-25: Nightslice / Yorukiru and his group discover a mysterious temple

-25: Who could’ve known that a mysterious temple would hold one out-of-body experience?

Pokemon and all related trademarks belong to Nintendo. The story, its original contents and ideas, and any original characters belong to the author and cannot be used or reprinted without the author’s permission.

The Chimera Saga and the Legendary Dragons belong to Theo ‘Blitz’ Leung and are used with permission.

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Mind and Body

By Gregory Stephen nightdragon0@hotmail.com

Swordia

“Boy, what a mess.” Scantrix muttered.

“Yeah.” I agreed.

All sorts of trash and remains had been left in the picnic spot. Luckily, it was there and not in the forest. We’d left the town and had been ‘hanging around’ the forest area for a while. I hadn’t had this much time to relax for quite a while.

“Might as well see if they left anything good.” He said.

“Yeah, I ... ugh!” As I turned my head, a piece of paper blew into my face.

I carefully reached up with a claw and pushed it off, pressing it down onto a wooden table.

“Hmmm...” I muttered. “The Pokemon League.”

“You... have been in it before?” Scantrix carefully asked. Probably from the way I was staring at the words.

“No, but a friend of mine named Ash was in the one that finished a while back. I would’ve been there too if I hadn’t spent my time searching around for Nightslice.” I took another look at the poster. “But this one is a specially organized competition, in honor of its President’s 60^th Birthday.”

“I was wondering why there was another one so quickly.” Scantrix muttered.

“Yeah. If Jade, Nightslice or Firestorm read this words ‘Indigo Pokemon League’, they’d immediately just to the conclusion that it was the big one. Pity they can never read the smaller words at the bottom of the poster...”

I stopped and bit my lip. I’d been babbling about the past again, as hard as I tried to push it out of my head. Scantrix apparently saw the look in my eyes.

“Anyway, did they tell you about the incident a while before that league?”

“No. What incident?” I asked.

“It was before you even became a Scyther, according to the dates you stated. A Team Rocket base was mysteriously blown open form within. They say an artificially created experimental Pokemon escaped then, but as to what it was, there are only rumors.”

“What rumors?”

“They say it was a ‘Mewtwo’ or something like that, but...”

“Mewtwo?!” I snapped, startling him.

“Hey what?!”

“Sorry.” I said softly. “It’s just that ... I know I fought that Mewtwo thing just before you found me. It utterly trashed me. But if you say this Mewtwo escaped before TR captured me...”

“You hinting ... there could be...”

“Another one?” I finished. “If one was created, why not others? That thing was Powerful, mind you. If we had to fight that, it could mean trouble.”

“Hmmm ...”

“But it’s strange. I feel as if I’ve seen the thing before, but I was human then. Was I with Ash?” I shook my head. “No, must’ve been a dream of some sort.”

“Anyway, we should bring it up to Alugard back at base.” Scantrix suggested. “Well, there goes our vacation.”

“Yeah, but duty calls.” I nodded. “Let’s go.”

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Nightslice

“Another creepy, dark cave.” I sighed.

Hazuki and I pulled out our flashlights and shone them around to light up the dark cavern. It was featureless for most part and we carried on in silence for a while.

[Strange,] Kyle muttered. [not a single living thing around.]

It was true. Not even a Zubat or any water Pokemon was to be seen. It was as if they had deliberately avoided this place.

[Do you sense it?] Riptide suddenly asked, pointing to the side.

“Yes.” I nodded. “We’re getting closer to whatever we’re supposed to find. Kyle, would you stop by the shore there?”

The Lapras complied, allowing our party to dismount. We spread out and begun digging at the rocks and dirt around the small patch of land.

[Over here!] Riptide called.

The Golduck sprayed his Water Gun, clearing away some rocks and dirt on a wall. Although he cleared only a small patch, a different layer of rock could be seen beneath it.

[Allow me.] Ahsura walked up and used his vines to smash the rocky wall apart. Kyle and Riptide sprayed more water to clear away the debris.

After 5 minutes, everyone gasped at what we saw: a huge stone door embedded into the wall. It was decorated by all sorts of indecipherable characters and carvings.

“This must be the hidden temple Gyzem told us about.” I said aloud.

“I guess we’re going in?” Hazuki asked. She walked up to the door and took hold of a stone ring used as a handle. She tugged with all her might, but couldn’t get it open.

[One thing about doors kid, you don’t pull. You push.] Luminair growled. The Jolteon backed up and rammed the door, which didn’t budge one bit.

Ahsura lashed out with his vines, but to no avail as well. Same thing happened when Kyle and Riptide tried their Water Guns. Finally, I shifted into my Scyther body and stepped up. Roaring, I fired a Hyper Beam into it, shattering it to pieces.

“Gee, either everyone is totally out of shape, or the door only wanted to be opened by me.” I muttered.

“Let’s just be careful.” Hazuki said, recalling Kyle into a Pokeball and jogging into the doorway.

“Hazuki! Wait...” I began. Then I heard a ‘click’ as she stepped on a hidden switch on the floor. “Watch out!”

In a flash, I charged and tackled her, throwing her out of the way as a set of spikes shot up from the floor. The other three Pokemon came running in just as a new door slid down from the ceiling, sealing off the entrance.

[What the?!] Luminair gaped as the floor shifted again.

The floor then gave way, sending the three of them plummeting into one pit, Hazuki and me into another. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough room to use my wings properly. That, added to our extra loud screams, due to the echo, made another entry to our ‘unpleasant events’ list. It was only a few seconds drop, but I saw the water beneath us moments before we hit it.

“Ggguurrgghh!” I spluttered, plunging into the icy cold waters. I was glad that the backpack still strapped between my wings didn’t have any heavy things. I kicked myself to the surface where Hazuki had already gotten Kyle out and climbed onto his back.

“So, let’s just be careful, huh?” I snarled, dipping wet.

“Erm... hehehehehe ... gomen nasai, Yorukiru-san.” She laughed nervously. “But did you see the others?”

“They fell down another hole. I have faith in the three stooges to handle themselves. As long as they didn’t get thrown into a pit full of spikes.”

“Yorukiru-san! Do you have to say such nasty things?!”

“Another issue. Will you please stop calling me that? You’ll have to do that once I go back to being a Scyther permanently.”

“I will eventually, Yorukiru-sama.”

“Grrrr ... you’re impossible.” I breathed.

We’d been thrown into the middle of an underground lake and there was only one cave leading out, which Kyle logically followed. The flashlight didn’t illuminate much, but it was enough for us to see.

In particular, it helped my ‘nighttime’ vision to spot an alcove in the side of the wall. It led to a short path on dry land. Hazuki and I got off and walked up it to find an odd statue placed there.

“Odd...” I muttered.

“What’s it doing here?” Hazuki wondered.

I examined it more closely. It was definitely a dragon, seeming similar to the Chinese ones. Its long, serpent-like body was curled. Its four limbs were tense, wings outstretched, jaws wide open with its eyes locked in a fierce stare towards me.

I spotted a glint on its forehead. A purple jewel was embedded there. I reached out and touched it with the tip of my sword-like claw.

Suddenly, I felt a surge of pain rushing through me. I didn’t even have time to blink before my vision faded to black.

“You all right?” I heard Hazuki’s voice as my thoughts cleared.

“Yes, I’m fine.” It was my voice. Only thing was that I hadn’t spoken.

As my vision cleared again I was staring at... myself. Literally.

I could see Hazuki behind ‘me’ and the path leading back to the lake.

What’s going on? I thought, still slightly dazed.

“It’s just a statue it seems.” ‘My’ voice said.

Just a statue! I blurted out. Or tired to at least. However, my mouth refused to move. My entire body refused to move for that matter. Hey, what the?!

I couldn’t even feel myself breath. My mind raced as I tried every muscle in my body. Nothing, I felt like... wait... stone?!

Oh on! The realization hit me. Someone or something had stolen my body and stuck me in the dragon statue!

“We should get going.” The imposter with Hazuki said.

“Yeah.” She agreed and began walking off.

Hazuki! I cried desperately. Hazuki! That’s not me! I’m here! Help!

Of course she couldn’t hear me. My imposter made sure she was out of sight, and then gave me a wink before following the unsuspecting girl.

I roared, struggling in panic. Statues, however, can’t move or make any noise. And it so happened I was one now.

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Hazuki

“Maybe ... let’s try left.” Nightslice suggested.

[All right. You’re the boss.] Kyle nodded.

After leaving the dragon statue behind, we’d come across several junctions along the waterway. And Nightslice had been randomly been pointing us round, but not like any of us had any better idea of this maze.

But I still had a rather odd feeling about the statue. Like something wasn’t right about it.

“That statute was... there was something strange about it, Yorukiru-san.” I voiced my thoughts.

“I don’t think so.” The Scyther immediately shook his head. “Forget about it either way. We’re got things to do. Finding the way out of here for one thing.”

“I thought you were searching for your Forbidden Technique?” I asked.

“I ... I meant finding a way out of this river.” He explained.

[Then, Riptide and the others?] Kyle queried.

“Don’t ... don’t worry, we’ll find them too.” Nightslice assured, winking. “Trust me, I’ve go it all worked out.”

By chance, we arrived at narrow stairway leading upwards. Nightslice leapt up to take a look first.

“Looks all right.” He reported, having walked to the top of the stairs.

“OK.” However, the moment I put my foot onto the first rocky step, I heard a ‘click’. My brain barely had time to register it before water shot out from the spot beneath my feet, throwing me back into the river.

I struggled as a sudden underwater force pulled me under. I managed to pull myself up to see myself spinning round in a whirlpool that had apparently appeared out of nowhere.

“Kyle! Help!” I yelled, struggling to keep my head above water.

I heard Kyle’s cries of panic as he too was caught up in its pull.

Jeez! I could’ve done better if I were you! I thought as I was dragged under again and finally, I lost consciousness.

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Nightslice

After silently roaring in fury for several minutes, I managed to calm myself down as much as I could. My thoughts raced as I thought of Hazuki being with that imposter. There was no telling what it would do with her. Or more importantly, with MY body for that matter.

As I searched my mind for a plan, I was astonished to discover a new set of memories. As if I was a computer and a new software program had been installed on my memory.

What came into my vision was something like a map. It’s hard to explain, but it was as if I suddenly knew every nook and cranny of this old place. I felt the presence of intruders too. Or in other words, my companions.

I focused on the nearer group of Luminair, Riptide and Ahsura and ‘saw’ them in my mind, walking along a straight corridor.

I’m not good at using my mind for something like this and it wasn’t an easy, like trying to do a wristlock to somebody without using your hands. Well, I’m exaggerating, but you get the point.

Luminair! Riptide! Ahsura! I tried calling.

Riptide hesitated for a moment.

[Did you hear that?] The Golduck asked.

[Hear what?] Luminair remarked. [Anything around here, and my ears would’ve picked it up.]

[Yeah, never mind.] Riptide nodded. [Let’s concentrate on finding the others.]

The group continued walking on as if they hadn’t heard me.

Riptide! RIPTIDE! Dammit! I cursed, frustrated. What the f** am I supposed to do if even a psychic duck can’t hear me?!

That was when I saw the floor in front of them shift. With a loud bang, a section of the ceiling slammed down in front of them, forming a barrier. Almost immediately, the same thing happened with a section from behind them, trapping them.

[What the?!] Ahsura yelled.

The two walls began closing in on the trapped party.

[It’s another trap!] Luminair realized.

[Well, don’t just stand there if you don’t want to become a pancake!] Riptide said, firing his Water Gun at one of the walls.

Luminair did the same with his Thunderbolt. Ahsura charged a Solar Beam and shot it into the wall, unfortunately with little effect.

Guys! I cried desperately, realizing I couldn’t help them in any way.

[Get close to me you two!] Riptide ordered. [I’ll Teleport us past the trap.]

[You sure you can manage that pal?] Luminair asked.

However, there was no more time for protests. The trio huddled together and Riptide closed his eyes. Their bodies glowed with a bluish light and vanished, materializing just after the trap. The Pokemon collapsed in a pile as the walls slammed together, stirring up dust everywhere.

[Geez! First that pit of spikes! Then moving platforms and falling boulders! Now this!] Ahsura gaped, panting.

[If that wasn’t bad enough, we got them one after the other.] Luminair sighed. [We’ll be lucky to get out of this alive.]

[I don’t know guys, but I sense odd feelings in here.] Riptide said. [Despair, frustration, anger. And now, confusion.]

[But from whom?] Luminair asked.

[No one in particular. It’s like this place is... alive somehow.]

[The rest of us aren’t psychic here.] Ahsura reminded him. [But we should get moving before anything else happens.]

The others simultaneously nodded in agreement. They hastily departed, leaving me in confusion and reflecting about Riptide’s words.

Place is alive? Of course! I realized. I suppose there was a sense of satisfaction in it.

That was when the corridor my friends were in mysteriously brightened, allowing them to see a large boulder positioned in the ceiling, ready to drop down on any intruders. Although they were startled, Riptide took a pebble and threw it under the boulder. As expected, it came crashing down, right on the spot they would’ve walked under.

[Let’s squeeze around it, shall we?] Ahsura suggested nervously.

I was sure of it now. Whatever entity had stolen my body also controlled all the traps from here, this statue. It was currently tied to my thoughts and emotions: positive ones revealing the traps and negative ones triggering them. So, basically using my mind to ‘direct’ my friends around.

How hard can that be?

I was soon to find out.

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Hazuki

I awoke to the sound of running water. I was floating in it apparently.

It came as an utter shock when I realized my head was under water, and I was breathing. I brought my head up to see my body... the body of a Lapras.

Panicked, I spun my head around and moved my flippers about. I was definitely wide-awake. I glanced around to find myself in and underground lake. The thoughts of Kyle’s imprisonment in a similar area suddenly flooded my mind.

[NO!] I screamed. [NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!]

“Hazuki, that had better be you.” A voice spoke. My voice.

[Kyle!]

A figure on shore waved to me. It was myself, or at least Kyle in my body. I swam over and pulled myself up onto shore.

[Kyle! What are you doing in my body?]

“That’s the same thing I wanted to ask you.” He replied in my voice. “Jeez, it’s weird enough being human again, but being female is even weirder.”

[Excuse me?] I muttered. (Sweatdropping.)

“But it’s cool through.” He laughed. “I can look at myself naked!”

[YOU PERVERT!] I yelled angrily, slapping him with a flipper. [This is no time for jokes! I’m a f***ing Lapras for crying out loud!]

I regretted the last part the moment the words were out of my mouth. Kyle looked very hurt. And I also realized my face looks really bad when I have my feelings hurt.

[I’m sorry.] I said. [I ... I got carried away.]

“Yeah, so did I.” He gulped. “I’m sorry too. No hard feelings?”

[No prob.]

There was an odd moment as both of us stared at each other, unsure of how to continue. It was really weird; we were sort of staring at the ground and ceiling, trying to avoid eye contact. Something came over me and I nuzzled him with the side of my head. His response was to put his arm around my face.

[Let’s just go see if we can find anything to get out of this mess.] I pulled away, finally finding my words.

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Kyle

It was very odd, being in a human body again. Even more so that it was female. But unfortunately, this wasn’t the time for such thoughts. We had far more important issues to deal with, like how our bodies had gotten switched for instance.

However, as I sat on Hazuki’s back while she swam through the underground lake, I was beginning to get her bad feeling that something was amiss.

[Something definitely seems strange.] Hazuki commented, almost as if she’d read my mind.

“Yeah, like someone or something’s messing around with us.”

[Not just that. About Yorukiru-san too.]

“Hmmm?”

[Maybe you haven’t been around him for long, but I’ve known him for a while.] She explained. [For one, he seemed like he wanted to get away from that statue as quickly as possible.]

“Perhaps he just didn’t see anything strange with it?”

[Maybe. But did you notice how he seemed to know which way to go? And how we got to that stairway?]

“We were just lucky? That could’ve been the same for the trap too.”

[Possibly. But the last thing, you noticed how he talked about getting out first instead of going to look for the others? That’s not like him.]

“What are you implying?”

[It’s like he’s not himself. I’ve just got this strange feeling.] She said, closing her eyes. [If we manage to find him, I want you to pretend you’re me.]

“WHAT?!”

[Just do it you idiot!] She growled. [And deliberately get some facts wrong.]

“I see.” I nodded. “You want to test him, just in case.”

As we moved along, the lake narrowed down into a much thinner stream. I sighed as I noticed it branched out into several pathways.

Suddenly, the place shook. Startled, Hazuki and I cried out. Several large rocks fell from the ceiling of the cavern, blocking off all the paths except for one.

“Jeez, this sucks.” I muttered.

[Let’s just follow the open path.] Hazuki’s voice was contradictory to mine. [Trust me. I feel it, somehow.]

I literally couldn’t have stopped her as much as I wanted to. However, I soon saw why she was feeling that way. Parts of the cavern would abruptly collapse or explode, blocking off other pathways and leaving us with only one. ‘Just like an amusement park ride’, in Hazuki’s words.

It was strangely like someone was guiding us somewhere. Eventually, the ‘traps’ stopped as we went along a straight waterway and ended up at a shoreline.

“Hey guys!” It was Nightslice. The Scyther was standing on shore, waving to us.

[Remember.] Hazuki whispered to me.

I stroked the back of her head in acknowledgement.

“Boy, are we glad to see you!” I called, leaping off as we approached the shoreline.

“Yeah, me too.” He nodded. “I think I may have found what I’ve been looking for too.”

“Heh, serious as always.” I faked a laugh. “Even during our first kiss at the field.”

I mentally slapped myself. Hazuki was going to kill me for choosing such a topic.

“Oh really? You think so too?” Nightslice replied.

That was when Hazuki leapt forward and slammed her Lapras body down on top of him.

[That kiss was in the hotel, not a field!] She snarled. [You’re not Yorukiru-san!]

“Damn!” The imposter cursed. “I knew you’d find out eventually!”

He sank his fangs into her side, causing Hazuki to scream in pain. The imposter took that distraction and heaved up slightly, enough to pull himself free. I charged towards him, but he kicked me away and took off running along the shoreline.

[We have to stop him!] Hazuki grimaced.

[Hold it!] Riptide’s voice ordered.

The imposter stopped dead in his tracks as Luminair, Riptide and Ahsura appeared from the cavern exit he was attempting to flee through.

[We heard everything.] Luminair growled. [You can’t run!]

[What have you done with the real Nightslice?!] Ahsura demanded.

“You’ll have to catch me to find out!” The imposter roared, firing a Hyper Beam.

The trio scattered, Riptide leaping into the water. Ahsura fired off several Razor Leafs, which his opponent easily chopped up. That however, distracted him long enough for Luminair to give him a good Thunderbolt.

“Ggrraarrgghh!” The Scyther growled, stumbling. “Stone Prison!”

Almost like the grasping motion of a hand, several rocky ‘fingers’ shot up from the ground beneath them and closed, trapping the Jolteon and Ivysaur inside the ‘palm’. Even running towards the battle, I could still hear their muffled cries and they struggled to break free.

Hazuki was faster to respond, shooting a long range Ice Beam. The imposter leapt away and took to the sky. However, a rock fell from the high up ceiling and smacked him on the head, stunning him long enough for Riptide and Hazuki to combine their water attacks and knock him out of the sky.

Screeching, he hit the ground. He suddenly snapped up, eyes wide, screaming in pain I saw his body coursing with electricity and realized the spot he was on had somehow become electrified. Finally, he collapsed and Hazuki froze him up to his neck with an Ice Beam.

The imposter roared and struggled in vain as our party gathered around him.

“Gaarrgghhh! Dammit!” He growled in defeat.

“You ready to talk now?” I asked, folding my arms.

“I am Kel’ Tharus, the Ghost Dragon.” He sighed reluctantly. “You needn’t worry about your friend. I stuck his mind back in the statue just now. But I never expected him to learn to control the traps so quickly.”

[You do know that he’s Nightslice, the descendant of Kaiser?] Hazuki asked.

“Haha, so the legends plays itself out after all.” He managed a soft laugh. “If the other dragons are still around, I’m not with any of them. I’m an exile to put it in simple terms.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I was one of the more malicious of the dragons. I never got out of the bloodlust of war, I couldn’t stop killing and fighting. It got to a point where I went berserk on everything in sight, and thus forcing the other dragons to take action. My body was turned to stone and my spirit sealed with the purple gem you saw.”

[And now?] Hazuki asked.

“You’ve won, fair and square.” The dragon said sadly. “You’d do best to take me back to Nightslice.”

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Nightslice

Even viewing the scene from within my mind, I could see that the others took great precaution in restraining the Ghost dragon with Ahsura’s vines and bringing him back to the statue via the underground river. It made me cringe inwardly too, knowing that my body would be aching once I got it back.

My friends released Kel’ Tharus and let him walk up to the statue I was trapped in.

“Well met warrior.” He said. “I am Kel’ Tharus, as I believe you already know.”

Indeed, even from my position, I had ‘heard’ the whole story. I didn’t know how to answer through, but somehow I felt that he knew.

“I’ll tell you now, I did intend to steal your body and escape my prison.” He said, looking down. It was strange hearing that in my own voice. “But it seems I am condemned to my fate.”

He ran a claw along my statue’s side and turned towards the others.

“It’s been so long, and I’ve had much of it to contemplate.” There was a pained look on his face as he went on. “Imprisoned here, neither alive nor dead, but yet fully conscious. So much I regret, but not being able to make amends for anything… until now.”

He turned to face me.

“Nightslice, once I switch us back, you will possess my ability, the Desolation Claw. A move that melds Ice Beam, Solar Beam and a Confuse Ray used by you. It’s a triple technique that inflicts multiple statue aliments on your enemies. Use it wisely.”

I noticed Hazuki and Kyle standing next to each other, exchanging smiles as Kel’ Tharus approached them.

“Don’t worry, I’ll fix the two of you as well.”

“You really like mind games, don’t you?” Kyle asked.

“If you put it that way.” The dragon laughed. “That’s one thing I take credit for.”

Kyle whispered something to Hazuki and both exchanged giggles.

“All right then, ready?” Kel’ Tharus touched the purple gem on my statue’s forehead and muttered some incantation under his breath.

And all of a sudden, I found myself stumbling and leaning against the wall for support.

“Wow, am I?” I carefully looked over my Scyther body and slashed my claws about in the air. “YES! I’M BACK!”

“Yeah, that was freaky.” Hazuki muttered, running her hands over each other. “And I was a Lapras for just for 20 minutes. No wonder Kyle has personality problems.”

[Well, I see why they say women are from Mars.] Kyle shot back.

“It’s Venus. Men are the ones from Mars.”

[Then at least you weren’t in ‘THAT’ time of the month.]

“YOU!” Hazuki promptly slapped him.

[Ow, at least you hands aren’t as painful as using my flippers.]

“Yeah, you made me do that, and my cheek still hurts from it.” Hazuki replied, rubbing the side of her face.

[Oh really? Allow me to make up for it, milady.] And he began licking her face.

“Hey! Yuck! Whoa! Stop it already!”

[Sorry, you want a Lapras, you get the tongue too!]

Leaving the two to joke about their shared experience, I turned back towards the dragon statue, now containing the spirit of Kel’ Tharus.

“What about you?” I asked aloud.

<I have one last thing to ask of you. > I heard the dragon’s telepathic voice in my mind. <Please, shatter this jewel here and kill me. >

“What?!” I gasped, shocked.

Everyone else looked up at us.

“How can I?” I glanced at my friends, silently wishing for support.

“But you’ve changed now.” I insisted. “I can’t kill you in cold blood. There would be no honor in that.”

“Isn’t there a way to release him?” Hazuki suggested.

“Is there?” I queried.

[I wish to volunteer.] Riptide suddenly spoke up.

[Since when were you a powerful psychic?] Ahsura muttered.

Riptide tossed the Ivysaur into the water to prove his point.

[You sure about this?] Luminair asked.

“Seriously Riptide, you want to stay here?” I confirmed, through I already knew the answer.

[I’ll miss you guys, but it would be good training.] The Golduck explained. [Besides, I was hoping to learn some of the Ghost dragon’s psychic and ghost abilities.]

<I’ll be happy to train you. > Kel’ Tharus replied. <But if you’re hoping to learn mind switching, it isn’t easy. The subjects have to be willing to do so. >

“Willing?” Hazuki asked, surprised.

<Well, Nightslice was a different case because he touched the gem on my forehead. As for you kid, when you went under, you were thinking ‘If I were Kyle, I could’ve done better’. And the Lapras was still haunted by his memories as a human. So, it was literally a snap. >

[Oh, so you think you can out swim a whirlpool, do you?] Kyle growled, giving her a nasty stare.

“Erm… I was pissed off then.” Hazuki laughed nervously.

<I’ll talk you through the location of the bonds. Riptide, was it? >

[Yeah.] The Golduck nodded.

<You have my deepest gratitude. > Kel’ Tharus said. There was actually a joyful tone in his voice.

There wasn’t much to do other than bid Riptide and Kel’ Tharus farewell, before departing this ‘temple of mind and body’.

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Swordia

“OK, this way.” Alugard instructed, leading us around to the back of the building.

We’d had a long discussion earlier, but Alugard had agreed to it in the end. We knew that such information would be highly classified and definitely difficult to get to. It had been hard trying to decide on a base we could sneak into, until a Rattata reported that the Rocket leader himself was currently inspecting a base in Turquoise City, a town located somewhere between Mahogany Town and Blackthorn City.

Naturally, we jumped at the chance.

Alugard, Scantrix and myself flew to the top of the building Alugard tore open the ventilation shaft and gestured for us to go ahead.

“You seem to like these a lot.” I muttered, taking reference to some of our pervious missions.

“I learnt from the best.” Alugard laughed.

Smaller Pokemon would be better at this, but if human secret agents could use these, we, being relatively human sized, certainly could. Our trio was soon met by a pair of Rattata.

[We’ve finished scouting out the area.] One of them reported. [One computer room is on this level and another 5 floors down.]

[The Rocket leader happens to be on this level’s control room.] The second one finished.

[Hmmm… that’ll make it even easier for us.] Alugard smiled. [Scantrix, you go with one of them to the lower control room and carry on as planned.]

[Roger that.] The Skarmory nodded, looking more cramped in the air vent that us.

[Be careful in the elevator shaft.] I reminded him.

[Always Swordia.] He smiled as Rattata 1 led him away. [Good luck. We’ll see you later.]

Rattata 2 brought Alugard and me to the air vent overlooking the computer room’s door.

[But I don’t think you can just drop down here.] The Rattata said. [It’ll make too much of a racket.]

[Don’t worry, I’ve got it worked out. You just stay here and keep watch.] Alugard ordered.

[Yes sir.]

[What do you have in mind?] I asked as Alugard brought me further down the shaft, emerging into a storeroom.

[We’ll be using these.] The old Scizor said, pulling up a couple of cardboard boxes with his pincers.

[Cardboard boxes?] I staggered.

Alugard shoved one over my head.

[The cardboard box is your friend. Look after it and it will look after you.] He instructed. [Follow my lead and try to act like a box.]

Crouching down so the boxes completely covered us, we slowly inched our way towards the door, moving only when no one was walking along the corridor. My heart was pumping rapidly as I listened not only for Alugard, but any footsteps as well. Soon, I found myself next to the door, curled up under the cardboard box and waiting in anticipation.

Pressing the box to the wall, I leaned my ear against it and eavesdropped on a conversation between Giovanni and one of his subordinates. It was a report on how ‘well’ the activities of the base were running, but nothing of any real importance.

Finally, the com-link in the room beeped.

“Mr. Giovanni sir, I’m sorry to interrupt, but you’ve got to come see this.” A familiar voice said on the other end.

“What is it?” The Rocket boss growled.

“It’s real important. Better that you see it for yourself sir.”

“Very well then.”

There was a metallic hiss as the doors opened and Giovanni and the subordinate walked out. And behind their backs, two ‘cardboard’ boxes rushed into the empty computer room before the doors closed.

The voice had been Scantrix, from the lower computer room. As the plan had gone, he’d tossed a bag of a Parasect’s Spore into it, putting the humans to sleep, and had locked the doors from inside. One of the Rattatas had also bitten through some of the elevator wires, ensuring the nearest lift would be ‘out of order’.

“We have to make this quick.” Alugard said, tossing off his box.

I hit the switch to electronically lock the door and Alugard ran over to the computer and begun hitting buttons. The Scizor was surprisingly swift considering he was using the edge of his pincers to do so.

“Here it is.” He pointed towards the screen as he called up a document. “The file about Mewtwo.”

It explained about the project to create and ultimate Pokemon from the fossilized DNA of the legendary Mew. The result was the Pokemon named Mewtwo, which had eventually escaped, destroying a Rocket Base during the process, disappearing after that. Its whereabouts were still unknown. But the date stated was before Ash’s Pokemon league.

“Is there another file?” I asked. “Any follow up projects?”

“Hold on.” Alugard typed furiously.

“Try looking up on Professor Zarius.” I suggested.

“All right. And… bingo. There.”

Alugard brought up the file.

Zarius was definitely insane, but Giovanni nevertheless agreed to his latest patch of madness. With the recent escape of the Mewtwo, the Professor offered to replicate what years of research and failures took in a matter of months. The very same man claiming to have surpassed the Chimera Project by having discovered the perfect fusion of Pokemon and humans.

There were rumors that he even killed his own staff for his experiments.

It came as a great surprise to us when he actually delivered it to us. A new Mewtwo, fully functional and in perfect physical health. Mentally was another story.

His method was replicating and injecting Pokemon DNA into already living human subjects, then boosting in and forcing the Pokemon DNA to take over, erasing the human characteristics. Essentially transforming the subject into a fully functional, living Pokemon.

His research was destroyed in his suicide bombing of his own lab, having lost the last reaches of his sanity. However, it is of no concern to us now that…

I stopped reading, slamming my claws down on the table.

“This is insane!” I shouted out loud. “This new Mewtwo, is it here?!”

“It is.” Alugard muttered, bringing up another screen. “Giovanni’s private arena. The lowest level, B10, a floor not accessible normally by elevator…”

I was already at the door.

“Where are you going?”

“To save this Mewtwo.” I said without looking back.

I stuck my blades into the gap and pried open the doors of the nearest elevator and flew down. Luckily, the others had jammed the elevator on a higher level, giving me a clear path down. In my impatience, I blew open the doors with a Hyper Beam and landed on the lowest level.

It would have most likely triggered an alarm, but Alugard had apparently managed to shut the system off. There was only a single corridor leading to a large door at the end. I forced my way in, to see the creature of my nightmares before me.

Mewtwo, clad in a set of metal armor, seemingly bound to the machine. Not the original Mewtwo, but the one made in the same way as Scantrix. A freak of both science and nature. Like me.

It didn’t stir a bit as I walked up to it.

I raised a claw and sliced the helmet off. The Mewtwo’s eyes were closed, but it soon blinked and stared right up at me.

<You… you’re the one from before. > She said. Even the telepathic voice carried a female tone.

“Yes.” I nodded. “I am also much like you. I was human once, long before.”

<What?! Then I’m… not alone? >

“All this has probably been suppressing your powers.” I said as I began slicing the armor away. “I’ll explain everything, but first we have to get out of here. And I’m not taking no for an answer.”

So, the cycle repeats itself…