Ages: Ash and Misty are 17; Brock is 25; Jessie and James are both 23; Richie is 17; Duplicia is 18; Sabrina is 24; Lance is 16; Joy is 29; Delilah is 38; Professor Oak is 47; Gary is 18.

Content Warning: Swearing & violence

It is a time of struggle, with the forces of good, personified by Ash Ketchum and his allies in Team Thunderbolt, locked in mortal struggle with the forces of darkness, as personified by Giovanni diRocketti, Ash's estranged father and the sadistic leader of Team Rocket.

Dark days lie of the struggle for peace and justice. Assisted by a terrible act of betrayal by Ash's long-term rival Gary Oak, Team Rocket has destroyed Ash's home town of Pallet Town and captured Ash's mother, Professor Samuel Oak (Ash's uncle and surrogate father) and Joy Burke, one of Ash's allies in Team Thunderbolt.

Giovanni gives his son a simple ultimatum. Either surrender to him in fourteen days or he will have the three hostages killed horribly.

Desperate, Ash tracks down Gary Oak, who is also his cousin, and tricks him into confessing his complicity with the destruction of their hometown. Gary is the key, Ash is sure. If Ash can persuade him to talk, he might find the hostages before it is too late and rescue them, leaving the way clear for Team Thunderbolt to continue its' quest to see peace and justice restored to the Kanto region…

***

"Gary," Ash said, more firmly and angrily this time, "I won't bother to appeal to your better nature, because I don't think you have one. So I will just appeal to your self-interest. We already know enough to secure a conviction in court. If you don't co-operate, we'll hand you over to the SPs, and you can think this one over for the next six months in The Anvil, waiting for the trial that will ensure you spend the rest of your life there."

That was a weak bluff, Ash knew, and Gary saw through it immediately. "Yeah, and while I'm still awaiting my remand hearing, your mommy, Gramps and the pathetic squint-eye's squeeze will be dying in a Rocket torture chamber somewhere," Gary said. He snorted in amusement. "Don't make me laugh."

Ash tensed at Gary's cheerful acceptance of the three hostages' deaths. His fists closed spasmodically and he took a single step forward towards his cousin. "Gary, don't you understand that their deaths will be on your conscience? You've already loaded so many sins onto your soul, but these will be big ones!"

"Ash, don't you understand that I don't care?" Gary taunted in a singsong tone of voice.

"Jesus, Gary, what are you made of?" Misty said in disbelief.

"Why, Gary?" Ash asked.

"What?" Gary was surprised by this question.

"Why did you do it?" Ash asked again. "What was so important that you had to hand me over to Team Rocket? What was so important that you had to betray your whole hometown to them?"

Gary smiled in a very sick way. "Well… there was the money of course," Gary admitted. "Your old man pays well for services rendered, Ashy-boy! Have you ever thought of switching sides on economic grounds?"

"Money?" Misty said in horror.

"You said you wanted to get free of your grandfather's charity," Ash recalled. "Was that it?" Contempt leaked into his tone. "Are you really that shallow and pathetic?"

"Oh no," Gary said, snarling at the insult Ash had offered him. "No there was more than that, Ash." Gary drew in a deep breath, his eyes glittering with hate, before he continued. "Do you know what it is like to be me, Ash?" he asked. "All my life, I have fought for other people's approval. First my parents, then my grandfather, and later the people who watch the Pokémon League. I have tried harder, studied harder and trained harder than anyone else! I have fought all my life to be the very best that has ever been. And tell me, who is the youngest person ever to win the Indigo League? Who was the youngest Supreme Champion in history? You, my lazy no-account mutant freak of a cousin, that's who! A guy who doesn't even know how to properly train a Pokémon, but who through a trick gene can somehow bond with them on a level that no other Trainer can match! You wiped the floor with me every time we met, Ash-boy, and I'll never forgive you for that."

"That's it?" Ash said in disbelief. "All because I have performed better than you in the League?"

"NO, DAMN YOU!" Gary shouted. "It is because all my life, I have had you rubbed in my face, time and time again. If it wasn't my parents, it was May, or Grandfather, or even your mom, Ash. 'Gary, you are a fine Trainer, but you just don't understand Pokémon.'" Gary said, modulating his tone to make it clear it was something that had been said to him time and time again. "'Look at Ash, he gets to know them as friends and they fight all the harder for him!' Bullshit!" Gary's face was pale and sweaty now. "You have stolen my life, Ash," he said angrily. "You have stolen everything that should have been mine! Well, I got you back didn't I? And when your Mom, Gramps and Joy go to Hell, it will be because of me! And when your old man's assassins finally cut you down, it will be because of me! And everyone will know that GARY OAK was the better man!"

"You pitiful slime," Ash said at last, his voice dripping with contempt and a barely concealed violence. "You don't even know how small you really are!" He walked over and took Gary's jaw in his hand and forced him to look in his eyes. "It isn't too late for you Gary," he said. "You should abandon this childish desire for revenge. I mean, for God's sake, nothing I or the others have done justifies this!" Ash paused and ran a shaking hand through his hair before continuing. "But first you have to tell us who took our friends and kin so we can save them!"

"Never," Gary said. "I will burn in Hell first! And I want you to know something: I hope that your friends and family die in torment at your old man's hands. I hope they die screaming and cursing you for not coming to save them. And I will laugh when Giovanni sends you an unedited video of the whole event!" Gary laughed; a high, demented sound. He was unaware of the growing look of animal hatred on Ash's face. "I especially hope that he gets your mom to scream for him, Ash," he continued. "I think she's hot, and I bet that a slut like her enjoys the gang-bangs that the Rockets lay on for their lady guests!"

Ash saw red, literally. The punch came from nowhere and struck Gary's nose so hard that it simply exploded as it flattened out. Blood splashed out into Ash's eyes and for a few seconds he was blind. Ash grabbed Gary's shirt, feeling a primitive joy at the agony and terror on his enemy's face. "Who took them, Gary?" he shouted. "NAMES! PLACES!"

"Up… yours…" Gary gasped around the blood streaming down his face.

Ash went berserk. The first blow smashed Gary's left cheekbone. The second, a low punch, broke a rib. The third blow snapped Gary's jawbone like a twig and sent blood and smashed teeth flying across the room. The fourth buckled his breastbone and made it impossible for him to breathe easily. Ash was screaming out his hatred and hitting Gary again and again.

"Ash, stop it, you'll kill him!" Misty screamed.

Several pairs of hands grabbed Ash and dragged him away from the bleeding wreckage of Gary Oak, who had already dropped into the comforting void of unconsciousness. "You bet that I'll kill him!" Ash yelled maniacally. "Let go of me you traitorous bastards! Let go!" Ash's flailing left arm caught Misty with a blow that sent her tumbling to the ground with a surprised cry of pain.

There was a sudden deathly silence and Ash went utterly limp. "M… Misty?" he said. He looked down to where Misty was trying to get her senses back. A trickle of blood ran from the side of her mouth. "Oh, God, Misty… what have I done?" Ash's appalled gaze turned to where Gary hung, now resembling more a tender slab of meat than his proud cousin. "Gary…? Gary, please say something… No… NO!" Ash began to struggle more violently than ever. Jessie, James, Sabrina, Duplicia and Lance all grabbed him hard, trying to hold him down. "Get off of me," he shouted. "Raichu, get them off!"

[Ash, calm down!] Raichu begged, running over to his Trainer.

Suddenly, Ash reached down and activated a Pokéball. "Meganium, I choose you!" Ash's ultra-loyal plant-type materialised. "Get them off me!" Ash shouted.

Before anyone could react, a cloud of stun spores enveloped the Thunderbolts. Misty saw the flash of two recall lasers. When the cloud of choking spores was gone, Ash, Raichu and Meganium were both missing. "Ash…?" Misty said looking around. "Ash… ASH COME BACK!" Misty suddenly fled through the open emergency exit door and into the maze of ruins that was once Pallet Town.

"Misty!" Lance shouted. "Come back!" He turned back to the other Thunderbolts. "We should go after them!"

"No," James interrupted, grabbing Lance by his shoulder. "I think this is something that they will have to work out for themselves." Lance drew in a deep breath, about to protest, then nodded. After all, James knew them far better than he did. "Until they get back, we'd better make sure that Mr. Oak doesn't die on us," James continued in an ironic tone of voice. "A dead prisoner is worth nothing."

As they cut Gary down and began to work on his injuries, Jessie caught herself looking out of the door. Ash, brother, she thought, I hope Misty is enough to help you. I couldn't take losing another of my family to hate.

Hopelessly lost in the maze of demolished buildings, Misty fell to her knees and began to weep. "Ash…" she whispered, desperately hoping that her breaking heart could send her call to her lover. "Ash, please come back…"

Misty knelt weeping in the ruins. Her heart was broken; she was sure that she would never see Ash again. It hurt so much to lose him after giving her heart to him so completely. It hurt worse realising that in inflicting this final defeat, Team Rocket would be free to impose its' tyranny on the world once more.

Then, she felt a presence. There was a power watching her with an utterly alien perspective. Half blinded by tears, she looked up into the face of a Legendary Bird. Standing at over fifty feet tall and with a wingspan of 150 feet, the Legendary Birds were all impressive, but few had the visual impact as this grey-brown creature, seemingly carved from rock rather than flesh. MissingNo, the so-called 'God of Stone.'

Ash encountered The God of Stone on Cinnabar Island and, like all the other Legendary Birds, MissingNo volunteered his services to 'The Chosen One' without hesitation, but something always worried Misty about his rather careless attitude towards life. None of the Legendary Birds could be truthfully described as 'evil,' but MissingNo and one other, Vercinimous Wing, the God of the Shadows, had a perspective on reality that made them cold and indifferent to human codes of morality.

"M… MissingNo?" Misty asked. "Why are you here?"

I am here in the service of the Chosen One, MissingNo answered in Misty's mind. Misty found the creature's sparkling sapphire blue eyes strangely entrancing, and his words brought hope to her broken heart.

"Ash… Ash sent you to me?" she asked hopefully.

There was one of those curious pauses that Misty often encountered when she asked a Pokémon a question that they genuinely did not understand. No, MissingNo finally replied. The Chosen One summoned me.

Misty struggled to her feet and tried to understand the Legendary Bird's words. "But… Isn't Ash the Chosen One?"

He is, the God of Stone replied in his dark voice. However, the Guardian did not summon me to this place of ruins. The Chosen One did. The Healer.

"I… I don't understand," Misty said.

You are the Chosen One, MissingNo said in a tone that indicated he thought this was self-evident. The Guardian is the protector of the future and the chosen guide of destiny; you are the Healer, that which allows the Guardian to survive this burden with his soul intact. Misty could have sworn that there was a gentle psychic laughter drifting around her.

Misty shook off her surprise. Ash was all that mattered now. She had to get to him before he hurt himself. She stepped forward to MissingNo. "MissingNo, I have to find Ash, can you take me to him?" If MissingNo had a mouth rather than a quartic crystal beak, he would have smiled. Misty's preoccupation with Ash's safety was the proof of his words.

Effortlessly, he announced. Ride on my shoulders, Misty, daughter of Rosemary and Thomas.

Swallowing her fear and confusion, Misty pulled herself up MissingNo's flanks and sat astride the Legendary Bird's neck. With a scream, the God of Stone launched himself into the skies. There was a double boom as the massive Pokémon slammed through the sound barrier and lanced off to the north-west.

As Misty and MissingNo vanished into the early afternoon sky, Mewtwo and an amazed Joy Anderson stood in she shadows of a ruined office block. Mewtwo grinned. It is satisfying, is it not, he said, when your suppositions are proven correct so very dramatically?

Joy shook her head. "If I didn't know better, I'd accuse you of arranging the whole damn thing!" she remarked.

***

MissingNo dropped out of the sky into a forest clearing. Under the shadow of the wings of Arbora, the Legendary Bird who was the personification of life, the Goddess of the Forest, Ash was literally grovelling on his knees, his face buried in his hands.

Misty jumped from her Pokémon's neck and hit the ground running. There was nothing in her mind except a desperate need to get to Ash. "Ash!" she shouted.

"M… Misty?" Ash said, looking up. His eyes were bright red, and the tracks of endless tears wound down his face. "Misty, please, stay back!" There was such pain and desperation in his voice that there was no chance, no chance at all of her obeying his desperate plea. Misty skidded to a halt on her knees beside him and engulfed him in her arms. "Please Misty," Ash begged. "Get away… I don't want to hurt you!"

"Ash, I love you, I can't leave!" Misty replied, beginning to cry herself.

"Please go," Ash grated. "I… I can feel it inside of me Misty, trying to get out. I'm afraid that I can't stop it!"

"What?" Misty asked. "Ash, if you are sick, we can go to the hospital they set up in the town…"

"I am sick," Ash said, his voice suddenly quiet and filled with horror, "but it isn't a sickness that any doctor could cure… except with a lethal injection…"

"No, Ash," Misty shouted, shaking him hard. "I won't let you talk like that! It isn't your time to die! What is wrong with you all of a sudden?"

There was a long pause, and when Ash looked into Misty's eyes, she saw nothing but an unhealthy desire for oblivion. "I finally worked it out," he said. "Why father has done all of this. He doesn't care about Mom, the Professor and Joy. He could have captured me without Gary's help too, given enough time and effort." Ash swallowed. "It was all just to get to me, to attack my most vulnerable spot: my heart. And he's winning Misty. I can feel the blackness crawling around inside of me. I… I'm turning into another Giovanni. I can feel it."

"No!" Misty shouted. "No, Ash, you aren't! You'll never be like him! NEVER!"

"It has already begun," Ash said, his voice sounding lost, frightened and very young. "When I started hitting Gary… It felt so very good Misty. I wanted to keep hitting him until he screamed… keep hitting until he begged for mercy… until he died at my hands… I couldn't stop… it felt so very, very, good…" Ash collapsed down onto his face, covering his head with his arms. "God forgive me… what have I become…?"

Misty groaned and hugged Ash tightly. "Ash, I'm here for you," she said. "I want to help you. Please let me help you."

Ash looked up at her from the corner of his eye in a strangely measuring way. "Do you?" he asked hopefully. Misty nodded mutely. Ash swallowed and sat up straight. "Then help me," he said. "Please, kill me."

There was a long silence, broken only by birdsong and the sound of wind through the trees. "What?" Misty whispered.

"Please, before I go too far," Ash said hopelessly. "Before I kill someone. Before I sink so far that I don't want to be stopped. Before I try to do to you and the others what father did to the original Team Rocket and tried to do to Mom…" Ash had begun to weep silently. "Please, Misty… for the love of God, just do it. You are a fine Trainer, I know that you can do it quickly and painlessly."

"No…" Misty said. "No… No I won't do it Ash, and you mustn't ask me to do it!"

"Then my father has already won," Ash said, in a low, hopeless voice, lowering his eyes to the ground once again.

***

Jessie Scarlet looked down at the pitiful bandaged remains of Gary Oak and felt no pity for the broken young man, only contempt. For nothing more than money and a pathetic personal jealousy of Ash's achievements, he had betrayed his family twice, co-operated in mass murder and in the ruination of countless lives. What is more, he felt no shame for his acts, only a satisfaction that he was causing his enemies pain. "You deserve this," she said, dropping his Team Rocket ID necklace onto his bandaged chest. "You really are Team Rocket material."

Jessie shook her head and looked up at Sabrina. "Well?" she demanded.

Jessie's commanding tone didn't upset Sabrina. She knew that the red-haired woman was a genuinely good person, and that her gruff and abrupt manner was a kind of defence against a terrible history. "He is still shielding his thoughts," Sabrina reported. She felt a grudging admiration for the orderliness and strength of Gary's will. Ash had beaten him half to death and he was now so heavily sedated that no hint of conscious brain function was possible, and yet he still had the information they needed buried under the toughest mental shields she had encountered besides those protecting Ash and Misty's minds.

"Then we're dead," Jessie said.

"Don't give up hope," James advised his lover, putting an arm around her waist. "As long as there is life, there is hope. I'm sure Ash will do something."

"Ash has gone insane," Jessie said dryly. "And Misty hasn't returned. God alone knows if either of them are still alive now."

"Don't say that," James snapped.

"For God's sake, wake up and smell the coffee James," Jessie snapped. "We're finished, okay? There could only be one winner in this little vendetta, and it looks like the favourite is going to win after all!" James clenched his fists, ready to shout his reply.

"Don't be so sure," Sabrina interrupted. Jessie and James turned to her, forgetting their own argument. "The Chosen One is a being with many resources," she continued, "and there are players here that we have not yet met face-to-face. This game is not over yet."

Sabrina gathered her skirts up and swept imperiously from the small room where Gary had been sequestered, still bound despite his injuries.

"Do you think she's right?" Jessie asked for a moment, touching James' arm, which was still around her waist, desperate for reassurance.

"I hope to God she is," James replied. Suddenly, he was pulling Jessie away, to the offices where Team Thunderbolt had set up their living quarters. He did not know what tomorrow might bring, but tonight… tonight he wanted to remind Jessie that she was still alive and that, as he had said, where there is life, there is hope.

***

"Ash, I… you mustn't give up." Misty was kneeling beside Ash. Sometime in the last few minutes, all nine Legendary Birds had appeared from nowhere and were forming an impressive cordon around the Guardian and the Healer. Neither of them was aware of such externals, however. They were only aware of each other and the terrible precipice where they stood.

"I… don't think I'm giving up," Ash said, his voice sounding supernaturally calm. "I think I'm taking a positive step forward, just as you suggested yesterday."

Misty shook her head. "No you aren't," she said. "You're giving up." She sighed and covered her face for a moment, feeling her despair and Ash's pain with all her heart and not entirely sure what she should say or do. "Don't you understand that this was Giovanni's goal? To break you; to make you give up and destroy yourself one way or another." She reached forward and grasped Ash's hand. Ash looked at her hand for a long moment before returning her grip. "Ash, if you die or go mad, then he's won. Without you, there will be no one who can stop him. No one who will be his equal and who can beat him the way you could… the way you will."

"I want to believe you," Ash said after a long silence. "But Misty…" he sighed. "I'm afraid of what he has unleashed inside me."

Misty looked down for a moment. "Ash, do you want to hurt me?"

There was another long pause. Misty watched with amazement and a growing sense of hope the incredible twists and turns of her lover's expression: Pain, anguish, shame and love. "No," Ash replied, his voice urgent and honest. He grabbed both of Misty's hands in his and held them to his heart. "God no, Misty. I don't want you hurt ever! When I realised I'd hit you earlier… it was like ripping my own heart out! I wanted to die there and then for doing that!"

Misty laughed. "It didn't hurt that much," she said reassuringly. "Ash, I love you, and I know that I couldn't live without you." She drew in a deep breath. This was the critical moment, she could sense that easily. "Would you do to me what your father did to your mother?"

Ash's face paled as he remembered the story. His father beating his pregnant mother, causing her to miscarry Ash's unborn sister. Then, unleashing his Charmeleon and ordering it to burn his wife and his brother… "I would die first," Ash said, meaning it with all his heart. "I love you too, Misty. Hurting you like that would destroy my soul."

Misty nodded gently. "Your father is the most cruel and hateful of creatures," she said. "Would you become anything like that? Would you feed off of pain and suffering the way he does?" Ash looked pale. He shook his head almost spasmodically in denial of such a path. "Then don't focus on your pain, Ash," Misty said gently. "You are as human as anyone else, so you are going to have to live with the darkness inside of you, just as we all do. I am sure that what happened to your father was that he focussed on that darkness too clearly until he couldn't see anything else and it consumed him. So long as you focus on the good things that you love and treasure, the things that you want to protect, then you will never, ever become selfish and evil. You must believe me, my love."

"I do," Ash said. "But Misty… It is very dark, and I'm frightened."

Misty squeezed Ash's hands tighter. "Then let your friends help you, Ash. You aren't alone. You are never alone. I will help you whenever it becomes too hard to bear. You only have to ask."

Ash sucked in a deep breath and felt an incredible awe at the scale of love and commitment Misty was offering him. "As long as you are here, I can endure," Ash finally admitted. "I will never hurt you, Misty. I will carry on, and I will win, because of you."

Misty laughed. "Ash, you will win because you are strong," she contradicted. "As for me, I think my job is to remind you why you want to win." She leaned forward and Ash met her half way. The two young people hugged. Misty drew strength from Ash's determination and courage, while Ash drew comfort from Misty's empathy and goodness. They wept in grief and joy at how their lives had turned out and those tears mixed where their cheeks were pressed together.

After a long moment, Misty sat back. "Don't you think you should reassure Raichu?" she asked.

Ash flushed and released his electric squirrel. Raichu materialised next to his two friends. He looked around in surprise and then scowled at his Trainer. [Never do that to me again, Ash,] Raichu said, more concerned than angry.

"I'm sorry, pal, I really am," Ash said in genuine repentance. "I got a bit screwed up back there, but I'm going to be okay now. I'm sure of it."

Raichu walked forward uncertainly until he was standing right in front of Ash. He looked up into his friend's eyes for a long moment before nodding in satisfaction. [The pain is still there, but it is less powerful now,] he announced.

"I don't think it will ever go away," Ash replied. "But it is easier to handle… thanks to my friends and… thanks to you, Misty." Ash took Misty's hand and kissed it gently.

Misty flushed and reached behind her to pull a Pokéball off of her belt. "Come on," she said, "let's get back before the others start to worry." She released Togetic.

[Are you okay, Mommy? Daddy?] the little Psychic-type chirped in concern as he materialised.

"Yes, we are now," Misty said. "Togetic, Teleport us to the Gang Hut, if you please." Togetic didn't understand where Misty meant by that, but he drew the image of the Team's new base from her mind, giving him a destination. There was a blue white flash and the two humans and two Pokémon were gone.

Without any thanks to us, I see, Moltres snorted.

It was not our place to interfere with this moment, Lugia said firmly. The greatest darkness has come and gone I think Brothers and Sisters. Perhaps we may now dare hope.

The darkest day is yet to come, Vercinimous Wing said thoughtfully. It is a thing of the far future. I wonder how they will endure that trial.

That, God of the Shadows, is a matter for the future, Articuno said. For now, we should concern ourselves only with the present.

***

"Okay, on your feet!" the Black Rocket snarled as he stepped into the bare cell. Delilah, kneeling beside a semi-conscious Sam Oak, stared defiantly at the thug-cum-prison guard. Joy stood up and moved between the two older people and the door in an unconsciously protective posture. "I said, on your feet!" the guard continued. "For whatever reason, you three pieces of shit have a VIP visitor!"

Delilah felt a primitive kind of curiosity as she helped Sam sit up. There was a shuffle at the door and four armed guards walked in and levelled sub-machineguns at them. Well, this is unexpected, Delilah thought. This isn't the execution I thought Joe was arranging…

Suddenly, the cell door opened wide and a white-haired man walked in, wearing the stone-brown coloured uniform of a member of Team Rocket's inner council. The man looked around at the three prisoners with a piercingly intelligent look in his grey eyes. His stare slid off Joy, dismissing her as simply one of the Boss's son's foot soldiers. His eyes locked onto Delilah and Sam and lit up with anger. "Well, well," hissed Mondo Jones Senior, Giovanni's chief aide and lieutenant. "I never expected that I would see this day!" He began to laugh. There was no cruelty in that laugh, but there was an unhealthy shrill edge to it. "I never thought that you two would ever pay the price for what you did to Giovanni!"

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Delilah said, putting a bored tone in her voice. She didn't care about her ex-husband's lickspittles and their desire to amuse themselves with their prize prisoners.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten me already?" Mondo asked with a slightly wild grin.

"I don't believe it…" Sam muttered in a thick, concussed tone of voice. "Charlie? Charlie Mason?"

"That isn't my name," Mondo snapped.

Delilah's mouth dropped open the moment Sam spoke, and suddenly the years went spiralling back. It was the first time she ever met Joseph Oak. He was walking down the street with an elegant woman with long, red-purple hair and a smaller man with black hair cut militarily short. This man standing before her might be two decades older and his hair may have gone prematurely white, but it was indeed that man she saw walking with Joe. "Charlie!" she gasped. "How… how are you still alive? I thought that Joe killed all the original members of Team Rocket!"

Mondo snapped his head around to stare at the Boss's treacherous mate. "They did all die," he snarled. "For their betrayal and their weakness, they all died! Charles Mason was among them!"

"Charlie, what are you talking about?" Delilah asked, dumbfounded. "I remember you! You were always with Joe! You were his closest friend; you two shared everything together! I remember you and him arguing in a friendly way as to who got to date me first…"

"CHARLES MASON IS DEAD!" Mondo screamed, making Delilah and Joy jump in surprise. "And you two will be as well, soon." He sucked in a deep breath. "And when you, the last reminders of those bad days, are gone, maybe Giovanni will be able to unlock his heart and become the great and loving leader I know he truly is…"

Sam tried to focus his eyes on his brother's best friend. "Charlie," he said, "what madness has my brother infected you with?"

Mondo, having lost all semblance of calm, almost ran over to Sam. He grabbed the researcher by the lapels of his shirt and stared into his eyes. "I am not the one who is mad," he hissed. After a long moment, he backed off and stood by the door again, trying to regain control of his emotions. After a long moment he laughed once, a bitter, hateful sound. "I don't even know why I came here," he said at last, running a hand through his close-cropped white hair. "I suppose… I suppose I had to know why you did it."

"Why did we do what?" Sam asked stupidly.

"Why did you betray him?" Mondo asked. "You are his brother, Sam. Delilah… he… he… he loved you! More than anything he had ever loved before! More than his own life! And you two turned on him like rabid Growliths and destroyed his heart!"

Delilah was outraged. "Charlie, you have some really selective memories of what happened," she said. "Do you forget that he tried to kill me while I was pregnant with his children? Do you forget what he did to poor Miyamoto? She bore him a daughter, remember? Miya was more loyal to Team Rocket and to Joe than that… filth ever deserved and what did she get in return, huh? Rape and a slit throat in some filthy Viridian City gutter!"

"She betrayed him!" Mondo insisted with a hiss. "Giovanni had no choice, no matter how much he regretted it! Don't you get it? You all made him vulnerable at a time when he had to be strong! You should have died rather than letting that happen. You should have wanted to die! Instead you resisted him… forced him to try and take your lives. You betrayed his trust and you plotted to destroy him!"

"He's a psychotic," Delilah said darkly. "Of course we did. We had a responsibility to stop him. Charlie, you have been one of the Team since the very beginning, before there was even the name 'Team Rocket.' You must know how Joe has become twisted and hateful…"

"Shut up… shut up… SHUT UP!" Mondo shouted, covering his ears. "Shut up you fucking whore! He is a great man, the only hope for the world! You two… insects have no right to question his methods and you certainly have no right to infect his own son with your treason and turn him loose against him! Do you understand how much you have hurt him? Do you?"

"Charlie, you should stop projecting on my brother emotions that he is simply not capable of feeling any more," Sam said, his voice sounding very focussed and clear-headed suddenly. "My brother cannot feel hurt, and he certainly feels no regret over his murdering Miyamoto and the rest of the Team. If he feels anything about Ash, it is a childish resentment that anyone dares to interfere with his sadistic little dominance fantasies…"

Mondo slapped Sam in the face. "SHUT UP!" he howled. After a moment, Mondo calmed down enough to continue. "Well, it doesn't matter," he said. "Ash will soon either be at Giovanni's side or dead. One way or another, this is over now."

"I don't think so," Delilah said, stepping towards the senior Rocket. Her certainty shook Mondo, who stepped back as if she were scalding hot or carrying some infectious disease. "Charlie, listen to me. You love Joe very much, I know that, but you must see that he has gone mad. You were always his most loyal follower, his most beloved friend. Don't you understand that you have the responsibility to stop him? He will listen to you if you tell him. You can still save him and if not…" Delilah sighed. "Charlie, you know his moves better than anyone alive," she continued, touching the trembling man on the arm. "Apart from Ash, you are probably the only person in the whole world who could beat him in a fight. That is your duty as the last surviving true member of Team Rocket."

"I know," Mondo said. Delilah let herself feel a moment of hope before he continued. "That is why Charlie Mason had to die; he was an intolerable security risk. My name is now Mondo Jones, and I will never betray my Master." Mondo seemed exhausted. He turned away and was about to walk out. Suddenly, he turned back to the prisoners. "Giovanni is the world's destiny," he said. "I have come to terms with that fact. You should too, before the end. You will meet Charlie and the rest of the Team soon enough, I think."

Mondo left and the guards trooped out after him. After the cell door slammed closed, Delilah sat down next to Sam again and began to cry. Sam and Joy tried to comfort her, but that was very hard right now.

***

Misty was having a bad dream. Lying next to her in their hastily constructed double camp bed, Ash unconsciously sensed her distress and turned over, wrapping an arm around her and hugging her tightly to his chest. His legs curled along hers, stroking the outside of her shins with his feet. Misty leaned back against her lover's chest and a sleepy relaxed smile spread across her lips. She slid an arm along the back of the arm holding her and she drifted into a deeper and far more restful sleep state.

They love each other so much, Joy sent to Mewtwo in amazement. I've never seen two such young people who are already bound together in such a way!

It was a match made in the heavens, Mewtwo replied, and also in the unknowable mathematics that determines the genetic makeup of every newly conceived child. Perhaps the Maker's hand directed this more completely than I imagined. He is… rightly notorious for his ultra-long-term planning and the subtle ways he works out His purposes.

The Watcher and his mate watched the Guardian and the Healer sleep, content in each other's company for a few more minutes. Mewtwo, why are we here? Joy said.

The Betrayer will never break, Mewtwo explained. His will is too strong and the hatred in his heart too all-consuming for him ever to offer willingly any aid to his enemies. At least… Mewtwo paused and continued in a darker tone, he will not break in the time allotted to the Chosen Ones to rescue those imperilled by the Dark One's plots. In any case, it is unlikely that either of their souls could survive the methods necessary to extract the information. Mewtwo turned back to Joy and smirked slightly. So we are here to engage in a carefully limited intervention.

Mewtwo raised a hand and gestured at the far side of the room. There was a blue-white glow and a bandaged figure materialised on a desk left in the former office space. Gary Oak was bound, but was sleeping normally despite the massive injuries Ash's assault had inflicted. Joy gasped and covered her mouth. The Chosen One certainly demonstrated his anger at Gary Oak's behaviour, she sent, horror colouring her mental tone.

Those wounds do not even begin to justly punish him for his sins, Mewtwo said. I wish that it was my place to punish this shallow, hateful soul, but this is one of the tasks that my agreement forbids me from undertaking. Mewtwo raised his other hand and directed it at Ash and Misty. He shields his thoughts well, indeed he is too afraid of the Dark One to even think of the information that the Chosen Ones require. However, in sleep, the gates of the mind are locked only weakly and, with the right methods, even the most hidden truth can be exposed.

Joy stepped back with a nervous shiver as Mewtwo glared at Gary and his eyes began to glow brightly. As Joy watched, a deep aqua-blue glow began to shine around Gary's head. The glow turned into a trail of sparkles that drifted across the room onto the palm of Mewtwo's right hand. Dream-eater, Joy realised. Mewtwo turned to where Ash and Misty were sleeping. His left hand began to glow. Joy recognised the Hallucinate attack at once.

She suddenly realised the incredible scale of her Lover's plan and felt only admiration for him. By its' nature, Dream-eater drew on the deepest images in a mind, sucking away at the very fundamental aspect of the soul of its' victims. It also could reveal images that the conscious mind had buried deeply within the corridors of memory. Mewtwo was sorting through the images presented him as he tore at Gary's fundamental essence, and then using Nightmare to present the relevant information to Ash and Misty. That is incredible! Joy thought to herself…

DISCONTINUITY

Pallet Town was aflame. Ash and Misty were somehow in the position of an observer, although the eyes through which they saw this tragedy anew were not their own, nor the body theirs to command.

As they watched, three chained prisoners were being dragged past. They felt horror and helpless fury at the battered condition of Professor Oak. Ash longed to shout a reassurance to his terrified mother and to Joy, who looked furious and petrified with fear at the same instant. "Damn you Gary," Delilah hissed. "Why the hell are you doing this?"

Simple, the body that Ash and Misty were riding replied. I want to be on the winning side, Mrs. Ketchum. Now you be sure to enjoy visiting your Ex, you hear? There was a sadistic chuckle and the three prisoners were dragged away from the Betrayer's sight. The body turned to two young Team Rocket White Team agents. The woman was short, young and had long black hair. The man was taller and had close-cropped blond hair. Gary's mind suddenly identified the two agents: Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barlow, it supplied. So, Gary said aloud, what's next for you two after this little triumph?

"The Boss doesn't see anything special in doing your job properly," Bonnie said with a grunt. "We'll be back to our usual field sector just north of Vermilion City."

"You really don't know The Boss, do you, Agent Oak?" Clyde said with a laugh. "He doesn't believe in vacations."

"Or in rewarding success," Bonnie agreed. "That is what he expects, not what he rewards."

Team Rocket sounds like such a nice organisation, Gary said sarcastically.

"Tell me about it," Bonnie said, reaching into one of the pockets of her jump suit. "Oh, the Boss said I should give you this. It will help our other agents identify you, if that is necessary."

I certainly hope not, Gary thought in some discomfort. He didn't like being permanently identified as part of Team Rocket, but, deep down, he realised that he was Giovanni's creature now, body and soul. Gary looked down at the blood red 'R' pendant on a brass chain. After a moment, he placed it around his neck and tucked it under his shirt next to the 'Yin/Yang' medallion that was a gift from his sister May for his eighth birthday. I wonder if she made it out? Gary thought idly as he looked around at the devastation. Ha! As if I care! What has she ever done for me? Hell, she even had a crush on Ash when he was still a kid!

The mind of Ash Ketchum, who was observing these events as a helpless bystander, felt a bit of embarrassment at that recollection. The mind of Misty Waterflower felt only amusement.

I wonder if I will be able to live with this, Gary thought as he looked around him once more. If not… well, I've got Dad's old revolver in my apartment at the Gym… Nah, I'm not the sort to go in for that sort of thing. I'll get over it. The money will help too…

Gary turned around as the blimp with the gas cell shaped like a Meowth's head lifted off with a roar of ducted fans. As it rose off the ground, he saw the registration code '550' painted on the side of the gas cell…

DISCONTINUITY

Ash awoke with a start and a gasp. "Gary!" he shouted, jerking into a sitting position. "Bastard!"

Misty was awake too and she snapped into a sitting position so quickly that she banged her head on Ash's chin. "Ow!" she cried in surprise.

"Crap!" Ash shouted in pain. "Jeez, are you okay, Misty?"

"Yes!" Misty said, rubbing the top of her head. "No! Ash, it happened again! I had a dream about the fall of Pallet Town! I know who the two agents who took Delilah, the Professor and Joy were! I know where they are posted!"

"So do I!" Ash said in amazement. "But… how?" He shook his head. His mother had always warned him about wasting time on imponderables. If you spent your whole life worrying how Magnemites floated or how Magmars didn't incinerate themselves alive, you would get nothing done. "We can figure it out later," he said. "Right now, we've got a pair of Rockets to catch!"

Misty was already up and out of bed. She paused only to pull on a dressing gown to cover her modesty before she started running along the corridor, banging hard on the doors to rouse the rest of Team Thunderbolt.

***

Clyde Barlow leaned back in the pilot's seat of Team Rocket Blimp, registry number 550, and watched the Vermilion Forest roll underneath them. It was the beginning of another long and tiring day in the field. After the brief excitement of taking those prisoners from Pallet Town, it had been back to the routine grind for him and his partner, Bonnie Parker.

"So, any sign of anything?" Bonnie asked, walking over from where she had been checking the Blimp's weapons locker.

"Nothing," Clyde said. "This part of the world has so few travelling novices, it is almost not worth our being here! I wish we were in Viridian! There is no end of things to steal there!"

"Yeah, it is also where Team Thunderbolt do most of their work," Bonnie replied. "Do you really want to run into them?"

"Ah, they're finished after what the Team did to Pallet Town," Clyde said dismissively. "I tell you, Bonnie, they are not going to trouble Team Rocket again!"

Bonnie smiled and nodded as she sank into the co-pilot's seat. However, neither White Rocket had forgotten the terror of Team Thunderbolts' attack on Viridian Base almost seven months ago. They had been there and had only escaped because Ketchum didn't see them as important enough to pursue. It had taken them a long time to shake off the certainty that he would hunt them down.

Clyde jumped as an alarm went off on his console. "What the hell?" he asked.

"What is it?" Bonnie asked.

"The proximity alarm on the motion detectors has just gone off," Clyde explained, "but the radar and infrared are blank!" He shook his head. "Maybe it's a malfunction."

"Maybe not," Bonnie said, her hands dancing over the controls as she armed the blimp's minigun turrets, its' rocket launchers and its racks of AIM-97D Stinger AAMs. "Maybe someone's using a Pokémon to attack us…"

There was suddenly the most terrifying tearing sound either agent had ever heard. There was another shrieking alarm. "The main gas cell has been ruptured!" Bonnie shouted. "We're losing lift!" As the two agents looked on, they saw an Aerodactyl suddenly shoot overhead with a brown-haired man riding on its' back.

"Get the bastard, Bonnie," Clyde shouted. Bonnie was already targeting the forward cannon turret on the fleeing Rock/Flying type when a massive lightning bolt slammed into the turret from somewhere to the left, causing its' ammunition to explode. The car's forward windows shattered into a thousand cubes of safety glass and the front of the gas cell was torn completely off. There was a hiss of electricity and the stench of ozone as another lightning bolt struck the car, blowing out every electrical system in a fountain of yellow sparks.

Bonnie screamed in utter horror as the blimp suddenly nose-dived right into the thick forest below…

…

Bonnie groaned and lifted her head. She felt wetness on her face and touched her forehead. She winced as she touched the deep gash that was bleeding freely down her face.

The safety belts and the crash airbags had saved their lives; she realised this as she looked around the shattered and burning piloting cabin. Operating on trained instinct, she unbuckled her safety belts, grabbed the concussed and delirious Clyde and began to drag him out of the dying aircraft. Its' fuel supply could go up in flames at any moment, and she had no desire to have such a fiery end while still so young.

Bonnie dragged Clyde out of the smouldering blimp. She barely noticed that the gas cell had settled over it like a shroud. Nor did she notice the Aerodactyl, the Dragonite, the Charizard and the Fearaven standing in a semi-circle behind her.

Someone cleared his throat. "Are you Bonnie Parker?" asked a good-natured male voice.

"Who… who's asking?" she asked, whirling to face the speaker. She was eye-to-eye with Ash Ketchum, looking up into the face of the person who destroyed her home base seven months ago. Facing the most feared enemy of Team Rocket, and a person who had a very good reason to hate anyone wearing the sigil right now… "No!" she shouted, going for a Pokéball.

"Raichu…" There was a sudden blue-white flash, an agony in all her limbs and then Bonnie Parker was aware of nothing else.

***

Bonnie opened her eyes and peered dimly around her. She had no idea where she was or how she got there. She tried to concentrate and think hard, but she couldn't focus her thoughts enough to determine where she was, nor could she clearly remember the events that occurred in her most recent past.

"H… hello?" she said uncertainly. She and a stunned and bandaged Clyde were sitting at one side of a rectangular table. Two empty chairs sat opposite them and a single powerful spotlight shone down from above.

"So you choose to rejoin us in the land of the living, Agent Parker," a firm male voice said. "It is about time."

"What happened?" Bonnie asked, peering about blindly. The room was pitch black outside the circle of light thrown by the overhead spotlight, and Bonnie couldn't see the person who was speaking.

"You two had an 'accident,'" a sneering feminine voice replied. "You crashed your blimp into a stand of trees. It is a good thing your distress beacon went off automatically, or you would have died there. Which would have been ironic, considering that it was your own incompetence that caused the incident!"

"No, that isn't true," Clyde said uncertainly. "We were on patrol when… when we… I… I'm sure that it wasn't our fault…" Clyde's voice trailed off. Try as he might, he couldn't remember the crash or the events that led up to it.

"Not your fault?" the male voice scoffed. "You flew the blimp right into a stand of trees! Are you blind?"

"I… I don't remember…" Clyde said uncertainly.

"That is irrelevant now anyway," the female voice said. "We are here to debrief you regarding the transport of prisoners from Pallet Town."

"I… we've already been debriefed on that mission," Clyde said. "Peter and MJ did that at Vermilion Tower Base."

Suddenly a figure emerged partly into the light. He was wearing a red Elite Rocket uniform. Although his face was still in shadows, he almost oozed menace, the way the Red Rockets tended to. To his left stood a woman, also in an Elite Rocket uniform. She replied in a voice that dripped with sarcasm and condescension. "The Boss has ordered us to debrief you again," she said. "Do you have any objections to that for us to relay to him?"

"NO!" Clyde nearly shouted, his face pale and sweaty. God, no, he didn't want them to tell The Boss that they were insubordinate and refused to obey orders. Bonnie was shaking her head in an equally strident denial.

"Good," the man sneered. "Now, start from the pick-up of the cargo."

"We arrived at Pallet Town at 0610 hours, as briefed," Bonnie began, eager to please her superiors. "Our agent on the site, Gary Shigeru Oak, was waiting for us with a squad of Dan'in, who had already secured three out of the four prisoners. I understood from Agent Oak's comments that the fourth prisoner had been killed while resisting our forces. Anyway…"

In the shadows, Ash Ketchum leaned back against the wall of the warehouse area and watched Jessie and James, terrifying in Elite Rocket uniforms, 'debriefed' the two captured White Rockets. In the shadows, invisible to the light-blinded Rockets, Ash's Alakazam, Misty's Exeggutor, Sabrina's Mew and Richie's Kadabra were pumping out Confusion, keeping the two prisoners confused and disoriented, unable to think clearly enough to question why this was happening or from remembering their capture by Team Thunderbolt. Simultaneously, Jessie's Wobbuffet and James' Ghastly were shielding their Trainers from the same psychic attack.

Well, Sabrina, Ash asked. Are they telling the truth so far?

Sabrina smiled darkly in the shadows. They are too confused and afraid to think to lie, she replied. They are telling Jessie and James the complete and unadulterated truth. They do not even suspect any kind of duplicity.

Ash smiled. Excellent, he thought.

"So, you arrived at the designated delivery point, which was…" Jessie left the sentence unanswered.

"Vermilion Tower Base," Bonnie said eagerly. "It is a former hotel in Vermilion City that the organisation converted into a security and research facility. All three prisoners were delivered safely and without complications."

"And that was the prisoners' final destination," James said, carefully disguising his question as a statement.

"We weren't briefed," Bonnie said. "Was it?"

"You don't have a need to know," Jessie said, disguising her disappointment well. She looked slightly towards Ash and Sabrina.

They are telling the truth, Jessica, Sabrina told her.

Jessie nodded. "Thank you for your co-operation, Agents Parker and Barlow," Jessie continued. "We'll leave you to recuperate from your injuries."

"Xatu, Hypnosis," Misty said. Misty's elegant condor-like Psychic/Flying-type emitted a shining wave of light that consumed the two Rockets and left them sleeping like babies. "Okay, Richie!" The main lights in the warehouse snapped on, leaving the six (conscious) people within blinking for a moment. "Well, it wasn't a complete loss," Misty said, trying to sound optimistic.

"I agree," Ash said. "We have a starting point for our search. But we have so little time left to find them… just ten days now…" He shook his head to clear his mind from the black despair that threatened to overwhelm him. "We need to reconnoitre the base they named and determine if the three prisoners are still there."

"We'll go," James said immediately.

Ash stared at the dark haired man in surprise. "James…" he began and shook his head. "Forget it, James. You and Jessie are on my father's most wanted list. He will have circulated your descriptions, your fingerprints, and even your DNA profile to every base. You go in there and you will be dodging exposure and execution at every turn. I'll ask Duplicia…"

"Ash," Jessie said, "Duplicia is a fine mimic, but she doesn't know Team Rocket like we do. She would have to play it by ear, while James and I can fit right in." Ash was going to protest again, but he saw the determination in the two former Rockets' eyes. "Ash, I want to do this," Jessie said. "Your mother always treated us fairly, even when we were enemies. We owe her this."

"Okay," Ash said reluctantly. "Okay, you win, Jessie. You and James get a disguise together, something nice and subtle like a pair of Dan'in or technicians. Remember, we need to know where the hostages are and the internal lay out of the base."

"Do we have to go to so much trouble, Ash?" Richie asked. "I mean, why not just hit the place here and now. It has worked before!"

"Before, we weren't trying to rescue people who are at risk of immediate execution if we don't get to them quickly," Ash reminded the other Trainer. "This is going to be much harder, Richie, and it will take a lot more planning to win it."

***

Ash was sitting in the ruins of the living room of his home, pouring over a set of notes he had assembled. He had figured out five possible attack scenarios and he was trying to figure out which of these would give the Thunderbolts the best chance to get to the hostages before the Rockets realised what was happening and tried to execute them.

The only problem with these plans is that he had absolutely no idea about what was hiding within the base. He didn't know its' internal layout, what defences awaited him, or even where his mother, the Professor and Joy were being kept. It was frustrating to say the least. He growled and flung his pencil across the room, adding a little to the devastation, and hunched over, glowering.

"Ash?" Misty called from the front door. She walked in. "What are you doing?"

"Thinking," Ash said, gesturing to his notes. "Unfortunately, I'm not doing very well."

Misty looked at the notes carelessly and then, to Ash's horror, she crumpled them up into a ball and threw them out of the broken bay windows. "Misty!" Ash shouted. "What the hell…?"

"Ash, those notes are worthless and you know it," she said. "We won't know anything until we get a report about what is in that building."

"Misty!" Ash nearly shouted. He walked over and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Look, I've got to come up with a plan! We can't just charge in there blindly!"

"I know," Misty said calmly. "Unfortunately, we don't know what is inside the Rocket base, so your plans are nothing more than fantasy." Ash looked shocked at Misty's candour. "Look, Ash, right now all you are doing is wearing yourself out worrying about things you can't affect right now. Obsessing like this on your problems will only make it that harder to resist the dark." Ash did his 'landed Magikarp' impression for a few seconds. "You will make a plan when you know what to plan for," Misty continued. "Right now, there is no use worrying about it."

Ash sighed and dragged a hand through his untidy black hair. "I know, Misty," he said at last. "But I can't just sit around doing nothing."

"Of course not," Misty said, touching his face affectionately. "So do something. Help me put this place back together." Ash looked at Misty stupidly, making her sigh in a long-suffering way. "Let's start repairing the damage done to your home," Misty said, even more gently than before. "Let's begin to rebuild so that, when your Mother returns, she has a home waiting for her."

Misty stepped to once side to let Togetic and Psyduck in. The two Psychic-types were telekinetically towing boxes of tools. Outside, Misty's Rapidash stood yoked to a cart carrying a selection of building materials. "Where did you get that stuff from?" Ash asked. He couldn't think of any more sensible a query than that.

"From the Town Square," Misty replied. "The UNGC has people handing out materials to everyone so they can start rebuilding. I would prefer you to be thinking about that than thinking about what acts of destruction you might have to commit."

Ash looked at Misty for a long moment before a slow smile crossed his face. "Thanks, Mist," he said. "I was getting a bit obsessive wasn't I? Come on, let's try and figure out how to fix this mess."

About two hours later, Ash was surprised when two White Rockets visited him. The brown-eyed man had blonde hair in a ponytail and a droopy moustache and the green-eyed woman had shoulder-length black hair. He barely recognised the two people before him. "Jessie and James?" he blurted. "Jeez, you two are nearly new people!"

"Courtesy of Duplicia's box of miracles," James said with a laugh.

"From now on, we're 'Kim and Andrew,'" Jessie added. "We just stopped bye to say 'see you soon.'"

"Look after Meowth for us," James added with a grin. "He's too distinctive to risk taking along with us."

"If anyone sees through those disguises, I'll eat my own boots," Ash said. "You've picked a hard job, guys, but I know you're up to it."

"We'll find where those monsters are hiding your mother, Ash," Jessie said reassuringly. "We are going to win this one. I'm sure of it."

"I am sure too," Ash said, putting all the certainty he could into his voice. "May Mew watch over you, my friends."

Ash watched as Jessie and James left. Jessie released her Fearaven and they climbed onto her back. The earth/flying-type rose into the air and flew away.

Before turning back to working on repairing the damage to the living room furnishing, Ash took a moment to look around Pallet Town. The air was clear this bright winter morning and Ash could hear the continual rattle of building tools all around him. There were cheerful calls from hard-working neighbours and, as he watched, a group of children ran down the battered street with a pair of Ponytas, who were towing cartloads of relief food packages. A woman was walking along with them, carrying some flowers she had picked from a garden or from some green area.

Yes, Pallet Town was coming back to life. With the rebuilding came an affirmation of life and hope. And while hope, that most indomitable of human qualities endured, Ash's mad father would never know a victory. That hope, as pernicious and quick-to-return as the weeds sprouting up from between the broken concrete slabs, was what made Ash know that, ultimately, Team Rocket would be defeated, by one agency or another.

As Ash turned to help Misty in re-plastering the battered walls, he realised that hope was the most precious gift of them all. So long as he had hope, then he could endure any setback and any defeat. He would endure to vindicate hope and that hope would lead him to victory.

of

but the saga of Avenger will continue in the third book of this astounding trilogy:

Coming to a library server near you soon!