"Well, maybe, if she sets up her own place," Ithica said with a shrug. "But I'm not going to foist off my pokemon on her when I can just as easily restrain myself and live vicariously through others. And I have Metagross, anyways." She grinned. "I honestly, truly enjoyed Saffron City Gym, it was so nice. Don't get me wrong, I beat the ever-loving shit out of them with Chandelure and Zoroark, but it was still fun seeing all the different psychic-types."

Red snorted quietly at that and shook his head a bit. "If you say so," he agreed. "Most trainers end up with more than six, once they settle a bit."

"You only have six on you," Ithica pointed out. "Though I have no idea how many others you may have caught over your career."

"Many," Red said. "I only have six with me, because the rest of the ones I actually kept are home. They'll fend for themselves just fine for a while."

"Well, for now, I'll live vicariously through you, since I don't have anywhere to send more pokemon if I did catch them," Ithica said as she wandered through the cave. She spotted the ladder to the lower levels and went straight for it.

Red snorted quietly at that but followed her, content to let her lead for now.

Ithica unerringly made her way down to the lowest levels of the cave. It got progressively darker as they went and she ended up calling out Chandelure to give them some decent light, although there were some oddly-glowing stones in the walls once they reached the bottom level. The stones glowed with an eerie blue light that seemed vaguely familiar in a way that reminded Ithica of her childhood, and she started to fidget a bit when she realized that they must be close to where Mewtwo was.

Red just followed her lead quietly, letting her lead. He was suspicious of how unerring her course was, actually, but this wasn't the time to bring that up. That would be a discussion for later.

"Okay, so this is the basement," Ithica murmured as she recalled Chandelure. The eerie lights in the walls were enough to see by, barely. "This has to be the basement, it's the only one that's different." She nibbled on her lip a little, debating how best to go about things. She hadn't really thought this all the way through, after all; she only thought as far as getting into the cave, not quite far enough to what she would do once she got to the bottom. And she was only about sixty percent sure Mewtwo was even there. Finally, she sighed.

"I know you know we're here," she called out, feeling a little foolish as her voice echoed a bit. "Creepy lights are a nice touch."

And how do you know who I am? Mewtwo didn't emerge yet, but he did speak.

Even though she was half expecting it, Ithica still jumped with a small squeak.

"Oh it's true," she breathed. "Okay I did not think this all the way through, I have to start doing that." She glanced over at Red, but he still looked just as calm as ever, so she genuinely could not tell if he hadn't heard Mewtwo or already knew the legendary was there. "Okay, um, I was only about halfway sure you were even down here, it was just sort of a hunch."

And what gave you a hunch? Mewtwo was starting to sound pissed off now, though he didn't advance out of the shadows yet. Her speech gave him the idea she knew more than she was letting on, which could be dangerous.

"Well--" Ithica scrambled for a decent answer. "There are rumors of something incredibly rare and strong in the cave, and I mean, I'm a decent trainer, why would I not come looking?" It was all true, for the most part. It just wasn't the entire truth.

That does not constitute a hunch, that is a reason, Mewtwo replied. The air was starting to shimmer, just a little, as he concentrated entirely on her.

Ithica could see the shimmer in the air, but she didn't do more than take a half step back, one hand hovering near the ball on her belt that held Zoroark.

"Where else in the cave would you be, if not in the basement?" she responded cautiously.

Mewtwo shifted forward, his eyes narrowed and still focused on her. You know too much, he rumbled. You knew I would be here, you came straight here. Clearly now he was lifting things from her brain, because he could.

Ithica didn't immediately respond, this time actually trying to think everything through. She knew he had to be rummaging in her head, but there was nothing she could really do about it. Then something occurred to her.

"Wait a second," she said, eyes narrowing a bit. "You're only angry at me. I'm not here alone, and you're not threatening Red with Psycho Cut. You know each other. And he didn't stop me from coming down here."

Red shrugged. "I wanted to see how you'd do," he said. "Since you knew where you were going the whole time."

At that, Mewtwo definitely focused back on Ithica again. How? he demanded.

"Because it's Pokémon Cave," Ithica said, gesturing around with her hands. "There are literal rumors of something in the basement and it's no harder to navigate than Mount Moon or Dark Cave. Now let's go back to the part about how you two know each other and how Red let me waltz myself right into this."

No, I think I still want to know how you knew I was here, Mewtwo demanded. And then he paused and blinked.

You're not from this world.

That made Ithica freeze. Busted. She glanced between Mewtwo and Red, trying to gauge their reactions. Clearly Mewtwo was surprised, at least, which gave her a visceral sort of glee. He likely wasn't surprised often.

"I don't have a good answer for that," she said carefully.

But how? Mewtwo drifted a little closer to her, eyes narrowed, trying to figure out how this was at all possible.

"I have no idea," Ithica replied. She refused to step back as he got closer. "I swear, I have no clue how. I just kind of rolled with it."

That, at least, was true enough, he could tell. Mewtwo eyed her, still focused mainly on her. Then why did you come here? To find me?

"Why not?" Ithica replied. "I knew what I was walking into, more or less. And I was only about half sure you would even be here, since I checked the abandoned power plant for Zapdos and the Seafoam Islands for Articuno and neither of them were there. I'm not even going to bother checking Victory Road for Moltres, I just kind of assume they're all in the Orange Islands at this point. My next try would have been New Island, if here didn't work out." She was kind of rambling, but she couldn't help herself.