“Whispers in the Dark”

Chapter 3: Invaluable Answers

By: crichton55

A/N: Hello, my name is Crichton55 and I will be your writer today. For starters, I would like to apologize to you all for taking sooo ungodly long with this chapter (damn writer’s block!!). This chapter is absolutely NOT my best work by any means, so don’t criticize me for that. Don’t expect me to go on writing this thing without any more writer’s blocks, for they might be frequent, I’m afraid. Anywho, I not so proudly present to you “Chapter 3: Invaluable Answers”.

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A loud crack echoed throughout the foyer of the Pokémon Center, followed by an ear shattering scream, and the light went out yet again. Ash and Misty tore apart from their passionate kiss, looking frantically around the dark room to locate the source of the disturbance. It didn’t take Ash look to find the distraction.

Purple bolts of what looked to be electricity began to form around a point the exact location of which he could not see. It began to expand rapidly, the bolts beginning to crackle with increasing noise, and without any prior caution, the unidentified object was flung past his head with supernatural force. A sickening thud was heard as Ash whipped his head around just in time to see the vague outlines of Jessie, James, and Meowth crash against the wall behind him, their limp bodies hitting the floor with a sickening thud.

“Team Rocket! What are they doing-?” Ash’s rhetorical question was drowned out by a low growl that seemed to come from the center of the darkened room. “Pikachu, try the lights, would you?” it said with a sigh. Ash’s stomach sank to his feet. He knew that voice. His mind flashed a mental snapshot of his dream the previous night while Pikachu, shaking from head to foot in what Ash sensed to be total terror, had no choice but to obey the unknown and ominous voice.

Floating in the center of the room, looking around as if nothing had happened, was Mewtwo, surrounded by a sphere of rippling energy. Ash peered over to the corner to which he had sent Brock and saw that he was being clutched tightly by the girl he had bumped into several hours earlier. He quickly became aware that he was holding Misty too tightly, for she began making gasping noises. Releasing Misty from his vice-like grip, he looked over at the bodies of the trio that had tormented them on a regular basis, his anger towards them not changing at the sight of a trickle of blood running down Jessie’s forehead.

Ash stood up from the loveseat on which he had been sitting and walked slowly over to Mewtwo, whose energy bubble disappeared in an instant as he floated down until he stood on two huge grey legs. “You almost got yourself killed, I hope you realize,” sighed Mewtwo in his telepathic voice as he glared at Ash with his cat-like eyes. “What are you doing here?” Ash snapped, the images that the Pokémon before him forced upon his mind in his dream controlling his now volatile mood. Mewtwo’s piercing gaze became narrower and more focused as if it were a faucet with someone pressing their thumb up against the spout.

“Right now, saving your life,” he responded, eyes glowing blue once more as a lone bullet rose up from the floor before him, stopping at eye level. Ash took the bullet from out of thin air and examined it, slowly realizing that this tiny object was the cause of the loud crack that had permeated the large room. He returned his softened gaze back to Mewtwo, who did not change his angry expression, his eyes back to their normal shade of white.

“Do you believe it now, Ash? Do you believe the fact that Team Rocket is slowly beginning to take over this region, and that these three fools are just a tiny, pathetic fraction of what is in store for you if you do nothing?!” Mewtwo gestured over to the Team Rocket trio, still lying in a crumpled heap on the clean floor. Ash did not look over at Jessie, James, and Meowth, instead becoming more and more skeptical with each passing second. He did not speak, nor did he notice Misty rise from her seat and walk over to him.

“Ash, would you mind telling me what the hell is going on here? Ash! Answer me!” she hissed, snapping her fingers in his face in order to gain his attention. Ash sighed and looked into Misty’s stern eyes, proceeding to tell her the story what he had seen in his dream the night before. When he had finished giving a play-by-play account of what had occurred, Misty’s expression was that of shock mixed with horror.

“I’m sorry, Misty, but that dream last night is the reason I was so hard on you this morning,” Ash apologized sympathetically, placing a hand on his love’s shoulder. After a few seconds of doing nothing save looking into her aqua-blue eyes with the softest face he could possibly muster, he returned his gaze to the original center of attention. “Mewtwo, I’m still at a loss. Would you mind telling me what all happened the last time we met?” Ash’s voice was calm yet assertive, a tone that reflected the busy inner workings of his tired mind. Mewtwo’s eyes began to glow blue once more as his lip curled into a smile. “No…but I can show you,” he said, eyes glowing increasingly bright with each passing second.

Mental images began to race through Ash and his friend’s minds faster than it took for their brains to properly register the fact that they were there. Ash, however, could see each picture clear as day as they raced by in his sleep-deprived head. Ash instantly realized that these were no ordinary pictures…they were his memories. A cut scene that contained a bit of memory of him being transformed into a human boulder followed a snapshot of him and his friends crossing an extremely rough sea on Team Rocket’s phony Viking warship. His mind flashed to a brief memory of his Charizard engulfing Mewtwo in a ball of searing flames. A growling voice echoed in the sea of memories when he saw Mewtwo emerge from Charizard’s deadly flame unscathed: “Your Charizard is poorly trained.”

The string of memories flashing through their minds finished as quickly as it had come upon them, leaving Ash with a racing mind yet fewer unanswered question that what he had started with. “Why couldn’t we remember all of this?” Ash blurted out without thinking about what to say first. He looked Mewtwo straight in the eyes once more, eyes that had returned to their lustrous white.

“Because you didn’t need to know, Ash,” answered Mewtwo, his smile turning into a deep frown. “You didn’t need to be aware of the pain and suffering that I so regretfully caused that night, so I wiped clean your memories that I had tainted to hide what really happened. I wish that I could take back my arrogance and the fact that I could have ended your life if it weren’t for your Pokémon.” Mewtwo’s voice had turned into that of a shameful child, his head lowered to view the barren tile floor.

Brock untangled himself from the girl’s vise-like embrace and slowly made his way over to Ash’s side, an action to which Ash paid no attention. Brock surveyed Mewtwo with a curious yet skeptical gaze. “You were the one that almost killed Ash on
New Island!” he blurted out randomly.

There was a low but noisy growl of frustration followed by the sickening sound of wood against cranium as Misty whacked Brock over the head with her oversized tack hammer. “Well, duh, Mr. Slow-On-The-Uptake! Does it honestly take a string of lost memories and an old mallet to force into your head the fact that we are in the presence of a Pokemon who has the ability to kill? Or were you just flirting with those girls too long?” Misty was towering over Brock, who had ended up on the floor, with an expression of extreme irritation plastered on her face. “Look at all the pretty colors,” was Brock’s dazed answer. Several of the girls still huddled together in the corner giggled.

Mewtwo sighed yet again and proceeded to recapture the center of attention that had slipped away from him. “You seem to have misjudged me due to my history, human,” said Mewtwo with an earnest voice. “But the past is the past, and times have changed, and so have I. I just saved your boyfriend’s life after I once tried to destroy it.” Mewtwo began to glare at Misty.

Ash glanced down at Brock, who sported a large lump on his forehead, then looked back up at Mewtwo and sighed. “For the second time, Mewtwo, what is it you want us to do? If it involves getting another badge, then count me in,” he said eagerly, putting on a face that clearly showed his lust for the PlainBadge of Goldenrod.

Misty’s low growl returned to the room as she pulled out her mallet once more and whacked Ash over the head with it, causing him to smash against the solid linoleum floor with a loud thud. Mewtwo chuckled, raising Ash telekinetically from the floor. “Alright, you two, you’re already starting to act like you’re married already. But we have a more serious matter on our hands here,” he added rather hurriedly. Ash and Misty both blushed deep red.

“Okay, Mewtwo, you got my help. But how do you propose we fight something that even you can’t even beat?” Ash asked whilst rubbing his now sore nose. The psychic Pokemon smiled, clearly relieved that progress was finally being made. “Simple. We destroy the source. In this case, their headquarters,” he answered without apprehension.

Ash frowned. He didn’t like where this was going. “Well, where’s the source?” he questioned slowly, his face contorting into a look of disappointment and frustration. “I-I…can h-help.” Ash wheeled around to face the source of the hoarse and strained voice, eyes falling on the trio that had crashed into the wall a few minutes previous. Jessie had emerged from her forced state of unconsciousness and had started to speak over the pain of the impact.

Ash ran over to her, mind clouded with sudden and unexplainable anger at the girl that had made his life a living hell since the day his journey began. He knelt down quickly at Jessie’s side and gripped her shoulder tightly. “Where’s the base of Team Rocket? WHERE IS IT?! I swear if you don’t tell me-” he roared.

“Ash, one thing you must understand before I tell you where it is, is that we didn’t wish you any harm over the last couple of years,” Jessie said softly, the trickle of now dried blood cascading down her forehead cracking as her head moved. Ash gasped slightly, releasing his vise-like grip on Jessie’s shoulder as his face transformed its expression into that of care and compassion. “Y-you didn’t?”

“No, of course not. We only acted like thieves so that we wouldn’t be on the receiving end of Giovanni’s firing squad. Giovanni is our highly tyrannical boss,” Jessie added, noting the look of confusion on Ash’s face. “We actually sort of liked you, Ash,” she continued in the same soft voice. “We loved your style of battle, how you love and respect your Pokémon and don’t push them beyond their limit. I just wish I could’ve done the same to mine.” She sighed heavily, dropping her gaze from Ash to the floor, which she continued to stare at for a few seconds until Ash boldly placed a hand on Jessie’s shoulder.

“Hey, it’s alright. Really, it’s cool.” Ash felt like crying. He had just forgiven the trio that at times felt like they had no other option but to lie, cheat, and steal to make sure that Ash was as miserable as possible. Jessie looked up at him. “Thank you, Ash. But there is little time!” she said, her voice becoming more serious. “The secret base of Team Rocket is located just outside of Mount Silver. It’s an isolated region of Johto that you can get to only from Kanto. I’m sorry, you must find your own way there. I must warn you, though, the guarding system is nearly as impenetrable as the walls are. Going in without the aid of your Pokemon is like walking through a gunfight wearing nothing but your boxers! It’s suicide! The front door to the base requires two keys. Yes, the front door! It’s the only way! There is no side door. I have one key, but you must find the guard that has the other, and you MUST get in undetected,” she added, fishing around in her pocket and pulling out a shiny bronze key, which she handed to Ash with a trembling hand. Ash took it and shoved it into his own pocket. “Good luck, Ash.”

Ash couldn’t believe it. Jessie, notorious for her attitude and her usual tendency to “rob the poor to feed the rich,” was wishing Ash good fortune in his impulsive quest to overpower an organization that she was a part of! “Thank you, Jessie,” he said in a soft voice, standing up and walking over to his long forgotten friends. Misty was wearing an expression that resembled a person about to be sucked up by a tornado, whereas Brock had returned his attention to the girls in the corner and had begun flirting with them once more. So far, there existed no sign that he had been slapped yet.

Ash turned to Mewtwo instead of attempting to pry loverboy from his long-awaited prize. “Mewtwo, know anything about this base outside Mount Silver?” he inquired, abandoning the soft face and plastering on a serious gaze instead. The psychic Pokemon shuddered at the very mention of the location.

“Unfortunately, yes, I do. The Rockets there created a radioactive Serum that was shipped from there to my place of origin. They then injected me with this Serum upon my conception,” Mewtwo droned, making it quite obvious that he did not wish to reveal his darkest secret. Ash’s face lessened in seriousness and increased in curiosity as he heard Mewtwo’s story. “What does this ‘Serum’ do exactly? Is it deadly?” he asked with inquisitiveness.

Mewtwo sighed. “Thankfully, no, it is not poisonous or meant to kill me. Its purpose is to take over my brain and land me in the control of whoever switches on the main machine located inside that base at the foot of Mt. Silver. The Serum reacts when it’s exposed to an extremely high frequency, otherwise it’s rendered completely useless. That machine in Team Rocket’s base has the ability to create such a frequency. If that machine is turned on by Giovanni or any of the Rockets, I will be totally under their control and there isn’t a damn thing I can do about it!” he fumed, his eyes beginning to glow blue once more in immeasurable anger.

Ash immediately sensed imminent danger as Mewtwo’s glowing eyes increased in brightness, yet he did not seek the shelter of the conglomeration of loveseats and couches that sat behind him. “Hey! Mewtwo! Calm down, alright! Save your energy for when we really need it!” he shouted, waving his arms in front of Mewtwo frantically in an effort to curb the Pokemon’s destructive anger, a fury that he did not want to witness twice in his life.

The bluish glow that emanated from Mewtwo’s eyes began to subside, much to Ash’s relief. “Alright, fine. You win, Ketchum. Can we go now? I’ve spent too long in here suffering from the joy of watching your friend attempt to make out with three different girls at once,” he growled, glaring at Brock with a look of disgust plastered on his bony head.

“No, allow me,” said Misty grimly as Mewtwo began to glide over to where Brock was enthusiastically flirting with several girls at the same time. A loud WHACK permeated the Pokemon Center foyer as she beaned Brock over the head with her industrial-sized tack-hammer and proceeded to drag him by the ear over to where Ash was standing.

Once again, Ash sunk into a state of incomprehension and curiousness. “Uhh, can I ask a quick question, Mewtwo? How exactly are we supposed to get to Mt. Silver if there’s no way to get there in Johto?” he inquired while scratching his head in confusion. Mewtwo smiled. “I have the ability to Teleport to anywhere I wish, as long as I know where that place is located,” he explained rather proudly. “Would you like me to Teleport you, me, and your friends?”

Ash thought for a moment. “Mewtwo, how many people can you Teleport?” In the distance, a police siren became faintly audible, causing Ash to smile for the first time in what seemed like hours. “’Cause I got a plan.”

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A/N: There! FINALLY DONE! Once again, I am so sorry that this freaking chapter took so long. PLEASE REVIEW! I have been deprived of those emails for far too long! Your supportive responses are one of the main reasons that I am writing this in the first place. Thank you and have a nice day.