Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Don't Give Me Diamonds ❯ Chapter 5

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 20: Give me Attention

The next day Delia was surprised to find Giovanni was still there when she woke up, awake but unmoving. She couldn't believe he was only resting, she didn't think he did that anymore and the focused look in his eyes confirmed it. No doubt about it he was plotting, the question was: what was he plotting about? "Good morning."

She waited a moment, until he focused on her, "morning," he still sounded distracted.

"Are you okay? You're never half asleep." He didn't look like he was sick; at least he didn't present any symptoms Delia could identify. In fact, he was too focused to be burned by any sort of illness.

"I was thinking," Giovanni confirmed, "do you really believe that Mew research will lead to anything?"

"I'm sure it will," Delia encouraged him without giving it too much thought. She wanted his interest to stay on Mew, on something safe. "Just think about it, having a pokemon that no one else has, an elite legendary on a class of its own."

He liked the idea and it showed on his face. "I'll be truly unstoppable."

"Yes, exactly!" She didn't like his plans to take over the world, but she would cross that bridge if they ever came to it. For now she just had to guide his research towards something that didn't harm her friends' health. "Did you call New Island yesterday? Don't forget they're going to be very busy with the Mew research so you need to give them a heads up."

"I'll do that when I see how good the information is," Giovanni replied and it made Delia pout in dissatisfaction, to which he added, "shall we leave now?"

"We?" She questioned in puzzlement.

"To Pallet Town," Giovanni voiced as a matter of fact.

"I thought you would be busy all day like always, but you're coming with me?" Her expression was surprised, but pleasantly so, if anything this further showed his interest in the research.

"I want to talk to Oak and everything is finally running smoothly right now, Team Rocket won't fall apart if we take one day off," Giovanni explained, noticing the change in Delia's face.

Delia smiled at the thought, pushing her worries to the back of her mind automatically and unconsciously, as she had grown accustomed to doing. Delia missed spending time with Giovanni, it would be wonderful to go to Pallet Town and spend the day together there. Maybe they could go for a walk at Professor Oak's research lab, with the pokemon revitalized and more abundant, it must be as beautiful as before the epidemic, Giovanni didn't get the chance to see it like that before.

Then Delia remembered the urgency of stopping Binks and Aayla and mentally scolded herself for thinking of taking the day off to go on a date with Giovanni, instead of focusing on making sure they didn't get hurt. However, the fact still stood that Giovanni had to tell them to halt their experiments or they wouldn't listen.

"Let's go," Delia got up in a hurry and quickly got ready for the day. The sooner Giovanni became interested in Professor Oak's research, the better, and for that they had to get to Pallet Town.

xoxox xox xoxox

"Giovanni, hurry up, we have to go," Delia rushed him for the third time that morning as she paced impatiently around their room.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Giovanni was attempting to make his hair stay as it should; no serious mafia lord went out with his hair sticking out in every direction. "And since when do you take less time than me to get ready?"

'Since my friends' lives depend on it,' Delia thought. "I'm sure Professor Oak is already awake and feeding the pokemon their breakfast, he won't mind if we arrive early," she insisted trying to make her urgency sound casual rather than annoyed.

"I don't think he's going anywhere and neither is his research. Trust me, I want to see it as soon as possible, but there's no need to rush over, we have the whole day." Furthermore, his hair was being stubborn today and he couldn't just grab a pokemon league cap and hide it like when he was a little boy.

"You're only saying that because you don't believe the research is all that great. You must have thought about it and decided it couldn't be, because otherwise Professor Oak himself would still be chasing after Mew, right?" Delia rapidly explained her theory, not stopping to breathe until all the words were spoken.

"You read me like a book," Giovanni confessed, "you have to admit it is logical to think of it that way."

"You forget one thing, Professor Oak isn't trying to take over the world," Delia reminded with a tone that hinted she knew she would win this argument. She wasn't really worried about the global take over plans right now, she had done some thinking too and such a feat was just too difficult. As for the current argument, Delia knew she had given Giovanni a good enough reason to throw his doubts out the window and once again become excited about the prospect of learning more about Mew.

"Good point," Giovanni credited, finally satisfied with his appearance. He took the sleeping Meowth in his arms and followed Delia out of their room, "I'm driving."

"Why can't I?" Delia complained, though not in a very insistent tone, she didn't care who drove as long as they got there.

"Because you're in a rush and our hostage act won't work again if we repeat the chase scene through Viridian," Giovanni reminded, a little amused by the memory. He was in a generally good mood that morning.

This time Delia's smile was sincere, not because of a trivial victory in an argument or a point well spoken. She was fond of those memories, though she had been frightened at the time, now she treasured those moments. "I say the same to you!"

xoxox xox xoxox

The drive to Pallet Town went without incident. When they arrived, the town was the same as always, with its rustic dusty streets, lack of commercial activities and low number of residents. Time seemed to stand still upon entering the town and Delia imagined herself in that same town, on a different era. The radio hadn't been playing those songs, the sounds wouldn't have been so well defined and that car didn't run as smoothly as this one, which was indifferent to the changes on the levels of the road.

The baby that lay on her lap was the same one back then, but in a very different form, not yet born. Meowth had been only an egg at the time, instead of the little pokemon who was still mostly asleep. Yet he occasionally half-opened his eyes curiously, before closing them again, purring as Delia gently petted him. He moved his tail to the sound of the music contently and continued to exist between reality and dreams.

The presence of a limousine ahead was immediately noticed by both Giovanni and Delia, as its shiny white form contrasted sharply with the lived in appearance of the environment around it. Despite it looking out of place, Giovanni didn't give it a second thought, being this close to the location of the Mew research files made him impatient to read them all of a sudden. He drove past the limousine towards Professor Oak's research laboratory at the end of the road.

As they passed, Delia saw an elegantly dressed couple standing outside of the limousine on the side of the road, with a little blue haired boy next to them. The boy despite appearing to be a little too young to be an official pokemon trainer, held a tiny Growlithe in his arms and examined his surroundings as if it was the first time he ever saw a place like this.

With the car moving further away, Giovanni and Delia didn't catch the conversation that followed between the couple and their son. Delia might have told them a thing or two if she had heard.

"You see James?" The man spoke, "this is a peasant town."

"Oh!" The boy, whose name was James stared in awe, then turned to his parents, "if this is a town, where are the houses?"

"Right in front of you, son," the man had an air of incredulity, not because of the boy's question, but because he too found it hard to believe that people actually lived in the small and worn structures.

"But they're smaller than Growlie's dog house!" James exclaimed; he suddenly felt terribly sorry for anyone who had to live in such a place.

"That's why you have to be a good boy and do everything we say," the lady warned. "Everything we tell you is for your own good, so that you may grow up to be a fine young gentleman who marries a fine young lady. If you don't, you might end up poor when you grow up and you'll have to live in a place like this."

James was visibly frightened; "I'll be good!" He was sure nothing could be worse than living in a place like this, not that he had to worry about it, his life was all set. Tomorrow, servants would spend the day preparing everything for the party that would be celebrated the next day.

It was an engagement party that would announce that Jessiebelle was to become his fiance, she gave the impression of being a nice girl as far as James could tell, and she was cute, though he hadn't really had a chance to spend time with her. After he grew up and got married, he would do whatever his father did all day and live a happy life with everything he wanted, at least that's what James had pictured at the time.

xoxox xox xoxox

Away from the rich little family, at the end of the road, Giovanni parked his black car in front of the steps leading to professor Oak's research lab and they saw that the gates at the entrance leading to the stairs were closed. "I wonder what happened," Delia mused aloud, "it's unusual for the lab to be closed at this time of the day. Maybe we should ask the neighbors where Professor Oak went."

"How would they know?" Giovanni was considering reliving his thieving days and breaking in, his need to read about Mew had continued increasing as they approached and his curiosity could wait no longer.

"It's a small town, Giovanni," Delia reminded him of the obvious, though he still didn't understand, "what I mean is that everyone knows everyone. Whatever happened, the entire town will know."

"There's no privacy around here," Giovanni observed, imagining a group of stereotypical gossiping old ladies discussing every detail of their neighbor's lives.

Before they could further discuss the issue, they heard the sound of an approaching vehicle and saw the limousine stop behind their car, though the car was not in the way, leaving a big enough space for them to drive by if those had been their intentions.

The driver left the engine running and got out to open the door for his lord and lady. The couple exited the limousine and stood unsure, whispering to each other, as if the determination they had formed dissolved as soon as they stepped out. Their young son hopped out cheerfully, the Growlithe still in his arms. "Mama, Papa, is that a real live ma-"

"Yes, a Meowth!" The lady quickly interrupted.

Her husband had spotted Giovanni's car and simply had to inquire about it. He would love to add one just like it to his collection. She had warned him that though in a way those people looked somewhat similar to them, they were not like them at all.

"The upper class is the upper class," he had brushed off her concerns.

"But dear, the mafia may have riches, yet they are barbaric!" The lady had insisted in vain.

Now that same lady had to stop her son, who loved to watch gangster movies, from angering that dangerous man. She never really approved of James watching those movies, but she didn't have the heart to say no. "I apologize," she hid her worried expression behind her elaborate jeweled fan, "my son loves pokemon. James, sweetie, apologize."

James wasn't sure what was going on, but he had told his parents he would listen to them and he certainly didn't want to be poor when he grew up so he did as he was told, "I'm sorry, please excuse me."

Delia smiled, not understanding why the woman was so upset, the boy had not really been disrespectful, he was simply curious, though it looked like he was pointing at Giovanni more so than Meowth. "It's alright," Delia, currently carrying Meowth, kneeled down to the boy's eye level, "you can pet Meowth if you want and what a cute Growlithe you have."

James smiled brightly, delighted that this lady would not only allow him to pet her pokemon, but she had also complimented Growlie. "Thank you!" James cheered happily, while his mother paled and laughed nervously.

The lady turned to her husband, linking her arm with his, in an indication that it was time to leave. He caught the hint and decided to humor his wife, thanking Giovanni for the information and retreating to the safety of the limousine, along with their son and his Growlithe.

As the white limousine began to move again, little James waved goodbye from the window, with a big smile on his face. The boy didn't understand why his parents looked so upset, but from what he could gather, at least they were not upset at him.

"That was risky and unnecessary," the lady pouted indignantly, as if she had been terribly offended.

The husband knew she had been frightened, but he thought she could handle it, he didn't think she would end up this upset. "I'm sorry dear, but I did get him to tell me where he purchased his car, though he refused to reveal where he had it customized. At least I can say I still have a good eye for being able to tell when a good car is custom made, yet I could have guessed where he purchased it from by the brand, what I really wanted to know was who customized it, such a splendid job they did."

"Dear, you don't need a car armed with missiles, that's probably why he didn't tell you, he didn't want to give away too much weapon related information," the lady scolded, still disgraced.

"Missiles? I couldn't tell if it had missiles or not, what makes you think it did? Ah, my love for cars is rubbing off on you my dear; you've become more observant of their details. Do tell, what gave it away?" When his wife did not respond, he finally understood she was being sarcastic about the missiles, though the possibility still remained in their minds. He breathed deeply and took her hands in his, "what is bothering you my love? I believe you are upset over something else other than my affection towards cars. Did the mafia criminal really frighten you this much? If so, I apologize for putting you through that."

The lady remained quiet for a few seconds, her gaze downcast; then she looked up, staring into her husband's eyes with fire reflected in hers. "Did you not see her necklace? I bet she doesn't have any idea of its true value, wearing it so casually in peasant territory. It's the crescent moon diamond, the same one I wanted but they said it had already been sold, that they received an offer they couldn't refuse!"

Her husband attempted to console the lady, "there, there, I'm sure it was bought with threats rather than money, we're obviously far richer. If an auction had been properly carried out, we would have won easily, those mafia people cheated. Don't worry, I'll get you a lot of new jewelry to wear at James' engagement party, something even more valuable than the diamond you wanted, maybe one shaped like a full moon or even the sun instead of only a crescent moon."

The lady sighed deeply as she imagined the lovely gem, "thank you, dear."

xoxox xox xoxox

"Why didn't you tell that man where you customized your car?" Delia curiously asked after the limousine was gone, she had been half listening to their conversation.

"He didn't look like the type who needed missiles in a car that would just sit in a garage somewhere anyway. Besides, it's a secret," Giovanni spoke so naturally that Delia wasn't sure if he was kidding about the missiles.

"Does it really...?" She didn't need to fully voice her question as it was written all over her face.

"It's only a precaution, I don't expect to need them," Giovanni assured. "You know I like spy movies and I always wanted car like that," he confessed. Delia wasn't sure if she should scold him or laugh, but before she could decide, he seemed to remember something and spoke the same words he had voiced in the past, "I'll protect you."

"This time it's even more like a spy movie!" She laughed cheerfully and the true purpose of their visit to Pallet Town was for the time being thrown to the back of her mind again.

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 21: Give me Mischief

"Giovanni, get down from there!" Delia scolded, though Giovanni did not listen, instead going over the brick fence and coming into view on the other side behind the row of metal bars of the gates. Delia sighed hopelessly and effortlessly parted the gates, letting herself in.

"That was open? But you said it was closed!" Giovanni stared in disbelief, feeling ridiculous for climbing over the fence.

"The gates were closed; I didn't say they were locked. Generally, people around here know that when something is closed it should not be opened without permission. Now let's go ask the neighbors when Professor Oak will be back." Though Delia tried to stop him, Giovanni was already going up the stairs and to the front door. "Giovanni Roketto, get back here!" She rushed after him, despite knowing he wouldn't listen and followed him inside the house.

"What kind of a fool doesn't lock the door when leaving the house?" Giovanni couldn't believe Professor Oak hadn't already been robbed of all his pokemon, research and even his furniture if this was how he did things, though it was understandable that no one would want to steal his couch. If Giovanni had not declared Pallet Town as Rocket territory, the smaller gangs might have fled there, ending the peace of the town, but they dared not venture into the land of Team Rocket.

"You'll regret this," Delia warned with a tone that hinted she held a vital piece of information that Giovanni did not know. But as expected, he didn't listen and ventured deeper into the house.

Delia had communicated with Professor Oak by video phone a few times after the Viridian Gym take over so she knew of a certain pokemon that had fully recovered from the past epidemic. Regardless of that, she had to pause and take note of a specific detail that inevitably caught her eyes, "there's a new couch." Albeit the old rock hard one was still there as well, matching the new one perfectly, at least in color, even if their texture was quite different as Delia found out when she sat down, "it's so soft!"

Meowth agreed and curled up on the edge of the backrest of the comfy couch, the little pokemon liked napping in the highest part of any piece of furniture. Giovanni sat down next to Delia, she hadn't sounded like she was bluffing when she said he would regret breaking into Professor Oak's house, though he didn't need to actually break anything to get in. Either way, nothing had gone wrong so far, "where's the ultimate doom that was supposed to jump out at me?"

"It's here alright, I'm sure; you just haven't crossed the line yet. Professor Oak won't mind too much if we wait for him in the living room, even if I still think it's rude to come in uninvited. He's going to think you're giving me bad habits," she paused, going over her own words in her mind, "you are giving me bad habits. Honestly Giovanni, you're a terrible example to follow."

"But you follow me anyway," he kissed her, taking her by surprise.

"Not now Charmander, what if Professor Oak comes in?" Delia consciously looked towards the window, but found the path in front of the house to be deserted.

"Shall we go to the guest room from before? I'm sure it has a lock," Giovanni suggested, he knew Delia would never agree, though he would oppose no arguments against it in the unlikely event that she did.

"Very funny," Delia pouted, then paused, observing his expression with a hint of surprise in her face, "you weren't kidding?"

"I owe you some attention," he admitted, "didn't you say you missed me?"

"I understand you've been busy restructuring Team Rocket and keeping it stable and I've been wanting to have a real date with you for a while, but that doesn't mean you have to be such a Charmander," Delia laughed, at least he listened when she expressed that she missed him and remembered it.

"Scolding me isn't effective if you look so happy," Giovanni pointed out.

"I'm happy because we get to spend the day together and I can show you around the research lab, this place will look very beautiful with healthy pokemon all around," Delia tried to explain, while in the back of her mind something told her this was no time to relax, but unconsciously she pushed it away.

The scene was interrupted by a low, rough growl. The Charizard was clearly old, his scaly red-orange skin was lightly wrinkled and his voice was lower than that of an average Charizard, but his claws and teeth still looked sharp.

"So this is what you were trying to warn me about, I don't see the danger, this Charizard is ancient, I bet it can't even breathe fire anymore," Giovanni was relaxed, indifferent to the Charizard's presence until Delia pushed him down all of a sudden. "Why did you-" he didn't finish the question before it became obvious why she did this, the couch was on fire and it would have been his head otherwise.

"Cloyster, water gun!" Delia sent out her pokemon, who assumed this was a battle against Charizard and attacked. "No! Not on Charizard, on the couch!"

Charizard, despite recognizing Delia as a past student of his trainer, Samuel Oak, was angered by her companion's disrespect and her sudden attack. He began to use flame thrower, trying to hit Cloyster. Meowth, who had jumped off the couch immediately after it caught on fire, was upset that his parents were apparently being attacked and jumped on Charizard from behind, sinking his tiny claws into the larger pokemon's left wing.

Charizard roared loudly and tried to get the little Meowth off his wing, ignoring Delia's attempts to apologize and calm him. At the same time she tried to put out the fire that had invaded Professor Oak's living room.

Giovanni joined the battle too, sending out one of his pokemon to fight, "Golem, earthquake!" The house shook harshly, pictures on the walls fell, lamps and vases were knocked over and the fire remained unaffected, though Charizard lost his balance and fell forward.

"You're not helping!" Delia yelled, now the living room was an even bigger mess.

"We can't fix this mess until we knock out that Charizard!" Giovanni argued.

The little Meowth, dizzy from being shaken around, took the opportunity to run to his daddy. The tiny feline pokemon attached himself to Giovanni's right leg hugging it with his paws and wrapping his tail around the man's ankle. Meowth stayed perfectly still that way, with his eyes closed, firmly holding on for dear life, that big fire pokemon was scary.

"You made it so we have no choice!" Delia retorted, "go Kingler, let's finish this quick, attack together, Kingler water pulse, Cloyster water gun!" The simultaneous attacks were enough to knock out the old Charizard and from there, putting out the flames was easy since they weren't constantly relit.

"That takes care of that," Giovanni seemed fairly satisfied with the outcome despite the mess.

"Look at this place!" Delia was furious, "how am I going to face Professor Oak ever again? The new couch is charred! The only thing that survived unharmed is that old couch that's as hard as an Onix!"

"If you had told me about the Charizard from the start-" Giovanni began to defend himself, but was interrupted.

"You're so stubborn; you shouldn't have insulted Professor Oak's Charizard!" Delia took a deep breath, "alright, calm down, we can solve this. Team Rocket has done cover ups for more serious things, right?"

Giovanni decided that it was best not to reply to that.

"Okay, a plan, we need a plan, we need time. Right, time, I'll go out in case Professor Oak comes back and distract him, meanwhile, you can fix this," Delia insisted, her voice urgent and her expression stressed.

"Is this really necessary?" Giovanni didn't think so; it was Oak's own fault for leaving the door unlocked.

"I'm sure Professor Oak didn't write everything he knows about Mew in his files and there's really no way for us to determine exactly how much he knows. Taking that into consideration, it will serve you well to stay on his good side so that he feels encouraged to tell you everything. You can't force it out of him because there's no way to know if he's telling the truth anyway. The only thing you'll have to confirm that he's being honest is trust and this disaster zone does not inspire trust," Delia reasoned, stopping to catch her breath at the end of her long and hasty explanation.

"Neither does Team Rocket," Giovanni pointed out.

"Professor Oak helped Team Rocket in the past, who is to say he won't do it again? Unless you trash his living room for no reason, that would certainly be a good motivation not to help," Delia countered.

"It was his own pokemon that-"

"Stop being stubborn, please, just fix it!" Delia pleaded. "This isn't what I had in mind for today."

Giovanni looked confident despite everything that had happened. "Do you think I can't do it? Give me twenty minutes."

"I'm counting on you," focused, hopeful, but a little disbelieving, Delia rushed out of the house, down the stairs and out the front gates.

xoxox xox xoxox

Outside, Delia found Professor Oak just in time, walking up the street towards his residence. She smiled casually and greeted him, "good morning!" He must have seen her emerge from beyond the gates to his house, though from this angle he couldn't have seen that she had been inside the house. "I came to visit, since it's been such long time, I knocked on the door but no one answered."

"It's good to see you again in person! I went to make a little house call, there are no pokemon doctors in this town so sometimes I have to step in," Professor Oak's expression had been tired, but he was once again his usual cheerful self after seeing Delia. "We can go back to the lab now and catch up."

Delia stalled, trying to sound natural, "where was your house call, is everything alright?"

"Oh yes, everything is fine, Mrs. Alderaan's Bellsprout had the hiccups and she was worried, you know how she can get, always worrying about every little thing. Then she goes on and on about the latest thing Bellsprout did that she thought was cute. It took me a while to reassure her that Bellsprout was fine and convince her I was busy and couldn't stay to listen to her stories all day." Professor Oak had stopped in the middle of the road, he had attempted to resume his walk to his house, but when Delia didn't move, he paused as well.

"Poor Mrs. Alderaan, maybe we should go back and reassure her some more," Delia suggested with well acted concern and a look of innocence in her eyes.

Professor Oak laughed, assuming she was kidding; Delia should know very well how Mrs. Alderaan was with her long stories and abundant worries.

"Also, it's been such a long time since I've seen her," Delia continued, indicating that she was not joking, "let's go say hi, then we can catch up and talk about pokemon," she started down the street towards Mrs. Alderaan's house, hoping that Professor Oak would follow.

"Wait, Delia, you're serious about visiting her? She's a nice lady and all, but... well, you know how she gets," the entire town knew to avoid getting her started on one of her stories.

"Come on, it's been ages, I don't want her to think I've forgotten about her," Delia smiled sweetly.

"Well, good luck, I'll be at the lab as usual, come by whenever you can," Professor Oak once again continued his walk up the street, thinking to himself that Delia would most likely regret her visit to Mrs. Alderaan, until once more she stopped him.

"Wait! You have to come with me because... Because Mrs. Alderaan might have forgotten about me and I don't want her to think I'm just some crazy stranger pretending to be her friend," Delia insisted.

Professor Oak had been her teacher and occasionally her father figure for a long time and wouldn't fall for her act so easily. "You're hiding something, aren't you?"

"Who, me?" Delia shook her head vigorously, "of course not!" She knew she was messing things up, but even with their best act neither she nor her friends from their days as Professor Oak's students could get away with any kind of mischief undiscovered for too long. Professor Oak wasn't harsh when he caught his students getting into mischief, as he viewed it as only innocent curiosity, but the fact that he would always eventually figure out there was something going on ended up making them doubt their acting abilities, thus affecting them to be discovered even sooner.

"Hmm..." Oak scratched his chin, his expression focused, "I really have no idea what it could possibly be." It couldn't be childish mischief; Delia hasn't gotten into anything like that in years. It couldn't be a surprise celebration; there was no occasion, no birthday, anniversary or holiday. "Alright, I give up, but are you sure about visiting Mrs. Alderaan?"

"Well..." as Delia continued to stall, a motorcycle zoomed by next to them, disappearing at the end of the road after turning behind the hill and presumably going around it further down the road.

"I wonder who that was," Professor Oak observed, "earlier I saw a limousine from Mrs. Alderaan's living room window. It's so unusual for Pallet Town to have visitors and so many on the same day."

"I saw the limousine too, why do you think it was here?" Delia tried to continue the conversation as long as possible.

"I really don't know," the attempt was unsuccessful.

Taking a deep breath, Delia knew she had no choice but to bring up a topic she hoped she didn't need to use. Professor Oak might end up talking for far longer than the time needed to cover up the incident in his living room. "Remember that little Meowth that hatched out of the egg I was taking care of?"

"Ah yes, you mentioned Giovanni was taking care of him," Oak recalled, his curiosity became evident.

"I was worried he wouldn't have the patience to deal with a baby pokemon, but he took such good care of Meowth. He can eat regular pokemon food now, though Giovanni would always feed him, until recently at least. I guess Meowth thought he was being nice when he tried to share his food with Giovanni and shoved a pokemon treat in his mouth. Giovanni was completely taken by surprise and swallowed it!" Delia knew Giovanni wouldn't be happy about his secret being revealed, but she had to keep Professor Oak distracted.

Oak laughed whole heartedly, "that reminds me of when my son used to feed his vegetables to the pokemon and eat their food instead; then he would say it was sharing so it was good. I once tasted pokemon food too; it was a specially prepared kind of food with a high content of vitamins. I was taking care of a Mankey who really needed the vitamins, but the stubborn Mankey wouldn't eat until I tried the food first!"

Delia joined Professor Oak in laughter at the story, encouraging him to continue sharing more tales. The conversation continued until Giovanni arrived, making his way down the street with Meowth still attached to his leg. "Did you have a nice walk?" Delia greeted him.

"Yes, very nice," Giovanni played along, though he was annoyed because he couldn't get Meowth off.

"It's been a while," Professor Oak commented sounding a little uncertain, his expression becoming neutral. He knew who Giovanni was and often worried for Delia, but she was an adult free to make her own choices, plus she appeared to be alright. "That Meowth is certainly attached to you," his previous smile returned to Oak's face with the amusing scene.

"Too attached sometimes," Giovanni tried once again to remove Meowth, but again it did not work and he didn't want to pull the little pokemon away too hard. He didn't want to risk making Meowth sink his tiny claws beyond the fabric and into his skin.

"Shall we go to my place?" Professor Oak finally asked, "I'm a little behind in feeding the pokemon this morning; I hope you don't mind that I take some time to do that."

Delia glanced at Giovanni who discreetly nodded, then smiled in relief, trusting whatever solution he might have come up with. "Yes, let's go."

xoxox xox xoxox

Diamond 22: Give me Knowledge

As Professor Oak reached for the door knob of his house's main entrance, Delia held her breath until he led his guests inside, to the perfectly clean and orderly living room. Delia felt Giovanni glance at her as if wanting credit for the cover up, but she refused to look back at him, remembering the mess was his fault to begin with, though that did not change the fact that the cover up was amazing.

"Guess what?" Professor Oak cheerfully asked, as one does when having full intentions of giving the news before anyone actually has the chance to guess. "I got a new couch!" He patted the piece of furniture, "but I didn't have the heart to throw out the old one, so I made sure they matched."

"It's very nice," Delia observed with true amazement.

"Didn't you need to do something with the pokemon," Giovanni suddenly asked, he was clearly improvising and Delia got the feeling he wanted to get Oak away from the living room for some reason.

"Oh yes, I need to feed them, I'm running late this morning," Oak recalled.

Delia wasn't sure what this was about, but she was quick to play along with Giovanni, "we'll help, let's go let them all out of their pokeballs outside."

xoxox xox xoxox

It was a beautiful day and though it was a little later than usual, the pokemon were happy to be fed and allowed to run and play. Delia and Giovanni had let their pokemon out as well and Meowth finally let go of Giovanni's leg in favor of food and a game of tag.

Though the task of helping with the pokemon's meal felt annoying to Giovanni, he knew better than to mess up the opportunity to make Professor Oak relax in his presence. He had many questions he wanted to ask, but knew not to ask directly right away, at least not until the general atmosphere was more relaxed.

After the chores were done, the three humans sat outside talking about pokemon and exchanging stories, carefully selected stories in the case of Delia and Giovanni.

"You must study a lot of rare pokemon here," Giovanni finally brought up the topic that really interested him when he thought the atmosphere was right.

"Sometimes," Oak admitted, having all but forgotten about Giovanni's connection to the mafia, right now he was a gym leader, a pokemon trainer, Delia's boyfriend and a curious mind to share information with. "I think there are things to learn about every pokemon even if they're not considered rare. Their behavior is fascinating."

Sensing Professor Oak was getting off topic, Giovanni tried to discretely guide the conversation down the path he wanted, while at the same time keeping the mood light. "You mean like Meowth being such a baby at times?" Perhaps he could get Oak to comment on a specific pokemon that caught his attention, instead of referring to general studies.

Professor Oak laughed, "I commend your patience with him, letting him hang on to you for so long until he felt ready to let go."

"I don't think I've ever met a pokemon as clingy as that one," Giovanni admitted.

Sensing Giovanni's strategy to get Oak to casually mention the legendary by linking it to the conversation as another peculiar pokemon, Delia contributed, "Professor Oak gets the energetic playful ones more often than the clingy ones. Remember Nidorino?"

"Ah yes, I once took care of a Nidorino for a traveling trainer. That Nidorino would hardly sleep and hardly let me sleep, always wanting to stay out of his pokeball and run around playing. My students would help me try to tire him out playing and battling, but that Nidorino had a nearly infinite supply of energy. It was a strong one, very strong, but still one of the most playful pokemon I've ever seen." The story reminded Oak of other strong and playful pokemon, which was what Delia wanted to do. Caught up in the moment, the researcher voiced, "did you know it is said that there are some legendaries with a very playful nature as well, despite their vast power?"

"Like Mew?" Giovanni innocently inquired, with Delia having made Oak lower his guard and bring up the topic himself, Giovanni knew it would be alright to be a little more direct now, but he would still take care not to sound too eager. "Even if Mew is extinct I've always been interested in learning about it." He made it clear he did not believe Mew could be found, thus hiding his true dream of someday acquiring it by any means necessary, though the means were unclear at the time, if it was even possible at all.

Professor Oak seemed to recall a fond memory, but he focused on the current topic of Mew, the legendary he studied later, after his interest for those rare pokemon was sparked by Celebi many years ago. "It's true that Mew is officially thought to be extinct, but I had always hoped to meet one. I never did, but I believed Mew is out there. Since then I've instead dedicated myself to the general study of pokemon, but all that research about the legendaries wasn't in vain, all pokemon are connected somehow, by studying one, it is possible to learn about the others."

This was it, the moment of truth, "that sounds very interesting, do you think I could read your research on Mew some time?" Giovanni made sure to sound curious, but not too insistent, carrying out his act perfectly.

"Of course," even in retrospect, Professor Oak would see it as harmless; if Mew was out there he doubted such a powerful pokemon could be caught. Either way, he was glad someone was interested in his older research, which held a special value for him, even if his theories about the little known legendaries were not as widely recognized as his more famous studies about pokemon that trainers often caught.

The topic made Professor Oak go on a lecture, adding in a few seemingly random stories of his youth about various events that had inspired him. Though some of the things he said were not directly related to Mew, Giovanni paid attention, making sure to remember details he thought might be important and complementary to the research he was yet to read.

After the long conversation, which casually shifted back to a non-legendary topic near the end, but was still on the subject of pokemon, Giovanni obtained a full copy of Professor Oak's research concerning Mew. "I had tried to submit it for official review," Oak recounted as he gave Giovanni a small but spacious data disk, "but they weren't interested since a lot of this is based on theories rather than concrete evidence, though I do link the theories to reality, it just seems that the link was too long or fragile for them."

Professor Oak also gave Giovanni a folder full of notes and sketches, it was draft-like not as organized as a final product would be, but Giovanni accepted it, treating it as valuable information just as precious as the polished version tweaked to meet the standards of official scientific research. Surely the two data sources would compliment each other becoming much more informative than either of them could be by itself.

Soon after that, the visit ended, and Delia and Giovanni were on their way, with Giovanni finishing his act, much like his previous visit to Oak's research lab, which assured Oak that despite it all, maybe Team Rocket wasn't so bad after all, though he still didn't fully approve of them.

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After Delia and Giovanni were gone, Professor Oak sat down on his new soft couch, sinking into it and observing that, though it was certainly softer than the old one, he didn't remember it being this soft. Charizard made his appearance, looking very sleepy with smoky yawns. "have you been napping this whole time?" Albeit old, Charizard was usually an early riser and did not often take naps during the day. "I put your food out in the same place as always, I had guests this morning; I had assumed you already ate. Go on now; maybe you'll wake up completely after you eat."

Charizard growled uncertain, as if wanting to communicate something. The pokemon looked around the living room, nothing was out of place and it perplexed him. Furthermore, although his trainer did mention the presence of others this morning, he was perfectly calm about it. With one last smoke releasing yawn, Charizard went out to eat in the fresh air as he usually did on sunny days; maybe that would help him fully awaken and push the vivid dream out of his head.

"Wait a second," Oak got up from the strangely squishy couch and examined his Charizard's left wing, it was scratched. He looked into the pokemon's blue eyes, Charizard didn't seem too aware of the scratches, as if the leftover sleep was too heavy. It was unnatural, almost as if he was given a sleeping pill or something, yet it didn't make any sense, who would do that?

It was true that Pallet Town had received more visitors than usual today, but Professor Oak had no reason to suspect anyone was in his house, nothing was missing. Maybe Charizard had scratched his wing by accident somehow and perhaps the remnant sleep in his eyes was a sign of old age. "Go on, your food is waiting," Oak sent the confused pokemon on his way again.

The researcher sat on the soft couch again, sinking into it once more. He had an odd feeling, but he couldn't quite place it. Delia had been acting strange at first, but he couldn't figure out why. Giovanni had apparently left to go for a walk by himself, which was odd, but it could just be city boy curiosity or an attempt to make Meowth get tired of clinging to him while he walked. Maybe Delia had told him about Mrs. Alderaan and the way she was, hinting that she might want to visit and Giovanni attempted to escape by going for a walk, in which case Oak couldn't blame him, but it was still unusual.

The mysterious white limousine was the most out of place element of the day, but Professor Oak could think of no connection between it and the inexplicable happenings. He went over the facts again, Delia was hiding something, Giovanni went for a walk alone with his pokemon, Charizard's wing was scratched and he was unusually sleepy. Then there was the person on the motorcycle who zoomed by so fast. Perhaps that unidentified visitor would be the prime suspect if anything was missing, but nothing was.

Professor Oak shook his head, finally giving up on over-thinking things; he was only going in circles. He was about to get up from the squishy couch to continue his day normally, when the aforementioned couch became a group of pink blobs. He watched in amazement as several items in the living room, including a vase and a lamp, became pink blobs as well.

"Ditto?" Professor Oak finally found his voice after staring in surprise for a full minute. He got up from the floor and picked up one of the pink blobs, examining it curiously, "what in the world? Is this a joke?" Were they a bunch of unusually mischievous Ditto? If so, he would love to study them and try to figure out the cause for their strange behavior.

Did someone make the Ditto pretend to be his furniture? Was Delia in on this, was it Giovanni's doing? Professor Oak certainly didn't picture Giovanni as a prankster; his expression seemed to be perpetually serious even when he appeared to be relaxed.

Again Professor Oak told himself it was best not to over-analyze the origin of the Ditto or the fate of his missing soft couch and various items, though at least the old Onix-hard couch was still there. He decided to be thankful that he had some Ditto to research, he had been hoping to find some anyway.

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"Back to HQ?" Delia inquired as the black car advanced through the rural roads on its way out of Pallet Town. The scene brought memories of their visit to Professor Oak long ago and the subsequent race through Viridian City after receiving an emergency call. She realized she had asked that very same question that time, albeit this time the sound of the radio was all that was heard and there was no cell phone ringing urgently.

"Hmm," another difference between that time in the past and today was that this time Delia was driving. After giving Professor Oak their thanks and goodbyes, then heading back to the car, she had offered to drive since she knew Giovanni wanted to start going through the documents and sketches in the folder from Professor Oak right away. Giovanni had no inconveniences in handing her the silver keys with the red R ruby encrusted keychain. He now sat in the passenger seat occasionally petting Meowth who was on his lap, engrossed in reading Professor Oak's research notes and examining the sketches in the folder.

Delia sighed, feeling disappointed to be ignored, even if she had wished so strongly for Giovanni to be interested in the research. "Alright; let's go home."

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Diamond 23: Give me Compassion

Giovanni seemed to finally wake up from his focused trance when he finished reading and re-reading Professor Oak's notes about Mew, with his interest growing immensely. By reading between the lines he could theorize that Professor Oak was hinting at having seen a legendary, though he never once actually wrote about seeing Mew, Giovanni could interpret it as nothing else.

He found that the car was approaching the Viridian Gym; good, he could have the scientists from the local lab look at the data and determine how good it truly was from a scientific stand point, beyond how good he believed it was and wanted it to be. If it all went well, then he could start a major investigation project and perhaps involve New Island after all.

The notes mentioned theories about Mew's genetic structure and brought up similarities found in the genetic structure of other pokemon, using that information to reconstruct Mew as a missing link. Unless some actual DNA was ever found, it was all a matter of theories; however, they were very interesting theories, too solid and detailed to be myths.

On a more optimistic perspective, perhaps some Mew DNA did exist somewhere, or an actual Mew. It may be a bit of a stretch, but Giovanni was one to dream big and though he managed to keep his feet on the ground for the most part, he certainly did have vast ambitions.

The car came to a stop in the Viridian Gym's driveway and Giovanni and Delia made their way inside the gym and to the elevator that led to the underground laboratory. The local lab was no where near as big as the one on New Island, but it was convenient to have it so close. "Your keys," Delia returned the silvery keys on the ruby R keychain, her tone sharp and her gaze on the elevator wall.

She was upset and it didn't take a genius to figure out why. She must be feeling ignored with him paying so much attention to the research once he got his hands on it and returning to the gym instead of going on the date Delia wanted. She had helped him a lot today in obtaining Oak's research.

Despite Giovanni's ability to talk Oak into falling into a casual conversation and relaxing, he knew that the professor would have been on his guard if Delia wasn't there and she had sped up the process greatly. If she had not been there, Professor Oak would have asked about her and find it odd she didn't visit, which would affect his willingness to easily share information.

Having Delia visit Oak alone might make him wonder about just on whose hands the research would end up. Other than rumors, Oak had no recent information about Giovanni, despite knowing enough to understand he was involved in a lot of illegal activities, but he new little in the personal level. If Giovanni had not been there to put up a nice act and reassure the researcher that Team Rocket really wasn't so bad, he wouldn't have said all the things he spoke of.

Though she still didn't seem to be fully used to Team Rocket, despite having been with him for so long, Giovanni knew Delia was trying and she had been helpful and loyal, showing her true potential more every day. She just had to continue opening up to the possibilities and then one day, she would be ready to closely help him manage the ever growing organization.

She leaned on his shoulder, almost unconsciously, as if trying to tell herself that this was enough. He kissed her unexpectedly, but she pulled back, though she had a smile on her face at the sudden action, "later Charmander, let's not get caught again."

The elevator doors opened and they were in the lab, while Giovanni handed the data to the scientists and discussed it, Delia found herself remembering a similar scene in that very elevator back when the new underground level was still being prepared. Giovanni had kissed her then too, except she didn't pull back and they did not part on time before the doors opened, being seen like that by several Team Rocket members.

Delia blushed bright red and later privately scolded Giovanni for being such a Charmander, though he assured her the team's assumptions most likely went well beyond the images they witnessed. This Delia knew to be true, having been regarded as Giovanni's lover long before she was.

The memories made Delia wonder if someday, with the proper amount of convincing and temptation, she would even come to accept the true Team Rocket and forget her ideal image of it as a righteous group of vigilantes. She pushed the thoughts away, albeit her line had been blurred and moved over time, she still had to draw the line somewhere, and while she could tolerate some level of troublemaking, there were some things she could not accept.

Delia's thoughts led her back to her original mission to stop Aayla and Binks from making a terrible mistake. She silently reproached Giovanni with her eyes for being such a master of distractions and mentally kicked herself for allowing herself to be distracted. That was it, she would force herself to focus, once Giovanni was done talking to his local scientists, as she was certain that he was too concentrated in the conversation to even notice any interruptions, she would claim the attention he owed her and demand to go to New Island. She would personally make sure everything was alright and he would be there to back her up, like it or not.

Delia watched impatiently as the scientist inserted the disk into a computer, both he and Giovanni reading, with the scientist occasionally muttering "hmm, yes, that makes sense," with a tone of fascination.

Determined to at least do something, Delia decided to call New Island again, finding a quiet corner in the lab to do so. Unfortunately, the line was dead, though it should come as no surprise; Aayla had to destroy the phone eventually after subjecting it to such abuse.

Delia frustratingly clicked her little black cell phone shut, glaring at the red R on top of it. Team Rocket had its own communications network now, but that was no good if there was nothing to receive the signal. She would have to find another number to call, thus she set out to find the information she needed.

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After speaking to the secretary, Delia wasted no time before she called New Island. "Hello?" Binks sounded exhausted and alarmed when he answered the phone.

"It's Delia, how is Aayla?" Delia cut to the chase, her tone warning Binks he better not lie.

"Fine, fine," Binks nervously replied, "She's resting, recovering, sleeping, deeply, soundly, yes," he rambled, "I accidentally made her go to sleep... I... um... I..."

"Put her in a coma!?" Delia loudly exclaimed, making several heads turn in her direction as she made her way down the halls.

"Unconscious doesn't always mean coma, but she's well, she's been sleeping for a while and... I'm sorry!" Binks broke out in hysterics. "She told me to, I wanted to give her what she wanted; I wanted to be useful to her!"

"You idiot!" Delia scolded; she clenched her fists, not noticing the curious and frightened looks around her. They assumed she was ordering for someone to be beaten to a coma and yelling at the unfortunate person that got on her bad side. "I'm coming, prepare yourself." When Delia glanced at her surroundings, her fiery glare furious, everyone who had paused to listen to the conversation quickly went away, but she didn't pay too much attention to them as she hurried down to the lab.

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Delia wasn't sure about what she missed being spoken between Giovanni and the leader of the local science team, but upon her return, she heard them mention research and New Island. She didn't hear the part about taking DNA apart and putting it back together to try to reconstruct Professor Oak's theories in living pokemon.

Giovanni approached her after telling the scientist to carry on with the plan, though she didn't really catch what the plan was. Before he could speak, she demanded, "I want to go to New Island."

Giovanni found the request unexpected at first, thinking Delia was upset because she wanted to go on a date and never got it, then he remembered her original request concerning Binks and Aayla, something that he had tried to make her forget. "Alright, let's go," he needed to take care of business there anyway to start getting things ready for the new project.

A small clue could lead to a big discovery, so even if that tiny clue was a puzzle in itself, it was worth it. New Island would study the structure of all known pokemon and work to establish Mew's structure based on their connection. They would also serve to determine Mew's habitat as specifically as possible and agents would be sent to investigate and gather samples for further study.

"Delia, why are you upset? Is it because we didn't have a date? We can go now," Giovanni knew very well she would refuse, but pretended to be unaware of the cause of her anger.

"Aayla is unconscious, she's in a coma," the elevator doors opened on the first floor, they exited and went outside the gym.

"What happened?" Giovanni inquired calmly.

"Binks tried to experiment on her, she told him to and the fool did it," Delia practically growled in anger, perhaps Giovanni's calmness bothered her more than anything. "Aayla's life may be in danger and it's... it's..." Delia's words of uncertain blame were interrupted by the loud noise and strong wind of a landing helicopter, its shiny black surface reflecting the sun.

Both Delia and Giovanni boarded the helicopter, with Meowth still perched on his shoulder. "To New Island," Giovanni instructed and the pilot took off again.

Meowth stood with his hind legs on Giovanni's shoulder and his front paws on the glass window next to him, curiously looking out, his tail, wagging in front of Giovanni's nose. Giovanni tried to remove Meowth from his shoulder to get the little pokemon's tail out of the way, but Meowth complained, wanting to be able to reach the window and look out. Meowth finally settled down when Giovanni held him up to the window at a more comfortable angle.

Delia let out a deep breath and leaned back on her seat, closing her eyes for a moment. Why did Meowth have to be so cute when she was so angry at Giovanni? He was always surprisingly patient with the little pokemon. She hated how she couldn't stay angry at him anymore, since when had her determination become so weak? Since when did she start to center her world around him and look away from all else?

"You don't like flying?" Giovanni finally broke the silence that had formed.

"Flying is fine, you know that's not why I'm upset," Delia replied as sharply as she could manage. "I'm worried about Aayla. Binks sounded very stressed," she emphasized, as if wanting to contrast how she was also stressed and Giovanni didn't appear to be.

"Binks is overly dramatic, he gets frightened easily, I'm sure everything is perfectly fine," Giovanni's voice was calm, but with a tiny hint of concern for effect.

Delia wasn't sure if Giovanni was trying to comfort her, or disregarding the situation, or perhaps both, but she decided to have hope. None the less, a part of her was starting to think that hope was a traitor, because she had gone far in the opposite direction of where she should go by continuing to hope, yet that part was silenced by her desire to continue holding on to that hope regardless of what it would bring. The happy ending had to come, it simply had to, and if she gave up, she wouldn't see it.

"I'll reserve judgment until we get there," Delia didn't say anything else during the rest of the flight to New Island and neither did Giovanni.

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Time passed very slowly for Delia, normally for Giovanni and too fast for Meowth, who was enjoying the view out the window. New Island finally appeared in the horizon at noon, the helicopter landed smoothly and the passengers got out. They were greeted by a scientist with a white coat, thick glasses and graying hair, who spoke excitedly about having received the communication from his colleague at Viridian City.

Delia decided to ignore them; they seemed to be able to ignore her rather easily. Giovanni and the scientist turned right inside the lab and Delia decided to disappear in the opposite direction. She approached a random researcher and inquired about Binks and Aayla, being directed to the upper floor.

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When the door suddenly opened, Binks jumped startled, his fear increasing when he saw who was at the door and how angry she looked. However, the panic seemed to fade away in seconds, being replaced by a solemn look. "I'm sorry," he appeared to be willing to accept any punishment that came his way, even his Rattata stood sadly beside him as if drained of hope.

Aayla was unconscious in a bed in that white room, the walls, the ceiling, the floor, the sheets; it was all an endless brilliant white, unlike the dark grays and metallic silver shades that dominated the other floors. Delia approached, gently placing her hand on Aayla's cold forehead. She retreated immediately and stared at the machine next to the bed, which beeped at a steady rhythm, measuring Aayla's heartbeats. "She's so cold," but she was alive.

"I'm a foolish man," Binks lamented; "I wanted to be strong, to be admired, to make a discovery. Most of all I wanted to give Aayla what she wanted. The ultimate power was her dream originally, she confessed it to me. She put those ideas into Venom's head back when they were a couple; she told me all about it. Then one day he abandoned her." Binks retrieved a small pink book from the pocket of his white lab coat. "This was Amethyst's diary; Aayla found it that time when Team Rocket took the Viridian Gym. Venom abandoned her for Amethyst and her riches, then left her to be captured by the police to soothe Amethyst's jealousy. Confirming this from her rival's point of view made Aayla thirstier for power and vengeance. I wanted to make her dream come true; I wanted to make her happy. I didn't care if she always thought I was a useless weakling, I just wanted to please her, to grant her wish... I love her."

"Rattata..." the small pokemon stood at Binks' feet, looking up at her trainer, the salty water of his tears falling on her sad little face.

"Sometimes dreams can turn into nightmares," Delia had arrived furious at Giovanni and Binks, but in the end each person was the master of their own destiny and perhaps Aayla would have pursued her dream even without Giovanni's resources and Binks' help.

Delia found that she couldn't be angry at Binks for something he did out of love, but who was to blame then? She couldn't blame Giovanni for accepting he couldn't control their lives and letting them be. Maybe it would have been worse if they attempted this in a place lacking his vast resources, a place where there were no contingency measures for the failure of the process. Perhaps it was because Giovanni lent them his resources that Aayla was still alive.

Whose fault was it then? Aayla's for having such a power hungry goal, for wanting the power of pokemon to herself? Delia couldn't possibly blame a woman who was fighting for her life unconscious in a bed. She hoped that at least her dreams were pleasant.

"This isn't anyone's fault," Delia cried, she didn't want to toss the blame, because she knew that if she did, she would throw it at herself. She would blame herself for losing contact with Aayla and the others, for not acting fast enough, for not being insistent and doing something instead choosing to be patient. She didn't want a culprit; she wanted a miracle.

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Diamond 24: Give me Confidence

Delia dried her eyes and attempted to compose herself in the face of tragedy. She felt helpless and lost, but she still hoped and told herself that things would miraculously improve as they had before. "Binks, you won't make the same mistake again, right?"

The small white room was filled with a heavy atmosphere. "Of course not, if I could do it over I would take any beating Aayla gives me instead of following her dangerous orders."

"Take care of her and when she wakes up stay by her side to make sure she's alright, call me immediately. I'm afraid there's not much I can do here, I don't have the kind of scientific knowledge and experience this situation needs, but somehow, I'll try to be of help to everyone," Delia wasn't sure how she would accomplish that. In the past when she felt lost Giovanni had been there, but in truth he didn't know the way either, not the right way.

"I will," Binks promised solemnly.

Delia looked at Aayla's peaceful face; she showed no signs of pain what so ever. She placed her warm hand on the other woman's freezing one, "be strong Aayla, you're a truly amazing person and I know you can make it through this," after those words, Delia left the room.

As Delia walked down the hall, her expression was neutral; she didn't want to darken the atmosphere all over the lab to how it was in that room. Binks would take care of Aayla and she would wake up, everything would be alright.

"Delia, what are you doing over here?" She found Giovanni walking up the hall in the opposite direction.

"I went to see Aayla and Binks, she's sleeping and he's taking care of her," she made an inhuman effort to keep her voice even.

"New Island will be dedicated to researching Mew," Giovanni informed, "you wanted that," he reminded her, trying to lighten her mood.

Delia shook her head, "it's not because I wanted it that it's happening, but I am glad about the laboratory's new purpose." She didn't know of the specifics and deemed them harmless by lack of opposing evidence. Archeology, rocks, dirt, theories, maybe even fossils, but no live experimentation, she at least found comfort in those thoughts, not knowing how wrong she was. "Is your business here done?"

"I was going to talk to Binks," about the new project, to access how well he could participate in it, if he could handle it and to address a few curiosities about his last project, but Giovanni made sure not to hint at his true purpose, instead trying to look concerned.

Delia nodded, "go on, I'll wait here," if she saw the unconscious Aayla, the distraught Binks and the sad Rattata once more, Delia was sure she would cry again and this time she wouldn't be able to stop.

Delia wasn't sure how much time passed, she spent it all staring at her shoes with her back against the cool gray wall out in the hall. Giovanni returned and she walked beside him in silence, only half aware of his presence. They went to the helicopter again and took off, this time Giovanni's requested destination was Cinnabar Island.

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The buildings near by as the helicopter landed looked unfamiliar to Delia, she had not been in Cinnabar Island before, but she had a good guess about why they were there, or so she thought. There was a construction in progress as Leah had mentioned before, Giovanni probably wanted to take some time to personally visit it.

Delia frowned, telling herself not to complain, she had wanted to be included in his business. Aayla would be fine, Binks would take care of her; life had to continue for their sake. When Aayla returned, she would do so to a Team Rocket that was at least a little better than before, Delia would not let go of her dream, one day Team Rocket would be a force of good.

She still felt conflicted and lost, she wasn't sure what was a fact and what was an excuse anymore. It was not until they arrived at their room that Delia realized it was indeed a hotel room and not a meeting room filled with the people supervising the Cinnabar Island project. "What are we doing here?"

"Taking a break from everything," Giovanni crossed the room opening a door that led to a spacious interior garden, and let his pokemon out. "We can relax here and our pokemon can rest as well," he knew she cared deeply about pokemon and would be glad they were somehow included in their mini vacation.

Delia let out her pokemon, her expression softening only slightly at the sight of the beautiful scenery. The garden was covered in soft green grass with tall bushes lining the walls so that was all that was seen surrounding it. There was a little stone path that rounded two small ponds, one of them steamy and the other cool. Flowers were all around, varying in shades of red, yellow, orange, pink and white. Soft sunlight shone over the scene, highlighting the pokemon's expressions as they paused to watch her curiously.

"What is it? Go play," Delia took care of them for Giovanni often, so his pokemon were just as familiar with her as her own.

"They're worried about you; it seems you absorb all the stress of the world into you. I told you before you can't carry the weight of the world all by yourself. Try to relax for the pokemon's sake; they have a strong connection to us, especially to you," Giovanni tried to make Delia forget about the recent events and focused on the present, trying to make her as calm and optimistic as he was at the time.

"A strong connection..." Delia mused, "that's what I've been trying to tell you."

"You were right," Giovanni credited, if only to get his point across that she needed to relax.

Delia's expression softened a little bit more, "you only say I'm right when it's convenient."

"You were still right," Giovanni gave her Meowth, who had remained perched on his shoulder thus far.

"Meowth?" The little pokemon looked at Delia with curiosity and concern.

"Mama is alright," Delia smiled at Meowth. "I was just worried about aunty Aayla, she's a little sick but it's nothing serious, she's going to be okay, uncle Binks is with her." She petted the small pokemon and set him down, "go play with your siblings."

There was a knock on the door with the announcement of, "room service!"

"That is the pokemon food," it was well into the afternoon by then, "we can leave them here, they'll be fine," Giovanni hinted that they would be going elsewhere.

Delia nodded and tried to make herself relax. Maybe it wasn't that he didn't care about Aayla's situation, but rather he knew he had to be a reliable figure of calm and composure. She would try to be that way too, so that she could muster the strength to share with others and give them hope.

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"Don't lean out so far," Giovanni urged as he held Delia back.

"You have me, don't you?" Delia didn't listen and continued leaning into the volcano, fascinated by the glowing lava below. The lava was calm and smooth, its vapors being drained by vents connected to pipes on the bottom of the balcony around the volcano's opening.

It was true that Giovanni did have his arms wrapped securely around Delia's waist, but he still found it reckless that she would lean in over the railing like some, "curious country girl."

"Hey, I've been living in the city long enough!" Delia argued sounding amused rather than offended and finally stood upright. "This place is beautiful; I wonder why we're the only ones here?"

"Because I don't want interruptions," he had that look of confidence and victory, the look he always had when he gave her an expensive gift.

"Did you rent out this place for the entire day?" Delia still felt uneasy about the expensive gifts and the excesses, but they had been working hard and they hardly had time to relax, plus she really needed a get away. For once, she wouldn't tell him it was too much, instead allowing him to bask in the pride of being able to give her something fancy, she was especially thankful that this time the gift included spending time with her.

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It was nice, eating on a volcano, it was very warm of course, but neither seemed to mind, after having some island specialties; Delia had an experiment she wanted to try. The waiter, who Delia thought must be very tired of going up and down the volcano, brought the requested supplies with a smile, probably thinking the tip he knew he would be getting was well worth the exercise.

With a childish spark in her eyes, Delia inserted the marshmallows into the stick, tied it to a long string and lowered it close to the lava below, but just far enough so it wouldn't catch on fire.

She brought the roasted marshmallows up again, blowing at the one on the end before taking a bite into it, her expression joyful as she devoured the rest of the large fluffy treat. These marshmallows were about twice the size of regular ones, but she had no complaints about it. "Delicious!" She offered Giovanni the stick with the other marshmallow, "you have to try this!"

"Volcanic marshmallows..." he had not considered the idea, it was creative, plus she was right, it did taste great, more importantly, she was finally relaxing which meant that he could leave the strategizing behind for now and relax for real.

Delia remembered the marshmallows they had at the beach long ago; she hoped they could do that again as she tried to stay focus on a positive line of thinking. That time she had felt invincible, a vigilante who could take on the world. Giovanni had reassured her then. There was also another time when he reassured her that stood out in her mind.

Team Rocket had just started its speedy growth, she took care of the pokemon and he tried to keep everything running smoothly, their paths crossed in the halls in what Delia would refer to as Charmander mini-moments, but they weren't working side by side, even if they were together in the evening until the next morning when they again parted ways.

They had gone up to the roof of the Viridian Gym one night with the lights off and he had told her to look up. It felt like being in outer space. She could see nothing but darkness around her due to the abundant trees, but when she looked up she felt as if she really was surrounded by stars, with no other light to dim their shine.

She had told him then about how she wanted to be more involved with Team Rocket, more helpful. "You're already helpful," he replied, "you take good care of the pokemon, they're strong because of you, I trust you." That had been all the assurance she needed that time.

She felt appreciated, trusted and capable; she could be left on her own because she knew what she was doing. She did later hear about certain angles she didn't like in the progress of the various negotiations surrounding the new Team Rocket, but she tried to look at the situation from a different angle where Team Rocket was somehow justified.

The evening was arriving now, the glow of the lava below becoming the closest light, with the lights of the hotel at the volcano's base. They had been kissing when the sound of Delia's cell phone was heard, she looked at it immediately, with Giovanni giving her a slightly annoyed expression, "don't give me that look Charmander, this is important," the call was from Binks, Delia immediately answered and asked, "how is she?"

"Aayla is awake, she's awake!" Binks cheered, "she's going to be alright, she gave me a black eye!" No one had ever sounded so happy about getting a black eye before.

"That's wonderful!" Delia cheered, her radiant joy shining through without having to be forced, "I mean about Aayla waking up, not about your black eye; can I talk to her?"

"I'm afraid she can't really talk to anyone right now, but I have you on speaker, oh sorry, I forgot to tell you that!" Binks apologized, though he still sounded joyous, albeit exhausted.

"Never mind, it's okay, but why can't she talk? Did she lose her voice?" Delia inquired, her previous worry returning slightly, though the relief that Aayla was awake was still greater.

"Oh no, she just had a bit of a throat infection and had to have her tonsils removed. Don't worry, her condition is stable, her voice will return in a few days," Binks assured. "Aayla, do you want to try saying something to Delia?"

A raspy growl was heard and Delia's smile grew at the further confirmation of Aayla's consciousness, it might have been a growl, but it was Aayla's voice. "Don't try to talk now, it's okay, I know you're there. Just focus on recovering and enjoy having lots of ice-cream!" She paused, looking at Giovanni who listened to one side of the conversation with curiosity, she knew he must have already realized what this was about, "I'm putting you on speaker now, Giovanni is here."

"Boss?" Binks continued, "I sent you an email with the detailed medical report as requested and testing is being prepared, I'll send the data as soon as we have it."

"Good, continue as planned," upon hearing this, Delia realized Giovanni must have told Binks to send that data back at the lab.

She smiled, assuming he really was more concerned about Aayla's safety than she had thought, even if he was discrete in showing it. She felt bad for ever doubting him, a good leader would take care of his team while remaining collected and Giovanni was a great leader as far as Delia knew. She wasn't sure what the tests were about, but she assumed they were related to Aayla's health.

"Yes!" Binks showed signs of excitement in his voice, besides his joy and relief. "I'll work on that right away; I guess that's all the news I have for now, so um... goodbye."

"Bye!" Delia gave her cheerful goodbye as the distant sound of music began, catching their attention, though it was far. "A party?" Delia wondered as she clicked her cell phone shut, it was relatively loud, considering the distance, she didn't think it was a small private party.

"It's the flame festival, do you want to go?" Giovanni inquired, he looked more truly relaxed than he had in a while, he was calm and strong all the time, but now he was more peaceful, as if the constant guard he always had disappeared in light of everything progressing well and being able to take some time off.

"Yes!" Delia was finally feeling truly good; focusing on the present as she knew Giovanni wanted her to, with no worries in the back of her mind anymore. She had looked forward to spending time with him, she had obtained it and she would enjoy it.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon.