Jen’s eyes fluttered open as the sunlight filtered through the trees. Her body ached as she tried to remember what happened to her. It was only when she saw Mewtwo that everything came back to her. She shuddered as the memory of Luxray shocking her replayed in her mind.
Mewtwo breathed in deeply and Jen froze, but relaxed slightly when she realized that he was asleep. “He was probably waiting for me to wake up so he could kill me for putting him and Mew into Pokeballs.”
Jen slowly rolled onto her hands and knees, but cringed in pain. Quietly getting to her feet, she looked at her hands and saw the cuts and dried blood. “Note to self: when capturing Pokemon, never try to hold the Pokeballs shut.”
Mewtwo shifted in his sleep.
Jen watched him for a moment before slowly and cautiously walked away. Once she believed she was far enough away from him, she took off running.
Leaves and twigs snapped under her feet, but she didn’t care. She was only a few yards from the path, not like the path would save her from the Legendry’s wrath, but the thought gave her some comfort.
A shadow passed over her as the tall figure of Mewtwo landed in front of her. Jen slid on her heels and fell backwards onto her butt. Mewtwo moved towards her, while she tried to crawl away, but the cuts on her hands reopened and she fell onto her back.
Jen felt herself being lifted up by Mewtwo’s telekinesis. She closed her eyes and braced herself for Mewtwo’s finishing blow, but it never came. She felt the ground under her feet and she opened her eyes.
Mewtwo was holding her messenger bag out for her. “You forgot this.”
Jen stared at her bag and then at Mewtwo.
“You are wise to fear me, girl, but I mean you no harm.” Mewtwo said.
Jen took another step back.
The memory of Jen capturing the two Mews flashed through her mind, followed by an image of her being telekinetically strangled.
Mewtwo sighed. “Yes, I’m still mad about that, but you had a good reason for doing what you did, so I’m going to let it slide.”
Jen relaxed a little and reached out for her bag, but retracted her hand.
“You’re still scare.”
Jen sighed quickly as she gathered what little courage she had. “You’re taller than me, stronger than me, and faster than me. Why shouldn’t I be scared?” She said quickly.
Mewtwo rolled his eyes. He slipped Jen’s bag strap over her head before she could back away again. “I promise, I won’t hurt you.”
Jen nodded slowly and fixed her bag on her shoulder. “T-Thanks…for getting my bag.” She stuttered softly. “W-Where is Mew?” She hadn’t noticed Mew’s absence back at the tree where she had woken up.
“She went to find your Pokemon.” He responded heading back into the forest.
“But…doesn’t Mew know that Team Rocket has them? And they also have Misty.” Jen cried as she ran to catch up with him. Her courage was growing.
“They had your Pokemon and the girl, Misty, but they should have returned to Cerulean City by now.”
Jen frowned. “How do you know that?”
Mewtwo smirked. “Zapdos and I crashed into the truck that held them, and they escaped.”
Jen couldn’t contain her joy as she smiled widely and hugged Mewtwo. Mewtwo flinched suddenly due to being caught off guard. Jen quickly pulled away, making sure to leave a good five to six feet space between them. “Sorry. That was stupid of me…but, thank you.”
Mewtwo didn’t reply. He just kept on walking.
Jen bit her bottom lip and continued after him, still five feet behind him. “Uh, why did you and Zapdos crash into the Team Rocket’s truck? Isn’t Zapdos supposed to be on its island along with Moltres and Articuno?”
Mewtwo hesitated before answering. “He wanted me to attend a gathering, which I refused. He didn’t like my answer so a fight ensued.”
“What kind of gathering did Zapdos want you to go to?”
Mewtwo hesitated again.
“You don’t have to tell me. I understand.”
Mewtwo stopped suddenly, almost causing Jen to walk right into him. He stared at the sky and narrowed his eyes.
“What?” Jen asked, following his gaze.
“The other two are here.” Mewtwo groaned. “And so is Ho-Oh.”
Jen couldn’t help, but chuckle lightly. “They must really want you at this gathering thing, huh?”
Mewtwo glanced over his shoulder at her and she immediately went silent. “Run and hide. I’ll come for you as soon as I deal with them.” As he finished, he shot through the trees and hovered in the air.
Jen watched from down below as Moltres and Articuno came into view. Even though they were far away, Jen could still hear the power in their voices. Unfortunately, she couldn’t hear what they were saying.
The three Legendries remained suspended in the air for a while as they exchanged inaudible words. Jen found herself sitting on the ground pulling up the grass when she heard a loud explosion come from above her. She glanced up just in time to see Mewtwo fly away with Articuno and a wounded Moltres chasing after him.
Jen scrambled to her feet and followed them. Her attempts to keep up were, of course, in vain, but she didn’t let the thought discourage her.
She allowed herself to look up at the aerial battle as she jumped over a couple of roots. Articuno was trying to hit Mewtwo with an icy wind, but Mewtwo protected himself with a purple force field.
Moltres came up from behind him and used flamethrower.
“Mewtwo!” Jen screamed.
The flames engulfed Mewtwo’s being. Jen began to panic. “Leave him alone! STOP!”
A burst of psychic energy came from where Mewtwo hovered, knocking Articuno and Moltres out of the sky. The two birds landed in opposite directions. Articuno landed some ways away, but Moltres landed about twenty feet from Jen.
“Oh. Crap.” Jen thought as Moltres shook itself off.
It lifted its fiery wings to return to battle, but froze after doing a double take of Jen. The two stared at each other, waiting for one another to make the first move.
A loud bird cried out in the distance, causing Jen to instinctively turn towards it. Moltres screamed as well and charged at Jen.
“YYEEAAHH!!” Jen screamed as she sprinted through the trees and jumped over tree roots.
Moltres was closing the distance in between them when suddenly Jen’s feet fell through the air. She had failed to see how the ground disappeared beyond the trees in front of her.
She fell for a few seconds before landing on something rainbow and feathery. Jen grabbed onto the enormous feathers as the bird tilted its head and tried to peck at Jen. It was trying to attack her, or at least throw her off.
“Where the blazes did you come from?” Ho-Oh cried. “Get off!”
Jen only clung on tighter.
Mewtwo then appeared next to Jen. “When I said run and hide, I meant run and hide!”
“I tried that.” Jen managed to say through clenched teeth. “Moltres found me.”
“Mewtwo!”
A tongue of fire soared over their heads as Moltres leapt off the cliff, and made a beeline for them. Using Moltres’s distraction to its advantage, Ho-Oh did a quick barrel roll, knocking Mewtwo higher into the air.
“Hey!” Jen growled at Ho-Oh.
“A human? Damn it…get off!”
“Why are you hurting Mewtwo? He wants to be left alone!” Jen cried as Ho-Oh tried to grab her with its beak. “Quit attacking him!”
“I’ll get her for you, Ho-Oh.” Jen dared a peek to see Articuno coming at her, talons wide open and ready to pry her off of the giant bird’s back. Jen shut her eyes and threw herself sideways onto one of Ho-Oh’s wings. Articuno was too close to Ho-Oh to stop, and wound up crashing into it.
Ho-Oh cried out as it pounded its wings hard against the air, hoping to get away from the ice bird. Jen, on the other hand, just hung on for dear life.
“Let go.” Mewtwo’s voice echoed in her mind.
She looked around for him, but she only saw Ho-Oh’s feathers and the sky.
“Trust me. Let go.”
Jen released her iron grip on the wing and fell off the Legendary bird. She felt the unsettling feeling of her stomach flying up into her throat as she quickly descended. Before she could reach the treetops below her, she felt someone grab her securely around the waist, slowing her fall. Once landed, she fell to her knees and hugged the ground.
“Are you alright?” Mewtwo asked.
Jen nodded.
“Shaken?”
Jen glanced up at the Legendary birds who were circling the area. “A little. Why did they attack you? Same reason with Zapdos?”
Mewtwo nodded. “We’ll need to meet Mew and your Pokemon somewhere else, or they will be faced with a similar problem.” He shut his eyes for a moment, and then looked at Jen. “Let’s go.”
He took off, gliding through the forest with ease, while Jen ran to keep up. Unfortunately, due to her lacking in the ability to fly or hover like Mewtwo, Jen wound up stumbling through the undergrowth and tripped over a root.
Mewtwo stopped and held his hand out to her. She hesitated, and showed him her cut hands. He took her hands anyway and helped her to her feet.
“What happened?” He asked as he hoisted her onto his back and took off again.
“The Pokeballs I put you and Mew in were starting to break in my hands, and this is what happened.”
They were moving faster now that Jen wasn’t slowing them down.
“Where are we going?” She asked after awhile.
“I’m going to a different region.” Mewtwo replied. “You will wait for Mew in Lavender Town.”
Jen’s jaw dropped. She didn’t know what stunned her more; the fact that he was leaving her in Lavender Town (yes the town unnerved her a bit), or the fact that he was leaving her in a town that passed three gyms. Adding onto that, she never did finish her battle with Misty, so she would have to backtrack all the way to Cerulean City if she wanted to claim the Cascade Badge. Her mother was bound to catch up to her then.
Mewtwo sensed her dismay and listened to her thoughts. “Your mother seems to really care about you…a little too much.”
“You got all that from reading my mind?”
“Just from what you were thinking.” Mewtwo replied, rising higher into the air. Jen looked over his shoulder and saw Lavender Town’s Pokemon Tower rising in the distance. “You will be safer if you stayed amongst your own kind. If you come with me, you will only be attacked again.”
“You’re just trying to get rid of me.” Jen muttered.
Mewtwo’s head turned slightly.
Jen continued before he had time to reply. “I understand, Mewtwo. I know I’ll only be a burden if I come with you, and it was pretty obvious back there in the forest.”
They landed on top of the tower and Jen climbed off Mewtwo’s back.
“You’re not a burden. In a way, you helped.” Mewtwo wanted to voice those words, but decided against it. She would only want to come with if he did so. Instead, he said, “You disobeyed me. When I told you to run and hide, you stayed put yourself in danger.” His tone was harsh.
Jen shrank back slightly, feeling both guilty and scared.
“Stay. Here. Mew will be here soon.” Mewtwo commanded sternly.
Jen nodded slowly and sat down on the steps leading up to two graves.
He had to use every ounce of his will power not to go over to Jen and stay with her. She may have disobeyed him and risked her life, but she had also distracted Articuno, Moltres, and Ho-Oh during battle, making it easier for him to fight them one-on-one.
He turned away and flew off towards the sea. Jen watched as his being grew smaller and smaller, until she could no longer see him. She glanced down at her scarred palms and grimaced.
“Stupid, idiot!” She growled to herself. “You managed to get your Pokemon captured within a day of having them, and you’ve also pissed off four of the Legendary Pokemon. And you’ve missed a ton of gyms.”
A slight vibration could be felt in her pocket. She quickly reached in her pocket and grabbed her phone. It was Libby.
“Crap…” She answered on the fourth ring. “Hey, lib. What’s up?”
“Just checking up on you. I heard that Team Rocket was there earlier. Are you alright?”
“Yeah. I’m fine.” She lied.
“Okay…where are you now?”
“In Lavender Town.”
Jen could hear Libby drop her phone as the sound of plastic hitting wood rang through the phione. Jen cringed at the sound. Libby quickly picked the phone back up.
“You made it all the way to Lavender Town? I’m calling your bluff! There is no way you could have made it all the way over there within two days! How could you have beaten so many gym leaders in such a short amount of time?”
“I didn’t.”
There was a pause on the other end,
“What?”
“I’ve only beaten the Pewter gym leader. I was battling Misty when Team Rocket came.”
“Then…then why are you in Lavender Town? Get back to Cerulean City and kick Misty’s skinny white ass!”
Jen stared at her phone in bewilderment before bringing it back to her ear. “Libby, are you alright? You’re acting weird…er.”
“I’m fine. Just…how far away from mom do you think you are?”
“Far enough, but if I try to go back to any of the gyms, I might run into her. You and I both know I cannot go back with her. I will go insane!”
Libby chuckled on the other end. “Jen, you’re already insane. Everyone can see it in the way you speak and act. Besides, if you weren’t insane, then you would still be at home with mom.”
“Lib, I’m being serious here. I have to find a way to get all of the gym badges in Kanto before mom can find me. And then I need to find a way to the next region.”
Libby didn’t reply for a while.
“You said you were in Lavender Town, right?”
“Yeah. And?”
“Go out of order.”
Jen paused as she tried to register what her sister had said. “Come again?”
“You can still battle all of the gym leaders in Kanto, but if you wish to continue your career as a trainer, you must battle them out of order. Mom won’t see it coming. Got it?”
Jen thought the plan over. “Don’t they check to see how many badges I have before I get to battle the gym leaders?”
“I don’t remember them doing that. Misty didn’t ask you, did she? And even if they do, you can call me and I’ll take you to Unova, and you can start over with the gyms here. Sounds good?”
Jen smiled. “Yeah.”
“Alrighty then! The closest gym should be in Saffron City if you cross through route 8. You’ll be battling an old friend of mine. Sabrina!”
“Thanks, Lib.”
“You can thank me once you get to Unova. I’ll text you my address.” And with that, she hung up.
Jen replaced her phone in her pocket and stared up at the sky. In the distance she could see a Pidgeotto along with a smaller Pokemon on its back, and a wingless, but gas-like Pokemon heading her way. Jen stood up to get a better view and gasped in surprise.
It was her Pokemon!