86 A Legendary Meal

"May I join you?" A voice telepathically asked me, a voice that I immediately recognized.

The reaction around the table was immediate, as all of the girls froze while looking behind me with both fear and anger. Joy especially was shaking in her chair as she stared at the speaker.

Surprisingly though, the one to have the mildest reaction was Lucario. Questions for later though, as I turned around to face our guest.

Mewtwo.

He lacked the robotic armor he'd been wearing the last time I'd seen him, back when he'd been strangling the life out of me after I offered myself up in place of my Pokemon.

His aura was still unreadable, but I could tell enough to know that he didn't mean any of us any harm. As such, I kept my expression neutral as I considered his request.

"Ok. But I'll have you help me wash the dishes when we're done eating." I told him.

"""!!!"""

Every eye turned to me incredulously at my statement, while even Mewtwo hadn't moved from his place as he asked me,

"You would have me....wash dishes?"

While there was a bit of an edge to his voice at my condition, I couldn't tell if he was actually angry or just incredulous that I'd request such a thing of him. Of course I just looked back at him and asked,

"Did you bring a dish of your own for us?"

"No..."

"Did you help set the table?"

"No..."

"Then, if you were a proper guest, you'd help us clean up after we all finished eating."

"..."

"I see... Repayment for the meal?"

"In a way. It's mostly just being polite and showing respect to whoever prepared the meal." I told him.

"Very well." Mewtwo said as he slowly lowered himself to the ground.

While he did that I quickly removed an extra foldable chair from my bag, and set it up for him between Lucario and I. I doubted any of the girls would want him sitting beside any of them.

The next minute or so was rather entertaining though, as we watched Mewtwo try and figure out how to sit in the chair with his large tail. And judging by the shit-eating grin on his face, Lucario was enjoying every single second of the show.

Once he finally figured it out, I quickly placed an extra set of plates and eating utensils in front of him, which Mewtwo only looked at confusedly.

"Ok then. Let's dig in!" I said once he was situated, jolting the girls as they recalled we were supposed to be eating. Though I wondered if they'd even be able to eat dinner with how nervous they all were.

Even as everyone moved to dish up their own plate, Mewtwo hadn't as he watched us silently.

"What do you like?" I asked him while filling my bowl with stew.

"'Like'? Does sustenance have different likabilities?" He asked in confusion.

"Of course! Some people like to eat certain things, while others can't stand them!" I exclaimed in shock. I knew Mewtwo had stunted mental experiences due to his age and being with Team Rocket, but I didn't know it was THIS bad. He even called food 'sustenance'!

I quickly ladled some stew into his own bowl, before asking Joy to pass me one of the sides.

"Just try a bit of everything, and if you really like it then you can have some more. If there's any left." I explained to him while making his plate for him like one would a child.

I decided NOT to voice that particular thought out loud though, as I doubted Mewtwo would appreciate it.

The entire time the girls were watching him warily, even as Lucario and I both channeled calming auras towards them and the Pokemon. Happiny in particular was glaring at Mewtwo quite angrily, and wrapped her little nubs for arms around her food protectively as if Mewtwo would try to take it.

I could feel his eyes on myself, and the rest of us as we ate with our spoons and forks. Watching to learn how we ate.

I then watched him in return out of the corner of my eye as he picked up his own utensils hesitantly, before using them to spoon a mouthful of stew into his mouth.

"!!!"

His entire body reacted from the sensation as he took his first bite, and from his expression I thought he didn't like it or that it was too hot. But then...

"How curious. I have never experienced such sensations before...." He uttered in awe, before bringing another spoonful of stew to his mouth to sample some more.

I watched with a wry smile as Mewtwo cleared almost everything on his plate, leaving only the mashed potatoes since he didn't seem to care for them.

"More." He practically commanded, his gaze locking onto the pot of stew on the other side of the table.

Just as he raised his hand to telepathically summon the pot though, I placed my hand onto his arm.

"Don't be rude." I told him sternly, making Mewtwo look at me incredulously before I added, "the pot is by Dawn. Ask her politely to pass it to you instead of demanding it."

Though I could see the unwillingness in his eyes, Mewtwo eventually relented as he muttered, "a guest cannot be rude to their host... Can you please pass me the stew?"

I nodded to Dawn at her questioning look, and she reluctantly lifted the pot and passed it directly to Mewtwo. Though he looked like he was about to use his powers to grab it, I shot him a look and he instead grabbed it with his own hands.

The rest of our dinner passed relatively uneventfully, except for us finding out how bottomless Mewtwo's stomach apparently was. The only reason there was leftover stew for me to take to Jessie later was because I managed to save some before he ate it all.

Once we all finished eating I began collecting the dishes with Mewtwo assisting me, though he also made a comment about how it'd be faster to use his powers. I just ignored it while leading him to the stream nearby, where I filled a couple small tubs with water before adding some environmentally safe soap to them.

"So, how was your first meal?" I asked him as I scrubbed the pots and pans.

"Different than I expected..." Mewtwo answered as he scrubbed the plates and bowls.

For a time it was silent as we worked, before he commented, "you never asked why I'm here."

"I figured you'd bring it up eventually." I answered.

"..."

"What if I came to finish you off?" He asked me.

"Well, if that were the case then I'd either fight back, or ask you to wait until we finished eating."

"You seem very casual about dying."

"We all die someday, regardless of how much we try to avoid it. So, instead of needlessly worrying and fruitlessly trying to extend my life, I prefer to live it with as few regrets as possible."

"..."

Mewtwo was silent to my answer as he continued scrubbing the same plate until it was well beyond spotless. I was beginning to wonder what he was thinking about when he asked,

"What is your goal Ace Ketchum?"

"My goal, huh?" I uttered in contemplation while thinking.

"Well, first and foremost, I want to travel the world with my Pokemon and wives. As we go here or there I want to catch and train as many Pokemon as possible, and mark my name as one of the strongest trainers in history."

I also wanted to fuck as many beautiful woman as I could, but I doubted that needed to be said as well. Along with my life's mission that Arceus gave me when he reincarnated me.

"I see..." Mewtwo said before falling silent yet again. Until he began,

"I do not know what direction my life will take me in. I am a clone, not a natural creature. The only goal I can think of, is to find for what purpose I exist."

Looking down at his own hand as he said that, Mewtwo entered his broodiest silence yet before I nudged him to get his attention.

"Look over there." I said while pointing to Tyrunt, who was currently trying to tear into his tire.

"Tyrunt is like you, in that you're both clones. The only difference is that you want to keep brooding over the unimportant things, while he only wants to focus on what's right in front of him. Which is a tire at the moment."

Mewtwo's silence this time had a completely different quality to it as he watched Tyrunt play with his tire. And it was during this silence that I recalled a certain quote.

"The circumstances of one's birth is irrelevant, it is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are."

"!!!"

Mewtwo looked to me sharply when he heard that, before asking, "who said that?"

I just smirked back at him as I said, "find something to do with the gift that is your life, and I'll tell you."

The rest of our cleanup was fairly quiet as Mewtwo thought on my words, with the only sound being the bubbling of the stream and the scratching of our scrubbers on the dishes.

When we finished we rinsed them all off in the stream before dumping the tubs out, and then setting them all up to dry. And while we worked on that the girls had wiped down and put away the table while moving the chairs to encircle the fire. They had also taken out out dessert for the night, pudding cups.

"Here you go~!" May said as she brought me mine.

"Thank you May!" I said while popping the top and scooping some of the delicious cream out with a plastic spoon.

"U-um... Here's yours." Dawn on the other hand uttered shyly as she offered Mewtwo his pudding cup and spoon.

"You can just throw both of those in the trash can when you're done eating." I said while pointing out our portable trash can.

Nodding slowly in affirmation, Mewtwo popped the top of the cup and silently spooned some of the pudding up to his mouth.

"!!!"

His aura suddenly spiked as he took his first bite of pudding, alarming me as I looked up to see what was wrong.

"Delicious!" Mewtwo exclaimed with the first smile I'd ever seen on his face, before he shoveled the rest of the pudding into his mouth.

"More!" He commanded with the same tone as earlier, to which I just cocked a brow at him.

"Can I please...have some more?" He asked questioningly, as if he wasn't sure if it was right.

But I nodded to Dawn, who went to grab more from her bag.

"What kind do you want?" I asked him.

"There's different kinds!?!" Mewtwo demanded urgently, to which I nodded in affirmation even as Dawn pulled one of each out for him to pick from.

"Which one is the best!?!" He asked while looking them all over.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I like tapioca the best." I replied while spooning some of it into my mouth.

"Tapioca...?" He uttered to himself while checking the different types.

"Yeah, but there's also chocolate, vanilla, a swirl of the two of them, butterscotch, and several others." I said while ticking them all off on my fingers.

With each flavor I listed though, Mewtwo seemed to grow increasingly distressed as he apparently struggled to choose just one.

"If you want, you can try them all." I said to him.

"Really!?!"

"Yep. Just think of it as thanks for not killing me before."

"Then I will accept." Mewtwo said with a voice like he was reluctant, but his now flaring aura told me otherwise.

Poor Giovanni. All he apparently needed to tame Mewtwo was some pudding cups...

As he began sampling them one by one, I finished mine before throwing away the garbage. The sun was going down, so that meant it was time to work with my other Pokemon.

After recalling and bidding farewell to Persian, my two Meowth, my Rattata, and Tyrunt, I sent them all back to the professor before calling Sneasel, Poochyena, Houndour, Zubat, Lickitung, Tangela, and Grovyle.

"Alright guys, let's get to work!" I declared, to which they all nodded before pairing up to run drills and warm up.

A short while later I had them all sparring with one another as they worked to become stronger, Sneasel against Grovyle, Poochyena against Houndour, Tangela against Lickitung, and Zubat against Ditto, who transformed to mimic her. It's training mostly revolved around trying to master using the different forms it could take, as well as trying to hold them for longer periods of time.

"I wish to ask you something." Mewtwo suddenly said to me, having apparently finished his pudding cups.

"What's up?" I asked him without taking my eyes off of my Pokemon.

"If you've got the Keystones and Mega Stones for it, why have you not tried mega evolving your Pokemon yet?"

"???"

"Wait, you mean I can mega evolve my Pokemon?!?" I asked him incredulously, while also earning the attention of the girls and Lucario.

"From what Giovanni explained to me about the process, yes." Mewtwo said, before pointing to Misty. "The item in her hair, it is the Keystone that a trainer uses to trigger a mega evolution. From what I can sense, you've got a couple more of them in your bag."

As he said that I hurriedly dug through my bag, before removing two of the curious stones I'd bought back in Pewter. They shimmered like a rainbow, and had a curious looking symbol on them.

"Yes, those are the Keystones." Mewtwo continued, now having everybody's complete attention.

"When paired with a specific Mega Stone, and the correct Pokemon, one can induce mega evolution in them for a short period of time. Giovanni would occasionally do so with his Kangaskhan to analyze the process for research purposes."

Again, I searched my bag for the only thing that I could think of when Mewtwo mentioned Mega Stones, and pulled out several small stones that shimmered with different colors.

"You have so many..." Mewtwo uttered quietly as we looked over them.

"So I just give these to my Pokemon, and they'll be able to mega evolve?" I asked him.

"Not necessarily. It has to be the correct stone for the Pokemon in question. For example, Giovanni said that to mega evolve his Kangaskhan he needed a specific stone called Kangaskhanite."

I silently digested this information that Mewtwo gave us, as mega evolution was completely knew territory to me. I didn't even know it existed until Brock used it, and both he and the professor refused to explain it to me afterwards.

"How many Pokemon can mega evolve?" I asked Mewtwo curiously.

"I'm not sure. The only ones I'm aware of were those who belonged to Team Rocket, Kangaskhan for Giovanni, Alakazam for Sabrina, and Manectric for Surge."

I nodded slowly in contemplation while adding Steelix to the list since it was the first one I'd seen. That made four Pokemon that I knew could mega evolve, but none of which I even had.

The question was, how could I determine what other Pokemon could mega evolve?

I picked up one of the Mega Stones as I pondered that, analyzing it while thinking.

The stone in question was orange with a wavy streak of red and blue going through it, reminding me of a large marble more than anything. A marble that gave off a slight aura of energy that I could sense. An aura that felt intimately familiar....

I looked past the stone at Lucario sitting on the opposite side from me, also scrutinizing the stones.

"Think fast." I said suddenly, tossing the stone at him.

Lucario plucked the stone out of the air before it hit him as if it were nothing, and the second he came into contact with it my eyes widened. The aura of the stone was FUSING with Lucario's aura.

"How interesting..." Lucario uttered as he looked at the stone closely.

Now I understand why I instinctively picked that particular stone up first, since it was already so familiar to me due to Lucario.

"Shall we partner?" He asked me eagerly while holding the stone up.

"Not tonight. It's already getting pretty late as it is. But we can spend some time working on it tomorrow before heading to the Pokemon Center." I told him, making Lucario look at me in distraught.

However I was firm on my decision, mostly since I still had other things to do tonight as well. Plus it would take a while to go through the stones I had in order to see if any matched the rest of my Pokemon. Not to mention that it'd be hard to check for several of them since I'm pretty sure mega evolution only worked for those in their final evolutionary form.

Of which, the only ones I had that qualified for that were Lucario, Pidgeot, Sharpedo, Exeggutor, Vespiquen, Ampharos, Gyarados, Milotic, and now Persian. Aside from them was Miltank, Tauros, and Ditto, who all don't have another evolutionary form.

But like I'd told Lucario, that can wait until tomorrow morning.

"Are you gonna stick around, or are you gonna take of for the night?" I asked Mewtwo.

"I will leave, since it doesn't take a mind reader to know I'm not exactly wanted around here." Mewtwo answered, making the girls shuffle awkwardly since it was obvious he was talking about them.

I wonder what he'd read from their minds?

"Ok then. Don't be a stranger though. You're welcome to stop by for dinner or any other meal when we have it." I told him seriously.

"Truly?" He asked with surprise.

"Of course. Just send word ahead of time if you can, just so that we'd know if we need to make extra."

"..."

"Why go so far for me?" He asked confusedly.

"Why not? As far as I can tell you had every reason to kill me, but decided not to. And I figured you're no longer aligned with Team Rocket. There's no reason we can't be friends."

"Friends..." Mewtwo uttered quietly, as if the word was completely foreign to him.

"Very well, friend. I will see you later." As he said that Mewtwo vanished suddenly, teleporting somewhere else entirely.

"Alright everyone, let's get ready for bed so we can try out mega evolution tomorrow!"

"""YEAH!"""

The girls and Pokemon all cried out excitedly before dispersing to do just that. As they got ready for bed though, I prepared to venture out to locate Jessie, James and Meowth. Both to deliver Jessie her food, and to make sure they weren't going to plan a night attack.

Before I could do that though, I needed to collect my Mega Stones again. When I started gathering them up off the ground though, I noticed that two of them were missing.

"Huh? Where'd they go!?" I exclaimed worriedly.

***

"..."

Mewtwo was silent as he digested everything that happened that night, from his first real meal, to his conversation with Ace Ketchum.

But the most shocking thing had been neither of those, as he looked at the two stones floating before him.

One was a very light pale color with streaks of blue and purple, while the other was a similar pale with streaks of different shades of pink.

They were Ace's two missing Mega Stones.

"How can this be...?" Mewtwo uttered in confusion, since both stones seemed to be reacting to his energy the same way Lucario's had reacted to his aura.

"Does this make me.....imperfect? Incomplete?" He asked while thinking back to what Giovanni used to say to him, about him being the most powerful Pokemon in the world.

But then he recalled what Ace Ketchum had said back when they first 'met', about how his mind was shielded by something more powerful than him.

Was it possible that, in the grand scheme of things, he too was considered 'weak'? Was there truly Pokemon out there more powerful than him?