Poke-genetics: for Kanto's sake
She had fled; the instant the first roar had been unleashed, she had started acting.
The dust made it easy for her to escape from their sight; the child's presence had made it easy to be forgotten.
She had almost been caught in the blast of the first attack. Luckily for her, the forest had diminished the strength of the blow.
The reinforcements had arrived next and she had released her most faithful pokemon to hide her away.
In the sky.
Neither Janes nor her dragonite were healthy enough to take on the gym leaders at that point. She knew she had won anyway. The fools would not succeed. They had failed to understand its true purpose.
The sky was lovely now. It held raw power, anger and darkness; all of it willing to fall down on the world.
A storm was brewing. One that had the potential to destroy everything, to cause destruction on a scale so grand even herself could barely start to see the scope.
If anything, that made her joyful. Oh, so joyful.
«Finally… everything will be gone, even… » She could not say it. The simple thought of it brought tears of ecstasy to her eyes.
Under her, her dragonite faltered, his body painful.
«Soon, Dragonite, soon… » She stroked his head gently and lied down.
Her pokemon grunted his consent. He was hers, until she saw it fit to end it all. She was the one – the only one – he admired. Until the end, he would obey.
He was her servant forever.
«Such a pleasant breeze… » She commented, after a particularly violent gust of wind nearly made them pummel. «It's fitting for a time like this, don't you think? »
He did not reply.
Instead, he tried to turn around and fly away to the sudden confusion of his mistress.
Only for her to understand when, seconds later, a pink creature appeared out of nowhere and stared them down.
«Mew… » She whispered, an uneasy smile crawling to her lips.
«Koga, now! » Surge yelled at the top of his lungs.
The ninja appeared seemingly out of nowhere and stabbed the creature in its back.
A smile went on Surge's lips, until he saw the shocked expression of the other gym leader.
Koga quickly let go and fell to the ground, dodging a terrifyingly powerful attack.
«Metal! » He yelled to convey the information. «There's a layer of metal under its skin!»
They paled.
Jonathan's monster slowly turned to Koga, its eyeless face expressing some unknown form of anger.
The attack came faster than they were prepared for.
A thousand screams rang to their ears and Koga's shape disappeared behind a ray of darkness. The last thing they saw of him was the gym leader raising his thumb and smiling hopefully.
A second later, his distorted body was all that was left of him.
Koga had fallen.
And the beast turned toward them next.
«Plan B was a failure! FORMATION 3 NOW! » Surge pushed Erika out of the way as the attack missed them by a hairbreadth.
«Pikachu, Thunderbolt! » Ash screamed, before doing the same.
The electricity rushed to their enemy blindingly fast, torrent of lightning and shower of light.
It did nothing. If anything, the dark creature's skin turned a bit paler, but under that pitch black fur, it was most likely wishful thinking.
«Magmortar, Fireblast. » Blaine shouted.
It did not dodge the flames either. It did not seem particularly affected by the blazing heat. It only hovered toward them slowly, covered in flames, in a terrifying display of power.
Its mere presence seemed to stretch darkness toward the fighters, black tendrils of madness that reached forward.
«EVERYONE, HYDRO PUMP! » Misty ordered her entire team.
In an instant, a massive stream of twirling water was hurled toward Jonathan's beast.
And it dodged.
While they paused, shocked by the sudden efficiency of the water gym leader's attack, Surge rose up from the ranks once more and brought them back to their mind.
«USE EVERY WATER TYPE ATTACKS YOU HAVE! NO MATTER WHAT, DON'T STOP ATTACKING! »
A cold shiver went down her spine.
She was facing a legendary, while her whole team had been defeated and she herself was not in her best condition.
A gesture from her and her dragonite stopped advancing. That way, she could keep herself at the same level of her opponent.
She would face Mew.
«After all this time, we finally meet face to face. » She declared, her voice strong and clear, hiding a subtle hint of deception.
It stared back, with a vague curiosity.
«You must be stopped. » It said, with a voice echoing on its own, vibrant with power.
That voice struck her inside and she had to use most of her remaining strength only to keep a façade of confidence.
«You have caused too much pain. You must be stopped. » It stated simply, without hatred or anger. If anything, it sounded devoid of any emotion at all.
Janes laughed.
At first, it had been but a crystalline chuckle. Then, slowly, it put up on itself until it became a laugher filled with derision.
Mew's reaction was that of a hidden surprise. Could it be that this woman… was a death seeker?
«Oh, I'm sorry, Mew. I just could not help it. You never stroke me as such a naïve being. » She wiped her eyes once, chasing the forming tears that were there.
«What are you…? »
«Is the world so black and white to you? » She cut it off, tilting her head slightly. «Please, tell me. I always wondered what is the morality of the beings closest to Arceus.»
What followed was a pregnant silence in which Janes was growing more and more comfortable.
«So it is like that then? Evil acts are only the responsibility of the evil doers, right? »
Once more, only silence answered her. This time however, she could feel the Legendary's hesitation.
«I think I understand now. » She whispered with a content grin. «All this suffering, all this pain, all on your shoulders. »
Mew almost jolted in surprise.
«Why do I say that? But, it's easy to understand, right? » Her tone had a sweet consistency which the legendary quickly grew to find annoying. «You, a being of supreme power, watches evil unfold without interjecting. With your power, it would have been easy to stop us, don't you agree? »
Her audience was clearly startled with what she implied.
«Of course, it must not be your choice or maybe you would argue with great wisdom that gods should not intervene in the lives of individuals. I find it hilarious, that you are held to such a great respect when you sit and let people like me do as they please. »
«Enough. I am here to put an end to your evil. » It replied with a cold severity.
«But not because of who I am.» She held both her hands over her heart, her tone tearful. «No… that would be too small of a matter for you, wouldn't it be? Monsters or heroes are met with the very same emotion from you: indifference. How many heroes have never received so much as a token of your appreciation? Have you ever acknowledged their accomplishments? » Her smile took on a dangerous undertone. «No, neither heroes nor villains have seen you before; you do not step in the conflicts. This time, it is because you know about what that child's existence will really bring. Nothing else. »
It stayed silent. Clearly, it had not expected the woman to see it.
«Ah, could it be you thought I did not know? Of the true danger that it brings? » Her pain was all but forgotten in front of this new, more exciting prey. «In that case, why don't I enlighten you as to my most interesting idea yet? »
The pink creature in front of her was perfectly still, though she could sense the animosity that was dripping from its mind. Behind the cunning mind and the incredible power was a child that was facing contrarieties.
«It is a pity, but your power alone is not enough to destroy this world. Kanto itself? Most likely, but not much else. There are, after all, many pokemon of your level of power across this world, though you are without a doubt of one the greatest. If Jonathan's little pet were to rampage outside of Kanto, it would end up meeting its match in terms of power sooner or later. So… how to use this powerful toy of mine to create the perfect scenario? »
She knew the answer. Mew knew it too, if only by the cautious looks it was shooting at the dark sky.
To destroy a building with minimal power, you attack the foundation.
«Well, hypothetically, if that little child started to cause a ruckus that was big enough to call another guardian to this place. Say… the grand dragon of the sky, Rayquaza? » Beneath her, she could feel the stupefaction of her pokemon as it struggled to stay calm.
«So it was calculated… » The legendary pokemon's eyes narrowed and its voice lowered threateningly.
That reaction only made her grin widen.
«Of course it was. Rayquaza is the guardian of the sky, a zealous protector of this world. It will not let Jonathan's little beast roam free. »
She felt a very light pressure on her shoulder, followed by a few others, on various spots of her uniform or body. She looked up at the black clouds over her and at the incoming threat of a storm with a smug glitter in her eyes.
«See? Its power is already disturbing the atmosphere enough to make it rain. There is no way Rayquaza will not notice. »
«You intend… »
«To have it fight and lose. » She confirmed with a slight nod. «At the very least, Rayquaza will be injured, gravely might I add. Its power is all that prevents the return of Groudon and Kyogre. Now… » She put a finger on her chin questioningly, and focused the entirety of her malice at Mew. «What would happen if both would be released without Rayquaza to stop them? » Her face was once again twisted with a smile while her eyes darkened with a mad lust.
It had been a while since Mew had felt it, this emotion lower beings could easily access to: fear. Not for itself, not toward its own wellbeing, but for its children, each and every one of them was in grave danger now.
«That's in the best case scenario, of course. The most probable issue is that Rayquaza will win but sustain aggravating injuries that would render it unable to contain them both, but not enough to bring it down. A dutiful guardian like it would jump into a hopeless battle without a second thought. » And she looked happy, incredibly so, as if a long time aspiration would be fulfilled at last.
There was a second of stunned silence, but she broke it.
«Can you imagine it? The great, legendary, Rayquaza being beaten to a pulp by the very creatures it dedicated its life to contain. Don't you think it would make for a delightful sight? »
Strangely, Janes' smile fell and her posture straightened. Her eyes were hard and her lips formed but a tight line. When she spoke, her tone was nothing like it ever was. Gone was the sweet honey-like voice or the twisted joy. It was cold, hard and frighteningly low.
«It will get what it deserves. It will receive its punishment for its crimes. »
The legendary felt hit by the lightning that was gathering in the sky.
«What do you mean by that? »
Her gloved hands shaking, she looked at them with mad round eyes.
«My body… all those years ago… my body… » Janes started to breath heavily and staggered, in a blood freezing manner. «I had done nothing wrong… I had simply lost my way… »
The rain started to pour down, obscuring their visions.
However, it was impossible to lose sight of her now.
«IT DESTROYED ME! IT DESTROYED MY BODY! » She screamed at the top of her lungs.
And suddenly, it all made sense.
Every criminal in the world had wondered someday how they would be punished for their crimes. Some had come to the conclusion that their punishment would be delivered by the gods, if there was any. They had accepted it and were hoping it would happen as late as possible.
The most ambitious, the cleverest, the maddest, all of them had looked beyond that.
If it came down to that, how would they kill gods?
«You… it can't be! » Mew exclaimed, staring in shock at the human in front of it. «It left afterward! It was peaceful! »
She finally looked back, all traces of distress and rage gone.
«Rayquaza destroyed my body when I fell down on this world. My spirit escaped and inhabited this human body. »
At first, it was just a hiccup. But, with each passing second, it built up, into a fully blown hysterical laugher.
When it reached its peak, she opened her arms wide and welcomed the storm full-heartedly.
«I AM THE SPIRIT OF DEOXYS! I SURVIVED MY FIRST DESTRUCTION AND I'VE BEEN PLANNING MY REVENGE EVER SINCE! RAYQUAZA WILL SEE THE WORLD IT SO ARDILY PROTECTED FROM MY PRESENCE BURN AND DROWN! »
Janes's answer to that question had been simple, straight to the point and was madly ambitious.
Mew, trying to process the information, was staring openly. It… it was not possible. It could not have happened! Both of these pokemon had left the world a long time ago; both had left peacefully!
She had said: kill them when they lower their guards.
Mew barely caught sight of the weapon before it went flying right for its throat.
He fell face first into the dirt.
«Come on, move. » He whispered for himself.
Even then, even when he knew what hung in the balance, his body still betrayed him.
Pushing against the ground with all his might, he managed to stand up, but he was trembling.
Don't… Do not go that way…
It had attacked again. He had seen it. Someone was dead.
It brought no additional fear; it could not grow any bigger. Instead, it tied his innards with guilt.
«Why am I still here? » He cried, running.
Toward the fighting.
There had to be something he could do! Something only he could do!
And deep inside his memory was the hint he had to find.
«Daddy, how did you know it was going to work? » A younger version of Genno had wondered, after a particularly spectacular experiment had concluded in a success just as impressive.
«Son, do you know what I did when I first thought of the problem? » His father had kneeled next to him and appeared very serious, albeit somewhat expectant.
«Think like no one thought before. » Genno had cheerfully replied, just like he had been taught.
His remark had been met by a wide smile from his father and the man had approvingly lifted his son into the air, carrying him into the kitchen.
«That's right, son. And you know what that means? »
«Ice cream? » He had asked very excitedly, hoping really hard that he had earned that special reward.
«Ice cream. » Jonathan had nodded proudly.
Think outside the box.
That was what he had been taught by his father. That was what had led Jonathan to discover DNA samples. That was what had brought war to Kanto.
It would bring peace too.
He ran faster, determined to make it in time… and to make sure his will would not falter again.
He heard an order to use water type moves and he saw Ash's girlfriend, if he had understood right, make her way to the front row to unleash a series of powerful attacks.
But only one of these was dodged.
Genno almost tripped. Something… something had just happened before his eyes and he had not understood what it was. However, as the gym leaders and the police force launched more attacks, he knew they were wrong.
It did not fear water type moves. Not as of now.
As if to prove him right, it did not dodge any of the streams of water. It took those head on and barely flinched when they reached it.
«It's something else. » He muttered and prepared himself to truly enter the battlefield.
She stared in shock.
Her knife was suspended a few millimeters away from Mew. Her assassination attempt had failed completely.
«Impressive. » Mew said, pensive as he disintegrated the weapon. «I can easily understand why you were allowed to roam free for so long. »
In that voice, there was a power beyond anything she knew and she saw its incarnation the second afterward.
Her body stopped responding. It was giving off a faint blue glow. Paralyzed by Mew, she could only listen with a burning anger filling her veins.
«It was a lie. » It stated.
Her mind was but an open book to the legendary pokemon now. She could feel the probes, quick and painful, as it stole away her secrets and her thoughts.
«A lie you thought of on the spot? » It muttered in surprise.
She regained enough control to growl, throwing insults mentally.
The next instant a fire devastated her mind, making her scream at the top of her lungs. Every heinous act she had ever committed was laid bare to Mew. Every mind she had broken, every hope she had crushed, every life she had destroyed, all of it was seen and understood.
Mew shivered with disgust.
When it talked, its voice echoed in her head, to the point of driving her mad.
«Your existence was a tribute to pain and madness. You dragged other souls into the darkness and left them there gleefully. Be prepared to face the same. » Mew's threat was lost though, for the human woman in front of him was talking madly.
«Make it stop, make it stop, make it stop, MAKE IT STOP! »
The Legendary let her scream, no one could help her now. No one would want to.
This was a mistake.
Mew was hit by a stream of blue flames and it stared back in shock, only to find that her dragonite had flown away at full speed. Pushed by its devotion, it had reached an even faster speed than when it had first tried to evade the Legendary.
«Such a sad child… » Mew shook its head sadly. «You may flee to try to save that woman, but know that she is doomed. Not by my hands, but by the hands she has herself corrupted. »
It turned its back on the fleeing dragon and flew away through the brewing storm.
Genno was almost killed the second he reached them. He was unceremoniously tackled to the ground before Jonathan's beast attacked him for getting its attention.
A chill went down his spine as a Dark Pulse flew right over him.
He very nearly broke down where he was lying, hearing dark whispers and sweet temptations of peace.
«Stand up, now! » He was almost thrown upward by the very person who had saved him.
Confused, the ditto just stumbled his way forward to a group of attacking gym leaders and officers. There was a fleeting «thanks» in his mind for Erika's heroism, but she was already running in the opposite direction, leading her pokemon around the dark creature.
He flinched when a Flamethrower missed him by inches; its heat not being the real reason he was sweating.
«Manoeuver 5! Flying types and fire combined! » Surge roared over the noise of the battle.
The flames swelled up to truly gigantic proportions. Their brightness overcame the falling darkness and their heat created steams of vapors where rain should have been.
«Not fire… » He muttered, fear gripping at his guts.
He did not turn back. If he had, he would be faced with a truly hellish sight that would have broken his last effort of taking responsibility.
As the teen made his way toward Surge's group, Blaine and Sabrina's team froze with horror, struck by the power of the image.
The pitch black monster floated out of the column of flames, with them leeching at its fur without even making contact. The light was their worst enemy now, as it blinded them and extended the shadows, many of them reaching for the trembling trainers.
«DISPERSE! » Blaine shouted, right a vicious fire type move was about to crash in the middle of his team.
«Misty… » Sabrina whispered, dodging another attack by a hairbreath. «It's using fire type moves; we need your help here. Position C beta. »
On the other side of the devastated clearing, Cerulean City's gym leader repeated the crisis to Lt. Surge. Not a second later, an alakazam appeared at her side and, after a fast dismissal, she disappeared with it, leaving only her milotic behind.
Surge turned to give another order when he caught sight of the ditto kid running toward their group. He almost delayed his reaction for that.
«Go to point B and attack! » He lashed out, shooting a quick glance at the dying pillar of flames.
He slowed down just an instant, to let himself be caught up with by the teen.
«Report! » He ordered, voice very harsh.
«I… I want to help. » Genno said, panting and trying to calm down enough to think rationally.
«What can you do? » The military man's patience was wearing thin. He had no time to give to anyone.
«I… I know there's something wrong with it. It's not weak to the attacks you sent. » His gaze was locked on Milosia, finding a great appeasing effect in her simple presence.
«Okay! We have no poke-geneticist with us at the time, so we can use whatever you know! » He grabbed Genno and dragged him away, toward Brock and Gary, both hiding behind toppled rocks and pieces of mountain.
The words shocked him, for he knew they were false. He could only hope that they had not known about Stan's use of DNA samples on himself.
«You, the milotic! Keep the glowing to a minimum, it brings attention to yourself and make you a target. » Surge pointed at Misty's pokemon, who nodded gracefully.
Surge quickly pushed Genno behind the rock and stared at the battlefield, where Misty's intervention had calmed down the raging inferno following Jonathan's beast.
Now, it had switched back to dark types moves.
«Think of something! You're an intellectual, aren't you? Well, we're just running circles around it, so if you find something, do tell us! » The electric type specialist demanded again, before running into the battle himself.
Genno's strongest desire was just that: finding the right way to help.
«Genno, are you alright? » Brock asked, concern spread on his face.
«I… I'll be fine. » He replied, a bit surprised about the sincerity of the gym leader.
«Good, then we will do our best to protect you and the rest as long as we can. » Gary stepped forward, glancing behind him at some of the exhausted fighters resting.
Genno added nothing. Instead, he concentrated every single piece of his shattered sanity toward this trial. If there was something he could do, it was this.
He had never been able to understand his own natural sight before. To him, it had been a realm of mad perception. In retrospect, it was still mad, but it was not the same brand of insanity he had been forced to face afterward.
There was order in this madness. A rule could be found if one was looking for it.
He tried looking at the monster's DNA, directly, but he rapidly found himself surrounded by shadows that pierced even Milosia's power.
A pair of dark hands even fell on his shoulder and he jumped back in fear, only to be staring at Brock.
«Calm down. » The older trainer held his hands high as a show of goodwill. There was even a nice smile to add to the blessing of this image. «We will protect you. Don't worry. »
And the hand he offered Genno was taken, shyly, but taken.
Together, they turned back toward the fighters, as they took turns to attack and distract Jonathan's creation one at a time.
«If only Stan was here… I know he'd understand… » He muttered, biting his lips.
«…I know you can. If Stan was here, he would tell you the same thing. » Brock encouraged him.
«Where is he? » He could not help asking, despite the knot in his throat threatening to stop him from breathing.
«We… » Brock frowned. «…we don't know. When we arrived, you, Ash and Pikachu were lying on the ground, behind a dragonite that had fainted standing, arms and wings wide. »
Genno did not flinch. He did not falter. No sadness or shock blurred his vision. Instead, there was a very different feeling overwhelming him.
Raw anger filled his veins.
The thought of Stan being hurt. The thought of the poke-geneticist unconscious, having taken the hit for them… it made him angrier than ever.
That thing was going down.
For he was noticing a pattern now. He still could not tell what it was , but something was changing inside that beast. It was the true difference between itself and Mew.
«Steelix, now! » Brosk suddenly shouted beside him.
The ground started shaking in an all too familiar way for a brief moment. A second later, the steel snake was lunging toward Jonathan's creature with a powerful roar.
Again. He saw it again. Something was different. It was a fleeting impression, for it disappeared once more, before it counterattacked.
A stream of flame stopped Brock's pokémon dead in its track.
It fell to the ground, creating a small crater where its head made contact with the destroyed scenery.
«This is not good. » Brock's jaw tightened, obviously restraining from calling back his steelix and giving their position away.
«It's about to get a lot worse. » Gary pointed toward the beast, frowning.
It had growled out in anger, screaming a thousand echoing screams, forcing each and every one to cover their ears in pain and in sheer terror.
Until a lightning bolt hit it mid-scream that is.
The yelling died down, but the dark creature calmed down while still being assaulted by electricity.
And Genno's eyes widened with the realization.
«I KNOW! I GOT IT! » He stood up, adrenaline boosting his strength. «I'VE GOT TO TELL SURGE! »
«What? » Both trainers at his side exclaimed, confused by this sudden turn of events.
«The secret to its strength! The reason why none of our attack have any effect on it! I figured it out! » For a second, Genno really looked crazy, with eyes much rounder than before and twitches from his limbs with the excitement. Ironically, he had rarely felt saner than now. «It can ch-»
An explosion cut him off.
Thrown harshly at the ground, Genno bit his tongue painfully.
It was the least of his worries.
Turning around, in panic, he saw Jonathan's monster panting with pure unaltered fury.
His fear came back and hit him with the strength of a racing train. His vision, unusually sharp, distorted to fit with the madness of the scene that was offered to him. The gym leaders were being picked out one by one.
Blaine was down and so was Erika. Both were unconscious, perhaps in a critical condition.
It was now turning toward Surge, giving off an aura of death and horror.
The military man's face tightened with rage and his posture tensed even more than before. One hand held out in an invitation, the gym leader spoke with hatred.
«Bring it. »
The dark copy of Mew seemed to be staring down at the impudent human.
It only fueled the man's courage… and that of his subordinates.
«Your strongest attack, now! » Surge screamed, both at his own pokémon and at the fighters rallying behind him.
Fire, lightning, wind, each of those elements were fused into a single ray of hope, fused into an attack that made the earth shake in fear.
And, as the beast was preparing its counterattack, two lone pokemon made their move.
Two small yellow mice moved in perfect synchronization. Two pikachu jumped right in the fray, on the signal one of them had given. Ash and Pikachu hit it in the back with a double Iron Tail.
The beast flinched and could not focus enough to counter before it was too late.
Surge's group yelled with joy when their combined attack made contact. They screamed even over the sound of the explosion that followed.
These exclamations of happiness were overclouded when a roar so deeply inhuman rose over the dust and the ashes.
Few were fast enough to see the artificial pokemon as it skyrocketed toward the stormy clouds and the lightning. None missed the fact that even the storm seemed to gather under the pokemon's influence, all in one massive – deadly – attack.
«EVERYONE! RUN TOWARD ME! » Sabrina raised her arms high and ran to the center of the chaos. Her alakazam followed her.
The next dozen of seconds were very confused, as humans and pokémon everywhere on the battlefield rushed toward a single point.
The psychic type specialist glanced once at the sky and grimaced. There was no time. She exchanged a brief look with her pokemon and it nodded back. They had to do this.
Everyone had understood. Perhaps it was their survival instincts kicking in, but they knew what Sabrina intended to do. They also knew that physical contact was essential.
Those that were too far to reach her already knew their despair would not last long.
«ALAKAZAM! TELEPORT! » She screamed at the top of her lungs.
And even those that had closed their eyes in acceptance felt it, that moment when your body is pulled away from its legitimate space in the world.
The clearing was devastated with darkness and lightning the very next second.
Ash opened his eyes slowly, blinking.
They were… in a forest. He should not be in a forest. He had not reached Sabrina by the time the dark Mew had unleashed its attack.
His nose could recognize the scents and most if not all of his allies were here somewhere. His heart missed a beat when he realized Misty's was among the numbers.
It skipped another when a human fell right next to him.
It was Sabrina.
A second later, another body fell. This time, that of her alakazam.
Gaping in horror, he saw Lieutenant Surge kneeled down and put a hand on her neck.
The man shook his head.
«Everyone! Sabrina, gym leader of Saffron City, has sacrificed herself so we may continue to fight! » He announced, causing a wave of shock through the ranks of the officers and the trainers. «It must not be in vain! »
«What can we do? It resisted every one of our tactics! » Someone shouted, a few approving, the rest silently swallowing the tears of terror that were threatening to overcome them.
«We must not give up! Kanto is counting on us! » This time it was a girl and Ash knew which one. That temper of hers was attractive, like the rest of her person.
«There is something we can do! » This time, the voice was familiar for it used to be his.
Ash saw a copy of his human body pushed through the ranks of the fighters and move toward Surge.
«I figured it out! It's not invincible; we CAN take it down! » He said, a bit too quickly, if only for the extreme scare he had been put through.
However, in his eyes were floating something else.
The images of a very particular pichu, one that had green cheeks. That was it, the key to his father's idea. One that he had experimented alone, in secret of his peers.