The battle against Neo-Cipher kicked off on Mt. Lanakila. The Ultra Guardians had been separated the instant they stepped foot into the organization's new hideout, meanwhile Folly had gone to Melemele in attempt to kidnap Burnet, but was stunned by the appearance of Moon. As it stood right now, things weren't exactly looking great for Ash and his friends, but they had crawled their way out of such situations before. Mallow was one in a particularly tough spot, fighting alone against Dakim and his Swampert. Despite her grass affinity holding an advantage on paper, Dakim had already shown that Swampert was a force to be reckoned with. "WE'LL CRUSH YOU!" Dakim exclaimed, commanding Swampert to attack. "Mud Bomb!" Swampert spat out several globs of mud directly at Tsarenna, all of which planning to explode on contact.

"Magical Leaf!" Mallow shouted. Tsareena traced her hands in a circle, firing off multiple leaves that clashed with the Mud Bomb, resulting in numerous explosions in the room, filling the air with smoke! "Now, Trop Kick!" Tsareena darted through the smoke, appearing directly in front of Swampert with a leg extended! Tsareena leapt forward, slamming her leg into Swampert's stomach for a direct hit, causing it to slide backwards! "Again!"

Swampert slid back, grimacing from the extremely effective blow. Trop Kick's added effect even lowered its Attack by one stage as well, meaning physical strikes would do less! Still, Dakim grinned as the Ultra Guardian got greedy thinking she could land a second hit! "Barrier!" Swampert held its arms in front of its body, creating a rainbow colored barrier in front of its body! Tsareena's Trop Kick clashed against the barrier and held strong, strong enough for Tsareena to recoil after.

"..!" Mallow gasped. "Tsareena!"

"Ice Punch!" Swampert closed the distance while Tsareena was recoiling, slamming yet another icy fist directly against her face! This super effective hit caused Tsareena to tumble along the ground before coming to a halt on a knee. "Hydro Pump!" Dakim wasn't letting Mallow go that easily! Swampert followed up with a high pressurized beam of water aimed directly for Tsareena! However it was intercepted by an Energy Ball, the two attacks exploding after a brief power struggle. "Huh?"

"Shaymin!" Shaymin jumped forward, the tiny pokemon glaring at Dakim. Even though Shaymin was, by all technicalities, a wild Pokémon, it was still very faithful to Mallow and Tsareena, and as such wouldn't allow watching any harm come to them! It was adverse when it came to battling, but that wasn't going to stop it when Mallow clearly needed it most.

"Shaymin! Thank you!" Mallow let out a sigh of relief.

"This'll be a good test, I guess…" Dakim shrugged, the numbers at Mallow's disposal not making much of a difference to him. "If we're gonna turn that thing Shadow, might as well see what it can do! Mud Bomb!" Swampert fired a gigantic bomb of mud directly at Shaymin and Tsareena!

"Shaymin, Energy Ball!" Shaymin jumped forward, firing off another Energy Ball at the Mud Bomb. These two attacks exploded as soon as they made contact with each other. With the cloud of smoke as cover, Tsareena once again sprinted through, raising her leg up. "Use Stomp!"

"You think that'll work again!" Dakim scoffed. Just as Swampert swung at Tsareena, she jumped over it gracefully, slamming her foot down onto Swampert's skull with enough force to make it flinch! "What the!?"

"Now! Trop Kick! Energy Ball!" Mallow planned to make use of this opening. Tsareena swung her leg at Swampert's back, but Swampert was rather angry and grabbed her leg before it struck! This was just as Shaymin fired off an Energy Ball, so Swampert then used its free hand to catch the Energy Ball, just before it struck. "Huh!?"

"You almost had something going there, but it doesn't matter if you're a pipsqueak!" Dakim yelled as Swampert threw Tsareena into Shaymin, then threw the Energy Ball back at them, causing a green explosion that blew both grass types backwards.

"Ah!" Mallow gasped. "Are you two okay?!"

"I was right; this is a pretty decent warm up." Dakim grinned as his necklace began to shine. "But I don't think I need to waste any more time on a weakling like you. I want the bigger fish!"

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The battle between Kiawe and Gorigan was picking up and fast. Turtonator vs Poliwrath, a battle of fire and water! It wasn't as clear cut as that, though, and Kiawe knew exactly what was on the line if they lost. "Poliwrath, use Scald!" Poliwrath puffed its chest forward, releasing a high pressurized blast of scaling hot water towards Turtonator!

"Turtonator, use Dragon Tail!" Kiawe commanded. Turtonator slammed its tail on the ground in front of it, upheaving it using the rising rocks to defend against the Scald.

"Well, not bad kid." Gorigan admitted. "But focusing on defense won't get you anywhere. Bulk Up!" Poliwrath then began to flex its muscles, a red aura appearing around its body as it raised both its Attack and Defense by one stage! It may not have seemed like much, but a single increase could always mean the difference between defeat and victory.

"We're just getting started! Use Focus Blast!" After making his retort to Gorigan, Turtonaor pushed its chest outward while releasing a potent blast of cyan energy! The Focus Blast rocketed towards Poliwrath at incredible speeds, soaring through the air with white hot energy!

Poliwrath held its hands out, using its newfound physical strength to hold off the Focus Blast. It was a struggle as it slid back across the ground, using all of its might to withstand being overpowered. It was a tense few seconds, but in the end, Poliwrath came out on top, flicking the Focus Blast up into the ceiling where an explosion occurred. This explosion shook the base a bit and even caused the mountain to rumble a little. "That blast wasn't half bad…" Gorigan admitted.

Kiawe grit his teeth. They went into this battle knowing that Cipher would be tough foes, but so far, this was tougher than he expected. Still, that would not be enough to deter him. It was time to shake things up and find the others. "We're only just getting started. Turtonator, use Shell Smash!" Turtonator let out a battle cry as it broke its 'shell'. Doing so sharply decreased its defenses…but in turn, its speed and power rose just as much! "If defense won't work against you, then we'll just run right over you with our pure power!"

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Reath held up her keystone, causing it to resonate with Ampharos' Mega Stone. "Ampharos! Let's crush this girl together! Surpass evolution to Mega Evolve!" There were lines of energy connecting Ampharos and the keystone, and soon Ampharos began to Mega Evolve! "We don't even need to use Shadow Pokémon to beat you guys!"

"Crap!" Takeba tossed out another Pokémon, she knew that she'd need to use two in this scenario. "Ditto!" Ditto was called out! As soon as Ampharos finished Mega Evolving, Ditto's Imposter ability came into effect, allowing it to transform into Mega Ampharos right off the bat! "Ah ha!"

"Wha!?" Reath's eyes narrowed as Takeba thought she was clever! "Trying to mimic us, are you? We'll see about that! Use Dragon Pulse!" Ampharos reared its head back, gathering a large amount of energy in its mouth. It then fired off a gigantic beam of this energy directly at Ditto and Honchkrow, firing it off! This Dragon Pulse dwarfed the one used prior before Mega Evolving.

"Mirror Move!" Takeba explained. Honchkrow did as told, firing off a Dragon Pulse in response to Ampharos using it. The two attacks clashed for but a moment before Honchkrow was overpowered, both it and Ditto suffering damage as a result. "Whoa…that was a lot stronger than before!"

"Of course it was." Reath shook her head. "Didn't you know? When Ampharos Mega Evolves, it regains lost DNA it had that was once a dragon. So being a dragon type increases its power vastly! You may have copied that with Ditto, but if you can't even use it, what's the point!"

"Part dragon, huh…?" Takeba kept that in mind. "Okay, we'll do this then! Ditto, use Power Gem! Honchkrow, use Mirror Move again!" Ditto fired off numerous gems off into the sky, Honchkrow following suit with Mirror Move. This occurred until there were dozens upon dozens of Power Gens in the sky around Mega Ampharos. "Now, use Psychic!" Honchkrow's eyes shone brightly as it used telekinesis to send all of these gems down towards their foe!

"Oh no you don't! Discharge!" Ampharos let out a cry, and a strong electrical discharge to combat the dual Power Gem. It was mostly successful, however, numerous gems still slipped through the Discharge and hit its mark, causing Ampharos to stagger back a bit. "I see. So you do have a bit of a brain in there, but it won't be enough! Thunder Punch!" Ampharos closed in on Ditto, swinging its tail at Ditto's chest! It was a direct hit and Ditto nearly flew back from facing power equal to its own. "And Dragon Pulse!"

"Dragon Pulse!" Takeba commanded at the same time. Both Ditto and Ampharos released a point blank Dragon Pulse. The result was a large explosion that caused both of them to fly back with equal damages. Ditto was Takeba's trump card in a situation like this; copying the strength of an opponent did wonders when her team was weak against this very thing. "Now, use Magnetic Flux!" Her plan was to alter the magnetic field already in play. Ditto did that, but used the field in a different way, causing pieces of the ground to rise up, charged with static electricity.

"What the…?" Reath looked around. What was Takeba doing?

"Psychic!" Takeba commanded Honchkrow. Just like before, Honchkrow was using psychic to hurl the chunks of the mountain directly at Ampharos!

"The same trick won't work twice! Thunder Punch!" Ampharos swung its electrified tail around, easily shattering the incoming debris with little effort. The issue was, however, what came after.

"SUPERPOWER!" This was Takeba's gambit! Superpower came at the heavy risk of lowering Honchkrow's attack and defense, but in exchange, it was an extremely heavy hit! Honchkrow used the debris as cover and just as Ampharos destroyed the last one, Honchkrow slammed into its body with all its might! Ampharos was nearly blown off its feet from taking such a blow.

"Ack! Discharge!" Mega Ampharos was quick to recover despite receiving heavy damage. Before Honchkrow could fly away, Ampharos released a potent Discharge that caught the bird, causing it to cry out in pain as it hit the ground, struggling to move, on the verge of fainting!

"Honchkrow…!" Takeba gasped.

"Now for our special move! Gather up all that electricity and use Dragon Pulse!" Reath smirked. Ampharos inhaled once more, this time generating electricity as it did so. It then released another potent Dragon Pulse; only this time the energy was yellow, fueled with lightning as it raced towards Honchkrow, intending to wipe it off the map! There was an explosion as it collided, but not against the Pokémon they thought. "Huh?"

It was Ditto! It used its body as a shield to protect Honchkrow at the last second! That Dragon Pulse was immensely powerful and Ditto was unable to withstand it. But as it began to fall over, it glanced back at Takeba and Honchkrow, its usually blank stare filled with a heartfelt smile. Ditto then collapsed, reverting to normal with swirls in its eyes. "Oh…Ditto…" Takeba was tearing up, returning her fallen partner with a sad smile. "You didn't have to do that."

"Well, that was unexpected…" Reath admitted while shrugging her shoulders. But there was a victorious grin on her lips. "If that Ditto was your counter to Ampharos, then I guess I've won, huh? Honchkrow can barely move as is. You were kinda tough, I'll give you that."

"This isn't over yet." Takeba said with a determined stare. She then crossed her arms, causing her Z-ring to shine brightly.

"And what are you gonna do!?" Reath questioned. "Superpower failed! Honchkrow won't be able to do nearly as much damage now. If you're gonna try that Z-move, go ahead! We'll overpower you and blow you away! Supersonic whatever won't do a thing to Ampharos!"

"You're right…" Takeba admitted. Thanks to Superpower, Honchkrow wouldn't be hitting nearly as hard as before. "…But I'm not using Supersonic Skystrike."

"…What?" Reath felt a sudden fear in her heart.

"I was doing some testing earlier and found out something very interesting. You know how Mirror Move uses the last move your opponent used? Well, I started to wonder…what would happen if I used Mirror Move as a Z-move. And wouldn't you know it; I got some very interesting results!" Takeba said as Honchkrow stood up, doing its best to mirror the poses she was doing. "Now tell me, what do you think happens if I use Mirror Move with this Z-crystal!?"

Reath started to sweat. With how Takeba was acting, she felt like she knew the answer and she didn't like it. "W-What? No…That's not right…!" Did Takeba seriously bait her into using Dragon Pulse as her last used move!?

"It turns into a Z-move." Takeba answered the question. "I was doing some testing earlier with Ditto! Honchkrow's Dragon Pulse couldn't beat Ampharos, and Ditto's was even, so let's turn it up a notch! You know what they say! The sky's the limit, and now we're going to fly past that barrier!" Finishing the pose, Takeba pumped her fist into the sky, sending all of the Z-power she gathered into Honchkrow. "Z-Mirror Move then turns into…ULTIMATE DRAGON BURN!" Honchkrow let out a mighty caw as it began to gather Z-power in its beak. This Z-power then turned into a massive dragon that it fired off, directly towards Ampharos. This was Takeba's real gambit! The Devastating Drake intended to destroy Ampharos!

"Hey, don't just stand there! Use Dragon Pulse!" Reath was panicking. How could she let this happen!? Ampharos was just as hasty as its trainer, firing off a gigantic beam of energy to clash with the Devastating Dragon. Mega Evolution vs Z-Moves never had a tenser clash! Ampharos gave it everything it had, and it looked even. But a closer look told you that Ampharos was steadily losing the battle due to the Z-move's sheer might. "No…this can't be right…!"

"GOOOO!" Takeba shouted. Honchkrow flew into the air, spinning its body around as it used Drill Peck! It flew into the middle of the Devastating Drake, wrapping that power around its body as it dove directly towards Ampharos, resulting in a gigantic explosion when colliding against it. Ampharos was thrown backwards and landed on the ground, swirls in its eyes as its body reverted to normal. It was defeated.

"No…!" Reath ignored the shaking mountain, rushing over to Ampharos. "Come on, get up…!" No response. It was totally unconscious. Now she really was regretting not using a Shadow Pokémon when she had the chance. "Gh…!"

"AHA!" Takeba took a jump for joy, hugging Honchkrow. "We did it! I knew we could!" And Honchkrow started pecking at her furiously in response to being hugged. "Ow! Ouch! You stupid bird!"

"I can't believe I lost…!" Reath placed her hands on her head and groaned. "Ein told me she was an idiot! I can't believe she blindsided me!"

"Now then, if you'll just come quietly with me-" That's when Takeba took a step forward to say something, but she ended up losing her footing and fell face first in the snow. "Oof…!"

"…." Reath sighed. "…Maybe she is missing a few screws, actually."

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Next Time: Clangorous Soul.