15 years. That's how long it had been since Alex left my family. The break in at the fair was the last thing we've heard of that let us know that Alex was still alive. It did little to help us know about him now. A person in Alex's position could easily be dead right now, decaying alone at god knows where.
Despite this, life had to go on. I grew up, and went through school with what a person would consider nice grades. Bs, Cs, and occasional As were what appeared on my report cards. I couldn't take all of the credit for myself, because David was a big help to me. He had proven himself to be more dedicated to school than Gerald and I ever were. He did nothing to hide his passion for science and technology, which led him to major in any course involving them. Although I learned a few things from taking classes with David, I still knew little when compared to him.
He was so advanced in those fields that a job was offered to him. It was a position involving a secret project that was based away from the Kanto main land. David immediately took the offer, excited about his new occupation. David wouldn't do so little as talk to me about what they did there. My desire to know what was making David stay wherever he was working for so long only grew as time passed. Eventually, David was able to let me come see the place that was New Island. The idea of it was that I might be able to find a job there, one that didn't rely on taking money from beaten trainers. My pokemon battling earned the money I wanted and needed, but I knew that I couldn't do it forever. It seemed to be the time to move on, to more advanced, and hopefully higher-salary jobs. Hopefully, it would be at the same place where David had found his footing…
I found myself staring at the seemingly endless blue that was the sea. All the while, David drove us on a speedboat to the island. We may have used a helicopter, but it seemed that there weren’t any available for the scientists to use now. This wasn't a concern to me, since if felt so relaxing and tranquil to be out in the sea like this, a far cry from the usually noisy experience of a helicopter.
I let out a relaxed sigh before I said, "It's peaceful out here, David."
David smiled. "Yeah, it is. You tend to get used to it when you've been out here a lot." A light sigh followed, before he said, "I know that you wanted to see this for a long time".
"Of course I would want to see this secret project. It must be important if it's consumed your life for most of the past 3 months." I kept my gaze on the water, looking at the underwater forms of what I thought were magikarps gracefully swimming by.
David fell into silence as his gaze concentrated on the world in front of him, until something seemed to catch his attention. He looked over his shoulder to me, his hands still on the wheel. "Look ahead, Matt!"
I followed David's words and brought my vision from the waves to the horizon. It was hard to see at first, but as my eyes focused, I noticed the sight of an island with a small building on its top, gradually becoming larger and more distinct as we approached it. "Is that it?" I asked.
David smiled. "Yes, that is it. That is New Island."
----
New Island was a small spec in the middle of the ocean, that couldn't be denied. Still, the huge, dark and rocky underside of the island combined with the lab that I knew sat at the top, easily made me feel small. David carefully and slowly brought the speedboat to a stop against the old, wooden docks of the island, the boat's engine dying down from a calm hum, into silence.
Once David was sure that the boat was deactivated, he carefully stepped onto the wooden platforms, causing them to creak in protest. "Watch your step." He said as he turned to me and held his hand out.
"Don't worry about me." I said as I graciously took David's hand and joined him. "I can swim."
He made a small smile and nodded. "Come on, let's go." I followed him away from the boat, onto a hard, concrete stairway. Eventually, the path lead us into a cave that was immersed in a blanket of darkness. Only the glow of a few light bulbs that hung from the ceiling gave light to the otherwise purely back cave. I said, "Geez, David It really is dark in here. Did you people ever consider a better lighting budget?"
David casually shrugged as he kept walking. "You really don't care about things like that when there is something much more important to worry about nearby." Words like that would only increase a person’s desire to know the secret of the island. I wasn't an exception.
The light at the end of the darkness came closer, until the both of us emerged from the cave, onto a steel walkway connected to the side of the island. I looked up, to see more of the island's rocky design and a small hint of the lab at the top. The sound of water crashing against the island brought my eyes downward to see the sight of it.
I was taken from the view when David said, "Come on. If you wanted to see the ocean, you could have just gone to Fuchsia Beach or Pallet Bay." After a few more minutes of walking, we stood in front of huge metallic door at the end of the stairway. Attached to the door was a small card reader. David casually brought a hand into his lab coat and pulled out a small security card. David slid the card through the reader, causing it to beep and say in a recorded human voice, "Access granted." The door slowly slid aside, revealing what I have been waiting to see for a long time. The place where David had spent so much of the past three months. The New Island Lab.
----
As I followed David, I took in the surroundings. I looked at the huge electronic equipment that beeped, hummed and whirred calculations and commands. Scientists had filled the room; far too busy discussing their own business to pay attention to who had just walked in. David didn't seem to be affected by it at all.
He said, "Don't worry about it. They're always worrying about their job." I gave a small nod in response to David as my eyes still wandered around, searching for a new sight to see in the isolated lab. I felt a light tapping on my shoulder from David, causing me to turn my gaze upon him. He gestured to an older looking man with weird gray hair and a beard. "That is Dr. Fuji, the leader of this project." I didn't find it unnatural at all. It mostly seemed to be that people losing the advantage of youth would be the ones leading big projects like this.
I made a small nod for David, right before giving him a question. "How did he get the funding for all of this?"
I took notice of the hesitation that briefly showed on David's face. What reason could he possibly have for worrying about such a simple question? After a few moments of silence, he spoke to me in low tone, almost a whisper. "He has taken funding from Team Rocket."
At the least, his reply shocked me. David, a man who I had admired so much, was actually involved with that gang of cutthroats, liars and thieves? Suddenly, the job didn't look so appealing anymore. The career was nothing more than existing as worker beedrills for Team Rocket. There had to be some kind of reason for David to do such a thing, and I needed to know it.
"How...could you actually be working with somebody in Team Rocket?"
"He has good intentions," David replied. That was it? He works for a criminal organization with the sole justification of good intentions!? Before I could take the debate any further, David quickly cut my answer off with the words, "There is somebody I want you to look at." I made a light sigh before slowly nodding. It didn't matter if he dodged my question; he'd have to answer sooner or later. David led me through the crowd of people to a female scientist. David smiled and said, "Look at her, Matt."
She had long, soft brown hair and kind, brown eyes. All of her dimensions seemed perfect to me; it was a small guess, considering her lab coat. Her breasts weren't at an idiotically big size, but they were there. Her rear didn't look like a replica of the moon, but I could see the curves easily. She wasn't anorexic, but she wasn't a blob of a woman either. From what I could see of her face, it looked like a gorgeous one. She was sitting at a desk, typing something on a computer. She looked beautiful, but I wouldn't give my brother the satisfaction of knowing that he had showed me a girl that I thought looked fantastic.
"She looks okay," I said with a disinterested tone.
"Suuuuuure," David replied while elbowing me in the side. Either he knew that I was lying, or he was guessing. If I had to take a choice between the two, I'd choose that he knew.
"Okay, David. I want to see the reason that so many scientists are here," I said. The woman was a nice distraction, but I wouldn't take anymore. If David was not going to give me a good reason for him working here, then at least he could show me what I wanted to see; the secret experiment that the scientists were working on.
A look of concern appeared upon David's face as he asked, "Are you sure? You may not like what you see."
I dismissed his concern and quickly replied, "I'm ready for anything." Nothing was going to hold me back now. I wasn't going to wait 3 months and come out to this island, only to turn around moments before seeing the experiment I wanted to see for so long.
"Ok. You were warned," David said. Yes, I was warned, and I didn't care.
I followed David away from the woman and other scientists to an area of the lab that seemed to be less congested, despite the scientists that walked around while writing things onto their clipboards and the scientists off to my left, doing something away from my attention. I looked to my right to see what looked like a huge and ancient picture. A member of the extinct mew pokemon was crudely drawn onto its hard, stone surface. David remained perfectly silent as he stayed behind me; I could only think that he wanted to save his words for when my attention went to the experiment.
A look to my left revealed what the other scientists were doing. They were operating and checking what looked like a gigantic computer. Their eyes were completely locked on the thing's screen as they typed and wrote their energy away. From what little I could hear from them, it seemed that they didn't know the meaning of friendly conversation. They only spoke about their job like it was their life's work. The sheer size of the machine made it clear that this computer meant a lot to this experiment. That presented the only problem; what was the experiment?
With the question in my mind, I let my gaze drift to the world in front of me. I beheld dozens of cylinder tubes that were made of glass. Inside each of the tubes was some kind of strange fluid that had an orange coloring to it. I stood in thought for a moment as I tried to think of possibilities for the fluid. Could it be that this was some type of specialized fuel system? I continued to wonder about the purpose of the fluid until I noticed something inside of one of the tubes. From where I stood, it was too far away to recognize, but I wanted to know what it was. I let curiosity take control of me and bring me closer to the single tube as David followed.
I asked, "Is that it?" as I continued to walk to it. David only gave me a sigh, which I translated into a, "yes." My walking continued until I stood only inches away from the tube. The haze of the liquid was no longer thick enough to warp by view of the thing, so I was able to witness it with good detail. My eyes widened in shock as I gasped at the sight. I blinked repeatedly, hoping that what I saw was only a hallucination. The hallucination wouldn't go away, it continued to float in front of my eyes, causing me to take a few steps back in shock. David gave another sigh as he slowly brought his hands behind his back. The only words that escaped my lips were, "Oh…God."
The creature inside the container was at the area of 7 feet tall. It's long tail and the area just above its legs were purple while the rest of its body had a light lavender tint to it. Its huge and round thighs seemed to be filled with muscles in every possible spot. Short shins connected those big thighs to long feet with 2 digits and a knob on the side. I dully guessed that the thing would stand digitigrade.
Its thin upper body held a vague human resemblance, but it still looked far too different to qualify as human. What looked like a plate of armor securely covered its chest, shoulders and back from harm. It had arms that looked thin and delicate, more so than most women. Those arms ended in paw like hands with 3 stubby fingers, each having a round knob on their end. It would probably be impossible for those hands to ever operate something like a gun. What looked like a tube protruded from the creature's back and connected to the back of its head. It's short and pointy ears protruded from the top of its head while ridges rested above its eyes. It's face came to a short muzzle with a small mouth and nostrils. I couldn't learn the shape or color of its eyes, because they were closed shut.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing. This creature…did they actually create it? Their experiment was making this thing!? I faced David with my expression still frozen in surprise. I barely stammered out, "Wh…. W…Wha…?" The pure shock of seeing such a creature had left me breathless. I wanted to speak as clearly and confidently as ever, but that dormant creation was more than enough to ruin my trains of thought.
David calmly answered my senseless words. "That…is Mewtwo." Upon hearing the name, I instantly darted my attention to the mew picture, then back at Mewtwo. There was a similarity between the thighs, tail nodes, coloring and basic skull shape; other than that, they looked like completely different forms of life.
I used a few moments of silence to calm myself before I spoke again. I needed to know how that thing was ever born into this world. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before I asked, "You created that thing? You created a life?"
"Yes, we did. Well, they did for the most part. I was only here for 3 months, you know." With a sigh, I turned my gaze back to mewtwo. I never tried to decipher David's reasons for mentioning his amount of time on the project. He could have been trying to defend himself, or he could have been just stating the facts. Either way, he had contributed to creating a life, a new pokemon. Calling it human would have been nothing more than a sick joke.
Out of nowhere David asked, "Do you think that Alex would ever have mercy on us for this?" It was a question that caught me off guard, but I quickly accepted and wondered about it. When Alex left, he seemed to hate people controlling pokemon in anyway. If he were alive, he would probably be totally disgusted at what these scientists had done to nature. For nobody, would he hide his hatred of such abuse to life.
It was those thoughts of nature that moved me to give David a question to consider. "Here is a better question. If it exists…would God ever have mercy on you for this?"
David rapidly blinked to the question a few times, before he began to blankly stare at Mewtwo. The question had probably hit him harder than his had hit me. While his mind drifted, I also stared at the experiment, letting my eyes take in every detail of its body. There…was some kind of weird beauty to it, despite what it was: an experiment. It wasn't a beauty that attracted love or passion, but a weird admiration of scientific advancements. Humanity had the power to destroy ever since their beginning; just recently had we gained the power to create. But…was it right to do it just because we could?
David gave me a soft pat on the shoulder as he said, "Come on Matt… let's get out of here." Like me, he was probably unable to bring any answers to the questions that were thrown into our lives mere seconds ago. Maybe for now, it was for the best that we left those wonders as things that we didn't know. It was a scientist's job to find answers to the questions that even haunt the most educated and rational minds, but I had seen enough of science's accomplishments for one day. I silently nodded to David and followed him away from the glass containers, leaving Mewtwo to its motionless slumber.
As the both of us walked towards the same door that we came through, I couldn't help but feel admiration and disgust at the scientists. The admiration came from their ability to create Mewtwo. Their accomplishment was far beyond the cloning of a mareep done a few years ago. These scientists had taken the DNA of a pokemon species that was supposed to be extinct and used it to make a new pokemon species. Thanks to them, humanity had gained the ability to create new pokemon! This could lead to experiments that were never thought of as possible!
On the other hand, these people were giving away their time to help create something for Team Rocket, one of the biggest crime organizations there were now. It didn't matter if it was a nuclear bomb, or a jigglypuff; the chances were that Team Rocket would find some sick, twisted and evil way to use it to their advantage. There was no way to tell what kind of abilities mewtwo had, but when Team Rocket took it, its uses of violence and death would become crystal clear. With this creation, these scientists were only aiding the crimes and chaos that Team Rocket would cause.
Just as David and I reached our exit, we heard a scientist cry the words, "WAIT!" in our direction. The two of us turned around to see a scientist rushing towards us with a surprised expression on his face. In the background, the other scientists were starting to rush off, towards the direction of the cylinder tubes. Once the scientist noticed our halt, he stopped his running, bending forward and putting his hands on his knees to rest. He looked up to us, talking between breaths. "David…you have to come see this…something is happening with mewtwo!"
I watched without a word as David looked from the scientist, to the doors and then to me. The fact that he was considering staying to find out what was happening was unsettling enough; I just wanted to go home and let my memories of mewtwo fade away. Couldn't David just forget about the experiment for one day and just take me home? It wasn't like the lab would magically disappear in a few minutes.
After a few moments of thinking, David nodded to the scientist. "Come on, Matt. This shouldn't take too long," he said as he followed the scientist away, to the rest of the hurrying crowd. I sighed as I took the only choice left: to follow them. Of course taking the little brother home could wait for checking up on the big experiment for Team Rocket. Hopefully, whatever that sleeping experiment was doing would be short and quick.
The scene that we arrived at was a hectic and panicked one. Silent scientists crowded around the huge computer and the smaller ones around it, their eyes locked upon the flickering screens and their fingers rapidly typing away on their keyboards. Other noiseless scientists stood together in front Mewtwo's tube, feverishly writing notes and records onto their clipboards. Whoever remained just stood and watched from a distance, pure awe on their faces. While the scientist that led us to the site ran off to melt in with the people around the computers, we moved closer to the scientists around Mewtwo. Dr. Fuji seemed to be the most active out of all the scientists, constantly traveling between Mewtwo's tube and the computers. Since he seemed to be the most important of all the scientists, I followed him with my eyes and ears. His constant movement ended when a female scientist at a computer waved him over and said, "Doctor, look at this!"
"What?" Dr. Fuji asked as he stood beside her.
The woman pointed to the screen as she responded with alarm, "Its brainwaves…they're surging!" As her message went to the ears of the other scientists, their silence gave away to excited, worried talking. The alarms activated and buzzed through the lab, but they seemed useless; it looked like every scientist had already come. David joined into the various conversations that were being discussed, his lines of scientific jargon perfectly fitting with the other words being said.
"Here…" Dr. Fuji gently pushed the woman aside to get a clearer look at the screen. "Let's run another scan!"
"Its mind is racing!" declared the woman.
My gaze went to Mewtwo, only to receive a jolt of shock from its opened eyes. That's what all of the worried faces and words meant; that's why everybody postponed whatever they were using their time with. Their experiment had awakened! I didn't know whether to be happy to witness it or completely horrified to be in its sights. This was a genetic experiment; there was no way to tell what kind of mind could be hiding behind its purple eyes. It was that lack of knowledge about it that made horror win over happiness. To me, it was far beyond the time to leave this lab and the scientists' experiment to themselves.
From inside the liquid concealment of the glass tube, Mewtwo's eyes began to glow an eerie shade of blue. The illumination spread throughout the entire tube, causing a web of cracks to slowly creep across the container. Larger and more complicated it grew until the container shattered, sending the liquid and sparkling glass shards flying everywhere. As the former contents of the cylinder tube spilled and slid across the floor, Dr. Fuji amongst other scientists quickly turned their gaze back to the freed creation. Neither David nor I had to change our gaze; both of us were watching on as Mewtwo slowly floated from his sleeping position to the damp container floor.
I immediately placed a hand on David's shoulder as I said calmly yet worriedly, "David, I have lived for 25 nice, long years. I don't want to die now."
David swatted my hand off of his coat as he replied. "Don't worry. You're just overreacting. This is a time to celebrate, not fear!" It was clear that David was overjoyed at the situation. His expression was like that of somebody who had won a big contest; too wrapped up in their own victory to pay attention to the world around them. Didn't he care for me more than that damned creature? Couldn't he take his eyes away from that thing long enough to notice the growing fear that was invisibly choking me!? I needed to get away from this lab, away from their created enigma. I needed to be free of this island!
An alarmed voice from one of the scientists yelled, "Radio Giovanni's helicopter! Tell him what's happened!"
Dr. Fuji kept his gaze upon Mewtwo while promptly saying, "Quiet! Let us hear its psychic powers!" At those simple words, the entire lab became filled with silence, despite the faint sounds of a few machines' buzzing and beeping. Every shred of attention was now upon the wet, purple creation at the bottom of its shattered tube. Even I had stopped thinking about getting away, my wonder returning to my mind in light of the sitting, purple life form. I didn't need to think about David; I knew that he was just as curious as everybody else within the lab.
Mewtwo slowly brought its eyes up from the floor, towards the scientists in front of it. The purple orbs seemed to rest upon Dr. Fuji as it began to speak in a male's voice to us. The realization that an experiment like that was speaking in normal English was abnormal enough; the fact that it was an echoing, psychic voice that invaded my and the other scientists' minds made it far more strange. "Psychic…powers?" his telepathic voice asked.
"For years we struggled to successfully clone a pokemon to prove our theories, but you're the first specimen to survive," Fuji explained. He raised a hand to gesture to the mew picture, bringing Mewtwo's and a small amount of the scientists' attention to it. Most of the scientists didn't seem to care for such an artifact now that they would be 'scientific legends.' Fuji continued, "That is mew, the rarest of all pokemon. From its DNA, we created you, Mewtwo."
"Mewtwo?" He asked in wonder as he slowly turned his gaze back to Fuji. "Am I only a copy? Nothing but Mew's shadow?"
Fuji confidently replied, "You are greater than Mew, improved through the power of human ingenuity. We used the most advanced techniques to develop your awesome psychic powers." It wasn't much of a surprise to me, since psychic pokemon were known to have the advantage over many other pokemon. What was fear inducing was the fact that Mewtwo was supposed to be stronger than a pokemon that was said to have powers greater than any other psychic in existence.
A momentary soundlessness fell over the room, before Mewtwo continued to speak mentally, a tone of educated finality evident in him. "So I am simply the end result of your experiment. What becomes of me now that your experiment is over?" I began to concentrate on Fuji, interested in the words that he would answer with. The other scientists still had their eyes on Mewtwo, looking as if they knew what would be their creature's fate.
Fuji answered with a widening grin, "Our experiment isn't over, it's just beginning. Now the real testing begins!" Voices rose from the scientists, quickly washing away the emptiness of silence. They seemed to become totally convinced of their victory, shaking hands, laughing joyously and talking of their future experiments. All the while, Mewtwo appeared to screen their cheers out, slowly bowing his head down to look at his wet, three fingered hands. I brought my attention to David, who was joining into their celebrations. My interest in Mewtwo was satisfied enough for one lifetime, and once again I wanted to get away from the Island. Would the fact that their experiment was successful be enough for him to consider leaving?
"David?" David said
nothing to me; he only continued to talk to the other scientists about their
future. "David!?"
"What?" David
finally turned away from his cheering friends, his smile half faded.
"Let's go," I said,
gesturing my thumb in the direction of the entrance. "I don't want to work
here anymore, or ever."
David blinked a few times, almost
like he was still waiting for me to answer. The smile faded, and his expression
became one of shock. "But why? We've just made one of the biggest
breakthroughs ever!" David shook his head in denial, "You can't jump
out on this opportunity!"
"Watch me."
"…Fine. Just let me
discuss Mewtwo over there," David looked towards Mewtwo, "for a few
minutes and…" David slowly trailed off, his eyes shifting from a casual
look to one of deep shock.
"What?" I glanced
towards Mewtwo, then back to David. "What is it David?" I switched my
sights to Mewtwo again, and froze. Still at the base of the tube, his
hands/paws tightly clenched, Mewtwo sat, an aura of blue energy emanating from
his body. Every tube around him began to crack and weaken, small streams of
liquid seeping from the fresh holes. Every word of triumph and cheers from the
scientists slowly came to an end, as every eye locked upon the experiment, and
almost every mouth hung open. Mewtwo's eyes narrowed in hatred as they began to
glow with energy, and the tubes shattered to pieces, spewing forth pools of
orange liquid. In the length of a few seconds, the mood of the room had fallen
from joyous celebration, to soul wrenching fear.
Before anybody could do so little as say, "What the hell?" Mewtwo threw his hands out from his sides, causing a powerful field or energy to rise and shove all of the people around him screaming onto their rears. As David and I joined the sea of falling people, a smoke-streak of destruction shot out from the floor beneath Mewtwo, going across the floor, flowing up the huge computer and exploding into a huge, fiery blast. Every scientist near the computer was either consumed in the blast, never to be seen again or sent through the sky, their burning bodies leaving momentary smoke trails in the air.
Great numbers of metallic claws shot down from the sky, completely covering mewtwo's body in their grasps. Things seemed to calm for just a second, before all of the hands were knocked away and reduced to shards of metal by a barrier that burst from Mewtwo's body. The weapon brought his deadly gaze in every direction, streaks of smoke followed by screams and explosions coming from every direction that his eyes met and conquered. While we were still on our rears, a streak of smoke cut narrowly between David and I, causing the both of us to roll our bodies away. When the smoke cleared, we silently stared into each other's eyes. I didn't know what David had seen from my eyes, but I knew what I beheld: a man who had been snatched away from his dreams and confidence. Now that Mewtwo had attacked, David now had no more delusions of victory to keep him from realizing the human emotions of shock, and fear.
The two of us rushed to our feet and away from the heart of the disaster. There were no words traded between the two of us, just the force of our fear and the human will to survive. The lab became a red-hot mess of sounds and sights, only the fact that I was running for my life stayed clear in my head; more clear than the flames, the screams, the bodies, the collapsing walls, the exploding machinery, and the putrid smell of embers and death ever became. We ran across the lab, ducking whatever flew at us, braving the heat as it beat down upon us, pretending that exhaustion didn't exist. We would only stop when we were into the dim, white light seeping in through the entrance; the outside world. The light came closer…closer…closer…
"Matt! Watch out!!!" David screamed. I tried to register what David's warning was for, but the rapid pounding of my heart coupled with the looming danger was far too much. The danger was soon brought straight to my senses when David took my arm and pulled me away from a computer console, moments before it was made into an explosion of flames and machinery by another smoke streak. David put himself in front of the blast, covering me with his body as the flames, sparks and metal flew by. The blast was so loud, deafening and thunderous that I barely recognized the sounds of something crashing, and David screaming at the top of his lungs. However, The sight of a comptuer monitor crashing to the floor, and the weight of David's body coming down upon my own were more than enough to give me the message. As the blast finally faded into smoke, David's body fell back, shards of glass cracking under his landing, and a puddle of orange liquid below David's head slowly changing into crimson.
I called out in shock, "DAVID!" as I immediately began to rush towards him.
My advance was brought to a halt when he slowly waved his arm and shook his bleeding head. "Stop Matt!" David screamed, his eyes half open. He moved a shaky, bleeding hand into his lab coat and revealed his boat key, which he quickly threw to me. The glimmering object sailed through the air, before being taken into my hand with one smooth wave of my arm. "Take the keys and go!" What was he thinking?! He was still alive; I could just pick him up and bring him with me! He couldn't give up now! Not when he had me to save him! Through a cough, he faintly said, "Look…up." My eyes swiftly did as he asked, resting upon a slowly expanding hole in the ceiling. Metal, wires and rocks were slowly slipping through its surface, just above David's body. "It's too risky! It can all fall at any moment! JUST GO!!"
I yelled, "No! I can't leave you here!" I knelt beside David, ignoring his cries along with the weakening roof. He may have decided to give up on himself, but wasn't ready to give up on him yet! I would save him, whether he liked it or not! Hurriedly, I began to place one hand under his back, but he roughly pushed me back a few feet and onto my rear. I could only look on in defeat as the roof collapsed onto David, crushing and burying his body under its weight.
The words, "GET OUT OF HERE!" were the last words that I could hear from David before his voice was drowned out into the crashing and buzzing of the horrid collapse.
"DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIID!!" I ran over to the huge pile of debris that had covered my brother. I desperately tried to move over the wreckage, but it was too heavy. "David! Can you hear me!?" I screamed at the pile. The only answer I received was one that slowly sent shivers of horror into my very soul. Gradually, blood oozed from under the stack of lab remains, forcing my heart to skip a beat. It was then that the clear realization assaulted me without remorse. David…my older brother…was dead. He wasn't going to rise from the pile and say, "It's okay, Matt. I'm here." We weren't going to leave this lab smiling and thinking of the days to come. He was gone…now and forever. "David.... no....no", I said, falling to my knees. One hand reached down to touch the blood, my own brother's blood, while the other hand covered my face. The world seemed to fall away from me as I shed tears for my lost brother.
A blood curdling wail or terror caused me to jerk my gaze away from my dampened hands. My eyes were blurred by the continuous flow of tears emerging from my eyes, but they were clear enough to witness the source of the scream. The horrified cries of the scientist ended when his body slammed into a wall with a thud and the unsettling sound of breaking bones. A pole that was in his hand instantly left his grip as he slowly slid down to the ground, his body leaving a trail of blood on the metal walls. Did he try to stop Mewtwo…with only that pole? After all of the destruction and death that he has rained upon these people…the scientist actually tried to kill him with…a pole? What would posses him to do such a suicidal act?
As the scientist slowly reached a shaking hand out in the direction of Mewtwo, my misty eyes drifted back down to the collapsed ceiling, where my brother's soundless and still body quietly remained buried. Viewing this morbid scene without the immediate shock of it all was enough for me to receive the answer to my question. There was a strong desire in the scientist's heart, strong enough to make him risk his very life. I felt that same desire slowly bind me to its increasing power. It was a power that wanted some kind of justice to this horrific slaughter. It was a justice…that felt right.
The soft feeling of dust falling upon my head, followed by the sight of small rocks descending from above were more than enough to throw my mind back into a clear awareness of the fiery world around me. I allowed no time to think or wonder; the memories of the ceiling collapsing upon David were more than enough to push me to a choice. I swiftly rolled away from David's buried body, barely escaping the fresh collapse of cracked roof tiles, sparking cables and flickering lights. An ear shattering crash of the destruction rang through my ears as I shielded my face from the sparks and broken pieces of metal that were launched at my direction. I stopped rolling, protectively holding the back of my head as the sounds of the collapse gradually faded away into the soft crackle of the fires. I cautiously peered over my shoulder as I brought my hands back over my sweating face, but leaving a space for my eyes to peer through. The spot where David had died was now covered in far more of the lab's decimated ceiling than before. Digging his body out of the mess without Mewtwo noticing would be an impossible task now. My eyes drifted from the pile of machinery, rocks and wires to the scientist who attacked Mewtwo; he had now joined the other scientists in the eternal sleep of death. His eyes were open, but totally glazed over; both of his arms were at his sides while fresh blood rested under his form. At least he died trying to do what he thought was right.
I drew a deep breath into myself before I slowly rose to my feet. My steadily increasing rage against Mewtwo and my strengthening desire to take David's body with me, away from this hell, weren't enough for me to avoid the unavoidable; if I didn't escape from this lab while I had the chance, I would just be another body and another pay check for a grave builder. David wanted me to live, and I wouldn't let my desires destroy his final wish. The faint sky-blue light of the entrance was almost impossible to see amongst the glowing red blazes of the lab, but it still met my searching eyes. I gave David's resting place one last glance, before I rushed off towards the entrance, praying that I would have enough time to escape the slaughter house that was the New Island lab.
More decimated machinery, mangled corpses, and the encompassing fire entered and exited my view within seconds while I went as fast as my feet could take me; yet they didn’t gain a shred of my attention. In comparison to the nearing entrance, they were idle stars against one bright, comforting moon. The stars wanted to try to hold to me back, to make me give into their presence; but I wouldn't let myself bend to their desires. The moon was all that mattered. I had to enter its soft light, or I would never see anything else again.
"Help!" A voice called. That simple cry was all that it took to bring me to a halt, a few feet from the entrance. Could it be? Could somebody else really be alive? Was another heart beating in the midst of this havoc? My ears became the guides to my eyes, my gaze turning to meet the direction of the call. Beyond the glow of the fires and the destroyed machinery was a singe hand, waving in the air. I was sure that the person needed help, but I was unsure of how to react. The entrance was so close; I could walk out of the lab and leave the person to fend for his/herself. Besides, it wasn't my experiment that was killing everybody off. It would be a sick form of appropriate justice for the scientist, but it went against my better judgment. The person may have abused life without any care for the consequences, but I would be just as evil if I let him/her die. I gave a small sigh, before running to the helpless scientist.
My view was soon free of the concealing fires, and met by the complete body of the waving form. The same woman that David had showed me earlier was now on the floor beside her desk, a chair positioned on top of her left leg. Her face winced as she slowly tried to pull leg from under the chair, quickly giving me the notion that it was broken. Her gaze hadn't met my presence yet, but that didn't stop me from nearing her and shoving the chair from her leg. The chair slid away from her broken appendage and into a fire, causing it to blacken and burn away. My attention went back to her, just in time to notice the surprised and grateful look on her face. The first words that I ever heard her say were in my direction. "Thank you."
I carefully knelt by her, extending a hand to her as I asked, "Is it broken? You can't move it?"
She replied in a worried tone, "Yes…the chair…it came down on my leg too fast…"
I considered telling her that she should be grateful for still having her life, but sympathy for her condition kept me from saying those words. People like that needed words to comfort them through their suffering, which were exactly what I gave. "Don't worry, I'll get you out of here," I replied. With that, I gently brought her arm around my shoulders while slowly standing up. She didn't seem to resist my actions at all as I let my other free hand grasp her side. The weight or hoisting her body upon mine was a burdening one, but the fact that I was saving a life seemed to perfectly make up for it. The bright, white smile that she gave me as I brought her up from the floor only made my decision better. Once we were up, the both of us headed back towards the awaiting exit from this nightmare. There was no longer any reason in sight to risk death any further; I could only wish the best of luck to anybody who was still alive in the mess.
----
It was no sooner than when the woman and I emerged from the flaming, death littered lab when a strange, ominous wailing kind of noise came to my ears. A part of my thinking demanded that I continued down the stairs, but my curiosity also desired to know what belonged to the strange sound. After a moment of self-debate, I turned my face to the side, glancing out the corner of my eye. What I beheld quickly became an image that would haunt me for many nights to come. I meant to just take a glance, use just a few seconds to look at the source; but what my eyes took in was far to horrific to be just glanced at. Like one of hell's worst demons, the murderer hovered amongst parted flames. In front of Mewtwo and surrounded by more of the unforgiving flames was Dr. Fuji, helplessly backed against a wall. The doctor's attention remained locked upon his traitorous creation as a light blue aura began to emerge from its body. That was what the sounds were coming from! Mewtwo was charging his energy! But why was he? It didn't matter! Getting away from this place was the only thing that had to be done, not wondering about the thoughts of a killer!
Just as I began to turn my gaze back to the outside world, the glow caught my eye once more as it intensified, its illumination growing more spectacular. In one swift burst of deadly energy, the soft glow turned into an expanding blast of destruction, engulfing and burning away anything that met its path. Corpses, fires, and machinery all became subject to Mewtwo's power as the growing field of blue fire quickly consumed them. It seemed like the force was a ravenous monster, reaching out to take in everything around itself. The flaming monster didn't seem to be satisfied with only the cold bodies of the dead; it wanted warm, living people to enter and melt away inside its burning belly. Those poor souls were the woman and I.
The words, "Oh shit!" escaped my lips as I brought the woman into my arms and leapt over the rail of the staircase, straight down to the depths of the cold sea. A brief look up from our descent showed the blast blowing the staircase into falling pieces of burning metal. It was no sooner than when I took my gaze below ourselves when we smashed into the ocean surface. The pure impact of the landing was enough to shake the woman from my grasp, but I quickly reached through the slow motion of the water and took a hold of her hand. Leaving a woman with a broken leg underwater to save herself would not have been the smartest and best thing to do.
With her back in my grasp, I returned to the surface of the ocean. Machinery amongst other things from the island flowed down from the surface, into the murky darkness of the sea's bottom, but I didn't let that stop me. Fresh debris wasn't more important than the small problem of a growing lack of oxygen in my lungs. After a few more strokes, we broke through the sea of water into the sea of air, gasping for every fresh breath of oxygen that we could take in. As my gaze once again went upwards, I saw what was left of the very same stairway that we were standing on moments ago: nothing but a few hanging cables and bars. From the devastated doorway and the surface of the island, smoke flowed away into blue skies.
My gaze ended when I heard light coughs come from the woman. I brought my eyes to her dampened face, taking notice of the wet strands of hair that clung to her face. I asked her, "Are you okay?" As I awaited her answer, I had to wonder if anybody could be okay after breaking their leg, almost being burned away and nearly drowning in the time window of 10 minutes.
The woman gave a small, almost unnoticeable nod as she said, "Thanks." I made a small sigh as my eyes drifted back to the smoking doorway above us. I saved her life, but I couldn't save David's. Damn it, if only I was a bit faster…if only I knew…if only…I could do it over again. "Do you hear that?" The woman asked as her head turned up towards the surface. I looked at her in wonder, unknowing of what she was talking about until the sounds of a helicopter pierced my field of hearing. What would a helicopter be doing here now? It was far to early for medical help, as useless as it would be now, to arrive. Hell, chances were that nobody had heard of New Island!
I noticed a sigh coming from the woman, but I didn't bother to pry into the reasons for it. "Come on, let's get you to somewhere you can rest," I said as we began to swim towards the docks. She didn't object to the choice; I guessed that she must have wanted to get out of the water as much as I did.
----
The swim to the speedboat definitely wouldn't break any world records, but it was longer than a person who was holding an adult would prefer. For the entirety of free exercise, the sound of the helicopter continued to faintly ring through my ears. Something was happening up there, but what? The reoccurring thought left my mind when the boat moved into grabbing range. I moved just a bit closer to the boat before I grabbed a hold of one of the woman's hands and placed it onto the boat's rim. "Hold onto the boat," I said as I swam over to the dock's edge. I rested both of my hands onto the wooden ledge, taking a few readying breaths. With one hard heave, I freed most of body from the limitless blue and pushed it onto the docks. I lied there for a few moments, allowing my upper body to make a puddle of water while my legs continued to rest under the blue waves.
The first thought that came to my mind was to rest on that dock for the rest of the day. It wasn't until now when I realized just how tiring this entire situation had been to me. At least I still had my life…unlike David. Now, he would be able to rest forever; I didn't have that kind of fate. If the woman wasn't waiting for me to get her onto the boat, I would have stayed in the position to get a little rest…maybe sleep. Everybody was dead, what harm would it have done? I let out a tired sigh as I gave in to the pain of reality. I stood up, water dripping off all of my clothes as I made my way towards the speedboat.
"Hurry!" The woman said as I stepped onto the shaky speedboat. At least the boat didn't make the unnerving creaking noises like the docks. While I kneeled down to take her hand, I couldn't help but feel guilt because of my careless thoughts. Here she was with a broken leg, hanging onto the boat for dear life. Meanwhile, I was thinking of letting myself rest on that dock. It was a choice between my energy and her life, and her life had easily become the winner. I slowly and carefully pulled the woman into the boat, making sure not to cause the boat to capsize or damage her left leg further. Another problem was the last thing that I needed now.
As I eased the woman onto the backseat of the boat with her leg straightened and popped upon the front passenger's seat, I noticed a change in the noises around myself. The helicopter noise that had constantly rung through my ears for the last few minutes of my life was finally starting to fade away into a calm silence. I shifted my view away from the woman to see the helicopter fly from the same direction it had came from, straight into the invisibility of the clear sky.
The woman's eyes watched the helicopter with mine as she said, "Mewtwo is probably on that helicopter." Her words easily caught me off guard; whoever was flying with a weapon like that was either suicidal, or was too dumb to realize that they were flying with death itself.
With my eyes still on the fading helicopter, I asked, "How are you so sure of that?"
Her eyes focused upon mine as he replied, "That is the same helicopter type that Team Rocket uses when they visit this place." The more I thought about her statement, the more it made perfect sense. To them, the experiment was done and worth taking away; all of the fresh, dead corpses were useless to them.
As much as I utterly hated Team Rocket for what they had done, staying at New Island wouldn't help the woman's leg or me at all. My hand ventured into my lab coat, searching for the keys to the boat. As I did this, I casually asked the woman, "What is your name?" If we were going to be stuck together for the entire trip back to land, we were better off learning names instead of calling ourselves by the word, "you."
"My name is Mary Angel," she said as she closed her eyes, leaning back into her seat. Mary Angel…it was a nice name. It wasn't the most exotic name I've heard in my life, but it seemed to suit her just fine.
"Matt Thomas. It's nice to meet you." I used my free hand to gesture for a handshake while my other continued to search my lab coat. A smile graced her face as she carefully leaned forward and accepted it. I showed her my own smile as I thought of how nice she seemed to be.
The beautiful smile that she pleasured my eyes with faded away, replaced by a look of shock. "Thomas?" She asked as she slowly pulled her hand away from mine. "You must have been David's…I'm sorry." She just had to mention him, didn't she? All that it took for my mood to plummet into the darkness of depression and anger were those simple, kind words. It was at that very moment when I found David's key in my lab coats. Flashes of the key flying through the air into my hand, David screaming for me to leave and the ceiling ending his life all flashed through my mind repeatedly. It was almost like my memories were enjoying my suffering.
I took a deep breath, before I turned my sights away from her. The faint life and gentleness that Mary had brought out of me for those brief moments had totally left me alone to my rage…my sadness…and my newest desire. The desire for revenge. "Don't feel sorry for me, Mary. Feel sorry for Team Rocket and your test tube weapon. When I'm done with them, they'll need all the pity that they can get."
I took one last look at the decimated remains of the island, before I began our journey to the Kanto shore. As I navigated the smooth waves of blue, I reassuringly said, "Don't worry, Mary. We should be at the shore in an hour. Just don't move that left leg of yours, okay?" How Mary responded was something that I didn't find out; I had quickly slipped away into my own tortured thoughts. Once again, it happened. After 15 years of trying to cope with the fact that one of my brothers left me, another one goes away. This time, there would be no wonder if he would ever come back. He was dead, gone forever thanks to Team Rocket and their freakish, heartless monster. Mary probably didn't see it, since I couldn't hear a reaction; but as I focused into the horizon, tears slowly flowed down my face.
Don't worry David. Those bastards will pay, even if I have to lose my own life.
End Chapter 1