Chapter Two: Mewtwo

He had bled.

No Pokémon bled easily. Unlike the weakling humans who acted impregnable but snapped like twigs, Pokémon could endure far more damage. Their bones only broke under the most extreme pressure, their skin did not tear, nor burn, nor anything, except under truly dire circumstances. They could have fierce battles—doing so was part of their nature—and be fine the next day. It was rare for them to be truly hurt. Were Pokémon invincible? Certainly not. Did they bleed? Hardly ever.

And Mewtwo, the most powerful Pokémon in the world, had bled.

He had lost some of his cells.

It had not been in a battle he had lost. He had not been in an accident. No, he had been contained, in a sterile, enclosed location where cowardly human scientists had pierced his body and stolen his DNA. They had warped it into their 'R' chemical, with his cells as the primary ingredient. His DNA, with traces of the elusive Mew, as well as the most advanced genetic enhancement designs ever created. Evolutionary research, billions of different abilities and powers, and mixtures of ancient strength and groundbreaking discoveries were hidden in Mewtwo's blood. For such little cells, they could cause infinite damage.

A bolt of thunder nearby pulled Mewtwo out of his thoughts. He turned his head skyward to the darkened clouds above. Rain pelted him, the cold drops beating against his hard skin. He stood atop one of Ryme City's skyscrapers, its synthetic lights shining even through the downpour. Humans below scurried under umbrellas and raincoats, hurriedly trying to get where they were going and avoid the rain. They huddled inside their crowded buildings as if scared of the water. Wild and domesticated Pokémon alike retreated to their shelters to wait out the storm; even water-type Pokémon hesitated to go out in horrible weather such as this.

But this was exactly the kind of day Mewtwo had been waiting for. After two weeks in Ryme City, he had gotten entirely fed up with being gawked at, hunted, stalked, photographed, and broadcasted by more humans than he bothered to count. And each time he was caught on one of those abhorrent cameras, his image was sent across the city and glued to every screen they had.

Although fairly adept at finding isolated places to hide out and hole up in, Mewtwo was not used to doing so to this degree. Here, in the obstreperous city, humans were everywhere.In their sky towers, underground in their trains, on the water, on the land, scuttling around like a hive of overcrowded Combee. And invariably, every human seemed fascinated with him. Which was unfortunate for Mewtwo, because he found almost every last one of them insufferable. He despised it when anyone, human or Pokémon, meddled their way into his life. He belonged in isolation.

Finally reaching his limit with it a week ago, he had stopped going out in daylight. During the day, he holed himself up anywhere he could find that didn't have humans, and waited until nighttime. While the city was always illuminated and there were always active humans at every hour, the darkness helped. Since he had started his newly nocturnal schedule, no human had spotted him clearly enough to recognize him. Adjusting to it was of some annoyance; there was, of course, more hours in the day than the night. And as he slept far less than the average human or Pokémon, he spent much of his new time merely waiting around. But even with all the spare time he had to rest, he was having an especially hard time sleeping after what had happened three weeks ago. He was better when being active, and it frustrated him that he was confined to nighttime.

But this weather? The rain in which the humans kept their eyes down and went out as little as possible? Just as good as the night. Done with his introspection, he would pick up his search again. Time to get to work.

He stepped off the building, feeling the briefest of freefalls as gravity tried to catch him before he escaped its hold and began his flight through the storm. Like always with his searches, he opened his mind to the city, feeling the lives and presences around him. A cacophony of voices shouted at him from all sides. He winced minutely, still not used to the psychic energy of the city. For him, an extremely powerful and sensitive psychic-type, a gathering of this magnitude was almost overwhelming. Voices, feelings, lives, all chittered and blared around him. He would say that the city wasn't his element, but he supposed nowhere was in the first place.

Mewtwo felt the pain of the noise but forced himself to endure it, and soon he began to adapt. It was like listening to a thousand Loudred at once. Both human and Pokémon minds dwelled here, though human minds were always noisier. With meticulous care, Mewtwo began to sort through the muddle and tried to detect his own aura among the city. The slight but potent aura that each cell possessed. He barely felt the rain, and lost his sense of time, as he flew across the air.

Mewtwo circled around a skyscraper and the Clifford Enterprises tower came into his view. He fought the nauseous twist in his stomach as vile, repugnant memories surged at him unexpectedly. Even from here, he could see the room where that…humanhad used him so abominably. He could still feel it as clearly as if it were happening now; the human forcing itself into Mewtwo's mind, pushing out his own consciousness. Mewtwo being used,just as he had been used before, ages ago. Being treated as a tool, just like in the past.

He convulsed at the mere thoughts, and swiftly pushed them from his mind. He could not afford to feel so much, especially not here. Weaker psychic-types might feel him and get curious. But there was also the matter that much of his power was drawn from his emotions. If he did not control his temper, sometimes it lashed out on its own. He had more than enough attention as it was.

In part to distract himself and in part to refocus, he centered his mind on his goal; searching the city. He knewthere was more of the R chemical out there. An element drawn from his very cells…not only was it dangerous on its own, but if humans extracted his genes from it, they could clone anotherMewtwo. He could never allow that. Another creation of himself would be dangerous in the hands of humans, and dangerous on its own. Within minutes of his own birth, Mewtwo had massacred his creators and destroyed an island. Within the first year of his life, he had attempted to wipe all humans and Pokémon from the earth, leaving only himself and his clones. In only the last few months, he had heard whispers from wild migrating Pokémon about a Mewtwo in Kalos, a rumor which kept him up some nights. He had no proof that this fear could become reality, but he dreaded that it might happen, just as he dreaded his own cells now. Another Mewtwo would only bring devastation, as he had.

Mewtwo slowed in the air as he sensed something that caught his interest. Amidst the psychic clangor of minds that was just as relentless as the physical storm he was in, he sensed a particular spike of anxiety that caught his attention. A sense of…fear. The mind did not feel like a human's, and as he focused more of his attention on it, he caught broken thoughts of 'mad'and 'purple eyes.'

That was enough for him to look more into it. Turning in the air with a wave of his tail, Mewtwo pursued the mind. It was closer to the ground, and for a moment he was worried it was perhaps in a crowd of humans. Or worse, partnered to a human. But he flew further, following the mind like a call, and soon spotted something below.

In a dark and narrow alley, a crevice between city buildings, a cluster of Joltik were gathered together on the lid of a dumpster. Electric-type Pokémon like them usually enjoyed a little thunderstorm, but these young Pokémon were so small that they might actually get hurt if they were struck with the full might of a lightning bolt.

Mewtwo descended to them slowly, but they noticed him the second he got near. At the sight of him, their yellow fur bristled and their several blue eyes widened in alarm.

Mewtwo lifted a hand before them. I mean you no harm.

They chattered nervously, chittering their teeth together. At his assurance, they were no longer panicked, but still wary and ready to flee. Mewtwo glanced them over, trying to figure out which one was the mind he was searching for. But there was no point; they were allfilled with fear of him and nothing else, pushing the other thoughts and memories to the subconscious. To find it, he would have to dig deeper. He would try asking first.

Mewtwo landed and spread his hands out to his sides, trying to appear peaceful. He explained himself slowly. I am searching for remnants of the chemical R, the compound that made Pokémon turn violent a few weeks ago. Can you tell me anything?

With synchronization that might have made a Dugtrio jealous, the horde of Joltick blinked their eyes at him. He waited with slightly strained patience, listening to them whisper amongst themselves.

"What do you want with it?"one of them squeaked up finally.

Mewtwo narrowed his eyes at the little thing, displeased that it questioned him rather than just given him what he wanted. It holds my cells. I must retrieve it.

Another Joltick hissed through its small jaws. "That stuff hurt Pokémon all across the city!"

"And so did you!"

"Are you really even a Pokémon?"

Mewtwo clenched his fists, internally wrestling with his own vexation. He could feel their mistrust in the air like miasma from a Koffing. They were being completely unreasonable and he had no patience to deal with it. He was quite used to rejection and contempt when interacting with others, whether people or Pokémon. Several times in his journeys, groups of wild Pokémon gathered to try and chase him out of their land—he always just left and didn't bother facing them. But he had no time for that now.

I need the cells to keep them out of the hands of humans,he said, spitting the words into the Joltick's minds. Tell me what you know.He felt his eyes glow.Now.And with that as his only warning, he pushed his way into their minds. They were weak things, and their fearful, flighty state only made it easier. He did not have to go deep before he caught the memories he was searching for. One of them had been feeding on electricity near the docks when it had witnessed a battle between two much larger and more powerful Pokémon. One of these Pokémon had the telltale purple eyes of Mewtwo's cells. Once Mewtwo had what he needed, he immediately withdrew.

He saw the Joltick stagger in alarm from his invasion before he turned around and flew back into the storm, ascending higher through city. The docks—that narrowed down his search a great deal. Ever since he had been wandering the city in search of his cells, he kept finding traces of them, but they were always just out of reach. It was like trying to smell one thing when a hundred other scents were in the air, or hear one sound among thousands. He was not sure if it was even possible to pin one energy down from all the other psyches…

Another lightning bolt stuck out above him, drawn to a rod on top of one of the skyscrapers. Its crackle shook the air, briefly making the whole sky white, but its energy was pulled towards the rod and nowhere near him. Mewtwo paused in the air and watched it with some interest, allowing a brief examination of the human technology that gathered the energy, before continuing on his way.

The docks were a relief from the intensity of the city. While he could still feel the uproarious density of Ryme City's minds from the less populated docks, the distance helped. He was separated from the chaos instead of in the midst of it. Here, there were far less Pokémon and people, and he could fly without having to weave between skyscrapers.

Mewtwo patrolled through the alleys and warehouses, scouring the wet docks for any trace of his cells. He felt a spark of their energy here and there; enough to know that he was on the right path. Pokémon fled at the sight of him, except for one foolish Rattata that lunged at him. Before the little Pokémon even landed, Mewtwo tossed it across the road and it wisely scampered away.

He had only been searching just over an hour when a new psychic racket caught his notice. This was not the din of the city, but it was a concentration of noise just as dense. Mewtwo hesitated when he sensed it, wanting to avoid humans and other Pokémon. But he knew that if he was going to find his cells, he would have to confront them eventually.

He located the source of the energy at a warehouse. It only took him one glance through a window to see that it was a battle arena. People and Pokémon crowded within it and teemed with excitement. A perfect place for wild, powerful Pokémon battles like the Joltic had seen, yet Mewtwo couldn't sense his cells within. The place was too hectic and Mewtwo considered leaving right then and there, but as he turned to go, something else caught his eye. Outside of the warehouse, but hurrying towards it across the docks, were two humans. Two humans Mewtwo recognized.

The detective who had caught him, his son, along with the Pikachu. What were they doing here? They kept their heads down and covered beneath hoods to keep dry from the rain, but Mewtwo could identify them by the feel of their minds. The detective's psyche was chaotic, jumping from thought to thought, at first seeming to have no structure at all, but actually piecing ideas together bit by bit. The boy's mind was more mellow in comparison, but also forming theories in a strikingly similar way. The Pikachu was huddled into the detective's jacket, very displeased with the rain. Mewtwo watched them as they reached the warehouse and quickly hurried inside.

This was interesting. What were the odds that the humans who had figured out the truth about Clifford Enterprises ended up exactly where Mewtwo did, at the exact moment? An accident, or something…more? Mewtwo had learned that destiny, though a wily and elusive thing, wove into his life in the most unexpected and unexplained ways possible. Why were the two humans here? What were they looking for? Mewtwo debated with himself for a moment, before deciding to stay…and see what they did.