Disclaimer: I don’t own pokemon. Pokemon belongs to Satoshi Tajiri, Nintendo, and Shogakukan Comics. This is non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfic written by phantomness, and it belongs to her under international copyright laws, so do not take her work.
Notes: <> for telepathy, ** for thoughts, italics if a pokemon talks
Chapter 3
Ash spent a few minutes banging on the door of the room Team Aqua had provided him, but with no luck. Finally, being bored, he went over to the computer in the corner, turned it on, and began playing pinball on it.
Ash was on his sixth game of pinball when a knock sounded.
“Come in!”
A girl with black hair pulled back in two pigtails walked in. “You’re Ash?”
“Yes.”
“Nice to meet you then, cousin.”
“… cousin?!”
“Yes, didn’t you know? My name’s Marianne! Do you train water pokemon? I do. I love water pokemon!”
“Er…” Ash wasn’t quite sure what to say. This girl was starting to remind him of Misty. That was very bad.
“I don’t have my pokemon right now.”
“Oh.” Marianne deflated. “I was going to ask you for a battle, but all right…” She left, and Ash went back to playing pinball.
He was on his twentieth game when another knock sounded.
“Who is it?”
Archie pushed the door open. Ash looked up, having seen the image reflected onto the computer screen. “What do you want?”
“To talk.”
“I thought you were too busy to talk.”
“Well, I made time, cancelled a few meetings.”
“I see… what do you want to talk about?”
“You.”
“Me?” Ash frowned. “What about me? I’m just a trainer who got started, I’ve only got what, two badges? Why do you want to talk to me?”
“It’s important.”
“Okay, I’m listening.”
“Would you like to join Team Aqua?”
Ash froze for a few minutes. “What?!”
“Well?”
“I don’t know, but considering you kidnapped me, I don’t have a very positive opinion right now.” Ash scowled.
“Good point.” Archie nodded. “So, what would you like?”
“Some answers that you didn’t give me yesterday.”
Wondering if Ash had suddenly grown up, Archie nodded. “Very well.”
“Why *did* you kidnap me?”
“Well, it’s complicated… I’ll try and put it in the simplest terms. I need to talk to your mom.”
“Um, can’t you just call?”
“If only it were that simple, Ash.” Archie sighed. “Delia and I haven’t been on speaking terms since you were born. It all started when I tried to adopt you.”
“You tried to adopt me? Why? You have your own kids, don’t you?”
“Yes, Marianne and Marissa… have you met them?”
“So I don’t understand. And yes, I saw Marianne.”
“All right. I’ll try to explain more thoroughly.” Archie frowned. “When you were born, you didn’t have a known father. Your mother had gotten pregnant in college, much to our parent’s disfavor…”
“WHAT?!”
“Why do you think she looks so young?” Archie inquired, enjoying Ash’s hammered expression. “She’s only twenty-nine…”
“So why do you want me to join Team Aqua?”
“Because she won’t! It would be-.” Archie cut himself off as he realized he might just have blurted out his plan.
Ash yawned.
Archie caught his breath. *The boy’s too dense to pay attention, quit freaking out! * He firmly ordered himself.
“But I don’t want to.”
“Ash, this is your future!”
“No. I don’t think so. I want to be a Pokemon Master!”
Archie was about to reply when a frantic Team Aqua executive rushed in. “She’s here!” An explosion sounded somewhere in the building.
Archie cursed, grabbed Ash, and took off running. Ash struggled, but after a few seconds, Archie regained enough presence of mind to knock him out again and did so. Once in the executive office, Archie locked the door, ordered his Mightyena to watch Ash, and waited.
Delia was not in a good mood.
She had discovered her son had returned home, only to be kidnapped by Team Aqua members. That was what Oak had said, anyways.
She had broken her vow and opened the safe in her bedroom, revealing four blue-and-white great balls.
Her pokemon – Vaporeon, Mightyena, Sharpedo, and Tentacruel… left over from the days when she had been a high-flying star in Team Aqua…
Oh, she didn’t want to remember! But now Archie had Ash! Who knew what he’d do? Sighing, Delia changed back into the Team Aqua uniform also lying there, slipped her key card into her belt, and took off.
Team Aqua headquarters should not have changed.
They had cut a deal, so many years ago, she and Archie. He had promised to leave her alone, and she had promised not to tell anyone the location of the Team Aqua base. But since he had broken his vow, why should she keep hers?
Delia picked up the phone and dialed Viridian Police Station.
“Hello? This is Delia Ketchum, reporting…”
Ash was asleep. No, that wasn’t quite true. He was sitting there quietly, just staring at the pattern of Mareep on the wallpaper. It was quite interesting, how scary Archie’s taste was in textile patterns.
“One sheep, two sheep…”
Archie checked the map coordinates. Delia wasn’t here yet, right? Then who was the person attacking the Team Aqua base?
Steven? Hardly. He had his own ties to Team Aqua he wanted to conceal. Archie could drop him off his pedestal of pokemon champion easily enough.
Maxie? Possible, but… the guy wasn’t an idiot. Everyone knew water beat fire, and especially fire/rock. He usually would bring his Team Magma if he wanted trouble, instead of doing it alone.
So what was going on here?
“Sixteen sheep, seventeen sheep…”
Delia and the police raced towards the team aqua base. Sure enough, the rock to open the door was still there, but why was most of the area in ruins? Delia and the Officer Jenny in charge of the mission exchanged incredulous looks.
How was this possible?
…Unless, somehow, there was someone else was attacking? But who could it be? Who would dare…
End Chapter
Completed 12/10/04
Damn, writing this chapter was like pulling teeth…