The basement stands in peaceful quiet as Thunder and I wait for Mewtwo to awaken. Looking to try and do something productive, even slightly, in the meantime I casually scroll through the Hoenn news feed on my phone, looking for any signs of potential Rocket activity. Sure enough their activities are continuing. And growing in frequency. The region's premiere news site is calling it an "unprecedented crime wave." Though whether that is objective truth or simply the site trying to fish for views is unclear, but regardless, things are getting worse. Rocket is getting bolder. Jackson has even asked for Tsunami to join him on his commutes for protection.

The authorities claim they are doing everything in their power to curb the growing chaos, but the fact it's gotten as bad as it has suggests one of two things. Either Rocket has grown powerful enough to actively challenge the police head-on, or there are bribes and moles aplenty in the law's ranks. The latter seems more likely as the former would probably devolve into war on the streets. And that hasn't happened. Hopefully it never will. But I fear that getting the police involved will tell Rocket exactly where we are. We're on our own.

My train of thought is brought to an abrupt halt as Mewtwo suddenly rouses from their slumber, rising up from the couch. They're hyperventilating. Panicking. Something I've never seen from them before.

"Woah! Easy there Mewtwo." I say. "You're safe. You're among friends."

"W-w-w-what is this feeling!?" They stammer. "I can't-I can't t-t-think straight!" Did all that trauma flip a switch or something in them? This is by far the most emotion I've ever seen out of them.

"Panic. It's panic. Extreme fear. Focus a minute. Breathe. Slowly. In through the nose, out through the mouth." After struggling to ease their breaths for a minute they get into a rhythm. In... and out. In... and out. In... and out.

"That is... that is a bit better..." They say. "What happened? We were listening to that music then I... I... I don't remember but I know... Arceus, I was dying... It... scared me. Why did it scare me?" Their breaths grow shallow again as anxiety threatens to take back control.

"Mewtwo. Breathe. You're okay. You're alive. Lay down and breathe. Just focus on breathing." They lay back down and try to get back into that rhythm. I join in to try and ease them into it. After a good ten minutes they finally seem composed enough to talk to. "You better?"

"I believe so. What exactly happened? And why are all these feeling so... powerful?"

"That object in your brain we told you about a while ago? It tried to kill you by injecting toxins into your head. It was a kill switch that Rocket would activate to prevent you from going on a rampage."

"Clearly it failed."

"Yeah. It sounds like they tried, based on previous neurotoxic damage, but it only affected your memory center. I think it malfunctioned. And then went off in earnest today from that same malfunction."

"Is it gone?"

"It's gone."

Their relief is palpable. They let out a deep sigh. "Thank Arceus... That still doesn't explain my sudden emotional state of being. Is that how the rest of you live? How do you handle all this!?"

"Experience and practice. Years of it. I'll be glad to help you through it. As for the why, I can't say."

"You said that this all started when Alex had you listen to all that music, right?" Thunder chimes in. "What if you starting to feel emotion is what triggered the device? And it ended up destroying whatever it was keeping you from feeling?"

"I don't know of any area of the brain that could inhibit emotions like that. Unless that genetic sensor gives us some massive revelation I don't think that's it. I hope Jackson's having luck getting ahold of that adaptor. "

Jackson

Today has been a slow day at Devon Corp. At least when it came to the administrative side of things. This gave Jackson the freedom to work on some paperwork for a coworker as a favor. Sure Damien was a slacker and pawned off his work to others whenever he got the chance, but he worked in the west wing, which means Jackson would have to pass right through the manufacturing floor to reach him. The perfect chance to snag a tracking sensor adaptor.

With a final keystroke and a sigh, Jackson leans back and stretches. The work is finished. He clicks "print" and the printer on the other side of the room whirrs to life. He gets up and walks over to it. By the time he reaches it the document is finished, letting him quickly pick it up and be on his way. After a short elevator ride downwards he enters the manufacturing floor.

The thundering sounds of industrial machines fills the massive room. Rows and rows of mechanical assembly lines are situated across the room, each one constructing products ranging from pokeballs to high end research equipment. Technicians assisted by machamps work tirelessly to keep the machines running. All of them too absorbed in their work to notice him. Hopefully it stays that way.

As he approaches the machines that assemble the genetic tracking sensor and its adaptor, Jackson pauses for a moment. Is he really going to steal an expensive piece of tech from the factory floor? The kind of thing he fought against back on Pokemar? The circumstances aren't quite so black and white, though. Devon is almost certainly in league with Team Rocket and Rocket has been kidnapping pokemon from Pokemar, not to mention doing Arceus knows what with Mewtwo. The police are effectively in their pocket, meaning there is no reliable way to do this above board without Rocket catching their scent. As wrong as this feels, there isn't a better way right now.

He glances at the technicians working on the machine. Once again, completely preoccupied. Jackson takes a breath and steps over to the boxes of finished adaptors and snagging one from the pile and stashing it in his pocket. There. It's done. Now to deliver the report to Damien. He walks away from the machine towards the other side of the floor, not daring to look back.

After a minute or two of walking Jackson finally reaches the door to Damien's office. And, as to be expected, he appears to be wasting time playing some kind of web-based pokemon battling sim. Jackson knocks on the door and, to his mild amusement, Damien scrambles in a fumbling panic to try and switch his screen to an official looking spreadsheet.

"Come in!" He says with false enthusiasm. How he hasn't been caught yet by management is beyond him. Jackson enters the door and sets the report on Damien's desk.

"I finished that report you needed."

"Thank you so much, Jackson! You have no idea how much this means to me. I would've done it myself but my workload is just sky high right now."

Jackson fights to keep a straight face. "I can imagine."

"One question though, why didn't you just e-mail it to me? Would've been much faster."

"You know, getting cooped up in an office all day makes you yearn to stretch your legs a little. Figured this was a good excuse."

"Yeah, I suppose it does. Better get back before the boss notices you're missing."

"I should. Take care, Damien."

"You too, man."

Jackson exists the office, heading back towards the manufacturing floor.

"-us for that?!" A feminine voice yells out from another office, locked up and blinds over the windows. "It was your equipment that caused the breach!" A feeling in Jackson's gut tells him this is important. He sneaks on over and sneaks a look through a gap in the blinds. A woman in a black outfit appears to be in a heated conversation with one of the higher-ups.

"Miss Siana," The man replies calmly. "Keep your voice down. This room isn't sound proof."

Siana glares at the man before continuing. "That implant you sold us? The failsafe for if the subject got lose? It didn't work. More than a dozen of my people were slaughtered in that incident. Their blood is on your hands, Handal."

"I'd say that the blood is on Dr. Fuji's hands, seeing as he started that whole sorry state of affairs. But that's besides the point. As I said, we provided the funding under the impression you would provide results. As that is not the case I am cutting our losses here."

Siana get's into Handal's face. "How about you don't and we don't expose this little operation to the public. I'd imagine that colluding with known criminals would earn you several years in lockup."

Handal is silent for a moment. From Jackson's angle he can't see his face, but can pretty easily picture what it looks like right now.

"...Two weeks. You have two more weeks."

Siana backs up, shooting him a smug grin. "I've got another clone incubating as we speak. I think they'll be matured by then." Clone? Clone of what? Are there more mewtwos out there?!

Jackson spots movement from Siana. She's turned his way, glancing in his direction. Quickly he moves away and focuses on getting back to his office. His heart pounds in his chest. Did she see him? If she did there's no way she could identify him by just his peering eye. The thought eases his fears slightly. Probably best to just get back to work.

Amelia Siana

A flash of movement caught Siana's eye. A snooper? Possibly. She silently chastised herself for raising her voice. Rookie mistake. One she'll have to remedy in a moment.

"Miss Siana," Mr. Handal says with a tone of warning. "If you ever threaten me again, I assure you there will be dire consequences." He's trying to act tough, trying to save face after conceding. Still, best not to treat a threat as an idle one.

"I will keep that in mind. Good day, Mr. Handal." She quickly leaves the room To look for the eavesdropper, only to see no one. They're long gone. She steps aside into an adjacent hallway. Once out of sight she stops to think.

If someone had been snooping, what may they have picked up? And what of that could they act on? They might have clued in on the implants and could try and do some digging inside Devon. The people here could handle that. The fact that Rocket and Devon are collaborating could be dangerous if it got out. She'll be sure to tell her police contact to silence that if it comes up. Then there's Fuji. Another dangerous loose end. One that will require a bit more effort to handle. She digs her phone from her pocket and dials up her partner, Jonathan. He is quick to pick up.

"Siana. What can I do for you?"

"I think someone was eavesdropping on my conversation with Mr. Handal. I want you to send a strike team to the Fuji residence. If anyone shows up there in the next week, apprehend them, interrogate them, and silence them."

"Think they might be in league with that human from the pokemon world?"

"I'm not taking any chances. This project's on a knife's edge as is."

"I'll take care of it right away, ma'am."

"Good. I'll meet with you soon." Siana ends the call. Hopefully this eavesdropper is, in fact, working with that man. Maybe their fortune will turn around after all.