Following closely behind Nathan, Grog looked at him with eyes full of expectation.
There was no other reason—among all his Pokémon, he did not have a single one that could serve as a flying mount.
Not to mention, there were two of them traveling together.
With no other choice, Nathan released his Volcarona and Flygon.
"You two can ride on Flygon. As for me and Lily, we'll take Volcarona."
Nathan said helplessly.
Honestly speaking, Grog was one of the company's veteran members, yet he did not even own a single flying Pokémon.
How could he not feel inconvenienced whenever he traveled?
Even if he was enthusiastic at first, enthusiasm was something that could easily be worn down by the passage of time.
Just like this time.
Nathan had come brimming with confidence, determined to track down clues about Shadow Mewtwo.
But after searching this mystic realm for two entire days, he had gained absolutely nothing.
Forget about seeing Shadow Mewtwo—even the faintest trace, not even a single sign of its presence, was found.
"Nathan, you have to believe me. I really did see that Shadow Mewtwo inside this mystic realm."
Looking at Nathan, whose mood had clearly dwindled, George patted his chest and swore with certainty.
Nathan sighed helplessly. Even if he believed George, what difference would it make?
They had already searched for so long, and if nothing turned up, then the result was still the same—no harvest, no progress at all.
To be honest, Nathan was beginning to feel some regret—regret that he had not brought Evelyn along with him.
If Evelyn had come, her Gyarados could definitely stir up the waters here, wreaking havoc beneath the waves.
Who knew, maybe they could have even unearthed something valuable from the ocean depths.
Meanwhile, far away back in their home country, Evelyn sat at her desk, staring at the massive pile of documents stacked before her.
She could not help but curse Nathan in her heart.
That heartless guy—fine, if he wanted to run off, then run off. But why did he have to take along other company members with him?
Now all the work had fallen squarely onto her shoulders!
"Achoo!"
Evelyn sneezed loudly, then cursed Nathan once more. It had to be because of all this exhausting work—she was probably about to catch a cold from overworking herself.
…
But at this point, even if Nathan regretted his decision, it was far too late. Among his Pokémon, not a single one could properly dive deep into the ocean and make trouble down there.
Having wasted two whole days, Nathan finally decided to leave the mystic realm. Rather than wasting more time here pointlessly, he might as well spend time with Lily—swimming, surfing, or simply relaxing.
After all, with such a beautiful girlfriend right by his side, why was he spending his days chasing after a Shadow Mewtwo?
However, just as they were on their way back, they unexpectedly stumbled across a Champion-level Pokémon.
A Blastoise—Champion-tier.
This Blastoise, upon noticing the group flying overhead, mischievously shot out a Water Gun.
It clearly wanted to play a prank, to tease the humans and Pokémon flying in the sky.
And its target happened to be none other than Volcarona.
But what was Volcarona? It was a Legendary Level Pokémon!
How could it possibly be hit by such a petty sneak attack?
With a nimble dodge, Volcarona easily avoided the jet of water.
At the same time, a ring of flames erupted from Volcarona's body, shielding Nathan and Lily within it.
And then, Volcarona unleashed its full Legendary aura.
The moment Blastoise felt that oppressive force, it froze in shock, and fear spread across its face.
It had only wanted to play around with them for a bit—surely this Pokémon wasn't actually going to beat it up, right?
"Blastoise, stay right where you are! Otherwise, even if you dive into the ocean, I'll drag you out and thrash you!"
Seeing Blastoise backing away nervously, Nathan immediately activated his Viridian Power and shouted down at it.
Hearing his words, Blastoise had no choice but to obediently stay put on the surface of the sea.
Nathan patted Volcarona's back, signaling it to lower its altitude and approach Blastoise.
The distance between the two Pokémon narrowed to only five or six meters. Although the surrounding flames had already dissipated, Blastoise could still feel waves of scorching heat radiating from Volcarona's body.
"I'm asking you—have you, during this time, seen a particularly powerful Pokémon?"
Nathan questioned.
Since he couldn't find anything himself, why not ask a local… or rather, a local Pokémon?
"I have seen one. In fact, I even fought against it once."
Blastoise answered honestly.
At once, Nathan's eyes narrowed slightly. Could it be… that the Pokémon Blastoise had encountered was Shadow Mewtwo?
"Do you still remember what that Pokémon looked like?"
Nathan asked again quickly.
Beside him, George also hurriedly pulled out his video camera to record the exchange.
"Of course I remember. Even if I died, I would never forget it!"
Blastoise said viciously, gritting its teeth.
The moment it recalled what had happened, a surge of humiliation and frustration rose within its heart.
All it had done was fire a single Water Gun at that Pokémon.
Yet that guy had instantly flown into a rage, immediately giving chase and attacking it.
The key point was that the opponent's strength was overwhelming.
Blastoise couldn't even last a single exchange.
Despite its desperate resistance, it had ended up covered in wounds, whereas the opponent remained completely unharmed.
Never before had Blastoise experienced such a lopsided, despair-inducing battle.
In the end, there was nothing else it could do but flee. After escaping back into the ocean depths, it had taken a very long time to heal its injuries.
Only recently had its body fully recovered.
Feeling restless, it had originally planned to have some fun by shooting down a bird or two.
But instead, it had the misfortune of running into Nathan and his group.
"And its appearance? Since you actually fought it, then surely you know what it looked like, right?"
Nathan asked again, caring about nothing else but this—was that Pokémon truly Shadow Mewtwo?
To confirm, Nathan released Mewtwo from its Poké Ball, wanting Blastoise to compare whether the one it had encountered resembled this Pokémon.
After all, Shadow Mewtwo had been transformed from Mewtwo.
Though their appearances had differences, there were still many similarities one could see at a glance.
"Y-you…"
Blastoise stammered the moment it laid eyes on Nathan's Mewtwo, unable to find words.
It had gone into hiding for so long, and yet here it was again, confronted with another Pokémon of the same kind!
Was there no end to this nightmare? Could it not just live in peace?
Seeing Blastoise's reaction, Nathan could basically confirm that Shadow Mewtwo had indeed appeared in this mystic realm—
and it had even done something that left Blastoise deeply traumatized.
Otherwise, Blastoise wouldn't be looking at Mewtwo as if it had just seen a ghost.
"They… they look almost identical!"
Blastoise cried out in shock.
It had thought that never again in its lifetime would it encounter such a terrifying monster.
Yet why had a human captured one, and even brought it right in front of its face?
"The one you fought—was its body grayish-black in color, with a crystal embedded in its shoulder?"
Nathan pressed on.
Though he was already nearly certain in his heart, he still wanted to hear the confirmation from Blastoise's own mouth.
"Yes, exactly like that! It was far too terrifying."
Blastoise nodded rapidly, its tone filled with lingering fear.
It recalled its own miserable state after the battle, and how, when it had gone to visit its neighbors, they had been beaten even worse.
Just thinking about it now made its face ache as if the blows were fresh.
That Pokémon was simply too violently aggressive.
If given the choice, Blastoise would rather spend its entire life inside a Poké Ball, never coming out again—
than ever encounter such a monster another time.
"What exactly did it do? Why are you so terrified of it?"
Nathan asked curiously.
At that, Blastoise's mind was instantly flooded with grim memories.
The fists. The tail. The crushing power—enough to leave lasting scars on its very soul.
"It went like this…"
About forty days ago, Shadow Mewtwo had somehow entered this mystic realm.
And the moment it arrived, it was like a war machine unleashed.
It began hunting down Pokémon—specifically targeting only the strongest ones.
Any Pokémon of Elite rank or above was sought out by Shadow Mewtwo.
None escaped its wrath.
At the very least, every single one of them was given a savage beating.
Some were even worse off, slain outright by its hand.
In less than three days, Shadow Mewtwo had rampaged through the entire mystic realm, beating down every Pokémon stronger than Elite.
Blastoise, of course, had not escaped either—it too had been among the many that were brutally beaten.
Fortunately, it had its hard shell to protect it—or perhaps Shadow Mewtwo had simply lost interest after finding its shell too tough to bother breaking.
After giving it a thrashing, it had left.
As for resistance, every single powerful Pokémon had tried.
But not one of them had been able to so much as scratch Shadow Mewtwo.
Three days later, Shadow Mewtwo vanished without a trace.
Over the next month, Blastoise's wounds slowly healed.
Seeing that Shadow Mewtwo was no longer in the mystic realm, it gradually returned to its usual carefree life.
Now and then, it would even tease a Pokémon or two, just to liven things up.
But who could have imagined that, after a month and a half of lying low, the very first time it decided to pick on some humans—
it would encounter Nathan's group?
(End of Chapter)