10.1

"I'm Max."

"And I'm Tracey Sketchit."

"And this, is PokeMyth Busters," the two finished together. They were standing with their camera crew in front of one of the entrances to Stark Mountain.

"Today's Myth is honestly rather silly. I'm not sure where it came from," Tracey admitted.

"According to my sister's Pokedex," Max started, before bringing said Pokedex out, "Magcargo's body temperature is 18,000 degrees Fahrenheit," he said.

"Now, obviously, this is untrue, as that's hotter than the surface of the Sun. So what's really Magcargo's body temperature?" Tracey asked.

"Well, with the help of some equipment sent to us from Tracey's boss, Professor Oak from the Kanto region, we're going to find out!" Max declared. The camera crew was a bit uneasy of this, despite Tracey having his Marill lead the way. As they went onwards, they came across a sleeping Magcargo.

"Good, it's asleep. Tracey, ready the prongs," Max whispered. Tracey took out a couple of temperature sensor prongs attached to a device that would tell just what temperature Magcargo was. He carefully crept up and stuck the prongs into the part of Magcargo that was made of lava. The camera crew held their breath, but while Magcargo grunted a little in its sleep, it didn't wake up. After a few minutes, the reading was taken.

"Okay. According to this, Magcargo's body temperature is in actuality somewhere around 1800 degrees Fahrenheit. Now that makes more sense," Max noted.

"Guess whoever was typing the information into the Pokedex must have made a typo and it stuck. Still, that's pretty high. I don't think even the mantle is that hot," Tracey mused. Now, as they were standing near a Magcargo, it was really hot. As such, one of the lighting people let one hand go of the light he was holding in order to fan his face. Unfortunately, with only one hand on the light, it slipped, shining the light on Magcargo's face.

Magcargo woke up! Magcargo was enraged! Magcargo used Flamethrower!

"AAAHHHHH!" Everybody panicked at this. Luckily, Tracey still had some presence of mind. "Marill, use Hydro Pump!" he frantically ordered.

"{Eat this, Flame Brain! Hydro Pump!}" Marill declared, shooting the high pressure water at Magcargo. Unfortunately, this also awoke all the Zubat and Golbat in the mountain, who proceeded to fly every which way, swooping at the group.

As everybody panicked, Max made his way to the camera. "Well, that's-it-for-this-episode, tune-in-next-time-for-the-next-Myth! Tracey, do something!" he frantically said.

"I am! Marill, use Aqua Tail!"

10.2 (cont. from8.9)

Ash sighed, looking out at the setting Sun over the waves. He was sitting on Pallet Town's beach that led into the water of Route 21. He wasn't doing much else; just looking out there.

"Ash?" a voice cut in from behind him. Turning around, he noticed that the person who had asked was Pikachu, who was standing there with a concerned look on his face. "Your mom told me what happened. You alright?" Pikachu asked, walking up and sitting right next to him.

Ash sighed again. "No, not really," he said.

"You want to talk about it?"

Ash was silent for a bit, before he decided to say something. "It's just...I'd heard about all the weird things the Crash had done to other Loops. I guess I just never thought..." he trailed off.

Pikachu knew what he meant though. "You just never really thought it would happen to us, right?"

"Yeah. I haven't seen Dad in so long. Sure, in some variants some analogue of him was around, but it was never quite the same. I wanted to really know what Dad, my real Dad, was doing this entire time. And now...I'll never even know if I meet him because of this. It's just...I miss him," Ash admitted.

Pikachu was silent for a bit, before saying his own two cents. "You know, I don't remember who my parents are." Ash turned to look at Pikachu in shock. He'd never really asked Pikachu anything about his own family. Come to think of it, he hadn't asked much of anything. Had he really never asked his best friend and Anchor anything about himself despite how long they had known each other and been able to communicate?

"My history before we meet each other widely changes, even in baseline Loops. I asked Yuetu about it once on one of the rare occasions he came down here. He said that that was part of the information lost in the Event that caused the Loops, and that lots of Loopers have the same issue. The circumstances can range to my being an orphan, having an abusive family, having perfectly loving parents, something to do with Raichu trauma, etc. etc. But I don't know which of those is my real baseline," Pikachu continued. He didn't really seem all that perturbed.

"But Pikachu, something like that; from what I've heard, you should have gone crazy by now!" Ash pointed out.

"But I didn't. You want to know why, aside from the fact that I usually Wake up after that?" Pikachu said rhetorically. "Because of you. Our time together is something I always cherish. Even when you're not Awake, I always look forward to our journey together. You're what kept me sane, Ash, and I'll never be able to repay you for that."

"Pikachu..." Ash whispered. What else could he say?

"So cheer up! You've still got your mom, your friends, your Pokemon, and especially me! What else do you really need?" Pikachu asked.

Ash was silent, before a smile grew on his face. "You're right! I've never needed to know who and where Dad was before, so why should I let it bother me now? Sure, I still miss him, but all I can do is continue to make him proud wherever he is. ...If he is..." he trailed off, his face dropping.

Pikachu interjected before Ash started wallowing in sorrow again. "I'm sure he is. Family is family after all, no matter what." Left unsaid was that what Pikachu considered family was not whatever biological family the Loops threw him into.

Ash perked up again. "Yeah! And they're going to fix everything eventually! I will see Dad again one of these days! Until then, I'll just keep going on like normal, and become a true Pokemon Master!"

"You're still on that?" Pikachu asked in amusement.

Ash grinned. "Just because we've seen most of Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, and Kalos doesn't mean that there's not more to see out there! Who knows what else is in store for us every Loop? I'm going to see everything!" he reaffirmed.

"Yeah yeah. Of course, I'll be there too. Somebody's gotta stop you from rushing in bull-headed," Pikachu loftily said.

"Says the guy who'll do anything for ketchup!" Ash mockingly growled, fighting to keep his laughter down. The two traded mock insults back and forth before going silent, staring out at the setting Sun.

"Pikachu?"

"Yeah, Ash?"

"...Thanks, buddy."

"Any time, Ash. Any time."

10.3 (Zerodius)

"A floating island. A place where you can go to be alone, yet never the same place. Always moving. Somehow, I feel that it's very much like you."

This made her smile. But compared to her cheery, goofy smiles, this one was a serious one. It seemed she was satisfied with his reaction...

"A Pikachu who obtained a power that rival that of a deity... I do not need to know how he gained this power to know that there are things greater than me. But I feel this is... liberating, in a way. A divine nature is... overrated." She looked over to the ocean in the distance. "But eternity is a gift I wouldn't give away for anything else."

She remained there, simply staring into the distance. She was uncharacteristically quiet and still, a sign that she was genuinely thinking rather than merely faking it out. And then, she spun to face him, smiling widely. "You know... why not procrastinate?"

"What do you mean procrastinate?" he said, somewhat angrily.

Noticing his anger, the Mew's smile turned into a naughty grin. "Well, Pikachu got to go into the past to father his own bloodline... but well, why rush it? I mean... the fact that you called yourself a Looper means it's some kind of time loop, right? And well, it got a beginning and end, right? As long as Pikachu's loop ends before he has to go to the past, we can then just take the original, once the Looper version has left, and sent it back as usual. All we got is procrastinate regarding the whole Arceus thing. I mean, we know the end point of the time jump... but there's no restrictions on the start point, technically, now that I think about it. Pikachu can make that journey at any point in time."

"The issue is I don't know when this loop ends. This isn't the normal iteration of reality, so I can't make any guesses as to what time it ends. And there is still the issue of Pikachu being controlled. That would be beyond the power anything native to this reality has access to."

Mew made a dismissive gesture. "Not a problem. Pikachu follows Ash, who is himself the result of centuries of bioengineering on my end to create a suitable sock puppet for my plans to solve the human-Pokémon tensions as well as put the Fallen Legendaries back in their cans. All I have to do is alter Ash's destiny to suit our new schedule. And if they're genuinely mind-controlled, then we'll just boot into the sun whoever is mind-controlling him. Or at least, punish him by having no desserts for the next ten years. Should go pretty smoothly."

Then she realized what she had just said, freezing for a moment. "...I jinxed it, didn't I? Oh well! Now... shall we get going? We have to pay Jirachi a visit."

"Very well," Mewtwo said, deciding to just go with the flow whilst thinking on the issue in the privacy of his mind

As she grabbed into his paw again and prepared to teleport, the feline looked at him for a good moment. Once more, she seemed like she was giving him one of those looks. It was still strange to see Mew alternating between being characteristically goofy and suddenly having that sharp stare. But interestingly enough, neither was an obvious facade despite his experiences with Loops, which should have increased his mastery of psychic powers enough to start recognizing more easily when a non-Looper was trying to put one in front of him.

This was definitely building up to be a strange variant ; so many elements seemed to be close to baseline and yet, others were extremely different and had incredible consequences. As she made himself and her appear by what seemed to be a cliff by a sea at sunset, he would find himself guessing that he'd see one such element.

"You know..." she said, stopping by the edge of the cliff. "Jirachi was kind of a mistake. We were young and we didn't know what to make of that whole 'existence' thing yet. So to make things neat and ordered as well as give us an escape route if things went awry, we made the concept of destiny. Jirachi has been... useful true but we've eventually realized that we never really needed him and that many of the plans we made no longer mattered. But then, we still make use of his services because in a way, maybe we're still scared. It's hard to tell sometimes what is influenced by him and what isn't. Though... mortals sure found an amusing way to mess with him."

She gave him a glance, smiling yet again. "They use him as a wish granting machine. Do you realize that? The embodiment of fate... and they tell him wishes and because he's so bored, Jirachi sometimes grant them. I wonder... is Jirachi fate in most worlds or only this one? And if he isn't in most of the others... do he retain his ability to grant wishes?"

Before he'd answer, she'd cut him off. "Naaaah. Doesn't matter. Now time to yank him out of... wherever he usually is!" With a snap of her fingers, the wish-granting Pokémon appeared near her. The gesture had been mostly for effect ; both his psychic powers and the new power he wielded during this variant allowed him to feel the currents of power as she had tapped into space nearby, twisting and warping it in a way that was vaguely reminiscent of someone turning a key into a lock. But what would suddenly become apparent was Jirachi himself.

The sheer wave of negative emotion struck him like a wall. Though Jirachi's curse tended to make him depressed and even resentful in a large number of variants, he was obviously incredibly so in this one. Even though he was asleep, his anger and frustration washed over his body, making it almost seem like he had been splashed with a gigantic bucket filled with icy water. Though it also gave him a noticeable surge of power, whatever exhaustion he had been vaguely feeling him earlier completely removed as the anger was processed into energy for him to use, the contact with the Legendary's resentment was icy and disturbing enough that he wouldn't feel any pleasure or satisfaction from it. Mewtwo guessed accurately that despite this variant's version of him's mistakes, he would have felt the same when exposed to him. What could have possibly led the wish-granting Pokémon to be so angered in this variant?

"Wakey wakey!" said the feline, conjuring a stick out of nowhere and poking him with it. In an instant, Jirachi's eyes flashed open as he then proceeded to grab the stick, stopping the feline from pestering him. "Aaaaaw, still grumpy."

"What do you want?"

"Not even a hello? Why are you so upset? Is it because of that whole break-up thing?"

The wish-granting Pokémon ignored Mew and glared at Mewtwo. At this moment, anger and resentment turned to pure hatred. The way Jirachi glared, Mewtwo knew that he would have instantly known that he intensely despised him even without this variant's gift of the ability to feel negative emotions. However, while he wondered for a moment if there was bad history between his pre-Awakening self and this variant's Jirachi, a quick check of his in-loop memories shown that he had never met Jirachi at all and in fact, had dismissed him as unimportant, none of his agents or creations ever interacting with him. So... why did Jirachi despise him so openly?

"You don't belong here. Leave our universe."

Mew blinked a few times. Seeing neither feline gracing him with an answer, Jirachi added: "Your presence was not meant to be. Leave or I'll make you leave."

The pink feline gave Jirachi a flat look. Mewtwo guessed, again accurately, that if Jirachi had to be fate, he would probably feel his lack of control over himself and other Loopers. Was this lack of control the source of his anger? Was this variant of him intolerant of what he could not control?

"I cannot do so under my own power. In due time, I shall be taken from here. Presuming a time paradox does not crack this universe open like an egg."

"I don't care about that," was his reply.

"Of course you don't," said the Mew, showing a sigh of exasperation that she tried to pass off as being amused by him. She would have probably been able to hide this from him in normal circumstances but funnily enough, it was his in-loop enhanced nature that allowed him to pinpoint the flaw in her act rather than his own experience. "Now, if you don't mind, we need you to change the schedule regarding a certain event."

"You always want to change things," he snapped, refocusing his anger on the smaller cat Pokémon. "You wanted to change history, to change the future, and even to stop the end of the world. You can't stick to the plan, ever."

"Jirachi, you're being silly," was what she said physically. Mewtwo did not need to use his in-loop abilities or psychic powers to know that what she wanted to say was more in the line of 'Jirachi, we're not having this discussion.' "Anyway, I just need you to move a bit further back a certain event. You'll even like it since it's an event you dislike to start with."

"The time paradoxes you and your green b-" whatever swear Jirachi was going to say never left his mouth as Mew interrupted him.

"Tsk tsk, you're being silly again. Anyway, are you gonna do it?"

The white Pokémon gave the feline an evil glare but then shrunk away. "...Fine. I will move your stupid time jump event. Again. Now can you leave me alone?"

"Sure, go back to pinning over your big rock. Ta-ta!" And without even letting him reply, Mew used her powers to teleport the wish-granting Pokémon away. She looked around a bit, floating to the right and then to the left, placing herself on a position emulating being on all four as she seemed to be looking for something and then, smiled to herself before mewing contently. She spun around and faced the larger feline, smiling quite a bit.

"Well, that was rather painless. I reckon your Pikachu friend should be back to not being in conflict with our world now." The pink feline clasped her paws together. "So... I take it that whatever my big cat was planning, you're not going to do so, isn't it? Likewise, you said you would be taken from here... am I to assume that whatever that Looper status is related to, it's related to something above this world's cosmology?"

Her cheerfulness faded into the form of actual, genuine, calmer curiosity. "We've known about alternate timelines for quite a while but to be fair... I'd love to know more about the greater universe. After all, since you're only here for a while, it might be best to make the most of our time, isn't it?"

"Truth be told, I'm not sure what happens when a loop ends. Perhaps the universe ends, perhaps it continues. It's beyond my capacity to know, I suspect. As for the issue of Alternate universes, that topic is more complex. In the terms of the loops, imagine a tree, one with infinite branches. And each of those branches is not just a universe in and of itself, but an entire Multiverse."

The feline thought about it... and then, nodded to herself. "Seems logical. This seems to imply the existence of a prime reality. Or maybe it's a simplified metaphor. Due to the physics of free will and the splitting of timelines due to consequences of both conscious action and temporal distortion, it is likely that a multiverse would grow into a more organic shape, like a spreading explosion made of nerves. This is given reality is based on a single point of origin."

Mew, unaware of how incredibly out of character this kind of talk was for the average Mew, put a paw to her chin and kept going. "My own theory was more based on the fact that if a single theoretical being can bring itself into existence through the paradox of subjective reality, thus bringing forth objective reality, it would only be logical, given infinite possibilities, for infinite theoretical beings to rise, thus bringing forth multiple start points to the multiverse. Effectively, reality would thus logically be an infinite amount of multiverses with specific origins and variant timelines. All of this is reliant upon the assumption that reality can indeed by created through the subjective reality paradox and was not brought into being by a single origin..."

Then she stared at the taller feline, both to see his reaction to seeing her actually bring out some of the theory she mulled over in her mind but never revealed as well as to see if he had any inkling of what she was talking about. The beginnings of her world was something she was intimately familiar with ; after Ho-oh and Lugia had created each others, they had then created her, and she had helped them bring forth the Pokémon World as she knows. But fact is... were Ho-oh and Lugia the products of the subjective reality paradox, as she had always assumed, or was their timeline a product of a greater theoretical realm?

Mewtwo stared at her for a moment, trying to think of a reply that would mask the fact that he had absolutely no idea what she'd just said.

At this moment, the pink feline tilted her head, noticing the look of sheer confusion on his face. "...What confused you more? What I said or me saying it?"

"What you said. I've already learned better than to expect you to act like the Mew I know."

The feline smiled quite a bit. "Basically... I am suspecting that the Mew you know is probably like you, right? Mortal and thus, probably young by her species's standarts... with her being a member of a species to begin with."

Mew looked to the sunset in the distance. "Do you know what I am? What I really am?"

Had he figured it out? Had he thought about it? The big cat didn't have the correct information and though he had hints, he had not fully grasped them yet. This new Mewtwo... had his time as a 'Looper', probably a term for a multiversal traveler, allowed him the necessary insight to figure it out? At this moment, she couldn't help but appreciate how tiny details could make a world change so much. A world where Legendaries were themselves mortals... the Mew of his world must have been very different and probably a species, too. But then, what does it mean about him?

At this moment, she glanced back to him. Mewtwo was the result of brutal years of humans trying to brute force a bio-engineering experiment despite being unable to produce even stable clones at the time. Even to this day, she do not know if he ended up viable only because of his Legendary essence sustaining him. In fact, maybe it was why Mewtwo spoke of not having a gender ; the big cat's DNA was the best humans could do... but it was still produced from a long decayed previous life of hers mixed with a several limited library of present day Pokémon DNA alongside with frankenstein-style hackneyed edits to try and boost combat abilities. Even though he was meant to have been born an adult, it took years for his body to heal from his initial DNA damage and for his Legendary nature to stabilize him.

In a way... it made her think. How long is Mewtwo's lifespan, if he does not benefit from the immortality that come from being a Legendary? It's likely that the damaged and half-erased DNA markers denoting his male gender never stabilized and recovered and that his hormonal output never returned to something resembling a living thing. How long does he have to live in his own world? Unless he is lucky, not long, she guesses. Most Pokémon live a paltry amount of time compared to humans and though she knew that her own body type was longer lived than your average mortal, she also know that a theoretical mundane Mew would have, at most, fifty years to live... and given Mewtwo's nature...

Does it mean that he has only twenty, at best thirty years of life in his own world to look forward to? She wondered...

"I have suspicions," Mewtwo said "I suspect that you are one of a kind, here. That your life span is naturally unending."

And at this moment, Mew nodded slowly. "Though it's more than that. Every Legendary eventually became a species through breeding with mortals. Though divine essence is unique and cannot be transmitted, blood can, bringing forth mortal versions of each Legendary. All... but one. Me. As the basic canvas from which all life is based upon, I have an unique... trait. Whenever a male breeds with me, my kittens will invariably be of the father's species, not mine. The only way for me to ever bring forth kittens of my own species... is for me to breed with a male Mew."

She smiled faintly. "Of course, this also means that it is impossible for me to give birth to a population of mortal Mews who will someday give me viable male breeding partners of my own species. At least... it was as such until a male Mew was born. You. Or rather, the big cat."

"I see. Is that why you formed a relationship with him? Hoping to have a family? If so, i'm afraid you're out of luck with me. The same restriction that Pikachu has, I have as well. "

"Mewtwo..." she said, her smile widening significantly. "You are being silly again. If I wanted to have kittens, I can have kittens with anyone I wish. I have more than I can count, almost literally. They may not be of my own species but they're all my kittens all the same. Besides... with the advent of technology, if I was really that desperate, I'd just get you to whip me up a male Mew. Or maybe I'd do it myself, if I'm bored enough. No no no no... the real reason I pursued a relationship with the big cat is much, much deeper than this."

She slowly brought herself forward, leaning forward until she was almost on all four even though she was standing on thin air, floating in front of him. He would see her get closer until her muzzle touched his own and then, she whispered to him: "Because why not?"

"There are many reasons. Among them is the fact that you, frankly, come on too strong."

At this moment, the female paused before sending herself floating backward a bit. "Oh really? And what would have been better in your opinion?"

She had that particular smile. Of course, he had no way of knowing that this particular kind of smile meant that she had an idea in mind and that the seemingly silly question was a lead-in to something more.

"I don't know. Relationships aren't a logical enterprise. They're emotional, and I'm not very good at predicting emotion."

"And how will you ever be able to understand, and thus predict, emotional responses if you never have any emotional data to work with?" she asked, without missing a beat.

"Mew, do you realize how boring life would be if I could predict everything?"

Her smile became wider and she floated back a bit so their muzzles wouldn't touch anymore. Unfortunately for Mewtwo, it seemed obvious that she had done so more so he could see her wide smile and not out of respect for his personal space. "Then why appeal to an argument you know is a lie?"

"I was trying to be kind, but I'll just come out and say it: You're not my type."

"Oh and how would you know if I'm your type or not if your experience with such matters account to a big fat zero by your own admittance?" she tilted her head, giving him another look. The Mew waited, waiting for the taller Pokémon to either elaborate or deny her claim. Mewtwo was starting to recognize the pattern by now ; she adept at taking control of conversations so that regardless of the answer, she'd have something to throw back at him.

"You have a habit of being annoying. Anyway, it doesn't matter. We have more important things to do right now than talk about relationships. I need to figure out what to do with the other Mewtwo's army," Mewtwo said, trying to change the subject. He knew eventually it would come up again, and he hoped it would happen later rather than sooner.

"You're being silly." She then put her paws on her hips, staring at him with a wide smile. "They're in stasis, they're not going anywhere. Unless you set the self-destruct system while I wasn't looking? Maybe you think this subject matter concern you alone?"

"I can't just leave them in stasis, they have a right to live a full life," Mewtwo fired back.

"And how do you know if they're ready to live? Or if the world is ready for them?" she asked, tilting her head. "Last I knew, your last few Shadow Pokémon were... well, not exactly a failure but things didn't go great. And then... there was... Shadow Lugia."

She found herself sighing, losing her smile for a moment. "...How do you think humanity, and all Pokémon for the matter, will react to the uncontrolled release of a bunch of sapient-by-birth Pokémon whose nature contradict theirs? I'd love to say it's gonna be love at first sight... but then, I'm being told that lying makes me naughty. In the bad way."

She shrugged. "But well, if you think that's the right thing to do..."

"That is the crux of the conflict. These Pokémon deserve life, yet I do not think that would be able to peacefully live on this world...hmm...I think I have a solution. But first, I need to know about your world's version of a few Pokémon."

The feline flew up to him, spun around him once, and stopped midway, a bit to his side, glancing at him. "And how do you intend to learn?" It seemed from her tone that she expected, or hoped maybe, that he would mean that he meant to ask for her help.

"I'm going to ask you, obviously," he said, trying to seem nonchalant

Seeing him finally showing her an emotion other than annoyance or an attempt at staying neutral, the feline gave him a smirk that shown she had clearly understood. "Now we're talking." she said, satisfied with how it was going. "Show me the way, big kitty."

Last time, she had teleported him and though he knew that she knew of the installation's location, it seemed obvious she wanted him to take the lead this time.

Mewtwo teleported them to the clone bay, and then said "I have the beginnings of a plan, but first I need to know about your world's versions of Groudon, Kyogre, Shaymin, and Suicune."

Hearing about him talking, this confirmed to her that he was what he claimed. The smaller feline already knew it but hearing him drop names that had been hidden from him...

"Groudon and Kyogre are earth-moving tools, their sapience buried under an excessive desire to fulfill their mission. After the prime planet was assembled, they were put into stasis. But you probably want to know what they can do, right? Weeell... Groudon shift the primal elements and with them, make and re-arrange solid matter. Kyogre is more specialized in lighter elements, making liquid compounds. Basically, Groudon make up land, Kyogre make up seas. They never really developed a mind for themselves, unlike Rayquaza, so we left them sealed up."

She then smiled nervously. "As for Shaymin... it varies on if you're talking about her mortal offsprings or the original. She is... my brother's right hand. She was behind the unleashing of Dialga and Palkia and attempted to unmake our universe out of the belief that if my brother is denied the right to make into slaves every single soul in existence and rule it as its lone omnipotent god, then reality is worth nothing and should be destroyed. After her plan went belly up, she found a convenient time rift left by Dialga's rampage and escaped through time before we could catch her. Her powers over nature are extremely powerful, potentially useful. If she wasn't fanatical, sociopathic, and completely insane, she could have been such a fine addition to the universe..."

She shrugged off and decided to carry on. "As for the mortal versions, they tend to have similar powers but are physically frail and unable to access the original's Sky form but otherwise, they're fairly close to the original except much nicer. Extremely nice, even. I visit a few of their villages, sometime. Suicune is a Servant Legendary created by Articuno to act in her name in matters which she cannot involve herself in directly. Much less powerful than the real thing but much less busy and his powers are also reduced enough that he doesn't have to spend half of her concentration not freezing everything around him, leaving more of his focus available to actually using his powers. Suicune is especially adept at purifying bodies of water, an ability that come in handy for a lot of reasons as you can probably guess."

She then stared at him, tilted her head, and smiled. "In short... Groudon and Kyogre are living shovels, Shaymin is nuts, Suicune make the best tea in the world. Their skill sets is what you're looking for?"

"I think I can work with that," Mewtwo said. Then he turned to Mew and said "I'm going to Terraform the moon."

At that moment, she blinked a few times as the realization hit her like a ton of bricks. "Of course! If the big cat wants to have his own world then let him have it!" she thrown herself at the taller Pokémon and gave him a tight hug, said hug showing a surprisingly crushing grip for what was a small-ish Pokémon. "I can't believe the other big cat didn't have the idea! Or that I didn't think of suggesting it to him either!"

She then let go of him and smiled quite a bit. "Though... I suggest you terraform the fourth planet. On the long-term, it will be less crowded and many of the off-prime world civilizations use the moon to land. Deoxys will probably throw a fit if you remove her people's primary platform for immigration and travel to the prime planet."

"Very well then, Mars it is. It's called Mars in this world, right?"

"The name changes varying on the era. I once proposed a bunch of names but no one ever liked them. So yeah, Mars will do."

She smiled quite a bit as she remained close to him, looking up at his face. "You do realize that to get access to Kyogre and Groudon, as well as get Articuno to lend you Suicune, you'll have to reveal yourself to the Legendary Council as a whole? I don't know about you... but while I got over it, I don't think Suicune enjoyed your human pets turning him into a meat puppet during your little Shadow Pokémon experiment. I think the others will likely be upset about how you caused the total collapse of human society and the partial destruction of the biosphere in the Orre continent, making your homegrown Cipher syndicate even more feared than Team Rocket, Team Galactic, Team Aqua, and Team Magma all together and at the height of their respective power"

"Yes. I'll need to do something to gain goodwill before I enact this plan."

And at this moment, the smaller pink feline took on an extremely playful expression that though perfectly fitting on her face, was one the larger feline had probably never seen on a Mew's face. Namely, she took on the characteristic cat-like smirk, that naughty somewhat W-shaped one that some felines took when they had an especially interesting, or bad, idea.

"Well, then I guess it's a nice coincidence that I happen to have already taken to liking you, isn't it?"

She was withholding information from him. She was teasing him about something... or maybe was she waiting for him to come to a conclusion? It was hard to tell.

"What do you mean?" he asked cautiously

"Weeeell... you see, though the fire turkey is the official chairman, chairbird, or chairwhatever of the council, the real weight of a council member is judged through their power both physical and conceptual. In short, how much impact do one have over the world determine their importance and well... let's just say that there is a kitty who put her paws on everything her eyes could see."

The pink feline moved to the empty chair near the set of computers and sat into it, grinning at Mewtwo. "Well, let's just say that the reason I'm not the chairkitty is that I dislike paperwork and politics. I always prefered a paws-on approach. Besides, that position belonged to Ho-oh first and she seems happy to have it. Not like I really need or want the title. To the mortals who know us, I'm just one more goddess. To those who don't, I'm just another Pokémon. I'm fine with that."

"A Pokémon of simple desires. I can respect that."

"Well, that's always nice!" she said. Then were was a long pause during which the pink female Legendary said nothing and then, noticing the taller Pokémon's momentary silence, it became obvious to Mewtwo that something was intriguing her.

"So... Loopers, huh? Multiverse, hmmm? Are you... you know..." she tilted her head. "... currently immortal? Or is that something you always have? I don't mean eternal, of course... but not aging, don't die unless you catch a bad case of Hyper Beam to the face or choke on a pretzel?"

"Loopers can die, but due to our nature, the death doesn't stick. We'll be back the next loop we Awake in," he said, putting emphasis on the word Awake out of habit

The feline smiled quite a bit. "So you're like us, eternal but not invulnerable. You can die, you just don't stay as such."

She crossed her arms behind her head, leaning into the chair a bit more. "So... how about you, really? I mean... back in your own world? You said you were not darkness... is your DNA sequence stable, in your own world? Or does it fall apart on its own?"

"I was less stable in my younger days, but I wasn't technically complete then. By the time I released myself from captivity, I was stable. At the very least, I hadn't encountered any stability issues."

"Ha! So you stopped aging!" she thus said. Though she was saying this as if it was the obvious conclusion, internally, she knew it wasn't the one most mortals would come to. She was once again poking him for his reaction... though he probably would not be able to guess it.

"Visibly at least. Internally, I don't know."

The feline removed her arms from behind her, one paw going to one leg while the other grabbed her chin as she made an obviously faked deep thought face. The sight of a pink feline with an entirely too long tail sitting on a chair at least twice her size while trying to look serious was the kind of sight that tended to be absurd to all but the most jaded minds. This Mew was very, very much aware of this fact. And abusing it.

"Hmmm... that is neat!" she broke out of her mock serious expression, bouncing on the chair. "For a moment, I was worried that the humans' rather admirable but still hackneyed job had produced an unstable DNA sequence. If the cellular flaw present in almost all mortal species is included in a Mew, namely me or you, in theory we'd have something like fifty years of life. Given you were probably based off an almost entirely fossilized corpse of a previous life of me, or at least a dead Mew, your DNA was probably an impressive mess made up of incomplete data half-completed with a lacking library from present species with a bunch of brute force gene mods. Which would give you a maximum lifespan of..."

Mock serious expression again. "Hmmm... thirty years? Twenty? Twenty's the average for a mortal Pokémon but unless your DNA is that damaged, it wouldn't dip that low. Besides, damage extensive enough to dip to twenty years would make you inherently unstable and compromise your combat abilities or at least, make your body burn itself out after only a few years of hard combat stress. So..."

And back again to being goofy. "Yep! Sensical indeed! Though I wonder if Giovanni, if he commissioned the experiment in your world too, deliberately wanted you to be immortal so he'd be able to use you for his entire lifetime or if that was simply a feature of the Mew DNA base. But then, this is all boring."

She lept off the chair. "So! Your gender! Did the humans actually managed to remove all the markers in your own world or was the DNA data too corrupt, leading to your hormones jamming up?"

"Their only source of genetic material was a strand of hair. That likely had something to do with it."

"So... excessive damage and probably no desire to actually put in the markers..."

There was a pause. The feline pushed herself to the edge of her seat and for a moment, Mewtwo would notice that Mew truly was thinking. She was just staring up, not seeming to be in obvious thought. No signs of straining... but Mewtwo was starting to line the patterns together. A hint as to why his in-loop self had actually accepted her flirting and went with it appeared obvious to him: her trolling was not the act of an airheaded being. This version of Mew was obviously extremely intelligent and insightful. Her apparent childishness, otherwise characteristic of Mew, was a deliberate choice in this variant. For all of her being annoying, she was someone he could have an actual conversation with; her vacant trolling wasn't as inane as it seemed.

"What drives you? I just wonder... were you always a Looper or did something happen that triggered this status? First time we have those after all."

"In these loops, there is an Anchor, one who will always loop unless an Anchor from a separate loop is present. From what I understand, a person becomes a looper by having an emotional connection to other loopers, especially anchors. I began to loop because of my emotional connection to Pikachu."

"Hmmm... I wonder if it was respect or hatred." She paused, again thinking in a genuine manner. Although the pause was only for a second, thoughts stormed through her mind at an incredible pace.

If this Mewtwo had been anything like her big cat, then maybe was it hatred? Pikachu was destined to fight him; being the current Pikachu of Mew's champion Chosen One bloodline, it was the fate of Pikachu to face Mewtwo, Mew's destined opposite and enemy. But then, it could be respect, as the big cat always respected strong, determined opponents. But then, on the other hand, Pikachu was a faded echo from Notchyx, a far cry of the heroine she had been. Though he had great friendship to Ash Ketchum, his relationship was tainted by dependency, lack of drive, lack of self-respect and most of the other flaws that caused Mewtwo to despise Trained Pokémon. On another hand, she knew that the big cat would never truly hate the mortals of this world for merely wishing to defend themselves and their loved ones. For all of the big cat's grandstanding, he ultimately loved this world more than anything else.

Needless to say, if they were anything remotely similar, it could go either way. But then, Mewtwo had shown what appeared to be total submission and fear before Pikachu earlier. His boast of Pikachu's greater power was... unbelievable. In fact, it could not be. Unless Loopers carried part of their nature alongside with their memories, Pikachu, no matter the skills he picked up in other worlds, would just plain never have the sufficient raw power to overcome the big cat should he decide to go all-out. In fact, if Pikachu had the power to crack this planet with one attack, the sheer act of trying to channel this much power through his mortal body would destroy him instantly.

That was assuming this version of Mewtwo was anything like she knew. She was running off an awful lot of assumptions as it stand. But still... well, why not? She's having fun.

"Now that we procrastinated a bit... shall we go back to the truly interesting subject?"

"It was friendship. Pikachu, and his friend Ash Ketchum saved me from myself. And I agree, we need to return to the topic at hand."

That... comment made her wonder. That show of submission earlier... she admit she didn't like it that much. If only because she was starting to grasp what the big cat could be capable of doing if he was more willing to forgive and to be gentler in his methods but also because she knew that Pikachu was... well, a far cry of his ancestor. Notchyx had travelled alone, mastered combat styles by the greatest human and Pokémon masters, and invented Moves that were still the best of their kind to this day. In particular was her legendary Volteccer, which Pikachu could barely mimic in the form of the far weaker, far more crude Volt Tackle.

But then... save for himself... it could also mean preventing him from doing something terrible, something that couldn't be undone.

She'd probably poke for that later. Besides, the time for this kind of thought was over. As he spoke of returning to the topic at hand, she became a pink blur for a moment as one second she was on the chair, the next she was right up in his face, her paws on his chest, smiling as she looked up at him.

"Good! So... how does it feel, being a male?"

"Odd, Hormonal, and more than a little stressful."

The feline stared at him. "The oddness is normal. You've said that you've been genderless most of the time so basically, it's like having been blind all your life and suddenly getting eyes one day." She paused but before Mewtwo would say something, she carried on. "That may be a silly question... but you did have 'normal' feelings otherwise? I mean... beyond the male-thing, you did have emotions or at least, understood intellectually what they were?"

"I have always had emotions. Just not romantic feelings."

"Ha! So my comparison was a dumb one. It was more like someone with one eye gaining a second one! Or five new ones!" she went, leaping off her chair and floating in front of him. "Alrighty, so you need to consult with the Legendary Council and you need my support to... well... make everyone get over that whole 'caused as much damage as a Fallen Legendary' tiny itsy bitsy thing because of the big cat's goofs. And well, on my side, I really, really wanna show you what you've been missing. Maybe give you a taste of what you've missed and a new perspective. So... win-win!"

"What do you mean?" Mewtwo said. He had an idea, and he honestly wouldn't put it past this version of Mew.

"It's pretty simple." She said, once again bringing herself close enough to touch him. In fact, she did actually touch him, running a finger down his chest. "But... it would probably affect your judgement if I spoiled the surprise more than I already did. So instead... I'm going to show you things. Make you feel things. Maybe you'll choose to feel them too. Who knows? Well, beside you?"

"In other words, you're going to extort me for carnal favors," Mewtwo said. He was deeply unamused.

This clearly didn't amuse her either. However, Mewtwo would notice that she gave him a look that spoke more of flat annoyance than actually being upset.

"Cool! You're cynical like the big cat! I enjoy a good challenge!" And as suddenly as the flat look appeared, it was gone. If she seemed to share one trait with the variants of Mew he was used to, it was her apparent inability to get angry for any meaningful amount of time.

"Can we please move on to more important matters?"

As Mewtwo said those words, he'd notice a glint in the Mew's eyes, as if he had said something that she had been waiting for. Her playful smile became a meaningful smirk as her gaze focused into his eyes. "And how do you define 'important matters'?" she asked.

"Saving lives, averting disasters, activities of that nature."

"Oh and does that mean you can be everywhere at once?"

"No."

Mewtwo saw her smirk widen slightly. Given she was all the way in his face, it was hard to miss, really. She was most definitely aware of it, too. "Then can you live with the guilt?"

"There is nothing to be guilty about. No one can do everything. But the things I can do to help others, that is where guilt would come in."

The feline stared at him, tilting her head for a moment and then at that moment, she slid another finger down his chest. "So... where do your own life fit in it all? Or are your feelings an obstacle to overcome?"

"My life is that of a wanderer. I help where I can. It is what I enjoy."

And at that moment, the feline floated off of him, her smirk reaching maximum size. "If it is what you want... I can remove your thoughts, feelings, and empty your soul. You know, get rid of that little 'personality' and 'bad memories' thing that get in the way of helping others?"

Mewtwo used his power to slam her into a wall. "I will NEVER be some mindless puppet! Never again!" he snarled in anger

The moment she impacted into the steel wall, she made an almost cartoony Mew-shaped hole into it as she was buried into it. A second later, she emerged from the hole in the wall, obviously unarmed.

"I'll overlook your little tantrum for now." she said. "You know... I expected more of you. The big cat wouldn't have lashed out in anger like this and he certainly wouldn't have completely misunderstood me at every turn. For one who claim to be just as good as the big cat brain-wise, you seem to have a problem with subtlety."

"I'm sorry. I have a bit of a sore spot with the idea of being a puppet. "

"Understandable, since your own story is similar to the big cat." She then looked behind her and took a time to judge how deeply she had been embedded into the wall. She tilted her head and then shrugged before turning back to Mewtwo. "Still, to unleash your anger with so little control... you do realize that if you had struck anyone else than me, you would have killed that soul instantly?"

"Yes, I do. However, I knew that for you, it would deal no serious or even annoying damage."

The female gave him a flat look for a moment and then rolled her eyes. "Nevermind... my point was... you have a life outside of saving others. And obviously, it seems you care about that, since you don't want to just be made into an avatar of justice. So... why do you keep insulting me and driving me off?"

She put her paws on her hips, giving him a mock serious look... though it was not entirely faked. "I feel like every time I try to play nice, you just reject me without even trying. Almost makes me think that you're afraid of actually living proper..."

Mewtwo sighed. "I have...trust issues. Suffice to say it took me a while before I could even trust my fellow loopers. When I'm around you, it feels like you're trying to rush it, in a way."

The smaller feline smiled gently. "I'm trying to force you out of your comfort zone, to make you consider what you've never considered before. Besides... what are you waiting for, more exactly? What do you feel require time?"

"I'm...not sure. It's a gut feeling," he said. He was trying to open up, if only a little bit

"So... instinct. What do your mind, logic, and knowledge of the situation says?" she asked.

"That I need you as a source of information, that you have a good heart, and that you seem to want to help me."

"Then... why not listen to me and play along?"

"Play along with what?"

The female slowly floated past him. Her tail trailed behind her as she did and the oval tip at the end slid across his muzzle as she did so. Then, she stopped and glanced back at him, smiling...

"You told me you seldom experienced having a gender and never actually experience an entire facet of life. I will combine fun with the useful. Namely, as I teach you about such things, I will also help you with that little... purpose thing of yours. If you want, that is..."

"Very well, I will 'play along' as you say. But there is something I require first."

She spun around, fully facing him and smiling widely. She was obviously very happy that he was finally giving her something to work with...

"I wish to at least set things in motion in regards to the clone situation. I would feel...more comfortable, knowing that there was progress."

At that moment, she flew up in front of him and placed one of her paws in one of his. He felt her tiny fingers grasp his hand as she looked up at him with a gentle smile. "Trust me," she said, rather quietly.

He also heard an extra line through telepathy: 'I hope you know how to survive in perfect vacuum?'

"I can," he confirmed.

"Then tell me when ready and I'll show you something." she said.

A moment later, he said "Ready."

There was a bright light and in an instant, the two Pokémon thinned into the form of beams of light. Time stood still as the two travelled at the speed of light. Teleportation was based on a similar process but mortals could only do it imperfectly; due to the rigors of breaking the 'barrier of light' and the effects it had on matter, only Mew could travel at the true speed of light. Or Mewtwo in theory.

Before, from a mere jump to another location on the main planet, he was not given the opportunity to truly appreciate how Mew could bend the laws of physics in such a way, sending them through space at an absolutely incredible speed.

When the light faded, Mewtwo registered a few things.

One was the lack of pressure which threatened to make him explode should he not find a way to get rid of this. The second was the total lack of air. Good thing Mew had warned him about this. Speaking of her, she was now glowing in a white light that indicated that she was using her powers as a life-support measure.

...Mostly because they were now on Mars's surface, the Pokémon World only a tiny dot in the distance.

'Have you ever unleashed your full power?' asked Mew through telepathy due to the atmosphere being too thin to carry sound. 'On the main planet, if I unleash my full power it may harm mortals... but here, I can use all of it. And well... though humans always think of destructive power when they think of Legendaries... we both know what our powers are REALLY for.'

Mew floated up and brought both of her paws forward, wanting him to grab them. 'Shall you join me in a dance of creation? It has been billions of years since I used my power as it is meant to be used... Have you ever created a planet, Mewtwo?'

10.4 (Conceptualist and Archeo Lumiere)

(Conceptualist)

Pikachu led the group towards the next Route on their journey, a satisfied grin settling on to his face.

"That was pretty fun!" Said the smug fire type mouse Pokémon. "That's one gym down and 7 more to go."

Oshawott frowned. "I get that no one was really hurt, but don't you think that Lightning Snap attack of yours was too much?"

"Yeah, it seemed too powerful for a standard Pokémon battle," Chimchar added. "I understand using raw power like that against Legendary Pokémon, but in the first gym of a region? That was overkill," continued Totodile. "I … not again!" complained the currently water type Pokémon.

"Neither of you loop into flat game variants that often, do you?" asked Red.

"I am pretty sure I haven't either," mused Squirtle. "Unless loops where everyone said nothing but their dialogue from the game counts. That happened a few times. " Then Squirtle grinned and gave himself a silent fist pump, as he had just noticed he was no longer a Cubone.

Red shook his head. "It's close, but not quite what I mean. You are able to do pretty much all your normal stuff, and on top of that whatever you learned from previous loops still worked. Am I right?"

The turtle nodded.

"In a - I guess you could call it a dialogue loop, as it's not like we actually need a term for it," explained Red. "In a dialogue loop, anyone who isn't awake will say or do exactly what they say or do in the games. However, everything else is basically normal. No laws of physics are unreasonably changed, the potential to derail the loop's plot is still there, and if you shake things up enough the non-loopers will notice and start saying or doing different things. It'll still seem like game dialogue and whatnot, but it will be different game dialogue. It would take something pretty big to do that, however it's still possible. In a flat game variant like this, some things are pretty much laws of physics. All the stuff that would railroad the player into following the game's script is still there. Like construction workers. Unless you finish the correct sequence of events to get them to stop blocking your path, you'll never be able to get past them."

"Or small trees!" contributed Poli. "Those things are invincible, unmovable objects that can only be chopped down with the cut move. And then there is evolution. Most pokemon can get some leeway in how they evolve if they're desperate enough for a power boost. Yellow's team can evolve at will. But that won't work here. No Pokémon can evolve without 'gaining experience points' and 'leveling up' through battles. Or piles of rare candies. Or a evolution stone from a game loop. Or ... well, it varies depending on the evolutionary line."

Squirtle thought for a minute before replying. "I guess that makes sense. If the universe is trying its hardest to mimic a video game, there's bound to be things like that happening. Hey Pikachu, have you ... Where did everyone else go?"

"Oh, they ran off ahead when Red and I were explaining flat game variants to you." Poli answered.

"You go catch up. I want to stock up on some supplies while we are in town, so Poli and I will be a minute," explained Red.

"Okay!" said Squirtle, before running off to catch up to the rest of the team. Squirtle exited the town and soon encountered Pikachu sitting a few steps away from some rustling tall grass.

With a shrug, Squirtle plopped down right next to Pikachu. Leaning back on his shell, Squirtle began to cloud watch. Unfortunately, despite the occasional shadow passing over the route, there was not a cloud in the sky. "Right…" sighed Squirtle. "Hey you, Pikachu! What you doin'?"

Pikachu let a couple dozen volts flow through his paw and proceeded to pinch Squirtle's shoulder.

"OW!"

Pikachu turned his head and gave Squirtle a glare rivaling the meanest of Mean Looks. "First off, you deserved that for bringing that up. Secondly, I am waiting for the all clear from Oshawott and Totodile."

Squirtle, while rubbing his shoulder to get rid of the localized Paralysis, asked "What all clear?"

Before Pikachu could answer, Oshawott emerged from the tall grass. "I'm telling you Pikachu, there's nothing in there. No Pokémon, no items, no Pokéballs, nothing but grass and more grass."

Pikachu started to grin. "And now I'm just waiting for Totodile."

"Actually, I'm back to being a Chimchar again. And my side is clear of anything but grass as well," the once again Chimchar declared.

"Perfect!" Pikachu beamed.

"Why is it perfect?" Squirtle asked.

"It's simple, Terrence."

"Don't call me that!"

"You see," Pikachu continued, completely ignoring Squirtle's interruption. "This is a simple test to see if I'm going to be able to do something. Some game loops interact differently with the Poképhysics of the Pokéverse. I'm checking to see which ones apply. If I'm right, this is just going to be awesome."

"What's going to be awesome?" Poli asked from his perch on Red's head. Red quickly put down his arm load of goodies and joined his team.

"You'll see. Red! Quickly! Step in the grass!" exclaimed Pikachu.

A quirked eyebrow and nonverbal "...?" was Red's reply.

"Don't give me the silent treatment." warned Pikachu. "I know Silent Protagonist as a fourth language. It's not going to work on me."

"Poke-speak is obviously your first language, and human-speak would be your second. What's your third?" asked Poli.

"Actually, human is my third. Voltanguage, the art of communication through bolts of lightning, was my second," Pikachu pontificated.

"You just made that up, didn't you," accused Squirtle.

"No, it's actually baseline for me. Most Pichu learn it early on and - quit stalling for Red. Red, get in the grass already!" exclaimed the yellow fire type mouse.

"OK! Arceus above, are you this pushy with Ash?" complained Red as he took Poli off of his head.

A glare was leveled at Red. "I'm not zapping your face. Be happy about it. GRASS! NOW!" roared the tiny mouse Pokémon.

Oshawott crossed his arms and frowned. "I still don't see how this is going to work."

Red set down Poli and took a single step into the tall grass.

\|\ Wild LILLIPUP Has Appeared. Go, PIKACHU! \|\

A thunderbolt of enormous proportions lanced out and struck the poor wild puppy Pokémon, blasting it off into the sky like a certain well-known trio.

"But, but, there was nothing in there!"

\|\ OSHAWOTT wants to learn FRUSTRATION. But he already knows four moves. Delete a move to make room? \|\

\|\ YES/NO \|\

"And I know you and Chimchar did a good job checking. There wasn't anything in the grass until Red stepped into it. Which means that no matter what we do to the grass, there is no wild Pokémon in it yet," Pikachu declared. "Red, would you mind putting your Pokédex on mute? That's going to get annoying real fast."

Red took his 'dex out and had a look at it's settings. "I did. I think it keeps unmuting itself." He then proceeded to start thumbing through the menus.

\|\ NO \|\

\|\ Stop trying to learn FRUSTRATION? \|\

\|\ YES/NO \|\

\|\ YES \|\

\|\ OSHAWOTT did not learn FRUSTRATION. \|\

\|\ MUTE \|\

Pikachu proceeded to rummage in his subspace pocket "Anyways, when the mix between Video Game logic and normal Poképhysics is just right, we can do things like this without worrying about racking up a body count."

From Pikachu's subspace pocket tumbled out a giant sized riding lawnmower. It had flames painted on the edges. Exhaust pipes stretched up into the sky. The wheels looked like they would be more at home on a tractor that had been built by monster truck manufacturers. On both sides, in bright gold was painted a silhouette of Pikachu upper cutting a planet. A license plate reading "PIKACHU" adorned the back.

Almost as an afterthought, a little red wagon sized to seat several full-grown men was hitched to the lawnmower's tail hitch.

With a wicked grin, Pikachu jumped up behind the steering wheel and revved the engine. "Hop in! Mowing down the tall grass means we won't have to worry about wild Pokemon encounters."

(Archeo Lumiere)

Pikachu parked the mower just on the outskirts of Nacrene City and ushered everyone off.

"Man that was a good ride." said Munchlax, before pausing, and promptly sweatdropping.

"Great. This is going to bite." he said, holding his stomach.

Red sweatdropped at this as well. "Anyway, we have to get into the city, I actually want to see N again, try to get him further off script." he said, with eagerness creeping into his voice.

Upon entering the city, a strange noise sounded off, and Cheren approached Red.

"Come with me." he said.

"Joy, more railroading," said Oshawott. "Heh, railroads, because we're walking on train tracks."

Shortly after, maybe a minute, Cheren stopped nearby the Pokémon center.

He turned around and said, "If you go straight from here, there's a Pokemon Center. And...use these if you want."

[Red obtained Chesto Berries!]

"Is he flirting with you?" Asked Chimchar.

"It wouldn't surprise me." replied Red

"Give your Pokemon a Chesto Berry to hold. Then, if it ever falls asleep, it will wake up immediately. Oh, and another piece of advice- Nacrene City's Gym Leader uses Normal types. If you have a Fighting-type Pokemon, it might give you a big advantage."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." replied Red, as Cheren walked away.

"Now to go see what N is up to." exclaimed Pikachu.

The Museum/Gym was not particularly far away, so getting there wasn't an issue, when N walked out, however, things got interesting.

"I... want to see the things no one else can see. The truths of pokémon inside pokéballs... but, your Pokémon aren't inside their Pokéballs, why is that?"

With shock in his voice, Pikachu exclaimed "Wow! We didn't even have to say anything to get him to derail this time! That's a good sign!"

This drew N's attention once more. "What does your Pikachu mean by derail?" he asked, drawing a thoughtful look from Red.

"Follow me." he finally said, prompting N to move away from his scripted spot in front of the Museum. "I hope this works."

Red began to walk towards the café, but paused when he heard N's cry of distress.

"Wha- Why can't I move?!" he shouted.

Red rushed back to N, frustration (no not that one) coursing through his veins. "Shit, the script is holding you in place until the points are met. You need to leave on your own terms, not to be following me."

N was still worried, and confused at the same time, "Script, what do you mean?" he asked.

Red sighed realizing that he had to explain the loops to someone who was unawake, as well as this variant.

"Okay, take a seat, this may take a while, you can sit where you are, crossed legs, seiza, doesn't matter." Red said, preparing for the Talk.

"You may want to take notes, so here's a pencil and a notepad, keep them, until I tell you that you'll need to give them back." Red said, as he pulled a spiral notebook and a pencil from his Pocket, conveniently located in his backpack.

[Red handed over the Journal/N received the Journal]

"What was that?" asked N.

"I'll get to that in a minute. First, we'll draw a diagram." Red said, getting out a whiteboard and markers. He took said whiteboard and drew a tree on it, with two empty boxes of to the side. "This is a crude representation of Yggdrasil, the world tree, metaphor for the supercomputer that runs the Multiverse. Are you getting this so far?" At N's nod,he continued. Next he drew a bucket of water hanging from a branch in one of the boxes, with the branch dipping into the bucket. "This is a representation of a universe. There are many different versions of the universe is question in the metaphorical bucket, but they are all the same universe. Any questions?" Red asked, and N raised his hand to ask.

"You're the only student here, N, if you have a question at any point, feel free to ask." said Red.

"Why is the branch dipping into the bucket?" N asked.

"A good question, one which I will get to a bit later," he responded, continuing his lesson. In the next box, he drew another branch, but with three buckets hanging from it, the largest being yellow, the middle sized one being red, and the smallest one being blue, all connected with straws, and the branch dipping into all of them. "Here, have a pack of colored pencils for this diagram." said Red, as he gave N the colored pencils in question.

[Red handed over the Colored Pencils/N received the Colored Pencils]

"There it is again!" N exclaimed.

"All in due time. Now, this picture represents our universe in question, or universes,to be precise. There is my universe, the special universe, is in red," Red said, letting Pikachu continue the sentence.

"My universe, the anime one, is in yellow," Pikachu said, letting the water type starters finish off.

"And our universe, the mystery dungeon universe, which is blue." said Squirtle, Oshawott, and Munchlax.

Continuing on, Red said, "Collectively, these universes are known as the Pokémon universe. One last question before we move into the meat and potatoes."

N obliged, "Why did you guys label your universes like that, and what do you mean by meat and potatoes?"

Red gave a chuckle. "What comes next, if course, for it will answer all of your questions. Now, we are all here, in the same place for one reason," said Red, as he flipped over the white board, which, at second glance, seemed much too big to fit inside of his pack to N, to reveal words that reinforced his next sentence, "The Multiverse is broken. To avoid imminent de-existence of everything there ever was, the people up top put all of the universes into a safe mode, the Loops."

This shocked N, seeing as he was not a looper. However, he snapped out of it to ask his next question,

"That still doesn't explain the dipping branches." he said.

Red proceeded with the micro-lecture in stride, "All in due time, to understand that, you need to better understand the loops."

Pikachu took over for this part, "Each universe, henceforth referred to as a branch, has one person that is aware that time it's resetting each time, known as the anchor, and others who are only aware sometimes. Our branch has a few anchors, due to the different sub-loops within, There's Red, from the special loop, me, for the Loop that is usually represented as an anime, and Squirtle, Munchlax-" "Actually, I'm a Chimchar again." "Sorry, Chimchar, and Oshawott act as the anchors for the Mystery Dungeon loops at various points in time during the loop. Poli is just a normal looper for Special. Now on to the buckets, straws, and dipping branches. Every once and a while, a loop is different from normal, not by any looper interference, but because of the loop itself, this is known as a variant." Pikachu finished off, letting Red continue.

"This branch in particular has a common variant, known as a game loop, and a less common sub-variant, known as a flat game loop. This is where you come in. The loop we are in right now is a flat game loop, notable for all of the NPCs sticking to a script, no matter how hard you try and get them to say something different, and certain features that force you to stick to the major events, such as small trees being immovable objects, and the same goes for construction workers in your way. This loop in particular, however, you seem to be exempted from the speaking script, and possibly the battle script, but unfortunately not the movement script, which restricts you to a certain path." Red said, letting Pikachu finish off.

"The tubes and dipping branches are for when a loop happens with loopers from multiple branches. Now, any last questions?"

"Why is everyone calling you a girl, Red?" N asked, prompting most of the Pokémon to snicker.

Red sighed. "It's because, unfortunately, when I tried using sarcasm on the 'starting screen,' it took it the wrong way, and scripted lines referencing to me as female."

All N had to say to that was oh.

"Now, your homework," Red continued, "is to record any actions you take in that notebook when not around me, and to try as hard as you can to veer off of your scripts around me.

I'll grade the notebook when I tell you I need it back, near the end of this loop."

N nodded, said a quick thank you, and went to leave, but Red realized one more thing, "Oh, and N, don't trust anything that Ghetsis tells you." he said.

"I won't," was the response, as he left, going towards Pinwheel Forest.

"I wonder why though..." N muttered, before he passed out of Red's line of sight.

10.5 (zeusdemigod131)

Pikachu Awoke in a flash of light as he was released from his Pokéball. "So, this is a Pikachu huh?"

Something... wasn't normal. Pikachu rubbed his eyes and looked up at the boy who would be his trainer for the Loop. He looked about Ash's age and wore a white and black shirt and green cargo pants.

"That's right Ben," Professor Oak said. "He's an Electric-type Pokémon and-"

Ben looked at Pikachu. "And I can't go out and catch my own starter?" he asked.

'This kid is either from another Loop, or an annoying variant,' Pikachu decided.

Professor Oak laughed. "Of course not Ben, it's far too dangerous for a boy your age to go into the wild unprotected."

Ben looked like he was going to say something, but just sighed as if he heard that all too often.

The Pokémon Professor shook his head. "If you don't want him, then you can wait until the next Charmander, Squirtle, or Bulbasaur arrives."

Pikachu cringed at that thought. Visiting Loopers would do that from time to time, then sneak off that night. And while Pikachu could easily break out of his Pokéball, he had trouble getting out of the little retractable holder the Professor stored it in, unless he fried the labs circuity, but that usually upset the old man.

Ben shook his head and grabbed Pikachu's Pokéball. "Nah, I'll take him." He looked back at the Electric Mouse. "Come on."

'Probably a visiting Looper,' Pikachu decided.

Following the young boy, Pikachu had to wait until they got out of Pallet Town before he revealed himself to Ben. "Hold up," Ben suddenly said. He looked around, as if to make sure no one was watching, then reached into his pocket and pulled out... a watch. A weird looking highly advanced watch.

Ben snapped the watch onto his wrist and fiddled with the dial for a few seconds.

"Unregistered alien DNA detected," the device suddenly said. A green map was broadcast into the air above the watch, showing no less than a dozen different targets in the surrounding area, and even more farther away.

Ben whistled. "Haven't seen this many in one place since I Looped into Coruscant."

He was a Looper! Pikachu was about to speak up when Ben turned around and pointed the watch at him. The device emitted a yellow light which scanned Pikachu. "Scan complete... Please input Species name."

"Pikachu!" Pikachu said indignantly.

"...Registration completed, Species; Pikachu stored on playlist 'new' add title?"

"You should call it Pokémon," Pikachu said.

"Thanks," Ben turned to the Omnitrix, then stopped. "Did you just talk?"

"Yeah," Pikachu said.

"You a Looper?" Ben asked.

"Anchor actually," Pikachu answered. "Now, you mind telling me what's up with the watch?"

Ben smiled and held out his wrist. "It's called the Omnitrix, it allows me to... actually," Ben said with a smile. "Let me show you."

The boy fiddled with the dial a little more, labeled his new playlist after Pikachu's suggestion, then smiled as a hologram of a Pikachu appeared over the watch.

"Ready?" Ben asked.

"Sure," Pikachu answered, not sure what to expect.

Ben slammed his hand onto the watch and was enveloped in a flash of green light. When the light faded and Pikachu was able to look back. He was greeted with the sight of another Pikachu grinning at him. It looked a lot like him, except the hair was different, like whenever Ash messed with Lily's transformation spell... oh.

"Pretty cool huh?" Ben asked.

Pikachu shrugged. "There's a Pokémon here that can do that, it's called Ditto."

Ben frowned and slapped the Omnitrix, now on his chest, turning himself back into a human. "Whatever," He looked around. "So... how many types of Pokémon are there anyway?"

Pikachu shrugged. "More than seven hundred."

Ben nodded, the number was high, but Star War had more. "And how many different types do you usually encounter Baseline?"

Pikachu had to think on that for a moment. "Most of them, including almost all the Legendary Pokémon."

Ben nodded again. "You have any plans this Loop?"

Pikachu smirked. "I see where you're going with this, and I'm onboard." Ben smiled. "But..."

"What?" Ben asked.

"How about a little challenge?"

Ben leaned in closer. "I'm listening."

Brock, Leader of the Pewter City Gym, watched as the young boy stepped onto the battle platform across from him.

Brock smirked. "I hope that Pikachu isn't your only Pokémon."

Ben smiled. "He is, but he won't be battling this time."

Brock looked at the kid as if he'd gone mad. "Do you know how a Gym battle works kid?"

Ben nodded. "I'm allowed to use up to six different Pokémon to beat you, and I'm the only one who can make substitutions."

"...You need to use a Pokémon." Brock said flatly.

Ben nodded and held up his watch, an image of what looked like a Gyarados appearing above it. "And I will."

"And... the winner is Ben Tennyson? From Pallet Town..."

The referee looked at the waterlogged form of Brock's Onix. And the Gyarados that had swept through Brock's Rock-types, that had also just turned back into a ten year old boy.

"Unregistered alien DNA detected." The Omnitrix scanned the unconscious Rock Snake.

Noticing the look Brock was giving him, Ben explained. "It uh, it does that whenever I meet a new Pokémon."

"So... that watch let you turn into a Gyarados?" Brock asked, still in shock.

"Yep, and now it'll let me turn into an Onix."

Brock looked Ben straight in the eyes. "Show me."

"I am the ultimate Pokémon!" Mewtwo cried, throwing off his cloak and revealing his true form.

"Ben?" Pikachu asked with a smirk. "Do you think the Omnitrix can-"

"Only one way to find out," Pikachu had warned him about this part of the Loop. Ben just hope his plan worked.

"A Pokémon is still a Pokémon," Ben said, stepping forward, fiddling with the Omnitrix and reactivating the scanner.

"Unregistered alien DNA detected." As had become normal this Loop, the yellow light scanned the Genetic Pokémon. "Scan complete."

"What is the meaning of this?!" Mewtwo shouted. "What has you're infernal device done to me?!"

"To you? Nothing," Ben answered. "To me, on the other hand." In a flash of green, ben was replaced with a near identical copy of Mewtwo. "I think that's pretty clear."

Mewtwo looked upon the former human in shock. "Impossible..."

"Nope," Ben said. "And you wanna see a real ultimate Pokémon?" Ben slammed the Omnitrix again, this time, a green wave traveled across his body. Turning him into a more muscular, stronger looking Pokémon.

Mewtwo looked at Ben in surprise, then frowned. "If it's a battle you want," He stood up. "Then it's a battle you'll get!"

Mew giggled as she fled the island with Mewtwo. "Be quiet."

"Oh come on," Mew defened. "He let you leave in peace... rather than pieces."

"I don't understand why you let him... scan you," Mewtwo said, trying to change the subject.

Mew shrugged. "He asked nicely."

Ben, Pikachu, Latias, Latios, and Bianca watched as the tidal wave made its way towards Altomare.

When Latios flew off, Ben asked where he was going. "I think," Bianca said through tears. "He's going to become the new Soul Dew, to save Altomare."

Ben blinked once, then said. "Yeah, that's not happening." Then ran forward and threw himself off the roof of the museum.

"Ben!" Latias and Bianca screamed.

A sudden flash of green lite up the area, and when it dissipated, an enormous winged form rose above the buildings. "Ben's a... LUGIA!?" Bianca screeched.

Pikachu shrugged. "Sometimes," Bianca didn't notice that the Pokémon next to her had just talked. Neither did Latias, she was too busy staring after the Lord of the sea... Pikachu swore he saw tiny hearts in her eyes.

A few miles out at sea, Ben hit the wall of water, using Lugia's ability to manipulate currents, he blasted it apart in a matter of seconds.

Back in the city, Pikachu made another mental checkmark. That's Altomare taken care of, and he scanned Latios and Latias... wonder what happens if he turns into her. I don't think they have a male form.

"Shut up Pikachu," Ben grimaced as she floated through the air on wings made of moonlight.

The Pokémon Anchor snickered. "Hey, you accepted the challenge, and you decided to use Cresselia for this." Ben and Pikachu were in the Sinnoh Region, near the town where the wild Darkrai usually showed up and caused nightmares.

When Pikachu told him how Cresselia naturally counteracted Darkrai's abilities, Ben had scanned the first Lunar Wing they found. Pikachu had just forgotten to mention that all Cresselia were female.

Ben gritted her teeth. "I hate it when this happens, I always feel really weird afterwards."

"Please, from what you've told me your organs rearrange half the time you transform... heck, I don't even think Gengar has organs, but you didn't complain after being one of them."

Ben continued to pout. "Are we done here? I've been flying around for almost three hours."

"Oh, you could've stopped after one, I just thought it was funny-Wahh!" Pikachu was unceremoniously dumped from Ben's back, landing in the ocean below.

"Oh very funny," Pikachu said, pulling himself onto dry land. "Just for that, I'm not telling you what the next big problem we usually face is."

Ben smirked. "I think I can handle whatever Pokémon it is, I have more than half of them now."

Pikachu smiled.

Ben stared at the being that had just arrived through the portal. "That's... a god," ben deadpanned.

Pikachu shrugged. "Sometimes he actually did make our universe, sometimes he's just credited with it, it changes from Loop to Loop."

Ben gulped. Scanning beings like Arceus had caused problems before. But he had scanned Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina without much of a problem. "Well... a Pokémon's a Pokémon."

Pikachu and Ben lied on the grass next to a river, they didn't care where they were. "That... that sucked."

"Especially the black hole," Pikachu agreed.

"I guess since Arceus is... Arceus, the universe can't handle more than one of him,"

"Now I'm glad you didn't try out the Creation Trio while they were still on Earth," Pikachu added.

"I did warn you, didn't I?" Ben asked.

"Yeah... I just didn't think that reality would start to fold in on itself like that," Pikachu admitted. "It's a miracle Arceus left before the Loop crashed."

"You said he's Loop Aware, that might have something to do with it," Ben suggested.

Pikachu didn't answer.

"So, where to next?" Ben asked.

Pikachu pulled a camera out of his Pocket and snapped pictures of Ben's new form. "Are you done yet?"

"Hold on, it's not every Loop a new Vivillion pattern emerges." Ben's newest alien from, Pokemon number 666, Vivillion, was scanned from a Meadow Pattern Vivillion. But for some reason, Ben's wings resembled the Omnitrix insignia, though the device was set on his chest.

"The other's will get a kick out of this."

A few years later, Pikachu and Ben sat in Professor Oak's lab. It was close to the Loop's ending point, and they had a challenge to complete. "...Noibat, Noivern, Xerneas, Yveltal, Zygarde, Diancie, Hoopa, and Volcanion." Ben finished. "Is that it?"

Pikachu looked at the Pokédex. "Looks like it." Except for a few Pokémon that didn't have DNA, Ben seemed to have scanned everyone known Pokémon. "I'm surprised you managed to find the last two, we hardly ever can."

Ben smiled and held up the Omnitrix. "Azmuth's upgraded this thing so that it can sense a strand of new DNA a planet away."

Pikachu smiled. "Next time we Loop together, we should test how your actual aliens hold up against Pokémon."

Ben smirked. "Is that a challenge?"

10.6 (Saphroneth)

"Okay, guys," Hiccup began. "I know this is going to be kind of stressful, for most of you."

You're telling us, Barf muttered. Belch nodded agreement.

"How are you guys handling the Dark type, by the way?" Hiccup added. "It does have some neat side effects."

Like? Belch invited.

"You find it easier to beat up Ghosts. And yes, that is a concern around here."

The dragon master of the Elite Four shrugged. "So your job in my team is probably going to be just beating up ghosts, it's easier than having someone else do it."

I can get behind that.

"Right, that's Barf and Belch. Stormfly?"

What on earth am I? Stormfly asked plaintively.

"Druddigon." Hiccup waited for her to pull a face. "Yes, I know you knew that. Just... stay warm, okay? Ask for help if you cool off, because according to this encyclopedia that may result in your freezing solid."

Ouch. Stormfly shivered.

Is it my go yet? A shiny Charizard asked.

"Nope." Hiccup waved a hand. "Next... what about you, Hookfang?"

I am covered in spikes and appear to be some kind of flying land dragon shark. Hookfang shrugged, his wicked wing-claws flexing. I feel fine.

"Good to know you've adapted... just watch out for ice. Actually, that goes for most of you. Other dragons, ice, and fairies." Hiccup counted off the dragons he'd done so far. "Thornado?"

I am the night.

No you're not, Blitsif muttered. You're just a bat with a subwoofer for a head. Incidentally, how the heck am I a dragon? I'm a sheep.

Hiccup rummaged in his pack. "I seem to remember there was... something... aha!"

He threw a grey-red-yellow sphere at Blitsif, who caught it in one hoof with a puzzled frown.

Then she flashed a brilliant yellow colour.

"Ta-da," Hiccup said gravely.

Not really much change, Blitsif said, looking herself over again.

"I assure you, you are technically a dragon now." Hiccup shrugged. "Now, the only question is whether Lazy-"

Shorty, Toothless corrected.

"Wow, another name change?" Hiccup shook his head. "Okay, whether Shorty and Meatlug are around. I expect at least one of them to be a Salamence."

And the other? Stormfly asked, miffed.

"Dragonite, probably. Though I'm still hoping for one of them to be a Dragalge, because otherwise the whole team could be beaten up by fairies..."

Toothless landed in front of him. What about me?

"Okay, yes, fine." Hiccup scratched him. "You're a huge black Pokémon of doom that spits blue fire from the sides of his mouth when you're holding a marble. Truly you are the rock on which my team is founded."

So long as you accept that.

"Glad we could get that sorted out. You and Blitz can fight over who gets to use a marble." Hiccup stood, and stretched. "Okay, as I understand it our job is basically to make damn sure no-one gets past this stage of the Pokémon league."

Should be easy, Thornado said, to general agreement.

(Me)

Later…

"You've got to be kidding me," Red deadpanned as he walked into the chamber.

Hiccup grinned. "'Fraid not," he said.

"Of all possible people, it had to be you, didn't it?" Red said in exasperation.

Hiccup frowned. "Is there something you don't particularly like about me?" he asked.

"It's just...considering how you were like the first time you Looped into our Loop," Red started.

"That was my first time here! I didn't know anything about how it all worked!"

"You helped Team Plasma! Yeah, luckily you helped N, not Ghetsis, but still!"

Can we move on already? Toothless asked in a bored tone.

Hiccup shook his head. "Alright, who's up first?" he asked. Thornado moved silently into position.

Red frowned. "Noivern, eh? Let's go, Poli!"

10.7 (crossoverpairinglover)

"Mesa am Pokemon champion Jar Jar! Do yousa challenge me!?"

Ash just stared at the humanoid, frog-like creature that was the replacement for Drake, the Orange League champion.

Was the lack of dignity of response worth the battle, or not?

"YOUSA SHALL BATTLE ME, OR I SHALL DEVOUR YOUR SOUL!"

Jar Jar's voice suddenly changed to become dark and demonic sounding, and bits of fire flew out of his beak.

Oh...it was fire breathing Sith Jar Jar.

Totally different debate than regular Jar Jar.

The battle was on, for the fate of the world.

10.1 - More PokeMyth Busters! Seriously though, Maccargo's supposed body temperature was always kind of ridiculous.

10.2 - I spy a Heartwarming Moment. Seriously, somebody update the Trope Page.

10.3 - The 3rd part of the Loop with Mew and Mewtwo. This really needs a more proper name.

10.4 - And the 3rd part of the Quest to get N Looping! Uh oh, looks like N isn't taking Red seriously. Understandable, considering this is only the second time they've met, but still...

10.5 - "...he's got superpowers, he's no ordinary kid! He's Ben 10!" I love that show, and I liked Alien Force and Ultimate Alien as well. Omniverse is kind of...yeah. I liked Store 23, but that was it.

10.6 - How to Train Your Dragon-types. And Hiccup really made a bad impression on the Pokeverse Loopers. Well, Red at any rate. The others are more ambivalent.

10.7 - Sith Jar Jar. Yeah, he's a thing.