The Mysterious Four
"And now to recap on out top story…two of the mysterious four from the Indigo League area are missing. If you have seen either one of these two girls…please contact the authorities. And now over to Yamato with the sports report…" the newscaster said. Ash, Misty, and Tracey were standing amongst a thick crowd that had gathered around the electronics window to see the news about the missing girls. Ash was extremely bored until Misty called out that one of the missing girls was Sabrina the gym leader Ash had gotten the Marsh Badge from.
"Gee…I hope they find her. Who was the other girl?" Ash asked.
"I don’t know…some girl named Izuma," she replied.
"Hmmm. I wonder…the mysterious four are pretty powerful, so who could have possibly gotten a hold of two of them without anyone noticing?" Tracey asked out loud.
"Did you say, Izuma?" Ash asked Misty.
"Yeah. Why?"
"Come on…I have to go home," Ash said.
"Ash?" Tracey questioned.
"I’ve got to help find them," he replied. Misty and Tracey looked at each other than followed him.
***
"Do it!" the scientist, yelled.
"Never! We won’t use our powers to help you!" Sabrina yelled. Izuma looked at her, she was scared, she could tell. Sometimes she hated having such power.
"If you don’t, we’ll just have to persuade you…men," he said. That instant an electric shock wracked through their bodies and they collapsed to the floor.
"They won’t co-operate, boss. What should we do?" he asked a figure who was now standing in front of the prison that held two of the most powerful humans in the world.
"Take Miss Izuma to the ring…let’s see how she can fair up against a psychic Pokémon," he said. The girl was still in pain and was dragged away from the gym leader.
"Now we’ll see what she can really do," the scientist said.
***
Ash arrived at his home three days after he had seen the news report about the two missing girls. Everyone knew that the Mysterious Four, were some of the most powerful people in the world.
"Mom! Are you here?" Ash called as he walked into his house. Mr. Mime wasn’t there, neither was his mother. There was a note on the door that Misty was reading.
"Hey Ash! Here…she’s at Professor Oak’s house…" she said.
"Come on…" he said.
"Oh, wow…I can meet Professor Oak. Hey Ash…what’s this all about," Tracey asked when he got over the realization that he was going to meet his idol.
"I’ll tell you later," he said as they ran up Professor Oak’s driveway. Ash knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer.
"Oh, hello Ash, come in," he said when he opened the door. Ash saw his mother sitting on the couch, she looked like she had been crying.
"Mrs. Ketchum, are you okay?" Misty asked sitting down beside her.
"Oh, Misty…Ash!" she said and hugged her son.
"Ash…can you tell us what’s going on?" Tracey asked her.
"Izuma of the Mysterious Four, is Izuma Ketchum…my sister," he said as his mother hugged him tightly.
"I didn’t know you had a sister," Misty said. Ash showed her a picture of himself with his sister just before he left on his Pokémon journey.
"She had joked that I would never get Pikachu to listen to me, and when I left she got Pikachu to settle down a bit…she’s great with Pokémon and everything…but I don’t know how anyone could…" Ash said then started to break down. Tracey looked at him, even Pikachu seemed sad.
"Ash…we’ll find her," Tracey said.
"I hope so," Professor Oak said, "if her powers fall into the wrong hands… I don’t know what’ll happen."
***
"Izuma…Izuma…wake up," Sabrina shook her friend. She hadn’t seen what she had been through, but when they had brought her back to their cell she had been battered and bruised.
"Oh, my head…what? Where am I now?" she asked as she sat up.
"Izuma, are you okay?"
"I’ll be fine…damn it! When I find a way out of here…I swear I’ll make him pay!" she yelled out her cell door.
"Did you find out who it is?"
"Giovani…"
"What! But he’s a gym trainer,"
"I know…there has to be a way to get out of here…maybe if I could just…" she said as she stood up but then sank to her knees in pain.
"What did they do to you?" Sabrina asked.
"They made me battle…it’s lucky that I didn’t get poisoned or something," she said.
"You rest…I’ll see if I can find a weakness in the wall or something," Sabrina said.
"Thanks…"
***
"So Ash, how old is your sister?" Tracey asked. Misty was comforting Ash’s mom while Tracey, Ash, and Professor Oak were talking with Officer Jenny.
"She’ll be about 16," he replied.
"This is strange…if what you say about the two who were kidnapped, they shouldn’t be to hard to find…" Officer Jenny said. Ash was looking down at Pickachu, he knew his Pokémon was sad, Izuma was the first one who had ever befriended him.
"Ash…do you think it was Team Rocket?" Misty asked looking up from his mom.
"I don’t know…it could be, but what would they want with the Mysterious Four?"
"Ash, the Mysterious Four are all known to have special and unusual powers…what about Izuma?" Tracey asked.
"She could shaped shift into different Pokémon, manipulate energy, and read minds. She was more of a psychic Pokémon over anything," Ash’s mom answered as she stood up.
"Mrs. Ketchum?" Tracey asked but before she could answer someone rang the doorbell. Ash went and answered it.
"Hey Brocko!"
"Hey Ash! I heard Professor Ivy talking about Professor Oak saying your mom was upset and that you and Misty came to visit, so I thought that I’d drop in," Brock said.
"Brock!" Misty said and hugged him.
"Hi, I’m Tracey," he said as he shook his hand.
"Hi…Mrs. Ketchum, are you okay?" Brock asked.
"I will be…please Officer Jenny, you’ve got to find her,"
"We’ll do everything we can…we can assume that the two girls are together, so I’ll start searching now, try and have a good day," she said as she walked out the door.
"Want to fill me in?" Brock asked Misty.
"Ash’s sister, Izuma, is one of the Mysterious Four, one of the ones who was kidnapped," Misty said as they watched Ash’s mom go and lie down in her bedroom.
"Ash has a sister?"
"Yeah…actually, she’s about your age, Brock, here’s a picture of her," Ash said as he handed Brock the picture of himself with his sister.
"Wow! She’s cute," he said and handed the picture back to Ash.
"Watch it. That’s my sister,"
"Sorry Ash," Brock said.
"Let’s start looking…I think we should try the gym were you fought Team Rocket," Misty suggested.
"Yeah! Let’s go!" he said as they walked out the door.
***
"I won’t fight! Not again!" Izuma yelled.
"You will!" the man said and electricity ripped through her body.
"AHHHHHHHH!" she screamed and sank to her knees. Each time she refused the voltage was cranked up higher, until she finally transformed.
"Izuma transforms to…PIKACHU!" she yelled and turned into a small yellow mouse.
"Go Onyx!" the man yelled. She had chosen the wrong form to battle in, and would have to sacrifice an attack to transform into an appropriate form.
"Izuma transform to…GYARADOUS!" she yelled. As she transformed the man laughed wickedly.
"Onyx…tail slash!" he yelled. The tail of the Onyx lashed out and caught Izuma in the middle of her transformation, sending her flying into the wall. She opened her eyes and the transformation was complete.
"SURF!" Gyaradous yelled. The Onyx was not weakened.
"Ha! I train my Pokémon so they have no weaknesses. Water attacks won’t work on Onyx," he said.
"Izuma transform to…MEW!" she called out.
"WHAT! NO!" the man yelled. Izuma hovered in the air in the form of the almost extinct Pokémon, Mew.
"Onyx…rock slide!" She dodged the attack easily and used a counter attack. Within minutes the Onyx was defeated and Izuma was breathing hard, in her actual form in front of her captor.
"So…you can turn into a mew…interesting. Our next session shall be different, take her away!" the man said and stepped out of the shadows. Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket, was only playing with the girls’ powers. Soon he would put them to work for him the way he wanted to. Izuma was flung into the cell with Sabrina, her body was burnt, bruised, scratched, and scared. Sabrina helped Izuma to sit up against a wall.
"You okay?"
"Yeah…"
"Grab the psychic!" Giovani yelled and two men grabbed Sabrina away from Izuma.
"Sabrina!" she yelled, but could do nothing to help her.
"Izuma!"
"Gee…I’ve never seen the boss do this sort of thing before…" a male voice said.
"I know…it’s times like this I wish I never joined Team Rocket…" a female voice replied.
"Come on…let’s get out of here before we get blamed for this…" the voice of a Meouth said. Izuma barely saw the fading figures of Jessie, James, and Meouth from Team Rocket leave the room she was in. She knew that they weren’t involved. She had read their minds…and had felt remorse for joining up with Giovani…remorse and rebellion.
***
"Ash look! It’s Team Rocket!" Brock stated when he saw Jessie and James no longer in their uniforms.
"Hey! Where’s my sister!?" Ash yelled as he ran towards them. Then he noticed that they looked really sad, even for them.
" –sigh- To protect the world from devastation,"
" –sigh- To unite all peoples within our nation,"
"To denounce the evils of truth and love…"
"To extend our reach to the stars above…"
" –sigh- Jessie,"
" –sigh- James,"
"No longer Team Rocket members blast off at the speed of light,"
"We surrender now…we don’t want to fight,"
"Meouth…that’s right," They all said very sadly.
"What’s wrong with them?" Tracey asked.
"What’s wrong? Giovani…our ex-boss is the one who kidnapped those girls," Jessie said.
"He’s making them battle some of his strongest Pokémon…it’s horrible what they’re doing to them," James said, then the three of them started to cry.
"You guys aren’t with Team Rocket anymore?" Misty asked.
"No…we quit," Meouth said.
"Where are they?" Ash asked.
"They’re in the basement at the Team Rocket Gym…but you’ll never get in there now," James said.
"Why not…it was rebuilt so they can continue to hold a place in the Indigo League wasn’t it?" Brock asked.
"Yes…but the boss is planning something big," Jessie said.
"Will you help us?" Ash asked.
"Well…"
"I guess…"
"It couldn’t hurt to help," Jessie and James said.
"Sure," Meouth said.
***
"Sabrina! What have they done to you?" Izuma asked when she saw Sabrina.
"You’ll find out in time my dear…because now it’s your turn," the scientist said as Izuma was dragged into Giovani’s battle arena.
"Let go of me!" she yelled.
"Fine…" he said as she was thrown into the battle arena.
"Now…it’s time that you do as I say…this time if you co-operate you might not get hurt," Giovani said.
"NO! What did you do to Sabrina?" she asked.
"She’s being controlled by a microchip…and soon you shall too," he said as he snapped his fingers. Izuma watched as two eyes glowed from the opposite end of the arena, she slowly backed up to the wall.
"Don’t you want to play?" Giovani asked then with a point of his finger some sort of Pokémon charged at her.
"AHHH!" she screamed. The Pokémon stopped inches from her.
"TRANSFORM! OR YOU WILL REGRET IT!" Giovani yelled. Izuma inched away from the evil Pokémon.
"Izuma transform to…MEW!"
"I thought you would do so…go!" he yelled. The two psychic Pokémon took off into the air, but Giovani’s was too strong for Izuma and she collapsed to the ground.
"There you go Professor, implant the micro chip…" he said as he left, as did the other Pokémon.
***
"The last two of the Mysterious Four have also gone missing…if you have any information on the whereabouts of any of these people please contact the authorities…" the news anchor said.
"He’s got all of them now…" Jessie said.
"That can’t be good…well…here we are," Ash said. Ash, Pikachu, Brock, Tracey, Misty, Jessie, James, and Meouth stood in front of the rebuilt gym. As the doors opened they all got the idea that this wasn’t going to be easy, nor that it was such a good idea.
"Well, well, well…what do we have here…Jessie, James, and Meouth. I didn’t expect to see you three back here so soon," Giovani said from his place high above the arena.
"Where’s my sister?!!!" Ash yelled as Tracey and Brock held him back.
"I have no one here other than my followers, what’s your name?"
"My name is Ash Ketchum…now where’s my sister?!" he yelled.
"Ketchum? I’ll show you your sister…" he said and snapped his fingers. Four figures emerged from the shadows.
"It’s the Mysterious Four," Misty said.
"Izuma…you’re okay!" Ash said as he ran towards her. She held up a hand and blasted him.
"Huh? Ash! Ash…are you okay?" Tracey asked as he helped Ash up.
"What have they done to them?" he asked.
"Ha! They’re being controlled by me…you’ll never save them…" Giovani laughed.
"Controlled…but that’s impossible! Sabrina’s a strong psychic…you couldn’t control her so easily!" Brock yelled at Giovani.
"PSYCHIC BLAST!" Sabrina yelled.
"IZUMA TRANSFORM TO…PIKACHU!" she yelled.
"FIRE BLAST!" Jason yelled, (one of the other Mysterious Four).
"SONIC WAVE!" Alex yelled, (the fourth member). The three blasts came towards the group of unsuspecting Pokémon trainers as Izuma transformed.
"GO ONYX! SHEILD US!" Brock yelled. Onyx circled the group and protected them from the deadly blasts.
"This isn’t any good…we need to their weaknesses!" Misty yelled over the sound of the impacting attacks.
"I know…but we don’t know how they’re controlling them!" Tracey answered.
"Pi, pi, pikachu!" Ash’s Pikachu yelled. They all looked up.
"It’s Izuma!" James said.
"Thunder bolt!" Izuma yelled. But Onyx using the last of his strength hit her away from his master and friends.
"IZUMA TRANSFORM TO…MEW!" she yelled in frustration.
"Onyx return! Now what?" Brock asked.
"The boss said something…what was it?" Jessie was asking herself trying to remember.
"Huh? Try to remember…" Ash urged.
"MICROCHIPS! They’re being controlled by microchips!" she yelled suddenly remembering.
"Microchips…so if we can find a magnet…then we can disable them," Tracey said as they dodged the four attacks that were once again heading towards them.
"Does anyone have a Magnetmite or Magneton?" Misty asked as she threw out several Pokéballs. Her water Pokémon were battling Jason, trying to weaken him.
"I do!" James yelled, "Go Magneton!" he yelled.
"WHAT! NO! NOT NOW!" Giovani yelled as he watched the Mysterious Four stop attacking and fall to their knees in pain grabbing their heads.
"Izuma!" Ash called as he watched her and the other three scream in pain. They all collapsed to the floor.
"No this is not finished! Be warned I will not give up!" Giovani yelled as he ran from the room. As Ash walked over to his sister the others helped up Sabrina, Jason, and Alex. Brock turned and saw Ash holding his sister, helping her to stand.
"Izuma…meet Misty, Brock, Tracey, Jessie, James, and Meouth," Ash said.
"Hi…" they all said.
"Hi…oh, Brock…I can read minds you know," she joked looking at Brock who was blushing. Izuma collapsed to her knees and Ash’s Pikachu ran over to her and jumped into her arms.
"Pi…pi pikachu, pi, kachu!" it said happily.
"Ha! I guess I was wrong about you and Ash not going to get along," she said and everyone there laughed.
***
"See yeah Brock!" Misty called as Brock boarded the liner to return to Professor Ivy’s lab.
"BYE!" Brock waved.
"So…you gonna join us?" Tracey asked.
"You bet! I got to look after my baby brother don’t I?" she asked teasingly. Misty and Tracey laughed at the face that Ash gave her.
"Izuma transform to…MEW!" she said and hovered in the air.
"That your favorite form?" Misty asked her as Izuma followed closely to Lapras.
"Yes…and someday…I’m going to catch a real on," she said.
"If your anything like Ash it might take a while," Tracey joked.
"Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?" Ash asked.
"HEY! WAIT FOR US!" three voices called. They all turned around and saw Jessie, James, and Meouth running along the docks trying to catch up to them.
"Izuma transform to…GYARADOUS!" she said and swam over to pick them up.
"You guys want to come with?" Ash asked.
"You bet…Giovani said he won’t give up, so we thought that you could use the help," Meouth said.
"Thanks… Lapras let’s go!" Ash said. The group of people headed back to the Orange Arcapelago so Ash could resume battling for trainer badges.
~ The End ~
