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Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 61: Give me Help

At the Saffron city hall a man wearing a dark red tuxedo made his way into the mayor's office. The secretary paid him no mind as he went in. He had silver hair and blue eyes. The scene he found at the office was most unexpected. His investigation led him to believe there was something going on with the Saffron City mayor. He had also seen suspicious people going in and out of city hall. Perhaps he could gain some information about Kenobi's location there. He didn't expect to find a dark haired young man sitting at the mayor's very red office drinking tea and eating cookies. That man was Kenobi. Most of all, he didn't expect the mysterious mayor to be Madame Boss.

Madame smiled victoriously, "hello there Petrel. Care to join us? Oh and by the way, next time, you don't need to knock out one of my men and disguise yourself as him. You can just come right in, dear," she mocked.

"I got caught by a security camera didn't I?" Petrel took off his wig and contact lenses in frustration. "I can't believe this! I need to ask for more field missions, I don't want to get out of practice with my disguises."

"The disguise was fine, except for the part about being caught putting it on," Madame laughed.

Petrel looked at Kenobi, who seemed to be at a loss for words. "Madame saved me," he finally spoke. "She said someone would come for me soon."

"Do you know who she is?" Petrel inquired raising an eyebrow.

"The mayor of Saffron City," Kenobi initially replied, "but that's not all." He thought about it, "you know each other, but you were sneaking in. Is she our ally?" By 'our' Kenobi was secretly referring to Team Rocket.

"Let's just say the boss and his mother are not on speaking terms," Petrel left it at that.

Confusion was reflected in Kenobi's green eyes. "How is the boss' mother related to any of this?" Then the realization hit him as he caught sight of Madame's amused grin, "you are? She is?" He looked from Madame to Petrel and back again. They both nodded.

"Do you know anything about a list of traitors? Two agents that had been fired showed up with it. Doesn't that sound convenient?" Petrel gave Madame a suspicious look.

"Long ago I gave brat boy my resources because he no longer needed them," Madame recalled. "If my help was necessary and I gave it, I would just be getting in the way of brat boy reaching his potential. This time, I'm just helping speed things along towards a result that would have been the same anyway. That is all," Madame smiled. "As for the agents you speak of, they are unaware of who I am in relation to brat boy."

"I see," Petrel thought about it, Giovanni would be angry hearing Madame call him brat boy still. "Well, I guess I'll let things be for now, but I'll have to tell the boss. He won't be happy about this... interference."

"She was helpful!" Kenobi protested.

"That's really not the point," Petrel's tone of voice made it clear it was best to drop the subject. "Kenobi, we should return now."

"Ah, yes, it would be best to be on our way," Kenobi agreed. "Madame, thank you very much for your assistance."

"Too bad not everyone is as polite as you," Madame chuckled in amusement. "You're quite welcome my dear."

xoxox xox xoxox

After swiftly leaving Madame's office, Petrel reported the recent happenings to Archer. "Mission accomplished, I have Kenobi and I'm taking him back to Viridian City as we speak." The car they were in was purple to match Petrel's hair. It had a red R bumper sticker, though it wasn't too big so it didn't stand out. Petrel kept an eye out for pursuers as he drove, but there weren't any.

Kenobi was still unaware of the Waterflowers' involvement in the recent events. He hardly knew anything of what had been happening in Kanto during his captivity. He assumed Violet was safe in Cerulean City; he had no reason to think otherwise. He wondered if his kidnapping had been made public. He hoped not, he didn't want to worry Violet. It was inevitable to worry his father; he had to know he had been missing. Kenobi would think of something to tell Violet later and apologize for his lack of communication recently. He had not called her in a long time. It was best to sort things out and call when he had the time to properly talk to her.

"Good, that's one less think to worry about, I'll let Rune know," Archer's voice came from Petrel's little black cell phone, with a shiny red R. "It seems things are running smoothly so far. All that's left to do is capture the enemy, hand them to the police to take the blame and conduct some public relations here and there. Soon we will make it as if nothing happened," if Giovanni's plan worked. He intended to take care of Tempest directly.

"There's more," Petrel got ready to report the most interesting piece of information he had found. "The suspicions about the Saffron mayor being involved with the enemies were true, but it seems she was using them. She was just messing with them and possibly with us. She was the origin of the traitor list Jessie and James brought, but they don't know that. The mysterious Saffron mayor is Madame Boss."

"Giovanni's mother?" Suddenly Comet's report made a lot more sense to Archer. "Let's allow Giovanni to focus on his mission for now, we'll give him the report afterwards. We don't want to anger him and throw him out of focus. I guess dealing with this detail will be part of the aftermath clean up. Do you think she'll be troublesome for now?"

"I don't think so," Petrel replied with a hint of doubt. "She handed Kenobi over easily enough. It doesn't look like I'm being followed or anything. I never did understand Madame. Maybe Giovanni's the only one who can figure her out."

Archer disagreed, "I don't think anyone can. There's a lot to do, but for now let's focus on one thing at a time. Return to headquarters and we'll decide what to do from there."

xoxox xox xoxox

Delia and Ariana stood on opposite sides of the Cerulean gym's battle arena. The large pool was filled with crystalline water. The water was still, yet not truly calm, as if it had no room to move with all the tension in the atmosphere. "Two on two," Delia requested.

Ariana nodded from the other side of the water themed arena. She looked confident, "fine by me."

"We don't have much time," win or lose, Delia wanted to get things done as fast as possible. If she couldn't win, she would think of what to do then. If she won, she would need to be on her way. With a look of determination, Delia released her two pokemon, "Cloyster, Kingler!" Both pokemon emerged from the red beams of their respective pokeballs simultaneously. They landed comfortably in the welcoming water of the pool. The liquid shifted when the two pokemon splashed in, but soon became still again as they floated. "We'll battle with both pokemon at the same time," Delia had battled like that especially often immediately after the Viridian Gym take over, when Kanto was cleaned of other gangs.

Ariana released two of her pokemon from their pokeballs, Weavile and Honchkrow appeared. Honchkrow flew above the water out of reach with Weavile on his back. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Absolutely!" Delia had no time to doubt, she needed to believe she could win. "Cloyster, Kingler, water gun together!" The two water pokemon were unsure. Giovanni wasn't there to scare them into listening and they still had their doubts about Delia. Would she leave them again? "Cloyster, Kingler, please!"

"It looks like they won't listen to you," Ariana shook her head in disapproval. "You've been gone too long and it seems you didn't leave enough of an impression to make them listen. This battle is mine," Ariana sent her pokemon on the attack. "Honchkrow use trickery!"

Cloyster and Kingler sunk under the water to protect themselves against Honchkrow's attacks. "Cloyster, Kingler, you have to fight back!" Delia called out to them, but they still wouldn't listen. They just sunk deeper until they were safe at the bottom of the pool. Bubbles rose up from their location as they discussed something in their language. They were probably debating what they should do, if they should truly give Delia another chance or not.

"Perfect," Ariana looked victorious. As she expected, the battle would be over soon. "Keep them underwater Honchkrow, Weavile use ice beam, full power!"

"You can't freeze them in there!" Delia realized what was going on.

"I can and I will!" Ariana laughed. "It seems you've lost, but don't take it too badly. Maybe with some training you might reach the potential you used to have."

"What I need is to regain the trust I used to have," Delia argued back. "Cloyster, Kingler, I'm sorry I left you like that. I honestly thought you would be better off if you stayed at the gym. Even if it wasn't my place, I thought it could still be yours. I didn't know that you would end up so neglected. Please forgive my misjudgment, I'm here now and I'm willing to earn your trust again from the beginning."

Cloyster and Kingler were heading to the surface of the pool trying to break the sheet of ice that formed. Ariana could not allow them that chance, "Honchkrow, confuse ray, Weavile, hurry up with that ice beam!" Her two pokemon obeyed.

The beam of perplexing dark light could be seen past the sheet of ice that didn't shield the water pokemon's minds. They were already doubtful, which made them vulnerable to the confusion. Cloyster and Kingler swam around under the sheet of ice. They occasionally bumped into it and each other, pushing each other away. Weavile was starting to look tired, but the beam of ice didn't cease. Ariana's pokemon kept freezing the pool, the sheet of ice becoming thicker and deeper.

"Cloyster! Kingler!" Delia desperately called out to them. "This is hopeless," she realized. "Ariana, I give up, you won the battle."

With a cunning look Ariana refused to accept the end of the battle, "I'm not going to stop."

"I already gave up, that's enough!" Delia insisted.

"I said I'm not stopping," Ariana stood firm by her choice.

"Cloyster, Kingler, return!" The red beams from the two pokeballs reached towards the ice, but didn't go past it. "Return!" Delia jumped off the trainer platform and on to the frozen pool. She tried to use the pokeballs again at close range, but it still didn't work. "Cloyster, Kingler, I'll get you out of there!"

Honchkrow and Weavile screeched at Delia as if telling her to go away. They were trained not to stop attacking until their trainer said so. No one could get in their way. "I think you should get out of the battle field," Ariana advised.

"No way, this battle is over, Cloyster and Kingler shouldn't still need to fight. Bending the rules a little is one thing, but this is cheating," Delia argued. "If that's how you want it, I'll cheat too." She took off her shoe and threw it. The shoe hit Honchkrow on the beak. "You two back off or you'll have to deal with me!"

"You don't stand a chance!" Ariana warned, she sounded serious, yet with an undertone of amusement.

"I don't care, I have to try!" Delia pounded on the ice with all her might, trying to break it.

"So that's how it is," a real smile formed on Ariana's face. She recalled Weavile and Honchkrow back into their pokeballs before they could seriously attack Delia.

"I'm sure this ice has to break, it's not cold enough in here to maintain it," Delia kept hitting the ice. "I won't ask you to battle for me if you don't want to. If you do, I'll trust you with my very life and I'll take good care of you."

The two pokemon under the ice finally lost their confusion and struggled together to get out. The ice began to break until they made a hole in it and climbed out.

"Cloyster, Kingler, will you give me another chance?" They were willing to; Delia didn't need to speak their language to know that. "Thank you, I know this is too much to ask for, but the Giovanni we used to know still exists. Will you help me find him again?"

The two water pokemon could see that Delia's intentions and determination were true. They nodded in unison, voicing their agreement together. Delia hugged them both.

"So you're still going?" Ariana inquired, though she didn't wait for an answer. "I thought as much. You're not one to give up easily. You still have a strong determination and you're willing to break the rules if needed. Alright, let's go, Giovanni might need some help after all. You two somehow have a way of bringing out each other's wild side, no doubt about it."

"Ariana..." Delia was surprised by the turn of events. She expected Ariana to put up more of an argument. In the end, the executive couldn't stand by without directly helping Team Rocket. Delia immediately agreed, "yes, we should hurry to the world's edge."

Ariana grinned, "on one condition..."

xoxox xox xoxox

Later at Saffron City, Ash and Misty were wandering through the streets. A stream of suspicious rumors that they couldn't ignore took them there. "Do you really think we'll find out anything useful here?" Misty asked impatiently. She felt she should be trying to locate her sisters.

"There has to be a cause for all those rumors," Ash reasoned. After taking buses and taxies, it was the evening and they still haven't found much beyond rumors. "I know we're going to find something, I can feel it!"

Misty sighed. She found herself remembering the odd looks Ash got due to his messy hair. "Ash, this is a wild Farfechd chase." She finally had enough.

"No it's not, I told you I can feel that something will happen, trust me." Ash was in the middle of persuading Misty to trust his instinct when he spotted a familiar pokemon. "Is that...?"

Misty looked in the direction Ash was pointing and saw the Meowth. She was easily recognizable due to her war zone appearance. It was obvious she had been in many tough battles. "No way," Misty couldn't believe it, but she knew it to be true. "I think you're right. Somehow I feel like I shouldn't be surprised. Trouble has a knack for finding you, or is it the other way around?"

"I don't know, but I'm not letting her get away!" Ash declared full of determination. "I have to catch that Meowth and ask her where she hid my hat!" He dashed towards Purry.

Purry had gone into an alley between two buildings and headed towards a door on one of them. She was sure she saw Comet go in there earlier.

"Stop right there!" Ash yelled at the top of his lungs. If his approaching footsteps haven't already given away his presence, his voice would have.

"So much for the element of surprise," Misty sarcastically commented.

"Give me back my hat!" Ash firmly demanded, ready to battle the Meowth for it. "Did that guy from Team Rocket take it? Are you his pokemon? I don't care, I'm catching you anyway. I'm getting my hat back no matter what!"

Purry hissed ready for battle. Pikachu jumped off Ash's shoulders and stood defensively between the ferocious Meowth and Ash. The door that led to the Tempest hideout was suddenly opened. Solo stood there glaring at the noisy intruders in the alley, "what's all this commotion about?" He was wearing his Tempest uniform, with a green T clearly visible on his black shirt.

"Tempest!" Ash exclaimed, recognizing the uniform. "You see, Misty? I told you we would find something. Now we can take down Tempest." Ash was excited about it.

"Take us down?" Solo let a mocking laugh echo. He didn't want to make a big scene while Bollux and Poisona were out. To avoid attracting too much attention, he invited the suspicious trainers in. He had no intentions of letting them leave alive. "Feel free to step inside and we'll decide everything in a battle."

The invitation was obviously a trap; that was something that not even Ash could miss. Even so, he wasn't one to turn down a challenge. "I accept your challenge!" He agreed without a second thought.

"Ash," Misty paused, she wanted to get rid of Tempest as much as Ash did, if not more. She knew this was reckless, she knew it was a trap. Even with that knowledge she couldn't back down. They would take on the challenge together. She looked determined, "let's win this."

Ash and Misty were led inside, where they were surrounded by Tempest grunts. Purry followed them in. She decided to look for Comet first and battle that young man and his Pikachu later.

xoxox xox xoxox

Comet was trying to device an escape plan. He knew he would only get one chance. If he didn't succeed he would blow his cover and would make things difficult. He paced around the small underground room were Akira was held hostage. He had untied her from the chair, but she was still unconscious. After thinking about it, that was probably for the best.

"Meowth!" A familiar voice called out from the door. Comet opened it to see Purry.

Comet heard voices not too far away. Commands were being shouted and a battle was taking place. "What in the world is going on?" He went to take a look. At the end of the hall, in the large room beyond, there was chaos. Too many pokemon had been released at once. A storm of fire, water and electricity was raging dominantly above the other attacks. Battling in such a relatively small space was dangerous. "Those two were in the Cerulean Pokemon Center before," Comet recognized Ash and his friend. "Did the boss send them?" He wondered, "there's no time to give it too much thought. Purry, give them a hand, you can fight without me. I want to stay and battle, but I have to take the opportunity to get Akira out of here."

"Meowth!" Purry understood. She ran towards the intense battle, slashing away at all who got in her way. It didn't take her long to identify which pokemon were allied to Tempest and attack them.

Comet carried Akira out of the room where she was kept. He paused at the hallway and remembered the story from when Team Rocket took over the Viridian gym. Why not help out a little? It wouldn't take too long. He set the unconscious Akira down and went to release the pokemon from their cages. The pokemon ran with no specific target in mind, they just escaped through the chaos.

Dodging stray fire balls, beams of water and bolts of electricity, Comet snuck out of the hideout. Leaving the chaos behind, he dashed out of the alley. He hurried to his car with the unconscious Akira. Once safely inside the 'chocolate bar', he reported back to Team Rocket. He made sure to keep Akira's arms and legs tied up so she didn't cause any trouble if she woke up. "This is agent Comet, reporting from Saffron City, I have Akira."

"Well done," the one who replied from the Viridian Headquarters was Archer. His face appeared in the video cell phone's tiny screen. "Bring her to Viridian right away. Make sure she doesn't escape and don't let anyone follow you."

"Yes, sir!" Comet replied a little too cheerful, but it came as no surprise to Archer. Comet was a good agent despite having the same carefree attitude Luke had been known for. "Did the boss send Ash and his friend to battle Tempest?" He had to ask.

"What?" Archer was intrigued by this new development.

"They were with him when Giovanni stopped Tempest from stealing at the Cerulean City Pokemon Center. Because of that, I thought he must have sent them," Comet explained.

'Giovanni, what are you doing?' Archer silently mused. His expression was thoughtful and analytical as he remembered the report he saw on TV about Ash defending Giovanni. "It's fine, let them proceed, just bring Akira here."

xoxox xox xoxox

Back at the Tempest hideout, the glimmer of a gun was caught in the dim light of the basement. Charizard roared and blasted it away with fire, melting it. All the attacks and commands blended into one. Ash's Charizard and Pikachu and Misty's Gyarados worked well together despite the limited space. The mysterious Meowth was helping too. She was very strong despite not having evolved yet.

Pokemon ran by, as if they were wild, ignoring the humans. Some would get caught up in the attacks and others would rush by. Solo stepped away from the battle, leaving the rest of Tempest to fight without him. He was the one who invited the trainers in, but he didn't expect them to be so strong. He rushed to get the hostage and escape. Unfortunately for him, Akira was not where he left her and the one who was supposed to be guarding her had disappeared. He gave the rookie Tempest agent a useless job to mock him, but it all backfired.

xoxox xox xoxox

Jenny was patrolling the streets of Saffron City on her motorcycle. She saw a large group of seemingly wild pokemon heading in her direction. The pokemon spread out as they ran, but they seemed to be coming from the same place. It was an alley next to an apartment building. That was a troublesome area.

The citizens who lived in that building were rumored to be involved in all sorts of illegal activities. The police had tried to investigate, but the people complained that their homes and privacy were being invaded without a reason. The result was a scolding letter sent to the police station from the mysterious Saffron mayor. After that, the police had to back off.

This was Jenny's chance to get some solid proof that there was something illegal going on. The pokemon running out were very suspicious to say the least. She hurried towards the alley and parked her motorcycle in front of it. She walked down the dark alley and found that the door at the end was falling off its hinges. Many loud noises were heard from inside. She carefully peeked in and found a massive battle, this would require backup.

Jenny stepped away from the door and called for backup. The police cars arrived swiftly but noisily. They had turned on their sirens as they rushed towards her location. They were eager to prove that they were right about that building.

xoxox xox xoxox

Just when Solo thought things couldn't get any worse, he heard sirens outside. He rushed towards one of the storage rooms and found that the cages were open. All the pokemon had escaped. Cursing under his breath, he searched for a secret passage on the wall and revealed a thin tunnel with a hidden ladder. He quickly began to climb it, until he arrived at a secret room on the first floor.

The place was supposed to be an apartment building, but it was in truth the hideout of many criminals. Their illegal fields were varied and they all coexisted in secrecy since their businesses didn't often overlap. Solo hurried to the elevator and pressed the button to go to the top floor. The buildings on that street were close to each other. If he got to the roof, he could jump to another building and escape.

In the basement, Purry heard the police too. They must have been alerted by the noise and by all those pokemon rushing out. She loved battles and was enjoying the fight, but she knew it was time to leave. The strong Meowth rushed out and climbed up the wall in the alley. She escaped from the officers that were starting to gather there. With all the chaos, the Tempest grunts couldn't get away.

Jenny let her Arcanine out of his pokeball and charged in, "nobody move!" Nobody listened and the chaos continued.

A stray gun shot echoed, missing its target. "Who was that?" Ash searched for the armed enemy in the wild disarray. "Over there!" He spotted one of the Tempest grunts trying to take aim.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu let out another massive thunderbolt against the armed grunt. The electric attack also caught the pokemon and trainers next to him.

He dropped the gun and another enemy tried to pick it up. "No you don't," Misty noticed what was going on. She thought they had already gotten rid of all the weapons, "Gyarados, water gun!" Gyarados' water pushed away all the trainers and pokemon around the weapon, throwing them against a wall.

"Melt it, Charizard!" Ash pointed at the gun that was left on the floor. With a blast of fire it was rendered useless as the other weapons had been.

Jenny was feeling ignored and disrespected. She couldn't take this any longer, "we're going to need more reinforcements," she growled through clenched teeth.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon. Having fun? I know I am. XD