Chapter 11: Fiery Exterior, Empty Interior Mewtwo zoomed forward at Arcanine, right into the flaming building, and the flaming beast responded by jumping forward itself. Its large paws bearing long sharp claws, its face pulled back in a snarl that barred its maw, and the dagger like teeth inside. At the last second before impact, Mewtwo threw up a barrier. A bright blue bubble all around its body. The consequence was that instead of hitting the 270 pound frame of Mewtwo, Arcanine hit a psychic shield that stopped his attack instantly and repelled him, throwing him back with so much strength that the large canine crashed through walls and flew right through the building, crashing out the opposite side toward the street below. Part of the ceiling collapsed, Mewtwo looked toward the small man who was now crying in the corner and realized that he would be crushed. With a flick of his hand, the ceiling was lifted up. 'Go!', Mewtwo screamed mentally. The man only closed his eyes and entered a sort of fetal position, tears streaming down his face. Mewtwo felt absolutely sickened. He waved his other hand, attempting to psyonically lift the man when Mewtwo burst into flames. Only for an instant however, by instinct, Mewtwo teleported away to the sky next to the building, leaving the fire that would have burned Mewtwo behind. A sickening scream suddenly rang out and Mewtwo realized that by teleporting away, he had left the ceiling unsupported, and it must have fallen on the small man. That, inexplicably, left a feeling of regret and anger in Mewtwo. Mewtwo looked at the building just in time to see the windows at the eye level turn shiny and orange before they burst outwards. The explosion inside the building had sent fire throughout the building. Glass buffeted Mewtwo along with a surprising roaring sound and another shock wave of sound. The entire floor of the building was on fire, screams of those trapped inside could be heard, in an instant, Mewtwo's mind was filled with panicked thoughts: 'help me oh my god she's on fire no stop I can't see help I'm trapped help he fell down the stairs he fell fire explosion oh no help they were in the explosion it's a dog a damned dog water need water help the stairs are blocked the wall came down help she's on fire I'm in the bathroom help I can't see he blew up oh no her face melted!!-' Mewtwo closed his eyes and blocked out the mental screams for help. Feelings of terror and anguish rose up inside Mewtwo and he had to stop for a second. Empathy was a skill Mewtwo did not relish. After a few seconds, when his thoughts were only his own again, Mewtwo opened his eyes, and stared at the open jaw of a flaming Arcanine only a few bare inches from its face. Mewtwo threw up another barrier but this didn't help, the Arcanine had pounced on Mewtwo before the barrier was up and as such, when Mewtwo pulled up the spheric bubble, Arcanine was shielded as well. The two were trapped midair, in close quarters, inside the blue bubble, which meant Mewtwo had no where to escape to when Arcanine opened its maw and the temperature inside the bubble pushed past 1500 degrees Celsius. Mewtwo was instantly bathed in an explosion of searing fire. At the same time, the slender feline was quite literally barraged by a furious succession of slashes, kicks, bites, and head butts. Mewtwo screamed out mentally in anguish and that loss of concentration shattered the blue bubble like glass, the glowing blue shard dropping in the wind. No longer being supported by the barrier, Arcanine plummeted towards the streets below. In its jaws was Mewtwo's head. Arcanine was both continually bathing it in fire and shaking it around violently. Arcanine dropped with a blazing crash into the middle of the street and threw Mewtwo like a rag doll across the street and its body crashed into a dull blue station wagon which gave a strange crunch and started to emit gray smoke. Arcanine roaring, this time louder than before and the sonic blast of air and sound emitted shattered the glass of the nearby buildings and cars. It resonated around the city, and suddenly silence fell. The only noise which could be heard was the Game Freak building which had suffered a small implosion. Mewtwo rose from the wreckage of the car. Its entire upper body covered by a thick black layer of ash. Red gashes ran down Mewtwo's neck and torso and saliva ran down its head. 'Flame thrower and Close Combat right? I'm impressed. I wasn't aware that Arcanine could even learn that little trick', Mewtwo said telepathically. It gave a small cough and from above them came another explosion. 'You're causing quite a few deaths you know? You don't even seem to care...you're more heartless than I am my friend'. Arcanine charged forward suddenly with surprising speed and within seconds was nearly upon Mewtwo, but it managed to teleport at the last second to the air above Arcanine. 'Answer me, dog!' Arcanine looked up and Mewtwo suddenly saw it in its eyes. Arcanine could hear Mewtwo, it simply couldn't understand Mewtwo. It wasn't rage or anger. It was power. The overpowering energy. Somehow, Arcanine's sudden evolution had whipped away Arcanine's personality and its mind, and had left only this beast. This empty, empty entity that now only existed to use the energy it now had at its disposal. It now existed to destroy. 'Alright then', Mewtwo thought. It suddenly descended to the street, level with Arcanine. 'Let's put an end to this show.' <><><><><> Karma and Chris pushed themselves into the next available elevator. Karma jammed the B1 button as she slid the card key through its slot and they slowly rose through the shaft. Surprisingly, no other people entered the elevator and it didn't stop until it reached their destination. They basically toppled out of it, but they were now lost. They hadn't studied this floor so they didn't know where the exit was. A single Grunt appeared from around a corner. Drool ran down his face and he sped past Chris and Karma, down a passage. They took a full five seconds before they started to follow the fellow. He led them down two more passages before they reached a staircase that led to an opening in the ceiling. Even from there, bright orange lights and smoke billowed in from the opening, a fire was burning. The small doorway was already parted open and the Grunt jumped on the staircase and cleared it. Chris and Karma looked at each other and sighed. They also cleared the staircase. They entered what may very well be some puritan's image of hell. A large casino like area with a partially fallen roof. Pool tables, slot machines, poker tables, and a few other gaming tables were flipped on their sides or on fire. Thick black smoke and ash blotted the air. The windows had been blown out, and on the floor were littered poster cut-outs of females dressed skimpily advertising drinks or games. Chris used his shirt as a filter for the smoke and pointed at the doorway, which had been blocked out by the partially fallen ceiling and fire. Karma yanked his arm and pointed at the floor near the western wall, where what looked like bodies could be seen, under the flames and pined under overturned tables. Fiery embers were beginning to fall upon Chris and as he shielded himself, a bright red flash blinded him, but when he opened his eyes he saw a giant round boulder before him: Golem. "Piedra!" Karma called, stifling a cough, she pointed at the nearby eastern wall. "Rollout!" The large pokemon jumped into the air and rolled itself into a round sphere and sprang forward. It tackled the eastern wall and plowed right through it, causing embers, fire, and wood to fall all around Chris and Karma as the ceiling completely collapsed. Sprinting, the duo made it out as the building erupted into a last show of flames, as far as Chris could see, any Team Rocket members left below ground may now be permanently trapped. Chris stopped and started to cough hack up when they reached the relative safety of the street. "Good job, Piedra!" praised Karma when a explosion from a nearby skyscraper rocked them on their feet. Karma looked up and her eyes narrowed. "Brother!" "Wait! Karma!" cried Chris as he tried to catch his breath in between coughing but it was too late, she sprinted down the street toward the Game Freak building, followed by Golem, which was in its Rollout form to keep up. Chris took a deep breathe and sighed. "Jeez...that girl, not even a moments rest." With a smile, he followed.