Chapter 11: Catch Me While You Can

In his hands, Mewtwo held the DSLR camera while he walked alongside Yan. Its large lens was perfect for zooming in, which would be crucial for their stealth photography plans.

"Man, the look on the renter's face when he heard you talk was priceless!" Yan said.

"I'm surprised and also thankful that he actually agreed to rent out the camera to us," Mewtwo said.

"He did seem a bit terrified of you."

Mewtwo looked around. "Now that we got the camera, where can we find that woman?"

"She said something about a beauty salon. Shouldn't be hard to find; everything seems very neat in this small city. We just got to walk straight ahead and we'll likely get there."

Behind some conifer bushes nearby, Mitch and his golbat hunkered down while watching Mewtwo and Yan pass by. The Team Rocket member had a red, square piece of glass in front of his left eye. The glass had a silver button on its top and was connected to a black plastic support that rested on his left ear. Instead of wearing his usual attire with the big, red R, he chose to sport a black T-shirt and cap, along with khaki shorts. The police did not put a price on his mug yet, so he could blend in anywhere.

"Alright, Golbat, now it's time to get that snapshot of the creature," he said as he put his left hand over his lens device's silver button. He had Mewtwo in his sight, all he had to do was press that button once and …

"Golbaaat!" Golbat yelled.

Mitch turned around to look at him. "Huh?"

A growlithe lifted its leg and tried to answer the call of nature by taking a leak on the bush near the two.

Mitch jumped out of the way. "Whoa! Watch where you're aiming, mutt!"

Once the growlithe finished its business, it let out a bark and then went on its way.

Mitch looked back at the place where Mewtwo used to be. He clenched his fist. "Crap … The thing's not there anymore!"

"Baat ..." Golbat said as it sat and let its wings droop to the ground.


At the pokémon beauty salon, the woman in pink spoke to someone on the phone while her eevee waited its turn to be beautified by one of the girls working there.

"Here they are!" Yan told Mewtwo while pointing at the salon.

Mewtwo nodded. "Good. Let's find somewhere to hide. We need to have a good view of the window. Perhaps the trash cans over there could be used as cover."

Yan stared at the trash cans, pondering for a second. "Yeah. Yeah, those'll have to do. Let's go!" He grabbed Mewtwo by the hand and dragged him behind the cans.

"Let's see," Mewtwo said while putting his right hand's index finger over the camera's snapshot button. When he pressed it, the camera snapped the photo of the woman and the eevee in the salon and showed it on its display on the back. "Good clarity. Now we just need to catch her in the act."

They waited for ten minutes before Vixie's turn came. Then the perfect opportunity showed itself when the woman started to yell at the eevee to sit still during the brushing. The beautician lady stared at the woman as if she wanted to interfere, but she held back so she'd not lose her customer.

"It looks like she's spiraling into anger again," Yan said. "I feel sorry for her eevee."

Mewtwo saw that the woman was preparing to hit Vixie. He quickly pressed the button when the woman's hand made contact with the eevee's back. "Got her!" he said before the camera's screen showed … "A blurry mess!"

Yan frowned. "Make sure to focus it next time!"

"Now I have to wait until she does some more bad stuff," Mewtwo said.

The beautician was trimming Vixie's bits of fur that stuck out too much. The eevee was trying to sit still, but some hair got in her nose, so she sneezed.

"Sit still!" her owner said, grabbing Vixie by the left ear. "You're giving the lady a hard time!" She pulled Vixie's ear some more.

"I've got you now!" Mewtwo said as he began pressing the camera's button. Unfortunately for him, a white van passed right in front of him, blocking the view to the beauty salon. When he looked at the photo taken, all it showed was the van's bulk. "Oh, no ..."

"You missed the chance again," Yan said as the blonde had stopped pulling the eevee's ear.

The woman and Vixie left the salon with no further incidents. It was time for Yan and Mewtwo to discretely follow them again.

In the meantime, Mitch and Golbat spotted the youngster and the telepathic pokémon. There was nowhere to hide though, so Mitch decided to walk a bit slower behind them, avoiding detection.

Two teenage boys were having a pokémon battle in a park near the path where Vixie and her owner walked. One of the teenagers had a charmeleon and the other had a geodude. The geodude won easily and was patted on the head by its owner, who said, "Nice job, buddy!"

Vixie smiled at the trainers and yelled, "Vee!" She felt her collar pressing harder on the front of her neck as her owner pulled her by the leash.

"Looks like that eevee's never been allowed to battle," Yan told Mewtwo.

The eevee kept trying to go up to the geodude's trainer, but her owner would not allow such thing to happen.

"Let's hide behind that bush," Mewtwo said, pointing at said bush near the park.

After they both hid, they had a good view of the woman who was dragging her eevee on the ground once again.

Mewtwo smirked. "This is it! I'm taking the shot!"

"Wait!" Yan said. "Switch to video mode!"

"How?"

Yan grabbed the camera, pushed some buttons on its back, and then gave it back to Mewtwo. "Just push the button at the top and keep it aimed at them."

As soon as the camera's lens was aligned with the woman and her eevee, a pidgey happened to fly straight into Mewtwo's head from the right.

"Why do these pidgey have to mess with me all the time?" Mewtwo shouted.

Yan grabbed him by the hand and pulled him down so that the woman would not spot who was shouting.

Mitch and his golbat caught up to them and hid behind a statue of a giant fish.

"I've been tracking you down for two hours already, you oversized cat!" Mitch said as he prepared to use the lens device to take a snapshot of Mewtwo.

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to stop getting this close to the statue," Officer Jenny told him.

Mitch jumped and turned around. "What?!"

"That is a very important piece of history you were leaning against. That statue represents a trout, one of the many animals that have become extinct. It was sculpted two hundred years ago."

"Sorry, ma'am!" Mitch said.

"I'll let you off with a warning this time," the officer told him, "but don't do it again, or else I'll fine you." Then she left, but still peeked to see if Mitch would touch the statue again.

Mitch looked at the bush where he had seen his target last time. "Of course it's gone again ..."


Mewtwo and Yan followed the woman all the way to her mansion. They hid behind a black car and looked through its windows.

Yan frowned. "If she goes inside the mansion, we'll not be able to film her anymore. It's private property."

"I cannot let things go like this!" Mewtwo said. "I must do something! Hold this!" He gave the camera to Yan and went to confront the woman.

"I sure hope things don't escalate," Yan said, holding the camera in front of his chest.

Mewtwo stood in front of the abusive owner. "Madam, I cannot allow you to continue mistreating your pokémon!"

"What sorcery is this?" the woman asked.

"I do not know what a sorcery is, but I would like to know why you are so mean to Vixie."

"Hmpf! First a brat mocks me, and now a pokémon thinks he can defend mine. Vixie doesn't need your help. She is treated like a princess. She lives in my big mansion that's behind me, she has a comfy and spacious bed, she gets the best food that most trainers cannot offer their pokémon, and she goes to the best beauty salon in Kanto."

"Then why does she look like she'd rather be somewhere else?" Mewtwo asked while pointing at Vixie, who was looking at the ground with a sad look on her face.

The woman looked at her pokémon. "Vixie, darling, are you not satisfied? Tell this … this monstrosity how good it is to be the pokémon of a millionaire!"

The eevee looked up at her. "Veev ..." Then she looked at Mewtwo.

He smiled at her. "Vixie, I can tell that you're not happy. Don't lie for her!"

Vixie had a serious look on her face as she pondered if it was worth it to admit to Mewtwo that her master treated her horribly. She looked into his purple eyes and felt like she could trust him, so she smiled back. "Eev vee!" she said, then turned around to growl at her owner.

"How dare you side with this mutant?" the woman asked. She lifted the eevee by the scruff of her neck and brought her so they could see eye to eye. "You won't be seeing the outside for a whole week for this!"

"Madam, I suggest you let that eevee go," Mewtwo said calmly.

"I did not ask for your suggestion!"

"Alright, madam. Then I demand that you let that eevee go."

That sent the woman into a fit of rage. "Who do you think you are to make demands of me?! Ugly, nasty freak of nature!"

"I am Mewtwo, and I stand for all pokémon's right to be free."

"Well, you're definitely standing in my way!" the woman said as she swung Vixie on the leash and hit Mewtwo in the face with the eevee.

"Gotcha, you sparkling turd!" Yan whispered through a grin as he stopped the recording. He revealed himself from behind the car. "I'm calling the police! Don't let her escape, Mewtwo!"

The woman gasped as she saw Yan run away. "W-what is the meaning of this?!"

Mitch repeatedly bumped his forehead on the tree behind which he and Golbat were hiding. "Why does that woman have to block my view of that pokémon? Why can't she move so I can take that photo already?"

"Baat ..." Golbat said, looking equally disappointed.

"Now listen here, madam!" Mewtwo said while holding the middle of the leash so that the woman could no longer pull the eevee up. "I will not tolerate your mistreatment of this poor pokémon any longer! The only reason you managed to harm Vixie a few more times was because we needed proof of the abuse. But no more! This eevee is coming with me!"

"This eevee was bought for 133,000 pokédollars!" the woman said. "If you want it, you better have the wallet for it!"

"Pokémon are not slaves! If you would not sell a human, why would you sell another sentient species?"

The blonde grinned at him. "Who says humans weren't sold? You know nothing of humans."

Mewtwo's mouth remained as widely open as his eyes. "You people … You'd sell each other ..."

"There they are!" It was Yan's voice.

"Halt, madam!" Officer Jenny ordered. She arrived with a bigger version of growlithe. "Arcanine! Go behind her and don't let her escape to the mansion!"

The big, striped pokémon gracefully jumped in front of the mansion's entrance. With Mewtwo blocking the only remaining path that the pokémon abuser could take, Officer Jenny approached her and showed her police badge.

The blonde released the leash and gritted her teeth. "The brat actually called the police on me! I can't believe it! The nerve!"

"I am Officer Jenny and I am here to place you under arrest for cruelty toward pokémon. We have video evidence right here," the officer said while showing the video on the camera's screen. "And don't even think about stealing and destroying this camera; I have copied the video onto the computer of the police station. The evidence has been backed up as well, so don't think of destroying that computer either."

"Why can't you people mind your own business?" the blonde asked.

"The boy and the pokémon are being good citizens, and I am doing my job, which is arresting people who commit crimes, including pokémon abuse. You have the right to remain silent. Now come with me to the station, and don't even think about escaping. My arcanine can track you down with ease."

Vixie ran to Mewtwo's side and smirked as her owner glared at her.

"What will happen to this eevee now?" Mewtwo asked.

"Normally, we'd take abused pokémon away from their owners and put them up for adoption," Officer Jenny said while giving Yan the camera, "but I think this eevee would be safe with you guys, if you agree to take care of it."

"Well, Yan deserves to take Vixie," Mewtwo said. "He obtained the evidence."

Yan picked the eevee up in his arms and looked at him. "I'll be honest, I like normal types. But I'm not an official trainer yet. You should take her, Mewtwo. An eevee could evolve into pokémon with electric, fire, water, dark, or even psychic type, and some reports from other regions say it may even turn into grass, ice, and fairy types. Vixie would probably do better under your care. She wants to train, so take her in and you'll both benefit."

"Then it's settled," the officer said. She turned to look at the blonde woman. "Madam, you are to give up ownership of this eevee."

Vixie's owner took out a black ball with red and yellow horizontal stripes, held her index finger on the ball's button for thirty seconds, and then pointed the ball at Vixie. A blue beam of light connected with the pokémon and surrounded it in a blue aura before it faded away.

"So, what do you say, Vixie?" Mewtwo asked. "Do you want to join me?"

Vixie nodded. "Vee!"

"Alright!" Mewtwo said as he brought a ball out of his backpack's pocket. "Poké ball, go!" He threw it.

The ball touched Vixie's back, causing the eevee to turn into red light and get absorbed into the device. There was no shaking, just a click sound as Vixie felt right at home inside.

"Welcome to our team!" Mewtwo said, grabbing the ball and raising it above him.

"I'm glad the eevee's story has a happy ending," Officer Jenny said. "As for you, madam ..."

The blonde muttered something, scowling as she was taken away by the officer and the arcanine.

"I guess it's time for us to head for the gym," Mewtwo said.

Mitch tried once again to take a photo of Mewtwo, but a car got parked in the way, blocking his view. "Not again! I've had enough of this!" He stopped hiding behind the tree and went right in front of Mewtwo, instantly snapping a photo of him. "Finally!" Then he ran away, his golbat flying behind him.

"What just happened?" Mewtwo asked, watching Mitch run away.

"I don't know, that guy sure acted weird," Yan said.

Mewtwo shrugged. "Oh well, let's go to the gym. I'm eager to challenge it!"

Yan nodded. "Right, but first let's return this camera so we can get your pokédex back."


A white-haired girl with winglike pigtails sat on a chair. She wore a cyan dress that made her look like her arms were bird wings. She was serene, if a bit bored waiting for a challenger to come through her gym's door that had not been opened by anyone but her ever since the start of the year's Pokémon League challenge. Last year she barely had three challengers. It was to be expected, since not many competitors fancied climbing a mountain when the other badges were in more accessible cities.

The gym would not remain unchallenged for long that year, because Mewtwo made his entrance along with Yan. "Miss Aquila, I am Mewtwo, and I challenge you!"

The girl looked at him with her sky blue irises and froze for a moment. Did she hear right? Did she see right? A pokémon was challenging her to a battle. No, this can't be. The kid next to it is pulling a trick on me.

"Um, miss? Are you okay?" Mewtwo asked.

"You … talked," she said.

"Yes, kind of. Except I use my mind to communicate."

She got up from her chair. "Is this telepathy? I've heard that psychic pokémon can share their thoughts with humans, but I've never heard of any pokémon able to take decisions such as challenging a gym leader. I find it hard to believe I'm not dreaming or, worse, hallucinating."

"Mewtwo's real, miss; even Professor Oak backs him up," Yan said.

Mewtwo smiled. "Yeah, I certainly feel real. And besides, even if this were a dream, why not go through with the challenge anyway?"

Aquila walked up to him and reached out with her right hand. "Let's shake hands. It would help with believing that this is real."

Mewtwo held her hand in his and then they shook hands.

"It feels warm," she said. She looked into his purple eyes. There was something about the pokémon in front of her that made her understand that she was facing a creature of high intellect. "Now would have been the perfect time to introduce myself, but you already know who I am. So let's begin the battle."

The terrain of the battlefield was mostly rocky, with patches of flat ground. Small rivers went along the sides of the area. The ceiling was the highest by far compared to the other gyms Mewtwo had challenged. No doubt it was to facilitate flight for flying type pokémon.

"I will use three pokémon," Aquila said. "Each one will be more difficult to defeat than the last. I will start with … Butterfree! I choose you!"

The purple pokémon with black-veined white wings came out of the poké ball she threw. It then flew above the battlefield, scanning the area with its big red eyes.

"Good," Yan said. "Butterfree is part bug type. You could use Charles against it."

Mewtwo threw the ball. "Go, Charles!"

Charles materialized and locked eyes with the butterfree. He inhaled and then blew a stream of fire out of his mouth.

The butterfree barely avoided the flames, but the heat was starting to make it nervous.

"Butterfree! Use sleep powder!" Aquila ordered.

"Freeee!" the butterfree cried out as it flapped its wings to send spores toward Charles.

Mewtwo wasn't going to let this be a repeat of the Celadon Gym incident, so he shouted, "Charles! Use your wings to send the powder away!"

"Chaaraaa … zaaaard!" Charles roared as he formed a powerful blade of wind by flapping his wings once.

The wind not only countered the spores, but it also hit the butterfree, causing it to have difficulty in maintaining flight.

"Nice work, Charles!" Mewtwo said.

"Awesome! Charles knows air slash!" Yan said.

"Let's see what your charizard can do when hit by a psychic attack," Aquila said. "Butterfree! Use confusion!"

"Freererere!" Butterfree squeaked while its eyes glowed blue.

Charles found himself surrounded by a blue aura. He felt weird, as if a veil had wrapped itself around his body. Then his arms started to move by themselves. "Zard?!"

"What's happening to him?" Mewtwo asked.

"I think Butterfree is trying to confuse Charles," Yan said. "It's taken control of him."

Out of the blue, Charles punched himself in the snout.

"Charles! What are you doing?" Mewtwo yelled.

Aquila laughed. "I know I can't just use bug type moves against your charizard, so I've weakened him first so my butterfree could do some damage with some flying attacks. Butterfree! Show him your air slash move!"

Butterfree nodded and then started flapping its wings. A sharp blade of wind hit Charles on the forehead. It hurt so bad that the charizard was incapable of paying attention to his opponent at that moment.

"Charles! Use flamethrower!" Mewtwo ordered, but his orders were ignored. Charles could not stop holding his forehead.

Aquila grinned. "I love air slash. It really cuts through the competition. Butterfree! Use air slash again!"

Her butterfree complied, giving Charles yet another cut, this time on the left arm.

Charles was distracted by the soreness of the wound, giving the opponent yet another opening for an attack.

"Butterfree! Use confusion again!"

Butterfree followed Aquila's orders and took control of Charles' body again.

"No! Charles! Fight back! You can't let that bug control you like this! Come on! Gather your strength and blast it while it's busy trying to control you!"

Upon hearing his trainer's words, Charles used his willpower and managed to take in a deep breath. He then unleashed a fire blast that the opponent was unable to avoid. Butterfree fell on the ground, all sore and unable to battle anymore.

"You win this round," Aquila said. "But you'll have to get off the ground when going against my next pokémon, because this one isn't weak to fire and flying attacks. Go, Pidgeot!"

Out of the ball came a version of pidgey twice as tall as Aquila, its head decorated with a yellow crest that covered the creature's entire back.

"Why do I always have to deal with these particular pokémon?" Mewtwo asked, remembering every moment when a pidgey had ruined his plans.

"Will you continue the battle using your charizard, or do you wish to switch it out?" Aquila asked.

Mewtwo looked at his pokémon. "What do you say, Charles?"

"Raaaaa!" Charles roared while stretching out his wings.

"He's still up for more fighting," Mewtwo said.

"Then let's begin. Pidgeot! Aerial ace!"

Pidgeot took off and flew straight at Charles, emitting white, glowing streaks from its body. Charles tried to dodge, but Pidgeot turned around and hit him in the back. That beak sure left a mark there between his wings.

"Pidgeot is so fast!" Mewtwo said. "Charles! Use flamethrower!"

Charles complied, but Pidgeot simply avoided the jet of fire and then hovered in front of him.

"Pidgeot! Fly!" Aquila ordered.

Mewtwo had to think fast. "Charles! Use flamethrower again!"

Too late, Pidgeot was already way above Charles, almost touching the ceiling. The flamethrower attack could not reach it all the way there.

Mewtwo couldn't do anything but stare at the situation. "Now what? Charles can't fly ..."

Charles grumbled something at him and then began to flap his wings. He managed to create a strong current around himself, but he was still not taking off. Maybe jumping would help, so he tried it. He was off the ground! Now it was time for his wings to take him up to his opponent. But his body would not allow it. He found himself dragged down by the weight that his wings' muscles were not capable of lifting.

"He's not flying, he's gliding," Mewtwo said.

"Your charizard is out of shape," Aquila told him. "Pidgeot! Fly down on him!"

"Pidgeo!" Pidgeot yelled as it flew toward Charles, claws first. It landed on him with all its weight, nearly flattening the charizard on the ground.

"Charles!" Mewtwo yelled.

Pidgeot flew off, allowing Charles to attempt to get back on his feet. He was nearly there, but his body gave in due to the tiredness, resulting in his collapse. It was clear that Charles was not able to continue the fight.

Mewtwo brought out the poké ball and said, "Charles! Come back! You did well so far." After Charles was recalled, he dug into his backpack's pocket and picked another ball. "This is going to be pretty risky. Buzz! I choose you!"

Buzz materialized and stared at the giant bird pokémon that flew in circles above him. His first ever official battle and he was going to go against this thing?

"A bug type," Aquila said. "It may be able to fly, but it's also weak to flying attacks. You practically handed me this victory. Pidgeot! Aerial ace!"

"Buzz! Fly out of the way!" Mewtwo ordered.

Buzz tried to dodge, but Pidgeot was too accurate in its strike, sending the bee pokémon crashing down. Yet the battle wasn't over. Enraged, Buzz flew after Pidgeot and stung the bird pokémon with all three of his needles. This caused Pidgeot to become poisoned, hindering its flight.

"Hang in there, Buzz! It's only a matter of time until Aquila's Pidgeot stops flying."

Buzz was prepared to launch another needle attack, all he needed was an order.

"Mewtwo, you should maximize the damage of Buzz' attack!" Yan said. "Try to order him to use sludge bomb, a strong poison type attack."

"Uh, Buzz, do you know how to use sludge bomb?" Mewtwo asked.

Buzz shook his head to negate. "Bzz-bzz."

"Pidgeot! Aerial ace again!" Aquila ordered.

"Tell him to shoot venom out of his stingers!" Yan yelled.

"Buzz! Shoot venom out of your stingers!" Mewtwo ordered.

Buzz put his arms' stingers in front of himself and shot two purple blobs at Pidgeot's face, making the bird pokémon unable to focus on the attack, resulting in a weaker strike landing on Buzz.

"Alright! Pidgeot's almost finished!" Mewtwo said, noticing that Pidgeot stood on the ground and struggled to maintain its balance.

Aquila knew it would not be long until her pokémon would faint. Ordering it to use aerial ace could be a way to end the round in a tie, but Pidgeot didn't have the energy to take off and fly at a high enough speed. "Pidgeot! Use hurricane!"

"Pidgeo!" it said as it nodded. Then it started to flap its wings fast, causing strong winds to fill the arena. "Geogeogeogeogeoooo!"

Buzz was extremely confused by all the wind and sand flying into his eyes. He could no longer maintain flight, so he crashed, rolling on the ground.

When the hurricane cleared up, Pidgeot stared down at the beedrill that tried his best to get back up.

"Buzz! Try one last shot!" Mewtwo ordered.

With great effort, Buzz put his left needle arm under his right arm and aimed for Pidgeot's head. Then he shot a ball of venom at the bird pokémon, knocking it unconscious.

"You won this round too, Mewtwo," Aquila said, bringing out a poké ball. "But your beedrill is very weak, and his poison attacks aren't going to do much damage against my final pokémon." She pointed the ball at Pidgeot. "Come back, Pidgeot! Alright, here goes my last one. Zubat! Go!"

Her zubat reminded Mewtwo of Mitch's Golbat, but the creature's lack of eyes seemed unnerving to him. It had two long ears and two even longer tails – or legs, whatever their use was.

"Are you going to continue with Buzz?" she asked.

Mewtwo looked at his pokémon. "Buzz, are you still up for a fight?"

"Bzzzz!" Buzz said while nodding.

"Alright then," Mewtwo said, "but be careful with this one. It seems to be flying everywhere!"

Indeed, the zubat could not hover in one place for even a second.

"I'll let you call the first attack," Aquila told Mewtwo.

"So … we can't use poison attacks against this one."

"Electroweb would have been nice to have," Yan said.

Mewtwo sighed. "Yes, but Buzz hasn't learned it yet. What other options do we have against Zubat?"

"At this point you've got two options," Yan told him. "One is hyper beam, which does a lot of damage but will leave Buzz open for attack while he rests. The other is … endeavor."

Mewtwo looked at Yan and lowered an ear. "What is endeavor?"

"An attack in which the pokémon puts all of its frustration from damage acquired so far. It could weaken Zubat, but it won't be enough to knock it out. In fact endeavor can't knock out an opponent, because the frustration is no longer present when the attacker feels equal in strength to the target."

"Well, I still got one pokémon left aside from Buzz. I think it's worth a try."

"Alright, Mewtwo. I just hope Vixie will be able to do something about the zubat," Yan said.

Mewtwo pointed at the battlefield and said, "Buzz! Use endeavor! Put all your energy into this attack!"

Buzz crouched as he vibrated his wings, then took off, flying straight at Zubat, pushing it into a rock. After he released the opponent, Buzz flew off to the center of the battlefield, waiting for Zubat's next move.

Aquila gave the next order. "Zubat! Air cutter!"

Zubat got up from the ground and started flapping its wings fast, releasing blue, S-shaped waves of light that headed straight for Buzz.

Tired, Buzz could not dodge the attack in time. The hit caused him to crash into the ground, unconscious.

"Buzz! Come back!" Mewtwo said, recalling him. Then he brought out the ball of the last pokémon he could use. "Vixie … it's all up to you now."

To be continued.