96 A Taste of Despair

"Mew.....two....?" Gengar uttered with a confused look on his face.

"Thank you Mewtwo... Truly..." I said to the legendary without giving Gengar another thought. As far as I was concerned, the battle was already over with him around.

"Think nothing of it. I had merely been meditating when I felt a grotesque and disgusting presence, and happened to arrive when I did." He answered without taking his eyes off of Gengar.

Despite his dismissal, I truly was thankful to him for saving Charmeleon. Mewtwo didn't have to go out of his way to do so, and definitely wouldn't have if it was the Mewtwo from when we first met. This just showed how much he'd changed from the mindless killer of Mt. Moon.

"Of course you'd show up." Lucario snorted as he arrived beside us as well. But as he did so his body began to glow, before he returned to his original form as the Mega Evolution wore out.

"Ever the loser." Mewtwo replied back at him with snarky attitude that surprised me a little.

"I didn't lose. I'm just tapping out for a little rest." Lucario stated stubbornly, which I almost cracked a smile to.

"Spoken like a true loser." Mewtwo snorted.

But then he directed all of his attention to Gengar.

"I see now, I was getting worried for nothing!" Gengar snickered as he drifted towards us with a shit-eating grin on his face.

"Are you a Mew wannabe, or some cheap Mew knock-off?" He asked Mewtwo tauntingly.

"..."

"Neither. I am the upgrade." Mewtwo answered, though I'm pretty sure I heard a bit of an edge to his voice.

"Sounds like something a wannabe would say~." Gengar said while acting Ike he was examining his nails.

Scratch that. Mewtwo was definitely pissed as his psychic energy exploded to encompass him like an aura.

The next thing I knew, the scenery around me shifted as I suddenly found myself outside the Pokemon Center along with the rest of my Pokemon, as well as the girls and Mr. Fuji.

"""Ace!"""

They exclaimed as they hurried to check me and my Pokemon over.

"Are you alright?" Dawn asked worriedly.

"We could see the battle from here!" Misty declared.

"It was both amazing and terrifying!" May concluded.

Meanwhile Joy was just wordlessly looking over me and my Pokemon, before focusing on Charmeleon.

"I'm fine. Charmeleon and Miltank got the worst of it." I told them reassuringly.

"Milllll!" Miltank added, already having recovered after she used Milk Drink.

"Ace... Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that THE Mewtwo we were all worried about before?" Wendy asked me while pointing to the battle about to take place.

As she spoke we all watched as Gengar sent a massive Shadow Ball at Mewtwo, who casually flicked it away towards the ocean past the mountains to the east. He then held his hand out and fired a massive beam of psychic type energy at Gengar, who dodged it by diving into the shadows that were everywhere around us.

"Yep. It is." I told Wendy, even as we couldn't tear our gazes away from the battle taking place.

"I see... And why is it here fighting that true alpha Gengar?" She asked me next.

"Well you see, this and that happened and now he and I are friends." I told her without saying anything else.

"..."

"Cool....." Kate said as she looked between Mewtwo and I with starry eyes, even as Wendy gave me a blank stare.

"Friends...? With a Legendary that tried to kill you...?"

"Yeah. Is something wrong with that?" I asked her curiously.

"Nope." Wendy answered dryly, even as Mewtwo created a psychic blade that was longer than the Pokemon Tower, before swiping it at Gengar while destroying entire sections of the town. "Nothing at all."

The entire time we were talking, and Mewtwo was fighting Gengar, Mr. Fuji was looking at us with awe while shades of hope began to bleed into his aura.

"By the way... Are we safe here?" May asked worriedly as the ground beneath us shuddered, due to Mewtwo literally picking up a building to drop onto Gengar.

"With two Legendaries duking it out nearby? Not at all." I answered bluntly. But there was no point in worrying, as there was no way all of us could get far enough away without teleporting to escape from this battle. We might as well stay and enjoy the spectacle.

"Can Mewtwo win?" Misty asked next, to which I had no answer readily available as I watched them fight.

If I recalled right, Hudson told me that the true alphas like Gengar were the children of Mew, or at least that's what they were believed to be. As the 'perfected' Mew, Mewtwo SHOULD have this battle in the bag. But there were numerous other factors to take into consideration.

Firstly was that Gengar was far older and had infinitely more time and experience to hone his powers compared to Mewtwo, as evidenced by the fact that he was still smirking as the two of them fought. Plus there was the fact that his ghost typing gave him a distinct advantage over Mewtwo.

BUT, Mewtwo was in fact a replica of Mew, who should be significantly stronger than the true alphas it may or may not have created. Not only that, but Gengar had been sleeping for more than a thousand years. He should still be regaining his previous strength.

***

"Kekekekeke! You're not bad for a knock-off!" Gengar sneered at him, frustrating Mewtwo to no end.

Never in his life had anyone DARED to make a mockery of him, yet this insignificant THING seemed to be going out of its way to do so. And most frustrating of all, was that this bug was proving to be difficult to squash.

What didn't help matters was that Gengar had turned the entire area into his own little playground. Despite it being the middle of the day, Gengar had plunged the entire area into the darkness of night to give himself the ultimate advantage.

Though Mewtwo felt that he should commend Ace Ketchum and his Pokemon for holding out against such an adversary, with each passing second it was increasingly obvious that Gengar had never even considered taking them seriously. It had merely been playing with them to make their inevitable defeat all the more devastating to them.

Even now, numerous blades made of shadow were sprouting up everywhere around him in order to skewer him, but Mewtwo encased himself in a sphere of psychic energy that none of them could pierce.

"Come out~! I just want to play~!" Gengar sneered from seeing him defend himself.

"You are insufferably annoying." Mewtwo stated plainly, even as massive meteors rained down on them from above. Meteors Mewtwo pulled into the atmosphere with his powers.

"Oh no~!" Gengar cried with mock despair, before quickly hiding in the shadows once more.

"Coward." Mewtwo uttered, before the ground beneath him erupted with shadows as Gengar reappeared.

"Give me a hug baby brother~!" He cried as his entire shadowy body wrapped around the sphere Mewtwo encased himself within.

"I am not your brother." He snarled at Gengar.

"Don't say that~! After all, aren't we both created from Mew~?"

"..."

His words made Mewtwo pause slightly.

"That's right~... Think about it~. Mew created me by fusing spirits and regrets with toxic gas. How were YOU made~?"

Mewtwo was silent as he contemplated what Gengar was saying.

He had thought he was alone.

No mother.

No father.

No kin.

But, was that not the case?

*Crack!*

Mewtwo was shaken from his stupor as he realized his momentary slip of mind caused his shield to waver, and it had begun to crack under the force of Gengar's shadows.

"We are not brothers." He stated firmly, condensing his psychic power onto himself and building it up, before releasing it outwards like a psychic bomb while releasing the shield.

The result was Gengar and his shadows being blasted away, while any remaining buildings and such around them were reduced to dust. But before the blast could extend too far, Mewtwo nullified it so it would not affect Ace Ketchum and his companions.

For a moment there was silence into the aftermath of the psychic bomb, which Mewtwo reveled in before that increasingly detestable voice cackled,

"Wow~! Quite the display there baby-WOAH!"

Whatever Gengar was about to say next was cut off as Mewtwo fired a sphere of psychic power at him yet again, before following it with an constant stream of rapid-fire psychic blasts.

The ghost/poison type moved with an agility and grace that didn't match his size or form as he dodge, ducked, dipped, dived, and dodged every single psychic blast sent at him, before finishing up by swan diving into the shadows yet again.

"I'm starting to think you may not like me lil-bro..." Gengar's depressed voice called out from the shadows, making Mewtwo glance around on the alert while also spreading his psychic senses out for the slightest disturbance.

"I'm not your 'bro'." He stated irritably, even as he searched for his adversary.

"Don't say that~! You'll hurt my feelings~!" Gengar wailed with false despair, even as the shadows condensed into numerous blades that converged on Mewtwo all at once.

"I'm convinced you have no feelings to hurt, so I don't care." Mewtwo responded even while easily dodging the blades.

He then decided to try a different tactic as he gathered power into his hands, before converting it to the fire type as he launched it skywards.

"I think you missed~!" Gengar cackled, before the fire type energy exploded to create a bright and intense light. Just like the sun.

"This is MY version of Sunny Day." Mewtwo stated plainly.

Instead of simply lighting the area up a little to power up fire type attacks, it was like a second sun had appeared in the sky that made all of the shadows vanish, forcing Gengar out into the light.

"GAH! IT'S SO BRIGHT!" He wailed while trying to shield his eyes, as if the sunlight was genuinely burning him.

"Good." Was all Mewtwo said in response, before he began to bombard Gengar with powerful psychic blasts yet again. Except this time they all hit their mark, as there were no longer any shadows for Gengar to hide in.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Gengar wailed as he was assaulted by the psychic attacks, before his form began to grow unstable.

"HELP ME! I'M MELTING! I'M MELTING!" Gengar's cries rang out as his figure began to dissolve into a massive puddle of toxic goo. All while Mewtwo watched impassively.

"Good riddance." He said mercilessly, before turning to fly away.

"Hm?" He uttered when he noticed numerous black Pokeballs floating in the air around him.

"Pffffft! Don't tell me you bought that Tauros-shit!" Gengar's voice rang out as it appeared yet again. And as Mewtwo turned to face him, all of the Pokeballs burst open suddenly.

"""Gastly!"""

"""Haunter!"""

"""Gengar!"""

Hundreds of ghost Pokemon, with the vast majority being those from the Gengar line, appeared from the black Pokeballs at the true alpha Gengar's will. And they all surrounded Mewtwo.

"You-!" Mewtwo started, before numerous ribbons of shadows wrapped around his limbs to restrain him in place.

"Do you really think this can restrain me?" He asked with irritation in his voice.

"Kekekeke~! Normally? There's no way in hell~!" Gengar admitted while nodding his head. "BUT, I'm here now~! And you're outnumbered a few hundred to one~!"

As Gengar said that all of the ghost Pokemon surrounded and closed in on Mewtwo, close enough that he could tell that they were all significantly more powerful than normal. Plus they were completely under Gengar's control.

"I see... You control them and they are strengthened just by being around you." Mewtwo commented without any noticeable concern, though his mind was racing while he tried to focus his powers to escape this.

"I don't think so~!" Gengar called out in a sing-song voice, before something slimy and hot ran up Mewtwo's body.

"!!!"

His entire body seized from the super sized Lick attack, disgust filling him while the surrounding ghost Pokemon also took action.

Together, they started to swirl around Mewtwo in a massive cyclone of negative ghostly energy that smothered any attempt Mewtwo made in trying to amass any psychic power. Altogether, the effect was hundreds of times stronger than when Giovanni tried to send his three alpha ghost Pokemon at him.

"Now then~!" Gengar sneered as he appeared before Mewtwo. "Let's see what makes you tick, little brother~!"

The next thing Mewtwo knew he felt something sinister trying to invade his mind, which he hardened his defenses against only to receive another Lick attack to distract him.

"Pointless." Mewtwo snarled as he steeled himself against the disgust, even as Gengar proceeded to Lick him all over his body.

"Oh~? A toughie, eh~?" Gengar said while stroking his non-existent beard after several minutes of using Lick, and Mewtwo's defenses remaining as strong as ever.

"That's the thing with you psychic types I guess..... Too level headed..." Gengar said as if it couldn't be helped. "Guess I'll have to bring out the heavy guns to get through that thick skull of yours..."

"..."

Mewtwo steeled himself for whatever Gengar would try this time, all while continuously trying to amass enough power to break free of his restraints.

"How about...." Gengar muttered as he turned his back to Mewtwo, hiding whatever it was he preparing, until...

"THIS! OOGA BOOGA BOOGA!"

"!?!"

Mewtwo blinked as Gengar spun around suddenly, wearing a stupid green mask with crazy eyes and large purple nose.

"GOTCHA!" Gengar declared at the momentary lapse in Mewtwo concentration, which he used to slip in to his consciousness without taking the mask off.

Immediately Mewtwo groaned as he felt a sensation akin to a Steelix burrowing into his skull, before the sensation exploded as his entire mind felt as if it were under attack.

"Kekekeke~! Tell me, how do you like this Nightmare~?" Gengar asked from within his mind, before the pain intensified as Mewtwo was suddenly somewhere else.

...

Now he was strapped to a table, back in Team Rocket headquarters as numerous scientists surrounded him accompanied by someone he'd parted on VERY bad terms with.

"Do you see how futile it is now? Struggle all you want. You will always end up back here, in YOUR proper place." Giovanni sneered down at him, before the scientists surrounding him started pulling out numerous surgical instruments.

"Is this all you can do?" Mewtwo sneered at Gengar, before channeling his psychic power to break these restraints just like he had before.

"..."

"Oh? What's the matter?" Giovanni sneered down at him when he'd realized what he was trying to do.

"Don't worry, we made sure there would be no 'incidents' like last time. We even decided we don't need YOU anymore. But, you ARE Team Rocket property, and you have something we want."

As Giovanni said that the scientists held up significantly more menacing instruments as he drawled, "your DNA will be much appreciated when we make the next Omega Weapon, one that will know where it truly belongs. Mewthree."

"!!!"

Mewtwo strained against his restraints when he realized what it was they were going to do to him, or rather what Gengar was showing him they'd do.

"Kekekeke~! That's the fun part little brother~! This may be just a dream, but everything taking place will feel real to those experiencing it~! Now enjoy it to your hearts content, the feeling of being completely, and utterly powerless~!"

And powerless Mewtwo was, as the scientists started up a circular saw before bringing it down to his stomach.

For the first time in his life, Mewtwo screamed.

***

"Somethings wrong!" I declared as the menacing cyclone around Mewtwo continued to circulate.

"Really? I mean this is THAT Mewtwo!" Misty stated worriedly.

"Yeah, but if he were going to break free of that thing he'd have done so already! Something is wrong!" I stated firmly. I don't know why, but I knew I was right in my gut. Something horrible was happening!

"But what can we do?" Dawn asked fearfully. But it wasn't like I could blame her. If a Legendary of all things was in trouble, then it DEFINITELY meant we were out of our league.

But I still had to try!

"Pidgeot, let's go!" I called out to my bird.

"Geo!" Pidgeot answered as he prepared to take off, though I waited long enough only to lift Cubone down from his back and pass him to Mr. Fuji.

"I coming too!" Lucario stated as I prepared to mount up.

"Yeah, right." I told him with a deadpan.

"What's with that reaction?" He demanded irritably.

"You're still weak from Mega Evolving, and can barely stand. You're staying here."

Even as I said that Lucario was about to protest, before Joy poked him with her finger and he literally crumpled to the ground.

"CHAR!" Charmeleon suddenly cried, having already regained consciousness thanks to Joy's treatment.

"Charmeleon, no." I told my starter sternly, but he just ignored me as he faced the battleground.

Indignation, frustration, and fury were radiating off of his body as he glared at the place where Gengar must be.

"Charmeleon-" I called out to him, only to bite my tongue.

"CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!" He roared out in a way I'd never heard before, before heat began to radiate from his body in powerful and intense waves.

I watched in awe as my white Charmeleon was enveloped in white light, before his figure grew, and grew, and GREW. Charmeleon grew until he was more than ten feet tall, while two new appendages sprouted from his back that grew into a pair of massive wings.

And when the light faded, all of us were gaping in awe at a massive pure white Charizard.

"CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!" He roared once more in challenge, before flapping his wings and shooting straight up into the air while creating a powerful downdraft.

And once he was high enough, Charizard took in a deep breath, before spewing a Flamethrower so intense and powerful, that we could all feel it practically burning our skin from down here on the ground.

The Flamethrower was so strong, that it tore through the battlefield before impacting the swirling cyclone of ghost Pokemon surrounding Mewtwo.

In an instant ALL of the ghost Pokemon scattered, fearing for their life as they fled from the powerful flames of a Pokemon blessed by Ho-Oh. Something I now knew for a fact after Gengar's earlier reaction.

But as they scattered, we all saw Mewtwo and Gengar there with the former bound by shadows while his expression was twisted by shock and pain. So much pain.

Whatever Mewtwo was going through, it was so intense that I could FEEL it through my aura from here. And I knew Lucario was the same, as he also winced and looked away from the Legendary.

"Oh no..."

"Poor Mewtwo!"

"We have to help him!"

The girls exclaimed one by one, their fear of Mewtwo apparently forgotten as we witnessed what he was going through.

"..."

"Huh?!" I exclaimed while glancing around alertedly.

"Ace?"

"I felt someone call out to me..." I responded to May's questioning tone.

"..."

"!!!"

"There it is again!" I declared while looking around, only to once again find no one.

"Partner..." Lucario said while looking at me worriedly. Apparently he hadn't heard it either.

"..."

I fell silent as I tried to refine my hearing, focusing on whatever it was I'd heard those two times. And when I heard it again, I could tell what it was it wanted. What HE wanted.

"I understand." I answered him, now knowing who it was I had heard.

"Partner?" Lucario asked worriedly, before I stepped forward with purpose in my steps.

"Geo?" Pidgeot asked me, wondering if we were still going to go. Even Charizard was looking at me worriedly as he landed beside me, exhausted from that Flamethrower after his earlier injuries, but still willing to fight if I gave the order.

"It's ok." I told them, with my eyes never leaving Mewtwo's figure.

"MEWTWO!" I cried out to my friend, raising my fist up into the air as I did so.

When I did that my new Keystone ring began to shine yet again, before Mewtwo was encased in a sphere of light just like when I Mega Evolved Lucario.

"Wha-!? What is this!?!" Gengar demanded as he recoiled from Mewtwo, and all of the shadowy restraints binding Mewtwo were destroyed.

*CRACK!*

*SHATTER!*

A moment later the sphere of light shattered to reveal a different figure from the Mewtwo we all knew.

He looked to be about two feet shorter than before, while his tail apparently moved up to the back of his head, and a half-ring extended up from either side like a halo. But most notable was the fact that psychic power radiated from him like he was a miniature sun.

"Fuck yeah..." I groaned from seeing the difference, before I felt the strength leave my legs.

"""Ace!"""

"Partner!"

I heard everyone exclaim as I dropped to my knees, while I could also taste blood in my mouth before some of it trickled from my nose.

Despite all this, all that had my attention was Mewtwo's current appearance, and Gengar's reaction.

"W-w-w-w-w-what is this!?!?!?!?!" The true alpha demanded as he appeared genuinely unsettled for the first time since he became unsealed.

"You're just supposed to be some wannabe, knock-off, test tube baby! WHAT ARE YOU?!"

In spite of his opponent's rising fear, Mewtwo just calmly looked over the changes to his body. And it was only when he had finished that he looked at Gengar, making him flinch as he did so, and calmly stated,

"I already told you, I am none of these things. I am the upgrade. I am MEWTWO!"

***

In another part of the world, there was a wide expanse of jungle where Pokemon all roamed freely, hundreds of miles from the nearest civilization.

One Pokemon in particular was encased in a sphere of pink psychic energy that lazily drifted in a small lake, dozing peacefully as it did so.

But then, a sudden spike of psychic energy got its attention as it woke up. Energy that matched its own.

The sphere popped like a bubble as the Pokemon flew up past the treetops to gaze curiously in the direction the energy was coming from, before it disappeared in a streak of pink light that extended up into the sky.