Chapter 49: Psychics and Psychos (Part A) by Michael Keens/ Exodus The cool breeze brushed through my hair as I stared out into the ocean on Beryl’s ship, we were currently on our way back home to Fuchsia City. Finally, I had achieved a trainers main goal, after a lot of trouble, the Legend Badge was mine, completing my set of eight Gym Badges. Beryl was at the wheel as usual, Emily was playing with her smaller Pokémon, Blossom and Spiral, and Abby was on her own, viewing her Pokédex. I sat next to her and smiled, Emily was too busy to notice and probably get jealous. “How many entries have you got?” I asked. “Not many, just my Pokémon...” she answered. “Do you wanna add a few... hundred?” I joked. She smiled, knowing that there wasn’t that many known Pokémon around these parts. “Are you sure, you must have gone through a lot of trouble for those.” she said reluctantly. I joined up my Pokédex with hers, Emily gave me the software in the first place, but I could share my Pokédex entries with my other friends too. “Hey, we’re friends, and I have a feeling you’ll need to learn as much as you can when you start your training... Are you sure I can’t convince you to stay at my place?” I spoke kindly. “I... have another friend that I haven’t told you about... She said I could stay with her until the Pokémon League.” explained Abby. “You’re a soldier you are, I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t know where I came from...” I complimented. “I suppose I’m dealing with it, but I hope I find out who I truly am at the Pokémon League...” The link had ended, and I was surprised to see my Pokédex counter go up by two. I frantically searched through the entries until I found the new additions, and my eyes widened. “Mew, the New Specie Pokémon. An extremely rare Pokémon that was thought to be extinct. But a growing number of people have seen it recently.” “Mewtwo, the Genetic Pokémon. Only vague science notes tell of this Pokémon, apparently a genetically enhanced version of the rare Pokémon Mew, its psychic power is unmatched by any Pokémon.” “Abby... These are two of the rarest Pokémon around... How did you get these?!...” I questioned firmly. “... I don’t know... I never went that far down the list... Nor did I realise I had more entries than I’d ever checked...” she answered nervously. “This is very strange... This is your Pokédex, isn’t it?” I asked. “Of, of course.” she spluttered. “What’s going on?” asked Emily. “Check your Pokédex.” I said firmly, while Abby seemed very uncomfortable. “... Mew and Mewtwo...” she pondered upon seeing them. “Abby, you must know something about this, or did someone else record this?...” I asked. “I... don’t know... I really don’t...” she said, close to tears. “I’m, I’m sorry... I won’t go into this anymore if it’ll cause you discomfort... But... what if this has something to do with your past...” I said, reviewing the Pokédex, “Mewtwo and Mew: Psychic-types... This could very well be the link to your past... Except, we can’t do anything about it...” Abby sighed, as did I, before something exploded in the waters, close to us. “Arrrr!!!” screamed Beryl, “What’s goin’ on here?!” I turned around and saw a huge black ship with the letter R plainly placed at the front of it. “Rockets!” I shouted, and drew a Pokéball. “Tetsubo please, don’t let them harm my boat.” pleaded Beryl. I nodded in reply, and released Bahamut from his Pokéball and leapt onto him as he instinctively took off. “Be careful Tetsubo...” called Emily, and Abby simply stared with the utmost confidence in me. “Bahamut, use your Dragon Rage.” “Fire!” called a Rocket Grunt, and a huge cannonball came shooting at us, and exploded. “Boooaaarrrggghhh!!!” “Hyper Beam!!!” I shouted, and Bahamut charged up, but several cannonballs followed and exploded, their power was astounding, and Bahamut screamed in pain. One final bomb exploded, and sent myself and my blackened Dragonite down, he used the last of his strength to steer himself towards the ship, and we crash landed on Beryl’s. “Tetsubo...” said Abby concerned. “Return...” I said, and the Rocket ship grew closer, “Bahamut’s not at full strength since its last battle...” “Tetsubo... They’re too close, this ship means everything to me, I can’t afford to buy another. This has to stop.” pleaded Beryl. “I know, I’m sorry Beryl, but your boat can be replaced, our Pokémon can’t.” I replied. “Its them.” whispered a Rocket on the radio, “What do you want us to do now?” “Capture them, and bring them to New Island.” replied a dark voice. “Beryl!” I shouted, “I’m not giving up without a fight, I’ll try to protect the boat, but surrendering is not an option!” “Alright! Go! Anchor!” “Blastoise!” “Water Gun attack!” “Blast!!!” He deflected another cannonball with the blast, but several more came down. “Twinkill!” “Shelly!” “Leviathan...” “Star!” “Clllloysterrr...” “Gaaaargghhh!!!” The three Water Pokémon assisted in deflecting the cannonballs, but a sly Rocket used the confusion to shoot a grappling hook towards Beryl, it wasn’t a normal grappling hook, the ends were like Krabby pincers, that snapped shut around Beryl. “Stop this struggle, or else she gets crushed!” the wielder of the device threatened. We all stopped, and turned to Beryl, who was very scared, but we were unable to do anything, or we’d be risking her life. “We don’t want to take your Pokémon, not yet anyway, we’ll let the girl and her boat go, but only if you three come along with us to that island over there to show you something.” the leading grunt ordered. I frowned, and recalled Twinkill, as did the others with their Pokémon, we really had no choice. The Rocket ship came closer so that we could step on it. Beryl was released, and left on her ship, she gave us a worried look, but I returned a confident gaze, telling her to leave for now. It didn’t take long before the ten Rockets led us onto the island, they were fully armed, so a Pokémon Battle now would only result in a loss, besides, I was curious at why they had to bring us here, who was behind this, and what did they want to show us?... The island in general was plain, grass patches were scattered here and there but not really worth mentioning since there were so few. We ended up on a wide cliff overlooking the rest of the island, and the Rockets surrounding us stopped and turned to face us. “We got them.” one called out, and the whirring of a machine could be heard, and got louder as a metal cacoon-like object rose up on a platform along with the Screwloose Brothers standing at the sides. “So great to see you three again, its been a while.” said Willy confidently. “We’re only here cos you threatened our friend’s life, if you’re only up for a battle than between us three we can handle all of you.” I threatened, although to make good on that promise would be difficult. “No, we’re not up for just a battle, only your unfortunate demise.” grinned Billy. “We’ve heard that before, and we’re still here.” ventured Emily. “Yes, but you’ve never had to deal with him before.” smiled Willy darkly. With that, the metal cacoon opened, its parts on the front, back and sides sliding down in no particular pattern until a Pokémon was revealed, a tall pale purple humanoid cat, bound by wires and covered with metal armour and head parts. “A Pokémon so rare, its the only one of its kind.” stated Billy. “It couldn’t be...” I stated nervously, reaching out for the Pokédex and getting back to my recent entries, “Mewtwo?...” “Guess you never discovered the truth, that Mewtwo is an enhanced clone of a Mew, reborn from the work of the greatest scientists.” explained Willy. “I remember seeing reports of such a Pokémon when a Team Rocket base was destroyed last year.” offered Emily, “Everyone heard about that.” Abby gazed absently at Emily, “Well, maybe not everyone.” Abby turned her sights back to the mysterious Pokémon, and had a curious but worried look on her face. “Shut up!” shouted Billy, “Stop interrupting!” “Thank you Billy, yes, the scientists were financed by Team Rocket to create Mewtwo, but he turned on them and destroyed them, followed by a Team Rocket base after the boss of Team Rocket tried to control Mewtwo. Since then he’s seemingly been flying around trying to stay hidden, but Team Rocket and us have been looking for him for quite some time.” continued Willy. “You speak as if Team Rocket and you are separate in all this.” I inquired. “In a way, yes. We haven’t actually reported back to the other Rockets about capturing and manipulating Mewtwo, but we’ve got our own agenda, probably the reason we got involved with Team Rocket.” replied Billy. “That misfit cat destroyed our parents, they were part of the group of scientists that were murdered when this psycho was first created! We’ve longed for revenge since and finally we have it!” explained Willy, his rage showing. “It’d be nice to have this Pokémon killed for what he did, but to enslave his power and use him as a weapon forever? It not only benefits Team Rocket but satisfies our need for vengeance.” added Billy. “His power will be used to kill the enemies of Team Rocket, and then probably all who oppose us in our plans for world domination.” Willy finished. “Enemies of Team Rocket?...” questioned Emily nervously. “Uh huh, and if I’m not mistaken, you three have been pretty big thorns in the sides of all Rockets, looks like you’re in for some pretty horrid ends. Awaken Mewtwo! And kill these three trainers!” shouted Willy. “I can’t wait to report this to the Boss once we’re done, he doesn’t even know we managed to capture Mewtwo.” said Billy with glee. Glowing blue eyes could be seen through the black cover over Mewtwo’s eyes, the wires glowed with energy and unwrapped, the all-powerful Psychic Pokémon rose into the air and drew its arms back to charge energy. I froze up as the ball grew huge before long and was unleashed. I shielded my eyes as the psychic sphere came down at us, and then heard a swooping sound and the explosion, but my body wasn’t damaged, the fierce winds were all I felt, so I opened my eyes to see a couple of talons gripping my shoulders, and belonging to a Fearow, also carrying Emily and Abby but on its back. “That’s Beryl’s...” I muttered, as the bird swiftly dived down and landed a small distance from the ten grunts now lying unconscious on the floor. “Thank goodness you’re okay.” called Beryl from not too far away, “I couldn’t let you guys sacrifice yourselves for me and my boat.” “Its no longer about sacrifices, its about a powerful Psychic Pokémon trying to kill us!” I shouted. “How do we beat something like that? Get help?” inquired Emily. “I don’t think anyone will, or can help us. Nor is there time to escape, looks like we’re fighting. Agreed?... Abby?...” I questioned. Abby was staring at the Pokémon, biding its time and slowly floating after us, “Why is it so familiar?...” she muttered. “We have to act fast! The only thing I can think to do is to smash that machine we saw, it might weaken or erase the brothers’ control. But we can’t do it with Mewtwo on our cases, someone has to lead it away.” I briefed. “I’ll do it.” said Abby rather quickly. “But why Abby?” questioned Emily with genuine concern. “I can’t explain it, but I know that Pokémon somehow, I’m the only one that stands a chance of reaching out to it. Try to disable the machine and see if it works, but I’ll attempt to free it in my own way.” she said firmly. “That’s very brave.” said Beryl, “But impossible without a speedy Pokémon.” With that she released her Scyther, “Slash, allow this girl to ride you and to instruct you, it may just save me and the others.” “Scy.” it nodded rather surprisingly, Scythers weren’t usually so tame. “Alright, let’s go!” I shouted, the two teams leading off in different directions... “Circle round that Pokémon.” instructed Abby, and Slash swiftly obeyed. “Hey you!” she shouted, “Yeah you! I’m right here.” Mewtwo let out a grunt as it flung a couple of psychic spheres down. We doubled back to the brothers and their machine while Mewtwo turned left and started after Abby. “Heh, looks like the young and annoying one will go first.” grinned Willy. “Move aside.” I threatened, “We outnumber you.” “Do you now? How long has it been since we actually engaged in a Pokémon Battle? We’re much more prepared now!” said Billy confidently. With that, six Pokéballs spun in the air and landed, unleashing the brothers’ evolved Pokémon and introducing two newbies. “KOKEKOKE!” “Mag-na-ton!” “Parrrasecta!” “Waaaak!” “Po-ry-gon!” “Ditto!” “Go!” I shouted, as did Emily and Beryl as we unleashed our fighting force... “Agility.” ordered Abby. “Scyther!” The mantis deftly vanished to one side, and then again as destruction rained down and exploded, Abby and Slash continued to sprint forward, but they neared a small cliff hanging over the valley, which now revealed the ruins of a fairly old structure below. The Mewtwo almost let out a scream, and several glowing balls were scattered and came crashing down. The Scyther had to stop itself as an explosion occurred just ahead of it, but then another happened just behind, and catapulted both the Pokémon and Abby over the edge... Before Abby blacked out, she whispered: “I remember...” Meanwhile, topside: We had just engaged in a six Pokémon melee with the Screwloose Brothers. “Cllloysterrr...” “Maro!” “FEAR!...” “Toise!” “Freeee!!!” “Magmar...” Emily’s Cloyster charged towards the Kingler, and slammed its shell shut, only, the large pincer of the Pokémon managed to keep it wedged open, and with the other hand, it slammed into the pearl that was Shelly’s weak point... The Marowak leapt at the Magneton, who instinctively blasted out waves of electricity, but Graveyard spun it bone fast to deflect the attacks back at the machine Pokémon. It glowed as if in anger, and unleashed several star shaped projectiles (Swift attack) that pushed the Marowak back long enough to unleash a Sonic Boom tornado that lifted the Marowak uncontrollably into the air and spinning immensely... Beryl’s Fearow dived headlong at the Porygon, but it glowed gold, and then took the stabbing peck without too much damage. The Fearow turned itself around for another go but energy glowed at the Porygon’s beak, and a beam of fire, followed by ice, followed by electricity blasted out and got a clear hit on the Fearow, dropping it down to the floor... My Butterfree flew up into the air to prepare for an attack, but as it fired a Confusion attack down, the Ditto transformed into a Butterfree and flew up to get it. The Psychic attack missed and the Ditto retaliated with Gust attack to hit it big, unfortunately for us, Dittos not only gained the form of the Pokémon it imitated, but all of its abilities, including its attacks, of which, Flutter had pretty much learned them all... Beryl’s Blastoise charged forward at the Dodrio, withdrew into its shell and threw itself into the three headed bird, the Dodrio remained where it was and was slammed into, followed up by the Blastoise pulling its limbs out of the shell and slapping its large tail around, along with punching arms. The Dodrio took it all in, and then retaliated by simply pecking the Blastoise’s head with all three of its own, it had used Rage to pump up its attack power, now it was a match for the Blastoise... Finally, my Magmar took on the Parasect, Fire Versus a Grass/ Bug-type seemed no problem, or so I thought. The Parasect scuttled back and sprayed several different attacks to cloud the area in front of it, one with Spore, one with Poison Powder, and the other with Stun Spore. It didn’t stop there, in the moments it took Lavos to decide how to go about getting past, green lights floated into the Parasect from behind its dusty walls, it was enhancing its special abilities. Lavos ran forward, willing to take in the Stun Spore to get a hit in, but before it got close, the Parasect leapt out, it had a resistance to its own powders, and had slashed Lavos hard, and followed up with a lot of scratching... I just hoped Abby was doing better than we were, for her sake... End of Chapter 49A Back to Chapter 48B Chapter 49B Back to Story List #41 - #60 Back to the Pokézone