Sincerity
by Leto
Part 9 - Loose Threads
Team Rocket lay in a heap on the floor of the cave.
"James," snapped Jessie, "why did you have to land on me?"
"I slipped."
Jessie rolled her eyes at the more-than-obvious reply and then stood up.
"Well, we may as well turn the light on now," she said, "there's no way we can try to sneak up on Mewtwo now."
"It woulda heard you two oafs 'sneakin' up' from miles away," added Meowth helpfully.
James switched on the torch and gasped. He found himself staring directly into a pair of gleaming purple eyes peering over a rock.
Jessie and Meowth followed his gaze and gave each other a high five.
"Looks like we found da Mewtwo!" said Meowth happily.
"Just a second!" came a new voice. Team Rocket turned in surprise and worry, only to relax when they saw the owner of the voice was just a kid.
"That Mewtwo rightfully belongs to me, Gary Oak, the number one Pokemon trainer!"
Jessie and Meowth stared at each other, dumbfounded, then back at Gary, who had a very confident expression on his face.
"No way!" came a second voice, one they definately recognised.
"Ash!" hissed Gary, "what are you doing here?! You're WAY outta your league!"
"I'm here to capture Mewtwo!"
"No, we are!"
"No, I am!"
"I am!"
"I am!"
"We are!"
Jessie, Gary and Ash stuck their tongues out at each other and looked like they were one step away from going and tearing each other's hair out. Misty and Brock sighed.
Everyone scowled at each other, except for James, who was still transfixed by the Mewtwo's intense eyes.
From behind its rock, Mewtwo grinned to itself, greatly amused, and hoped the whole thing would end in a punch-up and he could avoid a battle.
"Where's your little fanclub, Gary?"
"I'm serious about catching Mewtwo," he scowled, "and I was INTENDING to sneak up on the Pokemon without the girls cheering and waking it up. But you all ruined any chance of that."
Jessie cleared her throat to get everyone's attention, then announced "Prepare for trouble!"
She waited expectantly, then looked at James. He was still staring into Mewtwo's eyes.
"*AHEM*... I SAID, Prepare for trouble!"
Still no response.
She grabbed a mallet and smacked him over the head, which successfully got his attention.
"Owww, Jessie that hurt!"
"Prepare for trouble!"
"What, me?"
Jessie got a sweatdrop while Ash, Misty and Brock started laughing.
Gary just ignored it all and pulled out a Pokeball.
"Okay, even the most powerful wild Pokemon there is is no match for my -"
Ash held his breath. He still had yet to see any of Gary's Pokemon.
"Wait!"
Gary paused in mid swing, arrested by Jessie's shout.
"We need the chance to attack first!"
"Why?"
"Because they suck," smirked Ash.
Jessie smacked him over the head.
Ash could see that unless diplomacy was used, one of the stronger parties would get Mewtwo first.
"Guys," he suggested, "I think we need to work together."
Mewtwo scowled to itself from behind the rock.
"WHAT?!" protested all his enemies, but Misty and Brock liked the idea.
"Do you guys realise," snapped Misty, "that nobody has ever caught Mewtwo before? No matter how high an opinion you have of yourselves, you'll never do it by yourself, if all the past Pokemon Masters and Team Rocket members couldn't beat it. They all ended up hospitalised, you know..."
Gary looked nervous. He'd never heard that part before.
Jessie knew her Pokemon didn't have much chance against Mewtwo, and if all else failed, they could easily steal it from Ash or Gary.
James was just feeling overwhelmed by the depth he'd seen in Mewtwo's eyes.
"Well, whadda we waiting for?" asked Meowth, "da Mewtwo's right there!"
Gary did a double take. "Did you - did that Meowth just TALK?!"
Ash groaned "unfortunately..."
"It never shuts up..." added Misty.
Meowth slashed Ash and Misty across the face.
"Of course I can talk," snapped the cat, "and now I say, let's get to work!"
"You're these two idiot's Pokemon, aren't you?"
Jessie and James got bulging vein symbols on their heads, and Meowth's was even bigger.
"WHADDA INSULT! Those two imbeciles could never be MY trainer! Nope, Meowth is its own master!"
Gary's eyes gleamed. "I'm gonna catch YOU then. A talking Meowth... I'd be the most famous trainer in the world!"
Meowth cringed slightly and, stalling for time, blurted out "maybe you could try after we've caught da Mewtwo, we don't wanna waste any of our power here..."
Gary saw the logic in that. Meowth couldn't be as strong as Mewtwo, so he could easily catch it later. It seemed taken for granted that they'd all work together for the time being.
He pulled out a Pokeball and did his trademark swing, kissing the ball before he threw out -
"Go, Pokeball!"
The Pokeball snapped open and from it materialised an unfamiliar Pokemon.
"What's that?" asked Ash, snapping open his Pokedex.
"Arcanine," said Dexter, "a fire dog Pokemon. Its fur is made of pure flames and it runs as though it has wings. Its demeanor is usually friendly but it will repel enemies with bites and strong fire attacks."
James' eyes sparkled, and he ran over to it.
"It's so CUTE!" he exclaimed, and tried to hug it, but he soon learnt the truth of 'its fur is made of pure flames' and then kept his distance.
Meowth sulked. "I hate dogs."
"I'm a cat person," agreed Jessie, and Meowth purred. "Not you," she added. Meowth scratched her.
"IF we may begin," snapped Gary.
"Go, Pikachu!" said Ash, enthusiastically.
"PIKA!"
"Go, Arbok!"
"Go, Weezing!"
"Arbok and Weezing?!" Gary was in disbelief. "Don't use poison Pokemon against a psychic type! Call out a different Pokemon!"
James sweatdropped. "Poison Pokemon are all I have..."
But Jessie called Arbok back and yelled "Gooo Lickitung!" instead. It was the first time she'd used it in a battle.
Mewtwo sighed and finally stepped out from behind its rock. Misty shuddered slightly, and felt panicked. This was the creature from her nightmares. Much to her disgust, she found herself nervously edging behind Brock.
"Okay, this shouldn't take long," said the Pokemon, but sounded to everyone else like "Mreow mew."
The atmosphere turned electric - literally, as everyone leapt into action at once, beginning with Ash's.
"Pikachuuuuuuu!"
Without even waiting for a command, the electric mouse filled the room with lightning.
"Arcanine, ember!" ordered Gary.
Arcanine's fur flared up and it breathed a torrent of fire.
"Weezing, sludge!"
"Lickitung, uh..." Jessie got a sweatdrop. "What attacks does Lickitung know?"
"Depends how strong it is!" snapped Gary, trying to concentrate on the battle. "But don't make it use a close range attack like slam... we should get our Pokemon to use special attacks which don't involve them having to get too close to Mewtwo."
"Lickitung, attack!" Jessie said helplessly, translating Gary's speech as 'work it out yourself'.
Weezing, Arcanine and Pikachu's attacks all hit Mewtwo at once, and it staggered back.
Its purple eyes gleamed and sent a beam that sent all the Pokemon flying back.
"Psybeam," said Dexter, "a psychic type attack."
Lickitung still hadn't moved, it seemed to be very indecisive.
"I don't care what you do!" snapped Jessie, "just do SOMETHING!"
Lickitung opened its mouth wide and deafened them all "LickIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"
Everyone cringed, and when the 'attack' finished, Jessie smacked her Pokemon over the head and said "What sort of attack was that?!"
Dexter took that as a request for information and said "Screech. A normal type attack that affects the enemy's defense."
"I dunno about that," growled Jessie, "but it's done wonders for my hearing."
"What?" asked James, half deafened.
Jessie rolled her eyes but didn't repeat herself.
"Arcanine," ordered Gary, "get back up and give it an ember attack!"
"Pikachu, thunderbolt!"
"Weezing, smog attack!"
Soon the cave was full of thick smog and nobody could see anything.
"Great *cough* going James."
"What?"
Suddenly, through the smog, they all saw a brilliant flash of light, and before they knew what was happening, they were all flung into the wall of the cave. The smog was torn apart and dissipated.
"Psychic," said Dexter helpfully. "A strong psychic attack."
"Duh," muttered Ash, now covered with dust.
"C'mon, Arcanine," urged Gary, "get back into it! Flamethrower!"
"Arcaaaaaa!" it snarled, throwing flames again.
"Don't give up, Pikachu!" encouraged Ash, "give it a thundershock!"
Gary turned to Ash reprimandingly. "If your Pikachu knows thunder and thunderbolt, ordering it to use thundershock, its weakest electric attack, is pretty dumb, especially against a strong opponent. You should've -"
Gary's lecture was cut off as he stared in disbelief. Pikachu's 'weak' thundershock attack sent the Mewtwo reeling.
"Pikachu's not as weak as you think!" said Ash smugly. Gary was stunned.
James ordered Weezing to attack, before realising its eyes were spiralling. "Uhh... Weezing, return."
"That didn't last long," said Jessie, unneccessarily.
"Of course not," said Gary pompously, "poison Pokemon are weak against psychic attacks. I'm surprised your Weezing wasn't knocked out at the start. It must be strong."
"What?" asked James blankly.
Ash scowled to see his rival complimenting his enemy.
"Excuse me!" he snapped, "but I've beaten James a hundred times!"
Lickitung, meanwhile, had gotten back up and was standing by itself in the middle of the cave's floor. Mewtwo eyed it, not thinking much of it.
"Lickitung, attack again!" ordered Jessie. Gary rolled his eyes at this display of genius training, but said nothing.
"LickIIIIIIIIIIII!"
When the second screech attack finished, Mewtwo - and everyone else - looked somewhat frazzled.
"LICKITUNG!" shouted Jessie, going huge and scary, "TRY A DIFFERENT ATTACK NEXT TIME!"
It sweatdropped and nodded.
Mewtwo's eyes gleamed again and its body shimmered. In a few seconds, it was fully recovered.
"WHAT?!" cried Ash.
"Recover," said Dexter, "an attack that allows the Pokemon to get back some of its strength and overcome damage."
Ash rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Dexter."
"Shut up," said Dexter, "there is no data."
Mewtwo was beginning to realise that this match wasn't one to be taken lightly, and launched another psychic attack which lit up the cave. This one sent Arcanine down for the count.
"Gooo, Golbat!" yelled Gary, throwing a Pokeball.
"Ha!" smirked Ash, "Golbat's a poison Pokemon, it's weak against Mewtwo!"
Mewtwo spun around and flung flashing stars at Golbat.
"Swift," began Dexter, "a -"
Ash firmly switched Dexter off.
The stars sent Golbat flying, but it flapped its wings and regained its balance.
"Golbat, leech life!"
Golbat's fangs flashed and it flapped its wings, sending waves of invisible energy onto Mewtwo. Soon, Mewtwo was looking slightly drained and Golbat was looking nearly recovered.
"But," said Gary to Ash, in a similar tone to Ash's former one "leech life is good against psychic Pokemon... Pokeball, go!"
Gary tossed a Pokeball at Mewtwo, but it bounced away harmlessly. He didn't look too upset; he'd expected as much.
Not to be outdone, Ash threw one as well, but that was deflected too.
"Golbat, do another leech life!"
Mewtwo began to get angry and launched another psychic attack, which threw the Pokemon and their trainers back against the wall and caused the walls to rumble.
"What's dat?" asked Meowth, sounding worried.
A low rumbling echoed through the cave. Jessie and James sighed.
"Not again," groaned James.
"What do you mean? Do you know what's going on?" demanded Ash.
"Cave in," the two said in unison, and on cue, the cave roof began to crumble and rocks smashed onto the ground around them.
***
When the dust cleared, it was quite plain to see that they were all well and truly trapped. Misty gulped. Trapped in a cave with a Mewtwo was one of her nightmare scenarios.
"How did," coughed Brock, picking himself up, "you know?"
Jessie and James didn't reply, but they had many memories of failed missions in caves.
Mewtwo smirked and gazed at them all with cold eyes.
Gary jumped up. "Okay guys, teamwork! Anyone who's got one, send out a ground or water Pokemon!"
"We should help," said Brock quietly. Misty didn't want to go any closer to the Mewtwo, but she nodded.
"Go, Starmie!" she called.
"Go, Geodude!" he called.
"Good," said Gary, "go Magneton!"
The three Pokemon assembled.
"My strategy is," said Gary, "water conducts electricity. If Starmie shoots water, Magneton can charge it, then Geodude can go in and attack, because it's not vulnerable to electricity. But it's important Geodude doesn't go in before Starmie's finished attacking, otherwise it'll get wet itself."
Ash thought, unwillingly, that Gary was pretty good.
"Sounds good to me," said Misty, "Starmie, water gun!"
Lickitung jumped in and screeched "LickIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"
Jessie was furious. "CUT THAT OUT!"
James said "What?"
***
An hour later, everyone had pretty much exhausted most of their Pokemon (and themselves for that matter), but Mewtwo was looking rather the worse for wear too.
"Pokeball, go!"
"Pokeball, go!"
"Pokeball, go!"
Gary, Ash and Jessie all threw balls, but none of them even drew Mewtwo inside.
"I don't think it'll work," said James presently. "Mewtwo doesn't want to be caught, so you won't be able to catch it."
Gary scoffed. "Ridiculous! Lots of Pokemon don't want to be caught, but I caught them!"
"Show off," muttered Ash.
"This one will be no exception! I, Gary Oak, will capture this Pokemon!"
"What?" asked James.
Jessie snapped "STOP SAYING WHAT!"
"What?"
Jessie slapped her forehead with her hand.
"This is all your fault, Lickitung!"
The fainted Pokemon didn't reply, obviously, but Jessie was sure that if it had, it would've been with another deafening screech.
"We have to get out of here," said Misty nervously, "we don't really have any Pokemon left and I don't want to get attacked again."
"Don't be a chicken, Misty," said Ash, "we have to get what we came here for!"
"I'm NOT a chicken, at least I'm not so STUBBORN that I realise when something's not gonna work out! We agreed to come on this suicide mission with you Ash Ketchum just so you wouldn't end up dying all alone but if I can get out alive I want to!"
Ash looked at Misty in surprise, and said quietly, "okay, let's go."
Brock gasped. It was rare that Ash would back down on something he'd set his mind on.
"We should go," said James.
Jessie said "we can't go until we get the Mewtwo! Or at least get some info on it, so we can plan a better attack next time! And we can't go now that it's so weak, we're almost there!"
"What?"
Hearing what Jessie was saying, Ash changed his mind "we have to stay a bit longer. We can't let Team Rocket get that Mewtwo!"
Gary, meanwhile, was fiddling with his Pokedex.
Misty sighed. "Well, I for one AM leaving. If you don't know when enough is enough, then I'm not gonna stay here with you. Besides, it's not like Team Rocket are gonna succeed in capturing Mewtwo anyway!"
"What?"
Jessie looked like she could willingly punch James through the wall.
Misty turned to leave. Brock hated to bring it up, but he had to say "Uh, how exactly do you intend to leave? The cave is blocked."
Misty facefaulted, but didn't give up. She pulled out her Pokedex and started fiddling with it.
"What?" Ash ran over to Misty. "I didn't know you had a Pokedex!"
"Of course I have a Pokedex!" she snapped. "All Pokemon trainers have one!"
"Do you have one, Brock?"
"I was never a trainer..."
"Team Rocket?"
"I don't have an official trainer's qualification, just Pokemon Tech training, and in the words of the general Pokemon study class lecturer, 'A Pokedex is a cheat used only by poor trainers,'" said Jessie, a bit snappishly, Ash thought.
"What?" said James.
Misty's Pokeballs disappeared and were replaced by new ones.
"What'd you just do, Misty?" asked Ash.
"I sent back my Pokemon into storage and took out some that were already stored."
"That's what I'm doing," said Gary, concentrating on his Pokedex. "Right now I'm choosing which ones I want."
"You have other Pokemon?!" Ash and Brock yelled in unison, crowding Misty. "Let me see!"
She cradled a Pokeball. "My strongest Pokemon," she said. "If we defeat Mewtwo and capture it, it'll have to obey our orders. Then we can get it to help us escape the cave. If it created this pile in so easily, it should be able to move it away."
"Gooo, Pokeball!"
A figure materialised in the air.
"Raawww!" it cawed.
"Excellent," smiled Misty. "Back in business. This is the first Pokemon I ever caught. Fearow, attack that Mewtwo!
Gary rolled his eyes. "Fearow is not a strong Pokemon, you should've chosen something else."
"Shut up, Gary," snapped Misty, "let me show you how a REAL trainer battles!"
Meanwhile, Mewtwo was standing by itself, waiting to be acknowledged again, so it could finish the battle and have some peace. It yawned as it saw the Fearow, having encountered many such Pokemon before and having easily defeated them all.
"Fearow, drill peck!"
The Fearow spun around, gathering momentum, until it was a golden blur, then slammed into Mewtwo.
Mewtwo was flung back with the shock, tumbling over rocks before finally smashing into the cave wall.
"Meww..." it said weakly, but got to its feet. Its eyes glowed, it swung its body through the air and shot a psybeam at Fearow.
The Fearow spiralled back a few metres as it struck but recovered well.
"Excellent... now, Fearow! MIRROR MOVE!"
Fearow's eyes gleamed as it mimicked Mewtwo's movements, and sent the cat Pokemon flying. It groaned, and could not rise.
Everyone was stunned. Ash was jealous, Brock was admiring, Gary was just stunned.
"Cute *and* a good trainer," said Gary approvingly, "you consider joining my fanclub? I could use another cheerleader."
In response, Misty stuck her finger up at him and pulled out a Pokeball.
"Alright! Now I'm gonna capture it!"
"Wait a second!" protested Ash, "this whole thing was my idea!"
He also pulled out a Pokeball. Jessie and Gary, not to be outdone, did too. James was still trying to hear what was going on.
"Pokeball, go!" they cried of one voice, and Mewtwo was suddenly hit by a barrage of balls.
The last ball to hit it - Ash's ball - actually drew the Mewtwo inside it. The ball thrashed around madly and Mewtwo leapt out, panicked.
'They nearly caught me!' it thought. 'I have to be more careful! They have a large supply of Pokemon, so I'll have to take out the trainers.'
"MEWW," it snarled, "mi, mewww. Meeew." It floated into the air and its eyes flashed, beginning an attack.
"It said it wants us to leave it alone," translated Meowth, who had been silent for quite some time. Meowth was captivated by the Mewtwo. Maybe it was those intense eyes, maybe it was because this was the Pokemon that had the potential to get him back into the boss's favour, or maybe it was just because it was a fellow cat Pokemon.
"Mrew?" The energy building up around Mewtwo faded as the psychic Pokemon crashed to the ground in shock.
Everyone watched, apprehensively, as Mewtwo approached Meowth. Meowth cringed slightly as Mewtwo put one paw on its shoulder.
"Mew? Meww?"
"Do I understand? Is that what you're asking?"
Mewtwo nodded.
"Of course, I'm a Pokemon too ya know."
Mewtwo sat down, stunned.
Jessie smiled to herself. Perfect, it was unaware. She took the opportunity and threw another Pokeball.
The Pokeball thrashed around madly, smashing into rocks and skipping along the ground. Everyone watched tensely, captivated by this intense struggle, but finally, the ball began to slow, and the red light began to fade...
James ran forward and hit the button on the Pokeball. In a red beam, Mewtwo appeared, free.
"JAMES!" everyone shouted, in shock and outrage, but Meowth didn't say anything.
"Mew, myuu," said Mewtwo. Everyone looked to Meowth for a translation, but he shrugged helplessly.
Mewtwo began powering up again, and everyone braced themselves for an attack.
However, instead of finding themselves being thrown back, the psychic attack slammed into the cave in behind them, causing the rocks to glow and dissolve.
"Wow," whispered Gary. "With that power, I'd be unbeatable."
The Mewtwo lay back, exhausted from its efforts. Again, it said "Mew, myuu," but this time, no translation was necessary.
Ash said "we should all leave. It's not fair to capture it if it's only weak 'cos it tried to help us."
Misty said "I can't believe we're still alive..." Brock and Ash looked at her strangely, and she sweatdropped.
Team Rocket actually turned to leave as well. Meowth was still affected by the way Mewtwo had spoken (this was a Pokemon thing... none of the human characters would've noticed it) and James was still affected by the intensity of its gaze. Jessie was just grateful they hadn't wound up being relentlessly smashed up again, and wanted to leave while the going was good.
Gary, however, was still stubborn.
"I have a lot of Pokemon," he announced, "and I'm not leaving this cave until Mewtwo is one of them. I've come this far in weakening it" - here he was met by squawks of outrage - "so I'm not going to let this opportunity slip by! Go, Beedrill! Twin needle attack!"
Beedrill's body gleamed as it aimed its stinger at the weakened Mewtwo and slammed into it, over and over. Mewtwo squealed in pain as the super effective attack relentlessly continued...
"Beedrill, stop!" called Gary. "Pokeball, go!"
Mewtwo was barely conscious and had run out of recovering power, but still managed to flick the ball away with its tail.
"Enough with this, pokeballS, go!"
Mewtwo found itself being bombarded with balls again, but although it was continually sucked into them, it stubbornly escaped them all.
"Mew mew!"
Meowth said, "I think it says you'll never catch it."
Gary took up another handful of Pokeballs.
"Cut that out," snapped James, snatching the Pokeballs Gary was still holding and hurling them against the wall.
Some smashed into splinters, others just rolled away. One Pokeball rebounded off the wall, brushed against Mewtwo's fur, and in a flash of red light, the cat Pokemon was inside the Pokeball.
The ball rocked gently before a chime sounded and the red light faded.
Mewtwo was caught.