"Should I… maybe explain this?"
Listening to the chatter of those women in the hotel lobby, Nathan muttered to himself.
He had only wanted to let Mewtwo grind some experience, that was all. Of course, he had gone a little too fast, and his attacks had been too heavy-handed, which resulted in the wild Pokémon suffering somewhat serious injuries.
He had already treated them afterward, but recovery still required time.
If he didn't give an explanation, wouldn't the next mystic realm he cleared also be misunderstood in the same way?
"Forget it, I'd better say something. If people start thinking of me as some terrorist, that would be troublesome."
After hesitating for a long while, Nathan finally decided he should clear things up.
He returned to his room, sat in front of the computer, and quickly drafted an article. He posted a short explanation online, summarizing what he had been doing inside the mystic realms: that he was simply training his Pokémon, and that he had already healed the defeated ones. It was just that their full recovery naturally needed some time.
After posting it, Nathan felt like something was still missing.
If he left it at that, it would sound like he was dragging his Pokémon into a fight against countless other Pokémon for no real reason. Such an impression would make people think he enjoyed bullying weaker Pokémon.
That was absolutely not the image Nathan wanted to give off.
"'A brand-new Pokémon move is about to be completed!'"
After sending out the original article, he added this final line in a follow-up.
Before long, everyone online saw the post Nathan had made, along with that extra sentence.
"Pervert! This guy is an absolute pervert! To think he's that powerful! We're talking about two entire mystic realms' worth of Pokémon, defeated in only three days!"
"Another self-created Pokémon move? Does he ever let anyone else breathe?"
"He's actually so compassionate. After each battle, he even treats the Pokémon he fights against, and we're talking about so many of them too."
Comments flooded in from every direction. There were all kinds of voices—praise, shock, disbelief, and some envy—but after reading through a few, Nathan simply shut the computer down.
There were good comments and bad ones, but the positives outweighed the negatives by a lot.
…
Grinding through those mystic realms had taken him five whole days. During that time, Nathan had exhausted himself.
After a hot shower, he collapsed onto the bed and instantly fell into a deep sleep.
When he woke up the next morning, he tidied himself up and immediately set out for the last mystic realm near Inju City.
But the moment he arrived at the entrance of the mystic realm, he was stunned.
At some unknown point in time, a huge crowd of people had gathered there.
As soon as they spotted Nathan, waves of excited screams erupted.
"Ahhh! Nathan! Can your Volcarona have a baby? I'll buy it with money!"
"Can you please teach my Pokémon one of your self-created moves? I'll pay whatever price you ask!"
There were all sorts of people with all kinds of demands, but the majority of them had come purely because of his self-created moves.
"Quiet down!"
Nathan raised his hand and made a gesture for silence.
At the sound of his voice, the noisy crowd instantly went quiet.
Once everyone had calmed down, Nathan nodded to himself—seems his reputation and authority really were quite high.
"If you are here because you want to see my self-created moves, then you can bring your Pokémon and follow me into the mystic realm."
"Of course, whether or not you can learn them, I can't promise anything."
The crowd erupted with joy at those words. Even if he wasn't going to directly teach them, just being able to watch and learn was already a rare opportunity.
"As for other requests… I must decline."
After saying that, Nathan turned and walked straight into the mystic realm.
Inside the mystic realm, he released Mewtwo.
"You've basically mastered Iron Body. Next, we'll practice another move."
Nathan explained as he stood beside Mewtwo, lowering his voice as he described the principles of the technique known as Finger Pistol.
Meanwhile, the group of spectators also entered, eager to watch Mewtwo battle.
Naturally, they wanted to get close to Nathan. But Nathan was prepared.
Volcarona hovered loyally by his side, like a divine guardian. Its flames swirled in a protective circle, keeping a two-meter perimeter around Nathan.
Seeing this, the onlookers immediately understood—he didn't want anyone coming near him. Out of tact, no one dared to intrude.
The first wild Pokémon appeared, and Mewtwo's battle began.
This time, instead of using the techniques he had already mastered, Mewtwo kept dodging while repeatedly attempting to perform Finger Pistol.
The principle of Finger Pistol was actually simple: concentrate all of one's power into a single finger, then unleash a hardened strike in the blink of an eye.
Having already learned Iron Body, Mewtwo adapted quickly.
After only a few exchanges, he had already grasped the basic essence of the technique.
After all, speed and strength were things Mewtwo excelled at.
The spectators gasped at every strike.
It looked like such a simple move—just an attack with a single finger.
Yet it produced more force than a full-bodied charge.
Unfortunately, Mewtwo's first opponent was only a Gym-level Pokémon. Its defenses weren't particularly strong, and it lasted less than three minutes before collapsing in defeat.
While Nathan healed it, Mewtwo was already searching for his next target.
One after another, wild Pokémon fell. With each victory, Mewtwo's mastery of Finger Pistol grew smoother, until using it became as natural as throwing a punch.
"Mewtwo, hold on!"
Just as Mewtwo defeated another opponent and was about to move on, Nathan stopped him.
"You've gotten the hang of Finger Pistol with your hands. Now try it with your tail."
Unlike humans, Mewtwo had not only two arms but also a powerful tail. In combat, that tail was not weaker than his hands—if anything, its raw strength surpassed them.
"Understood."
Mewtwo's voice echoed in Nathan's mind as he nodded.
In the next battles, Mewtwo tried using his tail to perform Finger Pistol.
But this time, things didn't go as smoothly. It took him a full seven minutes just to defeat one opponent, and that was only because his tail was too strong for the enemy to withstand. The move itself hadn't been executed properly.
Nathan shook his head. Sure enough, compared to hands, the tail had fewer nerves and was far harder to control.
But the harder something was, the more it needed to be mastered.
…
Hours slipped away.
After more than ten straight hours, Nathan finally felt tired and pitched a tent to rest.
By then, Mewtwo still hadn't perfected Finger Pistol with his tail.
Meanwhile, many of the spectators had already left—keeping up for that long simply wasn't possible for most.
After eating, drinking, and sleeping, Nathan resumed the training the next day.
Thanks to the rest, Mewtwo's state improved. His tail gradually began to perform Finger Pistol as well, though it was still far from perfect.
"It'll take a lot of practice before you can reach true mastery," Nathan commented.
Then he added: "Mewtwo, Finger Pistol isn't just for close-range strikes. It has another application."
He explained the concept of Flying Finger Pistol.
Compared to the normal version, this one was exponentially harder.
Mewtwo tried again and again, but even after hours of effort, he didn't manage a single successful release.
It was a stark contrast—when he had first learned Finger Pistol, it had taken him only a few hours. But Flying Finger Pistol? He couldn't even touch the threshold.
Unleashing it quickly and accurately in combat was still a distant dream.
Naturally, all of this training was recorded by the spectators and uploaded online.
With so many people following, preventing leaks was impossible. Nathan didn't bother stopping them—if they wanted to record, let them.
Many trainers tried to imitate the move after watching the videos, hoping their own Pokémon could learn it.
But none of them could replicate Mewtwo's overwhelming precision and power.
If Mewtwo had gone all-out, this mystic realm's Pokémon would have been cleared in just three days.
But because of the endless practice of Finger Pistol, the process took twice as long.
Finally, after defeating every Pokémon in the mystic realm, Nathan was disappointed to find that Mewtwo had not reached level 86.
He had only risen to level 83.
Back then, Volcarona had managed to jump to 86 in just one mystic realm—but that had been because of that mystic realm's special circumstances.
(End of Chapter)