[Action] / Locked to Satori

[psychic_supremecy]

This... was going to be awkward. It needed to be done, however. Satori had worked with him unquestionably, even taking his initial reluctance to work with her in stride. True, Koishi undoubtedly had a hand in that, however, that did not diminish the acceptance he had gotten from Satori. Mewtwo paced anxiously around the pond at the center of Lake Purity's island. His Venusaur, Blastoise, and Charizard were nearby as well, watching him with sympathetic anxiousness in their eyes as well.

Still, Satori would find the message he had left her and would come to investigate why he called her out here alone any moment. This was something that needed to be shared if they were going to work together. At least that's what he kept telling himself.

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[satori_komeiji]

Knowing her Deputy wouldn't call her elsewhere unless he had a very good reason for it, Satori had received the message and headed straight away to meet with the fellow psychic. She trusted Mewtwo more than most, and his nature being similar to hers made eachother's problems easier to understand in the long run. However, if something was amiss, keeping a secret between two psychic beings was rather troublesome. Some would say difficult, and others, impossible.

She'd land on Mewtwo's island enclave, taking a moment to scout out Mewtwo's mental presence. Once she'd reached the limits of her telepathic range, she made sure to let Mewtwo know she'd shown up.

"I sense you're feeling out of sorts, Mewtwo. I suspect that's why you brought me, here. While your mind feels...bitter and heavy with worry at times, this isn't quite like you. As my Deputy and someone I'd gladly call my confidant...speak freely, that I may resolve these doubts."

[psychic_supremecy]

Mewtwo had felt Satori's arrival, and reflexively bristled. It was a feeling he quickly pushed down, but as awkward as this was likely going to be he couldn't say the reflex surprised him.

"I am at the pond where Koishi first introduced us. I would like to speak with you about a rather... personal matter. Details you deserve to know."

He waited for Satori to arrive in his personal sanctuary, where he was staring into the healing spring of Lake Purity, steeling himself to approach the subject at hand.

"I'm sure you've noticed a few things about myself and my confidants... the rather large gaps in our memories, our general distrust of humans, and the way some of Fayren's people look on me with distrust..."

He sighs, letting out a raspy "Mew..." as if it were the first time in years he'd actually made an audible noise.

"Pokemon generally accumulate power over the course of lives that far outstrip those of humans... in the wild, Charizards, Venusaur, and Blastoises are rare, and usually exceptionally old by human standards, and Pokemon of my power are generally hundreds - if not thousands - of years old, and the four of us barely have enough memories to fill the span of a single human life..."

The three oddly marked Pokemon shift nervously, but do not waver in their stance behind Mewtwo.

"The truth of the matter is... our power, memories, and distrust of humans all ties back to one human. A man named Giovanni... in a sense, I suppose you could call him my father."

[satori_komeiji]

Satori feels the varying emotions in that human's name. Simply by reading the simplest of those surface thoughts, she could pick up a deep and seething dislike for the man. That alone, normally, would've been enough for her to form a judgement about things.

"I suppose we're alike in that regard, aren't we? That our distrust of humans stems from what they had done in ignorance or blind ambition. But that's merely speaking generally. My emotional wounds vary somewhat from yours...so, if you feel willing to continue, I'll listen as long as I must."

Mewtwo might be able to notice that she's curious, but not willing to pry too deeply into his pain. In some ways, Satori recognized Mewtwo's vulnerable side. Perhaps that was for the best.

"What I mean to say is to tell me as much as you feel comfortable with telling me."

[psychic_supremecy]

Mewtwo nods, and while he doesn't say as much overtly he is very appreciative. He also motions to the three near him, as if to say "I'm fine, relax." While it works for the most part on Venusaur, Charizard simply crosses its arms and blows smoke out of its nose and the Blastoise looks largely unmoved.

When he turns his attention back to the conversation, a memory surfaces in his mind, his first meeting with Giovanni. Standing with him among burning twisted wreckage, his tailored jet black suit shining in the flames with that smug grin on his face.

"Yes... our stories are somewhat different. You distrust because of what humans did to you... I distrust because of what they made me do. Giovanni is the founder and leader of the organization known as Team Rocket in my world. The very same organization that appeared here alongside the resurgence of Pokemon. He used his vast fortunes to find a fossil of a Pokemon rumored to be the strongest to ever live, Mew, and from that fossil's preserved genetic material, I was created. I am mutated to be every superior to Mew in every way, and I was created specifically to be his weapon."

The mental image shifted some, a frozen image of a slightly smaller Mewtwo huddled in the broken remains of a test tube as scientists crowded around them. "In my first moments of consciousness, or at least what I thought was my first, I was assaulted by the mental voices of the scientists that created me, all their petty favor seeking, their plots to use me to further their own careers, all their darkest desires flooded into me... it was... painful, and so I lashed out, unleashing my power and slaughtering them all. Giovanni appeared, explained he had funded my creation, and promised to teach me to control my power, to grow, and to stand with him as an equal... and I believed him. I was too scared to search his mind for the truth... and for that, I did a great many things I am not proud of."

[satori_komeiji]

The fact that Mewtwo had been created as a weapon, while it explained much about his name and origins, perplexed Satori. In her world, humans had the ability to gain superhuman powers and the immortality of a youkai's existence, but only a few had attempted to create life. "So that was why I felt such an emptiness within you, then...and one of quite a different character than my own." Satori took a moment to put her mental words in order. "To create life merely to pervert it into a means of hurting others sounds very much like a flaw that humans possess. Considering that you would have harmed innocents, if this 'Giovanni' had his way, perhaps you were justified."

Satori, however, sympathized. And more importantly, her her anger only grew at a slow burn. "...And for that man to stand by as his supporters died, offering you false promises...that's a far greater sin than those of the humans who brought into life." She seemed horrified, but unsurprised. "This cruelty, sadly, is always with humans when they gain too many ambitions and have little patience to allow the peaceful a chance to live and let live." Satori's own mind relayed a few images dredged up from her memories. Leaving home. Travelling for miles with her sister through trackless wilderness. Being hunted by humans with swords and torches.

[psychic_supremecy]

"For a time... he did have his way." He looked away as memories of his armor began to materialize over him. Something of a habit when he felt guilt. "I was scared and didn't look into his mind, and then he fitted me with armor that shackled my power until he gave the order, and completely shut down my telepathic abilities. I went along with it for a time, until he got cocky and told me how foolish I was for thinking I was equal to him..."

He turns for a moment, both to glance at his companions as well as giving him a moment to process the memories that Satori had offered. He was never hunted with the intent to kill, but he could empathize some.

"Still... that does not excuse my rage when the truth became known. I returned to the island of my birth, and reconstructed the laboratory I was created in, and using the same process that created me, I created them. I selected a handful of trainers with strong Pokemon, invited them to the island under the guise of competition, and cloned their Pokemon as well... intending to wipe the world of both humans, and the Pokemon I had come to see as bearing the taint of humanity. It would be the clones who ruled the world..."

He trailed off, obviously things had not gone according to plan, and the battle between himself and Mew, and the clones fighting their counterparts throughout a massive arena began to play in his mind... until a young boy threw himself between Mew and Mewtwo, wanting only to stop the fighting.

[satori_komeiji]

"And despite your hatred of humans, it seems, those who were drawn to your island were not the spiteful and sinful sort you assumed them to be. The fact that one of their number attempted to bring peace to your quarrels must have shocked you, did it not?" She shook her head and looked at the psychic mon gravely.

"You are quite lucky to have had an opportunity to see the good in others, after witnessing so much of their evils, as well." This time, Satori let her third eye move over and nestle a little closer between the pair. "It took sacrifice to see what your hatred had wrought. And, without meaning to offend, spreading violence over human violence isn't that necessary. In my world, such things would have given your opressors more ammunition. And you were forgiven, weren't you?"

[psychic_supremecy]

"Forgiveness was not something I ever wished for or expected. I have too much blood on my hands for such things. No, in the end I decided it was better for all involved - the trainers I had lured to my island, and the clones I had created - that none remembered what had transpired. And so I took my clones to find a place to live away from the world as I wiped the memories of those involved."

He glances around the grotto, a definite sense of sentimental fondness for the place bubbles up. He truly could not have wished for a better place to call home.

"To answer your first question, however... yes. It baffled me. In that moment, one boy gave his life to save not only the Pokemon he had captured and brought with him, but for the sake of all the Pokemon fighting. In that brief instant before our attacks collided I saw something I never thought I would see in any human. A deep love for all Pokemon... even me. It took me months to properly digest that information... and that is why I have attempted to be more... forthcoming with the people of this place. I realize I am not very effective in some cases but I have had little time to adequately learn the social mores of human culture..."