Hi! Here is the second chapter. Did I say the opening sequence was long?! Well, I found out that I *can't* do short things!

There are a lot of depressing flashbacks and scattered spiritual themes, but that is because it represents some struggles in my own life. Sigh...life in my parents' house- I feel like Mewtwo. By the way, ' ** ' denotes inner monologue, rather than speech.

Mewtwo, Escaped

Part Two

By Tiffany

Brian tore through the streets of Vermilion City, leaving the ominous gym behind but not truly knowing why. Perhaps it was his nerves, frayed thin by fear. Perhaps it was Mewtwo's own will to escape the hell within those shadowed walls. Mewtwo...that he feared above it all but, as with one who is on fire, there is no outrunning what you bring with you.

Houses rushed by, people crashed into him-or perhaps it was the other way around; he could no longer tell. There was only the burning in his legs and the vague fear that pursued him like the monster in so many a nightmare. Within seconds- or perhaps it was hours- Viridian Forest washed over him, and he realized he had been aiming for it all along.

If nothing else, it is the forest that calms a trainer's nerves. There is a certain wild serenity in its leafy cover, an utter seclusion to play against the tension of battle. -Not to mention a bountiful supply of Pokemon; that which he sought unendingly. Brian thrust off his jacket, letting it fall randomly upon the undergrowth.

"Growlith!" A beam of energy quickly took on the shape of his battered puppy. He hugged it tight for protection; being alone with a Mewtwo was like being alone with one of the Raptors from Jurassic Park- in more ways than one.

For a moment, the jacket was still and Growlith, having been recalled soon after being injured, wondered why his master watched it with such interest. Brian, too, began to wonder- or more like hope- that he had imagined the whole shocking scene. -After all, why would Mewtwo sound female? But of course he was not crazy -or lucky- for a tiny Mewtwo did, in fact, emerge from the pocket, return to its original size, and shoot across the horizon.

Brian sighed a breath he did not realize he had been holding, as he followed the super-Pokemon with his eyes. A huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. It was not that he was particularly 'cowardly;' fear was just a rather foreign concept. Unlike many Pokemon trainers who longed for adventure, his life still maintained a comfortable pace. There was scenery that forever ambled by, friends that warded off the ever- present hand of loneliness and battle that could never be fatal. Perhaps he sensed that would all change abruptly with that last badge- or else he would not have shivered so when he thought of it. -But who would have figured that Mewtwo would jump into his pocket?! It was like being hijacked by Bigfoot!

"It's gone!" He happily proclaimed. "Pidgeotto, Nidorina, Rattata, come out! Let's celebrate!"

A campfire was started courtesy of his fire Pokemon and the evening meal passed out. There were expensive tins of Pokechow, leftover pizza and cold soda wrapped in tin foil. Such trainers' delicacies were usually reserved for a landmark win, but being rid of such a nightmarish situation was occasion enough.

On the lightheaded waves of soothed nerves, Brian soon fell asleep with Growlith on his lap and the other Pokemon happily back in their Pokeballs.

A twig snapped; his eyes flew open- then blinked again in disbelief. In the eerie moonlit wood stood a creature he had dreamt of- or did he truly remember? At nearly six foot tall, it seemed an odd mix of features that were distinctly catlike, and yet distinctly human with the violet eyes of neither. -Just forever everything and nothing; a gray in-between. Brian's heart skipped a beat, but he was too exhausted to scream.

"...I thank you for assisting me..." It paused awkwardly, as if not knowing how to behave around a human; as if it wanted to be polite, but did not know how. "It's good you chose a secluded area. they are not as likely to find me, here."

**...Not as likely to find my dead body...** If he had been paying more objective attention, he might have noticed that the Mewtwo was more afraid that he was. -Not of the lowly trainer, but of familiar watchful eyes. It, too, jumped at the snapping of a twig. Blindly, he rummaged through his backpack and withdrew a Super Potion.

**I should have figured, I should have prepared. No, this was unpredictable, too. Oh, Growlith, get to feeling better, quick!** As if obeying his master's mental plea, a threatening growl arose.

"Oh?! Do you plan on battling me, again? Fine." It smirked sarcastically. "Trees work as well as walls but are a little more difficult to hit."

For a moment, the air was tense and strained, as the human still sat defenseless against one of those very trees. Yes, he wanted to battle-he had to...but couldn't. There was nothing he could do; it was indestructible.

"What do you want?! Why don't you leave me alone?!" The Mewtwo was taken aback with frustration.

**He isn't listening, he doesn't hear me at all. It is imperative that I get through to this one in particular; I may not have another chance. ..And yet he seems to be overcome with fear- but why? What could I have possibly done?!** It thought back...

"She looks sad." The cautious crowd of scientists that had gathered to witness Mewtwo's 'birth' had long dwindled, leaving only two sentries whose job it was to record every bit if information as it developed. It seemed to be a difficult task; their pens were forever scribbling out notes, for her species-if that is what you could call it- was still new to the world.

**Sad?! You have no idea,** she thought to herself, through inky darkness and cold sanitation.

"What is with all this 'she' business?" The first scientist scanned his notes critically.

"It was created from the DNA of a female Mew, just as the Boss wanted. It even has a female 'voice,' among other things. I'd say that makes 'it' a 'she.' ...And I *said* she looks sad; what do you suppose she is thinking?"

**...About the odd nature of my existence ...About my purpose, my place in the universe. ...About what part these humans play in who I am, beyond this lab. ...About how good it would feel to have the sun on my face again.

-Again? That was a very realistic dream, if it was even a dream at all. I wonder if they know about it? I wonder if they know what I am thinking, right now?** She ached to fall back into that deep sleep on the fringes of her life's beginning, if only for a minute. **No, a minute would not be enough. I would be too tempted to stay forever; what use is consciousness when reality feels more like hell?**

"Puh! It's not thinking anything; for heaven's sake, it's a lab experiment! You have to keep from getting emotionally attached. Remember, this thing is deadly!"

**Deadly?!** Perhaps it was the strange sense of power she felt just within her mind's grasp, but had not yet used. **Am I deadly?!**

"Didn't they tell you what happened to the crew that developed the first Mewtwo?"

**The *first* Mewtwo? There was one before me?** Suddenly interested, she turned her violet eyes toward them- they shivered and shrank back.

"...Yes. They said no one could even identify the bodies, afterward!"

"...They said he blew up the lab- *this* lab- and just watched as they all burned to death!"

**What?! Why would he do something so extreme? He must have been very desperate and miserable- even more than I am!** Suddenly she was filled with sorrow for the dead and the plight of that secret predecessor.

"No compassion, no %$#&* compassion at all! ...That is one thing we *can't* create; a heart."

She closed her eyes and looked inward, summonsing the strength, the peace, the righteous courage that lay within. *They* may not have created that quality, but for whatever reason, it was there.

Suddenly it was clear.

"Oh- you are afraid of me because you think I am my predecessor; the Mewtwo who killed some of your kind!"

"W-what?! You're not?! There's more than one?!"

His head was spinning. **How stupid can they be?! -Didn't they know better, after all the destruction the first one caused?! Even the guy in Jurassic Park didn't try it again!** Filling the empty space on his jacket was looking ever more impossible. **And how does Giovanni keep his gym leader's license if no one can ever win? What do I have to do, clone my *own* super-Pokemon?!**

"I am the second. There are four now, but I am the only female. Giovanni thought a female Mewtwo would be less violent, and I suppose he was right; I haven't killed anyone. -But somehow I doubt that has anything to do with my sex..." For a moment, the super-Pokemon seemed far away from that humble campsite; as if playing among the cosmos with some intriguing concept.

"So you aren't going to kill *me*?" Despite the severity of that comment, terror had fizzled into a sort of macabre fascination. It was not much, but enough of a foundation for things to come.

**Of course not, I still need his assistance...**

"What will you do, now?" Brian asked. She thought for a moment but could not come to a conclusion. For all the 'superior intelligence' science had given her, she had failed to think her plan through. -For it was not the intelligence that yearned for freedom, but the wild ancient Mew within.

"I have no idea; where is it *you* are going?" His eyes glazed over and he folded his arms in protest of the promise so denied him.

"Where am I going?! Well, I *was* headed to the Indigo Plateau to become a Pokemon Master, but thanks to *you*, I can't even get my last badge!"

"It could not be avoided. If I did not battle, one of the other two Mewtwos would have, and there is no way you puny Growlith could have beaten them, either."

"Hmph!"

"Well, wherever you decide to go on your journey, I will have to follow, for the time being." He sweatdropped and nearly fell backwards in shock. A Mewtwo was going to insist on sticking around, when he was not even sure she wasn't going to kill him?! She explained.

"I have to keep a low profile, and you are about as low as they get." **Wait, that didn't come out right...*** Her eyes grew desperate and passionate- the strange look Brian had seen in that instant after Giovanni had left the room. ...Perhaps *she* had caused the small explosion for that very purpose..."What I mean is, Team Rocket has realized that I am missing. They are searching the entire state as we speak. You see, I am a very valuable asset to whoever claims me; and I will *not* be claimed by them again. -They will make it impossible for me to escape, next time. "

"But you are a Mewtwo; didn't the first one escape twice?..."

"Yes, but their scientists have become much more resourceful since then. ...Do you know what it is like...?" Suddenly scared by her seriousness, he shook his head. "...I will show you..." Her voice was but a ghostly whisper, with those words. They hung in his head like a cloudy mist, then fizzled into a memory that was not his own.

Wires and cables descended from the platform Mewtwo had been ordered to stand on. In a cold, impersonal darkness, they adhered to her body; the sensitive temples in particular. Immediately, machines began to beep in time to the will of science- the will that limited her own by the fact that it had created her. The tiny pinpoints were uncomfortable, but could easily be ignored; they were merely carriers of a much more ill effect.

Mewtwos are psychic. It is a quality that was built into their Mew originals, and, noting its potential, 'refined' by humans. As such, her creators saw it as their right to control that mysterious power- even to the point of harming their owner. It didn't matter that those stinging electrodes reached into the Mewtwo's brain and temporarily seized it- binding her mind in a painful straightjacket. Such psychic power was too dangerous to leave unmoderated for an extended length of time; that was the mistake made with her destructive predecessor. After all, they thought, she was just a Pokemon; a tool to be manipulated.

"What are you doing to me?! It's *my* power, you can't take it away from me!" Mewtwo squirmed in agony, as she fought against the tightening chokehold. Her eyes glowed a menacing purple, sparks radiated from the overcharged wires, but she could produce no other effects.

Giovanni secretly admitted that it was dangerous to provoke a Mewtwo's anger; he had nearly been killed in a scene very near to this one.

"These restrictions are only temporary, Mewtwo. I will have need of your power in the morning."

"Oh, is that all I'm good for?! LET ME GO! I have a life and soul of my own; you cannot hold me prisoner like this!" She was screaming out telepathically, but he merely chuckled. -A lioness pacing in its cage; that's all she was.

"I gave you life; you owe it to me. As far as a soul goes- you have no soul; you are not human. You are just a Pokemon, and a clone of one at that." She could not believe him- she refused to. The world and reality and existence spun dizzily within her mind, crashing into barriers and shattering into a thousand shadowy pieces. ...One could easily go insane.

"No, I don't blame that first Mewtwo for killing those humans, if they were all like *you!* I don't think he was evil at all! I hope you come back as someone's clone; wouldn't that be poetic justice!"

In fact it was at that fevered moment that her predecessor would have lost all tolerance and escaped, but Team Rocket saw it coming this time and planned ahead. Electro-charged wires restricted Mewtwo's mind. Handcuff- like cords restricted her body, which in itself had no outstanding strength. -And the genetically mutated form of a Pokemon restricted her spirit.

"It's not fair, it's not right!" She chanted, growing weary and no longer aware of what she was saying. Giovanni held his own temples, as if suffering from a headache.

"Augh! Shut up! Get out of my head! You at the computer- turn off its telepathy before I go crazy!" With the stroke of a few keys, the super Pokemon was muted; now completely defenseless. She could but retreat to some yet untouched corner of her mind and cry against the hell she was born into.

The Team Rocket Boss smirked with satisfaction at this utter mental collapse. He motioned to his doting scientists.

"We have broken the female. There may still be time to tend to the others." One lingered for a moment over his clipboard. -Perhaps he was the one who had recognized her sorrow some months previous.

"...Tears...tears indicate emotion. Perhaps she is stronger than we think."

Brian experienced every agonizing moment Mewtwo had, saw every dark detail with horrible clarity. When the vision faded, he could only fall forward onto the forest floor, panting feverishly and nodding in agreement to her request. -He would not let her go through that again.

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