Misty got back on the phone with the woman from Indigo Plateau. “Are you SURE he’s not there?”

“Of course I’m sure!” she replied irritably. “We searched the whole stadium!!! Mr. Ketchum has never been late before.”

“Well, if he’s not there, and he’s not here...”

There was a moment of silence. “You didn’t find a note or something explaining where he went?”

“No, of course not!”

The woman paused. “I’ll call Officer Jenny.”

“Of Viridian, remember!”

“Yes. I’ll be over on my Pidgeotto in a few minutes. You’re staying at the Pokémon Center?”

“Yes. I’ll see you, then...”

“Goodbye.”

The phone clicked off.

“Hey Misty!” called Brock. “I think I found something!”

She ran over to where Brock was inspecting Ash’s room. “What is it?”

He pointed. “There are scuff marks on the window!” He yawned.

“Really?!” said Misty. “That means someone was standing on it!!”

Brock yawned again. “Yep...You don’t know how long it took for me to notice that...” He yawned once more.

“So what does this mean, Brock?” Misty waited for an answer. “Brock?” She turned to face him...And found he had collapsed onto the floor.

Nurse Joy walked by with an empty mug in her hands. “Oh hi, Misty, did you have a nice rest---” she stopped dead in her tracks. “BROCK!!”

“Chan-sey, chan-sey--chan?” Chansey came along. “Chan? Chansey chan-sey!!”

“What?!” asked Joy. “What kind of gas?!”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Brock slowly opened his eyes. “Whoa...What happened?”

“That’s what we’re trying to find out,” remarked the lady from Indigo Plateau.

“Miss Grant here just arrived here a few minutes ago...right after Officer Jenny and her squad,” Joy informed Brock. “We figured we’d wait until everyone was here to try and sort all this out.”

“Okay.” Misty stood, professional-looking, by a blackboard. “Item One: Ash is missing.”

“He was supposed to be at Indigo Plateau, hearing plans to build an addition to the stadium,” added Ms. Grant.

“Item Two,” said Brock, “There were scuff marks on the window.”

“Meaning someone had stood on it,” said Officer Jenny.

Joy sighed. “Item Three: There was sleeping gas in the room Ash was sleeping in.”

“WHAAAAA?!” gasped everyone.

“Chansey sniffed it out.” Joy put an arm around Chansey.

Chansey beamed. “Chansey chan!!”

Joy continued. “It was very diffused, which is why only Brock was affected. He had been breathing small amounts of it for a long enough time that there was enough in his bloodstream to knock him out.”

Officer Jenny had a serious look on her face. “This does not look good...”

She sighed and turned around, facing her squadron of men with Growlithes. “Okay. We are looking for a man named Ash Ketchum, medium-length black hair, brown eyes, Pokemon League hat. Base your search on the assumption that he is being held against his will. I repeat, assume he has been kidnapped.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ash began to wake up. He was vaguely aware of voices, and strained to listen.

“...experiment was successful?”

“Yes, for the first time. New Island really paid off...”

“Dratini DNA, I presume?”

“And Mew. Our analysis indicates that it will become visible after the second evolution.”

“Hmm, I will have to give those fools a raise.”

“Yes, sir...”

“When it wakes up, get it into a Pokéball. I will train this one personally.”

“Yes, sir!”

One of the people left. The other sat down next to him.

“Oh, I don’t envy you when you wake up, no way. I don’t envy any of the boss’s Pokémon. Well, you’re a strong one. You may just make it.” The man laughed.

Ash was slowly coming back to reality. The boss and...that scientist. What were they talking about?

He opened his eyes. He was in what looked almost like a hospital room.

With a shock he realized something. “WHAT?!” he tried to yell, but it came out differently. It came out “Dra?!”...

Ash came to a horrifying conclusion. Oh my god, I’m a Dratini...

He felt light all of a sudden. He had just enough time to see the Hawaiian-shirt scientist before everything went dark again...