Mantineus-It is with heavy heart that I give you the final chapter of 'Free Thinker'.
Chapter 9
- -Part 1
The Rocket landed on the platform and the duo were back in civilization where they belonged. Clasping hands, smiles, and laughter; they walked off the Rocket talking about nothing in particular.
"So this is Ash," A voice said, breaking into their happy, little world.
Ash looked over at Giovanni and smiled, he had the urge to shout something, but a memory resurfaced and he quieted down. Gary took notice of this as well as the surprised look on his master's face.
"No, no, you can say it." Giovanni said. "The platform is empty."
Ash gave a small smile. "Hi dad,"
"What?" Gary interjected.
With a sigh, Giovanni turned around, heading towards the car. "I'll explain in my office." He said when he was halfway there.
Slowly following the World Controller(their bags on their shoulders), Gary was more anxious than he had been in a while. After all, he was going to learn about Ash, his (not so) strange Epsilon mate.
Though Gary had to admit, during the time he was with Ash, this feeling left him, chocking it up to a defect in the Incubation Process. But now a wrench was thrown into that thought.
"So," Giovanni said, as they sat in the car. "What happened to your Pokémon?" A moment of silence. "Don't tell me they forced them to stay."
Gary was thrown by his master. The way he asked that it was as if he had not just been outed as a father; something that was not just a taboo, but impossible. Males were made infertile just like the women.
"They found their mates on the island, daddy." Ash said happily. It had been years since he saw him last. He giggled. "Pikachu has a Meowth as a mate."
Giovanni chuckled slightly with Ash. And then Ash dropped the bomb. Leaving Gary wide eyed and nervous.
"Me and Gary are mates, too, daddy." Ash made Gary lean towards him and wrapped an arm across his shoulders and placed a chaste kiss on the Future World Controller's cheek.
Giovanni seemed to sober up at the news. The rest of the ride to Giovanni's office was silent.
- -Part 2
Giovanni sat behind his desk, his Persian lazily wagged its tail when she saw him. He scratched her behind the ears, earning a purr from her and sat down. Ash and Gary, following behind him, sat in the two chairs in front of the desk.
The World Controller sighed, making a steeple from his fingers. He was finding it hard to start. He had not wanted this to happen. He did not want to hear that Ash was being shunned by his fellow Epsilons.
"To tell you the truth," Giovanni said without thinking. "When you said his name was Ash, I was hoping that he was another Epsilon who decided to have a name."
Gary opened his mouth, but his master beat him to it.
"I'm so sorry, Ash." He looked at the Epsilon boy. "When I had them incubate you differently…, it was not my intention to allow what happened happen."
Ash merely stared at his father, his semi-Epsilon mind barely understanding why he was apologizing. His lips formed a frown in both deep concentration and sympathy.
"You see," He began again. "When I proposed the idea to Sammy; he liked the idea."
"What idea?" Gary interrupted.
"When I was younger, I wandered what Humans would think if they saw Our world. A world completely different from what they knew. Would they be pleased or horrified at what has happened to what was once theirs." He stared at Ash and continued. "But it was Sammy whom said 'But make it an Epsilon. No one pays any attention to them.' And he was right. They don't."
"You have done well in not speaking your thoughts…Except when you're with Gary, that is." He smirks. "No Soma, huh? I must admit that it can be tart, but I wouldn't say it's bad."
"Impairs judgment," Ash stated.
Giovanni nodded.
"What did you do when he was incubating?" Gary said, taking the information in slowly.
"A slight increase of oxygen and blood surrogate and a little more shaking so that he really wouldn't be scared of decanting like our ancestors had. Merely enough so that his brain isn't as small as your typical Epsilon's, so that he may truly judge the world. I had originally wanted an Alpha or Beta to be my subject, but, as I said, Sammy was right; no one really pays attention to Epsilons."
"I had certain trustworthy workers do that in secret. It worked out well and they got a slight bonus if they didn't tell. But the real problems came after he was decanted. I had bribed the nurses to disconnect his speakers so that certain Hypnopedic Lessons would not be learned. But I had really made sure they played the ones with classes. So that he may love the job he has and not wish for a promotion. Whereas infidelity had to be excluded if he were to resemble a Human."
Giovanni sighed.
"And that's one problem. He didn't want to play with this girl, nor this boy whom overheard the conversation and offered to play with him instead. A nurse tried to take him in for a mental inspection. But I intercepted her and bribed her into secrecy."
Giovanni sat in silence as he remembered that day.
Giovanni held the hand of the scared Epsilon child as they walked slowly down the hall.
"Don't be scared, little one." Giovanni said, soothing the young boy's fears. "I just want to know why you don't participate in the game."
Giovanni knew that the lack of Hypnopedic urging was part of it. But the thought that drove it home…That was what intrigued the World Controller.
"It's…Embarassing…" The boy blushed. "I didn't like her, either."
It was then that Giovanni noticed how dirty the boy's face was. "Your face looks ashen, what happened?"
"Ash smiled. "I was crawling around mimicking a Caterpie that escaped into the playground." His face dropped. "Then that girl came and made fun of me."
"Well, Ash…"
"Did you just name me?"
It was a slip of the tongue. Stuttering, Giovanni tried to continue and explain.
"That must make you my daddy!" Ash beamed and hugged the man's waist tightly. Giovanni was astonished. He did not play the taboo list over and over for Ash, but enough to where he wouldn't slip and insult someone.
- -Part 3
"From that point on I watched him. Up until he was assigned a job, that is. Upon my deathbed he was to tell me all that he thought of this world."
"'Was'?" Gary asked.
"Exile is forever." Giovanni said calmly, though sadly.
"What?" Gary stood, his eyes wide. "Why? Why him? He's your son isn't he?"
Giovanni turned and faced his apprentice. "You're responsible for this."
Gary was struck dumb. Ash looked worried.
"You, Gary, are a future World Controller. World Controllers, if with anyone, are ambiguous. You, however, have not shown much of a liking to that. And reclusion is acceptable, but a relationship such as this-and in your position-is not allowed. You're taking Ash away from me because if you go alone, he'll be miserable. Just look at him; he's looking to you, his mate, for comfort."
Giovanni sat in silence, collecting his thoughts.
"I suppose I should have seen this coming." He said. "I made you to match the Humans of the past; inhibitions and morals that are different from our own. It only makes sense that you would find someone a little different from the crowd to like and love."
Giovanni sighed. "We'll have to decant another Alpha Double-Plus. Get started with his training, and soon. Sixty is just around the corner for me."
Both boys remained silent. Gary felt a little guilty, but looking at Ash's expression, made it slip away. The reason sank into his mind as well.
They would be free. Free from the Society that made them unhappy because it denied them what made them happy: each other. Each other and no one else.
A society that made you into a sexually ambiguous being that covered the sky with screens that showed ugly things you were coerced into buying because it was fashionable and the money you worked hard for had to go quicker than water. A dreary Society that mocked and turned their back on something, despite the Hypnopedic lesson-and especially because of those lessons(such as everyone belongs to everyone else)-that they were happy to be free. Because they tasted the sensation of being individuals and liked it. And now they were going to dive together into that social sin and be truly happy because they want to be and not because they are told to be.
"Savage Island?" Ash finally asked his father after that long silence.
"What?" Giovanni asked, unaccustomed to the Epsilon's way of speaking.
"He wants to know if we can be exiled to Savage Island." Gary said, teens smiling. "Well, can we?"
Stoically, Giovanni nodded. "Pack your things and go. I'll wire your tickets to the Rocket."
Smiling happily, both left the office, hands clasped together off to their own paradise.
- -The End
Afterward:
I just hope I haven't destroyed this for anyone who has ever read Brave New World. And sorry if this seems rushed, but the story was sick of me, yet slightly reluctant to end.
I would talk more, but I doubt anyone wants to hear secret behind the scenes things. Like how many times this had to be rewritten!(AHHHHHHHHH!) Or the now dropped pairing of GiovannixMewtwo(and the slightly funny mental conversation they'd have right now about Mewtwo raising their 'son' while Giovanni says it's easy now since he doesn't need either of them since he has Gary). This also had multiple endings, but I dropped a ton because this isn't an action flick and turning it into one at the end really would be stupid(not to mention make it sad). So I leave you with this, unedited and not beta-d.
