Pokémon: Generations
Chapter Ten – Destiny Fulfilled

Michael sat on the porch swing watching the sunset with the death of his best friends still fresh on his mind.
"Honey," Diane said as she joined him, "you really should come in."
Michael remained silent. Diane sat next him and grabbed his hand.
"It’s not your fault," she comforted.
"I wish I could believe that," he finally replied. "Maybe I should take Giovanni’s advised and just walk away."
"If you think that’s best," she said as she drew closer.
"Actually, I was thinking about the girls," he admitted. "They’re too young to take care of themselves, and I doubt John’s parents are up to raising four girls."
He looked at his wife’s eyes. "You always wanted to have a daughter," he continued. "If you think you handle five kids…"
"Let me think about it," she interrupted, "five kids is a lot to take care of."

Giovanni absently listened as Julie gave him the status report. His mind kept returning to the screams of the Waterflowers. Even after three weeks, they followed him into his dreams.
"Are you okay, sir?" Julie asked, interrupting his thoughts.
"It’s nothing," he replied. "Have Cassidy and Jessie report to me."
"Yes, sir," she replied as she walked off to find them.
Giovanni walked back to his office where one of his new acquisitions was waiting for him.
"How’s it going, boss?" the Meowth greeted.
"I have an assignment for you," he replied.
"What ever yous say," Meowth said as he leapt into Giovanni’s lap. "Meowth, what is it?"
"I want you to train two operatives," he informed the pokémon. "I want an elite force, and I don’t trust my current instructors to create it."
"Whatever yous say, boss," Meowth purred.
The door opened, and the two girls walked in front of the desk.
"You wanted to see us?" Cassidy asked.
"Yes," Giovanni replied. "I have decided to assign each of you to another partner."
"But boss," Jessie whined.
"You two have proved to exceptional so far," Giovanni continued. "I plan to form elite Rocket teams, and I see potential in you two."
"Then why break a winning combination?" Cassidy asked.
"I have two rising recruits who unfortunately are incompatible," Giovanni told her. "Since Jessie has had contact with one of them, he will be assigned to you. You will also take Meowth as your liaison and are to remain in Viridian."
"Yes, sir," Jessie sighed.
"As for you, Cassidy," Giovanni told the blonde girl, "I will send you and your new partner to Saffron to aid in the Silph Co. take over."
"Yes, sir."
"Now, Butch is waiting for you in Room 712," Giovanni told Cassidy. "Jessie, your partner will be here shortly."
Cassidy and Jessie shook hands and said good-bye. After Cassidy left, Jessie began to feel uncomfortable alone in the office with Giovanni and his pokémon.
"You wanted to see me," a voice said from the door. "Oh, I know you."
Jessie turned around and saw a face she had not seen in years.
"James," she greeted, "you joined Team Rocket."
"I thought it was good opportunity after you left the bike gang," he replied. "It just wasn’t the same without you."
"If you two are done," Giovanni interrupted, "I want you to began immediately."
"Yes, sir," both teens replied.
"Meowth, I have my worked cut out for me," Meowth sighed as he followed them.

Michael and Diane were enjoying their meal with Ash, both still thinking about the girls.
"Ash," Diane said to her son, "how would you feel about getting some sisters?"
Michael nearly choked on the food in his mouth.
"Why?" he asked.
"Well," she replied looking at Michael, "Uncle John and Aunt Emily’s girls need a Mommy and Daddy now, and we like to be them."
"Will you still play with me?" he asked.
"Of course," Diane smiled. "In fact, you’ll have even more people to play with."
Michael thought that the older three were too old to play with Ash, but Misty was another story. She seemed cut off from her sisters and having someone her own age would good for her. It would end up being beneficial to both of them.
"Remember Misty when she last visited?" Michael asked him.
Ash shook his head, not remembering the girl.
"She’s about your age, and I bet you two would be really good friends," Michael told him. "Maybe you’ll remember her when you see her."
"Okay," Ash said as he went back to his meal.
Diane looked at Michael and smiled. Michael realized he would have to ask Prof. Oak for raise or find a new job.

"I know it’s here somewhere," Lance grumbled as he dug through the old league records. "Here it is."
He pulled out the file he had been looking for since Michael called him.
"Gio(vanni) Rocket," he said as he thumbed through the papers. "Pokémon List."
After going down the list, he found the entry he expected.
"Better tell Michael," he said as he put the file away.

"Thanks, Lance," Michael said to the telephone receiver. "That’s a good start."
Michael hung the phone up and looked at the paper scattered on the table. Some were the ever growing bills, and some dealt with information on Team Rocket, but the ones that caught his eye were the adoption papers. After Mr. and Mrs. Waterflower gave Michael their consent, he began the long legal work.
"Dad," a small voice called from behind him.
"Yes, Ash?" Michael said as he turned around.
"Will I have to share you with them?" he asked.
"Yes," Michael replied as he picked up his son and put him in his lap, "but I still love you are much."
Ash sighed as he remain in his father’s lap.
"Is something wrong?" Michael asked.
"That bad man was in my dream again," Ash replied. "He took you away from me and Mommy."
"I would never let that happen," Michael assured his son. "Now get up to bed."
"Yes, sir," Ash said as he ran upstairs.

Giovanni frowned as he saw two more teams arrested in the news. And the man helping them was Ketchum.
"You should’ve listened," he said as he turned off the television. "Now you’re going to join your friends."

While Michael and Diane were talking with the Waterflowers and a lawyer, Ash was outside with his new ‘sisters.’
"You, like, have suck funny hair," Daisy commented.
"And those marks on his checks," Lilly noted.
"Let’s, like, not forget his clothes," Violet told her sisters.
"What’s wrong with how I dress?" Ash demanded.
"Nothing," Violet replied. "If you don’t mind looking like something a Meowth dragged in."
Ash just glared at the older girls. He then looked over at the other one. She had been awfully quiet since they arrived.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
Misty looked at him. "I don’t have a Mom or Dad, anymore," she replied.
"But you can have mine," he told her.
She remained staring for a few minutes and then smiled. "I’m glad you’re going to be my brother," she told him. "You’re much nicer than my sisters."
Ash gave her a goofy smile when the door opened.
"You’re a good man, Michael Ketchum," Mr. Waterflower told Michael. "Take good care of our son’s daughters."
"Thank you, sir," Michael replied. "I’ll come back in a few days to pick them up."
"Very well," Mrs. Waterflower told them as the lawyer walked to clerks office to file the paperwork.
"Come on, Ash," Diane called to her son. "You’ll be able to talk with Misty anytime you want."

It was a stormy night as the car drove down the road back to Pallet. Michael looked back at his sleeping son in the rear seat and then smiled at his wife next to him.
"He is growing up so soon," he whispered.
"Yes," Diane agreed. "Soon he will leave on his pokémon journey."
"But not for at least three more years," Michael laughed.
Suddenly the storm grew worse with the downfall of heavy rain. Concentrating on the road, he never saw the other car coming. It slammed into the driver's side sending the car into the ditch.
As the wife and mother regained her senses, she looked at her husband and screamed.
"MICHEAL!!"
His eyes stared blankly as his head loosely laid on his shoulder. Blinded by her tears, she shook his arm hoping he would come to. As she cried, his body began to glow. The light soon left his body and formed a globe that shot out into the night.
Trying to regain her control, she looked back at her son who was now crying in the back seat. She quickly reached for son and pulled him into her arms. She then got out of the car and stood in the pouring rain trying to calm both her son and herself.
"There, there," she said softly to the boy. "Everything is going to be all right," she lied.
She looked up at the car that hit them and saw its driver slumped over the wheel. She climbed back unto the road and saw a pair of headlights coming. She waved the car down and asked him to drive ahead to the next phone and call an ambulance.
After twenty minutes, or an eternity, the police and ambulance arrived but too late for either driver.

Giovanni looked at the crime report in his hand. The operation cost him a decent a recruit, but to be rid of the annoyance made it worth the price.
"Now let’s get down to business," he told congregated Team Rocket.

Diane cried as the casket was taken to the graveyard, but her tears of despair turned to fright as six Haunters chased away the pallbearers. They then took the casket away with them in their retreat. Michael had once explained that all his family was buried in a special place, but now she was robbed of even having him nearby.

After the funeral, she ran into the Waterflowers who gave their condolences to the widow and informed her that the adoption papers had been canceled in light of the accident. She could only agree with them since she would have her hands full raising Ash alone.
"Don't worry," she comforted her son as the walked home, "we'll be all right, Ash."

"Where am I?" Michael asked as he was surrounded by mist.
From the fog, a woman in a green dressed appeared.
"Welcome home, my son," she greeted.

(Continued in Pokémon: Destiny)