NOTE: Sorry for the wait. I couldn't find any good place to split this chapter up, but I think it's worth the wait. Enjoy.
Chapter seven
A seaside romp
As the sun set behind them, the group walked through the city, quietly. Well, not exactly quietly.
"I see a little silhouette of a man," sang Jigglypuff.
"Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the fandango?" Pikachu and Ivysaur returned.
It might not seem tactical to sing out loud when you intended to go undetected, but most humans were put asleep by Jigglypuff's song. Pokémon were actually immune to this, but they just pretended to be lulled to sleep by Sing. It was a little joke between Pokémon. Mewtwo had suggested it, along with several other measures to keep the humans from knowing everything about Pokémon.
Lucario spoke up. "I suggest we increase our pace. There is something off about this city."
"Yeah," said Squirtle. "Ash is probably worried about us-"
"Then he can stay worried," snapped Mewtwo. "It is inconsequential whether he fears for you so long as you remain safe and we finish the job."
"Sorry," Squirtle said meekly.
Mewtwo spoke again, this time with a gentler voice. "Do not apologize, child. You are kind at heart, and that is good. But to risk our safety simply out of courtesy for a human, that is just another form of subjugation."
Squirtle nodded, although Mewtwo had a feeling he didn't really understand. The fact was, those three were dedicated to that boy, caring not for the fact that they were essentially his slaves. They even fought for him, purely for recreation, while he stood on the sidelines. The three said he treated them well, and he believed them, but that did not change the fact that they were happily enslaved by him.
And the boy may have been gentle, but many others sought only to use Pokémon to accomplish their ends. Rocket, Aqua, Magma, Galactic – even the supposedly kindhearted Team Plasma had only sought to abuse them. Such practices could and would continue as long as Pokémon continued to submit to this servitude.
He wouldn't lead a revolution, of course, not again. He had come to realize that, though they had enslaved him, humans did deserve to live, and massive bloodshed was no way to achieve freedom. But clearly something had to be done. Humans did not deserve to have their slaves.
Suddenly, Mewtwo stopped. "I sense someone up ahead," he said. The other Pokémon stopped in their tracks. "Show yourself, humans!"
"Humans?" a voice said. "You wish we were humans. WE wish we were humans. You have no idea how big of an improvement human would be for me!"
"Quiet, Daxter," Jak said. They emerged from the shadows, as did Ratchet, Clank, and the Big Daddy. They were a strange group, but nowhere near as strange as the seven that awaited them.
Across the street, the blue dog thing muttered something to the weird purple guy.
"Lucario says that you all have kind auras," the purple guy said. "Let us go about our business and we will not harm you."
Ratchet stepped up. "You're the ones trespassing onto our lands! You've got some nerve to be giving us ultimatums!"
"So be it," Mewtwo said, and the two groups moved to clash.
"I call the pink one!" Daxter said. "All right, you little puffball, I'm gonna rip you limb from – oof!" Jigglypuff rolled right into him, knocking him back several feet, and the battle had begun.
Clank leapt from Ratchet's back and ran at Pikachu, but Pikachu sent a spark at him. Clank dodged and collided with Pikachu, landing a few punches before Pikachu threw him off and zapped him with a short range charge. This briefly powered up Clank, and he used the energy to hit Pikachu a few times, but he knew that if Pikachu hit him enough times with the electricity, he would be overcharged and suffer great damage. That in mind, Clank fought on.
Jak, doing a quick headcount and realizing he would be fighting two at once, quickly focused his rifle on Lucario, while simultaneously sending out his gyro at Squirtle. The gyro seemed to be keeping him busy, but Lucario dodged the rifle shots and kept coming. Seeing that this would be a primarily physical opponent, Jak changed his tactics accordingly, timing a spin attack just in time to snare Lucario. He then scored another hit on his uppercut, but as he executed his ground pound, Lucario dodged and laid into him with a few punches and kicks. Jak countered, and the two sparred as he threw out another gyro to distract Squirtle. This would be a tough battle.
Ratchet also fought, but I was too lazy to write up another action sequence, so take my word for it.
Mewtwo levitated over to the Big Daddy, preparing to enslave him telepathically, when the Big Daddy threw a glowing green orb at him. As it hit Mewtwo, he found he had trouble holding onto his control. This thing must also have had hypnosis powers, because it was taking all of Mewtwo's mental capacity to keep fighting. But fight he did, throwing a series of energy spheres at the beast. He wasn't going to risk close range attacks, not with that drill of his.
The Big Daddy then pulled out a machine gun and started firing at Mewtwo. He caught the bullets telepathically, but he only had so much mental capacity, and the hypnosis was still pulling at him. Around him, he felt the pain of his brethren as, slowly but surely, they began losing their respective battles.
Mewtwo sent the bullets back at the Big Daddy, but the exertion dropped him to his knees. And that thing took the bullets like it was nothing! He threw another blast at the Big Daddy, but he felt his power fading. The Big Daddy took it and was knocked back momentarily, but he soon recovered. He took a needle from his pocket and charged up again, and Mewtwo saw another one of those hypnosis orbs form. He leaned back, pitched forward, and-
"Stop. I yield."
The Big Daddy stopped mid-throw, the glow in his eyes fading from red and turning to green.
"You have bested me in fair combat, and so I concede defeat," Mewtwo said.
For a moment the Big Daddy just stood there. Then he bent down, offering his hand to Mewtwo. Mewtwo took it, pulling himself up.
Around them, their friends slowed and stopped their fighting, except for Daxter, who was still futilely clawing at Jigglypuff. "I could still kick your-" he said, collapsing in front of her.
"I must say, you guys certainly know how to fight," Jak said.
Ratchet was unconvinced. "Why would you yield?" he asked.
"I reached the end of my ability," Mewtwo said.
"Oh, well in that case, then we will honor your – hah!" He threw his hammer at Mewtwo, who reflexively caught it telekinetically. "See? You're nowhere near your limits!"
It was true, he had not been at his true limits. The hypnosis may have weakened him, but he had not even begun to tap into his true power. He had enough energy to obliterate all five of them.
But he had suspected – and Lucario had confirmed – that they were not villainous of heart. Also, none of them seemed to be human, and they were thus free of the racial guilt humans shared. Whether they deserved to live or not had yet to be seen, but they had bested him in a fair fight and deserved their victory.
"As I said before, we do not wish to fight."
"Oh yeah? Then why did you come here in the first place?" demanded Ratchet.
"Because our homeland was destroyed," Mewtwo responded.
The others fell silent as Mewtwo created a mental projection of the tragedy that had befallen their land.
First fell Peach's castle. Then Hyrule Castle, Kong Island – even quiet Kanto was absorbed into the depths of Subspace. Soon our entire land was enveloped in nothingness.
Behind all this was a being of pure power, devoid of any humanity. It was called Tabuu. They said they killed it before, but it could be none other than him. A skilled puppetmaster, Tabuu smuggled in his explosives as cake, bananas, lab equipment – anything to catch us with our guard down.
We all escaped – I know not how – and vowed to end him once and for all. We went to his lair to confront him – and found him gone. It made no sense. He had won the world, where could he go next? Where else could he take from?
We followed his trail until we found that he had set his sights on another land, one not so rich as ours, but still grand. He had found another group, was preparing something, a final stroke to prove his dominance over all. That group-
"-was us!" Ratchet exclaimed. "We're the next target?"
"Indeed."
"Well, why didn't you just tell us that?" Jak asked. "Why start attacking us?"
"We took a look at your profiles, your teammates. Would all of you have believed us?"
They all thought about it. Kratos probably would've deemed it all an illusion, Sly never trusted anyone, Cole solved half his problems with violence, and after what the Head had promised Radec, he would fight to the grave to defend what they were doing. "No, I suppose not."
"Far better, then, to take you all out, to incapacitate any resistance we might meet, to reanimate you after the matter and explain." Mewtwo lowered his head. "But this was a flawed plan from the start. We fought when we could have at least tried to collaborate. And for that, I will apologize.
"And now we find ourselves short on time. If we band together now we can-"
Mewtwo was interrupted by a sudden rumbling. The groups turned as, behind them, a building collapsed into the ocean below it. From the wreckage rose a giant serpent, followed by a second and a third, both smaller than the first. The Hydra had awoken.
The group turned to this beast, then ran towards it, beginning their attacks. As they did so, Jak turned to Mewtwo. "Go ahead, keep talking," he said, pulling out his rifle and shooting at the second head.
"What?" said Mewtwo, confused. "Shouldn't we be fighting that thing?
"No reason you can't keep talking."
"We call it 'action-packed exposition'," Daxter said. "Adds a little excitement to a boring talky segment."
"Very well then," Mewtwo said, charging up an aura ball. "If we band together now," he resumed, launching the ball at the middle hydra's head, "we will be able to stop him before your land is destroyed as well." The left head lunged at him, but he jumped out of the way in time, and Ivysaur and Squirtle hopped onto its head.
Pikachu began charging, while Charizard flew up to join the other two starters. Jack and Ratchet ran towards the right head, partners on their backs. Mewtwo and the Big Daddy charged at the lead head, and it unleashed an icy breath on them. "Fortunately, we have a plan," Mewtwo said, using his aura to melt the ice quickly. "One of our other teams has placed a small satellite dish-" he paused to dodge a quick lunge of the head- "that will allow us to find him." The Big Daddy powered up his drill, sinking it into the exposed head. Blood and a scream of pain came out.
"So you can find him right now?" Ratchet asked, firing at the right head's eyes. The head reached forward to breath an icy breath on him, which allowed Jak to launch Daxter onto its face. He planted an explosive on its eye and jumped away as it exploded, partially blinding the beast. "I thought he was in Subspace."
"Most likely," responded Mewtwo, jumping into the air and levitating, distracting the Hydra while the Big Daddy emptied his guns into the Hydra. "But everything that comes from Subspace leaves a trace." On the left head, Charizard flew around the head, confusing it, while Ivysaur did all the damage it could on its forehead. The head tried to breathe on Charizard, but Squirtle sent up a big wave, redirecting the breath. "A trace that our device can track." Jigglypuff rolled into the neck of the left head and used Rest three consecutive times, knocking it far back. "Once we find it, we should be able to stop it before he can make his move."
Suddenly, the hydra's two smaller heads reared up and slammed down around Mewtwo, separating him from the others. He tried to levitate out, but the main head's icy breath froze him in place. Quickly, he thawed himself out, just in time for the main head to smash down on top of him, smashing him into the ground. Dazed, Mewtwo could only watch as the head came towards him, jaws wide open. In just a few seconds, it had overwhelmed him, and now it was time for the kill.
Then the Big Daddy leapt onto the top of its head, sinking its drill into the hard skull. The hydra writhed, splashing about trying to get him off. Mewtwo jumped to safety, trying to lift the Big Daddy out of harm's way, but he was extremely determined to hold on. Finally, the hydra threw its head up, launching him high into the sky, and then catching him in his mouth, swallowing him whole.
Fortunately, this was the point when Pikachu reached his full charge. "Pika…" he began, running off the ground and into the water. The others, seeing him do this, quickly got out of the water.
CHUUUUUUUUUUUU!
The resulting shockwave emanated throughout the water, frying everything unfortunate enough to be in it, which was just the Hydra. It spasmed and shook, emitting a cry unlike any other as the electricity coursed through its body. Finally, it crashed to the ground, moaning one last moan as its dead heads slithered off the platform and into the sea.
"Oh no you don't!" Mewtwo dove after it, shooting down into the deep and straight into the Hydra's open maw. The others watched, mouths open. Squirtle tried to dive after them, but Lucario held him back, seeing some errant electricity on the water.
For what seemed like an eternity, they just stood there. Then Lucario saw something coming up, and soon the rest saw as well.
Mewtwo erupted from the water, with the Big Daddy carried behind him. He landed on solid ground, coughing. The others gathered around him, but he quickly stood up and rushed to the Big Daddy's side. Daxter looked at Jak. "The big guy's gonna be okay, right?" he said, trying to sound confident.
"He probably can't breathe too well with that helmet on," said Ratchet. "Let's get it off him." He and Jak moved to do just that, unfastening the hinges on his diving helmet. They pulled the helmet off, and perhaps Mewtwo was the most surprised by what he saw.
It was just a man. Nothing special about him, just a plain, ordinary human. Mewtwo hadn't known what to expect, but all the others were definitely not of human origins. Yet this was a normal man who had risked his life to save Mewtwo. He opened his eyes now, and looked around. He stood up and, without a word, held out his hand. Mewtwo shook it, impressed. Honorable, brave, and now self-sacrificing – traits not completely absent from humans, but never had he seen one exemplify them all so clearly.
The Big Daddy turned around, picked up his helmet, and placed it back on his head. With that, the battle was over. Jak put his hand on the Big Daddy's shoulder. "Nice fighting, big D."
Ratchet looked at the setting sun. "We'd better hurry. Rally your team, we should get to your battleship before morning."
"Why?" Daxter asked. "What's the hurry?"
"Because tomorrow morning, it goes online."
