"Your thoughts are written all over your face. It's hard not to guess in that direction."
Grey shook his head and sighed. Mewtwo had basically expressed her thoughts silently.
Wasn't that just making something needlessly complicated?
Mewtwo choked on her words.
For a moment, she could not say anything.
"Then... how did you know I have a move called Psystrike?"
The second thing that shocked Mewtwo was how Grey knew about her ultimate move, Psystrike.
Logically speaking, Psystrike was a move created by humans.
Under those circumstances, only she, or rather, the humans who created her, should know about that move.
And yet Grey had casually exposed her ultimate move with a single sentence.
It completely froze Mewtwo's brain.
"Oh, that. I met one of your kind before. I suppose it would count as Mewtwo One. It used that move before, so that's how I knew you could use it."
Grey was not lying.
Mewtwo One had used Psystrike before.
It had also treated the move as its ultimate attack.
So when Mewtwo Two revealed that expression just now, Grey knew she wanted to use Teleport to create distance before using Psystrike.
"That... all right."
Mewtwo calmed her emotions. This time, she did not follow what Grey expected. Instead, she charged straight in with brute force.
Psychic power surged like a vast, magnificent tide. Mewtwo's entire body was covered in blue light. This was the best way to release a move that she could currently think of. Although its power would be reduced because the range was too large, it had one clear advantage, no blind spots.
"Phantom Force."
Grey's snap suddenly rang out.
Snap.
"Nihil!"
The corner of Annihilape's mouth stretched into a strange curve. Ghostly energy spread wildly from its body, and dark-blue light enveloped it from head to toe. In an instant, it sank into the darkness.
Phantom Force activated.
Unlike a move such as Dig, what Annihilape did was equivalent to fusing itself into another plane, in other words, the place known as the spirit world.
Which meant that Mewtwo's proud all-direction, no-blind-spot attack was now completely useless against Annihilape.
After all, Annihilape had entered the spirit world.
Unless Mewtwo was powerful enough to tear open a spatial rift, there was no way to hit Annihilape.
"Damn it... What kind of fight is hiding and sneaking around? Are you just stalling out my psychic power?"
Mewtwo's explosive power was very strong.
But she had only been created recently, and her understanding of her own power was still limited to simply overwhelming everything with raw force.
The previous move had drained most of the energy inside her body. Maintaining long-term endurance would now be extremely difficult.
After only a few seconds, the blue light around Mewtwo began flickering on and off. It was a sign that her psychic power was about to end.
"Nihil!"
Annihilape, hidden in the darkness, let out a fierce roar. Phantom Force activated instantly. It suddenly appeared behind Mewtwo and slammed a heavy punch wrapped in Ghost-type energy hard into her body.
Boom!
Mewtwo suffered a brutal blow. The pain from her back nearly made her pass out.
"Damn it... Why is this power so strong...?"
At first, Mewtwo had treated Grey like a random roadside opponent.
But now, after only a few exchanges, Grey had treated her like the random roadside opponent instead.
"Do you want to continue? I really do still have a big move I haven't used."
Grey chuckled. This time, Annihilape had not even used Rage Fist yet.
Counting the damage it had just taken, Rage Fist's power was roughly between 100 and 150. It was fully comparable to the power of a major finishing move.
"No. My skill isn't good enough yet. I hope little Riolu can guide me."
Mewtwo politely refused.
She was a little reckless, not stupid.
She could not even trade blows with Annihilape.
If she kept fighting like this, she would only injure her own body.
If she could not win, then she could not win. She was still basically a newborn and had absolutely no real battle experience, so losing to a terrifying existence like Grey in her very first battle was completely reasonable.
In her eyes, she had not received systematic training, nor had she gained any real combat experience. Facing an opponent like Grey in her first match, losing was only normal.
Mm. Very reasonable.
Completely reasonable!
Mewtwo convinced herself.
"Mew." See? I told you, not only is your skill lacking, even your control over your power isn't as good as Annihilape's. Now that you want me to guide you, I assume you're convinced.
"Mew." But there is one thing I need to say. Following me means you must be able to endure hardship. Only Pokémon that can endure hardship and work hard can make it to the end. You have talent, but I still hope you won't rely on your high talent and think you're invincible.
The little Riolu said a lot.
Mewtwo did not refute it.
Previously, she really had thought that way.
But after battling Grey, her arrogance had been beaten clean out of her.
"I understand. So what should I do next?"
Mewtwo corrected her mindset, her tone sincere.
"Mew." Mm. Next, you'll grill meat with me. I remember there should be a new all-you-can-eat barbecue place nearby. From now on, you'll use your psychic power to help me grill meat every day. Got it?
The little Riolu was still thinking about barbecue.
Now that it had a new grill master, of course it had to make good use of her.
"Grill meat... I still have a question. What connection is there between grilling meat with psychic power and improving my control over psychic power?"
Mewtwo felt like her brain was about to burn out.
She had thought it would be some kind of hellish training, but the result was something that looked plain and ordinary, and in reality, was still plain and ordinary, grilling meat.
Was this really not just treating her as a helper for barbecue?
"Mew." I said before that this path is dull and tasteless. If you think it's useless, then I think you can leave right now.
The little Riolu's face was full of disappointment.
Of course, it was disappointment at the thought of losing a grill master.
"This... Then I'll try it first."
Mewtwo figured she might as well try it. It probably would not hurt her.
"Mew." G-good. Then that's settled. When it's lunchtime, we'll go eat barbecue. Let me see how your fundamentals are.
The little Riolu almost jumped for joy.
But it still held itself back.
It pretended as if nothing had happened and leisurely walked away.
Mewtwo followed closely behind.
Only Grey and his three apprentices were left in the wilderness.
"All right. Next, let me see how your training has been recently. Except for Lillie, Silver, Green, step forward!"
"Yes!" they both answered.
Time flew by.
In the blink of an eye, it was the next day.
"Mew!" Grey, Grey! Please take this Mewtwo and train her yourself! I'm begging you! I'll owe you a favor, all right?
Early in the morning, the little Riolu lay in Grey's arms and cried loudly.
Mewtwo was a complete lost cause. She had spent the entire day grilling meat yesterday and had not improved at all!
The little Riolu really wanted to curse.
It had taught her so much knowledge about controlling output, yet Mewtwo had not learned a single bit of it. Every time she grilled meat, she used too much psychic power and turned the meat into charcoal. It could not even be eaten!
Was this a normal Pokémon's learning ability?
Weren't you supposed to be the strongest Psychic-type Pokémon?
Then why couldn't you even grill meat properly?!
"Nobody's perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. Mewtwo is still basically a baby. You need to have a good mindset if you want to teach her well. It's only one day of completely burnt barbecue. It's not a big deal, right?"
Grey spoke earnestly.
When those words reached the little Riolu's ears, it wanted to cry but had no tears left.
"I don't care, I don't care! Take Mewtwo away today, okay? I don't want to eat charcoal barbecue three meals in a row anymore!"
The little Riolu sobbed, giving Grey a headache.
"All right, all right. I happen to have a battle this afternoon. How about this? I'll have her participate then, and I'll see what exactly is going on with her."
His battle that afternoon was against Morty.
His opponent was a Trainer of Ghost-type Pokémon. If Mewtwo fought, the slightest carelessness could easily leave her trapped in the opponent's palm.
"Mew!" Thank you so much, Grey! Once you've fixed Mewtwo, I'll come pick her up again! This time, I owe you a huge favor!
The little Riolu shed tears of emotion.
Today, it was genuinely moved to tears.
It really did not want to teach a Pokémon from scratch anymore!
Never again!
After finishing its tears, the little Riolu used Teleport and left.
Grey also got up to see how his students were doing.
"Gym Leader Grey... G-mornin..."
Green looked completely drained.
She had undergone special training from morning until night yesterday, leaving her unwilling to move at all for the entire day.
Fortunately, the progress had been considerable.
The Pokémon under Green had learned many new moves.
Next, when she went to the Indigo Conference, as long as she did not run into some absurd opponent, there should not be any major problems.
"Good morning. Where did Silver go?"
Grey did not see Silver and curiously wondered where he had gone.
"He seems to have gone to take a look around the outskirts of Mt. Silver. He said he wanted to catch a Pokémon."
"Huh? Mt. Silver? Him?!"
Grey's eyes widened.
Mt. Silver.
A place the League classified as forbidden for rookie Trainers.
Not just rookie Trainers. Even elite Trainers had to think carefully before going there.
And now Silver had gone straight to Mt. Silver like some hotheaded rookie?!
"Why didn't he tell me about this?"
Grey found it strange.
Normally speaking, Silver should have reported to him before going to such a dangerous place.
"Because Gym Leader Giovanni is with him. After finishing his match, he happened to pass by here. Silver happened to mention that he wanted to go to Mt. Silver, and Gym Leader Giovanni heard him. He was very attentive and said he could protect Silver while taking him in."
Lillie walked over at that moment and told Grey what had just happened.
Grey was silent.
Wow. Very attentive...
If it was Giovanni, then it did not matter.
Giovanni was Silver's biological father.
Grey could not exactly stop the two of them from meeting, could he?
"If Gym Leader Giovanni is taking him, then it's fine."
Grey ran a hand through his hair and simply laughed a few times.
Whoosh.
"You're here?"
Psychic fluctuations arrived. Grey did not even need to think to know that Mewtwo had arrived.
"Little Riolu told me to study with you for a while. Are you sure you can improve my control?"
Mewtwo knew Grey was very strong.
But someone like that was only powerful in strength. Whether he was good at teaching was still a question.
"No problem, no problem. I've taught three apprentices here, after all. I'm not just all talk. However, my training is mainly based on actual combat, and what I'm best at is the Sleeping Arhat Fist teaching method. If you want to learn, you might have to enter a Poké Ball."
Grey took out a Master Ball.
Mewtwo's power was too vast, and she still had no way to fully control her own strength. Using an ordinary Poké Ball would make it easy for her psychic power to destroy it, but a Master Ball was different.
Although Grey did not know what material it was made from, he could confirm that with Mewtwo's current strength, she had no way of destroying a Master Ball.
Of course, if Mewtwo became a little stronger and attacked it from the outside, the Master Ball could still shatter.
This had happened before between Kieran and Terapagos.
The Master Ball was not invincible. It could still be blown apart directly.
"Are you trying to catch me?"
Mewtwo knew what entering a Poké Ball meant.
It meant that from that point on, she would be Grey's subordinate.
"More or less. I know what you're thinking. When I catch Pokémon, I don't treat them as servants. Pokémon are my partners, my family. If you don't want to enter a Poké Ball, then the Sleeping Arhat Fist teaching method won't be suitable for you."
This teaching method belonged to the system. Depending on the individual situation, the training method focused on in the dream would also be different.
Mewtwo fell silent.
Looking at the Master Ball in Grey's hand, she eventually walked forward and touched the central button with her hand.
Thump.
Mewtwo turned into red light and entered the Master Ball.
Capture successful.
"All right. I guess I've caught Mewtwo now."
Grey had caught Lady Strike Back, not Mister Strike Back.
He just wondered what Giovanni's expression would look like when he came to watch Grey's battle and saw him commanding Mewtwo.
Just thinking about it was amusing.
"All right. We still need to prepare before the match. I'll give you a quick lesson on controlling your power. When the battle starts this afternoon, you need to suppress your strength to the same level as your opponent. Got it?"
Grey was quite skilled when it came to controlling energy.
When he helped Sabrina before, he had used his Aura to guide her, thereby achieving the effect of control.
Do not be fooled by how powerful Mewtwo was.
In reality, it was just what had been said earlier, brute force overwhelming everything.
A situation like this only needed to be guided with technique.
Very convenient.
Grey released Mewtwo and told her what he was about to do.
"You... are sure this will work?"
"Relax. You'll know in a moment."
As he spoke, Grey told Mewtwo to attack him as much as she wanted.
Mewtwo did as told.
Then...
"Grey, I, Mewtwo, acknowledge you as the strongest!"
Lady Strike Back had been completely convinced by Grey.
This feeling was something she had never experienced before.
It made Mewtwo feel that her future was full of promise.
Time arrived at afternoon.
Grey's battle arrived as scheduled.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Kanto-Johto Gym Leader Tournament! I'm your host, Slowking, and I'm very happy to be here once again to commentate the battle between Gym Leaders Grey and Morty!"
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