THE PYRRHIC HEARTS

After Giovanni violently takes over Kanto, Mewtwo sides with Ash and his allies to fight the new regime. Ash knows that the biggest threat to their side is Sabrina, Giovanni's second-in-command. When he asks Mewtwo to eliminate her, Mewtwo agrees...but can he kill the woman who once meant so much to him? A war fic.

EXCERPTS FROM PART 1: WAR

"The tragedy of war is that it uses man's best to do man's worst."

- Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878-1969), an American clergyman.

Autumn 2004 – Year Three of the Kanto Civil War

Lavender Valley, Kanto Region

There was dust beneath their feet and in their mouths.

It stirred as they circled around each other, never touching nor speaking to each other, never allowing their gazes to part. They moved as if through fermenting waters, the air around them gray and humid and burning as it was drawn into their lungs. There was a trace of ozone to it, acrid within a sweet-smelling smoke, which made their nostrils smart and flare. There had been lighting in the area recently, and above them dark clouds churned, their greenish hue suggesting that, indeed, a thunderstorm had just passed overhead. Its charged vapors wreathed and weaved around the crags of several mountain valleys, the most remote of which the two were currently circling in. Around them blasted trees were still smoldering, and seared grasses gleamed like molten copper at the slightest hint of wind, before fading into black ash. There were cracks in the earth, the pattern reminiscent of a shed serpent's skin, as well as boulders from the peaks, fallen far from their original heights. Yet for all of this upheaval, the valley was quiet now, save for the rumbling of what sounded like thunder in the distance. Neither the creature nor the woman made a sound: their footfalls were silent, and no words passed between them.

There was nothing they could say to one another - nothing that would mean anything anymore.

With a suddenness that made him leap back, her red eyes flashed with blue, and a was boulder lifted from the earth and hurled towards him. Reaching out a paw, his claws unsheathing and glistening white, he erected a barrier between himself and the jagged stone. It collided with a crack that resounded against the crags, and the psychical energies of his shield sputtered and hissed as they seared the projectile, before he flung it away. It landed a kilometer from him, and half-buried itself once again in a cracked bed of earth. As he lowered his paw, he continued to stare at her, unblinking: beads of sweat were trickling down her forehead; her dry, red lips were pursed over clenched teeth; and her skin crawled with a minuscule shiver as her pulse pounded in her throat. He was steadily wearing her down, but even as her limbs quivered with fatigue, her eyes remained bright and sharp. The boulder had been the move of a pawn, a way to fill the lapse in their struggle while she plotted out how to bring him to his knees. Yet on this particular field, she was at a disadvantage: her specialty was in closed corridors, in darkened halls and rooms and muted spaces. There had been times in the last few months when her cunning had nearly been his doom. Yet he was familiar with her methods of capturing and disarming her prey, and he'd used this knowledge to evade her ploys. In truth, he'd often been the one who overwhelmed her, but she had a way of slipping out of his grasp, try as he might to hold onto her.

Her inability to surrender was one of her many strengths, but also her deepest fault - and if he was to capture her now, he would need to crush her ability to do even that. And so, with purpose, he sprang forward, and watched as her eyes narrowed at his approach. She coiled and power flared – blue and bright - within her hands.

There was dust beneath their feet and within their mouths.

It didn't matter.

Autumn 2004 – Year Three of the Kanto Civil War

Southeastern Forests of Vermillion, Kanto Region

A week earlier, he'd returned from his patrol around the camp with a bloodied muzzle, carrying the carcass of a freshly killed pidgeotto over his shoulder. Sending out a short, empathic wave to the others, he discerned who were the hungriest and brought the eagle to their tent. Their eyes brightened as they saw his gift, and as they began plucking its feathers and butchering it, they offered him the entrails, knowing he had a taste for the more tender of organs. Yet despite how his mouth watered at the scent and his stomach ached with hunger, he turned them down, knowing they were in greater need than he – or rather, their pokémon partners were, and he could see that some of them were already eyeing the meat. Letting them divvy up the bird, he strode towards the central tent, and paused only when he noticed how some of the younger recruits were staring at him. Remembering the blood dried into his fur, he turned away and knelt near a bucket of rainwater, and tried to wash it away as well as he could with his paws. His efforts worked to an extent, but he would need a full bath to get rid of the rest. He nearly snorted at that thought; it had been quite some time since he'd enjoyed a real bath, with the nearby stream being the closest he could get. Yet there were also fish in that stream, so he supposed he would stop by it in a few hours. His still needed to eat, and raw fish would likely sit in his stomach far better than poultry.

Not allowing himself to be delayed any further with appearances, he turned back to the central tent. He was not hindered by the guard, who allowed him to pass through the flap with a curt nod. As his eyes adjusted to the low light, he saw four young adults, two men and two women, standing around a table, talking to each other in low and darting voices. The red-headed woman glanced up at his arrival and welcomed him back, with the others immediately echoing the greeting. The tallest among them, a brown-skinned man wearing clothes of an even darker hue, stepped around the table and peered at him with his one good, slanted eye. His other one was covered with a patch, which looked to be fraying. The creature glanced at the shorter of the two females, a full-blooded Japanese woman in a stained, yellow yakata. She seemed to be working on preparing a new patch for the tall human, and was giving the man a look of concern. Considering his stony expression, that was to be expected…and inside, the pokémon smirked slightly. "Stony" - how very inappropriately appropriate that was, considering the man's element of choice.

"Anything to report, Mewtwo?" Brock asked, readying himself to go on the next patrol. All of them went in shifts, though Mewtwo was the only one who went on them alone.

Their enemies, after all, had a much harder time ambushing him than the humans, unless, of course, they imported dark pokémon from Johto, which his psychic powers were blind to and defenseless against. Fortunately, Johto was disinclined to parry with the self-proclaimed "Rocket Empire" after the Magnet Train Massacre earlier that year. Blowing up Kanto refugees and Johto civilians may have been a bold way of telling Johto to cease aiding the resistance, but it certainly hadn't endeared the Rockets to the border country. In fact, out of all the nations in the Japanese archipelago, only Orre was willing to trade with Giovanni and his followers – and that was only because the crime syndicate there was the ruling government, and the two syndicates had always been friendly. Illegal pokémon trafficking to Orre (the lack of pokémon had made them turn to firearms production in the first place) with illegal firearms given to the Rockets in return; that was the official arrangement. Yet as convenient as that was for the syndicates, enabling them to crush their countries' respective citizens, none of their weapons, biological or mechanical, could defeat Mewtwo. Firearms couldn't reach him, and without high-level dark pokémon to exploit, he wouldn't be taken down through traditional battling either. And again, since Johto was disinclined to provide such a resource, and the other nations had either, A.) closed their borders to the conflict, or B.) were dealing with the now empowered and greedy Orre, this made trying to get the firepower to overwhelm the clone nearly impossible.

Not that they weren't trying, or hadn't succeeded once or twice, as some of the scars Mewtwo had gained showed. Yet those had mostly been given to him by one opponent, and she was a different matter entirely.

"There was a Rocket scout flying nearby, but he has been dealt with. Incidentally, if any of you are in the mood for poultry, you may want to stop by Richie's tent within the hour."

The others nodded, and as Brock grabbed his gear and ducked out of the tent, the Japanese woman followed along behind him. Through the thin flap, they saw Brock's silhouette turn, and heard his voice lift, bladelike, towards the woman. She halted, and after he'd walked a few steps further, she shouted and threw something – presumably the new patch - at him, and then turned and stormed away with an angry huff. She didn't see Brock stop walking and turn back, or hear his curse as he knelt down, picking up the patch and replacing his frayed one with it. Soon his silhouette also faded from the flap, and Mewtwo turned back to the others, hearing them grumbling under their breath, most likely in exasperation. They beckoned him over to the table, and he gave the red-headed woman – Misty - a wry look as she muttered something harsh under her breath. No doubt she was critical of Brock's behavior, and he couldn't blame her for that; considering how much Erika cared for the Pewter survivor, Brock could be rather insensitive to her at times. Yet considering how the man had lost his right eye, Mewtwo was inclined to understand the anger: the trial had nearly ruined Brock, and certainly still weighed heavily on him. Misunderstandings and hurt feelings were unavoidable, but since Brock could be as doting as Erika was kindly, he was confident they would work their troubles out. They might even stay together after the war was over (one way of the other), unless, of course, one of them was killed before the end. That was always a possibility, and one which the couple before him was also facing.

Yet there was also no question that they would be together in the after, provided they both survived. Misty and their leader were, technically speaking, married. There had been no elaborate ceremony, no flowers or multi-layered cake (much to her husband's disappointment), and very few had been witnesses to the exchange of vows. But the binding had been completed this past summer, and while it probably still wasn't consummated, the two were content overall. And as for the sex, they were still young (in a peaceful world, they wouldn't have even graduated high school yet), one of them had been traumatized by the act itself, and neither one could afford a pregnancy. There would be time for all of that after…if there was an after for them.

They would all be executed if they were caught, and that possibility seemed more and more probable each week. Looking down, Mewtwo eyed the map of Kanto, upon which had been drawn a multitude of arrows, with numerous scribbled notes surrounding each of the cities. Viridian City was encircled and shaded in a now-faded red, with a date beneath it: winter 2001. Being the hometown of Giovanni and the Rockets, it had been the first city the organization had overrun and claimed; all attempts at martial law had been overturned, much to the League's dismay. Celadon City and Cerulean City, similarly marked in red, had been taken during the following spring and summer, their Gym Leaders and civilians alike being driven out. Saffron City, the national capital, had met the same fate in early 2003, during which Vermillion City – now only tinged with red – had been captured by the rising resistance. Cinnabar Island and Fuchsia City, dated to the summer of 2003 and spring of 2004, were also tinted red but shaded in blue, the former freely given and the latter hard-won. Pewter City and the Indigo Plateau, for their part, had always been blue, but had been scribbled out: both had been firebombed during the autumn of 2003, which had – along with the surrender of Saffron – effectively eradicated the Kanto government. Cinnabar Island, Seafoam Islands, and Celadon City were also now crossed out: the first had been firebombed by the Rockets in early 2004, the second had been abandoned as a compromised hideout, while the last had been destroyed by the resistance itself, which went by many names: the Kantonians, the Indigo Fighters, the Champion's Army - most used and preferred the patriotism of the first. In any case, Pallet Town, a refugee site, and Lavender Town, held sacred by both sides of the conflict, were considered neutral ground, and as such, were marked in green. Thus far in the war, both had been left untouched and unspoiled.

Yet now, months after most of the Kantonians had settled in the southeastern forests of Vermillion, it seemed that Lavender Town might just be draw into the fray. There were arrows leading into Lavender Town from the north, west, and south, each with question marks beside them, and looking up the map, Mewtwo leveled a dark look at his leaders. Realizing that they were bickering, he glanced down at the arrows and cursed. This had become a numbers game, and since the numbers weren't on their side anymore, that was leading to desperate measures. Yet surely they wouldn't be invading Lavender Town? Surely the situation couldn't be that bad? And what about the news from Vermillion? What about-?

"…You see Gary when you were coming in?"

Ash, as composed as he'd become after leading their guerrilla army for so long, couldn't keep the worry from his voice as he asked after his once-rival. Misty rested a hand on his arm then, and not for the first time, Mewtwo's eyes traced the scars curling up the limb. Her time as a captive in Team Rocket's Celadon Base, before it had been stormed and leveled, had left her with too many to count. Lt. Surge, suffice to say, has not been a gentle warden.

Yet that was another matter, far removed from Gary, and so, drumming his claws on the map, Mewtwo said, "No, but I sensed him coming through the forest. He should arrive at our camp later this evening. I…do not believe he brings good news, but the precise nature of that news is not known to me."

The curse that slid from Ash's mouth would have made his mother blush, had she been nearby. Fortunately for her, she was hundreds of kilometers away, helping direct refugees to safety. Even after three years of war, there were still civilians who hadn't left their homes - not until Giovanni's regime had become too harsh to bear, at least. Mewtwo, looking at his young leaders, momentarily wondered if they shouldn't have been among the first to leave…but then, he doubted there would be any part of Kanto left free, if not for them. With a sigh, the clone glanced back down at the map and asked when they would be moving to a new site.

Misty spoke this time. "As soon as Gary gets his ass back here. We're planning to head up to Lavender before dawn. We've already alerted our people in the area. They're preparing for our arrival."

On the table, his paw clenched into a fist. "Lavender? Are you certain? I was under the impression that we were returning to Vermilion. Were we not given word that Giovanni's forces were heading south from Saffron?"

"Word came in while you were out," Ash said, scribbling a few more notes onto the map: the arrow from the north was crossed out, along with the Rocky Tunnel. He also colored the one from the east red, the one from the south blue, and erased the question marks beside them. "The Rockets were feinting. While we were worrying about Vermilion, their group in Cerulean started going through the Rocky Tunnel. They got pretty close to making it through the mountains before our people found them out. Don't worry, they caved in the exit. No one's getting through that way. Still, they seem determined to take Lavender. We've already heard that they're mobilizing from the east."

Mewtwo didn't want to believe that. "I seem to recall Giovanni announcing over the National Radio that Lavender Town would be spared, due to its cultural importance. His second-in-command was strongly opinionated on the matter."

Ash shrugged. "Could be he lied, or maybe he just changed his mind. I don't know, and speculating about it won't change anything. Point is, we can't let him have Lavender Town. He'll start pushing us out of the south if he takes it - and we won't last another season if that happens. The Islanders might give us food, which is great and all – got to love their grapefruits - but they can't come to our rescue if we get pushed offshore. We'll be drowned before-."

Misty grinned wickedly. "You might drown, Ash Ketchum, but some of us can hold our breath for a pretty long time before-."

He rolled his eyes and then adopted a wicked grin of his own. "Yeah Mist', I know, it really comes in handy went you're down there and-"

There was a meaty thunk as Misty Ketchum took the mallet from her belt and smacked her husband in the face. As he yelped and clutched his nose, she turned to Mewtwo and said, "Ignore him. He likes to be a smartass when he's stressing out. We're not going to let them have Lavender Town, and that's final."

"I take it you have a plan?" Crazy as their plans often were, they nonetheless always seemed to have one tucked away in some corner of their brains.

She pressed a hand to her jacket and quipped, "Of course! And Ash wasn't in change of plotting out our routes, so we should manage to pull it off in a timely fashion."

Through a bloody nose, Ash scowled and said, "You're neber gonna leb me lib dat down, are you?"

She cast him a droll look over her shoulder. "Ash, we nearly died because our reinforcements got lost using your directions! Really not letting that happening again, you hear me?"

"Yeah, yeah, ged on wid it," he snapped and then moaned, "Fuck, I dink you broke my nose…."

"And that's not the only thing I'll break if you ever make a joke like that again in front of other people!" she hissed. Then, giving the clone a lopsided grin, she said, "So, here's the plan, Mewtwo…."

They would scatter half of their forces in the Lavender Mountain Range and continue with their guerrilla strikes, while having a main battle with the Rocket forces moving in from the east. At the same time, their forces would move in from the south and try to take Saffron City back - and if they managed that, they'd pincer the Rockets in Route 8. It was a move that would require all of their forces to pull off, he noted. If they lost, then there wouldn't be enough of them left to do more than make an occasional terrorist strike on Rocket establishments.

Yet if they did manage to win and take Saffron City, the war could shift in their favor. Saffron, after all, was a major resource and technology center: Silph Co. was based there, as was the nation's largest marketplace. Plus, if they could manage to get the Magnet Train Station running again, then perhaps they could get some aid from Johto: resources, pokémon,people who were willing to fight for Kanto. The fall of Saffron City had caused this conflict to go from a state of civil strife to a full-scale civil war in the first place. Perhaps regaining it would be the key to restoring peace.

But for far too long, that capital had been untouchable, thanks to its Gym Leader, the Witch of the Mists - otherwise known as Sabrina, Giovanni's second-in-command.

Catching the train of his thoughts, Misty added, "But even if we take Saffron City for a short while, we won't be able to hold it unless the Witch is out of the picture. That's where you come in, Mewtwo."

His claws dug into the table as she spoke. She gave him a slightly nervous look and then asked, "Youhavefaced her before, right?"

"…I have. As such, I know how cunning she can be. She will not be easy to capture. She is far different from Koga, and if it weren't for Erika's knowledge of sedatives, he would have escaped us long ago. You know this."

Ash, having bandaged his nose and wiped away the blood, muttered, "Who said anything about capturing her?"

"…You want me to kill her, is that it?"

Ash looked somewhat uncomfortable, but he grit and nodded. "Can you do that?"

Mewtwo stared at them both, these children who had become soldiers, and after a moment replied,"I can."

"Good," Ash said, rolling up the map. "We'll be leaving before dawn. Get some rest while you can."

Yet after the clone exited their tent, he did not go to his own to sleep. Instead he walked out of the camp, despite the fragrance of cooking meat, and headed into the forest. He eventually reached the stream, and there slid into the cold waters, which were black but for the shimmer of moonlight that was filtering through branches above. The water enveloped him, chilling him to his bones, but he appreciated that as he scrubbed through his pelt. He wrinkled his muzzle as he saw dirt and other particles rise into the water, and after dipping his head under and washing his face, he emerged from the stream. He shook himself to rid his fur of the water, and thensat on a flat rock, which was still slightly warm from the sun.

When he saw the fish return to the shallows, his eyes flashed blue. Three fish shot from the water, their fins flapping, their gills gasping, their eyes bulging from their heads. Snatching at the first one, he crunched through its skull, putting it out of its misery. He ate it slowly, careful not to swallow or embed any of the little bones between his teeth. When he'd finished them all, he washed his hands and face again, and then stared at the moon reflected on the surface of the water.

They wanted him to kill the Witch of the Mists. He supposed he was capable of doing so, and he supposed he could see the value of having her life ended by his hands. After all,she would be executed for war crimes if they succeeded in their mad gamble for Saffron. But would he have the will to do it? He'd killed many before and would kill many yet, but that woman….

Sabrina Kurosawa. Could he kill her?

He supposed he already knew the answer to that.

He returned to the camp sometime later, and felt before he heard the excitement and anxiousness that had arisen since he'd left. Obviously the news had been passed along to the rest of their force, but it seemed there was more than that. And then he sensed the newcomer to the camp: Gary Oak had returned while he'd been away. The scout glanced at him and nodded as he swept between the tent, and smile openly when he saw Ash and Misty rushing towards him, with Brock and Erika, reconciled, a little behind. Ash and Gary embraced as brothers would (for in essence, that was what they had become).

As they parted, Ash asked, "What did you learn at the meeting? Any news about the force in Saffron?"

Gary smile faded, and his eyes became guarded. "Ash, I'm not sure if we should talk about this here-."

"Gary, I already told them what's going on. What did you learn? We're moving out first light, so now would be as good as any to let us all know."

Yet there was pain and tension on Gary's face, "Ash, really, we should-."

Ash wasn't having any of that. "Gary, spit it out. What happened? They have a right to know."

Gary's shoulder sank, and he said, "They weren't at the meeting place, Ash."

Ash's brow furrowed. "What? What they hell are you talking about? They said they…did they leave a sign, a note, anything?"

"They…they weren't there, Ash, but…," and now Gary just looked sick, and gulping down, he said, "But their heads were."

There was a sickening beat of silence, before awful cries began to arise from the crowd, some in anger, some in weeping, some in pure sickness. Misty turned and hurried away, emptying her stomach behind one of the tents. Erika buried her face into Brock's chest, and Brock just looked sick. Ash stared forward, before his face became dark and grim. He swallowed, perhaps swallowed back bile, and then he said over the noise, "Start packing up, everyone. We're leaving now, you hear? The sooner we get to Lavender Town, the sooner we make those Rockets pay. Just…remember those three were heroes. That's all I ask."

There was a resounding "yes sir," and the camp began to pack up. Yet as Misty and Ash returned to their tent, Mewtwo followed them, and listening close through the flap. He heard the sound of crying, and a woman hushing her husband, and so low that he almost didn't hear it, he heard Ash gasp, "Those…those idiots. Always getting themselves into trouble. Those idiots, why didn't they leave? We told them to get out months ago."

"They knew the dangers of what they were doing. But…they wanted to help. And they did help us, Ash."

"But…they shouldn't have…they always used to run away. Why couldn't they just…one more time…?"

"I think they knew there was no way out. They were brave enough to face that fact, and carry on. From what you guys have said, they always were resilient."

"But still, it's…Jessie…James…Meowth. Fuck…FUCK!"

Mewtwo turned away. There was work to be done.