Loyalty

Loyalty 5

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-"