Chapter eight
The second best
Viridian Forest clanged with the sounds of battle. Pokemon struggled against Pokemon, the battle lines extensive and disorderly. On one side, two trainers directed the wild Pokemon, trying to help them fight more effectively. On the other, Team Rocket grunts released their captive Pokemon from their balls and sent them to attack.
Behind the second line stood Giovanni, gesturing and shouting. "Keep it up, soldiers!" he shouted. "Drive into their right flank, it's almost broken!"
"Please, boss," a slouching grunt said to him, "can't we take a break? We've been pushing through this forest for two hours. You said it would fall in minutes."
"It would've, if you goons had any kind of drive!" Giovanni retorted. "I keep telling you to press onward, and you let me down time and again!"
"But what's the point, sir?" the grunt whined, not even bothering to add a 'respectfully' onto the start of his remark. "It's just a crummy forest in the middle of nowhere."
Giovanni gritted his teeth. "You weren't paying attention during the briefing, were you?"
The grunt didn't even have the energy to be frightened. "Guess not," he said.
Giovanni scowled. He looked at all his other soldiers, who were all basically doing nothing while their Pokemon fought for them. "All right, listen up!" he roared. About half of them turned their heads. "I'm gonna explain this loud enough for all of you to hear it, since I'm guessing you're all as worthless as this guy!" he shouted, pointing at the grunt who had questioned him. "We're attacking this 'crummy forest' because Oak's lab is on the other side of it! With his research, we'll know exactly which Pokemon to use to conquer Kanto!"
Another grunt sighed. "Great, so our reward is we get to read some textbooks."
"You shut up!" Giovanni snarled at her. "Do you think conquering the world is easy? It takes hard work and skill, something you louts wouldn't know about if you had it dumped all over your-"
"Giovanni!"
He snapped out of his rant and looked across the battlefield. A grey and purple figure was flying towards him, cloaked in a dark aura.
Giovanni smiled. "Knew you'd show up eventually," he said, pulling out two Pokeballs.
Mewtwo charged through enemy lines, scattering any grunts in his way. "Stop this madness at once!" he thundered.
"I think not," the mob boss said with a smirk. He threw the Pokeballs, releasing a pair of Alakazams. They raised their arms, and together were enough to halt Mewtwo's advance.
"You're a bit late," Giovanni said to the figure hovering before him. "My conquest has been going on for two weeks now."
"I care not about the scuffles of humans," Mewtwo said, "until they spill over to Pokemon. I will not have you rule over them."
Giovanni chuckled. "I don't want to rule over Pokemon," he said. "I want to rule over people, using Pokemon. You've attempted to do exactly the same in the past."
"I don't care much for your false equivalencies," Mewtwo said. "I fight for the freedom of Pokemon, an idea that you are the antithesis of."
"Come now," Giovanni said. "Where would we be without Pokemon?"
"You could've conquered Kanto by now if you focused on the humans. Surely you've seen it too – the wave of paralyzing apathy that's swept the human world."
"I thought you didn't care about us humans," Giovanni sneered.
"It's impossible not to notice. Foot traffic through this forest has dropped to non-existent. No cars, cyclists, or pedestrians travel from town to town. Saffron City has fallen silent – all the humans do is stay in their homes. It's the perfect time to expand your reach – but you don't need to enslave Pokemon for that!"
"It's a matter of insurance," Giovanni said. "They may all be preoccupied now, but it won't last forever. Provide an opposing force, and eventually people will take action." He looked around and grinned. "Case in point," he said, gesturing widely.
Mewtwo looked around. The Rocket grunts, momentarily stunned by his appearance, were now in motion. Those few with psychic Pokemon of their own released them, joining their forces with the twin Alakazams keeping him at bay. The two young trainers were moving in his direction, trying to provide Mewtwo aid, but now a squad of grunts moved to block their path. Still more grunts looked on, cheering for their boss and displaying an energy that had, until recently, been absent.
Giovanni laughed. "I must thank you, Mewtwo," he said. "You've done something no speech of mine could do – you motivated these clowns to take things seriously! Now we have the drive we need to push onward!"
Mewtwo intensified his psychic attack, but with so many Pokemon now opposing him, he found it difficult to gain ground. What had been a loose gang of listless thugs was rapidly shaping into an army.
"Why you, Giovanni?" Mewtwo demanded. "Every human in this region has been paralyzed by inaction for months now, except you. How have you kept your energy?"
"Because I, Giovanni, have a dream," the mob boss replied with a laugh. "A dream that I will hold this world in the palm of my hand. And there's nothing in this world that can stop me!"
Suddenly, they heard a low rumbling noise above their heads. Humans and Pokemon alike stopped their battles and looked up. What little light had managed to trickle through the dense forest canopy was now blotted out, and a flurry of dark-purple dust began to drift down over the crowd.
Mewtwo turned to Giovanni. "What is this?" he demanded, apprehensively looking at the falling dark particles. "Some new treachery? Or is this how you create Shadow Pokemon?"
"This…isn't me," Giovanni said, just as spooked by the stuff as Mewtwo.
A grunt ran up. "Boss!" he shouted, out of breath. "There's an airship that just flew over the forest!"
"An airship?" Giovanni repeated. "Is it Hunter J? The Societea?"
"No, sir," the grunt said. "I've never seen it before. It's got a bunch of guns and a…a mask on the front!"
"What?" Giovanni said. "Why would an airship wear a mask?"
Mewtwo chuckled. "It seems the cavalry has come," he said. "But not for you."
The dark particles collected into clouds, then swarmed towards the Rocket goons. The quicker ones directed their Pokemon to attack it, but their attacks had no effect. The clouds engulfed the goons, covering every inch of their bodies, then retreated just as quickly. The affected grunts patted themselves all over, not feeling any effects from the attacks. Then they looked at what the clouds were becoming, and gasped.
The clouds morphed into clones of the grunts, identical but for a dark purple aura and empty eyes. They grinned wickedly, then raced forward, charging at the real grunts. The first one threw out a haymaker, clocking her double in the jaw. A fist fight broke out between the copies and the originals.
Giovanni started, dumbfounded, at the scene. "What the fuck?" he wondered aloud. He shook himself and tried to regain control of the situation. "Don't just stand there!" he shouted. "Fight back! Use your Pokemon!"
But their Pokemon just stood there, unsure of what to do. They couldn't distinguish friend from foe, not having developed any kind of bond with their handlers that might've helped. To add to the confusion, even the real Rocket grunts still had hints of purple on them, with some of the particles still clinging to them. Combined with their black uniforms, it was almost an impossible task. Even some of the grunts were confused, accidentally slugging each other by mistake. The battlefield had erupted into chaos, with Pokemon watching humans fight instead of the other way around.
Giovanni, scowling, turned back to Mewtwo. With a command, his Pokemon intensified their psychic attacks, sending a sharp pain through Mewtwo's head. "What is this?" Giovanni demanded. "Tell me! I know you know what's going on!"
Mewtwo didn't falter. He smiled right back into the human's scowl. "Some old friends."
THUD
They both wheeled around. Something had crashed through the trees and landed right behind them. They watched as, from a newly-formed crater, an armored figure emerged.
"Hello there, Mewtwo," Samus said. Even though the power armor, her smile was clear. "Nice to see you again."
That was all Giovanni needed. He threw down an Ultra ball, and out burst a Machamp. "Get him!" Giovanni shouted, pointing at Samus.
Samus had just enough time for a wry chuckle before Machamp leapt forward, lacing all twenty of its fingers together into a gigantic fist and slamming down. Samus dodged and peppered it with a series of laser blasts, jumping away once again to dodge a swipe from the hulking Pokemon.
Giovanni was devoting all of his attention to directing Machamp, which meant the Alakazams were unsupervised. Mewtwo took advantage of this, launching a hypnotic ray at the first. Before it could react, it had fallen fast asleep. The other Alakazam was quicker on the uptake, and fired a psywave, which Mewtwo then neutralized. "I would rather not fight you," he said. "But I am more than capable of it."
Samus launched a missile at the Machamp, aiming for its leg. It impacted, but rather than slowing it down, it seemed to spur the beast forward, roaring with rage. A titanic fist clipped her helmet, and she flew backwards, catapulted away by a brick-breaking force. Samus struggled to her feet, but the Machamp was charging at her again. Frantically, she pulled out a smoke bomb and threw it at her feet. It obscured her in a cloud of thick white smoke, but this didn't seem to deter the Pokemon – how could it miss the power suit, after all?
It swung a fist, and this time it collided directly with her visor. The glass cracked with a crunch so loud Samus thought she might go deaf from it, and once again her suit was launched, flying out of the cloud and landing back-down. Machamp was on it in an instant, kneeling over the suit and unleashing a barrage of punches. All four fists slammed into it, denting and cracking the suit as if it were made of plastic.
"What're you punching, big guy?" someone whispered into Machamp's ear.
Machamp wheeled around. Samus stood there, half-obscured in the smoke still. As the Pokemon's eyes widened, she fired her stun pistol directly into its temple. It twitched, then collapsed, falling onto the empty power suit. After a quick check of its pulse to confirm it was down, she turned her attention to Giovanni.
Giovanni fumbled around in his pockets, looking for more Pokeballs. "Who are you?" he asked frantically, backing away. "How did you do that? Why are you helping these animals?"
Samus chuckled, holstering her pistol. "Don't worry your pretty little head about it," she said. She leapt through the air in a backflip, then kicked hard on her way down.
Whap
Giovanni went down like a sack of bricks, not even conscious for long enough to reach his hand to his head. Samus dusted herself off.
"Are you injured, miss Aran?" Mewtwo asked, having incapacitated his own foes.
"Oh, just a teeny headache," she said, rubbing the side of her head. She looked down at her power suit, crumpled beneath the Machamp's unconscious body
"Here, allow me," Mewtwo said. He gently lifted the Machamp up and placed it to the side. "I must say I am impressed. I knew you were a formidable fighter, but to singlehandedly knock out a Machamp is no mean feat."
"It was no big deal," she said, washing her hand dismissively. "I've beaten things with twice as many arms before. Still, he put up a good fight."
Mewtwo examined the creature. "Actually, I believe this particular Machamp is a female."
Samus looked with surprise at the hulking body. "No kidding? Well, there's a lesson in that, I guess."
The fighting raged on around them, the grunts seemingly too occupied to notice their boss had fallen. A cloud of purple smoke approached Giovanni's body, swarming over it.
"What are these things?" Mewtwo asked, regarding them with guarded curiosity.
"Shadow bugs," Samus explained. "Game & Watch produces these things. They can form shadow clones of any lifeform they've been exposed to, and several lifeforms I haven't seen anywhere else."
"Game & Watch makes these?" Mewtwo said incredulously. "How?"
"He hasn't said," Samus said.
"I see." Mewtwo looked at the fighting armies. "So you commanded these bugs to only mimic the humans?"
"We did," Samus said. "The Pokemon might've been stronger, but Zelda wanted to avoid casualties from them. If there was to be confusion, it should only be at the expense of team Rocket."
"She is wise," Mewtwo said. He looked around. "You've assembled the Smash fighters, then, in part or in whole. Where are the others?"
"Still on the ship. MK said the best strategy would be to let them fight it out, to avoid casualties on our side. I convinced them that I should come down to at least let you know what was going on." She bowed her head, them chuckled. "Besides, I had more skin in the game than them to begin with."
"Pika Pi!"
As if on cue, a young Pikachu burst out of the melange of assembled Pokemon. Not just a Pikachu, but the Pikachu.
Samus smiled. She offered a reserved wave. "Hey, buddy," she said. "Long time, no see."
Pikachu showed no such restraint. He leapt into the air, barreling forward. Samus outstretched her arms to catch him. He landed squarely in her arms, then nuzzled against her chest happily. No amount of restraint in the world could prevent it from turning into a hug.
"Ah, yes," Mewtwo said, emotions masked. "That one has missed you sorely in recent months. It is good to see him recover his verve."
"Retreat! Come on, you lazy ladies, fall back!"
Mewtwo and Pikachu jumped, but Samus merely smirked. The voice was Giovanni's, but the crime lord himself was still out cold. A shadowy double now stood behind enemy lines, barking orders to the grunts.
"Are you sure, boss?" a grunt asked skeptically. "You were the one saying we needed to-"
"You bet your ass I'm sure!" Fauxvanni roared. "Now get back to base, you mangy Magikarps, or I'll dock all of your pay!"
"That's our boss, all right," another grunt said. The goons, happy to have an excuse to give up, all began to fall into retreat, some of them retrieving their Pokemon but others not even bothering. Fauxvanni led them out of the forest, disappearing in the dense foliage with 'his' army in tow.
Samus watched them go with satisfaction. "Just like the Pied Piper," she muttered to herself.
"A brilliant strategy," Mewtwo said approvingly. "How long do these Shadow clones last?"
Samus shrugged. "Never had the chance to figure out," she said. "He'll stick around, giving bad orders to those clueless goons, until either they figure out he's an imposter, or he dissolves into purple goop. Either way, it should demoralize them a fair amount."
"Indeed." Mewtwo looked down. "Then there's just one loose end to take care of." He snapped his fingers, and the unconscious body of the real Giovanni vanished.
"Where'd you send him?" Samus asked.
"A state penitentiary, where he will resume the life sentence he escaped from," Mewtwo said. "There, perhaps, the malaise that blankets the countryside may find him yet."
"I had been meaning to ask about that," Samus said. "We've all been feeling that same malaise. In every world we've gone to so far, this was the only one we didn't find sleepy and lifeless."
"You can thank him for that," Mewtwo said. "This world only roiled with battle because he wished it so, and he only lasted as long as he did because the rest of the humans could not muster the same passion."
"Really?" Samus said, scratching Pikachu's head unconsciously. "Interesting…"
She pondered this for a moment, but abandoned her train of thought. "Well, I'm sure brighter minds than mine will figure out what that means." She turned to Mewtwo. "Can we count on you and all the other Pokemon to return for this Smash?"
"Most certainly. Thanks to this battle, I believe Team Rocket is no longer a great enough threat to require my presence. The Pokemon are in the debt of the Smash fighters, and by dispatching your opponent with non-lethal means, you have earned my respect. We shall depart as soon as possible."
"Great, I'll call the ship," Samus said. As she pulled out her phone, Mewtwo hovered over to the two Pokemon trainers who had helped, informing them of the situation.
Pikachu, upset that he was no longer getting his head scratches, pawed at her, demanding attention. Samus held the phone with her shoulder, then resumed attending to Pikachu.
"I missed you too, pal," she said as the phone rang. "You wouldn't much like it in space, I'm afraid. Away from all your friends, in the cold, black void. But I will enjoy this time we have together."
"Pika," he replied, seeming content.
And so, with her old friend in hand, she waited for her companions to pick her up, and enjoyed the companionship that she knew couldn't last.
