Chapter 2: House of the Rising Sun
I walked for hours, and during that time, the sun had set and the stars and moon had come out. Forest gave way to rocky terrain, sloping upward into a gradual hill or maybe a short mountain. If not for the light polution of what had to be a city in the distance, illuminating the thin fog and clouds in the sky, I might have wondered aimlessly. As it was, I was unsure of what I would do when I got wherever the hell I was wandering to apart from eating.
I was so fucking hungry.
Somewhere in the past hour I had decided that this probably wasn't a dream. Somehow, I was a Mewtwo and was in the fictional — and animated — Johto region that only existed in an anime and a game series. I'd caught sight of a candy wrapper stuck in the needles of a pine tree and had been able to make out the ingredient list, so I had no difficulty reading at all.
This, coupled with my sore feet and pounding head led me to the inevitable conclusion that I was either insane or really here. I couldn't really think my way around the insanity option; after all, how can anyone really be sure they're not crazy, anyway?
And so, yeah, here I was. A legendary freak pokemon with sore feet and a migraine and who might be on the front page of the newspaper tomorrow if those guys had managed to take a picture of my backside.
I stumbled and nearly fell as the hill began to slope downward and I caught a sight of the city before me. It was...pretty large, even though it was still miles off. I could see lights coming off of some of the buildings higher up, so there was clearly a pretty large population there; either businesses or apartment buildings. My gut clenched in either hunger or dread — maybe both.
What would I do when I got there? Who would I talk to that wouldn't run away screaming or, I shuttered, try to catch me? That...was something I realized during my walk. I was a Pokemon now. Legendary, yes, but I distinctly remember catching Mewtwo in the GameBoy games, so obviously I could be trapped in those balls. It wasn't a pleasant feeling.
I couldn't even speak, I had discovered. On one of the many stumbles I took on my walk, due to my unfamiliar gait, I had attempted to curse out the upturned root, only to find out I could only make gurgle-like growl sounds — absolutely nothing coherent. Oh fuck, this is such a bad idea. But what else could I do? Live in the wilderness like a savage? The Pokemon world had smart people in it, right? They could help. Right?
Maybe I could just mentally yell at someone like I did that Magikarp? I sighed and continued on; this was something I could worry about when I actually got to where I was going. My stomach rumbled again.
The low whine of squealing metal in the distance made my ears twitch and I instinctively rotated my head to the left, crouching down as a train sped by on the tracks that were about two hundred feet ahead and probably fifty feet down from the slope I was on. Luckily, it was nearly pitch-black outside, so I was confident nobody on the train had a chance of seeing me from up here.
After it was safely away, I staggered down the rest of the way — only nearly falling twice — and crossed the tracks. Before I knew it, I was on the city's outskirts and in the backyard of a two-story house.
I paused with my fingers resting against the wooden fence separating the back yard from the forest. I didn't hear anyone awake and I didn't hear any thoughts. Maybe nobody was home? Maybe they had food?
My stomach gurgled. Ugh. Yeah, I think breaking and entering can be excused for a dimensionally-displaced girl-turned-Mewtwo. I stretched and attempted to climb the fence, only for the section I was attached to to break apart and collapse with a loud snapping sound, followed by my cumbersome body following it to the ground on the other side of the fence.
"Who's there?" a low voice uttered from inside the house. "You show yourself, thief!" A...little grey...man with...cornrows on his head? No, wait, that was a Machop, right?
Yeah. That was a fighting type Pokemon from generation one.
He stood peering out of the first-floor window with narrow eyes. I froze, unsure if he could see me in the darkness. Unfortunately, it looked like he could; especially since my tail twitched in nervousness.
Fucking tails, man.
"Muscle, cut it out!" a male voice shouted from inside the house as the second-story light illuminated with yellow light, making me even more visible. "I swear to Arceus, I'm getting rid of you as soon as I can!" he half shouted, half grumbled as heavy footsteps pounded from inside, getting closer to ground level with each step.
I, once again, bolted, crossing the back yard and heading for the side of the house furthest away from the back door. I made it a few feet before tripping over a piece of the fence I had torn down and I promptly toppled to the ground, only barely catching myself with my hands.
I really needed to figure out this psychic flying thing.
"What the hell?" the voice from before cursed, his voice going up an octave. I glanced up as I balanced on my haunches, not a hundred percent sure I could run away without falling again — not with how tired and hungry I was, especially with hips this chunky.
But… did this have to be a bad thing? Surely this paunchy guy with a shirtless beer gut and fringed sleeping shorts on wasn't a threat — he sure didn't look like a scientist who would know how to spell the word 'dissect'.
And so, instead of running, I took a breath and scrunched my eyebrows — or at least where my eyebrows should have been if I wasn't covered in pale grey hair — and concentrated my thoughts.
Can I please have some food and water?
He didn't move. From the way the light was shining out at me, I couldn't get a good look at his face to see a clear reaction, so I was unsure if it worked. Maybe I should try again? I took in another deep breath and tucked my head, focusing.
"Did...did that Pokemon just talk?"
My tail swished in response to my excitement. He could understand me!
Yes. I asserted. I've been walking for hours and I am vvw...whhh… I shook my head as I lost focus and grit my teeth. It was harder than one would imagine to focus your thoughts.
"Y-you can…?" he trailed off, glancing down at his Machop, Muscle, for a moment, before his eyes glued back on me. I shifted from foot to foot as he laughed and cupped his hand across his face and sighed, sinking back against the doorframe.
He seemed to realize I was waiting on him and stood straight, running his fingers through his thin dark hair.
"Yeah, uh, I guess you can have some of the berries I have in the fridge," he backed into the house and darted across what I could now see as the kitchen, stopping to stare out the window at me, as though to make sure I was still there. He came back out in a jog with a plastic bag full of what looked to be...limes? No, they were the wrong shape; they looked more like green, lime-sized pumpkins.
"I pick them as soon as they bloom on the trees in my back yard, 'cuz of all the Teddiursa and Ursaring wandering around," he leaned toward me with his arm outstretched, but was obviously uncomfortable moving closer to me. He hesitated for a moment before gently tossing the fruit toward me, where it hit the dewy grass and rolled a foot away from me.
I crossed the distance, picked it up, and instantly bit into it and gurgle-moaned as I chomped at the berry relentlessly, almost choking at the end as I chewed for the first time with my sharper and finer Mewtwo teeth. It was like a goddamn explosion of flavor. In my mouth.
Juice dripping from my chin and on my fingertips, I glanced back at the man, who was still holding the bag of berries. I used my tongue to get what I could as I eyed the bag; I was still pretty damn hungry.
"Oh, uh…" he shuffled in place and glanced at the bag for a moment before shaking his head and handing it out to me. "Go nuts, I guess. They're too sweet for me anyway." He mumbled something incoherent and continued to stare, wide-eyed at me, as though in a daze.
Needing no further invitation, I crossed the distance between us incredibly fast and snatched the bag from the man, gobbling up the berries like they were going out of style. As I came out of my hunger craze, I noticed that both the man and the Machop were on the other side of the doorway, inside the house, and eyeing me with a similar look of unease.
This close to the man, I was surprised by how...tall I was. Machop barely came to my thigh and I was more than a few inches taller than the man, who was not exactly short, if his proportions were anything to go by — then again, how did a beer gut factor into one's proportional height?
Just how tall were Mewtwo supposed to be? I felt like a giant; back in normal-land when I was just a college girl, I was barely five-foot-three. Now, I was probably well over six-foot tall.
Thank you, I broadcasted. The man nodded absent-mindedly for a moment, then seemed to break into action, making a break for the other room like he left the stove on. I cocked my head to the side and eyed the tiny-tiny fighting type that seemed to be standing guard. Muscle eyed me with an unending stream of distrust.
Before I knew it, the man was back with a red book with the cover open.
No, wait...that wasn't a book, it was a—
"Mewtwo, the Genetic Pokemon. Mewtwo was artificially created after years of horrific gene splicing and DNA engineering experiments on preserved Mew tissue. Its natural habitat is unknown and it is rarely seen in the wild."
It was a Pokedex.
"Mewtwo?" the man stared at the Pokedex and back at me. Repeating the eye-movement a couple times. "But that means you're...a...legendary?" His voice practically squeaked at the end.
I suddenly felt a little bit uncomfortable. The man seemed to be oblivious to this as a crazed grin began to grow on his face.
"Muscle!" he called, drawing the little guy's attention. "Sucker punch!" My eyes widened.
Wait, wha—
Suddenly a tiny fist drove into the side of my face like a power drill and I staggered back, reeling from the hit. Son of a bitch, that hurt! I grit my teeth and rubbed my cheek, giving the both of them what had to be a menacing glare. It felt like it was pretty menacing from where I was standing, at least.
What the fuck? I mind-shouted, making him wince and take a step back. A cold sweat broke over his face; probably because he realized he just pissed off a Mewtwo.
"L-Look, I don't mean any disrespect!" he fumbled around for something out of my sight. "But I can't just not try to catch you! I mean what are the chances of anyone even getting this close to something as rare as you!"
Something?
Before I had a chance to get really pissed off, a very familiar red-and-white ball struck me in the same spot on my face where the Machop had hit me before it bounced off. I took a step forward, unsure of exactly what I was going to do next, when all of a sudden blinding light blocked out everything.
And...I felt like I was shrinking and compressing. Like I was having the breath strangled out of me. It wasn't painful, but I was just a tad claustrophobic and I didn't fucking like it!
Something in my big Mewtwo brain clicked, and I felt a prickling sensation wash over my body a moment before my small, dim, compressed world exploded in another brilliant and blinding flash.
I landing on my stomach, disoriented, and flinched as the charred pieces of the Pokeball I had apparently broken out of struck the house, yard, and surrounding trees like some sort of fragmentation grenade exploding.
"Oh, fuck," the man cursed. The sound of frantic footsteps and a slamming door drew my attention to the house. "L-Look, I…"
What the fuck? I cursed, standing up. I could still feel that electric prickling sensation running over my body and noticed that my skin glowed with a blue-violet sheen, casting shadows across the lawn. I took a step toward the house and breathed in, pissed beyond belief that this over-the-hill dick had tried to cram me into a Pokeball.
Inexplicably, the windows of the house shook and I watched the plastic bag that the berries had been in flying into the trees from the strong wind that picked up.
Like it was the most natural thing in the world, I shot out my right arm, fingers extended, and let that power that I felt rolling around inside of me shoot out in the direction of the house.
When the light show faded, what remained of the foundation was charred and twisted.
End notes: This'll be the last chapter for probably at least a week. I have a few more already written, but I would like to at least attempt to keep ahead with this story. Usually, it'll take me months to update a chapter, and that's not fun for anyone.
So anyway, yeah, shit went down with some guy who tried to catch a Mewtwo. Sucks for him. Anybody who plays Pokemon Go actually caught Mewtwo? I was lucky enough to get invited to an EX Raid and caught a 93 IV one. Pretty nifty. It's still not as OP as Blissey, though.