(Disclaimer: I own nothing)

The Return of Mewtwo

Chapter VI

Kara's house was every bit as quiet and modest as she was. A small five-room abode with a tiny cellar, it stood on a hill a good distance away from the town square and was surrounded by woods on three sides. Its only other resident was Kara's mother Lola, a tall thin woman with brown hair and a warm hospitality that put Ash in mind of his own mom.

"So how did you get here?" the woman asked the three at the dinner table later that night. "We don't get visitors here very often."

"We got a ride from someone," Ash answered in between gulps of his rice.

"In a speedboat," Brock added, finishing the incomplete answer. "She was a pokémon researcher who wanted to do some field work on the island."

Kara suddenly sparked to life at these words, and she gazed at the trio in awe. "A speedboat? When did you get here?"

"About an hour ago," Misty replied. "Just a few minutes before we met you."

"Then you must've been on that boat that got hit by lightning!" Kara exclaimed.

"Lightning?" Lola echoed with confusion, dropping her fork with a clatter.

Ash swallowed his food quickly, surprised by the question. "Yeah! Only…I don't think we got hit. We don't really know what happened."

"You saw us?" Brock asked.

Kara nodded awkwardly. "Yeah. Mankey and I were watching you from shore. We both saw it."

Lola was in a state of utter shock. "Oh that's terrible! Was anyone hurt? Are you all alright?"

"As far as we know," Brock said blandly.

"Did you see everything, Kara?" Misty urged her on. The red-haired girl was leaning closer in her chair. "What happened to the boat?"

Kara glanced down in thought. "It was hard to tell," she admitted then. "It all happened so fast, but…I thought I saw a big flash of light over the boat just before it got hit."

Ash blinked. "Before the lightning?"

"Yeah," Kara went on. "At least I think it was before. It didn't look like anything from the storm. The flash…was blue. It covered the whole boat right before the bolt hit. I never saw anything like it before."

For a moment, nobody said anything. Kara was perplexed by her retelling, and Ash, Brock, and Misty were all stunned to hear such an eerie account of their incident. Even Pikachu and Togepi had refrained from their quiet chatting on the floor to listen to the story. The strange silence crawled on for just a second longer, until Brock finally decided to break the tension.

"Well it couldn't have been anything that unusual. Lightning does all sorts of crazy things in a storm."

"Maybe you're right," Ash added, a little less certain. "The boat was probably just glowing from the shock."

Misty, however, was not so keen to dismiss the strange phenomenon. "What shock? We never even got hit with anything."

"Are you sure you're all alright?" Lola asked again with a little more concern in her voice than before.

"We're fine," Misty confirmed. "The lightning didn't get us."

"Then what could've happened?" Brock said to her. "There was a flash and everything! Maybe it was just a little bolt that didn't do any damage."

"Maybe," Kara said dully, sitting back in thought. It was a pitiful conclusion, but it was a conclusion nonetheless, and they could reach no other. It would have to do. A second later, Lola's unease won over, and she promptly made an announcement.

"Well that's it." She looked at each of her dinner guests. "There's a supply ship coming to the island in less than a week. If you three can't afford a place to stay, then you'll just stay here until it arrives. It's too dangerous out there without a roof over your heads!"

Ash, Brock, and Misty gazed up at their host, dumbfounded by this statement. It sounded more like an order than an offer, but it was an order that all three were willing to follow.

"I…guess we could stay," Brock stammered.

"You will!" Lola replied, and the matter was settled.

By now, though, Ash's desires for food and a warm bed seemed to have deserted him. There was something about Kara's story that made him uneasy, and it wasn't the mystery behind that blue light, but rather the familiarity that surrounded it. A flash of blue…somehow, in the darkest corner of his mind, he wanted—almost needed—to believe that he had encountered such a force before in his life. He stared lifelessly down at his rice as he wrestled with the thought, still unable to conquer it and answer his questions.

"Maybe it was just the lightning bolt," he murmured to himself. "Or maybe it was something else."

The meal went on in silence.

…………………

Fragments of moonlight peered through the windows as Giovanni sat in his headquarters. His steely eyes were focused on the wide television screen in front of him, studying the brief but rather pleasing film clip as it played over and over again. The small boat being tossed in the waves, then the jagged bolt of lightning shooting down from the sky, and finally, the bright blue "shield" that appeared over the vessel just in time to fend off the wicked blow.

"It has to be Mewtwo," Agent 009's voice said anxiously over the intercom. "No other Pokémon could do this. Not this fast."

"Patience, 009," the Team Rocket boss said with a smirk. "Your work is not over yet. I need more proof than this; I want to be absolutely sure that our friend is on that island before taking any rash action."

The agent sounded somewhat disappointed by this unsatisfied response. "Yes, sir. I'll continue to monitor Mew in the mean time. I have reason to believe it'll lead me to the clone though."

Giovanni was a statue as he continued to watch the film clip. "See that it does. If you can show me the creature, I will send my fleet to Ivory Island without delay."

She hesitated. "How will we be able to capture it, sir? If Mewtwo destroyed the lab on New Island and our old headquarters, it could wipe out our entire fleet."

"Leave that to me when the time comes, Agent 009," the boss said coolly.

"Yes, sir," she said again, and with that, she was gone. The film resumed playing for another minute.

Beside its master's chair, the Persian tilted its head curiously and stared up at the shadowy face as if to question it.

Giovanni sensed those catlike eyes on him, and smiled, never taking his eyes off of the television screen.

"I have trained this Pokémon for some time," he assured his pet. "I know its weakness."

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(Short chapter. I'll have the next one up ASAP.)