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Mew and Mewtwo were arguing fiercely.
Somehow, it made the situation feel theatrical.
But Mew wasn't doing this out of boredom, picking a fight with Dark Mewtwo. It was simply waiting for the crystals and roots to completely absorb the dark energy.
In short, it was buying time.
After Li Xiang realized this, he felt the innocent and carefree image of Mew in his mind shatter.
The Mew in the special manga chapter was so adorable, wanting to befriend Pikachu and Meowth.
'And you? The first thing you did was start insulting Dark Mewtwo.'
Whether Dark Mewtwo was stunned or not, Li Xiang certainly was.
However, he wasn't too surprised and quietly observed their verbal sparring from the side.
Time passed by, minute by minute. It seemed Mew had almost finished absorbing.
But then.....
"Why can't I absorb it cleanly?"
Mew looked at Dark Mewtwo in surprise. The latter laughed heartily, showing an evil expression befitting a villain.
"Because I hate you every single moment! I stay angry!"
Dark Mewtwo said smugly. "This power comes from all negative emotions! You can never remove it! You can never strip it from my body!"
"What you can do is take my life! Proving your incompetence! Hahaha!"
This guy had suddenly become proud.
Mew couldn't help but look exasperated. "What are you so proud of, you copy?"
"I am not a copy!"
Dark Mewtwo retorted loudly.
The situation suddenly felt childish, and this Mewtwo didn't seem very bright.
The Ho-Oh Guard, however, was more concerned about the solution.
Kill Dark Mewtwo? It wasn't out of the question. If absolutely necessary... they might have to resort to that.
This guy was just too dangerous.
"What exactly do you want to do?"
Mew was somewhat helpless against this tough nut and asked indignantly.
"What do I want to do? I want to prove my strength! Defeat you! I am the strongest in the world!"
Dark Mewtwo responded loudly.
"And then? After you defeat me, what then?"
Mew questioned back.
As soon as this question was asked, Li Xiang thought Dark Mewtwo would say something about getting rid of all humans, leaving none behind.
Unexpectedly, the guy was completely stumped.
"After defeating you... yeah, after defeating you, what should I do?"
Dark Mewtwo looked down, pondering, then started asking the three philosophical questions again.
Well then. This guy was just a reckless, battle-obsessed hothead.
And the strongest? If defeating Mew makes you the strongest, are you living in the first generation?
"Um... how old are you?"
Mew suddenly realized that Dark Mewtwo was likely very young, perhaps even a baby whose mind hadn't fully developed yet.
"How old? I don't know."
Dark Mewtwo shook its head, confused. "I've never considered this question before."
"Then when did you first form memories? Why did you come here? How did you get in?"
Mew asked three questions in succession.
Dark Mewtwo seemed to have its defenses breached, responding dazedly, "Memories... I only remember living in warm water, constantly thinking in the darkness, constantly thinking."
"Many humans spoke beside me, saying words I didn't understand. When I opened my eyes, I saw more people gathered around me."
"After that, it's been all these things."
Up to this point, it still followed the movie's content, only missing the second Ai and the other cloned Pokémon.
But the next moment, the story diverged.
"One day, a person came to my side. They poured something into the water where I lived and told me, 'You are the one who surpasses Mew. You must defeat Mew and become the strongest.'"
A trace of confusion flashed in Dark Mewtwo's eyes. "They kept telling me these things, kept pouring things into my water, until one day, I felt extremely angry..."
It paused here.
"And then?"
Mew pressed.
"Then I completely destroyed everything around me and started searching for you. A voice guided me forward. I kept flying, kept flying, and ended up here."
Dark Mewtwo spoke slowly, seemingly starting to sense something was off.
So this really was a Mewtwo that had only recently been created.
Li Xiang was somewhat surprised. The one in the movie had a much more complicated background: separating from Ai, asking the three philosophical questions, angering the talkative professor.
Later, it even became Giovanni's enforcer.
Giovanni was also a fool, speaking too bluntly, which angered Mewtwo again.
Mewtwo then returned to New Island, planning a counterattack against humanity. But this Dark Mewtwo here was much simpler, purely tricked into coming here to cause trouble.
So the question was, who was that person?
The answer was—
Unknown.
Dark Mewtwo hadn't even remembered this person, only knowing that it had to defeat Mew and become the strongest.
"Brainwashing. Sigh, it's indeed faster to paint on a blank canvas than to fix an existing painting."
Mew sighed.
It had roughly understood why Dark Mewtwo was so stubborn.
"Brainwashing?"
Dark Mewtwo looked confused.
"Yes, it's when you add a series of suggestions to someone's mind, making them unconsciously do things they might not want to do."
Mew explained.
Dark Mewtwo's expression was bewildered. "If I was brainwashed... then who am I? Where am I? What is the meaning of my existence?"
Life-or-death questions.
No one in the movie had ever answered them correctly. Everyone answered in a way that only angered Mewtwo further.
"How should I know! You're asking me?"
Mew waved its paw in frustration. "You figure that out yourself!"
Realizing there might be a mastermind behind Mewtwo's invasion, Mew had no intention of staying. It quickly headed outside.
"Stay put here! It'll save you some suffering!"
It flew out, suspecting that when Mewtwo came in, it might have brought something else with it. Otherwise, there was no explanation for why the Tree of Beginning was deteriorating so quickly and affecting the three great lakes.
Mew had to conduct a full investigation.
As for whether Dark Mewtwo would escape or was lying, that wasn't within its consideration.
Not to mention it could see through lies and truth at a glance, the containment measures had been maximized. If Dark Mewtwo could still escape, the Tree of Beginning would have been destroyed long ago.
Upon hearing this, the Ho-Oh Guard quickly followed. They thought everything was over, but perhaps it was only the beginning.
Volcarona flapped its wings and followed.
Mo Ye frowned and looked at Li Xiang. "You..."
"I'll wait here. You should go quickly!" Li Xiang waved his hand. Mo Ye had a mission; he couldn't stay.
"...Alright."
Mo Ye nodded, thought for a moment, then released a huge Cloyster. "Protect him."
"Cloyster!"
Cloyster opened and closed its shell, signaling its understanding.
Counting Starmie, this was the second bodyguard.
Mo Ye left.
The platform at the top of the Tree of Beginning suddenly had only a Dark Mewtwo stuck in a loop, along with Li Xiang and three Pokémon.
"Hello there."
Li Xiang looked at Cloyster. It was composed of an inner shell and an outer shell, covered in spikes all over. On its black pearl-like head, similar to a Gastly's, there was a long spike.
He remembered this guy's defensive abilities were extremely strong. Even napalm couldn't break its skin.
"Cloyster!"
Cloyster showed a hearty smile, as if to say, "Your safety is in my hands."
"Oh wow! Thank you so much! You're so reliable!"
Li Xiang smiled and reached out, touching Cloyster's black pearl head. The feel wasn't much different from bowling a bowling ball.
This left him a little disappointed.
Looking around, Li Xiang noticed that the number of Fossil Pokémon appearing nearby was increasing.
This meant the dark energy was dissipating, allowing them to come out and move around again.
"Wow... if I caught them all, how much could I sell them for?" Li Xiang clicked his tongue as he looked at those Fossil Pokémon.
But with such a large number of Fossil Pokémon entering the market, prices would definitely plummet.
...Well, he was just casually thinking anyway. He would never become a Pokémon trafficker.
Moving his gaze, Li Xiang still focused on Dark Mewtwo.
To be honest, with a Legendary Pokémon right before him, it was impossible not to want it. As a trainer, he was destined to yearn for strength.
But Dark Mewtwo was undoubtedly a ticking time bomb.
It would easily attract malicious attention and also affect Incineroar and the others.
This was evident from how the three Regis had been influenced, falling into uncontrollable rampages.
Unless Li Xiang had a way to solve the dark matter issue.
Unfortunately, he didn't. So he could only watch from the sidelines, envious.
He sat far away from Dark Mewtwo, staying close to Cloyster, but couldn't resist secretly taking a photo with his camera.
It was just for himself. He wasn't foolish enough to spread it around. Besides, he wasn't some scandalous celebrity.
The soft click of the shutter caught Dark Mewtwo's attention.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm taking a photo." Li Xiang showed his camera.
Dark Mewtwo didn't understand. "What is taking a photo?"
"Taking a photo is recording your image, preserving it on a certain piece of paper."
"What is paper?"
"Paper is made from plants. It's a thing that can record text. The thing binding you is made from plants."
"What is text?"
"Text is..." Li Xiang felt a bit exhausted. He had encountered a curious baby who loved asking "why."
Then, Dark Mewtwo suddenly asked:
"Do you know... who I am?"
What a question. Now the life-or-death question was being asked to him!
Li Xiang considered ignoring this guy, but seeing the bewildered expression on its face, he paused and said, "You are Mewtwo."
"Mewtwo... yes, I am Mewtwo, the one who surpasses Mew."
Dark Mewtwo muttered to itself. "Then where did I come from? Is Mew my parent?"
Li Xiang answered, "You could say that, but it doesn't acknowledge you. However, you're not really its descendant. You should be its sibling, at least literally."
"Sibling?"
"Pretty much. You were created by humans, using Mew's genes."
"Created by humans... Then am I human, or a Pokémon?" Dark Mewtwo's eyes were filled with confusion.
"Of course, you're a Pokémon. Why would you think you're human?"
Li Xiang found its line of thinking strange.
Dark Mewtwo replied, "But I was created by humans..."
"This thing was also made by humans, but is it human?" Li Xiang shook the camera in his hand.
"You are a Pokémon. Don't overthink things."
"I see. So what is the meaning of my existence?"
Dark Mewtwo looked expectant, as if it had found the answers it wanted from Li Xiang.
"That's something you have to find for yourself. Because I even ask myself that occasionally."
Li Xiang shrugged. "It's useless to ask others. Some answers need to be found on your own. Many people spend their entire lives searching for the answer to that question."
"I see..."
Dark Mewtwo seemed to understand, wearing an expression that said it got it but also didn't quite get it. It was particularly peculiar.
"I... have one more question."
This guy suddenly became hesitant.
"Go ahead and ask."
"Am I allowed to live in this world? Am I part of this world?"
"...What nonsense are you talking about? Aren't you already alive? The fact that you can speak means this world accepts you, means you are part of nature!"
Li Xiang was exasperated by Mewtwo's thought process. "You think too highly of yourself! Nature is incredibly inclusive. It doesn't reject you. From the first day you were born, you have the right to exist!"
The most basic need of all living beings—the need to survive—supersedes everything else.
No one is an exception.
Dark Mewtwo's eyes trembled, as if defeated by Li Xiang's words. The dark colors on its face were rapidly receding, transforming into a basic pale white.
This guy had actually reverted!