MEWTWO vs GIOVANNI WHO WINS?

**MEWTWO vs GIOVANNI WHO WINS?** is the twenty second episode of Pokémon Red (Animation Series). It aired on September 24, 2021.

## Synopsis

Inside the Cerulean Cave, Mewtwo is seen defeating several Pokémon belonging to Team Rocket. With them is Giovanni, who wants to capture Mewtwo for himself and sends out his Nidoqueen. However, Mewtwo is unaffected by Nidoqueen's attacks and tosses her aside.

Meanwhile, Red travels through Routes 9 and 10, battling any Trainers that challenge him, and captures a Voltorb. Red enters the Rock Tunnels, having Pikachu use Flash to light up the dark caves. As Red travels through the Rock Tunnels, he fights more Trainers and captures a Machop.

Back at Cerulean Cave, Mewtwo uses his Psychic abilities to force Giovanni to recall his past. Years ago, Giovanni was a respected scientist and Gym Leader at the Viridian City, but his theories about Pokémon were laughed off by his peers. Giovanni tried to prove the existence of a Mysterious Pokémon he discovered, claiming a piece of its fur when it flew away, and tried to claim how it was connected to all the other Pokémon. But, his theories were rejected by his fellow scientists, and even his friends Agatha, Bruno, and Oak did not believe him.

Giovanni tried to push his theories to other people, but kept getting rejected and laughed at for them. As the years went on, Giovanni began to show resentment towards his friends: he became jealous when Oak created the first Pokédex, and he was passed over for a promotion to become a member of the Elite Four over Bruno thanks to Captain John. Two people began to believe Giovanni's theories, Ariana and Archer, and helped him study Pokémon to help prove them. But Giovanni grew desperate and stole DNA of the Mysterious Pokémon from a nearby lab, hoping Oak would help prove his theories were correct. Instead, Oak threw him out of his lab, disgusted that he stole DNA for his own selfish ideals.

Finally reaching his breaking point, along with having a family to raise with Ariana, Giovanni started Team Rocket and began making shady deals across Kanto to make his theories true. He sold stolen Pokémon to the Game Corner and got Petrel involved, and he bribed Blaine into helping him create a Pokémon with the Mysterious Pokémon's DNA. Their efforts resulted in the creation of Mewtwo, but one night, the latter blasted out of the Pokémon Mansion and escaped. In the chaos, Giovanni and his family escaped, but his oldest daughter Mars was taken in by the Global Police for safety.

Enraged that Mewtwo forced him to relive those moments, Giovanni ordered his henchmen to capture Mewtwo. It fails, and Giovanni orders Nidoking to use Strength on Mewtwo. However, Mewtwo took the shattered pieces of boulder Nidoking threw at it, and sent it back to the latter, resulting in Nidoking losing an eye. In desperation, Giovanni tried to punch Mewtwo in the face, only to get sent flying across the room.

With the mission a failure, Giovanni and his group return to the Team Rocket Hideout to recover. As Giovanni reads about Silph Co. developing a Master Ball, Red exits the Rock Tunnels after a long trek. As Red enters Lavender Town, he senses a presence around him and grows spooked.

## Pokémon References

* One of the theories Giovanni tries to push is the Gengar-Clefable fan theory.
* The fact that Ariana, Silver, and Mars are Giovanni's family is based of a fan theory that they are related due to their red hair.
* The punch Giovanni delivers to Mewtwo is similar to the one Ash Ketchum did in Pokémon The First Movie.

## Cultural References

* **Missing In Action**: The scene where Giovanni looks at the TV and eventually kicks it is a reference to a similar scene where Braddock does so.

## Music Used

* Pokemon R/B/Y - Trainer Battle Remix [Kamex] - by Kamex
* Pokemon R/B/Y - Lavender Town | METAL REMIX by Vincent Moretto - by Vincent Moretto
* Pokémon: Red and Blue - Lavender Town - (Cinematic Orchestral Violin Cover) || String Player Gamer - by String Player Gamer