Chapter 13: Calm After the Storm

Chris tentatively approached the downed pokemon. Step by step, he approached 
the spot in the middle of the clearing which had been singed clear of grass. 
Mewtwo was lying face down, its tail slumped with no movement, one arm 
outstretched towards Arcanine.

Behind him, Bayleaf, Cuerno, and Noche slowly approached. Karma was knelt 
next to Arcanine. Chris stood over Mewtwo and reached down.

'Don't touch me you bastard', Chris jumped back as the voice clearly spoke at 
the center of his mind. 'I got careless, I underestimated that mutt. I played 
too much with my food. This...is simply the result of that. Don't get 
complacent'.

Chris sighed and looked down. Even though the mental voice was speaking with 
a steely monotonous tone, Mewtwo's body had not moved. Its breathing was 
barely noticeable but it was indeed taking small shallow breaths. "Who are 
you?"

'I am Mewtwo', the mental voice answered immediately. 'I am the strongest'.

Chris looked back at Karma. Piedra was next to her now. Chris looked up and 
saw that Mismagius was still knocked out at the edge of the clearing. He 
looked down and sighed. He walked over to her, took out his pokeball and 
recalled her, "Thanks girl, rest now."

Karma had taken out several bottles from her pack. Medicine and bandages. 
Revives and potions. Already she was bandaging Arcanine's front left paw 
which stuck out in the wrong direction. It looked fractured, maybe even 
broken.

"Why did you do this?" Chris muttered, he didn't expect Mewtwo to hear him, 
but to his surprise, the pokemon answered.

'Because you dared to oppose me. Dared to fight me, answered Mewtwo's voice. 
I am the strongest and you are my trash. I can dispose of you whenever I cho-
'

"Liar!" Karma practically spat. She was spraying some medicine on Arcanine's 
gashes. "Your master ordered you to do this. That bastard Giovanni."

'He is not my master, he is my partner'. Mewtwo said, this time louder than 
before. 'I don't serve him, I choose to do this'.

"Your partner?" asked Chris.

'Don't misunderstand, our partnership is unlike the one you share with your 
pokemon. Your partnerships are true slavery. Mine is equality'.

"What are you talking about? Our pokemon are our partners, not our slaves!" 
said Chris, he was gatting annoyed. Bayleaf gave a cry of assurance before 
him. "If anyone's a slave, it's you! Team Rocket's oblivious pawn! They're 
using you!"

'Giovanni is not using me, he is helping me, he helped me learn how to 
control my abilities. He is helping me learn my purpose'.

"Your...purpose?" Chris asked.

'My purpose for existence, Mewtwo explained. The way I entered this world 
is...unique. I am trying to find my reason for existing, my purpose'.

"Are you stupid?" asked Karma loudly. Mewtwo didn't respond and she 
continued, "Team Rocket's goal is to use pokemon to further their own sick 
ambitions. Their motto says that 'All pokemon exist for the glory of Team 
Rocket'. Do you honestly believe such a malevolent organization things of you 
as a 'partner'?"

'Giovanni was the first human to extend the hand of partnership to me. The 
hand of equality', Mewtwo said. 'The ones who made me would study me, would 
have kept me in a test tube. They would have my purpose be for their own 
ends'.

"What?" said Chris. "Created you...what do you mean?"

'I don't yet understand what I exist for...but what I do understand is that I 
am the strongest. My creators what to create the ultimate pokemon. And they 
succeeded'. Mewtwo rose. 'It slowly got to its feet, but Chris could have 
sworn that it almost stumbled'.

Noche, Piedra, Cuerno, and Bayleaf came forward. Karma looked up, but she 
didn't look surprised. Chris felt shaken. Mewtwo made a long motion with one 
hand and a blue wave of light washed out away from it and hit the pokemon. 
They were all thrown back, but not violently. Mewtwo rose into the air, 
roughly five feet, but Chris thought it was a weak levitation. Mewtwo wasn't 
perfectly balanced in the air, its tail was sort of droopy and kept rising 
and falling slightly.

'Enough', Mewtwo sent out mentally. 'I am retreating for now. Don't 
misinterpret this. I am not surrendering, I will never surrender to any of 
you. I will return and I will destroy you. That is not a promise, that is 
reality'.

Mewtwo closed its eyes but Karma spoke out from next to Arcanine, "Wait! At 
least tell us where you brought us!"

The psychic type pokemon opened its eyes and looked at her, 'this is Route 8. 
It's the closet place I thought to bring you where we'd have the least chance 
of encountering Rocket members who might interrupt us'.

"What do you mean, why would you care is Rocket members...helped you?" Chris 
asked.

'I fight alone, I don't accept the aide of humans in battles, I fight how I 
want to fight. Not with some moron trainer behind me, barking ridiculous 
orders', Mewtwo answered.

'The Rocket Base in Celadon gave a Red-4 Alarm. Among the other things that 
such an alarm signifies, it also orders Rocket members from near by bases to 
converge on the base under alarm in order to give aide', Mewtwo paused and 
pointed to the west. 'Rocket members would be flocking from Saffron and 
Cerulean. Maybe even Fuchsia. All cities with Rocket Bases. Lavender Town has 
no such base, Rocket members wouldn't be coming through here'.

"You're just leaving us here?" Chris asked, it was obvious he was suspicious.

'It doesn't matter. Go wherever you want. I'll find you eventually', the 
feline turned its gaze torward Arcanine again. 'Yes, I'll find you and I'll 
kill you all. For now, that is my purpose'.

With that, Mewtwo disappeared.