Shafts of bright sun illuminated the space below the tree line. The oaken trunks that held up the verdant roof were aged and battered from their use by the inhabitants of the forest. The air was stagnant, free of wind, leaving the area below lukewarm. The animals beneath remained in stillness, however, cautious of heavy footsteps and occasional banter. The rats and lizards and insects looked upward from their homes on the forest floor, and the birds looked beneath their wooden perches. All was silent, until the crack of a gunshot ignited the animals into a fearful frenzy, save for one large bird, who fell lifelessly to the forest floor, where its two killers were waiting for it.

They stood next to each other, their arms both occupied by a rifle. One of them, a female, was knelt on the ground, her eye aligned with the iron sights of the gun. She slowly stood up, putting the gun around her soft shoulders. She bore a confident glint in her ruby-red eyes, one that showed she wasn't afraid to get her dress dirty. Her short, green hair was thoroughly kempt, and the frills on her white face twitched sporadically with anticipation. Beside her was a male, who stood as tall as she did. He held a rifle of his own, but also hauled a bag over his shoulder. His skin was not as clean; teal cracks and streaks centered around his own chest spike ran throughout his body, even up to the blades that augmented his elbows. Nonetheless, his green hair and sharp frills made it clear that the two were siblings.

"That's even, Gallade," She taunted, her rifle smoking from the shot. "I guess Father had taught me better than you."

"I'm surprised you took anything away from his lessons, Gardevoir, considering now you're only thinking about getting your guts rearranged by someone who might not actually exist," Gallade taunted back, moving over to the dead bird to pick it up. A crack sounded out in the air, but neither of them paid any attention to it. "What's your obsession with him anyway?"

"Mewtwo? He's hot and he's powerful, that's all there is." Gardevoir explained.

What was not to like about him? She thought to herself, gazing off into the sky and visualizing Mewtwo. Those deep purple eyes, and that rock-solid chest, and those strong hands, and that big, long-

PLAK!

Gardevoir's eyes widened in an instant, and she jumped out of her trance, quickly turning to Gallade. His rifle was pointed to a branch to their left, another bird on the ground below it.

"I win." He smirked, heading over to bag it up. Gardevoir sighed loudly as she threw her rifle over her shoulder to head back.

"Don't get so fed up with it, you just weren't paying attention," Gallade reassured, half-chuckling. "What were you staring at the sky for?"

"Just thinking about him."

"What, you think that he's just gonna fall out of the sky?"

Before Gardevoir could quip back, something smashed into a tree nearby. Though they could not immediately see whatever caused it, they could feel the impact. Reorienting themselves, they raised their rifles and swiftly moved to find whatever had landed there. While Gallade looked only ahead, Gardevoir's eyes darted all around. She could feel that something was wrong, and as they pushed towards the origin of the crash, she could feel her heart beat faster and faster, until they reached the smoking tree.

There he was, the one she lusted for, his devastated and dirtied body lying among the branches. His flesh was scorched, the umber cloak he adorned smoldering at its edges. He struggled to find the strength to move himself from the oaken prison that held him from the forest floor. He was alive, though it was clear that keeping his eyes open was a conscious decision. Seeing him so close to death caused Gardevoir to drop her gun and rush to assist her injured love. She knew Gallade would be more level-headed than her and wouldn't try to help without a plan, and so it would fall to her to save Mewtwo. She pulled him from the tree with all her might, yet with how much he weighed she did not get as far as she had anticipated.

"The hell are you standing around for?" Gardevoir snarled to her brother, who seemed to be merely pacing around and staring at the scene. "Do you want him to die here?"

"Calm down," Gallade approached, "I'm just thinking on how we can help him recover the fastest."

"Fastest?" She grunted as she locked his arms with her elbows, "Think about that once we get him back to the house."

"Y'know what? Sure." He moved to assist, and with both hauling Mewtwo they managed to get him out of the tree and onto the ground.

Mewtwo's eyes looked up to both of his saviors. "Don't... don't take me back there," He pleaded weakly. He was disoriented, sharply breathing through the pain of his singed skin.

"It's alright, it's alright," Gardevoir reassured, rubbing her hand on his forehead. She was trying not to let her emotions towards him impede her saving his life. It hurt her to see Mewtwo, who she thought of as the strongest being out there, struggling to even stand. Father had never taught them how to deal with such grievous injuries, and she struggled to improvise under pressure. "Can you stand up?"

"I can- try." Mewtwo rose shakily to his feet, his hands clutching the burns on his leg. Even with his reduced stature, he still stood considerably taller than both siblings.

Gardevoir moved her shoulder under his to keep him upright. "We're gonna get you inside and clean you up. You're not dying on me."

"Us," Gallade cut in. "I'll keep him upright; you just keep him awake."

"Fine," Gardevoir sighed, allowing Gallade to take her place. "Let's get back."

"You're forgetting something," Gallade motioned to the rifle on his back.

"You're annoying, you know that?"

"Father would've said the same thing to you."

Gardevoir groaned at her brother being right, picking up her rifle and following the two away from the crash site. She didn't like that he was usually right, but it was more annoying to her than something worth getting upset over. She strung the gun over her back and hurried to join up with the boys. It was her job to keep Mewtwo talking, after all.

"So," she started, "what brings you all the way out here, Mewtwo?"

"How do- how do you know my name?" He questioned back, recoiling a bit towards Gallade.

"You were all over the news last night. Hijacking a Team Rocket base, killing some of their best soldiers, and leaving one just alive enough to tell what happened? That'll make anyone well-known."

"Right, it was rather fun- in the moment. But..." He clutched his head, "...would that not make you fear me?"

"You'd have to put that fear in me yourself," She boasted, before realizing she had an opportunity. "Though I think I'd prefer if you put something else in me." She spoke in such a tone that Gallade had to stifle his laughter.

"Speaking of," he cut in, "Are you hungry at all?"

"No," Mewtwo hesitated.

Gardevoir sighed at the comment. A lack of appetite was far from a welcome sign for someone as gravely injured as Mewtwo, according to Father's words. It also didn't help that Mewtwo seemed to be tripping on himself, and his breathing became louder and hoarser. Gardevoir's eyes were fixated upon him more than the path ahead of them, and she unconsciously drew closer to him.

"If you wanted to eat," she inquired to Mewtwo, "what would you want?"

"Something warm. I have not had- much warm food since I've been free."

"Well, we're-" She glanced over at Gallade, who was waiting to correct her again. "Gallade is gonna be cooking up some bird for us tonight."

"I can start as soon as we get back," Gallade responded with a sigh. "We're almost to the house anyway."

"House? One that's like the- the human ones?" Mewtwo asked.

"Not exactly. Father spent a few months building a nice place for himself out of two of those miniature houses that can be driven. RVs are what I think they're called, at least that's what he'd tell us."

"Father did have the best stories," Gardevoir chimed in, just as the trio came into the clearing where the "house" was. She noticed a glint in Mewtwo's eyes as he looked upon it. "How he stole the generator, made off with the solar paneling, robbed that supermarket blind... in fact, we-"

"Gardevoir," Gallade cut her off sternly. "Don't go where I think you're going."

"Right," She took a step back. "Let's head inside. I know I have some burn treatment in my bathroom."

The three did not speak as they went in, with Mewtwo and Gallade moving to rest on the couch while Gardevoir headed to her area of the house to look for medication. She had no trouble finding it in the medicine cabinet of her bathroom, but as she was walking out, something compelled her to head to her room. Scanning the room, she took up to a thinly dusted camera atop her dresser, one with the insignia of her father painted on one of the corners on the front.

Father had often taken pictures of her and her brother, evidenced by the board of photographs on her wall. Each was taken to commemorate an important event: there was one of her when she had just hatched, another when Gallade had shot for the first time, one of her and Father playing chess, and plenty more, taken by him and Gardevoir herself, the latter being intrigued with the workings of the camera from her youth.

She looked up at the board. The most recent photograph pinned to it was the last one that the camera had taken before Father had left. He was in his drab brown and green war gear, with an arm each around both of his "adopted" children. Gardevoir was holding his heavy rifle, while Gallade held his full-face helmet. Neither of the siblings had aged visibly from the photograph, but Father hadn't contacted either of them since his departure.

Gardevoir ran her finger over the photograph, over the insignia in the corner that mirrored the one on the camera. She wondered how Father would feel about Mewtwo, and about her love for him. Likely, he'd lecture her on how such a spontaneous interest could be dangerous, especially with the notoriety Mewtwo carried with him. But Father wasn't here now. She was an adult, Gardevoir silently told herself, and she would disregard whatever barriers lay between her and Mewtwo.

She stepped back to take one final look at the board, noticing that there was some space that had yet to be filled with photographs. With an idea in her head, she took the burn medication and her camera back out to the main room, over to where Gallade and Mewtwo were. Mewtwo sat much further upright than he was before, his singed cloak draped around his body; Gallade was nonchalantly inspecting the bloody game birds beside him.

"I'm hoping you didn't treat Mewtwo here with all that blood on your hands," Gardevoir poked fun.

"Of course not. Do you see any of my blood on him?" Gallade shrugged. "Plus, it's your turn to treat him now. Paper towels are here, use them if you need to. I'm going to cook."

Gardevoir let Gallade leave, before moving to Mewtwo's burned side. She put the camera down on the armrest and pulled out his scorched arm.

"This is gonna sting a bit, but then you'll be all well." She smiled sincerely.

"I've been through worse."

She sprayed the burn healer onto his arm, surprised at his lack of a reaction. She wiped the reacting chemical from his arm and repeated the process with the other burnt areas: his strong chest, and his powerful legs, and his long tail, and his adorable face. He was eventually cleaned of all his surface wounds, meaning that there were only internal injuries to address, and even then, it was likely that Gallade mended those while Gardevoir was in her room.

"Take that cloak off," she moved to help remove it from his shoulders. "I could try to fix it for you some time."

Mewtwo tensed up for a second before conceding, removing his cloak and handing it to Gardevoir, who folded it up and placed it on the floor. She then sat down beside him, making sure to move her camera out of the way. She wrapped her arm around his shoulder and pulled him close.

"Do you mind if I take a picture of us, Mewtwo?"

"A picture?"

"Yeah, I have a bunch of pictures with my family in my room, and I was thinking I could have one with us."

"What for?"

"If you ever leave here, I want something to remember you by."

Mewtwo hesitated. "Alright."

"Then smile for the camera."

Gardevoir raised the camera, and with a flash, the moment was immortalized, not just on the film of the camera, but in the hearts of the two psychics that it captured. Gardevoir could only show her happiness by pulling Mewtwo close, to which he responded with a hug. Though he was heavy, Gardevoir didn't mind the pressure one bit, though she did have to hold in a giggle when he started to purr. She sat herself up when she noticed that Mewtwo was beginning to get drowsy.

"You're not thinking of sleeping on me, are you?"

"Perhaps," Mewtwo yawned. "I could sleep on the floor if you would prefer."

"Why would you want to sleep on the floor?

"Where else does one sleep?"

"Somewhere comfortable, like in a bed, or on a couch, or even," she hesitated, "in someone else's arms."

"Those do seem nice," he smiled. "I think I will take your advice."

"What do you-" Before Gardevoir could protest, Mewtwo relaxed his grip on her, nuzzling his head between her shoulder and cheek. Here she was, cuddling with the most powerful being alive, one that she had a lust for ever since she discovered his existence. She knew this wouldn't be for long, knowing how adept Gallade was at cooking, so she had to savor every second. Although she knew it would be unwise to move along too quickly, Gardevoir knew that Mewtwo was at the very least thankful for her and her brother's actions. Eventually there would be time for romance, but for now, she reckoned that it would be best to leave Mewtwo to rest and recover from the tumultuous day.