Mr. Fuji has revealed some major bombshells of information about Project ADAM and the µ Gene! But what else does he have to tell us? Is there anything he can do to help Dakota? Is the creation of Project ADAM, Adam himself, still around? Let's find out what other mysteries this old man is hiding in this chapter! This arc is coming to a close very soon!

KedharS: It's definitely pretty creepy, that's for sure.

Thunder Fire: Maybe. Let's find out!

JoshGamerV: I may have been alluding to something like that.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 851

Mr. Fuji let out a long sigh as an ominous air set in through his house. His eyes were glassy and distant as they gazed upon memories of the distant past.

"There were six of us in all working on Project ADAM," he finally confessed. "With funding from the president of the Silph Corporation, our idea was that we would create an artificial pokemon from the cells of the pokemon Mew. The Silph Corporation had succeeded in artificially creating pokemon in the past, such as the Porygon series, but those pokemon were nothing more than data entities composed of computer code; they needed artificial avatars in order to move in the real world. But this was a plan to create an artificial pokemon that was totally organic."

"So that was this pokemon Adam?" Sylvia asked. She thought about the pokemon Porygon, and its evolutionary line. Porygon, its upgraded form, Porygon2, and the resulting pokemon that occurred when she'd "accidentally" spilled her ramen on the computer when Misato was performing her upgrade, Porygon-Z. They were artificial pokemon designed to interface with Misato, if the data she'd been able to access was correct.

In that case, then this Adam…

"The project itself was designated as Project ADAM," Mr. Fuji confirmed. "And the pokemon we created was intended to be the 'Adam' of a new breed of pokemon, in reference to the biblical Adam. We intended to use the results from our experiment to create an entire race of them, along with other artificial pokemon, but we were quickly forced to put a stop to that when our creation violently escaped, destroying our laboratory on Cinnabar Island."

Misty gasped. "I heard about that! It happened when I was in college- ahem." She cleared her throat. "That was back when I was in elementary school! An old mansion on Cinnabar Island was completely destroyed!"

"That's right," Mr. Fuji nodded. "Our research was conducted in the basement of that mansion, in an underground lab facilitated by Gleiss and funded by the Silph Corporation."

"I've heard this 'Gleiss' name several times," Sylvia said, stroking her chin suspiciously. "Who was he, anyway?"

Mr. Fuji frowned. "I suppose you could say… he was the one who brought this project to the desk of Silph Co. in the first place. He came to Johanes with the proposition, the idea to create an artificial pokemon that was stronger than any other. Then Johanes brought the idea to me, and I realized that there were indeed possibilities not just to create strong pokemon, but… to create life, for the first time ever. We formed a pact that day, and then the three of us took the project to Silph for the necessary funds."

Sylvia narrowed her eyes. There was something that wasn't adding up about all this. "Well, that makes sense, why he would want to go to a renowned genetic researcher like Professor Decker if his goal was to create an artificial pokemon, but why would they bring in someone like you? No offense, Mr. Fuji, but as smart as you are, you don't exactly strike me as a brilliant geneticist, or even that much of a scientist, if I can be frank."

Mr. Fuji laughed. "My, you've got quite an eye on you, young miss. And a shrewd mind, too, as calculating as any I've seen… you might even have been able to give old Gleiss a run for his money back in the day!"

He squinted at her. "But your eyes are far too kind. He would destroy someone like you."

Akira was shocked to hear that Sylvia, of all people, was too kind.

Sylvia scowled. "Well, that's a first. I wouldn't have expected to lose out in that area."

"I joined with Johanes because he was my oldest friend," Mr. Fuji sighed, staring whimsically at an old photograph of the two men, much younger, on his coffee table. "But that Gleiss… I could see it in his eyes. That sickly pallid green, devoid of the light of human compassion… that man was a snake, no two ways about it. I've never seen a man as inhuman as him."

Sylvia was feeling downright insulted at this point.

"But you still didn't answer my question," she added. "What did they need a kindly old man like you for, I wonder?"

Mr. Fuji let out a long sigh. "Because I… was the one who held Mew's DNA."

That caused Sylvia to sit up and take notice. Everyone could feel the way the tension shifted in the room. In spite of her best effort to play it coolly, that had been something not even she had seen coming. She felt herself begin to tremble with excitement.

"I see… so that's it, is it? They needed to include you in the project because you'd actually come into contact with Mew before, is that it?" She asked.

Mr. Fuji rose from his chair and walked over to the mantle of his fireplace. Sitting atop it was a worn wooden box. He brought it back to them and opened it up to reveal an old, worn-out rag. It was covered in something crumbling and brown.

"It was when I was just a boy," he explained. "I saw it, the pokemon Mew. I didn't know what it was at the time, but I knew, the moment I laid eyes on the pokemon, that I was looking at something special. Its body seemed to be practically glowing. But in spite of its power… it was so small and fragile, such a tiny thing."

"Is that… blood?" Akira asked.

Mr. Fuji nodded. "I don't know what happened to it, but it was bleeding badly. It had teleported right into my backyard, if you can believe that. Perhaps it knew that I would help it… or perhaps it was merely fate. But I wiped away the small pokemon's wound with this very rag, and bandaged its leg to help it heal. It gave me a smile, and then… it vanished."

"And you held onto that rag all these years…" Misty mused wistfully. "It's touching…"

"An amazing sight like that doesn't come around every day," Mr. Fuji said, shaking his head. "A pokemon that I'd never heard of before… I kept the rag in this box ever since that day, so I would never grow up to mistake it as a dream. I spent my life trying to find even the tiniest scrap of information on the pokemon that I could, but found none. And then I met Johanes many years later, and well… I suppose you can guess the rest."

"You had Professor Decker analyze the DNA on the rag, and that's when you realized what kind of pokemon you were dealing with," Sylvia noted. "I see. And from there, you formulated the idea to create your own Mew…"

"The pokemon we created was more than just another Mew," Mr. Fuji said, shaking his head. "It was designed to be stronger, smarter, better than Mew in every way. It was an advanced version of Mew, the first of its kind, the species 'Mewtwo'. But in the end… it appeared that our experiments were too successful."

"You said that mansion was destroyed, did that have something to do with it?" Sylvia asked. She wasn't sure what he meant by an experiment being too successful, but she could tell that it probably wasn't a good thing.

"It was eight… no, nine years ago now," Mr. Fuji said, shaking his head. "On February 6th. I remember that day well. Because at that time, another great tragedy struck the Kanto Region. Although if you aren't from around here, you might not have any idea." He turned to look at Misty. "You might know, though."

Misty gasped in realization. "That's right! That was the day that the Silph Corporation was attacked by Team Rocket! I knew they happened at around the same time, but I didn't know they happened on the same day!"

"Cinnabar Island is an isolated place," Mr. Fuji explained. "News of what happened at the Pokemon Mansion didn't get out for some time, not with the entire region's attention focused on the destruction of Silph Co."

"The way you say that, it sounds like you're suspecting that there was a connection there," Sylvia mused, smirking conspiratorially. "Are you suggesting that there's a conspiracy? That Team Rocket might have been involved?"

Mr. Fuji shook his head. "I've never known for sure," he admitted. "But I always thought it was too much of a coincidence. When the Silph Corporation was attacked, our entire research team were there doing technical research while Johanes and I were in Cinnabar, making the finishing touches. And the other four… they died in the attack."

Sylvia knew that three of the four researchers who at been in Silph Co. had died, but the fourth, this Gleiss… his remains had never been recovered. How interesting…

"When you put it like that, it sounds too much like a coincidence to be true," Sylvia agreed. "But there's something else about this that's bothering me… you said that the Pokemon Mansion exploded, didn't you? How did that happen? Sabotage?"

Mr. Fuji shook his head. "Not in the way you're thinking. Like I said, it wasn't as if our research equipment blew up or anything like that, no, what happened was… Mewtwo… Adam's power… it went out of control. Its psychic abilities were too much for its body to contain, and it resulted in a massive explosion of psionic power that destroyed the entire mansion, and would have surely destroyed us, as well…"

He tapped his cane against his leg. "I never fully recovered from it… if it wasn't for Johanes, I would certainly be dead. He carried me to safety and cared for me until the doctors came. That man… he was always the one with the greatest concern for Adam's safety and health. He truly loves and cherishes pokemon, and that's why… that's why I can't imagine him doing what you suggest he's doing, experimenting callously on people like that girl."

"But you also said that he would," Sylvia mused. "You're contradicting yourself."

Mr. Fuji let out a heavy sigh. "Johanes truly loves pokemon, and thinks that, with his research, he'll be able to perfect a pokemon's genes, and create a pokemon that never has to worry about suffering. Pokemon that can adapt perfectly to any inconvenience. That's where his passion lies, and that's why he was so invested in Project ADAM. And why he hated using the µ Gene… it was too unstable to implant in any regular pokemon, certainly not in a person… the mutations would ultimately be too much for the body, and would overpower and kill the host."

Akira froze. His face went pale and he shook his head. "So… you're saying… no, no, I won't believe that!" He shouted, leaping from his seat. For a second it looked like he wanted to strangle Mr. Fuji, but he managed to calm himself back down. When he finally did, he looked like he had lost all the hope he had left.

"So Dakota's going to die?" Sylvia asked, twisting the knife in for good measure. She loved how much Akira squirmed when he heard that.

Mr. Fuji shook his head, confusing Akira.

"It's not that simple," he said. "I would have thought so, yes, that's what tends to happen when the µ Gene is implanted. But you said that she's been in a coma for a month at this point?"

"Longer by now," Sylvia said, even though Dakota was actually wide-awake and doing fine, as far as she knew.

"Then it's behaving irregularly," Mr. Fuji said, stroking his chin. "The µ Gene should have killed her long before this… but it hasn't. I can't understand why." He looked apologetically towards Akira. "I'm sorry, young man, but I'm afraid I can't help you. I don't know what's happening to your girlfriend, and I'm certainly not capable of stopping it."

"No, no, it's… it's okay," Akira said, shaking his head. At this point, he was just grateful that Dakota was alive, and wasn't going to die.

He was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that she had turned into a copy of this pokemon, this "Mew". Did Professor Decker know this was going to happen? That it was a possibility? Is that why he'd given her the µ Gene? To use her as a test subject?

"Another thing that I need to warn you about… Johanes still hasn't given up on perfecting what he likes to call the 'evolution variance enhancement'," Mr. Fuji added. "Tampering with pokemon genes to make them capable of adapting to any situation… I believe that he's finally ready to take the next step in that process, thanks to your girlfriend."

Akira was confused. "What do you mean?"

"Project ADAM was, at a time, Johanes's passion," Mr. Fuji explained. "But once it failed… and Adam escaped, he turned his focus towards perfecting the adaptation genes of pokemon to grant them the ability to evolve, and then revert from their evolution. That's the evolution variance enhancement he theorized."

"Yeah, I heard something about that…" Akira said. "He said Satsuki… my Gyarados… was capable of something like that. Hey, that's another thing, if you know so much about pokemon genetics, then do you know something about how I can stop that?!" He pleaded. "I don't want Satsuki to suffer anymore, not in her present condition…"

Mr. Fuji shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I can't help you," he apologized. "The evolution variance enhancement was Johanes's life's work, but it wasn't mine… I cut my ties with experimenting on pokemon after what happened to Project ADAM. If anyone would know, it would be Johanes, I'm sorry to say."

"I see… well, thank you for your time, then," Akira said, trying to smile as best as he could. But he couldn't feel it. What he'd heard today… it was too hard to hear. Dakota… his girlfriend wasn't just in a coma, she was becoming a pokemon. How could he face her after what he'd had done to her? Even if she did wake up, how could they just go back to normal?

Akira wasn't sure if he could face that.

"Excuse me, Mr. Fuji," Sylvia interjected, clearing her throat, "but what's all this about Professor Decker having everything he needs to complete his project thanks to our Dakota? I don't believe you've caught me up on that just yet."

"Well… he has a host that the µ Gene attached to perfectly, without destroying on a genetic level," Mr. Fuji explained. "I believe the DNA of this girl… Dakota, was it? Yes, I believe that her DNA could be very useful for his experiments, considering that at this point, she could be considered genetically identical to Mew… or perhaps a Mew-human hybrid… but perhaps this is just me being a fussy old man, worrying over nothing…"

He tried to laugh his concerns off, but they sounded real. No one could really afford to think of any of this as a joke.

Everyone was silent for a while after that. Mr. Fuji put away the DNA sample of Mew, and everyone took that as their cue to leave.

"Thank you for everything, Mr. Fuji," Akira said, grateful even though he hadn't received the help he wanted. He'd hoped to find some cure for Dakota's condition here, some way to keep Satsuki from transforming, but all he'd learned was that Dakota was mutated on a genetic level, and there wasn't anything he could do for Satsuki.

But he still thanked Mr. Fuji for his time all the same.

Mr. Fuji wouldn't accept his gratitude, though.

"Don't thank me, boy," he sighed, shaking his head. "I haven't done anything worthy of thanks. I've created a pokemon filled with suffering, overwhelmed by its own psychic power… and for what purpose? Simply to see Mew once more? To recapture the wonder from my childhood? What a despicable act. Mew would surely never show itself to someone like me again…"

"I'm still confused about how this Mewtwo became overwhelmed by its own psychic powers," Sylvia said, frowning. "And how none of you saw it coming?"

"In the end, it was that monster, Gleiss," Mr. Fuji said bitterly. "The project was going on-track until he stepped in… he said that if we truly wanted to create the ultimate pokemon, then we would need to boost its power… he designed a strange type of armor for Adam. It was supposed to measure the pokemon's power, but not long after he placed it on the incubating Adam, its psychic power began increasing rapidly to the point where it was uncontrollable. And then when he finally awakened, well… you know the rest…"

"Armor that enhances a pokemon's power?" Misty asked, confused. "I mean, held items are a thing, but I've never heard of one that would boost a pokemon's power to the point where they couldn't control it before…"

Akira hadn't heard of anything like that either. But Sylvia had an idea.

"Professor, that armor… was there anything unusual about it? Say, a spot on the suit that contained like a core, or something like that? A shiny stone, perhaps?"

"What, like an evolution stone?" Misty asked.

Mr. Fuji squinted, thinking back. "Why… yes, I believe there was something like that…" he said, nodding. "I can't remember very well though, why do you ask?"

"Just a suspicion I had," Sylvia said, shrugging her shoulders.

Akira glared at her. "What do you know, Sylvia?" He demanded.

"If you have any idea about this pokemon, then you should tell us, now!" Misty insisted.

"I don't know!" Sylvia honestly answered. "I was just hypothesizing! After all, to make a pokemon's power grow that strong, then it would need a powerful item, right? Something even stronger than a choice item, so I guessed that it could be, like, one of those type gems. You know, like a psychic gem? Something like that."

"I… I guess that makes sense," Misty agreed. "Sorry, I kind of overreacted there."

"Nonsense!" Sylvia chirped, flashing Misty a charming smile.

Akira, who knew Sylvia a lot better than Misty did, didn't accept her excuse so easily.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be more help," Mr. Fuji apologized again. "I hope that your girlfriend will be okay. And whatever Johanes has planned… well, I hope he's still the kind man I remember him to be, the kind of person who wouldn't hurt anyone."

Akira didn't have the heart to tell Mr. Fuji that that probably wasn't the case any longer. He just nodded and forced a smile.

As they all moved to leave Mr. Fuji in peace, wishing him the best, Sylvia paused and turned back to him with a curious expression on her face.

"One last thing, Mr. Fuji, if you don't mind," Sylvia said, stopping at the door.

"Oh? What is it?" The old man asked.

"This pokemon, Mewtwo… whatever happened to it? Do you remember?" She asked, her eyes shining with excitement.

Mr. Fuji's face darkened. "After the lab was destroyed… Adam flew off into the sky. I don't know what happened to him."

Sylvia blinked. She shrugged her shoulders. "Well. I see. Thank you anyway, Mr. Fuji! I hope you take care of your health!"

Her suspicions confirmed and then some, she skipped out the door, leading the way back to Cerulean City.

So, we've learned the truth about Project ADAM and the µ Gene. Project ADAM was the creation of Mewtwo all along! But for what purpose could there be, I wonder? What will Sylvia do now, with this information? Will Akira ever learn that Dakota is still alive?