Chapter #10:

  As she climbed out of the transport vehicle, Aerithtwo let her gaze
drift across her surroundings and was fascinated by what she saw.
In front of them was a stone wall surrounding a moderate sized
courtyard with a curious looking object in the center.

  The object's name registered somewhere in her mind. Fountain.
Behind the fountain was a large building. At the sight the word mansion
came to mind. Instinctively, she knew what those terms meant but couldn't
be sure how she knew such things. As she looked on, Aerith noticed that
the building was constructed of weathered wood and stone.

  The full size of the structure was cloaked by the shadowy, overgrown hedges
that surrounded it, isolating it from the surrounding forest. A massive outset front
porch with double doors was the only means of entry into the building.

  As she continued to gaze at the mansion, Aerith was somewhat surprised
when the term awestruck suddenly came to mind. She wasn’t exactly sure
how she knew what that word meant, but she did, and left it at that.

Nearby she heard Jaden whistle softly.

“Quite a place.” he muttered.

  Silently, Aerith was inclined to agree. Without another word the
group began to walk towards the building. Moments later, they
stood in front of the double doors unsure of what to do next.

“Maybe we should knock first.” Jaden suggested.

  Bianca nodded and extended a hand when the door suddenly opened
on it's own, startling her. A short, thin, man dressed in a white coat and
glasses, stood in front of them and glared suspiciously.

“What is it that little girl wants?” the man snapped.

“Uh... we were sent here to pick up some items.” Bianca replied.

“Chobin knows nothing about such things. How does Chobin
 know that group won't steal anything while group is here?”

“What makes you think we'd do something like that?” Jovi quipped as the rest of the group exchanged confused glances.

“Maybe it was written down somewhere.” Jaden suggested.

With a glare and a snort the man went back inside.

“I heard he was crazy but this is really takin' da piss.” Kyle commented dryly.

“You two must get along real well.” he continued smugly while gazing at Jovi.

  The kitten stared blankly at the grinning cat-type for about a second before glaring at him.
Smirking to herself, Aerith made a mental note to inquire about the subject with her sister later.
A short time later, the group was ushered inside by the strange little man.

  Unlike the mansion's exterior, its interior was anything but ordinary. Aerith stood gawping at the
sight before her. Despite the apparent grandeur of the entrance hall, and subsequent rooms she
could see, the place was a complete mess. Various books and tomes of all sizes, as well as other
random objects, littered the ground.

  Aerith couldn't even see much of the carpet from where she was and had to kick books
out of her path in order to find a more comfortable place to stand. A short time later, another
human appeared and introduced himself as Dr. Kaminko. This one was a short, bulky, balding
man dressed in a white coat similar to the other one. Unlike the first human however, this one
actually seemed nice.

  After a quick discussion, the doctor wondered off; Bianca and Kyle right behind him. Jovi meanwhile,
had disappeared, as had the diminutive little assistant, leaving her and Jaden alone within the massive
entrance hall. Any musings she might have done about her current situation were interrupted when
something brushed against her leg. Looking down, Aerith saw a small, blue, penguin-thing standing there
looking up at her.

“Hello.” the little creature said.

“Uh... hi.”

“What are you, anyway?”

Aerith blinked, unsure how to respond.

“W-what are you?” she replied.

“I'm Piplup!” the little creature boasted proudly.

Aerith noted in amusement that the little creature was using a soft feminine voice.

“Hey, you look a lot like one of the projects master Kaminko is working on.”

“I do?”

Piplup nodded vigorously.

“You want to see it?” it suddenly asked.

  Aerith turned and cast a curious glance in Jaden's direction.
Although he wasn't looking at her, Aerith spotted a small smirk
cross the human's face. In response she rolled her eyes at him
and swished her tail before returning her attention to Piplup.

“Uh... ok.”

  With a delighted squeal, Piplup suddenly leaped up and grabbed
Aerith by the hand. It then began dragging her toward a nearby
room. Aerith squeaked softly as she tried not to trip over the
endless mounds of junk that littered the place.

  Before she knew it, Aerithtwo found herself standing in front of the
last thing she ever expected to see. In front of her stood another of her
own kind. This one she noted was bigger than she was. Its features
were more masculine than her's were.

  It was also taller, heavier, more angled than she was and was covered in
some sort of fancy looking armor. Aerith gaped at the motionless contraption
as Piplup explained a little about what it was and what it could do.

  As she looked on, Aerithtwo spotted a small object sitting beside the large
contraption. The object's name registered somewhere in her mind. 'Sign.'
Aerithtwo stared at the letters, willing her mind to tell her what they were.

  Small shadows of memory slipped past, memories of desks and books and symbols
on chalkboards, letters, numbers, and punctuation. She closed her eyes grasping for
the knowledge she knew she had, and when she opened them again she looked
down at the sign once more, this time with the ability to read it.

T. W. O. B. O. T.

  Perplexed, Aerithtwo shook her head, wondering what that word meant. She was so
preoccupied on examining the contraption and its surroundings that she let out a startled
yelp as a hand touched her shoulder. Turning, she saw Jaden standing beside her.

“Don’t do that!”

The human quickly uttered an apology and held his hands up, trying
to emphasize his point. With a sigh she focused her attention on him.

“Not much to look at is it?”

Aerith merely shrugged in response.

“Well, they're a cute couple.” Jaden went on nodding toward something nearby.

  Turning, Aerith spotted Jovi a little ways away with the diminutive little assistant.
The pair seemed to be engrossed in a conversation of some sort. At that moment
the kitten reminded her of a pampered floating house pet. Looking on, a smirk
slowly crossed the clone's face. All of a sudden, she heard a very weird noise.

  The sound itself didn’t startle Aerithtwo as much as the realization that it was
coming from her. Turning, she saw Jaden grinning at her. Turning back to the pair,
Aerith wondered why the man was speaking in third person.

“I don't know. It's just a thing he does.” Piplup spoke up with a shrug.

Aerith blinked, uncertain when she'd voiced the question.

“I'm gonna go check up on Bianca. Let me know if you need anything.” Jaden cut in.

Before she could reply, Piplup started talking again.

“I can take you to 'em if you want.”

  With a nod, Jaden followed the bubbly little creature, leaving Aerithtwo alone
with her thoughts. Casting a quick glance to the side, the clone noted rather
sourly that the little assistant and her sister had disappeared as well.

  With a sigh, Aerith turned and went back to examining her surroundings.
She amused herself by seeing how many objects she could identify. Her
examination was going well until something suddenly startled her.

“Hey, sis.”

Aerith squeaked audibly and backed up so fast she almost tripped over her own two feet.

“I wish everyone would stop sneaking up on me like that!”

She turned to see the missing pink psy-cat beside her. Jovi meanwhile, just stared at her and blinked.

“Hey, you vocalized.”

“Say what?”

“You squeaked. Like, with vocal cords. I wasn’t expectin' that.”

“Uh-huh.”

  Aerith decided to ignore Jovi for the time being and went back to examining
her surroundings. Spotting an object she didn't recognize, Aerith turned to ask
if her sister knew what it was, but the kitten was gone.

The clone spun around searching for any sign of the missing kitten but saw nothing.

“Jovi?”

“Yeah?”

  The feline popped up, quite suddenly, right in front of Aerithtwo's nose.
This time, the clone did trip backing up and collided with the contraption
that resembled her. With a wail, Aerith found herself falling toward the
floor, and landing quite hard.

  To make matters worse, Aerith could hear the sounds of her sister's amusement as
she found herself pinned in place by the heavy contraption that now lay on top of her.
Whimpering softly to herself, the clone decided, that this was turning into a miserable
day in general and hoped it would end soon.

***************

  Out in the courtyard, the group busied itself by carrying the half dozen crates
of supplies from the mansion to the waiting Humvee. Hefting one of the smaller
crates, Jaden cast a weary glance around at his surroundings.

  Near the front gate he saw Bianca and Kyle struggle to carry a
much larger crate. At his back was the outwardly luxurious mansion,
with the remaining crates stacked along the front porch.

The estate itself, was surrounded by an eight foot stone wall adorned by
statues of legendary pokémon. The sight seemed distinctly creepy to him.

  As he approached the fountain, a smirk slowly crossed his face.
Nearby, Aerithtwo was stalking her way toward the vehicle as well.
Jovi meanwhile, hovered beside her, still giggling about the incident.

  On reflection, he had to admit that it had been rather funny to see the
pokémon trapped underneath the huge robot. The clone however, hadn't
been amused by the ordeal and, once free, had stormed off to fume.
At the moment however, she seemed determined to reach the vehicle
in a timely manner and refused to look or speak to anyone.

  Passing the fountain, the siblings suddenly came to a halt. Jaden
also stopped walking; his curiosity getting the better of him.
Looking on, he noted the clone's face darken. Was she blushing?

“Ah, c'mon sis, I didn't mean to laugh.” Jovi giggled.

“If you guys are done do you mind givin' us a hand?” Jaden asked.

  Jaden tilted his head to the side, amused as he watched the siblings and their
varying reactions. If Aerith hadn't been blushing before, she was for sure now.
Jovi meanwhile, grinned cockily and began applauding lightly.

“You know what I meant.” Jaden admonished.

“Oh, ok.” the kitten grumbled.

  Jaden cocked an eyebrow at the ominous, slightly mischievous way in which the Mew had responded.
Turning back to the mansion, he saw the remaining crates suddenly vanish. He quickly turned around in
time to see them reappear in the back of the Humvee. At the same time, Jaden heard Kyle squeal in
surprise as one of the larger crates almost landed on top of him. Jaden snorted in amusement as he turned
back to the sibling pokémon.

“Uh, thanks. I think.”

“No biggie.”

  Shaking his head in amusement, Jaden quickly carried the crate he was
holding over to the vehicle and loaded it. A few minutes later, he rejoined
the pokémon at the fountain. Bianca and Kyle joining them as well.

“By the way, what exactly was it that we just picked up?” Jaden asked.

“For the most part, the crates are filled with reworked pokéballs.” Kyle replied.

Jaden blinked.

“From what I've heard Dr. Kaminko specializes in reworking all sorts of devices,
 in addition to his other stuff. As a result the organization employs him to convert
 regular pokéballs into master balls.” Bianca said.

“So the doc's got a lucrative chop shop thing going?” he commented amused.

“Yeah, pretty much.” the girl smirked.

  Before anymore banter could occur, the sound of heavy footsteps caught everyone's attention.
Turning, Jaden saw the little assistant walk out onto the porch while carrying a remote of some sort.
Behind him was the robot. After a few minutes the robot was standing in another part of the courtyard.

“Well what do ya know, it lives. Heh, this should be interesting to watch.” Kyle quipped

  Jaden merely snorted in reply. Nearby he heard Bianca groan softly. It seemed apparent that
Chobin was preparing to test the robot’s abilities. Any musing he might have done regarding the
irony of the situation was put on hold as a sudden commotion began back at the mansion. 

Jaden spotted Dr. Kaminko chasing after a Pikachu. The rodent was carrying what looked like
a fully loaded bag of some sort and easily evaded the man’s capture attempts, frustrating him.

As he looked on, Jaden could tell that the Pikachu was a male because of the voice it used as it taunted the man.

“What is that fool doing?” Jovi muttered incredulously.

  Jaden could only shrug, wondering that himself. Out of the corner of his eye,
Jaden spotted movement. Turning, he saw Chobin typing commands into his
remote. In response the robot moved to intercept the rodent.

“This isn’t gonna end well.” Bianca muttered worriedly.

“I’ll handle this.” Jaden replied as he prepped a snag ball.

  Seizing the opportunity, Jaden threw the ball and snagged the Pikachu
as it dodged a Mega Punch. The bag of stolen merchandise coming to
rest on the ground beside the twitching pokéball. After a few tense
moments, the ball settled down.

  Jaden quickly retrieved the bag and the pokéball and headed back
toward the mansion, passing the now deactivated robot as he did so.
He’d almost reached the porch when a loud clatter caught his attention.

  Placing the bag on the ground, Jaden turned around in time to see the
robot come back to life on its own. Although there was the occasional
flicker of a stray spark, the way in which it now moved unnerved him.

  Glancing back, Jaden noticed the others stunned expressions figuring
they mirrored his own. Chobin meanwhile, franticly typed commands
into his remote. After a few minutes he glanced back up with a panicked
expression on his face.

“Can’t you stop it?” Jovi asked.

“T. W. O. B. O. T. will not respond. The controller must be broken.”

“That’s just great.” Jaden grumbled.

“Bianca, do you think you can protect the scientists while
 the rest of us restrain psycho bot over there?” he asked.

Bianca stared at him incredulously, the little Mew mirroring her
gaze. She only started moving when Jaden waved her forward.

“So, how exactly are we going to stop it?” Aerith asked.

“We’ll just have to improvise I suppose.”

“Meaning?”

“I don’t know? One thing I do know is that I’m not going back and explaining
 how we wreaked the Humvee because Frankenstein’s monster went mental!”

With an exasperated sigh, the clone turned away.

“Well, this ought to be fun.” Kyle muttered sarcastically.

With that, he and the remaining pokémon began to spread out.
T. W. O. B. O. T. meanwhile, seemed to take a defensive stance.

  Behind him, Jaden heard the distinct sound of several pokéballs
opening. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw that Bianca had
released her Taillow and a Bulbasaur.

“How do we stop it?” Jaden asked.

“There’s a master switch located on the left collar bone that will shut it down.” Dr. Kaminko replied.

With a nod, Jaden returned his attention back to the task at hand.

“Did everyone understand that?” he asked.

  A chorus of affirmations was all he needed to hear as he
triggered the release of his newest charge. After materializing
the Pikachu looked around confused.

“Alright rodent, make yourself useful and use Thunder Bolt on the robot.”

The Pikachu shot him an incredulous stare before they both had to duck out
of the way as the robot lunged forward. The rodent swearing as it did so.

  Jaden sidestepped a Mega Punch, blocked a kick, and parried another
punch before the robot elbowed him in the gut. It then grabbed him by
an arm and twisted it before flipping him onto the ground.

  Rolling to his feet, Jaden saw Kyle attempt to flip the switch but came up short as
the robot countered with a vicious kick. The impact sent the cat-type tumbling into
Jovi and the Pikachu, sending all to the ground in a tangled heap.

“Tilly, quick use Whirlwind! Sevina use Razor Leaf!” Bianca called out.

  Turning, Jaden saw the Taillow whip up a powerful wind as the Bulbasaur launched a barrage of leaves.
The twin attacks collided with the robot causing it to back-peddle slightly. As he continued to watch, Jaden
spotted Aerithtwo sneaking up on the robot from behind. She managed to grab it around the waist and held
on for dear life as it began thrashing around, trying to shake her off.

“I’ve got it!” she exclaimed.

  Her triumph was short lived as the robot suddenly kicked her in the left shin, causing her to release
her grip with a grunt. It quickly followed up by kicking her in the chest before smacking her with its
tail. The impact hurled her into the fountain where she collapsed into a dazed, whimpering heap.

“Hey, quit picking on my sis!” Jovi shrieked.

  The irate kitten then unleashed a barrage of Shadow Balls at the robot.
For its part, T. W. O. B. O. T. seemed to shrug off the onslaught, with
no noticeable signs of damage, before lunging at her with incredible speed.

  Jaden was already moving to intercept as the little Mew barely
dodged a punch. She wasn’t able to avoid the robot’s tail and was
sent sprawling as Jaden tackled it to the ground.

  Rolling to his feet, Jaden quickly assumed a fighting stance as T. W. O. B. O. T.
climbed to its feet. It then began hurling a series of punches and kicks at him.
Jaden blocked the assault and countered with a spinning kick. The robot dodged
and retaliated with its tail, hurling him to the ground.

  Looking up, Jaden saw the Pikachu launch a powerful Thunder Bolt attack
causing the robot to stumble backward. It countered with an electrified punch
to Kyle as he lunged for the switch yet again. The impact hurled him backward
and into Jovi as she approached, sending both to the ground in a tangled heap.

“That’s twice!” the little Mew roared.

“Ok, using electric attacks against robots is a bad idea.” Jaden muttered as he climbed to his feet.

“What now?” the Pikachu called out.

Jaden glanced back at Bianca, who nodded at him. He was pleased
to see that they were on the same page regarding the issue.

“Lure it toward the stairs.” he replied.

  Nodding, the Pikachu began using Agility as the robot charged them.
For his part, Jaden somersaulted backward as it attempted a leg sweep
on him. The pattern continued as the pair led the robot closer to the stairs.

“Tilly, use Whirlwind again! You too Sevy!” Bianca called out.

  Once again, the Tallow whipped up a powerful wind as the Bulbasaur launched
a barrage of leaves at the robot just as the Pikachu dodged its tail after an ineffective
Quick Attack. The twin attacks collided with similar results as before.

  Sensing an opportunity, Jaden somersaulted over the huge robot and kicked out
as hard as he could before hitting the ground. The impact caused the robot to stumble
even closer to the steps, well within range for a Vine Whip Attack.

  As if on cue, Bianca ordered such an attack as Jaden scrambled to his feet. Looking on,
he saw the little Bulbasaur struggle to hold the robot as Chobin raced over to shut it off.
With a sigh, T. W. O. B. O. T. stopped moving.

“I’m so glad that’s over with” Kyle moaned as he stumbled over.

Jaden meanwhile raced over to Aerithtwo, who was curled into a
ball whimpering. Jovi was already by her side, probing her injuries.

“You ok?”

“I’ve been better.” the clone gasped weakly.

“Can you stand?”

The pokémon merely moaned in reply.

“Here, lean into me.” Jaden said as he and Jovi hoisted the clone to her feet.

  The little Mew then took off, presumably to argue with Chobin.
Jaden meanwhile, turned his attention to Dr. Kaminko; the clone
leaning heavily against his left shoulder.

“Sorry about the mess.”

“Don’t worry about it. There’s still some fine tuning left to be done before its finished.” the doctor replied.

“Yeah, that bump on the head really screwed it up.” Kyle quipped as Bianca recalled her other pokémon.

  Jaden fought back a chuckle as Aerithtwo fixed the cat-type with a withering glare.
Said pokémon didn’t seem fazed by the reaction. Jaden meanwhile, turned his attention
to the Pikachu as Piplup raced by with a dolly toward the downed machine. 

“Hey, you got a name?”

“What’s it to ya?” the rodent shot back.

“Alright then, from now on I’ll call you Miko.” he answered.

The rodent gaped at him for a moment before turning away.

“By the way, what where you gonna to do with all that stuff?”

“Pawn ‘em...” the Pikachu answered.

Jaden blinked before shaking his head. Turning, he saw Bianca watching him with a smirk on her face.

“Don’t say anything.” he snapped.

  The girl merely shrugged, her smirk growing wider. The scientists
meanwhile, busied themselves with strapping the robot to the dolly.
Piplup however, went to fetch the bag of stolen merchandise.

“Let’s get out of here before anything else happens.” he continued after a pause.

“I completely agree with you.” Bianca giggled.

“Perhaps next time group returns it will be without miserable rat!” Chobin snapped.

“Yeah, well fuck you too pal!” the rodent shot back before giving the man a middle claw salute.

  Jaden fought the urge to rub his forehead at the outburst. Nearby, Jovi stared at the
rodent incredulously as Kyle and Bianca snickered. For her part, Aerithtwo watched
the claw gesture with a curious expression on her face; although he felt certain she’d
picked up on its hidden meaning.

“What does that word mean again?” she asked.

“You don’t want to know.” Jaden replied as he recalled the Pikachu.

With that the group made their way to the Humvee while the scientists
busied themselves with dragging the robot back inside the mansion.