Awakenings
Chapter 2
As Laureen was still recovering from the shock she just received, Mewtwo announced that he had something to do down stairs.
"It was a pleasure to meet you, Laureen." he said politely.
"Pleasure meeting you, too." Laureen answered with a forced smile. With that, Mewtwo left the room and flew down the stairs. Laureen wondered why there was a staircase there is Charizard and Mewtwo never used it!
"Glad he's gone." Laureen said under her breath.
"I know what you mean." Charizard said with a chuckle.
Laureen's stomach turned as she once again thought about her magic.
"Why did this have to happen to me? I had plenty to worry about before this happened. I have no idea how strong this magic is or how to control it! What if I--" her thoughts were interrupted as she heard Charizard's voice.
"Heeeeello...is anyone home? Hello?" He said, waving his hand in front of Laureen's face, trying to snap her out of her daydream. Laureen instantly realized how long she was lost in her thoughts.
"Huh?" Laureen said quickly.
Charizard eyed her curiously. "Are you ok, Laureen?" he asked. Laureen was pleased that he showed some concern for her.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Laureen answered, her voice a little unstable. Charizard smiled thoughtfully.
"Good." he said. He left Laureen's side and started to walk towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Laureen asked worriedly. Something deep inside of her didn't want Charizard to go.
"Just going downstairs. Come on, I'll show you to your room." Charizard said as he turned to face her.
"I have my own room?" Laureen thought to herself.
"Uh...ok." She answered, a little nervously. She walked the door, but quickly realized Charizard wasn't with her. She whirled around and saw him still standing in Mewtwo's room.
"Aren't you coming?" Laureen asked impatiently. Charizard let out an annoyed sigh.
"If you wanna walk down all those steps yourself, be my guest. I was thinkin' maybe I could give you a ride down, but if you'd rather not--" As much as Laureen hated to admit it, he was right.
"Ok, ok! Fine." She finally agreed. Laureen approached him but stopped as Char lowered himself to the ground.
"Well...get on!" Charizard said impatiently. Laureen cautiously mounted Charizard's back and planted her hands firmly on his neck. Charizard took a moment to glance back at her.
"Ready?" he asked. Laureen gulped. She'd never ridden anything before in her life.
"Ready when you are." Laureen replied with her voice wavering. She felt a bump as Charizard took a step forward. As Charizard's stride lengthened, Laureen tried desperately not to fall off as it became bumpier and bumpier. She noticed that Charizard was now running very fast, and took a moment to exercise his wings by flapping them a couple times. Laureen forced herself to look in front of her and say the staircase dead ahead!
"Hold on!" Charizard called out. Laureen tightened her grip on his neck, and braced herself for what was coming next. When Charizard was at the edge of the platform, he took a huge leap and jumped off the edge of the platform and together they dropped like a stone to the bottom of the staircase. Laureen screamed in terror as she saw how fast they were falling.
"Oh no! We're gonna crash!" Laureen thought. She looked around her to see the walls, the staircase...everything passing by her in a blur.
When they were only several feet from the ground, Charizard unexpectedly spread his wings and were now flying gracefully through the air. Laureen let out a loud sigh of relief to see that they were safe! She noticed that Charizard was headed for a large double-door on top of a short staircase. The beating of Charizard's wings grew slower and further apart, then they landed in front of the gigantic door with a 'thump'. She slid off his back and turned to face him.
"Whew! When you said you'd give me a ride you weren't kidding!" Laureen said, her voice still a little shaky. Charizard laughed.
"Well, it's better than having to climb down all those stairs, huh?"
"Yeah, I guess so." Laureen said with a smile.
"Well, this is your room." Charizard said as he swung the two huge wooden doors inward. Laureen stepped into the room and he followed. What Laureen first noticed about the room was despite it's large imposing doors, the room was actually quite small. She saw a bed to her left with very expensive looking wood with intricate designs of flowers etched into its surface. To her right was a dresser made out of the same beautiful wood. Attached to it was a large mirror that had a wooden trim. She looked up and saw a circular globe-light, similar to the one she saw in the room in which she first arrived.
"So, how do you like it?" Charizard asked. He walked a few steps beyond Laureen and sat on the bed. She walked over to the bed and joined him.
"Hmm...I guess I can call this place home for a few days." Laureen said cheerfully. Charizard looked at Laureen and frowned slightly.
"You might be here a little longer than that."
Laureen's cheerful attitude vanished.
"What do you mean?" She asked as she wondered what he was about to tell her.
"Well..." Charizard thought of a way to tell her this without upsetting her.
"You don't learn how to use magic in just a few days, ya know." He started.
"Well, yeah. I'm guessing it will take quite a while to learn it." Laureen responded.
"...But you also can't learn magic on your own. You need a teacher that is experienced with it." Charizard continued. Laureen froze as she realized who Charizard meant.
"You mean...Mewtwo?" She said as she choked on her words. Charizard knew she didn't want to hear this news, but she was going to find out sooner out later, so he had to tell her...
"Well...yes. I know he can be a little...difficult at times, but he's the best teacher you can have for this. And if all goes well, you could be done in just a few weeks." He said, hoping to cheer her up. That only made Laureen feel worse.
"Why does it have to be...him?! I wish he never awakened my magic in the first place! Having to spend even one day with that creep is one too many!" Laureen wanted so badly to say her thoughts out loud, but she refrained from it.
Charizard saw the look of sadness and anger on Laureen's face and felt awful. He had to try and cheer her up.
"Hey, what do ya say I give you a little tour of the castle?" Charizard said excitedly. Laureen felt to angry and depressed to do anything right now.
"Maybe later." She answered, her voice barely audible.
"Aw, c'mon! It'll be fun!" Charizard said, nudging her shoulder. "Plus you
wouldn't want to ever get lost in this huge place, would you?" Charizard knew she couldn't argue with that. Laureen's mouth curved upwards slightly into a half-smile.
"Ok, you've convinced me!" Laureen answered. Charizard could tell by the tone of her voice that she was starting to fell better.
"Ha! Now that's what I like to hear!" Charizard said as he rose from the bed and swiftly flew out the double-doors. Laureen hurried after him but she went into the room, she didn't see him anywhere. She cautiously took a few steps and looked in every direction, but still no sign of him. Then she stopped as she heard Charizard's voice from above.
"So, you all ready down there?" His voice called. He was apparently very up high, because Laureen could just barely hear his voice.
"Yeah." Laureen shouted as she continued to desperately find Charizard's hiding place. Everything was still for a few moments, and Laureen wondered if he was only playing a trick on her.
Suddenly, Laureen heard the familiar beating of Charizard's wings behind her. He came down so fast. Laureen didn't even have time to look behind her to see him approaching. She cringed as Charizard's ice-cold claws touch her arms. She looked down and saw the ground becoming farther away. She instantly realized he was repeating what he did when he first captured her.
"I wish you'd warn me before you do that!" Laureen shouted.
"Well what'd be the fun in that?" he answered with a broad smile.
Charizard effortlessly navigated through the castle, showing Laureen all the many rooms and which hallways lead to which ones. Laureen wondered how he could memorize the location of every single thing in the castle!
"You sure know your way around here, Charizard." she told him
"Well when you've been here for as long as I have, it kinda comes naturally." Charizard answered with a chuckle.
As they came to the end of the 'tour', Laureen spotted an indent in the wall below them.
"Hey, what's that?" She exclaimed.
"What's what?" he asked.
"That-that hole in the wall...down there." Laureen continued, pointing to it. Char hesitated before answering.
"Oh, it's just a tunnel that goes under the castle and it leads to different rooms. But no one ever uses it. I honestly don't know why it's there..." he said. He started to fly away, but Laureen stopped him.
"Can I see it anyway?" Laureen was determined to see everything in the castle.
"There's really nothing special about it." he said quickly. Laureen was almost certain Charizard was hiding something from her, and she was going to find out what it was.
"But it's the only part of the castle I haven't seen!" She protested.
"Trust me, there's nothing down there Laureen so let's go!" Charizard said, almost shouting. He as now clearly very annoyed. But Laureen wasn't about to give up.
"Ok, well can I at least look inside it?" Charizard thought for a few moments. "I guess there's no harm in that." he thought.
"Ok...but only look inside." he said with a sigh. They floated down towards the tunnel. Laureen was surprised to see that it went about 20 feet underground. When they were finally on solid ground, Laureen noticed there were puddles of polluted water scattered on the ground. She wrinkled her nose as the stench from the water lingered in the air too.
She jumped as she heard a splash behind her. Charizard had landed in a huge puddle of the polluted water! Laureen resisted the temptation to laugh as Charizard groaned and tried to shake the water off him.
"Ugh! This is why I hate coming down here! It's so wet!" Charizard said. He had finally got all the water off him. He took a few steps backward but forgot to look where he was going and he stepped into an even bigger puddle! Laureen ran over to him.
"Are you ok?" she said, laughing.
"Yes." he snapped. "I knew we shouldn't have come down here!" He said angrily as he continued to shake the water off him.
"Well, you got look. Let's go." he said as he turned around to leave.
"Wait a minute." Laureen said. She still wanted to explore. She walked down the hall and saw tiny lights on the ceiling giving off just enough light to be able to see in the dark corridor. She saw that it cut off to the left.
"What's down here?" she shouted back to Charizard.
"Just leads to the kitchen."
"Really?" Laureen said. She turned the corner and began to walk down the hallway.
"Laureen! Where are you going! You promised you would just look inside!" Charizard yelled angrily. Laureen stuck her head around the corner.
"Ok, I lied." Laureen replied with a smile. She began to run down the hall.
Charizard growled in frustration. He took off down the hall as fast as his wings could carry him. He slowed as he neared the corner and saw that Laureen was already halfway down the hallway.
"Where do you think you're going?!" he screamed. Laureen didn't answer. Instead, she turned a corner to her right.
Charizard almost came to a complete stop.
"Oh no, not there!" he mumbled. "I've got to stop her!" he thought. He flew like a jet, kicking up water as he sped down the corridor. To Charizard's surprise and dismay, he saw that she'd stopped, examining a large door. Charizard's heart skipped a beat. "I can't let her go in there!" he thought frantically.
Laureen yelped as she head Charizard's wings beating harder and faster that she'd ever heard.
"You weren't...thinking about going in there were you?" He asked. His breathing was heavy. Laureen was now even more suspicious.
"Why? What's in there?" she asked.
"Like I said, it's the kitchen. Now let's get outta here!" Charizard demanded. Laureen found it strange that Charizard was so scared of going to the kitchen.
"Really? Then you wouldn't mind if I take a look." She said.
"Laureen! Don't!" Charizard pleaded. With a smirk, Laureen pushed a button and the door slid open. Laureen slowly walked into the room.
"Well I guess she gonna find out sooner or later." Charizard thought to himself. He followed her into the room.
"This has to be the weirdest kitchen I've ever seen." Laureen said as she looked around. The most noticeable thing in the room was a large metal structure about 25 feet tall. It was circular and it had a swirl on the side that made it look like a snail's shell. at the center of the swirl was a huge, beautiful red gem. Attached to it was what looked like a conveyer belt. Charizard let out a long sigh.
"Alright, I confess. This isn't the kitchen." he said, crossing his arms.
"Well then what is it?" Laureen asked. She was very anxious to see why Charizard was so unwilling to come here.
"It's pretty complicated. Come over here." Charizard said as he flew over to the opposite side of the room. Laureen Followed and she saw a machine with many buttons on it. On top of it was a large screen.
Charizard pressed the largest button, which turned it on. Laureen waited
impatiently for something to show up on the screen. He pressed a couple buttons and an image appeared. It looked like a piece of curved wire with several spikes sticking out of it.
"What is it?" She asked excitedly. Charizard turned to face her.
"Ok. Listen very carefully." She nodded.
"This is a DNA sample from Mew." He began. He pressed another button and an image of a pink, cat-like creature appeared.
"Is that Mew?" Laureen asked.
"Yes." he answered. "Mew is said to be the ancestor of all living things, is the most powerful creature on earth, or at least that's how the legend goes. Only a few people worldwide have ever seen it." Charizard continued. He glanced at Laureen and saw she was listening intently, so he went on.
"So naturally, people wanted to take Mew's power and duplicate it. But that wasn't good enough. They were determined to make something so terrible, so powerful that it would even put Mew to shame. So after years of genetic experiments, they took the DNA from Mew and made--"
"Mewtwo!" Laureen interrupted.
"That's right." Charizard said with a smile. He was pleased she understood this so easily.
"So Mewtwo was cloned from the most powerful thing on earth?" Laureen thought. Now she was even more frightened of Mewtwo than before.
"But I only have one question. If Mew was only seen by a few people, how did they manage to get its DNA?" she asked.
"They found it in a fossilized piece of Mew's eyebrow." Charizard answered.
"Oh. Well does that mean that Mew is...dead?"
"No, no. Mew is very much alive. In fact, about a month ago, someone said they saw it. It was just a few miles from here"
"Wow" Laureen said in amazement. She suddenly remembered the huge circular structure she saw when she came in the room.
"What is this?" she asked, pointing to it. Charizard drew in a sharp breath. He was hoping she wouldn't ask. "I-it's a cloning machine." she said hesitantly.
"This is a cloning machine?" Laureen asked with wide eyes.
"Yeah. we can clone just about anything we want to in this thing." Charizard answered.
"Anything?" she repeated. He nodded. Laureen was a little disturbed with
the fact that anything...even her could be cloned in just seconds.
Charizard frowned as he watched Laureen examine the cloning machine. "I have to tell her." he said quietly. He flew over to her side. "Laureen..." he started.
"Hmm?" Laureen said, a little surprised. She didn't hear him fly over to her. Charizard gulped.
"There-there's something you should know..." Charizard said. He was obviously having trouble saying this. "What? What is it?" Laureen asked worriedly. "I..." Charizard looked at the cloning machine again.
"What's wrong Charizard?" Laureen asked.
"It's-it's nothing."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah." he said, looking away.
"But Charizard--" Laureen was interrupted by Charizard.
"It's nothing! Let's get out of here." he snapped. Laureen decided it was better to not say anything and mounted Charizard's back. Then they started their journey back to Laureen's room. Neither of them talked the entire way.
"I wonder what could be bothering him. It seemed like there was something pretty important he had to say...maybe I'll ask him later when he's in a little better mood." Laureen thought. Charizard was also deep in thought.
"I can't believe I choked! Why couldn't I tell her?! It was like something was holding me back, refusing to let me tell her..."
A few moments later they came to the room with the huge spiral staircase. As Charizard flew over to Laureen's room he stopped. Laureen was so startled she nearly fell off.
"What is it?" She asked
"Look." Charizard said, pointing to the ground beneath them. Laureen saw Mewtwo flying around the room.
"What's he doing?" Laureen asked.
"He's looking for us. We're late." Charizard responded.
"What do u mean we're late?"
"We have a curfew around here." He finished. Laureen scoffed.
"Curfew? What is he, my dad or something?" Laureen said sarcastically. She hoped that would lighten Charizard's mood. Apparently, it worked as he laughed a little.
"We better get down there. Maybe he wont see us." Charizard said. He glanced back at Laureen and she nodded. He stealthily flew to her room. When they landed, Charizard put his hand on the door handle but before he turned it, the door opened by itself! They turned around to see Mewtwo, using his psychic powers to open the door. "Oh! Good evening, boss." Charizard said quickly.
"Thank you, Charizard. Now you better get to bed. Both of you were out after curfew!" Mewtwo scolded.
"Yes sir. Very sorry sir. Right away sir." Charizard said, stumbling on his words. He flew off, to his room Laureen guessed. Se smiled as she noticed Charizard got as nervous around Mewtwo as she did.
"Well, you better get to sleep, Laureen. We have a lot of work to do tomorrow." He told her.
"Yes...sir." Laureen answered, her voice a little shaky.
"Good night." Mewtwo said.
"Good night." She answered. Mewtwo closed the door with his psychic powers. Laureen wondered what he meant by 'work'. She looked at her watch. it was 11:45. "No wonder I'm so tired." Laureen yawned. She climbed into her bed and got under the amazingly soft blankets.
As tired as she was, it was impossible for her to go to sleep. She thought about everything that happened that night. For the first time in hours, she remembered her magic. Laureen preferred not to think about it. Then she remembered how upset Charizard got, but smiled as she thought of the times her flew her around the castle, and when he got water all over him in the underground tunnel. Eventually her thoughts came back to Mewtwo. She wondered what he wanted with her and her magic. She instantly pushed the thought away.
Laureen yawned again and thought it was best for her to go to sleep. So she turned the light off and fell asleep almost instantly.
Chapter 2
As Laureen was still recovering from the shock she just received, Mewtwo announced that he had something to do down stairs.
"It was a pleasure to meet you, Laureen." he said politely.
"Pleasure meeting you, too." Laureen answered with a forced smile. With that, Mewtwo left the room and flew down the stairs. Laureen wondered why there was a staircase there is Charizard and Mewtwo never used it!
"Glad he's gone." Laureen said under her breath.
"I know what you mean." Charizard said with a chuckle.
Laureen's stomach turned as she once again thought about her magic.
"Why did this have to happen to me? I had plenty to worry about before this happened. I have no idea how strong this magic is or how to control it! What if I--" her thoughts were interrupted as she heard Charizard's voice.
"Heeeeello...is anyone home? Hello?" He said, waving his hand in front of Laureen's face, trying to snap her out of her daydream. Laureen instantly realized how long she was lost in her thoughts.
"Huh?" Laureen said quickly.
Charizard eyed her curiously. "Are you ok, Laureen?" he asked. Laureen was pleased that he showed some concern for her.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Laureen answered, her voice a little unstable. Charizard smiled thoughtfully.
"Good." he said. He left Laureen's side and started to walk towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Laureen asked worriedly. Something deep inside of her didn't want Charizard to go.
"Just going downstairs. Come on, I'll show you to your room." Charizard said as he turned to face her.
"I have my own room?" Laureen thought to herself.
"Uh...ok." She answered, a little nervously. She walked the door, but quickly realized Charizard wasn't with her. She whirled around and saw him still standing in Mewtwo's room.
"Aren't you coming?" Laureen asked impatiently. Charizard let out an annoyed sigh.
"If you wanna walk down all those steps yourself, be my guest. I was thinkin' maybe I could give you a ride down, but if you'd rather not--" As much as Laureen hated to admit it, he was right.
"Ok, ok! Fine." She finally agreed. Laureen approached him but stopped as Char lowered himself to the ground.
"Well...get on!" Charizard said impatiently. Laureen cautiously mounted Charizard's back and planted her hands firmly on his neck. Charizard took a moment to glance back at her.
"Ready?" he asked. Laureen gulped. She'd never ridden anything before in her life.
"Ready when you are." Laureen replied with her voice wavering. She felt a bump as Charizard took a step forward. As Charizard's stride lengthened, Laureen tried desperately not to fall off as it became bumpier and bumpier. She noticed that Charizard was now running very fast, and took a moment to exercise his wings by flapping them a couple times. Laureen forced herself to look in front of her and say the staircase dead ahead!
"Hold on!" Charizard called out. Laureen tightened her grip on his neck, and braced herself for what was coming next. When Charizard was at the edge of the platform, he took a huge leap and jumped off the edge of the platform and together they dropped like a stone to the bottom of the staircase. Laureen screamed in terror as she saw how fast they were falling.
"Oh no! We're gonna crash!" Laureen thought. She looked around her to see the walls, the staircase...everything passing by her in a blur.
When they were only several feet from the ground, Charizard unexpectedly spread his wings and were now flying gracefully through the air. Laureen let out a loud sigh of relief to see that they were safe! She noticed that Charizard was headed for a large double-door on top of a short staircase. The beating of Charizard's wings grew slower and further apart, then they landed in front of the gigantic door with a 'thump'. She slid off his back and turned to face him.
"Whew! When you said you'd give me a ride you weren't kidding!" Laureen said, her voice still a little shaky. Charizard laughed.
"Well, it's better than having to climb down all those stairs, huh?"
"Yeah, I guess so." Laureen said with a smile.
"Well, this is your room." Charizard said as he swung the two huge wooden doors inward. Laureen stepped into the room and he followed. What Laureen first noticed about the room was despite it's large imposing doors, the room was actually quite small. She saw a bed to her left with very expensive looking wood with intricate designs of flowers etched into its surface. To her right was a dresser made out of the same beautiful wood. Attached to it was a large mirror that had a wooden trim. She looked up and saw a circular globe-light, similar to the one she saw in the room in which she first arrived.
"So, how do you like it?" Charizard asked. He walked a few steps beyond Laureen and sat on the bed. She walked over to the bed and joined him.
"Hmm...I guess I can call this place home for a few days." Laureen said cheerfully. Charizard looked at Laureen and frowned slightly.
"You might be here a little longer than that."
Laureen's cheerful attitude vanished.
"What do you mean?" She asked as she wondered what he was about to tell her.
"Well..." Charizard thought of a way to tell her this without upsetting her.
"You don't learn how to use magic in just a few days, ya know." He started.
"Well, yeah. I'm guessing it will take quite a while to learn it." Laureen responded.
"...But you also can't learn magic on your own. You need a teacher that is experienced with it." Charizard continued. Laureen froze as she realized who Charizard meant.
"You mean...Mewtwo?" She said as she choked on her words. Charizard knew she didn't want to hear this news, but she was going to find out sooner out later, so he had to tell her...
"Well...yes. I know he can be a little...difficult at times, but he's the best teacher you can have for this. And if all goes well, you could be done in just a few weeks." He said, hoping to cheer her up. That only made Laureen feel worse.
"Why does it have to be...him?! I wish he never awakened my magic in the first place! Having to spend even one day with that creep is one too many!" Laureen wanted so badly to say her thoughts out loud, but she refrained from it.
Charizard saw the look of sadness and anger on Laureen's face and felt awful. He had to try and cheer her up.
"Hey, what do ya say I give you a little tour of the castle?" Charizard said excitedly. Laureen felt to angry and depressed to do anything right now.
"Maybe later." She answered, her voice barely audible.
"Aw, c'mon! It'll be fun!" Charizard said, nudging her shoulder. "Plus you
wouldn't want to ever get lost in this huge place, would you?" Charizard knew she couldn't argue with that. Laureen's mouth curved upwards slightly into a half-smile.
"Ok, you've convinced me!" Laureen answered. Charizard could tell by the tone of her voice that she was starting to fell better.
"Ha! Now that's what I like to hear!" Charizard said as he rose from the bed and swiftly flew out the double-doors. Laureen hurried after him but she went into the room, she didn't see him anywhere. She cautiously took a few steps and looked in every direction, but still no sign of him. Then she stopped as she heard Charizard's voice from above.
"So, you all ready down there?" His voice called. He was apparently very up high, because Laureen could just barely hear his voice.
"Yeah." Laureen shouted as she continued to desperately find Charizard's hiding place. Everything was still for a few moments, and Laureen wondered if he was only playing a trick on her.
Suddenly, Laureen heard the familiar beating of Charizard's wings behind her. He came down so fast. Laureen didn't even have time to look behind her to see him approaching. She cringed as Charizard's ice-cold claws touch her arms. She looked down and saw the ground becoming farther away. She instantly realized he was repeating what he did when he first captured her.
"I wish you'd warn me before you do that!" Laureen shouted.
"Well what'd be the fun in that?" he answered with a broad smile.
Charizard effortlessly navigated through the castle, showing Laureen all the many rooms and which hallways lead to which ones. Laureen wondered how he could memorize the location of every single thing in the castle!
"You sure know your way around here, Charizard." she told him
"Well when you've been here for as long as I have, it kinda comes naturally." Charizard answered with a chuckle.
As they came to the end of the 'tour', Laureen spotted an indent in the wall below them.
"Hey, what's that?" She exclaimed.
"What's what?" he asked.
"That-that hole in the wall...down there." Laureen continued, pointing to it. Char hesitated before answering.
"Oh, it's just a tunnel that goes under the castle and it leads to different rooms. But no one ever uses it. I honestly don't know why it's there..." he said. He started to fly away, but Laureen stopped him.
"Can I see it anyway?" Laureen was determined to see everything in the castle.
"There's really nothing special about it." he said quickly. Laureen was almost certain Charizard was hiding something from her, and she was going to find out what it was.
"But it's the only part of the castle I haven't seen!" She protested.
"Trust me, there's nothing down there Laureen so let's go!" Charizard said, almost shouting. He as now clearly very annoyed. But Laureen wasn't about to give up.
"Ok, well can I at least look inside it?" Charizard thought for a few moments. "I guess there's no harm in that." he thought.
"Ok...but only look inside." he said with a sigh. They floated down towards the tunnel. Laureen was surprised to see that it went about 20 feet underground. When they were finally on solid ground, Laureen noticed there were puddles of polluted water scattered on the ground. She wrinkled her nose as the stench from the water lingered in the air too.
She jumped as she heard a splash behind her. Charizard had landed in a huge puddle of the polluted water! Laureen resisted the temptation to laugh as Charizard groaned and tried to shake the water off him.
"Ugh! This is why I hate coming down here! It's so wet!" Charizard said. He had finally got all the water off him. He took a few steps backward but forgot to look where he was going and he stepped into an even bigger puddle! Laureen ran over to him.
"Are you ok?" she said, laughing.
"Yes." he snapped. "I knew we shouldn't have come down here!" He said angrily as he continued to shake the water off him.
"Well, you got look. Let's go." he said as he turned around to leave.
"Wait a minute." Laureen said. She still wanted to explore. She walked down the hall and saw tiny lights on the ceiling giving off just enough light to be able to see in the dark corridor. She saw that it cut off to the left.
"What's down here?" she shouted back to Charizard.
"Just leads to the kitchen."
"Really?" Laureen said. She turned the corner and began to walk down the hallway.
"Laureen! Where are you going! You promised you would just look inside!" Charizard yelled angrily. Laureen stuck her head around the corner.
"Ok, I lied." Laureen replied with a smile. She began to run down the hall.
Charizard growled in frustration. He took off down the hall as fast as his wings could carry him. He slowed as he neared the corner and saw that Laureen was already halfway down the hallway.
"Where do you think you're going?!" he screamed. Laureen didn't answer. Instead, she turned a corner to her right.
Charizard almost came to a complete stop.
"Oh no, not there!" he mumbled. "I've got to stop her!" he thought. He flew like a jet, kicking up water as he sped down the corridor. To Charizard's surprise and dismay, he saw that she'd stopped, examining a large door. Charizard's heart skipped a beat. "I can't let her go in there!" he thought frantically.
Laureen yelped as she head Charizard's wings beating harder and faster that she'd ever heard.
"You weren't...thinking about going in there were you?" He asked. His breathing was heavy. Laureen was now even more suspicious.
"Why? What's in there?" she asked.
"Like I said, it's the kitchen. Now let's get outta here!" Charizard demanded. Laureen found it strange that Charizard was so scared of going to the kitchen.
"Really? Then you wouldn't mind if I take a look." She said.
"Laureen! Don't!" Charizard pleaded. With a smirk, Laureen pushed a button and the door slid open. Laureen slowly walked into the room.
"Well I guess she gonna find out sooner or later." Charizard thought to himself. He followed her into the room.
"This has to be the weirdest kitchen I've ever seen." Laureen said as she looked around. The most noticeable thing in the room was a large metal structure about 25 feet tall. It was circular and it had a swirl on the side that made it look like a snail's shell. at the center of the swirl was a huge, beautiful red gem. Attached to it was what looked like a conveyer belt. Charizard let out a long sigh.
"Alright, I confess. This isn't the kitchen." he said, crossing his arms.
"Well then what is it?" Laureen asked. She was very anxious to see why Charizard was so unwilling to come here.
"It's pretty complicated. Come over here." Charizard said as he flew over to the opposite side of the room. Laureen Followed and she saw a machine with many buttons on it. On top of it was a large screen.
Charizard pressed the largest button, which turned it on. Laureen waited
impatiently for something to show up on the screen. He pressed a couple buttons and an image appeared. It looked like a piece of curved wire with several spikes sticking out of it.
"What is it?" She asked excitedly. Charizard turned to face her.
"Ok. Listen very carefully." She nodded.
"This is a DNA sample from Mew." He began. He pressed another button and an image of a pink, cat-like creature appeared.
"Is that Mew?" Laureen asked.
"Yes." he answered. "Mew is said to be the ancestor of all living things, is the most powerful creature on earth, or at least that's how the legend goes. Only a few people worldwide have ever seen it." Charizard continued. He glanced at Laureen and saw she was listening intently, so he went on.
"So naturally, people wanted to take Mew's power and duplicate it. But that wasn't good enough. They were determined to make something so terrible, so powerful that it would even put Mew to shame. So after years of genetic experiments, they took the DNA from Mew and made--"
"Mewtwo!" Laureen interrupted.
"That's right." Charizard said with a smile. He was pleased she understood this so easily.
"So Mewtwo was cloned from the most powerful thing on earth?" Laureen thought. Now she was even more frightened of Mewtwo than before.
"But I only have one question. If Mew was only seen by a few people, how did they manage to get its DNA?" she asked.
"They found it in a fossilized piece of Mew's eyebrow." Charizard answered.
"Oh. Well does that mean that Mew is...dead?"
"No, no. Mew is very much alive. In fact, about a month ago, someone said they saw it. It was just a few miles from here"
"Wow" Laureen said in amazement. She suddenly remembered the huge circular structure she saw when she came in the room.
"What is this?" she asked, pointing to it. Charizard drew in a sharp breath. He was hoping she wouldn't ask. "I-it's a cloning machine." she said hesitantly.
"This is a cloning machine?" Laureen asked with wide eyes.
"Yeah. we can clone just about anything we want to in this thing." Charizard answered.
"Anything?" she repeated. He nodded. Laureen was a little disturbed with
the fact that anything...even her could be cloned in just seconds.
Charizard frowned as he watched Laureen examine the cloning machine. "I have to tell her." he said quietly. He flew over to her side. "Laureen..." he started.
"Hmm?" Laureen said, a little surprised. She didn't hear him fly over to her. Charizard gulped.
"There-there's something you should know..." Charizard said. He was obviously having trouble saying this. "What? What is it?" Laureen asked worriedly. "I..." Charizard looked at the cloning machine again.
"What's wrong Charizard?" Laureen asked.
"It's-it's nothing."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah." he said, looking away.
"But Charizard--" Laureen was interrupted by Charizard.
"It's nothing! Let's get out of here." he snapped. Laureen decided it was better to not say anything and mounted Charizard's back. Then they started their journey back to Laureen's room. Neither of them talked the entire way.
"I wonder what could be bothering him. It seemed like there was something pretty important he had to say...maybe I'll ask him later when he's in a little better mood." Laureen thought. Charizard was also deep in thought.
"I can't believe I choked! Why couldn't I tell her?! It was like something was holding me back, refusing to let me tell her..."
A few moments later they came to the room with the huge spiral staircase. As Charizard flew over to Laureen's room he stopped. Laureen was so startled she nearly fell off.
"What is it?" She asked
"Look." Charizard said, pointing to the ground beneath them. Laureen saw Mewtwo flying around the room.
"What's he doing?" Laureen asked.
"He's looking for us. We're late." Charizard responded.
"What do u mean we're late?"
"We have a curfew around here." He finished. Laureen scoffed.
"Curfew? What is he, my dad or something?" Laureen said sarcastically. She hoped that would lighten Charizard's mood. Apparently, it worked as he laughed a little.
"We better get down there. Maybe he wont see us." Charizard said. He glanced back at Laureen and she nodded. He stealthily flew to her room. When they landed, Charizard put his hand on the door handle but before he turned it, the door opened by itself! They turned around to see Mewtwo, using his psychic powers to open the door. "Oh! Good evening, boss." Charizard said quickly.
"Thank you, Charizard. Now you better get to bed. Both of you were out after curfew!" Mewtwo scolded.
"Yes sir. Very sorry sir. Right away sir." Charizard said, stumbling on his words. He flew off, to his room Laureen guessed. Se smiled as she noticed Charizard got as nervous around Mewtwo as she did.
"Well, you better get to sleep, Laureen. We have a lot of work to do tomorrow." He told her.
"Yes...sir." Laureen answered, her voice a little shaky.
"Good night." Mewtwo said.
"Good night." She answered. Mewtwo closed the door with his psychic powers. Laureen wondered what he meant by 'work'. She looked at her watch. it was 11:45. "No wonder I'm so tired." Laureen yawned. She climbed into her bed and got under the amazingly soft blankets.
As tired as she was, it was impossible for her to go to sleep. She thought about everything that happened that night. For the first time in hours, she remembered her magic. Laureen preferred not to think about it. Then she remembered how upset Charizard got, but smiled as she thought of the times her flew her around the castle, and when he got water all over him in the underground tunnel. Eventually her thoughts came back to Mewtwo. She wondered what he wanted with her and her magic. She instantly pushed the thought away.
Laureen yawned again and thought it was best for her to go to sleep. So she turned the light off and fell asleep almost instantly.