Steven and his new party of 2 women set off to the south of Cerulean city, all 3 of them in high spirits. Both Steven and Cynthia had gotten many gains in Cerulean and even though Jasmine had lost she had gained a lot of experience on how gym battles worked. Misty's Gym was actually qualified to be challenged up to the 4th badge, but was primarily used as a 2nd or 3rd badge attempt.

Steven knew from prior intelligence that the reason the Waterlilly/ Waterflower family didn't ascend past a 4th badge gym was because raising pokemon past a certain point started to cost more exponentially. It would become more and more of a burden on finances as it grew in power as the resources required to even get it the appropriate training equipment was extremely expensive!

So what William and his father Trillian Waterflower did was they would raise the pokemon up till the 4th gym badge, then sell them off to elite trainers and other organizations such as the League as part of combat training and other such things. It was really despicable in Steven's eyes as pokemon in this world were the equivalent of dogs or cats in his other world. Abandonment was a hot button issue for Steven, who saw it as extremely immoral.

The exit out of Cerulean was actually a grove entrance on the side of the city called the 'Entrance of Flowers'. Apparently, unlike in the games where you have to do the whole dig scenario to get out of cerulean due to not having cut, in this universe the trees that block you are just an entrance into a flower garden before the route starts. Weird.

Steven and the women casually chatted over the mental link as they walked. It was starting to get late and Steven asked the girls,"You girls ready to make camp?"

Cynthia and Jasmine both said,"Yeah!" and the trio set up a base camp as each did their own tasks. Without even really talking about it, Cynthia got the fire and kindling going, Jasmine got the food and cookware for dinner out as she started to prepare it, and Steven scouted the area as well as setting up all 3 of the tents.

As the 3 sat talking and laughing, Steven got caught up in his feelings and started to tear up. Cynthia noticed this immediately and worriedly asked,"Steven, what's wrong?"

Steven remorsefully said while trying to maintain a straight face,"Ah.. Sorry about that. Without going too deep into it, this is just the first time where it truly felt like I had made some friends.."

Jasmine cocked her head and asked,"You didn't have friends before?"

Cynthia quickly said,"Hey, Jasmine! It is entirely plausible that the reason was out of his control!" She turned back to him and asked while gently placing a hand on his shoulder,"Is there a reason that you couldn't make friends up till this point in your life?"

Steven nodded and losing a bit of the smile said,"I was sick the moment I was born, I was in and out of the ICU. As I got older, I couldn't be out of the hospital for more than a week before I would be back again. I was in incredible pain, and my parents and family could only watch me suffer.."

Jasmine and Cynthia both came close to Steven as the fire crackled and the crickets chirped on in the night. Cynthia patted his back reassuringly and said,"But you got through it, right? And now you are going on this incredible journey! Surely your parents are proud of what you have accomplished so far!"

Jasmine added on,"Yeah! My parents would be uber proud of me!"

Steven shook his head, fully losing his smile as grief from his past slowly resurfaced. Steven then said,"I didn't make it."

Cyntha and Jasmine gasped, and Cynthia asked cautiously,"You died before?"

Steven nodded and said,"When I came to, I was abandoned in a forest."

Cynthia then saw a hole in his story and asked,"Wait, what about your parents?"

Steven stiffened and the pair of women could audibly heat distress coming from Stevens' large frame. Steven managed to collect himself as he forced himself not to cry, not again. Steven said solemnly,"My family does not live on this planet."

Cynthia stiffened as well upon hearing this while Jasmine simply went quiet as she processed this information. Steven had survived death, only to find everyone he had ever loved just.. Gone.

Cynthia recovered first as she embraced Steven tightly. She didn't say anything and simply gave him a huge hug. Jasmine recovered shortly after and also gave Steven an additional tight bear hug.

Yet, Despite this, all Steven could do at this moment was cry as he forced himself not to weep in front of his two new friends. Tears coalesced and then slowly dropped from his face as time seemed to slow. It was in this moment, on his journey to avenge all the pain he had witnessed, on a journey to discover himself, at this point in his journey this was the first time another person had truly accepted and comforted his inner turmoil. They reaffirmed his belief, his parents would be proud of him. He would make sure to leave such a positive mark on this world that his parents would definitely be able to see it! Then maybe they can know that their son could always be so much more!

The night went on and eventually after crying his heart out once more, the trio went to the tents that were stationed directly next to each other. Stevens was on the left, Cynthia was in the middle and Jasmine was on the right.

Steven settled into his tent and then laid there for a while as he thought about the events that transpired in the last few days. All in all, Steven had been very busy these last few days. He had defeated nugget bridge and gotten the 'dig thief' arrested before he could get that whole event started. He had saved and then persuaded Bill into his company, which then compounded in him extending his reach and realizing that his network could steal intelligent individuals from the evil organizations. He had then challenged Misty and beaten a Royal and the specialty challenge and then acquired 2 friends to travel with him. Then we got to now, where he was recovering from a very emotional episode going over bad memories.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Steven sighed and thought,"Well, it looks like things are not going to get any easier.."

Steven then heard Cynthia whisper to him from her own tent,"Psst, Steven.."

Steven initiated a link between them privately. He asked her,"Yes, I am awake, what's up?"

Steven heard a slight giggle from her tent, then Cynthia responded with,"Just wanted to know how you were doing? You did just go through a big emotional breakdown after all.."

Steven nodded even though she couldn't see him and thought back,"I am doing ok now. I just had repressed those feelings for so long that when you girls started to comfort me I just couldn't hold the dam anymore. Being comforted by you 2 reminded me of my mom and sister standing by my bedside as I lay dying. I thought I was over it and it was behind me, but I guess it still lingers.."

Cynthia took a few seconds to digest that information before responding with,"Well, am I the mother in that scenario?"

Steven started to audibly laugh, which sounded fragmented as laughed. Cynthia then thought to him,"What's so funny?"

Steven finished laughing and then said,"No, sorry, not what I meant, just that it reminded me of that. You caught me off guard as I instantly imagined you as my mom and it was so hilarious that I couldn't help it haha!" They both chuckled heartily at that statement, and then Steven ruined it by following that up with,"Honestly, In that scenario I would much rather you be there as my wife, mother is just kind of weird!"

Steven waited for a response but after probing the connection a few times with a quick,"Cynthia? Are you there?" figured she had probably gotten so tired she passed out. Steven only shook his head in amusement and turned over as he slowly drifted into sleep.

Meanwhile, in Cynthia's tent.

Cynthia thought to herself,"AHH!!! What did he mean by that?!? He would rather I be his wife?! Oh god why?! He's so nice but I barely know him and that's twice he's flirted with me! Next time he does that, I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind!"

P Next Morning P

Cynthia woke up as birds chirped and sung beautiful melodies outside her tent. She then asked out loud,"Jasmine, you awake?" to which all she received was a half awake groan from the tent next to her. She then called out,"Steven? What about you?"

Unfortunately Steven didn't answer and Cynthia frowned as she clearly remembered that Steven said he usually wakes up early for morning training. She had asked him to wake her up when he started, so why didn't he do so? Cynthia was a little peeved and quickly dressed herself and went outside in a flurry of contained rage.

However, Cynthia was then stopped dead in her tracks as she viewed what Steven was currently doing and was baffled at it. Not only in what he was doing, but how he looked while doing it.

Steven was currently standing in an artificial lake that Cynthia knew for sure was not there yesterday. In the center of the pool was a small platform that seemed to tremble and bob with every wave that hit it. Steven was currently coaching his Scyther on something as he stood to the side. He was soaked from head to toe and only had his shorts on, revealing his chiseled and toned body for Cynthia to see in all of its glory.

Cynthia's teenage hormone's started to go crazy at this exact moment.

PPP

Giovanni walked towards the lab department of his private research lab as there was great news that scientist said that Giovanni "had to see". Giovanni was doubtful as there had been only failure after failure for his team and he honestly could not see the end product at this point. They had made so many modifications that they added from the research they paid for from that Gideon guy that whatever came from this new experiment would be much harder to create.

They couldn't even create a prototype, yet it seemed his scientists kept trying to narrow down the final product instead! For Giovanni this was quite infuriating, but seeing as these were the only scientists who would agree to their conditions when hired, he could do nothing about it. Unfortunately this was a reach that even he as the Team Rocket did not have, to simply hire people based on whimsy and flick of the wrist.

With scientists who were working on cutting edge material and were masters and grandmasters in their individual fields, they were a bunch you really did not want to get a bad reputation with. Bad reputation in the scientific community spreads fast, and if it is dealing with an "evil" group, or correlates to the scientific underworld community, it spreads basically like lightning.

Giovanni pushed open the doors to the lab in a huff and show of power as he loudly interrupted whatever these people were doing and yelled out,"I'm here! Now show me what is so damn important!"

The scientists were at a little loss for words and no one answered him.

Giovanni grew annoyed and angry at the simpleton-like behavior of the apparently smart people. He yelled out,"Where is the head researcher?!"

The head researcher, an older man in his late 60's named Kindle, walked forward quickly and replied,"I apologize for that boss, I am here!" The scientists may be weird and a little cocky knowing that they are needed, but that didn't mean they were stupid and pushed boundaries either. They knew where to push the line and where to back off. Respecting your employer was literally rule number 1 in the underworld scientific community.

Giovanni snorted and asked,"Well? Are you going to show me what you called me here for, or are you going to waste even more of my precious time?"

Kindle hurriedly started to escort Giovanni through several corridors and hallways as the two spoke,

Kindle said,"Giovanni, sir, last night we had a power surge of at least 5x the strength our power network could handle, causing massive amount of energy and electricity to converge on the tank of experiment #626."

Giovannia asked,"So did we lose yet another specimen, Kindle? This is not good news!"

Kindle then replied,"No sir! In fact it is the exact opposite!"

The pair then arrived at a giant metal door that had many locks and subsequent locks strapped all over its frame and body. This was a safe of enormous proportions! Kindle walked up to the wall on the side and then said,"Researcher Kindle, Accompanied by Chairman Giovanni, please scan and allow for entry!"

Then a red laser came down and scanned the two for a few moments before letting out a small beep and a female voice telling them,"Welcome in Sir Kindle, and Sir Giovanni."

Giovanni was a little annoyed at this as he could obviously tell the researchers had added this on as it was completely unnecessary and only added extra ways to infiltrate the system and the door.

However Giovanni had no time to be angry as he stared at what was before him. Kindle continued talking as Giovanni, slack jawed, just stared on in amazement.

Kindle said,"Sir, this is specimen #626, aka the final product of the program. It is believed that the power surge was both created by it and assisted it in forming! We are temporarily calling this new pokemon Mewtwo as it is a more powerful mew clone. We have also noticed that its psychic energy as well as its internal brain waves are all extremely powerful and abnormal. If our readings are correct, this pokemon would have around the same power as some of the legendaries! If you even believe in those made up statistics that we cannot even confirm.."

Giovanni stopped him from rambling and asked,"When will it be fully formed to the point that it will wake up and start to learn?"

Kindle pursed his lip as he thought for a moment. After about 20 seconds, Kindle replied,"Best estimation is 3 months to 5 months. That should be enough time for its motor cortex to finish developing and its logical thought to begin to drive it to all the normal things it would do in the wild."

Giovanni frowned and said,"3 months more that I have to wait. Haaa… I know there is nothing I can do today but I really wish I could see this pokemon move and breathe in front of my eyes. To see my creation, my perfect idea breathing in the flesh would be the pinnacle of my existence. There would be no other high in my life that could top that moment. But 3 months shall pass much faster then the 7 years I had to wait till now."

Kindle nodded and replied,"Yes sir, I too cannot wait to see all my work come to fruition in front of my eyes. My life's work is culminating in this project, so it means just as much to me as it does to you.."

Giovanni then had an idea, as said,"As long as we're implementing ideas, how about this one? When he is born and while he is growing to that point, monitor its stats. Make a high-tech armor that will protect him to whatever elemental weakness he may be weak too on top of making his apparent psychic prowess much better."

Kindle's eyes furrowed and he responded,"I will see what I can do on that front, but I won't make any promises as this is still raw and new data that we are working with. We could design a suit with those specifications and it could end up backfiring on our experimental friend."

Giovanni nodded and responded back,"Yes, I understand the risks involved. My whole theory at this moment is if we are already attempting to create one of the most powerful pokemon ever to live, why don't we make absolutely sure it can never be challenged, even by the legends of every region?"

Kindle suddenly realized what Giovanni wanted to do and his grin grew. He then said in malicious glee,"Now I see what Sir Giovanni meant with this request. You have successfully peaked my passion and interest once again Giovanni! Congratulations! Only you have managed to make me lower myself Giovanni!"

Giovannia puffed out his chest in pride and said,"Of course! If we are going to go all out on a project, can we really say we went all out if we leave the little things out of the equation? Any advantage we can give Mewtwo is a benefit we will also gain, so it can be said to be gifting ourselves!"

Both Kindle and Giovanni continued talking about the future as they started to walk out of the lab. However, unbeknownst to them, Mewtwo was actually already awake, just didn't have the energy to do anything yet. He had quickly deduced the English language and was very quickly interested in his apparent birth, wondering if he was born differently than other pokemon considering the things that Giovanni and Kindle were talking about.

Mewtwo was officially born!