Special chapter; Mewtwo strikes back
"Moltres solar beam!"
Moltres soaring high above the ground unleashed its attack with incredible speed under the effect of sunny day.
"Good. Again. And use sunny day again to harness more sunlight" Sonic said and moved on to observing Pinsir using brick break to smash rocks.
"More ferocity Pinsir. Imagine it's me in your nest".
Pinsir smahed the next rock on its training so hard it became peebles.
"Yeah that's neat! Try to turn it to dust next time" Sonic suggested.
Moving on he found Raichu and Nidoking sparring. Raichu was using iron tail to attack and deflect the incoming sludge bombs. On the other hand Nidoking, having acquired the move megahorn while training, was trying to slam into raichu using it. Raichu was using its speed and agility to dodge or clashing with megahorn using iron tail. Sonic smiled as the two noticed him and momentarily stopped.
"Don't let me distract you guys. Get back to it. I want to see ferocity".
The pokemon cried out and collided again, megahorn vs brick break this time, the megahorn used defensively to whip away the brick break.
Sonic then approached the final duo. Alakazam was using psychic to lift Blastoise which was incredibly heavy.
"Good. Ready Blastoise?"
"Blastoise" the huge water turtle cried out.
"Hydro pump".
Blastoise unleashed its water jets from its cannon, as Alakazam did its best to hold it steady. The combined weight of Blastoise and the force of the released water proved too much as Alakazam as it dropped Blastoise unpleasantly. Alakazam hummed saddened.
"Hey you ok?" Sonic asked it.
Alakazam hummed looking at its hands which held its spoons. Sonic understood.
"You're still thinking of Mewtwo?"
Alakazam hummed in a positive way.
"I understand. But don't let this bring you down for good Alakazam. You shouldn't compare yourself to Mewtwo. You and it are not the same".
Alakazam looked sad. Sonic realized it had misunderstood him.
"No wait. I didn't explain it right. What I meant to say was the only real comparison you should make is with your past self" Sonic explained.
Alakazam looked at him.
"Remember how you started? As a helpless abra? Look at you now. You have grown incredibly powerful. And you will only get stronger. I know you will".
Alakazam hummed and began trying to lift Blastoise again. Sonic stopped them saying it was time to eat.
Calling the rest of his pokemon, the team feasted as the previous day Sonic had gone to buy supplies via a flight on Moltres and therefore had picked a little extra for his pokemon as they had been working very hard.
After lunch Sonic usually let the pokemon play to relax and strengthen their bonds with each other. Usually he played with them while other times he let them play while he laid in his tent and rested, enjoyed the view, chatted with his friends and brother or just browsed the internet.
Over the past week of his stay on that secluded beach, a lot of articles had popped up online about his deeds against team rocket and more kept appearing every day. He had essentially become a celebrity throughout Kanto and the fact that he was confirmed to take place in the indigo tournament had increased the number of trainers taking the gym challenge tenfold. Sonic had discussed this with his friends but they concluded most of the newly registered trainers wouldn't possibly be able to collect the 8 badges fast enough to enter the tournament for a chance to face him.
"And plus" Tails had added the night before when they were discussing the specific topic "even if they enter, I doubt they will stand a chance against you. Your team is stacked, you literally kicked the pokemon mafia out of Kanto, came this close to defeating an elite four member... I can go on. I just think the tournament is in the bag for you".
"I won't count my chickens before they hatch Tails" Sonic had answered "after all who knows who else will join the tournament".
"No matter who enters, how many will possibly have a legendary pokemon? You got this Sonic" Knuckles had stated confident in his friend's chances of victory.
Sonic recalled all their discussions as he observed the endless blue of the sky, relaxed after a long half day of training with the other half having more training in store.
While observing the sky something flew so fast he was barely able to see it. His eyes were not fast enough to keep up with it. Wondering what it could be he let his eyes close intending to take a quick nap.
He was roughly awakened when he heard Moltres' battle cry pierce his ears. Rushing out of the tent he saw Moltres engaging a dragonite while his remaining pokemon were observing.
"What's going on here?" Sonic wondered as he prepared to give Moltres battle instructions.
However to his surprise, dragonite wasn't fighting back. It was merely dodging the attacks. Sonic knew something was up.
"Moltres down" he said as the legendary bird obeyed without taking its eyes of the dragon type pseudo legendary.
Dragonite landed close to Sonic and approached him with heavy steps. Moltres made a threatening cry which Sonic responded to by raising his hand to keep the peace. He noticed dragonite was wearing a bag over its shouder and around its body.
"What the… a mailman dragonite?" he thought in surprise while keeping his composure.
Dragonite took an envelope out of the bag and handed it to Sonic. Sonic not expecting this turn of events slowly took the envelope and the moment it was off dragonite's hands it soared faster than Sonic's eyes could register.
Looking up he saw nothing but the sky. Impressed with dragonite's speed, Sonic looked at the envelope.
"Who would send me an envelope through pokemon mail?"
He immediately guessed it was either mr Fuji, Reina or Mike. All of his guessed however were prover wrong as he ripped the envelope and read the letter resting inside. Or at least what he thought was a letter. Inside was a small device and a small piece of paper with the phrase play me on it. Curious Sonic pushed the device's play button.
The hologram of a woman appeared. Sonic was confused as he didn't know her.
"Trainer. You are being given the honor of being invited to New Island. On New Island you will be given the even greater honor of meeting and getting a chance at battling non-other than the world's greatest pokemon master. To get to New Island you will need to head to Old Shore Wharf and take a boat from there. My master will be expecting you" the hologram said and disappeared.
Sonic lowered the device as his mind was processing the new info.
"The world's greatest pokemon master wants to meet me? Seriously?"
He went back inside his tent and took his map out, locating Old Shore Wharf on it.
"A chance to battle the strongest trainer in the world huh?" Sonic considered it. He then smiled.
"Not a chance I'm missing this" he said starting disassembling and packing his tent.
After explaining to his pokemon where they were going he recalled all of them apart from Raichu and Moltres. Riding the latter, the trio soared to the skies heading for Old Shore Wharf.
"I wonder if anyone else got an invitation" Sonic thought "probably the elite four. Would be nice to see Agatha again. Maybe even get a rematch out of it".
His mind then drifted to Ash who had mentioned he wanted to become a pokemon master.
"No way he got an invite" Sonic theorized "he was literally gifted 4 of the badges".
While Sonic was ruling out the chance Ash had received an invite, the latter alongside Misty and Brock were arriving in Old Shore Wharf.
"Finally we're here! I can't wait to meet the world's greatest pokemon master! That idiot Sonic will regret doubting me".
"I won't deny that Sonic acted like a jerk last time but just because you got an invite to New Island doesn't necessarily mean he will just change his mind" Brock mentioned.
"And besides didn't you see all those news about him? If anything I expect his ego will be through the roof".
"He will be through the roof once we're done with him and his raichu" Ash declared undeterred.
"Pika pika" Pikachu cried out hyped.
"I wonder if those rumors about him catching Moltres are real" Misty continued.
"And this new title of chosen one Moltres. As much as Sonic was a jerk last time, he did have the Moltres wing. That proves Moltres did see something in him" Brock admitted.
"Who knows. Maybe he got an invite too and will come here as well" Misty commented.
"Well that's all the better. We'll beat raichu and the legendary pokemon. And sooner than later too" Ash still didn't budge.
Heading towards the boathouse to take the boats to New Island the trio noticed the town's nurse joy was reported missing. Blending in with the crowd they tried to get to the front to see why no one was boarding the boats.
Back on the skies of Kanto, the ride was long and painful as Sonic was wondering who the one inviting him was and who else would be invited. He let himself imagine meeting the rest of the elite four and even narrating his battles with team rocket to them. It would be like game recognizing game.
"Man how much longer?" he wondered though he knew it was about another 30 minutes to get to his destination.
Finally seeing Old Shore Wharf, he experienced a bittersweet feeling as he saw New Island in the distance alongside a storm coming their way. Not wanting to risk Moltres' health over an invitation and furthermore not knowing whether he would be welcomed if he just flew to the island Sonic landed somewhere secluded and recalled Moltres while wearing a pair of sunglasses and a hat for a disguise. He had no intention of being stalked or badgered.
Reaching the port town, he immediately headed to the boathouse to see what the plan was with the upcoming storm. To his surprise when he reached the boathouse he didn't find any known powerful trainers but instead a big crowd of unnamed trainers. Blending in with the rest of them, he was disappointed but not surprised to hear that the boats were not allowed to set sail due to the storm. Exiting the boathouse again he decided to put his thoughts together.
"Something's fishy here" he muttered.
He then heard a familiar voice.
"We're gonna find another way on that island Pikachu".
Sonic felt a mix of surprise, frustration and assurance that his previous assumption was right. Looking towards the direction of the voice, he saw Ash with his Pikachu on his shoulder, Brock and Misty discussing.
"This moron actually got an invite too?" Sonic thought.
He was ready to just walk away but the assumption that the invitations were a fraud made him reconsider. Deciding he needed to discuss it with someone he approached the trio.
"Well, well, well. Got an invitation too?" he said in an ironic tone.
Ash turned around.
"Sonic" he said sounding kind of ready to pick a fight.
"The one and only" Sonic answered. He was surprised that Ash didn't call him Spike. But after the fall of team rocket, he assumed Ash had no choice but to stop calling him nicknames.
"Hi Sonic" Brock said with no color in his voice.
Sonic knew Brock and Misty were upset about his behavior last time they had met. He sighed as he decided to swallow his pride.
"I see how this is. Look I know last time we met I acted out of line. And I apologize for it. I was mourning the death of my friend's Jolteon but that was no reason to act like it. I'm sorry".
Brock remained silent while Misty answered.
"It's ok. We could never understand what you went through. Especially after the fight at the Viridian gym".
"And I'm not asking you too. Let's just put it behind us".
"Fine it's behind us" Ash said "but you still owe me a battle".
"In due time Ash, in due time. I'll beat you all the same at the tournament".
"Big talk. But no action to back it up".
"No action?" Sonic asked laughing "I believe my actions a week ago should be all you need to know".
"I would count it an action if you stopped being a chicken and battled me already".
"Did you get all 8 of the badges?"
"Yes I did".
"Good. Then be a little bit more patient. The tournament's in a week. Unless of course you can't wait to get kicked" Sonic teased him.
"I think something else will get kicked and it's on you" Ash fired back.
Sonic was dying from laughter inside thinking he could keep triggering Ash all day. However there were more pressing matters.
"We'll see about it. On a serious note now did you get an invitation from the supposed world's greatest pokemon master too?"
"Yes I did".
"Hmmm".
"What?"
"There is something suspicious at play here" Sonic said.
"Suspicious? What seems suspicious about it?"
Sonic wasn't even surprised at Ash's density.
"Let me put it simply. Imagine you're the world's greatest pokemon master".
"I can do that. After all I will be that exact thing one day".
"Ok let's pretend I believe you for now" Sonic said "You decide to test your power and give others a chance to fight you. To do so you invite them to your island. Who would you invite?"
"Me?" Ash asked. Sonic face-slapped himself.
"Forget your dream for a moment ok? Please. Answer me and think the question over from an outside perspective".
Ash thought about it. However he wasn't answering.
"Oh dear lord. My question wasn't even that complicated" Sonic thought.
"Who would you wish to battle?" Sonic asked the simplest version of the question.
"The strongest trainers" Ash answered without a hint of hesitation.
"Finally. You're finally racking your brain. Now riddle me this. If this is the world's greatest pokemon master inviting us, why did he invite a bunch of nobodies and not…"
"Who are you calling a nobody?!" Ash got in Sonic's face angry. Pikachu growled at Raichu once again itching for a fight.
"Ok, ok. Let me rephrase. Why would he invite random trainers and not the region's strongest like the elite four, the gym leaders and any other known trainer?"
"I have to admit Sonic makes a valid point. That does sound kind of suspicious" Brock admitted.
"Maybe he is looking for someone to beat him who isn't known yet. Unlike someone else" Ash added.
"Ok. Maybe he is looking for rising stars. That is a possibility. But the fact that it could be a scam is still not out of the question".
"Scams usually aim to take something. What have we got to lose?" Misty asked Sonic.
Sonic struggled to counter-argue that. Sure there was a high chance the invitation was a fraud but what did the one sending the invitations have to gain from them?
"Regardless it's not like we'll be going to the island anytime soon" Sonic said pointing at the storm "not worth the risk".
"It's definately worth the risk" Ash countered "especially when there's a chance to fight the world's greatest pokemon master".
"Fine your choice, get there at your own risk. I will wait for the storm to clear".
"Wow. The hero of Kanto is scared of a little storm. And here I thought you knew to take risks".
Sonic stopped and turned to face Ash fighting to keep his cool.
"Stop calling me a hero. I may have driven team rocket out but the cost of it was great. You don't want to try and be a hero, I assure you".
"You think I will back down? I mean it when I say that the risk is worth it. I will go".
Sonic felt a rain droplet hit him.
"Fine. I'd like to see you try. I'm going to find somewhere to take cover for a while".
"Are you lot looking for a boat? Cause we will gladly offer our services" a familiar voice interfered.
Sonic looked to the direction of the voice as did Ash. They witnessed a man and a woman wearing Viking clothes pointing a boat docked outside the werehouse.
"Jessie and James?" Sonic thought immediately seeing through the disguises "what are these clowns doing here? Their team is gone".
Team rocket had also noticed Sonic and were doing their best not to panic.
"James, the hedgehog is here" Jessie said under her teeth.
"Just be cool. We get those brats on the boat and steal their pokemon no biggie" James tried to calm her down.
Meowth didn't add anything. All he could see in Sonic's eyes was the promise of being ripped apart.
"We'll take your offer" Ash said immediately causing Sonic to doubt his intelligence again.
"He is being stalked by these 3 idiots and still can't recognize them?" Sonic thought disappointed but shrugged "well it's his trouble".
While leaving the boathouse to find a place to cover he experienced a nagging feeling. The comment Ash had made about the risk being worth it didn't sit right with him.
"That moron will get himself killed" Sonic thought as he observed the boat leave the port. To his surprise many other trainers started calling out water pokemon to get to New Island.
"Oh what the hell. We're here now. Might as well go for it" Sonic said "come raichu".
"Rai rai" it followed.
"After all someone has to have his back. I doubt Misty and Brock will suffice if he gets way in over his head".
The rain started getting thicker by the minute. Sonic immediately ruled out flying to New Island. Moltres being a fire and flying type wouldn't react well to the rain. Taking their only other way, Sonic called out Blastoise. Riding on its back they started surfing towards the island following the other trainers.
Slowly overtaking some of them, he could feel their eyes fixated on him. He even heard some question themselves out loud if he was Sonic, the so called hero of Kanto.
"This just proves my point" Sonic said "if I'm the only one recognized something just isn't right with these invitations".
Looking around he tried to find the boat team rocket was using to give Ash and his friends a ride to the island. He couldn't see it anywhere however.
"Don't tell me it sank" Sonic thought in horror.
He was ready to ask Blastoise to dive to see if they were underwater until he noticed something that almost made him laugh. Ash and Brock were holding onto a squirtle while Misty was riding her Starmie to the island. Starmie was spinning in order to swim which Sonic found fascinating.
With his Blastoise slowly approaching them Sonic put his hands one on top of the other and sat his jaw on them.
"Fancy meeting you here" Sonic said with the air of someone who was saying I told you so.
Ash and Brock looked at Sonic who was riding his fully evolved pokemon.
"So a member of your team is Squirtle? And you wonder why I believe you cannot beat me?"
"Ha ha. Rub it in while you can. When we get on the island I will school you in front of the pokemon master".
Sonic found it amusing that Ash had such a high albeit baseless confidence.
"Well since the trip there is long, why don't you hop on board? It's ok right Blastoise?"
"Blastoise" his pokemon cried out positively. Carrying a few more people would be super easy for it.
"I don't need your help. We'll get there on our own".
"I'll take the ride" Brock said immediately grabbing onto Blastoise as Sonic helped him up.
"Brock whose side are you on?"
"Can I hop on as well?" Misty asked "Starmie isn't used to storms".
"Sure" Sonic said as Misty hopped on behind Brock.
"Some friends" Ash said grumpy.
"Come on Ashy just let go of your pride and hop on. You don't have to make it hard on yourself or your Pikachu or your squirtle".
Ash wanted to object but his squirtle had begun tiring itself out. With a heavy heart he climbed on the Blastoise and recalled his squirtle.
"How come you haven't evolved squirtle? Pikachu I understand, pride of its kind and all that" Sonic asked from behind his shoulder.
"That's squirtle's choice to make" Ash answered.
"It's kind of an inside thing" Brock explained.
"How so?"
"Ash's charmander's character drastically changed when evolving into Charizard. His squirtle and bulbasaur won't evolve because they don't want to change like charmander did" Misty explained in greater detail.
"Misty! You just exposed over half my team!"
"Ash no offense but the element of surprise would do you little good against my team" Sonic said over his shoulder.
"We'll see about that soon" Ash retorted undeterred.
Finally reaching the island, Sonic asked his blastoise to take them a bit further away from the trainers. Finding a temporary shelter from the rain, Sonic called out Moltres to the amazement of the trio. He then instructed them to approach Moltres. Afterwards he asked Moltres to dry them out. Moltres hugged them with its wings and started emitting enough heat to dry their wet clothes but not enough to roast them alive.
"I guess the chosen one of Moltres title was true as well" Brock commented, happy to be dry again "thanks for that. I doubt my drying pan would help here".
"Your what?" Sonic said in confusion.
"He used a frying pan to shield himself from rain once" Misty explained.
Sonic burst out laughing.
"A drying pan?! Ahahahaha. Sorry. That was just so funny! No pun intended".
Ash face-slapped himself while Misty and Brock laughed at Sonic's pun joke.
"Whatever let's go Spike. We can't let the pokemon master wait".
Sonic at this point wasn't even offended by Ash calling him Spike. He just laughed it off, recalled Moltres and followed the trio towards the island's palace.
Entering last of the rest of the trainers, all eyes fell on them as they entered. After Sonic was in clear view of the crowd someone identified him and everyone rushed to him asking him a million questions every moment.
Sonic asked everyone to be quiet and asked them to ask their questions one by one while he and his pokemon took a bite from the buffet. Sending out his pokemon, no longer needing to hide and thinking since Ash lost the element of surprise against him, it was only fair for Sonic not to have it. Everyone was ecstatic at the presence of a legendary pokemon amongst them.
To Sonic's disappointment very few trainers wanted to ask him questions. Most of them wanted a piece of him. He bluntly stated there would be no battles today and that if they wanted a piece of him they would have to earn it at the indigo tournament.
"That's not fair" a trainer named Fergus retorted "most of us won't even make it to the tournament".
"Sorry buddy but that's just how it is. I came here to see if this pokemon master is real and if not what they want with me".
"Sonic's gonna explain his theory to them?" Misty said worried.
"We might have to intervene" Brock added while chewing a bite of cake.
"No we don't. His mess, he should solve it" Ash countered anxious to see how it would all transpire.
"What do you mean if the pokemon master is real?"
"Has no one considered this could be a trick? If this pokemon master is real, shouldn't he also have invited the elite four?"
"Well maybe he chose us because he thinks we can stand against them".
"First of all" Sonic continued "you don't know if it's a man. Second don't make me laugh. I fought Agatha of the elite four before catching my Moltres. She beat all 5 of my other pokemon with just 3 of hers".
Everyone was shocked to hear the hero of Kanto had actually lost to someone.
"So yeah pal, you may want to think twice before stating you can stand up to any of the elite four".
Fergus was ready to say more until they were all approached by a woman. Sonic identified her as the woman from the hologram.
"Is that the missing nurse joy?" Ash wondered aloud.
"Welcome trainers, to New Island. My master will be here with us soon, so prepare for battle".
Sonic recalled all his pokemon except raichu who stood in front of him ready for its opponent. Ash and Pikachu observed them. As much they hated to admit it, they could learn a lot from someone with Sonic's accomplishments.
A round hatch opened on the ceiling of the room on the other end from the one the trainers were. A figure descended engulfed in blue light. Sonic immediately noticed the figure had a long tail.
"What the…?" he wondered taking a surprised expression.
"I forgot to mention" the woman said "my master, the world's greatest pokemon master, is also the world's strongest pokemon. Mewtwo".
"Mewtwo?!" Sonic said in shock.
Mewtwo emerged from the blue light his eyes sizing the trainers who were all looking at Sonic as it was clear he knew what was in front of them.
"A pokemon can't be a pokemon master!" Fergus objected and was about to send out a pokemon. Sonic raised his hand to stop him.
"Wait" he said calmly.
Hesitantly he started walking past the woman who was suddenly looking around in shock asking where she was. As its eyes met Mewtwo's Sonic spoke softly.
"Hey. Mewtwo. Remember me?"
To everyone's shock Mewtwo answered, his voice echoing through psychic waves.
"Remember you?"
"You… you can talk?!"
"Of course I can".
"Oh man this makes it so much easier. I'm so glad you're ok. I was wondering what happened to you after our fight".
"After your fight?" a kid next to Fergus asked aloud.
Sonic ignored it.
"Tell me please are you ok? You know after all that happened in Viridian?"
Mewtwo observed Sonic speaking in a slight confusion for a while.
When it got bored it lifted its hand and Sonic was lifted off the ground to everyone's surprise. Raichu tried to thunder punch Mewtwo but was lifted in the air as well.
"Hey what gives?!"
"I don't remember fighting you. And certainly I won't remember beating you" Mewtwo roasted the duo before flinging them hard to the other end of the room.
Sonic and raichu both crashed hard on the wall. Mr Fuji was right to fear Mewtwo. Its power was beyond imagination.
"That means war! Let's go gyarados!" Fergus ordered and everyone sent out their pokemon at the same time.
"No" Sonic thought "they don't know what they're up against".
Fighting off the pain he got up and dashed to get to the center of the room.
"Watch my back will you buddy?"
"Rai".
The duo got in between the trainers and Mewtwo who observed unfazed.
"Wait don't attack. I'm just fine".
"Who said we're attacking for you? Whatever this pokemon is has called for a fight and will have one" Fergus took charge while the others agreed with him.
Ash looked at Mewtwo.
"Sonic how do you know about this pokemon?"
The moment of truth was now. Sonic knew that the uproar of his lie would be massive.
"Mewtwo is the pokemon I really fought at Viridian city!"
"What? You statement was a lie?"
"I had to. In order to protect Mewtwo's secret. It was in pain. It controlled by team rocket and… argh!" he groaned as he was lifted again by Mewtwo.
"No one controls me!" it said in a mild anger before flinging Sonic forward again.
Sonic however landed on his feet this time. Him and raichu who had not taken any action as Mewtwo's action was too sudden, witnessed Mewtwo calling forth a charizard a venusaur and a blastoise. However those three final forms of the starter pokemon had strange marks on their bodies.
"You have come here to be challenged by me. So bring out your pokemon and fight".
"With pleasure!" Ash said sending out his charizard.
"Ash wait! We should try to resolve this peacefully!" Sonic pleaded.
"Like you did with team rocket?!"
Sonic knew where this was going again.
"Please listen to me Ash. Don't play hero. The cost is too great!"
"Charizard use flamethrower!" Ash ordered his pokemon, completely ignoring Sonic's warning.
The rest of the trainers followed suit. A huge battle broke out, with Mewtwo's pokemon fighting maybe even 5 opponents at once and effortlessly beating them. Soon everyone's pokemon save for Sonic's were beaten.
"Mewtwo this doesn't have to go down" Sonic tried to reason with it.
"Bring out your pokemon".
"No. I won't fight you again. This is pointless fighting".
Mewtwo responded by forcing Sonic's Blastoise out and pitting it against his Venusaur. Sonic tried to recall it but Mewtwo took the pokeball from Sonic and kept it out of reach.
"Blastoise be careful".
Venusaur unleashed a barrage of razor leafs.
"Protect then ice beam!"
Blastoise shielded itself from the leaves then fired an ice beam. To Sonic's shock it barely affected the Venusaur.
"How is this possible?" he asked aloud.
"Do not be surprised. My clone pokemon are much stronger than your pokemon".
"Your what?! Clone pokemon? Mewtwo what have you done?!"
"Win!" Mewtwo said as while him and Sonic were conversing Venusaur had charged and fired a powerful solarbeam knocking down Blastoise with ease. Sonic tried to reach for his pokeball to recall it but Mewtwo kept it out of reach still. Furthermore, Mewtwo called out forcibly Moltres and pitted it against his blastoise.
"That's so easy for you right Mewtwo?! If you dare pit it against your Venusaur!"
"We play by my rules!" Mewtwo countered as Blastoise fired hydro pump.
Moltres effortlessly dodged having trained against Sonic's Blastoise.
"Sunny day!" Sonic instructed Moltres.
Moltres made it sunnier inside the room. Blastoise again tried to strike it with hydro pump.
"Counter with solarbeam!"
Solarbeam was immediately charged and fired. Blastoise's hydro pump met the grass attack but was easily overpowered. The clone blastoise was struck head on and topped with a huge thud, to the trainers' applauds and Mewtwo's rage.
"You dare beat my clone pokemon?"
"Mewtwo please let's just end this now it doesn't have to be this way" Sonic pleaded.
"I agree. We end this now! Charizardtwo!" he roared as charizard took flight.
"Charizardtwo?" Sonic said in shock "he named them after himself?!"
Charizard flew towards Moltres as its wings glowed.
"Moltres counter with air slash!"
Air slash struck charizard but barely tickled it. Charizard struck Moltres head on with its wing attack. Moltres however was no ordinary pokemon.
"Flamethrower!"
Moltres and charizard both fired flamethrower. As the fire attacks collided Ash couldn't help but admit Sonic wasn't all bark and no bite.
Charizard then flew fast towards Moltres and used slash greatly damaging it. Sonic immediately responded by having Moltres use air slash in close range. It did damage the clone charizard but to everyone's shock it used seismic toss grabbing Moltres and diving down. Moltres crashed hard on the ground and despite its best efforts fainted.
Sonic was filled with fear at the sight of his second strongest if not his strongest pokemon fainting. Mewtwo didn't relent however, forcibly sending out Nidoking and Pinsir next.
The battles with Pinsir and Nidoking were swift and once again heavily on Mewtwo's side. Sonic was now left with just Raichu and Alakazam, the last line of defense.
Mewtwo once again decided to first force out all of Sonic's recalled pokemon. It called out Alakazam pitting it against Charizard.
Alakazam however coming face to face with Mewtwo again, after the initial surprise, started humming and communicating with Mewtwo. The latter felt the psychic connection and started being barraged by a whirlwind of visions. He found himself again in the pain inside the armor Giovanni had placed on him, fighting Gary's pokemon and then Sonic's pokemon.
Alakazam was intending to unlock the memory of Sonic freeing Mewtwo last however Mewtwo cut the psychic link before that could happen.
"You dare enter my mind! Charizardtwo destroy him!"
Charizard unleashed a powerful flamethrower which Alakazam shielded while using light screen. Sonic could tell that Mewtwo was intending to break Alakazam like it had seen in the memory.
"Raichu! Thunderpunch!"
Raichu charged to punch Mewtwo but was blocked by Venusaur using vine whip to grab raichu.
Raichu immediately used iron tail to free itself then started using iron tail while jumping and spinning to deflect the incoming vine whips and razor leaves. Sonic couldn't focus on both battles at once.
Ash witnessed Sonic trying his best and wanting to help rushed to punch Mewtwo.
"Ash no!" Sonic screamed.
Ash was thrown back by Mewtwo's psychic, crashing into Sonic. He immediately got up and tried to go after Mewtwo again.
"Ash stop playing hero!" Sonic said grabbing Ash by the arm "You're gonna get yourself killed!" he warned him.
"But we have to stop Mewtwo!" Ash declared and charged again only to be thrown further back by Mewtwo.
Their momentary lack of focus on the battle resulted in a knockout of Venusaur by raichu and charizard overpowering both raichu and Alakazam who was only defending trying to re-establish its psychic link with Mewtwo.
Mewtwo's Charizard roared triumphant.
"I win. Your pokemon shall now be taken" Mewtwo declared as a huge tube appeared from the hatch on the ceiling. Mewtwo then started lifting the defeated pokemon using its power, which the tube claimed by drawing them in.
"Pikachu no!" Ash rushed after his partner.
Sonic also rushed to stop his raichu from being absorbed, while looking around at the other trainers fighting to save their pokemon.
"What have I done?!" he thought. His freeing of Mewtwo had led to all of this.
Not being able to resist any longer he was lifted by Mewtwo's psychic as well. Ash and Pikachu were sucked into the tube behind them. The tube suddenly split into two with Ash being sent one way, and Pikachu, raichu and Sonic were sent the other way.
Sonic slid through the tube until he found himself trapped in one of those capsules Giovanni had used to trap his pokemon during their final battle. Looking around in panic he saw the team rocket logo on several places inside the lab the capsules were located in.
"What the… where did Mewtwo take us?"
The capsule was momentarily filled with water which was drained right under Sonic. After the initial shock he saw his raichu, Ash's Pikachu as well as his and many other pokemon also go through the same process.
Before he could process a voice echoed throughout the lab.
"Initiating cloning process".
"Cloning?" Sonic thought in shock "Mewtwo's cloning the pokemon? Cloning ME?"
"Warning, warning. Unidentified DNA found. Cloning result can be unpredicted".
Despite the warning however the machine started functioning. Sonic started knocking on the glass to break free but it was too thick.
Ash then burst into the room. Seeing Sonic trapped, he pushed the capsule which broke, freeing the hedgehog.
"Thanks" Sonic said after finally breathing fresh air.
"Now who's the hero?" Ash gloated.
"Rub it in. Listen, we need to free the pokemon quick".
Freeing raichu and Pikachu, the two rivals started using them to free other pokemon while simultaneously smashing capsules by breaking them. Sonic prioritized his own pokemon. After all the pokemon were freed the two trainers looked around at the chaos.
"What now?" Ash asked.
"Lead the pokemon out of here. I will find and destroy the cloning machine".
"Got it. Pikachu lead the way".
Pikachu made one teasing cry at Raichu and followed Ash out of the room while calling the remaining pokemon except Sonic's to follow. Sonic recalled his pokemon and exited the room.
Easily finding the room with the cloning machine he went to enter but heard a loud scary screech coming from inside. Raichu immediately hid behind him terrified.
"What the hell was that?" Sonic whispered as he slowly opened the door to the cloning room.
The cloning machine was on the other end of the room sending the clone pokemon through a tube towards the arena Mewtwo had fought them at. However there was also something else in the middle of the room, slowly crawling for the door. Something horrifying.
Sonic tried to scream but couldn't. He was literally petrified. On the ground slowly crawling towards him was a deformed monster. It's face looked like was once a cake before being baked, then some crazy baker decided to take a cake mixer and vandalize the cake then bake it. Its body was improperly shaped, resulting in what would have been a hunchback save for something familiar on its back.
"Quills!" Sonic thought in utter shock.
The abomination raised its eyes to meet Sonic's and let out another inhuman scream.
"EEEEEEEELP EEEEE"
Sonic took a step back reactively. His clone started crawling on the ground again slowly approaching
"EEEEELP MEEE!"
Sonic gasped. It wasn't just a scream. Sonictwo was screaming for help.
"Mewtwo what have you done?" Sonic thought in panic as he tried to think what to do.
In the meantime Ash was walking in front of the pokemon he and Sonic had freed and walked back into the arena in a magnificent fashion, staring down Mewtwo and his army of cloned pokemon.
"You're mine this time! Sonic isn't here to save you!" Ash said dashing to Mewtwo trying to punch him once again.
Mewtwo effortlessly flung Ash backwards.
"I don't need someone to save me human!"
Ash ordered his pikachu to attack Mewtwo only to be blocked by Pikachutwo. The other pokemon all rushed to help while getting in fights with their clones. The clones of Sonic's pokemon were still standing behind Mewtwo who looked around looking for Sonic.
"Where is that hedgehog?"
Sonic and raichu in the meantime were still petrified in shock from witnessing Sonictwo suffering. Its mangled deformed body was causing it excruciating pain.
"EEEEELP EEEEE! EEEELP MEEEEEE!"
Sonic was breathing fast in panic. He wanted to help his clone but knew there was nothing he could do. It was improperly created. All life would offer it was suffering.
He knew the only choice was to show mercy to his clone. But he couldn't bring himself to do it.
"This is wrong" Sonic muttered "I can't".
Another cry of help from Sonictwo reached his ears. In a robotic fashion Sonic started walking towards his deformed clone.
"What am I doing?" he thought as he stood over his clone who couldn't even turn his head to look him in the eyes.
Kneeling down, his entire being was screaming not to do it. That there had to be another way.
Hearing the sounds of the pokemon battling echoing through the halls of the palace, Sonic knew he didn't have time. Closing his eyes and gritting his teeth, he quickly grabbed his clone's head and turned it fast to the left, snapping Sonictwo's neck.
The action was too much for the hero of Kanto as he broke down crying at what he had done.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry" he kept repeating.
The sounds of the pokemon clashing brought him back to reality long enough to fight off the sadness. Getting up he turned back to the cloning machine. Knowing he didn't have time to call Tails and destroy it via a virus, he grabbed a heavy box from the side of the room and started hitting the machine in several weak points. He used all of his rage, his sadness, his regret at killing his clone to strike the machine with all of his strength.
Soon enough the machine started emitting smoke and making strange sounds. After a while it stopped functioning. Sonic dropped the box panting heavily. It was done. There would no more cloning, no more playing god for anyone.
Turning to leave his eyes fell on something that seemed like a fridge. Or at least a capsule with a freezing circuit, essentially functioning like a fridge.
Wondering what Mewtwo had stored in there, Sonic opened it.
To his shock inside was Mewtwo.
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Sonic screamed backstepping.
It was an actual 2nd Mewtwo. It was dead. Its eyes were shut and it was poised like if it was inside a coffin. Sonic felt he would faint. Had Mewtwo tried to clone itself?
"No that doesn't make any sense" Sonic thought taking deep breaths "he is fighting to dominate, he wouldn't create a rival".
His mind then recalled all the team rocket logos in the other room. And mr Fuji's confession from last time he was there.
"I tried to poison the prototype inside its tube. I was successful. However the poison was also intended to destroy the body. To dissolve it completely".
"And it didn't work" Sonic completed his thought aloud.
The Mewtwo he was looking at was the prototype. It all made sense.
"Team rocket created the prototype here with mr Fuji's help! They must have then used the Cinnabar mansion to create the one that called us all here. It broke out, killed everyone… then Giovanni subdued it with the armor. They must have returned the prototype here in case they had to recreate it a third time. As a backup plan. The living Mewtwo must have found the prototype…" Sonic said realizing why Mewtwo was doing all of it.
Rushing back out following the sounds of battle, he entered the arena again to find all the pokemon battling their clone copies. Mewtwo's eyes met Sonic's.
"There you are!" he said forcing Sonic's pokemon out again before Sonic could react and ordering his clones of them to attack.
"No!" Sonic yelled as his pokemon were called out and started fighting. His Moltres clashed with Moltrestwo above everyone else in a brutal air battle.
Sonic looked at his pokemon fighting their clones.
"Guys no stop please this pointless" he begged.
His pokemon heard him but the continuous onslaught from the clones kept them from stopping.
Even raichu was fiercely fighting raichutwo who even knew how to copy raichu's fighting style. As the two electric types traded blows, Sonic rushed to stand in front of Mewtwo.
"Mewtwo please stop this!" Sonic pleaded "don't you see this is pointless?! All the pokemon, even your clone pokemon are suffering".
"Your facts are trivial" Mewtwo said.
"Listen I know why you're doing this. I saw what you saw. The dead you. Team rocket made you suffer. But it doesn't have to be this way! You can choose to be better!"
Mewtwo momentarily thought about it until it noticed a movement behind the Moltres' fierce battle.
Sonic also saw Mewtwo's attention divert and turned to see what it was looking at.
A small pokemon flew down from behind the two Moltres. It was small pink and with a tail similar to Mewtwo's.
"No way!" Sonic said "it can't be. Mew?!"
"Finally my rival appears! Time to see who is really the strongest!" Mewtwo declared rising from the ground as it started emitting a blue aura.
"You said I can choose to be better hedgehog! I choose to be better! Better than Mew!" Mewtwo roared as he charged a shadow ball.
"Wait Mewtwo. Didn't you hear me? You don't have to prove anything to mew".
"I do! And I won't let you get in my head!" Mewtwo yelled and flung Sonic back.
Sonic crashed hard into the wall and landed roughly. Grabbing his right hand in pain, he was approached by Ash.
"You ok?"
"I'm fine" Sonic groaned.
He was momentarily blinded by the clash of Mew and Mewtwo as the collision of their powers created a blinding light. Once he could see again he and Ash looked around and saw what the rest of the arena looked like.
The pokemon and their clone copies were all heavily injured. Raichu was exhausted but kept trading blows with raichutwo refusing to go down. Moltres and Moltrestwo had crashlanded and were struggling to get up to continue.
"This is all wrong" Sonic said.
"They're not gonna stop. They look ready to fight to the death" Brock commented.
"And that's a battle that no one is going to win" Misty adde grimly.
"Yeah but how do we stop it?" Sonic asked.
"Someone's got to take a stand. Someone's got to say no. And refuse to fight. Just like Pikachu".
Sonic looked around and saw Ash's Pikachu along with Pikachutwo. To his shock however Pikachu was not fighting, allowing itself to get slapped by Pikachutwo.
Mew and Mewtwo's clash had reached its peak in the meantime. With the two pokemon staring each other down ready to clash again Sonic knew they had to find a way to stop them. The more they clashed the more all the other pokemon would follow suit.
"Think Sonic think" he said trying to figure out a way to stop it.
Ash on the other hand acted on pure instinct. Getting up he started sprinting towards the center of the arena.
"Ash wait!" Brock called out to him.
"Ash don't do it!" Sonic also called out.
Ash didn't hear either of them.
"You've got to stop right now!"
Mew and Mewtwo discharged their attacks.
"STOOOOOOOOOOP!" Ash screamed as he reached the center of the arena.
The attacks collided right on top of Ash engulfing him in another blinding light.
"Ash!" Brock and Misty simultaneously shouted "oh no!"
"Pika pi!" Pikachu cried out at the development.
"No!" Sonic shouted as well.
When the light died down, they saw Ash momentarily stand, engulfed in a purple glow then slowly drop to his knees and then face down on the ground.
Mewtwo looked taken aback by Ash's rush action.
"Fool. Trying to stop our battle".
"Mew" Mew cried out tilting its head as if in confusion.
"Pika pi!" Pikachu cried out as it rushed to its fallen trainer.
"Ash!" Sonic yelled as he rushed as well to see if Ash was ok.
Both him and Pikachu reached Ash at the same time. They looked on as the purple glow lifted and realized Ash had been turned to stone.
"Pika chu. Pika. Pika pi" Pikachu tried to awaken Ash by slightly shaking him.
Sonic touched Ash's cheek felt the stony feeling.
"No… this… this can't be happening" he thought.
"Pika pi. Pika… CHUUUU!" Pikachu cried out as it zapped ash's stone body.
But there was no result.
"Pika… chuuuuu!" Pikachu zapped Ash again.
Sonic had experienced a lot of pain over his month of being a pokemon trainer but was not ready to experience this.
"RAICHU COME HELP QUICK!" he screamed in despair.
Raichu immediately rushed to the center of the arena with raichutwo observing in curiosity.
"Help Pikachu!"
"Rai! Rai….chuuuuu!"
The two electric types kept zapping Ash together over and over as with each zap the reality was sinking in. The pokemon around them started crying out in sadness while that very reality sinked in.
"Pi…pika… CHU!" Pikachu cried out one last time before exhausting itself. Ash was still stone.
"Pika pi. Pika pi" it cried out as tears started streaming down its cheeks.
Sonic couldn't hold his tears either.
"You fool" he muttered looking down "I told you not to play hero… why wouldn't you listen to me?"
Under normal circumstances, he would blame himself for freeing Mewtwo. But this time was not like silph co. Mewtwo had caused this. This knowledge and the sudden spark of anger caused Sonic to lash out.
"IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED MEWTWO?!" he screamed turning to face the bioengineered psychic type.
"IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED?! YOU THINK THIS MAKES YOU BETTER?! TELL ME!" Sonic screamed again as tears were now actually visible on his face. Everyone saw them but he didn't care.
Mewtwo observed the hedgehog screaming at him as the impact of what he had done started sinking in. The foolish child that had stopped their battle was not in the wrong. And it was his actions had led to Ash's demise.
Before Mewtwo could speak however, him and Sonic heard the sad cries of the other pokemon. They also saw the tears of the crying pokemon converge to the center of the room and entering Ash's stone body.
Ash was engulfed in a blue glow this time. With Pikachu, raichu, Sonic and everyone else observing he slowly reverted back to normal and looked around confused.
"What happened?" he asked.
Pikachu cried out in happiness and jumped into his hug. All of the pokemon started celebrating at the unexpected turn of events.
"How did this…?" Sonic began wondering when he heard Brock's explanation of this.
"Of course! Pokemon tears! Just like that old lady back in town said".
Sonic was surprised to hear such a fact but regardless took in the picture smiling while wiping away his tears.
Petting raichu who was now interacting nicely with raichutwo, Sonic's mind remembered the clone he had to kill. He still felt regret over it. But at least no one else would share Sonictwo's fate.
"And plus… I showed him mercy by ending him" Sonic thought remembering Sonictwo's screams of pain and its calls for help
Looking back up at Mewtwo he saw it being approached by Mew. Calling his pokemon back to him, he recalled them all, except alakazam and raichu. He asked alakazam to lift itself, Sonic and raichu to the two legendary and mythical psychic types. As Sonic was being lifted up, he heard Mewtwo make an existential question.
"What is my reason for living?"
"Mew?" Mew answered.
"You're right. I see now that the circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant. It is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are".
"Took you long enough to figure it out" Sonic added smiling.
Mewtwo and Mew turned to face him.
"I sure did. And you were right all along. It was pointless fighting that I was initiating".
"I'm glad to hear that. I freed you cause I believe in this as well. I wanted you to be free and make that choice on your own".
"Freed me? When?"
Sonic at first thought that Mewtwo was just powerhungry. But now it was evident its earlier statement was honest.
'You… you really don't remember?"
Alakazam hummed getting everyone's attention. Mewtwo looked at it and Alakazam re-established their psychic link.
Mewtwo's mind was once again invaded by the visions it had before. Only this time he saw himself holding Sonic in the air with his powers then trying to strangle him. As he heard his master's old voice, he was filled by rage until he witnessed Sonic making the one statement he couldn't expect.
"I don't have to win. I just need to free Mewtwo".
The rest of the scene played out as it had transpired. When Mewtwo came out of the vision he looked at Sonic in surprise and gratitude.
"I… I remember now. You… did free me".
"At last" Sonic sighed in relief.
Mewtwo looked down at the trainers and then back at Sonic.
"I owe you my freedom twice now, Sonic the hedgehog. Physical and mental freedom. I can never thank you enough for this".
"And you don't need to" Sonic cut him off "but what are you planning to do now?"
Mewtwo looked at Mew and then up in the sky.
"There are many pokemon out there like me. That have suffered at the hands of humans. I wish to protect them".
"That is a noble cause" Sonic said "and I'm sure these pokemon will be safe if protected by someone as strong as you. I can even direct you towards the forest northwest of Saffron city. Many pokemon freed from team rocket were last seen there. You should start there".
Mewtwo nodded.
"I will. Thank you again Sonic the hedgehog. I'm sure our paths will cross again sooner than you think".
"I sure hope so".
"And for that reason" Mewtwo continued "I will not erase your memories of today".
"Wait what?"
"I will erase the memories of all the trainers I hurt, to take the pain away and to make sure the clone pokemon I will take under my wing will be safe. But you have proven time and time again, you are my ally. So for that I will trust you with the knowledge of our existence".
Sonic felt a mix of the need to ask how Mewtwo could possibly erase the memories of everyone and gratitude for the trust. He decided eventually to stick with the gratitude.
"I'm glad to hear that".
Mewtwo and Mew then lifted all the clone pokemon with their combined power and started floating away. At the same time, they initiated a powerful teleport that sent everyone back to Old Shore Wharf. During that teleport Sonic saw everyone's face's except his and his pokemon's to become emotionless as if they were zoning out. Once the teleport was complete, they looked around. Many of the trainers started asking where they were and why they were here. Sonic took his leave at that moment as he didn't want to be followed by the other trainers.
To his surprise however Ash had followed him.
"Our roads finally meet again Sonic! It's time for the battle you owe me".
Sonic looked at Ash and simply smiled.
"In a week Ash. You will show me your power at the tournament".
Ash was caught off guard by this as he expected Sonic to doubt him.
"Is that a trick?"
"No trick. But train hard. I expect you to give me your all" Sonic answered honestly then turned to leave but raised his hand doing the see you around gesture.
"See you soon Ash" Sonic said and walked away.
As they went back in the woods and rode Moltres out of there, Sonic looked back down at the trio who were leaving the town.
Ash may have not been the most powerful trainer that had crossed Sonic's path thus far. But Sonic had learnt through this encounter that power wasn't everything.
"Ash… you're a greater hero than I will ever be" Sonic commented remembering Ash's heroic sacrifice to stop the fighting.
As they flew back to their secluded beach Sonic built his tent back up and immediately went to sleep, raichu curled next to him.
Sonic observed the starry sky, feeling actually excited to face Ash at the tournament if they were paired together.
"Don't you dare lose before facing me Ash".
His mind then drifted to Mewtwo and his foreseeing of another future crossing of their paths.
"Would be nice" Sonic thought as he closed his eyes, beat by the adventure.