Many people assume Celebi is a Mythical Pokémon that controls both time and space; in reality, its mastery lies primarily in time.
When it comes to space, it pales in comparison to Palkia.
However, regarding time—well, Dialga is practically a "mini-Celebi" by comparison!
Celebi's ability to traverse time can even alter cause and effect—provided there is a sufficiently powerful energy source to fuel it.
The Dark Ball was created using Mewtwo's power, which is why it surpasses even the Master Ball—capable of seizing control of Pokémon that already belong to other trainers.
However, Mewtwo had destroyed the manufacturing methods and data for the Dark Ball; it is a mystery how this fellow, Vicious, managed to obtain the information.
Moreover, the Dark Ball he wields is an improved version. Beyond merely forcing a capture, it boosts the Pokémon's strength and enhances their abilities, all while keeping them under his absolute control.
The original Dark Ball could force a capture with a 100% success rate, but once released, the Pokémon would still act according to its own will—meaning it could capture, but not command.
The new Dark Ball integrates capture, control, and enhancement into one; it is vastly superior to the original model.
Naturally, this is hardly good news for Ash and Mewtwo.
If this device could be mass-produced, the entire world would be plunged into chaos—even without the control of Celebi!
So, the situation today isn't about Vicious detaining them; it's about them stopping Vicious!
This guy is a villain capable of wreaking far more havoc on the world than even Giovanni!
"Celebi, show these guys the true extent of your power!"
"Celebi!" The Pokémon let out a ferocious cry, unleashing a visible shockwave that tore through the forest, scattering everything in its path.
Pikachu dug its feet firmly into the ground, holding its position, but Misty and the others weren't so lucky; the expanding shockwave sent them flying several meters, slamming them against trees and leaving them with aching backs. If not for the physical conditioning gained from traveling with Ash, they likely would have all suffered internal injuries from that impact.
"Mewtwo—Mega Evolve!" Faced with a Celebi surging with explosive energy, Ash held nothing back; he immediately commanded Mewtwo to unleash her ultimate power: Mega Evolution!
A multicolored radiance enveloped Mewtwo; her physique became slightly more slender, and a long tail extended from the back of her head.
Mega Mewtwo Y!
In this form, Mewtwo could push her psychic powers to the absolute limit, rivaling the strength of a high-level Divine Realm Pokémon!
Although Celebi had been empowered by the Dark Ball, it was not a combat-oriented Pokémon by nature—it was a Mythical Pokémon. While it possessed the ability to manipulate time, its raw combat prowess was not exceptional.
Even with the Dark Ball's amplification, its level barely scraped the entry-level of the Divine Realm. Vicious's belief that controlling Celebi would allow him to rule the world was, ultimately, rather naive.
At the entry-level of the Divine Realm—even with the authority over time—one simply cannot contend with a high-level Divine Realm Pokémon; merely holding one's own against a mid-level Divine Realm Pokémon without special authority would be considered a stroke of immense luck.
Ash had Mewtwo go all-out from the start just to be safe; after all, even a lion uses its full strength to hunt a rabbit.
And this was no ordinary rabbit—it was a rabid one!
If they didn't use full power to crush it immediately, the damage inflicted upon the forest would be incalculable.
"Mega Evolution... That weapon created by Giovanni is actually capable of Mega Evolution?!" The sight of Mewtwo's Mega Evolved form shocked Vicious.
Mega Evolution was a system that had only recently emerged, whereas the project to create Mewtwo had begun ages ago.
Logically speaking, there was no way she should have any connection to Mega Evolution!
Mewtwo cast a cold glance at Vicious. Had Ash not insisted on handling him personally, she would have crushed the man's skull right then and there.
"Weapon, weapon"—it was infuriating!
She had mellowed out considerably after spending time cultivating her temperament alongside Ash, but that didn't mean she had no temper at all!
Under normal circumstances, Mewtwo wouldn't have even given the guy time to speak; she would have crushed him underfoot like a cockroach instantly.
Whoosh! Without a moment's warning, Mewtwo used Teleport to appear right in front of Celebi. She raised one hand, unleashing a massive surge of psychic energy, intent on instantly restraining the Mythical Pokémon.
Logically, given the vast gap in their power levels, subduing Celebi should have been effortless for Mewtwo. Yet, the instant Mewtwo's psychic energy surged forth, Celebi vanished into thin air right before her eyes.
Meanwhile, Ash had closed the distance to Vicious with a series of leaps and bounds. Clenching his fist, he grabbed onto the robot Vicious was piloting with one hand while driving the other hard toward Vicious himself!
He had pulled his punch slightly, but it was still enough to knock Vicious's teeth out.
Bam! Ash's fist struck empty air, missing Vicious by a hair's breadth.
His punch had been blocked!
The one who blocked it was none other than Celebi.
Celebi—whom Mewtwo had failed to restrain just moments ago—had appeared right in front of him in the blink of an eye.
"Heh, brat! No matter how impressive your physical prowess is, surely you don't think you can compare to a Legendary Pokémon?! Celebi, kill him!"
Capture the leader first. When facing formidable Pokémon in the wild, the primary target should always be the opposing Trainer!
Ash's physical capabilities far surpassed his own. Mewtwo's true strength remained unknown, but as Giovanni's "ultimate weapon"—now further empowered by Mega Evolution—she was a force not to be underestimated.
Even with the boost from the Dark Ball, Celebi couldn't hope to take down Mewtwo quickly, but Ash was someone Celebi could easily eliminate in one stroke!
If he, the Trainer, were captured, it would all be over!
That was why he had anticipated Ash's move; he never intended for Celebi to clash with Mewtwo. Instead, he wanted Celebi to take Ash out directly!
Once that meddlesome brat was dead, he could do whatever he pleased. Mewtwo watched coldly as energy surged from Celebi, making no move to intervene; had she wished, she could have teleported Ash away instantly—such is the unreasonable power of a Psychic-type at the level of a deity—but Ash had no need for that.
Anyone who had met Ash knew he displayed abilities far beyond those of an ordinary human, yet they had no idea just how monstrous his capabilities truly were. He was, after all... a human being capable of standing on equal footing with the gods!
Celebi unleashed its telekinetic power, releasing a full-force Psychic attack that felt as though it would crush Ash into a pulp!
"Run!" Sam shouted at Ash, fighting through the pain in his body; the moment Celebi's aura had expanded earlier, he had realized just how powerful the Pokémon was.
The mere pressure of its aura had been enough to blow them away; facing a direct hit from such a move—even with Ash's robust physique—was surely impossible to withstand. All they could hope for was that Ash's exceptional physical prowess would allow him to dodge the attack.
Yet, Ash simply watched as the Psychic energy enveloped him; the instant Celebi exerted its power, the Aura within his own body erupted violently!
BOOM! A raging, azure Aura became visible to the naked eye, instantly blasting away the Psychic energy that had covered him!
The next moment, Ash's fist slammed hard into Celebi. Caught off guard, the Pokémon was sent flying dozens of meters away, spinning wildly through the air.
Mewtwo instantly teleported to the spot where Celebi was hurtling toward a stop; she raised her hand and clamped three fingers tightly around Celebi's onion-like head.
Simultaneously, she channeled her psychic power into Celebi, sealing off all of its strength—the disparity in power between the two was immense.
Had Celebi not used its temporal powers to interfere with her attack earlier, she could have simply dragged it back even if it had tried to teleport away, never giving it the chance to reach Ash.
Of course, since Celebi insisted on getting a beating, she would respect its choice—even if, in reality, this likely wasn't a choice Celebi had made of its own volition.
If she were fighting it, the worst that would happen is getting locked down by her psychic powers; after all, the power gap between Celebi and her is so vast that she could easily afford to hold back.
The gap between Ash and Celebi, however, isn't nearly as wide. Facing a controlled Celebi, Ash couldn't afford to hold back if he wanted to end the fight quickly—which explains that punch he just landed.
That single punch left everyone stunned; Sam swallowed the worried words he was about to speak, his face frozen in a look of utter stupefaction.
Vicious stood there with his brain completely short-circuited.
No matter how wild his imagination was, he never could have pictured Celebi getting sent flying by a single punch from Ash!
That was a Mythical Pokémon empowered by a Dark Ball, for crying out loud!
I know you're not human, you bastard, but surely you don't have to be this monstrously overpowered!!
"Wait, st... stop!!"
Ash certainly wasn't going to listen to Vicious; he'd been holding back for who knows how long, and now he could finally give the guy a proper thrashing!
Fists rained down on Vicious, making him howl in agony.
Ash clearly wasn't using his full strength; otherwise, that first punch would have punched a gaping hole right through Vicious's body.
Even so, the sheer weight of those blows made Vicious wail pitifully—sounds that made Sam, Misty, and the others shudder just hearing them from a distance.
It must have been excruciating!
It didn't even seem like Ash was punching him; it looked more like he was being stabbed with needles or sliced with blades.
Ash kept punching for a full five minutes before finally stopping and wiping away a bead of sweat that wasn't actually there.
He had infused every single punch with Aura. That Aura stimulated Vicious's pressure points, amplifying his sensation of pain a thousandfold.
After all, Vicious was the new leader of Team Rocket—a man who would sooner lose his head or bleed out than lose his dignity. If the pain hadn't been truly unbearable, he never would have screamed like that.
"Hey, hurry up and release your control over Celebi, or I'll let you experience what it feels like to take a beating for another five minutes!" Ash waved his small fist, threatening Vicious, whose face was now swollen beyond recognition.
Vicious's mask had long since been smashed to shreds, yet his current appearance was no different from wearing one; anyone who knew him likely wouldn't recognize him now.
His entire head was a mass of bruises, and the swelling on his face had all but obscured his eyes and mouth—even a pig's head wouldn't be as swollen as Vicious's was right now.
"Mmph! Mmph!" Vicious tried to speak, but his face—swollen like a pig's—couldn't produce coherent sounds, resulting only in muffled whimpers.
Seeing this, Ash scratched his head in exasperation:
"Oops, I guess I forgot to leave his mouth usable; now he can't talk even if he wants to, huh?"
Mewtwo shook his head helplessly and then brought Celebi down to the ground.
"I don't need that guy to release Celebi from the binding. The controlling force was originally created using my own power, so... I can easily deactivate it."
As he spoke, the wild, frenzied look in Celebi's eyes suddenly cleared. Having regained consciousness but still stuck in the moment of being bound by the Dark Ball, Celebi frantically unleashed the psychic energy within, attempting to shatter the force restraining it.
However, the force binding Celebi now was Mewtwo's psychic power; let alone Celebi in its current state, even a Celebi with its full potential unleashed wouldn't stand a chance of breaking free.
"It's undone? That's good. So, what should we do with this guy?" Ash jumped down from the robot, carrying Vicious, and casually tossed him onto the ground.
"If we hand him over to Officer Jenny, he might just get rescued by Team Rocket again. It's a real headache," Brock said, rubbing his chin in a dilemma.
The relationship between the League and Team Rocket was incredibly convoluted; if the Team Rocket trio could repeatedly escape League prisons, this new Team Rocket leader would surely have even more ways to slip away. However, the threat posed by this guy was far greater than that of the Team Rocket trio; if he were to escape without Ash stopping him, he could very well plunge the world into chaos once again.
But as for finishing him off right here and now... there was simply no way they could bring themselves to do it. If they were to take a human life as casually as Vicious did, how would they be any different from him?
"Leave it to me. I will erase all of his memories—leaving only those from before he joined Team Rocket—and then send him to prison. That way, even if that bunch from Team Rocket rescues him, he'll be of no use to them."
Mewtwo's voice resonated in everyone's minds—Vicious's included.
Upon hearing this, Vicious shook his head frantically, like a rattle-drum.
Everyone else, however—with the exception of Vicious and Sam—nodded in agreement, thinking Mewtwo's proposed course of action was a good one.
The reason Sam didn't nod was simply that he hadn't yet fully grasped the concept of memory erasure.
Could a Pokémon actually erase a human's memories?
The very idea was terrifying... though, given the horrors he had already witnessed that day, one more shock hardly mattered.
As for Vicious? No one cared what he thought.
"Then it's settled: we'll erase his memories." Ash snapped his fingers, sealing Vicious's fate.
At that moment, Vicious finally understood what it felt like to be completely at the mercy of others...
*******************************
Enjoyed the action? Drop a review, fire off a comment, and send those Power Stones rolling! Your support keeps the updates coming fast—let's keep the momentum going! 🔥