Chapter 69: Psychic VS Fighting, Part 2
Floating in mid-air, Mewtwo, after setting up its psychic barrier, did not idly wait for Rio's attack. Instead, it began to condense dark Ghost-type energy between its hands, rotating it to form an energy sphere.
It was extremely confident that its psychic barrier could not be broken by anything.
But in the next second, this confidence of Mewtwo's was shattered.
Rio's [Metal Claw] stabbed directly into the very bottom of the psychic barrier, as effortlessly as piercing a piece of tofu.
"What!..."
Mewtwo only felt a very slight dizziness in its head. After all, the psychic barrier was deployed using Mewtwo's own psychic power. If it was broken by an opponent, it would still have a certain impact on its own mental will.
But even the slightest dizziness was an unprecedented feeling for Mewtwo.
Rio didn't care whether Mewtwo was affected or not. After his [Metal Claw] had completely pierced the psychic barrier, he mustered all his strength and slashed his claw diagonally upwards.
"Rip, tear," like cutting cloth with a knife, the entire psychic barrier was thus slashed open diagonally by Rio.
"Success!"
Rio was overjoyed, but immediately came back to his senses. Taking advantage of the gap that appeared after the psychic barrier was torn open, he charged through.
Suddenly, a move that Brother Machop, or rather, Machoke, often used flashed through his mind.
…
"Raise your hand, yes, shape it like a knife."
Brother Machop, before he had evolved into Machoke, stood beside Rio, correcting his posture.
"If you want to use this move, you must have a certain kind of momentum. What kind of momentum? It's the kind where no matter what is in front of you, you bring your palm down and chop it all apart. You cannot hesitate, nor can you waver."
"Just like this!"
"Hiyahh!!"
Brother Machop faced a rock larger than himself. He leaped up, hand held vertically like a blade, and with a clean and decisive motion, directly split the rock in two.
And Rio also tried to chop down with his palm like Brother Machop, only to have his hand sting with pain.
"Shout it out! Why do we shout loudly when we use moves? It's to raise our momentum, to make our energy burn."
"So when you use this move, remember to shout out its name loudly!"
"That is..."
…
"Ooooooohhhhhh, [Brick Break]!!!!!!"
Unconsciously, Rio subconsciously imitated Machop's posture from that time. He leaped up, holding his palm vertically like a blade. Following the fierce shout from his mouth, his momentum was like a rainbow as he chopped down forcefully.
In a daze, Mewtwo seemed to see a peerlessly sharp greatsword chopping down towards its head. The sharpness was so immense that even It, who had never known hesitation or fear, couldn't help but feel a trace of surprise.
"[Reflect]!"
"Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang," Mewtwo retreated rapidly. With a thought, dozens of square, star-glimmering walls of mysterious energy appeared in succession before It.
[Reflect]—this move erects an energy-based protective wall to protect the user. Unlike another similar move, [Light Screen], the protective wall built by [Reflect] primarily uses the wall's hardness to weaken the opponent's physical attacks, thereby achieving a protective effect. [Light Screen], on the other hand, covers the constructed protective wall with energy waves, subsequently weakening the opponent's energy attacks.
At this moment, there were dozens of [Reflect] walls between Rio and Mewtwo.
"Truly worthy of a Pokémon with divine power. To be able to set up so many [Reflect] walls in such a short time, its strength is truly terrifying."
The Pokémon silently watching on the side, cheering for Rio in their hearts, still couldn't help but feel fear at Mewtwo's terrifying strength.
But Rio, in the midst of battle, had no such distracting thoughts.
When his hand-blade was blocked by the hard wall of [Reflect].
"Don't mind what's in front of you. Concentrate your spirit and essence, and with all your might, CHOP!"
Machop's nagging words seemed to echo in his ears.
The blue Aura suddenly ignited, swirling with the brownish-red Fighting energy, forming a giant blade phantom on Rio's hand-blade. He chopped down.
"Bang!" The first [Reflect] wall was shattered.
Rio's momentum did not diminish. The giant blade roared as it chopped towards the second [Reflect] wall.
"Bang," "Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang—"
The second wall shattered, the third wall shattered... all dozens of [Reflect] walls were chopped to pieces!
Rio, wrapped in soaring momentum, was now inches away from Mewtwo!
Then, the giant blade was raised high and chopped fiercely down towards Mewtwo!
"Good, good, good! Just in time!"
Mewtwo trembled all over, not from fear, but from a spontaneously arising excitement. A frenzy born for battle began to spread in Its heart.
"[Psy-cho... Cut]!"
Mewtwo also let out a furious roar. Its powerful psychic power made a crackling sound in the air. Dark pink psychic energy gathered rapidly, also forming a psychic blade whose size and power were not inferior to Rio's hand-blade.
"Go!"
Not only did the psychic blade fly out, but Mewtwo Itself also transformed into a beam of light, meeting Rio head-on.
"BOOM—" The two blades met. Besides an explosion, there was only an explosion.
The ceiling of the base, already broken from the previous collapse, was directly blasted open, revealing the bare roof. The walls on all four sides were cracked with countless fissures from the explosion. Some pillars fell, some teetered on the verge of collapse. Fortunately, the original structure of the base was relatively sturdy, and it barely maintained its overall framework in this explosion, not collapsing directly. Otherwise, the Pokémon and humans lying on the ground would probably have been buried, with little chance of escape.
But even so, the Pokémon and humans couldn't help but cover their ears with their hands. The explosive sound produced by the collision of energies made their heads ring. The intense tinnitus made them whimper.
Even Jerrod had to hastily have the Golduck beside him protect him to avoid being affected by the aftershock of the explosion.
The smoke from the explosion dissipated, revealing a scene before Officer Jenny and the others, and the Blastoise Boss and his group, that made them despair.
"Come on, show me what other moves you have. Don't disappoint Me."
Mewtwo stood levitating in mid-air. It raised its right hand askew, lifting Rio into the air, using a phantom hand formed by psychic power, clenching it into a fist, and squeezing Rio in its palm.
Its eyes were filled with an unconcealable fighting spirit.
"Urgh..."
Mewtwo squeezed Rio tighter and tighter, making it so the latter couldn't even breathe properly.
"Ugh... [Quick Attack]..."
The electric light that was just about to rise on Rio's body was extinguished by Mewtwo.
"...[Metal Claw]... [Brick Break]..."
The metallic claws, or the sharp hand-blade, were all blocked by Mewtwo's thick, impenetrable psychic power, rendered useless.
"Is this it? Is this it? Is this it? Is this it..."
Mewtwo's expression grew impatient. A look of ferocity gradually intensified, and disappointment flashed across Its face.
Its psychic grip suddenly tightened.
"Crack, crack," the black armor enveloping his body couldn't withstand the pressure and shattered. Next were the gauntlets on his hands, the knee pads—all of them cracked into fragments and scattered to the ground.
Without the protection of the armor, Rio was directly gripped by the psychic power. His small face, which looked like it was wearing a black mask, flushed bright red, and he felt as if his body was about to be crushed.