This was not just a choice, but a trial of pride and reason.
Time passed second by second, and the only sound left in the cave was the dripping of water.
A long time passed.
A Psychic wave clearly entered the minds of Ariel and Malamar.
"I accept."
A clear voice spoke from the depths of Ariel's heart:
It worked!
He looked at Mewtwo; his own reflection was mirrored in those purple eyes, calm and waveless, as if the hesitation from before had been a mere illusion.
This was Mewtwo, the pinnacle of man-made creation, the strongest among Legendary Pokémon.
Its pride did not stem from ignorance but was built upon absolute strength.
It had scrutinized Ariel's proposal, using its brain—comparable to a supercomputer—to analyze all possibilities, finally concluding that the risk was controllable and the gains were substantial.
A weak Mental Brand was nothing more than a grain of dust in its vast, ocean-like mental world.
It was confident it could crush it at any time or easily seal it away.
But Mewtwo was not human, after all.
It could not understand the guile and patience hidden deep within the human psyche.
It had calculated Malamar's current strength but overlooked the most important variable—time.
From the very beginning, Ariel's plan was not aimed at the 'present' Mewtwo, but for the 'future.'
A seed, once planted, will always have a day to take root and sprout.
While the current Malamar could not influence Mewtwo in the slightest, could the same be said once Malamar's strength climbed to the Elite or even Champion level?
This brand, sealed away by Mewtwo itself, would become a thorn at the most unexpected moment—a thorn capable of tipping the entire scale.
This was a guaranteed profitable deal.
Ariel lost nothing; instead, he gained a promise from Mewtwo.
In this deal, the biggest loser was Team Rockets, as they had lost permanent control over Mewtwo!
But what did their loss have to do with him?
If Giovanni knew he had personally let go of this 'Ultimate Weapon,' one wondered what his expression would be.
Thinking of this, the curve of Ariel's lips became a bit more genuine.
"Come here."
He beckoned to Mewtwo.
Mewtwo's body did not seem to move, yet in the next instant, it appeared before Ariel, so fast that even the air didn't ripple.
A powerful sense of pressure washed over him.
Beside Ariel, Malamar's tentacles, which usually swayed flexibly, now hung stiffly.
It could feel the Psychic field radiating from the creature before it, like an invisible mountain pressing down until it could barely breathe.
Asking it to place a Mental Brand on such a terrifying existence was no different from asking an ant to mark an elephant.
Ariel's palm rested on Malamar's head, patting it gently; the warm touch transmitted a comforting power.
"Don't be nervous."
His voice was light, carrying a hint of teasing,
"Once you finish this job, you'll be a legend in the Pokémon world. Just think, when you're bragging to other Malamar later, saying you even stamped Mewtwo, who would dare to challenge you?"
Malamar: "..."
Although it was still very nervous, it seemed... there was indeed some logic to that.
Mewtwo remained silent throughout; it simply hovered there, opening its mental defenses.
It was a posture of absolute confidence, as if saying:
Come, let me show you what an ocean looks like.
Malamar took a deep breath, its eyes lighting up with a dark glow.
A weak but extremely concentrated Psychic force, like a fine black needle, cautiously probed toward Mewtwo's consciousness.
The moment they made contact, Malamar's entire body shuddered.
It felt as if its Psychic power had pierced not a soft consciousness, but a burning star!
However, the expected counterattack did not occur. That vast Psychic sea actively split open a crack, allowing the black 'fine needle' to pierce through.
The brand was set.
But before Malamar could withdraw its Psychic power, a sudden change occurred!
Within a thousandth of a second of its completion, that newly formed brand was instantly wrapped, compressed, and sealed by a golden, domineering, and unquestionable surge of majestic Psychic power!
The whole process was clean and efficient, like a blacksmith throwing a red-hot iron into ice water.
Malamar could feel its connection with that brand being forcibly severed.
After doing all this, Mewtwo's gaze finally turned to Ariel.
Without warning.
A beam of pure Psychic energy shot from Mewtwo's eyes, sinking directly into the space between Ariel's brows!
"Ugh!"
Ariel let out a muffled groan, his body swaying.
The feeling was indescribable.
It was as if something had exploded in his head, a torrent washing through every nerve.
It wasn't pain, but a strange sensation of being forcibly filled, torn apart, and then reconstructed.
His brain felt like a hard drive that had been stuffed with too much data, buzzing incessantly.
A cold, emotionless voice rang directly in his mind:
"Thank you, Ariel."
"This is a Mental Coordinate. In the future, you can call my name in your heart, and I will be able to sense your location. In return, I will intervene for you twice, with no conditions."
As the voice faded, Mewtwo's figure became blurred in the air, like a reflection in rippling water, and in the next second, it vanished completely.
The surroundings fell into a deathly silence.
Only the rustling of the wind through the forest remained.
Ariel didn't concern himself with Mewtwo's departure; he didn't even take a moment to savor the immense value of those 'two unconditional interventions.'
He was frozen in place, staring blankly at his own hands.
His world had changed.
He could see!
No, he could feel!
The dust floating in the air—he could hear it!
The faint friction of an ant crawling over a blade of grass ten meters away!
In his perception, the entire world had become more three-dimensional and clearer than ever before.
Inside his body, there was an extra power that didn't belong to him.
It lay dormant and docile, like a stream that had just awakened.
Ariel's gaze fell on a small stone by his feet.
A thought rose in his mind.
Rise.
He used all his strength—not with his muscles, but with that new, unfamiliar power—to think!
The small stone didn't budge.
Fine sweat broke out on Ariel's forehead; he closed his eyes, concentrating all his attention on that stone.
He imagined an invisible hand lifting it up.
One second.
Two seconds.
The stone, the size of a fingernail, trembled slightly.
Then, wobbling and extremely reluctantly, it rose half an inch off the ground and hovered in mid-air.
Ariel snapped his eyes open, staring intently at the floating stone, his breath hitching.
A long time passed.
He slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, which turned into a cloud of Mist in the cool air.
He...
Had become a Psychic?
Just because of that simple surge of Psychic power from Mewtwo?
Ariel looked down at his palm again, then slowly clenched it. A sense of reality, of taking control of his own destiny, surged into his heart.
From this day forward, the world would be entirely different for him.
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