Agent sat quietly in his cell underneath the Rocket base. He had been left in there by Mewtwo, but as the Pokémon had released him, Agent had given a simple warning; he would get revenge. Mewtwo had just looked at him and shook his head before turning and leaving. Agent had simply smirked at the Pokémon's back.

Now he just sat facing the door. Patience was what he needed. Despite his outward disposition being utterly calm, Agent was inwardly seething. He guessed that Mewtwo had told Giovanni that he had captured Cynthia, and gone looking. His plans had been close to fruition; Giovanni was correct, he had planned to take over Team Rocket. Had he gained control of the Sinnoh Region he would have had a huge bargaining chip. The Pokémon League would have had no choice but to negotiate. Except that required him to be in Sinnoh, not underneath a Rocket headquarters in the middle of nowhere. And when the Pokémon League came, Giovanni would hand him over, no questions asked. He remembered the fight against 'Champion'; he did not think he could rely on the man's mercy.

There was a distant crash which caused Agent to look up from his thoughts. He stood up and approached the grill in the door at the top to look out. The guard outside just glanced at him before smiling grimly but made no move. Clearly he was ordered to keep Agent where he was regardless of any other events. If the Pokémon League found him in a cell, Giovanni's position would be strengthened. Agent moved away and started to pace. He hoped he would get his chance to escape, but until then he had to be patient. One of his worst skills.

Charizard swooped down low before blasting another group of Pokémon out of the path of Sceptile who took the opportunity to move forwards. While it was difficult to see from the ground, Charizard could see that the number of Rockets was reducing and the flow out of the headquarters had effectively dried up. He banked sharply to avoid another wave of strikes before he took a group of aerial opponents out and then drifted back to where 'Champion' was battling. As he came down to land next to his master, Espeon appeared at their side.

"Yes Charizard?" 'Champion' asked as the Pokémon settled.

"We have nearly broken through. No more Rockets are coming from the building." Charizard said through Espeon. "Giovanni appears to be watching from above the entrance."

"So he is still here?"

"Yes."

'Champion' didn't answer, but there was an expression on his face that scared Espeon. It was almost… feral. Espeon look at Charizard to see that the Flame Pokémon taking to the sky once again. She sighed. Her master was completely focused on victory, and had been for some time. She just hoped that he would go back to how he was after this was over. After they no longer had to fight.

Giovanni emerged from the lift and strode out. Two men stood waiting for him. One held out a Pokéball and recalled the Jolteon that had followed Giovanni. Another held out a hand and passed six Pokéballs to his boss. Giovanni nodded to them and strode forwards as they fell into step behind him. He reached the door to the Rocket base and took a sharp turn to the left, before climbing a series of stairs. At the top was another door that led to a balcony that overlooked the gate. The guards that were usually there were gone, having been forced to run by 'Champions' Charizard. Giovanni stopped and looked out across the battlefield that had sprung up in front of his base.

In the distance he could see where his Rockets had first met the attackers. There was a line of defeated Pokémon trying to recover from what looked like being steamrolled. The distance between groups of fallen Pokémon showed the speed that 'Champion' had moved. But then they had started to slow. More Rockets had poured out of the headquarters, and the attackers were having to fight their way through them which took time. Even so, it was quickly clear how badly Team Rocket was faring. Giovanni could see the number of Rockets that had fallen along the side of the battlefield. Giovanni turned to the man at his side.

"How many men did we have in the base?"

"Around seven hundred Sir." The man replied instantly.

Giovanni frowned. A lot of men had been lost in the aftermath of the Goldenrod trouble, and more had simply fled. There was a perceived image of Team Rocket as a force in decline, something that Giovanni knew to be true. While many of the men who fought believed that Giovanni had stayed to fight because he felt they could win, the truth was a little less favourable. Giovanni had nowhere else to run. And the danger was clear when looking down; if there were only seven hundred in the base then most were already outside. And nearly beaten he noted as the front line moved ever closer to his vantage point. It was nearly time for his own last stand.

Espeon leaped forwards and used an attack to knock the Pokémon in front of her out-of-the-way. And suddenly there was no more. She stopped and looked around in surprise. She hadn't realized how far they come since the fight started. Rockets had been sent sprawling, their Pokémon defeated. As the rest of the team finished off their final opponents, they formed a line facing the base, looking at Giovanni.

The Rocket boss seemed fairly relaxed about the whole scene, calmly stepping inside the building again, followed by his two men. A few moments later they reappeared out of the main door and strolled forwards. They came to a halt some twenty metres away from 'Champion's' Pokémon. 'Champion' stepped out from the group and strolled forwards, closing the distance. Giovanni smirked and moved forwards, meeting him at the mid-point between the two forces.

"Giovanni."

"'Champion'"

"This is the end." 'Champion' said. "We both know this is a fight that you cannot win. My Pokémon have ripped your organisation apart. If you surrender, I will make sure that it is taken into account."

Giovanni smirked. "You think you have beaten me? Let me tell you Pokémon Master, just because your Pokémon are naturally stronger than any other in the world doesn't mean that they can't be beaten."

'Champion' raised an eyebrow but didn't bother to say anything else. He didn't feel the need to bandy words, and turned away. As he did though he heard Giovanni's mocking voice over his shoulder.

"Time to run little 'Champion'. Or watch your world collapse around you."

As he approached his Pokémon, 'Champion' heard the sound of Pokémon being released. He turned around and saw eighteen Pokémon, facing them. Each one encased in armour similar to what Mewtwo had once worn.

"End this" he snapped to his Pokémon. "Charizard, Blast Burn."

The Flame Pokémon looked at his master, before seeing the look on his face. He threw his head back and fired his most powerful attack at the group of Pokémon in front of them. As it approached there was a shout and a flash, before a huge explosion, which caused all of the Pokémon to brace themselves. As the smoke began to clear, 'Champion' started in surprise. The Pokémon in front of him were still standing. Not only were they still standing, they looked ready for a fight. They hadn't even seemed to notice the marks left by the devastatingly powerful attack.

"Take them out." 'Champion' ordered.

His Pokémon surged forwards to be met by the last Pokémon that Team Rocket had. 'Champion' started to move around the battlefield to where Giovanni and his two henchman watched calmly, but was stopped when a Pokémon landed in front of him. A quick glance told him that it was a new one, in addition to the ones that were causing his Pokémon trouble. And in the same armour. 'Champion' frowned, before stepping forwards and slamming his fist into the chest piece of the Primeape that had landed in front of him, only for the Pokémon to react quicker than should have been possible. It grabbed his fist and deflected it before retaliating with a series of strikes that forced 'Champion' backwards. A growl emitted from his throat as he drew on his aura. He would need it.

"We need to move now." Lance said. "That explosion… Only 'Champion' could have produced something like that."

"Probably." Steven conceded, his voice emanating from the phone in Lances hand. "And if he did?"

"What do you mean if he did? If he did we need to go and help with whatever was so big that it required such an attack!"

"Lance calm down." Steven said patiently. "If 'Champion' struggles with it, what chance do you realistically have?"

Lance stopped pacing around. "Come on, we can't just sit here. He could be in trouble just a mile away from me!"

"Lance, I know that you want to get involved. But you need to realize that this is what you have to do. 'Champion' cannot protect us all. We must let him do what he thinks he can. If he is genuine trouble and you are certain, then you have my blessing to get involved. However, when I agreed to remain here, you promised to listen to my advice. Stay where you are; there are no signs of Team Rocket striking at the regions, so 'Champion' has clearly still got them fighting him."

Lance threw his hands up in frustration and ended the call, before resuming his pacing. Around him were nearly fifty trainers who were sat inside tents, patiently waiting for orders to move forwards. The tents weren't really necessary, it was a precaution, in case they were here for some time. They were some of the strongest trainers that Lance and Steven had been able to find, and their combined power was terrifying. Although, having heard from some of them who had been at Cynthia's training camp, they still would struggle against 'Champion'. Something that his own experience had confirmed.

A call was heard, and Lance looked up. A small group of trainers was moving towards him and the centre of the makeshift camp. He turned to face them as they approached.

"As far as we can tell, there are no buildings here except for the Rocket base." The first one said. "There doesn't seem to be another entrance to the base other than the main one. Given its remote location, we suspect that this is Team Rockets final stand."

"Thank you James." Lance said with a smile. "I appreciate you coming with us, your experience with Team Rocket is invaluable."

James chuckled. "You mean my time as a member? I still remember the day I decided to quit."

As the trainers around James started to move away, Lance leaned forwards. "Why did you leave? Team Rocket may not be the kindest organisation, but experience has shown me that they treat their members well enough."

The trainers who had scouted with James stopped and turned around again, only to be dismissed by Lance. James inclined his head in thanks, before sitting down next to the Dragon Master.

"I left because of a boy." James said. "We had been there for his entire journey, trying to steal his Pikachu. It feels a bit stupid when you think that for five years we fought against the same group of kids, trying to steal this one Pokémon. But we did. And then, one day we couldn't find him again."

"Surely you were just re-assigned?" Lance asked. "If your target vanished?"

"We were." James agreed. "Until a few months later we found the Pikachu again. Not the boy, just his Pikachu. We immediately tried to capture it, but it was stronger than before. In fact, Pikachu had always been stronger than us, but this time he had gotten much stronger. Our Pokémon were obliterated, and he didn't even seem to care or notice. That is when we realized something was wrong. After talking to him, we realized that Pikachu was sad about something, so Meowth started talking. After some time it transpired that Pikachu's trainer, the boy we had hunted for so long was dead. Pikachu didn't know what to do, but Meowth insisted that we should help him. That didn't really mean taking him to Team Rocket so we left."

Lance looked at him, before nodding. "Understandable. Where is the Pikachu now?"

"He belongs to Misty Waterflower."

"That Pikachu?" Lance said in surprise. "I saw him at the Johto League, he was incredible. Who was the trainer?"

"A boy called Ash Ketchum." James said. "I doubt that you have…"

"Wait." Lance said cutting across him. "That Pikachu, the one you permanently hunted, belonged to Ash Ketchum?"

"Yes." James said. "How do you remember him?"

"Simple." Lance said with a smile. "I saved the world with that boy. When Kyogre and Groudon were fighting in the Hoenn region, Ash and some of his friends helped me to stop them."

"You were there?" James said in surprise. "So were we!"

Lance looked at him before bursting out into laughter. "You are full of surprises James" he said with a smile, which was acknowledged with a nod.

Behind them, a shout rang out, causing Lance to spin to his feet a Pokéball already in his hand as he looked to where the shout came from. It came from a trainer facing the forest near to the camp. From it, there was a shadow emerging. A large shadow. Lance burst into movement, running for the edge of the camp, where more trainers were congregating. As he slowed to a stop at the edge of the camp, he realized that it was more than just one shadow. Five Pokémon had appeared, and were moving slowly, sedately towards the camp. As they came closer, Lance recognized them as Ursaring. However, unlike any other Ursaring that he had seen, these were far larger.

"Get Pokémon out." Lance ordered to those around him, causing a powerful group to begin appearing in front of him. "These will be stronger than any Pokémon you have faced before, so be ready."

As soon as the Ursaring came close attacks started firing out. To the surprise of many trainers, the Ursaring didn't even seem to notice. Lance frowned, and threw his Pokéball, causing Dragonite to appear.

"Dragonite, we need you here." The Dragon Master called. "Help us drive those Pokémon back."

When the Ursaring got much closer, they finally seemed to be feeling the impact of the attacks. Lance swung onto the back of Dragonite, who took to the sky and fired an attack down at the centre Ursaring. The trainers beneath him started to release more Pokémon and soon the Ursaring were being overpowered by the sheer weight of numbers, without ever reaching the trainers. As they turned and started to run for the forest, Lance called down for them to be allowed to escape.

Dragonite landed once again, and Lance swung off his Pokémons back. Before he could recall Dragonite though, another shout rang out. More Pokémon were emerging from the forest. Enough Pokémon that the numbers would be a lot more even. Lance climbed straight back onto his Pokémons back, ordering it into the sky and shouting down for the trainers to get back up the hill to defend themselves.

Long minutes passed as the Pokémon closed the gap slowly. And then, without any visible signal, they all charged.

'Champion' spun on his right foot, before crashing a fist into the Primeape's face. The Primeape which had struggled to keep up with the pace of his opponent couldn't get a fist up to block the attack. As a result he was sent flying up. Before he could come down, 'Champion' hurled aura at him, catapulting him away. As 'Champion' turned to survey the rest of the battle, he realized how powerful the armour made these Pokémon. His team was struggling to make headway, despite their extraordinary strength. Charizard was battling against an extremely stubborn Golem, whose armour seemed to be scorched in many places. Alakazam was stuck in a psychic struggle with another Alakazam, while Machamp was exchanging blows with a Machamp whose armour was speeding up its movements and strengthening its blows. The rest of the team in similar battles, although some of them seemed to be getting the upper hand.

'Champion' looked back around as the Primeape leapt forwards at him. He sighed, and drew upon more strength, determined to end it this time. As the Primeape descended, 'Champion' moved. Faster than even Primeape could follow, he ducked under the outstretched arms, slid between the Pokémons legs and spun to grip the armour at a joint around the neck from behind. 'Champion' pulled on the armour, ripping it free. Primeape turned, and tried to attack once again, but the removal of the armour had evidently slowed him down. 'Champion' threw the piece in his hands away, before twirling to dodge the strikes and then ripped the front half of the chest-piece off as well. Primeape roared in fury before charging at 'Champion' once again. As 'Champion' moved backwards to dodge the attacks, he could see that while the Pokémon had been slowed down and weakened by the removal of its armour, it was now rampaging. He glanced down at the armour and was surprised to see that inside there were some tubes. They had clearly fed into Primeape, which would explain its increased strength. 'Champion' parried a blow and kicked out, sending the Pokémon rolling backwards as he looked closer at the armour. He realized that some kind of booster had been pumped into the Pokémon. As the Primeape charged forwards once again, 'Champion' put his ever mounting anger into a single throw. The chest-piece caught the Primeape in the head and knocked it out, while sending the poor Fighting-Type flying to crash into the wall of the headquarters behind him.

'Champion' then turned and started to move towards Giovanni. The Rocket boss realized that his Primeape had been defeated, and whitened, before shouting a command and turning to run. 'Champion' was about to give chase when a Persian leapt in front of him. His fist flashed out once again, only to crash into yet more armour. As he blocked the Persian's attempt to attack him, he saw dust coming over a hill near the base. It was enough to force him to dive away as the Persian attacked giving his Ninetales time to crash into its opponent. 'Champion' looked up to see Giovanni running into the headquarters, and was about to give chase when he realized how his Pokémon were struggling. He needed to help them before he went after Giovanni. He rolled to his feet, cast one last look at the expanding dust cloud, which he could do nothing about and then surged forwards, hitting the Machamp that his was battling against, and gripping a piece of armour. It was clearly the easiest way to defeat these armoured, artificially strengthened Pokémon.

Lance swore as yet another Ursaring charged into the group of trainers he had around him. He had heard rumours of the strength of the Pokémon away from the regions, and their numbers since they didn't have humans to influence populations. The Pokémon out here were the strongest around, and there were lots of them. It was just unlucky that they had gotten into a fight with a large herd of Ursaring. Each one of their opponents was strong enough to take two or three Pokémon to defeat it, and they outnumbered the beleaguered defenders. Lance arced around the battle, still riding his Dragonite when he saw something that took him by surprise. Underneath the grass of the hill, where a rock had been until it was knocked away, was something metallic.

"Dragonite, Hyper Beam at that one there." Lance shouted, pointing to an Ursaring which was near to the metallic object. Dragonite shot the golden beam at the Ursaring, which caused it to sway and then collapse amid a small explosion as a torrent of flames crashed into it. Lance leapt off Dragonite's back, and landed next to the Ursaring that had now clearly been knocked out. The explosion had also shifted the rock away from the rest of the door that Lance had seen from above. James ran up to him, his Growlithe at his side before he realized what it was. A way out of the horrific mêlée that had erupted all over the hill.

Lance looked around to see Pokémon struggling everywhere as his Dragonite landed next to him. The Pokémon looked at him and Lance made his decision. He reached down and pulled the door open, before shouting out to the trainers around him.

"There is a way out. Through here!"

Trainers looked around, and some turned to run for safety, before Lance's voice cracked out again.

"Do not just run away!" Lance roared. "Slow retreat, only run if you have no Pokémon left."

The trainers sheepishly turned back towards the battle, but the few seconds had caused the Ursaring to make significant gains. Lance swore again, and told James to start pulling trainers in before he swung himself onto Dragonites back and surged forwards. He threw three Pokéballs into the air, as Dragonite shot over an area where Ursaring had begun to break through. Leaping off Dragonite once again, he landed as three of his Pokémon materialized in front of him.

"Alright." Lance said, a gleam in his eye. "My turn."

He began calling out instructions, causing his Dragonair, Kingdra and Salamence to drive surprised Ursaring back. James started to call to the trainers around him to retreat as he forced the Ursaring back one step at a time. As the trainers began to escape into wherever the door led, James stepped forwards to watch an elite battle. Lance was completely in tune to the battle, not even watching his Pokémon strike half of their attacks. He didn't need to, he knew whether it would connect or not as he called the instruction. As he fought on, he felt the joy of a battle. This was what he wanted to do, not the office job that his role entailed a significant part of the time. He wanted to fight. And as the observers were discovering, he was very good at it.

"Salamence, hold this area." Lance ordered, before taking Dragonair and Kingdra to a different part of the battlefield. When he got there he began calling out instructions once again, letting the Ursaring converge on him so the trainers could flee. A grin spread across his features as he saw more Ursaring begin to charge at him.

"Kingdra, Hydro Pump. Dragonair, Blizzard." Lance ordered.

Kingdra started firing a Hydro Pump in quick bursts, which were instantly frozen by the power of Dragonair's blizzard. The charging Ursaring were being caught by large icicles fired at very high power and struggled to keep moving forwards.

"Dragon Pulse."

Dragonair and Kindra reared up to fire the attacks, which Salamence also fired from across the hill. As the attacks hit their marks, Lance looked around to see that there were only two trainers left out of the door; himself and James.

"Return." Lance shouted, holding up three Pokéballs. All his Pokémon but Dragonite vanished, and his trademark landed by the door with a rock in his hands. James dropped through, and Lance followed before recalling Dragonite. The Pokémon threw the rock into the air before vanishing, and the doors were slammed shut, causing the rock to land on them once again, covering their escape route.

Lance replaced the Pokéball on his belt and nodded to James who was looking at him in awe after his battling. Looking around he realized that they were in what appeared to be a hall. The door was the only way to the outside, but a dark corridor led away from the room. Lance was pleased to see that the trainers in the room had Pokémon out and were treating them for the wounds suffered. As he finished looking around, Lance turned to James.

"Alright, where are we?"

Agent rolled calmly to his feet once again. He had sat quietly in his cell for long enough. Mentally, he unlocked the door and caused it to swing open. The guard outside turned to see what was going on, but was felled with a single blow. Agent moved down the corridor and found a series of shelves on the wall. Each one had a number, on it. Several had Pokéball belts on them. Agent picked up the ones from the shelf that corresponded to the cell he was in and tied the belt around his waist again. It felt good to have his Pokémon back.

Agent walked calmly down the hallway that was apparently devoid of human occupation, aside from the faces in some of the cell doors, to a room at the end. In this room was a computer, which Agent sat at. Despite his credentials being rejected he quickly bypassed the security and drew up video cameras from outside the base. He breathed in sharply, as he saw the Pokémon battling outside. 'Champions' Pokémon were overcoming a smaller force, but evidently struggling. The Pokémon that they were fighting were encased in armour, although there were also Pokémon lying around them that had bits of their armour stripped. Switching to another camera, Agent saw the devastation that the battle had caused. Hundreds of trainers were lying around, either injured or simply terrified. As well they might if they had gone up against 'Champion'. Agent suddenly realized that 'Champion' was not outside. That must mean that he was inside the base. He quickly closed the cameras; he didn't have time to try to find the Pokémon Master, all he could do was try to get away. A quick check of the prisoner list showed him that there had been eight people captured. He briefly considered taking one with him, but decided that it would be too much trouble. His only chance of getting away from 'Champion' was moving as quickly as possible. Particularly if Giovanni tried to give him up.

Agent stood up and moved away from the room, jogging away past the cells and into the base. He knew that he didn't have long to escape. Although he was glad he was on the bottom floor; the escape route that he had intended for himself if this ever happened was here. As he reached a corner he stopped, and turned to face a wall. The wall swung inwards and he stepped through. The door swung shut behind him and he allowed himself a smile. Nobody knew about this escape route; it couldn't be opened without either a Psychic Pokémon or being psychic yourself, and the men who had created it had all been killed in 'accidents'. By the time 'Champion' realized he was gone, he would be far away, and impossible to find.

'Champion' swung his fist at the Pokémon fighting Espeon, sending it flying. As he turned to his next target, he heard Espeon in his head.

"We can finish up here. Get after Giovanni before he escapes again."

'Champion' looked at his Pokémon who nodded once, before she turned her attention to another of the opponents. He turned and broke into a run, heading straight for the headquarters. As he crashed through the door he skidded to a stop. The building itself wasn't that large, particularly when compared to the other Rocket bases that he had been in. As he stopped moving and starting reaching out with his senses, he couldn't feel anybody. Extending further, he realized that he could feel Giovanni down stairs. Along with two humans, and something else. Something that felt empty. 'Champion' turned to the lift only to see that it was at the bottom. When he pushed the button, nothing happened.

'Champion' forced the doors open and jumped, landing on the roof of the elevator. He quickly opened up the emergency exit at the top of the elevator and dropped through, before striding forwards through the open doors. He was in a corridor. He strode down, using his senses to help him find Giovanni. At the end of the corridor he turned right, and then left. A few more turns led to him standing in front of a set of double doors. Moving through, 'Champion' froze. In front of him was a large training field. Giovanni, holding what appeared to be a rifle waiting at the far end. The two men who had been with him stood, looking somewhat lost nearby. However, what caused 'Champion' to stop moving was where the rifle was pointed. Not at himself but at a Pokémon at his feet. A grey Pokémon, with a purple tail and two blunt horns on its head. The Pokémons body was covered in injuries. On the ground nearby was a collection of armour pieces that had clearly just come from Mewtwo. Without being able to closely inspect the injuries it was impossible to tell how badly injured Mewtwo was, but it was evident that it was bad.

'Champion' began to move forwards again, being closely watched by Giovanni who eventually raised an arm.

"That's close enough I think." The Rocket boss said.

"I'll repeat my offer from earlier." 'Champion' said, his voice devoid of emotion. "Surrender to me, and I will see what I can do."

Giovanni snorted. "If I surrender at best I will be given life incarceration. That isn't a particularly attractive offer 'Champion'."

"It is the best I can do." 'Champion' replied. "Did you think you would escape punishment for the attack on Silver Stadium?"

"That attack wasn't even planned by me." Giovanni snapped. "Do you think I would be stupid enough to commit the one crime that would give you every reason you need to hunt me down? Terrorist actions have never been part of my plan."

"If you didn't order it, then who did?" 'Champion' asked.

"Agent."

"I see."

"He was planning a coup, assisted by you." Giovanni said, a hint of desperation in his voice. "The attack would bring you here and have you capture me. His intention was to be in Sinnoh, seizing control of the region in the absence of Cynthia, and hold the region hostage. By the time you returned, it would be all over. And I would have been captured, giving him total control of Team Rocket."

"So if you are innocent Giovanni, why didn't you surrender earlier?" 'Champion' asked. "Why are you stood over a Pokémon, with the clear threat to kill it? Why have you been experimenting on Pokémon, giving them armour that will give them the capacity to cause incredible destruction? Armour that forced them well beyond their normal capabilities?"

Giovanni bowed his head slightly. "I felt that you wouldn't give me a chance to explain. You came here attacking, trying to destroy Team Rocket. I needed something to try and defeat you."

"If you want to prove your innocence, start somewhere." 'Champion' said. "Where are the captured trainers?"

"In cells below."

"And Cynthia?"

"I don't know." Giovanni admitted. "We've been looking for her, but without success."

'Champion' didn't move, his eyes still hidden by his hat, but his gaze completely fixed on Giovanni.

"I had no choice!" Giovanni said, desperation completely clear now. "I have had Agent arrested to prove that I was separate from him, I wanted to hand myself in, I…"

"Don't … listen to him."

Giovanni froze, his eyes drawn to the Pokémon prone at his feet in disbelief. Mewtwo was still completely unmoving, but his voice was still clear, weak as it was.

"He will… betray." Mewtwo said, the strain clear in the mental voice.

"Giovanni?" 'Champion' said, his voice questioning, stepping forwards. "Care to explain?"

Giovanni's response came in the form of a loud crack. He had pulled the trigger on the rifle, still pointed at Mewtwo's head.