Hey readers, well I've decided to try and answer your questions since I have nothing better to do with the author notes at the moment. ^^' I'll be answering them at the bottom. Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter. And yes, I know the Mysterious Pokemon is Mewtwo, but Ash and Andy doesn't. :P
Chapter 42: Battle Against the Mysterious Pokemon
"So do you have a plan, Andreas?" Ash asked his battle partner quietly. "I'm not exactly an expert on battling Gyarados or Slowking."
"Slowkings take a lot of hits, so we'll have to work together to take it down. But that Gyarados is our main concern. If we're not careful, it'll wipe the floor with us." Andy frowned. "Time to alter my strategy a bit. Rogue, Swords Dance into Iron Defense!"
The Lucario struck a series of martial arts poses, ending in a meditative stance as a steely sheen surrounded his body, before lapsing back into a fighting stance.
"Aliana, brace yourself," Ash said.
The Dratini nodded as she waited for the opponent to make the next move.
"Gyarados, grab that Dratini with Ice Fang!" James ordered.
Gyarados launched itself at Aliana, its fangs encased in cold ice like before.
"Intercept with Mach Punch!"
In a flash, Rogue was in front of Aliana swinging a fist encased in white energy, with a lot more power behind it thanks to Swords Dance.
Gyarados gave a loud roar as Rogue managed to push him away from Aliana. In retaliation, Gyarados slammed his tail into the Lucario.
The steely sheen from before rose around Rogue as he merely grunted at the impact, sliding back a few feet, not even flinching at the impact.
"Alright Slowking, use Scald on that Lucario!" Jessie ordered.
Slowking shot out boiling stream of water that hit Rogue in the middle of his chest.
Rogue grunted again, showing more pain than before, but still standing strong as he slid back. Hopefully, his unwavering stand would intimidate his opponents a bit.
"How annoying! Just go down already!" Jessie snapped.
"Fine, then we'll take out the little dragon first," James said as he looked over at Aliana. "Gyarados use Ice Fang again!"
"Slowking, use Ice Beam!" Jessie commanded.
The two ice attacks were coming right for the little Dratini.
"Use Extremespeed to get out of the way!" Ash commanded.
Aliana bounced away from the incoming Gyarados and the beam of ice, her body coated with silver wind. She managed to get behind the Gyarados after it had missed her.
"Now use Slam!"
As Aliana dove at the Gyarados, her body started to glow with some kind of energy. The energy expanded into a huge dragon shape and the impact on the Gyarados was devastating.
"Whoa! What was that?" Ash was taken by surprise by this new move.
Andy grinned, surprised and excited. "That was Dragon Rush. One of the most powerful Dragon moves out there."
"That's so cool!" Ash smiled. "Aliana, use Extremespeed in combination with Dragon Rush on Slowking!"
Aliana did as Ash commanded. She moved astoundingly quickly with the speed boost of Extremespeed, followed up with the Dragon Rush. She looked like a blurry dragon. And came down on the Slowking before it or Jessie could even react.
Both the Gyarados and Slowking fell over, but they were still able to battle.
"They've taken heavy hits," Ash said. "Now might be our chance to defeat them."
"Way ahead of you," Andy said. "Rogue, Mach Punch before Slowking can recover."
The Lucario sped over with a speed that rivaled Aliana's, swinging a glowing fist straight at the head of his opponent.
"Protect!" Jessie yelled.
The barrier came up before Rogue could hit her and bounced off. Protect had priority over attacking moves unfortunately.
Andy grinned, having expected this by now. "Feint!"
Lucario strafed left and swung right as, surprisingly, his fist breached the barrier and made impact.
"No!" Jessie yelled.
"Gyarados use Earthquake now!" James shouted.
The Gyarados slammed the arena with his body and caused the entire place to tremble.
"Extremespeed and Wrap on that Gyarados now!" Ash called.
Aliana jumped just before the trembling could get to her and wrapped herself around the Gyarados's face again.
Slowking fell to the ground, eyes were swirling.
"Slowking is unable to battle. You're out, Jessie," Giovanni said.
Jessie growled at James, "Why did you use Earthquake for!? You know that hits every Pokemon on the field!"
"Well I was desperate!" James argued back.
"Dragon Rush!" Ash said.
Aliana used her tail to bounce off the Gyarados and covered herself in the dragon-like energy before tackling full force from behind. The sea dragon gave a pained roar before he fell to the ground, eyes swirling.
"Gyarados is unable to battle. The challengers wins this round," Giovanni said.
"WE LOST IN FRONT OF THE BOSS!" Jessie yelled.
"N-now, now, Jessie, this is a Pokemon Gym, isn't it a good thing that the challenger wins?" James said nervously.
Andy shook his head. "Are they always like this?"
"You could say that," Ash chuckled sheepishly.
Jessie and James returned their Pokemon into their respective Pokeballs while Giovanni gave a slow clap.
"You two did very well with these two. After they came back from capturing Pokemon at the Safari Zone, I've decided to give them some special hardcore training. You may not believe it if you knew them from before, but they are now my top grunts of Team Rocket," Giovanni said.
"No wonder they were so tough," Ash said. "What about their Meowth?"
"Meowth has a special role, a role of getting Pokemon Trainers to admire how he can talk and convince them to join Team Rocket," Giovanni said. "But we're not here to talk about them, are we?"
"No," Andy said, as Rogue walked over beside him, eyes steely with the resolve his trainer shared. "We're not."
Aliana slithered over to Ash herself.
"So we're going to finally battle you?" Ash said.
"Yes, you two earned the right to face me, the Gym Leader," Giovanni said. "As I've said before; you both are free to use all your Pokemon against me."
Andy frowned. "This guy doesn't seem like the type to throw things away on a whim out of arrogance," he muttered to Ash. "He really believes that he can beat twelve to one odds."
"I know Giovanni from our battle in Saffron City," Ash whispered back. "He's a very strong Trainer. Even with my friends' help, we were still getting creamed by two of his Pokemon, and they weren't even this mysterious one that Gary told us about."
Andy nodded and pulled out a Pokeball. "Rogue, sit this one out for now," he said, recalling the Lucario, pulling another ball off his belt as he looked to see what Ash would do.
Ash took out the Safari Ball from his belt. "Aliana, you take a rest, you've earned it." he recalled his Dratini.
"So am I finally going to get some Gym Leader action?" Storm eagerly asked from Ash's shoulder.
"Yes Storm, you're getting some action this time," Ash said to the Pikachu.
"Yes! Finally!"
"So have you two chosen your first two Pokemon to use?" Giovanni asked.
Andy nodded. "Soleil, I'm opening this up with you." He tossed the ball as the fiery moth came forth, buzzing on the field.
"I'm ready for anything this guy can throw at us," she said with enthusiasm.
"Ah, a rare Bug type Pokemon I see," Giovanni said. "You've both got some really rare Pokemon."
"Just don't go getting any ideas," Ash said.
"Of course not. I wouldn't dream of it," Giovanni smirked. "Now for your Pokemon?"
"I'm going to start off with Kooper, my Squirtle," Ash said as he took out his white Premier Ball. "Come on out, Kooper!"
The ball opened to reveal the little Squirtle.
"Let's get ready to do this!" Kooper smiled excitedly.
"Huh… I'm impressed that you've come this far with unevolved Pokemon. Most Trainers that challenge me would have fully evolved Pokemon," Giovanni said when he looked at Kooper.
"My team and I are a lot stronger than people give us credit for," Ash said.
"That I'm sure of after seeing your battle with my grunts earlier. Very well. Now I will show you the Pokemon I'll be using," Giovanni said as he walked up a set of stairs.
Giovanni pushed a button on the pillar, and a large door opened up. The door revealed an unknown Pokemon covered in armor. Its face was masked by this armor too. What Ash and Andreas could see is that it's a bipedal Pokemon with a long purple tail.
Ash gave a small gasp as he suddenly felt a familiar link from this mysterious Pokemon.
What was that? Ash wondered to himself.
Beside him, Andy clenched his fists and gritted his teeth as his instincts immediately began screaming at him to either run like hell or crush the creature in front of him.
"Ash," Andy said. "That… thing. It's unnatural."
"It is?" Ash frowned. I don't know… something about it feels very familiar to me, but I don't know what it is… though I can also tell it's very powerful, we better not pull any punches here.
Giovanni sat down in another chair and said, "I will allow you two to make the first move."
Deciding it would be best to gain an early advantage and not attack until he knew what this thing could do, Andy shouted. "Soleil, start off with Sunny Day."
The Volcarona danced and spun around a bit and shot a ball of light into the air, lighting up the entire arena.
"That… might not be good for Kooper…" Ash frowned.
"It'll wear off after a while. Besides, if everything goes according to plan, he'll be focusing on me. I'll need the extra power if this thing is as tough as Gary said."
"I just wish I knew you had Sunny Day, then maybe I could've used Scorch… oh well, we'll just have to make do with what we can," Ash said.
"Is that all you two will be doing?" Giovanni asked.
"Only a fool makes the first move without studying his opponent first," Andy said.
"Kooper, you use Withdraw. Getting your defense raised will probably help in the long run," Ash said to his Squirtle
Kooper tucked his head, arms, legs and tail into his shell.
"Alright then, let's begin," Giovanni said. "Use Swift."
The Pokemon summoned stars around itself, but they were huge, much bigger than the average Swift. The stars aimed themselves at the two Pokemon before shooting at them in immense speed. Kooper was in his shell, though he did give a few grunts of pain when they hit him.
"Brace yourself!"
Having nothing to do in the face of a homing attack, Soleil merely steeled herself as the stars began impacting, crying out a bit, but managing to stay up.
"Now, return fire with Heat Wave!"
Soleil rapidly flapped her buzzing wings as an intense fiery wing shot forth toward the armored monstrosity.
The Pokemon raised its hand and the body glowed with powerful psychic aura. The Heat Wave didn't seem to do any visible damage, even with the Sunny Day up.
"This thing is really strong," Ash frowned. "Kooper, use Rapid Spin, move around the place!"
The Squirtle spun his shell around as he bounced around the arena.
The Pokemon used a Psychic attack without any orders from Giovanni himself. The man just watched with an amused face.
The Psychic got a grip on the Volcarona and began tightening its hand, squeezing her.
Soleil cried out as she felt an invisible force compressing in on her.
Andy stood stunned, having no idea what to do in the face of such a powerful enemy. "Fight it, Soleil!"
Try as she might, the moth couldn't break out of the Psychic grip, eventually fainting from the compression. Andy sighed and recalled her.
"You tried your best," he said, checking to see how Kooper was doing.
"Get behind it and use Bite!" Ash called.
Kooper bounced over at the Pokemon and came out of his shell to clamp his mouth onto the Pokemon's tail. The Pokemon reacted by using Psychic on the Squirtle, forcing him to let go before throwing him into a wall. Kooper let out a helpless yelp before he fell off the wall, unconscious.
"They got taken out just like that…" Ash frowned as he recalled the Squirtle back into his Premier Ball.
Andy sighed. "I've only got three more. No way I'm gonna pit Amara against this thing." He pulled out a Pokeball. "You're up Ion."
The Luxray came out in a ready stance, glaring fiercely at his opponent.
"This would be helpful if we had a Dark type, that Psychic attack is really powerful," Ash said. "The Sunny Day is still up, so I'll choose Scorch for this. Go for it!"
Ash threw his Cherish Ball, releasing the shiny Charmeleon, who gave a battle roar.
"Let's get straight to the wire. Scorch, use Smokescreen, then use Flamethrower!" Ash ordered.
Scorch shot out black smoke from her mouth at the armored Pokemon, then she closed her mouth for a second to build up fire in her throat, then shot out a powerful stream of flames that grew stronger in the Sunny Day's effect.
"Follow the fire and hit it with Fire Fang!"
Ion charged behind the Flamethrower attack with fierce, enhanced flames licking his teeth as he prepared to burst out of the Smokescreen and clamp down on the Psychic beast on the other side.
The Pokemon gave what sounded like a grunt before its body gave a powerful pulse of psychic energy, which pushed the Luxray back and into the Charmeleon. Both of them went crashing into the wall.
Ion grumbled and stood up, more irritated than anything. He couldn't do much if he couldn't get close.
"That Pokemon is too strong," Ash growled. "Fighting it with power doesn't seem to be doing us any favors…"
"So we'll have to catch it off guard. But how?"
Ash frowned before he said, "I can keep lowering the Pokemon's accuracy with Smokescreen, but that can only do so much. Can Ion paralyze that Pokemon?"
"There's only a chance if I have him use Wild Charge, but it has serious recoil. We'll only have one or two chances before Ion can't take anymore."
Ash noticed the Pokemon was getting ready to use Psychic again, there was no time to try and plan things out, they had to keep going.
"Scorch, use Flamethrower again!" Ash ordered.
Scorch shot out another stream of fire at the Pokemon, making it brace itself to take the hot attack.
"Wild Charge! Don't let it grip you!"
Ion began sprinting for the armored Pokemon, electricity dancing wildly across his fur as he approached.
"Now, Double Team!"
Suddenly, there were five Luxrays, all charging the Pokemon at different angles.
"While the Pokemon is distracted, get in there and use Slash on its armor!" Ash called out.
Scorch ran into the smoke while the Pokemon was distracted with the five Ions moving around. With her sharp claws, Scorch slashed at the armor, trying to break it. The armor didn't break, but it did crack a bit.
"Use Fire Fang!" Ash yelled when he knew Scorch was close to it.
Filling her teeth with searing fire, Scorch bit the Pokemon's leg. The Pokemon gave a grunt of pain before using Psychic to force her off it. Instead of throwing her like it did with Kooper, however, it began to squeeze her.
"Sc-Scorch!" Ash yelled in concern for his teammate.
At that moment, Ion impacted the Pokemon, a loud clap of thunder sounding along with it.
"Follow up with Thunder Fang!"
Ion then clamped down on the Pokemon with teeth arcing with thousands of volts of electricity.
The Pokemon gave a hiss this time before slamming the Charmeleon onto the Luxray. Still having Scorch in its psychic grip, and it forced her tail flame to burn Ion's forehead.
Ion roared and leapt back. "Coward!"He shouted. "Using another as a shield."
"Let… let me… go!" Scorch growled as she struggled in midair.
The Pokemon didn't speak back to them. Instead it released Scorch from the psychic hold, then its body shot out some kind of black force that slammed into both of them.
"Was that… was that Dark Pulse?" Ash said in surprise.
Andy nodded as Ion flew back, skidding to his feet unconscious. "It's not even breaking a sweat. This… monster, whatever it is. It's a man's attempt at a manmade Legendary." He recalled Ion.
"Where's Memma when I need her?" Ash grumbled.
Scorch rolled out of the smoke, her tail flame was dangerously low. The Smokescreen faded as soon as she was unconscious.
"We're losing our Pokemon, one after another," Ash said as he recalled the unconscious golden Charmeleon back into her Cherish Ball.
Andy nodded as he turned to Raela. "Think you can handle this?"
"I have to try," She said as she slithered off of him and onto the field.
"Should I go in next, Ash?" Storm asked.
"Not yet, Storm. I'll save you for last," Ash said. "I rather you didn't have to face this Pokemon."
Storm sighed, "I know, but I want my chance at it too!"
Ash took his Safari Ball, "Okay Aliana, looks like you're up. I know you're still hurt from your previous battle, but we need all the help we can get. Go for it!"
The Safari Ball opened to release the Dratini, who still seemed tired from the previous battle.
"I don't like where this is going…" Aliana said nervously.
"Be calm, little one," Raela said to her. "Focus on the battle, on what your next move will be. Let our trainers handle the rest."
"Huh?" Aliana looked at her. She remembered the Serperior from when they were doing introductions, but she didn't really know what kind of Pokemon she was. To her, she was some kind of weird grass type version of a Dragonair. "O-okay…"
"Start off with Leaf Storm!"
Raela focused intently as the winds inside the arena suddenly picked up, blowing violently as leaves, seaming to have appeared out of nowhere, all began to whip around the armored Pokemon, slicing at it's skin and armor.
"Combine that Leaf Storm with Dragon Rage!" Ash commanded.
Aliana shot out a dragon-like energy, similar to when Scorch used Dragon Rage, and it swirled around the leaves beautifully. Dragon energy went well with the starter elements.
The Pokemon held up its arms as if it was trying to fight back the attack with its own psychic blast, which is something Ash only saw his own Memma ever do. The two attacks swirled around each other like a twister, before they exploded.
"That Psychic blast…" Ash said after the explosion passed. "I've only seen one other Psychic Pokemon use that kind of power, and that's Memma…"
Andy frowned. "You think this was some attempt to recreate Mew?"
"Ah, so you know of Mew?" Giovanni spoke up for the first time since this battle started. "I'm impressed. Not many people know about Mew."
Andy snorted, opting to ignore the man. Oh the things he didn't know.
"Glare," he said simply.
Raela did just that, glaring at the Pokemon as her eyes glowed with an otherworldly, intimidating power.
The other Pokemon didn't look like it was doing anything. It was hard to tell if it was paralyzed or not.
"The fact that Giovanni knows of Mem- I mean Mew, has me really worried," Ash said. "What did he do, exactly? I heard that… Mew… there was an experiment, but… Red should have…" Ash was talking non-sense to Andy.
Andy's eyes widened, though, as he picked up what Ash was thinking on the surface. "You don't think this is…"
"But it can't be, how could there be two of them?" Ash said in shock.
This distraction cost them dearly, as the Pokemon used another Dark Pulse attack, sending Aliana and Raela flying, mostly the smaller Dratini. Aliana fell to the ground, unconscious.
"Aliana…" Ash frowned. "You did well, take a rest." He returned her to the Safari Ball.
Raela, however, gritted her teeth and endured the attack.
"Dragon Pulse!"
The Serperior opened her mouth, gathering energy as an orb of pure draconic power formed in front of her, oddly stronger that it should have been, before launching it at her armored adversary.
"Why is Dragon Pulse so strong? Shouldn't Leaf Storm have weakened her special attacks?" Ash asked as he was fumbling for the Luxury Ball.
"Raela's ability is Contrary," Andy said as he watched the result of the attack. "It reverses the effect of stat-affecting moves."
"Wow, how did you get a Snivy with its hidden ability from the Professor of that region?" Ash asked. "I heard all the starters they give have their original abilities, none of them hidden." He managed to grab the Luxury Ball.
Andy shrugged. "Heck if I know. But Raela was never what you expected her to be."
"Eon, go for it!" Ash threw the black with golden stripes ball. The Luxury Ball opened to release the spiky haired Eevee.
"Finally, it's my turn!" Eon said as she got ready for battle.
The armored monstrosity looked at the two Pokemon and was gathering some kind of energy in its hands. It was creating some sort of psychic ball. At first, Ash thought that was a Shadow Ball, which Eon would be immune to, but upon looking at it again, it was a bright blue instead of dark purple.
"Eon use Dig, hurry!" Ash commanded.
Eon didn't hesitate to go underground.
The Pokemon threw the blue ball that went over the hole in the ground Eon made, and hit the Serperior in the chest.
Raela was knocked back a bit, but still didn't go down.
Andy, meanwhile, scowled. Raela couldn't take much more. So it was time to use their last resort move. "Frenzy Plant!"
"Eon, ride it!" Ash called.
Raela rose up and jabbed her tail into the ground, focusing as, suddenly, dozens and dozens of thick vines burst out of the ground, all of them hurtling toward their opponent.
One of the vines had a certain Eevee on top. Eon hung on with her tail and paws, hoping not to fall down. Thankfully her experience with the Rainbow Path race back with Sabrina didn't make it as hard as it could've been.
While the vines and Eon closing in, the Pokemon waved out its arms and send out a big psychic wave. It wasn't enough to stop the Frenzy Plant, but it did slow it down. The vines all slammed and grabbed the Pokemon's body, holding and squeezing it tightly.
"Eon, run up those vines and use Shadow Ball at point blank range!" Ash called out.
The Eevee ran up the vine she was riding on, and jumped at the armored Pokemon's face before releasing a Shadow Ball, hitting it.
"Now that was a critical hit!" Ash smiled.
Eon landed on the floor, looking up, as the vines were still hanging on to the Pokemon.
Surprisingly enough, the armor was still strong on the Pokemon's face. Its eyes glowed inside it as its body exploded with psychic energy, destroyed the Frenzy Plant's vines.
Andy scowled, having sadly expected this. "They're done," he said. "Eon is a sitting duck in front of it and Raela can't move."
The Pokemon used that blue ball from before and hit Eon, before it used Psychic on the Serperior and slammed her into the ground. Once the smoke and debris cleared, both Eon and Raela were unconscious.
"Do you think that blue ball is a Fighting type move?" Ash asked. "It did way more damage to Eon than I thought it would…"
"Yeah. Aura Sphere," Andy said. "There aren't a lot of Pokemon that can use it."
Both Trainers returned their Pokemon into their respective Pokeballs.
Andy then pulled out his last Pokeball. "Rogue's got our best shot at winning this now."
"No offense to Rogue, but isn't he at a disadvantage, being a Fighting type and all? Even his Steel typing is at a disadvantage with Aura Sphere," Ash said worriedly.
Andy smiled. "I told you before we came here. Rogue has a way to surprise people who back him into a corner." With that, he tossed the Pokeball as the Lucario landed gracefully in a fighting stance.
Ash looked at the Pikachu on his shoulder, "Well Storm, this is it. It's all up to you buddy."
Storm nodded, his cheeks sparking. "I won't let you down, Ash!"
Storm jumped off of Ash's shoulder and landed into the battlefield, right beside the Lucario. The Pikachu was on all fours and his cheeks were sparking with electricity.
Andy did something… odd then. "You ready Rogue?"
"Always, master."
With that, Andy placed a hand on his chest. Under his shirt, something began to glow. And so did Rogue. The glow grew brighter and brighter, until it faded, as Rogue let out a mighty roar. And he had changed completely. His creme fur grew out behind him, and his aura sensing organs had elongated, and his spike grew longer and more vicious.
Ash and Storm had to look away and shut their eyes during the process. When they both were able to look again, they were shocked.
"What the...!?"
"Is this going to be a thing now?"
Ash looked at Andy and said, "What just happened? Lucario can't… wait… did you just mega evolve Rogue?"
Andy grinned. "Sure did. Aura Sphere!"
Faster than should have been possible, Rogue charged an azure ball of energy and launched it at high speed at the armored Pokemon.
Despite the type disadvantages, the Pokemon grunted in pain.
"That's amazing! The only time I ever saw a mega evolved Pokemon was when I was fighting against it!" Ash marveled.
"Hey Ash, less marveling, more battling!" Storm called to his star-struck trainer.
"H-huh? Oh right! Storm use Quick Attack to get in close, but be prepared to dodge any psychic energy if you need to! You remember how to see psychic energy with those training times with Memma, right?" Ash said.
"Ugh, all too well…" Storm grumbled before he ran towards the Pokemon, leaving a silver streak behind him.
"Mach Punch! Hit when and where Storm hits to multiply the damage!"
Rogue launched forward, easily keeping pace with the speedy Pikachu as they charged at the Psychic Pokemon.
The Pokemon couldn't keep up with the two as Storm slammed into the armored beast's chest, Rogue following it up with his Mach Punch.
"While you're up there, use Thunder Wave now!" Ash quickly said.
Storm's cheeks sparked as he gave a light shock to the Pokemon. The shock didn't hurt it, but it caused its body to go numb as electricity sparked around it.
"Now get away from it!" Ash yelled.
Storm jumped away and ran back to their side of the battlefield.
"The paralysis should slow it down," Ash said to Andreas.
Andy smiled. "Then let's take advantage of that. Bullet Punch!"
Rogue began rapidly circling the Pokemon as his fists, surrounded by a steely sheen, began slamming into it like pistons.
The Pokemon was grunting in pain from each attack. It was trying to use a psychic attack, but the paralysis was making it difficult.
"This could be our chance!" Ash said excitedly. "Storm, get in close with Quick Attack, then combine your Thunderbolt into your Iron Tail and give it a good whack!"
The Pikachu ran at the Pokemon with a silver streak behind him. Storm powered up a Thunderbolt and poured it into his tail as he turned it to steel. Rogue moved out of the way as Storm jumped and flipped in the air to slam his Thunderbolt Iron Tail into the armored beast.
"Heh, good job boys, this is the first time my prized Pokemon is actually struggling," Giovanni said calmly.
"It's not even legal," Andy said back.
"I'll have you know, young man, that I didn't designate this Gym as Ground type only. Gyms are allowed to have different types if they so choose, it's just many of them prefer to train one certain type and make it as strong as possible," Giovanni said.
"And your explanation for using an unregistered man-made Pokemon?"
"Who said it's an unregistered man-made Pokemon?" Giovanni grinned darkly.
"I do," Andy said. "Force Palm!"
Rogue suddenly stopped and grabbed the armored Pokemon, his palm exploding outward with tremendous energy.
"Well it's your words against the League's rules." Giovanni shrugged.
Ash frowned before he said, "He's right. If Red has the same kind of Pokemon, then it would already have been a registered Pokemon, legendary, man-made or not. It's not illegal."
"The armor is," Andy said. "It's illegal to use anything other than a Pokemon's natural abilities in official League battles, including Gym battles."
"That's what they tell you," Giovanni said. "However, this isn't armor. It may look like armor, but it's a machine that helps the Pokemon focuses its ability. If I didn't have it on, it could go on a wild rampage. The League wouldn't want that, so they allowed this."
Andy shook his head. "That only means that you're not in control of it. You shouldn't be allowed to use any Pokemon in a League sanctioned battle unless it obeys you willingly." Andy scowled. "Or do you have something else to pull out your butt to argue that away?"
"You are such a hardheaded boy," Giovanni said. "I never said it didn't obey me. I said the machine helps the Pokemon focuses on its ability, not mind control it."
The Pokemon used Psychic on the Mega Lucario while Andy was busy arguing, pushing it back against the wall.
"And if I were you, I'd focus on this battle," Giovanni said.
Andy sneered. "Swords Dance!"
Rogue struggled before pulling free of the Psychic and landing in a different pose than usual.
The Pokemon fired its own Aura Sphere at Rogue.
"Storm! Deflect it with Iron Tail!" Ash called.
The Pikachu ran at the Aura Sphere and used Iron Tail to hit it. Instead of deflecting it, however, it exploded upon contact. Storm hit the ground.
"Storm! Are you okay?"
"I'm… just… swell!" Storm grumbled with his face in the ground.
"Mach Punch!"
Rogue dashed at the armored Pokemon yet again, powered both by Swords Dance and his Mega Evolution.
The Pokemon put up a strong barrier as Rogue came at it. The punches slammed into the barrier, though the Pokemon still grunted in pain the barrier minimized most of the damages.
"Storm, get in there with Thunderbolt!" Ash called.
Storm jumped and let loose a stream of powerful electricity. Combined with Rogue's Mach Punch, the Pokemon actually backed away and tumbled on the floor. It wasn't out yet, but it was certainly weakened.
"Bullet Punch, Rogue!"
Showing no mercy, Rogue began another barrage of steely punches.
The Pokemon was getting angry. Its body was covered in a powerful psychic aura.
Ash knew that they were finished if it exploded with Psychic like it did when it was trapped in the Frenzy Plant.
"Storm! Use Volt Tackle now!"
Storm ran at the Pokemon while it was building up its psychic energy. The Pikachu's body was coated in high voltage electricity. Rogue, seeing this, jumped out of the way of the incoming volt missile.
Storm leaped at the Pokemon and tackled it with his electric coated body, while at the same time the Pokemon let loose the powerful Psychic explosion.
"Who won?" Ash coughed on the smoke.
DarkFoxKit: Now I'd like to take this time to thank everyone who's been reading and supporting this series.
KitsuneShin0bi: Thank you, I'm glad you appreciate that I've kept Ash's team the way it is because it's more satisfying to watch him win with underwhelming Pokemon against stronger Pokemon. And yeah, I am pretty tired of seeing Riolu/Lucario in almost everyone's favorite list, especially after Kalos had pretty much beaten Lucario into the ground for me, plus Aegis Dragon's using it as his ace as you saw in this chapter. Mewtwo's backstory is meant to seem contradictory because there's two of them, not just the one. The wild one is with Red while Giovanni has the later, less wild version of Mewtwo. I haven't really thought about Ash's aura abilities, at least not while he's human. Mew can naturally learn Aura Sphere at level 100, so I've decided to make that more of a thing after Ash's transformation.
ultima-owner: Thank you.
11JJ11: Most of the complaints are about Ash and his team lately, but I'm glad to see everyone's been so accepting... well almost everyone. And you're right, it's impossible to please everyone.
xAmethystFox: Um... Andreas is a real anime character? What series was that? And I didn't think you were complaining. I was just dealing with some people who were.
TobyFreshCut: Heh. I didn't want Mew here for a reason. :P Whenever I have a Pikachu with Volt Tackle, I rarely use it, because the recoil damage is nasty and Pikachu's got low HP to begin with. I'll try to use it a little more often in the story though, there just hadn't been any real need for it until now. ^^' And that is an awesome Eevee-trix, I love the Eeveelutions! :D
Awsomeness: I had to rewatch it on Youtube myself to remember what happened in the episode. It's been a long time since I saw it myself. Yeah, Gary having ten badges threw me off when I first saw the episode, and most of them didn't look like the Gym Badges of Kanto, which lead me to the theory that there's more than just those eight gyms in Kanto. And Team Rocket got this powerful because Giovanni was impressed by their work after getting a lot of Pokemon in the Safari Zone and trained them himself. I'd imagine the Team Rocket trio would be a lot more successful if they just stop stalking Ash all day trying (and failing) to get one little Pikachu. And yeah, I never got why people would label a Trainer with strong Pokemon they raised themselves as OP, wouldn't that make just about every Pokemon player OP too? I guess an OP Trainer would have a team of Legendary Pokemon (Tobias) or Pokemon with mutated powers (Like the manga's Red Eevee, able to shift between its evolutions). And thank you.
PhoenixWillowsRox88: Sadly, no.
PsychicEevee0103: That actually WAS the plan, but I think it would've been too anti-climatic and there was no real reason for that anyways. Still, good guess though.
Arathix2002: Well, glad that you love Andy's team, even though he doesn't have a Ninetales. ^^'
Joltix12: Yeah, because at the end of Pokemon Origins, Red said he was going to find Mew. He still hadn't yet. I won't say if Red is a hybrid or not. The ending? That was just a cliffhanger.
KaliAnn: Thank you, battle writing is pretty difficult since words don't do it justice.
thor94: I'm just really sick of Lucario. Where do people get the idea Ash will be using aura? He doesn't use it in the anime, only once or twice with a Riolu or Lucario. And in Kalos, that pretty much became non-existent. Well, I do have plans for it later, but I'm still not sure about giving him a Lucario. And I don't get your logic, Ash is clearly holding up his own, but apparently you see him as a dead last still. If that's your opinion, fine, I can't change your mind, but please try to see that Ash doesn't have to have super strong Pokemon in order to be a strong trainer.
xenon: Thanks, I'm glad you like it that much. :D
Sailor Pandabear: Uh... thanks?
223: Wait, is that an Experiment number from Lilo and Stitch? ^^' Anyways, the Pikachu's Vacation... huh, I actually forgot that existed. I might do something like that as a fun little filler later, or something for Ash to join in for the fun of it, but as of right now though I have no plans for it. Ash is becoming a Mew, not a Mewtwo. As cool as Mewtwo is, I personally prefer Mew a lot more. And yes, there ARE actually two completely different Mewtwos in this story.
zerones: Yes, thank you! I am aware the hybrids are pretty overpowered, but that doesn't mean it's outside the realm of a typical Pokemon anime or game. It just means they train their Pokemon well and for a long time. And heh, nice reference there. Yeah, I wanted to keep Ash as an underdog, but it's not forever, so enjoy it while it lasts. And I know what you mean, more often than not the protagonist would be much more powerful than the antagonist, and that just doesn't make for an interesting fight. And thank you! :D
pokemonfansuper: Uh... well that's a pretty tall order since there's so many now... but right now I'm only planning to go up to the Orange Islands, and maybe Johto.
DarkFoxKit: Thank you guys for your support. I look forward to hearing from you all again!