Chapter 143. Go, Sludge Truck Rotom—Use Explosion!
The other party's cadence sounded strange, like the tone those white-bearded old men use in tutorial videos Natsume finds when he searches for guides.
This was clearly not Natsume.
Realizing it was the purple-skinned one, center-parted froze.
"My name is center-parted and I'm sleeping now."
"I sleep in my mental world."
"After I'm done fighting you, I'm going back to sleep."
The center-parted couldn't go three sentences without mentioning sleep, and Mewtwo paused.
"Why do humans command Pokémon to battle?"
"No reason."
"You can just not listen and go sleep," center-parted said, unconcerned.
Mewtwo cocked its head, as if it had reached its own understanding.
"What do you think you and your Trainer are to each other?"
"Mooching off him."
"And sleeping on his head."
Mewtwo was taken aback, then continued.
"Do you have a dream?"
Mewtwo had used telekinesis to read many books, and they all brought up this thing.
"My dream is to go take a nap in a bit."
"I mean something grand and far-reaching, benefiting most people and Pokémon."
Mewtwo echoed the wording from those books.
"Getting a good nap in a bit."
The center-parted felt that this dream was very grand, very far-reaching, and very beneficial to itself.
Mewtwo frowned, uncomprehending.
It could not understand.
It had finally run into an existence similar to itself.
But the other party's line of thinking was on a completely different channel.
Perhaps it was because Mewtwo wasn't fully grasping what center-parted said.
It kept that possibility in mind, but more than that, Mewtwo felt center-parted's level was low—basically illiterate.
It had read a great many books; Giovanni had given it many to read.
Yet even so, it still did not know the meaning of its own existence.
"What are you two doing?"
Natsume's mind suddenly linked in.
The center-parted seemed to have been talking with Mewtwo just now, and he felt like he'd missed out on a fortune.
"Carry on."
Seemingly with a low tolerance for humans, the instant Natsume linked in, Mewtwo took the initiative to cut the link.
Mewtwo used Psystrike.
Because of the effect of Land of Eternal Sleep, Pikaremon took no damage.
The additional effect of the Divinity skill activated.
Gene Lock was applied to Pikaremon.
Pikaremon's Mega Evolution effects and Dynamax, etc., will be disabled, and all stat boosts will be cleared after two turns.
A Divinity skill?
And an additional effect.
Natsume paused.
Although the Divinity inside Mewtwo looked like only half that of Mew's, it was still a complete Divinity.
It wasn't like center-parted's incomplete stuff that could only barely pass for it.
"Pii—"
The center-parted knit its brows and trembled all over, as if in the throes of a truly terrifying nightmare.
This Mewtwo's level was very high—fully level 75.
Though Natsume didn't know how powerful that so-called Divinity skill was, he knew center-parted's willpower inside out.
At most, it could take two more hits.
"Go, Gengar!"
This was a group battle, and without hesitation Natsume sent out his second Pokémon.
Outside the field, Giovanni narrowed his eyes, but said nothing.
Only sufficient pressure would let him collect more data.
"Boss, following the traces left by the transmission of Divinity—"
A staffer bent close and murmured something in Giovanni's ear.
"Gengar, use Destiny Bond!"
Natsume swept his arm down.
Gengar used Destiny Bond.
The two became tightly bound to the same fate.
Strictly speaking, this was Natsume's first time facing a true Divine Legendary.
This battle needed to last as long as possible and to be fought with full power.
That was how to gather the most intel.
Soon, the next turn began.
Divine Trait: Gene Sovereign activated.
Mewtwo performed Adaptive Evolution.
Attack +1, Sp. Atk +1, Defense +1, Sp. Def +1, Speed +1.
Mewtwo used Psystrike.
It's super effective.
"Gen-gaa—"
Gengar's head tilted, and it went down.
Mewtwo's HP bar, meanwhile, dropped away.
Because of the Divinity's effect, Mewtwo's HP was restored.
A second later, the bar was green again.
Just as Natsume was considering whether to use a Max Revive to bring Gengar back, Giovanni made his move.
"Go, Kingler."
With a flash of red, a crab appeared behind Mewtwo, blowing bubbles, one pincer disproportionately huge.
Natsume blinked, then looked over at Giovanni.
"Two-on-two."
"That's very fair," Giovanni sneered.
"Fine."
"You really aren't going to act like a person, huh?"
Natsume smiled and nodded.
At this point, he knew the battle was over.
Without the advantage of one more turn, even if Gengar were revived, it wouldn't be able to get Destiny Bond off first.
Natsume waved a hand and dismissed the battlefield.
Seeing this, Giovanni was a bit surprised.
"Oh?"
"Planning to give up?"
He looked at Natsume with amusement, still swirling the wine in his glass, unhurried.
Natsume's face was blank as he produced a fresh Poké Ball.
"Go, Rotom—use Explosion!"
A flash of red.
Natsume teleported away.
A car-type Rotom… Explosion?
Novel enough.
Giovanni suddenly stiffened.
On that rust-streaked tanker, he could just make out a single painted word: "manure."
"No!"
Giovanni's face changed drastically.
"Mewtwo, stop it—quick!"
But it was already too late.
Boom—
A violent roar tore through the air, and the Gym's ancient Roman architecture looked even more atmospheric in the blast's wake.
Outside, where the others were waiting, Natsume's figure appeared.
Rotom No. 2 jettisoned its chassis and teleported straight into Natsume's arms.
"Go."
"Let's go."
Natsume unleashed his psychokinesis, and with a roaring wind he led everyone all the way back to the scrapyard from before.
Up in the sky, a Meowth-headed hot air balloon drifted by.
"Mm, going by the map, Boss Giovanni's Gym should be right around here?"
"You sure, meow?"
"Why does it look like a public restroom, meow?"
Meowth pointed at the ancient-Roman-style building down below.
"What public restroom is this fancy?" Jessie said, puzzled.
"Those League fools love making stuff like this, meow."
"Think back to the public restrooms in Celadon City—same ancient Roman style, meow."
Meowth gestured wildly as he described it.
Back when he studied human society, he'd found some of their mysterious obsessions baffling.
Like luxury public restrooms, or plopping a three hundred million Pokédollars rock down on a park lawn.
"Kinda true."
"It stinks, and even with a flashy exterior they won't spring for incense inside," Jessie said, waving in disgust.
"Let's try to catch up to the twerps."
"I feel like Natsume's Rotom might be an easy target," James said.
"Are you nuts, meow!"
Meowth was shocked that James would dare mess with that researcher.
"No, look—see that Rotom?"
"It's at the scrapyard now, diving into all sorts of bikes and cars."
"Prime for the taking!"
James passed the binoculars to Jessie, excited.
"Looks that way."
"And that Rotom's far from the twerps."
"Take a gamble—turn a bicycle into a motorbike," Jessie said, her voice rising with excitement.
"L-let's not mess with him… Meowth's got a bad feeling about this, meow."
Meowth shivered.
"If you're that timid, then sit this one out!"
"And when Boss Giovanni hands out rewards, it won't include you!"
The two of them each planted a big boot in Meowth and kicked him over the side.
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