"Run. That's the only thing you should do if you ever encounter Mewtwo."
Blaine's warning echoed heavily in the room.
Without high-tier strength, resisting Mewtwo wasn't impossible… but defeating him was out of the question. Once a top-class Psychic locks down the field, escape becomes nearly impossible.
If you can't fight and can't flee, you're just waiting to be captured.
Ash nodded. The advice was clear, and ironically, it no longer applied to him. With the strength he currently possessed, escaping from Mewtwo was no longer an issue. He could even fight back.
He accepted the safe from Blaine and placed it carefully into his dimensional backpack. Blaine had already provided the password.
As for figuring out whether these two stones were really connected to Mewtwo… Ash planned to ask the seniors in the group when he had the time.
Next to him, Gary looked like he was developing motion sickness. Artificial Pokémon? Mew's genes? Psychic reactions?
The conversation had completely left his level.
But Gary remembered Blaine's earlier reminder: "Some things are better not asked."
Ask less, involve less. With his current power, he wouldn't even qualify as cannon fodder in this kind of situation.
Ash could fistfight Pokémon.
He could not.
So Gary wisely chose silence.
Blaine exhaled deeply, clearly feeling lighter after handing over the stones. He wasn't abandoning the Mewtwo problem, but he had finally found someone who could actually tilt the situation in a better direction. For reasons even he couldn't articulate, Blaine had a strong intuition that Ash was the key.
"By the way," Blaine said suddenly, "during our fight… Ninetales' special attacks became strangely weak. That wasn't natural. Was that your doing?"
Ash chuckled. "Gardevoir used Topsy-Turvy."
Everyone froze.
"Topsy-Turvy?" Misty repeated, blankly. Brock frowned as well. Neither had ever heard of a move by that name.
Gary tried to think but got nothing.
Only Blaine reacted with horror.
"You don't mean that Topsy-Turvy… the one only Malamar and Grapploct can use?"
"Exactly," Ash replied cheerfully. "I happened to come across it once. Only two species can naturally learn it, but Gardevoir can learn almost anything, so I let her try. She picked it up right away."
His grin grew a bit too happily mischievous.
Topsy-Turvy was a nightmare to deal with. A move so rare that nobody would ever think to guard against it, and used by a Pokémon that absolutely shouldn't be able to learn it.
Blaine felt his face twitching green.
He had racked his brain analyzing the drop in Ninetales' firepower… only to find out the culprit was this one deceptively simple move.
"What does Topsy-Turvy do?" Misty asked cautiously.
Blaine answered with a dark expression:
"Topsy-Turvy reverses all of the opponent's stat boosts and reductions. Nasty Plot should have doubled Ninetales' special attack. But after Topsy-Turvy… it became minus two stages instead."
Misty, Brock, and Gary all sucked in a breath.
That was evil. Absolutely evil.
Blaine continued bitterly:
"Normally this move isn't a problem, because the only Pokémon that can use it are Malamar and Grapploct, both of which have mediocre talent and rarely ever reach high ranks."
"But if a Pokémon like Gardevoir uses it…" He rubbed his forehead. "Then it becomes one of the most disgusting tricks imaginable."
A Psychic-type already had a vast pool of unpredictable moves. Add Topsy-Turvy onto that, and you had a walking nightmare for any Trainer.
Misty, Brock, and Gary exchanged looks, each with the same expression:
So these two were playing such a sinister game on the field just now!
"Ahem, why are you all staring at me like that? My Gardevoir learned Topsy-Turvy on her own. If she can use it, then of course she should use it!"
"Voir~."
Gardevoir nodded with elegant pride, as if to say: All's fair in battle.
Victory was victory. No complaints accepted.
Blaine massaged his forehead. "Fine, fine. Your tactics were indeed… creative. Now for the last thing troubling me: why can your Gardevoir use Psystrike? That move cannot be learned naturally."
Learning through TMs, manuals, mimic training, those were normal. But Psystrike? That wasn't a move you "just see and learn." Anyone who saw Psystrike up close wouldn't be standing here alive.
"Psystrike?" Ash blinked. "You mean the move she used at the end?"
Blaine nodded gravely.
"That one… Gardevoir awakened on her own. Maybe the pressure from Ninetales pushed her past her limit. It felt like it came from somewhere deep in her genes." Ash shrugged. "And yes, if I'm guessing it correct, Psystrike is Mewtwo's move, right?"
Blaine's expression turned serious. "Correct. Mewtwo's exclusive attack, one that blends illusion and reality. It is a super move in the truest sense."
"Illusion and reality?" Ash asked.
"It uses special attack to deal physical damage," Blaine explained. "And the psychic shock it carries… is devastating. The first time Mewtwo unleashed Psystrike, it erased an entire small island. The handful of survivors eventually lost their sanity."
A chill fell over the room.
Gary subconsciously took a half-step back. "Destroyed… an island?"
He'd finally heard something he could understand, and it terrified him.
Blaine's eyes darkened. "From the moment he was born, Mewtwo exhibited nothing but violence and destruction. His very existence feels like a mistake I should never have made."
He paused, as if something heavy pressed down on his chest.
"At the time, I was… obsessed. It felt like something compelled me. Even if I had to abandon everything else, I had to create him. Looking back, it makes no sense. If I were given another chance, I would never touch research that involves copying life, much less tampering with Mew's godlike genes."
He exhaled shakily.
"We trespassed on something humanity was never meant to touch."
Ash lowered his gaze thoughtfully. "Is Mewtwo really that terrifying?"
Blaine's bitter smile returned. "Even worse than what I've described."
"But…" Ash looked at Gardevoir with a gentle expression. "Gardevoir was also created using Mew's genes. When she was a Ralts, she wasn't violent. She was adorable and affectionate. Even now, she's gentle, thoughtful, and sweet, except when she's destroying someone in battle."
"So both were created using Mew's genes," Ash continued softly. "Why is one gentle… and the other violent? Isn't that a sign that Mewtwo's personality was shaped by what he saw and experienced?"
That single question struck Blaine harder than any punch Ash had thrown earlier.
Ash pressed on gently:
"A Pokémon is a blank slate. How it grows depends on the Trainer and the environment. Even a Gyarados can be gentle if raised by a gentle Trainer."
Blaine's breath caught.
He had never considered that possibility.
"Mewtwo is Psychic," Ash said. "Just like Gardevoir, he can sense the hearts of people around him. What if the reason he became violent was because everything he sensed… told him the world was cruel?"
The room fell into a heavy silence.
Finally, Blaine exhaled slowly. "Maybe. Maybe not. But I personally witnessed the destruction he caused. Whether he was born that way or shaped by others, Mewtwo today is undeniably dangerous."
"I disagree," Ash replied calmly. "If he turned cruel because of humans, then I'll bring him back to the right path, no matter what."
His conviction rang out like steel.
Blaine stared at him for a long moment… then sighed. "I truly hope you're right. But don't let your ideals blind you, Ash. If you meet him, be careful. Don't throw away your only chance to run."
Ash flashed a confident grin. "Relax. Everything's under control."
Blaine rubbed his temple. "If hope so…"