[ POV Change ]

Mewtwo simply levitated himself upward toward the second floor, past the pathetic dark creatures that stood guard around his partner's office. Pathetic, he mentally sneered, as if these pitiful creatures would be able to stand in front of his wrath, should he direct it towards Team Rocket.

"Giovanni has called for you," Boss replied slowly, as the two walked ahead in the empty corridor, away from all interference.

Mewtwo smiled. The hierarchy within the tiers of Team Rocket amused him to no end. The entire organization, while over two decades old, had truly come to life some… three years ago, with its aim of making its presence known all over Kanto. Before that, it had mainly been a cluster of undercover research groups working for a man, a shrewd businessman, whose ambition and intelligence were unparalleled among men.

Lionel Giovanni.

Of course, back then Giovanni had funded a significant amount of capital on Project Alpha—a project that was supposed to create the most powerful pokémon in the world. Or rather, that was what it seemed it was.

A project that had ended with a blaze, with twisted metal on the ground, the entire island engulfed in ashes and smoke, and a lone survivor, one who would someday, become the Alpha of all.

[ Three years ago.]

The entire place was in ruins. The scorching flames consuming the entire fortress, the labs underground now nothing more than jaded glass and broken pillars, the machinery destroyed, the lives annihilated, and now… there was nothing else. One single beam of light, one single pair of glowing, icy blue eyes, and everything, decades of research were destroyed, annihilated, and all of that, because of one single mistake.

Mewtwo looked down at his own hands. All of this… devastation, had been caused by nothing but a couple of thoughts. Wishes… and emotions. Then again, as the man in white had told him.

He was the most powerful pokémon in the world.

I had strings… but now I'm free.

And then he saw it.

Walking towards him, a man, with that large mechanical contraption with wings behind him. A chopper… He realized, as information that he had absorbed from the man in white—Dr. Franklin's mind rose to fill in the blanks. He wondered, why this… human was coming towards him. It was not like he would be any-

Different?

Yes. He is different.

The human stood in front of him. There was no trace of fear in the man's eyes. It was almost like… fear, and pain were concepts abstract to him.

Just like me. Mewtwo told himself.

"I see that their experiment succeeded." The man spoke in an orotund voice. "They managed to create the most versatile pokémon in the world, and they wanted to make him into a lab rat." He sneered at the end.

Mewtwo felt his perceptions tilt, observing the man in front of him. Of course, the entity in front of him was human, just like those he had just… slaughtered inside the white building. And yet, this man seemed not to care about his own life. It was almost like he expected—no, he knew that Mewtwo would not kill him.

Not until he had spoken up his mind anyway.

Mewtwo felt his awareness expand. Interesting… An empath. I didn't know that humans had these… abilities. Interesting. An empath whose powers are inverted upon himself.

He could see now. This man… Giovanni picked the name out of the man's mind. The man's mind had twisted, and inverted his empathy into itself, making him devoid of emotions, sentiments, and fears….

Leaving behind only ambition.

Interesting. Very interesting.

"My name is Giovanni, and I am someone who can help you."

"Help… me?"Mewtwo spoke up, using his psychic-enhanced voice, as he felt a tinge of emotion… amusement, he recognized.

"Help each other." The man, Giovanni answered, as he turned his gaze away from him to stare at the burning heaps of twisted metal and concrete. "Those people in there… they were only working to create, not to destroy or cause harm. Why did you kill them?"

Mewtwo felt a strange impulse to instantly end the man's pitiful little life, if only for the misdemeanor of questioning him. A prey had no business questioning the morality of the predator.

Morality. He mused. Such a twisted, subjective, human concept.

I suppose I can humor him. If only for entertainment's sake. He decided. "I did not… kill them. I was simply annoyed when I found myself awake, bound in… strings, and them telling me… ordering me, to be there, as if they were the makers of my destiny."

Giovanni's lips curled. "They did create you."

"They did." Mewtwo could agree with that. He tilted his head slightly. Dr. Franklin was an avid believer in body language. "Is that supposed to make a difference?"

Silence.

"I didn't like being bound in strings, so I set myself free. Humans… pretty interesting species. I was curious, I wanted to know how they worked. I thought it was funny. The men in white were laughing after all."

He paused. "It took me absorbing Franklin's mind to realize that they were in fact, screaming."

There wasn't an ounce of expression on Giovanni's face. Mewtwo felt disappointed. Almost.

"Those people in there…" Giovanni spoke after an eternally long time- 8. 7593 seconds to be exact. "They were my men. I can't say they were very bright, but they were intelligent."

Amusement. Mewtwo felt it again.

"But they weren't bad." Giovanni looked up at him. "Why did you kill them?"

A conversation with a human. It was… surreal. Interesting. He would humor him.

"There is no such thing as bad."

"What about good?"

"Good and bad are… fairy tales. Humans have evolved to attach an emotional significance to what is nothing more than a survival strategy of the pack animal, conditioned to invest divinity in utility."

"You seem… very well aware of yourself and the world, despite… being born yesterday." Giovanni returned.

Mewtwo smiled inwardly. Another emotion. It felt good to slowly discover oneself. He should do it again. "I understand the way the human species thinks. Dr. Franklin was extremely… cooperative in that regard. I know about those mercurial beasts you worship as Legends, trying to fashion me into one." He looked squarely at the man's face, gauging his reaction. "You tried to make yourself one. Me."

"Well…" Giovanni did not disappoint. "That was the mission. To create a Legend."

"I live beyond your mission. I see past those… tiny ambitions of the human species."

"And what do you see?"

Mewtwo smiled again. "Good isn't really good. Evil isn't wrong. Bottoms aren't really pretty. You are a prisoner of your meat."

"And you aren't?"

"No."

"Why?"

Mewtwo smiled again. "I'm too clever."

Silence.

"I'm inclined to agree," Giovanni replied with a mundane finality. "Dr. Franklin was a man of many talents. It is good that his death did not go in vain. We got… you."

Another impulse to vivisect the man flitted inside Mewtwo's mind.

"I have a proposition for you."

Mewtwo's eyes glowed with icy fire. "Is this the moment when you tell me that I'll know my purpose if I follow you?"

Giovanni's lips curled. "I'm not an idiot. You are… incandescent. However, we can be of mutual help to each other."

Interesting.

"My team spent decades in their attempts to create… you. And here you are, in the flesh. While I admit it hurts seeing my best researchers slaughtered like that, it feels worse to find that the most versatile entity in the universe is a little more than a raging wildfire."

Perhaps I should correct his ignorance. Mewtwo thought in amusement.

"You were created, not to become the most powerful psychic, but the most versatile one. Molded after the legendary Mew, someone with the power to become any pokémon, regardless of type. One, who could use the Fire Blast of Arcanine in one hand, channel a Hydro cannon of Blastoise from the other, while simultaneously managing a Draco Meteor of a Kingdra."

He paused. "Someone who could become a legend amongst legends. That was the aim."

Mewtwo closed his eyes, as he began to analyze himself. Interesting. He didn't know he could do that. His very constitution seemed to be made of mutating cells that could transform into any type he wanted. However, he wasn't being able to mutate them at will.

It is such a… annoyance. Even he too had limits.

"You know I am speaking the truth," Giovanni replied. "You have your psychic powers available as the default version of your genetic constitution. With my organization's aid, you will be able to learn how to mutate your cells at will, though the progress would obviously, be slow."

Mewtwo extended his awareness further. The man, Giovanni, was indeed speaking the truth. Or at least, he believed what he was saying as the truth.

"I have invested a lot of research and money into you. If you agree to my proposition, it would enable my team to continue their research, while at the same time, enabling you, a better and quicker comprehension of your powers. That is all I offer."

"And if I choose to deny?"

"I cannot stop you," Giovanni confessed freely. "If I could, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

Interesting.