Hello again everyone. I hope you liked the previous chapter. As you can see, we've met with the other main character of this story, Jen. Hope you like her, and the cousin that appeared will also join up with the group. Oh, and towards the end of this chapter, we'll see where Mewtwo has gone off to.

By the way, this chapter is actually shorter than it may look. There are a lot of notes at the end of this part. Sorry, about that.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Pokémon franchise. Nintendo, 4Kids, Gamefreak, etc., have those rights, and here are the age reminders once again...

Ash/Laura's Cousin: 13
Misty/Todd: 14
Kenji/Jen: 17 going on 18
Joya: 18
Brock: 19
Laura: 22

Part 09: "Hey Ashie boy!" Meet Laura's Cousin

Last time, Mewtwo left suddenly, feeling the need to meditate. After Mewtwo departed, Joya invited everyone to her home, where Joya's roommate, Jen, came in, and grew defensive, but apologized for attacking. Kenji, though, seems to have fallen for her. The two girls' other roommate, Laura, has also returned with her younger cousin. Why are Ash, Misty, and Brock surprised, though?

Ash Title: Meet Laura's Cousin!

Ash, Misty, and Brock were very surprised at the sight of the young girl. "You're her cousin?!" all three asked.

Laura looked over at their guests. "You guys know her?"

They, along with Pikachu, nodded concurrently.

"Who is she?" asked Kenji.

The petite girl had light, thick aqua-marine-ish hair tied up in two long pigtails, with a large bang. She was wearing a close-fitting red sweater with a golden star on the front and baggy jeans. She smiled as she made her way over to Ash, Misty, and Brock, giving them hugs. "It's so great to see you all again!" she shrieked with joy.

"It's nice to see you again too," Ash commented after the shorter girl broke her embrace.

"How's it going?"

"I'm doing fine, Misty."

Brock stared at the girl intriguingly, as a thought came to mind. "How'd you get here?"

"Huh, what?"

"How did you get here?"

"Well, how did you all get here?"

"Hey," Ash protested, "he asked first!"

"I teleported here," she stated simply. 'Too bad the planes and ships aren't running, although, thinking about it, they never seemed to run all that much, which is why not many people visit here.'

"You have new Pokémon now?" Brock asked.

"Nope, it's the same as before." She turned to the tall, slim redhead. "Oh, Misty, I heard about what happened a good while back dealing with that Team Rocket leader and the trial surrounding him. I'm really sorry…"

"That's okay…at least he's being punished for his crimes."

"Trial?"

The watcher nodded to Laura. "The person she's referring to is the former leader of Team Rocket and the former Viridian City gym leader. He's carried out some horrific crimes, which included his killing Misty's parents and my Pokémon friend, Growlithe."

"Oh no," Jen gasped.

"That was you?" Joya exclaimed.

"It was big news!" Laura said.

Joya looked a bit uneasy, hoping not to offend the redhead in any way. "So, are you…an-an orphan?"

Misty's look was somber and dull, her voice growing quiet. "Not really. I have my three older sisters." She shed some tears.

Ash, instinctively, rushed to her side, and put an arm around her shoulder. "It's okay, Misty. You said it yourself, he's being punished for what he did to you, your sisters, and Kenji."

"Thanks," she told him.

"At the academy, it was mentioned to us about Team Rocket's exploitation of Pokémon and other crimes. After that stuff, we learned of the leader and former members' arrests. When did it happen, though? What he was on trial for…"

"It was ten years ago," Brock answered. "Misty's parents were killed by him and she was the only witness, but her memories of it were blocked until recently and facing him brought everything back."

"With that knowledge, along with other evidence, she helped to get him put away," Kenji finished.

"At least it's all over," Ash said, wanting to drop the subject, noticing Misty's distant look.

"I'm just glad your family is finally getting closure," Joya said.

"Yeah…"

"So-so guys, who are the other two here?" asked Laura's cousin, growing uncomfortable from the thick tension surrounding them. "Oh and what's that cute little egg-shaped Pokémon you're holding, Misty?" She then squealed. "Pikachu!" Pikachu jumped into her arms and hugged him. "Nice to see you again too."

"This is Togepi." She handed Togepi, to her,as Pikachu had hopped onto her right shoulder. She hugged Togepi. "Ash found him in the Grampa Mountains during that time when everyone was digging for Pokémon fossils. After Togepi hatched, he latched onto me and viewed me as his mother."

"I remember hearing about that. Many peopled claimed to have seen Prehistoric Pokémon, but Officer Jenny declared that it was a Jigglypuff's song that caused everyone to dream they'd seen them…like an illusion."

"I was almost eaten! That was not an illusion!"

"It was Misty's idea to get Jigglypuff to sing to put the Aerodactyl to sleep that was carrying Ash, so that it wouldn't eat him."

"Too bad it put us to sleep in the process," Misty muttered.

"It was about to bite my head off! My short life passed before my eyes that day!" He then smirked. "I couldn't imagine life without Misty!"

"Oh shut up," Misty laughed while playfully hitting him. "Stop sucking up."

Todd remained quiet and didn't even give a sarcastic remark to Ash's sappy line. He kept an eye on the petite girl.

"I wonder if anyone ever showed that photo Todd took of Aerodactyl to Officer Jenny. It was in the Pokémon Times."

She handed Togepi back to Misty and Pikachu hopped back over to Ash. "Poor Ashie Boy," she teased, "he almost got eaten up."

Ash groaned. "You called me that when we first met you that time too."

"How's your House of Imité, Duplica?" asked Misty.

"Ever since Team Rocket managed to get Ditto to do a full transformation, business has been booming!" she told them excitedly. "I'm on vacation and decided to visit my family here." She gestured towards the other two members of the group. "Who are these two again?"

"Oh, sorry about that," Brock apologized. "This is Kenji, a Pokémon Researcher/Watcher and Artist, and the one beside him is Toru – also known as Snap – the famous Pokémon Photographer."

"Pleased to meet you, Kenji, Snap. I've heard both of your names before." She thought for a moment. "Oh yeah, I have some paintings in my House of Imité. It has your signature, and yeah, nearly every issue of the Pokémon Times has at least one of Snap's photos. I remember Snap's face now! I saw your photo in the Pokémon Times receiving an award for best photographer of the year. It's an honor to meet both of you!"

"Nice to meet you too, Duplica," Kenji greeted back politely.

Todd still remained quiet, unsure of what to say. Why was this girl affecting him in this way? It was completely strange. Maybe there was something wrong with her, he felt. Nothing else had made any sense since arriving on the island anyway, so maybe there was something off with her too. "Hello," he said in a somewhat squeaky, strangled voice.

"Is something wrong?"

He calmed down, but still remained suspicious and figured that he would expose her. He'd never felt such a strange apprehension towards anyone before. It was terribly strong. "No, no, I'm fine," he insisted while taking out his camera. "I heard that you have a Ditto. May I please take a photo of you and Ditto?" he asked coolly. 'Film never lies,' he argued with himself, trying to justify his current illogical, yet instinctive actions.

"Wow, it would be an honor to have such a skilled photographer take a photo of a Pokémon of mine!" She pulled out a Pokéball and tossed it. Out popped a pink, blobby, shapeless Pokémon, who chanted out, "Ditto".

"I could probably get a better shot if you held the Ditto."

"Okay." She held Ditto with her right arm, hugging it, while doing the "V" for victory pose with her left. "Is this okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's fine," he muttered quickly. He still wasn't entirely sure what he was doing or even why. He just really wanted to capture this girl on film. She had such a mysterious aura to her that he was nearly instantly drawn to.
x x x x
"Strange," Misty murmured in complexity.

"What's strange?" asked Ash in a lowered voice.

She lowered her voice as well before answering. "Since when does Todd take pictures of Pokémon that aren't out in the wild doing what they do naturally? Remember when we first met him? He didn't want to take a photo of Pikachu, unless he was unaware of it so that it didn't come across as staged or fake."

"I think you're overthinking it. Maybe it's rare for him to come across Ditto and just decided to use this chance. I know I've never come across Ditto in the wild."

Misty thought for a moment. Maybe Ash was right…

x x x x

"Alright, I got it," Todd said after taking a second shot.

Duplica put Ditto down and walked over to Todd. "Great, when can I see it?"

"See it?"

"Yes, 'see it'."

"I guess whenever I get the chance to develop the film."

"Isn't that a digital camera you're using right now?"

Todd felt his face growing hot, and hoping that it wasn't going red as well, realizing Misty was right. "Hm, you know, seems something may be wrong with this. I'll check it out later," he said with a flustered laugh.

Everyone just stared at the photographer, curious over his peculiar actions. Todd diverted his attention to the floor, pretending to be checking his camera. He could feel everyone's eyes burrowing into him. His face was practically frying now. He couldn't take it and quickly excused himself to the washroom.

'What is wrong with me? Why did I take her picture? Why am I so interested in that girl?' He looked at the two photos he'd taken of Duplica. His cheeks started to grow warm and realized the photos he took revealed nothing. Just the girl giving off a radiant smile. 'No…I couldn't be…no no no. Could I possibly…like her? I can't like her, I just met her. I don't know a thing about her.'

He sighed in disgust. He felt pathetic, like a girl-crazed Brock, even though he hadn't acted in such a way since meeting Joya. He splashed some cool water on his hot face.

The boy stared in the mirror, his look a bit sullen.

'When I first met Misty, I grew to like her, but it wasn't meant to be. She rejected me, even though it wasn't direct. She didn't even know that I…kinda…liked her. When on my way to Viridian, I was going to try telling her about it, but I couldn't, especially since I saw she was really into Ash and that he was into her. I hate that feeling.

'At least when you're up in the mountains, you don't have to worry about that kind of stuff. I should go back to doing remote assignments, but because of what's recently happened, I've gotten used of being around people.

'I can't let myself fall for that girl. I don't want to deal with it.'

Seeing that his face was a normal color, he decided to finally face the others again, but grabbed a tissue before doing so.

When he arrived back into the room, they all gave him urging stares. Before anyone could ask anything, Todd faked a sneeze.

"I'm fine guys. I think I'm coming down with a slight cold because of the weather or either it's my allergies." He sneezed again.

"I never knew that you had allergies, Todd."

Todd glared at the boy. "Well, now you do."

"What about your camera?" asked Duplica.

"Oh, yeah, that. Well, the camera I used is new and I'm still trying to get the hang of it." He brought up the photo he'd taken, realizing if he didn't, he'd never give off the impression that he was okay. "Here it is."

"Ooo, look Ditto! Aren't we awesome!"

"Ditto!"

"Glad it's okay," he mumbled.

"No no, it's great. Could I get a copy of it? I could hang it up back home and let the entire world know that the famous Snap took our photo!"

"Y-yeah, s-sure," he got out, trying his best to look around her.

"Duplica, I'm really sorry I can't stay with you, but I'm glad you all know each other."

"Yeah, we invited them to stay the night," Jen explained.

"That's even better." The girl looked down at her wristwatch. "Oh no, look at the time. I have to go. My break is almost over. I'm really really sorry I can't stay with you and your friends, Duplica."

"It's okay, cuz. I have Snap and the others to hang out with and I know how you're needed at the hospital. I'll see you later."

"Thanks. Bye everyone."

With that, her boots on and her coat, scarf, and gloves pulled on tight, she left the house, a frosty chill blowing in as she opened and closed the front door.

After she left, Jen insisted on preparing them lunch, regardless of how they all protested on intruding. They were glad that they did take her up on the offer, as she was a good cook. "I learned how to cook from my friend, Mako-chan," she told them as she served them steamed rice and chicken curry.

While eating, Todd glanced over at Duplica a couple of times, who was talking most with Ash and Misty. Brock spent most of his time talking about Pokémon remedies for basic Pokémon illnesses and the type of foods he would prepare for them with Joya, who was joined by Jen and Kenji. Since Brock did offer to take Joya out, he suggested that the four of them go out together.

"But what about Ash and the others?" asked Kenji.

"They'll be fine," Brock insisted. "Besides, they can all hang together."

After talking with the younger members of the group, Duplica told them, "Go ahead. Snap and the others can keep me company. Besides," she grinned, "you guys are all too old." The two girls laughed at Duplica's playful nature and the others didn't object.

As the early evening approached them, Brock and the others headed out, leaving the four younger teens playing video games or any game in general in the game room Jen had.

"Yeah!" Duplica jumped up, dropping the controller. "I beat you again, Ashie Boy!" She started to do a victory dance.

"No fair!" Ash whined from his spot on the floor, his arms stubbornly crossed. "I'm the one training to become a Pokémon Master! I should be able to beat you in *Pokémon Stadium every time!"

Duplica stopped dancing and winked. "I guess tha goes to show you, Pokémon Master, that I'm better at this than you thought. You obviously underestimated my skill and talent. Looks like somebody could use some more training, eh Ashie Boy?"

"Hey, qu-quit calling me that!"

"Do you prefer, 'cutie'?"

"Cutie?!" he groaned.

Misty held back a laugh, as she found Duplica's teasing amusing. She and Todd had been playing cards, but was pretty quiet. He was trying his best to avoid anything dealing with the performer, if he could help it.

As for Pikachu and Togepi, they were also playing games. Pikachu was playing Pokémon Red while Togepi was playing Pokémon Green.

":I'm trying to get as many electric types as I can, since I want to finish this cartridge with all electric types, other than the starter.:"

":Cool Uncle Pika! I wanted to have as many psychic types as I can, and finish only with those!:"

":Only psychic types? You'll never finish with only Psychic Pokémon. It's difficult to finish any of these games with only one type.:"

":And a few normal and grass types.:"

Pikachu sweatdropped at the small egg Pokémon's ironic statement. ":I'll finish before you!:"

":I've been practicing!:"

":How far have you gotten since the last time you played? Are you finally at the Elite 4?:"

":Yeah! They're challenging!:"

":I have the link cable. Let's trade after you finish.:"

":Okay, Uncle Pika! We could also battle!:"

Ash and Duplica continued to play for about another hour or so, while Misty and Todd just talked. Being quiet wasn't helping anyway, as Misty hated it when he was quiet, as it made her suspicious. Either way, much to his relief, it did help keep his mind off of Duplica.

After a while, a large, rumbling sound was heard. Ash held his stomach in embarrassment

"Ash," Misty laughed, "we couldn't hear the game's music over your stomach."

"Oh, shutup," he retorted back playfully with a grin.

"Aw, wittle Ashie Boy is hungry…"

"Only one person can call me 'Ashie Boy', Duplica," Ash stated firmly with a slight frown.

"Who's that?"

"Well," his face went slightly red, and he started to scratch the back of his head bashfully, "m-my g-girlfriend." It still felt strange admitting that he actually had one.

"Your girlfriend, eh?"

"Yes, my girlfriend."

"Great, when are you going to ask me out to make it official?" she mockingly, innocently asked with a mischievous grin. Ash fell over from the girl's persistence. 'I know I shouldn't be flirting with him like this, but it's just too much fun!'

"Wow, it's getting dark out," Misty noted while looking out the window. She turned back towards the others. "Maybe we should go out someplace and take advantage of this winter weather…like….ice skating."

Duplica clapped her hands. "That's a great idea and I know just the place!" She looked over at Todd, who had gone quiet again, focusing his attention on the cards he was shuffling. "Hey Camera Boy, what about you?"

Breaking away from his confused thoughts, he mumbled, "Yeah, sure."

"We'll have to change clothes, but I don't have anything," Misty said.

"Don't worry about that, Misty. Follow me."

After the two girls took off, Todd finally spoke up. "Jen-san said I could use her computer. I'm going to see what I can do about these photos I took earlier."

Before Ash could get a word out, Todd took off. "Well, it's just us now, Pikachu, Togepi. I wonder where we all should go for dinner." He sighed as he went to the window, the snow still serenely falling. He'd done a good job of distracting himself the entire evening with Duplica around, but now that he was alone, he was finding it difficult to put those thoughts he'd had earlier aside any longer.

":What's wrong daddy?:"

"Thinking about Mewtwo. It's been bothering me ever since he left, but now that it's dark…I'm worried. He wanted to go off and meditate and he said he'd return when done…but, seems he would've by now. He doesn't even know we're here…but I'm sure he'd manage to find us…"

A brooding look made its way to Pikachu's chubby face. ":I'm a little worried too, but maybe we shouldn't worry. I'm sure Mewtwo can take care of himself.:"

":Uncle Mew is in no danger, daddy.:"

"How do you know that, Togepi?"

":I don't know,:" Togepi chirped, ":I just do. I feel he's okay now.:"

":Maybe Togepi has some kind of a psychic connection with Mewtwo.:"

"Hm, let's see what Dexter has to say…"

Ash pulled out his Pokédex, which gave off a sharp pinging sound.

"Some Psychic Pokémon, especially young ones, can sense danger within other Psychic Pokémon. This occurs when one Psychic Pokémon has an actual close bond with a fellow Psychic Pokémon. Even though this is most common amongst Psychic Pokémon, this can also occur between Psychic Pokémon and other Pokémon types if the bond is strong. It is most common between an older Pokémon and a baby one or with Pokémon that are sensitive to Psychic types."

"We still don't know your type, but you've been around Mewtwo a lot. Maybe you two do share some kind of a mental bond. You grew attached to him right off the bat." Ash put Dexter away and glanced out the window once again. "Even after what you said, Togepi, I still feel we should go out and look for him. I can't shake this feeling." He sighed. 'Mewtwo, where are you?'
x x x x
Meanwhile, in Joya's room…

"Duplica, are you sure this is a good idea? Joya-san lent me the clothes I'm wearing now, but I'd feel uncomfortable taking anything else without her actually giving me the permission to."

"It shouldn't be a problem. Joya-oneechan has lots of skating clothes. She doesn't look it, but she loves clothes, but she does donate them a lot once she's outgrown them, but some of her older clothes are still here. I use them myself when here sometimes. The main types of clothes she keeps around are the winter ones and her old skating outfits. Before she started studying so much, she used to ice skate all the time." She opened up the girls large sliding closet door. "The only thing that's off-limits, are her skates, as she treasures those."

The smaller girl pulled out a trunk which was filled with old clothes.

"Hey, Duplica," Misty began, as Duplica went through the trunk, "what do you think about Todd?"

"He's okay…I guess," she answered hastily, her cheeks tinging, growing a slight shade of pink. "He's quiet, though."

"I saw that you tried talking with him. He's usually never that quiet."

She stood up. "You don't say?" Duplica tried her best to remain cool, but she had a slight quirk in her voice. "That boy…I don't know what his deal is. I almost feel as if he doesn't like me or something, like I did something to him or like I'm some kind of a disease! Even when flirting with Ash he didn't react! No laugh, no anything!" Her face went red, realizing what she'd said. "Um, I mean….um….not that I would care or-or anything. I just…um…"

Misty gave her a knowing smile. "I had a feeling there was more to the way you were acting earlier. So, you like him?"

She sighed in defeat. "Yeah, I think so, but I don't know why I would. I remember when I saw his photo in the Pokémon Times, I thought he was cute, but that doesn't mean anything. I do wish he'd talk to me though. I would like to get to know him. Every time I try, he acts like he wants to run away."

"Yeah, I noticed that too…but I don't think he hates you."

"If you say so, Misty. I don't think a guy like Todd would go for a girl like me, not even as a friend. He's been giving me the cold shoulder the entire time he's been here."

"I still think there's more to it, and I'm going to find out what that something is! How about we ditch the skating idea?"

"What do you mean?"

"How about a nice dinner out with dancing?" Her eyes grew starry. "It'll be so romantic!"

'She's a hopeless romantic,' Duplica sweatdropped. "So…something fancy? Meaning we have to dress up and all that stuff?"

"Yeah!"

"I know Joya-oneechan has a lot of clothes, but nothing really fancy and if she did, I would feel strange borrowing it."

"Guess that would be a problem. Too bad you couldn't go home and pick up something there…and speaking of that, how did you get here? I just realized you never answered when Brock asked earlier."

"Remember, I teleported."

"How often and how long have you been visiting here?"

"Ever since I was really young. I do have family here."

"It's still a bit strange, given how unknown this place is. How did you manage to teleport if you only have Ditto?"

"*Hi-mi-tsu," the girl winked.

"A secret! No fair!" Misty's whine sounded remarkably like Ash's.

Duplica laughed. "Don't worry, Misty. I'll share my secret with you." She pulled her Pokéball from her belt. "Come on out, Ditto!"

"Ditto!"

"Ditto, please transform into Kadabra." Ditto smiled and nodded. The blobby, pink gummy shape-shifting Pokémon was surrounded by a light, and in its place sat a Kadabra. "Hm, now please teleport Misty to the Cerulean City Gym and back. We've been to Cerulean before and we've seen the water show, so focus on that."

In a flash, both Misty and the transformed Kadabra had vanished…
x x x x
Meanwhile, in Cerulean…

Violet was walking tiredly down the hall towards the entrance of the gym, some papers in hand. It was the finances and bills for the month, so far, and she was going to balance the books and input the data. "Ugh, what a headache," she grumbled, making her way to the gym's office. "Man, today was a long one."

Misty and Kadabra arrived right in front of the gym's doors. Misty was amazed. "I'm…home?" she gaped. "I'm right in front of the gym." Kadabra nodded. "Wow, you're really well trained! Anyway, we should probably hurry back, okay?"

Violet had just made it to the glass front of the gym, when she saw something from the corner of her eye. A flash of red. She rushed to look out the door, but what she'd thought she'd seen was gone.

'I could've sworn I just saw Misty just now.' She shook her head. 'I must be working too hard. It's dark and my tired mind is, like, playing tricks on me,' she inwardly muttered as she continued on…
x x x x
"Wow, I can't believe I was back home! I was right in front of my sisters' gym!"

"So now you know my not so secret, secret. Since Ditto can do full transformations, he can use mimic. During one of my vacations, we traveled to Saffron City. While there, I visited the Pokémon center, and many people there were talking about the gym leader and how she specialized in psychic types. Many trainers there use psychic types. So, with Ditto, we were watching a Pokémon battle between two trainers at the Pokémon Center. One of the trainers had a Kadabra and used teleport. I never thought about psychic moves and it just furthered my determination to become a Ditto master!"

"Wow, he is perfect, isn't he?"

"Yeah. Using teleport makes it easier for us to travel around and return home really fast. The only downside is that he can't teleport to places he's never seen or been and after he does, he has to rest a while."

Misty looked at the Pokémon, who was resting by Joya's trunk. "That makes sense. I'm sure Ditto uses a lot of energy doing that move."

"So, about this fancy dinner thing you want to do, what'll Ash or Todd say about doing something like that?"

"Does it matter? I want to go!"

'She's scary.'

"Duplica, is it okay to teleport to your House of Imité to find something to wear, and where can we go to eat around here that's fancy? Thinking about it, don't you usually need reservations for that kind of thing?"

"I have a place in mind and I can easily get us a table and-and stuff," she murmured, still unsure over such a thing and also feeling slightly embarrassed, as if she was revealing a secret she had no intention of sharing.

"Ooo, is it a French place? I just love French things!"

"Yeah, I know a French place too, but what about Todd and Ash?"

"I'll tell them since I have to get Togepi anyway. Let Ditto rest up some more."

Misty left, and headed back downstairs to Jen's game room.

Once arriving, she saw Ash holding his head in frustration and groaning. "No way! Why can't I beat Agatha of the Elite 4 for this game! Pokémon Stadium should be easy, but all of the trainers cheat! How can a move like *fissure knock out my Pidgeot while using fly!"

"Hey Ash."

He put down the controller and stood up. "Yeah, what's up?"

"Duplica and I changed our minds. We're going out to a restaurant for dinner and maybe dancing. Maybe at about 19:30 (7:30)."

"I notice how you like to turn everything into a date; the mushy romantic kind."

"And what is wrong with that?"

Ash sweat dropped nervously. "Nothing, nothing, but that means that I'll have to dress up and maybe pay! You'll never get a bike back at this rate!"

She bonked him on the head for his cluelessness. "Stop being silly. Don't you have anything to wear?"

"I kind of doubt it…I came here to challenge the gym leader, not to go out on a fancy date."

"Really, Ash? You really don't have anything semi-dressy in that huge backpack of yours knowing that we could possibly end up in a situation where we must dress formally?"

"Ugh, probably," he grumbled regrettably. He knew he wasn't getting out of this one.

"Good."

"But what about Todd?"

"Just tell him about it, and also mention that if he doesn't go," she smiled devilishly, "I'll knock him out."

Ash shuddered, yet found Misty's smile alluring. "Something seems different this time. You really want to go out badly."

"I have my reasons."

"Okay, I'll go find him, but what's the reason?"

She winked playfully. "Hi-mi-tsu!"

Ash fell over, as the girl walked off. Pikachu and Togepi, who had been curious of Todd's whereabouts, having found him in Jen's room, bumped into Misty. She picked up Togepi, grabbed her and Duplica's shoes by the door, and headed back to Joya's room, where Duplica was preparing to leave.

"Hey, Pikachu, have you seen Todd?" The small electric Pokémon nodded and led the way to Jen's room. "Yo, Todd!"

Todd's eyes went wide as he heard Ash, minimizing the screen of the photo he'd been working on…or more so unconsciously admiring. The one he'd taken of Duplica. "W-wow, hey there Ash." He turned the chair to face the trainer and his partner. "What's going on?"

"Well, Misty and Duplica changed their minds and want to do a dinner thing, so we have to sorta dress up. Do you have anything to wear?"

"Ash," he gave him an incredulous, disbelieving look, "with the type of job I have, I rarely ever have the opportunity to dress up. I'm usually out in the mountains or exploring the forests or other areas dealing with Pokémon wildlife…although, I haven't had those types of assignments in a while," he added on as an afterthought.

"I guess that means we need to head out some place and find something. I told Misty I had something, but I actually, purposely, left it back home."

"So…Duplica's going?"

"Um, yeah…I said that earlier."

Todd returned his chair to the computer screen. "I'll…just…stay here."

"You don't want to do that," Ash warned direly.

He turned his chair to face them again. "And why not? I doubt a shop with formal clothes would be open now anyway."

"We could at least try; besides, you don't want to get in the way of Misty's romance. This dinner thing was probably her idea and she just talked Duplica into it. Anyway, she'll probably knock you out and drag you along if you don't."

"That sounds like the Misty I know," Todd gulped slightly. "I'll go."

"Okay, now let's go pick up some clothes to wear."

The photographer gave him a look. "You actually sound like you want to go."

"No way! I've never been into all this fancy stuff, but Misty really likes it, so I can handle it sometimes…but my real reason for going along with her on this is because of Mewtwo. I'm worried about him and want an excuse to look for him later."

"Yeah, that makes sense. Anyway, since this is a request of the great Misty," he stood, "I better find something decent to wear. I want to live long enough to actually see more of the strange Pokémon of this island, like that Michu and Zugeng."

Ash laughed and clapped Todd on the back. "That's the spirit!"

"But where can we find clothes for a fancy dinner?"

"There has to be a shop around someplace."

"I guess I could check the phone directory or better yet, I could pull up a map of this area on the computer and run a search on clothing stores."

"Great idea, Todd! Let's try it!"

Todd went back to the computer, making sure that the window with Duplica remained minimized. He did a search for clothes shops and came across one similar to that of the winter gear shop. Its title, though simple and unimaginative, translated to "Clothes All Around". "Hey Ash, do you think you could go check out the address and number of this place?"

"Okay. Let's go, Pikachu. I'm sure I saw a phone book in the living room by the phone."

"Pi Pikachu!"

'Good.' Todd maximized the picture and sighed. He closed the file and disconnected his camera.

"I found the address," Ash announced, reentering the room.

"Good, good." Todd brought a map of the island up. For the starting point, he had it automatically detect their location. He typed in the address of the shop. "Hm, it's not too far from here. Maybe about a twenty-minute walk, but we still don't know if it's open and it'd be a waste of time going out in this weather just to find that it's closed."

"Well, here's the phone number."

"I'll use my phone."

"I thought the battery was dead."

He pointed to his side. "It's been plugged in for a while. I plugged it in when we first got here, before Jen-san showed up." Todd unplugged the phone and tossed it to Ash, who called. Todd was surprised over the conversation.

"Th-thank you, sir. We'll be there soon."

"I can't believe a clothing shop closes at 10:00…"

"Well, let's get going."

"Yeah, yeah," Todd mumbled dully, shutting down the computer. "Let's go."

With that, the two and Pikachu headed out to the clothing shop, Ash's mind still mostly on Mewtwo.

'Mewtwo, please be okay…' Ash thought as they closed the door.

x x x x

Meanwhile, in a dark, well-hidden underground laboratory…

"I have come, sir," a certain, tall psychic-type Pokémon replied in a trance-like manner.

"I see we finally managed to get ahold of Mewtwo from that dumb kid," sneered a tall, slim man with dark hair and a distinguished accent. "He obviously tried to fight it off mentally, but we finally broke through. He's been the most difficult to get here. It took him hours to finally arrive."

A well-groomed older man looked on in approval. "It doesn't matter. He's here. I am very proud of your work, professor," he praised. "Now make sure that this Pokémon's brainwaves are cast out perfectly, as I'm interested in the boy that this Mewtwo was accompanying."

"I wonder how many other trainers will manage to get here…"

"Hopefully a lot more, even though only a few figured out the cryptic riddle. Either way, the inhabitants of this island are being attacked by their own Pokémon, and it's all because of me!" the well-groomed man bellowed. "This place has something that I truly want, and I plan on obtaining it by any means necessary. This island is very profitable and it'll definitely get me back on my feet."

"But sir, why did you want this one summoned? You were most determined to get this one. This Pokémon could be one of the most powerful to walk the face of this earth! I'm not certain if we can fully control him with the instructions you gave me for setting most everything up. You saw how long it took for him to arrive here. Mentally, he's extremely strong."

"I have special plans for this Pokémon," he snarled while staring at Mewtwo, who remained obediently quiet. "This Pokémon's incredible psychic abilities will be an asset to us."

"How so?"

The short-haired, middle-aged man put up a hand, waving him off. "Patience, patience, Professor. I will explain everything in due time."

"Yes, sir." The professor looked up at the large monitor in front of him. "I see a Kadabra has just injured another native of this island. The Kadabra should be coming here pretty soon."

"Very nice," the man replied, a deranged ring in his voice. "Once I have all of the psychic types on my side, I'll seek out my revenge using them. The barrier will be much stronger, and the stronger the barrier, the stronger, and more rare, the Pokémon I can obtain…"

Author's Notes

Note 1: So, all of the games they're playing….I was tempted to take them out, but decided to leave them in for nostalgia purposes. Also, I haven't played many later gen Pokémon games outside of the handheld ones. The only console games I've ever played have been Pokémon Stadium and Pokémon Stadium 2. As for actual handhelds, I've played or have owned…

Pokémon Red/Blue
Pokémon Gold/Silver
Pokémon Yellow
Pokémon Trading Card Game (Gameboy Color game)
Pokémon Ruby (but didn't like it much)
Pokémon Heart Gold
Pokémon Black
Pokémon Black 2 (but couldn't get into it much, so I never finished it)
Pokémon X (surprisingly, I lost interest and never did finish it)
x x x
Note 2: Himitsu means "secret".
x x x
Note 3: Okay, this was actually true for me, and my best friend and I still talk about it to this day. We were playing the game and had Pidgeot use Fly. I forgot what we were battling, but it used Fissure and it hit and of course, moves like Fissure is a one hit knockout move. I will never forget that. The computer did seem to cheat in that game, but that was the worst! Funny enough, I still have a soft-spot for it.
x x x

Fic Chapter Changes

At the beginning, after the narrator's (RP's) narration, Ash started to laugh. RP mentioned at the end of the recap that "Kenji fell for Jen", so Ash cracks jokes, causing Kenji to keep telling Ash to "announce the title". During the title, Ash was sniggering.

Oh, Laura and Jen's ages were changed. Originally, she was 17, but for this, I have that she'll soon be 18. Laura was originally 20, but I aged her up to 22.

I let Todd show Duplica the photo, unlike originally. Originally, I had him pull something off the camera, saying that it didn't work. I also added in his illogical thoughts over Duplica being a suspicious person and how taking her photo would show her true self.

Originally, I had Togepi playing Pokémon Blue, but changed it to Green. The original two games are Red and Green, after all. Japan's Green became our Blue.

The part with Duplica and Misty trying on clothes….was originally longer, as they were talking about crushes. I had Misty admit that she'd had a crush on Brock, Kenji, Gary, and Todd at some point, but the crushes never lasted. She also pointed out that she'd felt that way time she met them, and with Ash, it didn't start off that way. Even when the very short crushes wore off, her liking would still drift back to Ash.

Cut out Todd working on Jen's computer, cropping out Ditto from the photo he took, while Pikachu and Togepi watched on, discussing Ash and Misty and how Pikachu realized when Misty seemed to fall for Ash, and Ash for Misty. Pikachu also pointed out that Todd at one point had a crush on Misty.

I cut out Todd printing Duplica's photo.