CHAPTER 2

I wandered around a little bit, fighting and defeating Pokémon with whips of my tail.

Our tails are not our only weapons. Mews have incredible psychic powers, but we have to learn how to use them.

Some Mews have perfected their powers so well that they can float briefly and even create illusions. I'd love to be able to do those things, but I'm sure I'll never learn how.

Anyway, I was finding mostly Pidgeys and Rattatas, and I could defeat them all with one hit from my tail.

Except for one particular Rattata who seemed stronger.

I hit him and he staggered back, but then, to my surprise, he leaped at me with his teeth bared.

He sank his fangs into my arm.

˂Aaahh!˃ I cried.

I yanked my arm away from the Rattata and struck again with my tail.

The Rattata looked fairly hurt, but still he fought back. He whipped me with his tail.

In response, I grabbed his tail and then focused on the Rattata. The Rattata slowed down, seeming to go in slow-motion, and then fell into the 'acquiring trance' Pokémon go into.

When I was done acquiring him, I released his tail, and then whipped him with my own.

The Rattata decided he didn't want to fight anymore. He turned and ran off.

I felt something hit the top of my head. I glanced up and was hit in the eye by a raindrop.

It had started raining.

Now, Mews don't exactly like rain. In fact, we hate it. More raindrops splashed around me.

A second later, I bolted. It's a Mew's natural impulse. We run from rain.

I ran straight towards my... er, our cave. When I got there, Blitz was already inside, sitting in front of a nice, warm fire.

I shook the water off of myself and then sat down next to him.

˂Have fun training?˃ Blitz asked merrily.

˂Sure,˃ I said. Then, I added darkly, ˂Until it rained.˃

˂I was having a nice little chat with Michael,˃ Blitz said. ˂He talked me into trying a banana.˃

See, there's a two hour time limit for morphing. If you stay in a morph for more than two hours, you become trapped in your morph. Michael broke that rule. Unintentionally, of course. But he's trapped as a Mankey now.

˂Speak of the devil,˃ I said as a Mankey came into the cave.

˂Hey guys. Could I... um, please sleep in here tonight?˃ Michael asked. ˂The rain's driving me nuts.˃

˂Yeah,˃ I said. ˂You can.˃

We all talked for a little while. But there wasn't much to talk about. So finally, I went to sleep.

I had a dream. A horrible dream, because it was actually a memory. A memory of my father's last moments.

I was cowering in a rock out-cropping, watching as my father stood surrounded by Weederpies. Watching and praying.

Then Parasecter One arrived, and things happened very quickly.

I woke suddenly, with the dream still fresh in my mind. It started to fade away, except for one little thing. The dream had made me realize and remember something.

I sat up, fully aware of Blitz's and Michael's snores.

˂The Ditto Device,˃ I whispered to myself. ˂What happened to it?˃

Author's Annotation: I'm surprised I didn't mix things up by having Bounce fight a wider variety of wild Pokémon. The first book already established that Mankeys, Nidorans, Bulbasaurs, and Charmanders inhabit these fields. I guess it was a subconscious nod to the fact that the good Pokémon always seem to be rare encounters.

And I'm not sure why I made Mews hate rain. Probably because they're sorta cat-like.