Introduction: I know it's been a little while since I posted anything on this site. Besides the recent holiday season, the reason that I haven't been as active as I normally am is because my grandfather died late last month. Needless to say, that really threw me off my game. Of course that doesn't mean I haven't been writing. While I haven't even touched my current Sword Art Online story, Clash of Queens for several weeks, I have been working on some stuff for this Pokemon AU of mine as a way of trying to deal with everything that's happened.

So submitted for your reading enjoyment is my very first attempt at a one-shot collection. What you're about to see is a series of connected short stories focusing on Amber Drei, the OC I created for an earlier Pokemon story, Mewtwo Zwei. If you haven't read that story yet, you might want to go back and do that now. I don't know who long this collection is going to be, and there are going to be at least one or two stories in this collection that will be divided into two or three parts, but this little side project of mine will hopefully be a good way for me to take a break every now and then from some of my larger story projects. One more thing I should probably mention right now is that the stories in this collection take place after my yet to be written Pokemon story, Reign of Silver.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.

The Clockwork Pokemon

It was fairly early in the evening as Quinton Mercury entered his favorite bar in Saffron City. The twenty-six-year-old musician had returned to his home city six weeks before to catch up with his family and work on the rock opera he had spent the past few years trying to perfect. Quinton felt that he was finally very close to finishing his masterpiece, and due to the fact that he wasn't due to go back on tour with the rest of his band, Raging Thunder for a few more months, the blonde rock star was certain that he was finally going to get the thing finished. Quinton had spent practically the entire day trying to work on the finale of his musical and had decided that he needed to go out to recharge his batteries. He felt that his brain might blow a fuse if he didn't step away from his computer for a while.

After sitting at the bar and ordering a drink, Quinton began to look around the little tavern. The two big reasons that Quinton liked to frequent this particular bar were because it was quiet and because it was usually filled the kind of people who all seemed like they had a story to tell. As he looked around, Quinton spied a young woman in her early to mid twenties sitting at one of the tables by the window. She had long rather wavy green hair and grey eyes. The woman's outfit consisted of a sleeveless black shirt with tight black jeans, black boots, and a pair of fingerless black gloves. She also had a long black coat that was hanging over the back of her chair, and around the young woman's neck was an odd choker made of a dark-grey metal. Fitted into the front of this choker was a small blue marble-like stone.

Quinton had become especially interested in this young woman because she seemed like she could be a potential girlfriend. The blonde musician had not been on the dating scene for quite some time, due mainly to the tours with his band and the work on his rock opera. As soon as the bartender came back with his drink, Quinton decided to go over to the young lady's table and make his move.

"Hey there, beautiful," Quinton spoke in a suave manner, getting the green-haired girl's attention. "This other seat taken?"

"…If you are requesting permission to sit at this table, I suppose you may do so," the young woman answered.

"I don't think I've seen you around here before," Quinton remarked as he sat down. "But then it has been a while since I've been back in town. I'm Quinton Mercury, and you?"

"…Amber Drei," The young woman answered.

"That's a pretty unique name," Quinton noted. "You new to Saffron City? Because if you are, I'd be happy to show you around."

"I have been here five previous times," Amber answered. "I come back to this city periodically in the hopes of encountering a particular Pokemon. I've spent several months searching for this Pokemon and have had no success."

"Well, Saffron isn't exactly a hotspot for wild Pokemon," Quinton pointed out. "I mean you might find a stray Meowth or Rattata if you go down the right alley, but that's about it. What kind of Pokemon are you looking for exactly anyway?"

"A very unique one," Amber answered. "It's called Mewtwo. Have you heard of it?"

Quinton was somewhat taken aback by the name of the Pokemon that Amber had given him. He had heard of Mewtwo through small articles he had read online and through his friend and band mate, Bolt Hanson. Mewtwo was a genetically engineered Pokemon that according to rumors was created by the rather infamous scientist, Dr. Ichiro Fuji. Just why Amber was interested in finding Mewtwo though, Quinton could not begin to guess.

"Um… yeah, I've heard of Mewtwo," Quinton finally answered. "Why do you think you'd find that Pokemon here in Saffron though?"

"Not long ago, I encountered someone who has twice encountered Mewtwo," Amber explained. "My hope is that this city might be a location that Mewtwo likes to frequent. Tell me Quinton, do you have any information that might indicate if this theory of mine is correct?"

Quinton wasn't sure just how to answer Amber's question. He knew from his friend Bolt that Mewtwo was something of a friend to the city's gym leader, Sabrina, and thus was known to drop by Saffron from time to time to visit her. Amber's theory was indeed correct, but Quinton wasn't sure if he should tell her that. Before the musician could decide what sort of answer to give Amber though, four rather large men wearing black suits and sunglasses approached their table.

"Quinton Mercury?" one of the men spoke.

"Uh, yeah?" Quinton responded. "Can I help you gentlemen?"

The man who spoke before pulled out a gun. "You better come with us. Your lady friend comes too. We don't want her running to the cops. And one more thing, if you try anything funny…"

"Yeah, I get the picture," Quinton replied with a heavy sigh.

"Why should we comply with you gentlemen?" Amber asked rather indifferently.

"Because if ya don't, you and your boyfriend here are gonna come down with a real bad case of lead poisoning, dig it girlie?" another of the men answered.

"I see…" Amber responded. "Very well. We shall accompany you."

The four men led Quinton and Amber out of the bar and into the back of a black car with tinted windows parked out front. Once everyone was inside, the car drove off. Just where the car was going, Quinton couldn't tell because of the windows. The thing that really struck Quinton about the whole situation was how icy calm Amber appeared to be. Just about anyone else would be frightened by a gang of armed men suddenly showing up and forcing them into the back of a car going who knows where, but Amber did not seem to be afraid at all.

After what seemed like twenty minutes, the car finally stopped and one of the goons opened the door. As he got out, Quinton saw that they had arrived at a fairly large two-story on the very outskirts of the city. The four men led Quinton and Amber into the building.

"Would you jerks at least tell us what the hell this is all about?" Quinton asked as they stepped into the entry hall.

"You'll know soon enough," the first of the goons told him.

"Hello there, Mercury," a voice spoke.

Quinton looked, and standing at the foot of the stairs to the second floor was a young woman who appeared to be about seventeen. She had shoulder-length very dark-brown hair and orange eyes. Her outfit consisted of a black t-shirt with a grey vest and a short red skirt that ended well above the knee, along with a pair of black shoes with knee-high white socks.

Quinton immediately recognized the girl and let out a heavy sigh. "Vivian Chase. Well… this evening is certainly going to hell."

"I'm not exactly fond of seeing you either," Vivian told him. "Now that you're here though, just what did you and that rock star friend of yours do to break my brother's brain?"

"You know this girl, Quinton?" Amber asked.

"Unfortunately," Quinton answered. "It's a long story, but Vivian's older brother, Richter was once engaged to the girl who's now the wife of one of my best friends."

"I'll ask you one more time, Mercury," Vivian spoke as she came further down the stairs. "What the hell did you do to my brother? He's in a nuthouse right now with no memory of that tramp, Christine and a few other problems. And I know you and those friends of yours had something to do with it!"

"Yeah, well… you are right about that," Quinton admitted as he rubbed the back of his head. "What happened to Richter though was something of an accident, not that he didn't have it coming though."

"Just answer me already, dammit!" Vivian ordered.

"It's actually a long and pretty unbelievable story," Quinton told her. "You ever hear of a Pokemon called Jirachi?"

"That's enough, Vivian," a voice interrupted. "I did not bring young Mr. Mercury here to answer for what happened to your brother."

Quinton turned his head to see a man in a wheelchair being brought into the room by an aging butler. The man appeared to be in his mid fifties and had somewhat long black hair that covered one of his eyes and a thick mustache. His outfit was a grey suit with a yellow shirt and red tie. The man's complexion was extremely pale, and a brown blanket covered his legs. A small green oxygen tank was attached to the side of his wheelchair.

"So, I get the honor of seeing Anthony Chase as well," Quinton spoke

"It's good to see you, Quinton," Anthony responded. "I think the last time I saw you was when you were about nine and I tried making that business deal with your father. It's a shame he turned me down. We could've done great things together, he and I."

"There's no way in hell that my dad would get involved in the kind of business that you're in," Quinton told him.

"Dad, aren't you going to make that son of a bitch and his friends answer for what they did to Richter?" Vivian asked Antony.

"You'll have to forgive my daughter, Quinton," Anthony told him. "She and Richter were of course quite close. Of course while what happened to my son is a tragedy, I feel it serves him right for getting so hung up over that girl. While Richter's marriage to Christine Wyler would've meant great things for both her father and myself, in the end it was still just a business deal. And sometimes deals just fall through. I have no plans to retaliate against you or your friends for whatever happened."

"Good to know," Quinton replied. "But if this isn't about Richter, why'd you drag me out to this place?"

"We'll discuss that in the drawing room," Antony told him. "Vivian, you may as well join us too."

In a few moments, Quinton and the others were in the drawing room of the mansion. Quinton and Amber sat down on the couch a space apart. Anthony's butler wheeled him over to an empty space behind the coffee table so that he could look directly at Quinton.

"Now Quinton my boy, I assume that you've heard of a Pokemon called Magearna," Anthony began.

"Yeah I have. My granddad was obsessed with that Pokemon," Quinton revealed. "I have to admit I've always been pretty fascinated by it myself."

"You brought him here just because you wanted to ask him about some random Pokemon I've never even heard of?" an outraged Vivian asked. "Just what the hell is a Magearna, anyway?"

"Magearna is a mechanical Pokemon that's said to have been created approximately five hundred years ago by an inventor whose genius was far ahead of his time," Amber answered. "Why are you interested in this Pokemon, Mr. Chase?"

"Hey Marty, who's the girl?" Anthony asked one of the goons.

"She was with Mercury at the bar when we went to nab him, boss," The first of the goons answered. "We just figured she was his date or something. We didn't want her running to the cops, so we just took her too."

"I see…" Anthony responded. "Well my dear, to answer your question, I'm interested in Magearna because I want to give a final gift to my daughter. As you've probably figured out, and as I'm sure Quinton already knows, I'm not long for this world. This damn illness I have is starting to take its toll. The doctors say I have about four months left in me at the most."

"I hate it when you talk about that stuff," Vivian spoke.

"I want to leave my daughter something very special before I finally go from this world," Anthony continued. "What better gift to leave her with than Magearna? After all, the legends say that Magearna's inventor made to present as a gift to a king's daughter."

"What's all of this have to do with me?" Quinton asked.

At this, Anthony reached into his jacket and pulled out a small notebook bound in black leather that he tossed onto the coffee table. "Recognize this?"

Quinton picked up the book. "This is my granddad's journal. Last I saw this was in the attic of my family's mansion! Where the hell did you get this?"

"My men and I paid a visit to your father earlier and found it," Anthony revealed. "As you know, this journal contains every piece of research that your late grandfather did on Magearna. The journal also includes a detailed map to the inventor's workshop, the one place in the world where Magearna might be found."

"I know. I probably asked granddad to show me that map at least a hundred times," Quinton told him. "But the map doesn't have any names! We don't even know what region the workshop is supposed to be in."

"That, my dear boy has changed," Anthony revealed with a slight chuckle. His laugh turned into a coughing fit and he was forced to use the breathing mask attached to the tank on his chair. When Anthony's breathing finally calmed, he resumed. "My people… looked closely at the map and found that its starting point is a small town in the Kalos Region. It was once the capital of a small kingdom five hundred years ago that no longer exists. From there, we can find the inventor's lab."

"Okay, then why do you need me?" Quinton asked.

"Because the entrance to the inventor's laboratory is hidden," Anthony answered. "Your grandfather's research states that the inventor was afraid that his creations would fall into the wrong hands. Fortunately for us, the old scientist left a clue to where to find the entrance to the lab shortly before his death, along with instructions on how to open the door. There's apparently a sort of elaborate combination lock that will trigger bombs to destroy the lab if the wrong combination is put in."

"Well I have no idea what this combination would be," Quinton told him.

"No, but your grandfather figured it out," Anthony replied. "He wrote the secret down in the back of that journal of his, apparently not long before he died."

"I've looked through this thing thousands of time, and granddad didn't write down anything like that," Quinton told him.

At this, Anthony laughed, only to trigger another coughing fit that he quickly relieved with his breathing mask. "Yes, I'm sure that you never found anything like that before, but there were several blank pages towards the back of the book, right? Take a look at those pages now, boy."

Frowning, Quinton flipped opened the leather bound notebook to the pages towards the back. To the musician's surprise, there was writing on pages that didn't have any writing on them before.

"I knew your grandfather a little bit, you know," Anthony revealed. "He had a reputation for being quite crafty. When I got hold of that little notebook and saw those empty pages, I wondered if perhaps they weren't as blank as they appeared to be."

"Invisible ink," Quinton realized.

Anthony nodded as a wide grin came to his face. "You'll note that there's a little message just for you on that first page. Obviously your grandfather intended for you to cover this secret. It goes on to say that he found out the combination for the lock hidden in the inventor's old writings. Unfortunately, your grandfather wrote down the door's location and the lock combination in some sort of code that only you and he could decipher."

"We came up with that code together when I was just a kid," Quinton recalled. "He and I would use it for secret messages we'd send to each other."

"How touching," Anthony remarked somewhat indifferently. "Well my boy, that code of yours is now the only thing standing between me and my parting gift to my daughter. You're going to decipher it for me."

"And what if I refuse?" Quinton asked.

"Then your little sister's life will be cut unexpectedly short, and perhaps your father's life too," Anthony warned. "Oh don't worry. I don't have either of them locked away in a little room somewhere. But I do have a man on each of them, watching every move they make. One little phone call from me, and you'll suddenly become both an orphan and an only child. Get the picture, my boy?"

"Yeah… I get it," Quinton answered. "Okay Mr. Chase. You win. I'll help you get into that damn lab."

"You're a bright boy, Quinton. I knew you'd see things my way," Anthony told him. "I've already arranged for my jet to take us to Kalos first thing in the morning. In the meantime, a room here has been prepared for you and your lady friend so that you can stay the night. I don't think I need to tell you what will happen if either of you tries to leave."

With that, Marty escorted Quinton and Amber out of the drawing room and up the stairs to one of the spare bedrooms on the second floor. The room was somewhat large and had a large window overlooking the city, along with a queen-sized bed covered in red sheets.

As soon as Marty shut and locked the door to the room behind them, Quinton went over to sit on the end of the bed. "Dammit! I'm sorry I got you dragged into all this, Amber."

"There's no need to apologize," Amber assured him as she took off her coat and tossed it onto a wooden chair by the door. "This encounter had actually proven to be quite interesting. It seems I now have an opportunity to find the legendary Magearna."

"Man. First Mewtwo, and now Magearna? You seem to have an interest in artificially created Pokemon." Quinton observed.

"Let's just say that I have a rather unique understanding of those Pokemon," Amber told him. "You seem quite interested in artificial Pokemon as well."

"Well yeah. Pokemon like that are testaments to human ingenuity," Quinton declared. "They show us that people can do just about anything if they put their minds to it."

"But is that all artificial Pokemon are to you?" Amber asked. "Are they nothing more than objects that demonstrate human genius?"

"Uh… if you're asking if I think Pokemon like that aren't living things, nothing could be further from the truth," Quinton assured her. "My very first Pokemon was a Porygon. It's since evolved into a Porygon-Z, and it's still one of my most trusted Pokemon. What I'm trying to say is that I've never thought as some lifeless computer program brought into the real world. That Pokemon is one of my best friends."

A small smirk formed on Amber's face. "You're an interesting person, Quinton Mercury."

"Thanks. You're pretty interesting yourself," Quinton replied.

"Tell me… when you approached me in the bar, your intention was to somehow get me to have a sexual encounter with you, wasn't it?" Amber assumed.

Quinton's face turned a deep shade of red. "Uh… um, well… actually I was thinking we'd start with dinner and go from there, but… you know…"

"This room does seem to be the optimal environment for such an encounter," Amber observed. "And we are going to be here for the remainder of the night."

"Well… yeah, but then this isn't exactly the right time for that sort of thing," Quinton pointed out. "I mean we're under armed guard inside a mansion owned by an infamous crime lord, and…"

Before Quinton could finish his sentence, Amber removed her shirt and tossed it over towards the chair where her coat was. After taking off her shirt, Amber's long green hair tumbled down to cover her naked breasts.

Quinton's pants suddenly became uncomfortably tight. "On the other hand, I'm sure we both need to relieve some stress right now."

It was early in the afternoon by the time Anthony's jet finally landed in Kalos. A group of cars was waiting to take Anthony and his party, which included his butler and the four goons that had abducted Quinton and Amber the night before, to the small town that was the starting point on the map. Quinton had ended up in the same car as Amber, Marty and Vivian, who had insisted on coming along on the trip to make personally sure that her father would be okay and that Quinton wouldn't try any tricks. During the ride over to the town, Quinton had been forced to go to work on decoding the final pages of his grandfather's journal. It disgusted Quinton to have to decrypt the journal for someone like Anthony Chase, for it would've been the last thing that his grandfather had wanted.

It was another hour before the vehicles reached the town. When they arrived, Anthony ordered his vehicles to head for a dense forest located to the north of the town about twenty miles away. Once the vehicles reached the forest, the group disembarked from them to enter the forest on foot. It would've been impossible for them to go further otherwise. Anthony was placed in a sophisticated hover chair that he had ordered to be built especially for this part of the journey.

The group spent at least another three hours trekking through the forest until finally reaching the side of a large mountain. In the center of a mountain wall were three small circular indentations arranged like the points of a triangle. The indentations did not seem to be at all like natural formations in the rock.

"Alright Quinton my boy, it's up to you now," Anthony told him. "And don't forget, this satellite phone I have here works perfectly well inside this forest."

Quinton reluctantly went over to the rock face and consulted the decrypted information from his grandfather's journal. Picking up a nearby stick that was lying on the ground, the blonde musician pushed the tip of the stick into the lower right indentation twice. Then Quinton inserted the stick into lower left indentation in the rock once, and then used the tool to prod the top indentation three times. The face of the rock with the indentations suddenly moved inward and to the right, revealing a mechanical control panel behind it. The control panel resembled the type of combination lock used on old briefcases; only it had six rollers with numbers on them instead of four.

Checking his decryption closely, Quinton slowly began to enter the combination to the lock. He knew that the slightest mistake could cause the entire lab to explode. Once Quinton entered the final number, the ground shook and part of the mountainside slid aside to reveal a long dark tunnel lined with steel piping going into the earth.

"Well done, Quinton," Anthony praised. "I knew you wouldn't let me down."

"We came all the way to this damn forest just for this?" an annoyed Vivian asked.

"Patience, daughter. The real prize lies somewhere at the end of this tunnel," Anthony told her.

"It had better," Vivian declared.

"Let's all go inside, shall we?" Anthony decided.

Quinton and Amber were forced by Marty to go along at gunpoint as Anthony and the rest of the party went into the tunnel. After a few moments of walking, the group reached an intersection in the tunnel that went off to the left and the right as well as straight-ahead. As they continued to walk on, Quinton glanced down at the side of the wall and noticed a rusted knob for some kind of valve towards the floor. When they got close enough to it, Quinton kicked the knob, breaking it off and causing a blast of steam to hit Marty in the face. With Anthony's goon knocked off guard, Quinton grabbed Amber by the arm and dragged her off down the tunnel to the left.

"Dammit!" Marty cursed. "That punk's gonna get it now!"

"My phone… it's gone!" Anthony noticed. "And I had it right in my hand."

"How the hell did he get ahold of it?" Vivian asked.

"It doesn't matter. We don't really need Mr. Mercury for this part of the journey anyway." Anthony decided. "Now come! Our prize is still somewhere ahead."

Quinton and Amber were walking aimlessly through the darkened tunnels of the lab. Just where it was they were heading, neither of them could say. The inventor's lab was proving to me more of a labyrinth than Quinton had expected.

"Sorry for grabbing you like that back there," Quinton told Amber. "I just needed for us to get away from those guys."

"It's quite all right, Quinton," Amber assured him. "I think I understand your motivations."

"I know that Anthony Chase says that he only wants to give his daughter a gift before he dies, I know there's got to be a lot more to it than that," Quinton told her. "I know this family pretty well, and all of them are messed up. Whatever Anthony really has planned, I can't just stand by and let him take Magearna. Of course… I'm worried that by doing this, I just put my dad and little sister in real danger."

"That should no longer be an issue," Amber revealed as she held up Anthony's phone.

"How the hell did you manage to grab that?" Quinton asked.

"Does it matter?" Amber responded.

"…Nah, I guess not," Quinton answered. "You're pretty amazing, you know that? I don't think I've ever met anyone like you before."

"Nor have I met anyone like you before either," Amber replied.

"Um… by the way, you were pretty amazing last night too," Quinton told her. "That was probably the best sex I've had in a long time."

"I'm glad I could satisfy you," Amber responded.

As they continued to try and navigate the labyrinth of tunnels, Quinton couldn't help but think about how unique Amber was. She was always so calm and collected, even when someone was holding her at gunpoint. There was also something quite strange about Amber… and something quite familiar about her to Quinton that he just couldn't quite place. Somewhere along the line, Quinton suddenly felt like he had seen Amber's face before. It was like a face he had seen many years earlier, but couldn't quite place.

Quinton and Amber eventually took another turn and found themselves in a small pitch-black room. Fumbling around the edge of the door, Quinton found what felt like a large switch. The blonde flipped the switch, and suddenly a series of torches built into the walls inside glass jars lit up on their own. At the far side of the room on the floor was a fairly large metal sphere that almost looked like an oversized pokeball.

As Quinton and Amber approached the ball, the very top of it suddenly sprang open. Extending up from the top of the sphere was the upper body of a robot with an almost completely spherical head with a slight point towards the back. The machine's face consisted of two glowing pink ovular eyes with gold frames that had two prongs extending upward almost like eyelashes, along with a small nose and mouth. A large incomplete gear with seven teeth rimed the robot's face almost like a maid's bonnet, and it had a pair of rabbit-like ears that were really the two sections of the disc that made up the very top of the ball that its body had popped out of. The mechanical creature's spherical torso had two light-blue sections on the front designed to look like a pokeball, and in the very center of its chest was a circular indentation that was half blue and half pink. It had two spherical shoulders that each had an almost claw-like arm. The very bottom of the sphere that the robot had emerged from opened up to reveal a pair of stilt-like legs, making the original sphere look like the skirt of a ball gown.

"Holy crap! We actually just found Magearna!" Quinton realized. "Well… looks like it's time to use my secret weapon."

As Magearna cautiously hopped towards Quinton and Amber, Quinton reached into the pocket of his white jacket and pulled out a unique pokeball that was purple on top and had two pink circles, along with a small white M above the button on the front. The musician threw the ball at Magearna, hitting the mechanical Pokemon in the face. Magearna was sucked inside and the ball dropped to the ground. After jiggling on the ground for a few moments, the pokeball made the noise that signaled a completed capture.

"Never thought I'd actually use this Master Ball that dad gave me years ago," Quinton remarked as he walked over and picked up the pokeball. "Another one of the perks to being the son of the Silph Co president just came in handy."

Suddenly Marty burst into the room and pressed his gun into Amber's back. "Alright ya damn punk! You're fun's over! If it were up to me, I'd blow you and your girlfriend away right now, but the boss wants me to take you to him. I suggest you come with, otherwise your babe is toast."

"Fine. Lead the way," Quinton replied as he quickly pocketed Magearna's pokeball. "I'd like to have a word with him."

With that, Quinton and Amber went with Marty back into the labyrinth of the inventor's lab. A few minutes later they arrived back at the original corridor that they had been traveling down when they first entered the hidden lab. After another few moments of walking, Quinton and the others reached a chamber with a domed ceiling. Quinton looked around and saw various pieces of ancient machinery far ahead of their time scattered all over the room, including something that looked like a large mechanical arm, and something towards the back that to Quinton almost looked like a death ray. Anthony at that moment was waiting with Vivian in front of a large glass dome filled with a white mist.

"Ah! Good of you to rejoin us, Quinton," Anthony spoke. "I wouldn't want to deny you the pleasure of this moment."

"This moment you're talking about may not turn out like you expected, Anthony," Quinton declared with a confident smirk.

"Indeed. Giles! Open that container!" Anthony commanded.

At that moment Anthony's butler, who was behind one of the control panels in the room, nodded and pressed a button. Soon after, the glass of the dome Anthony and Vivian were in front of suddenly shattered. The mist that was inside the dome cleared to reveal another metal sphere almost identical to the one that turned out to be Magearna, only it was red on top and white on the bottom like an actual pokeball. The sphere opened and transformed into another Magearna that was mostly gold in color.

"No way!" a stunned Quinton exclaimed.

"Your reaction is understandable, my boy," Anthony responded. "I never expected to find Magearna in such pristine condition. It appears that our fabled inventor never actually got around to presenting the Pokemon as a gift to the king's daughter."

Quinton was absolutely shocked that there was a second Magearna. He quickly reasoned that the inventor had probably built the second one sometime before abandoning the lab but never awakened it for an unknown reason, perhaps to keep both it and his original creation from falling into the wrong hands. Meanwhile, the gold Magearna quickly went over to where Vivian was and started to hug her. Disgusted, Vivian kicked the mechanical Pokemon away.

"Hey!" Quinton protested.

"Dad, you really brought me all the way here some damn toy?" Vivian asked.

"Not at all, child. It's what's inside this little toy that's the prize we came for," Anthony told her. "Now Giles!"

Giles nodded and began to work a few more switches on his control panel. Suddenly the ancient mechanical arm in the room came down and grabbed onto the gold Magearna's torso just as she had gotten back up. The robotic Pokemon was lifted into the air by the arm, and suddenly four small prongs extended from the palm of the arm's claw and push into the gold Magearna's chest, causing her to cry out in pain.

"What the hell are you doing?" Quinton demanded to know.

"Extracting the Soul Heart, the mechanism that powers that little marionette," Anthony explained. "You see that large device towards the back of the room there? That machine is a weapon of unimaginable destructive power that uses the Soul Heart as a battery. I discovered the existence of that device during my own research into Magearna. It's that very weapon that's the true gift I intend to leave my daughter! With that weapon, she can totally rebuild the fallen Team Rocket from the ground up and become a queen!"

"I see. So that Pokemon is nothing but a disposable tool to you," Amber coldly observed.

"But of course! Pokemon are nothing more than simple beasts of burden that humanity has built the foundation of our society upon!" Anthony declared. "If one Pokemon should parish in the service of its masters, a thousand more can take its place!"

"So you view all Pokemon as disposable and not just the artificial ones," Amber observed. "How interesting. However, I think I've let this continue on long enough."

Amber's eyes glowed blue, and suddenly the mechanical claw holding the gold Magearna shattered apart. Before the gold robot could drop to the ground, Amber threw a Master Ball that struck the Pokemon in the side of the head. The gold Magearna was sucked inside and the ball dropped to the ground, jiggling on the floor for a few moments before making the sound that signaled a completed capture. The pokeball glowed with a blue aura and flew back to Amber's open hand.

"Alright bitch! Hand over that pokeball right now!" Marty ordered as he and the other three goons took aim at her.

"Your weapons are useless against me," Amber declared.

Suddenly the guns being used by the four goons glowed with a blue aura and were ripped from their hands into the air. Quinton and the others watched in amazement as the guns were crushed into a large metal ball before dropping to the ground.

"How… you're a psychic?" Quinton realized.

"Among other things," Amber confirmed.

With a wave of Amber's hand, Marty and the other goons were flung into the walls of the room with enough force to knock them out. Amber looked towards Giles, causing the butler to be knocked into the wall by an invisible force as well. Then with a wave of her arm, Amber used her powers to lift Anthony out of his chair and levitate him towards her.

"Perhaps I should break you the way you tried to break that Magearna," Amber suggested. "You are nearly dead anyway."

"Whoa! Hey Amber? I get where you're coming from, but this is a little too over the top!" Quinton told her.

"Put my dad down, you bitch!" Vivian ordered. "He may not be perfect, but he's the only family I really have left! Now let him go!"

"Or else what?" Amber asked.

Vivian threw out a pokeball that was hanging from her belt. "Go Purugly!"

Bursting out of Vivian's pokeball was a very large overweight cat with large ears and a curly tail. Much of its fur was blue-grey, though parts of its face, chest, back, and the tip of its tail were white. The tips of its large ears were purple, and the ends of the four whiskers on its face were crooked.

Amber dropped Anthony to the ground with a wave of her hand and took out a pokeball from the pocket of her coat. "Go Sentry!"

Emerging from Amber's ball was a blue nine-foot-tall robot resembling an ancient suit of armor. It had a spherical torso with a diagonal crack across the front that glowed with an eerie yellow light and was held closed by a sort of brown bandage. At the robot's waist was very short Roman-style skirt armor, and on its wrists and ankles were brown bands. On the front of its shoulder and the back of its hands were glowing yellow swirls.

"A Golurk, huh?" Vivian identified. "That big clunker of yours has nothing on my darling Purugly! Use Shadow Claw!"

"Heavy Slam," Amber commanded.

Purugly dashed across the battlefield towards Sentry and jumped high into the air. The feline Pokemon raised her front right leg and a massive set of shadowy claws extended from her paw to slash Sentry in the chest. The ancient robot staggered backward a couple of steps but quickly recovered and charged at its opponent as its body began to give off an eerie yellow aura. Sentry tackled Purugly to the ground with enough force to make a crater in the floor of the lab. After a few moments, Sentry got up off of a seemingly unconscious Purugly, but after a few moments the large feline got back to her feet.

"Not good enough! Purugly, use Shadow Ball!" Vivian commanded.

"Ice Punch," Amber ordered.

Purugly opened her mouth and a ball of crackling black energy formed in front of her face. When the ball got large enough, Purugly fired the ball of energy across the field at Sentry, hitting the ancient robot in the chest. Sentry staggered back a step, but managed to remain standing. The ghostly machine then charged at Purugly again and swung down its right fist towards the feline as it became covered in an icy mist. Purugly was hit in the face and flung back at least five feet as her front half became covered in ice. The ice soon shattered though and Purugly was still on her feet.

"I've had just about enough of you!" Vivian declared. "Purugly! Use Hone Claws followed by Shadow Claw!"

Purugly's front paws began to glow with a red light as she jumped up high into the air. With a swipe of her right paw, the feline Pokemon launched a set of large shadowy claws that slashed Sentry in the chest. The ancient robot staggered backward a few steps before finally toppling onto its back with a loud thud.

"You're much stronger than I expected," Amber remarked as she called back her unconscious Pokemon. "However, you are still no match for me. Go Tron!"

Bursting from Amber's thrown pokeball with a flash of stars was a strange hummingbird-like creature that was primarily electric blue in color. Its beak along with its tail and the wing-like attachments on the sides of its body were light blue, and it had a light blue V-shaped band on its chest. The creature's head was detached from the rest of its body, and had two large crazed-looking yellow eyes along with a growth on the top of its head that looked like it once could've been a neck.

"A shiny Porygon-Z?" Quinton identified.

"Use Psybeam!" Amber commanded.

Tron fired twin beams of multicolored light from its crazed down at Purugly, hitting her in the chest. Upon being hit, Purugly fell to her side and was unconscious.

"My Porygon-Z was traded away by its original trainer because they thought it was weak," Amber remarked as Vivian called back Purugly. "I have just proven them wrong."

"So now what, you freaky bitch?" Vivian asked.

"Now I shall continue with what I started," Amber answered.

Amber's eyes glowed again, and with a wave of her hand Vivian was flung back into the wall behind her, knocking the brown-haired girl out cold. The green-haired woman then turned her attention back to Anthony and lifted him back into the air.

"You… vile monster!" Anthony spoke. "I don't what you are, but I will make you pay for all of this!"

"You cannot even touch me," Amber coldly told him.

"Hold it, Amber!" Quinton interrupted. "This has to stop."

"Quinton…" Amber spoke as she let Anthony drop back to the ground. "Are you actually defending these people?"

"I'm not defending what they did here, but Amber… this is just too much!" Quinton told her. "And I can't just stand by and let you use your powers to beat someone to a pulp, even if it is someone like Anthony Chase!"

"I see… then come at me with all you have," Amber dared.

Quinton reluctantly took a pokeball from his belt. "Come on out, Chrome!"

Bursting out of Quinton's pokeball was a large silver metallic creature with a saucer-like body with four long legs. On the front of its body were two red eyes and a large gold X. Its legs were thicker and longer towards the bottom and tipped with golden claws. Around the metal creature's front right leg was an ornate metal band with a spherical blue gemstone embedded in it.

"A Metagross," Amber identified. "And it's equipped with a Mega Stone. In that case, there's only one Pokemon for me to use." With that, she called back Tron and took out another pokeball. "Go… Zwei!"

Bursting out of ball was a six-foot-tall bipedal feline that was purplish-grey in color. Its stomach and tail were purple and it had a cord-like growth on the back of its neck. The creature's eyes were purple, and around its midsection was a silver object that looked like a championship belt. Fitted into the rectangular front piece of the belt was a large round pinkish stone.

"No way!" Quinton exclaimed. "That's… Mewtwo?"

"I was wondering if you were ever going to send me out, Amber," a female voice spoke inside Quinton's head.

"I'm sorry, Zwei. I needed to let this situation play out," Amber told the feline. "Besides, I was in no real danger."

"Wait a sec… you're not the Mewtwo I've heard about!" Quinton realized. "You're a second Mewtwo!"

"You're very sharp, Quinton," Amber praised. "Zwei is the second Mewtwo that Dr. Fuji created."

"Zwei… and Drei…" Quinton spoke as another realization suddenly hit him. "You're a clone too, aren't you Amber?"

"That's right. I am Dr. Fuji's second attempt the clone his daughter," Amber confirmed. "The original Amber."

Quinton then finally remembered just where he had seen Amber's face before. Years ago while traveling through Kanto with his friend, Bolt Hanson, Quinton had visited the house of Dr. Ichiro Fuji, which at the time was being used as the Cinnabar Island Gym. While exploring the house, Quinton and his friends had found a picture of a young girl with long green hair, a picture that turned out to be of Dr. Fuji's daughter. The young woman standing before him was obviously much older physically, but Quinton could tell that the girl in that old picture was a dead ringer for Amber.

"Holy crap!" Quinton exclaimed.

"Do you look at me differently now that you know I'm a clone?" Amber asked.

"Well… you have to admit that it's a lot to take in," Quinton pointed out. "It isn't every day that a guy finds out the girl he had a fling with the night before is actually a clone with psychic powers."

"Do you still intend to stand against us?" Amber asked.

"…Yeah, but not because of what you are," Quinton told her. "It's because of what you want to do! Okay Chrome! Attack that Mewtwo with Meteor Mash!"

The marble-like stone embedded in the thick black bracelet on Quinton's wrist began to glow, and in the same instant the stone on Chrome's leg began to shine as well before its entire body gave off a dazzling explosion of blue light. In moments the light faded and Chrome had taken on a new form. It now floated in the air and its legs had moved on its body so that they pointed forward. The end of each leg had gained three large golden claws. Its back end had gained additional limbs that resembled thrusters, making the metal Pokemon look like some kind of spacecraft. The gold X on the front of its face had turned blue and had gained points on the ends. A multicolored light in the form of a DNA strand glowed briefly above Chrome before suddenly vanishing.

Chrome flew across the battlefield towards Zwei. As the starship Pokemon came in range of its target, its claws began to glow and its body began to give off a mist-like multicolored aura. Chrome rammed into Zwei's chest, knocking the psychic feline back into the wall behind Amber with enough force to make a small impact crater.

"Not bad," Zwei admitted as she flew away from the wall. "Still, you and your Metagross cannot hope to come even close to the power that Amber and I possess."

"Witness our true strength!" Amber declared as the stone embedded in her metal chocker began to glow.

In the same instant, the stone embedded in the front of Zwei's belt was glowing as well. In seconds Zwei's entire body began to glow with a pink light and change shape. At the very start of the feline Pokemon's transformation, the light coming from her body gave off a flash resembling a Y. The light soon faded and a multicolored light resembling a DNA strand appeared momentarily above Zwei's head just as what had happened with Chrome when he had transformed. In a few moments, the multicolored light vanished.

Zwei's body had become shorter and the tube on the back of her neck had disappeared. Her limbs had taken on a more mechanical appearance, with her fingers and toes becoming purple. Her otherwise smooth chest had a bump in the center resembling some kind of bone, and the psychic feline's tail had disappeared. Her ear-like horns had become more pointed and were connected at the base by a half ring-shaped growth that went over her head. Zwei's eyes had changed from purple to red, and growing from the back of her head was a long tail-like appendage that extended down past her legs and had a curled tip.

"You've gotta be kidding!" Quinton exclaimed. "A Mewtwo that can Mega Evolve?"

"Shadow Ball!" Zwei and Amber called out together as a ball of crackling black energy formed between Zwei's hands.

When the ball became large enough, Zwei hurled the ball across the field at Chrome. The spaceship Pokemon was hit in the face by the attack and knocked back several feet, but somehow managed to remain airborne.

"Damn!" Quinton cursed. "Okay… just hang in there, Chrome! Use Thunder Punch!"

Chrome flew back across the lab as the claws on its upper right arm began to crackle with yellow electricity. The starship Pokemon swung its electrified claws at Zwei when it came in range, but the psychic feline swiftly avoided the attack, leaving a trail of afterimages in her wake. Zwei then formed another Shadow Ball attack and fired it at Chrome, hitting the metal Pokemon in its left side. Chrome wobbled a bit upon being hit, but managed to remain in the air.

"You waste your time, Quinton!" Zwei and Amber declared. "We have enough power to make even the gods of this world fall before us! Your Metagross may be strong, but even in its Mega Evolved state it cannot overcome our power!"

Suddenly Zwei spread her arms and a swirling ball of purple energy started to form in front of her. In a matter of seconds, the ball grew to four times the size of Zwei's body.

"Oh… crap!" Quinton exclaimed.

"Psystrike!" Zwei and Amber called out as the feline brought her arms together.

The ball of energy flew across the lab and hit struck Chrome, exploding with a blast of white light. Quinton hit the ground as the explosion radiated outward. The blast was so powerful that it blew a gigantic hole inside the lab wall. Once the smoke finally cleared, Quinton got up to find that Chrome had returned to its original form and was on the ground out cold. Zwei had returned to her original form as well. Upon looking around, Quinton was relieved to see that Vivian, Anthony and all the others seemed to be okay.

"Perhaps we went a bit overboard this time, Amber," Zwei observed.

"Indeed. I apologize, Quinton," Amber told him. "I guess Zwei and I can't control ourselves sometimes."

"Yeah… I can see that," Quinton responded as he called Chrome back to its ball. "So what happens now? You just gonna crush me to a pulp like you plan to do with Anthony Chase and all the others?"

"No… they will at least be given a chance," Amber answered. "But Zwei and I are going to destroy this lab. Whether or not they survive will be up to fate. As for you, I'm going to send you far away from here."

"Well, I'm glad you aren't going to lump me together with the rest of these guys," Quinton remarked.

"You're very unique, Quinton," Amber told him. "I've never encountered another human like you before. I really hope we meet again someday."

Suddenly Quinton saw a blue light surround him and felt his body being pulled through space. A few moments later the light faded, and Quinton found that he was back in the town that had been the starting point of the ill-fated journey to the lab. A few seconds later, the keyboardist heard a loud explosion in the distance. Turning around, Quinton saw only a massive cloud of dust where a mountain once used to be. Feeling overwhelmed by everything that just happened, Quinton sat down on a large rock by the side of the road. Reaching into the pocket of his jacket, Quinton pulled out Magearna's pokeball and threw it into the air. The mechanical Pokemon burst out of the ball and turned to face the blonde musician.

"Hey there. Sorry if I scared you before," Quinton told Magearna. "You okay?"

Magearna merely looked around and saw a bunch of pink flowers growing by the rock Quinton was sitting on. The robotic Pokemon and picked the flowers to present to Quinton.

"Well thanks, Maggie," Quinton told Magearna. "Hey… that could be your nickname. What do you think?"

Magearna looked at Quinton for a few moments before finally nodding in agreement.

"Hah… boy! My granddad would just flip if he could see you," Quinton remarked as he patted Maggie on the head.

Suddenly Quinton heard his phone start to ring. The blonde musician reached into his inside jacket pocket and pulled out the phone to see Bolt Hanson's name on the Caller I.D.

Quinton sighed and hit the answer button before putting the phone to his ear. "Hi Bolt. What's up?"

"Hey man. Just wanted to call in and see how that rock opera of yours is coming along," Bolt answered over the line. "You okay? You sound a little wiped out."

"Oh, well… it's kind of a long story," Quinton answered. "Last night I picked up this girl at a bar, and um… things got a bit weird after that."

"Yeah, I think we've all been there at least once," Bolt replied with a slight chuckle. "Remember what happened to Ross when we played that gig in Goldenrod like two years ago? That girl was just nuts!"

"Yeah… well I think I have Ross beat this time," Quinton declared as he chuckled darkly. "Look Bolt, can we continue this another time? I have had a really long day."

"Sure man, sure," Bolt replied. "I just thought we could shoot the breeze for a bit since Christine's out of the house right now and I've got nothing else to do right now. It's okay though. I'll just bug Ross for a bit… maybe remind him of that girl we were just talking about. Well, later."

Quinton shut off his phone and let out a heavy sigh. "You know Maggie… that Amber Drei may have been a little nuts, but she was one hell of a woman. I really do hope that I'll see her again one of these days."

The sun was beginning to set as Zwei and Amber flew through the air looking for a place to land. The pair eventually found a small clearing in the forest below and touched down right in the middle of it.

"Amber… something puzzles me," Zwei spoke. "Why did you go so easily on that human, Quinton Mercury."

"I found him to be very… unique," Amber answered. "He's so far the only human who doesn't see artificially created Pokemon as mere objects. Besides… he and I had a sexual encounter last night."

"Really?" Zwei asked with a quirk of her brow. "What was it like?"

Amber began to blush, but after a moment she turned to Zwei to look her directly in the eye. The green-haired clone then began to stream the images and sensations of her night with Quinton.

Zwei's eyes went totally wide. "Um… yes. I think I can understand why you decided to give him special privilege."

"Never mind Quinton," Amber told the feline. "For now we should introduce ourselves to our new friend."

With that, Amber sent Tron and Sentry out of their pokeballs. She then sent out the golden Magearna that she had rescued from Anthony. The mechanical Pokemon was in her giant pokeball form when she emerged.

Amber knelt down and gently placed her hand atop the metal sphere. 'Hello. Can you hear my thoughts?'

After a moment, the gold Magearna unfolded into her robot form.

'Please don't hurt me,' a frightened child-like voice spoke in Amber's head.

"No one here is going to hurt you," Amber assured the robot. "All of us here are like you, beings artificially created by humans."

"Do you remember the one who made you?" Zwei asked.

'…Yes. A little,' The gold Magearna answered. 'I also remember another one who was like me. Not long after I was made, the man who built me had me go to sleep. He said he was going to give me as a gift to a princess… that I was going to be her best friend. I really looked forward to meeting that person. I thought that girl I met when I woke up was this princess but… she didn't want me. Then those other people tried to hurt me. Why did they do that?'

"Because you were nothing more than a tool to them," Amber answered. "Your life didn't matter."

'But… what about the princess I was supposed to meet?' the gold Magearna asked.

"I'm sorry. She's been dead for about five hundred years," Amber answered. "Your creator simply decided to leave you in that lab… likely forever."

'I was… abandoned?' the gold Magearna answered sadly. 'Why?'

"Because humans are cruel," Zwei answered. "They see those of us who were created by them as disposable, as nothing more than objects."

"Not all of them," Amber corrected, remembering her encounter with Quinton. "But most of them too. The one who created Zwei and myself saw us as nothing more than his experiments."

The gold Magearna looked from Amber to Zwei. 'Are the two of you both Pokemon?'

"Amber is essentially human," Zwei answered. "I am a Pokemon called Mewtwo."

'I… Sentry… a Golurk,' Amber's ancient ghostly robot spoke in a deep voice broadcast into the minds of the rest of the group. 'I made… by humans… long ago. Forgotten… until found… by Mistress Amber.'

'And I am Tron, a Porygon-Z,' the digital Pokemon's mechanical voice spoke in everyone's minds. 'I was traded away by my original trainers because my initial performance did not meet their expectations. Statement: I do not believe that my previous trainers ever truly considered me to be a CUPCAKE… correction, a living thing.'

'Um… is Mr. Tron okay?' the gold Magearna asked Amber.

"Tron is just fine," Amber assured her. "It's just that the method that was used to evolve Tron into its current form had a few… side effects."

'Indeed, Mistress,' Tron responded. 'However, I believe that I have gotten most of my glitches under control… PRUUUUUUNES!'

'Oh… so, do I get a nickname as well?' the gold Magearna asked.

"I suppose it is only proper," Amber agreed. "I think I'll call you… Galatea. What do you think?"

'I think it's pretty!' the golden robot answered.

"Then Galatea it is," Amber decided.

"So now what, Amber?" Zwei asked.

"For now we shall rest," Amber answered. "In the morning, we will resume our search for Mewtwo Ein. Once we find him, we will begin to reshape this world for the better."

FIN

Author's Note: I hope everyone enjoyed the first story in this collection. Sorry if the battle scenes in this story weren't my best work. This one-shot ended up being a whole lot longer than I thought it was going to be, but then I did have a lot to set up in the first part of the story. As for how I came up with the nickname for Amber's Magearna, it was meant to be a small reference to a little known anime from the 90s called Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040. Plus the name just seemed appropriate for the "original color" Magearna.

The next story for this collection is already done, so feel free to go ahead and take a look at it. Before you do though, please leave a review for this story and let me know what you think.