Ash breathed in the smell of the sea, enjoying the gentle (if swift) sway of the water underneath her.

She felt reborn again. A bit older, a bit wiser and experienced...but like she could still reclaim the Ash she had been and always was. She didn't feel like she was drowning anymore.

A warm, calloused hand was placed on her stomach, rubbing it slightly. She opened her eyes to see Archie grinning down at her and blocking the sun.

"Thinking again?" he asked.

"But not sad thoughts," she smiled slightly at him.

He sat back to make room for her to sit up and she leaned into him, placing her forehead against his damp shoulder. Under them, Kyogre continued to keep pace with the S.S. Aqua, which was making the last leg of its journey to Johto.

"I'm sorry we can't take you to Kanto, but the region's locked up like a cage," Archie told her. "No one in or out without permission and careful observation, and you know," he gestured to himself and his ship. "We're not going to be the type to pass inspection."

Ash giggled a little, but she understood. She wouldn't want Archie and the others to get arrested, especially when they were just trying to get her home. Archie smiled slightly to himself, watching her be in better cheer than she had been. He pulled her into a kiss.

"You pick yourself up," he told her. "You keep picking yourself up, you hear me? Don't you ever let anything or anyone drag you down to that level ever again."

"I promise," she swore, because she could remember everyone this time and hold onto them and her cherished memories.

"Good girl," he approved with a fond grin, and moved himself so that he could sit side by side with her. They looked out to the setting sun. "This is still really, really cool, you know that?" he patted Kyogre.

Ash smiled widely. "It is!"

Kyogre made an amused sound from underneath them.

~*~*~

Cyrus washed his hands, barely looking over to the unconscious trafficker on the floor.

"Another, Cyrus?" Saturn asked, though Cyrus couldn't tell if he was exasperated at another trafficker to clean up after or if he was asking Cyrus if he wanted another trafficker be brought in.

"Another," he stoically answered, choosing to think he'd meant the latter. Before Saturn could leave though, "Has all the bases of the traffickers been located in Sinnoh?"

Here, Saturn grinned darkly. "Yes, sir. All the information we've received from our Rocket allies indicated where every single one of them has been located. We just finished extraction for the victims yesterday, and are currently placing the explosives in place."

Satisfied, Cyrus dismissed him. He glanced at the pool of blood left behind, and thought back to when -of all people -Giovanni Rocketto had stormed into his office -his Galactic office -and had snapped him out of it. He was grateful for it, because now he was able to focus and get his aggression out.

If he couldn't show up those traffickers, he'd get the information and smoke them out afterwards.

His phone rang then and he frowned. Seeing who it was, however, he answered it quickly.

"Giovanni," he greeted his fellow boss, which was still a surprise.

"Cyrus," Giovanni greeted back irritably. Cyrus stiffened up, but knew that tone wasn't furious so Ash was hopefully still okay. "Steven Stone contacted me recently. Apparently, his uncle was a buyer for some traffickers and was arrested when Stone found out, however his uncle escaped police custody. That's not really important."

Cyrus raised an eyebrow slightly. "What is then?"

"He'd bought Ash."

That had Cyrus tensing up and clenching his hands tightly.

"I have to head back to Johto for some sort of emergency," Giovanni's irritation heightened. "So I need you to head to Hoenn to check it out and find out more from Stone. See if you can track down the other Team Bosses, find out if they know anything. If they won't cooperate, I'll have my Rockets in that region help you out," he ended in a dark tone.

"Very well. I'm finishing up here and will leave Jupiter and Mars in charge, while I take Saturn with me."

"Good. Colress will meet you over at Hoenn, along with Serena."

They exchange a few more words before they hung up. Consequently, Cyrus closed his eyes as he remembered Jupiter and Mars bringing Giovanni in and finding his will again.

Cyrus was morosely staring out his window again, when the doors to his office burst open and an unlikely person strode in. One of his business associates was there, and Cyrus had to admit he'd been surprised by the appearance of Giovanni Rocketto, especially in this particular office.

"Brooding won't do you any good," Giovanni said brusquely, observing him. "If you wanted to help her, then do something yourself and not just make orders. Make the traffickers pay. Make them squeal for Arceus' sakes. Don't let them run around on your turf. This is your home ground. So do something about it."

Cyrus felt himself straightening up, torn between glaring at the other and agreeing. He went with both.

"Of course I will," he snapped at Giovanni. "If I can find those bastards!"

Giovanni started smirking. "I've got a nice little birdy willing to tell all. He's pretty in the know, so I bet he can tell me some things about this region's group of traffickers. Are you really willing to do something now?"

"Yes," he said firmly.

Cyrus made good on his promise to Giovanni and to himself. He just needed to make good on his promise to Ash now.

~*~*~

Ash waved goodbye on the shores of Goldenrod City. Archie and his crew waved back, though they had to make a quick retreat less they be seen and caught. When she could no longer see them, she turned to face the city she was left in, before finally making her feet move. She asked around about a place for transportation, trying her best to be careful. Thankfully, her luck was holding out and she even managed to find a bus that was heading to Ecruteak City. From there, it would be a quick road to Mahogany Town, where Archie had told her he had a contact that would be able to take her to Kanto finally.

She was excited and couldn't wait. She could be home soon, in no less than a couple of weeks maybe. She just had to continue to be patient and careful.

Getting on the bus, Ash settled in for a long drive and hummed to herself under her breath. During the drive, she couldn't help falling asleep. A sudden jolt later found herself waking up to the day having turned dark and the bus having stopped.

"Okay, ladies and gentlemen! We have arrived to our destination. For further information or any questions, please politely line up. Otherwise, you all may disembark in an orderly fashion!"

Rubbing at her eyes, Ash got up and was quick to exit the bus quietly. She looked around and warily eyed the city. She didn't want to roam around it in the dark of the night, finding a place to sleep. Looking to the other side of the bus, she oddly felt like something was calling her out to that direction. Taking a risk, she chose that way instead, and saw it led to a trail outside the city. There was an old, hidden sign that called it the 'Bellchime Trail.'

She continued in this direction until she ended up in front of an old, beautiful tower. Cautiously entering it, she found another sign calling it the Bell Tower, matching the name of the trail. Deciding this would be a good place to sleep for the night, Ash made to find a comfortable niche to settle in. Once she'd found one though, she found she couldn't sleep and wanted to explore the tower. Curiously moving around a floor, she kept going until she was all the way to the top. On the last floor until the roof, she stopped in surprise when she saw she wasn't alone.

A magnificent, large bird rested in the middle of the cavernous room, glittering gold and red swirling with green. Ash watched it in awe, but then as she moved to head back down, her shoe scuffed against something and made a noise, causing the great avian to stir and then awake. It looked at her in the eye and tilted its head. Then it made a beautiful trilling sound and stood up, expanding its wings. When it looked to her, Ash got the feeling it wanted her to come closer.

Hesitantly doing so, once she was near she could intuitively tell this pokémon was a she and wouldn't do her any harm. In fact, the moment she was within reach, she enveloped Ash within her wings and held Ash close.

Ash sighed contentedly, feeling warm and safe. If whatever this pokémon was would be so kind to her, she could feel herself fill up with hope again.

Ash fell asleep, and Ho-Oh trilled in both happiness and sadness as she watched over her.

But the morning dawned bright and early for Ash, and the pokémon of the night before was nowhere to be seen. Deciding to get an early start, and to leave before she could be caught and found, Ash left the tower and then navigated her way through the city until she was at the entrance of the route that would help lead her to Mahogany Town. It would be quite a walk, but the distance wasn't really too bad.

After a few routes, Ash tiredly found herself in Mahogany. She was surprised she'd made it, but it had taken her all of the morning and most of the day to make the trip. It kind of made her excited, given it was kind of like how if she had actually been on a real pokémon journey and was traveling on the road.

When she looked up, just quickly she caught the rainbow trailing lights of the pokémon she saw before, flying ahead and disappearing into the clouds. Smiling widely, Ash continued her trek into the town. It was rather small and it didn't take her long until she found the only store there. It was, amusingly enough, called "Just a Souvenir Shop." Ash entered it and noted the various pokémon stuff being sold, as well as things for humans too. The big thing being sold there was something called a Rage Candy Bar.

"Can I help you, young lady?" a creepy old man walked towards her.

Hesitantly, she looked around. She pointed at the candy bars on the shelf. "Are those really good?"

The old man chortled. "Of course they are! Bruno of the Elite Four adores them, as does Professor Rowan of Sinnoh. They're a yummy delicacy, young lady. I'll even cut you a deal."

Eager, Ash nodded before inwardly shaking herself. She was supposed to find Archie's contact, who he told her would be in Mahogany Town and would be in a store. Since this was the only store, his contact would be here soon.

"Ah, sorry, mister," Ash said instead. "Maybe I should wait. I'm supposed to meet someone here."

"Someone? Who would you meet here?"

She hesitated, before deciding to ask the old man. "I'm supposed to meet someone here that a man named Archie said could help me."

The old man frowned and then went to the door, locking it and flipping the open sign to close. Ash grew wary and tensed up.

"Well, young lady, are you the Ash that Archibald Aogiri sent word to the Team Rocket base here was supposed to come?" he asked seriously, and Ash blinked at hearing about Team Rocket.

"Um, I guess so," she answered.

He nodded and went to a cabinet, moving it to reveal a secret entrance.

"Come with me."

Ash hesitantly followed the old man down the stairs, to what she assumed was the first floor of the basement. There were a ton of Persian statues, elegantly made and reminding her of the beautiful Persian that she remembered Giovanni having.

"This is Petrel's operation," the old man informed her. "He'll be back soon, and he'll be the one to take you to Kanto. For now, you'll have to wait it out here. There are other Rocket agents, so you must wear a uniform to not bring any suspicion to you."

Ash nodded to show she understood. At the end of the floor, they turned into a hallway and slipped into a room, where there were multiple clothes racks with many sizes of the Rocket uniform.

"Choose your size and change into it," the old man told her. "You may roam around after, but be careful of what you do and say. I must return back to the shop and keep watch. If you need anything, come to me."

Ash gave him a small smile and he left. She then browsed the room, trying to find her size. Finding her size for the uniforms, she grabbed them and then some boots, and then changed into them. Afterwards, she browsed around that floor, finding that it contained a few rooms that contained bunks, separate shower rooms, and a small break room that had a kitchenette. She went into the second floor and saw the generator, that had a few Rockets working there, and then the last floor had a lot of workstations which had even more Rockets around.

She hoped this wouldn't be a long wait, though for her, a little longer was fine given how long she'd waited already to get home.

~*~*~

Ash had become bored in her wait, so she'd come to offer her help, eventually being mistaken as a new recruit by the other Team Rocket members. Well, it wasn't like she hadn't officially or unofficially joined the other Teams and worked for them. She might as well join this one and make it a full collection.

"Hey! Come on," one of the other grunts, Fred, yelled to her. "We're going to be late! We should've been at the lake base 10 minutes ago!"

"Coming!" Ash answered back, swiping her uniform newsies cap off the table and putting it on her head.

She joined the rest of the group in the black van, and sat down as it was started to drive towards the Lake of Rage.

"Rage Bar?" Paul, another grunt, asked her as he ate one and held out another.

Fred snickered. "If you hand her one, the others will mysteriously vanish!"

Ash pouted. "Quiet, Freddie!" Nevertheless, she accepted it amidst laughter.

"You think we're going to see that rampaging Gyarados?" Grant, Fred's usual partner, asked them nervously.

"I thought that was a rumor," Ash bit her lip.

"Who knows what those scientists up there are up to," Paul grunted. "Almost makes me want to join the groups focusing on the trafficker hunt."

At that, Ash perked up. She had known, since her time with Siebold, that Team Rocket had mysteriously and vehemently taken up the job of hunting down and putting down the traffickers with a vengeance, unmercifully punishing them.

"Well, I don't think you'll have to wait too soon on that," Grant told him. "It looks like slowly all the units are being turned around and focusing on the traffickers; there aren't really many units that aren't these days. Not that I mind -my sister was telling me the other day how she'd almost been taken when she went to the store. Looks like they're getting desperate in these parts, 'cause we're running them down. But I'd mess those bastards up the next time I see 'em! Mess with my family, I tell ya."

"Here, here!" Fred agreed.

The van stopped and they then piled out of the car. In the distance, they could hear yells and screams and they traded looks with each other. They started to run towards the lake, where they saw a giant, red Gyarados rampaging in the waters and attacking the grunts there.

"Well, crap. You jinxed us, Grant," Fred gaped in horror at the furious pokémon. "What the hell are we going to do now?"

Ash stared as well. She didn't want anyone to get hurt, and she could also feel the Red Gyarados was angry and in pain. She had to do something.

Not thinking about it, she ran towards the angry beast and waded in the water. She then, using the swimming lessons Archie had given her, dived into the lake and began to swim towards the Red Gyarados. Its lower body was angrily swaying under the water, but Ash managed to maneuver herself around it and get to its side. She then clambered onto it and made a suicidal decision to climb up its long length and make her way onto the Gyarados' head. By the time it noticed her, it was too late and Ash was on its head. However, it still tried to violently shake her off, tossing its head back and forth.

At least it was distracted enough by her that the rest of her fellow Rocket grunts were getting out of harm's way. Unfortunately, that didn't include her unit, who were loyally waiting around if she needed assistance or something. Still holding on, she managed to whisper soothing nonsense into the Red Gyarados' ear, petting its head calmly. She was relieved as it began to calm down, and she realized she could tell it was a she.

"Hey, girlie!" she heard an unfamiliar voice yell. She looked to who it was, seeing an older man with lavender hair and goatee, and who was currently smoking heavily. He held up a pokéball. "Catch!"

Ash automatically held out her hands and managed to catch the pokéball from the unknown Rocket member. She then hesitated, looking down at the Red Gyarados, who was now calm and quiet. Her eyes glanced up at her and she swam towards the shore, lowering her head for Ash to get off. When Ash did, the pokémon then waited patiently and she unsurely tapped the pokéball against the Red Gyarados' head, sucking her inside the pokéball. She waited a few moments as it shook and then it stopped, signaling she'd caught the Gyarados.

There was slow clapping, and the smoking man came closer to her.

"Not bad, kid," he complimented her. "I'm Petrel."

Ash stared at him before giving a huge sigh of relief. "You're finally here!"

To say he and her unit was confused was an understatement.

~*~*~

"Well...this is sort of awkward."

The three bosses glared at Colress, but he unflinchingly stared back while raising a single blond eyebrow.

"It is, isn't it? Three of you men, all with very important, intimate relationships with one girl, and all of you here together and confronting each other. I'm a bit jealous, though my main concern at the end of the day was at least she was happy. She was happy, wasn't she?" he asked them with a worried frown.

"Yes," Archie said firmly, while Cyrus nodded stiffly.

Maxie flinched however. "I don't know. She...she seemed so sad and miserable, and I was trying my best to make her happy."

"If we follow the timeline, she came to you after she was kidnapped from me and...taken by that Miranda," Cyrus scowled down at the floor.

Maxie inhaled sharply, his eyes closing. "When I first saw her, there was so much blood. So, so much blood..."

Everyone in the room stiffened up and watched him unhappily, trying not to imagine it.

"Her back was horribly wounded," Maxie confessed. "It bled so much and it took a long time for it to heal whatsoever."

"She ran away from you, yeah?" Archie asked him, with a morose tone. "I knew she was unhappy. She was a miserable wreck at first, which hadn't been helped since she'd been brought aboard my ship by her owner," he spat out. The others were infuriated as well. "I think part of that was because she didn't feel good about herself, and had a low opinion about herself."

"It couldn't be helped," Colress sighed. "She didn't mean to be unhappy or to run away from you, and as your letter from her indicated, she was full of insecurities. You said she wrote that she didn't feel worthy being with you and that she didn't know how you felt, right?" At Maxie's nod, Colress continued. "Then whatever happened between her and that Miranda woman had unsettled her enough before she'd come into your care, that it had deeply been ingrained into her and upset her mind."

"I wish I could've done something though," Maxie said in frustration. "Or said something. It took him to help her, when I couldn't do anything," the red head glared bitterly over at Archie.

The bigger man shrugged nonchalantly. Colress immediately cut in and continued, before a fight could break out between those two.

"That said, Archie, you said that you'd brought her over to Johto, right? Why not Kanto, which is her home?" Colress remembered that tidbit.

Archie made a face. "Kanto's locked down. That Giovanni's got the region all boarded up and maximum security. Me and mine would've gotten arrested before we could've gotten Ash to her home."

Colress actually snorted and started laughing, drawing Archie's ire and Maxie's annoyance. Cyrus, however, understood, though he found it less funny and more exasperating.

"Giovanni Rocketto is the boss of Team Rocket," Colress revealed to the shock of the other two, and dismay as well for Archie. "If he'd known you had the girl he's been looking for for the past few years, he would've gotten you into Kanto no problem."

"It is good use of his personas," Cyrus mused. "His public persona as Giovanni the gym leader and business mogul is pushing progress on the public and legal side of things, when dealing with the traffickers. And as the Rocket Boss, he's able to do the more illegal and inhumane things needed to fully take out these people."

"You thinking of doing something like that?" Archie glanced at the thoughtful Galactic Boss.

"Yes," Cyrus confirmed. "I've a lot of pull as well, if not as much as Giovanni. But it'll be enough to push things through, where needed."

"I miss her," Colress said suddenly. The others looked at him, giving him mixed emotions with what he said, slightly upset he brought that up. Jealous, upset to be reminded she's not there with them, worried..."I miss her bright smile, the way her eyes lit up. I miss her."

All other emotions left them, aside from longing and affection.

"I do too," Archie echoed.

And so did the others, but they could only hope that at least she was heading home.

~*~*~

"I can't go home yet?" Ash asked Petrel, feeling upset.

"Sorry, kid," he gave her an apologetic look. "Boss is coming soon and I have to wait for him. I've got important...cargo that I've retrieved and he would want to deal with. Afterwards, you can even leave with him to go back to Kanto. He's sympathetic to your problems. You know what the Team's been like with this whole trafficking hunt. He's the one who started this thing, so you can bet he wouldn't mind taking you home."

She nodded reluctantly. "Can I ask what's the cargo?"

She felt uneasy and a little disturbed at his sadistic grin, showing a different side to nice guy she'd met.

"Some little bitch named Miranda. A high-up trafficker I caught on a ship heading back to Kanto from Sinnoh. We've been looking for this one for a long time, and now we've finally got her," Petrel practically crowed in triumph.

Ash froze up at who he said he had, not wanting to flashback to that time where she'd been chained up and at the mercy of Miranda. Petrel noticed her reaction.

"You know her?" he asked. "Recognize her, kid?"

She had started to curl into a ball on her seat, closing her eyes and trying to block it out. But she couldn't and she was going to be lashed at again and -

Gloved hands took hold of her arms and she blinked, raising her head to face a concerned Petrel.

"You don't have to deal with her," he said quietly. "She's not your problem anymore and you don't have to see her at all. I promise, kid, she's going to get what's coming to her."

Ash let out the breath she'd been holding in, ending up sniffling a little. She gave him a small smile.

"Alright, time to head back to the Mahogany base," Petrel stood up and stretched, dropping his cigarette onto the ground and snuffing it out with his foot. "Let's get out of here, huh?"

Ash followed him to the van, where her unit had been waiting and had cautiously been eavesdropping, since they'd only been a foot away from where she and Petrel had been talking. And then Petrel was driving the van back and parking it nearby the store. The group of them entered the store, greeting old man Trowa, and then going down the secret staircase. They entered the first floor, where the guys around her paused. Wondering why, she looked to where they were looking to. But she couldn't hear anything, not even Petrel greeting their boss.

Her eyes alighted on the man she hadn't forgotten in the 16 years she had waited for him.

Without another care, Ash ran towards Giovanni Rocketto and let herself cry out everything the past few years had piled onto her, only wanting to be with him. She could see his eyes find her the moment she pushed passed Petrel, widening as he recognized her, and the shock settle in once she'd started running. Her tears flew passed her face as she ran, and she threw herself at him when she reached him.

He caught her easily, his arms tightening around her protectively. As she cried into his chest and he murmured soothing things onto the top of her head, all she could think of was home.

Homehomehomehomehome...

It repeated in a chant in her mind, because that's what she felt at the moment. Being in his arms, it didn't seem to matter that she wasn't in Pallet or even in Kanto.

In Giovanni's arms, it felt like she was finally home.