Looking at the suddenly appearing Mewtwo before him—
Red couldn't help but recall the time he had reported Mewtwo.
"Could it be… Mewtwo came specifically for me?"
"But didn't the League say Mewtwo wouldn't leave the island?"
Then suddenly—
A realization hit him.
"Wait… could this be the island from Mewtwo Strikes Back?!"
"Why rename a perfectly normal island to 'Elite Island'?!"
Red carefully sized up the "middle-aged man" in front of him, thoughts racing.
"Does Mewtwo know I reported him?"
"…Probably not?"
In just a few seconds, a full-blown mental storm swept through his mind.
"Doesn't matter. Leaving this island first is the priority."
"With my current strength, this is definitely not the time to challenge Mewtwo!"
He forced a smile and said:
"Not really. I'm just here sightseeing with them."
"I wasn't planning to participate in the tournament. We're leaving soon anyway."
The moment those words were spoken—
Mewtwo's disguised face stiffened for an instant—
Before returning to a cheerful expression.
"Young man, I advise you not to withdraw casually."
"The owner of this island… hates people who quit midway."
The moment those words fell—
The world changed.
Castform looked up in horror.
As a master of weather itself—
It could clearly sense something was wrong.
If normal weather control was like guiding nature—
Then this—
Was like the weather itself was being violently forced to change by overwhelming power.
Castform's face turned pale, as if witnessing the end of the world.
Meanwhile—
Red's expression changed drastically.
"Who are you fooling? Not allowed to withdraw? I just saw people leaving earlier!"
"So Mewtwo does know I reported him…"
"And I still walked right into this…"
Even though the man in front of him still smiled—
Red felt a chill run down his spine.
"Looks like the island owner is quite domineering. Not even allowing withdrawals."
"Well, that's because he was betrayed by someone he trusted before."
Hearing that, Red's lips twitched.
Trusted? Inviting me here counts as trust? Isn't this just a trap?!
Still—
He didn't push further.
Instead, he looked directly at Mewtwo and said seriously:
"You seem close to the island owner."
"If I defeat you in a Pokémon battle—"
"Can you persuade him to let us leave?"
Hearing this—
Mewtwo burst into laughter.
"Human… you're quite interesting!"
Red was speechless.
Why is he suddenly calling me 'human'?
And then—
In the next instant—
Mewtwo dropped the disguise.
Standing there in its true form, it looked at Red coldly.
"Human."
"I don't know how you saw through me."
"But even knowing my identity, you still dare challenge me."
"Interesting."
"If you win—I'll let you leave."
"If you lose—you'll remain on this island forever."
With that—
Mewtwo vanished.
"…Finally gone."
Red let out a long breath.
"As expected of a Pokémon fused with human genes…"
"Its way of thinking is basically human already."
He felt a headache coming on.
Still—
There was at least one piece of good news.
Mewtwo wasn't a bloodthirsty Pokémon.
Even in the worst-case scenario—
He wouldn't die.
He'd just… be stuck here forever.
Sitting down, Red muttered:
"If I lose… maybe I'll just move Songzao Gym here."
"…But if I win?"
A sharp gleam flashed in his eyes.
"If I win… does that mean I might be able to capture Mewtwo?"
Thinking that—
Suddenly, this trip didn't seem like a loss at all.
At that moment—
Ninetales happily ran over, holding a giant squid.
"Master, try this! This 'squid' thing is delicious!"
Red smiled and rubbed her head.
"Sorry, Ninetales."
"Looks like restoring your strength will have to wait a bit longer."
"It's okay, Master," she said gently.
"We've already waited for so many years. A little longer doesn't matter."
Just then—
Castform suddenly dove into Red's arms, trembling slightly.
Clearly, it had been frightened by Mewtwo earlier.
In contrast—
Marshtomp remained calm.
Of course—
That might be because it didn't fully understand just how terrifying that display had been.
Seeing Castform snuggling into Red's arms—
Ninetales bared a small Red in annoyance.
Looking at his Pokémon, Red smiled.
"Mewtwo is strong—absurdly strong."
"But when it comes to being a trainer…"
"I might not be worse than it."
Castform, still in his arms, glanced at Ninetales' annoyed expression—
And instead of backing off, burrowed in even deeper, looking smug.
This only made Ninetales even angrier.
"You little droplet—how dare you fight me for position! Even Master hasn't held me like that yet!"
At that moment, Red suddenly noticed something.
"…Huh? Where did Xiaowen and Larvitar go?"
The others froze, then shook their heads.
Marshtomp tugged at Red's pants, gesturing:
Larvitar dragged Xiaowen off to buy more food.
"…That little glutton."
Just then—
A girl in training clothes ran over in a panic.
"Y-You're… Brother Red, right? The one Masao mentioned?"
"You're Masao's friend? What happened? Slow down."
"Brother Red, hurry!"
"That girl with you—she's surrounded!"
"Because she's carrying a Shiny Larvitar, Dayou and his group have blocked her!"
"If you don't go now, they might try to forcefully buy your Larvitar!"
Hearing this—
Red slowly broke into a grin.
"Perfect."
"I was already in a bad mood because of Mewtwo…"
"And now someone decides to pick a fight with me?"
"They must be tired of living."
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