April 21st 2012

Its been a little over two years now since I brought Avalon to this new home. Two years since I left my job and what was left of my life behind and came out here to the middle of the woods to just... I don't know try and make things right? The good news is it seems to be working.

In this time I have gotten her to eat on her own, groom bathe and see to her needs, she even knows how to cook a few simple meals. More important though she has learned to speak, well not out loud she seems to have only rudimentary vocal chords at best and I've only heard her purr and make a few strained squeaks and low growls. But her telepathy has developed rapidly along with the rest of her language centers. Its as if her mind was simply waiting for a teacher and has devoured every lesson I could hand her. Her natural intelligence along with her thirst for knowledge has been a force I cant get away from. Every book on the shelf has been read and I had to go pick up a few on my last trip out of the grotto. I wager to say her reading level has caught up nearly to mine.

Speaking of the grotto she has run of this place now and I have shown her the limit of the property, warning her against venturing further for now till we can get her to understand some of her powers a little better. Which I need to do soon… that keen mind of hers is going to grow bored of this place eventually, and as much as my separation pay has kept me going its going to run out. I hear they are hiring a professor at the local university. If I try for it I will need to move closer into town and find a way for her to exist closer to humans with no issues. God.. this isn't going to be easy.

Aspen set her pen down and looked across the room. Avalon had herself curled up in the beanbag chair that shes claimed as her own, a book in her lap and cartoons playing on the TV that neither were really paying attention to. She smiled not certain if her strange daughter really knew it was her birthday today. Slowly she got up and headed for the kitchen starting to prep dinner and eventually some cake as shes done now each time. Merlin looked up from his own book and Panthur looked up from her nap near the fireplace as she walked by.

She wasn't in the kitchen long when she heard the TV click off.

" Mother?"

Aspen smiled looking over her shoulder "yes kiddo what is it?"

Avalon was there standing at the entrance of the kitchen holding that book in her hands frowning down at its pages. "I have.. questions…"

"What sort of questions?"

Avalon fell silent for a few heartbeats staring at the book.

Shutting off the water she stepped over "Avalon, tell me whats wrong? I cant read minds but I can tell something is bothering you"

She turned the book around in her strange hands showing an illustration of a small pink feline floating over a river in what looked like a primeval forest. The text on the opposite page spelled it out for her.

" Mew, thought to be extinct, this Pokemon is theorized to be the ancestor of all Pokemon on the planet. Legends state that it was worshiped as a god by many early cultures and was considered a test of the heart of any human who might encounter it"

Aspen found herself frowning at the page, she should have checked the paleontology book before she grabbed it.

"Mother.. what does this mean?" She squinted down at her creator trying to look annoyed but the way her ears lay back it was clear to Aspen she was worried, nervous even.

"lets.. sit down ok?" Aspen stepped past her to sit on the couch.

After a moment Avalon followed, setting the book down on the table open before sitting down herself, back against the armrest and knees pulled up to her chest as she watched her mother.

"so… I guess now is as good a time as any.. I'm sure you have a lot of questions.. and.. its your birthday kiddo.. and a tradition we have been skipping is one where we give gifts… and this year I guess its knowledge I'm going to give you. Are.. you sure you want to know?" Aspen set her hands in her lap trying to stay calm. This was not going to be easy for either of them.

The end of Avalon's tail twitched as she leaned forward a little "Mother.. what.. Am I?" her eyes downcast at the question she closed them her brows furrowed, jaw clenched "What am I? What is Mew? Why is that part of my species name? Am I related to it? Are my kind extinct? How come I don't look like it if I'm related to it?" She opened her eyes again and stared at her creator a bit of tears gathering "I've seen my reflection in lakes and ponds, I've seen my reflection in the mirror here.. and even if I hadn't I…" she looks down at herself and shakes "I can see that I'm like no one or nothing else I've ever encountered… What am I?"

Aspen could feel her heart cracking in half again. To see this being so pained by these questions. The answers were going to hurt worse but it was better then leaving them unsaid. She slowly leaned forward and rested her hands on Avalon's forearm. "Lets get these one at a time"

Avalon nodded but continued to watch her.

"Let me see.. for one.. that book is correct.. Mew is the ancestor of all Pokemon.. of all the animals on the planet.. including distantly.. humans. Some say that mew has the DNA of all the other life on the planet within it.. but that's not quite right… everything has a little bit of Mew in it. You remember what DNA is right? I taught you what that was?" Aspen patted her arm.

The creation nodded looking at least more invested then stressed "A blueprint.. inside every piece of a living thing from a drop of its blood to a flake of its skin"

"Very good yes… now.. you are related to it.. yes.. very closely related to it.. closer then anything else in the world"

"how? Are my kind extinct?" Avalon's eyes shiny again from the gathering tears.

"Not.. exactly.."

" Was there only ever one other and its gone? Am I really the only one?"

Aspen opened her mouth and shut it again looking down "You are… but… wait hold on!"

Avalon recoiled from her clutching her hands to her chest "I'm… really... alone? How? Why? I..."

"no no no.. listen.. I've told you before... you are not alone… you have me.. Merlin even Panthur but I need you to slow down and listen ok? It will make sense when I'm done I promise please just be patient." Aspen touched her forearm again trying to calm her.

The creation nodded slowly but stayed withdrawn her mouth set into a grim line.

"Your species isn't extinct so much as it has only existed within my own lifetime"

That at least got her attention. She tipped her head to the side waiting.

Aspen sat back running her fingers through her hair. "okay… so you know how you have dreams about.. glass.. and waking up?"

A slow nod

"Mew.. is extinct as far as we know… the trouble is its very powerful.. even if it was still alive out there its assumed it could turn invisible or transform or any number of other abilities along with being able to fly.. we would never be able to find it unless it wants to be found"

She was dancing around the topic and Avalon knew it.

Aspen sighed again "The first of your kind was created around fifteen years ago. Some very powerful men with a lot of money and resources decided they wanted the strongest Pokemon in the world at their beck and call… the stories go, nothing was stronger then mew.. but it was long gone or at least impossible to find" She scooted the book closer looking at the drawing "so.. they found a fossil and extracted the preserved DNA from it.. the blueprint.. and set to work"

Avalon nodded and pulled the blanket from the back of the couch pulling it over herself

"The blueprint wasn't whole unfortunately.. as is expected when you preserve things in stone for countless millennia.. AND these powerful men wouldn't settle for the power of mew, they wanted stronger"

" how.. could they get stronger then… that?"

"They experimented for a long time, tried different combinations, had a lot of failures, before they found the correct combo of DNA… see... humans have figured out how to edit that code inside all life.. And we can do it in a way where we pick and choose what traits are in the thing we create. The first of your kind was mostly mew with some Alakazam and.. a little bit of human…"

"Human…" Avalon blinked and looked up at Aspen "so.. people made him… he was new... an entire new species?"

"That's correct, he was the first of your kind and they called him Mewtwo… a continuation of Mew.. an improvement of Mew."

" what happened?"

"Well… once they were finally successful he eventually woke up.. and in his pain and rage he destroyed the labs that created him and everything inside" Aspen watched her daughter and recognized the flinch "Just like you did.. perhaps not as volatile, you didn't blow up the building, but you certainly left carnage in your wake"

Avalon nodded "I remember… and I remember you saying he died…" she curled even tighter on herself.

"he did… a couple years after he was born he lured humans to the island of his birth.. a place he had changed to match his needs and during the battles that ensued there he.. destabilized and died leaving a giant storm around the place… that was before you were born"

"what about me then? Where do I come from?" she looked up at her creator, her mother, begging for truth she didn't want.

With a sigh Aspen continued "Everything in the labs was destroyed but only an idiot doesn't keep back ups of their work offsite… and these powerful men who spent a lot of time and money on him didn't want it to go to waste, so they sold all of the information to different powerful men with money who then in turn built a lab and hired.. me"

" you?"

"yes… Avalon… I'm the one who created you… and before you ask.. the human DNA inside of you?" Aspen reached up and ran her fingers through her hair getting a loose one free, holding it up to show Avalon the length of gold. "The human inside of you comes from me"

"Just like the Alakazam in you comes from me" Merlin murmured from his spot.

Avalon looked back at Merlin then back at Aspen again "so… you are not my parents but..."

"I mean no we aren't your parents… but at the same time yes, as close as you get… I know its all weird… it was samples taken from us.. the DNA spliced and recombined with the mew DNA we had. And I want you to understand something... You are not a clone of the original. No more then you are a clone of Mew or he was a clone of Mew. You are a unique being. The files my company received were just that… files.. not a shred of his DNA was used in you. We had to track down another mew fossil. This one was a piece of amber from way up north. A scrap of fur preserved in tree sap. We followed the notes from Doctor Fuji to the letter.. did everything the same… the procedures were nearly identical, but your genetic material is all your own. The mew fossil… the alakazam… the human were unique in the combination that it is You! Think of it like…" she shrugged her shoulders looking around the room before she glanced back to the kitchen "baking a cake with different ingredients but following the same recipe"

Avalon gazed down her eyes unfocused.

"Are you ok?"

Without moving Avalon simply said "Why?"

"why.. what?"

"Why was I made? You said he was made to be strong.. what was I made for then? You didn't say…" she looked up at her as her brows knit together.

"You are certainly strong Avalon… no doubt about it.. you need training to get a full handle on your abilities.. but already you can fly… you can speak telepathically.. you have nearly limitless potential. Heck you have likely manifested abilities I don't even know about yet"

Avalon looked away from her frowning before she held out her hand a vase on a shelf floating over to her. In it were a dozen dried flowers. One she plucked out and set the vase aside holding the dead flower in her hands her eyes began to glow gold, light spilling out of them, growing in her chest to flow down her arms. Slowly the flower began to move, green returning to its leaves and color to its petals, eventually leaving Avalon holding a very much alive flower in her hands that she offered to Aspen.

Floored, Aspen accepted it staring at it "Like.. that yes.. yes that counts as something you can do I didn't know about"

" In the forest I used to make flowers bloom all the time…"

"Okay.. well.. yes.. you are powerful.. and.."

"But was that why I was made?" she cut her off leaning in.

"n.. no not exactly… it was.. medical research… they thought the true genius in your creation was not the power.. but the wealth from making medicine from your body…" Aspen bit her lip hating that answer but it was the ugly truth.

Avalon's nostrils flared as she let out a heavy breath "Medicine? I was to be.. picked apart to sell.. for medicine?"

"That.. was what they wanted yes.. if they had a super powerful Pokemon at their call even better.. but they were content harvesting from you which they thankfully never got the chance to do"

"I…" the creation looked at her hands "I was a thing to be.. used.. to exist to be.. culled.. harvested…" she looked up at Aspen her eyes narrowed to slits "You! How DARE you make me! How DARE you do this to me! Bring me into the world to suffer! Bring me into the world Alone!"

"Wait.. Avalon listen there's a lot you don't understand!"

"I've heard ENOUGH!" the creation floated off the couch, glowering down at her maker with fire in her eyes. "You did this to me! You made me! And now you think you can just make things right with kind words and sweets!"

Aspen stood on the couch and grabbed Avalon by the wrists "Avalon PLEASE listen!"

Avalon froze, time seemed to slow, the hands around her wrists circling the scars, the metal around her wrists.. chiming softly… the orange fluid around her.. glass shattering… screams.. the cold floor… pain.. so much pain.

There was a high pitched whine followed by a deep whelm as Aspen was pitched back against the wall with unseen force. She collapsed to the floor dazed. The flower dropping on the floor next to her.

Avalon floated there in the middle of the cabin her entire body shaking, trapped in the memories of her birth. A soft mreow brought her back as Panthur jumped over and stood over her trainers fallen form.

The creation blinked, realization dawning on her. With a mental screech she spun in the air and flew out the door. It nearly shattered with the force of her telekinesis as she passed. Her pale form vanished out into the night.

Slowly Aspen came back to finding clawed hands helping her sit up.

" Easy Morgan she gave you a nasty bump"

"Merlin.. what.. what just happened?"

"She attacked you…" gold light came from his palms washing over her head making her feel a little better

"yes but... but.. why?"

" I don't know.. but once I am certain you are alright I am going to go find her I have a few things to say"

Aspen nodded drunkenly and rested her head back "please… I cant let anything happen to my daughter" she reached over and carefully picked up the flower where it had fallen. This living thing once dead. A bloom returned to life.