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Loyalty

Chapter 05: Anger

The unexpected predicament had begun when the Azure Alliance, secretly being manipulated by the police, kidnapped Delia. As he rushed to his mother's rescue, Ash never would have guessed that those to blame for the abduction would turn out to be Misty and her sisters. Her reasons to take such harsh actions were unclear, until the red haired Cerulean gym leader revealed that Team Rocket, hinting specifically at Giovanni, had been responsible for her parents' death.

It was obvious that the accusation struck a chord with Delia. She knew something, she remembered a vital event. Being pushed to talk by her own son's eyes, Delia spoke softly. "It was a long time ago, there was a..." how could she properly say it? "A fight..."

"You don't need to sugarcoat it!" Misty yelled in angry frustration. "My father was a part of Team Rocket, after meeting my mother he wanted to clean up his act. He wanted to start anew and live an honest life with his family. Giovanni wouldn't let him go, he knew too much." At this point, misty could no longer hold back her tears and allowed them to flow freely down her face. "Giovanni murdered my father and that's all there is to it. He murdered my mother as well soon after. I was still a baby; I can't even remember their faces! I was given to my grandmother as a baby, with my sisters remaining in the Cerulean gym, tended to by relatives. They got every material thing they wanted, but that's it. Then when I was considered old enough, I was returned to the gym with my sisters so that grandma could rest without the work of raising a child in her old age."

Misty sobbed, gasping for air. "We lived alone receiving help from relatives, but they only thought about giving us money." More so to the three oldest, Misty had always been left out, though she never understood why. She concluded that perhaps there simply wasn't enough room in the budget to spoil four girls, but there was room for three. It didn't matter too much though, they still lacked love. "Our uncle, father's cousin whom we thought of as our uncle, was the only one who ever showed true compassion for us, but Team Rocket took him away too when I was very young. They killed my parents, they killed my uncle, they took everything away and left us without an explanation thinking we would never know!"

Delia shook her head, her eyes downcast in compassion and guilt. "That's not quite how it happened. The truth is-"

"I don't want your twisted version of the truth!" Misty screamed desperately, her hand resting on one of the pokeballs on her belt.

"Stop!" Ash ordered and the atmosphere appeared to turn into an unbearable stillness as he spoke. "If what happened was so long ago, if it took you this long to find out, then the information can be false." He tried to reason with Misty.

Trying to tame her wild emotions Misty took a deep breath, leaving the pokeball to rest on her belt untouched. "I will listen," she finally decided.

Delia let out a deep breath having an internal debate with herself. Should she tell the truth? She couldn't bare to lie to her son who clearly wanted to hear the full truth. "Your father didn't simply want to leave Team Rocket in peace; that might have been negotiable with a little compromise. He tried to sell out the organization to the police at a critical point. Many Rockets were put in harm's way because of his betrayal and it was one of the biggest police raids Team Rocket underwent. Because of that, choosing to protect his organization and avenge his followers, Giovanni killed your father. One shot through the heart, it was quick."

"That's supposed to be a consolation?" misty growled through gritted teeth.

"Please try to understand what he did," Delia pleaded. "Giovanni's action was harsh and extreme, wrong, but it could have been worse for many others if things were left as they were. Tidus had become an enemy to Team Rocket, he-"

"Don't even say my father's name," Misty's voice was low and bitter. "Not if you're going to make up excuses. My father did what he thought was right, he didn't run away. I can't accuse him for that. Even if it was to defend his organization, I can't let Giovanni's actions pass either. This wasn't just limited to my father, it was about my mother and father's cousin too. Why did they have to die? Are you going to tell me they became enemies of Team Rocket too? What do you claim they did?"

"She tried to kill me," there was a bitter edge to Delia's voice as she revealed the truth. "Worse yet, she tried to kill Ash. Of course you wouldn't know, you were a baby. I don't blame you if you don't believe me, I'm just tainting your sweet memories built on theories. The one who chouse your mother's sentence was me." Delia's confession brought forth gasps of surprise from both Misty and Ash, their eyes locked on her. "Coral tried to avenge Tidus by killing me. Given that I was pregnant and very close to giving birth I was unable to put up much of a fight. I nearly drowned and Ash along with me. The reason why she was able to go that far in the first place was because I foolishly ran off in anger leaving my guards behind. I had a bad argument with Giovanni about Tidus' sentence, but following Coral's actions, I admit I lost all pity for them."

"You're lying..." Misty's voice was barely above a whisper while her faced betrayed the words. She knew Delia was telling the truth, somehow she simply knew. "Giovanni killed my father and you killed my mother?"

"Indirectly," Delia admitted, "I suppose that doesn't make it better, if anything it makes it worse. I barely made it out of that experience alive. Labor was induced to save Ash and all the while I gave birth and the doctors ran around doing what they could, I wondered if my baby would survive, I wondered if it was too late or if he would suffer the terrible effects of my near death experience with his own death or with some irreparable damage. I was grateful when my son was miraculously born healthy. For the unforgivable crime of putting Ash in danger, I sentenced Coral to life in the dungeons. There she struggled to survive for several years until she finally died."

A thick silence hung in the air for several minutes. "I still want vengeance," Misty whispered. "I guess there's nothing more left for me but to live and fight or die. I'm an enemy of Team rocket, aren't I? If I am to be hunted, I might as well go on a hunt of my own."

"It's not too late for you. I'll talk to Giovanni this once. Lay low and move back into your normal life. Your unlawful record will be frozen, if you prove yourself to be trusted to stay out of trouble, you'll be left alone." Delia offered. "This will take a great deal of convincing on my part, don't waste your chance."

"I don't think I want your so called mercy," Misty whispered bitterly, the fight was gone from her eyes, at least for the time being. She didn't even bother to continue her interrogation asking about her father's cousin, who had played the role of an uncle for her and her sisters. She didn't want to hear some story about him being some terrible traitor that had to be punished. She didn't want to hear anything more from anyone related to Team Rocket.

"Too bad because you desperately need it!" Ash suddenly snapped harshly. He was past the point of denial and into the territory of anger with his temper having become more noticeable in the recent years.

The flare of anger in Misty's eyes was immediate as her gaze met Ash's. "you're in no position to talk, you're-"

"The son of a murderer?" Ash snapped in anger, not willing to listen to anything anyone said. His choice of wording brought an upset gasp from Delia which he ignored. "You should talk, you're the daughter of a murderer yourself, or at least a would be murderer." All his tensions were coming undone and he couldn't help it but to unleash his anger. He stepped forward glaring fiercely. "If you're given a chance take it and use it well. You're in no position to protest!"

"You can't abuse your father's power with me!" Misty yelled back, raising her hand in a moment of aggressive instinct to slap Ash's face. Her palm made contact harshly, the echo of the hit being followed by a scream of pain coming from Misty as Pikachu gave her a harsh shock which knocked her back several feet. This was different from Pikachu's power from her younger days traveling with Ash. The static clung to her every cell and Misty found herself trapped in a paralysis that left her limp on the cave floor.

"Please stop!" Delia shouted, but refrained from any further arguments as the atmosphere became still again.

Misty twitched as she tried to force her aching body to respond. This was the same Pikachu who refused to battle her in as much as a friendly match even if Ash had asked him to do so in the past. The same pokemon now attacked her without his trainer's command in defense of that same trainer. That was what he had been taught it seemed, pokemon too had their own loyalties.

Ash was frozen in shock for some time. His hand slowly traveling to the affected area of his face adorned in a stinging shade of red. "Don't count on me," his voice was barely above a whisper at first, then turned harsh. "We're not friends anymore Misty, don't count on me to defend you if Team Rocket hunts you down, I'll just look the other way!" He turned away and once more released his Charizard from his pokeball. "Mother, let's go."

With a look of shock and fright, Delia was unable to move for a few seconds. "Ash..."

"I said let's go!" Ash snapped harshly, taking Delia's wrist and pushing her to hurry climbing on Charizard's back. He climbed on himself, "hold on," he made only the shadow of a pause to allow his mother to do so before he commanded, "take us home as fast as you can." By that he meant the Viridian City gym, Charizard already understood that 'home' was no longer Pallet Town. The powerful fire pokemon took off, disappearing in the skies above.

In the cavern, left behind to drown in her thoughts, Misty got to her feet and stretched. Her every muscle ached, Pikachu had certainly gotten stronger while her pokemon got little training aside from choreographies designed to amuse a crowd and battling amateur trainers with impossible dreams to become pokemon masters. This was thinking of Ash alone, never mind the armies that stood behind him uniformed with red Rs.

She leaned against the cavern wall and sat there for a moment contemplating her next move until the arrival of cautious footsteps snapped her out of her deep thoughts. She was relived when the source of the footsteps came into view. Daisy, Violet and Lily were back, Misty knew it was only a matter of time before their will to escape for the sake of the greater good gave in and they came rushing back into what could be inevitable captivity for her sake.

Misty stood wordlessly and gave her sisters a bitter forced smile. "I need to have a long talk with you." A part of her knew that what Delia said was true, but a part of her didn't want to believe it. First things first, she needed to know exactly what happened. Either way, she would never justify her parents' death, but if she at least understood the full extent of the circumstances surrounding it she could better decide what to do without the foolishness of following anonymous leads that could be traps from the police. It made sense; they must have dug out some old records and put them into use for their benefit.

The four sisters retreated into their little hideout in Cinnabar Island to recover some of their energy and decide their next move. Misty knew the revelations she had to share would be shocking and harsh, but her sisters deserved to know the truth.

To be Continued

Those who read Don't Give Me Diamonds will not only recognize the OCs, but also might notice that in terms of a time frame this picks up around the time that one ends, but with a different past. I explain that in Endless (my extra stories collection) and link the two stories there, although they are conceptually entirely different continuities.

Next Chapter: Part of the secret past is out, but there are still certain aspects that remain hidden... though not for long.