Mewtwo's Game

A slightly hunched figure kept shoveling mud upward from the river channel as the current continuously washed over his body.

Even in July, the river water in the early morning was still somewhat chilly.

Above him stood Sandshrew, looking extremely nervous.

"Grandpa Qin? What are you doing?"

Lin Feng hurried over and asked in confusion.

"Oh, it's you, Little Feng." Grandpa Qin looked up, wiped away his sweat, and revealed a kindly smile. He could not help rambling on. "I heard that Shushu started working at your Breeding Shop, and that you're paying her a very high wage?

That won't do. Your shop has only just started up, and this is when you need money the most. She's just a young girl—how could she be worth that much? Just give her a little and that'll be enough."

Lin Feng nodded repeatedly. "I'll consider that carefully. If she doesn't do a good job, I'll lower her pay. As for you..."

He did not say anything about being rich or making a lot of money.

At a time like this, it was enough to go along with the old man.

Grandpa Qin said helplessly, "This... Look, it hasn't rained for days, and the water level has dropped quite a bit. The rice has already formed ears, so it doesn't need much water now, but the vegetables we planted still need watering..."

"Sandshrew!"

Sandshrew anxiously fretted above.

It wanted to go down and dig mud for its owner, but the rushing current and its short stature both prevented it from doing so.

"Alright, go take care of your own business. I'll be done here soon." Grandpa Qin waved him away.

Lin Feng glanced at the water level. Compared to a week ago, it really had dropped far too much.

That was not good news...

The water needed by all the crops in the town came from this small river, and the Pokémon around the outskirts of the Wild Area also drank from here.

If the river dried up, it would bring no small amount of trouble...

Lin Feng instinctively thought of Milotic.

He wondered whether her Rain Dance could cover such a large area.

He needed to find a time to try it.

Grandpa Qin indeed did not stay in the channel for long. Two minutes after Lin Feng arrived, he climbed back up and slowly headed home with Sandshrew.

"Is this also the relationship between humans and Pokémon?"

Mewtwo, who had watched the entire scene from the side, could not help asking.

Lin Feng looked back at it. "Yes. Sandshrew is a good kid. It loves Grandpa Qin, and Grandpa Qin loves it too. Both of them think about the other."

Mewtwo said nothing, but it was deeply shaken.

Looking at the human before it, it felt a profound confusion for the first time.

It seemed never to have heard of this word before. "Love?"

"Yes." Lin Feng nodded and asked a meaningful question. "Wouldn't you think about your own Pokémon?"

Mewtwo blurted out, "Where would I get Poké—"

But it immediately realized its current identity.

Its voice halted, and it fell silent again.

Only after a long while did it ask, "Do those Trainers who control Pokémon in battles also count as loving their Pokémon?"

"Control Pokémon?" Lin Feng froze for a moment, but did not explain right away. He merely said, "Come with me."

Lin Feng led it back toward the Breeding House. When they reached the tall pine tree outside the Plantation, he looked up at the Pidgeotto above.

"I caught this Pidgeotto in the Plantation yesterday. According to it, after a Spearow in its territory evolved into a Pidgeot, it drove its entire clan out.

I promised to help it grow stronger and reclaim the territory that belonged to them in the future. Does that count as controlling Pokémon for battles?"

At that moment,

the sunlight had become slightly dazzling. When the Pidgeotto in the pine tree saw Lin Feng looking over, it flapped its wings and slowly flew down, eventually landing on his shoulder. Its sharp gaze softened.

Clearly, yesterday's "feast" had completely won its heart.

Mewtwo froze again, unsure what to say. Then it saw that, not far away, a Pokémon battle seemed to have started amid the crowd gathered at the entrance of the small Breeding Shop. It could not help pointing over there. "Then what about battles like that? Aren't they just making Pokémon fight each other to entertain humans?"

"Heh..."

Lin Feng burst out laughing. "Then what about Pokémon's power?"

"Pokémon are creatures that naturally yearn to grow and become stronger. And most Pokémon are rather simple-minded. Do you know what that instinct will make them do if they aren't guided properly?"

"To put it another way, you have Psychic Power. Could you control yourself and never use it for your entire life?"

Before Elfology had fully developed,

friction between Pokémon species... had been everywhere.

Even now, there were still conflicts between some Pokémon that could not be reconciled.

Like the Pidgeotto on Lin Feng's shoulder and the Spearow clan.

Mewtwo fell silent again.

It had never thought about such things.

As Lin Feng led it toward the crowd, he said, "Guiding and sorting out their power is what truly matters."

A man and a woman were battling, and the crowd had left them a large open space.

In the Donghua League,

Rookie Trainers could battle anytime and anywhere, provided they did not disrupt other people's normal lives.

The man's Pokémon was Chespin, while the woman's Pokémon was Fletchinder.

Type Advantage, along with a level advantage.

There was no suspense in the end. Fletchinder's Trainer won the battle.

After the battle ended, Lin Feng said softly, "This is my Evergreen Power, a power that can sense living creatures' emotions. You can now sense the emotions of everyone and every Pokémon present and see if there are any emotions that dissatisfy you."

Greenish-blue energy flowed from Lin Feng and descended onto Mewtwo. For a brief moment, it gained the ability to sense Pokémon's emotions...

Mewtwo's Game

The joy of the girl and Fletchinder embracing after defeating their opponent, the cheers of the surrounding spectators, and the eagerness of the Pokémon beside them to try battling.

At that moment, Mewtwo had already ignored why Lin Feng's Evergreen Power was so potent.

Borrowing that power, it searched through every human and Pokémon around it,

as though it wanted to find even one Pokémon filled with hatred and unwillingness to be controlled.

But after searching all around, it only saw the defeated Chespin looking somewhat downcast. Yet immediately afterward, under its Trainer's comfort, Chespin regained its fighting spirit.

It had never seen such warm and natural emotions when Team Rocket had sent it out to fight.

They had only made it conquer Pokémon and seize their resources.

A bewildered expression appeared on Mewtwo's face.

Could it be

that it had truly misunderstood?

"Guys, look who I found! That's Lin Feng, the owner of the Breeding Shop!"

As the match ended and the crowd was about to disperse, someone suddenly shouted from within the crowd.

Immediately afterward, everyone turned their attention to Lin Feng and gathered around him.

"Damn, I heard this guy is an Advanced Breeder. The Energy Cubes sold in this little shop are seriously amazing. They taste great, work well, and they're even cheaper than the ones sold by the Pokémon League!"

"Exactly! After my Pokémon ate them, it couldn't get enough. Training it usually refused to do? Now it's willing to do all of it..."

"Hey, are you watching the battle because you want to have a Pokémon battle too?"

Faced with the enthusiastic customers, Lin Feng repeatedly waved his hands. "No, no."

Pokémon battles were the kind of thing where, in front of so many people,

once he accepted the first one, there would definitely be an endless stream of challengers afterward.

"That really is a pity." The girl who had asked him was Fletchinder's Trainer. Seeing the Pidgeotto perched on Lin Feng's shoulder, she had originally wanted to challenge him.

Seeing that Lin Feng was uninterested, the young Trainers gathered around quickly began enthusiastically arranging a second battle.

That gave Lin Feng another new idea.

Perhaps he could build a small Pokémon battle venue here.

Only with more people, greater fame, and more consumption would his Energy Cubes sell in greater quantities.

After all,

there were many ways to make Pokémon happy. Eating happily was only one of them.

After leaving the crowd, he played with Pidgeotto for a while and had it fly back to its pine tree. Then Lin Feng looked toward where Mewtwo had been standing.

The flamboyantly pink-haired youth had already disappeared.

A pale white envelope slowly drifted down from the sky, eventually landing precisely in Lin Feng's hand.

The instant he caught it, an illusory humanoid figure floated out from it. It was not Mewtwo's transformed appearance, but its original form.

The illusory Mewtwo clenched its fist. Like a recorded message, its voice rang out with authority.

"You were right... I truly had too many prejudices about the relationship between humans and Pokémon."

"So next, I will experience more relationships between humans and Pokémon."

"And I will create a corresponding game, selecting exceptional Trainers among humans to complete this test..."

"This envelope contains a portion of my Psychic Power. If you need help in the future, just tear it apart, and I will come immediately."

At that point, Mewtwo's figure had yet to disperse, as though it were waiting for Lin Feng to say something.