Spectre



The next morning came with a scream.  Maid service in the Plaza was
early, and everyone had slept in.  The poor woman walked right into the
room, ignored the empty bottles of alcohol, and just barged into Eric's
room.  Needless to say, seeing a person floating on the ceiling scared
her almost to death.  She screamed, ran out, and Eric fell to the 
ground with a crash.

Maggie burst in two seconds later.  "What happened?" she asked, already
partially aware of the recent events.

"Oh, nothing."  His voice was muffled slightly because he had fallen
flat on his face.  "Nothing like breaking your nose to wake you up in
the morning."  He stood up and pinched the bridge of his nose.  Maggie
noticed it wasn't broken, but it was definitely bleeding.  Oh well, 
that would stop in a minute.

During all this Mewtwo was still asleep, but he finally stirred, 
waking with a low growl.  "What time is it?" he asked.

"About nine," Maggie replied.  She had sent Eric to the bathroom to get
some tissues for his nose.

"Are we still in the past?"

"Yes."

Eric finally came out of the bathroom with no apparent bleeding, but he
was still in a foul mood.  "If we're all awake, I'd like to go to
breakfast."

***

Khali looked at his new army.  They weren't the strongest soldiers, but
what they lacked in power they made up in numbers.  What was once just
Mr. Barnes had turned into more than a thousand people.  And no one 
would miss them because the only people who might ask for them had 
already joined.  Now all he had to do was find the one thing that would
help him against Mewtwo.  His army could deal with the Agents, but only
a pokŽmon could kill a fellow pokŽmon.  He already had a number of 
moderately powerful specimens that he had collected from his army, but
the one species he needed was in Lavender Town, and that was where he
would go.

***

They all filed into the breakfast room and sat down while Maggie got
their food.  She got a standard breakfast for her and Eric consisting
of eggs, bacon, and a short stack, and for Mewtwo she got bacon, ham,
and sausage.  He had been very explicit in expressing his preference
for meat.

Eric decided to inform them of his new information.  "I think I know
how we can get back."

"How?" Mewtwo asked just before stuffing a sausage link in his mouth.
They were the only things he didn't have trouble eating, since the
bacon was a tad overdone and his teeth were so damned dull.

"Well, the remote can be repowered with Moon Stones, which we can get
at Mt. Moon.  The only problem is that we have an uninvited guest with
us."

"Who?"

"Khali."

"And just who is Khali?"

"A demon," Maggie started, "And unfortunately for us, he's not just a
clone we forgot to kill, he's real, and that means he has almost all of
the demonkind's powers, which is pretty substantial."

"Like Jerry?"  Mewtwo remembered his various abilities.  He could
manipulate his mind inside his dreams, stop time, and that tail blade
of his was very dangerous.

"No, worse," Eric interjected.  "Jerry was a clone, and even though his
demon body was identical to Khali's, he's still stronger, faster, and 
definitely smarter.  Then again, he's not exactly the most powerful 
demon in Existence."

"So does that mean we can defeat him?"  Personally, he never had a
single doubt about their victory, but he would prefer conformation.  It
would make him feel better, if anything.

"Possibly.  Actually, we kinda have to.  I mean, we can't just leave 
him here on a low-tech, non-magic world to feed.  Nothing on this world
can kill him, so now it's our job."

"This wasn't in the primary description," Maggie said, "But what the
hell, I need the exercise."

"Whatever.  First we have to go to Mt. Moon, so we need to go to the
city limits so we're not spotted, then fly northwest.  If we keep a 
good pace we'll get there by the afternoon."

***

Inside the Ghost Tower at Lavender Town, Khali waited for his prey,
with the patience of a saint.  Hour upon hour passed, but he ignored
the flow of time, and instead kept himself busy with battle plans and
a full estimation of his opponents' strengths and weaknesses.  Finally,
near mid-morning, a ghost appeared.  A Gengar, a small purplish shade
floated out of the floor and stretched out his face with his hands,
smiling and laughing.  Khali didn't find it amusing in the least.

"That's not funny."  He held out a hand and pointed a claw at the 
ghost, then it was encased in a near-traslucent bubble.  The smile on 
it's face quickly disappeared.  "Now all I need are your friends, then
we can go have some real fun."

***

Just as he had estimated, they arrived at Mt. Moon around two.  Mewtwo
went inside the mountain caverns and slumped against a rock to rest.  
He wasn't used to long-term flying, even after all this time.  Maggie 
went off to the mountain to find some Moon Stones, and Eric wandered 
off in search of what he called 'something suspicious.'  Actually, he 
had spotted the shadow of something that looked like a demon, but it 
could've just been a hiker.  Better safe than sorry, he figured.

He had been walking for a few minutes, and if it hadn't been for the
five-thousand foot tall mountain behind him, he would've been lost 
hours ago.  Suddenly, to his right he spotted a blur of movement.  His
head quickly snapped in the direction of the blur, and he noticed a
figure slowly moving behind a tree.  It had to be a trap, either by
Khali, or by ordinary thieves who didn't know any better.  His money 
was on Khali.

He focused his mind, trying to pinpoint where and how many people there
were.  But for some reason he couldn't identify any new minds, but he
knew someone or something was out there.  Then something walked out 
from behind a tree.  It was a man in a business suit.  Without a face.
Two seconds later, others arrived from behind the trees, from all 
directions and in great numbers.  They walked with a slow, lumbering 
gait, and most of their faces had decayed slightly.  Most of them were
armed with guns, knives, and other various weapons.  And there was at
least a thousand of them, all bent on his destruction.

"This...is not good."

***

Inside the mountain, Mewtwo had rested up completely and was back on
his feet, looking for rocks.  It was a simple and menial task, one that
was obviously beneath his intelligence and power, but he was a little
tired of this world, and he wanted to leave.  They had already located
a few dozen stones, but Maggie said they would need at least two 
hundred.  He had just uncovered a few more when something blocked his
light.  He stood up and turned around to see what it was, and saw a red
silhouette.

"Ahh, the mighty Mewtwo," a growling voice said.  "How nice it is to 
finally meet you."

"Likewise.  Khali, is it?"

"Correct.  You get a gold star."

The silhouette became a solid figure, and it was a very familiar 
figure.  Ten feet tall, covered with muscle with horns, fangs, claws,
and a very nasty tail blade.  It looked like Jerry, almost exactly 
alike, but there was one distinct difference, and that was that this
demon knew what he was doing.  

"Hmm.  I thought you would look different," Khali observed.

"It's the morphing device," Mewtwo said evenly.  "Allow me to show you
my true form."

"I'd be honored."

Mewtwo reached up and tapped the small metal device behind his right 
ear lightly.  The transformation was instantaneous; Mewtwo felt his 
organs shifting around, his hands turning to claws and his strength 
growing, both mental and physical.  His original body had a lot more 
room for muscle.  "Is that better?"

"Much."  The demon smiled, revealing a toothy grin.  "Now I'd like you
to meet a friend of mine."

"Maybe you can introduce him to both of us," Maggie said from his left.

Khali only glanced in her direction and didn't bother to turn his head.

"I'd be glad to, but it's not a him.  It's...well, perhaps you'd better
decide for yourself."

A number of bubbles appeared in a flash of light, each one holding a
pokŽmon.  Mewtwo recognized almost all of them.  A Gengar, Haunter, 
Ghastly, Arcanine, Ivysaur, Kadabra, Ditto, Raichu, and a strange blue 
bird he didn't recognize.  Khali smiled again.

"Heh.  Wonderful creatures, these pokŽmon, but so weak individually.
Let's see if we can change that."

The bubbles swirled around, then moved closer to each other, finally
merging with each other in one giant mass.  The pokŽmon inside became
liquid and mixed in with the others.  The end result was a shadow, a
living pool of darkness.  At first it was just a cloud in midair, then
it grew and shifted around, then sunk to the ground.  The strange 
mixture began to form, and rose up into the shape of a dog, or perhaps
a very large wolf.  It's entire body flowed like liquid, and the only
thing solid were it's teeth.

"I dub thee Spectre," Khali said ceremoniously, breaking the silence.
He made an idle wave of his hand at the two.  "Attack."

Maggie fell back into a fighting stance, but Mewtwo just stood there,
completely calm.  The shadowy wolf growled, then leaped at Mewtwo with
fangs bared.  It came within three feet before Mewtwo fired a wave of
psychic energy at it, sending ripples along it's body.  It was stopped
in midair, and fell to the ground, but there was no visible signs of 
damage.  It got back up to speed in less than a second and made another
leap, but this time Maggie rushed forward and smashed a clenched fist
against it's jaw, knocking it across the cave and sending it crashing
against the rock wall.  It shook its shadowy head, then evaporated into
thin air, only to reappear behind Maggie and take a good-sized bite out
of her ankle.

"Aaahh!!  Damn it!!"  She fell to the ground and Spectre was on her in
a second.  She kicked the monster off her, but it landed on it's feet,
growling and snapping.

Khali just stood there and grinned.  "You don't understand, do you?
You can't kill Spectre.  It's been created with an invulnerability to
every possible weakness, so it cannot be killed.  But don't worry, I'll
make sure your deaths aren't *too* painful."

Mewtwo didn't know whether or not Spectre could be beaten, but he 
didn't care.  He just wanted to wipe that smug grin off Khali's face 
and beat his head into the ground.  He would enjoy it.

"Now, my little pet," Khali said with the utmost arrogance, 
"Destroy them."