PART TWO – I THINK OF HOME

The girl laughed contentedly. It was hard to imagine being happier. In her hands she held the best present she could have gotten from her mother for her birthday… it was a pokeball! Well, OK, so it wasn't real, but still! How cool was it that she had been given this kind of a present at age six??? The girl tossed the red and white toy ball in the air, caught it in her hand, and laughed gleefully. All the other girls she knew were still playing with their dollies. When they saw her with THIS baby, they'd all know who was the top one, the best there ever could be.

"There's more, Annie." Her mother said. "Press the release button!"

Annie's eyes opened wide with adoration as she pressed the button and the ball popped open to reveal a small, detailed plastic figure of a Charizard. Annie laughed and looked at her smiling mother. "Mommy! I can be the best Pokemon trainer ever with this!"

Carrie Kaldron-Masterson looked at her daughter with love and sadly wished her father were still alive to see this moment. "Of course you can, Annie. You will always be the best. The best daughter, the best trainer, the most special little girl in the world!" Carrie told her.

The little girl gave her mother a tight hug and ran outside to the backyard of their small cottage. Once outside, she faced the tree at the back of the yard. "You wanna try to beat me???" she demanded of the tree. Her opponent stood there silently, its leaves rustling from the breeze. "Well, you can't! Nobody can beat me! I am the best trainer ever! Go, Charizard!" Annie popped the toy Pokeball open and the figure glared at the tree as Annie growled and imitated the sounds of the Pokemon battles she had seen on television while Carrie watched from the back door window. Such great things were in store for her child… Of this, Carrie was more certain than she had ever been before… More certain than she had ever been of anything at all…

Annie stood in the empty old cottage wearing sunglasses and an overcoat. She knew it was a risk to get this close to Viridian City, but she hadn't cared. She had to see it once again at least, even if she hadn't been there in years. This was the cottage she remembered from her childhood, the cottage that had been her home until that day… the day when her mother had had the… accident… and her Auntie Raven had come for her. Annie crossed the empty, dusty room that had once been their kitchen to the large open part of the wall where the back door had hung. The yard had become overrun with weeds and crabgrass due to the years of neglect that came with nobody buying the cottage or removing it. That tree still stood in the back, it's limbs bare, dried, and twisted.

Annie hadn't wanted to leave this place. She had begged her Auntie Raven to let her stay, but Raven had told her it was impossible. Her mother had had an accident, and wouldn't be able to take care of her anymore. She had led Annie out of the yard by way of the side of the house, not taking her inside, and had led her to the big Jeep with a white flag emblazoned with a red R. Raven had then buckled the young girl, barely 6 and a half years old, into the seat, and climbed in to drive Annie to her new home, the large gym in Viridian City. Annie had cried all the way there as Raven tried to calm and comfort her, telling her of the great things and adventures that awaited them at their destination. It only barely worked, but once the young girl had arrived and seen the wonders of this club, this… Team, she had never looked back and had accepted Raven and her team mates as mentors. After all, they had wanted what her mother had wanted, hadn't they? For her to be the best?

Over the years, Annie slowly learned the truth in bits and pieces… how her father had died in a car accident just weeks after learning that her mother was pregnant with her, How Carrie had attempted to work despite her pregnancy, how she had been forced to turn to illegal work for the dreaded Team Rocket to cover her expenses, acting as a spy, a mule, and whatever else the needed. She had learned how her mother's sister Raven had joined the Team in an attempt to get the Team away from Carrie and her baby, and finally how Carrie, in a desperate attempt to get the Team away from her and behind bars where they could do no harm, had betrayed them. That betrayal had called for the ultimate punishment, and Raven herself had been tasked with the grisly deed as a test of loyalty. After much pleading with her superiors, Raven had been granted permission to collect Carrie's daughter to be raised as a Rocket.

Annie was already a Black Rocket when she had finally learned the whole story from her Auntie on her deathbed in a Cerulean City hospital. Annie's heart had been shattered, but her years of training herself to never show emotion had won through, and the 19-year-old Annie had resolved to never return to that cabin, to never resurrect the memories of the past so they could torment her. Now, years after the fact, Annie stood where her mother had once stood watching her play and held her hand over her stomach. She wasn't showing yet, but Annie still felt like everyone could tell her future child was indeed in there. "I'm home, Mama." Annie said quietly. The silent emptiness of the house surrounded her.

Annie turned away from the back door opening and walked through the large open area that was once her family's living room. To her right there was a narrow hallway that Annie remembered from her childhood… it was the hallway that had led to her room and her mother's room. Annie walked slowly to the hallway, kicking the dead leaves that lined the floor out of her way, and walked into the room that had once belonged to her mother. In the room stood the one thing that had not been broken down and hauled away by the various looters and drifters and vandals that had been through the house in the years since Annie had last been there; a rusted bed frame that had once belonged to Carrie Kaldron-Masterson. Annie walked slowly but deliberately to the bed frame where her mother had slept and dreamed years before.

As Annie kneeled down by the frame, memories of that lost little girl came back to her again. Memories of curling up with Mama, memories of laughter, memories of love. "Mama?" Annie said in almost a whisper.

"Mama, I'm here. Do you know what's happened? Do you know why I'm here now?" Annie asked, almost expecting an answer from the empty house.

"I'm pregnant, Mama. I'm going to have a baby." Annie said softly as she looked down at the floor. Quickly, her eyes looked up. "But- but I want you to know that I'm going to raise this baby right. I'm going to make sure that this baby has the life you wanted for me- a life of freedom, of happiness, a life where she'll never even have to know the words Team Rocket." Tears slowly built in the corner of Annie's eyes. "Mama, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. You gave up everything to protect me from a way of life- and I wound up taking that way of life as my own. I accepted it, I embraced it, and I never knew anything else- not even when I found out the truth about you."

Annie sniffled and wiped a tear away from her eyes. "But, Mama, I swear to you, that won't happen with my child. I'll never let it happen. This baby will be everything you always wanted me to be… and more. I promise. I'll never let anything hurt this baby, never let anything happen to it." Annie paused and looked down to the floor. In a whisper, she stated, "I'll make you proud, Mama."

A warm breeze blew in from the window, caressing Annie's face, and Annie could feel the angelic hand of her mother caressing her, letting her know that it would be all right, that her mother still loved her and was proud of her, that there was no cause for worry. In that instant, Annie felt more at peace than she ever had in all her life. She looked up and out the window, and saw the sun high in the mid-day sky. She smiled at the blue sky and the fluffy white clouds, and said in a barely audible whisper, "Thank you, Mama." Annie stood up and turned to leave, a content smile on her face and warmth in her heart. In the doorway to the bedroom, something caught her eye… it was a white piece of paper. Annie walked toward it curiously, certain it had not been there when she had entered the room.

Annie bent down and picked up the paper. What she saw when she turned it over took her breath away. It was a photo of her sitting on her mothers lap, holding the toy Pokeball proudly in her hands as she smiled broadly and her mother beamed peacefully at her. Annie clutched the photograph tightly to her chest and a tear fell down her cheek as she looked back at the room. "Thank you, Mama. Thank you so much." She said softly as she turned to leave and walked to the old vehicle she had bought from an old trainer who had needed some fast cash three weeks before.

As the old vehicle roared to life and pulled away, carrying its driver back home, a pair of shaded eyes watched from a well concealed Jeep hidden in the growth surrounding the house. Toby Matthews was a Team Grunt, assigned to this task. Now the target was leaving, and it seemed his mission was complete. Toby reached for the radio switch, and immediately contacted his superior, who was waiting in Viridian anxiously for his report. "Report, Matthews." Giovanni's voice stated over the radio.

"Yes, Sir." Toby replied. "Target entered the cabin as you assumed she would."

"And the picture? Did you plant it?" Giovanni demanded.

Toby sweat dropped nervously. "Yes, sir. In the doorway."

"And did the target collect it?"

"She did, Sir."

"And your presence was not detected?"

"No, Sir. The target did not know I was present."

"Excellent work, Matthews." Giovanni said. "Return to Viridian at once and wait for your next assignment. In the meantime, you are to tell nobody of what transpired today."

"Yes, Sir." Toby replied. He hesitated a moment before giving voice to his next thought. "Sir, I have a question, if I may?"

Giovanni bristled. "What is it, Matthews?"

"Sir, if I am correct from what I know of the bulletins, the target is Agent Masterson." Toby said cautiously.

"You are correct." Giovanni said simply.

"Sir, shouldn't we just eliminate the target?"

"DO NOT QUESTION!" Giovanni bellowed, making Toby drop the receiver in shock.

"Yes- yes, Sir." Toby replied quickly. "I'm sorry, Sir."

"You are a Grunt, Matthews. Do not forget your place or you will be severely punished."

"Yes, Sir. Of course, Sir." Matthews fumbled.

"Good. Return to Viridian at once." Giovanni finished, and the connection was broken.

Toby sweated horribly as he replaced the receiver and started his Jeep. Why, oh why, did he ever open his big mouth? The Jeep roared away from the cabin, taking the opposite direction Annie had taken mere moments before.

CHAPTER THREE – DEMONS OF THE PAST