The Grey Journey
Chapter Nine
The trip past Mount Moon was uneventful. Grey eyed the horizon from the air balloon's casket with tired eyes, while Meowth remained with his tail down. Jessie and James quietly played cards, without their boisterous attitude to boot.
"So," Grey hazarded a moment later. "Where are we supposed to drop this rock?"
"There's a hideout near Cerulean city," James said plainly. "We're supposed to hide out in there."
"You mean his cave?" Grey shuddered. "Is father actually trying to make it unpleasant?"
"Don't remind me," Jessie huffed, "That pokémon is a jackass."
"I think he can read minds to begin with," James shuddered. "He just looks at you through that armour of his and…it's just plain wrong, you know?"
"Psychic pokémon are wrong to begin with," Grey shuddered. "Some of them are outright creepy."
Silence descended in the casket once more, interrupted every now and then by one of the trio shuddering. Meowth just kept his head low and waggled his tail slowly, not saying a word.
"There's the cave," James said suddenly, pointing at a giant fissure on the side of the mountain, which stood near a broad river close to Cerulean city. "Let's bring this thing down nice and slowly."
Slowly, the air balloon began its descent towards the entrance of the cave, where due to the noise two lab-coat wearing scientists were standing already, their pokémon at the ready.
The Team Rocket emblem shone on their chest like a badge of pride, but their expressions softened when they saw the trio leave the balloon.
"You made it?" the female of the duo —a woman with curly orange hair— said in surprise. "You actually made it?"
"Course we did," Jessie replied with her chin high. "We're Team Rocket's Strongest Grunt Team after all!"
"Has there been any strange effect on your Pokémon since exposure to the moonstone?" the male scientist retorted then curtly, pushing his glasses back on top of his nose as he carefully began to examine the stone. "We'll need a Machoke to carry it inside."
"Not that I can feel it, meowth!" Meowth exclaimed, walking his way right behind Grey. "Ehi," the Pokémon whispered. "Don't let that guy come too close to me all right? I'm not in the mood to have him try to dissect my vocal chords."
"Oh! Meowth!" the man said with a pleasant smile, "How is my favourite talking pokémon doing?"
"Meowth," Meowth replied with a horrified face as he dug his nails deeply into Grey's right leg. "Don't let him get me!" he whispered furiously.
"Stop tearing my leg apart!" Grey hissed back.
"Now, now, don't be shy," the scientist, holding up his smile, said. "I'm so glad your team was chosen for this delicate mission, Mister Grey."
"My father's the 'Mister'. I'm just a grunt," Grey waved the oily words off. "So, Doctor Sebastian…"
"It's Professor," the doctor replied, "Professor Sebastian."
"Of course, Professor," Grey nodded. "So, what is going to happen to this chunk of stone?"
"We will ask our important friend," his eyes travelled within the cave, "To check on it."
"So this is why he wasn't stationed at the Headquarters?" Grey queried, "Is there maybe something we should be told about your experiments?"
"Nothing much," Professor Sebastian replied. "Just trying to test whether our guest's limits have truly been reached or not."
"I can't believe Blaine let this go without a fight," Grey snorted. "He basically considers Mewtwo his son."
"When the Higher Ups give an order, it's best not to contradict them," Sebastian nodded sagely, before gesturing them in. "But please, let us talk more inside." Ushering them in, the professor gave a nod to his assistant who returned just then with a pair of Machoke.
Taking their cue, both Pokémon began to lift the stone and carry it in.
The tunnels were poorly lit for a good length —to avoid the people outside from realizing the cave was inhabited by Team Rocket— and Grey had to focus on where he stepped to avoid slipping.
"This reminds me of Viper's training course," James said with a cheer, "The one with that damn Geodude and Gengar couple."
"James! No talking about the Gengar," Jessie shrieked, warily eying around. "There aren't any Gengar in here, right?" she asked Sebastian.
"Of course not," Sebastian replied. "They are pranksters by nature. We need calm and peace. We have a few Kadabra and Magnemite out for emergencies, but there are no ghost pokémons."
"Better," Jessie muttered. "Very Better."
"Very Better?" James raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, James! Very Better! Who cares for the language as long as you get the idea!?"
"You need a dictionary, meowth?" Meowth said, only to suddenly find Sebastian's hand all the way down his throat.
"How does he speak!? Is there some sort of genetic change in the vocal chords of…"
"Argh…Blurb…Meowth! HISS!" Meowth clawed at Sebastian's leg, before gagging and spitting out in a corner, rubbing with the back of his paw his tongue repeatedly. "Get that psychopath away from me, meowth!"
"Professor," Grey said coughing politely, "How about we talk about your experiments?"
"Of course!" Professor Sebastian nodded. "We've been working on realizing a type of ray to force the evolution of Pokémon. As you know some Pokémon, like Magnemite, evolve because of specific conditions —like meeting two other Magnemite in a strong magnetic field for example."
Grey nodded as he exhaled in relief at the sight of the light. Finally, they were in an open area, with bright lights illuminating manufactured rooms. A long-distance communication system with Giovanni stood, doubling as television —something nice to have— on one side while comfortable armchairs and sofa littered the other.
Jessie whistled. "You treat yourself well Professor."
Her eyes went to the communal fridge in the corner. "Oh…" she jumped with glee towards the electronic machines, before extracting from within a bottle of fresh water.
"She's going to be sick in the next hour," Grey, James and Meowth exhaled at the same time, as they watched Jessie chug the cold drink down as fast as she could.
"Meowth…that's right," Meowth muttered, only to swipe his claws at Professor Sebastian who had already begun his lunging move.
"Stay away from my vocal chords!" Meowth snarled.
"Think of the scientific progress we could make! The missing link between Pokéspeech and human speech!"
Then one of the doors in the room opened, and silence fell all around as the tension in the hall increased to a new spike. Standing on its three digits paws, with its purple tail armoured and slicing around in the air, Mewtwo walked in carefully.
"Giovanni's child," the Pokémon spoke coldly, probably eying him through the visor with a frosty glare.
"Mewtwo," Grey replied, hazarding a smile. "There's a nice day outside."
"Is he out of his mind?" one of the scientists whispered to another.
"Mewtwo's going to kill him!" a woman in the Grunt uniform of Team rocket muttered in disbelief.
"I have no interest in the light of the sun," Mewtwo sharply stated, "Only in getting stronger."
"Glad to hear it," Grey replied keeping on his strained smile. "Hope you manage it. Do you need anything from the city?"
"No," and with that single word, Mewtwo returned to his room.
Everyone sighed in relief, except Grey who kept up his strained smile.
Then again, he was acting better than ever. That Pokémon was, after all, the reason he was the one who had to take the mantle of Boss eventually…because for all of his powers, Mewtwo had done the unforgivable. He had made a mistake, and Silver disappeared because of it.
One would think that having a genetically bred super-Pokémon as a nanny and bodyguard would work wonders…but apparently, you can't control life.
You really can't.
"Rattata," Norman snorted.
"Yes," he replied in a murmur. "He still has a pole up his—"
"MEOWTH! That's right!"
Author's notes
Chapter Done.
