Minh had taken him in, his mother's house being located in the town of Three Island, he remembered. He had been the first human Mewtwo had met who was not violent, afraid, desirous of power. Or so he thought.
On Three Island, he met with the native Clefable population. They fed him berries, taught him much and more of the stars and the world and of humans, and he was grateful for their presence. Well, I guess you got what you're after, if you're after a life on your knees, his mind shot back, plaguing him with doubt.
His own abilities allowed him to shapeshift, to change form, to take on the likeness of humans themselves after some practice in the Berry Forest, away from any onlookers. He knew how to take the form of the boy who had saved him most easily. There were others too he could take the form of, but to do so required immense concentration, and he could rarely hold it for more than a few minutes. That was okay. He didn't like going out in public anyways. He didn't like being around those black-eyed humans, their hands always twitching with indecision, looking upon him like he was something else.
The man the cigar stood before Mewtwo's pod. Bubbles flowed ever upwards. Sucking and spitting, he paced. "Look here," he commanded, and Mewtwo looked. In the man's free hand, he held a single pebble, polished perfectly round, glowing faintly purple and otherwise milky white. "You will one day use this to become your true self. You cannot reach your limits of power without this. But you're not ready yet."
Floating before his dreams was the girl with the purple hair running up the beach, that same pebble clutched hard in her fingers. The Team Rocket logo was displayed so recklessly upon her chest. He felt, for a moment, like simply taking it from her. But more than that, he wanted to know what had happened to the rest, where they had gone, if they still held his brothers.
She offered him little insight.
–They don't know what you are Kizen. They're afraid… that's all there is to it.
–Afraid of what?
–That you're a monster.
Minh had not tried to hurt him, but those words stung even now, and such wary tendencies did not enamor him to humankind. For the first three weeks, he would not even leave the boy's house. It took another month for them to go out fishing for Carvanha together.
He fed Kizen; he took care of him, unlike any human he had met before. There was never any sense that Minh wanted anything in return. His memories grew dark remembering that day in the Berry Forest.
–What's that you've got with ya kid?
–None of your business.
–Looks like a Pokémon to us. Ain't it, Roland? Ain't? Come on, let's how strong he is. Let's fight!
Their bikes reeked from exhaust, vile plumes wafting poisonously up to the treetops. The older man, bearded, his hair just beginning to turn grey, his cheeks pock-marked, his eyes sunken and grey, threw one of those balls the humans used to imprison Pokémon. The slave that came out was one the Rocket scientists had made him fight against more than once.
–You're the superior being, the scientist had told him upon knocking the long-nosed yellow beast unconscious. You have always been.
It felt like old times, these memories melting together. Nearly all of the words had faded away, leaving little more than echoes behind.
–Impossible!
His spit glistened in the air, his tethered beast falling before him. The man in the leather jacket let his cigarette drop from his lips to sizzle out in the undergrowth.
–Leave us alone!
Minh's fortitude was strong at first, but it gave way faster than most.
They circled around him, cackling, rubbing their hands. He could have ended them, but the boy wouldn't have wanted that. He told me never to hurt a human–begged me, even. I should not have listened. Their sour breath on his neck, he remembered the way their voices turned to honey. They were as treacherous as the scientists.
–Join us. The Coalition of Ordered Gangs could use someone with a Pokémon like that… trust us, kid. We'll take care of ya and that beast. Come back to Kanto with us. Come on, come on. What do you say?
Noise followed. What was at first a meek attempt at staving them off soon turned to relenting, and Kizen knew he had lost his chance. I should have ended them. I should have never let it get that far.
–Well, Kizen, what do you think? The boy's lip had been trembling. He looked perplexed, a little afraid, a little ashamed, but so bold and ready for a change of scenery. We could go with them… we could be bikers and–
It was like when the scientists had set him against that little purple gremlin who cowered behind its ruby-red gem. That had been his first ever loss, the first time he had realized he wasn't invincible. There were words exchanged. The boy even tried to cry to convince him. His heart was rent asunder. He could have punished them all, but that wasn't his way. People did not bring him joy. Power did not bring him joy. Nothing brought him joy. Everything was ash in his mouth, and he was alone again.
He never saw Minh after that day.
He had pulled himself out of the simple containment field they called Poké Balls not long afterwards. His memories swam before him, competing for intensity. The helmet had been unexpected. They had tried a dirty trick to capture him. He had not thought much of them. He wanted to know, more than anything, who they were, how they had gotten that stone, what had happened to the man with the cigar. And more than anything else… where were his brothers?
The hologram was all he saw when he closed his eyes. But he was not to be bound. Giving them the sense they had won allowed him the luxury of ambushing them at the least expected time. And yet, as soon as he had tried, still paralyzed, his speed suffocated, he should have known it would have been no use.
They made him kneel on the shore, and the girl proclaimed herself his master, the leader of Team Rocket, the most powerful Pokémon Master in the world. At that point alone had he tried to attack her. The helmet was too powerful, its cold feel numbing his thoughts, cooling his temper, preventing him from acting how he wished. When she commanded him to attack, he did. When she commanded him to return to the ball, he did. He had never wanted to, and yet…
"You still have to get through me," said the boy, scowling at him with enough insolence to make Kizen's blood boil. "And I'm not nearly as much of a pushover as those two."
"Prove it," the girl shrieked. "Mewtwo, defeat him!"
He was compelled, and so he moved. A thousand thoughts rushed through the space behind his eyes, endless battles against the Rocket Pokémon, the battles Minh and him had gone through, as brothers, not as master and slave, and yet the bitterness left in his mouth from remembering was enough to make him want to destroy the entire world, to cleanse it of the scourge that was humanity. He hated her; he hated him. They were nothing, and yet… and yet… Why could he not let go?
His foe sipped from a straw–lemonade, he could smell. Once he was done, discarding the used cup, he wiped his mouth and goaded Kizen to attack. A surge of energy warmed his fingertips. The boy threw three Poké Balls. Insolence. What an arrogant human.
He recognized the three of them as Excadrill, Gardevoir, and Tyranitar. They were nothing he couldn't handle individually. He felt their power, and while it was much higher than any of the Pokémon he had thus far fought aside from the Dragonite and Alakazam, Kizen was confident nonetheless. They are not on my level.
"Janitor… use Earthquake! Selena, use Shadow Ball! Slammer, Crunch!"
The names he has given these creatures leave much to be desired. He already knew the move he would try. The scientists had taught him, should he ever be cornered by more than one strong opponent, to use Double Team. A sandstorm was started. Some people think that song is actually good. Some even think it's mediocre. Arceus rest all their souls.
The Excadrill, that mole-looking schlemiel, was somehow faster than him amidst the storm. It irked him and hurt him, and the Earthquake somehow damaged him and him alone, and though it rumbled through the entire island, nearly toppling Tectonix's memorial, not even one of the humans was hurt by this. Such a fact was not only unbelievable, but rather stupid. Yet that was the price of following game physics to the bitter end.
It hurt a bit, but not a lot, and his Double Team came up before the other two could move, thankfully. The holographic projections of his body split and encircled the three foes. Jackie Chun would have been proud. He was well-practiced with this technique, so his afterimages were more numerous than most. There were at least seven other Kizens out there.
Then came Gardevoir's and Tyranitar's attacks. One might say that since Kizen dodged them, he was lucky. Not so. As both attacks missed, sailing through holographic projections of his body, the real Mewtwo shooting into the sky above them, he couldn't help but laugh. The scientists at Rocket had told him he was a Legendary Pokémon, that few, if any, could match his raw power. That one–that one he had met above his island of solitude–had been able to. He still didn't know exactly what that creature was, though it had felt almost like one of his brothers with the energy it exuded.
None of this boy's Pokémon were anything close.
The sandstorm cut at his face, even with all the afterimages. The next turn, everyone did the same thing, including Mewtwo. He would gain even more speed, even more of a shielding from another Double Team, so his move was much more to his benefit than theirs were. Even the Excadrill's Earthquake, occurring before he could move (its speed in the sandstorm being heightened to a ridiculous degree), did not touch him as he flew overhead, his afterimages spreading like flowers abloom, doubling and then tripling in number.
It was no surprise the Gardevoir and Tyranitar's attacks missed again. Some would call that hax. But to Kizen, that was entirely his strategy. The ground rumbled for a third time, and this time, caught in his arrogance, the Mewtwo was hit by it savagely, forcing him into the air with a cry as he attempted a third Double Team.
By now, the island was filled with fake Mewtwo projections, and it was not entirely unreasonable to think that both Gardevoir and Tyranitar missed their attacks for a third straight turn. He soared through the air, damaged by the sandstorm, by the Earthquakes, but still going.
It's time I end this, he thought to himself.
At the start of the fourth round, everyone attempted the same attacks. Mewtwo, however, changed up his strategy. He himself used an Earthquake. Just after the Excadrill's attack missed, he descended to the ground, cloaked in afterimages, and release a real Earthquake–something even that ground mole would appreciate.
The ground shook severely. Miraculously, not a single human was hurt. All three of his foe's Pokémon took the attack fully, struggled, and fell. They were, the three of them, returned to their master unconscious. That's just the beginning, he thought. You have no idea who you're up against, child.
He wasn't done yet, however. Three more balls sailed through the air, releasing a Gyarados, an Aerodactyl, and a Typhlosion. Now it was time to lay it all out on the line. You have to have some big onions for spots like these. If you aren't clutch, what good are you?
Mewtwo's thoughts were overwhelmed by this reality. He already knew how he would assault them.
The boy was yet undeterred. "Radon, Tailwind! Perdition, Protect! Tsunami, use Waterfall now!"
They were all moving, but he was faster. A bit of concentration and a flick of the wrist, his arm glowing purple, was all it took. The boulders crashed down upon them, hitting the Aerodactyl and Gyarados hard, while the Typhlosion, who transformed before Kizen's eyes, used Protect to survive a turn. As the Typhlosion transformed, his flames flared up stronger and longer, and a sand-cape grew out from his neck. The sandstorm stopped, and the sunlight became piercing and intense.
Then his opponents' attacks went through–or rather, the Gyarados' did. The Aerodactyl merely flapped its wings and a big wind began to gust, and thus the two of them became faster than the beleaguered, wounded Mewtwo. But his holograms were too numerous, his opponents too confused. Waterfall barreled through perhaps half a dozen fake Mewtwos, and by the time the water, overflowing the island up to the tip of the shrine to Tectonix and back down again, more than that many of his holograms yet remained.
"Rock Slide, Radon! Tsunami, same thing as last time! Perdition, use Eruption!"
They were all faster than him now except for Gyarados, but their attacks were swallowed whole by his Double Team projections. A Rock Slide and an Eruption smashed through the fake Mewtwo, destroying most of his image projections in the process, but leaving the real Mewtwo unscathed.
Now it was his turn. The boulders materialized above their heads and shot down with severity and precision. The Typhlosion, though it had assumed its new, masterful form, was hit in the face with a boulder, immediately falling over with a muffled cry. It was already defeated. Too easy.
The Gyarados took another round of Rock Slide to the body hard, while the boulders that materialized over Aerodactyl missed, just barely. A bit of luck for you, eh? But not enough. Then, Gyarados, the slowest guy on the block, tried another Waterfall, but it missed, poor guy.
They were not Legendary as he was. Again, the rocks appeared overhead, the water churned up from under Gyarados' belly, and yet Mewtwo was calm. He closed his eyes, focusing on his foes' life energy. Their weakening states drew him to them like a Venomoth to a Lanturn. Aerodactyl's Rock Slide missed entirely, ravaging the west bank of the small island, destroying more of his holograms. It didn't matter. He cut through the air, boulders of his own coming into being above their heads. Gyarados' next Waterfall worked no better.
The first set slammed like an errant train into Aerodactyl's back. The bird screeched in pain and fell and was done. The next batch flew down towards Gyarados, who was riding a wave towards Mewtwo's position. His afterimages got in the way and as Waterfall was preparing to crash against them, the mighty sea serpent looked up and noticed him hovering in the sky. It roared in surprise and was met with a face full of rocks.
So too did it fall, and so too was it returned.
Silence, save for the squelching of Kabuto scurrying out to sea, the sizzling of craters, the sound of boulders collapsing and falling into the waves. His body ached, and his stamina was nearly spent. Mewtwo wanted nothing more than to break free, to take that pebble, to quell the Rocket girl, to go home.
He descended quietly to the beach.
"Good boy, Mewtwo!" the girl yelled triumphantly. "You got 'em good! Now they can't stand in our way!"
"That was only luck!" the recently-defeated boy retorted. "If any of my moves had hit…"
"But they didn't, did they? So stop whining!" she said with glee. "My Mewtwo is the strongest Pokémon in the world!"
My Mewtwo. His eyes flickered with heat. He felt a rising tension in his chest as the waves broke against the shore. The three boys stood gawking at him, as if they had no idea how he had done what he had done, who he was, or why he had done it.
Truth be told, he knew only that hate and pain had driven him to this position, that the fear of betrayal, the fear of not being powerful, had made him try and fail a gambit perhaps too clever for him to have attempted in the first place. And now here they were.
"End them, Mewtwo! Do whatever you want!"
"Hey, that's not fair! I call hacks! I call a timeout, yo! Mewtwo, what the heck?! What have we ever done to you…? Why don't you stop this?!" the teal-haired boy pled.
He reminded Mewtwo somewhat of Minh. He had that same devious, adventurous look in his eyes, and it suffocated the happiness from Kizen's blood. He raised a purple-energy-covered hand, aiming it at the trio of defeated trainers. They're only human, he thought. Weak, ugly creatures.
Mewtwo's helmet shattered, and he tasted something metallic. His ears were ringing; his vision was spinning; he fell to his knees.
They all gasped, unable to form coherent thoughts in their usual speech. He looked up, feeling the helmet fall of his face, feeling the waves against his ankles, feeling the cool island air on his cheeks.
Its soft blue fur blew with the wind. As it hovered, its tail flicking this way and that, the Pokémon he had fought once before was standing between him and the boys, its face curious, but sad, a pink bubble wrapped around its body extending to the boys, protecting them utterly.
–You're back… But why? What do you want with me?
As always, the other–perhaps his brother–merely giggled and swam through the air around him, its own energy glowing robustly pink in the day's light. His mind felt as empty as his throat, as empty as the husk that was his body. And yet, something primitive and evil and base was compelling him forward. He was too weak to resist, considering all that had happened to him.
–Kizen, won't you come with us? Minh had asked one last time.
–Why won't you come with me? he had replied, hovering above Berry Forest, his tail jostling through the air impatiently. Why must it always be me who has to change?
They left him there. But they were only human, so he should have expected no less.
They were royally screwed, and not in the 'muh silver prince' kind of way, not that there's anything wrong with that. Mewtwo had just done to Alex what randoms did to Ryan on Grifball nearly every night despite being of vastly inferior quality (it's a really nice feeling have AFKers or people who've never swung a hammer before in their lives as teammates, thanks Franky), and that's why he doesn't play Halo 5 anymore because if the teams can't be balanced, then why am I wasting my Darkraiing time?!
Needless to say, the luck Mewtwo had just gone through, dodging like fifteen attacks in a row, was sickening. It was disgusting. It should be a wake-up call to the people who work at Nintendo, of which I've heard there are several. There's luck and then there's Pokéluck, the latter of which ensures that a 90% move will hit 60% of the time, that an 85% accurate move will hit maybe 45% of the time, and don't even get me started on crits.
Life isn't fair and games (or in this case, a living, waking, horrible reality) based on luck aren't competitive. Just like Gordon Ramsey looks a bit like a Snubbull, so too was there something rotten on the Memorial Pillar Island, and it was responsible for Alex's first professional loss in this equally professional story.
We're cooked now. Serve us up, Logan, we're fried, Ryan lamented. As anyone who has read half a chapter of this story knows, Ryan has a lot of useful thoughts like that one.
Jessica smirked an evil smirk. "End them, Mewtwo! Do whatever you want!"
"Hey, that's not fair! I call hacks! I call a timeout, yo! Mewtwo, what the heck?! What have we ever done to you…? Why don't you stop this?!" Ryan asked, his voice quivering. "Mewtwo… please…"
The light overwhelmed them for a moment as a beam shot down from the sky, illuminating the Memorial Pillar island in its entirety. Mewtwo staggered back, dropping to a knee, holding his throat as his artificially-lit helmet cracked and fell off.
No way! And there again was Mew.
Descending just in front of them, the blue-furred Legendary Pokémon remained hovering, its pink shield wrapped around not only itself, but the three of them as well. Jessica had gone white. Mewtwo was still huffing and puffing on his knee. A light ensconced him, and he was thrust into the air where he hovered for a few seconds. And when he landed again, all of his visible scratches, bruises, and other signs of battle damage were gone.
Mew… what the heck? Why'd you heal him?
"Y-you…! Mewtwo, capture that insolent blue Mew right this second!" Jessica sputtered, pointing at Mew with a hateful look. "Capture it alive and unspoiled!"
Mewtwo's look suddenly changed. He became more focused, less curious, more detached, less unsure.
"Hey… this is the Mew that you found in Lavender Town, isn't it Ryan?" Alex muttered.
"Yeah… and I saw it fight Mewtwo too… on that island the Painted Dragons took me to."
Logan asked, "Is Mew strong enough to win?"
"He's gotta be, or we're toast."
"Man, I'd rather be the butter!"
The two faced one another, Mew as their shield, their last hope against Jessica's wild tempest. Mewtwo split into multiple forms again, as he had against Alex's 'mons. Mew, without wasting a heartbeat, did the same. And thus it was not one versus one, but eight versus eight, and not even Ryan could tell which was the real Mew any longer.
"Get 'em, Mew! Don't back down! I know you can do it!" he shouted cheerfully.
That was when Mewtwo transformed again. Oh snap. Mew's not gonna be able to take on Mega Mewtwo… not after what I saw before…
But luckily Ryan still had that stone in his pocket, burning hot as a fork left in the microwave accidentally. He pulled it out along with the pocket watch Lance had given him. He didn't actually know if this stone would make Mew Mega Evolve, but if it didn't, I just wasted thousands of words and several chapters of foreshadowing with no payoff, so there's always that to consider.
Regardless, as Ryan put the stone into the holder in the face of the watch, Mew began to radiate with light. It sang out beautifully, "Meeeeeeeeew, meeeeew, meeeew!" in long, slow meows as its form twisted and elongated and shifted into something not entirely familiar, but not entirely unfamiliar either.
"N-no… what the heck?! You're cheating!" Jessica screamed, spittle flying from her mouth. She looked as crazed as Pagan Kim had that day in the bush. "That's some deus ex machina if I've ever seen it!"
"No way! You're one to talk, Jess!" Ryan snapped. "You made that Mewtwo Mega Evolve out of nowhere! That's real hacks! That's not fair at all! I've had this stone for like five chapters! It's not even comparable!"
"Y-you… maggot! Mewtwo, destroy them all! End this thing now!"
The two Legendary Pokémon looked upon one another with curious respect. Mew's form had elongated, giving it a slightly more bulky tail, like Mewtwo's had been (before his own transformation), the ends of its hands and feet and tail all turning a deeper shade of blue.
Ryan's heart burned with passion; his vision was swimming. Here again was his old friend come to save him, come to show him that it remembered, that it cared, that they held an unbreakable bond, even beyond the shores of Kanto. The fear had already melted away. If Mew didn't win, so be it. They'd done all they could. There was no reason to be afraid any more. We're going to win, he thought fiercely. We can't lose now!
"Mew!" Ryan shouted, holding the watch up. "You can do it, buddy! I believe in you!"
It was really cliché and really beautiful and stuff. There was, to Ryan's eyes, no longer any black and white in the blue.
Each of them crafted a Shadow Ball in their hands, Mew flying above Mewtwo as they threw their attacks. Eight Mewtwo and eight Mews shot their attacks all at once, each hologram acting out against another. Explosion after explosion went off, and in each case, Mew moved first. Ryan breathed a sigh of relief as, when the dust and smoke cleared, only one of each Pokémon remained. Mew was hovering above Mewtwo. Each was damaged significantly, but neither was done yet.
They fired another round of Shadow Balls upon one another. Each Pokémon clutchly evaded the attacks, Mewtwo landing on the shore, Mew making its way higher into the sky. There was a moment's pause. Jessica shrieked something to her Mewtwo, but he would not respond. He was already moving, tearing his way through the air like a dancer.
Now came Mew again, descending from the sky, building speed, a pink beam of energy in its hands.
"That's not a Shadow Ball…"
"Wow. That's disrespect," Alex whispered to them. "It's going to use Psychic. It's not going to be very effective against Mewtwo… but I think Mew knows it'll do the job anyways. That Pokémon is unbelievably powerful. I haven't seen anything like it since Dialga…"
Mewtwo likewise was trying a different attack. He growled loudly, jumping into the sky at Mew, building speed of his own as his entire body began to spin rapidly like a saw blade. It would have looked a lot better in Ryan's opinion had Mewtwo kept his tail during this transformation.
As the two approached one another, Mew's attack grew larger and brighter and flew from its fingertips before Mewtwo had reached it. Mew's much faster… it's not even close. The Psychic washed over Mewtwo's body, even as he tried with all of his strength and courage to reach Mew. The attack pushed him back. He tried to fight it, tried to break from the energy, to forget the pain.
But that simply wasn't possible. Mewtwo let out a grunt of pain and fell like a lifeless corpse from the sky, impacting hard against the ground. Jessica screamed at the sky, falling to her knees, in the manner immature men and women do when their Supreme Leader doesn't win the election. Ryan smiled broadly. Logan punched the sky, whooping like a young child. Alex folded his arms and nodded once up at Mew.
"Great job, buddy! You did it!"
Mew landed before them, cocking its head as it stared at Ryan. It giggled and with its psychic powers pulled his watch from his grip until it floated before him. The golden pocket watched floated between them, opening slowly. Then, the tiny pinkish pebble was pulled out, and Mew reverted to its base form. It studied the stone for a few moments, floating around it playfully, moving in an infinity pattern.
The watch and stone were returned to Ryan. He was, for a moment, surprised that Mew had not taken the Mega Stone with it. Mew wants me to keep it… We will meet again. I just know it.
Then Mew turned to Mewtwo, who lay unconscious in a crater on the beach. Again, pink energy surrounding its body, it used its psychic powers to force Mewtwo to rise into the air. Again, the New Species Pokémon healed the Genetic Pokémon of its wounds entirely.
"Mewtwo… attack! Hit that stupid floating creature into the dirt! I want to catch it… you have t–"
It was purple energy, not pink, that surrounded Jessica and froze her. Mew and Mewtwo stared upon one another, exchanging silent words, perhaps speaking to each other psychically. Ryan could hardly understand Alakazam's speech, so he knew he had no way of suddenly becoming psychic and listening in on what these two were saying. Not that it really mattered. Mewtwo's face had softened now that he too had reverted to his base form. Mew swam around him through the air, playfully giggling again, and Mewtwo did not attack.
That alone was telling, and Ryan thought he knew what it meant.
Without warning, the two of them took to the skies, their auras surrounding them, and Ryan thought, as he watched the two speed off, that perhaps they were racing, and perhaps Mewtwo was winning.
The day was growing late. "Leave me alone!" Jessica pouted, her face in her hands. "Just go away, you creeps!"
"Now, now," Ryan replied, "That's no way to talk to anybody. I'm the Indigo League Champion, dontcha remember?"
"Shut up! I don't care!"
Ryan gave the other two a look, and Alex quickly understood what it meant, thankfully (Logan had no hope of deciphering obvious facial cues). The Chinese boy pulled out a Max Revive, released Tsunami, revived his vicious Gyarados, and the two of them jumped on its back, sailing off back to their hotel.
Jessica didn't say a word until they had left. She's still raw from the loss. I better go easy on her. "Look…" Ryan began. "I get it, okay? You wanna be the very best evil girl there ever was, like no one was before."
Her cheeks were pinkening. "Sh-shut up…"
"Hey! I think we were very nice to you… it wouldn't have been the same if you had won. You would have thrown us into the sea! We didn't even throw sand in your hair!"
She stood up, looking away from him. "Whatever."
"We only attacked you because you hurt that Mew… and we were only trying to defend ourselves here today… we weren't looking for a fight, Jess…"
"I don't care. That means nothing to me."
"You can't go around being evil and expect everyone to sit back and let it happen, yo. Maybe that should be a clue to you. I don't know. I don't think you're really evil… you just are following in your parents' footsteps."
"It's not like that!" she shouted, choking up. "It's… it's just… I'm trying to, to, to, you know, whatever. I-I-I'm just trying to make my parents… ugh!"
Embarrassed, she stepped away from him, wiping her eyes.
"Yo it's cool," Ryan replied. "I tried to make my dad proud by winning the Indigo League… that had always been his dream. I thought he'd love me more if I did. But it didn't matter. It didn't change anything. And you know, I'm sure you know that too… that becoming a more evil gang boss or whatever won't make your parents any more proud of you than they already are."
She whistled into the wind. "Maybe."
"Well, anyways… I guess, I'll see you in Kanto, okay? Don't be evil when we meet again, or Imma have to make it three times in a row!"
"Hmph, whatever."
"Gengar versus Alakazam, alright? What do you say? I challenge you, Jessica!"
Her back still turned to him, the girl replied, "You don't have a chance to win, kid. No matter how much time you spend training that spoon boy, it won't matter. Gengar doesn't lose to anyone."
And with that, she pulled out a Poké Ball, releasing her glorious Skarmory, its silver body reflecting the dying light of the sun, which was beginning to sink below the horizon. Without pausing, she jumped on its back, muttered something in its ear, and together, the two of them flew off in the opposite direction from where Mew and Mewtwo had gone.
The wind was picking up, and it was getting cold. I'm hungry and tired and ready to sleep, Ryan thought to himself. It's been a really long day. The faint sounds of Skarmory faded in the distance, and Ryan knew, at last, that he would be able to relax and take a bit of a vacation.
It had only taken ten chapters for everything to get to that point, alas.