I want to thank everyone who took the time to leave a review; I really appreciate your comments and feedback.
Shout outs to Shrouded Absol, Mr. Hide, LEGAL-EAGLE53 and Webbowriter for suggesting pairing options for Richie – you guys are awesome. The poll is live now so vote for who you want to see him paired with. It will only be up for 2 days so make sure you vote asap.
If you read the original version of this story and have any question, PM them to me so we don't spoil anything for the new readers.
This chapter was a lot of fun to write and I think it fits in better than the original, it also gives Professor Oak a role which I completely overlooked in the original.
This is the first battle I've written from scratch for a while so I might be a little rusty.
Anyway, without further ado here's chapter 10, I hope you enjoy it.
In conversations:
'- Translation of Poké Speech – No human unless otherwise stated can understand it. Ash can understand it due to his Aura.
"- Human speech
"- Telepathy/Aura
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, if I did then Ash would have won a league by now.
Morning arrived slowly for Ash who had barely gotten any sleep, his worry for Pidgeot had plagued his nightmares and left him feeling groggy. He gently got out of bed making sure to not wake Anabel and carefully left the hotel room. He crept past everyone's rooms not wanting to disturb anyone and left the hotel without anyone noticing. After a quick walk to the clearing he picked up the Pokémon he'd need to battle Oak and hopefully save Pidgeot. With Chu on his shoulder he looked at Mew who had seated herself in his arms.
"Alright Mew can you Teleport us to New Island please?"
"Of course Ash."
In a flash Mew Teleported the three of them to New Island, Ash walked into the building as he had done several years ago and headed towards the room Mewtwo had used to clone their Pokémon. The room now housed a supercomputer Ash had discovered in the home of a poacher he had been tracking while assisting the Pokémon Rangers. He had taken the machine as he knew one day it would come in useful and today was that day. Ash walked into the room and saw Mewtwo completely focussed on the screens in front of him. The psychic Pokémon sensed Ash and immediately turned his gaze to him.
"Is everything ready?"
"Yes Ash, when you give the world I shall broadcast what happens here around the world."
Ash looked at the screen Mewtwo had been gazing at and saw a Charmander, a Bulbasaur, a Squirtle all with marking similar to his clone ones and strangely a young green haired girl
"Hey Mewtwo who are they?"
"When I was created there were four other clones, known as Charmandertwo, Squirtletwo, Bulbasaurtwo and a young girl called Ambertwo. She created what she called a Remember Place where all of us could communicate. After only a short while the Pokémon clones disappeared, their bodies in the real world perished leaving me and her. I was young and confused about where they had gone, my confusion quickly turned to sadness though as she too perished."
Ash was surprised to hear Mewtwo speaking so freely about his early life especially when the topic is so personal, he could tell that the Mewtwo was truly saddened by their passing and he that missed the four of them. Had this been almost anyone else he knew Ash would have hugged them and said something supportive but he knew that Mewtwo wouldn't appreciate that, he's far too proud to accept what he would see as pity. So Ash decided to just place a hand on Mewtwo's shoulder which between the two of them said far more than a thousand words could.
"Thank you Ash, you should go he is approaching the island." Mewtwo said.
Ash replied with a nod and walked out the room leaving Mewtwo alone once more, he sensed the old man walk onto the island and erected the barrier around New Island. He watched Oak walk through the halls to the stadium and activated the computer which would broadcast what is happening on this island around the world. Mewtwo glanced at the image of the four clones again, he pressed his hand against Ambertwo's and closed his eyes.
"Life is precious."
Oblivious to the cameras recording him, Professor Oak walked to the battlefield and stood opposite Hayashi. He had been looking for a chance to embarrass the hooded man ever since he'd seen his grandson be humiliated and he'd been given the perfect opportunity. It did surprise him that Hayashi had called him out though.
"So Hayashi why did you bring me here? There's clearly more to it than the desire for a battle."
"You will find out my true intentions in time but for now send out your first Pokémon."
"Very well, go Muk."
The toxic Pokémon burst out of its Pokéball and landed in front of Professor Oak, Ash immediately knew that we the Muk he had captured during his earlier travels. Murk betrayal hadn't hurt Ash as much as the majority of his Pokémon, he had never had the chance to bond with the poison type and it made sense that he had joined Professor Oak.
"Sceptile, may the Aura guide you."
The gecko-like Pokémon burst out his Pokémon and appeared on the battlefield, he placed his trademark twig in his mouth and grinned cockily at Muk. A look of recognition appeared on the sludge Pokémon's face as he remembered the Sceptile he was fighting. He looked back at Professor Oak and tried to tell him who they were fighting but the old man just disregarded Muk's actions.
"Bad decision Hayashi, Muk's an expert at dealing with grass types. Hit Sceptile with a Sludge Bomb."
"Counter it with Bullet Seed."
Muk spat several balls of sludge at Sceptile who was slightly tempted to just let the attack hit him just to see how weak Muk was but he had to play the part and battle properly. The gecko fired a barrage of golden seed at the poisonous orbs, the attacks clashed moments later and exploded in between the two battlers. As he watched a weak version of his attack counter Muk's Sludge Bomb, Sceptile had already grown bored of this battle, he had been looking forward to getting his shot at one of the treacherous Pokémon but this was providing no enjoyment. He wanted to end it quickly but he knew that the world was watching and displaying his full power or any of his combo moves would just give people a chance to come up with a way to counter them.
"Muk crush him with Body Slam."
"Let him do it, then cut your way out with Leaf Blade and hit him with an Iron Tail."
Muk shuffled across the ground and loomed over Sceptile, he then slammed down on the gecko hoping to smother him as he had done to that Bellsprout. He thought he had been successful due to Sceptile not fighting back however he was quickly proven wrong and he cried out in pain as Sceptile cut his way out. Muk continued to roar in agony as his body started to regenerate and heal the gash created by Sceptile. The grass type smirked and then slammed his metallic tail into Muk sending the sludge Pokémon skidding across the battlefield back to where he started in front of Oak.
'I can't believe that weak puddle of goo is one of that fools strongest Pokémon.'
"Me neither, Sceptile end this with Solarbeam."
The yellow orbs on Sceptile's back started to glow and an orb formed in his mouth, he could feel the power radiating from the orb and knew that it was more than powerful enough to wipe out Muk. He kept charging though, he wanted to see the look in the poison types eyes as he saw the attack head his way. Eventually Muk's body finished repairing the damage Sceptile had done, he pushed himself up and saw the most powerful attack he'd ever seen pointing straight at him.
Sceptile smirked as the fear was evident in the sludge Pokémon's eyes and finally fired the Solarbeam he'd been charging. The attack travelled so fast that Muk was engulfed by it before he could even try to dodge it. The explosion caused by the Solarbeam raised a dust cloud that shrouded the battlefield, after a few moments the dust settled revealing an unconscious Muk.
"I'm impressed Hayashi, don't get too cocky though as Muk is the weakest Pokémon on my team."
"Talk is cheap, send out your next Pokémon."
"Very well then, trust me the next one will give you more of a challenge. Pidgeot crush that fool."
Ash was relieved when he heard Oak say that however that relief suddenly vanished when he saw Pidgeot, her eyes burned with fury and she gave him a death glare. He automatically knew that something was wrong with Pidgeot, he looked at her again and spotted the collar around her neck. While the presence of the collar made it a lot easier to expose Oak it saddened him that Pidgeot had suffered wearing one of those despicable devices.
"I knew you would be involved in Team Rocket. So tell me who made those collars now."
"Come on Hayashi it doesn't take genius to figure that out."
"You made them but why? You're a respected Pokémon Professor, why would you join Team Rocket and why would create those collars?"
"At first it was just for funding, the Pokémon League had just cut our research budget, combine that with staff wages and the ever increasing number of Pokémon I was having to look after and money was running short. That's when Giovanni approached me with an offer, all the technology and funds I could ever ask for in exchange for creating a collar that enslaved Pokémon. I suppose morally I should have refused but I decided that doing a little evil was worth the payoff."
"How many of those sick devices did you make?"
"My, my, full of question aren't we. Well if you must know to begin with I only made two, the first was a tester which was used on this Pidgeot."
"What about the second one?"
"Giovanni wanted to use that to control a secret Pokémon but apparently it failed."
Ash was almost certain he knew what secret Pokémon Giovanni had tried to use that collar on, he momentarily glanced to where Mewtwo was and wondered what else the proud Pokémon had gone through.
"So why go to all of this expense for these collars that half the time don't even work? Surely Master Balls are much easier to produce."
"Indeed they are but while Master Balls have a one hundred percent capture rate it doesn't change the fact that a Pokémon will be disobedient. My collars removed that possibility and that's when I realised something, with the technology at my disposal I could easily do all the research I wanted. I wouldn't have to worry about Pokémon escaping or doing anything to hamper my research."
"So you joined Team Rocket for your selfish desire for power and prestige."
"I suppose you could see it that way but just think of all the discoveries I've made over the past seven years. It would have taken much longer to accomplish that without Team Rocket's funding."
"But you've destroyed the lives of countless Pokémon, you ripped them away from their families and friends. How can you say that any of your so called research is factual when the Pokémon have been controlled into doing what you want? Your research is nothing more than a load of fraudulent myths perpetuated by you."
Professor Oak growled at Takeo's comments, he valued his research more than almost anything else and having a man claim that his research wasn't factual enraged the old man.
"Hurry up and choose you Pokémon." Oak growled.
Ash wasn't sure who to pick, he didn't want to hurt Pidgeot but with that collar on she wasn't going to listen to anyone other than Oak.
'Ash I can hit it with a Shock Wave, it'll fry the collar without harming Pidgeot.' Chu said.
"Alright, wait for Oak to make the move then jump on her back."
Chu jumped off Ash's shoulder and stepped onto the battlefield, directing an intense glare at Oak who was only smirking at what he assumed to be an easy target.
"Pidgeot use Giga Impact and deal with that rat."
"You know what to do Chu."
Chu nodded and watched as an orange aura surrounded Pidgeot and she flew straight at her, Chu knew she had to wait for the perfect moment to do this. If she jumped too late she'd get hit by Pidgeot and if she jumped too early she'd miss Pidgeot and Oak would be smart enough to not use another close range move, which would make this battle grow far more violent than she wanted.
Chu kept watching as Pidgeot approached and then finally jumped over Pidgeot's Giga Impact and onto the flying types back. She tried to fire her Shock Wave immediately but Pidgeot started to fly erratically trying to shake Chu off which made it impossible for her to get a precise shot on the collar.
'Ash I can't be precise with Shock Wave when she's trying so hard to shake me off.'
"Alright try and direct her straight at me."
'What?! Are you crazy?! If she hits you with her beak she'll skewer you!
"Trust me, I'll be fine."
Chu didn't like Ash's idea but she would never disobey him so she placed all her weight forward which angled Pidgeot to Ash, as the bird flew towards Ash, Chu desperately hoped Ash knew what he was doing. Moments before Pidgeot would hit Ash he raised his hands up and grabbed Pidgeot's wings, the force behind her charge sent Ash skidding backwards despite him digging his heels into the ground. He slammed into the wall behind him letting out a groan as Pidgeot tried to peck at his face.
"Pidgeot please, it's me Ash. You've got to fight the collars control; I know you can do it." Ash whispered.
A flicker of recognition appeared in Pidgeot's eyes and he saw her gaze soften. The flying type stopped her struggles and looked at her old master in shock, she had long lost hope of seeing him again.
'Ash? I'm sorry but I can't break it, I've tried before and the pain is so intense. You have to help me please.'
"Everything will be okay now Pidgeot, I'm going to save you from that twisted old man. Now Chu!"
Chu didn't need to be told twice and she fired a shock wave straight up that hit the collar with pinpoint accuracy, a few sparks were released by the collar before in broke apart. The evil red glow in Pidgeot's eyes faded, she gazed lovingly at Ash and nuzzled her true trainer, she had desperately missed him and was elated to finally be reunited with him. She felt him hug her and gently run his hand through her feathers just as he had done when he was just a boy.
'Thank you for saving me Ash.'
"It's okay Pidgeot. I promise that as soon as I've dealt with him I'll take you to a Pokémon Centre and we can give a full health check."
Ash glanced at Oak and saw that the old men was furious at what had transpired, he smirked at Oak which only seemed to further enrage him. Suddenly he started to laugh hysterically which both confused and angered Ash.
"What the hell is so funny?"
"That you think she's free. You may have destroyed her collar but Pidgeot still belongs to me."
Professor Oak took Pidgeot's Pokéball out and aimed it at the noble bird however a blue glow immediately surrounded it and before he could recall Pidgeot, the Pokéball shattered into a thousand pieces. The remnants of Pidgeot's prison fell from the old man's hand and landed on the battlefield. Professor Oak looked at the shards of the Pokéball in shock wondering what had done this. Meanwhile Ash was looking up at the room Mewtwo was sat in, thankful that he had intervened so quickly.
"Thank you Mewtwo."
"It was my pleasure Ash. You should finish this quickly, I sense several people heading towards the island led by Lance. They tracked this location far sooner than I expected."
"Well I guess I'll have to make this quick then. Thanks for the update Mewtwo, keep the barrier up until I say otherwise."
"Very well."
Professor Oak finally got over the shock of losing Pidgeot and glared at Takeo, the confusion he had felt was replaced by rage as he had lost a strong test subject. He was curious about what had caused the Pokéball to shatter, judging by the blue glow it was some kind of psychic attack but the only Pokémon Takeo had out was his Pikachu. The old man decided to ignore what just happened for now and focus on the battle.
"I don't know how you did that Takeo, but believe me you're going to regret it."
"Ash let me fight him." Mew suddenly demanded.
"Are you sure Mew? This battle is being broadcast to the world, people will know where to find you."
"As long as I'm with you Ash I have no fear of people knowing my location. I know you'd never let me fall into someone else's clutches so please let me deal with his remaining Pokémon, he hurt one of our family and I want to make them pay."
"Okay Mew, you can fight him."
Ash turned his attention back to Oak who seemed to be struggling to decide who to use next so in a way Mew had made the decision easy for the old man.
"Hey let's stop messing around old man, send out your remaining Pokémon and I'll fight them with one of mine."
"Very well. I'll admit Takeo; you are indeed powerful but you have nothing that can match these four Pokémon. Go Dragonite, Charizard, Exeguttor and Gyrados."
He smirked as all four of the Pokémon appeared on his side of the battlefield, he was certain that Takeo would fall to this dream team however his belief was shaken when he saw the confident look in Takeo's eyes. He watched as the hooded man took a pink Pokéball off of the necklace he was wearing and wondered why he would keep four unique Pokéballs on a necklace.
"Come on out my friend."
The pink ball burst opened and revealed one of the most sought after Legendary Pokémon in the world, Ash could almost hear the shocked gasps of everyone around the world watching. He looked at Oak and saw that the old man was in shock but had that weird look in his eye that he always had when he'd seen something new he could research like the G.S. Ball.
"Incredible, that Mew will make an excellent test subject. I must have it, Gyrados use Dragonbreath, Exeguttor use Razor Leaf, Dragonite and Charizard use Dragon Claw
"Just dodge them."
Gyrados opened his mouth fired a wave of green and yellow flames at Mew who easily dodged the attack and giggled at the weak attempt. A barrage of leaves was the next to come Mew's way and she easily ducked and weaved through the leaves once again giggling at their failure. Dragonite and Charizard decided it was time to get involved and flew straight at Mew with their claws sharpened and ready to strike. Mew grinned as the pair came closer and flew between them making their first attack miss, they quickly changed direction and attempted to hit her but she was dodging every attack while giggling. Gyrados and Exeguttor added their Dragonbreath and Razor Leaf attacks to the fight but couldn't hit Mew either. Oak like his Pokémon growled in annoyance as all of their attacks were dodged while Mew and Takeo laughed at him.
"Stop mocking me!"
It eventually got too much for Dragonite and after once more round of dodging he released a deafening screech and put all his power into a Dragon Claw. He aimed another attack at Mew and was certain the attack would hit her when Mew dodged at the last second causing his to Charizard instead. The fire type roared as three gashes were now oozing blood from his face and quickly evened the score by slashing Dragonite. Mew levitated in the air between the two of them and looked at the wounds they'd caused each other.
"Shouldn't you two be fighting me rather than each other?" Mew asked as she easily dodged another Dragonbreath.
Charizard and Dragonite roared angrily and once again started desperately trying and still failing to hit Mew, a combination of sweat and blood poured from them as they continued to miss Mew.
'Stay still you little pink bitch!' Dragonite snarled as he swiped at Mew and missed again.
"Insulting a Legendary with my power is a very bad decision. Ash can I finish this scum off?"
"Okay Mew, we've had our fun. Take them all out with Psychic."
"Gladly."
Mew's eyes glowed blue and a similar glow surrounded Dragonite, Charizard, Exeguttor and Gyrados, they tried to fight against the psychic powers controlling them but they couldn't move a muscle. The four trapped Pokémon looked at the Legendary in fear, they expected her to be powerful but this was far more power than they had ever experienced. Mew slapped her paws together and they slammed into one another leaving them all dazed, she then threw them all to the ground making them slam into the battlefield. The four of them groaned as pain rushed through their bodies, they looked up at Mew and saw that her eyes had turned pure red.
"Wow she's really pissed." Ash murmured.
"You contributed to the torture of one of our family members. For that you… will… PAY!"
Mew raised her paws and dark clouds gather overhead, the sounds of roaring thunder reverberated around the stadium and blinding bolts of lightning lit up the darkened battlefield. Gradually an enormous cloud of electricity formed above Mew, the cloud eventually stopped growing and a massive bolt of electricity shot from the cloud aimed straight at the four helpless Pokémon. The attack hit all four of them which created a massive explosion that knocked Oak off his feet and disoriented him.
When Oak finally regained his senses he looked at the battlefield and was in shock as he that it had been replaced by a massive crater that had his four Pokémon at the base of it. He reluctantly recalled his Pokémon and glared at Takeo, he had failed to embarrass him and he now knew of his involvement with Team Rocket. Not that it mattered though, all evidence of his links to Team Rocket were destroyed, he's made sure of that personally.
Meanwhile Ash was ignoring the old man and focussing on Mew who flew down and nuzzled him tenderly, Ash hugged her tightly and smiled softly in response. It still surprised him how quickly she could go from a raging force of nature to a gentle, caring friend.
"Well done Mew, you were awesome."
"Thanks Ash."
After a few moments the psychic Pokémon reluctantly broke the hug, she knew that they had to leave soon as the G-Men were just outside Mewtwo's Psychic barrier.
"Mewtwo can you drop the Psychic barrier and Teleport us all out of here and back to the clearing please."
"Of course Ash."
"Thank you."
Ash turned his attention back to Professor Oak who was still glaring at him, he couldn't believe that he had looked up to the old man all those years ago. A feeling of satisfaction ran through him as he sensed Lance and a group of G-Men get onto the island, he knew it wouldn't be long until Oak would be rotting in prison.
"Well I guess this is where we part ways, I've got to get Pidgeot to a Pokémon Centre, Arceus knows what damage that collar of yours has caused. Oh and by the way don't worry I'll be sending your grandson to join you in prison."
Before Professor Oak could question the hooded man and his Mew had vanished, the old man looked around the stadium in confusion not noticing the group of G-Men led by Lance that had just entered the stadium.
"What the hell was that fool on about?"
"Samuel Oak you are under arrest."
Professor Oak turned around in shock wondering where the G-Men had come from.
"You want to arrest me? For what?"
"Pokémon abuse, collaborating with Team Rocket and I'm sure we'll be able to find some more crimes you're guilty of when we start a full investigation."
One of the G-Men walked up to Professor Oak and quickly handcuffed him, the old man struggled against the G-Men who were dragging him away, adamant that he was innocent. Lanced followed behind making sure that the old man didn't try to escape, the Champion of Kanto looked at the battlefield one last time and was growing increasingly curious about Takeo Hayashi.
Notes
Thank you all for reading, be warned there's a lot of notes this time.
For anyone wondering if I made up what happened in Mewtwo's youth, I didn't that is actually what happened. Amber was Dr. Fuji's daughter and he wanted to try and clone her which is how he got involved with Team Rocket. Mewtwo really does have a very sad story and when you really look into it you can truly understand why Mewtwo is so complex and behaves as he does. I just hope I write the character the way he should be written.
I did have another idea for this chapter involving Lugia which if I hadn't had Pidgeot under Oak's control I'd have gone with. I just feel like adding Lugia would have been overkill. The idea for Lugia will feature later in the story though, I think it's too good to not use.
I might add a chapter to backstories on how Anabel is during this chapter.
Once again please vote on Richie's partner, the sooner there's a landslide victory for one character, the sooner I can start writing the next chapter.
Please give a review telling me what you liked/didn't like.
If you have any questions PM them to me. I am more than happy to answer them.