~

"So, what happens next in the soap opera?" Mewtwo asked, breaking the respectful silence that had followed Ash's tale.

<Oh, Reba and Josh are getting back together again, and Gus's quitting the FBI, and 'Beth' and Edmund are getting divorced--> Mew broke off as she noticed the stares. <What?>

"...I meant, what are you going to do next, Ash?" Mewtwo said.

<Oh, I thought you'd finally figured it out...>

"Figured _what_ out?"

<The reason I get all that mail is because I'm the head writer of a soap opera!>

Everyone blinked.

<You know, 'Saving Grace'?>

<Oh, my mom watches that!> Ash said. <It drives me up the wall!>

<Why, thank you!> Mew chirped.

<Yeah, I saw it once,> Pikachu said. <I thought, WHAT saving grace? These people are about as screwed up as you get!>

<Oh, thank you very much!> Mew giggled, blushing. <I didn't know I was that good!>

There was silence for a few seconds.

"So, what are you going to do now, Ash?" Mewtwo asked.

<Er...>

<He's going to visit his mom,> Pikachu said firmly.

<But-->

<No buts, Ash, it's high time she knew you weren't dead!>

<Oh, she probably _does_ think that, doesn't she...> Ash sweatdropped.

<You got it.>

<Well...>

"Really, Ash, how much harm can it do?" Mewtwo asked.

Ash just started laughing.

<Ash!> Pikachu yelled. <It. Will. Be. Fine. Let's GO!>

~

Serena walked hesitantly up to the door.

<Come on,> Pidgeot urged. <Just tell her. She must want to know about you.>

<What's going on again?> the baby Articuno hidden under her hair chirped.

<Her mother, Arti-chan, her mother.>

<Oh yeah!>

She knocked.

"Hello!" Mrs. Ketchum chirped. "Welcome! Oh, you aren't selling ceiling fans, are you? Because I already bought twelve this week..."

Serena sweatdropped. "Uh, no..."

"Well, come in then!" Mrs. Ketchum led her to an armchair. "Would you like a snack?" she asked as she put a large tray with cookies, an apple, peanut butter crackers, and a cup of tea on her lap.

"Er, sure..."

<See?> Pidgeot chirped. <I told you she'd be nice!>

"Oh, would your Pokemon like something?" Mrs. Ketchum asked, already taking out snacks. "Here's something for your Pidgeot. She's so cute! Does she have a name?"

"Well..." Serena said. "Actually, I like to call her Diana..."

"Oh, that's such a nice name!" she exclaimed, stroking its head-feathers. "Do you have any other Pokemon?"

"Just one..." At that, the young Articuno disentangled itself from her hair and chirped a bright <Hi!>

"Oh my, you have the most gorgeous Pokemon!" Mrs. Ketchum beamed, hands clasped. "Does she have a name?"

~How does she know they're both shes?~ Serena asked herself rhetorically before answering, "Well, we call her Arti-chan sometimes..."

"How sweet!" Mrs. Ketchum cried. "Here, have some more cookies, dear... What is your name, anyway? I'm afraid I forgot to ask!"

"Um, Serena," she said.

"Really..." Mrs. Ketchum sighed, becoming gloomy for the first time since Serena had seen her. "I had a daughter named that..."

"Well, that's sort of why I'm here," Serena explained. "You see... I think I _am_ your daughter."

She stood unmoving for a few seconds.

"It's really nice to meet you," Serena tried.

Mrs. Ketchum fainted.

~

"I am going to regret this," Ash said, as he walked towards the sliding glass door. "I am seriously going to regret this. For the rest of my life I am gonna regret this. Always and forever--"

<Ash. Just open the door.>

Ash pushed the glass door open.

"Hello?" he called, walking into the living room.

Kneeling on the floor, waving a makeshift fan over Mrs. Ketchum's face, was Serena.

"Gah!" she yelped. "I didn't mean to, I swear! I just told her who I was and bam, she fainted!"

Ash turned to Pikachu. "SEE?"

<What does she mean, she told her who she was? Who is she?> Pikachu asked.

"This is Serena, she's my long-lost sister," Ash explained.

"Wait a sec... You're my _brother_?! Holy--" She fainted.

"SEEEEE?!" Ash yelled. "Everyone's fainting!"

<Well, wake 'em up!>

Ash sighed. "This is so much more trouble than it's worth..."

<As if.>

"Pikachu, Thundershock!"

<Why do _I_ haveta do it?!> Pikachu griped.

"In case someone's watching!"

<Puh-leaze...> he said, then grudgingly delivered the shock.

"AAH!" the two women yelled, bolting upright.

"What the..." Serena said. "Oooh boy."

Diana, unnoticed until then, cocked her head. <This is getting interesting.>

<Yep!> Arti-chan chirped.

Pikachu blinked. <All right, this _is_ more than we bargained for, but still, it can't get worse.>

"ASH!" Mrs. Ketchum yelled, running towards him and engulfing him in a huge hug. "Is it really you?!"

Ash smiled. "Yeah, Mom."

"Well wherever you've been, you'd better have been wearing clean underwear!" she teased, letting him go.

"Aw, Mom..." Ash said, putting his hand behind his head.

Serena was deep in thought. "Why do I feel like I've met him before?" she mused aloud.

"He is your brother, you know, if you really--are--my Serena," Mrs. Ketchum said.

"No..." she said. "More recent than that..."

"Um..." Ash said. "Actually, you _have_ met me recently..."

She stared at him. "I've never seen you before..."

"It was about a year or so ago..." he said. "Er, in the Team Rocket complex... And I, er, looked a bit different..."

"Looked different, how?" Serena asked, as Mrs. Ketchum gasped, "You were in Team Rocket?!!?"

"Well..." He sweatdropped. "This is gonna be a bit of a shock..."

He changed back. Immediately, the two women fell in a faint...again.

<Auggh!> Ash yelled, then whipped around to face Pikachu. <SEEEEEE?!>

<Honestly, Ash, it can't get much worse,> Pikachu said nervously.

Diana heard a noise she recognized and chuckled. <Arti-chan, bring that tray over here. This is going to be fun.>

Ash had just time to ask, <What do you mean?> before there was a knock on the door.

"Hello?" Tracey's voice came faintly.

"Tracey, don't be a wuss," came Gary's voice.

<Oh boy,> Ash whispered as the door opened.

"Mrs. Ketchum?!" Gary yelled, turning his head. "Yo, we came with the--"

He stopped as they came into the living room. Mrs. Ketchum, as well as some chick with her hair done up like Nurse Joy's, lay fainted on the floor. A Pidgeot and a tiny Articuno sat by the table, eating snacks and grinning. And floating near the back of the room was a--

"HOLY COW!" Tracey yelled, jumping onto the table. "I've got to sketch THIS! A mutant Mew!"

~Oh gee, I'm so flattered,~ Ash thought to them sarcastically.

Tracey turned around slowly. "Did you..."

"Hear that..." Gary continued.

"It sounded like..."

"ASH?!!?" they both yelled, and fainted.

Pikachu nervously glanced up at Ash, who was shaking with repressed anger. <Um, well, it really wasn't _that_ bad, was it?>

Ash took a few shuddering, deep breaths. <If I did not have four fainted people on my hands, I would kill you right now.>

<Eh heh...>

Arti-chan laughed. <That was fun!>

<Yeah, I'd pay eight bucks to see that anytime!> Diana chuckled.

Suddenly they noticed the two death-glares aimed at them. They cocked their heads at the two strange Pokemon and grinned.

Ash finally just sighed. <Remind me to kill everyone for this, Pikachu.>

<I...think I'll forget, thanks...>

~

"So you're a soap opera writer," Mewtwo said dubiously.

<Yeah, I _said_ that already,> she chirped.

"That... is slightly disturbing," he said, shaking his head.

<Hey! Soap scriptwriting is a very honorable profession!>

Mewtwo glanced at the television in the corner.

"Oh Sam!" a woman cried. "You're awake at last!"

"What...happened...?" gasped the teenager in the bed.

"Oh, you got an exotic disease form the smuggled goods in that warehouse you were investigating," she explained. "Now come on! You have to help me beat back Alan! Now that Josh--sniff--is divorcing me, and to top it off getting back together with that crazy so-and-so Grace, he's all over me!"

"Okay...sis..." the man gasped out.

"Yeaaaaaaaaah..." Mewtwo said. "Honorable... definitely..."

<Really, Ash's exaggerating. His life isn't like a soap opera. Only 'Yearnings' would stoop to _that_ level of weirdness. But it's strange...>

"What's strange?"

<Everything he's described... I saw it in my dreams.>

"What?!"

<I kept having dreams about what might've happened to Ash, and apparently they were all right! I even had a dream about our little conversation today last night.>

Mewtwo blinked. "I dunno...We need to see if this is true."

<I only see trivial things though, and I can't tell what-->

"Sleep, Mew."

<Okies.>

Mewtwo sighed deeply as Mew slipped easily into a doze. Using two mirrors, he gazed into her dream and the real world.

The dream settled onto the Pokemon Center in Rainbow Town.

Misty, reflected in both mirrors, sat on the bench, heaving a sigh. She couldn't help wondering--where _was_ Ash? Was he all right? Was he in danger?

She conceded one small defeat. Fine, she was worried about him. Boy had a knack for trouble. And she'd followed him around for years! He--she gave in again--was her best friend, along with Pikachu and Brock. Of course she was worried! It was nothing to--she winced--worry about.

But there WAS something she SHOULD be worrying over. What if...what if Brock was right?

About what? she asked herself sardonically. He has an awful lot of things to be right about. And even though he sounds crazy...He always has been right before.

Brock burst into the room, breaking her out of her reverie. "I'm getting married!" he cried.

"Not exactly breaking news," she commented wryly.

"No, I mean it! I'm getting married! In two more weeks! Joy just called and asked where we should have it, I told her we'd fly to Viridian!"

"Really?!" Misty grabbed his hands. "Oh Brock, I'm so happy for you!!"

"Finally!" Brock cried, dancing around for joy. "I'm actually going to get _married_! To a _woman_! To a sweet, gorgeous, kind, emphatic--"

Misty grinned, shaking her head. "You are a piece of work," she murmured.

And the ceremony... Joy had wanted to give her a bridesmaid position, but she'd declined, wanting to leave the space open. Best for them to have as few of Joy's relatives mad at them as possible. Instead, she'd happily helped with decorating advice, catering... Along with fifty other women.

She sighed happily. Weddings were so romantic. Of COURSE, she chided herself, that was the point! She glided into a dream. She wore the dress she'd always dreamed of; short-sleeved, lacy, tinted just slightly light blue. Everyone was grinning from the pews; her sisters and Joy flashed her a thumbs-up as they waited for her to reach the end. And then she was there; she turned, and smiled dreamily at--

She shook herself out of the dream quickly, but it was too late. She stared up at the ceiling, half confused, half admitting to defeat for the third time that day.

Yes, why deny it. She'd seen him, Pikachu at his side as always--clutching the wedding bands. It was hopeless, hopeless.

But why? She loved Darien... She loved Darien... Dangit, she loved Darien! Or...no!

She continued to stare, consumed with confusion.

Mewtwo shook his head. He'd been a little too absorbed in that. Now what... Ah yes.

He opened a bag of chocolate chip cookies and held one up to Mew's nose.

"Ah, cookies!" Joy chirped in the dream mirror. "So tasty and delicious! Even part of a complete breakfast if you eat several grapefruits!"

Brock and Misty stared at her oddly.

"Eh heh..."

Mewtwo glanced at the other mirror. Joy looked at the hopelessly lost Misty and sighed deeply. As Brock ran around like a Weedle with its head cut off, she grabbed a cup of tea and a plastic box of large chocolate chip cookies. She took a pillow from the sofa and plopped down on the fluffiest armchair to muse on the mysteries of love.

Mewtwo nodded. That was all he needed to know. With a flick of his hand, the mirrors vanished. He looked longingly into the space where they had been.

His head moved slightly and he held up the bag of cookies he was holding. With a surprisingly large smile, he floated out of the room.

~

<See what you've gotten me into?> Ash griped as he tried to wake up the four.

<Okay, so it _was_ more trouble than I thought. Or could ever imagine. But it'll be worth it! You wanna spend the rest of your life in hiding?>

<Not particularly.>

<Good.>

Gary made a faint noise as he sat up. "What the... odd dream... Ack!"

<Oak, if ANY of you faint ONE MORE TIME, the world will never be the same.>

"Hey, you've gotten better at your threats! Cool!" Gary grinned.

Mrs. Ketchum and Serena woke up at the same time.

"All right, Ash... I think I can handle this..." Mrs. Ketchum said, in a slight daze. "As long as you don't have any children who look like Mr. Mime and are Elvis impersonators in Celadon..."

"I can say the same thing..." Serena said.

<No, that's about all the unreasonably huge shocks for today,> Ash replied.

"Whoa, I gotta sketch this!"

<TRACEY!>

"C'mon, Ash! This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience!" Tracey whined.

Ash switched forms again. "Can't you wait?!"

"No..."

<Yes you can,> Pikachu said.

"Oh, by the way, who's the broad?" Gary asked.

"Why you--!"

"Ow!" Gary cried as he was smacked with a frying pan.

"My sister..." Ash said.

"Boy, this is worse than 'Saving Grace'," Gary commented.

"You seen that too?"

"Yeah, your mom makes me come over every day to watch it..." He made a face. "I'd like to beat up the moron that writes it..."

Ash giggled. "I think she'd beat up you."

"You know her?"

"Yeah..."

"Really, this is a lot for one day," Gary said. "You're a Mew, you have a sister, I'm adopted--"

"What?!" Ash yelped.

"Hate to lay another on everyone, but Gramps told me today that Dad and his second wife decided to adopt, and that's me," Gary said, an eyebrow raised.

Ash fell to his knees. "OH THANK YOU, GOD!" he cried to heaven.

"Huh?" Gary said, confused.

"I'll...explain to you later," Mrs. Ketchum said. "Right now, I have just one question..."

"WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED?!" everyone but Ash and the Pokemon yelled.

"Um... Mom, you have to start," Ash said.

"Why?"

"The whole Dad thing... You're the only one who has _any_ idea what's going on there..."

"You know as much as I do. You can tell us the whole story," she protested.

"No, I can't. I need you guys to help. I don't know _all_ of it... Just _most_ of it," explained Ash.

"Fine," she sighed, then brightened to normal. "Once upon a time, I married a moron whose genes were apparently all recessive... He took my daughter with him when he left... Heaven knows how many wives he's had... Another one adopted a son with him... Apparently you, Gary."

"WHAT?!!!" he screamed.

"Do NOT faint," Ash said urgently. "Do NOT!"

"And Serena, you were..."

"Taken to Team Rocket, where I was a nurse until a powerful Pokemon was released and gave me the opportunity to escape with Diana and Arti-chan here. I freed as many Pokemon as I could, and eventually I found you."

"I was that Pokemon," Ash sighed. "Team Rocket was trying to steal Pikachu, but he wasn't with me that night so they took me instead. Some really strange scientist got a hold of me as a test subject and changed me to a Dratini/Mew hybrid... Though I didn't know about the Mew part at first. I made friends with a Diglett... And--" He glanced at his mom. "And I couldn't get out, but it was okay. We trained in a--meadow place, filled with happy duckies and bunnies..."

Only Mrs. Ketchum and Tracey were fooled. Serena had seen it for herself, and Gary wasn't that stupid.

"And then they made me fight against my friends, and I escaped, but I was afraid of what you'd think if I came back like this," Ash explained. "Also, they _were_ searching for me for a while. I had to stay in hiding..."

Tracey nodded sagely. "It's all perfectly clear. I'll understand it exactly... In two weeks."

Ash sweatdropped. "I know, it is kind of a lot to take."

"Well, Ash, Serena, you can stay here for as long as you want," Mrs. Ketchum said brightly. "In fact, why don't you all stay tonight!"

"I'm sorry, there's an experiment at the lab I have to help with," Tracey said.

"I'll stay," Ash said.

"Me too," Gary followed.

"And I."

"Oh, wonderful!" Mrs. Ketchum beamed, clapping her hands together. "I'll just go make some food!!"

Serena looked at Ash oddly. Her obvious message was, 'Is she _always_ like this?'

Ash nodded.

She grinned. Diana and Arti-chan in the corner smiled with her. Finally...

Home.

~*~

AN: It took a while, but at least it's long! ^^ And BTW, 'Saving Grace' is based on an actual soap opera. My mom watches it all the time. All the plot lines are real, though that dialogue was grossly exaggerated. ^^

I really hope this chapter is good! I know that there are actually people out there _waiting_ for it, and I hope it's not a disappointment. But _I_ liked it... ^^; Okay, so I think it's really funny. Please feel free to tell me if I'm right! ^_^

And for those waiting few, I hate to plug, but you might want to see my website at http://www.angelfire.com/anime3/concerningflight . There you’ll be able to find information on upcoming chapters, a poll, and other neat non-IICCTW-related stuff. ^^; Eh heh. Thanks for reading!

~Meredith