Disclaimer: Do I own Pokemon? Do I update on a regular basis? Well hopefully one of those will change soon….

This story is dedicated to the memory of Ms. Mary Miggins, Latin teacher and friend to all. Yes, it can be that easy...

Fit Four:

When The Electric Rat's Away, The Cats Come Out To Play

There were three or four of them, or perhaps more; it was hard to tell in the dusk, for they seemed to have black fur. Other than that, they bore a vague resemblance to Mewtres. In short, they were bad news. Like their progenitor, they had assimilated the facts of the world around them strangely quickly and could therefore respond to Mewtres's statement.

"You think we are kindred to you?" one's psychic impulses intoned. "You are far weaker than we."

"But I gave you life!" returned Mewtres.

"Then you are not our brother, but our parent," chuckled another (whom we shall call Mewquinque, the previous one being Mewquattuor). "And all life eventually supersedes its predecessors in some form; you should know that." (It was a sort of enhanced "species consciousness" that gave each generation of Mews a vague impression of its ancestors' experiences; in most creatures besides powerful psychic Pokemon, it is very weak. That was what Mewtwo was dreaming at the beginning of the first movie, and these even stronger Pokemon contain it as conscious memory. But enough technobabble...)

The humans (and Mime) clustered in the middle of all this didn't know what was going on and didn't particularly care, except for the fact that the creatures' attention was briefly diverted from them.

"How are we supposed to beat those things?" Tracey voiced everyone's mind. None of them, except for Misty, was even a serious trainer anymore, and in all likelihood a navy full of Gyrados couldn't faze the creatures, let alone a few water-types. Maybe Togetic could have helped, but it was, after all, back in Hoenn with the Togepi kingdom on Mirage Isalnd.

Suddenly, Gary felt something brush his legs. Instinctively he looked down- and breathed a sigh of relief.

When he had switched from full-time training to helping his grandfather with his research, Gary had let his Pokemon free on the expanse of land behind the lab. However, he had finally started to grasp that "Pokemon as friends" thing for which he had constantly berated his former rival, and, besides constantly visiting his widespread Pokemon, he had gained a constant companion in the Umbreon evolved from the Eevee that the professor had saved for him so long ago. His friend had been napping in his room while he was getting a snack, and Gary had not remembered for a few hectic minutes. Now, he finally smiled.

"Persephone... you're all right," he said quietly. His sharp mind registered that her dark-type attacks held an advantage over psychics- but against so many powerful foes, more would be needed. And yet...

"Guys, I think I have an idea," he said, and the others leaned in to listen...

Meanwhile, the clones had started arguing over who would get to absorb the energy of their progenitor, and soon Hyper Beams were flying every which way. A few of the smaller clones had already been reduced to dust. Mewtres, however, was hovering some distance away from the action, watching, with no notice taken by the other clones.

Suddenly, he saw some of the clones glowing black and slumping over as attacks were about to hit them, helping the Hyper Beams do their work. He reflexive cast his mind across the battlefield, and realized what was happening. He grinned, secretly grateful to whatever powers controlled destiny that the humans were making life a bit easier for him.

He wasn't worried that it could harm him. If he stayed out of the way until all or most of the clones were gone, he could absorb their energy; and he knew that the humans couldn't actually destroy him by themselves.

As it was, the clones were being forced to drop their guard for brief moments by Persephone, Gary's Umbreon, who sent out gratis Faint Attacks which had been concentrated, a word which here means "sent through a funnel of psychic mirrors created by a Mr. Mime so it was powerful enough to incapacitate even uber-powerful psychic Pokemon". I still can't believe this is actually working, thought Brock. I always knew Gary was a good strategist, but I could never imagine how to defeat something as powerful as Mewtwo, let alone these things. Maybe he just knows how to use their arrogance against each other because he used to be like that himself. He shrugged. By now, all of the monsters appeared to have been vaporized, leaving only a mass of something that looked like black fog to slowly disperse.

"Thank God that's over," sighed Professor Oak.

"I don't feel like it's over at all," said Delia, almost tearfully. "What if one of those ... things got Ash?"

"I can't say I want to confront that possibility," admitted the professor. "Still, I'm sure that if Ash had run across them, he'd have been able to take care of himself. He'll turn up sooner or later." He put an arm around her for a bit more comfort.

Suddenly, another explosion rent the air.

As everyone attempted to dive for cover (hey, it's a lawn, how much cover do ou think there is?), Mewtres flew out of the flames, dive-bombing various members of the group before finally taking up position in the air, floating and gloating.

"What's the matter?" he laughed. "You were so confident when all of the other clones were out there. Now it's just little old me, and you're scattering like crumbly cheese."

"You'd think something with that powerful a brain could think of a better simile," muttered Tracey.

Persephone leapt into the air and fired off another Faint Attack, but the evil feline simply waved a paw, and the dark energy rebounded onto the Umbreon, which fell towards the ground, to be caught by Gary. The clone raised its arms, and a black light seemd to fade in from nowhere. "Now... feel the wrath of my ultimate power..." The dark energy collected in an orb above its head, betwen its paws- which, unknown to the humans and other Pokemon, was the manifestation of their own fear, which would have explained the next thing it called. "Phobic Force!" Mewtres threw the orb, now the size of a small car, towards the ground.

Time seemed to slow down. Misty stared up at the dark attack. I can't believe this is it, she thought. After all that we've been through... and so much more ahead of us... No, there has to be something we can do! We've come out of worse situations before... I think. We can't just give up! We'd be giving up on Ash- and everyone else in our lives! And I have to prove to my sisters once and for all that I can take care of myself!

Gary clutched Persephone, hunching over her protectively. Here I am, I've finally started to do something worthwhile and improve myself- not my talents, for once, myself- and now this! I can't let this all end now! Not after I was on such a good roll against the rest of these freaks and the rest of my life!

Tracey looked up in awe at the dark ball. If that thing wasn't about to kill me, that would make a great sketch! It's a shame... there's so much more out there I wanted to see, maybe visit that Hoenn place that the others all told me about. It sounded so beautiful... I've got to see it! I'm going to keep myself alive until I've seen the entire world!

Brock stared at his faithful Crobat, who all this time had been staying out of the way and now blasted Mewtres with repeated Supersonics, to no effect. Fortunately, the clone took no notice. I can't give up now! My Pokemon... I can't give up my dream of being tehe greatest breeder ever... and my family will need me again, I'm certain of it...

Delia, still holding on to the Professor, could barely choke back sobs. My liitle boy is out there, and we can't even help him because of this thing! If it harmed Ash at all, I'll... oh, I've got to find him!

And the Professor had thoughts of his own. I guess I don't have much left to lose, but I can't abandon my grandson. Besides, everyone seems to look up to me... Ive got to put on a brave face if we're going to get through this.

None of them knew what any other was thinking. Yet their various trains of thought ran on converging tracks, and at once, they shouted as one in defiance.

"We're not done yet... and we've got to stop you!"

Mewtres was slightly perturbed. How could they not acknowledge his might? Perhaps it was just his relative inexperience; despite his passed-on memories, he had not really encountered the will humans could summon in times of need.

And he was even more surprised to see his attack flickering as it hurtled towards the ground.

In fact... he was almost... afraid.

Enough for the dark ball to shine again, falter, and turn back.

Mewtres barely had time to realize it... it focused on the strongest source of fear it could find. And the first fear of one's life is always the worst.

The dark violet orb collided with its maker and exploded; no flames, just bright light. And when everyone's vision cleared, nothing could be seen in the sky... save for one rather dazed Crobat, clumsily winging its way to the ground, to be caught by Brock. "You were brave up there, little guy," he whispered as he brought out a Pokeball. "You'd better rest now." With a flash of red light, the purple bat was taken into its ball.

"Is it... over?" Misty ventured.

"It's hard to tell," replied Samuel Oak, walking towards the approximate center of the group, then looking up as the dark mist dissipated. "Somehow, though... I don't think they'll bother us again now."

"Thank God!" Gary cried, and nearly fell to the ground.

"We can say that after we find Ash," returned Delia.

"We're not going to find anyone in this state," offered Tracey. "I hate to admit it, but we should try to put out what's left of the fire-" he gestured towards the lab, which had mostly cooled down by now- " and relocate the Pokemon inside, then get some sleep. Is there room anywhere in the house for all of us, Mrs. Ketchum?"

"I can probably fit you all in somewhere." She nodded.

"Good. Then in the morning we'll contact the Viridian PD and get some official help, and try to rebuild this place."

Everyone reluctantly agreed, and Misty called out all of her Pokemon, and Brock called out his Lombre. They quickly doused the flames as the humans foraged inside and cleaned out the Pokeball storage, running back and forth to Delia's house with armloads of Pokeballs. Finally, an hour or so later, they all headed back to the house. Still, even as Tracey, Brock, and the Professor slumped on various sofas and chairs, Misty snuggled into the bed in a guest bedroom in case of the occasional visitor (as opposed to a refugee situation like this), Delia retired to her room, and Gary (ironically enough) occupied Ash's old bed, none of them were due for easy rest.

Yet surely none of their worries and dreams could compare to what was actually happening.

It was worse than anyone could imagine.

Ash ran down a corridor that seemed pretty much like all of the others, with blue carpeting and white walls that appeared to be some kind of plastic. His overriding thought? Find his Pokemon. Escape would hopefully be a piece of cake from there on.

Now, if I was a maniacal, thieving businessman, where would I hide my loot? wondered Ash as he ran; I've only got... how big is this place anyway? He stopped to think for a moment and leaned against the wall. Let's see; any storage rooms are probably near the bottom... well, I've gotta try something. He looked for an elevator and called it up, then punched the lowest button without looking.

Then he looked.

L? As in lobby?

With no other ideas, he let the ride carry him to the bottom- and gasped as the doors opened.

The elevators were lined up along a semicircular metal deck about 50' above the floor of a gigantic room; it was at ground level, as he could see through the walls, entirely made of plastic. City buildings crowded all around this place. The ceiling was 75' above floor level, 20' above the deck. The room was shaped like the bottom of a cone, 100' in diameter at the floor and 80' at the ceiling. Below there were all sorts of desks and admimistrative setups, and a pair of metal staircases hugging the wall that came up to the deck; with the deck, they stretched four fifths of the way around the room.

However, that wasn't the main thing that caught his attention.

Six Pokemon were resting along the deck, some asleep, others looking nervously around. Specifically, Totodile was staring out across the room, Treecko was practicing some sort of combat move, Muk was inert, so was a Chimecho (Ruby/Sapphire #151) that Ash had picked up in his Hoenn travels, and Kingler was snapping its claws, obviously bored.

And a little yellow Pikachu (yeah, aren't they all?) was staring at the elevators- and gave a cheerful shout before leaping into its trainer's arms, as all of the others turned and stared (waking up if necessary).

"You're... all okay..." Ash felt sudden tears of joy coming, but blinked them away. This was just too lucky. What was going on here? His Pokemon had just been left here in the open? I guess they didn't run away because they didn't want to abandon me... but then why didn't they try to find me?

"Well, when you expect captivity and you get the option to run, you often feel tempted to stay because you just don't know what your captors have planned. It's called reverse psychology." Ash didn't have to turn around to recognize the owner of the dry, slightly mocking voice. Giovanni had set all of this up; that was clear. But why, why, in God's name, WHY? He turned to face the Rocket leader.

"You see?" the businessman and former Gym Leader continued. "You all still have the option to run. No one can take that away from you. No one can coerce you into doing anything you don't want to do. What can threaten you? Like I said-" Jason put his right hand on Ash's left shoulder- "you're at the pinnacle. Like I said... you deserve more. What's to lose?... ... ... We can do anything together."

Ash wasn't about to be taken in by this load, of course. Yet... who knew what could happen? Maybe he could find a way to destroy the organization from inside!

And suddenly, he realized that he wasn't alone. Lined up along the wall behind their master were Jessie, Meowth, James, Butch, and Cassidy (the latter two back in their old higher-level uniforms), all trying to be impassive.

Ash put down Pikachu and bowed his head. "All right. I'll give you a chance."

Shock registered on the others' faces- except for Jason's. Out of view of all except God... he grinned. He hadn't gotten to where he was by taking bait, either. Yet this was his moment... all of their moments.

"Good", he replied. He removed the hand, and Ash looked up. Giovanni turned to James, who handed him a belt with six Pokeballs on it. "Now to begin, just call back all of your Pokemon."

Ash donned the repaired belt and removed a ball, then expanded it, held it out, and shouted, "Totodile, return!" The croc disappeared in a flash of red light. He contracted the ball and reattached it to his belt. He then did the same with Treecko, Chimecho, Muk, and Kingler. He looked back at Giovanni, who was now alone.

"Call them all back," he repeated.

Ash froze for a moment, then, as if moving through water, grabbed the only empty ball from his belt, one with a distinctive lightning mark. He activated it, turned around, and held it out for a moment as the one Pokemon left looked up at its trainer with an unreadable expression.

Finally, he spoke.

"Pikachu... return."

For the first time in four years, Pikachu disappeared in a flash of red.

Ash shrank the ball and clipped it to his belt.

Jason smiled.

"Now, we'll see that you get some rest. You'll have a couple of days to get situated, and then your training will start." He turned and pressed an elevator button. The doors slid open, and the two walked inside.

They slid shut.

The End... for now