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As the man walked among the tall buildings on his lunch break, he offered up a deep sigh, reminded of all the work that needed to be done. Work due ASAP, work due by EOD, and more work tomorrow. It had already been years since he was a part of Team Mystic and striving hard as a Pokémon Trainer. He hadn’t had a battle in a long while, either. A Pokémon was shown on the large electronic display screen, and he became nostalgic for those days. The screen didn’t care for his reminiscing and quickly changed to the next ad. This city was always in a hurry. Skyscrapers obstructed the sky, and neon glowed even during the day, blurring the lines between day and night.
As the man made his way back to the office, he felt a chill run down his spine. The temperature hadn’t changed—was he just that tired? As his unease grew, he noticed the people around him were flustered as well.
“What is that?”
“It’s coming down!”
From the voices around him, the man surmised that something had appeared and directed his gaze toward the clamor. He immediately noticed the shadow descending from the skies and slowly looked up at it.
Oh, I didn’t even notice how clear the sky was today. The happy-go-lucky thought crossed his mind for a moment before he realized what was happening. What he had felt earlier wasn’t a chill—it was pressure. What had appeared in the skies was Mewtwo.
He had heard rumors of Mewtwo. A Pokémon that had its combat ability raised to the limits. As he gazed at it in person, a sort of pure desire for a strong opponent could be felt from it. Its sharp gaze searched the crowd, almost as if it were looking for a Trainer worthy of battling. The people around him were either at a loss from the Legendary Pokémon that had just appeared or pointing their cameras at it. The man also tried to take a picture, but he couldn’t move. He had been overwhelmed by the Pokémon’s stature—its majesty. He was frustrated at himself for being so powerless when faced with such strength, but it wasn’t an unpleasant frustration. It was what he had been craving for a long time. Mewtwo fixed his gaze and glared at the man who, while petrified, didn’t avert his eyes. He swallowed hard, and then...
“Just give me some time.”
It wasn’t said out loud...the man pleaded with his eyes, and Mewtwo only glared back.
“I want to become strong again and challenge you properly. I had forgotten this feeling for such a long time, and seeing you reminded me. So please...”
The man couldn’t move a muscle, but he still felt a reckless fire deep in his chest—reckless doesn’t even begin to describe it. He couldn’t tell if his silent plea had even reached the surly Mewtwo, let alone if it had accepted the challenge, but now he could clearly remember the days he spent exploring under Professor Willow or Team Leader Blanche until he was exhausted—how he would get completely absorbed in anything related to Pokémon.
After a few moments of facing the crowd, Mewtwo must have determined that there was no one here for it to battle, and it flew away at supersonic speeds—so fast that nobody could even imagine how far it was going to go.
It was over in an instant. Other than the lingering murmurs of the crowd, there was no trace of Mewtwo. The city began to hurry along again, as if the Legendary Pokémon’s appearance was just another ad on the electronic display. Even then, the burning in the man’s chest did not subside. He wanted to have Pokémon battles again; he wanted to become stronger. Mewtwo would surely be back again seeking power, and when that time came, he wanted to be a Pokémon Trainer and a worthy opponent. The man stopped and looked up at the sky. Even in this city of skyscrapers, beyond them was the sky—he just had to look up. Encountering such a powerful and noble Pokémon made him realize that. He felt that he wouldn’t be swallowed up by this city again, that he would be able to be true to himself. The man took a deep breath, took a firm step on the asphalt, and started walking once again.
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