By: Cameo Anderson

"Show time"

Steven Stanton and Michael Milkins- the craziest pair of Pokemon trainers ever to hit the streets of Viridian City. Their lively Pokemon show never ceased to amaze audiences of all ages. Between the two of them they had a Ponyta, Eevee, Pikachu, Taurus, and a Persian, but by far their greatest accomplishment was MewTwo.

Steve met Michael way back in elementary school and they were instant friends. Steve was more technically inclined and dreamed of creating a portable storage system for Pokemon and other items to forever rid trainers of the irritating restriction of only being able to carry six Pokemon at any given time. Michael was a thrill seeker and very business oriented. He wanted to build an enormous corporation that would sell all of Steve's inventions. I guess no one ever really knows what their future holds.

In about the 9^th grade, the two formed their first partnership, a couple of Pokemon catching teens who would put on shows for the locals to earn some capitol to fund their dream venture. Steven started out with a Ponyta his grandfather had given to him only a year before. Michael started out with Taurus he'd won in a bet with the City's overconfident Pokemon master wannabe, William Ketchum, son of the great Pokemon trainer Ash. So the two of them set out on the road to their destiny, performing here and there at local parks and Pokemon centers across the land. By the end of a year, the two-trainer show had become so popular that they were actually holding performances in local arenas where Pokemon battles were usually fought.

Though their show was very successful, Michael knew that in order to keep their little enterprise profitable, they needed something new and interesting, something the world has never seen before. Something incredible that would make the headlines of every newspaper from Cinnabar Island to Pallet Town. This is where our story begins:

"Idiosyncrasies"

"Steve, just look at these statistics!" By the tone of his voice, Mikie wasn't too happy. "Awe Mikie, do you have to worry about everything? We're doing great! Just look at how many people attend our shows! They love us!" Steve kicked his bare feet up on the desk in the Milkins' basement where they centered their operations, a huge grin on his face. "Do you ever take anything seriously, Steve? According to these charts, attendance at our shows has decreased 5% in the last week. We've got to do something."

Steve sat up strait and yawned, "5% aint nothin' when you think about it, Mikie. 10,000 people come see our shows, we're not going to go out of business anytime soon." Steve grabbed a soda out of the fridge and swatted his over worried buddy on the back, "It's okay, really, Mike. We can handle it. If you're that worried about it, we'll do some more advertising."

"Advertising isn't going to cut it, Steve. What we need is something new, something the likes of which this world has never seen. We need to shock and delight our audiences with something right out of a fairytale. I mean we've got to hypnotize them." That was Michael in a nutshell, an over excitable half businessman half dreamer. He could never get enough of life and could always be counted on to live it to the fullest. But sometimes, he just over did it, and Steve had a feeling this was one of those times. "Mikie, you need a girlfriend. This business thing is totally turning you into some kind of maniac. You need to take a chill, unplug for a while." "No, no, no, Steve! You're not getting it. We need to take a break from the shows all right, but not for love interests! We've got to go in search of a Pokemon that no one has ever seen before, something great enough to save our show and make us the most unforgettable duo ever to train Pokemon!" By this time, the tall, thin, and excitement shaken Michael Milkins was nearly bouncing off the walls.

"For heavens' sake, all right, all right." Steve was far from ambitious and would make a career out of being a couch potato computer nerd if he thought he could get away with it, but he had spunk. And it was this spunk that allowed him to fall into Mikie's scheme. "We'll leave tomorrow then. We'll ride my ponyta out to the rock tunnel and see what we can dig up, literally! Will that make you happy, Mikie?" "You've finally got it, Steve! That's a perfect place to start our search." This seemed to satisfy Mikie, to Steve's utter relief, and so the spiky-haired teen kicked back in the leather recliner and began playing the SNES.

"Travel Arrangements"

"You've got to be kidding, Mikie, it's 6 am!" Steve covered his head with the pillow and tried hard to ignore his early bird buddy's obnoxious yelling. "Go to bed, man! It's too early…" Steve was just about to drift back into a deep sleep when Mike came in with a glass of icy water and dumped it over the shocked and shivering Steve, "Get out of that recliner, Steve! I've already got breakfast ready, and I can't believe you fell asleep playing that SNES in my basement! Gees! You're 16 now! What's the story with that? Huh?" Steve leapt out of the chair and tackled his friend to the ground, getting a good chokehold, "Michael M. Milkins! If you weren't my best friend, I'd kill you right now. You ever try that one again, and I don't care how pathetically you beg for mercy, I'm not going to spare you!"

Mikie struggled to his feet and knocked Steve back onto the bed, "Grow up! C'mon. Let's go get some breakfast and be on our way. We'll leave in a half hour." Steve picked up the pillow and casually tossed it back onto the chair, kicking a couple of ice cubes out of site so he wouldn't have to bother cleaning them up. The tux he'd worn for last night's show was now a wrinkled mess, but he put it on anyhow. Nothing mattered to Steve. He wore what he wanted and it didn't matter who said what. Not even Michael could've convinced him to go all the way back to his house and get another set of clothes. No way. He walked upstairs and got exactly the reaction he'd expected.

"Steve, what on Earth are you wearing? Isn't that the tux you wore last night? It's a wrinkled mess and besides that you can't catch Pokemon in that!" "Mikie, this is what I'm wearing so sit down and eat the pancakes and shut up!" Michael knew by now it was pointless to challenge Steve when his mind was made up, so he did just that. Not too much later, they both climbed up onto ponyta and rode to the caves. Mikie quipped, "The first thing we catch better be another ponyta Steve. Rio just isn't big enough to carry the both of us." "Wait a second!" Steve seemed not to even here Mikie, "There's a pikachu! I've gotta catch him and teach him 'Flash' so we can get through that blasted cave!"

Milkins just sat dumbfounded on ponyta as he watched Steve hurl one of his special poke' balls at the pikachu. His new design was a great improvement in the poke' ball industry, one of these days Mikie would have to market that. This ball could hold anything, absolutely anything, even a completely healthy Pokemon at level 99. Of course, the pikachu was captured with absolutely no effort, which was ideal considering the trainer who captured it. "Get the Flash TM out of my backpack, will ya Mike?" Steve cautiously opened the poke' ball and taught his new pikachu flash. "Good boy, pixel. Now use flash!" "You gotta be kidding, Steve. You named your pikachu pixel? Brother." Steve just gave Mike a dirty look, which shut him up promptly. Michael may know how to run an enterprise, but Steve possessed a lot more muscle mass. The little pikachu did as he was told and the cave entrance was lit in a brilliant flash of light. The two entered the cave, Steve on foot carrying pikachu and Mike riding Rio. The day was off to a good start.

"Rock, fire, and faith"

The cave now lit to their satisfaction, the two of them ventured cautiously towards a large boulder that stood blocking another passageway. Steve knew this because a tiny crevice was visible. "Mikie, I have a feeling that whatever it is you're looking for is somewhere behind this rock." Michael investigated the crack, "What makes you so sure, Steve? Looks kind of dangerous to me… but then again, what's adventure without danger?" At the nod of Steve's head, Mike dismounted and brought out his poke' ball, "Taurus, go!" His enormous Pokemon emerged from its ball, awaiting a command from his master. "Charge it, Taurus." The Taurus followed his directions precisely, smashing the boulder into tiny fragments of sandstone. "Excellent. Taurus return!" Mike crossed his arms, pocketing his poke' ball proudly. "Cool. Let's go." Steve was starting to find this little trip pretty interesting…

The cramped and crooked tunnel lead to a large, rather damp and uninviting cavern. A small underground river flowed through it silently. But not everything was silent. From somewhere across the river, somewhere just beyond the cavern's opposite entrance, shrouded in shadows, a strange sound echoed throughout the cave. It vibrated the floors and spooked Rio who tried to dash for safety behind a wall of stalagmites, whinnying in fright. Steve ran to fetch his mount, leaving the terrified Mikie Milkins standing to face the apparition alone.

From out of the darkness, a dark figure appeared, cradling a ball of sparkling energy above its head. "Who- who are you?" Mike asked, trying to disguise the nervousness in his voice. "Who I am is yet a mystery, human. For I am neither Pokemon, nor human, no classification seems to hold a place for me, and thus I am known in a class of my own, defined only by a single being, that being myself, my soul, my existence- I am MewTwo." Mikie knew he'd found far more than he ever imagined, and this would be his moment of triumph. He knew that this creature belonged with them. In so thinking, his confidence grew in leaps and bounds. Lifting his courage from the dust covered cavern floor he raised his hand in the air, "MewTwo. I challenge you to a battle! Winner takes all." Without waiting for a response, he tossed his poke' ball into the air and cried out "Taurus, I chose you!"

A sinister laugh reverberated throughout their battle arena, "You think you can defeat me? You will be disappointed." MewTwo let himself become visible, stepping out into the light to reveal his strangely human, yet clearly Pokemon, appearance. "Taurus, use horn drill!" Despite the bull pokemon's best efforts, he was easily tossed away by a burning wad of psychic energy MewTwo hurled at him. The Taurus bravely got to his feet and charged the MewTwo, catching him off guard and toppling him over. "Well you have some moves after all. Unfortunately, you still won't defeat me." Getting back on his feet, the strange Pokemon sent another burst of psychic energy at the Taurus, sending it careening through the air, landing with a loud "Thud" against the cold hard cave floor, and it didn't move. Mike ran over to his Pokemon and put his hand upon it's heaving chest. The half dead, unconscious Pokemon was barely breathing. It wouldn't last much longer without the assistance of a poke' center.

Mike stood up and angrily faced his foe, "What have you done! You've killed my Taurus!" His thoughts were clouded by his anger at loosing his closest Pokemon companion, and without any thoughts, he bolted towards the offending Pokemon, leaping over the stream and lunging at the evil creature. "You'll pay for what you did to my Taurus!" Michael's fists connected with MewTwo's leathery skin and the Pokemon went flying into the wall. Immediately the Pokemon regained his fighting stance and sent a stinging psychic beam towards the distraught trainer, who dodged it adeptly, and came for a second charge. This time, MewTwo was ready, and countered with a blast of psychic energy that sent Michael through the air and smack into the very wall of stone behind which Steve's ponyta had hidden. The wall came crumbling down upon the unconscious trainer, leaving only his left arm visible beneath the pile of rubble. Steve chose that moment to return.

"I told you, no one defeat's the great MewTwo. It was your foolishness that led you to this fate." MewTwo turned to leave when Steven's voice rang out, "Where do you think you're going, Pokemon? I challenge you to a battle!" The Pokemon turned back around and faced the trainer, a look of amusement on his face, "Ah, so you are both fools then. You are wasting my time, human. You cannot win. Do you wish to end the way your fellow trainer has?" Steven resolutely nodded, "I will defeat you, in his honor." Another laugh echoed forth from the creature, "Then you, too, shall pay for your foolishness." Just as MewTwo sent out his psychic beam, Steve's brave new pikachu appeared behind the beast, zapping it with thunder wave, nearly paralyzing it. Steve counteracted on the frontline with his ponyta's flame attack.

Surprised by the dual attack, MewTwo lost his balance and sent a beam of psychic energy off into nowhere vile, allowing Steve enough time to pull out his ball, "Platinum ball, Go!" MewTwo tried to fend off the ponyta, who was jabbing him mercilessly with his horn, and the pikachu who was using thunderbolt to send the offending Pokemon into convulsions, and this distracted him enough that he didn't hear Steve's call. Suddenly, the outraged Pokemon was trapped within the beam of the strongest poke' ball ever constructed, from which he could not escape. Steven shrank and pocketed the ball, then immediately ran to the rock pile under which his long time best friend and business partner lay trapped.

"Soft in the darkness"

Kneeling down beside the pile of stones, Steve began to lift them from his friend's body, hoping for the best, but ready for the worst. As he rolled one particularly large stone away from the pile, several smaller ones rolled easily out of the way to reveal his Mikie's dirt covered trainer's uniform. "Mikie, you okay?" Steve unbuttoned his shirt collar to give him more freedom to breath. "C'mon, man. I can't run the company by myself! Get your lazy butt off the ground and help me clean up this mess! We've got to show off our new catch- the world is waiting!" His breath caught in his throat when no words came from Mike's usually talkative self. Steve listened for the beat of a heart and was shocked when Michael suddenly reached up and grabbed hold of his neck, "Gotcha, didn't I!" Steve glared at him, "I thought you were dead, Mike! What the heck were you thinking!"

Mike only laughed at his shocked friend and smiled, "Steve, there's no way I'd die and let you run the company. You couldn't handle it, besides, I couldn't let you have all the glory for catching that Pokemon!" Mike sat up, and then tried to pull himself to his feet, "Hold it, Steve, I can't move my leg! I must've broken it or something.." "Man, you always were a pain in the rear end, why stop now, eh? Listen, I gave your Taurus a couple of super potions and a revive potion too. He'll be fine. He's resting inside his poke' ball. We'll have ponyta- Steve paused when he noticed that his ponyta was glowing brightly… "He's evolving!" Steve's eyes were glazed as he watched his ponyta morph into the more powerful Rapidash. "Rio! You did it! You've evolved! Congrats!"

Steve looked back at his buddy, "Um, I guess it's Rapidash now… anyhow, he'll pull a stretcher for you, and you can see a doctor when we get to town." Michael was impressed; for once Steve was doing the thinking. From the entrance of the cave a soft voice cut through the darkness, "Hello? Is someone there?"

With pikachu resting in his poke' ball, they couldn't use flash to see who it was calling to them, but as Steve was gathering materials for a stretcher and wouldn't probably hear the girl, Mikie decided to answer, "Over here." Moment's later a junior trainer in a short skirt and toting a Raichu using flash appeared by his side. It wasn't just any junior trainer; this girl was the daughter of Gary Oak, Ash's greatest opponent. Whatever was she doing out here? Who knew, and Michael really didn't feel like asking. He just knew that she was skilled in medicine and that's what he needed right now. "Say, could you do something about this leg? I can't move it. I can't even feel it for that matter." Mikie said, trying to remain calm.

"Ah, my dad said he saw you guys heading off to this cave. He knew you'd likely get into some kind of trouble, so he sent me in here to help you out, and he was right. You guys, for being as famous as you are, spare no expense when it comes to living your lives, do you? One of these days you're both going to die from it." She smiled as she wrapped his leg in fresh bandages and a splint, "I don't know how bad it is, but this is all I can do for you in here. You'll have to see the doctors in town. I'll go help Steve gather stuff for a stretcher, since I'm assuming that's what he's doing right now." At the nod of Mike's head, she left and found Steve promptly, "That won't work, silly. You need to use some longer ones. These are too thin anyhow, they won't hold up under his weight. Here you go, use these." Steve stood there, dumbfounded, but it only took him a minute to realize that she was a nice looking girl and so he did everything he could to catch her eye. "Hey, yeah, okay. Let's use these then. So why are you here? In this cave, I mean?"

Steve chatted with her for about 10 minutes while they gathered supplies and constructed the stretcher. Mikie laid there, silently, listening to the sound of the water dripping from the ceiling and looking at the new poke' ball that held their most recent catch, pondering what their future held. Soon the three left the cave, Steve riding the rapidash that pulled his stretcher along, and Cindy Oak walking along side them both. The sun shown down softly on the travelers as they crossed the city limits and headed for the hospital. "Thanks for helping us out, Cindy." Steve said, as politely as possible. "I enjoyed it Steve. Gave me something to do," she replied. "Well don't hesitate to ask for my company any time you want! In fact here, I'll even give you my number!" Michael just groaned at his friend's single-track mind. Cindy took it all in good humor, laughing as she took the slip of paper with Steven's number scrawled in barely legible lettering.

"When you guys create that multi-million dollar corporation, call me, ay? See ya for now!" Joyfully she skipped off towards the poke' center, her place of work. Steve watched her leave, nearly drooling. "Don't you ever think about anything but girls, Steve?" Mike asked his partner as carefully walked down the steps of the hospital, still trying to master the crutches. Steve grinned mischievously and cracked, "Sure, I think about SNES, Ice cream and Pokemon. Oh, and don't forget computers, and poke' balls, and food, and parties, and…" Steve's words became a blur as they lazily strolled down the block, their poke' balls hanging from their waist, the craziest duo around.