Chapter 23
Mewtwo's stomach twisted, the idea that those boys practically volunteered for what they were about to endure, And for what? he asked himself, What plan did they pull off for her to escape? Also something else… but it would have to wait until after.
"Every time Giovanni had me brought to that arena to test my abilities, I refused to follow their orders, and Jack and Lucas paid the price, a hit here or a smack there, I knew they could take it, and so did they," Vesta continued, "But when put me up against Pokemon, thinking I would have no choice but to use my abilities to protect myself, well, all I did was dodge, using my flames to give an extra boost of speed and endurance…The beatings Jack and Lucas received became a lot harsher after that. All because I refused to fight," she took a shaky breath, "Eventually Giovanni caught on."
Jack's screams rang in Victoria's ears, they could be heard echoing through the hall just one cell over. They were purposefully keeping the doors open, one grunt guarding the door to Jack's room, while another was inflicting pain, punching and kicking Victoria's brother over and over.
Giovanni was standing in the doorway to Victoria's cell, "Cute trick," he commented with a smirk, "Secret messages embedded in false words, those boys almost had me convinced," Then he scowled, "However, they seem to forget that I dealt with a larger thorn in my side than three idiot children, something far more cunning and creative. Something that, had it been here, had it known and accepted it's place, you three would never have been here in the first place. Keep this in mind girl: It's Mewtwo's fault you're here, it's Mewtwo's fault I've chosen to go to such extremes—"
"Stop with the speeches!" Vesta shouts, cutting him off, "I won't be swayed by your lies!"
"Why would I lie?" Giovanni asks, "Why would I need to? You're not Mewtwo, and even if you were, I am far better equipped than I was almost a decade ago," Victoria flinched as she heard Jack cry out in pain, covering her ears in an attempt to block out the sound, and upon seeing this, Giovanni turned his head and shouted down the hall, "That's enough! Leave the boy," Victoria took a shaky breath of relief as Giovanni looked back over to her, "Keep playing this game all you like, it won't change what's inevitable. You will break." And with that, Giovanni stepped out of the room and the door locked shut again.
Now that she was alone, and all was quiet, Victoria started to tremble, her breathing became more rapid, and her tears streamed down her face. She hugged her knees around her chest and placed her forehead against them, crying for her brother, and for her boyfriend, He's right, she thought, Dammit, Giovanni's right, how long will I last? How much longer does Lucas need? Does he even have a plan, or is he just trying to buy time for us?
"They would bring me to the arena separately from Jack and Lucas, timing it so I would pass by them on their way out from 'training'. We were all forced to wear some sort of cuffs that weakened our powers, the effects could be adjusted remotely," Vesta said, " I think Lucas could tell I was losing hope. I think I forced him to accelerate his plan, and that's why they weren't able to escape with me…"
"I don't know why you bother taking me to that arena," Vesta mumbled, "It's not like I'm going to do anything useful anyways."
"Ah, on the contrary," one of her Rocket escorts replies, "there are still some useful things for you to learn."
Right on cue, Jack and Lucas rounded the corner with their escorts. Lucas had a bloody lip, it wasn't so bad this time, but Jack was limping badly. Victoria lowered her head in shame; she couldn't bring herself to meet their eyes.
Just as Victoria and Lucas were passing eachother, she could sense him charging his power.
The guard holding the tablet synced to Lucas' cuffs noticed, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Lucas ignored him and kept charging his power, just enough to get a spark to arc free from the cuffs…and fly at Victoria. It hit her in the ankle and she fell down to the floor. All eyes were on Victoria, and as the guards began laughing at what just happened, she looked up at Lucas in shock and saw his head lowered, away from the security cameras, mouthing something to her: No matter what.
Victoria had to pretend she didn't see it, she let her tears of hope fall and feigned despair, "You might have given up, but I haven't!" she shouted at Lucas. She lept up and continued, "I won't! NO MATTER WHAT!"
Lucas turned away quickly and he and his escort started walking again, Jack following suit. To the Rockets it seemed like her bond with her brother, and with her boyfriend, was starting to fall apart, but for Victoria it was just what she needed to keep pushing a little farther.
"It seems 'lover boy' is not very happy with this little rebellion anymore," one guard says through his snickering.
"Can it, asshole," Victoria retorted through her tears.
That became the new daily routine; every time they passed eachother, Lucas would give Victoria a shock. The beatings lessened on Jack and Lucas as a result, it seemed Team Rocket felt it wasn't necessary to be so harsh with them when it appeared as though the boys were turning on Victoria. As the days progressed, Victoria noticed that Lucas' shocks were growing stronger, and she realized the guard in control of his cuffs, all for personal amusement, was actually lowering the blockers for the half second Lucas needed to zap Victoria. It got to a point where she'd be knocked against the wall.
At this point, Victoria had a feeling she knew what Lucas' plan was, or at least the start of it. The only reason their escorts weren't catching on was because they were too busy laughing at her.
Then one day, when Victoria saw Lucas approaching her from the opposite end of the hall, she saw him begin to charge up his powers and she closed her eyes, bracing herself, it looked like it was going to be a powerful one.
"This looks like a doozy," one of the guards commented.
In one loud 'crack' Lucas unleashed all the charged up power, but not at Victoria, this time, at the Rockets. They didn't even have a chance to scream, and when Victoria opened her eyes again, Jack and Lucas had already sprung into action, stealing the keys and unlocking the cuffs. All the Team Rocket members were either thrashing and convulsing on the floor, or knocked out cold.
Lucas rushed over to Victoria and unlocked her cuffs, then he grabbed her wrist and dragged her into a run alongside him. Jack was up ahead, leading the way, "Follow Jack," Lucas ordered, "I'll bring up the rear."
Victoria was still in shock that this was really happening, "Lucas—."
He shoved her ahead of him, "Vesta listen to me! Left, skip, right, up three, right, left, straight, GO!"
She knew what those directions meant, in case they got separated, 'skip, right' meant 'take the second right', and 'up three' meant there was a stairwell somewhere.
Just as they rounded the first corner, the alarm went off, loudly announcing their escape.
"SHIT!" Jack yelled above the alarms as they continued running, turning right into the stairwell, "Lucas, take the lead!"
Jack held the door open as Lucas bolted ahead and started up the stairs, Victoria followed behind him, looking back and catching a glimpse of her brother sealing the door shut with ice, summoning even more to brace against the opposite wall and act as a doorstop. When Victoria was sure her brother was following, she sprinted up the stairs.
They made it to the third floor before encountering any trouble, Lucas was already unleashing wave after wave of electricity in front of him. Jack had caught up and placed his hand on the floor, coating the floor in ice, the Rockets slipping on the surface, "Melt it!" he shouted at Victoria.
They only had a few seconds before the Rockets regained their bearings; she immediately did as told, sending heat waves across the ice, soaking the floor. Lucas then stood in front and let loose another large burst of electricity, it's power magnified by the water and leaving the Rockets too incapacitated to stop the youths as they ran past them and turned the next corner.
Jack stopped and knelt down, refreezing the floor and locking the Rockets in ice, Victoria saw this and slowed in her running, "Jack, hurry up!"
Jack looked up and farther down the hall he was in, fear set in his eyes, "They've broken through the stairwell! Keep running Vesta!" That was all he managed before he was overwhelmed by a stampede of Team Rocket members.
No, she thought, she couldn't lose her brother not like this, not when they were so close. She was about to turn back and help her brother fight before Lucas grabbed her shoulders and hauled her the rest of the way to the exit, "We can't leave him!" she shrieked at her boyfriend.
"You're gonna have to leave me behind too!" Lucas said as he turned; ready to face the coming onslaught of criminals, "I'll buy you as much time as I can, just KEEP RUNNING!"
"Lucas no!" Victoria shouted, her heart breaking, "I can't just—."
He cut her off by sending a spark flying her way, forcing her to leap back, "You can and you will! Now GO!"
One of them had to escape, she knew that, others had to be warned about what Team Rocket was doing. As Victoria turned and shoved open the doors behind her, she called back to Lucas, "Give 'em hell, Thor!"
"AW YEAH!" Lucas—Thor—shouts, celebrating that Victoria—Vesta—embraced his ridiculous idea for nicknames, as he charged up his strongest attack yet. Vesta, now outside in the cold of winter, looked back to see the windows of the doors shining with a blinding light, and explosions going off from inside the building, before she sprinted into the forest.
Vesta was shaking, and breathing hard, tears streaming down her face. Moltres stepped forth and nudged his forehead at her chin comfortingly, while also absorbing the heat she was radiating. Mewtwo let his hand fall; his job was done.
"Moltres," Arceus said quietly, "Perhaps you should escort Vesta to your Sanctuary. Zapdos, Articuno, go with them." All three birds nodded and Moltres guided Vesta out of the council chamber.
Once they were out, Mespirit released Mewtwo, and he felt all his emotions slowly seeping their way back into him. "I'll leave for you all to discuss what you've witnessed," he said through gritted teeth, before turning to the door.
"Mewtwo, perhaps—," Arceus started.
"Everything Vesta spoke of is nothing new to me," Mewtwo said quickly, as he approached the door. Arceus, to his credit, made no further attempt to stop him.
Just as Mewtwo was shutting the door behind him, he heard Zekrom speaking quietly to Arceus, "You still let him get away with that?" Mewtwo slammed the door as a response.
Mewtwo was shaking with rage, he quickly checked behind him to make sure the Kanto trio, along with Vesta, were out of sight and safely in their Sanctuary, before charging up some Shadow Balls and launching them furiously across the Hall, thanks to whatever protections Arceus placed on the Hall of Origin, Mewtwo couldn't even make a scratch on the walls.
By the time the council had finished discussing, Mewtwo was sitting in the corridor, that lead to his and Mew's Sanctuary, resting his head in his hands, and staring off into space.
"Mewtwo?" A voice pulled him from his thoughts, it was Mew, and Mespirit was with her, "Are you alright?"
"Am I alright?" Mewtwo scoffed, almost laughing, "I have spent…countless time—and lives—in my attempts at anonymity. And I just learned it was all in vain. The very belief I had, that all but a trusted few, had no clue where I could be found, just went up in smoke," he then looked up, glaring at Mew accusingly, "and you didn't even pretend to be surprised to hear it."
Mew's tail lowered, sadness and shame darkening her face, "Mount Quena, and Unova," she said quietly, "I failed, not once, but twice, to keep you safe from the hands of criminals. I've been able to keep countless pokemon safe, throughout my lifetime, and in my arrogance, I thought I could do the same for you, that it'd be just as easy," slowly, she looked up to meet Mewtwo's eyes, he'd donned his blank expression, which was honestly more frightening to Mew than any emotion, "But it's the human side of your nature that complicated things beyond what I could handle, and I realized it too late. So when you returned to Kanto, yes, I went to the League. I showed them my memories of you and all you'd been through just trying to live in peace. They made the decision to put you under the protection of the International Pokemon League, and assigning a human guardian to you."
"Who?" Mewtwo asked.
"I think you know," Mew responded, "she checks on you regularly…and a lot more frequently than I ever did."
"Why did Misty never tell me?"
"Because the second you find out humans know where you are, you become a flight risk. The league forbade her from telling you," Mew explained in desperation, "Brock was their first choice, but because he made it clear he was going to tell you, the League suspended his trainers license—threatening to revoke it if he still tried to tell you anything—for that and the fact that as Gym Leader he should've reported your discovery after he got his memories returned to him back on Mount Quena. They would've done the same to Misty if not for your friendship with her, and the fact that, coincidentally, you'd practically moved into Cerulean by that time. I'm sure you know who their third choice would've been if Misty couldn't agree to the League's conditions."
Sabrina, Mewtwo thought, gritting his teeth. He had to admit though, he couldn't blame Brock for his silence; Brock needed his trainers license if he was to continue as a pokemon doctor. Deep down, he knew he couldn't blame Misty either, she knew how much he disliked Sabrina. Sabrina was a strict trainer, not abusive like Giovanni, realistically she would be a good fit for someone to set Mewtwo straight considering she had to learn from her own past of abusing her Psychic powers and losing herself in them. But Mewtwo knew he'd be butting heads with her all the same. Regardless, Mewtwo and Misty were going to have a long talk the next time he saw her.
"Mewtwo?" Mespirit said, catching his attention. He glanced over at her as she handed him the stone that had been absorbing his anger back in the council chamber. Holding it gently, he noticed it had begun to show cracks on its surface.
Mewtwo kept his eyes lowered to the stone, unable to meet Mespirit's eyes, I really thought I was doing better, he thought to himself. If she had channelled his anger into another living being, they certainly wouldn't physically break as the stone did, but nor would they be able to just "get over it"—a scar would always remain. "Thank you…" Mewtwo said quietly to Mespirit, she nodded in response and flew off, leaving Mew and Mewtwo alone to talk.
"Are you going to be alright?" Mew asked.
There was a moment of silence, "I won't be until I get Vesta's friends out of there," Mewtwo said.
Mew looked like she was about to argue with Mewtwo, about diving head first into danger again after the talk they just had, but a voice cut her off, 'You better not be planning to go alone,' Mewtwo looked up and along the corridor to see the speaker approaching, 'Giovanni said so himself, he's prepared, and he truly believes it, there was no cockiness about his tone. On the other hand, he won't see me coming.'
So? Any guesses on who's tagging along with Mewtwo for this rescue mission? Hope you enjoyed the chapter.
