(Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, including Domino, who I just couldn't help but include in this retelling.)

The Return of Mewtwo

Chapter I

He was having that dream again.

Complete silence, floating calmly through crystal blue water as bubbles danced up and around him. The river plants just below him, chalk white in color and thin like long blades of grass, swayed gently back and forth with the soft currents around them. It was an image of peace.

And then she arrived.

A sprightly creature, she was much smaller than him in size, but her long-legged, cat-like appearance was not so different from his own. Blue eyes blinked up at him as the pink figure zipped by through the water grass and rose eagerly towards the water's surface, as if in pursuit of something. Reluctant but obligated, he followed.

The creature began to pick up speed as she skimmed just beneath the surface, her legs playfully kicking up tiny splashes of foam, tail failing wildly behind her. Finally, she angled her momentum upward and shot clear from the water and into the cobalt Amazon sky. She did not cease her flight just yet, but tilted herself further upright and looped high overhead, loudly giggling all the while. As he lifted himself out of the water to hover over the river's center, she completed her circle and came to a stop behind him, floating upside-down. He turned with little enthusiasm to meet her eye.

Curiously, the little pink creature tilted her head and blinked at him, then called out one word in a high voice.

"Mew!"

Mewtwo angrily tore his gaze away and immediately felt a hard, unpleasant jolt as he fell on his back and woke with a start. Gone was the bright blue sky, replaced with a black and gray one dotted with stars. Instead of a river, he found himself overlooking a field of barren rock. There was a large lake off to his right, where the monstrous blue head of a Gyrados turned towards him and roared in an oddly quiet tone.

Mewtwo acknowledged his fellow clone with a brief glance and looked ahead to the horizon. The sun would be rising soon.

"These dreams," he mused. "Why do these dreams hound me so? I grow weary of them…"

He rose to his feet and silently waited for the dawn.

Mewtwo was not located in a canyon, or even in a desert, but rather, in the crater of a long extinct volcano. Over the decades, the giant bowl shaped depression had collected rainwater, forming what served as a convenient pool for the water-bound members of his company. What was more, the volcano itself was located on an island surrounded by ocean water. There was a mainland not far away, but Mewtwo had observed that only a few boats from there would visit the island once a month, and they always stayed close to the shores. On this island, he and his clones were safe from prying eyes—the eyes of humans.

The psychic pokémon frowned at the thought of the word. Humans. It was humans who had created him in their laboratories, humans who had viewed him as little more than an experiment. It was humans who had planned to use him as a tool for their own purposes.

You were created by humans to serve humans. You could never be our equal, his former master Giovanni had said to him. The words echoed coldly in Mewtwo's memory.

It was his dislike of humans that had soon afterwards brought him back to New Island, the place where his life had begun, and had led him to rebuild the laboratory there. His equipment and facilities ready, he'd then named himself the World's Greatest Pokémon Master and invited every powerful trainer he could find to his island to challenge him. The temptation had been a trap, as he'd planned to capture and clone their prized pokémon while destroying the rest of humanity with a deadly storm outside. And he had almost succeeded…until she'darrived.

Mew. The source of his DNA and the one who's shadow he was created to live as. The little pink creature from his dreams. Mewtwo had been determined to prove himself stronger than his original, and had made his intentions clear immediately after Mew's arrival at his arena. Mew had complied, and they'd both fought fiercely against each other that night, forcing the other pokémon and their clones to do likewise.

But then, as the battle had raged on and the strength of both sides had begun to deteriorate, something else unexpected had happened. One of the trainers, a young dark-haired boy, had thrown himself in between Mew and Mewtwo's beams of psychic energy and ended the conflict. He had sacrificed himself to save both the original and clone pokémon. In turn, the creatures he'd spared from death had restored his life with the very water of their tears.

His eyes opened to this vision of equality, Mewtwo had abandoned his pursuit of dominance over Mew and departed from New Island with her and his clones—after erasing the memories of the boy and every other trainer and pokémon who had been present that night. Mew had then led him here to Ivory Island, a tiny volcanic isle in the Jotoh Region, where his company could live in peace, away from humans.

Even after his moving experience on New Island, Mewtwo could not bring himself to trust man; the actions of one boy did not redeem an entire race. And it was on Ivory Island that he stood this very morning.

The black sky faded to purple as the first rays of orange light appeared on the ocean's horizon. Mewtwo stared at the beautiful scene listlessly.

Mew had not remained on Ivory Island with him and the other clones. In fact, she'd barely even stayed with them long enough to see the clones settle into their new home. Her memory, however, had stayed, and had haunted him every night since his arrival to this place. What did these dreams mean? Why did he always see Mew silently taunting him in and over the water? Had the "vision" of equality between clones and originals only been an illusion? So many questions flooded his head today, the same that plagued him every day.

"What is my purpose?" he asked inaudibly. Then finally, as he gazed out over the sea at the half-risen sun and listened to the soft whistle of the wind, he asked himself the most feared question of all:

"Who am I?"

………………

The sun was high in its noon position when the tiny psychic creature sailed over the first small lagoon, a sign that she was now in the midst of one of the Jotoh Region's coral reefs. With a high-pitched squeak, the pokémon spun playfully like a corkscrew and shot forward even faster than before.

It was none other than Mew, who—much like in Mewtwo's dream—was growing eager as she appeared to be drawing closer to some unknown destination. Not once had she halted her flight since leaving her home in the jungles of the south. At times, she would fly just over the water and drag her toes across its wet surface, and even dive under in a pink bubble to search for other pokémon on the ocean floor.

All the while she'd been entertaining herself this way, blissfully unaware of the device that was monitoring her every movement from high, high above her in the sky.

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