"I've heard of the Psychic at Johto… Seems pretty chaotic to me," a
voice said.
Kevin and Gary both turned at the words. A man stood in the direction to which they faced. "Hi," he said. "I'm doing a survey. Would you mind answering a few questions?"
Kevin blinked for a moment. Then he widened his eyes. "Warles?!?"
"In the flesh," Warles answered, doing a slight bow.
"Warles?" Gary asked. "You mean you're that professor that built the Pokédex? You don't look like him to me."
"I hold no relation to those scientists," Warles quickly replied. "I come from a different bloodline. But on to bigger business." Warles turned back to Kevin. "Well, Kevin. Do you think you're up to face that psychic? He's far more dangerous than you could imagine."
"I want to know… How did you survive the blast?" Kevin asked.
"Humph! I thought I was supposed to be the inquirer," Warles growled. Then his voice calmed. "Very well, I'll tell you… I don't know. All I know about that is the fact that I'm alive, my lab is gone, and my submarine is destroyed, thanks to you."
"Well, without a lab, you wouldn't need it anymore," Kevin said. Warles was glaring at him. Kevin somehow managed to raise an eye-ridge of his Scyther head. "What are you so mad at me about?"
Warles seemed to be caught in a trance, because as soon as Kevin asked him he snapped out of it. "Wha..? Oh," He said. He thought for a moment. "Actually, I'm not mad at you. But I do want revenge."
"Revenge? What for? What did I ever do to you?" Kevin asked.
Gary stepped next to Kevin. "And if you think you're going to get revenge on Kevin—" Gary began.
"You fools," Warles said. He sounded bitter. "You assume too much. I don't want revenge on you, Kevin." He calmed his voice. "Sorry, I was brooding. I was thinking of something that betrayed me those nine years ago."
"Then who do you want revenge on?" Kevin asked. "And what betrayed you, anyway?"
"The one who betrayed me those nine years ago is the one I want revenge on," Warles said, tilting his head forward to give the impression he was glaring. "This 'one' I'm referring to still exists today. It is… Team Rocket."
Kevin stepped back. "What?!?" He exclaimed.
"Team Rocket?" Gary gave a snide look. "You mean those guys managed to kidnap Kevin here?" Gary made a thumb gesture at Kevin as he said it.
"No, I was actually the one who kidnapped Kevin…" Warles looked down for a moment, thinking. Then, looking up, he began, "You see, it was Team Rocket that got you unintentionally involved, Kevin. It began after the destruction of the Cinnabar Mansion…"
* * *
Warles shook his head, clearing his thoughts. "Unngh…" he groaned, as he ached all over. He felt like he had been run over by a cement truck. Warles opened his eyes, but closed them again as the sky was brighter than they were adjusted to. After many times of opening and closing his eyes to get accustomed to the light, Warles shook his head and looked around again.
"What?" Warles blinked. He thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. "How did I end up outside? I thought I was pinned inside under the ceiling…" Warles looked behind him to find that he had been laying on a steel wall—The same wall which he had his mounted test tube rack on to help him in experiments at the mansion. Looking the other way, Warles nearly jumped at the sight of the damage.
The mansion itself was no longer recognizable. In fact, the whole front balcony and "porch" was completely gone. Several windows on the lower floors, where Warles vaguely recalled the location of the blast, were all but fine. Huge portions of walls were also missing from the once magnificent building. Of what was left, the building gave the impression of Swiss cheese.
"Well, if nothing else, at least the building is still standing," Warles said, not completely convinced. :If an explosion could come from the first floor and knock me and a part of the wall about 50 feet away…: Warles thought for a moment. :Wow. You would think that the whole mansion would be rubble at that point!:
Warles began searching the building, but was stopped by the police, who had just arrived. "What are you looking for, sir?" Officer Jenny asked.
Warles brushed the dust off his coat, which he didn't notice until now. "I was actually looking for my colleagues," he answered. "I was wondering if any of them were as lucky as me."
"What do you mean, 'lucky as you?'" Jenny wondered.
Warles merely shrugged. "Well, the only things I know of is that the blast came from probably the first floor. I was actually on the third floor, performing an experiment, when suddenly I hear an earth-shaking noise from below me. I turned around just in time to see flames rushing into me. That's the last thing I remember before getting the ceiling to collapse on me."
Officer Jenny gave Warles a crooked look. "How did you manage to survive then?"
"That's the thing," Warles answered confidently. "I just don't know."
"Well, you must be very stressed from all that, sir," Jenny said in a determined voice. "Just leave the searching to us, and we'll tell you if we find anyone in this mess. And, if you don't mind, I'd like to file a report on this abnormal occurrence."
"Tell me what floor that blast came from and what it was, too," Warles said as walked towards the police station. "And I wouldn't mind giving details as long as I remained confidential!"
* * *
"Why did you want to remain confidential?" Gary asked, interrupting Warles's story.
"I had my reasons, but now those reasons don't have any meaning to me today," Warles explained. "First off, Giovanni, the Rocket's leader, wouldn't have had anything more to do with me if he found out of our serious mistake, so I would've been poor the rest of my life. The mansion's destruction was already too big a price, and without the proper funds, which were destroyed in the flames, I wouldn't have been able to make a living. And second of all, Giovanni wouldn't decide to not choose me in any further experiments if he thought I was dead!"
"Rather cunning of you… seems much like what you did to me," Kevin said rather bluntly.
Warles ignored the statement. "…But even before Officer Jenny told me any details about what caused the explosion," Warles continued, "I knew exactly what had happened…"
* * *
"I'm sorry, sir, but we didn't find a single trace of any of your colleagues within the ruin," Officer Jenny said solemnly. "It's going to take us at least two more days before we can get any deeper to the floor of the basement." Jenny then began sounding a little confused. "But when I moved this rock off of what I thought was someone's arm, we found something else…" Jenny pulled out something metallic and handed it to Warles.
Warles recognized it clearly: it was the shattered remains of a metallic claw, which was intended to stop the Pokémon if it attempted to escape or lose control. "I recognize this," Warles stated. "It was used with a containment tank to stop any attempt of an animal from escaping. All of my other colleagues were convinced that these would do what was promised, but none of my persuasion made them think anything else…"
"You mean you performed experiments on other species in that mansion?" Jenny said in shock.
"Only one," Warles confirmed. "But that was when that explosion came. I think something must have short-circuited in the computers, causing one to spark a chain reaction between them all."
"No, we saw the computers," Jenny began. "Every one of them, save for the first three that were run through by debris, was intact. They didn't work, though. Now what I want to know is what exactly were these "containment tanks" that you mentioned earlier made of?"
"Let's see…" Warles tried to think back. "They were actually rather simple… Titanium alloy, shatter-proof glass, a panel that told the temperature of the tank, what the creature's temperature was, as well as its attack, defense, speed, and special powers were. These tanks included about 4 or 5 wires, all rubber-coated to prevent such accidents from occuring. Why do you ask?" Warles asked afterwards.
"Because," Jenny replied, "as we were walking through the rubble, there was no where you could step down there without hearing glass break under your feet."
Warles suddenly felt a small urge of panic, but fought it back. "If you wouldn't mind, Officer Jenny, but… well… may I be on my way?" Warles asked. "I'm getting rather unnerved talking about this."
"If it's getting uncomfortable to you about talking on this subject, we can stop," Jenny said calmly.
* * *
"…And that was actually the last time I saw the Cinnabar Island Officer Jenny," Warles finished. "But before I left, I remembered that my other colleagues kept their data in a safe deposit box, so I searched through the debris myself to find it. It was rather simple to find, too… Now I feel like a fool because I didn't keep it!" Warles laughed a little. "If only I didn't give it to Giovanni… The lying cur probably burned every paper in the box!"
"So why did you suddenly feel the urge to panic?" Kevin asked.
"I thought she might have figured the true reason why the mansion was destroyed. But what startled me the most was when I saw Giovanni's helicopter land near the ruin. Giovanni came out, and I thought I was ruined, but if he did see me, he never showed any sign, because his attention was to someone who was out of view from everyone else, including me.
"Whatever Giovanni said," Warles continued, "it sure convinced what I perceived to be a man with rather wide hips. And that was when I saw the tail."
"Mewtwo, correct?" Kevin spoke.
"Yes."
"What in the world is Mewtwo?" Gary asked. "And when did I get taken out of the conversation?"
Kevin faced Gary and gave a slight glare. "Gary, you haven't faced this Pokémon before. Mewtwo is powerful; That is his strongest trait. In fact, if I didn't have the ability to harness metronome—which I'm glad now that Warles gave me that gift—I couldn't have been able to beat Mewtwo and his Psychic attacks."
"You actually defeated Mewtwo in a match?" Warles asked in surprise.
"Well, no… it came out a tie, to be honest. Which goes to show how powerful you made me! Just like Mewtwo, I can lift various, heavy objects with just my mind."
:Just his mind? Various, heavy objects? Somehow, this sounds familiar…: Gary thought. :Unless…:
Gary pulled out two Pokéballs and clicked them open. Arcanine and Nidoking both shot out of their respective balls and stood before Kevin. Then, as he stood behind his Pokémon, Gary said, "Hey Kevin! Try lifting these Pokémon up with just your mind. Although…" Gary thought for a moment. "…just don't hurt them."
"Are you sure, Gary? They'll feel helpless if I do that," Kevin warned. But Kevin could see Gary wasn't backing down. With a reluctant tone in his voice, Kevin said, "Very well… I guess it's your decision." Upon finishing his sentence, Kevin's eyes flashed purple and an aura of the same color encased both of Gary's Pokémon at once, and they immediately began floating up into the air.
:It was the first time, I believe, that I actually used more than one Pokémon at once in a match… The Pokémon I faced was impossible for me to beat, let alone hit it!: Gary's memory flashed back to his match in the Viridian City Gym… The Pokédex had no data on it… The Pokémon seemed to be wearing some armor… and it's eyes that seemed to glow evilly…
Gary suddenly got a scared look. "That Pokémon… At the Viridian City Gym… He did the same thing that you did with the exact same Pokémon, except he seemed to have armor!"
This caught Kevin off guard and he nearly dropped the two heavyweights. Carefully dropping the two Pokémon to the ground, Kevin turned to Warles. "Armor? Giovanni puts armor on his Pokémon?"
Warles opened his mouth, but no words came. Quickly turning around, he said, "I don't know about the armor. I don't even know what you're talking about."
"You obviously know something about it, Warles," Gary said. "Otherwise, you would've said any armor, not the armor."
"Yes, but that's not the point!" Warles yelled. Kevin and Gary could both tell he was upset about something. "You see, all my life, Team Rocket has used me. Team Rocket used me to get Mewtwo. I would've been a great trainer to Mewtwo, had I been given a chance to negotiate with it! Team Rocket used me more than anyone could imagine! They even used me to get Cevan from you, then nearly kill us both!!"
"WHAT?!?!?"
Now it was Kevin's turn to be upset. Cevan, who had been quiet up until now, thought, But wait, aren't I Cevan? But Kevin ignored him. Kevin was nearly dumbfounded. He could hardly even believe his ears of what Warles had just said.
:I nearly lost my will to live because I lost my Scyther… The dreams we shared, the years we trained together… Sometimes even experiencing the same sickness! It was almost as if we shared an essence.:
Which is why you felt so torn apart when your Scyther disappeared those nine years ago, Cevan agreed. You and your Scyther, when you got him, seemed to act in every way the same. You even shared the same attitudes in the Pokémasters' Squadron with your Scyther!
:Nine years… Nine years… Kevin echoed. Has it really been that long? The agony I had to put up with, seemed more like 9 decades!:
Finally, after appearing in a trance for at least 5 minutes, Kevin shook it off. "All right, Team Rocket," Kevin said with a flame in his eyes, "The Blade Trainer is back, and until I get my Scyther and my life back in its rightful place, Neither you, nor I, shall have any rest!!"
"Nor I, if you go into their hideouts, barging in like that!" Warles hissed at Kevin, interrupting him as he pushed Kevin into a tree. Warles looked directly into Kevin's eyes with a glare. "If you think you're powerful enough to go defeat every member of Team Rocket in a single fight, believe me, Kevin, you won't win that war with the abilities you have right now! Not only that, but if Team Rocket were to somehow manage to capture you and control you in a way you cannot fight back, It not only means that Team Rocket would have some of the most powerful and rarest Pokémon anyone can find, It would spell doom for the whole world!!!"
Kevin and Gary both turned at the words. A man stood in the direction to which they faced. "Hi," he said. "I'm doing a survey. Would you mind answering a few questions?"
Kevin blinked for a moment. Then he widened his eyes. "Warles?!?"
"In the flesh," Warles answered, doing a slight bow.
"Warles?" Gary asked. "You mean you're that professor that built the Pokédex? You don't look like him to me."
"I hold no relation to those scientists," Warles quickly replied. "I come from a different bloodline. But on to bigger business." Warles turned back to Kevin. "Well, Kevin. Do you think you're up to face that psychic? He's far more dangerous than you could imagine."
"I want to know… How did you survive the blast?" Kevin asked.
"Humph! I thought I was supposed to be the inquirer," Warles growled. Then his voice calmed. "Very well, I'll tell you… I don't know. All I know about that is the fact that I'm alive, my lab is gone, and my submarine is destroyed, thanks to you."
"Well, without a lab, you wouldn't need it anymore," Kevin said. Warles was glaring at him. Kevin somehow managed to raise an eye-ridge of his Scyther head. "What are you so mad at me about?"
Warles seemed to be caught in a trance, because as soon as Kevin asked him he snapped out of it. "Wha..? Oh," He said. He thought for a moment. "Actually, I'm not mad at you. But I do want revenge."
"Revenge? What for? What did I ever do to you?" Kevin asked.
Gary stepped next to Kevin. "And if you think you're going to get revenge on Kevin—" Gary began.
"You fools," Warles said. He sounded bitter. "You assume too much. I don't want revenge on you, Kevin." He calmed his voice. "Sorry, I was brooding. I was thinking of something that betrayed me those nine years ago."
"Then who do you want revenge on?" Kevin asked. "And what betrayed you, anyway?"
"The one who betrayed me those nine years ago is the one I want revenge on," Warles said, tilting his head forward to give the impression he was glaring. "This 'one' I'm referring to still exists today. It is… Team Rocket."
Kevin stepped back. "What?!?" He exclaimed.
"Team Rocket?" Gary gave a snide look. "You mean those guys managed to kidnap Kevin here?" Gary made a thumb gesture at Kevin as he said it.
"No, I was actually the one who kidnapped Kevin…" Warles looked down for a moment, thinking. Then, looking up, he began, "You see, it was Team Rocket that got you unintentionally involved, Kevin. It began after the destruction of the Cinnabar Mansion…"
* * *
Warles shook his head, clearing his thoughts. "Unngh…" he groaned, as he ached all over. He felt like he had been run over by a cement truck. Warles opened his eyes, but closed them again as the sky was brighter than they were adjusted to. After many times of opening and closing his eyes to get accustomed to the light, Warles shook his head and looked around again.
"What?" Warles blinked. He thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. "How did I end up outside? I thought I was pinned inside under the ceiling…" Warles looked behind him to find that he had been laying on a steel wall—The same wall which he had his mounted test tube rack on to help him in experiments at the mansion. Looking the other way, Warles nearly jumped at the sight of the damage.
The mansion itself was no longer recognizable. In fact, the whole front balcony and "porch" was completely gone. Several windows on the lower floors, where Warles vaguely recalled the location of the blast, were all but fine. Huge portions of walls were also missing from the once magnificent building. Of what was left, the building gave the impression of Swiss cheese.
"Well, if nothing else, at least the building is still standing," Warles said, not completely convinced. :If an explosion could come from the first floor and knock me and a part of the wall about 50 feet away…: Warles thought for a moment. :Wow. You would think that the whole mansion would be rubble at that point!:
Warles began searching the building, but was stopped by the police, who had just arrived. "What are you looking for, sir?" Officer Jenny asked.
Warles brushed the dust off his coat, which he didn't notice until now. "I was actually looking for my colleagues," he answered. "I was wondering if any of them were as lucky as me."
"What do you mean, 'lucky as you?'" Jenny wondered.
Warles merely shrugged. "Well, the only things I know of is that the blast came from probably the first floor. I was actually on the third floor, performing an experiment, when suddenly I hear an earth-shaking noise from below me. I turned around just in time to see flames rushing into me. That's the last thing I remember before getting the ceiling to collapse on me."
Officer Jenny gave Warles a crooked look. "How did you manage to survive then?"
"That's the thing," Warles answered confidently. "I just don't know."
"Well, you must be very stressed from all that, sir," Jenny said in a determined voice. "Just leave the searching to us, and we'll tell you if we find anyone in this mess. And, if you don't mind, I'd like to file a report on this abnormal occurrence."
"Tell me what floor that blast came from and what it was, too," Warles said as walked towards the police station. "And I wouldn't mind giving details as long as I remained confidential!"
* * *
"Why did you want to remain confidential?" Gary asked, interrupting Warles's story.
"I had my reasons, but now those reasons don't have any meaning to me today," Warles explained. "First off, Giovanni, the Rocket's leader, wouldn't have had anything more to do with me if he found out of our serious mistake, so I would've been poor the rest of my life. The mansion's destruction was already too big a price, and without the proper funds, which were destroyed in the flames, I wouldn't have been able to make a living. And second of all, Giovanni wouldn't decide to not choose me in any further experiments if he thought I was dead!"
"Rather cunning of you… seems much like what you did to me," Kevin said rather bluntly.
Warles ignored the statement. "…But even before Officer Jenny told me any details about what caused the explosion," Warles continued, "I knew exactly what had happened…"
* * *
"I'm sorry, sir, but we didn't find a single trace of any of your colleagues within the ruin," Officer Jenny said solemnly. "It's going to take us at least two more days before we can get any deeper to the floor of the basement." Jenny then began sounding a little confused. "But when I moved this rock off of what I thought was someone's arm, we found something else…" Jenny pulled out something metallic and handed it to Warles.
Warles recognized it clearly: it was the shattered remains of a metallic claw, which was intended to stop the Pokémon if it attempted to escape or lose control. "I recognize this," Warles stated. "It was used with a containment tank to stop any attempt of an animal from escaping. All of my other colleagues were convinced that these would do what was promised, but none of my persuasion made them think anything else…"
"You mean you performed experiments on other species in that mansion?" Jenny said in shock.
"Only one," Warles confirmed. "But that was when that explosion came. I think something must have short-circuited in the computers, causing one to spark a chain reaction between them all."
"No, we saw the computers," Jenny began. "Every one of them, save for the first three that were run through by debris, was intact. They didn't work, though. Now what I want to know is what exactly were these "containment tanks" that you mentioned earlier made of?"
"Let's see…" Warles tried to think back. "They were actually rather simple… Titanium alloy, shatter-proof glass, a panel that told the temperature of the tank, what the creature's temperature was, as well as its attack, defense, speed, and special powers were. These tanks included about 4 or 5 wires, all rubber-coated to prevent such accidents from occuring. Why do you ask?" Warles asked afterwards.
"Because," Jenny replied, "as we were walking through the rubble, there was no where you could step down there without hearing glass break under your feet."
Warles suddenly felt a small urge of panic, but fought it back. "If you wouldn't mind, Officer Jenny, but… well… may I be on my way?" Warles asked. "I'm getting rather unnerved talking about this."
"If it's getting uncomfortable to you about talking on this subject, we can stop," Jenny said calmly.
* * *
"…And that was actually the last time I saw the Cinnabar Island Officer Jenny," Warles finished. "But before I left, I remembered that my other colleagues kept their data in a safe deposit box, so I searched through the debris myself to find it. It was rather simple to find, too… Now I feel like a fool because I didn't keep it!" Warles laughed a little. "If only I didn't give it to Giovanni… The lying cur probably burned every paper in the box!"
"So why did you suddenly feel the urge to panic?" Kevin asked.
"I thought she might have figured the true reason why the mansion was destroyed. But what startled me the most was when I saw Giovanni's helicopter land near the ruin. Giovanni came out, and I thought I was ruined, but if he did see me, he never showed any sign, because his attention was to someone who was out of view from everyone else, including me.
"Whatever Giovanni said," Warles continued, "it sure convinced what I perceived to be a man with rather wide hips. And that was when I saw the tail."
"Mewtwo, correct?" Kevin spoke.
"Yes."
"What in the world is Mewtwo?" Gary asked. "And when did I get taken out of the conversation?"
Kevin faced Gary and gave a slight glare. "Gary, you haven't faced this Pokémon before. Mewtwo is powerful; That is his strongest trait. In fact, if I didn't have the ability to harness metronome—which I'm glad now that Warles gave me that gift—I couldn't have been able to beat Mewtwo and his Psychic attacks."
"You actually defeated Mewtwo in a match?" Warles asked in surprise.
"Well, no… it came out a tie, to be honest. Which goes to show how powerful you made me! Just like Mewtwo, I can lift various, heavy objects with just my mind."
:Just his mind? Various, heavy objects? Somehow, this sounds familiar…: Gary thought. :Unless…:
Gary pulled out two Pokéballs and clicked them open. Arcanine and Nidoking both shot out of their respective balls and stood before Kevin. Then, as he stood behind his Pokémon, Gary said, "Hey Kevin! Try lifting these Pokémon up with just your mind. Although…" Gary thought for a moment. "…just don't hurt them."
"Are you sure, Gary? They'll feel helpless if I do that," Kevin warned. But Kevin could see Gary wasn't backing down. With a reluctant tone in his voice, Kevin said, "Very well… I guess it's your decision." Upon finishing his sentence, Kevin's eyes flashed purple and an aura of the same color encased both of Gary's Pokémon at once, and they immediately began floating up into the air.
:It was the first time, I believe, that I actually used more than one Pokémon at once in a match… The Pokémon I faced was impossible for me to beat, let alone hit it!: Gary's memory flashed back to his match in the Viridian City Gym… The Pokédex had no data on it… The Pokémon seemed to be wearing some armor… and it's eyes that seemed to glow evilly…
Gary suddenly got a scared look. "That Pokémon… At the Viridian City Gym… He did the same thing that you did with the exact same Pokémon, except he seemed to have armor!"
This caught Kevin off guard and he nearly dropped the two heavyweights. Carefully dropping the two Pokémon to the ground, Kevin turned to Warles. "Armor? Giovanni puts armor on his Pokémon?"
Warles opened his mouth, but no words came. Quickly turning around, he said, "I don't know about the armor. I don't even know what you're talking about."
"You obviously know something about it, Warles," Gary said. "Otherwise, you would've said any armor, not the armor."
"Yes, but that's not the point!" Warles yelled. Kevin and Gary could both tell he was upset about something. "You see, all my life, Team Rocket has used me. Team Rocket used me to get Mewtwo. I would've been a great trainer to Mewtwo, had I been given a chance to negotiate with it! Team Rocket used me more than anyone could imagine! They even used me to get Cevan from you, then nearly kill us both!!"
"WHAT?!?!?"
Now it was Kevin's turn to be upset. Cevan, who had been quiet up until now, thought, But wait, aren't I Cevan? But Kevin ignored him. Kevin was nearly dumbfounded. He could hardly even believe his ears of what Warles had just said.
:I nearly lost my will to live because I lost my Scyther… The dreams we shared, the years we trained together… Sometimes even experiencing the same sickness! It was almost as if we shared an essence.:
Which is why you felt so torn apart when your Scyther disappeared those nine years ago, Cevan agreed. You and your Scyther, when you got him, seemed to act in every way the same. You even shared the same attitudes in the Pokémasters' Squadron with your Scyther!
:Nine years… Nine years… Kevin echoed. Has it really been that long? The agony I had to put up with, seemed more like 9 decades!:
Finally, after appearing in a trance for at least 5 minutes, Kevin shook it off. "All right, Team Rocket," Kevin said with a flame in his eyes, "The Blade Trainer is back, and until I get my Scyther and my life back in its rightful place, Neither you, nor I, shall have any rest!!"
"Nor I, if you go into their hideouts, barging in like that!" Warles hissed at Kevin, interrupting him as he pushed Kevin into a tree. Warles looked directly into Kevin's eyes with a glare. "If you think you're powerful enough to go defeat every member of Team Rocket in a single fight, believe me, Kevin, you won't win that war with the abilities you have right now! Not only that, but if Team Rocket were to somehow manage to capture you and control you in a way you cannot fight back, It not only means that Team Rocket would have some of the most powerful and rarest Pokémon anyone can find, It would spell doom for the whole world!!!"