Author's Note: Just a heads-up, this chapter is going to include a character from one of my earlier Pokemon stories, I Was a Teenage Jenny. Anyone remember that story? Anyway, that's all I'm going to say at the moment.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.

Chapter 10: Wishes and Consequences

"You're not going to beat me, Richter!" Christine declared. "I'm ending this nightmare right now!"

"As if you have what it takes to beat me in a Pokemon battle!" Richter told her. "This bizarre Ninetales of yours is somewhat impressive, but there's no chance that it or any other Pokemon you have can overcome mine! Even that Meloetta is powerless against me. And I'm going to prove that right now! Go Excadrill!"

Bursting out of the pokeball Richter had thrown was a fairly large dirt-brown mole-like creature with a white face and pink nose. A red almost diamond-shaped pattern was on its stomach, and extending outward from the top of its head was a horn that looked like part of a drill bit. The long claws on the creature's arms looked like the remaining two segments of the drill bit that was on its head.

"Excadrill! Attack that Ninetales with Metal Claw!" Richter commanded.

Excadrill charged across the room as the claws on its right arm began to glow with a white light. The mole Pokemon came at Ninetales from the left and slashed the arctic fox in the side, landing a critical hit to its opponent. Seeing that Ninetales was at a disadvantage, Christine called Ninetales back to her ball.

"Go Dragonite!" Christine called with the throw of another pokeball.

Emerging from the thrown ball was a yellow bipedal dragon that stood at a little over six feet. The dragon had a very friendly appearance, almost like the kind of creature one might see on a television show meant for young children. On the top of the dragon's head was a pair of slender feelers and a single short horn that grew in between them. On the back of the dragon was a pair of yellow bat-like wings that were green on the inside and seemed just a little too small for its body.

"What the… how the hell is it that you have a Dragonite?" a stunned Richter demanded to know.

"Christine… is that…?" Bolt began to ask.

"This Pokemon used to be the Dratini that you caught for me in the Safari Zone." Christine answered with a nod. "Training that Pokemon after I left you… it made me feel closer to you, Bolt."

Richter clenched his fists in anger at his sides. "I am going to destroy that Pokemon! Excadrill! Use Metal Claw again!"

"Attack with Aqua Tail!" Christine ordered.

Excadrill's claws began to glow again as it charged at Dragonite. Before the mole Pokemon could land a blow, Dragonite swung its tail around as it suddenly became covered in a twister of water. The yellow dragon's tail slammed hard into Excadrill's chest and hurled it across the room into one of the wooden crates lining the walls, causing it to shatter apart. It took a few moments for Excadrill to get back to its feet.

"Dammit!" Richter cursed. "Use Rapid Spin!"

"Finish it with Flamethrower!" Christine commanded.

Before Excadrill could make a move, Dragonite flew across the field with incredible speed and breathed out a stream of red flames from its mouth that hit the mole Pokemon in the chest. When the attack ended, Excadrill collapsed onto its side and was unconscious.

Richter called back his fallen Pokemon. "This is far from over. Go Mamoswine!"

Bursting out of the next pokeball that Richter threw was a fairly large creature that appeared to be a strange cross between a wild bore and a wooly mammoth. The creature didn't seem to have any ears, but it was hard to tell whether or not it did because most of its body was covered in thick brown fur. The creature's face was bare, and around its eyes was a blue marking resembling a mask rimmed in white. It had a short pig-like snout, and growing from its face were two long white tusks that curved upward towards the end.

"Attack with Icicle Crash!" Richter commanded.

Mamoswine growled and began to charge across the field at Dragonite. As the pig-mammoth came closer, an icy mist gathered on its forehead and formed into a thick ling icicle. Mamoswine rammed the icicle horn on its head into Dragonite's stomach, causing the horn to shatter and the dragon to fall on its side.

"Fight back with Flamethrower!" Christine ordered.

After a moment, Dragonite got back up and breathed out another stream of flames. The attack hit Mamoswine in the face.

"Now use Aqua Tail!" Christine commanded.

Just as Mamoswine seemed to recover from the last attack, Dragonite swung its water-shrouded tail hard into Mamoswine's side. The pig-mammoth nearly toppled over but managed to remain standing. At that moment, Ross burst through the basement door with Lorain and Officer Jenny.

"Bolt! We're here to…" Ross began, but he paused when he saw the battle between Dragonite and Mamoswine. "What the hell?"

"Is… is that Dragonite Christine's?" Lorain asked.

"Sure is." Bolt confirmed. "And she's hanging in there pretty well. She even beat Richter's Torterra. Of course I kinda softened it up for her."

"Enough of this!" Richter declared. "Mamoswine, use Ice Fang!"

Mamoswine charged at Dragonite as its tusks glowed and gave off an icy mist. The pig-mammoth rammed into the dragon with all its weight and the resulting impact hurled Dragonite across the room to where Christine and Meloetta were standing. Meloetta managed to move out of the way in time, but Christine was knocked to the ground and an unconscious Dragonite landed on top of her.

"Christine!" Bolt called as he ran across the field to help her.

Meloetta used her psychic powers to lift Dragonite off Christine as Bolt came up to her. Christine was still conscious as Bolt helped her back to her feet.

"You okay?" a concerned Bolt asked.

"I'm fine." Christine assured him. "I'll probably have a bruise later, but other than that I'm okay."

"Get away from her, Hanson!" Richter ordered. "She belongs to me! And I've had enough of you laying your hands on my property!"

"You twisted son of a bitch!" Bolt cursed. "I wish that you would just forget all about Christine and leave her the hell alone!"

Suddenly the cover of a vent near the ceiling of the room burst off and Jirachi flew into the room. "I heard that! Consider your wish granted!"

The eye on Jirachi's chest then opened and began to shine with a silvery light. Suddenly Richter cried out in pain and fell to his knees. His eyes were glowing with a blazing silver light and blood was starting to drip from his nose and his ears. This went on for about a minute or two until both Richter and Mamoswine suddenly vanished with a silvery flash.

Bolt looked at the empty spot where Richter had once been in shock. "What… what the hell did you just do?"

"I wiped all memory of Ms. Christine from his mind and teleported him and his Pokemon to a faraway place." Jirachi explained. "I also programed him so that he'd be compelled to walk away from Christine and have no contact with her in the event he ever came in sight of her. I may have also caused some minor brain damage in the process. Admittedly, I've never been all that good at this type of mental programing."

"We you just waiting around for Bolt to make a wish like that?" Ross asked the wish granter.

"Him or his rival." Jirachi answered. "I noticed the conflict your friend was having with this Mr. Chase as was fascinated. I was curious to see which of them would end up calling upon my power first. The result was actually quite interesting. That was a very creative wish you made, Mr. Hanson."

"Look little guy, I never asked for your help." Bolt told him.

"Perhaps not, but that is why my power exists." Jirachi told him. "The purpose of my being is to give humans what they lack the power to get themselves, and to reveal the true nature of their desires."

"Hey, I may have wanted Richter to stay away from Christine, and I guess I even wanted to see him hurt too, but I never wanted anything like that to happen to him." Bolt declared. "People don't really want what they wish for in the heat of the moment."

"My observations beg to differ." Jirachi replied. "For instance, your other friend Ms. Lorain wished for Ms. Christine's death so she could have you to herself. It's not any different than the way you just did away with your own romantic rival."

"Jirachi! I may have wanted Bolt to myself, but… there's no way that I wanted Christine to die so I could have him!" Lorain told him. "There's no way I'd ever kill somebody to get something I wanted. That's just sick."

"The behavior of you humans really is perplexing." Jirachi remarked. "I would think that the end result would matter more than you to the means it took to get that result."

"That's where you're wrong!" Christine told him. "We humans may all have wish and dreams for things that we've always wanted, but there are certain ways that we don't want to use to get those things; ways that are just wrong. I'm free of my father because of that wish I made to you, but I feel horrible that he's dead because I made that wish to you."

"…Morality and sentimentality. Those are the greatest weaknesses of the human race." Jirachi indifferently declared. "Fortunately I am not inhibited by such weaknesses. This conversation of ours has been very enlightening, as I now understand the true reason for my existence. I am here to help humans overcome those weaknesses to obtain your desires."

"I've had enough of this crap!" Ross declared. "It's time we put this psycho Pokemon away!"

"I couldn't agree more!" Officer Jenny spoke. "Jirachi, you are a menace to society and I'm afraid it's my duty to take you into custody!"

"I don't think that's going to happen." Jirahci told her. "Flash attack!"

The eye on Jirachi's chest opened back up and a blinding silvery flash filled the room. When the light finally cleared, Jirachi was nowhere to be found in the room.

"Damn!" Ross cursed. "Now we gotta hunt that little bastard down all over again!"

"Looks that way." Bolt observed. "But… I get the feeling that we're not gonna have any luck."

"It may not matter anyway. The week's practically over, which means Jirachi will be going back to sleep soon." Lorain pointed out. "Let's hope that nobody else gets hurt before then."

The amount of strange incidents in the town of Stardust Falls decreased sharply after the raid on the Team Rocket base. There were a few reports of very minor odd occurrences throughout the town, but nobody could determine if Jirachi was the cause. To Bolt and the gang, it seemed as though Jirachi had decided to keep a low profile. It seemed that nobody would ever know for sure though, as a day later a red crystal containing a slumbering Jirachi was found at the very shrine where Christine had inadvertently awoken the wish granter. Knowing very well what Jirachi was capable, the local Officer Jenny convinced the town council to place a pair of warning signs at the shrine. The first was a very simple sign that prohibited singing at the shrine, and the second sign meanwhile was a more detailed one that told people of the incidents that the various wishes to Jirachi had caused. Whether or not these signs were actually going to do any good, nobody could say for sure.

As for the faction of Team Rocket that Richter had been leading, just about every agent and scientist at the base had been arrested and was awaiting trial. However, there had been no trace of Cassidy or Butch since they had retreated after losing to Lorain and Ross. There had also been no trace of Richter, and those involved in the incident could only speculate about where Jirachi had teleported him. All the police could do was list Richter as a wanted criminal and hope that he turned up somewhere. In the end, the truly important thing to the authorities was that another faction of Team Rocket had been dismantled.

When all was said and done, Bolt and his friends wanted to put the strange series of events in the town of Stardust Falls behind them. The time of the rock festival that Bolt's band had been preparing for had finally come, and once they were done with their performance it would be time for them to go back out on the road. Night had fallen, and at that moment Bolt was heading to his hotel room to get Christine for the show.

Bolt walked into the room to hear the sound of running water from the bathroom. "Christine, you ready to head out?"

"Just a sec!" Christine's voice called back in response.

The water stopped running, and what Bolt saw as Christine walked out of the bathroom on her crutches left him speechless. Christine had cut her hair so that it ended just above her shoulders. Also, a lock of her hair at the front had been dyed a bright shade of pink.

"Well? What do you think of my new look?" Christine asked.

"Wow! You look super cute." Bolt answered as his cheeks turned a deep shade of red. "But why the new look all of a sudden?"

"I wanted something to represent me starting this new life." Christine answered as she came closer.

"This really is a new chapter for both of us, isn't it?" Bolt replied as he put his arms around her. "It kinda sucks how we got here though. I mean, your dad's dead and Richter… as much as I hated the guy, I have to admit that I didn't want Jirachi to fry his brain the way he did."

"I know… but at the moment I don't care how we finally got here." Christine told him. "I'm just happy that we're finally together."

"Me too." Bolt replied before giving her a deep kiss on the lips. "Now let's get going. I've got a show to do."

The stars of the night sky were shining above at Cassidy and Butch wandered through the forest several miles away from the base. It was still several miles to the nearest road, and the duo had been forced to lay low to avoid the patrols that the police had been sending into the forest to find them. Now that the patrols had lessened, the duo's plan was to get out of Sinnoh and figure out their next move.

"I can't believe how we were ruined again by that gang of rock star punks!" Cassidy complained. "We were on the verge of forming a new Team Rocket and now this!"

"Maybe we should just forget about this whole Team Rocket thing and focus on small stuff for awhile." Butch suggested. "At least until the heat dies down a bit."

As soon as the duo entered a forest clearing, several large shapes suddenly emerged from the trees and surrounded them. Cassidy and Butch quickly saw that a team of ten men and twelve women had encircled them. What was surprising was that these strangers were wearing Team Rocket uniforms; though they weren't like any other Team Rocket uniform the duo had ever seen. They were all wearing black shirts with a red letter R on the front, though the R looked as though it had been painted on with a fine brush. The shirts worn by the men had long sleeves while the women were wearing short-sleeved shirts. The uniforms of these supposed Team Rocket soldiers also included a yellow vest, along with pairs of yellow gloves and black army boots. The men had on long yellow jeans while the women were wearing very short yellow jean-shorts, and each of them was wearing a hat that looked almost like the kind worn by police officers.

"What the hell is all this?" Butch asked. "If you punks are looking to join our faction of Team Rocket, you're outta luck! Our faction's been broken up as of last night!"

"No, no, no. You two have it all backwards." A voice from the darkness suddenly spoke. "We came here to get you to join us."

A few of the supposed Team Rocket soldiers moved to make a gap in the ring around Cassidy and Butch, and walking out of the darkness of the forest was a young woman with long bright yellow hair and rather wild grey eyes. She had on a Team Rocket uniform similar to the ones worn by the people that had surrounded Cassidy and Butch, only her shirt revealed her midriff and showed off the black lightning bolt-shaped tattoos at each side of her bellybutton. The woman had on a pair of long tight black pants in place of the yellow hot pants worn by the female Team Rocket soldiers in the group, and on her arms was a pair of elbow-high black leather gloves. Two black vertical lightning bolt tattoos adorned each of the woman's upper arms, and she had a smaller lightning bolt tattoo on her left cheek. Hanging form her belt was a black leather whip.

"Who the hell are you?" Cassidy asked.

"They call me… Trisha Lightning." The strange woman answered. "I'm a general in the true Team Rocket."

"So you're from a rival faction, huh?" Butch assumed.

"Those factions you're talking about are either being wiped out or absorbed into our group as we speak." Trisha told them. "Your group is one of the last along with one of the newest. Of course the police took care of your faction for us, which is a real shame because I was really hoping my guys could fry yours. Nothing gets my blood going like a good gang war."

"So what? Now that our faction's gone you've come to finish us off personally?" Cassidy assumed.

"That was pretty much my original plan, but I realized that I could use a couple of lieutenants to take care of some of the day-to-day crap." Trisha answered. "Word is you two used to be top agents in the original Team Rocket, and you were the ones who put this new faction together. Of course then you handed everything over to that Richter Chase punk, but you'll still make good lackeys for me I think."

"And what makes you think that'll you'll be a better leader of Team Rocket than Giovanni or Richter?" Butch asked.

"Hey. I'm just a high-ranking general in this organization." Trisha told them. "Our real leader is the one true heir to Team Rocket, Silver."

At this, the Team Rocket soldiers that were surrounding Cassidy and Butch put their fists to their chests in salute. "Hail Silver!"

"Wait, Silver?" Cassidy asked. "Are you talking about Giovanni's son?"

"That punk? I thought he wanted nothing to do with Team Rocket!" Butch recalled. "In fact he ended up disappearing a few years ago to get away from us or something."

"Well, Silver didn't want anything to do with his dad's organization to begin with, but then we met this consultant who showed us how we could remake Team Rocket in his own image." Trisha revealed. "We've spent the last few years consolidating our power. We've been able to move up our timetable ever since Silver's dad got arrested. Now all that's left is to fill a few more positions and crush a few groups that could be a pain in the ass to us, like these wimpy little Team Rocket factions. You two should be lucky that I've decided to hire you onto my staff."

"And why the hell should we join you?" Cassidy asked.

"Because I'm not giving you a choice?" Trisha responded as though the answer was obvious. "Let me put it to you this way. I'm not really hiring you as much as I am drafting you."

"There's no way in hell that we following a wannabe Team Rocket leader like you!" Butch declared.

Trisha sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Okay, looks like we do this the hard way. To show you I'm not a total bitch, I'm going to give you a proposition. We'll have a Pokemon battle right here and now. Beat me, and I'll let you two go on your way. If I beat you though, you're going to have to fall in line and be my lieutenants. Sound fair?"

"Guess we have no choice." Cassidy replied.

"Good. Now to make things even more fair, I'm only going to use a single Pokemon to take you on." Trisha continued. "Meanwhile, you guys can come at me with two of your Pokemon at once."

"Are you making fun of us?" Butch asked.

"Look, I don't have all night to waste with this crap." Trisha told them. "Just send out your Pokemon and let's get this over with."

"If she wants to make it harder on herself, let her!" Cassidy declared as she pulled out a pokeball. "Go Mandibuzz!"

The condor Pokemon flew out of her ball and hovered above the clearing.

"Fine! Go Shiftry!" Butch called with the throw of his pokeball.

Shiftry burst out of the ball and waited with Mandibuzz.

Trisha smirked as she took a black and white pokeball that was hanging from her belt. "Go… Zapdos!"

Flying out of the thrown pokeball was a large bird with jagged yellow feathers. The thunderbird had a long pointed beak like a drill and its eyes were pitch black. Cassidy and Butch trembled in fear upon seeing a Pokemon that they knew to be a powerful legendary bird from their home region of Kanto. Mandibuzz and Shiftry also began to tremble.

"Now!" Trisha called as she cracked her whip. "Use Shadow Bolt!"

Zapdos shrieked and fired to bolts of black electricity from its body, zapping Shiftry and Mandibuzz and knocking them to the ground. Both of Cassidy and Butch's Pokemon were out cold.

"Now, am I going to have to use a little more persuasion on you two?" Trisha asked.

"Uh… we'll do whatever you say, boss!" Butch quickly answered as he and Cassidy called back their two Pokemon. "We're totally at your command!"

"Good." Trisha replied as she called back Zapdos. "One rule though. Do not call me boss! It's either General Lightning or mistress, got it?"

"Yes bo – I mean mistress!" Cassidy responded.

"Fine." Trisha replied as she turned on her heel. "Now let's go Cassidy! Bitch!"

"My name is Butch!" the green-haired Rocket agent told her.

"I heard what I said! Now get your ass in gear!" Trisha ordered. "We've got a revolution to prepare for."

WEEK OF THE WISH GRANTER – END

Afterward: That wraps up yet another story in my Pokemon AU. I have to say that this story ended up going differently than what I had originally planned in the outline I did for it, but I think it ultimately turned out better than what I had planned. I'd like to thank everyone who read or reviewed this story, because I think it was your input that kind of swayed me to make the changes from the outline that I did.

Now then, as much as some of you reading may hate to hear this, I've decided to take another little break from this AU now that this story is done. The good news is that I'm now closer than ever to writing Reign of Silver, but because of the way this story turned I need to rethink things and see if I need to make any changes to what I had originally planned. In fact I may end up doing one more little story for this AU before we get into Reign of Silver, but I haven't decided anything for sure. Hopefully I won't keep everyone waiting for too long, but sadly art cannot be rushed. So until next time, thanks again for reading.

Please review and let me know what you think.