How do you defeat a Mewtwo that can unleash power at a Champion-level despite only being Elite-level in classification? That was the questio
How do you defeat a Mewtwo that can unleash power at a Champion-level despite only being Elite-level in classification?
That was the question Paul kept asking himself when he brought the newborn Mewtwo to this remote uninhabited island.
He had thought through countless strategies. And now, he was ready.
When it came to brute force, even with Garchomp and Electivire, he had only barely managed to beat Bruno by leveraging information gaps and move prediction.
Now, against an even stronger foe—a freshly created Mewtwo with raw unrefined power, there was no room for delusion. A straight-up slugfest would be suicide.
So, if he wanted to win…
He would need to exploit what he had that this newborn Mewtwo didn't: experience, knowledge of this world, and Mewtwo's limited move pool.
From what Paul recalled, the Mewtwo of the anime canon had a surprisingly narrow set of support and utility moves. Outside of Recover and Barrier, it relied primarily on overwhelming Special Attacks to crush opponents.
It had never demonstrated a single physical move—not even when colliding head-on with Mew, relying instead on telekinetically enhanced barriers.
That was the weakness.
To defeat this Mewtwo, Paul would need to take advantage of its lack of support moves and physical attack options.
"Prepare for battle, Drapion!"
Without hesitation, Paul hurled the Poké Ball he had prepared in advance.
"Draah~!"
Drapion emerged from the Poké Ball in a snarl. It had spent recent days refining its strength and sharpening its instincts. Now it faced the immense pressure radiating from Mewtwo and glared back without an ounce of fear.
"An unpleasant aura…"
Mewtwo stared at Drapion. Despite being newly born, it could already sense something deeply unpleasant from this creature, a repulsive stench of darkness.
But Paul gave it no time to ponder.
"Speed up. Hone Claws. Then Snarl!"
Sensing Paul's urgency, Drapion sprang into action. Its tail stabbed acupuncture-like points across its body, its claws sharpened with friction, and then it opened its jaws wide—letting out a ferocious, dark-colored shockwave of sound aimed straight at Mewtwo.
"…Useless."
With a simple raise of its hand, Mewtwo summoned a psychic shield—Barrier that completely nullified the effects of Snarl.
"Night Slash!"
The Snarl had failed, but Drapion didn't falter. The acupuncture phase complete, it zigzagged forward in a blur, closing the gap instantly.
Mewtwo raised its hand again, calm as ever. Its vast psychic energy condensed into a wave of crushing Psychic force that rippled outward, hitting Drapion dead-on.
"…What?"
For the first time, Mewtwo's expression changed. Despite landing a direct hit, Drapion seemed completely unharmed.
"Draaah~!"
Mewtwo hadn't realized… Dark-type Pokémon are completely immune to Psychic-type attacks.
Drapion accelerated again, now in close quarters. Its three claws, glowing with a dark aura, struck from multiple angles with perfect precision.
SLASH!
CRACK!
The strike landed but not on Mewtwo itself. Drapion's claws collided with another psychic Barrier Mewtwo had projected just in time.
Dark-type Pokémon like Drapion can ignore direct psychic damage, but not psychic constructs like barriers or levitation fields.
Realizing that a second Psychic attempt had also failed, Mewtwo's brow furrowed slightly. It switched tactics, gathering a dark sphere of energy in its free hand.
Shadow Ball.
"Dig!" Paul called out at once.
Just before the Shadow Ball launched, Drapion dove underground narrowly dodging the attack and vanishing from sight.
"Hmm?"
Now curious, Mewtwo floated into the air, scanning the ground below with its psychic senses enhanced by its unique aura perception ability.
Thanks to its overwhelming latent power, it immediately located Drapion's position beneath the surface—but even then, it couldn't forcibly extract Drapion.
That was the limitation of fighting a Dark-type Pokémon.
This was the first time Mewtwo had encountered one, and its mind hadn't quite adjusted to the challenge.
Before it could strategize further—
"Pin Missile!" came Paul's command.
From underground, Drapion erupted upward, launching a barrage of green spikes like missiles aimed at Mewtwo.
But Mewtwo waved its hand and with a thought, all of the missiles froze mid-air—then reversed course, arcing back toward Drapion like guided weapons.
"Dig again!"
Without a moment's pause, Drapion retreated once more underground, vanishing before the barrage struck.
"You can't run."
Mewtwo's eyes glowed blue, and its body radiated waves of aura. To it, the land had become like glass transparent in its perception. Drapion's fleeing form was as clear as daylight.
With precision control, Mewtwo redirected the frozen Pin Missiles through the twisting tunnels of Drapion's escape route.
BOOM!
A series of muffled explosions rocked the ground. Drapion had been hit by its own redirected attack, badly wounded.
"…This energy… it's not just aura—it's Aura Force!"
Hovering above, Mewtwo suddenly understood. This wasn't merely a psychic sense. It was Aura, a power that transcended conventional telepathy.
Mewtwo focused, compressing that energy into a glowing sphere…
Its first attempt at Aura Sphere.
But before the move could fully form, a shadow burst from the earth. Drapion shot up behind Mewtwo with three claws brimming with dark energy.
Night Slash!
In a flash, Mewtwo's eyes gleamed blue. A fresh psychic shield formed just in time, blocking the attack once more.
Unlike standard Pokémon, Mewtwo's Barrier was more similar to Protect—pure reflex, rooted in raw power.
Behind the shield, Drapion saw it. That sphere of concentrated Aura had finally taken form, blue and deadly.
Mewtwo spun mid-air, canceling the barrier and hurling the completed Aura Sphere directly at Drapion.
There was no time to dodge. In midair and too close to escape, Drapion raised its claws in a defensive stance.
At the moment of impact, something flashed—an almost invisible purple shimmer across Drapion's body.
BOOM!
The explosion lit up the air. Drapion was sent flying through the smoke and debris.
Super effective!
"…Is that all?"
Mewtwo looked down at the falling Drapion with a trace of arrogance in its eyes.
Drapion's power was respectable. But compared to the strongest version of itself—this newborn, Mewtwo—it was still far too weak.
Mewtwo was confident—
Even if Drapion hadn't been struck by its recently learned Aura Sphere, the power of that new move alone should've been enough to knock the Poison/Dark-type Pokémon out instantly.
What Mewtwo failed to notice, however, was Drapion falling from the sky in freefall with a faint smile at the corners of its mouth despite having clearly lost the ability to continue battling. As if it had completed a final mission.
And in that instant, Mewtwo suddenly felt a chill against its head.
Raising a hand to touch the spot, it found a streak of deep violet fluid now dripping into its vision.
It was Drapion's Toxic.
"When did that happen?!"
Mewtwo quickly used its psychic power to repel the venom from its body, but the insidious poison that had already seeped into its system was like a parasite burrowing into bone, impossible to purge in a short time.
A faint, nearly imperceptible purple hue now shimmered across its body.
If this were an ordinary Pokémon's Toxic, such a trace amount would have been meaningless. But Drapion was no ordinary Pokémon—it was a mutated variant, with venom so potent that even a little dose could inflict severe toxic poisoning on Mewtwo itself.
BOOM!
Below, Drapion crashed into the ground, suffering additional damage on impact. As expected, it was now officially out of the fight.
"You did well. Get some rest."
Yet Paul remained calm. There was no trace of sadness or regret on his face as he withdrew Drapion back into its Poké Ball.
This wasn't a game. If Drapion had openly used Toxic at the beginning, Mewtwo would've simply blocked it telekinetically just like how it had earlier handled a Hyper Beam. It wouldn't have worked at all.
The only way to succeed was for Drapion to sell the illusion of a desperate final assault, lulling Mewtwo into lowering its guard—then, at the last possible second, leave behind a secret gift of poison as a parting shot.
Of course, this entire plan hinged on one critical factor:
Drapion is a Dark-type, and Mewtwo was newly born, still vastly inexperienced.
If it had been the future, battle-hardened Mewtwo, it could've easily suppressed Drapion, even without mastering abilities like Miracle Eye. But now?
Whether it was this present version or the stronger Mewtwo of the future, so long as it hadn't learned Psycho Shift—any abnormal status condition like Toxic would be extremely difficult to remove mid-battle.
And so, stalling became the key.
Paul needed to buy time to let the toxins work deeper more violently, until even Mewtwo couldn't suppress them.
Without hesitation, he threw out his next Poké Ball.
"Torterra, full-strength Growth!"
"Raaaa!"
The moment Torterra hit the battlefield, it drove its roots deep into the ground. From the mighty tree on its back, a brilliant orb of solar energy burst forth, glowing like a miniature sun and saturating the battlefield in radiant light.
Growth activated.
Its Defense increased. Its Attack surged.
Without missing a beat, Torterra fired off a Solar Beam straight at Mewtwo.
"Pointless."
Mewtwo didn't hesitate. With a single motion, it unleashed Psystrike, overwhelming the Solar Beam and continuing straight toward Torterra.
"Protect!"
Paul's voice echoed directly into Torterra's mind via telepathy.
Almost simultaneously, Torterra formed a pale green Protect barrier.
BOOM!
The Psystrike collided with the shield, shattering it and still landing a partial blow on Torterra but it wasn't enough to knock it out.
Thanks to Ingrain and Photosynthesis from the intense sunlight, Torterra regenerated almost instantly.
As the attack ended, Mewtwo could feel something shift within its own body.
The suppressed venom was growing more active and more painful. And just like that, Mewtwo understood Paul's intention.
"You're trying to stall me out—let the poison take me down."
Paul didn't answer.
He simply let his eyes glow with subtle blue light, communicating directly into Torterra's mind again.
"Frenzy Plant."
"Raaaa!"
From where it stood, Torterra unleashed its full power. The earth in front of it cracked and ruptured—countless hardened vines erupted like living spears, flailing upward toward Mewtwo.
The entire sky was flooded with writhing green.
"Futile!"
Now fully aware of Paul's strategy, Mewtwo activated its full potential. Waves of overwhelming psychic power burst from within, forming a shimmering blue psychic barrier.
Rather than retreat, Mewtwo accelerated into a dive straight toward the incoming vines.
Each Frenzy Plant tendril that touched the barrier shattered instantly in the face of Mewtwo's full power, even Torterra's strongest Grass-type move crumbled like paper.
And keep in mind: Torterra's power had more than doubled due to Growth and Ingrain.
But even as Mewtwo closed in, Torterra stood firm.
It let loose another Solar Beam, while the leaves on its back rustled violently, releasing a Leaf Storm toward the diving psychic.
Three of the most powerful Grass-type attacks used simultaneously.
BOOM!
The explosion that followed from the combined impact of the three moves made Mewtwo falter in mid-air.
For a moment, Paul hoped that Torterra might actually buy them a few more seconds.
But then, Mewtwo spread its arms wide. Its power surged again.
It tore through all three attacks and resumed its dive, even faster than before.
Mewtwo was now utterly unstoppable.
"Protect!"
Torterra had just enough time to throw up one final barrier before Mewtwo struck.
KA-BOOM!
The sheer force of the impact sent a shockwave across the island, nearly blowing Paul off his feet.
Smoke and debris cloaked the battlefield.
And for a moment, Torterra's fate was unknown.
Then the smoke cleared—
"Damn it!"
Mewtwo's furious voice echoed out. Torterra's body had been launched like a missile by a devastating Mega Punch, its Ingrain roots completely severed.
When it finally hit the ground, it was clear Torterra had fainted. But then, Paul and Mewtwo both noticed something else.
Mewtwo was now stained with even more purplish toxin. Just like Drapion before it, Torterra had left behind its own Toxic gift in the moment of defeat.
In the games, stacking multiple Toxics has no effect on a Pokémon already poisoned.
But this was reality.
That second dose of venom had merged with Drapion's earlier poison, disrupting the delicate equilibrium that Mewtwo had managed to maintain.
The toxins were now raging uncontrollably inside it.
Mewtwo not only had to fight Paul's Pokémon, it now had to dedicate an increasing portion of its energy to suppressing the chaos inside its own body, desperately staving off the poison's corruption.
Paul ignored Mewtwo's anger.
Without missing a beat, he silently withdrew Torterra and threw his next Poké Ball.
(To be continued...)
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