"You!"
Mr. Fuji's voice was trembling—no, not just his voice. His whole frail body was shaking.
There was anger there, and fear.
Pokémon House was the only thing he had left to lean on.
If anything happened to everyone there, then he would truly have nothing.
"Shameless!"
"That depends on your choice, Grandpa Fuji.
As long as you cooperate nicely, nothing will happen."
Damian leaned slightly closer to Mr. Fuji, his gaze sinking as he looked into the old man's cloudy eyes.
"As long as you behave, I'll send supplies to your Pokémon House on a regular basis.
All those little ones will grow up safe and healthy—and with that kind of support, you'll be able to take in even more suffering, abandoned Pokémon, won't you?"
The scene… looked exactly like a TV drama villain cornering some righteous character.
Yeah, the kind who doesn't survive more than three episodes.
At least, Erika couldn't even bear to look straight at it right now.
Caitlin, on the other hand, was perfectly calm.
Whatever Damian did was the right thing.
"But if you refuse, who knows what might happen. Don't you think?"
Damian smiled, pure malice at the corners of his lips.
Please don't do it like this!
Erika's whole body went numb.
She could see Mr. Fuji already breathing hard in anger.
Can't you just talk nicely?
You're making us look like actual supervillains here!
"You'll all get what's coming to you!"
Mr. Fuji glared at Damian—and threw Erika and Caitlin into that glare as well.
As far as he was concerned, anyone who stayed by Damian's side couldn't possibly be a good person.
"Ah～ even if that's true, you'll still have to help me unlock Mewtwo's power first, won't you?"
Damian didn't care in the slightest.
Karma, no karma—what a joke.
Mr. Fuji clenched both fists tightly.
He really wanted to grab a knife and just end Damian right here.
But—
In the end, Mr. Fuji's shoulders slumped and he lowered his head.
He couldn't do anything.
Pokémon House was his only weak spot.
"I'll need a proper lab and all the relevant equipment. And I'll have to thoroughly examine Mewtwo's current physical data."
Mr. Fuji took a deep breath, his tone dry and rough.
"Of course. No problem at all. I'll have everything arranged."
"Come find me again when you're done preparing."
Mr. Fuji turned and left without another word.
He really did need to calm down.
He'd thought he'd already decided, long ago, to atone for the sin of helping Team Rocket create Mewtwo while blinded by guilt.
But now—
"People with a soft spot are just so easy to control."
Damian pulled out his phone and fired off a text, chuckling softly as he watched Mr. Fuji's back.
"Uuugh—"
Erika let out a small, helpless whine like a frightened little animal.
"What's with you now?"
Damian looked at the suddenly "glitching" Erika, puzzled.
"I… I'm not clean anymore…"
Erika couldn't help covering her face.
The way Mr. Fuji had just looked at her… it had really pushed her past her limit.
She, Erika of Celadon City—a well‑born young lady who loved flower arranging, Gym Leader of Celadon Gym, one of the Indigo League's eight official Gyms.
In all her life, aside from her love of napping, she'd never had a single stain on her record.
She was admired and idolized by all the young people in Celadon City.
Maybe she wasn't literally as pure as a white lotus, but it was close enough—
And today, a kind old man had looked at her and seen a villain.
She hadn't even done anything!!
She'd already been taken advantage of so much by Damian—two days of forced kisses in a row, plus several hickeys. Her heart was already in knots over that.
And now, on top of that, she'd been lumped in with Team Rocket.
Erika truly couldn't take it.
"Don't talk nonsense."
Damian froze.
He'd checked personally—Erika was very clean.
The shape of the little "dumplings" was exquisitely perfect, like white jade bowls.
"Maybe this little lady doesn't deserve to go on living after all…"
Erika was still drowning in self‑pity.
"?"
Damian glanced at Caitlin.
Caitlin touched her chin, thinking it over seriously for a while.
"Probably just a case of chuunibyou acting up."
"I do NOT!!"
Erika came "back to life" on the spot, her fair little face puffing up with indignation.
"Good then. Don't overthink it. Outsiders don't have the right to judge us.
As long as we can live with ourselves, that's all that matters."
Damian smiled lazily at Erika, making her pause for a beat.
So Mr. Damian actually knew what she was upset about?
"If you're always fixated on other people's opinions and gazes, you'll wear yourself out.
Life is short. Living freely and brilliantly—that's what matters most."
Damian stretched in a long, lazy motion.
He'd gotten a second run at life.
This time around, he just wanted to live unbound, doing whatever he wanted.
Was there a problem with that?
None at all.
Caitlin nodded firmly, a stunning smile curving her lips.
Exactly.
"Just have to live so I can look myself in the eye, huh…"
Hearing that, Erika fell into thought.
Right—she hadn't done anything wrong.
Why torture herself over it?
Erika suddenly got it.
Yeah—she was innocent!
…Wait. Maybe not that innocent.
She glanced at Damian—and in an instant, all she could see was the image of that morning, when he'd pinned her to his bed and kissed her breathless.
Her face went up in flames.
And Mr. Damian's hands!
How could Mr. Damian's hands be so shameless?!
She'd clearly been wearing a bra—how could he undo it faster than she could herself?!
Damian put Ariana on notice, telling her to bring people over and refit the base in Lavender Town, set up a new lab.
It wasn't that difficult; they already had a site.
They just needed all the fine‑tuned research equipment.
"Mr. Damian, there's something I'm confused about… if it's not inconvenient, could you tell me?"
On the grassy hillside outside Lavender Town, the three of them were resting on a picnic blanket when Erika finally asked the question that had been gnawing at her.
"You want to know about Mewtwo's origin and that Mr. Fuji, right?"
Damian was enjoying Caitlin's lap pillow, as comfortable as could be.
Caitlin gently kneaded his temples with slender jade fingers.
"Yes. I'm very curious about what Mr. Fuji meant by 'creating' it."
"Just what it sounded like."
Damian answered offhandedly.
He pulled a deep red Cherish Ball from his belt—the one holding Armored Mewtwo.
"Mewtwo is an artificial Pokémon, and it only awakened not long ago."
"!!!"
Hearing Damian confirm it, Erika's pupils shrank in shock as she sucked in a cold breath.
Caitlin was just as stunned—so it really was an artificial Pokémon?
This wasn't her first time seeing an artificial Pokémon.
Gladion's Silvally was also a man‑made creation of Aether Foundation.
And Silvally's strength was already pretty insane—Caitlin honestly felt that in pure combat ability, Silvally was almost on par with Tapu Lele.
But this Shadow Mewtwo… was on a completely different level!
They'd seen it with their own eyes yesterday: Shadow Mewtwo trading blows with Ho-Oh on equal footing.
That was Ho-Oh, a legendary Pokémon!
"Is… is that really possible?"
Erika muttered blankly.
"Hard to imagine, right?
But that's the greatness of advanced science."
Damian understood her disbelief.
A man‑made Pokémon that strong—any normal person would react the same way.
"Using Mew's genetic code as a foundation, they grafted in genes from various exceptional Pokémon, recombining them over and over.
Then, using advanced cloning bio‑tech, they finally brought Mewtwo into the world."
Damian couldn't help a note of awe in his tone.
"That's incredible～"
Erika came back to herself and couldn't help but breathe out in admiration.
"But it's also a one‑of‑a‑kind miracle.
Timing, coincidence, fate, technology, genes—all kinds of factors meshed perfectly together, and that's how Mewtwo was born.
In and of itself, it represents a miracle."
Damian didn't believe a second Mewtwo could really be made.
Even if they followed the exact same steps with the exact same genes…
Whatever was born from that would almost certainly not be "Mewtwo."
A Legendary Pokémon on Mewtwo's level couldn't be explained away as the product of science alone.
"In reality, this world's mysteries go way beyond our imagination.
Erika, Caitlin—do you two believe in time machines?"
Damian asked, smiling.
"Time machines?"
Caitlin's delicate face twisted slightly.
Was he talking about that kind of time machine?
"Yeah. Time machines—actual devices capable of traveling through time."
"T‑that's impossible, isn't it?"
Erika couldn't help pushing back.
Modern science didn't have anywhere near the kind of foundation needed to support something like a time machine.
Sure, there were things like storage bags and Poké Balls that relied on spatial principles—
But time machines were a totally different concept!
"What if I told you that somewhere in this world, someone's already built one—and actually succeeded in sending Pokémon from the distant past and the future into the present?"
Damian's lips curled slightly.
"Eh?"
Erika felt like she'd already been shocked more times than was healthy today.
But this was on a completely different level.
She didn't think Damian was lying to her.
In her eyes, Mr. Damian might be a bit of a perv who was always taking advantage of her, but he wouldn't make this kind of pointless joke.
And honestly, if a man‑made legendary monster like Mewtwo already existed…
Then even if a time machine was still hard to wrap her head around, it was at least barely within the realm of acceptance.
"When we've got time, I'll take you to see it.
The Pokémon sent here through time are really strong too—you can see if any of them suit your tastes."
Damian lounged there, sounding utterly relaxed.
Area Zero—that was a place he had to go someday.
Those Paradox Pokémon were all excellent.
Especially the two legendary Guardians of Paradise!
"Mhm mhm mhm!!"
Erika was already excited.
A time machine!!
Ring, ring, ring～
Damian's phone suddenly went off.
He glanced at the screen—it was a call from Lillie.
"Hey, Lillie."
"Mr. Damian, are you busy?"
Lillie's soft, pleasant voice drifted over the line.
"Nope, just taking it easy."
"That's good. I was worried I might be disturbing something important."
"No problem at all. If it's you, Lillie, you can call me anytime.
Even if I am busy."
So… I'm more important than anything else?
In Aether Paradise's garden in Alola, Lillie pursed her lips lightly at that, but she couldn't hide how wide her smile had gotten.
She was so happy!!
On Damian's side, Erika clicked her tongue.
Mr. Damian really was a flirt!
He'd kissed her and groped her plenty by now, but he'd never said something that sweet to her.
Mr. Damian was way too much.
As for Caitlin, she just kept her head lowered, face expressionless.
Lillie?
She knew the girl.
They'd played the flute together at the Altar of the Moone.
Lusamine's daughter—sure.
But just a totally powerless young miss who wasn't even a Trainer.
Combat power: zero.
Caitlin wasn't worried at all.
She had absolute confidence in herself.
"Mr. Damian's so good at sweet‑talking. It's like this—Nebby came back today."
Lillie's tone had clearly brightened a lot.
"Lunala～"
A hoarse cry came through the phone—that was Lunala's voice.
"That's great. Too bad I'm not there right now."
Damian replied with a smile.
"It seems to miss you a lot too, Mr. Damian.
Mr. Damian… when are you coming back to Alola?"
Lillie's voice was full of quiet anticipation.
She knew—she knew Damian was Selene's boyfriend.
But she still couldn't help it.
It had only been a few days since they'd parted, but she already missed Mr. Damian terribly.
~~~
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