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Part 9:  Discovery...

    "Yes, that is as much as I have told him."  Black answered.
    "Hmm...  I suppose that will do for the time being.  You did not mention anything about me?"  Mewtwo asked.
    "No, I did not plan to talk about you to Adrian until after he-" Black was cut off as the creaking of a door was heard in the distance.  Adrian slowly walked in while petting Ollie.  "We must continue at another time.  I will leave to sleep now."  Black floats back to his room.  As Adrian gets closer, he notices that Charla was helping Maro to his room.  His question could be predicted.
    "Maro ate some deadly fruit, but managed to get himself here in time to be saved.  His condition will improve with a day of rest."  
    "Oh," Ollie meowed.  Adrian began to say something, but his mother came out of her room and yelled across the large open atrium.
    "Adrian!  You're finally back!  Come-on, your favorite wrestling show is on!"  She then paused and wondered why she said that.  Adrian came running toward his mother.
    "You have a TV?"
    "Of course I do.  There's really nothing else on, and it's almost like a soap opera...."  Adrian walked with his mother into her room with Lucy and sat on a leathery lazy chair.  "I asked for a few things while you were outside."  
    "Nice."  He got comfy and began watching the TV as two largely muscled men battled it out for a title belt.  Ollie walked back to his room.
    
    Charla was almost shocked at seeing the room Maro shared with Black.  
    "A cot?!  All you get is a cot?!?"  Maro was about to say something, but a sharp pain made him wince.  He stumbled and fell inside Black's half of the room.  Charla lunged forward to try and catch Maro, but nothing was there to catch.  She then blew a small flame to light up the area, but its light was completely absorbed by the darkness.  "Wah...  Maro, are you alright?"
    "I think so," called Maro from what sounded like the bottom a deep trench.  "I can't see anythi- OW!"
    "What happened!?"
    "....I ran into a wall.  It feels rough.... but the ground seems soft. I could dig, but i don't think I would get far."  
    "Do not worry, poor Maro," boomed the voice of Black.  It echoed throughout every aspect of the room.  Charla jumped when she heard it.
    "I di-did not realize you-you were here n-now, umm..." Charla stuttered.  
    "It is alright Charla; now Maro, shall I assist you out of there?"
    "Please!"  Although sight was useless at this point, Charla could hear the movement of air as Black descended down into the depression.  After a few moments, Maro walked out of the darkness.
    "Thank you, Black.  I can see that age does not cripple a dragonair's senses."  Black remained hidden in the darkness.
    "Hmph.  It does, but simply not to me.  Just be glad that the bottom was soft this time and not filled with thorns and needles, my cell-mate.  As for you Charla, you must spend an uncomfortable night on your cell's wool-stack; Dasher will not abandon the lava pit.  He spent all day in it, but it will not hurt his legs."  Charla, surprised at the prediction, bows slightly, and walks out of the room.  'Cell?' she thought.  She passed by Duckman and Cannon's room.  Duckman was working out and jamming while Cannon was meditating.  Duckman's pace got slower and slower until he dropped.  Charla rushed in to see if she could do something to help him, but the sound barrier was in place, so she couldn't enter either half.  Duckman glowed for a moment then slowly got to his feet.  He said something, what looked like 'I've had it,' but nothing could be heard.  Charla backed away and continued to her room.  Glen materialized to her left.
    "What is wrong, my fiery companion?  You have a very pained look on your face.... Do-you-need-a-smile?"  Charla looked at him, trying her hardest not to seem so down.
    "I... I was approached by some strange creature outside.  I couldn't tell what he was, or even pick up his scent....  He told me that Adrian was going to leave without us soon....  I don't know why I feel so down; I guess I just don't want to see him leave.  A smile would be nice."  Glen looks a little shocked at the fact that Adrian was leaving, but he begins to smile again.
    "He's a big boy, he'll be safe."  Glen waddles off somewhere through the walls.  Charla enters her room and sees Dasher on the stack of wool.  'Shouldn't he be in the lava pool?  Lord Black's predictions are never wrong,' she thinks.  She slides into the lava pit and begins to sleep as her stresses are smothered out by the thick, hot lava.  

    Adrian exits from his mother's room.  "That was some show."  He stretches as he walks into his room.  Ollie is asleep on his chair.  'Guess I'll take a shower.'  After finishing his shower, Adrian plops on his beds and falls soundly asleep.

    Black exits from his room after having a short nap.  Mewtwo, Alen, and Glen are up discussing various trivial things.  Black floats their way.  The discussion stops.  Mewtwo steps forward.
    "Shall we continue?"
    "Yes.  As I said before, Adrian's psychic strength is growing exponentially.  I saw him create a fractal out of the sand."  Glen is a little confused.
    "Whazza fract-al?"
    "'It is any of the various extremely irregular curves or shapes for which any suitably chosen part is similar in shape to a given larger or smaller part when magnified or reduced to the same size.'  I believe that is the proper definition.   He created a simple Julia set in two dimensions.  I am not too sure if he knows about what he created or not, but this is good.  It means that he will triumph in his task ahead."
    "What task would that be?" Alen interrupted.
    "He must dawn demon wings and prevent this world from destruction."  Alen, Glen, and Mewtwo looked shocked.
    "So there was more to it than just keeping his primal side from rampaging,"
    "Yes, Mewtwo, but there is something worse.  It will be his equal that he must face."
    "He has an equal?!"
    "Yes Alen, she will dawn feathered wings and try to destroy this world."
    "Who is this girl?" Mewtwo asks.
    "Her name....," Black closes his eyes, "...is Amber."  Mewtwo's eyes widen.
    "What... what did you say?"  Mewtwo's mind races.  'That name, I have heard it before.'
    "There are certain facts you are not ready for, Mewtwo.  I cannot go further, except to say that she has more of the same cards that Adrian has been finding."
    "Where is she, I must know!"
    "She is in a place that cannot be teleported to and only Adrian will be able to enter.  Once he comes back will we be able to travel to this realm."
    "What kind of realm is it?"
    "I do not know.  It exists beyond my grasp.  I will leave now, and finish my rest."  Mewtwo thinks of something to ask, but doesn't ask.  He realizes he must wait.  Black floats back to his room, but observes that Charla is in the lava pit.  'I must be losing my foresight.... I have been outside the orb too long.  Hmph, it seems it is still on the ship.'  He teleports it to his room and enters it when he gets there.  Alen and Glen continue discussing about the foretellings of Black with Mewtwo.
    "Who is this Amber that seemed to have you shocked?"
    "She.... I cannot remember.  I remember that name from somewhere, but I do not remember where.  I will find out soon enough."
    "And what do you think these 'demon wings' are?  I mean, DEmons, really..." Glen said.
    "That could mean those charizard wings that Charla has kept for some time.  I never really knew how she got those, except that she may have killed a giant charizard and took its wings as a trophy," Alen answered.
    "No, those wings belonged to a human who had mutated into a charizard upon an accidental bite from Charla," Mewtwo corrected, "He retained some human characteristics, but he became the charizard that fathered her only son."
    "How is it possible that he just mutates into a charizard?  He was a human!"
    "That does not have a clear answer.  Perhaps out of some strange occurrence, he was born with an unstable genetic pattern that can change at a moment's notice.  Charla's bite could have triggered the reaction, but it is not certain.  One thing is certain though, when his wife left him, odd things began happening.  He became closer to pokémon.  Although the son missed her terribly, she never came back or attempted to contact them.  She never remarried, and soon died when part a newly constructed building collapsed on her.  Her body was identified, but he was never contacted.  He received the bite from Charla at the same instant as her death."
    "Strange co-ink'i'dink..." Glen muttered.
    "What is worse is the reason why she left."
    "Tell, do tell," Glen said over anxiously.
    "...She did not like the fact that he cared more for pokémon than he did for her.  He almost seemed to neglect her in favor of pokémon."
    "Hmm, I suppose certain things have to happen," Alen figured.

*****

    The dreamer slowly opens his eyes and sees a wide open field in front of him.  Dark clouds obscure a crescent moon.  A gentle breeze sways the grass to and fro as if lulling it to sleep.  He hears the rustling of the grass as the clouds pass in front of the moon.  Everything turns dark.  For an eternity, he stands there in silence.  The rustling of the grass becomes louder as the wind becomes more aggressive.  '.... Sounds like the crashing of waves.'
    He hears the beating of wings and feathers behind him.  He turns around, but can't see through the thick darkness.  Shouts of a man and a woman drift across the open field.  For a moment, the moon peeks through the clouds and bathes them in soft light.  
    "Take that, you witch!"  A man with large, fleshy wings lunges forward at a woman with feathered wings.
    "Not this time."  The woman dodges the attack as the man continues forward.  She counters with a ball of lightning that hits him square in the back.  He laughs.
    "Pathetic..."  He turns and grins.  Before she can react, he darts forward and knocks her to the ground.  She struggles to stand up, but he pins her down.  The clouds cover the moon again.  Once again, all is enveloped in darkness.  
    The harsh wind carries the woman's faint cries and the sound of flesh hitting flesh.  The dreamer squints his eyes and sees the faint silhouette of the man beating the woman into the ground.  
    The man stops punching.  "You will never have this world!"  The clouds finally break and the moon floods the field with light.  Blood trickles from the woman's nose and mouth.  Bruises patch her face and arms.  Tears stream from her eyes.
    "You won't either...."  The woman turns her head and smiles at the dreamer.  "....Adrian."
    'No, that can't be me!'  His heart races.  His eyes widen.  He begins to sweat.  'I could never be like that!'  
    The man steps back.  "Enough."  He swings an arm in an upward motion.  The earth underneath the woman rises in the shape of a hand and palms her.  He slowly starts to squeeze his hand into a fist.  The earth-hand mimics his action and begins to crush her body.  
    'Stop!'  The dreamer moves toward the man.
    "Little dreamer..."  The man turns his head and glares at him coldly.  "...this is my world."
    The man and the dreamer stare at each other for a long minute - their eyes locked.
    The man raises his hand and clenches his fist.  Bones crack.  
    The dreamer feels his own fist closing.  Blood spills.
    The dreamer breaks his stare and looks at the woman.  The blood trickling from her body begins to flow like a river.  The grassy field becomes a crimson swamp.  He again locks his gaze on the man.
    'I'm not like you.'  The dreamer raises his clenched fist.  
    "You can become me."  The man with fleshy wings takes a step forward.
    'This world belongs to no one.'  The dreamer releases his fist.
    "The world can be yours."  The man takes another step.
    'I will never become you.'  Stone crumbles.  Body falls.
    "You cannot escape your fate."  Another step.
    The red river flows faster.  The swamp becomes a crimson sea.  The tides rise all around them.  The winds pick up.  The calm sea becomes a violent ocean.  The dreamer struggles against the towering waves.  The tides rise higher.  The ocean swallows him.
    An odd metallic taste stabs his tongue.  He panics.  He feels the thick warm liquid invading his nose.  He panics.  His arms flail about.  His legs thrash.  He tries to swim toward the surface.  Hands grab his legs and pull him down.  He panics.  He can't breathe.  Darkness surrounds his vision.  He panics.  He lunges forward.  The hands pull him back down.  He has no more strength.  His eyes close.  He falls into the abyss.  "You cannot escape your fate...."
    
*****

    Adrian opens his eyes suddenly and sits up in a quick motion.  He finds himself drenched in sweat.  He calms down and sets his head back on his pillow.  Something catches his eyes: a card.  
    "Another?  How did this get here?  I don't even remember how I got the second one, but now a third one?"  It, like the second one, was sitting on the strangely lit ball on the table that was in front of his bed.  Ollie stretched and meowed.
    "Good morning!"  He jumped off his chair and walked out the door.  Adrian followed.  He looked up when he entered the atrium.
    "The skylight doesn't have any light....  Is it really morning?"
    "Yes Adrian, it is morning," Mewtwo reassured, "Every so often I must make the temperature drop so that some of the plant life here can feel a change.  I could keep the island at one relative state of heat, but some plants would die.  I would rather preserve them."  Some of the other pokémon exited their rooms.  Charla let herself fly to the skylight, but stopped when she saw a translucent blue barrier blocking her path.  Snow covered the other side.
    "What's up with that?  I thought it was daytime."  Mewtwo psychically tells her what he told Adrian.  "Oh...  I guess I shouldn't leave then, huh..."  She landed and decided to check on Maro.  
    Duckman was a little restless.  "So we can't go outside?  Fine with me!"  He ran back to his room.
    "Like we need him around....," Lucy said under her breath.  "But it does seem like I've been indoors too long."
    "Is it really cold outside?" Adrian's mother asked while drinking some coffee.  Mewtwo nodded.
    "Then there must be snow out there!" Adrian said a little too loud.  Mewtwo almost smiled when he nodded.  Adrian darted for an exit, but stopped when his mother hollered at him.
    "Adrian!  Don't even think about going outside without a coat!  You're gonna catch a cold!  And what about your feet! You're not even-"
    "Alright, alright.... but I don't have a coat."  Mewtwo's eyes flash for a second.
    "One is in your room now."
    "Thanks!"  Adrian runs off to his room.  
    "I'm hungry..." Ollie meows.  Mewtwo creates a small dish of fish for him.
    "Thank you."  Mewtwo begins to feel slightly fatigued.  
    'I've been overexerting myself...'  
    Cannon walks to a door.  It opens, but the cold air doesn't rush in.  He then notices a translucent blue barrier.  He slowly moves toward it; pushing his hand forward.  The barrier allows his hand through, but he immediately withdraws it.  His hand was numb.
    "That's REALLY cold!  I've never felt something so violently frigid."  Cannon walked back to his room.

    "Where are my shoes?!"  Adrian wondered angrily.  He found his socks and the coat, but no shoes.  "Of course, here they are..."  They were in the restroom.  He quickly puts them on and ties them up.  He walks out his room and towards one of the doors.  The door opens and he notices the same thing Cannon saw.  Adrian smiled, and jumped through the barrier.  High, biting winds whipped snow and ice into the air, but could not seem to get within an inch of him.  The ground sunk under him when he landed.
    "Aah!  SNOW!!"  He grasped some in his hands.  "Funny, I don't even feel the cold."
    The snow began to melt very quickly, even though his hands never went numb.  He tried to build a snowman, but the snow melted before he could even pack it into a ball.  He began to get frustrated.  He concentrated on the snow.  His eyes flash blue.  A snowman with all the snow tightly bundled began to form in his mind.  The snow seemed to start floating into balls until his snowman formed.  
    He collapsed.  
    "I... I must've over-done it."  Adrian tried to lift himself up off the snow, but could not find the strength to do so.  'What's going to happen to me?  I... can't even move.  ....feels like I'm just... completely... gone... spent....  If only I could use that recover ability Alen has.  Then, maybe....'  He began to glow.  Strength seemed to return.  He stood up.  "Wait, I didn't do that."  He looked up toward the sky where the sun should have been if there weren't any clouds.  Something small was there.  It had little hands, big feet, a long thin tail, and a head that looked a little like a cat.  "I remember seeing you... in a dream.  You're 'Mew,' right?"
    "Yes."  It had a very sweet, loving, motherly voice.  "I revived you."  She floated toward him.
    Adrian hesitated.  "Um... well... why are you here?"
    "I have come to take you to a place where you will meet the others that are truly human.  Only I can take you there right now.  Will you come with me?"  Adrian almost felt completely relaxed by simply hearing Mew speak.  He thought about the others.
    "What about my mom?  She would worry herself if she didn't know where I was... And the others, they would worry too."
    "They will never realize that you were gone."  Her voice calmed Adrian's worries.  He nodded.  She closed her sky blue eyes and began to initiate the teleport.  
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