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Temporal War
Ash had only just grabbed his younger self by the shoulders in a desperate attempt to haul them both to safety when a large blue object essentially struck the ground between him and the attacking Gyarados. Briefly stunned at the sudden appearance of this new figure, Ash and his past self just watched as the Hyper Beam struck its new target, only to be reflected back towards its source, sending Gyarados back to the ground before it vanished.
"What the-?" Clemont looked at the new arrival in confusion, but its appearance became clear. "A giant Wobbufett?"
"Oh great," Ash said, suddenly recalling the last few times he'd faced something like this; Team Rocket's robots varied between being intimidating to just being annoying, but their mechanical copies of Meowth and their other Pokemon were invariably some of the rare cases where they did a genuinely good job rather than just building something big that would blow up the moment he hit it properly. "What are they doing here?"
"Prepare for trouble!" a familiar voice said from within the Wobbufett.
"And make it double!"
"To protect the world from devastation!"
"To unite with our enemies against oblivion!"
"To denounce the evils of this total nut!"
"To assist the twerps in kicking his butt!"
"Jessie!"
"James!"
"Team Rocket, providing back-up at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"
"Meowth! That's right!"
"Team Rocket?" the two Ashes and their friends stared incredulously at the mecha-Wobbufett, while Team Galactic and the Cyruses studied the robot as though wondering what the designers had been on to create something like that.
"Who else?" the robot said, in a voice that sounded like Jessie's.
"But why-?" young-Ash began.
"We still have no idea how the future twerp got here, but we heard enough of what you're dealing with in this mess to get that letting this guy win is a really bad idea!" James's voice said, the mecha-Wobbufett still resolutely facing the assembled forces of Team Galactic.
"Yeah!" Meowth added. "If he destroys da world, dat pretty much puts a crimp in our plans-"
Another blast struck the mecha-Wobbufett, this time coming from several of the Houndoom and Camerupt, while the rest of Cyrus's sudden 'army' prepared to attack the rest of Ash's friends. Ash had no idea when and how Team Rocket might have overheard anything about his explanation for Cyrus's agenda, but when he was faced with a threat this big the priority was to put the villain down rather than 'worry' about his long-time frenemies' sources of information.
"Scatter and fight!" he yelled urgently to the rest of his friends, before he turned to look at his current Galactic's powerhouse. "OK, Greninja, let's power up!"
For a moment, he and Greninja fell into sync as they waved their hands in a combat stance, but then the now-familiar spurt of water surrounded Greninja and it transformed into its new state, subsequently leaping into battle with its focus on the Houndoom and Camerupt.
"What was-?" Misty and Ash's younger self began, before the young Ash grabbed Misty and pulled her to the ground as a pair of Crobat dived past them, flying in a manner that made it clear they would have hit the trainers' heads if Ash hadn't pulled them to safety.
"Pikachu!" Ash's younger self yelled, getting back to his feet and pointing at the Crobat that were turning around to mount a new attack. "Thunderbolt!"
With that command, Pikachu's younger self leapt from Ash's shoulder to unleash his favourite attack on the Crobat, sending both purple bats to the ground before they could get close enough to attack the younger trainers again.
"You two OK?" Ash asked as he hurried over to Misty and his past self, resisting the urge to focus more on Misty; the last thing he wanted was to give his past self any reason to think about what he might have 'done' with Misty before the younger him was ready to face it.
"Yeah, we… we're fine-" the younger Ash began.
"What was that?" Misty asked, indicating where the transformed Greninja was hurling Water Shurikens at a nearby gathering of Camerupt, which had also drawn the attention of Staryu and Poliwhirl as they blasted away with their own Water Gun attacks. "Your… that's Greninja, right?"
"Greninja?" past-Ash looked at the battle in surprise. "But… hold on, it didn't look like that before, and you're not acting like it evolved…"
"That's… complicated," Ash shrugged, even as Greninja vaulted over the camel-like Pokemon to throw another Water Shuriken at a nearby Houndoom. "We're not sure how it happens, but basically, Greninja and I have this whole… somehow, when we concentrate, I can sync up with him and share energy to give him a boost that turns him into that-"
He winced as a Toxicroak struck Greninja in the side with a Poison Jab, both Ash and the frog-warrior clutching at their sides for a moment before Greninja was back in the fight.
"Was that-?" Misty began anxiously.
"Yeah; a side-effect of this particular ability is that I feel what Greninja feels when it's a hard enough hit," Ash affirmed, rubbing at the fading ache in his side as a quick glance confirmed that Heracross and Hawlucha were working together to take on a group of Weavile. "I'm able to… well, let it run while I do something else these days- when it started out I had to completely focus on the fight just to trigger it so he could use one last attack to end the fight- but everything has its downside."
"Whoa…" Ash's younger self stared at Greninja's transformed state in awe as it flipped over another Poison Jab to launch Water Shuriken at the attacking Toxicroak, before he looked back at Ash. "Could… I do that?"
"That's… a good question," Ash reflected, looking thoughtfully at his younger self as Onix swept its tail to knock down a few of the Honchkrow and Skuntank attempting to charge the younger trainers. "It took me a while to get it working, but-"
The sight of a couple of Electrode rolling into action cut off Ash's speculation, as he hauled his younger self and Misty to their feet to run away before the large balls could reach their location.
"Charizard!" the younger Ash called up to his original powerhouse. "Get those Electrodes out of the way!"
Glancing up, Ash smiled as he saw the dragon-like Pokemon launch a burst of fire at the rolling Electric Pokemon, sending them rolling back towards Team Galactic before they could reach their opponents. He might have avoided bringing the dragon back to his Galactic while he was in Kalos because he preferred relying on the new Pokemon he caught in each region unless he absolutely had to use something more powerful, but it was always a pleasure to see an old friend again, even in this difficult situation…
"LOOK OUT!" Brock's voice cut off Ash's train of thought, Ash glancing up to see his longest-running travelling companion push Serena out of the path of another attacking Gyarados.
"Serena!" Clemont yelled, before he suddenly yelled out in pain as a Honchkrow hit him in the chest, only to be driven back by a Discharge from Luxray.
"Stay focused!" Ash yelled, looking anxiously at his friends as Cyrus's recreations began to focus their attacks on the rest of Ash's friends. "You have to-"
"HELP!" Serena yelled, as one of the Toxicroak literally threw Geodude into Sylveon, sending both Pokemon flying before they were grabbed by Bunnelby's ears.
"We can't just keep lashing out like this; we need to get somewhere secure so we can work out an actual plan!" Brock yelled over at Ash, as Onix was sent reeling back by another attack from a group of Toxicroak that came close to Brock.
"But where-?" Misty began, before her gaze focused on the still-standing form of Team Rocket's Mecha-Wobbufett, waiting near the middle of the battlefield with vague mutterings just audible over the radio, taking the occasional attack but otherwise staying on its 'feet'. "Over there!"
"Behind the Wobbufett!" Ash yelled, half in agreement with Misty's plan and half to draw the attention of the rest to it.
"You can't be-!" the younger Ash yelled even as he followed his future self.
"If it hasn't blown up yet, it's one of their sturdier creations; when Team Rocket makes something that can take a punch, it can really take it!" Ash affirmed, as he and his younger self quickly moved behind the blue mechanical construct, soon joined by the rest of their group.
"Are you sure this is safe?" Serena glanced over at Ash.
"Like I said, this thing hasn't blown up yet, so I think we've got a good shot," Ash said, smiling slightly as he reached over to pat the giant mech on the side before glancing anxiously over at the assembled Pokemon still trying to hold their own against Cyrus's forces. Of their available flyers, Charizard and Noivern were having the most trouble manoeuvring in the confined areas of the forest, and Onix was stuck in a particular clearing to avoid accidentally crushing anything else, but for the most part the other Pokemon were keeping on the move and managing to stay ahead of their opponents. Glancing over, Ash was pleased to see Hawlucha dive down to force the poisonous frogs away from the giant rock snake while Charizard assisted Cyndaquil and Braxien in forcing back a group of Fortress that were about to attack the Mecha-Wobbufett from the front.
"We can't stay here forever!" Clemont said desperately, as Sylveon was sent reeling by an attack from the Skuntank before Geodude punched the skunk-like Pokemon away. "We're holding our own, but the Pokemon can only take so much!"
"And what about us?" Jessie's voice called down, as the Crobat launched an Air Slash that sent the Mecha-Wobbufett staggering. "We can't take this forever any more than the Pokemon can!"
"I'm trying to think here, OK!" Ash yelled desperately up at his old 'enemies'. As he was looking up, he allowed himself a brief smile as he saw Noivern neatly evading a couple of attacking Honchkrow, but his satisfaction faded when he saw just how tired the bat-like Dragon-type was.
It's like Clemont said; we've trained great Pokemon, but there's only so long any of them can keep this up before at least one of us faints…
"How long can that thing keep taking this kind of punishment?" he looked up at the 'head' of the Mecha-Wobbufett.
"We're just about to-!" Jessie began, before a loud roar foreshadowed a new attack from Cyrus's Gyarados.
"Oh no…" Serena whispered, looking at the blue leviathan in horror, the rest of Cyrus's creations standing back from the Gyarados as a golden ball grew in its mouth, foreshadowing another Hyper Beam attack.
"Get down!" Ash yelled, the rest of his friends diving to the ground, suddenly certain that they were about to lose their last line of defence-
Before Gyarados could fire the Beam, there was a loud roar from the side of the forest before another large creature rammed into the side of the blue leviathan. For a moment Ash wondered if one of Cyrus's new Pokemon had just hit one of its Galacticmates by accident, but then he took in the creature's dark blue skin and bladed arms and he realised what it was.
And where there's a Garchomp during a Sinnoh-related crisis, there will be-
"Cynthia!" he grinned, looking over to see the dark-clad, blonde-haired Sinnoh champion standing at the side of the forest, the entire battlefield having fallen suddenly silent as though from the sheer scale of this unexpected twist.
"Hello, Ash Ketchum," Cynthia said, nodding at the two Ashes with a slight smile. "A pleasure to meet you in person."
"W-what are you doing here?" the younger Ash asked, looking at the Sinnoh champion in surprise as the recently-fighting Pokemon used the sudden lull in the fighting to rejoin their trainers. "I thought you were-"
"Keeping an eye on him," Cynthia said, indicating the more well-dressed version of Cyrus with a slight smile, the younger Cyrus glaring at the Sinnoh champion as his future self stood beside him while the rest of Team Galactic gathered around their leader/s. "Once I realised that Cyrus Schemmel was absent from his Sinnoh offices, I decided that I should follow your warnings, and once I had traced his flight path to Johto, I came to investigate in person with the aid of a few friends."
"Friends?" Clemont asked.
The question was answered when a familiar-looking Onix suddenly crashed through the trees, the Onix being large even by the standards of its considerably-sized species, a well-muscled shirtless man riding on its head who was familiar to both Ashes, as well as Misty and Brock.
"Bruno?" the four called out in surprise.
"Greetings," the Fighting-type Elite Four Master called down before he leapt from the Onix's head and landed on the ground, releasing a Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, Hitmontop, Poliwrath and Machamp before he had even finished falling. "Once Cynthia explained the full reasons for your desire to talk with her, I felt obliged to assist your efforts."
"And he's not the only one," another voice said.
"Prima!" Misty grinned eagerly as the redhead emerged from the forest, her Jynx, Cloister, Slowbro and Starmie gathered around her.
"Hello, Ash," Prima said, nodding briefly at him before she opened the last two balls on her belt and released Dewgong and Lapras to join the rest of her Galactic. "It's good to see how far you've come."
"No!" Cyrus yelled, his past self virtually mimicking his actions as the two blue-haired men looked incredulously at the newly-arrived Elite Four members. "This is impossible!"
The sound of powerful wings beating drew attention briefly away from Cyrus and to the sky above, just as a large Dragonite flew through the trees before landing beside Cynthia.
"I would think your own circumstances would have prompted you to dismiss anything as impossible," another voice added, as a figure clad in a black outfit and a long cloak leapt from Dragonite's back to land on the ground alongside it.
"Lance?" Ash grinned at the sight of the Dragon-type trainer who'd helped him stop Groundon and Kygore's rampage in Hoenn.
"Ash Ketchum, I presume?" Lance smiled at Ash as he removed five Poke Balls from his belt. "A pleasure to meet you, but right now we have other matters to discuss."
"Indeed," a red-haired man emerged from the forest. "And I apologise for falling behind; the cost of being the one everyone trusts to lock up the transport-"
"Flint?" Ash looked at the latest arrival in surprise.
"You know me?" the other man looked back at Ash in momentary confusion before he nodded in understanding. "Ah… we met in the future, I take it?"
"Well, I met you in Sunnyshore for my final gym battle in Sinnoh… but I never mentioned that to Cynthia; what are you doing here?"
"I was meeting with Cynthia when she found out that Cyrus had left the region and offered my assistance in tracking him," Flint explained with a smile. "So you fought Volkner in your time? You must be-"
"Enough!" Cyrus yelled, waving his arms as he summoned a new wave of glowing Pokemon, his eyes glowing a disturbing red that matched the Pokemon he had summoned as Team Galactic's expanding army gathered around the Mecha-Wobbufett. "You would dare to oppose me?"
"We would," Cynthia said, staring coldly at Cyrus as the other new arrivals joined her in standing alongside Ash and his friends, the group now in front of the Mecha-Wobbufett as their Pokemon joined them. "Your plans are an abomination, Cyrus Schemmel; they cannot be permitted to come to fruition."
"You came all this way on the word of a child-"
"A child who has shown that, even at his worst, he understands the value and strength of maintaining a bond with his Pokemon and never loses hope that tomorrow will be better than today," Prima said, her tone cool as she studied the assembled forces of Team Galactic. "We have never denied that life is hard, but that does not justify your decision to give up on the world and claim that you are doing it for all others."
"Precisely," Lance affirmed. "You honestly think that you have the right to decide that all life should end? Unless you wish to face further… unpleasantness, stand down."
"Never," Cyrus said resolutely, with a cool blank stare on his face. "After what I have seen… how far I have come already… there can be no justification but to finish what I have started; if you cannot see the true nature of the world, that is your own fault."
With that command, the forces of Team Galactic launched another attack, only for Mecha-Wobbufett to rapidly move in front of the opposing trainers to take the worst of the blast.
"Take this!" James yelled, as Mecha-Wobbufett unleashed another burst of energy that sent its opponents staggering back once again (Ash chose to hope that Team Galactic's Pokemon survived that Counter/Mirror Coat/whatever attack because the force was dispersed across all of them rather than these Pokemon being that powerful).
"Release the rest and hit them hard!" Cynthia yelled, her Garchomp charging towards the forces of Team Galactic as she released her other five Pokemon. The Glaceon and Gastrodon were recognisable from Ash's encounters with her in the future, but he was surprised to see a Milotic, Lucario and Spiritomb as the other three members of Cynthia's Galactic.
Of course, when faced with the sheer scale of Pokemon Cyrus seemed to be summoning at this point- Ash wasn't sure if he wanted them to be fakes like the Unowns' creations or if it would be less intimidating if they were real and just summoned here from somewhere else- Ash knew that he should just be grateful they had such powerful allies when faced with stakes like this…
Arceus, I hope this is enough.