19. Road to Pokemon Master

Chapter 14 Lavender Town

Ash and Alice arrive at Lavender Town, they are surprised to see that there is a Pokemon Contest held in this town, but after they sign up for the competition, it turns out that only two people enter the contest.

"What's going on?" Ash is confused by the fact that he just only needs to have a Contest Battle with his opponent, which is a girl named Reina. She is using an Umbreon to battle against him. "Now let the match begin."

Ash says, "Arcanine, let's start with the Fire Spin Roll!" The Arcanine uses the Fire Spin and then he jumps into it, using the Extreme Speed to give damage to the Umbreon.

"Use Dark Pulse and Shadow Ball!" Reina yells as Umbreon also deals some damage to Ash's points. "You are not bad." Ash says. "I can say the same thing to you." Reina says with a smile. "But now, let's try out the Confuse Ray and Moonlight combination!"

Umbreon uses the attack to create a giant moon, which not only heals itself but also confuses Arcanine. But Ash tells Arcanine to calm down and then uses the Bite and Extreme Speed, although a little reckless causes Ash to lose some points, in the end, Ash is still the winner as he is awarded the ribbon. Ash asks the Judge Mr. Contesta, "Excuse me? Why are only the two of us entering the contest?"

Mr. Contesta closes his eyes and says, "I am sorry, Ash. As you can see, this town is quite haunted due to the fact that this place is full of ghosts living in the Pokemon Tower. Not many people come here for the ribbon because they are scared of Ghosts. We are also reluctant to set a contest here..."

"Indeed, I asked them to try out this place." They turn around and see Reina approaching them. Reina says, "As you can see, I am the Gym Leader of this Town. So I try to use Contests so that people can come to this town without fearing anything. But in the end, it still failed."

Ash realizes the truth and he feels pity for the girl, he says, "Don't worry, it is better than nothing I guess. So you are the Gym Leader? Can I have a Gym Battle with you?"

"Why of course, but we should head outside first." Reina says as they bid farewell to the staff of the Contests. Ash also goes to meet up with Alice, who also introduces herself to Reina.

Reina takes the two to the Pokemon House, where they see a variety of Pokemon inside playing. Alice asks, "Reina? Do you live alone here?"

Reina frowns a little and says, "You see, I know it is not right to tell someone about my past, but I think I should, I never know my mother, according to my father, she died after my sister is born. So my father took care of me and my sister here in this town. Years after, my sister got a disease, and she also left us...my father and I were depressed, but due to the fact that my Dad is a scientist, he starts to research Cloning."

"Cloning?" Alice asks in surprise. "But isn't that illegal?"

"It is." Reina frowns, "So my father is secretly investigating until that man comes..." Reina grits her teeth and they are confused. "Who?" Ash asks.

"Giovanni, the Team Rocket's boss." Reina says, causing Ash to frown as he is his uncle, "He comes across my father and tells him that he would fund him with the project, but for one condition. That is to clone a Mythical Pokemon known as Mew."

"Mew?" Ash and Alice are surprised, then Reina continues, "Yes, in the end, Dad left me alone in this house with a lot of Pokemon to help me out, but I want to find out what happened to him, which is why I travel, eventually I came to an island and I found my father's diary. I found that he managed to clone my sister and Mew...naming them Ambertwo and...Mewtwo."

"Mewtwo?" Ash asks, "So he was the one that created Mewtwo?"

Reina nods and says, "But in the end, my sister's clone died...and Mewtwo breaks out of the lab and...he killed my family..." This causes them to cover their mouth in horror and Reina feels a little sad.