This part was written by Annie. Part 15: Taking Control


James threw a pokeball. "Caught it!" he exclaimed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Giovanni stared out at his brand-new kingdom. He was watching the lines of 
citizens who were made to succumb to his merciless forces.
"Boss? We have brought you the leader of the two-hour-long rebellion," a grunt 
said importantly.
Giovanni smiled. "Who was it?"
"Some girl. She called herself Aldera Aan. She probably isn't more than eighteen 
years old."
"Excellent. Bring her in."
The girl was unmercifully shoved into the room. One of the grunts kicked her 
into a kneeling position. She winced and hit the floor, her hands keeping her 
from totally falling.
"You abomination!" she screamed. "I have done nothing wrong! Why do you punish 
me?"
"Liar," Giovanni snarled. "You are a member of the Two-Hour-Long Rebellion and a 
traitor! Now, submit or else..."
"Never," she said. She spit on his boots.
He glowered. "Mecha-Mewtwo, come here and destroy her will. We need no rebels. 
She would be a wonderful edition to our forces." he told the "creature" that hid 
in the shadows.
It came forward and grabbed Aldera Aan, pushing her against the wall. Its hand 
was clamped onto her forehead. The fingers held onto her. Aldera Aan started to 
scream. Her eyes rolled up into her sockets. Mecha-Mewtwo executed the painful 
procedure. In a few minutes, her eyes became blank. Mecha-Mewtwo withdrew.
"I am your master now," Giovanni told her. She did not respond.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She was supposed to fulfil something. She had made a promise. She could remember 
a name vaguely - Ketchum. She had made a promise to him.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ashley was watching Interview with the Vampire. She was holding a bowl of very 
buttery popcorn, laughing at all the inappropriate moments. She managed to hear 
a knock at the door over her near-hysterical laughter.
"Hello? Who is it?" she asked.
No answer. Lestat was singing, though... he was dancing with a corpse. She 
laughed again. She heard something coming from outside.
"If you're one of those perverts that is taking over the city, go away! I don't 
want to be plundered!"
Glass shattered. A scyther came in.... with a Team Rocket member. He was drop-
dead gorgeous, but his eyes were cold and detached. She felt very afraid 
suddenly.
Ashley screamed as the trainer yelled out an attack. Moments later, there was 
the sound of a head rolling across the floor. Then a thump as the body hit it. 
Silence.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Geneva sat down on the sidewalk with James. They were silent.
The last part of the city had been taken, and now Rockets were restoring order 
to the city. 
James was sitting down, staring out into space with his magnetic green eyes. He 
was lost in thought. He had caught a scyther in the woods nearby. He had just 
lost control... dear Force, he had killed someone!
Geneva thought about how cute James was. She couldn't stop staring at him. She 
felt strongly for him, and she wanted to comfort him.
"You didn't mean to kill her," she said.
He didn't look up. "Yes, I did. And I liked doing it. It felt... right."
She shook her head. He had to be lying. 
"I know what you're probably thinking - that I'm lying to you. I cans see it in 
your eyes, Geneva!"
"Oh, James... don't be afraid..."
"I am afraid, though. I'm afraid of myself."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She was closer. She could feel it. She only had to climb the last few mountains. 
She knew she would kill Ketchum, whoever he was. She would show him who she was.
The only problem was that she didn't know who she was herself. Oh yeah, and she 
was lost again! The thought infuriated her. Where was her memory, anyway? It was 
almost like she had been dead and rudely awakened before she had collected her 
senses.
The thought chilled her. What foul trick of the Force was this?
For the first time ever, she was afraid. 


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"That looks like a huge red lobster," Jesse commented. "What is it?"
Brock got a dreamy look on his face. "I don't know, but that Nurse Joy is the 
prettiest of them all. Oh, and there's Officer Jenny!" She is even prettier than 
the one..."
Jesse hit him with her mallet.

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"Look, Delia. This is our kingdom. We will expand from here, and we will rule 
the world together!" he told her.
His arm was outstretched, showing her the beauty of the sunset-lit city below 
the balcony. They were on the tallest building, which made everything look very 
tiny.
"Oh Force.... where do we move next?" Delia whispered to herself.
"Pallet Town. After that, we take Cerulean City."
Delia wrapped her arm around his waist. "Please don't hurt them too much... I 
have friends in Pallet Town."
He looked down at her, brushing her hair away from her beautiful face. "As you 
wish."
She leaned against him. He had wrapped her around his fingers. She would do 
anything for him. He smiled to himself. He'd be the emperor, and she'd be the 
beautiful empress.
Maybe she would lead him to that dull-eyed girl at Professor Oak's old lab. He 
would just love to torture that purple-haired brat. She had once worked for Team 
Rocket, but had betrayed them.
"Where's Ash?"
"He is at Headquarters. Misty, his girl, was injured."
"Oh... that poor girl..."
"It's nothing to worry about. She will get well."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Misty woke up. "Where am I?"
Ash hadn't left her bedside all night. He looked up. "You're in the Team Rocket 
Headquarters."
She blinked as her vision focused. "Who are you?" she asked seriously.
"Stop kidding around, Misty! You know who I am!" he replied.
"No."
She looked up at the ceiling. Togetic was flying around up there. She realized 
that she remembered what the type of Pokemon was called, and she smiled. "It's 
so cute!"
"You really don't remember anything, do you?" Ash asked. "I should call my 
father..."
Ash turned around. He dialed Giovanni's number on the wall phone. "Um... Father? 
Something's wrong with Misty. She doesn't remember anything."
Giovanni looked at him. "Very well. Let me talk to her."
Ash stepped aside. Misty was sitting up in the bed. She was playing with a spoon 
and Togetic. She looked happy, but she finally looked up.
"Hello. Who am I?" she asked Giovanni.
"Why, you're Misty. You grew up at a Water Pokemon Gym. You are betrothed to my 
son, Ash Ketchum. He's the one who was with you when you awoke. You are a member 
of Team Rocket. You want to help me take control of the world," Giovanni told 
her.
Misty smiled at him. "Okay. You mean I'm betrothed to that really, really cute 
guy?" she asked. It felt right that they were betrothed.
"Yes," Giovanni replied. "You are."
He called Ash over to the phone. Ash was stunned. He would marry Misty? She was 
too pretty! Wait! He knew what the word "betrothed" meant? Whoopie! He was 
smarter than he thought.
Giovanni hung the phone up after several minutes. Ash was still stunned. 
His biggest hope and worst fear was coming true.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So, what is that red lobster?" Jesse asked.
"I have no idea! Let's steal it!" Meowth said. "I've never seen that kind of 
Pokemon before!"
Brock looked like he was concentrating. He drew the attention of Jesse and 
Meowth. They waited in eager anticipation for him to answer them. He would 
either say what kind of Pokemon it was or tell them the plan.
"With something like that I would have white wine," he said seriously. He 
imagined it fried, too.
Jesse and Meowth promptly fell over.