Ash and Butch had taken off into the air, and had begun their battle. Throwing punches and kicks with everything they had, it ended in a standoff, in mid-air. Both fighters catched their breath. "I'm impressed Ash. I never would have guessed that you would be this strong. I'm getting excited about our battle.", Butch said. "Heh, you are strong too, I'll give you that. But this is no time to be kidding around. Let's go!", Ash yelled, and both fighters charged again. Ash threw an energyblast at Butch, but he deflected it, and launched a beam. Ash dodged, and kicked Butch back. Both fighters unleashed a barrage of attacks at eachother. Then, a flash emerged, and both fighters were thrown back. "Take this!", Butch yelled, and launched two beams at Ash. Ash dodged one, but got hit by the other. He crashed into the floor. When he regained his vision, he saw Butch holding his hands above his head, and an large energyball formed. Ash stood up, and cupped his hands at his lower right waist. He noticed that Pikachu was behind him. "Hold on to my back, buddy.", Ash said. "Ash, this is the final blow! I'll kill you, and then your friends!", Butch yelled. "I have only one chance to counter, or else it's over!", Ash thought. "Now DIE!!!", Butch yelled, and threw the ball at Ash. "It's now or never! KamehameHAAAAA!!!!", Ash yelled, and launched his attack at the ball. It hitted, and pushed it back a little. Then it exploded in a large blast, almost completely destroying another floor of the building. When the smoke cleared, Butch floated in the air, staring at Ash. Ash stood on the ground, and lowered his hands. Pikachu jumped from his back. Both of them stared at Butch. "You know, Buth, we should fight somewhere else. We'll level the city if we keep this up, and we've attracte too much attention already. Take a look down, and you'll see what I mean.", Ash said. Butch looked down, and saw that Ash was right. Dozens of people had assembled down below, looking up. "I think you are right Ash. I don't want all these people to see how I'm going to kill you. Follow me.", Butch sneered, and flew off. "Hold on buddy, we're going to make him sorry!", Ash said to his friend. Pikachu clamped on Ash's back. Ash took off, and followed Butch, leaving dozens of people speechless.
Back in Pallet Town, Delia was watching TV, when the telephone rang. "Ketchum residence, Delia speaking.", she said. "Delia! Oak here. Turn on the news!", the professor said. Delia switched to the news. A reporter was standing to a large building, with a lot of debris on the ground. "Moments ago, a loud explosion filled the air here in Goldenrod City. From this building, two entire floors have been destroyed. The remains can be seen behind me. First it was thought that it was a terrorist attack, but, if you look up, something very different and very strange is happening.", the reporter said. The camera view pointed up. Two figures could be seen, high up in the sky. One figure was entirely surrounded by a yellow light. The camera zoomed in on the two figures. Delia recognized her son right away. "What…is…going…on….here?", she stuttered. "Well, I have some news here at the lab. Tracey is the only other person that knows about this. If you come over here, I'll give you an explanation about what we have discovered.", Oak replied. "O…okay…I'll be there…", Delia stuttered again. She still couldn't believe what she saw. She hung up, shutted off the TV and hurried to the lab.
"Professor, what have you found!?", Delia shouted. "Delia, please, calm down! Relax a bit, and I'll tell you everything I've found out.", Oak replied. Delia calmed down a bit. "Follow me, Delia. Tracey is still at the lab.", Oak said. Delia followed him, and a few moments later they were at the lab. "Here, have some tea. It'll make you feel better.", Tracey offered. Delia took the cup, as Oak say down. "Well, let's start at the beginning, shall we? You remember that accident, right? Well, when I was there, the doctor offered me a look in Drake's records. Since he was the blooddonor, he needed to give his physical records. When the doctor left me alone for a couple of minutes, a copied the file to a disk, so that I could study them at home. I know, it is illegal as can be, but I was curious how Drake could recover that fast. Before we left, I picked up Drake's bandage from the trashcan, so I could study that as well. And I must say, I'm very surprised to say the least.", Oak explained. "What do you mean?", Delia asked, while she drunk some of her tea. She seemed to have calmed down a bit. "I've examined his blood. And it's very different then that of a human. It shows relativeness to human blood, but it's different in many ways. To put it simply, Drake's wounds can heal in a matter of moments, depending on the seriousness of the wound, for instance. And because his blood has a high concentration of white cells, he has an endurance that even the greatest sportsman on this planet can't achieve.", Oak continued. Delia looked puzzled. "There's more. In fact, it's getting freakier.", Tracey said. "We've run a check on his profile. You know, where he lives, date of birth, that stuff. We've found something strange. He's trained in several forms of martial arts, but none of them are used anymore. Like they were extinct or something. Professor Oak heared about something like that, a group of people how were known as "Saiyans". A race that loved to fight, and possessed great powers. But know it is extinct, or so we thought. And that brings us to this conclusion.". Delia had listened with widened eyes. "We believe Drake is a Saiyan. And since he gave his blood to Ash, Ash is now part Saiyan as well.", Oak concluded. "You can't be serious! My Ash is not a violent youngster! And he never will be!", Delia shouted. The teacup fell out of her hand, on the ground. "Calm down, Delia. Ash is still your own son. And I'm sure he'll tell you everything. And you can't blame Drake. He just saved Ash's life. And that's a noble thing to do, even if it means that Ash has Saiyan DNA inside of him now.", Tracey said. Delia calmed down again. "I hope so. I truly do. But somehow I feel that it isn't going to be alright." Oak stared at the monitor. "I never said that. And we can only hope.".
Ash still followed Butch. "It's better to fight somewhere else. Man, all that training is paying off, and I know we can beat him, Pikachu!", he said to his friend. It agreed with cheer. Butch suddenly stopped in mid-air. "This is a good place.", he said to himself. Below him was a very wide open plain, with a few rock hills. A perfect, soon to be battlefield. Butch landed. Ash saw him landing, and followed him, landing a few metres away. Pikachu jumped off Ash's back, and stood now beside his master. "Ash, here we won't have to watch out for anything. So let's get started.", Butch said. Pikachu was still a little worn out. "Pikachu, sit this one out for me. Now I can fight at my maximum strength.", Ash told his Pokemon. "Chu.", it said, and backed off. "Oh, I see your little rodent isn't going to help you. Well, that's fine. I can take care of that later.", Butch sneered. "You're very confident. But you'll have to get around me first!", Ash said. He charged at Butch, powering up along the way. He decked Butch with a righthand blow to the face, sending him flying. Ash charged past him, and kicked him up. Butch flew upwards, and Ash passed him once again, and kicked him down to the ground. Ash then stretched his arm out, and let his hand point at Butch. He launched an energy orb after him, which hit dead on. A loud explosion was the result. As hovered in the air. The smoke cleared, and Butch lay face down. He slowly got up. "This…can't be happing…!", he said. "My energy…my power…it's almost gone!". He faced Ash. "What's wrong, Butch? Are you finally realizing that you cannot win?", Ash said. "No! I won't give up that easily! You will DIE!!!", Butch yelled, and took off, charging at Ash. Ash smiled, and the two fighters engaged into a battle once again.
"Wait a moment, Giovanni.", Drake said, while he pointed his open hand at Giovanni. "You owe us an explanation about all of this.". Giovanni just smiled, and lowered his hand. "Very well. I'll tell you everything.", he said, and walked away from the machine. "That girl that is with you, she will understand it a little.", he said, pointing to Misty. She looked confused. "A few years ago, we succeeded in creating a geneticly manipulated Pokemon. I'm sure you've heard of it, because it was Mewtwo.", Giovanni started. "But the experiment failed, and Mewtwo got away. Nobody has ever seen it since. You understand that we, Team Rocket, are very anctious to get Mewtwo back. At least, we were in the beginning. Now it doesn't matter anymore.", Giovanni continued. "What are you talking about?", Drake asked. Giovanni lit up the room. Now everybody could see what was in the tube. A dark figure, which looked like a human, or a humanlike Pokemon. It's head had two small, backwards pointing horns. His arms were strong built, with five fingers on each hand. His legs were Mewtwo-like, but with more muscles and larger feet. It's body looked like that of a Machamp. It also had a medium sized tail. All over it's body were naps with wires. Everybody looked in terror at the creature in the tube. "This, my dear enemies, is our newest creation. Based on Mewtwo's genes.", Giovanni said. "This, is Dark.".
Ash and Butch still fought whit explosive intensity. But after awhile, it ended, once again, in a stand-off on the ground. Butch was tired. His energy was nearly drained, and his enormous strength was fading fast. Ash, on the other hand, was still fighting fit. Sure, he was tired, but not as much as Butch. Butch looked at Ash, breathing heavily. Ash had his arms folded across his chest. "How can this be? I don't get it, I'm the one that's supposed to win!", he yelled. Ash couldn't help it, and smiled. He lowered his arms. "I'll explain it to you. You've been fighting me constantly at your full power. In fact, you were at maximum power the whole time. That isn't very smart, is it? Your power drains quickly that way. I know, because I experienced it also. At the start, it was looking great. But now you're not even a challenge anymore. I can finish this now.", Ash explained, and raised his right arm, and pointed two fingers at Butch. Butch got scared, and shivered. "But I won't. I won't kill a person who cannot fight anymore.", Ash said, and lowered his arm. "This fight is over. You know you have lost, so it's no use to continue this useless battle.", Ash said, and turned around. Butch was surprised by this, but he then realized that he had one chance to win. "I'm afraid you're wrong Ash.", he whispered, and gathered energy in his right hand. Ash had picked up Pikachu, and kept on walking away. "I can still FIGHT!!!", Butch yelled, and threw one last energyball at Ash. Ash threw Pikachu up in the air, turned right around, deflected the ball with his left arm, which sended it up. Ash cupped his hands, and stood still, face to face with Butch. "Big mistake, Butch!", Ash said. "KamehameHAAA!!!!", Ash yelled, and fired his attack straight at Butch. With a loud explosion, the madman was engulfed in smoke. As lowered his hands, and catched Pikachu. Ash powered down to normal. "Let's go back. It's over.", he said. The smoke cleared, and Butch's lifeless body lay on the ground. The battle had come to an explosive end. Ash flew up, and headed back to Goldenrod City.
Giovanni sneered. The group couldn't say a thing. Dark floated in his tube, seemingly asleep, or in a deep rest. "A few final words. With the energy of those two there, he is now at full strength.", Giovanni said, while he pointed to Adron and Marone. He walked over to the button, and pressed it. Drake couldn't react. He realized that of he blasted, they all would die if the building came down. The liquid sowly drained, and the wires were removed from Dark's body. The tube opened with a hissing sound. Everybody waited for the things to come. Then, slowly, Dark's eyes opened. The were white, with dark pupils. His body looked a little lighter, but still it was dark as it possobly could be. Dark slowly rose from his tube, and stepped out. He looked around, and stretched his arms and body.Then he relaxed himself. "Splendid. He is truly perfect!", Giovanni said in amusement. Dark looked at him, with an evil look. Then it spoke, with a low voice. "Foolish human. Don't you realize I have simple played along?", Dark said. This caught Giovanni off guard. "What do you mean? You belong to me, since I created you! You must obey my orders!", Giovanni said. Dark let out an evil laugh. "Hahaha! You're truly stupid. But I'll explain it to you. When I got my senses, I always saw you standing outside my tube. I could hear your big talk about conquering the world with my help. I knew that if I made a move, I would be killed on the spot. So I simply played along until now. When I possessed your members, I made them stronger then you. I would have ordered to let them kill you, but then they came in the picture.", Dark said, pointing at Drake and the rest. "So I decided that I remained silent until now. This world will be conquered, yes, but not by you! Team Rocket will never own this world! I will, and every single human must die! This world is for Pokemon only! Do you understand now? I don't think so, and you even gave me some of Mewtwo's genes!", Dark finished, laughing. Giovanni went pale. He knew that he was doomed. "Enough of this. You don't belong in my presence.", Dark said, and blasted Giovanni away. Everybody was in shock. Dark turned to them. "I see that you three are Saiyans. Well, no matter. I have my own plans to carry out.", Dark said.
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Giovanni's own creation has turned against him, with devastating results. Our heroes appear to be his next target. Can they put an end to Dark, who seems almost unbeatable? And can Ash, who's battle is now over, come back to make a difference? Find out, in the next chapter!