Dare to Hope

Part 2

Kyle had been marching nonstop along the path to Viridian City for an hour.

“Who does she think she is?” he kept muttering. “Always trying to control my life…telling me what to do…”

His fathers Raichu had to jog on all fours to keep up with the boys long, heavy strides. “Just wants to boss me around, that’s all she wants to do… Only needs some one to control…” Suddenly Kyle found himself covered in jagged beams of electricity then he was on the ground with smoke streaming from his clothes.

“Raichu! Chu Rai Rai!” the culprit angrily cried.

“What?!” his caretaker screamed, brushing himself off and standing back up. “I didn’t do anything! You have no business shocking me!”

“Rai! Raichu Chu Rai!”

“She was trying to keep me from the Orange Islands Tournament!”

“Raichu?”

“What do you mean ‘so what’?”

“Chu Raichu.”

I don’t care if you like her! We’re going to the tournament!”

“Chu.”

“You can’t say no to me! Dad left you in my possession. I’m your master for now.”

Kyle was shocked again.

“Fine! I don’t need you on my team anyway!”

“Raichu-Rai Rai Chu Raichu.”

“What? Lunia was right? About what?!”

“Chu Chu Rai Raichu Rai Chu-Raichu.”

“Oh come now, you’re a pokemon. Surely you should agree that my being a pokemon trainer is important.”

“Chu.”

“No?!”

“Rai Raichu Chu Raichu!”

“What makes you think that I was in love with Kat?!”

“Raichu Raichu Chu Rai?”

“Yeah we were dating, but that doesn’t mean…”

The pokemon reminded him of the story it had heard of when Kat was being chased by assassins and ended up tumbling over a waterfall. Kyle had dived straight in after her.

“Well what was I supposed to do?! Let her drown?”

Raichu recalled another occasion that had occurred during the six months that the three friends had spent at the Ketchum gym, which it had witnessed itself. Kat had just finished saying how it was a miracle that the rain outside had finally stopped when Kyle kissed her cheek and said, “Hey, miracles happen. I found you.”

“Well- that doesn’t mean anything either!” the boy now cried.

The electric mouse talked on and on, bringing up several events that clearly proved its point. Kyle found that he remembered each experience more vividly than he would have liked. But as memories continued to flash through his mind, he saw the image of a little girl named Katastrophie who was small, clumsy, and insecure. Then before his eyes she had developed into a cheerful and confident young woman who knew only forgiveness and nothing of greed. Her bright emerald eyes and warm smile comforted in times of depression and gave love and friendship unconditionally. She became something to look forward to everyday; being her companion, hearing her laugh, watching the rose that was her spirit bloom.

Remembering the good times, however only made things worse.

“Alright! Fine!” Kyle shouted at his Raichu, cutting it off mid-sentence. “You’re right! You happy now? I admit it! I loved her! But you know what? Love is an illusion! There’s no such thing! Kat was way out of line! She’s cares more about honor for her stupid Team Rocket family than she cares about me!”

Arms crossed, he stubbornly put his back against the nearest tree. After a moment Raichu came to stand at his feet and look up at him sadly.

“Rai?”

The young trainer was a statue at first until at last his expression softened. “I didn’t mean any of that, did I?”

The pokemon smiled. “Chu!”

But Kyle could not share in its gladness. His back slid down the trunk until he hit the grass. With a groan he stuck his fingers into his brown mess of hair.

“Maybe I’m just tired, Raichu. Just need more sleep. Guess I shouldn’t have blown up at the girls like that. But darn it I’m a pokemon trainer! I want to be in this tournament! And I don’t see why I should have to sacrifice all that I want just because of Annie and the Morgan family.”

His hand suddenly flew over his mouth. “You didn’t hear that!”

Strangely enough, the Raichu still stood there, smiling knowingly.

Kyle’s eyes narrowed. “You knew all along, didn’t you? You figured out who Kat really was. You didn’t tell Dad did you?”

It shook its head.

“And you don’t care? You still like her?”

“Raichu!”

The boy sighed and stared at the clouds lazily passing overhead. “Maybe I should too. Perhaps that’s what this is really about. Never liked her family to begin with…at least that’s how I was brought up… Then they had to come ask us to take Annie along. Practically telling us to go into hiding. I couldn’t exactly object though, her entire family was there.

“But I still think what I did was right! Kat-“

Kyle stopped short as Raichu reached abruptly into his backpack and produced an item he had been carrying for the past few weeks. The pokemon held a small box in front of him as if to say, “What about this?”

“Hey!” the trainer shouted, quickly retrieving it. “Give that back! How did you know that was there? Her birthday’s coming up, alright? It’s just a birthday present!”

The Raichu gave him a skeptical, unconvinced look.

“Well was! I…I…”

As he fingered the box he could not help but to remember all the extra pokemon battles he had fought, all the money he had saved, and how fondly he used to think of it. He knew they were young. He knew it was probably one of the most challenging things he would ever have to do, but he was also so very excited. He almost couldn’t make himself wait until she was eighteen. A life without her by his side scared him more than anything else in the world.

Kyle’s eyes widened as he realized the magnitude of the situation at hand. He covered his face with one palm and whispered, “What have I done?”

All of a sudden there was a loud bang ringing through Viridian Forest. Pidgeys and Pidgeottoes from an area off to the left fluttered startled into the air. Next came a sickening female scream that sounded completely too familiar.

“Aaah! Kat! What’s going on?! Annie, what is this?”

He heard Lunia’s muffled voice shouting in the distance. And she had said Kat’s name…

“No. No please. Don’t let it be Kat…”

He shakily stood and just stared, not quite sure of what to do.

“No wait! Stop!” Lunia’s voice again.

He felt his fist clench around the small box in his hand. “If Annie’s pulled a gun on them…I’ll kill her.”

Kyle’s feet began to fly over the foliage and between the trees, even though he had no idea where he was going. Raichu dashed at his heels.

“Lunia!” he called out desperately to the girl he had heard before. “Lunia where are you?!”

Thankfully, and answer came. “Kyle? We’re over here!”

The “we” part was encouraging. “Keep talking!” he ordered.

So Lunia shouted. Whether real words or not, she shouted with all her heart, wanting to be found almost as much as he wanted to seek her. He wanted so very badly for Kat’s voice to join hers, but his wish was never granted. He ran for what felt like an eternity until at last he burst through a cluster of trees to see his friend standing with buckled knees in tears in her eyes.

Much to his surprise, the scene did not include Annie Masterson with a gun in her hand or a threat on her lips. As a matter of fact, the former Rocket was just sitting in the grass, looking as if she had witnessed the most shocking experience. She numbly played with the whimpering baby in her arms, succeeding in entrancing it long enough to be quiet.

Kyle also noticed that the picture was incomplete. “What’s going on?!” he yelled. “Where’s Kat?!”

“She saved my live.”

He and Lunia both looked down at Annie.

“A gun was fired. Somehow, she knew it was coming and pushed me out of the way. If it hadn’t been for Kat… I would have been shot…would have dropped Cherish…we both would have died…” The woman’s eyes were tearing at the acknowledgement that once again she owed everything to a member of the Morgan family. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it coming…”

The brown-haired boy knelt down to her. “Please tell me… where is she?”

Her expression suddenly changed from astonished and somber to determinedly urgent. In one movement she stood and rushed to the daughter of Gary Oak.

“Lunia, I want you to take Cherish and hide. If they come back, make sure you’re not seen and once they’ve left, take her away from here.” She gently handed over the baby.

Next Annie hurriedly reached into the pocket of the old, long brown coat she had been wearing since the day they met her and produced a .45 pistol.

Kyle inquired, “Hey why do you have-“

“In case of a tangle with Team Rocket like this. You coming with me or staying with Lunia buster?”

For a moment he felt like slapping himself. Of course it was Team Rocket behind this! He should not have suspected Annie…should he? She herself was once part of the dark organization. Could this be a trap she was leading him into?

“Kyle!” she urged.

Finding Kat was more important than logical thinking right now. “Let’s go.” He glanced down at Raichu. “Stay here and protect them.”

With that he sprinted after Annie who was leading the way.

“The bullet scraped her back,” she filled him in as they ran. “Painful, but she would have been alright. But then she must have decided to handle it herself or try to lead them away because she took off after them. She’s going to get herself killed.”

“Not if I can help it,” he growled angrily.

Just then the woman stopped short and grabbed his arm so he too would cease.

In frustration he yelled, “What?!”

“Shh.” She seemed to be listening intently to something.

When the young trainer was still he heard it too: an unfamiliar female voice. They crept quietly closer.

“Laura Cummings to base. I need a helicopter as soon as possible…I’ll get to Viridian City in no time, pick me up there…requesting passage to the Resort… I have a new inmate…and connect me to Giovanni, I think he’ll be interested in this one.”

The boy knew very little about “The Resort”, but he decided he did not like the tone of this woman’s words as they crawled into a mass of bushes.

A dirty-blonde haired girl whose back was to them could be seen through the leaves. She wore a red uniform and held a little, portable phone to her ear. She kept tapping her foot impatiently like she was waiting for a connection. Then her body visibly tensed and she straightened up.

“Sir? I found them! Masterson and the baby are with the little Morgan girl…yes sir…well yes, I was going to kill the three kids and bring the Mastersons to you but, sir-what if we take the girl hostage? Then Annie would have to come to us and we could have her right where we want her…we could probably get her to do anything we please…not to mention capture the baby…I know she would sir…well said! I couldn’t agree more sir! I will at once! Cummings out.”

Annie’s gritted teeth and scowling eyes matched Kyle’s as each silently swore at the Red Rocket. The woman bent down, grabbed something on the ground that he could not see, and walked off to her right, a shotgun propped on her hip with one hand, a handful of something red low in the other.

Kyle felt like he was going to be sick when he saw that what she was holding was Kat’s ponytail, the rest of his beloved friend being dragged in the soil behind her.

“Kat!” he whispered sharply and was about to leap through the bushes and yank to the wretched agent’s hand away, but Annie firmly gripped his shoulder to hold him down.

They waited silently until absolutely sure that they were gone. He jumped to his feet and shouted, “Why the heck did you do that?! I want to save Kat!”

“I know you do,” she answered calmly as she stood as well, “and so do I, but nothing can be done right now. That Rocket had a much larger gun than I and could have easily used it to kill you and perhaps me also. How do you think that would have helped Kat? Not having either of us would have put her in even worse shape. Now come with me.”

He could not believe how coolly she turned and walked back in the direction that they had first come, acting as if there was not a life at stake. Jogging after her, he called, “Hey! What do you think you’re doing? Don’t you even care that they’re after my girlfriend? Not to mention your baby!”

Now Annie harshly stopped and stared him straight in the eye. “Of course I do!” she spat. “My daughter means everything to me! We are going to fight this! Don’t you ever accuse me of such a horrible thing again!” She started to walk once more then looked over her shoulder at Kyle and added, “And who ever said that she was your girlfriend? I thought you dumped her.”

He could not respond. He did not think he would ever be able to speak again. She was right. Kat was not his girlfriend any more. She may never know that he still loved her. The last thing she had ever heard him say to her was words of hate.

“Kyle! Do you want to help or not? Come on!” Masterson called in a bit more of a friendly tone than before.

“Maybe…” he thought, “just maybe there’s a chance that she’ll forgive me. She has no reason to, of course, but perhaps she will anyway.”

It was a small hope, but a hope nonetheless. He trotted after Annie then walked quietly behind her until they reached the clearing where Lunia was last seen.

“It’s alright Lunia,” the former Rocket said, knowing that she was hiding nearby, “you can come out now.”

An anxious head popped up from behind a group of bushes. “What happened? Where’s Kat?”

Kyle grew bitter and furious once more, just to think of it. “Kidnapped.”

“What?!” the girl shrieked, frantically giving Cherish back to Annie then grabbing Kyle’s jacket. “What are you talking about? What do you mean? Tell me you’re kidding! Where’s my best friend?!”

“I wish I could!” he shouted defensively, “But that would be a lie! She’s being taken to The Resort! Whatever that is…”

Her eyes were growing wet. “T-The Resort?” She turned to Annie and asked, “What is that? Didn’t you spend time there or something? Please tell me she’s going to be alright!”

Masterson’s eyes were dark and her expression was unwelcoming. “I spent my life there. I can’t promise much; just that we’re going to do anything and everything that we can.”

Lunia could not control her worry any longer. She put her face in her hands and sank to her knees. “K-kidnapped…nothing’s to say a murder won’t follow!”

Even Kyle was surprised at how hysterical she had grown. Murder was the very last thing he wanted to hear about. “Don’t talk like that!” he cried. “I’ll die before I let her be killed!”

She suddenly glared up at him. “What do you care?! You broke her heart! For no reason at all you left without looking back. The poor thing cried for an hour! You were more than willing to never see her again! Now you have your wish Kyle! You should be happy! What, did you come running back when you heard a gun fired? Hoping to catch the action? Give her one last hit before she died?”

Red with anger, he fiercely knelt and put his face in hers so that she could not escape. “Take that back. Now.”

She stayed strong and unmoving like stone as her frown intensified. “Why should I?”

The boy suddenly realized that the small black box was still in his hand. It was just what he needed. He opened the lid and pushed it in front of Lunia’s eyes.

When she realized what was inside, her hand flew over her mouth to cover a gasp.

For what the box revealed was a silky, satin lining in which was embedded a magnificent, dazzling ring. The band was platinum, and the sparkling red gem was small, but only because a brilliant silver rose encircled it. The ring was seized to fit the finger of one certain girl.

Lunia slowly took the ring case from him to just stare at its contents. “How long have you had this?” she finally whispered.

He answered softly, “Six weeks. And for your information, Raichu helped me come to my senses and realize what I had done before I knew anything had happened. I’m a human Lunia. And humans make mistakes. Whether they are stupid little things that don’t matter or the biggest slip-up you’ve ever stumbled upon in your entire life, they happen. Sometimes though, the wrongs can be righted. I intend to make sure that this is one of those times. I love Kat, and I am willing to do anything to get the chance to ask for her forgiveness. I already hate myself for what I did, I don’t need you to despise me too.”

“You’ll do…anything?”

He nodded. “Anything. Even if I have to get myself thrown into The Resort.”

“Hey…that’s not such a bad idea…” Annie suddenly said, making them both look up at her. “We could do almost exactly what they want us to. And then take them by complete surprise.”

Kyle raised himself up. “What do you mean?”

“Listen. Giovanni is using Kat as a hostage which he expects us to come chasing after. If we let them catch you doing just that, and convince them that only you are coming, then they will no longer be expecting me, which gives me a big advantage. You can tell them that I told where The Resort was so that you could find her and then left you on your own for the rescue. Considering that I was once just like them, they’ll probably buy it and lock you up. Once Team Rocket thinks that their little plan has failed, that I’m not falling into their trap after all, I can sneak in and let both you and Kat out.”

“What makes you think that they’ll lock me up instead of kill me?” Kyle asked.

“I never said they wouldn’t, but if I know the workers at The Resort, they prefer torture to an easy kill. And I thought you were willing to do anything.”

“Oh…I see.”

“Wait a minute,” Lunia remarked, standing as well, “where will I be?”

“You have the most important job of all,” Annie answered. “You will remain somewhere safe with Cherish…she’s who they really want.”

“Where would be safe from Team Rocket? They could be anyplace.”

“…Well you could…stay with Officer Jenny! There’s a good chance that they just might not risk that.”

“This doesn’t sound like a very safe plan…they may not believe Kyle, or they might catch you sneaking in. There’s too much danger involved here. There must be another way.”

“Sometimes danger is necessary.”

“Out of curiosity Annie, why is that you are willing to chance your life for a girl that you hardly know? Or is there more to it than that?”

Masterson seemed offended at first, but she soon brushed it off and smiled at Lunia. “True, that I have known this young woman for a few short days, but to her family I owe everything. If it had not been for Jesse, James, and Michael Morgan I wouldn’t have my daughter. They went out on a tender limb to help me save Cherish. I was their worst enemy and still they came to my aid. And now Kat has saved me from the wrath of Team Rocket, willing to put her own life in jeopardy in the process. I owe much more than my life to the Morgans. If that’s what I have to pay for her liberation, so be it.”

Kyle was amazed at her steady, absolute gratitude. He had heard the entire story when Michael explained it that one morning at Mount Moon, but then it had seemed merely factual and not nearly as heart-felt as what Annie was telling them now. Actually, he felt somewhat challenged. If she could be this determined about Kat’s situation, then he, the boy who loved her, certainly could match that.

“Yes,” he spoke, “so be it for me too. I’m willing to take all the risk involved. Now let’s work the bugs out of this plan!”

Annie’s idea had turned into a detailed scheme that the three discussed over and over until everyone had memorized exactly where they were supposed to be and what they were supposed to do.

Earlier that afternoon the former Red had stated that they needed certain items and, leaving Cherish in Lunia’s safe care, went off to Viridian City, or at least somewhere nearby, where she claimed to have “connections.”

It was three o’clock in the morning now and she still had not returned. Kyle and Lunia had set out their sleeping bags, for all the good it would do. Each was much too anxious and distracted by Kat’s empty spot around the fire to sleep in the least. Kyle sat in the grass with his back against a boulder, staring into the flames of the campfire and clutching the ring case tightly in his palm, as if somehow it could bring him nearer to Kat. He remembered a night like this, almost a year and a half ago when he had first learned of her true identity.

She was a Rocket, the criminal association his parents despised so much throughout the years. Not only that; she was also a Morgan, which would have made her a complete outcast in his mother and father’s eyes. But Kyle couldn’t care less if her past contradicted his own, he loved her as a friend and liked her as more than that at this point. She sat awake that night, knowing that assassins were hunting her like an animal. Her uncertainty and willingness to give up was more than he could bear. He sat with her, arm draped over her shoulders, assuring her that her life was not over as long as she showed the confidence he knew she had inside.

Kyle remembered that night because it was the first time he had dared to touch Kat without a definite reason. Just to put his arm around her and let her know that he was there and that he cared. He had almost told her that he loved her, but stopped himself, afraid of what she might say.

He tried to remember the first time when he had successfully said, “I love you.” Then tears began to fog his vision as he suddenly realized that there was no such occasion. All this time, his affection had only been assumed. He had never taken a single moment to say those three sacred that she was waiting to hear. And now he may never get the chance.

“Aw, isn’t she adorable?” Lunia broke his thoughts.

Kyle instinctively looked away from her to hide his watering eyes.

“No really, look at Cherish. She’s so cute.”

After wiping his wet cheeks while pretending to scratch his face he looked back at her, a bit confused. She was smiling at the tiny baby she held whom was doing nothing more than cooing and gently moving her limbs around as if she did know what they were for. He failed to see what was so special about the child’s actions; it was all she ever did.

“See? Precious.” Lunia repeated.

He realized that she was trying to relive the heavy tension between the two of them by drawing attention to something other than the missing member.

However, he was not eager to give in. “Nice try.” He fully intended to go back to his state of self-pity when his fellow traveler took a seat beside him.

“I don’t…despise you Kyle,” she began cautiously. “And I didn’t mean all the things I said…I was just so upset that I felt I had to blame someone, I guess. I’m sorry.”

Raichu twitched in its sleep from the warm spot it had claimed beside the fire as Kyle sighed. “I know Lunia.”

An awkward silence settled between them until she began to snicker.

He stared, wondering what on earth could be funny at a time like this. “What?”

“Nothing. It’s just- do you remember when you were fourteen and going through that whole ‘I want to be just like my dad’ stage?”

“Lunia…that was four years ago.”

“I know…” she chuckled, “but it was so funny! You went and bought that ridiculous baseball cap and had to stop and turn it backwards every time you took out a pokeball. But your hair was so thick that each time you did, it would get all bunched up and tangled beneath the hat so your head looked all lumpy. Kat and I would just stand on the sidelines and laugh while you were concentrating on a battle because you looked so stupid! I never had the nerve to tell you, but she was brave enough to finally say, ‘Kyle hats really aren’t a good look for you. Mind if I burn it?’ I laughed for days!” She burst into laughter when she finished the story.

The boy did not find it humorous at all at first, but as Lunia continued to howl he found himself smiling and then chuckling. “Yeah…I was really mad then. But now it’s actually kind of funny.”

“And how about that time when we were all fifteen and I finally figured out that you had a crush on Kat, heaven knows how long that had been going on, and I kept urging you to tell her. So once you finally got up enough courage and went over to talk to her, you ended up chickening out and saying nothing more than that you were hungry and wanted to go eat. I couldn’t believe she was so blind to how red your face was! Now THAT was funny!”

He laughed with her before deciding to share one of his own memories. “I’ll tell you how long that had been going on. It was after I had just turned fifteen and she was still fourteen. I competed in that big tournament in Vermillion and won all the battles until it got down to the very last challenger. It turned out to be this real little girl with lots of pathetic, cutesy pokemon and she beat me! I was so humiliated! I just wanted to go sit by myself and mope about it, but instead Kat showed me all over Vermillion, talking about other things than the battle, going into gaming stores and arcades so I could play around, and making me forget all about what happened. She turned the horrible day into a good one. She’s very good at that. That’s when I first realized that she was something special and that I cared for her as more than a friend.”

The remembrance had caused him to smile but next his eyes grew sad and he opened the ring case once more to stare at the beautiful item inside. “I was going to ask her on her 18th birthday, that’s tomorrow. Or technically since it’s the morning hours I guess that’d be today. I wanted to wait until she was a legal adult so she might not feel that she was too young and would hopefully say yes…” he sighed. “Anything could be happening to her right now Lunia. I might have killed her.”

“You? Kyle, how can you still be thinking about yourself? This is not your fault. Things wouldn’t be any better if you had been there. In fact, they’d probably be worse. Knowing you, you probably would have chased after Kat and you’re not the one that Rocket wanted, she would have killed you. I won’t deny that Kat was upset when you left, but deep down she knew that you didn’t mean it. Whatever’s happening to her tonight, she knows you love her. And I know she’ll say yes when you ask her.”

For perhaps the very first time that night, Kyle saw Lunia as more than just a member of the group. Now he recognized her as a true friend, a best friend. Her words were sincere and comforting, giving him something to strive for. And right now, that meant everything. “Thank you.”

The two of them stayed awake until the first lights of morning peaked between the trees, recalling memories and laughing in spite of the terrible situation at hand.

Kyle was thinking to himself and remembering when Lunia had first began to travel with them because she wanted to get away from her annoying little brother and because Kat insisted that she be her companion. He began to dream about how then he had hated the thought of traveling with two girls. IN the dream the current, 18-year-old Kyle went to the 12-year-old Kyle and said, “Just wait! Now we’ve got four!”

Sunlight hit his face waking him with the reminding thought, “No. No, now there’s only three.”

Just then he became very alert and jumped up, for there came the sound of footsteps drawing near.

“Lunia!” he hissed in a protective tone to wake her up.

She fluttered open her eyes from her sleeping, sitting state on the ground. “Huh? What is it?”

Though suddenly the source of the footsteps proved to be non-threatening as Annie stepped through the shrubs, looking very, very tired and carrying a beige bag over her shoulder. “That took entirely too long.”

“Annie!” Lunia cried, hopping to her feet. “Are you alright? What happened? Why were you gone so long?”

She rubbed the back of her neck. “I’m too old for this, but I’m alright. Nothing happened, I just went for some supplies. It took a long time because I had to stay hidden most of the time in case more Rockets were lurking about, especially near Viridian. We better get going Kyle, there’s no time to waste.”

She immediately took Cherish from Lunia.

Kyle suddenly felt a twinge of dread. This was the part where he and Annie would leave Lunia and the baby behind. This was when they had to say goodbye. There was a very real chance that it would be a final goodbye as well.

At first Lunia looked at him as sadly as he had set his eyes on her, but then she smiled and put on hand in the air at about eye level. This was a gesture the two had developed over the years. It was usually used to pump one another up before a pokemon battle; as if to say “good luck.” He returned her smile and raised his hand as well to grasp hers. She squeezed it hard before letting her emotions overflow and flinging her arms around his neck, leaving a trail of tears in the air. They embraced as close friends or even siblings might until Annie’s voice made them break.

The woman was cuddling her baby against her chest, her eyes sparkling down at her. “Cherish…I pray that you will never be what I once was, never learn what your father turned out to be, and never know what I am having to do again. May you by no means admire the words ‘Team Rocket’. In case I don’t come back, Baby, I want you to grow and be happy, and always, always know that I loved you with all my heart.”

She came to Kyle’s friend. “I trust you Lunia. I know you will take care of her. If I don’t return, give her to Jesse and James Morgan.” She kissed the infant and held her a moment longer before slowly releasing her baby to Lunia.

The last requests, the bidding farewell… Kyle found it all but encouraging. Lunia saw that look forming in his eyes and decided to catch him before he had a chance to back out.

“I dare you Kyle,” she said, surprising him a bit, “to walk the path that has been set before you. I dare you to have once again the courage that I’ve seen in you before. I dare you to have faith. I dare you to hope.”

And with that she picked up Cherishs diaper bag (which also contained Kyle’s wallet, pokeballs, and the precious ring case to be kept safe) and headed straight away down the road that lead to Pewter City’s Officer Jenny, at no time glancing back. Kyle and Annie watched her go for a moment until he smiled and whispered, “You know I can’t resist a dare.”

Leaving their fears and regrets behind them, the two made their way stealthily to Pallet Town with only Raichu and Lapras (in its pokeball). By the time they reached the Pallet Bay, the morning sun was high up in the sky.

They began their journey at once. Kyle was now very glad that he had asked his mother for the use of the quick swimmer. Its speed kept him determined even though he knew they could never reach their destination in the Orange Islands in just one day.

“So what exactly is in the bag?” Kyle asked his companion as they sailed through endless waters.

“Ah yes,” she answered, reaching into it, “I suppose now’s a good time for that.” She produced three earpieces in her hand. Each had a small microphone that folded up onto it. “We’re going to have to communicate somehow throughout all this. But keeping in mind that they’ll confiscate any item they find on you before locking you up, you’ll have to hide it. I was thinking that disarray of hair you’ve got would be a good place.”

He laughed. “Sounds good. Why’d you get three?”

“One for me, one for you,” she handed the item to him then turned to Raichu, “and one for you.”

“Rai?”

“Raichu gets one?”

“We may need the pokemon and you said it won’t go in a pokeball, right? So it may as well hide somewhere and we can call it if we need its help.”

“Good thinking.”

“That’s my job.” She put a hand back inside the bag and pulled out a device that she did not give to him, but only let him see. “You better not touch, you might accidentally activate it. It’s explosive.”

Kyle’s jaw dropped. “You brought a bomb?!”

“Twelve to be exact. I didn’t want to mention this part of my plan in front of Lunia; she would have been too concerned. But I don’t care who you are or what you’ve done nobody deserves The Resort. Particularly those from the team. Many are imprisoned for doing the right thing, though it goes against their criminal code. And taking James’ daughter was the last straw. I’m going to destroy that place. While you’re letting yourself be caught, I’ll plant these all over the outside of the building. Then I’ll break in, find the codes, and you can help me get all the inmates out before I even activate the explosives. There shouldn’t be more than thirty or forty inmates total. The team can’t afford to have more than that in there. There shouldn’t be a problem.”

“What are you planning to do about all the guards?” he inquired.

Annie reached into the bag once more and produced a medium-sized spray can. “This atomizer will knock them out on contact.”

“And when the building blows? Where will we be? How are you even going to activate the bombs without getting hurt?”

“I have this remote,” she said, showing him a small remote control that was in her coat pocket. “It doesn’t work very long range, but there’s plenty of room all along the rim of the island to be far enough away and be safe but still close enough to trigger them. They’re not very big anyway. Then we can get on Lapras with Kat and leave.”

It all seemed to be so logical and orderly, like nothing could go wrong. Kyle was confident.

Raichu, quite thrilled to have a part to play in the scheme, figured out how to put on its earpiece and threw sparks from its cheeks any time one of them tried to take it away. So for the rest of the day, it played happily with the contraption until it discovered exactly how it worked.

Though this was not at all the way Kyle had always been planning to spend Kat’s 18th birthday, before he knew it the sun had set and the day was over. They stopped on an island that was lush with vegetation, which began the Orange Archipelago so as to let Lapras rejuvenate for the next day’s journey.

Once again the boy rolled out his sleeping bad but could find no rest. He was even more anxious than the previous night, if it was possible, and lay awake on the ground. This time there was no Lunia to comfort him…there was only Annie. Annie…hmmm. If they truly were going to successfully execute this master plan, he may as well make amends with his partner. He wondered if she was asleep or merely lying there like he.

“Hey Annie?”

“Hmm?”

That answered that question. “I’m uh- sorry I suspected you yesterday… When I heard Kat scream and Lunia ask you what was happening…”

He heard her move on her sleeping pallet. “Oh. You suspected me?”

Oh yeah. She had not known. “Er- yeah. Pretty stupid of me.”

“I know it’s hard for you to trust me. It’s been hard for everyone who knows about my past. Especially Michael.” She chuckled. “But he accepted me in the end. The only person to believe me right away was Kat…”

Silence fell.

“Well I guess that’s one thing we have in common,” Kyle finally said. “We both want to save her.”

He could hear the smile in her voice. “Very true.”

At long last morning set in and the two departed. Annie navigated the way to The Resort, becoming bitterer by the hour.

It was early afternoon when the island was in sight. It looked somewhat smaller than Kyle had imagined it. Only one building resided on the land that appeared to be a little, one-story, abandoned welcome center.

He quickly took his earpiece and shoved it inside his hair, fixing it so that it would not be detected. He was ready.

They landed on the rocky shore and Kyle called Lapras back into its pokeball.

“Now listen Raichu,” he told his electric mouse, “I want you to stay behind this boulder here with the pokeball unless we call you. If that happens, use you agility attack to haul it up there. And you have my permission to fry anyone who comes by, just don’t’ draw attention to yourself. If for some reason I…I fail to come back, get on Lapras and go back to Dad. Clear?”

It nodded, a bit sadly.

“Alright,” Annie said to the young trainer. “Guess we’re ready. We can’t risk going up there together; I can’t be seen. So you come up from the left while I go to the right, keeping myself hidden.”

“Got it… Good luck Annie.”

After reaching her hand out and shaking his, she tapped the machine on her ear. Keep in touch.”

And so it began.

Kyle dashed up the beach, leaving obvious footmarks amongst the rocks. He reached the right wall of the square building unnoticed. He pretended to sneak toward the front, hoping that he would find a guard of some kind, but peering around the corner, he saw no one at all.

However there was little time to waste; he would have to improvise. If there were no one to catch him pretending to sneak in, he would simply have to break in. The boy put a furious expression on his face and dashed to the main door. He threw it open and barged inside.

“Where is she?!!”

A man in a white coat and a brass nametag the read “Dr. Pike” looked up startled from the computer on his desk.

Kyle ran to him and slammed both fists on the table. “I know you have her! Give me back Katastrophie!” He knew they would only recognize her full name.

The man stood rather calmly; made a hand motion, and suddenly several characters in black were on the pokemon trainer, confining him.

He pretended like this was not what he wanted. “Stop! Let me go! I want my girlfriend back!”

Dr. Pike smiled mischievously, opened a desk drawer, and pulled out a handgun. It wobbled slightly between the three solitary fingers he possessed on his right hand. He crossed to the detained Kyle and pointed it between his eyes. “So Agent Cummings was right. You’ve come. You weren’t the one we were hoping for, but you can at least give us some information.”

“I won’t tell you slime balls anything!” he lied, fully preparing to blurt out the story he and Annie had concocted. “Bring me Katastrophie!”

The other frowned. “You’ll talk.” He pressed the gun against the boy’s forehead. “Where are the Mastersons?”

“Look, I just want my girl.”

“Well, you aren’t going to get her so talk or die. It matters little to me.”

“Ok! Please, don’t kill me! I’ll tell you!” he acted like there was no strength within him. “Masterson told me how to get here then left me on my own! My opinion of her is not too high at the moment. She’d do anything to save her own hide; refused to help me. She took a train to Fuchsia City. If you want her, go look there, I don’t care.”

He snorted. “How very like her. But I’m still not sure if I believe you.”

“That’s not my problem. I’m here on other terms.”

“And just what was your reason again my dear boy?” he was toying with him now.

“Release her now you monster!”

“Shall I kill him Sir?” one of the men dressed in black asked.

“No…” Pike wore an evil smirk. “Go, take him to his precious little ‘catastrophe’. Let him see what we’ve done to her. Then find a cell to throw him in. Oh and be sure he gets some ‘treatment’ today.”

This was exactly what Kyle had been hoping for. The guards patted him down in search for weapons and checked his pockets for valuables. Everything that was worth anything to him had been left with Lunia of course, but he had retained a few lesser items like loose change and random nick-knacks in his pockets so that it would seemed unplanned.

He continued to act the part and struggled as next they led him down a dark hallway filled with prisoner cells on both sides. Each consisted of a huge metal door with a panel of numbers and a small screen to serve as a lock. There was a guard standing outside one of them, glancing at a piece of paper and entering a code into the door.

All around him, muted screams, sounds of crying, and furious shouting filled the air, every one coming from the cells. Kyle hated to think what was happening to the inmates inside. Any one of them could be Kat.

To his surprise, they did not take him to any one cell in that hall but instead lead him down a flight of stairs. At the bottom appeared a second floor of rooms identical to the first.

They stopped in front of a door with a sign that read:

Morgan
#2-79

He froze, suddenly realizing that the very thing he had wanted most for the past two days, to see Kat, was now being forced upon him. But this wasn’t how he had planned it. Right now he could not rush in and save her, he could only look and see what monstrosities had befallen her. No. This was not how it was supposed to be! This couldn’t happen now!

One of the men pulled a list from his pocket and typed in the code. The door swung slowly towards them.

What Kyle saw first however, was not Katastrophie Morgan. He saw her brother Michael kneeling on the floor, one hand against the ground to steady him, the other held out defensively.

“You’ve already been here today! Go on, get out of here!” he cried.

The brown-haired boy noticed what Big Brother was defending. There was Kat, lying on the floor. The tie that normally bound her ponytail had fallen out, allowing her long red hair to spread all over the ground. Segments of it near the middle looked darker and stiffer than the rest, as if dried with blood. She was sleeping, unconscious, or too weak to move, he could not tell which. One of her hands was clenched around a wad of Michael’s pant leg as though he was all she had left in the world. Though her pale skin and helpless estate was almost too much for Kyle to swallow, what topped it off was the way her brother looked at him next.

Michael was using all of his strength just to keep himself upright. “I’m warning you! Leave us alone!” His eyes shifted from the guards to the captive they held. He squinted. “You.”

It was a hateful recognition. “There now, see what you’ve done to her?” he said, motioning to Kat.

Kyle remained frozen as his heart went out to each of them. They had broken her spirit. They had uprooted her rose and plucked its petals. It was as if she were dead.

Inside of him surfaced a burning desire to hold his love; to just take her in his arms, say that he was so very sorry and beg her to be alive again.

For a split second he thought that they were going to be gracious enough to put him in the cell with her, but he should have known better. As they started to push the door closed, he was suddenly afraid that he would never see her again.

“No…”

The door sealed itself and the Morgans were out of sight.

“No! Katastrophie! Let me go! I have to be with her!”

No longer acting, Kyle fought to get free of the Rockets, shouted, and cried out her name over and over. He needed her. He hated the guards and that metal door more than all of creation for separating him for Kat.

They literally had to drag him away from there and down another flight of stairs where they shoved him screaming into his own dark cell.

“Give her back to me!” he hollered, beating on the door that closed in his face. “Let me out of here! You’re all going to be sorry!”

“Oh? And just what are you going to do?” A voice said from behind him.

He whirled around, but in the pure darkness he could see no one. “Who’s there?!”

“Geez. Relax and get comfortable. You’re not going anywhere for a while.”

There were two different voices. One feminine, the other masculine.

“I demand to know who is in here!” Kyle shouted.

“Well, I demand to know why you were calling out my daughter’s name.”

He stopped. “…h-huh?”

“I heard you,” a woman said. “You were calling for Katastrophie. Why? She’s not at The Resort. She can’t be. She’s not even on Team Rocket. Who are you anyway?”

“Are you…Jesse Morgan?”

“Quite. You?”

He spoke to the other voice, “And are you James?”

The man whom he could not see howled with laughter. “Not even close! I could never even compare to that sniveling little…”

“Shut up, Weston! When I tell my husband that you were put with me, he’ll kill you! That is if I haven’t already done so…”

“Ooo, a donut-obsessed loser is after me,” he whined sarcastically. “Whatever will I do?”

“Uh, Mrs. Morgan I think you already know me,” Kyle interrupted. “I’m Kyle Ketchum, Kat’s friend…”

There was silence.

All of a sudden he realized that he had told her his last name! He slapped his forehead as he thought, “Nice one Kyle. All that we’ve been trying to hide is now out in the open. Kat would have wanted to tell her parents herself to…darn it!”

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I heard you right,” came Jesse’s voice at last. “I know you couldn’t have said that you’re name is Ketchum because my daughter would not mix with some one even remotely related to that twerp who used to have us shocked, blown up, and sent soaring almost everyday. She would know better than that.”

“Er-”

“Ha! How ‘bout that, Jess!” Weston laughed. “Your little ‘Catastrophe’ is in love with some one connected to the very person who kept you a White for years! Ha ha! I love it!” He was abruptly silenced as the sound of a foot meeting his stomach filled the cell.

Two hands gripped the neck of Kyle’s shirt.

“Please tell me for real. Who are you?”

He took a deep breath and began to recite the words that he had always known he would someday have to say. “I am the son of Ash and Misty Ketchum. I met your daughter when I was twelve and have loved her ever since. And unfortunately Ma’am, Kat is here. A Red Rocket found us and captured her. Annie and I have come to save her…and you, now that I know you’re imprisoned. Mrs. Morgan, I came because I’m in love with Katastrophie despite who I am or who she is. Please accept us for what we are.”

Still, there was no sound. The hands released his shirt.

Finally she spoke, “I’m not sure I can do that right now. But there seems to be more important things at hand. You said that Annie is here? How are you planning to get us out if you’re both in cells?”

“Actually, only I allowed myself to be confined, she is preparing to release us.”

“Annie Masterson?!” gasped the man called ‘Weston’. “You two are working with that psychotic old Red?!”

“You’ve said enough!” Mrs. Morgan screamed at him. “I still can’t believe I’m stuck with you 24/7! If you don’t learn how to shut your mouth soon, I’m going to rip the vocal cords from your neck!”

“Don’t get mad at ME, I’m not the Ketchum who wants to steal your daughter from you!”

They continued to shout and bicker as Kyle gulped, wishing so very much that Annie would come and rescue him. He reached inside his hair, turned on the earpiece and put it on his ear. “Uh, Annie?” he spoke through the microphone over the screaming in the cell, “It would be great if you could come get me like- NOW.”


Annie had first taken the contents of her beige bag and placed them carefully inside the large pockets on her coat before hurrying up the beach to the backside of The Resort.

Once there, she gingerly brushed one hand against the white brick wall before her. This was the place where 26 years of her life had been lost to hate and captivity; where she had dreamed of freedom and yearned for revenge on the very man to whom she was now indebted. This was where the terrible memories lived. This was the place she saw in her worst and most realistic nightmares.

She produced an explosive from her pocket and hastily attached it to the wall near the ground. No longer. She was going to destroy this part of her past and make sure that no one else would have to suffer as she had.

Annie placed two more on the back wall, keeping a constant lookout for Grunts. Next she moved to the back wall and had just placed three further bombs accordingly when a back door swung open and out stepped a guard with a cigarette in his hand.

He nearly fainted when he caught sight of her. “M-Masterson?!”

However, within seconds he was breathing the spray from her atomizer and collapsed, out cold.

The woman started to walk away when an idea came to her. He might be useful. She searched his pockets until finding what she had hoped for. It was a list of all the occupied cells and the codes in which to open them.

But something was wrong… This list implied that every single cell was full, and not only that, but two or three names resided beside every cell number. There must have been a mistake. Nearly the entire team would have to be imprisoned for this to be true.

Annie concluded that what she held must have been some sort of history record; a list of every agent whom had ever been placed in each cell. There was no telling how old these codes were… She tossed it aside.

After stripping the Grunt of his gun and hurling it up onto the roof where he would not find it when he awoke, she made her way to the next sidewall and was just planting her seventh explosive her earpiece unexpectedly said, “Uh Annie? It would be great if you could come get me like- NOW.”

She was startled only briefly at the suddenness of Kyle’s voice. “Oh?” she answered. “A few minutes in your cell and you already want out?” She stopped herself from adding, ‘try 26 years.’

“It’s not that…” he was having to talk loudly over voices in the background. “It’s Kat…she didn’t look like she would last much longer.”

“What? You saw her?”

“Let me have that! I want to talk to her!” she heard someone call furiously. “Annie! Get me out of here! I can’t take another minute with this perverted, intolerable, ’77-station-wagon-obsesser!”

“Hey, hey!” a muffled voice shouted defensively, “The name is Billy Weston, the best Rocket there ever-“

“Oh shut up!”

Annie was just standing up from planting her second bomb on that wall when she realized to whom she spoke and gasped. “J-Jesse?!”

“Yeah that was her,” said Kyle again. “She took the earpiece for a second there.” The fighting in the background had resumed.

“Where are you Kyle?!” she cried, quite confused. He couldn’t have been in a cell. There was never more than one inmate at once in a single space.

“In The Resort of course! I’m in a cell with Mrs. Morgan and some other Rocket.” He did not find it at all abnormal. “but Annie you have to listen to me… You need to get me out…I just have this horrible feeling about Kat…it’s like she’s forgotten about me completely…like she only knows her brother…”

Her list of unanswered questions was growing rapidly. “You saw Michael? Here?!”

If he answered, she would never know for his voice was then drowned out by the sound of an approaching helicopter. Soon after sounded several people shouting furiously that intrigued Annie’s curiosity. Sneaking along the wall, she peeked her eyes to the front of the building; careful not to let her hair be blown in the sight of those around the aircraft due to the wind it produced.

“This is outrageous! I did nothing wrong! You hear me! Nothing! How was I supposed to know that he wanted a Jolteon instead of an Electabuzz?! That’s no cause to bring me here!”

“Let me go! All I did was walk in his office and he had me captured! No reason! No reason at all!”

Six Rockets were being lead out of the helicopter and into The Resort. Two were unconscious and being dragged, rather than led, after the others. The remaining four fought and screamed, claiming that their arrest was in vain.

Annie could not believe that all six of them were coming in as new inmates all at once. They couldn’t have failed a mission together or something along that line for their ranks were varied: two White Rockets, two assassins, one Black and one Red. Why on earth would six agents be brought here at the same time? Why was Jesse here? Why was Kyle not alone in his cell?

None of it made sense. It was completely unimaginable. Her mind went back to the list of cells she had found from the fallen Grunt. That WAS a history record, wasn’t it? It simply couldn’t be true….

After quickly sticking the third bomb on the sidewall she dashed back to where she had left the guard and again grabbed his list. She scanned down the roll of names, horrified at the number of them that she recognized.

Cell # 1-14 Constance Conway: Red
Ryan Ward: Black

Cell # 2-79 Michael Morgan: Red
Katastrophie Morgan: none

Cell # 3-101 Jesse Morgan: Black
Billy Weston: White

Cell # 4-137 James Morgan: Black
Butch Crandall: Black
Valentine Watermen: Assassin

So it was true. This couldn’t have been a history account; the Morgans and Constance had never been here before. This was current. Giovanni and Domino must have gone insane. Most of the team was in The Resort!

Annie reminded herself not to panic. True, that she now had the responsibility of freeing over four hundred agents, but she had all the time she could ask for; the explosives would not activate until she ordered them to do so through the remote control, and even then they would count down for an hour before going off. She had set them this way so as to be sure that they would be reasonably far off when the explosion happened.

She pulled the three remaining bombs from her coat pocket but froze when she saw them. The timer on each now read 58 minutes and 34 seconds; each was counting down rapidly.

Her mouth grew dry and her heart beat wildly. What was this?! She had not activated them! She groped back inside her pocket for the remote, only to find that it was not there. She must have accidentally left it in her bag back on the beach. The wind from the helicopter certainly would have knocked that over, thus pressing the buttons on the device.

Could she deactivate the explosives that she had already planted? No, that wouldn’t work; it had been years since she had received training along that line, she did not think she could remember precisely how. Pulling one wrong wire might set it off or even cause a chain reaction between all of them. All their efforts would have been useless.

There was only one other option. She had to release the inmates. All of them.

“Annie! Annie!” Kyle’s voice was faint in the earpiece, trying to compete with the loud blades of the chopper taking off once more.

The former Red barely heard him through her own concentration. What was she to do with the three bombs in her hand, first of all? Throwing them off to the side might cause danger to the prisoners whom were otherwise safe on the island when the building blew. So she swiftly tossed them onto the roof so that the damage would be inflicted on the place that was already going to be destroyed.

“Annie! What happened?! Are you alright? Can you hear me?” The boy was still calling.

As she ran to the backdoor which the unconscious Grunt had left unlocked, she told him of the situation and how serious it had become.

“Well, you don’t have to do it all by yourself!” Kyle said a bit hopefully, but still obviously nervous. “Let the people you know will help you out first; like me and the Moragns and Constance. We can divide the number of cells if we have enough lists…”

This was something to consider. She could use the atomizer to get the Grunts out of the way and take their lists. But considering the number of guards, that would take more time than she had.

She had entered the building and was cautiously making her way through one of the halls of the first floor when a familiar nameplate came into view.

Constance Conway
Ryan Ward
# 1-14

“Kyle,” she spoke into her microphone, “here’s what I‘m going to do: I’m at Constance’s cell so I’ll let her out and together well get rid of the Grunts. Then I’ll go get Kat and Michael-“

“Um, Annie?” he interrupted.

“What?”

“Can you get us out first? I um- want to go with you to do that.”

“Why?”

“Because…I want her to remember me.”

“You think she’s forgotten?”

“She’s forgotten that I love her.”

“I see… Alright, but we can’t take too long, just remember that.”

Even through the earpiece she could hear the gratitude in his voice. “Thank you.”

Katastrophie slept quietly on Michael’s chest as she often did, seeing as how she refused to use the cot unless he was with her. But both of them wouldn’t fit on the tiny bed so he usually sat on the floor and let his sister lay on him.

He was dreadfully regretful that he had asked her to take Annie along on her travels. If he had just been patient, another solution would have presented itself. But no, he was too busy feeling sorry for himself because he was so tired and because this had put him behind on his schedule of assignments. He had not stopped to think how he might be endangering his baby sister.

Suddenly for the third time that morning, their cell door started to beep, breaking his thoughts.

The first instance it had been a guard, there to give them their daily “electro-therapy.” Katastrophie received the harsher end of that this time.

On the second occasion, Grunts that held a certain boy had appeared. Michael recognized him to be the one whom had hurt his sibling before she was brought here and he was still quite bitter towards him. But he had seemed so desperate to be with her, calling out her name repetitively when they took him away… Michael wasn’t sure what to think.

Now for a third time their door was going to open though he had not a clue why. He would be surprised if the guards were back to torture them; with so many prisoners to handle they never had time to do the cells more than once a day.

Who appeared in the doorway however surprised him much more than a Grunt would have. Annie Masterson stood before them with that Kyle-boy at her side. They looked as if they were rescuers, not captives!

Kyle immediately swept inside the cell and knelt before the sleeping Katastrophie as if just being close to her was something sacred.

“Annie!” Michael gasped. “What are you doing here? What’s going on?”

She bent down in front of him to be eye-level and shared with him her plans of escaping and told him that Constance and Jesse had gone to free his father before starting on their own assigned group of cells.

“So the entire Resort is going to explode in half an hour?” he asked, summing up her words.

“Twenty-seven minutes to be exact. It took us a little while to find all the Grunts that we could and get them out of the way.” She stood and offered him a hand up as well.

He kissed his sister’s forehead then said to Kyle, “It’s alright. You can take her.”

He made sure that she was securely in the boy’s arms before taking Annie’s hand to rise up. He was about to ask her how she was planning for them to split up so that they would cover every cell when all of a sudden screaming filled the room.

“No! No! Michael, no! Bring him back! Michael!!”

Kyle was so surprised at Katastrophie’s cries that he lost his grip on her, but Michael was on the ground at once to catch her. He shook his sister.

“Wake up, Katastrophie! You’re dreaming again!”

Breathing quickly she opened her eyes. “Oh Michael! It was horrible! I dreamed that they killed you again. Every time I sleep I see you being taken away from me and-and something awful happens! I can’t stand it anymore!”

It seemed that every opportunity that she had a chance to sleep she woke up screaming. And each time she would tell Michael that she had seen a nightmare in which something bad had happened to him. It usually involved the two being separated, him either being hurt terribly or killed, and her being left all alone. That must have been her biggest fear. With all these dreams and the knowledge of the talent that his sister possessed to sense when trouble was coming, he was beginning to get nervous.

Nevertheless, he held Katastrophie close, as he always did and told her that everything was alright now. It was only a dream.

She squeezed him a second longer before looking around. “W-why is it so light in here?” Her eyes met the open door and the woman in the entryway. Surprisingly, she seemed to not be shocked at all. “I knew you’d come. I knew it!”

Annie smiled back down at her. “I’m glad.”

However, the red-haired girl was very astonished to see Kyle on the floor with them. “Kyle…why are you here?”

He beamed proudly, happy to at last be noticed. “I came to save you.”

If he was expecting her to jump into his arms, he couldn’t have been more mistaken. On the contrary she only looked at him, unimpressed. “Oh really? Well I have Annie for that, thank you very much. If I recall correctly, you decided to go your separate way. But that would be just like you, wouldn’t it? To come back once you found out that I was in trouble. You don’t really care about me; you just don’t want anything ‘bad’ to happen to me. You’re a little late for that you know. You’re wasting your time here.”

Michael could see the hurt on Kyle’s face. “N-no, I…I um, I wanted to apologize and ask you if er- you could like, maybe forgive me…?”

He blew that one. She wasn’t at all swayed. Ignoring him, she turned her attention back to Annie. “What’s the plan? How are we going to get out of here?”

As she too was quickly versed in the plot, Kyle remained paralyzed with shock and the deep pain of rejection. “You…won’t? But, Kitty, I…I l-lo…”

“You what, Kyle? I already know that you aren’t sincere. If it took something as drastic as this to bring you back, you can’t be. But we don’t have time for this right now. We have cells to free.”

“Right!” Michael rose up again and helped Katastrpohie to do likewise. She was still a little weak from that morning’s torture, but one look at her determined expression and one would never have known it.

Annie handed each of them a list of the cells and the codes in which to open them. She told the Red Rocket to go to the left and down three flights of stairs to salvage the inmates in the bottom most chambers of The Resort, and was about to order Katastrophie a different way when the girl cried, “No!”

She clutched her brother’s arm. “Not with all the dreams I’ve been having! I won’t let him out of my sight until this is all over!”

Annie smiled a bit. “I understand. Alright Kat, Kyle and I will divide the cells that we were going to have you cover.”

She sighed in relief, “Thank you.”

Michael ruffled her long hair. “What’s the matter, Squirt? Forget that I’m a Red?”

“I don’t care what color your hair is,” she said jokingly, “let’s go!”

They hurried off down the stairs and to the fifth and final floor of The Resort where the larger cells were built. These were usually used to imprison the more dangerous Rockets that had been classified as insane (though few actually were). Now however, the guards had used the size to their advantage to toss as many agents as they could in each room.

There were four different hallways on every floor, each containing five cells on one side of the hall and five on the other. So as Michael opened the doors on the left wall, Katastrophie punched in codes on the right.

When each cell was unlocked, they briefed the inmates inside generally by saying, “The place is going to blow. Get yourselves out NOW.” And the Rockets would go scurrying up the stairs without asking questions, just glad to be free of their cages.

Katastrophie was extremely nervous as they went about the task, often asking how much time they had left and going into the “what-ifs.”

Even though moving through the first hallway proved to go reasonably quickly with both of them working on it, Michael saw that his sister was still apprehensive as they moved to the second. To try to ease her he casually asked, “Hey, Katastrophie, I’ve been meaning to ask you something. Do you prefer to be called ‘Kat’?”

She looked over at him as though he were mad, to be inquiring about something as unimportant as that during a time like this. “Huh?”

“You know… I’ve heard your friends call you that and that’s how Annie addresses you…is that what you like?”

“Well…” she paused to tell her newly freed agents to run away as fast as they could. “That all started when I met Kyle and Lunia… I didn’t want them to know who I really was so I told them to call me Kat. I’ve gotten used to it, that’s for sure. Yeah, I suppose I like it better. It makes it a lot easier for people to sing ‘Happy Birthday.’” She stopped. “Michael…what day is it?”

“I’ve kind of lost track. Thursday I think.” He punched in another code and told his captives to hurry out.

“Hmm…yesterday was my eighteenth birthday. With all that’s happened I had forgotten.”

“Seriously? You’re an adult now?”

“Guess so.”

“My little sister all grown up… I didn’t even remember when your birthday was…”

She raised an eyebrow at him before typing numbers on the next key lock.

“Well hey, after you ran away it was a little hard to keep track.”

They ceased their conversation momentarily as they each explained the situation at hand to the next group of inmates.

“So why didn’t you want Kyle and Lunia to know who you were?” Michael asked, typing the numbers for the third door on his side of the hallway.

“Oh that’s right, you don’t know about them,” his sister replied. “You remember those twerpy kids Mom and Dad used to follow around a long time ago?”

“Are you kidding? They’ve told us so many stories about them I could never forget.”

“Kyle’s last name is Ketchum.”

“…Ketchum?!”

“That’s right. He’s Ash and Misty’s son.”

“You’re saying that all this time you’ve been dating a Ketchum?!”

“Calm down. We’re not dating anymore. But that’s why I didn’t tell them. I didn’t want to be judged.”

Kat emptied her third cell while Michael did his fourth.

“Is that why you’re mad at him?” he asked her.

“Kyle? No… It has nothing to do with that. I told you what he did. Really, I find it hard to believe that he truly had a change of heart and not merely a change of mind. What, do you think I should forgive him?”

“I was just asking.”

“Well I don’t know, Michael… I’m kind of confused. In all the time that I’ve known Kyle; in all the time that we’ve been a ‘couple’- he never once said that he loved me. I’m just not sure that he honestly does.”

“He never said it?”

“Never.”

This made him ponder the relationship he had with Constance, his best friend and partner. What was she waiting to hear? How exactly did he feel about her anyway?

As Michael and Kat finished with their last cells, they went on to the third and fourth hallways, continuing their conversation as calmly as two friends strolling through a completely harmless park on a spring day, as though there was no danger at all.

When the final cell on the fifth floor was empty, they went up the stairs and started on the fourth, even though Annie had not assigned them to.

The siblings had completed one hallway and were traveling to the second when they ran into a very familiar, blue-haired Rocket.

“Daddy!” Kat cried and ran to him instantly.

Their father, James, held his own list of codes and was hurriedly typing one into a lock when he saw them. His eyes wide, he had to take a step back in surprise. “Michael! K-Katastrophie!”

He tried to hug them both at once while asking his daughter why in the world she was there.

“It’s a long story Dad,” Michael said, “We’ll tell you later. Here, let us help you.”

They aided him in opening the cells to which he had been appointed until the entire fourth floor was free.

Afterward, the three went to the next floor up, all together. There they found both Constance and Annie working to empty their own set of chambers.

Michael was so glad to see his partner alive and well that he kissed her on the cheek, right in front of everyone.

“Jesse and Kyle are taking care of the first and second floors,” Annie told them. “We have about eight minutes left, now would be a good time to finish up and get out of here.”

Soon the third floor was completed and they found that the second was as well.

Everything was going so well that Michael never expected Kat to anxiously grab his arm as they reached the first level.

Her eyes were large and her limbs had goose bumps appearing on them. “Michael…” she whispered, “I feel it again.”

“Feel what?”

“That cold chill… I think something is going to happen.”

He halted. “Are you sure?”

She nodded and hugged her arms. “It’s as strong as when Annie was about to be shot. And if it’s as bad as that…”

He tried not to think about the dreams she had been experiencing lately.

“What should we do, big brother?”

That was a good question. And unfortunately he had no answer. “Let’s just leave this place quickly.”

The end of the hallway to which they had entered was tightly filled with the most recently released inmates. Strangely, none of them were moving. As the five reached the back of the cluster and fell silent like the rest, they found out why.

“This is definitely her doing! There were so many agents outside that we had to search for the landing pad!”

“Although we left that multitude alone, nothing is to say that we won’t kill every single one of you if you don’t hand her over right now!”

The voices did not sound familiar to Michael, but next spoke one that did.

“I’m going to ask all of you one last time before I open fire. Where is Masterson?!”

Domino.

Constance gave a small gasp, Kat put both hands on her heart, Michael and his father both clenched their teeth angrily and they all looked at Annie.

The Rockets that had recently been inmates turned their heads to see if anyone had an answer to the question, but no one seemed to. Some looked as though they had not even known that the former Red was behind the jailbreak.

“Fine then! You asked for it!”

There came the sound of four different guns being cocked.

With anxiety, Michael watched Annie’s hands roll into fists and her eyes squeeze shut. He could have sworn he heard her murmur, “Lunia, take care of Cherish,” before calling out, “Stop this! I’m here, darn it!”

She pushed her way through the people.

“Annie, no!” Kat hissed after her, though she knew that she couldn’t be stopped.

Michael waited for a second then silently followed after her. Once he near the head of the group, he could see that there were agents pouring out of each of the four first-floor hallways that lead to the main office. Among them he spotted his mother and Kyle.

In the center of the office stood three Red Rockets. He recognized them all: Todd Elston, Andrew Myidis, and Laura Cummings. These each held a pistol (save Laura whom was well-known for the use of her absurd shotgun), which was pointed at three different hallways.

Her own gun aimed at the area in which Michael and Annie resided, Domino smirked. Giovanni was placed next to her, sitting unarmed in a wheelchair. He appeared older than he had ever looked before. His gray hair did not have grease in it to slick it back, he was not wearing his usual red suit but merely old, comfortable clothes, and there was a blanket over his lap. He actually looked rather peaceful if one did not know that there was a true killer inside of him.

“Why, Miss Annie, so good of you to join us,” Giovanni greeted her calmly. “Causing all of this trouble to us really wasn’t necessary. All we really need is Conquest. Cooperate and things will be quite easy. Just tell us where to find her and we will not kill anyone. However, all of these will be replaced into the cells while you will come with us to insure that you are telling the truth. Just to give you a little incentive…” He motioned to Domino.

Keeping her gun ready to fire at any given moment, the blonde walked past Annie and through the crowd.

Michael put his hand over his mouth. He saw where this was going.

“Oh, no, you don’t, I’m going to let you take my daughter!”

“Stop it Dad, she’ll shoot you!”

Silence.

Domino came back to the center of the office, one hand holding the weapon against Kat’s head, the other binding her arms behind her back.

“We’ll take a hostage,” Giovanni continued, “the very one you came to save. Refuse my offer and not only will Katastrophie be eliminated, but I will order my three Reds to fire at anyone they so desire. And don’t worry, I’m certain at least one bullet will find you. The choice is yours. Your daughter or James’.”

Annie spoke, “My child’s name is Cherish. Not Conquest. Cherish.”

Domino frowned, “I don’t care if you named her Chester, you still have a decision to make and I suggest you make it now.”

If Kat was half as nervous as Michael, she did not show it. Her stature was firm and her expression strong. She was not the meek, terrified little girl he had grown up with. She was a powerful and spirited young woman.

He noticed that Kyle wore the same look of admiration as he, but was also frightened out of his mind. Kyle wrung his hands together as he muttered something into the microphone on his ear.

“Listen, Giovanni,” Annie growled at her enemy. “In about two minutes it won’t matter what I choose if we’re all still in here because the place is going to blow. I’ve set bombs all over the outside. All of us need to get out or NO ONE will survive. Including you.”

“A likely story Ms. Masterson,” he replied, “but even you can do better than that.”

“Alright, don’t believe me, but please don’t do this.”

“You try my patience. Make your choice.”

“Oh, honestly, Annie!” Domino scoffed. “You can’t tell me you want this girl to die.”

“No.”

“Then just tell us where Conquest is.”

“No.”

“You know we’re going to search for her anyway, even if you refuse.”

She did not respond.

“Then you’ve made your choice!” she screamed, pressing her .45 against Kat’s temple.

Michael was reminding himself not to hyperventilate. There must have been something he could do. If only he had his revolver! He wondered if Annie had a gun…

Sure enough he saw one in her coat pocket that she had not had a chance to retrieve. He on the other hand had been unnoticed by all and just might have a chance.

Breathlessly, he took hold of the firearm in her pocket and started slinking away. If she noticed, she pretended not to.

Domino barked at the other Reds to get into place. “This is your last chance, Masterson! Get ready for open fire!”

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Domino.”

Every person in the room turned to look astoundingly at Michael. He was standing directly behind Giovanni, pistol tapping the old man’s head. “Unless you want me to pull the trigger, which I could very easily do, I suggest that you release my sister and all of you drop your weapons.”

No one dared to move or breath. Domino growled.

“You heard the man!” the Boss cried. “Drop them!”

Four guns hit the floor with a clunk. Kat was pushed aside.

“Now…” Michael said in a leadership voice, “I am willing to believe that you three,” he motioned to Todd, Andrew, and a seemingly scared Laura, “were simply following orders. If you go quietly, you and everyone else may leave now.”

The 80 plus Rockets in the hallways looked from one to another uncertainly before they all began to dash eagerly out of the exit.

Kat’s eyes watered at her brother. “Michael…”

He looked at her warmly. “Go. It’s alright, I’m coming.”

James rushed to the cabinet filled with confiscated items and produced the pokeball that held Meowth before hurrying out the door after the others.

After making sure that every last Rocket had gone safely outside, Michael said, “Giovanni if you would give up that gun you’re hiding under your blanket, I would be most appreciative. I do believe it’s mine.”

With a pause the Boss stubbornly produced the revolver from his lap that indeed did belong to the Red Rocket.

Morgan pointed it at Domino. “I should kill both of you right now. You’ve hurt my family, stolen Annie’s baby, and had me tortured in this place. You are my enemies. I should annihilate you two here and now, on the spot.”

But he was tired. Tired of all the fine print rules of this team, tired of the killing and the pain, tired of the endless, surrounding, hate. He refused to continue it. He just wanted rest and peace and relaxation. “But I’m not like you,” he told them. “I’m going to get you out before The Resort is destroyed.”

“Riachuuuuuuu!!!!”

All of a sudden Giovanni and Domino were being covered in jagged beams of electricity that lasted for several seconds.

Michael just stood there, wide-eyed and dumfounded until it finally stopped and a small Riachu could be seen in the doorway. On its ear was a little speaker identical to that which Annie and Kyle had been wearing. He remembered now that Kyle had spoken into it earlier, probably calling the pokemon as an aid. But it’s timing could not have been worse.

Sparks of electricity found Michael through his boots, which told him that it was now traveling throughout the floor and walls.

“Oh no!” he cried. “The bombs! This will set them off!”

The Raichu blinked a few times before hunching over ashamedly, realizing what it had done.

“Chu…” it squeaked sorrowfully as it rushed back out the door.

Michael had to leave. Immediately. But he had promised his opponents that he would take them to safety too and Domino was face down on the floor with smoke streaming from her clothes. It was Giovanni however, that looked the most alarming. His back was arched, his head was hanging down so far that it nearly touched his lap, and his skin was already looking white.

The Red Rocket tossed the guns aside and quickly checked the elder’s pulse. There was none. He was not breathing. The unstoppable Giovanni was dead. His old body could not take an intense electric shock such as that.

Just then a powerful, crashing bang sounded from one end of the building. The electricity had found one of the bombs. Another crash followed. Then came another and another. Next there was one earsplitting bang as the rest of the explosives went off simultaneously.

While experiencing a heat hotter than anything he had ever come into contact with before, Michael tore Giovanni from his wheel chair, threw himself on top of Domino, and heaved the old man atop them both as a shield.

The noise was extreme as the many different devices continued to explode together. He could feel fire singing his eyebrows. The walls around him cracked and crumbled, chunks of it falling on the protective body.

Michael wasn’t sure if it was himself screaming as the ceiling fell in on itself or the woman underneath him whom had awakened.

“Save- Giovanni!” he heard her shriek into his ear above the roaring blasts. Then a piece of the ceiling collided next to them and a large scrap of it found both his shoulder and her head at an uncomfortable force.

After that she was quiet.

Unfortunately, the dying building was not. There was the constant clamor of crashing, colliding, splitting, burning… It was endless.

A sharp piece of something cut his face, a section of concrete landed on Giovanni’s legs, thus crushing his, and he was sure the skin on his arms was burned.

Making matters all the worse, the Red could feel the floor beneath them starting to give away to the crushing, fallen walls. His arms shot out outward to try and grab something stable so that they might not fall into the lower levels, which were already being shattered. One of his hands found a large slab of the broken wall while the other clutched Domino. As the part of the floor that was underneath them gave almost totally away, he had to let the body of his late boss drop; there was no way to hold him.

Now without the body over him as a shelter, Michael clung to that concrete for dear life for what felt like forever as flames lapped at his fingers, blood from his shoulder flowed freely down his chest and his muscles ached to hold the girl.

After an eternity of pain and strength that was stretched to its limits, the calamity began to settle. The crumbling and crashing was brought to a minimum though the fire still raged out of control.

Using only the one arm that was not grasping Domino, the Red Rocket very slowly pulled himself and the woman back up onto what was left of the first floor. Thick layers of smoke engulfed it; he could not find a way out of the wreckage, if there even was one.

He wanted to stay huddled on the ground, to not have to use another muscle in his hurting body for days, but the surrounding flames and a floor that was threatening to crumble again disagreed.

With a spinning head and a rush of adrenaline, Michael located a break in the fire that just might be big enough for him to run through. So, pushing himself up, he lifted the unconscious Rocket into his arms and took a deep breath, not knowing whether or not this opening would lead him onto the beach or further into the ruins. At this point though, he had nothing to loose.

First he jogged then sprinted on his crushed, stinging legs through the smoke and flames until at last: daylight. He was running away from the heat and the pain and onto the beach.

He was not sure how far he got before he collapsed, hearing voices shouting:

“Look! There he is!”

“Good Lord, Morgan’s alive!”

“And he even has Domino!”

Michael felt the pebbles of the beach underneath his face as several familiar voices called out his name in one accord.

A strong hand was placed worriedly on the back on his head. “Michael! Son, can you hear me?”

“Please sweetheart, say something! Please, please he can’t be dead! He’s just a baby!”

“Big brother! Don’t leave me now!”

His family was all there with him. He could hear them, but not only did he not have the strength to answer, he had stopped to wonder what exactly had just happened. Why had he risked his life like that? Ah yes, Domino. Why though? Why save an enemy? He could have gotten out right before the explosion and been just fine…

“Michael!! Is there a Green Branch Rocket here?! Please, some one help my partner!”

Because he was tired of the hate, that was why, wasn’t it? Perhaps he had thought that the only way to conquer hatred was through love and good works, even if he did not realize it.

There seemed to be a thick, frantic silence surrounding him.

“He would do the same for any of you here!” he heard his mother cry. “Look at him; he was willing to give his life for someone who despised his very being. If he would do that for HER than surely he would take the risk for each of you as well! The least you can do is help the poor boy! I know there’s a Green Branch member here somewhere!”

They thought that Michael was terribly hurt- well nothing was to say that he wasn’t, but at least he could let them know that he was not dead. He gathered up all the energy he could muster and mumbled, “I’m okay.”

Search for the Green Branch Rocket forgotten, he perceived the sound of those he loved gasping and shouting, “He’s alive!”

He felt his upper body being raised into a sitting position; his back was resting against his father.

Michael’s eyes gradually began to focus as the ringing of explosions in his ears softened.

The first person he could clearly make out was Constance, directly in front of him. She gently brushed his hair out of his sweaty, blood-streaked face. “What did you think you were doing, honey?!”

Trying to conquer his light-headedness and ignore the growing pain in his shoulder and legs especially, he limply motioned to Domino. He was glad to see that she was securely in the care of two other Rockets.

Hundreds of agents were quietly gathering in a huge circle around them, no one daring to speak. They were all in complete awe to find that it was possible that there existed a man who put others before himself and would take such a risk as this for someone who was an adversary.

Annie took his hand. “Michael, you’re braver than I’ll ever be.”

Kat had his other hand and was tenderly massaging his palm.

“I tried to save both of them,” Michael told them hoarsely. “But I was too late for Giovanni. He didn’t make it.”

Whispers traveled all over the crowd. They were without a leader.

Then came was a long pause when no one spoke, as if each person was trying to decide what to do next.

Suddenly somebody amongst the crowd called out, “Let HIM take his place!”

Everyone seemed to smile like this was the best idea they had ever heard.

Another Rocket added, “If he cares this much for those who hurt him, think what great things he would accomplish with his own team! I follow Morgan!”

“Me too!”

“So do I!”

More shouts erupted in agreement.

A Rocket near the front cried, “Yes! Michael! Michael! Michael!”

The chant developed as it traveled all about the mass of people. Soon every last one of them was shouting.

“Michael!”

“Michael!”

“Michael!”

The 25-year-old looked around at them with wide eyes. This was unexpected! He did not know what to do or say aside from sit there, baffled beyond words. He could not take control Team Rocket! Could he?

His family and friends were speechless as well at the start, but soon joined the cheer. They too believed he could do this.

“Maybe...” he thought to himself, “if I took Giovanni’s place, I could undo some of the evil and hatred that he’s planted. It’s worth a try, right? I CAN do this.”

“Help me stand,” he told his father.

So with the help of James, Michael Morgan stood before them all, disregarding the throbbing in his legs.

“Michael!”

“Michael!”

“Michael!”

The wind caught in his hair and tattered uniform. This was a moment of truth. To accept or decline the role that they were calling him to take on. This was his decision.

Even though it sent a pain through his injured shoulder, he raised one fist into the air.

Ecstatic applauding and cheering broke out as a team elected and accepted its new leader.

“Michael!”

“Michael!”

“Michael!”

To Be Continued

Author’s note: Part 3 isn’t very lengthy, so it shouldn’t take nearly as long to get it in here. It’s coming, I promise! If you have questions or comments so far, I’d be happy to hear from you. E-mail me HERE Thank you! (BTW, go check out Luke 6:27 and see how it coincides with what you just read!)

Don’t have a Bible handy? Check out the passage Angela is referring to by clicking HERE to read it online from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.