An Unexpected Encounter with Mewtwo

As the man walked among the tall buildings on his lunch break, he offered up a deep sigh, reminded of all the work that needed to be done. Work due ASAP, work due by EOD, and more work tomorrow. It had already been years since he was a part of Team Mystic and striving hard as a Pokémon Trainer. He hadn’t had a battle in a long while, either. A Pokémon was shown on the large electronic display screen, and he became nostalgic for those days. The screen didn’t care for his reminiscing and quickly changed to the next ad. This city was always in a hurry. Skyscrapers obstructed the sky, and neon glowed even during the day, blurring the lines between day and night.

As the man made his way back to the office, he felt a chill run down his spine. The temperature hadn’t changed—was he just that tired? As his unease grew, he noticed the people around him were flustered as well.

“What is that?”

“It’s coming down!”

From the voices around him, the man surmised that something had appeared and directed his gaze toward the clamor. He immediately noticed the shadow descending from the skies and slowly looked up at it.

Oh, I didn’t even notice how clear the sky was today. The happy-go-lucky thought crossed his mind for a moment before he realized what was happening. What he had felt earlier wasn’t a chill—it was pressure. What had appeared in the skies was Mewtwo.

He had heard rumors of Mewtwo. A Pokémon that had its combat ability raised to the limits. As he gazed at it in person, a sort of pure desire for a strong opponent could be felt from it. Its sharp gaze searched the crowd, almost as if it were looking for a Trainer worthy of battling. The people around him were either at a loss from the Legendary Pokémon that had just appeared or pointing their cameras at it. The man also tried to take a picture, but he couldn’t move. He had been overwhelmed by the Pokémon’s stature—its majesty. He was frustrated at himself for being so powerless when faced with such strength, but it wasn’t an unpleasant frustration. It was what he had been craving for a long time. Mewtwo fixed his gaze and glared at the man who, while petrified, didn’t avert his eyes. He swallowed hard, and then…

“Just give me some time.”

It wasn’t said out loud…the man pleaded with his eyes, and Mewtwo only glared back.

“I want to become strong again and challenge you properly. I had forgotten this feeling for such a long time, and seeing you reminded me. So please…”

The man couldn’t move a muscle, but he still felt a reckless fire deep in his chest—reckless doesn’t even begin to describe it. He couldn’t tell if his silent plea had even reached the surly Mewtwo, let alone if it had accepted the challenge, but now he could clearly remember the days he spent exploring under Professor Willow or Team Leader Blanche until he was exhausted—how he would get completely absorbed in anything related to Pokémon.

After a few moments of facing the crowd, Mewtwo must have determined that there was no one here for it to battle, and it flew away at supersonic speeds—so fast that nobody could even imagine how far it was going to go.

It was over in an instant. Other than the lingering murmurs of the crowd, there was no trace of Mewtwo. The city began to hurry along again, as if the Legendary Pokémon’s appearance was just another ad on the electronic display. Even then, the burning in the man’s chest did not subside. He wanted to have Pokémon battles again; he wanted to become stronger. Mewtwo would surely be back again seeking power, and when that time came, he wanted to be a Pokémon Trainer and a worthy opponent. The man stopped and looked up at the sky. Even in this city of skyscrapers, beyond them was the sky—he just had to look up. Encountering such a powerful and noble Pokémon made him realize that. He felt that he wouldn’t be swallowed up by this city again, that he would be able to be true to himself. The man took a deep breath, took a firm step on the asphalt, and started walking once again.

Gather Round! To the Wall of Blissey!

“Whoa, you won your first Gym battle! That’s incredible!”

I savored the feeling of triumph bubbling from inside as my teammates surrounded me. I had studied Pokémon endlessly to challenge Gyms, and it paid off—like I knew it would! The more my teammates praised me, the more my pride swelled at the results. I was excited to keep the momentum going and win more Gym battles. With that gusto, I had eagerly led the rest of the team and arrived at an area with several Gyms.

If I can beat two Gyms in a row, I’ll be a hero again! At least that’s what I was thinking…but the problem would be the Pokémon I went up against. The Pokémon standing on top of the red-bordered Gym was Blissey! Of all the Pokémon it could have been, it had to be Blissey…

With the dry and clear sunlight shining behind it, Blissey almost looked like it was smirking down at me. Despite its cute pink profile, it emanated a kind of dignity as if declaring that it wouldn’t go down easy, sapping away that confidence I was feeling moments ago. This is what’s known as the Wall of Blissey.

I could feel my teammates staring holes in me with their hopeful gazes. Blissey has high HP and is said to be the perfect Pokémon to defend Gyms…I’ll need to pick my team carefully, or Blissey’s Special Attack will make quick work of me. If I can’t live up to my team’s expectations…

Oh, that’s right—there’s a different Gym across the street! I don’t have to force myself into this particular Gym—I can go beat that Gym instead! When I turned around to look, I was stopped in my tracks. It was another Team Valor Gym with a Blissey.

My jaw literally dropped as I looked up at the two Blissey on either side of me, looking down and waving their hands with all the hospitality they could muster.

No way around it then, I’ll have to come up with a plan to beat Blissey. I’m going to need a Pokémon with enough defense to withstand Blissey’s attacks and HP. That would be Lucario!

Lucario could withstand Blissey’s attacks and use supereffective Fighting-type moves, perfect against Blissey. Lucky for me, I had a Lucario that I hatched from an Egg and recently evolved from Riolu on my team.

It’s still not that high of a level yet, but if I’m careful with the team composition, I should be able to do this. I’m going to put in Pokémon that mainly use Fighting-type moves and make Lucario the main fighter. This is the strongest team I could have to take on this Gym with Blissey.

Lucario jumped out of its Poké Ball and looked back at me with determination—silently telling me that it was ready to fight together. OK, Lucario, let’s take down Blissey!

Blissey appeared at the center of the Stadium as I got up and stood next to Lucario. Lucario should be a threat to it, but Blissey remained unfazed. I guess that’s to be expected from a Pokémon that’s beaten tons of Trainers to defend this Gym. To be honest, my heart was beating a mile a minute from nerves, but Lucario looked back at me and nodded as if to tell me it would be OK.

In the blink of an eye, Lucario rushed into range and landed a critical hit. Blissey only staggered slightly, regaining its stance quickly. Lucario barely dodged Blissey’s retaliation and landed another hit—but all that returned was a smirk from Blissey, as if saying Lucario’s attack wasn’t even worth dodging. Regardless, damage should be piling up, however small it might have been. Lucario didn’t give up and kept attacking.

But it was at that moment that Blissey began to glow, and I saw Lucario begin to stiffen up.

“It’s…it’s Dazzling Gleam!”

I tried to order it to dodge, but I wasn’t fast enough, and Lucario ultimately took the brunt of the attack.

My teammates had their eyes on us as Lucario and I trudged out of the Gym. I had a hard time looking them in the eyes. I had my gaze on the ground when they grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me toward them.

“Aww, man! Blissey’s so strong! Even Lucario couldn’t beat it. That’s incredible!”

“I’d bet the Blissey at the other Gym’s gonna be just as strong, too.”

I was taken aback. “Wait, aren’t you guys disappointed?”

“Of course we are! That’s why we’re thinking of a plan!”

“Wait, guys! If fighting it solo doesn’t work, why don’t we all try and take it on together?”

“Yeah! Let’s do that!”

I thought they were expecting me to beat the Gym on my own—I thought I had to beat it on my own.

“Don’t be silly! We’re a team!”

“All right, come on. Payback time! Let’s paint this Gym Team Instinct yellow!”

“Yeah!”

Huddling together shoulder-to-shoulder raised the team’s morale. Just you wait, Blissey. The best team around is coming for you now.

Big Haul! Rah-rah, Magikarp!

Professor Willow informed us about a mass outbreak of Magikarp this morning, so one of my Team Valor teammates and I came to the lake. We wondered what this mass outbreak was all about, but we still weren’t prepared to see so many Magikarp out of the water, flopping around at our feet. Even if we approached them, all they did was splash around and not attack us. If this many were on land, there were sure to be many more in the lake itself.

“Oh no! Get down!”

“Huh?”

I quickly ducked with my hands over my head, and I felt something pass by above me.

“It’s a Pidgeotto!”

The Pidgeotto made a quick dive toward the water and masterfully caught a Magikarp as it splashed out of the lake, before it flew away. The two of us were stuck there, speechless at the speed. We couldn’t win against a Pokémon that could fly.

Since catching a Magikarp in the lake wouldn’t be feasible, we switched targets to the Magikarp that were on land.

“I wonder why they’re flopping around on the land. They’d probably be way more comfortable in the water.”

“Oh yeah, I heard that Magikarp are bad at swimming. If there’s a fast current, they easily

get swept away.”

“What kind of Fish Pokémon can’t swim?” But that gave us a good opportunity. Since so many Magikarp were on land, we wouldn’t have to approach from the sky to catch them.

“If we can evolve them into Gyarados, we’d be unstoppable! Let’s catch a whole bunch of them and make a team of Gyarados!”

Let’s see, which one should I catch? The one splashing around nearest me looks good! I pulled out a Poké Ball from my backpack and took a deep breath. I waited until it stopped moving and threw the Poké Ball. It connected, and the Magikarp got sucked into the Poké Ball.

“Nice! I gotta pick up my pace, too!”

“Wait, if you throw that many Poké Balls at once…”

Maybe the sudden shower of Poké Balls falling from the sky startled the Magikarp, but they all started flopping even harder, and the Poké Ball I had thrown also got slapped away by their tail fins and flew away.

“Aww, man! And I was so close!”

My Poké Ball popped open when it landed, and the Magikarp got away.

“Oh well, I got more where that came from!”

I threw another Poké Ball at the Magikarp that had escaped, but it must have been on guard now, because it deftly slapped away the incoming Poké Ball.

It looked like a Poké Ball wouldn’t be enough on its own, so I pulled out a Nanab Berry from my backpack and tossed it in front of the Magikarp. It must have smelled the Nanab Berry, because it flopped toward it at incredible speed.

Perfect, now’s my chance while it’s slowed by the distraction! I grabbed another Poké Ball and was about to throw it when countless Magikarp leaped out of the lake, lured by the Nanab Berry!

“Wha— It’s raining Magikarp!”

“Let’s get out of here!”

Professor Willow laughed when we trudged back and told him our story. There were so many Magikarp, but we were only able to come back with one. The Magikarp in the tank waved its tail fin while looking at us. When I waved back, I could have sworn that it smiled at me. I guess at some point, I learned how to tell Magikarp apart by their faces.