Chapter 7:

Mateusz sat under a tree with his eyes closed, resting and pondering his situation. He had sore muscles from walking so far the previous night, and his face was slightly numb and red from his conversation with Joasia the previous day. He had left the cave they were currently staying in to clear his thoughts and relax. Mewtwo was busy constructing the rooms in the cave anyway, and Mew was talking to Joasia. He thought about how relaxing the whole place was, it was peaceful and the air was fresh. The only thing that troubled him was that he kept getting random images in his head, of a man with a needle and a lab coat, injecting Mateusz's arm as Mateusz was strapped to a chair. He had been getting these images since he had come to the mountain side they were on now. He figured it was just part of a dream he must have had when he was asleep earlier that morning. Mateusz decided he was going to have a quick nap when he heard a voice in his head that was not his.

"How's your face, Mateusz?" the voice asked.

Mateusz opened his eyes and saw Joasia striding toward him from about ten meters away.

"Not bad, just a little numb, that's all, why are you here?" Mateusz replied.

"Mew finished his discussion and went off to find some food, it's nearly midday, you know." Joasia said.

"Midday already, I must have been sitting here for quite a while then, I've just been pondering things." Mateusz said.

"Mind if I give you some company? I've no one else to talk to at the moment." Joasia asked Mateusz.

"Why not, as long as I don't have to worry about getting a sore face again." Mateusz said with a smile as he added the taunt.

"We'll see about the sore face part." Joasia said with a laugh as she sat on the grass near Mateusz. "So, what have you been thinking about?"

"Just… things, I've been getting strange images in my head but I think it was just a dream." Mateusz disclosed, smile disappearing and being replaced with a slight frown as Mateusz stared into empty space.

"What are the strange images? If you don't mind sharing them with me, that is." Joasia asked.

"I… don't really… remember much, but I know that I was strapped to a chair and a man in a lab coat injected my arm." Mateusz seemed to struggle to get this information out, and frowned more deeply with an even more serious look on his face, still looking into the non-existent distance, stress lines forming on his forehead.

"Interesting… I don't really know what to say about it; maybe you should tell Mewtwo when he's not busy." Joasia looked directly into Mateusz's seemingly distant gaze and said as Mateusz's eyes twitched.

Mateusz snapped out of his mood and looked at Joasia.

"Yeah maybe I will tell Mewtwo, but I think it's probably nothing more than a dream. Anyway, what did you and Mew discuss this morning?" Mateusz inquired.

"We were just talking about the fact that Mewtwo is going to train me to be able to use my powers fully. He also warned me not to disobey or anger Mewtwo, as he can get aggressive when angered apparently." Joasia told Mateusz.

"Huh, I already know he can be aggressive." Mateusz said, remembering when he had been shoved into a wall.

"How do you know that?" Joasia asked, curious.

"He shoved me into a wall when he was interrogating me, I got angry at the fact that he kept asking me questions I couldn't answer because I didn't remember anything about my past, and he shoved me into the wall of the hallway in his old cave." Mateusz said, once again frowning.

"Sounds like I have a lot to look forward to then." Joasia sarcastically said.

"Yes, but he will train you well at least." Mateusz told Joasia.

Mateusz suddenly winced and looked to be in pain, he clutched his chest tightly and groaned, he soon slumped, unconscious.

"Mateusz?!" Joasia asked worryingly.

Joasia shook Mateusz, but got no response from him. Joasia tried to contact Mew for help, and soon got a response.

"I'm coming, Joasia, don't worry." Mew said to Joasia.

Within a minute, Mew appeared, floating between the trees with a pile of berries.

"What seems to be the problem?" Mew asked before seeing Mateusz and nodding. "What exactly happened, did you check if he's alive?"

"We were simply talking, and he suddenly had a look of pain come on his face and slumped down unconscious. I shook him and got no response." Joasia said with a panicked look.

Mew examined Mateusz more closely and found that he was breathing and had a pulse.

"So it is true, he does have two hearts. He is fine, just unconscious. I'll need you to drag him back to the cave, there's no way I can do it, it's not like I can levitate him, he's somehow blocking all my abilities, except for communication, and he's almost as tall as Mewtwo." Mew said with a curious look on his little pink face.

Joasia picked up Mateusz's feet and begun to drag him toward the cave.

"He's not that heavy, Mew." Joasia told Mew.

"Okay, but I'm still too small to help." Mew replied.

Joasia had soon dragged Mateusz all the way back to the cave, where Mewtwo had finished constructing the rooms for each of them to stay in.

"What happened to him, Mew?" Mewtwo asked with a curious look on his face.

"He appeared to be in pain and then collapsed when Joasia was talking to him, and he then fell unconscious." Mew informed Mewtwo.

"Hmmm… he has done this before, when I was interrogating him in my previous home." Mewtwo disclosed.

"Nnnnnngggghhhh… Why am I covered in dirt and grass?" Mateusz awoke, groaned and asked. "And why are you all staring at me, and wasn't I in the forest, talking to Joasia?"

"You fell unconscious, so I dragged you back here." Joasia said, looking happy that Mateusz was awake.

"That would explain the dirt and grass, but why did I fall unconscious? Did you hit me again?" Mateusz asked, feeling around for a bruise on his head to explain his falling unconscious.

"NO! I didn't hit you again; you just got a pained look on your face as you clutched your chest and fell unconscious." Joasia told Mateusz.

"When did you hit him, Joasia?" Mew asked, cocking his head to one side.

"Ummm… I slapped him yesterday because I got angry at something he said…" Joasia said, looking embarrassed.

"Well you should have mastered your temper; it's dangerous to just lose control like that." Mew told Joasia.

"It was my fault yesterday, Mew, I shouldn't have angered her." Mateusz said.

"What did you say to her to make her mad?" Mewtwo asked, seeming curious.

"I called her a fool for not believing me that I could block her abilities, and then I laughed, I shouldn't have called her a fool in the first place, I would have found it hard to believe myself in her place, especially due to the fact I look like a normal human, but looks can be deceiving. I apologised to her for calling her a fool and for laughing." Mateusz explained, looking much healthier than he had been when he first regained consciousness.

"Well that's in the past now, but Joasia still needs to learn to control her temper, or it will make her lose focus when she needs to focus most." Mew stated.

Mew exited the cave to get the berries he had left where Mateusz fell unconscious. Mewtwo sat down, seemingly in though about something meaningful. Mateusz managed to stand up after a few tries and with help from Joasia to get upright.

"Are you okay now?" Joasia asked Mateusz.

"Yes, I should be alright, I just have that happen to me every now and then, it's a little annoying, but it's not like I can see a doctor about it because they would find out I have two hearts, and probably do experiments on me in some secret lab or something." Mateusz replied, taking a few steps forward before beginning to lose balance slightly, but Joasia helped keep him upright.

"You worried me back there, I thought you might have died or something bad." Joasia said, looking concerned.

"You don't need to worry, I'm sure it's just a side effect of whatever caused me to lose memory of all past events." Mateusz assured Joasia.

"You should probably rest." Joasia told Mateusz.

"No, I've had enough resting for today, I feel like I could stay awake for a very long time." Mateusz said, seeming to be more energetic.

Mew came back with the pile of berries and put them down, telling everyone to eat some. Mewtwo grabbed a handful and went back to his state of thought whilst everyone else just ate berries one by one. They soon had their fill of berries and sat back to relax.

"I think I'm going to need something other than berries to live on, I'm pretty sure that berries don't meet all of my nutritional needs." Mateusz said, eyeing the last few berries that were on the ground.

"There are different berries, each has a different nutrition specialisation, and they can all be found in these forests, I'll have to make sure to find some of the other ones for you." Mew replied and then asked, "So Mateusz, can you remember anything of where you're from?" Mew wanted to know.

"No, my memories of my life start with me waking up, underneath a tree in the forest near Mewtwo's old cave." Mateusz replied, frowning slightly, and getting that faraway look in his eyes again.

"That's interesting, I've never seen a case like yours, and I don't think its amnesia." Mew said, seeming in thought.

They sat there chatting about everything for quite some time and soon, the sun had set and the moon had risen.

"So Mateusz, are you going to tell Mewtwo about those images that keep appearing in your mind?" Joasia asked.

Mateusz immediately had a serious look come over his face and he stood up.

"I need some time for private reflection and thought, please excuse me, I will be back in a couple of hours." Mateusz said as he walked out of the cave and into the darkness of night.

"What images were you talking about, Joasia, what does Mateusz keep seeing in his head?" Mewtwo asked, suddenly joining in the conversation.

"You'll have to go ask him yourself." Joasia pointed toward the entrance of the cave as she said.

Mewtwo strolled out of the cave and went in the same direction Mateusz had gone in moments earlier. He soon found Mateusz, sitting on a rock that was jutting out from the mountainside and had no trees around it. Mateusz was staring at the moon, looking to be in thought.

"Why are you here, Mewtwo? I thought I asked to be left alone for a couple of hours so I could think." Mateusz said without even turning around to look at who was approaching him.

Mewtwo momentarily just stood there, somewhat shocked that the boy could immediately tell it was him that was nearby without looking, but soon regained composure and walked up to where Mateusz was sitting.

"I just wanted to ask what the images you keep seeing in your head are." Mewtwo said as he sat beside Mateusz, still a little in shock at the boy's ability.

"I sometimes see myself, strapped to a chair and being injected by a man wearing a lab coat, that's it, but it gives me a strange feeling whenever I think about it, so please don't question me any further as I don't know any more about the images." Mateusz replied, looking at Mewtwo this time, his eyes seemed grim and faraway.

"I see you like to sit, thinking whilst you look at the moon and night sky, Mateusz, an activity I partake I myself a lot, I didn't think anyone else made a habit of doing it." Mewtwo said.

"It is a recent habit, but the moon and stars help me think clearly, for some reason." Mateusz replied and then said, "The moon reminds me of myself, as the moon has no light of it's own, it is borrowed from the sun, a reflection, just like I am a shadow of a human, because I look like a human, and yet I am not human."

This shocked Mewtwo more than anything else so far, as this was how he thought of himself, in relation to being a clone of Mew, and was exactly what the moon reminded him of also.

"You are a strange being Mateusz, you have surprised me more than once, and you would have to be the only being who can say that." Mewtwo said as he pondered Mateusz's likeness of thought to his.

"Have you ever heard the saying, don't judge a book by its cover?" Mateusz asked.

Their conversation and debating continued into the night, and soon the moon rose overhead…