"I'm finally back."
Xiao Yan stood at the entrance to Professor Oak's Laboratory.
Hearing an argument inside, he hurried in to take a look.
"That's what I'm saying! You must only ever use the same few Pokémon and leave the others, like Krabby, sitting around."
"What did you say, Gary?!"
Once inside, Xiao Yan found that Ash and Gary had already returned.
"Oh! Isn't that Xiao Yan? You're back too!"
Only then did Professor Oak notice Xiao Yan standing in the doorway.
"Xiao Yan, you've collected eight Badges too, right?"
"Of course."
Xiao Yan and Gary exchanged smiles.
"Xiao Yan, didn't you collect your Badges before I did? How come you got back later than me?"
At last, Ash noticed the detail he'd overlooked.
Xiao Yan took out a Pokémon Ball, and a Pokémon sprang out of it.
"Because I went to catch this guy, of course."
"Th-this... isn't this the Aerodactyl that attacked us before?"
"That's an Ancient Pokémon! You've really outdone yourself, Xiao Yan."
Everyone was astonished at the sight of the Pokémon.
"I went back there along the way to catch him. Otherwise, taking on the Indigo League with the number of Pokémon I have now would be a bit tough."
(Incidentally, Xiao Yan currently had nineteen Pokémon: Charizard, Entei, Suicune, Riolu, Pikachu, Blastoise, Pidgeotto, Snorlax, Gyarados, Umbreon, Eevee, Golduck, Ivysaur, Shelgon, Rhydon, Dragonite, Gible, Sandslash, and Aerodactyl.)
"Quite remarkable! I just checked all three of your Pokédexes. Ash has discovered over a hundred species of Pokémon, while Gary and Xiao Yan have only discovered sixty-odd species."
Ash began to look smug.
"Hehe, I'm pretty amazing, right?"
"But Gary has caught nearly two hundred Pokémon, while Xiao Yan... has only caught nineteen."
Xiao Yan grew a little embarrassed when Professor Oak reached that part.
"Let's head out to the laboratory's grounds! You can see your Pokémon too."
Everyone followed Professor Oak out to a vast grassy field.
"It's huge!" Ash gazed excitedly around Professor Oak's grounds.
Ash's and Gary's Pokémon immediately gathered around them.
"Long time no see! You've all grown so well here at Professor Oak's Laboratory."
The two of them looked happily at their Pokémon.
"Now, where are my Pokémon?"
Xiao Yan spotted a group of Pokémon gathered nearby, with Entei, Dragonite, Blastoise, and the others standing in the middle.
"So this is where you are! It's been a while!"
Xiao Yan happily joined his Pokémon too.
"Wow! These are all Xiao Yan's Pokémon!"
"They're all rare Pokémon... he even has a Legendary Pokémon?!"
Ash and Gary came over to take a look too.
"Oh, right, Xiao Yan. I just saw in your Pokédex that you've caught another Legendary Pokémon. You have him with you, don't you? Could you let him out for me to see?"
Xiao Yan released all the Pokémon he had with him.
Charizard, Shelgon, Aerodactyl, Blastoise, and Suicune all gathered together.
"This is Suicune, the incarnation of the north wind. I never imagined you'd catch him."
Professor Oak took out a measuring tape and began examining Suicune.
"To think you've caught so many powerful Pokémon. That's my lifelong rival for you."
"Then... Xiao Yan, I wasn't seeing things that day!"
"What do you mean?"
"When you were riding Ho-"
BOOM!!!
A noise in the distance cut Ash off.
"That's coming from the direction of Viridian Forest!"
Black smoke kept billowing above Viridian Forest, and a Pokémon flew out of it.
"Grandpa, what Pokémon is that?"
"A Pokémon that isn't recorded in the Pokédex. It's a new species!"
"I'll go after him."
Xiao Yan immediately climbed onto Charizard and gave chase.
(Even though he's wearing a helmet that hides his face, I'm certain from his build that he's Mewtwo.)
Mewtwo seemed to notice Xiao Yan pursuing him and fired Swift straight at Xiao Yan and Charizard behind him.
"Dodge it!"
Charizard made a sharp turn and successfully avoided Mewtwo's attack, but by the time they looked back, Mewtwo had vanished into the clouds. Meanwhile, Suicune's rain had already put out the fire in Viridian Forest.
"You couldn't catch up? That Pokémon was incredibly fast, though. Even Charizard couldn't keep up." Everyone was discussing what had just happened with Mewtwo.
"Professor, actually, the last time I was on Cinnabar Island..."
Xiao Yan told everyone about accidentally entering the cabin on Cinnabar Island.
"So that's what happened... it seems Mewtwo was created using Mew's genes."
"Doesn't that make him an artificial Pokémon?"
"An artificial Pokémon? How come we've never heard of that before?"
"Because it violates the laws of nature. Now that things have reached this point, we can't just ignore it." Professor Oak suddenly looked at them gravely.
"Grandpa, you mean...?"
"If you find him, capture him immediately. But don't push yourselves too hard. He's a Pokémon capable of wiping out an entire research team, so you must be extremely careful when battling him."
"Got it! You can leave this mission to us!"
Only after seeing their earnest gazes did Professor Oak relax. Afterward, everyone gathered for a meal and shared amusing stories from their travels. The afternoon passed just like that.
"Ah... it's already this late."
Only then did Xiao Yan notice that the view outside the window was gradually darkening.
"I should head home."
Ash said goodbye to everyone and returned to his own home.
"Then you two can stay here tonight. I've already tidied up your rooms a little."
When Xiao Yan had arrived here five years ago with nowhere to go, Professor Oak had let him stay at the laboratory. That was why Professor Oak was like a grandfather to him, and Gary was like a brother.
"Sure! Thanks, Professor."
"Come on, Xiao Yan! Let's play Pokémon battle cards again."
Gary and Xiao Yan bounded upstairs and returned to their rooms.
"They really are like brothers. They study together and grow up together, treating each other as rivals and constantly competing, gradually getting stronger. You're both so much more dependable now than when you first became Trainers." Watching Xiao Yan and Gary walk away, Professor Oak's heart filled with emotion.
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