"Ash?" his father said, persistently. Ash had zoned out, and he wasn't responding.

Ash shook his head slowly, wiping away the memories. "What's...going on?" Then he spouted the question that had been bugging him for a while: "How come you're not dead, Dad?" It felt weird for the word to be coming out of his lips. Dad. His father really was alive...Ash bristled at the thought. Yes, he was alive, but he was abusing Pokémon. He was almost better off dead! Ash scowled. He would call his father "Dad" no more.

Ash's uncle smiled, seeing the play of emotions across the youth's face. He answered for his brother, who was now strangely quiet. "He faked his death to the public early on...Ashura was always for making it easier on you and your mother." He threw a somewhat disapproving glance at his brother, but his glance held a sense of irony in it as well. "It's a bit of a weakness of his..."

"Where's—"

"Your friends and Pokémon are locked away for the moment, unharmed...For the moment." The older man gave the youth a sinister and meaningful look.

"You—"

Ashura's brother cut Ash off again. "I bet you're thinking back to the two times you saw me before, aren't you?"

Ash nodded slowly.

"Well, before I tell you about that story, I want you to know something, if you don't already: I, Giovanni Ketchum, am the head of Team Rocket, and your father, Ashura Ketchum,...is a member of Team Rocket."

Blue eyes opened and blinked at the fuzzy ceiling. "Unh...?"

"Misty!" Brock said, rushing to her. "You're finally conscious!"

"Where am I?" the confused redhead asked.

"We came to the Viridian City Gym, and then we got knocked out," Brock answered.

Misty sat up quickly. "Where's Ash?" she asked, sounding a bit frantic.

"I dunno. We've just been locked in here. No one's come and told me anything."

"Where are the Pokémon?" Misty asked, sounding a bit frantic. "Where's Togepi?"

"They were taken from us," Brock replied. "I don't know where they are..."

The redhead began looking worried. "What do you think they're doing to Ash?"

Brock didn't reply. He just gazed down at the ground sadly.

Suddenly, they heard a noise behind them, and Brock swiveled around on his feet and Misty turned her upper body.

"Mew," the cause of the noise said. A white feline with a long tail and big feet floated in the air in front of them.

"It's so cute," Misty breathed.

"Mew," the cat said, with a pleased little feline smile. It spun around in the air playfully. "Mewew..."

"Where'd you come from?" Misty asked it.

It disappeared, then reappeared beside Misty. She jumped, though she was still on the ground, and the Pokémon sniffed her. "Mew, mew," it said.

Brock gazed at it, amazed. "That might be a legendary Pokémon..."

Misty looked at the feline. "Can you help us get out of here?" There was almost a plea in her voice.

"Mew," the cat answered. It peered at Misty with big blue eyes, then Teleported over to the door. With its Psychic powers, it wasn't long before the locked door clicked open.

"Wow, thanks," Misty said.

"Mew," it replied, doing a somersault in the air. Its eyes seemed to dance playfully.

"Do you think you can help us get our Pokémon back?" Brock asked it.

"Mewew," the feline said before floating off into the corridor. It started heading in one direction, then looked back to make sure they were following it. Its tail twitched around as it flew towards its destination.