[Drake: Black Ash's Charizard should've already been at about Elite Four level just now, right?]
[Erika: I don't really understand how you people rank "Elite" levels, so I'll sit this one out.]
[Cynthia: It hasn't quite reached that level yet, but it's close. And Charizard's own base strength definitely shouldn't be that high on its own.]
Raihan is the Dragon-type Gym Leader of the Hammerlocke Gym.
[Raihan: Exactly. If you strip away the Aura Fusion, Charizard's effective combat power would be at least cut in half.]
[Raihan: I don't know all the details of Aura Fusion, but just from watching, I can roughly figure out how it works.]
[Raihan: First, in that fused state, the Pokémon and trainer share one mind. Second, the Pokémon's power gets a huge boost—reaction speed, dynamic vision, every combat stat skyrockets.]
[Raihan: So saying this ability doubles a Pokémon's fighting strength really isn't an exaggeration at all.]
Raihan himself couldn't perform Aura Fusion,
but he was the only publicly known Aura user in the world right now.
So his analysis was, at the very least, ninety percent accurate.
[Lance: The boost from Aura is really that big…?]
[Bruno: Double the battle power, huh? If my Machamp's strength got doubled, I feel like even some run-of-the-mill second-tier Legendaries wouldn't be my opponents!]
[Lorelei: Dream on. The only people confirmed to have Aura in the whole world are Raihan and Ash. That fantasy of yours is never happening.]
[Professor Sycamore: Hold on… I don't think the "real" amplification is from Aura itself. Aura just allows the trainer and Pokémon to merge into one being.]
[Professor Sycamore: In other words, even without Aura, if a trainer and Pokémon can fully synchronize and act as one, the Pokémon will still gain an insanely large boost! I call that amplification "Bond Power."]
[Cynthia: "Bonds," huh… That really does sound like a word made for Ash. Whether it's Black Ash or White Ash, their love for their Pokémon is unquestionable. I honestly think that even without Aura, they could reach the state Professor Sycamore's talking about.]
[Ash: M-Miss Cynthia, you're giving me way too much credit…]
While everyone was still busy discussing the power of bonds,
the white screen lit up again.
It was White Ash's turn.
In the White World—
Ash and his friends had already earned seven badges. Only one more remained
before he could enter the Indigo Plateau Conference.
After a reminder from Misty and Brock, Ash suddenly realized something obvious—
There was a Gym in Viridian City.
If he challenged Viridian Gym now,
he could get his last badge and then go straight home afterward.
During this time, Misty also made a quick trip back to her Cerulean Gym because of her Horsea,
and sent a large number of her Pokémon back there for safekeeping.
Soon after, the three of them arrived at Viridian Gym.
Before Ash could even enter to challenge it, Gary came over first
and announced that he already had ten badges, so Viridian would be his eleventh.
Back at Professor Oak's lab, Gary's face went dark.
Viridian Gym… was an eternal scar in his heart.
That unknown Pokémon—he still didn't know its official name, or even its species.
All he knew was that it was very likely one of Team Rocket's creations.
Now that Viridian Gym's Leader, Giovanni, had been exposed as the Rocket Boss,
it fit that the "mystery Pokémon" he used there was the result of Rocket research.
Gary had seen a lot in his long journey,
but he had never seen anything else like that Pokémon.
[Giovanni: Hm? Professor Oak's grandson came to challenge my Gym too? Why don't I remember that?]
[Giovanni: And White Ash came as well… Strange. Why don't I have any memory of that time at all?]
[Gary: Heh. Must be nice being so important. What, someone like me getting totally wrecked by you isn't even worth remembering? Just you wait—once I find where you're hiding, I'm blowing up your whole base!]
[Ash: I did challenge Viridian Gym back then. I just didn't understand why the Rocket trio were acting as Gym Leaders… but now I get it. That Gym was basically a Team Rocket product.]
[James: Hmph! If we hadn't been careless, there's no way you would've gotten the Viridian Badge!]
[Ash: Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say.]
[Jessie: Don't you "whatever" us, you little brat!!]
Team Rocket HQ—
Giovanni absently stroked the Persian at his feet,
a vague irritation gnawing at his chest.
He felt like he'd forgotten something very important—
but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't recall it.
After Gary and Ash's reminders,
he finally remembered that, yes, he did have a battle with Gary.
He also remembered appointing the Rocket trio as temporary Gym Leaders.
But…
He couldn't remember why he'd done that. He couldn't even recall what Pokémon he had used against Gary.
To be precise, he couldn't remember the last Pokémon he'd sent out at all.
"What on earth is going on…?"
Giovanni muttered, staring at the white screen.
Maybe this live broadcast would finally give him an answer.
In the White World—
Gary stepped into Viridian Gym, and—unsurprisingly—
the one waiting there was none other than Team Rocket's boss, Giovanni.
At first, Gary sent out his Arcanine and Nidoking.
Those two Pokémon easily defeated Giovanni's first two.
Feeling smug, Gary openly mocked him.
Even Giovanni's iron self-control was shaken.
So he chose to send out his ultimate weapon.
A humanoid Pokémon, encased in armor-like machinery with tubes plugged into its back,
walked out on two legs.
Gary stood no chance.
Even when he sent out two Pokémon at once,
they couldn't land a scratch on it.
Physical attacks, special attacks—
every move was nullified and reflected.
Proud as he was, this was the first time Gary truly understood what fear felt like.
In the end, he and his entire cheerleader entourage were knocked out
by an invisible psychic blast,
and Giovanni walked away without a second glance.
It was a brutal lesson for the arrogant young Gary.
Later, for reasons unknown, Giovanni left Viridian Gym,
taking the armored Pokémon with him—
and appointed the Rocket trio as temporary Gym Leaders.
It just so happened that Ash and his friends arrived to challenge the Gym shortly afterward.
After a chaotic battle, Ash narrowly defeated the Rocket trio—
and demolished Viridian Gym in the process.
[Ash: Whoa! Gary, you were telling the truth! There really was a god-like Pokémon there!]
[Gary: Of course I was telling the truth! You just didn't believe me! Why would I bother lying to you about something like that?]
[Gary: Honestly, you're just lucky. If it hadn't been those three clowns guarding the Gym, you probably never would've cleared Viridian.]
[Ash: Still… I kind of remember the Pokémon that beat Gary. I think its name was… Mewtwo.]
"Idiot Ash! Don't say that out loud!!"
Misty dove forward and clamped her hands over Ash's mouth,
trying to stop him from sending the message—
but it was already too late.
Brock only shook his head helplessly.
"It's fine. With this live broadcast exposing so much already,
Mewtwo's existence was bound to come out sooner or later."
"I just didn't expect Giovanni to use Mewtwo as a Gym doorkeeper… That's insane."
"Right now he's probably still confused out of his mind. His memories got erased—there's no way he can remember Mewtwo no matter how hard he tries."
Back at Pure Clear Cliff, they had met a Pokémon named Mewtwo,
and fought against an entire Team Rocket battalion.
In the end, with Mewtwo's help,
Team Rocket had been driven off, and everyone's memories wiped.
Originally, Mewtwo had intended to erase Ash and his friends' memories as well.
But after Ash's heartfelt plea—and persuasion from the other Pokémon—
Mewtwo gave up on wiping their memories.
Otherwise, they'd probably be just as confused as Giovanni right now.
[Lance: So what kind of Pokémon is Mewtwo, exactly?]
[Cynthia: Hm… I've never heard of it. There's nothing about it in any records I've seen.]
[Professor Oak: I've never heard of it either…]
The moment Professor Oak spoke, the whole chat exploded.
If Lance and Cynthia admitted they'd never heard of Mewtwo,
that was still understandable.
They were champions—
experts in battle, not living Pokédexes.
But for Professor Oak to say he'd never heard of it—
now that was alarming.
As a world-famous Pokémon Professor,
there were very few species he didn't know.
You could probably count them on one hand.
[Professor Oak: Ash, what kind of Pokémon is Mewtwo? How did you come up with its name?]
[Giovanni: Yes. Tell me everything you know about Mewtwo.]
[Lance: Excuse me, what's with you? Isn't this thing a product of Team Rocket? Why are you asking him?]
[Giovanni: Mind your own business! You, that brat named Ash—tell me Mewtwo's origin in detail!]
[Ash: Nope. Figure it out yourself.]
Is that how you ask people for help?
Calling someone a "brat" while begging him for information?
Ash was usually very polite to others,
but when it came to the boss of a villain organization…
Yeah. No reason to be nice.
Giovanni saw Ash's reply and slammed his fist down on the desk,
startling the Persian at his feet.
"Damn kid… Fine. Even if you won't talk,
this live broadcast will spit the truth out eventually!"
Somewhere far away,
a white-and-purple, humanoid Pokémon covered in fine fur
stared at the scrolling barrage with a complicated expression.
So in the end… his existence had finally been exposed by this strange "live room."
Giovanni…
If you come looking for me again,
I'll just erase your memories one more time.
But don't delude yourself into thinking my power is the same as it was back then.
Mewtwo silently clenched his three-fingered hand.
A nearby mountain peak shattered into rubble.
In the White World—
After earning his final badge, Ash returned to Pallet Town.
From Professor Oak, he learned that
of the four trainers who'd left from Pallet that year,
only he and Gary had collected more than eight badges.
In other words, they were the only real hopes from Pallet Town
to compete in the Indigo Conference.
There were still two months left until the start of the tournament.
Ash launched into what he called a "two-month special training rush"—
though in reality, those two months looked more like
three days of training followed by two days of slacking.
So many different incidents cropped up in between that there were hardly any days of pure training at all.
Then, about two weeks before the Indigo Conference,
Ash and his friends received a mysterious invitation.
It stated that a "banquet for the strongest trainers"
would be held on a place called New Island, not far away.
With the League so close,
Ash's fighting spirit was at its peak.
He accepted on the spot.
But just as they were about to depart,
a massive storm swept in from the sea.
The waves roared like a tsunami.
Even so, with the unexpected help of Team Rocket and their own stubborn determination,
Ash and the others managed to reach the New Island waters
and meet the island's owner—
the one who had sent the invitation in the first place:
Mewtwo.
It turned out everything—the banquet, the storm—
had been orchestrated by Mewtwo.
The title of "strongest trainer," the raging weather—
all of it was bait, crafted by Mewtwo
to lure in the strongest trainers who could break through the storm.
His plan was to defeat those trainers, copy every Pokémon they brought,
and then use that army of clones to invade the human world.
This was—Mewtwo's Counterattack.
In the end, Mewtwo's scheme initially succeeded.
Every single Pokémon present was cloned,
with the sole exception of Misty's Togepi.
All of Ash's team included.
But Ash managed to free all the captured Pokémon—
and then declared war on Mewtwo.
"Trampling on the lives of Pokémon—just what do you think you're doing to them?!"
"My Pokémon… it's my job to protect them!"
He flipped his cap backwards and charged.
Mewtwo's expression was full of disdain.
What kind of damage could a frail human fist possibly do to him?
And yet—
the moment that fist drew near, every hair on Mewtwo's body stood on end.
A chill ran straight up his spine.
On instinct, he snapped up a psychic barrier around himself.
"Crack—!"
Ash's punch slammed into the barrier,
and spiderweb cracks spread across the psychic shield in an instant.
But Ash was also blasted backward by the rebound.
Mewtwo stared at the boy who'd just been knocked away,
eyes full of shock and confusion.
This kid…
Was he really human?
[Lance: What the—Ash, are you even human?!]
[Bea: This kid is straight-up a Fighting-type in human skin, I swear!]
[Bruno: Are you kidding me?! Cracking Mewtwo's barrier with a single punch? Do you people understand how insane that is?!]
[Professor Oak: Hiss… Mewtwo's psychic output just now was at least on par with a standard second-tier Legendary—basically comparable to the three Legendary birds or beasts.]
[Professor Oak: As for whether he can match a second-tier Legendary that also controls a divine "domain," there's no real data to compare, so I can't say for sure. But at bare minimum, we're definitely talking full second-tier Legendary power. And Ash, in our world, just cracked a barrier powered by that level of psychic force with his fist… Ash, get back to my lab right now. I want to study you.]
[Ash: E-eh… n-no way! I'm sure I don't have that much power! Also, how come I don't remember this scene at all? Not just the punch—this whole "New Island" thing is a blank to me!]
[Lance: You don't remember? Ash, didn't you meet Mewtwo there?]
[Ash: I met Mewtwo, yeah—but not there. It was somewhere else… This is weird. I really don't remember ever going to a place called New Island.]
[Bea: Don't dodge the question! What was that punch? What kind of training did you go through? Or did someone secretly turn you into a Pokémon hybrid?!]
Bea was on the verge of losing it.
Ever since she was old enough to understand what "strength" meant,
she had devoted herself to becoming the strongest martial artist she could be.
And now—
after more than ten years of relentless training,
she had to accept that her physical strength
wasn't even on par with a ten-year-old boy.
The worst part?
There was no sign that Ash had undergone any agonizing special regimen.
At least, nothing like that had appeared in any of the footage so far.
That was why Bea kept badgering Ash,
demanding to know whether he'd secretly undergone brutal training—
or if he had literally been turned into some kind of Pokémon.
Otherwise, how could he possibly throw a punch like that?
As for Ash…
He genuinely had no idea.
Not only did he have zero memory of ever going to New Island,
even if he had gone,
he still couldn't imagine himself delivering a punch that terrifying.
Author's Note (cleaned up):
Don't ask me why Ash didn't report Giovanni—
I'm not one of the anime writers.
Judging from later episodes, Giovanni clearly hasn't been exposed.
He's still out there, very much at ease.
As for Ash and his friends' memories,
yes, they weren't erased in the end—
you can tell from Mewtwo's later reappearance.
And about that punch cracking Mewtwo's barrier:
This comes from the 3D remake version.
Whether it's meant as a "visual effect" of the barrier or an actual fracture is hard to say—
we'll just treat it as a real crack.
Given how absurdly strong "Super Ash" is in this story,
it's perfectly reasonable that he could do that, right?
PS :
Giovanni is the cunning and ruthless leader of the criminal organization Team Rocket, with the ultimate goal of using Pokémon to rule the world. He is also the former Gym Leader of Viridian City, specializing in Ground-type Pokémon.
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