In Progress Operation Main Frame

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Chapter 1 → Team X

The castle, illuminated by the full moon, would have seemed empty, perhaps desolate, to a passer by on a night like this. It stood at the brink of Mandarin Island, and towered over everything, casting shadows among buildings and trees. An observant passer by would have noticed a light through one of the windows on the ground floor, not yellow or white, but green; generated by a stain window featuring an Arbok and a lime-coloured background. An intimidating structure, for someone walking past at this time of night.

A woman walked towards the stone building, she was dressed in black from head to toe and barely visible in the darkness, the only thing that gave her away was her high heels, which seemed to enjoy making as much noise as possible when they hit the wet ground. The woman reached the thick, steel double doors and knocked.

A young, teenaged boy opened the door by about three centimetres; “Name?” He enquired innocently.

“Yosami, we both know who I am, let me in; it’s freezing out here!” The black-haired lady attempted to push the door open, but the Egyptian would not allow her to do so.

“Name and password please,” Yosami ordered politely.

The small woman sighed; “Vesper Garadex. Only through the key can we obtain full power. Now can you please let me in?”

Yosami let Vesper pass him, her face touched his black hair lightly and he picked up the scent of roses. He leaned over to the door and closed it over, with a slight frown on his face, something was troubling him; so far, only three people excluding himself had arrived. That left four people and one host , seeing as they hadn’t shown up. Yosami shook his head, adjusted his white jumper and followed Vesper.

Vesper walked into the castle’s most famous room. Why was it famous? Possibly because it was the room that hosted the unique stain glass window, or maybe because of what was in the room; a large oval table, measuring twenty five meters in length and ten in width, or perhaps it was the Quartzite that was built into the centre of the table that made it so well known, Vesper didn’t care, really.

Still, she had to smirk at the fact that Giovanni still thought he had to impress his eight colleagues, the seductive woman wasn’t in the mood to awe over a table that he had probably spent so much money on, no, she was only hear so she could hear about phase three… The problem was, she couldn’t, seeing as Giovanni hadn’t arrived yet.

She eyed the table; only Yosami, Cornelius and Septimus were sitting at it. Vesper took the chair nearest to her and sat down. She inspected the three boys opposite her; there was Yosami, Egyptian and feared everywhere because of what he had achieved within the Pokemon drugs world. Septimus, an intelligent and quirky boy who wasn’t scared of telling people the truth. He was responsible for the killing of Erika, the old Gym Leader of Celadon City. Vesper frowned when she saw Cornelius, she didn’t know why he was here and was rather discomforted by his zombie like appearance, with his green, curly hair that just managed to hang over his lifeless eyes, but the way his face was both sullen and empty was the thing that disturbed Vesper. One could have thought he was dead, if it wasn’t for his annoying habit of tapping the table every two seconds with a ghostly hand. Vesper scowled at him and looked around the room; a few oil paintings of different types of fruit hung on the wall. Vesper began to feel cold, she shivered and said the words the other three boys were thinking; “where is everybody?”

Five people, teenagers and adults, burst into the room one after the other, the last being a man dressed up in a red and white tuxedo. The four that entered with him walked to the table and sat down. One coughed as he waited for the man to speak.

“Impatience will get you no respect from me, Ptomely.” Giovanni told the boy who had coughed. The past Team Rocket leader surveyed the table from where he was standing. A lot of you have been wondering when Phase Three begins, it began a few hours ago.” The black-haired man waited for his words to have effect before he took out a Poke ball that was coloured gold at the top and silver at the bottom. “Does anyone know what this is?” Silence replied. “I’ll take that as a no.” He smirked at the blank faces and turned to a turquoise-haired man. “Cyrus, would you mind bringing Professor Oak in here?”

Vesper watched the man wearing a silver suit walk out of the room. Giovanni began to hum and throw the oddly coloured Poke ball from hand to hand, this irritated Vesper, but she didn’t bother telling him to stop. A few minutes later Cyrus re-entered the room with an elderly man.

Giovanni looked at the broken Professor, Oak was a state; his usually well kept grey hair was stained with red, his trademark white jacket was torn and his face was scarred and cut. Giovanni nodded to Oak. “Professor! So good you could make it! Please, sit down.” Giovanni gestured to an empty chair at the top of the table. Oak didn’t move. Giovanni laughed darkly before saying; “All of us within this room have guns and Pokemon, except for you, and I would really hate to have to make you sit down, but I will if I have to.”

Oak glared suspiciously at the man through tired eyes. “Why?”

“Sit down on the chair if you value your life,” Giovanni replied. Oak sighed and obeyed Giovanni. “Tie him up,” the man told Cyrus, pointing to some rope that he had placed on the floor a few hours before the meeting began. Cyrus scowled but did what Giovanni asked. Oak didn’t bother struggling; he knew he wouldn’t be able to escape. Once Cyrus was done he nodded to Giovanni curtly before walking back to his seat. Giovanni circled around Oak a few times before producing the gold and silver ball to Oak’s vision.

Oak’s face went just a tad whiter as he began to shake in anger and fear. “How did you get that?”

Giovanni ignored the question. “Can you believe that only you and I know what this is, out of all these wonderful people with us today? I asked them what it was, and not one could answer. I find that appalling. Tell them what it is, if you want to live, I would advise you to do as I say.”

Oak held his head high and looked upon those holding him captive. “That Poke ball is known as the GS Ball, it, that is to say… It never opened. My colleague spent her whole life trying to figure out how to work it. “It’s my guess some sort of Legendary Pokemon is inside it…” His voice trailed off and he turned to Giovanni. “If you have the ball… Where’s Ivy?”

Giovanni shrugged, “she fought with us, and she was disposed of.” Giovanni dismissed the distraught Professor and turned to address the crowd. “This ball is the GS Ball. It was built long ago by the Legendary Pokemon Mew and Arceus… The reason being that the apocalypse had begun, Mew and Arceus were about to die along with the rest of the world, so Mew sacrificed itself to create a revolutionary Poke Ball, one that could not be opened. You see, Arceus and Mew knew that if Arceus were to die, the whole Pokemon population would die, for they need Arceus for the balance, because Arceus is the balance. Arceus sealed itself within the ball in the hope that it would be able to survive the apocalypse. Arceus survived, and the world started again. How did Arceus get out the GS Ball? Because of Darkrai and Giratina, the two teamed up and brought the Poke ball down to the Underworld, where they bargained with Arceus… They would free Arceus so long as Arceus gave the two his soul. The God agreed, and nobody knows how they did it, but they released Arceus. I’m sure you all know that there is no Poke ball that can catch a Legendary, except for the GS Ball, so, of course, I acquired it.”

Ceceily stood up. “That’s all very well, but without the key nothing will work. Where’s the key?”

“It is in Johto, and it still has no clue as to what we are planning,” Giovanni revolved on the spot to face Oak, he held out the GS Ball in front of him. “You know, Oak, there is a Pokemon inside of this ball, it’s a Legendary, and it goes by the name of Moltres.”

Talk erupted throughout the room, the only people that didn’t open their mouths were Oak, Giovanni and Cyrus. The professor smirked in a bittersweet way. “You don’t get it, do you? Articuno and Zapdos will come, and if they fail, Lugia and Ho-oh will follow. This isn’t a game, Giovanni… By corrupting the balance you have doomed yourself. As you said, the GS Ball can capture any Pokemon, but we both know it’s only one Pokemon to a Poke ball. So good luck, trying to survive under the wrath of the Legendaries.

Ceceily laughed and spat on the ground. “Who said anything about one GS Ball? No, Oak, we’ve cloned one Poke ball for each Legendary.”

Giovanni sighed and reached into one of his pockets. “Sadly for you, Oak, you are your antics are annoying me. You have given us all the information we need, and I thank you for that. Goodbye, Professor.”

As Giovanni took out his gun, he saw a flash of blue and Oak disappeared from view. He closed his eyes and opened them again to see he was aiming his gun at Oak’s head. The frail Professor nodded, smiling. Giovanni shivered, something was not right. He ignored the feeling and clenched his small, black handgun. Giovanni’s eyes met Oak’s, there was no longer sorrow in the man’s eyes, it seemed to have been replaced by amusement. Giovanni pulled the trigger.

The small, spinning piece of black lead burst through Oak’s temple, shattering all bones in its way so it could sink into the Professor’s brain. Oak’s body went limp. Giovanni turned away from the corpse. “Remove him.” He said to Cornelius.

Cornelius set to work and began to untie the dead man. When he accomplished this he dragged the body out of the room and re-entered without it. He sat down and waited for the next person to speak.

“You caught Moltres… How?” Vesper took the limelight.

Cyrus stood up from where he was sitting. “A couple of hours ago Giovanni rang me. He told me to meet him at Flame Island – where the Legendary Pokemon known as Moltres supposedly resided – as soon as possible. He gave me no reason as to why he wanted me to meet him, but that just intrigued me, and, as they say, curiosity killed the cat. I arrived there just under half an hour from the time of his call. He was already there, we met and he told me his plan. The ambitious man wanted to capture Moltres, but surely it was impossible.”

“I showed Cyrus the GS Ball, but I didn’t have time to explain the concept of it to him.” Giovanni took up the role of narrator. “But even with the GS Ball, I still needed the Fire Orb for Moltres to appear to me, so I guess it’s a good thing Lawrence the Third kindly gave it to me.” Giovanni smirked and bowed as a sign to tell Cyrus to continue.

“We reached the top after a fairly long climb. Giovanni shouted to thin air that if Moltres appeared to us we would give it back its Flame Orb. For a few minutes there was no sound except for the blustering wind. Then I heard a shriek from above, I looked up to see a Phoenix hurtling at us from the clouds at breakneck speed. Moltres glided over and landed in front of us. Its magnificence was clear, and the two of us were awed by it. It cocked it’s head to a stone tablet a few years away from us; apparently he wanted us to put the Flame Orb down on it, I guess we’ll never know because it was at that moment that Giovanni threw the GS Ball. It sucked the bird of fire in, landed on the ground and didn’t roll once.” Cyrus sat down.

The seven listeners began to clap. Giovanni was about to say something when the stain glass window shattered in front of him, a blue beam exploded throughout the room. Giovanni quickly realised it was ice and he smirked. The balance was broken and Articuno wanted to fix it. The man quickly walked out of the room, the rest could follow.

 

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Chapter Two → Lack Of Evidence

Muir Crandall had always been a distrustful person, so when a certain blue-haired boy that had been missing and presumed dead for six months appeared at her front door, she wasn’t sure if she was hallucinating or if it was some horrible hoax created by her sick, twisted little friends. She rubbed her eyes and examined the boy she had thought to be deceased. Noah Fowl was more or less the same as he always was. His turquoise hair fell past his forehead, and his grey eyes still had the glint Muir remembered so clearly. He was more muscular than he had been, Muir blushed to herself when she realised she had paid attention to that. Under closer inspection, however, the girl saw a few cuts on the parts of his arms that weren’t hidden by a white designer polo-shirt. She caught a glimpse of a jagged red mark running across his cheek, but it was faint. That made Muir think that he had received it a while ago.

In the thirty seconds it took Muir to note what changes Noah had made in the last six months, Noah had done the same. Her hair was blonde instead of the black he remembered, and there were streaks of hot pink running through the tips of her shoulder-length hair. Her bright blue eyes were as intriguing and attractive as ever, and her skin was still that same ivory colour he remembered. Noah frowned to himself as he realised he was now half a head taller than her, as he had always recalled Muir as someone who was bigger than himself. Noah laughed to himself silently as he figured that he must have had a growth spurt without realising it.

Noah scratched his head and caught her eye after about a minute of silence. “So,” he said, stretching his hand so that he could lean against the wall. “Am I going to stand here all day, or are you going to allow me to enter the premises yet?”

Muir raised her eyebrows and decided to outsmart him. “Actually, Noah, the moment you walked past my gate, you walked onto my premises, and seeing as I didn’t give you permission to do such a thing, you’re trespassing.”

“That would be true if it was you who rightfully held the deed to your house, of course,” Noah grinned. “But, you know, you don’t. It’s your parents that do, and, therefore, you can’t boss me around.” He didn’t bother letting her reply and cut her off as soon as she opened her mouth. “Are you going to let me in, or have I wasted my time coming here?” He broke eye contact with her and looked at his watch. “‘Cause, you know, it is three o’ clock already, and everybody is coming at ten past…”

Muir’s eyes narrowed, “And who is everybody, may I ask?”

“Why, only Quintinus, Nicole, Professor Oak, you and I.” Noah mumbled as he took out a Pokè Ball and started throwing it from hand to hand. “It’s important,” he added, catching her angry stare. “Oak wants us to do something for him. No, I don’t know what, so don’t bother asking.” He raised his arms in a defensive position. “So, in conclusion, are you going to let me into your household, or will I have to knock you out and tie you up in order to enter your parents’ premises?”

“Are you going to tell me where you’ve been for the past six months?” Muir grinned, enjoying the fact that she was frustrating Noah. “I mean, I completely forgot that you had disappeared, and we all want to know where you were and what you were up to. Well, I do anyways.”

“If you let me in, I’ll tell you,” Noah replied.

Muir nodded more to herself than to Noah and opened the door wide enough to let Noah pass. He walked briskly past her just in case she decided to change her mind at the last second, which Muir was prone to do, from what he remembered.

“Into the living room there.”

She pointed at a small room that contained a sleek, brown table and two cream-coloured sofas. She allowed Noah to lead the way, and when they got to the room she gestured for him to sit down.

When he sat down, she threw herself onto his lap and said, “So, what exactly were you doing for the past six months?”

The boy frowned as he tried to figure out how he could realistically lie to her. As he opened his mouth to utter some syllables, the doorbell rang throughout the house.

“Doorbell,” he said quickly.

The blonde-haired girl jumped off him and walked to the light red door. She turned the latch and greeted the three people on the doorstep.

“Nicole, Quint, Professor, glad you could all make it!” She smiled and tried to hide the fact that she was grinding her teeth in annoyance. “Come on in!” She raised a hand and flicked it in the direction of the sitting room.

Before her guests could step across the threshold, she swiftly turned and led the way into the sitting room, where she sat down beside Noah. Elm walked into the room but didn’t sit down. Instead, he walked over to the corner and rummaged through his white shirt’s pockets.

A brunette walked in after the brown-haired man and squealed. “Noah!” Before she bounded up to the boy and hugged him. After a few moments of this, Noah pushed her off of him, and she sat down opposite Muir and himself, while Quintinus entered the room. He acknowledged Noah with a nod and sat down beside Nicole. It was quite apparent that they all wanted to talk to each other, but they didn’t out of respect for the fact that Professor Elm was in the room and wanted to make a speech or something, Muir had guessed.

Elm took his hands out of his pockets and spoke in his unique, squeaky voice. “Well, I would just like to thank you all for coming here. This was rather short notice, I’ll admit.”

Quint yawned. “In all fairness, Professor, waking me up at half past eight in the morning and not telling me the reason is worth a bit more than an apology.”

Elm ignored the comment and continued on. “Some of you may have heard that last week, on January sixth, Professor Oak of Pallet Town was reported missing. I have received word from a colleague of mine, Ivy, that Oak is being held against his will in the Orange Islands. I’ve lost all contact with Ivy, and I fear that she has been taken as well.”

“Wait.” Muir smiled, shaking her head. “You get information from some random person, Ivy, and you just believe her like that.”

“Yes.” Elm’s expression of seriousness on his face didn’t change. “Ivy would never say something like that unless she had strong evidence to back it up, which is why I didn’t ask her how she acquired this knowledge, and went straight on to call the Elite Four about the revelation.” He began to pace the room. “Ivy claimed that Oak was being held somewhere in the Orange Islands, and shortly afterwards she disappeared as well. I’m taking that as a hint; they’re probably both in the Orange Islands.” He stopped and looked at each child in turn. He closed his eyes. “The Elite Four are too busy right now to listen to a crazy Pokèmon professor who doesn’t have any evidence, so I am going to send you four there temporarily. Trust me, I don’t want you to go there, I don’t know who abducted Ivy and Oak, but they’re probably dangerous.”

“So, you want us to go to the Orange Islands because your friend told you, with little or no evidence to back the claim up, that Oak was being held hostage there?” Noah asked.

“Precisely,” Elm replied. “It might be nothing, and if it is nothing, then you guys get some fun in the sun for a week or two, however long it takes me to convince the Elite Four to send out some people in order to figure out whether this is a hoax or not. I just need you four to look for suspicious signs and report it back to me via your mobile phones. I could get you a hand-made walkie-talkie if you’d prefer that.”

Noah looked around at the faces that were his best friends six months ago. “I don’t know about them, but I’ll go.”

The others nodded and muttered their agreement. Elm clapped his hands together.

“Excellent!” He exclaimed. “Drop by my laboratory in a few hours, and I’ll give you your equipment.”

And, so saying, he walked out of the room and left the building.

Muir grabbed Noah’s arm as he tried to get off the couch so he could leave.

“Oh no,” she smiled. “You still have to tell us where you were for the last six months!”

 

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Chapter Three → Mind Games

It was never easy for the being in question to describe its state of mind. Who would it be describing it to, anyways? No one in particular. After all, only the being was on this plane of thought. It knew that it used to be somebody or something before it was trapped in the limbo that it currently resides in. Well, not a limbo, but some sort of time distortion, from what it could tell. There was no day nor night where the being was being held. There was no rooms or buildings either. No people or emotions. Just the darkness and itself. As far as the being could tell, this limbo stretched on for eternity, going onto nothing, going onto everything. It had thought of walking away from the place it was being held, but it decided that it was safe where it was. Who knows what could happen three of four steps down long and winding road?

Tell me, Mewtwo, what is it like knowing you are the key? A voice, a sound, echoed throughout the being’s head, so to say, the blackness. It felt, or saw, something blacker within the black, ever moving, not going near it, just watching. What was this? The being had never been contacted by anything as far as it could remember. Why was the chain being broken now? What was so special about this day, that made it stand out from all the others, the day that someone or something spoke to the lonesome being?

The being stared into the blackness, hoping to find, see and hear the voice a second time. No one has called me Mewtwo in a very long time. The clone replied. Mewtwo didn’t speak, its mind uttered syllables. Up until now the experiment had always thought that it was being held somewhere against its will, but when it looked down, it could not see its arms, its three digits that were meant to be fingers or its body. It seemed to Mewtwo that he wasn’t there at all. Mewtwo stopped wondering about where it was and concentrated on the voice or, rather, what was the voice and why wasn’t it replying to the clone?

Can you remember anything, Mewtwo? Anything about the past, or are you just an empty shell, nothing but a shadow of your former self? The voice was beginning to unnerve Mewtwo. Its questions were too fast. Mewtwo stared at the black space in front of him, hoping something would appear or materialise to provide answers. What was going on? The clone seemed to be out of its mind.

I remember… Some things. Mewtwo replied uncertainly. The Pokèmon wasn’t sure as to how it managed to reply without a body to make sound but it did and the sound rang throughout the blackness. Other things… Should be left forgotten. I am not an empty shell, but I am not the full being I used to be, I am weaker than I was. Mewtwo stopped talking or thinking, rather. Why should it reveal anything to this strange entity? What’s one of the first things that all people and Pokèmon are taught when they enter this world? Never talk to strangers.

But you know so much more than that, Mewtwo. A black figure resembling a horse began to materialise in front of Mewtwo. You know so much more than you are letting on. Do you know who I am? Do you know who you are? Do you know what you are? The head looked like a human’s with something red around its neck that Mewtwo could only describe as a balaclava. There seemed to be white cream where the stranger’s hair should have been. A black cloak covered the figure’s back, making it stand on all four legs.

Stop… Mewtwo’s head was beginning to hurt. Please, stop… This was pain beyond anything the clone could imagine. The materialisation of the stranger seemed to have some effect on Mewtwo its head felt like it was cracking. What head? Mewtwo didn’t have a head, did it? Why are you doing this to me? Mewtwo screeched. The sound that emitted sounded like a screech, at least. Mewtwo couldn’t make a sound as it didn’t have a body.

I am Darkrai. The figure told him. We have much to cover in such a small amount of time, but you’re not going to help unless you pull yourself together. Darkrai watched the darkness, waiting for something to happen. Ah, but you don’t know what to do, do you? Darkrai smiled to itself. Come now, Mewtwo, you have to remember what you used to look like and make yourself appear. The overlord of darkness rotated around the spot where Mewtwo’s energy was radiating from.

Mewtwo decided to listen to the Pokèmon. It visualised his head resembling a skull and a cord that was his neck. The cord ran down all the way to his chest which some would mistake for ribcages and no fat at all. The clone’s arms came down from the shoulders and ended with two hands that had three digits at the end of them. The legs stretched down and his feet hit the black ground. Its skin looked like white rubber and the only thing it was missing was the purple tail that appeared as soon as it remembered it. Why did I have to do that? Mewtwo asked. Where am I?

You really don’t remember, do you? For a fraction of a second Darkrai felt sympathy forming for the pathetic creature in front of him. At a second look, the legendary noticed that Mewtwo’s right leg was much to chubby then it used to be and that Mewtwo’s left eye was the wrong way round. Darkrai didn’t bother to point this out. Mewtwo, I don’t really know how to say this so I’ll just throw it out into space; you are comatose. We are inside your mind. You are dying. The entity was unsure of how to continue. Do you recall a man named Giovanni?

Mewtwo looked up and felt rage rush up inside of it. The man responsible for my existence? There is no way I would ever forget Giovanni. Mewtwo began to pace around Darkrai, muttering to itself, thinking about Giovanni and why it was trapped inside its own mind. Why am I trapped inside myself? Mewtwo decided to ask the obvious question. Is this some sort of punishment for something I have done or is this an unjust act by someone, trying to do something to me?

Darkrai liked Mewtwo, but the legendary was thoroughly evil and so couldn’t really be held responsible for its actions should they be a bit mean spirited. Darkrai laughed cruelly. Mewtwo, you were attacked a few months ago by Team Rocket. They only wanted to capture you, try to harness your powers or so Giovanni told them. In truth, the weapon he gave his operatives was much more than a stunning devices, no, he wanted you dead. You fought back, of course. Killed an operative, Cassidy, I think her name was. It seemed that against all odds, you were going to defeat the squadron of Rockets that Giovanni had sent after you, until one brave agent, who’s name we still haven’t found out yet, ran behind you and hit you in the back of the head with the so-called stunning device.

I fell. Mewtwo remembered the fall. The clone was levitating, high up in the air, maybe fifty feet or so, when something solid hit its head. I fell in an arched position. Mewtwo recalled thinking about how much it would hurt when its head hit off the ground just about a fraction of a section before the point of impact.

Yes, you fell. Darkrai replied. The agents thought they had killed you, which really wouldn’t have been efficient for Giovanni. Once they realised you were still alive, just unconscious, they drove you back to the Rocket Headquarters. My sources aren’t sure about what happened after that but you obviously went comatose and Giovanni hooked you up on a life support machine, which tells us that he doesn’t want you dead. Darkrai levitated a few feet off the ground. Giovanni wants you because you’re the key which is a very important factor for Operation Main Frame.

Mewtwo glanced up, curious. What is Operation Main Frame?

Darkrai lowered itself back to the ground. Giovanni has eight friends and they have all joined together for a project that they call Operation Main Frame. They believe that they can capture all of the Legendary Pokèmon. No, don’t ask me how, I don’t know. But apparently you’re the key, that much I’ve figured out by infiltrating Giovanni’s mind. Darkrai lowered its head. You’re comatose, Mewtwo. There’s nothing I can do to help you. Giovanni will probably dispose of you when he’s finished with you. He needs you for Operation Main Frame, maybe without you his project can’t happen. I don’t know. The one thing I do know is that we cannot allow him to get away with Operation Main Frame and if that means having to get rid of you, so be it.

Mewtwo looked up, its eyes were wide with shock. You wish to kill me? There was no way the clone’s life was just going to end like that, was there? But, you have no proof that he needs me, or that my death will help our kind in any way. Mewtwo knew that there was no chance of it outsmarting Darkrai, but it couldn’t just give up on its life.

I’m sorry, Mewtwo. Darkrai appeared to be frowning. Myself and Giratina have discussed these matters already. If the demon can, it will try to save you by bringing you to its domain. It’s the best we can offer for now.

And if I reject this offer of yours? Mewtwo raised one of its hands, showing a black sphere hovering inches over one of its digits.

If you reject, I will have no choice but to destroy you. Darkrai knew that its explanations were illogical and too fast for Mewtwo to understand, but there was no time to waste and it had to end like this. Darkrai rolled over to dodge the dark ball Mewtwo had thrown towards the Legendary. No, Mewtwo. With those two words, Darkrai vanished. The overlord of darkness had left Mewtwo’s mind.

Mewtwo sat down and wondered how long it had until its body shut down due to Darkrai’s doing.