"S-S-S-So what's the plan Ethan?"

"Simple. We completely crush them."

"What?"

"I'm serious. If Giovanni wants a show, we'll give it to him."

"But that seems so…I mean couldn't we just defeat them and call it a day?"

"You weren't listening then. I said we're gonna crush them. Beat them so badly they won't come back to cause trouble."

"Ahhh…"

"You still can get out. I'm not forcing you to do this you know," he said.

"I…I…Ethan why do you have to do this? There's a way out, I know it! If you do this—"

"I'm not here to argue. I already made my choice; you can either support me or get out. I'd suggest getting out to be honest."

"Ethan…"

He chuckled. "You heard what he said he did. There's no real hope for me anyway. I lost out on my chance to live a normal life now so I guess I should…"

"Ethan, there's still a chance!"

"No. It's nice of you to say that though."

"Ethan…please. Don't do this…I'm begging you, please."

"And what if I ignore you? Will you stop me?"

He felt her wrap her arms around his chest. "I love you but…if I have to stop you…I w-w-w…"

"Well?"

"Just…do what you have to do."

He turned and tapped the giant dragon on the back of his neck. "All right uh…not sure what I'll call you but use Hyper Beam!"

It let out a loud roar before unleashing a huge beam of energy, bigger than any other Hyper Beam attack he had seen before. This really was the ultimate Pokemon. Down below he could see everyone scatter. "Good. Let's land, it'll be easier to deal with the others down there."

"Ethan, don't do this."

He ignored her as the dragon dove toward the ground and landed with a tremor as strong as a Fissure attack. No wonder Giovanni rolled over everyone with him. It was kind of cool to even have such a powerful Pokemon on your side. Just a shame it had to happen in this situation. He rolled off and landed on the ground. "So who's first?"

"You know, I really didn't expect you to do this," Homika said as she walked forward. He held up his hand with the ring on it.

"You're looking at the newest leader of Team Rocket."

"Cute. When are you gonna give up this charade? Being the villain doesn't suit you."

"I'm not."

"You f*****. I guess I'll just have to knock some sense into you," she said as she summoned her Scolipede. Ethan laughed.

"I wonder, should I just crush it or just take it away from you?"

"Shut up!" She yelled. Out of nowhere, Crystal's Tyranitar charged forward but he could only laugh. The dragon let out a growl before swinging one of its giant steel plated claws forward and knocking out her Tyranitar in one hit.

"Sorry Crystal but you're gonna have to do better than that."

"What do you call this thing?"

He folded his arms. "That's a good question. I'll have to give him a name after I beat all of you. Something really threatening and intimidating."

She took out another Pokeball. "So does this make you feel big? You need some new version of Mewtwo to beat me? That you can't do it with regular Pokemon?"

"A win's a win. No one in history will care that I won with the new Mewtwo; they'll just remember how I crushed everyone. So who's the next sacrificial lamb?"

Homika pushed Crystal aside. "Don't bother. We both know what's gonna happen."

"Giving up already?"

He heard a loud roar and looked up to see an almost exact copy of the dragon Pokemon he had. He chuckled as he saw Iris riding atop it. "No, not yet."

"Cute, a Ditto. I don't think that's gonna work very well though."

Iris's Ditto Dragon let out a loud roar of its own and unleashed what appeared to be Dragon Breath but it had little effect. "Huh but he's a dragon—"

"I'll give you a helpful pointer. He's part steel, part water and part dragon. I'll let you figure out what to do. Or maybe I won't," he said. He pointed toward it. "Hey, use Zap Cannon!"

"Zap Cannon?! But—"

She didn't get to finish as the dragon opened its mouth and shot a large beam of electrical energy straight at Ditto's face. It suddenly reverted back to its blob form as it too suffered a one hit ko. He yawned. "Man, at least try."

He looked back at the dragon and suddenly a bunch of vines began to wrap around its body. He raised an eyebrow, wondering what good would that do. He was part steel; he could easily break those vines. For some reason he didn't see Jasmine atop the dragon anymore and wondered when she had run off to. "You know, you've gotten pretty cocky. You should probably make sure you got tabs on all your foes," Erika said with a smile. She appeared nearby, sat atop a Tangrowth. So that was the Pokemon behind all these vines.

"What are you planning? He's part steel, those vines won't hold him—"

"They'll hold long enough!"

Marlon?! Ethan turned to see Marlon appear atop the ledge of a nearby building. Next to him was a Poliwrath, who leapt off the building. Drat. He summoned Bolt but the little spider didn't get very far as an Excadrill popped out of the ground and attacked him. So much for that idea. Poliwrath landed atop the dragon with a powerful karate chop, causing it to cry out in pain. He took out the Pokeball holding the Hypno. "Not bad, not bad at all but he's pretty tough. It's gonna take a bit more than that—"

He felt someone grab his hand holding the Pokemon and saw Homika had ran up and tried to take it away. He turned and tried to get a grip on it. "Not so fast!" She yelled as she suddenly kicked him in the stomach, causing him to lose his grip. He stumbled backwards holding his stomach while she held it up. "Ha! You got pretty careless again! You really are pretty bad as a villain!"

Ugh, maybe he was. He thought it would be pretty easy with this powerful Pokemon but it seemed like Homika already had a plan in place. Or she was just winging it and doing a pretty good job at it. He turned his attention back to the dragon, which continued to take powerful blows from Marlon's Poliwrath. He thought about using Wiggler but remembered he hadn't gotten a chance to heal any of his own Pokemon from his earlier battle. This really wasn't going as planned. He took out a Pokeball holding another one of the enhanced Pokemon Giovanni had given him. He thought about summoning it and then thought better of it. It was part steel and dark, Poliwrath would tear it apart as well. For being a bunch of ultimate Pokemon, they sure seemed to share a lot of the same weaknesses.

"What's wrong Ethan? Tongue tied?" Homika asked as she stuck her tongue out at him. She pressed the Pokeball against her cheek. "You look like you're quickly running out of options. Maybe you should give yourself up."

Yea, that wasn't an option. The dragon broke free of the vines and shook the Poliwrath off his back finally. He ran over and climbed up onto his back. "Let's take to the skies and regroup!"

It let out a loud roar before flying into the air. He looked down and folded his arms. "So now what? I can't lose…if I lose, Giovanni will make me pay but I'm…not so sure I can win now either."

He tapped his fingers on its back. So how would he get out of this? Homika was right, he had gotten real cocky. He figured he could just show up and win but that wasn't the case. Homika and the others weren't about to let him do that. But if he lost and lost easily…Giovanni would figure he had just thrown the fight and again, the inevitable would happen. He rested his head in the dragon's back and sighed. "There really is no way out. I'm gonna fail and…and…n-no. There is a way out of this."

He smiled. "It's a risk but…okay, let's go back down! Time for round two!"

The dragon roared and turned back toward where the others were gathered, just as a large lightning bolt hit nearby. He looked off in that direction and grumbled. "She really is pretty ruthless. I thought they would be worse off when I left but she's done a pretty good job in my place. Maybe…" he said as a sick feeling grew in his stomach. Maybe he wasn't such a great trainer and leader at all. If she could imitate his screwball strategy and get everyone to fall in line and follow her lead…"I really am worthless, aren't I?"

Homika looked up at him as he and that stupid dragon came back toward the ground. "I really thought he was gonna stay up there a bit longer."

Crystal giggled. "I always told him that he should stick to the obscure and unique Pokemon he seemed drawn to. I knew if he got some powerful Pokemon in his hand, he would forget all the strategy he had used before and just relied on their brute strength."

She looked over at her. "Huh, really? You told him that?"

"Yep. He actually agreed with me, saying he probably would just get cocky if he stuck with traditionally strong Pokemon and he was glad to work with the team he had. Look what's happening now, he's got the equivalent of Mewtwo, maybe even stronger but he's just relying on its brute strength. That will only get you so far and look what's happening here."

Homika folded her arms. "I bet Giovanni figured that as well. He really set Ethan up pretty well…set him up so he could watch him crash and burn."

Crystal sighed. "Yea and that's what worries me. What will Ethan do when he's lost everything?"

"But that f***** hasn't lost everything. Jasmine is still with him…I think. Where did she go? She just ran off!"

Ethan and dragon landed in front of them with another powerful tremor. She steadied herself and looked over at the Hypno. "Hey, can you do anything about that control device on it?"

"The what?"

Homika got to her feet as the tremor ended. "All of these Pokemon Team Rocket experimented on are controlled with these large red collars. You can't disable them or usurp their control except if you have this enhanced Hypno."

Crystal summoned her Magnezone. "Then you'll need some cover."

"Hey Erika, we're gonna need your help again!" Homika yelled. The dragon turned toward them and opened its mouth and her eyes grew wide. The Hypno waved its hands in front of them as a large transparent blue energy wall appeared in front of them as the dragon unleashed Hyper Beam at them. It reflected back at it but had little effect thanks to its steel typing. Large vines began to wrap around the dragon's body again while Crystal's Magnezone charged up another attack. She looked off to the side and saw Marlon's Poliwrath and Excadrill both charging up for attacks of their own. "Ha, Ethan won't know what hit him!"

The dragon let out a roar and began to snap apart some of the vines Tangrowth had summoned. She figured that but she only needed her to hold it for a tad. All three Pokemon unleashed their attacks on the dragon, Magnezone with Zap Cannon, Excadrill with Earthquake and Poliwrath with Aura Sphere. Even the Hypno contributed with an attack of its own, shattering the control collar as the dragon took attacks from all sides, stirring up a bunch of dust. She coughed a bit and waved her arm as she tried to see through the dust. "All right Ethan, come out! You know you're beat! We've got you outnumbered and you haven't even bothered with a strategy. Your most powerful Pokemon is hurting and you haven't even bothered to heal your other Pokemon. It's over!"

As the dust began to clear, she could see him standing atop the dragon, arms folded. Defiant to the end. "Is it really over?"

"Yes it is! You really think you stood a chance? Maybe if you had went with some sort of strategy but it's clear to me you got cocky and now you're paying for that!"

"You really think it's over?"

"Of course it is! Now how about you just give up?"

He looked down at her and sighed. Now the only thing he could hop for was for Jasmine to come through. He had asked quite a bit of her but it really was the best way out of this mess. "I'm sorry but if you think I'm just gonna give up that easily…you're mistaken!"

He took out another Pokeball and heard a familiar voice cry out. "Don't even think about it Ethan!"

He turned to see Jasmine, riding atop her Steelix. "Huh, Jasmine? I thought you were with him!" Homika said.

Jasmine stared straight at him and he only nodded at her. "Oh so you decided to turn on me too? That's…cute…"

"Ethan…I'm sorry," she said. The Steelix let out a loud roar and summoned a bunch of huge rocks. It let out another roar and all of the rocks flew toward him like deadly missiles. He really wished he could have apologized to Mika first but…

Did she really just kill him? She stared where he once stood and then down at the rocks that lay to the side of the dragon. Did she really…before anyone could stop her; she ran forward and grabbed Jasmine off the Steelix. She dragged her to the ground and stared right into her face. "What the f*** did you just do?"

"I-I-I—"

"I asked what the f*** did you just do? This is some sort of trick, right? He just did this to fake his death right?"

Jasmine's eyes grew watery as she dropped a Pokeball on the ground. "I'm s-s-sorry Homika…I really am. I…I…I didn't want to do it but…he…made me—"

"You…you listened to him?! He asked you to kill him and you just…did it?"

"I-I-I—"

Homika pulled her fist back and Jasmine winced in preparation of the punch. She was lying, she had to. It would be just like him to fake his death and get away with that stupid ghost candle. She picked up the Pokeball and looked at it. "Is this yours?"

"It's…Chase."

"You…what?"

Jasmine didn't say anything and she grabbed her collar with both of her hands and shook her. "Tell me you b****! You better freaking tell me!"

"I…I…I stole it from him. He wanted to fake his death and get away but…but…"

"You…"

"I'm sorry Homika but I couldn't let him go on like that. I-I-I—"

"So you decided to kill him. You f****** killed him! How could you?!" She yelled as she punched Jasmine in the face. There was more coming for her but first she had to see if Jasmine was lying or not. She summoned the Pokemon inside and her rage grew as the Litwick appeared. She tossed it to the side while Jasmine tried to scurry away. She rushed forward and grabbed her by the collar again. "Don't even think about running away!"

"B-b-but…he's free from Team Rocket…right?"

"And you think this was the best way?"

"I…didn't want to do it…but I had no choice. I even tried to talk him out of it but he was so…so…lost. He…didn't know what to do. If…if he lost, Giovanni would have retaliated. Ethan…Ethan thought that if perhaps he got killed…that would…would be enough."

"You killed him. You f****** killed him you b****! I'm gonna kill you with my bare hands! You cheated with him and then you take him away from me like this? And you try to f****** justify it?!"

She pulled back her fist again. She thought about really hitting her hard again, but something held her back. And it wasn't even anyone but just…"Get out of here. I don't ever want to see your f****** face as long as I live. And if I ever see you again…you'll be lucky to have just a bloody nose," she said as she shoved Jasmine to the ground. She began to walk back over to the dragon and could see a white glove sticking out from underneath the rubble and she lost it.

"So, he decided to use that little loophole," Archer said as they watched the coverage on the TV. The headlines had tagged him as the leader of Team Rocket and he could only chuckle at how well the plan had worked. "It's like you don't even exist anymore."

"Our plan was thorough. And he did such a great job of trying to prove himself to us; it was pretty easy to paint him in with the rest of us. It really is a shame. Before he got those Pokemon, he really did a lot of useful work for us."

Archer grumbled. "Still, do you think it was right to just let him have all those Pokemon? What about all of our hard work?"

"Our hard work would have been undermined thanks to Lyra leaving that Hypno to him. I wasn't going to sit around and be defeated by him again so I took the initiative. It's fine anyway, with the money we made selling that research to others, we can live comfortably for the rest of our lives," Giovanni said with a shrug.

Ariana sighed. "Still all of that hard work. I would have loved to see us go forward with our plans, while still blackmailing him into working for us. It looked as if we could have really broken his spirit and get him to see our way of thinking."

"No thanks. He would have found a way out of it. I was always nervous with him working with us. He's too dangerous."

"Dangerous yes but I prefer keeping him close and under a watchful eye. It's easier to be prepared for whatever he plans to do, rather than just trying to figure it out and counter it. He's very unpredictable. I was unconvinced of his death until they pulled out the body."

They heard a knock at the door and Archer looked over at Petrel. "See who that is, will you?"

Petrel grumbled as he sundered over to the door and answered it. The door burst open, Petrel falling backwards as Jasmine strode in. "Well well…"

"Giovanni, do you know what you've done?"

"Got my most hated for to kill himself?"

"Th-that's not funny! He wouldn't have to do this if—"

"You expected for me to show him mercy?"

"I didn't expect you to torture him with the knowledge that if he didn't perform up to task, you would harm his friends and family? How do you expect anyone to not crack when under that kind of pressure?"

"Don't you get it you idiot? That was the point. Besides, I didn't actually say I would harm his friends or family. He just assumed I would. He put the pressure on himself."

"Liar!"

Archer rolled his eyes. "So why did you come here? You think you can stop all of us by yourself? I could only see Ethan or Crystal pulling that off but Ethan is dead and Crystal isn't anywhere nearby."

She took out a Pokeball. "I don't care. I'll take you down anyway I can—"

"Even if you end up pushing the daisies like our dear departed friend?"

She gripped the Pokeball so hard it looked as if she would crush it. "Even if I have to join Ethan."

"Well that's cute. Well I guess I should oblige you," he said as he took out a Pokeball. Suddenly they heard what sounded like something wooden being smashed open and turned to see Giovanni lying on the ground in front of the desk with someone holding a smashed guitar in hand but thanks to the lack of light near the desk, he couldn't make it out. Though he had a good idea who would use such an attack. "Good evening f*****. Nice to see you again."

Homika sat in her trailer, staring at the screen where she could see the opening act performing the first of their four songs. They were some obscure f****** band from Hoehn, the Nosepass Rockers. Apparently a gym leader named Roxanne managed them but she didn't really care about the details. She grabbed a bottle of strong alcohol and stared at it. She could almost hear Ethan whining to her about going back to alcohol again. "Alcohol again? I thought you gave that up?"

"Shut up! F*** I hate you! F*** being in love," she yelled as she flung the glass out the open window and could hear a few Purrloin cry out. She stared up at the ceiling. "I can't do this. I can't go out there and perform."

She grabbed a newspaper and opened it up. Maybe reading would calm her nerves. On the front page was news about the four Team Rocket bosses being brought to justice. She laughed at the thought that they had finally got caught but then she frowned. As she read over the article, she noticed that it hadn't mentioned who caught them. It only said they had been left in an abandoned office and the police had been tipped off by an anonymous caller. "The f***?"

She heard a knock at the door and rolled her eyes. "What?"

"C-c-can I come in?"

Jasmine? "F*** you b****! I thought I told you I didn't want to see your face again?"

"I need to apologize."

"I said I don't want to see your f****** face again! Or maybe I do…so I can turn you into the police! I bet you're feeling really big, getting to take Ethan away from me, aren't you?"

"I'm sorry—"

"F*** you and get out of here! I'm trying to relax here!"

"I…just wanted to say—"

Homika got to her feet and glared at her. "What part of get the f*** out of here don't you understand?"

"Would you just be quiet so I can talk?"

"No. I'm gonna give you three seconds before I grab a bottle and-f*** you, I won't even give you that," she said as she grabbed a nearby bottle and flung it in Jasmine's direction. Suddenly Bolt appeared out of nowhere and caught the bottle in a small web he had spun beneath his limbs. She jumped backwards and landed on the ground in front of the fridge. Of all the things to appear, she had to bring that f****** spider! "Get that f****** out of here! F***! F*** it to hell! And back!"

Jasmine giggled of all things. "But he wanted you to take care of him. Maybe it will help you get over your fear of spiders."

"I'll smash that thing to bits."

"Even though it belonged to Ethan?"

"F*** Ethan! I'm a wreck because of him! I wish I had never met him!"

"Don't…say that."

She kicked the bed. What did she know? "What do you f****** know? Every time I think about him, I feel as if I have a gaping hole in my chest. I…I didn't even go the funeral…how could I? I don't want to believe he's dead…but…f****************! Just get out of here!"

"B-but…I…didn't kill him."

"Is that some sort of joke? Are you f***** with me? You really think you're being cute, aren't you?" She yelled. She grabbed another bottle and flung it at Jasmine but the bottle stopped in midair near the couch.

"You really should give this stuff up," he said as he suddenly appeared on the couch. She rubbed her eyes.

"I…f***! It's like the clouds opened up and Arceus said, f*** you Roxie."

Ethan sighed. "You think I'm a ghost?"

"…" She just stared as him as he sat up on the couch.

"Hey I don't remember if I thanked you or not but you did a really good job taking my place as the leader. HBIC or something like that, right? Thanks. I didn't think you would do it but you did a great job."

"…"

"Though it really sucks that even with Giovanni and company in custody, the truth about me will still take awhile to come out."

"…"

He rubbed the back of his head. "Soo…ahhh…I'm really sorry about putting you through that. It was the one way I figured I could get out of that little deal. And it worked too! Please don't be angry with Jasmine, she knew all along."

"…what?" Was the only thing she could muster. What just happened? What was going on?

"Roxie?"

She jumped up onto the couch and grabbed his collar and began to shake him. "I hate you, I hate you, I f****** hate you! I…I…"

"Go ahead and punch me, I deserve it."

She buried her head in his chest. "F*** you. I just want to…hit you so hard. H-h-how could you do that to me? I thought…I…I f****** sat in a darkened room for weeks on end!"

"I really should have confided with you earlier but I figured I had to make it look believable."

"F***…I f-f-finally get the chance to be with you and now…f**********! Don't tell me this is it?"

"W-w-well I would love to stick around but everyone still sees me as a horrible villain. I—"

Her phone rang and she glared over at it. She let the answering machine answer it and heard her manager screaming into it. "Hey Homika, where the hell are you? The opening band is about to finish up but you're nowhere to be found! You better get out there soon! We got a whole stadium full of screaming fans out there!"

She felt like smashing the phone but…"F***, I don't even want to go out there now. How can I perform for them when I'm a mess? I'm a f****** emotional mess! I…f***," she said as she hopped off him and looked over at her guitar. "I guess I better go out there then."

"We can stick around for the concert at—"

"You better," she said as she picked up the guitar. She tapped her fingers on the guitar a few times. She smiled and she turned to face him. "Because Roxie is gonna give everyone a farewell concert to remember!"

Ethan and Jasmine's eyes grew wide. "F-f-farewell?"

"Yes f******! I know you can hear. Farewell concert. If you two have to languish in obscurity until your names are cleared…well so can I!"

"But what about your-"

"F*** it! I'm talented anyways; I'll just have a killer comeback! I've always wanted to do one and now I'll get my chance!" She said. She walked over to him and kissed him on the lips before pulling away. "And you better not go away because there is a whole lot f****** more to come."

[Story to be continued in Once Upon a time in Hoehn.]