Mistakes and Consequences - Part 8
Hybrid Anxiety
By Mega Raichu

(Thoughts)

Mewchu made a soft landing in the town square. Some children were pointing and others were staring. Mewchu paid them no heed as he carried Sheena's lifeless body into a nearby building. The people in the building quickly ran out as he entered. The building he entered was a laboratory. The Raichu side of his mind was directing him. He placed her body on a table and covered it with a blanket. Then the Mewtwo side of his mind took over and he picked up a syringe and extracted some blood from her body.

(What are you doing?) Raichu thought.

(Getting a blood sample.) Mewtwo thought.

(Why?)

(To clone her. It is the only way to bring her back.)

(It won't be the same.)

(Yes it will. She may have all her memories when I clone her.)

(How?)

(I still have memories from when I was a Mew. I think that memory is stored in DNA.)

(That's impossible.)

(It's only a theory, yes, but it's all we have to go on, if you want her back.)

Mewchu stood in silence for a moment.

(Do it.) Raichu thought.

(First, we need to separate.) Mewtwo said.

(Oh, then use our Cellular Transport System.)

(You have one?)

(It was Ditto's design.)

Mewchu went down a hallway, guided by Raichu, and entered a large room. In the room, was what looked like an exact replica of the Transporter that had turned Mewtwo and Raichu into Mewchu. Mewchu started the machine, and entered it. In a few moments, the door on the opposite side of the machine opened and Mewtwo and Raichu stepped out.

"Simple. This was one of Ditto's earlier inventions." Raichu said.

Mewtwo said nothing, instead he headed back towards Sheena. He then sat down next to the table she lay on and began to meditate. A blue aura formed around him. Then a bright light began to shine. It became so bright, that Raichu had to cover his eyes. When the light subsided, there was a large machine in the room. It looked like a large snail shell, with a large glass tube, filled with a strange liquid, protruding from it.

"What is this?" Raichu asked.

"A cloning device that I created. I keep it in an undisclosed location so I can teleport it to wherever I need it." Mewtwo said as he loaded the syringe into the machine. "This will clone her perfectly. I used to make enhanced pokémon with this, but I removed that part of the process. Now it only makes exact copies."

"Wow. We could really use this technology." Raichu said.

"No way. There's no telling what kind of things could happen if this technology got into the wrong hands." Mewtwo said.

"But Ditto won't..." Raichu started.

"It's not Ditto I'm worried about. It's the future mad scientists I'm worried about. I'm sorry, but you can't have this technology. You'll just have to figure it out for yourself." Mewtwo said.

"Fair enough I suppose." Raichu said.

The machine hummed to life. Something began to form in the tube.

"What's that?" Raichu pointed at the object in the tube.

"That would be her. Her body will go through a rapid growth process, until she reaches her present age." Mewtwo said.

Raichu nodded and turned to the tube. She had become an infant.

"Strange. She's a human baby." Mewtwo said.

"We all start as humans. At age five, we change into hybrids." Raichu said.

"Really? How?"

"At the time of change, our DNA begins to mutate. We don't know what causes this, maybe some hormone or something, but we just haven't been able to track it. If we could isolate it, we could prevent the change."

"Prevent it? You would give up all this?"

"In a heartbeat. We don't like hiding from society. But we can't go into society like this. People don't like things that are different. No, we have to be human before we can go back to society."

They stood in silence. Sheena had become a toddler. Her body was changing to that of a hybrid.

"Is it painful?" Mewtwo asked.

"The change? Yes." Raichu said. "Would you like to hear about my change?"

"You remember it?"

"We never forget."

"Okay. Let's hear it."

Raichu looked up at the ceiling, seemingly staring out into space.

"It was three days after my fifth birthday. It just happened all of a sudden. I felt a sharp pain in my side and then it began to cover my body. It was a burning sensation, the kind of sensation that you can only get from being shocked. Soon the burning became an almost unbearable pain. I felt like my entire body was being ripped apart from the inside out. In actuality, it was just my body reacting to the DNA mutations. Everything in my body was changing shape. Then my skin began to change and new things grew, it had to be the most painful time in my life. But then the pain began to fade. Even though the pain was gone, I was laid up for a week. Couldn't move, had to take my meals through a straw, the whole nine yards. But a week is a quick recovery. Some have been known to stay laid up for at least two weeks to twenty days." Raichu said.

They stood in silence for a few moments. Sheena's body was growing rapidly. She was curled up in a fetal position, even though she looked to be in her teens now.

"Will she remember this new change?" Raichu asked.

"No. She won't remember anything from inside the tube. At least in theory." Mewtwo said.

"Hmm."

"Where do you think Ditto went?"

"Don't worry about Ditto. If I know him, we won't have to look too far for him."

"He'll come here?"

"Without a doubt, along with some reinforcements."

The machine made a jingling sound as it finished cloning Sheena's body. The tube drained and the glass lifted from around her. Raichu carefully wrapped a towel around her and carried her to a nearby table. Raichu held his breath as he looked for any sign that she was alive.

"What are you waiting for?" Mewtwo asked.

Raichu looked at Mewtwo questioningly.

"You need to give her heart a jump start. I'm sure you can do that." Mewtwo said.

Raichu lifted a finger and placed it on her chest, over her heart. A small bolt of electricity shot from the tip of his finger and went into her body. Her eyes shot open as she took in a sharp breath. She looked around. When she realized where she was, she wrapped her arms around Raichu.

"Oh Raichu!" She cried.

Mewtwo smiled to himself as he watched the two hybrids hug.