Episode 44:
The Truth

Icy woke immediately. Sweat dripped down his face. His heart raced uncontrollably. He was having trouble breathing correctly. His eyes searched the room for the owner of the voice.

“You seek the truth. I have the truth.”

“Where are you? Who are you?”

“There you go again, always asking so many questions, never asking the right ones.”

“We’ve been through this before. Why do you always have to bother me with your riddles?” They were back on the ethereal plain again.

“I keep bringing you here because I somehow hope you can figure it out. Solve the puzzle Icy. I know you can do it.”

“What puzzle?”

“Think back, Icy. Do you remember what happened four months ago?” Icy’s mind flashed images past his eyes. He saw the events from his life going in reverse until he realized that Mewtwo was talking about. “The truth is in the lab. Not in Cerulean, here, on Cinnabar. That’s where the truth lies. Seek the truth...” Mewtwo returned Icy to his former location. “Seek the truth Icy... before it’s too late...”

Mewtwo’s words echoed in his mind. He and Sara ate then took a walk in the Cinnabar Park. Icy decided he should tell Sara about Mewtwo.

“Sara, I need to tell you about something. There is a pokémon named Mewtwo. He has information about my past that I need to know. I have to go and find a lab somewhere on this island. I think it would be better if you stayed with Joy in the pokécenter.”

“No Icy. I’m coming with you. I don’t want you to go alone.”

“Fine, but stay close. Mewtwo is known for his tricks.”

Meanwhile, a dark, tall man picked up a red phone and dialed a number. A voice answered him. “He’s getting too close. Proceed with secondary protocols. Leave nothing...” He put the phone back on its holder and folded his hands as he leaned back in his chair. Sunlight poured through a large window behind him touching everything except him. “I never should have started this...”

Icy and Sara searched for the Cinnabar Lab. Everyone they asked said they had no idea or just plain ignored them. Icy was beginning to lose hope when Mewtwo appeared in front of them. “You are in danger Icy.”

“Tell me something I don’t know. I’m always in danger when you drop in for a visit.”

“No, not from me. Someone is on his way here now. He intends to keep you from finding the truth. Believe it or not Icy, we are in this together.” Before Icy could reply, Mewtwo had begun to teleport them...

Mewtwo, Icy, and Sara reappeared inside a cold, dark room. “I have brought you to the lab. The rest is up to you. Do hurry, you haven’t much time.” With that, Mewtwo vanished.

“I really do hate him. C’mon. Let’s find out what this place is.” They walked past rows of shattered instruments and broken tables. Piles of ash marked either charred bodies or burnt documents. It was becoming too dark to see, so Icy created an electro sphere in his paw for light. The walls of the complex were burnt and some were even melted. Parts of computer systems were scattered over the floor.

“I don’t like this place. It’s so spooky,” Sara said staying very close to Icy. They found what looked like a glass containment chamber. A small broken piece of metal with a strange hieroglyph lay near it. It resembled what looked to be a cat in an Egyptian pose. The glass around the chamber had spider-webbed and the front was completely broken. There must have been many computer systems working on the chamber judging from the amount of cybernetic debris in the vicinity.

“This place looks like it was used to hold something, or someone.” Icy took a look at the area near the chamber. Parts of a former wall seemed to be intact hinting an office used to be there. “That must be the main control room.” The door was the only structure still unharmed. It was made of solid titanium alloy and had only a few scratches and dents. Sara electrocuted the locks and the door immediately opened.

“It doesn’t look like this room was destroyed,” Sara said as they entered the control room. One computer and a file cabinet stood in the back of the room, seemingly unharmed. Icy walked towards it but suddenly ran into some type of force field.

“No problem,” Icy said teleporting inside the field. He found a tiny metal device under the desk the computer was on. “This must be the field generator. I’ll try and disable it.” Icy tinkered with the device for a few minutes until finally it shut down. “This entire sector has it’s own power.” Sara walked over to him as he turned on the dusty computer. The screen flickered and then became clear. A logo appeared on the screen.

“Oh... my... Goddish...”

“What is it Icy? What does ‘TR’ stand for?” Sara asked. Icy just stared at the black screen with the letters ‘TR’ spelled out in red. A menu popped up. It had sections listed: daily logs, current projects, old projects, top-secret weapon development. “Icy, what does all that mean?”

“I think this means Team Rocket was a part in the experiment. I have to be certain. “Icy clicked through the options but was denied access on each. “Maybe the password is somewhere in that file cabinet.” Icy skimmed through the papers. He found one that listed only the weapons projects password. “Figures.” He opened the folder. The password was ten lines long. He typed it in. “Hmm. Has a familiar ring to it.” The screen brought up a new option menu.”

Meanwhile, over the sea near Cinnabar Island, Dreadite was on his way to the lab. “Ah, that pikachu is too darn nosey. I’ll be sure he doesn’t get his little paws on any of our secrets.” He set his wings over a faster air current and quickened his pace.

Back at the lab, Icy looked at the list of special weapons. Most of the items were on Wigglyweapons. He keyed in the date range of the experiment. “One record found,” the computer responded. Icy read the title. “The Transpokéfier Gun.” This was it. The experiment. Team Rocket had performed their own experiment. They created a weapon to transform humans into pokémon. Icy clicked the header but the computer only came up with an error. “It must have been classified. Maybe it’s in the recent project area.”

Dreadite was closing in on the lab now. “Where are you! He’s in the mainframe! If he finds out about our current project, we’re finished! Just destroy the entire complex. We’ll throw the blame on Mewtwo.” “Understood, Dreadite out.” The island was almost in range.

“Current projects. One entry found,” the computer read. Icy looked at the project codename. “The Doomsday Weapon...” He clicked on the title. “Access den...” the screen when blank. Then, everything went dark. Dreadite fired a few more energy balls at the lab. Icy saw everything flash before him as they hit.

Mewtwo watched the sequence of events play out again. “You can’t change that, it was fate. You can’t just go around messing up other people’s lives.”

“But I brought it upon him. By changing this, I undo changes I already made.”

“That doesn’t count.”

“Why?”

“Because, those actions really did occur. That’s fate.”

“But it wasn’t his fate. He wasn’t supposed to even know of the lab.”

“Just because you didn’t get everything you wanted in the end, doesn’t mean you have the right to change the continuum. Icy’s timeline ends there. Understand?”

“No, I don’t.” The man’s eyes widened as Mewtwo fired at massive psybeam at him. “You should thank me for that. After I’m done, you might end up with a better job in life. Of course, for now, your timeline ends here.” Mewtwo left the conference room the two were in and headed down the main corridor. It had been 10 years since Icy and Sara were killed in the explosion. Since then, Mewtwo could not accept the fact that he had staged Icy’s destruction. It wasn’t the plan he had in mind. For the years afterwards, he didn’t think of the consequences of Icy’s death. But when Team Rocket did end up using the Doomsday Weapon, all that changed. Icy’s role in that timeframe was critical. Without him, Team Rocket was able to keep the entire thing a secret until it was too late. He blasted open the doors to the chrono chamber.

“Crap. You’re not authorized to be here!” The guard reached for his gun but found himself unable to move. “Secur...” his voice died off as quickly as he did. Mewtwo reset the controls on the ChronoJumper to only seconds before Dreadite would fire the energy balls at the lab.

“As long as Icy lives through it, everything in the continuum will be fine. Everything except for Icy still being alive. But that’s how it was supposed to be.” He entered the ChronoJumper. Several armored guards came storming in. They were too late. Mewtwo had already traveled back in time.

“Ahh, shit! Giovanni is not gonna like this.” They went to report the incident to the boss.

Meanwhile, back in our normal timeframe, Icy was reading the screen output. “One entry found,” the computer said. “The Doomsday Project.” Icy clicked on the title but nothing happened. Suddenly, everything went dark. Dreadite prepared to fire the energy balls at the lab. Mewtwo came out of the ChronoJump just before he launched them.

“I told you not to take so long! C’mon.” Mewtwo teleported Icy, Sara, and himself away from the lab. Dreadite’s energy balls hit with total accuracy and the lab was completely destroyed. “Humph. You can thank me some other time.” Mewtwo clicked a button on his wrist and vanished. His task had been accomplished. The timeline was altered.

Icy and Sara woke to find themselves outside the Cinnabar Pokécenter. “Uhh... my head hurts,” Icy said as he got up. Sara wasn’t feeling any better. “How’d we get here?” Sara tried getting back up but was too dizzy to stand and fell flat on her face.

“Ouww... I told you I didn’t like this place. Now can we go?” She grabbed Icy’s paw and dragged him into the pokécenter. “We’ll have some dinner and then we are leaving! No more crazy experiment stuff. No more Mewtwo. Just peacefulness.” She took Icy into the pokécenter. There were almost a hundred trainers gathered inside. Officer Jenny was making an announcement.

“People please. Quiet down! QUIET!!!” They all stopped talking. “Thank you. As you know, a very loud explosion was heard earlier this morning. There is no reason to panic; it was just a robotic helicopter that crashed. We have already cleared the damage. You can all go home now. Again, there is nothing to worry about.” She obviously didn’t want the citizens of Cinnabar to know what happened. Icy and Sara walked up to the desk. “Hey, you two pikachus. You need to go home with your trainers.”

“Excuse me? We don’t have trainers. I’m Icy, and this is Sara.” Jenny shrugged.

“Well, you can’t just run around with a train... did you just talk?”

“Aggghhhhh... Why me? Have you ever heard about the kid who was transformed into a pikachu?”

“Ummm... Oh. You’re Icy...” She blushed bright red realizing the mistake she had made. “Umm... Sorry to bother you then. Have a nice day.” She ran out the door still embarrassed.

“Ughh... That gets really annoying after the first 20 times... Nurse Joy, can we please spend one more night here in the pokécenter? I promise we’ll be headed out tomorrow.”

“Of course you may Icy. I don’t mind it at all.” Icy and Sara ate a quick dinner and went to bed. They had a big day ahead of them tomorrow.

“Just don’t forget what you saw Icy. I didn’t come back all that way just to let you enjoy your insignificant life,” and deep voice whispered in Icy’s head. Somehow, he managed to ignore it and was fast asleep.