On tomorrow morning, there was a panic in the Mansion: the subject had disappeared ! They sent a civilian squad in town to find him. It didn’t take long: he was wandering in the streets, apparently shocked. They brought him back to the base. « Miss Victoria, said Dr Swanton, thanks God you’re back ! _ What’s the matter ? _ It’s Mewtwo, we found him in the streets, wandering like a zombi. _ What happened ? _ He described us everything, with his own words. I think he had sex. _ What ? With a human ? _ Apparently. He said he was afraid of her weird behavior, he didn’t know if it was normal. So he let her do. _ Oh, shit ! We needed that ! _ It was your idea. _ I know ! I take all responsibility, and I’ll arrange it myself ! _ There’s a good point, though. _ What ? _ He fought. He had his first fight. Against a human. And he won. _ So you think… _ He might be ready for training. » Mewtwo was sitting on his couch. Victoria was sitting in front of him, exactly like the morning before. « How do you feel ? _ I don’t know. Still don’t understand what happened. _ So I’ll explain clearly: you had sex. _ You mean, the way you reproduce ? _ Yes, but unlike other species, humans don’t do it only for that purpose. _ For what ? _ For fun. _ That’s crazy. But I think I can understand. At first, I was just a little nervous. But then, she began to put her clothes off and… well, I won’t tell the details, but I felt some kind of heat deep into my body, I don’t know if I liked it or not… I think I understand now why you say « hot girls ». _ It’s not only that. That girl was not simply « hot », she was abnormal. _ What do you mean ? _ I mean it’s against nature that humans and pokemons have this kind of relationship. You’re not to blame. You didn’t know. _ Part human part pokemon. _ Sorry ? _ That’s what you said yesterday. You said I was the perfect balance between the two species. Therefor, I should be able to act with humans and pokemons the same way. Correct ? » Victoria was speechless. For the first time in her life, she had no answer. She was still young, 35 years old, and has been a psychologist for ten years. But she’s never been bluffed like that. He was very good… « And what about your fight ? _ It was strange. I just made a move, and he fell out cold. » He showed her the move. That was what boxers call a body uppercut. « We call this a punch, Mewtwo. _ A punch ? _ It’s basic fighting move. It comes along with kicks, tackles, headbutts… a few years ago, a trainer has written an article to say that the best way to awaken a pokemon to the rudiments of fights and to the acknowledgement of his powers, was to teach him the basis of full-contact. _ And I’ll be trained this way ? _ Of course. The training room is at the second floor. I’ll be waiting for you there in two hours. I advise you to relax. » He spent his two rest hours in a bath, listening to music. He still felt strange about last night ( strangely happy, in fact ) but he thought he’d finally forget. He was rocked by the soft music, and fell asleep. The clock rang just in time for training. Mewtwo awakened, fighting fit, and headed for the training room. It was a large wooden room, with a full-length window showing the sea. Victoria was waiting for him. « Are you ready, Mewtwo ? _ Feel like I could move a mountain ! _ Good. Due to your morphology and intelligence, you will be able to assimilate a lot of fighting styles. » She showed him a pile of books. « We’ve selected for you the best manuals for the most effective human martial arts: boxing, tae kwon do, boxe française, ken-po… _ You won’t teach me ? _ I can’t. It’s not my domain. Once you have assimilated all those styles, you will be able to create your own pokemon fighting technique, it will develop your body, your self-confidence and your spirit. In a long run, you will be able to discover and control psy skills. _ Psy skills ? _ You’re basically a psy pokemon. But you have not enough experience to develop your specific skills. You will develop them on the ring, it’s the most effective method. You will practice here against our training pokemons, to improve your strength, your reflexes, and your strategy. Now, let’s see what you’ve got. » She took a pokeball and opened it. A Mankey appeared. It looked furious. He jumped on Mewtwo, who stepped aside just in time. He didn’t want to fight this furious monster ! He’d be slashed in a second ! The ape ran after him, and Mewtwo had a hard time parrying all the strikes. He hadn’t seen it coming: a Mawashi-Geri. Right in the face. The pokemon returned to his ball. Victoria looked disappointed. « Mewtwo, what is wrong with you ? _ Sending that monster against me, it’s crazy ! He could’ve killed me ! _ He could not ! He’s much too weak. _ He knocked me down ! _ Because you were not combative, and he took profit ! You punched that guy, you can punch that ape ! _ Fighting against a human is not the same thing. _ It is. The difference is in your imagination. Try again, and this time, I want you to strike back ! » The Mankey re-appeared. He ran to Mewtwo and threw the Comet Punch. Six times. The clone was too groggy to counter. The ape finished him with a low kick. Mewtwo fell again. He lifted the head from the ground and his eyes met Victoria’s. She looked away with desdain. He hated this. A sudden rage came and took control of his muscles. He stood up and threw a tackle. Mankey blocked the attack, but the violence of the strike destabilized him. Mewtwo moved on with a headbutt. Victoria heard a horrible cracking. Mankey was unconscious, and his forehead was bleeding. His skull has been broken like a watermelon. The clone couldn’t believe it. « Oh my… is he dead ? _ Luckily not. But he will be out of order for a long time. » She put the pokemon back to his ball. « That’s what I wanted to see, Mewtwo. You must unleash your fury to win. » From that moment, Mewtwo finally understood what they awaited from him. All the week ( except the Sunday ), he spent his time watching fights on TV and taking notes, learning techniques from the books, and testing them in the training room. He learned very fast. He had a jogging every Saturday morning. Every training pokemon he used went to the center right after. Once, he tested his reflexes against an Arbok. He had to hit the snake before being bitten. Arbok had his eyes poked before he could move one muscle. Another time, it was against a Tyrogue. The boxer began very strongly, with a scary combo: double jab, uppercut, and hammer punch. Mewtwo just moved a minimum to avoid the punches, and he didn’t get hit once. Tyrogue tried a body jab, but Mewtwo parried it and threw his own combo: hook punch to the jaw, double body uppercut, uppercut to the jaw, and hammer punch to finish. KO. Three weeks later… « So, Mewtwo is progressing. He’s becoming a true fighter. _ I agree, Miss Victoria, but something is worrying me. _ What, Dr Swanton ? _ His training schedule is unadapted. _ What do you mean ? _ I mean, at his point, our training pokemon are too weak. We need to find one who could be as strong as him, and who could be some kind of personal coach. _ Do you think of someone particular ? _ I planned to call Giovanni. I think Mewtwo’s now ready to meet… _ His double ? _ Yes. » Two days later, Mewtwo got to his training room, as usual. He moved to the middle of the room, thinking about the training pokemon he would break off when he heard from behind: « Good morning ! » He instinctively turned back, in a boxing stance. He didn’t have the time to see the man who attacked him by surprise. The stranger grabbed Mewtwo’s right arm with his right hand, and put his left arm on the clone’s left shoulder. In that position, the stranger just pulled on the shoulder to make Mewtwo fall. The whole operation only lasted half a second. Mewtwo rose his head to watch his mysterious agressor. It was him ! Well… not exactly. The stranger had exactly the same shape and height as Mewtwo, but his skin was black and metal-looking. They both had the same blue eyes, but the stranger’s ones were absolutely inexpressive. It was scary. The black Mewtwo said: « I thought you were faster. Why don’t you attack back ? » His voice was soft but sounded like a loudspeaker. Mewtwo stood up and threw a back chop. The black blocked the strike with the left arm and used the other one to throw an elbow smash on the ribs. Then he pressed on the blocked arm to make Mewtwo fall again. « Disappointing. » Okay. This time, he’ll see ! The clone got up and attacked with a large hook punch. The other blocked it again: he grabbed the arm with his left hand and the nape with his right hand. Then, he sent a knee strike to the stomach to make him bend, and pushed to make him roll and fall, in an aïkido toss. « See your mistake ? Under the effect of surprise and sudden rage, you forgot strategy and charged like a stupid Rhyhorn. Such behaviors will obviously make you lose. _ Who the hell are you ? _ Me ? So you haven’t been told. I am you. Or, to be more precise, I am your shadow. The second part of the equation. _ Can you be more precise ? _ The Boss was looking for the perfect pokemon. But during your development, he realized it was impossible, because a single pokemon could not have all the others’ skills. Then he decided to create a team. _ A team ? _ Yes. We’re made to work in duo. You are psy-type, I am any-type. You are organic, I am a machine. This way, we both erase our respective weaknesses. _ Machine ? You’re a robot ? _ Not a robot, a cybernetic. _ What’s the difference ? _ A robot has no will. I was designed with a powerful AI and a great autonomy to be effective. My sensitive electronic components are protected by this black skin, an armor made of various alloys of plastic and metal. I have integrated weapons, designed to correspond to pokemons’ special attacks, except psy skills. _ Your eyes are… _ Useless. Those are not real eyes. Just aesthetic prosthesis, to protect the optical sensors. _ Then… how should I call you ? » He looked at his organic counterpart. He was amused, even if he couldn’t smile. He answered in a very ceremonial tone: « I am… Metal-Mewtwo ! » They rapidly adapted each other. Their training was really serious. That day, a few weeks after their first encounter, Mewtwo was working on a particulary quick combo: he was throwing a dozen of Comet Punches, on his own style, which meant that those punches could be jab, hook, back, even reversal. Metal parried everything and sent one or two fake punches to make him work his defense. Metal was glad of their progress, but Mewtwo’s attacks were still at human speed. Mewtwo sent a triple bicycle kick, a spinning kick, a triple front kick, another spinning, and a side kick. Not bad ! But then, he tried a powerful front kick. Metal saw it coming: he grabbed the leg and tossed Mewtwo on ground. « You’ve got nice combos. But they’re too slow. You must realize that human speed is not your speed. Let me show you… » And the twins engaged a ballet of spectacular figures, including all their arsenal. Metal tried to use high-flying moves to show him, and decided to increase progressively his speed, over human abilities. Mewtwo was soon unable to follow the rhythm, and he got an Ultimawashi right in the abdomen, throwing him against a wall. « So, are you convinced ? _ You’re a machine, guy. _ And ? What’s wrong with that ? _ You are as strong and fast as the engineers wanted. Me, I’m limited, cause I’m a living being. You can’t get tired, or hungry… _ Forget all those says ! You know the real difference between you and me ? _ No. _ I am programmed to use my abilities, so I know them. A living being can’t be programmed, he has to learn by himself. _ What do you mean ? _ I mean that instead of our different nature, we were designed to have almost the same strength, speed and intelligence, so that we would complete each other. If you’re weaker than me, it’s only because you don’t trust yourself enough ! Now get up and fight back ! » On guard again. Metal threw his attack, but Mewtwo parried it and counter- attacked. Nice combo speed. But still not enough. « Come on, what are you waiting for ? Increase your speed and hit me ! » Those provocations worked ! The combos got faster and faster. « He’s pushing me to my limits ! » thought Metal. They arrived at a point where the cybernetic, because of the speed, saw more than two arms when Mewtwo punched. He was using the Rage attack ! The droid was so surprised that he hadn’t seen the punch stopping at only two millimeters from his nose. « Was it good ? Mewtwo asked. _ Impressive. »