(A/N: I had someone ask about the length of Mew's mating cycle since last chapter Mew stated that she and Mewtwo had been together for a few months. I know that Mews are based of cats, and a cat's mating cycle is about a week or two. I don't know how it really works in the Pokémon universe, but for the sake of this story, it lasts a few months. Don't forget, Legendary Pokémon, Mew especially, are incredibly rare. There's maybe only a few dozen in the world. And the world is a big place, it'll take some time to find a mate, hence the reason for a lengthy mating cycle. Hope I cleared that up. Now then, it's time to set the cute stuff aside and get down to some serious business. This chapter is a little sad, but it addresses an important issue involving Mewtwo and his relationship with Mew. Oh, and one more thing, last chapter, when Mewtwo trailed off at the end, the unsaid thing Mewtwo almost said was "You are mine". Hee, hee, but of course he would never admit that. He's too stubborn and proud.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 12: Strength Is An Illusion

Mew was depressed. It had finally passed. She couldn't believe she had missed her chance. What had she been doing these past few months? Did she not try hard enough? Did she try too hard? Or maybe she had just fooled around too much.

Well, she supposed she had best tell Mewtwo. She didn't know what would happen when she did, but she shouldn't keep this a secret from him. He was her mate after all, even if they hadn't made it official.

He was meditating again beneath the shade of a tree. She knew he didn't like to be disturbed while meditating, but she felt the need to tell him before she screamed in frustration.

She floated over to him, trying not to show how upset she really was. "Mewtwo…"

"What did I say about bothering me while I'm meditating?" he asked coldly, not even opening his eyes.

She hung her head. "My mating cycle ended today."

He was silent for several long seconds, then his eyes slowly opened. "Has it now?"

She nodded. "I'll have to wait until next year for a chance to have children."

Mewtwo was quiet. He felt… he wasn't sure how he felt. "I am… sorry for you," he said, closing his eyes again. "Perhaps you will have better luck next year."

She slowly drifted closer, reaching out for him. "Mewtwo…"

"With a more suitable mate."

She froze, her hand dropping. "You're still unwilling?"

He refused to look at her. "I told you as much from the beginning. And now that your cycle has passed, there's no reason to try and convince me to breed with you." He hesitated. "So there's no reason for you to stay here."

For some reason, the words were difficult to say. He didn't know why. Wasn't this what he wanted, for her to stop bothering him all the time?

Mew looked hurt. He didn't need to see her to know that her eyes were shining with sadness. And for some reason, it hurt him to know he had hurt her.

"Mewtwo…" she whispered. "After everything we've been through, all the time we spent together… doesn't it mean anything to you?"

His fists clenched together almost painfully. But he had to do this. He had to end it. "I told you I am not your mate, and I never will be." He fixed her with a glare. "You should have listened when I said you should search elsewhere."

The two stared at each other. Slowly, tears appeared in Mew's eyes. Mewtwo tried to hide his surprise; he had never seen her cry before. Yet he attempted to appear stern.

"Why?" she asked. "Why do you think you're not a suitable mate? Is it because you weren't naturally born? Is it because it was humans that created you?"

"Mew…" he growled in warning.

She ignored him. "Is it because you're being hunted by those scientists? Is it because of the bad things you did?"

"That is enough!"

"No! I want to know! I missed my first mating cycle waiting for you; I have the right to know! Is it because you still feel like you're just a copy? Is it because you feel unworthy of your life? Is it because you have some human DNA in you? Just what is it that makes you so unsuitable?"

He turned away. "You wouldn't understand."

She flew in front of him. "Because you won't tell me. You keep saying you're not a suitable mate for me, but you won't tell me why." Her eyes narrowed as they continued to leak angry tears. "Maybe it's me. Maybe you think I'm not worthy of you. Is that it? Am I not worthy of being the mate of the most powerful Pokémon ever who was designed to be superior to the Mew species in every way?"

He looked away again. "Don't be ridiculous."

"Then you do think it's you. But why? Because you hate humans, and it was them that created you? You're not an abomination, Mewtwo. And even if you were, I don't care. You have just as much right to live in this world as the rest of us, to have the same things we do, to get just as much out of life as we do."

He was getting aggravated. "This conversation is over."

He began walking away, but Mew flew after him. "What was it you said after that boy was revived by the Pokémon tears? 'The circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant. It's what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are'. Was that a lie, or did you not think it applied to you just because you're different?"

He lost his temper. "That is enough! Leave!"

They stared each other down once more. Mew wiped away her tears, but more kept coming. "Fine, I'll leave," she said. "MEWTWO, YOU'RE AN IDIOT!"

She teleported away, leaving Mewtwo alone. He was taken aback by her sudden departure, not just because she had actually left, but because of the emptiness he suddenly felt at her absence.

She was gone, really gone. He could no longer sense her presence anywhere, meaning she must have teleported somewhere far away. Maybe she went back to her old home; Rainbow Cloud she had said it was called.

Well, good. This was for the best. He was no good for her anyway. He'd tried to tell her that from the beginning, but she had been too stubborn. Now she could find a more suitable mate.

A wave of emotions hit him that he didn't know how to deal with. He felt… sad that she was gone. It was almost a physical pain in his chest, like his heart was being crushed. And he felt… lonely. She'd only been gone for a about a minute, but he felt lonely without her. That was very strange for someone like him, who always enjoyed his solitude.

And strangest of all, he felt angry. He didn't know why, but for some reason, when he told himself that Mew would find a more suitable mate, the thought infuriated him. But why? Why should that matter? What was happening to him?

He needed to meditate some more. Yes, that was it. He just had to clear his mind and calm his body. Everything was now as it should be.

Yet no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to get into the right state of mind. His thoughts kept returning to Mew, and that heartbroken look on her face. Not to mention he kept feeling that stabbing pain in his chest. And then he found himself constantly reaching out telepathically to see if she was anywhere nearby. He didn't sense her, but he could feel a few Pokémon, and a lone human.

Who was coming a little too close for comfort.

He frowned. He better make himself scarce. He really didn't feel like dealing with any humans right now. And so he took to the air and began flying above the trees.

Only to have an Oblivion Wing launch at him. Surprised by the sudden attack, he just barely managed to avoid being hit. But the strange thing was, he hadn't sensed it coming, and he still couldn't feel it, and he couldn't feel the one who had unleashed it either.

Rising up from the trees was a Yveltal. It flew up to meet him, firing another Oblivion Wing. Mewtwo teleported behind it, and the Yveltal turned to face him, the two hovering in the air.

What was a Yveltal doing here? And what was wrong with it? Its body was transparent enough to see through it, as if it were a ghost, and he couldn't feel its presence either. Was it a real ghost? He got nothing when he attempted to read its mind.

"Why are you here?" he demanded. "What are you?"

The Yveltal screeched and fired another Oblivion Wing. This was the third time it had attacked him without cause. Strike three; it was out. He held up his hand and sent the attack back at it. To his shock, the Yveltal's body seemed to burst into particles of light and vanish.

"What was that?" he wondered out loud.

His eyes suddenly widened and he whirled around, to find another attack coming at him. He couldn't react in time, and was blasted out of the sky. As the ground rushed towards him, he used his psychic power to stop his fall and looked up.

His shock was evident, and rightly so, for flying at him was none other than Arceus. An actual Arceus. He hadn't been sure if there was more than one, but this was definitely an Arceus. But just like with the Yveltal, it too was transparent, nor could he sense anything from it, as if it weren't really there, but merely an illusion.

"What is happening?" he demanded.

The Arceus didn't answer, and instead fired a Judgment at him. He caught the attack and tossed it aside, then fired Psychic. Arceus' color changed as it switched to its Psychic plate, neutralizing the attack. Mewtwo retaliated by throwing a Shadow Ball, the Dark attack doing more damage now that Arceus had become a Psychic type, knocking it back to its Normal type.

Mewtwo teleported in front of it and used Psycho Cut. The Arceus wailed, and Mewtwo used Psystrike, the explosion of psychic energy engulfing the alpha Pokémon. Arceus cried out and dissolved into light particles, just as the Yveltal had.

Mewtwo watched as these light particles floated through the air, as if they had a destination in mind. Mewtwo followed and observed as they floated towards one source, and that source was coming towards him.

A masked man holding a laptop made his way towards Mewtwo. The light particles drifted into the computer screen as if they were being drawn there. "Your power is indeed great, Mewtwo," he said in a deep altered voice. "As expected of the most powerful Pokémon in the world." He chuckled. "Well, current strongest."

Mewtwo's eyes narrowed. Was this another Pokémon Hunter? No, something was different about this human. "Who are you? How do you know me?"

"I have my ways of obtaining information. But to answer your first question, I have come to be known as the Mirage Master."

Mewtwo wasn't satisfied with a mere title. Using his psychic power, he read the man's mind, finding all the information he wanted and more. And, once again, Ash and his friends had been involved. For some reason, this no longer surprised him.

"Dr. Yung," he growled. "Former Pokémon researcher, now a wanted criminal guilty of kidnapping, theft, fraud, espionage, destruction of public property, terrorism, and attempted murder."

The Mirage Master, Dr. Yung, laughed. "You make it all sound so horrible. But then again," he reached up and removed his mask, "the path to world domination usually requires actions that many would consider wicked. I'm sure you remember that from your own attempt."

Mewtwo glared at him. "Do not compare me to you. I was attempting to rid this world of what I believed was a plague upon it and find a place for myself and the clones I would create to live in peace. You seek to use your Mirage Pokémon System for your own selfish purposes."

Dr. Yung simply smiled. "All villains have their reasons, or so the saying goes. And I have my own. But how did you know that? Did you read my mind?"

"A more pressing question is, how did you find out about me? You do not work for my creators. I know that. How do you know me?"

The grim on the doctor's face became more sinister. "I learned about you from a certain Pikachu and its Trainer."

Mewtwo's eyes narrowed. There were only two Pikachu that knew about him, and Pikatwo's trainer had never met him. That only left… "No, he wouldn't…"

"Expose you? No, he never once mentioned you to anyone, not even his trusted friend and mentor, Professor Oak. However, his Pikachu couldn't keep its thoughts to itself. When Professor Oak wouldn't hand over his Pokémon research data, I decided to extract what information I could from that boy's Pikachu by using a machine I'd invented to read its mind. Once Professor Oak saw how much it was hurting poor Pikachu, he reluctantly handed over his research."

Mewtwo felt sick. "You're despicable."

Dr. Yung ignored him. "Though Professor Oak knows everything we humans know about Pokémon, he had no information on you. He didn't even know you existed. So I guess it was a good thing that he initially refused me, or else I never would have read that Pikachu's mind. It revealed your existence to me. Lucky for me, because even after Professor Oak learned about you, that boy still refused to speak of you, even to him. Loyal to a fault, that one is."

Mewtwo couldn't help but smile at that. The boy had kept his word to remain silent. "A quality I find lacking in most humans."

Smirking, Dr. Yung began typing on his laptop. "Yes, loyalty is hard to come by. But I don't have that problem with my Mirage Pokémon. After a few hiccups, I've finally perfected my Mirage System. Just one last test." He looked at Mewtwo with a wicked gleam in his eye. "That's where you come in, my friend."

Mewtwo suddenly felt wary of this man. All humans that referred to him as 'my friend' tended to have bad intentions towards him. "And what do you want with me? Research for your Mirage Pokémon project?"

Dr. Yung laughed. "No, no, my friend. The research is over. This is the final testing phase. I'm here to prove that my Mirage Pokémon are superior to real Pokémon in every way. And how better than to have the world's strongest Pokémon face off against my strongest Mirage Pokémon?"

He typed some more on his laptop. When he was finished, a sphere of digital light flowed outward from the computer, expanding beyond Mewtwo's line of vision to create an enormous data field.

"Now, Mewtwo, meet your better. Mirage Mewtwo!"

Light particles, which Mewtwo now understood to be bits of data, flowed out of the computer screen. They gathered together and formed a duplicate of him. Like the Mirage Yveltal and Mirage Arceus he had seen, this was one also transparent with a glowing body. Yet it was different from him. Rather than its tail and belly being purple, it was green.

Mewtwo stared at this not quite copy of himself. "Did your Mirage System malfunction?"

But Dr. Yung had a smug smile on his face. "Not quite. You see, I was able to determine what you would look like if you were a Shiny Pokémon. And since Shiny Pokémon are slightly stronger than regular Pokémon, I decided to add that to my Mirage Mewtwo's design." His grin widened. "Add in the fact that its been raised to its highest level and has all Pokémon attacks available to it, it's plain to see that this Mewtwo is superior to you in all ways.

"Furthermore, I've given it all the resistances and immunities that other Pokémon have to other types. For example, the same way Dark Pokémon are immune to psychic attacks, so is this Mirage Mewtwo. Meaning that a majority of you attacks, no matter how strong they are, are useless against it."

Mewtwo crossed his arms. "You create a fancy lightshow and call the image it makes a superior life form? You are a fool. That Mewtwo is merely an illusion. It's not alive, not real. Even I, as a clone, am a living breathing individual, but that thing isn't even a copy. It doesn't even exist, it's just an imitation of life."

Dr. Yung didn't seem bothered by this in the least. "And yet it's stronger than you could ever hope to be."

"You think that is strength? It's nothing more than a lightshow with computer generated attacks. A friend once told me that you prove nothing by showing off a bunch of showoffie powers, and that a Pokémon's real strength comes from the heart." He pointed at Mirage Mewtwo. "That thing doesn't even have a heart, neither literally or figuratively."

"It's still your better," the doctor insisted. "Strength is but an illusion, and I have made my Mirage Mewtwo stronger than you could ever hope to be. Now I'll prove it by destroying you."

Mewtwo's eyes narrowed. "You wish to kill me?"

"There's no need for two Mewtwos in this world. The superior life form shall prevail." He began typing again. "But just to give you a fighting chance, I'll remove my Mewtwo's immunities so your Psychic attacks can effect him. Now there will be no doubt as to who the stronger of you two is."

Mewtwo's eyes landed on the laptop. "Or I could simply be rid of the source."

He focused on the computer, attempting to destroy it. The computer began glowing with his psychic aura and began trembling, but then it stopped and the aura faded.

Mewtwo's eyes widened. "What?"

Dr. Yung laughed. "Surprised? Perhaps you'll recall your last encounter with Team Rocket. They created robots that were designed to be resistant to your psychic power. I saw this in that Pikachu's memories and thought it'd be useful. So I replicated and perfected it, then installed it in my computer.

He patted his laptop affectionately. "This little baby is state of the art technology that's far beyond its time. It contains all my Mirage Pokémon data, so I gave it all the protection I could. Not only is it cold and heat resistant, it's also waterproof and shockproof. It's also made of the hardest metal on earth, and the glass for the screen is metallic, making it 15 times harder than steel. Not even a bullet could scratch this beauty.

Mewtwo scowled. "Then perhaps I should change my target."

Dr. Yung began to glow as Mewtwo concentrated his psychic power on him. Suddenly, it was like he hit a wall. Dr. Yung stopped glowing as another power fought against his own. Glancing at Mirage Mewtwo, he saw his Shiny doppelgänger's eyes glowing, countering his psychic power with its own.

"You can't use your power against me," Dr. Yung told him. "My Mirage Mewtwo will counteract yours, and since he's stronger than you, you'll never be able to overpower him."

Mewtwo gave up on attacking the doctor. "That remains to be seen."

Dr. Yung grinned. "Then you're ready to battle?"

Mewtwo's eyes narrowed. "I will not be bested by an illusion!"

And with that, he went on the attack.

(A/N: Yes, I'm bringing Dr. Yung into this story, the cliffhanger villain that disappeared in the Mastermind of the Mirage Pokémon special. I felt like my Dark-Psychic Trainer didn't live up to a proper villain for this story, so I'm trying another one. Dr. Yung and Mirage Mewtwo will to be the final villains for this story, but they're not just there for the sake of having villains. I chose them for a reason, and they will both be playing an important role in Mewtwo coming to a revelation about his life in a later chapter. For now, stay tuned for the showdown between Mewtwo and his own copy.)