== Time Passes ==

==Gary's House: Oak's Cabin==

"I don't for one moment believe the story you told your parents." Oak plants his hands firmly down on his desk and leans in closer to his grandson. "How does a kid nearly half your size manage to steal your bike from you in plain sight. Your friend nonetheless, no, I know you too well Gary. You let that kid get away, with one of the laboratory animals for that matter." He grunts in anger, "I knew I shouldn't have given you kids those animals. So tell me, why would you possibly allow him to run away?"

Gary gulp down his nerves and pulls him self up. "He.. We went down to his house, like I said, and his mom wasn't there, so I let him use my bike to go look for her. That's all, I mean.. he said he'd be back."

"I saw that mouse of his tied up outside. I know you two came back for it. I also know about the missing food from the storage pantry. You fed him, gave him your bike and you allowed him to go out there alone. Now quit lying to me and tell me why."

Gary sniffs heavily. "You don't understand. He told me not to tell anyone.. his mom, she's dead…" He throws his head down and sobs into his palms, "We found her body in the house and at first he.. I convinced him to come back to our house, but on the way he started to panic. He kept talking about how he didn't want to be forced into an orphanage, and I don't know. He was going to run away no matter what I did. What was I supposed to do? He lost his own bike in the flood."

Oak lets out a disappointed sigh, "You need to learn to be more mature in a crisis. How is that boy going to manage out there alone when his food's gone? Or when the rain starts pouring, did you even think about the consequences? We could have taken care of him. He must have some type of family out there we could have united him with." Oak looks over Gary, who's unwilling to speak, in fear of making the situation worse.

"It's not your fault Gary. You did what you thought was best and that's commendable. I've been thinking it over, and it may be that in my haste to find a home for that dragon, I laid too much of a burden on your shoulders. It's not that I don't trust you. I just feel the time isn't right for you to have such a creature."

Gary sinks deeper into his chair in anticipation of the oncoming shit storm. "I lost him. I didn't know he could fly like he did. That's why we were out in the woods this morning. I was trying to find him."

Oak suppresses his frustration into a twitching hand. "That's fine. It's my fault more than yours. I'll need the CB back of course."

Gary leans forward, knowing this moment was coming, he begins going over the words in his head. "I know this may sound crazy, but hear me out. Ever since the first day that I had Charizard, him and Ash just got along better than I was able to. When Charizard flew away I figured that Ash would have a better chance at finding him than I did. So.. when he was leaving I gave the CB to him. He said he would find him, and if you saw them together you would know. He's good with animals like with that rat of his."

Oak is beside himself in anger.

==Doctor's Basement Lab==

==Kanto Mainland==

The cage containing Mew has finally arrived and is currently being unloaded from the freight elevator. It's a large apparatus the size of a semi trailer that takes a team of men to hoist and transport using pulleys and an industrial trolley. The doctor, after having heard word of its arrival, steps into the receiving room fuming. "What could have possibly caused such an insufferable delay in my shipment?"

The captain's assistant in charge of the delivery steps forward with a confused brow, "Sir, you must have heard about the tsunami? There were turbulent waters for the majority of our course. We were forced to reroute."

"I suppose I have been a bit sequestered down here, but trivial splashes in the water do not cause us much concern here." The Doctor steps up to the small square aerogel window on the side of the apparatus and peers through the opaque material. His eyes shift from left to right impatiently and a heavy look falls upon his face. "I don't understand. Where is it? Where is the Mew?"

At this point one of the field scientist in charge of its capture steps forward. "It appears to us that the creature is using some type of cloaking or camouflaging technique to conceal itself. But fear not it is in there, our high frequency scanners are indeed able to detect the organism within the confines of your ingenious container."

An avid detester of brown nosing, the doctor wrinkles his upper lip. "I see." He then turns to the work crew and claps his hands together, "I am already behind schedule as it is. I would appreciate some haste in your step."

Once the container has been moved to its designated room the doctor wastes no time in before barking orders to his staff. "Release the neural toxin. Perhaps if he is rendered unconscious we will be able to begin our work."

One of his scientists retrieves a large pressure canister and attaches it to the side of the container through a valve. Its contents are released into Mew's confine and the crew waits anxiously for several minutes until one of his underlings chimes in. "Are there any signs? Does it show itself?"

The doctor steps away from the window and looks to his staff, "It appears to be unaffected. The creature continues to conceal itself." He pauses and glances back at the container, "I dare not open it in fear of unleashing what ever it is down here amongst us. We need to devise a way to hinder its ability to block our perception of it. All facilities of the animal must be analyzed thoroughly, so keep any suggestions of scanners or infrared to yourselves."

The scientists stare each other over anxiously, a few of them brushing through lab notes.

One of the bolder voices speaks up, "I believe it may be transmitting a sort of signal from its body to deflect our senses, specifically our optic nerves; to mask its presence."

"Absurd. You are assuming it can delve into our minds based on what evidence? We must take what we know already and work from there" another scientist rebuttals brazenly.

One of the field scientists that helped bring Mew in steps forward, "We know it has the ability to teleport. That was the means in which it was captured."

A lanky physicist with worn slacks clears his throat, "Do you suppose it's possible that this 'Mew' is currently suspended in an un-bonded molecular state within that cage? In much the same way that it is able to disassociate itself to achieve it's teleportation technique."

"If that were the case then we would not detect it in its solid form with our scanners" the field scientist responds.

"It must be an advanced form of camouflage that has not been documented in the wild before, for obvious reasons" a different scientist observes.

The Doctor has had enough, "This idle speculation is making my stomach turn. I am done with our little discussion. Come to my office when you have data drawn conclusion and nothing less." With that he walks away from the group ignoring the one scientist brave enough to still plead for his attention.

==Pallet Town==

==A few hours before==

Ash is racing downhill from Gary's house on the bike that he was given. His mind is still burning vividly with everything that has just transpired.

He and Gary are standing outside of the Oak residence after returning from the wreckage; Ash unlatches Pikachu from his chain and hugs him tight.

"Just come inside I promise I won't tell them. Please" Gary implores desperately.

He holds back his emotions by burying his eyes into Pikachu's fur, "It doesn't matter, you know your parents are going to find out! I'm not going to become some orphan begging every couple that comes by to adopt me like a stray pet!" Ash screams while Gary puts his hands up in a soothing manner to quiet him.

"That's not how it works; look, just come inside. You don't have anywhere else to go, you can't just runaway!" he tries in a reasonable tone.

Upset by Gary's frankness, Ash turns away and begins trotting downhill begrudgingly.

"Wait, come on are you serious?" Gary calls out, "What are you going to walk the whole way? Where are you even going?"

"Home" Ash declares.

"Don't do that to yourself. You can't go back there." Gary runs down hill and blocks his way, "Please. Just stay. We don't have to go inside with my parents. My granddad is gone; we'll go in his cabin. They won't see you."

Ash's bike is churning down hill splitting a small wave through the calm floodwaters, which are much lower now allowing him to reach the general store with no issue. Once there he pulls his bike into the alley behind the building to hide it amongst the overgrown brush.

His mind treks back to inside Oak's cabin; Gary is rummaging through the food storage pantry with his feet hiked onto the first shelf. "He's always got all kinds of stuff back here." Gary grabs hold of a big jar and lowers it down to Ash, "See this pickled food will last forever." He leaps down and dusts his hands off, "You don't have to do this you know? My parent's will let you stay here until we figure something out."

Ash zips the food into his bag and turns to Gary with a bow. "I'm not running away. There's nothing left for me here to run away from. I'm going to the only place I belong now."

Inside of the store all of the bottom shelves of the racks are empty, and the store clerk in the back is too busy to notice Ash slipping in. Being sure to keep quiet he browses across the aisles and finds a stack of maps that were thrown on top of a table during the flood prep. He flips through the maps looking for a specific one, the regional gyms map. He finds it and unfolds the creases; it only shows the Kanto mainland and New Kanto where he's from. Not shown are all the neighboring countries, which take up a majority of the land. In it he's sees that the closest gyms to him are Viridian, Pewter and Vermillion, in that order. He sets the map back down and grabs a road atlas from next to it. He glances over his shoulder with a timid look then tucks the atlas into his pants and flips his shirt over. As he's emerging from the aisle the store clerk sees him, "Oh Ash, I didn't see you come in. How are you and your mother doing? Did she send you up here for something?"

Ash, too flustered to make sense of what to do, only manages to mutter gibberish as he starts to tear up.

"What is it son? What's the matter?" The store clerk sets down the items in his hands and begins to step towards Ash.

His approach startles him into a sprint out the door and to his bike, while the clerk stands in place bewildered. Once he's far enough in the brush he pulls the bike over and begins studying the atlas until his mind wanders.

He is stepping out of Oak's cabin and Gary stops him one last time, "Take my bike. There's no reason you need to go on foot the whole way. I can always get another one." He hands him a paper with the lock's combination on it. "And.. here have this." Gary hands Ash Charizard's CB, "I know you're going out the way he went off to, so please; for me, find him." He looks down to hide his gaze, "I know if my granddad saw you two together; he would have given him to you instead of me in the first place."

Ash eyes it suspiciously, "Does this mean I have to give you Squirtle?"

"Not unless you want to."

Once Ash is able to gauge where he is in relation to the map, he decides to travel along the nearest river instead of using the road, to avoid detection. He gathers his speed back up on his bike and begins his trek towards the river, weaving through trees and sloshing over the moist earth beneath his wheels. The uneven terrain keeps his pace to a sluggish drag allowing him time to notice his first wild animal; a moss green cocoon nearly the size of a Cavendish banana. He immediately dismounts his bike and climbs the tree it attached itself to so he can cut it free. He pours out a jar of pickled eggs he was given –making sure to save them- and wipes it clean before setting the cocoon in, twig and all. He grabs a metal spoon from his pack and stabs breathing holes through the lid with the handle and climbs down the tree. Wiping the sweat from his temple he admires the blissful cocoon nestled in its new abode. He looks up through the canopy to see the evening sky starting to blanket the woods. He ties the jar lid to his backpack using a spare shoelace and walks along his bike and mouse until he finds a large enough hallow tree base. He parks his bike next to it and snuggles into the narrow crevice with his jar in hand and Pikachu curled up beside him. The forest goes dark as he nods asleep to fireflies dancing in the moonlight.

==The Next Day==

==Oak's office==

Oak is leaning forward unraveling the wire as he talks on the phone, "I have tried already. Everyone is too busy with the relief effort to follow up on another missing person's report. Daisy I'm doing what I can, now what did I tell you about me at work." He leans back on his chair and peaks out the door window, "It's OK, I'll see you tonight sweetheart. Goodbye."

Oak hangs up the phone and begins accessing the account he set up for Ash under the moniker Red. Inside he finds there is still only one animal registered to him; the hybrid, and it is currently not withdrawn. With no real lead to act on yet he logs out, determined to check again later for any status changes.

==Viridian Forest==

Following his map, Ash continues to ride through the trees towards the river that winds through Pallet Town and out beyond. Once he reaches its banks he hops off his bike and decides to call Squirtle out to enjoy the beautiful day. Guiding the turtle down to the water he allows him to swim freely while he follows along side on the bank with his mouse. At his leisurely pace Ash is able to admire the scenery around him and listen to the vibrant birdcalls that inter disperse all the ambient sounds of unabashed nature. He's brought to an abrupt stop when he comes across what appears to he an outstretched arm reaching from the shrubbery. He runs to the side of it to find a man lying face first in the dirt, and from the trail of broken branches behind him, it appears he was headed straight for the river. Ash puts all his might into the rolling the wanderer over to the shock of beholding his distorted face. By his debilitating wounds it is evident the man was attacked by a swarm of the infamous hornets that terrorize Viridian forest. Blistering pink swells cover every visible part of his body rendering and his face to just a series of grotesque lumps. Clearly dead, Ash figures the man will not miss his earthly possessions much and decides to search him. In his hand is a half full bottle of bug repellent. From the contents of his pack, Ash realizes the man was some sort of would-be trainer. Inside he finds four CB -only one being occupied- ointment and antidote, along with a pouch of trail mix. In his pockets Ash recovers one more occupied CB and his wallet; the photo on the identification only shares hair color in common with the cadaver now. He collects all the belongings into his own bag and looks the engorged face over one last time before embarking on his way.

==Doctor's Lab==

==Kanto Mainland==

Mew has been moved to a room built in the same manner as the cage that confined it previously. The room is about double the size of the previous container and features an entrance chamber that allows the scientists a way in while keeping Mew trapped. This new cell's defining upgrade is the 3x6 aerogel observation window with an accompanying room; from here the Doctor stands staring into the void.

Footsteps echo through the hall and a scientist enters the room, "I hope I'm not disturbing you."

"What is it now?" The Doctor grumbles.

"I've been going over the data of the two subjects we sent through into the chamber. As you know, using my EEG helmet, we were able to prove the theory that the creature is indeed exhibiting an influence on our brain activity. I followed that up in the second trial by experimenting with a graphene version of the helmet; designed to block key neural correspondence points."

"Which failed miserably" the Doctor interrupts without looking from the window, "because of that folly I was forced to dismiss one of my most exceptional minds. He stumbled out of this chamber an utter fool; a shell of the man that walked in. That helmet of yours has done nothing but exacerbate my research."

"Yes, but it proved there was a disparity; two interactions with the creature provided two different outcomes. The helmet simply needs improvement, but my department has hit the ceiling. In order to expand the design we need more funding."

"Of course. Why not spare my time and outright ask for the money from the start?"

"Sir, the funds do not concern me. Graphene is a zero gap molecular material and I am confident that given enough of it my new concept will be able to completely shut out the creature's influence."

The Doctor turns around and wraps his hand around the side of the scientist's neck pulling him closer, "I admire the fortitude it takes to approach me with such a preposterous idea. Take the money, and keep quiet about those subjects."

==Oak's Office==

==Pallet Town==

Oak is slouched over his desk on another late night; most of the building emptied hours ago. He decides enough time has passed and awakens his computer to log into Red's account again. He accesses the directory then types in the serial code, inside he find that Ash's animal is currently withdrawn. The news elates him, the idea that Ash is somewhere out there with Squirtle by his side seems to sit well with the old man. Suddenly aware of the time, he rises to exit his office and leave the building through the vacant main hall. As he approaches the guard stand the night post moves to block his path with an outreached hand. "Professor Oak. I'm gonna need you to come with me."

"For what reason?" He protests in outright shock.

"I don't want to have to force you. Just come with me over to the security office" the guard insists while lightly nudging him along with his nightstick.

Oak obliges him and proceeds to a double door office where he finds one of his superiors waiting cross-legged behind a desk. The night post closes the door after they enter leaving the three men alone inside.

"Professor Oak" he pronounces eloquently, "How long have you worked here?"

"Please inform me as to what motive led you to wasting my time tonight" Oak says with little patience.

"I'll be frank. We installed trackers in the computers last week. I know you've been accessing the accounts of missing animals. I want them back." He points his finger sternly downward onto the desk before him, "Now."

Oak folds his hands together on his stomach, "So they can be bled dry by your science? What use is it studying animals if the means in which you do so kills them in the process?"

"Ah yes I heard your last seminar professor; I should have suspected it was you years ago; the sympathizer. Men of your caliber weren't built for this line of work. If you do not return every animal which you siphoned out of this facility I will give you something more personal to concern yourself with."

Oak steps back to have a hand collapse on his shoulder by the guardsmen behind him. In retaliation he reaches to his inner coat pocket and pulls out a concealed 7mm pistol. He waves it to the guard and beckons him over by his boss to keep the two in plain sight. With the men huddled together Oak reaches out his hand to the guard, "Slide over the handcuffs and make it quick."

The guard unclips his cuffs and throws them to Oak's feet. "The key too."

Forcing the men to their knees he commands them to handcuff each other by the wrists to an iron pipe running the length of the room. As Oak leaves he closes the door behind himself and returns to his own office. Not wasting the opportunity Oak unplugs his computer and begins unhinging the top of it. From inside he removes the tracker, closes the lid and gathers everything else he can carry from his desk into his arms.