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*~*~*~*~*
Part III
*~*~*~*~*
Jesse and James glared at Meowth, recovering their voices. "Where were you? You spoiled our motto!"
"How could I?" asked Meowth casually. "I wasn't dere."
"That's the point!" they replied.
Misty and Pikachu were finding this amusing, so they decided to stick around and find out what happened. "Pi-i-i-ika-a-a," laughed the Pokemon.
The trainer smiled, but began to worry. Had the voice inside her head lied to her? Was Ash really okay? Would he really come?
*~*~*
Mew cautiously sang into Articuno's mind. Ash was taking too long. There was too much action going on for her to read his mind. Risking her identity was too much, though. She couldn't come after him! She couldn't!
But he was taking so long . . .
It didn't sound like Articuno was responding to her song. She heard him think 'If they don't leave . . .'
She wondered who Articuno was talking about.
*~*~*
"Well, if it isn't little Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town," came a voice across the cavern. "I wonder if he's managed to catch his ninth Pokemon yet."
Ash growled to himself. "Gary."
Gary stepped into the blinding light. "So, you must have come to claim the mighty Articuno."
"Actually I haven't," replied Ash coldly. "I've come here to save my friend."
Mew thought she picked up one of his brainwaves saying, 'If Gary Oak goes away, there's half a chance for me to get Brock out before Articuno seriously dislikes me.'
"This is your friend?" snorted Gary, tapping the ice that held Brock. "Looks a little too late to me. But that's normal for you, Ash."
Mew suddenly got a clear connection to Articuno's and Ash's brains.
'Articuno,' she said, 'When my person says "Gary Oak" and points to someone, attack the person he points to.'
Articuno agreed silently and looked over the humans with contempt.
'Ash,' Mew said, 'Articuno is going to help you. Point to Gary and say "Gary Oak". And be careful.'
Meanwhile, she waved her tail in rapid spirals to generate enough psychic power for a major teleportation.
*~*~*
Misty and Pikachu were looking pretty depressed as Team Rocket began their motto all over again.
"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 reach to the stars above!"
"Jesse!"
"James!"
Misty got an idea out of "nowhere."
"Misty!"
"Pikachu!" Apparently so did Pikachu.
Team Rocket was shocked into silence.
Misty continued delightedly. "Team Pika blast off at the speed of light!"
There was a flash of white, and she and Pikachu were gone.
*~*~*
"Gary Oak!" yelled Ash, pointing.
'Aaaaaaart!' screeched Articuno, pelting Gary and his silent fanclub with icicles.
After his Pokeballs were sufficiently coated with three inches of ice, Gary decided to run for it. And run they did.
Ash stared in surprise and slight joy to see his rival flee. Had his rival been fleeing from him, he might have shown greater interest.
He was blinded again as Misty and Pikachu appeared out of nowhere in front of him.
"Misty! Pikachu!" he exclaimed.
They both hugged him.
"We were so worried! Where have you been, Ash?"
"Pika Piiii PikaCHU!"
Ash smiled. "I'll explain later. First, we've got to save Brock." They all turned toward the block of ice.
*~*~*
Articuno felt forgotten, and called upon Mew, who was just outside reviving herself after the big teleport.
'Mew,' thought Articuno. 'You said these humans would leave when they got their friend.'
'I know,' Mew responded. 'Give me a minute to revive, and I'll teleport them out of your home. Please, just don't hurt them.'
'Very well. But hurry.'
*~*~*
"Those little brats interrupted our motto again!" seethed Jesse.
James took an enormous bite out of a jelly sandwich and began to choke. His face turned blue.
"Be sure ta chew every bite, little Togepin," said Meowth in his daddy-voice.
Jesse continued in frustration. "They interrupted us, that Pikachu stole our Dratini, and got away besides! And the little twerp insulted Team Rocket!"
James was beyond replying, so she kicked him in the back. He coughed.
Togepin seemed perfectly happy as it split its second sandwich with Meowth.
Jesse sighed. There was nobody to complain with, so she might as well eat.
*~*~*
Mew was feeling awful as she managed to teleport "Team Pika" outside and call out her Dratini squad to carry them home.
Ash shot her a worried glance before she made herself invisible from Brock's and Misty's eyes. Her tail was drooping and she looked dejected.
Once they were outside, Ash pounded on the ice and yelled, "Vulpix! Heat up your Pokeball and melt the ice on Brock!"
The Pokeball glowed red. As the ice melted, no one noticed Articuno fly to the doorway and watch them intently, something on his mind.
Brock fell over and landed in the pool of water the ice had created. Ash and Misty tensely squeezed each other's hands until they hurt while Pikachu was digging its claws into Ash's cap, which was still on by some inexplainable miracle.
"Uhhhh..." groaned Brock.
"Cuuuno," whispered Articuno, shimmering. Flying into the sunlight, it circled Brock.
"What's it doing?" Ash asked. Mew started to cry, and the nearby Magikarp turned into a Pidgeotto. The lucky thing was, Mews can only cry once every fifty years.
"Articuno," Brock murmured slowly. The bird, shimmering, flew around him.
Ash, Misty, and Pikachu looked at each other in confusion.
Mew suddenly became visible and collapsed into Ash's arms.
"Mew!" he cried. "What's wrong? Mew? MEW?!"
Misty stared. "Mew? Mew. The psychic Pokemon. The one that reads minds. The one no one had ever seen."
Ash nodded, tears filling his eyes. Mew was turning cold.
"CuuuuuNO!" Articuno screeched. He and Brock vanished into thin air, and a golden feather fluttered in the wind where they had been.
"Mew," Ash and Misty said together, desperately, as though Misty had been Mew's friend as well.
The golden feather flitted onto Mew's still form and vanished, just like Brock and Articuno.
Mew's round blue eyes opened and its body began to warm again.
"Ash," said Mew. "Misty."
"Yes?" they asked softly.
Mew sighed. "Do you want me to tell Brock goodbye for you? He has gone with Articuno to the Indigo Plateu. The only area of the Indigo Plateu no human has ever seen."
"Yes, please, Mew. If you can," said Ash. Then, glancing at Misty and Pikachu, he took out a group picture of them all. "If you could teleport this to him . . ."
No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the photo disappeared.
Then Mew asked a very strange question. "Do either of you have a Pokeball?"
Misty shook her head. "Pikachu used it on my Dratini."
Mew upped Ash's memory to avoid confusion.
Ash took out an empty Pokeball. "I do." He handed it to Mew, wondering where she was going to teleport it.
But she didn't.
Pressing the little white button, Mew slipped inside the Pokeball with a gentle smile on her face. Pikachu was grinning like it knew this was going to happen.
Ash and Misty cried.
*~*~*
It was nearly two weeks later as Ash, Misty, and Pikachu were walking along the road, (their direction safely in Mew's control, as she didn't trust the map to either of them), when they saw in the distance a boy walking with his Vulpix.
As they approached, they saw it wasn't Brock, but . . .
"Joe!" they cried. "The kid from Pokemon Tech!"
They ran to meet him.
After some chit-chatting, as Mew worked on everybody's memory until they felt they'd always known each other, she shoved one of her brilliant Pokemon ideas into Ash's mind.
"Joe," he asked carefully, "would you consider coming with us?"
"Sure," said Joe brightly.
And Ash was so sure he heard the delighted cry of an Articuno in the distant sunset . . .
*~*~*
"Briiiin!"
"Meowth, next time you catch a Pokemon, buy some masking tape with it." said Jesse in a grouchy voice as they cautiously went in the opposite direction of the new Team Pika.
"What for?" asked Meowth, carrying his Togepin gently.
"To keep its mouth shut!" said Jesse.
Togepin heard that. "Briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin!"
And nobody knew why, all of a sudden, for no good purpose, there was a loud explosion and a Meowth-shaped hot air balloon went flying through space . . . .
Nobody, that is, except three Pokemon; Togepin, Articuno, and Mew.