CHAPTER 5

"Rat-ta-taaaaa!" a Rattata screamed as it shot past us.

˂Run!˃ Skipper said. ˂They must not find you! Run!˃

"What? No! I'm not leaving you!" I cried.

"Rachel, come on! He's... he's going to die for us. That means he wants us to live!" Lisa said.

I sighed. She always manages to talk me into these things.

I turned and ran, along with Boris, Michael, and Lisa.

But these were fields. They would see us easy if we kept running.

"Hey, we've gotta hide!" I said.

We looked around and saw... nothing. Nowhere to hide.

Wait... the rock out-cropping! The place where the Mews had first been.

We dove in there.

But Bounce and Blitz were still with Skipper. As I watched, they intertwined their tails. The Mew version of hugging, I suppose.

Then Bounce and Blitz ran to join us.

Only one Rattata was still here. It was snarling at the bushes.

Then... it stepped out. Straight through the bushes.

It was green and had two legs and two arms. But its arms were massive claws. It had wings on its back.

It was a Scyther! Undoubtedly being controlled by a Weederpie.

The Scyther looked down at the Rattata.

The Rattata hissed and looked like it was going to pounce.

The Scyther raised one claw and... WHAM!

The Rattata was knocked so hard it flew out of sight.

More Scythers appeared. Six in all.

Another type of Pokémon appeared. It was a bug, like the Scyther. Only it was brown. It had two legs and two arms, and its hands had three little claws for fingers. It didn't really have a head, and its eyes and mouth just sat on its body. It had a huge pincer on its head.

It was a Pinsir. Also under control of a Weederpie.

There were four Pinsirs, who helped the Scythers to surround Skipper.

Skipper tensed up. He looked around at all his foes. Too many! Too many to fight.

Then... then he appeared. Straight out of the bushes.

He had been walking on all fours, although it was clear he was made to walk on two. He must have been on all fours to hide himself.

He pushed himself up so he was standing erect. He was humanoid, with two legs and two arms. Each arm had three fingers.

It was a very light shade of gray, with a patch of purple on its lower half. It also had a long tail, also purple.

It was almost seven feet tall. Yes, seven feet.

The Scythers and Pinsirs were about four or five feet tall.

They sort of cowered as the creature appeared.

So did we.

Because this was the one, the only, Mewtwo.

My mouth dropped open. I was too shocked to notice what expressions the others had.

I saw Skipper shivering a little. Shivering with fear.

The Mewtwo reached towards Skipper with one hand, as if about to unleash some horrifying psychic attack.

Skipper cringed a little from fear.

Mewtwo laughed in thought-speak, which startled us all.

˂You poor little Mew,˃ Mewtwo sneered. ˂Afraid? You should be.˃

˂That is Parasecter One,˃ Bounce explained to us. ˂He is like a Weederpie leader.˃

Suddenly, Mewtwo/Parasecter One grabbed Skipper by the neck and lifted him up.

˂Hah,˃ Parasecter One crowed. ˂You led us quite a chase. But here you are. Too bad you cannot be infested. You would be quite a... useful host. But, as Parasecter Three once said, 'If you cannot control, destroy.'˃

FWAAAP!

WHAM!

Faster than my eye could follow, Skipper's tail whipped forward and hit Parasecter One in the eye.

˂Yaargh!˃ Parasecter One cried. He dropped Skipper.

˂Yes, go Daddy!˃ Blitz whispered.

Parasecter One looked angry. He grabbed Skipper again, this time by the tail.

Skipper just dangled there, helpless.

Author's Annotation: I forget where the term Parasecter came from. Parasect? That makes no sense. I remember not liking it early on but it was too late to change it.

But Parasecter One is naturally my analogue to Animorphs' Visser Three, so giving him the ultimate big bad host – Mewtwo – just seemed logical. Remember, this was in the days before Pokémon Gold and Silver, so Mewtwo was the ultimate top dog Pokémon imaginable.

Scythers reminded me of Hork-Bajir thanks to their huge blades and sleek, dangerous appearance, so they fit nicely as Weederpie hosts. Pinsirs sort of take the place of Taxxons, because they were the counterpart to Scythers in my mind (Scythers were a Pokémon Red exclusive, Pinsirs were a Pokémon Blue exclusive). Their skin also looked vaguely segmented (like a Taxxon), and they had their main weapon – the pincer - mounted on top of their heads (with the Taxxon's main weapon being their mouths, also on top of their heads). So Pinsirs are sort of like Taxxons if you squint really really really hard.

Plus Scythers and Pinsirs are just plain cool.