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"Wow, that was a great battle!" Zin said to Lenore. Her liepard, Zebo, was resting in his pokeball, completely exhausted from the fight. However, Shadow Mew and Zyk flew overhead. "Let's go to the pokemon center together."

However, as she stepped out onto the sidewalk, Zinnia spotted a familiar face that made her stomach jolt. She almost turned right around and walked back into the stadium, but she took a deep breath and tried to play it cool.

There had to be a perfectly logical reason as to why Walpurgis was standing outside of the stadium, right? They were friends now, weren't they...? Team Rocket had given up on hunting her down, hadn't they?! Zinnia could not move or speak, paralyzed by indecision-- should she greet Walpurgis, or run?

Zyk shrieked in alarm.

Shadow said privately in her trainer's mind,

"He... He helped us, before," Zinnia replied to the mew; however, to everyone else it would seem that she was answering Lenore. "Let's go, we have to get to the pokemon center," she said, grabbing Lenore by the hand. She was confused, and didn't want to believe that Walpurgis meant to hurt her. They wouldn't try to start anything in the middle of town, would they?

Zinnia was highly aware that they were being followed, and expected to be attacked at any moment. However, when she healed Zebo and exited the center with Lenore again, she began to doubt it.

Finally, she couldn't take the stress any more. "Walpurgis, what do you want?" she demanded. "Zyk heard you say that you're here on a mission. Are you still trying to take Shadow away? I thought you were my friend." The hurt of Walpurgis's betrayal was evident in her voice.

Zin seized Lenore's hand, squeezing it a bit too tight. "She'll never go with you!" she practically screamed at Walpurgis. "She doesn't want to! Just leave us alone!" Still holding Lenore tight, Zinnia began to run. Zyk and Shadow kept pace with her, and while she ran, Zinnia grabbed a pokeball at random from her bag and released the pokemon inside. When she saw that it was Zach, she quickly grabbed him with her free hand and set him on her shoulders. She continued to run as she found the correct pokeball and released Zebo. The liepard easily kept pace with the two running girls while the pokemon above filled him in on the situation.

Zach felt the emotions running through the air and shivered. He clung to Zinnia and closed his eyes, hiding his face in her hair. Zebo and Zyk were ready to fight. Zinnia was frightened. Shadow's mind was closed to him, as ever.

"Dr. Lothar is a fake name; his real name is Walpurgis. I recognize the woman but I don't know her name-- but she is not an officer. They're Team Rocket," Zin explained tersely. Her carefully-constructed white lies and evasiveness all fell away now; she had never dreamed that it would come to this, but now that Lenore herself was in danger, she deserved to know the truth. Or at least, the relevant parts of it. A full explanation would have to wait. "They're trying to steal Shadow."

She realized that they were running in a bad direction; they were approaching the edge of town, away from the residences. She skidded to a halt and whirled around to face their pursuers. "Give up now or I'll have my pokemon attack you!" she warned.

Zebo snarled and bared his teeth, while Zyk screeched overhead. The crobat in particular was angry; he had trusted Walpurgis after he'd healed him, just before he'd evolved and seen the world through his own eyes for the first time. But Walpurgis's previous kindness would not stop the crobat from sucking every last drop of blood from his veins, if he threatened Zinnia or his team.

Zach trembled in fear. The emotions were running far too high around him, and he was beginning to feel overwhelmed.

Shadow was the only part of the Z team that had remained calm. She floated forward a bit and addressed Walpurgis so that everyone could hear her.

"You're-- what?" Zin stumbled over her words when she heard Lenore say that she was a killer. It took her a moment to decide that it was a false bravado; she was trying to intimidate Walpurgis, just as he was trying to intimidate them.

"Forget this!" she said angrily. "Shadow, teleport!"

The mew's eyes flashed bright purple, and suddenly Zinnia, Lenore, and all of their pokemon vanished. They reappeared in the wilderness, in a meadow that they had stayed at before whilst on the run.

Zinnia started pacing as soon as they were back on solid ground. "I'm sorry, Lenore, I'm sorry, I was so stupid to think they'd given up, I'm sorry..." She knew that she would have to explain her relationship to Team Rocket fully now, but she was frightened and unsure of where to begin.

Zach, who still clung to her shoulders, absorbed her fear. This wasn't what he wanted, at all. He wanted things to be happy and peaceful again. He could feel Zebo and Zyk's anger at missing a fight with an enemy, he felt Lenore's confusion, and Shadow only watched in silence.

The mewtwo nodded. Ems had been listening from within her masterball the entire time, and it had been a simple matter to pick out from the mew's brain the location of where she'd planned to teleport to. Ems was fascinated by the mind of her "sister." She was eager to meet Shadow face-to-face, so the mewtwo's eyes flashed, just as Shadow's had, and Walpurgis, Karina, and their teams vanished.

They reappeared only a yard off from where Zinnia stood. Shadow Mew's eyes widened in alarm at their sudden appearance. Purple eyes met purple, and the mew whispered, It seemed that she couldn't believe what she was seeing, and the mew was so rarely taken by surprise.

"How-- a mewtwo?!" Zinnia cried in alarm. "Did... Did you make that?! Is that..." Realization struck her like a ton of bricks. The mewtwo was black. Of course. "Is that Shadow's clone? Is that why you want her? So you can make more?"

Zebo hissed and hurried to stand between Zin and their enemies, with Zyk right on his tail. Zach the ralts started to sob quietly. The compounded emotions were too much for him. He crawled down to the ground and started poking around in Zinnia's bag, hoping to find his pokeball and retreat back inside.

Zinnia glanced up to Shadow, but the mew still appeared to be in shock. It was up to her to take charge. "If they can follow us, that means we have to fight." She turned to her best friend. "Lenore, can you fight with me? I can't beat them both on my own."

Zach finally managed to locate his pokeball. The ralts hastily pressed the button and was sucked in, experiencing the relief of silence within the confines of the ball.

"Who's worse than someone who betrays their friends?!" Zinnia demanded. "Zyk, use Leech Life on the liepard!"

The crobat flew forward in a rage, aiming to bite Satori.

[Move Used in This Post: Leech Life]
[Moves Used Thus Far: Leech Life]
[HP: 1000/1000]

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A little to the side, the mew and mewtwo were engaging in a silent conversation. They did not use words so much as images and flashes of thought; they exchanged information freely, each curious about the other. Shadow Mew was somewhat horrified, however, while M2-SV1 was intrigued. Her so-called sibling knew so many things, and held so much power... yet, Ems felt that she had the ability to go much further than her sister.

Finally, the mewtwo had her fill. she commanded.

Shadow retorted. them, but I was not created by men. I belong wherever I wish to be, and that is by Zin's side.>

The mewtwo grew angry at that. She balled her bulbous fingers into fists and glared at Shadow. She was determined that if the mew would not come willingly, she would come unwillingly.