DarkFoxKit: Hey readers! Err… yeah… it's been a while since my last update. Sorry, I've been slacking off… well I was doing other fandoms at the moment. Anyways, I brought a friend over, I want you guys to be nice to him! Come on out~
Donfyre: Um… hi? ^^; Name's Donfyre! Though I prefer to be called "Fyre". You probably or probably don't recognize the name in Fox's last AN. I've been helping Fox with some stories, but haven't really read this one…
DarkFoxKit: But he's been helping me a lot with a few of my stories, and he's also a great beta reader. *puts a paw on his head* Oh, and I got a lot of reviews telling me I shouldn't start over and keep going, while the rest just tells me they don't really care. ^^'
Mew: What's this? *flies over to Fyre* A new friend? *touches him* Oooh, fresh and cute I see~
Donfyre: o_o F-Fooooox? You never said anything about your Mew possibly coming on too.
Mew: She never knows when I'll come, I like being unpredictable that way~ Sooooo… you finally got yourself a new little… helper. *picks Fyre up and pets him* He's a cute one~
DarkFoxKit: Mew, what are you going to do to him?
Mew: Oh, little ol' me? Nothing, just gonna keep him nice and saaaaaafe. *is eyeballing Fyre evilly*
Donfyre: Eep! *is trembling in Mew's grip* Foooox, help me! She's scary! If I ever do get enough info to actually be able to help you with this story… will I have to keep dealing with her? DX
DarkFoxKit: Uhhh… I don't know… ^^' Maybe?
Mew: Ohhhh, you'll be a fun one alright~ I'm going to get everything ready in case you do come back! *suddenly puts Fyre into a pink bubble* You stay safe and prime until then! *she disappeared*
DarkFoxKit: … Uhhh… Fyre, you okay in there?
Donfyre: *is pouting in the bubble* Well this is great start. You never even explained much why I'm here in the first place, since I haven't exactly read the story.
DarkFoxKit: Well, I wanted people to get to know you first, so they know you're not just a Key2DestNE replacement. They'll know your personality and who you are is completely different, and they WILL see it, even if I have to sic Mew on the human race to do so! OwO
Donfyre: … That's, uh… one way to explain that reasoning. ^^; But yeah, hopefully if I ever do help Fox with her stories like this one, you can get accustomed to seeing me. :P
DarkFoxKit: Of course, for now Fyre has his life and school to deal with to focus much on writing, but he'll be here helping and supporting me for the time being, and he wants to get to know you guys too! *puts arm around the bubble* So, we hope you guys enjoy this next chapter and getting to know my little Wooper friend here~ … You know, before Mew gets her playful little paws on him.
Donfyre: Hope to get to know you guys more if I get enough info to help Fox! Meanwhile… I'll be trying to get accustomed to this Mew's antics. I've heard some stories about her… DX
DarkFoxKit: *gives an evil smile* Hope you don't have a bad time. And hey, if you guys get mean with Fyre here… you're in for a bad time. And with that, we look forward to hearing from you!
Chapter 32: Mysterious Mansion
Ash answered the Pokegear as Tyra's familiar face came on screen, she looked rather stressed and grim. "Tyra! What's wrong?"
"It's not good, that's for sure. What happened at the Safari Zone exactly, Ash?" Tyra asked him.
"Team Rocket's members Butch and Cassidy bombed the place." Ash frowned. "A lot of Pokemon got hurt… why?"
"The rebellion blamed the explosions on Mew because she was there, they've convinced more legendaries and their hybrid kids to their side." Tyra explained, "It's not looking good. I'm going to try and tell them the truth, that it was Team Rocket, not Mew who caused it. But I'm afraid that some of them will still say Mew should've stopped the explosion then."
"Yeah, I knew this would happen." Mew said grimly.
"The rebellion are crying out for war." Tyra said. "I don't think we have a lot of time left until they decided on when and where to attack. But once they do, we better prepare ourselves."
Articuno frowned at this before she said, "Mew, Child of Mew, and Children of Latios and Latias, my child and I will do everything we can to help you. However, you must search for the other two birds if you want our full power. I'm sure they're only neutral right now, so you have a chance to turn them on your side, but if the other side turns them then it'll be much harder for us to fight."
Glaciem nodded in agreement with her Memma, "Uncle Moltres lives on top of a volcano on One Island, and Uncle Zapdos lives in the abandoned power plant near Lavender Town and Cerulean City… I hope that helps."
"Thanks, that will definitely help." Ash said with a nod.
"I still can't believe there's going to be a war between Legendary Pokemon and hybrids. I'm scared but also kind of excited." Storm said with a giddy smile.
"I'll try to find us more recruits on my end Ash. You make sure to find those two Legendary Birds and persuade them on our side." Tyra said to him. "Tyra out!" She hung up as the screen went black.
"So… what's the plan? Do we continue to Cinnabar Island or should we go to One Island and find Moltres first?" Yellow asked.
Ash looked at his companions, he bit his lip as he thought about the situation. He really wanted to continue his journey, but what good would that do him if there's a war over on the horizon? "I say we go to One Island first, my adventure isn't as important as getting the other two legendary birds on our side."
Glaciem then said, "Well… getting to One Island isn't going to be so easy. It's in a secluded place in Kanto. Maybe your Memma could teleport you there, but I don't think Uncle Moltres would like it if you intruded and that won't win you any points to get you on his side."
"Then how do we get there?" Ash asked.
Mew gave a wink and a smile. "Remember that nice boy, Bill at the lighthouse? I've read his mind before and he has a boat that takes him to One Island, apparently he's doing some research there. So maybe he could take us there."
"Bill? As in all the way back in Cerulean City's cape?" Blue spoke up. "It'd take us a while to get back there."
"Not necessarily, I could teleport us there, however… Ashy, you're already heading to Cinnabar Island. Why not go ahead and complete your Gym Battle first? I'm sure it'd impress Moltres' son if you showed off the Volcano Badge." Mew suggested,"It is the badge of the fire gym, and it takes place in a volcano after all, it might even help with Moltres as well."
Storm nodded in agreement. "Yeah, and besides we've already went through the trouble of getting there, so we should just see it through."
"Alright, alright, we'll go and face the Cinnabar Gym first and then begin our search." Ash said with a sigh.
"That's good. You might want to train up your primary team, Blaine's got some really powerful Fire types, I don't think your Squirtle's going to be enough to take them on." Blue said.
Glaciem then spoke up, " You better discuss this on the boat, it's going to leave soon."
Mew nodded, "Okay everybody, I'm going to teleport us back to the ship to save time, if everyone would get close together, it'll be easier."
Ash, Storm, Blue and Yellow all huddled together with Mew. They waved to Articuno and Glaciem before they disappeared in a flash of light, leaving no trace behind.
The group were relieved to be back on the ship just as it was setting sail onto the sea. Mew dived back down into the sea below, probably to play some more while the ship was still on its way to the island. Ash looked around to see Gary was there too, but he seemed to have g clothes into a more hawaiin-like clothing to show he was on vacation rather than traveling.
"Gary? Why are you wearing that?" Ash asked.
"Can't you tell? I'm on vacation." Gary said as if it was obvious and as if he just forgot that whole incident on Seafoam Island.
"Gary, what about what happened on Seafoam Island? You looked pretty scared back there." Ash said.
"Nothing happened, it was just some stupid cheap trick just to scare me off. I'm sure someone set that up to protect the big, precious Articuno." Gary said as he rolled his eyes before putting on his sunglasses. "Now be quiet, you're ruining my vacation time."
"How come you're taking a vacation?" Yellow asked, "Aren't you worried that Ash will get ahead of you?"
"I can't help it if I'm just that much better than my rival. If he actually tried, he'd have nine badges like me." Gary said snobbily.
"Not all of them were difficult gyms Gary, there's only eight Gyms that are considered the toughest in all of Kanto, one of them in the Volcano Badge from Cinnabar island." Blue told his younger brother.
"Does it really matter where you get them?" Gary shrugged. "A Gym badge is a badge in my book and as long as you have at least eight you can compete in the Pokemon League of the Indigo Plateau and that's good enough for me. How many badges do you have anyways, Ash?"
"... Well right now I only have six and going for my seventh." Ash answered as he crossed his arms.
"Ha! Where's your seventh badge? The spa? I've told you, Cinnabar Island is a resort now!" Gary laughed, "Even if it was still a gym and it's as tough as my so-called brother said it is you wouldn't stand a chance with your pathetic team, do you even have any evolved Pokemon besides that Butterfree?"
Ash glared, "Of course I do! Scorch, my Charmander, evolved into a Charmeleon!"
"Oh? And when was this?" Gary asked.
"... O-only a week ago, but she's still pretty strong!" Ash snapped, getting embarrassed that he didn't really have a lot of evolved Pokemon. "And Storm here is technically an evolved Pokemon you know." he pointed at the Pikachu on his shoulder.
Gary laughed again, but much louder, "Evolving a Pichu is nothing! It's so easy to make one happy that Pikachu was thought to be a first evolution for a long time! And fire type starter evolutions like Charmeleon and Charizard become way too stubborn to listen to a pathetic Trainer like you, Ash!"
Ash frowned at this, he had heard about how some Pokemon could become very difficult and hard to handle once they become stronger, to the point they don't respect their Trainer anymore and refuse to listen to them unless they want to. "That's probably true, Charmeleon and Charizard are known to be great fighters and don't like anyone they don't respect, but Scorch is my friend and she'll always help me out when I need her."
"Maybe we should just go somewhere else Ash, I don't think I can listen to this snobby jerk anymore." Storm spoke up. "Blue and Yellow already moved on to the buffet table."
Ash turned to see Blue and Yellow have indeed left and were over at the buffet table picking up some food. The boy couldn't help but sweatdrop at this, it was no wonder why they haven't spoken back to Gary during his argument. "I guess it has been a while since we ate…"
Storm's belly grumbled, "Yeah. I can't remember the last time we ate... Do you think they have Pecha Berries?!"
"Maybe you should go eat Ash, I can hear your poor starving Pikachu from way over here." Gary laughed.
Ash gave an annoyed glare before he said, "Fine, I will. I hope you have fun at the hotel while I'm hard at work for the next Gym Badge!" The boy stormed off, glad to be away from his annoying rival.
"Well Ash, glad to see you finally tore yourself away from my brother." Blue chuckled.
Ash rolled his eyes, "Yeah. Okay. Like you weren't glad I had to deal with him instead of you."
Storm stared at the buffet longingly, "Pecha Berries..."
Ash looked at his friend, "Okay Storm, go get food if you're that hungry."
The Pikachu happily jumped down, off of Ash's shoulder, and ran towards the buffet.
While Storm was happily getting his food, Yellow began to wonder about something. "Shouldn't we let our other Pokemon eat too? They must be hungry."
"Actually Pokemon inside PokeBalls are usually not hungry." Ash said. "Because they're just energy, so they can last a long time without food as long as they're in the PokeBalls… but… I guess we could feed them once we get to Cinnabar Island. I don't think the tourists would appreciate all our Pokemon hogging all the food."
"Yeah." Blue said then added jokingly, "They already have to deal with your's and Storm's appetite."
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Ash frowned. "I only have a growing boy's appetite, you and Yellow literally have dragon appetites! So don't go pointing fingers at me!"
"I blame the genes." Blue said with a smile, "And why does Storm like Ketchup so much? I've always meant to ask that."
Ash was taking a plate to pick up some food before noticing Storm was licking up a bottle of ketchup happily. "... Uh Storm… people use that to go with their food you know."
"But it's soooooo good! I've hadn't had ketchup in soooo long!" Storm squeaked happily.
Ash rolled his eyes as he just grab the food to eat.
It didn't take long before the yacht began to slow down as an island came into view over the horizon. They have finally reached Cinnabar Island.
With the ship now in docks, they let down the bridge for everyone to get off. Ash got everything packed up as he, Blue and Yellow walked off the ship and into the pier.
"I wonder where Memma is…?" Ash asked as he looked around. "Guess she's still playing in the ocean."
"Well it's not like we'll need her help here, we can just ask for directions to get where we need to go." Blue said with Yellow hiding behind him because of the crowds.
"There's… so many people here…" Yellow said nervously. "I've never seen so many people in one place before, I'm surprised this island isn't sinking from the sheer number of them!"
"I don't think this is so bad. You should've seen the people in the cities." Storm said with a chuckle.
"Blue, you said you took on Blaine before right? Do you know where his Gym is?" Ash asked the older Oak brother.
"His Gym should be-" Blue began to say.
"Wait, didn't Mew say that his gym is in a volcano or something?" Yellow asked.
"I doubt she was serious." Ash said. "I mean how could anyone have a Gym inside of an active volcano and still be alive? That doesn't seem possible unless Blaine is secretly a Magmar or something."
"Magmar hybrid. Called it." Storm said jokingly.
"Well last I remember, his Gym should be over here…" Blue pointed at a rundown building. "Which is apparently gone now…" he sweatdropped.
"Are you kidding me? Was Gary right?" Ash frowned. "Did Blaine really move out because of all the tourists? This trip better not be a waste!"
"Mew told you to get the Volcano Badge here, Ash, to better impress Moltres... She wouldn't lie about that." Yellow pointed out, "We could try the volcano if we don't find anywhere else the gym could be."
"I don't think going into an active volcano is safe." Ash said with a sweatdrop. "But let's just try and see if Blaine is still on the island."
"Maybe we can find a hotel to stay in while we're looking." Blue suggested. "At least then maybe we could enjoy the sights around here while looking, and actually have a bed to sleep on tonight."
"I prefer to sleep in the trees or underwater…" Yellow said.
"Well I don't think you should do that here, Yellow, too many witnesses around." Blue sighed.
"If you say so, Green." Yellow said a bit sadly.
Blue put his hand on his face and sighed again, still being annoyed by that nickname even after seven years of dealing with it.
The group traveled around the island, looking for Blaine's Gym. The place was packed with people, and there weren't a lot of Pokemon here. Ash was rather surprised that there were all these people but none of them had Pokemon with them, in other places like big cities, he would always see Pokemon with people, whether they're following them or helping them work or just being spoiled by their humans. There wasn't a single person here with a Pokemon, at least outside of their Poke Balls and Ash found that a little weird.
"Don't any of these people have Pokemon?" Ash asked when he mostly only saw people around here.
"I think some of them do." Blue said. "But they keep them in their Poke Balls. Most people who come here just want to relax without having to take care of their Pokemon."
"Thats so selfish..." Yellow said quietly, "Why wouldn't they take care of their Pokemon?"
"Yeah, usually everywhere I go I'd see people at least playing with their Pokemon." Ash said with a frown.
"They're tourists who travel a lot I guess." Blue said with a shrug. "They probably find it too much trouble to have to carry their Pokemon around rather than just keep them in their Poke Balls."
"If they can't take care of their Pokemon, they shouldn't have Pokemon..." Yellow said, "Pokemon like to be free... Not confined to Poke Balls their entire lives."
"Oh hey, speaking of Pokemon…" Blue turned to Ash as they were still walking. "Don't you think you should train your team to be ready for Blaine once we do find him? He's one of the toughest Gyms in Kanto for a reason after all."
"Yeah, I should find a good place to train them… except I don't know if I could train them here. I doubt there are any wild Pokemon in a place like this, or any Trainers." Ash said with a frown.
"First of all, do you know who you're going to use?" Blue asked.
"Hmm…" Ash thought about his primary team. "I have Storm here, my Squirtle Kooper, my Bulbasaur Konoha, my Charmeleon Scorch, my Eevee Eon and… I haven't chosen a sixth member yet. I was thinking Dexter but he's more of a thinker than a fighter…"
"What about the Dratini you caught back at the Safari Zone?" Yellow asked. "I mean Dragon types are really strong, so maybe you could use one on your primary team."
"Oh yeah… I almost forgot that I caught a Dratini back there." Ash said as he took out the Safari Ball he had in his pocket. "But I haven't had the chance to train her since I caught her… I don't know if she's ready for a Gym Battle…"
"Maybe you should see what she can do before you decide that, Ash." Storm pointed out to his trainer, "After all, she might be stronger than all the Pokemon you have on hand right now."
"Storm, she was just caught in a place where wild Pokemon hardly fight each other." Ash said with a deadpanned expression.
"Well I know of a place where we could train." Blue spoke up. "Come on, follow me!"
Blue ran ahead while Ash and Yellow quickly followed him. The boy lead them to a huge broken down mansion and gestured to the door. "I knew they wouldn't tear this down. It's a tourist attraction, this old mansion used to be where scientists experimented on Pokemon before something went horribly wrong. Wild Pokemon like Rattata and Koffing moved in here, so you can try training Dratini here and see what she can do."
Ash looked over the building, "You think there might be some left over supplies from the experiments? Maybe notes? They might have something about what they were experimenting with. Might come to use later."
"I remember Red telling me there were a lot of notes about Mew cloning left in there." Blue said as he made a thoughtful expression. "You told me that there were a few things Mew herself didn't want to talk about, maybe the notes could shed some light there, that is if you think you want to know, Ash."
"People experimented on Pokemon in this place?" Yellow said, looking horrified at the burned down mansion. "Maybe we shouldn't go in there… it's bad luck."
But Ash was starting to get curious, there were moments when Mew sounded nervous and serious about something but she wouldn't tell him what it was… did these people do something to her? "I'm going in. It's a good place to train my team and my new Dratini and I want to know what happened to Memma before."
"And you might be able to catch one of the failed clones." Blue told the younger boy.
"Failed clones?" Ash asked, looking at Blue. "What do you mean?"
"They tried to clone Mew using some of her fur that got snagged by a bramble, it wasn't enough though and they ended up making a new species called Ditto, they only know transform but can breed with every species that has a gender." Blue explained.
"Oh yeah, I know about Ditto. I met a girl named Duplica that used one against me, remember Blue?" Ash said.
"Yeah, I remember her." Blue nodded. "But yeah, it was theorized by Professors of all regions that Dittos were the result of the failed cloning of Mew. We don't know for sure if that's the case, but it does seem very likely."
"Creepy." Storm said with a shiver. "Are you sure about this, Ash?" Storm then asked his Trainer uneasily. "I mean… what if Mew gets angry that you were snooping around secrets she didn't want you finding out?"
Ash looked at Storm, "If she didn't want me to know that badly, wouldn't she have come back by now? She must know that this was here."
"Fine, but don't expect me to back you up if she gets mad." Storm grumbled.
"Alright, I'm going in. Are you two going to come with me?" Ash asked Blue and Yellow.
"I-I rather not… b-but if Green's going in I-I will too… I don't want to be here by myself." Yellow said nervously.
"I would like to see those notes Red mentioned myself too." Blue said. "I'll go in."
Ash nodded, "Okay, let's go."
The group entered the burned down Pokemon Mansion. Inside they saw a long red carpet, and the rest looked like it was falling apart. There were mostly Rattata, Raticate, Koffing and Grimer roaming the place, Yellow avoided the Grimer at all costs since they were basically living pollution. "At least this place is nice and quiet compared to the loud tourists outside." Ash said lightheartedly.
"It'd be okay if those Grimer weren't here..." Yellow agreed, looking around for any more of them.
Blue was examining a strange cat-like statue that looked similar but different from Mew herself, "I think there's a button on this thing."
"A button? What is it for?" Ash asked.
"Let's find out." Blue pressed the button and they heard what sounded like a door opening nearby.
"W-what was that?" Yellow asked nervously.
"It sounded like a door opened." Ash said. "Come on, let's see if we can find those notes."
"I thought you came here to train us." Storm asked.
"And I will… right after I find those notes." Ash said with a sheepish grin.
Yellow looked around a room before she noticed a diary lying on a table. She picked it up and dusted it off before opening it. "... Hey Ash! Green! I think I found something!"
What is it, Yellow?" Blue asked as he walked in, "Notes?"
"It might be." Yellow replied, "It's a diary. Maybe the scientists used them as notebooks?"
"Let me see that." Yellow handed the diary to Ash, who began reading it.
'July 5th. A new Pokemon was discovered deep in the jungles of South America.'
Strangely that short entry was all there was on the first page. Ash turned the page.
'July 10th. We've decided to dub this new Pokemon as Mew. We have been researching and studying this Mew from ancient carvings. For a long time we've been trying to find a single hair or sighting from Mew, but it was never seen again. We have collected pieces of its fine, thin hair and tried to study its DNA. We were funded with a cloning project. We wanted to create the most powerful Pokemon in the world using the genetic DNA found in this single piece of hair. For years we have been splicing the genetics of Pokemon to create the ultimate Pokemon, but all subjects have died and failed. We are hoping this time we will succeed…'
Ash was surprised that the scientists had seen his Memma at all. He turned the page again.
'Oct. 20th. We have discovered the cloning of Mew is not as successful as we once thought. We have many failed experiments, we thought we succeeded in creating a clone of Mew, but their shapes deformed into nothing but blobs without of an identity of their own. Eventually we were about to give up… that is until we found the real Mew sighting nearby. It was as if it had been watching us. We tried to catch it, but it teleported. However, it did leave behind something we could use… it appeared that the Mew was carrying an egg, so we decided to use it to help with our genetic splicing. We won't need to create a clone from scratch, not when we have this specimen to work with.'
Ash's eyes widened. "Wait… Memma… had another child before me?" Of all the stories he heard from Mew, she never once told him she had a child before him, possibly a natural born Mew or a human she was turning into a full Mew instead of a hybrid, either way this horrified him.
"You sure you want to keep reading?" Yellow asked, feeling the tension in the boy.
Ash nodded, determined to find out what else Mew has been hiding from him. He turned the page to the next entry.
'Feb. 6. Mew had given birth. We named the newborn Mewtwo. After weeks of gene splicing to make the perfect human enhanced Pokemon, we have finally succeeded with this specimen. It had lived through the process and hatched without any issues. Because of our enhancement, it looked much bigger and different than the original Mew, but it was worth it.'
'Sept. 1. Mewtwo is far too powerful. We had failed to curb it's destructive tendencies… When it first hatched it was already testing out its psychic powers, but it kept destroying everything. Now it has grown into a powerful monster that could not listen to reason, all it ever does is scream and cry as if it was in constant pain, and is destroying everything in its sight. We were wrong for trying to mess with nature, we should not have tried to splice the genes of an unborn child… but it's too late now. It's already-'
Ash frowned when the entry ended abruptly, it seems the guy writing it was killed during Mewtwo's wild rampage. He turned the page to see if there were anymore… and to his surprise there was, dated very recently.
'July 8th, I guess this is what was in this abandoned mansion... I think I have an idea of where this creature is. I'm leaving this tourist trap in four days on the first ferry... Mewtwo... I heard rumors of it in Cerulean Cave. I can't let it stay loose. I guess since these might be my final written words I might as well leave direction so anyone who finds this can try where I failed. Cerulean cave is north, over the bridge of Cerulean City. In the small patch of land to the left of it, there's a small waterway that'll take you to the cave... Erik signing out...'
Ash turned the page again, but the rest were blank. The boy looked at Blue and Yellow, and then at Storm who was on the table. "Memma never told me she had another child before…"
"But it might explain why she didn't want to turn you into her true child." Yellow spoke up. "I know she said it's so you don't become spoiled and experience what it's like to be human, but I thought it's a little weird she didn't change you for your own protection since these other hybrids are out for your and her necks."
"Yeah… she's afraid the same thing could happen to Ash." Blue said as he looked at the entries again. "Cerulean Cave… Why does that sound so familiar?"
"I never knew how sick some people can be. Gene splicing on a NEWBORN!? That's just… too horrifying for words!" Storm groaned, looking sick.
Ash frowned and was deeply troubled by this. "I want… I want to talk to Memma about this…"