Mewtwo's Lair

[Namohysip]

A curious underground bunker nestled itself in a place more humid than Frontier Town's traditional landscape. The walls were made of something akin to concrete, or maybe it was grayed clay. The light fixtures were dim but functional Luminous Orbs with strange wires connected to the surface. The underground lair was a modest few hallways long with offshoots and at least ten different rooms, each one with its mysterious purpose.

There was a kitchen, a bathroom, and even a room that was just for Mew, filled with gadgets and doodads and picture books. In another room was a much tidier, locked room that smelled of papers and radiated the boring aura of accounting and bookkeeping. Next to Mew's room, another room that was lined with regal attire and larger decorations that looked like it had been fashioned from nests to become more... modern. Wood stuffed with grasses to form peculiarly humanlike furniture. A desk with some feathers, papers, stamps, and an inkwell...

Just who lived here?

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[Namohysip]

After a while, being in a Poke Ball made it hard to feel the passage of time. Had it been a few minutes? A few hours? Sleepy wobbling as Mew flew--and Teleported--through the air was their whole world for all of some time. Rocking gently in the breeze, perhaps they could have been content with that existence for a little longer.

But the ride eventually came to an end. Mew took out each ball and tossed them in the air, the jostling enough to send everyone out on another natural reflex. Mew threw their little homes with odd precision.

They all emerged in what was most definitely an underground bunker. Based on the echoes, it didn't *sound* large, but where they were presently standing, it was not clear which way was out... or if there WAS a way out. Mew could Teleport, right? For all they knew, the only connection this place had to the outside world was through a vent or two...

Mew floated in place patiently, giving the team some time to gather their bearings.

Mhynt was unconscious on the ground. She'd dozed off entirely during the flight, curled up with her green tail against her nose.

 

[Ambyssin]

Nova, too, had nodded off during the journey. Despite the emptiness, he still had a vague sense of Mew's movement and it had initially lulled him to sleep. But when cold ground grazed his fur and scales, it was enough to jolt him awake. Nova was on his feet in a second, surveying the area. Underground if he had to guess, but not necessarily damp or musty. So, decently well insulated. A bunker of some sort, then? Why would someone need a bunker in a world like Forlas?

A question for later. Nova arced his back. Several vertebrae popped satisfyingly. Then he stretched his right foreleg and left hind leg. Nova noticed the sleeping treecko. "Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty," he muttered. "We're here."

 

[Tetra]

Koa found himself far too excited to sleep, or even relax, although he was delighted to find just how comfortable the pokeball was.

Mostly he occupied himself enjoying the ride and testing just how good his senses were, seeing if he could mentally map anything (until the second teleport, then he gave up), then switched to musing on Mew and wondering how pokeballs worked.

By the time they arrived and he was released, he was almost wishing that the ride wouldn't end, but he was also far too curious about their destination.

Koa gazed around the room, both in awe and confused. It felt surprisingly... Advanced compared to what he was used to seeing around Frontier Town. What was this place?

Reflexively, he sniffed the air as he watched Mew expectantly, wondering if he would explain, or if there was someone else here, maybe the mysterious person behind the bulletin board?

 

[Namohysip]

Koa's senses allowed him to determine a few things easily. First, that Mew's scent was all over the place. He flew around these halls often. Very much the scent of someone's living abode. Unless Mew was very thorough about this kind of deception, Mew had brought them right to his home base.

The second was that not everything was Mew's scent. There was another scent in the air... and it felt fresh and active. Someone... was already in the area with them. No doubt, the 'true mastermind' of the Board.

As Mhynt groaned and stirred, opening one eye, she said, "Oh, we're here...? It's so late..."

But her relaxation slowly hardened into a primal, mild tension. Like her instincts were rumbling for her to be wary. At first, she ignored it--she was always paranoid in new places--but this time felt... stronger.

In fact, everyone could feel that... tension in the air. The idea that not only were they being watched...

But that they were being watched by someone, or something, very, very powerful.

 

[Ambyssin]

Nova was used to this idea. Of someone in a high position watching. Even if he didn't want it. Such was the nature of being mechanical. All his files and data logs available for viewing when the need presented itself.

The last thing to do was to let it get to him. Nova's mask was bothersome enough. So, he sat on his haunches and scanned the room. Quiet. Contemplative. But he couldn't show any apprehension. If this individual wanted to show themselves, they would.

 

[Phoenixsong]

It was so, so tempting to just curl up and take a nap—or just feel like curling up? was there anything left of her to even, uh, curl?—but that exact question and approximately ninety-six others were overriding that temptation pretty thoroughly. What exactly did you do to let yourself in and out? What was this made of, for the inside to function like... whatever this was? How different was it from the poké balls she knew? Leaf tried to remember what the teacher in her journey prep classes had explained about them, but there was probably no point in trying to compare, was there. Also she couldn't actually remember anyway, whatever, too bad.

She'd thought it would be easier to keep track of where they'd traveled; not sure whether that was because Mew was running some kinda teleport-serpentine or also just different from how these were supposed to work back home. By the time Mew let them out (did he let them out, or did she think it herself? damn, blink and you miss the answer to question sixty-four, she guessed) all she could tell was that it was... late? Felt like it, at least. Not like they could tell by looking at the sky, on account of there wasn't any.

Mew seemed relaxed enough, anyway, for being in a place made of concrete or rocks or whatever. She wished she could say the same, but the calm, soothing feeling of the poké ball had been entirely replaced with something heavy, something electric, something everywhere, something strong.

"Hello, anybody there?" she asked, one hundred percent pointlessly, of course, but it only seemed polite to announce themselves. "Mew brought us here to meet you. Dunno if he told you, but there's something we were hoping you could help with." Multiple things, actually, maybe, dunno, ninety-six of 'em, but hopefully she'd be able to restrain herself to asking about just one at a time.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Jade took a moment to get acclimated to suddenly being in a physical space once more. The Pokéball was--well, it was how it'd been described by everyone who'd been in one back home, but that didn't really prepare you for actually experiencing it firsthand. The hazy, weird perception, senses that weren't quite senses, the way the outside world was more felt than seen or heard. Maybe with practice, she could've honed her perception to make out certain details, but as it was, her mind was adrift in a lazy, foggy daze the whole time, until it was over in what felt like no time at all.

But now the group was here. And she wasn't entirely sure what she'd been expecting, but this living space sure did seem like someone recreating comforts from the human world...

That lingering pressure in the air, though... that was unnerving, and hard to ignore. Seemed like the others could feel it too.

"So, um. You were going to introduce us...?" she asked hesitantly, glancing at Mew to double check that he wasn't alarmed or anything.

 

[Namohysip]

Mew floated around, staring expectantly at the ceiling.

Something crackled in one of the sides of the wall. At the upper corner appeared to be... a speaker of some kind? Rudimentary and not very advanced compared to what the humans would be familiar with,. But still, an attempt.

And from that speaker came an unfamiliar voice. Yet, something about the cadence of it... That cold, distant, yet curious tone...

"Hmm. How interesting... You brought a number of guests with you. You must be those... newcomers."

"Why are you speaking to us in this way? Where are you?" Mhynt said.

"I was told that a... Nova wanted to see me. Who are all of you?"

 

[Ambyssin]

Nova stood up. Gears were turning in his head. Whoever this was already knew the others were newcomers, too. No point in saying much about that, then. At the very least, he could come up with an excuse for 'em while they at least waffled on whether or not to introduce themselves. One that was actually true for most of them, to boot.

"They were with me during the fight," Nova said. "The one where the helmet was holding me back. Tried to tell 'em I was looking into this myself. But, well, stubborn types, y'know?" He jerked his head at Gladion. "And this one's got much the same dilemma."

After a pause, Nova decided to add on a quick, "Two birds with one stone. Pragmatism and all." He thought he might be able to glean something if this person reacted to that or not.

 

[Tetra]

So someone in Forlas had technology... Another human? Maybe a scientist? Koa considered a moment before adding, "We're... Allies."

He glanced at the others, wondering how much they should say. Presumably Mew might have told this... entity about them. Perhaps honesty was a good policy. "And we're hoping to learn a little more about the world as well." Hopefully the fact that Mew had trusted them enough to bring them here would count for something to this person.

 

[Namohysip]

"Two birds," repeated the voice, followed by another crackle of a hum. Mew was apparently bored enough that he was now twirling upside-down to chase after his tail.

"I find it interesting that you brought so many. Out of caution? After your recent escapades, I can see why. But are you aware of an old saying? Three may keep a secret... so long as two are dead."

 

[Tetra]

Koa tensed and glanced between the speaker and Mew. Mew had promised they'd come back, hadn't he? Mhynt said she trusted Mew was telling the truth. Was this a test or... The thought that this was all some grand deception and they'd just get eliminated in some mysterious bunker with no one knowing was infuriating. It would mean Mew had either tricked them, or was being used.

His fur bristled unconsciously and he narrowed his eyes. "If you kill us that means either Mew tricked us or you're just using him," he said tersely. He did his best to speak as neutrally as he could. "Mew trusts you, so I hope you're not going to take advantage of him..."

Surely that couldn't be, right? Whoever was here seemed to actually care about Mew.

 

[Phoenixsong]

Leaf had been busy trying to figure out what the heavy blanket of tension reminded her of. Her mind kept flashing back to the old power plant, the feeling of electricity in the air even after they'd come in out of the storm, the way they'd all known that there was something huge and powerful searching around just out of sight.

Didn't seem like there was gonna be anything to see at all here anytime soon, though. They'd already explained their main reason for coming here, and this guy was still preferring to hide behind their scratchy old intercom and talk in circles and now make extremely cliché threats for bonus fun, okay, cool. Well, either way they were gonna have to show themselves at some point, right?

"Yeah, people say that in movies or whatever, sure. Option B: the people who know the secret could just... not? Say it?? You know how many people we could've told about Mew but didn't, right? If it'll take us not talking about this place to get rid of these stupid helmets then fine, that's what it takes." (Technically they'd told Gladion and Koa, fine, but it wasn't fair to fix Nova and not the former, and of course the latter had been concerned after seeing what happened to Nova in the ravine. No one who hadn't needed the info right away was here, and that was what mattered.)

She shook herself a little to try and throw off the budding annoyance. What even else did they want? "Of course there's a group of us here. Yes, a lot of dangerous stuff is happening, and also yes, Nova and Gladion need help and we would all like them to actually be comfortable, which Mew told us you could help with by the way, and also yes, I dunno if you noticed but these poké balls—" she gestured toward Mew as he made himself dizzy or whatever he was doing "—aren't really a thing around here normally? You already know we're 'newcomers' and what we've been doing around town; you're probably smart enough to figure out we might be kind of curious about those, yeah?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Hmhmhm..." The intercom laughed at Leaf. It was a cruel laugh at its core, but had hints of levity behind it. "You remind me of someone I know. But I'm not too concerned... so long as you don't speak so much every time you're annoyed. Tell me. Did you come here with no plan?"

"We had collateral," Mhynt said. "Electrike already referred to it. If we go missing, you'll have more trouble on your hands... and your Board scheme will be disrupted. It would not be in your interest to do away with us, in the worst case."

"Ahh. So you did plan this out. Impressive."

A brief silence. Mew stopped spinning to look at the ceiling.

"Very well. Wait a moment. I will speak to you in person shortly. Partner, why don't you send your Board exchange to the supplies for now?"

There was a popping noise and the intercom went silent. Mew bobbed his body in the air and flew down the hall with his bag of supplies, leaving the team alone. Their Poke Balls were left behind for them to hold.

And suddenly, that intense, suffocating feeling redoubled. They could feel where that power was coming from, now.

And it was just in the room to the right, two doors down.

Mhynt took a nervous step back. "This... this Psychic power..."

What would they do?

 

[Chibi Pika]

Jade let out a breath once the speaker went quiet. Everything about that voice set her on edge, and that was to say nothing of the uncomfortable familiarity that she couldn’t quite place.

Mew was working with this person…? Just from the vibes, they seemed like total opposites.

And then the psychic pressure returned and her fur stood on end. Second door to the right…

Jade glanced between the others. “Well… we should probably get this over with.”

 

[Phoenixsong]

Leaf's tail swished irritably. Leave something unsaid, you don't know what you're talking about. Tell them exactly what they wanted to hear when they were the one being coy, you talk too much. Fun. "If you don't want answers then don't ask the questions," she muttered. And don't be annoying if you don't want annoyed answers, she would've added, but whether or not their threats were empty they might still get mad and not help if she "annoyed" them too much. And also because as soon as the intercom sputtered out, the pressure doubled down.

Okay, no, this was definitely a different kind of intense than the zapdos had been. Still familiar, ish, but...? Definitely not the same as that. The pricking at the tip of her horn threatening to work its way down and turn into a full-on headache was also new. But still. The wise guy was apparently willing to talk, maybe even a straightforward talk if they were lucky. No way the budding headache was worse than having to live with a cage-slash-brainwashing-device strapped to your head, and the important thing was that those had to go.

She shook her head again to clear it and pushed through the wave of pressure toward the door.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Gladion felt an insipid dread begin burning at his core. This situation was beginning to reek of Coven dangerously quickly. He could imagine Mew having access to ball tech, but combined with the decor, and the PA system…

He was beginning to feel incredibly unsafe.

Mew seemed fine— almost indifferent to what was happening, but it was hard not to parse that particular saying as at least partially threatening.

He wished he could retreat, stop what was happening, escape, undo the decisions that lead him here…

Especially after Leaf volunteered his name. He wasn’t sure what the odds were it would carry weight with whoever was behind this place, but he couldn’t help but feel that if it did, that probably wouldn’t be for the better.

He felt like he should be doing something, but he was stuck, he has no chance of fighting, he didn’t know what he could possibly say, and if he did, he doubted he’d be able to vocalize it.

 

[Ambyssin]

The response. And then the further comments to the others. Nova did his best to stay neutral. Psychic power needed a rise. He wouldn’t give it.

“Leaf,” Nova whispered. “Where, exactly, are you from? Like your original world.”

 

[Namohysip]

But before Leaf could answer, the powerful aura relocated in an instant, just as Leaf was about to push open the door. Now, it was behind them. Had there even been a sound when he Teleported? Or...?

"Hmhmhm..."

And when they turned around, they saw... something that was not supposed to exist. Something that, plainly, was far beyond what was supposed to "be" in Forlas. A derivation, a mutation, of the great ancestor, standing much taller and with a much more intense stare.

Mewtwo.

Over his back was a cleaned and pressed black suit. Distinguishing, but something that did not get in the way of battle, it seemed. His tail curled behind him, flicking once with perfect dexterity. His gaze focused on Nova first, studying him.

"You're very impressive," Mewtwo said, bringing a knuckle below his chin in thought. Appraising Nova. "You don't allow yourself to show fear, apprehension. You only watch and observe. You give nothing away. Despite your discomfort... you are already hardened by strife."

Mew flew through the hall again and landed on top of Mewtwo's head, sitting between his ears. His tail tickled Mewtwo's cheek, but he either ignored it or didn't notice it.

Mhynt was frozen in her place. The sheer power she could detect from this Mewtwo's aura was overwhelming. Her instincts were telling her to run, but there was nowhere to run. But then, looking at Mew, she realized that he was displaying no fear at all. Was she misunderstanding her own instincts? Or... was it merely forbidding her from attacking? Was he so strong that Mhynt's very aura could not muster the strength to defy it?

She took a steadied breath. Externally, she displayed no fear. No emotion. But her little heart was pounding. If she spoke, her voice might tremble; she needed a moment to steel herself and shove that fear aside.

"Excuse me," Mewtwo said with a shrug. "Where are my manners? Guests in my home, and we have completely skipped introductions.

"My name is Mewtwo. This is, of course, Mew, my partner... and, I suppose, my teacher."

Mew nodded sagely, arms crossed.