A/N: Read, review, and enjoy the story!
Chapter 21: The Sinjoh Ruins – The Overturning Pokémon
Giovanni got up and hobbled weakly towards Ash, but his motives and attitude were of desperation instead of decimation.
"Where…where…am I?" Giovanni feebly asked Ash, still weak from their battle.
"What, are you trying to trick me?" Ash angrily retorted. "You stole my Pikachu and are trying to take over the world!
"What…really?" the uninformed Giovanni said in shock. "I don't remember doing any of that…"
"I'VE HAD ENOUGH!" Ash yelled at the top of the lungs. "I'm not buying any of your schemes!"
"I'm serious!" Giovanni insisted. "The last thing I remember was going to bed in Team Rocket HQ in Kanto but when I woke up I found myself here!"
"So really, you didn't plan all of this?" Ash sarcastically said while pointing out all of the Team Rocket members, equipment, Pokémon, and vehicles filling the ruins.
"This was not planned, I swear. And I'm looking at my phone right now and I don't remember sending these text messages…wait a second," he thought. Giovanni then came to a horrifying conclusion.
"The date that I went to bed that night is 4 weeks prior to the current date that's listed here," Giovanni noticed, "I woke up 4 weeks later? No, this can only mean that somebody has been possessing and controlling me."
"But if you didn't create this scheme…." Ash started.
"…then who did?" Ash and Giovanni both wondered.
Mindboggling Manipulator
"Who did, you ask?" a mysterious voice called out from the shadows. The towering figure revealed a shadow of itself for a brief second and then quickly vanished.
"Huh?" Ash wondered.
"That must have been who was controlling me," Giovanni said.
All of a sudden, the members of Team Pikachu all came running to meet up with Ash!
"Ash!" Dawn happily shouted to him while running. The other Team Pikachu members were running behind Dawn, following her lead, and shouting Ash's name.
"Hey everyone!" Ash shouted back.
"So you won?" Clemont asked.
"Sure did," Ash replied.
"I see that you got your Pikachu back," Misty noticed.
"But it doesn't look like it's feeling too well," May pointed out.
"Ash, let me take care of Pikachu while you talk to everyone," Brock offered. "Pikachu is in need of medical treatment right now."
"Sure thing, Brock," Ash agreed, "thanks."
"But something's not right," Iris stated.
"How come Giovanni is standing right next to you so casually?" Cilan wondered.
"Good point Cilan," Tracey added, "he should be trying to punch Ash in the face or something!"
"Let me explain," Ash told everyone. "You're not going to believe this – Giovanni has been mind-controlled this entire time!"
"Are you crazy Ash?" Bonnie screeched.
"Don't fall for that old man's tricks!" Max said in disapproval.
"As much as I would have liked to be behind this grand operation, I did not do any of this voluntarily," Giovanni explained. "The last thing I remember was going to bed; when I woke up I had just lost to Ash. I was apparently controlled 4 weeks ago and whoever the perpetrator is managed to get my team to go to the Sinjoh Ruins along with many other commands."
"He's telling the truth," Looker commented. "My devices only work on Pokémon controlled by machines. The mind controller must have been controlling Arceus because when I tried freeing it my devices had no effect. It all makes sense now."
"Man that's creepy," Ashlyn shuddered.
"Where's the person that's been controlling Giovanni?" Donovan wondered.
All of a sudden, hundreds of raging Dark Pulse beams surged from the sky and plummeted straight down towards Team Pikachu!
"Look out!" James and Meowth shouted. They were the only ones to notice the incoming blasts.
"Wobbuffet, hurry up and jump!" Jessie desperately cried.
"Fett!" Wobbuffet quickly agreed. He leaped in the air and used Mirror Coat just in time. After the smoke cleared, the anxious group scrambled for answers.
"What was that?!" May shuddered while holding a scared Max close and tight.
"That must have been two or three hundred Dark Pulse blasts aimed at us, "James explained.
"We could have been killed there," Clemont concluded while protecting his little sister.
"Phew, it's a good thing we had Wobbuffet," Dawn sighed in relief.
"But still," Brock pondered, "there's no way there are hundreds Pokémon in the ruins right now."
"How could that be?" Jessie wondered.
"I remember Palkia made a sphere preventing anything from escaping or entering," Blaziken Mask added.
"There's no way that many Pokémon could have entered the ruins," Looker stated. "Unless…"
"HELP ME! WE'RE ALL DOOMED I'M SCARED!" Iris screamed while hiding behind Cilan.
"Calm down Iris," Cilan smiled, "You just have a lot of snow that got inside your sweater, that's all."
"And we know how much Iris hates Ice types," Misty smiled.
But right after Misty said that, she looked down in horror to see 3 Weedle crawling up her leg!
"Eeek!" Misty screeched. "Stop it Tracey!"
"And we know how much Misty hates Bug types!" Tracey burst out laughing. "But still, I'm not the one who pranked you."
"That's because those are my Weedle," the mysterious voice explained.
"Show yourself!" Ash and Giovanni yelled in unison.
After a few seconds of waiting, the towering figure finally revealed himself. His giant squid body stood at about 10 feet tall and had 6 light-yellow spots in front. He had small, brown wavy tentacles as hair and a bright red beak. The rest of his body, including his tentacles arms and belly, shone a radiant green.
"I am Malamar X," Malamar X introduced himself. "I have but one goal: to make my grand design of a suitable world become reality!"
"You were controlling Giovanni?" Ash asked tensely.
"That's right," Malamar X boastfully responded, "Giovanni and all of Team Rocket was under my control. But compared to the Pokémon I still have in my possession, Team Rocket is nothing."
"Now we know it wasn't Giovanni for sure," Ash realized.
"Remember that lousy battle Ash?" Malamar cackled manically. "The reason Raikou, Entei, and Suicune attacked Giovanni's Persian was because I lost control over them. When they were freed, they sensed something was wrong and knew that defeating Giovanni was the only way to stop me. But they didn't - I had one of the strongest Persian in the world! Of course Ash, it angered me a little when you won, but there was never a way from the start to stop me and my grand design!"
"All of this is new to me – I have no memory of battling Ash," Giovanni sighed before getting angry. "How dare you manipulate me and my forces!?"
"That must be a Pokémon," Brock inferred while looking at Malamar.
"Let's see what my Xtransciever Pokedex has to say," Max said, looking at his wrist.
Malamar, the Overturning Pokémon, and the evolved form of Inkay. Possessing the strongest hypnotic powers of any Pokémon, Malamar can compel others to do anything it wants them to do.
"Malamar X has hypnotic powers," Cilan announced to everyone, "that's how he's been doing all of this!"
"But not just any hypnotic power, Malamar possesses the strongest powers of any Pokémon," Malamar X boasted. "Normal Malamar can hypnotize a few humans and Pokémon. Stronger Malamar can hypnotize from far distances and for months at a time. And I, the strongest Malamar, can hypnotize entire armies of Pokémon to do my bidding! Not even the almighty Arceus can resist my power!
"Wait, armies?" Looker wondered in worry.
"You're right that nothing can enter or escape the Sinjoh Ruins," Malamar X smirked at Looker, "but my army of Pokémon was inside the ruins the entire time! Come forth my army!"
The snowy, stone cold floor of the Sinjoh Ruins began to shake and rumble furiously. Team Pikachu braced themselves as if an earthquake were going to hit. But it was really just the thousands of Pokémon emerging from below. Underground doors that Team Pikachu never noticed before emerged and revealed themselves and released the countless Pokémon they contained. The abundant amount of Pokémon marched in from all directions – north, east, west, and south. Gengar, Arbok, Hypno, Absol, Weavile, and Bisharp were just a few of endless variety Malamar had at his disposal. And of course, the 300 Malamar that fired the Dark Pulse blasts revealed themselves too. Malamar's entire army surrounded Team Pikachu and the mere strength in numbers was enough to completely overwhelm Ash and his friends.
"It's over," Brock sulked.
"There's no way we can combat all of these Pokémon," Clemont sobbed.
"This is just too much," Donovan shivered.
"And our Pokémon are already weak from fighting Team Rocket!" Ashlyn trembled.
"Mwahahaha!" Malamar hooted. "As you can see – I am unstoppable! I could even hypnotize all of you if I wanted to!"
"Actually, you can't," Clemont smirked, "I've invented a hypnotic protection device and made sure everyone on our team had one while you were talking."
"Curses," Malamar responded. "However, I have an army of about 6,000 right now. Do you really think you can win?"
"6,000?!" Dawn reacted in shock.
"That's a huge number of Pokémon!" Tracey panicked.
"You see," Malamar X started, "in order to change the world I will place 6 of my devices in different regions – Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, and Kalos. 6,000 is a perfect number because I can send 1,000 Pokémon to each of the six regions! And as for the 5 Genesect, they weren't equipped with bombs; they were equipped with the devices! The 6th device is under my possession."
"There's something I can't wrap my head around," Clemont told Malamar X. "If you're hypnotic powers are so strong, then why were the three beasts and Giovanni freed so easily?"
"If the person or Pokémon I am controlling faints or is hit with extreme physical force, I will lose control of them," Malamar answered. "But it doesn't matter – as you can see right above you I have control over the three legendary birds of Kanto. It just so happened that the legendary beasts were brutally defeated by the legendary birds. Fortunately, Giovanni's Honchkrow was strong enough to take down Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres all by himself. With legendary Pokémon they have to be weakened before I can hypnotize them, and that's exactly what Honchkrow did."
"My Persian defeated all three legendary beasts and my Honchkrow defeated all three legendary birds?" Giovanni thought to himself. "It seems my Pokémon were more powerful than I thought."
As Giovanni was thinking to himself, Jessie, James, and Meowth went right up to the boss and started bowing.
"Boss," Meowth said while bowing.
"We wanted to ask," James said, also bowing.
"What were your reasons for firing us from Team Rocket?" Jessie inquired.
Giovanni was shocked. "I did that? While you three can be Team Rocket's greatest failures, you have also been involved in some of Team Rocket's greatest achievements, namely the fall of Team Aqua, Magma, Team Galactic, and Team Plasma. And, I'll never forget when you three saved my life in Unova. I would never let you three go – it was Malamar's hypnosis that made me execute that action."
"So we're not really fired?" James asked nervously.
"Nope, you three are still field agents of Team Rocket," Giovanni "But right now, our main priority is to stop this Malamar's schemes."
"Want to know why I fired you three?" Malamar X asked deviously.
"Why's that?" Meowth grumbled.
"More importantly, why did you take Pikachu?!" Ash shouted furiously.
"Both were for the same reason, so allow me to tell a story," Malamar answered. "When I was born, my original trainer provided unmatched love and nurture for me. Being the shiny Inkay that I was, my trainer worked extra hard to ensure that I was fed the most premium Pokémon food and treats. He also exposed me to riches of knowledge concerning space and time."
"Space and time?" Dawn wondered.
"You see," Malamar X continued, "my original trainer was a researcher for Team Galactic. He was stationed in the Kalos region in order to research a Pokémon that transports things using teleportation and warps space. As you may remember, Team Galactic was all about space and time, so a Pokémon who could warp space was very relevant. Anyway, my original trainer was very fond of Cyrus and his ideals. Convinced that our current world was corrupted, my trainer was 100 percent supportive of Cyrus creating a brand new world with the help of Dialga and Palkia. However, being the intelligent Inkay that I was, I was even more inspired by Cyrus than my trainer. Sure, my trainer was the best trainer I could ask for, but I knew it was all a lie. I had already witnessed every other Inkay get stomped to the floor by their trainer. There was not a single example of a trainer treating a normal Inkay with the same love that I, a shiny Inkay, had received. If I were a normal, non-shiny Inkay, my trainer would have treated me like worthless trash. So I too believed that this world was corrupted. It had always been humans controlling and dominating Pokémon, not the other way around. With the cruel treatment my fellow Inkay had been suffering, I wanted Cyrus to create a new world where Pokémon could dominate for once."
"I can't believe you had ties to Team Galactic!" Brock gasped.
"Yes," Malamar X answered, "but not for long. As an Inkay, I was brilliant. I did twice as much research as my trainer did every day. I learned three languages and I was eventually able to have deep conversations with trainer. I read every single space and time book in my trainer's collection and even helped him with his research. I learned about how Uxie, Azelf, and Mesprit could craft a Red Chain that could control Dialga and Palkia – this was Cyrus's master plan all along and I knew more about it than my trainer. But what Cyrus didn't know was that a second way of obtaining the legends existed. If Arceus, the god of all Pokémon, was brought to the Mystri Stage inside the Sinjoh Ruins, he could create Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina from nothing. After endlessly researching to have knowledge that surpasses humans, it was time for my trainer to go back to Kanto. I wailed in disbelief as my trainer released me – I couldn't believe it. However, this confirmed my belief that people were cruel and tyrannical to Pokémon after all."
"That's not true!" Ash protested.
"Oh, but it is," Malamar smirked. "After my trainer released me, I watched as he held a baby spiky-eared Pichu in his hands! It was then that I learned about my evolved form Malamar. I learned that it had the strongest hypnotic powers of any Pokémon – not even Pokémon such as Hypno could hypnotize as well. Knowing that, I furiously trained hard to evolve myself into Malamar. As you might expect, I immediately mastered and unleashed my new power on both people and Pokémon. I knew that I alone had to be the one to create a new world, but I didn't want to make the same mistakes as other organizations. I watched as both Team Aqua and Team Magma fell and took notes. But the true moment of truth came when Team Galactic initiated their plan. It had been the plan I had admired for so long, but it had completely failed - Cyrus was rendered completely missing. Wanting more answers, I made my aerial camera system follow these supposed heroes all the way to the Unova region, and I made a stunning conclusion once Team Plasma was defeated. Jessie, James, Meowth, and the Pikachu were all present during the downfall of these teams. If I could eliminate these factors, there would be nothing stopping me from succeeding with my grand design.
"You've been spying on Ash this entire time?!" Misty and Tracey yelled in shock.
"To put it simply, I've been studying the downfall of teams for many years," Malamar reiterated. "Pikachu, Jessie, James, and Meowth were the common factors. In order for my plan to be a total success. I made sure to get those 4 things out of the way."
"What about Ash?" May asked.
"Isn't Ash a factor?" Max also asked.
"Yes," Malamar answered. "But I'm saving that factor for last. You don't know it yet, but I've already dealt with Ash. Ash coming to stop me was inevitable based on all the previous team downfalls, so my solution let involved him doing all of his heroic acts. And by thinking ahead, I realized that his determination to save Pikachu would be his very downfall. Even with all that he's done so far, Ash is still the least of my concerns."
"You know, I can't believe you're standing there doing nothing and explaining everything to us!" Iris yelled angrily. "Shouldn't you be attacking us?!"
"Actually, it's the other way around," Malamar X replied. "You guys should have been attacking me."
"What do you mean?" Cilan asked.
"Well, all that talking I was doing wasn't just for fun," Malamar X responded. "You see, all this time I was stalling so that the portal could finally be completed. In fact, they have already been completed - that was exactly 10 seconds ago."
"WHAT?!" all of Team Pikachu reacted in disbelief.
"Wait," Looker told Malamar, "you said that a Kalos Pokémon could already transport things via teleportation. And you said the devices would create your new suitable world for you. Why do you need Dialga and Palkia?"
"Hoopa, the Pokémon who can warp space, has already been in my possession in order to create the starting portals," Malamar explained. "But Hoopa's portals are limited – they don't last very long and they aren't that big. With the assistance of Dialga and Palkia, however, these portals are be able to transport 1,000 Pokémon all at the same time! As for creating a new suitable world, Dialga and Palkia will help me to shape the rest of the universe – these devices only be able to help me shape this planet individually."
"Man we messed up," Donovan murmured with regret.
"We completely forgot about the portal when we saw Malamar X," Ashlyn said shamefully.
"At least I have Pikachu," Ash said in relief while looking back at Pikachu in Brock's arms.
"Or so you think," Malamar X grinned diabolically.
"What?!" Brock said in disbelief. Pikachu transformed into a Zorua and immediately jumped out of Brock's arms. Zorua then proceeded to run right back by Malamar's side.
"Nooo!" Bonnie cried.
"That Pikachu was a Zorua this whole time?!" Dawn said in shock.
"Did you really think you were going to get Pikachu that easily?" Malamar X manically cackled. "And of course, Pikachu's not the only thing I have trapped."
All of sudden, three Pidgeot swooped in and clutched Jessie, James, and Meowth! The three birds tossed into a cage that locked up immediately after.
"Oh no!" all of Team Pikachu yelled.
"And there's one more thing that I have trapped now," Malamar continued.
"SERENA?!" Team Pikachu yelled in horror.
"Guys, anyone, HELP!" Serena screamed from her cage.
"Poor Serena was on the sidelines this whole time spying on us, so I had one of my Pokémon kidnap her while Ash was battling Giovanni," Malamar explained.
"How could you?" Ash angrily grunted.
"Don't worry Serena, we'll save you!" Clemont assured her.
"And you can count on that!" Bonnie added.
"Have fun trying to do multiple things at once," Malamar jeered. "Just like with Charizard and Buizel, you can't win if you aren't fully committed to one task!"
"Grrr," Ash murmured.
"Not this again," Dawn sighed.
"And without further ado, commence the invasion!" Malamar commanded his army.
The might roars and bellows of the Pokémon violently shook the ruins as they bolted out the portals. In a matter of seconds, the Sinjoh Ruins were completely empty with only Team Pikachu left. Even the cages were gone – it appeared Malamar X took Serena and Team Rocket with them
"It's all over," Cilan stated depressingly.
"We can't win a war like this," Iris sighed while beginning to cry.
"No, we're going to win this," Ash asserted.
"Yeah," Clemont agreed, "we won't give up until it's over."
"That Malamar is pretty clever though," Tracey stated.
"Malamar knew that if we split up we would be much weaker," Brock concluded.
"That must be exactly what Malamar wants us to do," May decided.
"But we aren't going to fall for that trap," Max declared.
"Either way, we have to decide the best way to handle this situation," Blaziken Mask told the group.
Will Team Pikachu be able to stop the mighty Malamar X? Will Team Rocket and Serena be saved? And most importantly, will Ash be able to save his Pikachu? Find out in the next chapter of Saving Pikachu!
"RED ALERT! RED ALERT RED ALERT!" a siren in the laboratory screamed.
"Cynthia," Professor Rowan told her, "the dimensional distortions we discovered at Hearthome City turned out to be Pokémon-transporting portals just as we thought. Are you ready to fight off the incoming army?"
"We sure are," Cynthia responded. She then turned to a group of elite Sinnoh trainers around her.
"It's time," Cynthia told them.
"Right," Aaron, Bertha, Flint, and Lucian responded.
"Let's do this!" the other elite Sinnoh Pokémon trainers responded.
But it wasn't just the Sinnoh region. Thanks to Professor Rowan notifying everyone, the other five regions were also prepared for battle. In Hoenn, Steven, Glacia, Phoebe, Sidney, and Drake were in Lilycove City waiting to fight off the portal that emerged there. Unova had Alder, Caitlin, Grimsley, Shauntal, and Marshal stationed in Nimbasa City to fight the portal there. The Kanto region portal in Saffron City had trainers such as Lorelei, Blaine, Bruno and Agatha ready to defend the city. Kalos had its own powerful trainers ready to defend Anistar City. And in the Johto region, Lance, Karen, Will, and Clair were all in Blackthorn City ready to battle.
"What's going on?" Kenny gasped while looking out the window. Even though it was the afternoon, the sky was filled with dark stormy clouds.
"First Serena gets kidnapped and now this?" Drew said in shock.
"No wonder Clair left right after Ash's battle with Giovanni started," Conway deduced. "She was getting ready to battle."
As Malamar X entered through the Blackthorn City portal, he boldly proclaimed his control over the world.
"This world is mine now and from now on I'll be controlling all of you," Malamar X commanded. "It's time my army, bring them to their knees!"
To be continued…