Hi everyone, I finally managed to write down the next chapter. Sorry for the long wait, but I'm still quite busy, and since English's not my mother tongue, I had focused myself on other works.

I'll try to be quicker for chapter 8. Things are starting to change.

Thank you to the ones who are sticking to this story for long.

Have a good reading.

Chapter 7:

The Mewtwo Mission was something for sure! Ash didn't know that the soldiers who were aware of the Pokémon's existence were under a particular training. As he got it in the nightmares, these Pokémon had a variety of attacks that they could use against their foes, and that implied that humans without this ability had to be prepared to be confronted against it.

According to their superior, they would meet Mewtwo within the month, but they never knew the exact date, for Mewtwo was the one who choose it. According to Paul, Mewtwo had been quite…persuasive to make sure they would be the one who arrange the meetings. Tobias had explained that they usually explained what was happening on their side and what was tolerated or not. Once, the soldiers had to burn some crops for the berries they had was considered to be a drug for Pokémon which went completely frantic without the fruits.

Besides that, neither Paul or Tobias could hear Mewtwo speaking, for they were on the sniper field. Rumors spread that Mewtwo could talk via telepathy, but nothing was proved for only the general would stand alone by them. Due to his very bad results when it came to fire a sniper, Ash was of watching duty of the snipers themselves.

The teenager couldn't believe that the "non-aggression" meetings with Mewtwo were fully respected on their side. the general seemed to be someone who had a double-sided personality. Ash was sure that if they would be able to overpower Mewtwo, they would do it.

On the meeting day, Ash was rudely awakened by the Mewtwo Mission team, whose members despised the "lucky (or unlucky) newbie". Ash watched his clock. Only 2.30 a.m.

Thank you Mewtwo, or whatever you are called, he mentally thought in a cynical manner, before quickly grabbing his clothes and stepping out of the dorms. Since being removed of his current unit would have raised questions, he was told the evening after his meeting with the general that he would act as normal until the Mewtwo team was needed.

Ash found Paul and Tobias in the freezing cold few minutes later. He wasn't the only one who was startled of being awaken so soon.

"How long do you think it's going to take?" Asked Tobias in a whisper.

"No idea, dude," replied Paul.

"Don't call me dude, Paulie!"

Ash didn't even tried to interfere by breaking into their argument. Since he told them that he joined their squad, Tobias was way nicer to him, and Ash was really thankful of it to avoid a confrontation with him. Both Paul and Tobias had agreed on the fact that Ash had some dumb luck, and welcomed him in without asking questions. Ash was also thankful for that.

The sun had raised for a long time, and the squad was ready since hours, but Mewtwo wasn't here. Ash had used his googles to check the area, but he was quickly deceived. The first trees were miles away and the place of the meeting looked exactly as what was written in the books. A deserted land where nothing grows up and where even the dumbest being on Earth wouldn't even try to survive there.

"Everyone, in position!" Barked a voice into their microphone. Ash jumped. He had completely forgotten that every soldier was linked to the general via microphones for quick updates. Would this finally mean that Mewtwo was to appear?

Paul and Tobias grabbed their weapons. Ash noticed that they both had a silent assassin, and deduced that the firing of the Hecate would be to loud to surprise Mewtwo if things were to get wrong.

Ash pulled out his gun, but didn't unlock it. The soldiers were so tensed that a false move might be enough to startle him and make him accidentally pull the trigger.

Then, as everyone was ready, Ash felt a numbing sensation into his brain. It went so quickly that he thought he dreamed it, but somehow, he was now sure that Mewtwo was aware that the human army was around the area and that the general wasn't alone.

They teleported themselves before the general.

Ash grabbed his googles and completely forgot to check the team's back.

A giant cat-like was now facing the general, and it was so tall that the man seemed very small in comparison. Their body was purple, Ash saw cruelty in their eyes. Ash knew without doubts that Mewtwo would be ready to wipe out thousands of being if they ever felt the need to.

Why are they here if they know the general isn't alone? Ash wondered.

Then, he felt the heavy pressure on his brain again. Mewtwo was reading into him. As soon as Ash felt the need to push them away, the pressure disappeared. Ash suddenly remembered that he was supposed to watch his team's back, and decided that this weird experience could wait until the meeting was over.

Mewtwo stood still, floating in mid-air, and Ash saw the general's lips shortly moving. Then, as a sudden, Mewtwo teleported themselves away, and a few seconds later, the general ordered to head back to the camp inside the Wall.

"You said what?" Demanded Tobias at the cafeteria. "Not so loud!" Ash complained. "I said that I felt Mewtwo's presence in my head. They knew that the general wasn't alone for the meeting."

"Whoa, that's scary," said Paul.

Ash helped himself with some bread, while his friends took the time to go through what he said.

"So, we can deduce that the Pokémon have real abilities concerning attacks, then," said Tobias after a while. "But how did you sense Mewtwo?"

"I dunno," admitted Ash. "It's as if, they were there, and the next moment, they were gone."

Should I tell them that they sensed me once more after the beginning of the meeting? No, that would probably scare them, Ash told himself.

"The most important question is, why did they show up if our general wasn't playing fair on them?" Asked Paul.

"Because they know that they can outsmart us and beat us at our own game," Ash whispered. "And since we can deduce that the general did that since the first meetings, Mewtwo seems to have a step over us, and they'll probably use it at their advantage if the army tries to get too far in their way…"

A dreadful silence fell on the table, and none of the three dared to speak until they had to regain their dorms.

The three next months went in a blur. Ash finally adjusted to fire a sniper, and noticed that he wasn't that bad. He couldn't quite explain it, but he had a feeling where the target would appear on the hunting trainings, and even if his shots weren't a one instant kill ones, he almost managed every time to hit the moving target. There were no living beings to kill, only wooden support shaped on human forms, or things looking like birds. Ash deduced that even if his squad was aware of the presence of other beings than humans, the leaders of the army still didn't want them to ponder too much about it.

I wonder how would mom react from Heavens..., thought Ash one evening while heading back to the dorms. It had been a very long day, and that explained why he was still in the corridors at 11.30 p.m.

Ash had a severe headache, and rubbed quickly his fingertips against his temples, when he could see without seeing two shapes in one of the rooms that were supposed to be condemn for something to do with radiation experiment which went wrong and promised an almost instant death to anyone who would be stupid enough to enter it. Ash didn't know how he could say it, but he was sure that the first figure was Tobias, and the other was a superior that Ash didn't know about.

Ash decided that discretion from himself was advised, and passed before the room while paying attention to make no noise at all. He would have ignored this weird meeting if he couldn't catch the name "Cynthia" that was murmured. Ash stopped and pivoted to a twist, leaning his ear against the door.

"Are you sure?" Said a rough voice that Ash couldn't identify.

"I need proofs, general. But my guess is that Ash is also an aura guardian, like the girl we sent other the wall years ago," came Tobias' voice as a reply.

"This is bad, said the first one. Aura guardians are said to be extinct. Who knows what might happen on the Pokémon side…? I need you to keep watching him without changing your habits, and to report anything suspicious to me. I might as well put Ash on a test to reveal his powers."

"Yes Sir," said Tobias.

Ash closed his eyes, and could depict all the slightest movements of the figures talking. He was also aware that someone else was taking the path and would see him in two minutes if he didn't head straight to the dorms.

The teenager sighed and left, frustrated by the turn of events. How could he be an aura guardian if they were all dead? More importantly, why were they exterminated? Had it something to do with the big Pokémon he saw, or Mewtwo?

Wait, thought Ash. When Mewtwo read my mind… Were they aware that I'm an aura guardian?

Ash went to sleep without being able to answer any of these questions. He felt Tobias coming back short after him.