Disclaimer: Again, I don’t own Pokemon, or any characters therein (except for Mewduo).

Author’s Note: OK, first of all, sorry about the huge text. I haven’t used HTML too much and didn’t realize how big it would look. In addition, the “mother tongue” to which Giovanni referred is Latin; “duo” is Latin for “two”. Also, should I perhaps have mentioned that I don’t own The Fifth Element? I figured that the wily TR leader might like some of the same pop culture items as I do<(-_-;;)>; the world of the story overlaps somewhat with our own world. I’ll note any such references in disclaimers in the future. (Along the same lines, I thought a samurai name like Kenshin would be good for a fast, sharp Pokemon like Persian....)

With all that finally out of the way, sit back and enjoy the show!

Kanto Mew Mew

by YamiCherryPit2003

Fit One: Operation Grounding String

It was an early summer’s eve, and Ash Ketchum was restless.
He hadn’t been back in Pallet Town long after his triumphant return from Hoenn, but even without outside stimuli, the trainer-adventurer blood within him would scream for a new quest. And outside stimuli were running rampant, telling him that there was a quest for him. Over the past couple of weeks on his way back, he had heard of numerous capers across the countryside that the police seemed unable to stop. Team Rocket’s up to it again, he could sense. It was little consolation that the bumbling crooks had not pestered him since before the tournament- especially since that meant they were too far away for him to intervene. Not that he’d cared about distance, but May, Max, Brock, Misty (who had rejoined the group at the start of the Hoenn League competition), and the Pikachu now perched on his shoulder had given him a sense of proportion.
So now he was here, continually hearing of the devastation continually being wrought where he continually wasn’t.- Except he hadn’t heard anything about it during the last few days. Weird.
“Pika, pikachu ka,” the electric mouse said, sensing his uneasy thoughts. Ash turned his head and smiled. “Yeah, I guess no news is good news in this case.” But he still couldn’t help but wonder....
“Ash! Oh, Ash!” There was his mom again, calling out for him for dinner. “Well, you can’t think on an empty stomach,” the young adventurer said to his rodent pal, who leapt from its perch and ran alongside Ash down to the cabin, unaware that five pairs of eyes were watching them steadily.

“There goes the twerp again,” Jessie Miyamoto, devious yet bumbling Rookie Rocket (B-Level in official terms) noted. “Can’t he just wander off so we can grab him and get this thing over with?”
“Guess he’s famished,” said her blue-haired partner, James Halen, having heard Delia Ketchum’s call. “So am I, for that matter,” he suddenly moaned. “Can’t we just crash the party down there and grab some ch-OWW!!”
“Why can’t you tink wi’ your head for once instead of your stomach?” screamed the talking scratch-cat Pokemon, Meowth, as he applied a Fury Swipes to James’s face. “We gots a better chance o’ success if he an’ dat Pikachu are all alone, remembah? Da boss gave orders dat we hold our fire until we got ‘em trapped, far from help... isn’t dat right?” he asked, with a suspicious look at his group’s temporary allies.
Cassidy Vale grinned. “Exactly. And we have a better chance of doing that if you keep it down, you furball,” grabbing Meowth’s forehead charm to restrain him.
“Ack, sorry, I just got carried away by da moment, dat’s all. To tink we’re finally gonna carry da day against dat twerp, and Pikachu’ll be ours!”
“Heh, we could’ve done that ages ago,” rasped Butch Newman.
“I don’t recall you having any more luck against those kids that we did.” James giggled at the memory of his rivals’ numerous downfalls. “I certainly notice you’re not wearing your fancy Elite uniforms anymore.” Butch and Cassidy had traded in their customary uniforms for ones that looked more like J&J’s custom-made ones but were black instead of white.
“Well, most of the time, you were helping them, you morons!” Butch shot back.
“You boys can argue later,” Jessie interrupted. “We need to keep watch.” And so the crooks settled back down... and waited....

Ash’s nerves still hadn’t calmed down after dinner, so he decided to work off his adrenaline with a training session. He headed out beneath the moonlight that had already started to shine, Pikachu tagging along behind him, to the area where he had trained for the Indigo League two years before. Had it really been that long? And it had been another year earlier that he had first started his Pokemon journey, and met Misty, Pikachu, and Brock. How time flies... hey... how come I thought of Misty first just now, even before Pikachu? Weird.... He shook his head quickly and let Pikachu jump onto his shoulder, then walked along, humming a little walking tune he’d picked up a few week back- much to the chagrin of the others, as he was somewhat lacking in vocal ability. But now, screw them, he could sing to himself if he wanted to. “I was walkin’... I was talkin’... I was talkin’ to myself last nAARGH!!”
His whimsical ditty was cut short by the ground beneath him giving way, and the subsequent pains of landing flat on one’s back on hard underground. “Oh, not this... not now....” As if on cue, a hyperannoying poem materialized from above.

“Prepare for trouble!”
“And make it double!”
“To protect the world from devastation...”
“To unite all peoples within our nation...”
“To denounce the evils of truth and love...”
“To extend our each to the stars above!”
“Jessie!”
“James!”
“Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!”
“Surrender now or prepare to fight!”
“Wo-ob-buf-fet!”

“Oh, for the love of Ho-oh....”

But the torment wasn’t done yet....

“Prepare for trouble...”
“And make it double...”
“To infect the world with devastation...”
“To blight all peoples within our nation.”
“To announce the goods of truth and love...”
“To extend our wrath to the stars above!”
“Cassidy!”
“Butch!”
“We’re Team Rocket, circling Earth each day and night!”
“Surrender now or you shall surely lose the fight!”

“Not you two too!” Ash had gotten over the initial shock of his disrupted walk and was now just mad. “What do you think you’re doing, coming here?... And since when do you four get along?”
“FIVE! Don’t forget me-owth!” The feline wisecracker piped up.
“The same as always, little twerp.” Jessie grinned down into the pit. “We want that powerful little Pikachu of yours- and this time were getting it for sure!”
“That’s what you always say- and how come you’ve teamed up all of a sudden?”
“Doesn’t a girl have a right to change her mind?” Cassidy elbowed Jessie aside. “Plus we’ve decided to put an ultimate end to these little annoyances of yours.-” The blond Rocket girl was displaced again by the redhead. “Hey, this is my speech!” “You talk too much as is!” “MEEEOWWWTH!!!!” Meowth deployed his Fury Swipes once again to break up the argument as Butch stepped forward, grinning at his trapped foes and pulling out a Pokeball. “I think it’s time for Operation Grounding String to begin... Onix, I choose you!” The giant rock snake appeared in a flash of red light. “Earthquake attack!”
The Onix dived at Ash and Pikachu. The boy grabbed his Pokemon under one arm and rolled up against the side of the pit so Onix missed, then grabbed onto the giant Pokemon, climbing up it as it dug itself into the ground. What do they think I am, a fish in a barrel? he thought. I’ll
show them....
“Totodile, I choose you!” Ash called, releasing the crocodile Pokemon, one of several he had retrieved from Professor Oak upon his return. “Water Gun now!” “Dile!” The stream of spray struck the rock snake, knocking it back. Suddenly, Ash felt a sharp tug around his waist, and turned to see a Fearow and Wingull rip his Pokeball belt off with their beaks. “Oh, crap....”
“Pii-kaa-CHUUUUU!!!!!!!” The electric mouse leaped into the air to retrieve his friend’s Pokemon, releasing a stupendous Thunder attack. Only it wouldn’t work. “Wobbuffet, Counter attack!” screamed Jessie to the blue blob that had suddenly slithered up the Onix and leaped in front of Pikachu, who suddenly fell 15 feet to the ground, fried by his own attack.
Oh, no.... Now Totodile was all Ash had left, and though he knew it could take a lot, it was too much to hope that it could take care of all of this task force, as Onix, Fearow, Wingull, and Meowth all moved in. Cacnea and Seviper appeared in twin flashes of scarlet light and joined. Even Wobbuffet stood by, ready to help. Unable to call Totodile to safety, since its Pokeball was with all of the others, he could only watch helplessly while trying to get to the ground. His only hope now was to fight his way out of this mess himself and get to the others. Geez, Misty’s never gonna let me live this down....
As a Body Slam from Onix finally sent the weakened croc into dreamland, Ash hopped to the dirt and turned to run- but instead found himself face to face with a grinning Butch. Aw, this guy is worse than Jason Voorhees! Ash groaned inwardly. And true to form, he was holding some... thing pointed at Ash. Some thing that suddenly sprayed a blue mist at him. Ash was perhaps not the brightest bulb on the tree, but even he knew this stuff when he saw it. Sleep Powder! Oh my... oh... oh n- His panicked thoughts suddenly gave way to a yawn as he collapsed, the world spinning ‘round him, certain he heard wicked laughter coming from every direction....


The moonlight that had seen Ash and Pikachu off on their ill-fated training also gleamed off of the larger buildings, not at all tall enough to be called “skyscrapers”, of Viridian City, illuminating a solitary figure perched on one of them. If Mewtwo had had a mouth, he would have sighed. All of this time since that misguided venture on New Island, since his confrontation with Giovanni in Purity Canyon, and he didn’t know what the hell to do with his life. The only thing he knew for sure was that this wasn’t
it.
How humans and Pokemon are able to coexist so peacefully, despite being so different.... he wondered, doing his maudlin thing. Why is it that I cannot find that balance? He turned away from his view to think- and saw himself staring back at him. “Who- what are you?” he asked in his psychic voice.
“I... am... Mewduo....” the doppleganger feline replied, in a tone that seemed to Mewtwo devoid of any real consciousness or autonomy. “My master... has sent me... to search for elements that can be... useful to him. You... seem like me, and therefore powerful.... You shall come to him.”
“And what if I do not want to do so?” Mewtwo shot back, somehow aware that the only person unbalanced enough to create this thing was the one he had already escaped.
“Then... I will make you....” The other clone seemed to grin, despite its lack of anything remotely resembling a mouth- and was rudely interrupted by a crackling energy ball that crashed into it. “Resistance... is... futile....” It pulled back, then blasted a Hyper Beam at Mewtwo, who barely dodged as the beam instead hit the roof of the fortunately abandoned tower.
“Two can play at that game, copycat,” Mewtwo snarled, sending out his own Hyper Beam, which zapped Mewduo, enervated from its powerful attack, straight-on. As Mewtwo kept up the pulsing beam, his foe started to glow with bluish energy, so he could only see its silhouette. A silhouette that suddenly underwent mitosis. Mewtwo stopped the attack in shock.
Mewduo still floated there, singed, but mostly simply as confused as his double. The reason for this confusion was there next to him. Something floated there that resembled the two combatants, but seemed a head taller (although height was hard to judge when you were floating more than your own height off the ground anyway) and had a sharp thing that looked like a stinger on the end of its tail. The thing looked around, then announced, “I am Mewtres.”
Mewduo replied, “The master... shall find you... interesting....” and turned towards it, glowing slightly- obviously, it was not going to make the same mistake as it had with Mewtwo. The blast came so suddenly that Mewduo never had a chance, blown into the top of another building by a Hyper Beam.
Mewtwo practically screamed, “How DARE you?! He didn’t DO anything yet!” Not bothering to see if Mewduo had survived, he flew towards the new arrival- then came to a screeching halt, surrounded by black light [if that makes any sense^_^;]; this Mewtres had powers beyond even Mewtwo’s comprehension. The freakish cloned clone hovered over to his rival- then his tail arched up and over, Mewtwo realizing that the thing that resembled a stinger was exactly that a split second before it sent him into unconsciousness.
Mewtres watched his defeated opponent’s body fall onto the roof. It looked around for a moment- then flew off, in search of something else to do.

~End Fit One~

Well, things have just gone from bad to worse. How are the other trainers going to react to Ash’s disappearance? What havoc is this new Mew-clone going to wreak? And what does the wily Jason Giovanni have planned for our young hero?

OK, I obviously don’t own Jason Voorhees; nor did I write Ash’s “walking music”. That is the first few lines of the song “I Was Walking”, from the nifty Ringo Starr solo album Vertical Man.
Oh, and I am not an Ash-basher, despite all appearances. He’s going to actually do some stuff in this story, on all sides of the spectrum (but that’s for much later ;)). If you’ve been watching Pokemon for a long time like I have, don’t tell me you haven’t started to wish TR would pull one out of the hat just once! And they won’t fall off the log soon, either.... See you soon (well, whenever I get the next chapter of this frickin’ thing up... now that I’m actually confronted with the work, Chris McFeely’s {of The Digimon Encyclopedia and FanFiction.net} ten-month delay on “Rage Against The Machines” seems almost excusable!)!