Jen reluctantly returned to Cerulean City followed by an army of Pokemon. When the remaining grunts saw the shocking sight they panicked and ran. Jen wanted to chase after them and demand they take her to Misty and her Pokemon, but she had to return all the captured Pokemon first.
Just about every trainer came running at full speed, each one crying out for his or her Pokemon. The Pokemon didn’t hesitate in meeting their beloved trainers halfway, passing Jen to reunite with them.
The joyful reunions would have warmed Jen’s heart if only she was not burning with a silent fury. Seeing the trainers hug their Pokemon only fueled her anger and jealousy of them.
She walked back to the gym unnoticed by the happy trainers and found her bike mangled in front of the gym. It looked as if it had been trampled by a stampede of Tauros, and then handed to a Machoke to bend and break. She also found her bag to have been raided by the Rocket grunts, leaving absolutely nothing behind for her.
Jen clenched her fists and began to cry.
A few trainers saw her and slowly approached her. “Hey, kid, are you alright?”
Jen shrugged them off and gathered her shredded sleeping bag into her damaged duffle bag, but her attempts were in vain. She sighed heavily as the sleeping bag fell apart. “Damn.” She grumbled, throwing the bag down in anger. “Fine then I’ll follow them on foot!”
With nothing, but the clothes on her back and her messenger bag slung over her shoulder, she marched out of Cerulean City, determined to find Misty and her Pokemon.
Elsewhere
Mew had heard Arceus’s call, and felt the power that had caused the blackout, but decided against attending the gathering in hopes to investigate on her own. The power was very similar to her own, and Mew knew of only one other being that shared such strength.
It took her only a couple of minutes to find his cave.
“Mewtwo!” Mew cried in her ever friendly and perky tone.
There was no answer.
“I know you can hear me, silly!” When she didn’t get a reply, she flew gracefully into the cave in search of Mewtwo. All the wild Pokemon who inhabited the cave as well watched in awe as Mew passed. Some even followed the pink Pokemon, but slowed to a stop as she drew closer to Mewtwo’s dwelling.
“Don’t go in! Don’t go in!” Many of them cried.
Mew stopped and smiled at them. “No need to fear. We’ve settled our differences a long time ago. I only wish to talk to him.”
“But he is gone.”
“Gone? Where to?”
Many of them shrugged. “He left minutes before the people with the machines and ‘R’s’ on their chests came.”
Mew flinched. “Are they still here?”
“They never left. They are going to try to capture him once he returns.” Mew drifted towards the entrance of the cavern that Mewtwo called home, but went no farther. She could sense both human and unfriendly Pokemon hidden deeper in the cavern. “Please, flee. They have no interest in us.”
“Thank you for your help.” Mew chirped as she glided from the cave.
Little did Mew know that Team Rocket had set up a silent alarm at the mouth of the cave, which had been set off by her passing energy. At least she didn’t know until three Spearows, two Beedrills, and a Raticate came charging after her.
Mew was quickly able to lose the Raticate, but the Spearows and Beedrills were harder to shake. She dove in and out of the trees and sent balls of energy at her pursuers. Only two of the Spearows and one of the Beedrills fell, but the attacks did slow down the others.
Mew used this to her advantage as she dove back into the trees and shifted into a Rattata. She dared a peek into the air to see the remaining Spearow and Beedrill soar past, not bothering to give her a second glance.
She let lose a sigh of relief. “That was close. I better keep looking for Mewtwo before they find him.”
Still in Rattata form, Mew scampered onto the nearby path in hopes of identifying where in Kanto she was now. To her dismay, she found nothing to help her.
“Well, fine.” She pouted. “This is going to take longer—wait, that energy! Mewtwo?”
She spun around hoping to see him, but found no one.
“I swear I can sense him…Mewtwo!”
Earlier
Mewtwo had sensed Team Rocket coming long before they made it to his cave. He didn’t want to be a slave to them, to that damned monster of a man, Giovanni, ever again. Once was already too much.
He flew from his cave to the forest not very far from the city. Team Rocket was bound to leave his cave eventually, but that didn’t mean soon. He hovered over the trees and looked back at the illuminated city.
“What could those miscreants be planning now?”
“A good question.”
Mewtwo stiffened as Zapdos appeared above him. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be on your island along with Articuno and Moltres?”
Zapdos shook his head. “We were called to a Gathering by Arceus, which you failed to attend.”
“I don’t like attending any of the Gatherings. Now why are you here?”
“The other Legendries and Arceus suspect either you or Mew of causing the regional blackout the other night.” Zapdos responded.
Mewtwo frowned. “What blackout? I have not seen or heard of this, and what makes it different from any other blackout?”
“I don’t think you heard me, Mewtwo. The blackout that occurred last night sent all of Kanto into darkness. Not one city had light.”
“Odd. Did anyone not suspect a human group to be behind any of this?” Mewtwo asked as his mind drifted towards Team Rocket and how they were still in his cave.
“Some did, but we were sent out to first question those who did not attend. Where were you during the blackout?”
“In my cave.” He replied bluntly.
“Of course. And where else would you have been?” Zapdos thought sarcastically.
“Heard that.”
Zapdos rolled his eyes. “Will you at least come back with me to the Sky Pillar to talk with Arceus. We can settle things faster if you and Mew speak to him directly.”
Mewtwo shook his head. “I think I rather stay here and keep an eye on the more current issues at hand, thank you very much.” He said as he gazed back towards the city. “Send my regards to Arceus will you?”
“What could be more important than speaking with Arceus? He called for you and Mew specifically!”
“So he blames us for what has happened?”
“No! He just wants to talk.”
Mewtwo scoffed. “Just wants to talk…yeah right.”
Mewtwo had never truly gotten over what Team Rocket had done to him, and his lack of trust showed amongst everyone. Of course with the exception of the Chosen One, Ash, and Mew.
“If you’re not going to come willingly, then I’m afraid I’m going to have to make you come.” Zapdos said as his being glowed with electricity.
“You really want to fight me, Zapdos?” Mewtwo asked. His tone was threatening.
“You’re the one asking for it.” And with that, Zapdos unleashed a bolt of lightning at Mewtwo.
Mewtwo surrounded himself with a purple force field and glared at Zapdos. “You do know that the only thing you will accomplish here is getting your ass handed to you, right?”
Zapdos threw another thunderbolt at him, which Mewtwo deflected again. “Try to remember that I warned you.” Mewtwo said as he threw a ball of energy at the Legendary bird.
Zapdos pounded his wings as he tried to escape the attack, but the orb clipped one of his wings. “Gawh!” He screamed as he flew at Mewtwo. Zapdos soared at Mewtwo faster than he could react and dragged Mewtwo to the ground. The two Legendries fell to the ground, but not before crashing into a truck.
The front part of the truck was absolutely destroyed and the drivers, though they miraculously survived, were knocked unconscious. Some of them looked like they were bleeding with possible broken bones.
Mewtwo quickly got up and climbed into the air, watching as Zapdos shook itself off and took off into the night. He was about to go after Zapdos, but stopped when he heard someone banging on the truck doors.
“Captured Pokémon?” Mewtwo thought as he landed at the back of the truck.
“Let us out!” A girl cried from the other side.
Mewtwo flinched. “They’re capturing trainers now too?” He unlatched the truck doors and opened it slightly for the girl, but disappeared before she could jump out of the truck. His eyes widened when he recognized the orange haired girl. "I remember you. You...you are one of Ash's friends. You were with him when we first encountered each other. Misty."
Misty looked around for her rescuer, but saw no one. She walked to the front of the truck and saw the destruction that Mewtwo and Zapdos had caused. “Yikes…” She grimaced when she saw the three grunts. “Kind of glad I was in the back.”
A Vulpix and a Gastly exited the truck next and examined the crash.
“Serves those assholes right!” Vulpix growled. She then turned towards the forest and screamed. “THANK YOU!”
“Yeah, thank you!” Gastly shouted. “Though a warning would have been nice.”
“Just be grateful that the crash caused our cages to break. It was burning the ropes off of her that was tricky.”
Misty motioned for Jen’s Pokemon to follow her. “Come on you two. We’ve got to get back to Cerulean City. Jen must be worried sick about you.”
The Pokemon didn’t hesitate to follow Misty back towards the city. In fact, the two Pokemon ran ahead of her.
Mewtwo watched as Misty and the two Pokemon disappeared into the dark of the night. He had half a mind to follow them out of curiosity, but stopped when he heard a familiar voice echo in his mind.
“Mewtwo!”
Mewtwo turned in the direction the telepathic voice. “Mew?”
Taking to the sky, he searched for Mew. He couldn’t see her, but he could sense her energy. It only took him a few moments to locate where her energy was coming from, but as he neared, instead of finding Mew, he could make out the figure of a young trainer walking along the route.
The trainer froze in the middle of the route and stared down the path. Mewtwo followed the trainer’s gaze and noticed the silhouette of a Rattata. The little, purple rat was running up along the path towards the trainer, but Mewtwo knew better.
“Mew.”
He landed silently behind the trainer and motioned for Mew to come towards him. Mew noticed him and began sprinting towards him.
The trainer tensed up and got into a battle stance as Mew leapt into the air.