Chapter 10

Sal spent the rest of the day assisting Jessie with various chores around the Center. Since she wasn't an actual nurse, she didn't get to be around any of the Pokémon. Much to her annoyance, the psychic was put to the task of handling all of the more mundane chores around the center.

Sal wasn't one to gripe about a task that she'd been given, but she couldn't help but be rather annoyed at Mewtwo as she cleaned out yet another human room in the Trainer's dorm. It was because of him and his destructiveness that she was even here. She hated messing with bedrooms that didn't belong to her, despite the fact that all of the rooms were Center property. That and there was fact that the room's last inhabitant had left it a mess didn't soothe her ire either. As she finished vacuuming, Jessie hollered at her over the din to clean the bathrooms, and Sal wearily trudged off to do so, her physical exhaustion creeping up on her.

"At least I'll sleep good tonight," she muttered to herself. She then wondered what Mewtwo was doing, and thought that he was probably off enjoying himself.

Wrinkling her nose at the smell of the men's restroom, and setting a notice out front that indicated that it was being cleaned, Sal set to work.

Mewtwo was enjoying himself, but not quite in the way Sal might have expected. He was currently tinkering with the EKG he had previously broken. The metal casing had been tossed onto the bed, and the machine's innards littered the floor.

As the two human females had left his presence a few hours ago, it had occurred to Mewtwo that Sal being required to stay here and work simply would not do. No, he needed to regain his former strength as soon as possible, and that would require that they train in order to defeat that accursed Scyther and move onwards in his Trainer's quest to...Mewtwo paused. To do what exactly? To become a Pokémon Master, like so many other Trainer's aspired to be? Mewtwo realized that he didn't know what this girl's motivation behind her journey was, but shook the thought from his head. What this psychic female wished to do with her life was irrelevant. He returned his focus to the EKG he was repairing.

Despite his tendency to destroy objects when enraged, or even mildly irritated- a tendency only made worse by his abilities- Mewtwo did find a slight pleasure in restoring that which had been previously destroyed.

His formation of the castle he had once inhabited had been the transgenic's first and only attempt at actually creating something, and he had found the experience exhausting. Not because he lacked the brainpower to do so- certainly not! - but because it was an ordeal that the feline found he simply didn't have the patience for. He simply lacked the interest in creating new things, and he mused upon the realization that creation was an art more commonly associated with Mew, and humans.

He shared their DNA, yet he was quite unlike either of them in both mind and body. He was too strange in body to be accepted by humans, and too strange in mind to be accepted by Pokémon.

He pressed the activation switch with a stubby finger, and nodded to himself in satisfaction as it hummed to life. He replaced the paneling, and then arose from his position to locate his Trainer.

Sal collapsed on the small sofa in the Trainer's lounge, freshly showered and now dressed in a skintight amethyst cami and grey pajama bottoms, her PokéGear in the small side pocket just above her left knee.

She idly scanned through her PokéDex's stats on Mewtwo, taking everything in. How in the world were they gonna beat Bugsy's Scyther?

Sal didn't like the idea of simply overpowering opponents - it was a bad habit to get into and she didn't want to start. She needed a new Pokémon, desperately. If only she had caught a Pidgey when she had the chance. Even if she had gotten a Mareep, she would be able to take advantage of the fact that Scyther was also a flying type. But there was little she could do now, except go back through Union Cave. She shuddered at the thought.

She had learned via experimentation that she could access data that listed info on the attacks Pokémon learned. Hesitantly, she found the search field and typed a single name.

Mewtwo.

She hit 'search' and waited for the device to process her request.

Mewtwo

Type- Psychic

There was a basic description of Mewtwo's appearance, as well as an equally basic picture. The rest of the article was skimpy, and repeated her PokéDex entry, as well as the entries for a few other regions, all of which warned against encountering such a dangerous Pokémon, which made sense, but Sal scrolled down to where the moves were normally listed.

The area was blank.

Of course. Sal sighed. This meant that she would have to rely on Mewtwo's ability to recall his moveset, and although she didn't doubt that he could, the idea irritated her. At the sound of someone approaching, Sal looked up. It was Mewtwo, and although he was still bandaged, he was up and walking, which surprised her.

"Speak of the devil," Sal said, snapping her PokéDex shut, missing the flash of anger in Mewtwo's eyes at the expression. Giovanni had often used the expression, and the Rocket Boss had made a point of referring to the psychic as a demon or something of the like in the past. To this day he still resented the saying.

-Come with me,- he said, his tone overly controlled.

"Okay." Sal blinked and got up, following Mewtwo to where he was waiting with a confused-looking Nurse Joy.

-I have fixed what was damaged,- Mewtwo announced to the pair of them, as he gestured to the repaired EKG.

"Very well, I won't keep you here then," the nurse said, and Sal had the feeling that they had already had some kind of discussion earlier.

Suddenly, there was a commotion outside, and a young girl wearing a yellow dress, her dark hair pulled back into pigtails, came bursting into the room.

"Nurse Joy! Those bad people in town have been the ones who've taken all the Slowpoke away! They took Mr. Kurt too!"

-The Poké Ball creator?- Mewtwo had overheard talk of him during the day.

"That's him," Nurse Joy confirmed.

The girl turned to Sal. "Please! You gotta get Mr. Kurt outta there, Miss Trainer! Your Pokémon looks really strong!"

"But Mewtwo's hurt right now..."

Mewtwo's eyes darkened. He didn't like the sound of these black uniformed men. He had a sneaking suspicion of exactly who they were, and he hoped he was wrong.

-These men who took Kurt away,- he addressed the girl, who stared at him, her chocolate brown eyes wide. -Did they say anything about who the worked for, someone who was in charge?-

"I heard one of them tell another to tell someone named Proton that they got Mr. Kurt," the girl said hesitantly, and Mewtwo's eyes flashed indigo with rage, his thick brows knotting together.

-I should have known excrement like them would be involved, - the feline snarled, his tail thrashing about. He turned toward the door.

"Wait, Mewtwo where are you going!" Sal exclaimed. "You're still hurt!"

-Team Rocket has settled themselves into the Slowpoke Well, they must be removed,- he answered, grabbing a nearby Hyper Potion and applying it to himself. -We must strike now, by morning it will be too late. How long have they been in Azalea? - he asked.

"About two weeks," Nurse Joy began, "But surely you don't plan on fighting them, in your condition!"

-I have no other option,- Mewtwo replied. - Sal, come.- He strode from the room and Sal hurried to catch up with him.

Mewtwo knew that the humans thought he was doing this for the sake of the old man, and he let them, knowing that they would not understand. He was not. The Rocket's were a dangerous breed, and if this operation was headed by Proton, then he knew that he must be cautious. Despite the fact that they were no longer aware of his existence, Mewtwo was not as powerful as he once was. He would have to be cunning. All was not lost though. If his memory served him well enough - and it always did- he would learn the move now known to Trainers as Future Sight shortly.

Years ago, Giovanni was careful to only allow him to know techniques that his private Pokémon scientists understood, and during that time, Future Sight had not been one of them.

However they weren't above stealing experimental Technical Machines from the Pokémon Institute either. The Agent known as 009 or "The Black Tulip" had worked with her peers to create a powerful new move that she named the "Shadow Ball." Once the initial testing was complete, she snuck a copy of the TM out of the lab and into the hands of Giovanni, who had taught Mewtwo the technique.

Despite the circumstances leading up to his acquiring the move, it was one that he was fond of, and the transgenic wished that it was among his moveset now.

Shoving his thoughts aside, he descended into the spacious cave alongside the well after his Trainer. In the dim light, he could easily make out the forms of five hostages, and as he approved them silently, he recognized the auras of Jessie, James, and Meowth.

Shooting the pale-haired girl behind him a glare to ensure her silence, Mewtwo knelt behind Meowth. Unable to loosen the knot with his strange hands, and lacking claws like most felines, he worked at the knot with his teeth, glad that despite his dental similarities with humans, that his canines and incisors were as sharp as knives, and that his jaws had at least five times the crushing power that a human's did.

After making short work of the rope, the larger feline stood as the smaller scampered off to release his friends, as well as Kurt's captive Golduck.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" A voice carried to them through the darkness and Mewtwo's eyes narrowed to slits as the harsh rays of a high powered flashlight bombarded the company.

Proton. Mewtwo's hackles rose at the knowledge of his presence- he was a feared Executive among the ranks of Team Rocket. Although Mewtwo had never come face-to-face with him, due to Mewtwo being a part of the Combat Division during the time he had been inoculated into Team Rocket, the man's reputation preceded him. "Prisoners being released? I can't have that." The sound of someone snapping their fingers resounded through the cave, and other Rockets swarmed around them. "I strongly encourage you not to interfere in our business!"

"Mewtwo! Confusion!" The girl commanded him. Deciding that he agreed with her choice, Mewtwo let loose a Confusion psywave that acted more like a miniature Psychic, and yells of pain resounded through the cave.

"Are you serious? Did you come here thinking you could mess with our plans? Zubat, Supersonic!" Proton commanded, and a Zubat swooped towards the gray feline's head. Mewtwo's pupils retracted in pain as his hearing was overloaded by the attack. Unsure if his Trainer was ordering him to attack or not, Mewtwo let loose a Confusion that he sensed hit its mark.

Growling, Proton sent forth another Pokémon, a Koffing.

"It doesn't matter where we go, there's always someone that doesn't agree with us...Now, Poison Gas!" Mewtwo read the Rocket Executive's lips as he ordered his Koffing to attack.

The Pokémon obeyed, and Mewtwo held his breath as he landed another Confusion. He could feel the aftereffects of the Supersonic dissipating, and he could hear his Trainer and Proton exchanging words.

"Grr... For a kid to be this good... I didn't see it coming."

"Why don't you be more careful about who you mess with then? Wasn't Team Rocket broken up three years ago anyways?" the girl growled, and Mewtwo felt as if he might strike her for her stupidity. She clearly had no idea how dangerous a man Proton was.

"Humph... Team Rocket was indeed broken up three years ago, " Proton conceded. "But we continued our activities underground," he said with a smirk that caused Mewtwo's eyes to narrow in anger. "A small obstacle like you won't be much of a problem for our mission. I advise you to be very afraid of what is to come!"

He ordered all of his units to pull out, and Mewtwo waited as they performed a flawless retreat.

Proton. There had been something in the turquoise-haired man's eyes for a moment when the girl had commanded him to attack. Mewtwo pondered over this a minute while his Trainer conversed with the others and discovered that the Rockets had been taking the local wild Slowpoke hostage and chopping their tails off for sale. She and the others seemed horrified, but Mewtwo cared little. Slowpoke were dull-witted creatures, and their tails would grow back. In terms of what Team Rocket was capable of, it was a job that even the lowest grunt could pull off in their sleep. It was a simple fund building operation, and it was that, as well as Proton's final words that troubled Mewtwo. An Executive never made an idle threat.

Miles away, sitting in a black hummer, Proton was speaking into a slim black PDA. "Archer...It's Proton. A young Trainer stopped our operation. It isn't a total loss though... We have all the funds we need to proceed with Phase I of the mission, correct?" He nodded to the absent speaker. "Oh, I beg to differ, you'll find her very interesting indeed, I'm sure. Because the Pokémon this Trainer defeated me with... was Mewtwo." He paused again as the other person on the line spoke. "Yes, I'm positive it's the same one from the Mt. Quena mission," he said, flapping up in his hand a large, grey photo that looked as if it had been taken by satellite, before placing it beside a second photo of Sal and Mewtwo, taken moments ago. "I have a comparison photo right here, as well as a name on our mystery Trainer. Sal Zarrisia."

"Sir, we've arrived," the driver announced. Proton nodded at him.

"Yes, that's it...Control the girl...control Mewtwo."