Ch. 77. Deeper into Mt. Silver.

(Unedited)

Venturing deeper into the tunnel, traces of the battle seemed to have continued on, spreading far and wide as signs of partial tunnel collapses were evident. Yet the traces seemed rather faded, a testament that it had been a while since the battle had occured.

Which in itself was rather worrisome.

It conveyed the sheer amount of time that had passed since Moltress's battle and capture. Moltress had been worn-out, the battle progressing for a rather long time till its eventual end.

 Mewtwo should have had enough time to flee, yet it had been hunted, attacked without any moment of rest.

Crouching down, Ares ran his hand across the battle scars on the walls and floor. From the traces left in the battles wake, Ares could summarize what kind of pokemon had battled against Mewtwo.

As far as he could see, most of them were bug and dark types, remnants of said energy lingering on the debris scattered here and there. A dragon type had been present as well, though it did not seem like it had participated in the battle itself.

Though which dragon type pokemon, he was unsure.

Getting up, he squinted his eyes, noticing signs he did not see before.

The structure was running along an odd path, not something Mewtwo had made in a haste. It seems like Mewtwo had been searching for something. 

Something important enough to rush towards the moment he had found it, even if it was hunted at that very same time.

Though what could make Mewtwo so desperate?

.

.

.

[Mewtwo Pov]

It had been days since he had last been alone. Since his meeting with Moltress, everything had gone awry.

It began when he had finally found traces, traces of a particular energy he had felt long before he had awoken from his cloning chamber. It was pure, untainted by human hands, a type of energy that was just a bit further through Mt. Silver.

Moltress had tried to reason with him, warning him of the dangers.

Yet he had no choice, as his pursuers had been hot on his trail. 

There were two groups following him, both with their own agenda when they were following his tracks. 

Humans and their greed for power!

They were disgusting.

When he and Moltress were getting to the main point, a group of humans intruded, as they immediately went on the offensive, catching him and Moltress by surprise. While he managed to block the attacks with a barrier, Moltress hadn't been as lucky, getting hit by a powerful hyper beam from a powerful Salamance.

On its back were two people, a woman with short silver hair. Visors shaded her eyes, as a gleaming capturing device was strapped to her arm.

At her side was a blue-haired man, one Mewtwo instantly recognized.

Archer, a team Rocket admin, as well as one of his pursuers.

Seething in anger, Mewtwo blasted the Salamance back, his pure psychic energy washing over his opponents without mercy. 

The huntress tightly clung to her pokemon, her Salamance attacking without hesitation, disrupting the psychic attacks for but a moment.

This was enough for Archer to release his own pokemon, a towering Tyranitar.

Yet when the smoke cleared, Mewtwo had vanished in a newly created tunnel, the sounds of his attacks still lingering as he dug deeper into the tunnel.

Having lost sight of his pursuers for now, Mewtwo collapsed the tunnel behind him, knowing it would just slow them down. Yet he had to hurry.

If they caught up to him, he wouldn't get the chance again to increase his strenght.

.

.

.

[Ares Pov]

Having picked up on the remaining emotions, short piece of memory flashed by as he experienced what Mewtwo had endured. Ares had an inkling as to what Mewtwo had been searching for as well, though if it was truly so, he did not know.

Calling all of his pokemon back, he continued on in total darkness, his only company being Mew, who remained silently on his shoulder. Mew hadn't said much since their venture in the tunnel, yet he could sense she was nervous, worried and... a bit afraid?

How odd, he had never seen Mew afraid.

Giving her head a short caress, he went on through the tunnel, enocuntering multiple signs of would be cave-ins.

Every so often he could feel the traces of where people and pokemon had passed by, giving him hints of what he could expect so far.

By the looks of it, more and more people had come since the creation of this tunnel, growing to a few dozen people. While Mewtwo had defeated more than a few of them, having found corpses of both pokemon and humans every now and then, it still didn't count for the major part of them. These grunts were just canon fodder to tire him out.

Something that would eventually happen, even more so when the assault had been a constant battle from which Mewtwo didn't get any reprieve.

As he continued further and further, the traces went from old to newer, some of the scorch marks being relatively warm to the touch. He was definitely getting closer.

Suddenly, a source of light appeared, dim yet in a strange ethereal color. 

Standing there in front of a strange, illuminated object, lay Mewtwo. It was unmoving, injuries riddling its body, covering more surface than healthy skin. Team Rocket was nowhere to be found, not even a trace of them in the surroundings. Yet if Ares observed carefully, he could catch hints of psychic energy wavering just in front of Mewtwo.

A tunnel to the side ran deeper into the mountain, traces of both human and pokemon having passed by.

Inching closer, Ares let his hands trace the psychic energy, it being tangible beneath his hands.

An illusion it seems.

Giving it a small push, he could feel as much resistance as a normal wall would have. Maybe that was what the members of team Rocket had seen.

 A desperate effort on Mewtwo's part to escape for just a moment.

Hearing footsteps come closer to his position, Ares tried to find a way into the barrier, Mew having already appeared besides Mewtwo to provide aid and healing. She didn't seem to have thought of anything else, having left Ares to deal with Team Rocket.

Something which had become unavoidable.