FicWad

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 47: Give me Support

Sometime in the future... The strong Charizard flapped his wings and gained altitude. "Give us some cover Pyro," his trainer instructed. The Charizard called Pyro let out a stream of white smoke; it had taken him a while to master creating smoke like that. It had taken the woman riding on him quite some time to reach her current level as well. The fire pokemon kept himself steady in the dark night sky. On his back he carried not only his trainer, but also Peachy, a Pikachu, a laptop computer and a small satellite dish. The dish communicated with the Rocket satellite in the atmosphere amplifying the signal from the computer. A Porygon-Z by the name of Prism was contained in the laptop.

The woman by the name of Millennia, more commonly known as Pixel, was wearing a slightly modified Team Rocket uniform which was more comfortable. The black pants went to her knees and her black boots had silver metal soles. The sleeves of her black shirt with a red R were also short. She wore black gloves with silver metal knuckles. She wasn't there to fight though; it wasn't her specialty, though she had learned the very basics of self defense given time to practice. Her fingers danced rapidly on the keyboard, her dark eyes focused on the screen as she worked together with the Porygon-Z to hack into the building below.

The portable equipment could receive extra power from the Pikachu if needed. She adjusted the earpiece she wore as her blue ponytail blew in the wind. "Motion sensors deactivated; first level electronic locks open. You might run into some locks you'll have to pick the old way. Don't touch the fences, they are constantly electrified and they have no mechanism to deactivate them wirelessly."

"No problem; I'm going in," several feet below outside the tall fences, there was a man with red hair and blue eyes by the name of Comet. He stayed in the back of the building where the lights didn't reach him. "Go Rykros," he released the powerful bug pokemon from his pokeball and hopped on his back. "Let's go over the fence quickly." The Scyther flew over the fence, being able to carry his trainer easily after exercising with weights regularly. Comet hopped off on the other side and recalled his pokemon, "so far, so good."

"I'm in the camera system," Pixel's triumphant voice came from Comet's earpiece. She could see him outside in his standard Team Rocket uniform. Anyone else accessing the system saw nothing but a still empty image. "From your position, move twenty feet to the right, that will lead you to the least guarded hallway via a back door, if you can pick the lock."

"Watch me," Comet grinned, he dashed towards the aforementioned back door, dodging the circles of rotating lights. He stayed close to the wall as he moved in, "looks like a double lock, there's the lock on the doorknob and an electronic one."

"I'm not detecting it," Pixel replied, "it must be a highly isolated electronic lock. Plug me in," she grinned, even if her wireless didn't reach that lock at first, she would get to it anyway.

Comet took a small card from his utility belt. It was a plain black card with nothing but a red R to identify it. It looked like a regular card without a use beyond decoration, but it was in fact a wireless transmitter. He inserted the card into the keycard space and got to work on the door knob's lock with a few other tools.

Pixel watched as her computer screen changed when the lock became accessible. The card Comet inserted into it could unlock just about anything given the proper use. "Let's do this, Prism," the Porygon-Z on the screen looked eager, once again working with her trainer to unlock something else.

Comet heard the small number pad next to the keycard slot beep as numbers appeared on its tiny screen. "All done," he heard the click that indicated the door's physical lock was no longer an obstacle.

The final beep for the last digit was heard and the electronic lock was undone, "same here," Pixel voiced.

Comet proceeded inside, his footsteps speedy but inaudible. "You said the least guarded hallway," he whispered quietly.

"Yup," Pixel confirmed, "there is no unguarded route, but you don't sound disappointed. Whatever it is your thinking, you'll get your chance now, because there's a guard going your way. I bet you can't avoid him."

Comet grinned, "I'm up for a fight but I'll take that bet." He jumped and stretched out in the hallway. His hands and feet could barely reach the opposing walls left and right. He pushed on the walls staying close to the ceiling and slipped away right above the guard.

Pixel followed Comet's signal on the screen. "The elevator is coming up, occupied," she opened the door.

Comet hurried towards it and hopped down to the floor. He looked into the elevator shaft as the elevator box went up. He stepped onto it rather than jump, so that he could get on as quietly as possible.

"Your floor's coming up," Pixel watched the images on the building's security cameras, "it's too heavily guarded, a confrontation is inevitable."

The elevator shaft door opened. Though the elevator was destined for the last floor, Comet's target was in the second to last floor. He jumped out catching the first guard by surprise, his fist harshly colliding with the other man's face. The guard was knocked out on impact. The room in the middle of the floor was surrounded by a hallway that went all around it, constantly packed with guards.

"We have an intruder! Send backup!" Another guard desperately called. Only one intruder had been spotted so far, but the red R on his chest warned that even one could be plenty of trouble. Plus for all they knew, others may be waiting to attack. A swift kick relived the guard of his gun a split second after it was taken from its holster, before he could even aim.

"Ten of them; take them out. Back up won't be coming," as an extra gift, aside from blocking the enemy's radio contact, Pixel sent out a loud screeching noise to their ear pieces.

Comet noticed right away what it was when He saw his next opponents cringe suddenly losing their focus. "Hey Pix, don't forget I won our bet back there," Comet skillfully fought, taking out one opponent after another.

"It was just dumb luck," Pixel scoffed, though she knew it was a lie. This was only the beginning, but then again, it was always the beginning when the goals to reach were so high. Pixel grinned allowing the excitement of the mission to wash over her as she listened to the sounds of battle. In the past, she never imagined she would be able to go on such an important mission and actually be of assistance. She clearly remembered when the series of events that changed her started, it was right after the first time she met Delia.

xoxox xox xoxox

At Giovanni's mansion in the present time... Giovanni shoved the wireless phone back into the frightened butler's hands and recalled all his pokemon to their pokeballs. Delia was looking at him with a worried expression, "what happened?"

"Something came up," he led her inside the mansion hastily; she could still be useful, "I want you to stay here."

"I want to go with you!" She refused to be left out, but knew the argument was useless. She had just returned, Giovanni didn't trust her and she still didn't understand his behavior towards her. She wasn't sure what he could be trying to accomplish, but she wanted to find out. She followed him as he headed up to the forth floor of the mansion.

The glass elevator opened and they both exited. Giovanni opened a door with Delia still following him closely, "stay here."

Delia frowned, "no, I want to go with you!" She insisted urgently.

"You've caused enough trouble already," Giovanni didn't have any more time to waste. He shoved Delia into the guestroom and closed the door. The electronic lock beeped in response to the keycard and numbers entered in the little pad next to the door.

"Giovanni!" Delia screamed at the top of her lungs. She tightened her fists and pounded on the polished wood door. "Open this door! You can't keep me locked up in here!" There was no response. She knew that he was gone and that no one from the mansion's staff would let her out. She twisted the door knob helplessly. She hit the door until her hands hurt and shouted until her throat burned. Then her tears silenced her.

Delia didn't understand, one second Giovanni was being suspiciously nice to her and the next he was locking her up. If only she knew what thoughts were going through his head. If only she knew what that sudden phone call was about.

Delia sobbed and closed her eyes tightly. She turned around and pressed her back against the door. She slid down the glossy black wood and sat on the floor. The carpet was soft and thick, a dark shade of red. It was the same color as the bed sheets and pillows, but those were lined with gold. The bed was very large, enough to fit three people with eight pillows piled on it.

The walk-in closet was empty, its double doors matching the black wood of the door, with golden handles to match the door knob. The golden lined glass window was closed, the golden curtains motionless at its side, untouched by the light breeze outside. There was a big screen plasma TV and a desk. On the desk there was a fancy black pen decorated with a green leaf and a golden lined white notepad with a faded green leaf watermark in the center. The leaves were similar to the earth badge.

One of the walls was lined with shelves filled with various books, mostly about pokemon and a few fictional stories. The books looked as if they had never been opened, very different from Delia's copy of Mysteries of the Earth. That book was on the coffee table of Delia's living room in her little Pallet town house, its cover worn. Delia had read Mysteries of the Earth so many times she had the book practically memorized, with the most interesting passages highlighted in yellow. She would read over every page endlessly and imagine what event brought each discovery.

"Um... excuse me," Delia looked up at the quiet voice, realizing that she was not alone in the room. She didn't know for how long the Rocket had been standing there waiting to be noticed. The girl's hair was dark blue and her eyes were such a dark brown they looked black contrasting with her white skin. She was wearing a Team Rocket uniform, though it looked like the style males usually wore. It included long black pants, a long sleeved black shirt with a red R and short white gloves and boots lined in red. Her hair was in a ponytail, it was perhaps mid back length, though the end of the ponytail only reached her shoulders. Her bangs covered her forehead and looked longer than they were due to her posture with her head lowered to look at Delia sitting on the floor.

Delia stood up and smoothed out the folds of her sky blue dress out of habit. She tugged her long brown hair behind her ear, revealing three small diamonds cascading from her earrings. She shifted her weight from one foot to another, as if looking for little things to do to buy more time to compose herself. "Did Giovanni assign you to guard me?" Delia wondered if he had planned to lock her up all along. It had looked as if it was done in the rush of the moment after that mysterious call.

"Not really, I was just changing a lightbulb," the girl tilted her head towards a door that led to an adjacent bathroom. Shiny white tiles were the only things visible from the door's slightly open position.

Delia sighed; it didn't look like the girl knew what was going on. "Can you open this door?"

The girl looked at the door with uncertainty, as if imagining what the boss would say if she opened it. At the same she was wondering if the card and code she had would work. "If the boss locked it then we're trapped," she finally replied after some thought. She decided it was best not to further annoy Giovanni. It was bad enough that she had gotten herself trapped along with his guest, simply because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Delia wasn't sure she believed the girl, but knew she would not reveal the code if she knew it. She still had her little cell phone. Upon trying to call Giovanni to demand to be set free, she found that the device had been deactivated. She looked around the room, her gaze pausing on a lamp on one of the black nightstands beside the bed. She couldn't help it but to think of Ash and hoped she could escape soon. She wanted to be out of trouble before Ash realized that her absence without communication was too long to be caused by forgetfulness or distraction. Even when Ash traveled he still spoke to his mother over the phone often.

The lamp reminded Delia of Ash because she knew he would really like it. It was shaped as a Charizard of glass with the light bulb hidden in a massive breath of fire coming from its mouth. She continued scanning the room until she spotted a glossy red phone on the desk. She picked up the receiver hopefully and let out a breath of exasperation. The line was dead; they must have blocked it from outside.

Delia's next idea was a desperate one; she walked towards the window and found that it was unlocked. She pulled the golden lined glass open and felt the soft breeze of the escape route. "You're not thinking about climbing down with the vines, are you?" The Rocket girl inquired with worry, "those vines aren't strong enough to hold a person. You'll fall for sure!"

"I'll take my chances," Delia looked down; she would be seriously injured if she fell from there. She was in the forth floor, but felt as if she was much higher up when she thought about falling.

The girl let out a breath of relief, seeing Delia stepping away from the window. A short moment of silence passed and her cell phone suddenly rang. It was the catchy tune of one of Akira's songs, a fast paced mix of pop and punk rock.

Delia snapped into attention, "your phone."

"Even if you call someone they won't open the door," the girl tried to persuade Delia out of trying to steal the cell phone. She took it out of her pocket and watched Delia guardedly. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's Laiki, where are you?" The voice came from the cell phone, unheard by Delia.

"Hi! I'm at the boss' place and I think I'll probably have to stay here for a while," the girl replied, curious about her friend's urgent tone.

"Okay, I just called to warn you," Laiki hastily continued, she sounded stressed and frustrated, "after the false Rockets attacked Vermilion City the cops started poking around the Viridian Gym. The press has the boss cornered denying the suspicions that he's a Team Rocket supporter. It's best if you don't come back for a while. I have to go, don't try calling HQ or anyone."

The call was hastily ended before the blue haired girl could inquire further. Delia was watching her intently, pressuring her with her eyes to talk. If the press was involved, she reasoned that the event was no secret. "False Rockets attacked Vermilion City."

Delia's eyes widened, "false Rockets?" Her voice was shaky. She walked over to the bed and sat down. "What happened?"

"I don't know, but the press is all over the place in Viridian City," the girl replied with growing worry.

Upon hearing that, Delia looked around the room for the TV's remote control. She spotted it on the night stand on the other side of the bed, opposite to the one with the Charizard lamp. She turned on the TV and one of Akira's music videos came on. The singer showed off the potency of her voice as she danced on a stage with abundant blue and purple lights. She was wearing a black leather mini skirt, a bright pink strapless top, white platform boots, yellow star earrings and a pink chocker with a yellow star on it. The tight outfit left little to the imagination.

Delia changed the channel quickly until she found the news. On the screen she saw Giovanni. He was angry, she could tell, but it was perfectly hidden behind a mask of sorrowful concern. Delia listened as he played the part of the good gym leader. He was denying all involvement with Team Rocket and expressing his sadness and indignation concerning the recent Vermilion City catastrophe.

After Giovanni's forced press conference ended, the reporters where left with mayor Antilles to defend himself of similar accusations. Delia kept watching the TV in a trance. She occasionally changed the channels from one news program to another, seeking a full report about the events that occurred in Vermilion City so that she could better understand them.

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, Ash and Misty were in route four, heading towards Cerulean City. "Chu, chu!" Pikachu cried in pain while Misty cuddled him on her lap, trying to console him.

Ash made a sad face, his eyes were watery and his lower lip was puckered. "Please officer Jenny, please let us get to the Cerulean City Pokemon Center," he begged, "my poor Pikachu is on the verge of death!"

The blue haired woman looked at the little yellow pokemon with compassion. "I'll lead you there," she offered hurriedly. Without even waiting for a reply, she ran back to her police car.

"Wait, officer, I understand you're busy, you really don't have to!" It was too late, Jenny was determined and nothing Ash said could change her mind.

"Follow me!" Jenny called out before starting up her white and blue car. She was ready to dash down the road at full speed.

Ash's little indigo car was pulled over on the side of the road after he had been caught speeding. Ash and Misty had spent the previous night at Pewter City in Brock's pokemon breeding center. One of his siblings took care of it while he was gone. Unaware of the happenings at Vermilion City or Delia's predicament, Ash and Misty made their way to Cerulean City. Misty wanted to personally give her sisters the news of her engagement.

"How lucky, we get a police escort and everything," Misty commented sarcastically. Ash sped down the road following Jenny, who was clearing the way for him. The siren on top of her car was blaring with the blue lights rotating like a lighthouse. Misty's eyes screamed the phrase, 'I told you so,' referring to when she quietly warned Ash that his hasty plan would backfire.

"Aw c'mon, I've never gotten a ticket in my entire life and I don't want to change that now," Ash defended, his eyes focused on the road.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you don't speed all the time," Misty continued. She wasn't really bothered by it, she sounded teasing.

"Everyone gets into a little mischief now and then," Ash grinned.

Pikachu laughed and hopped on the dashboard. He was enjoying the speed of the ride. He wasn't feeling ill at all, let alone on the verge of death as Ash so dramatically told Jenny. The officer ahead came to a sudden stop at an intersection and Ash slammed his foot on the breaks. It caused Pikachu to fall backwards, though he was thankfully caught by Misty. She held him securely the rest of the way. Jenny continued after a few seconds' pause, with Ash following.

A short while later, the little indigo car stopped in front of the Cerulean City Pokemon Center behind the police car. "We're here, hurry inside!" Jenny urged. She looked like all the other Jennys, wearing the same police uniform, with the same hairstyle and the same face. Only the symbol on her hat was different.

Ash and Misty wasted no time rushing into the Pokemon Center. They hoped that Pikachu's act was good enough to at least convince nurse Joy to take him to the back for an examination. The Pokemon Center looked identical to any other with it's white tiles, white walls, tall ceiling, plastic chairs, video phones and PCs. Seeing that Jenny was still following them, Ash continued his act, "nurse Joy, we have an emergency, Pikachu is dying!"

"Chu!" Pikachu let out an ear splitting wail. It made all those present cringe, especially Misty who was still cradling him.

"That poor dear!" Nurse Joy exclaimed; she looked like all the other Joys with a light pink dress and a white apron over it. She had pink hair, a nurse cap and the same face as the others. "He sounds like he's in a lot of pain," she gently picked up Pikachu from Misty's arms and took him to the back where she laid him on a bed.

Ash and Misty followed Joy, but they were not the only ones, a concern Jenny was there as well. Ash didn't know how to make her leave without sounding like a horrible ingrate.

"Chu... chu..." Pikachu's breathing was heavy, his expression contorted in pain, "chu!" He wailed again.

"Chansey, chansey," the pink nurse pokemon tried to console her patient and calm him to no avail.

"Oh dear, if this is what I think it is," nurse Joy's expression became more serious and worried, "I might have to operate, but I-"

Pikachu's eyes widened upon hearing about an operation, "pikachu!" He let out a massive amount of electricity that made Chansey faint and knocked Ash, Misty, Joy and Jenny to the floor in pain.

The humans struggled to get up, with Ash being the first to recover, followed by Misty. The couple helped the other two women to their feet. "As I was saying, I need to conduct some tests to make sure it's not just a build up of excess electricity," Joy finished in a daze.

The medical tests showed that Pikachu was perfectly healthy. In fact he was one of the healthiest pokemon Joy had come across in a long time. Thus it was concluded that the cause for his pain was indeed a build up of excess electricity, which he had already let out on them.

"It looks like everything turned out alright in the end," officer Jenny breathed in relief. She was honestly glad that Pikachu was not in any serious danger after all.

"I'm sorry about the commotion," Ash apologized, "I really thought Pikachu was in mortal danger, thanks for helping us get here. Even if it wasn't serious, I'll still think of this day as the day when the noble officer Jenny saved Pikachu's life." Ash hoped he was still off the hook for his ticket.

Jenny smiled proudly, "I'm just doing my duty! Speaking of which, I have to get back to work now," with a look of satisfaction, the officer finally left.

After the detour at the Pokemon Center, Ash and Misty headed to the Cerulean City gym. Ash parked the car in front of it and they both got out. Pikachu was riding on Ash's shoulder as Misty cheerfully rushed in to call her sisters. "Daisy! Violet! Lily!" There was no reply at first, until Misty called their names again, even louder.

Lily's voice answered, "in the living room," with a tense tone. Ash and Misty hurried to their location. The living room of the home and gym of the Waterflower family had predominant shades of blue. The couch was a deep ocean blue, the carpet a light cerulean blue, the walls a pale sky blue. Seashell ornaments could be seen throughout the room.

Daisy was nowhere to be found; perhaps she had gone out with her fiance. Her wedding would be in just a couple of weeks. Misty felt ignored because Violet and Lily were paying more attention to the TV than to her. She was also confused by Lily's tone. They saw a familiar image on screen, "that's the Viridian City mayor," Misty observed.

The report was just ending and neither Ash nor Misty caught enough of it to understand what it was about. "Were they talking about the pokemon tournament?" Ash curiously inquired.

Violet shook her head, "no," she got up with a worried expression, "I'm going," she began to walk away, but Lily stopped her.

"Isn't it better if you like stay here?" The pink haired Waterflower sister insisted. Lily was the second youngest next to Misty, but often felt as if she was the youngest, since Misty was away traveling most of the time.

"Kenobi is probably feeling terrible, he like hasn't even called me!" Violet fumed, though her expression soon changed to worry, "he's having a family crisis with the press hounding his poor father like that. Did you know he has a heart condition? My future father in law," never mind that they weren't engaged yet, "will be like driven to the grave if they don't give him some room to breathe. I'm sure Kenobi is upset about this whole thing. How dare they link his family and their friend, the Viridian gym leader, to Team Rocket? They are like not only offending Viridian City and the Antilles family, but also gym leaders everywhere!"

Misty remembered that Violet had said something about dating the son of a mayor, though she hadn't been paying too much attention to her sister's love high ramblings. Violet had been saying too much, too fast, with a lot of it being gibberish, so Misty didn't quite catch the details about her sister's boyfriend.

Refusing to allow anyone to stop her, Violet rushed out, determined to go to Viridian City. Lily sighed in resignation, allowing herself to fall back into the couch. She turned off the TV, where the normal programming had resumed after the news bulletin. "This is a disaster," she grimaced, throwing her head back on the soft blue backrest and closing her eyes.

Misty sat down beside her sister with a serious expression. Ash took a seat next to his fiance, with Pikachu now on his lap. "Will you please explain what in the world is going on?" The youngest Waterflower insisted impatiently. Her sisters' behavior alarmed her. Misty had a feeling that they were not just being overly dramatic.

To be Continued

Merry Christmas! :D The first scene in this chapter is a small glimpse into the future of some of the new Rocket OCs. It's not a super important scene to the current plot, but I wanted to show a little more of Team Rocket's Mission Impossible style side. Besides, it was fun to write. Mysteries of the Earth is a book Giovanni wrote, which is mentioned in a manga. I know Jenny has green hair later, but in the first few episodes she had blue. Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon.