"And why is Ash angry at you, Mewtwo?" Mellanie asked.

Mewtwo didn't answer for a moment, seemingly contemplating what to say.

"I couldn't find Professor Oak for him." the Pokémon said eventually. "He wasn't happy about that."

Mellanie studied Mewtwo for a moment before shaking her head and crossing her arms. "No. Ash wouldn't be angry about that for a long time, not if you tried to help. What else?"

"You are perceptive as ever Mellanie." Mewtwo said. "Very well. Ash suspected, correctly that I could have helped him. I still refused."

"Why?" Mellanie asked.

"Because there are some things that Pokémon should not get involved in until they have to." Mewtwo said. "I learned that a long time ago, from Ash."

"Such as?"

"Such as human events."

"But this is more than just humans." Mellanie said, her voice questioning. "Surely Sonia has used Cleffa, a Pokémon?"

"Indeed." Mewtwo said. "But Ash can handle that by himself. If he can defeat Cleffa, he should be able to prevent the fights between Pokémon and humans from escalating. The clash between humans and Pokémon is not what I want to help him with now."

"Then what?" Mellanie asked.

"Sonia has used Psychic Pokémon to cast aspersions on the humans investigating Ash." Mewtwo said. "She has blinded them to the truth and caused them to believe a fabricated story instead."

Mellanie didn't say anything so Mewtwo continued.

"Ash never asked me to help him here." Mewtwo said. "But for all the strength of his Pokémon, none of them are equipped to counter Cleffa. Only I can."

"Why?" Mellanie asked.

"Because affecting the minds of human was one of the first things I learned. After I escaped Giovanni the first time… I wanted to avoid humans. Yet they were everywhere. The solution was to simply influence their minds."

Mellanie nodded slowly. "I think I understand. You want to undo what Cleffa has done to Cynthia and Jenny."

"Correct."

"Just tell me one more thing." Mellanie said. "If Ash never asked you for your help, how do you know he is angry?"

Mewtwo inclined his head. "Again, very perceptive. Ash would know that I could have done so and did not. I don't know how angry he is, but he could easily be annoyed at me for it."

"So why didn't you help him earlier?"

"I'd rather not answer that." Mewtwo said. "Will you assist me?"

Mellanie looked around, at the outside of the house. Ash had asked her to stay put but something about the way he said goodbye had made her uneasy. She had never disobeyed Ash before but she was seriously considering it now. If she could help Mewtwo help Ash, she knew that Ash would forgive her anything. And after all, hadn't Ash asked her to be his partner?

Mellanie looked up into the eyes of the Pokémon who was waiting patiently for her answer. Eventually, she came to her decision.

"I will do what I can." She promised.

Ash appeared on the side of a mountain, his Pokémon surrounding him. He looked around before spotting the light spilling out from inside a cave on the other side of the valley. It was a very small light spillage but when Ash looked down at Espeon the Pokémon nodded.

"That is the one."

Ash studied it for a moment longer before he turned to Alakazam.

"Bring us to the front of it. Charizard, stay airborne with Altaria and Beautifly. Cover anything that tries to attack us from behind. I want Espeon, Sceptile and Machamp with me inside. Everybody else, defensive positions around the outside, but be ready to come and assist. Understood?"

All of his Pokémon nodded. Ash met Alakazam's eye.

"Let's go."

In a flash, the entire group vanished, reappearing right in front of the cave. Instantly Ash's Pokémon fanned out, searching for cover as they watched the sides of the mountain they were on. Charizard and Altaria soared into the sky, Beautifly fluttering up after them. Ash looked around, satisfied with their positions. Sceptile, Espeon and Machamp formed up at his back as he turned to stride into the cave.

From the darkness outside, the light inside the cave was momentarily blinding. Ash let his eyes adjust before proceeding deeper inside, towards the fire at the back. On the fire side of the fire were two figures, sat waiting. One was small and circular whilst the other one was hunched over, their back facing the flames. As Ash stopped a few metres away, the hunched figure rose from where they had been sat before turning around. As the firelight danced onto Sonia's face, she smiled warmly when she saw Ash.

"Ash Ketchum." She said, before gesturing towards the flames. "Sit. I think it is time that we had a talk."

Max Maple sat quietly behind a laptop screen, sipping a cup of coffee as he double checked the work he had done up to this point. He was sat in the bar of a hotel in Celadon City. Despite the fact that it was relatively early morning, Max wasn't the only one in the bar. He put the coffee down on the table beside his laptop and started typing again. A few minutes later he turned to see somebody slowly approaching him across the room. His sister, May was moving towards him. Max studied her as she approached his table.

May looked utterly exhausted, shattered by the events of the last few days. She had taken a long time to calm down the previous evening after he had gotten her away from Drew before she had eventually collapsed into the bed in the hotel room he had booked. Letting her sleep there had been the least he felt he could do for her but it did mean that he had slept on the floor. And slept extremely fitfully. It was one of the reasons why he was downstairs so early after. After a few hours of tossing and turning on the floor, Max had given up and decided to go and do some work on battle tactics.

As May finally reached the table and collapsed into a chair, Max smiled sympathetically at her.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

May shrugged. "Dunno. Exhausted."

"I'm sorry." Max said. He had said as much the night before but he wasn't convinced that May had actually listened to any of it.

"For what?" May asked, an eyebrow raised.

"I did attack your husband yesterday." Max said with a wry smile.

May laughed, a hollow, humourless sound. "I suppose you did. I think he started it first."

Max laughed despite himself. "Yes, I suppose he did."

The two of them sat in a quiet silence for a few minutes as Max finished off his coffee. Eventually he looked up at his sister once again.

"What now?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" May asked in turn.

"What do you do now?" Max said. "With the contest season. With…" Max couldn't quite bring himself to say Drew's name.

"I… I don't know." May said. "With… Well you know. I don't think I can compete in contests."

Max nodded instantly. "Understandable."

"And… With him. I don't know either. I love him."

Max hesitated. "Do you still?"

"I don't know." May said, her eyes brimming with tears. "What do you think?"

Max thought for a long minute. He had been up half the night thinking about what his answer would be to this question and he knew that there was only one that he could easily give. He had thought back to when he had first met Drew, and the way that Drew had treated May. Even back when he wasn't close with his sister, Drew had irritated him. And now that he was fond of May, what Drew had done made him furious.

"I know what Dad would say." Max said eventually. When May didn't say anything Max continued on. "Dad would tell you to get rid of him. Go to the police. In fact, if Dad knew what he did yesterday, Dad would kill him."

May smiled weakly at the thought of their father. "True." She murmured.

"I agree with him in part." Max said. "A man who can do that to you… he is bad news. Get rid of him May."

May sniffed as tears started to run down her face again. "I… I can't." she whispered.

Max leaned forwards. "You can. You thought he had changed over the years but it is like Ash reappearing has turned the clock back. Please May, I can't trust him after yesterday."

May took a napkin from beside Max's coffee mug and wiped at her face. "I'll… I'll think about it." She said.

"Then I will stay with you until you decide." Max said decisively.

May nodded, before leaning over and hugging her brother close. Her head fell onto his chest and she let his shirt absorb some of her tears.

"Thank you." She said into his chest. "Thank you for being here."

Jenny stormed into her office, Steven and Lance trailing behind her, Cynthia ahead of them. She rounded her desk and sat down, glaring across at the two men who were taking chairs opposite her while Cynthia took a

"Where is he?" Jenny snarled.

Steven sighed. "If we knew, we wouldn't have come to you when we wanted to talk to him. We would have gone straight to him."

"Do you expect me to believe that?" Jenny snapped. "You expect me to believe that it is coincidence that after you started to apply pressure to the case, he vanishes?"

"Don't be ridiculous." Lance said, the frustration in his voice evident. "We all know how the Pokémon Master escaped. And while I hope you had considered it, there was nothing that you could do about it."

"His Pokémon." Cynthia said quietly. "I still remember years ago when we faced Team Rocket in Goldenrod City. Ketchum's Pokémon broke in and nearly destroyed the place. They can get anywhere."

Jenny flipped up the laptop on her desk and typed furiously. She stared at the screen for several moments, tapping a few more keys as she went. Eventually she looked up and spun the laptop around.

"Look at this." She said. Her voice had stopped being so angry and had become more resigned.

Steven and Lance leaned forwards to watch the screen. It showed an image of a cell with Ash sat, seemingly doing nothing. After a few moments he started to slowly vanish until he was completely gone. The two of them looked up to see Jenny looking at them.

"How did he do that?" Jenny asked.

Steven shrugged. "Only one idea. Have you ever watched a recording of a Pokémon using teleport?"

Jenny shook her head. "No. Why?"

"If you slow it down, it looks somewhat like that." Steven said. "So all I can assume is that one of his Pokémon teleported him out."

"But why so slowly?" Lance asked.

"I'm not sure." Steven said.

"Perhaps it was something to do with the distance?" Cynthia asked. "I mean, whichever Pokémon it was… they clearly weren't in the room with him. Maybe it is harder teleporting him from elsewhere?"

"Can it be tracked?" Jenny asked, cutting across Steven as he started to answer Cynthia. He turned his attention to the police chief, an eyebrow raised.

"So we are no longer being accused of anything?" Steven asked.

"No." Jenny said with a sigh. "This… This suggests that Ketchum escaped by himself. And we need to attempt to track him down."

"We can't." Cynthia said. "I'm not aware of anything that can track a teleport after it has happened. It is beyond any of my Pokémon."

"Unfortunately, same for me." Steven said. "They can only track a teleport if they were there when it happened. Champion is gone."

Ash clenched his fists at his sides as he glared across the fire at Sonia.

"After everything you have done to me, you expect me to sit and talk to you?" he said, fighting to keep control over his emotions.

Sonia shrugged. "If you want to kill me, you can still do it afterwards."

"I'm not here to kill you." Ash said, his voice a growl. "Although I admit it is tempting."

Sonia flashed him a wide grin as she sat back down on the cave floor. After a long moment, Ash slowly lowered himself to the ground. Behind him Espeon, Sceptile and Machamp fanned out behind him, staring at Cleffa menacingly.

"You took longer than I expected to find me." Sonia said conversationally. "I've been waiting here a while. I thought your Pokémon were better at scouting than this."

"We didn't even know you had vanished at first." Ash said back, his voice sounding more relaxed even if his posture suggested a man on edge. "It was only when I was arrested for your kidnapping that we had to start searching for you properly."

Sonia laughed. "I wondered what Jenny would do after I disappeared. Poor Jenny, such a bright spark on the police force and yet her career is going to come to such a tragic end."

"Is it?" Ash asked.

"Oh yes." Sonia said. "For her to screw up such a big case will be a huge blow."

"Aside from losing me, I wouldn't say she has screwed it up that much." Ash said. "More that you have."

"Me?" Sonia asked, looking hurt. "I've not done anything against her."

Ash leaned forwards slightly. "Then tell me, why does she have constant headaches?"

Sonia laughed again. "Oh that? It was Cleffa. Come on Ash, both of us know that you haven't done anything wrong. The evidence that I spent all that time planting would not have held up to proper scrutiny so I had to find a way to make the accusations stick."

"You did all of this…" Ash said. "You betrayed my trust, you revealed my greatest secret and you planted evidence to incriminate me… Why?"

Sonia shrugged. "I never really lied to you that much. I wanted to learn from you."

"You have a funny way of showing it."

Sonia grinned. "Thank you. But I didn't do anything to you that was particularly harmful."

Ash snorted before he could stop himself. Sonia looked at him with a curious expression on her face.

"I'm looking forward to this one." Ash said. "How has what you have done not been harmful?"

"I told people your name." Sonia said. "A secret that being revealed has not hurt you in the slightest. Most people in the world still refer to you as Champion, even if you do ow have a name. Champion was never just a title for you, it was you. I wanted a reason for you to never forget me."

"I had already agreed to train you by this point." Ash said warily. "Why still go ahead with it?"

"Because I wanted more." Sonia said, her voice suddenly urgent. "I knew you better than anybody else could. I've been through what you'd been through. I'd been alone like you'd been alone. I wanted you to realize that no matter what, I would be there for you. I wanted to be the best student you ever had."

"And you wanted more." Ash said, his voice completely calm. "You wanted me."

"Yes." Sonia said simply. "Do you blame me?"

"For having an interest in somebody?" Ash asked. "No. But your methods are… unusual. You cost me a great deal."

"I'm not an idiot." Sonia said. "You didn't like being Pokémon Master."

Ash froze. "What do you mean?"

"Everything about you said that you didn't want the responsibility. You never did."

"When I became Pokémon Master, I put in place one of the biggest set of reforms in history. That hardly speaks of somebody who didn't want the job."

Sonia rose, and moved around the fire, sitting down close to Ash. She leaned forwards, looking into his eyes. As his eyes, one dark and one light met hers, she spoke again.

"Tell me honestly, you never feared that the job would involve more desk work than you wanted? You have passed so much of it on to Cynthia, I wonder if you ever wanted it."

Ash sighed. "Yes. You were right. But that doesn't cover everything."

"I did you a favour." Sonia said softly. "I gave you a way to reach your old friends. I gave you a route out of a job you didn't like. I gave you the chance to get everything you ever wanted, if you will only take it."

Ash looked at Sonia who was drawing closer, her face approaching his.

"You can be with your friends again." She said, her voice approaching a whisper. "You don't need to flee anymore. You can become anonymous. You can be remembered as a legend."

"I will be remembered as the Pokémon Master who fled when he was arrested."

"You were the Pokémon who won against legendary Pokémon. You faced down every legendary and won."

Ash nodded slowly. "You are right. I would be remembered. But there is something that I am curious about."

"What?" Sonia asked, pulling back slightly although she was still sat very close to Ash.

"If you were interested in me, why did you think kidnapping my mother would help?"

Sonia smiled. "She was never in any danger. It was because I made a promise to Cleffa to help her regain some of her control over the wilds. We merely needed to give her a chance to regain some of her influence without interference. Delia was never in any danger. And I always keep my word"

Ash nodded. "And I can trust you?"

Sonia moved forwards again, her face drawing closer to Ash's. "You can." She purred. "I can give you something that nobody else can."

"Which is?"

"I am the only who can truly understand you." Sonia said softly. Mere inches separated the two of them now as she continued to draw closer. Her back was arched slightly to keep her face further away from Ash's, but she could still feel his breath against her cheeks.

"I am the only one who knows what it is like to be alone." Sonia continued breathlessly. "The only one who could be with you in isolation if necessary. The only one who can be with you and understand you."

Sonia reached forwards and pushed Ash's hat back, revealing his face. She began to lean in towards him, closing the distance.

"I can love you, no matter how broken you once felt."

Sonia saw Ash close his eyes and start to lean forwards. Their faces drew closer as she shut her own eyes. Just before their lips met, Sonia felt something grasp her neck. Her eyes snapped open again and she looked into Ash's face which was suddenly stern, all traces of softness gone from his features.

"There is only one problem." Ash said as he lifted Sonia up bodily, his hand around her throat and crushing her windpipe. He threw her across the cave, watching her come crashing down against the wall. Ash rose to look down at Sonia's form curled up where she had hit the floor.

"You didn't just kidnap my mother." Ash said, his voice finally laced with anger as it echoed through the cave. "You tortured her. And that is unforgivable."

Misty stood on the outskirts of Pallet Town, surrounded by her Pokémon. She was gazing out at the battle raging a mere two hundred metres away. Pokémon were throwing themselves at their opponents, desperate to gain an upper hand. As Misty watched she saw a Scyther get caught out from some of its allies. Scyther was immediately beset upon by a group of enemies who caught him with a series of attacks that sent him flying through the air. Scyther came crashing down, clearly knocked out by the power of the attacks. Misty considered moving forwards to help out but she had promised Gary that she wouldn't do so. As by far the strongest trainer in Pallet Town she had a responsibility to protect the town. Gary would fight if needed but his grandfather's Pokémon were still out of action after being attacked so violently a few weeks earlier. Dragonite in particular was unlikely to ever fight again.

The battles intensified in front of her before both sides seemingly took a break and scaled back the power of their attacks. Suddenly there was an echoing shriek of bird call. Misty looked up to see waves of flying Pokémon descending onto the battlefield. They picked their targets carefully but they struck without remorse. Several Pokémon fought desperately together before one of the largest Pidgeot that Misty had ever seen dropped out of the sky to end their resistance. As Pidgeot wheeled back into the air, his allies seemed to have almost finished off their targets. The Pokémon they hadn't attacked fought alongside the flying-Pokémon, making Misty wonder how they knew. Suddenly Pidgeot turned his attention to her.

Misty gulped as the remaining Pokémon seemed to fan out, dwarfing her small group of Pokémon with sheer numbers. Out of the sky, Pidgeot dropped like a stone, landing firmly in front of Misty.

Gyarados rose up, towering over Pidgeot despite the bird's size and roared but Pidgeot merely made a dismissive move with his wing. Gyarados eyes flashed angrily and he roared again. Pidgeot looked up at him and squawked loudly. Gyarados let out a rumbling growl but backed off. Pidgeot looked down at Misty once again and inclined his head.

"Err… Hello?" Misty said, slightly unnerved by the Pokémons attitude. Pidgeot inclined his head once again and turned to regard the Pokémon who had stopped a few metres behind him. A loud squawk caused the Pokémon to turn and face away from Pallet Town. Pidgeot turned back and looked down at Misty.

"Are you helping us?" Misty asked in surprise. Pidgeot nodded.

"Why?"

Pidgeot considered her for a moment before shrugging. He flapped his wings once and lifted off, rapidly climbing into the sky. Misty watched him go before reaching into a pocket and pulling out a mobile phone.

"Gary?" she said into it. "I know that you are trying to find a reason for the Pokémon's strange behaviour but I think I've found something that might be more useful."

She listened to her fiancé talk for a moment before nodding. "Yes. Come to the edge of Pallet Town."

"What?" Sonia gasped as she slowly climbed to her feet. She could feel power radiating through the cave, making her move warily. "I didn't do anything to Delia."

"Really?" Ash hissed. "And yet after you kidnapped her I found her

"That wasn't me!" Sonia said, her voice taking on a panicked tone. "I wouldn't do anything to your mother."

"She had been thoroughly tortured. Taken to the point of death." Ash snapped. "Who was it if not you?"

"I don't know!" Sonia said, wringing her hands as she panicked. "I…" She suddenly caught sight of Cleffa. "No…"

Ash looked down at the small Pokémon who was sat quietly. "You expect me to believe that?"

"Yes!" Sonia said desperately. "She has killed humans before! She promised me that she had changed! She kills any human who could be a threat to her!"

Ash looked down at Cleffa as his own Pokémon stepped up behind him. "Evidence of that?"

"Yes!" Sonia said, almost shouting in her desperation to get the words out. "She was the one who killed the people that had been looking into you. The ones that you are accused of silencing. She has killed anybody that looks into your past. As soon as they leave a region she kills them. I lied to the police to get them to look into you more closely!"

It was only a moment but it was all Cleffa needed. Ash's gaze was drawn to Sonia at her revelation and for a moment his eyes were taken off Cleffa. The Fairy Pokémon wagged its fingers once and there was a slight orange glow. Ash's eyes snapped back to Cleffa as the glow faded.

"What did you just do?" Cleffa shrugged as she bounced once, landing next to Sonia. She smiled up at Ash as she raised her hands again.

"Get away from her." Ash snapped, his entire attention focused on Cleffa. "Espeon, Psychic."

A blue glow surrounded Cleffa, causing her to be lifted up slightly from the ground. Ash took a step forwards.

"Surrender Cleffa. You can't teleport out of here and you can't beat us in a straight fight."

Suddenly there was an echoing crash from the mountain outside. The cave shook, causing Ash to turn. As the ground continued to shake, cracks started to run up the walls. On instinct Espeon started to turn her attack onto the walls to strengthen them. The release in strength around Cleffa was enough for her to shake off Espeon's Psychic and drop to the floor. Cleffa looked up at Sonia and wagged her fingers, causing the two of them to vanish.

"What is going on?" Ash barked as he watched his foe disappear yet again. Next to him Alakazam suddenly appeared with Teleport.

"Alakazam, get us outside." Ash said quickly as he saw the cracks in the wall start to grow even more. Alakazam nodded and crossed his spoons, causing them all to teleport away. As they reappeared on the far side of the valley, Ash looked back at the cave. Meteor strikes were pounding the side of the mountain, obliterating the cave. Ash watched in silence as Cleffa's Draco Meteor attack came to an end before he turned to his Pokémon.

"Wherever they went, I want us to go there too. Now."

Sam knocked on the front door of the house but there was no answer. He looked at it in surprise before knocking again but once again nobody answered. Sighing he pushed at the door which to his surprise swung open. Sam stepped into the house and looked around.

"Mel?" he called. When there was no answer he reached to his belt and pulled out a pair of Pokéballs. He released Typhlosion and Nidoking who looked around.

"Be alert." Sam warned. "Mel was here but has vanished."

Both his Pokémon nodded to him. Sam continued to move through the house, his Pokémon at his side but there was no evidence of Mellanie anywhere. There was also no evidence of any kind of fight. It was as if Mellanie had just vanished.

After searching the entire house, Sam headed back outside before looking at his two Pokémon thoughtfully.

"I don't know about you guys, but I didn't get the impression that there had been a fight there." Sam said. "Did either of you?"

Both Pokémon shook their heads.

"Yet Mellanie isn't there." Sam mused. "Which means that when Ash escaped, he must have taken her with him. But why? Why the change in plan? He has spent the entire time pushing her away, preventing her from getting caught up in anything. Why would he now change it and start including her."

Typhlosion growled slightly, breaking Sam's train of thought. The Kanto Champion looked up at his starter who was gesturing back towards the city that they all knew was through the woods that surrounded Ash's house.

"I know." He sighed. "We need to get back. I just hoped Mel would be able to help."

Ash and his Pokémon reappeared once again, this time in the middle of a desert. He blinked into the heat before looking around.

"Where are they?" he asked.

Alakazam shrugged as the scouts spread out around them, searching for evidence of where Cleffa had fled to this time. This was the fourth place that they had gone after Cleffa had escaped them on the side of the mountain, with each time they arrived, Cleffa having gone. The trail left was faint, but the scouts were experts at chasing down such faint trails. It just took them time.

As they waited, Espeon moved over towards Ash and brushed against his leg. Ash knelt down and scratched her behind the ears as her mind reached out to his and connected.

"We will find them." Espeon said reassuringly.

"I know." Ash murmured. "That isn't what worries me."

"What is then?" Espeon asked.

"Sonia. After everything, I don't know what is true anymore."

Espeon was quiet for a moment before she answered. "Was she telling the truth?"

"I don't know." Ash answered honestly. "And I don't know what is worse."

"Worse?"

"Either she is lying." Ash said. "And she has escaped us again. Or she is telling the truth, and somebody who is ultimately innocent of any serious crime could die at the hands of Cleffa."

"Which is it though?" Espeon asked.

Ash sighed. "I don't know. I wish I did, but I don't know. When we reach them, you need to incapacitate Cleffa immediately. Sonia and I will have a talk. I want to get as much information as I can."

"I can read her mind." Espeon said instantly. "Give me some time with her."

"I know." Ash said. "But I don't want you to yet. I want to hear everything from her, before you find out the truth. That way we know. Not least, I'd rather have you focused on winning the fight than pulling somebodies mind apart."

"As you wish." Espeon said.

The two of them waited in patient silence for a few minutes before Alakazam came up to them again. The scouts were by his side.

"Have you found them again?" Ash asked. Alakazam nodded, holding his spoons out, waiting for the command.

Ash took a deep breath. "Take us there."

Jenny put the phone down and sighed. Steven, Cynthia and Lance looked up from where they had been consulting maps of each of the four regions, looking at where the Pokémon incursions were.

"That was the last one." Jenny said. "Every single police station has been notified about Ketchum disappearing."

Cynthia nodded in satisfaction but Lance looked slightly pained.

"What is the alert for?" He asked.

"What do you mean?" Jenny said. "It was a warrant for his arrest."

Lance sighed. "That is what I thought. You still believe that he is guilty."

"Yes." Jenny said instantly. "The evidence points to it."

"What evidence?" Lance asked.

"We have collected a vast amount." Jenny said. "It covers a whole host of…"

Lance made a shushing motion with his hands. "I just don't understand how you think that anybody would believe you. I refuse to believe you have proper evidence of any wrong doing of the Pokémon Master."

"It is true Lance." Cynthia said quietly. "I've seen the evidence as well."

Lance threw his hands up in frustration. "Fine. Give me one crime that you can prove and that justified arresting him."

Jenny smiled slightly. "We have sworn statements detailing how he has caused people who criticised him to vanish."

"Really?" Lance said, almost sneering. "And nobody else could have lifted a finger against them?"

"We also have the fact that Sonia has vanished." Cynthia said. "Ketchum would have been the one who did it."

"You don't know that." Steven said, joining the conversation.

"We do." Jenny said. "Sonia had no other enemies and would not have been easy to find. Very few would have been capable. Ketchum insinuated that his Pokémon would have been able to do it."

Before Lance could say anything else, the door to the office opened and Sam Fernandez strode in. He stopped a few feet inside and looked around at the startled faces, showing varying degrees of hostility.

"Am I interrupting something?" Sam asked.

"No." Jenny said instantly, before wincing at a fresh surge of pain through her skull. She had gotten used to them by now, but occasionally a particularly bad burst could get to her. "We were just discussing Ketchum's crimes."

"There is something else." Sam said. "Mel has vanished as well."

"Mel?" Jenny asked.

"Mellanie Rigger." Cynthia said instantly. "Ketchum's closest student and possibly his best. She is a match for Sam here and a three-time reigning champion of Johto."

"And she's gone." Sam said, ignoring the comment about Mellanie's ability. "I went to where she was staying and she is gone. No evidence of a fight, she has just disappeared."

"Given how close she is to Champion, then maybe she went with him?" Steven suggested.

Sam hesitated. "It is possible." He admitted. "But I don't think it is likely."

"Why not?" Lance asked.

"Ash has been… distant." Sam said. "For a while now, he has been trying to keep Mel and I away. He knew that something was coming for him."

Sam met the gaze of Officer Jenny, his eyes burning a hole into her skull. "He knew that you would arrest him. I don't know how, but I think he knew what you had planned. After being so distant, I don't see why he would have changed his attitude."

"But it is possible?" Cynthia said.

"Yes." Sam said. "And if it is, we will see them soon. Ash wouldn't take Mel unless he was going to win."

"Or if he needed her help." Lance said.

"If that is what you think, you don't know Ash."

A new voice rang through the room, causing everybody to look around. Stood in the corner, her long hair hiding part of her face stood Mellanie. At her side stood Mewtwo, standing tall.

"How did you get in here?" Jenny demanded instantly. "This is a secure room."

Mellanie shook the hair away from her face and gave the policewoman a pitying look. "This is Mewtwo. He is one of the strongest Pokémon in the world. He wishes to fix something that is wrong."

"And what is that?" Jenny asked.

"Pokémon have psychic abilities that can, in extreme cases, affect humans." Mewtwo said. "This has happened to you."

"What do you mean?" Cynthia asked warily. "What has happened to Jenny?"

Mewtwo turned to look at Cynthia, his gaze causing her to recoil slightly. "You have also been affected."

"Affected by what?" Jenny demanded.

"I have considered the so called 'evidence' that you have collected." Mewtwo said to the room at large. "I am not an expert, but I find it very hard to believe that anybody could believe it. It is enough to make me certain. Your minds have been affected by a Psychic-Pokémon. It has made you more believing of certain things. It is how you believe that Ash Ketchum is guilty of anything other than putting the world above himself throughout his life."

Silence reigned in the room. Lance's mouth opened and closed several times before Cynthia was able to finally say something.

"Mewtwo, I do not mean to sound disrespectful but I'm not sure I believe you. I would know if my mind was influenced."

"Not if the Pokémon attacking you was particularly skilled." Mewtwo said. "The actual process you might not notice. However, the side effects are more apparent. Do you have a headache?"

Cynthia hesitated before she could say no. Mewtwo nodded, triumphant.

"With your permission, I will undo the effects." Mewtwo said. "Your memories will not be affected, but you will see things in a clearer light."

"How do we know that you aren't going to influence our minds?" Jenny asked.

"I am a legendary Pokémon." Mewtwo said. "It is only recently that I have found my place in the world, but I assure you that influencing humans for gain is beneath me."

Jenny looked at Cynthia uncertainly, but to her surprise found the Sinnoh Champion looking back at her with a more confident look on her face.

"Very well Mewtwo. I trust you. Jenny?"

Jenny sighed. "I do not believe that it will make a difference to me, but very well."

Mewtwo inclined his head and his eyes glowed blue for a moment. As the glow faded, Jenny looked at Cynthia.

"See? I told…"

The police officers voice trailed off as she felt her headache ease then disappear. She felt a feeling of horror spread slowly across her face, matched by one on Cynthia's own features.

"Oh no." Cynthia whispered as the full realization hit her. "What have we done?"

A/N

Well I'm basically out on time. Apologies for anybody that missed the last chapter, there have been some technical issues with FanFiction but it is up. If you missed it you might get a double chapter. Unfortunately due to the amount of stuff happening, the big dramatic scenes are getting a bit broken up. I had considered holding this chapter off and releasing it all in one big release, but in the time it would take me to write it, I might annoy some of you.

Anyway, not much else to say here so I'll just set the date for the next chapter. Hopefully it'll be released in a fortnight.

Till then,

Iama2p