Knowledge Is Power
(The Yellow World)
Part Two

"There are good reasons why it is so important to foster a healthy relationship with your Pokèmon. Apart from the practical effects that such a relationship can have, such as improved battle performance and such, there have been documented instances of what can only be described as a sort of 'link' developing between Pokèmon and trainers who are close friends with one other. This connection is not as obvious as mind-reading, nor as precise as knowing each other's location at any time; but rather is a vague sense of the other's emotional state during moments of great stress. It is not known what exactly causes such a link, nor what effects it may have on or off the battlefield, as further studies are required to fully understand its implications. What is doubtlessly true, however, is that the 'link' holds great potential for the benefit of both our races…"

—Professor Oak, creator of the all-purpose electronic encyclopedia Pokèdex, part-time scientist, and expert in Pokè-Human Relations

Kapi wondered, briefly, if she was dead.

It certainly seemed that way. She couldn't feel anything, for starters. She didn't even know if her body existed anymore. And around her there was nothing but blackness.

But then…

…then something strange happened. Something she hadn't expected at all.

A voice spoke out to her: "Wake up."

And she did.

Kapi gasped, letting out a shuddering breath as the sensation in her body returned all at once. Oh man, she was in pain. "Pure agony"simply didn't do it justice.

She moaned, attempting to roll over and not quite succeeding. There were sounds occurring all around her; some of them were grunts of exertion, others were Pikachu's distinctive cries. Those humans were yelling something, but it all ran together in Kapi's mind like so much watery ink. Her head throbbed. She felt so tired…

Struggling with every movement, she managed to push herself up onto her hands and knees. Then she opened her eyes.

BAM. A purple bolt of energy clashed with a lightning bolt not inches from her face. She yelped and jerked backwards from reflex, toppling over onto her shell.

What the heck was that?

"PIKAAA!" The war cry was followed by an explosion of dirt and grass somewhere to her right. The bells in Kapi's ears rang all sorts of melodies. That had been loud.

"Hmph!" A buzzing filled Kapi's head as another purple bolt zapped by. "HAH!"

"CHUUU!" Kaboom. Another explosion.

It's a battle, Kapi realized. I'm in the middle of a battle!

Survival instincts kicked in. Get the hell out of there. Stay low so they don't see you. Keep quiet. Move fast. She proceeded to do just that, blocking out the pain and crawling forward on her belly toward the shelter of the trees.

He snarled. Dark Matter was no fool. It knew exactly how he'd beaten it last time, and was making sure the same thing didn't happen again. A constant flurry of attacks was raining upon him, forcing him to use all his mental faculties to keep them at bay. As such, he couldn't focus enough to exorcize the evil presence from Pikachu.

Clever.

He used his own resources to block the strikes, emitting waves of violet psionic energy made manifest through his will alone. Maybe if he knocked the miserable rodent out, he could…

ZAP. Ouch! Damn, those lightning bolts stung!

Out of rage he went on the offensive, enlarging the size of his strike to three times normal size. "EEYAH!" The punch would have dissolved the better half of one's head upon contact, but instead it met only air. He paid for the opening in his defenses as another blast of electricity shocked him from behind.

"STOP DODGING!" He bellowed into Pikachu's mind. The rodent smirked at him. Purple flashed from its eyes.

He'd hoped this would be another test of wills; his vs. Dark Matter's. He wasn't expecting anything so physical. It was a mistake he cursed himself for as he defended himself and prepared to retaliate.

That creature he'd seen in the clearing…it seemed familiar somehow. It looked like a giant turtle, really. Definitely NOT a Pokèmon, to his knowledge. Whatever it was, he figured it had probably been the cause of that energy spike from earlier.

He had to find out. The presence of something that powerful…it frightened him, really. It was the first time in recent memory that he'd known fear, and he did not like the emotion one bit.

Another lightning bolt hit him in the arm, and he winced. His energy was still fairly high, but it wouldn't be for long at this rate. WHY hadn't he brought along some healing items?? Stupid, stupid, stupid!

As long as Pikachu kept attacking, he wouldn't be able to do anything besides defend himself. But everyone had a limit, and he knew that it would only be a matter of time before his opponent wore himself out. Then…

…Well, then he'd probably beat the crap out of the little rat for being so annoying.

Another bolt came at him, and he raised a translucent purple energy field to block it. Pikachu was darting all over the place, zipping to and fro in quick bursts. It made the Pokèmon very difficult to track with the naked eye, and it was only due to his ability to read the magical plane that he was even able to see his opponent.

But then, at last it happened. Pikachu was beginning to slow down, his attacks becoming sluggish. The strength in his little yellow body was giving out, simply not used to enduring such abuse. Any second now…

There. Pikachu halted in the middle of trying to drag himself back to his feet, and collapsed.

Perfect. He floated over and picked Pikachu up using telekinesis. Now, all he'd need was a few moments…

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Red demanded loudly while running over. "HEY! LEAVE PIKACHU ALONE!"

He sighed and rolled his eyes. Great, just what he needed. Turning to face the human, he put on his best "I'm-getting-ticked-off-so-you'd-better-leave-me-alone" expression. It didn't work.

"Give him back." Red demanded.

Again, he rolled his eyes. Bah, the heck with this! A quick charge of his mental energy, and he teleported away with Pikachu in tow. He'd return the rat once the exorcism was done.

"HEY!" Kapi heard Red scream. "GET BACK HERE!!"

She didn't bother to turn around and see what was the matter. All she knew was, the sounds of battle had stopped and she was badly injured.

Being a soldier is a tough life. She'd been trained from very early on to deal with pain; wounds were not just a possibility in battle, but an expectation. Even worse, there was always the chance of being captured by the enemy and interrogated via intense torture. She'd been told by her superiors at the time that she'd eventually come to see these risks as just another aspect of battle, another obstacle that must be dealt with and overcome in addition to so many others out in the field.

From what she'd learned by her own experience, their words were mostly correct…and more often than not, one simply had to brave it through instead of whining and complaining…

…but still…

…that didn't stop it from hurting.

Oh, how she yearned for some healing magic right now. Her need was so great that, for the first time, she actually found herself wishing that Kamek was nearby.

As her mind became more aware of itself and its surroundings, she decided it was necessary to check herself for damage.

Let's see…start from the top down. Okay. She blinked, opened and closed her jaw, raised her eyebrows, and just generally did simple facial movements. No difficulty there. Now for the neck...

Ow. A bit of pain along her left side. Bruise, probably. Nothing too serious. Next, her shoulders…

Red Alert. One shoulder wasn't moving. In fact, her whole arm wasn't moving. It felt like a chunk of dead wood. She risked a glance and frowned at it, wondering how in the name of the Almighty Watermelon she'd managed to crawl twenty yards with a dead limb. Chalk another one up to desperation in the heat of battle, she supposed. Well, at least her other arm seemed fine.

She sensed a presence next to her and weakly raised her head to see who it was. Misty's concerned face gazed back at her, taking in all of the Koopa's injuries at once.

"Are you all right?" The Water Trainer asked, holding out a hand to steady Kapi as she swooned. "Red, get over here! Kapi's hurt!"

The boy was still hopping mad and didn't pay her any attention, ranting at the air and swinging his fists at the spot where Pikachu's kidnapper had stood. Misty growled.

"YOU BRING HIM BACK HERE RIGHT N—OWWWW!" Red yowled, clutching his head as he was whacked with a large wooden mallet.

"RECALL HER!" Misty demanded, pointing at the wounded Koopa. Red immediately sobered, pulling out the red-and-white ball and doing as requested. Kapi resigned herself to the pulling sensation, hoping that when she next opened her eyes she would be okay.

The red light vanished, and Kapi's ball closed with a small ding. Red stared at it, emotions warring on the battleground of his face.

"Now what?" Misty huffed, hands on her hips.

"We've gotta get to a Pokècenter." Red answered. "She needs help." He desperately struggled against a wave of sorrow that smashed into him at that moment. Pikachu…I'm sorry…

Misty agreed, oblivious to Ash's ordeal. "Fine, let's hurry. And later, we might be able to have the Professor track down that pokènapper for us."

Red nodded, but didn't seem very hopeful. His Pikachu had been miraculously returned to him once already; what were the odds of such happening to him twice?

Not very much at all.

He pocketed Kapi's ball and turned in the direction of the nearest town. "Let's go."

"Piiiikaaaa…"

He stared down at the whimpering creature, having extracted the evil mist from its body moments ago. Immediately afterward, Dark Matter had fled the scene. It knew better than to mess with him twice, at least while in its true form.

"Do not worry," he told the little yellow rodent."You are safe now."

"…chuuu?" Pikachu blinked through tears, looking at the fuzzy shape above him in confusion. He remembered horrible things…images of death, blood and destruction, all supplied to his mind by the possessive forces of Dark Matter. Fresh tears slid down his cheeks as he recalled how powerless he had been to do anything, how he could only watch as he hurt that nice turtle lady to the point of death…

The creature knelt next to him. One three-fingered hand reached out to softly stroke Pikachu's head, the odd gesture seeming somehow reassuring. "I am sorry that I must ask this, but you have information I need. What didDark Mattertell you?"

Pikachu rapidly shook his head, eyes clenched shut.

The creature's gaze went stern with impatience, sensing something urgent was amiss. "Tell me. What did you hear?!"

"Ka, ka!" Pikachu wailed, trembling. He knew he wouldn't be able to handle describing some of the nightmare visions he'd seen, at least not yet. It would break his mind to pieces.

In Pikachu's mind, the creature's voice grew louder and more desperate. "You do not understand. This is a matter of utmost importance; lives could be at stake! Please, tell me what you know!"

The little yellow mouse Pokèmon shuddered. He understood full well what this creature was implying; for crying out loud, he'd seen what Dark Matter was planning to do with people while watching the images implanted in his mind. But the fear was too great for even that to sway him; it was a mortal fear, a scar upon his psyche that would never fully heal.

His thoughts were interrupted by the now-angry sounding voice of the creature next to him: "If you do not tell me what you know of Dark Matter's plans, then I will take the information from you by force."

Pikachu's eyes went wide with fear. He stared at the creature in terror, but could not move himself to speak.

The creature sighed through his mouth. "Very well, then."

A sharp spike of pain stabbed Pikachu between the eyes as something forced itself into his mind. He screamed, thrashing about as the creature held him to the ground firmly with one hand.

"PIIIIIKAAAAAAPIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII—!"

The nearest Pokècenter was in Viridian City, which meant that Misty and Red first had to get out of the woods. Their march to the exit was a solemn one; both trainers seemed depressed over what had happened, Red justifiably more so. Only his worry about Kapi's health drove him to keep going, and not break down with despair.

Two days…it had been just two days since Pikachu had come back to him. When he'd gone missing the first time, Red had thought he might go insane from worry. And then, after he was returned by some miracle, not two days pass by before he vanishes again.

Red clutched the hand holding Kapi's pokèball to his chest, trying desperately to not allow himself to cry. The sadness and depression weighed heavily upon him, dragging him down, making his steps heavy and slow. He began to lag further and further behind Misty, who had started shooting worried glances over her shoulder at him. He didn't want to continue, it didn't seem like there was any reason to now that Pikachu was gone. But then he looked down at the Pokèball in his grip and reminded himself that others were depending upon him. He had to keep going, for Kapi's sake at least—

Red suddenly stopped walking and let out a surprised cry, pressing his free hand to the side of his head. A sudden spike of pain had hit him between the eyes, accompanied by a scary feeling of something worming its way into his mind. Misty halted and asked him what was wrong, but he could barely hear her voice—she sounded distant and far away, like there were miles between them as opposed to feet.

The pain increased, and Kapi's ball slipped from Red's fingers as he fell to his knees in agony, clutching his skull with both hands. Alarmed, Misty raced to his side and knelt next to him. She might have said something else, but Red couldn't hear her at all now over the pounding of blood in his ears. It felt like someone was beating a stake into his forehead with a wooden mallet, and the pain was so intense he could barely stand it.

He finally found his voice, as he opened his mouth to scream….

"Red!" Misty cried out, grabbing his shoulder. "Red, what's wrong?! Can you hear me?? RED!"

Blood, death, darkness, terror, ruin, pain…

Destroy all light, destroy destroy destroy…

Breathe.
In.
Out.

Cities burning, people screaming, hate, anger, genocide, fear, revulsion…

no no no stop it let me go

Breathe.
In.
Out.

Throbbing, pulsing, living death, consuming all in its path…

A castle, vanishing in a portal of swirling color…

Breathe.
In.
Out.

Eat, devour, consume, feed…

let me go let me go let me go

Breathe.
In.
Out.

Two climbers in parkas, overcome by darkness…

A robot with blue armor, dying on the floor…

Breathe.
In.
Out.

stop it please somebody help me

Agony, loathing, jealousy, vileness, rage…

Breathe.
In.
Out.

The light plans against us, it unites to strike us down…

It will pay for its insolence…

Breathe.
In.
Out.

Must destroy the light. Must consume it all, until none is left…

HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME

Breathe.
In.
Out.

Then the pain and horrid images that swam through Pikachu's mind vanished, dissolving into nothingness like they had never existed at all. The hand that had held him down retracted as the creature stood up, thinking hard.

Gosh, no wonder the Pokèmon hadn't wanted to talk about it. The creature himself shuddered at some of the more graphic images he'd found during his brief mind-scan.

Pikachu was left lying limp on the ground, gasping for breath and too weak to do anything else. The sight sent a twinge of remorse through the creature.

"…I am sorry that I had to do that." He said. "To make up for it, I will not erase the memories you and your friends have of what has happened, like I had planned. Be thankful; no one else to this day has ever seen what I looked like and remembered it afterwards." He frowned for a moment, wondering if it was a good idea for them to remember such important information. Finally he shook his head, dispelling any doubts he had. This was the least he could do for them."Come, I will take you back to your friends now."

Pikachu didn't reply, but his expression clearly asked a question. The creature paused, able to guess the unheard query without even reading the Pokèmon's thoughts.

"My name…" The creature frowned. "I have none. But humans call me…"

There was a flash of light; the dizziness of teleportation pounding through him, Pikachu's senses cut out as his consciousness faded, the voice in his mind the last thing he registered.

"…Mewtwo."

All turned to darkness.