Log num. 37.

Update on the Mewtwo situation: He has escaped.

I've known from the start that this was inevitable. Mewtwo is far too powerful to be confined forever. I had hoped to get Mewtwo away from Team Rocket's clutches, but this was not how I would have wanted it to happen. Mewtwo is still extremely unstable, emotionally, mentally, and, I suspect, physically as well.

I thought that Mewtwo had developed fully, or at least as much as he could, but I'm beginning to fear that is not the case. The ache in my arm has gradually been getting worse, and there are times when I lose function in it altogether. My cells are not responding well to the invading cells I got from Mewtwo, and I suspect that the same is the case for Mewtwo. I cannot be sure though, not until I study Mewtwo himself.

Hopefully I will soon have the opportunity to do just that. And if there is a problem, with luck I may be able to find a solution to stop our cells from conflicting with each other. If I can't find a way to make it stop...no, I must find a way. For both of our sakes.

Mewtwo's wellbeing and control is my responsibility and mine alone. I had expected that I would have to travel this path on my own, but I am pleased to say that is simply not the case. I have had the pleasure of meeting a young boy named Ash who has volunteered to help me find Mewtwo. Normally I wouldn't dare endanger anybody else, but Ash has already encountered Mewtwo, and from what I heard he formed a connection of sorts with him. Mewtwo likely won't trust me, but he may listen to reason if it's coming from Ash. Despite the dangers, my best chance of success in my quest is to bring the boy with me. I will simply have to do my best to keep him safe.

I need to make sure to be on my guard for any potential problems, not just Mewtwo. For all I know, there are dangers waiting just behind me, waiting for me to let my guard down before they strike.

Maybe I'm being paranoid, but one can never be too careful. I've made a lot of enemies, especially since I left Team Rocket. I can't afford to be too careless and trusting. I would allow myself to relax, except that Ash is not the only one that I'm traveling with. He has brought three companions with him, and they are the ones that I am worried about.

Sabrina, Koga, and Lt. Surge are all gym leaders, just like I am, but other than that I know nothing about them, except that Giovanni had been the one to introduce Ash to them. I know this isn't necessarily proof that they are members of Team Rocket. Giovanni could just as easily know them from their work as gym leaders.

Ash trusts his companions. He says that they are his friends, and all of them have been quick to help him understand his pokémon better and be a better trainer in general. Despite Giovanni's betrayal, Ash hasn't considered the possibility that his other 'friends' are merely using him.

I am not so trusting.

I have considered warning Ash about his companions, but I don't think I will. From what I've heard from Ash, the whole reason why Mewtwo helped him was because he was naive and innocent. If I want Mewtwo to listen to Ash, which I do, then I need him to keep his trusting nature.

Even if I didn't need Ash's help for Mewtwo, I wouldn't want to destroy his trusting nature. Especially when I don't actually know for sure that they are actually members of Team Rocket.

Even if Ash's friends turn out to be trustworthy after all, I'm not sure if any of them should be on this journey with us. It may be dangerous or harmful for them, and not just because we're looking for Mewtwo, who is extremely powerful. I am speaking just of traveling on this boat. For one reason or another, none of them seem to be fit to be on a boat in the middle of the ocean for an extended period of time.

Take Koga, the poison type gym leader from Fuchsia City, for example. We've been out at sea for nearly three days now, and I've barely seen any sign of him. I don't think he has come up from below deck once in all this time. Though I haven't seen Koga myself, I know for a fact that his companions, Lt. Surge and Sabrina, take turns keeping him company. One of them is always at his side, and while I don't know for sure why, I can take a guess.

All of the pain medication on this ship has disappeared. I know this because this morning I woke up feeling like my arm was on fire. I went looking for something to dull the pain, but could find nothing. After searching for quite some time I finally went to Lt. Surge, who is the closest thing to a captain that this ship has at the moment, and he says that they've run out. Not that there never was any, but that they're out. This means that there had been pain medication, but it's gone now. I can only assume that Koga is the one that is hurt. I don't know how injured he is, but my guess is that it's fairly bad. If it wasn't serious, then Lt. Surge and Sabrina wouldn't feel the need to keep a constant eye on him and all the pain medication wouldn't be gone.

It is never wise to travel with any kind of injury. Especially out on the open ocean when there's no way to get help of it is needed. And if we've run out of pain medication and Koga is as injured as I believe he is, then I fear for his well-being.

Then there is Sabrina, the psychic type (is she psychic herself? Something to look into) gym leader of Saffron City. A strange girl to be sure. I don't know a lot about her, but she makes me uneasy. She is always looking at me as though she knows some dark secret (which is part of the reason why I believe all three of them are members of Team Rocket). Despite my hesitancy around her, I do feel sorry for the girl. She seems to be plagued with headaches that last nearly all day, and since she seems to be in constant pain I suspect that she saved all of the pain medication for her friend.

As if that weren't bad enough, Sabrina seems to be getting sea sick. Not horribly so, as she is still well enough to walk around, and she can even take control of the ship every once and awhile, but I'm still concerned. It seems that Sabrina is dealing with a constant feeling of discomfort, and I'm sure that the fact that the ship has been traveling in circles for the better part of two days now.

And that brings me to Lt. Surge, the electric type gym leader of Vermilion city. An absolutely infuriating man. He introduces himself as Lt. Surge, but I do not know what he would have been Lieutenant of. His mannerisms and title lead me to believe that he is, or at least was, part of some kind of military. If that is the case, it might explain how he knows how to run a ship like this even though he's not a sailor.

If my theory is correct though, then it's very possible that Lt. Surge has some kind of traumatic experiences, as I know many recent soldiers have. Could one of these experiences had something to do with the ocean, or a child, or both? If so, it would explain why Lt. Surge seems so distant and almost anxious when he's behind the wheel. He does his best to hide it, but I know trauma when I see it. Was there some kind of boating accident caused by a wild pokémon that caused a child to be injured or worse?

The reason I believe that a child has something to do with it is because whenever it's Lt. Surge's turn to take control of the ship (he and Sabrina switch off) he insists on having Ash at his side. Lt. Surge gets extremely on edge when Ash isn't in arms reach, and the man has yelled at the boy any time he has seen him closer than five feet to the railing of the ship, as though he's scared that he will fall overboard.

I don't know what happened, and I don't necessarily need to know, but if the trauma is serious enough that it's keeping Lt. Surge from doing his job as self proclaimed 'captain' of the ship, then maybe he shouldn't be out at the ocean at all. Usually it's not so bad, but whenever Lt. Surge gets any kind of readings from the equipment that suggest that a large pokémon, or even a large group of pokémon, is in the area, he will turn the ship around and find an alternate route. This combined with the way that I continuously say that we need to change course, as I can sense when Mewtwo has left for a new location, has made our progress extremely slow.

The longer we're out at sea, the higher tensions get. And I'm sure that now that there is no more pain medication and Koga might begin to be in even worse pain than he has been, that things will just get worse from here. Hopefully I'm wrong, but somehow I don't think I am.

A/N: Yes, Blaine's supposedly scientific 'log' is basically just a journal. For some reason I just thought that it would work, and be somewhat funny. I know that this chapter was shorter than the chapters of 'Changing The Plan' were, and that's seriously disappointing and frustrating for the first chapter of a new story, but it kinda feels right. Like some sort of prologue.

Also, writing this chapter gave me the chance to figure out what I wanted to do with the beginning of the story (don't worry, I have literally everything else for this story all figured out, and I'm excited for it, I just hadn't thought about how to get it started), so there's that.

The next chapter will be back to the usual formatting, I just felt like establishing Blaine's log book/journal, and get out what he thinks about his traveling companions.