Ok, I wrote this last night when I was supposed to be asleep. If it's not too good, let me know.

Italics: thoughts

Normal: speech

Bold: relevant things

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2 years… 2 years since I saw him again. The boy never knew who I was; he never realized he was fighting more than just the leader of Team Rocket, more than just a gym leader. I watched him grow as a trainer. He was the reason those fools were never reassigned, the reason they were never fired. I needed to see him, know how he was doing. He stopped our plots, time and time again. The better grunts, my executives, thwarted many times, yet I told none of the past. Soon, soon we will meet again…

It has been two years since the S. S. Anne sank; since I found out he was a trainer. And yet, I carried on for those 2 years, never letting on, only seeing him face to face once. After the two years, after his journeys through Johto, he returned to Viridian. He knew me, that I was a leader of 2 groups. It had been only 6 months since Purity Canyon, since he saw me for what he thought was the first time. I couldn't tell him. You think you know the truth… you couldn't be more wrong…

All these memories rushed through my head as we stood before each other. He confronted me, called me a disgrace to any who use Pokémon. Am I to be called that? I, who was raised like this, am I to be pitied? To be blamed? But there was no time for thought. I had to be hard as steel, as unforgiving as stone, and cold as ice. I dragged my soul back into the darkness. Dark. I had adapted my gym to that element. What had once been ground, and then any type, was now the type of shadows. I had felt my gym should match my soul of pitch black. The infamous rodent leapt down to challenge me. This was to be a one on one, his best against mine. I reached for Houndoom, the only Pokémon I use now. I pause to think about the irony, that his starter was the same as mine was so many years ago. One of Fates ironic cruelties, he never knew me. I grip my Pokéball, and then…This is the final battle, for either you or for me…

An explosion rocks the building. It is Mewtwo, back once more for revenge. The boy yells for him to leave, to find peace, to accept his life, but the psychic ignores him. A ball of black energy forms in the felines hands, and I know. I know that I will never start nor finish this battle. The shadows come racing for me, and I do not try to escape. I feel the shock envelope my body, and I fall to the ground. The clone looks at what he has done in horror, and flies off. The boy races towards me. He knows what will happen, knows it is inevitable. He has seen so much, has been benefited in ways I never could have been. I press Houndoom's Pokéball into his hand. I look at my life at the end of a string and watch it twirl around, and around, and around, and around, and around, and around... *snap*

With the last breaths I will ever take, I say to him "Do… what you will…. Good luck…son." I relax, and the darkness of eternity claims me.

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Wow… I did it. And with very few distractions. It took me an hour to write this the first time, and that was just straight writing. There will be two more chapters. This is one of the fics I can guarantee you I will finish. Please review!

Millenium Mutant, 2-25-04