You know, I'm really enjoying working with Buwaro's characters. Namely because they cause a character or two of mine some degree of pain. And watching that is always entertaining. Finally, working back to longer and longer chapters here. It makes me very happy, yes it does. Oh, just as a note? If you haven't read Tales of Flame yet, you're not going to know what the hell Fervo's talking about. Not my fault. Aheh. So let's go!

"So, anyway, we're running for our lives, and trying to drag Mew along with us, and your buddy Mewtwo is just counting down how long we have, and sure enough the whole place blows when he hits zero. Only problem is, Mew and Flame aren't completely out yet, and the building comes down right on their heads. It was a miracle they even survived." Eve lay on her stomach looking up at Fervo while he told her about the dramatic rescue of Mew in Lavender Town. The Treecko, she had finally found out just what he was, had gone all out in the telling, even acting out parts. He was fond of waving his hands in the air when he got into it. "So of course, I had to dig them out after that. Scyther helped, too, but you know how that goes. Bug types are such lightweights."

Eve laughed to herself. Sure, she'd probably have to check with Flame or Mew later to see which parts of Fervo's story actually checked out, but it was still entertaining to watch him 'reenact' the big adventure. Although, she thought with a small smile, it probably wasn't amusing in the way he intended it to be. Half the time she had to resist the urge to laugh at him. She didn't mind, though. It was hard to be angry listening to someone this funny. "So then what happened?"

"Well, of course I had to dig them out. But by then, everyone else was starting to show up, too. So we had Mew use transform and took him to the Pokémon center to be healed, because he was in really, really bad shape, you know?" The Treecko finally sat back down and looked at her. "You know, they actually had an argument over you, I think. When Mewtwo showed up alone, Mew got pretty mad and demanded to know where his little sis was."

"She did?" Once it was determined that 'he' and 'she' didn't necessarily work with Mew, they had just fallen into calling the kitten whatever they knew her best as.

"Yeah. He started yelling, but Mewtwo wasn't too impressed, so they started fighting. None of us knew what they were talking about, but it didn't seem really important at the time anyway. We just wanted out of there, you know?"

Eve nodded, pushing herself up onto her elbows. "So, is that how you met Mew, also, or just Mewtwo?"

"Oh, I'd already met Mew by this time. See, I was caught in this cave network for a while, a system run by this psycho Bayleef, and Mew helped us get out. That's how I met Flame. The guy's a trouble magnet, I tell you. That's why he really needs friends like me; to bail him out of danger. We're always having to save his ass from one thing or another."

"Is that so?" Oh, now she really needed to get Flame's side of the story, she just knew it wouldn't match.

"Yeah, that's so. Same for Mew, actually. Man, wherever that cat goes, trouble follows."

Eve frowned. As much as she didn't want to, she felt compelled to defend Mew, at least. "She has her good points, too, you know. She tries to be nice!"

"Oh, yeah?" The Treecko eyed her. "Name one nice thing Mew does on a regular basis.

Evetwo didn't have to think. "She brings me milk."

Fervo stared at her. "Milk."

"Uh-huh. Great big cans of it. We share it for breakfast."

Eve wasn't sure what kind of reaction she was expecting, but it certainly wasn't the one she got. "I'm going to kill that stupid cat!"

"Ah... why?"

"Because now I know how we got here," the Treecko fumed. "We were heading in to Saffron City, and we passed a dairy farm along the way. The farmer was going nuts because someone was stealing the milk and bringing the bloody cans back empty. We were tailing the thief when we ended up here! That damn Mew must have opened a rift or something!"

That made sense, didn't it? Eve nodded, more to be polite than to agree. "So, what are you going to do now?"

"Well," Fervo looked thoughtful. "I supposed we tell Mewtwo now. If it's something Mew did, maybe he would be able to undo it." "I don't know. Mew's got a few abilities that I don't think actually got passed on to us."

"Eve," Fervo said with the utmost seriousness, "Mew has a few abilities that I don't think any Pokémon should have, least of all the two of you. Especially not the two of you."

"Uh-huh."

"I'm serious! Mew can do things to other Pokémon that no one should have the right to do!"

"I believe you."

"Oh." The Treecko stared at her. "Good girl."

"Please don't say that. The only person who ever says that to me is Mew, and then only when she's conned me into doing something I don't want to do."

"Like what?"

"Living here would be a pretty good example." Fervo looked like he was about to say something when he was interrupted by a small explosion somewhere across the island. Eve followed his gaze to a ball of smoke hanging in the sky. "Flame?"

"Probably. Anything standing between us and there?"

"Ah." Evetwo closed her eyes. It was easier to focus if she blocked out as many distractions as she could. "Just Mewtwo, and he'll get to Flame before we do anyway." By the time she opened her eyes again, Fervo was already headed for the smoke. Eve got up and followed him.

Just as she said, Mewtwo was already there before they got to the Charmander. Eve couldn't tell for sure, but it looked like Fervo barged right into an argument. "Flame!" Both Mewtwo and Flame turned to look as she and Fervo joined them, and sure enough, the other clone was mad. Eve decided on self-preservation and kept quiet, letting Fervo plunge right in. "We figured out who the thief was!"

"What thief?"

"The milk thief!"

"Well, we could have island fire-fighters showing up at any moment thanks to your friend here." Mewtwo's tone was snappish, and Eve wondered if maybe it wasn't just her after all. Maybe he hated everybody. "I believe that is more important then a lowly thief."

"It might be able to help you get rid of us." If Fervo was trying to be helpful, it wasn't working.

"Until the potential disaster is averted, you are staying right here."

"Wouldn't it make more sense to get out of here before something bad happens?"

"I happen to be rather fond of this island. It has served as a good home for some time now."

Eve tilted her head to one side. Mewtwo could go on for hours like this. She wondered if the Treecko was equally stubborn. He seemed to be, which meant that they could be standing there all day waiting for this one to be resolved. As long as they didn't turn on her, she didn't think she cared.

Flame, on the other hand, did care, as he demonstrated when he opened his mouth and shouted as loud as he could. "I eat kits!"

Evetwo had never seen any two people shut up so fast in either of her lives. Both arguing Pokémon turned to stare at him with such disbelief that she would have laughed had she not been completely confused herself. "Excuse me?"

"Thank you. I finally have your attention." Flame's victory was short-lived.

"You eat kittens?" Fervo actually sounded shocked. "That's a whole different side to you that I've never seen before."

Mewtwo voiced Eve's own thoughts when he spoke up again. "I think he was merely using that phrase to get you to be quiet."

"You're the one who won't shut up, pal."

"Both of you just shut the fuck up!" Once again, Mewtwo and Fervo turned to stare at Flame, who grabbed the green lizard by the arm and started pulling him away.

"You can't eat me," Eve heard Fervo shout as he was bodily removed from the clearing, "I'm no kit!"

Mewtwo glared after them disdainfully. "What an absolute moron."

Eve rolled her eyes. "Well, I don't see you any closer to figuring out how they got here."

"And you would know?"

"As a matter of fact, yes." Oops. Now he was looking at her, and he was still mad. Eve started walking. Someone had to keep an eye on Flame and Fervo, just in case. "See, Fervo and I were chatting, and he told me what they'd actually been doing when they wound up here."

"And what were they doing?" Eesh, that was the "I have no patience left so this had better be good" tone. Eve walked a little faster.

"They were helping a dairy farmer look for a thief. Who do we know who steals milk on a regular basis?" Ah, there they were, down on one of the lower cliffs. With the two smaller Pokémon located, Eve chanced a glance back at Mewtwo. At first he just stood and stared at her, almost disbelieving, before looking downwards at Flame and Fervo.

"It would explain a lot. If Mew's powers were somehow made unstable by the testing Team Rocket did-"

"Which I still wouldn't know about if they hadn't shown up," Evetwo spat before she could stop herself.

Mewtwo ignored her. "Then it is highly possible that when she teleported, she managed to create a sort of a tear in space. The farther the distance teleported, the harder it becomes, and the greater the tear would be. Such an instability in the powers of someone of Mew's level would also account for the psychic radiation that seems to have attached itself to them."

"The mutation, right? Like, some of Mew's power rubbed off on them, and that's why they have psychic energies now."

"So you were listening after all."

"Not only do I listen, but apparently I do a lot more thinking than you give me credit for."

"Perhaps," Mewtwo's attention was suddenly focused on the two down on the beach. Eve had been so involved in the telepathic conversation that she had forgotten to listen to the one below. Both Flame and Fervo were focused on a small object in Flame's paw, and Mewtwo seemed to hone in on it as well. "Interesting," he commented, his 'voice' resonating slightly. It was the indication that he'd stopped talking just to her, and was now including them in the conversation. "It seems as though the radiation is affecting you faster than I had initially expected."

"Damnit, Mewtwo, stop listening in on our conversations!" Eve wondered where Fervo got the courage to back talk someone who could rip him apart without even touching him.

"Or what? I could throw you off that cliff without a second thought." Or that would work, too.

"Step over here and say that, purple boy."

Oh, for pity's sake, she should have just stayed in the water...