A/N: Late update, I know. Inspiration for this story is very low, my attention is absorbed with either Winds of Hope, Emerald Wishes, or another work in progress. Sorry.

Anyway, the Trevor part of this story is NOT my doing. Copyright Shelby Cloyster, I just modded it. Because frankly, I was in a more bloody mood than he was. Sort of a disturbing thought, really.


A Rest in the House of Ditto, part three:

"Duplica! When I get my hands on you, they won't find your remains!"

Duplica flew past a confused Ash, who dove out of the way only barely. He spotted Sanja racing after her, and took a guess about what Sanja was pissed off about. Wisely, he decided to stay away from the two for awhile. When Sanja caught Duplica, he didn't want to be around. Duplica had been even more cheerful than usual, and used a singsong voice a lot. Ash knew that she knew something, and just as she always would, she annoyed the person who had told her whatever it was (probably Sanja).

Ash rolled his eyes, and shook his head. To him, that wasn't a very sane choice at all. Misty's temper he could deal with, his skull had gotten quite used to her bashing him on the head. Sanja, on the other hand, didn't leave a mark, but instead left nightmares, and he hadn't been the target of her rage.

As he quick-walked through the empty hallway, heading in the opposite direction, he muttered, "I'm glad that I didn't cause that one. Better find Chris, he's the only one who can calm down Sanja when she's raging. Must be something to do with his psychic power or something…"

Pikachu rubbed his head, then slowly rolled his eyes, muttering, (Ash, you really are thick sometimes.)

Ash, who did have a vague understanding of Pikachu language, gave his pokemon partner a slight look, then said defensively, "I'm working on it!"

Pikachu smirked, and Ash said with a sigh, "Well, kinda…"

(Misty's beating it into you, you mean.)


Chris, after finding out what Ash had told him, was currently in trouble. Sanja had caught up to Duplica, and currently, the Ditto trainer was slumped, suspended in the air, her eyes looking glazed. Sanja's powers varied with the source of her rage – if she was in a battle rage, she became pyrokinetic, telekinetic, and several other damage-inflicting kinetics. When she was mad, her powers changed to inflicting nightmares on whoever annoyed her, though usually, she restrained herself. Currently, she probably was holding back, just giving Duplica very light nightmares, but he still couldn't let her hold Duplica under the 'spell' for long, it wasn't good for anyone's sanity. Privately, he thought that Duplica was a tad crazy, but that was just her – she wouldn't BE Duplica without that bit of madness… or was it childishness? Moving quietly, he snuck up on her, and rested a hand on her shoulder. Sanja jumped, one hand raised as she turned to face him, her eyes reddened with fury, but then calmed somewhat when she realized who had touched her. In an annoyed tone, she said, "Lemme guess. Put her down?"

Chris merely nodded, smiling weakly. "Yeah… what she do this time?"

Sanja turned to the hovering Duplica, who had visibly fallen into a different sleep, her eyes were no longer glazed, and tiny tremors no longer traveled throughout her body. The berserker said, still sounding annoyed, "She knows about the you-know-what, and decided to start playing matchmaker, and gave me 'advice'." The redhead scowled, and added, "The day she gets me into an outfit chosen by her is the day Armageddon happens."

Chris snorted, earning a scowl from the berserker, adding softly, "I think you made your point. If that doesn't work, threaten to burn her closet or something. Duplica might be a big kid, but she probably will get the hint."

Duplica's feet set down on the floor, and she unsteadily stood, before shaking herself into awareness. With a look at Sanja, she said quickly, "I won't say a word! Nope! Not a single word!"

Sanja smirked, and walked away. Chris sighed, and rubbed his temples, trying to get rid of his headache, before looking skyward. Duplica looked warily about, then asked in an undertone, "How exactly are you two supposed to end up together? You're not exactly that compatible – you're supposed to be the sweetness and light type, right?" At Chris's slight grimace from her choice of words, she continued, "And she just fed me one of my least favorite dreams… urgh. I don't think opposites attract works in this case…"

Chris shrugged, before saying with a slightly crazed grin, "Prophesy isn't always correct, Duplica. She just takes advantage of it on occasion when she needs to."

Duplica blinked, and ventured slowly, "Then that kiss…"

Chris replied softly, "Was to get rid of her headache and power drain. Something about the damn thing means that whenever we do something even remotely romantic, even holding hands, the two of us get a recharge of energy. How much depends on the act, but…"

Duplica nodded slowly. "I think I get it. Weird. Useful, but weird. Oh, and I won't say a word… just don't let me piss her off again, ok?"

Chris nodded, and rested a hand on Duplica's shoulder, before leaving. Once he was gone, Duplica sank to the carpeted floor, and sat down wearily. Thanks to that gesture, she didn't exactly remember what Sanja had done, nor was she as terrified of the berserker as she had been, but still… the two creeped her out. Chris was almost fey at times, and Sanja… she was just plain scary.

"Mental note: no more annoying psychics."


It wasn't a good day for Team Rocket. Jessie was in a worse mood than usual, and threatening to castrate James if he continued to annoy her, while the blue blob (Meowth's nickname for Jessie's Wobbuffet) was irritating her even more.

In other words, it wasn't a good day to be Meowth. The slim cat left his teammates behind in the cover of the bush near the imitate-twerp's place, and just walked around the building slowly, looking it over. He sighed, and said slowly, "If Jessie doesn't get over her PMS soon, we're never going to have another opportunity ta steal those pokemon."

Pikachu and Ash appeared in one of the windows for a brief moment, and Meowth stiffened, then slumped, putting his back against the wall as he did so. "Meowth… why do I even bother? Pikachu's too strong for us ta steal, and that one twerp gives me da willies… why do I keep on feeling like one of da legendaries is going to fry me if I even lay a paw on him?"

Meowth remained against the wall, thinking, and searching his memory. He knew that two of them were psychic, after all, he didn't have his cat-ears just for decoration. Even now, he could hear Jessie battering James' skull with that hammer of hers, then turning to Wobbuffet, and doing the same, though the blob's Counter made the hammer turn on her. But he'd never been that creeped out just by being around a psychic, even Sabrina hadn't given him that bad of a case of the willies.
Frustrated, he growled out, "Grr… what could it be!"

A nearby Pidgey sent out a scolding, and then replied in a rather condescending tone, "Don't you know, cat? There's a gifted one in there. Any pokemon that is turning to evil would be afraid of their kind, since they have the blessing of the legendary pokemon."

Meowth scowled, and was tempted to give into his instincts to charge the Pidgey, but suppressed them, instead asking the bird, "What is a gifted one, anyway?"

The Pidgey pulled up a worm, and then replied, "A human, chosen by the legendaries. Ask him yourself, I'm not telling a cat anything more."

Meowth, frustrated, pounced at the Pidgey, but the bird was too canny, and flew off before Meowth could even land from his pounce. The cat-pokemon growled a profanity under his breath, and then kicked a nearby rock, hissing slightly when his paw hurt from the gesture. Finally, he gave up, and said to himself, "Maybe Seviper knows what dat stupid bird was talking about…", walking back to the bickering pair. Jessie was still yelling at James, even though Meowth guessed that it had been at least ten minutes since he left.

'Just like an old married couple', the cat thought, somewhat bemused. He'd never voice that opinion, he'd learned the hard way that Jessie didn't like the thought of being married to James, and James tended to echo her sentiments. Rather than saying anything, he swiped the pokeball containing Seviper from Jessie (his thieving days were still of some use to him), and stepped a small distance away, before releasing the snake. Seviper was still somewhat dinged up, but Meowth wouldn't be surprised if he was healed fully in about a half hour, for all that they ate nothing usually, Team Rocket regenerated and healed quickly. "Seviper, do you know anything about a 'gifted one'?"

The snake looked quizzical, before saying slowly, "Not much. Just that they're chosssen by dragonssss, and that they're usssssually favored by the legendariessss. They're ssssupposed to get sssspecial powersssss too… but I don't know anything elsssse. Why do you asssk?"

Meowth gave him a feline grin, and said, "Because one of the twerps we're trying to steal from gave me ta creeps… he must be one of dos things."

The snake visibly paled, and Meowth frowned mentally. His becoming like a human had some advantages, but in return, other pokemon, even infants sometimes, knew more about things than he did. It was quite annoying… and he'd wasted all that energy for nothing, really. Just to end up on a dead-end team of would-be crooks, if their plans didn't fail so often. "I wondered… sss…"

With that, the snake, still looking disturbed, returned to his pokeball of his own volition, leaving Meowth standing there, puzzled. "Just what makes des guys so special? Da legendaries don't care about humans… I remember Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres trying to kill each other, dey wouldn't care about us…"

Frustrated, Meowth looked skyward. Wobbuffet was actually the wisest of their 'crew' (besides him, of course), but Meowth didn't get along with the blue blob, so he wouldn't lower himself to ask him just what was so special about that one twerp. He'd rather just ask one of the twerps himself… and that would only happen when hell and Moltres froze over.


Chris grabbed Sanja's arm, and gave her a warning look, just as she was about to lunge for Duplica. Hissing quietly, he whispered, "Don't. We're leaving now, if you traumatize her…"

Sanja turned, and frowned, before slowly and reluctantly nodding. "Oh, fine. Spoilsport."

Chris shrugged, and waited for Ash, Misty, and Brock to finish saying goodbye and thanks to Duplica. They'd restocked on supplies (Duplica regularly had supplies delivered by truck, it was no issue for her to increase the request by a little bit), so the group was good to travel for quite awhile, provided they didn't run out of food, which was always the biggest issue. Ash had the appetite of three men, and their pokemon did require a good amount of food, especially Ash's Charizard, even if they stayed in their pokeballs, and minimized their energy expenditure.

The three eventually finished, and they rejoined Sanja and Chris, the five walking toward Celadon, Kani a few steps ahead, testing the road ahead. Ash and Brock had spoken about Team Rocket's fondness for pitfall traps, and Kani had volunteered to take 'point', and look for any traps.

Less then twenty feet from the House, she signaled that there was one, calling out, (One pitfall, right as you guessed.)

Ash groaned, and said, "Great. Now where's the bush they're hiding in…" His eyes lit upon a suspicious bush, and without a word, Pikachu fired a bolt of electricity into it. A bunch of screams confirmed his suspicion that Team Rocket was in hiding inside of it, and as usual, they jumped out. Duplica charged over and joined them, saying, "You guys again? Don't you ever quit?"
Jessie gave her 'evil' laugh, and said, "Of course not. Team Rocket won't stop until we rule the world!"

James grabbed her arm, and asked, "But Jessie, how are we supposed to take over the world when we can't even steal Pikachu!"

The five (plus Duplica) capitalized on Team Rocket's self-distraction, and released their pokemon that were capable of blasting off the crooks. Meowth, rather than alerting them, and wasting time with a battle, just wearily sighed, and called out, "Before ya blast us off, could you make it as painless as possible dis time? I'm kinda sick of being hurt all the time."

Pikachu nodded with a slight sympathetic look, and Kani gave off a violet aura, before the bickering duo were launched into the distance, a resigned and tired Meowth following, though his eyes were brighter than usual… since Kani had answered the question that was buzzing through his mind.

Duplica, a bemused look on her face, said, "Well, that was even more pathetic than I remember. Take care, you five."

Ash replied, "We will."

Duplica jogged back to her House, while the five walked around the pitfall trap, and then down the path to Celadon, made easier by the trucks that came by to Duplica's, since some of them came from Celadon.


"Man, that was an exciting battle!" exclaimed Trevor as he walked along the path to Celadon City. The battle to which he was referring had taken place had been an exhausting one; most of Trevor's Pokémon were resting in their balls. Moonstone however, was hovering beside Trevor's right; Bombshell was bouncing along on his left. Deciding to avoid an incredibly boring conversation about the battle and his Pokémon's performance in it, Moonstone decided to telepathically point an obvious but important fact: (Trevor, you're going the wrong way. We're heading to Cinnabar Island, not Celadon City.)

Trevor smirked, and said casually, "I have some unfinished business there…well, not exactly unfinished, but it needs to be taken care of."

Moonstone widened the eye that was facing Trevor, his imitation of a raised eyebrow, and asked slowly, (And what would that be?)

Trevor replied seriously, all excitement forgotten, "The Rockets have a mole in the police there, and they're using him to recruit kids from the slums into their organization. They must be stopped…at all costs."

At the sound of this, Moonstone immediately moved directly in front of Trevor, and gave off a flicker of psychic power, a warning. (NO. I am not letting another Vermillion happen.)

Trevor grinned, and said in an almost-whine, "But c'mon! Vermillion was fun!"

Moonstone rolled his eyes, and sarcastically stated, (Might I remind you that what we did in Vermillion was illegal?)

Trevor replied just as sarcastically, "Might I remind you that a Rocket became Chief of Police in Vermillion, firing all the honest officers and hiring all Rockets? Might I also remind you that since there were no police officers left alive in Vermillion, there's no way to prove we did it?"

Moonstone countered with an acidic, (Might I remind you that Vermillion was what prompted the Rockets to steal Venusaur?)

Bombshell, who had been watching the event like a tennis match, interjected with a surprised, (Wow! You mean you guys were the ones who massacred the Rockets in Vermillion City?)

Moonstone cut off his telepathic link to Trevor, and sank slightly in the air. His 'voice' was tired, as he replied, (Yes. Don't remind me; I didn't enjoy it at all.)

Trevor, his eyes still covered by his ever-present sunshades, said in irritation, "You know I can't understand a word you guys are saying, right?"

Just as Moonstone was about to respond, he stopped and turned around. After a minute's pause, he turned back to Trevor and re-opened the link. (We're in trouble. Someone is headed this way, and I'm sensing a bad attitude and some powerful Dark-Types, not to mention guns and anti-psychic technology. And they've got a vendetta against us.)

Trevor blinked, and asked, "Who is it? A Rocket?"

Moonstone replied with a whisper of, (You wish…)

At the sound of this, Trevor enlarged all four of his remaining Pokéballs and sent out his Pokémon. "OK, guys, who's up for a fight?"


The woman stepped into the clearing. She knew that the person she was looking for was here (wonderful thing about technology), but she couldn't see him. Cocking the hammers on her guns, she stepped forward, only to hear a voice behind her suddenly whisper, "Looking for me?"

The woman immediately wheeled around, but did not fire on instinct. Lucky, too, because there was nobody there…


Trevor snickered. Ever since Moonstone had perfected the art of sensory misperception, he'd been able to make himself – and others – invisible at will. He'd also figured out how to throw peoples' voices around like a ventriloquist, and the combination of these techniques allowed Trevor to completely confuse this poor sap by standing right in front of her. Trevor suddenly remarked, "Good thing you didn't shoot…", and was surprised to hear his voice right above him. Deciding to continue this trick, he added, "Wouldn't it have been a waste of your filthy bullets if you had? That's the problem with guns: they're wildly inaccurate, and if you're not careful, they could kill somebody…"

While he was saying this, his voice started coming from any – and sometimes every – direction. The woman, her surprise fading, correctly figured it to be some sort of psychic trick. She quickly turned the knob on the psychic disruptor attached to her belt so that anybody using psychic powers would feel pain, whether or not they were aimed at her.

The boy she was searching for appeared right in front of her, with a Lunatone writhing in pain on the ground at his side – though she was not that surprised, she'd seen someone do that before. Nearby were a Cloyster, a Glalie, and a Linoone. Strangely, however, the boy was unfazed. The woman could only conclude that he wasn't a psychic, and the only problem had been with his Lunatone. She smirked, and said, "Cute, kid."

"I'll take your word for it," replied Trevor, pushing his sunshades up on his nose slightly. "Now, who are you and what do you want with me?"

"That's for me to know and you to never find out," she responded, and emptied all twelve rounds (six per gun) at Trevor. To her surprise, a Sceptile appeared out of nowhere, Leaf Blades extended, right above the path of bullets, allowing him to slice them in half before they could harm the boy; the pieces fell to the ground with a bang. Trevor chuckled, saying, "What a waste of lead." His face turned more serious as he added, "Gecko, disarm her!"

Almost immediately, the Sceptile was in front of her, and with four quick Leaf Blades, her guns, psychic tracker, and psychic disabler were on the ground at her feet, cut to pieces. With that, the Lunatone got up and hovered next to its trainer. As a reflex action, she grabbed the two Pokéballs attached to her belt, enlarged them, and tossed them into the air. A Crawdaunt and a Houndoom popped out, and she shouted, "Kill!"


Trevor looked in surprise at the Houndoom, barely registering the trainer's command. He could have sworn he'd seen that Houndoom before. His suspicion was proved to be correct when the Houndoom disappeared, and in a repeat of what he'd seen before, the canine pokemon ripped out the woman's throat. The pokemon then launched a point-blank flamethrower at his pokeball, melting it, and then vanished, while his 'teammate' was frozen in shock at the events, before it signaled that it no longer wished to fight by slumping in a defeated pose. Trevor looked in shock at Moonstone, but the Lunatone was silent, without a sarcastic comment for once.
(And sometimes she lends me to other trainers with a Shiftry, a Nuzleaf, or a Cacturne for target practice…) The Crawdaunt added, continuing his tale.

Shelby and the Glalie sat there silently, listening to the Crawdaunt's harrowing tale of his trainer's cruelty. Shelby suddenly said, (Wow. I do not want to be you.)

The Crawdaunt replied tiredly, (But I so desperately want to be you. You have a trainer who cares for you and gives you three meals a day, regardless of your performance in battle and how well you obey orders…)

After thinking for a moment, Shelby responded, (You know, if I know Trevor, he might be ok with this… how would you feel about joining the team?)

The Crawdaunt's eyes widened, and it asked in a shocked tone, (You mean it?)

(Absolutely.), replied Shelby. Ice Ball, the Glalie, added, (Both of us will put in a good word.)


Trevor and Moonstone were standing over the corpse, Trevor with a expression of revulsion on his face. Moonstone turned slowly, and said, (I sensed another psychic in the distance. One we know.)

Trevor replied in a deadpan tone, "I only know two, but let's not worry about that right now. You told me that you can siphon off memories from a recently-dead corpse, prove it. I want to know who she was, who she was working for, and why she wanted to kill me. And I want details."

Moonstone psychically sighed, and asked sarcastically, (Anything else, your highness?)

Trevor replied in an irritated tone, "Don't call me that, first of all. Second of all, I want that Crawdaunt's Pokeball. Thanks to you, Siggy learned how to write in English, so he can translate that Crawdaunt for me. You told me yourself that something's come up…"

Moonstone telekinetically passed the Pokeball to Trevor without saying or thinking a word and turned to the woman. A blue ribbon suddenly formed between the back of her head and Moonstone's eyes. Trevor watched for all of a few seconds and then turned to the Crawdaunt, calling, "Siggy, get your lazy white ass over here and start scrawling what this poor fellow says in the dirt."

The Crawdaunt asked in confusion, (Wait…what's going on?)

Trevor turned to the Crawdaunt that had just addressed him. "Siggy here can write in my language, which you can understand. I, however, cannot understand your language, so Siggy will be using his strange ability to translate what you are saying. Now, Shelby and Ice Ball say you didn't like your trainer, you were treated poorly, and you want somebody else to be your friend. Your trainer… well, she'll stay dead from what I can tell, so I'm offering you a choice." Trevor extended the arm with the Crawdaunt's Pokeball in it. "You have two choices. The first one is you use Vicegrip or Crabhammer to smash this Pokeball. All ties to your dead trainer will be severed, leaving you free to join my team. The moment I catch you, however, you will be sent to the laboratory of a friend of mine, where you will stay until I get to Cinnabar Island. However, I might call you back beforehand for training and whatnot. At the lab, you will be well-fed, and I'll send Shelby up there to train with you and a couple other friends of mine…namely, a Gyrados and a Ninjask."

The Crawdaunt asked, looking pensive, (And the second option?)

After reading the dirt, Trevor responded, "You refuse to crush the Pokeball, and I leave you here in the wild, where some other Kanto trainer, probably just as cruel as your old one, will capture you and mistreat you the same way she did. What do you choose?" After Trevor asked this last question, the Crawdaunt tried to Vicegrip the Pokeball. When that failed, he tried to Crabhammer it. When that failed, the Crawdaunt asked, (If I choose the first option and am incapable of smashing my Pokeball, despite the fact that I want to, can you still accept me?)

When Siggy finished transcribing the question, Trevor called out, "Gecko, get over here! Use Slam and then Leaf Blade on this blasted Pokeball!" Gecko obliged, the Pokeball shattered into tiny fragments, and the Crawdaunt started thanking Trevor profusely. Trevor stopped him with a comment of, "You need a name."

The Crawdaunt actually fainted out of sheer excitement. Trevor chuckled. "You know, you could be a powerful force if you had some proper training. That crusher claw of yours could become pretty strong…" Trevor paused when he realized the Crawdaunt was alive but not getting up, so he pulled out a pokeball with a net-like design on it and tossed it at the poor Crawdaunt. The Net Ball enveloped him in red light before drawing him in, and the crab didn't even struggle. Trevor picked up the ball, and as it electronically disappeared into thin air, Trevor chuckled, "Welcome to the family…Crusher."


Trevor sat down on a rock next to Moonstone. "Well? What's the news?"

Moonstone replied in a somewhat acidic tone, though tired sounding, (What news do you want?)

Trevor took a moment to rub his temples, then rattled off, "Who she was, why she wanted to kill me, who she was working for…didn't I say that? Oh, and I want details, too."

Moonstone replied with a weary and sarcasm-free response of, (Well, there are too many. Would you like a gist?)

Trevor nodded, and Moonstone explained, (This woman was a member of Kanto's leading church. They have a great pull in the government and believe in people called "witches". Supposedly, these "witches" have a great empathy for Pokémon. You know… Chris is one.)

Trevor arched an eyebrow, and said, "Really? I couldn't tell. I just thought he was weird."

Moonstone gave a dry-'sounding' laugh, and replied, (Well, the church can, and send out people, called inquisitors. And apparently, since we associated with him, and since I'm a Psychic-Type, and since they hate psychics almost as much as they hate gifted ones…the correct term for "witches"…they wanted us dead. They might have thought you were a potential witch or something, but the reasoning isn't quite clear. Still, this woman was one of their assassins, and after she killed us she was supposed to take out Chris and company. She wasn't a willing member of this church, either… if I understand it right, they threatened her family to get her to comply.)

Trevor, looking impatient, asked, "And?"

Moonstone rolled his eyes again, and said, (No time. We have to hook up with the old gang and find out more about this church. I myself have never heard of this church, since Hoenn hasn't been affected by it and I've lived there all my life…Chris gets plagued by them, though, since they know his name, and that he is a confirmed witch. He should have killed that one…)

Trevor cut his pokemon off with a snapped, "Where's he headed?"

Moonstone paused for a moment, eyes glowing blue, and then stopped. (Celadon, like us. For pretty much the same reasons.)

Trevor chuckled, and said, "Told you this was a good idea… how'd you find him?"

Moonstone shook his body in the imitation of a shaken head, and replied, (You wouldn't understand.)