CHAPTER 13: UNITY
Meanwhile, Luna Calix, and the escaped wild ones and the escaped clones had managed to evade capture, having fled into the woods across the lake. As they had watched the struggle on the other shone and witnessed the captured of the pack and the alpha and the children, they had begun to scheme a way to launch a rescue attempt. Once they had carried the injured deeper into the safety of the forest, the still strong clones and the human adults circled around and hid on the shore across from where the airships docked. There they bided their time, waiting until it was evident that the enemy believed itself secure. Four long minutes they watched the Rockets milling about, lining up the pack members to be marched aboard the airships, which were in the process of being repaired. The moment, they were sure, would arrive when the target would be at the optimal position…as they spread out over the island, Ninetalestwo, acting as the commanding forced with Calix and Luna, given that the betas had been captured, ordered for the water elemental to begin travelling to the island underwater.
There, they would snatch the members of the group which had strayed away into the depths of the lake and bury them in the lakebed, so that, even when they drowned, their corpses would not rise to the surface. With the fastest swimmers she sent a few of the plant type to begin land strikes, as the pokémon of the botanical world could last without oxygen the longest, and as such could make the journey unscathed. In the coming hours these guerilla strikes would steadily deplete the ranks of Giovanni's underlings…and by the time the elite noticed, nearly thirty percent of the minions had been snatched away. Without a certain culprit, the elite grew edgy, beginning to search the island…but by that time, Ninetalestwo's soldiers had retreated to the opposite shore to plan their next moves.
An airstrike, along with heavy elemental firepower, would have to be next…the clones swiftly called for what remained of the wild ones to find stones and dry branches—which could be lit aflame—to wield against the remaining force. The two humans, on the other hand, carefully gathered a variety of insect powders in vials and spare socks—beating the Rockets in the face with them, or shattering vials full of potent stuff, might paralyze, poison, or render the ones who breathed the powders in unconscious. Widespread distribution would only injure the hostages and their own fights—they must be wielded with care by the flying types….
Finally, they implored the shy Abra community to do but two things in the ensuing battle: teleport them in fast and transport the captured out. While many of the psychics turned away, six agreed to provide their services, and so partnered up with the first wave of three. These ones would be especially vulnerable, for they would be transported to the heart of the enemy ranks and would be the first to engage. As such, the heaviest hitters went first, grasping the hand of the yellow, bipedal foxes beside them and charged their elemental energies to release on re-materialization. Ninetalestwo, their leader, was among these fighters. Gathering a cyclone of flame in her gullet, containing all of her fury and her thirst for vengeance, she vanished with her partner in a flash of azure…for a millisecond the world was subzero, without air…then she was among black-clad humans and fire bellowed from her throat in a fierce howl which cremated the enemy in a flash of flame. Beyond her the land erupted in solar beam death rays, torrents of ice, deathly gases, lightning blasts, firestorms, and when all else failed, fangs and claws and talons, all wicked sharp and soon crimson with blood. Another twenty percent died within the first thirty seconds. The foxes, in the first five, had already transported a third of the captives away.
When the second wave struck, the Rockets had managed to regain their bearings and unleashed their own teams…and wielded their own firepower of manmade weapons against them. Yet boulders and fire rained down from above them and wounds were gouged into the vehicles the human sought to take cover in. Around her, Ninetalestwo saw the humans and pokémon alike engage and fall, and though the psychic kits were quick, they would not be able to teleport away all of the wounded on their side—some would die before help arrived. Even now, the fire fox snarled as bullets bits into her thigh and shoulder, but she continued fighting and tore out the throat of the one who dared shoot at her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw another round of hostages saved—one more wave left, and when the tides would turn. The captured would be freed and return to help banish the enemy…Calix and Luna would ensure it….
Yet where were the human captives? Where was Briar? Mewtwo, they knew, was largely unobtainable—the machines holding him in place repelled psychical abilities, and so he could not be teleported away. By this point, hours into torture, he seemed only distantly aware of the battle around him…he could not participate in the two-sided slaughter. He would have to be freed as well, but those with strong enough jaws and mass to destroy the element-retardant machines were currently engaged. She howled for these individuals to come, but it was taking too long, much too long! Human explosives began to be pelted among them, burning and throwing them into the earth, the hail of bullets was thickening, the psychics on their side could only shield and transport so many…even as their abilities allowed them to infiltrate and break the clustering humans, they were still outnumbered, and even they had their limits….
They needed backup, and they needed it fast.
Yet this day, heaven granted them favor…and so, after the hell of the invasion and the abuse, the cavalry arrived…and it did do in the most unlikely of forms: the human children, along with a thinner Briar ran from out of the caves into the midst of the battle.
Ash, Misty, and Brock, as soon as they saw what was going on, released their teams to help the clones, leaving them largely to their own devices—for in this war, instincts and true violence would keep them alive, rather than the commands of children. Instead these three, Briar leading them, raced to the machines which Mewtwo was held by. Once they found the machines were completely sealed, brute force became their weapon of choice—summoning Onix to their side, they ordered the rock-snake to crush the machines in his coils—first one, then the other, imploded upon the diamond-hard hide of the great pokémon…and as their light faded, there, in the midst of the war, the alpha fell into a frail heap on the ground. Briar, ignoring the battle around her, raced to his side and fell onto her knees next to him, reaching for him and coming to cradle his head in her laps and hands. He quivered in her grasp, his nerve-ends firing in painful, residual spasms, but he lulled his head back and gazed upon her….
"Briar…you are free? Thank god/goodness…."
"Shhhh, don't use your energy talking. Don't…."
His eyes fell to her core and his brow furrowed. "Briar…our child…what has happened?"
She stroked his brow and smiled softly. "He decided to come a little early…but he's safe, Mewtwo, don't worry."
A son? He closed his eyes, delighting from afar that knowledge…but there would be a time for joy later. Now was a time of war…he could hear so many voices screaming, including the resilient Giovanni and that Domino girl…this had to end…he had to summon up what strength remained to him and end it. Try to stagger up, his mate caught him as his legs gave out…but he must rise and protect them, he must…!
"Mewtwo, no…! You can't fight now. You can barely stand!"
"I am the only one who can end this quickly, Briar…if I must use the last of the life in me to destroy our enemy and restore peace for us, for you and our son, I must do so…."
It was at that time that Luna and Calix managed to fight their way over to them, each wielding socks full of incapacitating dust and clutching makeshift masks over their noses. "Hold on!" Calix shouted. "You can't just die 'destroying' this enemy—what if others return here later? Who will be strong enough to protect your pack and spring then? You need to survive this!"
"And you can't leave this girl and her baby behind," Luna snarled.
"What would you suggest I do? There is no time to go somewhere to convalesce, and this battle keeps getting worse by the second!"
"The spring!" Calix spat. "It's only your enemy levels that have been depleted and your nerves endings shot. Yet that water, if my findings are correct, should be just the boost necessary to restore your strength."
The alpha faltered, then asked, "Yet do we have the time-?"
"We'll make time for you," Misty shouted, grasping Brock by the arm and steering him into battle. Looking at Ash, she called, "Ash, you and Pikachu act as their guard! I'm expecting you to get back to me to hand over a diamond-studded ring and sire lots of fat, healthy babies!"
Though this momentarily stunned Ash, he gave her a cheeky grin and nodded, and turned towards Calix and Luna. "Calix, you're a ranger, so you take Pikachu and scout ahead. I'll bring up the rear with the rest of my team. Luna, Briar…you guys help get Mewtwo to where we're going."
With his reasoning being sound, no one questioned that issue of authority, and so together ducked into the caves, firing ahead and behind in warning not to apprehend or pursue. During this time, no one spoke but to hiss warnings—Ash soon reported that the "blonde bitch" was on their tail, and often fell behind to fend her off. Whenever he caught up, he sported more scratches and bruises, but maintained his confident grin, reassuring them that his ambush tactics, honed over years of watching Jessie and James strategize, were being effective against the supposedly seasoned Team Rocket agent. When they finally reached the spring, Mewtwo used a bit of his telekinesis to seal the entrance behind them…and with relief, the women carried him to the spring edge and set him down. Jessie and James, preoccupied with a fussy kitten, did not initially notice their arrival—and once they did, they kept hidden, for the enemy was in hot pursuit.
Wasting no time, Briar filled up Luna's canteen with the mineral water and tipped a generous amount into her beloved's mouth. "You wanted to witness the effect of this water, Luna, Calix," she growled. "Well here it is."
And slowly, yet surely, Mewtwo's muscles ceased trembling, his color returned, his eyes focused and brightened, and within a matter of minutes he began to gleam faintly azure. Sitting up he grimaced slightly, murmured a few words of thanks to those surrounding him, and turned to his mate. He reached out a paw, brushing her face lightly with a paw, and seemed, for a moment, to yearn to say something to her in that short moment of peace….
Yet in that moment, the exit behind them exploded in a torrent of rock and flame, and an infuriated Domino stepped in, raising a scepter formed from one of her artificial tulips to blast blue lightning down upon them, her frenzied, wild gaze specifically aimed at Ash and Briar!
And with a sweep of his telekinesis, Mewtwo lifted her into the now smoky air, rising to his feet with glaring, glowing blue eyes and his fangs bared. He lashed his arm, thrusting her into the granite wall, hearing the air leave her lungs…and he clenched his paw together, hard, mindful of what this woman had done to his mate. The woman's ribcage and pelvis were crushed, her spine crumpled—blood burst from her mouth, her gaze dull, and the corpse fell to the ground in a lifeless heap. And just in time to see his second-in-command fall, Giovanni, carried in his helicopter, swooped down, roaring in fury:
"How dare you! HOW DARE YOU, MEWTWO!"
And Mewtwo, in that moment, was finished playing games. He grasped the entire vehicle with his telekinesis, clutching his paws together out before him, and bit by bit began pulling the vehicle apart as he howled, "I DARE BECAUSE YOU BROUGHT WAR INTO MY HOME! YOU AND YOURS THREATENED MY PEOPLE, MY MATE AND CHILD, AND COUNTLESS INNOCENTS WITH IMPRISONMENT, ABUSE, AND DEATH! YOU ATTEMPTED TO DESTROY THIS SANTIFICED LAND TO DRIVE US ALL INTO YOUR GRASP—YOU CROSSED THE LINE, GIOVANNI, NOT I! AND FOR THAT, I WILL RETURN THE INJURY TENFOLD!"
And as he ripped away the last shred of metal from the vehicle, exposing the man within, he set forth a tide of telekinetic energy into the human's yielding flesh and bone, the edges of the attack razor sharp and charged with the electrical voltage equivalent to what the clone himself had been subjected to. Gouges tore into muscle and sliced through bone, and as Giovanni was dispatched, all eyes but Mewtwo's turned away, unable to endure the sight of his vengeance. After his nemesis' life was put to an end, the clone gathered up the fore with his powers and cast it in pyrokinetic flames, which consumed the corpses in moments, leaving only ash and bone…and that, in time, would be buried for from here….
Yet for now, with that gruesome work done, Mewtwo cast into the winds of the remaining Rockets the bloody fates of their leaders and growled in a cool, emotionless voice, "Surrender or meet their same demise—you have ten seconds to obey or I will execute you as well."
And through his empathic feed, he sensed the remaining enemy agents dropping their weapons, returning their teams, and falling to their knees with their arms aloft. Horror paralyzed some and caused the stomach of others to rebel—but in the end, they were rounded up by Misty, Brock, and their pokémon ranks, whose cheers of triumph, for a minute or so, went up in the air. Yet soon enough, the dark nature of the victory would render them as somber as those involved in it, and their own losses would lead to a silence that would not break in the coming hours, as the dead were laid to rest and the enemy, acting as skeleton crews in the remaining ships, were escorted by the wild ones and the clones capable of flight. Once night had fallen, and the last of the evidence of the war buried beneath the battle-scarred earth, the pack and the human visitors gathered in the chamber of the spring to rest, to mingle, and for what would be their final conference.
Mewtwo and Briar, by this time, looked over them all, visitors and pack members alike…and as their son was returned to them, they momentarily blocked out the others, who themselves attempted to give them a moment of privacy. Briar, smiling as she held their son, gazed up at her mate and murmured, "Mewtwo, I'd like you to meet our son, Acacio."
He smiled, brushing a paw over the infant's face. "Hello, Acacio…now do not let your mother deceive you! While she gave you that name, I was the one who chose it. Yet if you are anything like her, it should suit you well, little one."
His grin widening, he grasped his offspring as Briar handed the kitten to him, holding the child close…and, for the first time in days, he felt the darkness clouding his heart lift—this was his child with the woman that he…that he….
He wrapped his tail around Briar, pulling her against them, and then swiftly, skillfully, caught her mouth with his, caring not that his expression of his ardor for her was exposed to all the world. When they parted, several seconds later, he said to her, with warmth, "I love you as well, my Briar Rose."
Tears shone in her eyes—happy tears—and she nodded, grateful to whatever power that be that they were alive, that they were safe, and that they knew peace once more….
Yet returning them to the moment, the pack members and the visitors shifted restlessly, and allowing Briar to cradle Acacio again, Mewtwo turned to the others one more and began to speak. "My friends, these past two days have contained the darkest and fiercest moments of our lives—and now that these trials have passed, we must look upon what we have gained and lost through these events. Foremost, our numbers have been depleted—we are now deprived of some of our closest companions and allies, and there are those among us who have survived who have lost the full use of their bodies and abilities. Many of these individuals gave their lives and liveliness through defending others—none truly fled from cowardice, but gave their all as true friends do. For these noble creatures, let us take a few moments of silence to honor them."
And so their heads bowed…and when they rose again after several minutes, Mewtwo continued, "Yet let us not forget that we have also lost our enemies. Through the aid of the wild ones and our human visitors, we have defeated those who sought to decimate and defile us, and in this way, we are far stronger than ever before. Our bonds we have gained are lasting and unyielding, and cannot be denied."
The pack members around them, many of whom had desired to go their own way, moved nervously. Would he use what had occurred to guilt them into remaining here? Where was he headed with this topic?
Holding them all in his gaze, the alpha then said, "And for that reason, I believe that there will never be a better time for us all to seek out our chosen paths in life."
Shock met his eyes wherever he looked, and smiling softly he declared, "We each are now more aware than ever before and the ties between us—and because, in this night, we can view these ties as ones which connect and do not bind, I see no reason why we must cluster here and allow those ties to fray with discontent. In our victory over those who would condemn us for what we are, we have been given another chance at life—hence, I implore you all to live in whatever way you wish for yourselves. If you do so within this canyon, that is your choice; if you do so beyond this place, I will make no more to stop you. I give you my blessings either way, and only ask that you say farewell before you depart—for while we might meet again, there is every chance that we may not, so let us part in peace when we can."
At this, the pack cried out their approval and joy, and made plans amongst themselves with how to enter into the future come dawn. The visitors, however, were another matter entirely. Turning to them, Mewtwo's expression became somber, and he murmured to them, "To our guests here, however, I am afraid matters are somewhat more complicated. Tell me, can you keep everything you found here, and everything that occurred here, secret? Can you bury in the depths of your mind the deaths of those in the Team Rocket organization, including that of the Viridian Gym Leader? Can you conceal the healing nature of this spring, of my packs' and my heritage, and the nature of my relationship with the woman and child beside me? After you have seen the effect of corrupt members of your kind upon us all, can you be trusted with this knowledge…or must I, to protect Mt. Quena and all who dwell now within, erase such knowledge from your minds?"
For a moment, the seven humans and their pokémon companions appeared stunned, but then understanding blossomed, and they turned to each other and discussed the matter amongst themselves. After several minutes of considering the situation from all angles, they nodded to themselves and turned back to the alpha. Jessie, with James and Meowth right beside her, went first:
"James, Meowth, and I need to remember—otherwise, we'll go right back to Team Rocket, and after everything we've seen here, we want nothing more to do with that organization. We'll find other ways to get by—we always do. And don't worry—we won't tell anyone about what happened here."
Sensing the honesty and sincerity in her words, he nodded and turned to the trio of children—the boy, Ash, stepped forward. "Misty and me want to remember too—for our own reasons," he blushed slightly as he said that, and went on, "And if you leave our brains intact, you have to count Brock in two. While the three of us can keep these secrets from the world, we can't keep them from each other, so it's all of us or none of us!"
Mewtwo nodded to them as well, "I believe you, and will also allow you to retain your memories." Then, turning at last to Calix and Luna, he asked, "And what of you two? What have you decided?"
Glancing at each other, Calix sighed and said, "I'm sorry, but we can't do it. As a medical researcher, my purpose is to improve the health and quality of life of my patients—and that, after seeing what that water can do, includes showing my findings with the spring. And Luna, as a wildlife researcher, has to report pokémon who could be dangerous to humans—and you all definitely qualify. That, and its our civic duty to report any human lives lost in the nearby area—even if the people who die are complete scum. Hence, you're going to have to erase our memories…but don't worry, we'll volunteer; was want this region and you all safe just as much as the others."
Walking up to them, the alpha's eyes began to glow. "Very well then…I will clear your winds of these events and transport you to your cabin. Farewell, Luna Carson, Cullen Calix—live well."
And their eyes too lit with blue light, then glazed, and finally they vanished via teleportation. He suspected that even without the memory of the past two days, they would be just fine…. Once they were taken care of, he turned to the others and murmured, "Now let the rest of us converse and rest for the remainder of the might. I expect much well change at down tomorrow, for all of us…."
And so it would….