Chapter 1
"The Briefing"

"This is bad…" Lance sighed to himself as he skimmed through the latest damage reports from Cinnabar Island.

"You're telling me," Blaine scoffed from the corner of the office, without turning around. He was busying himself by brushing his Magmar with an insulated brush. True, Magmar had little or no hair to speak of, but she found the attention relaxing. The two of them both needed all the relaxation they could find after having their home completely destroyed.

Lance made a thin line with his lips. "Yes, I know it must be difficult…"

"Ha!" Blaine stood up and faced Lance with hands on hips, "You have no idea what a relief it is! Finally, we're rid of that no-good tourist trap for once and for all! Once I find the perfect location, I'll be able to set up the kind of gym I've wanted to maintain since the beginning!"

"Mag…"

Lance pretended not to have heard. "It's fortunate that you were able to warn everybody and make it safely to the mainland…"

"Hm."

"However…"

Lance was interrupted when the door to his office suddenly burst open, letting two teenage boys in, one of darker complexion with a Pikachu on his shoulder and a League cap on his head, and the other slightly taller with spiky brown hair and a yellow and green pendant hanging from his neck.

"Sorry we're late!" exclaimed the former.

"Argh…Sorry, Lance, but he held me up," growled the latter.

"Did not!"

"You did too!"

"Did not!!"

"Boys!" Lance shouted before they could get any further, "The matter at hand…?"

"Uh…Sorry Lance," Ash said sheepishly, putting a hand behind his head.

"…Me too," Gary said after glaring at Ash one last time.

Lance sighed and resumed his seat at his desk, then motioned his three guests to sit down as well. They obeyed, with Blaine recalling Magmar, and Pikachu taking his seat on Ash's lap.

"Now…" Lance began after they were all situated, "I'm sure you've all heard about what happened at Cinnabar…"

"Yeah, that was bad, wasn't it?" Ash asked.

Lance stopped and stared at Ash for a moment. Gary took the hint and elbowed Ash none too gently. "Shut up and let him talk!"

"Huh?…Oh! Sorry, Lance…"

"…That's quite alright…" Lance sighed, knowing better than to try to fix the boy's manners, "…Now as I was saying…The damage to Cinnabar was quite extensive…" he tried, only to be interrupted, by Blaine this time.

"The whole island was destroyed! We know already! Just cut to the point!"

Lance narrowed his eyes at Blaine while the other two sweatdropped nervously. Finally Lance sighed. "Fine…I'll get to the point." He turned to Gary. "Oak, we need your help with the relocation of the citizens of Cinnabar Island. I trust you can properly influence the people of Viridian…?"

"You can count on me!" Gary smirked.

Lance nodded. "Very well then. Now that that's taken care of, I believe Blaine has some classified information he needs to share with us, also regarding the incident at Cinnabar…"

"What do you mean 'classified'?" Ash asked.

For once, Gary didn't reprimand Ash and actually added on, "Yeah, I thought the volcano just decided to go off really bad."

Lance shook his head. "While that is partly true, what you've heard is the result of being purposely underinformed by the media."

"You mean they've been lying!?" Ash exclaimed.

"…Yes. However, right now, we need you two to know the truth, and that's why you've been called here…Blaine?"

Blaine sneered and shifted position so he was speaking more directly to the group. "We all know that Cinnabar Island's been a tourist trap for decades. In addition to the hot springs, a group of Pokéscientists set up a lab there and part of their funding is the money they rake in from letting visitors take guided tours."

"What's that have to do with anything?" asked Ash.

"I'm getting there," Blaine answered in annoyance, "…Now, most of what they actually showed to tourists were nothing more than simple experiments that happened to be very flashy. This was all just for the money. The real experimentation went on deep within the lab where no one who wasn't authorized could even go near. As a matter of fact, one of their most top-secret experiments ever wasn't even conducted on Cinnabar Island! Instead, they sent some of their best lab technicians and most brilliant minds to a remote, man-made island created specifically for that experiment…Anyone wanna take a gander to the name of that experiment?"

Both Ash and Lance groaned. "Blaine, we don't need anymore of your riddles…" Lance muttered.

Gary, however, wasn't fazed. "It was Project Mewtwo, wasn't it?"

Blaine beamed at the boy. "Exactly! Now you're proving you deserve the title Gym Leader'."

Gary's proud smirk turned into an embarressed blush when he saw Ash's glare.

"That's very nice and all, but maybe we should cut to the point?" Lance asked incisively, with a small grin towards Blaine.

Blaine had to hold his tongue to keep from making a comeback. "All right…Well, as you know…Project Mewtwo was cut short with quite a bang…" He paused to chuckle at his own wittiness.

Lance held his head in one hand and drummed his desk with his other. "Just get on with it, Blaine…"

Blaine cleared his throat. "Right. Well, after that little incident, the scientists back at Cinnabar panicked. They'd just wasted millions of dollars and lost their best scientists. With nowhere else to turn, they took out the minor field testings that they'd kept in the back cabinet for a year and began to really work with it and forced it into another experiment. If you ask me, I think they all just snapped and the only way they could deal with it was to bury themselves further into their 'research'…Hah, they sure did 'bury' something, didn't they?"

"Argh! No more puns!!" Lance cried, slamming his fists on the desk.

Ash, Gary and Pikachu sweatdropped and decided to keep quiet and let Blaine handle this.

"I'm just trying to lighten up the story!" Blaine countered.

"If you lighten it anymore, the whole thing's going to float up to the clouds…"

"Eh, alright, I'll keep it down…" He grinned as Lance loudly dropped his head onto the desk from the pain of having to hear yet another pun. He turned to Ash and Gary. "Anyways! The folks down at the lab had been watching a strange phenomenon that they noticed on the eastern shore of Cinnabar Island. From what they could find through the research of other scientist from all around the world, both past and present, no one had ever recorded what they were finding before."

"But what were they finding…?" asked Ash.

Blaine smirked, "Why, it's not so hard to figure out. What lives almost anywhere, comes in all shapes and sizes, is known all over the world, and yet we know nothing about it at all?"

"No…more…riddles…" Lance groaned.

"Uh…I thought you said they only found it on the eastern shore of Cinnabar?" said Ash.

"Don't be a moron, moron," Gary scoffed, "He's talking about Pokémon. You can find them anywhere from the bottom of the sea to the top of the highest mountain. There's hundreds of different species. Everyone knows about them, but there's still so much more about them that no one knows."

"And Gary gets it again!" Blaine grinned.

Ash growled something to himself about how the same people always get riddles right so they all must be rigged…

"However," Blaine continued, "They hadn't really found an actual Pokémon, just traces that proved its existence. It wasn't until one of them traveled to Viridian and chanced upon a retired bug catcher that they found their answer."

"A retired bug catcher?" Ash and Gary blinked in disbelief.

"That's right," Blaine nodded, "That old guy used to hunt around in the Viridian Forest, catching endless amounts of bugs, just like any good bug catcher. However, age got the best of the guy eventually, and he retired to live a peaceful life in Viridian with his granddaughter, but he could never resist the opportunity to catch more Bug Pokémon, and he made a hobby out of showing newbie trainers how to catch Weedles if they passed him on their way out of Viridian."

"He must be really old if Blaine thinks-" Ash was cut off by Gary slapping his hand over his mouth before he could go any farther.

"Use your brain for once and shut up," Gary hissed.

If Blaine heard their exchange, he chose to ignore it. "Now, I bet you're wondering why that guy was so important to the research team, right?"

"And you're actually going to tell us instead of asking a riddle, right Blaine?" Lance hinted none too subtly.

"You take the fun out of everything," Blaine muttered, "Well, fine…The thing is, that old bug catcher once caught this bizarre bug that no one had ever seen before. It had strange powers and attacks and he was afraid to even own it. So he took his rare capture and flew to Cinnabar, which was as far away as he had the imagination to travel, I bet. Anyway, when he got there, he released it into the ocean and then went back to Viridian to go on being a regular bug catcher."

"What!? He just released it? A really rare Pokémon that no one's ever seen before!?" Ash interrupted.

Blaine quieted somewhat. "Ash, you should know better than anyone else that some Pokémon just aren't meant to be caught and kept…"

After a moment's silence, Ash nodded.

"…But wait a second," Gary said, "If this Pokémon was so rare and powerful, how come a bug catcher was able to catch it?"

Blaine smiled knowingly. "Well for one thing, apparently it was a bug type, and for another, apparently it's true power had nothing to do with strength or battling."

"…So why are you telling us all of this?" Ash questioned.

"That's a very good question! The answer to that is-"

"Not a riddle," Lance reminded him.

Blaine glared at Lance before continuing. "When the scientist returned to Cinnabar, he did a little surfing on the east of Cinnabar, and he took a Pokémon for defense and some ultra balls with him. To the shock of all his colleagues, he was able to catch the enigma and bring it back to the lab."

"If a bug catcher can do it, how hard can it be!?" Gary demanded.

Blaine chuckled. "Good point, but it's not important."

"So why don't you tell us what is important?" Lance suggested. To himself, he made a mental reminder never to let Blaine give briefings again.

"Alright, the important thing is, those crazy scientists down in the lab began experimenting on the Pokémon, and they also decided to call it 'MissingNo.'"

"MissingNo.?" both Gary and Ash asked simultaneously.

"That's right. They called it MissingNo. to stand for "missing number." They weren't even sure that it was a real Pokémon at first and were afraid to submit it to Professor Westwood for the Pokédex, because of that, and because they also wanted to keep it a secret from the rest of the world so they could claim that they were indeed the first ones to ever discover it."

"But why wouldn't they want to put it in the Pokédex?" Ash queried.

"He just told you, numbskull," Gary groaned.

"But if they really discovered a new Pokémon, they should share it with the rest of the world!" Ash insisted.

"Ehh…Don't worry about it, Ash," Blaine said, "The thing is, this project also backfired on them, and somehow triggered a massive eruption from the volcano. I was lucky Magmar sensed it coming, so I was able to warn everybody, not to mention save my own skin."

"But…even after we plugged it up…?"

Blaine shook his head. "If anything, that barrier made the eruption even worse by building up the pressure underneath."

"So Blaine," Gary said, "why did you and Lance want to see us about this? It looks like everything's over and done with. I mean, I can handle the people problem, no sweat, but there's nothing else to do right? I mean, especially from lamebrain here."

"Excuse me?" Ash glowered at Gary, who shrugged nonchalantly.

"Yes there is," Lance sighed, "Blaine's told me that the scientists told him that-"

"Hey, what happened to me giving the briefing?" Blaine interrupted.

"If we sit here listening to you any longer, it will be too late," Lance retorted, "Now listen. Apparently, the MissingNo. escaped sometime before eruption, and the scientists weren't able to find it again. After the eruption, they haven't had the chance to look for it, but we're not going to let them. We, that is Blaine and I, believe that MissingNo. is too dangerous for a bunch of scientists and only an experienced trainer should go after it…"

"Eh…You mean me, right?" Gary asked.

"…No, I'm afraid not, Oak."

"Awww…"

"S-so you mean…me?" Ash asked, pointing to himself.

"That's right. Of all the trainers in the League, you've had the most encounters with powerful and legendary Pokémon and are of one of the highest ranks in the League. I want you to find this MissingNo., capture it, and then bring it back here so we can decide what to do with it."

"What!? Why does he always get to do the cool stuff?" Gary complained.

"I'm not done yet, Oak," Lance said, "I want you to help Blaine with the media. It's important that none of this leaks out until we know what's going on. Understood?"

"I'm gonna…help with the cover up…?"

"That's right. So far, everyone just believes that it was a huge volcanic eruption. We want them to keep thinking that. If they find out and ask about Ash's trip back to Cinnabar, you're going to tell them that he's going back simply to take another damage report and check over to make sure nothing of interest to the Pokémon League that's still intact has been left behind."

"No one's gonna believe that!" Ash exclaimed, "I've seen pictures! The whole place is nothing but-"

"Ashes," both Gary and Blaine sneered at the same time, but for different reasons.

"That's not funny," Ash grumbled.

"No more puns!" Lance shouted, "If I hear one more pun-"

"Gee, he's really lancing out at us isn't he?" Blaine grinned. He and Gary started laughing.

Lance growled and concentrated on controlling his quaking temper. "…Blaine…Gary…if I were either of you two…"

"I…think he's trying to tell you to shut up," Ash grinned nervously.

The two jokesters quickly pulled themselves together and straightened up, completely serious again…

"…And just for the record," Lance told them calmly, "the term is 'lashing' not 'lancing.'" This prompted facefalls all around him.

Once he was sitting up again, Blaine mumbled, "So maybe I should've said that you were ready to stick a lance through our guts instead?"

Lance apparently didn't hear that comment. "So do you understand what you have to do?"

Ash nodded hesitantly. "Yeah…but I don't like it. We shouldn't be lying like that."

"We don't have a choice. If we're to take care of this without anyone else getting in the way, then we can't let anyone else know."

"But that's just like not putting it in the Pokédex! Maybe it wouldn't've escaped and blown up Cinnabar if someone else was able to help them!"

"…Ash…Just trust me on this. We need your help right now. All I'm asking is that you find it and bring it back. After that, then maybe we'll tell them the truth…but only after that. First, we have to rely on you."

Ash grumbled to himself and didn't reply. Gary interrupted whatever inner thoughts he might have been having by nudging him. "C'mon Ashy boy. You get to play hero again. Aren't you good at that?"

"…I guess…"

"So what's the problem? Just go down there and catch it. No biggie, and then we tell the world. And of course, everyone calls you a hero…again…" When he didn't get a response, he continued, "Of course, if you're not up to it, Viridian's finest is always ready for the job…"

"'Viridian's finest'?" Ash asked wryly.

"Me, of course! I'll catch that MissingNo. with no problem at all! You're not the only one here who has experience with rare Pokémon. If you'll remember, I was the first one of us to encounter Mewtwo."

"And if what I'll remember is true," Lance replied, "you were horribly defeated by it."

"Uh…"

(A/N: For those of you wondering why Gary is making references to being the "first" one to see Mewtwo instead of the "only"…*****spoiler*****ash-tachi meet mewtwo again in a special 1.5 hour (or something) episode of pokémon johto and doesn't get his memory wiped that time*****)

"Not only did that not happen to Ash, but he was even able to befriend it as well. He obviously knows how to handle rare and powerful Pokémon, which is very important for this assignment."

Ash shifted around in his seat. "Well…Alright..but I still don't like it…"

"Great!" Lance exclaimed and slapped his hand down on his desk, making everyone jump, "It's settled then. Ash and Gary, you are dismissed to your assignments. Blaine will stay here with me and help with other business. This meeting is adjourned."