Chapter 10 – Simplicity
Jeremy walked in his own front door. It was so nostalgic to be back here, after quite the amount of time spent avoiding the place. On the table in the kitchen was a note. "Go into your room, and look around." Jeremy rolled his eyes. Puzzle-solving, of course. He went up the stairs, noticing how clean everything was. Who managed to vacuum the ceiling? It was probably Princess, but for what possible purpose? Whatever. He stepped into his room, which was also unnaturally clean. This was even more unnatural, as Jeremy liked his room cluttered, back when he lived in it… Still, there was another clue. He looked around, and spotted another piece of paper. This one said, "Look behind you." Jeremy did, and another note was magically taped to the wall, one which he was sure had not been there before. "Can we get on with this?" He read the note. "Fine. The secret entrance to the testing facility is that trapdoor to the basement. Sheesh." He ran down to the basement, and immediately jumped inside. What he didn't expect, however, was a bottomless pit. "Why do Mews love these so muuucccchhhh?!" yelled Jeremy as he fell for what seemed hundreds of miles.
Jeremy landed among hundreds upon hundreds of pillows, which magically cushioned his gigantic fall. "Congratulations! That was the first test!" Princess's voice said over an unseen intercom. "The door to the elevator is RIGHT over there." Jeremy raised an eyebrow. He walked over the pillows, which slipped and slid under him, to a space where there were two doors. He thought. What had Princess said? Oh, right. Heh. He chose the right door. But before he stepped in the elevator, he picked up a pillow and threw it in the left door. The 'elevator' inside crumbled as soon as the pillow hit it, and Princess came in over the intercom. "Hah! Got you – oh wait, that was a pillow. Darn, you're smarter than you look. Well, anyway, I might as well tell you as you ride the elevator." Jeremy went into the elevator, and the door closed automatically. "These tests are to determine just how strong and intelligent you are after 14 years of neglecting your abilities. We'll be taking a break shortly, where you can meet me in the break room and ask questions." Jeremy pulled out an RPG. "What the- where did you get that?" Jeremy laughed. "Copied Brandon's Dimensional Pouch when I got back. Now I can store all my stuff without having to carry it." Princess was silent for a moment, probably making a note. "And why exactly do you have it out?" she said, sounding for all the world like a scolding mother. "Because this is my favorite way of 'asking questions'." Jeremy answered. There were several audible gulps on the other end of the speaker.
As Jeremy stepped out of the elevator, he noticed scientists around every corner. Some of them he recognized from the recent bombing of the group's facility, as Magnus' scientists. He found the break room, where cake was sitting at the table. Jeremy had half an urge to pounce on it and start eating, like he used to do when he was young, but he suppressed it. Princess was at the end of the table, making notes on a clipboard. To his surprise, Jeremy also saw Blue the Mew and Death. "Hey, guys, long time no see. What are you two doing here?" Death said "I was one of the founders of this organization. The only reason I didn't try and tell you earlier because if I did, Arceus threatened to terminate my existence. He can't oversee this world because it's not his, therefore we're safe here." Blue spoke up, and that was when Jeremy noticed the small chip attached to his throat. "Well, after Princess's faked defeat, I heard of the whole plan and decided to join. By the way, this chip allows me to speak. It feels really weird!" Jeremy smiled and replied "I imagine it would, seeing as you haven't ever done it before." Princess looked up, and Jeremy noticed a chip on her throat as well. "Every Mew that is currently working with us is equipped with one of these, mainly because the scientists can sometimes confuse a Mew's thoughtspeech with their own thoughts. Anyway, how are you?" Jeremy shrugged. "Fine, I guess." Princess raised an eyebrow. "Not… surprised at all that your entire life has been a lie, you're calmly chatting to someone you once considered a mortal enemy, and… oh yeah, your 'worst nightmare' has revisited you. Wait, was I really that bad?" Jeremy frowned. "No, it wasn't wholly you, it was the experience in general. Anyway, so much crazy stuff has happened in my life that nothing can really surprise me anymore. So, question time. Number one, how did you manage to stage the events of when I went to the Homeworld?"
Princess reached out and turned on the slideshow projector, and the lights mysteriously dimmed. She got out a pointer, and began at the first slide. "First, when we formed the group back about a month before you came to the Homeworld, we realized that Arceus was faking the prophesies ("Oh come on!"), yes really, we set out to create a realistic scenario for the second prophesy. Since your girlfriend had a natural dislike of me, and probably still does, Methuselah suggested that I be the tyrant ruler who hadn't matured past the human age of 4. Sound good so far?" Jeremy laughed and agreed. "Then, once we had that scenario all squared away with the inhabitants, we built my 'castle' and formulated a plan for the coming events. To our surprise, you reacted exactly as expected. By the way, when you pounced on me, how much did you weigh?" Jeremy thought for a moment. "95 pounds? I'm really a lightweight." Princess grimaced. "Yeah, that crushed nearly all my bones. I had to spend a couple months in the hospital. We only weigh about 9 pounds." Jeremy widened his eyes. "Wow. Um… sorry?" Princess laughed. "Don't worry, I'm fully recovered. It was worth it, though: We had set up the stage needed to do some of our own experiments behind Arceus's back, by making him think we had done our part." Jeremy was honestly shocked. This was the most elaborate staging he had ever seen… How much of his life was a lie?
A/N: Bet you didn't see this coming! Oh, by the way, the reason the paragraphs are so long is because I wanted to fit a lot of dialogue in here.
Jeremy: Review, and don't forget: A used grenade launcher is a happy grenade launcher!