The scientist-looking-type person, looking to be in his late forties with a clipped black beard and graying hair, sits across from James and Misty, holding a clipboard. “Name?” he asks in a bored tone.
 “James,” the former murmurs.
 “*Full* name, please,” the scientists clarifies, annoyance obvious.
 “James Dupont,” he clarifies unhappily.
 “Sex.”
 “Male.”
 “Age.”
 “Nineteen.”
 “Date of birth.”
 “March second, 1979.”
 “Occupation.”
 “What?”
 “Occupation. What you do for a living,” the scientist says dryly. “Be it student, CEO, street bum or axe murderer.”
 James glances over at Misty, who shrugs helplessly. “Do I have to tell the truth?” he queries.
 “It doesn’t make a difference to me, since you’re going to be here for the rest of your natural life,” the scientist shrugs. “Say you’re God, for all I care. It won’t change a thing.”
 James rubs the back of his neck, thinking. Finally, he decides upon, “Currently unemployed.”
 The scientist scribbles the answer down, then continues, “Marital status.”
 James sighs, his shoulders hunching over. “That’s kind of personal, isn’t it?” he points out unhappily, twisting the Rose Signet ring on his left ring finger.
 “Marital status,” he reiterates in a tone that clearly states that frankly, my dear, he doesn’t give a damn.
 He sighs again. “Engaged.”
 The scientist writes his response down, then tears off the page. “Now for you, miss,” he says to Misty, turning to the young gym leader with as much enthusiasm as he’d had with James.
 The two run through her vital statistics, with the scientist not so much as raising an eyebrow at her declaration of being a gym leader. When they’re done, he rips off the two pages, then hands them to one of the guards by the door. “Take these to Miss Dove,” he orders.
 “Yes, sir!” the guard salutes, then walks out of the room, unlocking and relocking the door as he does so. The scientist watches him go, then turns to James and Misty. “So, the storm brought you here?” he says as if he’d been asking them how the weather seemed.
 Misty and James exchange another wondering look. The former affirms his statement with a nod.
 “Figures,” he mutters. “That’s how almost everyone who’s been stranded here has gotten here.” In a louder voice, he continues, “Was anyone else stranded here with you two?”
 Again, the two exchange a look, one that seems to question whether they should tell the truth or not. If what the other children was said and they’ll never been released from here, then that might happen to the others too… “No,” they chorus quickly.
 “We were out sail-boating when the storm caught us,” Misty hastily explained. “James is my big brother.”
 The scientist raises an eyebrow. “James Dupont is the big brother of Misty Harbrook?” he queries dryly.
 “Half-brother,” James quickly lies, covering for the young redheaded girl. “Same mother, different fathers.”
 He still doesn’t look like he believes them, but shrugs. “It sounds plausible enough,” he states, misgivings deeply evident in his voice. He stands and signals to the guard, who unlocks the door. As he walks from the room, he stops at the doorway. “Miss Dove Galuf will see you soon,” he says shortly. “Until then, please be patient enough to wait here.”
 “Do we have a choice?” Misty mutters as he and the guard exit the room with an audible click.
 The two children are left waiting for at least an hour or so, forced to stare at the drab walls, pace, lie on the sterile floor, and anything that crosses their minds to pass the time, waiting for the so-called “Dove Galuf”.
 After an interminable period of boredom, James brings to light what both he and Misty had been wondering, querying out loud, “Dove Galuf…I wonder who she is?”
 Misty shrugs. “Probably the person who runs this place. I bet she’s an old lady.” She makes a face. “It stinks when people with pretty names end up being old hags.”
 “Well, we haven’t actually *met* Dove yet…” James reminds her.
 “Anyone who’d treat people washed onto shore so badly has GOT to be some nasty old hag!!” Misty snaps. Turning on the whining mode, she continues, “This has to be the worst day of my life! First I get stranded on some nowhere-island, then when I try to find my way off I get taken hostage by a bunch of high-strung scientists who take away my backpack *and* poor little Togepi, who’s probably awake and worried and crying his eyes out, and NOW they make us WAIT..…”
 James sweatdrops at her rant. “Um, this isn’t really a hostage situation…”
 “I DON’T CARE!!!” Misty roars, past the short limit of her patience. “How rude can these people be!?! We’ve been waiting forever and nobody’s told us a scrap of what’s going on and WHY we’ve been imprisoned especially when we didn’t DO—”
 “MISS!” the guard screams over Misty after trying politely two or three times. Upon grabbing the children’s attention, he coughs into his hand and continues in a more even voice, “Please follow me.”
 “*Now* where are we going?” Misty grumbles under her breath, but she follows the guard without further complaint, as does James.
 They’re led quickly and quietly through the sterile, rather emotionless building. Misty and James glance furtively about them as they walk, hoping to glean some kind of escape route from their surroundings, but it’s almost impossible; they pass not a single window or unguarded door. Their hopes of a possible escape dwindle with every step—and before long, they realize even if they *did* escape, where would they run? No, for right now, the two decide, they’d better go along with what’s happening.
 The guard stops in front of a non-spectacular door and unlocks it. Stepping to the side, he motions towards it. When Misty and James hesitate, he assures them, “Don’t worry. This is the lunchroom.”
 “Lunch!?!” All doubts erased, James and Misty race for the door. With the guard smiling at their antics, the two manage to open the door together and effectively fall into the room onto each other when they try to shove past each other to get to the food.
 A room filled with laughter greets them. Confused, the two look up—
 And see a greenhouse room, all glass windows, filled with beautiful flowers and plants. In the middle of the grassy terrain is a long table with stumpy legs covered with Japanese-style foods. Kneeling around the table are the children James and Misty had been greeted by earlier; they look relaxed and happy, talking energetically, unlike what they’d been like earlier. At the head of the table is a teenage girl with dark green hair tied back into a ponytail; in her arms is a much-bemused Togepi, who looks perfectly content. When he sees Misty, though, he brrrriii’s with joy and jumps out of the girl’s lap, waddling over to his “mother”.
 “Togepi!” Misty cries with joy, getting up (and accidentally forcing James’ face into the floor while she’s at it) to greet her “son”. The two have a joyful reunion, with Togepi waddle-jumping into Misty’s arms and brrriiii-ing happily.
 “You must be Misty Harbrook and James Dupont,” the green-haired girl says warmly, leaning over the table. “C’mon, sit down and eat. The guys and I will be happy to answer any questions you’ve got.”
 Rising to her feet, Misty happily obliges. James, rubbing his head, follows her lead. The two of them, along with the other children, dig in gratefully, filling their plates with various delectable treats greatly resembling Japanese dishes such as yakisoba, takoyaki, sashimi and onigiri, but of course they aren’t because this is an English fanfic. Anyway, they did eat, and while devouring the lunch, James queries after chopsticking a healthy portion of yakisoba into his eager mouth, “Shay… mish… *swallow* Exactly why are we being held here?”
 The green-haired girl, who has yet to offer her name, pauses in consuming her food, then sets down her chopsticks. “Well, the project that’s being run here is supposed to be top-secret,” she explains after a moment of careful thought and sharing glances with the other children. “It’s called the Mew Project, from which the Mewtwo Project branched.”
 Misty chokes on her takoyaki. “D—did you say——”
 “The *Mewtwo Project*!?” James finishes, mouth agape.
 The children, especially the girl, stare at them. Green bangs bobbing, she nods assent. “You’ve heard of it?”
 After managing to swallow the chunk of octopus flesh, Misty murmurs, “Oh, we’re more than heard of it.”
 “We’ve experienced it,” James follows up, his appetite diminishing rapidly at the memory of his near-death encounter.
 There’s silence all around the table.
 “The Mewtwo Project has been finished?” the girl queries quietly. Her former cheerful, carefree joie de vivre has evaporated, leaving behind only a grave seriousness. “The scientists here were supposed to get word from Cinnabar Island as soon as it was done.”
 “I imagine Mewtwo blew up the Cinnabar research center before they could,” James mumbles.
 There’s a long stretch of silence.
 “Mewtwo went berserk.” It’s more of a statement than a question.
 Misty and James exchange a look, shifting nervously. “…Yeah. But it got resolved.”
 “Mew’s not gonna like this…” the girl murmurs, running a gloved hand through her bangs. “So I guess you two are survivors from the rampage… After that, I guess the Cinnabar officials gunned Mewtwo down?”
 “That’s not exactly what happened,” Misty says, smiling nervously.
 She glances up at them, her pink eyes round with surprise. “What?”
 “Well… um…” James hesitates a couple of seconds before continuing. “I’m not quite sure on the details, but Mewtwo went berserk because of a girl who was supposed to be his trainer, I think. But she managed to calm him down, and the Cinnabar police let the girl take him away and train him privately. I’m not sure where they are now.” He ruefully admits to himself that his last statement is quite true.
 The girl bites on the end of her gloved thumb where her thumbnail would be. “Hmm. That’s not good… Mew?” she calls in a louder voice. “Are you listening?”
 James and Misty stare at her; had they been staring behind themselves, they would have seen the pinkish-white Pokémon that had been tailing them earlier flash in behind them.
 “Mew?” a cute, high-pitched, girlish voice sounds from behind them.
 “AUGH!!” the two yells, whipping around and facing a floating Pokémon somewhat resembling an extremely short-furred pink cat with smoothed features and a super-long tail.
 The small Pokémon floats lands on a much-surprised James’ shoulder. “What’s going on now?” she queries in a familiar voice…
 “Hey!!” Misty realizes. “You’re that little girl we heard telling us to go straight when the path split!”
 “Yup!” the Pokémon Mew affirms cheerfully. “Except I think I’m much cuter than any little girl!” With that, she points at her face with her tiny paws and makes the infamous Big Cute Eyes, which is surprising, considering the size of her already huge crystal-blue eyes.
 After recovering from the initial shock, James hesitantly pats Mew on the head, as if not sure he’s doing the right thing. When she *myuu*s cheerfully and appreciatively at him, he smiles. “Well, I have to admit,” he says, scratching her under the chin, “you *are* really cute! The cutest Pokémon I’ve ever seen! Cuter than even Pikachu!”
 Misty sweatdrops at the cuter-than-Pikachu comment.
 “What’s scary is that he doesn’t know about her thing with being ‘cute’, either…” the brunet boy from earlier murmurs to the green-haired girl.
 While James doesn’t catch the comment, Mew’s more sensitive ears do. “Well, that’s because *this* guy’s obviously more appreciative for the cuter things in life!” she declares, sticking a small pink tongue out at him. “So myuu!” She then proceeds to climb all over James, around his neck and down his chest and into his shirt and around his waist and up his back; James giggles at the tickling touch of Mew’s paws and protests to no avail, trying to catch her. Mew ends up popping up at the back of his shirt, clinging to his back, her head poking out of his collar and resting on his shoulder. While the two of them engage in their play, the Misty and the girl giggle, then outright laugh, at the endearing spectacle. Togepi, fascinated by the catlike Pokémon, brrrriii’s his delight, trying to jump out of his mother’s arms to greet Mew.
 “Mew!” Mew cheers, climbing out of James’ shirt onto his shoulder in order to get a closer look at the egg Pokémon. After a few seconds of scrutiny, she looks up at Misty. “He yours?”
 “Uh-huh!” Misty smiles, holding him up. “His name’s Togepi! Isn’t he cute?”
 Mew floats the rest of the way out of James’ shirt, twisting onto his other shoulder and landing forepaws first. “Yeah,” she agrees, “but *I’m* much cuter.” She closes her eyes and *myu~*s endearingly. “I’m the cutest Pokémon in the whoooole wide world!”
 Misty sweatdrops at this proclamation. “Uh, right,” she says uncertainly. Turning to the green-haired girl, who has been giggling at this entire exchange, she queries, “So what does Mew have to do with anything?”
 The girl grins at her. “Well, as I was saying before we got a little off-track,” she smiles, “this facility is dedicated to the *Mew* Project. So you see, Mew here has a lot to do with everything here.”
 “Oh…” Misty trails off, blushing in embarrassment. To her right, Mew is playing with Togepi, both of who are climbing over a laughingly protesting James, but the carrot-topped girl doesn’t seem to notice. Recovering, she continues, “But why do we have to stay here? We haven’t done anything wrong, and we won’t tell about Mew.”
 Dove smiles nervously. “Well, that I can’t do anything about,” she admits. “The guys here are reeaaally paranoid about outsiders, so if anyone from the outside world happens upon this facility, they’ve got to stay here—unless they can defeat Mew in Pokémon combat.”
 Mew, who pauses in chasing Togepi, turns to Misty. “I won’t go with anyone who can’t beat me,” she informs her cheerfully. “Part of the Mew Project is finding someone who can deal with the cuteness that is myuu!”
 “You can already feel your teeth rotting, huh, Misty,” the brunet mutters.
 .011 seconds later, he’s plastered on the opposite wall, twitching slightly, with the middle and ring fingers tucked in while his index, pinky, and thumb fingers and extended.
 Misty and James start visibly at this.
 “And the temper…” the Faris almost-lookalike, except her bangs cover her forehead, girl adds. “Mew’s got this thing with being ‘cute’…”
 The green-haired girl nods, placing a hand on the back of her neck. “Anyone who insults that gets, well, smushed.”
 “And what exactly did you do to Brian *this* time, Mew?” the Faris-lookalike questions the pink catlike Pokémon.
 “Oh, nothing special,” Mew smiles, hanging from James’ shoulder. “Just pinched his cheek and gave him a little push. Really fast. Nothing too rough.”
 Misty and James stare at “Brian”, who is slowly but surely peeling from the glass wall. “I’d hate to see Mew when she gets serious…” Misty murmurs.
 James nods vehemently, almost knocking Mew off his shoulder. She *myu!*s in protest before falling into his lap. The blue-haired bishounen apologizes and scratches her under the chin, for which Mew immediately forgives him.
 “…which takes us back to what I was saying before…” the green-haired girl continues. “Mew won’t allow follow anyone who can’t defeat her.”
 “It’d be a crime to let some lousy trainer lock up *this* beauty in a Pokéball!” Mew agrees, purring contentedly from the attention that James is giving her.
 The girl nods. “So far, nobody’s been able to beat her—and she only gives one chance at battle,” she explains. “You lose, you’re stuck here.”
 “And if you win?” Misty queries, thoroughly interested.
 “Well, considering it’s your only way off the island…” She smiles and shrugs. “If you somehow managed to win, and that would take a miracle because despite appearances, Mew is incredibly powerful, then you would be allowed to leave the island with Mew. The others here” she gestures to the children lining the table “could go with you too, since finding a trainer is the last part of the Mew Project. Having completed it, we can announce it to the world, and thus we don’t need to keep all these people here for the sake of secrecy.”
 Misty mulls over this…
 “It’s your only way off the island,” the Faris-lookalike reminds her. “Otherwise, you’re stuck here until someone finds us and beats Mew.”
 “Then I’m challenging Mew!” she says determinedly. “I’m NOT spending the rest of my life on this island!! So, get ready, Mew—” and here she turns to smile triumphantly at the Pokémon she knows nothing about, “before you know it, you’ll be my Pokémon!”
 Mew purrs contentedly in James’ lap, crystal blue eyes shut and completely unaware of anything Misty has said.
 Misty falls onto her side, twitching a little. Togepi waddles up to her and pats her face.
 “Oh, that’s right!” James says before turning his head to the green-haired girl. “Why is it you know so much about this facility?”
 She blinks. “Don’t you know who I am…?” she asks slowly, pointing to her nose.
 James shakes his head slowly. “You never said what your name was,” he replies to clarify things.
 “Oh! I’m sorry,” she blushes before moving herself to face him. “The reason I know so much is, I work here. My name’s Dove Galuf.” She bows, and when she rises, the girl with the pink eyes and the dark green ponytail smiles brightly.
 Misty, who had managed to pull herself back onto her knees, falls over again. Togepi pats her cheeks lightly, brrriii-ing curiously.
 

 Starr scans the skies for Ash’s Pidgeotto from the edge of the forest. “You think he’ll find the others?” she queries as Arachne does likewise from the top of her head.
 “I’m positive!” Ash replies confidently, kneeling on the sand. “If they’re anywhere on this island, Pidgeotto will find them!”

 Raichu plods along at a snail’s pace, sweating and panting as he carries the stone tablet on his back. Pikachu encourages him while Meowth just quietly snickers to himself. Batts, on the other hand, stops and turns to the skies.
 “Pijyoooo!” a bird calls from above them.
 “Pika?” Pikachu utters, turning. “<Look, look!!>”
 “What?” Meowth asks as Pidgeotto dives down towards them.
 “<It’s Ash’s Pidgeotto!!” she cries cheerfully as she waves him down. “<Heeere!!>”
 As Pidgeotto flaps down, Raichu drops the rock and collapses onto the sand. “<Yeah? So what?>”
 “<It means Ash must be somewhere on the island!>” Pikachu explains, delighted. “<And if Ash is here, I bet the others must be too!>”
 <It’s logical enough to assume that,> Batts concedes.
 “<Ash sent me to look for any others that might’ve ended up on the island,>” Pidgeotto explains, hovering above them.
 “Was anyone else with ‘im?” Meowth queries, paws behind his neck.
 “<Yeah, that Starr girl,>” Pidgeotto nods. “<I’ll show you where they are, so follow me!>” With that, he turns and starts soaring back the way he came.
 “<Wait uuuuuuup!!>” Pikachu yells, taking off at full speed.
 “<I’m just gonna wait for them here,>” Raichu mumbles, his face still buried in the sand. “<I’m not carrying that damned tablet another inch!!>”

 “Huh?” Ash stands, seeing Pidgeotto swiftly winging his way back. “Wow! He found someone already!” He smiles triumphantly at Starr. “See, I told you we could depend on him!”
 Starr grins. “Yes, yes you did.”
 “PIKAPIIIIIIIII!!!!” a familiar voice sounds, and a little yellow missile rockets into Ash’s chest, knocking him down and sending him rolling. However, Ash is only delighted to see his best friend despite her overeager greeting and hugs Pikachu close.
 “Pijyo, pijyo,” Pidgeotto says upon getting close enough to Starr and Ash to be heard. “Pijyooo!”
 Ash looks up. “You say there were others with Pikachu?”
 Pikachu jumps out of his arms. “Pikapi! Pichu! Pikapipika!!” she calls to them before taking off.
 “Guess that says everything,” Starr ventures before she, Ash, Pidgeotto and Arachne (who had decided to stay with Starr since he liked her so much) break into a run, following her.

 Once Pikachu finishes leading Starr and Ash to the others, a joyful reunion commences, and Raichu presents the tablet to the two humans. Not knowing what else to do with it, they agree to keep it around and show it to Prof Oak once they return to Pallet. Meowth then points out Arachne, and introductions commence between the spider Pokémon and his new trainer’s poké-friends. After introductions and a short discussion, the group decides to head into the forest and set up camp in there. They’ll start a campfire and let Pidgeotto keep searching; the fire will allow him and anyone who’s wandering in the area to pinpoint their location. While Meowth feels rather uncomfortable with that notion, remembering the Golem that Pikachu couldn’t touch and the story Ash and Starr told of the Arachnid that almost had them for lunch, he says nothing, figuring the group of them will be all right.
 That decided, they head back into the forest and Pidgeotto once again takes to the skies.