Pikachu gritted his teeth as he let loose another Thundershock. He was tiring, and using the lesser move rather than the superior moves Thunder and Thunderbolt, since they took more energy.
The Vaporeon was still getting back-up from the Sandshrew, who kept burrowing underground and hitting Pikachu, who in turn tried to run back and forth to avoid the Pokémon.
Ash was shouting encouragements to all of his Pokémon, casting a tender eye on Pikachu at random times, and searching relentlessly for Devon and Mewtwo.
Giovanni was merely surveying the battle with an experienced eye, and he noted with some surprise that not only were the Legendaries holding their own, but the human-trained Pokémon not owned by him were also fiercely refusing to give up their ground.
Brock's Vulpix was Flamethrowing a perturbed Venusaur, who whipped out its vines and tried to secure the Fire-type to the ground.
Misty's Psyduck waddled over to the Venusaur and tilted his head. "Psy?"
Smirking, the evil Venusaur released Vulpix, who looked surprised, and smacked Psyduck across the head with a vine.
"Duck!" the Water-type squawked, falling over on to the ground.
Humored, the Venusaur started swatting at him again with its vines, failing to notice that the bird's eyes were glowing.
"DUCK!" Psyduck shouted, as it sent a powerful Psychic to the stunned Venusaur, hitting its weakness and causing it to faint.
"Vul!" Brock's fox Pokémon purred, and she went prancing off to help Pikachu get rid of the persistent Sandshrew whose powers exceeded its evolutionary level.
Brock's Zubat had confused the Dugtrio that had been giving Pikachu problems earlier, and the Ground-Type had gone out of control, attacking Pokémon on its own side until Giovanni finally recalled it.
Meowth stayed carefully out of harm's way, scanning the gym for a certain Normal-type Pokémon. Finally, he found it rolling Brock's Geodude across the floor as if it were a ball of yarn.
Determinedly, Meowth trotted over to the Persian, coming from behind. With an angry glare, he slashed his claws across the cat's back.
Letting out a scream of pain, Persian turned around and batted at Meowth, who avoided the attack and used Tail Whip.
Soon the two were locked in a brawl, and Brock's Geodude went bumbling away towards an angry Pidgeot, hitting it with a Rock-Type attack.
Jessie and James had reluctantly let out their Pokémon, and after James was temporarily engulfed by Victreebel their Pokémon did pretty well against Giovanni's.
Weezing was having a fun time bombarding Steelix with toxic sludge, and Arbok was happily attacking a Raichu.
After having shunned their Team Rocket uniforms and donned cheerleader outfits, complete with pom-poms, James and Jessie were cheering various things such as, "Go Weezing, Go Arbok! Kick their butts and make them squawk! Go Victree, go Licki, smack them hard and make them scream!"
Meanwhile, Moltres and Articuno had paired together in fighting against a Blastoise and a fiery Magcargo.
Although the opposing Pokémon were able to easily hit their weaknesses, Articuno and Moltres held them at bay efficiently. Being able to fly was an advantage that they readily used to avoid the streams of water and spurts of fire.
In unison, the two birds sent a wave of ice and fire towards their enemies, causing them to be pushed back a few feet. Looking satisfied, Articuno and Moltres continued their assault.
Zapdos sneered at them, as he sent a few Thundershocks towards a Xatu that was attacking Ash's Bulbasaur, causing the Psychic-Type to turn towards him, mad as Beedrill that was driven from its nest.
It Teleported over to him and surprised him by instantly sending a barrage of attacks towards him.
Lugia, who had been battling with an Umbreon, was instantly by the Electric-Type's side to sweep away the vicious bird.
Zapdos didn't even mumble thanks, since it wasn't his way and would wreck his reputation, but Lugia understood nevertheless and went back to using bird moves to defeat the Dark-Type.
Ho-oh was battering a Vileplume with Fire moves and absent-mindedly swatting aside a frustrated Dewgong's water attacks.
Dragonite seemed at peace, hitting random Pokémon with Hyper Beams, and avoiding all other attacks. Dratini tried to stay near him, every now and then using Toxic and Wrap on a Pokémon, an effective way to make a Pokémon faint with an abundance of patience.
Dragonair was having fun toying with an annoyed Flareon, and the three Legendary Dogs were scrambling to and fro, making sure none of the humans' Pokémon got hurt, or their fellow Legendaries, or the Dragons.
No one was sure how much time had passed by, but for the three anxious Mews it seemed like an eternity. They had finally given up on searching, and started to battle.
None of them noticed the two pairs of glinting eyes that suddenly appeared in the shadows, nor the two figures which slowly floated forward.
Mewtwo smiled maliciously. It appeared that Devon's brothers and sister had finally let down their guard, and now it was time for Giovanni's top two Pokémon to attack.
But what Giovanni didn't know was that Mewtwo was not fighting for him. The cloned Psychic-type knew that he was best off staying with the Team Rocket leader until he had gotten as strong as possible under the mere human's instruction, but then he would break off from him and set out to rule the world.
But before this goal could be achieved, he had to get rid of his most prominent enemies. He could try to take on all of his "successors" at once, but it would be easiest if he and Devon got rid of the three despicably kind Mews together, and then he and Devon had their deciding battle.
For both of them hated each other passionately and knew that they both stood in each other's way on their ascent to the top.
But before they were to have their stand-off, which Mewtwo was sure he would win, they would extinguish all other obstacles.
As they were about to do.
For Giovanni had sent them the secret signal, and they were ready to attack.
Devon threw an inconspicuous side-ways look towards his "companion" and received a sinister nod.
The shadows covered their faces as they exited their hiding place, and, quietly, they Teleported behind Mewsie, Lelia, and Cat, who were all engaged in battle, although their hearts weren't in it.
Simultaneously, they sprung up protective bubbles around themselves and attacked without warning, Mewtwo ramming into two of the enemy Mews, and Devon into one.
Needless to say, the trio was caught by surprise, and they were rammed painfully into the floor by their assailants.
Rolling quickly over, Cat's stunned, hurt eyes met her brother's cold, heartless ones.
Yes, it was true. This was an incredibly different circumstance than they had experienced when being snatched and dumped into a hot air balloon.
The grounded Mews rose ominously into the air, and for a moment all of the battles ceased, and all eyes were on the floating Psychic-Types as they glared at each other, before all Barriers were up, and their battle began.
Mewtwo bumped up against Mewsie and Lelia, then sent a Psychic attack their way as Devon battled with Cat, who had just transformed into Mewtwo and had a mocking face on.
Perturbed, Devon Pounded Cat, who sent back a fierce Blizzard.
Mewtwo hit Mewsie and Lelia with Thunder, and they retaliated with Hydro Pump.
When the other Pokémon saw the powerful Psychic-Types fighting it encouraged them to continue. And continue they did.
Mewtwo sneered as he sent out a kinetic ball at Cat, whom he was openly perturbed at more than the others. The Mews were all pathetically weak, but some force of nature kept them going, even after any ordinary Pokémon would have given up after the first blow. Mewtwo sent even more Special attacks out, and though the others reeled momentarily, they seemed determined to win.
But, Mewtwo reflected, it didn't seem like they wanted to win for themselves. No, they appeared to be fighting for something much more abstract than that.
Perhaps the pathetic thing they thought of as justice?
Mewtwo gave a mental nod. That was probably it. Pokémon that were influenced by weak trainers tended to be more emotionally-oriented in their goals. And those aims were usually for something that meant nothing when one broke it down.
But Mewtwo had a solid goal. He was the only one fit enough to take over the world, exterminate the humans like the pests they were, and put Pokémon in their proper place as the dominant ones.
Mewtwo fought with even more power than before, as he was suddenly revitalized by his moment of thought.
Ash stared wide-eyed at the entangled group of floating Psychic Pokémon. Their battle was a fascinating sight. Colorful light reflected from several different attacks played across the stadium, eyes flashed with moods, and it was easily apparent to him which Mewtwo was on his side.
For the true Mewtwo was sending attacks in all directions, bombarding the others with mostly Special moves.
But although the Mews were holding their own rather well, Ash had a gut-feeling that if something didn't happen soon, Giovanni would win.