*Thoughts*

"Speech"

"Telekinesis Talk."

Mewtwo's eyes cracked open slowly.

*Where...am I...*

He seemed to be in a pitch black void, with absolutely nothing around him.

He was flat on his back, but not lying on anything solid.

He slowly pushed himself up, looking around; he saw nothing for miles.

"Hello?"

At first, there was no response; however, after a few moments, he heard something.

"Mewtwo."

He craned his head around to find a shadow Pokémon with a small flame on it's head floating towards him.

She floated around in front of him and stopped, looking him up and down.

"Suicide right after wishing you'd never been born. Interesting...especially for a Legendary."

Disturbed by this stranger, Mewtwo attempted to correct her.

"I didn't kill myself," He responded. "The bridge gave out. It was an accident."

"Sure, sure." She rolled her eyes. "And being in the freezing cold while having nothing to warm you on and being a Pokémon without fur was also an accident."

That shut him up.

"Look kid, I know you didn't willingly suicide, but you weren't exactly caring if you died or not. Welcoming it, even." She shook her head. "It may have been 'coincidence' that the bridge broke, but you had already let yourself be weakened to the point of being unable to save yourself."

After a moment, Mewtwo let out a sigh.

"So...I'm really dead. That's great. Am I in Hell or...?"

"No, actually." She replied. "You see, I can control reality, or at least to an extent, and after a quick chat with my brother I got permission to drag your soul out of our world to do a thing."

"Wait, what...?"

"Look, I was making some quick rounds around Kanto, doing some last minute Christmas shopping 'cause I didn't get my nephews anything and realized way too late, documenting reality because it's my job-and bam, there you are. Contemplating your existence, and then falling to your inevitable death right after. Let's just say I was...intrigued."

She held out her whispy palm and created a bubble, showcasing some of Mewtwo's memories.

"After I dug around some more, I decided to help you out. Consider yourself lucky, I prefer to not do this sort of thing unless I absolutely have to. Besides, it would be a waste for such a powerful soul to come to an end so quickly."

Confused didn't even begin to cover how Mewtwo was feeling right now.

"Anyways, let's get down to business. You think things would've been better if you were never born, right?"

"Never created, but...well, yes."

"Right. I'm here to show you why you're an idiot for thinking that."

She turned and held out her palm; a glowing portal appeared before them.

"Come on, we've got a lot of ground to cover."

Upon emerging from the other side of the portal, Mewtwo found himself on Ice Island, Articuno's vacation island.

Said bird was snoring on a patch of ice, the surrounding island looking trashed.

"Christmas Night," Marshadow began. "Ice Queen decided to spend it on her vacation island since she didn't have any family to spend it with."

"No...family? But what about the other birds? Or her Uncle?" Mewtwo asked, confused.

"She and her family aren't on good terms," The Shadow replied. "You see, without someone there to inadvertently bring them together again, the birds had no reason to bond and gain a better relationship than they had before. Their relationship actually took a turn for the worse, which led to even more wars between them."

"Wars?!"

"Of course. All people have faults, and without being able to overcome them in some way they slowly take over your mind...and eventually become who you are."

As if on cue, a large explosion of fire made itself known on the other side of the mountain, shaking the island and the bird occupying it awake.

Several more followed, leaving burning patches in their wake; as Articuno staggered to her feet, Moltrés came flying above her, her flames burning brightly as she attacked more of the land.

She paused in her assault, hovering above her sister; bearing a sadistic grin, she called down to her.

"Oh, Articuno~! Merry Christmas, dear! I hope you don't mind me stopping by to pick up my present!"

"What present?!" Articuno snapped back. "I wouldn't get you anything if my life depended on it!"

The flaming bird cackled.

"Why, all of your territory, of course! After I kill you, somebody will need to lay claim to it, and I'll need to before that deadbeat brother of ours does!"

Growling, the ice bird spread her heavy wings, preparing to attack.

"Moltrés took a play from General George Weavilton's book," Marshadow explained. "She's striking after Articuno's been partying and weakening herself, and is in no condition to fight."

"That's dirty fighting," Mewtwo narrowed his eyes.

"Not to a war general it's not. For greedy sadist on the other hand..."

Articuno shot upwards, firing an Ice Beam; Moltrés dodged and fired a Heat Wave, striking the blue bird and knocking her back.

Smirking at the burns left on her, the fire bird came in with an Air Slash next, sending her sister plummeting to the ground; she activated an Ancient Power next, smashing her with rocks.

The younger bird shakily shoved herself up; as she attempted to flap her wings and go airborne again, Moltrés hit her with another Ancient Power, sending her back down.

"This isn't right," Mewtwo gulped, panic beginning to set in when he realized how real this was. "She can't kill her, right?"

"Ah, I forget you're still fairly young for a Legendary," Marshadow mused. "Killing was, and for predator Pokemon can still be, the way of the world. Death due to battling used to be the norm until my brother found a way to help Pokemon restrain themselves willingly. After all, if they didn't still have some way to kill, they couldn't have a way to properly defend themselves."

The fight had progressed while they were talking; now, Moltrés had Articuno trapped under a piece of rock that had fallen from the mountains.

Despite her struggles, the ice bird was unable to free herself; her sister cackled as she landed next to her.

"I haven't gotten a good kill in a long time...I'm going to enjoy this~!"

She paused.

"But, of course, I suppose you should get your last words in hmm?"

Articuno lifted her head; as blood trickled down from above her eye, she gave one last defiant glare.

"I'll see you in Hell...b-brother..."

Moltrés' eyes widened, her pupils dilating; a loud screech erupted from her as she spread her wings, summoning all her strength in one last explosion.

Mewtwo flinched and attempted to shield himself as the bright orange and white lights consumed the island, burning away everything in their paths.

"It can't hurt us," Marshadow deadpanned. "We're technically ghosts right now."

When everything faded, the island was destroyed: among the smoking remains was a charred, headless corpse and a panting Moltrés.

Mewtwo could feel his legs shaking.

"No..."

"Oh yes," Marshadow replied. "Trust me, it gets worse."

Moltrés glared down at her sister's remains, giving it a small kick.

"I'll see you in Hell all right," She snarled, "as your torturer."

*You wish.* Mewtwo growled in his head.

Suddenly, a loud voice boomed from the Heavens, startling the fire type from her thoughts.

"MOLTRÉS!!"

The voice sent chills down her spine; when she looked up, she found Lugia, Lord of Johto/Kanto's seas, breaking through the night's cloud covering and descending upon her.

Her eyes widened.

"Uncle Lugia?!"

"Don't you "Uncle" me!" He roared. "What have you done?"

Upon taking in the full extent of the damage, rage and sorrow began to consume him more.

"How dare you...you...monster..."

She rolled her eyes.

"Oh please! It's not like you've never killed and taken what's yours--"

"SILENCE!" He roared again.

As he glared down at his daughter, his gaze began to soften as his sorrow began to take full control.

"Oh, Moltrés...how could you..."

His chest began to hurt as he made his decision on what to do; what he felt needed to be done.

"I'm sorry, daughter...I've failed you..."

He closed his eyes and began surrounding himself in energy.

Moltrés began backing away, dread filling her stomach.

She would have flown away, but the price of her and Articuno's battle was finally catching up to her; she realized how weak she was at that moment and that she couldn't escape.

Lugia's eyes snapped open, pure white, as he spread his wings; the energy he built up spread over the island, consuming all, just as Moltrés had done moments before.

The female let out a pained, fearful scream as she was consumed.

Despite Marshadow's earlier words, Mewtwo instinctively tried to shield himself.

"Look," Marshadow commanded.

Reluctantly, he lowered his arms, looking at the battlefield.

Moltrés was nowhere to be found; Lugia, with tears in his eyes, walked over to Articuno's remains and touched his head to it, staying there silently for a few moments.

Mewtwo's eyes widened again.

*She...is she...did he just..?!*

Eventually, he spread his wings, flying above the island; he called out to the waters, causing them to rise and cover the island completely.

Looking out towards Fire island, he repeated the gesture; soon, neither of them were visible to the world, and the seas were commanded to use all their force to destroy them forever.

His gaze turned to Thunder island, turning solemn.

"...To rid the world of an evil, we must truly destroy all remnants of it..."

The sea dragon sighed, tears falling towards the water as he turned and began his flight towards Kanto.

Mewtwo's eyes widened.

"No...no, this is fake! Lugia wouldn't--he may act like he hates them, but--Moltrés would never--no--"

"Deny it all you want, kid, it won't get you anywhere." Marshadow huffed. "And I'd suggest waiting to freak out, because this is just the tip of the iceberg. now come on, we have more to see."

And with that, a bright light filled the clone's vision as they teleported away.

Oof.

Okay, if y'all are wondering a few things, here you go:

Moltrés is actually the strongest of the 3 birds; I checked, and she has the highest base stat, so there you go. So by using her full power she was able to kill Articuno by playing her cards right.

Lugia isn't biologically the bird's father, but they were given to him to raise as his own; since they were young he had them refer to him as an Uncle, but in his heart he sees them as his own children, hence him calling them daughters in their last moments.

See if you can pick up on the little lore reveals sprinkled throughout!

See ya next depressing Chappie!!