“Are you a ghost? Or are you alive?...” -B*Witched, Are You A Ghost?

An evil beginning.

That’s right . . . I had found myself a new beginning . . . but an evil one.

I had no idea what brought me to do it. Why I had accepted such an incredibly evil job, but I had.

After my league finals, three years ago, I had been left alone in my self-pity. My cheerleaders had no reason to stick around since I wasn’t continuing my pokémon journey anymore, and was no longer paying them to follow me around and wave their pom-poms to enlarge my ego to a threatening size.

I hadn’t gone back home. I hadn’t even called home to tell my family I wasn’t coming home. Who knows what they think happened to me, that is if they care what happened to me . . .

At the time I had no idea what I’d do, where I’d go. I was a fourteen-year-old with hardly any education, and no money. That is until the night after the pokémon league championships . . .

******
Throwing my backpack over my shoulder, I walked out of the room that I had been staying in during the pokémon league, and out into the cool midnight air. I had no car, or chauffeur to get me to my next destination anymore, so I was forced to walk . . . though at the moment I didn’t have a next destination . . .

As I walked out of indigo, and down the path to the next town, I saw two dark silhouettes standing by a tree a few feet from where I was standing.

“Hey kid,” One of them whispered, beaconing me over to them.

I looked over at them not sure what to do. What were these two people doing out here in the middle of the night? Clutching one of the pokéballs at my belt, just incase it was needed, I walked over to the two figures.

“What, What do you want? ,” I asked nervously, trying to make out their features but failing miserably. It was too dark.

“You’re the kid that came second in the league finals, right? ,” The first one asked. As he stared down at me, I could see his green eyes flash in the darkness.

“Um . . . yeah,” I answered mournfully, not wanting to remember my loss.

“Well kid, our boss has taken a liking to the way you battle.” As the first one spoke, he stepped up closer to me and I was able to make him out by the light shining from a nearby lamppost. His hair was a lavender blue that fell to his chin, and his body was covered by a long black trench coat.

“Your boss? ,” I questioned, not knowing what he was talking about.

“The leader of team rocket, kid,” The second figure spoke up, also stepping into the faint lamppost light. She had long curved red hair and blue eyes. Her body was also covered by a black trench coat.

“Team Rocket! ,” I cried, realizing whom I was dealing with, I whipped out the pokéball I had been clutching, ready to attack.

“Whoa, hold it kid, we’re not here to start any trouble,” The first man said, holding his hands out in front of him.

“Then what do you want? ,” I muttered angrily, reluctant to putting my pokéball back into its place on my belt.

“We just want to discuss your admittance to Team Rocket, that’s all,” The second TR member grinned.

“Huh? ,” I said, my eyes widening in shock. “Me join Team Rocket?”

“Yes you! Who did you think we were talking to, that tree? ,” The red head muttered irritably, pointing to a tree behind me.

“What makes you think I’d want to join Team Rocket? ,” I said smugly, crossing my arms.

The red head smirked. “Because we know that you have no where else to go now that you’ve lost in the pokémon league once again. No idea what to do, no one to take you in, but our boss is willing to take you on as an elite member.”

I stared at her in shock once again. “H-How did you know that?”

She shrugged. “Why else would you be wondering around in the middle of the night?”

“So . . . ,” The lavender haired man said looking down at me once again. “Will you join Team Rocket, or will you wander around from city to city, with no food, no money, no life . . . nothing at all except the dirty clothes on you back, and the starving pokémon at you belt?”

I stared at the man, debating with myself. I hadn’t really sat down and thought of the consequences that would turn up with living my life alone except for my six pokémon. I guess I was just in a hurry to get away from everyone and everything that I hadn’t had a chance to think. Though, still, there was no way I was going back home to my unwanting family.

“We’re waiting kid”

Team Rocket? I couldn’t join Team Rocket. Or . . . could I. No . . . no . . . I couldn’t. I’d be a criminal, I would have to go around stealing peoples pokémon, even kidnap or kill anyone that stood in my way, I could even end up in jail, then what would my family think of me. I’d definitely never hear the end of it then. But still . . .

“Come on kid is it going to be the easy way, or the hard way?”

“All right, I’ll join,” I said out of the blue, not realizing I had said it until a new, smaller figure had stepped out from behind a tree and said . . .

“Meowth! Great, welcome to the team!”

‘Gary, you idiot . . .’

***

I had said yes, I had agreed to join Team Rocket. I had thought it was an utterly stupid idea at first until I actually started the job.

Giovanni the so called ‘boss’ of Team Rocket, had taken a liking to me, just like the two rocket members I had met, who I found out later on are named James and Jesse, had said that night after the league. After a couple of weeks at the rocket headquarters, I had been made an elite member. Giovanni had assigned me job after job, to steal pokémon, and I had succeeded every time. I was known as one of Giovanni’s best rocket members, and I liked it.

I had become a lot cruller toward people and pokémon . . . my pokémon in particular. I could tell they hated me, even my arcanine who was my most loyal pokémon of all. But every time I gave an order, they would still listen and obey me, though it was obvious that they didn’t like being evil pokémon, it showed in the way they looked at me, but why should I care. It was my job to steal other trainers’ pokémon and I wasn’t going to let anyone stand in my way.

“Mr. Oak, Giovanni would like to see you in his office.”

“All right,” I said, acknowledging the fellow rocket member as I approached the elevator that would take me up to Giovanni’s office.

“Enter,” Giovanni had called through the closed door when I had reached his office, and knocked.

“You wanted to see me, sir,” I stated once I had entered his office. Giovanni’s office was one of the biggest rooms in the whole rocket headquarters, though it was quite plain and empty. A big wooden desk stood in front of me cluttered, neatly with paperwork. Giovanni sat in a comfy looking red chair, at the head of the desk.

Giovanni looked up at me, from a piece of paperwork he had been examining. “That’s right Gary,” He crossed his arms leaning back in his chair. “I have another assignment for you. A very different assignment from stealing pokémon from unsuspecting trainers. A very important one, and one you must succeed in doing . . .”

I stood up straighter. Even though I was high up in Team Rocket, I had never got such an important mission. “Don’t worry sir, whatever assignment you give me, I’ll make sure I get the job done.”

“Good. I’m very sure I can count on you,” He said, a smirk growing on his face. Standing up from his chair, he walking over to me and handed me some slips of paper from his desk. “I want you to kidnap the boy in that picture, his pokémon, and any companions he may have with him.”

I stared down at the picture of the young man in the photograph that Giovanni had handed to me. I could feel my eyes widen in shock once I lay my eyes on it. It couldn’t be . . . It couldn’t be . . .

******
“Hurry up Ash,” Misty called out, pulling her rain coat up over her head. It had been raining straight for about five days now and personally, I was getting quite sick of it. We’d been stuck in Veridian these five muggy days hiding from it, and I hadn’t been able to catch pokémon or get myself into the next town, but Brock had told me and Misty about a small training gym not far from the pokémon center we were staying at, where I could, at least, train my pokémon. We were returning from it now back to the warmth of the pokémon center where I was hoping some hot chocolate would be waiting for us.

“Pika! ,” Pikachu cried impatiently from my shoulder. Getting sick of being soaked by the rain due to my lagging, it jumped from my shoulder and followed Misty and Brock through the doors of the pokémon center. Despite the vigorous training she had ensued, she was still full of plenty of energy.

I eventually reached the pokémon center’s entrance, entering through the automatic doors, not quite sure why I was being so slow today. Removing my trainers belt, six shiny pokéballs hanging from it, I handed it to Nurse Joy so my weary pokémon could get the healing and well-deserved rest they needed. “It shouldn’t take long Ash, about fifteen minutes, take a seat if you like,” Nurse Joy had said kindly after I had handed over my pokémon. “All right,” I replayed, taking a seat where Misty and Brock were sipping hot chocolate they had salvaged from a table near by.

“What’s wrong with you Ash? You’re being awfully slow today,” Misty spoke up, her eyes staring at me from over her mug. “....Even for you,” She added smugly.

“I don’t know, probably the rain,” I said, ignoring her last comment, my eyes drifting to the downpour outside, as rain splattered quietly against the windows.

“You aren’t getting depressed on us now, are you Ash,” Brock asked, turning to me. “The rain can do that to you sometimes.”

“I just want to get moving to the next town, so I can get this new journey on the road.” I replied staring long fully at the world outside the pokémon center. “I don’t like staying in one place for to long.”

“Neither do I,” Misty added. “Is this rain ever going to stop?” Just then the doors of the pokémon center opened, a young man stepping through them, and walking up to the counter. For some reason he looked awfully familiar.

“Why hello, I wasn’t expecting you to come here with that cold rain outside,” Nurse Joy said her cheerful voice ringing out in the near empty pokémon center. She seemed to know him.

“Uh . . . yeah . . . just decided to go for a walk . . . my pokémon needed healing anyway,” He answered drearily, not sounding too convinced even by his own words.

Nurse Joy gave her famous happy face, taking the pokéballs that the man had set on the table. “Sure, go ahead and sit down, and I’ll take these to the back.” She left through two doors the six pokéballs with her.

The man turned around his eyes moving to the empty seats at the right side of the center. His face showed extreme dreariness, looking like he had been walking for days without stopping for even a short rest. His brown eyes sulked lazily, creases showing clearly under them, he seemingly hadn’t slept for a while. The man, who seemed really not much older then I, walked over to one of the chairs not seeming to notice me or my companions, and still that almost eerie familiarity surrounded the young man. I know I’ve seen him somewhere before . . . I know it . . .

“Pi! ,” Cried my small mouse friend as she came out from the back doors Nurse Joy had walked through just a couple of minutes ago. Looking completely regenerated, the little yellow mouse was carrying an apple, and her own cup of hot chocolate. I laughed when the hot drink spilled slightly, the cup much too large for the small pikachu to carry easily, the brown substance just missing her feet.

“Need some help Pikachu? ,” I asked smiling at my friend.

“Pikachu! ,” She said proudly lifting her chin slightly, obviously offended that I thought she couldn’t carry her own mug without my help.

As Pikachu amazingly climbed up onto the chair beside me, the apple and hot chocolate still in her hands, not spilling a drop of it, a creepy feeling crept down my spin, the feeling you get when you know someone’s watching you.

Turning my head toward the young man that had come into the pokémon center not to long after me and the others, I started feeling extremely dizzy as a wave of shock took me over. He was staring right at me and my friends, his dark eyes widened to a dangerous size. He seemed to be suffering the same shock I was. Could it be? No, it couldn’t . . . he’s dead, he’s supposed to be dead! Nobody’s seen him in three years!

“Gary?”

******
I walked into the pokémon center, my body drenched with rain from head to toe. Why I had to stop here, I had no idea. I had been searching Pewter and Cerulean for days now, looking for the man that I was supposed to kidnap for Giovanni. I was relieved and also not so relieved that I hadn’t been able to find this man yet. If I found him, I knew Giovanni would give him no mercy and he would probably end up dead after Giovanni got what he wanted out of him. But if I didn’t find him, I would be the one to suffer, not he, and Giovanni doesn’t kill his victims fast . . .

As I walked up to the main desk of the pokémon center, where Nurse Joy was standing, a smile plastered on her face as usual. She greeted me cheerfully, “Why hello, I wasn’t expecting you to come here with that cold rain outside.”

“Uh . . . yeah . . . just decided to go for a walk . . . my pokémon needed healing anyway,” I stuttered. Even if that wasn’t the real reason I was here, my pokémon did need healing. We had run into a lot of wild pokémon and annoying minuscule trainers that had wanted to battle.

Nurse Joy smiled at me, taking the pokéballs that I had set on the table. “Sure, go ahead and sit down, and I’ll take these to the back.” She left through two doors behind the desk my six pokéballs with her.

I looked behind me my eyes wondering to the empty chairs at the right side of the center. 'Finally some rest . . . ,' I thought to myself as I dragged myself to the cussoned seats. I had been on my feet for so long this past week that I had forgotten what it was like to sit down and rest. I closed my eyes, my body desiring the sleep that it needed and hadn’t been getting. I felt my body drifting into the bliss and darkness of sleep until I heard a pikachu’s cry from across the pokémon center. Opening my eyes, not sure if the cry was a dream or real, I scanned the center for a pikachu.

“Pi! ,” Cried a yellow mouse as it came out of the back doors Nurse Joy had gone through not too long ago. Now assured that the pikachu cry had been a real sound, I watched it as it carried an oversized mug in one hand, an apple in the other. Faint memories of my last pokémon league match three years ago when a pikachu and his trainer, Ash Ketchum, had defeated my last remaining pokémon, ran through my head. That was just before my whole team rocket ordeal had started. Ash . . . my ex-best friend, I wondered for a faint moment what he was doing right now, if he still had that pikachu of his, if those friends that he had still followed him around wherever he went.

“Need some help pikachu? ,” Called a laughing voice from the other side of the room as the pikachu spilled some of it’s hot chocolate. I hadn’t noticed anyone else was here.

“Pikachu! ,” It replied, seemingly offended. I watched the pikachu approach three people sitting in chairs at the other side of the room. Two guys and a girl. They looked familiar, though a lot of people look familiar to me, I don’t know why. Squinting my eyes a bit, so I could focus a little better, I stared at the black-haired boy closest to me. Hey isn’t that . . .

The pikachu jumped onto a chair beside the boy, obviously his trainer, and took a large bite out of its apple. The boy, without notice, suddenly snapped his head around giving me a clear view of his face. It was him! Oh great, just great. He had to show up now didn’t he . . .

“Gary? ,” He questioned his voice shaking. His face had gone slightly pale, and his eyes were widened with shock. He looked like he had just seen a ghost. Mabey he had . . .

“Ash.”

To be continued . . .

~Sonya

Part 2