Chapter 35

The wind howled through the dark night's air and bit into anything exposed. Joasia stood atop a tall skyscraper next to Mewtwo as she observed the light traffic on the city streets below.

"W-what is the point of this exercise, M-mewtwo?" Mateusz stuttered from behind as he inched forwards and dared a peek over the edge of the skyscraper's roof.

"To observe…" Mewtwo bluntly replied without a hint of emotion on his face.

Mateusz's teeth chattered for a few moments before he uttered a reply, "I hate this… It's freakishly high and damn cold,"

Mewtwo chuckled at his remark and turned to face him.

"Then you're really gonna enjoy what we're going to do next," Mewtwo said with a smirk, "But for now, I want you both to answer a question for me,"

"What?" Joasia and Mateusz simultaneously asked.

"I want you to observe this city for a moment. The traffic, the people, the buildings, everything, and then I want you to tell me what you think the point of this agglomeration of people and buildings is?" Mewtwo posed a question.

Joasia and Mateusz seemed to be unable to answer the question straight off the cuff and both stuttered.

"In time you may decide on an answer, but for now, we shall move on to our next exercise," Mewtwo informed the two before smirking and adding a sarcastic edge to his voice, "You're really going to enjoy this one, Mateusz,"

Mewtwo proceeded to the very edge of the skyscraper's roof before turning around to face the two confused looking beings standing before him.

"We're going to have a little competition between you two, whoever falls the furthest without stopping to float wins. Oh, and don't worry, there's no one on the alleyway who's going to spot us, " Mewtwo said with a smirk as he demonstrated what he expected them to do by falling backwards off the skyscraper toward the alleyway below.

Mateusz and Joasia gasped as they peered over the edge to see what had become of Mewtwo. Mewtwo plummeted toward the concrete below at high speed no sign of fear evident on his face.

"What the hell is the point of this, Mewtwo?!" Mateusz asked as Mewtwo finally came to a halt just inches above the concrete of the alleyway below.

"I'll tell you in a moment, so hurry up and jump, you both know how to stop yourselves from hitting the ground, so what are you afraid of?" Mewtwo told them as he stood at the bottom of the skyscraper.

Mateusz looked like he was about to faint as he looked over the edge. Joasia noticed this and gave him a reassuring pat on the back.

"Come on Mateusz, you've flown at higher heights before at high speed into a gorge!" Joasia tried to jog Mateusz's memory about what they had done a few days earlier.

"Yeah, but, like, I was in control the whole time, I wasn't just freefalling…" Mateusz responded shakily.

"Ah come on, you'll be fine," Joasia said with a grin as she slapped Mateusz on the back.

Mateusz simply began to look even more petrified.

"Well, see you at the bottom then," Joasia told Mateusz as she stepped toward the edge of the building…

"I can't believe you chickened out," Joasia said to Mateusz as they walked through the forest outside the human city they had just been in.

"I'm sorry, I j-just don't like the sensation of falling, it just feels… wrong…" Mateusz replied; face still appearing a little paler than usual as he thought about falling off the tall building they had been standing on.

"You need to learn to be able to control your fear, Mateusz, don't let it control you. When you let fear control you it becomes destructive. You will never accomplish a set task or goal, and you will go to ridiculous lengths to try and avoid facing it," Mewtwo grimly told Mateusz.

Mateusz nodded and began to look rather annoyed with himself, "I'm sorry I failed your task… I just wasn't strong enough,"

"You are fortunate that in this situation it was just a training exercise, if in a confrontation with Team Rocket you had to face one of your fears; be it falling or anything else, what would you do? Just freeze up like you did in the city? Would you run away, deserting your allies?" Mewtwo grilled Mateusz with a stern gaze.

"I understand Mewtwo; I know I must be able to do whatever is necessary for my survival and the survival of others when we face Team Rocket. I personally don't really fancy dying because I was too afraid to take on my fears," Mateusz responded with a downcast look on his face.

Mewtwo continued gazing sternly at Mateusz for a few moments before his face softened a little, "I'm sure you'll be able to do it in time, you just have to keep on trying to overcome what holds you back,"

Mateusz seemed to cheer up a little after hearing this and even smiled for a moment…

"We've found what gives that 3rd mewtwo the ability to rapidly heal itself," the head scientist told Giovanni as he adjusted his thick glasses.

"Excellent work, have you figured out a way to get around it? We need to be able to kill this thing, it's a threat to our organisation," Giovanni responded.

"Well, in theory we could 'turn off' its ability to heal. It seems to be able to heal via rapid generation of the required cells to seal a wound and repair damage, and then the ability to shut that rapid generation off so that it doesn't produce too many cells which would form growths. We don't know what causes the whole glowing aura thing, however, but in theory, we could trigger the process that shuts off the ability to generate cells rapidly before it is activated as a response to lethal injury with a chemical, or an engineered strand of DNA. We'd have to figure out some way of getting that chemical or DNA into the mewtwo though… A way that it can't stop…" the head scientist explained rather thoroughly.

Giovanni seemed to be somewhere else as he stared straight ahead at something behind the scientist.

"Um, sir?" the scientist brought Giovanni back to reality with a wave of his hand.

"I apologise, I kind of zoned out once you started explaining the biological stuff. I didn't really enjoy biology at school, but it seems you know what you're doing, so I shall leave you to it," Giovanni informed the head scientist before leaving the room.

The head scientist turned to his team of specialists and cleared his throat to get their attention before addressing them, "Gentlemen, you've made excellent progress thus far on determining how the creature regenerates, and how to reverse it, but it seems we already have another task, two actually; developing a chemical that can be administered into the blood stream and prevent rapid cellular regeneration from taking place, and then a way of administering the chemical that cannot be interfered with by the creature's psychic type abilities,"

"Do we have a set time frame?" one scientist asked.

"We weren't given a specific amount of time in which to do all that, so we'll aim for a new record; develop the chemical within a week and a way to administer it within a further two days, I'm sure the boss would be more than thrilled with our efforts," the head scientist replied, "So get to work straight away,"

"Come on, wake up, its bloody well midday," Mew told Mateusz.

Mateusz bolted upright as he heard what time it currently was, "Are you flipping serious? I've been asleep for that long?"

"Dead serious, you better not make a habit of this or Mewtwo will get pissed off," Mew replied before floating out of the cave.

Mateusz sighed and began to walk toward the entrance of the cave. He exited and found the others all waiting outside, facing him as if they had been waiting for ages.

"So what took you so damn long to get up?" Lifyra was the first to speak.

"I don't know in all honesty, but it's a pain in the rear. I get up and so much of the day is gone already," Mateusz replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

"I advise that you sleep at an earlier time, it is necessary that you sort this issue out, or else you will waste valuable time which could have been used for training," a stern-faced Mewtwo said.

"I don't think I really like that idea…" Mateusz trailed but shied away from saying anything else when he caught Mewtwo glaring at him, "Fine then, I'll try and sleep a little earlier,"

"Good, now you shall come with me so that I may teach you a new technique," Mewtwo informed Mateusz before turning and floating toward the forest.

Mateusz followed not far behind, leaving the others in the clearing outside the cave…

"I have decided that I want our weapon back," a voice said over the phone.

"Sir, how do you propose we do that?" the operative replied.

"We won't have to do a thing; our informant in Team Rocket says that they are planning to capture the creature in order to kill it and that they are engineering a chemical that may be able to restrict some of the abilities of our weapon. When they capture it, we will take it from them and our master strategy will be back in effect. What I want you to do is inform your squad that they will be the group to take the weapon back from Team Rocket, and that I will be present with you when you do so, I haven't been on an assignment in years you know," the voice informed the operative.

"Of course sir, how shall we prepare?" the operative asked.

"I want a lightly armoured four wheel drive to be ready in about a weeks' time, loaded up with a mounted machine gun, and enough supplies for a day, along with basic assignment equipment. Your squad should wear body armour as it is likely that Team Rocket will resist us when we try to take our weapon back," the voice crackled over the phone.

"What pokémon shall we bring sir?" the operative asked one final question.

"Whatever the heck you like, as long as it's practical, and preferably intimidating. Ah, I know the one; bring the tyranitar!" the now excited voice said.

"Sir? That pokémon has never been out on a mission in the field, it has been deemed too dangerous to even its own handler," a now slightly shaken operative responded to a suggestion that seemed like madness.

"Are you objecting to my order, sergeant?" the voice questioned the operative's response.

"N-no sir, it's just that I wouldn't have thought it safe to use that pokémon in combat just yet," the operative tried to rectify his mistake.

"Your opinion on the matter has been duly noted, and I have elected to take the risk of bringing such a dangerous pokémon because it may be our best shot at capturing our weapon, due to its being rock/dark type. Because it is large, intimidating, powerful, and immune to the psychic type attacks of the weapon, it is a risk that will yield a high amount of reward in regards to the success of the operation," a now seemingly satiated voice told the man, "Put Corporal Hicks on the line,"

"Yes sir," the operative complied.

Within seconds, a new voice was heard on the line, "Yes sir, you requested that I speak to you?"

"Ah, Corporal Hicks, it's been a while, how are you?" asked the boss.

"I'm well sir, thank you for asking. Is there something in specific you wished to discuss?" Hicks courteously responded.

"I want the operative that I was just talking to dead after he completes his mission, he questioned my orders, and it is reasonable to say that he may be even bolder in the future, and thus he would become a threat. So, I want him out of the way as soon as he returns from the task I have set him and his squad," the boss said as the mood of the conversation went from light and jovial to sinister.

"Of course sir, I will organise his death as you have asked," a slightly sad sounding Hicks replied…