EPISODE 2: The Laboratory of the Giant Laser

Whistling merrily, Deoxys drew with chalk on the hallway walls. The dark stone that their castle was built out of was perfect for showing off brightly colored chalk marks. He drew a scene of boats on the ocean, thinking about their mission a few days ago. He included several periscopes of submerged submarines as well as a flock of Wingulls flying overhead.

Pausing a moment, he looked over his mosaic. It stretched from one stairwell to the next, all the way down the hall. It had started with a few flowers and grew into this. He was almost out of chalk. But it was strange. The whole time he had drawing, he had not been interrupted.

Had he seen Mewtwo today? Deoxys thought over his morning and couldn't remember running into him. Sometimes he locked himself in a room for hours upon hours of study or experiments. But he usually saw his elder at least once.

Deoxys searched and found a weak signal from near their bedrooms. It seemed like him, but that weak? He wondered what Mewtwo was doing. Teleporting up to that level, he went to find out.

Mewtwo was in his personal library. The walls were covered in shelves that were packed with all sorts of large and difficult books. There was a grand picture window covered by drapes, which were dark red with gold trim. The floor had a geometrically patterned area rug, also dark red with gold. He claimed that the decor had been here since he took over, but Deoxys felt that he liked it.

There was a fire in the fireplace. Mewtwo was curled up in an armchair close to the fire, with a yellow blanket covering him. Although he didn't stir as Deoxys approached, he had to have noticed.

"Mewtwo?" Deoxys stopped in front of him. "Are you cold? It doesn't seem bad in here."

"You're not as sensitive to temperature as most," he replied, then sneezed. "I'm sick."

"How'd you get sick?"

"I picked up a virus on that naval base. That accounts for why the Pokemon I encountered seemed like such weaklings."

"Oh. Am I going to get sick?" The thought worried him, as he'd never been sick before. He'd seen sick people on TV though, and they seemed in an awful state, like Mewtwo now.

This made him laugh, then cough. "No, no, you're immune. Heck, what am I saying? It's the same thing you were."

"I see. Well I'd try talking to it, but I know viruses don't think much, so it might not understand. Can I do something to help?"

"Get me some more water; my mind isn't steady enough for telekinesis. And if you're up to it, make some soup."

"Sure thing." He picked up the glass on the table and went to fill it with water.

Mewtwo nodded when he brought it back. "Remember to read the can first."

Deoxys laughed, even if it did embarrass him. "Yeah, I will."

The first time he had tried making soup, he thought he had to heat up the soup in the can. Without even opening it, he placed a can on a hotplate that Mewtwo used in his experiments. After fifteen minutes, the can burst with hot steam and condensed soup. It had been very messy and the soup wasn't good either. This time, he read the instructions on the chicken noodle soup and made it properly.

Mewtwo didn't say anything when he got the mug of hot soup, but Deoxys knew that he appreciated it. He was like that, not revealing his feelings much. Deoxys waited for a little while quietly, then asked, "So what do you want to do?"

He flicked his tail in response. "Do? Nothing. I'm not much good while my body is fighting off this infection."

It was something like he was. "Sorry."

"There's nothing for you to apologize for. I was just going to sleep, but I can't sleep with this chill, or with how my body aches. Then I was going to read, but I can't concentrate."

"You're bored, huh?"

"Miserably bored."

Deoxys twirled and untwirled his whip arms, then flicked them as an idea came. "Hey, can you tell me about when you met me? Cause I don't remember, but you said stuff happened before I met you."

"Yes, the experiment had unexpected complications. Especially for you." He closed his eyes for a moment, then looked into the fire. "So you want to hear stories?"

"I can help tell them!" he said brightly. Then he rethought it. "Oh, when it gets to a part that I know."

"Hmm. I suppose I can manage that. It's just remembering."

There was a minute of just the fire crackling as Mewtwo thought. Deoxys tilted his head. "So what happened?"

Mewtwo looked back at him. His blue eyes were a bit hazy, making it difficult to get a hint of what he was thinking. "You are such a child."

"Oh, um... do you mean that in a good way, or bad?"

"In a good way, I suppose." He rested his chin on his hand. "Well it started when I was reading scientific blogs online. Checking up on how the humans were progressing, you see. I read one for a worldwide project headed by Professor Rowan to study how GTS evolutions worked."

"How what worked?"

Pausing, he switched over to English, as he usually did if an explanation required a lot of science. "GTS stands for the Global Trading System, a digitalized system for registering traded Pokemon, then transporting them all over the world. It was always known that some Pokemon could possibly evolve when they were traded between Trainers, but it was only a possibility. GTS transformed this phenomena and I'm one of the scientists interested in knowing why. At Veldime University, a group was planning to test part of the process and I went to witness."

For himself, Deoxys was always eager for a chance to practice his second language. "Did they invite you?"

"No, I snuck in. The end result of the experiment, though, surprised us all."


-+-

The footsteps of three people echoed through the concrete corridor. Various metal pipes and electrical lines stretched along the perfectly straight test center. Although it didn't look like much, this mile long structure was part of one of the top research facilities in the world.

"We know the genes of a Pokemon are incredibly flexible," one of the scientists said. "One Pokemon can develop into a variety of forms when exposed to environmental stimuli and stresses."

"Heck, Eevee can evolve at least seven different ways," another added. "And a recent report says that one type, Rotom, can alter its bodily form and functions depending on the kind of device it's attached to."

"Rotom is also a ghost," the third said. "Ghosts are just plain weird as it is."

They stopped by a door; the first scientist searched his pocket for a set of keys. "But what we're interested in today is the energy emitted by the Global Trading System. It's an established fact that some Pokemon can evolve when they are traded between Trainers. However, it was previously unpredictable if, say a Haunter, would evolve or not."

"But once GTS went online, these trade evolutions became more common. Using an ID swap on a Pokeball used to only net a trade evolution one out of four times. Now it's upwards of seven out of eight times, or even higher."

"There we go," the first scientist mumbled as he pulled out the key ring. "Trade evolutions have also become more widespread. More and more Pokemon are gaining additional forms through trades. And trades with items. It used to be that you could only find Steelix in areas with high iron deposits. But now you can swap an Onix with an iron barbell and get a Steelix that way."

"You don't even have to completely trade it over sometimes," the second scientist added as they entered the control room. "There's reports of technical malfunctions resulting in aborted trades where the original Trainer will receive an evolved Pokemon."

"Of course, nobody really wants to 'fix' the problem when it produces such powerful Pokemon. But GTS has a lot of other hassles and kinks that need to be smoothed out. We're looking to discover what it is about the system that causes these trade evolutions."

The third scientist, just an intern, looked over the control room. It was mostly electronics set in protective high-grade plastics, so that the testers were not in danger from the intense energy levels the lab produced. The array of monitors, switches, and buttons would be confusing to an outsider, as well as not particularly 'cool' looking. "I thought we were just here to fire off the giant laser."

The other two laughed. "Well that too," the second one admitted. "But there has to be an official reason."

"Besides, if this comes up with something big, we're definitely getting a better grant next year."

"Typical," a quiet voice muttered in the Pokemon language. "Playing with mock weapons, caring about money, not thinking about the Pokemon that could be negatively affected by your research and actions. Humans are so predictable."

Mewtwo wasn't even in the laser's hall or the control room. He was several hundred feet above them in an underground storage room. Through the skill of scrying with his mind's eye, he was able to watch and listen to the scientists below as if he were really there with them. He was also interested in the subject they were studying. GTS evolutions hinted something about a Pokemon's DNA structure, but what? He might be the only Pokemon in the world interested in the nitty-gritty details of biology and genes, but he was a world expert on the subject.

And they were firing a giant laser, after all. It would be a pity to miss that.

The three scientists were at the control panels, setting up their experiment. "We do have people crunching numbers and analyzing real-time trades to find patterns of evolution and signs of potential new lines. Our end is to test various aspects of the trading process to see if any one part is performing the evolutions or if it's the whole system. So of course, we've got the laser to test."

"This part of the system scrambles the Pokeball information for teleportation, then reassembles it at the end location with the ID number of the new Trainer branded to the electrical tag."

"What frequency and range does GTS use?" the intern asked.

"That's part of our problem," the first one replied. "They say it deviates by only a tenth."

"A tenth? But that's a huge range."

"I know, so I ran random tests on five GTS stations and got a common bandwidth. We'll start from there. Here's the numbers." He passed along a notebook.

They began tuning the system for firing. "So why are we firing at a meteorite instead of a Pokeball?"

"We don't want to use a Pokemon for this stage of testing, obviously. But we've got the next best thing: Dedrias Desinathine Runaria."

"A virus?"

"More specifically, an airborne virus capable of surviving in outer space. We're not sure where DDR originated, but it shows up frequently with falling stars and infects Pokemon. DDR comes close to a Pokemon's genetic structure, but lacks the full autonomous nature and processes of life. If any alterations occur to this virus, we can be almost certain that similar alterations would happen in a Pokemon."

"Ah, and DDR is fairly well known. But you know, it always struck me as odd that we keep finding DDR strains on meteorites. Where are they coming from? If they're well documented as occurring on Earth, then what are they doing in space?"

"You know how Clefairies come from the moon?"

"Oh, right."

"What about Clefairies?" the second scientist asked.

"They have some way of getting between the Earth and the Moon. It's been proven now, but we don't know how they manage it. And if a Clefairy can manage travel in outer space, then certainly other Pokemon and a simple virus can do that same."

"Right. I've got my part set up."

"And I've got the numbers in. How's the laser?"

"All systems are ready. No problems apparent. You ready to fire?"

The first scientist smiled. "I've been waiting for this all day. Let's go."

"Finally," Mewtwo grumbled. "Chatterboxes."

At one end of the hall, the machinery began humming. Power accumulated and went into the split second process of forming a giant laser beam. At the other end of the hall, a lone meteorite sat still.


-+-

The life of a virus is not that interesting. For as much trouble as these fragments of genetic data cause, they are really only concerned about a few things.

Find energy source.

Replicate.

Find energy source.

Replicate.

And concerned is a rather strong term to use when it comes to a virus.

Dedrias Disinathine Runaria had been given a few cells from a Ditto to infest, but the cells were weak and separate. The virus had settled into a hibernation state to wait until a living cell became available. Although it had some energy to take off into the air, it would be at the whims of the wind to take it to a host. The extremely simple judgment of DDR had decided on hibernation.

DDR was not concerned about living an interesting life. It was just 'concerned' with existing. But in an instant, its life was about to become very interesting. It was about to enter the wild world of being a complex organism.


-+-

A riveting boom filled the control room. It sounded like a concrete truck filled with high explosives had been blown to smithereens.

"We don't need the added sound effects," the first scientist said.

The intern grinned sheepishly, putting his MP3 player up. "Well, that is the most disappointing part of firing the big laser, the fact that all it does is a long warm-up hum, then a slight buzz."

"Wait a sec," the second scientist said. "Something happened."

"No kidding," Mewtwo said in the room far above them.

He could tell some of what had happened. The high energy laser had struck the virus and its host Ditto cells at full force in the scrambling stage. When it went into the reassembling stage, the accident had happened. The laser had fused the virus, cells, meteorite, and some of the tunnel's protective shielding together permanently. Then, in something he couldn't yet explain, the energy of the event supercharged the natural growth cycle of the Ditto. In less than a second, it had grown to a fully grown five foot tall Pokemon.

But this was no Ditto that lay in shock on the floor of the laser testing hall. The DDR virus had formed into something different, something almost like an abstract painting of a human come to life. Certainly, it had some traits of a Ditto; the new Pokemon was genetically unstable, shifting forms repeatedly. But it was more like a distant cousin.

Mewtwo shook his head. Even though he wasn't expecting the virus to morph into a full-fledged Pokemon, he expected it to do some fusing. His theory was that it would turn into a different disease, perhaps even a devastating Pokemon plague. "All of your scientists are fools."

Well, he'd seen what he'd come to see. That was it. He got up to leave, but on a whim, checked back on the scientists and the new Pokemon.

"Then it is this part of the process," the second scientist said, excited. "I wasn't expecting the potential for change to be this great, though."

"Now we just need to find out why one Pokemon evolves and another doesn't, and we could have amazing new evolutions to show the world."

"But what is that one down there?" the intern asked. "Is it a parasite? It is a mutated virus, after all."

"I've noticed its form hasn't settled yet. But that is promising. It could become popular within the Leagues, if it's got some power to draw on."

"Scanners show that it's only level 1, so it's hard to say now what its potential is."

"We should study it for a while. I mean, it could be anything."

"It's most likely close to a Ditto; that's what the virus was last given to feed on."

"Only level 1," Mewtwo whispered to himself.

...

He was never quite sure what he would wake up as. This morning, it was a particularly unpleasant slug form. Like a Slugma minus the molten lava, he was barely holding himself together with his Psychic powers.

"It's only level one, sir. We can't tell what exactly it can do at this point."

A voice he was growing to hate spoke up. "We know enough to know that this version is useless. Restructure the gene sequence."

"It seems anxious about this, sir."

"It's changing too much to remember this. We'll get the perfect Pokemon."

...

Except that he could remember that. He didn't like remembering that and sometimes wished that they had been right. But he had made them all pay for his suffering in the end. "But that was my problem, and this is yours," he muttered.

Still, not many people realized what it was like to be a Slugma without the molten lava, barely keeping together.

"I'll probably regret this," he said, but then teleported down to the hallway of the giant laser. The scientists were some distance away still. He looked down at the new Pokemon.

DDR was coming out of its hibernation state, but the process was far more complicated than before. Its body trembled as a vast array of new systems began feeding foreign information into its new mind. To the untrained eye, it seemed to be having nightmares. Mewtwo could tell that it couldn't yet comprehend things well enough to have nightmares. It was going to need time to get used to its new life.

A hum of a small vehicle announced the arrival of the three scientists. Mewtwo turned to them for study. Granted, they weren't funded by a mafia like the ones who had worked on him had been. But they were careless in the way scientists could be. They relied on public funding for their work, so if someone offered a large sum of money in exchange for this DDR mutant, they would take it with little thought about its well-being.

However, it didn't matter what they would do, because they wouldn't get a chance to do it. Mewtwo summoned a random anvil and dropped it on their cart, then teleported back to his home base with DDR. He had a laboratory of his own. It was one of the top facilities in the world, even if no one knew about it.

After placing it in a development vat so that it had less of a chance to hurt itself, he began his own study.


-+-

Mewtwo had always worked alone. It made things simpler. He knew he could trust himself, so he never had to worry about being betrayed. He knew he could keep a secret, so he never had to worry about information leaks. And he knew that he could pull off any plan he designed.

Well, he could pull off any plan if there weren't any random disturbances to the mission. Like a kitchen fire alerting authorities to pay attention to the location he was at. Or an Ursaring with fleas on a berserk rampage to get rid of them. Or a sudden rain of Poliwags, or any number of random events that could happen on any random day. Randomness was the bane of Mewtwo's existence.

There were some problems to working alone. For one, he was the only one to do everything. Attaining the power to rule the world was a dangerous proposal. Many people rejected his proposal on the sole reason of remaining 'free'. Thus, he had to come up with multi-layered and multi-stepped plots to achieve his lofty goal. Anything that required multiple steps or layers required a lot of prep work, which he had to do alone.

Now he had another Pokemon in his base of operations. He might be able to pass off some physical chores onto this one; it certainly looked strong enough for physical labor. Maybe. Mewtwo picked up one of the subject's limbs and examined it again. It was technically an arm, but it had split into two appendages that were more like whips than arms. He curled one whip around his fingers; the subject showed no response to this, still working on deciphering itself.

He glanced at his digital recorder and mentally pressed the 'record' button. "DDR appears to have no bone structures. Indeed, I cannot find many specialized systems within its body, not even blood. It seems capable of hardening its 'flesh', so to speak, to form structures like a skeleton, either exo- or endo- depending on form. This matches the known capabilities of Ditto, which can form itself into Steel or Rock type Pokemon, but lacking their defenses." Then he turned the recorder off.

How practical would these twin-whip appendages be? They appeared flexible, but durable. It was difficult to tell with the subject still unconscious. And yet...

...

He was strapped to a chair, with some kind of helmet trying to attach itself to his head. The last time he had seen something like this, he had been subjected to total darkness and strange noises of varying intensities. He squirmed as much as he could to keep this one from latching on. When he got a free shot, he mentally took a clipboard from the scientist's hands and smashed it into the man's face.

"Aw ***," the scientists grumbled. "That thing gave me a bloody nose."

"Would you tranquilize it before we have to send someone else to the nurse's station?"

The one who had been asked hesitated, then replied, "Do we have a tranquilizer gun around?"

Since he couldn't speak their language yet, Mewtwo snarled.

...

And yet Mewtwo wanted to finish as many of these observations and tests as he could while the DDR mutant was unconscious.

He moved away from the table and went to his workstation. Checking several screens against each other, he turned the digital recorder back on. "One system that has specialized, thankfully, is the digestive system. Viruses absorb energy from their source cell, which hints that it might acquire health draining skills later on. However, the development of a digestive track means that he can eat like a normal Pokemon. Thus I need to decipher what it can and cannot eat before it is awake."

He checked several screens showing an interior scan of the new Pokemon's body. As he'd noted earlier, this Pokemon took a lot of physical structures from the Ditto line. That included the digestive system.

"The tooth structure is non-existent and the jaw, while barely visible when shut, is capable of unhinging. This conforms to the Ditto's habit of swallowing food whole and indeed, the rest of its digestive structure is formed for that. From the chemical composition of the stomach fluids, I am certain it is an omnivore, capable of digesting plant and animal material. It is..."

He looked up and partially closed his eyes, an old habit he had while recalling something he had read. In particular, he was scanning over multiple books on Pokemon care and habits for a Ditto's feeding patterns.

"It is recommended to owners of Ditto to keep their diet varied. Plant material is the primary source of diet, such as berries, fruits, vegetables, and weaker leaves. Meat should be allowed for necessary nutrients, but limited to restrain gastrointestinal problems. Dairy products are fine, if also limited. However, anything crunchy or of a hard crystalline structure is to be avoided. It is noted that most Dittos do like some hard candies that would dissolve in the mouth, but this should be given as an occasional treat only." He turned the recorder off.

So now he had another Pokemon to feed. Given that it had evolved from a parasitic fragment of DNA, he probably had to take care of and teach it as well. All of that would cut into the time he needed for his world domination plans. And this one wouldn't be a reliable subordinate until it matured. Goodness knows how long that would take.

Why should he even bother? He did fine working alone (save for random acts of stupidity). There was no reason to put all that effort into gaining a subordinate of undetermined ability. And his study of Pokemon evolutions was only a curiosity, not a vital part of his plans. This study was in the name of science and that was it.

Was that it?

...

"I don't believe this project is worth continuing," the lead scientist said. "Mewtwo is getting dangerous, and he seems to be more intelligent than your group realizes. Everyone's been out with some injury in the past month, myself included."

"This study is in the name of science," Giovanni replied.

Inside his containment field, Mewtwo's anger flared. That was a blatant lie. This man wanted power and control. He wanted to control Mewtwo's power.

Using his psychic powers to confuse and hypnotize those who worked on him, the young Pokemon had learned to speak the human language. But he didn't let anyone realize it yet. Once he solved the puzzle of breaking this field, they would learn his full wrath.

"Someone might get killed," the lead scientist stated. He realized that the argument wasn't likely to work, but he was already afraid.

"You would give up the pursuit of knowledge so quickly?" Giovanni pulled a pen out of his pocket and reached for a notebook. "I could have someone speak to you about reassignment."

For now, the scientist's fear of Giovanni was greater. "I just wanted to relay some of our concerns to you. If we could get more insurance..."

He was hoping to squeeze out a bit more money before he dropped the project and ran. Mewtwo growled softly.

...

Mewtwo clenched his fist. That was what he had saved DDR from. If he dropped this project now, it could be snatched up by someone more careless. And he didn't have to keep it around for long. Just long enough to teach it to defend itself and keep hidden from humans.

Then he would have to care for it. It might help if it had a proper name. Dedrias Desinathine Runaria might be its scientific name, provided he tacked on a variant, but it would be awkward to address a fellow Pokemon like that. Mewtwo tapped his finger on the desk. He'd probably write a scientific paper on this mutant, if only for his own use. Then he'd have to have a species name. He considered what the former virus was and how it had come to be a full-fledged Pokemon.

He turned the tape recorder back on. "I believe that I will name him Deoxys."


-+-

(From a voice-recording of Mewtwo's observations)

The subject Deoxys has settled into a predictable brain activity pattern that has synced up with his bodily functions. He should be able to awaken in the next day or two. In relative terms, everything is coming up normal and functional.

It does pose an intriguing quandary. According to VU's records, the virus was given the specialized cells that allow a Ditto to morph into any Pokemon. Despite having no brain cells available, Deoxys has formed a brain that indicates a high level of intelligence for a Pokemon. He won't come up to my level, but he should be slightly above average when tested as a human. Which, obviously, is in the upper range of Pokemon.

With this high potential, he has some instinctual behavior patterns preset. Most of these follow the patterns apparent in his parent line of the Ditto. Despite that, he lacks the full range of Transform that Ditto is capable of. He appears to have four different forms he can shift between. With his current instability, he is changing between them randomly. And with that lack, he has a few instinctual patterns that do not follow the Ditto line. Instead, these patterns follow the typical Psychic template. From this, we can safely assume that he is a Psychic type; I'm fairly certain it's monotype.

So with no brain cells to fuse with, Deoxys has formed an advanced mind of a type different than that of which the virus fused with. This adds more weight to the theory that all Pokemon come from the same genetic source and, under extreme circumstances like being hit by a giant laser, any Pokemon has the potential to shift to another kind or type. Unfortunately, the single source does seem to be that pest Mew. All data points to Mew and only Mew.

I bet that she'll still be a royal pain next time I see her.

There is still the problem the VU scientists were tackling about GTS traded Pokemon. If all it takes is a particular bandwidth of laser energy to cause freak evolutions, why is it only some Pokemon that evolve this way and not others? I would expect some deaths to occur within the trading process if it was simply random, as sudden shifts of genetic structure could be too drastic for the Pokemon to handle. Or even a GTS cancer outbreak if the trading process is that rough. It might simply be that there hasn't been enough time for such cancers to appear. But what records I've reviewed show that the evolved and unevolved Pokemon that are traded are healthy. Maybe unhappy about being traded, but healthy.

I will have to continue observing their progress, along with that of Deoxys.

...

Extra:

"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for..."

"Clefairy!"