Early morning, Maxie called Duncan and Crystal over to his office.

"Duncan, Crystal," he said to them. "It appears that Kamon has a bounty on his head."

"What do you mean?" asked Crystal worriedly.

"A notorious bounty hunter has been hired by an unknown entity, maybe Nixyzon, to capture Kamon."

"Why do you think they want to do this?" asked Duncan inquisitively.

"I've gotten tips from Giovanni that Nixyzon has devised a new Pokémon experiment, based on the Pokémon legend Mew, a clone called Mewtwo," Maxie elaborated. "Apparently, Ultima was more of a beta experiment, which would explain why it died four months later."

Duncan began to understand what they were up against now. The test was to fuse the DNA of Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres, which horribly backfired and mutated the clone to death. This retry was to simplify the DNA mutation, to the point that Mewtwo could possibly be immortal.

"This is heavy," withdrew Crystal.

"Weight has nothing to do with this," smirked Maxie. "Duncan, I want you to head to Pewter Canyon, to the old Rocket Fortress, where I hope that more information is available."

"Where the first battle started? Well, I'd better get prepared for the journey." He started by synchronizing his Pokétch.

"Here is the com-link app." Maxie handed Duncan a small memory card labeled "COM-LINK". "Just be careful, scavengers have been known to grab what they can there."

----

Karl, Hadley, Kevin, and Daisy had made it back to Pallet Town.

Koga had heard about Kevin and Daisy's escape and reunion with Karl and Hadley, how Hunter J had stolen the lab Pokémon, and how they could not all be rescued. "I see what you mean. A full front battle would not be effective; we will need to be stealthy here."

Janine then said, "Karl, codename Red, you and I head into the base. Hadley, codename Green, you take control of Karl's surveillance."

"We'll stay here and deal with the faker," said Kevin, in reference to the Imposter Professor Oak.

Karl rubbed his fuzzy stubble, and decided, "Well, it's time to teach Hunter J a lesson." He put on a wireless headset, with a hidden camera on the sunglasses. Now he was a cool dude.

"I'll maintain command HQ at the lab," said Hadley. "I can see what you see, so if any danger comes, find a place to hide!" This mission would start tonight, so as to not raise any civilian suspicion.

----

Bundled up in a coat, Duncan trudged through Pewter Canyon. Four years ago, it became a wasteland, but now it was a calm, peaceful canyon with plant life and Pokémon like Sandshrew and Diglett. Due to it being winter, however, they had all been safely hiberating, and snow was scatteringly landing on the ground.

He was searching for the old canyon base, which Maxie said contained the plans to Mewtwo.

Duncan found a building in the horizon. But it was separated from him by a chasm. There was no bridge to cross, and if there were any platforms to jump, they were no longer there.

Something caught his eye, however. Posts levitated at one point. "How the hell do they just float over the chasm?"

He kneeled down and felt the area between the posts with his hand. "It's solid," he discovered. "Kind of clever, like in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade."

Duncan reached the abandoned base, where Team Rocket had once been. "It doesn't appear to be occupied at this time..." He climbed the fence, seeing a "Restricted Area, Keep Out; Electric Fence" sign dangling with only one side of the sign bolted to the fence. "At least it won't be a problem anymore."

Inside, he pulled out a flashlight, as it was rather dark. He'd use his Typhlosion for this, but it was safely stored away on PC. He searched for a map on the wall. He found a charred plastic wall map on the floor. "Okay, the best place to search for info would be a data center." That was where the servers were stored. If they were in cabinets, then they most likely survived the firefight.

It was down the hall he was in, to the left, down that hall to the right. Sure enough, he found a room with cabinets of servers. And they were still running after three and a half years of dormancy. Presumably, a solar generator was still running, allowing power to the computers.

After leaving the office, Duncan heard a whooshing sound from outside. He spoke into his Pokétch, "Maxie, I think somebody else planned to come here before me."

"Stay where you are. It's probably the infamous Pokémon Hunter, known only by the initial J."

"I'll stay out of their sight, then. Then again, it's not like I've got any valuable Pokémon that this J guy would want."

Duncan proceeded to access a terminal. "Damn it," he said in disappointment. "It needs login."

"Insert the override dongle," instructed Maxie.

Override dongle? "What dongle?"

"That Com-Link app also has a program for this purpose. Insert your Pokétch into the USB port."

Duncan did as told, and entered the command "override DCaliduct". The screen soon entered into a graphical user interface. He clicked around, using the search feature and inputting the keyword "Mewtwo". Sure enough, he found a whole folder of files on the subject. Knowing that it wouldn't be a good time to search it all page to page, he saved it onto his Pokétch. "Okay, now I have all the available information." He now had to somehow get out without J's henchmen finding him.

"Wait! There's somebody else in here..." said the voice of one henchman.

"But none of those Lab Pokémon, I'll bet," said another henchman.

Duncan dashed out of the room, hoping that he could outrun them. It wouldn't be too hard, considering that he was slimmer and quicker than them.

To his surprise, he tripped over an Ariados. In the fear of being poisoned, he dared remain calm and not move, in the hope that it would walk away. Instead, it shot sticky web at him, tying him up as he fell to the floor.

"Duncan, what's going on-" Duncan quickly turned off the Pokétch, and tried to pull the string off of his body, but it held him like glue. The clickingof heels approached him until somebody was to his right. Duncan grunted as he turned his head to see crimson boots and matching bodysuit beneath a dark-grey trench-coat. The person reached down to grab Duncan's wallet and inspect the contents within.

"So, your name is Duncan Louis Caliduct, born June 8, 2192, and you're living in Viridian City," the person said, with a feminine voice.

"Are you that - that Pokémon Hunter J?" said Duncan.

"Don't wear it out."

"What do you want from me?!"

"I'm sure your Pokémon aren't worth anything, but I've got some tip that you've been hanging around with someone called Kamon."

"I sure don't know any Kamon, and I wouldn't give a damn about him anyway," said Duncan bravely.

J grabbed Duncan by the collar and pulled him to his feet. "If we hold you and your sister hostage, maybe that will draw him out." A smile grew on her face, which contrasted with the evil look on her steel-blue eyes, which could be hardly seen from her dark visor. "And to keep you from calling for help..." J pulled out Duncan's PokéNav from his pocket, lay it on the floor, and smashed it with her heel.

Duncan watched in terror as he remembered his PokéGear's destruction by Team Rocket at the Radio Tower. At least she didn't know about his Pokétch's com-link app.

----

As dusk set in, Karl and Janine, equipped with headsets, were dropped off into the forest, near where Hunter J's airship base was traced. Janine knew that it was crucial to blend in with the dark.

Karl's headset beeped. Karl pressed a button on the headset. On the other end was Hadley. "Okay, Red, you and are at the closest we can get to J's base without being detected."

Also on the other end was Kevin, who added, "Don't worry, we're on a secure line, and no one but you can hear from this."

"Good," said Janine. "I don't want J to snoop in on our conversations."

Hadley then briefed Karl, "Red, your mission here is to try to eavesdrop into what Hunter J's assignment is. If she had already sold those Pokémon to her client, then we need to find out who that client is."

"Yeah," deadpanned Karl. "I think I've got it now. I bet J wants to brutally kill me."

"Then be extremely careful!" warned Kevin. "I love you, Red."

"Thanks, Blue."