A/N:Remember how I said I was going to skip Castelia completely? Well, I changed my mind; we're still not going into the Burgh battle or the Plasma attacks there, but I realized I needed to have some more character development before heading towards Nimbasa City. Also, if you recognize the cameos in the first half of this chapter, you're officially awesome.

As we approached Castelia City, I recalled how amazing Striaton looked to me, and my near-disbelief when Bianca had told me that Castelia was even more impressive; I didn't think buildings could get any bigger than Striaton. By the time we exited Pinwheel Forest, just seeing the bridge leading towards the city left me and Blaze gasping in amazement; when we got close enough to see Castelia itself waiting for us in the distance, though, we were rendered completely and utterly speechless for a few moments.

"So," Cheren said with a smirk, "What do you think? Big enough buildings for you?"

My brother and I nodded in perfect unison. "Yeah... I mean, honestly, this is probably going to be worse for me and Blaze in terms of noise and smell than Striaton or Nacrene, but... Arceus, how do they keep something that looks like it's made almost entirely of glass standing at all?"

-"I'm still wondering- how -they build them- so high -at all, honestly..."-

Cheren looked over to Blaze with a surprised smile. "Wow, Blaze, you're learning fast! It was just the day before yesterday when you decided to learn to speak like us..."

After the incident with the beedrill hive, we thought about the possibility of teaching Cheren and Bianca poke-speak before throwing that out in favor of teaching Blaze how to talk like a human; in the end, it seemed to prove a lot easier than the original plan would have been. As Blaze puffed out his chest and snorted pridefully, a big grin plastered on his face—he had learned just enough to understand the gist of Cheren's sentence—Bianca nodded to the latter with a smile of her own. "It makes sense to me; there have been plenty of studies that show that Pokemon learn much faster than humans in general, particularly when a human they have a strong bond with is teaching them!"

"Again, you sure know a lot more than either of us about Pokemon research," Cheren said with a nod. "Ever think about doing that for a living?"

Bianca blushed and frowned for a bit, looking at Emerald's hold-ball. "W-well, um... I-I mean, I've studied here and there, b-but it's not all that impressive, really..."

Cheren, Blaze and I gave concerned looks of our own, but eventually we all decided to just move on towards the city. As I predicted, the sounds and noise were even more overwhelming than Striaton or Nacrene, but Blaze and I adjusted a lot faster this time; as we did, the sheer scale of everything hit us like an angry, charging rhydon. There was so much to see that once we reached a large plaza—one that was almost as big as the Nacrene museum and its surrounding area—we all decided to split up and look around it for a bit. As Blaze and I explored on our own, strange sounds coming from a raised platform caught our ears; walking in that direction, we saw a few humans stepping down from the platform, leaving strange human devices on it.

-"Whoa, what are those things?"-

-"I think they're called instruments; humans use them to make music."-

Blaze nodded, though he was still confused. I wasn't sure what the sign on the stage saying "open mic" meant, but from the context I guessed that it meant anyone could go up and play. As I approached, a strange feeling came over me; there was a sense of familiarity that I didn't understand, something drawing me toward the stage, demanding that I try out some of the instruments. Looking them over, I pick up one of the six-stringed things—a guitar, as humans called them—and held it in my hands the way I had seen the humans from earlier doing; a frown came over me. Something about the way it felt in my hands felt a little wrong, like the instrument and me didn't fit, somehow, like it just... wasn't me. That's when I looked over and saw an instrument I recognized as a keyboard; walking over to it, I felt my fingers twitching slightly. Then I put my hands on it... and as my fingers touched the keys, a feeling of rightness came over me. It was the total opposite of the feeling I had when I held the guitar; somehow, this instrument felt right. Not just right... it feels familiar. Why does it feel so familiar?

Carefully pressing one of the keys, I slowly began to form a melody; before I knew it, my fingers were flowing nearly effortlessly across the instrument, as if I'd been playing it my whole life.

-"Whoa... Fire, how are you doing that?"-

-"I... I don't know! As far as I know, this is the first time I've ever touched anything like this, but at the same time it's like it's something I've always done..."-

A part of me felt worried, even frightened at the strange familiarity—as if this sudden skill belonged to someone else, someone not me. How do I know this? Where did I learn it from?

"Hey, not bad, kid!"

We turned around to see a blonde human wearing black clothes, a red headband, fingerless gloves and dark-eye-covers—sunglasses, I recalled; he was accompanied by a similarly-dressed human with long, dark hair, a beard, and strange silver face paint.

"Who are you?" I asked, taking in their strange outfits.

The bearded human spoke up next. "We're playing a show here later today and figured we'd mess around during open mic time—"

-"Ugh, stupid human machines! It never fails..."-

We turned to see a loudred standing behind a stack of box-like machines, grumbling as he fumbled with the wires protruding out the open back of one of the boxes.

The blonde walked over to the loudred, a frown on his face. "Huh? What's Heath doing over there? Is there something wrong with the amps?"

I decided to help a bit. -"Hey, what's wrong?"-

The loudred didn't look up at me, not realizing he was speaking to a human. -"The wiring in this amp is completely shot; they'll need a new one before the show, or I'll have to pick up some of the slack!"-

"He says it's broken," I said, translating. "you'll need a new one before your show starts."

The two humans looked at each other, then back to me in shock. "How did you do that?"

"I'm poke-raised. This is my... well, my brother, and growing up among pokemon it didn't seem right to put him in a ball."

"I see," replied the blonde human. "Wait, if you're poke-raised, where'd you learn to play like that?"

"A ranger taught me," I lied.

The bearded human laughed. "Well, that ranger certainly knew his stuff! You wanna jam with us for a bit? We still have several hours to go, plenty of time to have a bit of fun before we have to grab a spare amp from the van..."

I paused for a bit before shaking my head. "No, I've... I've got things to do. Thanks for the offer though."

With that, I walked off the stage, leaving the two humans and the loudred to do whatever. Blaze gave me yet another worried look.

-"Fire, you sure you're okay? This isn't normal, you know."-

It took me a few seconds to muster up a half-hearted reply. -"I'll be fine. We can figure out what's going on with me some other time; maybe it'll all become clear after a while..."-

Mewtwo sat in the cave he had chosen as his current resting spot; he was less than a month from the region the humans referred to as Unova, and once he arrived his divinely-appointed hunt would begin. Closing his eyes, the legendary psychic-type relaxed, beginning his meditations...

"Ah, I was wondering when you would finally decide to rest."

"What? Who dares—"

Opening his eyes, Mewtwo found himself in an endless sea of grey—the psychic plane, he realized—and quickly began searching for the source of the voice he had heard in his mind.

"Who intrudes upon my mind? Show yourself, coward!"

"As you wish," the voice responded; a shape began to form in front of him, slowly coming together in the shape of a Murkrow. "Is this to your satisfaction?"

Mewtwo snorted angrily. "You think you can fool me with that form? You are dealing with the most powerful psychic-type in the world; I can see that you are no Murkrow, though I cannot quite determine your true identity yet..."

"I thought perhaps you would prefer something familiar," the presence said, its voice an eerie monotone, devoid of emotion. "My truest form is... similar to a Murkrow, but nothing you would recognize."

As Mewtwo focused his power, the true form of the intruder slowly became apparent to him... though confusion quickly set in. At first, it did indeed seem to be something akin to a Murkrow—a black flying-type, but with three eyes and a strange aura—but then it shifted to reveal a human sitting in some sort of wheeled contraption before changing back to the flying-type. The back-and-forth shifting of its true form was bizzare; at times, it seemed as if this presence was both the bird and the human at the same time.

"What are you? The human, or the flying-type?"

"I was human, once," the presence said. "but that boy died long ago; he died in a dark place, far from home. I am more the bird than him at this point, though you are incorrect in your assumption that it represents some form of pokemon."

"Impossible. What else could it be, if not a pokemon?"

"Something from my world; it is a world apart from yours, one where pokemon do not exist. Though even in my world I am unique among all creatures, for the bird form is only visible to the mind's eye."

"Enough exposition," Mewtwo huffed angrily. "Speak quickly, before I tear your mind apart."

"You could not do that if you tried, for your power cannot reach across worlds; mine can. But I suppose I should get to the point," the being said. "You have been deceived, Mewtwo. Your mission is a lie."

"HOW DARE YOU! I was tasked by Arceus himself—"

"It was not Arceus who spoke to you, but another in his guise. Think back to that conversation; was there not something odd about his aura?"

He recalled the conversation in question, only for his eyes to widen in shock; whatever the entity before him was, it was correct. He had been so caught up in the shock of that moment that he barely noticed anything strange, but the more he thought back the more furious he became at the deception.

"Who. Who was it."

"It matters not, for though the culprit was not Arceus, he is above you in power still. What matters is the target of your hunt; the imposter was not lying in that a human walks as a pokemon, and is indeed in Unova."

"Hmph. An abomination; Arceus or no, I will still destroy such an insult, no matter what you say—"

"I do not intend to disuade you."

Mewtwo paused; he had not expected that response. "What."

"I would in fact have you continue your hunt, albeit with one condition: you allow your quarry an additional month, and upon reaching it allow it to speak before you attack."

"And why would I do this?"

"Because by that time your curiosity concerning this individual will have grown to the point where you will not be able to resist learning more about him," the entity stated. "And once you have confronted him, I will reveal to you a method of striking back at the one who deceived you, though you will not be able to accomplish it for some time."

The psychic-type considered the offer carefully; finally, after several minutes of thought, he nodded. "Fine. I will play your little game. Now begone from my mind, whatever you are—and do not think I will forget your intrusion."