By late morning, the group eventually finds themselves at Route 11. They didn't seem to have gotten anywhere since leaving Fuchsia City due to news reporters and several stories concerning Mewtwo almost stopping them in their tracks. By the time they got to the other side of the previous route, it was almost the middle of the night, forcing them to make camp near the corner entrance to Route 11.
Hierophant had just emerged from the makeshift tent he pulled from his magical duffel bag when he notice a commotion further along the route.
Excalibur seems to have encountered some wild Pokemon, barking at them while batting his paws to keep them back. The commotion also woke Meowth, who spent the majority of the trip in the Chingling pouch around the Shiny Arcanine's neck.
"Ugh.... What time is it...?" he grumbles as he pops his head out of the pouch only to just as quickly duck an oncoming claw from what appeared to be a savage Charizard. Hierophant watched from a distance before noticing some other Pokemon not as active and aggressive as the Flame Pokemon for reasons only he caught on due to being further from the onslaught.
"Excalibur, wait!" Hierophant calls out as he makes a run for the group. The Charizard sees him coming and spews a Flamethrower only for the Shiny Arcanine to get in front of him and block most of the burning wind.
Hierophant squints one eye shut as some of the embers barely missed touching his priest outfit before carefully and cautiously making his way around the two and towards the other Pokemon, finding a Blastoise, Vulpix, Hitmonlee, and Golduck all but passed out behind the raging Charizard, covered in scratches and bruises that obviously weren't caused by any elemental or fighting-type Pokemon. Two more Pokemon attempted to tend to the fallen group, less scratched up, but equally down-winded and ignorant to the tussle between the two fire Pokemon. An odd-looking Pikachu with different patterns on its ears, and a seemingly normal-looking Meowth had been trying to tend to the Pokemon's injures, though obviously lacking the means to do more than relieve their pain.
Meowth pops his head out of the Chingling pouch again once the Charizard had run out of breath, looking between it and the other Pokemon to notice it and the weakened Blastoise had odd patterns on their body that separated them from what their original counterparts appeared as. It only took one glance to realize what was going on.
"Hey! Those are the clones that were with Mewtwo!" he exclaims as he jumps out of the pouch and runs towards his and Pikachu's clone, "What's going on here!? How'd you all find each other, and why're you covered in bruises and scratches!?"
While most of the Pokemon shirked at Meowth's presence, Pika2 and Meowth2 quickly recognized him and ran over to ramble on about what they had gone through up to this point.
"Say what!? Some Pokemon claiming to be Mewtwo has been rallying all the clones he's created and tricking them into aiding his crusade to take over Team Rocket!?"
"What did this Pokemon look like?" Hierophant asked. Pika2 looked towards him while continuing to squeak its name and wave its arms around sporadically, "Looks exactly like Mewtwo, but with a green tail?"
"A shiny version of Mewtwo, then?" Meowth ponders, "Who else could have created a Mewtwo besides Team Rocket?"
"Are you sure Team Rocket didn't create another one with the resources left over from when they created Mewtwo?"
"Clearly not," Meowth mutters in more contemplation, "Otherwise they wouldn't be going to this much trouble to get the original back."
"I can think of only one possibility," Danny suddenly speaks up as he leaps off Excalibur's back and confronts the two, "Carr must have regained consciousness and is going around grabbing copies of Pokemon abilities to beef up his onslaught against your boss."
Meowth hums as he scratches his chin, "That's our only logical explanation, but that doesn't explain the green tail instead of the purple one that best defines Mewtwo, or how the other clones could have fallen for such an obviously fake presence so easily."
Meowth2 meows several times, prompting Pika2 to nod and continue while gesturing some more.
"First he tried to insist he changed his appearance to differentiate himself from media depictions, then when no one bought it, he used Mewtwo's powerful psychic abilities to chip away at their memories until they recognized him and accepted his ambition!?" Meowth almost exclaims.
Danny almost hurls an frustrated groan, "How can someone be so smart and desperate at the same time!?"
"Let's worry about that later," Hierophant said while turning his attention back to the cloned Pokemon, "Do you remember where that Mewtwo lookalike and the clones that were caught in his psychic powers disappeared to?"
Pika2 attempts to answer only to be interrupted by an explosion near the other end of the route. Turning around, they see the green-tailed Mewtwo knock away two officers that appeared to be blocking his path into Vermilion City, the remaining clones he manipulated standing close behind him. Without any further regards to his actions, he starts to march down the laid out path of the city, using the same psychic powers to knock away any pedestrian and Pokemon that got in its way.
"This is bad...! Real bad...!" Meowth mutters hysterically, "If Carr keeps this up, Fuchsia ain't gonna be the only city that will be after Mewtwo's head!"
Pika2 suddenly bounds around the injured clone Pokemon and charges after the green-tailed Mewtwo, screaming at the clones following after him to stop.
"Wait!" Meowth calls out as he runs after Pika2, "Your friends are still injured and need help!"
"Dammit!" Danny growls as he flies back to Excalibur and buries himself in his white chest, "Let's go after them before they cause any further confusion and mayhem!"
Excalibur howls before charging off after the two fleeing Pokemon, leaving Hierophant and Meowth2 to deal with the injured Pokemon.
Meowth2 looks towards Hierophant, mewing worriedly as to how they were going to get his injured brethren back on their feet. The white and green-dressed priest sighed while looking at his staff, seeing a
Shield Rune appear spinning in the center. Compressing his lips in understanding, he stands up and points his staff into the air towards the injured clones.
"Great Blessing!"
A ray of light shines over them as balls of light rained down, each one touching and clearing away the scratches and bruises they had suffered from the green-tailed Mewtwo's attacks while refreshing their energy. As the clones shook the daze from their heads and looked down at themselves in amazement, Hierophant moves towards the other side of their presence.
"if you can move, let's get going," he said, "You don't want your friend and creator getting blamed for anymore damage he didn't cause."
The clones look towards Hierophant, then Meowth2, who nods in agreement, before getting up and following them towards the city.