(A/N: We last left off with Mewtwo up against three Megas and a Ditto copying him. Though he's still stronger than them, he's now outnumbered, up against his weakness, and facing a rather strategic opponent. Lets see where the battle goes from here.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 8: Mega Evolution X

As the battle raged on, Mewtwo saw what Craig meant by strategy. While Gengar and Houndoom attacked him with Dark attacks, they also acted as shields for Alakazam and Ditto whenever Mewtwo tried to use Psychic attacks on them. And when he attempted to use other type attacks on them, Ditto would block or reverse the attacks back at him.

Craig was also good at having his Pokémon attack together. Whenever one attacked, a Dark attack was also used with it, preventing Mewtwo from shielding against it or reversing it. All in all, the battle was proving to be a nuisance.

Alakazam used Psychic as Gengar used Dark Pulse, the blue and purple auras of energy swirling together to form one deadly wave of Dark and Psychic power. Mewtwo teleported away, only to be struck by a Shadow Ball by Ditto. He whirled around and used Psyshock, but Houndoom jumped up and blocked the attack with its own body before using Overheat. Mewtwo reversed it, but then Ditto just sent it back at him again, so Mewtwo put up his psychic shield, only to be hit by Gengar's Sucker Punch, its attack going straight through Mewtwo's shield.

Alakazam teleported up towards them and used Hyper Beam, but Mewtwo countered with Psystrike. An explosion of psychic energy erupted outward. Gengar and Houndoom remained unharmed, but Alakazam was blown away. Ditto used Psystrike as well, but Mewtwo's attack easily overpowered its own, and it was knocked back too. With the two Psychic Pokémon out of the way, Mewtwo reversed the Will-O-Wisp used by Houndoom and Focus Blast used by Gengar before using Thunderbolt, shocking both Pokémon.

Ditto recovered at this point and teleported up to Mewtwo to use Psycho Cut, slashing Mewtwo across the back with blades of psychic energy. Mewtwo grunted and whirled around, using Aqua Tail, knocking Ditto away. He then sped after it, using Aerial Ace, but Alakazam teleported in front of him and threw a Shadow Ball, forcing Mewtwo to teleport out of its path.

He reappeared on the ground, and the four Pokémon immediately came at him. Mewtwo was ready for them when Mew's voice echoed in his head. "Hey, Mewtwo."

He growled in frustration. "What is it?"

"Why don't you just take these guys out? You're not even trying. You haven't even Mega Evolved yet."

He ducked to avoid Gengar's Sucker Punch and used Metal Coat to bounce Alakazam's Energy Ball back at it, only to have Houndoom chomp down on his tail while using Thunder Fang. "I am giving them a fighting chance. They are strong, and well trained. As rotten as this Dark-Psychic Trainer is, he has done well with them."

"But what if you get Captured?"

His eyes narrowed. "I would never allow it to come to that."

Houndoom opened its mouth and used Hyper Voice, causing Mewtwo to cover his ears as painful sound waves flowed over him before he teleported to avoid Gengar's Dark Pulse. Up in the air again, he was joined by Ditto and Alakazam. Both used Hyper Beam, but Mewtwo shielded himself, only to have Gengar fly up and slam into him as it fazed through his shield, knocking him right out of the blue sphere. It then grabbed him by the tail and attempted to drag him back down, but Mewtwo flew straight up, pulling Gengar along with him.

Spinning around, he sent Gengar flying, then sent a Shock Wave after him. Ditto teleported into the attack's path and reversed it. Mewtwo was hit by his own attack before he even realized it had been reversed.

As he fell, Houndoom breathed a Fire Blast up at him, but Mewtwo put his shield up. He then put on a burst of speed, using Zen Headbutt to slam into Houndoom. The Psychic portion of the attack did nothing to the Dark type Pokémon, but the Fighting part still did damage. He then spun around, hitting Houndoom with his Iron Tail, then put up his psychic shield and flew at Alakazam.

Ditto teleported into his path and put up its own psychic shield, and the two slammed together. They attempted to push the other back as Gengar flew over and began firing Dark Pulse straight through Mewtwo's shield.

"Feel like giving up?" Craig mockingly called up to him.

Mewtwo glared at him and fought down the pain of Gengar's attack while he pushed against Ditto's shield. "You will never conquer me!"

He suddenly flew straight up, and Gengar's attack struck Ditto. Raising his hand, he gathered sunlight and fired a Solar Beam down at Gengar. He then raised his other hand and fired Swift down at Houndoom and Alakazam before using Double Team, splitting into three duplicates.

Ditto shook its head, feeling dazed, and looked up to see the three different Mewtwo. Knowing that two were fake, it used Psystrike, the explosion of psychic energy forcing Mewtwo to put up his shield while the two copies disappeared as the attack flowed over them. Houndoom used the opportunity to leap up, straight through Ditto's attack, to chomp down on Mewtwo's foot while using Fire Fang.

Mewtwo gasped in pain, and whacked Houndoom with his Aqua Tail, knocking it off. Knowing that the burn he'd just received would never stop hurting until he used Recover, he prepared to heal himself.

Craig smirked, having been waiting for this. "Now, Alakazam, use Disable!"

"Ala!" the psi Pokémon replied.

Mewtwo felt his Recover lock up when he attempted to use it. He glared down at Alakazam, but didn't have time to dwell on it before Ditto and Gengar threw a Shadow Ball at him.

"Enough of this," he seethed, the burning in his foot ruining the enjoyment of the battle for him.

He teleported in front of Houndoom and used Miracle Eye. A wave of energy flowed out of his glowing eyes and over the dark Pokémon. Houndoom blinked as Mewtwo raised his hand, using Telekinesis, his psychic power now able to effect the Dark type Pokémon. He lifted it into the air, and then blasted it with Psychic, and Houndoom dropped to the ground.

Teleporting out of the way of the Hidden Power that Alakazam attempted to use on him while his back was turned, he used Telekinesis on it, and sent the psi Pokémon flying into Gengar.

Ditto came speeding towards him, using Aerial Ace, and Mewtwo fixed him with a glare. He used Gravity, greatly increasing the gravity around Ditto, and the transforming Pokémon dropped to the ground, feeling as though its body weighed a ton.

Craig's eyebrows rose. "Oh my, it seems you're getting serious. I guess it's time for my secret weapon. You ready, Gengar?"

The shadow Pokémon got up, grinning broadly. It flew over to Mewtwo, stopping directly in front of him. The two stared at each other for a moment before Craig's command came. "Do it, Gengar, use Fire Punch!"

Mewtwo's eyes narrowed and he put up his shield, wondering what was so special about Fire Punch. But the flaming fist never came. Instead, Gengar reached straight through the psychic shield and touched him with its finger. Mewtwo felt it as soon as Gengar's finger grazed him. Craig had never intended to have Gengar use Fire Punch, but this knew what it was as soon as Gengar touched him, and he couldn't believe he had been foolish enough to let it happen.

The Dark-Psychic Trainer grinned. "You can feel it, can't you? That's Gengar's Destiny Bond. You know what that means? As long as this attack is in effect, once Gengar faints, you will too. Your arrogance has been your undoing."

Mewtwo glared at him. "I can defeat your Gengar without knocking it out."

Craig's smile became more sinister. "You're missing the point, my friend. I'm not giving you a choice in the matter. Gengar, use Explosion!"

Mewtwo's eyes widened as he realize the depth of Craig's plan. He truly wasn't giving him a choice. And as Gengar began glowing with energy, Mewtwo knew he was beaten.

A powerful explosion erupted from Gengar's body as it unleashed all its energy in one devastatingly blast. Mewtwo's shield blocked the explosion, but it didn't matter as the effects of the Destiny Bond activated, completely zapping Mewtwo of his energy.

Craig smiled as he watched Mewtwo fall, his psychic shield fading away. After returning the unconscious Gengar to its PokéBall, he walked over to Mewtwo. "It looks like it's my win, my friend. I think I should be able to Capture you now, but lets make sure."

He snapped his fingers. Houndoom, Ditto, and Alazakam immediately came up behind Mewtwo and attacked, Houndoom with Punishment, Ditto with Psychic, and Alakazam with Psybeam. The attacks brought Mewtwo out of unconsciousness, and he cried out as Craig demonstrated his brutality.

The Dark-Psychic Trainer chuckled. "I guess now you understand why I had my Gym Leadership revoked."

"STOP IT!"

Craig turned upon hearing a voice scream in his head, and he turned to find the Sigilyph from earlier flying next to his head. "What? The Sigilyph?"

Mew dropped the disguise and resumed her true form. "Leave my mate alone!"

Craig blinked. "A Mew?" He grinned. "So that's why the psychic reading on you was so high. Looks like today is my lucky day. Houndoom!"

"Doom!" the dark Pokémon barked, and ceased attacking to fire a Shadow Ball at Mew.

The attack hit Mew from behind, and she crashed into a tree. Even through the agony and being only half-conscious, Mewtwo heard her cry of pain. His eyes snapped open, blazing with fury, and he began to get up, even as Alakazam and Ditto continued to attack him. Summoning up his strength, he overrode the Disable on his Recover and healed himself.

"Mewtwo!" he roared, speaking vocally for the first time.

Craig looked at Mewtwo in disbelief. "It can't be! He was finished!"

Mewtwo began glowing, and a flash of light erupted from within him, his body seemingly engulfed in white flames. When it faded, Mewtwo stood transformed. Only this was a form no one, not even he, had ever seen before.

"What's this?" Craig cried.

Before anyone could react, Mewtwo whirled around and struck Houndoom with an Ice Punch, instantly encasing the dark Pokémon in ice and sending it skidding across the ground, leaving a deep groove. His foot shot out as he used Low Kick, knocking Alakazam off its feet, and before it even hit the ground, he seized control of it with Telekinesis, and sent it crashing through several trees, completely snapping the trunks.

Ditto barely realized what happened before it was sent flying by Mewtwo's Iron Tail. Mewtwo quickly sped after it, using Zen Headbutt, hitting the imitating Pokémon so hard that it reverted back to its pink blob form.

Craig blinked, unable to believe what he just saw. Mewtwo had just defeated all three of his Pokémon in seconds. And then the genetic Pokémon was in front of him. He fell over in surprise as Mewtwo raised his hand.

"Mewtwo, wait!" he cried, truly fearful for his life.

Mewtwo's eyes flashed with psychic power. "Sleep."

The words barely entered Craig's mind before he was out. Mewtwo glared down at him before reaching down and removing the Psychic Specs, crushing them into bits of metal and broken glass. He then wiped Craig and his Pokémon's memories of everything relating to him and Mew, the scientists, and the Psychic Specs so he could never make any new ones.

"It is done," he said.

"Mewtwo?"

He turned around to see Mew staring at him. "What did I say about letting your guard down?"

Mew just kept staring. "But you… you Mega Evolved… again."

Mewtwo looked at his hands. "So I did." He transformed into his first Mega form, then into his new one again before changing back to his base form. "It seems that my first Mega form increases my psychic power while my new one increases my physical power."

"Wow," Mew marveled. "So you've got two Mega Evolutions. That's amazing! Hey, I know, you can call this new one your X form and your first one your Y form."

Mewtwo raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Because when you posed, you kind of looked like the letters X and Y depending on which form you take."

He rolled his eyes. "You are an imbecile." He glanced at the sleeping Craig. "Come, let's take our leave."

He teleported away, and Mew soon followed. When she reappeared beside him, she flew over curiously. "Hey, Mewtwo, when you suddenly kicked those Pokémon's butts, did you do that to save me?"

For some reason, he turned away from her so she couldn't see his face. "I did no such thing. I simply sought to end the battle."

Mew stared at him, then giggled. "I don't believe you. I think you got mad because they hurt me."

He turned away as she kept trying to see his face. "I assure you, that is not the case."

"Admit it, Mewtwo, you love me."

"I have never claimed anything or the sort."

"But you love me."

He finally stopped trying to turn away from her and fixed her with a glare. "One more word of this, and I will trap you in one of that human's PokéBalls."

Mew fell silent for a few moments. "Hey, Mewtwo."

He sighed. "What?"

"I love you too."

(A/N: I can't help but feel that I deglorified Mewtwo a bit this chapter and last. Is deglorified even a word? But he was up against some pretty powerful Pokémon, Mega ones at that, two of which were immune to his psychic power, and the other copying him. As for Craig, the reason for his cockiness was, not just because he's naturally arrogant, but also because he's been planing on using Gengar's Destiny Bond since the beginning, and was basically using the battle as a way to see how good Mewtwo was and to make him think he had the battle in the bag. Mewtwo is pretty cocky himself. He puts too much faith in his strength, hence why Craig was able to outsmart him. But his superior power pulled through in the end when he found something to fight for other than himself, although he'll never admit it, and now he's achieved his X form. I know, I know, the chapter title gave it away. For the next chapter, we'll return to the fluffy comedy stuff, so look forward to it.)