"Come on! Just a little bit further!"

"You know I'm no good at this kind of stuff! Last time you went, you were by yourself! You've gotten some practice before now, huh?"

"Oh come on, Gengar, it's easy. One little hop after the other, and you can get to the bottom. You're, like, thirty feet away."

"All right, all right, I'm coming!"

Gengar clung to the double climbing rope tied to his vest and stretching up and out of sight through the dark ravine. Mewtwo was standing on the rocky floor, wrapping up the super long rope and stowing it in his backpack. The cave they were occupying was already explored beforehand, so electronic lights placed at intervals inside the floor shone yellow light on the jagged rock faces of the walls.

"Just a little further…"

Gengar rappelled the thirty foot difference, landing safely beside Mewtwo.

"Not too hard, right?" asked Mewtwo with a smirk.

Gengar returned with a dirty but playful look, making Mewtwo chuckle. Gengar took a minute to put away his climbing rope and prepare himself.

"Ready?" asked Blastoise, who was waiting a little distance along the cave for the other two to finish. He wore a climbing vest like the others, but it was far more noticeable because of his size. It covered most of his underbelly in black rather than the pale yellow Mewtwo was used to seeing.

"Yup," said Mewtwo.

"Let's go then, shall we?" he asked, prompting the others by taking a few steps forward. They followed, and all three began walking through the cave, hearing their footsteps echo all around them.

"Thanks again for coming, Blastoise," said Mewtwo, "I'm glad you could help us out when we need it."

"No problem at all," said Blastoise with a smile, "Anything to repay you for taking care of Squirtle. How is he, by the way?"

"He's doing very well," said Mewtwo. "In fact, he's improving his move set with Timothy Bishop, a student at Cerulean University. They were working together just the other day."

"That's good," said Blastoise, "I'm glad he's learning to defend himself. It eases my mind that he'll be able to do that."

"Want to go see him after this?" asked Mewtwo, "He should be somewhere in Ether Valley…"

"I've been dying to see him," said Blastoise, "Haven't been able to in a month. But I must ask you something… where's Ether Valley?"

"About a hundred or so miles slightly east of north of Cerulean City," said Mewtwo, "It's a cool place, too. There's plenty to do and see. You'll have lots of fun once you're there."

"Yeah," said Blastoise as their passage opened up into a very large, cathedral-like clearing, "I wonder what I can do there once I get back together with my son. Any suggestions?"

"Well—"

"Wait!" interrupted Gengar, putting his hand out to catch Mewtwo in the stomach and make him stop, "What's that?"

He pointed ahead in the dimly lit, wide-open cave they just entered. On the other side, huddled against the wall, was some small, dark shape. It didn't draw either Mewtwo's or Blastoise's attention until Gengar pointed it out. From this far away, nobody could tell what it was, but Mewtwo had his sneaking suspicions.

"Is that—is that a Pokémon?" asked Blastoise disbelievingly, "I thought we were rescuing someone that got lost! We told them to stay still!"

"Hold on…" said Mewtwo slowly, "That isn't a person. Too small to be one, even a child."

He hesitated, then moved across the open floor space towards this mysterious black mass. Gengar and Blastoise followed rather cautiously. Even though they were getting closer to this shadowy thing, they couldn't see any more than they did on the other side of this huge cave.

Halfway across, Mewtwo unexpectedly stepped into something very wet. His foot hit the ground with a loud slap that echoed as if he stepped in a puddle. As a matter of fact, it was a puddle; the light in the cave reflecting off of the floor became distorted as ripples traveled away from Mewtwo's foot. Mewtwo, unprepared to step in this wet puddle, jumped back and almost knocked into the two behind him.

"What was that?" asked Blastoise, referencing both the wet slap and Mewtwo's reaction, "What did you step in?"

"I don't know…"

Mewtwo cautiously approached the rim of this puddle and bent down. When he did, he could see the cave's dim reflection stretch out on the floor in front of him and shift as he moved his head.

"This is massive!" exclaimed Mewtwo, "It covers the whole other side of the cave!"

"Is it water?" asked Gengar uncertainly.

Mewtwo lowered a finger into the liquid and withdrew, watching the new ripples race out from where he touched. The liquid was not water; the sample he drew was lukewarm and viscous. He couldn't tell what color it was on his fingers, but the reflections told a different story. The longer he looked at the light's reflection, the redder they got.

"That's—that's blood, guys…" Mewtwo uttered, his voice quivering slightly.

"Blood?" repeated Blastoise incredulously, "But this has to be gallons upon gallons!"

"I know," said Mewtwo fearfully, "and that's what scares me."

Something was holding Mewtwo back from traversing the rest of the distance. He knew someone was on the other side and might need their help, but this gigantic lake of blood was serving as some sort of barrier. His muscles felt like they were cast in concrete because he couldn't move. He didn't want to cross, but at the same time, he felt required to do so.

After far too much contemplation, Mewtwo broke through the locks holding him at bay and stepped back into the blood. The others followed, adding the slap, slap, slap of their footsteps to Mewtwo's. The blood deepened ever so slightly the longer they walked, covering a few centimeters above the soles of their feet and transitioning from a slapping sound to sloshing the farther they progressed. The shadowy mass grew larger, still cloaked in black even though the lights should have relieved the shadow. Mewtwo's heart began to pump faster and he could feel his hands heating up. An odd tingling started in the pit of his stomach and began to spread throughout his torso.

Only when they were less than ten yards away from this figure, with their feet covered in warm, sticky blood, did they get to see it in full light.

"That's—THAT'S MY SON!" Blastoise screamed.

There was no denying it; the Squirtle lying face-up was instantly recognizable from the number of times Mewtwo has seen him and the shadowy crack running the length of his underbelly. A single, dark hole, like a bullet wound and right where his heart should have been, opened up his chest. His eyes were closed and his mouth was slightly agape. Squirtle was unmistakably, undeniably dead.

Blastoise collapsed to his knees beside Squirtle and scooped him up. He cradled him in his arms while Squirtle's body was completely limp. Blastoise doubled over, holding his son to his chest while tears of anguish flowed from his eyes to join the lake of blood he kneeled in.

"No… no… No! NO! NOOOOOOO!" he shrieked. Over and over again he screamed this word, causing a din inside the cave that made it ten times worse to listen to. Mewtwo's eyes burned white hot at the sight. He was supposed to be Squirtle's guardian… and he failed…

"Mewtwo," came a voice from Gengar's elbow. He turned at the noise and caught sight of Gengar looking hard into his eyes. The sight caught him off guard, given the fact that Blastoise was breaking down completely in front of them and Gengar decided to give his attention to Mewtwo instead.

"What?" Mewtwo asked in a broken voice.

"Wake up."

Mewtwo stared back, unsure of what Gengar said. Did he just tell him to wake up? Perhaps he didn't hear him correctly.

"What did you say?" Mewtwo asked, much more firmly this time around.

"Wake up," Gengar repeated.

Mewtwo blinked, his mouth slightly open. Now he was starting to worry about what was going on.

"What do you mean, 'wake up?'" Mewtwo asked, a new quiver of fear filtering through his voice.

But before Gengar could open his mouth again, Mewtwo looked behind him at Blastoise holding his dead son, kneeling in blood spanning half the cave. The longer he observed, the less sense this whole scene made. Blastoise died nearly a month ago, absolutely nothing that lived underground could spill this much blood, and Mewtwo was certain that he saw Squirtle alive and well not more than an hour ago…

"Just do it," said Gengar.

The moment he said this, Blastoise's cries began to tune out like someone was turning a radial dial. At the same time, whispers filled the air like a gentle breeze inside the cave instead. Except now, the cave itself started to fade away. The sight was like trying to hold on to water cupped in his hands; the longer he stayed, the fainter everything became. Even Gengar was fading. Eventually, all Mewtwo could see was the burgundy of his eyes floating in the black. Mewtwo crouched, trying to see if Gengar's eyes would obey the normal laws of perspective. As Mewtwo's head lowered, Gengar's eyes raised at the same time so that Mewtwo now had to look up to see them. They were off-center slightly to where Mewtwo was looking. When Mewtwo tried to move his head to follow the eyes, he found he couldn't. In fact, he discovered he couldn't move at all. Somehow, he eased backwards as if he fell into a mattress, following Gengar's eyes by moving his own.

Except now, Gengar's eyes weren't the only ones floating about in the dark. At least six pairs made themselves visible either slightly left or right-of-center, all of them looking right at him.

Mewtwo blinked, and the blackness was not total anymore; rather, the darkest of shadowy objects became visible.

He blinked again. With each blink, everything grew brighter by an immeasurably small amount. In conjunction, a searing pain in his stomach grew stronger and stronger the more he blinked. But he pressed on, desperate to uncloak the scene.

After countless seconds, he discovered that he was in a familiar room with people and Pokémon all around where he was lying. The overhead light was too bright to clearly make out the others, so he had to let his eyes adjust. As soon as his pupils contracted to block out some of the light, he could distinguish those seated around him and tracking his eyes. From right to left were: Gengar, who was nearest; a slightly blueish Tobuscus with small and large bandages plastered to his body so much that he looked like a distorted checkerboard; Bryce with his hands covering his mouth and nose in fear; Steph and Glaceon with identically wide eyes; Tim with Squirtle sitting in his lap (thank God he's alive); Alder and Alakazam, wearing faces of gravest concern; Silver, her exceedingly pale face standing out in sharp contrast with her scarlet hair; Allen, leaning on his walking stick and covering his face like Bryce; and on the left, directly beside him, was one of the last Pokémon he would ever expect at his side.

He looked directly into Mewtwo's eyes, one of which still had the shadow of a bruise present. The violet iris swallowed up the black as his pupils contracted to pinpricks. Mewtwo's eyebrows furrowed, casting deep, angular creases across his forehead. This stare of death sent a brief spasm of fear throughout Sandslash's body, but he kept calm.

"YOU!" Mewtwo shouted right in his face. He lifted his hand, curled into a fist, from the bed and threw it across his body towards Sandslash.

With more than twenty-five years of combat training under his belt, Sandslash could have laughed at this attempt, but chose not to. He raised his hand in plenty of time to catch Mewtwo's oncoming fist just as Mewtwo let out a screech. Everyone around them jumped, but Sandslash expected his cry of pain.

"Calm down, Mewtwo," said Sandslash gently, still holding on to his clenched fist as Mewtwo put a hand to his stomach, "Don't hurt yourself any more than you are right now. Be reasonable, won't you?"

"Reason be damned if I can kill you, little scumbag," spat Mewtwo viciously. He tried to wrench his hand from Sandslash's grasp, but howled in pain again. Sandslash let Mewtwo's hand fall to his torso wrapped almost entirely in white bandages.

Sandslash was completely unfazed by Mewtwo's aggression. In retrospect, he's seen far worse, far more disturbing events before now. This little outburst would never scratch his surface hardened like steel. He felt not a muscle in his body twitch.

"What good is killing me going to do for you?" asked Sandslash calmly over Mewtwo's renewed groans, "Other than satisfy not even a fraction of your thirst for revenge?"

Mewtwo looked up again with murder still in his eyes.

"If the only way I can get my revenge is by fractions, then so be it."

Sandslash sighed. Emotional control was never one of Mewtwo's strong suits. He might be the most powerful Pokémon on Earth, but his talents heavily relied on his proper functioning. And unfortunately, now was not one of those times.

"Listen to yourself, won't you?" asked Sandslash, "You don't want to kill any more than you've already done. Don't be an idiot and ruin your plan for greatness, Mewtwo."

"Oh, right," snarled Mewtwo, "and I bet you're going to offer me a place in Team Rocket like Giovanni did at Cinnabar. To fulfil my plan for greatness, right?"

Sandslash stared Mewtwo full in the face for ten seconds before he reached for underneath his chair. His hand closed around the neck of a vest made of black, synthetic Kevlar, and he raised it to shoulder height. On the front, in the left chest area, were the frays of threads. The large, red letter 'R' was clearly missing.

Sandslash saw Mewtwo's eyes widen at the missing patch as he said, "Take a look for yourself. I tore up and trashed the patch as soon as I could. Nothing… nothing… brought me more shame in one moment than that letter 'R' did. It took me far too much time to see all the wrong that I was doing since I left Britain and the SAS. 'Who Dares Wins' was our motto back then, and Giovanni screwed it out of context for all of us."

Sandslash lowered the vest into his lap. He did not take his cold, black eyes, dead long ago to compassion and sympathy, off of Mewtwo's.

"He manipulated us all, just like Gengar said in the forest. The Diamond squad was nothing more than a mean to reach his ends, one of which was trying to acquire you back in 1997. Remember his offers and how tempting they were? Remember—actually, I don't blame you for joining, considering that prison they called a Mansion. But I digress…

"Giovanni wanted you badly. You know how much of a collector he is; just look at his Pokémon. You would be the icing on the cake for his assembly of the world's best fighters. He thought that, with you under his command, he would have a chance to clinch Kanto—maybe even all of Japan—for himself. He planned to merge with Silph as a partner and use the company's assets to aid his takeover. Not like he needed the money, anyway…" Sandslash added bitterly, "Rather, he was looking into their technology and its possible implications. More specifically, technology that would strengthen his already very powerful Pokémon. You know what I'm talking about, right?"

Mewtwo, whose face looked like someone just swung a heavy weight into it, swallowed and nodded.

"But Giovanni realized a snag when you joined our team," Sandslash continued, "He observed how much you rebelled against strict control by your creators at the Pokémon Mansion. He gave you the Captaincy, hoping that he could hold on to you longer by placing you in a position of power, not subordinance. Even then, he was working on borrowed time to execute his plans. He felt that, one day, you would slip from his grasp and fight against his hold on you. And he was right.

"But when you slipped through his fingers, you practically fell off the face of the Earth. You remember that summer day as well as I do, yeah? He took me along (I mean, I'm not sure why; I certainly wasn't the best of the squad) and his Persian as a little bit of backup. He thought that, with a little 'persuasion,' you'd come back. He felt that the warrant for your arrest might scare you back—what, you don't know about that?" asked Sandslash when Mewtwo gave an extremely confused look. "Giovanni issued a nationwide arrest warrant on the fourth of August, 1998, and retracted it on the ninth of September that year, the day after we met you on the trail that runs through the hills right outside this village. He thought you accidentally killed yourself trying to defend yourself with that explosion… or burst of energy, or whatever it was. All three of us there were convinced that you died, actually. I won't lie when I say that that was the last time I thought I'd ever see you; a former squadmate gone AWOL and whom I was forced to attack.

"Fifteen years later, you're back as a completely changed individual. You're furthering the very same project Giovanni started back then, and it's progressed beyond his wildest dreams. You have great friends behind your back every step of the way," he said with a gesture of his clawed hands, motioning to everyone surrounding his bed, "ready to help when you need it. You're starting to undo your past, Mewtwo. Though you spent the least time in the Squad, you've probably done the most damage. It's not easy to bounce back from something like that. And me? I spent eighteen years with a man whom I thought would help bestow glory upon us. I forgot all about the proper ethics I learned in the SAS; protecting the public from threats of terror and malintent. And here I was, swept away to a foreign country and ensnared in an organization whose goals I worked my entire career to fight against. I've killed more, much more than I want to admit. I shot dead Gengar's father without a second thought about what I was doing. I watched Yveltal kill Blastoise, who was weakened by that accursed creature's life-stealing nature. I stomped in his son's shell and dumped him in a back alley, hoping that he would die myself—"

Something stuck in Sandslash's throat to interrupt the monologue. His Adam's Apple felt like it was double in size, obstructing his air passage. For a brief moment, he choked on his own emotion and felt his heart's pace increase. He couldn't remember the last time he felt such overwhelming sadness and remorse. He took a sharp intake of breath to try and force past this barrier and press on to the goal he really wanted to reach.

"The point is," he resumed a little weakly, "when I saw Gengar rightfully accuse Giovanni of manipulating and killing innocent people and Pokémon, then getting a bullet in his head for the truths, that moment lifted the shroud of lies and deceit I've been blinded by. All of my mistakes came to light in that instant. I felt like someone tore out my heart, blackened by the baseless deaths I brought or helped bring unto others, and replaced it with the one I had more than twenty years ago. I'm sure that if the others saw what happened to Gengar, they would be feeling something similar to what I did, but they were unconscious…

"But how did I end up here, you may be wondering? After I—er… attacked you guys…" Sandslash muttered, hearing the weighty guilt in his voice, "Um… I didn't want to do it… I mean, at the time, maybe I did…"

His eyes dropped to his claws in his lap, face burning with shame and licking his insides like flames. He felt every single eye watching him and heightening his discomfort. He tried to keep speaking, but sensed his forgotten emotions begin to return for the first time in a long time.

"I don't mean—you know what, never mind," he said awkwardly as he addressed the floor, "Get back on topic," he said under his breath to himself. "Sorry… What I'm trying to say is this; I was standing behind you when Gengar ran forward and got shot by Giovanni. That you're aware of, I believe. But I'm not sure if you know what happened next when you charged him yourself."

Mewtwo shook his head when Sandslash looked up. The latter noticed a significant change in the former's face; it was relaxed, almost expressionless. Compared to earlier, this was a welcome change.

"Here's what happened... Giovanni shot you in the stomach because he didn't want you dead, although he could care less for Gengar. I think he forgot I was still behind you and very much in the bullet's path. He shot you, the bullet broke apart like it should, came out your back, and peppered me in the face. Luckily, the shrapnel didn't do nearly as much damage as it could have, considering it already traveled through flesh and blood to get to me, but it still hurt like hell. I felt like I got pepper-sprayed because it hurt so much and I couldn't see. I fell and just stayed on the ground, hoping that Giovanni would see me, but he blatantly ignored me. Someone asked him, 'Is he dead, Giovanni? But what about Sandslash? You can't just leave him, can you?' and he said, 'If Sandslash can't handle helping out on missions like this, then he's not fit for my team.' The false SOS Silver sent to distract them all worked so well, he left me at the scene of a murder and forgot to check where his own daughter disappeared to. Little did I know at the time that Silver was there to help, not harm. They airlifted you to this Pokémon Center first because you were in worse condition while Silver and Gengar stayed behind to look after me. After a couple minutes, Yumi and Yosh came back and did the same for me. I got fixed up once they removed the shrapnel, although my age didn't do me any favors for healing time, I tell you. I'm not nearly as fit as I once was; maybe you noticed back in the forest."

Mewtwo's eyes narrowed, apparently studying Sandslash's face. Thankfully, Mewtwo's pupils had since returned to their normal size, making Sandslash feel much less threatened. A moment passed until Mewtwo asked, "Really? You look fine to me right now…"

"Well," said Sandslash, "it wasn't too much longer than it should have taken, but it was still a good amount of time."

Now a look of worry passed Mewtwo's face. His eyes returned to their normal shape, and his brows turned just a touch to exemplify this concern.

"How long was I unconscious?" he asked, a definite note of anxiety present.

Sandslash glanced around to the others without moving his head, taking in the expressions that reflected almost precisely what he was feeling. Mewtwo was asleep, and had no clue…

"Erm…" Sandslash began, "like—I dunno… maybe… five days or something…"

"FIVE DAYS?" Mewtwo ejaculated loudly, "What—how—?"

"They had to keep you asleep for a long time to perform surgeries on you," said Sandslash, cutting across Mewtwo's blubbering. "I think you've had at least—and I'm not exaggerating—at least a dozen or so by my count. It's been a lot of work for them to patch you up since Sunday, Mewtwo… They need to reconstruct pretty much everything below your diaphragm, plus touch up on the lowest part of your spinal cord that was clipped by a piece of shrapnel. Most of the work they've completed already, but they can't begin the spinal cord one until they're satisfied with almost everything else. Honestly, you've spent more time under the knife than not."

"You don't say…" mumbled Mewtwo, "That's—oh, dear…"

A long silence followed as everyone watched Mewtwo's face quickly steal over with shock.

"I just remembered… but I haven't gotten to tell anyone…"

"What?" asked Silver, the first one to speak from the other eleven in the room, "What is it?"

Mewtwo twisted and wrung his hands in obvious agitation.

"When Giovanni—after he shot me, he said something that only I could hear…" he said nervously as a dull flush crept up his face, "He said… he said that… he told me…"

Clearly, whatever Mewtwo was going to say, it wasn't good if it was causing him this much trouble to string more than three words together. Mewtwo gritted his teeth like he was going to tear off a particularly sticky Band-Aid and spat it out as quickly and clearly as possible:

"Giovanni's going to kill all of you if I don't give myself up to Team Rocket by the New Year."

The reaction was predictable; nearly everyone gasped or gave some form of surprise when these words fell unto the ears in the room. Sandslash was the only one that gave no clear reaction. He felt his brow furrow slightly, but not significantly. He sensed a faint heat sneak up his neck, but not enough to discomfort him. Honestly, this wasn't the first time he's had his life threatened, and certainly wasn't going to be the last.

"You're—you're serious?" stuttered Silver, "But—he can't! Why would he do something like—?"

"I'm afraid your father is not the man he used to be, Silver," grumbled Sandslash, not meeting her eyes. "He won't let anybody—or anything—get in his way to the top. I'm a prime example of that. And I think he's found out what you did to get Mewtwo to safety since Sunday as well."

"I—I know that! It's just..."

Silver's eyes glistened at her own words. She covered her mouth with her fingers, looking at Sandslash with a devastated gaze.

"I don't think Giovanni will let his own daughter stand in his path to domination," Sandslash added darkly.

Silver drew a tremulous breath, her whole body positively shaking from fear, and whispered, "You mean…? He'll—he'll kill me?"

Sandslash nodded.

"I didn't…" Silver started, tears welling up in her eyes, "I didn't know—that my father would—would do—such a—such an inhumane thing… I… I…"

And within the second, she completely lost it. Silver doubled over, hands in her face, sobbing uncontrollably. Everyone glanced around, including Sandslash, totally unawares as to what could be done. Even Sandslash felt distant pangs of pity in his stomach. It wasn't her fault, not at all…

For several seconds, Silver sat in her chair and wept in her hands, watched on uncertainly by the others. Every single one of them looked like they wanted to do something… anything… but shock rooted them to their chair.

And then, with the action carrying enough surprise to uproot everyone, Allen shifted in his chair to face Silver and wrapped both arms around her shoulders. Silver buried her face in his shoulder, crying even harder and reciprocating with a hug of her own.

"There, there," Allen mumbled gently, "Just let it out… that's it… Don't worry, I—we won't let anything happen to you."

"All this time…" Silver choked, "I followed his orders hoping that it would bring us closer to normalcy… No matter how horrid—I thought it would eventually stop…" She clutched onto Allen's shirt, her hands trembling as she spoke.

"It will stop."

Sandslash, whose eyes were fixated on the two beside him, jumped. Everyone looked around (Silver through increasingly red eyes) to who spoke.

Mewtwo was sitting upright in his bed, staring extremely hard into Silver's eyes.

"I'll stop it myself. I'll stop up the source that's done it all. I'll ensure that son-of-a-bitch gets what he deserves."

Sandslash felt his eyes narrow slightly at this display of boldness.

"Dunno if you've noticed, Mewtwo," muttered Sandslash, "but you're sort of incapacitated right now. Not to mention you have to go through something called 'recovery' before you can even think about going at it again..."

Mewtwo reciprocated the comment with an ugly look.

"I don't care," he spat, "I'm not going to let anything happen to anyone inside or outside of this room. No more victims, because I won't allow it."

Sandslash raised both of his claws to his face and hung his head with a deep sigh.

"Mewtwo," Sandslash began, "I think you're missing the point here. You almost died because you were too proud to leave the forest. You're lucky Gengar can't die, because he certainly would have if he was mortal."

"Too proud?" Mewtwo retorted in disbelief, "Gengar and I agreed to stay behind! I didn't force him into it! He wanted to confront Giovanni as much as I—"

"That's not what I'm getting at," interrupted Sandslash, forcing Mewtwo into silence. "I don't care how powerful you are. I don't care if you are the most powerful Pokémon. You can't try and take on Giovanni without help. Ah!" Sandslash exclaimed, throwing up a claw to silence Mewtwo again because the latter just opened his mouth angrily to say something, "I know what you're thinking; 'I had Gengar on my side.' Right?"

Mewtwo dropped his gaze.

"Yes," he muttered.

"Listen to me when I say this," said Sandslash. "You fought Giovanni on a very level physical playing ground, if not a touch in your favor, back in the forest. Surprise was on your side because we didn't know Gengar was with you. Your armor had a significant hand in beating the entire Diamond Squad. I don't doubt your considerable skill, Mewtwo, nor does anybody else from the Squad, I gamble. You may have won the battle against Giovanni, but he is far from flying the white flag in surrender. You told us that he's prepared to kill all of us if you don't re-join Team Rocket by the end of the year, right?"

A general shiver traveled around the group. Mewtwo nodded, still not meeting Sandslash's eyes.

"I can tell you right now that Giovanni is not one to back down on his promises," Sandslash continued. "If you wait, or hide, or try to avoid him in any other way, he will track us down and follow up on his promise."

Mewtwo moved not a muscle. Not even his eyes shifted. It seemed like he momentarily turned to stone. Sandslash could almost hear the gears working in Mewtwo's brain as the latter thought and turned over these last words.

"You say I can't take on Giovanni by myself," Mewtwo muttered, "yet you urge me to avoid waiting for him to come to me. What are you trying to say?"

"Exactly that," said Sandslash. "Don't take on Giovanni by yourself, but don't wait for him either. Go for him with strength to match his own. Back yourself with anyone that wants to help destroy Team Rocket once and for all. I'll tell you this right now; I'd be delighted to put Giovanni's entire life's works into the ground and pay him back for eighteen years I'll never be able to get back."

"You and a million others…" Mewtwo murmured.

"And I'll say something else, too…" Sandslash added, "Speaking as someone that has spent so much time with Team Rocket, I can tell you some things about Giovanni's organization I bet you never knew about."

"Yeah?" Mewtwo asked skeptically, "Like what?"

Sandslash felt the corner of his mouth lift into a smirk.

"Anything you'd ever want to hear. I know the base, along with nearly everyone inside its walls, like the back of my hand. I know Giovanni's and the Diamond Squad's personalities, habits, strengths, faults, the whole nine yards. I've memorized the guard shifts and patrol routes. When you spend eighteen years with many of the same people and Pokémon as a more privileged member of Team Rocket, you tend to pick up more than your fair share of knowledge. I suppose Giovanni didn't consider that when he abandoned me with you two, eh?" Sandslash asked, chuckling lightly at his own remark.

"Now that you're talking about it again," mumbled Gengar nervously, "I do recall a bit about Team Rocket's base. I bet I could… y'know… help out if you needed it. Sneak around and—like… yeah."

Gengar's eyes shifted apprehensively from Sandslash, to Mewtwo, and back again. He fiddled with his own hands unconsciously, waiting for some sort of reaction. Sandslash nodded slowly, gazing thoughtfully at Gengar.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," began Sandslash, "but I believe you can turn invisible?"

"In a sense," said Gengar. "I can become part of the shadows, practically rendering me invisible to the naked eye. Only in the shadows, though."

Sandslash nodded, still holding his thoughtful gaze.

"Hmm… interesting… where were you in the forest that we couldn't see you?"

"In one of the larger evergreens. There was a gap in the branches that let me see all the action without being seen."

"Really?" asked Sandslash interestedly. "That's something…"

"I don't mean to interrupt," said Mewtwo with every intention of interrupting, "but what in God's name are you two on about?"

Sandslash felt like he got snapped out of a daze as he turned to Mewtwo.

"My mistake, Mewtwo. I was just thinking about how we could get into Team Rocket's base," said Sandslash in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Get into—what?" spluttered Mewtwo.

Sandslash quickly glanced towards Gengar to make sure he did not misinterpret his eyes. They were no longer nervous, but set. The message was clear and reflected what Sandslash just said. Without a word, both were in agreeance.

"Mewtwo," Sandslash said slowly and clearly, "we want to help you take down Giovanni once and for all. Or at least, Gengar and I do. I can't speak for the rest of the group."

Mewtwo's mouth fell open.

"Are you out of you mind?" he asked weakly.

"No," said Sandslash promptly. "Gengar and I want to help. All three of us got the real taste of what Giovanni is capable of. I don't want anyone else to experience that for as long as I live."

"Absolutely not," said Mewtwo, instantly regaining proper speech and adding a bite to it, "No, I won't allow you two to do this. There's all too good of a chance something will happen to anybody here, and I'll be to blame. I'm doing this myself."

"Must I remind you of the damage you sustained, even with a helping hand?" asked Sandslash impatiently, "You're going to get killed if you try and undermine his regime singlehandedly. You need as much help as possible to carry out this task, especially if it's to be done by the year's close. You can't do this by yourself, Mewtwo."

"He's right, Mewtwo," spoke up the Blaziken for the first time. "It sounds like Sandslash knows exactly what he's talking about. You need his and Gengar's brains—along with more than a bit of brawn—to topple Giovanni." He glanced around nervously before adding, "I want to help out as well. Count me in."

For the briefest second, the Blaziken's trainer took a small intake of breath and clenched his jaw, like he wanted to say something but was struggling for the right words to voice it. He pushed his thick glasses farther up his nose to hide this moment.

A small motion in the corner of Sandslash's eye caught his attention. Glaceon, sitting in Steph's lap, looked up at her trainer with meaningful eyes while tapping her leg to get her attention. Steph glanced down, and in a jiffy, looked back up to address Mewtwo.

"Glaceon wants to offer her best effort towards your cause, Mewtwo, as do I," she said with an exceedingly serious expression—something very different from what she displayed towards Sandslash during his time in recovery. "We want to help."

Mewtwo opened his mouth to say something, most likely to deter her statement, when a high, raspy voice added, "Me too."

Everyone looked around in unison to Squirtle sitting in Tim's lap. Eyes wide with surprise flashed simultaneously at Squirtle, causing a dull flush to build up his face. Mewtwo seemed absolutely stunned to hear these words issue from Squirtle's mouth and was struck dumb for several seconds.

"You're talking crazy," said Mewtwo scornfully. "I'm not going to let you cross danger's path again, especially because you're not very skilled."

Squirtle's jaw clenched just like Bryce's did, but this time, it was in obvious anger.

"Giovanni ordered my father dead," retorted Squirtle hotly. "He's not going to get away with any more murder if we can stop him. I want to see him pay, Mewtwo."

He spoke with such unquestionable passion that Sandslash admired this youngster's bravery, but Mewtwo was quick to answer.

"I'm your guardian, Squirtle. My job is to protect you. I'm not allowing this. Plus, I don't think you're that great at battling either."

Tim, silent thus far, interjected with a raise of his brow, "I dunno Mewtwo… Squirtle's grown a lot since he started studying and practicing with me. I wouldn't doubt his abilities."

"Whose side are you on?" Mewtwo burst out, gesturing angrily towards Tim. "We haven't even agreed to go after Giovanni yet! You guys are jumping the gun before we can do anything to prepare!"

"Debatable," spoke up Allen. "There's…" he paused, counting heads for a second before saying, "There's a lot twelve of us can do in a little over two weeks to prepare for this. We can gather more recruits if possible, fix up your armor, practice using the Mega Ring… you get the gist."

Mewtwo's expression was quickly deflating from defeat. Sandslash reached forward and took hold of his shoulder, giving gentle pressure.

"Trust me when I say this, Mewtwo," Sandslash said quietly, "If any of us weren't prepared to battle alongside you, none of us would be offering help. We want to see Giovanni done and dusted as much as you do, so there's no reason to refuse our help and fly solo."

Everyone, including those that didn't speak yet, nodded. Seeing this, Mewtwo let his head fall resignedly and sighed a deep breath.

"All right."

Sandslash gave Mewtwo's shoulder a little shake and felt a tiny smile play on his own face. Mewtwo looked up at Sandslash's motion that caused him to sway slightly and gazed into his eyes. He caught the smile and returned a small one of his own. Finally, these two former Diamond Squad members were fighting for the same cause again.

But this time, they knew what they were doing was unquestionably and undeniably right.