Eight and Beyond!

JayJay froze. He couldn't speak. He couldn't move. He could barely think. She was safe, and he put her in danger. It was his fault again. He tried to speak, but no words would come out

"JayJay, I had to find a way to protect myself and get stronger. What you put me in was done of my own choice. I chose this, and I wouldn't have let you stop me. I posed as Luna so you wouldn't put yourself in so much danger over me. Having Claire offline for a while gave me the opportunity to sneak into the headquarters of Team Rocket and find out more information. That's how I knew to come and find you." She hugged him, hopefully without hurting him. "I'm sorry I deceived you... I just couldn't find another way to find you without someone catching me first..." Tears now were running down her face. "I'm sorry. For all of it..."

JayJay hugged back. He held her close. It was all his fault, but she was safe now. He started breathing again. His body ached, but he ignored it. He felt his heart beat for the first time since he woke up.


"I'm sorry, too. Let's not do that ever again . . ." He said in a soft voice

She nodded. "When they ambushed me last week, Shadow had personally taken me on. He told me privately that if we wanted to get more information on what was happening in Kanto then he'd need me to stop struggling and go with him. I had to be admitted into Team Rocket, but Giovanni doesn't know my name. When Shadow told me that I had to warn you of what was happening, I had to take on the alter ego of Luna to follow you without worry of ambush by the other grunts. I know I told a lot of lies to you, but it was only to keep my cover and to keep you safe. I knew if you went searching for me at headquarters it would only get you hurt. This is exactly what I wanted to prevent and it ended up happening regardless." She put her hand to his chest gently and looked at him. "I didn't foresee this. And if I had I would've led you out of Saffron sooner."

JayJay nodded, then broke the hug and started walking out the door
He made his way to Oak's PC and sent an e-mail to his father to send over Claire's Pokemon

Claire felt terrible after all of it. She was sure now that was the source of her nightmares from the previous night. Professor Oak entered the room.

"So, he knows now?"

"Yeah, but I can't help but still feel terrible."

"All of the emotional and mental stress you took from hiding from him must have finally gotten to your head last night. Perhaps that's why you awoke so late this morning."

"Like his physical pain--"

"--You matched with the mental pain. You two have a bond, one I haven't seen in some time, and it's going to be unbreakable. When he was in physical pain, you can sense it and it reflects back on you. Likewise for him, when you're hurt he can sense it. It's the only explanation for it. May not be logical, but a lot of things in this Pokemon world are beyond natural science."

JayJay stepped back into the room holding a tray of Pokeballs

"I sent them to my father for a while, to keep them safe" He said and offered Claire the contents of the tray

Claire accepted the items, glad to have her stuff back. She reached into her bag and pulled out the envelopes she received from Shadow. "I had been in touch with Shadow prior to the ambush. He visited me like I did you. At night and with no voice until more could be explained. I knew about all that would happen, but I didn't know when."

JayJay then pulled her scarf from his pocket. How it fit in his pocket, he didn't know, but it did. He held out her scarf to her

"Thanks for hanging on to it. I half-expected it to be torn, but it's surprisingly in perfect condition." She accepted it, after removing the cloak, then wrapping it back around her neck the same way she used to. She was wearing a sleeveless black shirt and dark blue jeans under the cloak, a suit she used for training during the days with the Rockets. It was obvious she had gotten stronger for she had built a bit of muscle back up. She removed the bandages on her hands to view the injury. It was obvious she had done some damage to them, but it couldn't be helped now. Re-applying them, she seemed to take a liking to the new look.

JayJay Looked Claire over and smiled, then headed back downstairs. He headed outside and called out his team.


"Alright, guys. We need to continue training. We may have been defeated, but are we gonna let that get us down?" He asked, and his Pokemon roared out in response.

Claire laughed a bit, overhearing the conversation. Professor Oak gave her a confused look.

"I better go watch over him or we may be making a house call to Nurse Joy."

"Are we gonna take this lying down?" He rose his voice a bit, he was doing his best to amp up his Pokemon. Typlosion let out a jet on Flame, while Arcanine cloaked himself in fire. Tyranitar roared out, sending rocks shooting up into the sky. Venusaur began glowing red and growing in size. "Are we gonna let some group of thugs take Kanto?" The response doubled

Claire smiled at Oak.

"Watch over him," he said.

"No worries." She laughed. She was looking forward to some sunshine and some time to kick back a little bit. All the training had her sore and she'd be unable to fight until she had some recovery time. After the brawl, she did face some damage which would temporarily disable her from much combat.

"Alright, then lets start training! Arcanine, Tyraniter, you're team one, Typhlsion, Venusaur, you're team two. Sparing match. Go Go Go!" JayJay called out. While his Pokemon began two v two sparing, JayJay dropped into push-ups.

Claire smiled and went downstairs. "Just remember to go easy. Another injury like that and you'll commit suicide." She laughed a little bit, sure that he wouldn't go that far. "A couple days of recovery will get us back on the road for badges. Giovanni won't be easy to beat and we'll need to be strong enough before we can face him."

JayJay nodded, then went into double time. After a while he called a team swap for his Pokemon and they restarted their sparing

Claire walked back upstairs to grab a glass of water.

"Claire, are you sure you're alright? Last night, you didn't want me to see you without the cloak."

"I'm telling you that I'm fine, Professor. The only thing I have to worry about is the good possibility I'm going to fracture my hands if I try to fight again."

"You've got to start letting your Pokemon do the battles."

"Hey, it's the Rockets that are ruthless. Not me."

JayJay working out, soon moving on to a horse stance with punches, trying not to move his back much

"You're still pretty beat up, though."

"It's not like it's anything new. I'm sore all over. Try jumping off a building and luckily catching some wind under your cloak. If I hadn't have gotten lucky, I'd be splattered on the ground in Saffron."

After about three hours of training, JayJay fed his team, then recalled them. He sat down under the same tree Claire and Oak had last night to rest a moment

The afternoon passed by quickly for Claire, but soon she saw a large bird fly into the sky.

"I recognize that Fearow," she said. A man in a cloak jumped down and landed on the rooftop, then meeting up with Claire.

"I'm glad to see you're still alive, as with your friend. Giovanni's furious that you fled Team Rocket and he's sending out patrols around Saffron to find you guys when you come back around. Taking them on isn't going to be possible now."

"Well, after the beating both of us took in the brawl it'll be a miracle if we can fight much longer. I had to flee to Pallet with him in order to get him help."

"What about you?"

She held up her hands to him, the bandages covering them. "One more fight like that and I'll be a handicapped Pokemon Trainer. You gotta be able to throw a Pokeball to get to a gym."

"So true." He laughed.

Before there was even a moment to react, JayJay was up and behind the trainer. He growled, standing taller then the man and out weighing him. There was something familiar about this man, but he didn't know what. He didn't care much, though, anyone who dropped out of the sky unannounced didn't normally bring good news.

"Hey, hold it, guy." Shadow said. "I'm the one that associated with Claire during the undercover missions. I won't hurt you."

Claire smiled. "He may have ambushed me back in Vermilion, but it was to keep the grunts from attacking dead on and taking me down. He's basically apart of this Underground Railroad system."

"Pleased to finally meet you, JayJay." He held out his hand in greeting. "I'm no threat. I'm Shadow, but you guys can call me Shade. I work with the Rockets only to spy. Nothing more."

JayJay didn't shake Shadow's hand, something seemed off to him. Maybe it was nothing, but he just didn't like this guy