Chapter 19: Leader Of The Nine (Part 2)

Not long after the helicopter departed, Brock, Tracey, Misty, Max, Drew, and Dawn climbed to the rooftop, only to see the helicopter shrink in the sky as it flew off to the south. They had reason to believe it was the crime bosses, and very likely, they had Ash and May in their clutches.

Brock ran over to Paul's unconscious form. Slowly, the Sinnoh trainer began coming around as he slowly opened his eyes.

"Augh, my aching…should've known he'd try a trick like that…"

"What happened?" Brock asked.

"Well, if you must know, things weren't going too well for that Magma boss. His team had the numbers, but I had the strength. I fainted three of his fire types before he recalled them and began running like the coward he is. I chased him up the tower to the roof. I saw Ash and that brunette chick just staring at us, while that Cyrus guy called out his Alakazam. Anyway, the pursuit led me up here, where Giovanni and Archie were already waiting. Before I could reach for any of my pokéballs, a gun in the side of their chopper fired some kind of energy ball at me. The last thing I remember before blacking out was collapsing to the ground as Cyrus brought Ash and that brunette up here. Something didn't look right about those two."

"The 'brunette' you speak of is my sister, May," Max corrected Paul.

Paul huffed. "Whatever. I didn't ask you."

"Just trying to get your facts straight," Max pouted.

"Where've they gone?" Misty asked.

Paul shot her an incredulous look. "How the heck should I know? I was unconscious until a minute ago!"

"Don't need to be rude about it…" Misty said, looking very offended at Paul's bad temperament.

Clearly, nobody knew where Ash and May were taken off to, though there was no question that wherever they were, so too were the syndicate heads. Their heads hung low in sadness, the seven of them climbed down the building and out into the streets. Although they'd been successful at their initial endeavor, they'd lost their best friends and had no way of finding them.

"What do we do now?" asked Tracey.

"We set out and find them. I know where they are," said a deep, masculine voice. They turned and saw one large Pokémon floating in the air above them. The creature was in front of an army of others.

"Mewtwo!" everybody gasped.

Ash slowly opened his eyes and shook his head. He didn't know where he was, and only now noticed his arms and legs were chained to the wall in a dark room. The last thing he remembered were Alakazam's glowing eyes. Everything else in his memory was hazy at best.

As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he could see a small window in the wall to his right. The wall on the opposite side of the room had a heavy duty door in it. In the center of the room, there was a large, round table with a lighting fixture above it (which was off for the time being). Everything became easier to identify as his vision became clear. He looked to his left. There, he saw May, who was in a similar predicament to him.

"May!" Ash shouted.

She was unresponsive at first, although Ash wanted to see if he could awaken her from her stupor.

"May!" Ash called again.

Slowly, her figure began moving as she regained consciousness. Although she could not see anything immediately, she recognized Ash's voice.

"Ash! Is that you?"

"Yeah. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, thanks for asking. How about yourself?"

"Never been better. Can't believe they got me again though! This is the third time I've been held by those goons! It's getting annoying!"

"It's only my second time, and even I'm upset! Where are we, anyway?"

"I dunno. I remember being in that building with you and Cyrus, then everything got real hazy, and after that, I woke up here."

"Pika pi, Pika Pika!" Pikachu's voice echoed in the room. May, whose own eyes were now accustomed to the light conditions, saw Pikachu chained to the wall beside Ash, who now took notice of the small Pokémon on his right, resting adjacent to Ash's body.

"Don't worry, Pikachu, I think we'll be fine…"

May turned to face Ash. "Don't you wonder what happened to everyone else?"

Ash looked at May and smiled confidently. "I'm sure they're just fine. They're all skilled with their Pokémon. I just hope they can figure out where we are, and soon!"

"Oh, I hope so, Ash. But how can they possibly find us, when we don't even know where we are?"

"What brings you here, Mewtwo?" Brock asked the psychic-type that he had not seen in ages.

"I was traveling around the world, seeking my destiny in this world, when a beam of great power emanated from this area. Now that I'm here, I can see that my creator has tried to lure me back here," Mewtwo said telepathically. Misty and Brock still found this form of communication unnerving. Nonetheless, Mewtwo made it a point of show off all possessed prowess.

Misty looked around quickly, then faced Mewtwo and asked, "Where's –"

"Mew? I believe she was off on a journey of her own for a while. It is likely she also saw the beam, in which case she should be here shortly." (Author's Note: I know legendaries are genderless, but in this work, I decided Mew would be female and Mewtwo would be male, given their voices and personalities)

Paul stepped forward. "Are you really as powerful as they say you are?"

Mewtwo closed his eyes and crossed his arms. "Foolish human. What would possess you to even ask such a question? Let's just say I can hold my own in many competitions."

"I'm just asking, cause I ain't taking directions from a weakling."

Mewtwo, while maintaining his meditative pose, opened his glowing eyes. Paul, becoming surrounded by an aura of the same color as Mewtwo's eyes, was lifted a few feet into the air and was sent crashing into the ground. This occurred until after the tenth time Paul hit the ground. Mewtwo then ceased the attack, believing the fool had learned his lesson.

Paul looked very much enraged as he picked himself off the ground, but decided not to when he saw everybody sweatdrop at his recklessness.

Brock decided to finally stop messing around. He now took the powerful Pokémon's attention.

"Excuse me, but didn't you say you knew where Ash and May were headed?"

Once again, Mewtwo closed his eyes, keeping his arms crossed.

"Yes, indeed I did. They were taken hostage by my creator and his cronies, and flew south to the Sevii Islands. If you will come with me, I can teleport you all there. I have a score to settle again, anyways."

Everyone placed a hand on Mewtwo as he landed softly on the ground. Soon, he glowed a bright white light, and soon they were all heading through a tunnel of time and space, coming out above the Sevii Islands. They then made their descent to the ground.

Ash and May had given up on trying to figure out where they were. In fact, they'd seemed to be forgotten in that dark room. The only light source was the window, and the afternoon sun was not shining in it.

Their skin was charred. This was due to Ash's earlier attempts at escape by having Pikachu try to break the metal by using thunder. Somehow, the chains were linked by the electrical attack, so not only did the chains remain, but Ash and May received a nasty shock.

May started sobbing. In her mind, she wondered if she'd ever see anyone she knew (besides Ash) ever again. Ash, who saw this, felt conflicted. He wanted to comfort her by telling her his true feelings, but decided that now was not at all a good time to do so. He sighed and hung his head in defeat. Pikachu did the same.

Without warning, the door to the room opened, and Harley stepped in.

"Why, hello, you two!"

"Harley!" Ash and May shouted in unison. They became infuriated at their guest's appearance into their presence.

"Listen, you two…I've come to realize the error of my ways. I'm here to make amends by helping you escape from this terrible place!" Harley said.

"How do we know you're not lying through your teeth?!" Ash shouted.

"Yeah, how can we believe you?" May joined in.

"Pikachu, Pika pi!"

Harley sighed. "I'm really sorry we got off to a bad start! But the reason you must believe me is because Giovanni…is planning to destroy the world!"

This caused everyone's eyes to become dilated in diameter.

"D-Destroy…the w-world?" May asked.

"Pika?"

"Yes! I have a plan, but you must follow me and do exactly as I tell you! Hurry, I have the keys to your locks and to our enemies' helicopter! We'll escape that way!"

"There's no promise you can make that I can trust, Harley. But I see no other choice, so we'll be going with you." May stated.

Ash looked hesitant as Harley freed him. "How do we know you won't try to deceive us or something?"

"Ash, as someone who acknowledges you as superior, I give you my wholehearted word that I will not harm you." Harley said. His slight smile made Ash feel more than a bit uneasy.

Harley freed Pikachu and May, then ushered them out of the room ahead of him. He then smiled a wicked smile.

Oh yes. I will not harm you. I will KILL you both!

Shortly after arriving here, the heroes were assaulted by a small detachment of Team Rocket grunts. Mewtwo was the strongest, simply because everyone else's Pokémon were weary from the battles they'd fought earlier, with no visit to the Pokémon center prior to their departure.

As they explored the island they were on (which was the largest of the seven islands), an intimidating fortress became visible in the distance. They quickly moved through the tropical breeze and hot, humid climate to where it was.

The Aqua and Galactic grunts who were guarding the main entrance to the fortress looked displeased at the arrival of the intruders. One of the Galactics smiled as he pressed a button on his wrist control panel.

Two of the panels in the metallic fortress's side slid open, and two energy cannons unleashed their payload on Mewtwo, trapping him within a energy-absorbing field. His attempts to escape proved futile. Clearly, this was the same kind of technology Giovanni had employed the last time Mewtwo dealt with Team Rocket. Ash had helped him out then, his Pikachu assisting his own to destroy one generator, which led to the destruction of the other, releasing him from the shield.

Brock and Misty had also seen this perverse technology before, and this time, they knew they had to destroy at least one generator to free Mewtwo, who now cried out in agony.

Instructing everyone else, Brock's Sudowoodo and Misty's Starmie led an attack on one generator, followed by another. Three of their friends also concentrated attacks on the device, while the rest engaged the guards in combat.

The generator seemed to react to the attack, but it was insufficient to disable the mechanism. All of the heroes would have to concentrate on that one generator to destroy it.

Things went smoothly, however, and soon, the guards were forced to retreat into their domain, leaving their victorious foes to attack the generator. As several beams, punches, and miscellaneous other attacks landed with full power, the generator gave out and exploded.

Mewtwo, now free from his torture, fell to the ground. He had just enough strength to get up. Meanwhile, the twin generator exploded, unable to meet the energy requirement needed to contain Mewtwo.

Now that that problem was solved, everybody decided to head on in. As they did, however, even more guards came out, sending their armies before them. The heroes were outnumbered and outgunned. They were finished for certain now.

Suddenly, a blue ball of energy came crashing down on the opposing army, knocking out everyone it hit with a sickening force. A few minutes later, a tiny pink figure appeared in the sky, heading down towards them.

"Mew!"

Mew, turning to face Mewtwo, glowed a white energy that passed in the form of a ray to everyone's Pokémon. This seemed to have a revitalizing effect, for which the trainers were very grateful. They all moved inside, except for Paul, who glared at the newcomer.

"So, Mew…what took you so long to get here, huh, shrimp?"

Mewtwo sighed before punishing Paul the same way he did back in Viridian. He then entered the building, followed by Mew, who rolled her eyes at the trainer's arrogance.