Chapter 23

Joasia and Mateusz laid in the sunshine on the vibrant green grass amongst the yellow flowers of the mountaintop, enjoying each other's company as they chatted. They were situated on the bank of the lake that dominated the centre of the mountaintop. Mewtwo had told them during training the previous day that the lake they saw was not the lake that was originally there. He told them he had moved the original lake and put it under the mountain, along with the healing spring they had taken Mateusz to where he had been returned to his 'natural' form.

The empty expanse of land that had dominated the centre of the mountain afterward had filled up with rainwater to make a new lake, complete with a couple of small islands where the ground had been uneven. The scenery was indeed very beautiful, and the air so fresh, that one felt as if they had died and gone to heaven.

"Have you ever wondered what it's like to live in a human city?" Joasia asked Mateusz.

Mateusz shifted his attention away from the sky as he lay on the grass next to her and made eye contact.

"Not really, why?" Mateusz asked.

"I just wonder what it would be like, living in such an artificial place for your entire life," Joasia explained.

"I imagine that humans are used to it, but for us, it would be very difficult as we are so used to living out here where the air is fresh and there is no constant noise from traffic," Mateusz replied.

"Ah yes, I guess that's true, but all the same, it would be interesting to visit one don't you think?" Joasia agreed and the asked.

"Yeah, maybe Mewtwo will take us to see one someday, I personally wouldn't mind seeing what it's like myself," Mateusz said with a look of interest on his face.

"I doubt he would actually allow us, we'd have to sneak off sometime in order to do it," Joasia said, scheming coming into her mind.

"Yeah, maybe when we're much more trained and are stealthier we can go," Mateusz said with a smile as he sat up and thought of the fun they could have.

"Sounds like a plan then," Joasia said with a laugh as she saw the look on Mateusz's face.

"Yeah," Mateusz sighed as he looked at Joasia, "You know, you look quite pretty when the sunlight shines on you,"

Joasia blushed at this comment, "Thank you, you don't look so bad yourself," she replied with a grin.

They smiled at each other for several moments, their cheeks a scarlet red the whole time before standing up.

"I guess I've come to realise, that I really do like you back Joasia, I wasn't so sure before but now I'm certain," Mateusz said as he looked deeply into her dark pink eyes.

"Really?" Joasia asked as her face lit up and she stared back into Mateusz's yellow irises.

Joasia had begun to find Mateusz rather attractive since his transformation to his 'natural' state.

"Yeah, I guess I kind of realised that you've been really kind to me, and I really enjoy your company. You've been a great friend so far, and I think we could be, well, more than that," Mateusz said, struggling to maintain eye contact as he blushed a deeper red and his black tail twitched nervously.

Joasia was speechless at this, and struggled to make a coherent sentence, so instead, she smiled and hugged Mateusz tightly around the neck, causing him to stagger backwards a couple of steps with a look of shock on his face. Mateusz hugged back, and the moment seemed to last forever.

"Ahem," a voice that startled both Joasia and Mateusz coughed from beside the embracing mewtwos.

Lifyra stood a couple of feet away, looking up at them with a wide grin on her face. The two mewtwos stood there looking rather embarrassed but soon regained composure.

"Just saying, but Mewtwo is not happy that you guys are late to training again," Lifyra informed them, "He sent me to fetch you two, but if you're busy…"

"No, we'll come, I'd rather be a bit late than face Mewtwo's anger later for not coming at all," Mateusz said.

"Same," Joasia agreed.

The pair followed Lifyra through the forest atop Mount Quena to where Mewtwo was awaiting them. He turned to face them as they arrived and did not look happy.

"What excellent and completely legitimate excuse must you have for being late for the second time in a row?" Mewtwo sarcastically asked them as he drilled them with his stare.

"Uh, um, well, you see…" Mateusz started, wavering under the glare he was receiving form Mewtwo as he scratched the back of his head nervously.

"We were preoccupied with relaxation and forgot, I'm not going to lie," Joasia explained to Mewtwo.

"Make sure it does not happen again, or I will have to consider punishing you both," Mewtwo warned, "Now we shall begin…"


"When exactly will the weapon be ready?" Giovanni asked the head scientist at the conference table he used for these kinds of meetings with all the major Team Rocket leaders.

"We are actually running a bit ahead of schedule and will have it ready sooner than the 3 week approximation we gave a week ago, instead, so long as there are no setbacks, it should be ready within a week and a half," the head scientist disclosed.

"How much of Team Rocket's money has been spent on this project?" the treasurer of Team Rocket asked from across the large, round wooden table.

"Just over 400 million pokedollars, including wages, components, rare elements, and electricity," the head scientist replied.

"Good, that's a little under the budget we set, well done," Giovanni congratulated the head scientist, "Tell the scientists working on it if they can finish it a day earlier, they all get a raise, including you,"

"I'm sure that will motivate them to work even harder," the head scientist chuckled prospectively.

"Alright then, any more matters to discuss?" Giovanni asked the panel of Team Rocket executives, "No? Well then, this meeting is adjourned, we will continue this meeting when the weapon has been completed."

It had been rather fortunate that when the original mewtwo had erased their memories at Mount Quena, the computers had not been wiped as well; it had after all made it much easier to create a second mewtwo from the data they contained.

Team Rocket still intended to have at least one of the two mewtwos they had created in their possession alive, preferably the newest one as the old one; according to the digital diaries the scientists that created it had used; possessed a will that was far too powerful for them to control. They would probably just kill the old one as it posed far too much of a threat to Team Rocket's interests…


"Sir, the weapon escaped!" a scientist shakily yelled into a radio piece.

"What?! Our mewtwo escaped?! How could you let this happen?! This organisation has put far too much time and money into that thing for you to just let it escape!" the head of the secretive organisation replied, angered voice crackly over the radio.

"It was too powerful, we could not contain it, and I saw everything that happened. It killed everyone! There were no survivors," the scientist explained.

There was a tense moment of silence before the man got a reply from the head.

"There was one survivor, you, but not for much longer. As a reward for your incompetence we have sent a complimentary thermobaric missile, which is currently on route to your location as we speak," the head informed the now fearful man.

The head hung up the radio and smiled as he watched the screen which displayed the current location of the missile in respect to the lone survivor's location. The scientist attempted to get out of the building and had reached the main entrance when he saw a trail of smoke behind an object that flew at extreme speed towards the base. The man sank to his knees at the sight and let out a whimper moments before the missile impacted.

The explosion resembled a scaled down version of a nuclear bomb but was enough to completely annihilate the entire complex and leave its ruins burning. There was nothing much left of the scientist to speak of as he had been completely pulverised by the force of the explosion…


"Training is done for today, I certainly hope you actually managed to gain some experience, regardless of the fact that you were late," Mewtwo told the two exhausted mewtwos that stood before him panting.

"So we can leave now?" Joasia asked.

"You may leave Joasia, but I would like to have a word with you, Mateusz," Mewtwo told them.

"Alright then," Joasia said to Mewtwo before turning to face Mateusz, "Meet me at the lake once you're done, Mateusz,"

Joasia waved and then left. Mewtwo and Mateusz were left alone, standing in the clearing.

"I don't think you've been telling me the full truth Mateusz," Mewtwo said to Mateusz, eyes narrowing.

"What, about Joasia or something?" Mateusz replied as he blushed at the thought that Mewtwo might know about him and Joasia.

"No, I have no idea what you mean by that. I mean, I suspect you have been lying to me about not having anything to do with Team Rocket," Mewtwo said with a tone of suspicion as he took a step closer to Mateusz.

"I don't know what you mean Mewtwo, I've been telling you the full truth the whole time," Mateusz explained.

"I just find it rather suspicious that you show up with hardly any memory of anything at all, and now you somehow have been revealed to be of the same species as me without you having any previous knowledge about it," Mewtwo told Mateusz.

"I honestly had no idea about it, I have no memory of my life before I woke up under a tree in that forest where I found you," Mateusz replied.

"It's not just that, it's also the fact that after you and I left for that Team Rocket base, the others got attacked by Team Rocket, as if they knew I was leaving," Mewtwo said as he took another step closer to Mateusz.

"Oh come on Mewtwo, you seriously think I told Team Rocket you were leaving? Don't you remember seeing me fighting off those Team Rocket grunts at the base?" Mateusz tried to reason with Mewtwo as he took a step nervously backwards.

"Well, I suppose that's true, but that could have all been an act, so I'm going to be keeping a very watchful eye on you. I don't want you going out of my sight at all for the next few days," Mewtwo said as he finally backed down, "Shall we go and meet Joasia where she asked you to then?"

"Yeah, I suppose we should, but don't you think that's a bit restricting on me to say I can't go out of your sight? Because then I can't go exploring in my free time with Joasia," Mateusz asked Mewtwo.

"I'm not backing down Mateusz, I need to know I can trust you one-hundred percent, or you will have to leave, or die," Mewtwo replied.

"Okay then…" Mateusz grumbled, upset at his new limitations to what he could do.

Mateusz and Mewtwo walked through the forest in the direction of the lake where Joasia was supposed to be awaiting them.

"So Mateusz, what was that you said to do with Joasia when I was first beginning to interrogate you?" Mewtwo suddenly asked.

"Ah, erm, well, you see… It's nothing, don't worry about it," Mateusz mumbled.

"You must tell me Mateusz, I would like to know," Mewtwo said, this time smirking at a now blushing Mateusz.

"I think you should ask Joasia about it instead," Mateusz told Mewtwo as they arrived at the lake.

Joasia stood near the water's edge, looking out into the middle of the lake. She heard their footsteps as they approached and turned to face them. She seemed surprised that Mewtwo was with Mateusz.

"Why is Mewtwo with you? I thought it was just you coming," Joasia asked Mateusz.

"He apparently doesn't completely trust me due to what is an unfortunate series of coincidences in truth, which he suspects may be my doing rather than coincidences, and so he is keeping a close eye on me for the next few days," Mateusz explained with a roll of the eyes and an annoyed look on his face.

"Ah, I see. But that's kind of stupid, you've done nothing wrong," Joasia replied as she shot Mewtwo a disapproving glance.

"So what's going on between you and Mateusz then? He said I should ask you rather than him," Mewtwo asked with an amused smirk.

"Well…" Joasia replied, beginning to blush…