Chapter Seven
Explanations
"But you've told me so much already…" Misty said, shaking her head confusedly at Simon.
"I know. And I wouldn't tell you everything all at once like this if I had a choice. But unfortunately we've run out of time. I have to reveal everything to you now." Misty was taken a little aback by his urgency, but he didn't give her time to react. Simon walked across the lab as he spoke, and stopped in front of the part of the wall where the photo of the family hung. Misty glanced from Simon to the picture, and back again. She searched his face.
"First, I have a question." Her large blue eyes were piercing, and she obviously wanted honest answers. There'd been a question hanging over her for a long time, and now seemed the best time to ask for the answer.
"Well?" Simon encouraged her, as she paused haltingly.
She took a deep breath. "I think I've always been quite a healthy person. But a while ago, I know I got really tired and sick. And that was just before I got here. I don't know why that happened, but I am certain that there's a connection. Between that and you. And I'm just as certain that you know why." Misty's gaze fixed on Simon's face. Her eyes both accused him and pleaded with him.
He swallowed, seeming a little flustered. "I…That is, you…" He halted, then plunged on, spilling his words out all at once as if afraid his listener would vanish at any moment. "It was the necklace. I told you already that they have a connection, a bond of some kind, and they are closely linked to the power inside you, and me, and Pokemon. It was a…side effect, I guess." He slowed down then, and his golden eyes looked straight into Misty's. "I'll explain properly.
"The chains themselves are not particularly important. It's the pendants that are significant. They have a form of power within themselves. But they do not have the ability to use it, to do anything with it: they don't have the kind of awareness, consciousness, that humans and Pokemon have. However, they have an attraction to the power, though the word attraction is a loose term for it. It is some kind of join or bond they have with the power around them. That is how they can… That is why they find those with power. Their thirst for it draws them to those who have it.
"Once in the possession of someone with this power, they take it for their own. If they come into physical contact with the person, actually touch their skin, they are able to draw on their strength. Their greed for the power is practically insatiable. That was why you became weak. The pendant was taking more of your power than your body could do without."
Misty's eyes turned on Simon. "How is this possible? How can a pendant have a mind and will of it's own?"
"I don't know." His eyes were frank and honest. "I just don't know. I've been experimenting for years, and that is one question I've never been able to answer. I suspect there is something more to those pendants, maybe even some kind of living thing or force inside them, but I haven't been able to draw any real conclusions." Simon's shoulders drooped a little, and his gaze dropped to the floor.
"Oh…" Misty's disappointment was obvious. She wanted answers, and wasn't getting all of them. Then she realised how Simon was feeling: a failure. She decided to move on to another topic. "How is it I don't feel tired or sick anymore?"
Simon looked up, and he became enthused and earnest again. "I hadn't been able to predict it, as I haven't been close by another person with power and a pendant, but the factor of decreased distance between the wearers seems to act as a kind of catalyst, multiplying the normal resources of power each person, and each pendant, produces and holds. The pendants drew on that extra amount of power that we were subconsciously pooling together.
"In simple terms, when the wearers are close together, there is more power to go around, though I haven't figured out why that is yet."
Misty drew a sudden breath. "That was why… When I first got here, and you came close, the pain and tiredness went away…" Her sentence trailed off.
"Yes," Simon nodded to her, earnestly, watching the realisation dawn on her face. She looked up at him, and he looked away. There was a pause. Then he spoke. "There's another other thing I have to tell you."
Misty tried to keep the sudden anxiety that rose inside her out of her voice. "Tell me."
"It's about my experiments. I said before that I needed a Pokemon with power, strong enough for me to be able to draw some of it out." Simon's hand lifted to a section of the brickwork, made a quick movement, and an entire part of the wall slid back and to one side, revealing a hidden area. Through it a light glowed, a light that floated and circled in a mesmerizing pattern.
Misty felt a hand take hers, and Simon led her towards the light. As they got closer, Misty saw that Simon's eyes were glowing, and she found that she could see everything a lot better in the darkened room. The bobbing light got brighter, too, and Misty could see that it was actually a creature, flying and dancing in the air.
She opened her mouth to speak, and she reached out a hand to the magical creature, but was cut short by the feel of black bars blocking her way. She ran her hand up the bar, and reached out her other hand to discover another, and another. "Why are there these bars?"
"They stop that creature from escaping. They're made with a chemical I recently created, that prevents excess use of any power, contains it. That means the creature can't teleport, or use its full strength."
Misty's shining blue eyes turned on Simon's golden gaze. "Isn't that cruel?"
"It's necessary."
Misty watched the creature. It's blue eyes gazed placidly back into her own. But those eyes were holding something more…
Misty looked closer, and a bond of power began to form between the two. A thread of understanding reached out from each of them, and tried to join them. As the threads got closer and closer, to joining their minds and understanding, Misty began to see what was held in those eyes. Pain…
Simon took Misty's hand again, and the threads of the bond vanished. Misty wondered what it was she'd almost understood, but Simon was holding her attention now. His eyes entranced her, held her. Her mind struggled to think, and her lips moved in an effort to form words.
"I need this power. I need it to achieve my goal. I need it to complete my life's work. You understand, don't you?"
"I…" Misty shut her eyes in concentration. She worked through her question carefully. "What power?"
The golden eyes held her again.
The lips moved.
The mind and voice spoke.
An answer echoed in Misty's ears and thoughts.
"The power of Mew."
"She's there. I know it."
Officer Jenny swallowed hard, trying to stop herself getting angry. "I'm telling you, there is no 'there'. There's no island off that coast. There never has been!"
Ash wasn't going to agree. "I saw it. I saw it there."
"Then where is it now?" the police officer demanded, beckoning to the empty sea-sky horizon to her right, grinding her heel into the sand of the beach in frustration.
Ash sighed heavily, and lowered his gaze. "I don't know."
"Look, Ash, we all want to find her, but I think you should get more sleep. Don't be mad at me for saying this, but are you sure you really saw it? People who are that tired sometimes see things that aren't really there," Brock said, gently. Ash turned on him in anger and shock.
"Don't you even believe me? I can't believe this! Pikachu, you believe it, don't you?" Ash's eyes shimmered as they turned on the little Pokemon. Pikachu stood for a moment, looking into his friend's face, wondering if it was really possible.
"Pika." The little head nodded, then the big black eyes turned on officer Jenny and Brock. "Pika-chu, ka-chu, pika-pi pika-chu. Pi-pi! Pika-Pi! Pika-CHU!"
The two of them exchanged looks, unconvinced, and Brock sighed. Again, he tired to dissuade Ash from being so absolute about the whole thing.
"James! Come here!"
Jesse's voice was harsh as always as she commanded her teammate. James, his back to her as he finished the apple he was eating, pulled a face, rolling his eyes. "All she does is moan and boss me around…" he complained under his breath. Meowth laughed at him, without sympathy as usual.
"JAMES!"
He heaved a sigh, and stood up, tossing his apple core into a nearby bush. He joined Jesse at a gap in the trees. "What is it now?" he asked. Meowth walked over to listen in on the gossip. "What's up Jesse?" he asked in his purring voice.
"Look there," she said, pointing a finger through the gap. James and Meowth turned and spotted it: Ash, Brock, Pikachu and Officer Jenny, talking together.
"Hey! It's them!" James cried. "But what's so special about that? We always seem to see them…"
Jesse smashed him over the head with her fist. "Don't be so dim!" she growled through clenched teeth, ignoring James' whimper. "It's another chance to catch Pikachu! And we WON'T mess this one up."
James looked at the group through the trees again. "Ash, Brock… Wait, Jesse! That's not the usual girl, Misty, that's… That's Officer Jenny!"
Jesse turned and looked carefully in surprise. "You're right, James! What's going on then? Where's the other twerp disappeared to?"
"They look like they're talking about something important," James commented.
"Hmm," muttered Jesse, as she moved to a closer vantage point, carefully so as not to be heard. James tiptoed behind her, and Meowth followed, knowing to watch and listen, not talk, for once.
They caught enough of the conversation to understand the gist of it.
"So," muttered Jesse. "The other twerp has gone, and they think she's on some island near here. And they want to rescue her. This should get interesting." An evil smile curved her lips. "Very interesting indeed…"
The stranger watched. The mysterious mind was finally made up.
The figure walked out of the trees, with a stride of determination, and stood in front of Ash, Brock and the officer. They turned and jumped with surprise in unison. The stranger was a girl, between Ash and Brock in age. She was cloaked in black, and a silver clasp held the cloak at her neck. Her long hair shone blue-black, loose down her back, and strands of it blew across her face in the wind. Her bright blue eyes glittered in the sunlight. She stood, watching them, meeting the gaze of each, then spoke.
"Ash is right. There is an island. And I can take you there."
The three friends stared in shock. "Who are you?" asked Ash. "And how do you know about Misty and the rest of us?"
The girl looked Ash straight in the eye. "I can't give you all the answers now. But I can help you." The deal she was offering was clear: no questions, no interrogation, in return for her aid with their problem.
Officer Jenny started to protest, but Ash cut in. "Take us there. Take us to the island." He paused, eyes flicking away as he formed his demand in his head. His gaze snapped back to the girl's face.
"Take us to Misty."
"So what are you going to do with… with Mew?" Misty's question echoed in the silence of the room. Mew's eyes continued to gaze inquisitively at both the humans.
"We will use our power to take Mew's. In doing this we will greatly increase our own power, and fix a lasting store of it into each of our pendants. That will enable me to study the power fully, in a way I have never hoped to study it before."
"Take Mew's power? But when the pendant drew on me, I was really weak and sick! Won't it make Mew the same? Or even worse?" Misty cried, her blue eyes wide and shining.
"It won't necessarily harm Mew. It can regain strength, over time." Simon paused, obviously reluctant. "But… there is a chance that the experiment could go wrong."
"Go wrong?"
"A small chance. As we have never used our power like this before, we could drain Mew without realising it, or simply not be able to prevent such drainage."
Misty's eyes grew even larger. Her question was low, almost a whisper. "What would that mean for Mew?"
Simon didn't try to avoid her gaze. "It would lose all its power. Considering that Mew has had the power all it's life, and has had so great an amount of it, it could…" Simon trailed off, unsure of whether to finish his sentence.
Misty looked from the glowing creature, which still watched them intently, to Simon's glittering eyes. "It could what?"
Simon avoided her eyes, a dissastisfied expression on his face. Misty wasn't about to let it go so easily.
"It could what?"
Simon's golden eyes suddenly caught Misty, and a thread of a bond began to extend between them, as it had between Misty and Mew. The thread filtered through the darkness that lay between them, grew, thickened. As it brushed against Misty's mind, knowledge flew through her consciousness, images of Simon's life, his memories, his emotions, and his past. Simon saw similar visions of Misty's life, looking, to him, like a little flickering flame, in danger of burning out at any moment. And in that moment, they were joined, their minds linked together. The thread grew, pulsed with life and meaning. They were one, in thought, soul and power. Their lives became suddenly interwoven. Their destinies were joined.
"Don't you see?" cried Jesse. Meowth nodded.
"See what?" asked James, as slow on the uptake as ever.
"Our chance!" Meowth told him.
"To catch Pikachu," added Jesse.
"How?" wondered James.
"It's simple! We follow them to that island…" began Jesse.
"And while they're busy thinking about nothing but finding their friend…." continued Meowth.
"We snatch Pikachu!" finished James, laughing evilly.
The three pairs of eyes gleamed wickedly.
"Perfect!" they said in unison.
Their steady eye contact held them, made the bond complete. But Misty's question still hovered unanswered. She gazed at Simon, and he saw the question in her eyes, as he heard it in her words.
"What would happen to Mew?" she asked, a shiver of fear in her voice.
Simon's mind echoed the words he spoke aloud.
"Mew would die."
"We leave now," Ash said, in a voice of steel.
"No." The girl's tone was firm.
"Why?" Ash demanded. He and the girl were like steel clashing with steel, Brock thought: it seemed both were strong, both fierce when they believed in something. Officer Jenny listened in grave silence.
"It's not as simple as it seems. The island can only be seen at one time of day. If you don't set off for it within exactly the right few minutes, it disappears from view, and you'll never find it. It takes ten minutes, at least, to get close enough so that you can still find it even once it disappears."
"It's not right! I can't do it!" cried Misty, her face pleading and distraught.
"You can. And you will." Simon's cool tone had no 'maybes' in it. He was resolute.
"I won't!"
Her protest didn't affect him, but his voice rose a little. "Don't you see? This will complete my work! It will make everything worth all those years! I will be finished!" She saw images of an older man, and the word Father… drifted to her from Simon's thoughts. She dragged her attention back into focus.
He was leaving no options open to her. She fought against his words.
"It's not fair! It's not fair to Mew!"
"It is necessary."
"It's not! Mew will die! Can't you see it? Mew will DIE!"
"It has to be done."
"Simon!" Misty's eyes filled with tears, as they gazed earnestly into Simon's. The quiet control of his voice contrasted with the fearful defensiveness of hers. Their eyes met, and the bond came into play again, the force of each one's will trying to flow into the other, but having to battle halfway.
"You will do it, Misty. You will."
"I won't." Tears ran down her face. A silence. He watched her tears, followed their sparkle with his eyes. The silence grew long, and drove into Misty's ears. Anger suddenly rose inside her. "When I first met you, I saw you had something missing. I felt it, inside. I didn't know what it was, not at first. But then I figured it out. I saw your fault. You had no emotion, Simon. No emotion!" Misty paused, regaining control. "And I'd thought you'd changed. I thought you'd found your feelings again."
"What?" Simon was torn between anger at Misty's outburst, and shock at her words. She didn't even notice that he'd spoken.
"I was wrong. You aren't even human!"
Simon's face was contorted with his fury. His mouth opened to yell at her, but he brought just enough control to his voice to give his words their fullest meaning. "By the power within you, and the bond that connects us, I COMMAND YOU TO OBEY ME."
Misty's mind battled against his, but his will was stronger. He battered down her walls. She felt herself breaking, falling before him, felt her last wall of resistance hit the ground with a muted, hollow sound that echoed through her.
He'd won.
"How is it that it disappears?" asked Jenny.
"The fog shows up the island as a small silhouette. It's too small to be seen at any other time than when the fog is at it's thickest."
Her eyes looked up into his. Defeat and sadness flowed across to him, but he hardened himself to it. His face was set. Expressionless. No emotion was going to stop him.
"You will do this. We will finish what we began."
"When?" Misty whispered, tears flowing, shining.
"What time?" Ash demanded.
"When do we start?" smirked James.
"Dawn," answered the girl.
"Dawn," agreed Team Rocket.
"Dawn," commanded Simon.