This is the third of three chapters today.


"What do you plan to do to us?" Professor Yung asked the Mirage Master, adjusting the scan slightly to keep it moving efficiently. "You'll have your data. What then?"

"There is no reason to do anything other than allow you to live," the Mirage Master stated. "Your laboratory will have to be destroyed."

At a silent command, one of the Mirage Pokémon checked on first Ash, then Lucario, then the other unconscious Pokémon.

"You have no means of tracking my escape," the Mirage Master went on – then stopped. "Unexpected occurrence."

There was a tremor.

"Did anyone else feel that?" Max asked.

"I did," Brock spoke up. "But earthquakes don't feel like that."

The ground shook again, making the lights sway.

"What is it?" May said. "What's happening?"

"Tell her!" Yung said. "What's going on?"

"A new Pokémon has appeared," the Mirage Master stated. "Designation:-"

The ceiling tore off with a grinding, cracking heave of concrete and rebar.

I hope I am not late, a powerful psychic voice announced, as Mewtwo levitated down through the lab's ceiling. A blue aura crackled around him, and he batted both Mirage Alakazam into the wall with a burst of sheer psychic energy.

"Mewtwo?" Misty said. "I'm not complaining or anything, but – uh… how did you get here?"

A very brave young Kirlia, Mewtwo replied. Now-

"Stop him!" Yung interrupted, turning directly to the Mirage Master. "Override code S-2 – stop that Mewtwo from interfering!"

"Override!?" Professor Oak spluttered.

"By your command," the Mirage Master announced. He took one step, and then flew straight at Mewtwo.

There was a whoosh of air, followed a moment later by a crackling BANG as the two went straight through the corner of the lab room. Bits of structure went everywhere.

"What the-" Brock asked, lost completely, as the two hurtled into the air – separating now, the cloaked figure and Mewtwo halting a dozen or so yards apart. "I don't think even Ash can do that!"

They saw the Mirage Master raise an arm, and a blast of purple-black energy roared out towards the surprised Mewtwo – who countered with a Light Screen globe, shedding the worst of the Dark Pulse before replying with a blast of pure psychic might.

The Mirage Master was all but unaffected by the wave of force, but it did make the cloak shred into a hundred pieces – revealing the identity of the Mirage Master. A Pokémon, one with a familiar body and long, purple tail.

"Another Mewtwo?" Max said.

"No," May denied, as the other Mewtwo took a storm of heavy Shadow Balls from Ash's Mewtwo and replied with an Origin Pulse. "Professor, I think-"

"So do I," Professor Oak agreed. "That is a Mirage Mewtwo – and that means only one thing."

He addressed Professor Yung directly. "There never was a Mirage Master, was there? That was all you."

Yung looked indignant. "Oak, if you're going to lecture me-"

"That shouldn't be a concern!" Professor Oak retaliated. "It's not a matter of lectures or anything like that. You faked this whole attack – and for what?"

"Information, of course," Yung shot back. "Do you realize? For years I've been trying to get enough data to make the Mirage System the perfect tool it can be-"

There was an explosion overhead, one powerful enough to send loose papers swirling around the lab and knock some small pieces of equipment over.

Yung retrieved his data pad, swiping away the lock-out, and had the Mirage Alakazam establish a shield over the hole in the roof.

"You're crazy!" May said. "And I don't mean that as an insult – I mean that you've literally decided to mount some kind of crazy fake supervillain attack on your own lab!"

"Supervillain," Yung repeated. "You see, this young lady gets it exactly. The whole idea is that the attack, my excuse for getting all this data – the data I need for the Mirage System, and which nobody will allow me to get – is not my fault. The Mirage Master gets the blame, and then causes some damage, and then months later I stop him with my own version of the system. And I have all the data I wanted, and they hail me as a hero – like they always should have."

"My sister's right," Max pronounced. "You are basically a supervillain. Why do all super-scientists seem to be evil?"

Oak coughed. "Excuse me?"

"What I don't get is why you didn't just ask for the help you wanted," May said.

"I have to agree," Professor Oak said. "There's no excuse for taking this path. You saw how impressed we all were with the Mirage System – you could have got the recognition you wanted legally."

"I tried!" Yung snapped. "But my first iteration was a laughingstock – it wouldn't fight! They mocked the greatest breakthrough in Pokémon science since the Pokéball itself – the way to create new, custom Pokémon! But I will show you all!"

"...wait..." Max said, in worried tones. "You just explained your plan to us… isn't that a problem?"

"I'm sure M-002 will be glad to clean up any loose ends," Yung replied.


Mewtwo was not having a good day.

He'd expected to turn up and sort everything out, like he did every time Ash got into serious trouble – from the Unown to the Comet – and so he'd arrived ready for a fight.

Then the cloaked figure had body-checked him through the building, and he'd been hit with a Dark Pulse. His attempt to teleport to the side had really raised the alarm, when it didn't work – then he'd discovered just what he was fighting.

And things had gone downhill from there.

The Psychic-type shot skywards, trying to get as far as he could before the Mean Look effect began punishing him, then fired back a blast of Fire-typed Aura at his pursuer. It had caught the other Mewtwo in a corona of flames, but his opponent was tough enough to more-or-less ignore even such a high-powered attack and launched a Hyper Beam right back from clenched paws.

Mewtwo blocked with a full-power Protect, and noted to himself that this other Mewtwo didn't seem quite as strong as him – that is, his attacks weren't as powerful as what Mewtwo knew himself capable of. The Psychic-type dodged out of the path of the Hyper Beam before it ran out, then sent a barrage of Shadow Balls flicking back – a barrage which the other Mewtwo charged straight through, then slipped around and onto Mewtwo's left side with a burst of Agility. A moment's charging time was all the warning Mewtwo got, and he shot out of the way just before a Freeze Shock cannoned into him from a vulnerable direction.

This is not right, Mewtwo thought to himself, turning in mid-air and firing an Aura Sphere – one which was just ignored like the other attacks. I know that I couldn't just stand to take attacks like that – and this Mewtwo's not as strong as me, but he's even faster and seems built out of solid armour!

The Mirage Master formed a half-dozen Double Team duplicates, and Mewtwo followed suit – sending his own doubles out along with himself, each of them aiming to intercept one of the illusory enemy Mewtwos. Most of the pairs crossed one another and were revealed to both be illusions, but the two originals each dispersed a Double Team illusion – and the other Mewtwo was just a bit faster refocusing than Ash's Mewtwo was.

The Psystrike hit him in the shoulder, knocking him down towards the ground, and Mewtwo spared a moment of attention to see that it was a populated region before seeing the other Mewtwo preparing a Volt Crash.

Unwilling to allow the attack to go wild, Ash's Mewtwo charged up a Hyper Beam of his own. The two attacks collided, forming a brilliant purple-yellow sphere in the sky, and then detonated in a cloud of smoke and flame.

Ash's Mewtwo pushed his speed to the limit, trying to slip past and get to the lab in the distraction, but his opponent was faster – he was body-checked straight into the ground, forming a crater, and had to rely on a Stone Edge to disrupt the follow-up attack enough to allow him to get clear.


"Okay, I think I have a plan," Zorua said.

She glanced over at M-001. "How do Mirage Pokémon tell that a Mirage Pokémon is a Mirage Pokémon?"

"Sequenced cross-checking," the Mirage Mew replied. "All Mirages running on the same instance are aware of the locations of all the others."

"And are you on the same instance?"

Mew shook his head.

"Right, so that idea's out..." Zorua muttered, thinking hard. "Okay. We need to work out a way to get into the room where our trainer is, and to stay unnoticed while we're there."

She tapped Stantler's ankle. "I think we're going to need your help again. Can you cloak all three of us?"

"Yes, but it'll be a little tricky," Stantler apologized. "It's harder to do a moving image, especially when the Pokémon under it are moving too."

He frowned. "Wait a moment… M-001, why didn't the Mirage Pokémon attack Brock and Professor Oak and the others?"

Mew shook his head. "Information unavailable."

"I guess we'll just have to try, then," Zorua decided. "Stantler, if you think we've been seen, make an illusion of… of… Blaziken, running out of the building. Can you do that?"

Stantler nodded gratefully. "That one I can do in a hurry. Why?"

"I think it'll distract him, Blaziken's really fast," Zorua told him. "Okay, let's go. Mew, do you know where they are?"

"Your search for humans returned seven results in one location," the Mirage Mew replied.

"I'll… just assume that means yes."


Mewtwo rolled about his own axis, firing back at the other Pokémon. His complicated web of Shadow Balls scored a few hits, but then the strange Mewtwo blasted them away – using a burst of air pressure which looked like something he'd seen Lugia doing – and put his hands together, before summoning a crackling ball of electricity with three rings rotating around it.

This is not a good day, Mewtwo decided, recognizing the attack. He halted in place, beginning to build up the most powerful Light Screen he could manage.

The air around him hazed, thickening and becoming dim as the Light Screen intensified – becoming dense enough to block out almost all the visible light, leaving only the budding Volt Crash as a marker of where Mewtwo's foe was.

Watching as the rings spun, Mewtwo prepared himself. This would be-

The rings locked together.

And Mewtwo dove. He let his Light Screen dissolve in a moment, and headed for the ground – leaving it so late his tail was lucky to escape a scorching, but also too late for the other Mewtwo to redirect his attack.

One of the most powerful Electrical attacks there was blazed off into the distance, at an angle where it would hit nothing but the clear sky, and Mewtwo had a precious moment when his opponent had lost the initiative.

He exploited it ruthlessly, taking only a moment to prepare his assault before unleashing it all at once. A Dark Pulse lashed out, then a Psystrike – both one handed – and then Mewtwo unleashed an attack that was a lot like a Hyper Beam.

It wasn't quite the same, however. A Hyper Beam was more controlled – this was just a roaring torrent of psychic energy, which blazed out like a particle cannon.

The air around Mewtwo rippled as he spread the recoil force into a plane of force a hundred feet in diameter, and he still went sliding backwards and downwards. But the affect on his opponent was far worse – the other Mewtwo was knocked away and flashed bright white at the same time, something about it breaking down under the force of Mewtwo's attack.

He sustained it for ten full seconds, producing enough backscatter to throw shadows as firm as those at noon… then relaxed, letting it go, and took a close look at the result.

What… he asked, softly.

The Mirage Pokémon hadn't been defeated by the attack. It was hurt, that much was clear, with a rainbow corona around the edges of a ragged wound in the light that made up its body – but the corona was shrinking as he watched, the Mirage System reconstituting the damaged portions of the hard-light hologram.

"Continued combat is inadvisable," the Mirage Mewtwo stated.

Mewtwo considered that, then spun and dove for the lab – only to take a punch to the back as the Mirage Mewtwo darted in to hit him directly. Shaking the effects off, the World's Most Powerful Pokémon ducked away from an Aeroblast – one which carved a long furrow in the ground – and darted back up into the air.

If he couldn't slip past, he could at least try to come up with something – while keeping the Mirage Mewtwo up here, busy, and not accidentally demolishing houses.


Stantler nearly tripped over as the ground shook. "What's that sound?"

"p 0.95, attack hitting the ground, approximately 240 metres to the north," M-001 stated. "Earlier noises suggest a mind probe is also taking place."

"Uh oh..." Stantler said softly. "Wait, what's a mind probe?"

"A means of obtaining accurate information from the memories of a Pokémon," Mew said – still staying quiet.

"Guys, ssh," Zorua cautioned them. "We're here."

She nodded at Stantler, whose antlers began to glow again.

Zorua changed her shape to something with opposable thumbs – a Riolu, just to make it clearer to the others that she wasn't a Mirage Pokémon if it was needed – and looked herself over.

"You're invisible," Stantler assured her, lips barely moving.

"There is a useful interface port under the console to the left of Professor Yung," M-001 added.

Zorua took a deep breath, then stepped into the room.


"Hmmm… it seems we're nearly done with this one," Professor Yung said, inspecting his tablet. "There's such a vast quantity of information in this Pikachu's memory… all the battles he's been in, all the Pokémon he's seen. Very impressive. If people had only seen fit to provide this kind of information without my being forced to take it, I could have created the ultimate Pokémon-"

"Nobody forced you to do anything," Max shot back. "You did it to yourself!"

"I did nothing wrong!" Yung countered. "If only people had seen that! But no, the Pokémon battle system that wouldn't fight, that was the headline..."

"Headline?" Brock asked.

He spotted something odd, and didn't react in the least. "Why would an academic conference produce headlines? Especially ones like that?"


"Okay, here goes," Ivysaur said.

His vines reached out, both of them in neat little heat-resistant oven gloves, and he laid them on the oven door.

"Good luck," Absol told him.

Ivysaur looked over at her, distracted for a moment. "Why are you hiding in a slit trench?"

"I've had this feeling something's about to go wrong since we started this one," Absol replied. "Nothing definite."

"Aren't you the one who can literally sense impending doom?" Houndoom asked, confused.

"Yes, but – well, like I say it's nothing definite," Absol answered. "But I thought I'd just make sure we weren't about to deal with a Cake Golem."

The others considered that.

"Would a Cake Golem be a Golem made of cake?" Houndoom asked. "Rock cakes, or something?"

"That actually sounds tasty," Ivysaur mused, distracted. "Perhaps we can convince Squirtle it'd be cool, he can probably do it. And then Lucario can punch it, and then we can all have rock cake."

"Sounds like a plan!" Totodile grinned.

Ivysaur drew their attention back to the oven. "Well, now we see if that's what we've managed to make," he said, and opened the oven door.

Absol ducked back down into her slit trench as Ivysaur slid the cake tray out.

"Well?" she asked, after several seconds.

"Smells pretty good," Ivysaur told her. "We'll let it stand for a bit, then do the icing."

"Hmmm..." the Dark-type said, rising out of her trench. "So if it wasn't that… what have I been sensing?"


Moving slowly and silently, Zorua-as-Riolu crept into the lab. She placed her weight with care, taking at least a second to put her paw down each time, and moved on all fours at first to make it so her footfalls had less force.

Trusting Stantler's illusions, she didn't flinch when a Mirage Pokémon looked her way – just freezing – and it looked right through her, then went on to examine the hole in the roof.

Her paw touched Ash's cloak, moving it slightly, and she winced at the mistake.

"You made it sound like you'd shown off the system at some kind of scientific meeting!" her trainer said, and she half-listened – mostly appreciating the distraction as she moved alongside Ash and balanced on three paws.

"Dexter," she said, so quietly it was barely a breath. "Make no sound."

She picked up the little golden triangle that was Dexter's projector, then decided to be safe and took the Pokédex itself as well.

"It shouldn't matter!" Yung said angrily. "People are all the same – they never recognize genius, not even when it's right in front of them! Even you, Professor Oak, you never realized-"

"I never saw half of what you'd come up with here," Professor Oak countered. "I didn't hear about this conference either, come to think of it..."

Zorua glanced up, measuring the distance to the nearest computer, then looked back at the door.

It was less far to get to the computer.

Still holding both of Dexter's bodies under her left arm, she crept onwards on two legs – feeling terribly exposed, used to hiding by blending in rather than by standing out so much.

"Are you telling us that you tried to show off a scientific breakthrough at a press conference?" Max asked. "Why would you do that? The press are idiots..."

"Genius should be obvious!" Yung retaliated. "And it will be!"

Zorua's paw came down on a small, sharp piece of metal – one torn from the roof – and she winced, trying to hold onto her shape despite the disruption. She snatched her foot back, faster than was probably safe, and there was a tiny jingling noise as the metal bounced across the floor.

"What was that?" Yung said, looking around.

"I don't know," Misty replied. "Maybe it's more of your lab collapsing, since you've done so much damage to it already-"

As if to punctuate her statement, there was a brilliant flash of light from overhead.

"Speaking of which," May said, looking out through the hole Mewtwo had torn in the roof. "I think that fight, at least, is going to end up on the news."

She shrugged. "Maybe you should have done that, Professor. Challenged the Pokémon League?"

Zorua exhaled as May's question drew Yung off on a new topic – complaining about the League System itself.

She took her last few steps, and flipped Dexter open.

His screen lit up. Place my projector in the universal connector port. It has standard connectors on the bottom face.

Zorua complied, moving slowly just like before, then hid Dexter's main body behind the leg of the table and took up a position there herself – reverting to her natural form to squeeze in there..

Dexter's screen changed. There is very impressive security here. I cannot take control of the Mirage Pokémon – the system is completely outside my understanding.

"There's some kind of artificial intelligence in there, so be careful," Zorua told him, speaking quietly. "What can you do? Can you disable his tablet? Turn everything off?"

Neither.

Dexter paused, then went on. I can perhaps create one fake command from the tablet – but it is designed to echo everything on the screen. It will be noticed.

"What's that noise?"

"There must be-" Zorua began.

"Look out!" Brock said suddenly.

Zorua whirled, and saw Professor Yung's hand reaching for her.

She reacted on instinct, and bit at the Professor's hand. Her teeth nicked his skin, but he withdrew his hand too fast, and there was the sound of rapid typing on his tablet – then a Mirage Machoke ripped the desk away, revealing her trying to hide.

"It looks like I didn't get hold of all your Pokémon," Professor Yung said, interested. Zorua bolted for the exit, starting to change shape into a Suicune, but a Thunderbolt from the Mirage Pikachu slapped into her and reverted her illusion before it formed.

Wincing, Zorua looked back over at the corner she'd been hiding, and saw Dexter was missing – invisible or gone, she couldn't tell.

Then she spotted the golden glitter still on the universal adaptor. And, all at once, the solution crystallized in her mind.

"Dexter!" she shouted, then coughed. "Make the system create a Riolu!"


Mewtwo flicked to one side as an attack flashed up past him, one which looked to him like a Boomburst. It detonated in front of him, and the powerful Psychic-type shielded himself from the shockwave as it broke over him.

Then, a moment later, there was a sudden stab of crackling pain – the Mean Look punishing him for getting too far away – and he reversed course, getting back inside the battle area before the damage got worse.

Refocusing, the Psychic-type had just enough time to spot the lab below – and realize that their long battle had taken them back over Yung's lab itself – when a white-and-purple shape blasted past him.

Spinning again, Mewtwo confirmed the Mirage Pokémon was above him, but he didn't have time to do more than that before it fired a massive barrage of blue light at him – an Origin Pulse, which spread out to englobe him before flashing inwards from all directions.

Without much choice, Mewtwo relied on the density of his shield. He boosted it to maximum – the kind of level which would let him exist comfortably inside a volcano – and dove straight down, individual streamers of the Origin Pulse splashing off the shield and sending torrents of water in every direction.

Mewtwo broke through the closing net, but that didn't mean he could spare enough time to even get his bearings – the Mirage Mewtwo dove right through the watery explosion overhead, and launched out a barrage of Shockwaves which Mewtwo had the distinct feeling he recognized… from Pikachu.

Countering those with a blast of psychic force – one which created a brief area of high density air and forced the shockwaves to take paths around his body – Mewtwo launched a Dark Pulse back, but his attempt to gain height fell foul of a Mega Punch that felt like being hit in the face by a small meteorite.

The two Pokémon fell towards the ground at speed, trading blows and beams, until – after a long minute – Mewtwo ran out of air. He hit the ground with an almighty crash, sending the remnants of the lab's nice lawn up into the air in a brown-green plume, and erected an instinctive shield to keep the dirt and mud from raining down back on top of him.

A hammer of psychic force pressed down on him, hardening the earth and keeping him from escaping. The Mirage Mewtwo examined him impassively, then raised an arm – and the sky overhead began to change, with streaks of light suddenly appearing. It was hard to see them through the wind-whipped burst of rain they'd created – both combatants had outrun the effects of the Origin Pulse – but Mewtwo could see enough.

The Mirage Pokémon was summoning a meteor storm.

Judgement? Mewtwo asked, then remembered he wasn't sure if the one he was talking to was actually able to receive Psychic messages. "Why are you doing this?"

There was no reply for a long moment, as the brilliant streaks came closer.

"Answer me – please," Mewtwo added. "Once I was like you – I wanted to see the world destroyed. I hope to show you the same understanding I came to – but why are you doing this? I must know!"

The Mirage Mewtwo spoke. "Command: Stop Mewtwo from interfering."

Mewtwo considered that for a moment. "I was mistaken," he decided then. "It was a different part of my life, when I was like you."

The meteors hurtled down towards them, and Mewtwo gathered his energy – ready for a shield dense enough to protect both himself and the lab from at least the worst of the-

-and suddenly, the Mirage Pokémon moved slightly, and the meteors faded away a moment before impact.


Command accepted, Dexter informed them.

"What command?" Yung demanded. "What did that Zorua say – what are you doing?"

He looked down at his tablet, and his jaw dropped.

"No! Cancel! Override that command!" the Mirage Professor demanded, stabbing commands into the touch screen – getting more desperate by the moment.

"What's so frightening about making a Riolu?" Brock asked. "I thought you said the system couldn't do it-"

"He was lying!" Zorua said.

Materializing, Dexter filled them all in.

Then, all of a sudden, there was a Riolu there.

It didn't look quite like Ash's one had done, and it was certainly nothing like the shiny Riolu Casey had received. But it stood there for a moment, and then dissolved as Yung's commands got through the message queue.

"Do you have any idea what you've done?" Yung demanded, rounding on them all. "It took me years to replace that pathetic pacifist of a Mew I had running the first iteration!"

There was a gasp from the door, which Yung ignored. He brought up the systems on his tablet. "Autonomous mode… Flamethrower."

The Mirage Machoke turned towards Zorua, flames burning in its mouth, and then Mewtwo was suddenly there. His brow creased, and the Mirage Pokémon despawned soundlessly.

A gesture, and all the rest did as well – melting away like sugar in the rain.

There was a flicker of pink movement, and a Mew floated next to Mewtwo.

"Greetings," Mew stated. "Do you require assistance?"

"courteous_negative_response_4," Mewtwo replied. "Professor, I resign."

Yung seemed to have lost the ability to speak.

"Resign?" Professor Oak asked. "Then – you're the Mirage Master?"

"Designation correct," Mewtwo confirmed.

Zorua shook her fur out, looking very smug. "I thought it might be something like that," she said. "If Yung said making Riolu and Lucario was impossible, but M-001 said it could be done, then he was lying – for a reason. And I realized – Riolu and Lucario both have an innate sense of justice!"

"So you gave the Mirage Mewtwo a conscience!" Brock said. "Zorua, that's brilliant – well done! And well done Stantler, as well!"

"I think many of our Pokémon have performed very well today," Professor Oak agreed.

He dusted himself off. "Now – Misty. I think this is now something for you to handle?"

"Too right," Misty agreed. "Professor Yung, you're formally under arrest on suspicion of..."

She paused, suddenly looking uncertain. "Actually, I think we might need some note paper to write out the entire list."

"And a lawyer," Max added.


After Professor Yung had been marched outside by Misty (with no fewer than four of her Pokémon out and keeping a close eye on him), there was a long period of quiet as everyone came to terms with what had happened.

M-001, still trying to process the revelations of the last few minutes, saw how everyone was starting to gather in groups to talk. Deciding that it would be helpful, the Mirage Pokémon floated over to M-002.

"What is your diagnostic?" the Mew asked.

"Diagnostic result is mixed," M-002 replied. "Physical condition: ideal. Mental condition: sufficient. But I am unable to comprehend the actions of Professor Yung."

"I do not understand either," M-001 agreed. "I had thought he taught me the Laws to ensure that I was able to safely interact with others, but he stated that he considered me pathetic."

"Correct," the Mirage Mewtwo said.

There was a flash next to them, and Dexter materialized – pink and blue vector curves appearing from thin air. It sounds to me like you're getting used to the concept of being independent beings.

M-001 tilted its head. "Mismatch: were you not a Porygon last time?"

Dexter's eyes flashed for a moment as he ran a self-diagnosis.

Then he blinked, looking down at himself. I certainly used to be. It seems the task has made me evolve.

Interesting, Ethan stated. Of course, my lawyer will contact you about this plagiarism.

The two Porygon2 began throwing jokes back and forth about that, and both Mirage Pokémon looked a little baffled.

Then Mewtwo – the real Mewtwo – came over to the two of them.

"You remind me of how I once was," he told the Mirage Pokémon. "Both of you. And I think that's something which means it only makes sense for me to help you out. Give you something to do, a purpose, while you work out if you'd rather do something else."

Both Mirage Pokémon gave him quizzical looks.

"You see, I started a company recently," Mewtwo told them. "Working in space. And it's occurred to me that Mirage Pokémon don't actually need to eat or breathe..."


"Something is up with my birthdays lately," Ash said, as they circled once over the Oak Ranch.

"Yeah, things do kind of seem to be happening on days like that," Pikachu agreed. "I guess we'll have to see what happens next year – that should tell us if it's a trend."

Then there was a whoom, and Latias and Latios were flying either side of them.

Hi, Ash! Latias sent – glad her trainer wasn't wearing his hat. We heard what happened. Are you okay?

"I just got a bit of a nap," Ash replied. "And some nightmares, I guess… but Pikachu had it worse."

That's too bad, Latios winced, as they dropped towards the ground. Still in one piece, Pikachu?

"I'll show you, if you'll hold still long enough for a Thunderbolt," Pikachu replied – his grin showing he was still as full of spark as always. Then Pidgeot landed with a slight thump, and Ash jumped off her back to be greeted by a huge collection of Pokémon.

He blinked, suddenly realizing Charizard was holding a cake. "That looks… kind of odd," he admitted. "Did you guys make that?"

"They didn't let me help after I tried to hide in the first one," Squirtle sulked.

"Quite a lot of us helped, yes," Ivysaur told him.

"Thanks, guys," Ash smiled.

There was a sudden splash behind them, and everyone looked to see what was going on. For a moment, there was Max in the pond, looking very cross, then something flashed blue and a Wailord sent half the water splashing out.

"I guess Zorua still needs to work on her landings," Ash decided.


"Sacred Sword!"

Sceptile raised his forearm, the blade on it glowing a brilliant azure, and then stabbed it down before making two swift swiping motions.

"This feels like an over-the-top way of cutting cake," Meganium chuckled, taking the slice in her vines.

Her fellow Grass-type shrugged. "You could use Vine Whip if you wanted to do it yourself."

"I think I'd just smash the cake," Meganium decided, as Sceptile cut himself a piece, and one for Chikorita as well.

She took a bite from hers, and smiled. "This is very nice."

"I'm glad you enjoy it," Absol said, still wearing her jaunty chef's hat. "I'm glad I was able to help out, here..."

Meganium noticed that the Dark-type seemed a little listless, and decided to ask about it. Passing her slice over to Sceptile to take care of – making him look a little overwhelmed trying to juggle three pieces at once – she tapped Absol on the shoulder. "Come on, what's bothering you?"

"Well..." Absol seemed to consider herself for a moment, then came to a conclusion. "I'm just a bit upset about how I wasn't with Ash, because… because it feels like I'd have been able to sort it out very quickly and without fuss."

"I'm sure you could," Meganium agreed, surprising the Dark-type. "But you're not the only one that's true of. Misty's Togekiss can sense negative emotions, and I know Latias and Latios are both trying to work out how they can kick themselves over how useful an invisible psychic dragon would have been. And Sceptile's very unhappy about how he wasn't able to help much, and he was there – it's just that he got carried off by a Mirage Charizard which set him on fire."

She gave Absol a nudge. "But what matters is – it did all work out in the end, and isn't that worth celebrating?"

Absol nodded, looking happier. "You're right – thank you," she smiled. "That has helped out a lot. I think you're good at this."

"I think it's something you have to try and learn, as a parent," Meganium chuckled.

After a long pause, she realized something. "Oh, I should take that cake back. Thanks for keeping it for me."

"No problem," Sceptile replied, passing her the slice, then took his own back off the tail he'd impaled it on for safekeeping.

As he did, Absol looked down. "No, Ferris," she said. "You can't eat the tray."

Ferris frowned at her.

"To be more accurate," she allowed, "I should have said – please don't eat the tray even though you can in fact eat metal."

That seemed to satisfy the Steel-type, and he walked off.


"Ash."

Ash looked up at Ho-Oh. "Uh… hi?"

"I heard about what happened," the Fire-type said. "I don't like that I missed everything."

"We didn't exactly know it was going to happen," Ash defended himself. "I mean, literally, this was something that didn't even happen last time."

The Storm's End examined him, not very impressed by Ash's argument.

"Very well, then," he said. "But you will have my aid for the next incident of this magnitude."

He drew himself up to his full height, wings flashing with seven colours. "Entei!"

There was a whoosh, and Entei stood before them. "Father?" he asked.

"Entei, would it be too much trouble for you to handle my duties for the next month or two?" he requested. "I'm not leaving Ash's person until I've gotten involved in one of these world-ending events."

"This one wasn't really world-ending," Pikachu said. "Just really inconvenient. Though admittedly, since Yung was talking about disposing of us, I guess that would cause problems with the whole… Arceus thing."

Ho-Oh nodded firmly. "Besides," he added. "I think it would be interesting to train with some of your group for a longer period. You have many of your heavy hitters with you permanently."

"I guess I can hardly say no," Ash admitted. "Entei?"

"It will be an honour, father," Entei said, with a bow. "The skies will be clear if I have anything to say about it."

Then he looked suspicious. "This isn't a ploy to get a month of Brock's food, is it?"

"...well, that's an added benefit..."


AN:


So that was the Mastermind of Mirage Pokemon, an OVA. Since it was so odd, I decided that it didn't happen the first time around.

Hopefully this worked out okay – it went through an unusual amount of editing, for me.