Hey! Happy Halloween everybody! AKCC here to present you a new story on this All Hollow's Eve. Muhahahaha! *cough!* *hack!* *cough!* Oh okay. Maybe that was too much. Anyways, as I said. This is a new story! I only written the first chapter so far, which is so weird for me since I usually write several chapter ahead before uploading, but I want to try something new!

This story is different form my other ones since it depicts Ashley to be somewhat darker and eviler in a completely different look. I've been playing with this idea in my head for a while and I really wan tot write it down. Well, type it down since I am doing it on a laptop. I started this chapter back in September, but never really got around to finishing it, but since it's Halloween and I am already hyped up on sugar and chocolate (I'm not allowed to go trick-or-treating, how horrible is that?) I just decided to finish the chapter and post up a new story.

I'm also going to add this story as another choice for the poll I have on my profile so be sure to check that. All of my story summaries are at the near bottom of my profile. There's one I have not written eh first chapter for, but I will get to it. Someday.

And now, the disclaimer. I do not own Pokemon in any way possible. Only the characters Ashley/Alice, Dan, and Hood who are in this chapter. Anything else, I do not own.

Without further ado, here it is, my new story, The Power That's Inside!

Chapter One

"I don't know, Ash. I don't think she's up to level with us."

I stopped walking right before turning a corner to Prof Oak's lab. My smile on my face disappeared when I heard Gary's voice. I poked my head around to see my brother, Ash, and Gary standing there, talking.

"Pika pi?" my Pikachu looked at me from her perch on my shoulder. She was as curious as I am.

"I guess you're right. She still only has four pokémon and she hasn't evolved any of them." I heard Ash said.

I pressed my back against the wall.

Are they talking about me? I thought to myself. That does sound like me a bit.

"I just believe that she's my sister."

Okay, now I know they're talking about me. But why?

"Face it, Ash. Ashley's so much weaker than all of us. I wonder how you can deal with her." Gary said.

"Well, I have to. She's my twin sister." Ash replied.

I felt tears well up in my eyes as I broke out in a run; I ran away from the lab, away from Gary, away from my own brother. I ran toward the forest outside of Pallet Town. I shut my brown eyes close as I bolted through. I didn't care if branches snagged at my clothes or if leaves embedded themselves in my long black hair.

How could they talk about me like that?! Especially Ash. He's my own twin brother for crying out loud! So what if I only have four pokémon and haven't evolved them? Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Charmander, and Pikachu have been my closest friends. I don't want to push them too hard or get them really hurt. I want to let them grow at their own pace when they feel like it. So what if I lost a lot of battles. Does that make me weak?

I don't know, but it looks like everyone else thinks so.

I was too busy running to notice than I ran into someone.

"Oof!" I fell down on my butt. "I'm so sorry that I-" I stopped when I saw the red 'R' on the jacket of the man I ran into.

"You should really watch where you're running, young lady." the man looked at me. He looked about in his late thirties or early forties with his black hair cut close to his head and end in a widow's peak. An evil grin spread across his face.

"Y-You're part of Team Rocket!" I scrambled to my feet and backed away from him.

"It sure looks like it, doesn't it?" the man said. he took out a pokéball and released a Rhyperior.

"Rhy!" the Rhyperior cried out.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu jumped out in front of me with her cheeks sparking with electricity.

"Pikachu! No!" I tried to call her back, but she didn't listen. She still attacked Rhyperior with a Quick Attack even though she has a type disadvantage. She slammed into Rhyperior and bounced back. It looked like the attack did nothing to it!

"Pi..." Pikachu landed in front of me, struggling to get up.

"Pikachu, take a rest. Let the others help." I scooped her up in my arms. I picked up my other three pokéballs from my belt and threw them.

In three bursts of lights, my Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charmander landed in front of me.

"Saur!"

"Squirt!"

"Char!"

The Team Rocket man smirked. "This should be interesting." he muttered.

"Charmander! Use Ember!" I commanded.

"Char!" Charmander opened up his mouth and several small balls of fire were released. When it came in contact with Rhyperior, it did nothing.

"Rhy!" Rhyperior hit Charmander with a Rock Blast.

"Char!" Charmander fainted as he rolled back to me.

"Charmander!" I kneeled down to him. "Squirtle, use Water Gun!" I looked over to him.

"Squirt!" Squirtle nodded. He puffed up his cheeks full of water and let out a stream of water at Rhyperior.

"Rhy." Once again, it did nothing to the pokémon. "Perior!" Rhyperior launched another Rock Blast and it knocked Squirtle back to me, fainted.

"Oh no." I whispered as I checked Squirtle. "Bulbasaur," I looked to my last pokémon.

"Bulba." he nodded, as if he read my mind. "Saur!" several leaves sprouted from Bulbasaur's bulb and flew towards Rhyperior.

The leaves bounced off and Rhyperior looked unaffected. Without saying anything, Rhyperior extended his arm and fired a final Rock Blast at Bulbasaur.

I caught Bulbasaur as he rolled back at me, fainted, like everyone else.

"I'm so sorry." I whispered to all my pokémon as I held them close to me. I felt a single tear roll down my cheek and fall to the ground.

I saw a shadow approach me and looked up to see the man and his Rhyperior.

"You already beat all of my pokémon. Are you going to take them away from me now?" I glared at him as I did my best to protect my pokémon.

"No." he said.

"What?" I was surprised. I knew that Team Rocket was an evil organization. They steal powerful and rare pokémon. They would even kill for them. He already saw that my pokémon were weak, but they were rare. And that's enough to steal them.

"I have a proposal for you." the man said.

"What?" I was confused.

"What I mean is, I would like to give you an offer." he explained.

"What kind of offer?" I asked, cautious of the man.

"I want you to join Team Rocket." he grinned evilly.

"What?" I was shocked. "You want me, to join Team Rocket?"

"That's correct." he nodded.

"But why? You already saw how weak I am." I stood up slowly. Pikachu was in my arms while Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle were hiding behind my legs, holding on to them for support.

"All I saw was your potential for greatness. If you join Team Rocket, than that greatness can be unlocked. It doesn't matter if you're weak. You can become the strongest." the man explained.

"The strongest?" I repeated. After hearing how my own twin brother and my best friend talk about me behind my back, being strong is all I want to be right now.

I might be the weakest now, but if joining a truly evil organization like Team Rocket mean I can be the strongest and show them that I can be the best, then I'll do it.

"So? What's your answer?" the man asked.

I hesitated with my answer. I looked down at my pokémon and saw a gleam in their eyes. They want to be stronger, but they also don't want to hurt others. I could feel that they're thinking the same thing that I am.

I looked back at the man, who was still waiting for an answer. "Yes, I'll join Team Rocket." I nodded.

"Good." he grinned. He recalled his Rhyperior and pulled out a phone.

While he was talking on his phone, I kneeled down to my pokémon.

"Are you guys okay with this?" I asked them.

They all shared a glance with each other before nodding.

"You know that, if we're a part of Team Rocket, than we would have to hurt people. We would also have to steal other people's pokémon." I pointed out.

They shared another glance before nodding again. "Pi pikachu pi chu ka." Pikachu said.

"All of you want to be strong, don't you?" I asked them, they nodded. "Then we will be strong. Hopefully we won't be doing any of the stealing."

I stood back up as the man finished his call.

"We will head to Rocket headquarters when the helicopter picks us up in an hour. Until than we have to wait." he said.

"Actually, there's something I need to do." I interrupted him. "And I need your help with it."

Normal POV

"Hey Gary, have you seen Ashley anywhere?" Ash asked.

"No. Aren't you supposed to keep track of her though? You are her twin brother." Gary answered.

"Who do I look like to you? My sister's keeper?" Ash replied. "She was supposed to come to the lab here a while ago."

"Maybe she went into the forest. You know how much she goes into there." Gary said as he stood up from his desk.

"Yeah, if only she went in there to train instead of picking flowers all the time." Ash said as the two walked out of the lab.

"Maybe you should start helping her train. She is pretty weak." Gary suggested.

"Maybe." Ash said.

The two Pallet boys walked from Professor Oak's lab and into the forest surrounding Pallet Town. They ventured deeper into the forest until they almost reached a cliff.

"Aaaaahhhhhh!" a scream pierced the calm, quiet air.

"That sounded like Ashley!" Ash exclaimed as the two boys broke out in a run. They ran towards where the scream came from, the cliff.

When they arrived, they saw Ashley; her clothes were tattered and ripped while her pokémon in front of her were all beaten.

"Ashley-!" Ash started, but Gary clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Look." Gary pointed to several Team Rocket grunts surrounding Ashley. "There's too many of them and we don't have any of our pokémon except for your Pikachu."

"Grr." Ash backed up, disgruntled. His Pikachu was growling on his shoulder.

"Just give us your pokémon, and you won't get hurt, girly." one of the grunts said as they stepped forward.

"No way! I won't let you!" Ashley exclaimed as she backed up towards the edge of the cliff. A pebble fell off as her foot nearly went off the cliff.

"You have nowhere to go." another grunt said as they took another step forward.

Ashley quickly picked up all of her pokémon and held them close to her. She took a step back to the very edge of the cliff. Suddenly, the piece of cliff fell from under her.

"Aaaahhhhhh!" she screamed as both she and her pokémon disappeared over the edge.

"Ashley!" Ash screamed her name, but Gary quickly covered his mouth.

"Tch. Let's get out of here." one of the grunts said as they all retreated into the forest.

"No!" Ash ran into the clearing as he broke free of Gary's grip. Unfortunately, all of the grunts already disappeared. "Those bastards, they killed her!"

"Ash, they didn't kill her, Ashley fell off of the cliff." Gary ran up to him.
"She fell off because of them!" Ash yelled. "And now she's dead." he fell to his knees.

"Pika pi?" Pikachu hopped off of his trainer's shoulder. He looked at his trainer who was crying. He hardly ever saw Ash cry.

"She's gone." Ash cried. "And just because I didn't save her."

Ashley's POV

I returned everyone, except for Pikachu, to their pokéball as I was freefalling in the air. I kept my scream long enough to make it seem like I fell to my death at the bottom of the cliff, which was filled with jagged rocks poking through the ocean.

I spotted an orange blur out of the corner of my eye. I extended my arm as the orange blur caught me. I was pulled out of the air and was seated behind a boy that looked around my age.

His hair was brown and messy and wore a different Rocket uniform than the grunts. He was wearing a black shirt with the big red 'R' on it with black pants. A gray long sleeve jacket with black cuffs was draped over his shirt. I saw gray gloves cover his hands and his black pants were tucked into gray boots.

"That was an impressive performance, princess." he turned back to speak to me. I saw his brown eyes dance in the sunlight.

"Thanks, but don't call me 'princess'."I glared at him.

"Sure, princess." he smirked. "My name's Dan. Dan Kuso. But I'm sometimes called the 'Fire Master'."

"'Fire Master'? What kind of name is that?" I asked.

"One you get when you're a high ranking admin who specialize in fire types." he answered as we flew closer to a helicopter waiting on an island.

"You're an admin?" I was surprised that the Team Rocket man I met got an admin to help me with faking my death. "You look young to be an admin."

"I'm only 12, but yes, I am an admin." Dan confirmed. "But I'm not one of the admin who serve directly under our boss. I serve under the admins who directly serve under our boss."

"That sounds complicated." I commented.

"Not really. And from what I heard about you, you're probably going to be an admin like me, too." he said.

"An admin? Me? Hell no. I'm too weak." I shook my head.

"You never know." Dan shrugged as we landed next to the helicopter.

Dan hopped off first, and offered me a hand. "Let me help you, princess."

"How kind of you."I rolled my eyes at him as I took up his offer. After he helped me down from the Charizard we were riding on. He returned his Charizard and we walked towards the helicopter.

"You ready to go?" the man I met earlier asked.

"Yes. They think I'm dead and that's all I need." I nodded.

"Then we're off." the man said. He went towards the front of the helicopter as Dan helped me on. I stared out of helicopter through the open door as we took off. I watched as we flew away. I watched as Pallet Town came into view before disappearing again.

As I watched Pallet Town disappear, so does my brother and friends. They all thought I was weak. But now, I'm going to show just how 'weak' I am. They're going to pay. With that, I slammed the door shut.

I stared at myself in the mirror. My hair was dyed pure white and was tied in a side ponytail with a red rose hair tie. The color of the rose matched the blood red color of the color contacts I had on. I tugged at my black shirt with the big red 'R' on it which exposed my bare midriff. A thin gray open vest was thrown over my shirt while gray gloves reached halfway up my upper arms. My black skirt with a gray band around the near bottom reached mid thigh as black tights covered the rest of my legs. Gray heeled boots that reached up to my knees completed my look.

When I got at the Team Rocket HQ, they immediately gave me a room and told me to change my look however I want. I was surprised they gave me a room. All of the other grunts had dorms that had to share. Nonetheless, I went to my newly appointed room, which was decently sized, and found the closet and bathroom filled with different clothes and dyes.

They did tell me to change my look anyway I want so that must mean also wearing whatever I want. I settled on changing my hair and eye color to something totally different while wearing something I normally wouldn't. It would make me get use to my new life I have with team Rocket.

"Pika pi?" Pikachu looked at me from her spot on the bed. They were kind enough to heal my pokémon for me.

"We're a part of Team Rocket now. We have to look like we do." I explained to her.

I walked towards the door and opened it up. Team Rocket HQ was underground in the mountain range north of Kanto and Johto. The hallways were brightly lit and had several levels. The upper levels were the living quarters while the bottom levels were used for training and mission briefings.

I found Dan was waiting for me outside my door.

"Finally. You're done, princess." he sighed.

"I told you not to call me 'princess'," I glared at him. "What are you even doing outside my door?"

"The boss told me to take you to his office when you're done changing your look." he answered. "And I must say, you look better this way."

"I'm not sure if I should take that as a compliment or an insult." I said as Pikachu hopped next to me.

"Consider it both." Dan winked. "Let's go." he led me and Pikachu down to the lowest level where there was a single door. He opened the door and we walked in. I walked to the middle of the room with Pikachu staying behind with Dan at the door.

The room was big and black. There was only a giant glowing screen and a desk in front of it. A Persian was napping a bed next to the desk while a man was standing behind the desk and in front of the screen.

"Ashley," he turned around. He was the same man who offered me the job! He's the boss?! "I see you transformed yourself appropriately to fit in."

"Yes, sir." I nodded, knowing that this man is my boss now.

"I know it's surprising to find out that the man you met was the boss of Team Rocket." he said.

"Um yes, sir." I nodded.

"If you're going to work for me, than you should learn my name. It's Giovanni." he said.

"Yes, sir, Giovanni." I nodded again.

"Even though you're still new, I'm making you an admin. Dan holds the same position." Giovanni nodded to Dan who was standing by the door. "He's going to be your training partner until you are fit to lead a team of grunts."

"Yes, sir." I nodded.

"Dan, will you escort Ashley to the weaponry? She will need something if she's going to be an admin." Giovanni said.

"Yes, sir." Dan nodded. He walked up and grabbed my arm and started to led me out of the room.
"Oh, Ashley?" Giovanni said.

"Yes, sir?" I turned around to face him.

"If you want a new life here, than what will your new name be?" he asked.

New name? I never really thought of that. Although, one name does stand out to me. "Alice, sir." I answered him.

"Well than, Admin Dan, Admin Alice, you are dismissed." he nodded.

"Yes, sir." Dan saluted and I copied him. We walked out of the room and Dan led me up a level.

"Why do I need a weapon?" I asked Dan as we were walking up the stairs.

"It's just for extra protection." Dan said.

"Dan," I grabbed his arm and stopped him. "Tell me the truth."

"Fine." he sighed. "As admin, we are sometimes tasked to kill. People and pokémon." he said.

I felt fear run through my body. "Did you ever have to?" I asked quietly.

"No. And I'm sure you never have to either. We only use them mainly for scaring people." Dan explained.

"Oh okay." I felt a little better.

"Come on." he grabbed my hand and led me up the stairs.

He pulled out an ID card and slid it through the electronic lock next to two glass doors. the lock beeped and turned green. Dan opened up the door and led me inside.

The weaponry was not I expect Team Rocket to have. Guns and swords lined the shelves and I think I even saw a couple of bazookas.

"Don't worry. Most of these are just launches nets that the grunts use to capture pokémon." Dan reassured me.

"Oh that's makes me feel better. I think." I said.

Dan led me away from the more (hopefully) violent weapons and to the smaller things. We passed shelves filled with daggers, batons, and crossbows? Okay, how is that better?

"Hood. We got another admin who needs a weapon." Dan called out.

"Oh?" a bluenette man with goggles on his face poked his head from a couple of shelves. "And who do we have here?" he walked from the shelves. He was wearing brown fingerless gloves, an apron that was smudged with oil, and brown working boots. His face was smudged with oil stains and his hair was wild and tangled as he took his goggles off his face and placed it on his head.

"Hood, this is Alice, the new girl the boss recruited." Dan explained.

"Oh. Nice to meet you! I'm Hood, the resident weapons master of Team Rocket." Hood stuck out his hand.

"Hi." I shook his hand.

"You're looking for a weapon to use than?" he asked.

"Yeah. I mean, I have to. Maybe something small and something I can throw, but it has to be dangerous enough to kill someone." I said. I noticed that Dan looked shocked at me.

"What? You heard Giovanni. I have to look the part." I shrugged.

"Okay than. Let's see what I have." Hood scanned the shelves. "What about daggers?"

"Nuh-uh. Daggers and knives are my thing. Besides, she doesn't look like the stabbing type." Dan protested. "Try to find something none of the other admins have."

"Okay. So daggers and throwing knives are out." Hood said as he went back to scanning the shelves. "How do feel about shurikens or throwing stars?"

"What are those?" I asked.

"They're star shaped pieces of metal that you thrown. They can be very dangerous and can be thrown from long distances." Dan explained.

"That sounds interesting." I commented. "I'll think I'll go with them." I nodded.

"And I got just the ones." Hood said as he carried out a box from the shelves. "Here, are what I like to call the Scarlet Stars." he opened up the box to reveal two rows of ten shurikens each. The shurikens were forged in a star shaped out of a red metal with a hole in the middle. The stars were engraved with ingenious designs of floating rose petals and dragon scales.

"These look perfect." I said as I picked one up. I twirled one in my hand and suddenly threw it at a dartboard on the other side of the room.

"Aren't you supposed to be only 10?" Hood asked as he approached the bulls eye my shuriken hit.

"Whoa. You're a natural." Dan looked surprised as he stared at where the shuriken hit. Which was the middle of the dartboard.

"What can I say? Maybe I was meant to be part of team Rocket." I said as I felt a surge inside of me. I don't know why, but I'm starting not to regret joining at all.

"Pika pi?" Pikachu asked as she looked up at me.

"I'm fine. Don't worry." I said.

"You know, now that you have a weapon, you're almost a fully equipped admin. All you need now is a nickname." Dan said.

"Do I have to?"I raised an eyebrow.

"It's a tradition we have here. It's not in the rules, but it's tradition the admins have." Dan answered. "How about 'Princess'?" he smirked.

"Hell no and I told you to stop calling me that." I glared at him "What about the 'Scarlet Star'?" I said as I picked another shuriken.

"Sounds fitting." Hood nodded.

I felt a wicked grin spread on my face. "I, Alice Crimson aka 'The Scarlet Star', newly-appointed admin of Team Rocket, vow to get stronger. Stronger than ever before. With only the power that's inside."

And scene! That's it for the first chapter of The Power That's Inside or TPTI in short. I have to be honest, I'm listening to Nightcore, specially Avril Lavigne, while I was tying this up and it really helped me put in the mood. Especially how Ashley, I mean Alice turned wicked at he end.

And yes, she is 10. This is set after all of Ash's journeys where he is still somehow ten. I still don't understand it. But I'm putting it that way.

Next chapter will be Alice's first raining mission where she will meet a new, and special pokemon. I'm going to let you guys guess what it is. And I'm even throwing in a hint, it has something in common with her nickname, think Shiny.

After that, I will have a big time jump so she will be much more evil.

And I also need your opinion on something, I want Alice to be in a shipping, but I'm debating with whom. These are the choices:

AlicexDan- Regretshipping (He's evil so she might regret being in a relationship with him, but she'll stay with him.)

AlicexGray- BBFshipping (BBF stands for 'brother's best friend' since he is her brother's best friend. And I'm not telling when they will meet. You just have to fav and/or follow this story to find out.)

AlicexSilver- Strongshipping (They both want to be stronger. Since Silver is Giovanni's son, they will meet. Eventually.)

Since I already have a poll up on my profile, you can choose by reviewing. But don't just review because of that, I want to know what you guys think of this idea for this story. I'm also having a contest in my other story, Runaway Life, and I literally put the answer right in this Author's Note. If you read the hints at the end of the Runaway Life chapters, and then read this Author''s Note, you will find the answer. Answer correctly in Runaway Life by reviewing and you will get a shout out by me to you.

Anyways, back to this story, I don't know when I'm going to post another chapter for this since i need to type it, but it won't take me like six months to do it. Maybe three at most. If not, then definitely by six months.

And that is it for this. Don't forget to guess which Shiny pokemon will appear next chapter adn teh cnotest I have in Runaway Life. I'm putting this story as another choice for my poll so don't forget to vote if you like this story so far!

-AKCC, signing out!