Shawn's Backstory

The mantis hybrid began talking, in an unnatural high pitch and with a slight lisp:

"So, you want to know my story?  I guess it's only fair.  You probably saved my life, so you deserve to know a little about me.  I guess I'll start at the beginning."

"I was an only child, born into a... 'low-income family', to use the polite term.  My mum and dad were always taking odd jobs to try and keep us going.  I did too, when I had the time between schoolwork.  Simple stuff - washing dishes, sweeping floors, that sort of thing.  I had some interest in Pokemon training of course, every kid did.  But I had to stay at home and keep my family going, there was no time for adventure.  My mum always had faith that things would get better, though.  She used to always tell me, 'Bide your time, and hold out hope.'"

"It was around high school that my life started getting interesting.  In my first year, I met a bunch of friends who were into... less than wholesome ways to make money.  There were five of them, plus me.  They taught me things like conning people and how to break into houses and steal stuff.  We were close, too.  Had matching bandanas, and nicknames.  Shawn 'The Shadow' they called me - I was the best one at getting in and out of places without leaving a trace.  I guess Shawn 'The Scythe' would be more accurate now, huh?  You know, every so often I'd heard rumours about 'half-human, half-Pokemon monsters' being sighted, but I always thought they were just stupid urban legends.  Never thought I'd be proven wrong so thoroughly.... Anyway. Life went on like that for a good several years.  Then, about midway through my last year of high school...."

"We were breaking in to this large-ish house one night.  We figured we needed their shiny things a little more than they did.  When we were inside though, the man of the house just happened to walk in on us.  He was getting a snack and heard noises, I guess.  Doesn't matter.  The point is, my friends all managed to escape, but he grabbed a hold of me before I could get away and restrained me.  I told him I gave up, and he could call the police.  Lose with dignity and all that.  But no, he said he had a better idea.  He hit me in the head with something, and everything went black.  When I woke up, I was being dragged down a hallway in some kind of science-y... lab... place.  I could hear the guys holding me muttering something about 'test subject' and 'gene stock'.  Before I could figure out what they were talking about, they strapped me to a table and shot me up with something.  Again I was out cold."

"Waking up, I was still strapped to a table.  Maybe the same one, maybe not.  I was pretty uncomfortable too, especially my back.  There was a guy in a labcoat there, so I asked him what was going on.  He said to see for myself, and raised the table so I was vertical, then he pulled up a mirror.  It took a moment before I realized exactly what it was that I was seeing.  It was a Scyther, like I'd seen on the TV once in a while.  Only not.  It was me too.  That explained why my back was so sore - I'd grown wings."

"After that, everything's sort of a blur.  Partly because I was trying to wrap my head around my new body, and partly because every day was pretty much the same.  RocketCorp, who I'd learned were my 'recruiters', spent half of every day training me to use my new body, and the other half trying to drill it into me that nobody cared about me, that I was a tool, a weapon.  I don't think it ever really got through to me though, it was more boring than anything else.  The only thing that did get through to me was that my captors were a bit... naive.  For all their labcoats and science, they didn't really know how to keep track of prisoners.  I knew I only had to wait for a chance.  So I did what mum always said - I bided my time, and held out hope."

"I don't know how long it was later, weeks, months, it doesn't matter.  But eventually they slipped up just right.  A forgotten keycard here, a door left ajar there, I had my chance.  And I took it.  By the time they realized anybody was missing, I was long gone.  First thing I did was go find my old house.  I waited until nightfall, then picked the lock like I'd always remembered and locked the door again behind me.  My mum was just going upstairs to bed when I came up behind her and started talking.  I told her, don't turn around before I'm finished, but it was no good.  Before I could explain where I'd been, she turned around.  The look she gave me will haunt me to my grave.  It wasn't the love a mother has for her son that she had in her eyes, it was just terror.  Pure terror.  My own mother thought I was a monster.  I knew what was about to happen, knew she was about to scream and go call the cops, so I ran.  Before I left, I went downstairs to my old room to see it one last time.  There, on my bed, was my old bandana, the one I wore with my friends.  I guess one of them must have found it and brought it there. I took it, and flew off into the night."

"This bandana..."  The Scyther tapped his right arm where the bandana was tied.

"This is all that I have left of the life I once had.  A life I hope to someday go back to.  And I do have hope.  From now until the day I die, I'm going to do what I've always been taught to do..."

"I'm going to bide my time.  And hold out hope."