” Kate said quickly.
Gary held his head in one of his hands. “It’s not mine.” He said in a defeated tone. “It’s Ash’s. I hope this is just a bad joke of Grandpa’s.”
“Um… why would it be a joke?”
Gary cleared his throat and tried to look serious. “This feraligator has a habit that it picked up when it was a totodile and never got rid of. When it was a totodile I guess it was cute but… when this pokémon wins a fight it likes to… dance. You don’t have to believe me.” He said when he saw the looks they gave him. “But you deserve to be warned because it’s not pretty when it happens. Recall it before it gets bored and gives you a demonstration.”
Kate did as instructed. Nurse Joy came over with a tray of cold drinks and sat down herself.
“Um… Mr. Oak?” Jason asked timidly.
“Call me Gary kid.”
“Um… Gary… excuse me for being so blunt but… how can you be so calm after you just had your ass handed to you?” Gary’s eyebrows came up and Kate cleared her throat in embarrassment. “Three of your pokémon got taken out by that Cloyster with absolutely no effort at all!” Jason continued, exasperated by Gary’s calm expression. “How can you sit there and not be angry about it?”

Gary smiled, leaned back in his chair and sipped his drink. “You’ll learn as you travel kid that part of pokémon training is being able to lose with dignity.” He looked directly at Jason. “Don’t assume I’m not angry or at least upset with my loss, because I am, but there are two reasons why I’m not showing that anger. Firstly because any energy required to show that anger has been drained from me by having to deal with those leeches from the media and secondly, without David Carrada around, what do I achieve by having a tantrum and throwing chairs around?”
He picked at a loose thread in the chair. “Ash Ketchum and I both hold the rank of Pokémon Master but I can guarantee you that neither of us would have that if all we had ever done was win. The first time Ash and I faced off against each other, I won. Ash went away from that battle and learned from it, the next time we faced he beat me and from that defeat I learned things that I might not have learned if I had won that match.”

“The greatest lessons are learned in defeat.” Nurse Joy said smiling. “It never ceases to amaze me that you and Ash were once fierce rivals. I’ve never seen a closer pair of friends.”
Gary smiled. “Yeah well even before he defeated me at the Silver Convention I began to realize how much we had in common and that we could learn a lot more from each other if we put everything behind us and tried to be friends. Turns out that without trying very hard we turned into best friends.” He turned back to Jason. “My loss against Carrada tonight was because I recognised that my opponent had the upper hand. His pokémon were fresh and ready for combat, mine were worn out from constant battles fought on my way to Viridian. If I had never lost a match before, how would I have known the limits of my pokémon? It won’t be the last time that I battle Carrada, nor will it be my last loss against him, he may be a member of Team Rocket but he too has a true understanding about his pokémon and their limits. If you want to become a master you’ll need to learn to have the same kind of friendship with your pokémon and that losing isn’t bad, sometimes it’s actually better than winning because you can learn so much more from it.” He took another drink from his glass. “Of course, I don’t want to be telling you how to train pokémon, that’s part of the process of becoming a master, you have to discover for yourself the best way to train.”

Gary took his feet off the coffee table and leaned forward with an excited gleam in his eyes. “So, let’s see what you’ve caught so far.”
“I seem to recall,” Nurse Joy said with a smile, “A young pokémon trainer, many years ago, telling off another trainer, right here in this very pokémon center, for showing off their pokémon because it was amateurish to do so.”
Gary blushed and grinned sheepishly. “What a silly notion that is.”
Jason’s pidgey materialized in front of him and Gary’s eyebrows came up.
“Now that’s an interesting looking pidgey.” He patted his knee and the pokémon obligingly hopped along the table and came to rest on the pokémon master’s leg. Gary studied it intently, instead of the cream crests above the eyes that were standard for a pidgey, this pidgey sported jet black ones. Together with the black markings beneath the eyes it gave the appearance that the pokémon was wearing a robber’s mask.
“I nicknamed it Bandit.” Jason said proudly.
“Have you battled with it yet?” Gary asked, stroking the pidgey’s chest.
Jason shook his head. “Not yet, but it took my charmander to the point of exhaustion before I was able to successfully catch it. It took two goes before it stayed in the pokéball.”
“Sounds like a real winner.” Gary said, impressed.
“I hope it keeps those markings when it evolves.”
“You never know kid.” Gary replied. “That’s one mystery of evolution that I doubt will ever be solved. Sometimes pokémon with markings like this keep them when they evolve, sometimes they don’t.” He gently scratched the pokémon on the head. “It was very nice to meet you Bandit.”
The pidgey gave a happy ‘chirrup’ before Jason returned it to its ball.

For another hour the four sat together talking, the two young trainers showing off their pokémon and reliving their captures while the two adults provided them with a genuinely interested audience. Finally Jason and Kate showed signs of exhaustion and Nurse Joy harried them to bed. As the two new trainers entered the common sleeping area, Joy and Gary began talking intently in undertones. Neither trainer thought much on it as sleep embraced them all too quickly.

Jason awoke the following morning to someone’s insistent shaking. He opened his eyes and saw Kate’s emerald eyes carrying a slightly worried look.
“You wanted to see Gary angry?” She asked, turning to look in the direction of the foyer of the pokémon center.
“What’s happened?” He asked, quickly sitting up.
Kate shook her head. “I don’t know yet, but Gary is furious about something.”
Jason quickly got changed and the two walked out into the foyer where Gary Oak was stalking the length of the room with an angry scowl fixed on his face as he read the morning newspaper.
Off to one side, wearing an expression of forced calm, stood Giovanni.
“I can certainly understand their angle as far as I’m concerned but what they’re saying about you is completely baseless.” Giovanni said with a slight edge in his voice.
“Even what they’re suggesting about you is ridiculous.” Gary snapped. “Surely we can sue them for defamation or something?”
Giovanni shrugged. “You could try but it will probably cause you more problems because the papers will come after you for vengeance.” The gym leader sighed. “You should know by now, Mr. Oak, that I’ve resigned to the fact that their accusations towards me will never cease no matter how hard I try to prove them otherwise. My advice to you would be to leave this for a day so you can calm and collect yourself. Let’s go and see Mr. Ketchum as planned and deal with that first, then we’ll deal with this with a statement to the press or something similar. I’ve dealt with the press for many years; allow me to guide you with my own experiences.”
Gary stopped pacing and ran a hand through his hair. “You’re right of course, as usual. I don’t suppose you know where Ash is?”
Giovanni shook his head. “His wife will be able to contact him for us though so I’d suggest we make for Cerulean City.”

Gary nodded then looked up, finally noticing Jason and Kate watching the conversation.
“Oh, sorry guys I didn’t realize you were there. Giovanni, these are two of Pallet Town’s new trainers, Jason and Kate.”
“Ah yes, the boy with the Ursaring I believe.” Giovanni said amusedly, shaking Jason’s hand. “Very brave of you Jason but I would suggest a number of years of training before taking on the likes of Mr. Carrada again.” He turned to Kate and did a mild double-take. “My dear,” he said silkily, “I would be committing a most heinous crime if I did not mention the breathtaking spectacle that is your emerald gaze.”
Kate went bright red and uttered a breathless thank-you.

“Shit.” Gary said suddenly. “Gio, block the kids! Joy! Get out here!”
Gary leapt in front of Jason and Giovanni smoothly stepped in front of Kate as members of the media began shoving their way into the pokémon center.
“Can we get the kids to another room?” Gary asked quietly.
“Not worth the risk.” Giovanni replied, glaring at the photographers as they took shot after shot of Gary and himself and tried in vain to get shots of Jason and Kate. “Keep your faces hidden both of you.” He said sharply over the increasing noise.
“Giovanni!” One of the press shouted. “Do you have any comments on the claims in this morning’s paper that you are still affiliated with Team Rocket?”
“Gary!” Another shouted. “What do you have to say about suggestions that you are in league with Giovanni as an agent of Team Rocket?”
Jason and Kate exchanged glances, no wonder the two were on edge. Nurse Joy appeared behind them with a blanket. “Cover your heads with that.” She ordered. “And don’t move!”
As the two ducked under the blanket, more questions were being fired at Gary and Giovanni.
“Who are the children?” Jason heard one call. “And why are you hiding their identities?”
“The children have nothing to do with this at all!” Nurse Joy snapped. “Now remove yourselves from my pokémon center now!” This command was immediately followed by sounds of struggling and many cries of “Chansey!” could be heard.

“Don’t remove the blanket.” Giovanni’s voice said calmly, as he guided them across the floor. Behind them a door shut and the blanket was removed.
Jason and Kate found themselves in a small windowless room with Gary, Giovanni and Nurse Joy standing around them.
“Well now what?” Gary asked.
“Surely there’s a back way out of this Gym?” Giovanni asked Joy.
The nurse nodded. “There is, but they’ll have it covered. I could send some chansey out first to make sure it’s clear and then sneak these two out but there’s no guarantee that we’ll find all the photographers.”
Giovanni sighed. “It’s the best option we have.” He turned to Gary. “You and I will head out the front door and give the press a few useless comments to distract them while Joy smuggles these two out the back.”
“Give me a few minutes to clear the back.” Joy said before leaving the room.
Giovanni pulled out a notepad and pen and began scribbling on it.
“Here.” He said, tearing the page from the notepad and handing it to Jason. “Follow these instructions to get out of the city and on your way to Pewter city. If Gary and I do our part right, then you shouldn’t be seen or followed by any of the press.”
Nurse joy opened the door and handed Jason and Kate their backpacks. “We should move quickly. The chansey have secured the back area but I don’t know for how long.”
“We’ll go first.” Giovanni said, stepping past Joy and into the foyer. “Come on Gary, the sooner we get this over with, the sooner you can give your report.”

Nurse Joy watched the two make their way towards the entrance and then turned to the two young trainers.
“We’ll move fast to minimize the chance of you being seen.” She said seriously.
As they moved swiftly to the back door, Jason glanced towards the entrance and saw a line of chansey blocking the doorway to prevent the press from entering.
Nurse Joy hustled them out the back door.
“Get out of the city as quickly as you can.” She ordered. Then she smiled warmly. “Good luck on your journeys.” The door snapped shut, leaving Jason and Kate staring at it in bewilderment.
“What the hell just happened?” Jason asked.
Kate shrugged. “I have no idea. But let’s get out of here before we get seen by anyone.”

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I know it's not very good :-(

 

[Fig]

Good chapter - it's nice to see the dark side of the medias at work. Hope someone delivers them swift kicks in the most painful locations possible :-D

That said, good work. One thing I noticed that has been mentioned to me - IIRC, it should be "'Joy, takes the kids outside,' he said." not "'Joy, takes the kids outside.' He said." At least from what I've been told ^^;.

 

[Kinglerlord2]

.... I am so completely confused with what you are trying to tell me there ^^;;;

Can you explain that a little better? Perhaps in English?

 

[Kinglerlord2]

Let's see if I can't liven this board up. This chapter is ... meh

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Chapter 3

Ash Ketchum rose from his chair and happily shook Gary’s hand as his friend and Giovanni entered his office in the Cerulean Gym.
“Good to see you alive.” He said cheerfully. “Sorry about making you wait a few days but I had to finish up some other business.”
Gary and Giovanni sat down on the other side of Ash’s desk and Ash resumed his seat.
“Giovanni, I suppose you’re here to discuss what happened the other night at the hotel.”
The gym leader nodded. “And to hear Mr. Oak’s report, both the official and the unofficial one.”
Ash nodded slowly. “Speaking of which, let’s get the official report out of the way so we can relax a bit.” He pulled out a tape recorder and set it on the desk.
“This is the report of Gary Oak on his recent excursion to Johto.” He said into the player. “This report is witnessed by myself, Pokémon Master Ash Ketchum…” He indicated to Giovanni.
“And Viridian Gym Leader Giovanni.” Giovanni said clearly.
“This recording is taking place on the twenty eighth of March.” Ash continued. “At eleven thirty four.” He gestured to Gary who gave his report, uninterrupted by Giovanni and Ash, who both knew that Gary would be gruelingly questioned at the next major meeting of the Gym Leaders and Trainers Organisation, or GT, the group responsible for the fight against Team Rocket. After half an hour or speaking, Gary’s report came to a close and Ash shut off the recorder.

“Pikachu.” Ash said, turning to his yellow companion. “Could you go and get Misty please? We’ll start the second half of this debriefing once she’s here.”
The electric mouse, who had been his loyal companion since the beginning of Ash’s first journey, bounded from the room.
“In the meantime, we should figure out what to do about these newspaper reports.” Ash said grimly. “We can’t sit on it any longer, you’ll have to give a statement of some description.”
“Perhaps if I say ‘yes I am still the leader of Team Rocket’ they might leave us alone for a change.” Giovanni said sourly.
Ash snorted.
“Don’t concern yourself with this Mr. Ketchum.” Giovanni said. “Gary and I have been discussing this for the last few days while we waited for your arrival, we can handle it.”
Ash sighed and nodded. “I’m glad you kept the kids out of the papers though. I’m not so sure that I like the follow up reports of the hotel attack the other night though.”
Giovanni held up his hands. “As I’ve already said to Gary several times, as amusing as it was that most of the pokéballs they stole were empty I did not organize the event to lure Team Rocket out so I could play a game of revenge by humiliating them. Replacing the trainers' pokéballs with empty ones was a security measure I had planned for all along in case the Rockets did show up.”
“You realize of course that he’s going to retaliate.” Ash said. “Most likely against you directly.”
“I am very aware of that Mr. Ketchum. And though I have no idea who the hell it is that took over my organization, I am very much aware of his vengeful nature. I’m sure you recall the several attempts at my life after I revealed everything about the organization in exchange for a full pardon. This little humiliation will hardly rate on that scale but I will increase my cautiousness for the next few weeks. My own vengeance must be sought before I’ll allow myself to die.”

Misty came through the door carrying a tray of sandwiches and drinks which she set on the table before seating herself in the only unoccupied chair. Pikachu leapt up into her lap.
“Ok, now that Misty’s here let’s hear the unedited version.” Ash said to Gary.
“I’ll fill Misty in with a quick summary first,” Gary said, reaching for a sandwich, “Since she wasn’t here for the official report.” He turned to Ash’s wife. “Basically I’ve discovered one of the main reasons why Team Rocket has been so quiet for the last six months.” He explained. “They’ve had to pull huge resources out of Kanto and into Johto to maintain the somewhat fragile hold that they have there. I’d like to say that this is a good thing for us but quite frankly it’s not. The reason why they’ve moved a lot of forces into Johto is because their hold on it is being challenged by Teams Magma and Aqua.”
Misty inhaled sharply. “From Hoenn?”
Gary nodded. “From what I could gather, Team Magma landed in Olivine city about eight months ago and set up shop there fairly subtly. Unfortunately for them, Team Aqua found out and followed them to Olivine and attempted to rout them from their new base. There was a report about a street fight in Olivine around that time but everyone assumed it was between the Rockets and some idiots who challenged them. Turns out it was a battle between Aqua and Magma but no one was aware of this because both teams were out of uniform.
“Ultimately, Team Aqua was unsuccessful in removing Magma and they set up somewhere else. Since then it looks like several more bases have been established by both teams and the Rockets don’t like this idea. It’s taken us this long to discover the existence of the two Hoenn based teams because up until a month ago they’ve been operating without their uniforms, I assume to remain incognito until they’d firmly established themselves.” He leaned back in his chair and sighed. “That’s why it’s taken so long for our agents to find out how far into Johto they’ve gotten. But the uniforms are out now and it won’t be long before there’ll be some serious fighting between them and the Rockets, as well as between Magma and Aqua.”
“So Aqua and Magma both have solid forces in place then?” Misty asked.
Gary nodded. “We know the location of the Magma base in Olivine and one of their minor outposts. We only know of a single, almost insignificant Aqua outpost.” He sighed. “Guys, this is a nightmare. We barely have the resources to fight Team Rocket! There’s no way we can handle two more teams! Ritchie and I had to battle a few Aqua members and I’m not ashamed of saying that it was really tough! If trainers like Ritchie and I have a hard time battling them, we’re already half way up the creek without a paddle.”

“On the other side of the coin,” Giovanni said thoughtfully, “There is the old saying that the enemy of your enemy is your friend. We could sit back for the moment and see what happens, if we’ve learnt nothing else about the Rocket leader, we’ve learned that he’s a very vengeful person. So I can’t see him laying down and letting Aqua and Magma walk over him.”
“That could lead to some pretty nasty conflicts though.” Ash pointed out.
“It might be beneficial though. I doubt that either Aqua or Magma has anyone as powerful as say Carrada, so if we let them harass the Rockets they might be able to weaken them enough for us to regain control of Kanto and then go after the other two teams.”
“Even if that would work and we get the Rockets out of the picture, we’d then be faced with two more teams to try to force back.” Gary said heavily.
“Consider the alternative.” Giovanni said. “We attempt to force back Aqua and Magma now, which would require a huge amount of resources on our part and will likely allow the Rockets to regain some lost ground here in Kanto. You said yourself, Gary, that there is no way for us to fight all three teams. The Rockets are our biggest threat and as long the presence of Teams Aqua and Magma is dividing the Rockets strength I believe we should leave them alone.”

Gary sighed. “I don’t like it, but what choice have we got? I doubt the other gym leaders will think much of the plan though.”
“Well if they aren’t seen doing anything to prevent it the media will become even more of a nuisance than what it already is.” Giovanni said simply. “And I’m inclined to believe that the Kanto gym leaders will make a final decision that will please the Johto gym leaders and avoid the necessity of holding an inter-region meeting.”
“Which means they’ll decide to go after Aqua and Magma.” Gary said.
“I agree.” Ash said. “This means that the Pallet Front will have to do the best it can to keep the Rockets under control while the GT is trying to push back Aqua and Magma. The media obviously can’t hound us about ignoring the problem in Johto because they don’t even know that the PF exists.”
“The problem is though, that half of our Pallet Front agents are also GT members and unless we reveal our existence to the gym leaders I doubt that we’ll be able to prevent some of our agents being sent to Johto when we’d prefer them here.” Misty pointed out.
“It won’t matter.” Giovanni said shaking his head. “We’ll need more agents in Johto anyway and this way gives us a valid reason to send some of our PF trainers without raising suspicion.” He turned to Gary. “Who’s in Johto at the moment that we can trust to run operations for us?”
Gary shrugged. “Ritchie, Casey, Imite I think, but I didn’t see her, and last I heard Lance was still there.”
“He is.” Ash nodded. “I was going to call him here for the championships but we can survive without him.”
Giovanni nodded. “Lance is an excellent leader; I worked against him enough to know that. If we can work out roughly what we want to happen in Johto I’m sure he’ll be able to make sure it gets done as subtly as possible.”
“And if we need any extra security here for the championships I can probably call Drake in from the Orange Islands.” Ash added. “He doesn’t accept challenges during the Kanto championships.”
“I suppose that’s the best outcome that we’re going to get.” Gary said with a sigh.
“I’ll organize a meeting for the gym leaders and GT masters based here in Kanto for next Wednesday.” Ash said.
“Can’t be Wednesday.” Giovanni said firmly.
“Why not?” Ash peered at his calendar. “Oh, right. It’s her birthday. I’ll make it Thursday then.”
Giovanni nodded in thanks.
“Okay, so after the GT meeting on Thursday we’ll get together and finalise the details for the Pallet Front’s activities for the next few months based on the decisions of the GT.” Ash said, scribbling a few notes down. He sighed and tapped the end of the pen on the desk. “Looks like things are about to get a lot more interesting.”

Later in the evening, Ash stood on the small bridge in the large garden behind the Cerulean Gym, with a cup of coffee, and listened to the water playing over the water feature and trickling under the bridge. His thoughts were interrupted by the subtle approach of footsteps.
“Is that you honey?” He asked
“Sure is sweetie.” Came the reply.
Ash grinned. “What’s up Gary?”
Gary moved up beside him and leaned against the rail of the bridge. “I’m going to take a wild guess and say that Kate ending up with your feraligator was not an accident.”
Ash grinned broadly. “I thought they’d like a little entertainment for their long journey.”
“Entertainment? Ash, they’re thirteen, I’m twenty four and I still have recurring nightmares about that thing dancing.”
Ash laughed. “I’ve always found it amusing.”
“Yeah well I’ve always maintained that someone let all of the kangaskhan out of your top paddock.” The two trainers grinned and fell silent, welcoming the carefree feeling that was so absent in their lives. After a few minutes Gary let out a sigh.
“Look, I realize that there’s nothing we can do about Team Aqua and Magma but I think we need to keep a close eye on them.”
Ash nodded. “I was thinking about that earlier, they’re new to Johto so we might be able to get a few moles in without putting them in too much danger.”
“Actually I was thinking about Hoenn.” Gary said. “You know more about PF agents in Hoenn, is there anyone who might be able to gather a lot of really useful information on the teams?”
“I suppose so.” Ash said, staring blankly into the water. “But both Aqua and Magma teams are fairly ruthless so gathering that kind of info would be dangerous, we’d probably need a master or someone close to that level.”
“How about, what’s her name? Haruka?” Gary asked.
Ash sighed and gave a tight smile. “There’s no doubt that she’d do it if I asked her to.”
“But?”
“But we were a couple for what? 2 years? I mean, I love Misty more than anything but there’s still a certain amount of protectiveness that I have for Haruka…”
Gary nodded. “I could ask her if you like.”
Ash snorted. “If you did that she’d know I chickened out of doing it myself and she’d hunt me down and get that accursed wailmer of hers to body slam me.”
Gary chuckled. “So you’ll do it then?”
Ash sighed. “I’ll talk to her. It’s pretty important that it gets done I guess. Did you run into any Rockets worthy of mention while you were in Johto?”
Gary nodded. “I saw Butch briefly, but he set his fodder on me and slipped away while I was taking them apart.”
“Was Cassidy with him?”
“Possibly, but I didn’t see her. I also ran into Kosuke.”
Ash whistled. “Kosuke’s in Johto? The Rockets must be worried.”
Gary nodded then grinned boyishly. “Unfortunately for him I happened to be with Casey at the time.”
Ash laughed out loud. “She tore him apart?”
Gary’s grin widened. “The poor bastard didn’t know what hit him. She’s got some real skill that girl.”
He turned and saw Ash grinning mischievously.
“What?”
“Oh nothing.” Ash said airily. “I was just considering how I can bring Casey over here on assignment.”
“What for… oh no you don’t Ash Ketchum! I will not partake in any match-making activity initiated by you.”
Ash grinned widely. “Come on! Casey’s great! I think you two would be good together.”
“I don’t doubt that fact.” Gary said. “But I’m not sure that I want to get into anything like that right now. Maybe when all this chaos is over I’ll consider it.”
“That’s a good enough ‘yes’ for me.” Ash said victoriously.
“You are impossibly stubborn.”
“So I’ve been told.” Ash swigged the last of his coffee. “You’ve called your grandfather?”
Gary nodded.
“I hate sending you on dangerous assignments. It makes him worry and I hate to see him stressed.”
“You think he doesn’t worry when you go away?” Gary asked.
“I never really thought about it.”
“He considers you to be his grandson as much as he does me.”
“I wish there was a way to lessen his worry.” Ash said morosely.
“There is.” Gary said, staring down into the water. “Finish this war.”

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“I brought you some flowers.” Giovanni said, clutching the two roses, one red and one white, in his hands. He smiled slightly, but it was a sad, lonely smile. “I know I’ve said the same thing almost every visit for the last 5 years but I still wonder every day how different my approach to the coup would have been if I had you to advise me.” He kneeled down and gently placed the roses in front of the small, simple headstone. “Happy Birthday Domino.”


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.... *sigh* I know it's all politics and dialogue and stuff... I promise that there is some cool stuff coming.

 

[DGE]

I was going to reply to chapter two, but after I read it, I got disconnected, couldn't reconnect, and was busy the next night. My apologies. *bows*

I think Damian was trying to correct one of many grammatical errors in the story, but got himself mixed up in typos. I'm not going to go through and point out everything, because not all of us appreciate grammar tyrants, but I'll say it might be in your best interest to land yourself a proofreader. If you're serious about writing, that is. If you're like the majority of the fanfic-writing population and just Plain Don't Care, then that's your business.

Politics are the kind of thing that go right over my head. *watches them fly, looks for something else entertaining* Magma and Aqua had better be run by some competent leaders at this point, not those fruits who walk around going "fufufufu." Otherwise I have serious doubts that they're a threat to Team Rocket.

Misty is just as boring and useless as Ash's wife as she was when she was an ex-gym leader, huh? Maybe that's why this happened:

“Is that you honey?” He asked
“Sure is sweetie.” Came the reply.
Ash grinned. “What’s up Gary?”

Heehee.

Domino, eh? *drags Blackjack over here* That's an interesting ending there...

Next time, don't write a chapter you deem as "meh." Don't post until you're completely proud of it, mkay? We need as much goodness as we can get here in the downtime.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

Indeed. Very curious to know what killed her. And 'advisor'? Step up from 'elite agent', to say the least...

Commandshipping, perhaps? Or a more working relationship?

*salivates at either, since Domino is t3h great*

 

[Kinglerlord2]

Pika-Zukin: *drags you back* Point out *all* problems! I have every intention of becoming a published author, so every single tinsy winsy little bit of advice will be heeded.

This particular chapter may be slightly more evil grammatically than others because I didn't print it out and proofread it with my red pen of doom and destruction. Also please note that almost everything I write I think of as at least 'meh' usually much worse though. I'm extremely critical of my own abilities no matter how much praise I'm given. :-D

Thank you very much for reading though. BTW were you a TPMer at all?

Blackjack: Yes indeed. I still haven't seen 'Mewtwo Returns' I'll probably rectify that on the weekend though. But I've heard many things about Domino and got some pointers from Damian. I assure you my friend, she died well.


Side Note: in case it went unnoticed, Imite retained her japanese name because Duplica is a god-awful name. There'll be several japanese names (e.g. Kosuke) popping up througout because they are just cooler names.