Pokémar Episode V, A Clone's Destiny

Music to Enrich the Soul

Thunder

"So, Pokemar. What's it like?" Growlithe asks. He had decided he wanted to go for a walk through the woods to get out of the house for a bit. He had mentioned not being fond of being cooped up in there for super long. Thunder had shared the sentiment and decided to join him.

"Very different from here, that's for sure." He answers. "All this stuff humans have made really doesn't exist. We just got huts and stone buildings. Nothing like this."

"So no running water? No electricity? Nothing like that?"

"We use streams and rivers mostly. We have some simple water systems used for irrigation and such. And we really don't need electricity in the way humans use it. Not when we can light fires on a whim and put them out just as easily, so long as the right pokemon is there."

"Maybe with all our abilities you just never seemed to need to make inventions like that?"

"I guess. I never really thought about it. I always assumed that was just what life was like. I never considered just how different things could be."

"And I never considered what a world without humans would look like. Seeing as how the relationship between them and us is so symbiotic... well mostly symbiotic, I just figured one couldn't exist without the other. Guess there's a lot we don't know."

"There is one thing that bothers me, though. I've read through a lot of legends and myths of Pokemar and a fair number of them mention humans. Those stories were written at least 4000 years ago and no one has seen a human since then aside from Alex. Which tells me they're not native to Pokemar. But then how did these pokemon see a human to write about them millennia ago?"

"Maybe they went though portals like you and Alex did."

"Could be. I guess I'll have a new research project when I get back."

"Although, speaking of Alex, how goes the trainer stuff?"

Thunder pauses for a moment. "It's been... mixed. It's fun to do with him, certainly. But it feels... off. Him leading from the rear and all. It feels unequal. I mean, sure. He has a human body. Those can't stand up to the same level of punishment as we can so it makes sense to keep distance from the fights. But it doesn't feel quite right."

"Judging from what I've seen when push comes to shove he seems happy to be there alongside you."

"I mean, sure. But still..."

"I think you're trying too hard. You can't force a friendship. But even with all your talk of him being different, you two still care a lot about each other. There still a connection there. Try and focus on that."

"You think that will work?"

"What's the harm in trying? If the worse comes to pass, you two will be friends on slightly different terms than before. But still friends."

"I hope you're right, Growlithe..."

Alex

"Hey Mewtwo." I say as I come down into the basement carrying a wireless speaker and phone. "You mentioned before about wanting to feel more. So I came up with an idea."

"I was specifically referring to that sense of "pride" from performing selfless acts."

"Right. But there's way more emotions than just pride. And if you can feel pride, you can probably feel others."

"I do not need other emotions."

"Trust me on this. Feelings of happiness and joy are something you absolutely don't want to miss out on. Though that also means feeling the negative ones as well."

"I do not understand."

"In my experience a great many things exist as two opposites in balance with one another, at least when looked at simplistically. Light and dark. Good and evil. Life and Death. One cannot exist without the other else the entire system falls apart. Light without dark is blinding. Death without life is the cessation of consciousness."

"By that logic that means that your efforts to destroy corruption and defeat dangerous individuals is self defeating as it would disrupt the balance."

"Quite the opposite, actually. People like me exist as part of that balance. Just because not everything can be fixed doesn't mean we shouldn't try. Because there are things that can be fixed. And someone needs to step up when evil and darkness get too much of a foothold."

"So you say that if one side starts to gain too much ground, the other will regroup and take it back?"

"In a very oversimplified way, yes. That's how it works. But I digress. My point is you can't experience the peaks of elation without also experiencing the valleys of sorrow. And I've found that music is a good way of bringing those feelings to the surface." I set down the speaker and pull up the "Chatotify" music app on the phone.

"You have intrigued me. Very well. I will indulge in this exercise."

"Awesome." I flip through the various playlists for something happy and bouncy as a starter. I find one and play it on the speaker. The basement is filled with the sound of an upbeat, playful, and rhythmic tune. "Alright. Close your eyes. Tune out everything but the music. Listen to it. What do you get out of it?" They do as I ask, concentrating on the music playing.

"I hear a song with a heavy use of a piano, lyrics about spending time with one you love, a repeated beat of-"

"Not with your brain. Listen to your more instinctual side. That 'gut feeling.' What does that feel?"

They pause for a moment before speaking again. "...I can only describe it as... light... bright... it's subtle and very esoteric. Almost non-existent. But it is vaguely... pleasant."

"I wouldn't expect it to be very strong. That is your garden variety positive emotion. Feeling good. Let's try another one." I switch the song. This one is more somber and melancholy. A song about loss and absence.

"This one feels much less pleasant. I fell... heavier... muted... Again in an esoteric way."

"That's sadness. Can be a pretty difficult one to deal with when higher in intensity. I think it tends to act as an outlet for darker feelings, helping to purge them from your mind."

"Interesting. So all these emotions have some purpose or benefit?"

"Yeah. Happiness and pleasure encourage behaviors, fear being one side of fight or flight, anger being the other, things like that."

"And I can feel them. It's so strange and alien to me. But I don't want it to stop. I want to keep feeling."

"You're welcome, Mewtwo. I'm glad you-" I notice something that makes me pause. Mewtwo is clutching their head, wincing in pain. "Mewtwo? Are you okay?" They try to speak, only succeeding in groaning. Without warning, they collapse onto the floor. "Mewtwo!?" No response. They look catatonic. "Crap. Jackson! Emergency! Mewtwo's unconscious!"

I hear commotion from upstairs as Jackson rushes down to the basement. "What happened Alex?" He asks.

"Mewtwo just collapsed. They had what I assume was a migraine and fell over." Jackson rushes to a small tote box in the corner and pulls out a pokeball from it. He quickly presses it against Mewtwo's chest and they are pulled inside.

"That should keep them stable for now. We need to get to the pokecenter now." I get up immediately and rush for the door to the garage. Jackson follows close behind. There's no way I'm letting Mewtwo die like this. Not on my watch.