What to do now. That was the question. Because yes, I could look at the quests and actually do as the ones who sent me here want, but do I want to do that? What is in it for me? A way home? To a home I cannot remember? Are my memories also at the end of the journey? I audibly sigh. Am I even at any risks? Beyond the starvation and dehydration. Hold on those barely affect me anymore do they? More like power loss or overheat. I smirk at my own thoughts. What do I do? I still see the beacon in the distance. Maybe go see them? Try to find out together? Maybe they are also an amnesiac and we can not remember our past together. I am truly at a loss So many screens. What can I even do? Wait that's actually a good question here. What can my body actually do? I know part of what makes it work, but what can it actually do?
With my newfound goal, I start to think of things to do. Okay, seeing the mechanical parts, I wonder how strong I actually am. The forest seems far, but that could be a good endurance test. I might as well see how fast I consume power. Let's try a jog. I seem to remember not being that good at sports before. I give one more look at the distant beacon. I'll get to them when I know more about myself.
And so I start running. I do so at a rather slow pace, just covering distance. I am running parallel to the 'Frend?' beacon. Still no idea what direction it is. Hold on, I realize as I look up at the sky, if this world follows the same rotation as Earth, then… What is Earth? A planet. Okay, why does it feel familiar, distant and as if I do not know what it is at the same time. I come to a stop, I might be about a fourth of the way to the forest now, maybe less.
But let's step back a little. That sensation about Earth makes me… wow. A single tear has just rolled from my eyes. What the fuck is an Earth and why do I feel so conflicted about it? I stop and really start to think about it. What do I know about Earth? Home to humans, like me, but also not really like me. Destroyed? Not destroyed? Schrödinger Earth? Okay, I- something is really wrong with my memory here.I try to think more about and then- There! I have finally found why Earth is making me feel so conflicted. I have memories of it being both destroyed and still existing. And both are correct. Are they? I can feel the wrongness in the destroyed one. It feels off. The more I concentrate on it, the more the memory of earth still existing gets stronger. It… It still exists. But somewhere else it does not anymore.
Clink… Clink…
A sound gets me out of my mind. I look around, it sounds like a rock on metal. Clink- There it is again, so close too! I turn around, and a surprised squeak makes me look down. A small purple rat is looking in bewilderment at my ankle. I look in bewilderment at the absolutely off color rat. The rat, seeing my ankle is no longer moving, approaches again and tries to nibble at it again, it even gets up on its hind legs to do so. Why is a rattata trying to nibble my ankle? Why do I know the specie name?? I mean, its a creature from a game but- A game? That thing is real! This is not a game! It's still nibbling! A rat-like pokemon, trying to nibble at my ankle. What is a pokemon? An hyper-intelligent creature that may be part of the local fauna or flora/ A creature from a game I played once upon a time.
Stop. Just stop! I groan in pain as a sudden headache split my skull. I feel a sharp pain behind my eyes. Something is wrong here. I heave, yet nothing comes up. Another weird thing I realize. I have no saliva, nor digestive fluid probably. Does it matter? The pain in my skull redoubling is telling me no, not right now. I fall on my knees, clenching my head. The cool metal of my left arm is bliss on the side I hold and I quickly lie down on my back, my entire left arm on my forehead. My mind is split. I am starting to realize that now. What happened to me? What the FUCK happened to me? A new lance of pain shoots right between my eyes and I groan in pain again.
I slowly empty my mind, focusing on my breath. Why do I even- No no more thinking, only the silence of nature. I stay down for some time, listening to the rustle of weed in the gentle wind. A distant bird calls for its peers.
Clink… Clink…
THE FUCKING RAT IS BAAAAAACK! I shoot up, the headache flaring once more. My right hand darts for my ankle and I grab the rat by its neck. My vision is crisp and clear even with the pain. The rat is absolutely terrified, looking at me with wide eyes.
"What the fuck do you want?" I snarl at the poor rodent.
Its fear lessens slightly and it squeaks. I stare at him. I visibly see it gulp. It then points at its two large front teeth. Gnawing? It was trying to wear them out? Wait how am I understanding a rat? The more I look, the more I see actual intelligence behind those red eyes of his.
"Fine. Just don't break anything, try to use the more static parts here." I point at my foot. Most of it is armored and does not have much in therm of moving parts that he might damage. I do not know how I can fis myself, or if I even can.
I put the rat down and it resumes its gnawing, this time on my foot. The clinking sound echoes around me. The headache seems to have rescinded. I sigh and take a large breath. Then I expire. Then I close my eyes.
Clink… Clink…
I let the sound carry me as I slowly let my mind blank. I have… two sets of memories. I inhale. One set is broken, more feelings than anything else. I exhale. The other is sharp, but feels alien, almost added up. I inhale. And I have no idea what I may know. I exhale. I inhale. I exhale. The broken memories must be my actual past. What I was before. I inhale and a part of me agrees with my assumption. It feels as if I am right in speculation. Like the part of me that balk at my name, at the Earth being destroyed, agrees with the broken memories being myself. I am agreeing with myself. Wow that feels weird when me and myself feels like two different entities yet are still both me at the same time. Urgh. The headache seems to be coming back, although much more rescinded.
Clink… Clink…
I exhale, then inhale and repeat for a couple of times. Alright, the headache is lessening again. Now for the other part. Those… other memories. The ones that make me know things my old memories tell me are wrong or warped. I open my eyes and look at the rattata. A normal type pokemon. One that is currently maintaining its teeth on my foot. From my past memories, it is a wondrous thing, but the implications are terrifying. From my, I am going to call them unlocking memories, it is a rat-like pokemon of the normal typing. The specimen appears weak and male. It is right now harmless and will not be able to damage me much even if it used Moves.
I blink. That was absurdly detailed. I know so much about this single rat. Biology, diet, physical needs, ways to heal it, to train it… To kill it… I gulp. The unlocking memories must be linked to the system. I quickly open my main menu again and then the pokedex tab. yup, the rat is here. N°19 on the list. Rattata. I find back all the information that have just flooded my mind. Most of it I seems to actively forget as I read the newly created entry. Not that it is being erased, but becoming closer to something I am reading for the first time. Ask me the exact diet of that rat in a day and I'll tell you to wait a second, because I will need to check it.
The rat suddenly stops gnawing at my foot, looks up at me, nods and take off. Well see you then little rat. What even brought this whole ordeal up? Right! Earth! Directions! I look back up, right at the sun. Oh. It looks like it is at its zenith. I guess I'll see it when it starts to move again. I even look down at my shadow and it really is like the sun is right above me. My shadow is directly beneath me, barely going beyond my body. Welp, so much for direction. I look at my energy reserve. First off, why are they little squares instead of numbers? Especially while integrity has a numerical value! I am just grumbling for the sake of grumbling at this point aren't I. There is no way to try to make sense of that system right now.
Anyway it seems my little run has… reduced? Yep, my little run has reduced the first square.
Energy: ◼◼◼◼◼ ◼◼◼◼▣
Hum… so am I above 95% energy or is it something different? I have no clue, but I must have been running for about 20 to 30 minutes at the most. I did not feel winded, I did not even sweat. Can I go faster? Only one way to find out.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
I start running again, faster this time. Another funny thing about my body, I have do have feelings in my mechanical parts I realize. They are muted, but they exist. And as I run, I slowly start to feel a low burning sensation. It is not exertion, but I can tell it could become just that. Interesting
The forest slowly approaches. As I run I look around, at the endless field of grassy hills surrounding me. I pass scattered trees and bushes, each far from each others. I also spot more of the glistening flowers. I spot more blue, as well as red, black and even a green one. Only the sparkles around it make me see it. But still I run. My arms pump the air in concert with my legs. I see the little square of energy empty and realize they are actually shrinking as time passes until they are empty. Damn, why would someone make something like this? I mean yeah, it looks like a game UI, that is user interface, but why only energy and coolant? Also, speaking of coolant I still have not started to make a dent in the rightest square. Anyway, let's keep going.
I pass by a goofy looking rabbit who looks at me with both his brown tipped ears raised in alarm. I glance at him as I pass, but it scampers away quickly. A bunnelby, a digging bunny. He can actually use his ears as shovels. Neat
Some of brown birds with beige underbellies fly past me, screeching and then just going away. I smile at that. They are not majestic in any way, but one of them was bigger than the others, with a pinkish-red crest and a few red-pink tail-feather. A couple of pidgey with a leading pidgeotto. The pideys would have been mostly harmless, but the pidgeotto could have messed me up if it wanted. They can be quite dangerous.
As I continue running, I check the pokemons I have just seen. Yup, all there, all three of them. I am starting to guess my eyes are a bit more than normal human eyes. How much of me is actually flesh and blood? Is my flesh even flesh? Or just some sort of flesh equivalent polymer? I sigh and finally stop in front of the forest. I have reached my self-given goal and destination. I check my energy and coolant. One and a half square of energy gone, and although I am breathing a bit heavier than normal, I did not loose any coolant. Is coolant a non-problem then? The sensation of burning in my legs is also subsiding with each breaths I take. Do I have redundant cooling? Maybe?
I straighten up and look forest outskirt. I cannot see anything moving in it. I approach the closest tree, its trunk small enough for me to hug it with only one arm. Hum… Alright, I plant my left foot on the brown bark and push.
And fall backward. Ouch. But my foot, at a slightly weird angle, is still lodged in the bark. The claws are doing their job and have anchored it in the tree. I wiggle to dislodge it and then sit. This tree is a bit too small to actually climb, but maybe I can find bigger ones. I can climb, run for possible hours, and do not seem to need coolant that much. I will need food however. Let's go deeper then.
Wait! The sun! I go back out and look up, shielding my eyes a little. The sun is setting straight into the forest. So the forest would be west? Then the 'Frend?' beacon being to my left is south, my right is north and being me is east. IF this world is like Earth.
Achievement got: Knowing left from right. (Figured out the cardinal points of this world. You're lucky it's Earth-equivalent)
Reward: Compass display option enabled
Wow, I was right? Also, compass display? I immediately check it out. This display only shows part of a circle, with graduations and and direction mentions every 45 degrees. It also appears just above my field of vision. As I look around a bit to familiarize myself with it, I realize it sometimes disappear if I look too much to the right, left or down. Interesting.
Well, I now have directions. Let's go see if I can find something in this forest. Food would be nice.
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He looks around the seemingly endless orange. Can he see anything? He squints his eyes and move forward. And bump into an invisible surface. He rub his muzzle, starting to see a pattern forming that he does not appreciate. Something is there. An invisible barrier. As he slowly feels in front of him, he realize his space is far smaller than he first though. he can extend his arms and feel both side of his current space. Where is he?
The distant point starts to move. No! Where is it going? He watches as the number goes up. Are we not supposed to work together? Why are you going away? Mewtwo does not understand. He punches the invisible barrier in surprise and slight anger. Maybe it's something else? What if they are in danger? If this new possibility is true, he really need to get out. He continue to punch the barrier, trying desperately to break it. Yet it seems unbothered by its efforts.
He can feel his frustration mounting, and as it grows, he starts to feel something. Unseen to him, his eyes start to burn with cold blue light. As he punches the barrier once more, he feels his entire orange world move slightly with his punch. A small, but visible, crack appears in the barrier. He stops, what did he just do? This was more than just punching, it was as if he forced the fluid he is within to move with him. He looks at his three fingered hands and bunches them, the round tips of his fingers making that action slightly difficult.
Slowly, Mewtwo concentrates. He feels the world around him. There is more than just one way to look at this world he realizes. He can feel the flow of matter itself, and he can touch that flow. Not with its hands, no, but with his mind. He nudges the liquid around him and, with his eyes once more surrounded by blue light, starts to push the liquid while making it spin. Slowly, the liquid starts to turn around him, the more force he applies, the more a void starts to form in the middle of his cage. The moment his head is out of the liquid, he almost gag but pushes through. Just a little more. I am almost there. I can feel it.
The barrier shatter under the mounting pressure. Fragment of transparent matter flies everywhere. And he falls on his hands, coughing. He retch as his body expels the orange liquid from his lungs. He is free.
After spending a few minutes spitting out the liquid, he finally is able to look around. Gone is the world of orange glow. He now see he is in a world of grey rocky floor and walls. He slowly get up and take a step down from the round platform he had fallen onto. Then another. The barrier fragments shatters beneath his feet. He turn around and look back at his prison.
He had been inside what must have been a large transparent cylinder connected to a strange assortment of machinery. The machine blinks and beeps, gauges go up and down and unreadable text scrolls on the only visible screen. Then blue and red light mixed with purple lightning engulf the entire contraption and it vanishes. Mewtwo blinks as the machine had been his only source of light up to this point. He now is left in a dark cave. He turns around, trying to find any senses of where to go. I need light. How can I make light?
He remembers the screen. It had light did it not? He summons it and realizes quickly that although the screen is bright, it does not illuminates. This confuses him to a great degree.
He sigh and dismisses it. He start walking, keeping his hands in front of him to avoid bumping in any wall. As time passes his eyes starts to adapt to the gloom and he can make out a side brighter than the others. An exit maybe? Or at least a brighter part of that cave?
He reaches it and find a tunnel going up. It is large enought for him to stand and the light comes from strange crystal growth. There seems to be two kind. The first ones are blue and seem to resonate with part of him, radiating calm and a humid feeling. The other kinds are red and radiate heat and power. Curious, he reaches for one of each. They effortlessly breaks them. The blue one feels cold, like holding ice, but without the bite of it. It radiates the possibility of life, but also death. The other is warm, almost burning, yet also comforting in a way. It radiates power and light, but in too little to be used in meaningful ways.
Mewtwo looks at the crystals and decides to keep them. He slowly reaches with his mind and the two crystals start to float above him. He keeps ascending the tunnel and soon exit into a large chamber. More crystal growth can be seen sparsely covering part of the ceiling and walls. Brown vines fall from stalactites. The walls now have dashes of colors. Some parts are brown-red while others have streaks of white on them. He can even see black patches here and there as well as the occasional beige-brown streaks. It looks incredible, almost enchanting.
A growling sound snaps Mewtwo out of his contemplation. A strange bipedal being just turned a corner. Tattered clothes cover a decaying body. Two arms, two legs, no tails, one head with hollowed eyes. The figure staggers more than walks. It looks around for a bit then staggers further. Mewtwo has not moved and the thing ignored him. He gulps. He does not know what that was, but it seemed wrong in some unknown ways. He looks up and around, trying to find a new way to go.
There! Above him, a passage seems to give more light than the other. But it is high. He looks around but can see no way to climb up. The passage even has an overhang to complicate things further. A little blue bat with purple wing membranes dashes past him with a screech. Its large ears darting here and there. Good for you little zubat. I wish I had wings too.
He sits down, looking around, resting his head on one of his hand. How do I get up there? He lowers the crystals he had been carrying whit his powers. He make them orbit slowly. He suddenly drops them. I am an idiot! He quickly get the crystals floating once more and then concentrates. If he can make crystals float, then why not himself? With a bit of focus, he feels his body slowly leave the ground. He smiles. Here we go. He kicks up and… goes nowhere. Did he even touch the ground? He tries again, looking this time. He is floating, but he cannot move. Wait, I just need to push myself with telekinesis. And so he awkwardly moves up. After a minute or so he finally touches down on the little overhang. I will need to practice that trick a bit more. The effort did drain him slightly, but finally, he can see a brighter light at the end of this new tunnel. With the two little crystals still floating around him, he continues to climb toward what he hope to be the exit of the cave.