I apologize if the chapter has arrived later than expected. I've fallen behind on a lot of things lately, but I'm finally caught up and ready to move on. Thanks to Snark Knight for helping me edit this episode.
Songs for Inspiration:
"Paranoia | Piano" by Lucas King
"Dark Piano - Hate" by Lucas King
"Sad Piano Music - Bad News" by Lucas King
"Sad Piano Music - Gone" by Lucas King
The university's administration has permitted Oak to lecture in the main auditorium today. Fortunately so, because as soon as people learn that the professor's space has been expanded, much more arrive to hear him speak. It takes almost two hours for everyone to find a seat or stand against the walls. Once things have settled down, Oak stands at the podium in the middle of the stage and greets them.
"Hello, everyone, and welcome to my lecture. I'm glad that you all came to hear today's lesson about robots. But if we were to be frank, I'm sure you've only come to hear about one: Ash Ketchum."
The auditorium bursts into a sea of conversation. Some people discuss amongst themselves while many raise their hands and shout out their questions. Oak can't say he hasn't seen this coming. Two days have passed since Jessie and her friends have forced Ash to go back home. He and Delia have pleaded the police to share as little as possible. No one else knows that the assailants are affiliated with Team Rocket and that the attack may be linked to Ash's father. Oak has hoped that a little secrecy would dissuade people's interests.
He should have hoped differently.
Almost everyone in the auditorium is demanding for the truth. Not only are students, faculty, and guests occupying the large expanse, but persistent reporters too. Some have gotten so rowdy, they have to be escorted out of the room by security. Much enforcement remains after that, ready to take away more people.
Everyone in the auditorium eventually settles down, mostly to wonder why the professor hasn't hushed them himself. Oak knows that they have only become quiet to hear his input. Knowledge is power, he remembers, but can also be a weapon against him if he doesn't share it carefully. He has to word his response wisely. What happens after all of them leave the auditorium falls upon his shoulders.
"I am only here to share, discuss, and educate on matters of robotic engineering," Oak declares to the attentive crowd. "If you'd like to know more about Ash, I can only answer questions regarding his life as an android."
The crowd gives a more reactive response. Everyone is louder, more incomprehensible, and even hostile enough to summon the guards again. Oak feels fear fill his being but doesn't let it show. Doing so will be equivalent to jumping into a pool of sharpedo while coated in blood.
Almost thirty minutes have passed until what seems like the sensible ones remain in the hall. One person in the fourth row from the stage meekly asks about Ash's energy source. When Oak answers his polite question, everyone else offers their inquiries just as tamely. Oak has answered so many, he half-jokingly requests for water and a chair. He has hoped this would insinuate a break or an end to the lecture. Instead, a staff member delivers to him what he has asked and urges him to continue. Oak sighs, thanks the colleague, and returns to his discussion.
Students, teachers, visitors, and even fellow faculty come forward to satisfy their curiosities. Some have interesting questions; some cause eye rolls from those who believe they know better. But it is from a young student that a question changes Oak forever.
"Do the androids know the difference between good and evil?"
Oak blinks as if the question confounds him. He often deals with morality and ethics in his project to basically become God, but not once has he ever taken the time to consider them. All he has been focused on is showing the world that his mission isn't just harmless; it's beneficial to everything that lives and breathes. He hasn't considered the possibility that his machines will turn against him. If androids do possess the ability to make their own decisions, will those decisions always be right?
With a regained sense of humility, Oak responds, "A better question is, do we?" Only the student that has questioned him waits until he adds, "If we ourselves don't know what is good and evil, then how can our creations?"
The crowd whispers amongst themselves. Some comment negatively on Oak's response. Some, like the student, become quiet in contemplation. The matter of life and death will lose relevance at the rate Oak is going. Machines aren't dead nor alive. They don't need to think nor feel either. Without emotion nor life to create a direction, will good and evil still exist? If so, will they be choices or built into robotic systems?
Oak contemplates this too as more hands raise into the air. As he has promised to Delia, he has strived to make Ash as human as possible. If he can give the boy enough humanity to know the difference between good and evil, will Ash, after everything he has been through, choose to do good?
Perhaps he can influence this, Oak then thinks. If he and Delia are to guide Ash toward good, can Ash be influenced to such a choice like a real human can?
There is only one way to find out.
~.~
Silver crushes every branch and bush in his way as he continues to move. Police sirens are wailing at his back. He can't stop running now, not when he is so close to what he wants.
He feels warm liquid pooling into one of his pockets. It doesn't take him long to realize that it's the blood of the scientist he has stabbed. He briefly wonders how he will explain this to his caretaker, Al. Then he brushes away the thought when he realizes that the guardian won't care. Al beats him on a regular basis but always below the head so the injuries can be covered by clothing. Silver doesn't mind concealing this. His parents already think he's weak. If they see his wounds and how pathetic he is for not being able to defend himself, then he will never get their respect.
"I'm going to show them," the boy mutters to himself. "I'm going to show them."
As soon as he reaches the grounds of a one-story house, Silver dashes toward a large tree at its east and squeezes into the trunk's crack. The space within is often used to hide from Al and the bullies at school. It's getting too small for Silver, though. He will have to find a new haven soon.
But for now, the redhead struggles until his body slams onto the back of the trunk. He then yanks his mask off and peers through the crack. Two police cars are parking in front of the house. An officer emerges from each vehicle and knocks on the front door. After a couple raps hit the wood, a burly man with a buzz cut steps onto the porch.
The burly man, Al, listens to the police describe their target. He then shoots them a befuddled look before nonchalantly shooing them away. He has probably promised the officers that he will call them if he sees who they're looking for, but Silver knows better. With the drugs his babysitter is regularly dealing, the cops are the last people Al would want to speak with.
Soon enough, the officers return to their cars and drive off to other houses. But Silver remains where he is. If Al has guessed that it is him that has stolen from the pokémon lab, how would he react? The man has beaten the boy for petty reasons, sometimes for no reason at all. What would he do if he gains this particular motive?
Silver's fear paralyzes him, but he knows he has to come out soon. If he returns at the house too late, then he will greatly suffer for it.
He squeezes out of the tree and runs deeper into the woods. As soon as he decides that he is far enough, he unpockets the stolen poké ball and releases the creature inside. He doesn't know what he has taken, and it scares and excites him at the same time. Will the pokémon be competent enough to fight for him, or will it be another victim? The anticipation builds until the creature materializes onto the soil. Sharp, pointy ridges; scaly, teal skin; long, countless teeth. Silver recognizes it immediately.
A totodile.
Totodile scans his surroundings in confusion before looking up at Silver. His eyes narrow. He isn't in the pokémon lab. Where are Professor Elm and his associates? Where are his pokémon playmates and fresh meat ready to eat? More importantly, who is this redheaded kid towering over him?
"My name is Silver, and I am your master now," Silver crosses his arms. "You do what I say, and I won't hurt you."
Totodile growls and does what he does best: bite. He opens his jaws and snaps it right into Silver's calf. Silver happens to be very sore on that part of his body, so he yelps in pain and kicks Totodile onto a tree. The creature releases him then and glares at him. Then, to Silver's horror, runs away.
"Wait!" Silver goes after him. "Come back!"
But the big-jawed pokémon is too fast, and Silver isn't just tired from his previous sprint, he is shouldering a fresh wound that is most likely bleeding. He collapses onto the dry soil in fatigue and watches the pokémon run. His chance for redemption, maybe even survival, gone.
"Damn it," Silver curses.
He lies on the ground for a while, still, gazing at nothing in particular. The caws of bird pokémon echo the air as the sun cast shadows onto his form. Silver doesn't know what does it. Perhaps it's his drowsiness from lack of sleep. Perhaps it's his hunger from having his lunch stolen at school. Perhaps it's his weakness from his untreated injuries taking a toll on his body. Perhaps it's his hopelessness from watching what's supposed to be his salvation attack and flee from him. Perhaps it's all of the above. Silver doesn't know what does him in, what causes him to break. But his body doesn't need a reason to act on its own.
The redhead curls into a ball, tucks his head between his knees, and cries.
~.~
Misty tugs the hem of her shorts as she follows the staff member guiding her inside Oak's laboratory. She hasn't spoken to the professor and scientist since she, Oak, and Brock shared a nice dinner to clear the air and get to know one another. The trio left on a good enough note, so their encounter isn't why Misty has been and still is nervous. She isn't worried about herself, however.
She's worried about Ash.
Before she met the android, Misty has believed that Ash is deeply in touch with his robotic side—that he won't feel feelings nor can be mentally conflicted as she can. But the professor has made the boy more human than she thought. When she speaks to Ash, it doesn't feel like she's talking to a robot. It feels like she's talking to another child. She almost believes that Ash will grow up to be an adult someday. But after Oak reveals that Ash has been ten-years-old for twenty years, she is stricken by both joy and sorrow. Joy because Ash will never lose the innocence and carefreeness that makes him a child. Sorrow because if Ash decides to keep all of the memories he gains over his lifetime, he will never mature to cope and learn from them. He will be a traumatized child forever, just as another kid that has lost his mortality would. Unless, of course, he resigns his goal to be human and utilizes his robot self to delete his pain.
Speaking of pain, Ash and his mother have recently been terrorized out of their homes. Misty has called Oak's lab to ensure that he is safe. But even after Oak himself assures that Ash is fine, Misty's nerves have yet to settle. If the authorities haven't intervened two days ago, then everyone would have been killed by Jessie and her group. Now, not even a day has passed, Ash is being assaulted again. It's like death is vengeful from the boy's escape and is actively hunting him down. Misty wants to protect him, but how? What power does she have to stop an unnatural boy from nature itself?
All these run through the viridian-eyed girl's mind as she enters Oak's office. The only reason she recollects why she's there is that Oak wants to speak to her about Ash. She will do anything for Ash, even if she has only known him for a day and hasn't talked to him since. There is very little she knows on what to do about her sudden attachment to the android. The only thing that makes sense right now is to speak about him with the man that has brought him to life.
"Thank you for coming over, Misty," Oak greets as they sit down. "I hope the traffic wasn't too bad."
"It was okay," Misty mutters. Then, almost immediately after her comment, asks, "Is Ash okay?"
"He's...coping the best he can," Oak replies, noting her sudden eagerness. "But he can do better."
"Anything I can do to help?"
"Well," Oak entwines his fingers, "there is one thing. You said you are training to be a gym leader, yes?"
Misty blinks. "Umm, yes?"
"And that you enjoy battling as one but dislike being surrounded by your unsupportive family?"
Misty frowns and looks down. "Yes."
"What if I offer you a chance to apply what you have learned toward a greater cause?" Oak suggests.
The human child gasps. "What do you mean?"
Oak takes a breath through his nostrils and looks out of his office window. "Ash has recently proposed that he travel the region challenging pokémon gyms," he informs, dismissing Misty's expressive reaction. "I highly agreed not only because can he gather more data for my research but also because he can become strong enough to defend himself. I'm sure you remember the attacks on Ash and his mother just yesterday."
Misty's lips purse. "I do."
"Ash isn't safe in Pallet anymore," Oak tells her. "Traveling the world isn't just a desire now but a necessity. If he gets stronger on the way by collecting badges, then not only will he fulfill his dreams, his victories might show the world that he is no different from them. Maybe then will the fears and attacks stop, and many others can safely live as he does."
Misty smiles and almost wipes away tears. From everything that has happened to Ash so far, it feels good to hear hope for once. What feels even better is that her presence in Oak's office means she can contribute to Ash's happy ending. "What do you need me to do?"
"I want you to travel with Ash," Oak offers. "I want you to guide him in his quest to battle gyms and support him when he encounters both victories and failures."
Misty sits at the edge of her seat. "R-Really?" she asks. "You...You want me to travel with Ash?"
Oak simpers, delighted by her eagerness to assist who is almost a son to him. "I do," he confirms. "You are a brave, intelligent, strong, and kind young girl, Misty; and you've done more than enough to help Ash in just the short time you two have known each other. I believe you can provide the care and support Ash needs out there that Delia and I can't provide from Pallet. But I don't want you to feel obligated to do this, Misty. I only want you to accept this job if you truly want to."
"I do," Misty sits upright. "I'll do it; I'll travel with Ash."
The professor blinks. "Are you sure? Do you not want to have time to think about this bef—"
"I've wanted to help Ash since the moment I met him and have been worried about him since," Misty states. She then realizes her boldness and clears her throat. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound so forward. I just...really want to help Ash. I want to do anything I can to help him."
Oak blinks again and eyes the girl curiously. How peculiar is it to see this young gym student so attached to Ash so soon. Perhaps it isn't so strange considering how common and easy it is for young girls to connect to boys they are infatuated with. And from what Oak has observed so far, Misty is definitely infatuated with Ash. Then again, helping Ash can also be a way for Misty to prove herself to her family. After all, the orange-haired maiden has also displayed dissatisfaction for her family's lack of faith in her. Perhaps the determination Oak is seeing in her eyes is nothing but that. Determination.
"But wait," Misty halts. "Isn't Brock a gym leader too? Don't get me wrong; I still want to go. I just don't know how I'll help Ash train if Brock is already there for him."
"Brock will be focused on taking care of Ash and studying the constantly-updating information about his upgrades and maintenance," Oak answers. "He will also be looking after you and Pikachu, so everyone is taken care of. Everyone has a part in this group. Pikachu will be supplying Ash power; Brock will act as a kind of medic; and you will provide the knowledge and strength that Ash needs to survive and fight. I will supply advanced equipment that will aid you in your travels. Delia, of course, will contribute what she can as a mother from here in Pallet. She has the hardest role out of all of us, if you ask me. She's very brave for allowing Ash to leave her again."
Misty nods mutely. "I understand."
"I'm glad you do," Oak smiles. "Thank you again for agreeing to help us."
Misty looks up and smiles as well. "Anything for Ash."
Oak's grin widens. Misty has agreed to assist Ash in his journey. If her parents refuse to let her go, then Oak will step in and try to convince them otherwise. Misty is everything he has described her to be; but most importantly, she is what he needs her to be: good. If she can provide the goodness Ash needs to live in this cruel world and remain a good person, then no one will have to worry about him turning to evil. Ash will have everything he needs to be happy. If the world sees this, then everyone else will too.
The professor leans over to shake Misty's hand, welcomes her to the team, and lays out her employment documents.
~.~
Fuji sits back as his colleagues scatter toward their rejuvenation spots. He remembers faintly what his wife used to tell him: never have your breaks in the same place you work. He almost does just that to honor her memory. Then he remembers what else he has lost since she has died, and he resigns himself to stay.
He unpockets his smartphone and activates the lock screen. Behind the transparent number pad is a picture of him, his wife, and his child. The family has just finished exploring a museum when the picture is taken. It has happened in the day Fuji's wife, Francesca, manages to convince her husband to take a day off from work. Fuji has never admitted it, but despite his constant protests, spending that time with his family is the best decision he has ever made. It has reminded him of the life outside of numbers and science, the life that doesn't always make sense but leads to unspeakable bliss. How he wishes to experience that joy again. Without it, his work is a prison. A prison he has learned to love just to cope with it.
The scientist quivers at the little arms wrapped around his younger torso. Amber. She was such a delightful girl. So lively and bursting with life. Then a disease turns her body against itself, and Fuji has found his daughter inside not a pillow fort but a casket. Despite the overwhelming sorrow that followed after, Fuji barely remembers that day. It had seemed unnecessary. After all, his daughter isn't going to stay dead forever. It doesn't matter how long it takes; Fuji is going to get her back to life.
But that's when he starts to lose Francesca. The grieving woman has needed her husband to be there for her, but Fuji instead distances himself into his lab to fulfill his mission. The scientist barely returns home during this period. When he does return one day, he discovers his wife hanging from their bedroom ceiling, a makeshift noose around her neck.
"I'm sorry, Francesca," Fuji whispers, his voice cracking just above his goatee. "I thought I was doing the right thing. I really did."
He lowers his phone onto his lap and scans the computers around him. The systems have fallen asleep, temporarily disabled from their period of negligence. Fuji has dedicated much of his life to make the most of these machines. They aren't just a source of his livelihood; they are also integral to reviving his daughter and wife.
But when the scientist looks at his family again, he gains a strange thought. What if resurrecting them isn't the answer? What if it's best to leave them in the past, where the only thing that can touch them is the happiness of their moment?
His phone goes to sleep by the time another scientist re-enters the room. She returns to her desk with a protein bar and gets straight to work. She and Fuji know that everyone is discouraged from working during breaks, but Fuji would be a hypocrite if he points that out. So he instead remains in his seat, watching her remind him of himself and what their work is leading them to.
What is it leading them to?
Fuji logs back onto his computer and studies the documents regarding Subject Ninety-Six—or "Mewtwo", as one colleague playfully suggested. Some scientists have made that the entity's official title to make their work more meaningful. As much as Fuji has tried to maintain an emotional distance from the project, he cannot help but share the same bond with the creature. Out of all the subjects that have undergone their cruel experiments, Subject Ninety-Six is the one that has survived to be stronger than ever. Who cannot be proud of that?
But the connection is getting much deeper than that. Fuji and his associates have created the entity together. Subject Ninety-Six isn't just a project anymore; it's their child. And the more Fuji realizes this, the sicker he feels. In just one more day, Subject Ninety-Six will be born. Not as a child that Fuji and the scientists can love and raise, but as a weapon. That is the main reason Giovanni has hired them to work for him in the first place. Mewtwo will be the most powerful pokémon ever created. It won't have the capacity to love and be loved. It will only destroy everything in its path and become the villain everyone will strive to defeat. It isn't and never will be its choice. It is its purpose, its destiny.
Fuji and his associates have been promised to share the glory. They provide Giovanni their services and in return, they gain the world. Fuji has accepted because Giovanni's vision supports his goal. Maybe it's his connection to Mewtwo that has changed his mind; perhaps it's the time he has spent trapped in the walls of grief. Either way, he will not allow Mewtwo to be a weapon. He will not use his creation, his child, to ruin the lives of others. If his suffering has caused him to make the wrong decisions, then how much more will the suffering of millions of others that will lose their loved ones the same way he did?
"I don't care if Giovanni kills me," Fuji grits, squeezing his phone hard enough to reactivate his lock screen. "I wasn't able to save Amber and Francesca, but I will save you."
His eyes squeeze shut.
"Mewtwo."
~.~
Totodile sniffs and crawls through every patch of grass and dirt, but food has yet to come around. He can travel until he finds a large body of water. Then again, there is one place he knows the exact location of, and it is much closer than whatever lake or river that may not be nearby.
Filled with determination and hunger, Totodile heads toward the setting sun. He can still remember his encounter with Silver. The bratty kid has a lot of nerve to not only take him away from caring, loving people but also expecting him to fight against his will. Silver has no idea how lucky he is that the pokémon has not taken his head between the creature's massive jaws. But now that the young pokémon is hungry and desperate, that luck may not come around again.
The sun has just disappeared when Totodile set foot upon the turf in front of the one-story house. His snout raises and sniffs for any traces of food. If he can smell food, then he can surely find a window or a small door leading to a kitchen. After a few more sniffs, Totodile's eyes lighten. Meat.
Totodile growls in anticipation as he sprints toward the right side of the house. There is a window up ahead with a thick bush right below it. If Totodile times his movements right, he can hop onto the leafage and lift the hatch. He can only hope that the window isn't locked shut. Then again, if it is, he'll just break it open, snatch the food, and escape. It's probably how he is taken from the lab, after all.
But when he jumps on top of the bush and peers through the window, the kitchen he sees isn't empty. Silver is in there along with a tall man and a drowsee. The glass barrier is thin but doesn't have to be for Totodile to realize what is happening.
"You actually left school again?" the man demands. He has sand-colored hair, red eyes, and a bat. "You, pathetic piece of garbage. You didn't think I'd find out?"
Then, before Silver can answer, the man swings the bat onto the child's stomach. Silver groans and tries to get up, but the man rams him back down with a strike to his knees.
Totodile watches in horror as the man continues to beat Silver onto the tiles. Silver tries to get up when the man takes a break. But then the man commands something to the drowsee. Within seconds, the psychic pins Silver back down; and the man both celebrates and punishes his attempt to escape by striking the boy in the chest.
"Cry out for your mommy," he taunts. "Or better yet, your daddy."
Silver gasps in pain only to be silenced when hit in the stomach.
"Let them see how weak you are," the man continues. "And then watch them walk away as you die."
Silver yelps when the adult kicks him in the chest. The drowsee finally releases him then, allowing him to writhe in agony. His assaulters leave him alone when the pain knocks him unconscious. As he lies on the kitchen floor, saliva trickling from his mouth, the water pokémon that has witnessed his suffering does something he never thinks he'll ever do.
He pities the boy.
~.~
When Silver exits through his school gates the next day, his ear is shot by a sharp rock. He hisses and covers the offended area. Then he spots a small paw poking through a bush. A very familiar paw.
Silver seethes, "You."
The boy immediately rushes toward the pokémon in hiding. Many students block his path, so he leaves behind a trail of screams and protests as he shoves them out of his way. He has been beaten almost to death to steal that big-jawed pest. Not only has the creature fled from him, but he also has the audacity to taunt him right after the boy has suffered another beating from his classmates. There is only so much the redheaded child can take. After what he has gone through, that Totodile will not be coming out alive.
Silver runs through a seemingly endless grove of trees until he finds the totodile hopping in the middle of the clearing. He dashes toward the creature with a fist raised. Then, before he can land a punch, Totodile jumps out of the way and lets him land face first onto the grass.
"Rile!" the pokémon lands beside his head. He then helps the boy sit up and pats the dirt off of his shirt. "Ro!"
Silver stiffens and leers at him. "What are you doing?"
"Ra! Ra!"
"What?"
Totodile hops and hooks the air with his fists. Silver is about to demand what in the world he is doing. But then the creature points toward the direction of his house and throws a downward jab to the ground.
"Are you," Silver narrows his eyes, "are you saying you want to hurt them?"
Totodile nods and hooks the air once more.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Silver demands. "Let's hurt them now!"
Totodile abruptly stops and shakes his head. "Ngah!" he rejects. He then points to Silver and resumes his hooks.
"Are you saying I should train you first?" Silver guesses.
Totodile shakes his head again, only more firmly. He points to himself, to Silver, back to himself, and then Silver again.
Silver gapes. "Are you saying I should train myself too?"
Totodile brightens and nods.
"But I'm a human," the boy shifts uncomfortably. "How am I supposed to train myself?"
That's when Totodile's expression darkens. A sneer spreads across his face, displaying two rows of long, sharp teeth.
He lunges.
