When oceans rage

[Undyne]

As I forgot to post this in my previous post: 2.416 words written.

Sabrina adjusted the collar of her sweater to ward off the cool winds coming from the sea, and continued her walk through the streets of Cinnibar Island. The buffets of salty cold air were making her head hurt but she didn't want to go back inside. She needed fresh air. She needed to think.

Alakazam's proposal was difficult for her. Did she like it? No. But if she wanted to earn the trust of Cinnibar Island's council and of Mewtwo, she had no other choice. Finding herself stuck like that, she gnawed on the fingernail of her thumb for a moment before stuffing her hand back into her pocket. What was she going to do? Expose herself completely? Give her body to the care of Mewtwo and the Cinnibar council who were all Pokemon? Risk them wrenching her secrets from her mind and ruining her plan before it could get started? Could she trust them if they didn't trust her? What a dilemma...

--- 2 hours earlier ---

Alakazam took a sip of his wine, let it roll around in his mouth a bit, then swallowed and smiled at Sabrina. It was a polite, but cold smile. "Like said, Miss Sabrina, we are quite resourceful. Lord Mewtwo is a veteran Prime with great knowledge about the Omniverse, as well as extensive scientific and medical experience, and many of our residents have similar skills. We had a large part of the plan set up and were looking for someone suited to take the key role, someone with the mental powers necessary to accomplish the task. It is a great coincidence that you arrived here."

"Because of my psychic powers?"

"And because of your human body. Any Pokemon that have psychic powers as strong as yours are in the council, and those with more modest but still sufficient abilities have an unsuited body shape."

"How am I supposed to understand that?"

Alakazam smiled a bit brighter and pointed at Sabrina with one of the fingers that held his wine glass. "Your physical shape comes very close to that of Lord Mewtwo."

"Are you telling me that you intend to stick me in some disguise to pose as Mewtwo?" Sabrina raised an eyebrow. "You do realize that it would come over as quite odd if your Lord appeared before the diplomat with five fingers, long hair and breasts?"

"Don't be silly. We are going to use a DNA-pill to temporarily shapeshift to look like Lord Mewtwo. The pill isn't perfect but its spectrum of possibilities, while vastly inferior to that of a true shapeshifter, will be sufficient to make you look like him. Rather than adding or removing body mass it will rearrange it to his proportions, plus add a tail and horns and remove mass from your chest, arms, legs and such. Any leftover corrections if the pill is imperfect can be adjusted by our experts." Alakazam waved his hand around. "Take Medicham, Jinx or Mr. Mime for instance. Their bodymass is distributed very differently to that of Lord Mewtwo, simple retouching is far from sufficient. Our experiments in that matter have only resulted in grossly malformed imitations of his appearance. They were too short, their bone structure and shape was completely different, they had too much bodymass... you on the other hand are very fitting to the task."

"I imagine then that you have done ample testing of the pill itself? It will function as intended?"

"Well, yes. Its functionality is based on the Omnilium that makes up our bodies, it doesn't distinguish between species. There may have to be a few adjustments to make it perfect for you, but I am confident that we can manage such if we proceed with haste."

"I'll be honest. I don't trust this pill. What if its effects leave a mark on my body or never wear off?"

"Besides that I personally believe that that would be nothing but an improvement to your looks, I believe that we can calm you down. We have no interest of letting you head out as a doppelgaenger of Lord Mewtwo, sowing confusion... and potentially more. We would research a method to restore your original looks, of course. You won't leave without your body looking like its original self."

Sabrina ignored the threat contained in that last sentence and crushed one of the ice cubes between her teeth while thinking it over. Worst case scenario, she would have to kill herself and return to the Nexus, then find her own cure. Best case scenario, there wouldn't be any undesired side effects. "What about the part where I only say what I am required to say?"

"For this we have a very interesting item from our laboratories, called the Neural Transmitter. Once attached to the base of your neck it is able to control the impulses that your brain sends out, blocking, modifying or allowing them to pass. It is also able to create electric impulses itself in order to make your body move. It is controlled by telekinetic orders from a specific individual, meaning that you would essentially recieve any prompts of action from one of our council members." His grin left no doubt as to who that council member was. "Due to your proximity to that individual the telekinetic connection will be virtually void of errors, and as a long-standing partner of Lord Mewtwo they will be able to make you act exactly like him."

"So I'll be a puppet on mental strings."

"I would rather call it... guided. Puppet is such an unfitting word especially in politics."

"Can I trust you on not blocking my brain's impulses to regulate my bodily functions, be that heartbeat or preventing my digestive tract from spontaneously discharging itself?"

"Such petty errors are beyond consideration. Even if my mind that, as I may note, can easily distinguish a human's petty brain impulses directed at their metabolism from actually important orders, allowed for such crude errors I have already taken extensive training with the Neural Transmitter and am able to control anyone to such perfect detail that their own mother would note notice a difference. You will play your role better than the most skilled actor, I assure you."

"What about mental speech? Mewtwo uses telepathy, as all of you do, and I cannot imitate his mental voice if I speak to the diplomat."

"You're forgetting that the diplomat is protected by an anti-telepathy wall. But to this end each council member and Lord Mewtwo himself is outfitted with a Mr. Mime translator, who is able to speak the human language and will speak out everything, word by word, as they are told by their respective "client". In this case however, I would take the role of speaking to the Mr. Mime that is assigned to you, as well as speaking to my own. Before you ask, yes - multitasking the speech and bodies of two individuals simultaneously is an easy task for a mind like mine. Nobody will notice... not even Mr. Mime, who I may note will be blissfully unaware of who's really sitting on the chair behind him as I will speak to him in Lord Mewtwo's voice. Is that all the questions?"

"You haven't yet told me a reason to do all this. As I told you, I'm not interested in saving lives, so you can forget guilt-tripping me. And there's another matter..."

"Of course, you will be adequately compensated for your volunteering and substantial aid in this matter. Outside of free meals and lodging during your preparation for the meeting up to the day after it takes place, we will reimburse you for any Omnilium expenses you have incurred as a result of your work. Primes that aid us here on Cinnibar Island are granted additional rewards by Lord Mewtwo as well, this often amounts to a permission of residence here on Cinnibar Island or anywhere within its region of influence, plus a substantial reward in Omnilium. And what may that other matter be then?"

"If your Neural Transmitter is able to control all my thoughts you will undoubtedly catch a number of secrets that I wish to keep for myself, subconscious thoughts that drift around my brain. I want your word of honor that you will not share these secrets with Mewtwo, the Mr. Mimes that act as translators, the other council members, Kadabra or anyone else at all, in any way, shape or form, fully or partially. And I demand that you agree to a partial memory wipe that covers the entire meeting, as well as any other times during which you may have learned any of those secrets I do not want you to share."

"And what if I refused to agree to either of these demands?"

"Then I can get up and leave, and wish you luck at finding someone fitting on such short notice with my powers - though you have my word that nothing spoken in this room will leave it. And if you promise it first, then break that promise later, well... the information shared here may be very interesting to the authorities of Coruscant and the imperial Navy."

Alakazam laughed. "You are so bent on keeping those secrets that you are threatening us? Wait, what is it that humans say again...? "We do not negotiate with terrorists", is that it? Why should I listen to your threats, Miss Sabrina?"

"It's a fair exchange. I am entrusting my body to you for a long time, at the risk of you being dishonest and taking complete control of me. Ensuring that my secrets are kept safe is quite a small price to ask in exchange. If you don't keep your silence, why should I keep mine?"

"Yes, you're right. Although I am quite curious as to what sort of secrets you are keeping in there if you value them so much. Do you have a few Alakazam skeletons in your closet, maybe?"

"We all have a skeleton in our closets."

"Well, Miss Sabrina, I will be honest. I can promise you that I will keep your secrets, but I cannot promise you a memory wipe. That technology is too risky, too powerful, and frankly I do not want my IQ to be reduced to vegetable, let alone human levels, by a malfunction."

"I cannot agree to that."

"We will find a replacement, Miss Sabrina, that is not the issue at hand if worst comes to worst. You are, however, our perfect choice, and I would be disappointed if you left us. I swear upon my life and as a council member of Cinnibar that I will not divulge any secrets to anyone in any way and in any amount. That is all I am willing to offer, the rest is your choice. Yes or no?"

"..."

"Take some time to think it over if you want. I will tend to some other matters and recieve you again in three hours, then I will expect your final decision."

---Present---


And so Sabrina stood there, waiting for Kadabra and thinking. How much could she trust Alakazam? His words had sounded honest, but... if they found out about her, about her Team Rocket past, and told Mewtwo about it she may get kicked straight from the island, worst case. Best case, Mewtwo would take it cool, but she doubted that. Behind her, a door opened and she turned to see Kadabra approach her.

"Miss Sabrina? Alakazam is ready to recieve you again. Please follow me."

"... I'm coming."

2.043 words written.