"Would it fucking kill you to be straightforward for once?"

It seemed Cynthia hadn't heard her at first, her eyes flying through the text with an ever more excited look on her face, but after a few seconds she began speaking without looking up.

"Charon. Charon was the missing piece," she declared victoriously. "You said it yourself, did you not? Had I taken your background into account… Ah, but there is no time for regretting. You are familiar with Charon's work, are you not?"

Reiko rose to her feet and regarded Cynthia with caution, unsure of what she was getting at.

"…A fair bit. Dad worked with him on the M entity project."

"A very interesting project, for sure. It took me months to finally convince Lance to let me take a look inside Cinnabar Manor, and what I found there was… most illuminating." Her gaze stopped on a specific part of the page, lips curling into a smile. "Of course… here it is."

And without prompt she slammed the tome shut and set her eyes on the small journal, resting an inch from a now sleepy Noria.

"Wait… Wait, hold on, you went inside Cinnabar Manor?" Reiko pointed at her with a finger, eyes wide. "But I thought…"

"That it had been regarded as off limits for anyone without high clearance? Right you are, Reiko. Luckily for me, I've always been good at finding knowledge where others have so desperately tried to hide it. You seem the same as me in that regard…"

"Yeah, I broke in too," said Reiko, not a hint of shame in her voice. "Right before heading for Sinnoh, but I didn't find anything important. I'm guessing…"

At that Cynthia grabbed the journal and raised it in front of her face, smiling widely.

"Buried under a rather hefty pile of rubble; it's no wonder they didn't find it. Lucky me." Her fingers grazed the spine delicately as she opened it, looking down at its contents. "This is the diary of none other than Professor Fuji; the very one he used during the entirety of the M project. I daresay I'm the only person other than the Professor himself whose eyes have read the words within."

"What!?" Her scream made Noria jump out and scamper under the table. "Why'd you… You should've…"

"I implore you to calm down," said Cynthia, still not looking at her. "I assure you there is nothing in here that would be new information to you or those investigating said incident. Or… so I thought, until now." A frown adorned her face. "Say, how much do you know, exactly, about Mars' Ditto and its relation to Charon?"

Reiko still hadn't gotten over the fact that Cynthia had stolen such an important trove of information for her own use, but there seemed to be more important matters at the moment. Swallowing her anger, she replied.

"It's… supposed to be the last prototype they worked on before they finally got it right," she said. "Or… wrong, depending on how you look at it. All I know is that it's stronger than a normal Ditto and… weirder, too. Why'd you ask?"

"I would also like to ask…" Cynthia said, as though she hadn't heard her question at the end. "…Are you aware of the strange Pokemon released upon my town during the Festival of Spirit?"

Reiko blinked, confused. "The… that bug-looking thing with the cannon on its back? What about it?"

"Just keep it in mind, if you'd be so kind. Ah, here we are." A tiny sound of delight escaped Cynthia's lips, her one visible eye twinkling with excitement. "I would like to read part of this diary to you. I'm sure it will prove most illuminating."

"I… sure?"

At that, Cynthia cleared her throat and –as Noria hissed and whined and threw herself on top of her trainer's shoes, irritated– began reciting the contents of the diary:

"January 13th: Further attempts to stabilize the genetic makeup of the samples have proved unsuccessful, I'm afraid. It's been months now. Morale, as high as it was during the first months of the project, when we could hardly believe we'd been given such an opportunity, is steadily dropping. Blaine is doing his best to push us along, the old chap, always ready to crack a joke or give a strong pat to the back and reassure us that we are getting ever closer to our goal, regardless of whether it's the truth or not. Charon, on the other hand, considers such behavior to be beneath him. He is a man of his work, and nothing else. And while I can't help but admire his determination to see this project to completion, something about his 'all or nothing' mentality never fails to make me uneasy. I pray it is simply my age, turning me paranoid in these times of war.

"January 21st: There's been a breakthrough, finally. The latest sample, like many before, reached the mid-point of embryonic development before its genetic makeup overtook the rest of its body, turning it into the usual pink goo we have seen plenty of before. This time, however, the creature is different. Not only does it boast tremendous shape-shifting abilities, much closer to what texts and myths describe Mew's own powers to be like, but its sense of obedience is absolute. It will follow any order to the T, without a moment's hesitation. And while it does sound like an improvement, this comes as both a blessing and a curse. Our efforts to enhance a certain part of Mew's genetic makeup before the creation of this clone seems to have robbed the creature of its ability to think, and feel. It acts more like a robot than a Pokemon, which neither Blaine nor I are happy about. Charon, on the other hand, seems delighted. My worries continue to mount."

"January 23rd: After many hours of testing, shouting and a broken nose, we have settled on the matter: this latest clone will be deemed a failure. Charon adamantly refused to humor the idea, but unfortunately for him, Blaine and I outnumber him. True; the sample is far more powerful and obedient than any other before, but isn't that precisely the reason not to use it? Our instructions were clear. We are to create a clone of Mew, not a mindless beast that follows anyone's orders without a second thought and whose power could very easily fall into the wrong hands. I shudder to think of the possibility.

"January 27th: Charon is gone. At first I believed our argument regarding the latest sample might have created a rift between the three of us, two wide to ever be repaired. Luckily, the reason for his departure is not what we assumed at first. Just today he has sent us a letter, telling us that he's traveled by Fearow to his home town, Cerulean, where he believes lays the final piece of this particular puzzle. I admit, I raised an eyebrow at that particular choice of words. Still, the man hasn't let me down so far, so I shall trust his judgment.

"January 28th: Fuchsia has fallen. Time is running out, and we've no word from Charon ever since his last letter. The fear is palpable all over the lab. Fukawa, bless her heart, broke down during the middle of one of our experiments and had a panic attack from which she still hasn't recovered. It seems most of her family resided in Fuchsia. Chabashira seems nervous as well; Saffron hasn't fallen yet, but still he worries about his wife and child."

Reiko couldn't help but gasp, a terribly sharp pain sprouting in her chest. Cynthia, who until that moment had kept speaking with only minimal pause for breathing, lowered the journal ever so slightly and peered over it, toward her. There was a glint of remorse in her eyes.

"S' fine," said Reiko through grit teeth. She swallowed, and tried to control her voice. "Keep going."

Cynthia held her gaze for a few moments, then nodded.

"January 30th: Charon is back. He found what he was looking for, but it did not come easy. His explanation was quick and to the point. Cerulean Cave has, ever since the founding of Kanto, been deemed as one of the most dangerous places in all the region for both humans and Pokemon, rivaling even the summit of Mt. Silver itself. This, of course, has always eluded an official explanation. Why was the cave so impossible to navigate? Why were the Pokemon inside so incredibly, outrageously powerful and why did most of their strength seemed to vanish the moment they exited the place? It seems, finally, someone has found an answer.

"Charon, upon reaching Cerulean, hired a team of professional trainers and archaeologists and led them down the cave, refusing to stop until they found what he was looking for. Finally, after days of bloody struggle, he came upon it. Within the deepest and darkest chamber of the cave he found the fossilized corpse of a massive, undiscovered Pokemon. This was old hat for him, of course, as new types of fossils have been popping up all over the world recently. However, it was not the fossil itself Charon was interested in, but what lay within. He calls it the Berserk Gene, a very odd and incredibly powerful genetic booster which seems to have belonged to a prehistoric beast known at the time only as the Blood Seeker. It should be able to enhance the samples themselves, preventing their forms from shattering upon extended contact with the overwhelming power of Mew's DNA. Unfortunately, it seems the beast's corpse only contained a very scarce sample of said gene. There is a decision to be made.

"February 2nd: Once again, Charon was overruled. I don't believe I've ever seen him so furious, though I can hardly blame him. After much examining the sample he provided, we came to the conclusion that there was only enough for a single use, which put us in a precarious situation. Charon advocated for it to be used on the latest sample, but once again we had to remind him that our task was to create a Pokemon, not an automaton. He strongly disagreed, claiming that a mindless end-product would be much more profitable and that the League would surely prefer a weapon that did as it was told instead of something capable of refusing orders. Unfortunately, again, he was outnumbered. We will use the Berserk Gene on a new sample, and pray that our efforts will not have been for naught.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"February 4th: For the first time, we are seeing hopeful signs. The embryo has retained its form for twice as long as any of the previous ones. Moreover, our machines have detected strong neural activity long before it should have manifested. If it can survive for a few days more like this…

"February 6th: We have done it. The clone has reached a form far beyond anything we could have imagined. It's still small, of course, and bears more than a little resemblance to the legendary Mew, only its fur is white and violet instead of pink. It sleeps, though its neural activity has grown so astonishingly fast that there is no doubt this creature will possess incredible psychic abilities once it has fully developed.

"After all this time… finally, we have done it. A clone worthy of the legendary Mew. We shall name this creature… Mewtwo."

A dreary, drawn-out silence followed the uttering of that name. Reiko waited, expecting Cynthia to continue with the next entry, but she simply snapped the journal shut and took in a deep breath, her voice tired from so much speaking. Just then, she noticed that Palmer stood under the sill of the door, carrying a pair of cups and a coffee bag, eyes as wide as hers. How long had he been listening for?

"As I'm sure you know," said Cynthia, her voice drawing all attention back to her. "Said creature escaped containment only a few months after this last entry, leaving a destroyed laboratory in its wake."

Reiko swallowed, feeling her throat dry. "W-why?"

"It seems, ironically enough, that Blaine and Fuji's decision to give this last clone not only the Berserk Gene but also free will and the ability to think for itself became the undoing of their precious project. Mewtwo was not keen to follow orders, you see." She gave Reiko a meaningful look, a tiny smile on her face. "A feeling you're probably familiar with."

Heat rose to her cheeks, and every single retort or insult that came to her died in her throat. Cynthia kept smiling for a moment, then continued.

"They tried to contain them, of course. No matter how much respect they placed on the creature's ability to choose for themself, they still considered them a Pokemon. And Pokemon, they believed, were meant to follow our orders." Her smile turned sour, then vanished. "Mewtwo did not take that well, as you can imagine. They were reluctant to hurt those who had brought them into this world, but after a brief demonstration of how futile it would be to even attempt to capture them, they made their stance perfectly clear to all present: 'Humans may have created me, but they will never enslave me. That cannot be my destiny.'"

A pang of guilt crept up Reiko's stomach. All these years, she'd harbored resentment toward this creature for abandoning the scientists who had created them and turning their back on Kanto when the region needed them most. Still… Could they really be blamed for doing so? Being created with the single purpose of fighting a war and nothing else… What would knowledge like that do to a person? To a Pokemon? Would she had reacted differently, had she been in their shoes?

Her gaze moved down to the odd Pokeball at the end of her belt. No, of course not. Wasn't that the reason she'd been chosen, because she most succinctly embodied the flame of cinnabar; impossible to contain, no matter how strong the chains?

She swallowed, feeling something heavy land on her stomach. Still…

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked. "What does it have to do with… that thing you discovered?"

Cynthia placed the journal down on the table, the curl of her smile making it evident that Reiko had asked the right question.

"A few weeks ago," she said, "the Association received the lab results from the examination of… well, what little was left of that mechanized beast Cyrus used to attack my home."

Reiko frowned. "That robot bug thing? What of it?"

"That 'robot bug thing' was much stranger than any of us expected," said Cynthia. "For one thing, its insides were only partially developed, as though the result of a fossil restoration experiment gone wrong. The metallic exoskeleton surrounding it seems to have served the purpose of not only strengthening the creature but also protecting its weak muscles and bones. Odd, considering fossil cloning has been an almost perfected science for almost a decade now." Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "Of course, our first assumption was that what lie beneath that armor was a Kabutops, judging by the creature's bone structure. However…"

"That wasn't the case," finished Palmer, a sour smile on his face. "Sarah told me," he explained as Cynthia raised a curious eyebrow. "Says it's the most paperwork she's ever needed to do for the science department."

"It was a long and confusing day for sure," nodded the Champion. "Its strange physiology, its powerful, incredibly confusing genetic makeup… We were unable to identify what Pokemon those remains belonged to… until now, of course." There was a tinge of victory in her voice, in the way she almost chuckled as she said that. "Reiko, I'm sure by now you realize what I'm saying?"

She nodded, the weight of her implication falling upon her like a cold gust of wind.

"You mean it was one of those… Blood Seeker things?"

"Indeed. A prehistoric beast, much older than any of the Pokemon we know today, even those who have been revived from our oldest fossils. From what little I've read, it seems there weren't many of them around even at the peak of their species, since their brutality led them to either starve to death from over-hunting their prey or killing each other in an attempt to prove their might. Not many fossils remain, and those who do are too old and worn out for modern science to make any use of. Though of course…" She sighed, looking down at the journal. "Charon seems to be trying as hard as he can, in a way."

"In a way?" Palmer asked, tilting his head.

"Yes, well… I doubt his goal is to revive the beast itself. As it's been proven already; his best attempt was still not strong enough to stand against my strongest partner," she said with a hint of pride in her voice. "No, I reckon he's after a very specific part of the beast."

Realization dawned on Reiko like a kick to the chin, and a second after a gasp from behind her confirmed that Palmer had understood, too.

"That berserk.. thing?" she asked, horrified. "He wants more of it!?"

"That is my guess, yes." Cynthia looked at her, and then at Palmer. "He's most likely trying to recreate the Berserk Gene at this very moment, or at least a sample big enough to rival the one he found in the depths of Cerulean Cave…"

"Wha-wait, hold on!" Palmer took a step forward, the cups on his hands almost falling to the ground. "You're telling me they're trying to… make another one of those things!? Another Mewtwo!?"

"Not just another, I'm afraid. You remember Charon's insistence, even back then, on using the sample on a clone devoid of all thought and free will? I believe him stealing that specific Ditto before fleeing toward Sinnoh is no coincidence."

Reiko let out a sudden, fearful chuckle, driving one of her hands through her hair. "Oh... Fuck."

"My thoughts exactly," Cynthia shot her an empathic look. "The idea of a being just as powerful as Mewtwo, only lacking the ability to disobey its masters… and under Team Galactic's control, no less."

"It's insane," muttered Palmer, shaking his head as though wanting to rid the thought off his mind. "Absolutely mental."

Cynthia nodded. "We should consider ourselves lucky that Mars decided to betray Team Galactic when she did."

"Then that's what they're after?" asked Reiko. "Team Galactic I mean. They wanna make another one of those things?"

"I'm sure it's one of the things they're after. Not their main goal, but when the time comes for Cyrus to put his plans into motion, he'll want a way to keep the entirety of the Association, and me most of all, from stopping him. And what better defense against that than the most powerful Pokemon in existence?"

"What do we do then?" asked Palmer suddenly. "I mean, we can't just let them…"

"Not much more we can do, I'm afraid," replied Cynthia. "We are already doing everything in our power to stop them, are we not?" There was a pause, and she looked down. "Still… it would be foolish not to capitalize on this information which, I'm sure, Cyrus believes we don't have."

She turned to Palmer so suddenly that the man jumped. "Could you contact Lucian? Explain to him what we have just discovered, in detail, and tell him to make Mars' capture our top priority. Additionally, urge him to get in touch with the Association's breeding experts and have them raise and train a new legion of dark-type Pokemon, just in case."

Palmer gave a decisive nod. "Right away."

He placed the coffee on top of the table and promptly turned around, disappearing past the sill of the door.

Reiko set her hands down flat on the table, feeling her breathing a bit busier than usual. She had to admit, when Cynthia said she'd finally figured it out she imagined it would be… something hopeful, maybe? Definitely not this. A defeated sigh left her lips. She figured this was how it'd work from now on. Every new discovery was an inch of the battle lost, yet a hopeful two inches won in the future.

"What's with that long face, Reiko?"

Cynthia's tone was playful, almost excited. Reiko looked up with a frown, keen on asking what the hell was so funny right now, when she saw the look on her face.

"What?" she asked.

"Admittedly… I may have stretched the truth a little bit." Cynthia leaned back on the kitchen counter, arms folded and a skittish smile on her face. "There is something else we could do about this revelation, though nothing Palmer could help me with."

Reiko scoffed. "That's why you got him out?"

"He has too much in his mind at the moment; I'd rather he busies himself with easy tasks." She gave a half shrug. "You, however, might be able to help me."

As sour as Reiko found the idea of aiding someone like her –especially when she looked as though the prospect of fighting one of those things excited her– she couldn't really say no. There was too much at stake for her standards to be as high as they usually were.

"What do you need?"

"Oh, nothing for you to do, specifically," said Cynthia with a tilt of the head and a smile. "It's just that I have a… friend, who might be able to help us with this particular problem, and I wanted to know if you'd mind accompanying me to meet them."

Reiko was taken aback. "Why me? You know I'm shit at convincing people to help us."

"Evidently," muttered Cynthia under her breath. "But I thought it may interest you, since this friend of mine is currently residing in Kanto."

There was a quick pause in which Reiko simply stared, waiting for Cynthia to say something else or to declare the whole thing a joke. When that didn't happen, she simply let out a derisive laugh.

"You're serious," she said, seeing no hint of a joke in Cynthia's face. "You want me to go with you all the way to Kanto?"

"Wouldn't it be nice to see your region again?"

"Uh… Yeah, but it'd also be nice to not waste a few days just traveling!" Reiko snapped back, shaking her head in disbelief. "There's no way we could make it there and then back before…"

"Oh yes, we could."

Reiko stumbled on her words. "W-what?"

"I don't mean to… insult your usual means of travel," said Cynthia with a smug look. "But I assure you; my Pokemon could get us to Kanto and back in less than a day. The rest would hardly realize we're gone."

"Y-you're joking."

"I usually am," admitted Cynthia. "But not on this. What do you say, then? I'm leaving in a few minutes, regardless of your answer, but I sincerely believe that you will regret not accompanying me, once all this is over."

She considered it, but only for a second. After all, wasn't the wait the worst thing about all of this? Being stuck inside a dingy house, staring at the clock and looking for ways to pass the time until finally they had something to do? Besides… it would be nice to see Kanto again, she thought with a gentle smile.

"Alright," she said, standing to her full height, a look of determination on her face. "Let's go."