Chardon laughed despite his surprise. "Wow… This is …this is awesome! Old times back again, eh?" The almost evolved Charmeleon still retained his childish attitude from charmander-hood. Xeon had to smile. " I've had my share of bad days but to answer your previous question in a better light, I've been fine, other than having to grow up real fast…" He closed his eyes, as the memories from his most recent encounter resurfaced and his old scars burned livid. He had thought the bad experiences at Lake Eerie would pass and everything would be better, but those had only been precursors. Only precursors to the terror he had been about to face… an old terror relived. "…To tell you that I've been fine would be a lie. In fact, it would be the farthest from the truth… After you left the lake, I stayed with Chirin* and the others for a time after that. During that time, I honed my telepathic skills, my pyro-kinetic abilities, all my skills basically… but most of all, the skills I would need if the rumor of evolution were true, and as you can see it was." He gestured to his own body.
Chardon blinked, and raised an eyebrow. "So I wasn't the only one who evolved, I guess." He looked around the cave he called home. Had Xeon been here the whole time? You never knew with psychics. He might have just teleported or… something. Xeon raised an eyebrow. "No, I haven't been here the whole time, just the majority of it while you hunted." At Chardon's surprised look, Xeon chuckled. "You forget that I read minds? Or you just not think about it?" He winked.
Chardon gave a nervous laugh. "Eh heh… heh… Ah, no I… uh…yeah, I didn't think about it… yeah, that's it." Xeon raised his eyebrow again. "Yeah, ok Chardon. You just go on not thinking… It'd be the same as old times." He winked, and resumed his story. "Anyway, the memories that I possessed about the murder, if you will, of my family at that damned lab; how the Unown had killed them…ripped their bodies apart like rag-dolls with their psychic power… they had been implanted in my head. It hadn't happened, at least not that way. Yes they had been killed, but not by the Unown…" He shuddered, as the moment he had realized what had actually done the deed… or more precisely, who... replayed itself over and over in his mind. The Unown hadn't done it, as much as he wished it had happened that way, but no. It hadn't been Unown, human, or other Pokémon… it had been himself. "I may not be able to tell you this… for your own safety as well as mine… but no, the Unown didn't do it…" His throat closed on him as he choked on the words…" …I… did it."
Chardon reeled back like he had been hammered in the stomach by a bettering ram. "You…?! But… how ?!" Xeon ducked down, as he found he couldn't look the Charmeleon in the eye… He couldn't even look his own friend in the eye as he talked. "I don't know…. how it happened… I only found out that I had been their killer. Take it as destroying a species without getting your hands dirty. My family and I were the only members of my species left… The workers at the lab tampered with my mind to turn me on my own family! They watched as I destroyed my own lifeblood… the very fountain from which I came… they sat back as my psychic powers tore their bodies apart one by one…Piece …by…piece!" He clenched his eyes shut at the sight of the now fresh memory, fully intact, and fully correct.
Chardon gave the character in front of him a dark look. A long, low growl escaped his throat as he thought. This wasn't the Xeon he knew. That carefree, innocent, playful white fluff-ball was still out there somewhere… this sulking, sad form in front of him who claimed to be Xeon couldn't be… Something in the back of Chardon's mind clicked; something released in his mind, and he no longer had much control of his own body. Chardon's facial expression changed from that of a scared but inquisitive Charmeleon into that of one darkly possessed. A deep, evil laugh resounded from the Charmeleon's glowing chest as he began to speak, "You don't honestly believe you could be capable of killing anything, do you? Xeon Bria… the great destroyer of the Mew race? No, I think not! That title wouldn't fit a character with twice your mind. No, you had nothing to do with the death of your family."
Xeon's head whipped around. "What do you know? You weren't there! You wouldn't know! How would you…?" Wait… that wasn't Chardon! Chardon wasn't that cynical or evil; and then he recognized the voice… Ieron! If Xeon hadn't learned the truth, he would have been surprised. But the truth had been revealed, so the feeling instead was madness and hatred. He growled, an unusual gesture coming from a psychic like him. "You! You were … the one… controlling me!"
Chardon's borrowed face twisted into a look of mockery and hatred. "Very good, you figured it out. Yes, I was the one who 'tore their bodies apart one by one…' as you so eloquently put it…" His voice was dripping with sarcasm. "I am rather amazed you made it this far without committing suicide… I mean, you must have known about your deed, or, dare I say, mis-deed, for quite some time… ha ha ha…." Xeon bared his teeth, and almost sent out a devastating psywave, but stopped himself in time. "…You're lucky that is a friend's body you have, or you would no longer be talking…"
Chardon/Ieron laughed maniacally, a hideous sound coming from Chardon's Charmeleon voice. "Oh, is that right? Oh, no, no… I don't think so. You wouldn't do it and you know it, because he is also linked to your past…. brother." The word brother was said in a voice super-saturated with hatred.
Now it was Xeon's turn to be taken aback. Brother? What could he mean… by……
~… NO! THAT CAN'T BE TRUE!! THERE IS NO WAY YOU'RE PART OF MY FAMILY!! NO ONE IN MY FAMILY COULD BE SO CRUEL!! ~ Chardon/Ieron sneered. ~YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT'S TRUE. WHY ELSE WOULD I COME TO YOU? DO YOU THINK I NEED YOU? IF YOU DO, YOU'RE SADLY MISTAKEN, FRIEND! I DON'T AND … ~ Xeon didn't think twice before sending a psywave straight at Chardon's head. ~ GET OUT OF HIS HEAD!!! ~ Ieron screamed, along with Chardon, at the impact of the Mewtwo's attack. "Argghh… This isn't over, Xeon! I will return!"
Chardon's body went limp as Ieron escaped his consciousness. Xeon looked down with concern at his fallen companion… Then his concern changed to wonder and bewilderment.