CHAPTER 7: THE SHIFT

Months passed and the seasons turned in Purity Canyon, and as they turned, the felines began to live in a tranquil atmosphere nearly indistinguishable from peace. Together they watched as the leaves of the trees flared from pure emerald into the hues of flame and timber, and noted how the mountain air acquired a far chillier bite, which smelled of approaching snow. More and more often thick swells of clouds shunted the sun from the sky, releasing their final howls of thunder, lighting, and furious downpours of rain and hail before their rage subsided into quieter, more pacifistic weather. Although the occasion blizzard did freeze the basin, light snowfall typically settled over the now hibernating paradise in a white, cottony blanket which delighted Kamaria. To Mewtwo's mutual amusement and dismay, he found her dancing and playing in the frozen drifts, and creating parodies of angels upon the plains of white. After every hour of this frolicking, he joined her in the cold, and every time his attempts to give her a warm blanket resulted in him being submerged in the wonders of the winter world: a world of telekinetic snowball fights, enormous igloos guarded by hoards of snow-people, and elaborate ice carvings. Once he had managed to succumb to the sheer childish fun of it all, Mewtwo was vaguely reminded of a time when he himself had been very small, and as such found the renewal of youthful joy a pleasant experience for him.

However, even during these times when Mewtwo could lose himself in his companion's presence, a heavy truth remained leaden in his heart: his companion would not linger in this place through to the next summer; he had brought a reprieve, some more time, and nothing more lasting. As such he savored fully the moments he spent with her, and sometimes used her pregnancy as an excuse for his hovering; after all, he was the closest she had to a doctor, and furthermore, he was more than willing to obtain foodstuffs that would satisfy her cravings. He told her that these were the reasons why he remained near her, and sometimes he inwardly winced at how he exploited the situation, even though it soothed him in how it served alternative purposes and desires without arousing her suspicion….

Regardless of his struggles, life went on, and by midwinter Kamaria's abdomen had swelled significantly. He heard from AI that the female could now not only sense her child but feel it stirring within her, the sensation akin to feathers brushing against the walls of her womb. With every week the mother-to-be drew closer to the event of childbirth, and rather than grow anxious at the thought, she began to relax instead. With the memory of Mewtwo's embrace clear in her mind, she allowed his closeness and even began to open up to him. Her mere tolerance for his presence became preference, and with that change in perspective she found that she increasingly did not mind his chaste touches. In the depths of her heart, she even began to warm when he was near her, and many nights she found herself attempting to subdue the urge to sleep so she might continue to talk with him and AI. Then, perhaps more astonishing, was that once she realized that these alterations had been made, she was not bothered by them. True, it was unlikely she would ever fully trust the created ones, but experience in dealing with humans had taught her something curious concerning that matter: interest, friendship, and even love were all easier to exchange than trust, so long as the individual in question was willing to bond with another. And now, with her cynicism and stubbornness fading, Kamaria proved more inclined to turn to Mewtwo for aid than to struggle alone…or to celebrate alone, as the case might be.

When the event occurred, the night had just slid into the dead hour of three in the morning. Mewtwo awoke to the sound of Kamaria's brisk footsteps padding into his den, and struggling to regain consciousness, he could nonetheless hear the excitement in her voice as her hurriedly whispered to him. Her paws grasped him and shook him gently, yet urgently, from his dreams as she spoke. Once he finally managed to pry open his eyelids and blink up at her groggily, he prompted her to reveal the cause of her frantic glee by grumbling out, "Kamaria, what has happened…? Why are you-"

Taking one of his paws, she pressed it flat against her round middle. "The baby's kicking!" she cried, with a wide grin plastered across her face. "Here, feel right there-"

He nearly jerked away in surprise as he felt the movement beneath his palm, but then his curiosity overruled his shock. He placed his other paw over her womb and felt it again: the infant thrust a limb outwards against Kamaria's flesh, its tiny limbs exploring the soft barrier surrounding it. As he felt the jabbing motions twice more, a small smile of wonder curled over his muzzle – Kamaria, her paws over his, was already beaming. Her desire to share this with him had been compulsive; she had not wished to keep her happiness to herself, but had wanted to experience it with another, and as AI could not touch her to feel this as he could, she had gone to Mewtwo…and from his response, she was now quite glad she had done so. After a minute more of silent awe, the male lifted his muzzle, gazing up at her from his seat on the edge of the blanket-covered stone shelf which acted as his bed. The expression on his face, soft and somewhat unsure, made a pang spear her heart and made it somewhat hard to take a breath – but why she reacted in this way was a matter she could not then confront, for her courage faltered there. Yet then, taking her mind from that uncertainty, he murmured, "May I?"

She blinked down at him, confused. "May you what?"

Although it was likely a trick of the murk, his face seemed to darken with a faint flush, his self-conscious overcoming him as he explained in one word. "Listen."

Strange as the request seemed to her, she understood what he was asking, and so with a nod she stepped forward, allowing him to press an ear to her abdomen. Abruptly lost as to where to place her hands, she merely kept them over the paws on her belly, forcefully resisting the urge to cradle the face that rested against her core. That impulse seemed too alien to consider, and hence was ignored as an absurdity conceived in a fatigued mind….

After several minutes of this nearness, she asked in a hesitant voice, "What do you hear…?"

His gaze, as his eyelids lifted slightly, were glazed and distant. As a quiet moment passed, he said, "…I hear the sound of liquid motion as the child moves within you…as well as a heartbeat, but it is dwarfed by your own…."

She bit her lower lip nervously, and then, suddenly feeling rather shy, inquired, "…And what do you sense from it?"

Without consciously realizing it, Mewtwo stroked at her belly with his thumbs - the sensation was foreign from her coming from another, but it did not arouse her discomfort, and so she did not tell him to cease. Keeping her thoughts from wandering, however, his voice rose again in reply. "I sense comfort…security…warmth…there are no markers of distress, only peace…and it…it seems to adore you already, and enjoy your voice. What I sense are obscure feelings for the most part; I am purposefully not attempting to probe too deeply, as I do not wish to learn the gender of your child, or the potential extent of its abilities."

She tilted her head at him quizzically, wondering at that. "Why would you not wish to know?"

Just barely, he smiled. "I take it you want those details to be a surprise - that is all."

This, however, was not fully truthful of him…for in all honestly, he realized that he did not wish to grow attached to the unborn. That did not, mind you, mean that he hated the creature; even though it undoubtedly was a barrier between Kamaria and him, it would be unjust to despise a being whose only possible evil was that it existed. Such resentment was unfair to the pure creature, and cruel for holding against it something it could not control. However, while he felt no negative sentiment towards the little one, he did envy it: because the infant could make her happy in a way he never could. As he ruminated on that, he felt his smile begin to fade, and with a sigh he drew away from the female. His paws continued to hold hers gently, but suddenly he was reminded of how very tired he was…. As he took in her stance and expression, he mused that at least such weariness was mutual between them: she too seemed sleepy, though her expression held traces of glee whereas his could merely be said to be not unkind.

In a whisper, he uttered, "Thank you for sharing this with me, Kamaria. I think, however, that you would do well to return to your nest now - you need your sleep."

Kamaria knew he was right, and as the incident had concluded and the child now rested, she had no reason to linger here. However, standing before the male, she hesitated, discovering that although the "why" eluded her, she had no desire to depart from the chamber. Perhaps the scent of the cave allured her, as it had been permeated with the natural fragrance of Mewtwo's fur, of mint and musk, which soothed and provided solace…or perhaps she possessed another motivation, one which she could not identify. She did not know, and with nervousness rising within her and tainting her voice, she asked, "Mewtwo, may I…may I stay here, with you, for the remainder of the night?"

Her request was not romantic in nature. She may have asked him for this favor because she did not want to be alone in her own quarters currently after what had just occurred. She may have merely felt too lethargic to drift through the tunnels back to her own part of the island complex (as she had once wanted to place herself as far from his sleeping chambers as possible). Yet most likely, she may have wished to stay with him until the morning because her heart had reminded her of a simple truth: that all children should have a father. In her dreams someone sometimes stood next to her, delighting in the infant she carried in her womb and filling her with a kind of happiness that in the waking world she longed for. True, she held no desire for a mate – but she did want to have someone beside her physically, sharing with her the same hopes she nurtured concerning her pregnancy, and confirming aloud that it was indeed a blessing. And for a little while this night, Mewtwo had provided her with that form of reassurance and bliss…so why not him…?

After she had uttered the question, Mewtwo had gazed up at her, momentarily surprised, before moving over in his nest to allow her to curl up in the blankets with him. Eventually, they found the position which provided them with the most comfort in the limited space: Mewtwo leaned back into the pillows with Kamaria resting against his front, her body sprawled on its side and her arms curled up to her face. Unconcerned with how the male wrapped his arms around her torso, she reveled in the coziness of his pelt while the rhythm of his heartbeat lulled her into sleep. For her companion, however, slumber proved impossible to acquire, regardless of how exhausted as he was. Insomnia, in that hour, seemed inevitable now that he embraced the female he had long yearned to hold, who was miraculously unfettered and calm as she dreamed. Astonishment leveled him at the extent of her newfound faith – she truly believed he would do nothing immoral to her while she was so vulnerable. If he had been a religious individual, he might have sent up a prayer of thanks for this wonder; yet because he lacked piety, he merely contented himself with embracing her protectively.

Eventually, his paws came to lie across her middle, and in her sleep, Kamaria smiled as the child shifted within her, oblivious to her companion's mounting grief. Never before had he desired in his short life to be a father, but now, with all that he was, he yearned for the child within Kamaria to be his flesh and blood, and ultimately his to claim. Yet he knew that was impossible: Kamaria was not his mate, and hence she could not be the mother of his son or daughter. And this understanding was one he mourned every day, every minute, every second, as each instant brought them closer to the moment when she would take her offspring and leave him behind to pursue her chosen fate - a fate which he could not force himself to share. As he shivered with a combination of the cold and his dread, he held her a little tighter, musing that his wistful yearnings were all in vain and senseless. He could do nothing more than he had already done; he could only savor her while she lingered here, and enjoy her sweet scent of wildflowers while it lasted….

Outside the winter wind moaned, as bitter as the thought of losing someone precious….

As dawn arrived in the following hours, Kamaria awoke alone with her form huddled beneath layers of blankets to keep the chilly air at bay. Although the windows cut from the stone walls had been boarded up and insulated, the room remained cool enough for her to see her breath before her as she exhaled. Wobbling, she rose to her feet, clutching a blanket around her and caressing her round stomach as she stood. With the hems of the covering brushing against the frozen floor, she wandered from Mewtwo's quarters and found her companion in the culinary chamber. With AI instructing him, he created one of humanity's easiest and most delightful breakfast meals: pancakes. In a bowl, diced fruit mixed with sugar fermented to create thick, tasty syrup, while what she suspected was warmed milk simmered on the makeshift stove. Pyrokinesis, she mused, was indeed a handy trick - pale blue flames flickered under the cooking utensils, their heat adjusting on a mere whim of thought, always carefully controlled and unfaltering. Mewtwo, glancing at her as she arrived, greeted her pleasantly and went back to debating recipes and cooking techniques with AI.

Quietly and warmly, she greeted him in return, and began to eat.

And so it went: winter melted into spring, and in that time Kamaria's body began to ache as the wait until her due date steadily shrank. Her uppermost breasts (the inferior four mammary glands having been removed from her anatomical design to provide her with a more "human" appearance) became swollen with milk, and her lower back muscles tensed with the increasing weight of the infant. Sometimes she wondered if this process would not be easier as a quadruped, but as the child was now active enough that not a half an hour passed without it stirring, her thoughts rarely dwelled long upon the discomfort of the final stages of pregnancy when the positive aspects proved so pronounced. Yet while her joy was contagious when in her immediate presence, her counterpart's heart continued to darken; her days with him were numbered now, and time had become his infallible foe. AI attempted to sooth his growing dread, but there was only so much she could do. At the very least, she understood why he was in pain, as she too seemed to "feel" something akin to sorrow when she mused over the notion of Kamaria's imminent departure. For the invisible entity, the female cat proved a good companion, and the brainchild of Mewtwo would miss her if or when she left. However, neither the male or the artificial intelligence would attempt to interfere with the female's will; to do so would mean caging her, and as Kamaria was a creature of moonlight, at her most beautiful when unbound, to contain her was tantamount to a sin.

Upon comprehending this, AI thought to distract her maker from his worries, and informed him of a project she had been keeping to herself during the past several months. Directing him to one of the laboratories her machines ran, she presented him with the sealed cube of bulletproof glass which Mewtwo had used to store synthetic chemicals when he had been creating her. However, rather than contain samples of acids and bases, it now held several scuttling devices which seemed to resemble metallic spiders. From his experience with miniature robots back when he had been a member of Team Rocket, he knew the machines to be probing droids. However, the make and model of this brand were not the same as those he had encountered before.

"AI, what do you have here?"

Her voice sounded almost smug as she declared, "I call them arachnoids, onii-san. Now, tell me, do you recall the 'epidemic' that took the lives of several pokémon on the outskirts of Mt. Quena late last summer?"

After a moment's contemplation, he nodded. "Yes – that illness was one of the reasons I did not wish for Kamaria to depart so swiftly after her arrival. Do you mean to imply that these machines are related to that unfortunate incident?"

If she could have, she might have nodded. "Yes, or at least their fellows were the cause. These devices have been programmed to do a simple task: to seek and infect their desired targets with the toxic compound stored within them. In this case, their software details that their intended victims would be those of your kind, Mewtwo, if my analysis are correct. They have an expiration date of about a year, and I will admit that their design is rather innovative: it is based from a form of virus that-."

"You mean these machines were programmed to track Kamaria and me down and poison us? AI, why did you not inform me of these devices sooner?" Mewtwo hardly ever raised his voice to his brainchild, but his alarm compelled him to do so as he asked this question. Why had she not told him about the potential danger these "arachnoids" represented, and warned his companion and him to be more careful in their wanderings within Purity Canyon…?

AI's response was even, perhaps blasé as she replied: "First, the chemical within them has a very short half-life: it breaks down well before the actual device does, though I cannot decipher how long it remains lethal to those it infects, or if it even is lethal – it may merely be debilitating. Second, each probe is interlinked with one another, and out of the thirty-six that were released originally, a majority were damaged or destroyed completely before reaching the base of Mt. Quena. When I found ones which had managed to escape destruction, I used my own droids to capture them for me, rendering them harmless now that they are under my control. I doubt there are any more than a twelfth left of the original count, and I am certain you could spot and crush the remainder yourself well before they would be able to sting you."

Somewhat mollified, Mewtwo's voice arose again, low and vaguely quizzical. "…So you have been working upon this project alone for nearly nine months?"

"I have...yet I thought that now that circumstances have settled down, you would find these machines…curious. As long as you avoid being pricked by their needles, you should be fine handling them."

He blanched ever so slightly at that notion. "I would rather prefer not to take any chances. Yet tell me, how exactly do they find their targets?"

"They have been programmed to recognize certain shapes and heat signatures with their infrared cameras. Ideally, they would make certain their targets are correct by taking a tiny sample of DNA to match it with the coding stored in their memory, but they do not always obey this principle due to glitches in their programs. Yet once they have a near match confirmed, they extend their main needle and inject the toxin. Try adding a drop of your blood to the chamber and watch what happens."

Reluctantly, Mewtwo swiveled open one of the circular ventilation ducts, pricked his finger with a fang, and dripped a liquid bead of his crimson blood into the glass cube. Upon detecting biological material, the "arachnoids" ceased attempting to crawl up the slick sides of the transparent box and swarmed the fluid, within a millisecond unsheathing their needles and discharging a fluid resembling diluted tree sap. As AI magnified the blending on a nearby computer screen, he watched as the cells ruptured upon contact with the artificial venom. With their job completed, the tiny robots deactivated and curled up in a position akin to what old spiders took upon death. Shivering at the display, the clone silently cursed AI for not alerting him to this sooner, no matter if she felt the danger was minimal. With Kamaria in her present condition, they could take no chances…! Settling for a cool statement, Mewtwo muttered, "So it seems that Giovanni likes his revenge cold – well, AI, do these devices pose much of a threat anymore?"

"Those that are yet operational will remain active for another three months. However, the likelihood that any of the survivors have managed to penetrate the mountains is slim to none; I would think curious pokémon and harsh climate conditions would either eliminate them entirely or keep them from the interior of the valley. To clarify, I caught these ones beyond the ridges, not within them. Yet in the unlikely chance that they do enter Purity Canyon, I will inform you of their presence promptly."

"Good," he growled, turning away. "For now you may study these arachnoids if you wish. They are harmless now, are they not?"

And for a moment, AI seemed to hesitate, as is mimicking uncertainty. "Indeed…but I had hoped you would study them with me, onii-san."

And this statement shocked her creator, for never before had AI requested anything of him, or at least not in such a blatant obvious and straightforward manner. Inquiring for his permission to act in a certain way was one thing – but to express the desire to share an activity with him was something else entirely. In that moment, as the faint glimmer of hopefulness in her synthetic voice sunk in, his eyes softened from their previous harsh glare. This was not a child asking a parent or sibling to play with them; this was a request from a friend who wished to take his mind from what bothered him. In the previous year Mewtwo would have needed no prompting to settle down to discover how an unusual gizmo worked, but now…well, new knowledge was not as tempting to him. Still, taking his creations "feelings" into considering, he murmured, "I would love to, AI, but can this wait a month…? You are aware that within the upcoming weeks Kamaria will leave us, and I…I do not wish to waste any of that time to pursue anything beyond her company."

He knew immediately that he had worded that statement wrong when she said, "…It would be a waste of time, what I ask of you?"

Her phrasing sounded similar to what a jealous or simply hurt individual might say when craving attention from his or her romantic interest. With a sigh, Mewtwo reassured her, "No, that is not what I meant to insinuate. Yet you and I, AI, have years together in which to pursue our interests here, and the time I have with Kamaria is…well, far shorter."

And this was the correct response, for AI seemed almost amused when she spoke next. "You have changed, onii-san...but I think it is a good thing. And you are correct, I suppose, so go to her – do not worry, I will not be offended."

And as he left the chamber, she wasn't; she merely allowed herself to be lost in her musings on the differences between flesh and metal, and blood and volts. With her thinking processes so occupied, she did not notice the signal that the deactivated droids sent to alert their fellows to the coordinates where their target had last been detected – such was in their backup program, installed just in case their sensors were hoodwinked and their task left incomplete. When the superior artificial intelligence finally did notice the surge in her observation feeds, however, she misinterpreted it as a mere flux in the electricity, which was not uncommon in a power plant run on the unpredictable force of the elements. So even though she had been endowed with the best programming available, labored over and crafted by the clever Mewtwo himself, the computer entity was as capable as any of making mistakes, and the possibility of errors was even greater if AI was indeed developing a soul - for had not someone once said, "to err is human"…?

A few days later, Kamaria wandered along the shores of the island, her feet bathed in the cool, lapping waves and the weather being pleasantly bright and windy this spring day. She felt content as she drifted along, her happiness bubbling up inside her chest until she was nearly levitating over the pale sand. Absently she twiddled a white apple blossom between her fingers – it was sweetly fragrant, perhaps as sweet as the fruits of next autumn. Her child shifted then, as though it too found the aroma appealing, and her smile only widened at the motion. Unlike Mewtwo, she knew its gender, and today she was picking out names, at times literally plucking them from the air as she had the windborne blossom. Eventually she decided to teleport to one of her favorites spots in the basin: a grassy, cliff shelf which overlooked the forest and lake, and carried upon its stony back flat, sun-warmed stones to lie across and a willow sapling to offer minimal shade. As she reappeared there, she noted that the boughs of the tree, now budding, swayed lazily in the breeze, and young wildflowers peppered the vegetation beneath her paws. She stepped over to one of the stones, lying on her side upon it with her tail hanging over the edge, and gazed with half-lidded eyes at the view before her, at the sparkling water and the lively trees, which were golden with new growths or colored with bright blooms, and at the flock of swallows, whose members whirled in an graceful, aerial dance….

After an hour, Mewtwo found her there, and despite the discovery in the laboratory still haunting him, he found that the benevolent weather was not conducive of encouraging his worry. Keeping AI's reassurances about their safety in mind, he sat beside his companion and relaxed as a cloudburst swept over the glittering lake. They observed the rain is silence and amused themselves with spying rainbows amongst the vapors, and as the wind rushed from the mountains, it snatched new leaves from the willow and tossed them over the duo, one of which settled on Kamaria's muzzle like a yellow tear. He pointed this out and reached towards her, brushing it away with the back of his fingers, and that touch lingered before he realized what he was doing and began to take his paw from her face. However, Kamaria then captured that paw in hers, and as his eyes widened, she quelled the question forming in his thoughts with her next words.

"Mewtwo, I'm…I'm sorry."

Blinking at her, he inquired as to why. Her orchid eyes glanced away, as if she were ashamed, and scanning the valley she answered, "I…well, I treated you rather poorly for nearly three months due to biased information and my own paranoia, and although those I trusted in my past did betray me, the scars they left on my soul are little excuse in light of my education. One of Ali's first lessons concerned the importance of tolerance, and I displayed none when concerning you. All you treated me with was kindness, and, naturally, some occasional frustration, but in the end you never proved yourself a monster. I never gave you the benefit of the doubt…."

Her eyes met his again, and their hues of violet mingled upon reflecting one another. "…And I never thanked you either. You saved my child and me from Giovanni, you gave us our freedom, you have aided us immensely during these past several months…and as such, you have earned my gratitude for all you have done for us. I appreciate it all, Mewtwo, so…thank you for helping us."

Having not expected her to voice such sentiments, Mewtwo glanced away and found he could not muster up a better response than, "…I am glad I could be of service to you both."

Her paw tightened around his…and then, startling him, her other paw lifted to touch his face. Her voice seemed tinged with sadness as she murmured, "You understand that I do not view you as a tool, don't you?"

The male turned back towards her, his free paw coming to grasp at the wrist of the hand which graced his cheek, and a low question rose from him into the sunlit air. "…If not, than what do you view me as, Kamaria?"

Begin placed on the spot like that was not something she had expected, and as such, prepared for. However, her sense of honesty compelled her to answer him, even if the truth might prove unsatisfying. "I…don't really know."

But the actual answer was there if they chose to see it…. They were close enough now that Mewtwo could feel his companion's breath against his mouth, and in turn, Kamaria could see the splinters of halite in his amethyst-hued irises. Warmth penetrated where their pelts brushed, and the grips of their intertwined paws were firm…. What remained of the distance between them began to close, and although neither understood what they were doing, they did not mind or care to deny the subtle force guiding them. For a short while, they experienced a moment which only to them; their eyelids and ears lowered, and their muzzles nearly touching...

Yet then Kamaria seemed to return to her senses, and with a teasing smile, she drew away, instead pressing a gentle kiss to Mewtwo's muzzle. As he blinked at her in surprise, she whispered, "You thought I was going to kiss you on the mouth, didn't you?"

Mild amusement twinkled in his eyes at her tone. "...Perhaps I had hoped for you to, just a little."

Her laughter arose, and she stood, walking towards the willow sapling and stretching her frame as she did so, her arms extended towards the blue sky, her spine curled back, her rounded abdomen exposed to the wind. What contentment she had harbored now bubbled with euphoria, and smiling she declared, "As I said, Mewtwo, I do not know what I feel for you...and as such, I intend to keep our relationship chaste until I figure it out."

He nodded to show that he understood and respected her decision. "If that is what you wish, then I will do nothing to violate it."

"Good!" she said, and her smile only widened, confirming that this was the right response for him to make.

And in that sunlit afternoon, they both felt the promise of what might someday be between them, bright and tantalizing and lingering from the Moment they had almost shared. However, neither regretted that it had not come to pass, for both were certain they would experience more of its like in the future, and when they did, they would not allow those chances to pass them by so easily. Yet for now they would remain mere companions, comfortable with what they had and open to the notion that, someday, they might have something more if they indeed wished for it...but they would walk down that road at their ease, taking their time and missing no wonders or joys along the way...

After a minute had gone by, Mewtwo lay out across the sun-warmed stone and vaguely noted that Kamaria had crouched down at the base of the sapling. She was peering at something curiously; had she found shell fragments from a robins' nest, the azure shards identical in hue to that of the firmament...? Lifting his head lazily, he asked her what intrigued her so, and cocking her head to the side she replied with a question: did AI have the capability of sending droids around the mountains? He closed his eyes to fully savor the warm caresses of Sol, and stated that the computer program did have that ability, and furthermore muttered that, as such, perhaps it had been for the best that Kamaria had declined from kissing him; otherwise his brainchild would torment them both upon their return to the island. This comment seemed to amuse the female clone, and she reached out her paw, evidently in an attempt to coax the little offspring of AI into her hand. Mewtwo opened one eye to watch the device scuttle forward - she lifted it and turned to him to show him her catch.

"Look, Mewtwo, it came to me-"

Yet the male, upon taking a closer look at small machine, had bolted up upon the realization that what she carried was not one of AI's probes. With a hurried, slightly panicked snarl, he shouted, "Kamaria, drop that right now!"

His friend blinked in confusion, and asked, "But why-"

Yet then, with a sharp gasp of pain, she flung the machine to the ground and smashed it with her tail, leaving nothing but wires, bits of crushed metal and powered glass in the grass. Lifting her paw to spy the region where the stinging sensation had burst from, she watched as a welt grew across her paw, while a thin ribbon of blood trickled from it to leak through her fingers. Cursing, she hissed, "Mewtwo, when we return to the island, I am going to give AI a stern talking to about manner..."

Her voice trailed off and her gaze grew glassy and unfocused; her body stiffened and began to quiver in involuntary trembles. As her brow furrowed and she began to sway, Mewtwo darted to her side and grasped her about the shoulders. She chuckled feebly, muttering, "The hell...? Has she drugged...?"

Lifting her into his arms, he growled, "That device did not belong to AI, Kamaria."

She blinked and did not struggle against him, for her muscles were swiftly being leeched of their strength, and now, with an edge of alarm, she cried, "But then who...?"

"What you just encountered was a machine AI dubbed an arachnoid, a hunting tool created by Team Rocket to target members of a specific species, and, once finding them, infect them with a poisonous substance that may or may not be lethal. Call it Giovanni's parting gift to us."

Horror flooded Kamaria's aura and her trembling increased in vigor, and as Mewtwo charged his psychical energies to teleport them back to the island, she clutched at him and whimpered, "He wanted to kill us? Even though I am carrying a child, he wanted to…?"

"I cannot be certain that was his intent, but the poison should have weakened considerably after all of these months. I will find a way to help you and the child, do not worry," he rushed to reassure her, holding her closer as he did so. "Relax, you will be just fine, Kamaria…Kamaria?"

He glanced down and watched as her eyes rolled back into her skull. She had slid into unconsciousness. Seeing that, no longer did his voice hold soothing tones - it gained an edge of the terror that he soon began to drown in. "KAMARIA?" he shouted, desperate for her to say something, anything to let him know she was still with him.

Yet her shallow breaths were all that answered his call….