Chapter 13- Decision

So small, so young, so fragile, so weak, so… innocent.

I'm the Rocket Exterminator. I'm someone whose very name strikes fear into everyone in the organisation that is not the Executives or Giovanni. I'm one of the most wanted criminals of Indigo for staging the attack on Johto National Park. Right now, said criminal is holding a baby in his arms, who is sucking on the criminal's fingers in the criminal's desperate attempt to stop him from crying and annoying the entire hideout with it.

Not what I'm expecting when Giovanni posted me here.

"I didn't take you to be the type that is good with children."

I turned my head to see Ariana, who had entered the hidden house within the secret Fuschia hideout where she and Silver were staying. Along with Mewtwo, she and her son are the targets that I am assigned to protect during my stay here.

"He's not noisy." I replied as I resigned to my fate and allowed Silver to continue sucking on my finger. He would just keep crying uncontrollably otherwise. Pacifiers just wouldn't work for some unexplainable obscure reason.

"You'll be surprised how often Silver woke me and Giovanni up in the middle of the night." Ariana laughed as she walked into the kitchen, presumably to prepare some baby formula or something. "It seems that Silver is very attached to you."

"Not sure if that is a good thing." I replied honestly. "Considering who I-"

"You are our friend, Plague." Ariana cut me off before I can continue. "A criminal you may be, but who isn't? If what we did is atrocious, what does that make the Indigo Government? And Kain? The only reason why they aren't prosecuted is because what they are doing is state-sponsored legal violence."

Ariana made her reappearance again, this time holding a freshly warmed bottle of milk for Silver. She sat down beside me as she placed the milk bottle on the table in front of us.

"You are a good man, Plague. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

"Me? A good man?" I scoffed. "Please, ma'am-"

"Ariana."

"Ariana." I corrected myself. "Nobody in Team Rocket is a good man."

"That's true, but I would rather trust a criminal riddled with constant nightmares than a supposed good man that never had one." Ariana put her foot down on this matter as she placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Giovanni and I had been in this underground business for more than two decades, Plague. We know a good man when we see one."

"If I'm such a good man in your eyes, why make me Executive? We are Team Rocket."

"Because we are fighting for Kanto." Ariana gave a small smile that obviously tried to hide how tired she is. I saw through it immediately. "Everything is for the greater good, because when we finally succeed, we will need good men like you to help Kanto stand up on her feet again, not criminals."

Those words rang in my ears once more.

It's all for the greater good.

"I'll be frank with you, Ariana. I have no idea what is right or wrong anymore now that I learn of Team Rocket's true purpose." I confided in her without blowing my cover. "When I joined the organisation, it was because I don't have a choice. I rose up the ranks the way I did because I know I have to if I want to thrive in the underworld. I killed my conscience, my morals. Everything good in me I killed it. Now you and Leader are telling me that Team Rocket are… what? Freedom fighters? I don't even know what to think about this whole thing anymore. Why am I even a Rocket?"

"I read your history." Ariana commented as I started to feed baby Silver with the milk bottle. "Orphaned at a young age, left to fend for yourself on the streets. It was where you met Helen at Viridian and decided to join the organisation to get a better chance for survival. Do you want anyone else to go through the same things you did? Do you want anymore children to experience the same helplessness you did?"

"No." I replied immediately without hesitation. There's no way I will ever want any child to go through the same things Jane and I had been through. It's inhumane.

"Then we will have to do something to make things right, using whatever it takes." Ariana said as she leaned back onto the sofa we are sitting on. "So that people like you and me will never appear again. Even if it means damning ourselves for eternity, we will do it, because it is the right thing to do."

The right thing to do?

"Even if it means betraying the trust of the people who trusted you the most? Like how you and Leader went behind the backs of your former SKIP comrades to create Mewtwo? People like Professor Oak, Agatha, and Blaine?"

"If we have to, yes. I told you, whatever it takes." Ariana sighed before looking at Silver with a motherly gaze.

"Giovanni and I weren't expecting to have a child at all, to be honest. I mean, look at our age." Ariana stated as she tenderly stroked the top of Silver's head, who is still busy chugging down the contents of the milk bottle. Silver is only a few months old right now.

"I didn't know you were pregnant. I know this is a little late, but congratulations."

"Thank you." Ariana accepted my words. "I was already pregnant when I gave you the assignment to raid the facility housing the prehistoric pokemon. I was about two months in back then. I'm surprised you didn't say anything about my figure."

"I didn't think that you were pregnant, but I thought you looked a little more…" I gestured vaguely with my free hand, not wanting to say the 'F' word that would incite the righteous fury of every woman in the world.

"Fatter?"

"... Something along that line."

"My bump was a little small even for a pregnant woman." Ariana admitted. "It's dangerous for a woman my age to be pregnant. Giovanni and I were so afraid that I might miscarry."

"But you didn't. It must be hard to live with that fear for nine whole months."

"It is, but we pulled through. Giovanni and I always pulled through." Ariana nodded her head as she said that, her eyes still on her son. "That's why you will too. If even old timers like us can do it, then you can too."

"Whatever it takes." I whispered, my thoughts wandering to many other things that had been haunting my life till now.

"Whatever it takes." Ariana said softly. "Because it is the right thing to do. Even if the entire world turned their backs on us, this is the right thing to do, so we will do it. Unlike Giovanni, I wanted to just stop right there when SKIP was disbanded, but Giovanni cannot bring himself to put everything down. I'm his wife, so I will stand by him through thick or thin, come hell or high water. I'm glad I stood by him."

I looked away. If Jane was alive now, she would probably stand by me too.

"I'm glad we continued, even if part of me just wants to put everything down and live a normal life like anybody else." Ariana carried on, not privy to my inner thoughts. "Giovanni was right. Kain never cared about Kanto, he is Kanto's darkness. If we let him be, many Kantonians will suffer. If it wasn't for Team Rocket, the situation in Kanto would have been a lot worse. Even if it means betraying the trust of our SKIP comrades and picking up from where SKIP left off, it was the right thing to do at that time. Giovanni and I, we managed to do something for Kanto and her people by doing the right thing."

"I wish I had the same mental fortitude as you and Leader."

"You already possess it, Plague." Ariana chided playfully. "I think what you need right now is the right push. Don't think too much about it and just rest. Your body's condition is still unstable."

"I just want to live long enough to see Kain fall." I told Ariana the truth. "He must go. I want to see him fall and I want the world to know him for who he really is. I will make sure that he will be remembered for his deeds."

"Is that what you had been planning in your office all this time?" Ariana asked curiously.

"Yes." I nodded and burped Silver when he finished his meal. "The doctors want me to rest my body in the past five months, but that doesn't mean my mind needs to be idle. I have a plan that might work, to expose Kain for who he truly is to the world. I should be done with it in a week or two. I will need to run you and Leader through my plan for approval though."

"Now you have me hooked to whatever grand scheme you are cooking up." Ariana said in that usual sly manner that people in Team Rocket know her for. "Knowing you and your capabilities, I think Giovanni and I are in for a big surprise."

"It's a daring move, but definitely effective if done well." I admitted. "It will shake the world. Whether Indigo remains standing after this really depends on how good Lance is in keeping everyone together."

"You sound like you have a grudge against Kain."

"You are right, Kain is Kanto's darkness. If it wasn't for him, Helen and I wouldn't have needed to live such a life." I replied as I carefully handed Silver over to Ariana. "No offense to you, but if everyone had a choice, I think nobody would willingly choose to live their lives as a fugitive."

"None taken." Ariana replied as she cradled baby Silver in her arms. "Am I privy to the exact details why you hate Kain so much? That must be something that had happened before you joined the organisation, right?"

"Maybe one day, Ariana." I replied after some thought as I put my breton cap on my head once more, preparing to take my leave. "If I'm still alive to tell the tale by then."

"You will live to see our dreams come true." Ariana's words stopped me just as I was about to leave through the door. "Giovanni and I have given you our word that Team Rocket will do something about your condition. We will see it done, no matter what it takes, because you are our friend as well."

"I'm not sure if someone like me is qualified to be anybody's friend, Ariana." I spoke as I opened the door. "I stopped trusting anyone after I killed my only friend. Humans always lie."

"Do you hate Team Rocket?" Ariana asked softly. "For making you kill Helen?"

"Yes, and no." I gave my honest reply as I stepped through the door. It's hard not to be honest when the people you thought that you had hated the most actually become one of the few people that you want to trust right now, but couldn't.

At this critical juncture, I'm still hesitating. Nothing changed. I'm still a useless coward.

What is the right thing to do? What is the greater good?

"Funnily enough, you and Leader were the ones who gave me the most care and concern even if you two are technically criminals. The people standing on the side of justice never gave me any help when I needed it the most."

"Plague-" Ariana called out, a genuine worried tone in her voice.

"Right or wrong, good or evil, none of it matters anymore. I'm the Rocket's Exterminator. It's my job to get rid of anyone standing in the way of our organisation and I will do it without fail."

I turned around to look at Ariana, baby Silver still in her arms and sleeping contently after his meal.

An innocent child that is still a baby. To protect the innocent.

This, is the greater good.

"Whatever it takes, Ariana. I give you my word as the Rocket's Exterminator that Kain will fall."

And that Silver will live.

The top secret Fuchsia hideout is hidden in plain sight.

The Fuchsia Safari Zone. That place is actually secretly controlled by Team Rocket. The Safari Zone acts like a warehouse to temporarily store all of Team Rocket's illegally gotten pokemon. Given the nature of the Safari Zone even if any visitor trespassed to the prohibited areas, nobody would find it odd to see an exotic foreign pokemon from another region frolicking around there. It is the perfect place for Team Rocket to redistribute all their illegally gotten pokemon to the rest of their Kanto hideouts unnoticed.

The hideout where Mewtwo is created is located at the northern end of the Safari Zone. The hideout itself is located in the prohibited areas of the Safari Zone and very well hidden underground. It is where I am currently posted to and staying at.

I walked down the dimly lit stairs all the way to the basement where Mewtwo is currently being created. For the past five months since I was posted here, most of my time was spent thinking. I'm still hesitating, because I have no idea what is right or wrong, good or evil anymore. I had lost all sense of direction.

Everything that I thought was the truth from the start suddenly became a big fat lie.

Avenge Jane by killing Kain, the instigator behind this whole mess, and countless may die in my quest as I help Giovanni and Team Rocket conquer Johto and eventually the world. Help Indigo, and I can prevent a war that had not happened since five centuries ago but I will have to betray the few people who had chosen to trust a criminal like me without question. People who truly treated me as their friend.

What is wrong, and what is right? Do I go to the left, where nothing is right? Or do I go to the right, where nothing is left?

I never expect myself to hesitate at this very critical juncture. I'm the Rocket's Exterminator. I'm supposed to be heartless, merciless, emotionless. My only purpose was to avenge Jane and bring down Team Rocket, nothing else.

Now, even that purpose doesn't seem right anymore when I found out that Team Rocket isn't truly evil. Nothing is right. I know long ago that not everything is black and white as it seems but that does not help me in finding an answer or coming to a decision.

What should I do? What is the right thing to do? What is the greater good?

What am I even fighting for?

My best confidant, surprisingly, is Mewtwo itself, even if it does not have a complete body yet.

However, its mind is already functioning and Mewtwo is really not what I would expect it to be. At least in front of me, he has none of the violent disposition that I remembered from my past life. He's like a curious and hyperactive child, always wondering about the littlest of things. It reminds me a little of how Nosy was when I first met it. The little nosy parker is now a big nosy parker seeing that I evolved it into a porygon-z during my time here.

I know the Mewtwo from the games is supposed to be a violent creature. This Mewtwo here has close to no violent disposition. It's still untainted, still pure. It only reacts violently when insinuations of taking away its sense of self and freedom was mentioned. Avoid that topic and you can get along with it very well.

'I see you have come to visit me again.'

'Was afraid you might be too lonely.' I replied through the telepathic link Mewtwo established within us.

According to Giovanni and the scientists here, even when they are its creators Mewtwo had never talked to them even once. That does not stop Giovanni from visiting Mewtwo regularly, persuading it to join his cause, trying to mold Mewtwo to his liking while Mewtwo is still impressionable. They know Mewtwo is 'alive', at least in mind because that is what their machines are telling them. The scan of Mewtwo's brain tells them enough to know that it already has the ability to listen, understand, learn, and make a reply.

However, it never attempted to talk to anyone so nobody could confirm if Mewtwo could indeed hear them until I came here. After learning Mewtwo's interest in me, Giovanni made it my job to help him persuade Mewtwo to join his cause. Giovanni is dead set on starting a war against Indigo and nobody can talk him out of it and for him to properly start a war, he first needs Mewtwo to be on his side. Taming Mewtwo is now Giovanni's top priority seeing that Mewtwo's physical birth is coming soon.

Right now, I am in the secret underground laboratory where Mewtwo is created. Mewtwo is in a huge cylindrical glass tank filled with some kind of translucent greenish liquid. About 95% of its body is complete. The left side of its body is still unfinished, it is still missing a hand and feet. Its eyes had never opened before, but sometimes I can spot the occasional twitching of its fingers on its right.

'Welcome back, Jayce. Have you found your answer?'

'No.' I replied as I took a seat on a nearby chair and watched Mewtwo float in the tank, attached to numerous tubes that is currently keeping it alive.

It was a big risk, but after much contemplation, I had allowed Mewtwo to read my mind when it asked for my permission during our first encounter. Mewtwo instantly knew all my secrets after that. My guess is that it was this action that earned me its trust.

Surprisingly, Mewtwo is very polite when it counts, very different from my impression of it from the games. This Mewtwo that I am talking to actually asked for permission before trying to peer into my memories. It really, really isn't what I expect it to be.

'I can sense your thoughts, you know? You must be saying something bad about me.'

'I'm thinking, not talking.'

'It's the same thing.' Mewtwo replied. 'Nobody ever allowed me to read their minds for fear that if I do, I can complete my body on my own without their help. You are different.'

'Not like that had ever stopped you from reading their minds without permission.'

'At least I asked first, and I made sure that they never knew that I had already read their minds. I can be polite, at least in appearance. See? I am capable of learning. Besides, the scientists are still trying to figure out how to complete the missing 5% of me. Blaine and Fuji didn't leave anything behind about the very last part to make me complete, arguably the most crucial step in my creation. Smart move.'

'Have you ever considered that the reason I allowed you to read my mind was that it is because a dying man doesn't really care about whether you cooperate with him or not?'

'It's funny. I want to live, and yet you want to die.'

'It's a fitting end for a liar.'

'I don't understand. Why do you seek death when you might still have a chance to live? Why? I don't understand. There are many things in this world that I still don't understand. Can you teach me, Jayce?'

'I know what you mean.' I sighed as I stroked ninetales on the head as she rested by my side. 'I don't understand too. My whole life, what's it all about? I lied and deceived many others only to be lied and deceived in return. People always say to do the right thing, but what's the right thing?'

'You are asking advice from me? I will have you know that I'm technically still a foetus.'

'If you are this sassy in the foetus stage, I woe the day you become an adult.'

'Jayce?'

'Yes?'

'I've been thinking about something lately. I could read his mind, but I prefer to hear it from you. Tell me truthfully. If I don't cooperate with Giovanni, what does he intend to do with me?'

'He never told me.' I admitted. 'But if I have to make an educated guess based on what I know about him and what I remembered from before, he would very likely have a robotic suit made for the sole purpose of restraining and controlling you should you prove to be uncontrollable. The M2 Bind, I think he mentioned it in passing during my conversations with him.'

'Ah, please let me sieve through your memories.' There was a brief pause and I felt something invading my mind in a gentle manner. 'The grey-silver thing?'

'Be more specific. Grey-silver thing describes 90% of the things in here.'

'And you wonder where I get my sass from. It's you, Jayce.'

'Don't ever end up like me.'

'Even for a foetus psychic like me, your confusion and inner turmoil is as clear to me as the presence of the sun is in the sky.'

'You're lying. Stop Lying. Lying is bad. You've never seen the sun before.' I gestured to the underground lab we are at now, the place where Mewtwo was created.

'It's a metaphor.'

'Wait, you know what metaphor is?'

'I asked Giovanni when he last visited. He was starting to annoy me when he gave me another of those speeches to recruit me for his cause, so I told him to go screw himself. He was not amused.'

'Yeah, imagine trying to talk to the pokemon you have been trying to create for the past twenty years and the first thing it tells you is to go screw himself.' I rolled my eyes. So Mewtwo finally talked to Giovanni? Interesting.

'I ended up asking what a metaphor is. You humans have such weird minds.'

'You are the weird one here.'

'I learned the phrase 'go screw yourself' from you. You want me to tell that to Giovanni?'

'Now that is blackmail.' I pointed an accusing finger at the incomplete pokemon in the tank. 'Good job, you are learning something new everyday.'

'You are the only one who allowed me to learn whatever I want instead of learning what others want me to learn.' Mewtwo replied. 'I really cannot wait for the day where I'll be born, where I can finally use my body and move around in it. I want to know everything, to learn everything, to see the truth of the world for myself. There's so much to learn.'

'Not everything outside is as pretty as it seems.'

'I know, I looked at your past. Is it wrong of me to say that I'm glad that you experienced all of that? Because if it wasn't for your past, you wouldn't be here now. If you weren't here now, I wouldn't have this pleasant conversation. Maybe I would really turn out like the violent pokemon you know of in your previous life.'

'Don't be sorry for me. The last thing I need is pity.' I replied, still stroking ninetales' head. The little lady had already drifted off to sleep while I'm having my mental conversation with Mewtwo.

'If you don't mind me asking, what does being in the sun feel like?'

'Hot, warm. It really depends on whether you love the warmth and the light. Some people don't.'

'Hot? I know the definition of the word, but I don't know how it feels.'

'It makes you sweat. It can also be painful, the blistering kind.'

'Blisters?'

'Some small bubbles on your skin. Sometimes it's caused by heat, sometimes friction. It is painful when you touch or burst it.'

'The tip of my fingers, if the scan from my psychic powers are showing me the correct mental images, are like very big bubbles. Are those blisters?'

'No, I'm sure that's just your finger pads.' I replied patiently even if Mewtwo's question sounded like a stupid question to most. 'It's definitely not blisters.'

'That's an enlightening conversation. Now I know what blisters are.'

'Trust me, it is a blessing to not know what blisters are. They hurt like a bitch.'

'What is a bitch?'

Oh fuck me.

'Fuck me? What is-'

Now he's reading my mind without permission.

'Bad word. Don't say it.'

'Should I ask Giovanni then?'

'Please don't.'

'Then is it possible for you to help me inform him to stop giving me all those 'Save Kanto' speeches? I am my own person. I will do what I think is right, not what he thinks is right.'

'You are trying to blackmail me again.'

'Is it working? I'm still trying to learn how to blackmail properly.'

'Only a little. Try harder next time.'

'I cannot wait for the day when I can finally open my eyes and see how you really look like. I should at least know what my first friend looks like.'

Like many other times before this conversation, Mewtwo abruptly changed the subject again. From my previous conversations with the psychic pokemon, I realised it has the habit of changing the topic of our conversations abruptly for no reason. It is a quirky side of it that I soon accepted after I somehow befriended it.

'I didn't know you considered me as a friend.'

'You are the only one in this entire place who treated me as my own person.'

'Own person? You are a pokemon. Your sentence is now technically incorrect.'

'I know what you look like from my own psychic scan, but I still want to see it for myself with my own eyes.'

'I think you will be disappointed. There's nothing special about me at all.'

'I still want to know what it is like to be able to see. I want to be able to move. To touch, to smell, to hear, to talk. Everything, I want to learn it all.'

'I woe the day you are able to make audible noise. You are very talkative for a psychic.'

'How would you know? Your only psychic pokemon is exeggutor.'

'He's technically more than one because he has many heads.'

'Many heads? Is that possible? I'm sure I only have one.'

'Certain species of pokemon have more than one head. Like the doduo and dodrio species.'

'Interesting. I must meet one when I'm finally freed from the tank.'

I cannot help but chuckle in amusement at the excitement I sensed in Mewtwo's thoughts. Such childish innocence for a supposedly violent pokemon.

If only it can stay that way forever.

'Mewtwo?'

'Yes, Jayce?'

'Please don't change. Never change, Mewtwo.'

'Excuse me, but I do want to change. I want my body to be complete so that I can finally be born. Ah, the annoying one is back.'

'Giovanni?'

'Yes, that's what you call him by. Does he not realise that the more pushy he is, the more I want to flip him the finger? If I could move my fingers now, I would.'

'Please do not tell him that you learnt all the vulgarities from me.'

'Like I said, I'm learning how to blackmail effectively. Dark types don't play fair.'

'You are a psychic type.'

'Psychic type in mind, dark type at heart. Giovanni and the scientists gave me my body and mind, you gave me my heart and soul.'

'Brat.'

'Technically, I'm a foetus. Your sentence is now technically incorrect.'

'Oh, using my own words against me now?'

'Was it effective? I'm still learning.'

'I was wondering where you learn the 'annoying people 101' from. Since it wasn't me, it must be Giovanni. He's the only other person to talk to you.'

'Yes, must be Giovanni. Let me tell him that too.'

'Now that's blackmail, again.'

'Was it effective?'

'I'm not talking to you anymore.'

'But then I will be lonely. I've been floating here for the past two decades.'

'Your mind's only born last month. So technically, you have only been born for a month, not two decades ago.'

'I'm trying to guilt trip you. I guess that it wasn't very effective.'

'Yeah. Try harder next time.'

"Talking to Mewtwo again, Plague?"

Giovanni's voice got me to turn around. I stood up from my chair and gave him my salute.

"Yes, Sir. Mewtwo's been talkative lately."

'You change your demeanour so swiftly that it astounds me. Can you teach me how to do that?'

"Oh?" Giovanni chuckled as he walked up to look at Mewtwo, whose body is still floating in the tank with tubes attached to it. "What's Mewtwo talking about now?"

'Technically, I'm not talking, I'm relaying my thoughts using a telepathic link. My mouth isn't moving, is it? Why is this annoying one so dumb?'

"Talking about his mouth." I informed Giovanni dutifully. "He's curious about everything."

'Not everything. I'm definitely not curious about his whole God Save the World plan. I am not just some mere experiment to be born and used by the whims of man. I am Mewtwo, I am my own being. I saw your past, Jayce. I am now certain that I don't want to be controlled like a puppet. I don't want to suffer the same fate you did. I-'

'If you want to learn to be a dark type by heart, then you need to stop being so agitated the moment something rubs you the wrong way. Learn how to control your emotions and conceal them. You are easier to exploit if you let your emotions dictate your actions. You are a psychic, let your rational mind do the thinking, not your irrational instincts.'

'Ah, I was impulsive. Thank you for the kind advice, Jayce, I will take it to heart.'

"I guess it's natural for a psychic like Mewtwo to be curious about everything." Giovanni carried on talking, not knowing about the secret telepathic conversation Mewtwo and I are having behind his back. "Is he curious about Team Rocket?"

'No.'

"Yes, Sir."

'You're lying. Stop lying. Lying is bad.'

'I have to. Do you want him to terminate your birth?'

'Even in my incomplete state, I'm not scared of him.'

"Which part of Team Rocket is he curious about?" Giovanni asked as he turned to face me, a look of genuine curiosity on his face.

"About the people here who are responsible for creating him." I lied before telling him a truth. "Mewtwo is eager to be born."

'So that I can hurry and make my great escape. Oh, oh! Do you know what I just learnt to do from reading your memories, Jayce? Let me show you. Throw it away~ Forget yesterday~ We'll make the great~ es~cape~'

What. A singing Mewtwo?

'Of all the things you have to learn when reading about my past life, this is the one that you learnt? And since when can you sing?'

'Why couldn't I sing? I'm my own pokemon. What's that song again?' Mewtwo took a brief pause before answering his own question. 'This is me. Oh-oh-ohhhh-oh.'

"Plague?" Giovanni asked in concern when he realised that my attention is on Mewtwo and not on him. "What's wrong?"

"Mewtwo's… singing." I finished lamely, not believing in what I had helped create. This is not what I'm expecting when I found myself face-to-face with the man-made legendary pokemon.

I certainly did not teach it how to sing, even if just mentally.

'I think I now know why you and Jane love music so much. I should have tried this earlier, it is fun. Hey, tell the annoying one that I will tolerate his presence if he plays some music for me right here. It's boring here because I'm Alll~ BYYYY~MYYYY~SELFFFFFF~~'

What. The. Fuck. Now that's definitely Celine Dion.

"Sir, Mewtwo says he wants to hear… some music." I tried my best not to facepalm as I reported truthfully, because Giovanni had said that he wanted to know everything that I had conversed with Mewtwo after he learnt that Mewtwo had chosen to talk to me instead of the people who helped create it. I didn't tell Giovanni the truth behind most of our conversations because of the nature of my spy mission, but I have to tell him something.

I'm currently too mindfucked to think of a convincing lie to hide the fact that Mewtwo is currently singing. So, the truth it is. You know what? I'll just let Giovanni handle Mewtwo's brand of crazy. He had a hand in creating Mewtwo after all.

"... Music?" Giovanni asked very slowly, as if wanting to make sure that he did not hear wrongly.

"Yes, Sir." I replied, hoping that Giovanni wouldn't blow his top. "Mewtwo is suddenly interested in music. It is interested in learning everything. Before you arrived it was trying to learn how to blackmail others. Music is now suddenly its current area of interest."

"When I started this project to create the ultimate pokemon, I wasn't expecting for it to be a goofy idiot." Giovanni did what I couldn't in his presence and facepalmed. "If it isn't even interested in helping Team Rocket or to defend Kanto, then as much as I hate to admit this, there's no point in having it around."

'Does he mean to terminate me? ME?!'

'Calm down. Remember what I said.'

"He's stopped singing." I immediately spoke up. "I think his mind had developed enough to know when not to fool around."

'I wasn't fooling around. I was enjoying myself.'

'Just shut up and let me handle it. Do you want to die before you are born?'

"I'll let this immaturity slide for now, considering that Mewtwo's mind had only recently been born and is technically an infant." Giovanni instructed with a serious look on his face. "The Mewtwo Project cannot be a failure. Make it clear to Mewtwo about its true purpose, about its true duty. Mewtwo is important to Team Rocket and to Kanto. Make sure it knows that."

"Yes, Sir."

'No one is my master. I'm my own pokemon. This is me. Oh-oh-'

'Stop singing. Do you want to die before you are born?!'

'It's not like he can hear me!'

Thankfully, Giovanni turned on his heels and left, presumably to visit his wife and son. I let out a sigh of relief when he disappeared out of sight through the doors of the lab.

'I wanna see you out that door~ Baby, bye, bye, bye~'

I facepalmed when Mewtwo started singing another song from my past life again.

'Mewtwo. Please.'

'I'm starting to think this is a very good way to blackmail you. Blackmail through annoyance. Was it effective?'

'Yes.' I mentally gritted out with my hands over my face at the incredulity of the situation. An overly curious Mewtwo? I can accept that. A goofy, singing Mewtwo? What the hell?!

'I almost landed myself in big trouble because of you.' I told Mewtwo in annoyance. 'Happy now?'

'Very. Because I'm happy~ Clap along if you feel- Wait, I can't clap right now. I only have one hand and three fingers. My other hand is still incomplete.'

'Look, at least act interested in what Giovanni is trying to tell you about until you are physically born.' I try to help the still innocently ignorant Mewtwo the only way I know how, because I don't want this pokemon to lead the life I led, to be controlled by another for the rest of its life. I don't want Mewtwo to be a puppet like what I was, being controlled by invisible strings and dancing in the palm of someone else with no way out.

'Why should I? I'm my own pokemon. This-'

'Say This is Me one more time and I'm out of here. I'm serious.'

Mewtwo finally dropped his goofy silly act.

'I was trying to cheer you up seeing how down you were. Maybe I need to think of a better way to go about doing it the next time.'

I blinked my eyes. Mewtwo tried to do what for me?

'There's no need to be so surprised, Jayce. Is it so weird to think that I am capable of compassion? Is it so wrong for me to show some compassion to the only human I have met thus far who tried to really understand me as who I really am, not what I am?'

'No, but right now-'

'You want me to fool Giovanni in thinking that I'm on his side until I have the ability to escape from his grasp?' Mewtwo read my mind once more. 'I know that and I appreciate the sentiment, Jayce. Problem is, why should I when I can simply kill him now with just a thought? Why should I when I can kill every single occupant here without moving a single finger?'

Wait, what? He can do what now?

'Please do not forget that I am a psychic, Jayce. I do not need to physically move to kill others. The only reason why I'm not doing that is because I still need them for my physical birth to be possible, and also because I don't feel like committing violent acts... yet. Like my progenitor, I am not a fan of senseless violence. At least, not currently. I do not know if this belief of mine will change in the future.'

'Wait.' My mind halted when Mewtwo told me that new information. 'Your psychic powers had grown enough to be capable of remotely killing anyone here?'

'Surprised? I only told you this tidbit of information because you are the only one here who is genuinely kind to me, Jayce. I told you, I am psychic in mind, dark type by heart. The little bit of wisdom I currently have, I learnt it from you. The cunning aspects of me, I learnt it from you. A lot of things that I learnt since my mind was born a month ago, I learnt it from you. The scientists may have created me in the physical sense, but it was you who gave me a soul and heart.'

'I didn't teach you how to sing.'

'You don't need to, but I still learnt how by watching your memories. Enough about me, what about you?'

'Me?'

'I'm making my great escape the moment the scientists complete my physical body, but what about you? What about your mission? Your revenge? Do you still plan to die? I think being able to live is great, even if I'm not the most qualified to give any advice since I'm currently only one month and eight days old. What I do know for certain is that I'll definitely be sad if you die.'

'I may not have a choice. You know about my body's state.'

'The side effects brought about by Mega Evolution? I wonder if I'll be able to achieve Mega Evolution?'

'It's dangerous to attempt it, so don't.'

'Just as how it is dangerous for you to be a double agent, but is it stopping you? If I have to give you a word of advice, Jayce. It may not be the best advice since I'm only one month, eight days, and 16 hours old, but it is still advice. You want to hear it?'

'You know my ears are always listening.'

'Technically, I'm speaking directly to your mind, so your ears are not need-'

'Mewtwo.'

'Fine. Someone can't take a joke, I get it.' I can somehow feel Mewtwo literally rolling his eyes even if he's not physically capable of that action right now. 'But Jayce? Just do what you want. You are your own person. You have many identities and also none at all, but you are still you. Jane gave you a name, no? She must have known how hard it is to live without a name to call your own, so she gave you an identity. She's kind.'

'She is.'

'So don't spit on her kindness. Try to live for her sake. Forget about Kain, Team Rocket, and getting revenge for all 358 operatives. Think about yourself for once.'

'If I only think about myself, Indigo will be sunk deep in war. I hate the state of the world but a war is not what I wish upon it. If war happens, many more Janes and Jayces will be born. I don't want to be the one that is responsible for creating many more people like us. If I can stop a war, I will stop it. I'm just not sure how to do it alone.'

'Then get help.'

'From who? There's no one I trust out there.'

'Do you trust me?'

'I do.' I replied immediately as my hand subconsciously went out to touch the glass tank. I would trust pokemon over humans anytime.

This Mewtwo is not the same one I remember about in my previous life. This Mewtwo is still young, still untainted, still innocent.

It also deserves a chance to live.

If I can help save it, I will, because this is the right thing to do. I don't want anybody else, human or pokemon, to be anyone's mindless tool again. For once, I want to do what I think is right, not what other people think is right.

'Then let me help you. I may not be capable of physical movement yet, but my mind is strong. My psychic powers is unrivalled. Let me into your mind and allow me to share your senses. With this, I can see what you see and hear what you hear. You will be a physical extension of me, and I will help you as you did for me.'

'Bold of you to make the claim that your psychic powers are unrivalled.'

'Bold of you to trust me with your mind, and you do so anyway.'

'I have nothing else to lose.'

'You are wrong. Look beside you.'

I turned my head, spotting ninetales looking up at me.

'They are with you too, so don't say that you have nothing else to lose.'

'Fair point.' I let ninetales nuzzle my hand when she does so to comfort me. Never thought that I would be reprimanded by a one month old pokemon.

It's like my years of living had been wasted.

I felt another presence in my mind taking residence in it. Mewtwo must have established a psychic link between us, one stronger than just a mental telepathic connection.

'Now, as per what I had just read in your mind, I suggest that we start to work in bringing this entire show to a close, shall we? It's what you had been planning to do anyway. First of all, let us make haste and find a way to leave this place without raising any suspicion. Quick, let's go! Onwards to the surface!'

I rolled my eyes at the last sentence. Mewtwo is still not capable of spinning a good enough lie to fool me.

'You just want to use me as a medium to help you experience what it is like to see, hear, smell, taste, and touch the things outside. Don't think I didn't realise that.'

'Darn, I got found out. I still need to learn.'

'That you do. Try harder next time.'

Name: Jayce

Official Identity: Jacob Myers

Indigo Government Identity: Operative 2046, Code Name: Gengar

Indigo Government Rank: Special Agent

Team Rocket Identity: Executive Plague

Team Rocket Rank: Executive

Pokemon Team:

1. Ninetales, female

2. Exeggutor, male

3. Weavile, male

4. Honchkrow, female

5. Gengar, female

6. Houndoom, male

7. Umbreon, male

8. Hydreigon, male

9. Drapion, female

10. Zoroark, male

11. Bisharp, male

12. Shiftry, male

13. Porygon-Z, (Nosy), genderless