It was another week after they had discovered the buried lab that Tia and Aidan found themselves exploring the depths of Cerulean Cave.
Since so few Trainers had explored the area, due to the scores of high-leveled Pokemon that resided there, it was also called the Unknown Dungeon by conspiracy theorists and rare Pokemon hunters alike. And out of all the Mewtwo sightings, many of them were concentrated here.
The air was quiet as Tia and Aidan traveled further and further into the cave system, past the places where most Pokemon dared to go. The more isolated the area, the more likely they were to find Mewtwo. To make doubly sure, Aidan had also brought a Kinetic Meter, which would ping an alarm if it detected a presence with a high Psychic reading.
Neither Tia nor Aidan spoke to each other as they walked, leaving Tia alone with her thoughts. When she saw a portion of the cave that was collapsed in, she remembered the last time she and Aidan explored this place. They had been trapped in a cave-in, and had spent the night huddled together, telling each other stories while hoping someone would come rescue them. It was then, curled up against Aidan with her head on his shoulder, that she realized she loved him.
They were now walking into another dangerous situation, with a slim chance of coming out alive.
For a moment, Tia wished they had brought along someone else to help – a million others – or at least let someone else know where they were going. But she knew it wouldn’t do much good. The more people were involved, the more likely they could get hurt, and Tia and Aidan wanted to keep as many people out of harm’s way as they could.
Suddenly, Aidan’s Kinetic Meter started clicking, indicating a reading that was off the charts.
“We must be getting close,” Aidan whispered, turning the Kinetic Meter off and packing it away.
They turned a corner, and found themselves in a large chamber, lit by a beam of light coming from a large hole in the ceiling.
Standing within the beam of light was Mewtwo. It stood stock-still, with its eyes closed, as if it were meditating.
Tia and Aidan took a few steps toward Mewtwo, but stopped in their tracks when Mewtwo calmly opened its eyes and stared straight at them. Tia froze as Mewtwo stared straight into her soul, and she could feel the rage building within.
“It’s… broadcasting its thoughts…” Aidan struggled to say.
Mewtwo’s eyes suddenly flashed red, and as it lifted an arm, a massive wave of kinetic energy slammed into Tia and Aidan, sending them flying through the air to land on the ground.
Tia picked herself up painfully from the ground, overwhelmed by the sheer power that Mewtwo had hurled at them. Not just raw power, but also anger, and pain. A ridiculous part of her thought to apologize to Mewtwo for disturbing it, that they only wanted to battle it fairly and befriend it, but she knew it wouldn’t work that way.
Slowly, she reached for a Poke Ball and threw it.
“Aura!”
An Umbreon with shiny, cyan blue markings emerged. She looked over at Tia with concern, then focused on Mewtwo.
“Dark Pulse!” Tia called out.
Aura rushed toward Mewtwo, dodging the kinetic blasts it threw out, then when she got close enough, she fired a dark beam toward Mewtwo. The beam hit Mewtwo in the chest, causing it to wobble slightly, but otherwise it did nothing.
Meanwhile, Aidan had gotten himself together and sent out a Pokemon.
“Go, Bandit!”
The Poke Ball opened to reveal a large Weavile. He stared at Mewtwo cockily, eyes narrowed.
“Night Slash!”
Bandit ran toward Mewtwo, using intricate footwork to dodge Mewtwo’s attacks, then twisted behind it to slash it across the back. Mewtwo let out a roar and blasted Bandit in the face with a Psychic attack, knocking him away. He landed on the ground and shook himself off, unaffected.
Tia and Aidan looked at each other and nodded.
“All together now,” Tia shouted, “Dark Pulse!”
“Night Slash!”
Aura and Bandit both rushed at Mewtwo, attacking at the same time. Mewtwo howled as both attacks hit home, and it fell to its knees.
“One more time, guys!” Aidan called out, “Night Slash!”
“Dark Pulse!” Tia shouted, her spirits soaring. They might just be able to defeat Mewtwo, after all.
The two Dark Pokemon readied their attacks and ran toward Mewtwo. But before they could do anything else, Mewtwo suddenly raised both of its hands, trapping both of them and lifting them into the air. Mewtwo spread its arms apart, then crushed its hands together, causing Aura and Bandit to collide in midair.
Tia gasped as Aura and Bandit dropped to the ground like stones.
“Return!” the two shouted, recalling both Pokemon before they hit the ground.
They stood rooted to the spot as Mewtwo glared at them, eyes burning red. It raised its arms, lifting several large stones into the air, and flung the stones toward them.
“Watch out!”
Tia and Aidan ran, trying to dodge each of the stones as they fell. Aidan yanked Tia behind a rock, and they hid there, catching their breath.
“What… do we do now?” Tia whispered.
“We need…” Aidan struggled to get his thoughts together. “We need a diversion. Something to get Mewtwo’s attention. Then we need to get close enough to it to attack.”
Suddenly, Aura reappeared out of her Poke Ball, followed by Bandit. They stared at their Trainers intensely.
“You… you still want to battle?” Tia stammered.
“Are you sure?” Aidan asked.
Both Pokemon nodded.
Tia and Aidan looked at each other. “I think I have an idea,” Aidan said. He quickly outlined it, and Tia nodded in agreement.
They peeked over the edge of the rock and saw Mewtwo stalking around, looking for anything else to attack. Quietly, they pulled out Poke Balls and sent the Pokemon out. Blaze the Charizard and Windy the Pidgeot emerged, and with a nod at their Trainers, they immediately took to the air and flew around Mewtwo, firing attacks at it.
Mewtwo locked on to the two flying Pokemon and flung large levitating stones at them, but they dodged the stones and continued to fire at it. Mewtwo roared in aggravation and continued its barrage.
With Mewtwo fully distracted, Aura and Bandit jumped from behind the rock and raced toward it, Aura firing a Dark Pulse and Bandit letting loose a Night Slash. Both attacks hit Mewtwo in the back, and its attention was drawn to them long enough for it to get hit with a Flamethrower and an Aerial Ace by Blaze and Windy.
Looking around wildly and unable to keep its attention on all 4 Pokemon, Mewtwo was hit by another series of attacks and sank to the ground, temporarily weakened.
“Tia!” Aidan called out.
“Here we go!” Tia shouted, pulling out a Legend Ball and throwing it at Mewtwo. The Ball bounced against Mewtwo’s head and sucked it inside.
Both Trainers watched with bated breath as the Ball wobbled violently, once, twice, then a third time. It then shook a fourth time, even more violently, generating a small electric cascade as the Ball’s capture circuits worked to contain Mewtwo. Then, the Ball went still.
Tia breathed a sigh of relief, then walked over to the Ball. She reached down, hesitated a moment, then picked the Ball up. She looked at it carefully, almost expecting it to pop open again and let Mewtwo out, but nothing happened.
“We did it,” she said, dazed.
“We did,” Aidan said, smiling.
Tia laughed, and gave Aura and Windy a hug. “Thank you, everyone!”
Aidan gave Bandit a high-five and stroked Blaze’s head. “We couldn’t have done it without you guys,” he added.
Tia looked around at the ruined cave that served as their battlefield. It felt less menacing already, with Mewtwo gone. “Let’s get out of here,” she said.
As Tia and Aidan set up their camp, Tia set up her workstation and carefully plugged in Mewtwo’s Legend Ball.
Mewtwo
Level 80
Element Type: Psychic
Total Kinetic Energy: 3 MW
Capture Rate: 8.10
Tia’s eyes widened at the kinetic energy rating. The Legend Ball was built to withstand a power rating equivalent to the power generated by a major power plant. The amount of energy Mewtwo generated was incredibly close to that. Anything more, and they would have been gambling with the Ball’s capabilities – depending on its Master Ball-like stats instead of its more advanced features.
As she packed up her workstation, Tia thought about just how slim their victory over Mewtwo was. On the one hand, they could have been seriously hurt, or worse. But on the other, they managed to contain Mewtwo and rid the world of a certain menace. She pulled out Mewtwo’s Legend Ball and placed it on top of the packed-up workstation. She would feel better once they made it to Cerulean’s Pokemon Center and transferred Mewtwo to Professor Oak.
When night fell, Tia and Naito made their way back to their campsite. Tia’s arms were full of sticks she and Naito had gathered for firewood. As they neared the campsite, Tia could smell something burning – not just the wood from the campfire.
“Hmm. Smells a little weird,” Tia mused. “I wonder if Aidan ended up burning our dinner…” She chuckled.
“Tuut!” Naito piped up.
Tia sniffed the air again and frowned. “No… probably not. It smells more… electrical.” Her heart dropped. “Oh, no… I hope it’s not the equipment!” She began to run toward the campsite. “Let’s go, Naito!”
As they got closer, clouds of dark smoke filled the air. When they finally arrived, Tia dropped her firewood in shock.
The camp was in flames. The tents and everything inside them were burning, and much of the electronic equipment had exploded.
“No!” Tia quickly looked around for a fire extinguisher, a bucket of water, anything to help put the flames out. But she could find nothing.
“Aidan!” Tia shouted, scrambling around the burning camp, looking for any trace of her partner. “AIDAN!” But he was nowhere to be found.
A shower of sparks on the ground caught Tia’s attention. She ran toward the sparks, and looked down to see the sputtering, cracked remains of a Legend Ball.
A shiver ran down Tia’s spine, and her blood ran cold despite the heat of the flames. Suddenly she sensed something behind her, but before she could turn around, a massive force slammed into her, sending her flying through the air and into the trunk of a tree.
Tia struggled to get up. Her head swam, and the impact had knocked the wind out of her. Her vision blurred, then slowly cleared up to reveal the shadow of a large, humanlike figure with feline features and a long tail.
“Mew...two…” Tia said weakly, her mind whirling in shock. How had it escaped? The Legend Ball should have kept it contained…
As Tia slowly picked herself off of the ground, she tripped over something large and somewhat soft. She fell to the ground again, and opened her eyes… to find herself staring into Aidan’s lifeless blue eyes.
Tia gasped. “No… Nononono! Aidan! Wake up!” She shook him, trying desperately to wake him up, but to no avail. She looked down, and saw that he was bleeding from a gaping wound in his chest. “NO!” she cried.
There was a sudden movement from the corner of her eye, and she turned to see Mewtwo rush toward her, much too fast for her to react, its paws filled with concentrated energy.
“TUU!”
There was a sickening crack as Naito jumped between Tia and Mewtwo, Mewtwo’s attack hitting Naito head-on. Naito fell to the ground and didn’t move.
“Naito!” Tia cried out, and turned back to Mewtwo fearfully.
Using its telekinesis, Mewtwo lifted Tia into the air with one hand, making her hang by her throat. As she dangled there, choking, Tia saw Mewtwo’s eyes flash with rage, and its hand squeezed into a fist.
Tia screamed in excruciating pain as her insides compressed into mush…
“Tia? Tia, wake up!”
Tia gasped as her eyes flew open. She looked around wildly, wondering for a moment where she was. As she calmed down and her heart stopped racing, she recognized the tent she and Aidan slept in, and Aidan looking down at her with a worried expression.
“Tuu-tuu…?” Naito said sleepily, nestled in his little bed nearby.
Tia sat up, looking around at her cool, calm surroundings. Her hand tightened around Aidan’s, and she reached out her other hand to stroke Naito on the head.
No flames. No destruction. And Mewtwo…
Tia suddenly crawled over to the capture equipment stacked near the tent’s entrance, and breathed a sigh of relief as she saw Mewtwo’s Legend Ball still sitting on top, in one piece.
“It was just a dream…” Tia said softly, “Just a dream.” She let out a shaky breath, and her eyes teared up.
“It must have been a bad one,” Aidan said, “You started screaming in your sleep.”
“It was horrible,” Tia answered, “Mewtwo escaped. And the camp was on fire. And you…”
An image of Aidan’s dull, unseeing eyes came to her, unbidden, and she let out an inarticulate wail as she clung onto Aidan for dear life.
Aidan hugged her to him. “What happened to me?” he asked.
Tia buried her head in his chest and shook her head. “You were… gone. Mewtwo had gotten you. And then it went after Naito. And then… me.” Her voice cracked.
Aidan hugged her tightly. “Don’t worry about it anymore,” he murmured, stroking her hair. “We’re still here. It was just a dream.”
Tia nodded. She glanced over at Mewtwo’s Legend Ball sitting at the tent entrance, and shivered.
“I’ll feel better once we turn Mewtwo over to Professor Oak’s lab team,” Tia said wearily, “It’s too much power for one Trainer to have…”
“We’ll worry about that in the morning,” Aidan said gently. “Let’s go back to sleep.”
Nestled in Aidan’s arms, Tia closed her eyes, willing the calm, peaceful sounds of the night to lull her back to sleep.