Mewtwo's Counterattack, Start

Fuchsia City Coast.

It was still a sunny day and the golden sandy beaches were enhanced by the warmth of the sun.

Waves rolled in, lapping at the sand along the shore, and the golden sand was soaked.

The water splashes exploded and the coolness filled the air.

This should have been a place of relaxation and leisure, a place where young people full of youthful vigor ran on the beach in their swimsuits and swam between the waters.

However...

People with a different kind of vigor were never in the minority.

"Yo, kiddo, want a sparring match!"

A man with a stocky body, wearing swim trunks and catching a swim cap and goggles on his head, waved his hand towards a kid on the beach side who was about ten years old and sent out a request for a sparring match.

The words felt like they poked some kind of switch in that kid.

The other party immediately turned his head towards him, beaming with joy.

"Yes!"

"Cool!"

The man casually threw a Poké ball, and a huge Cloyster landed on top of the blue sea.

The purple scallops on both sides of this guy's body were constantly opening and closing, while a sinister smile appeared on the black body wrapped in an inner white shell.

A Pokémon with a combination of water and ice attributes.

This guy was one of the more powerful types of Water-type Pokémon in the Kanto region.

"Hmm... If it's Cloyster."

On the shore, the child with the hat also pondered, his eyes running over the bodies of the two Pokémon following him.

These two Pokémon, one was a cute-looking yellow mouse with a tail in the shape of a lightning bolt and currents running through its rosy cheeks, and the other was a small dog walking upright with blue-black skin, tough claws, and unyielding eyes that showed it was an indomitable fighter.

"Sure enough, it's you, Riolu!"

"Lu!"

Hearing the trainer's words, the black and blue puppy immediately took a step forward and stood on the shore, its eyes dead set on the Cloyster whose figure loomed between the tumbling of the waves.

"In the face of a Cloyster that has both water and ice attributes, a Pokémon that restrains these two attributes is the perfect choice... This is something Instructor Ai taught me." Inside Ash's mouth, he was still reciting some of the most basic matchmaking knowledge that Aisha had taught him.

Good thing too, at least he wasn't a Reverse Attribute Master.

Pikachu's electric attribute restrained Cloyster's water attribute, and Riolu's fighting attribute restrained Cloyster's ice attribute.

However, since the stage for the battle was the ocean, there were other people and Pokémon playing around.

Therefore, Ash chose Riolu, who won't affect others due to the power of his wide-range moves, to fight.

Right... Riolu.

The Pokémon egg that Ash had once adopted within the Pokémon Center of Cameran Palace after accompanying Aisha to solve the 'Tree of Beginning' problem had now hatched out.

This Pokémon is Riolu, the original form of Lucario, with whom he has a connection.

It was also a still young Aura Hero.

"Okay, Cloyster, Icicle Spear!"

"Cloy~"

Cloyster smiled sinisterly and hid between the cover of the waves, several Icicle Spear were released in a single breath, and like missiles that could be claimed, they shot towards Riolu on the shore.

"Riolu, Vacuum Wave smashes these Icicle Spear!"

"Lu!"

Ash hurriedly gave the command to counterattack, while Riolu took up a horse stance like posture along with the trainer's command.

Its small fists kept swinging out, and invisible waves whistled out from above its fists, breaking the ice that had attacked it without any danger.

"Cloyster... eh, where did it go?"

Ash was about to command Riolu to attack when he realized that the Cloyster floating in the sea had disappeared.

It had dived under the water.

This could be trouble.

"Cloyster, Water Gun."

"Stab!"

Several beams of water shoot out of the water's surface, completely failing to lock onto Cloyster's position.

So much so that Ash could only keep shouting "Dodge!", leaving Riolu to dodge into a mess on the shore.

Even so, a Water Gun hit Riolu's calf.

"Good chance!"

Cloyster's trainer's eyes lit up.

"Cloyster, Ice Beam!"

"Cloy!"

With a sinister laugh, the Cloyster broke the surface of the water and leapt into midair, a morose chill coalescing between its open and closed scallops.

"Good chance!"

"Lu!"

Seeing this, Ash and Riolu were also beaming with joy.

"Riolu, Bullet Punch!"

"What?"

Riolu, who was still looking like it was hit by the Water Gun, suddenly perked up, its petite figure shot out like a real bullet. In an instant, it arrived in front of Cloyster. Without any hesitation, it threw a punch at its face.

Ice Beam was interrupted, and Cloyster fell back into the water.

However, Ash and Riolu would not let it dive back into the water.

"Riolu, Aura Sphere!"

"Lu!"

Riolu in mid-air quickly rubbed a blue energy sphere spinning at high speed between his two claws, and with his intuition, threw it towards the sea below.

This move had the ability to lock the enemy's position.

Even though Cloyster quickly went underwater under the cover of the waves, Riolu's Aura Sphere still caught up with him.

"With a bang, the Cloyster was blown to the shore.

"Last hit, Riolu, Force Palm!"

"Lu!"

Riolu's petite figure ran swiftly across the beach, her small blue claws passing through the Cloyster's shell and pressing directly into its face.

Power, exploding!

"Stab!"

Cloyster wailed as its entire body was knocked back a few meters away, tumbling several times on the beach.

After stopping, it had already fainted.

"Yeah, win!"

"Pika~chu!"

Ash and Pikachu pounced on Riolu in unison, two Pokémon in one, hugging each other and laughing.

"Instructor Ai taught us a really great way to fight!" He didn't forget to compliment Aisha who taught him how to battle.

"Kids these days are really something..."

Cloyster's trainer also shook his head helplessly and retrieved his Pokémon.

He was still about to say something towards Ash when suddenly, extremely fast sonic booms came from above the sky.

"Swish-!!!"

An orange figure, like a rocket, descended from the sky and swooped above the beach.

Its speed raised a flurry of sand.

"Cough... cough!"

Ash coughed covering his face.

The figure then came in front of him - it was a Dragonite with a satchel of letters.

"Woo~"

Dragonite flashed a silly smile towards Ash, and then, reaching out, took out an electronic disk and a letter from within the letter bag.

"It's... what?"

A bewildered Ash glanced at Pikachu and Riolu, who were also at a loss for words, but took the envelope and the electronic disk.

"These days, delivering mail has gone as far as using Dragonite?" At the back, the man in swim trunks let out a sharp spit with a sweaty face.

...

Pallet Town, Oak Research Institute, backyard.

"What's this?"

Aisha took the electronic disk from the hand of the Dragonite who delivered the letter.

The disk lit up and a holographic projection emerged.

Within the projection, a strangely dressed woman very respectfully made a skirt-raising salute toward him, explaining the purpose of the letter delivery.

"Please forgive me for taking the liberty of writing to you, you are considered to be the strongest trainer in the world, and my master has specially convened a party for the strongest Pokémon trainers, and will be inviting promising Pokémon trainers from all over the world to participate in the party, so please be sure to honor me with your presence by entering as a special invitee, the venue is the castle in New Island. We look forward to your presence."

The holographic projection above the electronic disk changed into a map.

The map marked the location of that so-called New Island, which seemed to be located in the vicinity of the harbor of Vermillion City and could be reached by ferry from there.

"The strongest Pokémon trainer in the world..."

Repeating the words he just heard, Instructor Ai's expression was a bit complicated.

He knew what this Dragonite delivering the letter, and the Pokémon Trainer Party located in New Island meant...

It meant that the plot of the super classic Pokémon Theater version of "Mewtwo's Counterattack" had begun.

And, if nothing else, the protagonist of this event is the same Mewtwo who invited many Pokémon trainers to New Island, the Second Generation Mewtwo that Team Rocket created with all their might after collecting Mew's genes and their own, their own biologically-defined "child".

It has set its sights on himself...

And it gave him the title of "The Strongest Pokémon Trainer in the World".

You said I was the strongest trainer... where did you put Red?

You said the trainers you invited were all promising trainers... where did you put the regional champions?

"Heheh."

Instructor Ai looked at the Dragonite that had delivered the letter with a smile on his face.

That Dragonite also looked at him with an innocent face.

"Woo?"

Dragonite cocked its head in confusion.

Well, adorable.

However, Instructor Ai's attention was on its neck.

There, a collar was bound around Dragonite's neck, and a holographic camera was embedded in the center of the collar.

"Good."

Aisha put away the electronic disk, took the postcard that Dragonite handed to him, and chose "Yes" for "Do you want to join the party?".

"Ru?"

In Aisha's arms, Ralts looked up, keenly aware that his mood was a bit off.

Instructor Ai, on the other hand, immediately revealed a genuine smile and gently stroked its little head.

"It's okay, it's okay~"

"Ru~"

Ralts revealed a smile.

Instructor Ai then used his afterglow to glance at the holographic camera Dragonite was carrying around its neck.

Mewtwo... you're watching me, aren't you?

...

New Island, Mewtwo's Castle.

"Hmph~"

Inside an office at the very top of Pokémon City, Second Generation Mewtwo sat on top of an office chair, looking at the display screens plastered all over the wall in front of him.

This pile of display screens, linked to countless cameras, could relay the images from the outside world to Second Generation Mewtwo's eyes.

Now, the image projected on top of these displays was exactly the scene where Aisha had received the electronic disk with the postcard.

"As expected, you said yes."

Watching Aisha check the "Yes" box on the postcard, Second Generation Mewtwo's face revealed an "as I expected" smile.

It had been watching Aisha for a while...

It may seem like a fool's errand, but Second Generation Mewtwo had done just that.

Some of its eyes, with cameras, had blended into Professor Oak's backyard, and naturally found Aisha training Pokémon over there.

And so...

Second Generation Mewtwo was the one who witnessed how Instructor Ai nurture Pokémon, and witnessed this teenager knock over a Steelix with his bare hands.

It was silent for a long time.

In the end, it had to admit that its father was not only too good looking, but also strong enough to be called "the strongest human".

At least, Second Generation Mewtwo had never seen anyone else who could knock over a Steelix with their bare hands.

A human with this kind of strength must also be the strongest in terms of trainers, right?

This was Second Generation Mewtwo's logic... its thoughts were still more or less influenced by some of Giovanni's, and it had a preconceived idea that Instructor Ai's strength was terrifying.

"You're the strongest Pokémon trainer in the world, so naturally you wouldn't refuse an invitation like this... hmm?"

Suddenly, Aisha, whose eyes were on the screen, looked straight into the camera.

His eyes seemed to have crossed thousands of miles and met Second Generation Mewtwo's line of sight.

Even though it was across the screen, across the sea and mountains, that look within the screen was still staring at Second Generation Mewtwo's heart as if it had stopped beating for a beat.

"..."

With its body shaking, Second Generation Mewtwo fell silent.

It was as if Aisha had a special kind of suppression over it, a single look was all it took to make Second Generation Mewtwo speechless.

With that, it laughed out.

"Hahahahahaha... Hahahahahahaha!"

At first, it was just a low-sounding laugh, after which, it gradually turned into a happy and pleasurable laugh.

"Worthy, worthy of being the strongest human in the world according to Giovanni!"

"I'm already strong to such an extent that I'm actually still flustered by a single look from him." Second Generation Mewtwo gazed at its own hands, clenching its fists, the smile at the corner of its mouth gradually changed flavor as it thoughtfully muttered to itself, saying, "In that case, it's good for you to go to the appointment."

"Come to this New Island, let me see how strong the strongest human in the world is?"

"Let me also test my own mettle." It looked up again and stared intently at Aisha within the screen, calling out that title, saying, "Father."

However, Second Generation Mewtwo deflated again.

"..."

It looked silently at the Ralts within the screen, who had snuggled up in Aisha's embrace and could be coaxed by Instructor Ai with a smile.

"Feels... a little jealous..."