Cha. 25

"Owww… this hurts so badly!" Pikachu complained, clutching his cheeks.

Dexter gave him an unimpressed look as he charged up another Heal Pulse for the still unconscious Aron.

Ash looked in his direction worriedly as he twirled the pot of ramen noodles on the campfire. "Are you ok?"

"No! This hurts so badly…" Pikachu whined. Magikarp helpfully sprinkled some more ice water onto his pouches.

Dexter snorted. "Your own fault. You had Aron trapped in your Electric Terrain without any way of escape. You had a full minute to defeat him until your Terrain burst, but you chose the most barbaric way."

Pikachu narrowed his eyes and was about to retort. Magikarp, seeing the fire of an argument was to ignite again, quickly interrupted. "So Pikachu, how did you trap him? I don't recall Electric Terrain to work like that. Doesn't it just cast charges that boost electricity?"

"Yes it does!" Pikachu smiled proudly as his attention was successfully distracted. "Even I couldn't believe I managed to draw up this tactic!"

Dexter rolled his eyes. "Basic electricity and magnetism physics."

Pikachu turned to glare at the Porygon, who shrugged carelessly and looked away. Magikarp nudged for him to continue.

"Well, in simple terms, moving electricity can generate a magnetic field. My Double Teams were infused with Qi, which made them unlike normal Images. They could charge up and cast simple electric moves."

"The Terrain was basically putting charges into the ground. That wasn't an actual Electric Terrain, because it wouldn't boost any attacks, but it was good enough for the purpose of creating an electric field."

"Aron's biggest strength and, simultaneously,weakness is being too conservative. I knew he wouldn't attack the Images. He'll rather go the safer route of Iron Defense." Pikachu spared a glimpse the way of Dexter. "Just like a very ugly duck had said, a baited trap is no longer an uncertainty if you know your opponent's psychology."

Dexter huffed and said nothing. Pikachu continued. "Iron Defense was what I wanted. It'll increase his Steel type energy across his body, which I can use later."

"Remember the Thunderwave I stuck him with at the beginning? I spread out the negative charges evenly through him, which was key. Opposite charges attract, so I was able to bind him to the Terrain of positives, which acted like Gravity."

"But the majority of the weight was from the magnetism. When an electric field spins, it generates a magnetic pull, which was why the seven Images were rotating."

"Since Aron was a Steel Type with a giant Iron shell on his back, and he had just cast Iron Defense on himself a million times, you can imagine the effect of the magnetic field on him."

Magikarp's jaw hit the ground. "So you managed to lock Aron in while you release your ultimate attack, so he couldn't escape."

"Yep. There is no other way it could hit if I didn't… although I might have overdone it a little…" Pikachu laughed. "Then, I finished charging Thunder, which penetrated his defense easily, because my previous Thunderwave still latched in him gave me a easy, conductive route around his Iron Defense into his soft inside."

Pikachu smiled as he finished. Ash walked over from the fire and sat down beside him with a bowl of ramen and two cans of pokechow.

"Have I ever told you that you're abnormal?" The boy pet the mouse.

"Aren't we all?" He replied.

Ash looked from the floating fish to the yellow mouse, then to the robot chanting another Heal Pulse. "I wouldn't want it any other way!"

"Stop following me!" A blonde teenage girl turned and roared at a small floating shadow lingering behind her.

"But… I chose you!" An innocent psychic voice rang out. The image of a… MEW… peaked out from behind a rock.

The blonde's eyes twitched beyond control. "I SAID I DON'T WANT TO BE CHOSEN!"

Mew blinked. Large drops of tears formed around her eyes. "But… I chose you!"

The girl facepalmed and lied down. She was at the top of Mt. Moon, overseeing a quarter of Kanto's landscape. However, she was in no mood to enjoy the scenery. A pink light flickered next to her. Next, she felt being poked by a tail.

"I'm choosing you!"

Three days ago, the blonde would've whipped out her electrified tulip staff and cracked at the annoying being. Three days of countless attempts to push her away had been repeatedly proven useless.

The girl was a gorgeous female, dressed in a tight fitting uniform tailored with a catchy magenta R across her chest. A beret lied on her head with a slight tilt, blocking strands of golden locks from reaching her left ear, on which a black tulip rested.

Her most notable feature was her pair of eyes, her shrewd iris glowing a rare purple. A dangerous and skillful confidence roamed her pupils, masked by a surface of dominating unruliness.

Overall, her exterior was not the least bit threatening, covered with a lavish mannerism. There were only blinking moments when a predatory aura of keen intensity and superiority leaked out, like a disguised lion.

But now, a cloud of tiredness streaked over her brow. The endless psychic voice of Mew rang in her head. She was already long past the migraine stage, striding continuously into schizophrenia.

"Hey, Domino! I said I choose you." Mew stared at her with large, hopeful eyes that the girl just wanted to shatter.

She was Domino. 009. The ninth and youngest Elite of Team Rocket. Right-hand commander to the Rocket Boss. Chief of the Eastern Kanto Rockets.

But unlike her normal, competent self, Domino was now stretched across the peak of Mt. Moon, staring hopelessly at the rising dusk. She felt her life, like the day, was coming to an end. Mew ranted on.

Three days ago, she had successfully completed a mission in the Indigo Plateau and was traveling back when she heard a soprano voice of a six-year-old asking her to stop.

Stopping was perhaps the biggest mistake she had ever made in her life.

When Domino paused and looked back, she came face to face with a small, pink, levitating cat whom she immediately identified as Mew.

The first thing that came out of the legendary's mouth was: "You're chosen…"

"You're chosen to be the great keeper of peace among this universe in which we reside!"

Domino blinked and ran away, thus beginning the chase of three days while being pummeled by Mew's pleas to become her Chosen.

In the first day of the chase, she actually encouraged Mew to follow her, hoping she could lure the cat into the Rocket headquarters to be captured.

However, as soon as she entered Viridian City, she found herself trapped in a bubble of psychic and teleported straight back to where she had started, followed by Mew's exclamation that "There's a scent in there I don't like! So… can you be my Chosen?"

Domino did not give up yet. The second try took her only half a day to lure Mew back to base. Mew followed without the need to be intentionally baited.

Nope. Domino was teleported straight back again. This time, the blonde knew the cat was doing this on purpose. She needed to get rid of her somehow to report thisback to base!

Of course, all of her electronics lost their signals under Mew's psychic after the first teleportation from Viridian, about which the cat was actually very apologetic, saying that she had not yet learned to adapt to the energies of this world yet…

In the next day and night, Domino drained everything she had learned about traps in the last ten years with Team Rocket, desperately hoping she could escape the pursuit of Mew.

None worked. One time, the cat literally turned into a pink piece of gum that stuck to Domino's sleeve that stretched indefinitely for an hour as she ran. When she stopped, Mew materialized in front of her, staring up with naive eyes. "I choose you..."

This was an opponent whom she couldn't fight, couldn't escape, couldn't trick, and yet Mew wouldn't harm her.

SHE COULDN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!

A/N: Introducing, Domino.