We need some more days to recover after our visit on Seafoam Islands and the short events near Pokemon Mansion. The fate went easy on us, so we were fine after a couple of days, but I decided to stay in the PC for some more and learn the history of this mansion.

To my surprise, there was not very much of it – this so-called Pokemon Mansion was the property of some obviously fake government organization before the Leading Pact and then it was soon privatized by "Rainbow Corp." – obviously, another fake organization. I can already see the logic – a long-live mafia family, connections with all cities in region, the last bastion of Team Rocket on Cinnabar Island… Everything points on Giovanni.

The only question… Why was this place exploded? I clearly saw Team Rocket helicopters starting off the building…

To my extreme surprise and pleasure, now most news accuse Team Rocket for this terroristic act. Looks like the truth actually began to flow on the streets after liberating Saffron City. Now people know about existence of Team Rocket and what they truly are… This will definitely make Giovanni`s life harder.

But what`s strange… Pokemon Mansion was a cultural museum. Capone family was collecting expensive and rare statuettes, pictures and other stuff from all over the world… But among all the fire victims there were a lot of people in lab coats. What scientists were doing in such place?

Looks like this place has its own underground. And I`m going to uncover it.

Okay, here it is… The Pokemon Mansion. I stand before it with my team rested and ready to continue. Who knows, what mysteries can I find here today?

This place is already abandoned, and even cops stopped the investigation for some reason - maybe, Team Rocket still has some influence there. But also it looks… not that bad. It's right wing is totally annihilated, but the left one is just barely touched. I don`t even know, which one looks more suspicious now.

I think I`ll check this place first. Douchebag wanted to head on to gym today, so I guess he is already there. Meh, I`ll get there later – this thing looks much more interesting.

And so, I entered inside. The entrance hall was full of light coming through the broken windows. Some wild pokemon – mostly, Rattatas and Raticates were chewing the different trash lying around, and noticed my appearance. As I came a bit closer, they started to growl at me and approached with threat.

"Don`t I look scary enough?" I asked them displeased. "Well, get this then!"

I released Dumpling outside to be my bodyguard. He roared at the approaching varmints to scare them away, and the flock scattered in fear.

"Good job, my boy." I complimented him. "Let`s see what do we have here."

So we began to search over these ruins. Most of passageways were completely blocked by rubble, so we didn`t have much of a choice. We found a ladder to second floor and left it for later, because right at this moment another thing attracted my mind.

A statue in the room behind it. We squeezed through the broken wall and got into another hall, much smaller. Its walls were ruined from two sides, but it still really dark here… The strongest source of light were the eyes of a tall statue in the middle of it.

It obviously showed a pokemon, the one I have never seen. It looked really… human-like, but with really thin limbs, long tail that turns into his stomach, a small head with short pointy ears and a really brutal look.

Could this be… a figure I saw in the flame? Or it was just a statue I saw?

I tried to touch this and found it suspiciously… new. It was made of marble, and the tooling that shaped the form can be clearly seen. This statue was made a year ago maximum! How strange… Not everything here is so antique, as I can see.

"What do you think of it, Dumpling?" I asked my partner, keeping eyes on it. "Is this a real pokemon or just some sick imagination of Capone family?"

"Warglr…" He replied, trying to be smart in his tone.

"I guess, you`re right. Too bad I don`t have a camera or something like that anymore." I felt really sad for my loss of PokeDex. This thing just began to prove its usefulness. "But I can draw! Watch my back for some time."

I still keep my diary with me, writing on my adventures in a manner no one but me can read. It's a really special kind of book which cover is a water-proof box by itself. THIS is a thing I have to protect harder than my life.

For a couple of minutes I was sketching this statue, looking around it and observing the details, until I found one exact detail really strange.

"What is this?" I thought out loud and bended to look closer. In the three-fingered arm of this pokemon was a small, colored-masked movable panel… with a switch! "This sounds interesting."

I pressed the switch, and a quiet click sounded somewhere from above. This made me shiver, causing the memory of Saffron Police Department.

"Ugh…" I threw away all those memories from the past and focused on the present. In the present, a small panel in statue`s hand suddenly flashed with one of three diodes. Looks like a system with multiple access, I have seen these before. Maybe, this is why the statue looks so new? They were made specifically for the reason of being switches! And also that means, there are three panels in total, and I need to activate them all in order to open the main door.

That leaves one question… Are they dumb enough to hide all three switches in statues?

Or, maybe, even two questions. Is this system still working after the explosion?

Well, at least, this exact one is working. STATUE is working, staring at me with its purple eyes. I slowly became more and more confident that in the flame I saw the statue of this pokemon. So, now I know where to look for the second statue! I`ll save it for the last, I still want to check the second floor.

"Let`s go, Dumpling, for the next one!"

We returned back to hall and get up on the next floor of building. There, it looked much more ruined – the large part of it was blasted away, revealing the sight of bottom floors from above. I can guess, one of explosion sources was right here, on top floors.

At least, the second statue stands right near the ladder here.

"Let`s look at you…" I mysteriously addressed the sculpture and checked its right hand. This one was empty, without any hidden switches. "Really?" I surprised. Just to make sure, I checked the other hand, and… found the second panel, with one diode already glowing. Pressing the switch turned on the second one.

The click repeated. I`m definitely doing something. Who knows – maybe, this will lead me to a secret room? Team Rocket seems to like hidden bases under remarkable buildings, as I already found out in Celadon.

"Good, let`s take a look." I said to Dumpling and headed forward to observe rooms. This time we were lucky, and some of passages were actually passable. So we reached another room, scaring away wild Koffings, and stopped near the table.

There were a ton of different books and papers, badly burnt by the flames. But one of them was different – it was laying aside from others. As I checked it, the label stated only "…Chronicle". Feeling that this could be interesting, I opened it, but was very disappointed – only few pages remained, and they burnt to unreadable state. Only some of the first lines could be read:

July, 5. Guyana, South America. A new Pokemon was discovered deep in the jungle.

My intuition didn`t fail me – this IS interesting. Too bad there is no continue, I would like to read some more about new pokemon. Guyana… It`s somewhere on the south of Unova. That place does have much of interesting and… horrible things.

This book looks pretty new. Maybe, Giovanni was somehow interested in finding new pokemon… I wonder what happened next.

Sudden creak over the wall made me worry. Dumpling paid attention to it too, and angrily growled.

"Wait here, but be ready…" I whispered to Charizard. He nodded and took a battle stance.

I carefully headed to the doors and looked over the corner. In the corridor I saw two men and a young boy in dirty clothes with big bags behind their backs.

Marauders.

They came here to grab all the goods that survived fire. It was officially a museum, after all. But damn, I don`t like them.

"He-he-he, I think we hit a jackpot!" One of them said loudly while looking at the mystery pokemon statue, which had the second switch in it.

"This crap?" The boy asked him. For his voice, he was really too young for marauding burnt museums. Kids these days… "It`s just bronze. Bet`cha can find some gold `ere!"

Damn it, I felt so good alone here, why the heck did they have to appear right now?!

"Away, you creep!" One of burglars shouted at some wild Koffing passing nearby, scaring him away into my direction. Suddenly, when this pokemon flew past me behind the corner, he screeched from seeing me and hurried to escape somewhere else.

"Hey, it`s something there!" The first burglar noticed his behavior and headed in my direction. Stupid Koffing broke my cover.

"It`s me, just me!" I went out with my hands up.

"Who the hell are you?" Another marauder shouted at me.

"I`m here only for books, I don`t need your gold. Please, don`t hurt me!" I begged them for mercy.

"Seems like he heard us. He may sell us out." Boy said to his partners before taking out a gun. "Better be sure."

Great, a day without anyone pointing a gun at me – is not my day.

"Listen, guys, I have no idea who you are!" I continued to beg them. "I just want to find some cheap useless books, that`s all!"

"Ah, get rid of him." The first marauder ordered coldly, waving his hand and walking away.

Fine, enough actor playing.

"DUMPLI-I-I-NG!" I called out to my partner in cover, and the strong stream of flame crashed through the wall and struck the gun in boy`s hand, making him scream and fall back. Guess he will have some bad burns after this.

And then my Charizard rushed through the corridor, crushing on the last bandits and pressing them into the floor.

"I told you – I don`t need your crap! Why do you have to be so mean?" I said them and kicked each one to send to knock-out.

To deal with them for real, I changed my bodyguard to Harry and used Stun Spore, just to make sure. I don`t need any more problems today.

"Okay, let`s go, Harry." I cheered my grim partner, and we headed to the next room.

This one was more like a meeting room – with large table and… a pile of papers. It was those 'Chronicles' again, but less burnt, and… with even less pages. Among all pages that I could read, I found some pieces of story about expedition. Only one remarkable thing attracted my attention:

July, 10. We christened the newly discovered Pokémon, Mew.

This IS the continue. Maybe, the writer had really slim textbooks for writing diaries, that`s why there are so many of them. For some reason I wanted to know what happened next.

Well, looks like I observed the whole second floor, where I could reach. Maybe, it`s time to check out the last one.

Through the closest stairs me and Harry walked up and got into another room. This one didn`t suffer much damage, but it was completely surrounded by debris, so the only way out is back down. But through the small pass in blockade I could see another statue over there. I will be able to reach it if I take the blockade away or just find another way up.

But I wanted to remain in this room a bit more. This was the place for exhibition of ancient vases depicting different pokemon. Among all the pictures I could recognize only Pikachu. This yellow troublemaker was messing with people`s minds even then! I think no one will be surprised if this vase will suddenly drop down and break… It survived the fire, in the end.

Well, apart from it, this room had no value for me, until I noticed a small piece of paper on the floor. It was badly burnt too, but its font reminded me of those 'Chronicles'. And text design too… It IS a page of 'Chronicles'! But text changed completely.

Of all words I could define were 'capture', 'experiment' and 'failures'. Then there was a big coffee spot… and a finale.

February, 6. Mew gave birth. We named the newborn Mewtwo.

Wow. Did they try to breed Mew? Looks like all this was an experiment, and they had a lot of failures… until they succeeded.

Mewtwo… Why Mewtwo? Not Alice, Bark or Sparks? Just… Mew number two.

I could never imagine Team Rocket breeding pokemon. But if this pokemon is rare, so why not? Getting an offspring of rare pokemon for sale could be a good idea… for someone principleless like Giovanni.

But this place doesn`t look like a breeding ground! If this happened in an official Daycare Center, everyone would know that. So where did this go?

The labs.

Of course, they bred Mew in their lab! This still has nothing to do with grass-type pokemon and Masterball project, but it makes sense. Maybe, those statues depict Mew himself!

"This is too strange, don`t you think?" I asked my partner Harry. He quietly growled in reply, showing no interest in this. "Fine, let`s go check that statue."

I carefully put this page in my pocket and proceeded. We returned to the second floor, found the way around and got up. Now the last statue is right before me.

"So, is it right hand now?" I asked it and checked. "Nope, not right hand. Left?" I checked the left hand and exhaled with disappoint. "No, it is not… Where then?"

I looked the statue from top to bottom, around and even checked the post. No sign of a switch anywhere. Did I get it wrong?

I released a tired sigh and leaned on the statue`s head. Suddenly… it moved a bit.

"What the…" I began to observe the head and suddenly found out that it is movable! The whole head is a switch! How terrible – break marble pokemon neck in order to open some secret door.

But I did it, and another click sounded somewhere far away. I looked in that direction and noticed the wall movement in the hall on the opposite side of building. A huge destroyed gap between the floors made it visible for me, so now I know where to head. And, of course, I headed there immediately.

I just can`t get rid of this story in my head… It doesn`t fit completely to Team Rocket. Well, it can fit Giovanni… I already understood that his goals can differ from goals of his gang, he is much more complex man that I thought. And these writings in his house… Was he in the lead of expedition? Did HE write these chronicles?

For some reason I took the last page from my pocket and looked at it. Why are these specific pages lying around the mansion? I would expect to see chronicles in one place, together… Now it`s like… someone read them before me.

I looked over the paper once more. It feels… strange on touch, I didn`t notice it earlier. It looks burnt, but it wouldn`t stay in shape, would it? It would crumble. But it did not.

And then I decided to look on the light through this paper.

I`m an idiot.

This paper is a hint to opening a secret doors! I can see a clearly written word 'head' somewhere between the layers of paper, dirt and PAINT it`s covered in. Someone hid the secret to opening a way in these books, and he was there before me… but after the fire.

"Let`s hurry up, Harry." I said to my pokemon, and we rushed to nearest gap in floor to jump down…

…that was not the smartest idea, as the second floor crushed under us by itself, sending us to the very beginning. That was really hurt, but, at least, I crashed on some small office palms. Harry landed a bit lighter, because he landed on me. Good he appeared to be much lighter for his sizes.

"Ugh… Stop me next time I do this, Harry, okay?" I asked him. He growled displeased in return and headed before me. What a determination!

Now we returned back to corridors of the first floor, heading somewhere to the place with opened wall. That`s some cunning system they implemented here – if it wasn`t for the absence of half of the building, I would never even know what these switches did. You definitely need assistants to activate this… you need three most loyal branch commanders!

So this may actually be the most important place for Team Rocket!

This gave me more determination to chase Harry on our way to the secret passage. Yes, here it is! A ladder down, hidden behind the wall. If flame and explosions damaged the main building, then the underground bunker may still be intact. Maybe, Giovanni`s deeds are so desperate now that he wanted to take away attention from this place… or even fake his own death. That would be extreme, but effective. Very effective. Now I do can expect something like that from him.

We were going down very carefully, looking around and expecting something nasty to happen any moment. The lower level looked exactly like higher ones – this was the unchanged basement of Capone mansion.

"How did you get there?" The male voice scared me. A man in strict and dark lab coat appeared before me, together with his Magnemite, looking very unfriendly.

Harry didn`t wait for battle to begin, and spit a large clot of acid at him, but small Magnemite intercepted it and caught with his body. Steel pokemon are invulnerable to poison attacks, so he didn`t move an inch.

"You freaks! Use Spark, Magnemite!" Opponent rushed into battle.

"Harry, keep yourself in hands! And use Flash!" I scolded my pokemon and redirected him to normal battle flow. He didn`t seem to appreciate it, but remembered that I know better what to do now.

Thus, he exploded a bright light to blind his metal one-eyed opponent. Magnemite got it, but quickly recovered, made a spin and launched a small electrical charge at my Harry. This time he got lucky and it didn`t miss, but the battle had only started.

Too bad that both of us at disadvantage now. Electric isn`t good against grass type, and grass type isn`t good against steel. Acid is completely useless against steel. But we have to proceed with what we have.

"Use Vine Whip, Harry!" I gave the next command.

"Lock-on, Magnemite!" The foe ordered.

We hit the magnet pokemon pretty hard, but thick steel core weakened our hit. Instead of suffering from pain, Magnemite focused his sight at my Harry to get a perfect aim. His eye glowed red – and I know what that means. I know that move, it makes the next attack absolutely unavoidable.

So we will not even try to!

"Harry, let`s perform a Further Inning right at… him!" I evilly pointed at the opposing trainer that confusedly and angrily opened his mouth.

"Thunder wave it!" He yelled to Magnemite, but it was too late. My pokemon grabbed his steel magnet ball and tossed right at him, knocking out both of our opponents.

"Good job, Stun Spore them too just to make sure." I gave the order and headed straight forward. Soon Harry joined me again, growling displeased. "Yes, I don`t like this place too, but we can find something important here, I feel it!"

Suddenly Harry stopped and looked around. It looked like he did find something important. Or, maybe, even smelled it…

"What is it?" I asked him, but he didn`t reply and rushed faster to the next door. I had to chase him, but somehow regularly slow pokemon turned into a lightning. He DID smell something important there! And soon I began to smell it too. Something burning… not just a regular plastic burning – oh, no. Organic burning. And that scared me a lot.

We entered the large half-destroyed room rebuilt into a real laboratory. Tons of scientific equipment, monitors, cables, papers… But the most important thing here was not that shit.

It were the tubes. Large tubes near the walls, containing pokemon… grass pokemon. The ones we have been chasing for weeks, for months…

And that sight was just terrible to see.

NONE of them looked alive.

Those, who were lucky enough, looked just dead… but the rest of them were partly melted into a disgusting pink substance, lying down in the tube they are contained.

We have found the missing pokemon.