Stand by You Part 4 of 4

Chapter 72: The Interview

The next day at 10:00am Jessie, James, Lucy, Meowth, and Rumika met with DJ Mary in the Kanto Grand Festival radio interview station. Mondo and James' grandparent's accompanied them there.

"Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Morgan", said DJ Mary as she shook their hands. "It is nice to finally meet you".

"Nice to meet you too", Jessie responded.

"Say, you two look awfully familiar. Have we ever met before?" Mary asked Jessie and James.

"Nope! You must have us mistaken with some other couple", James replied nervously.

"Well I look forward to getting to interview you five", she responded. "You have been the talk of the town. In fact, people all over Kanto and beyond have heard of you".

"It is awfully kind for you to have us", said Rumika. "Would you mind if I just had a few minutes to talk to my friends alone?"

"Sure. Just be ready to go live by 10:15", Mary answered. She walked into the other room to give them some privacy.

"What's up?" Lucy asked Rumika.

"I was just wondering, what is our plan? I mean, how much are we willing to reveal on this show? I don't think it is a good idea to tell them we are working for Team Rocket. I lot of people still don't know the truth", she told them.

"James and I talked to Delia and Giovanni about this last night", Jessie responded. "Giovanni wants us to come clean. Admit everything. This is the beginning of a new Team Rocket. In ten years, he wants to look back on the events of the past month and see it as a turning point."

"He wants us to talk about Team Firestar and everything that has happened to us over the years", said James. "At least as it is relevant".

"So dis is really a big deal", said Meowth.

"Precisely. This is really important to Giovanni", said Jessie. "And to the future of Team Rocket".

The five of them talked for a few minutes longer until DJ Mary interrupted them and told them they had to get ready to go live. James handed Annastasia over to his grandparents.

"Just be yourself", said Paul.

"Don't you ever think that you need to be anything else", Linda added.

James nodded and then joined the others in the booth. They all sat at a table across from Mary and wore fancy headsets. They looked across the room and saw all their Pokémon watching them. Gourgeist and Inkay gave a high-five in their honor and Growly the Arcanine howled to show his support.

"Good morning Kanto! I am DJ Mary and I am bringing you the first ever live interview with this year's champions of the Kanto Grand Festival Division 2-A, Mr. and Mrs. Jessica and James Morgan, Rumika Winchester, Lucy the Purrloin and Meowth!" said DJ Mary.

"Good morning", everyone said in unison.

Meanwhile, back at the Trainer's village, Ash, Misty, Clement, Serena, Bonnie, Max, May, Drew, Cilan, Iris, Barry, Zoey, Bianca, Tierno, Duplica, Forrest, Brock, Autumn, Tracey, Gary, Dawn, Harley, Sakura, Ritchie, Professor Oak, Grace, Caroline, Norman, Teeshy, Brianna, Giovanni, and Delia were listening to the radio inside the lobby of one of the Pokémon centers. They were joined by Todd Snap and Casey, who had saw them on television, and Ash and friends explained best they could everything that had happened over the past year to them and Tierno. Hundreds of other people, including most of Team Rocket and their latest recruits, listened from various places throughout the Pokémon world.

"So, let's start with Meowth and Lucy. Pokémon and humans alike are asking the same questions: Why and how did you two learn to talk?" DJ Mary asked.