"Pokerus...", a voice answered from behind him, making Yeshua even more scared out of his wits.

Yeshua turned around and saw the professor staring intently at him.

"The vial contains pokerus...", the professor repeated.

Yeshua knew he was caught, and he barely knew what he had just done. He quickly gained some composure before quickly speaking. "Professor! I am so sorry! I had no idea what I was doing! I just was walking around and out of nowhere..."

"Enough!", the professor stated. "Don't you think I've already figured out what happened just based on the look of things?"

He did have a point. Yeshua knew from the way things looked that he couldn't have planned for this to happen. But then...why did it happen?

"Professor...", Yeshua spoke hoarsely. "What's going on? Is there something wrong with me?!"

The Professor shook his head. "Far from it... there is something right with you."

Yeshua just stared blankly at the professor. The professor moved towards his desk. He motioned Yeshua with his finger. Yeshua moved to the appropriate chair and sat down. Yeshua fidgeted nervously as the professor calmly pulled back his chair and sat down.

"You seem to have an eye for truth, Yeshua.", the professor stated.

Yeshua looked back blankly. "An eye for truth, professor?"

The professor sighed. "You are not easily fooled by deceitful representations. For most people, deception is a deterrent from truth..."

The professor's facial expression changed to one that Yeshua hadn't seen before. "But for you, deception seems to bring you right to it."

Yeshua felt dirty, like a freak of nature. He tried to rationalize his situation, but he couldn't. He simply couldn't. "Why is this happening!? Why now!? Why at all?!"

The professor shifted his gaze along the bookshelf. Yeshua followed the professor's gaze to the vial of orange liquid and the strange pokeball.

The professor spoke again. "Because there is a truth too large for you to ignore. A dangerous truth, drenched in deception..."

Yeshua tilted his head to the side. "A hidden truth? But, what does that have to do with..."

Yeshua suddenly stopped talking and started to think. He had found the mew instead of the professor... and he had just found a hidden shelf in the professor's room. Yeshua's eyes widened in realization.

"Professor...", Yeshua began, "Every one of the truths discovered are related to you!"

The professor slammed his fist down hard on the table, causing Yeshua to jump.

"This...", the professor growled, "is where your quest for truth ends!!"

Yeshua couldn't move, overcome with fright from that statement.

"My past belongs to me", the professor said. "It is not yours to excavate."

Yeshua looked at the professor, starting to understand a bit more about the professor's concerns. The professor suddenly grinned before speaking again. "My existence is the truth, and it mustn't be unraveled. Do you understand, Yeshua?"

After calming down a bit, Yeshua turned to the professor and smiled. "I understand. I'm actually glad we were able to talk to each other for a change. I'm not nearly as confused as I was before... I think?"

"Glad to hear it...", the professor said. "Now, for the actual reason I called you here..."

Yeshua was flabbergasted. This entire conversation was just a side-conversation to something else!? Could there possibly be something more profound or pertinent to talk about than what was just said? Yeshua thought his head was going to explode when the next conversation started.

"You've neglected your job", the professor spoke.

"That's right", Yeshua recalled mentally. "This whole meeting was about my skipping the examination."

Yeshua decided to address this issue. "I'll do whatever I can to keep my job here. I'll go and examine mew right now, if you'd let me."

The professor looked at Yeshua again before speaking.

"Why are you so devoted to this job, Yeshua?"

Yeshua looked at the professor strangely. Was this some kind of trick question? Yeshua didn't think he was going too far with his devotion for his job by offering to work late. Yeshua decided to answer the professor's question honestly.
"I find pokemon extremely fascinating. I've always wanted to connect with these interesting creatures. I want to share my wisdom of the world with them... and I want them to share their wisdom of the world with me."

Yeshua was surprised at how amazing his genuine feelings sounded. He was glad he had found an opportunity to work here. Yeshua was surprised to see the professor shake his head at him.

"You're wasting your time on this earth, then", the professor spoke. "They can give you no wisdom that humans are not capable of gathering themselves."

Yeshua looked at the professor before answering him back. "Maybe you're the one who is wasting time, professor... spending your days in solitude."

The professor's demeanor changed. "NO!!", he shouted venomously, making Yeshua's body stiffen like a statue. "My existence is absolute! I have fortified myself as a testament to humanity's greatness! My wisdom and impact on this world will not be forgotten!"

The professor was livid. "And what have you done to advance humanity's greatness, Yeshua!?"

Yeshua was scared. "I... I don't know!"

"You've done nothing! You would renounce mankind's accomplishments and have us put alongside pokemon?! Pathetic!"

Yeshua somehow found his voice. "I... I'm not renouncing humanity's accomplishments... I just don't think we should be forgetting the pokemon's accomplishments, too."

The professor chuckled. "Is that right? We should be mindful of the pokemon that aren't mindful of us!?"

Yeshua's face softened in understanding. "This... this is all because you were abandoned by a pokemon, isn't it?"

The professor looked at Yeshua like he had stabbed a knife through his stomach. Yeshua quickly clarified the situation. "This isn't the eye for truth at work... Nick told me earlier today about a rare pokemon abandoning you as a child..."

The professor's face returned to normal. He spoke again, looking at Yeshua. "Is that all you know about me?"

Yeshua didn't want to make the professor suffer any more than he apparently was. He decided he would be honest with the professor. "The only things I know about are that story... and whatever those things are on that shelf over there", Yeshua said, pointing at the vial of orange liquid and the strange pokeball.

"Ah, yes... those...", the professor said, reminiscing.

Yeshua was curious. "Professor... if you don't mind me asking, just what are those things?"

Yeshua looked at the professor, expecting him to dismiss the question. To his surprise, the professor started to speak.

"I believe I told you earlier that the vial over there contained pokerus."

Yeshua blinked. "Pokerus, professor?"

"As the suffix suggests, it's a virus that can be caught amongst different kinds of pokemon. It brings to light hidden strengths of different pokemon."

Yeshua was still a bit confused. "So, this is a helpful virus?"

"Only if you define something that empowers pokemon helpful", the professor spat. "If you ask me, humans are signing their own death warrant."

Yeshua looked confused. "How was this virus discovered?"

The professor frowned at Yeshua. "People immersed in worldly affairs would recognize this virus as a bioweapon."

Yeshua was shocked. "That vial contains a bioweapon!?

"Years ago, an organization called Team Rocket had managed to exploit this virus. Do you remember hearing in the news a while back how they had almost captured a lugia?"

Yeshua nodded. He remembered hearing about how two Team Rocket members, Cassidy and Butch, had almost succeeded in taking a lugia. However, a person named Ash had managed to stop them before they could get away with the lugia.

"Professor Namba had been in charge of the operation. By a combination of the pokerus virus and his specially designed rage bands, he had created pokemon berserkers. These pokemon would fight to destroy, and would not stop until they themselves had perished."

Yeshua found this revelation to be startling.

"Luckily for this planet, Ash had intervened when the rage bands were only in their prototype of development. When that branch of Team Rocket had fallen to Ash, funding to Professor Namba had been cut by the higher-ups. Rage bands were seen as another failed invention. If by some twist of fate Team Rocket had succeeded back then, widespread pokemon warfare would have been employed. The virus and it's very dangerous possibilities could have been spread widely across the globe. Instead, only a mere handful have this virus, making them the most sought after pokemon on this planet."

Yeshua could not have envisioned such a morbid outcome. He was grateful that Ash had been around when he was.

"If that virus had spread, Yeshua... then you would not be as eager as you are to befriend pokemon. You would want them gone from our world."

Yeshua shook his head. "You're wrong, professor. Pokemon are not our enemy..."

The professor looked at Yeshua knowingly. "Is that your eye for truth at work... or is that the manipulative core you call a heart speaking?"

Yeshua sat in silence for a while. The professor spoke again.

"While you ponder that question, you should probably get to examining that mew."

Yeshua looked up in disbelief. "You mean...?"

The professor sighed. "Yes, Yeshua... I am allowing you the privilege to study the mew overnight. I expect a significant amount of data to be collected by tomorrow morning... or else. Do I make myself clear?"

Yeshua was smiling again. "Yes, Professor."

"Good... now get the hell out of my office and into the indoor garden where mew is residing."

Yeshua was happy to comply, thanking the professor and quickly rushing off to the garden.

The professor sat in silence for a while before getting up. "Payapa's Lament", he spoke before leaving the room. The second shelf moved back to its original position, obscuring the hidden shelf behind it. The professor smiled before shutting the door, content at having his past buried once more.Chapter End Notes:There will be mew from now on. Also, from now on, the story will be in first person from Yeshua's perspective. I find that the third person was necessary earlier, but isn't needed anymore. Besides, all I do in the third person is make Yeshua look confused. :)

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