emsiecat
April 6th, 2008, 06:43 pm
That evening Liana returned once more to the library. Now they had a plan, of sorts, she could continue on her other branch of research; Mewtwo.
She had found that although Mewtwo was protective of his books, he wasn't averse to letting her use the library. As it was Lucinda and Rhys hadn't bothered to join Liana. They had decided that though Mewtwo seemed content for Liana to rummage through his books, if they tried it they might just find themselves on the wrong side of his temper.
"This is hopeless," Liana complained to the empty room, "how many books can one guy keep? I bet he hasn't read even half of them!"
She let her head drop to the pages of one tome in front of her with a soft thud as she groaned tiredly. Maybe it was like that wood for the trees thing? When you're swimming in details you can overlook something that seems insignificant but is really important.
Deciding to try a little longer, Liana stood up and wandered back over to the labyrinth of bookcases filling the large room.
It was in fact an hour or so later when Liana found something that looked interesting; a booklet that was obviously about cloning. She could just make out the title in the soft light from the moon outside the window. It would figure that it was right on the top shelf however. The bookcases were very tall and there was no way she could reach it on her own. After searching around for one of the ladders that adorned most of the shelves, Liana sighed. It seemed if she wanted this particular booklet she'd have to climb the shelves. Steeling herself Liana began to climb up the shelf, her eyes rooted on the booklet high above her. The first few shelves were easy, but as she got higher she began to feel a little wary of the weight bearing capacity of the shelves. Liana gingerly tested each shelf before pulling her full weight up onto it. She moved carefully, hand over hand. Liana stretched upward hoping she could reach the booklet without climbing any higher, one foot on the shelf the other stretched out into the air for balance.
"Got it!" Liana exclaimed happily as her fingers grazed and then closed around the spine of the booklet.
Unfortunately her balance shifted as she tugged the booklet out from between two others. Her foot slipped from the shelf and her hand was pulled away from the polished wood. Liana gasped slightly as she fell from the bookcase, cringing as she awaited the impact with the ground.
Impact with the floor below never came. Instead Liana found herself crashing into something much softer that 'oomphed' as she hit it. Whoever it was wasn't totally unprepared it seemed; they stumbled backwards but managed to keep their balance. The booklet clattered to the ground beside them, its pages fluttering.
Liana opened her eyes and blinked slowly.
"Mewtwo?"
~What on Earth do you think you're doing?~ his voice was soft and held amusement.
"Oh uh, I thought that booklet looked interesting. I wanted to read it but there was no way to get it down you see."
She was slightly flustered that she had been caught red-handed as it were. She glanced hurriedly at the shelves behind her hoping that nothing had been knocked out of place or broken in her foolhardy attempt to reach her goal. Seeing everything was as it should be she turned back to her 'saviour' of sorts.
"What are you doing here? It's late."
~Precisely why I am here.~ he answered back smoothly as he set the girl back on her own two feet.
Liana nodded at him gratefully before picking up the booklet and shielding the title from view as innocently as possible.
~We leave for the mainland tomorrow. Wouldn't it be best if you were well rested?~
Liana blushed and looked out the window towards the position of the moon, gauging the time. Much later than she'd first thought!
"Thanks. Um, I'll be going soon, just wanted to skim through this book. After all the trouble I went through to get it, seems a shame just to put it back." she giggled, the sound of it was fake even to her own ears.
Mewtwo picked up on her twitchy behaviour and raised an eyebrow suspiciously.
~What book would that be precisely?~
"As I said, it just looked interesting, so er…" she trailed off and shrugged hoping to escape the question.
Liana bowed her head, biting her lip as her face flushed. She didn't notice Mewtwo stealthily reach out a paw and grasp the booklet in her hands until a sharp tug told her that he'd taken it. Oh shit, shit, shit!
Liana looked up and made a vain grab for the booklet, but Mewtwo was taller than her and held it easily out of reach. He lowered it towards her teasingly only to pull it out of her reach as she jumped slightly to grab it.
As he read the title the amused look in his eyes vanished however. In truth he hadn't been aware that anything about his creation had remained. He knew that some articles had survived the decimation of the New Island lab, and that he had kept them. However he hadn't been particularly aware of their contents, his mind having been driven by revenge at the time. Since said revenge he had neglected even to bother reading through them, he'd simply stored them for possible later use.
He frowned at Liana.
He also hadn't been aware that this wench would lower herself to sneaking behind his back just find out about his past!
Liana had backed up a bit. The look on Mewtwo's face wasn't a good one. It was practically twisted in rage. Why didn't I listen to Pikachu!? Why am I so damn stubborn!?
Liana's eyes widened considerably as Mewtwo's eyes began to glow an eerie blue. A psychic aura like iced fire licked around his body, he was growling at her! She crouched into a ball, hiding her face in her hands.
She waited terrified, but nothing happened. She carefully opened one eye and peeked between her splayed fingers. Mewtwo was still stood there looking rather terrifying but the blue fire that had surrounded him had dissipated. Liana didn't dare move incase she invoked his wrath again.
It was shameful, but has much as he damn well wanted to he just couldn't kill the girl. Something held him back. Mewtwo snarled at himself, at Liana, and at the damned paper he held in his paws. He threw it down in front of the young woman before turning on his heel and stalking off.
~You want to read it? Fine, do so.~ he seethed back towards her as he left the library.
Liana swallowed and stood up; releasing a shaky breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. She picked up the booklet with trembling fingers and looked it over.
It was so innocuous. How could something so simple cause Mewtwo to nearly go berserk? The paper was old and yellowing with various ink smudges as it had been handwritten. The edges were singed as if at some point in its life it had been exposed to fire.
The booklet was open on page four. Glancing down Liana registered some of the most fateful words she had ever read: 'Due to the fossilized remains of Mew holding only a little fragmented DNA to work from. We, the head of the genetics team, and Giovanni, have agreed to manipulate other DNA strands to complete the gene sequencing code. We have decided upon Alakazam DNA to enhance the clones psychic powers, and human DNA. Human DNA seems to be the strongest alternative; all other DNA samples have proven to be inadequate in bridging the DNA gaps and surviving the basic testing in the first phase of cloning. Furthermore…'
Liana quickly shut the book, a shocked look on her face. Human? They had used human DNA in Mewtwo's creation? It explained so much but bought up new questions as well.
Liana went to open the book again and found that she just couldn't, no matter how much she wanted to read it. It was so interesting but Pikachu was right. Some things were better left alone. She wandered back towards the door, placing the booklet down on one of the tables before she left.
Mewtwo let me in here to read and I completely took advantage of his trust. He must really hate me! The thought hurt more than she expected.
Liana sat on her bed, tears on her cheeks. She hadn't even realized she'd been crying. She wiped the tears away angrily, furious at herself. What could she do to right this mess? Mewtwo loathed her again and they had actually been quite friendly up until now. She squeezed the gem at her throat and shook her head despairingly before laying down to go to sleep.
She had found that although Mewtwo was protective of his books, he wasn't averse to letting her use the library. As it was Lucinda and Rhys hadn't bothered to join Liana. They had decided that though Mewtwo seemed content for Liana to rummage through his books, if they tried it they might just find themselves on the wrong side of his temper.
"This is hopeless," Liana complained to the empty room, "how many books can one guy keep? I bet he hasn't read even half of them!"
She let her head drop to the pages of one tome in front of her with a soft thud as she groaned tiredly. Maybe it was like that wood for the trees thing? When you're swimming in details you can overlook something that seems insignificant but is really important.
Deciding to try a little longer, Liana stood up and wandered back over to the labyrinth of bookcases filling the large room.
It was in fact an hour or so later when Liana found something that looked interesting; a booklet that was obviously about cloning. She could just make out the title in the soft light from the moon outside the window. It would figure that it was right on the top shelf however. The bookcases were very tall and there was no way she could reach it on her own. After searching around for one of the ladders that adorned most of the shelves, Liana sighed. It seemed if she wanted this particular booklet she'd have to climb the shelves. Steeling herself Liana began to climb up the shelf, her eyes rooted on the booklet high above her. The first few shelves were easy, but as she got higher she began to feel a little wary of the weight bearing capacity of the shelves. Liana gingerly tested each shelf before pulling her full weight up onto it. She moved carefully, hand over hand. Liana stretched upward hoping she could reach the booklet without climbing any higher, one foot on the shelf the other stretched out into the air for balance.
"Got it!" Liana exclaimed happily as her fingers grazed and then closed around the spine of the booklet.
Unfortunately her balance shifted as she tugged the booklet out from between two others. Her foot slipped from the shelf and her hand was pulled away from the polished wood. Liana gasped slightly as she fell from the bookcase, cringing as she awaited the impact with the ground.
Impact with the floor below never came. Instead Liana found herself crashing into something much softer that 'oomphed' as she hit it. Whoever it was wasn't totally unprepared it seemed; they stumbled backwards but managed to keep their balance. The booklet clattered to the ground beside them, its pages fluttering.
Liana opened her eyes and blinked slowly.
"Mewtwo?"
~What on Earth do you think you're doing?~ his voice was soft and held amusement.
"Oh uh, I thought that booklet looked interesting. I wanted to read it but there was no way to get it down you see."
She was slightly flustered that she had been caught red-handed as it were. She glanced hurriedly at the shelves behind her hoping that nothing had been knocked out of place or broken in her foolhardy attempt to reach her goal. Seeing everything was as it should be she turned back to her 'saviour' of sorts.
"What are you doing here? It's late."
~Precisely why I am here.~ he answered back smoothly as he set the girl back on her own two feet.
Liana nodded at him gratefully before picking up the booklet and shielding the title from view as innocently as possible.
~We leave for the mainland tomorrow. Wouldn't it be best if you were well rested?~
Liana blushed and looked out the window towards the position of the moon, gauging the time. Much later than she'd first thought!
"Thanks. Um, I'll be going soon, just wanted to skim through this book. After all the trouble I went through to get it, seems a shame just to put it back." she giggled, the sound of it was fake even to her own ears.
Mewtwo picked up on her twitchy behaviour and raised an eyebrow suspiciously.
~What book would that be precisely?~
"As I said, it just looked interesting, so er…" she trailed off and shrugged hoping to escape the question.
Liana bowed her head, biting her lip as her face flushed. She didn't notice Mewtwo stealthily reach out a paw and grasp the booklet in her hands until a sharp tug told her that he'd taken it. Oh shit, shit, shit!
Liana looked up and made a vain grab for the booklet, but Mewtwo was taller than her and held it easily out of reach. He lowered it towards her teasingly only to pull it out of her reach as she jumped slightly to grab it.
As he read the title the amused look in his eyes vanished however. In truth he hadn't been aware that anything about his creation had remained. He knew that some articles had survived the decimation of the New Island lab, and that he had kept them. However he hadn't been particularly aware of their contents, his mind having been driven by revenge at the time. Since said revenge he had neglected even to bother reading through them, he'd simply stored them for possible later use.
He frowned at Liana.
He also hadn't been aware that this wench would lower herself to sneaking behind his back just find out about his past!
Liana had backed up a bit. The look on Mewtwo's face wasn't a good one. It was practically twisted in rage. Why didn't I listen to Pikachu!? Why am I so damn stubborn!?
Liana's eyes widened considerably as Mewtwo's eyes began to glow an eerie blue. A psychic aura like iced fire licked around his body, he was growling at her! She crouched into a ball, hiding her face in her hands.
She waited terrified, but nothing happened. She carefully opened one eye and peeked between her splayed fingers. Mewtwo was still stood there looking rather terrifying but the blue fire that had surrounded him had dissipated. Liana didn't dare move incase she invoked his wrath again.
It was shameful, but has much as he damn well wanted to he just couldn't kill the girl. Something held him back. Mewtwo snarled at himself, at Liana, and at the damned paper he held in his paws. He threw it down in front of the young woman before turning on his heel and stalking off.
~You want to read it? Fine, do so.~ he seethed back towards her as he left the library.
Liana swallowed and stood up; releasing a shaky breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. She picked up the booklet with trembling fingers and looked it over.
It was so innocuous. How could something so simple cause Mewtwo to nearly go berserk? The paper was old and yellowing with various ink smudges as it had been handwritten. The edges were singed as if at some point in its life it had been exposed to fire.
The booklet was open on page four. Glancing down Liana registered some of the most fateful words she had ever read: 'Due to the fossilized remains of Mew holding only a little fragmented DNA to work from. We, the head of the genetics team, and Giovanni, have agreed to manipulate other DNA strands to complete the gene sequencing code. We have decided upon Alakazam DNA to enhance the clones psychic powers, and human DNA. Human DNA seems to be the strongest alternative; all other DNA samples have proven to be inadequate in bridging the DNA gaps and surviving the basic testing in the first phase of cloning. Furthermore…'
Liana quickly shut the book, a shocked look on her face. Human? They had used human DNA in Mewtwo's creation? It explained so much but bought up new questions as well.
Liana went to open the book again and found that she just couldn't, no matter how much she wanted to read it. It was so interesting but Pikachu was right. Some things were better left alone. She wandered back towards the door, placing the booklet down on one of the tables before she left.
Mewtwo let me in here to read and I completely took advantage of his trust. He must really hate me! The thought hurt more than she expected.
Liana sat on her bed, tears on her cheeks. She hadn't even realized she'd been crying. She wiped the tears away angrily, furious at herself. What could she do to right this mess? Mewtwo loathed her again and they had actually been quite friendly up until now. She squeezed the gem at her throat and shook her head despairingly before laying down to go to sleep.