Mewtwo opens his eyes to the sky. He looks for a second at the clouds and the distant floating landmasses. When did we get back to the surface, he wonders. His last memory is of defeating the monstrous human-like beast in the cave along with the two lesser creatures at his command, and promptly passing out. No dreams or visions visited him during that time, only silence and darkness. But he is finally awake. the moment he tries to move, he faintly groan. His torso feels raw, he feels sharp pain within it with the slightest movements. He tries to crane his neck, and the movement comes out stiff and cramped. His entire body feels like he has been rolled over by something. His legs and arms are filled with the sensations of pins and needles poking him just beneath his skin. Did Astra carry him? How else could he have arrived here?

He tries to extend his psychic senses, only for a sharp headache to rise within his mind. Great. I have been out for who knows how long and I am still almost fully disabled.

Urgh, that must have been the worst nap of my sort existence. He declares out loud, only for more pain to radiate within his skull. With great efforts, he lifts one arm and rub his forehead, his bulbous fingers leaving fleeting soothing sensations where he presses them.

Who may be this follower of yours? An imperious feminine voice echoes all around him.

Mewtwo blinks. Another being able to use psychic talk? Who could that be? Her talent seems both more advanced than his and paradoxically cruder than his own. He looks to his side, and spot the one who has talked. The small figure of the florges contrasts drastically to her voice. Next to Astra, she appears almost childlike. The first impression is quickly dispelled when Mewtwo notices the aged lines upon the body the pokemon.

Who is this? He mutters internally. He is cautious of the newcomer. As much as seeing Astra standing next to her fills him with relief for his companion, no, his friend's survival, he can see multiple parts of Astra's body are either bruised, bent or battered. His travels were far from peaceful.

"This is Mewtwo, we met on the first day. We were both made by the Trio." Astra answers the florges.

A florges versed in the arts of the psychics? This seems to stir something within Mewtwo. He knows, somehow, that the pokemon line has small capabilities for such arts, but to get them trained so much? That is surprising. This florges might be special. Did they stumble upon her garden? Or was Astra able to find this peculiar one wandering?

Mewtwo let go of his questioning for now. Answers will come when they shall. Greeting, esteemed florges, I am Mewtwo, Astra's companion and friend. He politely greets the florges.

As his headache subsides, he can start to feel the world around himself with more than his five senses. And he realizes quickly that politeness might be the way to go. This florges feels strong, almost impossibly so. The strength she radiates seems subdued, yet it is still enough to make Mewtwo gulp. Who si she?

The florges looks Mewtwo up and down, her imperious expression not softening for a second, until she speaks again. This fellow seems acceptable, although weak. Yet have we not all started at the bottom? She continues to give Mewtwo a judgmental look, before summoning something above her arm. A ball of pollen puffs out above her open palm and she slowly approaches Mewtwo. With surprising strength, she grabs one of Mewtwo's small horns and lifts him up by the head, earning a sharp electronic cry of pain from the pokemon. Before Mewtwo can do anything, the ball of yellow dust is shoved in his mouth and then promptly swallowed. The ball tastes like flowers, honey and grass. Mewtwo almost chokes on it and cough a few times, small puffs of yellow dust escaping him with each ones.

What was that for? Mewtwo shouts at the florges, jumping up and away her.

Thou should thank us for thy recovery, instead of shouting at us like a mewling kit! She declares. Mewtwo recoils at the strength of her declaration. Humph. She adds, crossing her arms and looking away from Mewtwo.

Astra rushes to Mewtwo side, clearly distraught as well by the interaction. "Are you okay? The hunter did a number on us. I... I though you were gone for a moment there." Astra's eyes seems to turn wet as he finishes his sentence.

I... I am alright, I will recover after some more rest. Mewtwo gently answers his cyborg friend. Astra then suddenly hugs him, and Mewtwo returns the gesture. They stay like this for a minute, simply appreciating each other presence, until the florges clears her throat. As much as thine displays of friendship art touching, night shall fall soon. We can offer better protection should thou enter our forest. We believe thou art recovered enough for the short journey.

Mewtwo and Astra separates, and the psychic pokemon almost go to refute the florges declaration, before realizing they are now standing upright, with minimal efforts and pain. Mewtwo looks himself over at the realization. Blue bandages marred with reddish-brown red stains cover multiple parts of his body. Charred parts of his skin is visible at the edge of most covers places, as well as many other left uncovered. Yet the pain is minimal, just a feeling of dull ache. It appears I am. I thank you for your help...

Thou may address us as Princess, or your highness. The florges finally introduces herself to Mewtwo.

Thank you for your help, your highness. Mewtwo finishes. The name rings a bell and he look at Astra for possible confirmation. The cyborg simply nods and mouth a yes.

And the situation starts to make more sense. The imposing aura, the aged appearance, even the mannerism. This is Princess, one of Aster Stradivii old team member. Mewtwo gulps at the realization.

Ha, it appears thou have heard of us. Princess taunts Mewtwo. Mewtwo simply nods.

Annoyed at the lack of further response, she turns around and floats away. She stops after a few meters, before turning around and simply beckoning Mewtwo and Astra with a simple movement of her head. Both the cyborg and pokemon follow swiftly.

Little happens during their fast march. Astra catch Mewtwo's up on what happened during his short coma, and Mewtwo listens. As he nears the end of the recounting, Astra suddenly remembers he has yet to give Mewtwo his parts of the rewards.

"By the way, we got a lot of things from that raid." Astra says as he takes out eight candies out. Six are known to Mewtwo. The pyramid shaped S candy and the cube shaped M candies he had already seen, he quickly gobble those. But the remaining two, he looks in wonder. Astra informs him they are called L Exp. Candy, and Mewtwo takes one of the two and looks at it. They looks like two S candies stuck together at their base forming a blue transparent octahedron. He looks at it for another minutes before eating it, then the second one. The boost makes his eyes open wide.

Yes, five M candies were one huge boost, but just those two L candies gave one even greater. Before this fight, he had been labeled as level 22, and now he has reached level 34 in seconds. Two new paths have unlocked, and Mewtwo almost tries them immediately, but the sudden appearance of Princess's face right in front of him stops any though of doing so.

How hast thou done that? She demands, a mix of fury and curiosity courses through her expression.

Mewtwo and Astra look at each other in confusion, before they realize what she means. Astra uses the projector in his arm to show princess the system quests and achievements, as well as the explaining the rewards. "The Trio gives us quests to complete as well as rewards us for achieving certain actions. For exemple," he summons the 'Her royal highness' quest, "Meeting you was an achievement. It rewarded us with experience both me and Mewtwo. Me in the form of the points, Mewtwo in the form of experience candies. I just gave him the rewards from our recent raid."

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

So those gods favors the growth of our kin as well as yours? Hum... We shall agree that makes them more... tolerable, possibly. Is there any other ways for thou to obtain such creations, beside doing so through rewards?

Astra ponders that question, and Mewtwo summons his own system windows. How could one make such objects? After a couple minutes of fruitless searching, neither pokemon nor cyborg find any clues as to how they could create more experience candies. Princess sigh in dissatisfaction and simply drops the matter.

They quickly resume their walk and soon a forest appear in the distance. At first Mewtwo believe what he is seeing is an optical illusion from the distance, but as they approach the tree line, he realize that no, what he is seeing is real.

The forest they are approaching, compared to the previous one, is almost like a wall of vegetation. Trunks are hidden behind walls of tall bushes, and where holes in the vegetation appear, a strange thick mist pours out, obscuring what would be within the forest.

Princess accelerates her floating as they approach, forcing the duo to speed up as well. The sun slowly set as they reach the edge of the forest, and before either Mewtwo or Astra can contemplate the sheer magnitude of the forest they stand before, Princess enters it.

The bushes simply move out of the way, bending sideways to let her penetrate the otherwise impenetrable wall of vegetation. The mist quickly swallows her, and Mewtwo and Astra quickly enter before the the bushes close once more. The moment they are in, the atmosphere changes drastically. The plain they had been traversing had been quiet, true, but it had been a gentle quiet. Now, the silence has turned oppressive. Mewtwo and Astra vision is filled with white and only the large shadowy form of trunks break the monotonous mist. As they look, Mewtwo is certain he has just seen something move from one trunk to the other. When he tries to look at it, he realize the trunks are no longer where they had been.

Something is wrong here. He transmit to Astra.

"Yeah that mist is not natural." Astra answers, his voice sounds distant and muffled by the oppressive blanket of whiteness.

How so? Mewtwo asks.

"Temperatures and meteorological conditions should not allow for such a thick mist at this time of day. Something is keeping it here, maintaining it." Astra rubs his forehead after that explantation. Mewtwo checks and senses a slight headache within Astra's mind. That information must have come with a lot of superfluous data. "Well I can now name every clouds I ever see... So that's something." Astra laughs a little before turning around. "Where did Princess go?"

Mewtwo looks around as well. Princess is gone. The florges must have continued without them and they had lost her to the mist. That was bad. As both of them look around, the forest seems to constantly change. Trees move, the mist unpredictably thickens, and as the sun finally sets, light disappear, leaving the duo in inky darkness.

"Shit. Princess?" Astra calls, hoping for her to still be nearby. No answers come forth. Only the rustle of leaves and faint sounds returns Astra's call.

Mewtwo tries to sense anything around him, but nothing seems present. It seems the mist is muting his psychic senses somehow. At some point, it feels like he senses someone, or something, but it is as fleeting as the positions of the trees.

Were do we go now? Mewtwo asks.

"Well... we entered the forest from the south-east, and the map seems to indicate it just keep going if we continue in that direction. By the way we are facing north right now." Astra explains, summoning the map for both he and Mewtwo.

So we just continue the way Princess went?

"Yeah, she was going that direction, we might as well follow in her footsteps."

Considering she floats, it will be hard to follow her footprints you know. Mewtwo says with seriousness before a smirk shatters his serious expression.

Both he and Astra laugh, the joke helping dispel some stress from the two. Astra points at a direction, and they start walking. Or more exactly, Astra start walking and Mewtwo floats alongside him. They both progress through the thickening mist. At the edge of their visions, trees move around, and more than once, eyes seem to open upon their trunks.

After a couple more minutes of walking, a new sound echoes through the mist. A low pitched hum, almost a cry.

"Monsters?" Astra questions, trying to find where the sound came from. Nothing appears before them, and the sound repeats.

It sounds like it is coming from everywhere at once. Mewtwo scans their surrounding, trying to find any traces of creatures, pokemons or humans close to them, but he can feel nothing. No, not nothing actually. The sensation is faint, but it is here. He can feel something, something stopping him.

Astra, stop. Mewtwo orders. Astra complies, sending a questioning look his way. Something is stopping my psychic senses.

"Ah? So there is someone looking at us. Hello?" Astra shouts to the mist, "We are not here to harm anyone, we lost our guide to the mist by mistake, could you help us?"

Mewtwo looks incredulously at Astra. You are crazy.

"Hey, if they are friendly, we might as well declare our intentions right?" Astra innocently replies.

And if they are not friendly?

"Then we fight? I mean, we are far stronger than we both give ourselves credit for."

True, Mewtwo relents, But this could still be dangerous.

"What isn't here? We have been in danger since the moment we woke up." Astra sighs.

Mewtwo nods, and they resume their march. While Astra guides them toward what should be the center of the forest, Mewtwo tries to track down where the blocking is coming from. Most of his attempts feel like trying to go behind a wall, but he keeps trying. Slowly, he expends his senses further, and soon finds another blockade. This one feels different, another being then.

The mist suddenly thickens and Mewtwo almost lose sight of Astra. Then it clears once more, and after a few seconds, Astra stops.

"We've been turned around." He declares.

What? How? Mewtwo is stunned, he felt nothing.

Astra summons the map, and shows it to Mewtwo. "We were there, and now we are back almost at the entrance." He point upon the map, showing how their advance revealed more of the forest, and how it suddenly threw them back almost at the edge of the forest.

Great... There are more than one being observing us. they might have worked together to obscure our senses and thrown us back.

"Hum... But they did not just turn us around. I was looking at the map the whole time. The moment the mist thickened, we returned here. We were almost teleported here."

Strange, I did not feel the touch of psychic powers. How did they do it so sneakily?

"Maybe it was not psychics? There may be other ways to achieve something similar..."

That is worrying. What do we do now?

"We try again and experiment with it."

Mewtwo nods, and they quickly return to the point that turned them back. "Alright, it was around here." Astra peers into the mist, "I'm going to try and bait it."

Before Mewtwo can protest, Astra walks forward, and disappear into the mist. Astra? Mewtwo calls out. No on answers. He did not even have the time to try and feel for anything. The disappearance happened as soon as Astra walked into the mist. Wait... What if... Mewtwo extends his senses into the misty wall and feel through it. He can feel more of the blockades, they seem more numerous here. Yet as he feel around more, he senses that they do not extend all along the metaphorical wall.

"Hey" Astra calls out, making Mewtwo jump up with a warble electronic cry. His tail goes straight up at being startled.

Mewtwo looks back, mortified at his reaction, to a vibrating Astra trying to keep a neutral face. Astra's expression holds for a couple second before he bend forward, laughing. Mewtwo glares at his friend until Astra stops, wiping tears from his face. "Sorry, sorry, you were so focused, I though you felt me arrive."

Mewtwo looks away in mock resentment. "Come on, I'm sorry. Don't be mad at me."

Mewtwo smirks at his expression softens. I'll get back to you for that some time. He declares. Anyway, it seems this is a trap meant to send whoever walks through it back to the forest edge, it extend some way to the right, but stops about there on the left. Mewtwo points as he explains.

"Alright, let's try it." Astra takes the lead once more and and walks toward the supposed edge of the trap. After walking forward for a few moments, nothing happens. "Seems you were right."

Mewtwo smile at that. And then falls down on all four as an impossible weight settles upon his mind. Something is angry at him.

The weight of the unknown mind tries to confine him within his own head. He hears Astra call at him faintly, but is unable to answer. Just remaining awake requires absurd efforts. And then it is gone. The mind hastily retreats as Mewtwo manages to endure the pressure. He huffs, sweat rolls down his brow, and something wet trickles down his nose. He sweep it and his pale hand comes red. A nosebleed. What was that?

"-wo! Mewtwo? Are you alright?" Astra's distressed voice finally snaps him out. He gets up, wincing as his body feels cramped all over.

I am... fine. Something did not appreciate me finding the hole in their defenses.

"Shit... do you need a break?"

Not here. We need to keep going before they try again. Mewtwo extends his senses once more, wincing at the sudden pain of doing so, but persevering nonetheless. There are more traps ahead, let us advance.

Indeed, the way forward feels like a maze of trapped walls of mist. Mewtwo steels himself and slowly the both of them traverse the magical forest line of defense.