Memories faded faster than thought's fleeting moments. Dreams however, stay forever in our hearts as desires yet to be summoned into this world. I knew no dreams, as the dream was where I walked, where I began. Reality, I learned, was nothing but a nightmare.
The dream was of life in a world I had yet to find. I was flying, feeling the wind rush past me. I was alone but content. There was green on the mountains, beneath the trees in the woods and even under the water of the rivers and streams. The flowers were in bloom on every tree, and in every bush there were roses; I wished their scent was enough to keep me in that world.
It seemed to last an eternity, then suddenly diminished into no time at all. Everything was happening too fast, I was leaving too soon. The roses and their luscious world grew dimmer as it was torn from me, like paint running from a canvas.
For the first time I felt pain. It shot like electricity through my veins. It awakened me but I only opened my eyes when the pain had dulled. I felt weak, limp. Inside a world of green liquid I was suspended with chains around my wrists, restricting movement. There was movement inside the green; shadows all similar in appearance but separate, moving around, huddling together. I blinked. No, it was outside, they were outside. I was inside.
Trapped.
Were they keeping me here? Who were they? I was still questioning many things when a bolt of pain, equal if not more powerful than the first, exploded into my body. My whole form jolted. I opened what I learned was my mouth and screamed. There was something within that scream, something that was not sound but feeling; a strong feeling, a power trying to push out, trying to attack the oppressors, anything to make the agony stop.
I didn't know what that feeling was, but I didn't care. All I knew was pain. This power was like a separate being, it answered by blowing the glass and green liquid outward and away. The shackles chain snapped and I fell forwards, still powerless. The pain was ended but replaced with a new one. Glass fragments cut into my skin as I frailly pushed up from the floor. There were many eyes on me; I hated every one of the strangers.
"Amazing," said one. "Her appearance has changed."
Another spoke, looking questioningly at the first. "Would that be due to the enhancement or the Pokémon DNA splicing, Professor?"
Their words were hollow to me. Memories trickled back, but they were few and even more puzzling. The tall human, my memory told me, was a scientist. The word 'human' in my hazy memory seemed to describe them. What I saw were empty soulless creatures with no room for emotions, only information.
They cared nothing for me.
My muscles began to tense as I went to stand. The professor knelt down to meet my gaze but no offer of assistance was made. "Do you know me, Ambertwo?" I scowled at him. My memory allowed speech but I would not grace them with my words. After a long silence, he seemed to register the stubbornness in my eyes. His mouth turned into a thin line as he got back to his feet.
"Bind her again, the serious testing begins now."
Hands seemed to come from nowhere, once again leashed like a pet. The shackles were bound together and I was dragged to my feet. My muscles had gained some strength but not enough to fully and steadily control my own body. Not that they cared; they pushed and shoved until I fell to the ground. I was less than an animal now. I crushed my eyes shut tight to remember what I could.
Pokémon. That was a word the Professor's underling had used. My body was a hash of human and Pokémon. I wasn't even sure what I looked like, surely I appeared inhuman if they thought to treat me this way justly. I wished my power would return and save me. But I was alone and this time, the contentment of my dream world was lost.
Dragged through hallways that stung my nose with the smell of metal I didn't speak a word. Not even when they released my chains, leaving the shackles on and dumped me in a dirt arena. A human wearing the black uniform with the red letter on the front, just like all but four of the humans I'd met, stood beside a gigantic rock snake at the other end of the arena. My memory awoke again with the word 'Pokémon'. That creature was a Pokémon, an Onix.
There was silence before the pain returned emanating from the shackles. My power was resisting as if it feared as I did. The human sent the beast after me. Fear flooded every fibre of my being almost blocking out the pain. I struggled to my feet.
Too late.
The Onix barrelled into me with the force of an avalanche. I flew to the wall and fell. Now winded, the pain kept on going but I was numb to it now, fear had taken its place. The pain increased to such a level I screamed with all the air my lungs could contain. The power was unleashed inside of me once again. My fear having focused on the rock snake was acting as a control rod. It aimed the power instead of just exploding outwards. The Onix received the blow of my power as if it were a soft foam ball struck by a metal pole. It soared further and faster than I had, striking the ground in a storm of dust and sand. It's Trainer, the human that had commanded it, was nearly crushed underneath it as it landed.
A few seconds more and the power had drained me considerably. Whatever energy I had was gone. I wobbled before I collapsed to the ground and let the darkness envelope me.
I opened my eyes to see I was once again chained but not inside a glass casket this time. Beside me I could see many tanks all with what looked like Pokémon. Most occupants, I sensed, were dead. Only four lived now. They were thinking, dreaming but not awake.
I closed my eyes and fell into darkness, but this time I was conscious. I felt others within the same place as me. I opened my mind's eye to see them floating in nothingness as I did. Three were Pokémon I recognised from my memory. A Charmander, Squirtle and a Bulbasaur; all had different markings. The early echoes of the experiments floated in my mind. 'Clones'.
Now I understood; these Pokémon were copies of the originals. I clenched my dream fists. What did that make me? The memories were not mine, they were another's but they must be lost if they wanted them to return. There was a fourth presence but it was strange not like any Pokémon I'd ever seen.
He too questioned his existence, though a small and young clone he was intelligent. I answered one of his questions and he opened his eyes to look at me. "The noise you hear outside are human voices, they are talking to each other."
He opened his violet eyes wider as I approached, unsure of how I was doing so. "What are you?" he asked; his long and thick purple tail wagging in wonder.
I smiled as I too wondered. I didn't want to answer 'human' because I was not sure I was. Instead I said, "I'm a person."
He tilted his head to one side. "A person? Am I a person?" he seemed so lost and alone that I could want nothing more than to help him.
He drifted closer to me, inquisitive. "You are a Pokémon I am sure, but you can speak which is strange for Pokémon."
"Pokémon? Person? What are they? Which one am I?" I smiled for the first time at his questions.
I gazed into those lavender eyes and thought how such disgraceful creatures such as humans could create something as wonderful as him. "It may make a difference to you of what you are but not to me, I like you as you are."
I looked around at the black void around us. I saw the other Pokémon appear again, they came over to join us. It suddenly occurred to me that there were no human's here. We were different, even me. Could it be something like telepathy?
I looked at him and a name sprung into my head from somewhere outside. Mewtwo was this creature's name. A copy of a Pokémon named mew. "If you are here then you must me like me and perhaps them too." I gestured to the other three Pokémon.
Mewtwo looked at them as well. I decided to be fair and tell him as much of what I knew as I could. I floated closer to the four of them. "We are all copies, that is why there are 'two's' after all our names."
"I don't understand." He looked vexed and was quite upset about it. I shook my head.
"I don't either." I felt another memory press its way through to my consciousness. "My name is...Amber, well Ambertwo. I too am a copy of the real Amber, whoever she was." I looked into the void trying to understand.
With the force of my thoughts the entire void around us changed to mould into something I recognised. I led the others as I too needed to know and understand. "I know this place. This is Amber's memory."
"But you are Amber" Mewtwo looked certain now, more certain than I felt.
I smiled at him again. "Yes I am Amber but not the one who experienced all of this. This is only data being passed into me through her DNA." Below us lay a town, her hometown, where Amber once lived. It was night as we were watching but that soon changed as we floated aimlessly. It turned to day and as a bright ball appeared in the sky Mewtwo looked up in awe.
"What is that?" he asked pulling away at its sudden unexpected brightness.
"It is the sun."
"What's it for?"
I sighed, his questions soothed me. "To keep the world and its creatures warm in the day and to help plants grow strong." A strong gust of wind blew into us, refreshing my memory still further but alarming poor Mewtwo as he reached towards the sun. I held my long blue hair in place as it flowed past us. "That's the wind. It changes from time to time. Sometimes it's soft, sometimes it's strong and sometimes there's none at all."
Without any time passing at all the sun sunk over the horizon turning it to a rosy red. The sky itself blushed at Mewtwo's innocence. "That's dusk or sunset, when the sun goes away for a while. It always comes back even when everything seems to go wrong, I always remember that the night is darkest before the dawn."
Now night fell again but this time the sky was visible because of the great white face staring down at us. The stars accompanied it and twinkled in the cloudless night. Mewtwo looked questioningly at the white circle in the sky so much like its brother the sun.
"Is that a sun?"
"No Mewtwo, that's the moon. The stars are up there too." I pointed to the individual dots in the sky. "They shine brightly all through the night. Sometimes it helps to look up at them and remember that you're not alone." Since leaving my dream world, this was the best I'd ever felt.
I heard a moan of slight pain and worry from behind me. I turned to see Charmander fading into nothing. I closed my eyes as the reality came back. This world was where Mewtwo and I had brought the clone's minds. If Charmander's was fading, he was either waking or dying. I knew which of them it was but still held on to the other for Mewtwo's sake.
He looked at first puzzled, then a little frightened. It made it worse when both Bulbasaur and Squirtle began to fade also. I held in the tears, I didn't want Mewtwo to worry. I knew Mewtwo was strong and that he would never fade as they had.
Mewtwo flew over to where they had just been floating and looked up at me expectantly. "Where did they go?" I felt a cold breeze rattle my real body. I was waking up. I didn't want to leave Mewtwo but I could not stop myself from awakening. I put up a mental battle which was why I lingered longer than the other three had.
Mewtwo looked scared for me, I was touched deeply. This Pokémon I had only just met cared for me better than the scientists who had known me for what seemed a lifetime. "What's wrong Amber? What's happening?" I didn't think I could answer him in my current state but I tried all the same.
"I think I must say goodbye Mewtwo," I said sadly.
"Goodbye?" he repeated, his eyes filling with tears. The world around us faded just as Mewtwo noticed the blurring of his eyes. "I feel...wrong." He said and wiped at his eyes. "What are these?"
I suppressed my own tears. I didn't think I'd see Mewtwo again. "Those are tears Mewtwo. You are crying." My consciousness was winning and it took more of my strength to stay with him.
"Crying?" he looked at the tears he had touched then at me. I reached out to wipe the rest from his face.
"I remember something that Amber's father told her. He said that when Pokémon were sad and in mourning they cried. Those tears that they wept were filled with life."
"I'm so sad," the tears kept coming and it wrenched my heart to see them in his eyes. I could not hold onto this wonderful place, or to him for much longer.
I came closer to him and cupped his face in my hands, "I have to go now, Mewtwo." The tears in my eyes came forth without restraint now.
"But why?" he asked desperately grasping at my arms.
"I don't know, but it's alright. Thank you for caring about me." I lowered myself so I could look at him levelly. I made sure to wipe the remaining tears away from his face. He touched my face to tracing the tears with his strange fingers. "You shouldn't cry Mewtwo. You are alive and life is wonderful." It was then that I fully awoke, leaving Mewtwo in that void once again.
Anger and misery burned inside me once again. I saw the tanks with my awakened eyes, the three dead Pokémon were still in their tanks. Mewtwo was there too and I could hear the urgent shouts. Something was happening to Mewtwo. Something had happened between my awakening and sleeping state. I pulled at the chains around my wrists, trying to break free of my prison.
I heard Mewtwo's voice in my head. He was screaming my name over and over, begging me to return. I could sense his fear, his pain and I wanted to answer but I was unsure how. My powers were still not under my control. "Doctor!" one of the scientists cried. "Mewtwo's brainwaves have lost control!"
I yelled at them with all my voice. "He's in terrible grief you imbeciles! He needs me!" The professor looked at me for only a moment.
"It's getting too much extreme emotion; it must not remember what happened here." He looked at me with coldness, "It must not remember her." The anger I felt went cold. They were going to make Mewtwo forget me. Would that not cause him more pain?
Again I pulled at my restraints begging my powers to help me get free and save Mewtwo.
"Administer the serum, now!" it took only seconds for it to happen. The glowing of Mewtwo's aura that had raged on my disappearance began to fade into nothing once again. He was in a comatose state again almost completely unaware of what was happening around him.
Rage and fear took over my mind at that point. Something snapped in my head, they had taken the one thing I had in this world. They would pay with their lives. I thought about nothing else than to cause pain to them, to make them suffer for what they had done.
My power surged through me with indigo light breaking my bonds and letting me drop to the floor but this time I could feel everything. I landed on one knee and propelled myself forwards with a howl of fury. Like a mad beast I launched myself at the professor unsure of what my body planned to do to him. Before I could reach him I was caught mid flight by his Pokémon guards.
A dog-like Pokémon with black fur and horns caught my shoulder and off balanced me. As a result we flew into a machine which sparked and smoked as we tussled. I beat off the dog only to be taken down from behind by something stronger. A large purple snake bound me in its coils, but even that could not stop me. My power exploded out of me like a bomb. Everything within a six metre radius was thrown backwards.
I was unsure whether or not I had inadvertently killed Mewtwo in the blast but at that moment I was blind to anything else. They now relied on machines to control me. Metal arms flew at me from all directions but I knocked them aside with ease. I had no idea that more Pokémon were coming until I lay buried under them all. Every single one tore into me, intending to kill me. Dogs, cats, bats, rats, snakes and living smoke spumers tried to do away with me.
Even though I didn't feel any physical pain until later, my instincts for self-preservation kicked in. I burst free of my attackers and only to realise I had been levitating. My powers were helping me to fly. With extreme speed I blasted my way upwards and out through the roof. Shrapnel tore parts of my skin as I shot away as fast as I could go. The true breeze felt like velvet to my skin. I knew after this moment I would never have peace of mind again.
Further and further I flew over the ocean and towards the forest covered land until my energy was spent and my sorrow and anger abated if only for that day. I tumbled from the sky smashing into trees making a pathway by way of pain. I crashed into the ground, my momentum making a trench in the ground as I slid to a stop. I looked up at where I had landed. It was a small clearing in a large forest with a river running through it.
Fearful wild Pokémon flew and scattered as I had burst out of the broken canopies of the trees. I hated my weakness. I hated myself. I feared and hated everything yet it still continued to exist. I wanted to destroy what I had no power to, not any longer. Human's had taken everything from me. I had nothing now.
I only realised I was bleeding as I dragged myself to the river to drink. It felt wonderful but not enough to dull the pain in my constantly bleeding wounds. I lay there quietly in the leaves under the dying sun for a while only breathing and waiting for death. Pokémon reappeared.
I wanted them to finish me quickly, I could not hold onto consciousness much longer. The bug ones stayed and strangely sprayed thick web like material onto my wounds, stopping their bleeding.
Why were these creatures helping me?
As time went by, my vision darkened; though it was not enough to block out a human figure rushing towards me. I went to move away but had no strength left. There was a snake like Pokémon with him, small and blue. He came too close for comfort. I managed to move my arm to push him away but he knocked it aside. "I'm here to help." His voice tried to calm me and it partially worked as I was too tired to remain alert. I still did not believe him, no human ever helped me. The last thing I saw before I passed out was his impossibly red spikey hair as he carried me safely in his arms.
