"You want my help to bring down the system? What system? Giovanni owns and operates everything doesn't he?" asked Mewn. Red shook his head.
"He doesn't, but it looks like he does. The police are supposed to run things, but they put it in Giovanni's capable hands. However those hands make sure that we're in conditions crueler than those stated in the official guidelines governing pokemon imprisonment," said Red. Mewn looked at him curiously.
"How do you know all this? I haven't been here that long, but things really don't look that bad," said Mewn. Red laughed.
"Just wait and see. Things will get decidedly worse. At least five pokemon a month die in this facility. Giovanni fudges the numbers and makes things here seem better than they truly are," said Red. Mewn looked vaguely intrigued.
"How do you know? Do you have proof?" asked Mewn. Red shook his head.
"I don't have it with me, but I know that the warden does. As for how I know, I've been here since day one. I was the very first convicted pokemon and I've been in this facility for forty long hard years and I've seen things go from bad to worse. When things originally started, there were fifty inmates. Then we gained more until we were up to five hundred. Then Giovanni took over about ten years ago and over a hundred inmates died the first year. Then things loosened up a little, but just about all the guards were replaced with meaner, crueler ones. Beatings have increased tenfold and the amount of food and freedom we've received has significantly lessoned. You must do something. Help you fellow pokemon brethren," said Red. Mewn leaned back against the seat.
"But you told me that the pokemon who are here deserve to be here," said Mewn. Red nodded.
"They do, but no one deserves the cruel punishment that we're forced to endure," said Red. Mewn nodded remembering what had happened to the Mew.
"Fine, but why me? Why not someone else?" asked Mewn.
"Because you're The Legend. You're the only one who could possibly change things. The other pokemon wouldn't know what to do but you do. You've lived with humans for so long that you fit in right with them. Plus, you're one of the most powerful pokemon there ever is. Only you can change the system and save us all," said Red. Mewn held his head in his hands and groaned.
"So I've been drafted into saving the pokemon in this installation? That's just great. Yet another stumbling block on my way to eradicate every pokemopolitan," said Mewn groaning. Red looked at him.
"Listen, what's being done here is no different than the ancient arts that caused the sacrifice of the Mew for their fur. How do you know that these guards aren't in league with the pokemopolitans to revive their ancient ways?" asked Red. Mewn laughed.
"You don't honestly believe that I think that these descendents of the pokemopolitans are going to revive the ancient arts do you? I'm not that stupid. The pokemopolitan descendants must pay for what they did to my people no doubt about that. But there's no way they could revive the ancient arts, it's just too preposterous," said Mewn.
"Do you know that for sure?" asked Red. Mewn shrugged.
"Well no but," he began.
"But you don't know. For all of our sakes, just use this as justification to save us. You vowed to stop all pokemon suffering, how is this any different. Mew and pokemon inmates, both are suffering. You couldn't save the Mew, so save us," said Red. Mewn sighed deeply before turning up to face Red.
"Fine. But I can't do it alone. I need your help," said Mewn. Red quickly nodded.
"You got it. If you need anything, just ask," said Red. Mewn was about to ask him when the bus came to a stop.
"Alright all of you off now!" shouted the guard. The pokemon were quickly hoarded off the bus and forced into a single file line alongside an empty half completed railway in the middle of nowhere.
"Okay, here's how it goes. You're to weld and rivet these five pieces of track together and check for defects. If you don't do it in the allotted time period, you rations will be reduced for the next week. If you do a crummy job, we will torture you. Now get to work you worms," said a guard. The various pokemon all grabbed various tools and began to get to work. Mewn grabbed a drill and began to drive in various nails.
"This isn't so hard," said Mewn to Red. Red just shook his head.
"Just wait," he said.
"You over there, no talking," said the guard holding his stun rod menacingly towards Mewn and Red. Mewn stood up and looked at the guard.
"You don't threaten me human," said Mewn. The guard walked up to him.
"You threatening me punk?" asked the guard. Mewn nodded his head.
"You can bet your sorry ass that I am," said Mewn. The guard looked ready to rip Mewn's head off who just stood there looking him directly in the eyes.
"Legend, let it go," said Red. The guard looked at Red and spit some of his chewing tobacco in his face.
"I warned you once pussyface," said the guard. He then slammed his stun rod into Red's stomach causing him to keel over from the impact and the electrical shocks that the rod provided. Mewn grabbed the end of the rod and pulled it off Red despite the intense shock.
"Your fight is with me," said Mewn as electricity coursed throughout his body. The guard pulled his rod free and pulled out his club. However just as he was about to smash Mewn with it, a female guard walked over.
"Don't provoke them Greg, it's not worth it," said the guard. She looked at Mewn so he could see her face and left leaving him in shock. Red stood back up.
"What is it?" he asked watching the guard walks off. Mewn looked at him then back at the female guard.
"Who was that?" Mewn asked. Red looked over at the female guard.
"Kara Cummings. Why?" Red asked.
"She was who I was trying to kill when the police captured me. I always wondered why she never showed in fear when I burst in to kill her. Now I know why. After working her I guess all the fear would leave your body, don't want to look fearful in front of the inmates. Very brave of her to be bait in an elaborate trap to capture me. Well this makes my job considerably easier now. I'll be able to kill her and tell the truth about the system all in one swift stroke," said Mewn smiling. Red sighed.
"Is that all you think of revenge? It'll destroy your soul," he said.
"My soul was destroyed long ago. I have nothing left to live for but revenge. After the last pokemopolitan is dead, I guess I'll just die knowing that my mission on this earth is complete," said Mewn continuing to drill in screws.
"You're a sad, sad, soul," said Red scanning the space between the rail sections.
"I'm beyond any possible pity and redemption," said Mewn. Red just shook his head as the two continued to work in silence. Nearby, Johnny and his posse were exchanging glances of silent information. Then Johnny stood up and walked over to the nearby water cooler as if to get a drink.
"You, Johnny. I didn't say that you could have a drink," said Greg. Johnny just shrugged and went for a drink anyway. Greg then rushed him with his stun rod, but when he got to Johnny, he was tripped by one of the machoke and Johnny grabbed a hold of Greg and pulled out a knife and held it to his throat.
"Shit prison break. Get down Mewn!" shouted Red leaping to the ground. Mewn continued standing as he watched the whole scene unfold around him. Kara yanked out a taser and trained it on the machamp.
"Stand down!" she shouted. Johnny shook his head.
"I don't think so. Boys get her!" shouted Johnny. Kara whirled around and started firing at the machoke and machamp that rushed her. She squeezed off two shots before being tackled by the fighting pokemon. The restrained her to the ground as one of them pulled out another knife.
"I've been wanting to do this for a long time," said the machoke. The machoke thrust the knife downwards as Kara screamed in horror. Then there was a flash of white and the machoke found his arm being forced back as Mewn grabbed a hold of it and forced it back, dislocating it from the socket before the knife could kill Kara. Mewn then grabbed the machoke so they were face to face.
"Let's get one thing straight: No one kills her but me!" shouted Mewn. He then tossed the machoke aside and threw all the other pokemon off of Kara. Mewn then whirled to face Johnny.
"Don't make me hurt you," said Mewn. Johnny growled and then let go of Greg and rushed the legendary pokemon.
"Die shit eater!" shouted Johnny. Mewn waited until the last moment then stepped to the side as Johnny's momentum pushed him past the pokemon. Mewn then grabbed Johnny and quickly snapped his neck like it was nothing. Johnny fell to the ground dead as a van stopped and dispelled several guards who began using their clubs to knock all the pokemon into submission. Mewn was quickly shackled and forced onto the bus. Greg walked over massaging his throat and helped Kara up.
"You okay?" he asked. Kara nodded.
"I'm fine," she said wiping a small bit of blood from her lip. She watched as Mewn was forced onto the bus and it drove off under full security precautions.
"For a second there I thought we weren't going to make it. I wonder what possessed that pokemon to save you?" he asked. Kara just shook her head.
"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," she said as soon as Greg was beyond earshot. She then boarded the jeep as it headed back to the compound.
Compound, several hours later: The pokemon who were in the group that were at the riot were all lined up in a row by the guards and shackled to the wall. Then the warden walked out and then walked up and down the ranks of the pokemon.
"Let me get one thing straight to those who weren't aware, I don't tolerate insubordination and I never have. I also don't appreciate inmates killing other inmates and I would've killed the one pokemon who did this had they not saved a fellow guard by doing it. However, all of you will receive no food tonight and you'll all be tortured because the fault of one is the fault of all. Get them boys," said the warden walking off. The guards all pulled out whips and began whipping the helpless pokemon. Kara watched as Mewn just accepted every blow without crying out or attempting to cry out. If looked to Kara as if the pokemon was in deep thought, but she couldn't be sure what he was thinking of. She gave up trying to guess and continued patrolling the outer wall. Inside Mewn's mind, images arose of long ago when he was still a Mew.
Pokemopolis, approximately 5,000 years ago: The Mew was curious, it had seen its fellow brothers brought to the temple, but when they didn't return, it was curious as to what had happened to them. Then one day, it decided to sneak into the temple and see for itself. It moved from pillar to pillar throughout the temple until it reached the sacrifice chamber. It could sense its brethren in their, but it didn't know why. The door was locked so the little Mew used its teleport to enter in without disturbing anything. It then approached the main chamber and the sight that greeted it was enough to send the little pokemon into shock. Everywhere lay the dead mutilated, furless corpses of Mew. It watched in horror as a Mew was tied down to an altar and then a priest emerged.
"With this sacred knife I sacrifice thee to those beyond," said the priest. It then sliced the knife forward and the knife plunged into the Mew's heart as it fell silent. Then the priest reached into the body and pulled the little heart from the creature and held the blood soaked object above his head and roared in triumph. The Mew was about to faint when it heard whipping sounds. It turned to see various Mew tied up to posts and were brutally and horrendously whipped by their masters. The Mew's cried out in pain and anguish as cuts from all over their bodies began to pour blood into cups on the ground which were promptly taken and drunk by the pokemopolitans. Mew watched then as the skinless bodies were thrown into a fire where they burned. The Mew started to feel all woozy and then one of the pokemopolitans emerged from a room with a white fur coat. The Mew knew it instinctively to be of Mew fur but it couldn't believe that the pokemopolitans would turn against their own pokemon. Then the Mew watched in horror as yet another bloodied Mew was shackled to the altar to be sacrificed. The priest seemed to relish the Mew's cries in horror as the priest slowly and deliberately moved the knife toward. The little Mew watching had had enough. It rushed the priest and tried to hold back his arm so it couldn't kill the Mew. The priest looked at the Mew and laughed.
"Wait you turn," it said in a gutteral voice. He then shook his arm and the Mew went flying off. When it cleared its head of the cobwebs, it saw the knife plunge in yet again and kill yet another Mew. The Mew roared out in horror at the sight as the various pokemopolitans in the room just laughed in excitement. Then the priest pointed to the Mew floating above.
"Get that thing down here! It must be sacrificed," said the priest. A pokemopolitan readied a net, but then the Mew activated its teleport and was gone.
"Go get it. We need more blood for the offering," said the priest with a big grin across his face as his minions chased after thing. Then the priest continued to sacrifice more and more Mew all to his intense pleasure.
Pokeshank: Mewn began to shake uncontrollably and violently as it remembered the events. The yells of the pokemon being whipped reached for fevor pitch and then Mewn's eyelids snapped opened and began to glow red.
"Noooooooo!!!!!!!" it shouted. The guards looked at it curiously as the pokemon began to glow. The shackle began to glow a color as though it detected a pokemon move but couldn't do anything about it. Then a massive psychic energy wave flew out of Mewn in all directions and knocked everything around it off their feet. The energy wave formed a barrier around Mewn, glowed white, and then exploded lighting up the afternoon sky. When the light finally stopped, a massive crater had formed around Mewn and every pokemon and guard had been flung away and had severe burn wounds and the shackle had exploded flinging debris into Mewn's leg causing it to bleed. Mewn looked at its surroundings and promptly fainted dead away from such a massive use of energy. The warden burst out of his office and looked at the devastation below. He then ran back to his office and picked up the phone.
"Get my Giovanni!" he yelled into it. Outside, the guards rushed out and carried the wounded men to safety and then dragged the pokemon back into their cells.
Warden's office, several hours later: "This shackle of yours is defective!" shouted the warden.
"I don't know what you're talking about," said Giovanni. He and the scientist who had created the shackle were in the warden's office after he immediately called them in.
"The shackle can suppress any and all pokemon moves. It's undefeatable," said the scientist confidently. The warden pulled out a remote and activated the TV.
"Oh yeah, watch this!" he said. The image showed Mewn in the courtyard deep in thought while being whipped. Then he opened his eyes, shouted no and then the psychic wave emanated from him and exploded in a massive fireball. Giovanni had been having some tea and when he saw the image he nearly chocked on it. He wiped his lips and faced the scientist.
"You said this thing could suppress all moves! How do you explain that?" he asked. The scientist looked at Giovanni calmly.
"It can, but that was no ordinary attack. It was a subconscious one," said the scientist. The warden looked at him curiously.
"Subconscious? What have you been smoking?" asked the guard. The scientist rewound the tape to the part where Mewn's eyes snapped open.
"This pokemon was deep in its own thoughts and must have experienced a traumatic situation similar to this. It's subconscious reacted and attacked its surroundings with that psychic wave. The shackle only works with moves that the pokemon was aware it was using. This pokemon didn't know it was going to attack and thus the band went haywire not knowing what to do. Subconscious attacks are very rare because they can only occur with psychic pokemon and even then it has to follow a traumatic experience. Their energy level is so extraordinary that it can sometimes rival an atomic bomb going off. It is the most powerful pokemon attack ever, its just that it occurs so rarely and it isn't the pokemon's will that causes it to occur that makes it not listed as an official attack. It's very impressive if you ask me," said the scientist. Giovanni looked interested in the idea of the untapped energy in subconscious attack but left it at the wayside for now.
"Well in the meantime, this is what it did to your specially modified shackle," said the warden. He pulled out a bag and dumped the remains on the desk.
"We had to pull portions of it out of that pokemon's leg because that attack shattered it into microfragments," said the warden. Giovanni sat up with a start.
"Then what's stopping The Legend from using his powers?" asked Giovanni quickly.
"Thankfully the thing's still unconscious otherwise we'd be in real trouble. We fitted it with a normal psychic shackle, but I don't think it'll hold that thing for very long should it wake up," said the warden. Giovanni was already on his cellphone.
"I need a replacement TL shackle now!" shouted Giovanni into the phone.
Mewn's Cell near midnight: Mewn sat up in his bed and cleared his murky vision. Mewn didn't remember how he'd gotten into his cell and the last memory he remembered was a bright light that had come out of nowhere.
"Maybe I'm dead and am in the pokemon equivalent of hell," said Mewn leaning back.
"I don't think so," said a voice. Mewn looked out of jail cell to see Ms. Cummings standing outside.
"What do you want pokemopolitan?" asked Mewn trying to stand up. He barely managed to get on his two feet when he doubled over in hunger.
"Figured you'd be hungry. Here," said Kara. She slid a tray of food into the cell and right in front of Mewn's face. He was reached for it then drew back.
"Unlike you pokemopolitan, I live with a code of honor. They told me I can't eat so I won't," said Mewn. He slid the tray back.
"You need it, eat," she said. She slid the tray back but as it was sliding back, Mewn's anger grew and grew.
"I said that I DON'T NEED IT!" shouted Mewn. He thrust forward his hands and although the shackle gave him a massive electrical shock, it didn't stop the full brunt of the psychic blast from smashing into the tray and flinging it backwards and spraying food all over Ms. Cummings. She spit some of the food out of here mouth while Mewn relished in his returned powers. Kara backed up against the railing outside and closed her eyes, as she knew that now was the best time for The Legend to kill her and escape. She squeezed them tight and was ready for the intense pain that was sure to follow. It never came. Kara slowly opened her eyes and found Mewn just standing and staring at her.
"Why haven't you killed me?" she asked. Mewn shrugged.
"I have a more important mission at the moment. But rest assured, you will die," said Mewn. Kara stood closer to the bars.
"Why? Why do you want me dead? What did my ancestors do to you? Is that what you were thinking about before, when your psychic blast went off?" asked Kara. Mewn reluctantly nodded. Then he turned up to face her.
"Your ancestors murdered my people in cold blood. They killed of every Mew there ever was and sacrificed them in a bloody ceremony. They butchered and murdered hundreds of innocent Mew. I cannot allow their descendants to resurrect these deadly arts, they must be stopped from murdering countless of other species of pokemon just to satisfy their own morbid curiosity and ways of life. They must be stopped and the only way how is to make sure that no pokemopolitan continues to exist," said Mewn.
"How do you know that my people sacrificed those Mew? They could've have all just died of old age or diseases?" asked Kara. Mewn burst out laughing.
"Spoken like a true pokemopolitan, always trying to avoid the blame of what they did. I was there when it happened. I witnessed these sacrifices for the Mew's fur. After they killed my master and I forcibly evolved from Mew to Mewn, I vowed a blood oath and I've been fulfilling that blood oath for the past 5,312 years and I sure as hell ain't stopping now!" shouted Mewn. Kara just looked at him in shock.
"You've been murdering the pokemopolitans and their descendants for more than 5,000 years! Just how many have you killed?" she asked. Mewn looked at her.
"I've killed 7,315,212 pokemopolitans and their descendants in those 5,000 years. Your were to be number 7,315,213 but unfortunately I was stopped by Giovanni and his goons," said Mewn. Kara continued to look at Mewn in shock.
"All of this to satisfy some sick sadistic blood oath?" asked Kara incredulously. Mewn nodded.
"It's not that unheard of for a creature to seek revenge on others. More than half the inmates are in here for killing someone for their own intents and purposes. I'm just part of the numbers," said Mewn. Kara had to sit down from hearing all this.
"But you don't know that I would ever resurrect these deadly arts. I didn't even know I was the descendant of a pokemopolitan until you showed up. And now you've come and told me about an ancient blood oath that you've taken on them for murdering your species. Well, I'd like to apologize for my people. We're sorry," said Kara fighting back tears both from hearing about Mewn's figures and the fact that the Pokemopolitans killed everyone he knew. Mewn shook his head.
"I wish it was that easy. But I lost my soul long ago when I saw those Mew being slaughtered and tortured. It was their whippings that I remembered from when I was a Mew and that's what provoked that subconscious attack. I appreciate you apology, but in the end, I no longer have a soul to reclaim. You will die, it's only a matter of time," said Mewn turning away from her.
"Well then, I'm sorry to hear that," she said. Then the warden ran to her.
"Be careful, that thing is dangerous! It's band isn't powerful enough to entirely suppress its attacks…say, you weren't trying to feed that thing were you?" asked the warden suspiciously at food covering Kara. Kara panicked as she realized that going against the warden's orders could cause her to loose her job. Just then Mewn spoke up.
"No she wasn't. She was bringing the food up from the mess area when she tripped and fell," said Mewn waving his fingers still facing away from the two of them.
"Oh. Sorry Kara, carry on," said the warden. Kara looked at Mewn who merely waved goodbye over his shoulder as she ran off.
"Okay you buggershit. I'm not going to allow you to run loose in my prison no sir," said the warden. He pulled out a massive taser and shot Mewn with it who roared out in pain as several million volts coursed through his body. Kara ran back after disposing of the food.
"Was that a little excessive?" she asked. The warden looked back at her as he changed Mewn's shackle.
"That's none of your damn business. Go to home, tomorrow's another day and I don't want sleepy guards," said the warden slapping the shackle on with great force. Then left Mewn out cold on the floor as he left the cell. He checked his pockets.
"I don't seem to have the key with me. Please lock up," he said leaving. Kara looked at the unconscious form of Mewn out cold on the floor and walked in, took the blanket off of the bed and laid it over the legendary pokemon. Then she gave him a kiss on the forehead before closing up the cell.
"I'm so sorry for what my ancestors did you," she said closing up the cell and going home for the night.