The Persian’s ears flicked up, alert, as it heard footsteps approach. It turned its head to the door before the quick, soft knocks came, and padded over to its masters feet, curling up, but leaving its eyes open. It rested its head on its paws, tail flicking from side to side, as its master spoke.

“Enter.”

The door opened, and a young man walked into the mahogany office. He stood with his back straight, trying to look formal. The large, red ‘R’ on his uniform was worn with pride.

“Sir, we are fast approaching the coordinates that you gave us.” The man did not look directly at Persian’s master, but instead kept his gaze looking straight ahead.

“Good,” came a curt, English voice. The finality of this single word did not dismiss the man, however, and the officer stood a little awkwardly. ”Was there anything else?” the English man asked, his voice sharp.

“Sir…” the man seemed to hesitate. “We’re only minutes away from the island, and the lookout confirms what the rest of the crew sees, and that’s nothing.”

Persian sensed its master’s impatience, and slipped quickly beneath the desk. The man stood up, straightening his orange suit as he did so. “There is no land in sight?” the man asked briskly, and the sailor shook his head.

Giovanni pushed passed the man and strode out of his office. The leader of Team Rocket stood on the deck of his cruiser, and looked towards the horizon. He held up a hand to shield his eyes from the light, reflected off the moving surface of the sea, and moved his head slowly round. The sailors, all in the same, ‘R’ blazoned uniform, stood tensely, aware that their leader was in ‘one of those moods.’

Giovanni brought his arm to his face, and looked at his watch. “You,” he said to a nearby sailor. “Tell me the time.”

The sailor checked his own, “it’s six o clock, sir.”

“Accuracy!” barked Giovanni.

“Two minutes to six,” the man replied, having fine tuned his answer.

Giovanni nodded slowly, before turning back to face the open sea. “Good…not long then...”

For a moment, there was silence, save for the water as it broke against the hull of the ship. The members looked worriedly at one another, wondering why their leader was acting in such a peculiar fashion.

“Gentlemen,” came Giovanni’s voice. “Get the equipment and the supplies, we are about to make land on the island.”

The Rocket members looked at one another. The newer members had disbelieving smiles on their faces, as if their leader was playing a joke on them, but the older, more experienced members, did not smile. They had suffered the price of not obeying Giovanni’s orders, however abstract they may be, and set to work, putting food and metal instruments into rucksacks.

“Um, Sir?” Giovanni snapped round, glaring at the brave, dim-witted sailor. Anyone with half a brain cell and an ounce of fear would have shrunk back, but the new Rocket member had neither, and continued. “What island are we landing on?”

No sooner had the words left his mouth, the hands on Giovanni’s watch all ticked together in one motion, hitting six o clock. At that, a sudden commotion brought all of the Rocket members to the side of the boat. In the distance, something was rising out of the water. It frothed and tossed about as a jagged spit of land surfaced. It did not stop, and soon, a great hill was seen heaving itself out of the water, a mountain, with trees and grass, the seawater cascading down its contours in great sheets. It continued to rise, but slowly, before it stopped suddenly, jolting a little and sending a small wave to rock the Rocket’s boat. Just a few hundred feet away, golden shores could be seen bordering the new land.

“That island,” Giovanni replied, a hungry look in his eyes. “The Faraway Island.”

“Um, Sir?” Giovanni snapped round, glaring at the brave, stupid sailor.

The sun moved slowly towards the horizon as the trio walked through the Ilex Forest. The first shades of orange and red were beginning to show through on the leaves as autumn approached.

“Your Larvitar can’t be stronger,” Red insisted, “Nidoking is in its final stage, yours hasn’t even evolved!”

Xavier shook his head, smirking, enjoying the playful argument. “Red, it was barely an hour ago that you saw my Larvitar hurl Nidoking into a tree.”

”Ah, but it wasn’t your Pokemon then, was it?” Red said, smiling mischievously.

“Could you two just drop it?” came Scarlet’s impatient tone. “You’ve only just caught them, so neither of you will know who’s is stronger until you battle.”

She stopped quickly, but the words were out of her mouth. Red and Xavier turned to one another, their faces lit up with the realization of an idea. “We’ll battle!” they both cried together, and Scarlet groaned.

They barely reached a clearing and had time to pull back the arms to throw their poke balls, before a sudden noise stopped them. It was a rumble, a deep rumble that settled in their stomachs.

”It’s a helicopter,” Red noted, but for some reason, each of them were filled with a dread that none of them could explain.

It grew louder, and before long, the branches of the clearing that they were in began to sway under the pressure. The helicopter was lowering down into the clearing, and the insignia on the side of the vehicle made Red’s blood freeze.

“Run,” he said hoarsely, backing away from the lowering helicopter. Scarlet and Xavier turned to look at him quizzically; they had not seen fear on his face like this since the incident a little while back, with Lorelei and the Vileplume. “It’s Team Rocket!” cried Red, pointing at the bold red R on the black helicopter. No sooner were the words out of his mouth, the helicopter touched down, and a number of black-clothed men spilled out, each carrying guns.

Red turned to run, knowing the power of Team Rocket and the senselessness of trying to fight them. Xavier and Scarlet, however, did not know of their brutality, and each released a Pokemon.

“Just RUN!” cried Red, grabbing at their clothes. A sudden sound, a noise like a net sweeping through air caught Red off guard. Scarlet fell to the ground, and Red saw a Rocket member, gun held out and pointing to where Scarlet had been standing. He did not see the dart lodged in her neck, and he through himself towards the man, an anguished cry coming from him as another dart was fired. The effect was near immediate. The strength was drained from his body, and it felt as though all of his limbs were carrying too much weight. Red fell to his knees and his head hit the cracked earth. His vision swam, blurred images of Xavier trying to attack the members, with a final image of a dart sticking out of his leg. Red’s vision failed him, and he felt himself being lifted up. As the whine of the helicopter increased, Red fell into unconsciousness.

***

Xavier awoke, just as the sun vanished below the horizon. The strength of its rays lit up the underside of the clouds, lighting the Ilex Forest in an ethereal fashion. The forest was silent, as if every living thing was mourning for what the Rockets had done and, more importantly, what they were about to do. It was as if nature itself was making its views clear with its pure silence, and quiet beauty. The shadows of tress stretched long over the clearing that Scarlet and Xavier lay on, and despite the time of year, a small covering of white was dusted over the grass, a carpet of frost. He turned to Scarlet and shook her until she opened her eyes.

“They’ve taken Red.”

***

Within moments, Scarlet and Xavier rode on the back of Dragonair through the darkening sky. The first half of the journey had been spent talking; where would they go? Why did the Rockets take him? What did they want with him? Why were they not important?

The only question they could answer was where they should go. They decided that they would seek help from the highest authority in the region; Professor Elm. He may have some ideas as to what to do.

The night was absolute by the time they landed in the quiet village of Newbark. Scarlet recalled her Dragonair, and they moved towards the glow of the windows of Elm’s laboratory.

***

“I appreciate your ideas, Clair, I really do, but I don’t think that reviving the Dragon Tournament is a good idea at the moment.”

Clair fixed Professor Elm was a hard glare. “If not now, then when?” The two of them sat in Elm’s Laboratory, having talked for most of the evening. Clair had traveled from Blackthorn, wanting to re-open the Dragon Tournament. She insisted that it was a spur of the moment sort of thing.

“Well, it’s just not a good time for upheaval of things. I mean, look at the Elite Four at the moment; Lorelei’s gone missing, apparently on some mission for Lance; Lance himself is turning up at the League less and less often; and that just leaves Bruno and Agatha, and no matter how big those muscles of his are, he does not make up three people to form the Elite ‘Four,’ along with Agatha.”

Clair nodded. “I suppose you’re right. To revive the Dragon Tournament now would only put stress on the League…” she smiled. “You wait until a good challenger walks through the doors of my Gym. Then I’ll revive it, and you won’t be able to do anything to stop me.”

Elm sighed, shaking his head but smiling fondly. The two of them had been good friends since before they became renowned figures of Johto. Rumour had even spread across the region that they had once had a passion, but Clair’s fiery rage ahd outshone the sparks of rumour and that soon died out.

There was a sharp knock at the door. “Who could that be?” Elm wondered aloud. “Only you call this late at night, Clair, when I’m asleep, and expecting no visitors.” He said it angrily, but smiled and winked at her, and she responded by arching an eyebrow.

Elm opened the door and was greeted by two wind-ravaged strangers.

“Professor Elm,” said the boy, his white hair messy from some activity or other, “we need your help. Our friend Red has been kidnapped by Team Rocket, and we really don’t know what to do.”

The words “Red” and “Team Rocket” caused an unsettling in Elm’s stomach, and he invited them in.

“Red, you say?” pressed Elm, almost before they had sat down. “Red, the recent challenger of the Elite Four?”

Scarlet nodded. “Yes, we’ve been traveling with him. We’ve just come from Goldenrod city, and we were ambushed in the Ilex Forest. A helicopter came down and took him, and we don’t know which way they went.”

Clair was looking rigidly at Elm. “This is unlike Team Rocket,” she voiced, and Elm nodded slowly.

“And I think I know what’s caused this sudden activity,” he finished. “Come, we have to travel to Pallet Town. Professor Oak must be alerted of this at once, and we must do all we can to help him.” He stood up and put on his coat. “You too,” he said Scarlet and Xavier. “We might need some firepower if this is what I think it is.”

***

Red sat in his cell, shivering. They had removed most of his clothes, but this was not why he shook. The memory of what had just happened was etched so vividly onto his mind.

He had woken up in that same cell, finding his clothes gone and his poke balls taken. Within moments, however, two burly looking Rocket members entered, roughly taking him by the arm and leading him out. They walked him down a corridor, and Red’s feet felt cold on the metal floor. “What do you want with me?” he asked boldly, but the men said nothing. They led him through another door, and Red felt a knot of fear as he looked at the steel instruments that made up the equipment of the room. It was dark, and the only light came from three glass cylinders at the far end of the room.

Heads turned as Red was brought in. Red looked up at the stern faces, men and women in white coats and could have sworn he saw someone he recognized, but the man turned before he could make out who it was. The two Rocket members led him into the room, and Red realised with a frenzy of terror that they were going to put him in one of those cylinders.

Red cried out, kicked his legs, struggled as hard as he could, but the men held him firm. With effort, they used his crazed struggling to swing him into the cylinder, before sealing it once more. Red drew back his fist and pummeled at his prison. It was now that he realised that it was heavily reinforced plastic, and not glass.

He looked about frantically. The tube next to him was empty, but through the curved structure of the transparent material, he could see something in the third chamber, small and petit. A sudden cry, high pitched and pain-laden, cut through the sound of whirring machines. The third chamber lit up pink, and Red watched in horror as the being inside it struggled. It moved with amazing speed, throwing itself all around the containment chamber, but to no avail.

Then Red saw a peculiar thing happen. As the Pokemon (for that was what Red assumed it was) sank to the floor, tired, a great glow seemed to emanate from it. It was as if its shadow was not conforming to the laws of light and how it was blocked, and it rose steadily upwards. Then Red saw this matter fall down into the middle chamber, floating like smoke drifts from a candle.

With horror, Red realised that the same was going to happen to him. His chamber lit up blue, and he put every ounce of strength into smashing the plastic. He fell back, sitting with his back against the warming plastic, before pain tore through him. His hands went to his head, curling himself up into a ball as the pain ripped through every part of him. The central pain then moved to his chest, over his heart, then lower, moving through every part of his body. Red screamed, and through half open eyes, he could see the rocket members, standing emotionless.

The pain became too much to bear, and Red fell unconscious once more.

The memory of this torture brought another spasm across Red as he sat alone in his cell. What had they done to him? he asked himself. Why were they doing it?

He wished more than anything that he could see his friend’s faces once more, and he looked up at the door, hoping beyond hope that they would burst through. But they did not, and Red looked back down again, consumed by fear and the memories of pain.

as the trio walked through the Ilex Forest.

“You’ve only just caught them, so neither of you will know who’s is stronger until you battle.”

they had not seen fear on his face like this since the incident a little while back, with Lorelei and the Vileplume.

“You wait until a good challenger walks through the doors of my Gym. Then I’ll revive it, and you won’t be able to do anything to stop me.”

She remembered the odd feeling she felt, just as she had left, almost like a profound feeling of de ja vu, and she could not find it within herself to determine what it might foretell.

But Obs, if that's true, then Clair and the Dragon Tooth/Mewtwo incident would have happened between the expanse of two chapters of TDWH. I'll just have to wait. Now I'm more confused than ever.

- DNA

“You wait until a good challenger walks through the doors of my Gym. Then I’ll revive it, and you won’t be able to do anything to stop me.”

Scarlet looked with disappointment at Oak’s laboratory. It was far smaller than she had expected, and there was none of the space-age equipment that she had dreamt of when people had talked of Professor Oak and his amazing research.

“Are you sure this is the right place?” Xavier asked Elm nervously as the group stood outside the Professor's lab. Elm nodded.

“Yes, why do you ask?” he replied. Clair looked away from the group, trying to suppress a laugh. She had evidently thought the same when she had first travelled to see Oak.

The door opened, and Xavier mumbled, “no reason,” before being greeted by an aging man. He smiled at the group, but there was something in his eyes that gave Scarlet the impression that he was displeased with something.

“Ah, hello Professor. Do come in, I’m eager to find out what is so urgent that cannot wait until the trip that we are taking to Hoenn in just a few months.”

The four entered, and Scarlet felt out of place; she and Xavier may well have not been expected.

“It’s about Giovanni, Professor,” Clair said, when the five Pokémon fanatics were all seated.

Oak looked swiftly at Xavier and Scarlet. “It’s okay, Professor,” Elm quickly said. “It’s because of them that we discovered how advanced his plans were. Team Rocket have taken Red.”

The colour drained from the old man’s face. “This is…awful news. What saddens me further is that I have a vague idea of what they are going to do to him, and I am certain that he is the worst…or perhaps best candidate for their intended purpose.”

Scarlet shook her head, the cryptic talk proving too much for her. “Professor, we were walking through Ilex forest when a helicopter took our friend. We were told you would have some answers, and that they would help us find him.”

Professor Oak nodded, before looking at the two of them. “I have been studying Pokémon for a good fifty years now, and I have been a Pokémon trainer since I’ve been allowed to wield a Poke Ball. While much joy has been brought to my life, it has also shown to me the cruel nature of humans when they try and exploit the gifts of power that Pokemon have been given. Team Rocket is one such sadness that I have had to witness.”

Xavier nodded solemnly. “But do you have any information where our friend could be?”

Oak slowly shook his head. “Exact whereabouts, no. But I can tell you what is happening to him.” He took a long draught of his coffee, before continuing. “Team Rocket is headed by a man named Giovanni. He is a megalomaniac; that is, he craves power. It has come to my attention that he is planning to create a Pokemon like non other, and I have been receiving reports from one of his scientists that the development has been increased exponentially.”

Professor Elm interrupted. “I thought your man was having doubts about carrying on with it?”

“He was, and still is. The only reason he’s still there is because I’ve told them that if he displays signs of leaving the Rockets, then our eyes and ears will become blind and deaf.”

“A new Pokemon is all very interesting,” Scarlet cut in, an impatient tone surfacing. “But what does this have to do with Red?”

Professor Oak sighed. “Giovanni doesn’t just want a Pokemon that is insanely powerful, he wants one that is powerful and does his bidding. There is no Pokemon existence, and probably no Pokemon that we know of, that has that kind of power and will obey our commands. As a result, he has come up with a way to artificially create a new Pokemon out of another’s DNA, but also to fuse that DNA with another person. The result would be a Pokémon and human fusion.”

“…but, why?” came Clair’s voice. “Every time we have discussed this, Professor, it still makes little sense.”

“It’s because a Pokémon is naturally good, Clair. If you told a Pokémon to kill another human being, then it is unlikely that it will obey you, no matter how loyal it is. But if that Pokémon has elements of a human nature within it, then who knows the moral limitations it will lack?”

Xavier looked puzzled. “So, you’re saying that Red’s DNA is going to be merged with another Pokemon’s?” he asked.

Professor Oak nodded. “It is quite likely. I would say that it has already been done. There is little we can do about it, I’m afraid. If I had known sooner, we may have had a chance to prevent this, but…”

As he had been speaking, a rumbling had been increasing steadily in volume. The china cups rattled on their saucers, and the group looked about them, at one another. Scarlet got up and pulled the curtain back, peering out of the window and into the sky.

“Xavier!” she gasped, and he joined her. A number of planes and helicopters buzzed through the morning sky, moving defiantly south. “Look!” she cried. The red insignia of the Rockets could be clearly seen, even from their low positioning.


“It’s Team Rocket,” Xavier said quickly, turning to the others. “If we chase them, it might lead to Red!”

The others did not move. “I think we’re too late to save Red,” Clair said quietly. “Whatever deed it was, it has been done, and they will have no use for some trainer.”

“He’s not just some trainer!” Scarlet cried. “He’s our friend!” She took Xavier by the arm and pulled him outside, releasing Dragonair as she did. They clambered onto its back and the dragon soared into the air, pursuing the black horde of Rocket vehicles, flying over the glittering sea.

***

The voice inside Red’s mind grew steadily louder. The darkness had been laughing constantly, relentlessly for what seemed like hours. Red shook, shock and fright conspiring so that he rattled like the bones of the dead. The laughing would occasionally stop, and the voice would say just one word:

Soon…

***

Red had not realised that he had fallen asleep until he woke up with a start. There was still laughter, manic and ceaseless, but it was quieter, pushed to the back of his mind. There was the sound of panicked cries coming from outside, followed by explosions and then crashes. They were getting louder, closer. Something inside Red swelled, a feeling of pure elation. He got to his feet, holding his breath as if the oncoming storm of sound would cease if he dared to breathe.

With a sudden blast, the door was blown off its hinges and Larvitar, Xavier and Scarlet stood in the space where the iron door had been.

“Red!” Scarlet cried, rushing forward and squeezing him in a tight embrace. “Are you okay? Did they hurt you? What did they bring you here for?” her torrent of questions was ceased as Xavier walked quickly over to them.

“We need to leave, guys. We caused a fair amount of destruction, it’s pretty obvious that this was where we came, as there’s a path of chaos that’ll lead right here.” He walked towards the door, followed by Scarlet who had her arm round Red’s shoulder, keeping him warm.

“Xavier, I need to go and get my clothes and my Pokemon,” Red yelled after his friend. Xavier turned, biting his lip.

“I hadn’t thought of that. We followed a load of Rocket members here, and we managed to get it out of some of the guards where you were being held. We’ll need to move fast.”

”So, where are we?” Red asked as they moved down the corridor, each of them craning their necks round doors as if Red’s things would be left lying in full view.

”Cinnabar Island, we’re in the laboratory where they do experiments. No wonder it was off limits.” Xavier said the words calmly, and Scarlet laughed at Red’s shocked face.

“This was where I got my fossil Pokemon though…I would have remembered this place, surely?”

Xavier shook his head. “We’re pretty deep underground, Red. I doubt you went down this far to –“

He looked up suddenly, as two guards turned their way. Larvitar disposed of their Pokemon quickly, and Xavier was ready to move on, but Red stopped. The room that they had been guarding was the same room that they had taken Red to…

“Red?” Scarlet enquired as her friend vanished through the door. She and Xavier followed him in, and were met with a chilling sight.

Red had seen the room before, but the three cylinders, each glowing a multitude of colours, completely unnerved the other two. The Rocket members inside turned to look, but released no Pokemon. There was a sense of rushed panic about them all.

“Its mind is trying to cope with the stress!” came a sharp voice from one of the white coated people.

“Then deal with it, we can’t let it wake up, it’s still unstable!” came another, and the people flickered about, darting to machines and terminals, flicking switches and twisting dials. Red, Xavier and Scarlet were barely even acknowledged. The one person that actually seemed to see that they even existed frowned. “You definitely shouldn’t be here, I really should call someone…it’ll have to wait,” he said, before hurrying back over to his machine terminal.

“That wasn’t in there the last time I came here,” Red said suddenly, pointing to the centre chamber. The cylinder on the right still held the small pink Pokemon, laying motionless. The centre cylinder, however, held something much larger. The colour of the fluid inside did not make it clear to see what the thing was inside, but Red could see it was larger than both himself and the small pink Pokemon. Occasionally, it would twitch violently, and an alarm would sound, before a flurry of white coats would smother the machines before the alarm stopped.

“This isn’t right!” came a pained voice. Some of the scientists stopped working and turned. The three trainers looked at one another, each one thinking the other had spoken. “We can’t put this Pokemon through this suffering!” came the voice again, and one of them men in white coats stepped forward. He held a long metal pole in his hand. In the gloom of the room, Red could make out part of his face. He recognised it, but he could not put his finger on where he had seen this face, and the shadows that fell across it only worsened his memory.

“What do you mean?” came a sharp voice, higher in pitch than the other man. “You knew what Giovanni expected of us, you knew what we would create!” this new person broke forward, standing opposite the man with the pole. Red recognised this figure, and couldn’t help but exclaim his discovery.

“Blaine!” he cried. The fire Gym Leader turned to the young trainer, and smirked.

“Ah, Red’s friends have arrived, how touching. But we cannot dawdle and allow the project to fall into chaos, we must continue!”

He turned, but the man with the pole raised his voice louder. “I won’t let you, Blaine. I never realised that the clone would be so…tortured by itself…”
He looked down.

”Yes, very saddening,” Blaine continued, not looking up from the screen as he punched in various codes and equations. “It’s going into that state again, secure its mind!”

Again, the white coated people’s hands flashed over their terminals, and the Pokemon twitched violently again, and Red saw a tail lash out against the cylinder.

“It’s in pain…” came Scarlet’s voice.

“Yes, it is.” The man with the pole looked in their direction, and the man’s face had the effect of a bucket of cold water being poured over Red. It was Mr. Fuji!

Before Red could enquire as to his presence, the man rushed forward, darting towards the cylinder and raising the pole up high. With a cry from Blaine, Fuji brought it down with such a crack that the whole plastic cylinder shattered, and the stinking fluid burst out. The Pokemon fell to the ground, unmoving.

“You’ve killed the clone, you fool!” thundered Blaine and moved towards Fuji. Red and his friends could only watch, unable to move, product of their own curiosity. Blaine pushed Fuji back against the wall, yelling and screaming, his eyes wide. His moustache bristled furiously as he verbally and physically assaulted the man.

“If I have ended this pitiful creature’s misery, then I am glad, even if it has passed on,” came Fuji’s defiant voice.

Blaine drew back a fist, but the attack never came. A psychic scream filled the room, as if a thousand nails scraped sheets of metal. This was followed by a blast that caused the clothes and hair of everyone to fly about wildly, as if the room were filled with a strong wind.

The clone was on its feet. It stood taller than any man in the room, and its tail whipped about the floor in a frenzy, scattering glass this way and that. Its eyes burned with hate and rage, and its arm shot out, its hand glowing with some invisible force, distorting the air around it. Blaine choked, and Red realised that the Pokemon had gripped him round the neck, telekinetically.

Blaine was lifted from the ground as Blaine clutched at the invisible hand around his throat. The people in the room could only stare in horror as the man’s life was drained.

”You will suffer for what you have done to me,” came the being’s voice, penetrating their minds like a shadow cutting through light. ”I am the clone that you have endeavoured so hard to create. Are you pleased with your result? Witness the rise of the most powerful Pokemon the world has ever seen. I, Mewtwo!”

Blaine’s body fell to the floor, and this seemed to bring the reality of the situation to everyone’s minds. People began to scream, people darted toward the exit, others ran to their computers to initiate the security systems, while still more remain fixed to the spot, looking wide eyed at the dead Blaine.

“Quickly!” came Fuji’s voice, and he grabbed Red’s shoulder as he ran for the door. Scarlet and Xavier followed, glancing behind them to see the clone as it launched a number of people into the air, followed by manic laughter.

“I don’t have my Pokemon!” Red cried, and Fuji nodded.

“Don’t worry, I know where they are!” He led the three of them down the corridor, now filled with panic-stricken people as they pushed to escape the laboratory. The lights now had a red tinge to them and an alarm whined loudly overhead.

Fuji vanished inside a room, before returning with Red’s clothes and his belt with his Poke Balls. Red dressed quickly, and the four of them started moving again, Fuji leading the way.

The alarm sounded tinny and had a nasal quality as they stumbled out of the laboratory. The light from the sun was so much more powerful and stronger than the odd light that Red had been accustomed to for the past twenty four hours, and he had to squint to see anything.

“We’ll go to my house in Lavender Town,” Fuji said. “Team Rocket won’t need anything more from you Red, but we can’t stay on this island.”

Scarlet released Dragonair once more, remarking on how the poor Pokemon needed some rest, before the four of them clambered on. Dragonair whined a little as it took off with the heavy load.

***

Mr. Fuji’s house was situated just below the Lavender Tower and Red smiled at the familiar sight as they landed. Dragonair disappeared gratefully into its ball.

Inside, the four of them sat in Fuji’s living room, each with a warm drink. It was ‘for the shock,’ Fuji had told them.

“You’re probably wondering why I helped that Pokemon,” Fuji said, after a prolonged silence.

Scarlet shook her head. “I understand completely why you helped it; it was in pain, and it needed to be saved. What I can’t understand is why you created it…”

“You created that thing?” he asked, dumbfounded.

Fuji nodded solemnly. “A few months ago, the leader of Team Rocket approached me and asked me if I would share the secrets of a new technology that I had created. Having tinkered about with specimens, I had discovered that new life forms could be created from the DNA of two separate entities. At first, I merely fused the DNA of two identical things. The first things I tested it on were two Pupitar that belonged to a passing trainer. The combination of each of their DNA brought about a new Pokemon, the lowest evolution form of Pupitar, a Larvitar. However, because this Pokemon was artificially created, it displayed signs of being different, using powers that it shouldn’t usually have. It recently escaped, but not before I used the same technique to create the first artificial Pokemon, Porygon. I took the DNA of one Pokemon and fused it with a cybernetic disk. I showed my results at a Celadon City Gadget Show, and the Game Corner bought my Porygon from me. It was then that I received a letter inviting me to Viridian City Gym. There, Giovanni said that he intended on using my research to create the most powerful Pokemon that had ever existed. At first, I declined, and then I discovered that my old friend, Blaine, was already working on the project, and that he had offered the use of his laboratory. A keen scientist, I had no choice but to agree, and I set about to create this Pokemon.”

Red frowned. “But how does DNA fusion result in what you created? Surely it would just produce something different, it wouldn’t make it any more powerful.”

Fuji sighed. “Giovanni wanted a Pokemon that was infinitely powerful, and completely submissive to his own will. He captured the Pokemon ‘Mew’ from Faraway Island, but found that while it was strong, it would not perform the genocidal acts that Giovanni had envisioned. So, he asked me to use my DNA fusion method to combine Mew’s DNA with something that would overwrite this benevolent side of the Pokemon.”

”Me,” Red whispered quietly. “That creature…it’s the result of my DNA and Mew’s?”

Fuji nodded slowly. “Giovanni asked that the most powerful trainer in the region was chosen for this experiment, and his experts chose you, Red. Your reputation of power was the thing that Giovanni liked about you, and he selected you as the candidate. Of course, Lance was selected, as he is stronger, but we couldn’t very well go and kidnap the head of the Elite Four without someone noticing. Your DNA runs through Mewtwo’s veins.”

The colour drained from Red’s face. If Giovanni had wanted a Pokemon without morality, then why had he chosen Red? Was it because Red lacked human emotion?

“I need to go outside,” Red suddenly said, and left the room.

“Professor Oak already knew some of this,” Scarlet said quietly.

“That was because I told him most of it,” Fuji replied. “Over time, I began wondering if what I was doing was truly right. The discovery I had made was now being used to fuel the ever-growing power of a dangerous group like Team Rocket. I contacted the Professor, and he was most intrigued as to Giovanni’s exploits, and I readily became an inside spy.”

Fuji looked quickly at the door, checking to see if Red was still there. “Xavier, Scarlet; There was a side effect that none of us could work out at the laboratory, something that the clone had that it shouldn’t. Its mind was in constant turmoil, as if it was battling itself internally. We all just put it down to the fact that it was because its DNA was a combination of two different things, but I believe it is something deeper. I suppose I should have told the Professor, but I have not spoken to him for some time…but regardless; is there anything…peculiar about Red, something that would explain this?”

Xavier and Scarlet looked swiftly at one another, but their answer never came. With the sound of a multitude of explosions, the furthest section of the house was ripped apart. One moment, there was a wall behind Mr. Fuji and the next, there was the base of the Lavender Tower, separated by a few hundred yards of grass, blowing in the breeze.

“What the hell?” came Xavier’s shaken voice. Red ran back through the front door and looked twice at the vanished wall, before moving over to the others, mouth open.

The torment that I feel will be forced upon you with the weight of all my power…

The explosion of thought erupted in their minds, and Scarlet looked up at Xavier with fearful eyes. “It’s the clone again, isn’t it?” she whimpered. Xavier pulled her close, and Red wished there was someone there that he could hang onto.

Why? Why am I plagued with another dark being, fused within my soul, whispering dark thoughts to me?

There was a flash of light, and the clone appeared, a purple aura surrounding it as it stood at the base of the Tower.

Those that created me, it is their doing. They implanted this darkness within me. And it is they who must be eliminated, for I will be free of this.

He raised his arm, and flexed his three fingers, and the remainder of the house was blasted back. Scarlet screamed, for there was nothing left of the house now, just splintered wood scattered across the earth between them and the clone.
Mr. Fuji turned to them. “He has no quarrel with you, you must escape! Go, run!”

Xavier pulled Scarlet away from Fuji, and Mewtwo barely turned his head to see them flee. Red, however, stayed. Mewtwo’s gaze turned to him.

There is something different about you. The force of the clone’s last word seemed to hit Red in the stomach, and his chest became tight. What is in me…I sense that it is in you too…

“Mewtwo, I am sorry for what we did to you, but-“ Fuji’s words were cut short as the clone turned its eyes back to its victim. The same purple aura surrounded Fuji and the old man cried out in pain as Mewtwo’s eyes narrowed. Red backed away in horror, joining Xavier and Scarlet as they watched, open-mouthed. Red wanted to run at Mewtwo to attack it, to stop it, but fear held him fast.

If your existence ends, then so does this demon within me, came the psychic thought again, and the Pokemon rose up into the air, still inflicting the aura upon Fuji.

With a deafening crunch, a gargantuan crack ran around the base of Lavender Tower. One hundred feet of stone building was suddenly shimmering with the same purple aura, and it was lifted from its former positioning and up into the air, debris falling in great chunks. With a cry of effort from Mewtwo, the building begun to move horizontally, painfully slowly as its lengthy shadow fell over the tortured face of Mr. Fuji.

Two down… came Mewtwo’s sadistic thought as he let the Tower fall.

I have a question though:
How can Red's darkness have passed to Mewtwo? Surely Darkrai's presence in Red hasn't changed his DNA, right? Or has it?

Oh, and another thing... That larvitar Fuji mentions, is the one Xavier has, right?

Your appetite for destroying Kanto is insatiable, isn't it?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't a fusion between two of the same species supposed to produce the same specimen? Unless this first experiment or Fugi's was not a total success, but even if so, does this create an inferior evolutionary stage of the family?

And what is Mewtwo going to do about Red? Red would be his father and Mew his mother (subject to change), so... If Mewtwo hates Mew for being the original one, will this cause him to hate Red as well and try to kill him, too?

“Reports have been coming in of an explosion on Cinnabar Island. It is said to have been the laboratory, famous for its research on fossil Pokemon. The number of casualties is unknown. This tragic and unexplained event is said to be linked to the sudden collapse of the Lavender Tower. Authorities are baffled as to how the Lavender Tower managed to crumble away, especially considering the fact that its remnants are a number of meters away from the Tower’s base. Unconfirmed sightings of a sinister Pokemon have been reported, supposedly at each incident.”

***

Giovanni switched the television off. The images that had been shown confirmed his assumptions; Mewtwo was seeking revenge, and it was picking off its creators. Moments before the Cinnabar laboratory had exploded, he had been receiving panicked messages, telling of Blaine’s death at the hands of the clone. Similarly, the images that had accompanied the reporter’s voice had shown the Lavender Tower’s leftovers quite obviously where Mr. Fuji’s house had been.

Giovanni lifted the receiver of his phone and spoke into it sharply. “I was correct. Prepare the army, the clone will be here soon. It’s time we saw how our second project is coming along…”

He put the receiver down, but no sooner had he done so, it began ringing. “What?”

“Sir, Red has shown up, he’s waiting in the Gym. He wants to see you.” Giovanni slammed the phone down and left his office, Persian padding loyally behind.

***

“It’s good to see you again, Red,” Giovanni called over the stadium as he strode toward his nemesis and his friends. “I do hope you’re not after another badge, I have some rather pressing plans at the moment.”

“Too right you do,” Red said savagely, and Giovanni noted that he had never seen Red this angry. “Mewtwo, your creation, is on its way here and it’s coming to kill you.”

Giovanni smirked. “Touched though I am by the fact you wish to protect me, I’m afraid I already know and am taking steps to ensure that the clone fails.”

”Did you not hear what happened to Mr. Fuji?!” the girl cried incredulously. “Mewtwo dropped a ten-story, stone tower on him! You think you’ll be able to stop it?”

Giovanni sighed impatiently. “I do not have to explain myself to you, and doubt that you particularly care for my safety. Therefore, I assume that you did not come here to warn me of this danger, but rather you came for something else. Am I right?”

There was a pause before Red nodded. “We need answers. I need answers. Your clone, you created it to be your Pokemon, powerful and yet unable to disobey you.”

Giovanni arched an eyebrow. “That is correct, though I don’t see why you traveled here just to confirm this…”

Red turned and looked at his two friends. “Do you mind if I talk to Giovanni for a second? Alone?”

Giovanni smirked at his friend’s discomfort at Red’s request, but they nodded.

“You failed,” Red whispered as he and Giovanni walked away from the arena. “Mewtwo is powerful, but it doesn’t obey you.”

”I can see that,” Giovanni replied testily.

“And you’re not bothered? You’ve spent all this time, put all this effort into kidnapping me, hiring scientists and funding an experiment that ultimately has failed?”

Giovanni looked down at Red, studying him for the first time. He was young, but there was no doubt about his intellect. Red was sharp and had his wits about him. He would have been such a useful ally, despite his age.

“The experiment did not fail,” Giovanni said after a moment. “Mewtwo was merely a prototype for what I have planned, and it is for this reason that I do not fear an attack from the clone.”

Red frowned. “Mewtwo’s not your all-powerful submissive Pokemon?”

Giovanni shook his head. “No. When you defeated me in battle, all those months ago, I realised that Team Rocket was failing. You taught me that by repeatedly foiling my plans. It seemed that average Pokemon did not bring us power, and any dedicated trainer would sweep away my minions’ Zubats and Drowzees. We were a fast-failing Team. When you took my badge from me, I resolved to make Team Rocket better, and began developing a way of obtaining a Pokemon that would bring Team Rocket back to greatness! You showed me that Red, and I will show you something in return.”

While they had been talking, they had been walking through the corridors of Viridian Gym and presently they came to an elevator. Giovanni knew that Red’s mind would be screaming ‘trap!’ at him, but he hoped that his former nemesis would trust him on this occasion.

The two of them entered the lift, and Giovanni hit the highest button. “The project is not complete yet, but I have been meaning to see its progress for some time now, without having been given an opportunity to do so.”

The lift stopped and the doors slid open. Giovanni smirked at Red’s shock at being on the roof.

“What’s up here then?” Red asked, looking about as a strong wind blew through his hair.

”Nothing, until I summon it,” Giovanni replied. Red was about to ask something, but he stopped, distracted by something in the sky. It was a line of purple light, and it seemed to be getting bigger…closer.

“Giovanni, that’s Mewtwo, that’s the clone!” Red yelled, knowing all to well what that Pokemon could do.

“Deploy the forces,” Giovanni said into a mobile phone, his voice eerily calm. “Ready the project.”

Within seconds, a number of helicopters flew over the Gym, making its way towards the fast-approaching Mewtwo. It was close enough now for Red to make out its features, and he could see the rage on the Pokemon’s face.

Giovanni’s smile did not falter as the helicopters were obliterated. In fact, as the rotary blades of one was torn off and spun into another, his smile seemed to grow.

You are the third creator. Mewtwo advanced, hovering a little way off. You, Giovanni, are the person that orchestrated my creation. You have caused so much suffering, and I can only convey my pain by inflicting the same upon you.

Giovanni seemed not to hear the Pokemon and spoke his phone.

“Release the project.”

Mewtwo never saw the attack coming. He was barely one hundred meters away, when a blur shot out of the sky and collided with the psychic Pokemon. Mewtwo hit the ground, feeling real pain for the first time in its short life.

An abomination! came Mewtwo’s chilling cry, for it was laced with fear, something that Red never would have thought he would hear from such a being.

The attacking Pokemon hovered above Mewtwo, and Red squinted to make out what it was. It moved too quickly to define details, an orange blur, shimmering with psychic energy. Mewtwo lifted itself from the ground, shooting back up into the sky again and launched a volley of energy balls at the new Pokemon. The orange Pokemon dodged the attack with its superior speed, before firing a laser-like green beam at Mewtwo. The clone teleported out of the way, reappearing directly in front of Giovanni. The laser green beam obliterated a far off building, while Mewtwo looked its creator directly in the eye, and Giovanni’s savage smirk remained.

You will feel pain.

It vanished once more, but did not reappear. Red looked up at the victorious Pokemon and that too vanished at the behest of Giovanni.

“That’s your project?” Red asked, and Giovanni nodded.

“It is not strong enough yet. When it is at maximum potential it will be able to destroy the failed experiment with a thought.”

Red’s eyebrows shot up. “I get the impression you’re not exaggerating.”

Giovanni looked down at Red. “Would I?” he said with a laugh. The Rocket boss was clearly pleased with his victory, and more pleased with Red’s reaction.

“But…” Red began. “What about Mewtwo? You’ve created it, and now it’ll wreak havoc until its objective is met; to kill you.”

Giovanni turned away from Red and began walking back to the elevator, the spectacle all over. “I’m afraid it is no longer my concern. With my new project, Mewtwo cannot harm me.”

”But what about everyone else?!” Red exclaimed. “People like Fuji, they don’t have some super Pokemon to save protect them!”

The Rocket boss did not answer. The lift door closed and Red was left alone on the roof of Viridian Gym, the weight of Kanto’s future securely on his shoulders.

Until you said the word "obvious", I had no idea what this other creation was. All I could think of was a floating orange eyeball. However, thinking it over in my head saying "what's orange, what's orange..." eventually led me to figure it out...and I would have found something completely new, alien, and creepy to be much more appealing than ... this Deoxys.

Maybe I'm just out of the mood, but I wasn't particularly impressed. (Just from me saying that, I think my head cold I have as I'm writing this is affecting my brain.)

- DNA