World-Breaking and Mind-Building [Closed, Complete]

[replicat]

Characters: Mewtwo, Zetsu
Setting: Greenhouse, Maid's Hallway.
Time: Day 003, Later Afternoon (After the thread with Yukimi)
Summary: Mewtwo finds something that surprises him.
Warnings: Mewtwo.

Comments

[replicat]

... nothing got rid of the horrible feeling that filled his body. He tried to control his rage. Genjutsu? He frowned at Zetsu--a rare moment of full expression, though it was by far the most common facial expression that he was capable of. [I have never heard of that word before,] he confessed tersely. It appeared there were a great many firsts here... this one being far less offencive than the rest.

The Pokémon paused when Zetsu gifted him an image. Mio Amakura was human... Mewtwo memorised her features easily, taking note of minor distinctions that would (hopefully) distinguish her from other female types. He wished to avoid as many humans as was possible during this--knowing who he was making possible exceptions for was helpful. [So that is your friend. I shall seek her out later and see what she has to say,] he told the ninja after another pause to consider the rest. This Pokémon seemed largely ignorant of trainers (how could this be?), so Mewtwo granted him a little advice. [I would recommend that you be be careful of these in the meantime,] he told Zetsu, projecting an image of several types of Pokéball. He moved backwards, drifting away from the ninja to allow a more comfortable space between them. [They are what is used to capture Pokémon. Pokéballs.]

[weeatbodies]

Zetsu was a bit surprised at the frown, but accepted it without comment; most people looked displeased when they were confused, anyway. [Genjutsu is one of the special techniques I've learned to fight with, illusions and other things affecting the mind itself.] He nodded at Mewtwo's confirmation. [She has more experience with puzzles like these than I do; her insight is invaluable.] And hopefully valuable enough to keep her safe, because he really didn't want to get between them to stop a fight.... Would that camera work on psychic powers? If it worked on his clones, and on vectors, he thought it might have a chance, and that seemed as though it would be rather debilitating. [She also knows much more about ghosts than I do. There are many of them in this house at night; have you dealt with them before?]

Mewtwo's assumption was correct; he found himself quite surprised by the images of pokéballs, but committed them to memory as well, turning them over in his mind to try and remember the common features between them all. [I see. How can something so small capture a pokémon, though?] The only similar thing he knew of was a storage scroll. Perhaps these pokéballs were like them? Either way, he would take Mewtwo's advice with all due seriousness, and give any pokéballs he saw in the future a decidedly wary distance. It just seemed safer that way; if he was 'wild' like Mewtwo was, then he definitely wanted to stay that way.

[replicat]

[Yes,] Mewtwo replied flatly and without elaboration. Of course he had fought Ghost types before. The Shadow Ball he had tested Zetsu with a few minutes ago was a Ghost attack as well--particularly effective against Pokémon of its own type. It made sense that there would be ghosts in this house as they favoured environments like this. The idea that there could be other kinds of ghosts didn't occur to Mewtwo, limited as he was in his brief worldview. Anything that bothered or threaten him, he could destroy. It was not a boast but a fact of life--he was incapable of fear and had no concept of danger to himself as the most powerful Pokémon ever to live. [Ghosts pose no threat to me.] Genjutsu, however... an interesting concept. Mewtwo would have to look more into it, if possible. He didn't fear Zetsu's assault but he certainly didn't like it. He listened to Zetsu's praise of the human in silence. If she truly had more experience in these matters, then perhaps she would be useful after all. Of course, experience meant nothing without intelligence, and intelligence could compensate easily for any lack of such. He would see.

[Do not be fooled by their small size--Pokéball technology is varied and complex. An explanation of it here would be useless. Capture you it will, however, if you really are one.]

[weeatbodies]

Zetsu smiled a little at the confirmation, relieved; having another person capable of hurting ghosts would be welcome indeed. It wasn't that he wasn't sympathetic to them.... after all, since he'd met Mio, he'd become even more sensitive to their plight. But still, sympathy could only go so far, especially if onr was actively trying to kill you as well. [I don't think many people here have any defense against them, including me; up until this point, the best option has usually been to run. Even with someone who can hurt them, there have been some ghosts that are apparently as indestructible as the house itself. One of them seems to appear whenever and wherever heat is used at night.]

The burned man was the only invincible ghost he knew of that had some pattern or prompt to when he appeared; he at least owed it to Mewtwo to warn him of the conditions that summoned that one. [I understand. I'll be sure to keep an eye out and stay far away from them; I have very good eyes.] The last comment came with a small smile of amusement; he could probably do a quick visual sweep of the whole house right now, and determine whether there were any pokéballs in the place, though it would certainly be an intensive and still somewhat time-consuming exercise. Still, he really didn't like the idea of being enslaved as Mewtwo had explained to him.... Even if he wasn't actually a pokémon, they just sounded like bad news in general.

[replicat]

[Heat?] Mewtwo knew of no Ghost types that could be summoned by heat, although apparently some of these might be unique to this location...or from an entirely new one, he would have to see. [Define heat.] Body heat? Open flame? Mewtwo doubted anything could be invulnerable except him... then again, you never knew--where humans had made one entity they could certainly try to make another, and humans were not the only sources of life on his planet.... let alone any other world, where all the rules were inherently known, like here. Night seemed to be consistent point where danger where considered here in this house... fools, did they really think that danger only restricted itself to one time phenomena? Even he knew better than that, although he himself was often considered a source of danger to the humans that knew about him. Perhaps he was missing something. Mewtwo didn't understand why Zetsu was so amused, lacking the ability to pry into the ninja's mind to find out, but it was probable that the other Pokémon (Zetsu was another Pokémon now, at least as far as Mewtwo was concerned) had some things of his own hidden up his physical or metaphorical sleeve. Actually, it was essentially inevitable.

[And why do I keep receiving warnings about night? Are there no other times when monsters are present?] Excluding himself, present company, and any other Pokémon who may happen to be here... not that he could feel for any of them. That still made him irritable, though not nearly so much as the situation of the house itself. He was beginning to simmer down and act rationally, however, now that he could no longer entertain any notion of breaking out.

[weeatbodies]

[Heat.] Zetsu confirmed, explaining as well as he knew how. [Open flames, for example, or something heated enough to be useful to cook with, or enough to start to melt. He seems to stay in the fireplace unless he's summoned in that way, and once he enters the room containing it while in pursuit of someone, he seems unwilling or unable to leave its confines. He seems to radiate heat himself; I expect his touch would cause severe burns if he held someone for very long.]

Zetsu spread his hands and shrugged at Mewtwo's question, offering an apologetic lack of knowledge. [You're being warned about it because, to the best of all of our experience, that seems to be the only time you need to be wary of the house itself.] The other residents, on the other hand.... Well, hell if he knew. You probably had to watch out for them at any hour of the day. [As I said, time is strange here; a single day lasts for about a week, and a single nightfall lasts for two weeks. By day, it seems to be a normal house, even if it is somewhat eccentric and impenetrable; as far as I know, there hasn't been a single ghost or hostile monster spotted while the sun is up.]

[After it's dark, though, things start to change. Only then have we seen monsters and ghosts come out--there seems to be nowhere for them to hide while the sun is up, so it's not sure if they even exist during then. Other things happen too, like rooms spontaneously becoming dirty, or walls moving in to try and crush you. And so far, there has always been the sound of construction, too--some places are locked at night, and when they open in the morning, new rooms have been added. The notes appear after dawn, too. Once the sun comes up, it's as if nothing is wrong again--all the monsters disappear, the signs of battle, anything broken is either repaired or replaced....] Zetsu shook his head in mild disbelief himself; he knew it was a hard idea to swallow. [It's as if the sun itself is a switch that controls almost everything strange here.]

[replicat]

Mewtwo listened with a rare level of attention, one that meant he was listening with all of his mental faculties and applying the power of both of his brains to what he was hearing. This was a rare enough occurrance--generally Mewtwo could get everything he ever wanted and more out of a subconscious application of his mental powers to everything he heard, but one could say this for the seven foot clone--when Mewtwo paid attention... he paid attention.

[Fascinating,] he replied when Zetsu finally finished, and he meant it. His deep telepathic voice was no less serious for its passionate overtone, and he turned all of what had been said over inside his mind quickly. He had no problem with the application of heat--psychic energy had no specific temperature and he knew of no moves or techniques that involved the use of either high temperature or fire, though he would have to be careful of various collateral and consequences... if he had time to take precautions about it. Mewtwo was prone to losing track of things like that in the process of battle.

Things were very much in line with what he knew of Ghost Pokémon, however, arbitrary rules and deceptive techniques of the sort an overt psychic like himself rarely used. Still, something about the way Zetsu had worded things bothered him... something about the accuracy of time and strange alterations made without anyone being seen in the process. [Is it possible that the house itself is responsible for this?

[weeatbodies]

Zetsu couldn't help some awkwardness and discomfort as he spoke and the feline listened, the hair on the back of his neck prickling; he could feel Mewtwo's attention on him, heavy and tangible and keen, and it reminded him just how woefully inadequate he would be at protecting himself, if Mewtwo really decided to attack him. Presumably they would be more comfortable later, if this meeting extended much longer, or when they ran into each other a second time.... Still, right now, the battle was unsettlingly fresh on his mind.

[I.... it's possible. Very possible, if one can believe such things. But nobody is certain yet--we have no way to prove anything for certain. The construction is heard everywhere, but no workers are seen. The doors lock with nobody seen locking them, or unlocking them in the morning. Nobody is seen replacing or repairing furniture, or cleaning up the messes and corpses left behind. The kitchen restocks itself with food with nobody here to do it, and no access to supplies that I can tell--if you look out the windows on all sides, we seem to be on a plateau, with no lower bottom in sight, and nothing else to see nearby. There's even a hallway on the second story that has no apparent way to support its own weight, with nothing beneath it on the first floor.]

Zetsu laughed aloud; he realized how ludicrous it must sound now, telling Mewtwo about a great many of the bizarre discrepancies he had noticed about the house. People would think he was insane if he tried to tell anyone about this when they got back to the Shinobi Continent and the Akatsuki.... He wondered if that might not be such a bad thing, and if he might already be insane. At this point, who knew? [In and of themselves, I suppose any of those could be explained away, or even a great deal of them together. But I've been struck in a room where there was nothing that would have hit me except the dolls, and I've clearly seen the walls in another room move. If the house itself isn't sentient, then I think there has to be some sort of force behind this all, guiding it.]

[replicat]

[A powerful force,] Mewtwo agreed before lapsing into thought. This was a very tricky situation to try to explain--no wonder that human had been so vague with him, though he did not lighten the weight of his blame on the man in the slightest. He simply acknowledged the difficulty of the situation at hand. [Very well, I think I shall have to explore the actual residence further.] He managed an air of matter-of-factness through his psychic tone, but in fact was no longer sure what to expect. Not that that bothered him--he was powerful enough to handle anything. Zetsu had casually mentioned corpses--Mewtwo had made corpses in the past, though he had more respect for life than that now.

There was nothing holding him back from doing it again if he needed to, though.

[The idea of a self-aware building is disconcerting, though...] Mewtwo projected faintly, though in truth he didn't understand why the idea bothered him. He'd sort that out later. He didn't have time to dwell on trivial things right now. The idea of some external voice guiding the house was also disconcerting, but there it was the implication of something more powerful than he that disturbed him. Mewtwo was the most powerful creature he had ever met--the most powerful creature, Pokémon or otherwise, on his world. And likely on any other world. The idea that that might be challenged... he would have to seek more information before drawing conclusions.

[weeatbodies]

[That would probably be best. If you'd like, I could show you around; I've been over this place many times, and I know a fair bit of what had happened where, so far.] Zetsu agreed, figuring it wouldn't hurt to extend the offer. Sure, playing tour guide wasn't the best thing in the world, but at least Mewtwo was interested in helping out. And if he could catch things Zetsu himself had missed.... Well, so much the better; they would leave that much more quickly.

He nodded at the mention of the sentient building, though. [If that were such, it could make things a great deal harder. It would be almost impossible to hide things from it, and it could hypothetically take measures to frustrate any plans we try to enact. I'm not sure if it would be capable of hearing purely telepathic conversations though, even then.] That, at least, was one point in their favor; if it became obviously necessary, the two of them could possibly at least converse without being overheard, as could he and Sasori.

Behind them both, the door leading to the Greenhouse fell shut with a soft click.

[replicat]

Mewtwo's head turned immediately at the sound. [What--]

...no. His eyes narrowed and he turned, floating, to face the door. This would not happen.

Mewtwo's eyes glowed as he stared at the door. Obviously, it was locked. To outside appearances, the knob seemed to move on its own, turning for a few millimetres before stopping, then rattling slowly but with increasing violence before Mewtwo abruptly lost his patience and stopped, drifting backwards for a foot. Then he lined himself with blue light and blasted the door... which achieved nothing, but incited the wrath of the Pokémon even further. [Open!] he commanded as the light around him blazed brighter. He blasted it again, more powerfully. [I will not be held here!] He'd all but forgotten Zetsu was there, projecting broadly rather than to the individual beside him.

[weeatbodies]

Zetsu stared at the door, first incredulous, then almost accusingly. [You see what I mean? That was not only open, but unlocked only a minute ago. There was no draft to move it, and nobody came close enough to shut it.] And he hadn't even felt his hackles raise the way they sometimes did around ghosts now. It wasn't a perfect sixth sense by any means, but he was no stranger to feeling danger in his gut before he recognized the source.

Zetsu prudently stepped back and away, back pressing against a cool whitewashed wall as he watched Mewtwo struggle with the knob. The distance was both for safety's sake and to watch Mewtwo work; he was confident he could simply slip into the wall and to safety, should things become too violent. Rather than disturb Mewtwo's work, he slipped over to the wall beside the door once the second blast had passed, pressing his hands against the wall and trying to phase through.

....Nothing. Dammit! It looked like it wasn't just the door.... How long would this last?