AN: Credit here goes to Star's Roaring Blazing, who lent me the use of her OC Reishi and her family, although in this instance Reishi is little more than a child. Thanks, Blaze. You rock. ;)
This story details two early events in a certain Mewtwo's life which may seem insignificant but in reality were important defining moments.
Mecha: Our Little Secret
Mecha was lost.
This he admitted to himself without shame or embarrassment. He knew next to nothing about the Kalos Region, it was only natural he would lose his way. He was trying to find Geosenge Town, but had ended up here...Arceus-knows-where.
The Mewtwo, as he flew above a forested landscape, observed the land below with mild interest. His cloak, dark brown and covering his body in such a way that only part of the left side of his face could be seen and his lower body, flapped in the wind. It was no coincidence that the cloak hid his body so- for the Legendary had quite the secret to hide. Mechanical whirring could be heard as he shrugged his shoulders to get some feeling back into them, and hidden behind the hood, a red point of light flashed once or twice.
If you haven't figured it out by now, then I am sorely disappointed. Mecha was a cyborg, having been created by scientists who had insufficient data to complete the entirety of his body; born without a right arm, and with the entirety of his upper right skull- eye included- the scientists rushed to save him quickly for his brain had been exposed. With the newborn connected to a life-support machine, the scientists considered whether keeping him alive was ethical since with his deficiencies, he likely had no future.
In the end, they concluded that the project was a failure. The research notes they had borrowed on the Cinnabar Mewtwo project had been early and considered outdated, they should have seen it coming. But even despite the failure, they decided to continue bringing up the Mewtwo, for failure of not, he was their only creation and therefore their responsibility. This was their first opportunity to raise a lifeform of their own making, and they wouldn't pass it up, no matter how damaged the result.
And so the years went by, with the crippled Mewtwo being hooked up to a special but cumbersome life-support machine to keep him alive while he lived with the scientists, who he came to regard as his family. They treated him with all respect and care like he was indeed one of their own, and worked tirelessly to find a way to allow him to live properly without fear of his deficiencies.
Eventually came the time where technology became advanced enough that the group managed to develop cybernetics: a robotic eye set inside a metal plating that would grant him vision in the right side and protect the part of his skull where the brain was exposed, and an entire working robotic arm with three sharp talons and attached shoulder-blade. They wasted no time in implementing the cybernetics, and they fitted the Mewtwo perfectly. After a few months of testing and getting used to them, the Mewtwo was able to use the robotics as if they had always been a part of his body. The scientists, satisfied with their success, begged Mecha to leave them and go see the world- now he finally had the chance, he could. Although reluctant, Mecha relented and he left. He hasn't seen them since.
He aquired his name later on, when people commented on his robotic parts. He learned that he cut an intimidating figure, and didn't want to cause others needless fear- instilled in him by the scientists, this Mewtwo didn't want to be the strongest. He wanted to live, to feel- to know what friendship was, and see the world through the eyes of an adventurer, not a fighter. He received the cloak from a beggar for helping him, and has been using it to lessen the fear effect he has on others ever since. He never hated what he was- in fact, he's rather proud of himself. But he always knew that outright approaching people in his form was not a good idea, so for their sakes, he rarely takes off the cloak.
Ah yes, so...back on track. Mecha had travelled far to experience the Kalos region, of which he had only recently heard. But in his naievite, he had gotten himself lost and now he had no idea what to do, or where to go. I suppose I could ask some locals, he thought to himself, descending down below the tree-line to do just that. Surely the local Pokemon would know where Geosenge was.
Landing in a clearing, the cyborg made sure his cybernetics were well hidden. He looked around himself, wondering where he should start-
A scream pierced the air.
Mecha was moving in a flash. He was no hero, but when he heard a scream like that, it generally meant someone was in trouble. He wouldn't stand for trouble if he could help it.
He could have floated through the trees, but he much preferred the feel of solid ground beneath his feet, so he ran instead and dodged through the forestry where warranted. He honed in on where the scream had come from, visible eye narrowed as tree after tree after bush flashed past him. Eventually, he burst through some trees into a clearing where a Flareon was sobbing her eyes out on the floor; casting a momentary eye around the area to make sure there were no threats, the Mewtwo came over slowly so as not to startle her, and bent down on one knee to the Flareon's level.
"What happened here, ma'am?" he asked her gently, and quickly added, "I mean you no harm," when she whipped her head up to glare at him suspiciously, eyes puffy and red, cheeks soaked with tears. She watched him like that, saw the genuine concern on what she could see of his face. Little by little the hostility drained from her face like the tears, and she managed to stammer out in renewed fear:
"My...my baby...he's been k-kidnapped...! I tried to stop him, but it was too late, he took my son, my precious Kuro away..."
She almost started sobbing again, but Mecha quickly followed with another question, "Stop him? Stop who? Who stole your son, ma'am? I might be able to help you, but I need you to calm down."
The calming tone of the Mewtwo seemed to have the effect of mellowing the Flareon a little, and she sighed; "A Sandslash...a Sandslash did it, he came out of nowhere and literally just attacked me and my child while we were gathering berries..." She gestured to the dropped, rudimentarily crafted basked and berries strewn about. "I..I tried to fight him, but he just pushed me away...he hit me right here-" she indicated an area on her side that looked bruised, "-winded me, so I could barely move. He just...picked Kuro up and disappeared." Her tone and gaze became pleading. "Please, you have to understand, Kuro's only a few months old, he doesn't know any better! That monster could do anything to him and my son wouldn't know why, he wouldn't fight back, he doesn't even know how!" Fresh tears began to flow once more. "You're the only person around, I don't care if you want payment or whatever, j-just please save my son and I'll give you whatever I can when it's over! P-please..."
The look of concern visible under the hood deepened and Mecha looked up and around himself again, before back down at the Flareon. Choosing his words carefully, he said, "Ma'am, I recommed you go find somewhere safe, rest up. Get that injury looked after." She made as if to protest, but Mecha interjected, "I'll get your son back. Just be sure to look after yourself, you're not doing anybody any favours lying here and feeling sorry."
The Flareon's face was a picture of gratitude and relief framed by tears as he lifted away into the air. As he flew off, she called out something to him but it was lost to the wind.
His red cybernetic eye spun behind the cover of the hood, and Mecha started his search. The culprit couldn't have gone far, and he was fairly sure not many Sandslash and Eevee were found travelling together often. She said the kidnapper had just vanished after taking the boy; meaning there was no clear direction in which he could look. No problem to him, however. He prepared to put his psychic abilities to use, and then started sweeping the forest from above.
It wasn't hard to locate them. Being a Mewtwo, Mecha had extrasensory sensing abilities that were more accurate than most Psychics. He found a Sandslash and an Eevee in a clearing by a pond nearly on the other side of the forest. He concealed himself in some branches as he regarded the strange sight before him.
The Sandlash had his back to him, and was chanting in some weird language that Mecha didn't recognise. His words were strange and unnatural and all twisted up in a way that seemed unbelonging of any normal person. His tone of voice was smooth, somewhat deep, but infinitely eerie. He was swaying slightly, like a man possessed, and the waters of the pond reflected him perfectly. Mecha couldn't make out the Sandlash's face in the reflection from where he was.
The Eevee- Kuro- was sitting quite calmly, which surprised Mecha in relativity to the situation; however, unlike with the Sandlash, he had a better view of the child's face, and it told him volumes. The expression was one of attempted serenity, but his eyes gave away a sense of anxiety. His posture was stiff, like he didn't want to appear weak, and his jaw was set.
So he didn't understand why he was here. The Sandlash had likely done nothing to hurt the boy, merely took him along, and being just above a toddler, said boy hadn't resisted. But seeing his mother get struck had likely planted doubt in his mind, and he was right now wondering if being with the strange hedgehog Pokemon was a good idea.
Whatever the case, Mecha was relieved that the baby hadn't been harmed. Now to deal with the Sandslash.
Having no real plan in mind, the Mewtwo managed to get down the branches without creating a racket- his cloak got snagged a few times but he got it free before it could attract decent attention- and upon reaching the ground, adopted a sneaking posture and crept up slowly to the two. The Sandslash was so preoccupied by his chanting he didn't notice the Legendary, which suited Mecha fine. He didn't want to fight this fellow, just get the child back to his mother.
Narrowing his eyes and setting his teeth, he was only one or two paces away now. The Sandslash still hadn't noticed him. The boy, sitting only slightly to the left of the Sandslash with his back turned as well, was about as oblivious. Mecha snaked closer, and when he was within arm's reach, he extended his left organic hand to the Eevee-
Mecha's mechanical right shoulder made a slight whirring sound as he turned his body to prolongate his reach, and he was close enough that both Eevee and Sandslash had heard it. The Eevee's ear flicked and he jumped to his paws, spinning around to see what had made the noise. He saw Mecha reaching for him, and looked into the hood to see the Mewtwo's face. He caught a glimpse of the red robotic eye, and he backed off with a little frightened whimper.
Mecha managed to mutter a curse before a pair of razors flashed before his face and sent him stumbling back; the Sandslash followed this with a kick to Mecha's stomach, who felt all the air leave him as he fell back onto his bottom. He got up quickly, but the Sandslash hadn't made to attack him again; he simply stood there, head tilted to the side as he watched the one who had snuck up on him. It was then that Mecha got a good look at the other's face, and he blinked.
Instead of the usual sea-blue eyes and sclera, this Sandslash had perfectly white sclera and slit pupils like a snake's, ringed by a green iris. And while Mecha was fairly sure Sandslash had mouths (they simply managed to look invisible when closed), this particular individual had no mouth at all, for when he spoke, no opening of where the mouth should have been happened and the creature's voice simply spoke out.
"What exactly were you trying to achieve?" he said, with what Mecha detected was near-genuine curiosity. "Bring him back to his mother? You fool. He has better use with me as a sacrifice than to her as a mortal son."
Mecha raised an eyebrow at this. The guy talked weird. He wanted to sacrifice the Eevee? And why did the Sandslash apply the term 'mortal' when he likely was as much a mortal as anyone else? "I would ask you what you were going to sacrifice the kid for, but something tells me you won't divulge..." he said, standing calm and still. The Sandslash shook his head.
"No. I won't. It's not something you could understand...or comprehend. And correction: I will sacrifice him. Once I've dealt with you."
Great. A fanatic, or cultist or whatever...strange though. He talks like he's above me...he refers to everyone else as mortal.
Is he immortal? Or delusional?
The Sandslash certainly didn't look like any other he had seen, what with the eyes. And he carried himself with such calm confidence, but of a cold kind. Bordering on arrogance. Mecha didn't know why, but he felt the need to take caution with this fellow.
The Sandslash immediately charged with his razor claws, and Mecha had to use all his wit and reflexes to dodge the guy; he was clearly used to physical fighting. He ducked under a slash, but decided he'd been on the defensive long enough. He rose and then kicked the Sandslash in the stomach, and the other Pokemon flew back to land on his backside, letting out a surprised grunt. Mecha raised an eyebrow. Okay, so that was anticlimatic. He employed his psychic powers, then levitated a large nearby stone, and when the Sandslash got up, he was greeted by a stone to the face.
Mecha walked calmly over to the fallen enemy, who looked like a few of his bones had broken. "Did you expect me to give you a fair fight or something?" the Mewtwo questioned the other. "I'm a Mewtwo. What exactly were you thinking?"
"I...I have the favour of a God!" the Sandslash spat at him from the ground, one eye closed. "I am invincible!"
"Yeah. Right," Mecha nodded at him in understanding. "But clearly invicibility doesn't equal good battling and...well, invincibility. You've lost."
The Sandslash looked genuinely stricken, as if something was supposed to have happened which hadn't. "I don't understand..." he admitted. "I offered two sacrifices already...surely that was enough to gather His attention?"
"I dunno," Mecha shrugged, "but either way, you're done. I'll be leaving with the kid. My advice? Go get therapy."
The Sandslash looked absolutely enraged, and lifted himself by his elbow, pointing at Mecha with one of his claws. "You...I will remember your face..and your name, Mecha!" Mecha's surprise at the other knowing his name was evident to the Sandslash, who leered, "Oh yes. I know your name...and I will keep it very close to heart. One day...many years from now...I will have gained the favour of the one I intend to serve. And then...I will have my vengeance. You..will die."
Mecha would have responded, but he backed away as the Sandslash turned into a pile of purple goo, then shifted into a different shape before resolving into an Abra. "You will see!" came his last threat before he used Teleport and disappeared. Huh... Mecha thought; A Ditto. I should have guessed.
The other's death threat unnerved him. It seemed...prophetic almost. And he kept mentioning a God he wanted to serve...for certain, the guy was trouble. Unfortunately, he had escaped...but the cyborg knew he would meet the other again one day.
Fate and destiny worked in funny ways like that.
He adjusted the clasp holding the cloak around his neck, and turned to the Eevee; the kid hadn't moved from his spot, just stood there with his legs shaking. However, when he saw Mecha taking interest in him, he slowly backed away a little. The Sandslash had been scary, but what he had seen under this stranger's hood...
"Shh, it's alright," Mecha assured, making sure the cloak hid any trace of his robotic parts. "I'm not here to hurt you. Can you understand me? At least a little?"
The boy looked uncertainly towards the trees, then back at Mecha again; he seemed to recognise the cyborg Mewtwo's words as calming. Certainly, while he had seemed terrifying to behold beneath that hood, he didn't give off the same disturbing vibe that the Sandslash had given him. And the Sandslash had hurt his mother...this strange Pokemon seemed to genuinely want to help.
The little Eevee was still too young to really understand many things, but he did feel readier to trust Mecha than the one who had whisked him away. It was therefore with slow deliberation that Kuro nodded a little, looking cautiously up at the Mewtwo. Mecha knew he was trying to get another look at the cybernetics, so he sighed and bent down, scooping up the child in his organic arm- he struggled once or twice but quickly calmed- and floated upwards, leaving the scene behind.
"I honestly can't thank you enough! Oh, thank you, thank you so much stranger! Kuro, are you alright?"
The Flareon mother was fussing over her son who made a face as she started licking him clean of non-existent dirt, squirming. Mecha, standing nearby, merely gave a short bow; "It wasn't an issue. I'm just glad I got there in time...your son would seemingly have been sacrificed." He put up his hand when she was about to launch into another series' of thank-yous, adding, "No thanks is needed, really. I was just passing through, looking for directions to Geosenge town."
After fussing over her son a moment more, she looked up at him with appreciation. "Well, I only wish I had something material to thank you with, but...well, if you're looking for directions, I might be able to help you."
"Really?" Mecha replied, to which she nodded her head.
"I haven't ever left this forest, but if you follow the human mining road nearby, you'll find Terminus Cave. There's a family of Dragon Types living there, really friendly. They've been around a bit, so they might know more about directions than me..."
Mecha listened carefully, and nodded in thanks. "Then you've more than repaid me ma'am, thank you. I wish you and your son a happy life, but I must be going."
As he already started to leave through the treeline, the Flareon called after him, "Thanks again! Good luck on your travels!" The Eevee made a loud sort of appreciative unintelligible babble after him, and Mecha made sure to wave behind him before they left his sight.
Terminus Cave. It had been surprisingly difficult to get here, not due to the route- it had been straightforward enough- but the trainers deparate to battle him along the way. Naturally he mopped the floor with every single one of them (although he didn't play rough; more like simply moved them aside), but it had been annoying. He somewhat disliked how he was prised among humans as a species due to the immense power he possessed, but the truth of the matter was that he wasn't bred for purely battling alone. He was raised to learn and discover, explore and experience. Clearly some humans either failed to understand that or were too insistent in being generic about how Pokemon behaved if they belonged to a certain species (i.e. All Hydreigon burn everything to the ground. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. Yet in Mecha's experience, this was far from true. Why, he had shared quite the scholarly conversation with one such Pokemon not so long ago...).
Yet all that aside, he was here now. A little gloomy, but nothing the ol' glowing Aura Sphere couldn't illuminate. Proceeding forward with reasonable caution- he wasn't paranoid, but neither was he complacent- he listened and looked out for signs of any Dragon type Pokemon in particular. Eventually, he heard some sort of commotion in the distance; loud child-like voices were shouting out as if at play. He continued his walk in that direction, and soon extinguished the Aura Sphere when he followed the sounds through a side-passage and arrived in what appeared to be a..
Well. House was the best word he could assign to it, he assumed. It was a large rocky sort of chamber with a small pool of water emanating from centre. Stalactites hung from the ceiling as water dripped from them quietly. It looked to be a natural living room almost, with the ground covered in soft mosses and other soft fibres. And rushing around were three small bat-like Pokemon, which on closer inspection had black fluffy fur on them in most places as well some purple colourations. Noibats, three of them.
Mecha didn't know what they were doing. They took to running around on the moss, then flying around in the air, clinging to the walls, the works. They were just flapping around. He allowed himself a small smile; kids just being kids. One of them noticed him however, and squeaked as it fell out of the air in shock. Rolling around on the floor to get itself up, it called out in its tiny voice which was surprisingly far-reaching, "Ma! Ma, somebody's here!" He could tell from the pitch of the shout that this one was a boy. The other two Noibats noticed him as well, one hanging precariously from a weak-looking stalactite, the other hovering just over the water. They joined their brother- for it was obvious to Mecha that they were all siblings- and proceeded to run right up to him and ask all sorts of strange questions. He gathered from the other two that they were girls, and tried to answer their questions as best he could in the timeframes they gave him; it was unexpected, but he decided to humour them.
"Why are you so tall?"
"What's with the cloak?"
"Are you an alien? You look like an alien!"
"Is that your tail back there?"
"You ever tried to lick all the way to the tip of your nose?"
It baffled him that none were asking the sensible questions, such as, "who are you," and "what're you doing here". No, these eccentric kids were only interested in things which half the time were well outside Mecha's answering capacity; No, he wasn't an alien, that was indeed his tail, he has never actually tried that before, and yes, he did in fact find Sitrus berries tasty-
"Pyre, Reid! Reishi! Stop harassing the man," came a disapproving voice from what Mecha could now see was an adjoining passage leading away from the room. Probably to some sort of sleeping quarters. And from said passage came a fierce-looking creature indeed- regal and proud, with sharp golden eyes and a fluffy white ruff around her neck, large ears in the shape of a boombox, the Noivern made her way into the room towards Mecha himself, while the three children shrank back a little, ears lowered. It was pretty clear who ruled this house.
She shot her children a scolding glance before returning her gaze to him with a light smile. "I do apologise, they are an excitable bunch. I'm Laura, this is Pyre-" she indicated one of the girls, who waved-", this is Reid-" the boy smiled up at him- "and this is Reishi." The last girl smiled up at him as well, but in a slightly more cutesy way than her brother, saying a quick, "Hi!" Laura then continued, "Do you need something?"
Mecha returned the smile with a small one of his own and bowed a little; "No need to apologise, ma'am-" "Laura"-", I understand the excitement of childhood. I was actually directed here by a local resident of the route nearby for...well, directions. You wouldn't happen to know where to find Geosenge, right"
At this, Laura let out an involuntary chuckle of laughter, as her kids tilted their heads at her in confusion. "Oh dear," she laughed, "I'm afraid you're miles away from where you need to be, Geosenge is all the way across the other side of the region! I could give you directions, but...well, they'd mostly involve just flying south-west from here."
Mecha absorbed this knews with a bit of a sweatdrop. He was on the wrong side of the region? Damn. No wonder he was so lost, he was miles in the wrong direction. He smiled politely however and informed her, "Thank you, Laura, this info is more than enough. I guess I'll just have to take that advice."
"No problem," Laura responded cheerfully, then her eye lit up. "How would you like staying for a bit? I imagin you're probably tired from your journeys. amd we have pie!"
Mecha kindly declined her offer and told her that he wasn't tired, not really, And while the offer of pie was tempting, he was already behind his own planned little schedule. He would rather make haste. The Noivern nodded in understanding, but insisted he have at least one slice of pie.
"Made it myself," she commented as Pyre, who had been sent off, returned from the side chamber with a slice of what appeared to be some sort of berry pie. Mecha had to admit, the pie smelled nice...it would probably taste nice. Okay.
"For the journey," he decided, as if to himself, then bowed to Laura once more as he held the pie securely in his left organic hand. "Thank you for you r hospitality and information, but I really must go. Farewell."
Laura bobbed her head up an down in agrement, and started to leave for the other passage once more as the children resumed their play. Mecha turned as well, but a small tugging made him look down; pulling on his cloak and looking up at him with big golden eyes was the Noibat called Reishi. She smiled up at him again, and asked, "What is this for?"
Mecha hesitated; but then he mentally shrugged. He probably would never see this Noibat ever again, and no-one would believe what she saw of she decided to babble. He shifted the cloak a little, and the Noibat gasped a little as she saw the red flash of the robotic eye. Mecha placed a finger to his lips and murmured, "Shh. Our little secret, alright?"
The Noibat stared a little more at him as he re-adjusted the cloak, then slowly grinned animatedly.
"Our secret, mister!"