Yes — the person who had arrived was none other than Caitlin.
From the rushed way she looked, it was obvious she hadn't been there long.
In truth, Caitlin had been meaning to find Haru and Cynthia for quite a while.
Ever since she'd received Haru's "treatment" last time, she'd felt her psychic control improve by leaps and bounds.
Before, if someone in a battle muttered something like "Psychic types are nothing but Fairy wannabes' Starfall," she might've lost control and gone on a psychic rampage.
Now, however, the likelihood of her losing it during an official match had dropped a lot.
Admittedly the treatment itself had been a little awkward, but judged by the results, paying a small price was entirely acceptable.
Besides… even Caitlin herself couldn't be sure whether that kind of "treatment" really counted as suffering a price.
After all, Cynthia had gotten hooked on it too.
What started as treatment had become something she'd come to enjoy.
Caitlin could see it even though Cynthia never admitted it to her face.
The first time Cynthia had undergone Haru's "treatment," she'd literally wet herself.
Worse, it seemed she'd developed a bit of an addiction to it.
So even though she'd hesitated for a long time, in the end she hadn't been able to resist the temptation to have her psychic outbursts healed and to receive the treatment again.
She temporarily shut down her Unova battle fortress and went straight to Alto Mare to look for Haru and Cynthia.
As Cynthia's close friend, Caitlin kept in touch with her and naturally knew where she was and what she was doing.
As long as Cynthia stayed away from fights after leaving her battle fortress, she shouldn't lose control… right?
What Caitlin couldn't possibly have dreamed of — not even in her wildest fantasies — was what her elegant, composed friend had been doing half an hour earlier.
She certainly couldn't have guessed what Chloe had plucked from Cynthia's hair.
Of course, Caitlin was also completely in the dark about the situation unfolding right now.
She didn't understand why so many shady people had gathered around the hotel where Haru was staying — people who all looked like trouble.
At that moment she was probably the most bewildered among everyone there.
Even so, with Cynthia feeling so guilty and exposed, she didn't dare meet Caitlin's eyes, let alone talk to her.
Just as Cynthia and Caitlin found themselves in an awkward stalemate, the Team Rocket members who'd been loitering around the hotel spoke up.
"Hey, kid! You seen two women who got blown into a hotel room? Don't lie — tell us!" barked a bald man with a face full of scowl — a big, brutish type who looked straight out of a movie villain template.
When he talked to Haru he kept his chin raised, clearly looking down on him. In his view, a Team Rocket officer deigning to speak to Haru was already an honor for the kid.
Originally they'd planned to storm the hotel and search it top to bottom — surround the whole place, then go floor by floor until they found the two women.
But for some reason, any time they tried to approach the building they were stopped by a strange message that appeared: something like "The Thorn of Rejection rejects everything — nobody can enter the hotel."
Clearly someone had rigged the place, and it was very likely connected to that pair of thief sisters.
When those two thieves had been blasted into the hotel window, they hadn't been stopped — they'd fallen straight into a room. That proved whoever had triggered the "Thorn of Rejection" must have set it up after the sisters forced their way in.
They suspected the "Thorn of Rejection" had been set up specifically to protect those two sisters.
However, the Thorn seemed to only keep outsiders out — it didn't stop people from leaving the inside.
And the young man who'd shown up with a pretty girl wasn't the first person Team Rocket had found leaving the hotel.
They didn't think Haru was anyone important.
He looked far too young to be a major trainer, and there was no way he'd be the one who'd sealed the hotel.
What's more, he was unnervingly calm — not the least bit flustered.
Yet the moment the bald man asked his question out of routine, the young man they'd been sneering at suddenly laughed.
He looked over the crowd with interest and said, "Want to know about them? If you do, come and take them."
"But I'm in a good mood today. If you're smart, you'll walk away now. If not…"
Haru was a kind person by nature. If he saw someone in trouble he would usually help. But he had no intention of negotiating with this bunch of Team Rocket thugs.
Outside the true protagonist trio, most of Team Rocket were vicious scumbags — not ordinary riffraff. In Haru's view, if he didn't throw them all into the sea to drown, that would be considered merciful.
Take Faba, the one who gave Lillie psychological scars — Haru later had him dealt with "appropriately."
First, he had Faba's three legs broken; then, one by one, all his body hair was ripped out.
That included not just head feathers but other private areas — armpits and even lower.
Some birds' plumage is glorious — Faba's was not. While they plucked him, they also had someone whip him hard.
Of course, Haru wasn't a monster. He specifically told the people who carried out the job that the whip must be coated with povidone-iodine to prevent the wounds from getting infected.
That way it was punishment and disinfectant at once.
Too bad Team Rocket couldn't appreciate Haru's "thoughtfulness."
To them, they'd simply been challenged by an unknown brat.
The bald leader, hearing Haru's insolent words, instantly turned livid — he was practically steaming like a robot who'd been banned from a bath.
"You little punk, what did you say?!" he snarled.
Within Team Rocket the bald man was something of a lieutenant, used to bossing people around. He hadn't expected some trashy kid to directly talk back to him.
He sneered and pulled out a Pokéball. "We weren't planning on laying hands on you, but you just volunteered to die. Hand over your Pokéballs, crawl under my crotch and beg — maybe I'll consider sparing you."
"Otherwise… you'll be dumped into the sea."
"I've seen guys just as cocky as you — guess what happened to them?" he added with a cruel grin.
As he finished, the surrounding Team Rocket members closed in on Haru and his group.
They outnumbered them decisively.
In strength they had no worries either — the bald man was an officer; dealing with a wet-behind-the-ears brat would be easy.
Thirty against three — the odds were crushing.
…Reactions among Haru's companions varied.
Chloe, standing beside Haru, felt immediate worry.
She'd seen Haru's strength before — he'd once rescued her from a pile of fossil Pokémon — but that had been wild Pokémon acting without a trainer. Trained Pokémon commanded by human trainers were a different beast entirely.
Although Chloe wasn't a formal trainer yet, she knew enough trainer common sense: Pokémon raised and commanded by trainers could be far more powerful than wild ones. The gap was enormous.
Now, so many trained people had gathered to make trouble for Haru — could he still handle them easily? Even with a Sinnoh Champion helping, it would be dicey.
Worse, these people clearly weren't to be trifled with — they looked like members of a large criminal gang.
Haru was in danger.
Chloe's face went pale as she looked at him, worry deepening. She started rapidly thinking of ways to break the enemy lines, but none of her ideas seemed to solve the problem properly.
Her intuition told her that if Haru got into trouble, her own outcome wouldn't be good either.
As for Goh — who disliked Haru — the moment he realized Haru had clashed with Team Rocket, his face flushed red as if he'd taken something. Ecstasy.
Hell yes, this is great! That arrogant fool finally pissed off the wrong people with his provocations.
Even if you're strong, Haru, how do you expect to beat all the people around you?
They've circled you to prevent escape. Haru, Haru — now there's nowhere to run. Stay and be captured.
Thinking that, Goh suddenly felt much better, his earlier gloom from Chloe pinching that mysterious genetic sample forgotten.
He didn't believe Haru could escape or win. Maybe soon he'd get to watch Haru sheepishly hand over his Pokéballs and kneel like a dog.
What a sight to look forward to.
Besides, if Haru's Pokéballs were taken, maybe Goh could find a chance to steal them back. Then he'd lie to the Pokémon that he was looking for their owner and keep those legendary, mythical Pokémon with him.
If he played that long, maybe he could steal Haru's girl. Forget Latios — he'd just send Mew in battle.
Haru himself still stood there calm as ever, like he gave no thought to the threats.
He even seemed to ignore the Team Rocket members around him.
That didn't go unnoticed by the bald man, and it made him uneasy.
If earlier Haru had been a clueless kid, now that he remained so brazen despite being surrounded, things felt off.
Did this guy have a trump card?
Or were his comrades hiding nearby?
Seeing the bald man hesitate, Haru smiled again.
"Don't stare at me like that."
"I'll say it again: if you want them, come and take them."
"Otherwise… get lost. Trash doesn't deserve to dirty my eyes — especially unrecyclable trash like you."
The Team Rocket members couldn't hold back any longer.
This was outrageous — who did this brat think he was, talking like that? Even if he had a hidden card, so what? Team Rocket feared no one. They were the super-criminal gang that even made Officer Jenny helpless.
"Enough talk — get him and beat him within an inch of his life," the bald man ordered. "Then throw him in a dark cell with buzzers, truth serum, and ultra-bright lights."
"Go, Houndoom, show that little punk what you can do!" he shouted, tossing a Pokéball.
Haru waved a finger at the Team Rocket members, still arrogant.
"I get the feeling you're really tired of living."
"Captain, let us join! I can't hold back."
"Kill him! Let him know the power of Team Rocket!"
Haru's single sentence had pumped everyone full of bloodlust.
In all their years in Team Rocket they'd never seen anyone so brazen when they were clearly about to die.
Even the bald leader's own face turned sullen.
"Then we'll all go in together — kill him."
"Good!"
"Kill him!"
"Boss forever, boss forever!"
A flash of light, after which all kinds of Pokémon crowded the area in front of the hotel.
Haru finally revealed a satisfied expression.
This would be enough to start a fight.
"Good. Now it's your turn to take the stage, Mewtwo!"
"Time for revenge. Wreak havoc and let loose all your fury on these people."
Haru shouted toward the building behind him, his smile growing even brighter.
"Mew… Mewtwo?"
The bald Team Rocket lieutenant felt that the name was familiar, but he couldn't place it right away.
Only when an ice-blue long-haired girl in a sailor outfit appeared before everyone did his memory snap back with a jolt.
He remembered — he remembered everything.
Mewtwo was the legendary Pokémon Team Rocket had painstakingly created, only for it to escape and betray them.
If Mewtwo was here, then the identity of that young man was…
A cold drop of sweat slid down the lieutenant's cheek as a possibility dawned on him.
"Y-you're — you're that Haru?!" he stammered.
"Boss, who's Haru? What's Mew?" one of his subordinates asked, puzzled by their leader's reaction.
They got no clear answer. Instead, the once-unbeaten leader turned and ran, yelling as he fled, "Retreat! Everyone fall back! Fall back!"
"Heh — really going to run? Mewtwo, by my father's authority I command you: seal release… I mean, mega evolve!"