Chapter 17
There was silence in the living room as Mewtwo broke the truth to Misty about Naiya; only the gentle crackling of the fireplace provided any sound. Misty was staring down at the coffee table blankly, her mind seemingly unsure of what emotion to feel first. To Mewtwo, it felt like he'd placed a heavy burden on her shoulders, one that did not at all lighten the load that he was already carrying; if anything, it felt like he'd only added to it.
Misty spoke first, "How…how are you still alive?" She quickly looks up, "Not that I'm complaining! I just—you seemed so sure that they were going to—."
Mewtwo cut her off, "Because they couldn't get what they wanted."
It took her a moment, but soon after, Misty's eyes widened in realization, "That was the first day you…transformed."
Mewtwo nodded, "It was a fluke; I didn't even realize it had happened at the time. It was also the reason Team Plasma captured me and held me prisoner. I daresay that particular transformation saved my life."
Silence fell once again, and Mewtwo felt that tightness in his throat increase. He stood quickly to enter the kitchen, filling a glass of cold water at the sink and gulping it down to soothe the pain in his throat; he then filled one for Misty just in case.
When Mewtwo returned, he saw as Misty quickly wiped her eyes, trying to hide how his story was hurting her. He sighed and approached Misty, holding out the water for her, she accepted it gratefully and nearly finished the glass by the time Mewtwo had sat back down on his spot on the couch.
Misty reached behind her to one of the many blankets strewn out in front of the fireplace and wrapped herself in it, "Do you know when it started?" she asked, she was obviously trying to keep her emotions under control, but Mewtwo could detect anger in her voice. When Mewtwo didn't answer, Misty clarified, "Do you know when she started using those…powers…to manipulate you?"
"Obviously the first day we met," Mewtwo said, "I remember feeling intense anger, then and eerily calm the moment I teleported her with me to Lostlorn."
"Was there more to it than just her placing these emotions in you? I don't exactly know much about empathic powers other than what every psychic is capable of," Misty said, "but the way you talk about it, it's like Naiya had a different ability altogether."
"For one thing, it's not as easy to detect from an empath; if it came from just a regular psychic, then even you would be able to detect it happening in your mind, Misty. But for empaths, even the most powerful psychics would have to pay very close attention," Mewtwo explained, "For implanting or removing an emotion in a target, it comes at a cost. Take the first day for example, I felt anger, rage, and then calm, all of which are opposite to fear."
"And Naiya was terrified," Misty said, understanding in her voice, "so that was how she tricked you into letting your guard down around her." She was silent for a moment, and she looked down regretfully, "I hate to ask this but…where did the love come from?"
"You are correct to assume that Naiya sparked that flame in me, but I helped her stoke it," Mewtwo admitted, "The love came from grief, adding to what she was feeling already, I was a fool to have missed that one; she wasn't very reluctant to tell her story despite the cost it would have on her."
Misty's eyebrows raised, "What do you mean by that?"
Three and a half years ago (6 months before Genesect)
Dragging, being held by his arms, muffled noises, quiet, but somehow a sensory overload, and an incomprehensible series of blurs. That was the limit to Mewtwo's spatial awareness for the past half-hour. The darkness aura surrounding him was smothering; it kept him from waking from the Hypnosis attack and left him too disoriented to even think of what to do first, wake or escape? The answer to that should've been obvious, but Mewtwo's muddled mind couldn't even prioritize those two simple steps.
Mewtwo felt his captors stop, and heard a creaking noise, Door…heavy one…, what to do about that though? He felt something sharp stab into his spine—the part that curved, forming the second neck—Needle…pain…what did it do? Does it…matter?
Mewtwo felt his body jerk and the arms supporting him disappear. Immediately after, pain exploded in his left shoulder and temple as he landed on the floor awkwardly and his head cracked against the floor. Mewtwo's eyes shot open, having snapped out of his trance. SLAM! He scrambled to his feet at the loud noise of the heavy door shutting behind him, trapping him in the room he was thrown into, only to fall to one knee, disoriented, one hand on the floor and the other on his forehead, gingerly feeling the bruise as the lump began to form. Thankfully, his shoulder wasn't much worse, just bruising and sore.
Slowly, he lifted his head to find himself in a concrete, windowless room—he couldn't sense anything, so he knew this was a room specifically designed to imprisoning psychics—one light overhead only adding to the cold, dreary feeling. Quite a dungeon…Mewtwo thought sourly. He examined the room further, Straw in the corner, for a nest. Two cameras in top corners, opposite eachother, no surprise there. Bowls—food and water I assume… Mewtwo curled his lip in disgust, he couldn't believe he was being picky over who his captors were, but he could imagine Team Rocket actually treating him better, if they weren't going to resort to putting him in a stasis tank or just outright killing him. Mewtwo eyed the left corner, Lastly…they're joking right? It was a box of sand; that was all Mewtwo was going to deduce from that.
Mewtwo walked over to the straw pile and sat with his back against the corner. Full view of the whole room, no one was sneaking up on him. Mewtwo couldn't believe how he was being treated here—actually, he could—he remembered reading reports about other criminal organizations during his days in Team Rocket, and each of them all had their different views of where the line is drawn between human and pokemon, humane and inhumane, decent and demeaning. Back then, Mewtwo had thought the reports on Team Plasma in particular were rather dramatized, and exaggerated; was he ever wrong.
His head was throbbing, but Mewtwo decided he had to know what his capabilities and limits were with this concussion before he accidentally put himself into a psy-induced coma. He grabbed a handful of the prickly straw and held it out, concentrating on it.
Nothing happened. Not even a spike in his headache, like what he expected. Even if Mewtwo was in a coma, he would have access to minimal psychic powers allowing him to astral-project and interact with his surroundings that way, so how—THAT DAMNED NEEDLE! Mewtwo clenched his teeth and growled, throwing the straw across the room angrily.
It seemed he wasn't the only one who was angry though, he heard someone shouting just beyond the door. It was that woman, Naiya's and Donovan's trainer.
Mewtwo glanced up through narrowed eyes as the door opened and Naiya stepped into the room. She had donned her Mega Evolved form, and seemed to be controlling it rather well, her face looking rather smug as she saw Mewtwo in his current state. Naiya's trainer appeared in the doorway and pointed a finger at her, "Fix it," was all she said. Naiya smiled and gave a small bow to her trainer before the woman slammed the door shut and the shouting continued. Guess it's not Naiya she is angry with, Mewtwo thought, feeling a pang of disappointment.
The smile disappeared from Naiya's face as she glared at Mewtwo, "You have displeased Isabella," she said.
"(Mew mew mew) Is that her name?" Mewtwo asked sarcastically, cocking an eyebrow. Strange, his physical voice never sounded this high-pitched; then again, his throat was still sore.
"And here I thought you weren't able to speak in the natural pokemon language." Naiya commented.
Mewtwo scowled, the way she emphasized that one word… In a series of mews, he asked, "Is there something wrong about me doing so now?"
Naiya shrugged, "I simply expected you'd try and speak English vocally before resorting to the pokemon languages."
"I'd sooner keep my tongue, thank you. It'll make eating whatever slop is put into those bowls easier…and faster," Mewtwo said, Naiya cocked an eyebrow questioningly, "Don't deny it, Team Plasma cannot fathom the idea of humanizing any pokemon, even one that is half-human. And if not take it, they'd sew my tongue to the bottom of my mouth, no?" Mewtwo felt his simmering anger begin to boil as Naiya smirked, confirming his suspicion, "You got what you wanted, so if I must be here, then why keep me alive?"
"Because we didn't get what we wanted!" Naiya shouted, scowling again; that was a volume Mewtwo never heard her reach, so it was slightly jarring, "Either you're waiting in some smug satisfaction for me to say it, or you're really just that stupid."
"Say what?" Mewtwo asked confusedly.
Naiya scoffed, "Well, that answers that," she commented. Mewtwo clenched his fist, "Can you really not hear yourself?"
Mewtwo sat silently. What is she referring to? Something about me prevented them from taking a semen sample, but what could that have to do about my…voice… Mewtwo's eyes widened in disbelief as his hands began to explore his body, starting at the face and moving down. There were subtle changes, but they were there; narrower in the face, smaller shoulders, somewhat smaller hands, the hips were ever-so-slightly wider, and the small slit between his legs…her legs…Did I…?
Noticing the look on Mewtwo's face, Naiya waves a hand dramatically and turns away, "Finally, she figures it out!"
Mewtwo allowed a few moments to calm himself—herself—taking deep breaths, before wiping the shock from…her face. "So…this is what got your master so riled…"
"Actually, no," Naiya said turning back to Mewtwo, "Symbios is dead."
Oh, these names! Mewtwo thought in exasperation, she could definitely see the pattern now. Rolling her eyes, "Let me guess…the Reuniclus," Mewtwo said, not really caring at the moment, "It was Isabella who gave you your name wasn't it? Not the old man."
"You're going to regret that," Naiya said, tears in her eyes.
Mewtwo had high doubts for her threat, "Pray tell, how did Symbios manage to die in the past half-hour without me conjuring half a thought?"
"Your moggy sister killed him!"
Mewtwo couldn't resist a smirk at that insult, and biting the inside of her cheek didn't even help. However, Naiya's answer did surprise her, Mew? Kill? That was completely against her nature, even Mewtwo's stunt on New Island didn't get her so murderous—it was a long time before Mewtwo accepted that Mew, with her thousands of years of experience, was going easy on him that day, trying to calm him down; Mew was ashamed that Ash was nearly killed due to her stalling. But this was a surprise, "So, Mew did find us then, figures she'd check Lostlorn and feel the void of that Bisharp's darkness aura."
"Yeah, she found us. Donovan sensed her presence half a second before she launched some sort of psy-spear right through Symbios' head!" Naiya shrieked, "We barely had time to get Donovan into his pokeball so that I could teleport us out of there!"
"Well forgive me for not sympathizing with you!" Mewtwo retorted, feeling tears come to her eyes. Naiya smirked darkly, and that unnerved Mewtwo, "How are you smiling? Your curse is active and someone else you apparently care about is dead!"
Naiya continued smiling—even began chuckling under her breath—as she turned away and headed for the door. She gave one more glance over at Mewtwo before knocking.
Mewtwo wiped the tears from her eyes, only for them to be replaced with twice as many, No! No, she wouldn't—! Oh but she would, and she did. Tears streaming from her eyes, Mewtwo glared at Naiya as the door opened and she left the room, beaming with pride at her "good" work.
Mewtwo felt ill, and as sobs began to wrack her body, she curled up on the stiff straw, facing the wall, and succumbed to Naiya's grief. Mewtwo didn't care that someone could easily sneak up on her now, she didn't care that both cameras were trained directly on her, she didn't care about the drastic change her body had gone through resulting in the beginning of a long list of tortures awaiting her. At the moment…
She just didn't care.
