Chapter 128: Mamen: I Have Already Surpassed You! Lance!

Mewtwo!

"Be careful, this Mewtwo is extremely powerful — it's Mamen's trump card!"

Daigo's expression grew exceedingly grave; he knew perfectly well that this was Mamen's ace Pokémon!

The Mega Tyranitar from earlier was, at best, one of Mamen's mid-tier main forces.

"Trump card, you say?"

Cynthia furrowed her delicate brows and recalled her panting Garchomp — Garchomp could barely keep fighting.

Such a powerful Mega Tyranitar from earlier, and it still wasn't Mamen's trump card…

"Mamen…" Lance recalled his heavily wounded Nidoking and sent out a Nidoqueen.

"Well then, the second round begins — are you ready?"

Mamen tilted his head slightly, his words brimming with teasing malice.

……

"Baxcalibur, Dragon Claw!"

Facing the fierce flames spewed down by Mega Salamence, Nemona gave the order without hesitation.

Baxcalibur's claws lit up with sharp azure light, trying to tear apart the falling Blast Burn.

But Mega Salamence's Blast Burn was simply too powerful — amid a violent roar of flames, the Blast Burn detonated.

The surging fire erupted with a blast of air, sending Nemona's Baxcalibur flying outright.

"Damn it! No, I can't fight like this!"

Nemona's face was taut, her brows deeply furrowed — Baxcalibur had a type advantage, after all; it was an Ice-type.

And Ice-type hits Dragon- and Flying-type for quadruple damage.

But the problem was that Mega Salamence held absolute air superiority, and its special attacks were devastatingly strong on top of that!

Baxcalibur can't fly, which directly put it at an absolute disadvantage in their matchup.

Mega Salamence only needed to spit fire and fire off Dragon Pulses from the sky, while Baxcalibur had to run itself ragged.

It was completely being suppressed by Mega Salamence's firepower, pinned down so it couldn't even lift its head.

Nemona glanced at Shinji's side — Shinji's Regirock…

But to Nemona's shock, Regirock was also being pushed around by Hydreigon's Siegiel — wasn't this supposed to be a Rock-type mirror match?

Wait, the legendary giant couldn't even beat a single Hydreigon?

Nemona was stunned.

"Tch~ looks like you lot are nothing special, and… Mamen's side seems to be doing pretty well too."

Sieglinde grinned at Nemona and Shinji, then looked toward Mamen's battlefield.

"Getting too cocky in battle will cost you dearly."

Nemona tossed out her second Poké Ball, and a black-and-white feathered bird took wing.

It was Bombirdier, the Flying/Dark type!

"Oh? I don't quite see it that way." Sieglinde glanced at Bombirdier, the curve of her lips rising higher.

"And with a Pokémon like that, there's no way you can beat my Mega Salamence!"

"That's not necessarily true!"

Nemona refused to back down — she refused to believe she couldn't even get past a single Mega Salamence.

She, Nemona, had her own pride!

"I said you lot can't do it, so you can't."

Sieglinde clicked her tongue, looking at this Champion girl from the Paldea region.

"You think battles are decided by numbers? Sure, you've got the count advantage — so what?"

Sieglinde lifted her chin proudly, her tone utterly composed and confident.

"Daigo and the others can't beat Mamen, and you and Shinji can't beat me either!"

"As for Mikoli…"

At this, Sieglinde curved her lips and gestured toward Mikoli and Caitlin's side for Nemona.

"Why don't you take a look yourself?"

Nemona froze at those words and instinctively looked toward Mikoli's battlefield — then her mouth fell open in shock.

Because she saw it!

That elegant former Hoenn Champion was currently bound by some mysterious psychic power, floating in midair, his face a picture of grievance and innocence.

Did this mean… Champion Mikoli had been defeated and captured???

Wait, how long had the battle even been going on?

She had only just finished probing and was about to enter the second phase — and Champion Mikoli was already tied up?

Mikoli also noticed Nemona's gaze, and his handsome face lit up with joy.

"Champion Nemona! Save me!!"

Without hesitation, Mikoli called for help from this junior from Paldea.

He didn't want to either, but how could he have expected Caitlin's strength to be this terrifying?

With Caitlin's own psychic power stacked on top, once Tapu Lele set up Psychic Terrain, Mega Metagross and Tapu Lunge charged in like they'd been injected with stimulants and started hammering his Milotic and Ludicolo.

In no time at all, his two main forces were defeated one after another, and Metagross had even taken him hostage.

Mikoli was deeply saddened, but he really had given it everything he had — he just couldn't win, what could he do? He was desperate too.

Mikoli actually really wanted to call his dear friend Daigo for help, but the battle on Daigo's side was extremely intense, and Mikoli didn't feel right disturbing him.

Mm, mainly he was a bit too embarrassed — after all, he had just said earlier, "You can always count on me."

Nem: "..."

Hearing that Wallace was actually asking her for help, Nem really felt her composure cracking.

"Cynthia, do you need help?"

Caitlin walked over slowly with elegant steps, Mega Metagross floating to her left rear, Tapu Lele floating to her right, and behind them floated Wallace.

"No need. Forget it, let's do it together and finish those two off quickly."

Cynthia was about to refuse, after all, she felt she could defeat both Nem and Koga on her own.

But thinking it over, fighting alongside Caitlin would save a lot of time, so that wasn't bad either.

"Good." Caitlin nodded slightly.

"Then you handle that girl, and I'll handle Koga."

Cynthia turned Mega Salamence to start attacking Koga's Regirock; Regirock's offense wasn't strong, after all, its movement speed was too slow.

But Regirock's physical defense was simply too high; even Gigalith couldn't deal heavy damage to Regirock.

However, with Mega Salamence joining in, it was different; Mega Salamence's special attacks were also extremely powerful, not to mention it knew the move Hydro Cannon.

Koga immediately threw out Registeel's Poké Ball, the Steel-type Registeel! It was also one of the 'Giants' Koga had just captured recently.

"A Psychic-type specialist, Caitlin? A young lady from a prestigious family in Sinnoh, and she's too beautiful?!"

Nem looked at Caitlin, who was wearing a form-fitting white-pink dress, and her eyes couldn't help but gleam slightly.

What a beautiful, lovely young lady!

Nem herself was actually a young lady from a major conglomerate, because her father's company was the enterprise that created the Rotom Phone.

However, Nem had an older sister who was being groomed by her family, while Nem herself didn't need to bear the burden of the family business, so she could freely enjoy her own hobbies, thus becoming a Trainer.

"Thank you for your compliment, greetings~" Caitlin elegantly performed a curtsy.

"But as for the battle, I won't hold back; I am the new Champion of Paldea!"

Nem's eyes shone even brighter, but she quickly suppressed her excitement; this was a battle against an evil organization!

"That is exactly what I want." Caitlin's lips curled up slightly; Tapu Lele set Wallace down, and it floated forward alongside Mega Metagross.

Wallace didn't land directly; instead, he was controlled by a Gothitelle released by Caitlin using Psychic power.

Wallace looked at his colleagues fighting everywhere, then thought of himself, who had been captured...

Wallace: (°︵°)

"Lucario, Extreme Speed!"

"Aggron! Stone Edge!"

Cynthia and Steven launched their attacks without hesitation.

A white light suddenly appeared behind Lucario, and its figure shot towards Armored Mewtwo at a speed too fast for the naked eye to capture.

At the same time, sharp rocks condensed in front of Aggron.

And Giovanni waited on standby, ready to support at any moment.

"It's useless."

Armored Mewtwo's eyes, flashing with deep purple flames, followed Lucario's movement.

Lucario arrived at Armored Mewtwo's left side at high speed, made a sharp turn, and suddenly crashed into Armored Mewtwo.

However, Armored Mewtwo raised a hand, and a deep purple Psychic barrier instantly condensed.

Bang!

Lucario crashed into the Psychic barrier at high speed, but the next moment it let out a cry of pain and was knocked back out at an even faster speed.

"Lucario!" Cynthia's expression changed.

How could this be? Was that Psychic barrier really that hard?

"Psychic."

However, before Lucario could hit the ground, its body, which had been knocked back, was controlled by Armored Mewtwo and flown back.

"Wait! Aggron!"

Steven instantly understood and hurriedly shouted to Aggron.

But how could the launched Stone Edge be stopped?

Stone Edge flew forth, its target being Armored Mewtwo, but Lucario, which had been controlled and moved back by Armored Mewtwo's Psychic, happened to be blocking right in front of Armored Mewtwo.

So all those Stone Edge attacks exploded directly on Lucario's body.

Boom!

Stone Edge continuously exploded on Lucario's body, but fortunately, Lucario had a four-fold resistance to Rock-type moves, so even though Lucario's physical defense wasn't very high, this Stone Edge attack still didn't deal heavy damage to it.

But was this a good thing?

Noticing that Lucario had not yet lost the ability to fight, Armored Mewtwo's eyes were cold; it waved its hand lightly, and a vast amount of intangible, formless Psychic power surged out.

It hit Lucario squarely.

Lucario let out a painful low cry; its entire body was blasted away by the Psychic power, crashing heavily onto the ground, unable to rise again.

Lucario lost the ability to fight.

And the battle had only just begun.

Cynthia looked at the incapacitated Lucario and for a moment didn't even know what her feelings were at that moment.

Although Lucario's strength was inferior to her ace, Garchomp, it was still a mainstay of her team.

"So strong!" A sense of helplessness inevitably rose in Steven's heart.

"Did you see? With the strength of people like you, you cannot win against me."

Mamon spoke calmly.

"Mewtwo, the battle is not over yet," Sakaki said in a low voice.

"Indeed, you will persist in fighting, but it is meaningless before me now."

Mewtwo's tone remained utterly calm.

Yet this unfluctuating, tranquil tone carried a strong arrogance.

【124】 "Are you proud, Mewtwo? With such power, you are aiding the wicked! You are now Team Rocket!"

"Are you proud, Mammon? With such power, you are aiding the wicked! You are now a member of Team Rocket!"

Steven's voice had already become uncontrollably agitated.

"So what?" Mewtwo's eyes gazed at the three of them, his gaze lingering heavily on Sakaki.

"Power, belonging, ideals—once I had none of these, living only in a hollow shadow called 'Sakaki's son,' but now it is different."

Mewtwo's tone slowly rose in pitch.

"After joining Team Rocket, I obtained Mewtwo! I captured the legendary Tapu Fini and Suicune!"

"Even you regional champions are no match for me at all!"

"I have surpassed you! Sakaki!"

Looking at the youth across from him whose voice had never been so high-pitched, Steven's breathing unconsciously quickened, and Cynthia's expression grew very heavy.

"Surpassed me... have you?"

Sakaki finally lost his composure; at this moment, his eyes were hard to hold steady.

However, Steven and Cynthia were now mentally shaken, so of course they did not notice Sakaki.

"That's right! Even you, the Sinnoh champion, the Hoenn champion, and the strongest Gym Leader of Kanto, are no match for me!!"

Mewtwo proudly raised his head.

"This is my true power! My true belonging! My true ideal!"

On the shattered ground, the youth's deafening voice echoed continuously.

"This is the true Mewtwo! This is... the complete me!"

(End of this chapter)