Disclaimer: Look, I don’t own Pokemon, Ash, PIkachu, Mondo or any of them, ‘kay?! You’ve gotten the idea by now!

I did take the liberty of completing the names of a few characters, and the girl scientist in this chapter is my first original character (more about her in the future).

Fit Two: The Mewtres Cometh

“Why does Ash always have to go off like this?” Misty grumbled to no one in particular. It had been over an hour, and the young Master-in-training had not returned. “He can be so insensitive....”
“Be patient with him, Misty,” admonished the older boy sitting near her in the Ketchum house’s living room. “He’s just come back from another League; he could use some down time....”
“Well, there’s no reason why he can’t spend it with his friends- I mean besides Pikachu!” The redhead knew that Brock Fontaine often knew best about these things, but right now she was too annoyed to care. “Not that I’m exactly aching to go off on another journey... and keep getting lost... in forests... with bugs...” She shuddered. “I just think that he could stay put for once. Anyway, he said he was training. That’s not exactly resting.
“Nothing wrong with keeping the team in shape,” interjected Tracey Sketchit, the “second third wheel”.
“Well, he has been outside for a while,” responded the other redhead present, Ash’s mother Delia. “He really shouldn’t stay out that late; it’s almost his bedtime. My little Ashy-boy needs his rest.”
Though everyone sweatdropped a little, they didn’t respond; they knew how worried Delia could get about her son- and, while it had a kind of ditzy exterior, there was a strong spirit underneath. Misty remembered how Ash’s mother had stowed away on the news copter during the Lugia crisis three years before, just because she knew her son was in the thick of the unbalanced weather.
Three years. Had it really been that long? And Misty had felt even then like she had known him all her life. It seemed like her world had collapsed around her when he had fallen into the ocean.... Now, she had the same sinking feeling.
She stood up suddenly and announced, “I’m going to look for him.” Then quickly added, “Even he isn’t usually this dumb.” And before anyone could respond, she grabbed her jacket and walked out.

The stars were appearing one by one as the sky darkened and Misty jogged towards the woods. What the heck is he doing out here? she thought worriedly- more worriedly than she would care to admit- especially to Ash. Some inexplicable foreboding tugged at her mind; she tried to shake it off and continued.
As she moved through the forest, she could hear the rustling of unseen Pokemon and other animals. She repressed the fearsome images that appeared in her head. Get a grip on yourself, she thought; Ash hasn’t been devoured by Weedles. The ridiculous thought made her chuckle, easing her nerves somewhat- until something dropped into her hair, eliciting a scream and a furious swipe at her head that knocked a surprised Weedle to the ground. The centipede Pokemon scurried back into the bushes. Heart pounding, Misty pressed on.

She had no sort of watch with her and didn’t realize that she ended up fruitlessly searching for longer than Ash had been gone in the first place. Misty had thought she saw a trail of footprints early on, but the path was pretty well trod and she had lost them near an area that was especially mussed, as if a large Pokemon like an Onix had somehow slithered through the area.
Now she surveyed the area from the top of a cliff, hoping to spot something helpful, but a dark cloud was drifting in front of her spirit; something, somehow, was terribly wrong. Twilight had now deferred to dusk, going on nighttime proper, and the stars now speckled the sky like glitter. There was even a low one that almost looked purple! As beautiful as the view was, however, it couldn’t ease her mind.
Then she squinted.
The purple star was lower in the sky than it had seemed at first, and almost looked smaller. Wait- why, that wasn’t a star at all, and whatever it was was flying quickly from off in the distance- towards Misty!
“What the-” Misty decided to run and found she couldn’t. She dimly sensed some purple light surrounding her, identical to that around the grotesque creature coming.
A scream choked and died in her throat.

He blinked; the hazy visions around him came into focus, and so did the memories. I can’t believe they actually got me, Ash thought angrily. I mean, them?!
He was strapped to some sort of table in a whitewashed lab room. Out of the corner of his eye he saw an older redheaded girl sitting, observing him. Jessie? he wondered. But then where was James?
His captor stood and walked over. No, this was not Jessie. Her hair was more vivid, closer to orange than purple, and fell down in a ponytail almost to her waist. Also, she had on a lab coat like you’d expect to see around this sort of place, and and almost no visible expression on her face. She looks almost like Misty... might be kind of cute without that blank stare... Eew, what am I thinking? She’s as old as Jessie! ...And since when am I thinking of Misty as cute?! Shut up! Ash told himself. He shook his head only to find that he couldn’t.
“Hey ‘Mondo’, he’s awake!” the girl called. A dark-haired boy maybe a couple years older than Ash appeared on the other side of the table, clad in the same type of white TR uniform that James wore.
Though still somewhat doped, Ash queried as sharply as he could, “Who the heck...” but was cut short when the girl yanked his ear and said, “Save your breath. After Dr. Sebastian arrives, he and Giovanni will undoubtedly have a lot to ask you.”
Sebastian... that sounded familiar. The girl walked over to something else, and Mondo leaned over Ash and whispered, “Don’t mind her- she can be pretty snippy when she’s working, but she’s OK otherwise.” He suddenly straightened up, snapped around, and saluted as something hissed. Ash looked up (as much as he could) to see part of the wall slide open (there was no visible door) for a moment to admit a tall, pale man wearing a lab coat and a goatee beard. He had a mop of raven hair (matching his beard) that resembled Ash’s own, except it (like the beard) was much more neatly trimmed. Mondo actually seemed afraid of him; however, his other captor didn’t give a visible reaction at all.
It hit Ash in a second. “You were working on the evolution ray up near Mahogany Town!” The scientist did not respond; he walked over to the girl, who said, “His vital signs are stable,” as if answering a question. Sebastian nodded, and Ash felt his restraints release. He tried to rush his captors, but found himself overcome by a headache as soon as he sat up, like when you get dizzy after standing up quickly to say the Pledge of Allegiance in school.
Dr. Sebastian walked over to Ash. “You’re a persistent one,” he said; “it’s a good thing we finally have you under control.” He whirled round and ordered, “Escort him to Giovanni. I’m sure he’ll want to meet this lad in person.” He chuckled and walked away as Mondo and the other scientist grabbed Ash, hustling him through the once-again-open wall panel after their superior. Then the panel closed on an empty room.

End Fit Two