Jen and Red walked into the Pokemon Center the next day with their Pokemon in tow.
"You think this will work?" Jen asked.
"Only one way to find out, Jen."
Jen glanced at her Pokemon. "You guys remember what to do?"
They both nodded.
"Excuse me, Nurse Joy? I don't think my Pokemon are feeling so good." Jen said sheepishly. She held up Vulpix, who groaned weakly at Joy.
"Aw, poor thing. Don't worry. I'll take good care of her. Wait right here." Joy said as she took Vulpix from Jen and walked into the back.
Without hesitation, Jen and Red hopped over the counter and walked over to the Pokeball machine.
"Do you know how to work the…what's this thing called again?" Jen asked as she and Red stared at the machine. Everyone had seen Joy use it countless times to heal his or her Pokemon, but hardly anyone knew what it was called.
Red shrugged and helped her onto the machine.
"I don't see anything wrong with your Vulpix." Joy stated, coming back to the lobby.
"Haunter, stall please." Jen thought quickly.
Haunter nodded and flew into the back screaming, "I regret nothing!"
The sound of crashing and Joy screaming could be heard from the back. Red rapidly pressed a few buttons, and the machine began to hum. Jen felt better almost instantly. She looked at her hands and smiled. Her scars were faded and the infection was gone. She peeked under her shirt and gauzes to see that the bruises were gone.
"It worked!" Jen cried, showing Red her hands.
The sound of footsteps could be heard heading back towards the lobby. Red and Jen hopped back over the counter as Nurse Joy reappeared. She was carrying Vulpix in her arms with Haunter following close behind her. He was covered in spilled medical supplies.
"Your Vulpix appears to be fine. She stopped groaning when your Haunter came flying into the back. It gave me quite a scare when it crashed into the supply shelves." Joy said with a chuckle as she handed Vulpix back to Jen. "But both of your Pokemon are fine."
"Sorry about that, Nurse Joy, and thank you for your help." Jen said as she and Red left the Center.
"So now we know that the machine can also heal you too. I wonder what would happen if one of us were to put you-"
"Don't even finish that thought, Red. I am not being put in a Pokeball."
Red snickered silently. "But don't you want to know what the inside of one looks like?" He asked teasingly.
Jen glowered at him. "No." She replied drily.
Red nodded and didn't press her any farther on the subject. They explored the town for a little while before Red stopped and pointed at something down the street. "Do you know him?"
Jen followed his gaze and spotted Kenji waving at them. Jen smiled and waved back.
Kenji walked over to them, grinning. "Morning, Jen. Who is this?"
"Kenji, this is my cousin, Red. Red, this is Kenji. We met at the Hero's Ball."
"It's nice to meet you, Red." Kenji said, holding out a friendly hand.
Red shook his hand and nodded.
Kenji's smile faded a little when Red didn't say anything.
"Oh, sorry. Red is mute." Jen explained.
Red nodded again.
"And you're also a Pokemon trainer. How do you communicate with your Pokemon?" Kenji asked. He sounded very fascinated.
"I use sign and sound codes." Red signed. Jen translated for him so Kenji could understand him.
"What are sound codes?"
Red snapped his fingers and stomped on the ground.
"Huh, nifty!"
"He seems like a nice guy." Red said. "Are you guys going to ditch me now?"
Kenji looked to Jen for a translation.
"I don't think you will want to follow us around." Jen replied slowly.
Red smirked and rolled his eyes. "I'll see you guys later." He then led his Pokemon and Jen's Pokemon, who left reluctantly, down the street and out of sight.
Jen turned towards Kenji and gave him a soft smile. "Red is leaving us alone. What do you want to do while he is gone?"
Kenji smiled and took her hand. "I thought you might want to see something. Come on."
He took her to the southern outskirts of Rota and led her towards a lookout of Kanto. The view was breathtaking. Jen could see almost all of Kanto.
"I think I can see a part of Pallet Town!" Jen exclaimed. "How did you find this, Kenji?"
"I like to explore a lot whenever I get bored, and when I happened upon this place, I knew I had to show you."
Jen's smile widened as she scanned the region. She felt like she was on top of the world. "Thank you for showing me this." She said slowly. Jen glanced over at Kenji to see that he was staring at her with a smile on his face as well. "What?" She asked shyly.
He cupped his hand under her chin and grinned. "You are so beautiful."
Jen's cheeks turned rosy and she looked down to hide it. "Sorry."
Kenji laughed and lifted her head up. "Don't apologize." He slowly leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers. Jen smiled as she kissed him back.
He moved his hand from her chin and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer, and kissing her harder. Jen leaned into him, and kissed him just as hard.
It was only when she smelled something revolting that she and Kenji were forced to pull away from each other.
"You can smell that too?" He asked as he plugged his nose.
Jen nodded, cringing. She was starting to feel sick.
There had been a few Pokemon near them earlier, but as soon as they smelled the mysterious stench, they fled. Jen tried to look towards the direction where the smell was coming from and nearly fainted.
"Jen, what's the matter?" Kenji asked worriedly when he saw her grow pale.
She quickly pushed him behind a couple of shrubs and ducked down. Her heartbeat was racing as she peeked around their hiding spot.
"What? What do you see?" Kenji asked in a hushed voice.
"Something horrible."
"What?"
"My mom." Jen replied in a deathly serious tone.
Kenji snickered, but covered his mouth when Jen shot him a look that screamed, 'Shut up!' "Sorry." He snorted.
Jen peered around the shrub again to see her mom walking up the path towards Rota…followed by Clara and Lacy. "You've got to be kidding me."
Kenji pulled some of the branches away to see the three women getting closer. "Are those your sisters with her?"
Jen slowly shook her head and laid flat against the ground. The smell was starting to get unbearable. "If my mom finds me, she'll drag me back home, but if those two girls find me, they will kill both you and me."
Kenji's lips formed a thin line. He let go of the shrub's branches and tried to lie down on the ground as well, but accidentally made too much noise. The trio stopped and turned towards the shrub that Jen and Kenji were hiding behind.
"Is someone there?" Lucy called out.
"Zangoose, go see who it is." Lacy said as she summoned her Pokemon.
Jen shut her eyes and waited for the Pokemon to find them, but it never did. The sound of rustling next to her caused her to open her eyes just as Kenji stepped out from behind the bush.
"No need to panic." He said with a grin. "Sorry if I gave you a scare."
"Kenji, what are you doing?" Jen cried.
"It's alright." Lacy said. "Zangie, you can relax."
Jen looked through the base of the shrub to see Kenji walking towards the trio. Her mom looked like she hadn't slept in a couple of days, while Clara and Lacy were dressed in casual clothing, but what really set Jen off were the glasses that Clara was wearing. It wasn't sunny enough for her to need them.
"What were you doing?" Lacy asked nonchalantly.
"Sleeping."
Jen could see Clara raise an eyebrow and adjust her glasses. "What are you doing?"
"Have you seen a girl about eighteen years old with really light, platinum blonde hair around here?" Lucy asked, handing Kenji a picture of her. "She's my daughter and she has been missing for days now."
Kenji looked at the picture and shook his head. "Sorry. I can't say that I've seen her. Where have you looked so far?"
"All over Kanto." Lucy groaned. "This is the last place that I haven't looked."
"Perhaps she has returned home?" Kenji suggested.
Lucy shook her head. "I was told that she was here by a couple of locals in Cerulean City who had attended the Hero Ball the other day."
"I hope you can find her soon." Kenji said insincerely.
"Can you please help us get to Rota and find her?" Lucy asked.
Kenji flinched and Lacy and Clara looked at him oddly. "I'm not a local, if that is what you're thinking. I am just a visitor."
"But you have been here longer." Lucy protested.
Kenji was silent.
"Leave him alone. Just leave him alone." Jen thought as she focused on the trio. She didn't know how the Mews controlled others with mind control, but she had to get Kenji away from her mom.
The trio blinked slightly and began walking away. Kenji frowned as they silently walked down the path towards Rota.
"I can't believe that actually worked." Jen giggled as she stood up from her hiding spot.
"What just happened?" Kenji asked as he turned towards Jen.
Jen hesitated as she tried to find a good excuse, but wound up shrugging.
Little did she know, they were being watched by a curious Mew, whose reflection shimmered within a cluster of blue crystals.
The trio had left Jen and Kenji without a word, but Clara and Lacy did not forget about him. Lacy seemed confused about what had just occurred, while Clara was almost giddy. The only reason why she did not share her reason for being so excited was due to Lucy, who was quickly growing on her last nerve.
"Do you have to keep spraying repel on yourself every five minutes?" Clara asked Lucy. She was starting to get very irritated with the woman.
"I don't like Pokemon. Especially wild Pokemon." Lucy spat back. "Besides we are getting to Rota faster. We don't have to worry about any pests getting in our way."
Clara and Lacy looked at each other with a mutual loathing for Lucy.
"Why did we decide to let her come with us again?" Lacy whispered.
"I don't know." Clara muttered.
"The second we get to Rota, we've got to ditch this woman, or make her disappear. She is nuts."
"Don't worry about this psycho. We have much more important things to get to, got it?"
"Like what? We just need to get a package from some grunt that was stationed here a couple days ago. Right?"
Clara smirked and tapped her glasses.
"What are you two talking about?" Lucy asked as she applied another can of repel to herself.
Lacy and Clara nearly gagged when the smell reached their noses. "*Gak*! Nothing, ma'am!"
Lucy rolled her eyes and marched towards the entrance of Rota. "You two can go find your friend. I'm going to find my daughter."
"Thank God!" Both girls mentally cheered.
"Alright, nice meeting you, Lucy. Hope you can find your daughter." Clara said with false concern in her voice.
Lucy ignored them and walked into Rota to find Jen.
"Alright, Clara, what did you see?" Lacy asked eagerly.
"I wasn't able to identify it yet because I didn't have enough time, but my glasses picked up a Legendary in the area." Clara smirked.
"So are we going to report it?"
Clara's smirked faded, and she sighed heavily. "You idiot, of course we are reporting it. We need to, especially if we want to know what it is, but not to just anyone. Giovanni will need to hear about this one."
Jen and Kenji snuck back into Rota a couple hours later, and found Red waiting for them back at the Center.
"Did you have fun?" Red asked teasingly.
"Red…" Jen shot him a small glare. "My mom is here."
Red froze and seemed to pale a little, while Vulpix and Haunter flinched violently.
"Yeah, and Kenji got to meet her for a few minutes."
Red looked at Kenji and shook his head sadly. "Condolences."
Kenji chuckled at Jen's translation. "Thanks, Red. She wasn't terrible. You're mom is just…um-"
"Crazy?" Jen asked.
"A psycho?" Red signed.
"I was going to say nuts, but I guess that is basically the same thing." Kenji chuckled. "Is there anywhere you two can hide?"
Jen glanced at Red nervously. Red nodded and signed to Kenji. "We do, but we'll need you to watch out for her mom and tell us when she leaves. Got it?" Red also handed Kenji his phone number.
Jen translated for Kenji.
"I'll do what I can. You two get out of here." Kenji said firmly.
Jen smiled and kissed Kenji one last time on the lips before running off with Red back towards the Tree.
"Well you obviously had fun." Red teased.
"Shut up, Red."
"Next time you go on a fun date, can we come too?" Vulpix asked.
Jen glared at Red, who smirked slyly.
A woman with crimson red hair, and fiery red eyes walked casually into her boss's office. She knocked on the opened door, and both he and his Persian looked up. "Sir, you have a phone call from two grunts in Rota."
"Thank you, Ariana" Her boss, Giovanni, said from his desk. He picked the phone and took the waiting grunts off hold. "This is Giovanni speaking. What do you want?"
"Sorry to bother you, sir, but both my companion, Lacy, and I have located a Legendary near the outskirts of Rota. We haven't identified which one it is yet, but I'm sending you everything that my glasses picked up."
A message popped up on Giovanni's computer as all the data from Clara glasses finished downloading. He opened the message up and scanned over the data. "…" He looked over the message again, this time reading through everything. His head began to hurt as he tried to remember where he had last seen or heard of such a Legendary.
He had actually been having similar headaches for the past nine years or so. They all started after he and a very large group of Rockets returned from Mt. Quena. Each time he tried to remember why he was there in the first place he would get a splitting headache.
"Who is this Legendary?" He thought as he rubbed his throbbing head. His Persian laid its head on his leg, and looked at his master with concern in its eyes. Giovanni ignored his Pokemon, and dialed a number on his phone.
"Sir?" One of his scientists responded.
"I am going to send you a document that I just received. I want you to find out what Legendary could be related to the one described in this document."
"I'll do what I can, sir." The scientist hung up, and Giovanni quickly sent out the message before calling another number.
"Ariana, I want you to prepare a couple grunts to go to Rota."
"How many, sir? And what shall I tell them to expect when they arrive?"
"You can decide how many go. Tell them that they are searching for a Legendary." Giovanni said, still massaging his head. "And send me a Psychic type Pokemon. My head is killing me."
"Right away, sir."
A few minutes later, two grunts appeared with a Gothorita, who was ordered to use Calm Mind on Giovanni. Giovanni closed his eyes and relaxed in his chair as his headache slowly faded away.
Unfortunately, his time of recovery was cut short by the sound of his phone ringing.
Sighing heavily, he hit the speaker button. "What?" He asked irritated.
"We have found the Legendary you were looking for, Giovanni, or one very similar to it, but…you might want to be sitting down for this." The scientist explained.
"Just spit it out. What is this Legendary?"
"According to our files, old files…by Fuji…, we have come to the conclusion that it is a Legendary that we created. Apparently you ordered us to create 'the world's most power Pokemon' from Mew's DNA. The Legendary's power levels and DNA match Mew's."
"What are you blabbering about? We cloned Mew? I don't recall doing any such thing." His headache was starting to come back.
"Well, the files say otherwise, sir. The Pokemon is called Mewtwo, and it escaped years ago."
Hearing that name sent Giovanni into a screaming frenzy as his headache exploded into an unbearable migraine. If it wasn't for the Gothorita using Calm Mind on him, the effects could have been much worse. "YEEEEAAAAA! What the Hell is going on?" He shrieked as he clenched the handles of his chair. All of his memories of Mewtwo began flooding back into his mind.
"Giovanni?" The grunts yelped, horrified.
Giovanni's face slowly relaxed as his headache finally disappeared. He looked at the bewildered grunts and smiled evilly at them. He remembered when he first met Mewtwo at the burning ruins of Fuji's laboratory to his recapture at Mt. Quena. Of course, it was also at Mt. Quena that, with the help of a boy and his friends, Mewtwo escaped again and erased Giovanni's memories.
"Giovanni, your…eye."
Giovanni glanced at his computer screen to see his reflection. He had a hemorrhage in his left eyes, which was caused when all of his memories were painfully restored to him. "It's nothing." He sneered, turning back to the grunts. "Tell Ariana to send as many grunts as she can to Rota, and that I shall be joining them. There is a Legendary I'm dying to see again."
