Chapter 1- Boris and Natasha
The excited buzzing of the scientists filled the small room
as they went about performing tasks.
Xavier stood in the corner, holding a stack of memos and papers.
This is just wrong… he said to himself. But who was to side with him? A lot of money
was riding on this project and there was no way he could abandon the team in
fear of his life and reputation.
However, he couldn't but think of the many lives of both human and
pokèmon that were destroyed while his reputation grew. He wondered how long it would take before he
would snap.
*********
"Well, here we are," Mondo, said, parking the jeep in the
back parking lot of Rocket Labs. Meowth
scrambled out from beneath the burlap covering. His leg had healed and he started licking his fur to rid it of
dirt. They had taken a long time
getting to Viridian because Mondo still had a schedule to meet; delivering
packages, seeing to other Rockets' needs and the like. It would be too obvious if he had suddenly
disappeared.
"Master Meowth! Please stay inside!" Mondo waved to the
feline. Meowth looked up.
"What? And wait around when those two idiots are in danger?
No way," Meowth waved a paw, as if to dismiss he thought.
"You are so persistent." Mondo sighed, but got out a spare
box. He finally got Meowth to get and stay in, though Meowth had complained he
was claustrophobic. Mondo placed the
box on top of his other deliveries and started walking inside.
All went smoothly and after the last delivery was made,
Mondo got himself a cup of coffee in the lounge. Xavier walked in with his stack of papers and sat down at a
table.
"I hate doing paperwork for the project. It's always she's
better this, she's worse that…a pokèmorph is a valuable addition to the
team…what a horrible fate," he muttered under his breath.
Mondo's ears picked up on the word 'pokèmorph' and he went
to sit at the table with his cup of coffee.
He smiled and the two boys exchanged greetings, though Xavier's wasn't
as eager. In fact, he looked as if he hadn't slept in days.
"You know, I've heard a lot of talk about that project of
yours while making deliveries. It seems
rather interesting. Is it always as
busy?" Mondo tried his best to sound casual while trying to pry for information. Xavier shook his head.
"Usually its not as busy, seeing we never really get any
successes. Right now we've got a girl from the White Squadron division-as a
volunteer-and she's seeming to be doing ok," Xavier said, seeing no harm in
telling a seemingly dim-witted delivery boy information that he wouldn't
understand.
"What exactly do you do in there? What is a pokèmorph?"
Mondo asked, trying his best to give a slightly distracted impression.
"I really shouldn't be telling anyone this…. I really think it is wrong but…I am an
apprentice in Rocket Labs and they stuck me in that project."
"Really?" Mondo asked. "Is that why you are telling me
this?"
"Yeah, I guess I needed to tell someone or I would be bound
to lose it completely… I would stop it if I had the chance. The girl's health isn't doing so well these
days," Xavier said but then looked around quickly to the sides as if searching
for spies. "But please don't tell anyone else that I said that. You know how
things are around here."
Mondo nodded as his throat tightened. Jessie wasn't doing
well? Where was James?
"I won't. But I need your help." Mondo leaned towards
Xavier. Xavier put his ear close.
"Jessie isn't doing too well?"
Xavier's eyes went wide.
This delivery boy knew the girl!
How does he get himself into these things?
"I've said too much. I've got to go," Xavier made a move for
the door but Mondo grabbed his wrist.
"You tell on me, I tell on you and both of us would get
fired," Mondo whispered through his clenched teeth as he tightened his hold on
the other man's wrist. Xavier opened
his mouth to shout for help but Mondo, being a bit experienced in restraining
holds, quickly held him by the wrists with one hand and covered his mouth with
the other. "Listen to me. Jessie is in danger; she needs help. You
said it yourself that this whole thing was wrong. Why not help us?" Mondo saw that Xavier stopped struggling, as
he was thinking things over. Mondo released his hand from his mouth.
"Because Rebecca is dead."
"What?" Mondo thought of his and Jessie's former
instructor. Just a few years ago, he
had the pleasure of seeing her take up being the head of the handle and care
division of Rocket Labs; as her health was deteriorating.
Xavier's eyes had a pained expression in them. "They knew that she had connections with
Jessie from the past and called upon her. She refused, saying it was wrong and
attempted to escape, knowing what saying no to Team Rocket meant. They caught and killed her so another could
take her place and lure Jessie back after she escaped. Rebecca got me started in the Labs; the
death is just too close for me…I can't meet the same fate. If they knew I had connections with you, and
that you have connections with Jessie and James…" Xavier hung his head.
"James? What about him?" Mondo asked, feeling panic rise up again in him.
"They captured him when he and Jessie came down to the labs
after falling for the trap set up by Sarah, one of the main directors. He's in
solitary confinement,"
"Ah-ha! I told you dat he was here!" Meowth leapt out of his
box.
"Meowth! No! Get back in the box," Mondo made a movement
with his head since he had both hands full with restraining Xavier, who had
stopped struggling anyways.
"No. Meowth has
al'eady been beaten, smashed and confined enough! I am gonna take charge for
once," Meowth refused.
"We'll all get in major trouble with the Boss," Xavier
pleaded. "I am only twenty-one. I am too young to die."
"Well I am only seventeen and both of my seniors are your
age. What's your excuse now?" Mondo was
getting a bit irritated. This guy was
starting to remind him of…himself when he was younger.
"Well, Meowth's only four, so dere," Meowth crossed his
arms.
"Four? A talking Meowth…hmm…could it be?" Xavier wondered.
"Huh? Be what?" Meowth was baffled.
Xavier shook his head.
"I am sorry…I can't! I know its
wrong but I also know that the most important life to me now is my own."
"Even more than Rebecca's had been to yours? She told us
that the most important thing to the Team was the Team. If not for anyone else,
do it for her so her efforts to protect Jessie have not been in vain," Mondo
said.
*********
Jessie opened her eyes and saw only
darkness. She was floating in the dark
mass surrounding her; the viscosity
being as thick as molasses. Amazingly,
she could breathe. Was she human or pokèmon now? She looked at her arm.
Human. She hugged her knees,
seeing that she was unclothed and feeling slightly afraid though there seemed
to be no one else around. She missed her old clothing and as if by magic, she
was suddenly clad in her old pure-white Team Rocket uniform.
"Where am I? What is going on?"
she thought to herself. "Where is James?"
Sleep soon overcame her
again. Minutes...days...years…it all
seemed the same. How much time has it
been?
"Sir! There seems to be some difference in brain activity in
the test subject," a scientist said to David, the second in command of the
project. He adjusted his small glasses
and looked at the computer readout. He merely blinked.
"She's merely getting used to the environment; still
sleeping. No danger," he said, looking at the suspended form of the Flareon in
the glass chamber. Jessie was still in
deep sleep, with a mass of jumbled wires attached to various parts of her body. He was worried. She was responding to the
actions used to enhance her abilities but her health seemed to be diminishing
as if her heart was weak. Was she
weaker than they had thought? What were they missing? He ran a hand across the glass.
Her eyes opened again.
"Voices…they are coming from somewhere…but
what are they saying? I know they are talking about me. But I am already awake. Where am I?" Jessie
wondered. She missed the company of
James and Meowth. It had been a while
since she was totally alone and she didn't welcome its return.
Jessie turned around to see a glimmering in
the darkness. Was it a star? Was she dead after all?
"They are talking about your progress," a
clear female voice said.
"What…who are you?"
"My name is Natasha," the voice said and
Jessie saw the image of a young woman, a few years older than her appear by her
side in the garb of a scientist. A male
around the woman's age appeared beside Natasha in the same form of clothing(for
the male gender). Natasha introduced
the man as Boris, her partner. "Don't
be alarmed, we are just like you."
"Like…me?" Jessie was confused. "Where are
we? Am I dead?"
"No, we're in the Labs. They are comparing your progress to ours."
"Progress?"
"Right. They are watching you. You don't seem to be doing well."
"What?!" They were watching her? She was
still a captive? Jessie was infuriated.
"Don't be alarmed. You're still a pokèmon.
The only reason you seem to be human is because you still see yourself as
before you were changed. We are all
asleep in a way; we see through our minds' eyes, which is why you see-as well
as us- yourself in Team Rocket attire…the way you wish to look. Us; we prefer
to be in lab coats."
"Did you…read my mind?" Jessie asked,
surprised. Natasha explained that they
were merely connected telepathically and that she was in a culture chamber like
they had been in for the last twenty-some years, and that all of them were
hooked to the same computer. Jessie
asked them how they were able to communicate in this way but Boris just
shrugged. He had been one of the
scientists behind the project but his colleagues had turned on him and his
partner.
"We really don't know. It's just always been this way. Some say
these chambers are guarded by the spirits of Ai-Two and other pokèmon clones
from the Mewtwo Project. We were moved
here before the Labs on the Island blew up."
"Ai-Two? Mewtwo? Clones?" Where had she heard
these all before? In any case, it didn't matter. "You said you were the same as
me. What pokèmon forms did you
take?".
Boris answered, "Both of us were alike in
personality; with sharp minds and a habit for having big mouths. But we were
pretty normal folks, thus we are both Meowths; members of the Normal Type. Course, its hard to tell we are pokèmorphs
since most Meowths naturally have blue eyes."
Natasha's eyes began to water. "I was pregnant when they transformed me and
when I gave birth, I could not bear to have my son suffer the wrath of the
Labs. I escaped, hoping to raise him
myself; but the Dan'in were soon after me.
I placed him in a clothesbasket near a well-lit house. Someone was bound to pick him up, I
thought. I only hoped for the best as
it started to rain and they caught me by the road." She wiped away a glittering tear.
Jessie grew curious. "Your son…would he have
the ability to talk? If he knew how I mean."
"I do not see why he could not. He would be technically a human in a
Meowth's body," Boris replied, a bit puzzled at her question.
Jessie knew for sure now but
she didn't say. "Can you tell me how they turned us into pokèmon? Is there a
reversal ?"
