Twisted Paths, Forgotten Pasts
Chapter 23
This just in, earlier today, the body of Giovanni, the ex-leader of the Viridian Gym, was dropped, literally dropped into the middle of the head police office of Pokemon Island, with a note saying that he is the Leader of Team Rocket. No one knows for sure if this is true, but if it is, then this just may be the biggest scandal of the century. Giovanni has been-
James switched off the TV, now staring at a black screen in awe. "So Mewtwo really did do it..."
Jessie nodded. "So, does that mean, Team Rocket is... gone?"
Persian shook his head. "Obviously not. Some ambitious Rocket is going to rise up and take over while everyone else is still dazed and confused."
James sighed. "So we're still in trouble?" He ran a hand through his silky blue hair. "I knew this was too good to be true."
"Actually," Takith said, interrupting their conversation, "they will be so focused on getting Team Rocket back together, they will not care about you guys. You are free." One of Takith's ears twitched in amusement as the two humans hugged the persian between them and danced around. "Has Mewtwo returned yet or is he still gloating over his victory?"
/I do not gloat. Gloating is for uncivilized beings./ Mewtwo said, teleporting into the room with Mew at his side.
Takith raised his black eyebrows, but said nothing, only smiled. His tail flicked once, and then he went off to find Michi and tell her the good news, even though he knew she already had found out through their link.
/Have you heard?/ Mewtwo asked Jessie, James and Persian, even though the answer was obvious from the happily shocked expressions on their faces.
"Yeah, they were just talking about it on the news. How did you do it?" Persian asked eagerly.
/It was a fair fight, I am above such petty things as 'stabbing someone in the back. I teleported into his office in the shape of a man, talked to him, and gave him the chance to draw his gun and shoot, except I shot him first. So I won. Then I wrote a nice long letter documenting many juicy details I plucked from his mind before he died. I figured that since he was based in Pokemon Island originally, that would be the perfect place to drop off his body./ The smug undertone to Mewtwo's words could not be mistaken.
/Freed pokemon too./ Mew added, wanting her share in the glory. /Poor things. Experiments bad. Stealing bad. Mew good./ Laughing she did a slow back flip in the air.
Mewtwo sighed, looking at Mew. Somehow he had a feeling that the little child act was just that, an act. She must get a kick out of people seeing a legendary pokemon behave like a four year old. /The Firsts are no longer in danger of being attacked by the army of pokemon that Catalyst was having Team Rocket build, so that's another thorn out of their side. And I have the satisfaction of having proved to Giovanni that I am more than his equal./
Takith, who had returned with Michi just a little while ago, tilted his head to one side in interest. So Mewtwo did have some sort of pride problem. He acted high and mighty, but only because he needed to feel good about himself, he needed to feel worthy as a living creature, and did everything he could to prove that he was one. "It is time for you five to make an important decision."
Mewtwo, Mew, Jessie, James and Persian turned to look at Takith and Michi.
"Jessie, James and Persian, we definitely do not need you three for the final battle, but would you like to just come with us to Pokemon Island? We will go our own ways tomorrow."
The three ex-Rockets looked at each other, all thinking the same thing. They were free now, but Michi had done so much for them... The least they could do was go on one last trip with her. "Of course." Jessie finally said. "We'll go with you."
Takith looked at Mew and Mewtwo. "How about you?"
The two psychics nodded without hesitation. They had to be there, even if not to fight, then to document the battle for the Mew Files.
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They met deep in a forest, one never visited by inquisitive humans or pokemon, one that even the sun seemed scared to look at, for its rays shyly peeked through the dense foliage of the trees.
Joy looked at Triste, a deep frown on her now adult features. "Why did you assist Catalyst? You completely ruined the prophecies."
Triste shrugged, sitting down on the soft grass that never grew. "I did not feel like walking the paths that we had agreed on, so I took another road. It was meant to happen. Just like you growing up, and me staying young was meant to happen."
The blonde haired goddess looked past her sister and into the thick forest that surrounding their little clearing. "Peace and Patience, I know you're there. Come join us."
Silence filled the air for a few seconds before a young man, about eighteen in appearance, with sandy brown hair, walked into the clearing. He looked at his older sisters with his pale blue eyes for a little while, then stared at the ground.
"We know Love is alive, Josh." Triste said.
Startled, Josh looked up and stared at his sisters. "Wha- How?"
"We can sense our cousin Josh; it is not hard to feel one like her. Love is powerful. No matter how hard she tries to hide, we can sense her power. Hiding Love would be like trying to hide Hate. She was entirely impossible to hide. You could sense her miles away." Joy smiled a little. Josh was so much younger than her and Triste, and he had only known the many others for a few centuries before they had died in that war. Hate, Jealousy, Eros, Pain, Bliss, Apathy, Pride and all the others... Yet they had never truly died, all they had lost were their 'physical' forms, for their work was plain to see all over the world.
Triste appeared to be slightly bored, and she lay back on the ground, staring up at the trees that blocked the sky. "We are all at fault then. I let Catalyst corrupt my group, and even take my son's love away from hin, Joy actually joined her group under a hidden identity, and Josh concealed Love from us, or tried to anyway." She sat back up and looked up at her siblings. "It is night where they are, but they are not asleep. I think it is time to call the three we created to temporarily restore balance. When they get their stones, they will need time to adjust before the final battle." She stood up, holding out her hands.
Josh and Joy both nodded, walked over to her, and took one of her hands, then joined their other two together, forming a sort of triangle with themselves at the main points.
"Right and wrong cannot exist without each other. No son or daughter without father or mother. Like equal weights on a scale, they achieve balance together." They all spoke at the same time, using the first language they had spoken. Each one was surrounded by their personal signature color: dull dark blue, bright sky blue, or a pale but blinding white tainted with blue.
The glows faded slowly, and behind each of the powerful beings stood one of the legendary birds. Articuno behind Triste, Moltres behind Joy, and Zapdos behind Josh.
For a moment, the bird pokemon seemed stunned, having been mysteriously transported from their private homes and into this eerie clearing within a forest, yet one glance at their respective creators, and they realized what was happening. It was time for them to be relieved of their positions, and to perform their last tasks.
The instructions given to them were simple. To take the stones to the Firsts, and then to protect them while they went through their changes. Tiny pouches that held the precious stones were given to each of the three legendaries, and with a heavy sense of duty, they were sent back to the real world.
"Where is the battle taking place?" Josh asked. "Where the last one happened?"
"Of course." Both sisters replied as on.
Josh nodded, then left. He needed some time on his own before the battle, which would start at daybreak. Josh could not be entirely sure as to when it would end, but the Firsts were of equal powers, and it took them forever to actually wound each other in any way. Plus the entire battle would not be really just a battle, many other things would happen.
He re-entered his realm and then curled up in the soft grass, digging the fingers of his right hand into the dirt. His heart still felt like it bled from Love's rejection of him. He tried to freeze his heart, to make himself numb to the pain, but he had not reached the numbing stage yet, he was at the burning pain stage. She was killing him, he was killing himself. This had to end, and it had to end soon.
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Moltres swooped down onto the little motel where his creators group stayed. Tilting his head up, he spread his large wings of fire, and flames surrounded the building, blue flames that reached the roof. If anyone that was not a First happened to be in the hotel, then they were stuck until Moltres left.
Inspecting his firewall, he made sure the heat would be unbearable for even a fire pokemon. To the town people nearby, he was a majestic creature of fire that lit the dark night sky a bright red with every flap of its wings.
Akira passed by her window, about to go ask Jay something, but then she noticed something odd about the window and walked back to it. Fire... "Jay?"
Jay turned his head to look at Akira. "I know." He opened the window, sticking his head out into the now hot night air. "Moltres! I am the Guide." The flames outside hissed and crackled, yet Jay did not draw his head back in.
/Moltres will appear and give you the bag of stones. After that, you are to give the stones to their correct First, and then let them go into a trance. About an hour to daybreak, they will wake up again. Along with Gary and Ash, I advise you to evacuate all the humans from this building and then make sure too many people do not come by to gawk./ Jyp said to Jay.
/But what about Sajoya?/ Jay asked.
/Sajoya is Joy./ Jyp seemed somewhat surprised that Jay had not figured it out yet, for Sajoya looked exactly as what their mistress would turn out to be if she grew up, which it seemed she had. Slim, yet far from skeletal, figure, very feminine, long wavy blonde hair, wise sky blue eyes... And that overall cheerful aura no one else could match.
Jay blinked in surprise, about to say something when Moltres appeared at the window in all his fiery glory. This pokemon... this magnificent creature had been one of the three keeping the world in balance. Now it hovered before him, such pure power that could take his life in an instant.
The bird stretched his neck forward, and his beak was now less than an inch away from Jay's face. Following Jyp's mental instructions, Jay placed one hand into the legendary pokemon's fiery mane, thankful that it did not burn him, and with the other hand, he gently pried the pouch of stones out of the his beak.
When he had the stones safely in hand, he took his hand out of Moltres' flaming mane, then withdrew his head back into the hotel room. Moltres nodded his head in approval, then flew back up to the roof.
Jay looked at the pouch of stones in awe. The Firsts could change between their more pokemon, and more human states on their own, but the stones aided that change, sped it up, and now, in their second lives, they needed them more than ever.
Akira looked at Jay, her blue eyes showing an unconcealed sorrow for what lay ahead. She knew that someone was going to die, and she did not want it to happen, yet it had to. She forced her mouth into a half smile, and then held out her hand for her stone.
Jay reached into the little pouch and withdrew a navy blue stone. "I'm sorry." He said as he placed the stone into Akira's palm.
The stone, which actually was a blue crystal, glowed brightly, and Akira closed her fingers around it. From the stone, a thin blue mist started to escape. It slowly started to swirl around her, going down to her feet, where Rika had curled up, and working it's way up.
Sarina walked up, took her stone from the pouch on her own, and stood by Akira, where a lighter blue mist started to swirl around her and her dewgong, Saris.
Jay watched for a little while, wondering what their forms would be like, but then he remembered that they had a tight schedule, and he ran from room to room, giving all the Firsts their stones. This time, as he watched the process more closely, he realized that the stones changed shape once back with their proper owners. Each stone started out round, but, for instance, Garis's stone turned into a tree shape.
Ash and Gary ran in as he gave the last stone to Terra, staring at her with puzzled expressions on their faces as Terra and Roux were surrounded by a sandy brown mist.
"The Firsts are transforming," Jay explained. "It'll take them a few hours, and they better not be disturbed. Gary, you're in charge of making sure there is no one in here and convincing them to leave. Ash, you make sure the people outside do not touch the flames. Whatever comes in contact with them will turn to ashes immediately."
Gary ran off, his eevee at his heels, and Ash headed for the stairs with pikachu. Jay took a moment to just breathe, and calm himself. This was what he had been created for. His whole life led up to this point. If he died after this, then it would not matter, because he had fulfilled his purpose. Maybe if he died, then Jyp could have his body...
/I wouldn't want it. I'd rather die with you./ Jyp said softly. /Yes, I'm the one who makes fun of humans in movies when they kill themselves just because someone they loved die, but this isn't the same. I can't exist without you, it just doesn't work that way. I need you./
Deep down inside him, Jay knew that the growlithe was right. They could not exist without each other. Jyp had been created one year before Jay, but for that whole year, the growlithe had been in a sort of limbo between life and death. "Till death do us part." Jay said with a wry smile.
The growlithe snorted, but his amusement at the statement was clear. /You never bought me my manga./
Jay blinked innocently. "Umm...manga? I dont know what you are talking about."
/If we're stuck together till we die, I want my manga back. Plus I have other...requests./ Jyp pictured a long scroll of paper with a very long list on it.
Jay groaned. "C'mon, let's go help out Gary and Ash."
Sorrow, who had been sitting in the doorway, looked up at Jay.
"Ah, hello Sorrow. Care to join us?" Jay looked at her, wondering what on earth the little pokemon's role was.
She nodded and stood, then followed Jay and Jyp through the hotel.
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Michi looked down at Pallet town, awed by the three buildings where the transformations took place. Joy's group had stayed in a hotel near the bottom of Pallet, to the east, and that one had been surrounded by a wall of blue flame which Moltres continuously swooped around. Triste's group was also near the lower area, but more to the west, and they had been surrounded by wall of ice, four feet thick. Articuno gracefully surveyed the building, his wings showering little tiny ice crystals that sparkled. More to the north of the tiny group, the hotel surrounded by a wall of crackling electricity was where Josh's group resided, Zapdos executing an erratic flight around it. The white haired girl noticed that looking at the town from above, an equilateral triangle could easily be formed with the three hotels as points.
The flap of Takith's large wings accompanied the hiss of the flames and the crackle of the electricity, punctuated by the shrill calls of the legendary birds. Knowing humans, a few helicopters would attempt to film this strange display, but they would be immediately brought down by the three pokemon.
Michi sensed that Takith grew tired of hovering in the air, and she decided that they had seen enough. "Let's return to the cabin," she said, closing her purple eyes.
Takith silently flew her back to the cabin in the outskirts of Pallet that they had rented, for Michi needed to be away from humans, and their auras, so that she could concentrate. It was time to piece together the visions she had in her dreams.
He carried her in and laid her on her bed, then walked outside, standing on the porch and looking out into the night with his ebony eyes. Takith seemed tired, his ears drooped and his tail flicked lazily, but he refused to go to sleep just yet.
/Do you mind if I join you?/
Takith whipped his head around, surprised to see Mewtwo. "It's a free world." He said.
/So they say.../ Mewtwo stood next to Takith, looking down at him. /Where are you from? I know Michi was an orphan, and she found you at Team Rocket, but you, where did you come from?/
Takith looked down at his hooves, then up at Mewtwo. "I am a freak of science and the gods. I am what happened when the powers that be decided that I needed to exist, but did not put enough planning into my existence, and therefore snagged the nearest body destined to die that would suit my needs well enough. At team rocket they had been working on gene splicing, hence the fact that I am part human, part pokemon. Yet the creature they had created was horribly disfigured, although it had somehow stayed alive for seventeen years. When my soul was implanted into it, the various genes used to create it sorted themselves out a bit, resulting in me. I was thrown into this world abruptly, no sense of who I was or what I had to do." Takith shrugged. "But I turned out alright, and I have almost finished what they created me for. I am only her temporary half, to teach her how to deal with an erratic being that was not planned. By this time tomorrow, I shall either be dead, or alone."
Mewtwo looked at Takith, now understand why he had felt a connection with him. Another victim of Team Rocket... They had many differences, but there was a bond, no denying that. /If you do not die, you can always come stay with me. All the pokemon on our island are 'freaks of nature'./
Takith raised his eyebrows, and he stared at Mewtwo, touched by the clone's offer. "I shall be glad to accept." A smile lit up on Takith's face.
/And we shall be glad to have you./ In response to Takith's, a faint 'smile' could be detected in Mewtwo's mental voice.
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Michi stepped into her vision, immersing herself into the frozen image her mind had produced of the underground battleground of the Firsts. The very same spherical 'room' in which they had all died thousands of years ago.
A golden dragon poised over a gold and black one, her fangs bared and ready to sink into the other's exposed neck. A light blue dragon frozen in the midst of dodging an icicle from a darker blue one. Two humans, swords in hand, attempting to distract the black and gold, and navy dragons. Two red dragons shielding each other, and their four Guides: two eevees and two humans. Slightly startled, Michi realized that the gold dragon was Akira, the gold and black Calisin, the light blue Sarina, the dark blue Sian, and the red dragons Kiajis and Firais. The humans with swords were Ash and Gary.
Standing just out of the range of Saris's whip like tail, Kit and Lit, the Father and Mother of all Electric types, stood with identical bolts of electricity forming at their palms, ready to launch at Saris. Like a few others of the Firsts, they had no alternate pokemon state that enhanced their abilities. With their backs facing Kit and Lit's, Rosc and Terra seemed in the midst at forming a combined rock and ground attack. Terra's hands now had large claws, likely for digging, and Rosc's skin had a grey undertone to it.
In an area out of the way of most of the Firsts, Jay and Chiata's swords were a few inches away from meeting. Chisa, the vulpix, seemed in a trance, likely lending her power to Chiata as Jyp was not in a state she could fight.
Taie, large feather wings of white and golden brown sprouting from her back seemed about to tackle her mate, Serai, who had matching wings, out of the air. It appeared that he had been about to hit Kevin at full speed to distract him from the ball of normal energy the Father of All Normal types was about to throw at Zoey.
The Peace/Patience Group clumped together, taking a stance of purely defense, for the rest of the group circled the two massive red dragons that protected their Guides. Kate had poison all but seeping from her finger tips, ready to launch deadly spores at anyone that dared come near the dragons. On either side of her, the two fighting types stood, also, like Kate, unchanged from their human shapes, though that did not lessen their strength, for Lee had Nate pinned to the ground, and they seemed at a critical point where Nate was struggling to paralyze or at least stun Lee so that he could escape.
Gilisia was caught in the midst of being attacked by Spectra, who had one hand right through the Mother of All Grass Type's back. Gilisia's mouth was open in a scream, and an eerie smile could be seen on Spectra's barely visible lips.
Repith and Levrah flew high in the air, their changes from their human state seen clearly. Large, butterfree-like wings lifted them in the air, and their faceted eyes scanned the cave for something to do. Unknown to them, Ivan had floated up near them and seemed ready to hit them with a psybeam.
Ivena had struck Garis down with a minor psychic attack, and the poor Father of all Grass and Poison Types was frozen a few inches above the ground, in the process of falling. Although she had just hit Garis down, her attention seemed focused on the entrance of the cave.
Michi focused her attention on that spot, where she saw Takith, his wings extended to their full wingspan, and he held a sword in his hand. The sword was a long, slightly curved blade, and on the handle, Michi saw the ancient symbols for love and sacrifice.
Burning the mental picture of the battle into her mind, Michi slowly floated out of her own mind.
Her purple eyes opened, and she sat up in bed, questions racing through her mind. Where was she at that moment? Where were Mew and Mewtwo? Moreover, where were the children of the Firsts? The little girl frowned, pushing her sheets away and then stepping out of the bed. Forget sleep, she needed answers.
Walking out of her room, she stepped out into the hall. She scanned the area, made sure it was empty, and then walked down the stairs, surprised to find Mew looking out a window.
"Why are you awake?" She asked the pink pokemon.
Mew turned to look at Michi, the normal playfulness in the legendary's eyes gone. When the psychic said nothing, Michi turned on her full seeing power, and she noticed a few things above Mew's head that had not been there before... And a new color had been added to her aura.
Feeling overwhelmingly sad, Michi walked over to the pokemon and hugged her tightly. Mew was strangely startled by the gesture, and even more so by the tear that fell onto her thin pink fur.
/Do not cry for me little one; I have loved life./ The mew gently pulled out of the hug and looked at the girl with a twinkle in her eyes. /I only looked sad because I was thinking about Mewtwo./ She floated back over to the window, gazing out into the night, and up at the stars. /I wondered if he has ever taken the time to watch the stars, or smell flowers, or marvel at how soft the fur of a little meowth is. It makes me sad to think that such an intelligent being like him may have never put time aside to appreciate the little things.../
Michi nodded, understanding fully what Mew meant. "I think he has. He just doesnt like people to know he has feelings." The girl smiled, thinking of how much Mewtwo thought his pride was important. "He likely didn't want you to catch on that there is more to him than the arrogant mask he holds."
Mew laughed, turning to look at Michi again. /You're right. He has been watching the stars behind my back, but I wish he would do it more./ She floated over to Michi, putting a delicate paw on her shoulder. /You need to rest. When the sun starts to come up we must start heading over to the cave./
Michi sighed. "True. Will you tell me a goodnight story?" She asked, wanting to savor the bubbly mental voice of the psychic pokemon. Mew's voice tickled her mind in a delightful way that she could never get enough of.
Mew laughed again, her eyes lighting up brightly. /I know lots of stories! Of course I can tell you one./
Michi giggled, then walked back upstairs with the legendary pokemon floating by her side, and an overall relaxed aura around both of them.
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