Mewtwo Strikes Back Part 2

**"Mewtwo Strikes Back Part 2"**is the is the forty-second (forty-fourth in Archive of Our Own and Royal Road) chapter of *Pokémon Reset Bloodlines.*After Ash, his female companions, Red, Yellow and every single Pokémon is captured by Mewtwo, all hope seems lost. However, the staff belonging to Sir Aaron finally reacts and frees Lucario, who quickly pledges his help to Ash once he understands the situation. Originals and clones engage in a massive battle as Ash and company try to get Mewtwo to stand down. Once everything clears, Mewtwo agrees to leave in peace, while leaving only the memories of Ash, Red and Yellow intact for his own protection. After Ash and company return to Pallet Town, he receives an unexpected call from Casey Snagem.

## Plot

As soon as Ash and his companions, as well as Red and Yellow are captured by Mewtwo's dark Poké Balls, Ash's Pokédex falls to the ground and immediately analyzes the situation. Recognizing Mewtwo as a major threat, as well as that the Poké Balls only seem to affect Pokémon and Bloodliners, but not normal humans, he proceeds to take action to eliminate the threat to his owner.

Casey Snagem finally regains consciousness, which Mewtwo finds surprising that he did so fast. Casey explains that he carries an amulet that gives the wearer vital energy and is useful for healing, and then takes notice of the absence of several people and Pokémon. Mewtwo explains what happened while he was unconscious, before revealing that he intends to resurrect the daughter of Dr. Fuji, Amber, by cloning, giving Casey some time to think about some way out through negotiation. Paul however intervenes, calling his motivations pathetic, quickly earning Mewtwo's anger who takes it for mockery and restrains him with his psychic powers. Neesha states that she's an orphan herself, but she's not trying to lash out or conquer the world, while also pointing out that, even if Mewtwo succeeds, the Amber he creates won't be the same he met, earning her the same fate as Paul. When Fergus attempts to talk, Mewtwo shuts him up before he can speak before torturing him, and Casey searches himself only to realize that, to his dismay, he did not bring the object he hoped could save them all (a Spirit World pass, apparently). However, he tries to capitalize on Neesha's previous argument and adds that since he, Mewtwo, is his own being and different from Mew, any Amber clone would also be her own, separate from the original, and trying to find a way to bring her back without ensuring she is the same would only bring tragedy. Mewtwo seems to briefly consider this, before adding that he can ensure she is because he can easily recreate her memories. Alexander Silph points out that memories don't work that way, since a copied file is not the same as the original, only to find himself restrained as well.

The observations made by Snagem and Silph are caught on by Ash's Pokédex, who considers himself an exception to the rule, while he continues with his operation. Paul's Pokédex catches on and tries to argue as she tries to keep Paul safe much like he does Ash, but gets shut down for her trouble, and then Ash's Pokédex proceeds to do the same with Gary's.

Snagem tries to talk to Mewtwo, asking if he plans on cloning every Pokémon or whether he'll let the originals go once he's done using them. Mewtwo counters with a question of his own, wondering if Snagem plans on rallying the originals to stop him once they get free, but the oldest trainer quickly points out that Mewtwo didn't answer his previous question, about whether he'll let them go. Mewtwo answers that he won't be letting them go, since they can be kept as fresh DNA samples, making Snagem wonder if he plans on doing a female clone of himself for company. Mewtwo's answer makes it clear that he didn't catch the implications of Snagem's statements, who offers him his vitality amulet in exchange for letting everyone go. The genetic Pokémon counters he could simply take it. Snagem continues to argue, this time appealing to Mewtwo's own pain and loss of Amber, agreeing that it is real, but the pain he'd be causing to a mother who lost her only son wouldn't be any less real or meaningful. Snagem fears that, for all his power and intelligence, Mewtwo lacks the emotional maturity needed to handle them, and thus is more of a angry, scared child, making it even more dangerous.

With the other Pokédexes disabled, Ash's Pokédex continues to carry out his operation to destroy Mewtwo, by hacking into the energy system that powers the island. The plan is to overload the generators to cause an explosion that will destroy the island and Mewtwo with it, albeit at the cost of the lives of those who are not inside Mewtwo's dark Poké Balls. Before being disabled, Cepu begins arguing that Casey Snagem is trying to talk down Mewtwo and his odds might improve given some time, but Ash's Pokédex refuses to listen and continues his operation to destroy the island.

The floor under Mewtwo begins to melt as he senses the energy buildup, right before the explosion goes off. Mewtwo is forced to use his powers to contain the blast, managing to divert most of the power into a contained space, but not before it causes some damage to the place. Mewtwo ultimately manages to fling the energy up into the sky, where it detonates harmlessly, but the effort leaves him exhausted and the damage of the place leaves him worried about the state of Amber and his other new clones. As he's left wondering who or what caused the explosion, Mewtwo picks up Ash's Pokédex, who readily confesses to have done the deed to kill him, and to be impressed that Mewtwo managed to catch on and avert it. After Paul ragingly points out how the Pokédex could have killed them all, Mewtwo grows increasingly angry at being compared to a machine. The Pokédex continues to deduce, and rather accurately, that Mewtwo was created due to humans' knack for creating things they later are unable to control, such as Pokémon species, weapons of mass destruction and artificial intelligences capable of growing independent from their creators' intended programming. Calling Mewtwo "a combination of all three" is the rage-breaking point, and the Psychic-type destroys the device with his powers.

Ash finds himself trapped in an abyss of darkness, similar to when he was caught by Hunter J. At first he assumes MissingNo has something to do with it, but getting no response from it, he finally realizes that's not the case. When he lets out a faint cry for help, a blue light starts to glow, and suddenly he finds himself back on solid floor, with Sir Aaron's Lucario in front of him, who strangely looks like he recognizes him. Lucario speaks up and compares him to Sir Aaron, before asking for his name. After the introductions, they start freeing the other occupants from the dark Poké Balls, which begin to spill out of the cloning machine, starting with Casey Snagem's Clefairy. As they continue to free more Pokémon, Lucario recalls that several times during his slumber he heard Ash's voice trying to reach out for him, but never managed to do so until now. Ash explains to him how long it has been since Sir Aaron's time, and the situation with Mewtwo, as more Pokémon with hands and fingers are able to join them and speed up the process to free everyone. Ash finally finds Pikachu, who jumps on him and tells him how scared he was, before looking at Lucario and recognizing him. Ash promises to explain him later as they continue to free everyone, and after Paul's Torterra, Ash finds Yellow. She immediately hugs him as she cries, although he's not sure whether she did because she mistook him for Red or just needed it, but nonetheless comforts her while Torterra glances at them oddly. Shortly after, Misty is freed by Psyduck, and despite being somewhat dismayed of not being rescued by Ash, she still hugs him in gratitude and joins Ash and Yellow in their efforts. Ash manages to free Iris, who almost attacks him with Dragon Claw as she comes out, but fortunately he reacts in time and holds her by the wrist before she slashes him, and after hugging her he prompts her to help them too. Yellow finally manages to find Red, while Ash continues to search for Anabel while making sure everyone is accounted for. He finally finds her and Lucario introduces himself to her when she spots him, with Ash explaining his story with Sir Aaron. Once everyone is freed from the dark Poké Balls, everyone turns to Ash to decide what he plans to do. He realizes their only way out of there is to defeat Mewtwo. Despite the doubts of some, Lucario explains that he survived an encounter with the Legendary Birds, so he might have good odds against Mewtwo. With that resolve, Ash leads everyone into battle.

Back on the upper level, Mewtwo still tries to repair the damage while still bent on going through his plan of reviving Amber and dealing with the humans later. Casey Snagem suggests that Mewtwo could just as easily let them go with their memories wiped so as to make as if none of all this happened. Mewtwo assumes Snagem is begging for his life, but the oldest trainer denies it, and tells him he'll be surprised in a moment. Right then, another explosion goes off in the opposite end of the stadium, with Ash and everyone else coming out and charging in to attack. Mewtwo is about to deal with them, until Lucario engages him, while Ash and the others immediately start fighting the cloned Pokémon, taking advantage of their numerical superiority. Mewtwo sends out his first three clones to try and keep Lucario busy, but he gets help from the others and manages to break through. Soon enough, more freshly created clones join the fray, leveling up the playing field. Ash himself tries to fight his way through, while at the same time pondering on Mewtwo himself: he's sure this is the same Mewtwo he met in Mt. Quena in the previous timeline, so there must be a way to stop all this unnecessary fighting. As he prepares to attack with Butterfree, a clone attacks him, and Ash quickly recognizes it's Pikachu's own clone. Fortunately, Snagem's Clefairy jumps in to deal with it and he can continue moving across the battlefield, defeating a Hitmonlee on the way out.

As Iris' Fraxure continues fighting, he manages to hold his own, but starts to feel exhausted. He runs into a Clefairytwo whose physical resemblance and attitude reminds him of his first encounter with Red's Clefairy, leaving him paralyzed in fear. Red's Clefairy steps in to rescue him, and asks Fraxure to step aside and let him deal with this. He starts talking to his clone, saying that the two were the same and he knows what he's feeling, the voices inside telling him to do what he wants, but he doesn't have to hear them. When it seems Clefairytwo has let his guard down, Fraxure attacks him by surprise, but then sees that Red's Clefairy isn't happy about it. Then, he's confronted by his own clone, Fraxuretwo, who charges at him declaring that he's going to fight for his family, much like he does. This gives Fraxure the realization that the clones aren't evil, just misguided, and that Clefairy had noticed it too with his own clone, shattering his confidence.

Meanwhile, Lucario has finally engaged Mewtwo in direct combat, with the two more or less evenly matched thanks to Lucario's experience and dodging skills countering Mewtwo's raw power. Mewtwo demands to know what he is, as he hasn't seen his species before. Lucario replies that his kind are rare in this side of the world. Mewtwo grows increasingly angry and tries to blast him with different attacks, always missing. Lucario states that Mewtwo has great power, but lacks discipline as he's trying to end the battle as fast as possible. When Mewtwo states that his clones will defeat Lucario, the latter compares the former to a mad tyrant sending his servants to death so he can prove victorious, enraging him even more. Lucario states that he knows nothing about Mewtwo, but he made a promise to his master and friend to help his descendant when the time came, and he's determined to fulfill that promise, as much as Mewtwo is bent on carrying out his, while struggling to keep his anger in check.

As the battle continues to rage on, the clones begin to gain ground as their numbers increase. Anabel tries to use her powers to assist and help coordinate the originals, using divide and conquer tactics to overpower the enhanced clones. At one point she saves her Eevee from a Porygon2 clone, and begins using Heal Pulse on her to cure her wounds. She looks around and realizes that something is very off in this entire battle. She notices Ash and the others surrounded by several clones as they try to make a path to Mewtwo, and she quickly rushes to their aid. Iris comments that Fraxure explained to her that the clones aren't evil, just fighting for their own existence. Anabel uses her powers to sense everyone's emotions, and realizes that Iris is right; despite the seeming rage and malevolence, not everyone wants to fight, but they all feel they have to. Ash then states they can't let this continue and should end it peacefully if possible; perhaps by talking Mewtwo down, as he's the only one who can order the clones to stop. As Mewtwo continues to battle against Lucario, Anabel decides to try and use her own powers to order him to stop, despite the objections of the others.

Mewtwo isn't happy that he's not getting the upper hand against Lucario, whose battle experience allows him to hold his own even against several opponents at once, which he admittedly finds impressive. As he prepares to defend from an incoming attack, Anabel's voice rings out in his head, causing him to stop for a second, allowing Lucario to land a solid blow to his face. Anabel once more talks to him, telling him they don't need to keep fighting each other, which once more causes him to flinch and almost giving Lucario another opening to strike him. She continues to divert his attention with her calls, much to his annoyance, and once he realizes the others are trying to protect her, relying on her powers to stop him, he decides to confront her directly. He raises a Protect stronger than usual to keep Lucario from attacking, and then uses his own psychic powers to bring Anabel to his mindscape.

Through the mental connection, Mewtwo explains he brought her here so as to prevent anyone from doing anything funny to him, but Anabel insists that she just wants to talk. Mewtwo inquires if her Bloodliner powers would allow her to control him, and she replies that yes, she could do exactly that, but that would only make things worse. She elaborates that she can also feel people's emotions and she has sensed a lot of pain and anger in Mewtwo, like he doesn't know exactly why he's doing all this, before asking about Amber. Mewtwo grudgingly alters the mindscape to form the place where he grew with Amber, telling Anabel his story with her, how they grew together and how she died, and how he needed Bloodliner DNA samples to revive her and succeed where her father failed. Anabel says he could have simply asked them without going to these lengths, but Mewtwo insists that humans would never leave him alone, and this was supposed to be a show of his strength to keep others from coming after him ever again, and then asks her if he doesn't deserve to be happy. Anabel says that he does, but this isn't the way to do things and there must be another. Anabel asks if Amber would like him to do these things, which briefly leaves him stunned, but ultimately decides that Anabel doesn't understand him and only Amber would, which is why he wants to bring her back so he won't be alone anymore. He then asks Anabel to not to interfere anymore, and kicks her out of the mindscape.

Back in the real world, Anabel is left with a migraine as the aftermath of Mewtwo's attack, while the latter resumes his duel with Lucario. Iris quickly realizes that Mewtwo didn't listen to her, and the battle between originals and clones isn't stopping any time soon. Anabel then asks Nurse Joy if Mewtwo controlled her due to her medical knowledges, and while she doesn't fully remember everything, she does recall having worked on several medical tests. Misty asks Anabel if she discovered anything about Mewtwo, and she then relays everything she learned during their brief mental talk, to which Nurse Joy adds that Pokémon and people who suffer harsh losses tend to become like that, and Mewtwo won't listen to them unless he's unable to keep fighting anymore. Anabel tries to get back up, but the aftermath of Mewtwo's mental assault is still there, so Ash tells her to rest for now, and leave the rest to them.

As the battles continue around him, Ash is left wondering exactly what he can do. At first, he considers to try and create a new Z-Crystal, right before Pikachu gets blasted towards him. After healing his partner, Ash gets a hold of his Z-Ring and begins to concentrate to form a new crystal, but Mewtwo interrupts the process, having caught his intentions. The cloned Pokémon uses his powers to bring around several pieces of metal to form a gauntlet around his forearm, deciding to use the same powers as Ash and the others to defeat them. However, as he tries to imitate the poses for a Z-Move, nothing happens, much to his chagrin and anger. He orders his clones to keep Ash at bay while he continues to work, this time attempting to replicate Mega Evolution, but once again failing to do so, angrily asking why it doesn't work. The clones seem ready to give up before a psychic jolt from Mewtwo springs them back into action, while the genetic Pokémon continues to try and figure out what he's doing wrong. Pikachu then darts in front of Ash, ready to attack, and Ash proceeds to explain to Mewtwo that, no matter how powerful he is, the power he's trying to replicate alone needs two with a strong bond with each other to create. Ash and Pikachu then perform a Gigavolt Havoc together, which Mewtwo tries to repel with his psychic powers. The power collision ends up in a stalemate, with Mewtwo still standing but panting heavily, declaring that he cannot be beaten. Then, Lucario and Yellow appear on either sides of Ash, using Heal Pulse to restore his and Pikachu's energies, and for the first time, a look of terror appears in Mewtwo's face, telling them to cease what they're doing. Ash gets ready to perform a second Gigavolt Havoc, this time further empowered by Yellow's Dominion Bloodline. Mewtwo once more tries to block it with his psychic powers, only to get blasted by multiple attacks from the sides, distracting him enough for the Mega-Gigavolt Havoc to overpower him. Pikachu collapses afterwards, needing Yellow to scoop him up, and with his gauntlet destroyed, Mewtwo seems to have lost his will to fight at long last.

Ash then tries to approach Mewtwo, but several of the clones get in his way, much to Mewtwo's shock. When he asks what they're doing, Ash and Pikachu reply for them: they're protecting him because they consider him family, as he created them, even though he only saw them as tools. Mewtwo angrily lashes out saying that none of them is Amber, and he just wanted to bring her back so she could live a happy life, as she didn't deserve to die. Ash then declares that he knows what he feels, the pain of losing something he can never get back, and then invites Mewtwo to look into his memories so he can see for himself. Mewtwo does it, and then finds out the memories Ash has of The Old Timeline, and everything he lost when it was erased. Mewtwo is left speechless, and Ash states that a wiser man once told him that, even though he'll never recover what he lost, he can't let one tragedy define his life, and that Amber wouldn't have wanted Mewtwo to ruin his chances to be happy, and that he should live for himself, and for her, following his heart. Mewtwo then finally realizes what he has done and what he planned to do, and apologizes to everyone for it, and to his clones for having used them the way he did, hoping they can be friends now. Anabel then asks what he plans to do, and Mewtwo replies that, for now, he just wants to leave and find a place where he and the clones can live in peace, and start anew, but if possible, he wants as few people as possible to know about him. Ash then realizes that, like in The Old Timeline, Mewtwo plans to erase everyone's memories of these events, with the implication that he plans on sparing Ash and his companions from it. Before that, Paul approaches Ash and asks if he ever used his powers in battles, but Ash denies it, which Paul seems to accept and tells him they'll meet at the league. Mewtwo then thanks everyone for everything they did, before teleporting everyone out of New Island and departing with his clones.

Not far from there, a Mew who had been keeping an eye on everything, takes an interest in Mewtwo and decides to follow him.

In the Team Rocket HQ, Giovanni listens to the report of Jessie, James and Meowth, who managed to witness the whole thing and inform him that Mewtwo was defeated and redeemed by Ash and is no longer a threat to the world at large, and with everyone teleported out of New Island, there's nothing left there. Giovanni then orders them to come back for their next assignment and ends the call, before pondering on the recent events. While he knows he can't leave Mewtwo at large unchecked, the fact that he's not an immediate threat gives him peace of mind to formulate a plan and decide how to track him later, so he will take his time on it.

Back at Pallet Town, Ash delivers the remains of his broken Pokédex to Professor Oak, who's rather shocked to see it destroyed. Ash replies that he's not sure, he just woke up in the middle of nowhere and found the pieces. Oak suggests that Ash should stay in Pallet Town until the League, so as to avoid getting into trouble, lest Delia finds out and decides to tie him to the bed to keep him safe, while also saying he can rebuilt the Pokédex in time for the League keeping its memory and personality intact. Ash agrees to stay home, since he feels he wants some peace and quiet after the whole ordeal.

In Saffron City, Alexander Silph had his memories erased, but Cepu was able to record everything that happened, as Mewtwo failed to take her into account before erasing everyone's memories, and it gave him enough data on Ash, Red and Paul to prepare for the Indigo League, so he begins to simulate the possible scenarios.

A few days later, Ash and Pikachu show Pallet Town to Lucario, who seems to take rather well to his new environment. Ash thanks him for his help, as they wouldn't have made it without him, which Lucario replies it was his duty, as he promised to Sir Aaron centuries ago. While Ash is happy to know that Sir Aaron and Lucario were able to part ways on their own terms, Ash can't help but feel a bit guilty about it, but Lucario assures he doesn't need to be, and he feels his time here has already been very interesting so far. While pondering how many aside from them retained their memories of Mewtwo, Ash asks Lucario what he thought of him, and Lucario recalls having called him a petty tyrant before and now regrets it, having misjudged him, but he's certain that he won't be shackled by his past now and will be able to move on and live fully thanks to Ash. The trainer smiles and then asks if there's something he can do for Lucario, who just asks for some chocolate, as he has enjoyed it a lot, so Ash agrees to get him some before going back home. Much to his surprise and a bit of annoyance, the phone in the living room begins ringing, so he goes to answer. To his further surprise, his caller is none other than Casey Snagem, who asks if he caught him alone. Ash replies that he did but is confused, and Snagem replies he was expecting that, since he wanted to confirm how many besides himself remember the events with Mewtwo, with Gary being amongst those who do not. Snagem proceeds to explain he has gone through similar experiences in the past so he's grown immune to memory-wiping, and wants to talk to Ash about several things, before asking Ash about his experiences with time-travel.

## Continuity

* The Mewtwo arc ends.
* Lucario is released from Sir Aaron's staff and joins Ash.
* Mewtwo learns about The Old Timeline by looking into Ash's memories, being the first character whom Ash willingly reveals his secret to.
* Casey Snagem discovers that Ash has traveled through time.