Hey Nuggies! Well I really shouldn't be doing this, but here I am writing another fanfiction since I have writers block on a few of my other ones, and because this won't leave me alone. Here is your warning this will be SLASH! I have decided though that this will not have M!Preg.

Main Pairing: AshxPaul

Rating: M (to be safe)

Chapter Warning(s): Character Death

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon it belongs to Game Freak, Nintendo, Creatures, The Pokemon Company, etc, nor do I write this for profit. This is for entertainment use only!

Please don't forget to head over to A03 for the discord link! You don't need an A03 account to do it.

Enjoy!

"Did They decide if They were coming along?"

Ash looked up, from where he was kneeling to tighten his shoelace, to see Lance standing there without his cape while everyone else was preparing around them. They were all dressed similarly in black combat pants, thick soled black boots that the pants were tucked into, black shirts that were either tank tops, three-fourth sleeves, or fully long sleeved, and a black bag that tied around their waists and rested on their lower backs as well as a durable belt that housed their pokéballs. Ash had kept his gloves on his hands, the ones that helped channel his Aura better, and his black jacket his mother had made from his Granfathers' Aura Cloak. He also had a larger bag on his back, but it was empty at the moment.

"They said that they wouldn't be there. The female Mewtwo had found another location that they were going to go after in Johto, but would be near enough just in case." Ash said as he stood, "They did say that whatever punishment that us humans decide for him will be satisfactory enough for Them. They don't need anything else, but that."

"Okay," Lance said, "we'll be leaving in five. We have a few psychic types that will be teleporting us to the location. Be sure to join Sabrina and Koga before then."

"I will," Ash said as he nodded and watched the man walk away to join his own group. Ash peered around and saw the two he was supposed to join to the side of the field a bit away from everyone else. He walked over and gave the two a slight nod as he ran his hand over his pokéballs on his belt. He was nervous. He hadn't done anything like this before, at least, not to this extent. He didn't know what to expect to happen, but he wasn't expecting to be battling much. Lance, having wanted him on the raid, didn't want someone as young as Ash was on the front line fighting.

The next five minutes crawled by slowly like a Slowpoke crawling on sand and the wait just made Ash more nervous as it went on. At least he had Pikachu on his shoulder to keep his mind elsewhere as the mouse did his best to keep his human calm with the occasional chitter and nuzzle to keep Ashs' attention on him. Then, suddenly the five minutes was up and several Alakazam, Beheeyem, and Gardevoir appeared on the field ready to take them to their destination. Lance had them whenever they needed to get to a destination silently like this raid they were doing. The Helicopters would have alerted everyone before they were even close enough to see the house.

Ash stood still as an Alakazam approached them and gave them a small bow before its eyes began to glow indicating that it was about to use its psychic powers. He took a deep breath and as he exhaled his surroundings suddenly changed from the field they were in to a mixture of forestry and mountains with a large house about a mile away. He followed, as quickly as he could at least, Koga and Sabrina as the two broke away from the group to take the long way around to the back of the house.

The journey there was slow and quiet as the three had to hide a few times, behind bushes and trees, from Rocket Grunts and their pokémon. There were a few that Koga had to knock out as they wouldn't move and Sabrina had used her psychic powers to move the grunts and hide them so their unconscious bodies didn't alert the others that may come around. By the time they had managed to get to their destination the sun had started to poke up over the mountain range around the house.

"This is Koga," the man said into a device that was connected to the others, "we're in position and ready to begin when everyone else is."

"Roger. Just waiting on Lance to notify us when they're in place," Daisy's voice said, coming in through the ear pieces that came with the devices. Ash crouched down and peered around as he used his Aura to keep an 'eye' on what was around them. The wooded area they were in was silent, except for the wind rustling the leaves in the trees, and it was causing Ash to feel hyper aware of the area around them. There was something foul in the atmosphere that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up and his fingers become jittery.

The plan for them, after Lance and the others started their racket, was to enter the house and take out any stragglers as well as locate Giovanni and his Admirals if they hadn't joined the others out in the front. They were also to stop anyone that tried to run and escape from the back. All Ash could hope for was for everything to go smoothly.

"This is Lance. We're beginning in 15 seconds," Lance announced so everyone could get ready to move. Ash took a deep breath and swallowed around the lump in his throat as he began to mentally count down from 15. He saw Koga and Sabrina stand up from where they had crouched and Ash reached back to grab one of his pokéballs so he was ready for anything. A loud boom and a cloud of smoke announced the ending of the countdown and the beginning of the raid.

Shouting picked up from in front of them and a loud alarm blared as the three ran towards the back door just in time to stop a couple of grunts from running out. Ash was in charge of tying up the people that Koga and Sabrina knocked out as well as taking any pokémon they had in their possessions to keep them from escaping. They ran into grunt after grunt and by the time they had gotten to the main part of the house, where the plan was to separate and secure the house, they had taken out and captured fourteen Grunts.

"Ash, you'll take the top most floor and attic, Sabrina the next one up and keep an eye on the main floor for others that may come back or any that might try to escape," Koga said as the three stopped at the bottom of the staircase, "I'll take the basement and then come back to help if you two are not finished with your floors."

Ash nodded and turned to go up the stairs with Sabrina behind him. He was panting by the time he had gotten up to the floor just under the attic and released Gardevoir and Zoroark to walk with him. There were several doors on the floor, most of them being closed, so he went to the closest room to start with his search.

When he entered the room he was surprised to see that it was occupied as there was a grunt laying in the bed under a thick blanket. Ash tip toed closer to the bed and stopped for a moment to observe the grunt, just to make sure that he hadn't made any noise to awaken him. Upon his observation he first noticed that the bedding wasn't moving with his breathing so he inched a bit closer, but couldn't hear any breathing coming out of the grunts' nose. When Ash reached out to press against the grunt's neck, to check for a pulse, he wasn't shocked to feel that the grunt's skin was ice cold and there was no pulse beating beneath his fingers.

Ash gathered the pokéballs that laid on the side table and placed them in his bag before moving on to the next room. The next two rooms were unexpected. Both rooms looked set up to be pokémon nurseries. There were even a few eggs in the rooms and the storage in the room were all filled with everything a baby pokémon could need. He made a mental note to come back to these rooms when the raid was over to retrieve the eggs.

The next room, the bathroom, had a grunt in it so Ash had Gardevoir use Hypnosis to make her fall asleep. He, too, took her pokémon and wondered why she had been in there instead of leaving with the rest. When he began to tie her up he saw what he assumed as to why she didn't run. Her belly was slightly rounded showing that she was pregnant.

He carefully maneuvered her into a slightly more comfortable position before leaving the bathroom only to run into another grunt. The mans' arm shot out and grabbed Ash by the collar of his shirt before tossing Ash to the ground. Ash let out a grunt and stifled a noise of pain as he heard and felt his wrist pop. He quickly turned his head and moved to get up in case the grunt was about to attack him again, but he saw Zoroark pinning the grunt down for Gardevoir to put him to sleep.

"Thanks," Ash said softly as he got up from the floor to grab the grunts' pokémon. He had Zoroark drag the grunt into the bathroom with the other grunt and asked Gardevoir to use Life Dew on him to relieve the pain he was feeling in his wrist. "Let's keep going," he said softly as he closed the bathroom door.

The next two bedrooms were empty, and the last door in the hall led to a staircase to take them up to the attic. Zoroark went first, followed by Ash, and then Gardevoir. The attic, which he had been expecting to be a storage area like most homes had them, was decorated like a bedroom. On one side was a large sleeping area while the other side had pokémon items strewn about like food bowls, blankets, and a few pokémon beds. Ash searched the room for a minute, looking behind furniture, and even opened the balcony door for anyone in the room while his pokémon were on the other side searching for anything.

Hearing Zoroark growl loudly made Ash turn around from where he was moving to the pokémon side of the room to search next. Standing behind them by a door, one that Ash hadn't seen seeing as it was behind a partition that he hadn't looked over yet, was Silver with a gun in his shaking hand. The teen looked a bit different than the picture they had been shown yesterday. The teen in front of him was so skinny and covered in dirt and other substances he didn't want to name. There was a scar running from his right jaw down along his neck and his hair was dirty and matted.

Ash slowly raised his hands as he kept his eyes going back and forth between the gun and Silvers' face. He hushed Zoroark and began to take a few steps forward until he was in front of his illusionist. He would rather get shot than have his pokémon get hurt if this encounter ended up like that.

"It's okay," Ash said softly, "I'm not here to hurt you. You're Silver right?"

Silver licked his chapped lips and nodded, making Ash nod back. "Okay," Ash said, "I'm Ash."

"You're with him aren't you?" Silver asked.

"With who?" Ash asked as he took another step forward.

"Stay back!" Silver yelled and the clear clicking sound indicated that the safety was off on the gun.

"I'll stay right here," Ash said as he felt his heart leap from the sound, "who do you think I'm with?"

"The bastard that dares to call himself my father," Silver replied followed with a look of hatred.

"I'm not with him," Ash said as he shook his head, "I'm helping the people who came here to stop your father, Giovanni, or whatever you want to call him."

Ash watched as Silver studied him for a moment before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and his body fell to the ground with a hard thud. His eyes widened as he ran over and turned Silver over onto his back to make sure he was okay. His breathing was a bit shaky, and his pulse a slight bit fast, but he seemed alright.

"Zoroark," Ash called out to his illusionist, "Get him to medical quickly. Don't leave his side." Zoroark let out a sharp bark before transforming into a Pidgeot and waited until Ash had placed the skinny teen onto his back, and secured him, before taking off out of the window Ash had opened. After they left Ash peeked into the room where Silver had been standing by and saw nothing, but a small closet with a few articles of clothing.

"I think that was all of the grunts on the floors I was assigned to," Ash said to Gardevoir, "I guess we should take the other grunts downstairs." Gardevoir nodded and followed Ash out of the room to gather the grunts. Thankfully moving them was Gardevoirs' job as Ash wouldn't have been able to move everyone down.

Ash had just finished tying the grunts up to the other fourteen they had gotten from before in the main area when Sabrina came down with her own hoard of Grunts. Koga came up a few minutes later and Ash told them about the dead grunt in the first room and then of Silver. He also mentioned the nursery rooms that he wanted to take a longer look at when the raid was over.

"For now we shall join the others outside," Koga said, "now that the building is secured."

"This is Sarge. I got eyes on Giovanni," Sarge said into their earpieces causing Ash to jump at the sudden voice, "I was too late to stop him. He already got into a helicopter and rode off. He used one of his Admirals as a throw away and literally tossed the man out of the helicopter to give himself time to get away."

"Understood," came Lances' reply, "Koga, what's the news about the house."

"Captured twenty-nine grunts with one already dead on arrival and Ash had his Zoroark take Giovanni's son, Silver, to Medical. The kid apparently fainted while he was talking with Ash and is in bad shape. Otherwise everything is calm," Koga said.

"Alright. Everyone, meet up at the house to help transfer the grunts into the area the airlifters will land," Lance said, "they'll be here within the hour."

Ash ignored the confirmation replies after that as he sat down and took a long drink from his water bottle. It didn't wake long for the others to start trickling in with Lance in the front. The man was covered in dirt and there was a trail of blood coming from a cut on his forehead, but otherwise the man seemed to be fine. Brock and Surge came in behind Lance and were merely dirty while Erika, Misty, and Blaine were fully unscathed and fully clean. The Ace trainers trailing behind them seemed to be in full health as well.

"Status report," Lance ordered.

"Sir, no casualties on our side. We've captured a total of two hundred and sixty three grunts, each grunt carrying two to three pokémon, and we've captured one of the Admirals and their pokémon along with Giovanni's own son Silver," an Ace trainer said after taking in count of the grunts Ash and the other two had captured, "There were ten casualties on their side. Other than that the only injuries are a few scratches and bruises."

"Thank you," Lance said as he nodded, "I want a few Gym Leaders to accompany the grunts and the Aces back to the League while the rest of us scour the building."

"We'll go," the Waterflower triplets said in unison with Daisy adding, "We'll take Misty with us as well."

"I will go as well," Erika said as she clasped her hands together in front of her.

Lance nodded, making everyone begin to move without another word. Ash glanced around at the others before moving over to the Waterflowers. He was assured that Zoroark was safe and still with Silver as far as they knew and that Violet will be sure to notify the staff at the League infirmary about Zoroark staying with the other teen until Ash came and got him. With his thanks Ash headed towards the stairs to get another look at the nursery like rooms.

He made sure to at least tell Surge, who was staying in the main room, where he was in case they needed him for anything before he actually went up the stairs. Upon entering the room the first thing he did was look for any documentation for the eggs. There were six eggs between the two rooms, two of which looked to be in horrible condition, but their monitors told him that the fetuses inside were still going strong. Finally locating the folders with the information he quickly put pokémon to egg.

One was a creamy white egg with a couple of teal and purple stripes going through it. A Ponyta from what the paperwork said.

The second was beige in color with two soft pink spots on either side of it. This one was a Meowth, most likely from Giovannis' own Persian, and the first egg that didn't look good.

The third was green all over with circles of red and blue over it. It was a Budew egg, and the second egg that didn't look so well.

The fourth egg was completely bone white with a splotch of black towards the top of the egg. The paper said that it was an Absol egg.

The fifth egg was small and an olive green all over with no other colors. An Axew egg from what the paper said.

The last egg was quite large, almost twice the size of Absol's egg, and was gray with splashes of gold and black throughout it. The paper said that it was a Jangmo-o egg.

Finally knowing what the eggs were, Ash went searching for incubators to put them in and a basket so he could carry them all down to the others. The basket was pretty heavy, but he managed to go down, with a few stops to catch his breath and let his arms rest, and placed the basket on a table. He started to move each egg out of the basket and placed them in order they were upstairs so everyone could see them fully. He also took out the folders from the basket and held them for a moment.

He ignored the looks the others were sending him as he placed the basket on the ground and scooted it under the table with his foot to keep it out of the way. Ash then turned towards the others and beckoned them to come closer.

"I found these eggs earlier upstairs," Ash said once they were close enough, "they have papers as well so we know what is in each egg and who parented them. I wasn't sure what to do with them since they're just eggs and don't need any rehabilitation like the other Rocket's pokémon."

"Hmm," Lance hummed as he looked over the papers Ash had handed to him, "Are you wanting one?"

Ash looked at Lance then back at the eggs. Of course he wanted one, but he did have two babies at home already and he didn't need a new one anytime soon. But the Bug types were known for growing quickly. Thinking he was taking too long to answer Lance he mentally counted down in his head to give himself that amount of time to answer without second guessing himself.

"Yes," he said as he nodded, "I'll take whoever is last."

Lance nodded and gestured for the others to see if they wanted any of the pokémon in the eggs. Sabrina took the Ponyta and the Budew stating that she would give it to Erika since she was more knowledgeable about the grass types and could help it if it came out with a birth defect. Blaine took the Meowth as his granddaughter wanted one for when she became a trainer. The Absol was taken by Brock who knew of someone that lived in the mountains between Pewter and Rota and could give the egg to them as Absol preferred to live away from humans. Surge didn't want one and there were no water types for the Waterflower sisters. Koga also said he was uninterested in another pokémon as he was close to retirement and perfectly happy with his team as it is.

Lance looked between the last two eggs and grabbed the Axew egg. Ash handed everyone their appropriate folders with the information on their eggs, giving Sabrina the Budew folder to give Erika, before picking up the largest egg. He wasn't familiar with the Jangmo-o line, but he was looking forward to getting to know it. He carefully placed the egg in his bag, now empty after an Ace Trainer emptied it of the pokéballs, before standing up once more.

"What are we doing now?" Ash asked Lance as he saw the other scatter and sit down in various places.

"Just waiting for the searching teams to get here then we can go," Lance said, "they'll scour every inch of this place and pick it to its bare bones."

Ash nodded, but something didn't feel right. Whatever he was feeling was making his stomach churn and his muscles to tense up. "I want to go into the basement," Ash told him silently, "something doesn't feel right." He sent a certain look at the Champion unknowingly flashing his Aura filled eyes.

Lance looked at Ash for a moment and seeing as the teens eyes were glowing blue a bit, as opposed to his usual reddish amber, he conceded and decided to go with the teen. He hadn't seen Ash's eyes do that before and he wanted answers. "I'll go with you just in case," Lance said, "we can leave the eggs here for the time being while we look."

"Okay," Ash said as he walked over to the couch and carefully placed his bag on it with Lance placing his egg beside the bag. Ash bee-lined for the basement door while Lance told Surge where they were going in case they weren't back before the search teams arrived. Ash quickly went down the stairs, after turning the lights on, and sneezed as he reached the bottom as the dust in the air tickled his nose. The basement was filled with furniture covered in white, dust covered sheets and boxes that were also covered in dust. He waited where he was for Lance to catch up and just looked around where he was for the moment.

"So why were your eyes glowing?" Lance asked, catching Ash off guard with the question.

"Aura," Ash said, seeing no reason to lie.

"Aura?" Lance asked as they walked further into the basement.

"Mhmm," Ash hummed in confirmation as he lifted a few of the sheets only to see old furniture under them.

"And your Aura is what told you that something didn't feel right?" Lance questioned.

"Yeah," he replied, "I'm able to sense emotions and such from living beings, flora and fauna I mean. There's still something here that is letting off an amalgamation of emotions that is setting off my flight or fight sense. Seeing as we are dealing with Team Rocket I wouldn't put it past them to put a lab under this house and that is where the feeling is coming from."

"So like another Mewtwo," Lance said as he nodded in understanding. He knew of Aura, of course living so close to Rota, and having a history buff for a Champion colleague, was helpful in that regard.

"Like another Mewtwo," Ash copied as he scoured the walls. He pressed his hands in various places and even pulled at dusty books on a shelf in the back of the basement until he managed to shift something under his hand. A loud click sounded throughout the basement causing Lance to stop what he was doing a few feet away and walk closer to Ash as the wall seemed to cave into itself and slide away. Ash flipped a switch he had seen inside of the now opened staircase causing light to flood the previously darkened stairs.

Ash took a look at Lance, who nodded, and stepped forward onto the first step. Walking down seemed to take forever and he could only hope that there was an elevator or something down there that could take them up. But as they seemed to get closer to the bottom the more Ash could sense the feelings the creature was emitting and the clearer they got.

"Whatever is down here is scared," Ash whispered as if he were afraid to startle anything down here and break the silence that had fallen between the two, "in pain, and tired. Like a deep seated tired that rests in the bones."

The room they had ended up in, after finally reaching the bottom of the stairs, was a lab like Ash had suspected. There were desks and papers scattered everywhere along with a couple of computers and a machine that kept making noise. There were vials and beakers on the desks and a dead scientist in the back corner of the room. It looked as though the scientist had taken her own life when the raid started.

In the very middle of the room was a large cylindrical chamber, floor to ceiling, that held a very familiar looking being. The creature inside of the chamber was small, like half the size of an Ekans from ear tip to tail tip. Its body features were more similar to his Mewtwo than the other two Mewtwo out there. It had a few differences like the gem in the middle of its forehead and what looked like small horn nubs on either side of it. Its paws were four fingered and its tail ended in a point as opposed to a rounded tip. Its coloration was white, instead the gray the others were, and red where his Mewtwo was purple.

"Oh Arceus," Ash said a bit breathlessly as he walked closer.

"There was another one," Lance said as he stepped up beside Ash. Ash nodded and placed his hand on the cold glass. He closed his eyes and reached out with his Aura to see if he could calm the fearpaintired that the creature was emitting. He must have stood there for almost half an hour before he was able to get a response from the creature, and missed seeing the creature open its eyes for just a moment as his own were still closed.

"Who… are… you?" came the slow answer. Their voice was soft, child-like.

"My name is Ash," he said out loud knowing that the creature was able to hear him. His Mewtwo had told him that They had been able to hear through the glass, even at Their worst, when They had been in one of these before. "The other man in the room is Lance."

"Why… are you… here?"

"To stop the man that put you here," Ash answered honestly, "but he got away."

"Oh… can… you… help me?" it asked softly.

"To get you out?"

"Yes."

"I can get you out," Ash said as he nodded, but before he could retract his hand the creature reached out again.

"You must…know… that after I… get… out… I… will not… live… long," the creature said softly, causing Ashs' eyes to fly open and look up at the creature only to see that its red eyes were focused on him, "Will… you… take me… outside? I… want to… feel the… warmth… on my… skin… See… the outside… for… the first… time…"

Ash took a deep breath and nodded. Of course he could take this creature outside. It would be the least he could do. Ash kept his hand on the glass as he looked around and saw a red button near the machine. He pressed it and a loud noise sounded through the room as the green liquid the creature was suspended in was drained. Once the liquid was gone the glass split itself down the middle and opened up as the machine holding the small creature lowered to Ashs' height.

Not caring about getting wet Ash reached in without hesitating and began to take out all of the tubes connected to the creature. He kept the oxygen mask on it and cradled the cold body against his own. He could feel the creature shakily breathing against him as he released Gardevoir to take them up to the main room.

He ignored the looks and words of the others in the room as he very calmly went outside. He could feel the tiny Mewtwo's heartbeat as if it were his own as they neared the doors. He heard Lance behind him trying to stop the others and tried to keep them quiet as he stepped outside.

The sun was high in the sky by now and so warm. There was a soft breeze that cause both him and the Mewtwo to shiver as it made the liquid they were covered in become colder against their skin. Ash walked down the steps of the house and came to a stop when he was in the middle of the yard. He knelt and let the Mewtwo's tail rest on the ground and felt its heartbeat skip against his arm. The Mewtwo opened its eyes, they were a bright red like a topaz in the sun, and Ash could see the astonishment as it took in their surroundings.

"It's… beautiful," Ash heard the small Mewtwo say softly in his head, "Just like… I… had hoped… Thank you."

"It's the least I could do," Ash said softly and felt its heartbeat begin to slow and saw how hard the Mewtwo tried to take a breath. Hearing a soft footstep beside him, Ash looked up and saw his Mewtwo standing there just out of the smaller Mewtwos' vision. He gave Mewtwo a sad look and shook his head to which his Mewtwo nodded and took a step forward before kneeling beside the two.

"You can rest now," His Mewtwo said in an unexpectedly soft tone to both of them, "The man that did this to you will be punished."

Ash nodded in agreement and swore on Arceus that he wouldn't rest until Giovanni was captured. The man would rue the day that had ever thought to do something like this. Ash reached up and ran his fingers along the smaller Mewtwo's jawline and traced it up to his ear where he gave it a soft scratch. His lips turned up in a soft shaky smile as he heard a soft purr coming from the creature in his arms.

"I promise," Ash said softly, "I'll find him. I'll make him pay for what he has done to all of you."

"Thank you," the smaller Mewtwo said again just before his eyes closed and his body grew heavier in his arms. Ash waited until he couldn't feel a heartbeat any longer before he let the tears that had been gathering in his eyes fall down his cheeks. He breathed in a shuddering breath as he felt a warm paw on his shoulder. They had been too late to save this one.

He swore there would never be another one like this.