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Part 4: Speed, Meat, and Dreams

Adrian walked over to the couch and sat down. Wow, he thought, this whole experience has brought a better person in me. He turned on the TV only to find that nothing of interest was showing. He turned it off and just lay on the couch. Ollie walked over, jumped on his lap, and meowed. "Hey, kitty!" Adrian rubbed the cat's back and belly when the cat plopped on his stomach. "You're such a cute little Ollie-meowy-kitty." The cat meowed in response, and started to purr softly. Adrian chuckled. A few moments later, Duckman walked out of Adrian's room and was stretching. He waved to Adrian and Ollie and entered his pokéball. Lucy came in a minute later and entered her pokéball as well. Adrian thought a minute; should he summon one of the pokémon? His question was answered when a ball opened and a rapidash appeared. He wanted to go outside, but had no hands to grip the door knob with. "I'll get it for you," Adrian said as he placed the meowth on the couch. He got up and walked over to the door and opened it. "Where you going today?"
"I'm going to run for a bit. Being inside that little ball all the time makes me ache!"
"Mind if I ride you while you go? I have nothing else to do."
"Sure! It's been a while since someone has ridden on my back. These old legs need a work out anyway." Adrian got on the firehorse's back after walking outside. The feel of the air rushing over felt good. He held on to the horse's chest since they never put reins on the horse. He kept going faster and faster until Adrian felt no wind, no resistence, but heard a sonic boom. "We just broke the sound barrier!" Dasher yelled back as he zoomed at top speed down a long stretch of deserted road. If he had wings he could give a pigeot a run for its money! Dasher's long fire-mane whipped in the wind as he started to slow down. After they reached a full stop, Adrian dismounted.
"If I wasn't on your back you could've taken to the skies!"
"I could a long time ago. I could cause my flames to become almost solid and form wings. I remember it was because of this that I couldn't race. The speed that is. My speed couldn't be controlled. Sure I could race and shoot ahead of everyone else, but I couldn't turn when the track rounded. I always kicked up dirt but I could not turn. I had inherited my speed from both my parents, so I was the outright fastest thing there ever was, and possibly there ever will be. I used to race when I was ponyta, challenging older race hardened rapidash. I would usually win because I was the lightest on my feet and I had the strengths of my parents to back me up. When I became rapidash, it was over; I was too fast. My siblings were better when they became rapidash, they didn't pass their top speed ten times over like I did. My parents loved speed, and when they heard just how fast I had become, they were proud. I was their son, and I was the fastest thing alive to them."
"Incredible! Having too much speed for a race horse is something to behold! But whatever happened for you to come to us?"
"Well, it came time to give away young extras to people who wanted to race. I wasn't one of them, but I needed to leave. This place was too... 'slow' for me, and I needed to flex my legs. I saw a young woman at that auction that I had the urge to meet. She saw that I was looking at her and she had a sparkle in her eye. After the auctions, she came and asked about me. My original owner thought it a lovely idea that she take me, since no one was interested in a horse too fast to even turn on a rounded track. She paid him and I was presented to her. I looked at her face and saw a bright smile and that sparkle in her eyes. She held out her hand to my nose. I sniffed the hand and licked it. She then placed her hand on my back, rubbing my flames. My original owner looked in awe. 'Wow, I've never seen him look so pleased. I'm glad he's happy. Please, Miss, take good care of the fastest-thing-on-four-legs, here. His name is Dasher, and he has his mother's stubborn heart.' And then she lead me out of the room and into the open world. She didn't ride me until we had walked onto the long stretch of highway about two blocks from the track. She got on and held my reins. She then told me to run. I was surprised; all anyone said to me was slow down! Anyway, I took off; she almost flew out her seat when I flew from standing still to break-neck speed in just a few seconds! I held the pace, until the street started to curve. The curve was long enough for me to slow down and take it. She told me directions to where her house was. She said it was over a hundred miles away, and she came without a car. I didn't know what a car was, but I assumed that it was a long trip for her. She then told me to go as fast as I could on the longest stretch of highway. I darted; faster and faster until I broke the sound barrier for the first time. I didn't know what that boom was as I soared down the stretch. There were other things on the road; I would learn that these were the cars. I could leap from side to side, but I couldn't turn into another direction. I dodged all the cars that came up to me with grace. It was when I had to leap for an especially big one that I flew. I was running in the air and I hovered over the ground for about a minute. We finally reached another curve, but I knew I couldn't slow down in time. A pokémon came from her and was able to make a turn in direction before we slammed into a wall. It was Alen, her alakazam. When we finally got to her house, he touched my head with one of his spoons. I felt a somewhat strange feeling, as if being taught how to do something but you already knew it when it came up. When he took his spoon from my head, he looked at me and grinned. He put his spoons somewhere in his little plate of armor, then put his hand over his large mustache and stroked it. 'Another one successful. You're getting good at this,' he said to the woman, in human language. 'Well, I saw him on TV, and I knew he would be a good addition!' she said when she looked back at me. I asked her what her name was and she told me; it was Gina." He started to walk around and kick up dirt. "How about we go for another run?"
"Heh.. Fine with me!" Adrian got on his back and held on as he took off. Dasher's flames began to encompass them more like a bullet this time. He ran hard and was slowly beginning to pant. He concentrated and the flames began to harden into wings. He began to flap them and he took to the skies. Adrian looked around and saw that they were high in the sky. He looked in the distance and saw Charla coming to them.
"I haven't seen you this frisky in a while!" she shouted as she came up to them.
"Charla, so good to see you! I needed to stretch myself a little!" Dasher shouted back. They needed to shout because of the speed at which they were traveling. Dasher began to pant a little heavier. "I'm going to see if I can still break the sound barrier while I'm flying!
"I know you can!" Charla shouted as she gave a thumbs up to him. He nodded, caught his breath, and poured on the speed. He left Charla 'in the dust.' He broke it not once, but two times while on a dive! He was tired from expending so much energy that he made a sloppy landing, almost falling over, next to the house.
"Are you all right?" Adrian asked, concerned, after picking himself up.
"huff... I'll be ....huff.... fine." His gasping stopped within a couple of minutes. "Now I need a monster-meal!"
"What is it that you eat?"
"I mostly eat veggies, but I've recently been exposed to meats, from Charla; so I would say anything." Adrian was about to walk inside to see what was in the fridge when Charla set down with a large kill.
"No need. I got enough here for all of us." Charla promptly tore a limb off and held it next to Dasher. "Come on, you know you want it," she teased as she waved it. Dasher stepped forward and bit into the blood soaked flesh.
"Okay, okay! I got it!" He ripped the meat from the bone and began chewing; his nose had a little red spot on it. "Mmmm... munch.... Good stuff, good stuff."
"Nidoqueen meat is soft enough for you so you don't have to chew it like a cow."
"Mind if I have some?" Adrian said, looking at a meat filled limb.
"Sure... Do you want it cooked?"
"No, it's fine." Adrian grabbed the limb he was looking at and pulled. The meat tore and he had the limb in his hands. He bit into the blood rich meat and got blood all over his face and shirt. "Whoops.... oh well." After a little bit of gorging, Charla looked up and saw Adrian's face.
"Ha, just like a charmander! Heh heh...." She continued to gorge on what was left inside the rib cage. Dasher walked over and tried to rip some meat from a large rib, but he couldn't get his mouth around it.
"A little help here, please?" Adrian walked around to where Dasher was and dug his fingers into the rib. He tore the rib right out! He then stripped the meat from the bone with his hand. "Woh, Adrian! How did you..."
"Huh? What?" he said as if he snapped out of a trance. He dropped the rib and meat next to Dasher when he saw it in his hand. Charla looked over and saw what Adrian did. She took her head out from the lower region of the torso and looked at his work. She blew a little flame.
"Whew, man. Meat's clean off the bone! I only saw one man ever do that with his bare hands and that was Crimson," she looked at Adrian's hands and saw blood dripping from the short nails. "Dude, you're like cool!" she added with a little sly grin. Adrian looked at his hands and saw them covered with blood. He then looked at the body where the rib came from. As if something else snapped in his head, he made a quick motion and snapped another rib from the cage. He began to eat it as if his life depended on it. He tossed it aside and reached in for another; this time getting four! He continued and ended up eating the whole rib cage of its meat! Charla and Dasher stood in awe. They had never seen a human act so non-human before. Adrian got out of the large chest area and looked at them. Charla put her hands in front of herself and spoke in her native tongue. "Adrian, are you there?" What was Adrian looked at her, cocked his head, and pointed at himself.
"Me? Am me Adrian?" He wasn't speaking human language. He then looked at his hands and saw that they were a darkening red. He then looked at his red stained clothes. "What is this?" he asked pointing at the garments. This time Dasher answered.
"Those are clothes. They protect your dignity." Dasher almost chuckled at what he had said. Adrian looked at Dasher and Charla.
"Who you, rapidash? And who you, charizard?" They spoke their names. "Me need cleaning. You, charizard, blow small flame.. me."
"What?!" Charla was surprised. He wanted to be cleaned using fire. "You'll never live!"
"Quiet! Do what me say, please." Charla shrugged, and blew a small fire hesitantly. Adrian walked into it and his clothes caught fire. He raised up his hand, signaling to bring up the heat. Charla did just that, incinerating his clothes. Adrian walked out of the fire, unscathed but clean. He was in his birthday suit, though. His back faced the other two. His skin seemed very tightly wrapped on his slender body. He was facing what was left of Charla's kill when he ripped to skin right off the body! He covered himself with it, blood-soaked side out. He turned to the two and said, "Umm, what did I just do?" Dasher stepped up.
"You seemed to be in some sort of trance, possibly from the meat. You then ate that thing's ribs and asked Charla to flame you. I saw the clothes turn to ash and you stepped out of the fire without being burned. You then just tore the skin off the dead thing and are now wearing it." Adrian looked at him, then Charla, and then fainted.

He opened his eyes. He saw a vast field with green grass and small, stubby trees. He saw a clear, blue sky with some small, puffy clouds hanging overhead. A perfect day, he thought. Then, something smacked him in the head; it was a heart, and it was still beating. He thought of being grossed out, but that never came. The heart lay in his hands and was beating. He turned around and saw a meowth. It was Ollie. Adrian thought of calling his name, but the cat came to him without hesitation. The cat looked up at him and meowed. "Is this your heart?" The cat nodded. "I suppose I should return it, then." He held the heart and bent down to meet the cat at eye level. "Here, take it." The cat rose from his sitting and presented an open chest. The spot where the heart was supposed to be was empty. Adrian placed the heart back into the spot where it should have been and looked at his hands; they where clean. He rubbed the cat's back and closed the chest. "There." The cat glowed and disappeared. The world began to shake and rumble. "What?!" He finally saw something in the distance as the world shook. It had a figure he had never seen. It hovered over to Adrian and spoke.
"You are the one." It looked at Adrian with eyes that glowed a light blue. "You are immune to my power; no one else is immune to me. You... you are the one."
"The one what?"
"You don't know? You will learn in time, child. You will learn." His eyes stopped glowing and he went back to where he came. Adrian was left puzzled, until the world started to vanish. His sight went black, and he awoke.

"He's awake! Adrian, what happened?!" It was Dasher, nudging Adrian with his nose.
"Shh... he's just now waking up. Adrian, raise a finger if you can hear me." It was Lucy. Adrian moved his hand and began to get up. He still had the nido's skin on. Making sure it properly covered him, he turned and twisted it. He then turned around and looked at the concerned pokémon.
"How long was I out?"
"Only a couple a hours. I still don't know what happened. I tried ta shock you awake, but my bolts never fazed you. You're sure you're okay? I was giving you some pretty powerful jolts." Lucy stepped over and slapped his back. "I thought I told you not ta do that!" Adrian grinned and looked over at Dasher.
"Where's Charla?"
"She went into her pokéball. She tapped on Lucy's and then she went into her own. I think something dawned on her, but I don't know what it was. Also, Lucy's shocks incinerated the blood that was on the skin, so I suppose we should at least keep it."
"Well, I gotta get me some clothes. This hide is itchy." Adrian walked back into the house and into his room. He got some clothes and went into the bathroom to shower. He was in there for about twenty minutes when he came out fully clothed. "Ah, nothing like a cold shower!" He took the hide and placed it on one of the chairs at the kitchen table. He went to the fridge and got the milk jug. He got a glass and poured himself two glassfuls. He put the milk back and the glass in the sink and sat on the couch. Ollie came to him.... and spoke.
"Thank you, Adrian!"
"Waaah.... you spoke to me! Uhh.. well, I suppose,..... you're... welcome....?"
"I speak all the time, but you never seemed to hear me until now. Anyway, you saved me from the prison I was in when I was raised. My original owner never cared for me, but you came and saved me. I had a dream about you giving me back my heart."
"Funny, I had a dream when I fainted. You were there and I put your still beating heart back into your chest."
"Yes, mine was like that, only I woke up afterward."
"Well, I don't think that was a coincidence, but that sure is strange. I'm glad you are now yourself again!" Adrian remained on the couch stroking Ollie's back until his mother came home from work.
"Hi, Honey! How was your day?" she asked, as if she was just itching to know. Adrian looked at her, then at Ollie, then back at her. "Oh, just layin' around petting the cat? Well my day was just fine!" She set her things on the table and flopped on the couch next to her son. "Shall I tell you?" Adrian shrugged, then nodded. Ollie jumped from his lap and walked into the kitchen. Adrian turned and saw that Dasher was still outside. He got up and walked to the door and let him in. He said 'Hi' to Adrian's mother and then went into his pokéball. "So Dasher came out and ran today, huh? That's good; I knew he was going to come out sometime. Well, I may as well tell you about my day!" She spoke of how some patient tried to make a pass on her and that she flashed a scalpel and said she knows what to slice to let him have a fun day. She also spoke of some of the other patients she had and some of their conditions. After about an hour of her releasing the day's stresses, Adrian felt about ready to sleep.
"I can handle stories, but not the stresses of a nurse of the daytime," he said as he left for his room. Ollie was waiting for him on his bed.
"I just love this bed you sleep on! I've been saying that for a long time, and now I know you can hear me!" Ollie was sprawled out on the bed as Adrian sat on one end. Adrian began to lie down and get comfy next Ollie.
"Well, I'm glad I can finally understand you. Goodnight, key-tee...." Ollie looked over at Adrian and grinned a satisfied grin as he fell asleep. Adrian fell asleep too, after about ten minutes of watching Ollie. He dreamed....

He was in the same place as his last dream, only the being that spoke to him made himself visible. It had a large sculpted head with a pipe made of flesh connecting the back of the head to the lower neck; that head had two small horn-like ears coming from the top-back-sides. It had deep purple eyes with a glance as cold as iron. It had thin arms with hands that were three-fingered. It had long, thick legs and a tail of the same thickness. Its feet were arched high and had three toes each, one toe on each foot seemed to not really be a toe. The creature stood in front of Adrian for a minute to let Adrian take in his image. It then spoke.
"Your name is Adrian, correct?" Adrian looked a little shocked; his dream wasn't sure who the dreamer was. Adrian nodded. "I cannot look very deep into your mind, otherwise I would have found you in reality." So he wasn't a dream. "I am a being known as 'Mewtwo' to humans. To pokémon, they call me 'Mew,' since I was once one. I have never found a human that resisted my power so much until I followed you into your dream; only mew are able to elude my psychic power. I can look into the dreams of people and pokémon alike, but yours were the hardest to enter. I finally entered when you fainted; your mind was at its weakest. When I saw you give that meowth his heart back, I knew you were the one I was looking for; the one I am to teach. No one else has that kind of power you possess; not even me or the real mew. With a mind as omnipotent as your own, you need to be taught how to control this power. I was used by a human once, and was hooked up to a machine. This machine really showed me how to focus my powers, but this man only cared that I was his slave. I can help you attain similar knowledge without such an agreement as he proposed to me." He held out his hand. "You have power within you; enough to destroy this world and many others if not focused correctly. I don't want to see this world die, at least not by a child's hands." His eyes let go of the cold glare in favor for a friendly stare. His mouth grinned slightly. "Will you come to me?" Adrian was confused at all this. He had been told many things, but now this coming from a pokémon hurt by humans? Adrian put his hands on his head; his head was aching.
"You wish me to become your student so my powers can be controlled?! This can only be something created from the far reaches of my imagination. How can you exist to serve a human; me? If the reports were true, you were bioengineered to be the greatest pokémon in existence, but in your mind you had no purpose, no real reason for being, right?"
"That is incorrect data, but I DID learn that a reason for living is not important; what you do with the life given to you is. That is what I need to do; to help save this planet from a deadly fate. I cannot take different forms the same way the real mew can, so she has been traveling to find you. Who knows, she could be any pokémon or any human you know. Her only limitation is that she can only transform into female versions of anything; so if she were a human, she would have the features of a female human. Think about my offer; it will always be open and I will not hurt you, or could hurt you for that matter." Adrian looked at the ground and spoke to the pokémon.
"I must know one thing: what is your name? What do you think it would be?" The creature rubbed his chin.
"Hmm... I never really cared for a name; Mewtwo seemed appropriate at the time. Hmph... your mind seeks history; it thirsts for knowledge. I will be Mewtwo, since I never thought about naming myself. It'll have to do for now." Adrian thought a second, trying to remember words said in a previous dream. He finally remembered them and looked up at Mewtwo.
"You are the beta one of my previous dreams spoke of, right? And Mew is the alpha..." Mewtwo looked a little confused.
"Beta? Alpha? I do not know what it is you speak of; it could not be us. Perhaps they are types of pokémon. Even I do not fully know what lurks in this planet or outside it in space. The answer could be inside you somewhere." Adrian thought again.
"I have had other dreams of this nature, but they always stopped before I could ask the right questions or receive the right answers. It will only be a matter of time when another dream happens and I listen to someone awakened from a story told to me. It has been happening, but I was never told a story involving you." Adrian thought a bit harder. "My first dream had a creature similar to you in it, but it was small, and didn't say anything except what sounded like your 'mew' word. Was that.... Mew?" Mewtwo took a step back. He had shock in his eyes... for a second.
"She found you and she did not say anything to me?" He looked hurt, but then snapped out of it. "She knows you are the one, but she is waiting for the right time. Adrian, you must leave the dreaming and continue your quest for knowledge of the past. She will make the right decision when it is time. I hope I see you here, where I am, soon. We will discuss your flawed information about me and anything else when you are here." Mewtwo then glowed and slowly vanished. Adrian looked over at something else; it was in a small depression in the ground: a small square. He picked it up and it turned out to be a card with strange markings on it. He couldn't read it, but he put it in his pocket. The dream slowly ended as the world vanished into black and Adrian awoke from his slumber.

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