The Danny files part 3
Desperate Times

Prologue
The tall, dark-haired man peered critically into the vast abyss that stretched before him, a fierce wind blowing his long hair across his face, an elegant face that stared impassively into the gulf before him. He sighed with displeasure, displeasure at the situation that he had been forced into. Briefly he became aware of soft footsteps behind him. He took a quick glance to his rear. A large, elegant orange pokémon was marching up to him, a look of total contempt on its pretty face. The man sighed again and turned away from the Dragonite. It stopped a few feet away from him.
“What the hell were you thinking of?” it thought to him telepathically, its psychic voice coming across as that of a young woman. It glared at the man in front of it. Its eyes saw a tall, elegantly handsome man dressed from head to toe in black, but its brain was still registering total and utter shock. “How could you?” it continued. “I mean, I know you’ve pulled a fair few underhand tricks in your time, but this... this beats the lot of them! They were innocent, damn it! They just didn’t deserve that!”
“Can it, would you, Kei?” the man said softly, breaking his silence. “I know they didn’t deserve it really, but what else could I do? My hands are tied.”
“Look, you! You still didn’t have to kill them!” the Dragonite screamed psychically. This finally got her companion’s attention. He shot her an odd look.
“Jesus Christ, Kei, credit me with some intelligence, would you? I didn’t kill them. They’re still alive.”
“Then...” The Dragonite looked momentarily fazed. “Drol. How the hell can you be so sure?”
“Okay, Kei, I’ll explain. Firstly, the man was a psychic. Inexperienced, perhaps, but still with even more potential than I have. So I’m sure he’d save them all anyway. Besides, I did have a backup plan. Sorry to worry you, Kei, but this whole thing’s been a fake from the outset. It was the only way to get everybody off my back.” He turned from the gulf. “They’ll be fine. Zero’s with them anyway. Let’s just go home and forget this ever happened.”
“This was all a setup? Ooh, I hate you! I don’t mind the plan, but did you really have to worry me like that?” Kei snorted. Her trainer merely laughed softly, but without much humour. He hoped to God that this worked. But he had a good feeling about this. His gut instinct told him that everything was going to be okay. He looked up at the clouded sky distractedly, thinking about the one telephone call that had put him in this mess in the first place.

Chapter I - You Owe Me One
The call came as Drol was lay on his plush sofa, sprawled lazily across it and taking up all of the space. He was tired. Tired of life. Tired of the constant chaos that surrounded him. Idly he let his hand drift to the floor, where he found his Ninetales, Ryoko, asleep by his side. He petted her fondly, but she remained sound asleep. He sighed. And out of all the things that were tiring him, he was particularly sick of nannying the amateur known as Pizza. Drol’s blue eyes drifted to the large window, and noticed that Pizza was outside. The guy with blonde hair, equal parts nondescript and fresh-faced. He was in Drol’s garden right now, trying to train his pokémon in his usual bumbling fashion. There was a loud crash. Pizza’s Lapras had once again failed to hit the target.
“NINE!!!” Drol’s Ninetales woke with a start. He put a steadying hand on her flank, and noticed her heart was pounding furiously.
“Relax, Ryoko!” Drol said, stroking her dyed red hair. He smiled halfheartedly. Trust him to have a fashion-conscious Ninetales! Actually, his Blastoise had dyed it for her. Drol reckoned he had a promising career ahead of him as a hairdresser. “It’s only Pizza fucking up as usual.” The Ninetales calmed down slightly. She raced to the window and pushed it open with her nose.
“NINE NIIINETALES!!! NINE NINETALES NINE!” she yelled furiously. Drol laughed hollowly. How the hell did that moron manage to beat the Elite Four anyway? It wasn’t like he had a particularly strong team, either. His Raichu was hideously overweight. His Lapras was a total ditz, his Kadabra was an alcoholic screw-up, his Marowak refused flatly to ever be sensible and his Arbok had a huge ego but not the talent to back it up. And then there was BC. BC thought he was a Scyther. But BC was a Psyros, albeit one with some very strange shape-changing abilities. Drol reckoned Pizza’s success had been down to BC and BC alone. Pizza, in short, may have been a Pokémon Master in theory, but in real life it was a totally different story. And last week he found a Mewtwo. More pokémon too strong for him to handle. It had been given the highly original name of Mewthree. Boy, did that have an attitude problem. It didn’t find Pizza a worthy trainer at all, and refused flatly to listen to him. It tended to train with the Mewtwo Drol already had living in his house. Well, Drol had had a gutful. If that kid couldn’t shape up quick...
“Phone call for you,” a voice said from out of Drol’s sight. Mewtwo. Drol remembered the day that he first ran into his lodger-turned-protégée. He had been walking in Mt. Moon at the time, pretty aimlessly, really, when they first clashed. It had been a pretty fraught altercation to begin with. Mewtwo had never been the most agreeable creature in the world, and Drol had never been the most patient. But in the end they developed a sort of respect for each other, and they came to a deal. Mewtwo would use his powers to help Drol, and in return Drol gave Mewtwo a roof over his head and a decent education. Well, perhaps if Pizza could start treating his pokémon more like the intelligent creatures that they could be he might just get somewhere. “Some guy called Giovanni.” Mewtwo said loudly, aware that Drol wasn’t exactly paying attention. This made Drol’s attention snap back into focus. His blood ran cold. No... not now!
“Fine. I’m coming,” he said glumly. With an effort he pulled himself off the sofa and paced to the phone. He gripped the receiver tightly. “Hello?”
“Good morning, Drol. I do hope I’m not disturbing you.” The voice on the other end of the telephone was chillingly familiar. It was Giovanni. Boss of Team Rocket, and a friend in high places that Drol would rather he’d never met. “I assume that you know why I’m calling you.”
“Of course.” Drol’s voice took an emotionless tone. This was strictly business. “It’s payback time, isn’t it? So what is it that you want me to do?”
“This matter is too sensitive to tell you about over the phone. I’m growing increasingly worried that the police may be trying to bug the phone lines.” Giovanni hadn’t changed much in the past three years. Still over-cautious to the last. “I want you to come to my Game Corner in Celadon City. You remember where that is, don’t you? Oh, and bring some of your pokémon with you. Chances are you’ll need them.” And with that, the man hung up abruptly, leaving Drol staring at the now-dead phone in bewilderment.
“Problems?” Mewtwo asked. Drol paused for a second, then turned to face him slowly.
“How are you equipped in the way of scruples?” Drol asked.
“I hate to disappoint you, but I’m afraid I don’t have any. Well, that’s a lie. Just don’t ask me to hurt my friends. But other than that...” The pokémon shrugged. “I’m game for anything.”

Drol looked at the lineup carefully. He figured that he would need a team of pokémon to help him. Just in case. And since Drol had trained many powerful pokémon in his life, he had the luxury of being able to chop and change his main team as he saw fit. He had roughly twenty that were, in his eyes, battle-worthy. So today he had picked his six so that the feelings of his more sensitive pokémon could be spared. He doubted that Kei or Sindel would be too thrilled about working alongside Team Rocket. So his immediate choice had been Mewtwo, who would undoubtedly get a kick out of this anyway. Beckham, the Blastoise. He usually went along with Mewtwo anyway, but as long as he got a suitable reward - a stiff drink - he wouldn’t care. He was about as sensitive as a rock, anyway. Katnip, the Raticate, only wanted a good fight, and he wasn’t picky as to who with as long as it wasn’t a teammate. Drol’s Rhydon, Don, was dumbly obedient and wouldn’t even try to comprehend what was going on. Just point in the right direction and let go. His Flareon was called Mihoshi, after a character Drol had seen on TV. She was a complete airhead, so the name fitted her admirably. And finally there was the Articuno. Drol had been initially stuck for a name for the legendary bird, but then he saw some brain-dead cartoon on TV and found a name that suited an ice type perfectly. Freiza. It was a shame, then, that the bird would turn out to be spookily like its namesake. Cold, emotionless, self-centred and insistent on making an example of every opponent. But what better pokémon to use in a job for Team Rocket?
Drol sighed and called five of these pokémon into their pokéballs. Only Mewtwo remained. He didn’t have a pokéball, because in a sense he wasn’t really Drol’s pokémon. Mewtwo belonged to himself. Although strangely enough, Drol’s ageing Pokédex seemed to consider him to belong to Drol. Perhaps one day Mewtwo would have to face reality, face the fact that since he could never consider being with any other trainer, he did, in theory, belong to Drol.
“Ready?” Drol asked Mewtwo, who nodded silently. They both abruptly floated up, and out of the window. To whatever savage business awaited them.
“You WHAT?!?” Drol slammed his fist down hard on the oak desk in anger. “Listen, I thought I made it perfectly clear the last time we met. I am not directly going out into the field for you! That is totally out!” Giovanni shifted uncomfortably in his leather chair. Still dressed in one of his smart red suits, he was trying his best to appear in charge of the situation. But the presence of the Mewtwo that was standing impassively behind Drol wasn’t helping. He couldn’t help noticing the brand on the Mewtwo’s paw. Team Rocket never branded their Mewtwos. Which meant... well, what it meant was that he had no defences should Drol command it to attack. Therefore some serious smooth talking was required.
“Will you please calm down a little! It’s not like I’m asking you to go out and steal any pokémon, is it? I can get my own operatives to do that. Look, just have a drink and we’ll discuss this like adults, okay?” Giovanni offered Drol a large brandy in a sparkling crystal glass. Drol took it readily, but still glowered at him.
“You’re asking me to murder.”
“Well... no, not exactly. What I said was that I want you to keep someone out of my hair. Of course, I wouldn’t be about to complain if you did kill him, but if you can think of a better way, then be my guest and use it.”
“I won’t risk it.” Drol folded his arms stubbornly. “I won’t have anyone learning of my links with Team Rocket.”
“Then I guess you’ll just have to kill him.”
“What exactly would you do if I said no?”
“Remember, you owe me! But if you’re that hesitant I guess I’ll just have to offer you a substantial bribe, won’t I? How does ten thousand suit you?” Drol looked about to speak, but the Mewtwo suddenly shot forwards and pushed him roughly out of the way. He glared at him as he clasped Giovanni’s hand eagerly.
“Yes!” Mewtwo grinned, his eyes lit up with pound signs. “Of course we’ll take care of him for you. Just point him out and you can kiss him goodbye!”
“Mewtwo!” Drol cried, horrified.
“Look, you can shut up for a start. Drol, you have one major weakness and that’s that conscience of yours. I’m sure Zero wouldn’t have been so hesitant. So, let’s talk terms. I’d like a thousand in advance, thanks. Not that I don’t trust you or anything, but you can’t be too careful these days. And your target’s as good as dead.”
“Like the way he says he’d like a thousand in advance?” Drol muttered under his breath, knowing full well that Mewtwo could hear him. Giovanni made no comment, but wrote out a cheque and handed it to Drol.
“I don’t care,” he said finally, leaning on his desk. “As far as I’m concerned, you two make a wonderful team. I’m glad somebody can talk some sense into you, Drol. Here’s our man.” He put a photograph on the desk. Mewtwo and Drol looked at it critically. It wasn’t the best photo in the world, but they could see a sprightly looking young man, possibly in his early twenties. He had jet-black hair, ocean-blue eyes and a large scar running over one eye. He was dressed in jeans and a leather jacket with gold cuffs. Hardly the type of guy you could miss.
“Might I ask why you want this guy dead?” Drol asked finally.
“That really doesn’t concern you. Just get him out of the way.” Drol gave a long-suffering sigh and turned to leave.
“Yeah, yeah, sure, I guess I’ve no fucking choice. You can count on us. I mean, I might not be over the moon about this, but...” Drol paused at the door and looked back at Giovanni. “I take pride in my work, even if it isn’t pleasant. Consider him gone.”

Chapter II - The Pokéball Heist
Danny sighed and took a long sip at the bizarrely named and hideously expensive cocktail in front of him. He pulled a face. That didn’t taste at all nice, but it had the required alcohol kick. Normally he avoided cocktails, he loathed the gaudiness and frilliness that was always associated with them. But today he required an alcohol fix and fast, and since there was no absinthe immediately to hand, this... thing would have to do. It was probably at least 50% proof. So he made an exception. Just this once. Because of where he was. In an open-air restaurant at the very top of Celadon City’s finest department store, Magdelia sat on one side of him with an orange juice, Judith on the other with an even flashier concoction that Danny’s, gabbling aimlessly on at her Vulpix. Not that Judith was predictable in her names or anything, but the poor creature had been landed with the name Pixy. Danny wondered if it would be renamed if Judith decided to evolve it. But Judith was probably one of those morons who didn’t like their pokémon to evolve. It was unlikely that she had a single sensible thought in what passed for her brain. Actually she was something of a mystery. Danny hardly knew anything about her past, other than she was the sister of Miranda, a now dead ex-girlfriend. She was, or had been at one point, a pokémon trainer. And her obsession with shopping gave shallow bimbos a bad name. It was that factor that was driving Danny to drink. She’d already amassed about six bags full of junk, and they’d only come out for some pokémon food for Orestes.
“Never again.” Danny said flatly. “I am never taking you shopping again.” Judith gave him an odd look.
“What’s wrong with you? It’s not like you had to pay for any of it. I knew you wouldn’t even if you wanted to. You’re such a cheapskate, Danny.”
“Well, better that than waste all my money on useless crap,” he retorted, pulling a face. “This has been a real waste of time. And anyway, who do you suppose ended up carrying all this crap? You know, I think I’ll go on strike. I’d love to see how far you get carrying your own shopping for once.”
“Oh, drop the macho act, Danny,” Judith sighed. “We all know you’re too nice really to let me struggle on my own.”
“You wanna bet?”
“Look.” Magdelia sounded slightly bored. “Can’t you two just get along for once? Please?” Danny snorted in annoyance and finished off his drink in one gulp. He leant back in his seat, glaring angrily at Judith. She stuck her tongue out at him. Wasn’t that so typical? He shuts up when Magdelia speaks. To be honest, although she did quite like the girl, she was beginning to feel just slightly jealous.
“Well, that was just so typical!” Judith snorted, a trace of genuine annoyance creeping into her voice. “One word from Magdelia and the great Danny goes all quiet. How do you do it? What power do you have over him? I wish I knew, ‘coz I’d sure as hell like to be treated nicely for once.”
“Perhaps if you tried being civil to each other...” Magdelia was sounding rather unsure of herself. She sensed hostility in the air, and it made her nervous. She hated confrontation. Small wonder, really, the Manachu had knocked all the fight out of her. “Why are you turning on me now? I mean... what are you trying to say?”
“Well, I thought you were supposed to be the perceptive one around here. But if I have to spell it out for you, then...” Suddenly Judith was interrupted by a loud cry from the streets below, followed by the sound of smashing glass. Magdelia breathed a sigh of relief. The timing couldn’t have been better. The group peered over the railings to survey the scene below. A large crowd of people were beginning to gather around the Pokémart. Somewhere in the distance a police siren began to wail. “What’s going on?” Judith asked, tensing involuntarily. Danny couldn’t help but notice the anxiety in her voice. Or was he just imagining things? He stood up sharply.
“I don’t know what it is,” he admitted. “But I reckon we should take a little look.”

By the time Danny and his friends had made their way to the ground floor the crowd had grown even bigger. Danny barged his way to the front, slightly concerned that he didn’t get a reaction from a single bystander. What confronted him was a scene the likes of which he’d never seen before in his life. Broken glass lay everywhere, the shop window having been smashed in. The inside of the shop had been totally ruined. And stood outside calmly were two people. A man and a woman. The man wore olive green. He was powerfully built albeit rather short, and there was a slightly Oriental look about his face. He seemed to be the submissive one in this particular partnership, blindly following the woman’s directives as if he was trying to appease her. And this woman wore a navy blue kimono-like outfit, although cropped at the bottom a great deal to show off her shapely legs. Her orange hair was tied back in a ponytail, and her eyes carried a seductive allure. She was enjoying bossing the other man about, as if she wanted to make his life as hard as possible. Right now he was dropping pokéballs in a large sack. They were thieves, and the large R’s emblazoned on their chests made it quite clear who they were stealing for. Team Rocket.
“Stay back, girls,” Danny warned, not noticing that Judith had already slipped away, trying her best not to be noticed. Meanwhile Danny prepared to tackle these villains alone. He wondered why nobody was doing anything to stop them. That is until he saw the Gengar. It had hypnotised the entire crowd. Which left Danny to tackle this all by himself. He wasn’t worried. He had battled tougher enemies than this. He stepped boldly towards the Rockets, speaking loudly to make sure they heard him. “Naughty,” he said. They stopped in their tracks. “You guys wouldn’t happen to be causing trouble, would you?”
The man chuckled deeply. “And what if we are?” he asked. The woman shot him an angry glare and he fell silent again.
“Well, I just can’t let you get away with this. I’m too nice a guy. And I bet I’d get a big reward for bringing you to justice, too.”
“Butt out!” the woman suddenly snapped. “This really isn’t any of your business. I really do hate you hero types. You’re inevitably cocky, overly righteous and generally pains in the backside.”
“Well, you’re a good judge of character. Except you got it totally wrong on the righteous part.”
“Besides,” the woman snorted, choosing to ignore Danny, “You have no idea who you’re up against. We are the greatest operatives Team Rocket has to offer! The elite! We aren’t like some of our more famously incompetent colleagues. So you’d better... prepare for danger!” Danny could tell what was coming, as the woman struck up a heroic pose. The man joined in with an equally ludicrous position.
“From these two strangers!”
“To spread our seed throughout the world!”
“To ensure our flag’s fully unfurled!”
“To destroy all those who’re in our way!”
“To prove to all we’re here to stay!”
“Jackie!” The woman introduced herself with a flourish.
“Chan!” the man cried out with pride.
“You’ll never beat Team Rocket’s might!”
“So hand over your pokémon without a fight!” Danny looked stunned. Was loopiness a prerequisite for Team Rocket members or something? At least Jackie had the grace to look slightly embarrassed.
“Yeah, well enough of the shitty poetry, okay?” Danny snorted, unimpressed. “As far as I’m concerned, when you’ve heard one fucking motto you’ve heard them all. Now put everything back and fuck off to whatever hole you crawled from and I might forget I ever saw you.”
“Really.” Jackie sounded less than impressed. “Well, I have to say, you certainly talk big. Let’s see if you can fight as well as you talk. Chan. Get him.” She motioned to the man, who stalked menacingly towards Danny. Danny smiled broadly. The guy was muscular, but nowhere near in his league. This should be a pushover. The shorter man suddenly shot towards him like a bullet, with a speed quite remarkable for a man of his stature. But it wasn’t good enough. He ran straight into Danny’s fist. Danny kneed him hard in the stomach, sending him coughing to the ground. Satisfied that Chan was no longer a threat, Danny turned back to Jackie. She looked almost amused. “Whoops. Well, you are good. I’m impressed, even if that was the single most stupid thing I’ve ever seen Chan do. Running straight into you like that! Honestly!” Danny got the distinct impression that Jackie didn’t care too much for her partner. “So what’s your name?”
“Danny. Danny Waterstone.”
“Really?” Jackie looked rather surprised. “The man with the Clegencyana? Well, well. You know, we sent an operative to relieve you of that. I guess something must have happened to her.”
“Hang on a sec. How do you know about Orestes?” Danny was mildly surprised. He was glad that he had left the Clegencyana at home.
“Well,” Jackie smiled, “Despite what the incompetence of some of our lower level operatives may lead you to believe, we at Team Rocket are actually very good at what we do. And of course if someone goes around flaunting a pokémon as rare as yours, word’s going to get back to us sooner or later. I just wonder what happened to our missing operative...” A figure lurking at the back suddenly caught Jackie’s attention. She suddenly smiled rather teasingly. “Oh, I know what must have happened to her. I think she must have turned traitor on us. Right, Judith?” Judith suddenly froze in panic, aware of everybody’s eyes now fixed firmly upon her.
“Err... hi, Jackie,” she smiled nervously, flushing red with embarrassment
“Well, well.” Danny could barely contain his anger. So that was why he knew nothing of the woman. Because she had no past worth telling. The whole story of being Miranda’s sister was probably a ruse. She was just waiting for an opportunity to make off with Orestes. “There’s an unexpected development. Well you just fucking stay there, girlie, I’ll deal with you later. Right now I’ve got bigger fish to fry.” Danny turned back to Jackie and tried his best to regain his composure. “Nice try. But I’m not about to lose my cool just for your benefit. Now hand over that sack.”
Jackie shook her head teasingly. “You’ll have to catch me first!” she smiled confidently, and tried to make a break for it. Danny had to hand it to her, she was very fast. And she could have easily outran him. It was just a shame for her that he could teleport. She ran straight into him as he materialised suddenly in front of her. He grabbed her by the arms tightly, causing her to squeal and drop her load.
“Better!” Danny said viciously. “Now get the hell out of my sight!” He released his grip on the woman, who backed away slowly, rubbing her arms. She fixed him with a look of pure hatred.
“You’ll pay for that!” she snapped viciously. “Nobody messes with me and gets away with it. I guess the battle’s your, but the war is only just beginning.” She reached into her pocket and removed a small capsule, then threw it hard on the ground. It shattered on impact, releasing thick black smoke. Danny held up an arm to protect his eyes. The instant the smoke cleared it became clear that Jackie, Chan and their Gengar had left.
“Good riddance,” Danny snorted in contempt. He checked the bag that Jackie had left behind. Pokéballs, potions... no doubt they were to be used for a further nefarious scheme. Or perhaps the pokémon they had caught needed healing. Well, thinking of nefarious schemes, Danny had a little unfinished business to sort out. He turned and fixed Judith with an icy stare, then began to walk slowly towards her. She backed off warily, holding up her hands in a show of surrender.
“Please, Danny!” she cried, close to tears. “I can explain!” Danny abruptly grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her roughly. He could barely contain his fury.
“You’d better, you bitch!” he yelled in her face. “Now can you look me in the eye and tell me that your friend Jackie was talking bullshit? Well? Can you?” Judith looked away. She just couldn’t make eye contact.
“I... can’t...” she said finally.
“You... you mean to tell me that Team Rocket sent you with some fucking sob story so that we’d let you in and you could fucking steal Orestes? Why you low-down stupid...” Danny couldn’t find the words to express his fury. He felt totally betrayed, and for some reason more than a little hollow.
“Yes!” Judith wept openly. “Yes, that was what they wanted me to do, but...” She never got the chance to finish her sentence. Danny hit her in the jaw with a vicious backhander that knocked her clean off her feet and onto the floor. She cried out in pain, then cried even more.
“Danny!” Magdelia cried out reproachfully. “Don’t! At least hear her out first!”
“No... I deserved that!” Judith was now near hysterics. She was still clutching her cheek painfully. “I deserved it all! Don’t stop him, he’s every right to feel angry... I don’t deserve any mercy! They did send me to do it, and I was going to, too, but then I found out about my sister and I clean forgot! And then you were all so nice to me and by the time I remembered I just didn’t have the heart to do it anyway! I just couldn’t! I mean, all the chances I had and I didn’t, did I? Oh, Danny, I don’t want to do anything to hurt you, you just have to believe me on that!” Danny couldn’t help but feel guilty for hitting her after this tearful confession. He lowered his fists. Besides, she had a point. She had plenty of opportunities to take Orestes and she never even attempted it. Danny decided to give her a chance to redeem herself.
“Well, perhaps if you give us the full story I might be persuaded to forgive you. But I’m warning you now, this better be good.” He lit a cigarette to calm his nerves. He wasn’t really in the mood to need much persuasion. He wanted so bitterly to forgive her on the spot, but the more stubborn part of his brain required an explanation.
“Okay,” Judith sniffed. “It’s time I told you everything about myself.”

Chapter III - A Rocket Relationship
Judith Ludlow was the sister of Miranda, the poor girl who P’Tana Kzar had so heartlessly murdered. She was, at least, telling the truth about that. They lived in Pewter City, the two of them and their parents. It was a happy little family. The mother held a profitable job at the Pewter Museum, a tour guide for the public section. The father worked from home and spent many hours on the computer. And Miranda would spend her days painting. Later she would earn true recognition for her talent, but Judith wasn’t around to see it. Judith, you see, wanted to be what every child dreamed of becoming. A Pokémon Master. So at the age of eleven she packed her bags and walked all the way to Pallet Town, in order to get her first pokémon from the legendary Professor Oak. She chose Charmander, mainly because it went well with her hair. She called it Charlotte.
“Gee, what a surprise...” Danny muttered under his breath. Another lousy name. Still, it was marginally better than not giving it a name at all. He returned his attention to Judith’s story. Apparently she had done fairly well for herself at collecting Gym Badges. Pewter Gym fell easily. Then the girls at the Cerulean gym. Then Erika. Then Koga at Fuschia. And then, before she could earn any more badges, disaster struck. She was robbed. By a pair of Rockets who called themselves Butch and Cassidy. They would later become notorious for a grandiose pokémon health centre scheme that backfired catastrophically, but at the time they were only a few years older than Judith was. But they managed to easily dupe her, and she found herself without the pokémon that she had raised so hard.
“I remember how upset I was...” she sighed thoughtfully. “They’d taken the lot. Charlotte, Pixy, Belladonna, Pierat, Ceseelia and Chusy.” Danny winced at the mention of each name. Judith wasn’t exactly the wittiest person in the world. “I got them back, though, although Pierat’s crippled now. That’s why I use HappyNess instead. But it’s how I had to get them back that landed me in this mess...”

It had been a fruitless search. Judith had been wandering for days trying to locate the Rockets that had robbed her, with no sleep or food. Just endless wandering, and that was beginning to take its toll on her young body. She was an emotional and physical wreck, and eventually she managed to blindly stagger into a side alley before she collapsed, totally drained. Tears began to flow down her cheeks. Would she ever see her pokémon again? Of course she would! She just had to get up first. But she had simply pushed herself too far. Her body refused to respond. So she just lay on the cold, muddy ground with only her misery for company.
Which was when Jackie came along, dressed in a tight-fitting jumpsuit. She had been looking for possible new recruits for Team Rocket. She spotted Judith at just the right time. But Jackie had always had her priorities in a sensible order. Her first reaction was out of concern for the girl as opposed to being for the good of her organisation. She bent down beside Judith with a look of concern on her face. She put a hand on her forehead and smiled.
“You poor child. Alone in a place like this. Let’s get you someplace warm and we’ll see what’s the matter, okay?” Judith was just too weak to refuse, despite all she had been told about not going off with strangers. Besides, she was in awe of this woman, who was so radiantly beautiful and had such kind eyes. She wanted to go with her. Perhaps she could even help.
Jackie had half carried, half supported Judith all the way to her apartment. A plush penthouse suite in a particularly affluent area of Celadon City. Jackie had always believed in being as comfortable as possible. She had a taste for the more luxurious things in life, and her status amongst Team Rocket easily financed her lifestyle. Judith could only stare in wonder. Such a magnificent place to live! It was a thoroughly modern place with all the trappings of the wealthy, although with a few neat Oriental touches here and there. A big sliding window opened up to a private outdoor pool, and afforded some excellent views of the city below. Jackie deposited Judith on a sift couch and headed into her kitchen, whilst Judith stared out of the window in awe. But, God, she was cold. Jackie soon returned with a steaming mug of cocoa, which Judith took gratefully. Jackie then threw a towel and a big, thick dressing gown by Judith’s side. She smiled warmly at the girl.
“You get that down you and get warmed up,” she told Judith. “Then get yourself cleaned up a bit. Lying in the mud doesn’t exactly leave you clean, you know. There’s a shower over there.” Jackie gestured to a door. “Then you can help yourself to whatever you find in the kitchen and then get a little rest. Just crash out on the sofa for an hour or two. I’ve got a little business to sort out. Got to put off a few appointments, that sort of thing. I shouldn’t be all that long. Then when I get back we can sort out whatever’s bugging you, okay?” She smiled kindly and walked over to the door. She winked at Judith as she slipped on her shoes. “Hey, chin up, okay?” And with that, Jackie slipped out of the door. Judith sighed and finished off the cocoa, the warmth bringing back her strength, then removed her ruined shoes. She then grabbed the towel and padded over to the bathroom. As she stripped slowly, she almost smiled. This was a lucky break. Perhaps this woman could help her find her missing pokémon. She certainly seemed to be pretty important. Judith steeped into the shower booth and spun the ‘hot’ tap. A cascade of water poured over her naked body. Warmth. Just what she needed. Well, until she sorted something out, she was perfectly happy here.
Jackie eventually returned to find Judith fast asleep on the sofa, wrapped in the black dressing gown. She smiled grimly. Whilst she was out she had the foresight to do a little investigating, and now she knew exactly what was wrong with the girl. Which meant she now had two choices. Get rid of the girl or persuade her to join Team Rocket. And she certainly didn’t have the ruthlessness to silence her. She liked kids. So she was feeling pretty guilty at having to do this to Judith. But what else could she do without compromising her position in Team Rocket? Slowly she walked over to Judith’s sleeping form and shook her gently by the shoulder.
“Uh... what the...?” Judith said groggily.
“Wake up, sleepyhead,” Jackie said as cheerily as she could. “It’s about time we had a talk, because I think you have problems.”

Jackie stood silently with her back to Judith, staring out at the pouring rain. All the while the poor girl was sat upright on the sofa, pouring her heart out to her. Jackie knew it all anyway. Butch and Cassidy were just two of the Rockets who answered directly to her. She was as good as second-in-command of the whole operation. They had told her everything when she asked, but to hear it coming from the mouth of this young girl, her voice choked with emotion, was just too much for Jackie to bear. It really cut her up inside to have to ensnare a mere child like this, as she had always loved children. Since she had arrived Team Rocket had gained some sense of honour, but that honour, it seemed, did not extend as far as to provide a mutually satisfactory solution to her current dilemma.
“So what should I do?” Judith sounded hopeful, her bright eyes gazing up at Jackie with all the signs of hero-worship. And that tore at Jackie’s heart even more.
“I know a little more about Team Rocket than most, I know how they work.” Jackie’s voice showed no real emotion but unbeknownst to Judith, she was actually blinking away tears of regret. “Take it from me. If you don’t have the power to fend of their attack in the first place then you may as well give up.”
“But... but...” Judith’s face fell. “But there has to be a way, there just has to be! They’re all I have! I just have to get them back!” Judith was now close to tears herself. She wasn’t doing much for Jackie’s mood.
“There is one way, but...” Jackie sounded almost reluctant. Well, she was.
“What? What is it?”
“If you joined Team Rocket yourself then I’m pretty sure they’d let you have your pokémon back.”
“You what?”
“Think about it. If they thought for one moment that you’d be willing to use your pokémon to help them, why would they need to keep you separated?”
“Is there really no other way?” Judith sounded incredulous
“For you, I’m afraid not.”
“Then I guess I have no choice, do I?” And then, without warning, “You’re one of them, aren’t you?” Jackie turned even further away from Judith, and that was all the answer she needed. “Don’t be sad. I can tell that you’d help me if you could. I can see your reflection in the glass, you know. I saw how you were looking. You don’t really want me to join, do you?”
“Me personally? No, I guess not. Not if your heart’s not in it.”
“I think you’re right, anyway... it is the easiest way of getting them back. Please don’t be upset. Just... will you do me one favour?”
“What?”
“Will you help me?”
“Help you?”
“Sure. Help me if I get stuck. I’m not all that fast a learner, you know.” Jackie smiled and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, then turned to face Judith for the first time.
“Okay, kiddo, you got it,” she smiled. “You’re talking to the Robin Hood of Team Rocket here! I’ll be honest and say my speciality is doing the really big jobs. I do all the rich companies, and you have to be good to do that. So keep an eye on me, and learn from the master. But only on one condition.”
“What’s that?”
“You keep an eye on me and make sure that I don’t end up turning into a big sissy in front of anyone else, you hear?” Jackie smiled warmly. “Deal?”
“Deal.”

Judith shuddered, although she didn’t know why. Perhaps it was because of the stigma that was now attached to Team Rocket. “She was as good as her word, you know. I did join Team Rocket, because I really had no choice. I mean, my one and only hope lay in the hands of a Rocket anyway! And they gave me my pokémon back.” She laughed suddenly. “I heard that Chusy gave them one hell of a hard time. He always was a stubborn one. Anyway, they trained me in everything. I became a black belt in karate. I learnt how to pick locks, how to best disguise myself. I was even given a crash course in rare pokémon so I would know which ones were worth taking. Did you know that most first evolutions are worth next to nothing? Except for the really rare ones like Dratini...”
“Your training.” Danny interrupted, sensing that Judith was beginning to get a little sidetracked.
“Oh, yes. I got trained, then assigned to a partner, Rose. She was alright. A bit hyper sometimes, but not a bad sort. And then we were put under the supervision of Jackie and Chan.”
“How did that go?” Danny was now genuinely curious, having forgotten that he was supposed to be mad with Judith.
“Jackie was great. Like I said, she does have a soft spot for kids. I really liked her. I still do, really. But Chan... Chan was different. He was always so sullen, so quiet. He was just plain weird! I swear that he never once took his eyes off me the whole time we were training under them. And after a week I found out why that was.
“All the Rockets, well, the ones that aren’t roaming around, live in a big underground bunker. It’s like a big Rocket community. As far as I know, Jackie and the big boss are the only ones who don’t actually live there. Anyway, I was living in there too, and one night it all went wrong. It was the night after my twelfth birthday, and I’d got so excited that I couldn’t sleep. So I just lay in bed wide awake. But then, at midnight, the door opened and he sneaked in. And he actually smiled at me! But it wasn’t a nice smile. He said to me ‘Oh good, I’m glad you’re awake, that makes it so much easier.’ And then... then he grabbed me and tied a gag around my mouth. He was too fast for me. I tried to scream but it was too late. He stripped me of my pyjamas, and, oh God, he touched me!” Tears were beginning to form at Judith’s eyes. The memories were too painful for her to bear. She hadn’t even relived the worst bit yet. “And then... and then... and then he undid his pants and... oh, God, I swear that I’ve never hurt as much as I did that night! And when he was... done with me, he just upped and left. Not a word, nothing. But he came back the next night, and then the night after that. In the end, you know, I was beginning to hate nightfall, and it was all his fault.”
“Gee, I’m sorry...” Danny said, “I never thought... hang on, didn’t Jackie know about this?” Judith shook her head.
“No,” she sniffed. “Not until the night before I left the building. Because that night he came again...”

Jackie paced restlessly along the long corridor. Where the hell had Chan got to? There was an emergency, and she needed him quickly. But he wasn’t responding to her calls, so she had come to find him herself. This matter required the presence of Team Rocket’s elite. Jackie and Chan, not just Jackie on her own. And when she went to his room she discovered that he wasn’t there. Even more bizarrely, his door was unlocked and there was every indication that he was at home. She decided that he must have popped out for some reason, but she just couldn’t wait for him to return. She would hunt him down herself. She passed Jackie’s room, and suddenly paused. She backtracked a little. Why was her door ajar, too? Okay, so the situation was urgent, but it couldn’t hurt just to take a quick look in on the kid, could it? Jackie stuck her head around the door and her eyes widened in horror and revulsion. There was Chan, pants around his ankles, on top of a bound and gagged Judith. The girl’s eyes were filled with fear and pain, and it was blindingly obvious what was going on. Jackie was filled with revulsion. Chan? How could he? And to a twelve-year-old, too! The nausea soon changed into an insurmountable rage. Jackie felt sorry for Judith, but she also felt totally betrayed. So Chan had never been the ideal partner, but she still expected a little bit of decency from him. She burst into the room furiously. Before Chan even had the chance to turn around, Jackie had jabbed him hard in the back of the neck with the forefinger of each hand. His eyes widened in surprise and he rolled swiftly off Judith. Jackie grabbed him and threw him roughly into the wall with a strength that came from pure fury. She glared at him, her eyes telling him exactly what she thought of this situation.
“And just what,” she hissed, “are you playing at? You pathetic excuse for a human being! Oh, you should count yourself lucky that I need your help right now, or else I’d have no hesitation in killing you on the spot, and to hell with the consequences! I really didn’t think you could sink this low, Chan, but... damn it, you are a sick fuck!” Chan opened his mouth to try and placate Jackie, even though he knew it would do no good. But no sound came out. He tried again, with the same result. He looked imploringly at his partner, but she just laughed cruelly. “Oh, that? My most valuable skill. I hit two pressure points on your neck just then. One disabled your voice, and I might let you have that back after a little time on probation. And the other...” Jackie glanced down at Chan’s crotch and cackled. “Well, let’s just say that you’re not likely to try that stunt again. In fact, from now on I reckon you’re going to have difficulty in getting it even half up. Now get the hell out of here and get changed. We have a job to do. And then you can explain to the boss what you were playing at here. He’ll tolerate perverts like you even less that I will! Just go!” Jackie punched Chan hard in the stomach to alleviate her own anger, then threw him forcefully out of the door, without giving him time to even pull his trousers back up. And then she turned to the tearful Judith and her face instantly softened. Carefully she bent down and undid the bonds that tied the naked girl. Judith just fell into her arms, sobbing uncontrollably. Jackie just cradled her, cooing reassuringly. “Ssh! Ssh! It’s over, it’s all over...” Jackie was feeling more guilty than ever for making Judith join.
“He hurt me, you don’t know how long he’s been hurting me for...” Judith sobbed. “You don’t know how much he hurt me...” The words seemed chillingly familiar to Jackie’s ears.
“You couldn’t be more wrong, kiddo, I really do know,” Jackie said, her eyes beginning to tear herself. “And I know that you can get over this, too.” She held Judith close to her. Poor kid. She really did want to kill Chan for this. Perhaps her reaction would not have been so violent if she hadn’t experienced all of this for herself. But she had been on the other side of the fence, the victim rather than the support. But she had never had anyone to turn to, nobody wanted to know, and in the end she turned to crime as a final ‘fuck you’ to the people who never cared. And she was damned if Judith was going to end up as much of a lost cause as she was. “Just please don’t let this destroy you...” she whispered softly, a small tear trickling slowly down her cheek.

“So the next day the higher powers decided, after a lot of pressure from Jackie, that it would be best if I left the complex. So I became a wandering operative.” Judith sighed, sniffing back the tears. “I liked Jackie a lot - I still do, really, but it just wouldn’t have been good for my sanity if I had to stay near Chan any longer. I spent four years like that, the last two of which I spent without my partner. Rose went AWOL on me. And then I was given the mission to capture Orestes. The day after I leant that my sister had vanished. And, well, you know the rest.” Judith looked slightly wistful. “But you were all so kind to me, even you in your own way, Danny, you royal pain in the backside.” Danny blushed slightly. “So I just quit. I wanted to do what Rose did. I wanted to vanish from Team Rocket’s eyes. Some hope, huh? At least I’m pretty sure Jackie won’t report my whereabouts.” Judith blinked, as if remembering something. “Well, Danny? Do I pass the test?”
“Well...” Danny said, pretending to give it careful consideration. “I guess I can make an exception just this once. Let’s go home. I bet Orestes is worried sick about us.” Danny extended a hand to Judith, who was still sat on the floor. She took it gratefully.
“Yes. Home.” she smiled.


Chapter IV - A Challenge
Danny studied the letter carefully that had found its way to his doorstep. It had looked pretty important, so he had wasted no time in opening it. He stared in disbelief at the contents. They didn’t exactly inspire confidence.

Danny
The Mewtwo is back. It is causing chaos again, this time near the Rock Tunnel. Since you were the one who managed to evict it from the Unknown Dungeon, we would be eternally grateful if you would make him move from here too. Otherwise we will have no alternative but to take a more permanent solution to this situation.

“Well? What do you think?” Orestes asked, fluttering by Danny’s head. He was referring to if this letter was genuine or not. It seemed genuine enough, but there was something else amiss here... something that Danny just couldn’t place his finger on. But that something was going on there was no doubt. Although he suspected a trap rather than a Mewtwo.
“It just couldn’t be Mewthree!” Magdelia said flatly, refusing to listen to any arguments to the contrary. Danny had to smile. She could certainly be stubborn when the mood took her. But his gut instinct told him that she was right. He made up his mind.
“Okay,” he said seriously. “Looks like everybody’s got me dotted as the area’s Mewtwo Quietening Unit. Well, if that’s what I have to be then so be it. But only if we get paid as well as last time.”
“Is money all you can think of?” Judith asked pointedly. “You got enough last time to last for ages!” Danny shot her a dirty look, but then noticed the black eye that she was now sporting. It was enough to take any venom out of him. He momentarily blushed with embarrassment, until he thought logically. What did he have to be embarrassed about? At the time it seemed perfectly justifiable to hit her.
“It’s my only motivation for this sort of thing. Besides, I don’t hear you complaining when you’re out in town spending all this money. I’ve got to pay for your designer gear habits somehow, haven’t I?” Danny stood up, ready to go. Orestes fluttered onto his shoulder. “Okay then, let’s go. Come on, it can’t be any harder than the last one, can it?” The others exchanged glances. They had the feeling that they had heard that one before. But despite their misgivings, they all trooped after Danny, loyalty clearly proving stronger than logic.

It took a while, but they eventually located what they assumed to be the troublemaker. It was sat atop a large rock on the edge of a cliff nearby the Rock Tunnel, staring wistfully out to sea. Danny blinked in surprise. This definitely wasn’t Mewthree. To begin with, it was much, much bigger. More muscular, too. The eyes weren’t quite as large, and the tail was of a normal length. And the colouring was normal for its kind, a pale mushroom with a purplish underbelly. This was like a normal Mewtwo that had been working out at the gym. Danny stared at it grimly. It looked much tougher than Mewthree. He just hoped that it wasn’t as stubborn.
“Well, here goes nothing...” he muttered to the girls. “Stay back here in case something goes wrong. And wish me luck.” So saying, he crept cautiously up to the Mewtwo. He was about to cough to announce his presence when he noticed that it had already spotted him. So much for caution. He decided to be upfront about it. “Am I right in thinking that you’ve been stirring up some shit around here recently?” he asked abruptly. The Mewtwo chuckled softly to itself. Danny blinked, there was something about its voice...
“Well, you might say that...” it smiled, its back still turned on Danny. “You could say there’s a lot of shit I’ve stirred, but none of it’s been recently. And the only thing I’m doing now involves you directly, Danny Waterstone of Cerulean City.”
“You what? How do you know my name?” Danny was getting a sinking feeling. The Mewtwo wheeled round and grinned nastily at him. Then it actually spoke. Real words, not some psychic link. Danny reckoned his chances were getting slimmer by the second.
“Well, I had to. How else did I manage to send you that letter?” It laughed cruelly. “You’ve fallen right into our trap, you dumb fuck.”
“Our trap?”
“Yes. Our trap.” A voice from just out of vision joined in this conversation. “We sent you that letter because we have a little business to attend to, and unfortunately that means you.” A tall, elegant man rose from beyond the cliff edge and floated neatly to a point just beside the Mewtwo. His hair was long and black, with a single white streak running through the right side. He wore a velvet purple shirt, leather trousers, buckled boots and a long black trenchcoat. And he wore sunglasses over his eyes. The whole effect made him look like a stereotypical vampire. So, from what Danny could remember, this man could be...
“Oh my.” Judith managed to say dreamily. “He’s gorgeous. I never saw him up close the last time, but... oh, wow.”
“Oh, so I guess that means that you’re this Drol guy that everyone seems to be talking about all the time.”
“That’s me.” Drol made an extravagant bow. Whether he was being mocking or just overly polite, Danny wasn’t quite sure. He was too busy trying to recall all that he had heard about the man. Drol was a legend. Everybody who was involved with pokémon knew about him. They said that he was one of the greatest Pokémon Masters of all time. But one day he vanished without trace. Danny recalled that the Manachu said he now lived on the outskirts of Saffron City. This caught his interest.
“You’ve been AWOL for some time now. What’s the deal?” Danny asked, genuinely curious. Drol shot him a thin smile.
“Oh, I grew bored with the professional battles,” he shrugged. “It stopped being about the pokémon and turned to being about profit. Unwilling pokémon were being forced to battle, bred to battle. The governing body totally lost track of its priorities. So I quit in protest. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with a pokémon battle providing that the pokémon want to battle, but...” Drol waved his hand dismissively. “Besides, I had a few personal problems back then, and I really wasn’t in the mood.”
“So what have you been doing since?”
“Whatever the mood took me. For the most part I’ve been perfectly content to kick back and watch the world go by. Mind you, I did come up with a new training method that can increase a pokémon’s power tenfold. At one point circumstances required it, you know?”
“Heh! I helped to perfect that one!” The Mewtwo grinned from Drol’s side.
“Well, that’s really lovely,” Danny snorted, “but why reappear now?”
“Well, I have a slight problem, Danny, you see, I stupidly managed to get into a situation where I owe a favour to the boss of Team Rocket, and...”
“Cut to the chase, Drol.” Drol’s Mewtwo looked bored. “What we have here is that the favour’s been called upon. Team Rocket wants you dead, Danny.”
“Yup. That about sums it up.” Drol agreed. Both of them seemed so emotionless when talking about this. Danny’s mouth fell open in amazement.
“You WHAT?” he said incredulously. “And so why the hell would you care whether Team Rocket wants me dead or not?”
“Didn’t you hear me? I said I owed them a favour. My trouble is that I’m too honourable to go back on my word, but I’m not honourable enough to refuse to do a job for Team Rocket...” Drol seemed slightly uncomfortable with this dilemma. His Mewtwo, however, had no such qualms. It seemed rather excited by the whole ordeal.
“Yeah,” it grinned. “And your trouble is that I’ve been made an offer that I just can’t refuse.” It began to glow a light blue. Danny braced himself for an attack, but Drol put out a hand to restrain the Mewtwo.
“Wait.” What Drol was feeling wasn’t quite clear. His sunglasses were obscuring his eyes. “Let’s not come to that yet. I’m bound by my word, but let’s try to worm out of this first. I challenge you to a one-on-one pokémon battle. If your Clegencyana can defeat one of my pokémon then I’ll just piss off and you’ll never hear from me again. Deal?”
“Only if you don’t use your Mewtwo.”
“I’m not his pokémon!” the Mewtwo interrupted, sounding offended. “Will everyone get that through their thick skulls, or do I have to drum it into you? What we have here is a beneficial partnership, nothing more. And who do you suppose holds all the power in this relationship? It’s not Mr. Goth Guy over there, that’s for sure.”
“Do we have a deal, Danny?” Drol was ignoring this tirade from the Mewtwo. He seemed used to it. “Although I warn you, I won’t fight to lose. My pride would never recover if I lost, even if I meant to.”
“Alright.” Danny motioned to Orestes, who flew over from where he was sat and landed in front of Danny. He had heard the entire interchange, and he knew what was expected of him. He was also baffled by Drol, and wanted to take a closer look anyway. The guy just seemed so... detached. And his psychic presence was chillingly cold. That wasn’t normal. Orestes was curious. That was why he was really fighting, to get a better look at Drol. Drol smiled for the first time. It wasn’t the first time he had seen a Clegencyana, but it had been a while, and he had forgotten how sweet they were. He reached for a pokéball. It expanded in his hand.
“I hate to do this, I really do, but I’m going to have to use Freiza!” he yelled, throwing the ball. It burst open in a burst of blue light.
“ARTICUUUUNO!” A gigantic but beautiful blue bird of prey came from the ball, flapping its sparkling wings in a show of aggression. It finally noticed Orestes, and fixed him with an icy stare. He backed up. This Articuno seemed to be totally lacking in any kind of compassion. It was definitely not his day.

Chapter V - An Important Match

(Note: An awful lot of this chapter takes place in pokéspeak, since Orestes and Freiza have a lot to say to each other. So I’ve kindly translated their parts coz I really can’t be bothered writing Articuno and Clegencyana a squillion times)

The Clegencyana began to back away nervously from the impassive bird. It stood still and watched him with intrigue, until his lack of action began to annoy it. It really wanted him to try and attack, just so he could see how futile even trying was.
“Well?” it asked. “Aren’t you supposed to be attacking me?”
“Look... we don’t have to go through with this...” Orestes said shakily. This was going to be his strongest opponent ever, and he was having a last minute panic attack. The Articuno eyed him with a smug look.
“Really. Well, well. You know, if I didn’t know better I’d say you were trying to chicken out on me. You wouldn’t be trying that, would you? Only I hate cowards more than I hate weaklings. I mean, you’re a good judge of character, you know that you have no chance against me. But I expect just a little bit of bravado in my opponents.” Something in the Articuno’s tone fired up a glimmer of rebellion within Orestes. He suddenly stopped backing up, and instead stood firm, ready to battle.
“I have no chance? We won’t know for sure until we fight, will we?” He glared at the Articuno.
“Well. This is a change of heart. Aren’t we the bold one? I’m afraid you’re seriously overestimating your own powers here. But please, be my guest. Take your best shot, kid. I’ll even let you get a free hit in.”
“Kid???” Orestes was furious! That Articuno had such an attitude problem, and it was really getting on his nerves. Well, screw him, it was about time he learnt some manners! The Clegencyana sent a powerful psychic blast hurtling at the legendary bird. It reeled back slightly and shook its head. It seemed more amused than injured. It sneered at Orestes as best as it could with a beak.
“Aww. Is that the best you’ve got, kid? You really should have ran while you had the chance. Now let me show you what true power is all about!” Its eyes glimmered slightly. It beat its mighty wings several times, focussing its power. Then its beak opened and a tight beam of unbearably cold air shot forth from it. Orestes only just saw it coming, but there was no time to dodge. The best he could do was to phase from Flying to Ghost. He faded slightly. At least the blast wouldn’t be super effective against him. It struck him full on in the chest. He gasped in pain, this was unbearably cold. But he just had to keep on fighting! “Oh my. It looks like you’re slightly tougher than you look. Mind you, that wouldn’t be difficult.”
“Shut up, shut up, shut up!!!” Orestes cried in frustration. He knew that he shouldn’t let this Freiza get to him like this, but the Articuno was, big time. There was only one thing he could do. “HELL’S GATE!” he yelled. Perhaps he could ruffle its feathers a little bit. A dark, swirling void opened up near the Articuno. The suction wasn’t as great as it was when Orestes had Danny’s power to use as a reserve, but it was enough to make the Articuno’s eyes widen in alarm. It went hurtling towards the void, fear showing in its red eyes for the first time.
“NO! THIS CAN’T BE!” the Articuno yelled, more out of indignation than fear. “I WON’T be BEATEN! I AM FREIZA!!!” With a supreme effort, the Articuno began to furiously beat its wings, putting all it had into overcome the suction of the vortex. And little by little it managed to make some ground. It was really straining now. Orestes smiled. Perhaps now it would learn a little humility.
“Do you surrender?” he called over.
“I will... never surrender to... the likes of... you!” Freiza lost his footing and was hurtled bact a few feet. He was practically in the vortex now. “Alright! Alright! I quit!” Orestes smiled, and sealed up the void once more. The opposing force gone, Freiza shot off and crashed into a tree. It wobbled upright, a dangerous glint in its eyes.
“Ha ha. Very funny, kid. I like your sense of humour. But playtime’s over! I’M GOING TO DESTROY YOU!!!”
“Hang on, you quit!”
“Guess what? I lied.”

On the sidelines, Mewtwo rolled his eyes. “Drol. That Articuno of yours.”
“Yes?”
“He’s a conniving little sod, isn’t he? But I’ve no problem with that. But if I were you I’d get him checked into a psychiatric ward as soon as possible. I mean, just listen to him! He really does think he’s Freiza from Dragonball Z... Jesus, talk about helping the argument that violence on telly as bad for you...” Drol considered this for a moment. Mewtwo had a point. Although Drol never watched the show much - it was Pizza’s Kadabra, Yibbldyobl, who was the fan - he knew that this could spell trouble.
“Freiza!” he called over, “I don’t want you to kill him, okay?” The Articuno huffed sulkily. It was never going to like taking orders, but despite its cruel nature it was still loyal to its trainer. It would listen to him, at any rate. It turned to Orestes with a smirk.
“You hear that, kid? It looks like you’ve been given a lifeline.l Drol doesn’t want me to use my full power, so I guess I can do him this one favour. Still, no matter. The power that I can use is more than enough to deal with a pipsqueak like you.” The Articuno beat its wings and caused a huge icy wind to strike Orestes full in the chest. Orestes gasped in pain, and his body became suddenly numb with cold. He couldn’t even move anymore. The Blizzard had as good as frozen him solid. But the Articuno wasn’t nearly done yet. It laughed out loud, a wicked laugh that caused Orestes no end of worry. “Oh, not quite so bold now, are we? I always thought you needed to... cool off. But this battle has lost all of its entertainment value. It’s time I put an end to this foolish escapade.” Freiza’s red eyes glowed brightly, and a thin but powerful bolt of energy shot form them and struck Orestes hard in the front. Hyper Beam. Orestes screamed in pain, his eyes widening as the sheer force nearly shattered his ribs. The pain was excrutiating, it had been a crippling blow. The Clegencyana felt his strength slowly slipping away, and he fell to the floor, quivering uncontrollably. Danny gasped in panic and ran to the aid of the injured pokémon. He stared at Orestes, who looked back up at him with tearful eyes.
“Cle...” Orestes said weakly, then the eyelids drooped shut. He had fainted. Danny glared up at Drol, cradling the unconscious Clegencyana in his arms. He knew that this was an unavoidable consequence of pokémon battling, but even so he felt understandably upset. But with Danny, upset and anger were pretty much the same thing.
“So, you goddamned son of a bitch,” Danny snarled, “do you have any other sadistic pokémon up your sleeve?” Drol seemed to take this as emotionlessly as he had been all along.
“Mewtwo can be a sadist at times, but that isn’t the issue here.” Drol’s tone was flat, unreadable. “I’m truly sorry about your pokémon, but now we have other things to contend with. Like the fact that somehow I have to now get rid of you and your friends.”
“Don’t you fucking touch them!” Danny sounded even more furious than before, which was no mean feat. Drol took a look at Magdelia and Judith, who were cowering at the back. They were defenceless. Drol shot them a thin smile.
“Relax, girls, I’m not going to hurt you,” he said warmly. “Call me old fashioned, but I don’t pick on women, or people who can’t defend themselves. And you both fall into both of those categories. Giovanni can make do with Danny here, or he won’t get anybody.”
“Just you try it!” Danny concentrated hard, and a ball of energy formed at the palm of his hand. Drol smiled politely.
“Forgive me for saying so, but I’m afraid that your power isn’t quite fully formed yet.”
“Fuck you! It’s enough to do the job!” Danny knew Drol was right. Drol merely shrugged, almost in resignation. He lifted his right hand and pointed at Danny with his first two fingers. His fingertips began to glow a pale green.

Magdelia and Judith watched on, powerless to do anything, as the two fireballs shot towards their respective targets. They collided with a dazzlingly bright flash, a huge explosion and a noise like thunder that deafened the girls. That was some power! Thick black smoke obscured her vision, so Magdelia ran into the gloom.
“Wait!” she could hear Judith call. “What if they’re still fighting?”
“They’re not...” she called back. “Danny! Where are you?” The smoke was still unpenetrable, and Magdelia was doing little more than stumble around blindly. Soon she fell painfully over something lay on the ground. Momentarily stunned, she looked back. A leg. A leather-clad leg. Drol. So where was Danny? She soon received her answer when a freak gust of wind blew the smoke away. The two men were lay side by side on the ground, neither of them moving. Gingerly Magdelia reached down and touched Danny’s lifeless body, her fingers reaching for his neck. There was a pulse. She wept with relief. “Oh, Danny...” she sighed, and slumped down beside him.

The figure that hovered in the sky watched on unnoticed by all. She shook her orange head sadly, causing the antennae on her head to wobble. This was all too much, and she wished that she could say that she was remotely surprised. But she wasn’t. Whenever Drol went off without his usual main team he was usually plotting something underhand like this. He had a big problem with accepting the feelings of others. So Kei the Dragonite would follow him from a safe distance, ready to intervene if he should overstep the mark. That was the way she worked. It seemed to be always up to her to stop everybody else from doing stupid things. And Drol was on the verge of doing something very stupid indeed. The pokémon battle had been over the top, but that had been mainly due to Freiza. It was the price Drol paid for teaching his pokémon to fight on their own. But now... Now Kei would have to remain alert, she would have to keep her eye on how it went. And if Drol did try and kill Danny, she’d save him, then give Drol a good talking to. But two things were amiss with the scene back on the ground. Firstly, Drol was still fully conscious, so why was he lay down pretending to be out of it? And secondly, where had Mewtwo got to? Of course, Kei wasn’t remotely worried for his safety. His offensive powers were only eclipsed by those of the Manachu, so he could take care of himself. But he was even more ruthless than Drol. As far as Mewtwo was concerned, if you weren’t in his immediate circle of friends then you were expendable. That was the main difference between him and Drol. They both had a conscience, only Mewtwo’s was very selective. So his disappearence worried Kei more than Drol did. She didn’t want him to do anything to harm anyone else, she didn’t want to see him get into trouble. It was sad but true that Kei would be more concerned about the repercussions of his actions than the actual immediate result. Her feelings ran deep for him. There was nothing in the world that would cause Kei more pain than to see Mewtwo in trouble. But this was irrelevant. She cursed herself for not paying more attention to what was going on beneath her, and resumed her vigil, unable to shake the feeling that something was going to happen that would alter the lives of all concerned forever.

Chapter VI - The Silent Garden
Danny came to his senses rather slowly. That fireball sure had packed a punch! He woke to find himself in darkness. Black on all sides. Was he dead? Had Drol actually killed him? All he was doing was floating in space. Alarmed and disorientated, he tried valiantly to put himself in what he hoped was an upright position, but he merely spun around in slow circles. What was upright anyway? There was no gravity to give him any clue. He suddenly heard somebody laughing nearby. Danny glanced over and saw Drol, standing relaxed, as if this was an everyday occurrence. Although he no longer wore his sunglasses, revealing penetrating blue eyes that seemed to stare right into Danny’s soul. Danny would have felt more comfortable if Drol had kept the sunglasses on.
“It’s psychic space,” Drol giggled, trying to hide his amusement but failing miserably. “It’s brilliant. It behaves how you want it to. The first thing you thought of when you saw your surroundings was of outer space, so that’s how it’s acting for you. But just try to think of it as having a glass floor or something.”
“That’s a little hard to do from this position...” Danny groaned, feeling increasingly giddy.
“Fair enough, you need a little visual help. Not a problem.” Danny could see the concentration on Drol’s face. And the blackness was slowly replaced by a hauntingly beautiful garden. The sudden change of scenery caught Danny by surprise, and he plummeted into an ice-cold fountain with a cry of alarm. He felt the freezing cold water, and decided that this was not a nice sensation. Spluttering and swearing, he dragged himself out of the fountain and took a good look at his surroundings. This place was both frightening and beautiful. A stereotypical 19th century English garden, all neatly mown lawns, elaborate garden sculptures and pretty flowers. The hedges around the garden were in full bloom. And at the far end of the garden, a large marble arch led to a cast iron gate. A further look revealed a little white table nearby, complete with two seats and a pretty parasol. A shawl was draped over one of the seats, and an untouched orange juice sat at this place. But the whole image was tainted somewhat by the fine mist that hung over the garden, transforming it from what should have been a sunny, delightful little place into something overwhelmingly sad. Danny shuddered. He was glad that Magdelia wasn’t with him. He just knew that this place would get to her. It was getting to him. With a shudder, he set off to look for Drol.
He found Drol eventually, tending to the roses with an almost touching care. Drol never acknowledged Danny, but he must have heard him approach, because he began to talk. Although he never turned to face Danny, he just carried on with his work.
“It’s a beautiful place, this,” Drol said sadly, some kind of weight hanging over him. “It was my fiancees. I had a fair bit of money to spend, and I wanted to give her something for her birthday that would last. So I bought her this place, a token of my love. She was just so delighted! It was worth every penny just to see her face light up the way it did. But back then the roses were all red. Now they’re black. How do I turn them back to red again?”
“What the hell are you playing at? You dragged me here for this?”
Drol carried on, seemingly oblivious to Danny’s outburst. “We’d spend all summer here, sat over on the table drinking lemonade and just talking. That was all I needed to be happy. And over on the lawn our pokémon would play together. And we’d be content. This was a place to go to be happy. It would always pick me up to think of this place if I was down.”
“You call this a happy place?” Danny asked incredulously. This place may have been many things, but happy it was certainly not. Drol sighed deeply and stood up. He was still not looking directly at Danny.
“But she’s gone now. They took her away from me. They killed my Kotake. And after that all I had left was this place. But really I don’t even have that anymore. In reality it got destroyed. A freak storm levelled it. Ha! That’s the story of my life. Every time I find something to hold onto it gets snatched away from me. So now the only way I can reach this place is through my dreams. But as you can see...” Drol gestured broadly to indicate the mist shrouded garden, “my mind obviously doesn’t like me. I’ve tried so hard to make this place a little less gloomy, but nothing works. I can normally exercise complete control over this world, it’s easy with a little practice, but here it just won’t respond. I guess that Kotake was the one who made this a happy place. Now she’s gone it just feels so empty...” Drol stared off into the distance. Danny was beginning to feel sorry for the man. He was almost prepared to forgive him for his earlier assaults.
“Why stay here if it brings such pain?” he asked. Drol seemed to notice him properly for the first time.
“There’s a hidden beauty in sadness,” Drol replied enigmatically. Danny shuddered. Drol did fit in this place well. He went well with the mood - both unnaturally creepy yet totally compelling. “I come here sometimes hoping that I can bring her to this place, hoping that we could be together for a while, even if it is only in my dreams. Look, I even got a drink out for her if she arrived.” Drol shook his head sadly. “But she’s never there. Besides, the roses...” He suddenly trailed off, and looked away again. For a moment it looked like he was going to cry, but in the end he didn’t. Danny was beginning to seriously admire the man. It was a character trait that Danny always admired, being able to freely express your emotions. Danny could do anger and frustration, everything else tended to come out wrong.
“Listen, I hate to change the subject, but why exactly did you bring me here?” Drol’s expression grew serious all of a sudden, as he remembered what he had originally been planning to do.
“Well, this is the securest method of psychic communication that I know of.” Drol replied. “And I need to talk to you urgently.”
“Well talk then.”
“Well, as you know, I’m supposed to kill you all for getting in Team Rocket’s way...”
“Yeah, how come you’re doing this, anyway?”
“Err... long story.” Drol looked slightly flustered. “The Rockets got my pokémon, once. So I went and trashed the place. In the end it all ended in a stalemate. The only way out was to agree to owe them a favour in exchange for my pokémon. That’s it, really. No offence, but it’s mainly been ‘look after no. 1' in my life. But now I’m getting an attack of conscience. I can’t go through with this, but equally I can’t go back on my word.”
“You’re talking nothing but contradictions here!”
“I know I am. It’s pathetic, I know. The way I see it, we have two options.” Drol smiled suddenly. “I could always let you get first hit in and then that’d ease my conscience a bit, if you did something to me.”
“That is officially the worst idea I’ve ever heard in my life!” Danny cried out, rather annoyed at this apparent waste of time.
“Well, it’s a good job that I have a better plan. I don’t suppose you’d mind taking part in a little play that I’m going to put on. The plot is that I kill you. Only, of course, it’ll all be acting.”
“You want me to fake my own death?” Danny sounded a little more appreciative of this plan, although he would be the one who was compromised. “Just like that? What about Judith, Magdelia and Orestes? What do they do? And how do you want me to go about this, anyway?”
“There’s a big ravine not that far from where our physical bodies are. Just dive down it with your women. You can fly, can’t you? Well, it shouldn’t be that difficult to pretend to plummet to your doom. I’ll have a friend waiting at the bottom to lead you out through an underground passage. The Clegencyana’s assumed to be taken care of, so I’ll keep an eye on him until you get out. Oh, don’t worry, I’m a Pokémon Master, remember? After that I’d recommend that you lie low for a while, or we’ll both be screwed.”
“Just tell me one thing,” Danny said, looking Drol in the eyes, although he felt uncomfortable at doing so. “Why should I go along with this plan of yours?”
“Do you have a better suggestion? Don’t tell me you actually want to fight this battle!” Drol fixed Danny with an odd look, a look that would have broken a lesser man. “Tell me something. Do you get any satisfaction from using your powers in this way?”
“Uhh... what has that got to do with anything?”
“Uh huh. I’ll take that as a ‘no’. Danny, there is noithing quite as pointless as killing and destruction. I knew a creature once that used to say that to inflict pain is the greatest power of all. I don’t buy that. Any old coward can blow a person sky high. But violence solves absolutely nothing, Danny. And it takes takes a certain finesse to take a path that is more complicated than the obvious route. But the smart money is on the route that does the least damage. Now, tell me, can you think of a route that will do less damage than the one I am suggesting?” Danny noticed how heavy-hearted Drol seemed. This lecture obviously came from one who had led a ‘pointless’ life. But Danny had to admit, this was the least damaging route.
“Okay. You should have beena diplomat, you know,” Danny sighed, “I’ll play. But only on one condition.”
“Which is?”
“You said earlier that my power is incomplete.”
“So?”
“Teach me to use it. Properly.”

Danny eventually became aware of something shaking at his shoulder, pulling him reluctantly back in the the realm of consciousness. He groaned tiredly.
“Danny! Danny!” Magdelia’s voice was close, and that was enought to make Danny force his eyes open. The sun hurt them, having been adjusted to the gloom of Drol’s psychic world. But then he saw that beautiful, beautiful face staring anxiously down at him. He gave her a groggy smile.
“Hi,” he croaked, then sat up sharply and held her in a warm embrace. From this convenient position, he whispered in her ear. “Listen. You know the Rockets are after us. Drol’s going to help us to disappear for a bit.”
“How...” she began, but Danny silenced her.
“Don’t ask. At least, not yet. I’ll tell you the whole story later. Just trust me, okay? And get yourself and Judith over to the ravine to our right, and prepare for a bumpy ride, okay?” Magdelia’s eyes told Danny that she didn’t quite get what was going on, but she nodded anyway. She had complete faith in him. Just as he himself knew that Drol could be trusted. Magdelia kissed Danny on the cheek, rose to her feet, and ran off back to Judith. And the instant that she left, Drol conveniently leapt nimbly back to his feet. He looked at Danny with a knowing expression.
“You just got lucky back there,” he smiled. “That shot barely tickled anyway. So why don’t you just sit there and see what I’m capable of!” Drol knew that he had to make this one good. He had a feeling that this performance was being watched. So he tapped into his rage. His rage for those who had put him into this situation in the first place. He raised his hands. Glowing balls of energy formed in each of his hands, and he threw them both at Danny. Both of them conveniently went wide, but Danny took his cue perfectly. He began to back up slowly, towards the ravine. Drol’s eyes narrowed. It was hard to curb his desire to take it all out on the nearest target, but enough mistakes had been made in the past for Drol to restain himself. Instead he focussed on the task in hand. “Good boy...” he muttered under his breath.

Up in the air, Kei, oblivious to Drol and Danny’s deal, saw instantly what was coming. She watched in mute horror as Danny teetered on the edge of the gulley. She hoped that Danny could pull something off to stop it, but as the girls ran to steady him and Drol prepared one final blast, she realised that Danny had quite simply ran out of tricks. So it was then that she made a last minute bolt to try and stop this madness. But by the time she had reached them, her paw just missed Danny’s falling head by a fraction, and they were forever lost.

Chapter VII - Going Underground
“Are these them?” A voice rang out from the darkness. Danny was crouched on the rocky floor at the bottom of the ravine, the two understandably frightened girls clinging to him madly. But down here it was far too dark to see, and he couldn’t make out the source of the gruff voice. He squinted hard, using his psychic powers to try and enhance his senses. But even with this assistance, all he could make out were two silhouettes in the gloom. One was very broad and tall. The other was even taller, but nowhere near as wide. And it definately wasn’t human. Danny also realised that the girls probably couldn’t see anything at all.
“Course they are.” This was the inhuman one speaking. For some reason Danny seemed to recognise the voice. “Can’t you see that for yourself?”
“No, I can’t,” the first speaker said drily, ”For some reason.”
“Geez, Zero, is your eyesight going now? I thought your kind were supposed to have decent night vision! Well, you’re the sorcerer, you light the place up if you can’t see.”
“Don’t mind if I do.” The one who was called Zero raised his hand in the air, and a glowing sphere of energy formed in his palm, illuminating the cavern with a soft blue light. It was much like the energy bolts that Danny had seen Drol use, but this one rose and began to float behind Zero’s head. Zero peered critically at this sorry group. He saw a weary and bruised man with jet black hair, supporting two petrified girls, one with red hair in a bushy ponytail, the other having straggly midnight blue hair and a scarred face. Zero had to laugh. “Good God, how the hell did you lot manage to get Team Rocket so wound up?”
Danny looked up at the stranger blankly. He saw a very tall and broad man with a body bulider’s physique, dressed in simple blue clothing. The man’s eyes sparkled mischievously. But the hair struck Danny. It was long and unkempt, giving the general impression that the man didn’t care much for his appearance. But the colouring was very... odd. The right side was matt black, like a duller version of Drol’s. The left side was a snowy white. Danny was alarmed to see this colour scheme represented in the pupils of the man’s eyes, too. Now that definately wasn’t normal. While Danny was trying to reason about this man, he noticed that Drol’s Mewtwo friend was stood behind him. No wonder he found the voice so familiar!
“Are you guys the welcoming party?” Danny finally asked.
“Damn right!” Zero laughed warmly.
“Fine.” Judith suddenly broke her silence. “Now I’m totally confused! What welcoming party? Will somebody kindly tell me what’s going on here?” Danny turned to her and explained Drol’s plan as best he could. Judith looked furious. Well, at least she was back to her old self. “Danny. I don’t suppose it ever occured to you to TELL ME ABOUT THIS EARLIER??? You nearly gave me a heart attack! And look at this! I’ve broken a nail!”
“Gee, I really hate to interrupt this rivetting conversation,” Mewtwo interrupted, “but I reckon it’s about time that you guys gave some consideration to getting off your asses and coming with us. It’s a pretty long walk, you know.” Danny was beginning to get sick of Mewtwo’s attitude, but he didn’t say anything. He just rose to his feet, swiftly followed by Judith. Magdelia had less success. The instant she tried to get up, she gave a short cry of pain and promptly fell back down again. Danny only just managed to catch her.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, concerned.
“My ankle...” Magdelia moaned. Zero abruptly moved towards her, and took a look at the offending ankle. It was bruised and swollen.
“Sprained,” he shrugged.
“Oh, nice going, Danny! What a brilliant landing that was!” Judith was now in full complaining mode.
“There’s really no problem, it’s easily fixed.” Zero put his hand on her ankle gently, and muttered something under his breath. His initially cold touch began to warm up as a soft silver glow began to emanate from his hand, filling Magdelia’s foot with a comforting warmth. Gradually the pain began to fade. And when Zero removed his hand the ankle looked fine. Everybody bar Mewtwo gasped in amazement. “That ought to do it,” Zero smiled, standing up and helping Magdelia to her feet. “I guess it’s a little too late to say this now, but you really ought to get something on your feet, little lady, the ground’s pretty rugged around here.”
“You’re telling me!” Mewtwo interrupted, rubbing his own hindpaw painfully. Everyone else ignored him.
“How... how did you do that?” Magdelia sounded both grateful and stunned.
“That’s a good question.” Danny sounded curious. That was unlike anything he had ever witnessed before! “And, for that matter, what’s your relationship with Drol?”
“Not what I’d like it to be...” Zero muttered inaudibly. For a split second his sunny demeanour vanished, replaced by an almost folorn look. But then he cheered up again, and explained as he walked. “I can’t tell you the trick I just used, it’s a... family secret. But as to Drol... well, we go way, way back. We were rivals.”
“Oooh, you’re a pokémon trainer, too?” Judith asked.
“Yup. As rivals go, we were pretty much at each others throats. As much as I hate to say it, I caused him a fair bit of hassle in the past. Not like he didn’t give as good as he got, you understand. That’s always been Drol’s way. He’s a very dangerous enemy, believe me. But one day we had an emergency to contend with, and it kinda forced us to bury the hatchet. Some screwed up pokémon was causing a lot of sick shit, and, since we both had dealings with it in the past, we figured we were the best chance of defeating it.”
“This thing wouldn’t happen to have been called P’Tana Kzar, would it?” The question caused Zero to suddenly stop in his tracks. He turned around slowly and fixed Danny with an odd look.
“And how do you know about him?” he asked suspiciously. Danny gave him a quick run through of events that he was beginning to tire of having to relive. How the Psyros caught him and used him as a guinea pig for his experiments, how it used him as its tool, how it caused him to stumble across Orestes and the Manachu, how the Manachu helped him to turn the tables on Kzar. Zero listened attentively, a frown on his usually friendly face. “You don’t know the half of it,” he said seriously, “Kzar has some seriously weird powers, powers that sure as hell don’t stem from any psychic abilities he may have. He calls himself the Lord of Chaos, you know. And he’s got these two demons that he can summon up when he fells like it. What were their names... ah, Szalbos and Gretar, that was it. Ugly little fuckers. But I thought Drol killed him ages ago!”
“Eh?”
“Kzar was the one that killed Kotake, Drol’s fiancee. You have no idea how close they were. I can testify that she was the only person that Drol’s ever loved. So losing her drove him nearly insane with fury and grief. His powers feed off negative emotions, so... the bolt he threw at Kzar went in one side and straight out the other. I could have sworn that had killed him! I know it killed Drol’s soul. He’s just lucky he’s so mentally tough. He narrowly escaped losing it altogether. But it still scarred him. I know he puts a brave face on it, but... God, what a mess. He’s never been the same since. I mean, he’s always been a stubborn, erratic romantic, but that just sent him downright morbid...” Danny was beginning to sense that Zero’s feelings for Drol ran a lot deeper than just a friendly rivalry. In fact, didn’t opposites attract? The two men seemed to be complete opposites. Drol was slight and speedy. Zero was muscular and bulky. Drol seemed detatched. Zero was very easy going. Drol was elegant. Zero was rugged. Drol was an enigma. For the most part, Zero was very upfront. Danny returned his attention to Zero’s talk. “So he got captured by a Manachu, huh? Cool! The bastard deserves it.”
“Oh my god, just think!” Mewtwo suddenly piped up, sniggering. “Two Manachus! Mewthree’d have a heart attack!”
“What did you say?” Magdelia asked suddenly. Two things in Mewtwo’s outburst had caught her attention.
“Oh, that twerp that calls itself Pizza... or should that be Ash no. 2? Well, anyway, he lives with us. He’s a friend of Drol’s lodger, Talon, you see. God knows why a straight laced kid like that ever got involved with a boozing druggie of a biker, but he did. So Talon invited him over ‘coz he reckoned that Drol could help him be a better trainer. And coz he’s there, so’s Mewthree. He’s still pretty grateful to you, even if he doesn’t show it much. Asked me to say hi from him.” Magdelia blushed. She remembered well the childlike Mewtwo whom she had befriended not so long ago.
“Err... so what about the ‘two Manachus’ bit, then?” Danny wasn’t as easily distracted. Mewtwo rolled his eyes.
“Well, it stands to reason that the one in Mt. Moon isn’t the only one. After all, there had to be something to give birth to it. As far as I know, there’s three. The parent one, which could be dead for all I know, the one you know, and the one we know. There’s one near us. Oh, no need to look so concerned, it’s younger and more sociable. It gets its kicks from mental torture and winding everybody up. You’ll be fine providing you can take a bit of name calling. It’s a pretty petty dickhead if you ask me.”
“How’s about I tell it you said that?” Zero asked.
“No... let’s not bother.”

The group had been walking for what seemed like years, although it had only actually been a few hours. Zero suddenly declared that it was time to stop for a while, and had used his strange powers to light a small fire that the group were now huddled round. It had been getting very cold, so they were glad for the comforting warmth. And Zero had been passing a flask round, which contained some sort of alcohol. That helped to warm them up even more. Or at least it stopped them from noticing the cold. But Magdelia had other things on her mind. Something had been bugging her since she first arrived in this dark place. She glanced up at Mewtwo, who was doing his best to hog the booze.
“Hey,” she said, trying to catch his attention. He looked at her curiously. “You speak of me and the Manachu as if you know us. You’re the Mewtwo who used to live in Mt. Moon with us, aren’t you?”
“You have a good memory, Magdelia, particularly considering what you must have been through.” Mewtwo flushed red, although this could easily have been through drinking too much as opposed to being embarrassed. “And yes, I remember you well. Although you’re a lot cuter than I remember.”
“What exactly would a Mewtwo know about human beauty?” Danny slurred from next to Mewtwo, taking the opportunite to grab the flask of alcohol off him. He took a big swig, and a strangely compelling licorice taste filled his mouth. He smiled drunkenly.
“I can appreciate beauty in all its forms.”
“Uncharacteristically profound...” Zero said.
“Heh! It’s coz I hang round Drol so much. He gives you a taste for the finer things in life. But wait, this is gonna get even profounder. I reckon you all might be interested to hear ‘bout my origins...”

Chapter VIII - M2 Specimen Z???
The shadowy Pokémon Genetics Research Institute had been formed to work on Pokémon genetics. To find out little details, like if the natural fire resistance of an Arcanine could be used to help develop safer firefighting suits. But with every new breakthough, the PGRI grew in power and wealth. Very soon it had gone from being a Government-sponsored organisation to a private firm that made huge profits from its discoveries. And most recently, it had been trying to recreate Mew, a pokémon thought to be long extinct. They found a fossilised Mew eyelash, which provided enough DNA to begin work. But the result, M2 Specimen A, was a deformed and useless freak, body already dead, and mind decaying. But the PGRI was undeterred. The failure, they reasoned, was due to the fact that Mew could not survive in the modern world. So the schedule was altered. They tried to improve upon Mew, to create something better. M2 Specimen B. And that project was well underway when they made the find of the century.
A real, live Mew had turned up.
To begin with, the company was annoyed. They had been trying so hard to recreate Mew, when it existed all along! So then the schedule was changed yet again. To hell with recreating Mew. They wanted to use it to create something new, that was superior to Mew in every way. But they ran into problems. Namely, the government wanted the Mew to be preserved, so the PGRI stalled for one valuable day before handing the Mew over. The PGRI, you see, knew something that the others did not. The Mew was pregnant. With twins. So in the end the conservationalists got their Mew, because the PGRI could have the hushed-up babies. And they tested. And probed. And changed. And warped. And produced what they wanted.
“They look a lot like B,” one scientist had remarked, making reference to the fact that they, like M2 Specimen B, had what could be described as the classic Mewtwo shape. But this comment only earned him a withering glance from his colleague, a short, officious looking woman with glasses and meticulously-combed dark grey hair. She glared at him angrily. How could a mere button-pusher even hope to comprehend what she had managed to achieve? She had slaved over this project for months, and his inability to appreciate the sheer genius of it had offended her. Okay, from a physical standpoint, it was a bit like the B project. But she knew how different the two pseudo-M2s were from the others. They were so much more powerful. Well, the bosses wanted power, and so they’d got power. And she wasn’t about to have some kid who should be stacking shelves even so much as breathe near her work.
“You can go now.”
“But Dr. Kassandra...”
“No, you can finish now. Go see if anyone else needs help. I need a little privacy. Okay?” The junior was too used to the woman’s sharp tongue to wait any longer. He knew all he’d get would be an earful of abuse, so he left her to it. Satisfied that he was gone, she turned her attention back to the Mewtwos floating in their isolation booths. “Perfect,” she smiled. Nobody took their work as seriously as she did, and this time she was totally proud of her results. “You guys are so, so perfect. I’ll make sure you never outlive your use to us. I’ll be damned if they just use you and dump you. I spent too long for that. So... just stick around, guys. You... you are Project Z. Lucifer and Angel.” Dr. Kassandra smiled to herself. “That should annoy those losers in the recreation department. All that messing around trying to build it from scratch is pointless! Oh, I’d love to see the look on Kagakusha’s face when she sees how much stronger my M2s are...” Kassandra cackled loudly. “You guys could be just too useful to me to hand over. Leave it with me, huh?” And so saying, she glided swiftly out of the room, the door shutting silently behind her.

The Mewtwo watched her as she left the room. That was weakness. She had a weakness. A weakness that he would be sure to exploit. He smiled inwardly to himself before drifting back to a dreamless sleep.

Professor Denka was worried, but he didn’t show it. The new Z project worried him. In a sense, he didn’t feel that it was quite what they had set out to do when they started the M2 experiments. But Dr. Kassandra was adamant that this sidetracking would benefit the institute in the long run, and so he had little choice but to put his trust in her. She was a truly exceptional scientist, and her rise in the mutation department had been truly astonishing. Besides, his field was electrical research. He just had to put his faith in the mutation team, which at times was a little hard to do. Anyway, Kassandra had really excelled herself with this one. Two perfect warriors. Unbelievable psychic powers. Amazingly high pain threshold. Physically strong. And an almost human-like mentality. The heads of the institute had been very impressed. They had promoted Kassandra to head of the entire mutation department. But it still left Prof. Denka feeling slightly uneasy. Why were they perfect warriors? Wasn’t this all in the name of research? Why create something that powerful just to test on? In fact he had confronted Kassandra on the issue the previous day.
“Of course their main function is for experimentation,” she had snapped irritably. “I haven’t lost sight of the original target. In fact, I have accomplished it. We’re supposed to make something stronger than Mew, well, there you are. Two of them. Mind you, I’d hate to see them go to waste once we’ve finished with them... perhaps we could assign them to guard duties or something. I for one am not happy with the prospect of letting all this potential go to waste. Like your B project. And I do believe that C is going the same way.” Denka flinched. Kassandra could never resist having a dig at the official M2 project team. The problems they had been having with the last two specimens had given her ammunition for a lifetime. He decided to let the matter drop, not least because of the fact that he would actually be happier with the M2s guarding the institute instead of the pair that was currently guarding it. They freaked him out more than the Z project did.
“Am I the only one here who’s beginning to get worried about the strange turns we’ve been taking?” he asked nobody in particular. “Kassandra’s liable to turn traitor at a moment’s notice. Kagakusha thinks she’s at least two different people. Dowasure’s a forgetful irritation. And we also have demons guarding the bulding. Now that’s not normal, is it? Ah well, perhaps I should just wait and see how it all turns out.”

Of course, the day eventually came when the heads of the establishment demanded that the Z project had outgrown its usefulness and should be terminated, and no amount of reasoning on Kassandra’s part could warrant keeping the Mewtwos around any longer. Reluctantly she had seemed to concede defeat, and a group of guards were duly dispatched to eliminate them. They found them in their containment cell, Angel lay despairingly on the floor, Lucifer pacing restlessly. It was Lucifer who noticed the guards first. He shot them a grizzly smile.
“Hi guys,” he smiled humourlessly. “Doing some more tests?”
“Not quite.” The guards levelled their guns at the Mewtwos. “We’re finished with you now.” Angel jolted upright, fear in her large eyes. She knew instinctively what these men wanted, even though she had never seen a gun before in her life. And the collar round her neck kept her from retaliating. It was designed to send a huge shock through the wearer if they tried to use psychic powers. The best restraint to use on M2s. Angel looked up at her brother. Despite being in exactly the same situation as she was, he looked the picture of calm.
“How... how can you just stand there?” Angel cried to him.
“Oh, it’s quite easy really. I was really just about to say the exact same thing to them.” he replied. His eyes began to glow a deep blue. Ignoring the increasing pain that was beginning to burn in his neck, Lucifer focussed his energy on the guards.
There was a loud explosion. Angel looked towards her brother. He was lay on the floor, twitching uncontrollably. There was an almost insane look in his eyes. He giggled, although that simple act brought with it more pain.
“Heh... that took care of them...” Angel rushed to his side, her expression a mixture of anger and upset.
“You idiot!” she yelled at him, tears flowing down her cheeks. “You knew perfectly well that collar would hurt you if you tried anything! You knew that you’d end up like this!” Lucifer just stared up at the ceiling and smiled to himself.
“You know, I’d rather go down fighting than just stand here and be shot...” he said flatly. “I’m still alive, aren’t I? Besides, it’s nowhere near as bad as it looks.” He coughed painfully.
“You little liar!”
“Oh, shut up, sis,” Lucifer sighed, “We have to get out of here, and fast, before more guards come down on us.”
“Why?” Angel sobbed. “Why put yourself through all of this?” Lucifer reached up and grabbed her paw.
“We need to leave here...” he said, his voice barely a whisper. “We need to get out. I couldn’t live with myself if I let anything happen to you... I’d tell you to get out now, but I’m afraid I was never the heroic type...” Angel couldn’t believe this guy. He does all this and then says he’s not the heroic type!
“Touching.” The M2s looked up. Kassandra was leaning against the wall, her eyes gleaming with a predatory cunning.
“What do you want?” Lucifer spluttered. Kassandra walked towards them.
“Simple. They want to get rid of you. I think I made you both too powerful. Unfortunately I can’t allow that to happen. I refuse to let all that work count for nothing! And I refuse to let somebody else take all the benefit from my work!” Kassandra doubted they could comprehend. Her pride had always been her major weakness. “So...” Kassandra removed a remote control from her pocket and pressed a button. “Your collaars are now disarmed, although only for an hour. Get out of here and don’t get caught.”
“Won’t you get into trouble?” Angel asked. Kassandra just laughed.
“Why? It’s not my fault if the security measures round here aren’t adequate enough. If they do think to blame me I’ll just go into hiding for a bit. As it is, I think Denka will have to take a lot of the blame. Those collars were clearly not powerful enough....” Kassandra trailed off and glanced to one side. “Now go, quickly!”
“Uh huh.” Angel grabbed her brother and hauled him over her shoulder. He was heavy, even to her enhanced muscles. She raised a paw and blew a hole in the wall, then the two Mewtwos fled into the night.

“Your original name was Lucifer?” Zero giggled, opening yet another flask of whatever it was they were drinking. “How apt.”
“Excuuuuuse me, but you’re not exactly a saint yerself,” Mewtwo reminded him. “Anyhoo, where was I? Oh yeah. I’d fucked meself up pretty badly getting us out. And those collars flatly refused t’ come off. So’s we spent a week or two walking through the woods. Angel was pretty cool, actually. Dunno if I’d have made it if she weren’t there to keep me strength up.”
“Hey, is this gonna turn into a tale of incest or what?” Zero laughed. Mewtwo hit him hard over the head with an empty flask.
“Shut up!” Mewtwo said, turning bright red all of a sudden. “What’s that got to do with anything? This is my story, not yours.” He calmed down slightly. “Anyways, we ended up in Mt. Moon. And guess what happened next?”
“The Manachu?” Danny ventured, rather wary of this temperamental pokémon even now.
“You got it.”

The Manachu stared down at the two scared and cowering creatures with its huge black eyes. It leered at them with a mouth full of razor-sharp fangs. Mewtwos. Supposedly the ultimate pokémon. What a joke. It had always been mildly offended by this undeserved title. By all rights it was the strongest pokémon alive. There wasn’t a thing on the planet that came close to the power of the red, six-legged beast, bar another Manachu. But it could sense the power that these two had, and it was mildly surprised. They were certainly the strongest creatures it had ever encountered. Nothing compared to its own power, of course, but even so, they could come in useful. But first, a bit of fun.
“Well, well, well. Welcome to my humble abode,” it sneered. “I would say something about how your fate is sealed, but I think you have figured that out for yourselves. You came at a most convenient time. I’ve not had anything to play with for a while now, and I think it’s beginning to take its toll on my other guest.”
“Please, no!” Angel gasped. The Manachu cackled to itself.
“Feeling a little apprehensive, are we? No need to panic. One of you will survive. I have seen the power that you hold. And I have to admit to being slightly impressed. It would be handy to have creatures such as yourselves around the community. But I only require one of you. So make up your own minds as to who gets spared.”
“Take Angel to help you,” Lucifer said. “I’m totally screwed anyway. I’ll be of no use to you at all.” The Manachu regarded the two carefully. The male one... he was inwardly petrified, but he was hiding it better than anyone it had ever encountered. The Manachu appreciated that. Stubborn, too. And even in his weakened state he was still far stronger than the other one. It didn’t take long for the Manachu to decide. One of its black furry paws lashed out and grabbed Angel. She screamed in horror. “That’s not what I meant!!!” Lucifer screamed at the Manachu. “She should live! I’m too weak to be of any use!”
“Not true.” the Manachu said simply, fixing the Mewtwo with an odd look. And suddenly, in the inward battle between Lucifer’s gallantry and his sense of self-preservation, selfishness won a critical round. Lucifer shut up, watching in mute horror as the Manachu glared at Angel with eyes that glowed eerily yellow. As Angel turned slowly to stone, she turned to Lucifer with a face full of kindness.
“It’s alright...” she whispered, “Now we’re even... you saved me once... now I shall save you...” And then she spoke no more. The Manachu set her carefully down to one side, and watched the tearful Lucifer.
“Now, now, now, don’t go all soft on me now, not now I’ve chosen. What’s the saying? There are plenty more fish in the sea, I think. It’s true that you are not as strong as you can be, but you have the most potential. That is why you would be the most useful to me.” The Manachu moved a huge claw to Lucifer’s throat. The Mewtwo swallowed hard, but stood his ground. He wasn’t going to let this creature intimidate him anymore. The Manachu moved its claw ever so slightly, and the collar around Lucifer’s neck fell to the floor with a metallic chink! The Manachu had cut through it as if it was nothing. “There. I think that should solve a few of your problems, including your physical state. I think that I have made the right choice. A healthy mental state can be even more important than a healthy physical state. Particularly around here.”
“Fair enough,” Lucifer shrugged. He was too emotionally drained to care any more. In fact, he swore to himself that he would never let his emotions get in the way again. But that was past now. All that mattered was the present, a present where he could finally use his powers again. Lucifer concentrated, and a deep blue glow surrounded him. The glow began to soothe and repair all of his injuries. And when it had subsided the majority of his wounds were gone. Except for a small scar on the back of his paw. It was the PGRI’s brand, and it would be there forever, a permanent reminder of his murky past. He stared at the writing - ‘PGRI M-2 Specmen Z’ - and shuddered. He needed a distraction to keep his sanity. He figured that the Manachu would take care of that. “I guess that takes care of my physical injuries. So where do we go from here?”
“Welcome to the community,” the Manachu smiled, laying down, folding its front paws and resting its chin upon them. Lucifer noticed for the first time the many small, fluffy white pokémon that fluttered about the cavern. Their angelic appearance contrasted sharply with the Manachu’s demonic presence. “There is nobody here that can easily run errands to the outside world forus. I am too large to leave. Besides which, it would not be in the best interests of the others for me to do so. They are too vunerable alone. And they cannot do it. They are too easy prey. So this will be your function within the community.”
“You want me to be the delivery service?”
“More or less.”
“So what do I get out of this?” The Manachu’s eyes suddenly glowed red, and Lucifer was hoisted into the air.
“I can offer you a secure place to stay. But is your life not a worthy price?”
“You wouldn’t.” Lucifer did his best to remain calm. “You’re not likely to get another guest like me. I don’t think you’re the type to pass up an opportunity like this, no matter how much fun you’d get out of tearing me to pieces.” The Manachu almost smiled at him, and let him down gently.
“I like your spirit, Lucifer. So I shall make a deal with you. Your payment shall be in the form of training. You taught yourself everything you know, but I can instruct you in matters that you never picked up from your scientist friends. So provided you do as you are told, you could become even stronger than you are now. Do we have a deal?”
“I guess. But lay off the ‘Lucifer’ bit, okay? I never asked to be lumbered with the stupid name, and I don’t like it.”
“Then how shall we address you?”
“Err...” He thought for a second. That was actually a good question! “I guess that plain old ‘Mewtwo’ will do...”

“I spent a good year there,” Mewtwo smiled. “We both stuck to our arrangement. I know this may seem a little odd, but I kinda liked the Manachu.”
“You what?” Danny spluttered incredulously. “How the hell could anybody possibly like that monster?”
“Actually, it had everything that I ever wanted. Power. Control. Knowledge. Of course, they all amount to the same thing anyway. I learnt a lot in that cavern. And yes, I suppose the experience did harden me a bit. It’s only natural. I was around the Manachu so much that I kinda got desensitised to its nastier habits.” Mewtwo took a last swig from his flask, noticed it was empty, and tossed it to one side in disgust. “But one day I grew too restless. That life just wasn’t for me. So I asked the Manachu if it would let me leave, and rather surprisingly it let me. When I was on me way out I ran into Drol, and the rest, as they say, is history.” There was a long silence. “See, folks, I’ve been around.”
“We noticed...” Zero yawned. “Now let’s get some sleep. Not that I didn’t appreciate yer story, Mewtwo, but... drink’s making me tired...” He slumped on the floor in a deep sleep.
“Now isn’t that typical? I pour my heart and soul out and this bastard goes to sleep on me!” Mewtwo suddenly yawned himself. “Mind you, it is late...” He soon slipped off to sleep himself. The other three looked at each other, shrugged collectively and settled down. It had been a long and tiring day, and no doubt tomorrow would be every bit as gruelling.

Chapter IX - Into the Light
Danny awoke to the worst hangover he’d had for what seemed like years, with Judith and Magdelia snuggled up on either side of him. He smiled half-contentedly and put his arms around them both. If it wasn’t for the unfortunate circumstances, then this would be the ideal way for him to start his day. Except for the fact that something seemed to be missing. Except... Danny soon nrealised what, or who, was missing. Zero and Mewtwo. Danny rolled his eyes. Great. Had they done a runner on him or something? And if that was the case, what did that say for the fate of Orestes, who was still with Drol?
“Yo.” Zero’s voice rang out from behind. Danny breathed a sigh of relief and sat up slowly, gently letting the two girls down to lie as comfortably as they could on the ground. He yawned, rubbed his eyes and turned round to face Zero.
“What time is it?”
“God knows,” Zero said sheepishly. “I never could be bothered to buy a watch, more fool me. I guess it’s pretty early morning, though.”
“So where’s your friend got to?”
Zero smiled and shook his head. “I wouldn’t exactly call him my friend. We never could see quite eye to eye...”
“But where is he?”
“Sheesh, I don’t know. He said he had something important to do and that he’d see us outside. As per usual, he’s pissed off and left me to do all the boring work. No offence.” Zero stood up slowly, stretching. “So, shall we make a start? I reckon that there’s only another hour or two’s walking left before we make it out of here...”
“Sure thing.”

He watched as Danny gently roused the sleeping girls, and the group set off down the well-worn path. Fools. But it wasn’t them that Mewtwo was mad at. He was mad with himself. Mad for letting his emotions get the better of him, mad for reopening the old wounds that he swore that he’d never touch. And the worst part was that, to his mind, there was no logical reason for his depression. He stared idly at his right paw, at the brand mark that still lingered there. Sure, he was an experiment, but he still started off as a natural creature. His form was the result of his experiment, not his existence. Besides, the experiment had been a successful one as far as he was concerned. He’d rather be what he was than a sickly-cute Mew any day. He laughed hollowly, remembering the one before him, Specimen B. They couldn’t have been less alike if they tried. B spent his days in self-hatred, angry at what he was and refusing to accept that he had a right to live. He wanted so badly to be a Mew, but Mewtwo never could understand his mentality. To Mewtwo’s way of thinking, if you’ve got it, flaunt it. In the end, after one too many heated arguments that ended in Mewtwo coming close to blowing B off the face of the planet, they agreed to disagree and left each other alone as much as they could. And it was then that it struck Mewtwo what was wrong. He was lonely. He was almost the only one of his kind. He had no others, he would never be able to settle down, and in a way that saddened him. Sure, there was Kei, but something was still missing. And he had the sinking feeling that what was missing was Angel. He only seemed half complete since she was taken away. So he would just have to carry on iving this lie of a life, because she was as good as dead, if she wasn’t dead already. But... but nobody really knew that much about him, bar Kei. Hardly anybody even knew his true age! He told everyone he was fifteen, which was true as far as his emotional age was concerned, but in reality he was closer to five. A physical age of God-knows-what, a mental age of twenty, and an emotional age of thirteen. Was it really any wonder he was so screwed up?
A sudden thought struck Mewtwo as he watched the group, and it caused him to emit a laugh that the Manachu would have been proud of. Did Danny and his women have any idea what they were letting themselves in for? And had Zero told them about Drol’s unwelcome squatter? If so, had they believed him?
“Someone’s in for a nasty shock...” he chuckled, pushing his emotions to the far recesses of his mind as he had done so many times before. Still chuckling softly, he faded with a soft blue glow, then vanished.

Fresh air. Daylight. After so long in the dark, cramped tunnels of the ravine’s exit, the sun’s brightness hurt Danny’s eyes. He could just about make out a small furry figure hurtling towards him. Wanting to make sure that it was who he hoped it was, he squinted hard, and smiled at what he saw.
“Orestes!” he cried happily, catching the Clegencyana in a big hug. The girls crwded round and petted the furry creature.
“Have you been alright?” Magdelia asked it, stroking its white fur. Orestes beamed up at her.
“Gencyana!” Orestes was clearly enjoying all the attention. He turned and waved at a solitary figure perched nimbly on top of a large rock. Drol. Drol smiled and waved back. He had changed his top since the last time, it was now the quintessential gothic frilly shirt, but other than that he was exactly the same as before, even down to the sunglasses.
“I got them here, didn’t I?” Zero grinned from behind them, still hanging about in the shade of the tunnel’s entrance. His cheeks were blushing slightly.
“You sure did. I knew that I could depend on you, Zero.” Drol said with a small chuckle. “Where’s Mewtwo got to?” Zero shrugged, and Drol rolled his eyes in mild annoyance. “Typical. He always does this on me! Well, I’m sure that he’ll find his way back home sooner or later.”
“Excuse me,” Judith interrupted in her endearingly pigheaded manner, “I’m glad you got us out of that spot, but now what are we supposed to do? Won’t Team Rocket still be after us? I mean... I don’t much like the idea of having to be...” She trailed off, unsure of the words to express her feelings. What was really bugging her was the thought of having to be enemies with Jackie. Drol just gave her a curious smile.
“You needn’t worry about a thing. Yours truly has got everything covered.” Drol grinned at them. “You see, you guys need to disappear for a bit, at least from the eyes of Team Rocket. So... let’s see how on the ball you guys are. Where’s the last place Giovanni would expect to find you?”
“Drol, will you please stop playing games with us?” Danny snorted. “Get to the point, for God’s sake.”
“Well, the last place that he’d look would be...”
“With the person who’d supposedly killed him.” Magdelia finished for him, having cottoned on to what Drol was trying to say. Drol smiled gently, jumped down from his vantage point and walked casually over to the group. He stopped in front of Magdelia, took her hand and gently kissed it.
“Observant and beautiful,” he remarked, then noticed the annoyed reactions from the others. He laughed in a somewhat bemused manner. “I guess chivalry really is dead in this modern world. Never mind me, Danny, I’m just an old fashioned kind of guy. You’re a lucky man.”
“Yeah, I know.” Danny sighed.
“Oi, what about me???” Judith yelled at Danny, annoyed.
“What about you?”
“Don’t I mean anything to you at all?”
“You?? Ha! No offence, Judith, but all you are is a pain in the ass!”
“You what??? Why, you little...”
“Hey, hey, cool it!” Zero stepped in between the arguing couple. They both rounded on him.
“Who asked you?” they both snapped.

Drol looked nonplussed as he watched Zero get drawn into the bickering. He turned to Magdelia, who was wearing a long-suffering look.
“Do they always act like this?”
“Most of the time, yes...” she admitted. Drol sighed with displeasure. Just for once, why couldn’t everybody get along? Well, he had had enough of this sort of behaviour. They were going to stop bickering whether they wanted to or not. His hand went to his belt, removed a pokéball and threw it.
“I need you, Sengoku!” A flash of light. And...
“Venusaaaaur....” the large bluish-green creature yawned, blinking as if its summoning had caused it to be woken up. “Venusaur saur!”
“Well, you’re always having a nap, Sengoku,” Drol retorted. “Look, do me a favour and use your Sleep Powder on that unruly mob over there. Only they’re really doing my head in.”
“Saurrr.” it nodded. Magdelia watched, entranced by the sweet simplicity of the dopey looking pokémon. Sengoku turned and waddled over to where Danny, Judith and Zero were still arguing. “Venu venusaur,” it muttered testily, and suddenly a fine powder began to emanate from the large plant that grew on its back, sprinkling over the arguing group. Within seconds the bickering had been replaced by a loud snoring.
“Nice one!” Drol grinned at his Venusaur. It yawned rather deliberately.
“Venusaur saur venusaur? Saur saur venusaur!” it complained.
“Ohhh no, matey, it’s about time you got a little exercise. You’ve been shirking from work for far too long.” Drol removed another pokéball and threw it to the floor. “And that goes for you, too, Beckham!” A Blastoise appeared in a burst of light. If anything, this one looked even more groggy than the Venusaur.
“Blas?” it sighed, then promptly fell over. “Blastoise.” Magdelia giggled. She remembered this one, it was one of the pokémon Drol had used to become Pokémon League Champion, back all those years ago. She could still remember the team he used. Beckham the Blastoise, Ryoko the Ninetales, Ryo-Ohki the Raichu, Sailor the Dewgong, Sindel the Kadabra and Katnip the Raticate.
“Do you still have all your old main team?” she asked.
“Oh yeah, they’re all still going strong. Or not, in certain cases. Becks, get up, you jerk!” Drol said without a hint of malice. “I need you to move the candidates for Sleeping Beauty onto Sengoku’s back for me. Because I sure as hell can’t do it.”
“Blast blastoise blastoooise.” Beckham replied flatly. Drol rolled his eyes.
“Number one. I can’t get Don to do it because I didn’t bring Don with me. Number two, perhaps if you didn’t raid my fucking drinks cabinet when I wasn’t looking then you wouldn’t have a motherfucking...” Drol coughed and checked himself. He continued in a gentler tone. Not that Beckham cared about being yelled at. He was about as sensitive as a brick. “Look, Becks, I should think that you’d be used to this by now. God knows that you’ve done this to me often enough. Where’s my loyal and cheerful Blastoise gone?”
“Blast blastoise oise.”
“Oh, I get it.” Drol decided now would be a good time for a little goading. “Don’t tell me that dear Becks is finally beginning to feel his age? Are your hangovers actually starting to incapacitate you now?” Beckham sighed and pushed himself upright, eternally grateful that he’d fallen on his front. He grinned and winked at Drol.
“Blastoise blasblast blastoise!” Beckham chuckled, moving over to Zero and beginning to haul him onto the protesting Venusaur’s back.

The journey back to civilisation was largely without incident. Magdelia had filled Drol in on their previous adventures. In return, Drol had told her some remarkable tales of his pokémon career. Like how Lance from the Elite Four was more comfortable doing the fighting himself rather than using his pokémon to battle. How Drol had accidentaly stumbled across the last surviving colony of Mews when helping Mewtwo to find his missing mother. How teaching a pokémon abuser a lesson led to the discovery of a second Manachu lurking in Seafoam Island.
Drol shuddered. “And that little escapade has caused yet another problem. You may get the impression that my house isn’t exactly the safest place to be. I suppose, all things considered, it isn’t, really, but if a gullible moron like Pizza can survive there...”
“What are you talking about?” Magdelia felt a sudden chill. Drol raised an eyebrow enigmatically.
“You’ll see for yourself soon enough. Just prepare for the worst.”

Magdelia found an old friend waiting for them at the gates to Drol’s gigantic house. The pure white skin. The long black tail. And those large eyes, simultaneously totally innocent and yet devilishly wicked. Those eyes that were trying so hard to stop from weeping from happiness.
“Oh! Mewthree!” Magdelia sounded surprised, but on the whole this was a nice surprise.
“Hi.” The psychic voice was choked with emotion. “I’d... I’d come over and give you a hug, but I guess I have a reputation to keep up... oh, screw that. To hell with everyone else. It’s just so nice to see you again!” The Mewtwo-like creature ran over and embraced her, the only human that he ever trusted.
“Yo!” A voice suddenly called out from the roof, interrupting this reunion and waking up the sleeping people on top of Sengoku. Everybody looked up, some of them looking rather annoyed. It was Mewtwo. But who else had the balls to butt in like that? He grinned and waved at them. “Look, I hate to interrupt this emotional reunon, but perhaps it may be an idea for you to get inside, folks. I’ve only just got back myself, and with both me and Drol gone it’s all chaotic in there. For fuck’s sake. Drol, you left Talon in charge!”
“It was either him or Pizza,” Drol shrugged.
“Oh. Good point.”

Drol’s house was gigantic - more like a mansion, really - and wonderfully old-fashioned. But that wasn’t the reason that Danny just stood in the hallway, his jaw slack with astonishment. It wasn’t the complete chaos, with pokémon running riot everywhere, that caused Judith to scream in fright. And Magdelia didn’t instinctively flinch because of the two strangers, a forgettable young man and a muscular biker type, that were sat hopelessly in the midst of this chaos. No, everybody’s attention had been firmly grabbed by one thing and one thing only.
It was the creature that was sat calmly in the middle of the room, paying hardly any attention to the chaos that surrounded it. It was unusually tiny for it’s kind. In fact, it stood hardly bigger than an Arcanine. And it was coloured a deep blue rather than the usual - or what Danny had assumed to be the usual - colourings. But there really is only one pokémon with six black legs, dark slitted eyes and a pair of long, whip-like tails, one of which ended in a cross of lighning bolts, the other in a large golden ball. Upon seeing these new arrivals it’s face broke out into a broad grin and it raised its front arms in a gesture that from anything else might have been welcoming.
“Welcome to the fold,” it grinned.

THE END

Cast
Drol Azusa - Himself
Special Kei - Kei
The most beautiful and gorgeous pokémon in existence - Ryoko
M-2 Specimen Z - Mewtwo
Team Rocket head - Giovanni
Team Rocket rest of its body - BC
Danny Waterstone - Himself
Magdelia, the girl without a surname - Herself
Judith ‘not a bimbo, honest’ Ludlow - Herself
She’s gonna be getting in more - Jackie
A dead man - Chan
Cute and fluffly - Orestes
Not cute and not fluffy - Freiza
Mr. Zero ‘I haven’t a surname either’ - Himself
Angel - Herself
Dr. ‘I should reap all the rewards’ Kassandra - Herself
Prof. Denka - Isn’t it obvious?
Red Manachu - itself
Blue Manachu - itself
Pink Manachu - nothing
Yellow, silver or gold Manachu - now you’re taking the piss
Sengoku - himself
A drunk Blastoise - Beckham
Mewthree - Himself
Nonentities - Pizza and Talon
An ant - itself

Backstage crew
Producer - Adrian B
Scriptwriter - Adrian B
Character Design - Adrian B
Artwork - can’t you see a pattern emerging here?
Lighting - me lightbulb
Sound - Me CD player
Director - nobody
Marilyn Manson song - The Nobodies
Costumes - Fictional Clothing Ltd.
Makeup - none
Electrician - Prof. Denka (he’s a man of many talents)
Butcher - the Manachu
Baker - Not the Manachu
Candlestick maker - A. Twerp
Sountrack by anybody who’s CD I’ve got.

The PGRI, Prof. Denka and the red Manachu appear courtesy of Zarla and the NPLU, so big thanks.
Mewthree appears courtesy of my brother, but I do a better job with him, so NER NER NER NER NER!
Pokémon is a trademark of Nintendo. I had to say that just in case their lawyers have got Lars Ulrich syndrome and want to sue me. But Danny, Judith etc. are all MINE!

This film wasn’t broadcast at all

Danny will return with a super powerful Alakazam trying to kill him. Unfortunately everybody else will return as well. Watch this space.

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