Chapter 12
"Oh come on, Mewtwo!" Misty said exasperatedly, "Were you really that dense then? She wanted to know more about you! She even went as far as changing her sleeping schedule to work with yours—that can't have been healthy for her—but she was willing to do it for you!"
Mewtwo rolled his eyes, Misty was acting as though she were watching some sappy romance movie, "Of course, I noticed, Misty. I noticed it from the moment she first began asking questions about me. I am not dense. I just didn't want to get my hopes up only to find them crashing down for the most unsurprising reason possible."
Misty sighed, "Well, how did she take the knowledge of your history?"
Mewtwo hesitated, "Well…to my surprise, she took it rather well."
Dawn was lighting the sky by the time Mewtwo had finished telling Naiya about Team Rocket, New Island, and Mount Quena. He couldn't believe she was actually able to stomach it all.
"So…" Naiya began, lost in thought, looking down at the now empty jar of milk, "You live a life of feeling constantly hunted…all because you're—."
"A clone." Mewtwo finished for her. He was lying on his back, looking up at the brightening sky.
"Different," she corrected, glancing over at him, sadness in her eyes, "Does that have to mean being different is really a bad thing though?"
"To be different? Of course not!" Mewtwo sat up and looked at her, "Naiya, everyone is different in ways they cannot control. And yes, it can affect how we are able to live our lives, and it can be a deciding factor on whether or not we would need help, but it should never take away our right to live in peace!"
Naiya smiled, looking relieved, "So you're not ashamed of the fact that you're a clone?"
Mewtwo was quiet for a moment, and he looked down at the moss, "I used to be," he answered regretfully, feeling the need to reassure her though, he continued, "But ever since Mount Quena, my opinion of myself as a clone has improved."
"I'm happy for you," Naiya said,, "And I'm happy I can say the same thing for myself." Mewtwo looked over at her, confused, and Naiya gave a soft, hollow laugh, "I'm a 'shiny', and there was a time when I was ashamed too."
"Care to tell me your story?" Mewtwo inquired.
"I'm not as good of a storyteller as you are, and we're both very tired now." she said, yawning. She seemed to be trying to avoid it, but it was only fair that she told her story in exchange, right?"So I won't go into too much detail about it…I'm sure with a name like mine, you must've realized I had a trainer?"
"Yes, translated in one of the human languages, your name means 'Water Nymph'." Mewtwo answered, "It's too fitting to have been a coincidence."
"Well, thank you for the compliment," Naiya giggled lightly. Then, her eyes grew distant and she smiled sadly, "He was an old man; he said that he'd found me out in the woods as an infant Ralts. He took me in, and raised me. He even had knowledge about pokemon battles, so he also trained me to be able to defend myself, even went as far as asking other trainers who had Psychic type pokemon to teach me things that he could not."
"He sounds like a very kind man," Mewtwo commented, but with sadness in his heart, he had an idea where this was going.
"He was; when I met his grandchildren, I realized he was treating me no different from them," Naiya said, her eyes beginning to shimmer with grief, "but no Gardevoir, who dedicates their life to protecting a human, can protect them from the passage of time." The tears began to fall and Mewtwo reached out his hand to rub her shoulder comfortingly, "That feeling of failure is the same as it would be for a Gardevoir who couldn't protect their trainer from an attack, or an accident."
Mewtwo began to feel regret for prompting her story, but it was too late to ask her to stop, she'd crossed the point of no return. He should've known this before, should've realized it sooner. Having a name that only a human could've given her, but not having a human near… Gardevoir are cursed with the pain of grief and feelings of failure, never to forgive themselves for not being able to protect their trainer. No amount of time, therapy, or attempts to heal from their past can take that pain away; it's in their very nature. So when it comes back like this, the pain feels as potent as the moment the tragedy occurred. Some very unfortunate Gardevoir have gone insane from the agony they feel over and over…
"All…all I could do was…use Hypnosis on him to ease his passing; let him go in his sleep," Naiya said, before breaking into sobs, so loud, heartfelt and fresh that Mewtwo half-expected that if he looked over his shoulder, he'd see the dying old man.
It may have happened in the past, but for Naiya, it felt like it was happening in the moment, she needed to be comforted. Mewtwo gripped her shoulder and brought her to him. He held her close as she sobbed. However long her grieving lasted that first time, it would be no different for her now, it could be days, weeks, even months, before she would be able to return to the Naiya she was just a few minutes ago.
Misty looked away sadly, her eyes barely focusing on the flames in the fireplace, "Poor Naiya…" she said quietly, "That's the very reason why I don't always approve of certain trainers who have a Gardevoir; they can be so reckless sometimes, or I just have a feeling that they are not well enough aware of the burden they are placing on their Gardevoir. Their lifespans are longer than a human's, and the older a Gardevoir is, the less of a chance they have at surviving their curse for long once their trainer dies of old age. I don't know why it isn't illegal to capture a Gardevoir already."
Mewtwo nodded in agreement, "There is nothing that can be done about it though, Gardevoir make the choice on their own whether or not to commit their life to a human's protection; no pokeball required. It's created by a Psychic link and it's not something that can be undone; unfortunately, I do not think that old man was well informed about a Gardevoir's nature, and that in turn is what led to the position Naiya found herself in then." He was quiet for a minute, "I tended to Naiya while she grieved, bringing her anything she required, and comforting her when she needed. However, I truly feared for her during the first few days, she wouldn't speak to me, she didn't eat, and she barely slept; sometimes I used Hypnosis on her because I wasn't sure how long it was going to last, and her health would take a turn for the worse if it went on like that for too long."
"So…how long before she finished grieving…again?" Misty asked.
"After a few days I was able to coax her into eating again. She still seemed to need me to be with her while she slept though, so I lay next to her in her nest, holding her. I didn't even care that it led me to sleeping at night and waking in the day." Mewtwo started. Misty was now looking up at him, smiling softly, her surface thoughts being along the lines of 'That's so sweet'. Mewtwo then finished answering her question, "Then after a few weeks, her grieving wasn't as intense, and she finished her story, even though I told her she didn't have to. I was afraid to risk starting her pain all over again. She told me that she tried to join a clan of her own kind, but due to the added risk factor with her being a shiny, they couldn't allow her in." Mewtwo said, "It was then that I realized why she didn't want to leave, she seemed to have no place to go. They aided her, gave her provisions to help her continue on. But I think it was on that day that she realized why she was found abandoned as an infant in the first place."
"And it was then, after that clan sent her on her way, that you found her?"
Mewtwo hesitated, "From my perspective, yes."
