A/N: Most cheered by the support for citrussy goodness!

Anguirus111: To be exact, it's a lime with a few lemonish hints, nothing sordid. And no, it's a central part of the main story. Thanks for the support!

Goldie: Again, it will help the plot and I don't do graphic details. I am not a graphic details person. As for Penumbra evolving - wait and see.

YunCyn: Thanks for citrus support! And don't worry about not reviewing; I know reality interrupts fics far too often for everyone's liking.

Izzy: Curse of the Evil Short Chapters of Doom, I'm afraid. More citrus support, woo!

Miah Tolensky: Hey, I write this and I want Penumbra to evolve more than anything! He's already evolved on my Pokemon Crystal cartridge.

VMorticia: Ok, see that scene you wrote in ATHSS: Prophecy of Darkness? The Draco/female-Harry one? That's pretty much a lemon. Citrus is the anime term for sex scenes.

Cosmic Mewtwo: He might not like it, but Penumbra is most definitely plotting along with Celebi to help Mewtwo and Sashara, bless his little white ruff. Yet more citrus support! I'll try not to disappoint!

Sierrakoi: Really, really flattered that you like this fic so much - it just settled into my head during the last few times screwed up. All Mewtwo lovers unite!

Disclaimer: I own an angsty and sweet if quiet Mewtwo muse, does that count against me? Ok, own nothing except Sashara and Penumbra. All else is the property of Nintendo, 4Kids, and Satoshi Tajiri.

Warning: Regular dollop of angsty goodness, Mewtwo + Sashara relationship now in swing. Getting kinda heated in this part (NO CITRUS YET!) and semi-veiled references to sex, so if you don't like this, don't read it. Flames are not productive to my angst processes.

Italics denote Pokemon speech

Italics indicate Penumbra's POV.

Forgotten: Part 12

Human philosophers have argued that if a non-human creature that feels, moves and breathes can be said to possess a soul, then it logically follows that the creature will also have interests or wishes.

Logically, it will possess the wish of living without suffering or misery; the wish of living a long and pleasurable life; and the primal wish of mating; producing offspring to ensure the creature a limited form of immortality.

Indeed, I desire to live in peace, to live without suffering or misery, and to live a long and prosperous existence. However, the wish to mate and produce offspring never interested me. Possessing Mew's DNA meant that I would live indefinitely, just as she and the rest of her kind did.

Humans however, they see the act of mating as more than a means to produce offspring; it is a demonstration of both their physical and emotional desires for each other.

But unless the beings involved in the union both share physical and emotional desire for each other, mating becomes nothing more than a weapon, a means to inflict cruelty, as Sashara's repressed memories had revealed to me.

It seemed critical at that moment in time that I should find out if my bond with her was based on these desires.

Particularly if these desires took on a more...physical...manifestation.

With Penumbra curled uncomfortably beside her, Sashara was perched on one of the outcrops along the crater of Mount Caina, staring blankly out over the treetops. I had no wish to disturb her; to be perfectly honest, I was glad of the solitude at this moment in time.

I had no desire to be held responsible for any...less than pure actions I might take if left alone with her.

I gazed up at the moon, not particularly enjoying the direction in which my thoughts were taking me.

They seemed...wrong, for lack of a more accurate word. Wrong that I should even be considering that kind of emotional expression, wrong that I should feel this way about a being that was created as the offspring of my nemesis...even the act itself seemed wrong.

Not least because of Sashara's horrific experiences and my own inexperience.

I dropped my head into my paws and rubbed my temples. This whole situation was alien to me. Unfortunately it was becoming necessary to understand both it and the emotions teaming in my brain.

Under the circumstances, I attempted to sort my thoughts laterally.

I knew that I emotionally desired her. Her thoughts, her abilities, her strength, our shared heritage and hatred of Giovanni made her my intellectual equal.

But as for any physical desire...

I sighed. How to distinguish physical desire...I risked a backward glance at the outcrop, hoping that she wouldn't be aware of me.

There was no denying that she was beautiful, by both human and Pokemon standards. Black hair falling past her shoulders, courtesy of her father's Italian heritage. Light olive skin, the scars and wounds from the lab mostly healed. A slender body, curved in the correct places, yet still showing signs of malnourishment and ill treatment, despite my efforts to make her gain weight. Black-brown eyes, intelligent and expressive, but still as haunted as my own.

It was impossible to look at her and see her beauty without seeing the pain inflicted on her by others. It would most likely be impossible for the rest of her life.

Always seeing imperfection in everything.

I didn't bother looking up at the floating pink Legendary. 'Do you honestly expect me to be able to look at her without seeing what was done to her? Without seeing everything I despise in someone that I...I...'

I broke off before I could embarrass myself any further.

Love?

I couldn't answer her. My silence was taken as both an acknowledgement and permission to go on.

What do you feel inside when you look at her?

I rubbed my temples again. From long association, Mew would refuse to back down until she had an answer.

'...Need. Need that feels like nothing less than a blow to the gut.'

And when you touch each other?

The ground underfoot seemed to become strangely interesting at this point.

'...Fire. Fire in my chest and stomach.'

As I thought. You want her.

Idly, I wondered what the scientific name was for the shade of puce I was turning. 'Subtle as ever.'

The tiny Legendary tilted her head to the side as she studied my face. I had no wish to stop her, somehow knowing that whatever she was thinking would not be aided by defiance.

Finishing her inspection, she glanced up at the two figures seated at the edge of the crater and slowly nodded.

Despite all that was forced upon her, she wants you. All I can tell you to do is go to her.

'And then...what? All of these...' I clenched my paws into fists, feeling the skin over my knuckles tighten to breaking point. '...emotions will miraculously rearrange themselves?'

You will know what to do when the moment arrives...

Her tail swirling in the air currents, Mew's body disappeared with a shower of pink sparks.

It only occurred to me as I sat there, alone and staring up at the moon that she had never fully answered my question.

Mew's nod. That was the signal.

Penumbra curled its tail around its front paws as it moved closer to its companion's body, trying not to look directly up into the girl's face.

Sashara was still staring out over the basin of Mount Caina, her expression blank except for when her eyes landed on Mewtwo. When they did...the Eevee shivered at the range of emotions those eyes displayed.

Neither Mew nor the Traveller had initially believed how far the two clones' relationship had progressed until they had seen it themselves, Celebi instantly noticing that the time of change was about to begin in their young assistant.

It had fought its evolution for many weeks now, trying and failing to quash the affection it felt for both Mewtwo and the girl. But now...

Penumbra sighed and leaned its little body against Sashara's leg.

Was this how Celebi felt all the time? Knowing that every action he took had trillions of implications? Knowing that he could never form any kind of relationship in any time for fear of damaging lives or the Great Timeline? Feeling as if every innocent movement was a result of meticulous calculation destined to benefit the greater good?

The sensation of fingers scratching the top of its head brought the young Eevee out of its musings.

'Sashara?'

The Pokemon-human hybrid glanced down at the small Pokemon and offered a wry smile. 'Be glad I'm just petting you and not throwing you over the cliff.'

'I am. But you won't do that now.'

She drew her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her knees. 'How d'you know?'

'You don't take that odd memory suppressing drug any more.'

'True.'

She returned her gaze to the moon. 'There wasn't any point after you and Mewtwo saw all of those memories.'

'Especially Mewtwo.'

There was no reply for a brief time. Eventually the girl sighed and stared at the back of the cloned Legendary.

'He would've found out sooner or later. But I guess...if you love someone...you can't ever hide the past from them.'

Penumbra's ears pricked up in shock.

She...loved Mewtwo? She honestly loved the sociopathic outcast clone of Mew?

'R-really?'

She frowned for a second, then gave up fighting the flush spreading across her face.

'...Really.'

The young Pokemon's eyes shone with happiness under the moonlight.

She had actually said it.

Sashara Giovanni was in love with Mewtwo.

And that was all it needed as its body began to glow.

The rush of evolutionary energy and light instantly dragged me out of my emotion-ridden thoughts.

Launching myself into the air, I floated high above the surface of Clarity Lake, using my Psychic abilities to pick both Sashara and the glowing from of Penumbra from the outcrop and transport them safely to the ground.

To the best of my knowledge, Eevees only evolved with the aid of Evolutionary stones, and the odds that there had been a stone lying around on the outcrop were slim to none.

Sashara, however, did not seem to share my concern. All I could sense from her was curiosity and wonder. Clearly, she was privy to some previously unknown discovery about Eevees.

I glanced at her as she stroked the Eevee's back, feeling an inexplicable rush of jealousy towards the creature.

'How?'

'Friendship or happiness, whichever you prefer.'

Happiness did not feature highly in my own knowledge of all the possible causes for evolution. 'What?'

She risked looking away from Penumbra to meet my gaze. 'After the discovery of the new breeds of Pokemon in Johto, the Pokemon researchers discovered that some Pokemon had either a pre-evolved form or a newly evolved form.'

I knew some of this already, but I let her continue. 'The newly evolved forms either require Evolutionary stones or correct evolutionary conditions, such as happiness. If a trainer and their Pokemon have this kind of relationship, the Pokemon can evolve.'

'So, the young one is evolving because of a bond with us?'

'Apparently.'

Penumbra's body was beginning to reshape itself, its ruff disappearing, its body growing more sleekly muscled...

'Its new form...?'

'It has two forms it can evolve into, depending on the time of day.'

I could feel a migraine beginning to throb. 'The first being?'

'Evolving during the day means that it'll transform into Espeon, a pure Psychic type.'

'And at night...?'

I never got the chance to finish as Penumbra yelped and the light faded from its body.

My first impression was of darkness.

This Pokemon's body seemed to absorb all the surrounding light and somehow feed off of it. Golden markings encircled its ears and tail, with two ring-shaped markings placed on either side of its front and back legs and a single ring situated on its forehead.

Two ruby coloured eyes stared up at me, intelligent, unblinking.

Instinctively, my Psychic shields began to raise themselves. However, if this Pokemon was the Type I believed it to be, then all Psychic attacks and techniques would be rendered useless against it.

Sashara's eyes widened as Penumbra's head whipped round and focussed on her. Far from the blank stare it had given me, its expression softened and it looked oddly...content.

'...Umbreon.'

Shadow.

A Dark-Type Pokemon.

My only physical weakness and this little one was the personification of that weakness.

Irony and all its many faces.

'...If a Trainer and their Pokemon have this kind of relationship, the Pokemon can evolve...'

Fighting back a wave of apprehension, I reflected silently on why she had chosen those exact words.

Despite Giovanni's laughingly named 'training programme', it was indisputable that had her training been completed, Sashara would have easily become a Pokemon Master; at the very least she would have been the heir of the Viridian Gym.

Being a Trainer was what she had been created for, yet until Penumbra's evolution, she had displayed little interest in either training or caring for Pokemon.

But now...my knuckles whitened as the furred skin was pulled tightly across the bones.

Was her knowledge finally surfacing now? Did she finally recall what her intended purpose was? Was she accepting the role in which she had been created for?

Was she...was she intending to leave Mount Caina?

Was she intending to leave...me?

My vision whited out as my aura flared in rage. Rage at Sashara for what she might do, rage at Penumbra for evolving through their friendship...rage at myself for being so weak and petty.

But most of all...rage at her creator. Rage at our former jailer.

Rage at Giovanni for being her father.

I had been in her life for over half a year. Giovanni had featured in her life for no more than a few weeks, and yet...

And yet he still held such power over her. The bastard didn't even remember her or acknowledge her as his own, and yet he still held more of an influence in Sashara's past, present and future than I did.

He had left a legacy of pure pain in his only child, and possessed neither the courage nor will to acknowledge that legacy.

Not for the first time, I desperately wished that I had seen through Giovanni's bluff and sent him to hell the moment I had met him.

I floated a few feet above the surface of the lake, my hatred receding, yet still burning through my blood like bile. Stupid, selfish, petty...

'Sometimes the most obvious cause of rage is the one we consider beneath ourselves to examine.'

The sound of her voice allowed my confusion to push itself to the front of my mind once more, now hand in hand with my rage. 'Care to enlighten me?'

'Jealousy.'

I span around in the air, ready to launch into a staunch denial of any such pathetic feelings until I saw her face.

Apprehension.

Surprise.

Affection.

Even amusement.

It took most of my willpower not to release my anger at that moment.

'Jealousy because of what?'

She tilted her head to the side, scrutinising me. 'You think it was just because of friendship that Penumbra evolved, correct?'

'Apparently so.'

Sashara floated closer to me. 'Wrong. There was friendship involved, but that wasn't the only cause.'

Her right hand rested against my chest, no doubt feeling my heart pounding at an impossible pace.

'Then what were these extra causes?'

'Cause, singular. For lack of a better word...a realisation.'

My breathing became shallow as I tried and failed to ignore her touch. Her proximity was making me feel oddly claustrophobic.

'Penumbra...it evolved because it was happy. When I said...'

She looked away, not out of embarrassment, but what appeared to be...fear.

I pulled her against me, my arms looping around her waist, my forehead resting against hers. 'When you said...what?'

Her eyes met mine, her fear quashed. 'When I said that I...'

I held my breath.

'...I love you.'

There was no mistaking the sheer emotion in her eyes.

She loved me.

Yes, I desired her.

Yes, I wanted her.

Yes, I needed her.

Yes, I loved her.

All of my inner musings blissfully ended as she kissed me, pulling me closer to her than I had ever thought possible.

My last logical act was to make sure we landed in a grassy area before she gave herself to me.

TBC