(29.1)

Sasha stared at Mewtwo curiously as the clone worked on his writing.

He seemed to have hit a wall and words appeared on the screen before being wiped away just as quickly as they'd appeared.

After a few moments, Mewtwo got up in a huff, arms crossed tightly over his chest - a defense mechanism Sasha recognized as the replica's signal to not be disturbed.

Which she promptly ignored as she carefully leapt onto his shoulder and proceeded to nuzzle his cheek.

He sputtered in surprise and glanced at her, which led to Sasha's muzzle gracing his nose and lips.

"You're spending too much time cooped up in here," Sasha chided him gently, licking over his face affectionately. "You'd find more inspiration if you went outside once in a while."

Mewtwo grunted in irritation before his hand came up to stroke her head absently.

"You are, of course, right," he said with a sigh. "I've already turned your gym battles into a few chapters worth of content and have slowly been setting things up for the final match...but it's a lot harder to make the action flow smoothly and not feel like a turn-based game."

He went silent and his frown deepened.

"Have you considered showing scenes from other people's perspectives?" Sasha suggested. "What have the people your character has met along their journey been up to?"

Mewtwo blinked thoughtfully. "But why would anyone care about them? They're there for a few minutes with a few seconds worth of interaction before going on their way. People really care about things like that?"

"I wouldn't know off the top of my head," Sasha admitted, "but there's times I find myself wondering what Arceus, Citlali and Ash have been doing while I've been getting ready for the League."

"I could always teleport us there and ask," Mewtwo said absently, saving his current progress. He'd made the mistake of not doing it a few times over the years and had once lost over fifty thousand words when the power had gone out.

"You could do that," Sasha said, nodding. "Or make something up-"

She was cut off by a bright flash of light that faded to reveal a lime-green celebi.

"Ah, here you are," it chirped. "I dunno if either of you care, but Ho-Oh has returned from the Orre region."

The celebi vanished without another word and the two dumbfounded pokémon took a few seconds to process the information.

"Ho-Oh?" Sasha asked.

"A 'whacking great phoenix,' as Ash would put it," Mewtwo said, intrigued. "Last I heard, he had gone missing after the Time Crash, and his sons and daughter - Entei, Raikou and Suicune - have been searching for him ever since. This is fantastic news."

His tail twitched excitedly as he powered down his office.

"Shall we go meet him then?" he asked. "I, for one, want to compare notes on a few things-" He caught himself, before turning to Sasha. "I mean, if you want to."

"Even if I didn't, you're welcome to go without me," Sasha said dryly. "But in this case, I'd certainly like to meet him as well."

She leaped into Mewtwo's arms and the two teleported away.

They reappeared at the base of a huge tower surrounded by golden-yellow-leafed trees.

"Where are we?" Sasha asked, sniffing the air curiously.

"Johto. Ecruteak City. Bell Tower," Mewtwo said, craning his head up to stare up the front of the structure. "This is Ho-Oh's primary roost."

"Bell Tower?" Sasha said. "Seems like a poor place to rest if a bell tolls every hour."

"Well," Mewtwo said slowly. "It's not that kind of bell tower. It's also known as the Tin Tower. There used to be another tower known as the Metal or Brass Tower. Lugia roosted there until it burned down…erm…" His gaze went distant, brow furrowed as he crunched a few numbers in his head. "I think it's been almost 160 years now. I heard they were planning to rebuild it though." He scanned the sky, but the trees blocked his sight.

Sasha let out a low whistle. "That's good to hear." She glanced up at the tower, tail twitching eagerly. "So are we going up? Any particular reason we didn't teleport above the tower and fly down?"

"Manners, Sasha," Mewtwo reminded her.

"I don't see a doorbell," Sasha countered dryly.

"Hello!"

The duo jumped in surprise as a trio of red, blue and yellow pokémon poked their heads out of the tower door.

"I thought I heard voices," Suicune said with a toothy grin.

"Heya, Mewtwo," Raikou said.

"What brings you here?" Entei asked.

"We heard Ho-Oh was back and wanted to say hello," Mewtwo said as Sasha stared at the three legendary beasts in awe.

The beasts visibly hesitated, glancing at one another uncomfortably. Mewtwo's eyes narrowed and he took a step back.

"What memories did Ho-Oh receive?" he asked quietly, crossing his arms.

"Genocide," Suicune replied, head low.

Sasha felt Mewtwo's muscles tense beneath her paws and she nuzzled him worriedly. His hand came up to gently cup her cheek and she felt him trembling.

"I see," Mewtwo said softly. "I'd like to speak with him. Alone," he added, plucking Sasha from her perch and placed her on the ground. "Please look after her."

Suicune and Raikou looked as if they wanted to stop him but a low growl from Entei caused them to stop.

"Thank you," Mewtwo said, and vanished into the tower.

Sasha stared after him, kneading the ground anxiously. She knew he'd be fine, but she still worried about him nonetheless. With a sigh, she let go of her worry and turned to the three legendaries who had taken to conversing amongst themselves.

Suicune stared at the silvery eevee curiously before leaving her brothers to pad over to her. Leaning down, she gave the small pokémon a sniff before she leaned back.

"I know you," Suicune said, sounding puzzled.

"What do you mean?" Raikou asked, joining his sibling while Entei stayed back, ears perked towards the tower.

"You remember Molly Hale?" Suicune asked.

"…How can I not? I have two sets of memories from two sets of Beasts giving me two different viewpoints of the same event. Kinda hard to forget things like that," Raikou said, not bothering to keep the dryness from his voice. Suicune's muzzle twitched in amusement.

"Well, unless my nose is lying to me, this is Molly's eevee," Suicune said. "Although not…quite hers. Color's a little off."

Raikou sniffed Sasha carefully and frowned. "…That is most strange. As far as we know, no one is entirely the same as they were before Time went all bonkers, yet she's…"

"Most odd," Suicune said, before turning her attention back to Sasha. "Please, tell us about yourself."

Sasha glanced at the Beasts, then down at her paws, clenching them before she nodded and started speaking.


(29.2)

Mewtwo ascended the Bell Tower slowly, going over his memories of the events the Beasts had alluded to concerning Ho-Oh.

He'd skimmed over them briefly years ago when they first manifested yet hadn't delved into them because they didn't interest or affect him. Now that he had all the details, he was surprised to find himself utterly indifferent to the contents in them.

Reaching the top floor of the tower, Mewtwo stepped forward to see Ho-Oh perched on the peak of the roof, staring off at the refurbished Brass Tower to the east.

"Hello, Mewtwo," Ho-Oh said. The bird's voice was drained, tired and Mewtwo stopped a couple dozen yards away from the phoenix.

"Greetings, Lord Ho-Oh," Mewtwo replied.

Ho-Oh laughed bitterly. "I am no Lord."

"Your actions in other lives have no meaning in this time and place," Mewtwo said.

Ho-Oh turned one red-gold eye in the clone's direction. "You sound like the others," he said bitterly. "That may be true, but the memories are still there, speaking to me."

"And how do you think I feel?" Mewtwo asked. "I have just as many good memories as ones where I am a monster who has laid waste to trillions of lives without remorse or guilt. I loved every moment of the carnage and I would be lying if I said I haven't seriously considered doing the same here."

Ho-Oh remained silent for a few minutes before shuffling his wings.

"I turned you into a puppet-"

"I ripped your wings and head off. We're even," Mewtwo said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

Ho-Oh stared at the replica in disbelief.

"How can you joke about this?" Ho-Oh asked.

"Because what happened then doesn't matter now," Mewtwo replied.

Ho-Oh sighed, shaking his head. "I will…try. Try to move past this. Try to…make new memories."

The phoenix paused, head tilted, before he smiled slightly. "If it wasn't for me, Ash never would've started his journey. Never would've become the man he is today…"

The Rainbow Pokémon turned to Mewtwo and bowed low.

"Forgive me for being…stubborn. I have some people and pokémon to visit. May we meet again in the future. I wish you luck in the trials ahead."

Flapping his wings, the legendary pokémon took to the sky and flew off to the southwest, leaving a sparkling rainbow trail in the sky.


(29.3)

Mewtwo and Sasha were curled up together on the couch, watching a Pokémon Showcase from Kalos.

The current Kalos Queen, a young woman named Serena, was handing a key to a blue-haired girl with a piplup and buneary. Behind them, a brown-haired contestant from Hoenn was consoling her glaceon and delcatty.

"That was a good showing," Sasha said.

"I'll take your word for it," Mewtwo said.

The eevee snorted and struck a pose on the arm of the couch, one foreleg stretched forward dramatically.

"Of course you wouldn't understand the importance of such a performance," she said grandly.

"Showing the trust and love between a performer and their partners, along with the time and effort put into their dance?" Mewtwo remarked dryly.

"Okay, so you do understand," Sasha recovered. "That's good, I guess."

"You dance well enough. Would you ever consider performing in a Showcase?" Mewtwo asked.

Sasha shook her head. "Wouldn't dream of it. Although...I have. Dreamed of it, I mean," she replied. "Besides," she added, "that would require you to get up on stage and dance with me."

"And make a fool of myself in front of millions? No thank you."

"Now you know how I feel."


(29.4)

Mewtwo opened his eyes and looked around, senses alert.

Something had-

There it was again.

Getting to his feet, Mewtwo focused his power, waiting for the strange psionic pulse again.

Latching onto it, the energy jumped in surprise and Mewtwo suddenly found himself floating in someone else's mind.

"Hello?" he called warily. Whoever this was, their psychic abilities were far beyond the range of anyone he had ever encountered.

A formless shape materialized in front of him and a soft feminine voice spoke.

"Oh, I didn't think anyone could hear me. I've been doing this unconsciously for several weeks now and nobody has answered."

Mewtwo placed a hand on his temple and winced.

"First of all," he said through gritted teeth, "You're screaming, so I'm reasonably sure you have inadvertently forced yourself into other people's heads. I'm guessing none of them had the psychic ability to answer you though."

"Oh," the voice said meekly, going almost silent. "I'm so sorry!"

"Where are you?" Mewtwo asked. "I've been through something similar before. I'd like to help."

"R-really?" the voice squeaked. "I'd deeply appreciate it. I'm...ah...er..."

The voice trailed off for a moment before resumed.

"I have no idea where I am. I flew west, away from some bad people and got lost."

"Story of my life," Mewtwo said. "Don't move, I'll come to you."

He pulled away from the mental presence and examined the surrounding area curiously. It wasn't anywhere he recognized, but it was remote at the very least.

He teleported and found himself in a meadow filled with flowers of all kinds. Feeling the presence behind him, he turned and met a startled pair of violet eyes.

"I must say, you were not what I was expecting," the other mewtwo said with a hesitant smile.

It took Mewtwo a few seconds to find his voice. "Neither are you," he said, unable to keep the astonishment out of his tone.

He gazed at the other mewtwo, eyes roaming up and down its body. It had a slightly paler coat than his own, and its features were softer. The voice it was speaking with was borderline androgynous, but still had a female angle to it.

"Tell me about yourself," he said. "That'll help me figure out how to best help you."

"I was called Rei by my creators. I was initially a prototype for their cloning program and was temporarily discarded before their second attempt broke free and fled the labs," the mewtwo said slowly, gazing at its hands.

Mewtwo blinked and stroked his chin. "I met a feral mewtwo in Cerulean Cave a few years back. I wonder if that was your successor…"

The other mewtwo smiled thinly. "I suspect it was. I was then thawed and they tweaked my genetic structure in an attempt to make me more docile. It failed," she purred.

Mewtwo nodded in amusement before he placed his hands on her temples. At her inquisitive glance, he explained what he was doing. "I'm giving you a set of temporary mental shields. It'll help filter out the brunt of psychic chatter you're getting and allow you to focus your own abilities so you can eventually do it on your own."

"What if I can't?" she asked.

Mewtwo hesitated before speaking. "I'm staying in a city, taking care of an eevee I scooped off the side of a mountain. You'd be welcome to stay there with us for a while until you can shield on your own, if you'd like."

She nodded. "That'd be nice. Thank you for your help."

Mewtwo inclined his head, placed a hand on her shoulder and teleported them both away.


(29.5)

Ash adjusted his hat, frowning slightly as it didn't quite sit right on his thick hair. Making a note to get a haircut after the match, he gazed across the field at Gary Oak.

Several years had passed since the Time Crash and the two had gone through and collected a fresh set of Badges for the League.

Ash had gone with Dark, Fighting, Normal, Ice, Flying, Bug, Steel and Dragon whereas Gary had gone Rock, Water, Electric, Grass, Poison, Psychic, Fire and Ground.

Ash sighed and glanced at the last poké ball in his hand.

"You've gotten strong," he said, enlarging it with a tap of his finger.

"Likewise," Gary said, tossing his last poké ball. "Let's finish this."

One brutal back-and-forth battle later, the match ended in a duel-knockout and the match ended in a draw.

"Not bad for a professor," Ash said, recalling his pokémon.

Gary frowned as he stowed his pokémon away.

The two left the League field after getting their trophies and made their way back to the League hotel provided for challengers. Once back inside their room, Gary turned on Ash.

"Alright, spill. Where was the skill and power you battled with before?"

Ash blinked in surprise and rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Ah, you noticed that?"

"The entire League noticed," Gary said dryly. "You've taken on much more than I have and this should've been a cakewalk for you."

"The Crash reset a lot of things," Ash pointed out. "The power of my pokémon was one of them."

Gary glanced at Pikachu, who was fast asleep on the bed. "So that's why you didn't use Pikachu in your team?"

Ash nodded. "We'll start over from the beginning, just like old times. Who knows, I may even catch more pokémon this time around. Third time's the charm and all that, right?"

Gary snorted, crossing his arms. "You're still nowhere near me in terms of pokémon caught."

"Of course not," Ash said with a nod. "I like to bond with the pokémon I do have before making new friends. It doesn't matter how many you have-"

"Yes, yes, we've been over this twice now. I'd like to keep it that way," Gary said with a wave of his hand.

The two shared a grin before turning in for the night.