Dive Into Pokémon TCG: Pokémon GO Card Illustration Stories

An Unexpected Encounter with Mewtwo

As the man walked among the tall buildings on his lunch
break, he offered up a deep sigh, reminded of all the work that needed to be
done. Work due ASAP, work due by EOD, and more work tomorrow. It had already
been years since he was a part of Team Mystic and striving hard as a Pokémon Trainer. He hadn’t had
a battle in a long while, either. A Pokémon was shown on the large electronic
display screen, and he became nostalgic for those days. The screen didn’t care
for his reminiscing and quickly changed to the next ad. This city was always in
a hurry. Skyscrapers obstructed the sky, and neon glowed even during the day,
blurring the lines between day and night.

As the
man made his way back to the office, he felt a chill run down his spine. The
temperature hadn’t changed—was he just that tired? As his unease grew, he
noticed the people around him were flustered as well.

“What
is that?”

“It’s coming down!”

From the voices around him, the man
surmised that something had appeared and directed his gaze toward the clamor.
He immediately noticed the shadow descending from the skies and slowly looked
up at it.

Oh, I didn’t even notice how
clear the sky was today. The happy-go-lucky thought crossed his mind for a
moment before he realized what was happening. What he had felt earlier wasn’t a
chill—it was pressure. What had appeared in the skies was Mewtwo.

He had
heard rumors of Mewtwo. A Pokémon that had its combat ability raised to the limits.
As he gazed at it in person, a sort of pure desire for a strong opponent could
be felt from it. Its sharp gaze searched the crowd, almost as if it were looking
for a Trainer worthy of battling. The people around him were either at a loss
from the Legendary Pokémon that had just appeared or pointing their cameras at
it. The man also tried to take a picture, but he couldn’t move. He had been
overwhelmed by the Pokémon’s stature—its majesty. He was frustrated at himself
for being so powerless when faced with such strength, but it wasn’t an
unpleasant frustration. It was what he had been craving for a long time. Mewtwo
fixed his gaze and glared at the man who, while petrified, didn’t avert his eyes.
He swallowed hard, and then…

“Just
give me some time.”

It wasn’t
said out loud…the man pleaded with his eyes, and Mewtwo only glared back.

“I want to become strong again and
challenge you properly. I had forgotten this feeling for such a long time, and
seeing you reminded me. So please…”

The man couldn’t move a muscle, but
he still felt a reckless fire deep in his chest—reckless doesn’t even begin to
describe it. He couldn’t tell if his silent plea had even reached the surly
Mewtwo, let alone if it had accepted the challenge, but now he could clearly
remember the days he spent exploring under Professor Willow or Team Leader Blanche until he was exhausted—how he
would get completely absorbed in anything related to Pokémon.

After a
few moments of facing the crowd, Mewtwo must have determined that there was no
one here for it to battle, and it flew away at supersonic speeds—so fast that
nobody could even imagine how far it was going to go.

It was
over in an instant. Other than the lingering murmurs of the crowd, there was no
trace of Mewtwo. The city began to hurry along again, as if the Legendary
Pokémon’s appearance was just another ad on the electronic display. Even then, the
burning in the man’s chest did not subside. He wanted to have Pokémon battles again;
he wanted to become stronger. Mewtwo would surely be back again seeking power,
and when that time came, he wanted to be a Pokémon Trainer and a worthy
opponent. The man stopped and looked up at the sky. Even in this city of
skyscrapers, beyond them was the sky—he just had to look up. Encountering such
a powerful and noble Pokémon made him realize that. He felt that he wouldn’t be
swallowed up by this city again, that he would be able to be true to himself.
The man took a deep breath, took a firm step on the asphalt, and started
walking once again.

Gather Round! To the Wall of Blissey!

“Whoa, you won your first Gym
battle! That’s incredible!”

I savored
the feeling of triumph bubbling from inside as my teammates surrounded me. I
had studied Pokémon endlessly to challenge Gyms, and it paid off—like I knew it would! The more
my teammates praised me, the more my pride swelled at the results. I was
excited to keep the momentum going and win more Gym battles. With that gusto, I had eagerly led
the rest of the team and arrived at an area with several Gyms.

If I
can beat two Gyms in a row, I’ll be a hero again! At least that’s what I was
thinking…but the problem would be the Pokémon I went up against. The Pokémon standing
on top of the red-bordered Gym was Blissey! Of all the Pokémon it could have
been, it had to be Blissey…

With
the dry and clear sunlight shining behind it, Blissey almost looked like it was
smirking down at me. Despite its cute pink profile, it emanated a kind of
dignity as if declaring that it wouldn’t go down easy, sapping away that
confidence I was feeling moments ago. This is what’s known as the Wall of Blissey.

I could
feel my teammates staring holes in me with their hopeful gazes. Blissey has
high HP and is said
to be the perfect Pokémon to defend
Gyms…I’ll need to pick my team
carefully, or Blissey’s Special
Attack will make quick work of me. If I can’t live up to my team’s
expectations…

Oh,
that’s right—there’s a different Gym across the street! I don’t have to force myself
into this particular Gym—I can go beat that Gym instead! When I turned
around to look, I was stopped in my tracks. It was another Team Valor Gym with a
Blissey.

My jaw literally dropped as I
looked up at the two Blissey on either side of me, looking down and waving
their hands with all the hospitality they could muster.

No
way around it then, I’ll have to come up with a plan to beat Blissey. I’m going
to need a Pokémon with enough defense to withstand Blissey’s attacks and HP. That would be Lucario!

Lucario could withstand Blissey’s
attacks and use supereffective Fighting-type moves, perfect against Blissey.
Lucky for me, I had a Lucario that I hatched from an Egg and recently evolved
from Riolu on my team.

It’s still not that high of a
level yet, but if I’m careful with the team composition, I should be able to do this. I’m
going to put in Pokémon that mainly use Fighting-type moves and make Lucario
the main fighter. This is the strongest team I could have to take on this Gym with
Blissey.

Lucario
jumped out of its Poké Ball and looked back at me with determination—silently
telling me that it was ready to fight together. OK, Lucario, let’s take down
Blissey!

Blissey
appeared at the center of the Stadium as I got up and stood next to Lucario. Lucario
should be a threat to it, but Blissey remained unfazed. I guess that’s to be
expected from a Pokémon that’s beaten tons of Trainers to defend this Gym. To be
honest, my heart was beating a mile a minute from nerves, but Lucario looked
back at me and nodded as if to tell me it would be OK.

In the
blink of an eye, Lucario rushed into range and landed a critical hit. Blissey
only staggered slightly, regaining its stance quickly. Lucario barely dodged
Blissey’s retaliation and landed another hit—but all that returned was a smirk
from Blissey, as if saying Lucario’s attack wasn’t even worth dodging.
Regardless, damage should be piling up, however small it might have been.
Lucario didn’t give up and kept attacking.

But it was at that moment that
Blissey began to glow, and I saw Lucario begin to stiffen up.

“It’s…it’s
Dazzling Gleam!”

I tried
to order it to dodge, but I wasn’t fast enough, and Lucario ultimately took the
brunt of the attack.

My
teammates had their eyes on us as Lucario and I trudged out of the Gym. I had a
hard time looking them in the eyes. I had my gaze on the ground when they
grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me toward them.

“Aww,
man! Blissey’s so strong! Even Lucario couldn’t beat it. That’s incredible!”

“I’d
bet the Blissey at the other Gym’s gonna be just as strong, too.”

I was
taken aback. “Wait, aren’t you guys disappointed?”

“Of
course we are! That’s why we’re thinking of a plan!”

“Wait,
guys! If fighting it solo doesn’t work, why don’t we all try and take it on
together?”

“Yeah!
Let’s do that!”

I
thought they were expecting me to beat the Gym on my own—I thought I had
to beat it on my own.

“Don’t
be silly! We’re a team!”

“All right,
come on. Payback time! Let’s paint this Gym Team Instinct yellow!”

“Yeah!”

Huddling
together shoulder-to-shoulder raised the team’s morale. Just you wait,
Blissey. The best team around is coming for you now.

Big Haul! Rah-rah, Magikarp!

Professor
Willow informed us about a mass outbreak of Magikarp this morning, so one
of my Team Valor
teammates and I came to the lake. We wondered what this mass outbreak was all
about, but we still weren’t prepared to see so many Magikarp out of the water,
flopping around at our feet. Even if we approached them, all they did was
splash around and not attack us. If this many were on land, there were sure to
be many more in the lake itself.

“Oh no!
Get down!”

“Huh?”

I quickly ducked with my hands over
my head, and I felt something pass by above me.

“It’s a
Pidgeotto!”

The Pidgeotto made a quick dive
toward the water and masterfully caught a Magikarp as it splashed out of the
lake, before it flew away. The two of us were stuck there, speechless at the
speed. We couldn’t win against a Pokémon that could fly.

Since catching
a Magikarp in the lake wouldn’t be feasible, we switched targets to the
Magikarp that were on land.

“I
wonder why they’re flopping around on the land. They’d probably be way more
comfortable in the water.”

“Oh
yeah, I heard that Magikarp are bad at swimming. If there’s a fast current,
they easily

get swept away.”

“What
kind of Fish Pokémon can’t swim?” But that gave us a good opportunity. Since so
many Magikarp were on land, we wouldn’t have to approach from the sky to catch
them.

“If we
can evolve them into Gyarados, we’d be unstoppable! Let’s catch a whole bunch
of them and make a team
of Gyarados!”

Let’s see, which one should I
catch? The one splashing around nearest me looks good! I pulled out a Poké
Ball from my backpack and took a deep breath. I waited until it stopped moving and
threw the Poké Ball. It connected, and the Magikarp got sucked into the Poké
Ball.

“Nice!
I gotta pick up my pace, too!”

“Wait,
if you throw that many Poké Balls at once…”

Maybe
the sudden shower of Poké Balls falling from the sky startled the Magikarp, but
they all started flopping even harder, and the Poké Ball I had thrown also got
slapped away by their tail fins and flew away.

“Aww,
man! And I was so close!”

My Poké Ball popped open when it
landed, and the Magikarp got away.

“Oh well, I got more where that
came from!”

I threw another Poké Ball at the
Magikarp that had escaped, but it must have been on guard now, because it
deftly slapped away the incoming Poké Ball.

It looked
like a Poké Ball wouldn’t be enough on its own, so I pulled out a Nanab Berry from my
backpack and tossed it in front of the Magikarp. It must have smelled the Nanab
Berry, because it flopped toward it at incredible speed.

Perfect,
now’s my chance while it’s slowed by the distraction! I grabbed another Poké
Ball and was about to throw it when countless Magikarp leaped out of the lake,
lured by the Nanab Berry!

“Wha— It’s
raining Magikarp!”

“Let’s
get out of here!”

Professor Willow laughed when we trudged back and
told him our story. There were so many Magikarp, but we were only able to come
back with one. The Magikarp in the tank waved its tail fin while looking at us.
When I waved back, I could have sworn that it smiled at me. I guess at some
point, I learned how to tell Magikarp apart by their faces.