CLANG——!
The sharp clash of metal rang out. Just as that blur of white lunged toward Logan, Garchomp swung its Dragon Claw up in defense. Sparks scattered, the shriek of metal grinding against metal echoed across the cliffside. For a heartbeat, the two figures held each other in a deadlock—then their blows collided again, rapid and unrelenting.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Each strike rang out like a hammer striking an anvil. The air grew heavy, pressure crushing down with every impact.
Logan stood at the cliff's edge as though none of this chaos behind him mattered. The winds from the mountain peak tugged at his Champion's cloak, making it ripple like a banner in the storm. On his shoulder, Eevee leaned close, nuzzling his face gently. It did not look back at the battle, as if it, too, trusted Logan completely.
Logan had inherited all of Master Bruno's fighting techniques and philosophies. But that didn't mean he pursued Fighting-types as his specialty. His heart still belonged to Dragons and Psychic Pokémon.
Yet, Bruno's martial skills had enriched his team in ways pure power never could. Garchomp especially had grown from them—it was always the warrior charging at the front lines. For Eevee and Dragonair, the fighting skills didn't increase their raw attack power, but they gave them the instincts to evade, defend, and survive in melee combat.
Behind him, the sounds of battle raged on: heavy blows, rocks shattering, explosions echoing across the mountaintop. The ground beneath Logan cracked from the force. Finally, after letting them spar long enough, he turned around. His calm voice cut through the storm of violence:
"...That's enough, Garchomp. You too, Mewtwo. The training ends here. You've both mastered the Essence of Steel. What's left now is only to maintain it—never regress."
At his words, the two figures broke apart. The white blur was revealed—Mewtwo.
It smirked faintly, nodding toward Logan. The psychic spoon in its hand shimmered and dissolved away into nothing. It had been that spoon clashing against Garchomp's blade-like claws, creating those metallic echoes.
A year and a half had passed. Mewtwo's unstable genes had been fully stabilized. It was now a complete, perfected being. Logan no longer had to fear its power draining his own life away. The danger was gone.
With that, true training could begin.
Mewtwo possessed overwhelming raw strength, but its fighting style lacked refinement. Its battle experience was thin, its strategy shallow. Too often, it had relied purely on brute psychic force. Logan had taken it upon himself to teach Mewtwo the subtleties—efficiency, restraint, precision. To waste no movement, no energy. To grow through sparring with his other Pokémon, gaining real combat instincts instead of blind overpowering.
Legendary Pokémon were unique: their power was overwhelming, their regenerative ability terrifying. Yet compared to ordinary Pokémon, they carried one weakness—their potential was already maxed out. They could not grow stronger in raw energy.
The only path to train such beings was through skill, experience, bonds, and spirit. Not sheer power.
But that "limitation" hardly mattered. When you already stood at the pinnacle of existence, why strive to climb further?
It was because of this very reality that some rare ordinary Pokémon could surpass legends for short bursts—when they broke their limits and reached the realm of true mastery. They could't outlast a legend, but for a moment, they could overpower one.
Logan understood this truth deeply.
[What now, Logan?]
Mewtwo's voice echoed in his mind.
Both it and Garchomp moved to Logan's side, unconsciously taking up positions as his guardians—one at the left, one at the right—flanking him like sentinels.
"According to Master Bruno," Logan mused, "Lance should be coming for me soon… It's a little passive of me to wait, but what else can I do? I don't even know where he is right now."
He shrugged, smiling faintly.
"Funny, isn't it? My dream is to save the world. Yet before that, I've got to 'fix' someone else's way of thinking first."
"Still… it's fine. Let's use Lance. Let's use the Elite Four to measure this year and a half of work. Even if they didn't come for me… one day, I'd go to them. The goal of challenging the Elite Four and becoming the true Master… That dream, I'll never abandon."
[I want the same. I want a worthy opponent, someone I can fight with everything I have—no holding back.]
Mewtwo's voice thrummed with anticipation. It had always been violent at heart, only suppressing itself for Logan's sake, afraid of harming him. But now the chains were gone. At last, it could unleash itself without fear. Its battle hunger burned bright.
"There'll be a chance, Mewtwo," Logan assured him firmly.
As his words faded, a flash of pink light swirled beside him. A small, playful figure appeared—Mew, giggling with a hand over its mouth, floating around Logan like a mischievous child.
"Mew… Apart from that time in Saffron, I've never truly used you. People only think you helped me once, not that you've joined me. That misunderstanding is perfect. No one will ever suspect you're mine."
He reached out and gently tapped Mew on the head. In the records of humans and legends, such bonds never lasted long—at most, they fought side by side briefly before parting ways.
From Saffon, through the Indigo League, to this very day, Logan had never once revealed Mew as his Pokémon. To the world, Mew had long since left him. That secrecy was exactly what Logan wanted.
Mew would remain his hidden piece, an unseen trump card for the greater plans to come.
Unlike Mewtwo, Mew had little taste for combat. It was playful, childlike, uninterested in serious battles. Its power was extraordinary, yes, but not at the top tier of legendaries. Still, compared to an average trainer's Pokémon, it was untouchable.
But for Logan, Mew wasn't meant for battle. It was meant for strategy. It was his secret weapon in the pursuit of his ultimate goal: to save the world—to weave together truth and ideals through gathering the legendaries he needed.
Mew was a vital piece on that hidden chessboard.
"Professor Oak messaged me yesterday," Logan said aloud. "Someone from Sinnoh wants to meet me. …Do I even have acquaintances in Sinnoh?"
He frowned. Then answered himself: "I guess only Caitlin. But she's in Unova now. And that brat would never go through Oak to find me."
A faint purple gleam flickered in Logan's eyes. From the wide sleeves of his Champion's cloak, he revealed two Poké Balls—recalling Mewtwo and Mew in twin flashes of light.
"…Forget it. I'll head to Viridian City first. When they arrive, I'll return to Pallet Town."
He took a single step forward—and walked straight into the air.
Without hesitation, Logan strode off the cliff. Garchomp leapt after him, twisting mid-air to catch its master with practiced ease. With a powerful spin and spread of its wings, the land shark steadied itself. Then, with a sonic boom that split the sky, it accelerated—carrying Logan at supersonic speed toward Viridian City.
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